#And then he proceeds to continue beating the ever living shit out of Dragon. For being a fucking idiot

[moongothic]

While I do believe it's likely the reason Dragon never contacted Croc after The Divorce was because things didn't go As Intended (/shit just went Bad) (or they kept their distance for security reasons, not wanting to risk being found out etc)

There is that Funny Alternative that the reason Dragon never contacted Crocodile and warned him about their son having become a pirate with a bounty and having entered the Grand Line, was because Dragon just assumed Crocodile would be able to recognize Luffy right away because "they're so similar" and that it'd be "a nice surprise" if they ran into each other

[stealthetrees]

I don’t think anyone has fully considered the potential of a feral zuko au.

Like, Ozai tries to kill him when he’s 10, but zuko escapes with a scar, Ozai claims he was killed by an assassin and Azula gets a redemption arc early.

Meanwhile zuko is off completely changing the corse of history by, in no particular order:

-Making Hama realize that not all fire benders are bad cause the child she just told about how she was in prison immediately his to instigate a jail break

-is emotionally adopted by hakoda along with most of the crew

-finds wan shi tong’s library

-befriends/is adopted by June the bounty hunter

-discovers a herd of flying bison

-joins a traveling acting troupe for a while cause he’s a theater nerd

-visits omashu and is forcibly befriended by bumi, who decides that zuko is now his grandson and no one can stop him

-discovers the white lotus, decides that they don’t do shit, and starts a hobby of breaking into their safe houses and wrecking them until they get off their asses and help with the war

-meets toph when some fire nation soldiers chase him to gaoling and she stops them, and her parents see her, but zuko does this little speech about how proud they must be of their daughter and how much they must trust and respect her since she’s such a powerful earth bender, and basically guilt trips them into letting toph continue to fight and practice bending

-gets a dragon tattoo 

-wanders into the swamp at some point

-drinks a bit more than he probably should, but he can hold it shockingly well

-figures out lightning bending in the middle of a thunderstorm 

-goes to ba sing se, gets arrested by the Dai li, breaks out, and starts a one man war with them, which basically is just zuko par core-ing around the city till he finds some Dai li, then rather beats the shit out of them, or just kill them. 

-He does it all with out fire bending though, just his swords. 

-After like a week the Dai li are basically gone, and the earth king finds out about the war, and makes zuko a part of the army, some fancy title and a medal or something, zuko is officially recognized as the dragon of the east, and proceeds to duck off to the North Pole to try and convince them to help in the war

-they don’t want to, but he befriends yue and they talk about politics and zuko helps her get out of the arranged marriage 

-zuko called Paku a sexist bitch and is surprised yet delighted to inform him that blood bending was invented by a woman

-invents lightning redirection

-the north joins the war thanks to yue 

-zuko meets the mechanist at the northern air temple at some point

-meets and joins the freedom fighters, makes out with jet, uses fire bending to save jets like, then jet tries to kill him

-the other kids understand that zuko is still good even though he’s a fire bender, but zuko leaves, even though every single kid adopted zuko as their older brother

-becomes known as the greatest swords man to ever live

-it’s actually true, and when piandao, who has Ali adopted zuko, hears that he is very proud and brags about it to everyone he meets

-basically zuko gets adopted by almost every adult he meets

-gets really good at cooking, hunting, reading maps, finding water, pick pocketing, stowing away on beats, sewing, and pretty much every other skill you would need to live on your own. 

-hears that Zhao has captured the avatar and casually breaks Aang out of prison

-refuses to be his firebending teacher and leaves

-stops at a village to tell them that the volcano next to them is about to explode, and he knows this cause he grew up in the fire nation which has a lot of volcanos

-they don’t believe him cause the fortune teller never said anything about it, zuko gets pissed and starts yelling at them

-this is the exact moment Aang Katara and sokka show up

-zuko thinks Aang is following him and tries to leave, but sokka recognizes him as the dragon of the east from a wanted poster

-they basically follow zuko around trying to convince him to help them, and he is this close to just beating them up when Katara mentions they are going to the northern water tribe to learn bending

-zuko agrees to go with them just so he can see Katara kick paku’s ass 

-obviously zuko and sokka get together at some point

-when the gaang finds joung joung zuko makes fun of him cause zuko was there when he broke up with piandao cause he was afraid of being found out (cause being gay was illegal) and piandao kicked his ass even though he’s a non bender

Meanwhile Azula thinks she could have prevented zukos death somehow, maybe helped him with his fire bending or hadn’t bullied him so much or something. 

Ozai kind of focused on her more and started to look down on her a lot more cause he couldn’t compare her to zuko. He put a lot more pressure on her and it drove her away from him, she started seeking his approval less and less, instead growing closer to her mom and uncle. Her mom was constantly worried she would screw up and Azula would die too, but she was Ali scared of making her think she was trying to replace zuko. But by being rather open with Azula about that it never really became an issue. 

Azula took up sword fighting and trained with piandao and she got a lot of character growth from that, cause she wasn’t naturally good at it and really had to work hard. Piandao was not someone she could bully or manipulate, so she had to struggle with earning someone’s approval. 

Piandao told her at some point that sword fighting was not something that came naturally to anyone, and you had to work hard your whole life to be really good. He also said zuko was the fastest learner and best student he had ever taught. Piandao believed that zuko could have easily surpassed piandao himself within a few years.

Azula gets to go to the war meeting that zuko got banished at in the show, she also says the plan is wrong, but in a much more eloquent way that doesn’t dishonor the fire lord but does dishonor the general. She fights an Agni Kai against the general and wins.

The plan is done anyway, (zuko finds that message and is able to warn both the earth kingdom troops and the squad of fire nation soldiers that where going to die, it starts the rumor that the dragon of the east is actually prince zuko and it spreads, some solders start to rebel against their commanders in the name of the prince) Azula finds out about it much later and raises all kinds of hell over it, calling Ozai an “honorless coward who betrays his people, unworthy of the throne” to his face in front of a bunch of people.

Azula gets banished for it, Iroh comes with her and she’s now basically zuko from the show, but tasked with finding and capturing the dragon of the east to prove her loyalty instead of the avatar. At this point she does not know that it’s zuko.

She finds zuko didn’t recognize him and fights him, but he’s better than her, and then she sees the knife that Iroh have zuko just before he “died” and puts two and two together and comes up with seven. She thinks the dragon of the east is the assassin that killed her brother.  It kind of makes sense, if the assassination was his first act of rebellion, cause a string of jail breaks followed. 

I’m not really sure where the story could go after that but there’s a lot of potential for an invasion, since zuko knows so many people. Imagine them all showing up to help and they’re all like “oh hey zuko” and the gaang turns to zuko and ask how he knows them and he’s just like “that’s my mom/dad” and it just makes them more confused.

[rarestereocats]

Elathera wakes up an inch shorter thanks to Industria's prank and while the world feels slightly off to her now,  she doesn't realize what exactly is wrong.  Even though she feels like she must be in a bad mood,  she heads downstairs with Industria to magically make some breakfast for everyone,  including the sylphs.  Once everyone's awake,  she does her daily scry on Nayrviantem,  learning he's in a place called the Peak of Lashrial Rise.  We talk to Jimi,  who describes the dragon in as much detail as possible.  When Industria mistakenly asks where Lazarus Peak is,  Jimi has no fucking clue what we're talking about,  but says most of the dragons keep to a mountain range 90 miles away called Falltara.  With no way to scry on the dragon,  we can't rely on teleportation.

We're either hiking...or taking the incredibly quick phantom steeds Elathera can conjure at a moment's notice.  Seems like our best option,  but as we all saddle up to ride off,  the only ones who make it anywhere are Elathera and Industria.  The rest of us are bucked right off the horses as they set off.  Elathera offers to teleport back once her and Industria reach Falltara,  to which all but one of us agrees is a good plan.  Jordeira doesn't have the time to wait around and when his phantom steed reaches him,  he boasts about his skills and how we're cowards for giving up so easily.  All his shit talking gets him nowhere and as the horse sprints off once more,  he hits the ground hard.  Rikius takes it as a chance to mock him,  angering Jordeira to the point of him trying again out of spite.

He hits the ground.  He yells,  he curses,  he beats a phantom horse to death in his rage.  While me and Lucky get caught up in a snowball fight to pass the time,  Rikius and Jordeira fall away into petty arguing;  startling poor Elathera when she finally arrives to pick us up.  Rikius explains the situation as calmly as he can,  stating that Jordeira was having a temper tantrum,  and earns himself a slap upside the head.  It's such a mess that when we meet up with Industria,  she's nursing a headache with some vodka and demands to know what the fuck's going on.  The minute she hears that Jordeira assaulted an ally,  she scolds him like he's a child,  but then clarifies that he was acting worse than any child she ever knew.  We carry on after her lecture,  spotting a pile of bones and tracks several feet away.  Elathera taps into her military expertise and realizes these are the remains of a downed thunderbird...that was clearly taken out by the dragon.

Except,  there's no evidence of a dragon anywhere.  Instead,  it looks as if giants had struck it down and pulled it to pieces;  but Elathera is determined to fit the dragon into the picture.  Maybe it was working with the giants or maybe it simply let them get the kill?  No one's buying the story and with the knowledge that giants are brutally violent and big fans of slavery,  Industria has Elathera open a gate so she can send her pegasus home.  Rikius tells Jordeira this is a perfect time for him to leave as well,  earning another threat from him.  Once again,  Industria is called to her inner Mom Mode and she scolds all of us,  getting so fed up with Jordeira's attitude that she tells him he can hit people.  But only if it's funny.  Everything's funny to Jordeira when it comes to violence,  so we now live in fear.

We make an igloo to take shelter in and discuss our next move,  but Jordeira decides to continue his baby brigade bullshit and sits outside.  He grabs the attention of a giant,  who accuses him of threatening his territory,  and proceeds to get hit with a boulder.  As the giant rushes him,  we all make it outside to see him goading it on...that is until Elathera charms it.  Instead of being crushed to death,  which some of us were counting on;  the giant gives him a big ol' hug and talks of how much he missed us all.  We get the proper location of Lashrial Rise and bid our temporary friend farewell.  The mountain that Nayrviantem has called home is actually two mountains on top of each other,  shaped vaguely like an hourglass.  He's chilling inside,  waiting to add even more souls to his collection,  so any attempts to bargain with him go nowhere.  As the fight begins,  a giant,  metal orb hits the ground;  but there's no time to investigate when a literal dragon is attacking us.

It's a long,  hard fight,  but we manage.  I topple the beast by slicing open its ankle and once it drops its head,  I dig my claws through its eye and into its brain.  Entirely unnecessary,  but I've been through some shit,  okay?  With his death,  all the metal orbs within the Plane of Air open up to release the powerful souls he had acquired.  We decide to give him a taste of his own medicine,  letting Industria imprison his soul in a heartstone so he can't flee as we ask what he's done with Exius' soul.  He tries to be an asshole about it,  but eventually tells us he was contained in an orb near the city of Kalimbaka.

[kaedekisaragi]

Kaede Kisaragi Watches The Flash S3E21 - Cause and Effect

Flash of Two Lives

Barry says Savitar is a time remnant of himself. Savitar exposits how, last year, to defeat Zoom, Barry sacrificed a time remnant to save the multiverse, while he went on with his merry life. But when Barry made Flashpoint, it changed everything. Future Barry created several remnants to stop Savitar, all remnants got killed... Except Savitar himself. And then, a funny thing happened: everyone, including Barry himself, shunned the remnant for not being the real barry allen. Just an Aberration. Future Barry didn't tell this to Barry. Savitar was broken, wanted the pain to end... And Gods feel no pain, so he had to become a God. All he has to do is kill Iris so Barry is forced into darkness and permits Savitar's birth... But the second thing he needs, he's gonna keep secret (I know, shocker, Barry Allen keeping secrets). BARRY ASKS WHAT HAPPENS IF HE SUICIDES, VIBRATING HIS HAND! Savitar reminds him how cause and effect (HA! HE SAID IT!) didn't work so good for Eddie. The more one time travels, the less its rules apply to you. Savitar says it will be Barry who is forgotten.

Then Barry uppercuts him and prepares to kill Savitar himself.

Then Savitar's armor smacks Barry away, being a cooler suit than his. The two face off, in their respective suits, using speed lightning, causing a massive explosion. Savitar escapes.

The team reacts shocked to the reveal. Cisco takes in all the info and manages to understand it, despite being appalled that HR didn't have Star Trek TOS but Voyager in his Earth. He rushes to the glass pane and proceeds to do a classic expository explanation:

-4 years from now, future Flash creates Time Remnant to fight Savitar. -Savitar lets that one live so IT can become Savitar. -Savitar is imprisoned in the Speed Force. -Remnant goes crazy, travels in time to the past, becomes Savitar. -Remnant creates the lie that he was the first speedster, spreading the myth and gathering acolytes.

This doesn't explain who came first, Remnant or Savitar. Because it is a closed loop. No beginning, no end. Predestination Paradox. Savitar exists because he's fated to exist by creating his own existence despite never originally having existed. Wally points out that a Remnant of Barry shouldn't want to kill Iris, but Barry has no answer to that.

Iris and Barry talk about Savitar. Finding out the monster isn't a monster isn't fun. Part of him was still Barry. The pain inside Savitar, Barry felt it when his parents died, how he wished he could be violent as they were to his parents. He knows he can be as evil as Savitar. Because he too lost someone. Iris reassures him he'll beat Savitar, reminding Barry that Savitar (and Barry) is not a god. Barry reflects that being a god is possible, when bad outweighs the good. It's not about being possible to do it, but about whether they should do it. What will he need to be to stop Savitar?

Cisco runs in with an awesome/worst idea. He wants to stop Barry from being able to remember what they're doing now by messing with his brain. To stop him from retaining new info, so Savitar can't learn what they're doing... Why do I feel this is why future Barry doesn't know who Savitar is? Barry agrees to it.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO GIVE BARRY AMNESIA! DAMN IT CISCO! THIS IS WHY CAITLIN WAS THE BRAIN SURGEON!

Amnesiac Barry is a bit hillarious, finding his official name (Bartholomew Henry Allen) kinda bad, and wondering if his name shouldn't be Bart (next season, man, next season) and being completely and realistically hysterical that they might be trying to steal his kidneys. Iris shows him photos of them. He doesn't even remember he is engaged to Iris. AND THEY ALSO MADE HIM FORGET HE HAS SUPERSPEED! And then Cecile calls, needing Barry at CCPD. AND WHY THE FUCK DID IRIS TELL JULIAN TO STAY?!? JULIAN WAS A FORENSIC GUY, HE SHOULD BE THERE IN BARRY'S PLACE!!!

HR, back to flirting with Tracy, sees she's having problems making the Speed Force Bazooka (awesome name) work. He tells her to stop being so obsessed with what's not working, and to step back to try and figure it out from a broader point of view. AND OMG, THESE TWO DORKS ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER, THEY ARE BOTH OBSESSED WITH COFFEE! AND THEY ALMOST GO FOR IT, BUT THEY BOTH STEP BACK LMAO

So, the emergency on CCPD: Lucius Coolidge, the Heat Monger, worst arsonist since Mick Rory went AWOL. And since his hearing is today, Barry needs to testify since he was the CSI on the case, to hold Coolidge for trial. BRUTAL DAMN LIFE WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH A LITTLE AMNESIA! Cecile is livid that they did this NOW of all times, and tells them to hurry up, or else Heat Monger will be walking free. Barry can only cutely apologize, despite not having a clue why he feels this is his fault. And he warmly asks whether they've been busy planning the wedding, to Iris' utter heartbreak on realizing all the things they have not done.

Elsewhere, Savitar listens to Frost rambling about her problems with their plan... Only to choke her and ask her who is he... Ooooookay, interesting side effect. At least it worked?

Barry was in the anime club, he loved Dragon Ball Z. Badass. He and Iris are at Jitters and he's looking himself over on his mobile. The two laugh about how horribly nerdy he used to look and how clearly Iris never tried to help hard enough XD Iris is feeling amazed at how... light Barry is now. No worries. No burdens. No brooding. He's happy. And why wouldn't he be... He'll be with her forever, right? Iris is not amazed now. Barry leaves for the courthouse... WHY?!? HE STILL HAS NO MEMORY!!!

At the courthouse... Barry is  called to testify, but Cisco gives him glasses to wear... Why? Also, quirky music. This will be good. They are TYPING HIS ANSWERS ON THE GLASSES. GOOGLE GLASS. AND JULIAN IS MAKING HIM SAY SHIT. AND USING SMILIES. THIS IS A MASSIVE HILLARIOUS DISASTER OF A TRAINWRECK.

The testimony, despite stumbles, seems okay... But Barry is heating up something fierce. And it burns up so much he fizzles out the google glass. I can't even look. The case is dismissed. Heat Monger is walking free.

AND THEN FROST SHOWS UP ON THE LAB. AND WALLY LOST HIS SPEED! AND SHE DEMANDS THEM DO EVERYTHING SHE SAYS.

...fuck me... Of course. They made Barry forget everything. This means Savitar never remembered his plans. Which means he also didn't make Wally into a speedster. Cause and Effect. Time rules affect speedsters in all stupid ways.

Iris is glad at least Barry has the same 'wanna help' attitude without memories. He cannot see it in himself as being able to afford their big apartment or that he did the decorating. Also, he doesn't remember his parents :( Iris lies to him, saying they died peacefully. She comments how when they first met, he was the happiest boy ever. He says it might be because she entered his life, and they kiss. The kiss triggers his superspeed, and terrifies him.

Barry is psyched, actually, about having powers. At the lab, they find Frost, and Barry is dismissed (not before asking gleefully about Frost being a super villain). Frost tells them if she helps them fix Barry, all goes back to normal... But Iris says they could just re-teach barry everything. Frost claims this might be good... But currently, there's lots of villains and no flashes. Is it worth the risk?

HR and Tracy continue trying to fight their lustful desire for each other. They lose. Hard. They kiss. The kiss somehow makes her have an epiphany for her project.

Frost tries to act all serious and focused on her task, and Cisco casually talks about the past with Julian, clearly trying to make Caitlin return by talking on how they were three musketeers with Ronnie under Wells. He even casually namedrops Hartley (and how Julian was Hartley 2.0). And Frost remembers their funny stories about Ronnie. It gives her pause. She is clearly reluctant.

Joe and Iris bask on happy Barry running for funsies. Joe realizes he hasn't seen him this happy in ages... Or ever. The burdens of his past always weighing him down. He realizes Iris doesn't want him to remember everything. Joe reminds her that, without 28 years of experiences (OMG I HAVE BARRY'S AGE!), he isn't the same man she fell in love with. She can't help but wonder if maybe the city doesn't need the Flash...

Then Heat Monger uses a flamethrower. Damn it. Barry, even without any idea how to use his powers, puts on the suit and goes, for he needs to help. But he can barely even stop himself, how can he even rescue a whole building full of people? Frost wants them to use their plan: electroshocking his brain from the suit's sensors. Cisco activates the device, shocking Barry hard. It doesn't work. They need to kickstart his brain with a visceral memory... Iris knows what to do. She tells him how his mom was murdered. How he came to her house and was just shocked, not crying. And then she woke late at night and found him sitting and crying alone. And she sat there, letting him cry in her lap. That was the night they fell in love, realized how much they needed each other. She wanted to take it away, but she can't. And for every bad memory, he has a good memory to get him through the suffering...

Barry remembers everything. Savitar too.

Flash and Kid Flash put out the fire together. Heat Monger is caught. At the labs, Barry remembers all the nerdy tidbits, and also that he named his class hamster Alexander Ham Bell. Frost tries to leave, but the team try to persuade her to stay. Julian swears he'll try harder, no matter what, to fix her. AND HE SAYS THE L-WORD. But Frost says she never loved any of them. But as she leaves in the elevator, her eyes fizzle out briefly. She's fighting.

Barry wonders if Iris really wants him with his baggage. Barry comments how he had the chance to be free when he made Flashpoint. But he needs the pain to not forget who he really is. Iris is glad her Barry is back. They kiss. HR walks in. Tracy finished the Bazooka... But she needs 3.86 Terajoules of energy.

3.86 TERAJOULES?!? THAT'S MORE THAN THE SUN!!! WHERE ARE THEY EVEN GONNA FIND THAT?!?

Elsewhere. Red glowy rock. Big room... King Shark.

This episode was a classic character study. What is Barry Allen? Who is he as a person? Would you recognize him if I pulled his dark suffering away? Would you like him if he wasn't an experienced superhero? Would he be the same person? Well, the episode proved that, despite the excess suffering on future Barry or the lack of suffering of amnesia Barry, Barry Allen will always be a person who helps. That is what makes him a hero, not his powers, not his suffering. This was Iris' Flashpoint, the idea of letting him remain amnesiac was her last temptation. But like Joe, she too had to embrace the fact this is their 'normal', and she wouldn't have loved Barry better if he was a different person than the one she fell in love with. If anything, this episode gave Barry some good weightless fun to chill out before the big confrontation with Savitar. Likewise, Caitlin's showing more and more signs to still be inside of Killer Frost, and the chances are high she will keep on fighting harder from now on after Cisco's stellar work using their good times to remind her why they were friends.

Two episodes left!