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lettheladylead · 4 years

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avoid the unhappy ending (ch1-2)

ships/characters: Goldie, Quackfaster, Gyro, Fenton, Lil Bulb, Manny, Boyd, Launchpad, Scrooge/Goldie words (so far): ~2800 summary: Goldie comes to town to see Scrooge. Instead, she somehow manages to run into literally everyone else. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108943

First two chapters are up!

It was a Saturday afternoon. Normally she wouldn’t be in Duckburg, but she was passing through on her way back north and thought a little stop could be nice. Just pop in and say hello, maybe stay for a swim in the money bin or a sleepover if Scrooge asked. He wouldn’t ask, but she was always up for it.

Security at the bin was the same as usual. It always felt like there was a gap just for her - though obviously Scrooge wouldn’t be foolish enough as to leave his guard down for a professional thief. That being said, she was in his office quicker than usual, and a brief scan of the room told her she was alone.

“Huh,” Goldie breathed out, wiping her hand along his desk and taking a seat in his big chair. She spun around a few times, then stopped and looked at the different drawers. They were all locked, which didn’t change anything for her, but she knew this desk was mostly paperwork. Nothing of note, nothing of interest. Even a spare few dollar bills wasn’t worth the effort.

She stood up and walked over to the vault. It was closed, but perhaps Scrooge went for a more...private swim. That’d be fun to interrupt (and/or join in on). Her left shoulder made a terrible cracking sound as she slowly opened the door and she groaned a bit, popped her head in, and listened closely.

No sounds whatsoever.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Goldie groaned, rubbing at her shoulder and stepping fully into the vault. She looked up and down, left and right, but there was clearly no Scrooge to be found.

She sighed and closed the vault door on her way out in a sudden burst of politeness. Alright. Often Scrooge spent his Saturday afternoons catching up on work that he missed during adventures out of town. Apparently this was not one of those Saturday afternoons. Her shoulder was still a little sore, so Goldie decided to exit the normal way. Maybe someone would see her and call Scrooge to let him know. That’d be fine with her, she didn’t want to spend the whole day just looking for him.

But she had no such luck as it seemed the majority of his administrative employees weren’t working on a weekend. Made sense. Goldie poked her head into every other room to see if Scrooge was in a meeting or doing something or whatever, but he just...wasn’t there! It was agitating. Just a little bit.

The next door she spied was to the Archives. Goldie spent very little time in this room, since she had a pretty decent memory and didn’t need a piece of paper to remind her what year something happened in. Scrooge loved to talk about himself and his accomplishments, so there was rarely anything she needed to know that she didn’t already.

With a shrug, she entered the room anyway, considering the possibility that Scrooge could just be reading through old files like the old fogey he was. The door creaked loudly and almost immediately, Goldie made eye contact with the only other person there.

“What the…”

Goldie frowned as the other woman spoke and started walking towards her. This was not someone she’d had to interact with in a long time.

“Goldie O’Gilt, is that you?”

“Ah...Quackfaster. Nice to see you,” Goldie responded with a characteristic smirk. “Still working as Scrooge’s secretary, then?”

Quackfaster snorted and looked down at Goldie’s hands, clearly checking for stolen items. “Archivist. But you already knew that.”

“I did.”

Emily didn’t see anything on Goldie, and nothing near her seemed to be missing, so she turned around and headed back to her cart. “What are you doing here, O’Gilt? I know there’s nothing in this room you’d want to take.”

Goldie glided a finger against one of the shelves and cringed at the amount of dust that accumulated so quickly. “You can’t know that for sure.”

Her response was just a brief glare before she went back to filing.

“Alright, yeah,” Goldie stepped a bit closer, relishing in the way that Quackfaster flinched and reached for the sword that Goldie knew she had on her. “I’m just looking for Scrooge. Do you know where he is?”

“He’s not here,” Quackfaster said as she struggled to shove a certain book into a spot that was a little high up for her. “I assume, anyway. I haven’t seen him.”

Goldie rolled her eyes before reaching over and grabbing the book, getting on her tip-toes and putting it in its place. “Don’t you know his schedule, Secretary?”

“Archivists don’t keep schedules, Thief,” she scoffed. “Even if I knew where he was, I wouldn’t tell you. So have fun walking around town like a lovesick puppy.”

“Excuse me?” Goldie couldn’t contain her offense at the simile and proceeded to knock over Quackfaster’s cart of books before rushing out - leaving a loud crash and a pile of old papers in her wake.

Emily sighed and looked down at the pile. At her next salary meeting, she was definitely bringing this up.

Goldie, on the other hand, was back to business. That conversation had been entirely unhelpful and mostly unpleasant and very incorrect. Lovesick puppy? What was she, a teenager? She just wanted to see Scrooge so she could brag about her latest exploits - remind him of how nice it is to not be boggled down by family...maybe get some food. Sure, she loved him (or whatever), but she wasn’t sick over him. She wasn’t some kid in a bad romantic comedy. She was Goldie O’Gilt!

Quackfaster told her Scrooge wasn’t around, but she didn’t really know. And then, even she had, she might’ve told Goldie the opposite of the truth. There were a lot of angles to consider, as there usually was. So Goldie did what any sharp shooter would do - she decided to check out the last place in the Money Bin that Scrooge might be...the weird underwater lab.

She didn’t normally take elevators. They weren’t safe or secure. She could still remember when elevators first became a common thing...people became so reliant on them so quickly.

This was all she could think about in the slow, slow ride down to the lab where she was desperately hoping she’d find Scrooge. It’d be a shame to find out this trip to the Money Bin was a waste. If he wasn’t down here, she’d be stealing something for sure.

The doors opened and she was welcomed by two incredulous stares. She crossed her arms and stuck out her hip, staring back at them.

The two men looked at one another and then back at her.

“I don’t have time for this. Inter- er, Employee! Go!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Goldie stepped out of the elevator and looked around to see a distinct lack of Scrooge McDuck. She frowned. The shy-looking duck waddled up to her and smiled.

“Hi there! Welcome to Dr. Gearloose’s lab!” Fenton reached out a hand. “What can we do for you?”

She looked down at his hand and then back up at his face. “You seem familiar,” she said cautiously, grabbing his hand with two fingers and giving him a single shake before letting go. “...were you ever a Sheriff?”

“No, ma’am!” He didn’t give any sort of negative reaction to her odd question. “But mi mama is a police officer, so that’s close! Sort of!”

“Mama…” Goldie paused and put a hand to her beak in thought. “Oh! Are you Cabrera’s boy?”

“Wh…” Fenton blinked several times in surprise. “You know her?”

“You could say that,” Goldie said smugly. “We had a run-in a little over two decades ago. I remember you being much smaller.”

Fenton scrunched his face and considered her words, realizing after not long that this was someone on the other side of the law. “Um…”

She strode past him and towards the other man she’d seen earlier. “Is Scrooge here?”

Gyro sighed as loudly as possible before turning around to point in her face. “ Why would Mr. McDuck be here? This is a scientific laboratory, not a bin filled with coins.”

He realized briefly after speaking that this woman was familiar - familiar, as in, he’d met her just a few months ago for him and many many decades ago for her. Considering the recent controversies regarding unsanctioned time travel, Gyro started to sweat.

“Huh.” Goldie eyed him carefully. “You look familiar, too.”

“That’s not possible,” he said quickly. “I’ve never-”

“Gearloose, right? Any relation to Ratchet?”

He paused. “Uh...my grandfather?”

Goldie smacked him on his back. “I knew it! You’re his spitting image, you know that?” She laughed and continued to look around the room on the off chance that Scrooge was purposefully hiding from her. Why would he be? Who knows. Scrooge was a mystery sometimes. “Damn, I guess I owe Scroogey some money.”

“Why’s that?” Fenton asked, coming closer when he determined the intruder wasn’t a danger to the lab.

“Well, I bet Ratchet would die a virgin. Seems I lost.”

Fenton blushed and Gyro grumbled, turning back to his work, which Goldie just realized was also quite a bit familiar.

“Hey, I know this robot, too. This whole lab is turning into a trip down memory lane.”

“Hi! I’m Boyd!”

“Yes, I remember that,” she said with her eyes on the exit. “I’m guessing you’re not determined to kill anymore?”

Gyro glared at her and Boyd just clapped a hand to his cheek, producing a metal clang. “Aw geez, no I’m not! I’m sorry if you got hurt at Doofus’ party, Miss O’Gilt.”

Goldie shrugged and looked back at Fenton, who almost looked like he had a light bulb over his head. Or, well, actually. He did have a light bulb over his head. And then it jumped down onto his shoulder.

“O'Gilt! As in... Goldie O’Gilt?!”

“The one and only.”

She didn’t react as the light bulb jumped from him to her and then from her to the grumpy scientist behind her. She started to walk towards the door when she decided she’d made a mistake in coming here.

“You’re Mr. McDuck’s longtime, ah, paramour, one might say?” Fenton asked as he followed.

“One might.” She had to admit that it was interesting to know how Scrooge described her to his coworkers, but something told her that he’d never called her that.

“Then, from what I’ve read, you’re well over 100 years old, and I have never had the opportunity to ask Mr. McDuck about that, but I’m deeply fascinated!”

He started rambling, following Goldie the entire way to the elevator, and even stepping inside the elevator with her. She frowned deeply at this fact, and then there was the giant stone horse thing with Scrooge’s head clopping its way towards them that she very much wanted to get away from.

The talkative guy didn’t seem frightened by it, though - in fact, he waved at it as he continued to rant about chronological physics or whatever the hell was happening.

Not wanting to deal with this anymore, Goldie took this opportunity to grab Fenton back the back of his shirt and toss him towards the statue thing - repeatedly pressing the Close Door button on the elevator as fast as possible.

Fenton just squeaked and Manny caught him without a problem. “Hm...I guess I’ll have to save my questions for next time!”

Gyro barked at him from the other side of the lab. “There won’t be a next time! This lab needs to be more secure!”

Goldie breathed out a sigh of relief as the elevator dinged and she was back to being surrounded by no one and nobody. The Bin was still mostly empty and she was very happy with that. Though now she’d have to make her way over to the manor - where she was more likely to run into Bentina. After their last interaction, she knew it wouldn’t go well and didn’t want to deal with it. She’d just have to do her best to avoid the kitchen.

She headed out the front door, but on spotting a security camera, Goldie smirked and looked around for something to take. She spotted a few umbrellas sitting in a holder by the door, and shrugged. Something was better than nothing. Plus, it was getting kind of cloudy out there. So she grabbed the nicest looking one and stepped outside.

The clouds didn’t seem as thick once she left the building, but whatever. The umbrella was going to be hers either way. And now she had an annoying journey to the manor - normally she’d find a faster way over there, but the streets were pretty empty and she didn’t have any of her fancier gear on-hand.

So: walking it was.

Her knees started to hurt after only a minute. The road she was on was not made for feet, it was made for wheels! Why didn’t Gearloose or Cabrera or Quackfaster have a car she could steal? Were they all commuters? Did Scrooge pay any of his employees well enough to afford a car?

Just as all these complaints were charging through her brain, Goldie was cut off by the sudden sight of a familiar limo coming up towards her. She couldn’t contain the big smile on her face as she stepped in front of it - bringing the car to a halt.

She brushed invisible dirt off her pants and posed - leaning gracefully on the umbrella - in anticipation of Scrooge coming out to greet her.

Instead, a tall, muscular man stepped out of the driver’s seat and rushed towards her.

“Whoa! I almost hit you!”

Goldie sighed and stood up straight. “Is Scrooge with you?”

“Huh? No, he-” Launchpad pouted as he looked down at her, clearly dealing with the gears in his head turning a little faster than usual as they deciphered the data in front of him. “Oh, man! You're Mrs. McDuck!”

“Mrs....” Goldie looked like she’d bitten into a lemon. “I’m not -”

“I was just on my way to visit Fenton, Mrs. McD! But I could take you back to the manor instead, if you want!” He took off his hat and held it to his chest, looking a little nervous. “Please don’t be mad I almost hit you. It wasn’t that bad!”

“You didn’t-! I’m not…” Goldie was so confused by his assumptions that she didn’t even know where to start. But...a good con always knew where the benefits began. “...alright. Sure. Fine. Mrs. McDuck won’t say anything to Scrooge if you drive me back to the manor and not say a word about this to anyone. Does that work for you?”

“Oh, yes ma’am!” Launchpad quickly stepped back and opened up the back door for her so she could slide in. He closed the door on her foot and she scowled - leading to another slew of apologies before he closed the door for real.

She sighed and looked out the car window, feeling like she’d lost her touch. Usually she just knew where Scrooge was. Right away, she was always able to find him. And this was going to be one of those days where she ran around like a chicken without its head.

Launchpad was humming along to a tune on the radio, and Goldie felt the urge to have him change it to something more her style. But she wasn’t here to put on a show. She needed to find something else to focus on.

“Who told you to call me Mrs. McDuck?”

The redhead lowered the radio volume and looked at her in the mirror. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” She shuffled a bit in her seat. “Did Scrooge tell you to call me that?”

There was quiet in the car for a minute as Launchpad seemed to be thinking about her question. She was ready to tell him to forget it when he finally spoke up again.

“I don’t remember! But I don’t think so,” he said with a nod. “Did I do something wrong? Do you still use your maiden name? Or should I call you something else?”

Goldie didn’t respond to that as she looked down at the seat next to her and noticed a stray white feather. She reached down and picked it up, realizing immediately that it was Scrooge’s. A hint of an embarrassed blush came to her cheeks as she tossed the feather back down - being able to recognize the smell of Scrooge on a single feather was ridiculous.

“No,” she finally said, deciding that the unfamiliar warmth spreading through her chest was kind of...nice. “That’s fine.”

#scroldie #ducktales #goldie o'gilt #gyro fearloose #fenton crackshell-cabrera #launchpad mcquack #emily quackfaster #fic #fics #boyd #avoid the unhappy ending

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kdtheghostwriter · 4 years

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SNK 4-Pack

Just to avoid any confusion, yup, it’s just what it says on the tin. I’ve gathered my thoughts on four chapters here. A combination of IRL obligations, lifestyle and equipment changes all of which has been more or less rectified. For now lol. To those who reached in the past months, I appreciate the thought. Apologies for keeping you waiting. Accept this humble offering and enjoy the new chapter release.

123 - Turn Me Loose

We’re in a very distressing place both in-story and IRL. So here:

It’s Mikasa’s first taste of ice cream. Feel better? Cool. Now let’s talk about the end of the world, pls.

I’ll get the obvious out of the way first. Just what did you think The Usurper meant when he said [checks notes] “I’m going to put an end to this world?” This isn’t Sword Art Online. He wasn’t talking about a virtual world. It’s closer to the SpongeBob bit where Squidward runs into his place of work to exclaim that robots have taken over the world, before he clarifies “Our world!” Paradis was merely a blip on the radar before the Royal Family lost the Coordinate. It was fun at first to rattle their cage and watch them war with eachother. Now the war is about to leave the shores of the Island and no one is laughing.

I don’t have much to say about this development in particular because I predicted it nearly one year ago. No one wanted to hear it, but I said to any ear that listened: if Eren is going to play the Bad Guy, he needs to be the Bad Guy. You can go back and read it. I said Eren Jaeger will be the new villain of the story. Well, there’s a word we use for the person who wants to exterminate all life on Earth and it’s not Samaritan.

But for every villain, a foil must rise. Reiner is the easy choice here. Not the wrong one, but easy and predictable. Eren and Reiner have been intersecting since the 104th squad’s first expedition. When Eren could have hidden during Marley’s 11th hour raid of Paradis, he chose to confront Reiner and expose himself for the sake of a fight he knew he would not lose. This is why I don’t have Reiner in this role. Reiner’s role is what we all thought Eren’s was up until Chapter 120 or so. He is Lady Fate’s whipping boy. Beating him down again and again while calling him and dummy for trying to resist against his lot in life. If Reiner steps to Eren this time, it will be more than just humiliation awaiting him. Yes, it’s still Mikasa. I doubt Eren’s plan (whatever the full scope of it is) can even be stopped but if it can she is the one to do it. It can only help that she has the God of Destruction on her side.

Getting ahead of myself, though. We have the famous confrontation to speak on. You know the one.

I understand the sentiment by Eren here but he was never going to get an accurate answer. At least not immediately. The poor girl is shocked. She’s been interrogated time and again about her loyalty to Eren and what exactly it means. The one person who has never questioned her further is the man himself. One can imagine how long he’s sat on this inquiry. He knew what he had to do. No answer she gave would have diverted his path, but maybe he wanted one last thing to feel good about before he doomed the world.

Either way, the team runs in to interrupt them like some teen movie and they all proceed to get drunk with the family of the Middle Eastern boy they aided earlier. Ever since this type of story analysis was popularized online (and especially on YouTube) people have fallen into the habit of using the word “filler” without knowing what the word means.

Because we are consuming this series week by week and because Eren’s descent into arch-villainy has lasted well over a year at this point this current disaster really does feel like it would in real life. A long, brutal decline with only one outcome and no way to stop it. This chapter was a palette cleanser after months of endless despair. If you can remember there was indeed a time where everyone was friends and Eren wasn’t trying to KILL THE WORLD. This chapter was a reminder of that. The faintest light shines brightest in total darkness. That light is what Mikasa is doing her best to hold onto.

124 - All Falls Down

The most interesting part of this chapter, which is largely set-up, is Jean’s assessment of the situation from his perch on a rooftop. It’s muted and resolute. The usual emotion is missing entirely. The fire is gone as he accepts the world’s creeping fate. The story’s most morally consistent character is seen trying to work out the thought process behind ending the world. They’re our enemies. They were going to attack us eventually. We were sitting ducks. Maybe this was always going to happen. His last observation is less rhetorical. In order to protect his friends, Eren has sacrificed the entire world. This includes the Subjects of Ymir who all received Eren’s message from the last chapter.

No time to contemplate that horror with the fresh hell of Zeke’s titanized victims running wild in Shiganshina which sounds mighty familiar. There’s a poignant scene that follows of the 104th cutting down their fellow soldiers, many of whom helped train them. It shows how far they’ve come and the overall affect their adventures have had on them that they are able to destroy their comrades without hesitation.

Ah! But this is SnK after all. The horrors are often double stacked. The time has come to decide which titan Falco gets fed to. Before anyone can note what terrible timing this is with a horde of Titans destroying the village around them, Connie makes an executive decision to nab the unconscious boy and feed him to his stranded Titan mother in his hometown.

Of course, no one believed at the time that Connie would be able to go through with such and act especially on someone as sweet and naïve as Falco, but it really drives home the not-so-quiet desperation of these characters and how each of them reacts to it. Mikasa and Jean are both trying to keep a level head. Armin isn’t in hysterics by any means but is missing his usual confidence. Connie, having already lost his best friend and half his squad is the first to let the despair of the situation get to him. It’s the same reason Armin volunteers to go after him. No it won’t solve any of their macro problems but reconciling with young Gabi and feeling like a hero again can at least make you feel useful in the face of your best friend trampling the world underfoot.

The reveal of Annie at the very end of this chapter after more than half a decade gone is classic Isayama melodrama and it’s one of the reasons that, despite monthly leaks, Shingeki no Kyojin is still a worldwide best-selling phenomenon. I don’t have much else to say about it other than having her gasping for air like a fish out of water after being encased in a Disney Princess Prison was a nice choice. One would have to think that seeing Annie again would have some sort of affect on Eren even in his current Kaiju state. Eh, I’m getting ahead of myself though.

Stray Thoughts

- Jean continues to be my favorite character in the story. With Pixis gone and Hange out of action, he’s the easy choice as acting Commander. Leading his own squad and the neighboring soldiers into battle against the rampaging Titans is heroism that stands out even more after sitting through months of the Jaeger Brothers’ power play.

- Shadis returning to aid the cadets that beat him down at Floch’s behest is all you need to know about his character. He’s a gruff man and his stint as the Survey Corps Commander left him emotionally busted. However, he never once forgot why he started doing this in the first place. He can’t save the world but he can save these kids, dammit.

- All Titan hardening has been rendered inert by Founder Ymir throwing off her chains. This includes Reiner who reveals to Gabi that his Titan’s armor fell off as the walls came down. Nothing in SnK happens on accident so we’ll put a pin by this and see where it goes.

- Reiner explains to a distraught Gabi, who is looking for Falco, that Eren is extra unstoppable because with full control of the Founder he now has full control of all Eldians. One has to wonder if the Ackerman Loophole is still in effect.

- Gabi used the same gun that started The Rumbling to save Kaya from a 2m Titan. Alright, jokes aside, I can put on my critical hat and say that this callback to Sasha was a bit ham-fisted and you could have found a less visceral way for Gabi to realize the error of her ways. (Avatar: The Last Airbender will always hold the title for this trope.) All that can be true and I still like Gabi showing some agency here. Being insistent on finding Falco and helping him is pretty key development imo. He’s the main reason she’s still alive.

125 - The Next Step

Annie is me when I write exposition. I know you think it’s “boring” and “filler” or whatever but I don’t care! Shut up and learn something for once, eh?

Anyway.

Annie and Hitch have catching up to do. I was about to say they were former roommates but as noted above, Hitch spent four years watching over the captive soldier. Now that she’s free and the world is ending she sees no reason to hold on to her backstory any longer. Annie was adopted and the man who trained her was also the man who raised her. It wasn’t until she was about to set sail for Paradis that he showed any remorse for her indoctrination. Even still, Annie never forgot his words and has been trying to get back to him as soon as she can by any means she can.

Taking off my critic hat I have to wonder what her mindset was locking herself away in that crystal. Obviously if she hadn’t the outcome is almost certainly being devoured by Eren or someone else as they were but a few short months away from learning the truth behind Titan Succession. Still, there’s no guarantee that she ever escapes at all. I was half convinced that Isayama was working toward the biggest troll job in the history of fiction by ending the story with Annie still in captivity. He didn’t though, so we have the rest of the narrative to work out what that means.

Sorta like these two.

Eh, he’s not wrong but his frustration is misdirected here. Mikasa asked a very valid question about what to do about the World Killer that happens to be their (former?) best friend. Mikasa is the only one in the group asking this question because she’s the only one that no longer id’s Eren as the hero of Stohess. Connie is a minor distraction especially compared to the army of Colossals; Armin knows this too but Connie is a distraction from the creeping dread that Eren is now unstoppable.

And Mikasa’s face here…oof. That’s two of her soon-dead Titan Bros who have yelled at her today. Should it hurt more? Probably but she is so far past hurt feelings at this point. She’s a soldier and she has work to do. Asking for a directive isn’t something to get triggered by but Armin is at his breaking point here. The little things that add up to make your shit sandwich 12 feet high. And so we hope that his side quest brings him peace.

I love this character.

He never once falters in his moral fiber. The depression keeps him from recognizing this but he is indeed special in his own way. After all is said and done that’s really all that can be expected of us. Shadis, ever the mentor tells his kids not to be heroes. Really, this quote can be transplanted to our current political situation IRL. There’s a lot of things wrong with the current system and we’d all like to make it better but we still have work and school and various other obligations to deal with and those don’t go away because we want to “make a difference.” The time will come to make your voice heard. Be ready when it happens, not before.

I do like how Shadis basically accepts his fate as a sacrifice to Floch’s faction as his only other option with the other heads of military dead are going on the run like Solid Snake and he is not about that life. He would rather take the rest of his lumps and be done with it.

This Fucking Guy

This is peak Lord of the Flies shit. Society has dissolved and the chain of command has been broken so just do whatever, dude! Think about what Armin said before. History always repeats itself without the proper prevention. The best prevention, of course, being education. Floch is the best example of why eliminating one side does not truly extinguish conflict. Even at the start we see various Shiganshina residents rightfully blaming Eren for his role in the destruction caused by the walls coming down.

The only way to reach consensus is with terror. We got a mere preview when Zackley got TNT’d so many moons ago. Now we see Floch Forster doing his best Neegan impression, splattering a volunteer’s brains across the floor. I won’t repost it but that panel is probably up there with Ymir’s cannibalization for most visceral of the story. Brutal in its suddenness, it almost becomes a smash cut. After so much death and destruction this act of violence isn’t lost in the pages because of how much grislier the executions are rendered. The intimacy of a human ending another’s life without the aid of a fleshy mech. I digress, though. Floch must be stopped or the future of Paradis is sealed, Rumbling or not.

Stray Thoughts

- “I’ll tell Connie! That even as a Titan overturned on her back, his mom is fine as she is!” My goodness this story is dark.

- I have been mercifully absent from fandom developments, so I have no idea if people are still as turnt about the Gabi character as they were when I left. With that said, it’s fun to see some good logical development, just like every adult fan of this series predicted there would be.

- Again, is Kaya being saved by Gabi in a direct parallel to Sasha doing the same a bit on the nose? Quite so. It isn’t good or bad and, honestly, judging by some meta I’ve seen in the past I don’t blame any author for erring on the side of the obvious.

- Have I said this next one before? Who knows? Reviving Erwin on that rooftop instead of Armin wouldn’t have changed much besides short-term strategy. Once the Usurper started down the Dark Path even Commander Handsome would be powerless to stop him.

126 - Hold the Line

Levi and Hange are on the lamb in the Forest of Big Ass Trees and the set up for this detour is a solid string of pages with Hange building shelter, tending to Levi’s wounds and picking off the new Survey Corps members that have been sent by Floch to find them be cause War is Hell.

This opening stanza is good because it highlights one of my favorite aspects of this character: their resourcefulness. First impressions being what they are lead people to take a throwaway joke about Hange keeping a pet Titan and let it inform one-note headcanons of their entire character. It shouldn’t be said but I will anyway. Hange is a clinical genius with a sharp wit in compliment. Their best skill is problem solving which would explain partially why they work so well with Armin. However, their particular thought process makes the kind of executive planning required from a Commander extremely challenging. Hange is better at devising a plan then receiving the instructions necessary to carry it out, if that makes sense.

Isayama, per usual, doesn’t spend the whole chapter on backtracking. He could have maybe but we do still have a story to get through. Isayama is a good author to study for improving your exposition. He conveys so much information with so little real estate. I still struggle and I’ve been at this for years.

I digress, though. Now we have Theo Magath lifting his gun to a crippled Levi in order to cope with the fact that he is A) stranded and B) not even slightly in control of this hopeless situation. So he listens and it turns out all four of these folk want the same thing, which is Zeke’s head on a platter. A very popular menu item to be fair.

For the uninformed here I am a fan of good dark comedy. This panel right here had me howling. As predicted by [checks notes] everybody, Connie did not have the gumption to callously lead this innocent child to their death. In one last effort to preserve his own conscience he explains that his Titanized mother who has been stranded for four years needs to be cleaned. Like you do. Every little detail eight down to his face when he thinks Falco has him made is so well done.

Of course, Armin and Gabi show up just in time. Armin, still haunted by Levi’s choice to save him, makes a bet on Connie’s bond with his squad that he did not seem overly confident in being correct on. Can’t truly call yourself a 104th alum until you’ve accepted your own untimely death.

Skipping ahead a bit now. Floch is very busy being The Worst and if there hasn’t been a better collection of panels to illustrate the moral of the story. Yelena and Onyankapon have been lined up and are set to be publicly executed for their “crimes” against Eldia. The notable bit here for me is the way Isayama depicted the spectators. The have gnarled, twisted visages, some of them literally frothing at the mouth. You see, because extremist nationalism is bad and racism makes you ugly in every sense of the word.

Jean is tasked with gunning down Onyankapon but fires four rounds into the ground instead. This begins a series of Hashtag Machinations that will no doubt become clearer as the story unfolds. Jean and the two POWs escape in the Cart Titan’s mouth and the rest of the 104th leaves to collect Reiner and try to (somehow) stop Eren.

They had to try. Even at the cost of their own security it is difficult to agree with mass genocide. Having Annie on the team will be interesting as she and Eren were close. What’s left for me to wonder is how they plan to reach Eren, physically or otherwise, while he’s like…that. Every month more questions for each answer but after a decade you get used to it.

Stray Thoughts

- Pieck’s surname is Finger? Or is this some Hange headcanon?

- We know Isayama is a big GoT fan. Apologies if this take has appeared elsewhere but an Ackerman keeping their promise seems to be his version of a Lannister paying their debt.

- Years after his death, the spirit of Erwin lives on in these characters. For some, it inspires strength; for others, only guilt.

- I’ve gone back to the interaction between Mikasa and Louise several times to try and get between the lines. Mikasa asking for her scarf back seems self-explanatory since it’s hers but Eren telling the girl to “throw it away” intrigues me. Seems to me that of all the things he had to give up to walk this path that his relationship with Mikasa is what he mourned the most in that cell.

- Always a good time to see Jean being a clever boy.

- Hange/Pieck banter is not something I knew I needed until I read this chapter.

- Hange’s fierce protectiveness of Levi makes more sense when you realize that these two are the only ones left of their original squad. The veterans of the military have all been cleared out, some more violently than others.

- It’s all but stated outright that Ackermans are part Titan. Goes a long way to explain their freakish strength and athleticism and their durability. Evidenced by the fact that Levi was apparently further from death than Zeke after the latter blew them both up.

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tev-the-random · 4 years

Text

A casual Sonic Forces rewrite + some headcanons, because why not

Part 1 – Infinite and Episode Shadow

Just a warning: none of the images used here belong to me! They all belong to SEGA – the game screenshots, the official art and the comic pages.

Next Part ->

I have yet to see the Sonic Movie, because the universe seems devoted on not letting me do so, for some reason. Being as desperate for Sonic content but as determined to not receive spoilers from the movie as I am, I decided to go for the next coolest thing: writing really long and random posts about a game that came out three years ago and no one cares about anymore.

This shall be fun!

(Update: as of posting this, I have finally watched the movie! But I don’t want to throw this away, so I’ll post it anyway. We can have a nice talk about the movie later.)

*“Fist Bump instrumental” intro plays*

*“This is Our World: a New Hero” plays in the background*

I’m the type of person to always try and see the best in every game, and Sonic Forces is no different. Despite its obvious flaws, I love this beautiful game! Mostly the concept of it is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this last decade, but the execution… lacks on a few things. I mostly just fill in the gaps with my imagination and enjoy it nevertheless, but, upon going through the tag and seeing that some of my concerns were shared by other people, I decided to try my hand at rewriting Sonic Forces juuust a tiny bit. Just for fun!

For this first part (and I have no idea how many parts we should have), I’d like to share some of my ideas about…

*Infinite’s Theme plays in the background as I try hard not to sing along*

Oh, my poor jackal boy, what do we do with you? Despite being so heavily promoted and having an undeniably awesome theme song, Infinite’s backstory and general development throughout the game came out as lacking, having the self-proclaimed edgelord become a laughingstock amongst most fans. Nevertheless, I still love Infinite, and it saddens me how much wasted potential he had; it’s like they were trying to write a really interesting character, but gave up halfway through.

So yeah, let’s talk about it. And let us begin with his origin story.

I believe you are all familiar with this scene:

I… I want to defend my boy here, I really do. But honestly, the way this was portrayed, it just sounded like he was throwing a childish tantrum. It seems as if his entire motive for becoming a villain was “Shadow beat him and called him weak”; dude, you’re not the only one: Shadow does this to basically everybody who’s ever crossed his way! We’re not given a reason as to why Infinite gets so bloody offended, nor are we given a reason why we should care.

So, how can we fix this? I think we should firstly focus less on “I’M NOT WEEEEAAAAK!!! URRAAAAGHH!!!” and more on:

It doesn’t need to be – and I don’t even think it can be – as sad of a situation as the Rivaille Squad in Shingeki No Kyojin or anything, but I believe that showing us that Infinite lost something important would already do wonders to his backstory.

The simplest way – that is, the way that doesn’t majorly change how things go, but does give the jackal a clearer motive – to do this would involve the ever so humble inclusion of two new cutscenes and one new in-game battle, plus a few tweaks to some already existing scenes.

Episode Shadow begins not with the usual reading introduction, but rather, with Shadow’s voice. “I was a couple of months before the Doctor took over the world. The first time I encountered him… I didn’t know what he would become.” Then we open with what used to be a couple of months prior (aka where they presented Infinite’s memory, aka where they screwed up), so we’ll go through things in a chronological order instead of having a flashback inside of a prequel, because that’s confusing AF.

Now, instead of starting the Mystic Jungle level immediately, we should get a small cutscene: Shadow gliding through the jungle, cool camera angles/lighting and all – maybe something similar to the opening scene of Episode Shadow in Sonic 06? –, on his way to invade Eggman’s base as a voice coming from the hedgehog’s communicator reminds him about his mission (yep, that’s some subtle exposition to the audience so we don’t think Shadow is there just because). My idea for said mission would be the simple task of retrieving a Chaos Emerald (yeah, remember those?) from Eggman. Nothing too serious; just another day, another emerald stolen like usual; we’ve seen this before, there’s no need for a long dialogue.

As the black-and-red blur crosses the screen, the camera pans to a group of people hiding above in the trees: Squad Jackal. Infinite is not among them. One of the jackals asks “where’ the boss?” to which another one replies that he’s on the other side of the base/talking to the Doctor/whatever and they have no time to waste; their mission is to take down the intruder and protect the base. We get something in the lines of “the boss is counting on us. Expect no mercy, show no weakness. Let’s go!” and the camera fades out as the squad drops from the trees and runs after Shadow.

I believe that having the phrase “show no weakness” – or any possible reference to “I’m not weak”, really – appear earlier as seemingly common and then have it become something the character gives a lot of importance to due to consequences and parallels sounds a bit more interesting than having Infinite’s inferiority complex come out of nowhere.

The Mystic Jungle level plays as usual, except the dialogue in the background doesn’t say that “the Defence Squad has already been completely annihilated”, but rather that “the Defence Squad is on the case. They’re the best mercenaries there are, Shadow won’t stand a chance!” because Doctor Eggman is naive like that.

Once we reach the end of the level there’s another change: a boss battle against Squad Jackal. You see, we don’t want to hear the squad was taken down like some sort of lazy exposition, because it feels incomplete; we want to participate, we want to be the protagonist and see with our own eyes just what is Infinite’s squad. This gives faces and voices to something that will become an important plot point instead of just telling us “yeah, this happened or whatever”. This could also play as some sort of sympathy point for Infinite, because we, while in control of Shadow, took down his squad; it makes the villain’s animosity towards Shadow and his general anger at least a bit more understandable.

The idea is that this battle should play as some sort of field fight – that is, differently than most boss battles in Sonic Forces, this is not a racing track where you attack your enemy while running, but rather a large secluded area, much like the one we get in the fight between the Custom Hero and the DeathEgg Robot –, where squad members would attack individually in different patterns before going for a group attack. The individual jackals would have both projectile (perhaps something like a wispon, knives or some Eggman invention to keep it family friendly enough?) and close-ranged attacks, while the group attack would consist of this mass of wild jackals changing at you, trying to run you over. The opportunity windows could be either the moment when the opponents switch or band together for the group attack.

(I don’t know, maybe some of you can think of better ways to fight the Jackal Squad? This is just a random idea! I’d like to hear different ones!)

Once the fight is over, we get another cutscene: Shadow stands among the fallen jackals – don’t worry, they’re… sleeping… yeah, there’s no visible blood, they’re not dead… except they’re totally dead – and looks around for a second or two. His expression is indecipherable, and he soon leaves without saying a word – one might say he feels bad for them, or maybe he doesn’t give a damn; we leave that open to interpretation. Not a moment passes and we get to see the leader of the squad arriving at the scene. The camera moves in a circle around him as he looks at his fallen comrades in shock. How did this happen? They were the strongest, how could his whole squad be dead? This is a rather touching moment, where Infinite sticks his sword (because in his origins comic he used to have a super cool red sword and I want to pretend we have a reason for it not existing in the game) to the ground; there’s a feeling of anger and vengeance going on as we get a closer look at the last standing jackal. He clenches his fists and faces the direction of Shadow. “Expect no mercy, show no weakness,” he says in an infuriated, strangled voice. He starts to run and the camera fades out.

(Look at his sword and his squad, man. I do wish we could have seen them in the game…)

When the camera fades in again, we get that exact same cutscene from the game. Blah blah, “destroyed my squad”, blah blah, “ultimate mercenary”, a legendary ass whooping and Infinite falls to the ground, weak, pathetic and defeated.

Now, I’d like to add just a few lines to their dialogue, because this:

Doesn’t really sound like Shadow to me. I mean, man: you beat this random guy to the ground, called him worthless and pathetic out of nowhere and then you just leave? I know Shadow is rather apathetic and he’s supposed to be savage and all, but this just felt kind of out of place…

So instead of going full rude mode, what Shadow actually says is:

‘You’re part of the Defence Squad, aren’t you? Why would a bunch of mercenaries work for the Doctor? What is he hiding?’

‘The doctor paid well enough to not have his secrets spilled,’ Infinite retorts while trying to get up. He’s too hurt to do much, but he’s still willing to fight. He looks at Shadow with fiery eyes as he continues, ‘My squad… you took them down like they were nothing… why wouldn’t someone as strong as you be a mercenary?’

‘Mercenary work is for the weak,’ the hedgehog states matter-of-factly. ‘I’ve sworn to protect, not to follow the dirty line of work you did.’

This blows Infinite’s mind and he simply stares at Shadow, dumbfounded. He murmurs, ‘weak? How dare you, I’m not… We’re not weak! We’re the squad o-’

‘Where’s the Chaos Emerald?’ The jackal’s statement is completely ignored. However, Infinite is having none of this, so tries to attack Shadow once again in a fit of rage, only for the hedgehog to give him a signature roundhouse kick free of charge.

(Image merely illustrative)

‘What a waste of my time,’ Edgelord Number 1 says, aware that he’s not getting any useful information from this. He steps closer and Edgelord Number 2 flinches, ‘here’s some advice: don’t show your face around me ever again, or else I will finish you.’

And with that, Shadow teleports away, leaving Infinite to his existential crisis. He wasn’t able to avenge his friends; he wasn’t able to protect the base; heck, he wasn’t even able to hold his title of ultimate mercenary! How useless of a leader was he? Were mercenaries truly weak? Everything they’ve done… was it all worthless? Show no weakness… what did it even mean? They were all defeated, and Infinite can’t shake the feeling that he’s to blame for it. Wasn’t he supposed to be the best?

‘What is this? I’m…’ He looks at his hands, which are trembling ‘I’m shaking? I flinched? I... We failed… How pathetic… All because…’

Infinite stops as if he’s just gotten a moment of clarity. He then gets up and starts walking inside Eggman’s base. ‘I’m not weak,’ he says in a decided, chilling whisper; it’s almost scary. The view is set at the entrance, right in front of the jackal so that he starts blocking the light from the outside as he slowly walks towards the camera - while saying in that scary voice, “No mercy, no weakness”.

(I can totally see Liam O’Brien delivering this line perfectly…)

Then the last expository narrating happens about the same, except that Shadow narrates it – giving continuity to the fact that he was the one who started narrating this episode for a reason I will talk about later –, so we change a few words to match his speech more; it’s all in the third person and very husky and brooding, but with a subtle note of dread (oh, if only Jason Griffith would voice it… No disrespect to Kirk Thornton, but he just doesn’t hit Shadow’s perfect voice like Jason did; for me, at least. His Orbot voice is fantastic, though).

Now, instead of having Infinite looking forward for a few seconds before he gets the Phantom Ruby out of nowhere and places it in his chest very anti-climatically, we’ll do something different: as soon as he puts on the mask, he starts walking away, and we change settings to a dimly lit room, where we see Infinite from behind, fitting the frame perfectly. Following the beat of the background music, the camera changes to a close shot of his masked face as he’s holding the Phantom Ruby, which is glowing, reflecting on his mask and giving us a beautifully red-lit scene; it’s possible to hear very low, indiscernible whispers coming from the jewel. We then hear a small, evil chuckle from the masked jackal – he already sounds rather different from the guy who stuck his sword to the ground in honour of his friends earlier. The screen goes black, the whole “I was… Reborn!” thing dramatically happens in Infinite’s echoing voice and the not-flashback is over.

(I know this last part was quite specific and oddly detailed, but I had the scenes very clear in my head I wanted to try conveying how intimidating it looked to me o3o)

Ok, now that that’s done, prepare yourselves for an intermission. And by that, I mean prepare yourselves for a long analytical commentary on what I just wrote.

*”This is Our World: Phase 2″ plays in the background*

(Who is Shadow working for again? I don’t even know, man…)

Shadow isn’t just the guy who called Infinite pathetic. He’s the guy who killed Infinite’s squad (his friends) without any apparent remorse – and to be hypocrite as to say he’d sworn to protect when he just did something like this (yeah, Infinite doesn’t know any context of Shadow’s life, so of course he doesn’t understand what he meant); the guy who ruined everything he had going with his new job as leader of the Defence Squad; the guy who put him several levels under what he thought he was; the guy who questioned his entire way of living and the guy who put him under a lingering threat; “don’t show your face around me ever again” feels more intimidating now. Not only that, but, despite how Infinite might hate Shadow, he recognizes him as strong, admirable even – “why wouldn’t someone as strong as you be a mercenary?” Remember that Infinite himself is a mercenary; to actually acknowledge someone would be good at something you’re good at, specially someone you don’t like, has to be a sign of admiration, albeit a frustrating one. All of this puts a lot more of weight on how Infinite thinks of Shadow and why being stronger than the hedgehog is so important to him.

I made it so that “expect no mercy, show no weakness” is something like the Jackal Squad’s motto, their philosophy. I like to think it means that they should never count on someone’s mercy, for their enemies won’t spare them; they should always go into battle aware that they might actually be fighting for their lives. At the same time, they should always stand their ground and never let anyone think they can take advantage of a squad member. This is what the jackals live for. But seeing as Infinite’s world has just been shattered and he failed hard on everything, he revises his mentality. “No mercy, no weakness” is what he’s going for now, as he wants to be above everyone, he wants to effectively be the strongest and for people to know that; he will be the one who doesn’t spare others, and he won’t be weak at all. Never again would a failure cost him that much, for never again would he fail.

To have Infinite place the Phantom Ruby on his own chest in Episode Shadow contradicts the opening scene of the main campaign. Remember the episode is a prequel to Sonic Forces’ main game, so it shouldn’t be completely detached from it; things must make sense when put together. As the main game begins by showing us Infinite inside of a tube in Eggman’s lab, we can assume one of two things: he’s either a robot/biological experiment created entirely by the scientist, or he’s a guy who’s been experimented on, thus Eggman was the one who placed the Phantom Ruby on him. With this in mind, it wouldn’t make sense to show us Infinite doing something if you’re going to tell us that he couldn’t have possibly done it on his own. But to have him hold the ruby as someone who deeply desires its powers and who listens to its ominous whispering? Not only does it line better with the aforementioned scene, but it also makes Infinite seem more prone to the ruby’s power (instead of just… you know, “random angry dude”).

As this intermission has gone on long enough, I’ll only make a brief commentary on the Phantom Ruby: I like the idea of the ruby being somewhat alive and exerting influence over Infinite. Now, I won’t say it’s the kind of influence where it justifies his horrible behaviour or the awful things he did. It’s less “mind-control” and more “that best friend who always encourages you and never calls you out on your bullshit”. Its grooming Infinite’s ego and just nudging him to keep making bad decisions, to keep shutting himself in this new reality where he’s all powerful and above everyone else. So it’s the jackal’s pride, spite and grief, along with Eggman’s overall encouragement and the Phantom Ruby’s influence all put together that, in a general sense, make Infinite what he is. (I can go into more detail about this idea once I make a Part 2.)

Mission Accomplished: “angry bitchy boy turned edgy, OP and unimpressed” changed his status to “tragic boy turned edgy, bitter and extremely power-hungry”.

Intermission’s over, let’s get back to the story!

With Infinite’s backstory slightly redone (or rather, shown under a different light), I could stop right here. But I don’t want to, oh no! I say we take this a few steps further and just finish Episode Shadow! Yeah, I told you this was going to be a long post.

*”Battle with Infinite: Second Bout” plays in the background*

Ok, now we cut to a few months later, where Episode Shadow would originally begin. Rouge comments that Omega was on recon mission in that “unknown base of operations that seems to be totally outside the chain of command for Eggman’s army” (whatever that is supposed to mean) when he spotted an unidentified masked person with strange energy readings and an unknown battle ID. Omega reported a “large scale troop” and… that’s it, he just stopped talking. Rouge then talks about that “new weapon” Eggman was supposedly developing and sends Shadow to the base to investigate along with Omega. She makes a remark about how they should get the entire Team Dark together for this (“It should be fun”), but Shadow dismisses the idea, saying that he’s enough on his own. “Omega said the same thing. You two go together like chilli and hot dogs.”

We can keep this at the whole “dialogue on screen” thing. I don’t really mind and it sure spares the budget.

The City stage plays as usual, except the dialogue in the background changes a bit, because Team Dark bickering (or just talking in general, I love this team so much) is my jam.

‘E-123 Omega here. Extermination proceeding without incident. No problems to report.’

‘Omega!’ Rouge exclaims, ‘Why have you stopped responding earlier? We- wait, extermination? This is supposed to be a recon mission, what are you doing?!’

‘I was spotted. Priorities conflicted; therefore I decided to eliminate the enemy altogether. New Mission Objective: Defeat Eggman.’

‘But you can’t go making a scene like that!’

‘See, this is what happens when you send the giant killer robot for this kind of op,’ Shadow sasses. And I’ll imagine Jason’s voice for this too, thank you.

‘I have several reports of recon missions where you retaliated, Shadow.’

‘I might have to join you boys soon enough. I turn my back for five seconds and this happens…’ Rouge comments in a tired voice.

Omega is ready to start robotically recounting the reports of failed recon missions where Shadow retaliated, but he is suddenly cut by static and the vague sound of the Phantom Ruby. Rouge tries to contact him again and we get small bits of his original lines here – “All sensors offline”, “Casualty report”, “Unidentified system intrusion. Emergency withdrawal!” and “I am E-123 Omega, the most powerf-sjfpstswq”, that stuff – before his communication is completely cut. Shadow asks something like “what’s going on?”, but his communication with Rouge is cut as well. We play whatever’s left of the level in silence (except for the sweet background music).

(Oh yeah, this happened or whatever…)

Now, I know the next scene is a screen dialogue again, and I know I just said I don’t mind it, but watching this:

… Is so bloody uncomfortable. This feels dumb. This is so dumb. I feel like they robbed us an epic scene in exchange of some awkward reading with absolutely no context. What the hell is “!” supposed to mean?! What did Infinite do?! If I wanted to imagine the action scenes all on my own, I’d spend my time daydreaming! What, did they not know what to do here so they just threw in some random lines to fill the gap between this and the next level?!

… Sorry, I got a little carried away. This simple scene frustrates me a lot by not existing. So yeah, we’re throwing in a cutscene.

(I just noticed how salty this post is getting. This was not my intention at all, I still love this game, oh dear…)

Shadow reaches the edge of the city and encounters a dark silhouette hovering just above the flames that cover the ground; there’s debris scattered everywhere. The figure has its back turned, and the world seems to glitch ever so slightly around them.

‘The world’s most powerful robot is no more a challenge than crabmeat. Even the Doctor’s most daring designs can’t compete with my power… It is without peer,’ the figure chuckles to themselves.

Shadow starts approaching silently, analysing the situation. Despite this being Omega’s location, he can’t see the robot.

‘Wonder how easy it would be to end this entire planet. Don’t you…’

Suddenly, the voice speaks close to the hedgehog’s ear:

‘…Shadow?’

He turns around to see that the unknown person has appeared behind him, which throws him off. The hedgehog takes several steps back and puts himself in a fighting stance.

It’s hard to see past the jackal’s mask, but he seems amused as he looks down on Shadow. Twistedly so.

‘How wonderful to see that our not-so-tall, dark and brooding guest has arrived. I’ve been waiting for you, Shadow~’

‘Tell me what you did to Omega. Now,’ the agent demands.

‘Oh, come now, Shadow. Our long-awaited reunion and still you spout such nonsense.’ Infinite floats down to stand a few meters away from his enemy.

‘I don’t know you,’ Shadow states. The masked jackal tilts his head, but doesn’t say anything, so he asks again, ‘what have you done to Omega?’

‘Only what is ought to be done when someone stands in your way. Weaklings like E-123 Omega are of no consequence, don’t you agree?’

‘The only thing of no consequence is that big mouth of yours.’

Shadow launches himself at Infinite, who easily avoids his attack. The jackal starts laughing manically.

‘Ah, I suppose you would think so,’ he states. ‘After all, it’s not so funny to be the one losing the battle, is it? I am Infinite. You say you do not know me, and yet I remember you so very well… I’ve lost all I was, I’ve become what I am because of you. Savour that thought as I return the favour.’

Guess what happens? That’s right, we get another boss battle! I think it’s only fair that Infinite gets to have his rematch with Shadow. Besides, it establishes a comparison with the “old” Infinite and how much stronger he’s now – from Shadow’s perspective, that is.

I have no idea how this battle would play out. Maybe something similar to his second battle in the main story (no, don’t worry: we’ll talk about the exceeding amount of Infinite battles in the next part), with the 2D layout. Let’s say Infinite is surrounded with his Red Cubes of Doom while he’s not attacking, so you can’t touch him. Maybe he makes the fire glitch and get closer to you at some point. Maybe he makes clones and you have to defeat each of them to get to the real guy, I don’t know! Tag your ideas, I’d love to see them! ^^

Anyway, once the battle’s over and Shadow “wins” (because Infinite is not defeated, he’s just done with this fight), the jackal might say something in the lines of “I suppose I’ve let this duel go on for long enough. I have other matters to attend to, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

We get back to the cutscene and Infinite is glitching a bit, quickly recomposing himself, laughing. Shadow is panting.

‘What’s the matter, Shadow? Can’t take down a measly jackal anymore?’ The masked one says sarcastically. ‘It seems like I’ve overestimated your strength. You’re no fit to be a mercenary at all.’

There’s a beat and Shadow realises what this is about. He looks at Infinite, frowning. ‘It’s you… Defence Squad Jackal…’

Infinite stares at the hedgehog. He doesn’t seem to be as amused anymore. His golden eye’s glowing under his mask, and so is the Phantom Ruby on his chest. A tense background music plays as Infinite answers dryly:

‘Yes.’

‘I’ve spared you, but now you’re going too far. It’s time to finish this! Chaos Spear!’

The spears of light simply go through Infinite as if they didn’t exist. Shadow goes for a spin dash/homing attack/kick to the face or whatever you can think of, but the masked villain glitches out of the way with ease and lands an almost perfect copy of Shadow’s roundhouse kick.

The hedgehog glides across the floor, almost falling over. Infinite scoffs.

‘This new “me” has limitless power. I have no mercy; no weakness! I am the true ultimate force that will tear this world apart, and what may have worked to bring me down before…’ the jackal starts floating again; thousands of red cubes start dancing around him and, as he raises a hand, they all group in the sky not far above them. ‘… No longer does.’

(Why yes, this is a reference to Mephiles the Dark and that time he destroyed the Sceptre of Darkness!)

Infinite throws his “Take THIS!” and Shadow does the “!” – which is him frantically trying to get out of the way as the thousands cubes of doom come crashing down on him.

The screen goes black.

Scene ends.

The Virtual Reality level should play as usual from there. I don’t even want to change the background dialogue, because I really like it: it’s confusing, it’s weird, it’s unsettling and it slaps Shadow in the face in a way that we rarely see. I love it! (Although, I do think the gameplay should have a tiny little bit more of 3D parts. We love Green Hill, but we also love the freedom to move on more than two directions when playing as the Ultimate Life Form. But it’s cool)

After that, we could get another cutscene (we’re full of cutscenes, huh? Well, this is a hypothetical rewriting with a hypothetical budget. Also, Episode Shadow is more of an exposition episode anyway). In this cutscene, we would start with some shots of different known locations: Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Crisis City, Mystic Jungle, Kingdom Valley, Babylon Garden, you name it! And all of these places are somewhat “corrupted”; they’re glitching out, full of those red cubes, and there’s just this ominous atmosphere in them, as if they’re abandoned, desolated despite looking roughly the same as ever. We then see a black-and-red blur cross the screen, and a short narration takes place:

“I’ve been here for longer than I can remember. This… alternate reality, this fake world. There seems to be no escape. Rouge and Omega talk to me occasionally…”

We see Shadow leaning against a wall. His communicator plays only white noise, then Rouge’s voice comes in; it’s strangely echoed as it calls out to him. Shadow throws the device far away and sighs.

“… They’re fake too. No matter where I go, no matter how much I run…”

Shadow is skating through Pumpkin Hill or something, when the world suddenly starts to glitch out massively; we hear the Phantom Ruby’s noise and suddenly, we’re on the ARK.

“It’s like this place was made to torture me. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.”

‘I’ve moved on from this a long time ago,’ Shadow says to the void of the Universe as we hear gunshots in the distance. He’s not being completely truthful. ‘Putting me through this scenario dozens of times changes nothing. Don’t you have anything more creative at this point?’

There’s silence, except for the shouts in the Space Colony. A voice calls out to Shadow, and he promptly ignores it, albeit with a pained look in his eyes. He’s visibly tired, almost hopeless, if one could ever describe Shadow the Hedgehog that way.

He sighs.

‘Alright, how do I get out of this one?”

We then get a start of a short level in the ARK. Don’t worry, it’s not one of those hellish mazes that usually haunt every ARK level there ever was; this is more straight forward, with doors closing all around you so that you know where you shouldn’t go, and some G.U.N. robots trying to kill you, simple thing.

The catch happens when you’re halfway through the level: as you’re crossing a long corridor, the game begins to “crash” – in the sense of you losing control of the character, the visuals beginning to glitch and the soundtrack going weird, all in a way that makes the soul leave the body of the player for a terrifying four seconds of “HOLY SHIT, I BROKE THE GAME”. But nope, you didn’t break the game: the Phantom Ruby is trolling you. We soon find that out as the signature noise plays and the glitching effect on screen disperses to show a new scenario: Mystic Jungle. The real Mystic Jungle. Congratulations: you get to play in a totally different zone for the rest of the level.

‘My head…’ Shadow murmurs to himself. ‘That was too quick; this can’t be right, it- ugh, why is it so bright here? Where are all the red things? This place seems too normal… is it… am I back in the real world?!’

We then finish the level, get our nice score and head to the last scene of the episode.

Shadow is going through the jungle, taking in everything that isn’t an illusion. He passes by a red sword stuck to the ground and leans against a tree, still a little out of it, still struggling to believe that anything is real anymore. The hedgehog then takes his communicator – surprisingly intact; hadn’t he thrown that away? – and tries to make contact. There is static for a moment, when suddenly…

‘Shadow? Oh my- Shadow, is that you?!’

He’s startled for a moment, but so relieved to hear Rouge’s normal voice again.

‘It’s me, Rouge. What’s the situation? Where’s Omega?’

‘Omega? We lost contact with him months ago; the Resistance says he must have been shut down after the Doctor took over!’

Shadow raises both his non-existing eyebrows in surprise, barely holding a gasp. He then frowns.

‘Shut down? Resistance? What do you mean “the Doctor took over”? What the heck happened?’

‘What happened? What happened?! I should be the one asking you that! You’ve been offline for six months! Everyone keeps saying you’re working with Eggman and Infinite, and I couldn’t contact you or Omega, I thought… I thought we’d lost you for good…’

‘Nonsense,’ Shadow states. We start hearing voices in the distance, and the hedgehog starts looking around while still talking ‘I’ll tell you the details later, it’s long story. What’s the current situation?’

‘Shadow…’

The (Tired) Ultimate Life Form spots something from behind the trees. Still in hiding, he looks closer only to see the Custom Hero holding the prototype Phantom Ruby they just found and talking to Tails and… Classic Sonic, much to Shadow’s confusion.

‘… We’re at war.’

Shadow takes a moment to process what’s just been said. He doesn’t even pay attention to what Rouge says next (neither do we, as the background music starts getting louder than the bat’s voice). He still watches the avatar, Tails and Classic Sonic as they leave; he focuses on the Phantom Ruby.

‘Meet me in the City. I’ve got a lot to tell you,’ Shadow says.

And with that, he leaves, the scene fades out and Episode Shadow is over!

*”The Light of Hope: Menu Version” plays in the background*

Now, a few more analytical notes before we close this ridiculously gigantic thing:

The immediate reason why we have Shadow being stuck in the Virtual Reality for six months is to indicate to us why he doesn’t show up earlier in the main game. It’s not like he was being useless this whole time and just decided to show up whenever it was most Ex-Machina of him; much like Sonic, he was trapped by the enemy. A mental trap that put Shadow on survivor mode for months without any way of communicating with anybody; with twisted versions of his friends trying to get to him and remind him that, hey, they’re still out there, probably in high danger; with these illusions mocking him, reminding him of painful memories, isolating him in familiar places… I say: if you want to emotionally hit a character, hit them hard. And this experience is bound to leave Shadow with some emotional scar, alright.

(Ever heard of conveniently coming out of nowhere?)

Shadow is bound to lose his sense of reality and sometimes it should be hard for him to acknowledge that this is the real world. I hope I can showcase some of his reactions in the later parts of this o3o

The Virtual Reality isn’t all glitchy by mistake. No, no: Infinite is perfectly capable of making a “perfect copy” of the real world, but he doesn’t want to. He wants Shadow to know this is a fake world and to know that he’s completely trapped in it while his real friends and allies are out there doing who-knows-what in a world run by the enemy. He wants to throw Shadow off-balance as much as he can, because he’s spiteful and doesn’t just leave the hedgehog to the side without a second glance.

In the game, Infinite says that they didn’t really have time to tune his power yet, so we can tell putting Shadow in the Virtual Reality was more of a practice of sorts. But man, I think this is too much of a cool concept, so I’ll say Infinite did put his power to the test before all of this; because Eggman, sir: you don’t simply throw your super-secret, amazing, unparalleled weapon in the battlefield without testing it first. This is something that can be inferred, it doesn’t need to be directly told, it just- I’m telling you this right now, ok?

I know Shadow is supposedly “over” this conflict with what happened in the ARK and it probably feels over-used to add it in again, but… it’s a thing the games haven’t tackled in such a long time, I feel like this would be a nice call-back. Besides, Infinite would want to know what would bring distress to Shadow; what happened in the ARK isn’t exactly a secret, especially if he’s working with Eggman. And Shadow can be as “over it” as he wants: it’s still a scar that will never truly leave him. Even if he watches it happen dozens of times, it’s still at least a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

ALTHOUGH! I also think this ARK level could be easily replaced with some other random level if you want to argue that Forces happens in Mobius or something, where Gerald and Maria and G.U.N. maybe never existed and whatnot.

What brought Shadow back, you ask? Well, it probably has to do with a certain someone spontaneously activating a Phantom Ruby. Maybe the avatar was thinking of Shadow and how it’d be nice to have him on their side again? Maybe they were thinking of undoing Infinite’s evil deeds? Maybe the raw power of the Phantom Ruby prototype being suddenly activated by the Custom Hero just crashed something another Phantom Ruby user did, like magnetic waves interfering with each other? Who knows?

I also find it important to show the Custom Hero here not only to show that there’s a connection between Shadow’s sudden freedom and their actions, but also to establish the tiniest amount of early familiarity between Shadow and the original character. Then maybe (maybe) I’ll give them a bit more of interaction in the main game, because it’d be nice to have a cool interaction with Shadow; and as endearing as his smile after the avatar does their thing with the sun of destruction is, it feels like it comes out of nowhere, if you think about it…

(I mean... Does he even know who we are?)

Infinite’s sword stuck to the ground goes completely over Shadow’s head, as he has no idea what that is or who it belonged to or what it means. It’s really just there for the viewer to reminisce the beginning of the episode and have a slight existential crisis.

When playing the main campaign, we get some pretty convenient information from Shadow once he finally shows up. Episode Shadow should give us a sense of how he knows those things. Want it or not, he did spend a long time studying the Phantom Ruby’s power far more closely than anybody else – well, maybe Sonic spent almost as much time as Shadow in a similar state, but that’s something to cover in another part.

The fact that Shadow is the one narrating this entire episode is supposed to allude to him telling Rouge exactly what happened during those six months he was gone. But if you want to read it as him talking to himself in the Virtual Reality as he slowly descends into madness, then be my guest!

I don’t know if it’s noticeable, but I’ve tried to tune Infinite’s cheesiness down a bit. I don’t think I can rid him of it entirely – after all, he is somewhat of a pompous, edgy, over-the-top character in general; he’s a full-on drama queen 24/7 and the only character cheesier than him is Sonic. Now, what we do with Infinite is to at least give a base to what he says. Also, I wanted him to sound a bit more like he lets the power get to his head. Oh well, I surely hope we’ll be tackling more of Infinite in the future!

Episode Shadow is extremely short, even for a DLC. I mean, it’s about only 20 minutes long – even less, if you’re good at it! With the addition of the cutscenes, the small changes, the boss fights against Squad Jackal and Infinite, and the added levels, the episode shouldn’t get overwhelmingly longer, but longer enough for it to feel more satisfying!

And with that, we’re done! I hope you enjoyed this massive thing. Despite me really liking Sonic Forces, I do think a few things could be improved. It’s not like it will happen, but rewriting is a lot of fun!

And why, no: I don’t take myself seriously.

#Sonic Forces #Episode Shadow #Sonic the Hedgehog #Infinite #Shadow #Rewrite #Headcanon #Character Analysis #Word count: why do I even bother?#phew that was a lot #I'm so tired

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bots-basket · 4 years

Text

Snapshot: make a little doodle or drabble one of your favorite scenes!

{ Yeah So My Brain Miraculously Decided To have motivation and Did a Full blown Story with Pictures So Here Ya Go!

*Note: Some of the pics used are screenshot redraws. }

🌀Vortex 🌀

Terrible. Absolutely Terrible. How could things Go So Bad?

The Tobot Crew had Awoken To a start. The Princess had Gone Missing! Onyx was the first to realize she was Missing when she didn't come out for breakfast that Morning. At First The Eldest Kept it to himself as he searched around the Junkyard, Hoping he'd Just find her Hiding or sleeping in a Random Place again. Whenever he didn't have to Worry his little Brothers the better. But After a while of Searching he Began to get concerned.. and So Did His siblings.

It was obvious that this was going to be an unavoidable Conversation, So He told Rox and Zephyr the News. Zephyr was the first to Panic.

" WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PRINCESS D: "

Zephyr Exclaimed as he Flared his Arms around in worry. How Could she be Missing?! She was Just here Last Night.. Why would she Leave? Now she's Lost in the city with who knows what lurking around the next Bend.

Rox was also Wildly Concerned for the Princess, But Handled it a bit better for Zephyr's Sake. Though he Put on a Brave Face he couldn't Hide the worry in His Tone as he Looked to Onyx.

" If we Hurry, we Might be able to find her- Right? I'll Do a Sweep of the entire City If I Have too.. W.. We'll definitely Find her.. No Matter what.. Right..?"

Onyx Looked to Rox and Zephyr and saw the complete Desperation in their Optics.. Glinting threw their Masks and Visors. He didn't Know where The princess could be or What has become of her.. But he Isn't going to Let Those negative Thoughts get to him. He has to be Strong.. for the Princess- And For his Brothers. He Gave a Swift Nod to Rox and Zephyr before responding and taking Charge of the Matter.~

" We Are going to find her, But we'll Need to broaden our Search by splitting up. Rox, You Go North towards the City Shops And Keep an eye in the sky. Remember, She likes to Avoid Contact with others so keep close attention on the Side-streets. Zephyr, You Head South towards The Villages and see if she's at any of her usual Alone-time Spots. I'll Head towards the Woodland Area where she Goes to find lost things. And keep Your Comm units up."

The Two Smaller Bots Nodded before Transforming into their Alts and Zooming off to Go Look for the Princess. Before he Left he Glanced Around the Junkyard.. Something Was giving him a Bad Vibe that something was going to happen As soon as he Left this place.. He wasn't sure about why he was feeling this way, But He wasn't going to take it lightly.

/// *I'll Just Have to Keep my Guard Up..*\\\

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

It Had Been Over 2 Hours since the Squad had been Searching For Their Little Lost Princess.. And there was No Luck Or Clue to her whereabouts At All. Rox had Circled the City Twice Now .. He Hated to Admit it, But He was starting to Get as Worried as Zephyr was about Their Pilot. What Kind of Hero Could he be if he can't even protect the ones he Loves?

He was about to Double-back Once More when Something Caught the Edge Of His Optic. He Transformed Midair and Zoomed down to A Nearby Rooftop to get a Better Look at What he Saw. As he Peaked over the edge of The building, The Thing he saw was unmistakable.. He was going to need Backup. He Shakily Reached for His Comm Unit before speaking In A broken Tone.

[* I.. Found Her.. *]

[* What? Where!?* ]

[* Roxas Where's the Princess?*]

[*- Is Struggling to Answer-*]

[* ROXAS!*]

[* It's Tobais.. He's.. He's Got Her..*]

Onyx Felt as If an Arrow Pierced threw His Armor and into his Core as He Heard the Name That They All Dreaded come out of Rox's trembling Voice. No.. NO- Not Him.. Anyone But Him-! This has turned into the absolute Worse case Scenario. Whatever that Bad Man is planning he Must Be Stopped at Once! Their Princesses Life may depend on them-!

Zephyr Was Shaking too as he heard Tobais Ring out throughout his Mindcore. The Last encounter with Him Lead to The Poisoning Of the Princess.. they were forced to Do Terrible things just to get the Antidote. That man Was a Psychopath- who Knows What He'll Do To Their Princess now that she's in his Clutches. Even though he was scared of Tobais.. He Has To Be Brave! They Have to Save Her!

[* Rox, Where Are You Now? *]

[* I'm Down Norsh Street, Near the New Coin Factory. I Can see Some Of Tobais Badnicks Guarding the Place.. What Do I Do? *]

[* Staying Hidden will be the best move for Now Roxie, We'll come to you. We are Stronger together plus Have each other's backs Incase Tobais Might try to Capture you too. *]

[* Understood, I'll Keep You Posted if anything Happens.*]

Rox Hated All Of this. Tobais Never Fails to Get Under his Metal Plating. Why Must He Have his Wicked Heart Set On Torturing his Family! He's Crushed Rox's Dreams Of Being a Heroes To this City.. He Made them Become Criminals... all At The Princesses Expense. But This is it. He's going to Make Tobais Pay for everything He's Put him and his Family through.. There is No Redemption for this Villan.. He Must Be Vanquished.

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

It didn't Take Long For the Other two the Show Up and meet Rox on the rooftops. Having Scoping out the Area and Situation, The small Squad of Robots Came Up with a Plan. Now all they had to Do was Take Action. Onyx Glanced to his siblings before Whispering

" You ready to Storm the Villan's Castle?"

" Absolutely."

Zephyr Nodded as he made his Servos into a Fist. There's no way he's getting away with this.

" Then Let's Do This!"

Rox Shouted before Flipping off the Roof. The Mecha Guards Looked Up in surprise as The Orange Mech Came from outta Nowhere and Falcon Punched one of them Into The Factories Walls.

The Other Guards Quickly Armmed themselves with their Pistols and began Firing Blasts at Rox. In an Instance a Blue Energy Shield protected him from Taking any Damage. Behind the Shield stood Little Zephyr in a Protective Manner, Making Sure Rox Was Safe.

" I Am a Knight of Valor and Won't Let you do as you Please!"

Rox Smiled To Zephyr Before reaching for his second set of Wings And Unhitching them from his Back, Revealing that they were actually Duel Blades. He Gave a Swift Leap into the Air and Hovered above The Guard Robots. Placing his Blades together he dragged them against each other as an Electrical Pulse Began to Surge from his Body and into the Blades. With a Glint in his Optics Shinung through his Visor he Let Out his Catchphrase.

" To Save the Innocent From This Evildoer's Clutches, I Am a Hero! "

He Sent A Slash Of electricity Down Upon Most of the Guards, Leaving only a Few left Standing. The Last Of them Who Managed to Miss the Charge Of Rox's Ability Sent Guided Missiles at the Flying Mech, Attempting to Put him Out of they sky For Good.

The Eldest Sibling However wasn't going to let him be taken Down So Easily. With the whirl of his Cape He Skillfully Cloud stepped and Got infront of Rox within a Few movements. Raising his servo he managed to create a Magnetic Field to Divert the Course Of the Missiles and sent them Spiraling Down on his Opponents.

" Your End Is Near- For I Am Their Guardian, So Accept Your Fate."

Zephyr Stood his Ground as the Blasts from the Missiles Blowing Up the Remains of the Guards nearly sent him perpeling backwards. Before the Dust could even Settle The Three Hurried Inside The Factory Opening, Hoping that They could see some sort of Clue to where Tobais was keeping their Princess.

Bad Move.

As Soon as they Entered The Factory Bright Spotlights Blazed in their Optics Causing A Temporary Blindness in their visual Sensors. In an Instance Rox Felt Something Grab Onto his Wrist and Twist it Violently Behind his Back, Causing him To drop his Swords and let Out a Screech in Pain by the sudden forced Movement.

" AAAARRRGGHH!!"

Onyx's Sensors Flicked Slightly as he whipped around Towards the direction of Rox's Screams. He Darted Towards the source while Unsheathing His Arm Blades. He Slashed In the direction Of the last known Sound, Hitting something.. Metallic. He Heard Rox give a Subtle Gasp as he felt the grip of his Attacker leave his Wrists for a Moment. The Purple Mechs Sensors Flicked Once more as he Glanced around Blindly. Suddenly he Felt something Grab his Leg- Slamming him into the ground and then Into Rox in a Brutal Manner.

" ACK- *SLAM* UGH-!"

" UCK-"

" ROXIE! ONYX- WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Zephyr's Headfins Flapped Wildly as Anxiety began to Creep into his Mindcore as he Frantically Tried to Figure out what was happening. And Fact that he couldn't see anything didn't Really help his Demeanor either. All He could Do was the cries of Pain Of his Big Brothers as something was Attacking them.

Then The Sound of Metal crashing to the ground stopped abruptly- Causing him to Literally freeze in Panic. He Felt a cold Shivver Creep up his Spine as Something loomed Over him. At that very Moment His Optical Functioning restarted... But it was too Late. A Metal Hand Slammed It's fist ontop the Little Bot, Knocking him Out Cold.

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

In a Few Moments The Squad Came too, And Found themselves in a Very dreadful Situation. They were Hanging from The Ceiling in a Steel-Inforced Net, All Of their Weapons and Gear was confiscated, And Worst of All- There Stood Ontop a Mighty Mech was Tobais, Wearing a Wicked Smirk as he Held Held up Their Beloved Princess.. With a Look of True Terror in Her Tear filled Eyes.

" YOU COWARD! USING YOUR UNDERHANDED TRICKS TO CAPTURE US! IF YOU DON'T LET GO OF THE PRINCESS RIGHT NOW SO HELP ME-"

Rox Snarled as he Grabbed onto the Metal Netting, Attempting to Break Threw It. HOW DARE HE TREAT THE PRINCESS THAT WAY!! Showing her off Like Some Trophy he'd won. If he has hurt her in anyway he was going to Cause some Serious Damage to this Dude.

" wHy Are You Doing this To Us-! Release the Princess!.. Please..She's Done Nothing To You- "

Zephyr Was Trembling as he Spoke. The Sight Of His Princess So Afraid Made him Scared aswell.. He knows What this Man was capable Of.. And the Fact that He Not Only has Her.. But he Single Handedly managed to Capture All three of them aswell Made him Even More Afraid. The edges of His Optics Began to Spike to mimic that Of Crying.. He wished he could Just wake up from this Nightmare.

" What Do You Want Tobais! We'll Do whatever You Say, You have Us! Just Don't Hurt Her! She's Just a Child! She doesn't have a use for Your Plans!"

Onyx Called Out in hopes Of Negotiating with Him. He would give himself Up If it meant protecting Her.. They Owe her their Lives, He can't just let her Loose hers.

But Tobais, on the other hand, Could Honestly Care Less. He Only Laughed at their pleas Before Throwing their Princess Off the Mech and watched as she crashed to the ground. She groaned in pain As she weakly looked up to her Protectors Dangling helplessly in the air calling out to her.

" PRINCESS!!"

The Prof. gave a Small Humm as he Turned his Attention to the Trio Aggressively trying to Get To their Pilot, Only to Continuously Fail. It was Quite Amusing To say the least.

" Your Right You Know.. I Don't need Her.. But I Don't need You anymore either. I have Proven that A Human Mind and Intellect Is Stronger than your Dumb Little Mindcores with this Mech."

~ He Smiled as He Slid into the Cockpit of the Mecha And Stood Proudly Behind their Fallen Pilot. ~

" Now I'll Be Able to Achieve my Greatest Ambitions with This Mech suit. Best Of all I won't have to Worry about you Ruining my Schemes. I'm Sure You're gonna make Great Spare Parts once I Dismantle you. I'm sorry To Say but.. You've Outlived Your Usefulness.. Just Like this Child."

~ He Moved The Large Mech Towards the Girl, It's Large Metal Feet shaking the factory with each Step.. She Couldn't get away.. she couldn't even see it coming.. Her Fate was set as the Giant Mech Lifted it's Pede Above their Pilot.~

" So Long little Princess."

"No..-"

" NO..-!"

" NOOO!"

She Saw the Metal Foot Coming Down Upon Her.. She Heard the Horror striken Cries of her Tobots.. she couldn't see a way Out.. She Closed her eyes and Let out One Last Shriek as the tears began to Flow down her Face..

" AAAAAAAAA-"

...

*Woosh!*

In that Instance, A Few Moments before disaster Something happened. Tobais Felt The Mech be sent Backwards as Something with Great force Rammed into it. When he went to See what the heck Just Hit him, He Couldn't believe his eyes. There, Towering Over the Small Child he was Going to crush... Was a Panther Of some sort.. No.. It wasn't a Panther.. It was a Tobot! But that can't be possible.. He'd never seen any Tobot that looked like him before- Where'd she get ANOTHER ONE-!?

" WHO ARE YOU!?"

" I Am Bass, Her Solider Of Destruction. All who Dare Hurt her Shall Succumb To My Claws..

So. Stay. away. From. My. MASTER."

Bass Snarled As the edges Of His Servos Dug into the Ground. He Didn't know who this was, Or How he even Managed to Capture her Guards and get his Grubby Little Hands on his Master.. But he's Going to make him Regret the day he even Laid eyes on Her. Bass hated to Admit it, But He's Grown rather Found Of his Master.

Ever Since she Helped Him Escape From his Creators.. From his predetermined Fate.. He Decided that Rosie and Rosie Alone Shall be His Master. But the time has come for Him To Step Up and Make it Known That She is His.

Tobias Was Appalled to be threatened by a Raggedy Looking Robot! Doesn't he Know who he Is! He'll teach this Dumb Cat Some Manners!

The Mech Regained itself before Sending a servo Towards the two, Aggressively Grabbing at them. In an Instant Bass Grabbed onto The scruff Of Rosie's Hoodie and Leapt Backwards, Avoiding being Caught By Tobais's Grasp. As The Mecha Grabbed and Swung at Them, The Feline-Estique Tobot Manged to Dodge every Swing Skillfully- Jumping into the Air with each Swing. As He was In Midair The Mech's Other Servo Grabbed his Leg and threw him into the ground with a Forceful *CRASH!*

Bass uses his Body to Sheild Rosie From Receiving any Damage from the Collision with the Floor. He Let Out a Hiss Of Pain as he Landed infront the Trapped Trio Struggling to get free. He Glanced at Them and then to Tobias Closing in on them. He Got to his Pedes and Set The Child Down Before Stepping ahead of her to Face the Man in the Mech.

"This Ends Now. "

He Let out a Thunderous Roar Before Slamming his Servos onto the Floor- Letting his Claws Dig deep to give himself Stability for The Stunt he was About to Pull. His Back Arched and Snarled. His Tail Began To Sperate into Sections as a Dark Purple Substance Swirled Out of It..

Tobais Couldn't believe what he saw! This Tobot.. Had Created A VORTEX!? How Could Something Like this even be possible!? He didn't Have time To Process what Was Happening as a Bright Purple Glow Engulfed the Room..

"ARRRGGGGGHH!!!!"

.....

....

~Elsewhere~

....

...

A Large Purple Vortex Opened In the middle Of a Clearing beside a Lake- Throwing Bass, The Trio, And The Princess Safely- But roughly- Onto the Grass. The group Gave a Slight Groan as they Slowly Regained themselves. Bass Looked Over Rosie to Make sure she didn't hurt herself from the fall. Rox was the first Person to break The Silence

" I'm Sorry But What The Heck Just Happened-?!"

"..I.. I'm Unsure.."

Onyx Rubbed the Side Of his helm as he Glanced around the Area.. He didn't recognize this place at all.. Were they even still in the city? His attention shifted to the Mech Checking over their Princess.. He remember he had Appeared Suddenly and Saved her.. But just Who was he exactly..? He Flinched Slightly as the other looked back to him.

" I Created a Vortex To send us somewhere Safe."

Bass Spoke Up as he Finished Looking over His Master. She Only seemed to Have Sprained her wrist, Other than that She was just a little shaken up. That was a Relief. He Gave the Girl Her Glasses and Stood Upwards while Brushing himself off.

" Ah, Yes..Who the Heck are You! "

Rox Pointed his Digit At Bass As The Mech Stood Up. It's not that he isn't grateful or anything on how he kept the Princess Safe.. But How does a Random Guy Come outta Nowhere, Just Totally CLAIM the Princess, Face-off with Tobias, and Then Just Poof! Sent them to who knows where just like that!?

" I literally Just Declared my Name Five minutes Ago. But I suppose you couldn't hear me over your Failure to Protect The Kid."

Bass responded Coldly as his Tail Lashed From side to Side. He definitely wasn't impressed with His masters So Called 'Guardians.'

" WHAT!!"

Rox's Wings Flapped as He let out a Low Churr in irritation. Just Who does this Guy Think He Is!

" You Heard me. I'm surprised she's managed to survive this long Under Your Care."

The Mech Scoffed.

" Why You-"

He Growled as He Went to Punch The Smug Cat

" Roxie.."

Zephyr Placed his Servo on Rox's Shoulder and Looked at him with One of those Looks. Just Let it Go.. He Helped the Princess and That's all that matters.

" HMMPH!"

The Orange Mech looked to Zephyr and then to Bass and Huffed. Fine! Whatever! Let the jerk be a Jerk. At least he seems like the Loner type to Ridicule You Before Leaving in a Pretty Stupidly awesome Manner.

" Thank You For Your Assistance.. We Owe You Our Lives. "

Onyx Smiled Warmly to the other and offered his Servo to him. But that Motion didn't seem to fair well with the feline as he Avoided it like the plague. Onyx Lowered His Servo and Frowned Slightly.. Did he just Offend Him..? He Glanced to Zephyr and Just Shrugged.

" Let's Start Over.. I'm Zephyr! And these are My Older Brothers Rox and Onyx.. And You Are..?"

Zephyr Caught Onto Onyx's Motion and Quickly tried to Apologise while Also get on his good Side. He must Obviously be a Good Person To Come and Help them in A Time of Need, Right?

" *Tch* My Name is Bass, And from Now On I shall be the True Protector of Your 'Princess'. "

He Stated as he wrapped his Long Tail Around Rosie in an Defensive Manner while Glaring at the Trio. There was No Way he was Just going to let them Be her Caretakers. From Now On He's Going to Be Her Protector.. and there's Nothing they can Do About it.

" W H A T - "

All three Siblings Gasped in Unison-

Well that Was Unexpected. Looks like their Lives are About to get A Bit More Interesting~

~ End..? ~

14 notes · View notes

naruwitch · 4 years

Text

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 14: Rebirth

"Oh, no!" Rai exclaimed as the dust finally cleared. The black coffin ship stood ominously in front of them, a replica of the one that attacked them on Arus.

"Please tell me there's not a giant monster in there. Please tell me it's empty!" Shirley begged desperately.

"If it's the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it," Suzaku said, pulling out his Bayard.

"I don't think so," Lelouch disagreed, as Suzaku's Bayard formed Voltron's sword, and a shield appeared in front of Voltron. "I don't think even the Galra are stupid enough to send the exact same monster against us and expect different results. Hold your ground."

Nothing happened for a couple of seconds, but then the ship creaked and fell open like a puzzle. Inside wasn't the same Myzak monster that they were hoping it would be. This robot was thin, with long, lanky red arms and a chameleon-like head, with long, serrated teeth. Once freed, it lifted its head up, the two eyes on its sides rotating to face forward, a sickly green color illuminating them.

Lelouch got a bad feeling in his chest when the beast's eyes landed on them. This was not going to be an easy fight.

Suddenly, the large port in its chest began to glow and fired a powerful blast of green energy, hitting Voltron's shield dead on. The shot was so strong that it pushed Voltron back several yards.

"Definitely not the same monster!" Kallen yelled as everyone braced themselves against the blast.

With a grunt, Voltron managed to extract itself away from the blast by turning to the side. "We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera's surface!" Lelouch shouted as the Defender of the Universe took off from the ground and charged head-on at the beast, sword poised to strike.

However, they didn't get the chance to. The robot leaped into the air and shot at them again, this time from above. Rai barely brought the shield up in time to block it. Everyone groaned as they struggled to hold themselves against it. When the attack wore off, Voltron managed to get airborne again and dodge the next several laser shots fired at it, but it was still too close to the surface for their liking. At one point, they were able to fly in close and took a swing at it, but the beast was just as versatile as it was fast and easily dodged. One of its eyes then rotated about its head and shot another laser at Voltron, causing him to tumble backward. As Voltron took the air once more, they quickly tried to put some distance between them and the robot, but it caught up to them and fired again. The shield managed to hold out against it, but it wouldn't be forever as Voltron was pushed backward.

"We can't hold out!" Rivalz cried.

"Zerith's weakening!" Rai exclaimed, "If the shield sustains structural damage, we're done for!"

"Rai's right!" Milly agreed.

"Oh, Rai is right, I'm the one that said, 'We can't hold out!'" Rivalz argued.

"Rivalz! Watch your footing!" Suzaku called as the Blue Lion caught a rock that caused the team to lose their footing, the shield splitting and flying off to the sides in two pieces.

"Okay," Lelouch hissed between his teeth, "Team Voltron, disband!" At his command, the Lions split apart from Voltron, "Everyone, evasive maneuvers! It can't shoot us all at once!"

Lelouch, however, spoke too soon as the monster, stretched its arms wide open, the inside covered with more laser cannons, and began firing all at once at the seven assailants.

"Okay, it can do that, too!" he quickly amended.

At least as separate ships, the Lions were able to avoid the lasers a little bit better, but there were still too many coming too fast to get in a clear shot.

Suddenly, through the cloud cover, a blue laser shot out and hit the beast point-blank in the back, causing it to stumble. It immediately afterward, turned one of its eyes on the Castleship, firing relentlessly at it as well.

Coran, C.C., and Allura grunted as they braced against the barrage of attacks, "Where does Zarkon get these beasts from? And how do they keep finding us?" the Princess demanded.

"It was likely used as a backup in case the trap they set for us didn't work," C.C. reasoned.

"Princess, the particle barrier won't sustain much longer. It's still not at full strength after the blast from the Galra ship," Coran informed her as the screens began glowing red again from the damage.

"Kallen, try to draw its fire! I'm coming in from above!" Lelouch ordered.

"Roger!" Kallen said as she and Aka dove down from below. She fired several shots of her fire cannon, but that seemed to have zero effect on the beast other than drawing its attention.

With its head turned, Lelouch and the Black Lion prepared to fire a barrage of their own but were forced to pull back at the last second when one of the beast's eyes rotated back and shot at them instead.

"We need to find its blind spot!" Kallen said in frustration.

"I don't think this thing has a blind spot!" Rai countered, "It has a thousand eyes!"

"Laser eyes! Laser eyes!" Shirley screamed as she dove to avoid a Galra structure falling on top of her. Despite this thing fighting for the Galra, it didn't seem to have much care for its surroundings whatsoever.

"Suzaku, maybe you could try and suck it up with your Lion?" Rivalz suggested.

"I don't think that'll work!" the Purple Paladin said, "It's way too big for that!"

Milly suddenly had an idea, "Maybe I can blind it with my supernova!"

"Supernova?" Kallen asked.

"You know, the flash bomb thing I did earlier," Milly explained briefly as she spun around a laser.

"It's worth a try," Lelouch agreed, "everyone, be ready!"

"Alright! Let's go!" Milly grinned as her Lion shot out a ball that moments later expanded with light. Everyone heard the monster cry out in confused pain. It seemed to do the job, and the Paladins took full advantage of it.

"Hit it! With everything you've got!" Lelouch ordered. The Lions raced forward to obey, lasers flying, and elements being throw all over the place. Rivalz even managed to freeze some of the laser eyes shut, but a few moments later, they melted open again. Despite the fact it had been blinded, that didn't stop the creature from attacking, instead just shooting willy-nilly hoping to hit someone.

"It's not enough!" Rai exclaimed, "even when it can't see us, fighting this thing is like fighting an entire fleet at once!"

"We need to aim for those laser eyes and take them out!" Suzaku shouted, barely dodging a random shot from the monster.

"We'll cover you from up here!" Allura said as the Castle's shields started firing at the beast from above. This was a mistake, as the creature had finally got its full vision back and had turned its assault to the Castle. The shields were still heavily damaged from the ion cannon earlier, so the Castle was losing ground fast.

Coran started to panic as multiple screens started popping up, the condition of the Castle dwindling with each attack taken. "We've lost the spectral generator! Going to reserve! There's a fire in VIN bay three! Suppressors on! Suppressors out! Princess, the ship is being torn apart!"

"We're taking heavy fire up here! We're in trouble!" Allura shouted over the sound of the alarms blaring, inwardly starting to panic as well.

"Princess, pull back! Get out of its range, now!" Lelouch ordered harshly.

"We will not abandon you!" Allura countered stubbornly.

"You're not, we're about to pull out anyway."

"We are?" Shirley asked in confusion.

"We can't hold out. We have to," Lelouch promptly, "Lions, to the mine shafts! It's the only place the monster can't get us."

"Roger that!" Rai nodded, flying towards the closest one. The other Lions were quick to follow his example.

"Heading into orbit!" Allura said as the Castle pulled back into the atmosphere.

Rivalz and Milly followed after Rai, while Lelouch, Suzaku, Kallen, and Shirley retreated into another shaft. As the quartet landed, they spotted Shay and her family at the bottom with them. They quickly exited their Lions and approached them.

"What is happening?" Rax asked anxiously.

"There's a monster up there that Zarkon sent to destroy us," Kallen informed them as the Balmerans' faces morphed into shock.

"A monster?" Shay asked, losing the little hope she had gained, "Will Zarkon's savagery never abate? Perhaps our people were never meant to be free."

"No! Shay, don't give up," Shirley furiously tried to reassure her friend. "It's true, Zarkon's power grows with every planet he conquers, but he's weakened by every being that fights back."

"Fight back? Against a monster like that? How?" Shay asked desperately.

"I don't know, but we can beat it. Tell her, Suzaku," Shirley begged.

"Can we?" the Purple Paladin asked skeptically.

"Yes, we can! This is our first mission, and we're not going to fail," Lelouch said, determined to see this through. "We can beat it. We just need some time to come up with a plan."

"See? I told you we can! Thanks, Lulu," Shirley smiled. Suddenly, everyone gasped as the ground beneath them began to shake, loud groans echoing from the tunnels around them, rock and debris falling.

"Do you guys feel that over there?" Kallen asked through her comms to the other party.

"Yeah, we feel it, alright!" Rivalz answered back, hearing the same shaking and groans from the other tunnel.

"It's that sound again. What is that?" Milly exclaimed as the shaking continued, seeming to get stronger.

Lelouch and his group actually jumped back a little as large cracks started to form close to them.

Rax gently laid his hand on top of it, sorrow showing on his face, "That great noise comes from the Balmera itself. Our home crumbles beneath our feet. The Balmera is dying."

"Oh, no!" Shirley gasped, a hand flying to her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.

o~o

"Coran, Allura, C.C., are you there?" Lelouch asked through the Castle's communications.

"We're here, Lelouch," C.C. responded.

"The Balmera—"

"We already know," Coran interrupted as he brought up a screen of the Balmera's heat signature. It still continued to give way to cold, dark blues and purples, "Our scanners are showing the life energy draining from the Balmera."

o~o

From there hiding place, Rai pressed a button on his gauntlet, pulling up an identical image of the Balmera. This time, the color was disappearing rapidly. Milly and Rivalz watched the image with concern as well. "How does that happen?"

"Removing crystals from a Balmera is like removing a vital part of the mighty beast. The Balmera needs time to regenerate itself to stay healthy, but the Galra's greed may have cost this noble Balmera its life."

o~o

Back with Shay's family, Lelouch had also pulled up the image on his own gauntlet, face looking grim. It was not looking suitable for the Balmera or its people.

"So, what exactly is going to happen?" Suzaku asked.

"Its core will collapse, destabilizing the entire skeletal structure. Anything or anyone remaining on the Balmera at that point will be crushed into dust." Lelouch and the others gapped at the revelation, though the Black Paladin was quick to recover.

"How long before the core collapses?" Lelouch asked urgently.

"Probably a matter of hours," Coran regrettably answered, "The mighty organism willingly gives itself to all, but not all return its kindness."

o~o

Back on the Castle's bridge, Allura steeled herself, seeing that this was slowly becoming a worst-case scenario. They had to act quickly if they were still to save the remaining Balmerans. "Then our time is short. We'll evacuate the planet. We need to get all the Balmerans to the Castle of Lions before the planet implodes."

"Okay, that sounds like a good plan," Kallen agreed through the screen from Lelouch's gauntlet. Rai was looking through on a separate screen with Rover hovering next to him. There was still a significant problem for that plan to work, though. "But how on Earth do you plan on landing the Castle with that monster on the surface? It'll shoot you down the tick that it spots you."

"We're going to need a distraction," Suzaku said.

Lelouch nodded, "We'll engage the beast in our Lions. With it distracted, Allura, C.C., and Coran will land the Castle and load all of its citizens."

"Or," Rivalz interjected from Rai's screen, "we could load Balmerans into our Lions a few at a time and shuttle them to the ship. You know, no engaging, ferocious laser-eye guy. How long would that take?"

"Probably weeks," C.C. bluntly stated, "Days at the very least."

"We only have hours!" Rai added, shooting Rivalz a look that showed there was no room to argue.

"Guys look, we don't necessarily have to beat this thing," Milly said.

o~o

"We don't?" Shirley asked, mildly confused now.

"Milly's correct. This time we don't. We just need to bait it away from the ship. Provoke and evade," Lelouch elaborated.

"Uh, Lulu, here's the thing," Shirley said, a tremor in her tone, "I'm worried that we're going to be really, really good at the provoking part, and then like really bad at the evading part. But if—" she glanced at Shay and her family, before steeling herself, "—if this is what it takes to save Shay and everyone on the planet, then I'm in."

"Shay, can you contact the other Balmerans?" Suzaku asked, turning to Shay and her family.

"I can, but I know not what they'll say," Shay admitted, hesitance laced in her tone, "Leave the planet? Our home?"

o~o

"It's the only option," Allura said through the communications link, "I'm coming down."

"Princess, no! It's too dangerous!" Coran protested strongly. He had already lost his family, his king, and everything else on Altea. He didn't want to lose her too.

"Someone has to be there to lead these people out," Allura argued back, determined to help.

"You're coming down? That thing will spot your pod and blow it to pieces!" Rai exclaimed through the transmission.

"Let me worry about that. You just focus on keeping the creature distracted," Allura reassured them.

"I'll go with her," C.C. said, and pressed further before Allura could object. "If something goes wrong, I can take the hit from that creature for you. Don't you remember that I'm immortal? Nothing that beast throws at me will kill me,"

"...Fine, suit up then," Allura relented. Though it was true that C.C. made good arguments, Allura was still mildly disturbed not only with the fact that someone would literally be acting as a living shield, but how casually C.C. took getting shot out of the sky. She could only wonder how many other painful deaths this woman had gone through for that possibility.

o~o

Minutes later, all seven of the Lions shot out of their hiding places in the mine shafts. The beast spotted, Rai, Milly, and Rivalz first and attempted to fire, only to be blasted in the back by Lelouch and his party from behind. The beast was not amused as it shot back with its chest in retaliation. As the Lions flew off, the creature activated its own jetpacks on its legs and flew after them, continuing to fire lasers from its eyes and arms.

"Okay, we've provoked. Time to evade!" Shirley shouted with determined eyes as she and the Orange Lion narrowly avoided another shot to their left. The beast roared as it barrelled through a rock structure in its path.

o~o

Allura and C.C. arrived at the launch bay, where some drop sleds were waiting, this time with helmets of their own on. The drop-sleds were in a similar design to the speeders, but mostly only had the front of it, with little to no back.

"Alright, Princess, C.C., we've lured the monster away. It's time," Lelouch informed.

"I'll contact you when we're on the ground," Allura answered as she and C.C. prepped two of the sleds.

"Be careful out there," Coran warned through the intercoms.

The launch doors began to blink before turning red. They opened up, sucking the two women out into a vacuum that launched them towards the Balmera's surface.

o~o

The Orange and Blue Lions paused in their assault and watched in awe as C.C. and Allura continued to descend.

"Is that Allura and C.C.?!" Rivalz exclaimed.

The Paladins weren't the only ones to notice. The beast turned one of its eyes on the women and was about to fire.

"We got to protect them!" Suzaku shouted as he dive-bombed the beast to shift its focus away from C.C. and Allura. The Purple Lion barely avoided it and felt the lasers skim by its side. Lelouch and the Black Lion latched onto its head and kicked off of it, further agitating it. To the rear, Rivalz used the Blue Lion's ice ray to freeze its head, but it was shattered moments later with its lasers.

o~o

The princess and witch both continued to fly down into one of the shafts. They weaved around the mining pillars and equipment until they came to a stop on the ground. Allura looked up in relief to see that Shay and her family were already there.

"We're on the ground," Allura informed the Paladins.

"Alright, hurry! I don't know how long we can hold this thing off," Lelouch ordered anxiously.

Allura and C.C. ran towards the Balmeran family, "Shay, I'm going to need your help."

"Princess? C.C.?" Shay asked, surprised to see both of them.

"Have you contacted the other Balmerans?" C.C. asked urgently. Then she noticed Shay and her family. They looked sad and dejected. Something wasn't right.

"What is it? What's going on?" Allura asked.

"All Balmerans give thanks for the kindness you and the Paladins bestowed upon us, but, alas, we cannot take leave of our home," Shay informed them sadly.

"What?" Allura gasped, and even C.C. looked taken aback. These people, knowing that death was at their doorstep, were willing to die with their Balmera. It was a way of showing how much they loved and honored the magnificent creature. C.C. had only met a handful of people back on Earth that shared this same conviction and couldn't help the warm admiration she felt at that moment.

"If our great Balmera's life cycle is over because of us," Shay looked back at her family, "then our desire is to stay with it until the end."

"But you'll never survive," Allura protested.

"And it's not your doing either," C.C. argued, though much calmer than the Princess, "it was the Galra that came here and took what was rightfully yours in the first place. If you must blame someone for this, blame the one behind all this madness, Zarkon himself."

"But it was I who conspired against you when you first came here," Rax countered, "And we submitted to their cruelty years ago. We contacted the others, and all agree, it's not right that you risk your lives for us. Please, away. We ask for no more guilt and shame upon us."

"It is our wish. The wish of all Balmerans," Shay added.

"No. I won't give up on you," Allura persisted, "I won't give up on any of you, no matter the circumstances."

"But we do not ask this of you. Please!" Shay begged.

"We're here because we want to be," C.C. said, "All living things deserved to live without fear of oppression. And you will receive it."

"I have heard your words. Now let me speak mine. I want to talk to the Balmerans. Can you get a message to them from me?"

"There is no need to speak for you," Shay's grandmother said gently, "You have a unique power within. The Balmera will carry your words," she pointed at the wall that Allura had laid her hand against. Underneath her palm, it was glowing blue. Allura gasped and pulled her hand away in shock.

"Speak your heart, child. All can hear you," the grandmother encouraged, placing Allura's hand back on the wall.

Allura closed her eyes and concentrated as she spoke, "Balmerans, this is Princess Allura. You don't know me, but I am here to help. I know what it's like to watch your home planet die. For I come from planet Altea, a planet that has long been destroyed by the Galra. But I refuse to give up. And now, you all have the same choice. You can decide now to devote your lives to making sure this never happens to another planet. I am eternally sorry for what has happened to the Balmera, but I beg you, do not let its dying be in vain. Honor the Balmera's death by refusing to give up. Join me in my fight against the Galra."

From all over the Balmera, the people were listening to Allura's words. Words that touched their hearts and filled them with the courage they needed to carry on.

Shay's grandmother placed her hand next to Allura's and looked graciously at the princess, "Your words have touched our hearts."

"Thank you," Allura said, tears filling her eyes.

"No, thank you. You've given us reason to hope again," the grandmother smiled at her.

"Everyone, head to the caves just under the surface," Allura instructed through the Balmera.

o~o

From the Castle, Coran, with the B.L.I.P.s, was able to see a large number of yellow dots converging towards the shaft entrances. "Princess, your speech must have worked. The Balmerans are moving toward the surface!"

o~o

C.C. and Allura just finished leading Shay's family to the exit, with Rax carrying their grandmother on his back. They were able to make out the Castle, just barely in the clouds.

"Coran, we're just beneath the surface," Allura informed him.

"Triangulate our position. This is your landing zone," C.C. added just as the Balmera shook again. It caused the group to have to hang onto the walls for balance.

"Understood. Readying ship. Castle of Lions, coming in! Paladins, how are you holding up?" Coran asked.

o~o

Kallen looped around a set of lasers and now was looking down at the beast from above, "I think we've got him pretty distracted. Are the Balmerans in position?"

"They're making their way to the top," Allura informed from down below.

o~o

From all over the Balmera, the Balmerans started climbing thee ladders to get to the top. Some were even climbing the mining columns and pillars. Men, women, and children were slowly bringing themselves to the surface. All of the Balmerans paused in wonder as the Castle of Lions landed just outside one of the main shafts.

Allura and C.C. were directing Shay and her family up to the final ladder to the top, thousands of others waiting just below them.

Coran lowered himself to the surface in a transport pod that landed underneath the Castle. Coran urgently motioned to them as the pod opened.

"Bring them out! Hurry now!"

Just as the words left his lips, though, the Balmera began to shake again. Allura had just finished coming up the ladder when it tilted backward from the tremors, along with all the other lower ladders. Large boulders and rock began to crumble down, nearly killing several Balmerans.

"No!" Allura gasped as the surface began to split apart, and the Balmerans cried out in fear.

"It's on the verge of collapsing!" Coran shouted as he ran over to them, "We have to go!"

"But the Balmerans!" Allura cried. Only Shay and her family had managed to make it to the surface. There were still hundreds or even thousands more still trapped below!

"They're trapped! What can be done? Time is short!" Rax exclaimed as the ground rumbled again.

o~o

Back on the battlefield, the Lions were scrambling to avoid the incoming shots from the ro-beast. Each one that missed them hit the Balmera, which only weakened it further.

"Every hit weakens the Balmera. Have you evacuated yet? What's happening?" Milly asked as she felt herself getting uncharacteristically anxious.

"The Balmerans are trapped. Just keep distracting that beast!" Coran said over the link.

"Uh, do you want us to distract it by dying? Because that's what's going to happen!" Shirley shouted, desperation in her tone.

Lelouch gritted his teeth. This was taking too long, they were slowly getting worn out. There was no telling how much longer they could keep the robot occupied before it possibly got bored and went to attack the Castle again. That meant…

"Paladins, remember when I said we didn't have to beat it?" Lelouch asked. Sounds of confirmation rang in his ears. "Well, it looks like we have to beat it now!"

o~o

"We're lost! All are trapped with no chance for escape!" Shay cried, holding her head in despair.

"We can't give up," Allura said, kneeling next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"But what can be done?" Shay asked desperately. Her eyes, though, were suddenly drawn to a bright blue glow in the direction of the Castle. Everyone else also looked in its path. What they saw was a small section exactly underneath the Castle that was glowing a bright, healing blue.

"The Balmera... The ground beneath your mighty ship appears healed. Its essence thrives. But how?" Shay asked in wonder.

"The Castle!" Allura exclaimed in realization.

"Not just the Castle, but you as well," the grandmother said, as she smiled at Allura. Looking beneath her, the spot where she and Shay were sitting was glowing as well.

"It's true," Coran said, "Your Altean energy combined with the ship's Crystal has revitalized this part of the Balmera."

Allura picked her head, an idea forming in her head as she stood up, "That's it! Maybe we can perform the ceremony you spoke about. We can save the Balmera."

"What ceremony?" Rax asked, confused.

"In the days of old, when Alteans were given the gift of crystals from a Balmera, we would repay its sacrifice by performing a ceremony," Coran explained. "A sacred Altean would re-infuse the Balmera with Quintessence. In this way, we had a symbiotic relationship."

"The Galra have only been taking. It's time we give back," Allura told her advisor as they all started walking to the bottom of the ship. "I can connect with the Crystal in the Bridge and use the Castle's power as an amplifier."

"When your father performed the ceremony, it was on a much smaller scale," Coran said as he walked up to her side, "I beg you. To heal an entire planet, it could take more energy than you possess. You may not... live through it."

"I know you're scared for me, Coran, but I must try," Allura said, with conviction.

"Perhaps I can help as well," C.C. said from behind them.

"How? You're not a sacred Altean, you can't perform the ceremony with me," Allura pointed out.

"Perhaps, but if you Alteans are capable of giving life force, I can assume that the opposite is possible as well. No?" C.C. tilted her head toward the Princess.

"Well, yes, it is, but I would never think to do such a thing to anyone or anything," Allura said, horrified at the mere idea.

"Well, if I let you use some of mine, you wouldn't necessarily be taking it," C.C. said, "No matter how much it is, it won't kill me. You might as well use the tools you've been given."

Allura was shocked that C.C. would suggest such a thing, but realizing that there weren't many other options, nodded. "Very well, stand here in the center with me," she instructed.

C.C. complied as the Balmerans all placed their hands on the healed surface in a circle formation. All of them closed their eyes in concentration. Unbeknownst to them, the rest of the Balmerans had also joined in the ceremony from the mine shafts.

Allura held her hands out, palms up to C.C., who promptly grasped them. Both the women closed their eyes and concentrated. Using Allura herself as a conductor, they both connected to the crystal in the Castle, and a pillar of blue energy descended down and engulfed both of them. The blue circle of healing energy that surrounded the Castle slowly started spreading outward until it almost reached the edges of the Castle.

Coran gasped in awe as the ceremony appeared to be working.

As Allura and C.C. continued, C.C.'s hair began to blow in an invisible breeze as the Geass symbol on her forehead lit up. It was red for only an instant before flashing to a brilliant blue, the same as the energy surrounding them.

o~o

The Black and Orange Lions froze in mid-flight as their pilots suddenly gasped. Power, similar to what they felt when they first received their Geass coursed through them. The Geass symbol flashed in their eyes, a bright blue, for barely a moment, but long enough for both Lelouch and Shirley to notice.

This stop forced the other Paladins to spin around and defend them as the robot continued to fire its laser at them. They spun around gracefully as they fired back attacks of their own, but had little to no effect.

"Shirley! Lelouch! Are you okay?" Suzaku shouted, just as the two pulled out of their trance.

"Yes," Lelouch gasped out.

"I'm good!" Shirley shouted as she also charged the beast, and managed to hit the port in its chest, but there was no damage shown that it did anything.

"Guys, this isn't working," Kallen shouted, as the beast began to rotate, shooting out lasers like a sprinkler for a grass lawn, "We'll never take this beast down in our Lions."

"Well, forming Voltron didn't work, either," Rai pointed out.

"Not without some way to shoot all those laser eyes at once," Rivalz grunted as he narrowly dodged another laser.

Shirley gasped again, but this time for a completely different reason, as she felt her Lion growl. Looking to her right, a port began to rise up from her dashboard, with a keyhole inside. The mental nudge came again, like a mother Lion encouraging her cub to take its first steps.

"Wait-what? What are you trying to tell me?" Following her gut, Shirley pulled her Bayard out of its little magic pocket of her armor and held it up, not entirely sure what she was doing yet. "Guys! Guys, something's happening! I-I think there's a way to take down all those laser eyes at once."

"Well, what is it?!" Milly asked urgently.

"Well, uh, do you remember how Voltron formed that sword with Suzaku's Bayard? I think my Lion's telling me I can do the same thing with my Bayard."

"Are you sure?" Suzaku asked.

"Well, we're about to find out!" Shirley said as she raised it and aimed for the keyhole, "Form thingy!" She shoved it into the port and twisted… nothing happened, "...It didn't work!"

"Because we didn't form Voltron yet," Lelouch replied.

"Oh, right, right!" Shirley said quickly, mentally kicking herself for forgetting about that, "I knew that!"

"Guys, whatever we're planning, let's hurry up and do it," Rai shouted as he flipped around another laser, and barely missing a second one.

The ro-beast below suddenly turned its head behind it, spotting the Castle, along with the growing area of blue healing energy. It raised its arms and started levitating towards it.

"We got to defend the Castle! Everyone follow me. Form Voltron!" Lelouch ordered. The Lions lined up with him and the Black Lion and began to ascend towards the sky, trails of their colors forming behind them. In a flash of light, the Lions roared and began to shift until the familiar Defender of the Universe was built once again.

The ro-beast roared as it raised its arms to fire a concentrated shot from all of the eye ports at the Castle but never got a chance to shoot though as a blue laser hit it square in the face from above. Voltron landed between the ro-beast and the Castle.

As he rose to his full height again, a thin object morphed to life in his hands. It was long and slender. He held it out in front of him in the Aka's mouth and pulled back with Zerith. A single arrow made of pure energy appeared between them.

As the ro-beast recovered from the attack, it brought its arms together again to form the same concentrated attack again, this time aiming at Voltron. Just as it fired, Voltron released the arrow it was holding. It hit the ro-beast's attack head-on, exploding on impact and disrupting the rest of the assault as the monster cried out in pain.

Stunned, but not about to give up, the ro-beast readied another concentrated attack, and Voltron moved to dodge it and draw it away.

"A single shot isn't enough! We need to try something else!" Lelouch shouted as Voltron turned and twisted to avoid the lasers that flew towards him.

Then, from inside her Lion, Shirley's screen zoomed in on the ro-beast, and multiple targets locked onto it, all aiming at the eyes.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Shirley asked.

"Roger that!" Kallen exclaimed, and she could feel all of the other Paladins agreeing.

"Let's see what this thing can do. Engage!" Lelouch shouted as he thrust his controls forward.

Voltron fired another arrow, but this time, it split mid-air into a dozen smaller ones, each one hitting one of the ro-beasts eyes with perfect accuracy. The ro-beast stumbled back from the barrage, and its arms fell to its sides, purple lightning flickering around them.

o~o

Allura and C.C. had not moved from their position underneath the Castle as the glow of quintessence continued to grow greater still, tiny sparkles of energy rising up from the ground around them.

Allura suddenly let go of C.C.'s hands and thrust herself to the ground, hands slamming the surface. C.C. stumbled backward, body feeling weaker and more lethargic than she'd felt in a while.

Once Allura's hands hit the Balmera's surface, the light spread out even further, engulfing the entire landscape and exterior of the creature. It spread like a tidal wave rolling in from the sea, sweeping up sand and shells in its wake.

The Paladins all gasped in awe as they watched this occur.

"Guys, its… beautiful!" Milly breathed, as every pillar and curved surface was spread with blue. None of the Paladins denied it. It was the most incredible thing they'd ever seen!

The light continued to spread all around it. Even from space, one could see that wave of life energy rolling across the Balmera's surface. Within moments, the quintessence faded, absorbed into the creature that it was saving.

However, despite this victory for Allura, the ro-beast wasn't finished yet. Even with its arms severely damaged, the monster lifted its head and roared at its foe, dragging itself to its feet.

Once upright, the large port in its chest glowed brightly as another massive laser was unleashed at the Paladins. Unlike the other times, though, Voltron wasn't deterred. After flying high to avoid it, the juggernaut zoomed downward and charged the beast head-on, even as it fired another laser to try and stop him.

Kallen with a victorious yell, Kallen wrenched her controls forward as Voltron pulled back its fist. With a swing, Voltron buried Aka's head in the ro-beast's chest. In a flash of light, the ro-beast was propelled backward, over the mine shaft with the Balmerans still inside, and landed with a broken thud on the other side. Smoke trailed out of its open mouth in defeat as its eyes flickered off.

o~o

The pillar that surrounded Allura slowly shrunk until it disappeared back into the Castle above. C.C. was still standing shakily to the side as Allura's formed slumped forward and fell to the side.

Shay ran over and gathered the Princess in her arms as her father went to steady C.C., whose legs almost gave out underneath her.

"Princess, are you alright?" Shay asked as she propped Allura up in her arms. Coran raced to their side, his heart hammering in his chest.

Allura groaned as her eyes slowly flickered open, "Did it work?" she asked weakly.

"Yes. The Balmera lives," Rax said as he put his hand on the ground. "It thanks you."

Despite feeling weak, Allura smiled. The ceremony had worked. The Balmerans were safe, along with the creature they called their home. The Paladins, having disbanded Voltron and landed, ran up to them as well, relieved to see that everyone was okay and alive.

They stopped short though as the ground rumbled beneath them, but it wasn't coming from the Balmera. To everyone's horror, the ro-beast had risen again, like a zombie rising from its grave.

"No!" Allura gasped in terror as the beast charged its chest cannon to full power. It planned to wipe out the Castle and everyone within the vicinity!

But it never was able to complete its plan, as the ground underneath it shifted, and the Balmera cried out, this time in anger rather than pain. From beneath the ro-beast's feet, large crystals gathered and rose around it, holding it to the ground. It gathered up around its torso and latched onto its arms. The chest cannon that had previously been charging broke out as crystals emerged from it as well. With a final roar, attempting futilely to free itself, the ro-beast was fully encased in crystal, imprisoned forever.

It took everyone about five ticks to process what on Earth they just witnessed. It was both one of the scariest and the most amazing things they ever saw.

"No. Way," Suzaku whispered in awe.

"The Balmera just saved us," Coran said with a smile.

"Look at the crystals!" Allura exclaimed with joy as tiny blue gems began to grow and form from the ground. They began to cover the entire surface, sparkling like a tranquil lake along the surface. It was indeed one of the most beautiful sights the Paladins had ever seen.

'Nunnally would love this,' Lelouch thought with a smile and made a mental note to bring his sister here to see this for herself someday. And she would see it! Even if the pods proved unable to cure her blindness, he was positive that somewhere out there, there was a medicine, a civilization, or a technology that could do so. As well as heal her legs. His sister would be whole again. He wouldn't stop looking until his dying breath.

Lelouch was torn from his thoughts when he heard Rivalz behind him. Turning around, he blinked when he saw the Blue Paladin on the ground, petting the surface.

"Oh, who's a good Balmera? You are. Who ate the big monster? You did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did," Rivalz grinned as he continued to scratch the planet's surface.

"Rivalz, what are you doing?" Kallen asked in disbelief.

"What? It's alive," Rivalz defended, "and it wuvs my scwatches."

o~o

The aftermath of the battle involved cleaning up the rest of the Balmera's surface and uprooting as much of what remained of the Galra equipment as possible. The Paladins also helped the Balmeras get resettled back in the tunnels. It almost the whole day, and no one returned to the Ship until nightfall. Allura and C.C. had been rushed back inside by Coran and ordered to rest as they worked despite Allura's protests. C.C. was more nonchalant about it but certainly didn't say no to it either.

Most of the Paladins had now returned to the Castle, Lelouch looked particularly anxious to get back on. The only one that hadn't joined them yet was Shirley. She and Shay were perched on top of the Orange Lion and enjoying the view of the stars and the glowing light of the Balmera Crystals below.

"Thank you for honoring your vow to return," Shay said with a smile.

Shirley turned and smiled back at her friend, "I should be thanking you. You made me understand what's most important. Zarkon and his Galra Empire are destroying lives. I'm a part of a team that can change that. I know that now. So thank you."

Shay smiled back before a glow in the distance distracted her, "What is that?" she asked alarmed.

Shirley turned to look as the sun rose above the horizon, painting the planet with a golden glow, "It's the dawn of a new day."

o~o

Shirley returned to the Castle shortly after that. Watching Shay see her first sunrise was a beautiful moment. It made Shirley remember how many things they all really took for granted back on Earth.

The thought of her home made the Orange Paladin pause in her step slightly as she exited her Lion. She missed her mom and dad, but she also couldn't help but think of all the people in Japan that were waiting for their return. Lelouch told them that they would be returning soon, but how long would that be exactly. 'Soon' could mean weeks or even months. She sincerely hoped it wouldn't be years.

"Ah, number five," Coran's voice rang through the Lion's hanger, "if you will, please report promptly to the bridge. We're having a brief meeting."

Shirley blinked, curiosity and worry rolling in her gut. Had something happened? Did they have to leave for another planet now?

When Shirley entered the bridge, she was surprised to see not only Coran and the other Paladins, but also C.C. and Allura. No, wait… Lelouch wasn't here yet either.

"Princess, shouldn't you be resting?" she asked when she entered.

"I will Shirley," Allura answered, "but Lelouch insisted we all meet here on the bridge."

"Why?"

"If we knew we'd tell you," Suzaku shrugged, looking a little confused as well. "It needs to be quick, though. Shirley's right about you needing to be in bed, Princess."

Allura groaned. While she appreciated that they all cared, their insistence was starting to really annoy her. She was also annoyed that they weren't saying the same to C.C. However, the immortal looked like she'd partway recovered already. It must be an immortal thing.

"Speaking of Lelouch, where is he? He's the one who wanted to have this meeting so-"

Rai was interrupted when the bridge doors opened again. Everyone turned to them, and the Paladins all gasped at the person who entered the room.

It was Lelouch, but his outfit was completely different. He still adorned his Paladin armor, but the white had been painted a pitch black, and the black outlining that would identify him as the Black Paladin was now tinted in a bold gold color. Around his shoulders and down his back was a long, sleek black cape, that curved at the top. Finally, for the cherry on top, in Lelouch's hands was a very familiar-looking mask, black just like the cape, with a dark tinted front and spikes rising up from the top.

"Woah! Lelouch, when did you-"

"I started working on it with C.C. shortly after your stay in the cryo pods, Rivalz," Lelouch answered.

"Lelouch, I'm confused," Allura said, "why are you wearing that?"

"It's his Zero costume," Kallen answered, "or, at least very similar to it, obviously minus the Paladin armor. But that mask and cape are definitely Zero's."

"So this is the form you take with your group back on Earth," Coran mused, "I'll admit, the cape adds a nice touch. I, myself, am quite fond of them too."

Lelouch couldn't help but chuckle at that statement. He had a feeling the Altean might like it and was glad he was correct.

"Lelouch, this is great and all, but why do you have that on?" Milly asked.

"Coran," Lelouch addressed, seeming to ignore Milly's question, "I was wondering. Is it possible for this Castle to broadcast across the entire universe? Seeing how it can pick up any all distress signals, can assume that it's a 'yes'?"

"Yes, you're correct," Coran nodded, "this Castle's signal can reach across the entire Astral Conflux if we wanted it to."

"Even so the Galra can pick it up?" Lelouch asked, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"Well- yes, I suppose so," Coran confirmed, though a little hesitant.

"Perfect," Lelouch grinned.

"Woah, Lelouch, hold on!" Rai exclaimed, "You haven't answered Milly's question, what are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm planning to… introduce Zero to the universe, particularly the Galra," he answered casually.

"What? Why?" Suzaku asked. Several noises of confusion were heard from the other Paladins as well.

"Well, for one, we do intend to return to Earth very soon. But the Galra's territory continues to grow closer every passing varga. Even if we returned right this very tick, we simply wouldn't have enough time to prepare Earth for an invasion, considering the… complications that will arise once we get there."

"Britannia, right?" Kallen asked with a frown.

"Correct," Lelouch nodded before continuing, "Also, something that Rolo said when we were talking to him and his crew caught my attention. He mentioned that there are several others out there fighting against the Empire. None of it appears to be very organized, but it's better than nothing.

"While we were on our way here, I discovered that the Castle's footage has the entire battle with Sendak, and our Lions also have recorded every battle that we've been through until now."

"Okay, that's cool all, but I'm still not following," Rivalz admitted.

"I intended to broadcast these battles, our victories, or rather the Galra Empire's defeats across the universe. To every signal that can pick up on screen or air. By showing the people this, it can inspire them to keep fighting, and perhaps cause even more to take up arms against the Galra oppressors. It's proof that the Galra aren't invincible, that the Empire can be defeated.

"With these pockets of resistance that will no doubt rise up, it should distract Zarkon and a majority of his forces to try and suppress those first. It should give us the window of time that we'll need to get to Earth and prepare it for when the Galra do come."

"It should work," C.C. said as she noticed that Allura and Coran still looked a little hesitant to agree. "When Zero made his first debut on Earth, many resistances rose up against Britannia all over the world, not just in Japan."

"Lelouch, I'm not saying this doesn't sound like a good plan, but if all you want to do is inspire more rebellion, why not just use Voltron? He's called the 'Defender of the Universe' for a reason," Shirley said.

"That's true, Voltron is an extraordinary weapon, and he does inspire many to rise and fight. However, at the end of the day, Voltron still is just a weapon, a giant robot that only a few have access to..."

He heard the Black Lion growl a little in his mind, sounding offended. 'You know what I mean,' he thought back. He felt the Black Lion huff in annoyance still, but she seemed to calm down a little.

"...By having Zero, along with the rest of the Paladins, shown to the universe, it will show everyone that it is the people who are fighting Zarkon and his empire, not just Voltron. War is indeed fought using weapons, but in reality, it's won by the people that use them."

The rest of the team could see Lelouch's logic. It would be a similar strategy to how he was fighting Britannia, though this time it would be on a much larger scale. If it worked with Britannia, it should work out here as well.

"Also," Lelouch added, drawing their attention again, "inspiring rebellion isn't the only reason I'm using Zero. Kallen, do you remember what I told you and Black Knights when we first started working together, about the reason why Zero exists?"

"Yeah, I remember," the Red Paladin answered, "you said that Zero is a symbol, for two things. Hope, as a shield for the weak. And also a symbol for people to fear if they use their power to suppress others."

"Exactly. I plan to do the exact same thing for the Galra. To those fighting against them, Zero will be seen as a beacon of hope, a shield to the weak and the powerless," Lelouch stretched his hand to the left, his cape flapping behind him slightly. "At the same time, to the Galra specifically, he will be an omen of terror for them, and others like them, to fear." He smirked darkly as he used his other hand to put his mask on his head. "I believe it's about time that the Galra experienced that fear. Wouldn't you agree?"

Several different reactions followed from this proclamation. C.C., Rai, and Kallen smirk. Zero was back and ready to hit the ground running. Even Allura looked impressed, though deep down, it wasn't just from Lelouch's strategy and plan. There was a small part of her craving vengeance against the Galra. Not just for the suffering of the people currently in the universe, but for her own as well. Now they would know at least a sliver of what she felt as she watched her home burning to ash around her.

Shirley was blushing a little as she looked at Lelouch in his costume. She admitted, ever since Lelouch/Zero had saved her and the others from the hotel-jackers, she held a little bit of admiration for the masked being. And now that she knew that that being was her secret crush, she saw Zero not as a terrorist, but a hero. One that inspired her to continue to fight as well.

Rivalz whistled and smirked as well, "Dang, that's dark buddy," he couldn't help but chuckle.

Milly shivered as she felt a chill run up her spine. Lelouch always had a thing for the theatrics when he wanted to, didn't he?

Suzaku, despite seeing the logic of the plan, couldn't help but be a little disturbed and taken aback by Lelouch's attitude. He remembered his friend always saying that he would never end up like his father. However, Suzaku couldn't help but notice that a couple of the Emperor's traits seemed to leak through to this persona. He really hoped Lelouch knew what he was doing.

The most hilarious reaction, though, was definitely Coran's. The advisor looked visibly spooked as he had jumped back and was holding his arms in front of him like a shield, his eyes full in shock and terror.

After he recovered from the scare, though, Lelouch… no, Zero turned to the advisor, "Prepare the ship for the broadcast. I want every corner of the universe to hear our declaration.

Coran stood up straight and saluted, "Right away, Zero!"

o~o

"Your Highness, the Drazil monster has been defeated," Thace reported as he entered the Galra throne room with some other Galra soldiers. Commander Prorok was still there in front of the Emperor, and Haggar had joined him at his right side.

At the mention of the ro-beasts failure, Haggar growled, but she said nothing more.

Prorok barely hid the smirk on his face at the news. It was about time that the witch understood the insignificance of those experiments. If the first one didn't stop Voltron, it was unlikely that the others would. He didn't say it aloud though, as he didn't wish to provoke the Emperor's ire even further.

Before anyone could say anything else though, another Galra reported through the throne room's intercom. "Emperor Zarkon, we're picking up a signal along the Astral Conflux. It's being broadcast to all frequencies."

"Proceed," Zarkon ordered. Four robot drones flew to the center of the room and projected a violet screen in the middle of them. For a few moments, there was nothing but static, but slowly, an image began to take form.

When it finally cleared, a single figure could be seen on the screen. A masked figure.

"I am Zero!" the figure proclaimed.

Prorok, Thace, and the other soldiers in the room looked taken aback by the perpetrator. No one was ever bold enough to broadcast themselves like this.

'Zero? As in 'nothing'?' Thace thought as he stared at the masked man before them.

Haggar had her full attention on the screen, not so much as blinking.

The Emperor himself seemed to remain unfazed by the being but allowed the broadcast to continue running.

At the moment, the message was being played through every radio and screen throughout the universe, to both Galra prison camps, military facilities, civilian colonies, as well as every existing rebel base and outpost that the Galra hadn't obliterated yet. Aliens and beings everywhere all stopped their current activities as the masked man before they had their full attention.

The screen then panned out. Standing on Zero's right hand and left were the other Paladins of Voltron, the Red, Blue, and Yellow to the right, the Purple, Green, and Orange on the left. All of their helmets were darkened, so none of their faces could be seen.

"People of the Universe! Fear us or rally behind us as you see fit! We are the New Paladins of Voltron!"

Several of the Galra soldiers began murmuring out concerns to one another, even in tones of fear as they continued to watch the screen. Even Prorok couldn't help but look a little nervous.

o~o

"We of the Paladins stand with all those who have no weapons to wield! Regardless of what planet or species they hail from! The Galra Empire cowardly attacked the inhabitants of Balmera X-95-Vox, and attempted to destroy the living creature itself! It was a wanton and meaningless act. Therefore they have been punished."

From behind Zero and the other Paladins, clips of the battle with the fleet and Drazil played out, showing the utter and humiliating defeat of both, by the hands of Voltron himself. Aliens in all sizes, colors, and shapes stopped their shopping in a mall to gaze in amazement at the footage.

o~o

"Just as the Galra Commander Sendak was punished for endangering the populace of Planet Arus, we could not stand by and allow such cruelty to be carried out. And so we made him pay for his actions."

A rebel base couldn't help but watch in awe as footage of Sendak's defeat, first by Voltron in the air, and then his failed Castle take over were shown next. It was shown all the way up to the point where they detained Sendak and had him trapped. A younger female member with short brown hair especially looked astonished as she held her hands in front of her face as if to pray.

o~o

"We will not repudiate battle on a fair and level field, but neither will we tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong! The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!"

Zarkon narrowed his eyes at that particular comment as he and Haggar continued to watch.

o~o

"Wherever oppressors abuse their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again! No matter how mighty, how formidable our foe may be!"

Even Rolo and his crew could hear the speech from their ship, its holographic imaging was still working. The bounty hunter, despite getting off on the wrong foot with the Paladins just a couple days ago, couldn't help but smirk.

o~o

"Those of you with power, fear us!" Zero whipped out one of his hands from under his cape. "Those of you without it, rally behind us!" the other hand flew off in the other direction, "We, the Paladins of Voltron, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this universe!"

A crew member in a ship hidden in deep space whistled as the broadcast shut off, just as suddenly as it switched on, "Alright, I like that guy. He's got some guts for sticking up to the Galra like that."

"I liked the cape," another member added, "gives him a bit of that 'bad boy' look. Don't you think?"

Two other members weren't quite as enthused as their two comrades. Both looked back at their leader, who sat quite casually upon a throne in the center of the room.

"Should we take action, sir?" one of them asked while the other simply stayed silent.

The purple-skinned, white-haired leader didn't respond for a couple of ticks. Then he smirked, "No, let's enjoy his little show for now."

As the crew got back to looking at the star map they had pulled up before the broadcast interrupted, the leader's grin widened, his sharp white teeth glimmering in the soft lighting of the ship.

''The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed,' hmm? Well then, Zero, you've caught my attention. Now… show me what you can do.'

#Fanfiction #AU #Code Geass #Volron #lelouch lamperouge #c.c.#kallen kozuki #suzaku kururugi #rivalz cardemonde #shirley fenette #milly ashford #rai (lost colors)#princess allura #coran #balmera #galra empire

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fieldbears · 5 years

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Washed-Up Stucky MNF/Fic Writer Provides Endgame Opinions

I’m going to try to tackle this linearly, at least to begin with:

I am very much Team Bored With MCU Hawkeye, but I want to give sincere props for the cold open, which I think accomplished several things simultaneously: recapped the consequences of the last film (since, hey, it’s been a fuckin while), set the tone, and began Clint’s narrative arc.

That said, jesus, I’m still irritated by the shoe-horned family to begin with. First they were invented for convenience and narrative stakes, and then their final, ultimate reason for existence was to be temporarily fridged. Take a moment to imagine a world where Clint was the circus runaway loner he was supposed to be, who only had his coworkers as found family, who either responded to The Snap by throwing himself harder into his teamwork work OR went rogue because his sense of justice and agency was so fucking destroyed by what happened. He didn’t need a blood family to have the arc he had. And he didn’t even need the arc he had. But this is a bitchfest about a choice made many years ago, not made in this final movie.

The first third of that movie was rough. The whole thing had the narrative flow of “A Series of Related Short Stories Played One After the Other”, but the first third seems to be Failing To Establish the New World and then Clumsily Establishing The Emerging Situation.

The establishing shots and scenes to show the audience what The Snap’s consequences were worldwide were... lacking. It’s dark? No more baseball? People are relying on natural light instead of interior lighting, but this is also happening at Avengers HQ, where they clearly still have power and internet access to work their tech, so... was it just an aesthetic choice? I feel like the film tried to spend time showing us what the consequences were for the average New Yorker, but instead we get a weird Canonly Gay Russo Character who gave a good performance that tells us about the human loss but not about the mechanics of this new world. We get the ‘no baseball’ shot and all we get afterward are ‘people miss the missing people’. But restaurants still exist? Businesses are functioning? (Wouldn’t New York run kind of smoother if it wasn’t overpopulated?) I feel like we were invited to start thinking about how this dystopia works, but were never given answers. (There are so many interpretations of how things could go wrong if certain people just disappeared, and their knowledge/access were suddenly unavailable, and none of it was explored, even briefly, outside of establishing shots.)

The Garden Planet - it’s discovery, the traveling to it, the fight there - lacked emotional grounding in a way I find hard to explain. The audience was excited for Brie Larson being a fucking boss, and the quick execution of the grab-him-and-cut-his-arm-off plan was satisfying, but the twist and subsequent letdown was just a weird beat after a slog to get there, after waiting on a deep letdown beat from the last movie.

Last thing about flow and emotional beats, because I want to move on to character analysis, and this is a huge one for me: Clint’s fight in Tokyo and Steve’s fight with himself were some of the biggest missed opportunities in the entire film.

Not counting the football field brawl at the end, which I don’t count as a real fight scene, these are the two major fight scenes of the entire film and as far as I can tell, there was no effort made to make these showpieces. They went to the trouble of bringing Clint to Bladerunner Central, and pit him against the last bastion of aesthetic-obsessed mafia in the world. The panning camera in the interior as Hawkeye fought goons brushed past lazy fight scenes that only showed who was winning, not the brutality that Clint was supposedly falling into, not the grit of this new awful world, just... shapeless dark bodies getting thrown through windows? And on top of that, they could have made up (or picked from canon) any Big Bad to pit him against outside in the street, and we get an Orientalist sword fight that could have fit in nicely on a CW superhero show, and some of the most unnecessary exposition dialogue I have ever heard. Someone bothered to weave Clint’s arc in earlier, with Rhodey explaining to Natasha that Clint’s gone International and also Worryingly Dark. Why the fuck do we have the ‘I’ll give you anything you want’ line, on the rotten cherry on top of ‘stop being mean to the yakuza, we didn’t start it’? You already covered his motivations with the cold open.

And while Steve’s fight ended in a FABULOUSLY HEARTBREAKING WAY, the fight itself was nothing - you can pick little character details out like how they both ditched their shields almost immediately, and it was funny that Then-Steve mistook Now-Steve for Loki in the first place, but it was still a completely lost opportunity to get one true superhero battle in this three-hour slog. Both Steves could have gotten up and carried out the rest of the narrative after a decent brawl, but instead they fall a great distance after some blocked shots and it... was nothing? Missed opportunity for some cool shit.

Okay, skipping to character assessments now:

Clint’s character has been mishandled from the beginning and this seemed to be the “better late than never” eleventh hour arc. Except the end of the arc is unclear - it made sense for him to fall apart after losing his Shoehorn Family, but how did Natasha’s choice to fall do anything but fridge someone else, with more agency this time? It makes Natasha noble, which she already was, and it made her win against Clint, which I appreciate, but Natasha didn’t need salvation through death and Clint learns nothing by getting them back, just experiences relief.

Bruce. I want to say, first, that I love Hulk in a Cardigan. Cardihulk can stay. I want fanart, I want t-shirts, give me all of it. But Bruce’s explanation of “I scienced it so I could get the best of both worlds” only gives us half of the acceptance that Banner’s character is already working towards. As we saw most explicitly in Ragnarok, the Hulk isn’t just a physical form, he has his own separate consciousness, originally defined by rage but revealed to be more complicated. Bruce merging into Cardihulk seems to have... erased Hulk’s separate consciousness without merging it into himself? If there had been some acknowledgement of a second voice still within him that shot out opinions or demands for certain menu items in the diner, this would have been a much cleaner end to his arc, which has been equally messy between actor and narrative shifts.

Speaking of Ragnarok... it’s time! Are you ready? Have you read articles about the Gambit Gambit too? Are you fucking depressed that a fat suit was used for comedy gags in the year of our lord 2019? Because I was. The Russos seemed to... not struggle with what progress Ragnarok had put onto Bruce and Thor’s characters, but reject it. This movie’s Thor was anxious for laughs, was desperate for easy answers to a a feeling of lost heroism, and it didn’t feel like a familiar character. The time-travel scene with his mother wrapped it up very elegantly, and was well performed, but that scene didn’t need to follow a series of “chunky drunk in sweatpants” jokes to show us that Thor was struggling. Everyone in the film is fucking holding on by their fingernails, but only one is played for cheap laughs.

At least we get the bisexual Asgard lady king we deserved.

Tony got the right death. He got a hero’s death and Pepper’s last lines of “you can rest now” were exactly the right lines to wrap up an arc characterized by fear and a desire to protect and control at any cost. I knew the MCU was never going to really acknowledge that Tony’s The Problem, even with lines like ‘you should have let me do the fascist robot thing, that was gonna work fine’ thrown around pretty much as soon as he touches down on earth again.

I’m not sure if there’s much to say about Natasha. It was fitting that she was running HQ, that she was struggling, that she was rejecting emotional help from Steve but clearly still close with him. Seeing her break down after hearing the report on Clint felt right after, I think, being told by several directors (or making the personal acting choice? idk) to just be as flat and as decolletagey as possible. And again, while I feel like she would be self-sacrificing on that cliffisde if given the opportunity, and that she would win, the narrative choice to place her there and have that be her end didn’t really give her anything she didn’t already have. She had nothing to prove.

I have a hard time really laying out my thoughts on Steve without launching into the pregnant absence of Bucky, but I’m going to try. Chris Evans did a good job being the emotional heart of a really fractured story with a lot of conflicting pieces. Seeing him lead a talk therapy session after The Snap seemed very out of character for him until one realizes that Sam isn’t there to lead it himself. His scene offering help to Natasha was another good scene between them proving that not every m/f relationship has to be sexual to be interesting or add to the plot. His leadership speech during the Stupid Fucking Slow-Mo Heroes’ Walk to the platform was well done and makes me think of what could have been for the MCU, if they’d ever just let them be a cohesive found-family team for twenty minutes and let them fight some doom-bots or something. Fuck. Imagine.

Something weirdly satisfying about the deceitful ‘hail hydra’ line in the elevator. Yes? Yes.

The hammer scene was satisfying to me without being too gratuitous, but I’ll acknowledge that some people weren’t into it. Having paid more attention to Steve’s arc than most, I’ll argue that he earned it several times over.

His ending - that is, the secret life he alludes to but doesn’t explicitly reveal to Sam - is earned too. I’ve read at least one thing saying that Steve’s arc was all about him learning to let go, but that’s... never what Steve does. Not at the end of any arc, of any comic story, does Steve let go. Not of his principles, not of the people he loves, he is always “Thinking... Thinking About Bucky!” and getting in fights he can’t necessarily win. So I don’t think his final ending is ever Learning to Let Go. I think it’s fair that it’s Just Once, Just This One Time, Getting What You Want And Getting To Enjoy It.

And now I’m backtracking to Bucky. I’ve read one article already that theorizes that Steve’s arc, which was highly prioritized, included literally as little direct interaction with Bucky as possible because... the MCU? the Russos? Marvel?... is aware that Steve/Bucky is the most popular same-sex ship in the MCU. And that’s tiresome as fuck but I think there’s some truth to it. I wonder if, like in Civil War, we’ll hear later from the actors that a lot of contextual one-on-one scenes were shot and then mysteriously cut from the final edit.

I will say that in my head, Bucky is relaxed when Steve goes back in time for the final time, and lets Sam goes to talk with Steve one-on-one at the bench, because Bucky is not worried if Steve will come back, and does not feel a need to check on Steve on the bench. Because, like Peggy, Bucky has been getting secret visits too. Maybe as far back as during his time in Wakanda, but certainly since the final fight with Thanos. Bucky was calm because he already knew. He didn’t miss Steve because Steve hadn’t given him an opportunity to do so.

#mcu #endgame #endgame spoilers #mcu spoilers

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paperwayne · 6 years

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redemption.

Pairing: Damian Wayne x Reader

Word Count: 1,200 words

Warnings: Violence/mentions of blood; death

You first met Damian al Ghul at the tender age of four.

The introduction had been decided since before either of you were born; as the child of one of Master Ra’s’ favorite servants, you were bound by oath to the family of al Ghul – an oath sealed with the blood of your mother’s womb as soon as you were taken from it, wrinkled and screaming.

From that day forward, your future was simple: to serve, loyally and until death, the heir of al Ghul.

–

The blood feels like sweat down your neck, warm and sticky, and maybe that’s why you’re not as scared anymore.

But it still hurts – your lungs burn, your arms ache, your head pounds so hard it might explode. The silence of the people circled around you carves into your eardrums.

Throat parched, you focus on just breathing. The sword in your hands is several sizes too big. It’s barely sharp enough to cut through butter, and the handle would chafe your palms raw if they hadn’t been rough with calluses already. You bite your tongue, looking up as the weapon sways heavily in your grip.

Damian comes down upon you, and a sharp pain rips into your shoulder.

–

Even at such a young age, or perhaps because you were so young, you knew something was strange about Master Damian as soon as you laid eyes on him. As he stood proudly before you in the great hall for the first time, Lady Talia’s hand on his shoulder, you felt a steely coldness chill you to your bones. The sword at his side and the upward tilt of his head gave no more hint at who he was than did the way he barely spoke to you, the way he looked down at you. Your recitation of the pledge came out robotically, and it was then that you learned how some people can make others feel like the lowliest creature on earth.

(Later you would find that Damian wasn’t like you at all and yet he was exactly the same.)

–

Dust coats your face. They’re little gnats, greedily sucking the moisture from your eyes and mouth; they stick against your shoulder when you press your hand against it, light brown flecks dissolving into dark crimson.

You move back and throw your blade against Damian’s when he advances again. Skin stretches and tears around your wounds; clots loosen and blood flows afresh. The sword is almost too heavy to hold now.

It’s apparent that Damian isn’t trying very hard at all. Maybe it’s because Lady Talia wants him to teach a lesson to the rest of the servants; perhaps he’s bored.

Hot steel bites into your throat. It’s sprinkled with dust and spattered with your blood – you can smell it.

One more swing, and then your master speaks. “Surrender, servant, and I may have mercy on your life.”

His voice slaughters the silence like his weapons slaughter people, deliberate and precise. But it’s still the voice of a child, and it’s still a voice like yours.

You refuse silently, even though you are sure you’re crying – and you can’t really explain why. Maybe it’s because you were born with too much pride that had been repressed too early. Perhaps you’re stupid.

You’re only eight, after all.

–

Contrary to what one may think, life as Master Damian’s servant was relatively decent. You had a practical upbringing: napkins and towels replaced crayons and paper, bandages and ointment were your childhood friends. Instead of learning how to read words you learned how to read your masters, most of all Master Damian.

You waited on the sidelines whenever he trained in the courtyard, always ready with another servant to fetch water or towels. It terrified you, at first, the violence and the cursing and the blood, but as time went by you became intrigued if nothing else. Because Master Damian, restrained though he was by his mother and grandfather, seemed to have everything: authority, skills, wealth, intelligence. He could slice up an opponent seven different ways, blindfolded, while you could only watch.

So watch you did.

You watched while he instructed assassins at least two decades older than him, watched the way he’d sidestep and attack before the other could even realize what was happening. You observed, and memorized everything like you had memorized the labyrinth of the compound. Then late at night, in secret, you’d sneak out of the servants’ quarters with an old broomstick and practice. You would imagine Master Damian as a friend and move alongside his shadow, striking and dodging the moonlight that streamed over your bare hands and feet like water.

One night, an assassin-in-training caught you – but instead of punishing you, he began teaching you what Master Damian had taught him. In this way you learned, and grew stronger.

–

“This is no longer entertaining.” Damian’s foot presses harshly over your ribs, and his blade cuts into your throat a little deeper than last time. “Surrender!”

You shake your head and attempt to grab his ankle. He lifts his leg and kicks it hard against your side, and you hear a crack.

“I can break your legs so that you can never attempt to run away again, or I can kill you. I already killed the assassin who found it fit to teach a servant how to assail their masters.” Numbness begins pooling in your limbs as Damian kicks you again. His teeth are bared, his expression fierce, but his breaths aren’t as even as you know he’d want them to be. “Grandfather said that he would not like to lose a perfectly good servant. So stand up or surrender, [Y/n]!”

For the first time in your life, you meet your master’s eyes. They’re blurry, because your own eyes are nearly swollen shut, but you see a smudge of green and know where to look.

Gulping for one last breath of air, you open your mouth.

“No.”

Damian’s face contorts.

For a moment you can feel the blade as it runs cleanly through your neck. There’s pain. Searing, mind-numbing pain.

Then there’s nothing.

–

“Here.”

“Th-Thank yo-you.”

The child scampers away with their money, hastily scrubbing their cheeks dry as Damian watches them disappear around a corner. They must have been eight or nine, he thinks, kicking at the man tied up at his feet. What kind of spineless coward tries to steal from a child?

“He could’ve killed that little kid,” Jon mutters next to him, brow furrowed as Damian blandly inspects the thief’s knife. “Why … why would someone do that?”

“For brainless and desperate reasons,” Damian replies dryly. The other boy grimaces and shakes his head in disbelief, looking back at the unconscious man as his head lolls on the sidewalk.

Damian simply turns and begins walking again, lips pressing into a tight frown.

Jon easily catches up and tilts his head at Damian as the latter stares straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought. “What’re you thinking about, Robin?”

“Nothing.”

Looking down at the knife in his hand, Damian feels a sudden surge of disgust. The blade’s dull and dirty, scratched and worn. Heavy.

“Nothing,” he repeats, and tucks the knife away. “Let’s go.”

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klimpaloon-loves-superwholock · 6 years

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I know this is a bit late, and I don’t usually make original posts, but I want to gather my thoughts on VLD s7, even though I literally never participate in fandom discourse lol. So I guess we’ll see how this goes.

There were great parts of this season. Let’s start with that.

First of all, Hunk was incredible and I’m so glad he finally got an arc where he could shine, even if I feel like it was long overdue. Seriously, I feel like Hunk was the best part of this season and I cannot state enough how much effect he had on my overall impression of the season. He basically carried the season singlehandedly and I don’t understand why searching through the tag rn I can hardly find any appreciation for him this season. (yeah jk I know why ha)

Everything they did with the Paladins’ families (from Hunk’s arc about rescuing his parents to Lance reuniting with his family and his relationship with Veronica to freaking Colleen!!!! just straight up stealing the show for two episodes!!! What an icon I love her so much!) was absolutely perfect. (I will say I’ve seen speculation that Hunk’s sister and her kids died since they weren’t there in his hospital room, which I desperately hope is not the case since that really should have been mentioned.)

I also loved seeing Shiro take charge and become Captain of the Atlas without even seeming to realize that he was the man for the job.

Sendak was a formidable and interesting villain who raised the stakes, which made it more satisfying when they defeated him.

I enjoyed getting to know Romelle more and see her in action.

Coran and the mice’s team up to break out the rest of the gang was very good and funny.

KOSMO!!!!!!! A GOOD PUPPY!!!!!! HE HAS A NAME!! I LOVE HIM SO!!!

I enjoyed seeing Lotor’s ex-generals again (because I love them), although I do have some issues which I’ll get to later.

The new characters they introduced, mainly Rizavi, Leifsdottir, Kinkade, Veronica, and Griffin were all great and I loved them! They did a great job of making me care about these new people. (And Kinkade is drawn so pretty what the heck y’all sleepin on this beautiful dude)

Seriously Colleen was so great I cannot stress this enough. I’ve been feeling for this poor woman who thought that she’d lost her whole family since season 1 so I’m so glad to finally see her in action, fighting for her family and her planet.

They did a good job of setting up Admiral Sanda’s inevitable betrayal, even if it was a really stupid thing for her to do.

Ep 5 was great; I was super excited to see what the Druids looked like under their masks, Macidus and Keith’s teleporting fight was awesome, and it’s always great to see Allura’s magic develop more, even when I wish it wasn’t so unclear how/what she’s doing.

Lots of the fights were so cool, from the Voltron team taking down the Galra drones in the cave system in Ep 2 to all the MFE fights to Shiro’s rematch against Sendak to even Voltron’s fight against the Robeast. These fights, I’ve noticed, are always especially cool when they unlock a new ability like Hunk’s turrets and Voltron’s double swords. Also I forgot how strong Alteans are until Romelle just straight up ripped apart a drone.

As much as I overall didn’t like The Feud as an episode, it did have some great moments with Pidge taking down Bob, Allura and Hunk being cute in the background, and the team being overall really supportive and loving of each other.

Shay came to visit Hunk!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, I also have a lot of problems with this season. Ones that, for me, are too serious to ignore. But let’s start with my more minor grievances, then work our way up to the big ones, shall we?

I don’t like Shiro’s new arm. It reminds me too much of Sendak’s and is too bulky/strange looking for for my taste. And for some reason my eyes have a hard time finding it? Like they’re drawn to the light emanating from his shoulder and not the forearm/hand. Idk, but I’m not a fan.

I wish Griffin had apologized to Keith for being such a jerk about his parents. I kept waiting for it since they had all these long glances with each other. I came to like him despite the bad initial impression only because he proved to be a good leader who valued every member of his team and knew when to step aside because someone else was better at a job. But I still kinda needed resolution for his rudeness, especially since he’s obviously grown since then and should want to make amends.

Admiral Sanda’s just so freaking stupid????? Like, how did she get that high in ranking when she consistently makes such bad decisions???? Clearly the dictator who’s controlling earth who comes from a war-mongering culture that enslaves and destroys planets isn’t just gonna let y’all go once he gets Voltron. He’s either gonna continue using you as slaves because nothing’s stopping him or destroy you because you’re no longer useful. Listen to people who know the Galra better than you!!

I saw somewhere that Matt has a girlfriend now???? When did this happen????

They somehow got the ENTIRE BALMERA to Earth?!!!????!!?!?!?!? How did they build a teleduv big enough to do that!?!

Also, where did they get a teleduv? Did the Atlas have one? Or was that something that they built during the epilogue montage??

How did Keith summon his bayard telepathically?? Was that a Galra thing or a new Paladin ability?

How did Shiro manage to survive falling from space to earth on the outside of a ship while fighting Sendak?? I mean I’m really glad he lived, but??? How??

I don’t think we needed so much time dedicated to Sam Holt updating the Garrison and then the rest of earth on what happened in space. I kinda appreciated it since it’s been a long time since I watched the early seasons, but at the same time he didn’t tell them anything that was new information to us as viewers. The only things we gained from those scenes were how others reacted to this info. (And we still didn’t get to see the reaction of the person I was most interested in, Adam, but I’ll get to that later.)

This is a problem I’ve been having with the show since like season 3 or so, but how much time has passed? They actually explicitly said it at a couple of points this season, what with 3 years having gone by for most people but only a few weeks for the Voltron team, but why did that time difference happen? Also, how much time passed between the team leaving Earth and them fighting Lotor in last season’s finale? Because I could believe any time frame between 6 months to a few years for that, which makes a big difference in how old the paladins are. According to the show, Sam landed on earth 4 years before the team gets back to the Milky Way, so I guess Sam left the team a year before they faught Lotor??

I didn’t get the thing with Allura’s crown gem? Since when is that a power source? And I was really struck by the imagery of her literally throwing her crown away to help her friend, but I feel like it would’ve been more powerful if we had been given some information about what exactly that gem is and what it means for her. Just make this more clear for me. Also, Shiro has already lashed out and hurt people against his will, so I really didn’t need that angsty moment for him.

The B-plot in Ep 1 was tonally dissonant from the A-plot of Shiro’s flashbacks, and it ended up being totally useless anyway. As much as I enjoyed Romelle and Hunk’s banter in those parts, they would’ve been better placed somewhere else. They should’ve just dedicated the whole episode to Shiro’s flashbacks and given us more information about him.

If they were going to mention that Shiro had a progressive disease in his flashbacks, then they need to explicitly mention in the show that he doesn’t have it anymore. As it is, people who don’t know about the SDCC announcements are just gonna assume he still has it. If it doesn’t happen in the show, it’s not canon. Also, if he’s had this disease the whole time, then why is s7 the first time it’s mentioned? The way he held his arm in the flashback reminded me of the way he held it when his Galra arm activated for the first time. Did the arm help fight the progression of the disease like that lil wristband did? If so, that should’ve been explained and made clear a long time ago. It just bothers me that this is the first time we’re hearing about this major part of Shiro’s life that he’s been fighting with, and that in show we’re given absolutely no resolution for it.

I guess the gem powering Shiro’s arm and the Castleship diamond powering the Atlas connected somehow?? Which is how Shiro turned it into a giant robot? ??????????????? I’m genuinely very confused on what was going on there. It needed to be made more clear. I was on board for whatever they were doing at first just because Shiro looked so pretty in that lighting, but they took it in the weirdest direction possible. Why would anyone care about Voltron anymore when you’ve got a bigger, stronger robot now? Voltron’s no longer the most powerful weapon in the universe - the Atlas is. And it only became such by coincidence. Which is just. Irritating.

The Feud episode. Oh boy. First of all, I got some serious emotional whiplash from the change to this episode. It just didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the season at all. Second, they just really did not have to spend that much time making fun of Lance for being stupid. Especially when he’s not. Also, the first two of the people he had to identify had masks on, and Lance had only met them briefly. ALSO you’re telling me that Lance, the most social and outgoing of the Voltron team, is the one who’s bad with names/faces????? ALSO spending less time teasing Lance would’ve opened up more time for giving Hunk and Allura their own activities. ALSO everyone else on the team gets a little speech about how they’re valuable, but Lance just gets “I don’t want to be stuck with him forever”?????? That’s so freaking messed up. Third, the whole premise of the episode was strange to me. Like why would an all powerful being who tests heroes do it in this way? It seems to me that that premise fits Ep 6, where they were stranded in space, much better. They were genuinely tested then, and the forces that attacked them and propelled them through lightyears of space were never explained, so saying that Bob did it and propelled them towards their goal as a reward for passing the test could’ve been a satisfying answer to those questions. And fourth, can I also ask why Morvok was the fourth player?? Like he’s a nonentity in terms of villains. And they still didn’t have the same number of players as team Voltron. Haggar’s still alive, so they could’ve put Sendak on there too. And for the fifth player they could’ve put on a fan favorite villain character. One who showed up in more episodes than Morvok did. One who died a while back and who the fans have wanted to see again ever since. Like, I don’t know, NARTI!! Ugh.

The Robeast. I just. This season could’ve ended on a pretty high note if they had just cut that out and just went straight to the lil epilogue after defeating Sendak. As cool as that fight was at parts, it caused a pretty low finale, which is pretty disappointing after last season’s incredible finale. I get that they needed to foreshadow Haggar’s return to this fight or whatever they’re doing for next season and that she’s been working on the lost Alteans, apparently, but it was just a strange note to end on. Especially with the weird addition of Atlas to the Giant Robot Squad. And Allura’s line “Seriously? We just defeated Sendak and now we gotta deal with this?!?!” (I’m paraphrasing) was a MOOD.

Okay, so this post has gotten kinda out of control, so I’m gonna have to save the biggest issue I had (betcha can guess what it is) for another post. So. Look out for Part 2 of this nonsense. Feel free to reblog with your own ideas/input!

#voltron #vld spoilers #vld s7 #vld discourse #criticism

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lissaremade · 6 years

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alek’s backstory

i post a lot about my dnd character, alek, so here’s his entire backstory up until the very end of the campaign

it’s gonna be ONE HELL of a long read because A LOT has happened over the course of his backstory and the campaign, so heads up this will be EXTRAORDINARILY TEXT HEAVY

this will be focused on alek’s arc for the most part! the campaign has a lot more going on in it, lots of character arcs, lots of small details and lots of worldbuilding.

(PICTURED: the first ever reference i drew of alek, drawn over a year ago)

alek desona was the first dnd character i ever made. he’s a firesoul genasi sorcerer who’s lawful neutral. he has four siblings: two older brothers (arun and ciro) and one younger sister (luce). his parents are named roshan and kamara; they the leaders of the genasi clan they live in.

(PICTURED: my very first reference of milo)

milo soryn, another oc of mine, has a backstory very much intertwined with alek’s. the same age as alek, and an only child, his parents were merchants who traveled around the continent selling goods. about once a month they stopped by alek’s community, which is how the two met at a pretty early age.

milo and alek are pretty much the childhood friends into lovers trope. alek considers milo his closest and most trusted friend, and milo feels the same.

when they were 18, milo was drafted into a war against a neighboring country full of dwarves. not wanting milo to go alone, alek followed him to ensure he stayed safe.

they fought together as foot soldiers until they were both 22, when milo was killed in combat, protecting alek from an oncoming attack. alek lost control of his powers after being overcome by grief, and razed the entire battlefield, leaving behind nothing but himself and a broken sword - the very sword used to kill milo.

ashamed, he immediately fled the scene, never looking back.

he traveled around for a bit before running into two half-elf men called rufus and roy at the bees and brambles tavern. there, he met the people who he would travel with for the course of the campaign. they were assigned a mission to retrieve an artifact from none other than a goblin brothel.

(PICTURED: art by @kay-o of, from left to right, rosamythe, daegal and alek)

other player characters in the campaign include:

daegal, a tiefling ranger

rosamythe, a half elf cleric

batholomew “spudman”, a human bard

khepri, a dragonborn rogue

after some shenanigans in the brothel, and running into a mysterious cultist named miss princey, they manage to retrieve the artifact. but, are forced to fight their way out. alek gets the finishing blow on the boss, but after the fight ends miss princey, the cultist, murders a goblin named bluechest seemingly in cold blood, claiming he had betrayed the cult.

our cleric, rosamythe, who was drunk at the time, decided to immediately enact revenge by killing miss princey, sending her body hurtling off a cliff. a small puff of white energy left her body as it fell, rising into the air. we thought nothing of this, until we were receiving our promised payment when everything went black.

and that was the story of how we survived the ending of our first world.

(the rest will be VERY shortened to save space btw)

basically, we were tasked with finding and killing the guardians of the world at first, after running into a guardian posing as the god deneir and basically brainwashing his followers. we were able to kill him because spudman impulsively killed an old lady who told him he had to kill her because she wasn’t supposed to exist. (we later found out that the only way to kill a guardian is to first kill someone who isn’t supposed to exist)

daegal’s brother/uncle (it’s complicated) waegal appeared on behalf of daeg’s demon grandfather, varius. he started to fuck shit up in the capital, pretty much brainwashing people by telling them everything was fake and nothing was actually real.

along the way, shortly after arriving at the capital and shortly before shit started hitting the fan, alek was turned into an ash genasi by some wind elementals because we tried to threaten the captain of a ship who was part of an underground organization. (we later joined said organization but that’s another story)

after killing the guardian, we decided to follow a map alek received in a special christmas one-shot where we were transported to the town of christmas to help restore holiday cheer. the map provided insight to a way alek might be able to become a fire genasi again.

while en route, waegal appeared again in front of the ship. after provoking him, he cast fireball on the ship. alek realized his map was still inside the cabin of the ship, so he ran for it at the last minute. while he was running, time slowed down for him and he heard a voice inside his head asking him if he could have one wish, what would it be?

so he responded “for things to go back to the way they were in the past.”

CUE SAD ALEK ONE-SHOT THAT MADE ME CRY A LOT

alek was suddenly transported back to his childhood home. he was the same age, however, and all his siblings appeared to have aged accordingly as well. he found out milo was coming around to visit.

it turns out that there was a surprise - milo’s family would be staying in the town, meaning they could spend all their time together. something was fishy about this however. and upon confronting milo about the strangeness of the circumstance, milo got a little aggressive.

eventually, this escalated and it became very clear that something wasn’t right here. carrying a fire orb alek needed to return back to the “real” world, milo turned into a wind genasi, and alek was forced to fight him.

not wanting to harm him, alek turned invisible and tried to grab it from him. (i’m pretty sure i rolled a 2 and our dm rolled a 1 when i tried to do this lmao)

alek was forced to come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t un-do the past, and that milo was gone for good. and by turning his back on this fantasy world, he was accepting that milo was gone and letting go of the past. i cried a lot during this whole encounter ok

eventually, he found out that this was all the doing of a genie who had granted alek’s wish to go back to the way things were. the version of milo was a guardian, and alek was able to defeat it because the genie ceased to exist (since genies aren’t supposed to exist in the world)

/END SAD ALEK ONE-SHOT THAT MADE ME CRY A LOT

upon returning to the real world, we traveled through the desert, following the map alek received. we came across a phoenix namyed alcatraz who turned out to be the ancestor of all genasi. (in our campaign, genies aren’t the source of all genasi, but phoenix are)

by using the last of his power as well as the fire orb milo had held (which he still had when he woke up), alek was turned back into a spicy fire boy.

we fled the desert after a bunch of demons appeared from the sky, and after some travel through a forest where daegal and rosamythe were put on the spot for backstory stuff (we found out daegal killed rosamythe’s dad under the influence of varius, his demon grandpa) we were forced to fight varius. eventually the final blow was dealt by some mysterious beings who appeared from the sky.

with varius gone, we moved on and eventually ran into none other than aboran, the town we appeared in. except we were in the old world, and aboran had previously been in the new world. the two worlds were somehow merging.

we had to rescue our half dead npc son, lance, from a dragon who hoards souls. during the fight with the dragon, milo’s soul, which was taken by the dragon and in its lair, helped us out A LOT by inflicting an exponential amount of damage on the dragon and then pulling a mipha’s grace on alek by reviving him to 1hp when he got ko’d by the dragon’s last desperate attack

after that shit REALLY started hitting the fan, as the world around us began to end in itself. robots invaded, and all the people who had survived the end of the original world began becoming possessed by the god rahat, who we found out had created the very world we were in but was unhappy because we all forgot about him.

after hearing about the fact that a queen from the old world was possessed and we had to take her down, we traveled there where we ran into none other than alek’s brother ciro, daegal’s mom, and another character from daegal’s backstsory. ciro told alek that the rest of the family was dead - after the world ended, their mother hadn’t stopped aging like everyone else and passed on due to old age. luce, their youngest sister, had become possessed and killed their older brother, father, and milo’s parents, before ciro was forced to kill her. he then left, and ended up traveling with his companions.

(this was originally intended to be much darker, as our dm, josh, had planned for us to have to fight a possessed luce at some point had the campaign gone on as long as it was originally supposed to)

we killed the queen, but then were forced to flee to an alternate version of reality (”what the world really looked like” apparently) in order to save the ending world. upon entering this alternate version of reality, everyone else we knew was killed in the onslaught of enemies which overwhelmed the world.

we were transported quite a bit after that, ending up in the tavern we originally started our campaign’s journey in - the bees and brambles tavern. the world around us was gone. nothing was left. thus, we had survived our second world ending.

we were forced to confront the god rahat, in the form of the fused form of roy and rufus, the half elves who had given us our original quest that brought us together. angry and feeling betrayed by the people he had created from himself, we managed to calm him down and convince him to restore the world to its previous state.

BUT THEN bosharifal, rahat’s godly brother, busted in, angrily confronting us about stealing his brother from him. we managed to get the two to talk, however, and bosharifal realized how unwanted rahat felt back in their home, since no one worshiped him anymore.

with this all settled, the gods decided to allow the world to exist, and all the people in it to exist as more than just parts of the god rahat, but as their own people with their own lives and journeys. all the dead were brought back to life, and our characters were able to live their lives in peace with their loved ones.

at this point, we were told to say goodbye to our characters, and goodbye to roleplaying them because their lives were their own now. we couldn’t control their destinies anymore. everyone was crying. i was like full on sobbing. they thanked us for bringing them to their happy ends, and the campaign ended.

the end

#oc tag #alek #milo

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movienotesbyzawmer · 4 years

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi

December 18: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(previous notes: Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Source: UK 3D Blu-ray (this was much easier to come by than a US release, for some reason)

This movie is only 2 years old, a relative infant babe in arms. And I unambiguously loved it when it came out, both times I saw it in theaters and again when it was first released on video. But there have been dark whispers, haven't there. Snobs and haters started flooding the information superhighway with poorly supported condemnation of this perfectly entertaining sequel. Was I wrong? Was I missing some smear of shit on the screen that everyone else could see? Or is Putin up to his old tricks? Excuse me while I pop on my rose-colored 3D glasses and jot down some fresh observations.

Cool first shot, zipping through a bunch of ships that's like some kind of convoy.

Then a bad guy ship shows up and whoa is it neat in 3D.

This first exchange between Poe and Hux is funnier than anything in the prequel trilogy, my goodness was that a refreshing way to start this movie! Love it!

BB8 thunking down into the guts of the X-wing! That's the right kind of gadgety roboty attitude for a Star Wars movie, I tell you.

Bombers, there are bombers. How do bombers work in space? I ask like I'm complaining, but I'm not. I'm sure there's a Lucas-y explanation. And yes I know that Lucas isn't doing this movie, of course I know that, it's like you don't even know me.

Jeez, those bombers are getting totally wasted. Probably because they're full of bombs. BOMBS, see.

This tense scene where the bomber pilot has to kick down the remote control from a precipice, this is great suspense. The pilot sacrifices herself. The first 12 minutes of this movie have a hell of a lot going for it. But also, the look of it is different from all of the others. Stark closeups for instance. Nothing wrong with it, but feels like it's very committed to this director's personal stylistic preferences.

Now we're on Hidden Skywalker Island to find out how this plot thickens. It's a cool contrast from the space battle. And it's got Rey. And Porgs!

0:16:40 - Snoke's proper throne room. With Actual Snoke because it turned out the other one from the last movie was pretend-like. This throne room was put together by a visionary interior designer who really likes red.

Luke drinks some green milk from a plump creature who looks at Rey like she's saying "have some, it's pretty good, seriously you gotta try it, it comes from my nipples".

The scene with Rey and Luke in the book cave, it's good, I think. It's ever so slightly witty, but it makes sense as a way to get past the stubborn impasse the two were in before.

Kylo hesitated to blow up his mom because he's not too happy with his Dark Side family rn. But she's blowed up anyway and it's a pretty visceral image when that happens. Fortunately she is kind of Jesus so it's fine, she's fine, we're all fine here now thank you, how are you?

Hah, the Porgs are shaming Chewy into not eating a dead Porg! Porgs are way less in-your-face in this movie than Ewoks are in that other movie.

Enter Laura Dern! Conveys intelligence and confidence. I bet internet dicks hated her for no good reason. Other than that they are working in a non-descript office building in central Russia. Anyway, her friction with Poe is cool because she's being rational and it's just hard to argue against her points.

0:39:00 - Enter Kelly Marie Tran! Rose! Of course Sergei and Boris are social media bullies about this character. But even though she's coming into this story a little late, she's already gotten some solid character development.

So this is something I'm only realizing because I just watched Empire Strikes Back, but the two movies have similar structures in addition to being middle-of-the-trilogy movies. They both go back and forth between two subplots; one about a Jedi training a rookie on a planet, the other about just the good guys desperately trying to outrun a dauntingly large space fleet of bad guys.

Hah, Porgs getting pesky in the Millennium Falcon, I'd forgotten that.

Not so much with the wipes between scenes in this one but that one at 53:55 was neat.

And now we're in an actual casino! It's the Star Wars universe's version of Monaco. Lots of fun creatures and robots, but shot with a very flashy style that seems more obtrusive than how Lucas just peeks around in the Cantina.

The Master Codebreaker is literally Errol Flynn circa 1925.

1:00:50 - The first flashback of The Luke/Ben Incident. Kinda Rashomon-esque.

Benicio Del Toro. I love the guy, but there is often a sense in his movies that he had a very persuasive conversation with the director to let him do odd quirks with how he talks, and the director just grimaced and hoped it would turn out okay.

They break out of the stables with the racing animals, and stampede their way through the casino, satisfying!

But also, this whole Monaco planet is so like Monaco, so specifically, that it's not very galaxy-far-far-away.

First time we see Luke in the Rashomon flashback with the 'bout-to-kill-Ben look, that is a mighty fine facial expression from Mark Hamill.

1:14:35 - We're at the highly abstract Nightmare Cave sequence. This is a little indulgent, I bet Lucas did not like. He probably didn't like the equivalent sequence in The Force Awakens, but for what it's worth, I super like that one.

Rey and Kylo having a connection, I think we're not supposed to like it, and maybe that's the point? I'm okay with that. As long as it doesn't turn out that they are twin siblings separated at birth and gee what a shocking twist that would be <eye roll>.

I bet it took some discipline to have the Finn/Poe/Rose subplot be relatively simple.

1:29:00 - Weird little coffin craft Rey gets in to go to Kylo's ship. Oh, and the shot of coming out of lightspeed facing the bottom of the Destroyers! Cool!

1:30:55 - Hah! You thought they'd forgotten how to be funny, but then they do that clothes-iron gag. I like it. Reminds me of the coat hanger gag in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"I know where the nearest escape pods are" "Course you do". Hah.

Snoke telling Rey "I connected you because I knew Kylo was weak" sounds like an internet troll. Am I hung up on that? On internet trolls?

Big hanger full of troops and even flying TIE fighters inside the hanger, looks great.

Very grim situation now… the intended plan completely fell apart, and now the escape transport plan is completely screwed, and Rey is just helpless it looks like. Or is that just what it LOOKS like.

Snoke death is neat. Also neat are his guards' variable, flexible sword things. Also also neat is how the one guard gets tossed into an electro-processer and shoots out red flakes!

1:50:42 - Oh, my favorite thing, a magic battle. As Rey and Kylo try to out-Force each other to Force-get the light saber, it all comes down to who Force-gets better.

But then! Then it DOESN'T suck because they equally Force-get so hard that it just breaks, and then the neatest of all the parts of this movie, LD lightspeed-spearing the master bad guy ship! Awesome visuals and sound.

"You're a bug in the system" "Let's go chrome-dome". That's a pretty Lucas-y dialogue exchange.

As they fly away from the destruction, I love the look, how much detail there is to the wreckage.

Yeah, this final planet has those ice fox things! It feels like this Episode has slightly less zeal for "delightful new creatures", but it's not NO zeal.

Also this is the planet where the surface is salt, but under the salt surface is a mineral that is very red, for reasons of it looks cool, I guess. There's even a mechanic which can't possibly make sense, where these crafts NEED to drag on the surface just a teeny bit. But so what, I like to look at it. I'd rather look at that than look at YOU.

The underground blood crystal cave is a damn fine sight to see.

Not sure I care that much about the quick drama about Finn trying to Kamikaze the big gun and Rose stopping him. Although Rose saying "saving what we love" makes it kinda sweet and now I'm sorry I pooh-poohed it. But she gives him a little kiss, which is the only remotely romance-y thing in this new trilogy so far and do we need that? Whatever, I root for both of these characters.

We just saw the gold dice from Solo. But this movie came out before Solo, so I guess we were all like "dude what the hell is THAT". I wonder whose idea the dice was.

"Do you think that you got him". So, this reminded me when I first saw it of an early Mark Hamill movie called The Big Red One. A war drama with him and Lee Marvin, probably right around the same time as Empire. In that movie, MH shoots again and again and again at a definitely-already-dead German soldier. He just keeps shooting the corpse. Lee Marvin walks up to him as he's doing it and whispers in his ear, "I think you got him". Gotta be a deliberate reference, right? Pretty obscure one if so

Hah, Poe and Rey hadn't met yet, that wasn't obvious until now.

Okay, the final scene. It's a cool final scene, but… okay so the first time I saw it, I definitely didn't notice that the kid levitated the broom all casual-like. But I noticed it in later viewings and was like "oh, how did I miss that". Well I'LL TELL you how, because it is super freaking subtle! It's like it changes every time or something. It is FREAKING me OUT.

But I still really like this movie. It is full of tons of great qualities, and only minor issues. It's surprisingly witty, and has a lot of non-Lucas style to it, which would be a problem if it didn't feel so genuinely inspired. So nice try, Anatoly! Go fuck yourself, Fyodor! You can turn neighbors against each other, Yuri, but you can't make me hate The Last Jedi!

(next: The Rise of Skywalker)

#star wars the last jedi

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eyeofthewolfe · 7 years

Text

Breaking Earth (Ninjago Fanfic): Chapter 2

After a long day in the field, Jay finds himself in an awkward situation and Cole makes a scary self-discovery.

Warning: may contain brief spoilers from Ninjago Season 7.

Prologue and Chapter 1: here

Chapter 2

Cole slammed the robber onto the brick wall. “And where do you think you are going?”

The woman squirmed for freedom but Cole’s grasp was unbreakable. She tried to kick and swing her bags of money to hurt him, but the pitiful attempts were useless against his strength.

“Darn you ninja!” she screamed in desperation. “I needed this money or else I was going to lose everything!”

“Well you just did by stealing it from the Ninjago Bank.” Lloyd snapped as he approached the thief. As he said that, a cop car screeched to a stop on the street behind them. The woman growled in her throat and dropped the bags of money and raised her arms in surrender as the cops approached with their guns raised.

The woman stared at Cole with a raging fire in her eyes. “You think you help others by doing justice? Justice never served me right, instead it threw me into a world of-“

“We uphold the law,” Cole snapped. “What you just did was breaking it. It’s pretty black and white to me.”

The cops grabbed her arms as the woman sneered. “You don’t know suffering, ninja.” She spoke coldly as the police took her away in handcuffs.

Cole crossed his arms and frowned under his mask. Lloyd approached him. “She doesn’t know what she is talking about,” he murmured with a snort.

Cole tried to laugh at that, but fell short. You don’t know suffering, ninja rang in his ears. Of course he knew suffering, right?

Cole turned to the other member of the team, who was staring blankly at a movie poster nearby. “Jay, you there?” Cole asked with a laugh. Jay flinched and turned suddenly eyes wide. “I’m paying attention,” he said distractedly.

Cole and Lloyd laughed. “C’mon, it’s been a long day. Let’s head back to base.” Lloyd said and motioned to return to their vehicles. Cole scratched at the back of his head and turned to see Jay make one more glance at the movie poster of that one space samurai character before going as well.

________________________________________________________

“Well, Jay seems like a nice young man,” Maya smiled at her daughter as she arranged some weapons on the wall. Nya blushed and Kai gave her a look over his shoulder as he was picking up tools.

Ray frowned. “He’s the one dressed in black, right?” he asked. Kai snorted loudly.

Nya’s smile died a little as she organized weapons. “Uh, dressed in blue. Master of Lightning.”

“Ooooh,” her father said, his frown still apparent on his face. “The thin one who thinks he’s funny.” Kai snorted again, louder this time.

Nya lost her smile completely. “Well,” she said, defending her boyfriend, “I think he’s funny.”

Her father smiled at her. “Well that’s good,” he said quickly. “I’m glad he makes you happy.”

Maya smiled at Nya with a twinkle in her eye. Nya blushed again as she placed a broad sword in its pile.

“However, the black one seems very nice too-“

“Dad. I’m in love with the blue one.”

“Okay, okay…”

Kai exchanged a look with his sister. His expression was very readable: he was enjoying every word his father said about her love life. Nya rolled her eyes and went back to her job.

___________________________________________________________

As the sun was setting behind him, Cole was doing what he did best: punching.

Blow after blow damaged the training bot as Cole danced around it on the deck. Each contact sent the robot into a more difficult level, but it never had time to attack. Cole kept punching and punching, each one harder than the last, until his fist illuminated in the familiar magma orange blow. Before Cole could react, he punched one last time and the training robot shattered. Cole froze and stared in horror at the destruction.

“Cooooole,” Jay groaned from behind him. Cole spun around and watched Jay approach the wreckage. “Do you know how long it takes to build one of those? We can’t just destroy them, they don’t build themselves you know.” The blue ninja gestured at the pile of scrap lying in front of Cole.

Cole itched the back of his neck. “Sorry, I’m still getting used to it.”

“Still?” Jay asked. “You’ve had those weird new powers for quite some time, I would hope you would have some control of it by now.”

The master of earth sighed. “It’s not that simple. I still have no idea how I got this ability, and maybe when I find that out, it’ll help me contain it more.”

Jay nodded with understanding. “Well until then, try not to punch as hard.” Jay chuckled as he grabbed a metal scrap from the pile and handed it to Cole. He patted the taller teenagers shoulder and walked away, whistling.

Cole peered down at the metal scrap, and instantly his blood ran cold. Hands shaking, he slipped the damaged piece into his robes and began to clean up the scattered pieces of the training robot.

_________________________________________________________

The Bounty landed softly on the open grounds of the Temple of Airjiztu. Lloyd hit a few buttons in the bridge to deactivate the engines and then quickly joined Jay and Cole on the deck.

“Great job today guys, I always enjoy stopping crime with you two.” Lloyd grinned as he brushed back his blonde hair. Jay grinned and nudged Cole, but the black ninja was staring into space with a look of panic. “Cole,” Lloyd started, noticing his face. “Are you..okay?”

Cole connected eyes with the green ninja. “Oh, yeah..sorry,” Cole cleared his throat. “I was thinking about something. I’m also really tired.”

Lloyd nodded uneasily. “Well, if anything comes up, please let me know.” Cole nodded and began to head towards the gangway back to the temple. Jay turned to follow him. “Uh, Jay?” Lloyd called out.

Jay spun around on his heels. “Yes?” he answered with his famous grin.

Lloyd pointed at a few weapons in a barrel. “Can you drop those off at the Blacksmith shop?”

“Yes sir, that I can do!” Jay replied cheerfully as he scooped them up into his grasp. He turned to leave, but then froze. “Wait,” he said, this time his voice on edge. “Are Kai and Nya’s parents there?”

Lloyd walked past Jay, himself headed toward the Temple. The green ninja laughed. “Well, of course! They are the blacksmiths, are they not?” Lloyd walked down the gangway and walked towards the temple.

“I was hoping for a no,” Jay murmured to himself, but took a deep breath and headed down the gangway.

Jay gulped and clutched the weapons tighter as he slowly approached the smaller blue building where a stream of smoke was rising from the chimney.

He walked through the door and saw the whole family busy getting the place together to become an active shop. Nya instantly smiled and dashed over to help. “Jay! How was your day in the field?”

In the corner of his eye, Jay saw both Maya and Ray pause from their work to look up and listen to Jay. Flustered, he cleared his throat.

“Well, uh- there was-I mean- were a lot- uh- many difficult….difficulties, but-uh- nothing that I couldn’t handle.”

The room fell silent. Jay laughed nervously and quickly shoved the weapons towards Nya. “Here. These are for you.”

Nya chuckled. “I’ve always rather wanted a bouquet of weapons over flowers.” Nya joked as she pointed at her father. “Dad is sharpening blades. You can give these to him.”

Jay’s eyes widened. “Give them to your dad?” he whispered to Nya.

Nya bunched her eyebrows together in confusion (Jay LOVED that face; it was so cute-plus he got that a lot when talking to her). “Uh, yeah? What’s the problem with that?” she whispered back.

“He – is – your- dad!” Jay whispered back. “I’m gonna….mess up or something-“

“Just give him the weapons!” Nya whispered a bit more harshly and through clenched teeth.

“What are you two love birds fiercely whispering about?” Ray asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh,” Jay said loudly. “Nothing, sir.” He quickly answered before quickly kissing Nya. As he pulled away, he gave her a look of fear, but Nya just gave him a warm smile and a wink. The blue ninja took a deep breath and then turned to face her father.

Jay has seen too many movies where the perfect girl has the overbearing father, and Jay was secretly glad that he didn’t have to face that with Nya when he first met her. But when he turned and faced the tall man with the ash covering his hands and face with his arms crossed over his blacksmith robes, Jay felt like he was in one of those movies and he was about to get a lecture from the father.

Every step felt like a step closer to death. The harsh brown eyes, the veins popping out of his neck and muscles, the angle his eyebrows were shaped, the way that he was towering over him…Jay wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly developed breathing problems.

The closer he got, the more he realized how much Ray looked like an older Kai. The facial expression became familiar- it was Kai when he was serious, and the gesture of the arms crossing was a very typical Kai gesture. The eye shape, the scowl- even the eyebrows all matched his fellow team member who stood a few feet away.

Jay came to a stop in front of the older man. “Uh, here ya go.” Jay squeaked. Ray eyed him for a second, and then easily grabbed them all in one arm. Jay nodded and quickly turned to leave.

“It’s Jay, isn’t it?”

Jay knew that was the universal sign for ‘I want to start a conversation’. He froze, then slowly turned to face Ray with a smile. “Uh, yeah. Jay.”

Ray placed the weapons on the table and grabbed a rag covered in ash. “Is that short for something?” He asked.

Jay nervously drummed his fingers on his legs. “Actually, yeah. It’s short for Jason.”

“You’re kidding,” Kai spoke up from the other side of the table. Jay shook his head. “My parents called me Jay and it stuck.”

Maya smiled. “And how are your parents?” she asked warmly.

“Oh they are fine. Happy in the junkyard as always.” Jay answered with a light chuckle.

Maya exchanged a look with Ray. “Cliff Gordon living in a junkyard?” Ray laughed. “Did his acting career fail?”

Jay felt his jaw drop. “How.. how did you know…” Jay said quietly.

“Your mother spoke highly of him everytime I saw her.” Maya said. “We were great friends until we were imprisoned. I have no clue where she resides now.”

“What are you talking about?” Kai laughed. “Jay’s parents are an older couple living in a junkyard…Ed and Edna. Right, Jay?”

The whole family turned and looked at the blue ninja. Jay exchanged a look with Nya. “Well, actually, I found out fairly recently that I was adopted. My adoptive parents found me on their trailer doorstep one day with an address and key for my dad’s estate. I…I never knew my birth parents.”

Kai’s face went pale and Maya covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, you poor thing.” She whispered.

Ray tossed the towel back onto the table and then placed his hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Look, son,” he started. Jay’s heart skipped a beat. “If there’s one thing you should know about your parents, it’s that they were madly in love. I’ve never seen love like that.”

“Well, I have.” Maya smiled at her husband. Ray smiled back. “I see it in you every day, and now I see it in my daughter and you, Jay.”

Jay felt his cheeks and ears turn crimson.

Ray patted Jay’s shoulder roughly, which actually hurt a little, and then went back to work. Maya winked at Jay and then also went back to organizing her tools.

Jay said farewell to everyone, kissed Nya just because she was there, and then exited the shop.

As he was walking back, Kai caught up with him. “Hey, I didn’t know you were adopted.”

Jay wiped his nose. “Yeah, let’s just say it’s an out-of-time experience.”

Kai chuckled uncomfortably. “Hey, when Nya and I temporarily time traveled, we saw someone who probably was your mom.”

Jay looked over, his blue eyes wide with curiosity. “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Kai chuckled. “She was younger, maybe in her mid 20’s, and dude-lemme tell you- she was hot.”

Jay snorted and pushed Kai away. “Ew, gross- don’t ever call my mom hot ever again.”

“But she was!”

“Just-stop. That’s just weird.”

___________________________________________________________

Cole scratched at his neck as he closed the door to his quarters. “What is wrong with the back of my head?” Cole mumbled to himself as he itched at the same itch he’d had all day. He walked up to his mirror and grabbed a smaller mirror on his nightstand. He lifted the back of his hair and held the small mirror behind him so he could see the back of his neck.

Cole dropped the mirror.

He didn’t notice that the mirror landed at the right angle so that it didn’t shatter. He didn’t even realize that his hand had dropped to his side in shock. He stuttered backwards and sat down quickly onto his bed. “No,” he whispered to himself. “That…that’s not possible.”

But Cole knew what he saw: a small glowing green crack that had formed on the back of his neck.

The bright green scar that was on his left temple and forehead was spreading.

#breaking earth #ninjago fanfic

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sephythespooky · 7 years

Text

Underfell: Judgement Hall (true pacifist)

((y’all ready for feels?))

You stop in the Judgement Hall, red light pouring in from the windows. Bells ring in the distance, and ahead….is Sans.

“Y’know, kid, when this all started, I wasn’t expectin’ you to get this far.” His skull was turned down, eyes shaded by his raised hood, gold tooth glinting ominously. “You talked down my bro, went all the way through fricken UNDYNE without hurting her or giving up yourself…heck you even outsmarted Alphys and that whacked out robot ‘a hers.” He chuckled, smile strained. “You got all the way here, despite everything. Honestly I should be proud of ya.”

It was clear from his voice that he wasn’t.

“Kid, it’s my job ta judge the people who come this far. And….well, it’s not always fun. But let’s get right down to it.” He looked up and you feel your heart sink at the glow from his left socket. He raised his hand and brought out your soul.

“Sans, please….” you pleaded, “I thought we were friends.”

“w-we are, kid. I just gotta be sure.” His shining red eye searched their soul, and his hood fell back and he gritted his teeth and turned his head up, clearly frustrated. “Kid….ya got here without gaining any LV at all.”

“Is that…bad?” you were worried now. Sans was acting so strange, even for him. you watched the sweat bead on his head.

“uh…well…” he started awkwardly, then dropped his shoulders, turning down again, “Kid, LV stands for LOVE, right? Everybody ‘round here has some. But kid….you don’t. Ya know why?”

You shook their head.

“Cause LOVE stands for Level of Violence. It’s a gauge of how willin’ ya are to hurt somebody else. And you get LV through EXP, or Execution Points.” He winces as he says it. “That’s what ya get when you kill another person, even if it was self defense. The more EXP and LV ya get, the more detached you are from their pain, and from empathy in general. Ya don’t care anymore.”

YOu felt your soul shudder. Sans’ level was the lowest out of everyone you met on the underground. You checked just then, as the options had come up. He was a 2. Papyrus had been a 6 and Undyne a 10. Mettaton was a 4, and you suspected even Alphys had an LV of 3 or more.

“I’ve only killed once in my life, kid. And I regret that every day, even if it was to save my own ass.” His smile had dropped totally now. “You don’t even know, and half of me is so glad you’ve kept that kindness in ya. You’re still pure, unlike all’a us in this damn mess of a world.”

You took a step forward and his head snapped up, growling “DON’T.”

You stop.

“Don’t come closer, kid. Look…” He sighed and met your gaze, looking more beaten down and tired than anyone you’d seen in your whole life. “I’ve been through the ringer, y’know. Everything I’ve done, I either did for selfish reasons, or to help my bro. but now I’m gonna do something to help you.”

An attack, just a red bone, flew at you unexpectedly, but you stayed still and it passed right through you, leaving you unharmed. “Fight me.”

You didn’t have a choice. The menu was up and every time you pressed spare, more bones shot from the ground.

You tried talking to him, “Sans, please, I know you don’t want to hurt me!”

He winced but kept sending attacks, eyes sad and desperate.

After a few more spares, he yelled, “STOP SPARING ME! Kid, you….you’ve gotta fight me.”

You refused. Ten more attack cycles of sparing and he talked again, “Please, kiddo, if you don’t have any LV….”

It was clear from his attacks that he was holding back. Even when you stayed perfectly still now, his attacks missed, just like Toriel’s had.

You talk again, “I won’t hurt you, Sans. You’re my friend.”

He grimaced and one hand clutched his shirt tightly over his sternum.

You stood firm, dodging the flimsy attacks and waiting. He’d stop, you knew he would. This was Sans, your Sans, the goofy guy who’d saved you from Papyrus till you knew what to say to him, who’d stuck the pillows down under the waterfall bridge in case anybody fell, who’d taken you inside mettaton’s hotel in secret to help you get out. He’d spent this whole adventure protecting you; you’d even heard his voice every time you failed and lost all your HP, calling for you to get up and keep trying.

Now, as you spared him again, he stopped. No more attacks, just silence.

And then….

He sobbed, quietly at first. Then he screamed at you, “I TOLD YOU TO FIGHT ME! PLEASE! You’ve got to, kid! i….i can’t let you go in there so weak.”

The fight ended after you pressed spare again. Sans collapsed to his knees and wept, “Kid, you….you mean so much ta me I…..I can’t see ya slaughtered by Asgore. I’d rather be dusted than see that. And it’s gonna happen if ya don’t have some kinda extra attack power, I just know it.”

His hands were pressed against his eyes, but the translucent red tears leaked between the bones of his palm and wrist. “You’ve done so much already. Paps is happy, actually h-happy! He talks about’cha like you’re his. Like you’re one’a the family, even more than me. Undyne is actually appreciatin’ his work, and she’s calmed down so much….”

You began to walk forward, very slowly.

“I saw her talkin’ to Alphys, and they were just…talkin’. No yellin’ or fightin’ or anything and I….kid, I actually have some hope for us now. We aren’t just monsters anymore, we’re BETTER cause’a you.” He looked up at you, sockets freely dripping tears, eyelights shaky and small.

You reach him and hug him tight. “I love you, Sans.”

He buries his skull in your shirt, gripping your back tightly with both hands, and murmurs, “God, I love you, too, kid. That’s why you gotta dust me. Please.”

*Sans is begging you to kill him. {yes} {no}

You vehemently choose no. “I can’t do that, Sans.”

“Kid….why?” You both let go, but he takes your face in his hands, thumbs stroking your hair, “Asgore is the strongest monster in the Underground, with the most LV to prove it. He’s killed every other kid that’s come down here. He got TIRED of killing them, BORED with it, that’s why I got this job as the judge. Stop the ones with too little or too much LV. He’s gonna murder you.”

You give him your most reassuring smile. “why? Because I’m DETERMINED to make it out of here with everybody else. I’m going to set you free, Sans.” Your fingers wrap around his wrist and squeeze softly, “I promise.” You feel yourself start to tear up, too, seeing how he’s searching your face, trying to memorize every section.

“You’re something else, kiddo.”

You close your eyes and feel the tears slip out as he gently presses his teeth to your forehead, the most tender gesture you’ve seen in this violent world. “You better be sure about this. Cause if you snuff it, I’ll be right behind you one way or another. I’m not living in this hell hole a minute longer if you ain’t here.”

“I’m sure, Sans. And I’m sure we’re all getting out of here alive.” You squeeze his wrist again, and this time he slowly lets go.

You both stand, and he smiles down at you, giving your hair one last ruffle, “Okay, kiddo. I trust you. And remember, everybody down here is behind you now. You’ve got us all rootin’ for you ta win. Go kick his ass.”

You give Sans your brightest, most confident smile. You won’t quit, not now, not when Sans is so desperate to save you, not when Papyrus promised to teach you how to use a bone sword, not when Undyne and Alphys finally made up, not when Mettaton and Napstablook finally talked to each other again. Not when Toriel was waiting for you to come home.

You’d come too far to quit now.

Sans gives you a little push forward as you walk past him, and you feel something slip into your pocket. You look at him, but he just winks and vanishes.

There is now a key in your pocket. You think this key is to Sans’ room. Now you really ARE determined to finish this. After all, how else were you going to find out if Sans’ room was as trashed as Papyrus had said?

#undertale fic #underfell #just my headcanon of course

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kenpaisworkshop · 5 years

Text

Sinquest: Soul and Sand: Part II

“The Desperate Streets of Chazin”

Subject: @sin-quest Characters: Ken’pai the Mechanist, Tomis the Warlock (owned by @tomis-jb) Warnings: None

[--PREVIOUS--] ========== [--NEXT--]

Dust began to settle across the tiny abode, a sign that the two occupants had been there far longer than anticipated. The passing laughter of children darting between the alleys of Chazin caused just enough of a distraction to keep the two from falling into the pattern of deeper, and perhaps mournful thought.

“The tomb was only used once, as the resting place of Prince Nerid Chazin, 14th in the noble line,” Loch began.

Ken'pai's curiosity was piqued already. He always had a bit of a fascination with old ruins, particularly in that he often heard of wonders unheard of, and matters of construction that should have been too complex for the age they were built in.

“It was about a hundred fifty years ago. Back then...this country, Chazin, wasn't friendly to anybody who didn't have relations with the right kind of people. Nerid...fell in love with a servant-boy. An elf, to be precise.”

Loch's elven ears twitched a little at the mention before he continued.

“One day, the captain of the guard caught the two...cavorting. He moved to strike at the servant for even daring to sully the royal family in such a way. As his sword thrust through the air, Nerid darted in front, just in time for this father to round the corner.”

“You're making it sound like you were there,” Ken mused.

“Well, we elves can live for a long time. I was studying architecture at the time, not quite Chief Engineer. I heard about the tragedy...it became a source of gossip for the townspeople, especially the other elves. We were...afraid of retaliation.”

Loch sighed.

“The king was devastated. He worked so hard to have children, eventually having two, but not before several losses before infancy. They were his most precious treasures. To lose one, you'd think he'd lost his own heart. He jailed the captain for failing to uphold the law properly, and told the servant that he was sorry, and that he, and his kind, would always be safe in the palace.”

The old man pressed a finger on the map sprawled out on front of him, where the marker for the tomb was.

“The king had his son interred at the tomb. It was fairly new, and wasn't complete yet, but he figured it was the least he could do. The servant...disappeared. Some say he wanted the desert, searching for the tomb itself, to die with the man he loved. There was no sign of his corpse anywhere in the sandsea, nor at the tomb. He just...faded away.”

They sat in silence for another moment. Eyes never meeting, resisting the urge in respect for the dead.

“Alright then, it's settled,” Loch stated, rolling up the parchments on the table. “I'll go ahead and send for a regiment of guards to accompany us, and we'll...”

“Wait,” Ken'pai said, waving his gauntleted arm. “No guards.”

“Are you sure?! This thing's taken out a few caravans on its own!”

The lizard-man held his hand out to the small spider-like robot. It chittered a bit as it started crawling up his arm, finally resting on his shoulder.

“The fewer people who know about...this...the better. The Mages Guild is still after Gray, even if they're just chasing after a ghost. I intend to keep it that way as long as possible.”

The old man sighed. “I understand. I'm going with you though. Somebody's got to operate the sand-skiff.”

Ken'pai chuckled. “What, you think I can't handle it?”

Loch raised an eyebrow. “I don't doubt your ability to learn, Scales, but if you've never flown in the desert winds, you'll be shipwrecked and stranded in the Sandsea before even getting halfway to the tomb.”

“Fair enough. I'm guessing that will take some time, then?”

The old man nodded. “A couple of hours to go through the paperwork. That's about as fast as I can push it through, so meet me at the docks, alright?”

The two stood and made for the door, Loch placing a hand on the lizard's shoulder as they stepped out into the blazing Chazin sun. The old man shielded his eyes for a moment, while Ken'pai was unaffected, his goggles keeping most of the light from burning into his pupils.

Loch patted Ken's shoulder. “I'd better get this started then. Should take a couple of hours. We'll probably be able to depart around the beginning of sunset?”

“Sunset?”

From around the corner came a familiar black-robed figure, crossing his arms.

“...is that safe?” Tomis asked.

The bearded elf nodded. “When the air begins to cool, the wind becomes stronger, but it's also a lot more stable and predictable. We'll be able to get out there faster than we would during the afternoon. Plus, it won't be as unpleasant a trip.”

Purple-glowed eyes squinted behind the mask. “...Alright.”

The old man soon disappeared amongst the crowd, traces of the color of his clothing weaving through like wisps in a forest as the two companions turned toward each other, Ken placing his hand on his hip.

“Something's wrong, huh?” The lizard asked.

The warlock pointed his head and brought his voice down to a low whisper. “...that guy.”

Ken'pai knew the signal when he spotted it. He turned around, making it a point to make it appear as if he were gazing up skyward at the buildings in the distance. His eyes, masked by his goggles, shifted to the corners, focusing on one particular subject.

He appeared fairly normal for a citizen of Chazin. Light, airy clothing, a head-wrap for catching sweat, all standard attire. The only standout was a long red scarf, which was also not uncommon, many people enjoyed adding a splash of color to their appearance.

“What about him?” Ken inquired.

“I felt something. Magic. Very trained magic, but I wasn't sure until I noticed the brooch, on his scarf.”

The mechanist focused a bit, but the color gave it away instantly. Gold set inside a deep ruby-red stone.

“Mages Guild.”

“Yeah. I've been watching him while you were chatting. He's been out here the entire time watching the building. I want to say he might've tailed us since the city gate. I dunno if he's watching out for me or you, but...”

“I get'cha,” Ken agreed, placing a hand over the robotic spider on his shoulder. It kept still, as ordered, but he still felt he couldn't take the chance. He pressed his hand down on the construct, flattening it, and calling the essence back into his being. When he lifted his and again, there was only a brown sleeve beneath it.

The warlock stepped up right next to his friend, standing shoulder to shoulder and scanning the same skyline in an attempt of subterfuge. The could both see their target, the mage, start to wrap the scarf around his mouth as he walked down a side street.

The two both sighed at the same time.

“Guess it's me,” Ken rolled his eyes, beginning a slow pursuit, his warlock friend right behind him.

They followed him a ways, keeping a slow walking pace so as to not attract attention. The streets wound around with a sense of whimsy at points, leaving Tomis to wonder what madman had originally thought to design the streets around the buildings, rather than vice-versa. Ken'pai kept his clip a bit faster, his younger days training as a hunter creeping back into his subconscious.

“Red scarf, over the right shoulder. Gray-blue vest,” he whispered.

“Got it.”

“Repeat it.”

Tomis clicked his tongue. “Red scarf, over the right shoulder. Gray-blue vest.”

“Good. Keeps it fresh in the mind...wait, what's he doing?”

From directly behind, Ken could only see the man's arms folding forward, meeting in the middle, he'd guessed. Tomis' angle was slightly to the left, however, and he noticed the man's left arm bracing to keep itself steady.

“He's writing something,” Tomis noted.

“Writing? What, like a message?”

“Yeah, wouldn't be surprised if...”

The two silenced themselves once the mage brought his writing hand out to the side, the feather quill he had beginning to glow. The light expanded into a luminescent ball, before it shattered, sending sparkling magic drifting to the ground like snow.

In the mage's hand was a small white dove, with a metal canister attached to his leg, which he inserted a rolled up piece of parchment.

“Ugh,” Tomis moaned, “that's a bit much. Fuckin' mages.”

The lizard-man didn't say anything, reaching up into the top of his backpack and getting a grip on his most prized possession. He pulled out his signature weapon – a specially modified firearm, specifically a “carbine,” as his master once called it. He never learned where the name came from, but he assumed it was one of Gray's books before the cottage was torched. He slid open the chamber, loading a few slug-shells before snapping it shut.

They both watched as the mage tossed the dove into the air, the bird rapidly flapping its wings to gain the altitude it needed to head toward its destination. Warlock magic flared up in Tomis' hand, as the mechanist at his side braced the butt of his gun against his shoulder, lining a reptilian eye along the sights and taking a deep breath. Before the bird flew above Chazin's unique architecture, a clawed finger squeezed the trigger.

An unbelievably loud crack blasted into the sound-scape, creating a crater of fear in the townspeople around him as they began to scramble for some form of safety. Firearms weren't unheard of, but they certainly were a rarity, especially this particular gun. The target, for what it was worth, had burst into a gruesome mess of blood and feathers as it spiraled toward the ground.

The mage they had been following was, as expected, no fool. Rather than head for cover, he demonstrated that he knew he was being tailed by this point, as he broke into a run, turning at the first street he could. Ken'pai's hunting instincts kicked in, as he grasped his firearm almost like a spear, leaning forward as he sprinted after his prey, his tail sticking straight behind him, sharp as a dagger.

“Ken, wait up!” the warlock commanded.

“Get the bird! I'll catch hi--” Ken's voice trailed off as he turned the corner.

Tomis jogged toward the recently-made cadaver and scooped it up, dangling it by the leg with the canister attached. He yanked on the canister, struggling to get it to let go of the limb, finally pulling it free with a powerful jerk, the force of which caused the bird's corpse to slip out of his hand and whip toward a nearby wall, hitting with an almost satisfying splat, much to the chagrin of the startled woman trying to sweep her porch nearby.

“...sorry!” he called out, chuckling to himself as he dashed to try to catch up to his friend.

For a mage, Ken'pai's quarry was surprisingly quick.

He kept an eye out for the red scarf, as it shifted between townspeople like a dragonfly through the reeds. Ken paced himself rather well, for being out of practice as long as he had. It was a bit easier though, hunting prey in an environment where he didn't have to run silently. The strain always burned into his calves when he had to quiet his footsteps.

Reptilian claws scratched against the sandy cobblestone streets, propelling the lizard-man forward at an impressive pace, keeping up with the mage if not threatening to eventually overtake him. He probably would have, if the mark hadn't pulled over a stack of wooden crates to impede his pursuer's progress.

Ken had to slow a bit in order to leap up on top of one of the crates, bounding off of it into the air. Noting that the street wasn't at all crowded, he took the opportunity and lined up a shot, firing the instant he felt he had a chance.

The slug round sang as it bounced off the groundwork next to the mage's feet, before ricocheting and embedding itself into the wall near his face with enough force to cause him to stagger a bit in recoil. The chase continued, the slight stutter being just enough for Ken to make up for the obstacle.

The mage rounded another corner, his follower skidding a little from having to make such a sudden turn. A flourish of a cold blue magic from his hands told Ken'pai to be wary, proving his instincts to be correct as the mage began to cover the street behind him in a thick sheen of ice. Though he had to hold his hand backward to keep the stream going, the speed he lost wouldn't match what the lizard-man would lose if he continued to stay on ground level.

Glancing upward, Ken noticed a bit of wooden construction scaffolding that was just low enough to reach. Before he got caught up on the ice, he leapt into the air, clasping onto it with one hand. He put his gun back into his backpack before using both hands to pull himself up onto the platform. From there, it was a simple matter to get onto the roof of the building and resume chase from a much higher vantage point.

The buildings themselves were close enough together to not exactly hinder Ken's progress, but being that high up did have a tendency to obscure his sight on the target at points. He kept focusing on the red scarf trailing behind the mage, knowing that as a member of the guild, his vanity wouldn't allow him to discard something that displayed his station, no matter what advantage it would give him.

The sands bit harder up there, stinging the lizard's face a little, while making him thankful that he had goggles on. Taking a moment to gaze ahead, he noticed the buildings were going to come to a sudden end, with large windmills getting closer than he'd realized.

They were almost at The Great Well.

The mage had stopped his icy deluge on the streets, prompting Ken'pai to leap back down to street level in an attempt to force the wizard to choose a path once they had gotten to the inevitable end of the road. It came sooner than the magus had expected, having to take a second to look back at the scaly humanoid making a beeline for his position.

The mage smiled and leapt backward, over the waist-high dividing wall around the Well.

“Wait!” Ken demanded.

He climbed up on the wall and looked down, watching his quarry land on one of the safety nets and begin to roll backward, underneath him.

“Clever...” he said, giving out a slightly frustrated hiss.

He breathed deeply, staring at the netting below him. It didn't really matter just how safe it truly was, below that net was another net, and below that, another net...but below that...

Just water. Hundreds of feet down.

He had to ease his mind from the possibilities.

Ken leaned forward and let gravity do its work, opting to land on his stomach as his backpack was full of very...unsoft things. His feet hit the net first, but its unstable nature caused the lizard-man to collapse to his knees as he caught his upper half with his hands. He shook his head to keep from staring down at the water below and focused on the direction his prey had opted to take instead.

After a bit of struggling, Ken'pai finally stepped off of the safety net into a dimly-lit corridor that ran under the streets of Chazin. He figured they must've been access tunnels of a sort, just in case the foundations of the city began to crack somehow, or at the very least, it was a way for citizens to make it back to the surface if they'd fallen into the Well.

The hallway only had one direction to go, thankfully, and he could just barely make out a crimson scarf billowing in the distance. Falling into the net had given Ken a momentary reprieve, just enough to catch his breath so that he could break into another sprint. Footsteps echoed in front of him, as the scratching of his claws into the stone trailed behind.

The ever-brightening hallway told Ken'pai that he wasn't going to spend much longer down in this tunnel, soon finding himself bounding toward a tall set of stairs that led back up into the blue desert skies. He skipped every other step, every two if he could, falling into a sort of rhythm as the lizard bounced back and forth until he reached the top.

This particular street was rather empty, and it, too, had no other side paths, save for one up ahead. The mage was nearing that particular turn himself, but Ken'pai skidded to a stop, giving a sheepish grin. The man turned back in curiosity. He didn't see what Ken saw.

And what Ken saw was a coalescence of shadows in front of the magus' path, a black-robed figure stepping out, wearing a white mask and folding his arms.

Tomis.

The mage turned back, too late to avoid running into the warlock, who held his ground firmly. The man fell backwards, scooting back on his hands to attempt to stand, but Tomis was all-too-eager to assist him with his endeavor. A small dark spot formed on the ground next to him, as a glowing purple tentacle spewed forth and wrapped itself around their quarry, swinging to one side as he screamed, before flinging him with incredible force down the side street.

The sudden cry of pain already told Ken'pai that the street was a dead-end, and that his target had slammed into the far wall.

Catching up to his friend, Ken'pai grabbed the warlock's shoulder and hunched over, panting heavily.

“How'd...you catch up...so well?”

A violet-glowing eye gave him a wink. “I tend to keep track of the people I like.”

“But...I'm the...only person...you travel around with.”

“What can I say? You’re the only person I like.”

Ken'pai chuckled. “Because you get to rail me whenever you want?”

“Well, that's only a small part of it,” Tomis said, eyeing his friend's posterior for a moment before snapping his gaze toward the end of the alley. “C'mon, let's take care of this.”

The two walked in-step with each other as they approached the mage with the red scarf, who had slumped down against the back of the wall, a large cracked depression above him demonstrating just how much force he was thrown with. A small bit of blood trickled from his mouth, a mouth that seemed to still be muttering to itself.

CRACK!

The sound surprised even Tomis, as he looked sideways to see Ken'pai with his firearm in one outstretched arm.

The round drilled into the wall beside the man's face, spraying bits of rock. The combination of the sudden sound combined by the force of the impact caused the mage to recoil in fear as a small spark of magic flared, then fizzled out.

“Keep your mouth shut and your magics contained,” Ken'pai grimly ordered.

Tomis resumed his march toward the mage, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up, slamming him into the wall again.

“P-please! I w-won't tell anyone, I sw-swear!”

“Begging?” Tomis leered. “How unbecoming of a Guild Mage.”

Ken'pai holstered his weapon again and stepped forward. “What're you going to do? Blast him with that beam?”

Tomis gave a short sigh of exasperation. “I told you this before, it doesn't work like that.”

“What then?”

The warlock held the mage up with one strong arm, glancing at the wall and outstretching his other hand. An inky, purple-tinged darkness began to swirl out from it, forming a round, black window of twisting nether energies.

Tomis turned back to the mage. The others couldn't see it, but Tomis was smiling under the mask.

“I'm going to give you a glimpse. A glimpse into the darker side of this reality, one that you mages will never seem to understand, despite your fears. I'm going to show you the truth.”

He let the mage drop before grabbing the back of his head and forcing it into the vortex, the man bracing himself against the wall with his hands to keep from falling completely in.

Even having his face completely trapped in a portal, it wasn't enough to drown out that level of screaming. His body jerked and pushed with a desperate fervor to escape his captor's grasp, but not only that...to escape from...

Ken'pai turned his gaze and blocked the sight with his hand. As deeply as he cared for Tomis, there was always a strong discomfort of the powers he possessed. He actually felt a little weird at the fact that he wasn't afraid of them anymore, but they still gave him a strong sense of unease.

Tomis finally pulled the man from his creation, throwing him aside and letting his magics dissipate. He was visibly shaking and huddling for warmth, or perhaps, comfort. Comfort that he wouldn't find here.

“It's over, Ken. You can look.”

The lizard-man uncovered his eyes and glanced at his friend sideways in embarrassment. “Sssorry. I just..”

“I know. It's okay.”

The warlock rolled back his hood and took off his mask, prompting Ken'pai to tilt his head in curiosity, before smiling at his friend's gentle face.

“Guards are coming. Follow my lead,” Tomis smiled.

Sure enough, two guards rounded the corner, one male and one female. Golden armor matched with golden spears and large golden shields as they approached the two companions.

Tomis didn't even give them a chance to speak. “Oh thank the gods you're here,” he pleaded, giving a grand performance, “we heard this terrible noise and we found this man just lying here, talking to himself!”

The male guard kept his spear at the ready, watching the two as he motioned to the woman. “Check him,” he said, pointing his head to the mage on the ground.

She rolled him over and looked in his twitching, terrible eyes. The mage grabbed her and held on for dear life.

“There's nothing but eyes! It's nothing but darkness and eyes watching you always watching and nothing can save us or save you or save me or save them we're all being watched. Always watching and waiting to devour and eat and consume and those eyes are upon me and upon my mind and upon my soul and...”

She'd heard enough, backhanding him with a gauntlet with enough force to render him unconscious. “He's gone, sir,” she said, checking the brooch on his chest. “...looks like a Guild Mage?”

The male guard eased his watch and turned toward his partner. “Magic frenzy.”

“What's that?” Tomis asked innocently. He knew the answer already.

The man turned back to them. “I don't know the details, but Guild Mages like to experiment with magic, and if they delve...too far, they can go a bit crazy from the things they experience. They're so unstable when they do that their actions are wildly unpredictable.”

“It's why we don't want the Mages Guild to have a chapter in Chazin,” the woman said, “Mages going through frenzy have been known to attack people, and with the powers they have at their command, that's a very dangerous combination, especially in a city like this, where the streets are so dense.”

“Well, that and we don't really like Guild Mages here anyway,” the man scoffed, “too snobby, to far up their own arses to see or care about the people around them.”

Tomis chuckled. “Yeah...they wanted me to join at one point but man they really don't make a good pitch. They were trying to tell me that my family was worthless and holding me back, they didn't care just how badly they insulted me to my face!”

The man patted Tomis on the shoulder. “Good thing you didn't join up then. Free mages are so much more helpful anyways.”

“What's going to happen to him?” Ken'pai spoke up.

They were both startled a bit as the woman dragged the mage to his feet and braced him up. “You speak common?” Ken averted his gaze.

“...Sorry. Guess it takes all kinds here in Chazin. We'll take him with us and see if we can get him stabilized, but if not...he'll have to spend time in the sanitarium. If what he said is any indication...a lot of time.”

The male guard helped his partner brace the unconscious man as they began to drag him away. “You two going to be alright? Need anything else?”

Tomis smiled. “No, just glad nobody got hurt, that noise was so frightening!”

“Indeed,” the woman said. “Take care.”

“You too!”

The guards nodded and continued to drag their subject away, turning the corner out of sight.

Ken'pai finally gave a few chuckling hisses. “I don't know how you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Just...lie so convincingly. You all but had them eating out of your hand.”

Tomis gave his friend a loving smile. “I know how to get what I want.”

Ken'pai grinned. “Oh, do you now?”

“What's that?” Tomis said, grabbing one of Ken's horns and leaning in as close to the lizard's ear-hole as he could, speaking in a low, sultry whisper. “Is my comrade beginning to doubt my powers of...persuasion?”

Ken shuddered as his grin became an embarrassed smile. “No....” he said, resisting every urge he had to not melt right then and there.

Tomis let his breath hit the lizard's neck before smiling. “Good.”

He pulled back and wrapped his arm around Ken'pai's back and squeezed. “Now, we've got a few hours before sunset, and I'm guessing you need something to eat.”

“And drink,” Ken'pai noted, swallowing hard.

“After all that running, I can't blame you. C'mon, let's get some grub. I'm counting on you to find a good place. Never been here myself.”

Ken'pai gazed skyward for a moment before the inspiration struck. “I know just the place! Has a great view of the Well, also.”

“Sounds good,” Tomis nodded, replacing his mask and hood.

The lizard gazed at his friend, still slightly unbelieving that he'd met him in the first place.

Yet...he could feel his soul was...happy.

“Yeah. It does,” he smiled.

Thanks for reading. Reblogs are appreciated! :D

#Writing #Fantasy #Sinquest #Ken'pai the Mechanist #Tomis the Warlock #Soul and Sand

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