kantobromance-blog

[kantobromance-blog]

http://ra-ooo.deviantart.com/art/ER-The-Storm-p-1-359281355

http://ra-ooo.deviantart.com/art/End-Run-Fishing-pg-1-497114252

http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/105998546442/end-run-start-to-end http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106020301502/end-run-break-part-1 http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106037097812/end-run-break-part-2 http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106045738785/end-run-break-part-3 http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106058310191/end-run-break-part-4 http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106088920090/end-run-nigredo-part-1 http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106105225970/end-run-nigredo-part-2 http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106117111496/end-run-all-that-we-see http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106132723889/end-run-or-seem http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106141472090/end-run-is-but-a-dream http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106163509308/end-run-within-a-dream

http://ra-ooo.deviantart.com/gallery/34601393/End-Run-OCT

[kantobromance-blog]

The Monochromatic Secret Santa is over!

It ended today, and today the last of the gifts was uploaded, just in the nick of time! Applause for everyone for finishing their gifts, nobody was left hanging!

Even mottenfest who’s request to enter the SS was eaten by tumblr, got a gift in the end, with much thanks to kjsupernova for doing that! And a big thanks to Motten for being my backup gifter, just in case someone couldn’t finish making their gift in time.

Thanks to all who participated for my last Secret Santa hosting! Motten and KJ, swag-beetles, the-doodling-dragon, chjorniy-voron, samagrant, hoenniswheretheheartis, dastridly, radicalestes! You guys did really great work, and all of you worked really well with the challenge to do it in monochrome! There’s good variation in how everyone took the challenge, that’s exactly what I was hoping to see XD

So thanks again everyone for joining in on this! Links to the full works as posted on the artists’ tumblrs follows:

http://kjsupernova.tumblr.com/post/106570807527/posting-separately-mottenfest-secret-santa

http://swag-beetles.tumblr.com/post/107752009375/kjsupernova-sorry-about-such-a-long-delay-but-i#notes

http://the-doodling-dragon.tumblr.com/post/106184870011/aaahhh-ill-post-this-here-too-because-this-is-a

http://chjorniy-voron.tumblr.com/post/105310880412/surprise-the-doodling-dragon-i-was-your-secret

http://killerkhaleesii.tumblr.com/post/105415354041/merry-christmas-chjorniy-voron-i-was-your-secret

http://icy-artblog.tumblr.com/post/107677293461/end-run-secret-santa-14-by-icytemporalist

http://dastridly.tumblr.com/post/105572095224/happy-holidays-icy-i-was-your-secret-santa-so

http://radicalestes.tumblr.com/post/105415634550/ive-been-nitpicking-this-piece-for-three-days-so

http://kjsupernova.tumblr.com/post/106570896782/posting-separately-radicalestes-secret-santa

[kantobromance-blog]

The Monochromatic Secret Santa is over!

It ended today, and today the last of the gifts was uploaded, just in the nick of time! Applause for everyone for finishing their gifts, nobody was left hanging!

Even mottenfest who's request to enter the SS was eaten by tumblr, got a gift in the end, with much thanks to kjsupernova for doing that! And a big thanks to Motten for being my backup gifter, just in case someone couldn't finish making their gift in time.

Thanks to all who participated for my last Secret Santa hosting! Motten and KJ, swag-beetles, the-doodling-dragon, chjorniy-voron, samagrant, hoenniswheretheheartis, dastridly, radicalestes! You guys did really great work, and all of you worked really well with the challenge to do it in monochrome! There's good variation in how everyone took the challenge, that's exactly what I was hoping to see XD

So thanks again everyone for joining in on this! Links to the full works as posted on the artists' tumblrs follows:

http://kjsupernova.tumblr.com/post/106570807527/posting-separately-mottenfest-secret-santa

http://swag-beetles.tumblr.com/post/107752009375/kjsupernova-sorry-about-such-a-long-delay-but-i#notes

http://the-doodling-dragon.tumblr.com/post/106184870011/aaahhh-ill-post-this-here-too-because-this-is-a

http://chjorniy-voron.tumblr.com/post/105310880412/surprise-the-doodling-dragon-i-was-your-secret

http://killerkhaleesii.tumblr.com/post/105415354041/merry-christmas-chjorniy-voron-i-was-your-secret

http://icy-artblog.tumblr.com/post/107677293461/end-run-secret-santa-14-by-icytemporalist

http://dastridly.tumblr.com/post/105572095224/happy-holidays-icy-i-was-your-secret-santa-so

http://radicalestes.tumblr.com/post/105415634550/ive-been-nitpicking-this-piece-for-three-days-so

http://kjsupernova.tumblr.com/post/106570896782/posting-separately-radicalestes-secret-santa

[kantobromance-blog]

crimson-miz replied to your post:So driving downtown yesterday I passed by the...

omg beautiful

so excited

[kantobromance-blog]

So driving downtown yesterday I passed by the Blaisdell Concert Hall which, out front, has a sign that scrolls through all the upcoming concerts and events there. At a red light I idly glance at the sign and it says "Symphony of the Goddesses." Looking front again I think to myself 'That sounds very Zelda-y.'

Then I look back. "zelda-symphony.com" it reads, and I gasp audibly and almost die of a heart attack in the middle of moving traffic.

And now I have my very own ticket to the Symphony of the Goddesses on the thirtieth and I"M SO EXCITED AND I JUST CAN"T HIDE IT

[kantobromance-blog]

I just wanted to wish you a Happy New year and good luck! I hope your goals and plans pan out and that if not the trying for them leads you to where you are supposed to go. ouo /

Aw man thank you, that's super thoughtful and considerate of you to say. I like the personalized well-wishes most :) thanks

Here's hoping that this comes true haha Oh how I do so hope I can see my plans through to the end.

I hope your year turns out very well for you and everything you set out to do too.

[kantobromance-blog]

I don't have a question really, but I guess I just wanted to let you know before the blog is gone that i enjoyed reading all of your ER posts, reading the comics, and your role-plays. I enjoyed chatting with you and rping with you, and if you wanna stay in touch I still use the same dA. You are an awesomely talented person in writing and art and I wish you all the best! Happy New Year, Ra!

Hey man that's really nice of you to say. Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed my ER stuff. ..but man am I just glad it's over XD;;

And I too still use the same DA as well, which is gonna be exclusively where I am haha

Happy new year to you too.

[kantobromance-blog]

I will miss you showing up on my dash and your art and your talkings when you leave, but I hope to see more from you on DA in whatever you decide to do and also I hope you have a good and happy 2015 :)))

Aha when did I ever even show up on anyone's dash :,D I hardly post anything at all.

And yeah if there is anything you, or anyone else, wants from me, I'm on DA~

I hope you have a good new year too. I'll have to add your tumblr to my list of websites and stuff I regularly visit haha

[kantobromance-blog]

you were one of the people i most looked up to in end run, and even after end run you stuck up for me when things were low, I don't know if I can really find words good enough to express how much i appreciate everything you've done for me, and all of the times we got to share. You make me proud to know you, even if we're not as close as we used to be. You are an inspiration, and i hope i can follow you to wherever you go to when you're done here.

Aw man. I wish you had so much more. I'm glad I can do something for you but I know we only talk like.. once every other month or something. That's a very long time to go in between, so I really hope you have a lot more people in your life who do the same thing you're thanking me for.

I'll be on DA, I'll be easy to find hah.

[kantobromance-blog]

are you going to stay on tumblr at some other url or are you just never gonna Tumblr again? I'll miss you loads ;A;

Nope, absolutely not. I won't say I'll never be on Tumblr again, cuz you never know, but. I do not want to be on this website and have no reason to be at the moment, so.

It's not like I do anything here anyway, and I'm still on Deviantart. I have PokePlatform and Dawn-of-Final-Days there plus Game-Art-HQ challenges that I'll participate in. That's all I'm gonna do, it'll be all on DA.

[kantobromance-blog]

Secret Santa update!

Just a reminder for everyone, all but two of the gifts have been uploaded!

hoenniswheretheheartis and swag-beetles if you guys uploaded yours and I missed it, let me know. Otherwise, you still got twelve days.

But get them done as soon as you can!

I'll make a post with all the images linked once they're all done and I'll make sure everyone sees their gifts.

[kantobromance-blog]

I hope everyone spent this Christmas with someone who loves them. I spent mine with the one thing in this world who loves me. Me and my dumb old cat in a big empty house. Look at that dumb face~ Merry Christmas.

[kantobromance-blog]

End Run: Within A Dream

Previous: http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106141472090/end-run-is-but-a-dream

On the ground Isa was in a savage struggle with a hulking dark-type dog. She screamed as she crashed against the monster and stabbed rapidly into its neck with her tusks. It was digging its claws into her, and using dark energy as it did. She broke away and sprinted, and it came right after her and tackled her down. They rolled on the ground in a violent struggle of blood, fur and shrieking. She'd felt the squad dying at the hands of a single Honchkrow's Perish Song and lost track of Czinka, and in the fallout after that had lost track of Xander in Willow's Night Shade. As she had plummeted through the air she started to reach out to try to find them again. She found her sister. But it was not one she'd been expecting. Alina was back. Isa stood between the beast and her sister, a Gothitelle who crouched fearfully behind her. She had just narrowly saved Alina from the monster's blood-stained maw but in doing so, she was now realizing, she sacrificed her own life. Only a miracle would get her out of this alive. 'Alina! You came back for a reason, now go!' Isa screamed bloody murder as her ear was clamped between dagger teeth and ripped off her head. 'I'LL BE FINE! RUN! RUN BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!' Isa went for the throat with her own teeth, shaking her head and stabbing with her tusks. 'Everything happens for a reason. Now go.' There was no argument with this. Alina wiped the dirty trails of tears from her face and scampered off. She had come back for a reason, yes. She had left for a reason, and returned for one now too. There was someone here she loved, who she wanted to save. She needed to, she had to be there for her family. All this way she'd come following the connection she'd built with her sisters and with Xander. She knew how to find him. She found him. Outside of the ruined city, surrounded by their monsters, Xander lied on the ground and Amelia was over him crying. Alina slowly approached. Czinka and Lady felt her coming and almost didn't recognize her from the way she'd changed. /Alina!/ A mix of joy and despair spouted from Lady. 'Alina, you've evolved. You're back.' Czinka approached her and Alina fell against her, nuzzling into her shoulder. Czinka rested her chin over Alina's back. 'We're so glad you are here.' They stood at Xander's side. Czinka hung her head and Alina scrutinized the scene. Xander wasn't dead. 'But what can we do?' Czinka looked dolefully at her sister. She or Lady would just hurt him more if they tried to help. There was nothing they could do but be there as he died. Alina paced away. She was shaking, but she held out. As a Gothorita she would have broken down in this situation, she would have been the first to give up. But she was a Gothitelle now, she evolved because she had grown. She had saved a life before... she could do it again. She would. She had the strength and fortitude to save the one who had done so much for her, whether he knew it or not. She had power now, powers that in the far future would earn her breed the title of Astral Body Pokemon. She could open her inner eye, and when she did now for the first time, the world around her changed. She looked at the group before her, human and Pokemon, and saw the duration of their lives above each of them like a tower. Some longer than others. Xander's was almost gone. It ticked down, sinking into the ground a little more as each second passed. That was where she needed to go. She could, if she could tap into her true powers. If she could just unlock what she had been born with. And she could. She was born for this.

There was nothing. Not even he was there, really. He'd reached the end of the line. Emptiness spread out around him, just as he'd wanted. 'But it's not what you really want.' Old familiar words. 'I'm making do.' He didn't even have to come up with anything new. He'd had this conversation before. But wait.. Who was he having it with? It was the stag again, wasn't it? Then why couldn't he see it? He opened his eyes. There was nothing.. and then there was the stag. "What is this..? Where are we..?" "Where do you think we are?" "You sound different.." Xander said suspiciously. The stag's voice was markedly different from any other time he'd spoken to it. "How do you mean? This is the first we've ever spoken." Xander stared. He didn't understand. "What are you talking about? I've seen you a hundred times before now." "What exactly... do you see before you?" "...What...." "What voice did you hear before when you saw this face?" "What voice... well... It... I think.. it was...." "Whose voice was it? What you saw, was it truly there? Did the voice come from what you saw, or did it come from..." "...It was me..."

'It wasn't... the truth.' Xander stared. The figure before him raised two small feminine hands up to its skull face and removed it as if it were a mask. The stag skull fell to the floor and split completely in two upon impact. The halves sank into the nothingness upon which they stood. It was gone. Xander looked back up at the figure standing in front of him. Slowly they gained more form. A black cloak, a face shrouded in shadow, he could only make out a porcelain white chin. It held a scythe. "You see what you believe you are seeing. Do you know now what I am?" "....Death..?" "Then you understand too where we are. Walk with me." Walking. With nowhere to go, no landmarks to determine how long or how far they'd been walking. There was no time here to pass. There was nothing. "I'm dead?" Xander asked softly. "No. But you will be soon." Xander looked up at the grim figure beside him, then back down. He sighed. "I'd been hoping this would happen, but now that it has... well I don't know. ...I wish I could have done anything differently." "Nobody leaves their life with no regret." "Yeah well I bet nobody leaves their life with as much regret as me." Xander stopped walking and scowled bitterly down at the ground. "God I.. I was just talking to myself all along..." It made sense to him now too. Now that he was here outside of himself, now that the obligations of the world he used to exist in were gone. He felt like he could really think clearly. And he could really allow himself to speak the truth. It was what he'd been speaking all along. But he was so unable to accept it, and accept that he could think that way, he created a monster to speak those monstrous words. "I can't believe it..." He walked. "There's so much I wish I'd done different... you know? I wish... I wish I'd just said 'fuck it' and done the things that would have made me happy. I mean I know that would have been impossible for me. But... I wish I'd spent a little more effort on looking out for myself. I wish I'd put a little more into doing what was right for me. Fuck everyone else... "I... feel like I.. I learned so much all of a sudden, just in the last few hours, and now.. Now I'm dead. What's the fucking point in all these lessons..." "You can at least rest in peace this way. If you settle your grievances before your time, then you will be able to depart, rather than linger." "Yeah... I guess that's true..." Xander sighed. Rest in peace... that did sound pretty good... "Though perhaps you will get the chance to apply what you've learned to your life." "What?" The nothingness rippled, and behind them the surface was broken and a figure clawed its way forth. Xander took a fearful step backward as a black form lurched out of the ground. Then she raised her face to look at him with large ice blue eyes. "A-Alina..."

She ran to him.

"Where did you... Did you- Did you die too?" "No." He heard her voice for the first time. It was beautiful. "I came to bring you back..." Xander didn't know what to think. He looked back over his shoulder to Death. "She is not dying, she cannot see me. It is just the two of you alone in your mind." Xander looked back at the Gothitelle in his arms. "Alina.. I..." "She cannot bring you back." Death was nearer now. "She has no power over death. She merely has the power to reach this plane." Quietly Xander put his arms around Alina. "You can't bring me back Alina..." "No.." she twittered. "No I can't lose you..." She looked up at him with glistening eyes pouring tears. "I lost my family once before, I can't bear it a second time. I would sooner die myself than lose you. I can't lose my father again." Her words hurt. He hadn't realized... "God Alina.." He held her tighter. "I can't do anything." "But she can. She has the ability to exchange her life for yours." Death was at his shoulder. "She cannot see me, but she will hear this as a whisper. A life can be traded for a life." Alina suddenly stepped back, epiphany dawning. "Yes..." "No..!" Xander knew what she was thinking. "I will... Please let me save you. Xander... you have a reason to live. I..." she lowered her head. "My real family is all dead." "But.. the others.. Your sisters." "I love them. And you. But I love my real family too." She started to cry. "The choice is yours," Death retreated, only a little. The choice was his. He couldn't leave and cause Alina suffering for the rest of his life, but he couldn't kill her just for himself. Xander turned away.

He looked to his left, Death, the end to his suffering he'd been hoping for all along. The promise of a final, true rest. He looked to his right, where Alina stood quietly wiping her tears away. A second chance at life, life beyond the war with Amelia, Amelia who had come back. Someone who still loved him even knowing what he was. The choice was his. He took a deep breath. This was his and his alone. He was the one to decide. For once in his life... And had he not just been saying how he wanted to choose what was right for him? Now was his time, and he knew what to choose. Both figures on either side waited expectantly for his decision. He turned toward his choice, and.... he couldn't help but smile. Xander reached out, his hand was met halfway.

"Thank you..."

Hand in hand, they turned together forward. But he hesitated before taking his first step. Looking back over his shoulder, he smiled.

"I'll see you around. Hopefully not for a very long time."

He turned back to face his decision, and he took his first step. He knew he'd chosen what was right.

[kantobromance-blog]

End Run: Is But A Dream

Previous: http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106132723889/end-run-and-seem

He fell through the air. Maybe he was already dead. He felt like he might be. He hoped so. 'You're empty without him. '....It.. it's true. 'I thought he loved me, the way I... thought.. I loved him. 'He was the only good thing in my life. The one thing I had that I could rely on... He was all I had... 'As long as he loved me and wanted me... and needed me... I had a reason to live. 'I loved that... 'I was in love with.. the idea of being loved.. 'But he didn't actually give a shit about me after all. He couldn't have cared less. 'I guess he just loved what he got from me, and not me myself. ..When I gave him something different... what I thought.. both of us wanted... I shattered the illusion. 'What even were we.....?' He fell through the air. 'Boy what a fucking life...' Somehow, he felt a sense of peace. Perhaps simply because, regardless of the journey leading up to this moment, it was finally over. The promise of reprieve awaited him. The promise of a different type of Hell. It was over. Xander. Xander! He opened his eyes. "Xander!!" '...I am dead then.' He didn't know what he was seeing. "Xander!!" Amelia. She was falling too, right toward him, hand outstretched. 'Is this real?' He reached out toward her. The blood flowing from his wound splashed on his arm, it splashed on her. She took his hand. She pulled them together, her arms wrapped around him. 'Amelia. She's here. ... She's crying.' He put his arm around her. He was crying too, he realized.

They fell together through the air. 'You came back...'

Xander wasn't sure what had happened. He'd passed out, but now he was coming to again. The wind was gentle. The sun was mild. Soft hands moved over him, and a voice that cared said his name. He opened his eyes. "Oh Xander..." Amelia put her head on his chest when she saw he was still alive. He tried to put his hand on her head, but the sharp pain of moving his arm made him stop. He flinched. "It's okay," Amelia said with a sniff. She put a hand over his wound to tell him not to move. The icicle had been removed, and now it bled freely. "I can't believe you're here," he breathed. She bit her lip, looking pained, but she nodded. "I never thought I'd see you like this again," he went on. "I'm really glad.." And then he closed his eyes.

((Syncs with Saf's story here: http://safayia.deviantart.com/art/ER-R7-DTKAF-171-PG10-458432014 ))

Next: http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106163509308/end-run-within-a-dream

[kantobromance-blog]

End Run: Or Seem

Previous: http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106117111496/end-run-all-that-we-see

/Alexander! Alexander!/ /Alexander./ The screaming in his head gently died away. The wind died down. Everything died. It was quiet, and dark. He became aware of what he was feeling, the only sensation he could register. A slight pain where his right arm met his body. Something around him, coming over his left shoulder. Something was all around him. "Alexander." His eyes snapped open at the voice that filled him with fear. No, not the stag again, he thought he was done with this when he ran out of pills. It lurked in the darkness behind him, creeping its hand-like antlers like a ribcage around him. He looked down at himself, there was a sickly gray arm over his shoulder reaching down his front, feeling its way lower and lower. He jumped and grabbed it in panic, and threw it off himself. There was something on his head, covering his ears. He scrambled to remove it, taking only one look at the meaty, wriggling thing that had been on him before throwing it down to his feet in frightened reflex. He tried to catch his breath and steady himself. He put his hand back on the stick and took a deep breath. Calm down, he still had a plane to pilot after all. The stag wasn't really there, it was just in his head- But whatever he'd put his hand on quivered and spurted something hot, sticky and black into his palm. He looked down at it, at the grotesque, throbbing, snaking flesh that had replaced his spitfire's control column. He scrambled away from it with a frightened cry but was confined in the tiny space of the cockpit with it. Another spurt of black ooze splattered onto his right shoulder and stabbed into him with terrible pain. Something hot was leaking into his boots. Bile was welling up around his feet, and rising. It smelled like vomit and hot raw meat. He gagged. "S..- Stop, Stop please!" He clawed at the red pulsing walls on either side of him. "STOP!" "You didn't tell him to stop back then!" A sinister voice shrieked into his ear. "Because I thought I loved him!" "You thought??" The bile was up to his thighs, and riding on its surface were blobs of hot, sticky black ooze that grabbed onto him and pulled angrily at his clothes. "Please leave me alone I can't take this anymore!!" "You had no trouble taking it from him!!" Relentless. "But I did! That wasn't what I wanted- I just wanted to make him happy but I didn't want that!! I wasn't ready! He used me and I let him, I thought it was what I wanted too- but I've felt hollow inside, like there's a hole in me ever since!" The tears flowed freely. He ran his hands down his front, over all the black, empty holes in his body. For a moment the chaos stopped. "I had a reason to live with him.. but now." Nothing. "Now you have nothing. Nothing but the EMPTINESS INSIDE YOU!" The bile was up around his waist, and as it rose it started to pour into the empty holes in Xander's front. He tried to escape it, he screamed. "STOP WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME!?" He clawed at the ceiling above him, the muscular spine with ribs curving around him like a cage. He couldn't get his fingers between the ribs, he dug into the muscles and cartilage to try to pull his way through. He kicked and clawed, and suddenly one of the ribs jarred out of place. He pulled it back and climbed out. On the outside was fur, he grabbed a handful and pulled himself up, out into a blustery hurricane. Squinting into the wind he looked up and before him spewing acrid smoke and jets of flame was the skull of the demon stag. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" it roared, and Xander was thrown out into the empty air. He fell. He hit earth. With a grunt he found himself face to face with soft new shoots of grass. He sat up. The sudden change in scenery was all but impossible to register. Where was he? He was in a sunny little glade. Birds were chirping. The wind was still, the sun was gentle and warm. Bushes and trees surrounded him. They felt so familiar. A rustling to the side made him snap to attention. A Sawsbuck was bouncing away into the dimness of the forest trees. He watched it until it was gone completely into the murk. Flowers drifted in its wake, floating like in water. He lingered on the path it had taken for a while longer. Something felt unreal. What he just saw, was that what it really was..?

The wind picked up. The warmth of the sun went away. The tender grass shoots beneath him were gone. He was still falling. He was thousands of feet up and falling. The holes were gone, the bile, the black ooze. But his shoulder still hurt with stabbing pain, there was a huge icicle impaling him. Below him farmland flicked in and out of view through the Night Shade that surrounded him. He fell. He let himself fall.

Next: http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106141472090/end-run-is-but-a-dream

[kantobromance-blog]

End Run: All That We See

Previous: http://kantobromance.tumblr.com/post/106105225970/end-run-nigredo-part-2

'The days... weeks. ..Months? 'They bleed together now. 'I get in my spitfire, I run a mission. I come home. Home. I eat, I sleep. I feel like shit. 'I feel like I'm just another one of the moving parts of my plane. 'I feel like a machine. 'I kind of like it that way. 'I feel sore and aching and tired all the time, but focused. Uncluttered. I don't worry about anything anymore. I still keep up a good public front. I smile, I talk. I play pool, my violin, I train with others. 'So it's fine. 'Doing this day after day, I failed to notice we were actually accomplishing something really big. 'Today, for the first time in a while, I felt something. 'Fear.' One by one the airmen filed in through the door and took their seats. General Hitchins stood at the front of the room like a professor about to give a lecture. Behind her on the wall sprawled a map of Johto. Flags and pins pierced it all over. The attention for today was on the Bay of Olivine and the Goldenrod coast. Those two cities were marked in red. "Today is the eve of the war's end soldiers," she started. "We've come a long way and now we're on the doorstep of victory. "Tomorrow we move out for the final strike on Johto's port cities Olivine and Goldenrod. We will destroy the harbors to cut off their primary supply lines and choke them out. Squadrons 17, 42 and 147 will move out first to lead the attack and strike Goldenrod first. The rest will follow and continue onward to Olivine." She continued explaining the course of action, which Xander mindlessly absorbed as he followed her hands skating across the map. "Olivine's destruction will be led by Captain Kalili wielding Ho-oh." Xander came back to his senses as an all-too-familiar figure joined Hitchins at the front of the room. "After the bombing of Olivine all squadrons will proceed south." Amelia said nothing as she stood there next to Hitchins. She held the master ball containing Ho-oh in one hand. At that moment Xander felt a little less like a robot and a little more like himself. His anxiety-riddled, fear-fueled self. 'Amelia.... I can't believe it. ....shit.' The next day came fast, and in the cold pre-dawn air the fleet started to move out. Lady, Czinka and Isa at his side, Xander was giving his plane the final once-over before climbing inside. Lady shuffled uncomfortably close alongside him, and he could feel her apprehension. Czinka and Isa just quietly waited nearby keeping their mental conversation private. Alina had never returned. Xander met the static eye of the sawsbuck skull painted on the nose of his plane. He stared at it a long time, but nothing happened. He sighed. Ducking under the wing of the plane, he climbed up and started to get in when something caught his eye. Someone. It was Amelia. He stared. 'Amelia's alive. ..and... looking pretty good. Wow...' She looked remarkably healthier than ever. Suddenly her eyes snapped up and she glared straight at him. He turned away immediately. That said more than words could have. He got into the spitfire, put on his eyepatch, strapped in and donned his headset. There was already chatter on the airwaves. He went through the motions of pre-flight prep and let the noise in his headset drown out all other thought. And then they were in the air. Goldenrod was already in flames by the time the second wave was approaching. They stayed high over the water with the coast to their side. Radio chatter died down as everyone watched one of Johto's biggest cities turn to ash. Resistance was minimal, obvious even from the distance they were at. It was unlikely Kanto would lose any planes on this run. They continued north over the water. "ETA five minutes," Amelia's voice pierced Xander's ears over the radio. It was taken over by more talking, but he continued to hear her voice coming through. He knew the plan, he didn't need to listen. With the flick of a switch he killed his radio. It was silent. 'Keep me tuned in if there's anything important Lady. Otherwise... I don't want to hear anyone. Just you. Let me stay focused...' The pokeball beside his hand let out a pulse of mental waves, affirmative. "Isa, Czinka. It's time to get out. Lady, teleport." With a flash of pink, a beast appeared on either wing. The only protection they had was goggles and their psychic network. They both leapt out into the open air. "Defend the bombers if Johto manages to retaliate, and don't hold back. We're here to wipe Olivine off the map." The coastal city grew rapidly before the fleet as they approached. On the ground they were already mobilizing. Nobody had expected to catch them by surprise after Goldenrod. The harbors below were roiling with monsters and anti-aircraft guns were already starting to open fire. Bursts of smoke started appearing in the air below them, lightning strikes, and water spouts from the wailords they'd deployed. But it meant nothing, the bombers dropped their payloads as easily as if it were a training mission. In neat rows warehouses, piers, and ships blew apart in flames. "Mission accomplished, now all we gotta do is survive the ret-" /Six 'o clock. Engaged/ Suddenly Lady opened up her mental channels with Xander, and he could see through her five pairs of eyes what was happening around him. A plane and its Yanmega were on his tail. A hard right, and the aircraft banked as a beam of energy flashed past where they'd been moments before. The Yanmega powered ahead to close the space between itself and its prey. "Looks like we got a dogfight. Lady, shake him up, teleport him!" Xander could dodge with skill, but the Yanmega kept coming and nothing was happening to it. "Lady!" A dark emotion emanated from her ball. /bug bug Bug BugBUGBUG/ It was panic and terror. The Yanmega arced over the spitfire, when suddenly sharp stones tore through it and Isa landed hard on the wing of the plane. Czinka landed on the other side, evening out the impact. She leapt over the cockpit and bellowed, unleashing a flood of fire on the torn body of the Yanmega. "Isa! Czinka! Damn, thank God for you two, tha-" 'Idiot!' Isa shouted over his thoughts. Her nose was to the glass, her mouth open squealing at him even though he couldn't hear it. 'Don't order Lady against bugs, she's terrified of them!' Xander scoffed. "How was I supposed to know that?" Isa leapt back into the open air with one parting thought. 'How indeed.' Xander furrowed his brow at her as she vanished below the plane. A sudden shadow eclipsed the cockpit, Czinka was sprawled overhead. 'Don't worry too much about it sir. You're not a psychic after all.' "...Thanks..." Xander wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse. Czinka pushed off and was back into the air as well. Another monster approached. /Alexander/ "I see it. Four 'o clock. Take him down with confusion." They were back in the action. As were Isa and Czinka. 'There's a couple stragglers to the southeast, advancing to cover a retreat,' Czinka said while she drifted toward Isa on psychic wings. The pig built herself platforms - psychic energy, moving planes, debris - to spring off of with her tail. 'Let's split then.' Isa replied. 'I'll go that way, you stay by Lady and keep them covered.' 'Roger, stay safe.' They gave each other a boost, pushing off one another with psychic energy to propel them on their ways. 'You too.' Czinka returned to the plane just in time to snap a Swellow with Psychic. "Good work," Xander said, "Another at two 'o clock, from below." 'Roger.' Czinka leapt off her perch at the wing of the plane to blast a Flareon off a Fearow's back with Water Pulse. Xander banked and watched her below entangled with the giant bird. Then they disappeared out of sight. "Lost visual contact, Lady keep us-" There was a sudden pulse of panic Lady let in to Xander's mind. It was the rest of the squad. /Critical danger/ Something had gone wrong, Xander turned to make his way back to the group, but they were dropping like flies. "What happened?!" Perfectly intact planes flew on their own to eventually meet the ground. "Shit..! I shouldn't have broken off, I should have left the radio on-" /No. Alexander. This was out of your control. There was nothing you could do./ "Don't say that! We're joining back up. Look there's at least one plane still flying!" They approached, and Xander could make out the paintjob of the sole plane still in control. He felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. 'Amelia.' They gained on her, as her Chandelure Willow cast Night Shade that engulfed the airspace. The ghostly dark clouds billowed up and Xander's plane plunged in. Visibility was down to zero, he could easily crash into Amelia herself like this. /Night Shade./ Lady's mental voice was weaker, as were the images of their surroundings she tried her best to project into Xander's mind. At least it raised visibility a few dozen yards. /Long-range psychic communication cut off./ "Shit, the girls then... We're on our own..." Xander flew wingtip to wingtip with Amelia. Their props cleared the air somewhat, and as they moved in and out of pockets of clear air he could see her. She knew he was at her side, and she wasn't happy about it. Xander sighed and tried the radio. "Captain, come in." He was met with static. "...Amelia?" Nothing. "The radio's out. Lady?" /Broadcast difficult beyond plane./ "You can do it Lady.." There was silence. He could feel her trying. But it didn't work. "It's all right.. Focus on our surroundings instead, we're flying blind. Are you picking anything up?" /No./ There was a heavy pause. /Wait./ Lady's mental map of their surroundings increased to the best of her ability, and something flickered at its edges. /Enemy! Cannot track-/ "Ah hell, all right, just watch my six Lady. They might not know we're-" An enemy plane thundered through the ghostly clouds immediately before them, and it was already firing Icicle Spears from the Shellder mounted on the underside of each wing. "Ah shit they've got Shellders!" Xander pulled up, and suddenly the canopy shattered and wind was howling into the cockpit at hurricane force. He yelled, and his voice was stolen by the gale. /Alexander! Alexander!/ Lady filled his head with panic and flashes of warning. /Serious bodily injury! Alexander!/ It was all he could hear, her emotion, the wind, the pain in his right breast. He could hardly breathe. He couldn't see. It went dark.

((Syncs with Saf's story: http://safayia.deviantart.com/art/ER-R7-DTKAF-171-PG7-458051847 ))

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End Run: Nigredo part 2

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You're free. Someone told him that, somehow. It might not have even been just now, but it was in now that he knew the words. You're free. There were arms around him, not suffocating but loving, he was lifted up. Someone was taking him home. You're free. The sound of his own voice was the first thing he registered. Himself mumbling, his voice rumbling in his throat. He opened his eyes. The old familiar surroundings, though usually it was Amelia in the cot, not him. He was in the medic's tent. There was an IV drip in his arm and a throbbing pain in his head. He put his hand on his stomach, and there was no wound. "I'm alive." The words shattered him inside. "Good morning soldier. Good to see you're up." Xander raised his damp face out of his hands to meet the eyes of the stern doctor standing over him. "I have some questions for you." Xander was incapable of caring. Then the doctor held out the empty glass bottle that once housed Xander's pills. "Questions like, for instance, why you were found last night unconscious in a pool of your own vomit in the latrines. And why you have this bottle, which, according to the serial number on the bottom, went missing with a number of others when they were shipped in a year ago." Xander stared blankly at the doctor. "Well you don't have to say a word. This is what we have psychics for." On cue a Kadabra approached. Xander started to get some feeling back at the sight of it. He felt panic. 'Don't send for your Pokemon,' its cool voice settled into his mind, 'they are blocked.' Its eyes started to glow. This was it, this was to be his undoing. How he wished he'd succeeded last night. God... 'I see why you resist. Do not worry, the information the doctor seeks will not compromise you. He will learn nothing.' That unexpected reassurance was enough to make Xander drop his guard. ..This wasn't the moment of his undoing after all? The Kadabra turned to the doctor. 'This is the one responsible.' "¡¡AAAAAAHHHHH!!" Hysterical screaming drew a crowd. "Jou can't do dis to me!! I am best scientist 'ere! Jou can't afford to be rid of me!!!" Two MPs were dragging Eliseo DeLevante to the back of an armored truck. "I GIVE YOU DA MASTER BALL JOU CAN'T DO DIS!!" The crowd that had gathered was murmuring amongst itself. "Who is that?" "What's going on?" "¡Gitano cabron!" Eliseo screamed at the sky, "'ow dare jou turn on me after all I do for jou!! Wit me die jour 'ope for ever get cured! Jou be FAGGOT forever!!!" The doors of the truck slammed shut, punctuating Eliseo's parting words. "What's he talking about?" "Who was that guy?" "He said gypsy right?" Xander, out of sight at the back of the crowd, turned away from the scene and left. He could hear the truck start and tires crunching over the ground as it rolled away. The sound of Eliseo's resistance still thumped out from behind the doors while they drove off. His words still pierced deep into Xander's head. Out of options. There was nowhere left to run. He still felt physically weak from his overdose, and emotionally dead from existing. But his mind, no matter how battered it became, refused to slow. That was worse than everything else. What more could he do? In such a short amount of time, all of his chances were lost. There was nothing else. His relentless mind burned out its gears and kept on grinding as it sought for a solution that did not exist. The landscape before him met his rising gaze. It was the tarmac, lined up with planes and pilots and monsters. This was it. This was his fate. Worse than death. It was to keep on doing exactly what he'd been doing all along. There was no solution, there was no path to sanctuary. There was no safe haven to provide even brief respite from the typhoon. There was only life, and it's bleak promise that maybe, just maybe, there was nothingness afterward. He could hold on to that hope, at least.

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