#I had been wanting to make a Terra Battle clone for a while now and the jam was the perfect excuse to work on it

[illusorybread]

Do you miss Terra Battle? I teamed up with Manwad and Panchamon to create a Terra Battle clone for the Touhou Pride Game Jam 5! The game is not complete yet, but the first battle and scenario is available. We plan to work on more content after the voting period is over. You can play the game directly on your browser, and it's mobile-friendly! For now, please enjoy.

[kiragecko]

DC Sidekick Age References

Here’s a dump of all the references I’ve found. Know I’m missing a lot, and quite a few were found on other sites that didn’t give me the most precise info.

If you know of anything else, can correct a mistake you see, or want to discuss comic book aging - please send me an ask, message, or reblog!

?? - means I don’t know where the info is from, “quotes” are direct copies of the wording in the comic

-

?? Parents died when Bruce was 8

Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) – Batman introduced

Detective Comics #38 (Apr 1940)  – Dick is (8 when parents killed/9 when Robin) 12 when he becomes Robin, it's Bruce's 3rd year as Batman

More Fun Comics 73 (Nov 1941) – Green Arrow Introduced

1962 - JLA formed

1964 – Dick teams up with Wally and Garth

Teen Titans 1 (Jan-Feb 1966) – Teen Titans form, Donna is introduced (all 5 are 14ish?)

Detective 359 (Jan 1967) – Babs introduced, has PhD, has graduated

Batman #217 (Dec 1969) – Dick graduates high school, enrolls in University (starts 3 months later)

1971 - Roy discovered using drugs by Ollie and Hal in a drug den (he was trading arrows for drugs), retcon has Wally and Dick discovering him at tower and making him promise to get help

Justice League 116 (Mar-Apr 1975) Charley Parker is 16

Batman Family 10 (Mar-Apr 1977) – Dick is teenager, Babs is 25

Teen Titans 53 (Feb 1978) – Dick, Wally, Donna, Vic all started college at same time

DC Special Series: The Flash Spectacular (May 1978) – Wally graduates high school

New Teen Titans 1 (Nov 1980) – Raven forms New Titans, Gar is 16 during run

New Teen Titans 2 (Dec 1980) – Slade meets team, Grant dies

1981 - Dick drops out of university after 1 semester, he never really was interested

New Teen Titans 20 (June 1982) – Vic turns 19, Donna already is

Tales of the New Teen Titans 2 (July 1982) – Raven turned 18 just before forming Titans

Batman #357 (Mar 1983) – Jason’s first appearance

Detective Comics #526 (May 1983) – Bruce adopts Jason, Dick is there and approving

New Teen Titans 34 (Aug 1983) – Terra turns 16

Batman #368 (Feb 1984) – Dick gives Jason the Robin costume, Jason becomes Robin

Blue Devil(84) – Eddie is 11/12

Tales of the Teen Titans (May 1984) – Joey introduced, Author describes him as 17?

New Teen Titans #39 (Feb 1984) – Dick stops being Robin, Wally quits being a superhero/the team

Tales of the Teen Titans 50 (Feb 1985) – Terry and Donna's wedding (she got married while 19)

New Teen Titans 10 (July 1985) – Kole says she's at least 18

Crisis on Infinite Earths 7 (Oct 1985) – Supergirl dies in Superman’s arms after mostly destroying the Anti-Monitor, who has to flee reality

New Teen Titans 18 (Mar 1986) – Dick turns 20 (“Dick Grayson celebrates his birthday away from home with a traditional Tamaranean feast.” (While sulking because Kory got space-married))

New Teen Titans 20 (May 1986) – Roy locates baby Lian, Terry Long is 29

?? Roy is 22(when he gets Lian)

Batman #404 - Batman Year One (Feb 1987) – Bruce is 25, spent 12 years training, became Batman at 26, Barbara Gordon is pregnant, her and Jim move to Gotham

Detective Comics #571 (Feb 1987) – we see Bruce’s fear gas induced vision of Jason’s tombstone (birth: 1974 – death: 1986, so he’d be 12)

Secret Origins 13 (April 87) – 15 years ago, it was Dick’s 5th birthday. Soon after tenth birthday, parents are killed. [Set during New TT 18])

Batman #409 (July 1987) – Jason becomes Robin (In Detective Comics, Jason has been Robin the whole time, but is still being wwritten with Pre-Crisis personality)

Flash 1 (June 1987) – Wally turns 20

New Teen Titans Ann 3 (Nov 1987) – Danny Chase is 13 and introduced

Batman #416 (Feb 1988) – Dick in Gotham, meets the new Robin on patrol. Confronts Bruce later, says he was ‘fired’ less than a year ago (since then he was briefly in college), makes Bruce admit he missed him. Dick finds Jason again, expose the drug dealers, and Dick gives Jason his old costume (symbolically, since Jason already has one) and a phone number, Dick was Robin for 6 years

Batman #427 (Winter 1988) – Jason dies

Batman #436, Batman: Year Three (Aug 1989) – 2 years since Dick stopped being Bruce’s sidekick (When he became Nightwing? Or when he quit?), parents died 10 years earlier

Batman #441, A Lonely Place of Dying (Nov 1989) – Tim 13, was 7 when Dick’s parents died

Robin #1 (Jan 1991) – Tim debuts as Robin

New Titans 84 (March 1992) – Joey dies

Deathstroke, the Terminator #15 (Oct 1992) – Rose introduced

Team Titans 3 (Nov 1992) – Robert Long is born

Adventures of Superman 500 (June 1993) – Kon appears and escapes from Cadmus with Newboy Legion, John Henry Irons first appearance, Eradicator and Cyborg Superman also appear for first time

Batman: BTAS: Robin’s Reckoning (1993) - 'Richard 'Dick' Grayson: Age 10'

Detective Comics 668 (Nov 1993) – Tim gets license (because dad is disabled) even though he hasn’t turned 16 yet, gets beat up by Jean-Paul

Flash 92 (July 1994) – Bart aged to 14

?? Shortly after Knight’s End – Tim is 15 and in the 10th grade

Flash 0 (Oct 1994) – Wally is 23

Damage 1(94) – Grant is 16

Deathstroke, The Terminator Annual 4 (Aug 1995) – Rose is 14, “What would that do to a kid? A fourteen-year-old girl whose father is an assassin she’s never met?”

Wonder Woman 105(95) – Cassie is 14

Tempest 1(96) – Garth spends many months in other dimension

Aquaman 20 (May 1996) – Garth aged 3-4 years in other dimension, now older than other Titans

Teen Titans 1 (Oct 1996) – Argent, Risk, Joto, Prysm all turn 16(they were conceived by seed things on same day)

Superboy Annual 2 – to Kon: “Happy birthday, Kid - - number one in a long successful series, we hope.” “He will effectively remain sixteen years old - - forever!”

Green Lantern 82(97) – Robert Long is 3

Wonder Woman 121(97) – Terry and Robert die

Secret Origins Giant 1(98) – Bart is “Three. Fifteen. Depends.”, “you’re almost 15, Tim.”

Titans 5(99) – Donna is 23

Titans(99) – Lian is 4

Sins of Youth(99) – Kon 16, aging normally again

Aquaman 63 (Jan 2000) – Future Garth tells granddaughter Donna about Cerdian being born (think this is his weird birth issue)

Wonder Woman Secret Files (2002) – „Wonder Girl is a precocious outgoing 15-year-old named Cassandra „Cassie“ Sandsmark.“

Bruce Wayne: Murderer (2002) – Oracle says Tim is 15

Batgirl #37 (April 2003) – “Cain said ... today was ... my birthday.”

Batgirl #39 (June 2003) – “I see an eighteen-year-old girl, who’s out of her depth.” (Babs about Cass)

Robin #116 (Sept 2003) – Dana: “Oh, I’m so glad we’ll all be together on Thursday ... !” Tim: “Why? What’s Thursday?” Jack: “Yeah. What’s Thursday?” Dana: “Wait a minute – seriously? Tim: “Yeah. Tell. Us.” Dana: “It’s nothing – never mind. Just leave your schedules open for a nice family dinner.”| Jack: “Dana, what’s – “ Dana: “Shh! Thursday ...  the 19th of July ... ?” Jack: “Um ... oh! Right!” | Steph: “So – Thursday!! Are you excited? Got any ideas for it, yet? ... Tim ... ?” [Tim is asleep.] | [Ives and Steph come over, with pizza that says “Happy B-Day Tim.”] Ives: “Sixteen spankings – get that boy up!!” | Dana says: “I remember when I was in 11th grade.” | he also gets the first ‘clue’ for Bruce’s ‘birthday present.’

Teen Titans 1 (Nov 2003) – Gar is 19, Is this Joey’s return?? (He’s puppeting Slade)

Teen Titans ½ (2004) – Rose’s early years, with a ‘6 years ago’ flashback, she was raised in a brothel her mom ran, tutored, never allowed the outside world, but had relationships with kids her age

Detective Comics #790 (Mar 2004) – Jason’s 18th birthday “he would have been 18 today”

Teen Titans 8 (April 2004) – Raven looks 'barely older' than Cassie

TEEN TITANS #1/2 [2004]: The flashback panels totally sync up with my age theories; Flash to 10 years ago: Dick Grayson’s parents die. Flash to 6 years ago: Rose Wilson is schooled at home by her mother, Lili. Flash to 5 years ago: Ravager I is killed. Flash to 3 years ago: Slade is forced to kill Jericho. Flash to 2 years ago: Cadmus attempts to clone Superman. Flash to 18 months ago: Rose deals with the death of her mother. Flash to one week ago: Bart Allen is shot by Slade.

Identity Crisis 4 (Dec 2004) –(Tim still 16)

Green Arrow 47(05) – Mia is 17

Return of Donna Troy 3(05) – Cassie barely 16

Nightwing: Year One(05) – Dick is 26

Batgirl #65 (Aug 2005) – Cass decides to figure out if Shiva is her mom, Jason and Cass roughly the same age

Flash(05/06) – Wally is 26

?? Robin #136 – Tim still 16 ???

Detective Comics #868 (Oct 2010)– Kate is 32 years old??

One Year Later(Mar 06)

Flash 1(06) – Bart 4 years older(20?)

Blue Beetle 2 (June 2006) – Find out Jaime was in space/a pocket dimension for One Year Later

?? Just prior to 52 (July 2006-July 2007)– told Tim is 17 (long before he’s also  17 in Red Robin, 52 is 1 year long)

Teen Titans 42 (Feb 2007) – Eddie is 17

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds 3-4 (Apr-June 2009) – Bart and Kon back, same as when died

Batman 677 (July 2008) – Batman over 30

Batman: Battle for the Cowl (May-July 2009) – Damian is 10, Ends with Dick and Damian becoming Batman and Robin

Brave & The Bold 2 (May 2007) – Kara is 17, “You have food in the refrigerator older than her, Hal. Who are you, Ollie? No bad thoughts. She’s seventeen.”

Batgirl #1 (Oct 2009) – Steph starting college

Batgirl #7 (Apr 2010) - Damian is "what happens when you work with a 10-year-old."

Red Robin #12 (July 2010) – Tim spent “a few months” looking for evidence before returning to Gotham, becomes emancipated minor

Detective Comics #871 (Jan 2011)– Mention that Dick and Babs went to prom together

Red Robin #25 (Sept 2011) – Tim “and you are only 17”

The Batman Files (Oct 2014) – Jason was 15 at death (seen on death certificate)

?? Rebirth Young Justice series – Cassie: “didn’t mean to end up back in high school feeling - - like I did back when I went to high school.” Later, she says she’s in Metropolis “Working. Going to school in the fall.” So she’s probably starting college.

?? Bart in some Rebirth comic: “Am I six? Am I nineteen? That’s a really freaky thing, right?”

?? At some point: Donna says shes a little older than Kyle

[rosheendubh]

Concept AU-Star Wars (orig trilogy to first 3 Zahn/Thrawn books...reworked), Keltiad inspired star systems in conjunction with FireFly-Serenity progressing from the events of Miranda...

*This concept is sitting on my IPad in some extremely confusing stream of consciousness notes right now...

*This really is spoof filk, bringing in ultimate Evil vs Luke, and the Heroes of the Galaxy, combined with a 70s/80s/90s/2000s pop SpaceRockOpera...there will be a tavern scene where Jayne, Mal, Lando, and Han rouse it up to ‘Fat-Bottomed Girls (make the world go around...)’...

*Princess Vespa from SpaceBalls has crossed the Wormhole to entrepreneurial interests on Tatooine, buying out Jabba’s Palace to open a megaplex mall, spa, and resort with a GastroPub called The MegaMaid-still going from Suck to Blow...

*Celtic and classical myth plays a big inspire here with the Mabinigion, some Irish tales relating to the Danu, the triad of Gwythr ap Greidiol-Creiddylad-Gwydion ap Don reflected by Luke-Thrawn battling it out, and OFC, Rhyanon ferch Garwen (combo of Daenerys and Marevel’s Valkyrie-maybe Scarlet Witch-with some added nanotech/healing-biomolecular manipulation capacity-she’s a Human psionically gifted CRISPR basically...lol), as the balance between the 2...

*Mara and Karrde (eh, if you don’t picture Aquaman-Jason Mamoa in that role, you need to spend useless diversion hours perusing some Karrde fan art, and Aquaman...) are definitely in this ring...

*Rhyanon/Yana has a female lover who’s a Dathomiri witch based off Kalinda from ‘The Good Wife’ (b/c I love Kalinda’s character...sultry/confidant/intelligent/all around kick-ass female...)-Yana does become Luke’s lover eventually-after a good bit of angst and animosity-there are complicated sexual tensions and emotions running all through this thread...again, Mara...

*Am I the only being in the multiverse who envisions Zoe Washburn and Lando Calrissian interacting...potentially in a romantic way? She needs some comfort after Wash’s death...

*This tale involves a Wormhole of course, drawing the distant quadrants of the Terran Federacy and The Republic Alliance-Galactic Empire together...

*and Vader-Anakin survives the DeathStar-while he’s not necessarily Evil Vader, he’s also not entirely benign Light Side either. He resides on Dagobah in self-imposed exile, due to the years of PTSD wrought by the war crimes he’d committed-Ashoka there as his mentor/ally as he reconciles a new role-still devoted to the Sith, and opposing the revival of the Jedi Order of the OldRepublic-wanting his son and daughter to understand the corruption, stagnancy, and ideological prejudice which had inundated the old Jedi order, necessitating it’s downfall-believing a more enlightened path possible balancing the nuances of Dark and Light to be less exclusionary and restrictive than the Old Order had become...

*Luke still holds a military position within the Republic Alliance a Fleet Commander now, occasionally leading squadron assaults, but now on his own battleship—“while he was no king, he fought beside the kings of Britain”—drawing some inspiration from Uther (Anakin), and Arthur (Luke), and Aella (Thrawn)...

*Zombie-looking Luke in the ArtManip isn’t DarkSide Luke in this version. More like Luke, sacrificing himself-simultaneously combining forces with Thrawn, who’s tapped into an extremely ancient prototype archaic genome (oh, that was my own conception, but I realize ‘The Expanse’—perhaps the finest example of modern Space Opera ever, combining Science with Fiction, and a lurid and lyrical storyline, deploys a similar concept—nothing new under the sun, as they say...) he Uses for hybrid clones (think ‘Alien’ here...), which have become increasingly powerful and difficult to control, while buying the Empire military superiority vs RepublicAlliance. Thrawn inoculated himself with the nucleic acids, which has brought on an expression of new powers over matter/time/space influencing the presence of the Wormhole, and the primordial creature behind it-and the new hybrid creations existing in a sort of multidimension DarkMatter/AntiMatter state seeking to colonize and spread across the galaxy now that they’ve been awakened. The Terran Federacy/Firefly segment has also discovered these archaic genomic sequences, which ties in with the creation of the Reavers, and the fallout from Miranda...and River Tam’s part of the travesty of a tale...

*Luke, in a stand-off with Thrawn, and the *unnamed Primordial DarkMatter Creature dating to the beginning of time*, is wounded, mortally, by DarkMatter creature (otherwise, cheekily referenced as QKZM-Quantum Kracken Zombie Monster), and the only way to prevent his death-more like Total Zombie TakeOver as he‘s assimilated into the QKZM’s hybrid beings-is for Yana, with her own powers over the manipulation of genetic molecular structures, to join with Thrawn in allowing *archaic genome conscience* into Luke’s body-sort of Pirates of the Caribbean-like with the heart of DavyJones providing a sort of cursed immortality. Problem is, Luke can only now reside in the dark places/planets which have been annihilated-and seeded with—the hybridized DarkMatter beings, and in the weird parallel shadow dimension where the DarkMatterAncientGenome Being inhabits. The purpose here is that Luke returns with Thrawn/abducted to this OtherWorld-UnderWorld in order to stymy the malignant spread of the nearly unstoppable QKZM, which places Luke in a perpetual state of using the Force to keep from being completely transformed into a minion of QKZM, while he and Thrawn try to navigate the DarkMatter dimension-trapped in the wormhole destroyed by the explosion of a fusion drive-which has also severed the connection between the Quadrants...Thrawn’s particular alien constitution makes him resistant to being completely dominated by the archaic genome mutated with his own biology...

*Yana, with River-Leia-Mara (like the 3, or 4 Queens of Avalon, who escort Arthur’s body back to the Otherworld), are left with trying to repair the massive devastation wrought across the galaxy, while trying to find some way of restoring the trans-spatial anomaly (Aka, Le’ Wormhole...), and Yana-in a reverse Eurydice-Orpheus kind of spin, ventures to find some way to follow Luke into that dark plain, and retrieve her lover-this involves ancient UnderGround pools on Earth That Was/Old Terra, which exists in a sterilized portion of space called the Wasteland (like that Arthurian theme?), now a blasted out expanse of light-years devastated by a massive surge of radiation flaring from a huge SuperNova 500-1000 years before (relating to the human inter-stellar diaspora alluded in the FireFly universe, with my own added strokes...)-as well as ancient trees existing in subterranean pools-yes, DarkSide Tree on Dagobah is a part of the web found on various planets, and is subsequently nicknamed Yggdrasil-wherein these ancient arboreal pools hold protoplasmic genomic sequences, but of less nefarious design than the DarkMatter Entity trying to conquer the inhabited galaxy (implied MilkyWay...)-all dating from the great cataclysm of the Universe’s creation. This segment inspired by the fact that it’s Rhiannon in the tale of the Mabinogion, who pursues her son, Pryderi, into the Otherworld w/o hesitation-as well as Inanna who dares the 7 Gates of Hell to prove her worth as Queen of Heaven-and the ancient tale of the goddess, Freya, who wept tears of amber pursuing her lost husband-lover, Svipdaeg-Odr (variance of Odin), across the world to return him to her side...

*I‘m sorry?

[shockdowndefiance]

You've been visited by the random OC question fairy! :D ~☆

Pick five of your character's most influential milestones (moving away from home, a first kiss, a death, etc.). Why and how did these milestones affect your character?

Thank you for the question! Once again I am answering for Allison Shepard as she’s the only MC I really have fleshed out. I sat down to write out her most influential milestones and narrowed it down to the five I felt would be most interesting. In chronological order:

1. Finding out she was a latent biotic and suddenly developing biotic abilities at the age of sixteen 2. Meeting her first boyfriend, Finn

After she was expelled for punching and injuring another student, and moving to a different human colony, she enrolls in a new school and meets Finn on her first day there:

A teen boy slouched casually against the wall opposite the office, moving to stand up when Allison shut the door behind her. His dark hair flopped down into his bright blue eyes as he moved, his hand almost continually going up to move it out of the way.

"Finnegan Osmani. Call me Finn," he said once he was close enough, holding a hand out. Allison took it and gave a brief shake before she pulled back. "You're that new kid, right?"

"I am," Allison said, turning and looking around. "I hear you’re my chaperone."

Finn laughed. "That's one way of putting it. Hey, rumours going around; you are a biotic, right?"

"Sure am," Allison said, turning back to look at Finn with a cool glare. "You gonna make something of it?"

"Nope." Finn grinned. "My lil sis is a biotic, she'll love to meet you."

Allison smiled herself.

Maybe introductions weren't going to be so bad.

Outside of family everyone treated Aliison and her twin brother Elliot like a ticking time bomb. Finn was the first one to fully embrace who she was, biotics and all. This was in part because of his younger sister also being a biotic, so he had some knowledge of what being a biotic meant.

Walking in to that new school, she had put her hair up and left her amp fully visible - she didn’t care what anyone thought of her, whispered about her. Hating her for being a biotic was the same as hating her for having green eyes, and if it meant she rounded out high school as the ostracised creepy biotic whom no one talked to...well, she didn’t care.

And then Finnegan showed her that, no, not everyone was going to act like that. Some people would be accepting of who she was, biotics and all.

Again, this has gotten really long so the rest is under a cut!

3. Enlisting in the Alliance 4. Getting dumped by Finn 5. Defending Elysium from pirates and slavers 6. Being awarded the Star of Terra for her actions on Elysium

Allison didn’t do anything special on Elysium.She didn’t do anything more than any other marine would have done (and in fact some of them willingly laid down their lives so that others could be saved). Being hailed as the Hero of Elysium is an aggravating and unnecessary epithet, and doubly so when her status as a biotic soldier is emphasised.

(This does create positive associations with biotics so it’s at least something but, again, she’s an average biotic. Nothing special. Stop advertising it on recruitment posters so much.)

She receives the Star of Terra (among others: namely her officer commission, invitation to ICT school, and a special commendation) for her actions, but despite all the pomp and circumstance, unless she needs to wear it it stays hidden away in its box in storage.

It doesn’t help that she’s the daughter of Hannah Shepard, well-regarded veteran of the First Contact War. People expected a lot from Allison, and barely four years since enrolling in the Alliance, they had humanity’s newest hero on their hands. She brushes off most applauds about her status; they take it as her being modest, she intends it as a stop bothering me about it but she can’t not keep it.

(This does later cause a bit of friction between Allison and Ashley later, but that is 8-9 years later in the timeline.)

7. Being invited to participate in the Interplanetary Combatives Training course 8. The untimely death of her paternal grandfather In the late 22nd century, the average life expectancy for humans is around 120, with some individuals reaching 150 years old.

As such, Allison’s paternal grandfather dying in his early nineties was a shock to all. It occurs in the middle of Allison’s ICT learning, and as a result it delays her graduation by a year. Completing ICT can be done in a year, but Allison spread it out a little because she wanted to pace herself - being one of the first biotics invited into the program, she didn’t want to crash and burn (despite there being no shame in being able to complete the first rank, she personally would have hated having done so).

Her grandfather’s death causes her to step back and reevaluate things a little. She idolised her grandfather so much (I have an idea for an art piece when Allison was about eight years old, on the back porch of her grandfather’s house; Allison is pulling a face because she and her grandfather are eating liquorice; she despises it but her grandfather adores it, and because he adores it she reckons that she must also adore it) and losing him punches a hole in her career plans.

She stays in the Alliance (not much else for a biotic to do, and her family going back many generations has been military, so she doesn’t quite know what else to do) but she misses him for a long time. 9. Completing her Interplanetary Combatives Training course and being awarded N7 rank 10. Accidentally interfacing with the prothean beacon on Eden Prime and getting the first glimpse of the impending Reaper invasion 11. Becoming a Spectre, part of the Citadel's specops group 12. Rescuing both Kaidan and Ashley from the near-doom mission on Virmire 13. Allowing herself to fall in love with Kaidan This harkens back to Finn and him seeing her as a whole. For Allison, being in the Alliance and having a relationship doesn’t mesh - initially she’s working on her career, aiming to get her officer’s commission, then Elysium happens and people are more interested in her as Commander Shepard, Hero of Elysium than they are of Allison.

Kaidan’s different. Heck, all of the Normandy crew are different (barring those who knew her prior like Anderson and Adams) - while they respect her as their XO/CO, they don’t idolise her like other people she’s met. She can pull off heroic feats and achieve the near-impossible, but a large part of that is down to her crew and how they are all able to work together.

But Kaidan sees beyond rank, sees beyond medals, sees beyond her service history, and does indeed see Allison, the person. Admittedly at the point in time this occurs, Allison hasn’t seen how bad things can get, and she doesn’t know how much of a rock Kaidan will be to her, but to realise that he loves her, the entirety of her, and not the hero plastered across the recruitment vids, or the thin line between reverence and rejection biotics often get.

But they’re military, she’s his CO and he’s her HOMD. She’s gotten a lot of leniency running as a Spectre ship but she still answers to the Alliance. Fraternization is not allowed, and so they push their feelings to the back once the Citadel is saved and Saren and Sovereign are killed. Kaidan requests to be given a new posting, a space halfway across the galaxy, given a few months and then start an official, public relationship, and allow Allison a shot at a normal romantic relationship. 14. Dying and being ressurected 15. Finding out that the Collectors are protheans, enslaved and mutated by the Reapers 16. Leading a team through the Omega 4 relay, a place where no one had returned from, to destroy the collector base and returning victorious 17. Blowing up a mass relay in batarian space, killing over 300k batarians and being put under house arrest 18. Almost losing Kaidan after an ambush on Mars 19. Uniting the galaxy against the Reapers and delivering the killing blow, ending their message for ever 20. Waking up to a post-Reaper galaxy with both physical and mental injuries, and learning how to manage with those

Allison wakes up in a hospital bed for the second time in her life after a major battle and she almost cries. Let me rest, she thinks, fearing that Cerberus has gotten to her again and they’ve rebuilt her again to go rogue and save the galaxy again. Hasn’t she earned her rest?

Well, yes. She has.

She’s in a hospital in London, her mother at her bedside as medics struggle to sedate her, worried that Allison will injure herself more without it. Miranda, the one who rebuilt her after the Collector attack, is leading the team. Allison is officially awoken from the induced coma/sedation about a month later and told what happened.

She lost her lower left leg, replaced with a prosthesis in the short term and a tissue cloned leg in the long term. One arm was dislocated, the other broken; a scar now bisects her face from forehead to nose, before curving around her cheekbone to her ear.

The Normandy has disappeared, no one knows where her or her crew are, including Kaidan - whom she had married just hours before the final assault against the Reapers.

Allison gets a multitude of diagnoses - acute stress disorder, anxiety, depression, panic attacks. Physically she recovers without issue, though she considers the clone tissue leg a waste (I can manage just fine on a prosthesis thank you) when there are others around who could benefit from the resources used on her.

But she’s got one more epithet to add to her collection - saviour of the galaxy, and a one-of-a-kind medal to accompany that. Her immediate family survived - her parents, her twin brother, her younger sister. And somehow Kaidan and nearly everyone on the Normandy survives too, reunited about three months after Allison officially wakes up.

But she struggles with her mental health, lashing out at Kaidan for his idea to take her to inner British Columbia, to his family’s orchard. Logically she knows it’s the best idea - remote and peaceful - but her brain rebels, another choice made for her, another change to her life that she has no control over.

But she apologises, rests, and recovers. Takes up Anderson’s apartment on the Citadel when it’s habitable once again and considers, maybe, retiring from the Alliance and pursuing a normal life.

Maybe.

(It doesn’t stay that way for long.) 21. Choosing to get pregnant and raising children with Kaidan

[floriswrite]

It was hard, for both of them, trying to piece their lives back together, both /together/, and apart. 

Radiant Garden could be more destroyed. It had been. At a point. It had been utterly gone at a point. Transformed by their own greed for knowledge. 

But his World was at least back in some form of capacity after the destruction of Xehanort. And Vexen had slipped back into being Even with ease. The two were really the same side of a coin. Vexen had simply not had to care about morals when it came to science. 

His research could happen without any pesky interruptions from his own mind. 

But he was whole, once more, and Ansem was back, and he was thankful for the man who was a critical part of his heart and family, but it made being in his lab strange. 

He had committed his life so deeply to the clone research. Because he could. Because he was told to. He could never have imagined what it’s true purpose would be. But he had never put much weight into the thought of time travel until then either. Until his services were needed and he had no idea what degree of agent he had been at the end. 

To think they would truly believe that he would betray Ienzo like that. How idiotic could they be. 

But he had to leave with Saix without telling him, and it had been a painful but easy fact. He was needed on that side. That side had his research. He wanted Vexen’s journals more than anything else. And then he had been instructed to make empty vessels, like Xion, but more perfect, and it had been easy.

So, so easy. 

So easy because his loyalty was not to Xemnas but Ienzo. It had always been to the child gifted to him by Ansem all those years ago. 

So easy to ask Demyx, because his research had given him an out to the battle, to bring something to Ienzo. Because no one would expect that he would speak to Demyx. Vexen had always made it very liberally known his feelings on the other members. 

His feelings that were not real and merely built on fragments of memories. Marluxia had always made them feel so real. 

Marluxia who was there, again, with Larxene, of course, and that was a part of the puzzle that Vexen could not understand. How had Marluxia fallen back to Xehanort? Why was he not his Somebody once more? That was all the man had wanted at Oblivion. To find a way back. 

Even, Vexen, felt beyond foolish to learn the way back was death. And not even death via Keyblade. His body would always have scars from Axel. As if he needed reason to hate his body more. 

He couldn’t speak to Marluxia. Not then. Not when everyone was planning something. Because it could go either way.

It had almost gone bad. Very wrong. 

Vexen had not cared, or perhaps he had cared too much. 

Science or family. He hated himself for constantly making that a decision in his life. 

But they had won in the end. Won were it mattered. Even if Sora was missing. Dead but not dead. And his research had turned to focus on that.

Because Ienzo and Ansem willed that. 

They owed the children that much. 

So he settled into his new life. Because his life was science and his family. 

But Lauriam. 

Lauriam was distinctively not Marluxia. 

That had been clearest in the way he spoke to Ansem when he first appeared on Radiant Garden. Elrena close to his side. Elrena who was softer as well. 

Everything made so much sense about the two of them when he learned of Strelitzia. 

Lauriam had spoken plainly to Ansem. Because Ansem was a kind king and deserved as much. Because Ansem knew betrayal intimately. 

Ansem insisted that Lauriam and Elrena stay with them. The castle had plenty of space and he had the notion that he wanted to be close to some mildly familiar faces.

Lauriam had hesitated and Elrena had bristled. They had always been a duo. But eventually Lauriam had agreed. To find their bearings. To try and understand the time and place. 

Ansem had merely told them to take as much time as they needed. 

It was a week into their stay that Lauriam had even come near the labs. Even could not get out of Lauriam /where/ he had woken up. His response to any question that was a bit too deep was an immediate shut down. 

Once it had been his Keyblade. And that had made a few more pieces fit into place.

“Allow me to speak freely?” 

Even startled at the voice. 

Ienzo had left his side a few minutes ago and Even had fallen right back into his research. Memories held the key to everything. Memories controlled everything. It was work that made his heart ache with thoughts of Oblivion. The Riku Replica should have been a perfect idea. But it had wanted to be too real. Ienzo had hesitated for some time before admitting to him how he had died. 

“Lauriam,” Even turned slowly, feeling suddenly caged, “Go ahead.” 

“I had wanted to talk to you about this before, but it seemed foolish to speak of death when it would be coming again soon.” Lauriam started as he walked across the room. 

“How morbid of you.” 

“I have always been on the side of Sora, after all.” Lauriam smirked, but it fell quickly. “Do you know what became of the Riku Replica?” 

“He died in battle, I presume. He was not a large primary focus of mine. You must realize.” Even responded with a wave of his hand. “A failed means to an end.” 

“How heartless of you.” Lauriam laughed. “Vexen was so proud of him. Honestly, it was cute.” 

“You thought it was /cute/ that I made a replica out of spite?” 

“Marluxia found everything about Vexen cute.” Lauriam shrugged. “He created a whole interior being to try and prove that Sora was the wrong choice. Even now you do not get it. Why it had to be Sora. Always Sora.” 

“I doubt I ever will. But I’ve always been more on the side of dark, Mr. Champion of Light.” 

“You’re either getting guardians or princes mixed up, which I am neither.” Lauriam shook his head a little. “Or are you making fun of me?” 

“There’s princes of light?” Even squinted at him. 

“There’s princesses of heart. Which are hearts that lack dark, so essentially they are light.” Lauriam sighed. “Did we ever properly apologize to all the people the Organization kidnapped?” 

“No, too busy dying.” Even smirked at him. “But there are /princes/?” 

“Well, there’s Ventus. More a joke, then anything.” 

 “How is that boy?” 

“Odd, but I am happy for him.” Lauriam placed a hand over his heart. “I am very thankful to Terra and Aqua.” 

“Odd?” 

“He is still a boy. I was only a few years older than him. I... worry it makes him uncomfortable.” 

“That’s understandable.” Even gave him a careful smile. “What did you actually want to talk about?” 

“I wanted to apologize. For before.” Lauriam swallowed. “I- I did not expect Axel to actually go through with it. To go that far to- to win my /favor/.” He scuffed a little and played with his hands. “I do not expect you to ever forgive me, but I needed you to know that I did regret it.” 

“Do you have scars from your death?” Even questioned. “I believe you, but only on the basis that you killed me while I was still useful to you.” 

“You have burn scars?” Lauriam’s voice hitched a little. Wounded. “Vexen needed to only stay out of the way. He allowed a- a /pissing contest/ to destroy him.” 

“Yes, and you are not being pleasant enough to see them.” Even scuffed. “Well maybe if Marluxia had gotten off his high horse it wouldn’t have been such a problem.” 

“We both know you would love if I bent you over your desk right this second.” Lauriam laughed. “Xemnas gave him a /castle/.” 

“Shut up.” Even snapped. “That castle should have been Vexen’s.” 

“What a joke.” Lauriam stepped closer to him then. “Even now you don’t get it. Would Namine have listened?” 

“What?” Even stepped back into the desk. The feeling familiar against his lower back. Familiar ground.

“What was the purpose of Castle Oblivion? What would you have done with Sora? That castle was not supposed to have casualties. Larxene and Marluxia were meant to handle him. Nothing else. To lead him through his memories so Namine could do her job. Why was Vexen stationed there? Why were Lexaeus and Zexion?” 

“Are you accusing Castle Oblivion of having been a trap?” Even stared down at him. He grasped the desk behind him so he did not grab Lauriam. 

“Namine was making Sora loyal to her, was he not? How were we meant to control him? It seems so obvious now.” 

“You’re terrible at apologies, you know that?” Even sighed. “You can’t change the past. ...Probably.” 

Lauriam laughed a little. “Probably.” Lauriam sighed and slowly placed his hands over Even’s. “My point is. Nothing about Castle Oblivion went correctly. I regret all of it. I do not expect forgiveness. I am aware I do not deserve you after what I did. But I would like a chance.” 

“Are you... are you asking me out?” Even stared at him in shock. 

“I think I am. If that is okay.” 

“Give me time to think. My mind and body are- /competing/.” 

“I am being a touch unfair.” Lauriam slipped his hands away and stepped back. “Take as much time as you need.” 

“You are serious?” 

“Marluxia’s words were never lies. But Vexen was a liability and there was a war.” 

“Come back tomorrow.” Even gave a small nod. “Do you- do you still-” he swallowed and finally reached for Lauriam “Do you still feel that way?” 

“I am not Marluxia.” Lauriam responded. “What they felt is theirs. We cannot build a solid foundation on it.” 

“I understand.” Even placed a hand on his cheek. “A fresh start.” 

“That is all I ask for.” Lauriam leaned into his touch. “Remember to eat dinner, Even. And get some rest.” 

“Yes, yes.” Even stepped closer. “Tell me something.”

“Anything.” 

“You really mean that, don’t you?” 

“Do I have reason to lie or keep secrets from you?” Lauriam closed his eyes. 

“I- I suppose not.” Even held his ground. “Back then, it was love at first sight, is that still-” 

“Even.” Lauriam cut him off with a kind smile. “Think about my offer and give me your answer tomorrow.” 

“Okay.” Even withdrew his hand slowly. He had nearly kissed him. It had been so easy to fall into the motions of his body. The control of it all. 

Lauriam caught his hand. “I’ll make you breakfast.” 

“That would be nice.” Even gave him a small nod. A promise for tomorrow. Something to look forward to and think on. 

It wasn’t really a question of yes or no. 

It was a question of what they did after the yes.

[themattress]

The Butterfly Effect of Xion

So the Vince Vaughn movie Fred Claus has been on TV, and I have to paraphrase:

“I don’t hate you, Xion. I just wish you were never born.”

(XION FANS, DO NOT ENGAGE)

Dwelling on it recently, I came to realize just how damaging the existence of Xion has been on the Kingdom Hearts series. There were issues with her in her debut game of 358/2 Days, true, but they pale in comparison to what ended up happening in the games afterward. Xion’s existence created a Butterfly Effect, where five major problems that wrecked the series might not have occurred if the precedent hadn’t been set by Nomura and Kanemaki with Xion. 

1. So, Xion is a replica. She was meant to be a replica of Sora, but because the memories she absorbed from Roxas (because that’s a thing now) were Sora’s strongest memories, those of Kairi, she became a girl who resembled Kairi. Except when she isn’t and looks different depending on who is viewing her. This didn’t only over-complicate the replica concept in Days, but it set the precedent going forward that replicas could be used for anything the plot demands and ended up as the go-to method to bring previously dead or disembodied characters back (that and time travel). Back in CoM, the Riku Replica was just a clone of Riku, the idea was simple to grasp. Now replicas aren’t even really replicas at all. 

2. Let me point this out again: Sora’s fractured memories somehow escaped him and that’s never explained how this is possible. They go into Roxas and then “leak” out of him and into Xion, which is what gives her an identity. And Namine’s power over the memories of Sora and those aligned with him are now increased so that she can view memories currently being made by Roxas and Xion from a far away distance. This convoluted usage of the concept of memory only gets worse in Coded and 3D, and it’s unclear who remembers what anymore. Much like replicas, memories are now being used to make any ludicrous plot turn happen, and this especially damages Namine’s character given that she has power over memories.

3. So because Xion’s identity is composed of memories that need to go back inside of Sora, she ceases to exist after dying. Let me repeat: Xion ceases to exist. This is what is said by Namine, who is a pretty reliable source given how overpowered she’d become at this point: 

If you return your memories to him, you'll disappear. And since everything about you was built on those memories...no one will remember you when you're gone. There won't be any "you" to remember. I can't save you, Xion - even a memory of you.

Except that this totally becomes a lie in Coded, making it so that what Namine should have said was “Don’t worry, Xion - I can totes save a memory you inside of data placed within Jiminy’s Journal, and everyone will begin remembering you again in a few months’ time until finally you can come back to life and exist independently of Sora. There’s no stakes here!” 

And this begins one of the most damning trends in the series: previous canon is discarded on a whim in order to bring back characters who definitively reached a conclusion in order to give them an ideal ‘happily ever after’ ending as fanservice for everyone who likes them. Roxas, Namine, Xion, Axel, all the other Organization members, Ansem the Wise, Eraqus, even the goddamn Riku Replica...the dramatic power of their endings is completely undone against all internal logic and good storytelling sensibilities. And it all started with Xion, who even after ceasing to exist (making her deader than dead), still managed to give belated telepathic messages to Riku and Roxas the day afterward, leaving a door for revival open.

(Side-note: Nomura actually said in the BBS Ultimania interview that “there is no concept of death in the KH universe”. Really, now? Tell that to Hades, the lord of the dead. Or the numerous Disney villains who have died. Or good guys like Mufasa, Tadashi, or Bambi’s mother! Hell, even your own OC characters have acknowledged the reality of death: Xehanort’s entire impetus behind possessing Terra is because he was afraid of dying from old age before he could see his plan through to fruition! Nomura, you are an absolute hack.)

4. So, Xion is a Kairi look-alike who can wield a Keyblade. Chronologically speaking, she wielded a Keyblade before Kairi did, even though the game where Kairi did was released first. You have her in your party throughout Days, can play as her in Mission Mode, and then in KH3 she flat-out replaces Kairi in the party during the battle with Saix. Kairi, meanwhile, has never been playable, and had exactly 1 minute of time in the party before being taken out of it and replaced by Xion. Then she gets killed by Xehanort and is unable to take part in the big climax, but Xion does. And during all of this, Kairi is phased out of the trio between her, Sora and Riku, all while Xion is a retcon to the KH2-established duo of Axel and Roxas.

If Xion didn’t already feel like a self-insert Mary Sue from a fanfic before, she certainly does now. Kairi actually had narrative build-up and anticipation for years at becoming either a playable character or a full-fledged party member, and either way being an all-around capable Keyblade wielder who could fight alongside her friends Sora and Riku. But instead, this black-haired copycat of her who was created after the game where Kairi was given a Keyblade and was then said to be deader than it was possible to be gets all the glory.  

Just look at the cover of KH3. Kairi sticks out like a sore thumb because she remains the only one with alleged combat capabilities who has never ever been playable across the entire series’ existence, and whose time as a party member is pathetic compared to everyone else. Perhaps if we didn’t have Xion, who got 30 more votes than Kairi on an official popularity poll, the game developers would have felt more of a drive to develop Kairi and make her a competent combatant. But I say perhaps because Nomura would be a sexist pig either way.

5. Lastly, let’s talk about the “Seasalt Trio” that became a thing thanks to Xion. In KH2, the narrative was that Roxas and Axel had been friends, with Roxas having something of a heart and Axel actually being able to feel emotions due to forging a close relationship with him. But Roxas left the Organization to find out the truth about himself, disillusioned by Axel’s lies and possessiveness of him. Ultimately, when it came down to truly helping Roxas or just helping himself, Axel chose himself and tried to kill Roxas. When this failed and Roxas merged with Sora, Axel became consumed by guilt and tried to get Roxas back until he finally realized that his selfishness was the problem and reached true atonement to Roxas through sacrificing his life for Sora. And for his part, Roxas learned to be at peace with an existence as part of Sora, as he felt more emotionally fulfilled than he did as a Nobody and could still be with Namine.

While Days mostly stuck to the narrative in regards to Axel, the addition of Xion complicated things so that Axel was made to be viewed more sympathetic than he really should be. The connection Roxas had with Xion, meanwhile, totally eclipsed the one he had with Namine in KH2, to the point where all of Namine’s helpful actions toward Roxas are retconned into her subconsciously keeping a promise she made to Xion to look after him. And the idealistic friendship between the three of them, where they enjoy working together in the Organization and having ice cream together atop Twilight Town’s clock tower guaranteed that many players would no longer accept Roxas’ fate in KH2 as a happy ending for him. After all, if he was perfectly comfortable as his own physical existence and had good friends he enjoyed eating ice cream with all the time, then nothing less than that seems like it could make him happy.

And ultimately, not even the narrative around Axel was to last. In Days, he says to Xion that she and Roxas can “keep on running, but I’ll always be there to bring you back!” In context, this was a selfish, possessive threat. It was Axel saying “Screw what you two want or need! I want and need you at my side in the Organization and I’ll drag you back there against your will no matter how many times you try to escape!” But once Axel is revived as Lea in 3D, the narrative pretends that wasn’t the case and now insists that it’s a noble pledge, a promise to “always bring his friends back” when they disappear, and that it’s legitimately what they want him to do. An interesting, morally gray character was totally whitewashed so that he deserves the ideal happy ending that he receives. All from something he said to Xion.

So yeah, this is what holds me back from being a big Xion fan, and while I hold no personal animosity toward her, I deeply wish she had never been introduced into the series at all.

I wish she was conceived exclusively for Shiro Amano’s manga instead!

[halcyondigger]

So, the lore for Mega Man Legends is hella deep and pretty much all contained within the sequel -- which is the game less people know about for some reason. 

In the interest of that, for anybody curious and wanting a better understanding of just what I go on about, I’ve created a handy chonological bulletpoint sequence of events! Read on, if you’re so inclined! 

Elysium is Born

Following one of Mega Man X5′s endings, Mega Man X, last creation of Dr. Light, chooses to finally ensure the safety of the surviving humanity after the fall of Eurasia by beginning work on the space colony “Elysium”, meant to be an artificial paradise where people could live in safety. 

This project is eventually completed, and all remaining human life is migrated from the devastated planet’s surface into the care of the units housed on Elysium. 

Centuries pass, with life support systems allowing humans to live well beyond their projected life expectancy, technology advances to the point where reploids end up phased out in favor of biomechanical units with biology similar to carbon-based lifeforms hybridized seamlessly with cybernetic components.

The new units become part of Elysium’s Master System, a colony-housed society with hierarchy amidst the units there, all centered around the ideal of caring for their human wards. 

The Master System becomes headed by two sister “Mother Units”, Sera and Yuna, who produce and oversee further others to serve the Master System, upon which all subsequent units emerging after are as their subordinate offspring. At the same time, the Purifier Unit line to succeed the Maverick Hunters from olden days is formed, in order to deal with “Aberrant” units who malfunction or otherwise become a threat. Amongst this number is the First-Class Purifier Unit, Mega Man Trigger. 

Over time, the human life aboard Elysium begins to naturally dwindle and die out. In order to combat this threat, Sera and Yuna take DNA samples of all that remain to be stored in a genetic Library in the heart of Elysium, a chamber charged to Sera personally to ensure that no existing force could threaten them. 

In an attempt to ensure human life will flourish once more, Sera and Yuna coordinate with the oldest-living human, the Master, in creating a fodder race in the image of humans using the Master System units’ design as a foundation. They mass-seed the Earth, now referred to by codename of “Terra”, with with these life forms, thus creating the Carbon race. 

The Carbon race eventually leads to unsatisfactory results in proving mankind can once again live on Terra. In order to reset the process and try again, Sera creates the Carbon Reinitialization System -- a process by which all Carbon life is erased from the planet to create a clean slate. 

The Master, Trigger, and the Mother Units

As the Master loses all other human companions and becomes a revered existence within Elysium that no one dares to regard personally, he seeks out another in the form of Mega Man Trigger, chosen personally to be his attendant functionally while in reality for the purpose of becoming his close companion. 

As Sera and Yuna repeatedly attempt to see if Terra is suitable for life periodically, the repeated extinctions cause the remnants of each Carbon line’s budding civilizations to coalesce with the lingering traces of the ancient human race, resulting in countless ruins becoming strewn across Terra.

As the Master and Mega Man Trigger spend greater time together, becoming inseparable over the years, the Mother Units’ behavior begins to alter. Yuna comes to adopt an affectionate, personally-invested attitude between Trigger, the Master and her sister, acting as the group’s compass and mediator. Sera, however, grows frustrated, as the Master never seems to regard her efforts the same way he does Trigger’s company. This causes her to develop a jealous rivalry of Trigger, while at the same time growing more complicated feelings towards him.

Three thousand years after the Mother Units were created, the Master has finally grown tired of his forcibly-extended life. Without the other two noticing, the Master charges Mega Man Trigger to take him in a pod down to Terra’s surface, so he can behold the forming of early Carbon society with his own eyes -- not disclosing to Trigger that he would be unable to survive outside Elysium without its life support systems. 

Making landfall on what would in the future become Calbania Island, the Master is humbled seeing how the early people coming together, finding simple pleasures in life, and comes to realize the cold, sterile luxury of immortality he’d been sheltered by was fundamentally wrong. Coming to accept the Carbon race as humankind’s true successors, the Master gives Trigger a “good luck charm” containing his genetic code-- the key to managing the Library’s computer, to either begin the mass-cloning of humanity on Terra, or to erase it all. He makes a final request of Trigger to do the latter, to put an end to the Master System so that the Carbon race would be free of Elysium’s godlike control over them. Then, peacefully, the last human passes away. 

As Mega Man Trigger returns to Elysium in order to fulfill the Master’s last wish and put an end to the system, Sera reacts violently upon discovering what has come to pass. Unable to accept what she believes to be the Master discarding her, she decrees Trigger the highest-priority Aberrant for aiding in the Master’s death, declaring open war on him with all of Elysium.

The End of Elysium

Untold years of battle between the endless forces of Elysium and Trigger alone begin. Yuna, for her part, finds herself conflicted in holding love for both her friend and her sister equally, on top of being torn between siding with family and siding with the one she knows would know best the Master’s wishes. Unable to take side with either, she removes herself to be a neutral overseer -- taking with her the keys Sera would need for clearance to activate the Carbon Reinitialization Program for the planet. 

Trigger and Elysium’s battle eventually makes its way to Terra. On a locale called Kattelox Island, Bureaucratic Unit Third-Class Mega Man Juno decides to activate the Carbon Reinitialization Program for his territory specifically, calling down the tower of Eden from orbit to rain fire on the island. Mega Man Trigger makes to stop this, facing Juno in single combat and dispatching him handily, sealing him back in the Main Gate and closing off all paths to it. 

Sera finally loses all patience with Yuna as well as her own failing forces, and ventures to Terra herself to eliminate Trigger with her own hands. Trigger and Sera have their final battle on the unnamed landmass in the polar north, largely destroying the island in their clash before mutually striking each other down, both mortally wounded. 

In order to preserve himself, Mega Man Trigger backs up all his personal data into a small, monkey-like storage unit named “Data”, before an automatic restoration function kicks in. With most of his body destroyed, what remains undergoes a total biological regression, self-reincarnating as an infant. 

Sera manages to remain conscious in her condition, as Yuna arrives in the aftermath of their battle. Once more, she demands Yuna give her the keys for the Library so she could fulfill her purpose to erase all Carbon life and restore humankind, but Yuna refuses. Having accepted the Master’s will, Yuna seals Sera into a prismatic stasis field, doing the same with the resetting Trigger and Data. Trigger and Data are then sent away, transported deep into the aquatic ruin of Nino Island. Yuna then chooses to remain with Sera on the polar island for all time, manipulating the weather to create a blizzard too harsh for any living thing or transportation to pass through. The island would eventually come to be known as “Forbidden Island”. 

Unbeknownst to either, early Carbons had been in the area. They had missed the final battle with Trigger and Sera, but arrived in time to witness what transpired between Sera and Yuna. The two would become regarded as goddesses, with Sera known as the “Goddess of the Sky”, who “guards the record of ages”, while Yuna became known as the “Goddess of the Earth”, who “guards the keys”. 

Pre-Legends

Centuries later, famed Digger couple Banner and Matilda Caskett chose to be the ones to penetrate the barrier of Forbidden Island and uncover its secrets. Leaving their infant daughter Roll with Matilda’s father, Digger legend Barrel Caskett, the two embark on a dropship meant to penetrate the very epicenter of the perpetual storm, where one can successfully break through. 

The expedition turns for the worst, as the pair are unprepared for the Reaverbots guarding the island. Matilda ends up fatally wounded, while Banner loses an arm and vanishes, eventually turning up on the Calinca continent with all memory lost from physical trauma. 

Yuna discovers the dying Matilda in her territory. Feeling responsible for what has befallen her, Yuna decided to save her by means of nanotechnology and portions of her own being to heal her wounds. However, the procedure ends up compromising Yuna’s own body. With no other recourse, she transmits herself in her entirety into Matilda, becoming one with her and putting Matilda’s consciousness into dormancy while she lives on within her. Yuna’s body is then put into the dropship the Casketts arrived in, sealed within a barrier for safekeeping.

Upon hearing what has befallen his daughter and her husband, Barrel Caskett resolves himself to retire from active Digging to raise his granddaughter. However, he decides to embark on one final digout before being done for good -- one within the Nino Ruins. 

At the bottom of the Nino Ruins, Barrel discovers the stasis prism that had been buried there ages before. Touching it, the prism disappears, revealing a brown-haired infant and a small, robotic monkey. Unsure what to think, Barrel decides to take the boy home with him for the time being. 

Upon bringing the boy home, the unknown baby comes into contact with the infant Roll, who immediately displays favor towards him. On seeing this, Barrel decides to take in the boy just as well. However, recognizing the child is clearly abnormal and bizarre circumstances may arise in the future, he opts not to adopt the boy into their family, but to raise him alongside Roll as his apprentice. The infant boy is given his own name: Rock Volnutt.

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath and Glory RP #40

As soon as they’re out of Terra, Ahram pulls Saef aside and tells him that he absolutely needs to have the crystal back, or he can’t guarantee what will happen. Saef pulls out the shards of the crystal and Ahram sort of deflates, saying it wasn’t meant to be in pieces. Saef explains where he got them and who he presumes are inside the crystals, and gives the piece he found at the Haemonculus cave to Ahram. Ahram doesn’t know what to do with it, he attempts to get the soul inside in him, but doesn’t manage. Saef pushes the soul inside into Ahram, who says he doesn’t feel much different.

Ahram explains his situation. As Saef has surmised, he is a clone. Cloning technology has existed for a long time in the Imperium, but there has been the trouble of the clones being super-unlucky and dying really quickly. A tech-priest on Triplex Phall figured it must have been due to the soul not splitting with the clones. So they took the soul out of Ahram using eldar spirit stones and made three clones. This Ahram is a clone (as was Saef’s Ahram, and the Ahram working for Kane Bullard), and he isn’t sure what happened to the original Ahram. Ahram says he could technically take Saef’s Ahram’s soul, but he isn’t quite sure what that would mean, as he has lived quite a life. Saef says there’s no need, he is going to have to let Ahram go at some point, but needs some time.

Saef’s eyes aren’t still working properly, so he asks Gorm if there’s any medics about. Gorm says there should be an apothecary around, Gorm’s also looking for a chaplain so they might as well go together. They do find a chaplain and an apothecary chatting. The apothecary takes Saef to the medbay and Gorm goes with the chaplain, named Calidus Examinare.

Gorm asks Calidus whether he could have a look at the Codex Astartes. He explains having met the Primarch of the Ultramarines, and it was an eye-opener so he would love to read more about his thoughts. Calidus is more than happy to part with a copy. Gorm shows Calidus the necklace he got from Fenris, and asks why it was given to him with no explanation. Calidus admits not knowing about how things like these are done on Fenris, but he surmises it could be a test to see what Gorm would do and act once such an object was given to him. 

Gorm explains to Calidus about a situation with a brother he is worried for, who’s on the wrong path. Calidus ssays that it is only natural to be worried for a fellow battle-brother, and Gorm clarifies that he is not talking about a fellow Astartes, but a regular person. Then it is more complex of a situation, Calidus admits, the duty of the Astartes is to fight for the betterment of the humanity, it is easy to understand their path, but humans as whole have no such duty, so they are free to occasionally do bad things to each other. Calidus does encourage Gorm to help this friend to find his purpose and place among humanity. 

Finally Gorm asks if he may join the Ultramarines for a prayer, and Calidus says he is free to do so, if he comes with humility and willingness. Prayer is a place to look into oneself, and many people do not pray because they do not like what they find when they look. Gorm says he is willing, and Calidus welcomes him. Gorm thanks him and leaves.

Saef and the apothecary, Julius Nepos, go to the medbay, where Saef explains the situation. Julius looks over the eyes and informs Saef that his sight may never return. If Saef wishes, or if it gets worse, Saef should talk to the Mechanicus of his regiment, so he can get augmentations. But for now Julius gives him nice new sci-fi glasses (+1 to appearing smart!).

While Saef and Gorm are gone, Gimlet goes to find a place where he can be alone, which is the ship’s engine room. He sets up tea for himself, and for a second person, which is the picture of Cara. He journals and talks with his mother.

The time our heroes spend at the Ultarmarines’ ship is rather quiet. Saef takes his time meditating. Ahram reads books (Saef’s Blood Angels’ book and then later a ship manual). Gimlet hangs out alone at the engine room. Uffe goes to practice with the Ultramarines. Gorm is barely ever present, going to the communal prayers and to follow the practice, and when he is present, he is nose-deep in the Codex Astartes. 

Nearing their destination one day, everyone is gathered into a room, minus Ahram who, having sensed that something is happening has gone off to do something else. Gorm asks Uffe if he wants to stay to listen in, because he has something to say. Uffe shrugs and says if it’s okay with the others, mostly Gimlet. Gimlet says it’s cool.

So Gorm begins to speak, telling that when they went to Terra it was a big revelation to him and now he had time to reflect on it. He fears that he had made a misjudgement on Terra, because of the heated emotions of the moment. Gorm says that maybe it was his fault, in the perspective of things that Gimlet knows. Gimlet went behind Gorm’s and Saef’s back, but that is what Inquisition people do, and Gorm should have taken more careful measures around Gimlet. Gimlet says this is a rather surprising admission. 

Gorm admits to some confusion about Gimlet’s path and motivations. He points out that Gimlet speaked a lot of fear of death back on Terra, and Gorm is of the opinion that many things Gimlet has done so far is because of this fear. Gorm wants to know what Gimlet wants to do before he dies, and says that to him it seems Gimlet wants vengeance on the dead people of Limestow. Gimlet says he wants his memories back, he wants justice for Limestow and to uncover what Tanner did. Gorm says finding his memories is a cause he can sort of understand, but for Limestow he has some reservations. To Gorm and to the Space Wolves, death is a natural part of life, a natural end point. Gorm wishes Gimlet wouldn’t dwell too much on what happened before, because nothing can change it, except warp and that is a sure path to damnation.

Gimlet makes the point that he is only seeking justice for Limestow, and vengeance for himself. Gorm asks that what if someone would offer to get his mother back, he isn’t convinced Gimlet wouldn’t take such a deal. Gorm says that instead of dwelling on Limestow Gimlet should focus on the future, on what he could do. Gimlet says it is not easy, and Gorm agrees that it is not, but he can help Gimlet. 

Gorm says that people of Limestow don’t want justice anymore, and Gimlet, quite heatedly says that Gorm doesn’t know that, because the people of Limestow can’t say that for themselves, on the account of being dead. Gorm tells that for the Space Wolves, it is important to honor the dead, to remember them and what they died for. And if it were Gorm in Gimlet’s shoes he’d think about why they passed and work on prevention and leave what happened behind. Gimlet says that’s just Gorm’s opinion, and Gorm counters with saying it’s his advice.

Gimlet says his hope was only to be free after completing his mission, and that is now crushed. Gorm asks what changes if Tanner’s crimes are found out, and Gimlet says wouldn’t Gorm want to know, what he did and why he took Gimlet’s (and others’) memories. Gorm shrugs and says many people miss memories (including himself). Gorm thinks finding out about Tanner’s crimes isn’t a good idea, because it is not Gimlet’s place to judge him, the only who judges him anymore is the All-Father. Gimlet disagrees, thinking it is precisely his responsibility to do so. Gorm says that what Gimlet will find out won’t change things, and Gimlet coutners that Gorm can’t know if its worth it. Gorm says it won’t change anything for Tanner or for the people who are dead.

Besides Gimlet already found his parents, and that was a big thing. Gorm wants Gimlet not to focus on his negative feelings. He encourages Gimlet to find his past, but not to focus on the dead. The dead got what they deserved, and some did not, but they are dead nonetheless. Gorm thinks it would be more prudent to focus on living Inquisitors rather than Tanner’s crimes. There’s a lot of people who don’t speak highly of Inquisition, and Gimlet has a choice and knowledge to change things from within. Gimlet says he only wants out, because he thought he was doing good when he was in Inquisition, because this was how he was raised. Gimlet brings Vivek as an example. He says he treated Vivek awful, because he is an arsonist and that was the only thing he saw, but Vivek is alright (don’t tell Vivek Gimlet said that).

Gorm says it is important to think for themselves, such as Gimlet had to do after Tanner’s judgement. It is dangerous not to question things one believes in, Gorm says questioning  is how one finds out if those beliefs are worth it.

Gorm asks what Gimlet wants to do once he is out of the Inquisition. Gimlet says he doesn’t know, he mentions that his father is looking for their relatives. Maybe he’s going to see the world, maybe he’ll be an adventurer. 

Gorm asks who is Gimlet’s true self, the one he was before Terra around Gorm and Saef, or the one on the phone with his old friends. Gimlet says both. Gorm encourages Gimlet to be his true self. Gimlet says that’s what he has been.

Gorm says that he has been worried for his friend, because he is watching his friends go against with what Gorm believes in, dwelling in the past, tinkering with truth (I never lied technically, says Gimlet; that is why I said tinkering, says Gorm), which is a quick way to get away from the All-Father’s light.

But it is not Gorm’s place to judge, he just wishes Gimlet would not have been afraid to speak his truth. Gimlet points out that Gorm has had the decency to act very irrationally and quickly re:punching Gimlet when he thought Gimlet had shot Vivek. Gorm apologizes and says he will not act like that anymore. 

Gimlet says he never intended to do harm to Gorm or Saef. Gorm says he is still afraid of things Gimlet knows and how dangerous they could be, but he is choosing to trust Gimlet, because not trusting Gimlet wouldn’t do any good to Gimlet, and Gorm is worried for Gimlet.

Gorm explains that after they left Terra he was still angry, and he admits bugging Gimlet, telling there’s a listening device in his inventory. But now Gorm realizes it doesn’t do any good acting behind Gimlet’s back, there is no good to be done by those means. Gimlet looks at how Uffe is reacting to this and he appears to be a bit surprised, but again he is very hard to read as always.

Gorm has one more thing he wants to ask about, about the jaw of the wolf Gimlet gave to Gorm on Terra. Gorm asks if it was from Harald’s wolves, and Gimlet says that is so. Gorm nods sagely, that would explain it then. Morkai was stalking them on Orchard Mountain, and the jawbone is an amulet of Morkai, which has made Gimlet more scared of death. But now Gimlet has chosen to give it to Gorm, and Gorm is meant to lure Morkai away from Gimlet, and Gimlet doesn’t need to worry anymore.

Gorm’s last point is that Space Marines don’t do anything that isn’t worth dying for, and he wasn’t sure if Gimlet’s cause is worth Gorm’s death, but now he thinks there is good for the Imperium in Gimlet surviving. Gorm asks Gimlet to think about what he wants to do after the Inquisition, what he would be willing to die for. Gorm says there is only life, he shouldn’t spend it unnecessarily. Gimlet says he hasn’t thought about it, but he will. 

(Gorm and Uffe have a long long conversation about all this later. Uffe basically says he still doesn’t know Gimlet, but he isn’t stepping in the way of what Gorm wants to do, even if he doesn’t get it completely. He isn’t too keen on the idea that Gimlet should not have his memories erased, which Gorm argues is the right thing. He also mentions Saef as a possible problem. Gorm reveals the conversation which he had with Vivek, and Uffe isn’t happy about that, apparently he had merely let Vivek think it was Chaos-influenced (which he admits wasn’t that great, but still, that was not Gorm’s thing to talk about (he should talk to Vivek)). Gorm asks about Uffe’s memories pre-Wolfing and Uffe says there’s basically none. Gorm thinks there is some kind of a choice that is coming up for Uffe, where Uffe should choose differently, just as Gorm chose differently with Gimlet. Gorm isn’t sure what it is, but it might have something to do with Uffe not being very communicative unless spoken to. Uffe admits to it, and says he’ll attempt to do better. (somewhere in this conversation comes up the fact that Gorm thinks they’re just people (echoing when Guilliman told him he’s just a soldier), and I’m putting it here just in case I’ll use it later). Gorm also calls Fenris again, and explains his change of heart. Sveleighr gives him free reign to do as he pleases, but says his commands have not changed.)

After a few days of silent living, our heroes hop off near Obsidia, and Saef hitchhikes the whole party to a delivery ship going to Dew Mountain, to the New Dawn in fact. Our heroes are dropped off at the hangar. The ship is empty and the lights are turned off, but soon a familiar figure comes by, that of Larssen Van Der Grauss, Elucia Vhane’s Mechanicus. He’s surprised to see our heroes and also recognizes Ahram, but doesn’t comment on it too much. He tells our heroes that several engineering floors were completely taken by Nurgle’s rot and that’s what the Mechanicus and the Sable Swords are cleaning downstairs. All of Elucia Vhane’s people are forbidden from going there, so they’ve been evacuated to Dew Mountain.

Upon being asked about the Inquisitors on board, Larssen admits that there has been an… incident. The Inquisitors were leaving, as they don’t belong to Captain Vhane’s crew, and afterwards, well, Larssen found the murdered body of Inquisitor Engarde. No idea what happened there, but Larssen suspects one of the Mechanicus might have an idea, as they informed them of the evacuation. Gimlet asks if he could see the body, and Larssen is like a bit weird. Gorm elbows Gimlet to tell Larssen that he belongs to the Inquisition, which he does.

Our heroes inquire after Vivek, and Larssen tells that he asked Captain Vhane for a ship to go to Triplex Phall, and was granted one, but the ship is still in the hangar, so Larssen isn’t sure if he took the ride with the Inquisitors or if he’s below deck with the clean-up crew. As our heroes have no idea where the Inquisitors were headed, they decide to go help with the rot cleaning, and see what they can see there.

Larssen takes them to the elevator heading down (he doesn’t come with, neither does Ahram). There are body bags lining the walls of the hallways, and burn marks all over the place. Pretty soon our heroes catch sound of people, and come upon a group of people, Mechanicus, servitors and Sable Swords. There’s a tech-priest working on some kind of boiler, this would be Z47r, Vivek’s brother. A skitarius scans our heroes and waves them through. Z47r asks how he can help our heroes, and acknowledges having met them before. Gorm offers to help him, and he is glad to have our heroes on board. Gorm asks if he knows a person by the name of 583 (aka Vivek), Z47r replies he doesn’t know anyone by that designation (and he doesn’t appear to be lying). 

Sergeant Carl calls Z47r through vox communicators and lets him know that he is done, and the tech-priest agrees that they should meet up and move on. He begins leading his crew away, motioning for our heroes to follow. Gorm calls after him, asking if he knows what has happened to his brother. Z47r replies that his brother Vivek was sentenced to be a servitor some four years ago. 

Walking down the corridors they come across a woman fleeing something. Something about her makes the scanner of the Mechanicus make noise and Z47r cuts her down and orders his skitarii to bag the body up. 

Soon they come upon a larger room where the rest of Z47r’s folks are, including Sergeant Carl and a very, very familiar looking man in the grey jumpsuits of the servitors. It’s Vivek. Uffe grabs Gorm by the arm when he notices, cursing to himself. Gorm reminds Uffe of his promise, and Uffe says he knows and he is up for the task, though he doesn’t sound particularly happy about it. Saef catches Vivek’s eye, and Vivek gives him a subtle thumbs down.

[nadziejastar]

Honestly, it feels like they came up with the idea of Subject X to extend the story of the Radiant Garden crew because otherwise KH3 would be the perfect place to end their story. She wasn't just a test subject, she was apparently a central figure in the experiments. When she inevitably returns in KH4 she'll drag Ansem, the apprentices, and the boys back into relevance even if they have no other reason to get involved

I suspect you’re right regarding the future. I am sure that she’ll be vital to KH4, and she’ll be heavily involved in Lea and Isa’s story in the future. She’s involved in a large human experimentation plot, and Lea and Isa also having that backstory would be seen as redundant.

None of this will be directed at you anon, just my general opinion on the current state of the story and characters.I’m going to rant a bit about the direction things seem to be going to get it off my chest. Basically, I resent how she took Saix’s backstory and derailed his entire character arc. And I don’t think any of them even needed her to have a role in the future of the story. Ansem the Wise still has a ton of potential. Lea is a full-fledged Keyblade wielder, and Isa could easily be one too. Whatever experiments she was involved in are going to be poorly retconned into the Xehanort Saga and will probably overwrite the mind control experiments that were originally mentioned. “Plot twist: There were no mind control experiments! It was really about learning the secrets of time-travel!” I’m not really excited to learn more, to be honest. 

I didn’t play Union X. I tried to, but I didn’t like the gameplay. I have read the story summary online and watched Back Cover. But I have no attachment to Skuld or any of the other original characters from that game. I didn’t play KH3 to learn about them. I don’t care about them. I wanted closure on the characters from this arc. The arc that’s been building up over the last decade. I was attached to Lea and Isa and all the others. And to have it suddenly be all about this new girl and Keyblade wielders of yore out of nowhere…well, it felt like a slap in the face as a long-time fan.

As for Isa’s character: If KH3 is the precedent for how he is to be portrayed going forward, I’m not very excited for the future. It doesn’t sound like Nomura is either.

–There are several Organisation members whose original names are still unknown. Will we have a chance to learn them someday, or to find out about the scar on Isa’s face?

Nomura: If there is a sequel, then that chance may come. But in my heart right now my desire is a blank page.

To be honest, I don’t even know how much blame I can attribute to Nomura personally. I know he wanted to make BBS Volume 2 and was very disappointed it was cancelled. I highly doubt he’s happy with the many, many revisions to the story after it got canned. I suspect his lack of interest in explaining Isa’s scar is due to the fact that he already had a great story all planned out and it was not able to be realized due to factors outside of his control. The Foreteller arc is an opportunity to step away from the butchered Xehanort Saga plot and start over with a blank slate. Just like Verum Rex seems like his attempt at restarting the butchered Versus XIII project with a blank slate.That’s my personal opinion. If it’s true, I can hardly blame him. 

As for Lea and Isa’s relationship, here is my honest take: KH3 took a very close and emotionally intimate former relationship between two boys (to me it even seemed romantic in nature) and made it into a caricature of a “dudebro” relationship. And like clockwork, it was all about a girl now. If I’m being perfectly honest, it felt like whoever was writing the Lea/Isa scenes was thinking “no homo, no homo” the entire time. Like they were terrified to depict even the slightest bit of genuine intimacy between these two male characters. I mean really, howcliché to attribute all of Saix’s villainy and the breakdown of his closest friendship… to a single girl that he barely knew. Completely deflecting away from the relationship they had with each other. A relationship history that spanned multiple games now revolves around a character who was never even mentioned before, let alone seen on-screen.

By his own description, he was not close to this girl. He spoke a handful of times to an imprisoned, traumatized amnesiac girl, in hushed whispers. He couldn’t have known her that well. She had amnesia. Did he even know her name? Did SHE even know her name? Didn’t sound like it based on the reports. He said they spoke in the shadows and it was too dim to make out her features. Did he know what she looked like? Again, this was not a childhood friend or anything. After a while, he wasn’t sure if she even existed. I seriously could not wrap my head around how ridiculous this whole concept was. It felt like a joke.

In 358/2 Days, Axel spent the entire game angsting over the loss of his close relationship with Isa. In KH3D, the first thing he does is look for him, and he’s very visibly upset when he finds out he’s still with Organization XIII. Then in KH3, he doesn’t mention him at all. It’s only Roxas this, Roxas that. Lea only remembers Isa exists when he randomly shows up in Twilight Town. I’m like, where did THIS come from? I was laughing hysterically when Saix asked for ice cream. It was the most out-of-character thing I’d ever seen. Axel didn’t even seem phased by him being so friendly all of a sudden, which was also very strange. I would have expected a stronger reaction, but he seemed more annoyed by his presence than anything. Even his promise to bring him home felt more like an afterthought than a priority. “I going to get my precious ROXAS back! Oh, well, I guess I’ll bring you back too, Isa. I mean, as long as you’re here…why not?”

Lea: Would you get lost? I’ll clobber you tomorrow.

Saix: Hmph. I expect no less.

I really disliked how Saix’s personality was portrayed in KH3. In my opinion, Isa’s entire redemption hinged on the fact that he was Xehanort’d. Saix was THE main villain in 358/2 Days. He was basically Xemnas-lite, only far more of an active presence than Xemnas himself was in that game. He was constantly antagonizing Roxas, Xion and Axel. By writing the story so that he was in control of himself the whole time, it sent the message that Saix’s personality is Isa’s true personality as well. And I just don’t think that works. At all. It’s inconsistent with the story, and it’s honestly insulting to Isa’s character. There was SO much evidence that Isa was not in control of himself prior to KH3.

It also left a very poor taste in my mouth because Isa was implied to be an innocent victim of cruel human experimentation, who was being controlled like a puppet by an evil madman. That is horrific abuse to a 15 year-old child. And the heartwarming resolution to his story is watching his best friend “clobber” him? Really? All he needs is someone to beat some sense into him? And keep in mind, this is supposed to be a battle to bring about the apocalypse. Why does the dialogue sound more like a pissing contest between two high school boys that are planning to have a fistfight in the parking lot after school?

Saix: I was jealous.

Lea: You admit it.

Saix: Well, if I make it back…you won’t get it out of me a second time.

Isa doesn’t even get a good redemption scene. He isn’t allowed to show any emotion whatsoever. He actually berates Lea for showing emotion…FOR HIM. And what’s Lea’s opinion after Isa is defeated? He’s disgusted that he LET Xehanort “reduce him to this.” It’d be like if Ven or Aqua were disgusted at Terra for having the audacity to get possessed. But no, apparently Saix was just putting on an “act” the whole time. All of his sociopathy was just an act of macho bravado to hide his jealousy and wounded ego. Sheesh, that’s supposed to make him more sympathetic? And he’s STILL a jerk even when he apologizes. There really was no way to make Saix into a “redeemed good guy”. I mean, he was a Xehanort clone, for Christ’s sake. As far as I’m concerned, the X-shaped scar never getting explained is just symbolic of the fact that the real Isa is still dead.

If it had just been shown that he was a victim of mind control, he wouldn’t have even NEEDED a redemption. He’d just… go back to being Isa, who was always good in the first place. I mean, you don’t need to redeem Xemnas to redeem Terra. Sure, it’s his body, but how stupid would it have been to have Xemnas give a half-hearted apology, then go back home with Aqua and Ven? The story could call him “Terra” all they want. But that’s still not Terra; that’s Xehanort. No, they actually needed to bring Terra back to have a truly happy ending for the trio.

That’s how I feel about Isa. KH3 can call him “Isa” all they want, but all I saw was a watered-down, slightly less douchey version of Saix masquerading as Isa. I wont go into too much detail right now because I have a huge meta almost finished (I hope to have it posted soon) analyzing Isa’s weapons and how they paint a very detailed picture of his (original) personality. And by every indication…Isa’s personality was very feminine, empathetic, and emotional. He’s basically the archetypal Yin; the Moon goddess. And that’s definitely closer to how I interpreted his personality based on BbS. I can’t see him saying ANY of the dialogue he had in KH3.

[tessatechaitea]

New Titans #113

In Dick Grayson's memories, Starfire and Cyborg were Christ figures while Aqualad spent 100% of his time trying to suck his own dick.

When my beloved cat Pelafina died a few months ago at eighteen years old, my eulogy was simply this: "She was the best gift I was ever given." And then the Non-Certified Spouse just sent me a picture of some Lobo socks that our friend Xan wants to give me and I just said, "Now Pelafina was the second best gift I was ever given!" Just in case anybody was wondering just how dedicated I am to my hyperbolic love of Lobo!

How do I show these off? Shorts while wearing long socks?! How gauche!

And just for comparison so you can truly understand the infinite limits of my hyperbolic nature which can declare those socks better than Pelafina, here is Pelafina for comparison. I am not responsible for your hearts melting.

I just ordered Koji Suzuki's Loop, the third novel in the Ring saga. Spiral was so fucking yo-yo bananas that I figured they could never make a movie of it. But I was wrong, being that I think like an American and no like a Japanese. Because they audaciously made a film of it (Rasen) and I watched it a few days ago. Inexplicably, the movie remains completely true to the book. I say "inexplicably" because this is the first time I completely expected a fuck-ton of changes to the premise and the plot. I naively thought, "There is no way they're going to make a film where the curse of the video tape jumps into the journal of the reporter from the first movie because it somehow senses the report will be a more virulent mode of transmission. But then almost immediately, the virus will be all, 'You know what? What if I infect this guy and have him fuck this chick? That means I could spread to her in a much more normal virus-y way!' And because that might make the entire premise of the Ring series less supernatural because now the virus has suddenly decided to spread like a normal virus instead of like some techno-virus spawned in the dank and smelly recesses of some 4channer's basement lair, the story will have to introduce a new twist! Now the virus won't just kill! It will cause the woman infected by the virus to give birth to a clone of themselves except possessed by Sadako, the woman who climbs out of the television in The Ring. Which is a premise no movie audience would ever be expected to swallow! Especially when the plot also asks you to believe the virus can clone anybody one Earth through the Sadako clone as long as you possess their DNA and understand in vitro fertilizaion! Oh, and also the clone is birthed at the exact age the person died? Or the sample was taken? I don't know, it's all so confusing that nobody would ever make that fucking movie." So, anyway, good for you, Japan! You did it! You win again! Seriously though. How is Loop going to be any crazier than Spiral?! I can't wait to find out! This issue begins with Dick Grayson helping to rebuild the Amazon village where Kory broke up with him. He's showing some emotional growth as he contemplates the naked chest of one of the villagers, Maria-Theresa. If you're now thinking, "That's an odd name for a native of the Amazon," have you done any reading on missionaries? Whenever anybody tells me all the good religion has done for the world, my entire rebuttal is the word "Missionaries!" screamed at the top of my lungs. I've finally decided to embrace the phrase, "Brevity is the soul of wit." Why should I have to explicate my missionary argument to another grown-ass adult who should understand the whole bullshit idea of spreading their religious dogma to other cultures? How does that help anybody?! Oh wait, I forgot. It lets Jesus collect more souls so he can stick his tongue out at the devil and say, "Nyah, nyah! Hallelujah! Amen!" Dick realizes that he's been a selfish child and constantly expected Kory's emotional support for his problems while always sighing and rolling his eyes at all of Kory's problems. Which might be a step up from his paternal role model who did all of those things but to a butler because he thought women were just for fucking. Is that a step up? At least Dick was trying not to treat all women as penis cozies? At least all non-red-headed women! I've lost my train of thought. Again.

Oh yeah! Dick was learning to forget about Kory through emotional growth and new boobies.

The rebuilding of the village ends with a big celebration after getting the cross on top of the rebuilt church. That makes me super sad. How many Amazonian Rain Forest Gods were displaced due to this incursion of Christian bullshit?! I hope they become super villains. Dick loves how quickly the villagers manage to rebuild the village without somebody taking control as leader. Maria tells him, "Yeah, dumbie. Is that the right word? 'Dumbie'? Anyway, we all know what we need to do and we do it without anybody standing back and judging our every movement like some dark controlling knight!" And Dick is all, "Yeah! I wish that would work with the Titans! But how can I trust Changeling to turn into the right creature without me telling him? And how can I make sure Cyborg will synchronize using his white noise cannon while saying 'Booyah'?! And I'm just supposed to trust that Raven won't rape and impregnate everybody we meet with her father's demon babies?! Pshaw! No way!" What I'm trying to say is that Dick hasn't really fucking learned anything. At least not yet! I'm still just a few pages into his journey! Dick takes a canoe down the Amazon while contemplating his life. I think maybe Maria slipped him some hallucinogens. Although most of his thoughts are on his friends and loved ones and how they've always been there for him and how he hopes he hasn't let them down and how maybe he should celebrate those who died as heroes while none of his thoughts are about how he's lived five thousand years or how that monkey keeps looking at him or how the number three seems to connect all of reality and explain the meaning of everything and why the fuck is that monkey still looking at him and have you ever wondered why you push pause on the remote to pause a show but then can push pause again to unpause it? Like, is it its own antonym?!

Seriously though. In 113 issues, did Dick ever lead the Titans into battle? Weren't the battles all just relatives and/or old villains attacking the Titans directly, without any say from Dick? Also, I kept in the Starfire side boob for you perverts.

Dick eventually blames his self-absorption for why he was raped by Mirage. He blames himself for not realizing he was with another woman who just happened to be able to shape herself like any woman. I guess maybe when she was all, "I'm going to put this strap-on straight up your asshole, okay?" he could have wondered why Kory didn't realize she was shoving the bat-grapple gun up his ass. So, yeah, maybe it was kind of his fault. I don't think I'm victim blaming when I'm just shrugging my shoulders and letting the stupid victim blame his stupid self. Some son of the world's greatest detective he turned out to be! He couldn't even tell his dick was in the wrong vagina! Dick's navel gazing causes him to plummet off of a waterfall which pretty much sums up his entire situation over the last hundred or so issues. I'm not sure if Marv Wolfman meant for it to be the case but I guess I have to assume that he did, no matter how much I don't want to. Oh, also, he doesn't die. He just has a revelation as he falls that maybe he didn't cause Jericho's death or Terra's death or Cyborg's death or Kole's death or Danny Chase's death or whatever other Titan deaths I'm forgetting since there have been so many. Also maybe Kole didn't die. She might just have been super boring. At the end of Dick's journey, the Narrator declares, "Dick Grayson was once The Boy Wonder. But today he has become a man!" Maybe this was the beginning of the end of my hatred of Dick Grayson! Marv was all, "I'm done writing Dick Grayson as the angry kid trying to live up to Batman's legend! From now on, he'll be his own man, compassionate and thoughtful!" Also, maybe Marv just continued to write him as a bitter asshole and I was right not to like Dick Grayson until the 21st Century. The prologue features Starfire on a satellite in a garden throwing a snake back to Earth from orbit. Maybe she's the one on hallucinogens? New Titans #113 Rating: C. I like that Dick Grayson supposedly grew up in this issue but I'm not sure how he really changed. The entire premise that he considered his life and what he should be doing distracted him from the waterfall ahead was just Dick repeating all of his life's errors. But somehow this time, he had a revelation? Whatever, Marv! I guess I just have to accept when you tell me through the narration boxes that Dick is now a man!

[fandom-rants]

Plotholes, Story Rushing, and Shoddy Writing In Keyblade Graveyard, Pt. 1 (p.s. there are SEVERAL issues to unpack here)

~~~~THIS CONTAINS COUNTLESS SPOILERS FOR KHIII~~~~

PLEASE NOTE that this will not be in perfect order; there are so many things wrong with the story in the Keyblade Graveyard that I struggle to balance it all without having a raging meltdown. As someone who adored the Kingdom Hearts franchise (yes, you read that right; past tense) and memorized all the lore and played all of the games (save Coded; I just watched that one because it does not look to be worth it at all) and loved the characters, I can only express deep and profound disappointment in the story. The rushed, chaotic garbage mess of a story.

And those who say otherwise? Have chosen to ignore the story for the sake of the ‘happy ending’ (which is a farce; a happy ending doesn’t include Sora sacrificing himself again for the damsel in distress trope).

If you thought some of my other rants were long, you aren’t ready for this one. It’s so long it needed to be split up into parts.

1. Aqua and Ven

a. Firstly, it’s good to know that Nomura is literally incapable of writing a female who isn’t a damsel in distress. Good to see Aqua go “I’m gonna prove how strong I am,” only to need immediate rescuing. Brilliant.

b. So it’s that easy to wake Ven up, huh? His heart’s been linked with Sora’s for Sora’s entire life, it’s been sleeping in Sora’s for so long that Sora has taken on Ven’s mannerisms, but they can just separate without a single hitch, huh? Just like that, huh? And there’s no problem waking up, it takes no time at all, and he can move in his body without even remote difficulty, huh? Basically, there are no repercussions to any of this, huh? I call bullshit.

c. Going back a page, it’s good to know that these guys all showed up at Castle Oblivion and didn’t even bother clearing the place to ensure there weren’t any enemies around to - /snorts with laughter/ - immediately try to kill Ven while he was still vulnerable. Who could have ever expected such a thing, amirite?

d. Why aren’t Riku and Mickey there?!?!?!

e. This was actually so anticlimactic and boring. Why wasn’t Terranort/wtf-ever there to add some drama and tension? Why was it simply ‘grab Aqua, which can be done merely by having Sora show up and beat her up, even though Riku and Mickey got their butts kicked by her,’ ‘arrive very quickly and suddenly at Castle Oblivion,’ ‘unlock it,’ ‘go inside and wake up Ven’? Why was it so boring? It’s something we’ve been waiting for since 2010, and our reward for waiting 8 years is ‘ta-da! Boom, bam, done!’ Did a child write this?

2. The Requisite Romance Scene Before the Final Showdown

a. We have to really sell this romance, or else people will be pissed about the ending! Quick! Let’s have Sora and Kairi share a paopu fruit and leave their friend completely out of it! Riku doesn’t really matter, anyway. He’s not integral to the entire storyline like Kairi!

b. To make it clear, Riku was integral to the storyline while Kairi was not. Something I’ve already mentioned several times. So why in hell did Sora say he wouldn’t have gone through the things in the games if it wasn’t for Kairi, when that girl hardly entered the storyline at all? It was Riku who started the whole story off, Riku and Kairi both whom Sora was looking for in KH1, Riku only whom Sora looked for in CoM, Riku only whom Sora looked for in KH2, Riku only whom Data-Sora cared to run after, Riku only whose concerns made Sora go through the Mark of Mastery... but yes. It was only for Kairi that Sora went through the things he did. Riku, keep sitting on the sand all night while these two pretend you don’t exist. Perfect.

3. We Arrive and Everyone Fights Against Heartless

a. Is this what we came here for? Is this what Xehanort planned when he told us to come here? To sic a bunch of heartless on us? How does this in any way complete Kingdom Hearts? How does this in any way help Xehanort’s overarching goal? Hell, ignoring that, why would he sic heartless on us when we’ve defeated them a million times? How in god’s name do we fail against them this time????

b. Can I just say that it is beyond suspense of disbelief to have Kairi and Lea finish their fights before Sora? Or that the entire group would finish, see Sora still fighting, and then just run forward without him???

4. Terranort

a. How is he back? No, seriously, let’s look at this. He was brought from the past. But when you defeat Young Xehanort, he says he’s going to return to the past and live his life up to the present. But Terranort can’t do that! Which means Terranort can’t go to the past and stay on as Ansem the Wise’s apprentice. Which means he can’t trick the other students into becoming nobodies - so how is Saix there? How is Axel there as Axel? How do the others retain their memories of being Nobodies? He also can’t become a heartless or a nobody himself, since he’s not returning to the past to do so (because we save him instead of killing him)! So how the hell could Ansem and Xemnas exist??? You can’t argue about alternative universes because those haven’t been introduced in the plotline, and even if they had been, that still wouldn’t explain how this universe had an Ansem who took over Riku and a Xemnas who existed whatsoever. What the fuck.

b. Why in five flaming hells is he just waiting there at the beginning? No, again, I’m being serious. Why? To defeat the seven keyblade wielders? Why? They’re apparently needed to clash with the thirteen Xehanort clones, so why on earth is he there? For sad plotline feels? 

c. Even that doesn’t make sense. After all, Aqua had all night to warn Ven about the state she’d last seen Terra in. Apparently, that was not a topic she thought necessary to bring up. Go figure.

d. How the fuck does Xehanort even have him??? All those who played Birth By Sleep, I can only assume you all have dealt with the same frustration and confusion as me. How did Xehanort retain control over Terra’s body after Lingering Will defeated him?? Because I did. Allllll the way back in Terra’s storyline, I defeated Terranort. So how did he show up in Radiant Garden? The blast of light (or whatever) from the end of the storyline should have, at the very least, turned him into a heartless. Right then. From the start. So how did he even survive long enough to get to Radiant Garden, let alone return to the Keyblade Graveyard? What had been the point of that final battle?

5. Lingering Will

a. I was waiting for him to show up. It makes less than no sense to have him only do so at Namine’s behest after Ven has already been KO’d by Terranort. That entire debacle in the Final World should never have occurred, simply because Lingering Will should have shown up the first time.

b. I laughed in disbelief when I saw Terra’s keyblade turn into a hooked whip and then a giant fuck-off gun. I already thought the transformations were pretty random, considering a keyblade is supposed to serve its own purpose and strength without needing to turn into a door or a frying pan or a pair of yo-yo’s, but to see Terra’s do the same thing when no one else’s had? Oof. Painful.

c. Lingering Will was Terra’s mind, but apparently he doesn’t need that to reconnect with his past body! (Even though it was never with said body; it was always separate, so...?!?!?!) Instead it disappears from the plotline (like so many other necessary details) and acted as KH’s version of Fallout’s Mysterious Stranger, apparently deciding to disappear to wherever said stranger goes after doing its duteous cameo.

6. That Entire Debacle With Everyone’s Hearts

a. There’s just... so much to unwrap here. The fact that it even happened, which I’ve already noted the plot failure there. The fact that Kairi needed protecting not once, but twice, only to fall, anyway. Is she even capable of being something other than a damsel in distress? (Looking at the rest of the story of this world, I can do nothing but snort at the fact that I even bothered typing out that question.)

b. The whole shit with Chirithy. We get it, KH. You want to peddle your stupid mobile game. (A game I’ve been playing for over a year now, like a good, dutiful KH player, only to find that the plotline shows up roughly once every 300+ “chapters.”) This Chirithy shit isn’t plot; it’s bullshit. Nice to know Kairi’s heart was definitely lost, though, because bullshit on that, too!

c. Why on earth are everyone’s hearts just hanging out on other worlds? Why are they in worlds I’ve specifically already gone to in this game? Why not any other worlds from any other previous games, or worlds I’ve never been to? Oh, yeah. To bring back the annoying shit from KH1, where you enter fragments of worlds for no reason in order to fight some random heartless. Is this plot?

d. The whole ‘Dive Into the Heart’ thing being the equivalent of ‘the power of waking,’ which is also apparently how Mickey could get into the Realm of Darkness (and here I remember Mickey saying he could only do that by being in a world when it fell to darkness! Silly me). Just admit you had no idea what the hell you were doing when you made up that ‘power of waking,’ Nomura. Shit.

e. Let’s go a bit farther, because the whole “Dive Into the Heart” thing was awful. Why is that a thing? Why do you need to ‘dive’ into a heart (which, he didn’t, he didn’t, he just dove into different worlds to find said hearts, wtf) in order to save it from... what? Death? Darkness?? What the hell even happened here-

f. How is Kairi fine and waiting for us??? This actually made me think Sora had fallen to darkness (or dreaming, or what the fuck ever), because how in hell was Kairi okay? Namine said flat-out that Kairi’s heart had been lost like the others, and that such was the reason why Sora had found her in Chirithy-Verse (it isn’t any ‘Final World,’ just as it isn’t anything I’m ever going to take seriously). So how was she perfectly fine and, uh, able to... uh... meet with him??? In some sort of... Heart Realm Between??? What happened there?!?!

g. I get that this floaty, hand-holding scene was supposed to once again peddle the romance in some last-minute bid to make us okay with the bullshit self-sacrifice move Sora bounces into with all the finesse of a Sequel Coming trailer, but all it did was piss me off (as every romance scene did in this shithole of a game). There has been next to nothing on the whole ‘romance’ thing other than us being told ad nauseum that it is a thing. If you can’t even give me normal, non-romance scenes between the two, then all it’s going to be is forced trollop that you expect me to swallow simply on your say-so. If you can’t give me a lead-up to the romance, don’t be surprised if you fail to sell it to me. And if you fail to sell the romance to me, then why the hell should I ever find any part of that ending all right?

7. The Time Ret-Conning

a. This one’s a minor gripe, so I’ll just say that I despised the multiple times the game acted as if the previous failures hadn’t happened. ‘Here you go; try again!’ It makes no sense when you realize Sora actually did things to ensure we got this second chance, even less sense, somehow, when you see that neither Sora nor anyone else acts any differently to rewatching the same thing happen all over again - like, what the hell kind of time travel bullshit is Nomura writing here? Is there any rhyme or reason to this shit whatsoever?

8. That Entire KHUX Fuckery

a. I honestly cannot believe we had to watch Sora get saved by Ephemer. A lot of people loved the cameo, but the cost to the storyline is far too high. Our main character needing rescuing in his Final Battle is always bad writing; what’s the point of watching the main hero’s growth if it turns out he still needs to be protected? This other character should have been the one we followed, not the one needing rescuing! And hell, what was the point of all that growth if, in the end, it still wasn’t enough? Simply based on storytelling, it was poorly done. But the fact that he got rescued by a long-dead (I hope; everyone has a bad habit of just living forever through Bullshit Time Mechanics) character from another KH game? Disgustingly shoddy. Thanks for nothing.

b. What the fuck was that triangle spam for??? I was there when the challenge came to KHUX, for those with the highest scores to appear in the game. I honestly thought their names would just be in the credits or something, because how could you possibly add them in without making it the most horrendous bullshit possible for a video game? Answer? You can’t. That entire thing is something I’ve been trying to delete from my memory since I saw it. What a fucking travesty.

9. "I Can’t Do This Alone”

a. You are literally talking to someone, your best friend, and saying you’re alone. What the FUCK.

b. What strength did you get from Kairi, you twit? Riku, on the other hand...!

TO BE FREAKING CONTINUED... Edit: I know Nomura is BS-ing some answers to pretend he didn’t fuck up. I don’t care.

[lombax-lombardi]

Lightning~

Summary: The Shadow has unleashed Heartless like clones over the town. The people are scattered and only a select handful are still there to help. And one of them is in a seething rage.

Genre: Plot 

Everything was in shambles as the shadow like creatures filled the streets.

The sounds of battle filled the air as the Dream Eater sliced through shadow after shadow.

Some of them she knew.

Others she didn’t.

But they were important to other people.

She hated this.

“Come on...Direheart...where are you?” she mumbled as footsteps approached behind her. She raised her blade to strike, only to find that is was Riku.

“R-Riku?”

“I’m not letting you do this alone. We should try and find Terra and Aqua, they should still be here....and that other brunette...” He said as he leapt forward to strike down a Seven shadow.

It made a gargling noise as it passed, more shadows rising from its place. The things just kept multiplying, Rii thought to herself when a shiny red glimmer caught her eye.

“I think she’s over there!” she ran off, without Riku again, who only sighed and chased after her.

This was no time to argue.

The red glimmer was slowly fading and Rii felt panic set in her heart. Direheart was strong. 

Very strong.

Could it be? This aspect of a child heart be stronger then her friend?

Gripping the Starseeker tighter she rushed on ahead, slashing down more shadows in hopes that her friend is alright. She stopped in her tracks when she saw what was before her.

That red glimmer was just a shield.

A shield to protect someone, like the shields she and the others had when they took Ruby and Sophia down to the labs.

“Dark Magic Attack!” The voice cried out, a floating figure clad in purple raised a staff like object in his hands, large pools of purple energy shot from the top and struck down multiple shadows at once.

At the same time Rii saw a Keyblade strike more shadows down. It was Terra, her heart felt lifted upon seeing that he wasn’t hurt. If he was hurt...Direheart would be so sad....

The brunette lifted his head, eyes wide upon seeing Rii. “I’m glad you’re safe..Where is she?”

She referring to Direheart of course.

“I don’t know! She was in the courtyard but with all these shadows about...and the real Shadow the on who started all this...I don’t know...where they have gone! I don’t even know where that one with the tail has gone” she gestured, turning her head at the sound of Riku’s footsteps behind her.

He frowned, obviously upset hat she ran on ahead.

“....Thank you for saving me” the other females voice brought their attention back to her and her purple clad companion. She bowed to them, showing her thanks.

Terra gives a small smile. “You’re welcome. I know you’re important to Direheart and you’ve helped us before. You and your special monsters”

Rii blinks. “Oh I know you. You’re....Graceland right?”

“That is my last name but yes. I came here with the tailed one to find my Joey....he went missing in my world and I am worried sick about him. If this Ruby’s bad half is making evil clones she has to have him right?” The look on her face screamed determination, to find the one she cares about most.

Rii felt her heart tug slightly. She felt responsible for what was going on but...looking at this alternate’s face....made her want to be string as well.

“The tailed one...you mean Kora?” Terra questions, Riku raised a browed. “How   do you know her real name? I’ve only heard it in passing but...”

The brunette wielder only gave a small grin. “Direheart tells me everything. And I mean everything. Her tailed alternate is missing someone too right?”

Madilyn nods. “Yes. If The Shadow has them, we have to get her to tell us where she put them”

Her eyes narrowed behind her, gasping slightly as more shadows came across them. Her magician friend raised his staff in front of her, as if trying to protect her.

Madilyn’s eyes narrowed in anger, these shadows looked like the one she was missing.

“I’ll deal with them. You three find Direheart and Kora. They need you more then I do.”

Rii shook her head. “You can’t fight them by yourself!!”

The brunette turned her head, ponytail following her as she did. “I’m not alone. My Deck holds a piece of my friends inside it. They are always with me. Them and my monsters. I am never alone!” She gives them a fiery smile, reaching into her Deck and drawing two cards.

“My cards work differently here then in my own world and for that I am thankful. I summon Cosmo Queen and Red Eyes Black Dragon!” She raised the cards into the air, the monsters she named appeared in fractions of light.

That black dragon looked familiar to Rii.

It was the same one that helped so long ago.

“Go! Now! Don’t worry about me.” 

Terra, reluctantly headed off into the opposite direction, Riku wished to do the same, taking Rii’s hand in his.

“Come on Rii. Let’s go”

“B-But!!!” The Dream Eater didn’t want to leave.

It wasn’t fair.

“Red Eyes! Inferno Fire Blast!!!” The sound of the large black dragons roar startled the Keyblade wielders back into reality, Riku tugged Rii along with her, only catching a bit of what the female had to say.

“....I have you guys now too.....”

That caught Rii off guard. She so wanted to go back and help but, Madilyn was right. Direheart needed them.

.........

There was chaos.

The trio had managed to locate Direheart again, she was taking the brunt of the shadows relentless attacks. She had her hands raised into a glimmering red shield, the ruby on her chest was still glowing brightly.

Behind her was a very limp Aqua, pressing her hands against the concrete to pull herself up. “....Maddi....stop...you could...”

“No. My tailed friend didn’t take the attack for her own benefit. She did it to keep you safe.” Direheart snapped back, hands still raised, the loud cackling laughter of the Shadow echoed around them.

“You can’t last forever Direheart. Neither can your tailed friend!” The shadowy mass above them gestured to a glowing yellow light, Rii’s eyes went wide.

So she wasn’t seeing things.

Maddi...or Kora as is her true name, even though she hates it, was fighting against the swarming minions, throwing punches and kicks and energy blasts at them. Her hair was slightly spiked up, a flowing yellow.

With eyebrows to match.

And her eyes....such a fair green.

It sent shivers down her spine with how angry looked. Movement caught her eyes as she saw Aqua pull herself back up, Direheart raised her voice.

“Aqua! NO!”

But Aqua didn’t listen as she charged in to fight, blade in hand. Lightning started to crack in the sky, the glowing tailed female charged into the black mass of shadows, throwing more energy blasts.

Direheart turned her head, a smile filling her face when she saw her friends. “Terra! Riku! Rii”

“You’re okay!” Rii cried out, eyes slowly going wide when a giant mass appeared behind her friend.

“Look out!” She tossed her blade at the black horror, silencing it, the spirit fell to her knees, obviously weakened. “Y-You have to...You should have stayed with Ruby and S-Sophia....” she gasped as Terra rushed over to help her up, pulling her against him.

“We couldn’t let you fight out here alone!” Riku said through gritted teeth, turning his attention to slashing more creatures, Rii pressed a hand on the spirits shoulder.

“Direheart...Maddi....I...”

“You can tell me later.....I may be weak right now but...I have an idea” She said, a cunning smile on her lips.

“What idea?” Terra started, upon seeing the look on her face he frowned. “No. I won’t let you!”

“I have no choice Terra....my energy is so low...Fusion is the only thing I can do now! I just have to get to.....” She clutched her chest, the ruby’s light started to flicker. 

“You’re getting weaker....” Riku states, rushing over to throw her other arm over his shoulder, Direheart looked ready to object.

“You have to take me to her...” she motioned to the rampaging glowing yellow mass on the other side of them.

The Shadow floated in the air, obviously angry. “My minions! Destroy them!” she raised her hand, the shadowy mass beneath her turned their attention to the four across fro them, Aqua felt her heart sink.

“No!” her cry made the Saiyan turn her head, teeth gritting into a smile.

“I won’t let you!” In a fury, the glowing yellow aura around her spiked up, causing the ground beneath them to shake and crack, Direheart buckled against Terra, causing Riku to let his grip on the spirit go so he could grab Rii and pull her close against him.

The tailed female leapt towards the one control the black creatures, throwing a punch to the face, so hard The Shadow recoiled back cupping her cheek.

Blood.

The alien punched the creature so hard she was bleeding.

“You...I”ll destroy you AND the one you love for what you did!” Raising a clawed hand she was ready to strike when something stopped her.

“Cosmo Queen! Now!”

The Shadow turned her head to late, taking the brunt of a cosmic wave against her skin, eyes flaring with rage as she looked down to see the Card Master, hand raised in the air, purple clad mage floating next to her and the large black dragon in the air.

“You! I thought I killed YOU!” The Shadow hissed. “My children should have torn you to shreds!!!!!!”

Madilyn grins. “Well, besides my monsters, I had help” She gestured behind her, the Shadow’s eyes shrunk with each step she heard.

“YOU!!!!!!” she shrieked loudly, the robed figure lowered her hood, revealing the face of Sophia.

Rii blinked her eyes. She was...okay? A teary smile creased her lips.

“You, who’ve been a blight on my grandchild’s heart, you will cause these people, the people you’ve kidnapped, the other worlds you’ve invaded, I will see to it you do so no more!!!!”

Throwing her hood off, revealing her mage garb, green eyes focusing on the tailed female.

“Go. I shall keep this one at bay. Keyblade Wielders, can you do me a favour?” The old mage turned to Rii, Riku, Terra and Aqua as the male brunette kept the former spirit close to him.

“I need you to protect me while I keep this monster in place!” She raised her hands, glowing like chains appeared in thin air, wrapping and coiling themselves around the Shadow, who hissed at the contact.

“YOU THINK YOUR CHAINS CAN HOLD ME HAG? I AM MUCH STRONGER THEN YOU!!!!!! My CHILDREN! DESTROY THEM!!!!” She cried out, the black mass she called her children, dozens of glowing yellow eyes focused on the Keyblade Wielders before them.

Aqua charged in head first, swatting and cutting down many of the swarm, Terra followed in after, placing Direheart against the wall, keeping close to her to keep her safe.

Riku, who was still holding Rii’s hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry...we will get through this. Come on, they just need a little time. We can give them that right?”

Rii stared down at her feet, then to her blade, then to Riku’s face, giving him a shaky nod. “Y-Yeah!”

“Good. Stick close to me!” He said, raising his blade to slash incoming shadows away from Sophia.

.............

Direheart raised her head weakly, seeing a familiar pair of black shoes in her field of vision, the warm yellow glow against her face.

She blinked her eyes when she saw a hand reach down to her, beckoning her to take it.

“Come on....you don’t want them fighting alone do you?” That voice...it was familiar...

“N-No....I don’t...”

“Then fuse with me.” The weakened spirit took the hand of the one speaking to her, the ruby on her chest glowed brightly, swallowing them in a red shimmering light.

The Shadow turned her head, shrieking so loud it pierced Sophia’s ears, causing her to lose focus on her magic, snapping the chains keeping the creature bound, falling to her knees as she gripped her ears, the others grabbed their ears too as if to stop the horrendous noise.

“NO!!! I WONT ALLOW THIS!” She raised her hands, controlling the black mass that is her children like puppets on strings to strike down the shimmering light.

But alas, she was too late.

Pulling herself up, Aqua’s eyes went wide. She and Ven had seen this before.

But with Seven.

Out of the pillar of light stood a whole new figure, electric sparks flicking off the figure, tail swishing back and fourth.

Sophia was more surprised then most, she didn’t know what she made could do that of all things!

The light cleared, revealing the figure properly, the outfit was completely different then what the two who became this one powerful figure.

Dark brown hair, white baggy pants with black shoes, the shirt was low cut showing more skin then what have should been, short cut hair and bandages covering the wrists.

Direheart’s ruby wasn’t on the chest this time like with Sevenheart, this time it was on the forehead, slowly the figures eyes opened to reveal deep, dark brown eyes and jade pupils.

The figure ran a hand through her hair as if she was feeling it out, the sparks of electricity still flickered around her, eyes falling upon The Shadow.

Sophia watched in awe, rushing on over to help the others with their injuries, Madilyn opened an eye slowly, seeing her gashes and cuts fade away.

“You....”

“Yes now. Hush my darling”

The Shadow shrieked again, more and more agitated then before. “YOU! HOW DARE YOU!”

“How dare I?” The figure spoke, speaking with a voice combined with two, sounded too smooth for the ears alone. “You are the criminal here, taking people from them, destroying homes! Tearing families apart, all for the sake of some twisted game?”

The fusion gestured to Aqua and the others. “You’ve hurt those closest to Direheart, hurt the ones close to Miss Graceland and hurt the one Kora calls her husband....”

The Shadow floated backwards, looking around frantically for a place to escape, or to fight. She wanted to fight! 

In a fit of anger she raised her hands, the mass of shadows following her movements, with a flick of her wrists they swarmed straight towards the fusion!

Rii’s eyes shrunk in fear! They could both....

“No!” she cried out as the mass surrounded her. The Shadow smirked, seemingly thinking she had won, but snarled when she saw a speck of gold light.

“Aqua....do you feel that?” Terra asked his female friend, the blue haired Master nodded staring at the black mass that was starting to show cracks of light in its formation.

“I do. It’s her...It’s her-!” the light so bright she covered her eyes to shield herself as did the others, Sophia covered Madilyn with her own body to protect her.

A shard of light cut through the large black mass, The Shadow shrieked in pain as the shard of light landed next to the Keyblade Wielders, Rii watched the shard take form.

The form of a Keyblade.

Terra and Aqua both gasped in shock, they felt it but didn’t believe it. Before them, lodged in the stone was Direheart’s Keyblade.

It was white, laced with purple and gold like vines twirling and chocking the shaft of the blade. It seemed to be broken but it didn’t matter, it was unsealed.

“........She’s finally found it again....” Aqua said with a sigh, as the black hoarde of minions vanished as the light exploded into shimering shards, revealing the new figure to be fine.

Not a scratch.

“WHAT ARE YOU? YOU MONSTER!!!!!!!!” The Shadow hissed and spat, the figure only gave a slight chuckle.

“I am what you fear most. Like Sevenheart before me, the one who destroyed Blackheart with the power of her friends, I, am Madiaheart! And I shall be the one to save Ruby from your influence! And let the family members of the old mage to FINALLY REST!” The debris around her started to float, the electricity cracks sparking off her, catching the stone and causing more sparks.

The Shadow slowly floated backwards, fear etched into her face. “N-No! N-No! Please! Grant me mercy!!!”

“You don’t deserve it.” With a yell, the dark earthy tones of her hair changed into the blonde that the tailed female had before. “Besides, for you, I don’t have to go all out. If I did it could level the whole town, and I don’t want that at all”

Moving her body into a fighting stance, bending her knees until she launched herself into the air raising her legs to kick the creature right against the head, knocking her right into the concrete.

It was hard enough to make a large rubble pile, Sophia and the others looked in awe and slight panic.

Good thing that power...was on their side.

Madiaheart landed on the ground, hair turning back to normal, eyes turning to see the broken blade. “I had a feeling fusing with another human like creature that wasn’t a machine would help....”

Her eyes turned to the old mage who was still covering Madilyn with her body, Sophia looked shaken.

“Need not be afraid good woman. I am a friend.”

“.....You could have destroyed her....why didn’t you?” Sophia asked, Madiaheart looked down at the crumpled heap known as the Shadow who struggled to find her feet.

“She knows where the people she’s taken are. I kept her alive to tell us where they are. Then she is yours to deal with.”

A creature of immense power, knows mercy?

She struck the creature like lightning.

[forcejourney]

“Tars’ Story”

By VaderGamer

My name is unimportant, but if you must know, it is Reginald Waters. I am a reporter of sorts, a gatherer of tales as well. But the tale I have gathered here is a secret, one that must not be let out until it is safe for those involved, for this story happened.

I had heard of rebellious figures that opposed the Empire. Movies had been made about them, the Empire had killed them. So it was not so hard for me to find Rebels that got away using the Imperial Holonet. Secretly, of course, as I was not strictly allowed to access the files. It so happened that I came upon Tars Alin, wanted fugitive. His crimes: grand theft from the Emperor himself, treason, and warmongering. Alin had led a mostly unrecorded life until his rebellious organization was formed after Order 66, on Montu Cordu. The planet was attacked eventually, killing thousands, and forcing Alin and his friends to leave.

My challenge was to find Alin, and get his story, for it was important to me that I get his side as well. I do not have any grievance against the Empire. It doesn’t affect me. But it was illegal nonetheless to find Tars Alin and not report him, to get his story and keep it hidden from the Empire this long. I persist, anyway.

I found Alin on Naboo, the owner of a pazaak den called The Golden Card. It was a stroke of luck, as I had only followed rumors and stories from the survivors of Montu Cordu to get there. After Alin had displayed his shock of me knowing his involvement with the Empire by tackling me to the floor, he settled.

“I come as a friend, to hear your story,” I said, and explained my secret business. I assured him that no record of our conversation would appear anywhere, unless it was someone he allowed me to show it to, so that the Empire would never find out about him or his friends. He hesitantly agreed to talk to me. 

Well, where to begin? My name is Tars Alin, as I’m sure you know. I’m a human, simple as that. I was born on Coruscant twenty-eight years ago. My father was Hedrick Alin, a shipyard worker. I remember helping him with his repairs when he needed me to, and that was always, as he was barely scraping by as it was. He couldn’t support me, his only child. My mother was dead; she died a long time ago.

I learned to build, to fly. I could repair almost any kind of problem your ship can have. Eventually I decided that I couldn’t be a bother to my dad anymore. He could live by himself if he didn’t have to support me. I had decided to leave home, get a job, and become successful. Before I could leave, though, he was killed.

Well, he wasn’t killed. Tragic as it was, he really just died. An unfortunate shipyard accident. One of the anti-matter levitators had failed, and the ship he was working on crushed him. Killed by his livelihood.

I…well, I had lost someone before. It…could have been worse. My life was a wreck for a while. I ran away from my home, taking what valuables I could. I was fourteen? I think so.

I could tell you of the time I spent as a beggar, but that was not long. Then I worked at a Cantina. For a few years I got by. Then I became a thief. I was never caught.

I was about eighteen when I stole my first valuable. A watch from a store. I sold it for twenty credits. Thus began a period of time where I stole and sold, becoming moderately wealthy. I had amassed a thousand credits by the time I was nineteen. I used the money to buy a junker, a real old ship. I called her Money. She seated two, and had a small cargo area. Ah, those were good times….

I could tell you how I used Money to do odd jobs, and some smuggling, but that’s not really what you’re here for, I know. I sold Money after two years of hard work and saving, and eventually bought the Tars I. I stepped up my game, hauling more cargo and getting more money. I eventually became well-known in the Coruscant underworld. I suppose it was then that I began to take action against the Empire. Well, then, it was still the Republic.

I met some people; they are the ones you want to hear about. Arbacca, a stubborn Wookiee, Santo, a smart Jedi…Panzer, he was a Mandalorian, ‘nuff said. Nat, a Duros, came a little later. I suppose I’ll tell you about them later. I worked with them as a pilot, helping them take down gang lords and such. For the Republic’s benefit.

One day we had to scale the Republic 500, the Chancellor’s place. It was dangerous; you remember the attack on Coruscant, by the Separatists? We killed so many droids. It was kind of fun. We reached the top, trying to rescue Palpatine or somesuch. He wasn’t in his office. We looked around.

I saw his computer. “Order 66” was there, and details of what was going to happen. I was outraged, and so were my friends. I stole about a million credits from Palpatine’s desk. I suppose it was some kind of stolen money anyway, as no one has any business having that much in cash. We had to warn the Jedi.

I took the others in my speeder, and we flew away from the building. We were shot down by droids, buried in the undercity of Coruscant. I remember all going black. I though everyone was dead. If only we were that lucky….

We woke up weeks later. It could have been only a week, I don’t know. Order 66 had already happened. We were too late. All the Jedi were dead. The Chancellor had become the Emperor. And we were in the middle of it.

My friends, mostly being Jedi, had to hide. I supposed that I would join them. I think something inside me wanted to. I still had the million credits. We bought a ship and headed out-system. It was Arbacca’s suggestion to go to Montu Cordu. That’s when we began to build.

I’ll take it slower from here, if you don’t mind? Yeah, I know. I was intoxicated with money. I had never had that much before. I spend it on clothes, a speeder, used it to impress women. I remember a Twi’lek cook I had…made the best Nerf. Anyway, Arbacca had it in his head to make an army. He’s always been fussing around with his droids, building them better and making them stronger.

Eventually he had a little HQ set up. A cafeteria mess hall too. He’d convinced a bunch of Jawas from Tatooine—no, seriously—to come and work for him. They built his droid army and stuff. Fun to party with, those little guys.

We all had rooms in the HQ dorms. I had mine, and there was also one for Gabe, the little Jedi clone-boy, Nat, the Duro, Sev, a Jedi Mandalorian, as well. Gabe never stayed much. He was always missing, usually on Tatooine. He had a girl, too; got her pregnant. I big fiasco. I’m not sure what happened to him. Went off to save the world, I imagine.

Santo had disappeared. We all were wondering where he was. We didn’t find him for a while….

That’s a good story. I’ll start there.

Santo was a Jedi, tall and handsome, in his pale sort of way. He had longish black hair and a blue, double-saber. We went looking for him often, ever since he disappeared. It was on a random hyperspace travel that we were interrupted by some kind of field. It powered the ship down and we were helpless.

I was there, and some others as well. Arbacca and Sev, or Panzer. One of the Mandalorians. We came upon the Cube.

The Cube was a massive, well, cube, in space. Much bigger than our ship, and about as big as a Republic troop carrier. It glowed. Green. We were stuck, and all scared. The Cube had a tractor beam, and brought us in.

Inside was nothing. Nobody. We left the ship to find out what was happening.

A voice on some kind of intercom blurted out. We listened to what it had to say.

Apparently, we were some kind of game. She had unlimited resources to her disposal—it was a girl, she wouldn’t tell us her name—and we had to find her.

I personally didn’t want to find her, but seeing as the ship was powered down and a monitor with a countdown popped out of the wall, I guessed I didn’t have much of a choice.

There were mechanical spiders first. Hundreds of them. We had just left the hangar when we came upon a massive room with big pillars down the middle and holes in the walls. We shut them down somehow. It became dark, and we all were moving down a tunnel….

I’m sorry if this sounds jerky. I can’t…remember it all that well. We came upon the darkest room of all. There were eyes. I remember what they sounded like.

“GRAK!” over, over and over again. Monsters, with wings. Lizards. There was a big one. We ran. We shot a few, then ran.

Eventually we found the Mistress. That is what she called herself. Santo was kneeling before her.

“Santo!” I yelled, and he looked back. His face was angry, his eyes red. His hair was jagged and untamed.

He didn’t seem to care. He ignited his saber and we fought. Him and the Mistress against all of us. It was a long battle, but we won, just barely.

Santo had turned to the Dark. We had killed the Mistress, and all of a sudden he was better. He still looked bad, but he wasn’t evil anymore. She must have had some kind of spell on him. He broke down sobbing.

We asked him what was wrong. He killed Terra, his wife. The Mistress told him that she killed Liam, and Santo believed her. Liam was dead too. Liam was his Padawan. He left us then, and told us he’d never come back, and that he was going to do…something.

He deactivated the beam and left. We tried to catch up but couldn’t. He was fast. We escaped the Cube. I don’t know where it is now.

When we got back to Montu Cordu we had a new friend. His name was Damian, a huge man from the Cube. He had been under the Mistress’ spell too, but we rescued him. His home was Montu Cordu, ironically enough. We let him go home, and he lived there until the Invasion. Then he died, protecting his wife and kids.

It’s a shame. But some good came of Montu Cordu. Some, anyway.

Sev was only on the planet for a little while when Nahari came along.

Sev was sixteen, a real stupid teenager. Nahari was a less stupid teenager, older than him, a Mandalorian, true blooded. They met in a bar and hit it off immediately. He told me that she had made very…aggressive moves towards him in his ship, just afterward. They were married soon after. I don’t blame him. There’s nothing hotter than a female Mandalorian, if you haven’t seen one before.

I met Nahari’s older friend, Josey. It’s…hard for me to talk about her. Even now. I’ve…moved on, sort of. Well, I’m seeing someone else right now, but….

We were married. Best times of my life. I was the Admiral of our Navy, the Montu Cordu Resistance or something. I was young, and happy. She got pregnant, but I didn’t know until…well, nine months came along. You see, I was fighting against the Empire then. We had a little help from an Ackbar character. Gave us two HUGE ships, I’m not even joking.

Another Jedi, well, a few actually, had joined us by then. Me and the Jedi were fighting the Emperor, side by side. Well, I suppose it was really the Jedi and me, as I’m less important than any Jedi, right? Tamor’a, an…attractive, to say the least, Jedi, with a yellow saber, we met on Cordu. Candrai was a pointy-eared Jedi. Dark Side when we met him, Light Side after; you know. Zolar, he’s funny. A Zabrak Jedi. He was with us just after Montu Cordu. With them, Gabe, Sev, Santo and Terra, we had a good little army.

As you know, things kind of fell apart, and we’d lost a few towards the end. Gabe also disappeared. I’m repeating myself.

We fought the biggest battle; three ways—Bloodlust Pirates, the Empire, and us.

We were nearly destroyed. I survived, with the Jedi, the Wookiee, and a few droids. We retreated to Montu Cordu. It was the first time in nine months I’d been there, and I heard that my wife was giving birth.

I went to the moon of Montu Cordu, where our second base was, but it was bombed. The Empire had ambushed us! It was the beginning of the Montu Cordu Invasion.

Josey died…just after giving birth to my little Aelias. I was a wreck, much more than after my father had died. Not only that, our entire operation was destroyed. We had to run, we had to hide. And where did we end up?

Arbacca ended up in Tatooine, working for Jabba. I am here, on Naboo, with Candrai and Tamor’a. Zolar is building a home on Arodoni VIII. Sev is on Mandalore with his family. Nat is here, with his family, doing trans-atmosphere jobs.

My new girl? That’s Harene, Sev’s sister. He’s not too happy about it.

Other adventures? I’m not sure I have the time. Maybe someday.

The Empire? I can’t really do anything about it. I don’t plan to. Hopefully I’ll be able to adventure some more one day. In fact, I’m thinking of selling the Card.

Yeah, I skipped a few parts, but they aren’t for me to tell. I hope you got everything.

My interview with Tars had left me frustrated and irritated. Surely he had a better memory? I couldn’t find anything else from him. I wanted to know the story of so much more. About Tamor’a’s joining the group, and Candrai. Nat and Arbacca’s background. Gabe’s disappearances.

But then a thought occurred to me: I now know where Arbacca, Candrai, Sev, Tamor’a, and Zolar are. Why not ask them? I plan on doing so.