#take a chunk out of his opponents on every battlefield.

[camgirlkaminari]

TEETHTOBER Day 30: TEETH

DEKU vs AFO

#bnha spoilers #deku vs shiguraki's terrible laser fingers #he cronch. etc #bnha #midoriya izuku #deku bnha #teethtober #drawing challenge #evil art #honestly love this look for him he should do this more often. bite through bone next #take a chunk out of his opponents on every battlefield. #do you think it would be funny for him to chomp at the next sports fest. because i do #ONE to go............weeps

[waheelawhisperer]

Starting to wonder if the tournament's team & doubles fights actually hint at early-volume Yang having more of a target fixation problem than anything. I mean, Arslan rope-darts her onto the ice in the middle of a footwork exchange (speaking of which, can watchers stop treating 'kicks' like Yang's a freakin' Hitmonchan?), then sets her up for Nadir to backshoot *twice,* and Neon's troll-strafing kept her busy for a perilous chunk of that round.

Answering both of these at once because they cover similar topics.

When I said Yang was already adept at controlling her temper, I meant she already had effective strategies for managing it, not that she had perfect control and literally never succumbed to anger like some kind of robot. She's demonstrated since Volume 1 that when she gets angry and overstimulated, she vents her anger, resets, and refocuses. She's noticeably calmer every time she does it, she recognizes when her anger is starting to hinder her, and her ability to address it has directly led to several of her victories.

On the topic of Yang's anger, she's actually better at managing it than plenty of other characters who never get called out by the narrative of the fanbase (take, for example, Winter Schnee, whose immediate reaction to seeing her sister in handcuffs was to threaten the soldiers guarding her with violence, and their reactions imply that the threat was both believable and not likely to be punished by Winter's superiors). Not once has it led her to do serious harm to either her relationships or the people she cares about, but evidently anger is a character flaw for her and no one else.

I do agree she has a bit of a target fixation issue during the Beacon era. Beacon-era Yang is cocky and confident, justifiably so, and I think once she matches up against an opponent, she wants to prove herself by beating them. She only really showcases this during Volume 3, in a series of low-stakes tournament fights, but it might still be what Taiyang meant with his advice. I'm not convinced it is, given how much of that conversation focused around her Semblance, rather than the actual nuts and bolts of her fighting style, but that could be what Tai noticed, and I'd say it is genuinely a weakness for Yang to work on.

That said, that quote in the ask kind of ignores the way Yang regularly employs tactics like manipulating the terrain around her, activating her Semblance to accomplish specific objectives instead of just spamming it as brainlessly as Tai and the fandom think she does, and separating opponents so she can deal with them in isolation. Yang's never acted like the only way through an obstacle is through it or like strength is the only thing that matters in a fight, and we see it as early as her freaking trailer.

Yeah, Neon got in her head during the Vytal Festival and she made mistakes because of it, but Neon was literally the only one who played that fight anywhere close to optimally out of the four people in it. Blame Yang for not double-teaming Flynt if you want, but Weiss didn't move to double-team Neon either and tackled a dude into a lava geyser. Flynt got cocky and didn't finish Weiss when he had her beat. Yang, funnily enough, processed her anger and then made use of her established tactics to win a 2-on-1 fight. She broke the terrain to hinder Neon, separated her from Flynt, took down Flynt while he was isolated, and then finished off Neon when she got the opening for it.

As for chasing Arslan, she was hardly alone in fighting suboptimally. Blake could've easily not chased Reese and just gone and ganged up on the guys, Ruby and Blake could've harassed Arslan while Yang closed with the less mobile members of Team ABRN, Weiss could've used Dust to control the battlefield, etc. Like, Yang's target fixation here isn't any worse than anyone else's.

Against Neo, she had a very valid reason not to disengage - she was actively learning Neo's patterns as the fight went on and actually managed to catch her right before the end. Yang had reason to legitimately believe that fight was winnable, and if you pay close attention, you'll notice that Neo stops fucking around immediately after that. Yang's demonstrated that she's a legitimate threat, so Neo ends it as soon as she's in real danger.

I think Yang made a mistake going for her counter/finisher move against Neo instead of trying to transition to something that takes less setup, but we've seen her use it against Melanie in the Yellow Trailer and know it's an effective answer for elusive fighters, so I don't blame her for trying a technique she knows has worked in the past. Otherwise, she fought very effectively: she switched up her combos to try to catch Neo out, used the data she gathered to find an opening, and tried to take advantage of that opening once she got it.

On the topic of disengaging from Neo, that carries a lot of problems of its own. Ignoring the fact that Yang (reasonably) thought she could win, we know from that fight alone that Neo's mobile enough to keep Yang from escaping an enclosed train car where she'd have to either open the door or break through the exterior and then do so again to get into the next car (or she'd have to jump/climb upward). On top of that, Yang doesn't even know where her teammates are or if they'll be able to assist her, and she needs to buy time for someone to stop the train. It's not a situation with an easy answer, and there's no reason for her to try regrouping when she's facing an opponent who she's actively learning how to fight over the course of the engagement and who hasn't yet demonstrated how badly she outclasses Yang.

Not sure what you mean about the kicks. If it's about the idea that more kicks = better fighter, that take is dumb and I've explained why before.

#analysis #yang xiao long #taiyang xiao long #neopolitan #neon katt #flynt coal #arslan altan #reese chloris #nadir shiko #bolin hori #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #winter schnee

[recurring-polynya]

Once again, I am thinking about the dubious claim that people make from time to time that Renji would have gotten better character development in the TYBW arc if Byakuya had died. The thing is, though, that Renji did get excellent character development in this arc, particularly with respect to his relationship to Byakuya, it was just very subtle and I want to talk about it.

So, the first thing I want to point out is that the captain-lieutenant relationships is one of the major themes of the TYBW. A lot of this is sort of weird and awkward, but this is perfect, actually, because captain-lieutenant relationships are, for the most part, weird and clunky and awkward. Take for example, the part that I always make fun of, where the captains are told not to go to bankai, and Hitsugaya, Komamura, Byakuya and Soi Fon immediately go to bankai-- but they all do this on the assumption that they are luring their opponent into a trap to see how this works, and that their lieutenant will somehow ??defeat them anyway?? (well, except Soi Fon who seems to think she can one-shot her Quincy). There’s Sasakibe’s funeral, where we find out that Yamamoto cared far more for him than we ever imagined. Kyouraku returns Nanao’s zanpakutou to her and stands behind her as she defeats an opponent he can't. Iba carries Komamura’s body off of the battlefield as he loses the last of his humanity. Isane struggles to keep her head above her grief because that’s the burden Unohana left her with. Rose avenging Kira. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto fighting and (sort of) dying together. The Zaraki-Yachiru thing. The Mayuri-Nemu thing. Momo and Shinji actually got to have a relatively normal one, which they each deserved, but at least they got to have normal one together. Anyway, that could be an entire essay, but as usual, I only want to talk about Renji and Byakuya.

Renji’s introduction as a character happens in stages. Initially, he sort of appears to be Byakuya’s sidekick-- he's here to do the dirty work during Rukia’s arrest, while Byakuya stands by and calls the shots, but even early on, it’s clear that Renji’s a little hung up on Byakuya. He’s trying to impress him, and gets more embarrassed and self-conscious as things go progressively pear-shaped. When Byakuya finally enters the action, Renji’s thought bubbles reveal that he’s watched Byakuya for a long time, that he knows all his moves. When we get the Renji backstory reveal a few issues later, we learn that Renji’s goal is to defeat Byakuya, which he seems to feel is necessary to seeing Rukia again, even though there has never been any sort of causal link revealed between these two things. Don’t get me wrong, if Young Academy Renji had tried to continue to be friends with Rukia, I think Byakuya would have kicked him out on his ass, but it’s clear that a lot of Renji’s hang-ups are internal-- he doesn’t want to face Rukia again until he can stand against Byakuya. I think the origin of this is that he simply wants what’s best for Rukia, and he can’t stomach the idea of asking her to leave her rich, noble family for him, unless, of course, he’s somehow better than Byakuya in some dimension, and the only thing Renji’s ever considered himself good at is fighting.

Even more interesting is that he’s chosen to go about this by... studying the man’s every move and becoming his lieutenant. But for as much energy as Renji has put into learning Byakuya’s favorite combat moves, he doesn’t actually know anything about him as a person. He’s shocked when Rukia predicts that Byakuya won’t lift a finger to help her, and then horrified when this actually comes to pass. A few chapters later, as he’s running Hinamori through, Aizen comments that “Adoration is the state furthest from understanding.” I would probably classify Renji’s feelings towards Byakuya more as admiration or idolization, rather than adoration, but I think this statement is also very true of Renji and Byakuya’s relationship. Unlike poor Momo, Renji gets a little more time and opportunity to do something with this information. With a little Ichigo-forced soul searching, he realizes that he’s not going to come out the hero of this story no matter what, but if he doesn’t do something, Rukia’s not going to come out of this story at all, and even if he’s not really ready, he’s spent 40 years trying to figure out how to beat Kuchiki Byakuya, let’s hope all that was good for something.

The Byakuya-Renji fight has no direct impact on the events of the Soul Society Arc. It makes Byakuya show up to Rukia’s execution 5 minutes late and without his scarf. Renji gets healed, so it really doesn’t matter all that much to him, either. You could argue that they both wasted a bunch of energy (that they could have used to fight Aizen later) but it’s primarily a character-driven moment of them both drawing lines in the sand about where they stand, vis a vis Rukia. Byakuya wins this fight, and he wins it handily, but he’s wrong, as he comes to realize a few issues later, when Ichigo kicks his ass and tells him he’s a bad brother, a lesson that Byakuya will take to heart for the rest of the manga. Byakuya claims that the difference between Renji and himself is class, but the real difference between is the heart, and in the long run, Renji is the real victor of this fight.

The hospital scene is an interesting footnote to this. Byakuya defeated Renji, but Byakuya was the asshole and everyone knows it. There’s an expectation that perhaps Renji will quit or perhaps Renji will give him an earful and perhaps even Rukia will choose to leave the family, either to go to the Living World or to be with Renji (and Byakuya would deserve this), but instead, both Renji and Rukia give Byakuya another chance, which is not, I think, a place Renji ever expected to be.

Rukia and Byakuya building up a sibling relationship after this is fairly straightforward (although I’m sure it had its weird moments), but Byakuya and Renji now have this profoundly awkward relationship where Byakuya is obviously in charge, but he sort of depends on Renji as a personal compass because he’s shit at dealing with people and he doesn’t want to screw stuff up with Rukia again. Take for example, the part of the Hueco Mundo arc where Orihime is kidnapped and Rukia and Renji desert their posts to come help rescue her. Kubo takes to the panel-space to tell us that Byakuya has tacitly approved this. As a clan head and a captain, a person who is entrenched in the hierarchy of Soul Society, Byakuya couldn’t possibly go to Hueco Mundo-- but he can turn a blind eye while his sister and lieutenant scurry out through the Kuchiki family senkaimon. Renji, for his part, tried to go to Hueco Mundo through official channels and got shot down. We don’t know what Renji would have done if Byakuya had explicitly forbidden him from going, but it doesn’t matter-- Byakuya enabled Renji to follow his heart here, because Byakuya can’t. Rukia would have gone to Hueco Mundo regardless. She cares about Byakuya, but she doesn’t depend on him for validation the way Renji does.

I said this was going to be about the TYBW, so let’s get to that. Early in the arc, we’re shown several scenes where it’s clear that Byakuya respects and values Renji as a lieutenant, but he’s also pretty damn patronizing to him. Renji is the first one to engage As Nodt, and when Byakuya shows up, he acts surprised that Renji hasn’t taken him out yet, but then proceeds to take over the fight (real, “stand back, fives, an eleven has arrived” energy). After Byakuya then loses his bankai like a doofus, Renji wants to take point so that Byakuya can figure out As Nodt’s attack and Byakuya won’t let him... and then proceeds to get thrashed.

This has to be one of the most emotionally charged fights in Bleach. Byakuya is losing, and Renji jumps in, absolutely incensed that As Nodt would use Senbonzakura against Byakuya. Renji isn’t doing great, but he’s not doing terrible when Byakuya gets up and tries to help Renji, even though he’s a big bloody mess. As Nodt reacts by shredding Byakuya into chunks, and Renji just loses it, and if Mask de Masculine hadn’t shown up and kicked him halfway across the Seireitei, I daresay Renji would have killed himself trying to take down As Nodt.

This is where I usually make the point that if Byakuya had died to here, it would have broken Renji into little pieces, but that’s not today’s essay. Instead, everyone goes to the Royal Realm, and by virtue of the fact that Byakuya is injured worse than everyone else, Renji has to go forward without him or his approval.

In typical Renji fashion, the thing that motivates Renji here is not glory or heroism, but the desire to accompany Ichigo, the need to be with his friends in their times of trial. In fact his companionship here is absolutely essential-- at Hikifune’s, Ichigo expresses deep doubts that he’s doing the right thing, and Renji reminds himself that if he wants to protect others, he has to take care of himself first.

At Nimaiya’s however, Renji and Ichigo are split up because they must follow their own paths. The other extremely interesting thing that happens here is that Renji’s sword is reforged. Byakuya shattered one of Hihio Zabimaru’s joints the very first time Renji used them in combat. Renji brushed it off at the time, saying that he could get by without it. Even though Byakuya has long been his motivating force and his mentor, he’s also been held back by his connection to him. And at this point, it’s gone.

I really wish we got to see where Renji and Rukia meet up again, but we don’t. Unlike with Ichigo, though, Rukia doesn’t seem to need anything from Renji. They travel together, fight together as equals, wear matching outfits, like you do. Oh. Wait. After all this time, in the 493 chapters between Needless Emotions and Blue Stripes, Renji can finally see himself as an equal to Rukia. They get. bankai. Together.

I want to emphasize that it’s not really anything about Rukia herself that allowed Renji to make bankai, it’s the fact that he’s finally managed to move past the feeling that he’s not enough. Defeating Byakuya would not actually have solved this problem, and having Byakuya dying in front of him wouldn’t have either. Renji gets criticized for losing a lot of his fights, but that’s such a key to his character. He’s not always the strongest, he doesn’t always win, but he keeps fighting for what he cares about. He struggles with his need for approval, for external validation, but Renji is at his best when he doesn’t have time to think about that, when he’s just fighting by his friends’ sides against impossible odds, doing what he knows in his heart is right.

I think people tend to make a little more than is strictly necessary of the line where he tells Mask that he’s “a villain”, I think he’s most just making fun of Mask’s own self-aggrandizement. On another level, though, this is just Renji being at ease with himself. Byakuya typically enters a fight bloviating about the honor of Soul Society and “how dare you raise your sword against me, the 28th Head of the Kuchiki” and even Ikkaku had the whole deal about telling people your name before you kill them, but Renji is more like “you beat up my friends, so I’m gonna break your face,” like there’s no ego in it, just you’re there, and he’s there, and then you’re lying on the ground and he’s taking a nap somewhere. This is so different than the insecure, posturing young man he was at the start of this series and I love this growth for him.

Even after he eventually meets up with Byakuya again, something has changed about their dynamic. The group gets split up and rejoined two or three times, and Renji and Rukia always stay together while Byakuya ends up fighting alongside others, Hisagi and later Hitsugaya and Zaraki. This is cemented in their last scene together, where Rukia and Renji try to stay with Byakuya and he sends them off to fight with Ichigo by saying “your help is not needed here.” In some ways, it���s an echo of Byakuya sending them off to Hueco Mundo, but in other ways, it’s acknowledging that they are their own people, not just an extension of him.

Hitsugaya follows it up with this:

There’s more here than meets the eye, though-- Byakuya and Renji have maintained a pretty strict superior-subordinate relationship, because that’s the easiest way for them to make sense of the world, but the fact is, they do care about each other and are important to one another.

I know there would be a certain narrative satisfaction in seeing Renji make captain at the end-- he’s one of the hardest working people in Bleach, and it frankly seems weird to see Iba get the haori when he doesn’t. But Renji has never wanted to be a captain. Renji becoming captain would, in some ways, be a failure. He spends years pre-canon chasing rank and prestige because that’s what he thinks will make him worthy, and it didn’t. Instead, he found worth in being himself, in loving his friends and being there for them, in learning things from Byakuya and teaching him things in return. Renji doesn’t need to be Byakuya’s lieutenant anymore, he just does it because he likes it. It makes him happy. What better character development is there than that?

#renji abarai #byakuya kuchiki #tybwa #god i love to get up on a saturday and write essays about renji's character development #tldr: renji checks off all the gotei career milestones *except* making captain and then proceeds to lean in to his true calling: malewife #we stan legends only

[good-rwbyaus]

What about an AU where everyone had somehow been under the mistaken assumption that Ruby was a professor at Beacon? For a laugh, Ozpin rolls with it whenever he's asked about it.

Becoming :: mod lilac :: Part 1 out of 2. 

What about an AU where everyone had somehow been under the mistaken assumption that Ruby was a professor at Beacon? For a laugh, Ozpin rolls with it whenever he's asked about it. 

Test

“You cannot be serious, Headmaster!” Goodwitch burst into the room just as Headmaster Ozpin made his offer of early entry into Beacon. Ruby couldn’t help but grimace at the Huntress’s words - they hurt, especially since they came from someone she admired so. 

“Oh? But weren’t you singing praises about young Miss Rose earlier?” Ozpin spoke with a hint of joviality. “What was it? Amazing potential, excellent coordination, sharp eyes, animalistic instinc-”

Wait wha-

“All of what I spoke is what she could become in the future,” Goodwitch objected, “She’s still too young. Hasn’t even completed her training back at Signal. If you bring her to Beacon, she’ll just be building on an unstable foundation - who knows when she’ll topple over?”

“There’s too much she’s lacking in, “ the Huntress continued, “She hasn’t developed the muscle mass to fully control her weapon. And her situational awareness is poor, especially when she tunnel visions like what she did tonight.” 

Ozpin nodded his head at Goodwitch’s assessment. The gesture made her feel like a rock settled into her stomach, and the man’s following words didn’t help.

“Excellent points,” Ozpin agreed before he turned his head to her, “What do you have to say Miss Rose?”

Her eyes were like a deer in headlights, open and wide. She couldn’t lose this chance. She wanted to fight against the Grimm. And a day sooner she got into Beacon was a day sooner she’ll become a Huntress. She could stay at Signal, but... 

“I know Professor Goodwitch is right,” Ruby agreed hesitantly, “I’m lacking in a lot, probably so much that I don’t even know what I’m lacking. But Signal... Signal won’t help me.” She closed her eyes and sighed, “I’m tired of watching from the sides because the teachers are afraid I’ll break my fellow students’ confidence.” She trembled before gritting her teeth, “I’m tired of being left alone because the teachers think I’m already in a good place and there’s so many others that need help. They just tell me that everything will come with time and to practice on my own.”

“There’s only so much I can do learning through books and training by myself,” Ruby quietly said, “And my dad and uncle are busy with Hunter business and teaching. I can’t take too much of their time just because I want training.”

She shifted her feet uneasily before repeating, “I know I’m lacking, but Signal will not help me find those things. So please let me into Beacon.”

“All I ever wanted was to fight the Grimm. I want to become a Huntress. I never wanted anything else,” she bowed her head quietly, not able to meet either of them in the eyes, “Please give me a chance.”

The silence in the air was palpable, almost as if it could be sliced. It lingered, and she could feel Professor Goodwitch’s gaze pierce through her. Seconds felt like minutes as time dragged on, and before she could speak to get rid of the unnerving quiet, Goodwitch spoke first. 

“Beacon Academy’s Initiation will start in two months,” Goodwitch sternly stated, rapping the table with her riding crop. The woman looked straight into her eyes. “You will inform your family and then report to Beacon Academy tomorrow. Be forewarned that if you do not have what it takes, I do not want to hear anything more about early entry. Understand?”

Ruby lifted her head, eyes shimmering in excited tears. Professor Ozpin looked both amused and perturbed as he looked over at Professor Goodwitch and then herself. Professor Goodwitch looked every bit the strict disciplinarian waiting for her answer.

“Yes, I’ll do it! I won’t let you down. Thank you Professor Goodwitch. Headmaster Ozpin!”

----

Training

Metal barrels and chunks of asphalt flew swiftly through the fields, trying to tag its red-clad target. Meanwhile, bullets shot through the air trying to pierce into her Psychokinetic assailer. 

A sniper bullet managed to avoid her barrier of floating debris, forcing Glynda to step back to dodge it, the air in its wake stinging her eyes. Clearly, Miss Rose was getting used to this level of attack - the local masonry was no longer adequate. It seems that after three weeks of training this girl in the guise of testing she’ll yet again need to bring another element into play. 

The Disciplinarian - her weapon - swung towards the ground, her Aura channeled deep within the earth. 

“Ah!” 

The red-cloaked girl stumbled half-way from the miniature earthquake that was created. Large chunks of dirt and rock, larger than Miss Rose herself, floated into the air courtesy of her Psychokinesis before rushing to crush the girl in their midst. 

And just as she expected, Miss Rose performed marvelously. 

The girl quickly found her footing and bounced amidst the floating debris. A slice subtly cut through one of the boulders, so fine that she failed to see it at first - followed by a bullet from her blind spot. Glynda had already moved to duck under that follow-up bullet, and she couldn’t help but mentally complement Miss Rose's tactics, which were only inadequate due to not knowing the depths of her opponent. Had she been a student at Beacon instead, that would’ve been a fight-ending blow. 

Miss Rose would’ve been wasted at Signal. This girl was not meant to be a greenhouse flower, safely nurtured until she was ready to be brought out in the world. She was a wild rose, meant to grow in hardship and become all the more beautiful for it. Her presence in Signal - the other teachers must’ve sensed it somehow - was detrimental to the class; to them, she was like a weed that had to be kept in check lest it strangle the rest of the greenhouse. 

She knew this because she was the same way when she came into her Semblance - Psychokinesis - and became all too aware of the differences in capabilities between Hunters. 

Two more years at Signal would’ve ruined this girl. They would’ve dulled the girl’s sharp instincts like when she and Miss Rose first met. 

...Truthfully Beacon might not be the right fit for her either. 

“Argh, shit Glynda. Is beating on me really that fun?” the girl yelled accusingly as she bounced off against a floating rock. 

Oh whoops she was smiling. Glynda shifted her expression to something more neutral, but she couldn’t help but internally grin.

Their relationship had gotten a lot more casual a week in. Politeness tends to go out the window when exploding barrels were involved. 

“I’m only happy that I’ll be sending an inadequate student back to the institution she needs to go back too,” Glynda replied in a deadpan, flinging a volatile-marked barrel into the battlefield. 

“Oh fuck y-”

Boom.

---

Hunt

“What do you think, Peter, Bart?” Glynda said almost proudly as if introducing a prized student to an audience. Peter gazed upon the red-cloaked girl amidst the pack of Beowolves, many of which were turning to smoky wisps from her scythe blade. Even at this distance, she could see the girl’s every move, every strike an efficient take-down. 

“I’m feeling sorry for those Beowolves. Did you teach her how to be so...?” Port said quizzically as he saw the girl flip onto the back of a Beowolf, scythe at its neck - a single click later, and the Beowulf’s head was sailing over her.

“So?” Glynda questioned.

“So vicious. She’s really not scared about close combat” Peter commented, “Bit unusual, given her weapon’s part sniper rifle.” He observed as the girl rolled underneath a Grimm’s legs, only to swing the scythe from underneath. Urk. He squeezed his legs together at the phantom pain brought from that strike - Bartholomew did the same. 

“It wasn’t me. She came like that,” Glynda shrugged her shoulders, snorting briefly at the males’ sympathetic reactions, “Honestly, I didn’t expect this when I let her loose.” 

“...She was born to Hunt,” Bartholomew commented as he sipped from his thermos, “Probably more than me and either of you. Look at her face. She’s smiling. 

“...She’s smiling,” Glynda said quietly.

All three pensively watched as their soon-to-be-charge gleefully tore through the Grimm with a grin on her face, scythe reaping through them like they were wheat on the fields. 

----

Meeting

“How do you feel?” Headmaster Ozpin asked with a smile, “I heard you had an exciting two months.” Ruby and the Headmaster were standing together at the landing hall, observing the other students arrive for orientation. 

“Like coming out of a dream,” Ruby sighed happily as she hugged Crescent Rose’s folded form. “It was everything I wanted and more.” 

“I wouldn’t have thought you would look fondly on what other students call Professor Goodwitch’s Ego-Crushing Disciplinary Course,” he chuckled, “Of course, those students have far less friendly names for it.”

He couldn’t help but feel perturbed though when Ruby stared at him in confusion.

“Why wouldn’t I like it? She pushed me to my limits and more,” Ruby stretched, “Same with the other professors.” Her gaze shifted away from him, a little hesitant and guilty, "But I’m having a feeling that Beacon regularly isn’t that exciting.”

“No, it isn’t,” the Headmaster said, “But you’ll be provided opportunities to go into the field as needed, though you’ll still be required to join a team and interact with them.”

“Those never did go well back when I was at Signal,” she grumpily said.

“You’re speaking as if that were ages ago. You’ve only been in Beacon for two months,” Ozpin chuckled. 

“It felt so much shorter. Guess time flies when you’re having fun,” Ruby laughed before rubbing her hand against a silver badge on her chest.   

“Hmm, what’s that?”

“Bar- I mean, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port were joking about how I deserved a reward for surviving Professor Goodwitch,” Ruby laughed, “So they gave me a badge that's been defunct for a while, back from when Vale determined the seniority of a Hunter based on Grimm kills. Apparently this is the highest accolade.”

“Oh, should I be worried then about my position, Professor Rose?” Ozpin quirked an amused eyebrow. 

“Maybe~ I don’t know. I’d rather be out in the field. Never did like the classroom, “ Ruby grumbled, “Even more so now...Hopefully, being with the other students won’t be too bad.”

”Looking down on your peers already, Professor Rose?”

”Stop calling me that, Headmaster,” Ruby hopped up and down angrily, “People might get the wrong idea. And it’s not that I’m looking down on them. I’m just not used to competent teammates. Don’t worry though. Professor Goodwitch stressed to me the importance of a team. No good Hunter hunts alone.”

”Wise words. Perhaps you should hold some classes.”

”Stop joking around.”

“Who said I was joking?”

Little did the fuming Ruby know that there were some people that caught bits and parts of their conversation and that they were prepared to take those words very seriously.

------

Rumors

“Holy shit. Did you see that video of that girl decapitating that Nevermore?” 

“Yup. Can’t decide whether the Deathstalker kill by Team JNPR or the Nevermore kill from Team RWBY was better.”

“Probably team JNPR’s kill, since they’re actually a bunch of students. I heard team RWBY’s leader is already a professor here.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“No joke. They say she just can’t get full professorship because of her age. Apparently she’s a combat prodigy from Signal, and she came to Beacon two years early to fast-track into a professorship. I mean, do you think the team being named after her is a coincidence?” 

“Hey, guys! You’re talking about Professor Rose, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So I personally heard the Headmaster call her Professor Rose before. A lot of people have during orientation actually. It’s just that it’s all supposed to be on the down-low. She’s on first-name basis with all the professors. Heard her call Professor Goodwitch by her first name when they’re in private.”

“She has balls. If I called Professor Goodwitch by her first name, I’d probably end up missing both of mine.”

“I didn’t need that imagery thanks. But if you want any proof, take a look at her badge. That’s an official Vale Hunter’s badge if you search online for it. Bit old and dated, but it exists.”

“Guess I shouldn’t ask to copy her homework then. Can I copy yours?”

“No. Go do your own.”

“Dang it.”

#logo-comics #ruby rose #glynda goodwitch #ozpin #rwby #rwby fic #mod lilac

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Well, howdy there. I’m up to episode 8 of Ranma 1/2, the second episode of the introductory arc for the best boy in anime history, Ryoga Hibiki. Last episode gave us a general idea of who he is, but it’s this one where we’ll get to see him and Ranma actually fight, as the title gives away. I’ve said it before, but I absolutely adore titles like this. One time I was writing a fanfic for this series, and I won’t lie, making up similar styled titles for chapters was one of the best parts. So, excited to watch it, next paragraph I’ll have done just that!

That...was kind of disappointing. I was really looking forward to this episode, and while there was a ton of stuff I really enjoyed about it, there was a lot I did not care for in the slightest. But before I talk more about that, I’ll do my recap.

Though there is a bit of an issue there, too. About half or more of this episode is Ranma and Ryoga fighting. I’m recapping the episode to you in a text-based format, so going blow-by-blow to describe every move of the fight would be pretty boring, I’d imagine, even if a lot of what happens is actually really great and ties together well. But on the other end of the spectrum, a lot of the plot momentum in the story is carried by the ebb and flow of the fight scene, so just glossing over it wouldn’t work either. I’m going to try for a middle path, but I apologize if I don’t stick that landing.

The episode starts at Furinkan High School, in the middle of the night, as the school’s Chemistry Club is secretly meeting to put their finishing touches on an...explosive mine? Which then blows up? I’d love to tell you this makes sense later...but it does not.

We cut from there to Ryoga, who is dramatically monoguing about how badly he wants to kill Ranma. NEXT SCENE. At the Tendo Household, Ranma and Akane are discussing again why Ryoga wants to beat Ranma up so badly. He’s still confused, since he was sure it was because of the bread. Speaking of Ryoga, Kasumi shows up to deliver a letter that arrived from Ranma, from his rival. It’s a letter of challenge, but the date on it was the day before. Ranma doesn’t think that’s a problem though, considering Ryoga’s relationship with timeliness. To accentuate that point, we get a small scene of Ryoga misunderstanding someone’s directions and going the wrong way, again.

The next day, in what looks to be between classes or during lunch or something, one of Akane’s friends comments on how long her hair has grown out. Akane notes in narration that it’s “finally” longer than Kasumi’s, to really connect the dots we see she’s thinking of Dr. Tofu. But there’s no time for that, Ryoga is back again! In the sports field! While sports are going on! He gets knocked out by a stray ball, but in no time Ranma is down there to fight him, and most of the school has gone down to watch.

Nabiki and her henchwomen, which she has apparently, smell an opportunity, and organize a betting ring on the fight. There’s some brief banter between Ranma and Ryoga, during which it’s revealed it’s actually been a month since the last episode and Ryoga ended up on Okinawa while lost (meaning he’s now been to all four of Japan’s main islands), but then the fight finally begins. Ryoga starts by mainly using his umbrella, and Ranma sticks to dodging.

From there, we get a few audience cutaways. It turns out everyone put their money on Ranma, so Nabiki realizes she’ll need to do something to make sure Ranma loses and she doesn’t lose a ton of money on the bets. The Chemistry Club shows up, and they realize that if Ranma dies, they’ll have a chance to...do something to Akane they never clarify, but is implied to be somehow taking ownership of her. Yeah.

Back to the fight, Ryoga tosses his umbrella at Ranma as a distraction, then pulls out a length of wire and throws a handcuff onto Ranma’s wrist. Now they’re chained at the hand, so they’ll have to fight close quarters, which favors Ryoga more. The umbrella ended up landing near the audience, and some of them try to lift it, only to realize it weighs an incredible amount. Even Akane, who is quite strong, can barely lift in less than a foot off the ground. Realizing that Ryoga’s been carrying this monster of a weapon with one hand this whole time, seemingly with no difficulties, Akane tries to warn Ranma that his opponent is far stronger than he seems.

We cut from there to a student running to see Kuno, and let him know Ranma is fighting some really strong guy who seems to be around Ranma’s level. Kuno claims he is “meditating”, which turns out to just be looking at posters of Ranma in his cursed form and Akane while trying to decide if he likes one more than the other.

Ranma finally decides to take this fight seriously, and uses Ryoga’s trick to his advantage by tangling Ryoga into being grappled, with only one hand to use and Ranma sitting on his back. It’s a great move, but Ryoga is in fact so strong that, with one hand, he can throw both of them dozens of feet into the air, where they start fighting mid-air. That was a miscalculation on Ryoga’s part though, as Ranma is basically built for air juggling.

They end up outside the initial fighting area, right where the Chemistry Club hid a bunch of their explosive mines. They don’t blow up as they’re stepped on though, and after several gags they end up trying to beat up Ranma by jumping out with mallets...right as the fighters dart away for somewhere else, setting off their mines and blowing themselves up. And that was the last anyone heard of them. I guess they’re actually dead. It’s canon now.

Nabiki runs after Ranma and Ryoga as they leave the school entirely for their fight. They’re just on some random street of the city now, and the handcuff tether broke as they left the filler characters behind. Nabiki approaches Ryoga as they’re fighting, offering him what she claims to be a steroid, but is actually just some vitamin pills. Ryoga takes them anyway, and with that plus Nabiki’s thorough encouragement, he acts as though he’s suddenly far stronger. Thanks, Placebo Effect! In fact, he lefts a cement telephone pole out of the ground and uses it as a melee weapon. Amazing.

Ryoga chases Ranma through the city and into the zoo, where some animals are let out from the carnage of their battle. By this point, Ryoga is getting tired of Ranma running away all the time, and says he’s acting like a girl. That hits Ranma’s Berserk Button, and he starts fighting back, breaking the weaponized piece of public property and several other things just as the other students start arriving to keep watching the fight.

The only problem is that A) Ranma broke a water fountain, making it spray water everywhere; B) Ryoga dodged the water using his umbrella, but Ranma got splashed and his curse activated; C) Ranma’s favorite shirt was slashed in the chest area earlier, meaning now parts of his breasts are showing. Ryoga is confused for a second, and Ranma actually gets really emotional, making it clear how much he hates his curse, how much of a struggle living with it is. From Akane’s face in the background, she finds it a bit overwrought. Kuno also briefly shows up to leap at Ranma, only to be taken out with a kick.

If Ranma thought the reveal of his curse and his explanation of how bad it makes him feel would make Ryoga take it easy on him, he thought wrong. In fact, Ryoga seems even more angry now, pissed off at the idea that looking so attractive could be a genuine problem. (Some fuel for you Ranma/Ryoga shippers out there.) Ryoga reveals a new trick. Apparently he has a bunch of bandanas, and he can throw them as sharp boomerangs? Okay.

Worried about him, Akane tries to help Ranma get out of there, sure he wouldn’t be able to win in his cursed form, only for Ranma to have to protect her, picking her up into his arms to run away to get some room away from their assailant. They then have a brief moment of realizing how close they just were, and each struggling with whether to go into why they’re upset at the other or say something about their cute moment. They both decide to go with the former. Oh, and there’s a brief cutaway scene of some zoo person trying to catch an animal, seeing Mr. Saotome come out of a store in his cursed form, and assuming he’s an escaped animal too.

While Ranma and Akane argue in a tree, or as Ryoga accurately calls it, “flirting”, he cuts down the tree using his best, which can apparently become tense and really sharp? Anyway, he’s on the attack again, and in the heat of the moment Ranma says a very bad thing, insinuating that he doesn’t like Akane. She slaps him, absolutely done with him. After all, she’s been worried about him, tried to help him, and in response he’s gotten angry and insulted her. Ranma tries to recover, going after her, but she dramatically turns around to say she is done caring about what he thinks...right as one of Ryoga’s sharp weapons falls from the sky, cutting off a large chunk of her hair mid-turn.

That’s the end of the episode! It was a lot, but it also wasn’t. Hmm...where to start, where to start...should I begin with what I didn’t like, or what I did? I think I’ll actually get the rougher parts out of the way first, so then I can relish talking about what I enjoyed.

There are no two ways about it: this fight, which I had remembered so fondly over the years, is full of filler material. To no one’s surprise, the Chemistry Club are anime-only characters, and unlike other such new elements from later in the series, which I enjoy to certain extents, these characters are nothing. Actually, nothing would have been better. They add no stakes, nothing worthwhile at all, they break up the fight in the process, and what we see of their characters is genuinely despicable, even worse than Kuno. It is left vague exactly what they want Akane for, but it’s left open to interpretation enough that it could be anything from getting her to join as their only girl club member, to being their shared sexual object. If you think I’m reaching for that, please, watch the episode. These are the inceliest incels who ever inceled, and they kind of scare me.

They’re not the only rancid fat in this episode. Kuno did not need to be here. At first, I was happy to see we’d get a little bit of him during this story, but his first scene was just a boring repeat of an already becoming stale joke (Hahaha isn’t it funny that he’s in love with two people at the same time?) and his second scene lasts for about four seconds and is a dull moment in the middle of an emotional scene for Ranma. Genma’s cutaway scenes aren’t as bad, but they’re not really good either. They’re the most neutral.

Of all the side-stories going on here, the only one I actually liked was Nabiki’s. It affected the plot a little, it was in-character for her while driving further to show how money-obsessed she is, she got some anime-only henchwomen out of it (Kikuko and Ryonami for those who care), and I never felt like it was hurting the fight itself. I get that a lot of these other elements of the episode were there for comic relief, but in my opinion it was bad comic relief. It undercut what the other parts of the episode were trying to do, not accentuating them like they should have, and they were just unappetizing. My last complaint would just be a lot of the opening scenes, which were basically mini-recaps about who Ryoga is and what he’s like, didn’t really feel needed.

All of that out of the way, allow me to now gush over what I love about this episode. This fight isn’t the best Ranma vs. Ryoga fight in the series (In fact, I don’t think it would make my Top 3. Yes, if you haven’t seen this show, they really do fight that many times over the course of it.) But it is still a pretty good fight with lots of memorable moments. Ryoga is the first opponent to actually test Ranma’s strength in any real ways, and there are some really killer bits of action here, such as the grappling, the mid-air fighting, and the telephone pole weapon.

What makes this more than just a cool looking fight are the emotional aspects to it. On Ranma’s side, he doesn’t really care about fighting Ryoga, up until his pride is hurt by Ryoga’s comments. For the first time, it’s Ranma getting mad, and from that we get to see how Ranma feels about his situation. That draws out some hints to the mystery behind why Ryoga is angry as well, if you’re paying attention to the clues. (I couldn’t think of anywhere else to mention this, but I am still reeling from how often Ryoga this early in the series relied on weird weapons. Where does he get them? I am quite glad (if I remember correctly) that they phased that part of him out with time.)

On Akane’s end, in addition to another case of Ranma saying the wrong thing to really hurt their attempts to connect with one another, we also learn more about her hair. While a little clumsy, early on it’s made clear, without being outright stated, that the reason Akane wears her hair long, and has been actively growing it out, is so she looks more like Kasumi, hoping to catch Dr. Tofu’s eye. Thus, when the episode ends with that hair being accidentally rendered far shorter, we know that means something to her.

I’d also say this episode does a good job of getting us further into the idea of a status quo developing. After all, it’s apparently been another month of Ranma living with the Tendo’s now, and the school at large seems to be settling into what Ranma brings to them with his presence. They’re not stunned by someone showing up to fight Ranma, they’re chasing after them to watch it. Only other thing to note is, in addition to Nabiki’s minions, Akane’s best friends finally appeared, Yuka and Sayuri. I actually wasn’t sure at first, since Yuka’s hair is a lot shorter than will be her norm later on, but I did confirm that they are in fact her equivalents to Ranma’s Hiroshi and Daisuke. They get even less characterization than those guys do, but they’re a nice addition to the growing cast regardless.

I still have a few characters who have shown up that I haven’t done a spotlight on, but none of them really featured in this episode, so I decided to do my first repeat. That’s right, we’re talking about Ranma again, and because I’ve already discussed his voice actors and actresses, I won’t need to go over them again, except to say I still love his Japanese voice actor for his uncursed state, but find his actress in that language to not quite work for me.

So, it’s been a little while since the first episode, and we’ve gotten to see Ranma a little more. Since this was an action-heavy episode, I think I’ll start with talking more about his fighting style. I said in that first episode that Ranma is fast, and he is. So far, he’s spent most of his fights dodging his opponent, rather than attacking them, and when he does it’s sometimes with such speed that they don’t even see it happening. It’s the very fact he’s more defensive that is occasionally shown to annoy Akane, and you can see it having another layer to it: Ranma would much rather avoid things he doesn’t like, rather than face them head-on.

But he’s not just quick, he’s quick-witted. To match his meticulous mobility, Ranma thinks on his feet, always looking for ways to outmaneuver or outsmart his opponents. We can see from how easily he lifts Ryoga’s umbrella, even in his cursed form, at the end of this episode that Ranma is also very strong, but he doesn’t rely on that strength, he uses his brain instead. Personally, I’ve always thought that was evidence that, at least with Ryoga of all people, he would probably lose a straight-up strength vs strength fight, but I’m not sure if that’s ever openly stated. Still, I also don’t see Ranma lifting telephone poles out of the ground.

In terms of his personality, I’d argue that through the episodes thus far, Ranma has shown to be a complex protagonist. On the surface layer, he’s a fairly abrasive person. He enjoys nettling people, at least those he knows are easy to rile up, and frequently says the worst possible thing to someone without realizing the damage his comment will do.

But there’s also more to him than that. Whether he wants to admit it or not, and he clearly doesn’t want to, Ranma does care for Akane. He does go out of his way to try and comfort her, cheer her up when she’s down, give her advice with her problems. When she might be in danger, Ranma runs in to help, and is upset that she’d endanger herself during his fight with Ryoga. In other words, Ranma is a tsundere, leaning fairly heavily on the tsun side.

One other important piece of who he is that we’ve gotten only hints of here or there so far is his pride and how it relates to his masculinity. Ranma is a very proud person, and he’s clearly not a fan of people taking him lightly or treating him in a way he doesn’t like. That includes being treated as though he was a girl, because he isn’t.

That is honestly understandable. Sometimes, completely outside of Ranma’s control, his physical body changes into something he doesn’t feel comfortable with. When he’s in his cursed form, people see him and treat him differently, and he keeps trying to assert his masculinity, to no avail. Ryoga gets Ranma angry by saying he was acting like a “girl”, completely unaware of the curse at the time. As I’ve said before, I think this actually relates quite well to the transgender experience, in these cases specifcally gender dysphoria and midgendering. I can’t remember how much we’ve seen of it up to now, but Ranma’s rejection of femininity in any way, something he does to try and preserve his masculine pride, often leads to him acting rude or even misogynistic to others. It’s an interesting part of his character, but I do feel the need to say right now that I absolutely hate the stereotype with trans men where some people claim they act misogynistic to try and be more masculine. Like, I know some people do it, but using that brush on all trans men is just wrong and transphobic, no thank you.

Welp, that certainly was an episode. Even after going into all the really interesting and good parts of this episode, I am still left with a bad taste in my mouth. By no means did the bad outweigh the good, but the fact the worst parts of the episode were frequently interspersed among the best parts of it broke up the pacing in a bad way for me. It’s still in the top half of the episodes so far, as I’d put it between episodes 6 and 4. The current ranking is now:

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

This storyline isn’t over just yet though! Next week, we’ll be looking at the fallout of Akane’s impromptu haircut in episode 9, “True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!”. See you all then!

#episode 8 #School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #ryoga hibiki #akane tendo #anime analysis #anime rewatch

[thecreaturecodex]

Demon Lord, Yhidothrus

Image © Paizo Publishing, artist unknown. Accessed @monstersdownthepath​ here

[Commissioned by @bobmuffin52. A lot of folks want top tier threats this go around, it seems. My version of Yhidothrus borrows a lot of mechanics from other impossibly large monsters. It’s kaiju massive, for one. I snagged the endless coils SQ from my previous ayakashi statistics.The impossible lunge is borrowed from Bestiary 5′s cetus, and the shifting coils ability is borrowed from the wrackworm in Planar Adventures (which the flavor text ties to Yhidothrus)]

Demon Lord, Yhidothrus CR 30 CE Outsider This impossibly immense creature looks like a mammoth worm, its oily night-black body opening at one end to reveal a maw filled with hooked jaws. Patches of shaggy bristles hang from it in chunks. The other end of the monster disappears into the distance.

Yhidothrus, The Ravager Worm CE male demon lord of age, time and worms Domains Chaos, Death, Evil, Repose Subdomains Ancestors, Demon, Entropy, Murder Favored Weapon spiked chain Unholy Symbol an hourglass filled with worms instead of sand Worshipers conqueror worms, liches, worms that walk Minions ghosts, grimslakes, worm-like monsters For information on Yhidothrus’ obedience and boons, consult Book of the Damned

Yhidothrus the Ravager Worm is associated with all of the negative aspects of time—aging, entropy and decay. His worshipers are few and far between, mostly made up of those that would do anything to prevent their own deaths, or creatures that have already died but have eternal unlives, such as ghosts and liches. Despite the obscurity of his cult, he is immensely powerful, roaming endlessly through the Spiral Paths that weave below the surfaces of all of the Abyssal layers.

Yhidothrus is so immense that lesser creatures usually fail to catch his attention. They wither away to nothing in his mere wake, so why bother fighting them? If his attention is forced, he usually opens with a powerful spell-like ability or two, then use his bite and Whirlwind Attack to finish off any survivors. Creatures that survive his bite have their years stripped away from them, aging to death even if the wounds do not take their toll. He is impossibly long, and always appears emerging from some surface—the space and reach listed below are the part of his body that appears on a battlefield. If attacked at range, he can lunge almost half a mile at a time to pick off distant opponents.

The true nature of Yhidothrus is obscure. Rumors abound as to what is at the other end of his ravenous maw. Is he a demon at one end and a qlippoth at another? Is he merely an appendage of some greater being, an animate tongue or intestine of something truly divine? Is he, in fact, infinite? It is said that when Yhidothrus uses his time stop ability, his true nature becomes briefly visible…and all those who have survived to witness this are utterly insane.

Yhidothrus            CR 30 XP 9,830,400 CE Colossal outsider (chaos, demon, evil, extraplanar) Init +6; Senses darkvision 600 ft., Perception +47, tremosense 240 ft., true seeing Aura cloak of chaos (DC 27), entropy (60 ft., 5d6 damage, Fort DC 43) Defenses AC 48, touch 9, flat-footed 45 (-8 size, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 deflection, +39 natural) hp 752 (35d10+560); regeneration 30 (deific or mythic) Fort +31, Ref +27, Will +32 DR 20/lawful, cold iron and epic; Immune ability damage, ability drain, aging effects, cold, death effects,  disintegrate, electricity, energy drain, mind-influencing effects, negative energy, petrification, and poison; Resist acid 30, fire 30; SR 41 Defensive Abilities ferocity, freedom of movement, massive, shifting coils Offense Speed 80 ft., burrow 80 ft. Melee bite +48 (6d10+21/19-20 plus grab plus dispelling bite and decline), 1d4+1 slams (2d8+21) Space 60 ft. Reach 60 ft (120 ft. with bite) Special Attacks endless coils, hurl foe, impossible lunge, part the veil, swallow whole (AC 30, 75 hp, 10d6 damage plus annihilation) Spell-like Abilities CL 30th, concentration +41 Constant—cloak of chaos (DC 27), freedom of movement, true seeingAt will—astral projection, cone of cold (DC 24) M, create greater undead, greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. objects only), insanity (DC 26), slay living (DC 24), word of chaos (DC 26) M 3/day—quickened empowered disintegrate (DC 25) M, quickened greater dispel magic, empowered horrid wilting (DC 27) 1/day—gate, summon (9th level, 1 demon of CR 20 or lower, 100%), power word kill M, time stop M, wail of the banshee (DC 28) M = Yhidothrus can use the mythic version of this spell-like ability in his realm. Statistics Str 52, Dex 15, Con 42, Int 33, Wis 28, Cha 32 Base Atk +35; CMB +64 (+68 sunder); CMD 80 (82 vs. sunder, cannot be tripped) Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Dodge, Empower SLA (disintegrate, horrid wilting), Greater Sunder, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (disintegrate, greater dispel magic), Spring Attack, Staggering Critical, Stunning Critical, Whirlwind Attack Skills Bluff +49, Climb +51, Diplomacy +49, Escape Artist +37, Intimidate +49, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, engineering) +46, Knowledge (history, planes, religion) +49, Perception +47, Sense Motive +47, Stealth +24, Spellcraft +46, Survival +44, Swim +51 Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Draconic, Protean, telepathy 120 ft SQ burrow through, compression, demon lord traits Ecology Environment any land or underground (Abyss) Organization solitary (unique) Treasure standard Special Abilities Aura of Entropy (Su) All objects and creatures within 60 feet of Yhidothrus decay. All unattended objects have their hardness halved permanently; a worn or attended object may resist this effect with a successful DC 43 Fortitude save). All corporeal creatures take 5d6 points of damage a round (Fort DC 43 halves); a creature reduced to 0 hit points by this ability is reduced to dust, as per the disintegrate spell. The save DC is Constitution based. Burrow Through (Ex) Yhidothrus can burrow through solid stone without penalty. He may burrow through iron or other metals at a rate of ¼ movement. Decline (Su) A creature bitten by Yhidothrus must succeed a DC 38 Fortitude save or advance to the next age category. This aging can never have beneficial results (such as for a true dragon). The target gains the penalties associated with its new age category to its Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, but no benefits to its Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. This advanced age effect is permanent unless removed via remove curse, break enchantment or a similar effect. A venerable creature that fails its saving throw is instantly slain as if by old age, and cannot be restored to life via a miracle, reincarnate, true resurrection or wish spell. This is a curse effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Dispelling Bite (Su) A creature bitten by Yhidothrus is affected by a targeted greater dispel magic effect (CL 30th). Endless Coils (Ex) Yhidothrus can make a variable amount of slam attacks in a round. He can never make more than one slam attack a round against a single Huge or smaller creature. Hurl Foe (Ex) When Yhidothrus damages a Huge or smaller foe with one of its natural attacks, he can try to hurl the foe as part of that attack by attempting a combat maneuver check. On a successful check, the foe is knocked back 10 feet in a direction of Yhidothrus’ choice and falls prone. The distance the foe is hurled increases by 10 feet for every 5 points by which Yhidothrus’ check exceeds the foe's CMD. If an obstacle stops the hurled creature before it travels the whole distance, the hurled foe and the obstacle struck each take 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet of distance remaining and the foe is knocked prone in the space adjacent to the obstacle. Impossible Leap (Su) Yhidothrus can uncoil upward, revealing more length than it seems it could possibly possess while soaring to great heights. As a full-round action, he can leap out of the ground toward a creature up to 2,400 feet in the air and make a bite attack against that creature before coiling down and returning to his original space. This leap provokes attacks of opportunity. Massive (Ex) Because Yhidothrus is so massive, uneven ground and other terrain features that form difficult terrain generally pose no significant hindrance to his movement, though areas of forest or settlements are considered difficult terrain to him. A Huge or smaller creature can move through any square occupied by Yhidothrus, or vice-versa. Yhidothrus can make attacks of opportunity only against foes that are Huge or larger, and can be flanked only by Huge or larger foes. Yhidothrus gains a bonus for being on higher ground only if its entire space is on higher ground than that of its target. It's possible for a Huge or smaller creature to climb Yhidothrus—this generally requires a successful DC 30 check, and unlike the normal rules about Yhidothrus and attacks of opportunity, a Small or larger creature that climbs on his body provokes an attack of opportunity. Part the Veil (Su) Any creature that can see Yhidothrus when he uses his time stop spell like ability must succeed a DC 38 Will save or gain two madnesses with an instantaneous onset—one of these is moral insanity, and the other is of Yhidothrus’ choice. This is a mind-influencing effect and the save DC is Charisma based. Shifting Coils (Su) The first time each round that Yhidothrus is targeted by anything that resolves againsth is touch AC, he gains a +39 dodge bonus against that attack. Swallow Whole (Ex/Su) The damage dealt to a creature in Yhidothrus’ gut disintegrates creatures reduced below 0 hit points, as a disintegrate spell. In addition, a swallowed creature must succeed a DC 38 Fortitude save every round or be utterly annihilated, as per a sphere of annihilation.

#yhidothrus #demon lord #pathfinder 1e #commissions #eldritch horror

[pandastern]

Gravity (Bakugou x OC)

Part 3: A Step too far? (past)

Bakugou x Vigilante!OC

Warnings: angst, explicit language, violence

Word count: 2200

Genre: enemies to lovers ; angst ; romance

When a new student makes an entrance, Bakugou has a real bad feeling. There is something about this girl that just doesnt feel right. From the flaming hair to the calculating glint in her green eyes, everything about her just pisses him off.

Little does he know that his fate is intertwined with the person he despises so much, defining his future path in a way he would have never expected.

Maybe it was because class 1A knew Bakugou better than Artemis did, or maybe it was because the little scene she’d caused in the cafeteria hadn’t gone unnoticed, but as she slowly made her way into the ring, all her classmates seemed to hold their breath.

All except for the ash blonde pissy pomeranian with anger issues. Bakugou looked ecstatic.

“Oh, I'm gonna kick your ass so bad you won’t be able to walk for a week!” he hissed.

Judging by his murderous eyes, she figured she was heading straight to a situation any normal person with a normal sense of self-care would want to avoid. Tough luck, though. She wasn’t a normal person. Sometimes she wasn’t even sure if she was a person to begin with.

“Now, now. That almost sounds like a proposition,” she chuckled.

Bakugou’s expression changed. Now he just looked like he wanted to tear her throat out. Lovely.

“Artemis.” Aizawa’s voice interrupted her little moment with Mr Anger Issues. “Neither you nor Bakugou know the other’s quirk. Why is this a perfect example for what you can expect as a Pro Hero, and why is it a good lesson?”

Tearing her eyes away from her opponent, Artemis focused on her teacher again. 

She scoffed. “We need to be ready for any type of quirk because we often go into the field blind. You cannot choose who to face on the battlefield.”

Her nonchalant tone made a brow rise on Aizawa’s usually bored face. A few hairs on the back of her head started to rise. So, her first impression of this man had been correct. He was a dangerous one.

“Correct,” Aizawa replied, pulling out a tablet. “Let's see how you pull your weight, newbie. Begin!”

Artemis took a deep breath and turned her attention back to her opponent. A devilish smirk had spread across Bakugou’s face. He was ready to throw down.

“Come at me!” he roared, his voice booming with confidence. “I'll show you what a real hero can do.”

She narrowed her eyes. The air around her was rather dry, so not much water could be drawn out of it. There were no fountains or bodies of water she could use, nor had she brought any herself. There were, however, trees and grass close to the ring. So, how best to start this?

Judging by what she’d seen of Bakugou, he was so full of himself that he probably didn’t expect much of her. She could draw out the water from the vegetation, but that would turn them into dust. Artemis shook her head. No, Aizawa probably wouldn’t appreciate her destroying school property, even if it was to defend herself.

Her best bet was to move fast and punch Bakugou as hard as she could. Preferably somewhere it really hurt.

Artemis moved. Keeping herself low to avoid exposing an opening, she rushed forward, swinging for his ribs on his right side. Bakugou was quick to read her movements and dodged, trying and failing to grab her by the scruff of her neck. She brought her foot forward and spun out of the way, plunging her elbow into his abdomen. At least, that’s what she thought she was hitting.

Something exploded in her side, sending her flying several feet. White pain exploded in her head as she hit the ground like a sack of flour, too shocked to roll her own body to avoid a harsh landing. The blast had knocked the wind out of her.

What the hell had just happened?

Bakugou’s laugh rang in her ears as she forced herself back onto her feet. Then it dawned on her. The weird scent of nitroglycerin in the cafe finally made sense.

“How’d you like that, fucking loser? Is that all you got?” Bakugou spat at her.

“So, an explosion quirk, huh?” she growled.

“Yeah so what? What do you think you're doing by not using your quirk against me? Do you think you can win like that? I’ll grind you into the dust, just watch!”

The familiar feeling of anger bubbled up in the pit of her stomach. This guy was really starting to piss her off. But he was right. Going against a power that could literally blow her up wasn’t really something she should take lightly. 

Grinding her teeth, Artemis shrugged off her singed jacket and rolled her shoulders. It looked like protecting school property was out the window, then.

“You want my quirk?” she growled. “Fine. Suit yourself.”

Bakugou charged at her, his speed boosted by another blast of his power, but this time Artemis was prepared. Reaching out with her powers, she spun to the side, evading his fist before grabbing hold of the water molecules in the air, a couple of trees and the grass surrounding her. She concentrated the liquid into a powerful blast and sent it racing towards her opponent.

Bakugou was caught of guard, the powerful blast pulling him off his feet, encasing him in a whirlpool and swirling him around like a shirt in a washing machine before smashing him back on the ground on the other side of the ring.

Watching him sputter and shake himself like a doused poodle, Artemis couldn't help but smirk.

“What's wrong, blasty boy?” she cooed, pulling the water back to herself, swirling it around her body like snakes. “Can’t swim?”

Bakugou glared at her, eyes blazing. Artemis could see that she had struck a nerve right there. Perhaps he wasn’t into her nickname. The swirling wisps of water separated from her body and morphed into needles of ice that surrounded her, their sharp spines pointed at Bakugou.

The palms of his hands started to smoke.

“I'm gonna kill you,” he hissed.

Artemis charged. Water and heat clashed as they exchanged blows, explosions scattering her ice needles before she hit him with another blast of water. They couldn’t have been more opposite in character and fighting style. Bakugou moved with the aggression of a hellflame while Artemis danced away, spinning, dodging his swings and landing her own blows in between blasts.

That was when she noticed something: the angrier this guy got, the hotter and faster his blasts came. The downside to her quirk was that she never had an infinite amount of water to draw upon, unless of course it was raining or she was fighting in a body of water. With every blast of Bakugou’s explosion more and more water evaporated. Damnit. If she didn’t get him on his knees soon, she’d run out of a means to protect herself, let alone attack. She had to admit, Katsuki Bakugou was an outstanding fighter.

“Where the hell do you think you’re looking?” A booming voice behind her ripped her out of her thoughts. How the hell had he gotten behind her in just a split second?

White light and heat exploded right in her face, hurling her through the air for a second time. Her body hit the ground with a nasty smack and she wheezed. The impact of her fall had squeezed the air out of her lungs and for a moment the world went blurry.

Bakugou breathed heavily as he watched the flame-haired girl writhe on the ground,struggling to take a breath. He had to give it to her, she was tough. Her quirk was something he’d never seen before. Where had she got all that water from in the first place? Then he noticed the dried up trees close by, along with big patches of dried up grass. Even the ground was cracked as if it hadn’t rained in years. Had she pulled it out of her surroundings like that? 

He heard Artemis curse as she struggled to her feet, and he narrowed his eyes. That last blast should have been enough to give her a proper concussion, and yet here she was back up on her knees, trying to steady herself. The water around her sprung alive again, swirling around her body protectively.

Her red hair had sprung free of its hair tie, falling wild and messy around her face. Then he noticed a good patch of the right side of her hair had been burned off by the heat of the blast.

He watched as Artemis slowly pushed a hand into her wild locks and pulled a good chunk of melted hair out of her bird’s nest.

Laughter bubbled up in his chest. “Well, seems like you finally got a nice haircut! Keep this up and you won’t have to worry about that crazy colour of yours.”

Artemis didn’t move. She just stared at the chunk of hair in her hand as if she were struggling to process what had just happened.

“What’s wrong, carrot head?” Bakugou taunted. “Have you had enough? Are you gonna cry about it like a little bitch?”

For a moment, the whole world seemed to stand still. Slowly, the girl rose to her feet. Then her eyes met his.

A chill ran down Bakugou’s spine, and he took a step back. There was a look in her freaky green eyes that made his stomach churn, as if a switch had been flipped and in front of him was no longer a 15 year old girl but something different, something wrong. Artemis’ eyes held no emotion. No humanity. Just a cold and endless void. There was death in her eyes.

His death.

A strange sensation bubbled up in his gut, making him shiver. Run… He had to run. Everything in him screamed to turn away and forfeit the fight, yet he couldn't move. He was like a deer in headlights waiting to be charged.

Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet started rumbling. The concrete cracked, then broke wide open as water tendrils shot through the stone, grabbing at him.

“Fuck!” he gasped. 

He propelled himself into the air, trying to evade whatever hell this girl had summoned. The water followed him up, encircling him like a snake, wrapping around his body, choking him, crushing him, extinguishing his explosions and rendering him helpless. Was she gonna drown him?

Then his eyes met hers again. Artemis was standing calmly where he’d last seen her. Her eyes were completely focused on him with a determination that made his blood freeze. In her hands was a bow made of swirling water, and she was aiming an arrow right between his eyes.

Bakugou tried to struggle against his restraints, tried to break free. He knew Artemis would shoot him without hesitation. This girl wanted him dead. Fear made his head spin. There was no way out, no way out!

The sound of a bowstring being released and an arrow slicing through air made his stomach drop. As if in slow motion, he saw the deadly projectile race towards him, ready to split his head like an overripe apple. All he could do was close his eyes and wait for the impact.

“Enough!” 

Aizawa’s voice echoed through the training ground.

The feeling of a sudden vaccum of power made Artemis’ stomach turn. Her knees buckled and she sank to the floor, shaking.

The red mist of rage that had made her feel so incredibly hazy started to clear, and slowly feeling returned to her. The sound of human voices, the echo of hearts shaken up by fear, pounded in her ears.

What had happened? The last thing she remembered was Bakugou’s blast sending her flying, the pain of having the wind knocked out of her, a handful of burned hair… and rage. Cold, deadly rage.

“F-fuck,” she rasped and curled up, trying not to vomit.

When she finally managed to look up, her eyes met the red ones of her teacher.

“This is a training session. A non-lethal training session!” he snarled.

She didn’t know what to say to that. Disgust bubbled up inside of her as she looked around and saw the carnage she’d created. Somehow in her rage, her quirk had taken control of the water that was running underground through pipes and had burst them, forcing the water upwards to attack bakugou.

The ash blond boy was on his hands and knees, sputtering and gasping for air.

Artemis realised that she’d gone too far.

She needed to get out. She needed to get away.

“I-im sorry… I… I’m sorry,” was all she managed to stutter.

Bakugou was being helped back onto his feet by a boy with spiked up red hair. His eyes met hers. The look in his crimson eyes told her everything she needed to know.

Artemis’ heart almost stopped. If Aizawa hadn’t stepped in, then she’d have… No… No.

“The class is dismissed,” the teacher growled. “Everyone go home. Bakugou, go get yourself checked out. As for you…”

But Artemis was gone. Aizawa’s eyes scanned around, catching a glimpse of red hair just before it disappeared behind a building. A groan rumbled in his chest. He’d have to go after her later. For how, he had to explain to the principal why the training grounds were in shambles. Fun. Why did he always end up with the most troublesome kids?

Something stirred in his gut as he remembered the look in Artemis’ eyes before she’d snapped. There was no denying it. Something wasn’t quite right with that girl.

#bakugou katsuki #bakugou x reader #bakugou x oc #bakugou #katsuki #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #mha fanfic #mha x reader #bnha fanfic #bnha x reader #oc #six gravity

[a-simple-lee]

Close Combat

Peter Parker, Bucky Barnes, Sam WIlson, Reader

Synopsis: Nothing is off the table when you’re snowball fighting with three Avengers.

(Requested by an anon)

________________________________________________________________

Peter Parker has helped you on many combat missions. You’re not new to the battlefield; tough, merciless opponents are practically a given. That’s why the pair of you have become an experienced team. Both of you have faced many impossible challenges, and come out better for it.

But this?

This is war.

And it’s brutal.

Breath forming clouds in the frigid air, both of your hands numb as you prepare a sizeable armoury, ducking to avoid attacks every few seconds. It’s chaos, and you’re not sure whether you’ll make it out alive.

Peter’s frantically building up your defenses, making sure you both have a shield to hide behind.

“I’m gonna go out,” He starts, grabbing a missile.

“No, don’t! We’re not ready!” All the same, you start gathering the stash of weapons you’ve accumulated, preparing for the worst.

And then he goes charging over your makeshift barrier, straight into the line of fire. You both see the missile coming. Neither of you have the time to stop it.

“Pete!” You cry, a knot of panic in your stomach when you realize it’s too late for him.

The snowball hits Peter square in the chest. He collapses for dramatic effect; the first casualty. You stifle a giggle at his theatrics, and peek over your snow fort towards the opposing team.

“You’re gonna pay for that, Barnes! Wilson!” 

“My ass we are!” Falcon’s crimson goggles peek over the top of their wall. A snowball comes hurtling towards your face which you dodge just in time. Peter is getting up off of the floor, clutching a handful of snow behind his back. 

“You monsters! Attacking a child! How could you?!” You lob a couple of well-aimed snowballs towards their end, and manage to hit Sam’s face. Bucky pops up for a second to lob a small barrage of snowballs at your fort with considerable force, and your snow fort takes some damage. Ice spatters onto your hair with each impact, and you curse to yourself before trying to rebuild your shelter.

“You won’t get away with this!” 

“We already have!” Bucky crows, tossing a snowball in Peter’s direction for good measure. Pete deflects it, and vaults over their fort in one swift motion - you stand up taller, making yourself vulnerable to attack to see what he’s doing. 

Sam all but screams as Peter grabs him by the shoulders, and shoves a good chunk of snow into his coat collar. 

“Ah, fuck- NO! SHIT!” He struggles to take his coat off before the snow has time to completely melt, stumbling away.

“Aha! TAKE THAT!” You cheer. One of Bucky’s snowballs hits you in the stomach; it’s got a considerable amount of momentum and almost winds you for a second.

“Jeez, Buck! Could you throw those any harder?”

“What, is that a Challenge?” He chuckles, adjusting his hat. 

“Uh-” You hesitate, collecting some snowballs and darting in front of your snow wall to run towards Bucky and Sam’s fort, dodging several of Bucky’s attacks but earning a snowball to the arm which you worry will leave a bruise. You throw two for every one he sends your way.

By the time you’ve finished ducking and diving towards the enemy stronghold, both you and bucky have taken a couple hits. Peter and Sam have resorted to wrestling, which doesn’t seem to be going very far. You round the wall to confront Bucky, and try to ignore the kicks and insults the two are throwing at one another in amongst their laughter.

“Okay, ceasefire!” You cry as Bucky prepares to chuck another snowball straight at you, and step forward. “I’ve come to negotiate.”

“You can’t win. We’ve got Pete,” Bucky says, holding his snowball at the ready. You mirror his position with one of your own.

“Yeah, well it seems more like he’s got Sam.” You mutter, glancing past Bucky’s shoulder and smiling when you see Peter flip Sam onto his back.

“Okay, negotiation cancelled. Let’s settle this.” Bucky starts, immediately lobbing his snowball at you and making a dive to tackle you. In the commotion, you manage to lift up his hat to crush your prepped snowball underneath it, which, judging by the string of swear words that follows, Bucky doesn’t appreciate. You laugh as he pulls away to bat the snow from his hair.

“Oh, you’re getting it now!” He mutters, promptly tackling you to the ground. The pair of you roll around in the snow for a second, each trying to get the upper hand. You end up with Bucky directly above you, and try to grab some snow - you reach around and shove it under Bucky’s jacket as best you can. Bucky responds by flipping around so he’s sitting above you, immediately shoving snow under your jacket - it’s freezing, and starts soaking into your jumper within seconds.

“No, no, no, NO!” You move your hands from where they’ve been trying to hold Bucky’s away, and struggle to shove your coat off. It’s flung some distance away, and leaves you free to brush off the frozen snow stuck to your side. Bucky’s laughing, but continuing to put snow on top of you. When he realizes the coat isn’t there to trap the ice against you anymore, he changes tactics, and starts shoving handfuls under your shirt collar. You shriek, the freezing snow melting instantly against your skin and puddling underneath your back. Bucky’s gloves quickly get soaked, and he tosses them aside, trying to pin you so he can shove more snow down the back of your neck instead.

“Just admit you lose!”

“Never!” You laugh, screaming as the second handful of snow is shoved under your jumper. “Ack, wait NO! NOHOHO!” You can’t tell if you’re laughing because of the silliness of the situation or because Bucky’s fingers keep brushing against the skin of your neck.

“Something funny?” He taunts, and you tilt your neck in an attempt to block him, which only traps his hand there.

“It tickles!” You manage to wrestle a hand free to pry his arm away from you, and turn onto your back - but Bucky quickly grabs your wrist and pins you again.

“Oh, does it?”

Shit.

His hand snakes under your partially soaked jumper to squeeze your sides - his fingers are freezing, and you’re immediately thrown into hysterics, kicking and trying to squirm away with very little success.

“Wait, wait NONONONO-” You plea, but Bucky’s not listening. He’s too busy laughing at the havoc he’s wreaking. “DAMMIT- your hands are cohohold! Nohoho!”

“Oh, they’ll warm up. Don’t worry.” His hands dart up and down your sides too fast for you to bat them away; he jumps from drilling his thumbs into your hips to counting your ribs, and then spiders patterns over your neck.

“Please!” It’s too difficult to make sense of the sensation - the only thing you know is that you’re incapable of coping with them gracefully, because Bucky’s not holding back, and you’re pretty sure you can’t laugh much harder than you already are. Although you’re quickly proven wrong when Bucky shifts to better pin you so he can focus on a particularly bad spot that has you cackling. “It tickles!”

“Good.” Bucky snorts. “You surrender yet?”

 “HELP! PETE! PEHETER!”  You tilt your head to your left to look for him. Your comrade has Sam in a headlock. It only takes a fraction of a second for him to be distracted enough by your cry that Sam can turn around and tweak him in the side.

“SAM! No!” You hear him yelp, and soon you’re not the only one dissolving into uncontrollable laughter.

You win some, you lose some, it seems. But at least there’ll be hot chocolate at the end of this battle.

#tickle fic #reader insert #marvel #avengers #peter parker #bucky barnes #sam wilson #the winter soldier #the falcon and the winter soldier #mine #tickling #fluff #ticklish!Reader

[sinnyclair]

Battle Between the Walls: Chapter 5

Gaur Plains. Truly a beautiful stage, it was. Tall grass, open blue sky, and the air always had a sweet scent to it. Had anyone put aside the fact that this was a battlefield, it could be admired for the scenery. The grass rustled as Maeko made her way to her side of the stage, waiting for Dark Pit to appear in front of her. Suddenly, a purple beam of light shone on the field, the corvid cherub descending from above.

"I wish you the best of luck," the white haired angel said as she smiled at him. He only glared at her.

"I don't need your luck. I know I'm going to win."

The smile fell from Maeko's face as she readied herself for whatever he was planning. Her halo sparked and fizzed as Dark Pit charged toward her, eyes darting to his blade swinging towards her face. With the turn of her heel, the white haired angel pivoted away from his attack, dashing to the ledge as fast as she could. Dark Pit grit his teeth, clicking the blades into his bow.

"You can't outrun me," he called out to her. "Get back here!"

Maeko panted out as she curled herself in. The shield popped up around her, a silent hum ringing in her ears. The blue bubble vibrated with a "thud" as Dark Pit's arrows hit its sturdy barrier. But it wasn't going to hold forever. It slowly began to shrink on her as a barrage of more arrows were hurled towards her. She yelped out as an orange octagon sent the arrows flying back to the other angel. Dark Pit snarled as his own arrow hit him.

"So that's how it is..."

"I did not mean for that to-!" The white haired angel's words fell on deaf ears as she jolted.

"FIGHT ME YOURSELF!!!"

His blades slashed away at his opponent. With each swing, they cut nothing but air as Maeko made every desperate attempt to dodge him. Dark Pit was relentless in his attack. One hit, just one hit on her. That was all he needed to back her off of the edge. As Maeko backed away from him, she turned her head to realize that she was nearing the K.O. zone. No... she had to face it. If she wanted to win, the girl had to fight back. And that was exactly what she did.

Dark Pit swung his blade down with a yell, only for it to be caught by something buzzing. The metal let out a shrill cry against Maeko's now flaming red halo.

"I know that you are not willing to lose," the girl shouted. "And neither am I!!"

The black haired angel smirked at her determination. He knew that she could fight back. All that Dark Pit had to do was push her to her limits. He knew that she was able to fight, he just had to bring it out of her. The angel swung out his blade in front of him and smirked, "Game on!"

It was at those words that Maeko lunged at him, swinging her now flaming halo in his direction. The flares cut so close to the boy that he could almost feel it burn his chest. But thanks to his timing, Dark Pit stuck his blade in front of him. The moment the halo touched the metal, sparks jetted out in every possible direction. She was getting too close. The boy forcefully pulled his free arm and shouted,"ELECTROSHOCK!"

Maeko felt electricity rush through her body as she was sent flying away from him. She landed onto the grass with a pained yelp. Blue strings of lightning jolted on her skin as she struggled to stand. Dark Pit snarled as he rushed her with two more galvanic blows. His approach was nothing short of ruthless, hacking and bludgeoning Maeko on the battlefield. She could only cry out under his relentless attacks. The blade grazing her skin, the bluntness of the Electroshock, it all just made her

"BURST!"

Then came a sudden wave that knocked Dark Pit away from her. Her groaned as his back hit the dirt below. It didn't help that he landed on his wings, but he'd live. As soon as he took his eyes off the ground, it became clear that it was how Maeko's turn to whale on him. The moment she swung her foot into his face, he knew he fucked up. Her attacks were just as brutal, though not as blunt as the Electroshock Arm. She slashed and beat into Dark Pit as hard as she could while he was on the ground. He regretted underestimating her tiny hands because her punches felt like golf ball-sized chunks of hail against him. How he managed to get the angel off of him would always remain a mystery, but he was back on his feet. For that moment, though.

The white haired angel grunted as she landed an upward slash across his torso. A pained yell escaped Dark Pit's lips as he fell to the grass beneath him. There was no time to for him to stay there though, not when Maeko was barrelling toward him. She let out a horrendous shriek as she did this. The latter hopped to his feet as the halo's searing heat grow hotter.

"I'm not losing here," Dark Pit roared. "Not to you!"

The Seventh Child panted as she wiped her bleeding nose. Every word that came out of the boy's mouth was nothing but meaningless noise to and it frustrated her to no end. Maeko had to take her mind off of him. If she got too angry, she would leave herself vulnerable. Above her, the white haired angel, there was a hum in the air. It resonated throughout the plains. Whatever Dark Pit had said in that moment, she didn't hear it. She squinted her eyes to get a closer look ahead. It was a flaming ball with a black cross, illuminating in every color. Maeko's bewilderment was short-lived as it seemed like Dark Pit noticed it, too.

"Is that your plan?" The smile on his face was so sinister as his red eyes glowed with malice."You're trying to get the Smash Ball, aren't you?"

She only grit her teeth and glared at him. That would prove to be a mistake as she saw the dark angel was already bolting himself towards the orb, ready to hack it open. Maeko sped over to the ball and rammed her foot into it as hard as she could. The Smash Ball seemed to shatter like glass as the essences sprung out. It was at this moment that she felt a surge of energy flowing through her. She could feel it coursing through her veins as rainbow flames engulfed her. The Seventh Child's eyes turned from red to gold. She turned her head to Dark Pit, who was staring at her in shock. The once blue sky above them now turned to a fiery red. She raised her palm and eight large spears arose from the ground. Seven stayed behind her as the eighth one flew into her hand. And with her hand outstretched, she pointed to him and glowered, "Your time has come."

She waved her hand and the spears whistled past her and... everything was a blur from there.

After what seemed like hours, Maeko stepped onto the circular tile stage. With a triumphant twirl of her spear, she grinned, "Your first mistake was underestimating me!"

#sinsin's stories #battle between the walls #bbtw #super smash bros ultimate #super smash bros #smash bros #smash #dark pit #dark pit kid icarus #pittoo #blapi #nagisa maeko #maeko nagisa #neon gensis evangelion #evangelion oc #neon genesis evangelion #evangelion

[shuttershocky]

Do you think Fate/Extra's gameplay can be improved upon? The Highlander card game-esque sequence felt like a pretty novel way of simulating the tactics of swordfighting, but there could be more.

This is an extremely difficult question for me because if there’s any design choice I really hate, it’s rock-paper-scissors mechanics with very little leeway for outplay. It was so dumb how most of Fate/Extra’s combat was literally just a guessing game since you couldn’t really see what moves the opponent would use until you’ve beaten up enough of them, and then once you did it became a matter of just picking the exact combination to completely shut them out in a turn. It was so fucking boring and a drag, and gimmicks like skills and NPs only became commonplace enough in the lategame to alleviate that. it also made playing Tamamo a nightmare, and not in a “so hard but so good” way either. 

That being said, I LOVE turn-based games that do simultaneous turn resolution (that is, everyone takes their turn at the same time), and I actually started enjoying the boss fights as skills and NPs and mystic codes became more prevalent.

What I would do is rework the combat system into being a tactical RPG, still featuring simultaneous turn resolution. Extella shows the servants are capable of controlling those puppet drone thingies that populate the Moon Cell, so I’d make them a core part of each battle.

__________________

Battle looks like this: you are given a board to act as your battlefield, your servant to be your main unit, and a set of those drones to act as your soldiers. you issue all your orders before hitting end turn just like in Extra, and then once that happens everyone’s moves are played out at once. Moves will have to be divided into phases. Off the top of my head I’d divide it into buffs applied first, then mystic codes / skills, (those override any actions in Extra anyway) then attacks (break/guard/attack), then finally movement.  

The drones are only able to do the basic three attacks and one skill, but have different stats.

Servants unlock new skills and their noble phantasm as they level up. These of course still use mana. 

Different skills and attacks have their own ranges, area of effects, etc etc you know the drill.

This way, the Break/Attack/Guard triumvirate is still important. When two servants are right next to each other and brawling, you have to determine whether you’ll guard, break, or attack on this turn, and this attack will play out at the same time the enemy attacks, preserving the heart-thumping moments when you predict right or the scary thrills of predicting wrong and you’re Tamamo. The only difference now is that at the end of the turn you can run away (or chase) the enemy, and also use your drones smartly to assist your servant (just as the enemy can use theirs), or else use your skills in order to come out on top of a fight.

Think of how cool it would be for example, if Nameless used his Crane Wings skill to make a dash attack and end up behind Gawain, at the same turn Gawain chooses to use “Attack” in the tile Nameless was in at the start of the turn. Nameless would hit Gawain and end up behind him, while Gawain just strikes at empty air in the next phase. it would look like a sick dodge and Gawain getting styled on.

What happens if two units try to move into the same tile since everyone moves at the same time? They bump each other and can’t enter the tile. You can use your drones this way to block off the enemy’s escape for example.

__________________

This rework also means restructuring the game’s flow. Instead of spending the weeks you have dungeon crawling to level up and doing missions to figure out the enemy servant’s identity, you can... still do all that, but now with a twist. 

You know how every new level brings new enemy drone puppets with movesets you have to guess till you kill enough of them? Now these act like recruitment battles. Instead of fighting one of these at a time, your servant and their drone puppets fight 3-4 of these, for random encounters, and then once they win these encounters a couple of times, you get enough data on them to be able to build your own and add these new drone types to your servant’s loadout!

Also to prevent your servants from getting underleveled when its one of your drones that makes a killing blow, there would be an XP share system so your servant benefits from all kills in battle. 

_________________

You can also still adapt Extra’s story events into this format. Remember when you fight Li Shuwen and he’s completely invisible so you can’t hit him or see his moves? Now imagine playing a tactical RPG where you can’t see your enemy at all. Do you run until enough turns run out? Do you take up a defensive position and have your drones surround your servant? Do you try taking swings at empty tiles and hope you land a hit? 

You could also alter some of the other story fights a bit. For example, Gawain when standing on a sunlit tile? 3x the stats and practically invincible, don’t even try. When you first fight him, the whole map has sunlight. When Rin/Rani messes with the artificial sun though? Large chunks of the map falls under shade, and Gawain is too confident to stay in the sun just to fight you. 

_________________

Anyway I really wish I could like Extra’s gameplay more because I liked the writing enough to force myself to play through it, but if there’s ever a modern remake, I’d love it if we saw something like this. 

#Fate #Fate/Extra #guardiantempest

[four-loose-screws]

FE4 Suzuki Novelization Translation - Chapter 6 Part 1

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations - Ko-fi

Minor T/W: One antagonist character very briefly expresses rape intentions.

———————————

Chapter 6 - The Bard’s Introduction

Part 1

Upon returning to Evans Castle, Sigurd wrote to both his father and King Azmur for their approval of his marriage.

His father gave his blessing, and wrote that he would be waiting impatiently for the day of his son's triumphant return, so he could meet the bride face-to-face.

King Azmur gave both his approval, and ordered Sigurd to stay stationed at Evans Castle to maintain order in Verdane while pressuring Augustria not to make any sudden moves.

Sigurd and Deirdre held a quiet ceremony at Evans Castle.

-

About a week later, a swordsman came to the castle, and challenged all the sword fighters to a duel.

Knowing that it would be good training, they all accepted his challenge, but not a single one of them so far had won.

Upon hearing the noise coming from the courtyard, Sigurd walked out to investigate, and saw Ayra coming forward to challenge the swordsman. "Wait! Allow me to be your opponent." He stopped Ayra and took the wooden sword she was holding for himself.

"I'll take on everyone and anyone who wants to come at me!" The man said without a concern in the world, and readied his sword.

'I can take him!’ Sigurd thought.

However, though the swordsman's stance looked sloppy, it actually didn't leave Sigurd any openings from which to attack him.

'He just might be better than me…' Sigurd refocused his thoughts, and pretended he was on a true battlefield. He imagined himself leading his army, about to strike down a powerful foe...

As the image became clearer in his mind, he felt his body fill with strength.

"Hiiiiiii-yah!!" He shouted, lunged at his foe, and swung his sword down.

He hadn't put any thought into how the swordsman would react. If the man blocked it, he could easily counterattack, hit Sigurd’s torso, and decide the match.

Luckily for Sigurd, the swordsman's sword broke in two, and the upper half went flying through the air.

"Dammit!" The swordsman cursed and threw away the remaining chunk of his sword.

"The match isn't over just because I broke your sword!"

"No, I lost. ...There is something within your sword that I have never seen before. It is like a great, awe-inspiring spirit. It saw the weak point in my sword, and that is why mine broke. ...Please, tell me your name."

"I am Prince Sigurd of Chalphy."

"So you're the great Prince Sigurd, huh? ...I am Chulainn, a mercenary. …I have only ever fought for money. But your skills made me see just how boring that life is. You fight not for yourself, and that is why you risked it all to defeat me in a single blow. Allow me to join your army, Prince Sigurd. I want to try fighting for something other than myself for once."

"You are welcome to do so, Chulainn. I won't be able to pay much, though…"

"All I need is enough to keep myself fed. In exchange, I may leave whenever I want if I lose interest in you…"

"I am neither your master nor someone you are contracted to serve, so you are free to do what you want."

"I like that idea! For now, you can just provide me with three square meals a day, and I'll be happy."

With Chulainn and the other allies that had joined him along his travels, Sigurd's unit was now starting to look more and more like a proper army.

However, the campaign in Isaach still had yet to reach a conclusion, and the situation in Augustria was getting worse and worse.

-

Eventually, King Chagall declared that he would invade Grannvale, and gave orders to each house in Augustria.

The moment Eldigan finished reading his order to dispatch troops, he called Lachesis into his room.

"Lachesis, I'm going to Augusty to ask King Chagall to stop this foolish campaign."

"Wait, Brother! Rumor has it that King Chagall killed his father! There's nothing you can say that will change his mind! If he could slaughter his own father, just think about how easily he could do the same to you. Please reconsider going to Augusty!"

"Lachesis, I understand what you're saying, but I must go. If King Chagall really wishes to go to war, then I've already made up my mind to protest it. I know the rumors, but there's no solid proof that he killed his father. There's no proven reason to believe I'm being reckless."

"But…"

"Don’t say anything further. If I put my all into persuading him, then the king is sure to understand my point."

Lachesis knew full well that there was no chance Eldigan could persuade Chagall. However, she'd also known since they were small that once he made up his mind, there was no changing it.

Realizing how futile it would be, she became worried for him, and burst into tears.

"Don't cry, Lachesis. I'll be okay. I promise I'll come home. I would never die and leave you alone."

"Eldie…"

Eldigan gathered his Cross Knights and traveled north to Silvail Castle, as it was lacking in soldiers. When one of his soldiers saw the Heirheinian Army marching towards them, Eldigan reassured them that Sigurd would bring reinforcements from Evans Castle soon, then traveled to Augusty with just one attendant to support him.

'How ironic is it that I trust a man from another country more than one from my own?' Eldigan thought. 'All this stemmed from King Chagall misunderstanding things.'

-

When Chagall heard that Eldigan was coming without his unit, he burst out laughing.

He had just become king, so he had yet to establish his full authority. The house leaders still questioned his abilities, and the rumor that he'd killed the previous king was still circulating. Because of this, he hated Eldigan most of all, for clearly opposing him. It also irritated him that Eldigan was Mystletainn’s inheritor.

‘If I am firm with Eldigan, then everyone will realize my power. It'll also be my revenge against him, killing two birds with one stone!’

With his mind made up, he calmly greeted Eldigan.

"Your Majesty, please stop preparing for war! Your father always wished to live peacefully with Grannvale. War will only make the people suffer and curse your name. It is the one thing we cannot allow to happen!"

"Eldigan of Nordion." Chagall said, putting on a happy face.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Chagall paused to look at the Nordion King. Then, he sneered at him.

"My father adored you, and I was happy that he shielded me from you. You remember that, don’t you?

"..."

"However… my father is dead, and now I am the one who rules over all of Augustria. Understand?"

"Yes, but…"

"You ignored my order! I cannot let you go unpunished for your crimes! ...Someone throw him in the dungeon, where he can think about how he's made a fool of me!"

At Chagall's order, the two soldiers standing behind him each grabbed one of Eldigan's arms.

"P-Please wait a minute, Your Majesty!" While he yelled as he was carried off, Eldigan did not resist.

'That went just as Manfroy told me it would!' Chagall thought. 'So long as it's an order from his king, he'll obey! At least he has one merit!'

Bishop Manfroy had promised Chagall hegemony of the Jugdralian continent.

-

"If you invade now, Grannvale will be easy pickings, and you will become Chagall, ruler of the entire world! All you must do is become king of Augustria."

"And how do I do that?"

"That much is simple, isn't it? If only your father dies, then you will become king. That's all that needs to happen for you to become the emperor of Jugdral!"

As Manfroy told him so, Chagall imagined a dazzling throne before him. When he sat upon it, countless courtiers bowed to him. From outside, he heard thousands of voices cheer for him as the new emperor.

Chagall killed his father soon after that.

-

Chagall sent a messenger to each house with the order to attack Castle Nordion. 'It's finally begun! Once I've seized Nordion, I'll have all of Augustria’s armies invade Grannvale! Then, the world will be mine!'

When Heirhein's King Boldor received the order, he immediately ordered Prince Elliot and General Phillip's units to ready for battle.

"I’m going to take Nordion from the other houses. I want you two to guard Hehein’s Castle. Do not open the castle gate for anyone without good reason, not even for King Chagall. When I return, Nordion will be ours!"

Elliot was ecstatic to gather his cavalry unit and pass on the order.

"Once Eldigan is gone, we will have nothing to fear! All units, move out! Let's get our revenge!"

As the horses galloped along, Elliot pictured Lachesis in his mind.

'Once Nordion has fallen, I'm going to take that Lachesis and make her mine! She’s so full of herself! Every time I try to talk to her, she turns away! But I wonder what kind of look she'll give me once I’ve ripped her clothes off...'

General Phillip commanded an armored unit, and therefore marched very slowly. Once Elliot and his cavaliers were out of sight, he ordered his soldiers to halt in the middle of a field.

"We will prepare for battle and be on standby here, as our only duty is to keep the enemy from reaching Castle Heirhein."

He did not think it proper for Augustrians to fight amongst themselves.

-

When Sigurd received news from Nordion Castle, he immediately ordered all his units to go and provide backup.

With the castle suddenly in a panic, Deirdre went looking for Sigurd.

She found him giving orders to his soldiers in the reception room. "Are you going to start fighting again, Lord Sigurd?"

"I am, Deirdre. I received a request from Nordian Castle to provide reinforcements. Eldigan's been thrown in Augusty's dungeon, so we must be the ones to save his little sister, Lachesis."

"Then I'm going with you!"

"No, I won't allow it. We won't be fighting any mages this time, and Augustria's armies are large and properly trained. I don't want to put you in danger."

"But you promised you would never leave my side… I'm scared. ...I feel that if we part for even a moment, we'll never see each other again… Please. Please let me go with you."

"I'm sorry… You're right. I did promise that. We'll go together. But you must promise to stay right next to me."

"Yes, I promise."

However, when the army started to march, Sigurd galloped off with the cavalry unit, and couldn't keep their promise. Deirdre fell behind to the rear with the infantry unit.

-

Nordion Castle was surrounded by Elliot's army, but they had yet to break the castle gate. 

'Thank the gods! We made it in time!'

Sigurd immediately ordered his entire army to attack. The cavalry unit clustered together and broke through Elliot's troops like a drill.

They hadn't expected Sigurd's army to show up so quickly, catching them off guard. From that one opening, their entire formation began to fall apart.

Sigurd aimed for the enemies in front of the castle gate, and rushed towards them.

Elliot was surprised by the sudden appearance of an enemy, but knew it was too late to run. He readied himself to fight the man charging at him - who he presumed to be the enemy leader - however, he was no match.

Once they saw Elliot fall off his horse, his men flew into a panic.

Seeing that the enemy was attempting to flee, the Nordionian soldiers opened the castle gate. When Sigurd entered inside, he was greeted by Lachesis, who was dressed ready for battle.

"Thank you for coming to help, Lord Sigurd. You've saved us. For now, at least…"

"I'm happy to see you safe, Lachesis. Is Eldigan still imprisoned?"

"Yes, he is still in Augusty… All the houses of Augustria have turned against us. Please, Lord Sigurd, I beg you, lend us your strength. At the very least, save my brother…”

“I will. I don’t want to fight the other houses, but at this point, we don’t have any choice.”

Sigurd then went out to look for Oifey, so he could discuss their next strategy.

Oifey was atop the castle wall, already assessing the situation. “Lord Sigurd, the fight still rages on. The Cross Knights have returned from Silvail Castle to the north, and are now chasing after the Heirheinian Army. We cannot ignore this. We must fight with them…”

The main force of Sigurd's army split off from those who would stay behind to guard Nordion Castle, then began to march again.

Philip's unit did as they were ordered, and fought without taking even a single step off the plain, leading him and all his soldiers to meet the same fate all together.

Even though that battle was over, the Cross Knights did not stop to rest, instead heading directly towards Heirhein, a strategy so harsh it surprised even Sigurd. He guessed they must be fueled by their grudge towards their king's cruelty.

The two armies pressed on together, and finally captured Heirhein Castle.

With that battle over, they were able to take their well-deserved break. But even then, it wouldn't be long before they would have to fight again.

#fire emblem #fe #fe4 #genealogy of the holy war #nintendo #snes #super nintendo #famicom #super famicom #japan #japanese #translation #novel #light novel #fe4 suzuki novelization translation

[blog-of-a-multitude-of-fandoms]

Battlefield- T’Challa

Pairing: T’Challa x Reader

Characters: T’Challa

Warnings: N/A

Request: Wattpad- So, what about a Wakandan (anonymous) reader, fighting alongside T'Challa against a force attacking their city? Maybe, about halfway through the battle, the reader is knocked out and T'Challa has to protect her? Then later wake her/get her back into the battle?

Word Count: 415

Author: Aaron

Chunks of dirt and debris flew through the air, narrowly missing your face. Wakanda had never faced an enemy as tough as Thanos and his seemingly endless waves of creatures, slowly eroding through even the finest soldiers that T’Challa and the Dora Milaje had to offer.

T’Challa clawed and kicked his way through the hordes of opponents with an unparalleled grace, felling an incredible number of foes in the blink of an eye.

“Watch out!” He yelled whilst pointing behind you, you ducked down only for T’Challa to vault over you, swiping at a leaping creature that was about to leap onto you, the beast lurched onto his chest and snapped at his face, just in time you managed to drive your spear through its back and extend your hand to an almost fallen King.

“Thank you…” His outstretched hand met yours and he pulled himself back onto his feet. “Are you okay?” He asked, surveying the battlefield.

“Do not worry about me. Thanks to you, I am alive. How are you?” He smirked and gazed over his suit, scanning for any damage. “I am fine, will be better once we get these savages out of our home.”

A sudden roar erupted from behind you and before you could even tell what was going on you were on the floor, you felt a warm pool of blood start collecting under your head, trying to stand up was a frivolous pursuit, you could only watch as T’Challa fought off your attackers. He stood in front of you, shielding you from the hellish beasts trying to finish you off. They lunged and pounced trying to get to you, but T’Challa fought each and every one of the off, protecting you with his life. Your vision became hazy and blurred before finally turning to blackness.

“Y/N!” Your eyes slowly crept open, through glazed eyes you saw the battle still taking place, T’Challa still protecting your lifeless body. “Y/N if you are going to wake up and help, now would definitely be a good time.” More and more beasts had found the two of you. They piled onto T’Challa who somehow managed to push them all off and send them flying, probably with the help of some gadget from Shuri. It took a few minutes, but you managed to get back onto your feet.

“This is no time for a sleep Y/N.” T’Challa chuckled as he kicked your spear, sending it sliding across the floor to where you stood.

#Battlefield #Request #T'Challa Imagine #T'Challa One Shot #T'Challa #Avengers #Avengers Imagine #Avengers One Shot #Marvel #Marvel Imagine #Marvel One Shot #Aaron #Black Panther #Black Panther Imagine #Black Panther One Shot

[arkus-rhapsode]

My Hero Academia Chapter 208 Review

So this chapter might’ve made a few people a little upset, but others really happy. Well its time to ask if that if any dislike is warranted or was this a good chapter? ...I mean its about Bakugou so that already is a hit or miss with some people. But whatever, I’m going to look at this audience splitting chapter under my critical lense

We open where we left off, with Bakugou having saved Jirou from the ambush by Kamakiri. Also it’s worth noting here that Kamakiri is actually blocking Bakugou’s attack with the blade he had previously grown from his arm and a new one from his leg to form a blocking stance. Its a small detail, but its actually really cool because lets face it, growing blades from you is a pretty bland power. So I do like when Horikoshi does go out of his way to show us the applications of one’s ability regardless of how simple or weird it is.

Also it seems that Bakugou during his rant to his team mentioned he’d protect them if they were targeted. I guess that’s what they were so shocked over in chapter 206′s ending. Also it makes that whole scene of them all doubting him a bit more stronger cause he was acting like something contradictory to what he’d said he’s do.

So Kamakiri retreats and I want to mention this now because I’ll talk about it later, but class 1-B is acknowledging that Bakugou is far too strong in this chapter and that’ll be important.

Also with Monoma freaking out over Bakugou’s character development, it’s important to realize the ones who are standing up for Kirishima, who its pretty expected given how he feels about Bakugou. And Kaminari who in the liscene exam, saved Bakugou and instead of him being indignant, Bakugou helped K.O. Shishikura. Kirishima has acknowledged that Bakugou was capaple of saving people like every potential hero, but this is the first time he really did it to save someone and not for simple victory.

And this is the big crux of this chapter, Bakugou’s development. Its important to note that Bakugou is supposed to be the incarnation of victory as vocalized by Deku. But what’s held him back in things like their first exercise is that he refuses to work together with people. So while he is still strong and managees to beat down whoever he’s fighting, his neglection of teamwork and the point of the purpose of the exerciser always came to set him back. But now, hee’s going to work with his team and is accepting nothing less than a perfect victory.

Though I’m going to be honest, I liked it that class 1-b was the only one with a clean sweep victory because even if they didn’t win the entire day, they’d still have that as a win. But this is Bakugou so he’s gotta not lose a single person or else its “not enough saving...”

We see into what Tokage’s plan was, that they figured that Bakugou is without a doubt thee ace in the hole, and going up against him one-on-one was no option for them. But given his persoanlity and strength, the teeam will follow him and likely get sick of his bullshit if he becomes exacerbated. So they plan on a hit and run strategy very similar to Vegeta vs the androids who keep peaing out every time he started to talk. Y’know... Bakugou is really just a tiny Vegeta now that I think about it.

Also, conspicuous zoom up on Sero shows he’s putting the pieces together with what Tokage’s quirk.

Bakugou follows Bondo only to be ambushed by Awase. Another little sidenote is that Deku comments on his stealth skill, which was something he was very surprised by when he fought Toga-Camie.

Awase binds up Bakugou with his quirk, but Bakugou knows this won’t hold him.

Yep Satou actually works with Bakugou to free him and returns to chasing Awase. I also like to mention that with both Shouji and Satou’s new abilities, ORA ORA ORAing, your opponent counts as a special move.

Awase is getting chased down by Bakugou, so he decides to brace himself with a steel plat welded to his face-That’s dumb! Like I get the idea, but given Bakugou’s strength level, there is no doubt he could dent that metal similar to Kendou. And putting that right up to your face just seems bad stupid.

Well, Bakugou doesn’t actually take this chance to punch him, instead he propels himself up and...

Sero and Jirou showed up and Bakugou even acknowledged that they could help him. Which is making me really question why they freaked out when they heard his strategy. Seems pretty balanced, for Bakugou I mean. Jirou takes out Awase by giving him a blast of surround sound. Proably has lost his hearing for a good time too.

Anyway, Bakugou caught up with Bondo and as you can probably guess,  glue doesn’t fair too well against explosions.

So Awase and Bondo are captured and Monoma doesn’t seem to understand how Bakugou “mellowed out.” well here’s the thing, Bakugou is still an angry and easy to agitate person, but he’s not mean spirited in his anger. Most of his anger is a feature rather than say, him in chapter one where he condescended down to his entire class and told Deku to kill himself. He still gets mad, but as a person he’s become better. Its also important to realize that he too, is trying to be number one hero, and he won’t fall behind Deku, so if the only thing stopping him from getting that license was saving people, then he’ll adapt. He’ll learn how to save others. And he isn’t like Momo who’s hang up is persistent throughout the series, Bakugou is someone for as shitty as he can act, is a prodigy, so when he applies himself, he is that much  better and quicker at learning.

Now Tokage says that the plan was basically Bakugou leads and the others would follow, but then find that moment of them following, and then break them down without Bakugou’s help. But the team is compensating for being “perfect.” But I have to disagree with that. The team isn’t perfect, so much as they are capable of acting on their own. An important difference that was brought up between the classes last chapter was how organized class 1-b is compared to 1a. But that has its own issue with the fact that class 1-b is so organized by their leader that they are basically all pieces on a board being moved around. Kendou’s team did exactly as she said and by doing so they had set up a strategy they had their victory ensured. Honenuki’s team followed what he was saying, but then when Pony was left standing, she had to come up with her own strategy after her leader lost. As we see in this fight, Tokage’s plan and organization isn’t bad, but it wasn’t capable of thinking that her opponents would act in such a way.

So there is both good and bad to having an organized team, like Kendou’s when the strategy works out or with Tokage who we will see made a bad call and is now suffering not being able to recover from it. Basically, its not that team Bakugou is so good, its more, Tokage came up with a bad plan.

(Also Bakugou looks like Kamakiri in that panel and I’m upset that we don’t get enough interaction off of them.)

We get a really cool set of panels where Sero figures out Tokage’s quirk while Kamakiri and Bakugou fight. Sero deduces that Tokage needs to regenerate after cutting her body up as we’ve been seeing with her reforming above the the battlefield.

Kamakiri loses and thus this battl would be over if they took the now defeated Kamakiri to jail, but Bakugou wants his perfect with and is going after Tokage.

We see in a flash back that Bakugou gave his team gernades and now I’m just going to say this, I wish we had a whole fucking flash back because a lot of this is seeming like a lot of narrative convenience. Also unlike Buggy, Tokage can’t pull off a chop-chop quick escape. (Also, did Sero blow up a chunk of her body? Maybe he really is the villain here?)

Bakugou then ambushes Tokage and then...

...It’s over. And while I do enjoy Bakugou’s line here, I’m pretty sure people are upset at this loss for Tokage. Well, here’s where I double down on my claim from a few weeks ago, this was going to be the least important fight in terms of fighting. And I was right. This fight wasn’t about the clash between Bakugou and Tokage, this match was about Bakugou’s growth as a character. Thus meaning the Class 1-b team is basically a group of jobbers that exist as an obstecle to overcome rather than characters. Now there’s nothing wrong with that.

I had pointed out how each B team up till now had at least one member we wer familiar left and thus they were the one who got to show off the most and develop more, with their teammates getting a chance to actually reveal their personalities (In the case of team Honenuki we actually ad two characters who did that). But team Tokage, at best had Awase, but nothing else we really knew about them, so it made sense that this wasn’t going to be about them.

However, Horikoshi then had to tacked on Tokage that sh was a recommendation student as to give Class 1-b’s team some menace. But unlike Honenuki, we didn’t know that beforehand, so it really just comes off as added hype right before her loss, so you care more. So I think some people thought that she was going to be a lot more hot shit than she actually got to be.

Now the question I posed was do I agree with this, well here’s where I say I’ll talk about that in the post chapter follow up, and now we must all get ready for Deku vs Monoma. Which I’m very worried about because its now 2-1 and if 1-a wins then it’ll be 3-1 which makes them look like jackasses and their hype was pointless, but if its B who wins then its 2-2 and that feels incredibly unsatisfying. See your now seeing why I wasn’t a fan of Todoroki and Honenuki being a draw.

Post chapter follow up: This is a very confused chapter where its honestly hard to call it good or bad. Now as I said, I did predict that this was going to be unimportant for Class 1-b and thus I’m not disappointed at all with team Tokage’s loss. I’m sure people will say Bakugou shouldn’t be able to to defeat a recommendation student. Well here’s the thing, recommendation isn’t about power, its more quirk based potential. This isn’t like S-class mage in FT or Captain in Black Clover where these people are literally in a different league. These are just kids who happen to have greater powers than others.

Now I wanna give major credit where credit is due, and that is the character of this fight. Bakugou’s character growth is what this was all about and thus, its a good thing to see him develop so quickly as opposed to someone like Momo who has yet to get over their mental hurdle. Now as we saw last week Bakugou still has a way to go with how he saves as we saw with him kicking Jirou out of the way, which is something I don’t think All Might would ever do. SO while he’s got the concept of saving down, he might need to fine tune it.

Also it was cool to really see Sero get a good moment in this round. Its important to note that Sero is actually very smart and analytical. Not to the point of Deku or Iida, but he has been shown that he is of an above average intellect. And while Jirou was mostly recon that didn’t work out, it was cool to see her use her support items. And Satou... Punched stuff...

I think that the development of the character really are a good thing for the character of Bakugou rather than the actual combat as opposed to something like Yuno vs Rill in Black Clover, where it was more about just how strong Yuno is now a opposed to his character growth. And I’ll take a stronger character over a stronger fighter story. Now this an arc based on combat so, I’m still critical of it, and the combat in this fight is pretty unimpressive.

Now for the negatives and my biggest frustration was the pacing this chapter. It feels like so much was condensed into a single chapter. I get maybe there might’ve not been enough for two chapters and that this is supposed to be about Bakugou more than anything else, but defeating 4 people and getting moments from the other 1-A kids feels so rushed. Like if I had to, I’d split this up  as this chapter is just beating Bondo and Awase, then next chapter we get like a prolonged fight of Kamakiri vs Bakugou and taking out Tokage as she realizes  how bad she messed up.

There’s also the issue of the flash back or lack there of, and it feels so much like Horikoshi is just making shit up from their strategy meeting to fit the fight, but its so clunky. I guess this method allows him to do that, but It just feels so convenient, like impossibly convenient. So if Im going pick on Hiro for narrative convenience, I’m going give Hori the same treatment.

So was this a good chapter? I think that it’s good in terms of storytelling, but its understandably not going to attract or seem as appealing to many from a fight perspective. Or those who have been really trying get hyped on class 1-b. And as I mentioned, there are narrative issues in this fight, so its not completely exempt from criticism. Which Is why I think my final verdict is the best I can give something like this.

Final Verdict: 6/10

It’s above average in terms of story and character, but it is till messy in some points. What with the easy to jobber characters and to massive compressed storytelling

Amazing character development on Bakugou’s quest for No. 1

Ultimately stale action

Good story is there, though it feels rushed in terms of pacing

#my hero academia #my hero academia 208 #mha 208 #boku no hero academia 208 #katsuki bakugou #class 1-a #class 1-b #jirou kyouka #sero hanta #satou rikidou #togaru kamakiri #tokage setsuna #setsuna tokage #yosetsu awase #kojiro bondo #monoma neito #kirishima eijirou #kaminari denki #deku midoriya #uraraka ochaco #juzo honenuki #todoroki shouto #bnha 208

[berserker-official]

Livestream 4/25

The reveal stream is here! A 3-hour stream with a bunch of new content coming out with the new season! Let’s dive in

The Hitokiri

The main reason to watch, really. The Hitokiri is the new hero coming out. To start off, we got to hear about the narrative design for the hero, Sakura and Yato.

The Hitokiri are former samurai executioners, The Manslayers With No Heart, that have lost faith in humanity and now roam the lands to execute criminals with no intention on stopping. Their massive axes, the masakari, spread fear wherever they may go.

Sakura, the female Hitokiri is a ghost. She travels from town to town dispatching criminals. Unlike normal Hitokiri, who slowly became psychologically and emotionally damaged from living as an executioner, This was Sakura’s calling. She is death, and death is her gift to the world. Eventually she arrives at her home town to execute a fisherman, but as she was about to behead the fisherman, she stops, and sees the head of an Orochi roll away. Sakura realizes that she killed her whole village, but she felt no remorse. Instead, she felt the power of the village’s spirits strengthening her, so she wears a belt of eerie masks, here she believes the souls of those she kills are stored to give her power. Eventually, she battled a master Kensei and loses, but instead of getting killed, Kensei recruited her, realizing her potential on the battlefield.

Yato, the male Hitokiri is part of a famous executioner clan. He used to believe he would do anything for his clan. He followed his duty without fail, and to others, his duty became art. His executions were so beautiful that people would travel near and far to watch him work. However, he had another job as a family assassin, who took out rival families to raise the fame of his own. One day, his father tasked him with killing the local Daimyo. The plan was flawless; the Daimyo would be in a specific place at a specific time, guards were paid off, this would be nothing more than a success. On the night of the planned execution, Yato brings his axe down on the sleeping Daimyo’s head, but there was no blood. The entire plan was a set-up by Yato’s father because even his family started to fear him. That was the moment Yato’s duty died. Without fear, he killed the Daimyo, the guards protecting him, his father, and every other Hitokiri in the village. With no remorse for his actions, he now follows his own code, and he stands with the Samurai to tear down any enemy in his way.

Character Design

As with all heroes, the design starts with the weapon. What kind of person could wield such a massive weapon? The overall design the team wanted to show off was a sense of fear when looking at these massive characters. Unlike the Shugoki, which is a very round character, the Hitokiri is meant to be broad but fit, being able to lift the axe and using it’s momentum to their advantage. They also wanted to have a more emotionless character, since being an executioner for a living is a very draining job. It looks like most of the costume design is cloth so colors can really shine. Players can also choose between masks and kabuki-style face paint. The ornaments are on the shoulder, similar to the Black Prior. This gives designers to make more unique helm designs, and the axes all have pretty unique designs as well, after taking some liberties designing the axe. (The Masakari is a single-headed axe originally, so the team added a second blade to make it look dangerous.)

Hitokiri Fight Demo

How does the Hitokiri play? The team says this hero is meant to be a very aggressive heavy. With the ability to activate an infinite heavy chain and super armor making it easy to trade blows and keep the pressure on, they focus heavily on pressure. The Hitokiri has a specific state called Mugen-Ryu, which grants special moves. My guess is the Mugen-Ryu is when the hero has super armor. This means you’ll want to come in with an attack that will get you into this state, apply pressure with heavies, and then either finish it with a kick, sweep or unblockable. You can also exit the state with a quick light that doesn’t stun you if blocked, returning you into neutral state. Like Shugoki, you can charge heavies to make them unblockable, but you can also feint out of them to keep enemies on their toes. While in the Mugen-Ryu state, Hitokiri has access to a kick attack. This kick can allow more combo opportunities or to open the enemies defenses. You can charge the kick as well, and if fully charged, the kick changes into a sweep. This sweep can also be feinted, giving players options, making things a guessing game. If you connect the kick, you get a free heavy, and if you connect the sweep you get a free light opener, allowing you back into a combo. The zone attack and the dodge forward heavy has a nice amount of forward movement to keep enemies close to you.

The feats all focus around executions. Hitokiri’s level 1 feat gives them super armor and a full shield, which means you won’t get interrupted by outside hits while executing. The level 2 feat marks an enemy. If the Hitokiri or any teammate executes the marked opponent, any teammate nearby will get a burst of health. Feat 3 gives the Hitokiri a defense buff that’s marked by the mask belt glowing. Feat 4 is a special attack that deals 200 damage to the locked enemy. If you connect this it’s essentially a one hit kill. (During the tournaments on this stream, the attacking team in a breach match uses this feat on the Lord, dealing a huge chunk of damage to win the match. It is possible to apply attack debuffs to the Hitokiri to lessen this damage, but generally try not to get hit by this.

Hitokiri Customization

What will we see as we level the Hitokiri up?

There are masks, face paints, and other hats that otherwise obscure the hero’s face. Body armor goes from just cloth to some leather armor. Each silhouette looks different from each other so you can mix and match to your liking.

Map Showcase: Canopy

A new Samurai map made for Tribute mode, this map takes place in the Samurai’s secret monastery in The Mire. To reach the Canopy, one must go through the forest of The Mire. It’s a large circular area with a temple in the middle.

Hero Improvements: Lawbringer and Raider

(this is all that is said during the stream, patch notes will have more info)

Lawbringer

Shove on Block has been removed, since it halts all offense, slowing down the game immensely.

New chains

Heavy, Heavy, Heavy

Heavy, Heavy Light

Light attacks are 500 across the board. Top light attacks for the first or second hit are 400. Side lights are not interrupted on block, so you can continue the combo to go to the unblockable, which is now all heavy finishers.

After a top heavy finisher, you can do a quick light to stun.

Dash impale attack and flip can now be interrupted by other players. This is similar to Shugoki’s Demon Hug.

Shove in a combo counts as part of a chain, so if you hit with an opener you can shove, then hit and hit with an unblockable, or you can dodge shove, hit, unblockable.

Make Way attack is now super armor and unblockable after a parry.

Shove has armor and 500 ms, gives confirmed light, and you can activate shove on hit, miss, or block. This gives LB more options to keep pressure without being forced to rely on blocking.

Damage numbers have been changed, most have gone up in numbers.

Raider

Similar to Lawbringer, Raider has some trouble initiating

New chains

L, L, H

L, H, H

H, L, L

All lights in the chain are 500 ms

Second heavy in chain gets armor, so now you can trade or feint

All heavies can be soft-feinted into Guardbreak.

Stun tap is 500 ms, and apparently it’s possible to change the timing of when the tap goes off, although it’s slight.

Zone will always be from the left, the other unblockable side attack will always be from the right.

Stampede Charge can now be interrupted, like Shugoki’s hug or Lawbringer’s impale (this is all relevant to group fights)

Damage numbers have been changed, most of them have gone up in numbers.

On all static guard heroes, stance change is now 100 ms.

Weapon Showcase

New weapons were revealed for the Hitokiri as well as the other heroes

Arcade Updates

This season, the team wanted to improve accessibility and address difficulty. How did they do this?

The recommended gear score for the weekly quest has been reduced to 108 (yellow-rarity gear) This also reduces overall difficulty, while rewarding you for playing with higher level gear.

With the addition of new objective quests, a quality of life update has been added to notify you what you’re doing before you start the chapter instead of guessing.

Rebalancing the impact of player’s gear score with respect to rarity levels when playing Arcade.

Under Recommended Gear Score = Penalties to damage dealt and received

On Par = No penalties

Above Recommended Gear Score = Bonuses to damage dealt and received

To compensate for this big of a change, bots will get a slight health and damage boost throughout arcade.

Decreased the success rate of Bot defensive moves (Block, Dodge, Parry and Deflect)

This season, there will be a selection of new quests every week, as well as previous ones, this gives the Arcade team some time to work on the mode, as well as gives players a chance to play any quests they might have missed, and this gives us a feedback loop. If players say something about a specific questline, the team can look at it and tweak it if need be.

Music Composition

To wrap things up, we got to hear from the game’s music composers and how they work on creating music for the factions and their crafting of Sakura’s theme.

#for honor #for honor year 3 #long post

[kariachi]

Chapter 12! Time for more gym battles!

~~

The loss of the crutches was not, unfortunately, a return to freedom. Kevin still wasn’t supposed to overwork the joint or engage in strenuous activity. The problem being that if he spent another week in Fluto he was going to lose his mind, build a deathray, and take out the town. Literally. He was already working on it. So he was on his way again, still with Kwarrel accompanying him because 1) they apparently were both headed to Picolo City, and 2) this way whenever he decided Kevin was pushing himself too hard Kwarrel could plop him back on Ezen for the rest of the day.

This wasn’t a popular plan, but it worked, and in another few weeks they arrived in Picolo in good health, with reasonably high spirits (Kwarrel had some pretty good stories, for an old fart), and a freshly evolved Fang.

There was something nice about being back in a city, even if the crowds meant Kevin had to call Rose and Fang back into their balls to keep them out of trouble. He’d grown up in one and all those little towns and wide open spaces had felt a little weird. On the other hand, Kwarrel got antsy as soon as they met their first crowd and didn’t relax until they were securely inside the Pokemon Center. Which was fine, if he wanted out of the crowds he could do his own thing, they’d probably be happy to not dodge a Rhyhorn themselves, but then he had to go and crimp Kevin’s style what with insisting he make sure he had a room set up, and dinner in him, and a good night’s rest before challenging the gym.

Kevin may have listened- totally because Hemlock listened and not because he kind of wanted Kwarrel to keep hanging around being nice- but he was out the doors and following his nav’s map to the gym at daybreak.

The Picolo City Gym was again at a high point, though thankfully not the highest around. A plain-looking building on a small hill overlooking the bay, where everything smelled of salt and sea and Kevin got to side-eye several flocks of Wingull with the air of somebody who’d dealt with his fair share over the years. They weren’t to be trusted, even if he didn’t have food on him.

It was early enough in the morning that the gym trainers just blinked at him blearily as he strode in ready to go. Most likely nobody in the building had had breakfast yet, including him. But the good news was it was also early enough that the gym leader wasn’t hidden away in her office or anything, instead turning as the doors opened and flashing him a tired smile.

“Well, somebody just couldn’t wait, could they?” Kevin flashed a smug grin at her, confident in his team (or at least Rose and Hemlock).

“Winners never rest.” Her Drampa huffed, eyeing him with a measure of concern that had him bristling beneath the smile, but Monifa just shook her head and waved it aside.

“I’m Normal Master Monifa then,” she said, turning to go grab her team for the battle with the air of someone who hasn’t had enough coffee yet, “how many badges and pokemon do you have?”

“Kevin, one, and three.” He was tempted to not mention Fang, but was fairly certain he would’ve killed him in his sleep for doing anything that could avoid his battling. So he answered truthfully and went to his end of the arena with his chin held high and every certainty his team would steamroll through.

He was so young.

So innocent.

Monifa’s first pokemon was a Girafarig, so he felt secure sending out Rose to handle it, dark and psychic types squaring off across the battlefield. For a moment Kevin weighed his options, before deciding going all in was the best idea.

“Shockwave it, Rose!”

“Assurance!” The order got a cringe from him even before the Girafarig slammed itself into Rose. Her Shockwave hit first and that just made it worse, it’s attack more powerful if it’d taken damage immediately prior. Both pokemon skidded from the momentum, Rose in worse shape but in contact range and with some clue where her opponent was-

“Bite!”

“Stomp!” Lunging forward, Rose managed to wrap her teeth around the other pokemon’s foreleg, eliciting a pained cry from it before it brought one hoof down on her head, tearing her off along with a small chunk of itself. It wasn’t going to be able to stay in the fight, not with that wound. Or, well, it could, but it’d just be mean to make it. Monifa clearly agreed, immediately returning it to it’s ball and throwing out another. Kevin chewed his lip as her Furret appeared back on her side of the arena. Rose was looking wobbly, and he wasn’t sure if he should pull her back or-

“Quick Attack!” Or maybe the gym leader would make that decision for him. Her Furret rammed into Rose, sending her tumbling back and, in a horribly familiar scene, ensuring she wouldn’t be getting up again for this battle. Clenching his jaw, Kevin called her back, clutching her ball possessively, and motioned for Hemlock to take position. The Bayleef let out his equivalent of a battle cry.

“Reflect!” He probably hadn’t needed the command, he was smart enough, but he did as ordered, throwing up an invisible shield that would keep any contact moves from doing as much damage.

“Nice move,” Monifa called from across the arena, “smart. Use Slam!”

“Magical Leaf!” The Furret was faster by far, and even with the Reflect had buffeted him with his tail by the time Hemlock had gotten his move off.  At least the force of it put some space between them.

“Again!”

“Use Hidden Power!” Welp, that wasn’t a good sign. You could never be sure what type of attack that move would be, different as it was for each pokemon that used it. From the way Hemlock staggered back, even as the Furret was knocked around by his Magical Leaf, it wasn’t one they were going to enjoy. The round repeated itself, both pokemon being flung about by each other’s attacks, and again Hemlock got the worst of it, his legs shaking as Kevin looked on, his own confident sinking into a deep pit in his stomach.

“One more, Hem!”

“Again!” With a loud cry Hemlock let loose twice the rainbow leaves as normal, pulling heavy, deep breathes as they bypassed the burst of energy coming off the Furret. Both blows hit hard, sending their targets reeling back off their feet.

Neither one got back up.

Kevin’s hands shook as he returned the Bayleef to his ball, shoulders still only through an act of pure will. All he had left was Fang and… As Monifa released a Dunsparce onto the field, he threw Fang’s ultra ball and let the little orange cocoon have his shot.

The lack of confidence in his little Silcoon from the gym leader and the audience was deafening.

“Stringshot!” Monifa didn’t even call out an attack, just letting Fang shoot some sticky silk at her Dunsparce. The pity when Kevin flicked his gaze from the battle to her was enough to make him bristle. There wasn’t anything else Fang could do from the distance between them, and they both knew that there was no way for him to actually win this fight. He glared at her.

“Alright,” she sighed, “Body Slam.” Kevin flinched, eyes squeezing shut as his little shiny went flying past his shoulder.

He didn’t stay to listen to whatever anyone had to say, recalling him as he stormed out with his fists clenched, teeth grinding, bristling enough that the early morning crowd parted before him. Nurse Joy’s platitudes slid off his back like water off a Psyduck as he huddled in his jacket while waiting for his pokemon to be healed, and once that was done he was gone again, snatching up just enough of his things so that he could wedge himself into some back corner of the Center and try to distract himself with a project.

Another loss. Another stupid loss. It was- He had more losses than wins so far. What sort’ve worthless trainer had more losses than wins? He shouldn’t have any losses! He was better than that! He should’ve been better than that…

He stayed like that, with Hemlock and Rose eventually coming out to form a wall between and the rest of the world and Fang stowed safely in his jacket, the rest of the day.

#fanfic #kevin levin #this is the last time i write kevin losing a gym battle so get your fill now #the fic with no name

[razieltwelve]

Fight (Final Rose)

Lightning ducked under the punch and drove her fist up and into Fang’s gut. The taller woman crumpled, and Lightning slammed her hand down on the back of Fang’s head. Fang hit the ground hard enough to crack the concrete, and Lightning grabbed her by the scruff of her sari and hurled her at one of the nearby pillars.

There was an ominous crack as Fang smashed into the pillar. Chunks of concrete flew through the air. Fang bounced off the pillar and crashed into another pillar before tumbling to the ground. She landed on her feet and gave Lightning a teasing smirk.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Fang turned her head and spat blood and at least a handful of teeth out. Her smirk, however, revealed that the missing teeth had already regrown. “You’re not even trying.”

Lightning’s eyes narrowed. Fang was one of the few people she would ever have hit that hard. The first two blows alone would have killed almost anyone, to say nothing of the damage the followup throw had done. Those pillars were made of reinforced concrete. If she’d done that to Summer, she probably would have broken every bone in the other woman’s body.

“So…” Fang drawled as she lifted one hand and beckoned Lightning forward. “Care to try again?”

Lightning didn’t bother to reply. In a fight like this, she needed to conserve as much energy as possible. Fang was bound to win any drawn out conflict, so wasting energy on talking was pointless. In a heartbeat, Lightning crossed the gap between them.

“Heh. Always in a rush.”

They exchanged a flurry of blows, any one of which would have killed a lesser huntsman or huntress. Lightning’s Aura-reinforced hook thudded off Fang’s arm with enough force to turn granite into rock. Fang’s spinning kick clattered into Lightning’s guard, and the pink-haired woman hurtled back.

Lightning spun in mid-air and landed on her feet, skidding along the concrete floor. As she came to a stop, she opened and closed her right hand. That wasn’t good. Fang had kicked her hard enough that even with Aura-reinforcement, her right arm was feeling a little numb. Oh well. She’d dealt with worse before.

“We’re just getting started.”

Fang blurred forward, and Lightning’s senses went into overdrive. This was what she had always enjoyed the most. To be pushed to the very limits of her abilities, to fight against an opponent and not be sure if she would win, nothing thrilled her more. 

The dark-haired woman unleashed a storm of blows: punches, kicks, elbows, knees. Whenever Lightning thought she could spot a pattern, Fang altered her line of attack. One moment, it was only strikes, the next, she had to fight to keep Fang from grabbing her shirt or pulling her to the ground. She tried to get back and put some distance between them, but Fang was relentless.

A punch thumped into Lightning’s ribs, and she staggered to one side before a kick to the stomach tossed her into a wall. She struck the wall and smashed right through it, rolling to her feet to avoid the attack she knew would come. Fang’s foot crushed the ground where Lightning had been only a moment ago, and the pink-haired woman twisted to avoid a knife-hand aimed at her throat. With a grunt of effort, Lightning wedged her shoulder under Fang’s elbow and yanked down. Fang’s elbow snapped, and Lightning drove her own elbow up and back into Fang’s face.

As Fang reeled, Lightning let go of her arm and threw her at the ceiling. Fang thundered into the ceiling. Bits of concrete rained down, and Lightning looked up as Fang turned, pressing her feet against the cracked ceiling and giving Lightning a jaunty wave with her already healed arm. 

“Not bad.”

Fang’s legs tensed, and then she was shooting down toward Lightning, so fast that the Farron barely had time to dodge before the floor exploded. She darted back, trying to avoid the cloud of dust and debris, but Fang was already in motion. An elbow caught her across the brow, and a kick dug into her side. Lightning moved with the blow and allowed it to throw her clear of the dust.

Fang emerged from the cloud with a lazy grin as she wiped some of the dust off her sari. Her eyes gleamed. “How about we get serious?” Her body began to change, growing as she allowed her Semblance to transform her. “What do you say?”

Lightning didn’t reply in words. Instead, she let Saviour overtake her.

X     X     X

“Does it seem weird to you that our parents consider beating the absolute crap out of each a good way to spend their date night?” Averia asked.

Diana looked up from her scroll. She had spent the past few days tracking down some rare plush toys, so she was eager to see if any of their owners were willing to sell or trade for them. “Not really.”

“Because I’m pretty sure not everyone’s parents do stuff like this.” Averia gestured vaguely at the battlefield in front of them. Technically, their parents were demolishing the abandoned warehouses, but they were really just using the abandoned area as a place to cut loose a little.

“Averia, not everyone’s parents come with awesome world-ending powers.” Diana rubbed her chin. One of the owners wanted another 5%. She should be able to manage that, but maybe they’d take 2.5% extra. “Besides, this gives our brother a chance to see what our parents are capable of.”

Taren was watching the fight closely with Fury perched on his lap. The chocobo was munching on a snack. “It’s a bit tough, though,” he said. “Most of the time, they’re moving too fast for me to see properly.”

“Don’t worry,” Diana said. “It’ll get easier to follow when you’re older.”

X     X     X

Meanwhile…

“Vanille,” Lumina said. “Vanillesque is not a word.”

“It so is,” Vanille replied. “In fact, it’s the best word in Scrabble.”

“Well, what does it mean?” Lumina countered, eye twitching. Trust Vanille to try to cheat even at something like Scrabble.

“It means to be like or similar to Vanille,” the redhead replied. “For instance, that genius over there is Vanillesque.”

“Nope, not accepting it. Try again.”

“Maybe we should vote on it,” Vanille countered. “What do you think, kids?”

Lumina shut that down. “Vanille, we are not turning Scrabble into a democracy.”

“Fine.” Vanille frowned. “How about this?” She laid her tiles out.

Lumina stared. “Vanillous is not a word either.”

X     X     X

“This is nice,” Serah murmured as she and Snow gazed up at the sky.

“Yep.” The blond grinned. “We’ve got a really nice view up here.”

There was nothing quite like watching the stars on a clear night… from on top of Snow’s Semblance.

“Although…” Serah squinted. “I think that’s my sister and Fang blowing some stuff up in the old part of the docks.”

Snow shrugged. “Probably.”

X     X     X

#final rose #fanfiction #lightning farron #oerba yun fang #averia yun-farron #diana yun-farron #taren #serah #snow villiers #lumina #oerba dia vanille