#I can't wait for these two to MEET

[part-time-pixie]

outfit swap ✨

[keferon]

Two Peas in a Pod: part 7/?

I'm so sorry for the delay. I struggled...

_________________________________________

"Jazz?" Blaster calls just loud enough for his mer to hear him. Now that the initial meeting was over, he wanted to take advantage of the break. 

While understanding that the human was calling him over, Jazz was a bit hesitant that moving might start up the whole confrontation again. He glanced over to the other orca still floating a little ways away, •၊||၊၊၊ had his eyes closed and it looked like he was focused on dealing with the repercussions of his actions. His expression was twisted lightly in a restrained grimace with his right arm holding his side.  

Slowly Jazz pushed himself further away, before turning over and swimming to the pier.  

"Are you okay?" Blaster asked as he knelt at the edge. 

With an uneasy look, he shamefully admitted, "it could have gone better…" 

The chief vet speaks up before Blaster can, but not to Jazz, but into the radio. "Has anyone seen signs of reopening or blood?" 

The Vet Chief wanted to fully isolate them from you, to keep them in a transfer-crate, at least until the injuries had a low risk of reopening. 

Blaster shoots them an offended side-eye, as Jazz is literally right here. However, he pushed it aside, half listening to the radio chatter – all good from the sounds of it – and turned to what was more important. "Did he hurt ya?" 

They'll take him away. 

"I'm fine," he whispered, looking down as he placed a hand on his chest. It still stung, as the first hit was made with intent – he had gotten mad when it happened, did it show on my face, did they see it – and the rest, warning shots. "Just a bruise… it was more dizzying trying to keep away from him than anything."  

–if the team reports you showing signs of aggression, they'll… remove him. 

He hums in thought, eyes drifting momentarily as •၊||၊၊၊ disappeared from the surface. Blaster was a little nervous about that as he looked back at Jazz. "Do you think that you'll be okay, the two of you, I mean. Do you need us to separate–" 

They'll take him away. 

"No." Jazz insisted quickly, fighting to keep his voice low – behave – and shaking his head. "We should be fine now." 

Blaster knew there was more going on, seeing as Jazz was soft spoken and avoiding eye contact; an old habit of hiding himself when speaking to staff, but it would have to be a talk for later. When Jazz felt safe enough to open up. So instead, Blaster smiled and said, "Alright. But me and a few others will be keeping an eye on you both throughout the day. Just to make sure you're both comfortable as you can be. It might be a bit rocky for the first few days, but that's okay, we were expecting that." 

Jazz didn't respond, his attention had been captured by the other mer at the bottom of the pool, beneath him. He had been somewhat keeping an eye on him with his sonar, watching •၊||၊၊၊ slowly explore the tank.  

Though, Blaster was just barely able to spot the other orca from the surface, and honestly wouldn't have noticed if not for Jazz. Pressing the call button on his radio, Blaster looked to the staff, "we've passed the first hurdle, everyone. We'll move onto doing rotation monitoring. Fred and Josh, you'll remain for the first shift. Everyone else, business as usual till I get a schedule in order." 

"I've adjusted the medications and sedatives." The chief vet told Blaster, though didn't even look at him, as they were currently preoccupied sending messages on their phone. Not even a second later, Blaster's own was going off in his pocket.  

"I'll look over your recommendations after." He sneered at them, though the vet had already turned to leave.  

Then while folks celebrated the success and steadily wondered off to their main duties, Blaster's second brought up the mers breakfast from the kitchen. They set Jazz's down next to him, but held on to the other while they eyed the water with extreme caution.  

"Ah, ya, no." Blaster spoke up before they even began to wind up, holding his hands out for the food. "Give it here, we are not chucking anything at him."  

They snapped to him with wide, frightened eyes. Like Blaster hadn't been here to see the speeds that the wild mer had gone after Jazz. "You cannot be serious– you're going to attempt to pole feed him? Now–here? When they have the space to jump!?" 

"No." He said with rising irritation towards their attitude and their poor handling of the situation. "I'm going to treat him the same as Jazz."  

His second now looked flabbergasted, glancing between Jazz, him, out over the pool, and then back at him. "But–!" 

Blaster pointed at both Jazz and up at the pair watching on the viewing deck. He wasn't stupid, he wasn't being reckless, he had been taking everything into account. And honestly, if he wasn't so mad about how the wild mer had been treated – and was just about to be treated – during meals, he'd probably be shaking in anxiety right about now. With a heavy sigh, he then carefully pulled the bucket from their hands to set it with the other, "look… I'm not trying to force you to do something you don't feel comfortable with. You're welcome to leave, I'll handle the meals and hopefully by the week's end, everyone will be feeling comfortable when it's time for food." 

They took one last nervous glance at Jazz, before whispering – pointless, he could hear it clearly – "I don't think you can – or should rely on him to protect you… especially with how–"  

"You're right," Blaster said deliberately louder than a normal speaking volume, "I am responsible for my own choices and actions. Thank you, for your concern. We'll talk in more detail later." 

Thankfully taking the hint, they left.  

Then the area was silent for a moment, save for the sounds of dawn songbirds being overruled by the sound of the scavenging birds of the morning. Starting to beg or fight for bits of food across the aquarium yard. 

"They're right, you know." Jazz said weakly, still not looking at Blaster.  

There might be other staff up on the deck that oversaw his pool, but one of the perks to being outside was that voices didn't carry as far unless one was intentionally loud. So they might as well have been the only two here.  

It was just enough for words to come tumbling out, like he could talk freely once more. "I messed up, it wasn't his fault, he wants to be peaceful – I'm pretty sure, and I just… I think I ended up challenging him?" 

"Jazz, listen, they misunderstood." He leaned over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not expecting you to come to my rescue, or put yourself between me and him, or anything like that. I know very well that I may be putting myself in a potentially dangerous situation, and I'm ready to face whatever the outcome might be. But what I meant was, that with you here – just like this, with us together. You are showing him with your actions that you don’t see me as a threat. That by willing to be around me and allowing me to touch you, you’re showing trust. Jazz, buddy, you’re a far greater help than those goons posing up there." The last bit was meant to cause him to laugh, or at least smirk. 

But when Jazz still seemed like he didn't believe him, Blaster made a small gesture for Jazz to look. In turning his head to see •၊||၊၊၊, the mer was at the far end with only his head above the water and had a serious gaze fixed on Jazz.  

"It might not seem like it, even with what had just happened, but he's relying on you." He waved at the wild mer and smiled, before reaching for a bucket and held it up in offering. But •၊||၊၊၊ simply scowled further. 

"I don't think Mr. prowl-around-you-like-you're-breakfast relies on anyone." Jazz grumbles in dismay.  

Blaster chuckled and set the bucket back down, "well maybe Prowl, is waiting for you to invite him over for breakfast. He seems to hold some expectations of you." 

"Ya, he sure– wait, Prowl?" Jazz whipped his head back towards Blaster, finally looking at him again. 

"If it fits, it fits." He shrugged with an amused smile, "though, out of anyone here, it should be you that chooses a nickname for him for us to use. I don't want to keep addressing him namelessly or calling him 'the wild' one, and I don't want folks to think that us calling him 'buddy' is his name." Then he laughed as he glanced back out to the sour mer still watching them closely, "I mean, come on, does he look like a Buddy?" 

Jazz tried to stifle his laughter, "n-no." 

Good, good, Blaster was relieved to hear it. Jazz was starting to relax back into his usual self. Coming back up from the depths to the surface to breathe. "So, what will it be?" 

Jazz's smile had slowly begun to return and so did his hopeful enthusiasm, "I think Prowl is good." 

"I'll send out a notice to everyone." And be sure to tear down all those horrible sticky-note suggestions. "But I am going to still try and learn to say his name properly," Blaster then clapped the orca's shoulder before stretching, "so I hope you're ready to have the worst student ever." 

"You're going to learn Mer," Jazz asked in surprise. 

"Heh, I'm shit at learning languages, but I'd be happy if you want to share more of your world with me." He then brought them back to the next part of their day. "But first, breakfast. Want to ask Prowl to join us?" 

"I'll try." He said, before turning around. Though gave a slight pause and adjusted his stance so his side was facing Prowl. When he saw a slight shift in his expression, one that eased some tension in his brow, Jazz gave himself a mental pat on the back. Already a marked improvement.  

{You hungry, Prowler?} Jazz asked. It was sort of funny having a word he understood that could connect to the mer's name. He wasn't sure of the meaning of •၊||၊၊၊ yet, or if it had one. But prowling was something he did, so it still felt like Jazz had gained another tiny piece of who they were.  

{Yes.} He answered, rising enough that his shoulders could be clearly seen, side facing Jazz for a beat, before he slowly began to swim over. Caution or taking it easy due to discomfort, his moments caused only the smallest and softest of ripples. Like a silent hunter.  

Yet, it made Jazz’s smile shift a bit higher. Prowl is prowling.  

But for Blaster, his instincts were starting to claw up his spine, alerting him of a predator. He was forcing himself to relax and keep up his friendly smile by the time Prowl came within five feet of the pier.  

Prowl eyed him up and down as he came to a stop, then gently turned after a moment.  

"Oh, right!" Jazz abruptly speaking up in slight alarm cause Blaster to flinch – which in turn caused a moment of internal panic, because sudden movements are always a bad idea – but Jazz quickly reached up over the pier and grabbed the human by the legs – which caused Prowl to flinch, and oh-boy, was Blaster having flashbacks of close calls – twisting him so he sat with his shoulder turned towards Prowl. "Pretty sure that facing toward him is like telling him you want to challenge them."  

"R-really," Blaster asked, both trying to distract from his thundering heart and focus on the new information. 

"I think so? He kept telling me to stop doing it, before I realized what he was talking about, so it has to be some sort of an aggressive sign." They both looked back to Prowl, who seemed a little tense, but otherwise calm. {You okay, Prowler?} 

{Yes.} His voice firm and serious, but did not look at Jazz when he answered. 

"… Guess we're ready." We’re good, but he must still be uncomfortable with what happened. 

Blaster handed Jazz his bucket first, hoping it would make the next easier. But then Blaster paused, seeing a distant look in his mer's eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" 

"Nothing." Jazz fiddled with the bucket in his hands, but Blaster was still holding onto the handle. Not that taking it would be difficult, but it didn't feel like it was worth the effort.  

"Jazz…" he pressed softly. 

And Jazz retreated, "I… I don't feel hungry." 

At least he was being honest about it.  

Blaster had hoped that taking some time to talk would have helped to improve Jazz's current mental state. And it had a little. But his guilt over the misunderstanding with Prowl and the bad history with the chief vet were likely weighing too heavily on him. And as much as Blaster wanted to take the time and work through everything with Jazz, he couldn't right now, or rather Jazz would be unwilling.  

Because Prowl was present. Even with a language barrier, Blaster didn't expect Jazz to feel comfortable having a personal conversation with him so close. But if Jazz didn't eat, then it was likely that Prowl wouldn't either. The trust was thin as it was, and hesitating too long – and not being able to explain why – would only make rebuilding trust harder. So, offering to use the holding pool and close the gate wasn't something they could do at the moment. And he hated it.  

Blaster had to do something now to help restore Jazz's confidence and stop the spiralling of whatever thoughts were holding him back.  

Good thing he was prepared for Jazz possibly becoming stressed.  

"Hang on." Blaster said, his smile impish as he pulled the bucket back to set on the pier. Though, not wanting to risk Prowl backing off from him standing, he flopped back reaching for his bag strap, barely snagging it with the tips of his fingers. But he managed and pulled himself back up with it settling in his lap. "I've brought a little somethin." 

Jazz didn't seem interested but waited none the less. Watching as Blaster pull out a huge plastic food-container – ... okay, he was slightly curious now and a little annoyed, because if he was going to tease him–  

But then Blaster shook it with the biggest grin, and as the contents clunked around softly, Jazz's whole face lit up. Because what Blaster had just offered was the equivalent of a chocolate bar. There weren't many things that Blaster brought for him in a container, but there was only one that made that sound. "Moose jerky!?" 

"Shh! Not so loud." He glanced up at the other staff, like he was doing something that would get him in trouble. But it wasn't a secret that Blaster made these treats for Jazz. And while it still pissed off the chief vet, there was nothing they could do about it.  

It had caused a site wide outrage the first time he had done it. But orcas ate moose – the orca mers more so than the animals – even if it was mostly if there just happened to be one in front of them rather than an active hunting choice. But there was enough history, and with Blaster's dietary knowledge, he had won that battle.  

He just chose to mix it up a little, rather than bring in raw meat. Not so different than some sun-dried fish really. And Blaster personally prepared it to make sure it was safe. Seasoning was just sea salt, simple, but tasty.  

Jazz was now buzzing with eager energy. "Can I share with Prowl?" 

"You’d better," Blaster laughed as he opened it and handed Jazz two strips that were almost the size of dinner plates. He could have tried to use it to mend the trust between him and the wild mer. But Blaster knew it would help Jazz foster his relationship with Prowl and that was far more important. 

The whole time Prowl had been watching them and their exchange with intense focus, trying to figure out what was going on. So, when Jazz turned to him with a huge smile and held out what looked to be a piece of thin wood, he was wary.  

{It's good!} Jazz wanted to say it was amazing, but unfortunately 'good', 'okay', 'safe' was all he currently had to work with.  

After Prowl finally gave in and moved in close enough to take the offering, Jazz laid out on the surface. Careful not to get his food wet as he happily began to bite and tear small strips off. Taking delight in the satisfying sensation of the treat ripping and savouring the flavour as he chewed the tough meat.  

Seeing how much Jazz was enjoying himself, Prowl took a tentative bite and immediately understood why. The look of surprise on his face had the other two laughing.  

{Good, yes?}  

{Yes.} Prowl then followed Jazz's lead and relaxed on the surface, enjoying the first piece of decent food since he arrived. 

Blaster chuckled at the sight of the two of them and set aside the container to dig out his own personal stash to nibble on. "I've got more for you two sea otters, but only after you finish your breakfast."  

Smoothing things over by sharing snacks always opened opportunities for bonding. Good ol' comfort food saving the day. 

_________________________________________

Idk, this one felt very clunky to me, but I must move on -lays on the floor in defeat-

I'm now trying to put together a timeline of the all interactions that you share or like on your blog. Like a countdown clock to the flood/jailbreak, hitting all the angsty and fluffy notes, I want to make sure I can include everything. Q~Q

You and so many others have been showering me in praise and encouragement I want to live up to it. ♡(╥︣﹏᷅╥᷅)♡ I love you all, thank you so much!!

Going forward there is going to more Jazz and Prowl, without Blaster, I promise. Please forgive me and my long setups, my brain struggles with keeping things short, everything I write is a 200K+ slow burn. -cries-

-GLC

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OH HELL YEAH GIVE THOSE GUYS A MOOSE THEY DESERVE IT KDDKSHFV

Blaster over there is having battles on all fronts possible alsjfnfjnf

Also I'm happy they can have proper food at least sometimes~ Although I can't help but think that like. Jazz is happy because this poor moose is kind of a rare treat. Nice occasion gift you know. And then Prowl also loves the moose but in more "I was eating nothing but raw potatoes for a while and now there's a properly seasoned and cooked meal again" way. You know. Cause mers have all kinds of different foods in their cities and stuff~ While humans just go "here's your fish".

Anyway haha. The scene is so cute I love itt~

[hexedwithluck]

vampire consorts doodle + bonus volenta doodle from a while back

[meowtalhead]

Copia's lyrics: oooohhhhh death is gonna getcha!!! >:) you're gonna die!!! Heeeere comes death it's always there sneakily sneaking behind you being all inevitable on a big white horse hehe >:)c

V's lyrics: I'm so scared of death like what if there's nothing after what if it's all A Rhyme With No Reason I mean what you gotta do is live right haha it's not over yet right oh satan I'm so fucking scared of eternity bro 🥺

[dreamweave01]

*drives by on a bike*

LEO I HEARD USAGI'S SINGLE!

Technically Leo knows (kinda) who Usagi is, just not by name.

[pushing500]

Remember back when we were doing a whole bunch of mysterious brain scans? Well, Alistair is using the persona subcore we got from those scans to build himself a new android friend. I want to see if the "surrounded by androids" mood buff stacks, and androids are very cool in general, so why not?

In between working and clearing memory space at his standing spot, I sent him over to grab a cup of coffee. I always try to keep his mood up; you never know what might be the catalyst for his awakening.

But, you know... he was built by the Jones boys, after all. Of course it was coffee.

Anyway, he's awake!! My boy is sentient at last!!!!!! Welcome to life with clarity and a sense of self, Alistair. We've been waiting for you for so long. He's got the "muscular" trait which means people think he's nice to look at (and by people I mean me), and my Sexuality Traits mod has also decided he's bisexual, which is nice.

I'm so giddy and excited to have him awake at last, and just in time for a new android to join us!! This is so cool!!!!!

First | Next | Previous

[hikarielizabethbloom]

One day they're gonna meet and it's gonna be chaotic af.

[actingwithoutportals]

I gotta yell about the dream I had on here too actually.

Okay SO had a very thrilling dream last night that I was playing Truth Scrapper with my fiancée. I'm sure this is all going to be very lore inaccurate for a lot of reasons, but the general plot of how the game was going (at least in the earlier section of the game) is that Sosotte was going down to investigate the Dwell with both Amour and Betz. The Dwell, in my dream, was this old abandoned ancient society in some sort of underground cavern system (reminded me a lot honestly of the one place in Bug Fables where you find Leif). It was full of all of these really dangerous monsters as well as various powerful deities, and adventurers had been going missing in this place for a while now.

Along their investigations, Sosotte and co. come across an injured traveler they find sleeping in this little alcove in the stone wall of one of the tunnel systems. They wake up the traveler and try to help them, since they seem to be in a pretty bad way, but unfortunately this traveler doesn't speak the same language as the others and cannot communicate with them.

Cue dream me and fiancée being shooketh and very confused and amused that the traveler is Siffrin.

Sosotte and co. are somehow able to convince this random fella to travel through the Dwell with them, so that they could at least hopefully find them some sort of medical treatment or something. They head on their way, and eventually meet up with these twin sister deities, who Sosotte appeals to for help in healing their new traveling friend.

The deities look this fella over and determine that he's dying from...well in my dream I had a different word being used for it that I think started with an H but what I actually think the correct term would be here was tetanus. Acquired by keeping a rusted up dagger in too close of space with some open wounds he had. The deities start scolding the traveler for not taking better care of his gear and his him, that his carelessness is now going to be his own doom. But, again, this fella doesn't speak the same language here, and cannot understand a word of what is being explained.

So the group travels on, Sosotte and co. hoping they can find some miracle cure or maybe some other willing deities to help cure their new friend so he won't succumb to this fate. Along the way though, Sosotte does come across some sort of magical device that allows her to communicate with the traveler in a way they can both understand. She kicks this off by asking him if he's okay, how he's doing, and he explains that he couldn't really figure out what those deities were trying to tell him, but he's sure that whatever's going on will probably all shake out fine in the end, so he's not too fussed.

Sosotte is understandably worried about this, but she also realizes she doesn't have the heart to tell this new friend (who, relatively speaking, seems to honestly be in really high spirits) that he's on death's door. She keeps this information to herself, against the better judgements of both Amour and Betz, and the group continues traveling on. Meeting more deities, fighting more monsters, even coming across some elementals and hitching a ride on this ice serpent that helps them cross a damaged bridge. But unfortunately, after making it to the other side, the new traveler Sosotte and co. met along the road does succumb to his injuries, lies down, and doesn't get back up.

The Dwell is too dangerous of a place to stop anywhere for long, so there's not much that Sosotte and co. can do for their fallen companion, so they all continue on with their journey, trying to make their way to the heart of the Dwell where they believe the answer to all of their questions will be. And, alas, this is where I woke up.

Wild shit, huh?

[macksartblock]

for context he does not have tumblr and he's currently nearing the end of the oakvale arc

[pluviophile6104]

August 12, 2022 & 2023. Lives were changed, mine did... So happy and grateful we have "them" 🥹

[captainfairygodmother]

'LET IT FADE AWAY'

(NOTE: TITLE COULD BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. FOR NOW THIS IS PROVISIONAL, BUT LIKELY TO REMAIN.)

So. My Current WIP. 'The Big One'. Very excited about it.

It's a crossover between Torchwood and Doctor Who, in the sense that it borrows characters from both, while essentially being a Doctor Who season (in a written form).

I won't go into too much detail about what happens in it, because that's the story for within the fic itself, obviously! However, I will say now that I'll be treating this as a hypothetical 'Nth Season' of Doctor Who, with a 'Nth Doctor'. As well as some familiar faces from Torchwood (S1 to CoE, that is).

I have many plans, and am very excited to write and share this story with everyone. I am at a stage in Chapter One (for the sake of it being a hypothetical 'season', I will be calling them 'episodes') where I feel able to share some more information on (most) episode titles and summaries.

So, without further ado, enjoy, and let me know what you're most excited for!

EPISODES

Episode 1: Ferry of the Forgotten

When a ferry filled with spirits causes mass-amnesia in the streets of Cardiff, a trapped Doctor finds her way to the doorstep of seemingly the only person who remembers; 21 year old Mica Davies.

Episode 2: Clowns and Crowns

After becoming trapped by a broken TARDIS on the planet Iter'en, The Doctor and Mica are forced to search for a missing part, and encounter some difficulties along the way... Both from the Markets, and the Travelling Circus.

Episode 3: Theory of Three

With the TARDIS still in a partial state of disrepair, Mica and the Doctor crash land in Ancient Greece. Can the famed philosopher Pythagoras help them find what is needed to fix the TARDIS, before they are stuck forever?

Episode 4: Stargazer

Still shaken from the previous trip, Mica returns to Cardiff... Only to find out that she has been missing for three months, with her family not caring to find her. Worse still, the stars are beginning to disappear from the night sky as a once-in-a-millenia space event occurs.

Episode 5: Weep

It's the year 1963, and a widely-anticipated sculpture artist makes their post-study debut with their new critical exhibition. The twist? Their sculptures will be created live... In more ways than one.

Episode 6: Count

Continuation of Episode 5: Weep.

Episode 7: Ancestree

When Mica becomes stuck in a trance-like state in which she is able to relive her ancestor's lives, it's up to The Doctor to find a way to break the loop before Mica becomes eternally merged with an ancient tree known as the 'Ancestree'.

Episode 8: The Scorpions in the Grass

On the planet Meminisse, the local wildlife is beginning to act strangely. When The Doctor receives a call from an old favour, the Universe's two best galactic problem solvers are on the case.

Episode 9: The Dogs in the Woods

Continuation of Episode 8: The Scorpions in the Grass.

Episode 10: Imagine

The island of Gondal; a real place that only Emily Brontë can visit through a gap between two trees on the Yorkshire Moors... Enter The Doctor and Mica Davies.

Episode 11: Lights, Camera, Action!

In the year 2083, The Doctor and Mica end up on a Period Drama Film Set, but confuse it for a genuine Victorian town. When they become confused for the main characters, problems naturally arise.

Episode 12: [REDACTED]

[Redacted].

EPISODE 13: [REDACTED]

Continuation of Episode 12: [Redacted].

[zestyzigzagoon]

I won't write this because I'm still in a rut and I have other things to catch up on, but fun AU idea: famous person x normal person AU, except the normal person lives under a rock and has no fucking clue who the famous one is

[licorishh]

*FONTAINE SPOILERS*

Y'all laugh at the fact that Tartaglia randomly falling into the Abyss one day as a kid ended up being the catalyst for Fontaine's eventual predicted destruction but all this means is that from the start Tartaglia was intended to fall into the Abyss and become a Harbinger and thus has always been doomed by the narrative

[skitskatdacat63]

This is my personal crossover event of the century

[manyothermusingsofmine]

5 am the best time to have an emotional conundrum about whether I actually want a relationship or if ive just been socially conditioned to want one and having fomo because of that

[kalosian-woods]

hey, synchro anon here!

actually pretty curious about the rest of ash's pokemon during the bond business arc, like they definitely must've witnessed some stuff in some way. same thing with the rest of the kalos gang(except they witnessed the whole thing)

That's a pretty good question!! I feel like a large proportion of that would depend on how their (whoever it is + Greninja/Ash) relationship would've been prior to the whole thing, because it did start with an evolution and a split-second chance in some village no one else has ever seen. Going by AU rules for this, because geez barely anyone was out for Ash-Greninja ngl.

At the start, I don't think a lot of them would react? The birds (Hawlu and Talonflame) are probably more concerned with whatever Noibat is doing, and Serena with her group are dealing with the end of the Showcase season and Eevee herself while Bonnie is poking around places with Squishy and having fun (Clemont is doing Clemont things dw about it :P). Pikachu is the only one apart from Ash that has an inkling as to what's on the horizon and is the only mon that is constantly watching this, but is kind of powerless to stop their folie à deux, so to speak (that's definitely going to be a fic name btw). Tbf, Greninja is becoming Ash, right? Ash wants this. That's their strength, and Pikachu should be is comfortable in his own strength. Soon enough they'll grow out of their facination and become better. They have to. (I think deep down, Pikachu hates it. Not because Ash isn't his anymore, but because Ash isn't Ash. Isn't the one he chose, isn't the one he grew up with, isn't the one he travelled with. This Ash is a stranger. This Ash is leaving them all behind. All that's left is dust and smoke.)

Now that I think about it, wasn't Talonflame out there for the Anistar Gym Battle? While it wasn't there for the actual prophecy itself, bro must've felt the power in the battle and the way everyone held themselves throughout their time there. The focus that even the Professor was having. Talonflame would've definitely picked at Frogadier until he got a short answer, but left it out of his mind after hearing it. Great power in the future? That's called evolving, dummy!

Hawlucha is really going to have his metaphorical hands full with Noibat/Noivern, but I'm sure he's going to notice the difference, especially since he has trained with Greninja before. He knows how stubborn the frog can be, but seeing the way that they're both getting more crazier about the bond without any care for themselves is... not good, to say the least. He's a bit more softer now, so a lot less bickering would happen, but Hawlu wouldn't sit by and do nothing for long. At some point, even the best need to rest to continue on. Noivern has absolutely no idea what's going on but can sense how Ash (and Greninja) are more intense now. It's a bit unsettling, but then again have you seen Talonflame? Maybe it's just the way they express their feelings in battle. In the end, that's still her friends and family!

With the people themselves, Clemont was purely interested in it from a scientific point of view. Recording data of their transformations and documenting it will go a long way in understanding the bonds between people and Pokemon, and also a long way in solving the mystery that is Ash himself. This could be the key to a world where both people and Pokemon can live together! ...But the tent is always empty at night. And why does his own heart hurt when he sees the signal split? And why does he understand Wulfric when he shakes his head at Ash and tell him that he isn't ready yet? Wasn't Ash the ideal (in battling and with Pokemon and with courage most of all)?

Quilladin at first thinks it's cool but then goes on to think it's stupid, but he's probably jealous (...and maybe misses his friend) (and his Trainer's friend too, of course). Luxray thinks it's stupid too but that's their decision, and as long as Clemont isn't doing the same that's not her problem. Bunnelby gives no comment.

Serena has a bit more clarity and confidence with her intuitive nature at this point, or at least after Showcases, and feels very worried for Ash as a result. He used to train a lot before, it's true, but now he's going overboard. Greninja too. They're barely around, and they're getting hurt in ways that people and Pokemon do not get hurt. They're changing in ways... she doesn't like. And maybe it's because she lost the Master Class afterwards when it really hits her that she knows, utterly, that feeling of losing and not wanting to lose. To do anything to prevent that (her aching wrist is a reminder). Maybe... when they finally reach Snowbelle. Maybe that's a good place to talk. After the Gym Battle, he'll totally be a bit more calmer, right?

Braixen was just warming up to Frogadier when he goes back to being a prick as Greninja, so she thinks it's a resurgence of the Froakie mindset™. Pancham totally doesn't care but would not be opposed to oh, I don't know, Greninja actually being free to talk once in a while. Sylveon is just bombarded with feelings all around and just prefers to not be around them, thanks, but can and will step up to the plate later on in her own arc because enough is enough :(

Basically, it's a whole mess with the group lol. No matter how this AU goes, just know that everyone will have very loud opinions on the Bond but will find themselves hard-pressed to find the right moment to address it, because Squishy is gone and oh, no, we need another Princess Key and we lost Noibat to another strong wind, rip, and don't forget the invention about to explode in 0.01 seconds. And also Team Rocket.