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kakairu-rocks · 2 years

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Calling all KakaIru creators! Kakashi has gone missing, and Iruka needs help getting through the maze to save him! He is seeking a talented creator to guide him through and conquer all the prompts blocking the path to Kakashi. If not, well… there’s no telling what will happen to him!

So if you think you’ve got what it takes to face the Supernatural & Paranormal and aid Iruka, please SIGN UP HERE to join him on his adventure!

And you’d better hurry, because sign ups close on 30th June - if the journey is put off any longer, it might be too late!

Mazes will be handed out by 1st July, and the creation period is from 1st July - 31st August. We ask that you don’t post anything before then!

Mission Details:

You will be given a maze that has Iruka at the beginning, and Kakashi at the end. The goal will be for you to help Iruka find Kakashi, who has gone missing. To do this, you must figure out the path to reach him. But there’s a catch.

Scattered throughout the maze will be different symbols, which mark a trap or other danger that Iruka has to face to continue on. Each symbol represents a different prompt, which will be listed in a key below the maze; and the only way Iruka can get past is for you to make a creation for the prompt that is blocking him.

Once you have finished creating something for all the prompts along the path, Kakashi will be saved, and you will have completed the challenge!

Guidelines:

If there are multiple paths on your maze, you can choose whichever route you like to get to Kakashi, even if it’s the long way around!

You do not have to draw the path you’ve decided to take, you only have to create something for the prompts you come across along it.

You can make creations for as many prompts as you like, but you must get all the prompts along the path to Kakashi to win the challenge.

Minimum requirements: 100 words for fics, completed sketch for art.

Chapter fics don’t need to be complete to count!

Creations will be accepted in any language!

If you finish your maze, you can contact mod @kakairu-shrine for another one to do!

Rules:

All content must be created for this event – old/ recycled work will not be allowed.

This is a KakaIru event, so all works must be endgame KakaIru.

Triggering, sensitive & NSFW content must be tagged appropriately. If it isn’t, we will not share it.

Where to post:

Kakairu Rocks Forum: SFW content in the Fanworks section, and NSFW or triggering content in the Lemon Bar (You must be a forum member, and 18+ to have access to the Lemon Bar).

We have an AO3 Collection you can post to, which will be open until 15th September (Kakashi’s birthday!); and we would like you to use the tag KakaIru Maze Challenge 2022.

Tag us here on Tumblr with the prompt your work is for, and/ or use kakairu maze challenge 2022 in the tags.

On Twitter, tag @kkirrocksevents and use #KakaIruMazeChallenge2022

All tagged work will be shared by us, and a masterpost will be created at the end of the event!

If you have any questions about the KakaIru Maze Challenge, please contact us!

We also invite you to read Part 2 of Liberation, this year’s event fic, under the cut!

Liberation: Part 2

(CW: mild graphic descriptions)

Iruka was on edge. He had reached the pub that Tsunade had mentioned in her message, and the street was empty. Everything had closed up for the night, so no one was around, since there wasn’t any point in visiting this district; but considering there was a pub here, it should have been anything but quiet.

So that meant either one of two things: Kakashi had done his job before he disappeared, and the pub was closed for clean up, or the vampire situation was worse than everyone thought, and the entire pub was now a coven base, and closed off to the public. If it was the latter, Iruka had to be very careful, or Tsunade may have to send people to investigate his disappearance, too.

With that thought in mind, Iruka approached the pub; and eyeing off the ‘Closed’ sign at the front, snuck around the building to find another entrance. More often than not, if vampires were involved, these buildings said that they were closed, and the front would probably be locked, but there was always at least one door that was unlocked - vampires generally didn’t need the security that humans did, and thieves who broke in were easy meals.

Iruka made his way through the alleyway that separated the pub from the shop next to it, and followed the path past the overflowing industrial bins, right to the very back; and when he reached the gravelly back area, and saw dark stains and ashes scattered across the ground, he quickly reached for his stake, now on high alert. There had clearly been a fight here, and things didn’t look good.

When nothing jumped out at him, Iruka eased a little, and used his free hand to grab his torch and turn it on to investigate the area more properly; and when the light shone on the ground, nausea swirled in his gut. There ashes scattered across the ground were enough for at least three or four dead vampires; and those stains, all shining bright blue when he switched his torch to its UV setting, were definitely blood, and, whilst all dried up, still seemed fresh enough to be from about a week earlier; and, knowing that vampires would never waste their food like this, Iruka was sure it was Kakashi’s.

The idea made him feel so sick, because he had worked with Kakashi before, and knew how competent he was, and that he should have been able to handle a job like this easily, without much bloodshed, so for him to have bled this much meant that something had gone horribly wrong. Were there more vampires than anticipated? Did they attack him off-guard?

Iruka continued on cautiously towards the back metal door, which was dented where someone, or something had slammed into it; and he carefully pushed it open, not sure what to expect on the other side. After a few seconds of nothing, Iruka entered the building, aiming his UV light at the entrance as he stepped through; and looked around.

He was in the kitchen, which was mostly clean, besides one old cling-wrapped tray of prepped food that the last person on shift hadn’t had a chance to put away before they were attacked by vampires; and looking around, there didn’t seem to be anyone, or any vampires here. In fact, the more he tried to listen out for life, the more silent and deserted the area seemed to feel - he didn’t even feel like he was being watched; so, finding nothing of interest in the area, he moved on.

The doorway Iruka entered took him to the bar and dining room; and as he shone his torch around, keeping the UV light on in case a vampire was waiting to ambush him, he saw an alarming amount of bright blue marks. He knew that not all of it would be blood, as this was a pub, and things got spilled all the time, and that if he did find blood, there was a good chance it wasn’t related to vampires, because again, it was a pub, and people had probably fought and had medical emergencies here; but he was still weary, and looking out for more. If Kakashi had started bleeding outside, then surely, he would have left a trail in here, too…

As Iruka explored the dining area, he didn’t find any stains that spelled out blood, but he did spot a couple of piles of dust on the carpet, and flicked his torch to its plain setting to take a better look at the suspicious mess. Just as he expected, they were vampire ashes; and that concerned him, because this was supposed to be a small coven, so four to six vampires; and he’d barely searched the building and had already found evidence of that many taken down. Just how many vampires had Kakashi been up against? How could someone get such an important detail about the coven size so wrong?

When Iruka was satisfied with his job in the dining room, he moved on to the bathrooms, and found another clump of ashes in the women’s one; and when he left again, he took a moment to scan the pub with his torch, figuring out where to go next, when a really awful smell hit his nose. It smelled like rotting meat, but worse, with a disgusting sickly sweetness to it; and it made him feel really nauseous, not just because it was sickening, but because in his years of being a vampire slayer, he recognised the stench to be of a dead body; and if it was a dead body... Well, with Kakashi missing, his mind was wandering in awful places, assuming horrible things.

Iruka shook his head, and continued on, following the scent. The only way he’d be able to write off his fears was by seeing for himself what the source really was.

The bad smell led Iruka to a small flight of stairs that was supposed to be locked up and secure by a door that needs an electronic key, for patrons staying in one of the rooms above, but the door was instead propped open and the alarm system disabled, probably for vampires to come and go as they pleased.

As Iruka went up, he was less tense than when he first arrived, because the fact that there was a decomposing dead body up there probably meant that there weren’t any vampires waiting for him, because they had better senses than him, and he doubted any of them would want to live around the stench.

About halfway up, Iruka confirmed his assumptions when he saw a couple of piles of ashes scattered along the stairs; but even though Kakashi had clearly taken out the vampires that had been up here, he still continued on, because what if Kakashi was still up there and hadn’t been able to move all this time because of life-threatening wounds? What if he was unconscious, and needed immediate help?

Iruka picked up the pace; and at the top of the building, when the stench became unbearable, he half-buried his nose in his jacket in an attempt to block it out; and as he looked around, he saw five rooms and a bathroom, all with their doors wide open. He went through them one by one, moving much more quickly through the two that had dead bodies in them; and when he saw no sign of Kakashi, nor any vampires that hadn’t been taken care of, he went back downstairs to see if there were any more hidey-holes he’d missed.

When Iruka came back to the dining room, he stood at the doorway, and took a long, scrutinising look around the area; and his eyes landed on the bar. It looked pretty small, and didn’t seem stocked with much alcohol - there was maybe a couple of day’s worth there; and it made him wonder where the rest was kept, because the pub surely wouldn’t be this low. He didn’t recall seeing any in the kitchen area with all the other food when he had been in there, so there had to be another room somewhere…

Iruka wandered over to the bar, and as he got closer, the smell of alcohol became really strong; and when he saw several broken bottles on the ground, he quickly flicked his torch to UV light, and gripped ahold of his stake. Not only had a fight been here, there was more blood; and it looked like someone had been dragged off.

Iruka studied the trail, following it straight to a red velvet curtain draped down the wall on one side of the bar; and when he approached it and pulled the curtain aside, his eyes narrowed when he saw a door behind it marked ‘Bar Staff Only’. He reached for the handle, and pulled down, only to find that it was locked; and as he searched for something to hang the curtain into so he could try and pick the lock, he saw a small hook near the top of a display shelf that showcased a few bottles of alcohol people could choose from, and hanging off it was a small steel key.

Iruka grabbed the key and tried it on the lock; and when it opened with a little click, he opened the door, pocketed the key, and shone his torch through the entrance, to a flight of stairs that crept into an eerie darkness down below, the only light being vibrant blue droplets where the UV light was picking up the continuing trail of blood. He swallowed nervously as he stared down into the abyss. What would he find? Was this where Kakashi was? Would he still be alive?

Iruka shook his head, clearing his mind of dark thoughts, and began his descent downstairs. If Kakashi was down there, he was going to be alive. He had to be.

The further Iruka went down, the cooler the air became, with icy tendrils wrapping around his exposed skin and trying to poke through his clothes to cover him all over; and by the time he reached the base of the stairs, his breath was billowing out in foggy clouds like he was an ice dragon making frost with its breath.

The cold told him he was far enough below ground that not even a single ray of sun would ever reach here; and that made him more tense, because if he had to fight vampires down here, then he wouldn’t be able to rely on the slowly rising sun to save him, as it had many times before. He was completely on his own.

Up ahead was a small brick tunnel that had light bulbs fixed along the wall; and after a little searching, Iruka found a switch beside him. When he flicked it, the bulbs turned on, illuminating the tunnel with a dim, golden light; and as Iruka looked straight ahead, he saw a wooden door with a slot of metal bars built into it around eye level, waiting for him on the other side.

With no enemies in sight, Iruka hurried forward, still continuing to be as quiet as possible, and made his way to the door, his mind running wild with all the possible things he would possibly see behind it.

Finally, he was there; and he peeked into the barred slot to see what he would find, but it was pitch black, so he aimed his torch inside to get some light in. From where he was standing, he could see boxes stacked on the floor of various brands of alcohol, and some shelves filled with bottles; but that was all he could get a glimpse on in the tiny space he’d been looking through; so he stepped back to open the door.

There were two large latch locks on the top and bottom of the door keeping it shut; and much to Iruka’s relief, there were no padlocks on the latches, so all he had to do was slide the mechanisms apart. He unlocked and opened the door with ease, and stepped inside the cellar, holding his stake and UV light ready, in case there was a vampire waiting in ambush; and began to look around.

At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, since there were no broken bottles or signs of activity in the cellar, but Iruka could see the trail of blood he’d been following under the dim light of the tunnel’s bulbs; and as he followed it towards the back of the room, he could make out a strange silhouette behind the shelving, and his stomach began to churn. What was he going to find?

Finally, Iruka passed the shelves and reached the back area; and for a moment, all he could do was stare in horror at the scene before him.

There was a beaten and bruised person chained to the wall, their body pale, and still; and blood stained their clothes, and the floor beneath them. Iruka didn’t know whether they were unconscious or dead, but just as he was about to step forward and check, the prisoner groaned and weakly lifted their head to see who was there; and when Iruka made eye contact with them he gasped.

“K-Kakashi!” He exclaimed in alarm, rushing over.

What did they do to you?!

#kakairu maze challenge 2022 #sign ups #kakairu.rocks #kakairu events #naruto events #kakairu #kkir #kakashi x iruka #hatake kakashi #umino iruka #kakairu fanfic

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selflessanatta · 3 months

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Turning Anger into Peace: The Transformative Practice of Patient Acceptance, https://selflessanatta.com/turning-anger-into-peace-the-transformative-practice-of-patient-acceptance/

New Post has been published on https://selflessanatta.com/turning-anger-into-peace-the-transformative-practice-of-patient-acceptance/

Turning Anger into Peace: The Transformative Practice of Patient Acceptance

Identifying the causes of anger and mastering the art of patient acceptance to conquer anger.

In the Buddha’s Third Noble Truth, he taught that true cessation of human suffering exists.

The suffering of jealousy ceases with the practice of rejoicing.

See: The Joyful Cure: How Rejoicing Leads to the Cessation of Jealousy

The suffering of attachment ceases by meditating on impermanence.

The suffering of negative Karma ceases by practicing purification and moral discipline.

And the suffering of anger ceases with the practice of patient acceptance.

Eckhart Tolle’s Pain Body

For most people, anger comes easily, and meditating on anger is nearly effortless. Once anger takes over, it becomes self-sustaining.

Eckhart Tolle identified this phenomenon and gave it a name, the Pain Body.

He found the concept useful because it allows people to disidentify from anger and pain, which facilitates managing symptoms more effectively.

youtube

What is Anger?

The following is adapted from How to Solve Our Human Problems by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

Anger is a focused mind that identifies an animate or inanimate object, finds it unattractive, exaggerates its bad qualities, and wishes to harm it.

For example, incels, involuntarily celibate men, are angry at women.

They identified the objects of their anger, women who reject them.

They find these women’s rejection unattractive, immediately transforming the woman they desired into a woman they claim not to be attractive.

They exaggerate these women’s imagined bad qualities. And often, these incels want to harm the women who reject them, often through fantasies of subjugation and even outright violence.

In its milder forms, this anger expresses itself through vile comments on internet forums and the consumption of degrading pornography.

In its destructive forms, it comes out in acts of terrible violence against women.

The many faults of anger

Anger, jealousy, and attachment are all disturbing states of mind that cause suffering.

These emotions make everyone afflicted engage in negative actions that lead to untold suffering for themselves and others.

Further, these emotions block any progress on the spiritual path leading to happiness or peace of mind.

Anger is a painful state of mind, a source of tremendous suffering.

Anger makes people tense and uncomfortable.

Anger makes it difficult to sleep, and even when sleep comes, it isn’t restful or refreshing.

Anger makes it difficult to enjoy activities, other than violence and cruelty, inflicting pain on others for petty revenge.

Angry people often lose their freedom of choice, driven to action without concern for consequence.

Angry people live in a state of perpetual victimhood, blaming others for their misfortunes and even the anger itself.

Anger destroys relationships.

Anger makes most people wish to retaliate against those perceived to be the cause of harm. The desire to retaliate often causes people to expose themselves to unnecessary personal danger. Actual retaliation harms others and fails to calm the angry mind.

Anger leads to personal conflict, generally causing damage to both parties. Even the victor in violent conflict is often bloodied and weakened.

Angry people have no friends. They exploit acquaintances and servants for specific needs, but every interaction becomes transactional, devoid of connection or closeness.

Anger transforms people into enemies.

Angry people make enemies of anyone who fails to submit willingly to their demands.

Angry people portray others as evil for resisting their will.

Angry people must always be vigilant against potential attacks from rivals, as enemies of their own creation always surround them.

Angry people die alone, forsaken and forgotten, shunned by all who previously cared for them.

Angry lies we tell ourselves

Most people blame others for their anger as if the other person is the cause for their internal emotional state. In fact, most people don’t question the “fact” that other people cause their anger.

It’s a lie. Each person is responsible for their own reaction.

Anyone who fails to take responsibility for their anger is completely powerless to overcome it.

They become a victim in their own mind, trapped in their angry thoughts, and they project their weakness and victimhood onto everyone else.

Perhaps another person has behaved inappropriately, acted in violence, stolen personal property, or committed any of a number of egregious acts. That person’s behavior may be the trigger for anger, and the anger may seem justified and appropriate to the situation.

However, justifiable anger based on injustice or another person’s behavior is still not the cause. The actual cause is a reaction within the person, and that person has a choice—feel angry, or practice patient acceptance and overcome the anger.

The facts remain that anger still has the full list of negative effects, even if it seems completely justified and appropriate to the circumstances.

Negating and overcoming anger when confronting injustice doesn’t make someone weak or more prone to be victimized. It makes them stronger and more resilient when negative Karma comes their way.

Anger is not protection

Many people carry their anger as a sword or a shield. They want others to fear their wrath as an inducement to behave appropriately.

Some people even use anger to manipulate others, forcing people to comply with their wishes out of fear of retribution, believing anger makes them powerful.

Sadly, many people bludgeon their way through life, manipulating everyone they encounter with their anger, and they wonder why no one likes them or believes they are a good person.

Anger is the defining characteristic of an asshole.

While this makes some people imagine they are safe and protected, this safety is an illusion. People who are determined to act in bad ways are seldom deterred by someone’s angry temper.

In fact, many people will intentionally provoke angry responses to get opponents and rivals to act rashly and commit mistakes. Provoking an enemy to act impulsively is mentioned in The Art of War, by Sun Tzu.

Other Manifestations of Anger

Anger is like fire. It starts as a spark, and if fed with confirming thoughts, and given enough time, it grows into an inferno.

However, like large fires in nature, it can grow out of control and consume everything and everyone in its path.

Buddhist practitioners seek to squelch fire at the initial spark. They abhor and avoid all manifestations of anger, including rage, spite, resentment, aggression, and harmfulness.

Many other negative states of mind, spring from anger, each has its own characteristics, and each is disturbing in its own way.

Rage is uncontrolled anger.

Resentment is formed when anger is sustained without forgetting it. The end goal is to create the desire to retaliate.

Spite is when anger has hardened into resentment, and the person wishes to speak harshly.

Aggression is an increase in anger that motivates the desire to harm others either physically or verbally.

Harmfulness is the mental state that wants to see other beings suffer, the opposite of Compassion.

Patient acceptance overcomes anger

Patient acceptance is the practice of enduring hardship, suffering, and insults without becoming disturbed or reacting with anger.

It serves as a direct antidote to anger and aversion, by maintaining a calm and composed attitude towards life’s difficulties.

It involves tolerating harm or discomfort without resentment, and understanding that anger only leads to further suffering.

It’s one of the most challenging, and yet most rewarding practices on the Buddhist path.

Practicing patient acceptance requires mindfulness and awareness of one’s mental state. By being aware of the rise of anger or frustration, practitioners can observe these emotions without taking action based on them, understanding anger’s impermanent nature.

Advanced practitioners seek to stomp out the fire of anger at the initial spark. The longer the fire is allowed to burn the more it will consume and the harder the flame is to extinguish.

When anger arises, practitioners remind themselves of the many faults of anger as outlined above. This practice is rooted in the recognition that suffering is part of existence and often a result of one’s karma; practitioners learn to accept and endure it without negative emotions.

Most who practice patient acceptance also make vows against retaliation. Besides preventing negative actions leading to bad Karma, the vow against retaliation quiets the mind as revenge thoughts become pointless wastes of energy.

Patient acceptance must be applied in everyday situations, from enduring minor inconveniences to facing significant hardships or dealing with difficult people.

Angry people view patient acceptance as a sign of weakness, but anyone who sincerely practices patient acceptance quickly recognizes it takes much more strength to endure than it does to lash out in anger and false bravado.

Patient acceptance turns challenging situations into powerful lessons for developing patience, compassion, and wisdom.

Patient acceptance is closely linked to compassion (karuna). By enduring suffering without anger, one cultivates a deep sense of empathy for others who suffer and a desire to help alleviate their suffering.

Cultivating patient acceptance brings long-term benefits, such as inner peace, resilience, and a more profound ability to cope with life’s challenges.

Patient acceptance is a fundamental practice in Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the six perfections (paramitas) that a Bodhisattva should cultivate on the path to enlightenment.

~~wink~~

Anatta

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univworkkrish · 5 months

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Sleep Well, Ace Your Exams: Time-Saving Tips for Efficient Assignment Completion

Hey, fellow American students! We've all been there: staring down a mountain of assignments, fueled by stress-eating pizza and questionable amounts of caffeine. ☕ It's enough to make anyone dream of escaping to a tropical island, deadlines be damned! ️

But fear not, academic warriors! There's a way to conquer your workload without sacrificing precious sleep or sanity. In fact, getting a good night's rest is actually the secret weapon in your academic arsenal. Here are some practical tips for efficient assignment completion that'll leave you feeling energized and ready to tackle anything:

1. Master the Art of Prioritization:

Don't just stare blankly at your to-do list, feeling overwhelmed. Prioritize! Identify the most urgent tasks first (usually those with the closest deadlines). Use tools like Eisenhower Matrix or a simple color-coding system to categorize tasks based on importance and urgency. Remember, not everything needs to be done right now. Delegate, postpone, or even ditch non-essential tasks to free up time and mental space for the big stuff.

2. Plan Like a Pro:

Once you know your priorities, create a realistic schedule that breaks down each assignment into manageable chunks. Don't be a hero – be smart! Allot enough time for research, writing, revisions, and unexpected distractions like that adorable squirrel outside your window. ️ Use apps like Google Calendar or Trello to stay organized and track your progress. ️

3. Embrace the Power of Pomodoro:

The Pomodoro Technique is a game-changer for staying focused and avoiding burnout. Set a timer for 25 minutes, work on a single task without distractions, then reward yourself with a 5-minute break. Repeat this cycle until you're done. This method keeps your mind fresh and prevents you from getting bogged down in one task for hours. ⏱️

4. Tame the Social Media Beast:

Let's face it, social media is a siren song for procrastination. Block out dedicated times for checking notifications or responding to messages, and stick to them like glue. Use website blockers or apps like Freedom to temporarily disable distracting websites and apps during your study sessions. Remember, the world won't end if you miss a few cat videos, but your grades might suffer if you let Facebook become your new best friend.

5. Fuel Your Brain (and Body):

Late-night pizza binges might seem tempting, but they'll leave you feeling sluggish and unproductive the next day. Instead, prioritize healthy foods that boost your energy and focus. Think fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Don't forget to stay hydrated! Water is your brain's best friend. And don't skip meals! Eating regularly keeps your blood sugar stable and prevents energy crashes.

6. Sleep like a Champion:

This is where the magic happens. A good night's sleep (7-8 hours for most adults) is crucial for cognitive function, memory consolidation, and overall well-being. Develop a regular sleep schedule and stick to it as much as possible, even on weekends. Create a relaxing bedtime routine that includes dimming the lights, avoiding screens for an hour before bed, and reading a book. A well-rested mind is a productive mind!

7. Seek Help When Needed:

Don't be afraid to ask for help! Talk to your professors, classmates, or even consider seeking professional practical assignment help in the USA. There are many reputable resources available to guide you through tough assignments and help you polish your work. Remember, collaboration is key to academic success.

Bonus Tip: Reward yourself! Celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small. Completing a difficult task deserves a pat on the back (or maybe a healthy treat!). Recognizing your progress will keep you motivated and on track.

By implementing these tips, you can transform from a stressed-out zombie into a well-rested, efficient academic warrior. Remember, it's about finding the balance between hard work and self-care. Sleep well, fuel your brain, and conquer those assignments like the rockstar you are!

So, ditch the all-nighters, embrace the power of naps, and watch your grades soar! You got this, fellow students!

#practical assignment help in the USA

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two-oaks-farmstead · 5 months

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#antagonist #charactercreation #plot #protagonist #romanticsuspense #writing

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usacounselingcredit · 1 year

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Houston Texas Appliance Parts: How Efinix is Conquering the Hurdle of Hardware Acceleration for Devices at the Edge

Houston Texas Appliance Parts

How Efinix is Conquering the Hurdle of Hardware Acceleration for Devices at the Edge

by Houston Texas Appliance Parts on Tuesday 07 March 2023 08:21 AM UTC-05

In previous articles, we established the many ways FPGAs surpass other AI chipsets for running machine learning algorithms at the edge in terms of reconfigurability, power consumption, size, speed, and cost. Moreover, how the microarchitecture-agnostic RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) marries up with the architectural flexibility of the FPGA seamlessly. However, the apparent lack of mid-range, cost-effective FPGAs and their less-than-straightforward design flow are a major bottleneck — the software skills required for the fully custom hardware description language (HDL) implementation are difficult to find and often come with a steep learning curve.

Efinix fills the gap with FPGAs built on the innovative quantum compute fabric made up of reconfigurable tiles known as exchangeable logic and routing (XLR) cells that function as either logic or routing, rethinking the traditional fixed ratio of logic elements (LEs) and routing resources. This allows for a high-density fabric in a small device package where no part of the FPGA is underutilized. The potential of this platform transcends the typical barriers facing edge-based devices today: power consumption, latency, cost, size, and ease of development.

Possibly the most striking feature of Efinix FPGAs is the ecosystem and state-of-the-art tool flow surrounding it that lowers development barriers, allowing designers to readily implement AI at the edge using the same silicon — from prototype to production. Efinix has embraced the RISC-V, thereby allowing users to create applications and algorithms in software — capitalizing on the ease of programmability of this ISA without being bound to proprietary IP cores such as ARM. Since this is all done with flexible FPGA fabric, users can massively accelerate in hardware. Efinix offers support for both low level and more complex custom instruction acceleration. Some of these techniques include the TinyML accelerator and predefined hardware accelerator sockets. With approaches such as these, the leaps in acceleration accomplished delivers hardware performance while retaining a software-defined model that can be iterated and refined without the need to learn VHDL. This results in blazing-fast speeds for edge devices, all while consuming low power and functioning within a small footprint. This article discusses precisely how the Efinix platform simplifies the entire design and development cycle, allowing users to take advantage of the flexible FPGA fabric for a scalable embedded processing solution.

Barriers at the edge — a dam-blocking progress

From massive wireless sensor networks to streaming a high-resolution 360o immersive AR or VR experience, most of the world's data lies at the edge. Disaggregating the compute burden from the cloud and bringing it closer to the devices opens doors for next-generation, bandwidth-hungry, ultra-low-latency applications in autonomous driving, immersive digital experiences, autonomous industrial facilities, telesurgery, and so on. The use cases are endless once the enormous roadblock of transmitting data to and from the cloud is sidestepped.

However, the very defining factors of low-latency, power-hungry compute at the edge are the very same factors that pose a significant design challenge for these small but prolific power-limited devices. How then is it possible to design a device capable of processing the power-hungry relevant ML algorithms without having to invest in elaborate technologies? The solution has been to implement any hardware deemed sufficient to run the suitable applications and algorithms (e.g., CPU, GPU, ASIC, FPGA, ASSP) while accelerating the more compute-intensive tasks to balance the compute time (latency) and resources used (power consumed).

As with any innovation, the landscape of deep learning is continually shifting with updating models and optimization techniques, necessitating the use of more agile hardware platforms that can change almost as rapidly as the programs running on them with little to no risk. The parallel processing and flexibility/reconfigurability of FPGAs seem to line up seamlessly with this need. However, making these devices available for mainstream, high-volume applications requires lowering the design barriers for configuring and accelerating the FPGA fabric — a time-consuming process that normally requires a high degree of expertise. Furthermore, traditional accelerators are typically not granular enough and incorporate large pieces of a model that typically do not scale well. They also generally consume far too much power and are, more often than not, proprietary — causing engineers to relearn how to use the vendor-specific platform.

The Sapphire RISC-V core

Creating an application on the RISC-V Core in C/C++

Efinix squarely addresses all of these potential obstacles by taking on the challenge of making FPGAs available to the AI/ML community in an intuitive way. The RISC-V Sapphire core is fully user configurable through the Efinity GUI; this way, users do not have to know all the VHDL behind implementing the RISC-V in the FPGA and can exploit the straightforward programmability of common software languages (e.g., C/C++). This allows teams to rapidly generate applications and algorithms in software at speed. All the required peripherals and buses can be specified, configured, and instantiated alongside the Sapphire core to deliver a fully configured SoC (Figure 1). This RISC-V capability includes multi-core (up to four cores) support and Linux capability, delivering a high-performance processor cluster to a designer's FPGA application as well as the ability to run applications directly on the Linux operating system. The next step — hardware acceleration — is greatly simplified with hardware-software partitioning; once a designer has perfected their algorithm in software, they can progressively start to accelerate this within the flexible Efinix FPGA fabric. However, before we move on to the next step of hardware acceleration, it would be important to understand the inherent benefits of the RISC-V architecture and how it can be exploited for use within the FPGA fabric.

Figure 1: The Efinity GUI enables designers to configure their Sapphire RISC-V core (left) along with all the required peripherals and buses in familiar programming languages for a fully configured SoC. This capability is extended to up to four RISC-V cores.

Custom-instruction-capable RISC-V

The RISC-V architecture is unique in that it does not have all of its instructions defined; instead, there are a few instructions left open for the designer to define and implement. In other words, a custom arithmetic logic unit (ALU) can be created, and it will perform whatever arbitrary function when called upon by the custom instruction (Figure 2). These custom instructions will have the same architecture as the rest of the instructions (e.g., two registers in, one register out) granting a total of eight bytes of data to work with and four bytes that can be passed back to the RISC-V.

However, since the ALU is built within the FPGA, it can both access and pull data from the FPGA. This allows users to expand beyond the eight bytes of data and make the ALU arbitrarily complex — giving access to data that was put out on the FPGA previously (e.g., access to data from sensors). The ability to have an arbitrarily complex ALU is a multiplying factor for speed when it comes to hardware acceleration. Efinix has taken this ability of the custom instruction and adapted it for the AI and ML communities with the TinyML platform.

Figure 2: Custom ALUs can be created with the RISC-V where the standard configuration includes two source registers (rs1 and rs2) that are four bytes wide and one destination register (rd) that is four bytes wide.

The TinyML platform — a library of custom instructions

Hardware acceleration with the TinyML platform

The TinyML platform streamlines the process of hardware acceleration where Efinix has taken the compute primitives used in TensorFlow Lite models and created custom instructions to optimize their execution on accelerators in the FPGA fabric (Figure 3). Through this, the standard software-defined models of TensorFlow are absorbed into the RISC-V complex and are accelerated to run at hardware speed, taking advantage of the rich, open-source TensorFlow Lite community. The entire development flow has been streamlined using the popular Ashling tool flow to make setup, application creation, and debugging a simple and intuitive process.

Figure 3: TensorFlow Lite creates a quantized version of standard TensorFlow models and uses a library of functions to allow these models to run on MCUs at the edge. Efinix TinyML takes these TensorFlow Lite models, and using the custom instruction capabilities of the RISC-V core, accelerates them in the FPGA hardware.

Many of the TinyML platform's libraries of custom instructions are all available to the open-source community on the Efinix GitHub for free access to the Efinix Sapphire core and everything that is needed to design and develop highly accelerated edge AI applications.

Accelerations strategies: an overview

The combination of the RISC-V core, the Efinix FPGA fabric, and the rich, open-source TensorFlow community allows for creative acceleration strategies that can be broken down into several steps (Figure 4):

Step 1: Run the TensorFlow Lite model using the Efinity RISC-V IDE,

Step 2: Use the TinyML accelerator,

Step 3: User-defined custom instruction accelerator,

Step 4: Hardware accelerator templates.

As stated earlier, "Step 1" is a standard process through the Efinity GUI where users can take the Tensorflow Lite models and run it in software on the RISC-V using the very same, familiar process one would with a standard MCU — without having to worry about VHDL. After Step 1, designers will, more often than not, find that the performance of the algorithm they are running is not optimal and therefore requires acceleration. "Step 2" involves hardware-software partitioning where users can implement the fundamental building blocks inside the TensorFlow Lite models and literally click and drag to instantiate custom instructions and get a massive acceleration on the way the model runs on the Sapphire RISC-V core.

Figure 4: Efinix acceleration strategies.

User-defined custom instruction accelerator

"Step 3" leaves it open for designers to create their own custom instructions without leveraging the templates found in the TinyML platform, allowing users to innovate and create acceleration on top of the RISC-V core.

Hardware accelerator templates

Finally, after the required fundamental elements are now accelerated on the RISC-V, "Step 4" involves burying them inside the free Efinix SoC framework with "sockets" of acceleration. The quantum accelerator socket allows users to "point at" data, retrieve it, and edit its contents to, say, perform a convolution on bigger blocks of data.

The Sapphire SoC can be used to perform overall system control and execute algorithms that are inherently sequential or require flexibility. As stated earlier, the hardware-software codesign allows users to choose whether to perform this compute in the RISC-V processor or in hardware. In this acceleration methodology, the pre-defined hardware accelerator socket is connected to a direct memory access (DMA) controller and an SoC slave interface for data transfer and CPU control, which may be used for pre-processing/post-processing before or after the AI inference. The DMA controller facilitates communication between the external memory and other building blocks in the design by (Figure 5):

Storing frames of data into the external memory,

Sending and receiving data to/from the hardware acceleration block,

Sending data to the post-processing engine.

In an image-signal-processing application, this can look like leaving the RISC-V processor to execute the RGB to grayscale conversion as embedded software, while the hardware accelerator performs Sobel edge detection, binary erosion, and binary dilation in the pipelined, streaming architecture of the FPGA (see "Edge Vision SoC User Guide"). This can be scaled up for multi-camera vision systems, allowing companies to turn their designs into a product and deploy them extremely rapidly.

Figure 5: Sample edge vision SoC framework block diagram.

MediaPipe Face Mesh use case

The simplicity of this process might be better highlighted with an example. The MediaPipe Face Mesh ML model estimates hundreds of different three-dimensional facial landmarks in real-time. Efinix took this model and deployed it on the Titanium Ti60 development kit running at 300 MHz. As shown in Figure 6, convolutions on the RISC-V core contributed the most to latency. It is worth noting that the FPGA's resource utilization of close to 60% does not actually reflect the size of the ML model. Instead, this is due to the fact that the entire camera subsystem has been instantiated in the FPGA in order to perform acceleration benchmarking in real-time.

Figure 6: MediaPipe Face Mesh pre-trained network running on the Ti60 development kit showing both latency and resources used.

Simple custom instructions with the TinyML platform (Step 2)

Creating and running a simple, custom two registers in, one register out convolution instruction shows a four- to five-fold improvement in latency. This improvement continues as custom instructions used to accelerate the ADD, MAXIMUM, and MUL functions. However, latency improvements hit a plateau since the RISC-V is spending less time doing these operations (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Obvious latency improvements with simple, custom instructions created for CONV, ADD, MAXIMUM, and MUL functions.

Complex instructions with DMA (Step 4)

An arbitrarily complex ALU is also generated to replace the original CONV. This changes the slope of the original curve and dramatically improves the latency once more. However, FPGA utilization has also jumped up since the complex instruction has taken more resources inside the FPGA. Once again, the resource bar standing at nearly 100% is simply due the fact that the FPGA here contains the entire camera subsystem for demonstration purposes, what is important to note is the relative decrease in latency and increase in utilization (Figure 8).

What's more, switching to a larger FPGA, such as the Ti180, would run all of these complex instructions for massive acceleration without using even 50 percent of the FPGA resources available. These apparent tradeoffs are precisely what allow engineers to readily visualize the balancing act between latency, power consumption, and the cost/size of the FPGA. An edge application that has stringent latency requirements but more lenient power constraints could opt to increasingly accelerate the design for a drastic performance improvement. In power constrained applications, this increase in performance can be traded off by reducing the clock speed for a more moderate improvement in performance at a dramatically lower power.

Figure 8: A larger custom convolution instruction is employed for much more acceleration; however, resources consumed jumps up. Note, the near full utilization of the FPGA is simply due to the fact that the FPGA contains the entire camera subsystem, this would be dramatically lower if the Ti60 was simply running the ML model

A paradigm shift in AI/ML development

In a nutshell, Efinix has combined the familiar development environment of the RISC-V ISA and exploited its custom instruction capability to function within the architecturally flexible FPGA fabric. Unlike many hardware accelerators, this approach does not require any third-party tools or compilers. The acceleration is also fine grain with the acceleration of machine instructions — a level of granularity that only makes sense with an FPGA.

The fact that edge devices can be prototyped and deployed on the innovative design architecture of the Efinix FPGA means the solution is future-proofed. New models and updated network architectures can be expressed in familiar software environments and accelerated at the custom instruction level with only a small amount of VHDL (with libraries of available templates to use for guidance). This degree of hardware-software partitioning where 90 percent of the model remains in software running on the RISC-V allows for an extremely fast time to market. The combination of all of these approaches yields an elegant solution that truly lowers the barriers to entry for implementing an edge device. Designers now have access to a world-class embedded processing capability that can be accessed with a state-of-the-art tool flow and instantiated on the revolutionary Efinix Quantum fabric.

The post How Efinix is Conquering the Hurdle of Hardware Acceleration for Devices at the Edge appeared first on EE Times.

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#Houston Texas Appliance Parts: How Efinix is Conquering the Hurdle of Hardware Acceleration for Devi

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sassyhobbits · 3 years

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Could you please write post Kingdom of Ash fic where Aelin has to go back to Doranelle with Rowan on important business or something and she deals with her trauma going back/ meets Rowans family/ Rowan repairs his relationship with his cousins? Pretty please 🥺

loved this idea and had so much fun writing it!! combined with the modified prompt of “living is so much harder than dying. are you sure youre fit for living?”

here’s day 5 everyone!!

~~~

It had been three years since Aelin Galathynius had stepped foot in the City of Rivers.

Her first two visits to Doranelle had been… less than pleasant, to say the least. Most sane people who had gone through what Aelin had would never get within a hundred miles of the city. But, Aelin had never been one to allow a shitty experience or two keep her away.

In the three years since the end of the war, Terrasen had slowly been rebuilt. Aelin had gotten used to her role as queen, had gotten used to peace. Although it had been hard and strenuous work, it was worth it. Every struggle and late night, argument with lords and advisors, had led to happiness for her people. Aelin would do just about anything for them.

Part of being queen, Aelin had quickly learned, was responding to correspondences from other kingdoms. Sometimes, they weren’t all that bad. She liked to write to Dorian, enjoyed the sporadic letters she received from Manon. But there were plenty of others that were less fun. Taxes, proposals, budgeting.

But, a few weeks ago, she received a letter from Rowan’s cousin, Sellene, the new Queen of Doranelle. She invited both Aelin and her husband for a diplomatic visit to her lands.

“Are you sure about this, Fireheart?” Rowan had murmured to her one night, curled up in his arms in bed. “You don’t have to go.”

Aelin understood his concern. The last time she had been to Doranelle, she had been beaten and bruised within an inch of her life, patched back together, only to go through the process again the next day. Maeve had certainly done a number on her. But Aelin would be damned if she let the bitch get the last laugh.

“I want to go, Ro,” Aelin assured him. “I want to see where you grew up, get to know your family better.”

I need to go, is what she didn’t have to say, but knew Rowan understood. Aelin had conquered many of her fears in the years since the war, but there were still nights she woke up screaming, still nights when it was impossible to tell the difference between the darkness of night and the darkness of the iron coffin.

She needed to go back to the place where she had been brought down to her lowest. Needed to prove that she was strong, and that she had triumphed.

And so it was decided. The queen and king consort would sail east.

They stayed a week in Wendlyn with Aelin’s cousin, Galan. Since he had sailed to her aid during the war, they had formed a closer friendship. It was good to see him, to see the kingdom from which her mother hailed.

From there, they traveled by carriage to Doranelle.

“Much nicer than the first time we made this journey,” Aelin remarked one afternoon from the comfort of their carriage, resting her head against Rowan’s shoulder.

“You certainly smell better.”

Rowan earned himself a slug on the shoulder for that little comment.

They passed into the City of Rivers discreetly, not truly wanting to deal with a huge welcoming party. Aelin convinced Rowan to take a day to themselves, for her husband to show her the city itself. The beautiful, simple lives of the citizens of Doranelle. How Rowan had grown up.

It was a perfect day. Aelin loved seeing Doranelle in all its glory. It was truly a work of art, unlike anything she had ever witnessed in her years traipsing the continent. They wore hoods despite the mild, spring weather, the both of them far too recognizable now to move freely without some sort of disguise. It brought her back to the days of being Adarlan’s Assassin.

Rowan brought her to some of his favorite places growing up, showed her a block that sold the traditional street foods of Doranelle for lunch. He bought her some sweets and took her to a lovely park, where they lounged under the shade, just talking and sharing kisses. He took her to a nice restaurant for dinner, snagging a private back room for just the two of them. It was all perfect.

And then the next day, they woke and readied themselves to head to the palace. Aelin managed to wrangle her husband into something nice, though he protested it on the basis of it just being his cousins. She wouldn’t hear of it.

That first day in Doranelle, exploring the streets as nothing more than another citizen, Aelin had been nothing but content and relaxed… but the first sight of that wide, curving bridge that would lead them to the palace had her heart beating just a little bit faster.

She remembered the last time she had crossed this bridge beside Rowan. She had still been going by Celaena then, freshly nineteen, just stepping into her power and her status. Terrified, though she never would have admitted it then. She had already been falling in love with Rowan, and her newly healed heart certainly wouldn’t have survived losing him.

She knew Rowan noticed the small change in her demeanor, feeling him squeeze her hand comfortingly.

They were greeted by Sellene, who was just as elegant and beautiful as Aelin remembered. It was clear she had stepped into her role as ruler with dignity and grace. She embraced Aelin like she was an old friend, making her feel truly welcome.

They were shown to their rooms, given time to settle in and refresh themselves before they would meet in court before dinner.

Their quarters were lovely: bright, open, and airy. The glassless windows allowed for the sweet spring breeze to blow into their room. There was a large bath that Aelin had full intentions of making use of that evening. Hopefully with Rowan. He wouldn’t need much convincing.

Some of Sellene’s ladies came in to help Aelin prepare, making sure her hair was thoroughly brushed and gleaming, twisted up in perfection before placing her crown on top. Her gown was a lovely piece of Terrasen green and intricate silver embroidery.

By the time they were both ready, they made quite a pair. Striking, indeed. Aelin made sure she complimented her husband thoroughly as they made the short trip from their chambers to the throne room.

It managed to distract both Rowan and herself. She barely took in the halls they walked through, some of it twinging deep recesses in her memory, like some sort of dream. But, she forced herself to focus on Rowan, the man she loved, lest the memories get the better of her.

The next thing she knew, they were being announced as they strolled leisurely through the crowded throne room. Fae nobility bowed and curtsied as they walked by, sending them wide, broad grins.

The throne room was so different than Aelin had remembered it. When it had been Maeve perched on that throne, it had been cold and quiet. It had somehow always felt like a trap. But, with Sellene as queen, it was bright and full of life. Music played, people laughed and smiled. It was… good.

A half hour passed by busily. Aelin was introduced to some of Sellene’s courtiers, reintroduced to Rowan’s other cousins. People gave her their thanks, commended her hard work and sacrifice during the war.

It was hectic enough at the beginning to keep her mind thoroughly occupied. Chatting and charming and laughing. It took a while before there was a lull in the conversation, when Aelin wasn’t listening to someone or speaking herself. But, it finally came.

Aelin took the rare moment of solitude to take in her surroundings. Rowan was across the room, talking with his uncle and cousin, Enda. He looked happy, relaxed. She loved it when he smiled.

She looked away from her husband, glancing around the room. Despite her better judgements, her gaze snagged on that throne. It almost looked non-threatening in the late afternoon sunlight, but her gut still twisted. Images of a pale woman with dark hair and a spider’s smile flashed to her mind unwillingly. She flinched, eyes screwing shut and willing the memories of Maeve away. She was successful at first, but not for long. Images and snippets of voices, of screams that she didn’t know came from herself or others, assaulted her all at once.

Aelin’s breathing sped up, her heart hammering beneath her ribs. She felt the phantom bite of broken glass in her knees, heard Maeve’s cruel laughs. She saw Fenrys, heard his cry when Connall spilled his own blood right there by the throne. It was so clean now. Like none of it had ever happened.

But no. That had been real. The other images Maeve had sent her weren’t but…

Suddenly, the airy throne room was too small, too packed. Aelin felt ill. She ducked her head down, slipping out as discreetly as she could manage. The moment she was sure she was out of view, she bunched up her skirts and ran.

Her body remembered the way down into the depths of the palace, though she had never navigated herself. It had left a mark on her soul. She would never forget.

The dungeons below the palace were a stark difference from the open, bright architecture above. It could have been a different world. It was just as dark and cold as Aelin remembered, as it was in her nightmares.

She wasn’t sure how, exactly, she knew which of the near identical, dismal cells had been hers but… she knew. She hesitated outside the door, amazed by just how ordinary it looked. Who would have guessed that she had been held and tortured behind that door for two months?

Aelin pressed her palm against the door, the magic left in her recoiling at the iron she sensed. These dungeons had been built to keep people with magic contained. They had been well designed.

She pushed into the room slowly, using her magic to light the torches lining the walls. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting to find: a coffin, blood stains, iron chains waiting just for her. But… it was empty. Even the stone table she had been chained to while Cairn carved her up was gone.

Just… nothing.

Aelin wasn’t sure how long she stood there before she sensed a familiar presence behind her. She was wrapped in the familiar scent of pine and snow, Rowan’s warm body standing just behind her. He placed a broad hand on her shoulder. “I thought I’d find you here.”

A tiny smile curved her lips, though she didn’t bother looking back at her mate. “You know me well, husband.”

There were a few beats of silence. Aelin didn't have to be looking at Rowan to know he was carefully considering his next words. So, she did him a favor, and spoke first.

“There’s nothing here,” Aelin said simply, stating the obvious.

“No, there isn’t. Is that a bad thing?”

A tiny shrug. “I don’t know. Yes? No?” Aelin hung her head in defeat, covering Rowan’s hand with her own. “Sometimes, it's hard to believe it all really happened. Without the scars, without the coffin… it just seems like something I dreamed up. I know I didn’t but…”

“But what, Fireheart?”

Her eyes burned with tears, throat tightening. “It would be… comforting, I suppose, to know that the experience left its mark somewhere else than in my head. It was terrifying and hopeless but I don’t want to forget it happened.”

Rowan stepped closer, her back pressed against his chest. He wrapped his strong arms around her securely, pressing a kiss to the back of her head. “I think you know that what happened doesn't only still affect you. I don’t think Lorcan will ever fully forgive himself for summoning Maeve to the beach that day, I don’t think Aedion will ever stop feeling guilty that he hadn’t been there for you when you needed him. And I…”

He trailed off, but Aelin knew Rowan better than she knew herself. She knew his fears, his regrets, his insecurities. Just as Aelin awoke some nights thinking she was back in that coffin, Rowan would wake thinking she was gone. Those nights, he would wrap her tightly in his arms and wouldn’t let go until the sunrise, as if she’d disappear with the morning dew.

She gave a meek nod. “You’re right.”

They stood in silence for a bit longer, stealing strength from one another. After a period of silence, Aelin spoke again.

“I thought it’d be easier by now,” she commented. “I spent most of my life struggling to survive, trying not to die in one way or another. It’s been three years of peace. I know three years is nothing to you and will eventually be nothing to me too but… when does life get easier?”

Rowan didn’t answer right away. “Living, Aelin, is so much harder than dying.”

She sighed and nodded. “You’re right. But when have I ever not stepped up to a challenge?” She looked up at Rowan and smiled cockily. He gave a breathy laugh and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“You’ve already conquered death, Aelin Galathynius,” he said. “I have no doubts you’ll conquer life just as easily.”

#rowaelin #my writing #i rlly enjoyed writing this one #tog

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frogbrainrot · 3 years

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sasha sat alone, against the dark, grim, gray walls of a prison cell. it was familiar, in a nostalgic, almost ironic sort of way- the way she sat on the opposite side of the bars so she could go home, a parallel to how she sat caged once she got here.

she stared through the bars at the big blue monster before her, his head tipped up to stare at the high, high ceiling with a broken, twisted grin. she sharpened her sword with a rock, angrily, staring and staring, as screams and grunts echoed around them from other areas in the castle.

“this must be a new pace for you.” his voice boomed and grumbled like a giddy avalanche— caged or not, he remained crazy.

“don’t talk to me.” sasha snapped back.

his laugh shook the hall they were in, echoing down the hallway with the sound of the fighting overhead.

“no need to be— how do you kids put it? salty, my dear. you’ve already trapped me! what am i going to do to you but simply hold conversation?”

sasha didn’t reply, but let her sword drop to her side with an irritated clatter.

silence fell between them for a moment.

“do you think she’s winning?” he said, almost quietly. for him, quiet still sounded like thunder.

“of course she is.”

“all by herself up there?”

“by herself? she’s got the entirety of amphibia with her. she’s got the frogs, who love her, the toad army— who love me— and your newt army, who just simply hates you.”

“that’s nothing, against a god.”

“that thing is no god.”

“that thing?” he turned his head to look at her, eyes wild. “you mean marcy?”

sasha jerked up, growling at him with nothing more than contempt. “that thing isn’t marcy, it is in marcy. some— weird— monster you created and decided to worship! and anne’s going to get it out, and then we’re all going to go home and the entirety of amphibia is going to want to watch you die for pleasure, knowing you’re the one who destroyed your own home to conquer— what? what was your goal? more amphibias? universes full of people who hate you and your ‘g-‘?”

andrias interrupted with a long, loud, rumbling yawn. sasha flushed with anger, hurtling one of her daggers out of her boot and at him. it lodged neatly into his shoulder, and he let out a pained, wild laugh.

“what a child.”

“i’m not a child!”

“of course you are. you think you get to just go home after this. you think you’ve already won.”

“of course we have! we’ve got you! we’ve got three armies! anne still has the power of the ge-“

“anne, anne, anne. so what if she wins? you still lose. you think you just get to go home after this? go back to normal? she’ll never trust you again. you, who betrayed her twice? marcy, who dragged her here and got herself killed? you think you’ll just go back to being best friends and frolicking around school again, having parties and forgetting this ever happened?”

he paused, let it sink in. “she’s going to hate you forever.”

“we’ll figure it out.”

“figure what out? how to get over months worth of trauma and betrayal?”

“yes! we’ll figure. it. out! end of discussion! now- shut up!”

he laughed. and laughed and laughed, bending over with a pained groan as he leaned into his injured shoulder. sasha turned away, trying to block it out.

he finally whispered a response, voice full of hatred and amusement,

“oh, sasha. there is no ‘figuring it out’ when it comes to one’s true colors.”

—————————————————

man this sounded a lot more interesting in my head but i still wanted to post for true colors so hERE IT IS

anyway this is like s3 shit i guess

also true colors spoilers

also the only consistency in my art style is inconsistent art style

#art #amphibia #amphibia fanart #true colors #amphibia season 3 #sasha waybright #fanfic #amphibia fanfic #true colors fanart #king andrias #this some ugly writing but hey #i’m still kinda proud of it

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dmsden · 3 years

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Monster of the Month - the Wight

Hullo, Gentle Readers; it’s time for another Monster of the Month! This month’s creepy creature is a bit of undead awfulness - the Wight. As always, a big thanks goes to Scott Fabianek for the amazing original art. I really feel like he outdid himself this time...but I always think that.

Wights have been a part of D&D from the very beginning...literally! They are one of the fantasy units that appear in the Chainmail rules, where they are effectively the master unit that ghouls and zombies also take their stats from. They paralyze rather than energy drain, but they already have their sensitivity to sunlight. By the time they arrive in the original D&D boxed set, they’ve picked up their ability to drain life force (in the form of levels) and their vulnerability to silver. It’s not surprising that they’re one of the first undead monsters associated with the game, since (no matter what Mr. Gygax says) there was so much Lord of the Rings influence in D&D’s origins. How much? Well, I’ll tell you the story of the TSR/Tolkien lawsuit sometime. And given the popularity of Game of Thrones with its own form of wights, I think they’ll be around for some time.

At it’s core, a wight is an undead warrior. A wight’s challenge rating of 3 makes it a very versatile monster. At low levels, a wight could be the commander of a whole undead legion made up of skeletons and zombies. At higher levels, the army itself could be made of wights, and the commander could be a vampire. Actually, given their life drain effect, the idea of an army of wights is pretty terrifying. Gotta make note of that for the future...

Wight despise sunlight, to the point where they have the sunlight sensitivity trait. A wight will avoid sunlight, remaining in dark dungeons or in places where they can avoid the sun’s weakening rays. They can deal with sunlight, but they’re much less effective. Perhaps an army of wights would march only at night, then find places to hide during the day...dungeons, sewers, caves, and the like...to make sure they’re always at maximum efficiency. Wights don’t take extra damage from silver, but silvered weapons bypass their resistance to non-magical weapons. So if you hear that an army of wights is on the way, raid the treasury for silver and get some weapons ready.

Wights are capable fighters, usually wearing studded leather and armed with a longsword and longbow with multiattack. This gives them a decent armor class as well as excellent damage output, including a strong ranged attack. If you want to customize wights in order to make them a bit more challenging, give them a shield or better armor. A heavily armored wight could do a lot of damage to a group of adventurers at low level. If you really want to make a wight scary, give it some levels of fighter.

Despite all this, what makes a wight really scary is its life drain attack. Wights no longer steal your levels (thank goodness...who thought that was fun? Looking at you, Gygax), but they have the potential to lower your hit point maximum. You could describe this as the wight drinking the life energy of its victim, or a necrotic draining, or a feeling of age or withering. In any case, it should be terrifying. And if they successfully lower someone’s hit point maximum to 0, that person dies and may become a zombie under the wight’s control a day later. This transformation seems to happen even if the wight is killed; the only way to prevent it is to destroy the body of the slain or get them returned to life. That would be demoralizing...your companion is slain, and you’re taking them to be raised, but they rise as a zombie and you have to kill them.

I could see a wight using guerilla like tactics to attack a caravan or small settlement. It could return night after night, each time claiming zombies until it had twelve under its control. Assuming 5 characters, a wight and 12 zombies would be a deadly encounter for a group of level 4 characters or a hard encounter for level 5 characters. I might be tempted to make this a “Seven Samurai” sort of adventure, where the PCs find the town demoralized after multiple attacks. I mean...as in the example above, it would be awful for a town to have to defend itself against its own undead citizens.

As to where the wight comes from in the first place, perhaps the town is near some burial mounds, and a couple of locals tried to dig for treasure, only to awaken something terrible and become its first loyal zombie servants. Or maybe a vampire or a lich is awakening that undead army I mentioned above, and they’re calling wights up from their barrows to gather zombies. Once the wight has 12 zombies, they leave a town alone, taking the forces they’ve gathered to a remote and barren location to join with others, ultimately becoming an undead army large enough to conquer a kingdom. If we add access to the control weather spell, either from the lich or from a loyal necromancer, clouds could be used to block out the sun, allowing the army to move and attack during the day.

Obviously, another great place to put a wight is in its actual barrow or burial mound or tomb or what have you. I default to barrow, because of Tolkien, but a wight could be buried anywhere. A wight could also make for a very interesting roleplaying encounter, since they could be a veteran or long ago wars. Yes, they’re evil and want to destroy life, but they might also be a useful source of information. Maybe your group needs a piece of historical information, and they need to find a way to speak to a wight who was alive at the time.

I hope this article has made you think about how you’re using wights or some possible adventures that could include them. Next month, we’re delving into a nasty, spiky bit of Persian mythology. Until then, don’t let the wights bite!

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prompt-master · 4 years

Text

Bear Trap (Part 1/3)

Request fill for @hibiscuswolverine and art done by @doodles-by-noodles

The world was starting to heal.

Little by little, everyone who survived Hope's Peak Academy's killing game was bringing about change to the world. It had only just started, and they likely wouldn't live to see their vision fully realized, but there was hope. Hope the world hadn't seen since the tragedy broke out in the first place.

Yep, Naegi Makoto had a lot of work to do, but he also already had so much to be proud of. He and the survivors had already proven themselves to adapt to a world that was nothing like the one they left behind. They had been given a warning from Enoshima Junko herself, but even with the knowledge of killer robots and rampaging despair-induced rioters nothing could really prepare them for life on the outside.

Honestly, they had never expected to make it to where they were right now. Proud members of the Future Foundation, able to work together with the higher ups to take down the biggest threats against the world's progression. It felt like just yesterday they were sleeping in the rubble of what once were apartments, tightly packed together in case anything were to break in. And now Makoto stood proud and tall, going over his next mission on video call with a member of one of the higher divisions.

"I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised that the Ultimate Hope would be so adamant on these matters."

Makoto smiled, still as strong and inspiring as it had been back in the killing game, "Really, you don't have to call me that. I'm nothing special, just Naegi is fine."

She completely ignored him, looking over the notes he'd sent to her one last time. He and Aoi had accidentally discovered a distress call from a group of survivors in an unsafe area. There was no way he could ignore something like that, he wouldn't ignore any possibility that someone was suffering like his class did. Even if there was an equal possibility that it was a trap.

"Well, your plan asks for Ultimate Detective Kirigiri Kyoko and Ultimate Affluent Progeny Togami Byakuya to go with you. With those two, plus the Ultimate Hope, equipped with hacking guns then I see no reason to be concerned for any mishaps. Your mission is approved."

Makoto's smile widened at that, feeling a rush of pride and hope at her words, "We won't let you down! Promise!"

She didn't even look up at him, simply humming to let him know she heard. But he could tell, there was a slight smile on her face. Makoto managed to melt his fair share of hearts even if he couldn't explain how. The call blinked off, and Makoto shut his laptop gently, but with no regard to what it was running.

He let out a loud sigh, slouching back into his chair. Any and all office calls felt so nerve wracking. Each one held its own weight in importance. Every exchange oversaw the future. He pulled his arms over his head, stretching them as far as they could go.

He could already feel himself getting pumped up. A small, prideful smirk snuck it's way onto his face. The plan wasn't anything extreme, but he knew with his friends by his side it would all be ok. They were meant to go together in a group so that they could protect themselves in the event of a trap or other unforeseen circumstances. The distress call came from a fallen city mostly blocked off by a collapsed building. They would drop off inside the city's bounds, and continue on foot to find any survivors they could. They knew there would be some despaired within, but that was a given anywhere they went now.

It would all be worth it to save them.

Now he just had to tell Byakuya and Kyoko the good news

It was clear to anyone near the survivors that Byakuya, Kyoko, and Makoto were a force to be reckoned with. While the general public has no qualms with calling Makoto the leader of the group, it was more so all three of them were coleading. Each taking charge in their own way, from the start of their new lives to now. The three of them were all incredibly smart in their own ways and their combined skills lead to a team that could likely conquer any despair they faced. But it took an even closer eye to see the emotional connection the three shared with each other.

Makoto walked in front, leading since he had heard the distress call in the first place. It was certainly an interesting relationship that the three had. Although Makoto certainly didn't see himself as the leading type it seemed that Byakuya and Kyoko both trusted his guidance entirely. And he did the same for them. There was no way to describe the significance that lay underneath the floorboards of their bond. For the two most emotionally shut off of the survivors to so openly trust him? To Makoto that was enough to lay their hearts out in the open for him to see. And not to mention…

Makoto glanced back at the two. Byakuya was messing around with his hacking gun, glasses slipping down his nose, and hair nearly hiding his eyes from Makoto's view. Kyoko was taking in her surroundings, trying to figure out sooner rather than later if this whole thing was just a trap as suspected. Her eyes may be void of emotion but the color and warmth was vast. Makoto faced forward again, his face feeling just a bit hot.

They were both really pretty.

No, no he can't focus on his silly crushes. Yes, crushes plural. Because Makoto's sensitive heart was so big he managed to give it away to two different people. That didn't matter right now though, because the focus was on the mission.

The town was about as decimated as it looked from the outside. It reminded him of his first experiences out in the new world, making him wonder how many survivors might be hiding under rubble, scared to come out. So far they hadn't run into any sort of trouble. No robots, no despaired, no survivors. There was really...nothing here. It was starting to look more and more like a trap.

Makoto stopped walking at a split path, "The call said to find the convenience store but...I can't tell where to go since everything's been destroyed."

Byakuya came to stand by his side, "Not that it should matter much all things considered. Let's just get this over with so we can clear out those insane idiots and rebuild this place already."

"Togami-kun!" Makoto pouted, Byakuya may have softened up but he still had a habit of harsh thinking first, "don't say that. I'm sure there has to be someone here who needs saving. There's people who need to be rescued everywhere we go!"

"Indeed" Kyoko chimed in, "but it's not a bad line of thought. If we stage a rebuilding operation here then that increases our chances of finding survivors then if only a search team walked around."

Byakuya smirked, pushing up his glasses in that annoyingly arrogant way of his, "And to do that, we need to weed out the problems first no?"

"Yes...yes we do."

"Besides what would you rather do? Try to talk to the despaired? And get clubbed again?"

"It was one time, Togami-kun!"

Byakuya laughed, placing his hands on his hips as he looked around, "Come now, this way. All these buildings are too destroyed to make any sort of distinctions regardless. And by your sentimental logic we should be checking more than just the given location, wouldn't you agree."

Byakuya didn't wait for an answer, he walked ahead to begin searching the first building to their left. Makoto had to break into a light jog to catch up to him; damn your long legs Togami!

That marked the start of their exploration, building after building. They found nothing. Not to mention everywhere seemed like it has been residential, no sign of the store they were told the survivors were. Even Makoto felt like something was a little bit off but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Regardless he kept up hope, he had heard those survivors speak with complete clarity in their voice. They had to be here. He wouldn't give up over a simple bad feeling.

Byakuya stepped over broken glass, moving further into the crumpled home he was currently inspecting. A surprisingly intact kitchenette caught his eye, and decided a thorough search was necessary without telling his company. Although they didn't need much prompting to understand when he went off trail again. Kyoko thought if he was going to focus on possible material goods stored away in this forgotten piece of life, then she could at least see if there was any current piece of life hiding away as well. Makoto stood at the door of the house. He'd given nothing more than a glance to Byakuya before turning toward the outdoors again. Looking for anything. Any sign of life lurking under the foreboding red sky.

Nothing.

He sighed, turning his attention down to what used to be a grass area. Not much was left of that, in fact it looked almost like any plant life besides the weeds in the street cracks were...set on fire. The ground had this grey ashy feeling to it. And when Makoto scuffed it with his shoe….yeah, that was definitely the remains of something burning. That was a good sign right? It meant that someone was alive. This couldn't have been that long ago.

Makoto opened his mouth to call for his friends, when a cold hand slapped over his mouth and forcefully tugged him backwards.

Huh

Huh?!

Makoto was immediately kicking and yelling. He bucked like a disturbed wild animal, trying everything he could to get out. Wiggling, kneeing, elbowing, even trying to bite the hand over his mouth but none disturbed the individual. The house was getting farther and farther away but his voice was too muffled to ever reach it. There was heavy breathing in his ear, the air wet and warm against his skin in a way that made his body shudder. He forced himself to look up at his kidnapper. An individual with a wide smile on their face and eyes that spoke of a spiraling psyche. Everything about them...from their expression to their actions to their lack of reaction to pain...it all said despair.

Eventually Makoto was dragged into the street and thrown down like a slab of meat. Makoto was about to scream again for help, when a hand quickly reached out for him. He couldn't help but flinch back, shoulders bunching up in an attempt to shrink away. His tie was yanked off, the force pulling his body upwards. When the tie snapped off he fell back again, he could feel rocks digging into his skin from the fall. Then his hands were tied behind his back. This was bad. This was so bad. Bad didn't even BEGIN to cover it.

His captor came uncomfortably close, having lost all concept of personal space in the madness the end of the world has provided. Makoto tried his best to keep calm as they placed their arms to either side of him so that they were above, staring down below. There was a tense moment where neither moved, they simply tried to catch their breaths so that the silence would stop being filled with panting. It felt like a test. Like they were waiting for him to even dare to try to escape. They wanted to show Makoto what happened when he disobeyed! He could see it in their eyes! In the manicale look, in the smile that kept opening and closing like a strange gutted fish. The way their arms trembled and shook by Makoto's head, just waiting with the high of excitement.

Arms still shaking, mouth overflowing with spittle and pupils pinprick sharp, they began to slowly lower themselves. Makoto held his breath, willing his body to sink further into the concrete. His heels scraped against the ground, but he willed himself not to move in fear that any sign of escape would reward him with a slit throat. Their noses pressed against each other. The captor let out a shaky relieved sigh, as if the contact was the greatest thing they'd felt in a long time. Their eyelids fell half lidded, their smirk from excited to downright sadistic.

"I've got you now, Mr. Ultimate Hope."

Stay calm. You've dealt with this kind of person before.

Makoto's nails gave a tug as he ran them against the concrete in an attempt to ground himself, dirt filling the space between skin and keratin. His heart hammered in his chest as if he were a scared rabbit, but there was no time to panic here. His life depended on it. The despaired were completely delusional...which meant..

Makoto felt a laugh rise out of him, nervous and high in pitch. A bit too high in pitch. He scraped the ground again, enough so that it began to hurt from the force. Calm down. Stay fucking calm.

"Heh...heheh! Yeah! You got me..!" A smile graced his face, "what did you...get me for?"

They pulled back, but not enough so that the pungent smell of smoke and ash left Makoto's nose. Their head tilted, daring to make an innocent face, "You know who you are, right?"

"I do. And who are you?"

Their body moved back and forth as they laughed with everything they had, their knees closing in so that Makoto could feel it against his leg. "Me? Me? Mememe?? Forget that! You're the Ultimate Hope!"

"That's right…"

"I wonder what Miss Junko would say right now. Seeing you pinned down like this?" Their eyes flickered to the sky at the fantasy that no doubt filled their mind.

Makoto tried his hardest not to cringe, and just attempted to change the subject instead, "Do you want me to do something for you?" It was a loaded question. One that made Makoto feel like he was picking all the wrong dialogue choices.

"I do!"

Progress. He wasn't sure if it was good progress, but it was, in fact, progress.

"What's that?"

Their voice dropped to a whisper, waning and cracking in excitement once again. They reached into their pocket.

"I want you to watch this"

They pulled out a little remote that looked horribly put together. Even with how much their hand trembled he could see that it was made of what seemed to be the remains of a torn apart scrap pile. Before Makoto could ask what they meant, they pressed the only button built in.

What ensued was a large explosion.

------

BOOM

A loud eardrum breaking noise filled the previous silence. Byakuya was forced to grip the kitchen countertop as the world around him shook, a sudden intense burst of wind following soon after. The heat uncomfortable against his face. He made his way to the open wall, Kyoko not far behind him.

"Was that an explosion?" Kyoko asked, not wanting to waste any time.

Byakuya looked outside at the smoke and fire that overtook the sky. It was suffocating just to look at. Shit, it was definitely a trap then. "Looks like it"

They watched frozen, transfixed on the horror as a building toppled from where it was standing, joining the others as rubble for them to walk on. They still stayed in place. They knew there was nothing they could do to prevent or help the issue.

Byakuya was so focused on the sight, thinking about how he had to call for an early pick up that he didn't even notice until Kyoko asked.

"Where's Naegi?"

------

Makoto gasped and gasped as he ran for his life. After whatever that person had rigged went off he found himself surprisingly not being pinned anymore as the person sat cackling nearby. He had managed to slip away when more despaired came over and argued with the individual who had been pinning him. Now he was running as fast as he could hoping he wouldn't get caught once again.

He struggled against his traitorous tie, feeling it chafe against his wrists uncomfortably. Untying it would have been enough of a challenge without the running aspect. Now he found himself tripping over his own feet trying to think about the two things at once.

Before he knew it, his feet had slipped right out from under him and he barely caught himself before faceplanting.

Taking the fall as a hint, he stopped to catch his breath, looking around the area to gauge where he was. It seemed like more of the same until he saw a rather structurally sound convenience store. It was surprisingly big too for how little damage it had. A smile overtook his face. Aren't I lucky? Maybe the people inside can help me get this dang tie off.

After letting his breathing calm down he made his way toward the store. Elation filled his heart, a familiar hope that kept him going. He knew it couldn't have all been a trap! Almost there now. Once inside he'd have someone untie his hands, and then he'd find his friends and-

His friends. He hoped Byakuya and Kyoko were safe. He had no idea how far the damage of the explosion traveled, but if it was enough to collapse an entire building there was certainly the risk of them being in hot water. Not to mention the multiple despaired that were walking around, who knows what sort of danger they could walk into. Then again, if anyone was capable of holding their own it would be Byakuya and Kyoko. But he should probably focus on his own safety instead of imagining Byakuya and Kyoko taking down their enemies in the most attractive way possible-

He was right there. He'd reached the convenience store. All the windows were covered up so that he couldn't see inside, but he knew someone inside was waiting. He just had to- huh? What's that?

Makoto looked down to see a familiar, very unwelcome sight. It was a Monokuma with yellow and black stripes. At the top of its head was a red siren. And they were making eye contact.

"Shi-"

Instinctively he reeled back at the loud, sharp noise. The sound raised and lowered it's pitch smoothly, reminding him of tsunami drills he had to do back when he was in school and the implications it brought were similarly horrifying.

So much for being lucky. Makoto felt himself panicking again, the siren was loud enough to hurt his ears. He couldn't tell if his ears were ringing or if the siren was just that obnoxious. But he didn't have time to complain about that. The noise and the light… no doubt others would be coming soon.

"Shh...shhhh!! Stop it!" He couldn't break the machine with his hands the way they were...he had to settle for getting help.

Makoto stopped in his tracks before he could approach the door of the convenience store however, because there was someone watching him through the window. They'd opened the curtain to check what the commotion was. Makoto saw no madness or instability in their eyes...the survivors really WERE here. Makoto smiled, wishing he could wave and gesture for help, but he had to hope his expression was enough.

The survivor frowned, eyes fixated on the Siren Monokuma. Without looking at Makoto again they closed the curtain.

No one was coming to help.

Makoto backed away. That's ok. There was still a chance. If he ran quick enough maybe he could get away before reinforcements arrived.

The growling he heard mocked his fruitless thoughts. That was the deranged sounds a Beast Monokuma made…he couldn't hope to outrun one of those. They were like real rabid bears but worse because they never got tired. They never stopped running once they had you in its sights, just like this one.

But Makoto tried anyway to flee, only to end up taking a riot shield to the face from a Guard Monokuma.

"Oof!"

He fell back hard feeling all air leave his lungs. The snarling and pounding of the Beast Monokuma was getting louder. Too loud. Makoto rolled onto his side, scrambling to get up. He winced as a claw grazed his cheek, first blood of the night welling up.

He felt like an insignificant worm with how he desperately rolled on the floor, hoping to find good enough footing in his panic to stand. But when he got to his knees he was met with another riot shield. He almost didn't react in time to dodge another slash from the Beast, managing to get the tie around his wrists cut.

He'd never gotten to his feet so quickly before in his life. Bits of gravel stuck to his palms and blood ran down his right arm. He scrambled to find something -anything- to defend himself with, but he was already surrounded. It was too late to even bother going for the Siren Monokuma. How the hell was he supposed to-?

He yelled out as sharp metal claws dug into his back, seemingly deep enough that he feared for his spine. The claws rake along his back as the beast removes them. If that wasn't enough to bring him back to reality, he was quickly overwhelmed, bruises being beaten into every inch of his skin from the shields, and slashes from regular Monokuma's on his arms. And worse of all the Beast Monokuma that was trying its best to chomp his head off with it's twitchy manic movements. He tried his best to fend it off, pushing at it personally with his bare hands despite the continuous relentless assault he was receiving.

Another good hit with a shield and his hands slipped. In a split second moment that he didn't even get to think about, he reached a leg up and kicked at its face. He only had a moment of victory.

It bit down on his leg and didn't let go.

Now the interesting thing about Makoto is that even though he doesn't seem capable, he's grown to be able to keep himself calm when it mattered. Even at his own execution, where he was slowly heading towards his untimely demise, With frequent reminders of what was about to come, he had managed to keep as calm as possible. Even well he fell stories down into the garbage. He refused to make a peep and panic when every one of his friends could see. But right now no friends were watching.

Naegi Makoto screamed.

-----

"I'm going to kill Naegi my damn self for running off when we find him." Byakuya was, as per usual, annoyed as hell.

Kyoko sighed, "Calm down. I'm sure there's a reason, you know he isn't like that."

Byakuya rolled his eyes, but didn't say a word. Kyoko was completely right, but he would never give her the satisfaction of admitting that. His silence was enough.

They had made way for the source of the explosion only to find the path to the other side of the city was completely blocked off by the collapsed structure. Due to the closed off nature of the cities remains that left them with only one option: go the long way around and hope those entrances aren't blocked as well.

When it was just Kyoko and Byakuya there was always this weird silence. Sometimes comfortable, sometimes tense. Makoto was always the one to fill it, he was like the bridge between the two. Kyoko wished he could tell Byakuya to cheer up -his attitude was getting on her nerves- but Makoto's absence was the whole reason for it in the first place.

"Keep your guard up" she reminded, her own hand staying close to the pouch strapped to her thigh. Inside was an all weather purpose mini notepad and a handheld taser. She quite liked her taser, it was both heavy hitting and satisfied Makoto's wish to not kill anyone: even the despaired. "I'm certain that explosion was rigged up by a person."

Byakuya scoffed, "I am Togami Byakuya" he kindly reminded her. Kyoko rolled her eyes, she'd heard that way too many times to count. "My guard is always up and my reaction time is perfect. Maybe you should worry about yourself instead."

"Incorrigible as usual, I see."

He glared back down at her, still walking forward with overconfident strides, "I'll have you know-"

There it is. Another rant which consisted only of Byakuya boasting about his own skills. She shut him out without a second thought, focusing on her surroundings instead. It's not as though Byakuya would provide any sort of new information anyway.

"Wait." She interrupted, which Byakuya hated, but his feelings be damned, "do you hear that?"

Byakuya paused, facing towards the direction she was looking. There was a sound in the distance, something familiar. It was far, but if he focused hard enough he could figure it out.

Kyoko and Byakuya looked at each other, both having recognized the siren's undeniable screech at the same time. With a nod, they began to run. Makoto or not, whoever was caught by that Siren Monokuma was in danger. Byakuya steadied his hacking gun in his hand and Kyoko effortlessly pulled her taser from it's bounds. Despite their great desire to find Makoto meer seconds ago, they hoped that anyone else would be caught by the Monokuma's. But, this was Makoto after all.

It took an undetermined amount of time for them to loop around to the convenience store, but the time spent felt uncomfortably long to them both. When they did arrive they found it was a chaotic mess. There was a group of Monokuma's huddled together over one unseen person. There was blood scraped across the concrete as though someone was dragged with their horrible injuries and all. But there were no sounds of a struggle. The sight was more akin to school yard bullies gathering to kick a victim than a genuine fight.

Without wasting much time Byakuya fired at the Siren Monokuma, destroying it without a second thought. "Damn noise was getting on my nerves" He said.

Kyoko shook her head, "Focus" she pointed her nose towards the pile up. Byakuya's uncaring attitude toward the situation showed that he believed the person was already dead. One by one the machines fell apart or destroyed themselves. And in their wake was a small, bloodied mess in human shape. The smell of copper and the sickening sight of messy pink was one they had gotten all too used to over the years. But that didn't make it easier when you recognized one of those bodies as someone you cared about.

Byakuya felt harsh, furious breaths of air pushing in and out of his nose. The action was an almost unconscious response. He couldn't help but let anger well up at the sight of Naegi Makoto laying on the ground curled up on his side.

He grit his teeth, "Is he…?" Dammit. A Togami didn't hesitate. Certainly not Byakuya.

"No." Kyoko's voice was barely more than a whisper, and for a split second he thought she was simply in denial. But no, she had caught sight of Makoto's chest moving up and down. She made way to him, hands hovering over him unsure of how deep his injuries ran. The first thing she saw were vicious claw marks running down his back. There were bits of debris clinging to the wound. They were ugly and jagged things. She wanted to roll him onto his back to get a better look at him but was it even safe to move him at all? She didn't want to risk paralyzing him. Not to mention she'd be pressing his wound to the ground. She glanced to his leg. A complete mangled mess, she could tell the unit that attached itself to his leg was relentless in its attack. Shaking and thrashing and the like. The fabric that once covered his leg was all but torn to shreds leaving the whole injury on brutal display. There was blood pooling underneath where he lay on the ground. His skin was pale from blood loss, breaking into a cold sweat that made her certain shock was already setting in. Almost all exposed skin was blossoming into a different, unnatural color indicating a plethora of bruises. His breathing was quiet but heavy, he'd already lost a lot of blood. When her eyes finally trailed up to his face she felt a small bit of relief that his features were marred by only a small cut on his left cheek, with a lazy stream of blood pouring from it.

Byakuya and Kyoko were two individuals with a massive disconnect of their emotions brought about by their upbringing. Byakuya turned any emotion he felt into anger and disdain. Kyoko snuffed out most emotions she felt so that nothing would show. They had the emotional resolve of steel, it wasn't easy breaking down their walls. Makoto was that strange part of the equation that ruined all of that. He managed to get Byakuya to be intrigued by someone so seemingly insignificant and he managed to get Kyoko to act pouty and almost childish during the game. Yes, their entire lives were spent crafting these defenses. And now they had to fight to keep it all together with only elmers glue in their arsenal.

Kyoko was up close and personal with all the gruesome details of his attack. She tried to shove it all down so that she could completely focus on ensuring Makoto's survival. But he was looking up at her with a dazed half lidded look, as though any second the world would slip away from under his feet. And despite that Makoto smiled when he caught eyes with her. Kyoko's heart cracked.

Byakuya could only watch with his fists by his side. He had set out to ensure all the survivors of the first killing game continued to survive and here we are. He forced all these feelings to be translated into anger. But he knew the underlying causes. He knew there was a part of him that simply was scared for his friends sake.

The two of them both understood the others emotional grievances. And that's exactly why Byakuya's heart skipped a beat when Kyoko looked up at him with fear vibrant in her eyes.

"It doesn't look good."

#naegirigami #naegamigiri #makoto naegi #byakuya togami #kyoko kirigiri #whump #fanfic #dr #dr:thh #danganronpa #im so peeved because tumblr wont show this pic in the main tag #dangaronpa #dangan ronpa #naegiri #naegami #dr3 #dr 3 #bear trap

481 notes · View notes

ssa-dg · 3 years

Text

Undercover Part 1

part 1, part 2

Overview: the BAU has gone undercover to find a potential unsub who has been drugging, raping and murdering women. It own becomes a potential victim. Having to play her part to catch the bad guy, you go to the party all dressed up and dance with a potential murderer all while pretending he is someone else, Spencer Reid.

TW: drugs, rape (it is mentioned how the unsub rapes his victims. the reader is drugged and the unsub takes advantage of her being drugged and begins to take off her dress), murder, sex, adult themes. if these types of things are triggering for you please don’t read. I’m just a average person who tried their best to not cause people to be upset. If this is problematic I’m sorry I didn’t mean for it to be and will take it down.

Relationship: Spencer Reid x (female)reader

word count: 3,384

Author’s note: so this is my first ever Criminal Minds story. If it garners enough attention I will do more parts (honestly even if it doesn’t I probably will lol) PSA: I have never been under the influence of MDMA and honestly I don’t judge if people who do it consensually and safely (which is harder said then done). this is how I imagine it to be like to be on it. Also I like writing and I like sharing my writing because all of the great fan fics that cause me happiness, if I can cause that reaction just to one person that’s enough for me

You would do anything to save the world. Maybe it was a hero complex, maybe it was some form of glory seeking, or maybe it was the only way you knew how to fill the dark abyss you felt when you did nothing of importance. Being a part of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, helped with that. Being on the team gave you everything you needed, a family and a way to save others. Maybe saying you love your job isn’t the correct way to explain your emotions but you knew no better way. Although you wish a job like this wasn’t necessary and didn’t even exist, it did.

Your team meant the world to you and you would contribute almost in any way to help find an unknown subject. So when Penelope Garcia was able to connect the killings in New York City to some private “rich people” clubs, her and the team created a plan to infiltrate.

The victimology was specific. It was all rich young women ranging from the ages 19-30 who just moved into the city to find themselves.

The profile was an easy one to figure out. He was obviously a troubled young white male who was probably an heir of some sort. He was richer than what most people think is rich. He usually meets the victim at a high society social event. Then he’d take them to a more exclusive social event. After that he would drug them with MDMA, rape and kill them.

It was hard for the BAU to get much out of the enclosed and tight group of New York’s most elite families. So going undercover at an event where the unsub could potentially hunt for prey was what made most sense. Your jobs was to observe the women and men there and try to see if any of you could fish out the unsub.

They had done it in the past but usually they did their best work by watching and observing. So here the team was, their second night in a row all dolled up in fancy cocktail dresses at some art gallery. Tara Lewis and Luke Alves stood around a table pretending to talk to each other as they observed potential victims. Jennifer Jareau, Spencer Reid, and Matt Simmons stood at another end of the room checking for the potential unsub, while your unit chief, Emily Prentiss, and you were pretending to be alone at the event eavesdropping on rich families. You listened to those around you while also scanning the room looking for potential young white men talking to lone young women. “Ten o’clock to the creepy face painting,” you heard Alvez say in your small earpiece. You calmly turned pretending to look at the other art pieces and saw a white male in his mid-thirties walking up to a female. He placed his hand on her low back as he leaned in to talk to her. Emily being the closest nearby out of you two, moved closer acting like she was going for some hors d’oeuvres. “That’s not him. He’s too drunk. I can smell all the alcohol he has consumed. He would need to be smoother than that,” Emily whispered as she took a sip of her glass. That’s how most of the night went. We followed and stared at people who might be the unsub and then filed them out. You felt yourself losing hope. You hated this part of the job. The one that made you feel like the profile was wrong and you all would have to start over, which there was never time to start over. Someone could die. That’s when you felt a hand touch the small of your back, your body tensed up immediately. “Relax,” he whispered in your ear. But you didn’t need to force it, because when you turned to look at the person who touched you, you were met with the face of beauty and your body instantly relaxed. You knew this was a dangerous reaction, as would probably many of Ted Bundy’s victims.

The man before you had slicked back short dark hair, bright blue eyes, strong symmetry in his facial features, and strong cheek and jaw bones. He smiled wickedly at you, causing you to intake a sharp breath. It was so sinister but also so beautiful. It wasn’t the most beautiful smile you’d ever seen, no that was reserved for your teammate, best friend, and love of your life (even if he didn’t know it) Spencer Reid. Now, Spencer’s smile was one you could get lost in. You refocused yourself to the beautiful man in front of you. “They say the artist intended for this particular piece to show trauma while he was drinking. His other pieces are other emotions on different drugs,” his deep voice rattled through your ears. You wanted to unwrap yourself from this man’s embrace. How dare he touch you like that without your permission. “Play along,” Luke spoke as he saw a scowl beginning to form on your lips, “he could be the unsub.” You smoothed the scowl into a smile. “It doesn’t look like it depicts trauma,” you responded dumbly. The man before you cocked his head to the side giving you a lopsided smile. “I guess it all depends on how someone experiences trauma,” the smile now wicked, and scarier. A shiver went up your spine. “Are you cold?” He asked, noticing it, while looking you up and down like he could devour you. “No,” your voice came out scratchy as your throat went dry. You cleared it politely. “Just thinking-” “About your own trauma?” He asked. You could hear the fake tone of concern. That snapped you out of your fear. The pictures of all the murdered women that brought the BAU to this case flashed before your eyes. “Maybe,” the smile you plastered on your face was a one you knew he wanted, a sad smile. You were going to play this role like it’s no one's business because you were here to catch a bad guy and if flirting with a creep got you there then so be it. He leaned in closer to your ear, “my name is Alistair Constantine,” you immediately recognized the name. It was on the list of potential unsubs for the profile. His family’s money was old, going back to the revolutionary war. The family seemed to always be updating with the times and never losing that money. You leaned into his other ear and introduced yourself.

Spencer’s hands were clutched at his side as he watched you interact with the Constantine boy. He felt in his gut at this moment, Alastair was the unsub. The way he was looking at you, it was like you were a quest to conquer. Spencer knew he couldn’t just come up, break you two apart and blow the whole investigation but boy did he want to.

Alastair paraded you around the room. Every now and then he would talk to fellow members of the society. It took everything in you to pretend that you didn’t want to beat his ass right then and there. You were always an imaginative kid growing up so you blocked out the gruesome pictures of the crime scenes and instead pretended this was your life a young New York woman getting special treatment from a handsome man. It was easier to fit the rom-com role then what was actually happening. Alistair stopped in front of a painting that was particularly psychedelic looking with bright pastel colors. “This is my favorite piece by the artist. This was when he was on Ecstasy. Look at the happiness and distorted-ness to the art. It’s amazing,” he gushed. It would have been odd that he picked this particular painting to attach too, but it was a strong tie to the method of his killings. “Humankind cannot bear very much of reality,” you spoke out, breaking Spencer from his thoughts about if they had enough information to convict Alistair for the murders. Alistair looked at you funny, not understanding why you would say that. “T. S. Eliot” you told Alistair while Spencer whispered it at the same time. a ghost of a smile playing on your lips when you heard Spencer’s voice. “It’s what I think of when I look at this art. T. S. Eliot is one of my favorite poets,” you blushed at your admission. It felt like for a second, with having just heard Spencer’s voice, that you were talking to him instead of Alistair. Spencer was now looking straight at you two. His eyes held bewilderment, he has known you for years and you never once mentioned this, and he knew you knew this was something he cared about.

“Indeed,” Alistair yawned.

The next 30 minutes was you telling him how you’d grown up in Boston, Massachusetts, that you had no close relatives anymore, and how when your parents died their life savings all went to you (all of it true), the lie came when it was to talk about why you moved to New York City, what you wanted to do with your life etc. And he ate it up every second. You played the roll of being the lonely damsel in a big city trying to find the answer to life. You were his ideal victim and you knew that he didn’t even question how perfect you were.

The night ended with an invite to the society’s ball tomorrow night, and Prentiss fed your ear a fake address for Alistair to send a car to tomorrow. You ordered an Uber to the address where Emily said they’ll pick you up to not seem suspicious in case Alistair sent someone to follow you. Once at the address the FBI’s SUV pulled up and you got in. It was Spencer who picked you up, which was unusual, as he never liked driving. You climbed onto the passenger seat and saw his knuckles were white from the strength of his grip on the steering wheel. It didn’t take a profiler to know Spencer was mad. “Spencer, are you alright?” You approached with a soft whisper. There was a pause of silence, Spencer calculating if he should be honest. He eventually gave into the truth as he knew that he couldn’t hide it from you. “No,” he growled, the anger in his voice causing you to jump in surprise. “No, I am not okay. That man is a murderer and he was holding you in his arm! You two were practically dancing around the room in there. We have put you in danger and now, now you are his next target, his next victim!” he hit the wheel in anger. You had never seen Spencer this angry before. Most times when Spencer got angry, he got smart and he used his logic to fight but now he sounded emotional. “Spencer,” you raised your voice, “I am not a victim, I’m an agent. I will do what it takes to protect others. Just like you.” In anger Spencer swerved the car to the side and put it in park. “Dammit, You don’t get it,” he yelled and turned towards you. “If he is our unsub, which we both know he is, I’ve run the calculations and the risk is too high for you,” his hands flying everywhere in gestures, “There are too many dependent variables. There isn’t enough for us to control. The probability of you getting hurt or,” he stopped to collect himself, and in a quieter voice said, “or worse, it’s too high. I’ve run the math.” Now that sounded more like the Spencer you knew. A soft smile crept onto your lips, then you quickly neutralized your face, in hopes he wouldn’t see the way his concern for you made you feel. And You couldn’t do that to yourself. You couldn’t let yourself feel happiness when Spencer showed you affection, because it eventually just leads to heart break. Subconsciously, you turned more towards him in your seat, “In your math is there probability that we get this guy and he never gets the opportunity to hurt another woman again?” You asked. Spencer gave you a pained look like he knew where you were going. You countered that look with one that told him to answer the question. He let out a heavy sigh, “yes. There is that possibility.” You smiled at him knowing you won the argument, “That settles it then.”

With everyone back in the small conference room at the police station, the conversation began about what to do tomorrow. No one was pleased that one of their own is now the target but there was truth that the situation was now more in the BAU’s control than before. Everyone also believed in you. They knew the risk and that scared them but also you are a Special Advisory Agent for a reason. Relief did not fill you but neither did dread, when you thought of the plan. You were doing the right thing. It didn’t matter if you were going to put yourself in danger.

Spencer kept pressing the heel of his hands into his eyes. Something that happened when he started to get headaches and you could guess this headache was caused by stress. As the rest of the team started packing up, you stared at your best friend hurting over the stress you were causing. You took a seat next to Spencer. He was still wearing his suit from the party. “We are going to be okay tomorrow,” you comforted him. He looked up at you, “I’m not worried about all of us, I’m worried about you,” he confessed. Once again, you knew these words shouldn’t have an effect on you like they did, but it did and this time there was something that felt hidden behind those words, something more. “I trust you not to let anything happen to me,” You countered and placed your hand on his forearm to comfort him. You looked in his eyes and tried to let him know that there is more than just trust there.

The day of the ball, you got ready in the police station bathroom. It wasn’t exactly how you imagined to be getting ready for your first ball in New York City. You’d rather be wearing this gown for other reasons than going undercover to catch a murderer rapist. The Givenchy dress Garcia picked out was gorgeous (as you instructed her to get a designer to fit in the crowd and you would float the bill). It was a long evening dress in blue and green with a gradient-effect. The top had long puffed sleeves, deep V-neckline, and waist accentuated with smooth lamé and long flared skirt. You put your hair up in a loose low bun. The makeup you did was a smooth eye with long flair eyeliner. You put a heavy amount of glow highlighter on your cheek bones and collar bones to accentuate the deep v cut the dress.

You felt ridiculous walking out of the bathroom into the police station wearing your dress. But the way Spencer looked at you was something powerful and intoxicating, making you forget your embarrassment. You strode up to him. A small smile played on your lips looking up at him. You saw him also smiling at you “You’re almost as tall as me,” he blurted out. You let out a small laugh, “‘I guess that’s what heels will do,” you smiled looking down at your feet. Spencer felt ridiculous that’s what he said. He should have told you how amazing you looked or how your beauty felt like the sun- always pulling him in and having his thoughts orbit around you. But he wasn’t good with voicing his feelings (especially in a room with his colleagues).

“We are going to have Officer Melinda Jackson drive you over to the apartment, And stake out the car. She’ll be on the radio the whole time till you are in range with us. We will be at the Capitale when you get there.” Emily disclosed as she strapped on a microphone and earpiece.

You stepped out of the car with your head held high even though your anxiety was on another level. “i’m here,” you whispered. “We are here too,” Tara responded. Everyone disclosed where each one was to you. The venue was massive and beautiful. The ceiling was tall with ornate decorations. The lighting was a bright orangish glow. As you examined the room, checking each point of your team, you also saw Alistair. He was at the bar with what looked like to be a group of his friends. Spencer not too far behind them. You walked towards Alistair but kept your eyes on Spencer. He took your breath away dressed in a tux and his hair slicked back like he used to when he was younger. It felt like your heart was lit on fire just by looking at him all dressed up. He was staring at you intensely. It wasn’t that the world stopped the moment your eyes met his, but it was more like everything else just didn’t matter. You knew you’d have to look away soon to not give away anything but you took him in for just one more second. “You look amazing,” you heard a voice next to you say. You turned to see the ever good looking Alistair. He wore a navy 3 piece suite with a large Gucci tag on the sleeve, and a large Gucci flower pinned on his chest. You gave him a soft smile and returned his compliment. “I want to introduce you to my family. Their approval means everything,” he offered you his arm. You took it tentatively, Spencer watched him lead you away, and he pondered on Alistair’s odd statement about family approval.

Alistair’s family was everything you’d expect. They were proper and pompous. However they liked you, a lot. You fell right into the role you had to play. You stood there laughing and engaged in the conversation with his mom and cousin.

“Shall we dance?” Alistair asked, giving you his hand, as your conversation with his sister came to an end. You nodded and let him take you to the dance floor.

He spun you out and brought you back in close to start the dancing. You gave him a bright smile at his eccentric action. You closed your eyes and let your mind pretend it was Spencer holding you. You followed his lead as he twirled you both around the dance floor. “Stop dancing, we can’t see you,” Spencer frantically said into your ear piece. You snapped your eyes open. Taking in that you were on a secluded corner of the dance floor by an exit door. “You are special. My family, They like you” Alistair said with a sense of manic to it. “you aren’t like the others,” he admitted. His voice sounded different. It was sinister with a tinge of adoration. He pulled you close, so close that his fingers dug into your hand and back. You felt like your brain was freezing up in fear. How many times had you been in fear inducing situations and why did your brain pick now to not work. “you’re hurting me,” you groaned trying to pull yourself away. “Where are you” JJ yelled but then you felt mist hit you, and your mind begin to make things fuzzy, “the left corner, the spray…in the flower,” you breathed out, hoping the team could hear you. You heard a rattle of commands to your co-workers from Emily. Then it went black.

Spencer rushed through the crowd to find you but by the time he got to the corner you told him you were at, you were gone. “She’s not here,” Spencer panicked into the ear piece. “I just saw a black Tesla leave, license plate delta, alpha, hotel nine, one, two ” Luke informed them. “Call and ask them to run it”, Rossi said urgently. “on it,” Luke replied. “JJ and Reid, go talk to the mom and sister, Tara and Matt split up and talk to his friends and the other family members. They have to know where they are,” Emily demanded

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #emily prentiss #david rossi #matt simmons #Penelope Garcia #criminal minds fic #luke alvez #jennifer jareau #tara lewis #criminal minds fanfiction #ssa-dg #spencer reid x you #spencer reid imagine #criminal minds imagine

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circlique · 3 years

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I love brotherly/ mentor mongolia and south korea! Can you that same platonic pairing for 38 or 10 (preferably 10)? Thank you!

10. “I think I twisted my ankle...”

38. “Let's take a deep breath..."

——

The last few decades had been...interesting...to say the least.

Yong Soo, of course, was not thrilled to be conquered by a foreign power. After all the bloodshed and destruction that the Mongols had cast upon his kingdom, there had been no choice but to submit or be destroyed.

Unlike the invasions, however, Mongol rule was not nearly so crushing. Nowadays, it was looking a lot less like a conquest and more like an annoying bureaucracy. The Mongol “takeover” in practice was a lot more lenient than he had imagined. Yong Soo’s sovereignty was mostly respected. His royalty still got to rule—they just had to intermarry with the Mongolian royalty and keep on their good sides—a comparatively easy concession.

It was almost like a complicated game of house. Korean princes putting on their best Mongol garmets and charming Mongol princesses with their best renditions of old Mongol stories. Even Khan seemed fond of some of the princes.

Likewise, Mongolia—Batukhan—reflected this firm, but fair rulership. Loyalty was prized above all else, and dissent was dealt with swiftly—but for the most part, he treated the young Korean representations as if they were his own.

Recently, Batukhan had been agreed to teach Yong Soo the art of horseback archery, after the boy’s incessant begging. Mongolia’s mounted archers were no doubt responsible for his Empire’s vast land holdings and conquests. They had range, speed, and flexibility, and were able to run circles around any unprepared opposition. It had been terrifying to face them, so of course Yong Soo held a healthy respect for their art. Part of him was eager to learn it for himself, if only so his own armies could one day use the Mongols’ strategies against them.

Batukhan did not seem concerned that his young pupil may one day use the art to try and drive him out and taught him just as he would have for any other soldier. Perhaps it was the fact that Yong Soo’s legs were still not quite long enough for his feet to sit comfortably in the stirrups that led Batukhan to offer up the knowledge so freely...

“You do well with a bow on the ground,” Batukhan stated, directing his horse to walk in pace next to Yong Soo’s. He had left all the body armor and extra equipment at home today and was wearing only a simple, white tunic. His hair was drawn into a loose braid, which swung lightly against his back with the horse’s steps. Without the full ensemble of his usual uniform, Batukhan seemed suddenly less scary and much more approachable.

“But that’s because you’re stable and only need to focus on the movement of your target,” he continued. “On horseback, you need to track your target’s movement as well as your own.”

Batukhan had set up a line of makeshift targets in front of them, old rice sacks stuffed with grass and twigs and painted with a target. He raised his bow, a sleek, curved composite of leather and horn, notched an arrow, and let it sail effortlessly into its target a few yards away. He urged his horse into a quick trot and fired arrows into the centers of the remaining targets in rapid succession.

“You must be strong in your core,” he said, gesturing to his abdomen as he lowered his bow and turned his horse around to face Yong Soo. “On the horse, that’s where your stability comes from. Don’t squeeze too hard with your legs.”

By now, Yong Soo’s horse had caught up, but Batukhan was already taking the horse’s reins and forcing him to turn back around.

“Now, you try,” he said, helping Yong Soo to direct his horse back in the other direction. He let go of the reins, and Yong Soo’s horse proceeded at a steady pace.

Yong Soo, eager to prove himself, raised his bow. He was quite proficient at it, on the ground at least. How different could it be?

He discovered very quickly that yes, it was quite different. Turning his upper body 90 degrees to face the targets immediately had him feeling off balance. Still, he was determined to at least look confident, so he bit his lip and let the arrow loose. As soon as he did, the force cause his upper body to rotate, his legs splaying out to his sides in an effort to keep his balance, and the arrow flew wildly off to the side.

“Strong core, Yong Soo,” Batukhan reminded him firmly.

Yong Soo bit his lip and readied the next arrow. Strong core. He tried clenching his abdomen, but it still did not feel right. It felt like his lower body was ungrounded. His feet, though they could reach the stirrups, did not quite settle into them firmly. Yong Soo rocked side to side, stretching his legs to try and make them go further, but it didn’t seem to help much. He flexed his core again, trying to keep from also squeezing his legs, and let the second arrow fly.

This time it at least landed close to the target, and Yong Soo spotted it sticking up from the ground near the target he’d intended to hit.

“Better,” Batukhan said from some distance away. “But you’re still not stable. You need to be rooted in your core.”

Third time’s the charm, right? Yong Soo thought to himself. Stability, stability. It was so easy on the ground. He shifted in the saddle again, stretching his legs down as far as they would go, until the foot on the same side as the targets settled more comfortably into the stirrup. Now Yong Soo felt he could settle his weight into it and—yes! Much more stable now. His confidence returned, and he readied another arrow, drew it back, flexed his core—and let it go.

At first, it seemed that Yong Soo had finally figured it out. The arrow embedded itself in the target, not in the center but at least not in the ground, but the backwards force of the bow on his arm knocked him off balance. He felt his weight shift first towards the horse and then overcorrected. He was leaning too far forward, all his weight pressed onto his forward foot as the foot on the side opposite completely lifted out of the stirrup. He felt himself slipping from the saddle and dropped his bow, his hands scrambling for a hold, body twisting back towards the horse—but it was too late. His stomach turned as gravity betrayed him, arms flailing out to his sides as they searched for the ground to break his fall. He held his breath waiting for impact and—something cracked.

The impact knocked the breath out of him, but the pain in his ankle, tangled in the stirrup and twisted unnaturally—would have done just the same.

“Yong Soo!” came Batukhan’s cry of concern, and he quickly dismounted his own horse to run to the boy’s aid.

Yong Soo’s horse—a well-trained, obedient creature, thankfully—had stopped and turned its head to nudge at the panicking Korean curiously with its nose. Yong Soo clawed at his leg, trying to free his twisted ankle from the stirrup and gasping as the movement only elicited more pain.

“Yong Soo!” Batukhan said, kneeling down and taking Yong Soo by the shoulders.

“I—I think I twisted my ankle,” Yong Soo panted, his voice shaking as he looked up at his leg, his stomach turning at the sight of his toes facing the wrong direction.

“Yes, yes you did,” Batukhan said matter-of-factly, wisely positioning himself so that his body blocked Yong Soo’s view of his injury. He gently pushed Yong Soo’s upper body down to the ground. “Now, let’s take a deep breath.”

The Mongolian drew in an exaggerated breath, held it for a moment, and released it. At first, Yong Soo could only think of the pain in his leg, throbbing harder with every heartbeat. But Batukhan repeated his exaggerated breaths a few more times until he had Yong Soo doing it along with him.

“Right—now I want you to take the biggest breath you can, Yong Soo,” he said. “And when I count to three, force it back out as hard as you can, alright?”

Yong Soo nodded, and after a few shallower warm up breaths, he sucked in as much air as he could. His lungs burned with the pressure but he kept trying to breathe in more, even as Batukhan took Yong Soo’s injured leg in his hand, holding it in a firm grip just above the ankle. Pain shot down Yong Soo’s leg and he held the breath, grimacing.

Batukhan finally started counting.

“Let it out on three, alright? One, two—three.”

In one swift movement Batukhan popped the twisted foot out of the stirrup, and Yong Soo let out the breath with a strained cry of pain.

“Good,” Batukhan said, slowly lowering the leg down to the ground, though he had to gently push Yong Soo back when he again sat up, trying to get a look at the injury.

“Ah—no need,” Batukhan said. “How will looking at it help you? It will heal itself without the help of your eyes won’t it?”

Yong Soo frowned and laid back with a huff. His ankle throbbed, but it was slowly subsiding, no doubt as a result of the accelerated healing that beings like him were blessed with. After a few more breaths, he felt a bit stupid for being so panicked.

Batukhan sighed.

“You were cheating,” Batukhan said with a knowing tone.

“I wasn’t!” Yong Soo protested.

“You were!” Batukhan said, standing and reaching out a hand for Yong Soo to grab. Yong Soo took the hand and shifted his weight onto his good leg as Batukhan pulled him into a standing position.

“You know how I know?” Batukhan went on, letting Yong Soo lean on him for support as he walked him over to a nearby tree. “Because I left the stirrups unadjusted on purpose. You must be able to stabilize yourself without relying on your legs. If you were doing it correctly you would not need the stirrups at all.”

Yong Soo pouted, then winced as he stubbornly tried to put weight on his not-quite-healed leg.

“Sorry...” he muttered simply, the embarrassment of the whole fiasco now starting to settle in.

Batukhan let out another sigh as he helped Yong Soo sit down in the shade of the tree. Once Yong Soo was situated, Batukhan knelt next to him and began to wrap the injured (but now, thankfully, untwisted) ankle in a strip of leather for stability.

“It’s fine,” he said, his tone betraying a hint of softness. “It’s only your first day, after all.”

#hetalia #aph #hws #aph mongolia #aph south korea #hws mongolia #hws south korea #my writing #sorry I got stuck on this one for a while

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maxismatchccworld · 4 years

Photo

Welcome back to our latest - and last! - Deep Dive into the gameplay of The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack. I’ve really enjoyed sharing the designs and development of this pack with you, and I hope to continue doing these sorts of posts in the future. It’s been a super cool experience, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these! In today’s post I’ll talk about the feature that is core to everything in this pack, Knitting! Once again, I have to remind you that we’re still in active development on the pack and so some things may change between now and the final game. Now, let’s talk about some nifty knits!

READ IT I PROMISE YOU GONNA LIKE IT!

In order to start knitting, you’ll need to purchase a Yarn Basket from the Build/Buy catalog. You probably remember voting on these baskets a while back. This was the winning design, presented to you now in all its colorful glory! Don’t like color? That’s okay, because we included a solid black and white variant.

We have one more knitting basket coming too! Remember this one?

The basket acts as the crafting catalyst(neat term, huh?) similar to the Easel or Woodworking Bench in The Sims 4 base game. But unlike those examples, the Yarn Basket is meant to live in a Sim’s inventory so that they can take their knitting anywhere they want to go. Knitting itself is relatively straightforward: click on the Yarn Basket in your inventory, OR, with the basket in your inventory, click on the chair you want to sit in while knitting (perhaps a rocking chair?) and select the Knit interaction. Your projects are saved to your Sim, so you can pause your progress at any time and resume later, and even juggle multiple projects at once. Starting a project costs a small amount of Simoleons for the cost of yarn, but nothing too outrageous.

(Children can knit too!) As a Sim levels up their knitting skill they’ll have access to new patterns. They’ll start with knitting socks and beanies, but as they grow more skilled they can tackle more challenging projects like sweaters and toys for kids. But if you only want to specialize in one thing - perhaps knitted mailbox cozies? - that's fine too! Just keep knitting anything and everything, and you’ll be level 10 before you know it. Speaking of knitting skill, sometimes your skill is reflected in your knitted work, or rather your lack of skill. Knitting projects can fail, and when they fail they can get weird. But it’s all subjective, and maybe you’ll end up accidentally knitting the cutest derpy companion, or the perfectly itchy sweater. No mistakes, only happy accidents!

(Just own it.) One of the niftiest parts of the knitting skill is unlocking the ability to Teach to Knit, where Sims sit down together and have a knitting pow-wow. We wanted this to feel special, so we got a really sweet animation for it (Thanks Haeju!). Now that you can infect other Sims with the knitting bug, no yarn ball will be safe!

(The knitting needles aren’t finished on the Teach To Knit interaction yet, but trust me it's SUPER CUTE.) So, what can you do with all these knitting projects? Lots of stuff! Not only can knitted objects be listed on Plopsy, but you can also Donate them to charity. If you want to surprise a loved one, try Gifting a knitted object too. If you want to destroy all traces of your knitted failures, you can Frog the object and start again! If it's a particularly nice Sweater that you made, consider Adding it to Wardrobe to make it available in Create-A-Sim to all family members.

(Everyone appreciates a nice gift!) We want Sims to be able to knit something for their whole family. Not only will Sims be able to knit Toddler Onesies, but Baby Onesies as well. So put your little grubworm in a handmade knitted outfit. I’m sure they’d thank us if they could! (And if they didn’t like it I’m sure they’d be polite about it.)

(Here’s a sneak peek at some of the concept art for new clothing for the littlest of Sims!) It also felt like a good idea to add an Aspiration to tie this passion for knitting all together. So if you want to master the fuzzy art of knitting, consider signing your Sim up for the Lord(or Lady) of the Knits Aspiration. With yarn running through your veins, there will be no knitting mountain too hard to conquer! Master the Aspiration and you’ll be rewarded with the Sacred Knitting Knowledge trait. What does it do? Lots of stuff! What does it unlock? Something special! Am I being vague? I am! Come on guys, I can’t share all the secrets quite yet.

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’re trying to get as much cross-pack functionality for knitting as we can. Cats can play with Yarn Baskets and Yarn Balls, there will be new Club rules for Knitting, new class electives at University, and knitting counts for Emotional Control, just to name a few. I’m hoping Knitting feels nice and snug alongside our other gameplay systems. Now let's have a chat with our lead Object Modeler, Beth Mohler! Conor: Can you tell us a little bit about what an Object Modeler does on The Sims 4? Beth: As an object modeler I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make objects work in The Sims 4. This is actually a very involved process, and somewhat different from the wonderful work our environment team does. We work with designers, concept artists, engineers, animators, vfx artists (basically everyone!) to make sure that Sims can use an object properly in an animation, or that all of our objects will work with each other. Once we understand the design for a new object, we will create a rig, a block model (a very generic version of the object used to help us make more of the same object in the future), and a footprint (tells us where the object can go and how Sims move around it). Once those are tested by animators and other disciplines we can model the final version, create UVs, and add textures. We also hook up and test everything in the game to make sure it all looks good. There is a lot to think about when it comes to making objects because we know players can find so many interesting ways to place and use them in game. That makes it a very fun challenge to make them work with everything else we’ve built before. Conor: What feature are you most excited to work on in Nifty Knitting Stuff? Beth: I’d say I am most excited to work on the rocking chairs! I love that we are bringing them to the game and can’t wait to see them in some cozy living rooms or on porches. Conor: What are some of the challenges you are facing working on this pack? Beth: One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that the knitting itself looks good and is fun to watch! This is a challenge given that it needs to work for everything you can create. Figuring this out takes a lot of iteration between modeling, animation, engineering, design, and art direction so that we come to a conclusion that will work the best given our time and technical constraints. Another interesting “challenge” is the fact that I crochet as a hobby myself! When you are knowledgeable about something (yarn!) in real life, working on it in the game it can sometimes be hard to separate the things you know and may expect in reality from what is possible or best within a video game. I have to make sure to keep a balance and to conceptualize how we can best convert the knitting experience into The Sims 4. As someone who also generally enjoys interior design and architecture, this is actually one of my favorite challenges and one of the things I love about working on objects in The Sims 4. Conor: What is your favorite feature you have ever worked on in The Sims 4? Beth: I think it has to be a tie between the mini fridge or the robotics table in Discover University. That pack was the first time I got to really take an entire feature from start to finish. I’ve been with Maxis for a while, but I’m relatively new to The Sims 4. Both of these objects had some complex features we wanted that required a lot of iteration. I learned a ton about the technical aspects of our game during the process as well. I’ve also worked on a few very cool things between then and now, but those can’t be shared yet ; ) As a fan of The Sims since the very beginning I am so happy to be able to share a little about what I do on a daily basis on The Sims 4 with you! I haven’t been on The Sims 4 for quite as long overall, but some of you may also recognize me from my time on Sims Mobile where I shared some of our workflows on Twitter for making a juice bar. Thanks! Conor: You shared a screenshot of the In-Progress Rocking Chair in our Rocking Chair Deep Dive. Can you share an updated screenshot now that the Rocking Chair is further along? Beth: I would love to! I hope everyone has been enjoying seeing the progress on this object so far! Here it is a little further along. This program allows us to set the rules for the object materials, footprint size and rig it should use, as well as all the color variants and swatch colors you see in the catalog.

Thanks Beth! By the way, Beth is on Twitter @SimGuruBeth, so be sure to Follow her! And thanks to all of you Simmers for following this pack’s development, this has been a really fun project in a very crazy time. A big thank you to my Stuff Pack teammates, and especially SimGuruSarah who edited my inane ramblings and wrangled the miscellaneous bits for these posts. While this concludes my design Deep Dives, we still have more forum posts with development insights on the way! Keep checking the Community Stuff Pack forum and we’ll have more fun stuff to show off in the weeks to come. Until next time, SimGuruConor

Source: The Sims Forum

#s4cc #s4mm #ts4cc #ts4mm #maxis match #thesims4 #S4 news

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

Text

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch14 Battle Gym Leader Bea

You two had found yourselves out of Hammerlocke by sundown that day. But not before you went back into the town and stopped by that cafe you both had passed earlier, and each gotten a free piece of cake and small cup of tea from those coupon things that Applin Boy had given to Gloria as thanks for helping him. Cake and tea weren't exactly what you would call dinner but you weren't going to complain about free food. Your drizzilie sure tried sneaking it from you but settled for the small bag of fruit you tossed at it after you told him no.

"So," you asked Gloria after taking another sip of the tea you received, "You mentioned challenging Bea next right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Remember how I told you there was four gyms that gave the same badge?" You nodded. "The Fighting Type and Ghost Type gyms give the same badge. While the Ice and Rock gyms give a different badge from the Ghost and Fighting gyms, they give the same one as well. So either someone can just chose the Fighting or Ghost type gyms then move on and chose either the Ice or Rock type gyms. But I plan on stopping by both. The closest one just happens to be the Fighting Type Gym run by the Gym leader Bea. Not only is she the top fighting type pokemon trainer, but she's been the winner of the Galarian Martial Arts Championship seven years running undefeated. They say she can go bare fists with her machomp and win."

"Wow. She sounds really strong."

"She is. Which is why I think that's why Hop's going there too." She frowned stabbing at a piece of her free cake. "He said he wanted to become stronger. Challenging another strong gym leader right after defeating Kabu but loosing to Bede sounds like he's trying to conquer another hard challenge to prove he's strong. ...I'm worried about him."

"I know, but don't worry," you assured with a smile. You remembered enough about the game to know Hop would definitely bounce back, and after hearing him speak the other day, you knew he'd be fine. "He's a strong and has enough determination in him to move a mountain if he felt like it."

...She smiled at you. "Thanks Y/n. I knew I made a good choice in my traveling buddy."

You paused a moment...before blinking. "That reminds me. Why did you want me to come along with you back in Postwick? I mean it's not that I mind, but we were practically strangers then."

She shrugged. "I really don't know. I know it's gonna sound weird, but there's a really good atmosphere around ya. Like...You just give off good vibes, and my gut feelings are usually spot on anyways. An' I wasn't wrong!" She smiled. "You've been a great friend ta us!"

You smiled. Well that was strange. It was almost like what Sonia said about your 'good aura', but you weren't going to complain about the nice compliments.

"You're one of the gym challengers endorsed by Leon, aren't you?" Both of you looked up and blinked at the sight of an older woman, who looked older than Kabu, dressed in a blue and pink outfit with accessories, an umbrella in one hand, was pretty tall for someone you'd expect, and aquamarine eyes looking at Gloria curiously. Stunned that you two hadn't noticed noticed her walk up to you before now, both you two looked at each other before Gloria looked back to the old woman and nodded. She hummed for a moment before suddenly holding out something to her you recognized right away. "My name's Opal. If you want to know more, have a look at my league card." Gloria's brown eyes stared at the card for a moment before taking it from the lady. "I'll keep an eye on you, Child. I want to see what you can do when you go all out."

Both of you watched silently as she silently just...turned around and walked right out of the cafe. Like nothing had just happened. Leaving the two of you sitting there looking after her blankly before looking at one another with blank faces wondering if that actually happened.

Eventually you blinked as Gloria looked at the card handed to her. "Who was that?"

"According to this..she's Ms. Opal." She looked up to you holding up the card in her hand, "And the Fairy Type Gym Leader from Bellonlea!"

"What?" You held out your hand as she offered it to you. "Lemme see that." And true to Gloria's word, it was an official League Card with the picture of the very same elderly woman you just spoken too on it. "Huh." You handed it back to her. "I wonder what she was doing all the way here in Hammerlocke then?"

She shrugged before pocketing the card. "The same thing as Lee? Like maybe she's seein' the Chairman too? Or maybe traveling since I don't think anyone would challenge her yet. March is almost over so it's still pretty early in the year for anyone to gather many badges."

Wow. Almost three months had passed already? You must've lost track of time from traveling so much. You weren't too sure but shrugged. "Who knows? C'mon. Let's finish eating and hit the road before it gets too dark outside."

After the meal the two of you headed back out on Route Six as the sun nearly set in the sky making everything lightly darker but had enough light to still see. The lights of Hammerlocke shining out as the two of you left the dragon town. You were a bit nervous about running into Raihan or that Mr. Rose again, but you ran into neither as you left the town. Thank goodness. You and her then fell into the familiar routine of walking, camping, and more shaking of berry trees as you passed by them by chance. Only this time Gloria seemed to pick back up her hobby of taking pictures for her dex challenge again. The photos Victor had given her had filled up a good sizable amount of the book already but there was still more photos needed for it as well as for that curry dex challenge book she needed. It was a bit random but you were glad she found something to keep herself occupied on the way there, and photography was a pretty neat hobby. Although she didn't seem to be as into it as Victor was. If she wasn't doing that, she battled a pokemon here n' there as you either watched or gathered food or some other needed thing to be done and like before you traveled past a few small towns, houses, or other travelers heading in the opposite direction. No signs of the boys, but you were glad not having any more run ins with those Team Yell grunts as days passed as you two slowly made your way towards Stow-on-Side.

"So how long until we reach Stow-on-Side?," you asked one day while walking.

Gloria hummed for a moment before whipping out her phone and flipping through the screen once it turned on. Lately the region around you had started to get rockier with more and more hills and cliffs jutting out of the earth until it slowly consumed both side of the path the two of you walked. "According to Rotom we should be there sometime tomorrow if we keep on goin' down this pathway." That was great news! "Also accordin' ta this, there's another historical wonder protected by the Galarian Conservation Society! ...Hmm. I wonder if she'll be down here too??"

You rose a brow at her. "Her who?"

She looked at you. "When I was chattin' with Sonia at the vault I showed 'er some old pokemon fossils I picked up. Useless really. Ye find 'em sometimes and see 'em in your science classes n' museums and the like. I was gonna give 'em to Hop as a gift since he's into that kinda stuff but she told me an old scientist friend of hers was in Stow-on-Side trying out this new fossil restoration or somethin' like that. But she couldn't find any fossils to try 'em out on."

......You blinked. "Since when did you get fossils??"

"I found two by accident back when we 'ere in the Wild Area. Y'know. When I fought that wild diglett in the cave." You groaned remembering that experience. "And then some bloke traded me two he didn't want at the pokemon center for the applin I was gonna put back when the red-headed bloke didn't want it. I completely forgotten I even had them til I remembered just now."

"That reminds me. Whatever did you do with those other pokemon you were given? Especially that baby toxel. It looked pretty young."

"Ah! I sent it to Mum to take care of! She mentioned being lonely without us there so I thought she'd like raisin' the wee tyke!"

You rose a brow. "Can she handle a toxel??"

"She sent me pictures of the lil thing sleepin' with Munchlax so I think they're doing just fine!"

"If you say so."

The both of you traveled until the sun went down and you set up camp under a shady ledge before quickly packing up the next day at day light and going to travel again. Until coming to a bunch of bright stony ledges and cliffs in a dead end where the path ended just a few yards in front of the cliffside. .......Which left the both of you confused looking around.

".....Does this mean we're at Stow-on-Side?," you asked pressing you hand against one of the rocky hills before yanking and waving it back from the heat of them sitting in the sun all day. Speaking of which it was hot as you traveled. Must be entering summer territory. Your f/c eyes scanned up and down the cliffs surrounding you all and a hand pressed above your brows to block the sun. "Or did we make a wrong turn somewhere??"

"Can't be! We followed nothin' but Route Six all the way here!" Gloria had already brought out her phone giving it a little shake. "Accordin' to this Stow-on-Side's just up ahead!"

"So either your phone's broken or we have to suddenly learn how to rock climb." Your eyes scanned the ledges more. They looked a little too dangerous to just be climbing without any professional gear or unless you were a rock climbing expert. To which you had neither...."What about that corvisquire you have?"

"It's not big enough to fly either of us up these mountains!...*sigh* We might have ta just call a flying taxi at this rate."

Yeah. That might be the best option either of you two had at this point. ....Your Drizzilie, which had taken to fully putting itself into your pack with just his head peeking out from under the lid to avoid the sun, suddenly gave a look towards something shiny. Before it's eyes widened and it gave a loud chirp poking it's head out fully to the both of you. You looked over your shoulder as it continued to make noises at you. "Whoa! Hey. What is it boy?" It's arm popped out and he pointed his hand towards the other side of the dead end you were at. You both looked over and you blinked at something against the cliffside shining in the sunlight. "Hey! What's that over there?" You pointed and began walking towards it...Gloria blinked, before putting her phone away and quickly following after you. You approuched the shining thing and soon discovered it to be a- "It's a ladder!" Walking forward more it was indeed a metal ladder. Secured and bolted to the cliffside and going up until it ended at the very top of it. "....What's a ladder doing here?"

"That must be how people get ta Stow-on-Side from 'ere," Gloria reasoned. "Ya think they'd actually make this more easier to get too."

"You'd think so. Good Boy!" Drizzilie gave a huff before returning to it's spot inside your bag. Ok be tsundere. Pausing to look at it for a moment you grabbed it before immediately letting go from how hot it was. "...You really think this is the way?"

"There's no other way around here other than a taxi, and what do we have to lose? The worse case scenario is that we'll hit another dead end or just climb to the top and hail a cab like we were thinkin' anyways."

She had a point. And if you did end up just going to the top of the cliffs here you could get a better look of your surroundings. So reluctantly you nodded. "Alright. But let me go first to make sure it's safe." Slowly and with a sigh you grabbed the metal ladder wincing in pain when the hot metal stung your hands lightly, and began to climb up. It wasn't too hard or high of a climb, and you were fast to release the ladder as hard as you can also considering the weight on your shoulders, it made it a bit more difficult. Once you reached the top however and climbed up all the way, you noticed there was nothing but more ledges, dead grass, and...another ladder leading somewhere ahead of you. Standing up, once you deduced it was safe, you carefully looked over the edge to Gloria looking up at you and waved. "It's safe! And I found another ladder!"

Gloria didn't even hesitate after that. In her excitement you weren't sure if she just didn't notice the pain or bared it to climb up but you were there to offer a hand and pull her up with you once she was there. And you two wasted no more time and got climbing. Not baring to stand in this heat anymore. The second ladder you climbed up lead to the top of one of the larger clifftops, a small pond of some sort, and another much longer ladder leading you further and higher into the mountain sides and you two went. Your muscles were sore and tired from the extra weight of your Drizzilie who peeked out and down from your bag every so often, and your hands burnt under the ladders' metal. You were sure it wasn't enough to be badly hurt for a long time, but it sure stung, and you were paranoid that at any moment you would fall. But luckily you didn't and by some miracle forced yourself NOT to look down before making it to the third ledge and ..another ladder. Gloria right on your heels. Rinse and repeat. Climb, pray to whoever heard you that you wouldn't fall, get to the top, and then do it again. The both of you must've been on your seventh or eighth ladder and ledge at this point and you were resting on your knees exposed to the hot sun tired, breathing heavy, and shaking your sore hands. Gloria doing the same with her hands before reaching up to wipe her brow and look around ...Before spotting and pointing to yet another ladder.

"Hey look! It leads up to a tunnel of some kind!"

You looked to the giant black whole that the ladder lead into and groaned. "Oh PLEASE tell me this isn't going to be another mine."

"Only one way to find out!" She happily bounded towards the ladder, and with another groan, you slowly forced yourself to stand and followed after. Where does she get so much energy? And in this heat? She was already half way up the ladder by the time you got there and began slowly climbing, grip so hard your knuckles turned white to keep yourself from falling. Gloria making her way right into the tunnel and disappearing from view as you got closer to the top yourself. "Y/N!!" She suddenly shouted echoed by the tunnel. "Ya gotta see this!!"

"I'M COMING!!," you strangled out in a shout still making your way up.

Gloria was waiting for you when you finally got to the top, letting her grab your arm to pull you with a grunt into the shady tunnel with her. With a sigh as your sore hands touched the cooled floor of the cavern, you twisted your legs around, and just sat there breathing and wiping at your forehead from the long trip you two had suffered. Gloria was kind enough to let you catch your breath, considering it must've been harder for you with your Drizzilie being no help, for around five maybe ten minutes before you turned your head..and blinked at the light coming from the other side of the short tunnel. Gloria went ahead and started walking towards it...and you again forced yourself up and walked after her. But slower this time considering how tired and sore you were. She stopped by the cavern opening and once you caught up, your eyes widened.

"Holy smokes!"

Carved into the cliffside was the BIGGEST statues you had ever seen! The stone digletts stared out blankly onto the horizon and were blocked off by a chained fence embedded into the stone ground below it. Was this the historical landmark Gloria spoke of yesterday? She started walking forward and after a moment you followed staring up at the massive stone beasts before you. A flash of light going off as she snapped a picture of it while passing....Before she turned and with a gasp that had you snapping forward pointed excitedly.

"Y/n! Look! We found it!" What was unmistakeningly a stadium shone brightly in the sunlight as you looked and blinked, and before it was a couple small buildings, one including that classic pink pokemon center. You two wasted no time in jogging towards it past the statues and up a small flight of stairs carved into the stone floor, past under a wooden gate of some kind and over to the buildings ahead. Where you saw people. PEOPLE!! Walking around doing their everyday lives as usual! You two had successfully found Stow-on-Side! The tall two story buildings were all carved from stone as well with a couple small tables in the pathway you two walked that had a few people yelling at passerbys to come and bye from them as they sat under umbrellas from the hot sun. As you walked past everyone Gloria took out her phone again and after a few taps on it nodded in glee. "This is Stow-on-Side alright! Apparently the diglett statues we saw are part of some famous ruins including an ancient mural up the path by the stadium! We should go check those out once I'm done with the battle here!"

"Once we rest first!" You sighed and again reached up to rub your temple. "I'm beat from all that walking and climbing! And it doesn't look like this place has any inn or public place besides the center we can rest up in."

You both turned right still walking along the path towards the stadium.

"Yeah? Well I can check on my regional map of Stown-on-Side. It should tell u-" She stopped. Freezing like someone paused her on tv. Her face suddenly drawing a blank. Curiously, you stopped too and turned around to give a raised brow at her suddenly blank expression. Before you turned to look where she was looking. A whine coming from your backpack as your Drizzlie poked it's full head out. And you under stood why she stopped. IT WAS THE BOYS!! Both were talking to each other walking down from the stairs leading to the big stadium, until they happened to look down towards the both of you and stopped. The four of you staring at one another in surprised silence...Before Gloria straight up BOLTED towards them both! "HOP!!"

"Glori-AH!!" The poor boy didn't even get a chance to finish talking before he was glomped by the brunette nearly knocking the both of them over in the process.

"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!! YA PURPLE HAIRED LOONEY PONYTA!!," she shouted with a smile. "YA HAD ME SO WORRIED!! DON'T DO THAT!!"

"N-Nice to see you too!," he forced out strangled by the crushing hug, "M-Miss Y/N help!"

You walked on over but didn't need to pry them apart thankfully as she let go and let Hop breathed and clutch at his chest by the time you got there. Victor looking annoyed opening his arms. "And what am I? An invisible Sobble?" Gloria giggled before giving her brother the expected hug he wanted.

"We thought we'd miss you guys here by how long it took! Were you here that long?"

"Sadly yes," Hop answered rubbing at where Gloria nearly crushed him to dust. "Turns out there was a few people here itchin' to battle Bea before going on to harder gym leaders like Kabu, so we had to camp out for a bit for an opening."

Gloria paused...slowly retracting her hug from her brother and turning to him, face concerned. "Does...D-Does that mean you didn't win?"

...He smiled. "Took me two tries! But I managed to get my fighting badge!"

"You did!! Hop that's amazing! I told you, you could do it!"

He chuckled....before his face turned back to a neutral one. "But...Glory." His hands came to stuff themselves into his pockets. "I'm still not too sure what I should do about all that stuff I told you before. About me being weak and dragging down Lee's good name and all, yeah? "..He smiled again. "But the only thing I can do is get stronger right?"

With a sigh Gloria gave her own determined smile, reached over, and made him blink as she flicked his nose. "That's what we've always told you, Hop. I never lost doubt in ya."

He paused for a moment gold eyes blinking and looking cross eyed at his nose, before his face went pink again and he chuckled. "Y-yeah! A-Actually I was hoping for a b-battle with ya the next time I saw you." Your Drizzilie whined more. "Vi-Vic's been battling me and helping me build up my team and come up with new s-strageties on how to battle upcoming gym leaders. So I'm gonna try out all kinds of different things against you and see what works!..If you wanna battle that is?"

"Do you really need to ask? You're on!"

"Then let's do this! I bet an all out battle with my true rival will help me get my head on straight-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-"

A screech that pierced your eardrums interrupting Hop from saying anything else. Immediately all your hands shot up to your ears and you all made some kind of cringed face or closed their eyes from the scream that came from directly behind you. You forced yourself to turn around at your drizzilie's head poking out from your bag. Mouth open wide and yelling at the top of his lungs before he abruptly stopped upon noticing you had looked at it in utter shock.....How could such a small thing make such a noise!! Slowly, the others uncovered their ears as well giving the three back and forth looks, before also looking in the direction of your bored looking drizzilie.

..........Victor blinked and pointed at your backpack. "What the absolute Arceous was THAT!?"

"I......have absolutely no idea." You eventually managed to get yourself to talk. "I've never heard him make a noise like that before."

"Could there be something wrong with him?," Hop asked rubbing one of his ears, "It is pretty hot and he's a water type. Maybe he's gotten dehydrated from lack of water or something?"

You jumped. YOU HADN'T EVEN CONSIDERED THAT WHILE TRAVELING!? WHAT THE HECK!! YOU WERE AN AWFUL TRAINER!! "I...." You swiftly turned nearly nailing Gloria in the side with your back pack in a panic. "I-I gotta get him back over to the center just in case! You two go ahead and have your battle!"

"I'll come too!" Victor stepped forward. "I meant to stop by anyways to grab some potions from the center."

If you heard him you didn't pay him much mind as you practically stumble-ran your panicked self back down what few steps you had climbed up towards the stadium and RAN towards the center with Victor right behind you. You nearly tripped and slammed in your haste turning the corner and RUNNING past the vendors calling out towards that bright pink building. The people inside jumping and looking on in surprise when you practically ripped the doors off their hinges bursting inside and without missing a beat flew to the wide eyed nurse joy standing behind the counter, swiftly turning your back where your drizzilie still bored looking despite everything that was happening right now, and in panic DEMANDED she'd take a look at him NOW!! Surprisingly no one moved, too shocked to really know how to react. It took Victor coming in and explaining calmly to the startled Nurse Joy what the drizzilie did and politely asking her to look him over did she finally react accordingly. She took her sweet time in the next ten minutes pulling your water pokemon from it's hiding place, making it sit on the counter as you watched a nervous wreck with Victor assuring you he was ok, and slowly and carefully examining him as a doctor would a patient during a physical....All to just smile at you and tell you essentially......Your Drizzilie...Was throwing a tantrum akin to that of a moody angsty teenager during puberty. ....You blinked and had to be explained to again as, even though Drizzilie was a little dehydrated from the hot weather, he was actually throwing a tantrum because he was hungry. So you, worried you might have let something bad happen to your pokemon without knowing, had panicked over nothing and rushed him over here to be told he was acting like a toddler not getting their way because he was hungry......WHAT!?

"He's perfectly healthy, you probably just haven't fed him today yet and he was just expressing that to you in what way he thought you'd understand. Although in this heat he is naturally a little dehydrated, and you yourself look it too and exhausted. My advice to the both of you is to rest here for an hour or two out of the weather and have you both drink some water. I'll lend you some and some pokemon food so it doesn't happen again. After all we don't want anyone dropping from the heat."

You sighed. Relieved Drizzilie wasn't really hurt, but annoyed he had scared you for no reason. You shot a scowl at the pokemon standing next to you and as soon as it made eye contact with you looked embarrassed to the floor. Nurse Joy was nice enough to give you some bottled up water and a small bowl of pokemon food for the two of you and you thanked her before Victor was nice enough to help you carry them over to the table and chairs in the corner. You gladly plopped yourself down in one chair exhausted, sighing as at last your muscles got a chance to rest among the cool ac of the center. Victor sat across from you as your drizzilie plopped itself on the floor by your feet with it's newfound food and water to make it happy.

".....Hey. Y/n?" You hummed from where you had laid your head against the table. "Are you ok?"

".......Yeah."

".......Would you like some water?"

".....Yeah."

He was nice enough to hand you a bottle of water which you chugged down before resuming your position of laying against the table silently resting. Even when the other two finally caught up to you and entered the center.

"My strategy goes right to the pot when I've got all these bad thoughts running through my head," Hop's voice came as you heard the door open just didn't look up.

"Yeah. But I also barely won. I blame the heat. 'Sides you're gettin' better!," Came Gloria's voice right after him.

"Hrmmm. I tried switching my team members in and out to max out their potential in every match up but we just couldn't get it together somehow. Maybe that's why I'm still so weak?"

"Call yourself weak again n' I'll drag ya ta Lee myself kickin' n' screamin' and have him talk ye out o' that crazy mindset!"

"Ok! Ok! I won't! No need to go all charmander on me, Mate. .......Oh! Y/n! Hey!"

"......Hi," you mumbled to Hop.

"So how'd it go? Is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah. Turns out he was just throwing a big whiney fit cuz he was hungry like a big baby, but he should be fine now. How was your battle?"

"OH! That's good to know he's not hurt or anything. It was fine thanks. I got to see how my tactics work on the battlefield and what to improve on. In fact I think we're ready to move on. Are you ready to go, Victor?"

"What?! You mean you're both leavin' us again?!" This time you did force yourself to look up. More out of concern than anything as Gloria stared at the two boys, and you noticed Victor had stood up from his seat. "B-But we just caught up with you!"

...Hop sighed. "I know, and I don't really wanna split up either but I still have some things I need to work out myself. And I wanna make more good choices when it comes to battling and strategies for them. .." He smiled. "But Lee really is the greatest trainer, and I don't want people laughing at him all because his little brother is rubbish. It's not enough. I've got to try harder and harder and hard 'til no one's laughing!"

"But....you're not rubbish to me."

Hop paused again before sighing again. "I know...That's why you make such a good friend and rival, Glory."

"............Hey Hop." The three looked at you and you hesitated for a moment. Would this change the game's story events?? Well it wouldn't hurt to give him some words of encouragement like you gave Sonia. "Listen. You got the Fighting Type badge right?" He nodded. "Then you're not rubbish! You said it yourself that there was a few other gym trainers were here because they didn't want to challenge Kabu yet. But you did. And you won against the guy that supposedly makes their numbers drop."

He blinked wide eyed, not really expecting that. "Yeah...But just barely. And not exactly how I would've liked."

"So? That didn't stop you from winning on your FIRST try either way. How many trainers besides you two have those bragging rights?? The dude's so powerful he personally says congrats to anyone who does beat him. A guy doesn't do that unless only a few actually manages to get past him. Sure Bede may have beaten you. Sure he said a bunch of stuff about you and your brother, but he's just doing it because he's trying to get under your skin. He's trying to make you doubt yourself. He's trying to make you lose." You pointed to the wide eyed looking boy. "Hop. You CAN'T just be calling yourself weak. Leon and you are both strong. Just in different ways and Leon sees that in you. Why else would be agree to sponsor you in the first place? Haven't you seen what you've been able to do so far?" You gestured to his back pack. "In there somewhere is four badges ok? Four badges that you won on either your second or even first try. Do you think I could have done that? Absolutely not. You have four badges and you just need eight to compete at the end of the year! It's been three or four months and already you've come farther than most of your rivals in the challenge." You smiled. "That's not rubbish or weakness Hop. That's your true strength plain and simple."

Hop continued to stare at you with those bright gold eyes for a long moment, before the biggest smile you had ever seen on him came through. "...Yeah...YEAH!!" He pointed at you. "You're absolutely right! ...I...Still need some time to think about a few things, but I appreciate the words."

You smiled and nodded. "You'll figure it out eventually. Until then, just keep calm and work hard and you'll get there. Don't worry yourself over what Bede said because Gloria's right about him being wrong."

With a nod, Hop turned back to Gloria who blinked back at him. "I'm off, mate. Off to find the kind of pokemon that I can really draw the strength out of."

She frowned. "We'll meet up with you later tho...Right?"

"Oh you know we will! I still have to beat you sometime. I'll see you around. Ok?"

....Gloria nodded and the two of you watched as they bid farewell and after a moment they were gone. You two looking after where they left....before you looked over at Gloria's sad face. "Hey. Are you alright?"

After a second or two she nodded. "Y-Yeah." She inhaled. "Yeah I'm good. It's just a bit unfair y'know? Gah!" Her hands came up to grip her head. "I wish I could just get my mind off all this!"

You opened your mouth to speak- "That child." And practically yelped, jumping up, as the both of you whirled around face to face with....Opal. The elderly woman staring at where they boys left. "Gym Challengers should battle for the sake of their own pokemon. Why worry about saving the Champion's name? We all know he's unbeatable."......You exchanged a look with Gloria. "Anyway, here's a little something for letting me watch your battle." To your surprise what she handed out (more like put in Gloria's stunned hand-) was another league card. "Now on you go, Child. You're headed to the Stow-on-Side Gym next, no? The Gym Challenge is about having fun."

You both watched silently as she once again appeared out of no where, before ignoring anything she just did, and just...Left! Gloria finally blinked before curiously looking down at the card in her hands. Slowly turning to you as she rose a brow. And looked up to you. "..This is Bea's League Card."

....You blinked. "You mean the gym leader from this gym?" She nodded. "Why on earth would she have that?"

"I'm more confused on why she's here too."

"I'm more impressed she managed to do all that climbing required to get here. Wouldn't be surprised if she did the smart thing and grabbed a taxi....But she's got a point." You pointed to the card in Gloria's hands. "We came here so you would challenge Bea. If you want to get your mind off things, then a battle against her would be the best thing to do just that."

Gloria stared at you a moment. Before looking down to the card in her hands a determined look coming over her as she inhaled and pumped a fist into the air. "You're right again! I came here to challenge the fighting type gym and it's leader! I didn't spend days travelin' and climbing an unholy amount to just quite now! Hop plans on challengin' me 'n the finals! I owe it to him to at least try my best to get there with him! If he can do it then so can I too!" She turned, her mind dead set and seeming to forget you. "Look out Bea! Cuz 'ere I come to get that badge!!"

"You can do it!," you called after her as she suddenly ran out of the center, fist still high in the air. And leaving you sitting there by yourself. After a moment you sighed and leaned your cheek back down against the table. You were too tired and sore to move at the moment and your back could use a rest from days of lugging that troublemaker aro- The chair in front of you creaked as Drizzilie climbed onto it, before pulling itself onto the table and sat there next to your head, careful to not sit on your hair spilt over on the table behind you. After a moment it gave off a questioning sound and tapped your head as if expecting an answer outta you. You blew out a breath. "I get you're used to being carried around by now, but now you're bigger and heavier. And it's starting to strain my back out." It made another squeak noise. "That means you're a big boy now. One day you're gonna be taller than ME!" You were right that Inteleons were genuinely taller than most humans if you remember right. "What then? You can't expect me to piggy back ride you everywhere. It tires me out. So after today, how about you start giving walking a try?" Your answer was a few pats to your head. "I'll take that as a yes. Because there's NO way in heck I'm trying to carry you back down those ladders."

It was...mostly a blur right after that. It was almost embarrassing how fast you were to fall asleep sleeping half way on a table, but you must've been more tuckered out than you thought. You weren't even too sure how much time had even passed. All you can remember was waking up to a flash of light from behind your retinas making your sleeping body flinch....And your hearing picking up giggling from a far distance. And the feeling of something pressed against your neck. It felt like a cool water balloon just laying again your neck, not that you didn't mind being inside from the heat and all that, but you definitely shied away from the something that was shaking and as COLD AS ICE sniffing at your cheek. With a groan from being deep in sleep for so long, your eyes slowly blinked open to blurry yellow-....Yellow?? You blinked back more in your sleepy stupor as your drizzilie laid lazily like a cat in the crook of your shoulder and next as you yawned. Reached a hand up to rub at your eyes. And looked at the yellow dinosuar as it tilted it's head at you curiously. Blank faced you sat there and stared at it. ......It blinked and gave a small noise. And you yelled up immediately shoot up to your feet as the thing gave a scared sqawk like a parrot and dove itself to cower behind Gloria shaking. Drizzilie chirping in annoyance at being disturbed from it's spot of rest on the table next to you! Everyone in the center was either hiding behind the counter or like you pressed against the walls away the scary looking pokemon who looked like a giant yellow dinosaur trapped in a blue upside down acorn. The thing gave a sad noise as you stared at it, body pressed against the wall, your chair knocked over in the process of getting up. Gloria was already cooing at it soothingly and patting it's head, camera slung around her neck and a picture in her other hand........You pointed.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?"

"Calm down, Y/n. Ya gonna scare Arctozolt even more than the wee babe already is," she said calmly patting it's head.

......You blinked. "I SCARED HIM!? Gloria what IS that?!"

"Oh this?" She gestured to the thing glancing around nervously. The only ones not so freaked out about it was apparently her and your Drizzilie who looked more annoyed it's nap was cut short. "Remember that scientist las I mentioned before? Well I found 'er wonderin' around with the weird contraption in hand. You were still sleepin' when I went back out for food so I figured why not give it a try? This is only one of four new wee ones I've got....But I wanted to come to you straight away because...well..." She looked nervously at you with a strained apologetic look. "I think we might have ta make a run for it."

.........You blinked. "....Run from what?''

She hummed making a rolling motion with her now free hand. "That scientist lady may be lookin' 'round for me cuz I ran off with her 'research'." She gestured to the pokemon who pressed it's nose against her arm curiously.

......"Gloria." You peeled yourself from the wall finally. "PLEASE tell me you didn't steal those pokemon."

She scowled stuffing the picture into her pocket. "I nay stole anything! Especially since it was mine in the first place! They were my fossils she just did some science whatcha-may-callit to 'em. It's not my problem she throws a fit once she sees me flee with 'em. 'Sides. Do ya really want them cooped up in some lab being studied like statues?"

....Well...You couldn't argue with her there. So with a breath in you breathed out calming yourself and held up your hands. "Right." You quickly moved to grab your bag, Drizzilie taking the hint and hurrying to climb off the table to join after you. "Ok then. Let's leave. And put that thing in it's ball-" You paused. ".....hey. What about Bea?"

"I told you I came for the Fighting Badge didn't I?", she asked pulling out a pokeball, in a flash of blue the light the thing was gone. "And I walked out with it as well! No need to worry ye head off!"

You nodded already going to the door. TIME TO LEAVE!! The last thing you wanted was to be arrested by a scientist for tampering with her research or stealing or-...Or whatever Gloria did while you were out cold. Darn it you had to stop being such a deep sleeper! You should've went with her instead of sleeping in! "Which is the fastest way out of Stow-on-Side?" You asked speed walking to the doors with your pokemon at your heels easily keep up with Gloria in tow behind you.

"The fastest way out is the back path leading behind the stadium." She said pointing as you sped walked out into the hot sun. "It's up that long stairway past the mural!"

You nodded. Sounded good to you! And your body was well rested from that powernap so you had the energy now to spare. Footsteps slapping against the stone pavement the three of you sped walked past people who looked like they'd seen a ghost. Oh no. Don't tell me Gloria paraded whatever ancient thing that was on the way there! Looking around, you peeled your eyes out for any sign of an angry scientist with a machine or anything the like. And you did run into a scientist. Just not the one you were fearing. As you two made it up the first flight of steps that lead to the stadium and path to the mural, a dash of yellow side lined you.

BARK!!

WHOA! You yelped and swung your arms out as you stumbled a step, only saving grace was Gloria who thanks to her quick reflexes grabbed onto your pack and pulled you back upright. Catching yourself back onto your feet as the yamper culprit wagged it's lightning bolt tail and panted happily at the both of you before giving off another loud bark. ....Wait a second. A yamper?? What was a yamper doing all the way up here? That could only mean one thing.

Footsteps rapidly approuched. "I'm so sorry!" You both turned. "Is everyone ok?"...Yep. It was Sonia. You both sighed in relief to see her. Thank goodness! It was just her. The red headed scientist quickly approuched scowling at the happily panting pokemon before wagging a finger at it and placed one hand on her hip. "Bad boy! You know better than to run off and scare people like that!" The dog pokemon tilted his head at her but otherwise didn't change it's expression as she turned to you two apologetically. "I'm so sorry about that. He can get easily excited. But it looks like my yamper really likes you, huh?"

"Sonia." A hand on your chest as your headed tilted back with a smile of relief, "Thank goodness it's only you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come examine the ancient ruins and mural around Stow-on-Side after flipping through all those history books in the Hammerlocke library." They had a library?? "I thought maybe something was here. Anyway, we've run into each other at a good time." She happily turned and gestured up the way towards the stairs you two were about to run up anyways. "You know the mural here in Stow-on-Side I just mentioned? It's said to tell the story of the hero of Galar as well. Though what's there today is actually a replica of the ancient art that used to be here."...She paused...and you blinked as she turned to Gloria with seemingly a bright new idea in her mind. "Say. You tend to have surprisingly sharp eyesight, so I was wondering what you might think when you see the ruins?"

Gloria blinked..her hand coming to rub her arm embarrassed. "Uh..Actually I haven't see the ruins or m-mural yet."

She blinked taken a back. "Oh really?,'' she asked surprised. Gloria nodded embarrassed and Sonia held up a hand in assurrance. "Hey that's alright. There's a first time for everything. Since you haven't see it yet, how about we go together since I'm heading there anyways?"

"Would we!?," Gloria beamed and you coughed to gain her attention.

"Aren't you forgetting we're supposed to be leaving town for something?," You pressed raising your brows.

"Yeah. We're still going the same place anyways. But don't ya think running would make us look more suspicious?"

You opened your mouth...but closed it. She had another point. It's make you both look suspicious if either of you just ran outta here like a ghost was chasing you, it'd make you look like you were fleeing the scene of the crime. Acting along with Sonia like tourists would probably help you both blend in here a little better with the other people walking up and down the stairs...You nodded. Alright. You'd do that but then you two had better skedaddle while you had the chance too. Sonia looked please at your answer and would've probably expressed it too, if it wasn't for the earth rattling KA-BOOM sound that went off like a bomb somewhere above all of you. The echo of it boomed across rattling the sky, and you and the other two girls, and a whole bunch of other people looked up in alarm at the frightening sound. Which had come in the direction of the very place you were about to head off too. Sonia's yamper made a distressed bark sound and scampered behind the woman's legs. Drizzilie too seemed mildly surprised at the sound. The best you would describe it as a far away grenade or a firework going off, but who'd have either of those around here!?

"Wha...What in the world was that!? What's going on up there?!," Sonia managed to asked out before another ka-boom noise had you all more startled. "Sounds like it came from the direction of the ruins, too!"

"Maybe some of the old things are collaspin' in on themselves from age?", Gloria suggested.

That made a worried look come over the young scientist and a hand came up to her cheek. "Oh no! That's not good! Those are historical sights we're still studying!"She gave a look to the pokemon still cowering and shaking behind her heels. "Let's have a look! Come along, Yamper!" Her heels left loud footsteps in her wake as she turned and ran towards the stairs the yamper whimpering like a scare dog before quickly running after it's owner.

You yelped as Gloria suddenly grabbed you too and yanked you into a run after her. "Come on! We gotta see what's goin' on too! That's are way outta here remember!?"

You didn't argue with that. Only willed yourself to ran with Gloria after Sonia who was already ahead of you running up the flights of stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Without the extra weight on your shoulders anymore it was really easy to keep up with them as you all ran past people who were looking with concerned, confused, or scared faces up towards the top of the stairs. One little boy even gripping the pants leg of who must've been his grandmother sobbing in fright. Sonia was the first to reach the top of the hot weathered stairs and stop facing what must've been the source of the sounds because ANOTHER giant boom noise echoed throughout the sky. Your heart raced in your throat, and your lungs heaved as you picked up the place. The second one to get there was Gloria and then a minute later you right behind her and then your Drizzilie who had resumed to running on all fours just to keep up with the lot of you. And the source of the noises were laid at your all's feet. No it wasn't a grenade. Or fireworks. Or even ruins collasping in on themselves from old age. It was a HUGE elephant looking pokemon who must've been the size of a large soccer mom's mini van who had it's trunk halfway stuck inside the cliffside where this strange but beautiful looking hand painted mural was drawn onto the cliffside. A giant hole was in the mural sadly disrupting it's beauty as many spiderweb cracks surrounded it as the elephant thing forcibly pulled it's trunk out of it scattering rock dust and tiny fragments at it's base. And the white haired boy encouraging it on as he pointed.

"Yes! Destroy it! Destroy it all!," he shouted to the elephant pokemon in absolutely frustration, "We're going to find those Wishing Stars!" Your eyes widened in absolute SHOCK. Holy heck!! It was BEDE!! What in the world was he doing!? The others must've been in shock too because they didn't react at all staring in horror as the thing raised it's trunk again and with a sickening crunching gravel sound slammed it's trunk back into the whole it created. More cracks slowly forming across the pretty painted picture. "We've got to bring the chairman more wishing stars if we want to please him! Copperajah! If you're truly the chairman's pokemon then you should feel grateful for this chance to help him find wishing stars!" The thing gave out another elephant sound and repulled it's trunk out from the now slightly bigger hole it made.

"BEDE YA BLOODY KOOK!!," you both jumped as Gloria finally found her voice, hands flying to grip her head as she stared horrified at the destruction before her. At the sound of her scottish accent Bede let out a high pitched wail of surprise and whirled around back pressed to the pokemon's side as his wide purple eyes stared. Surprised no doubt to see Gloria there. She threw her hands at him and his mess. "WHAT IN THE WHOLE STUPID HAIRBALL BRAIN SCHEME OF YERS ARE YE DOIN' NOW!?"

Bede continued to stare at her wide eyed for a moment, before instantly righting himself and dusting himself off. "Oh my. You again." He was WAY to calm for this to be normal. "So you think that you can start collecting wishing stars now and get in the chairman's favor? That's the way of things, is it?!"

Gloria blinked and looked at him like he was stupid for accusing her of something so...so...Well stupid too. "Have ye stumbled and hit your head on somethin' or is your head so stuffed full of that fluffy hair ya can't see what you're doin' right there!?" She pointed even more at the destroyed mural. "And what are ye goin on about wishing stars for!? Like I give a ratatta's arse 'bout lil rocks when I already have the one I need!"

"I see. So you have some cunning in you. But I won't have it!," he growled pointing back at her in anger. "I won't allow anyone to stand in my way! I have to win this for the chairman! Do you really think I'd let you keep me from everything I want!!"

"Did ya even hear what I just said!? I don't want ta git in your way! I want ye ta stop damagin' that thing! Are ye deaf!?"

He chuckled without any happiness. "Oh yes. My partner's move is simply splendid, wouldn't you say?" He held up his hand and with a snap the copperajah as he called it gave a giant elephant roar before lifting it's trunk back up and striking back into the same place it had been before hand. "Now leave me be until I can figure out what to say to you officially!" He turned back around. "I have work to do."

"What do we do!?," you turned to Sonia in a panic as she as panickedly looked back to you as you helplessly pointed at the GIANT elephant thing. "I can't take that thing on with Drizzilie! I can barely beat my own sleep time!!"

"I-I-..." She stammered looking around panicked hands lightly shaking not sure what to do herself before whipping to the stairs to everyone there. Sweat on her face. "SOMEONE GET THE GYM LEADER!! SOMEONE GET BEA NOW!!"

Good idea! Bea would absolutely be able to stop this but by the time she got up here that mural would've been nothing but rubble- ?! "GLORIA NO!!!" Your hand snapped to stop the girl but she was too fast as your hand grabbed empty air.

Gloria had dropped her bag to the ground. Her hands gripping her camera so hard her knuckles were white as she charged forward with speed you hadn't seen her use before. The copperajah pulling it's trunk back again to slam it for the hundredth time back into place in the crater it made in the rock as Bede persisted in barking at it to do so. It's trunk lifted high to the point it was about to slam it back down, when Gloria slid her way between them and the mural, before holding up the camera- "SAY CHEESE!!" And a flash of bright white shot out. The copperajah gave out a pained wail as it turned itself away from the flash quickly shaking it's head. The trunk that was raised to strike the mural more instead coming to it's own body to rub at it's eyes. Bede himself flinching back with a angry cry followed by a growl and gritted teeth as he was stopped.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?," he cried out angrily to her arm wiping at his eyes before blinking wide purple eyes full of confusion at the scowling girl. "I'm doing this for you! I'm doing this for everyone in Galar!!"

"What you're doin' is destroyin' Galar! Not helpin' it ya dummy! Why would I want ya doin' this for me!?" Bede stopped seeming stunned and...it might've been your panicked mind but he looked a little hurt at her words as she glared and held up her camera at him like a weapon. "Now stand down before I get more evidence of yer crimes!"

"...I...But why? How can this be?" ..He numbly pointed at her. "How could someone like you get in my way? I was the one chosen by the chairman! I was the one to defeat the champion!" He cried out at her. "I'm one of the elite! Someone who can shoulder the future of the Galar Region!" He pointed at her. "YOU EVEN AGREED WITH ME!!"

"Since when did I agree with destroyin' ancient sights for bloody sparkly rocks!?"

He didn't get time to anwer. In fact none of you did as a group of footsteps made their way from from behind you and your Drizzilie chirped in surprise before diving in front of your legs to avoid being swarmed by a few people in police suits like you'd often see Officer Jenny wear, a few gym staff people in white suits, and at least three pokemon that you supposed was to help restrain the culprit. You and Sonia looked around yourselves surprised but relieved to see the police coming FINALLY, and Bede suddenly looked even more panicked hands at his sides and lookig around widely as he was affectively surrounded.

"Make way for the Chairman!" Hey! You recognized that woman's voice. And turned just in time for the Chairman himseld and an angry Oleana part their way through the crowd. But instead of feeling relief anymore, a bad feeling pooled at the end of your stomach. "Challeger Bede!" She yelled and just when you thought Bede couldn't have gotten any paler, his skin turned such a white the bright white of his hair could've been considered darker than his skin tone. "I wondered what you were up to when you asked to borrow Chairman Rose's copperajah.I can't believe you'd try to use the chairman's pokemon to destroy a historical sight!"

Wait wait WAIT! HOLD UP!! They actually let Bede borrow THEIR pokemon without asking what he was doing and surprised about this!? ..A low rumble noise came from the wall as a piece of it slid away between the cracks around it. A few pebbles falling from it and landing right behind Bede's feet. No one noticed but Gloria who was still standing between Bede and the destroyed mural, blinking and looking up at the stone wall. You all were too busy watching the show between Bede and his sponsors to notice.

Bede had stood there stunned for a moment before scowling and pointing at her, but his tone was obviously scared. "Who cares for some ancient ruin when the next thousand years are at stake!? Did you stand in the path of a pokemon's simple beam or something?" Wrong move. Oleana looked even more angry now. "How do you expect to support the Chairman with that sort of thinking!?"

More pebbles fell down and Gloria looked right up, twisting her body around as she took a few steps back staring at the wall.

"Bede." Bede Froze. Absolutely. Freaking. FROZE as the Chairman addressed him holding a hand up to Oleana who immediately stood down at his motion. "Young Bede." His hand was slowly returned to his pocket, the chairman's eyes scanning his pokemon who still shook it's head and the absolutely destructon of the once beautiful mural. And shook his head. How was he so calm about this? "It pains me to say this but I am truly disappointed."

".....W-What?"

"It's true that I'm the one who found you, back when you were all alone." He sighed reaching a hand up to rub his head. "I saw talent in you. You reminded me a little bit of myself back when I was young. That's why I sent you to a trainer's school, to give you a chance at success. But trying to destroy the mural, part of Galar's history! You show no love toward Galar!" He looked back up to the boy who by this point was lightly shaking. Just staring at him like a little scared mouth. "You are clearly not a worthy challenger for the Gym Challenge."

"W-W-WHAT!?," Bede shouted at him. "B-B-But all I have ever done was for you!" He placed a hand to his chest. "All I have ever done was for Galar! Y-You must be joking right!? You're disqualifying me from the Gym Challenge?! But you're the one who endorsed me! T-T-There are a hundred different ways we could sort this out!" He insisted more desperate. "Why are you chosing the worst possible option?!"

Mr. Rose just held up a tired hand again. "I don't want to hear anymore from you, Bede. We will decide what to do with you later. For now you will return to Hammerlocke with us."

"B-B-But-.." He looked around in a blind panic around himself at every staff, policeman, and other adult there watching him. More pebbles falling and Gloria's eyes widened in danger. "I-I REFUSE!! THERE WAS A MISTAKE!!"

"Challenger Bede," Oleana stated firmly, "I'll be taking those wishing stars you have gathered. And you WILL be returning with us to Hammerlocke."

"I- N-No wait!" He was grabbed by two men in those white gym uniforms and his purple eyes shrank as Oleana walked towards him.

That's when the Chairman turned towards the rest of you and smiled apologetically. "AH! Sonia! And Gloria and her friend too!" You both turned to the Chairman as Gloria paid no attention to you, the Chairman, or Bede's shaking form as Oleana collected what looked like more sparkling gems out of his pockets. "Terrible shame all this." he gestured to the seen before him and you wanted to hurl at how disgustingly calm he could POSSIBLY be about all this! "An absolute disaster." OH YOU THINK!? "I never wish to see us lose challengers for this sort of reason. Yet we do what we must do to keep things fair and sportsmanlike."

"Then why did you lend him your copperajah without watching him?," you found yourself saying with a frown, "Or have a young boy collect stones from possibly dangerous mines?"

He fell silent, giving you a look that could have been surprised at what you said as you still stared at him. The reality of what you had said not catching up to you then and there because on top of what just happened something else struck. The sound of cracking walls and moving gravel made everyone look up as the cracks and wall of the cliffside moved ever so slightly under the weight of the lose boulder as it slipped free and fell down towards the earth. Down right towards the scrambling and screaming people. Right towards the frozen form of Bede as his mouth opened in a silent scream at the heavy rock barraling towards him as he stood in it's shadow- Well the rock did made contact with the ground, shattering into lots of tinier pieces on impact. Everyone yelped and cowered, arms flying up to shield their faces or turning away as the tinier rocks flew everywhere. Bede and Gloria laid upon the ground sprawled out from where she tackled him out of the flying death maker's way. Both groaned out before sitting up. Bede once again freezing at the sight of Gloria being so close and pulling him up into a sitting position with a scowl!

"Ye alright?"......he slowly nodded. "That's good." Before she began shaking him. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? NOW DO YA SEE WHY IT WAS A STUPID IDEA YA DUMMY!? YA COULD'VE BEEN CRUSH BY A STUPID FLYIN' BOULDER!!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" A loud female voice cried out and if you thought Oleana's loud voice was scary it was nothing compared to the slightly smaller than you woman who stomped her way through the crowd barefoot, angry, and with at least three fighting type pokemon behind her. Just how many people were going to show up here!? And how could she stand walking around barefoot on the hot ground!? The grey haired woman looked absolutely shocked at the state of her town's mural and all the debry around the ground from it, but unlike everyone else who stood around taking a long time to react, her reaction was instant. Anger flooding her features and her face looked like a tea kettle ready to pop as it turned beat red. An accusing hand was pointed at the destruction caused. Wait. She looked familiar. "WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?"....Oh right! You saw her on the card Opal had given Gloria! It was Bea the gym leader of this place!...And she did NOT look happy to see what happened. Even more unfortunate for Bede some people around him pointed him out to the angry woman and once she snapped his gaze to himself still half held by Gloria, you could tell he was just one more heart attack away from fainting. "SO IT WAS YOU!!" She pointed right at him. "IT'S BAD ENOUGH YOU INSULTED THE TRAINER I ENDORSED BUT NOW YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY OF RUINING MY TOWN'S SUPPLY OF INCOME TOO!? WHERE DO YOU THINK SOME OF THE MONEY TO KEEP THE STADIUM RUNNING COMES FROM YOU LITTLE PUNK!? I SWEAR BY THE TIME I'M THROUGH WITH YOU YOU'LL BE GLUING THE ENTIRE THING BACK BY HAND WITH NOTHING BUT A LITTLE CHILD'S GLUE STICK!!" By now Bede looked pale enough to pass as a ghost.

"Bea now, now." The Chairman held up his hands to her in a calm manner. "Calm down. I'll pay for all the damages and repairs to be fixed. We'll have an exact replica of the mural back up in no time at all. It'll be like this never happened."

"WHAT?!" She snapped a look towards the chairman. "AND LET THIS LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER GO UNPUNISHED FOR ALL THE TROUBLE HE'S ALREADY CAUSED!?"

"I never said he wasn't going to be punished. We were just about to figure that out just now I assure you."

She huffed crossing her arms. "Oh yeah? Is that right? If you ask me you should take away the gym badges from him-"

"NO!!" Bede gave off an 'Oof' as Gloria suddenly grabbed him to her in a protective manner and his face hit her shoulder as he blinked confused. The adults looking at her in a way that made you nervous just standing there watching.

...Bea got a look of realization over her before she pointed at Gloria. "Hey. I know you. You're the trainer that I just badge the Fighting type badge too. Are you in on this too?"

Gloria shook her head no. "NO!! Are ye kiddin' me?! I'd never do somethin' as stupid as this!" Her hand pointed at her. "BUT YA CAN'T TAKE AWAY HIS GYM BADGES!!" She then pointed at the Chairman who blinked at her. "AND NEITHER CAN YE!! BEDE WON THOSE FAIR N' SQUARE!!" Bede blinked and looked up to her in shock. "YER RIGHT THAT HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR DOIN' WHAT HE DID!! BUT GYM BADGES ARE A SYMBOL OF ALL THE HARD WORK YOU PUT IN AS A POKEMON TRAINER JUST TO GET THEM!! ONCE A GYM LEADER GIVES THEM TO YA IT JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH YOU IMPROVED AND GROWN FROM THEN!! IF YOU TAKE THEM FROM HIM THEN YOU'LL BE DOIN' NOTHING BUT TELL HIM HIS WORTH AS A TRAINER IS NOTHING AND I WON'T ALLOW THAT!!" Her grip on him increased slightly. "Punish him for what he did to the mural if you want, but don't you DARE take his gym badges from him!"

You weren't sure whether you wanted to bury yourself under a rock or be proud of her in that moment, but her words got the Chairman to stare at her a moment. Humming and eyeing her protective stance frowning at him before he sighed and nodded. "She's right Bea. I won't tamper with the progress he's already made thus far, but he sure will be answering for the mess he's caused everyone today." He gestured back down towards the stairs. "Come. Lets discuss what we can do about the mural out of the hot sun alright? Ms. Sonia I don't suppose you could stand by until my team gets here could you?"

Sonia blinked."...OH! I-i-...Sure."

The two of you stood there as everyone and their pokemon trickled out of the destroyed area and back down the stairs after the chairman and gym leader who shot a nasty glare at Bede before she left. ...Bede slowly pried hmself away from Gloria falling back onto his bottom as she blinked. He got up shakily, dusting himself off in the process, before looking back to her. The two of them silently staring at each others for the longest time.

"Bede," He jumped and turned to Oleana as she stood there waiting for him expectantly, "Come along. You're aware the Chairman doesn't like to kept waiting." Bede paused for a moment looking between her and Gloria exactly once, before turning and started walking towards her. She turned and walked away from the three of you as Gloria slowly stood herself. Bede not sparing either of you a head glance as he walked past the two of you head down without a word.

The three of you stood there watching everyone leave down the long flight of stairs silently ...before you finally broke the silence by looking at the mess as the copperajah lumbered past after it's owner. ".....Well I can say for certain that this so fair has been the most eventful day I've ever had in my life."

"Tell me 'bout it!" Gloria grumbled dusting herself off as she walked over to you to which you looked at her.

"Hey. Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?"

She shook her head no to your relief as she still deeply frowned. "I know the show ponyta was a looney but I didn't think he'd have the gall ta pull somethin' like this."

You hummed. ".....Somehow I don't think that was exactly all his fault."

"Whatcha mean by that?"

You went to answer her but was cut off yet again by voice. "Now that I think about it..." Both of you looked to Sonia who hummed. "You know. During one of Bede's matches, I heard the announcer say that Bede has no family. Apparently it was Rose who took Bede under his wing, and so Bede was battling for the Chairman's sake." Gloria looked between you two surprised, but you were more angry than surprised at this point gaining a frown. You had pretty much picked up on that by now. "*sigh* But that's a story for another day." She looked to the destroyed Mural. "Oh poor Bea. What an awful turn of events. I hope the mural survived all that."

"I doubt that." Gloria kicked a decent sized rock away from her at the mention.

And then that's when the rumble started. Just like the sound of the rock that nearly crushed Bede, only there was a lot more of it! The three of you looked up in horror at the cracks in the once pretty mural finally giving away under the strained weight, and it fell apart.

"LOOK OUT!!"

You quickly grabbed Gloria and yanked her behind you as your Drizzilie once again ducked behind your legs for cover as the rocks fell away and crumbled to the ground in a heap. Sending smaller rock fragments and dust everywhere making the three of you cough up a storm. But it's when you looked up however, is when the REAL mystery began. Because when the two of you looked up....your eyes widened. In place of where the mural used to be was a pile of rubble and a hole in the cliffside. But in the hole ..was a couple of statues. Two of which were two GIGANTIC dog looking pokemon holding a sword or shield in their mouths, and behind them were two kings carved into the stone.

"...Hey." You glanced at Gloria shaking dust from her hat and Sonia walked up wide eyed to the statues. "Are you ok?" She nodded before plopping the hat back onto her head. "Good. What about you Sonia?.....Sonia?" You blinked and looked over to the orange haired woman gaping up at the statues...Huh. Why did they seem familiar to you?

"......Not a brilliant turn of events, but the ruins were brought into the light for us to see!," Sonia finally said after a long moment of silence. "What does this tell us about Galar's legends?"

"Uuuuh." You rose a brow up at the statues. Not really sure if she was talking to you or not. "A....sword and shield?" You guessed based off what the things were holding in their mouths...Hey. Wasn't this whole game's thing revolved around a sword and shield or something??

She nodded. "Right! More than any hero, there's those things that appear to be pokemon that stand out! Not just that, but those pokemon appear to be holding a sword and shield as if they were using them! Anything else look interesting to you?!"

"Uuuuh. ...Those two guys there." You pointed to the two king statues. They're the same as the tapestries aren't they?"

"I didn't notice that! Oh good observation! There really were two heroes. But if that's the case then why only the one statue at Budew drop inn?"

You shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe whoever built it didn't feel like making two giant gold statues."

She hummed. "More than any statue of a hero or old tapestry, these ruins made in truly ancient times must show us the real truth! Which means that....."

"....The sword and shield are pokemon?"

"YUP!!" She snapped with a smile to you making you blink. "I was thinking the same thing! Seems like at some point in history the sword and shield were combined with the two actual pokemon and treated as the same thing!" She hummed looking back to all the rubble. "But then what? They just faded from history? Two young heroes. The sword and shield were actually pokemon. But why would the truth of these ruins be hidden when their stories were depicted in artwork?"

"...Maybe they had something to do with it?" She looked at you and you pointed to the human statues. "The kings or whoever they are. They went through a lot of trouble hiding this..maybe it was to protect the things that protected them."

She hummed. "Possibly. We won't be too sure until I get Mr. Rose's approval to study it more. Thanks! With your help I really feel like we made a big discovery here!

"Not sure how I helped but your welcome!"

"..So there was history being covered up by all that over stylized artwork. I'm gonna have to look into this some more. OOHH!! IM SO EXCITED!! NO RESEARCHER HAS EVER MADE SUCH A DISCOVERY-" A bark caught both of your attention as Sonia looked down at her feet in time for her yamper to drop something white at them. And she blinked. "Hey boy. Whatcha got there?" Not a bone you hoped. She quickly reached down as you leaned over to look and she stood up with a white mask in her hands. It was covered in does and a bit yellowed with a few scrapes, and had three black holes in it presumably for a person's mouth and eyes. "Well would you look at this. I dont think this is from the ruins. ...It kinda reminds me of the one's Allister wears."

"Who?," you asked trying to see it. Sonia handed it over to you and you grabbed it from her to get a better look.

"Allister. He's the boy who's in charge of the Ghost type Gym just down the road there." She pointed towards the exit path from Stow-on-Side. "It's located by the Stow-on-Side cemetary, but it'll take a full day just to get there from here. I just mentioned it might be his since the only one I've ever seen with that kind of mask was him at the Entrance Ceremony....But I guess you'll be headed to Bellonlea next, right?"

You opened your mouth- "Y/N!!!" You were nearly knocked to the ground when Gloria ran up to you and grabbed you suddenly. Yanking you forward hard enough to send you stumbling a few steps as she panicked. "It's that restore scientist lady! She's headed up the stairs this way!" She pulled you into a run away from Sonia as she watched bewildered down the path away from here. Your Drizzilie running at your heels.

"Bye Sonia! Good luck in your research!!," you called back.

Guess you'd be able to finally leave Stow-on-Side.

#pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon piers #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon piers x reader #Reader #Reader x Piers #Piers

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

Text

TLTNL- The Tale of the Three Brothers

James flipped to the last story with nostalgia, this had been his absolute favorite when he was younger, and he couldn't wait to tell Harry about it and watch him understand why.

As he read the title though, Harry felt that flash through his mind, a squirm through his innards. An understanding he still had no knowledge of, why this story must be what had caught his eye to begin with, what on earth it all could mean...

There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across.

Even as James began the feeling only intensified, though oddly Harry's vision swam double for a moment and he was sure it should be Hermione reading this to him, in a much different place...but it was all gone the moment he tried to latch onto it, and instead he settled back in his seat and tried to listen with the same attentiveness he had all the other silly tales.

However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.

And Death spoke to them.

Lily did a double take in surprise, and Harry's eyes popped, causing the other three to laugh, but the shock passed quickly. This really wasn't any more weird than any other things going on with these novels.

He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.

"Why aren't we ever awarded for doing shit?" Sirius sighed.

"Eventually the teachers would run out of rewards and circle back to punishment anyways, I suppose they just skipped ahead," Remus shrugged.

So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.

Harry couldn't help it, shifting his weight around more and more, a burn he'd been peacefully lacking while not having to relearn his old memories sadly paining him now again over something clearly so stupid. He clenched his shaking hand tight and resisted the impulse with all his might not to clutch at his aching head again, just concentrated on his dads voice.

Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.

His feeling only growing worse by the second, somehow James trying to read in a goofy lighthearted tone contrasting heavily with a deep echo of words he knew his father also once saying to him...

The others noticed of course, but Harry looking so pained over something like this they had no clue of was sadly nothing new. So Lily placed her arm gently around his shoulders and waited as long as he needed to take a moment to breath again before nodding at James, who was monstrously disappointed something they'd thought Harry would just simply enjoy for once was still actually causing him pain.

And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death.

'The third brother...' this more than the others resonated with Harry, even as he kept rubbing at his forehead with pain he latched onto anything his mind could make sense of. He had not a clue why remembering this was hurting him so, as painful as if he were trying to remember something before it happened to him again, but thankfully like before so long as he didn't force the feeling it began to ebb.

James glanced hopefully at Harry and kept going with that same excitement, glad to see whatever Harry was struggling with he was fighting off, this was his favorite part!

So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.

"You have got to be kidding me," Lily said in exasperation, actually eyeing James like she worried he was making this up as he went along. Knowing her husband, it wasn't even that crazy.

"Nope," James insisted, popping the P for emphasis even as he kept his eyes on Harry while still addressing Lily. "My dad read this story to me all the time when I was little, loved to go on about how this was where my Cloak came from."

Lily had honestly never thought why James cloak worked the way it had, he'd only shown it to her in the last year and by that time he had no real use for it. She'd had other things on her mind

when he'd showed it to her, like realizing one of her friends was a werewolf, so she'd never questioned too deeply his declaration it had been in his family for generations.

Now though, she raised a skeptical brow at him and demanded, "and you really think your Cloak came from the manifestation of Death?"

"Nah," he brushed off, a bit disappointed it wasn't Harry going along, but at least it was clear he was listening with his head tilted towards them even as he kept flattening his hair and clearly trying to repress rubbing his scar more. "I don't think my dad really did either, most of us have just come to the conclusion someone along the line made it but lost the record of how they did. Now it's just more of a family secret. Still fun how it somehow made it's way into a kids novel, maybe even where the original idea of creating it came from, so technically..." he trailed off with a still superior little smile no one acknowledged. His friends had heard all this too many times and just yawned when he looked over, and he pouted before continuing.

Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death's gifts.

In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.

The first brother traveled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, he sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel.

Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed.

Harry's mind wanted to seize painfully on this, talk of the Elder Wand had cropped up once in here already, but he was instantly distracted by the others once more.

"I always wonder how much of that is just confidence," Remus couldn't help but scoff. "It really does wonders, and then his boasting just caused this tail to begin with."

"Bragging only takes you so far until you have to prove it," Sirius disagreed, his eyes gleaming with want.

When it was clear they had no more to say on it than before though, he tried desperately to ignore his disappointment and continued headache.

Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible.

That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat.

"Charming," Lily crinkled her nose in disgust.

And so Death took the first brother for his own.

Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared at once before him.

Harry could not seem to settle during this story, shifting anxiously more every second, now twirling his ring around in unease as if some part of him knew to be worried abut this. At least he did know why his eyes lingered on his parents now, what he would have given for that stone some point before all this- then his mind went blank with another snap of pain and he just shook his head miserably for his brain never working properly.

Yet she was silent and cold, separated from him as though by a veil.

All of them flinched heavily at that description, none appreciating the reminder.

Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally, the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as truly to join her.

Lily tightened her hold on her son, feeling the urge to be sick at still seeing that lingering look of longing in place. She disliked this one most of all for that line alone, why was that in a story for kids?!

And so Death took the second brother for his own.

But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son.

James declared this with contentment, his eyes lingering on his child more than the words now as he finished. His infant sat in his godfathers lap, gurgling happily, and it still gave the father comfort that no matter his child's future, his heirloom would still hold.

And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life.

"Wow, I think that was the shortest one yet," Lily crinkled her brow in fascination. She wasn't even sure where the moral in that one was. After mulling it over for a moment while the boys all declared which object they'd pick, James and Remus the cloak and Sirius the wand, she interrupted Harry, "what exactly is the point of including that one?"

"Oh come on Lily, not everything needs to have a point," James sighed. "It's a fun novelty, gives kids a chance to dream of some cool objects one day."

"I actually have a fond memory of me and Regulus on a 'quest,' looking for these," Sirius smiled reminiscently. "Of course it ended with us nabbing our fathers wand and being grounded for a week, but it was fun for an hour or two."

"So you guys don't believe they're real?" Harry interrupted, causing them all to look at him in surprise.

"Well," James began slowly, weary of the intensity with which Harry had asked. "Like I said, my cloak, I think anyways, was built from this myth as far back as my family tree will trace, yet it doesn't mean Death gave it to someone so long ago. So there's really no proof the others don't exist-"

"But there's no more proof they do either," Remus shook his head with such exasperated skepticism Harry could already feel they'd had this argument long before. "This Stone sounds like another idea of the Philosophers Stone, and though that was once made, the recipe for that is as lost as James' cloak, or at least, Flamel and Dumbledore certainly aren't sharing; so it's existence is still nothing but questionable."

"The wand is all about how you read your history," Sirius quickly tacked in before Moony could go off again on more theory's. "People have been claiming since the existence of wands to have an unbeatable one-"

"And it's caused nothing but more bloodshed and murder," Lily said with finality. As if they needed more of that in their life to be sitting around discussing it.

Sirius shrugged but made no argument so James gave Harry a curious look before going on into what Dumbledore had to say about this, honestly very curious.

Albus Dumbledore on "The Tale of the Three Brothers"

This story made a profound impression on me as a boy. I heard it first from my mother, and it soon became the tale I requested more often than any other at bedtime.

James couldn't help but chuckle slightly he had something so in common with Dumbledore. As angry as he still was at him, he really was trying his hardest not to let that linger for now at least.

This frequently led to arguments with my younger brother, Aberforth, whose favorite story was "Grumble the Grubby Goat".

Sirius snorted randomly, honestly just thankful to have any more information about this brother they'd kept hearing about but had no knowledge of before this.

The moral of "The Tale of the Three Brothers" could not be any clearer: human efforts to evade or overcome death are always doomed to disappointment.

James looked pleased and turned gloatingly to his wife, who still had a sour face, thinking there were better ways to have this in a story that didn't involve murder and suicide.

The third brother in the story ("the humblest and also the wisest") is the only one who understands that, having narrowly escaped Death once, the best he can hope for is to postpone their next meeting for as long as possible.

"Really makes you wonder how he copulated under a cloak, I mean the broad-"

Remus reached over and plugged his nose while James kept going loudly around him.

This youngest brother knows that taunting Death by engaging in violence, like the first brother, or by meddling in the shadowy art of necromancy,1 like the second brother - means pitting oneself against a wily enemy who cannot lose.

The irony is that a curious legend has grown up around this story, which precisely contradicts the message of the original. This legend holds that the gifts Death gives the brothers "an unbeatable wand, a stone that can bring back the dead, and an Invisibility Cloak that endures forever" are genuine objects that exist in the real world. The legend goes further: if any person becomes the rightful owner of all three, then he or she will become "master of Death", which has usually been understood to mean that they will be invulnerable, even immortal.

Harry couldn't help but make a keening noise of frustration, shaking his head frantically and wishing more than anything right now his brain would quit setting itself on fire. He wasn't relearning any memories more than he should, so why on earth did all of this feel so monumental, and also decide to torment him for learning it all too soon before other things to come? All of this felt like little puzzles that would not weld together, so thankfully he wasn't suffering as bad as he could, but more than any before, he simply wished this would just end.

James fully realized this and wanted to close this in disappointment and be done as well. Clearly this was doing nothing but hurting his son no matter how much they couldn't understand why, but then Harry surprised them by telling without even looking up, "go ahead and finish, it's a better distraction than wondering why this is all supposed to mean something I suppose."

James disagreed, clearly Harry had a conversation about this with Dumbledore at some point and it was paining him to have to remember even vague details about it now, but to deny Harry would only make what he said all the more true, so he fingered the next page and just tried to keep going with more urgency than some silly story should provide.

We may smile, a little sadly, at what this tells us about human nature. The kindest interpretation would be: "Hope springs eternal".

Lily couldn't help but smile for that line, aware that none but her would recognize a quote from a muggle poet Alexander Pope, but it was one she'd carried through most of her life, where her optimism so often sprang from as well, hope.

In spite of the fact that, according to Beedle, two of the three objects are highly dangerous, in spite of the clear message that Death comes for us all in the end, a tiny minority of the wizarding community persists in believing that Beedle was sending them a coded message, which is the exact reverse of the one set down in ink, and that they alone are clever enough to understand it.

Sirius couldn't help but snort with mirth at that line. Who on earth was mad enough to go looking for coded messages in a kids tale?*

Their theory (or perhaps "desperate hope" might be a more accurate term) is supported by little actual evidence. True Invisibility Cloaks, though rare, exist in this world of ours; however, the story makes it clear that Death's Cloak is of a durable nature.2

Through all the centuries that have intervened between Beedle's day and our own, nobody has ever claimed to have found Death's Cloak.

"I do wonder how no one in your family was mad enough to try," Lily couldn't help but ask him. "I understand why you didn't," she unconscionably inclined her head towards Remus, their cloak had been invaluable in their attempts to help him in much of their youth, "but no one before you?"

"I've only met my granddad once, but he told me an epic tale about his great-granddad trying," James told with a nostalgic smile, and finally Harry was looking on with that interest he so deserved in learning more about his history. "Tried to find a way to replicate the cloak, mass produce it for more money, our inheritance from the line was running thin by then. Anyways, something went awfully wrong right away, before the man could put one spell on it, and so I was told there's a curse upon it, wrought to anyone who attempts to divulge it's secrets." He finished in a goofy mystical voice.

"So only use it for good and not to steal, got it," Harry couldn't help but laugh lightly, which helped him to ignore a funny tickle in his memory he may have learned that the hard way as well.

This is explained away by true believers thus: either the third brother's descendants do not know where their Cloak came from, or they know and are determined to show their ancestor's wisdom by not trumpeting the fact.

"Well that ones out the bush," Sirius said at once. "Prongs can't show an ounce of wisdom unless he's threatened with wrought!"

James gave him a calculating look before reminding, "who exactly was it who got caught underneath it by Flitwick and had to give the lamest excuse ever for it's existence?"

Sirius let out a lengthy breath, realized his mate wasn't going to go on until Harry stopped looking at him with an already twitching smile for whatever this could be, and finally muttered, "I was, when I told him I was just trying to smuggle in a demiguise from Kettleburn."

"So who had to steal it back?" James wouldn't let go.

"You did, by spending the whole weekend and fifty Galleons to buy a demiguise and give it to Kettleburn while Remus snuck into his office to get the cloak."

"Exactly," he finished pleasantly before going on while Sirius still muttered profanities about that mess.

Naturally enough, the stone has never been found, either. As I have already noted in the commentary for "Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump", we remain incapable of raising the dead, and there is every reason to suppose that this will never happen. Vile substitutions have, of course, been attempted by Dark wizards, who have created Inferi,3

They all made faces at the mention of those, though Harry gave the nastiest little shiver he was sure he didn't want to understand so didn't question what they were.

but these are ghastly puppets, not truly reawoken humans. What is more, Beedle's story is quite explicit about the fact that the second brother's lost love has not really returned from the dead. She has been sent by Death to lure the second brother into Death's clutches, and is therefore cold, remote, tantalizingly both present and absent.4

James breath caught enough all on its own he didn't notice Harry's and he had to resist the urge with all his might not to squeeze his eyes shut in pain lest he have a horrifying vision of Sirius looking anything like that.

This leaves us with the wand, and here the obstinate believers in Beedle's hidden message have at least some historical evidence to back up their wild claims. For it is the case whether because they liked to glorify themselves, or to intimidate possible attackers, or because they truly believed what they were saying, that wizards down the ages have claimed to possess a wand more powerful than the ordinary, even an "unbeatable" wand. Some of these wizards have gone so far as to claim that their wand is made of elder, like the wand supposedly made by Death. Such wands have been given many names, among them "the Wand of Destiny" and "the Deathstick".

It is hardly surprising that old superstitions have grown up around our wands, which are, after all, our most important magical tools and weapons. Certain wands (and therefore their owners) are supposed to be incompatible:

When his wand's oak and hers is holly, then to marry would be folly.

"Wonder what it says about mahogany and willow," James asked pleasantly while batting his eyes at his wife.

"The first is an idiot and the second is the fool who fell for that idiot," Lily returned pleasantly.

"You can do better than that Evans, it didn't even rhym," Sirius scoffed.

"Potter," they both corrected him, causing the two to smile at each other and Sirius to smirk.

or to denote flaws in the owner's character:

Rowan gossips,

"I never gossiped," Sirius muttered, "wandlore is stupid anyways."

"You're right, you should have had chestnut," Remus rolled his eyes while Sirius huffed at him.

chestnut drones, Ash is stubborn, hazel moans.

And sure enough, within this category of unproven sayings we find:

Wand of elder, never prosper.

Whether because of the fact that Death makes the fictional wand out of elder in Beedle's story, or because power-hungry or violent wizards have persistently claimed that their own wands are made of elder, it is not a wood that is much favored among wandmakers.

The first well-documented mention of a wand made of elder

"Ugh, isn't he done yet!" Sirius groaned. "I didn't care this much, I'm starting to feel like I'm being force fed a history lesson!"

"Still the most interesting one we've ever had," James shrugged, continuing with honest curiosity, as it had yet to say what Dumbledore felt about any of this, just stating the facts of others.

that had particularly strong and dangerous powers was owned by Emeric, commonly called "the Evil", a short-lived but exceptionally aggressive wizard who terrorized the South of England in the early Middle Ages. He died as he had lived, in a ferocious duel with a wizard known as Egbert. What became of Egbert is unknown, although the life expectancy of medieval duellers was generally short. In the days before there was a Ministry of Magic to regulate the use of Dark Magic, dueling was usually fatal.

"I am fairly confident dueling is still fatal," Lily muttered.

A full century later, another unpleasant character, this time named Godelot, advanced the study of Dark Magic by writing a collection of dangerous spells with the help of a wand he described in his notebook as "my most wicked and subtle friend, with bodie of Ellhorn,6 who knowes ways of magick moste evile". (Magick Moste Evile became the title of Godelot's masterwork.)

As can be seen, Godelot considers his wand to be a helpmeet, almost an instructor. Those who are knowledgeable about wandlore5 will agree that wands do indeed absorb the expertise of those who use them, though this is an unpredictable and imperfect business;

one must consider all kinds of additional factors, such as the relationship between the wand and the user, to understand how well it is likely to perform with any particular individual.

Nevertheless, a hypothetical wand that had passed through the hands of many Dark wizards would be likely to have, at the very least, a marked affinity for the most dangerous kinds of magic.

Harry had been rubbing his palm against his knee through most of that passage, wishing that tingling sensation would vanish already almost as much as this loaded feeling there was much more to be remembered about all of this, not much of it pleasant.

Most witches and wizards prefer a wand that has "chosen" them to any kind of second-hand wand, precisely because the latter is likely to have learned habits from its previous owner that might not be compatible with the new user's style of magic. The general practice of burying (or burning) the wand with its owner, once he or she has died, also tends to prevent any individual wand learning from too many masters. Believers in the Elder Wand, however, hold that because of the way in which it has always passed allegiance between owners "the next master overcoming the first, usually by killing him."

"How can it be an unbeatable wand if it's passed along through death?" Remus couldn't resist poking at Sirius who was still trying to pretend he was bored with this by twirling his wand about even as he kept his head tilted towards James to hear these details giving him away. "That feels redundant."

"Use your imagination Moony, wands pass along without consent. It doesn't happen often-"

"But every single time?" Remus persisted.

Lily cleared her throat obnoxiously so that they'd stop carrying on while Harry gave her a grateful look and flattened his hair again, though it did no more good than banishing his headache.

the Elder Wand has never been destroyed or buried, but has survived to accumulate wisdom, strength and power far beyond the ordinary.

"You think that's why Mrs. Longbottom gave Neville his dads wand?" Harry pointed out something that had lingered in his mind, aside from the rest of that torture going on inside the Department of Mysteries.

"Neville didn't get his parents killed," Sirius said so sharply Harry jumped and looked at him in surprise.

"Not that, the accumulating wisdom bit, strength and power over time. I'll bet she's looking for Frank in Neville or something," he finished with still distant eyes, and they were all wondering what he was really thinking of, yet sure they were all missing it.

"Well, he'll be getting his own now, so whatever her intent was it's gone," Lily said gently.

"I'll bet Neville's magic will be loads better this year because of that," James agreed happily. "Even better than he was showing in the DA."

"Least that's one good thing to be looking forward to," Remus muttered.

Godelot is known to have perished in his own cellar, where he was locked by his mad son, Hereward. We must assume that Hereward took his father's wand, or the latter would have been able to escape, but what Hereward did with the wand after that we cannot be sure. All that is certain is that a wand called "the Eldrun6 Wand" by its owner, Barnabas Deverill, appeared in the early eighteenth century, and that Deverill used it to carve himself out a reputation as a fearsome warlock, until his reign of terror was ended by the equally notorious Loxias, who took the wand, rechristened it "the Deathstick", and used it to lay waste to anyone who displeased him. It is difficult to trace the subsequent history of Loxias's wand, as many claimed to have finished him off, including his own mother.

"Dumbledore's sure done a lot of research on this," James flipped to the next page and was actually relieved to see it was the last. "I'm starting to agree with Sirius, what's the point of all this?"

"The man does his homework?" Remus shrugged indifferently while Lily didn't care past wanting it to be done with as well.

Harry just looked around at all of them and ground his teeth together rather than blurt out something he'd regret.

What must strike any intelligent witch or wizard on studying the so-called history of the Elder Wand is that every man who claims to have owned it7 has insisted that it is "unbeatable", when the known facts of its passage through many owners' hands demonstrate that not only has it been beaten hundreds of times, but that it also attracts trouble as Grumble the Grubby Goat attracted flies.

Remus still couldn't help a little smirk of victory he and Dumbledore seemed to agree on that front, than he caught sight of Harry and fully remembered all that Dumbledore would do in this future, and the smile slipped away just as fast.

Ultimately, the quest for the Elder Wand merely supports an observation I have had occasion to make many times over the course of my long life: that humans have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.

"Wonder if he's speaking from experience," Lily said waspishly, having several accounts of the man doing just that.

But which of us would have shown the wisdom of the third brother, if offered the pick of Death's gifts?

James couldn't help but hum thoughtfully at that. Even now, with all his years he'd had with his cloak, given the choice of the three this moment, would he still pick the same? To see his parents again, to have even just one more protection for his family? He honestly wasn't at all sure no matter what he said aloud.

Wizards and Muggles alike are imbued with a lust for power; how many would resist "the Wand of Destiny"? Which human being, having lost someone they loved, could withstand the temptation of the Resurrection Stone? Even I, Albus Dumbledore, would find it easiest to refuse the Invisibility Cloak; which only goes to show that, clever as I am, I remain just as big a fool as anyone else.

"Ah, he does admit it, even to himself," Sirius growled.

"Wonder what changes then in times for him to take so long to do so," Harry snapped at no one in here while his dad finished.

1 Necromancy is the Dark Art of raising the dead. It is a branch of magic that has never worked, as this story makes clear.

2 Invisibility Cloaks are not, generally, infallible. They may rip or grow opaque with age, of the charms placed upon them may wear off, or be countered by charms of revealment. This is why witches and wizards usually turn, in the first instance, to Disillusionment Charms for self-camouflage or concealment. I have been known to be able to perform a Disillusionment Charm so powerful as to render myself invisible without the need for a Cloak.

3 Inferi are corpses reanimated by Dark Magic.

Harry crinkled up his nose in disgust. He was right, he hadn't wanted to know.

4 Many critics believe that Beedle was inspired by the Philosopher's Stone, which makes the immortality-inducing Elixir of Life, when creating this stone that can raise the dead.

5 Such as myself.

6 Also an old name for "elder".

7 No witch has ever claimed to own the Elder Wand. Make of that what you will.

James finished with a roaring laugh while Lily snatched the book away and gave him a light swat for whatever that laugh meant. James got it back before flipping through pages randomly instead of fully addressing Harry as he uneasily told him, "well, that was the last of them."

"I'm still taking the rest of the day," Sirius said at once, he knew he couldn't handle just yet hearing of Harry's next year, it helped nothing this couldn't even end on a truly pleasant note as Harry kept eyeing that story with some deep look none of them could know until it was too late.

The others agreed with him at once, and left Harry's next year for another day, still trying to enjoy whatever distance they could without having to spend the next indeterminable amount of time for the rest of this nightmare of a future.

HPHPHPHP

Hope you enjoyed these! They really are so much fun to read and they still make me smile, plus I absolutely inhale anything to do with this world, the extra knowledge in these pages and even something as silly as what kids would have been told as their bedtimes stories in conjunction with ours endlessly fascinates me.

*I am, unashamedly. I've spent many a countless hours on Harry Potter fan sites full of inner messages of these novels, leading to the existence of this fic, so you're welcome Sirius.

#The Life That Never Lived #Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #the tales of beedle the bard #Marauders #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Lily Potter

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