#I have a lot of feelings about Sora and his darkness

[share-the-skye]

You’re so right for this, op, but also can we talk about the fact that he turned into a Shadow specifically? Like that is a choice- make him the smallest cutest little gremlin. We’ve watched Sora take down goddamn MALEFICENT at this point but his darkness? Little squishy dude.

Compare that to rage form now? He’s getting worse.

i think theres something special about sora turning into a shadow right off the bat like. not a lot of series will straight up corrupt their hero like that, especially in the first game. and it has echos, it has consequences, roxas, rage/anti form, etc.

but i do hope we see it cascade even more. we've already seen xehanort give his blessing to sora at the end of kh3, so it would be nice for sora to reckon with him not being an incorruptible pure light but a regular guy who has more darkness in him than he cares to admit.

[blue-eli]

Ink October day 11: Firebreak

A strip of land that has been cleared, plowed, or planted with fire-resistant vegetation to prevent a fire from spreading.

[luridaemos]

i have a theory that maybe vanitas is actually sora's darkness now that was know he's not ven's..?

it's been in my mind for so long for so so so long but when you realize that kingdom hearts 1 when sora turns into a shadow all kairi does is return his form back to normal, right? right.

returns him to normal BUT he's still just a heartless. he's just a heart like ansem. end of kh1 is just humanoid heartless vs humanoid heartless right? right.

so it's not until kh2 when he meets up with roxas and he returns that sora is completed right? bc that was the whole point, sora wasn't complete so that's why xion and roxas had to go back it wasn't just his memories but sora himself. right.

so that whole time during 2 sora has anti form up until the end, which essentially is him using too much power and essentially fluctuating between his heartless form and himself. nomura himself confirmed it's due to becoming a heartless in 1 and that story-wise it's due to using too much power... it represents his darkness. right.

he also said that rage form is something different to anti-form. that it's representative of his anger. emotions.

and yknow who shows up in 3 when that debuted? the man of emotions himself:

so all this just to say i've been thinking about how both ven and van are from years into the past, and that vanitas ultimately wasn't ventus' to begin with. (ventus was a being of pure light if I'm understanding correctly.)

vanitas' form was created before either of them met sora too. it's stated that vanitas was removed from ventus and then ventus then went to meet sora. so where did vanitas' form actually come from?

it's possible that:

ventus was able to transform him into a sora clone simply because fate said so, it was always meant to happen like the closed loop for heart ansem sending young xehanort to scala.

ventus somehow was able to alter vanitas' form after the removal while inside of sora's heart

vanitas' form looked like this before the Darkness hivemind was separated/fragmented

so i'm thinking if Sora continues to have the rage form ability or some kind of upgraded emotion-based darkness form... maybe it's related to vanitas somehow? either something removed from sora and sent into the past or something that grows from sora and into something like vanitas? it very well could just be that vanitas' return, sora's rage form, their confrontation being in monsters inc which has swapped to "this ships runs on happy faces" + yeeting vanitas, sora seeing vanitas' face, sora refusing to accept that vanitas chose to be darkness is all just to show the player sora's emotional state.

that sora himself refuses to acknowledge the darkness' that he harbors could be bad in any way, avoids confronting his negative emotions properly, and feeding into the toxic positivity that he's carried since the first game...

but idk i think it'd be really interesting if that's a deeper reason for why vanitas looks the way he does. that he could potentially be darkness that sora had cast aside and stuck with ventus long enough to essentially become intertwined with him. idk i also kind of think this could go along with MoM's whole thing of wanting to get as far away from Darkness as possible. sora's on a path to rejecting darkness in his heart, but with guidance from riku who went through accepting his own it's possible that maybe sora's meant to be the one to accept vanitas as he is instead of ventus.

if anyone has thoughts about this lemme know, i'd love to see others thoughts

[candyriku]

finally getting a chance to work on chapter 15 today :-)

[verathena14]

yknow i'd always had a headcanon that sora was a lot more proficient with magic than riku, but playing Re:CoM really solidified that for me with the difference between their playstyles.

when you play as sora, you have this massive variety of different sleights and spells and summons you can use, which from an in-world perspective, could read as him just... modifying the spells for his own use. I think it would be super funny if he talks to like. Aqua for example and she's like "wait how did you do that. thats not supposed to happen, that's not how magic works-?" but anyway! the point is that Sora's gameplay has a lot of variety and magic woven into it

whereas with riku, not only can he not edit his deck, but almost all of his sleights are locked behind Darkness-Murder Mode™️. So a lot of Riku's gameplay is just "hit things until they die" (also i feel like there's something to be said about the difference between Holy Spiral and Inverse Spiral, which are basically the same attack except HS is when Riku's not in Dark Mode and IS is when he is, something about HS lasting much less time than IS because riku's light magic isn't as powerful perhaps?)

ANYWAYS. i just think it's neat :)

[toadslug]

I FINISHED IT!! Here are my silly opinions for the silly dragon series 🥰 Character names, explanations, and template below the cut:

★ Favorite character: Clay

Clay has been my favorite character since I read his book!! I think his character goes a lot deeper than how some of the fandom treats him (his character arc is amazing), and he's also just a really nice guy.

★ Liked by everyone but me: Queen Ruby

I have no idea why I don't like her 😭 I think the way she treated Peril just kind of pissed me off when I was a kid, and I've never been able to shake the grudge. It's not her, it's me. I almost put Bumblebee here instead (I can't fault her for acting her age, but her screaming can get tiresome).

★ Didn't like at first: Fatespeaker

I considered putting Glory here, but I only started to hate her when that was the popular thing to do (I'm back to liking her now). I immediately didn't like Fatespeaker... Probably because I was rooting for Sunny x Starflight at the time 😬 I PROMISE I'm not like that anymore omg, I was, like, nine. I've come to value Fatespeaker a lot more; her character is surprisingly interesting to pick apart.

★ Would like to know more about: Hailstorm

There's so many characters I want to know more about!! Gill!! Tau!! Riptide!! Moray!! Osprey!! Sora!! Literally any MudWing character!!! But I went with Hailstorm. I adore the cool, supportive big brother energy he radiates, and seeing him trying to fit back into IceWing society (and maybe go through a teensy identity crisis) would be interesting.

★ Least favorite character: Sky

Honestly, I don't really have a least favorite character...? There's Whirlpool, of course, but that's too easy. I ended up choosing Sky 🤷‍♀️ I liked him enough in Dragonslayer, but he annoyed me in The Flames of Hope. I feel like he became a lot louder and more brash.

★ Like the design, dislike the character: Vulture

His dragon skull tattoos and the gimmick for them is so sick?? Why is this grandpa more stylish than me and everyone I know??? His design is great, but everything to do with him and his crime ring felt a little out of nowhere to me. It's been a while since I've read Darkness of Dragons, so maybe I'm just not remembering everything? But yeah. I wish he was introduced better.

★ Like the character, dislike the design: Luna

I like Luna!! And I like how she looks on her book cover, too (the rendering on her is drop-dead GORGEOUS). But the rest of her appearances in canon art... ehh.

These shades of green are making me feel things. And the spots on her wings look kind of awkward to me.

★ Favorite ship: Jambu x Pineapple

I was really close to putting Clay x Peril here because of how OBSESSED I was with them as a kid (shout-out to the Demons Peril PMV by Echosplash Animations that saved my life); however, Jambu x Pineapple is the only ship in the series that got me kicking my feet. The flashback to them cuddling in the hammock melted my heart 💖 Luna x Swordtail, Tamarin x Anemone, and Mangrove x Orchid are also my beloved. Honestly, though, I'm not that involved with shipping anymore.

★ Would never befriend IRL: Sundew

I like Sundew as a fictional character, but I would be slightly scared of her if she was real. She probably wouldn't like me.

★ Would befriend IRL: Umber

He just seems chill. I don't think he'd prod me to do stuff or talk, and I like people like that... People who can just let you exist. I feel like he'd tolerate my cringey humor, too.

★ Similar personality: Clearsight

I am NOWHERE near as girlboss as her, but I can relate to constantly worrying about future situations that may or may not happen 😁😁

★ Least favorite ship: Burn x Scarlet

Sorry toxic yuri ☹️ I just don't ship Burn with anyone.

*This template wasn't my idea; I took the original template and modified it to my liking.

[marinerendevouz]

enemies to lovers with fine + switch !

ft. eichi tenshouin, yuzuru fushimi, tori himemiya, wataru hibiki & natsume sakasaki, tsumugi aoba, sora harukawa

eichi tenshouin

• listen. hear me out here. being the younger sibling of rei and ritsu.

• SO many opportunities for silly shenanigans to ensue

• i can imagine eichi being the one to attempt (keyword: attempt) to court you first

• which obviously, considering his history with rei, is honestly REALLY WEIRD?

• you’re just like . What the fuck are you doing while eichi like . Winks at you or something

• seriously so awkward. you hate his guts tbh and are planning on his downfall together with rei

• ritsu finds it so So stupid. probably gossips ? gossipED ? about you with eichi at tea club . eichi was kicking his feet and giggling the entire time

• part of him doesn’t believe his crush is genuine at first. he thinks that it’s amusing, obviously, but real feelings ? he is simply not allowed to feel those…

• until now that is !

• he thinks your snarky remarks and nonchalant gaze are enrapturing

• meanwhile, you: (ʘ言ʘ╬)

• you accompany rei and ritsu to ensemble square quite often, which means you are (unfortunately) greeted by the presence of eichi almost Daily. A Nightmare for sure

• as time goes on, you see how hardworking and charismatic eichi is while performing his duties as executive for starmaker productions and well. even You can’t deny it’s a little attractive. ONLY a little (a lot)

• once eichi catches on to you reciprocating his feelings, he is SO ANNOYING!!!

• teasing gets way wayyy worse. honestly it’s over for you, personally i would have kms by that point

• and once rei notices your banter with eichi turning into FLIRTING? it is joever for you

• half of him is extremely disgusted . he is clinging to his beloved ritsu to console him . the other half is impressed somehow

• “ah, of all people, it had to be him?” “listen i didn’t want this either, rei” - you

• to see your hatred of what eichi did turn into understanding… really even you’re impressed with yourself

• and eichi is Actively trying to be better . he is a little fucked up but it’s okay you can fix him (and also make him worse)

• also i think it’s so funny to imagine eichi’s pale ass figure visit the dark, brooding, gothic sakuma estate. Family dinner visit !

• rei does not give his approval. he almost throws a plate at eichi

• ritsu just gives you two a thumbs up

• a happy family for sure ❤️

yuzuru fushimi

• as the best friend of tori, you have personal beef with his butler

• WHY is he always with tori. how are you two meant to get up to mischief with him constantly Watching. Always Watching.

• and yuzuru thinks you are a horrible influence on his young master

• an OUTRAGEOUS CLAIM which you are ready to fistfight him for . you exude nothing but purity, innocence and charm

• tori is somewhere between amused by your hatred for yuzuru and tired of hearing you talk about him ALL THE TIME

• “and why does he have to constantly be watching you? seriously, he should get a hobby. he’s an idol, too, right? actually i can kind of see why, he definitely has the looks to make it in the industry. anyway—” “OH MY GOD SHUT UP (Y/N)”

• tori doesn’t understand why you’re so Oblivious and so Dumb . he cries to eichi-sama about it who is too busy . idk watching wataru turn into a bird

• yuzuru just watches you with that type of . Evil and Scary closed eye smile that he is a pro at

• honestly? you’re quivering in your boots. but also admiring his smile. his smile is really pretty. Wait a minute.

• the complaining turns into swooning ! who would have guessed (tori) (he guessed) (he knew) (and now he has to listen to you talk about yuzuru 25/7)

• you clean up your act in order to impress him. No More late night snack runs with tori. you are a SAINT

• yuzuru finds it endearing and honestly quite entertaining

• soon enough, he finds himself completely charmed by your. erm. really strange(?) behaviour

• he, himself, is also a strange individual so there’s no surprise there

• tori sets up tea dates for the both of you as well awwww. What a good friend (he invites you over for tea with him then runs away when yuzuru comes to serve you tea. it is a Kind Of tea date)

• honestly you scored a 10/10 baddie GOOD FOR YOU

tori himemiya

• ok i know i have done the sibling ones So often already but. tsukasa’s sibling. YOU being tsukasa’s sibling that is.

• you and tsukasa are constantly discussing how tori has Wronged you everyday

• tori just looks at you both and calls you a fugly pair of siblings

• “listen i’m not saying we bring a lighter to the next fine concert But”

• “that is not appropriate at all… that being said i am not discarding the idea”

• dw about tori he has his own personal bodyguard (yuzuru) to ward off predators (you and tsukasa)

• how is he so much cuter, more successful, prettier, funnier, cuter—

• you know that type of jealousy and hatred that you realise is actually. Much deeper feelings. Yeah. it’s that

• tori gets a lot busier with idol work and that’s when you realise you miss going to the student council office just to banter with him.

• it is so so lonely and so so cold… (2 hours no tori)

• head on the desk. you feel yourself drifting further and further away…

• “hey, what’s up loser”

• RAGE. tori himemiya.

• half play fighting half unbridled rage . its like a pair of kittens toppling over and hissing

• tori also (maybe) (kind of) missed you too. he complained. Loudly. to yuzuru who was like Alright we are going to see them then!

• eventually the teasing insults and fighting turns into the type of fighting that you do as a couple. idk it just KIND OF HAPPENS?

• tsukasa is like. Well i do not approve but at least it’ll be good for our family business

• a good end. a happy end. eichi and wataru have adopted the two of you as their own

• “AMAZING! when is the wedding” “NEVER SHUT UP”

• you buy matching, cutesey couple items and then fight over them

• really what’s a good relationship without a few death threats here and there

wataru hibiki

• i really cannot imagine wataru having an enemy. SURE he has a lot of haters (tomoya) (hokuto) but even then it is done so in an affectionate manner. There is simply No hatred in his heart. only silliness

• so unfortunately your hatred of him is one-sided ! enemy to lovers part 2

• being a rival actor to THE wataru hibiki is certainly a predicament. i mean he has sentient hair is there anything he can’t do

• and it pisses you off. Majorly. who does this absolute clown think he is

• you try your hardest at Every show, you sing your heart out, put the most effort in

• and then there’s wataru. who is Equally as hardworking but somehow 10x more charismatic

• even eichi tenshouin is his biggest fan . he has capitalism on his side

• so you have a burning jealousy and hatred for this man . Well until he offers to do a show WITH you

• you just give him the blankest stare . What are you on about

• while he’s laughing to himself and monologuing on how you two would make the perfect lead roles

• ????? SERIOUSLY

• that’s how you get roped into performing with him and a bunch of idols in dramatica . And well they are certainly an interesting bunch

• as you prepare for the (romantic btw) musical you convince yourself the warmth you feel in your cheeks at his love proclamations is just Method Acting

• IT IS NOT!!!! no one can resist his charm

• you also see how well respected he is as an actor and his true talent on stage

• like . He was one of the eccentrics for a reason. he is stupidly good at acting

• jealousy turns to admiration and well. yeah you guessed it ! admiration turns into an intolerable crush

• wataru, similarly, is impressed at your prowess for acting and shows no signs of being quiet about it. he is yelling how talented you are every 5 seconds and joking how he may Really fall for you

• spoiler warning: he does

• flash forward 6 months . Time for the play

• at the kiss scene it all really comes together . it is a sincerely romantic and genuine kiss

• the crowd is going WILD (except eichi) (he’s jealous) (“i wish that was me fr”)

• backstage, you may just pass out

• but of course wataru is there to lift you up and be a shoulder you can lean on

• And that’s how you scored a date with THE wataru hibiki . he is everyone’s wataru but especially yours

• absolute 10/10 power couple watch out hollywood (and eichi)

• tomoya is just hoping you can tame him or something

natsume sakasaki

• i am so normal over him guys trust (lie) (such a lie)

• he is the perfect candidate for enemies to lovers . something about him just screams ‘i love you in a way that is so painful and so mean’

• anyways . being the apprentice of wataru after natsume stops being his apprentice

• I AM SO SANE OVER THIS CONCEPT

• obviously you were Not Really involved in the war so you’re pretty clueless as to natsume’s former relationship with wataru

• which makes you question why he is such an asshole to you. LIKE he does not take your magic seriously at all

• he thinks that you are not qualified which is . so stupid like you cannot gatekeep being an evil wizard okay that title is for anyone

• in reality… he is a tiny bit insecure that you’re good enough at magic to be wataru’s apprentice

• magic and alchemy has always been something that his character is largely based on and for someone to take over that role so quickly ?!?&:!

• so he Pretends that whenever wataru is telling him about your latest experiments and tricks that he is Not impressed .

• he's basically the yawns . sloppy. boring. lazy .

• he actually really wants to discuss magic with you but every time you meet he just scowls and acts like a bitch. in usual natsume ‘i hate being vulnerable or showing any feelings’ agenda

• so that means you’re going to have to make the first move. otherwise the enemies to lovers slowburn 100k words pining fic ends HERE

• if you ask him for help with magic he is going to be so smug

• like “hM, i figured the likes of you would need help from me afterALL”

• just try not to punch him in the face it will be WORTH IT OKAY!!!

• his hands are actually really shaky the whole time and he is trying his hardest not to mess up it’s actually So so cute

• and natsume gets to assess your magic prowess too (he’s impressed btw. he wouldn’t tell you that so i’m passing on the message. he's falling in love so quick but don’t tell him i told you ok)

• and so you meet up at his secret room regularly ! and with sora too who you become apprentice buddies with ^_^ so joyous

• listen i wasn’t going to include the love potion natsume trope in this but these headcanons are tropey enough let me have this

• you confess by making a love potion together with him PLEASE HEAR ME OUT

• anyways you are the best most magical couple in all of ensemble stars . you create tricky little spells to foil your enemies (eichi tenshouin) and then kiss wearing witch’s hats . the end

tsumugi aoba

• another good enemies to lovers candidate but in a More pathetic way i think

• you’re the producer for past fine. please hear me out on this concept

• i think your beef would be similar to eichi and hiyori . like divorced couple type romance

• you are regretful of the war and find the memories to be bittersweet. then you talk to tsumugi and he’s like Yeah haha i would probably do it again

• HE HAS ISSUES

• and yet he’s still one of the only people who truly understands and unconditionally supports you… this is a sick and twisted world

• i think tsumugi is too moe kyaah anime girl to have any hatred towards you so the enemies to lovers will (once again) be one sided

• he brings up your time as second years and you feel the need to throttle him

• yet you know him so well too, especially how he overworks himself

• and as an ensemble square producer you have to take care of his soggy pathetic self. Sorry

• that one romance trope of the person bandaging the wounds of the love interest . that’s you two except it’s you dragging his ass to bed at 3am

• he will complain . so you have to compromise on letting him cuddle you

• everyone notices how close you two are btw . sora is that one image that’s like ‘hey why does senpai call you babygirl’ ‘how about we stop talking for a little while’

• you Deny all the outrageous claims that you CARE??? for him and say it is rather your past together that makes you feel obligated but it was like two? three? years ago mostly everyone has moved on. stop lying to yourself

• you two have healed Together… and that is what makes your love so raw and vulnerable and eughhsjk this is so sappy and cute. Throws up

• hiyori and nagisa are both so happy that you two are together and finally found peace (sort of)

• eichi is like Hm. interesting . this is awkward

• but it’s okay . because everything is fine (haha get it) now and you and tsumugi are (past) war criminals together ^_^

sora harukawa

• sora is too full of JOY and HAPPINESS to be enemies with anyone . So we are going a bit off script you are rivals in this scenario

• video game rivals to be precise ! i feel like the 🤓 typing this but it’s CUTESEY I PROMISE

• mostly you two play multiplayer games together and get a teensy bit competitive . in the video game club of Course which means we get natsume to be the (totally unbiased) judge

• sora is realllyyy good at video games which means you frequently lose . this is why you have waged war on him

• you will not STOP until the ultimate gamer title becomes yours

• sora is just ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ he’s happy to indulge and play games with you because your colour is always so bright and vibrant when you do !

• little does he know you are plotting his Demise. his demise on little big planet or something

• days, nights, weeks, months you train to beat him. and you never do

• he keeps winning everytime and always acts so modest about it which is even WORSE!!! you can't even get mad when he’s so polite about beating you

• once sora notices your colour becoming more dull because of how demotivated you are he gets really worried (◞‸◟；) he loves playing games but loves spending time with you more…

• once you admit that you’re upset about being worse at games he thinks of a quick solution ! play games together instead of against each other and he can teach you all his tricks

• (natsume offers to help too but he's Not important and he is an asshole . Do not trust)

• so your weekly gaming tournaments basically turn into gaming dates ft thirdwheel natsume and sometimes tsumugi

• cutest CUTEST couple 10/10 i love

• natsume approves too btw . 10/10

• tsumugi is a Little confused but he has the spirit (he also rates 10/10)

• (rinne will not be Making an appearance in fear of shu finding out but he also rates 10/10. Save him from shu)

OKAY KIND OF IMPORTANT MESSAGE SO PLEASE READ!!!

i would have made a separate post for this but i feel like no one would read it so. i’m finally back after um. 10 months. i was super busy and kind of lost interest in enstars and other things so i pretty much abandoned this blog… BUT I HAVE RETURNED! i’m going to try posting every so often and interacting more with you guys on here ^_^ i cleared out my inbox (sorry to anyone who sent things in, it was cluttered and stressing me out haha) so feel free to send me any asks! i will NOT be opening specific requests, but you can feel free to send suggestions for prompts, scenarios or characters you want me to make headcanons for and i’ll try my best!! i also want to try out writing proper fics alongside the silly hc posts, but i might mostly post those on ao3, though i would like a nice balance between silly and serious(ish). i will also try writing for other fandoms like mhyk, twst and pjsekai since i am heavily in those as well but yeah!! my official comeback methinks. hope to chat more with everyone! ♡

[nyuusayuri]

My "handsome" Stalker

Ateez Choi San x Reader (SMUT)

Warnings: stalking, signs of violence, dirty talk, possessive behavior, smut

For your information: I made up this story 10 years ago (when I was around 14-15), so I apologize if some things sound weird or rushed, but I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible.

In the middle of the forest, I got a strange feeling. A feeling I only had when something was wrong. And something was definitely not right here. I stopped and looked around carefully. It was getting a bit dark, but I didn't care. My eyes were good enough to see everything around me. When I looked back ahead, he was there. The man who hadn't left me alone for quite some time. He constantly followed me everywhere, never took his eyes off me, and allowed me no privacy. Who was this guy? A sick stalker?! Everything pointed to that being the case. I stared stubbornly into his eyes, which he hid behind black sunglasses. You could hardly see him. The only thing visible were his black hair. The rest was concealed under a black leather jacket, jeans, and black boots. Around his mouth and nose, he wore a mask.

It was intimidating to stand in front of a completely black figure that you didn't know, who was always stalking you, and was now out in the forest as it was getting darker. My limbs had stiffened, and I couldn't move an inch. "What... what do you want from me?!" As hard as it was for me, in all that fear, I tried not to show my anxiety. Did I even want to know what he wanted from me? Probably not. My gaze was fixed on him, but he didn't respond; he simply disappeared behind the bushes. Still frozen and shocked from the unexpected encounter with the unknown stalker, I stood there. Only after a while did the stiffness in my joints fade, and I continued walking through the small forest area toward my home. I took off my shoes and ignored the screaming of my quarrelsome parents, like I did every time, and went straight to my room, just to free myself from my jacket, throwing it onto the small sofa in my room and collapsing, with a loud sigh, into my cozy warm bed. Immediately, my eyelids, heavy from exhaustion, fell shut, and I drifted off into my own land with my own rules.

3 Weeks later

I was slowly fed up. This guy was still stalking me, and now the new bad boy at our school was also in the picture to annoy me. Jae and Sora helped me stay out of his way, but one day it had to happen. Unfortunately, that day was today. He and I had to work together on the same project, that's how we ended up at my house, and I swear I was so close to tearing his head off! He could never keep his hands to himself, and if my little sister wasn't here, he would have been dead a long time ago! I hated this guy so much! "San! Could you please focus on the screen and not on my cleavage?!" I shot him venomous glances, but he didn't seem to be impressed, because instead of trembling with fear, he just laughed. Had I mentioned that I hated this guy?! Because I'd gladly say it again. I hated him! "But you have two far more interesting toys to offer."

Disgusted, I redirected my gaze to the laptop in front of me and began searching for more information about Seoul before our time. After hours, we were both fed up, and it was already getting dark. Since I didn't want him to think about spending the night here, I dragged him straight to the front door. Unfortunately, my parents caught me in all the haste. They still believed that I should finally get a boyfriend, and they were okay with absolutely anyone at the moment. Just not for me. "Y/N sweetheart? Why are you in such a hurry with that poor guy?" I interrupted my mom before she could continue. "I have a lot to do, Mom. San should really be going now." Without waiting for another word, from anyone, I shoved him out the door and slammed it behind me. My parents just looked at me with wide eyes, confusion written on their foreheads. They were the kind of parents who never understood teenagers like me. So I didn't care any further because I knew it wouldn't do any good and immediately disappeared back into "My" realm. "What an idiot! If my parents dare to hook me up with him, I swear I'm gonna jump off a bridge!" I muttered, slightly annoyed.

Yes, I was easily provoked and thrown off course in the evenings. Grumbling, I threw myself onto the bed, pulled the blanket over me, switched off my bedside lamp, and fell immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep. The next morning, I had no desire to go to school. Especially because I had to see him again. It would be even worse if I had to see them both. If I encountered that weird guy from the forest in the same spot again. The thought sent chills down my spine. He scared me, but still... there was something intriguing about him that drew me in. Yes, it really sounded like I was losing my mind, but I was definitely still sane. That's why it felt so strange to me. After arriving at school, I initially had my peace and quiet. Jae and Sora weren't there today, so I could wander around alone all day. I actually had many friends at school, but I only hung out with those I cared about more.

With the others, I would just be bored and wouldn't fit into the group at all. And I could definitely do without that. So, I preferred to sit in a quiet place, put on my headphones, and listen to music. It was a nice feeling to be able to be by myself. At home, I had my family, who usually got on my nerves, and here I had my two friends, who constantly talked about some celebrities, fashion, or other stuff while I just stood there, lost in my thoughts. Today, I had settled once again into my usual spot and listened to Taeyeon's beautiful voice in her song "I." One of the few songs that calmed me down so much that I could relax deeply and everything around me felt like air.

After a while, I looked at the clock on my phone and realized that class was starting again. Thank goodness I had developed a sense for that, otherwise, I would have been late. Sighing, I sank down into my seat and rested my head on my hand. It was so boring without the two of them. But only in class. Suddenly, the shrieking of the girls echoed through the room, causing me to cover my ears and look in the direction where they had all gathered. Who else stood in the doorway? Of course. Choi fucking San. Why else would the girls start screeching like that? Without a word, I just walked right past them and couldn't help but feel his gaze on the back of my neck. Creep.

After school, the feeling of being followed overcame me again. I kept turning around and looking at the surroundings, but I saw no one following me. The few people who were walking around ignored me or gave me confused looks. Shrugging my shoulders, I continued walking. When I arrived home, it was really quiet. That had never happened before. For the past two years, there had always been pure terror as soon as I got home. After all this time, it was quiet in the house, but I didn't like it. Before I went to my room, I crossed the entire house and looked around. Everyone was gone. No one there. Strange. I was still quite uneasy, but I tried to ignore it and went to my room. My phone suddenly flashed and showed me a message from my mother. Apparently my parents and my sister are currently at the doctor's because she had the brilliant idea of ​​eating nuts at school despite her nut allergy. Can't say I was surprised to hear that.

Immediately, I sat down to do my homework because, 1. I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, and 2. I knew I'd be sitting there for hours again. "Finally! Done." I exhaled and leaned back in my chair. After three hours, I had finally finished. To be honest, I was the kind of person who always got distracted by something without meaning to. That's why I spent a bit longer than others on my homework. When my stomach finally started growling, I walked into the kitchen, grabbed the leftovers from the casserole in the fridge, put it on a plate, and popped it in the microwave while leaning against the counter in our kitchen. Bing. I jumped up, took the plate out of the microwave, and sat down on the sofa, switching on the TV at the same time. I always watched TV while eating. It was completely normal for me.

Something shattered behind me. A small scream escaped my throat, and I immediately looked behind me in the apartment. No one there. But what was that? On the shelf above the TV, we had katanas on display. I couldn't handle those things, but it was better than being unarmed. I quickly grabbed one of the katanas, carefully took it out of its sheath, and walked cautiously in the direction from which the noise originated.

Keeping the sword poised in front of me, I walked through the hallway and discovered my mother's vase shattered on the floor. I almost stepped on the shards. I walked around it in a wide arc and moved toward my father's office. Light was on, and the door was ajar. Suddenly, I saw a shadow beneath the door. I felt fear. Real fear. Any sane person would have screamed and run out of the house, calling for help. But I was different in this situation. What I was doing was the last thing anyone should do.

The door slowly opened, and I held the sword ready to confront the intruder. My eyes widened when I saw who stood before me. The guy who kept stalking me. He was here. In my house! Oh my God! What now? I was frozen. My hands trembled with uncertainty. The last bit of my courage had vanished. The guy slowly approached me cautiously, reaching for his mask that covered half of his face and slowly pulled it down. At the same time, he removed his sunglasses. Did I want to see what creature was beneath that mask? I squinted my eyes and bit down hard on my lower lip. My heart raced uncontrollably, and the adrenaline surged through my blood, making me feel so nervous and restless I could hardly stand. I had never felt as much fear in my entire life as I did in that moment. "Look at me, Y/N." That voice. I knew it. Could it be? Was it really him? Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and immediately looked into the face of the person I hated most. Choi San stood right in front of me. He was the stalker?! Was this guy joking with me?! Angrily, I put the katana down and glared at him with hatred.

"Have you lost your mind scaring me like this?! Do that again, and I'll rip your head off!" I shouted at him, and he flinched slightly before grabbing my wrists and slamming me roughly against the wall. His face was uncomfortably close, and not a second later, as I was thinking about it, his lips were on mine. I fought with all my strength, but he was ten times stronger than me, so I eventually gave in. Still reluctantly, I reciprocated his kiss, and he immediately made it more demanding and wild. I didn't know why, but over time, I let him overpower me. I surrendered completely as he started covering my neck with kisses and sometimes began sucking on it. We then moved into my room; he immediately shoved me onto my bed and knelt over me. Again, he placed his lips on mine, and I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him even closer to me. Why did I suddenly have this desire for him? None of this made any sense. I hated him! And yet, here I was, wildly making out beneath him. His fingers slid under my shirt and slowly pushed it up. He stroked my stomach while sucking on my neck. Tomorrow, I would definitely have a hickey there.

Jae and Sora were back today. That mainly took away the boredom. It had been two weeks already, but I constantly thought back to that one night when he was with me and kissed me. But the worst part of it all was that I had reciprocated, and if my parents hadn't come home that evening, I probably would have... Oh God, please no! Not with him! Anything but that! My aching cheek brought me back to reality. My two friends were standing in front of me, and Sora had slapped me. That was the only way to pull me out of my daydreams. Still, it hurt. "Sora~. What was that for? That hurts." I whined with a pout. She just placed her hands on her hips and looked at me sternly. "Then stop daydreaming when I'm talking to you. You know how much I hate being ignored." Oh yes, that was true. And how much she hated it. Just as much as being interrupted. If she ever got a boyfriend, I hoped for him that he was deaf-mute.

He pulled my shirt over my head and pinned my wrists to the bed. I hadn't expected that. A bit surprised and nervous at the same time, I looked at him. "S-San? What-..." "Shh. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. You mean way too much to me," he murmured against my lips, interrupting me and teasingly licking them. He was driving me crazy. I was already feeling so hot, and my body was practically screaming for him. He sat up and took off his coat and shirt as well. Could you believe it? He had an incredibly well-trained body, and so many tattoos adorned him, making him even more attractive. "Do you like what you see?" he grinned cheekily at me, and only now did I realize that I was staring. I turned my face away, blushing slightly, but didn't answer him. Again, he leaned down for another wild kiss and captured my lips. Suddenly, the front door slammed open, and we both stared in shock in that direction. Then our eyes met again. San pulled his clothes back on, freed me from my restraints, and ran to my window. "See you later," he winked at me and then jumped out of the window. Completely dazed, I remained lying in bed.

A few days later

Suddenly students started to run past us outside and formed a circle around a spot. What the hell? My expression became serious, and I marched outside to the yard with my friends directly behind me. I stopped and saw... my best friend and San? What had Wooyong done? He was the nicest person I knew and was pretty much always with me. Jae always said he wanted something from me, but I couldn't believe that. He was my best friend and nothing more. San seemed to be the one who was angry. I could tell by his gaze. He was tearing Wooyoung apart with just his eyes. I walked up to the two of them and stood between the two fighters. "What's going on here?!" I said seriously, crossing my arms over my chest. San simply ignored me, walked up to him, grabbed him by the collar, and whispered something in his ear that I unfortunately couldn't hear. I immediately pulled him away from Wooyoung, who shot him an angry look before disappearing into the school building, taking half the students with him. The rest scattered across the schoolyard. I could only shake my head and walked over to my best friend. "Wooyoung. Are you okay? What was that about?" "Nothing! That's none of your business." He turned around and just walked away. I watched him with wide eyes. What was that all about?

After school, I felt again that I was being followed. This time, I didn't care since I knew who it was, and I definitely had no fear of him. Out of nowhere I was grabbed by the arm and pulled into a wooded area. Totally surprised, I looked at the back of San's head and was literally forced to follow him. "San, what the hell? Let me go!" He didn't say anything but just kept pulling me along. Eventually, we arrived in a big backyard. "Wait a minute. Isn't this... my backyard?!" I looked at San, somewhat confused. However, he averted his gaze and pulled me into the house. He shoved me into my room and locked the door behind him. He angrily approached me and pushed me onto my bed, leaning over me and looking into my eyes intently. "Stay away from him! Do you understand?!" I blinked several times to comprehend what he meant. "What... what do you mean by that?" He sighed and lowered his head for a moment before looking back into my eyes. "Your friend just wants to get into your pants. Don't fall for that fraud!" "What?! Wooyoung is my best friend! He would never do that!" "Oh, really? Are you sure?" he said still seriously, leaning even closer to me. "Kim Sook. She was very close friends with him for two years until they ended up in bed, and then he left her hanging. My friend Mingi's sister didn't fare any better. So how do you know it would be different for you?! Do you really think I'd let that happen?!" he nearly shouted at me, and I stayed calm out of fear.

For a while, we stared into each other's eyes in silence. He was still so close to me; it made me quite nervous, but it also calmed me down. His closeness and warmth soothed me just like the wonderful, musky scent of his aftershave. Slowly, he bridged the last few centimeters and I could feel those wonderful, soft lips on mine. It was just a brief kiss, but it awakened so much within me. "I don't want to lose you to him," he whispered against my lips and kissed me again, this time with more pressure. I couldn't resist this guy, so I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. He supported himself on his forearms on either side of my head and let the kiss become more passionate while one of his hands glided from my neck down my entire body. A pleasurable shiver ran down my spine, and it felt like it was getting warmer in my room. His hand wandered under my shirt and slowly lifted it. His tongue teased over my lips, and I willingly opened them for him. San's tongue explored my mouth, played with mine, and with both hands, he massaged my breasts. Things got hotter and he leaned down to my neck, gently kissing his way down to my breasts, pulling my shirt and bra off. Normally, I would have turned red with shame, but at that moment, I was too aroused by the hot curly head above me.

His gaze devoured me, and he licked his lips seductively before leaning down to my breasts, circling my nipples with his tongue. Moaning softly, I scratched lightly down his back, enjoying the teasing of my breasts. Occasionally, he would bite lightly and suck on them. It was driving me insane, and my core started tingling with excitement. Impatiently, I squirmed beneath him and noticed his dirty grin as he kissed down my stomach. He wouldn't dare...?! No second later, my legs were pushed further apart, and I saw his head disappear between my legs. "San, stop that!" A bit embarrassed, I tried to stop him, grabbing his hair, but in the next moment, I had to stifle a moan and instinctively clutched his hair tightly. My strength slipped away in an instant, and I sank back into the pillows. He blissfully ran his long tongue along my wet core, skillfully teasing my sensitive pearl with the tip of his tongue, which only made me moan louder, my hips involuntarily arching up to meet him. His lips wrapped around my pearl, and he sucked on it hard, licking teasingly over my entrance while grinning at me. I couldn't do anything but surrender completely and let this man drive me crazy.

Moaning, I pulled on his hair and moved my hips against him, feeling that I was getting closer to my long-desired climax. Just a few more seconds, and I would finally go over the edge after his sweet torture on my sensitive clit. "San! Fuck!" I cried out, clutching his hair tighter, pulling on it as I arched my back and climaxed. Never in my life had an orgasm been as overwhelming as this one. Breathless and totally surprised, I looked at San, who was smirking cheekily, eliciting one last whimper from me followed by a reflexive arching of my hips as his tongue glided one last time over my now pulsating core. He kissed his way back up to me, sucking onto a spot behind my ear. I bit my lower lip to stifle any revealing sound, but just the tension in my body seemed to let him know that it was that spot I liked the most, and he traced it with his tongue. "Do you like that?" he whispered into my ear with his rough, deep voice, bringing another whimper out of me, and the only thing I could manage was a weak nod. San looked at me and didn't even try to hide his smug grin, to which I just rolled my eyes.

My gaze traveled along his face to his full, rosy lips, just waiting to press themselves back onto mine, showering me with their gentleness. "Do you want more?" It was just a soft whisper brushing against my lips that sent indescribable goosebumps down my spine, yet it was enough to stir up my loins and reflexively make my head nod slightly, though forcefully. God, what was this guy doing to me? Grinning, San stood up from me, and I became witness to an incredibly hot strip tease. It hadn't even occurred to me that he still had all his clothes on. But that I was getting this private show right now made me all the happier, and I could hardly wait to feel him inside me. To be taken shamelessly yet tenderly and passionately. He was driving me completely mad, and my clarity was dwindling as I was led to unleash the woman that had been slumbering inside me this whole time. A fiery young woman who had been waiting for the man who would cloud all her senses and send her to cloud nine, making her forget where up and down were. I immediately shook my head and tried to regain some clarity of mind.

This guy had managed to make me aroused just by my thoughts of the tattooed, dominant, and hot man who had such an incredibly bright smile and could easily wrap any woman around his finger. I still couldn't take my eyes away from that incredibly hot six-pack, scrutinizing every single one of his tattoos in detail. I just caught on the side how he grinned at me and slowly moved back toward my bed. Like a predator, he crawled toward me, pushing me back into the pillows. Again, he came so close, and his gaze made me hold my breath for a moment. His eyes were full of lust, and even his breath became a bit shallower, while his skin felt burning hot. "Do you have any idea how damn sexy you look? So helpless and so aroused. And all because of me." His rough voice made my core pulse even stronger, and I instinctively squirmed beneath him.

With a glazed look, he watched me until he grabbed my legs, spreading them apart and lying between them. He pressed his lips demandingly against mine and immediately deepened the kiss into a wild and intense tongue dance. San sucked on my tongue, licking and playing with it while his hands began to travel down my legs. Gently, he ran his right hand along my inner thigh to my core and paused just before reaching it. A bit confused, I was about to break the kiss and ask him what he was planning, when suddenly I felt something hard and pulsing at my entrance. Slowly and carefully, making sure not to hurt me, he entered my hot tightness. Piece by piece, deeper and deeper until he was fully buried inside me, letting out a quiet moan. With steady movements, he slowly thrust into me and gradually picked up speed, pounding harder and harder. "Oh my God. San!" Overwhelmed by this sudden and indescribable feeling as he thrust into me, I nearly screamed and clung to his back. "Found you."

Grinning, he grabbed my hips, pulling me closer to him and let his pelvis hit hard against mine. His thrusts became deeper and faster, and each time he hit that one spot inside me, drawing the most beautiful sounds from me and truly sending me to cloud nine. San's hands clutched the pillows beside my head, and his incredible hip movements grew more uncontrolled as he panted. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist and let him drive me onward. Finally, we both soared together over the edge and screamed each other's names into the room. Breathless and totally spent, he fell beside me after pulling out and draped the blanket over our bodies. "That was..." "Yes, that... was it," I finished his sentence, looking at him with a weak smile as I breathed heavily, which he returned by pulling me into his strong arms. "I love you, Y/N." That was the last thing I heard before my eyes fell shut and I drifted off into dreamland.

[oneluckydragon]

"What do you remember of being human, Echo?" The question is out of the blue and unexpected. But Sora offers a patient smile and tilts her head in curiosity, just enough that one of her ears flops over. It's endearing, if anything.

But Echo wishes she hadn't asked.

"Not much. Distinct memories are cloudy." A tired tone says softly, a pained recollection in her eyes and an acrid haze in her soul that endures, endures, and endures, "But I remember the discomfort more than anything. My body always did feel wrong back then. Misshapen. Condensed. Like it was too small for everything buried underneath, and that ache went so deeply some days that it would make my skin crawl. I hated that part the most."

At that, Sora's expression falls. She looks inexplicably sad, as if she'd hoped for a different response, a gentler one despite knowing the harsh truth about the dark future and the struggles Echo must have suffered. "But you had Grovyle, right? I'm sure he took care of you."

"He did, Sora, of course he did." A sigh, a flick of an ear and claws clenched tightly into the churned earth pressed under her paws. "I doubt I deserved his attention, though. I was too busy being angry at the world to give any care back."

In my lore, Echo does not look fully human during their time in the dark future. Since they were Darkrai before becoming human, and as a result of Palkia's reckless shattering of the Dimensional Portal which distorted both time and space, Echo's transformation was broken and accidental. They ended up looking pretty messed up and definitely (not) human. A lot of their characteristics as Darkrai carried over but rather morphed into something else.

And Grovyle, growing up in a world where humans have been extinct for longer than any living pokémon has been alive, has no concept of what a "true" human looks like. The only thing he knows is descriptions of humans from glyphs and texts in old ruins. Thus, he mistakes Echo for an actual human. And Echo, not knowing what a human looks like themselves due to amnesia, accepts this identification with nothing better to use.

[sorikufeels]

im having more thoughts about sora. how this 14 year old kid did not hesitate to stab himself in the chest, effectively killing himself to free his friend. didn’t even stop to consider any other option. maybe he didn’t think he’d die but he still stabbed himself in the chest and grinned just before doing so.

i know we saw sora drop to his knees when riku ripped the keyblade away from him and then donald and goofy subsequently abandoned (wonder if that has anything to do with his later actions huh) him but otherwise he didn’t react that much iirc. i feel like that speaks to him being used to burying his emotions from a young, young age. and then him grinning right before stabbing himself is just so disturbing to me now. like as a kid i was like aw he’s trying to reassure his friends and like yeah that’s part of it i think but like that was his only reaction to literally killing himself. he is so not okay.

what the hell happened to this kid before the games even started to make him like this?

and the fact that it’s not addressed again (i think) is so wild to me. donald and goofy watched him stab himself with a smile and then said nothing about it after he’s brought back?? like that���s so concerning, like 1000000000/10 on the concerning scale. but like they abandoned him in the first place so why am i surprised.

idk if this is a dumb question, but does riku know that’s how he freed kairi’s heart? like im assuming he knows sora was a heartless at one point since he has a nobody but did he ever find out how that happened? i forget stuff a lot, so sorry if there is somewhere where it’s shown he knows about it and i can’t remember.

i’ve said before i want sora’s darkness to be explored more and i hope this is part of it. like i want his suicidal tendencies to be addressed and for sora to realize that he is actually worth a damn

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

soriku endgame: an imagining

OKAY WELL HERE IT IS

TEN WHOLE PAGES OF HOW SORIKU ENDGAME MIGHT ACTUALLY PLAY OUT

i was rewatching vin play RE2 and fsr this invaded my thoughts and wouldnt leave

this is barely proofread and i reused a lot of the same words/phrases BUT its just meant to be an outline/abridged version so keep that in mind

(if i got any lore wrong tho pls let me know)

btw if you dont want to read this on tumblr for whatever reason, heres a link to the google doc

note: this is going off the assumption MoM saw everything (or at least everything soriku) through the gazing eye

scene is quadratum probably. master of masters (or whoever the bad guy in kh4 is) has sora and riku caught in a bad situation (for temporary visuals im picturing something similar to the dark guardian restraining aqua and ven in kh3)

sora and riku are struggling to break free, while the MoM just laughs. some kh dramatic banter occurs, before MoM changes the subject and starts monologuing (with sora and riku probably interjecting here and there)

MoM: [to sora] you still havent figured it out yet, have you?

MoM: dont you ever wonder why rikus heart holds as vast of a darkness as it does?

MoM: its not because of jealousy, or ansem, or even his desire for strength since you were children.

MoM: no, its much simpler than that.

MoM: remember that dream you had, sora? before the islands were destroyed?

MoM: there was a voice speaking to you, from deep within your heart:

MoM: 'the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.'

MoM: well, the road goes both ways, kid. the deepest of darknesses can only come from the brightest of lights.

sora: wh-what are you saying?

MoM: its been in front of all along, but you were too blind to see it.

cut to voiceless flashbacks of all the times sora encountered the brightest light: when receiving the keyblade, when almost pulled out of sleep by the memory of aqua on DI, during the dive to heart at the beginning of kh3 (assuming it really happened and wasnt just for gameplay purposes), and after using the power of waking at the KBG (the tunnel scene)

sora looks at riku, then back at MoM. riku is grimacing.

sora: that… that was… that was rikus light?

MoM: bingo!

MoM: but theres even more to it than that.

MoM: theres another force of power in this universe that keeps light and dark in harmony

sora: another…?

MoM: you feel an unfathomable depth of it in your heart for, well, pretty much everyone youve ever met.

MoM: what lies in rikus heart, however, comes from the same place, but is also very, very different. its something you claim to not understand, even though youve encountered it many times during your adventures.

rikus eyes widen and he tries to interject, but the MoM physically stops him; sora calls out for him

MoM: its more than just friendship. its hearts that are really, truly connected between two people.

MoM: think about it. think about all the times when everything seemed hopeless, but something, something, kept the bad guys from winning. it wasnt light.

cut to voiceless flashbacks between many of the disney couples sora has met: the beast arriving at hollow bastion out of sheer force of will in his search for belle, flynn sacrificing himself for rapunzel and her tears bringing him back to life (some shit with will/elizabeth and sam/quorra too maybe idk), and finally, herc gaining his strength back as he rescues megara from styx, followed by herc saying, 'people always do crazy things when theyre in love.'

sora stares ahead at nothing in particular, before wincing in pain; suddenly, a forgotten memory surfaces in his mind (if the convo with NS confirms he hasnt completely forgotten, then its the key details that have been missing):

rikus sacrifice in the KBG

riku calls out for him and struggles, but MoM just laughs so more.

MoM: there, now its coming back to you. and that wasnt the only time riku sacrificed everything for you, yknow, although it was probably the most heroic instance. remember him taking on ansems form to beat roxas? and his dive into your heart to wake you from slumber, despite the tremendous danger? you only met her briefly, but one of the princesses of heart experienced something very similar.

MoM: aurora. maleficent placed a curse on her when she was a baby, causing the princess and the rest of the kingdom to fall into a deep sleep on her 16th birthday. but the heir to a nearby kingdom, prince phillip, valiantly fought his way to the castle, and woke up the sleeping beauty– through a kiss. a kiss, of true… 

MoM trails off and looks at riku, then back at sora, expectantly. riku is still struggling to free himself before the truth is revealed, but its no use.

sora stares off again, before looking MoM in the eyes.

sora: … love…?

MoM does jazz hands and poses.

MoM: ding ding ding ding! we have a winner! it only took you, what, 12, 13 years to figure it out? honestly, i just couldnt stand watching it go on for any longer.

MoM: but, hey, i still have my honor. if im wrong, im more than happy to apologize.

MoM turns to riku then.

MoM: well? am i wrong, riku?

riku doesnt respond, and MoM sighs dramatically.

MoM: still no answer? okay, guess well have to do this the hard way.

MoM starts hurting sora, causing him to cry out in pain while riku watches helplessly 

MoM: come on, riku! do it! use your true strength! unleash the power hidden within your heart!

sora gasps and winces, barely getting out rikus name 

suddenly, theres a bright flash of pink energy (maybe rikus eyes also turn dream eater pink too?)

(if the power of love is too cheesy even for kh, then maybe its a black and white darkness/light combo attack)

riku breaks free of whatever MoM did to him, and then channels the energy through his arm, blasting it through soras restraints.

unfortunately, sora was being held in the air, and starts to fall– but in the blink of eye, riku is there to catch him in his arms.

MoM laughs in triumph and draws back slightly.

MoM: there we go!

MoM then shrugs.

MoM: well, this was fun, but ive got places to be. and im sure you two have a lot to talk about. toodles!

MoM disappears, leaving sora and riku in stunned silence.

after a moment, riku sets sora down and turns away from him, avoiding soras gaze.

sora meanwhile takes a second to catch his breath, before staring at riku with wide eyes.

sora: r… riku… is… is that...? is that really… how you feel?

riku clenches his fists at his sides and stays turned away. after a pause, he responds.

riku: … even if it is, it doesnt matter.

sora: what do you mean?

riku: i know… im not the one for you.

riku takes a deep breath.

riku: … when you were put to sleep for a year to fix your memories, some of them found their way into xion. they happened to be your most important memories– the ones you couldnt wake up without.

riku: those… were your memories of kairi. and xion took on her appearance because of them.

sora is stunned, only having been vaguely made aware of what happened in that year.

sora: k… kairi?

riku nods solemnly.

riku: yeah. and the only reason your memories got messed with in the first place is because the organization forced namine to make herself the person most important to you, instead of kairi.

sora pauses.

sora: you mean… castle oblivion.

riku nods again.

sora watches, before feeling a pain in his heart and grabbing at his chest instinctively.

underneath his hand, he can feel the cold metal of his crown necklace.

and thats when it finally clicks.

everything blurs, and theres a sudden rush of memories.

(maybe a memory sequence that you actually play through?)

sora, holding kairis wayfinder in castle oblivion. suddenly, the memory gets static-y, like during soras memory restoration.

cut to namine confessing to sora shes not the girl he cares about– but every time the word is feminine, its distorted by video static. (this is how we fix the aitsu thing)

"no. the g̸͓̦͙̫̮̦̠͗͐͗̊͑̕͝i̷͖̝̝̱̐ͅͅŗ��̄̆̓̆̊̄̿l̶̮͉̦͓͔̹̀̂͗͝ͅ you care about...the one who was always with you... its not me. its ḧ̴̳͔̻̾̇e̵͚͂̀r̸̺̣̠̓̂̀̚."

cut to namine speaking to sora before he goes to sleep.

“but theres another promise you made—a promise to someone you could never replace. s̵̹̀͗͜h̷͇͇͌̆̐e̷̡̛̱'̷̦̆s̵̫͖̦̄̈̄ your light. the light within the darkness. if you can remember h̷̼̼̜͚͒e̸̢̡̤̹̬͖͐̒͒̾r̸͓̣̜̼̜̠͚͂̋̃...all the memories lost in the shadows of your heart will come into the light."

cut to a flashback of repliku talking about their shared promise. again, the feminine words are indecipherable.

"there was a meteor shower one night when s̶̳̄͑̆̅̆͗h̴͍̞͖͙͑̔̋̈́̎̈̾ę̷̧̰̰̖̝͆̆̕̚ and i were little... n̸̨̙̼͑̽ả̴̗͕̮́͊͝m̴̻̳͚̒i̸̳̟͑n̶̡̥̋̑̌é̸͍̦͑͐͋́ got scared and said, what if a shooting star hits the islands? so i told ḧ̷̡̬̽̅͆̊ė̸̙̩̠̥̿̃̚͠r̶̛̥̻̖̉̾̽͝, if a shooting star comes this way, ill protect you! and then—"

cut back to the memory pod.

"look at the g̴̬͛̄̚͘ŏ̴̞̙̰̍͂̀ö̴̘̥̗̱̐͋͆ͅď̷̨͙̙̩̓́͝ ̸̢̋̈́̂̚ļ̷̯̥̲̪̐̋͌̾̚ṵ̵̼̥̥͖̎c̸̱̟̹̚ķ̸̭̱̖̓̇ͅ ̷͇̳̃̑́͑͐͜ͅc̸̢̤̈̈́̊̚̕h̵̙̗̓͊̾ͅą̷̣̮̞̾̈́r̶̜̜͓̥̀́͋͝m̸̺̖͈̖͓̊̀̕. i changed its shape when i changed your memory. but when you thought of ẖ̴͚̙̆ȅ̴̡̛̞̲̥̼̋͐r̸̹̱̐, it went back to the way it was."

finally, a few more lines from namine.

"remembering one thing leads to remembering another, and then another... your memories are connected, like links in a chain. those same chains are what anchor us all together. i dont destroy memories. i just take apart the links and rearrange them. you still have all your memories."

cut back to sora in the real world. everything is still blurry, but now rikus voice can be heard in the background calling for him, distorted.

and then, a flash of light.

nighttime. its still. everything is quiet and peaceful.

young sora and riku are walking back from the beach.

suddenly, theres a bright streak across the sky. 

sora and riku both gasp.

then, another. and another. and another.

the night of the meteor shower.

riku watches the sky in amazement– until he feels a tug on his arm.

he glances at his side and sees sora, utterly terrified and clinging on to him for dear life.

sora: wahhhh!! r-r-riku, the sky is falling!!

riku laughs.

riku: no, those are shooting stars. theyre way up high in the sky.

sora however is not convinced, and keeps shaking as tears start to well up in his eyes.

sora: b-but…! theres so many of them. and theyre so fast!! what if a shooting star hits the islands?!

the reality of soras mood finally sets in, and riku is left staring as he tries to think of what to do.

hanging from his pocket is his wooden sword.

the words of the man with the real sword echo in his mind:

“no more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

riku grabs his sword then and holds it up to the sky as he looks at sora, courage glinting in his eyes.

riku: if a shooting star comes this way, ill protect you! ill hit it right back into outer space!

sora sniffles as he watches riku swing the sword around.

sora: r-really?

riku nods his head confidently.

riku: i will. i promise!

after a moment of thought, riku reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver chain with a crown dangling from the end.

riku: here. take this. i found it the other day.

with the magic of cutscene, riku somehow turns the chain into a necklace, and then reaches over to hang it around soras neck.

riku: whenever you get scared, all you have to do is look at this, and remember that ill always be there to protect you. no matter what.

tears run down soras face as he looks at the necklace.

the voice of the strange girl theyd met before rings through his mind:

"so then if something happens, and riku is about to get lost—or say, he starts wandering down a dark path alone—you make sure to stay with him and keep him safe. thats your job, sora, and im counting on you to do it, okay?"

sora gulps and then reaches out to grab rikus free hand in both of his own. riku is surprised by this.

sora: ill… ill protect you too! i-i know im not as strong as you, but ill… ill try! i promise!

riku is taken aback for a moment, before he smiles gently at sora.

riku: … thanks, sora.

afterward, a multitude of quick flashbacks to all the times sora and riku protected each other, culminating in seeing the KBG sacrifice one more time.

fade to back.

in a hotel room (or smth similar), sora suddenly sits up straight in a bed, heart beating rapidly.

sora: riku!

(paralleling when riku called out for him after waking up from the dive into his heart in ddd)

riku has been seated at the edge of the bed, waiting and worrying. when he realizes soras awake, he scoots down the bed towards him.

riku: sora! youre okay!

after catching his breath, sora looks around the room, confused.

sora: … what… happened?

riku: you passed out, so i brought you here. how are you feeling?

sora puts a hand to his head, grimacing slightly at his pulsing headache. but that doesnt matter right now.

sora: im… im fine. listen, riku… i saw… i saw some of the things that happened at CO.

rikus eyes widen.

riku: you did?

sora: yeah. i saw you… well, a version of you. and namine. namine…

sora looks into rikus eyes.

sora: she… she was wrong. or… maybe i was wrong, and she just played along for my sake…

riku: huh? what are you talking about?

sora swallows as his voice starts shaking, just a little.

sora: kairi… kairi wasnt the one most special to me. you were. i remember… i remember the night of the meteor shower.

sora clutches at the crown necklace.

sora: all this time, id thought id remembered everything important… but i forgot about it. [sighs] im sorry, riku

riku stays quiet for a moment, before putting on a forced smile.

riku: its fine, sora. we were little kids.

sora frowns.

sora: but… you never forgot, did you?

riku shrugs, and theres a moment of silence between them, before riku speaks again.

riku: maybe i was the one most important to you back then, but its not the same now. thats alright. im just happy to be your friend. i know how you feel about kai-

sora suddenly moves forward, closer to riku, now yelling as he cuts him off.

sora: i get to decide how i feel, riku! its my heart!

riku is taken aback at the shouting, and stares in shock. sora realizes hes gotten loud, and takes a moment to calm down.

dearly beloved starts to play in the bg

sora: i… i know now. maybe it took me a long time, but… i figured it out. the person most important to me… all along, its been you.

riku freezes up in pure shock. he cant believe what hes hearing. hed talked himself out of hoping for this day long ago.

sora finally smiles again.

sora: youre the one i love.

(paralleling prince eric with ariel)

BOOM FIREWORKS MAGIC SORIKU ENDGAME

riku is absolutely speechless, staring at sora with his mouth agape.

sora gives riku a sheepish grin, now growing nervous at the lack of a response.

sora: and… im the one you love… right?

after a second, riku returns soras smile– and, for the very first time in the series, starts crying.

he nods, shakily.

riku: … yeah. yeah, i do. i always have.

riku wipes at his eyes to stop crying, but its futile. the tears flow even harder.

sora feels himself start crying, too, but hes laughing at the same time.

he pulls riku into a hug, grabbing his upper back tightly.

without any hesitation whatsover, riku returns the embrace, holding onto sora in the same way.

(like so [sora in orange, riku in teal])

fade to black.

then they kill the MoM, get married, and live happily ever after. the end. :)

love balancing light and dark is largely taken from these tags by @osrinlore on this video of mine btw:

[lilyginnyblackv2]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about this Utada Hikaru quote in regards to both Hikari and Passion before:

In an interview, Utada said, "It's like... as if 'Hikari' was the dawn, and 'Passion' has a concluding or 'dusk' feeling to it. The lyrics of 'Passion' show how phases of the past, present and future of the character in my song relate to each other."

This came from the KH Fandom Wiki, which I'll link below in the comments. I've seen the Nomura quote mentioned all the time about how Passion is about Sora and Riku's reunion, but I think a part of Nomura's quote that often gets overlooked is when he states:

I wrote stuff like "An image of a reunion, a happy moment in a way" and "Like a Hikari 2" in there.

Italicized part by me for emphasis and the main thing I want to talk about here. The quote from Nomura can be found over at Kingdom Hearts Insider (which I will also link below in the comments).

We have Utada mentioning how Hikari is like the dawn and Passion is like the concluding dusk, thus connecting the two songs to each other in a sequel like way, just like Nomura mentions in his interview when he states that Passion is "Like a Hikari 2." So, in my mind, since Nomura states that "Passion is about Sora and Riku's reunion" and Utada uses the phrasing of dawn, as well as how the song highlights how past, present, and future relate to each other for the character in the song...I think it's pretty safe to say that Hikari is about Sora and Riku as well.

That seems to be what both Nomura and Utada are implying with their answers here. Now, I know that some people really like to say that Simple & Clean and Sanctuary are their own songs, which they are. The lyrics are different. But the thematic elements are still the same and there are still similar through lines (like the backward lyrics being the same in both Passion and Sanctuary for instance).

The lyrics of Hikari really fit Riku's views on Sora and the bond they have/had - the desire for it to remain unchanged. The person they are singing about being their light (Sora being Riku's light, something we know Riku views Sora as via things like the DDD Novel Side Riku). Simple & Clean's lyrics definitely fit Sora as a character and his voice more.

With Passion and Sanctuary it almost seems like this is reversed though. The English version, Sanctuary, has more lyrics that fit Riku and his perspective on Sora and their reunion. Meanwhile, Passion's lyrics fit Sora a lot more. The line: "I heard my old crush is having a baby in the wintertime" is quite interesting in various ways. The whole last set of lyrics in Passion aren't really directly related to KH, but more to general ideas of things that denote changes and passages of time (people having children, getting New Years cards, etc.).

It's also so interesting that Hikari is mentioned as being the Dawn (the time of day associated with Riku) and Passion the Dusk (the time of day that is often associated with Kairi). In KH2 is when we start to see a shift in Sora's feelings and interactions with Kairi (distance, drifting apart, change) and a reconnection happen with Sora and Riku (reunion, airing out feelings, better communication, reinforcing their friendship and bonds to each other, etc.).

We get games that focus more on Sora and Riku's bonds (Re-coded, BBB when they are little kids, and DDD) and Kairi is sadly neglected by the narrative and both Sora and Riku in a way. Something that we see her taking note of in KH3, more obviously through the novelization.

I don't know. To me these quotes just make me think it is very obvious that both Hikari/Simple & Clean and Passion/Sanctuary are all songs about Sora and Riku and their bond with each other. Of course, since KH3 is meant to be a conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga, of which KH1 and KH2 are both a part of, it would make sense that Oath and Don't Think Twice are about them too.

Sadly, we don't really have anything remotely official to really solidify that interpretation though, not that official recognition of things like this are necessary - they aren't - but they do add more validity to interpretations and theories. Maybe some day we'll get a comment about Oath / Don't Think Twice from either Nomura or Utada. But until then...I'm still going to think that those songs are about Sora and Riku.

Anyway, these are just rambling thoughts on a topic I've talked about before (the KH themes like Oath / Don't Think Twice and their connection to Sora and Riku). But I was thinking about this all again with the new Hikari re-recording by Utada that came out recently. It's a beautiful re-recording that I definitely suggest every KH fan check out. I'll link that in the comments as well, lol. Also, feel free to add this via reblogs or in the comments! I might not respond right away, but I'll read everything that gets commented, added, etc.

[strayheartless]

So I don’t know if I’m ever really going to be able to write it coherently because it’s a mess of an idea but I need it out of my brain box. But I have an idea for a fic I’ll probably never write -because as I say ✨coherency✨- and it kinda goes like this:

Cloud is a pretty lonely kid. Even when Tifa tries to include him, he struggles socially and the others don’t really like him. As a way of coping with this Cloud falls back on his imagination and essentially creates the entire universe of kingdom hearts in his head like a maladaptive daydream to cope with his situation.

He has drawings of Sora and the gang all over his room and every note book is filled with complicated plots and backgrounds and ideas for characters. His Ma worries that he spends too much time in his own head. However, she quickly realised that moving his drawings and Writing causes him great distress so she tries to leave them be.

For Cloud Sora is an extension of the outgoing hero he wants to be. The kid who wasn’t necessarily the chosen one but is the best version of himself and is the hero because he’s good.

Riku is his sephiroth type character. He’s the cool kid that everybody wants to be like, and just like us he lives for torturing his blorbo. What Clouds not really aware of as he writes though is that Riku becomes more and more like an extension of himself. There’s an intense loneliness to his character and a repression of something Cloud is really not ready to look at.

Kairi is probably his romanticisation of Tifa and an extension of Clouds own desire to protect the people that matter to him most. Sora wants to protect kairi in the same way Cloud wants to protect Tifa. But like Tifa as the Kairi develops she has a certain strength of her own and a story worth telling.

More characters develop along the way and by the time he joins shinra military he’s got a whole fantasy world (or worlds in this case) planned out in his head that consumes his every waking minute.

Cut to being in the army and Clouds usually got a small field journal with him that he uses like an ideas book that’s full of scribbles and drawings. He’s incredibly territorial about the notebook and has gotten into altercations over it multiple times.

By this point he’s established some other stories. Sora feels really distant to him and he can’t quite reach him. It’s upsetting but around the time he meets Zack Ventus sort of emerges from nowhere.

Ven is quirky, he’s a bit silly and a lot sarcastic. But he’s smiley and friendly and exactly the person Cloud is around a certain second Class soldier…

Hiding his sketches from Zack was never an option. He was never going to get away with carrying his journal around without Zack popping up over his shoulder to ask “whattcha doooin’?”. Once Zack got a little snap shot into Clouds world(s) he wanted to grill Cloud about it every time they hang out. What Zack doesn’t really get though, is that for Cloud it’s not a story… not really.

These are Clouds friends. This is where he feels safest. Being able to talk of them makes them more tangible more real and when the Genesis war starts to get that bit more tense Cloud is stuck in his head As Sora and Riku make a reappearance.

Waking Dreams and nightmares plague Cloud for hours to the point of exhaustion because there’s someone on his island! Someone who shouldn’t be. Zack suddenly gets the feeling that maybe there’s something a little off about Clouds stories. He unfortunately gets his answer when he opens the door to Clouds room in the barracks and finds him crying into his knees and rocking.

“He opened the door, he opened it Zack! He shouldn’t have done that!”

“Who? What door Cloud? Where’s your head at bud?”

“Riku! He opened the door to darkness”

From that point on Zack is very careful about how he approaches Clouds stories. He notices Clouds staring; the times when he will start crying for no reason; nights when Zack will come to get him for dinner and find him scribbling out drawings of dark little shadows and a sword that looks like a key… The night before sephiroth burns down Nibelhiem Zack leaves Cloud scribbling a drawing of Ansem rising up covered by a monster gagged with bandages.

…..

When cloud dreams in the Mako pod it’s confusing. He dreams of Sora Trapped in a white room. He dreams that none of his friends know him and that Riku isn’t what he remembers. He dreams of some of his lesser characters in Black coats and his brain confuses Ventus and Sora to make Roxas.

He dreams that Lea is no longer Lea he’s Axel. He dreams of Kairi with Black hair and Blue eyes but she’s not Kairi she’s- shes…. Xion? He dreams that there’s a girl that’s making Sora forget things, and he’s struggling to remember things himself.

He dreams that Riku won’t show anybody his eyes. What’s wrong with his eyes?! He dreams and dreams and dreams of Sephiroth, in the colosseum, in Radient Garders… no Hollo- hollow bastion… why are you here?!

Get out get out get out get out!

GET OUT!

…..

……..

When Cloud wakes up in the sector seven train station the first thing he registers is that summer vacation is over. No that’s not right. They were going to the beach right? Roxas and Heyner and Pence and Ollette. They were going to the beach, to get pretzels and watermelon and…

Sora?

He blinks and he’s lying on his back in a bed on stargazer hights and When Sora Cries so does he. Why is Sora crying? Where is Roxas?

There’s a tower surrounded by stars, and a wizard who tells Sora that the darkness still exists. He tells him about Nobodies that are the husks of people who have lost their hearts and Cloud wonders if he is a nobody too…

There’s a black feather in the underworld. And one on Mount Olympus when Sora parks the Gummi ship. Cloud thinks someone should be running to meet them with a big smile and questions about Terra… no that’s not right?

There’s a figure in a black coat in hollow ba- radient- hollow bastion. And another one in the underworld. Half way up a mountain in the land of dragons there’s another one, different from the others who won’t fight back.

As Avalanche reach Kalm Cloud makes a beeline for an art supply shop and suddenly there’s flowers in radiant garden again.

When he gets splashed with Mako in Corel he’s sees Riku and Roxas in loveless avenue. No that’s not right. What… what is this place.

“Come on sora, you can do better then that!”

“Oh yeah look which one of us is winning!”

“Stop by once me and him are both hero’s!”

“Oh so never come back!”

… Hello?

This is where I got up to with this idea and I can’t figure out the rest of it, but it’s been bugging me for months. So ✨here✨

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x49 - Farewell, Numemon / The Crest of Light

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Needing to fund their war campaign with ad revenue, Taichi went on a mission to acquire Brand Name Pharmaceuticals while Koushiro learned a valuable lesson about Brand Name VPN services. Furious that they were doing this in the middle of his sub-arc, Mugendramon shot them many times with bullets and ad-blockers, plunging them into a dark abyss.

Fun language note: The Japanese language has a number of ways to say goodbye to someone. The "farewell" in the title is さらば saraba, which is an archaic way of saying a solemn, final goodbye to someone that you expect to never see again.

So. Y'know. That's pretty tone-setting, right there.

Now, the remaining children in the war party have been separated into two groups and plunged into "an abyss where darkness rules".

With only the sound of water droplets echoing through a vast sewage chamber, Hikari slowly comes to. Takeru and Tailmon are with her, watching over her. No sign of Patamon, Sora, or Piyomon, however.

Hikari's been laid out on a makeshift bed of leaves, using Takeru's backpack for a pillow. She wakes up slowly, starting to sit up.

Hikari: I.... Takeru: You're awake! Tailmon: Hikari! Hikari: (fully sits up) Takeru-kun... Tailmon.... I.... Tailmon: How do you feel?

Hikari raises her hand to her forehead, checking her own temperature.

Hikari: My fever has gone down. I'm feeling a lot better, too. Tailmon: You were asleep for a long time. I suppose that must have helped you recover. Hikari: Where are the others?

Takeru and Tailmon suddenly look sad, neither answering the question.

In the dub, Gatomon and T.K. quip over the establishing shots of Kari and the sewers. They also use soft, gentle background music to soothe the ominous and unsettling vibe of the original.

The original does have gentle background music once Hikari comes around, but the dub skips the ominous silence and water droplets, and just plays the tension-relieving tunes from the get-go.

Gatomon: How long do humans usually sleep when they're sick, T.K.? T.K.: (cheerful) It's tough to say for sure, Gatomon, but I'd guess anywhere between eight hours and eight years, give or take a minute or so! Gatomon: Wow! Then considering how high her fever is, we'd better get comfortable. T.K.: I wish one of the older kids were here. I bet they'd know how to wake her up. Gatomon: You'll think of something, T.K. (Kari begins to stir) Gatomon: See! I knew you'd think of something! T.K.: I'm still not sure that woke her.

From here, Kari opens her eyes and starts to get up, and the original script begins.

(Kari opens her eyes and starts to get up) Kari: Huh!? T.K.: I could be wrong! Gatomon: Hi, Kari! Kari: (fully sits up) Hit the snooze button... one more time. Please? T.K.: You've slept enough! How do you feel? (Kari takes her own temperature) Kari: I think my fever's gone. So, how long was I asleep for? Gatomon: Let's just say that when you fell asleep, I had nine lives and now I'm down to only three. Kari: Where is everybody?

The dub's going a gag a minute, with even Kari quipping the second she wakes up.

Takeru and Tailmon don't answer Hikari's question, but the flapping of wings soon heralds a return.

Takeru: They're back! Tailmon: Maybe they found someone!

Sora, Piyomon, and Patamon slowly emerge out of the darkness of the sewer.

Hikari: Sora-san! Sora: (surprised) Hikari-chan! What a relief that you're awake! Takeru: What about Taichi-san's group? Sora: (shakes head) They weren't anywhere around here.

Hikari flashes back on the fall, when they all plunged into the abyss.

Hikari: ONII-CHAAAAAAAAAN!!! Taichi: HIKARIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

Then we return to the present.

Sora: Taichi and Koushiro-kun must have landed somewhere else. Hikari: Onii-chan....

The abyss where darkness rules must have taken them somewhere else. Yes, I'm still stuck on that. We are in a sewer. I am a little baffled.

In the dub:

T.K.: Hey! I hear Patamon! Gatomon: I wonder if he's found anyone? (Sora, Patamon, and Biyomon return) T.K.: Who's that with Patamon? Gatomon: It's Biyomon! Kari: And Sora! Sora: Kari! You're awake! You look so much better! Kari: Have you seen Tai and the others? Sora: (shakes head) Mm-mm. I looked everywhere but couldn't find them. (Flashback) Kari: HELP ME TAIIIIIIII!!! Tai: KARIIIIIIIII!!! (End Flashback) Sora: My guess is that when we all fell, Tai and Izzy landed somewhere else. Kari: I hope they're alright. T.K.: Don't worry, Kari.

In the original, only Hikari is surprised to see Sora return. This is because she was unconscious for a lot of the previous episode and doesn't really know how the teams divvied up.

The dub seems to imply that Sora and Biyomon came down separately from Takeru, Hikari, and their Digimon. Patamon successfully found Sora and Biyomon, instead of Patamon, Sora, and Piyomon failing to find anyone.

While Hikari frets over the fate of her brother, Sora suddenly remembers something.

Sora: Oh, that's right! Look, Piyomon found this.

Sora holds up the medicine bottle that Taichi and Koushiro recovered from the hospital. She places it in Hikari's hands.

Sora: This must be the medicine that Taichi went and found for you, Hikari-chan. Piyomon: This place is like a maze. But if we all search together, we're sure to find the others! Takeru: Hey, cheer up! Hikari: (smiles) Yeah... I will ganbaru and search for him. (affectionately) After all, I am Onii-chan's little sister.

As a reminder, ganbaru is the Japanese cultural value of persevering and overcoming intense hardship through hard work and dutiful rigor.

I have questions about how the medicine bottle, which was in Taichi's left hand while they were falling, somehow landed near Sora's crew instead of Taichi's.

Also, good thing it wasn't made of glass.

But the important thing is that it's in Hikari's possession. She may now begin wildly guessing the correct dosage of a prescription medication. One for which we only have Koushiro's best estimation on whether it's even right for her, based on a spreadsheet he found on Mugendramon's network.

...good luck, Hikari!

In the dub:

Sora: Oh, I almost forgot! Look what Biyomon found! (Sora holds up the medicine bottle) Sora: I'm sure it's the medicine that Tai went to find for you. (Sora gives the bottle to Kari) Sora: Why don't you keep it in case your fever comes back. You can use it as a reminder of how much Tai loves you. Biyomon: This place has a lot of twists and turns to it. I'm sure if we all look together, we'll have no problem finding the others. T.K.: Right! We'll work as a team! Kari: (smiles) Yeah! I'll try to be strong enough to help too. (affectionately) After all, Tai would do the same for me.

Dub Sora advises Kari to use the medicine bottle as an emotional security blanket, and also to hang onto it in case the fever returns - Telling her anything but to take the medication right now, which is probably well advised if we're being honest.

A best guess dosage of a best guess medicine is the kind of thing you should only do as a last resort. The last thing we want is for this to become Taichi's anecdote of "The other time my enthusiasm accidentally almost-killed my sister."

T.K. also has something a bit more useful to say than, "Hey, cheer up!"

From here, Sora's team begins exploring the catacombs.

Hikari: This place contains the underground areas of every city in the world? Patamon: That's what Sora-san said. Sora: That's my best explanation.

Okay, so there is more to the abyss where darkness rules than a sewer system. Mugendramon's domain is all of the cities and urban structures in the world, and so it makes sense that all subterranean areas such as sewers and subways would fall into his jurisdiction as well.

Suddenly, Sora faintly hears a rumbling sound from nearby wheels being turned.

Sora: Stop! Group: Huh? Sora: Quiet. Do you hear something?

The group falls silent. The sound becomes audible; A low, nearby rumbling.

Sora: Listen. What is that? Takeru: It's coming from over there. Sora: Let's take a look.

In the dub, Sora presents her assessment herself so they can keep quipping about it.

Sora: This place is like a museum of the famous sewer systems of the world! Gatomon: I'll pass on the odor exhibits. Patamon: Haha! Too late for that! (rumbling sound) Sora: Stop! Group: Huh? Sora: Listen. Do you guys hear something? (rumbling sound becomes audible) T.K.: Yeah! I can hear it now too! Kari: What do you think it could be? Sora: I don't know, but... it sounds like it's coming from over there! Let's take a look!

Dub Sora refers to the place as a "museum of sewer systems", but we're clearly in a subway terminal judging by all the destination everywhere, so there's more going on there.

The phrase used here is 世界中の街の地下 sekaijuu no machi no chika. It's using 世界中 sekaijuu, meaning "around the world", as an adjective to modify 街 machi, city, which is itself an adjective to modify 地下 underground.

The subs, I should note, also err here and translate it as "all the world's subway systems". Like "museum of the sewer systems of the world", this too is too limited. It's close, but subway is 地下鉄 chikatetsu, adding on the word 鉄 tetsu which means iron. A subway is "underground iron".

(But most people just call it the メトロ metro).

There is no 鉄 tetsu in this line, nor does 下水道 gesuido for "sewer" make an appearance. Sora's theory is not so specific, and contains both. This place they're in is a composite of all of the subterranean urban spaces from around the globe, just like how the city above was a composite of all the above-ground cities.

Uh. Before Plan Z turned it into a parking lot.

Following the rumbling sound, Sora and the others make their way into a deep chamber where Numemon slaves are being whipped and forced to work.

Those collars seem like they would slide right off, but I guess it's hard to put a shackle on a ball of sludge.

A cruel, black version of Monzaemon cracks his whip, yelling at the Numemon to work harder.

Black Teddy: WORK!!! (crack) WORK!!! (crack) WORK, ALL OF YOU!!! Numemon may be weak to sunlight, but down here you serve as the power source for all of Spiral Mountain's urban areas, which Mugendramon controls! Work and work until you DIE!!! (crack)

That's not a very nice teddy bear. Surprisingly eager to share flat exposition with his slaves, though.

Y'know, working slaves to death in a world where the reincarnation village has been destroyed and no new Digimon may ever be born again is incredibly shortsighted. The self-destructive practice of unsustainable consumption is alive and well in the Metal Empire, it seems.

Up on the scaffolding above, Hikari watches with shock and horror; Her eyes glistening with unshed tears. We close in on her for a moment, then cut to a wider shot of the group.

Takeru: Isn't that... Monzaemon? Patamon: That is not Monzaemon! It's WaruMonzaemon! Sora: WaruMonzaemon?

WaruMonzaemon is a Perfect-stage Virus-type Puppet Digimon. His name comes from the addition of 惡 waru meaning evil, wicked, bad, etc. onto Monzaemon.

Like Gigadramon, WaruMonzaemon is another recolor created for the Digimon World video game to shore up its enemy roster. They would later join the Metal Empire lineup of V-Pets as the other Virus Perfect, next to Megadramon.

(There's also a WaruSeadramon recolor of MegaSeadramon for the same reason, though that one's pretty obscure outside Digimon World.)

WaruMonzaemon is also the teddy bear stuffy that MetalEtemon has on his person. Fun fact, according to V-Pet lore, both Monzaemon and WaruMonzaemon are actually disguises for a mysterious Digimon lurking within. They're both basically the Pokemon Mimikyu. In fact, you can see the true inhabitant's eye peeking out of WaruMonzaemon's belly.

Narrator: WaruMonzaemon. A Puppet Digimon with a fiendish face, it looks similar to Monzaemon but is completely different! His personality is pure evil! His special attack is Heartbreak Attack! Piyomon: So he's working for Mugendramon now.... Sora: He must be part of the Metal Empire Army.

I have no idea where Sora could possibly have learned the name Metal Empire Army. After all that script-reading the Dub Kids did back in the Etemon arc to learn the Crest names, I guess it's Original Sora's turn now.

The way Patamon and Piyomon recognize WaruMonzaemon seems to imply that he's originally from File Island, which is an interesting detail.

Come to think of it, the Numemon from Cockatrimon's ship didn't seem to have a problem with sunlight. That detail only applied to the File Island ones. I... I guess these are those Numemon specifically.

In the dub:

Black Teddy: WORK!!! (crack) WORK!!! (crack) KEEP WORKING OR ELSE!!!

The dub uses the shadow of WaruMonzaemon whipping the slaves as a good time to take its first commercial break. When we return, it replays that scene, so I guess WaruMonzaemon continued whipping them throughout the Arby's ads and toy commercials.

WaruMonzaemon: (crack) I SAID WORK (crack) YOU LAZY NUMEMON!!! (crack) You slimy Numemon make me sick! If you didn't have such a weakness to sunlight, we wouldn't have to keep you working underground to power Machinedramon's city on Spiral Mountain! You deserve to live in the sewers! Now get back to work before I really get mad! (crack) T.K.: Isn't that Monzaemon? What happened to him!? He used to be so cuddly! Patamon: That's not Monzaemon, T.K.; That's WaruMonzaemon! Biyomon: (rundown) Monzaemon was sweet and cute, but WaruMonzaemon is about as cuddly as a porcupine. His Bear Paw will give you heartburn, along with his Heartbreak Attack. Kari: Big meanie! Biyomon: He's torturing those poor Numemon down there! Sora: How can one kind of puppet Digimon be so nice while another can be so evil?

Dub WaruMonzaemon's awkward exposition is slightly less flat than the original's, but both are pretty glaring.

Unsurprisingly, they also tone down "Keep working until you die" to "Get back to work before I get mad".

I like the way they play up T.K.'s surprise and confusion over "Monzaemon" being a cruel slavedriver now.

From the scaffolding, Hikari watches with tears in her eyes.

WaruMonzaemon: (to the Numemon) What's wrong? Don't slack off now! Hikari: The Numemon... are so scared....

True to her name, Hikari closes her eyes and begins to glow. She passes out, with Sora catching her as her body goes slack.

Tailmon: Hikari! Sora/Takeru: Hikari-chan! / Are you okay!?

Unconscious though she is, Hikari glows brighter and brighter. Her light becoming impossible to miss, the Numemon below look up from their work stations and take notice. They leave their workstations, drawn in by the light.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: I've been too hard on you guys. You need a break. OKAY BREAK'S OVER!!! Kari: If we had... more power.... (Kari passes out and starts glowing) Sora: KARI!!! Biyomon/Takeru: What happened!? / Did she get sick again!?

Small tonal shift: Following the tradition of the dub kids being more aggressive, seeing what's being done here makes Hikari break down with empathy for the suffering Numemon and makes Kari immediately want to throw hands at their slavedriver.

Of course, all this attention from the Numemon is going to draw attention from one other person as well.

WaruMonzaemon: What the hell? WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING!?!? (crack crack)

Despite WaruMonzaemon's whipcracks, the Numemon remain transfixed on the great light emanating from the corner of the room. It takes WaruMonzaemon a moment to realize what's happening, but then he sees it too.

WaruMonzaemon: Huh? (casually) Oh, you did this. Team: (collective gasp) Sora: We have to run! (The kids bolt through the doorway) WaruMonzaemon: COME BACK HERE!!!

It takes WarMonzaemon a moment to process the odd encounter, but he gets there. Waving his whip furiously in the air, he pursues the children. He leaps up onto the scaffolding and smashes through the doorway, leaving a comical bear-shaped imprint as he passes.

Once the light is gone, the Numemon all slouch in disappointment and despair. But then it returns, slowing filling the room again. On the other side of the bear hole, tucked away to the left of where everyone else went, the light begins to emerge.

Tailmon helps Hikari walk back into the room, holding one paw up to her lips to urge the Numemon to silence. Staring transfixed at Hikari's light, they all nod quietly in unison.

Hikari: Tailmon... I'll be okay. Free the Numemon... please.... Tailmon: I will.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: What's going on here!? Get back to work! (crack crack) (WaruMonzaemon finally notices) WaruMonzaemon: Huh? The DigiDestined? Team: (collective gasp) Sora: He knows we're here! (The kids bolt through the doorway) WaruMonzaemon: SOMEBODY'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED!!! Sora: RUN!!! WaruMonzaemon: AND HERE THEY ARE NOW!!! (Kari returns) Numemon: (chanting) Kari, Kari.... Kari?: Gatomon, please leave me here. I need to free the Numemon from their chains. Do you understand? Gatomon: ...I guess so...?

WaruMonzaemon makes a gag reference to Goldilocks and the Three Bears to try and lift the tone, similar to the "Time for a break BREAK'S OVER" joke from earlier. The dub is playing him as "monstrous, but still kinda silly" which is absolutely the correct take on WaruMonzaemon. He's Daffy Duck doing war crimes.

I mean, the silliness should be apparent from the fact that he made a Wile E. Coyote hole when he chased the kids through the door. He's a giant teddy bear who's cruelly whipping slaves; There's inherently going to be a dash of absurdity mixed in with the atrocity. That's unavoidable.

Once WaruMonzaemon departs, the dub deviates wildly from script.

Rather than being shushed, the Numemon are chanting Kari's name with religious zeal. This isn't really a plot shift so much as jumping the gun. The Numemon are going to start doing that, but only after a scene cut which presumably gives them time to learn her name.

More glaring is the part where suddenly Homeostasis returns!? At least, that's what seems to be happening. Kari suddenly starts talking in full sentences, ignoring her weariness and using the Deep Homeostasis Voice from the backstory episode. Meanwhile, Gatomon is utterly lost about what's happening and reacts as if Kari's not herself.

Something similar happens to Hikari later in the episode, where she begins talking in this booming echo - which is not the voice Homeostasis used but a different effect. However, the way the dub tweaks Kari's lines to make her seem possessed as well as giving her the same deep voice effect really makes it feel like Homeostasis has returned.

I don't think that's what they're going for here. But they make what's happening to Kari very confusing.

Meanwhile, in what is now clearly the distraction for a plan quickly formed.

Sora: (blows raspberries) Come and get us! WaruMonzaemon: YOU LITTLE PUNKS!!!

Yeah, the tonal whiplash hits hard right here. But that's because we've lured WaruMonzaemon into a deadly trap.

Piyomon: PIYOMON SHINKAAAAAA Piyomon: BIRDRA...mon...? Patamon: PATAMON SHINKAAAAAA Patamon: (weakly) Angemon...?

They play the evolution stock footage but then reverse the footage and dump them back out in their Child forms midway through, with a goofy "running out of fuel" effect. Well.

I guess the trap's on us now.

Sora: You might not have enough energy! Takeru: Sora-san, what do we do now? Sora: DON'T STOP RUNNING, THAT'S WHAT!!!

Unfortunately, that plan is doomed too. Sora's group soon finds themselves at a dead end. WaruMonzaemon closes in on them, cackling proudly to himself. He punches the air, showing off for funsies before the real fight begins.

In the dub:

Sora: (blows raspberries) Catch us if you can, you big throw rug! WaruMonzaemon: I'LL GET YOU!!! Biyomon: Biyomon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Biyomon: Hey, what just happened? Patamon: Patamon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Patamon: Wait a second, I'm still me. Sora: You guys must be low on energy! T.K.: What do we do now, Sora? Sora: RUNNING COMES TO MIND!!!

Dub WaruMonzaemon makes over-the-top martial arts kiai noises when punching the air. The kind you do when you're pretending to know kung fu, rather than real ones.

This is basically perfect. There are some differences in the aborted evolution sequence, with both having their advantages.

I like the way the original 'mons verbally try to finish the evolution as if they had successfully evolved. Piyomon takes a moment to realize it didn't work, while Patamon just sort of... weakly tries to will Angemon into happening.

That said, the original kinda gives away the gag from the start when it plays silly comedy music over the evolutions, rather than something like starting up Show Me Your Brave Heart and failing. The dub uses their standard evolution rendition of the opening credits theme, only to have it fizzle out as the evolutions fail.

Once he's warmed up, WaruMonzaemon strikes with his Bear Claw attack.

It does not go well. He is very big, and the children merely duck under his legs and then run for it.

Team: RUN AWAY!!! WaruMonzaemon: Hey!

WaruMonzaemon tries to chase them. However. There is the matter of his epic Bear Claw attack... which is now firmly embedded in the wall.

WaruMonzaemon: WAIT FOR ME!!!

Climbing up onto the wall, he uses his whole body weight to free his claw. Unfortunately, physics take over when his claw comes loose. He launches himself backwards onto his shoulders and begins tumbling head over foot - soon gaining speed and becoming an unstoppable rolling object, futilely voicing protestations for what momentum is doing to him..

WaruMonzaemon: ABUGPABUPHBAPHUG Piyomon: (eyes glittering with delight) Sora! I'm flying! I've never flown this fast before! Patamon: (eyes glittering with delight) Takeru! I am too! SUCH INCREDIBLE SPEED!!!

Cut to Sora putting those soccer skills to work, carrying Takeru in one arm and pulling Piyomon with the other.

Sora: BOTH OF YOU!!! THERE IS NO UPSIDE HERE!!!

This is all meant to be extremely silly.

The dub keeps the name Bear claw.

Sora: Watch out! Let's get out of here! WaruMonzaemon: WAIT!!! (WaruMonzaemon tries to pursue, but he's stuck) WaruMonzaemon: Lend me a hand! LITERALLY!!! (WaruMonzaemon becomes unstuck but starts rolling) WaruMonzaemon: It's time to play Bowling for DigiDestined! Biyomon: (eyes glittering with delight) Sora, something wonderful is happening to me! I've never been able to fly this fast before! Patamon: (eyes glittering with delight) Me too! Watch me go! FASTER!!! THAN!!! A JET!!! Sora: I don't care what you're faster than, as long as you're faster than a gigantic rolling teddy bear!

Weirdly, they seem to play the WaruMonzaemon boulder seriously. In the original, he makes angry flopping noises while he's rolling. He's clearly no happier about this than Sora is. The dub makes it into a purposeful attack he's throwing.

Biyomon and Patamon are still being silly, but Sora's punchline is cut down to her simply describing the ugly situation they're in.

Dub WaruMonzaemon, for his part, is still doing stand-up comedy.

Meanwhile, Tailmon has succeeded in freeing the Numemon. I imagine it wasn't hard; Those shackles look like they'd slide right off if someone had the height and dexterity to simply lift them up off and over the eye stalks.

Gathered together in what is clearly a church, the Numemon bow in supplication to their savior, chanting her name.

Numemon: Hikari-sama.... Hikari-sama.... Hikari-sama....

Hikari's glow slowly recedes while the Numemon chant her name. Tailmon looks up at her.

Tailmon: (thinking) The Numemon are... making Hikari their ruler.... Numemon: Hikari-sama... Hikari-sama... Hikari-sama....

Hikari smiles down pleasantly at Tailmon, while the confused Digimon struggles to process what is happening.

Then a door on the upper level flies open. Sora and the others spill into the room, falling from above and landing on the Numemon crowd. Even the fliers faceplant into gross Numemon bodies.

(Piyomon, I can understand. Sora dragged Piyomon down with her. But nobody was holding Patamon. He did that by himself. He wanted to be included in the team activity.)

Group/Sora: Hikari!? / Hikari-chan!?

In the dub:

Numemon: Queen Kari... Queen Kari... Queen Kari... Gatomon: (gasp) The Numemon... think you're... their queen.... Numemon: Queen Kari... Queen Kari... Queen Kari... (Sora and the others spill into the room) Sora: ...Kari? Numemon: Queen Kari, Queen Kari. Group: Huh!? Queen Kari!?

The dub uses the Queen Kari bit to set up a funny gag, leaving Sora's team as baffled as Gatomon. Well played.

Unfortunately, Sora's group is not alone. WaruMonzaemon enters the room shortly after her - albeit unsure of his bearings.

WaruMonzaemon: (finally upright) Hold on... eh? N-Numemon!? What are you dipshits doing in here!?

WaruMonzaemon refers to the Numemon as 手前達 temae-tachi. In the Japanese language, where second-person pronouns are to be used sparingly as they can be considered rude, 手前 is basically the most rude second-person pronoun. (With 達 -tachi doing its typical job as a pluralizing modifier.)

You wouldn't really use it... in any context, really, outside of anime. It's just an angry, mean, vulgar way of saying "you", when there are plenty of other pronouns you could use instead .

WaruMonzaemon: What the--!? Wait, that can't... Oh, shit! WHO TOOK OFF THE NUMEMON'S CHAINS!?!? Hikari: That... was me.... Group/Sora: Hikari! / Hikari-chan! WaruMonzaemon: You little bitch! Numemon: PROTECT HIKARI-SAMA!!!

More fun with Japanese vulgarities! WaruMonzaemon calls Hikari 野郎 yarou. Which is basically the most vulgar thing you can call someone. There is no particular nuance or context with yarou, it is just an extremely offensive and insulting thing to say to another person.

Between that, 手前 temae, and the 糞 kuso he dropped in there as well, WaruMonzaemon has a bit of a potty mouth.

The Numemon, determined to protect her, dogpile on WaruMonzaemon. He swings his claws wildly, trying to defend himself from the Numemon swarm.

WaruMonzaemon: What do you think you're doing!? Hikari: Numemon.... (faints) Tailmon: (catches Hikari) Hikari! WaruMonzaemon: (fighting the Numemon) Hey! Numemon: PROTECT HIKARI-SAMA!!! WaruMonzaemon: WaruMonzaemon-sama is not about to succumb to some pitiful Numemon!

Despite the Numemon's best efforts... they remain Numemon. WaruMonzaemon powers through their assault until every last one of the attacking Numemon has been broken and laid out before him.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: I'm back! Hahahahahaha! Hey, you Numemon, what are you doing out here!? Isn't it time for your flogging? (The Numemon turn furiously on WaruMonzaemon) WaruMonzaemon: Don't just sit there staring! Get back to work! ...hey! Who cut your chains off? Kari?: (steps forward) I did. Got a problem? Sora: Kari, no! WaruMonzaemon: YOU'RE THROUGH!!! (The Numemon lunge, saying nothing) WaruMonzaeomon: Get off of me, you green blobs of sludge! I'll beat the stuffing out of you! Kari?: Numemon.... (faints) Gatomon: (catches Kari) Kari! WaruMonzaemon: (fighting the Numemon) YOU REALLY THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST ME!?!? Numemon: (continue attacking, saying nothing) WaruMonzaemon: Come on, give it your best shot! This is easier than swatting Digi-Flies!

I don't know, man. I've seen the size of the Digital World's bugs.

Unsurprisingly, Dub WaruMonzaemon does not cuss out an eight-year-old.

Kari is still speaking in her Homeostasis voice even after the bright glow has left her.

As with the rolly ball incident, the dub strips out some of the nuance of WaruMonzaemon's competency. In the original, he honestly seemed freaked out and taken aback when he realized the Numemon were free. As if, despite his subsequent bluster, he's sincerely afraid of a slave revolt.

A bee may be relatively harmless to most people, but a thousand bee stings is something to be feared. He wins the fight, but it's still a terrifying prospect to have to fight it.

Dub WaruMonzaemon, on the other hand, remains cool and in control of the situation all the way throughout.

Either way, with the last of the attacking Numemon down, the revolution is over.

Wait, no, it's not. What the shit is this?

WaruMonzaemon winds up to finish off the piled up Numemon. Not a special attack; He winds up his right paw, the teddy bear paw that doesn't have a huge claw attached to it.

WaruMonzaemon: Ehehe... This is the end! Hikari: (opens her eyes) ...Numemon....

Suddenly, Hikari begins to glow again, blinding WaruMonzaemon. Her light blinds WaruMonzaemon, forcing him to stumble back until he reaches the wall.

WaruMonzaemon: Ack! What is this light!? Tailmon: Hikari!

While Show Me Your Brave Heart starts up, the Numemon are all rejuvenated by Hikari's light and stand back up. They're not the only ones.

Piyomon: It's surging inside me! Patamon: The power is overflowing!

Hikari's light not only super-evolves Tailmon into Angewomon, it also restores all of the Numemon's strength and evolves Patamon and Piyomon into Angemon and Birdramon for good measure.

With Show Me Your Brave Heart, which is typically cued up by an evolution, instead beginning when Hikari starts to glow. Just to drive home that this is that energy. The same sacred light that typically emanates from the Digivices, pouring directly out of Hikari's body.

In the dub, WaruMonzaemon calls his soft teddy-paw punch as Heartbreak Attack despite it just being a normal punch.

WaruMonzaemon: DAAAAAAAAUGH!!! WHERE'S THAT LIGHT COMING FROM!?!? Gatomon: KARI!?!? WHAT'S HAPPENING!?!? I'M SURGING WITH ENERGY!!! QUICK, GET ME A SCRATCHING POST!!!

Only Gatomon reacts to Kari's surging light, which causes us to lose the context that it's Kari prompting Patamon and Piyomon's evolutions here.

(Which is probably why those two only go to Adult. Hikari's unfiltered sacred light can stand in for the Digivices, those are universal, but she can't stand in for their individual Crests.)

Similarly, without the musical cue of Show Me Your Brave Heart starting up as the Numemon begin rising back up again, it might not be as readily apparent that they aren't just getting a second wind; She's flooding them with sacred energy too.

This all feeds back into what Homeostasis was saying; That the power comes from the children. WaruMonzaemon demands to know "What is this hikari?" and the question is the answer. It's Hikari.

Her light, her hikari, the light channeled by the Sacred Devices and the Crests, is filling every Digimon in the room with power.

WaruMonzaemon blinks for a moment; His back against the wall. But then he resolves himself to fight them all anyway.

It does not go well.

WaruMonzaemon: N-No big deal. I'll put you all to work!

WaruMonzaemon's bravado lasts right up until they start shooting. Once Meteor Wing, Heaven's Knuckle, and Holy Arrow are all coming his way, he panics and flees the room. He shuts the door behind him, trying to bar it, but the three converging shots blow the door off its hinges and send him flying.

As WaruMonzaemon soars, he lets out an agonized scream like a death cry, though we do not see him pixelate; He's merely blasted offscreen.

Once WaruMonzaemon is gone, Hikari picks up one of the injured Numemon. Sora does the same. This time, when Hikari speaks, her voice does have a vocal effect. It's not the voice of Homeostasis but something different; A sort of booming echo reverberating her words.

Hikari: Are you okay, Numemon? Sora's Numemon: (perks up and starts squiggling) Nume! Nume Nume Nume! Sora: Ehehehe! This one's so full of energy! Hikari's Numemon: Thank you, Hikari-sama. Hikari: I'm glad you're okay.

Out of nowhere, Hikari begins to glow even more brightly.

Takeru: Ah! Hikari-chan's light!

Yes, that line does sound as redundant as you probably expect. XD It's ヒカリちゃんのひかりが Hikari-chan no hikari ga!

(If you're wondering why you can't find two instances of the same letter set in that sentence, it's because Japan has three separate written languages. Hikari's name is spelled in katakana since it's a proper noun but the word hikari is in hiragana. They're ヒカリ and ひかり respectively. There is also the kanji 光 for hikari.)

The light shines out through the doorway behind where Birdramon was standing a moment ago.

Hikari: The light will guide us. Takeru: Maybe if we follow the light, we'll find Taichi-san's group! Sora: Yeah. Hikari-chan, we'll trust your light to guide our way.

From there, the Chosen Children set out, following the course that the light has provided them.

In the dub:

WaruMonzaemon: Uh-oh. (blink blink) Oh, ganging up, huh!? I'll put you to work too! What do you think of that!? (The Partners shoot; WaruMonzaemon flees behind the door.) WaruMonzaemon: That should keep them out! (explosion) WAAAAAUGH!!! (Hikari and Sora pick up Numemon.) Kari?: No more chains, Numemon. Sora's Numemon: (dances and makes non-specific happy noises) Sora: Ehehe! They're cute when they're not so slimy. Kari's Numemon: I love you, Queen Kari! Kari?: You're sweet. (Kari sets down the Numemon and glows brighter) T.K.: That light again! Look at it! Kari?: My light will guide us towards the others. T.K.: Don't look at me but I think it's like this night light I used to have that guided me towards the bathroom. Sora: Oh. Well, Kari, I hope your light doesn't run out of batteries.

Here is where I'm pretty sure that what the dub's been going for with Kari is the same as the original. She's not supposed to be doing Homeostasis voice, but Hikari Booming With Light voice. They just... had her start doing it a lot sooner, weirding out Gatomon and making her seem possessed. And also the two voices are really similar.

The original keeps Hikari's normal speaking voice up until this scene, building up to it so it's more evident that this is just Hikari's power manifesting. This is basically her Crest Episode, since she didn't really get one due to being a late-comer.

(As a kid, I really did think this was Homeostasis coming back.)

While the children take their leave, the still-breathing WaruMonzaemon reports back to Mugendramon.

WaruMonzaemon: (whining and crying) Mugendramon-sama! Mugendramon-samaaaaaaa! Mugendramon: WaruMonzaemon. What is it? WaruMonzaemon: The Chosen Children and their Digimon are here! Mugendramon: They're in your area? WaruMonzaemon: (still whining) I bravely stood up to them because I wanted to make Mugendramon-sama happy but then they beat me up. Mugendramon: YOU IDIOT!!! Why didn't you report in to me first and tell me that you'd found the Chosen Children!?

WaruMonzaemon has no good answer for that, so he instead tries to deflect the conversation by turning around and milking his injuries.

WaruMonzaemon: Um, um... Augh, the wounds that the Chosen Children gave me hurt so much.... Mugendramon-sama! Help me! Mugendramon: Now that I know where the Chosen Children are... I have no further use for you.

WaruMonzaemon has only a second to process what that means, eyes filling with terror, before the communications room he's in explodes. The last we see of him is his severed left paw, which slowly disintegrates into pixel dust.

(Man, Cockatrimon was a way better minion than WaruMonzaemon. He went straight to the comms room to tell Etemon he had the kids. He only took his own initiative once Nanomon disrupted their connection and blocked Etemon from coming to them.)

In the dub, Machinedramon dominates the conversation, peppering it with constant threats.

WaruMonzaemon: Well, you see, Lord Machinedramon, it's actually a pretty funny story-- Machinedramon: Stop stalling and tell me what happened, WaruMonzaemon! That is, while you're still able to talk. WaruMonzaemon: Uh, yes, your Metalness. You see, I found the DigiDestined! Machinedramon: They were in your area!? WaruMonzaemon: (slowly breaks down and starts crying) Yes, uh, I was gonna capture them for you but this one little girl was really strong T_T and then the Numemon were fighting me and it hurt really bad and-- Machinedramon: ENOUGH!!! If you thought that puny little girl was tough, wait 'til I get through with you! Why didn't you alert me, you two-bit carnival prize!? WaruMonzaemon: I wanted to tell you sooner but they wounded me. Look at my owies and boo-boos! Machinedramon: I'm sorry. I should be more sympathetic after your grueling battle. Let me reward you for helping me locate the DigiDestined. WaruMonzaemon: (realizing) !!!

WaruMonzaemon has one more line after the explosion, uh, was supposed to kill him. As his arm pixelates, he quips:

WaruMonzaemon: HE SHOT MY PAW!!!

This may be a reference to the classic Western movie cliche, "He shot my pa!" You don't hear it so much these days but I remember growing up and making all kinds of jokes about, "Oh, you don't like reading? Did a book shoot your pa?"

It could also be meant to deflect WaruMonzaemon's death, implying that the explosion only ripped off his arm and did no further harm to him.

So, did the dub spare WaruMonzaemon, or is he just getting one last quip in for the road? You decide.

From here, we go to commercial in both versions, then come back to see what's up with Taichi's crew. Taichi, Koushiro, and their Partners are exploring a different area of the undercity.

Taichi: HIKARI!!! HIKARIIIIIIIIIII!!!

Agumon stumbles and falls. He picks himself up, breathing hard. Taichi, who also sounds out of breath and at his limit, scolds Agumon for tripping.

Taichi: Agumon! What are you doing!? I'll leave you behind! Agumon: Ack... I'm sorry, Taichi.... Koushiro: Taichi-san, Agumon and Tentomon are tired. Let's take a small break.

Taichi is silent a moment while Koushiro speaks. He offers no response. Instead, he starts walking again, forming a circle in front of his mouth with his hands to project his voice.

Taichi: HIKARI!!! Koushiro: Truth is, I'm tired as well. Taichi: HIKARI!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? Koushiro: (more assertively) Taichi-san, please compose yourself. Even you must be exhausted. Tentomon: (worried) Koushiro-han....

Despite his best efforts Koushiro's words fall on deaf ears.

In the dub:

Tai: KARI!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? (Agumon collapses) Tai: Agumon, what are you doing, laying down at a time like this!? Agumon: Sorry, Tai. I'll try to keep up. Izzy: You know, Tai, that's the fifth time he's collapsed. Call me crazy but I think maybe we should rest for a while. Tai: Hmm... hmm... KARI!!! Izzy: (sarcastic) That's right, just let our Digimon die! Agumon & Tentomon: Huh!? Izzy: Oh, sorry, guys. It's just a figure of speech. Tai: ... Izzy: I'm pretty tired too, Tai. Why don't we rest. Then we can commence our search again. Tentomon: Please don't provoke him, Izzy!

Differently phrased but still captures the spirit of the original.

The only change of any significance is that Tai makes contemplation noises when Izzy first appeals for a rest, like he's weighing Izzy's words in his head before making a decision. Taichi is cold and silent, and goes back to what he's doing right after.

Unfortunately, Koushiro's words do not fall on deaf ears this time. Worse: Taichi listens.

Taichi: Hikari is sick! Koushiro: Yes, I understand that! Taichi: If you understand, then don't get in the way! Agumon: T-Taichi.... Koushiro: (shocked) I haven't gotten in the way at all! Taichi: SHUT UP!!!

Taichi roars that last line suddenly, sprinting back towards the group and tackling Koushiro to the ground.

Koushiro: You've lost your mind! Taichi: What was that!? Agumon: Don't do this! Tentomon: Both of you, calm down! Taichi: YOU BASTARD!!!

This time, it's Taichi's turn to throw down a 野郎 yarou. He is livid.

In the dub, as before, Tai engages more with what Izzy's saying - In contrast to Taichi, who's shutting out every word from his mouth.

Tai: Don't you understand? Kari's sick! We have to find her.... Izzy: I know that, Tai! But she's not here right now! Tai: THAT'S MY POINT!!! We have to find her now! Agumon: Calm down, Tai! Izzy: I'm warning you, Tai! You'd better stop giving us orders OR ELSE!!! Tai: OR ELSE WHAT!?!? (Tai tackles Izzy and shoves him to the ground) Izzy: I didn't plan anything after "or else"; I just thought it sounded tough! Tai: You want to see tough!? HERE'S TOUGH!!!

Izzy provokes Tai into attacking him in this version, continuing the trend of him being much more aggressive and rude than Koushiro. In the original, Taichi basically just snaps, hurling unfounded accusations and then jumping Koushiro while the poor kid's utterly lost.

Izzy's provocation does lead into an admittedly funny punchline, albeit one inappropriately placed given the tone of this scene. There's really nothing funny about watching the Chosen Children violently self-destruct even further.

Lifting Koushiro up by his shirt, screaming obscenities in his face, Taichi furiously throws a punch. Unlike all the times he's fought Yamato, we cut away before impact, and hear what sounds like him punching the ground.

Taichi: (whispers) Koushiro. Someone's following us. Koushiro: (whispers) What!? Taichi: Listen.

That's right, it was all a fucking ruse! Taichi snapped suddenly and unexpectedly, hurling out wild accusations and attacking Koushiro, to deceive their pursuer - who appears briefly in silhouette after Taichi tells Koushiro to listen. Their heavy footsteps faintly noticeable in the distance.

Tentomon & Agumon: Taichi-han! / Taichi! Taichi: I know. Koushiro? Koushiro: Yes? Taichi: Pretend to keep fighting while we hide behind that door. Koushiro: Understood.

Taichi stands up, pulling Koushiro to his feet by his collar and turning him so his back is to the door. While they yell at each other, Taichi forces Koushiro back through the doorway while Tentomon and Agumon plead for them to stop.

Koushiro: You've really done it now! Taichi: And what are you gonna do about it!? Agumon: STOP IT!!! Tentomon: Stop this, both of you! Koushiro-han, this is no time for fighting!

Nice fake-victim-blaming, Tentomon.

In the dub, when Tai throws his punch, Koushiro lets out a pained grunt. Tai actually hit him in this version.

Tai: Izzy! Did you hear that? Izzy: Huh? Tai: Just listen. Getting closer. Footsteps! izzy: All I hear is my head pounding.... Tai: Someone's here! (Silhouette approaches, heavy footsteps faintly audible) Agumon: Do you think he's been following us? Tai: Maybe. Let's pretend to keep fighting and we'll hide behind that gate. Izzy: Okay, but just make sure your next punch is pretend too. (Tai pulls Izzy to his feet) Tai: BETTER STOP CALLING ME NAMES!!! Izzy: I WILL NOT!!! YOU'RE A BULLY AND... A RUFFIAN!!! Tai: That's the best you can come up with? Izzy: Yes, on such short notice!

Oh, I hate that Tai actually hit him. The dub seems to be playing this like Tai and Izzy really are having a serious fight, only to be interrupted and brought back to reality by the approaching footsteps.

In the original, this is a clever fakeout. We know from his more sincere altercation with Mimi that Tai's trauma response is aggressive and violent. Taichi lashes out to avoid feeling helpless. His fear and his pain make him want to get up and take action, to push back against the thing that's hurting him. Which isn't always a good thing.

Just one episode ago, we saw that violence turned on Koushiro when his anxiety (and some childhood PTSD) over Hikari's wellbeing got the better of him. It's so easy to believe that he's doing that again. But he's not. Instead, he's using his own well-established flaws as a cover to pull Koushiro out of what may be an enemy line of fire.

This doesn't come through in the dub, where Izzy starts the fight and Tai genuinely hits him. There, it seems like they started fighting sincerely, then Tai heard something and realized they shouldn't be doing this.

The "bully and a ruffian" bit is great, though. Being comically terrible at smack-talk would fit perfectly for Koushiro too.

Once they're out of sight, Taichi and Koushiro lie in wait for their stalker.

Koushiro: Are they with Mugendramon? Taichi: Probably. Agumon: Taichi? Tentomon: Koushiro-han? Taichi: Do it. Koushiro: If you would, please.

Agumon and Tentomon kick off their evolutions. It goes as well as Piyomon and Patamon's first attempts.

Tentomon: Tentomon SHINKAAAAAA Tentomon: Kabuteri... mon.... Agumon: Agumon SHINKAAAAAA Agumon: GREYMON!!! Grey... mon.....

Unwilling to accept what just happened, Agumon starts flailing about and trying to make himself look big.

Agumon: GREYMON!!! GREYMON!!! GREY-- Taichi: (forces Agumon's mouth shut) Agumon! You guys must be too tired. Agumon: ... Taichi: I'm sorry, Koushiro. Koushiro: That's okay. I know you're just worried about Hikari-san.

Though the fight was fake, Taichi running them ragged looking for Hikari was not. Now the boys are left with few options against the Metal Empire soldier headed their way.

In the dub:

Izzy: Do you think it could be one of Machindramon's guys? Tai: It's possible. Agumon: Should we... Tentomon: ...Digivolve? Tai: Yes. Izzy: Not a bad idea. (Digivolutions begin) Tentomon: Tentomon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Tentomon: Kabu... never mind.... Agumon: Agumon, DIGIVOLVE TO.... Agumon: Greymon. Greymon! Agumon: (out of evolution sequence) GREYMON, YEAH, I'M GREYMON, I'M BIG AND I'M BAD-- Tai: (forces Agumon's mouth shut) Agumon! Your Digivolve was a Digi-Dud. Izzy: Your energy levels are too low! Tai: Izzy... I'm sorry. Izzy: It's okay, Tai. I know your original intention wasn't to punch me. You were worried about Kari, that's all.

In the original, he's apologizing for exhausting their Digimon and leaving them defenseless. That Taichi pushed Agumon and Tentomon to the brink of exhaustion is kind of a big deal right now, what with the Metal Empire goon bearing down on them.

The dub uses Izzy's response to change the apology, making it about the fight they had a moment ago. A fight which, I repeat, was just a ruse in the original.

With nowhere to run and no better options, it's time to face the music. The team resolves themselves to face this new adversary.

It may not go exactly the way they expect.

Taichi: This is my fault. I'll go fight them. Koushiro: Please don't be so reckless. If we work together, we may be able to prevail. Agumon: He's right, Taichi. Tentomon: You should have more faith in us. Taichi: Guys... Understood. (Footsteps get louder) Koushiro: Here they come....

Taichi was legit about to go out there by himself to try and fistfight the forces of the Metal Empire. To be fair, he did successfully jump a Bakemon once. Kid's vicious.

Finally, their pursuer reveals himself... to be Andromon! From File Island!

It's been a long time since we've seen him, so he gets another rundown. Andromon is a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Cyborg Digimon. That made him utterly invincible way back when but compared to the Dark Masters, he's practically quaint.

Andromon's putting in a thematically appropriate appearance here. Andromon was included in the Metal Empire lineup as one of its two Vaccine Perfects, alongside the Vaccine form of MetalGreymon that the anime debuted.

So he's returning for this arc because he's Metal Empire, even though he's not... in the Metal Empire.

Team: ANDROMON!?!? Narrator: Andromon. A Cyborg Digimon last seen on File Island. Kabuterimon was able to free him from the effects of Devimon's Black Gear.

Yeah, the spare rundown is just a recap of where we saw him last. Funny that Ogremon, Whamon, etc. didn't get one of those. Metal Privilege, more like.

In the dub, they're still talking about the earlier (real) fight with Izzy.

Tai: What's fair is fair. I want you to hit me right now. Izzy: That's ridiculous! I won't resort to that! Nothing can be settled with violence. I'm not going to hit you, Tai. Agumon: Can I hit you, then? Tentomon: I wouldn't mind a swipe myself. Tai: Okay, I get it! (Footsteps get louder) Izzy: Here he comes!

"Nothing can be settled with violence," Izzy says, in the middle of a warzone we have entered in order to kill the Forces of Darkness with supreme violence.

Agumon and Tentomon wanting to take Tai up on his offer got me, though. XD

Team: ANDROMON!?!? Tentomon: (rundown) I remember now! We met Andromon on File Island! He was the Android Digimon who had a Black Gear stuck in his mechanism, but we removed it and freed him of its evil spell!

Technically, he's a cyborg, not an android. But also he's literally called Andromon so I can see where the confusion came from.

Dragon Ball fans are probably nodding along right now like, "Mm. Yes. Jinzoningen." That word, a catch-all for "Artificial Human", has caused much argument among the Dragon Ball fandom.

But no. The Digimon Analyzer uses English words spelled in Katakana for its classifications. Andromon's classification is サイボーグ saibougu or "Cyborg". And his name is アンドロモン Andoromon. The original Japanese version did this to themselves.

Andromon, it turns out, is as surprised to see the kids as they are to see him.

Andromon: I didn't expect to see you here. Taichi: YOU didn't!? That's how WE feel! Right? Koushiro: Yes. Andromon, what are you doing here? Andromon: I'm here to liberate the cities under Mugendramon's control. I came underground to act as the lone operative of a resistance movement.

We zoom in on water droplets striking a puddle, and in the puddle we see visions from Andromon's memories. Images of destruction ravaging the urban areas of the Digital World.

Andromon: That is why I thought you were Mugendramon's subordinates. Agumon: No way! Tentomon: How awful of you. Andromon: (apologetic) I didn't know.

Come on, guys, let's not beat up the poor cyber-droid too bad. We thought he was with Mugendramon too. Taichi put on a whole song and dance for it and everything.

In the dub:

Andromon: I wasn't sure if it was you or not. Tai: Well, it's nice to see a friendly face! Izzy: Even if it is made of metal. What are you doing down here anyway, Andromon? Tai: And why are you sneaking up on people?

Izzy, was that remark necessary? Why are you so rude?

Andromon: I'm trying to put together a resistance army against Machinedramon. I've heard rumors that Digimon are hiding in the sewers. (Water drip flashbacks begin) Andromon: They fled here when Machinedramon burned the cities. I've come to the sewers to organize them and, while I'm here, I'm going to fix that drip! (End flashbacks) Andromon: I thought you were spies sent here by Machinedramon to destroy my plans. Agumon: HM!?!? Tentomon: How insulting. Andromon: I'm sorry.

We are most certainly in a transit tunnel area of the hybrid undercity. You don't generally find chain link fenced walkways and street art covering the walls in a sewer; Those are rarely considered to be social spaces. However, the dub's committed to all of this being sewers.

Moving right along, there are more pressing questions for Andromon.

Taichi: We're looking for someone named Hikari. Koushiro: She should be with Sora-san and Takeru-kun. Andromon: Is that right? Please wait one moment.

I love how Taichi's like "Have you seen Hikari?" and then Koushiro jumps in with, "Have you seen Sora and Takeru? We're looking for that assortment of people." Like.

Yeah. Ask Andromon about the parts of that group that he knows. That's going to be the best way to find her.

Andromon holds up his arms, and cables shoot up from them. Connecting to the... uh... ceiling?.... he scans for the missing children.

Koushiro: Please, if you could. Hikari-san is Taichi-san's little sister. Andromon: Incoming! Taichi: Hikari is!? Koushiro: She's on her way!?

Definitely Not Hikari suddenly smashes through the wall a short distance ahead.

Mugendramon: Here you are, Chosen Children. Team: MUGENDRAMON!!!

No, although he had intended to scan for the other Chosen Children, Andromon got a little sidetracked by the signal of Mugendramon thirty feet away and closing in fast. That took precedence.

In the dub:

Tai: We're looking for my little sister named Kari. She's sick! Have you seen her? Izzy: Sora, Biyomon, T.K., and Patamon are probably with her too. Andromon: You mean Queen Kari is your sister!? Izzy: QUEEN!?!? Andromon: Wait just a moment! (Andromon begins scanning) Andromon: THEY'RE COMING!!! Izzy: Kari and the others are coming here!? When!? Andromon: NOW!!! Tai: Really!? Izzy: Prodigious, Andromon! (Machinedramon breaks through the wall) Machinedramon: Oh, good. Just what I was looking for: Victims. Team: MACHINEDRAMON!!!

Man, remember when we needed to make a raft to leave File Island and everyone just showed up like, "Oh yeah, word travels fast." They weren't kidding; Those File Island Digimon really do love to gossip. Dub Andromon has not only heard of the Queen Kari incident but readily joined her cult.

The "incoming" confusion in the dub is janky.

In the original, all Andromon says is, "くる Kuru!" That is a verb that means something is inbound, on its way, on approach, etc. He offers no further specification, and Taichi and Koushiro only have room for two quick lines before Mugendramon arrives.

So Taichi and Koushiro draw the wrong conclusions because they don't realize the context has switched.

In the dub, he explicitly says "They're coming." That's a plural term. I mean, it can also be a singular pronoun for non-binary individuals but the dub uses he/him for Machinedramon.

This isn't necessarily incorrect. They are, in fact, coming. Hikari's group is following her light to Taichi and the others, and we will see them shortly. They are closing in, so if he'd left it at that, then it would still work.

But then he says "NOW!!!" right before Machinedramon breaks through the wall. Meaning he was unambiguously referring to Machinedramon when he said they're coming. Um?

Machinedramon's opening line is pretty sick, though.

Standing there now, side by side with Not Hikari, Taichi and Koushiro face down the wrath of Also Not Hikari.

Mugendramon: Andromon is with you? I'll dispose of you all together then.

Mugendramon puts into action his new plan: Being very large. Rearing up to his full height, he smashes through the roof above him. Then he walks forward, collapsing the tunnel in his wake.

Andromon: Find some place to hide. Team: Andromon!?

Andromon moves forward and grabs hold of Mugendramon's ankle, attempting to hold him back.

Team: ANDROMON!!!

He fails miserably, as Mugendramon uses the wheels under his feet to simply roll forward and drive Andromon back. But it buys the children a moment to tuck back into that side door they tried to ambush Andromon from.

Once Mugendramon's passed, Taichi's crew emerges and sprints off in pursuit.

Team: ANDROMOOOOOON!!!

We suddenly cut to another part of the undercity. Hikari, still glowing, lets out a sharp gasp.

Sora: Hikari-chan? What is it? Hikari: Close by.... Takeru: You mean Taichi-san's group? Hikari: INCOMING!!!

Suddenly Mugendramon's face and shoulders smash through the tunnel ahead, continuing right on out the other side.

Sora & Takeru: MUGENDRAMON!?!?

Yeah, that's right, Hikari fucking did it to her team too! XD

In the dub, Machinedramon is inexplicably more interested in Andromon than in the DigiDestined.

Machinedramon: Hello, Andromon. Babysitting? I'll destroy you first while the others watch! (Machinedramon breaks through the ceiling and walks forward, collapsing the tunnel) Andromon: I'll hold him off. You hide. Izzy: Careful! (Andromon tries to hold back Machinedramon) Team: Andromon! (The kids take cover while Machinedramon passes) Tai: Andromon, hang on! We're coming to help! (Cut to the upper floor) Kari: (sharp gasp) Sora: What is it, Kari? Kari: They're coming! T.K.: You mean Tai? When? Kari: Now. (Machinedramon smashes through) Sora & T.K.: MACHINEDRAMON!?!?

As with Andromon, the fact that Kari says "Now" right before Machinedramon arrives seems to explicitly confirm that she's somehow misidentified Machinedramon as Tai, rather than simply communicating the context badly.

Though in this case, at least Tai is fairly close, so the two events could be taken as unrelated.

It's still janky, but at least they got the part where this is an ironic repetition of the earlier bit right.

Unfortunately for Sora's group, being on the upper floor of the ceiling Mugendramon's caving in means they're standing on floors he's caving in. The floor beneath them collapses underfoot, plunging them into the lower tunnel.

Angemon, Angewomon, and Birdramon work together to slow the children's descent, giving Hikari the most messianic symbolism she's had yet. Her light is even shining in the shape of a crucifix.

Taichi's group watches them descend.

Hikari: Onii-chan! Taichi: Hikari! Koushiro: Sora-san! Takeru-kun! Sora: Koushiro-kun!

Tai's group climbs over the debris and hurries over to where the others landed. Now that they're finally reunited, Hikari stops glowing. Taichi runs up to her, picking her up and spinning her around.

Taichi: Hikari! Hikari: Onii-chan! Koushiro: What a relief. Sora: Hey, what's happening with Mugendramon? Koushiro: Andromon is fighting him to defend us. Sora: EH!? Koushiro: He's been down here putting on a solo resistance.

In the dub:

Kari: Tai, it's you! Tai: KARI!!! Izzy: Sora! T.K.! (The two teams reunite) Tai: (picking up Kari and spinning her) KARI!!! Kari: TAI!!! Izzy: She made it! Sora: Was that Andromon I saw fighting with Machinedramon? Izzy: That's him, alright. He's sacrificing himself to protect us. Sora: (wails) Izzy: He's raising an army against Machinedramon.

I mean. Sacrificing himself probably isn't the A plan. I'm sure Andromon would very much like to win this fight if that's an option. We should probably try to make that an option.

Andromon and Mugendramon continue to fight while they have this chat. Suddenly, Mugendramon raises his claw and slams it down on Andromon; An attack the dub names "Dragon Fire" despite just being an open-handed smash.

Birdramon intervenes, shoving back against Mugendramon's bulk while the angels help Andromon get away.

Angewomon: You're okay. Andromon: (weakly) Thank you.... Angemon: We're with you now. Birdramon: Let's fight him together. Andromon: Agreed.

The four Digimon take take up positions in front of Mugendramon and fire their attacks. Meteor Wing, Holy Arrow, Heaven's Knuckle, and Spiral Sword converge on Mugendramon, resulting in a destructive blast that tears up through the ceiling and into the hybrid city above.

Caught in the middle of the blast but entirely undeterred, Mugendramon roars.

Taichi & Sora: (startled gasps) Koushiro: Mugendramon is Ultimate level, isn't he?

Mugendramon returns fire with his Mugen Cannon. Rather than firing two charged-up twin beams of destruction, however, this time he rapid-fires single shots, alternating cannons.

His aim is terrible. We see him spraying fire up into the city above, and one dramatically into the camera. So this is clearly a spray-and-pray firing mode. But he hits his marks, taking out all four Digimon before him.

In the dub:

Angewomon: Are you alright, Andromon? Andromon: Yes, thank you. Angemon: We'll take you to safety. Birdramon: NO!!! Let's fight Machinedramon together! (Everyone attacks to no effect) Tai & Sora: (startled gasps) Izzy: Machinedramon's a Mega Digimon! They can't win!

The initial plan in the dub is to retreat. However, Birdramon - the weakest of the four, mind you - has an attack of machismo and convinces the others to throw hands instead. They all lose and it's her fault.

Once the Digimon are down, Mugendramon turns towards the children.

Mugendramon: Ahahahaha.... These whelps can't even touch me. I suppose the rest of you are next.

Taichi closes his eyes and braces for the end. In the process, he takes his attention momentarily off Hikari, who marches right out there to give this colossal metal asshole a piece of her mind.

Taichi: (realizing) Hikari! Sora: Hikari-chan!

As she walks, sunlight streams down into the ruined undercity from the destruction above.

As Hikari stands before Mugendramon, a swarm of green floods over him from behind. The Numemon swarm him, covering every inch of his metal body.

Mugendramon: Hmph. These pipsqueaks shouldn't play around. Hikari: Numemon...? Mugendramon: (laughing while talking) You're really trying to fight me? Hikari: Numemon...!

We don't see the attack, but Mugendramon slams his right claw down into the ground and a sort of energy blast sound effect plays. But whatever it is, it kills them all. Crying out in unison, all of the Numemon disintegrate into pixel dust together.

Hikari: NUMEMON!!!

In the dub:

Machinedramon: They weren't even worth my time. You're all next!

We go to commercial here, with Machinedramon bearing down on the children.

Machinedramon: Now I've got you, DigiDestined! Who wants to be the first victim? (Hikari walks out in front) Tai: Kari! Team: (gasp) Machinedramon: How brave you are to volunteer. I'll try to make this as painful as I can. (Numemon swarm) Machinedramon: What do you think you are doing, Numemon? Kari: Numemon? Machinedramon: Do you slimy Digimon call this fighting!? Kari: Numemon!

Machinedramon calls Giga Cannon when he kills the Numemon, even though they are way too close for Giga Cannon.

Kari: OH, NUMEMON!!!

The main distinction between versions is that Machinedramon asks one of them to come out to him and Kari acquiesces, rather than Hikari simply doing that of her own volition.

Hikari's light consumes her once more and she passes out on the spot.

Taichi: HIKARI!!!

Taichi runs to his sister. Agumon tries to follow, but the Hikari's light takes him as well, overwhelming him with energy.

Agumon: So much fury and power!

Agumon Warp-Evolves into WarGreymon. Not to the sound of Show Me Your Brave Heart, but to a somber orchestral tune. There is nothing triumphant or heroic here. This is just revenge.

Roaring, screaming, WarGreymon charges forward while Taichi cradles the unconscious Hikari.

WarGreymon: RAAAAAAAAGH!!! Taichi: Wake up! Hikari! WarGreymon: HRRAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

In the dub:

Tai: KARI!!! Agumon: AUGH!!! I feel the power!

The dub plays the standard Digimon Theme over Agumon's Warp-Digivolution.

WarGreymon: HRUGH!!! Tai: Wake up! WarGreymon: RRRRRRGH!!!

Dub WarGreymon lets out angry grunts and growls as he runs, but isn't screaming blood fury like his original counterpart.

As WarGreymon charges forward, the camera briefly closes up on his Dramon Killers, which let out both a visible and audible shimmer. A momentary reminder that. Y'know. Digimon with "dramon" at the end of their name are super vulnerable to his claws.

WarGreymon and Mugendramon strike each other at once, posing dramatically in the classic quick-draw samurai "Which one will fall?" pose.

The answer is WarGreymon.

The energy Hikari gave him now exhausted, WarGreymon degenerates back into Koromon, with a carved line visible across his face.

Taichi: (gasp) Hikari: (weakly) Koromon.... Mugendramon: This is the end. Koromon: And a good one. I have Taichi, Hikari, and everyone else with me!

We briefly pan around the area to see them all smiling at him. Angemon and Angewomon. Sora, Takeru, Koushiro, and Tentomon. Andromon and Birdramon. Taichi and Hikari. Then, as if willed into existence by Koromon's friendships, WarGreymon's attacks suddenly take effect.

Bit by bit, carved-off parts of Mugendramon slide off and disintegrate into pixels.

(Dude was able to turn his head and hold a brief chat; That is a hell of a delayed reaction. Two of the slices were through his head, cutting it into thirds!)

This is too sappy for the dub, which focuses instead on the violence.

Tai: Koromon! Kari: Mm... Huh? Machinedramon: Now I will finish you once and for all! Koromon: I don't think so! You missed what I did as WarGreymon! I sliced you like an onion!

It's another example of the dub being more comfortable with the violent aspects of the show than the emotional bits. But, in their defense, it does segue better into Machinedramon's death. Mugendramon abruptly falls apart once everyone's finished validating Koromon, out of absolutely nowhere.

With Mugendramon's death... there is suddenly a new concern.

The world around them begins to shake furiously.

Andromon: Now that Mugendramon, ruler of the cities, has been defeated, this whole area is going to collapse. Takeru: (worried gasp) Sora: Don't worry. We'll face this together. Takeru: (affirmative) Mm! Koushiro: It's dangerous to stay here. We should escape as quickly as we can! Taichi: Yeah. Let's go!

Real sense of urgency going around with everyone standing there smiling and talking about how urgent things are. XD Come on, guys, I know the Hug It Out Energy got us through Mugendramon but we need to snap out of it and be worried again. At least until we're out of the undercity.

In the dub:

Andromon: Without Machinedramon, this area has become unstable! It's beginning to fall apart! T.K.: (terrified wail) Sora: Nothing can happen to us that we can't handle together! T.K.: Right! Izzy: I think it's becoming a little too dangerous. We better get out of here! Tai: You're right! Let's go!

As the city collapses and the city stripe recedes from Spiral Mountain, the children escape to the airspace surrounding the mountain.

Angemon carries Takeru and Koushiro. Angewomon has Taichi and Hikari. Birdramon has Sora. Where is Andromon? Well.... It's complicated.

It's not complicated. He's clinging to Birdramon's other leg. You can briefly make out his leg through the gap in Angewomon's wings if you look really close in exactly the right shot. But that brief glimpse in which you have to be looking at just the right time is all we see of him. Meanwhile, his voice has the internal monologue or voice-over effect played on it, like the group is remembering words he spoke to them before they left.

Andromon (V.O.?): Now that the cities are gone, my fight is over. Hikari: Onii-chan... When we get down, can I make a grave for the Numemon? Taichi: Yeah. Sora: We'll all do it. Team: Mm-hm!

While everyone has their minds made up on this next course of action, we close on a final shot of the floating island at the peak of Spiral Mountain.

Taichi: You're next, Piemon!

So. Andromon is still with us. He will continue to be with us next episode. But the dub (quite reasonably in my opinion) takes his absence from this scene and the voice-over effect of his line to mean we've parted ways.

Andromon: Machinedramon City is dissolving. My work here is finished. Angemon: Farewell, Andromon! Thank you! Kari: When we get down, can I build one of those memorials to my friends, the Numemon? Tai: Sure. Sora: We'll all help build it. Right, guys? Team: Uh-huh! (Final shot of the peak) Tai: You're next, Piedmon!

To make this a cliffhanger, the dub splices in a closeup of Piedmon's face, laughing maniacally.

Piedmon: WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Narrator: Will the DigiDestined be able to defeat the most powerful Dark Master of all? Find out their fate on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters.

So, I can't really blame the dub for thinking Andromon had left given the weirdness.

...but also I can because. Like.

We've long since determined that they didn't watch episodes in advance and this is just more evidence. He is right there next episode.

Assessment: I said earlier that this is basically Hikari's Crest episode and I stand by that. We were promised an abyss where darkness rules, and the answer to that abyss was Hikari showering it in her light and purging the darkness from every corner.

There is a lot of poetry and symbolism in the way this episode uses Hikari's light. It connects directly to the idea that the sacred energy, the power to influence Digimon evolution, comes from within the children.

It's no coincidence that it's Hikari, the girl from the OVA, who empowers Agumon (formerly her Digimon) to defeat Mugendramon. They even play a bit of the OVA's music when she marches out to face Mugendramon alone.

In a poetic and spiritual sense, this is a very powerful episode.

But in the literal sense... there is a lot of "I guess this is happening now" going around. Hikari's suddenly throwing around new powers, evolving other kids' Partner Digimon and psychic-sensing Taichi and Mugendramon. Abilities that have not been previously established and are not well explained.

Similarly, all that build-up with the Numemon amounts to is them running in, accomplishing nothing, and dying swiftly so that Hikari can go Super Saiyan.

There's a lot of ideas I liked in here, but the Mugendramon sub-arc maybe needed another episode so this stuff would have more space to breathe.

[verathena14]

Okay so the other day, I stumbled across a post asking why Sora forgave Riku for everything he did in KH1. And of course my Soriku brain went "It's because he loves him, duh," but I realized that something a lot of us Soriku Endgame Actually believers discuss quite a bit... might not be common knowledge. And so I got to thinking.

Sora doesn't really know when Riku got possessed in KH1.

Sora didn't see Riku get possessed. And Riku had been acting weird ever since the night of the storm. So it's reasonable to assume that Riku had been possessed before they even left the islands.

...Right?

Everything that Riku did after the islands got destroyed?

Sora thinks that was Ansem. That it was always Ansem.

We, as the players, know it wasn't, but Sora doesn't know what we know.

He doesn't realize that everything before their final confrontation was Riku. And yeah, Riku wasn't in the most mentally stable position, and Maleficent was gaslight-gatekeep-girlbossing him, but he still had control over his body. Everything he said were his own words and feelings.

And this is made even more clear by CoM, right after SDG (and Jiminy) first meet Repliku.

But... it's not. In the few scenes where Ansem was possessing Riku, he had the double-voice, and he spoke like Ansem, not like Riku. Repliku's behavior is much more like Riku's than Ansem's; he's cocky and volatile, while Ansem-Riku had an air of "untouchability" that would've made Repliku absolutely insufferable as a character.

It's clear that Sora thinks Riku was not in control during KH1. That's why Sora forgives Riku; because he thinks his friend was just another pawn in Xehanort's 5D chess game and had no autonomy throughout KH1. But that's not true. And they're going to have to talk about this.

Sora believed Riku did nothing wrong. Riku believes he did everything wrong. Sora's been trying to ignore the way Riku's words had hurt him - by deflecting the blame from his friend, by not dwelling on the events of KH1.

But with KH4 upcoming - with its focus on Sora and Riku stuck in a fictional world together, and the likelihood that Sora will have to learn to work through his darkness - Sora and Riku will have to discuss this.

And maybe, Sora and Riku will be able to have a true heart-to-heart conversation: no secrets, no lies, no misunderstandings. A KH2 Dark Margin 2.0.

And maybe they'll admit that there is a little bit of homo between them.

[queserasora]

ACE X CHUBBY FEM!READER | NSFW, Soft Smut ™, Slow Burn Babeyyy WORD COUNT: 9k CONTENT WARNING: alcohol consumption (because I am sora and I am a grown woman who likes to write about alcohol), profanity (not a lot but enough), angst galore, a sprinkle of fluff because it’s cute decorations, unprotected sex (when will they learn???), groping, sloppy kisses because ace is passionate and means well but he is also eager, that being said oral female receiving with some sloppy head, nipple play, plenty of ass grabbing, biting, ace talks way too much for his own good, he is silly and just says things, and it might be embarrassing but that’s just how he is, you know i love my repeating themes so if you hate that please stay away!!, is a hurricane/storm a warning? then yes, i guess dangerous time to be partying and having sex but these are pirates, handjob, what else?, oh jealous ace is amazing, also flirty marco because i love marco sue me A SUMMARY:Ace comes aboard the Moby Dick, fire in his fists, fire in his eyes. Y/N wants to know his reason for fighting, but curiosity is a beast of a burden, and when feelings get swept up in the heat of his storm, Ace has to make a choice between reason and his heart.

I -  A Disturbance  : Wind & Fire

You were born in summer heat. Your mother’s arms welcomed you into her world, sticky with sweat but full to the brim with love. Her plush lips against your temple, baptize you with a kiss. You grow, not like a palm tree all spindly trunk and leafy green top, but like a wild hibiscus tree; small and closely rooted to the ground with bushy branches covered in small leaves reaching out to the horizon. Like the Hibiscus, you dance in the wind, laughter trailing behind you. In your hair, its red flower entangles in curls. The sparkling water of the beach is always warm when you swim it. Your mother grows weary of warning you about the currents, and the treacherous waves. Eventually she gives up, names you her little mermaid, and braids beads into your hair that sparkle in the sun. Despite your mother’s warnings you always find yourself there, at the cliff by the sea.

He is born in secret. He’s born because there’s nothing left. A mother’s dying wish whispered into the soft spot on his head, to a dark curl who can’t remember the words. In time, he runs as fast as his legs can carry him, through forests, creeks and mud. On the creak of the branches under his feet he tries to find that elusive promise; words he had sworn he never heard but somehow left a gaping hole. Sometimes he thinks he hears them in the howling wind. Sometimes he only feels it on the heat of his skin, when the sun is blistering hot above him. Heart torn in two, he always finds himself there, on a cliff looking out at the sea.

Like a Siren, it calls to them. On the horizon, the sun blinks as it sinks under the water, a fading beacon. The wind whips around their shoulders, tussling their hair with heated fingers. In their ears it whispers: come find me, I’ve been waiting.

You leave to the sea, as your mother always feared. She’s inconsolable at the dock. You laugh to keep from crying, and wipe away her tears with the back of a small hand. She makes you promise to look out for yourself. Don’t dive into the sea, she warns you with furrowed brows. Don’t be impulsive. Don’t head straight into storms. They forgive no one. You brush her worries aside with a kiss on her temple, before you bolt aboard the ship.

Several adventures later, you’re aboard the Whitebeard Pirates ship. You offer your knowledge and skills in medicine; pair it with a big bright smile and hope for the best. Lady Luck favors you, beckons you with curling fingers. Another nurse is just what their ship needed—at least for now. Marco takes good care of you. He is patient, and kind. He is also easy on the eyes. It doesn’t take long before you’re being saddled with responsibilities.

You try your best, thinking your experience in wound care is your strongest skill among a ship of pirates. You did not share their strength, and undying courage but you did have wit, and you have a sharp tongue. You wielded them when necessary, the edge of your words a sharp scalpel. If you throw your words out fast enough, hard enough to kick up some dust they might not call you on your bluff. Compared to them, you couldn’t help but feel like a soothing passing wind; barely noticed before you were gone, no impact, no trace left behind.

His entrance is violent, and eruptive. His presence disturbs the way of things, sending invisible critters scattering to seek refuge. You think you feel suffocating heat when you first see him. Portgas D. Ace is a forest fire at full flame, determined to devour everything, before you even noticed a spark. His eyes incinerate everything he glares at, thick brows furrowed together for so long you fear they are glued that way. Where his crew seemed agreeable even, accepting of their fates, he grew more restless by the day. You had to admire his tenacity. The sheer force of destruction his willpower possessed was alluring; dangerously seductive.

When he tries to take Whitebeard down for the 11th time, Marco is sick of it, and delegates you to the task. You swallow thickly, avoiding his gaze. You think Ace must not be a man of many words, as conversation is clipped and forced. It was just as well. The task was distracting enough. You try to remind yourself to keep your fingers moving as they brush over his skin when you apply antiseptic to gashes on his chest. He hisses, forcing your eyes up and away from the freckles you had been counting. His eye are dark pools that pull you into their depths, so deep you think they’re bottomless. In your mind, your mother’s warning echoes.

Don’t dive into the sea.

You blink, and look away, feeling heat spread across your cheek; splotches of shame kept in secret. You try to focus instead, on the gauze on your hand, the warmth of his body under your fingers when you press it against his open wounds. You look up through your lashes when you apply pressure, wondering if a day would come when he didn’t seem so closed off—so intriguingly unavailable. His jaw is set, teeth clenched so tightly all the time, you had half a mind to inspect his molars for cracks. His eyes flicker towards you and you pretend to inspect the bruise on his temple. You press a tentative finger against it, wondering if you could dip your fingertips into his thoughts that way. When he flinches, you move back to the gauze, wrap his wounds with soft bandage.

Your hands on his chest, you feel heat radiate from him, feel his heart beating steadily underneath. A heart never lied, each beat a tell tale sign. You try to listen closely to each secret told in a pulse against your palm.

Don’t be impulsive.

You were never good at listening to your mother. Your mouth was quicker than your mind; traitorous and vile.

“Why do you keep fighting, if you can’t win?” you ask him, slapping the bandages for good measure; assuring they stick, and assuring your message goes through. Ace flinches, and reaches for your wrist. His grip is strong, thick fingers wrapping around the width of your wrist. For a fleeting moment, you know you should fear him. You have seen what he’s capable of, but the heat from his hand melts away all preconceived notions.

“Sometimes,” he says blinking down at you. His brows are furrowed together—they always are. You see his adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallows. His thumb brushes once against the inside of your wrist. You think you hear a call—someone shouting from the sea. “Sometimes, you fight anyway. If it means protecting people you care about.” He lets you go, and you instinctively pull back, bringing your arm to your chest. He watches you fuss over your wrist momentarily before closing his eyes. He looks pained, and before you can offer him painkillers he’s speaking again: “Maybe it’s all I know how to do.”

II –  The Depression  : A Flickering Flame

He didn’t mind at first, but now it felt like he shouldn’t be there.

He shouldn’t be sitting on the edge of the thin mattress of the nurses station. He shouldn’t stand still when your short fingers tentatively palpated his injuries. He shouldn’t watch you, like a seagull over water, searching—praying, as your teeth sank into the plushness of your bottom lip.

There was so much he should and shouldn’t do, he no longer could keep it together. Ignoring you seemed like the right decision. It should have been easy. You were the enemy, if he wanted to be fastidious about it. A member of the Whitebeards Pirate was just someone else standing in the way of his goal. Most of all, his pride couldn’t stand it. It couldn’t stand the disappointed look in your dark eyes, and the way your mouth would twist into a little smirk when he would walk in. It couldn’t stand the way you would immediately retract from him at the slightest hint of discomfort, how you would look at him like he was a wounded bird, wings teared at the joints, unable to fly again, sentenced to death.

It was pride that kept his mouth sealed shut. It was pride that stapled his tongue to the roof of his mouth. He wished pride would leave him blind instead. He wished to not notice how soft your hands are, how small and cute your hands were against his chest. He wished to not notice how he becomes disgustingly interested in your short chubby fingers, and wonders what kind of reaction he’d get if he could nibble on one or two. He wished to not notice how obsessive his thoughts are over the appearance of your skin; golden, and glowing on the apples of your cheek—how soft they looked. He wished he didn’t think about it at night, when darkness wrapped her arms around him tightly. He wished he didn’t think about your lashes, the look you give him through them that fills his mind with smoke.

Racing thoughts, and a racing mind. It took everything in him to keep them quiet. Your voice is soft when you speak, and his lips part, a beating heart trying to scream but no sound comes out. His cheeks feel hot, and he swallows awkward conversation prompts down. He chooses, instead, to fix his thoughts on something else, something more urgent: like how to defeat Whitebeard.

He simply couldn’t afford to dawdle with you. Ace never thought twice on taking on a challenge, but you were a chasm he couldn’t bring himself to jump across. If he missed, the fall could be deadly. He blinks when you speak again, your eyes fixated on his face. Ace quirks his left brow, and thinks he’s offended you. He wants to speak quickly, heart beating against the sinew and bone keeping it prisoner, but the words tangle in his throat.

The door creaks open, and Marco walks in. You look away from Ace and smile at Marco, before forcing two round white pills into the crook of Ace’s palm.

“Make sure you take those,” you tell him, as you force his fist closed. “You hit your head pretty good.” You reach up to rap your knuckles against the side of Ace’s head lightly. “Gotta try to save whatever brain cell’s are left fighting for their lives in there.”

Marco laughs as you stand up. Ace hears you chuckling lightly, as it grows into laughter. He takes a sharp breath through an open mouth, watches you as you turn to look at him over a shoulder.

He wishes pride would hurry the fuck up and blind him. He wishes it so bad, he crushes the pills in his fist into dust.

The sight of your ass stretching the nurse’s uniform fills him with a heat he’s not very familiar with. It settles at the pit of his stomach, and he stares at the door even after you leave. It isn’t until Marco speaks that he brings himself back to the present.

“Why don’t you join, Ace?” Marco asks, as he settles on the stool you were sitting on moments prior. Ace frowns down at it, annoyed at his thoughts—he wondered if it was still warm, and he hated that Marco would know the answer. “You know, it’s not a bad deal. He treats us like his sons. We’re all a little lost out here, kid. You don’t have to be alone.”

Ace scoffs, mouth twisted into a crooked smile. He tilts his head as he watches Marco, trying to swallow the bitterness in the back of his mouth. His heart lurches, and he shuts his eyes. If he closes them tightly enough, perhaps the hopeless dream will go away. He never had a father figure, and never needed one. It was a lie he recited at night; a prayer to a faceless God.

“I don’t need a father,” he mumbles at last, picking at a string on one leg of his shorts. Marco laughs. Ace looks up, frown back in place.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Marco agrees, reaching up to rub the back of his head. “But why don’t you try? What do you got to lose? It’s not like you have any manners.” Ace begins to protest but Marco’s laughter caught him off again. “And you might learn how to properly talk to a lady.”

Ace thinks his head might start catching fire. He pats his hair quickly.

“I don’t need any help with that!” he says loudly, an elbow digging into a thigh as he leans forward to scowl at Marco.

“Oh, yeah?” Marco says trying to keep his laughter at bay. His smile is crooked, and insufferable. “Is that why you looked like a fish gaping for air when I walked in? Very convincing.”

Just when Ace thinks there is no way he could be more embarrassed, he feels his blush deepening, freckles almost obfuscated. He promises Marco to think about it, and he does his best, but thoughts of you plague him afterward. Your laughter that carried in the wind to him, the way it felt like it sank into his scars, the way it burned and made new ones in return.

III –  A Simmering Storm

The needle on his back, sinks into his skin time and time again, embedding ink to stay forever. It is liberating, in a sense, marking himself with a brand of his own choosing. So much unlike the one stamped upon him at the time of his birth; the son of a monster, a nuisance, someone not worthy of the space they took up in the world. No longer did he have to search for reason, or an excuse. Ace could simply be, and he welcomed his newfound drop of happiness with a toothy grin.

A celebration at him joining the ranks, and being able to be commander of the second division seemed a bit over the top but he liked merriment—and the food and alcohol was too enticing. The darkening clouds in the distance threatened to dampen his mood, and the crowd on the deck of Moby Dick. Murmurs spread the word of an oncoming storm but nobody seems particularly worried. The only thing on their mind is how fast they could drink and eat before they got rained out.

The only thing on your mind was the blooming ache in your chest. You try to soothe it with a hand, smearing your palm against your voluminous chest. The crop top is soft under your skin. You try to memorize this, instead of the radiant smile on Ace’s face. He had never seemed so undoubtedly happy as he did now. A different feeling settled between your ribs, a pang so bitter it causes you to hiss. Jealousy was a monster you squashed down with angry fists every time you saw one of the nurses place a hand on Ace’s bicep. You never thought you would have to beat it down into submission while picturing the face of your own captain.

You’re happy for him, truly. You mutter to yourself, over and over, drink after drink. You’re elated, even, that he has finally come to accept the bright side of things. You’re happy that he has been given a position that you feel is well earned, one that you hope he can excel at.

You’re happy for him. You really are.

You’re so fucking happy it hurts to breathe. You force another deep breath into your lungs, the air is humid and the scent of rain floods your senses. You blink back the wetness in your eyes, and when Marco asks if you are okay you blame pollen. Marco tilts his head, but chooses not to pursue the subject. Instead, he swaps your empty cup with his. You barely notice. You’re too busy thinking about where the sea will take Ace next.

Something in your chest seizes—panic, or fear. It rises like heat from the ground, a crackling electricity flying up through the stale air that keeps you trapped on the ground. You try not to move too much, you fear jostling your thoughts, fear that if they move too much—touch a certain way, sparks would fly, singing you to a crisp; charred and useless.

He is happy, truly.

It wasn’t something he could have ever dreamed of or imagined. He smiles as people congratulate him. Alcohol tastes sweet on his heavy tongue. He barely tastes his food as he pummels it into his mouth. He pictures what it would be like, sailing away from this ship, to complete tasks he would be responsible for. He pictures what it would be like to tend to his own wounds, what it would be like to sit at whatever island he found, and not hear your laugh.

He is happy. He really is.

He’s so fucking happy, he thinks he feels sick. It’s not anxiety. Ace could never admit that. Anxiety over what? He did not fear death. He never had a good reason for living anyway. You could only fear death if you were bound to the living. Then what was binding him to this ship? It felt like a vortex, a cone ensnaring him and trapping him to his spot; a gust of wind that kept bringing him back to you, no matter how many times he moved around this damned ship.

He tries moving again, taking his mug of beer with him. You bump into him with your ass against his. He turns around, ready to pick a fight but sees your heated cheeks instead. You mumble an apology that he laughs off. His hand moves before he controls it, and he ruffles your hair—something he knows you loathe.

“I’m not a puppy,” you hiss, pursing your lips. Ace drinks quickly from his mug, to refrain from sighing.

“Then why do you look like one?” he asks you, and leaves through the crowd. You lose track of him quickly, and decide to stomp around on the spot. It was easier than to think about the way he had looked at you, and how it had set your face on fire.

You do your best to mingle. You notice he does the same, but you’re never far from each other. It feels comical in a strangely annoyingly tragic way. When you squeeze between Thatch and Izou to refill your cup, your hand brushes against something warm. You follow the hand to see Ace’s tattooed bicep. When your eyes meet, thunder splits the sky. You move quickly, wordlessly, determined not to see his face against for the rest of the night.

The sea has other plans. The ship begins to move more than usual, and your legs still not quite so strong, threaten to have you rolling over. You blame the alcohol of course, when you land on Izou’s back. He steadies you with a tight smile as you giggle, and spins you in place trying to send you in the opposite direction but your eyes meet Ace’s again. The ship lurches, and you stumble forward. His body is warm, and inviting, you giggle at the ridiculous situation—as people continue to bump into each other mid-party. You try to move again, but your legs betray you. His arms hold you up, and brings you closer to him. Your body is soft against his, plush and delightful. You look up at him with a tiny small, eyes hazy from the alcohol, and Ace swears he hears the sky split open.

You’re on your way again before he can say anything else. It was probably for the best. He loses track of how much he drinks. He could still feel his face, could still keep track of his thoughts—filled to the brim with you, and concludes he clearly hasn’t drunk enough. He holds on to this as he grips the railing so tight, it cracks under his fingers at the sight of you with Marco.

Marco was so kind, and so friendly. His hands were soft around your waist. You know it was shameful, to giggle at all his silly little jokes, but the alcohol has you feeling weightless—for once. You almost don’t feel the wind against your cheeks, you don’t feel it whipping your hair around. You let Marco pull you closer, his hand pressed against the small of your back. It was better this way. It was better Marco than a ship sailing to a destination unknown.

He drops the mug of beer. It splashes on the deck, and he feels liquid splash against his knee. Ace clenches a fist as he moves, fire erupting from his knuckles before it swallows his hand whole. Drops from the sky grow heavier. They sizzle as they reach his wrist, little wispy vapor rising from the flames like warning flags. Ace breathes through his nose and wills himself to smother the flames. They die out by the time he reaches you, but there’s a fire in his chest, flames behind his eyes he can’t control.

The sight of Marco’s hand very comfortable in the small of your back almost threatens to set him on fire again. Marco’s mouth is so close to your ear, Ace thinks he must smell the lotion off your skin the same way he smelled it off you so many times before; the one that always drove him mad, who forced him to imagine tropical islands, to dream of coconuts and beaches, of you and sandy dunes. Your smile takes his breath away, and when he sees it’s aimed at Marco it fills his lungs with lead instead. Your lashes flutter, and Ace sees a drop of water fall and cling to the apple of one your cheeks. He follows its path until it rolls off from your jaw.

As the last rays of light glints on the surface of it, a spark goes off.

His hand is around your wrist. Marco moves away slightly, only pulling away to look at Ace with a quizzical expression. His smile is frozen in place as he tries to assess the situation. He laughs, and naturally Ace feels like he should punch him in the mouth for it. Marco looks over to you, to pull a response from you when he begins to talk but your eyes are nowhere near on him. You are too focused on Ace’s face instead.

You zone in on the arch of his left eyebrow, the narrowing of his dark eyes, the slight curl of his top lip. Rain starts pouring down. You watch rivulets of water streak down the side of his face. You try to breathe as he watches you, try not to think about his fingers wrapped around your wrist but you can’t stop yourself from wanting to know. You want to know what it means. You want to decipher that look in his eyes, the dark clouds forming, the way you think you see lightning.

Your mother’s words ring one more time. Don’t head straight into storms.

A gust sweeps you off your feet, a dream so airy and full of promises you think you can fall forever if it meant he’d look at you this way for another breath, and another.

IV –  The Hurricane

It wasn’t enough.

He could consume every drop of alcohol aboard the Moby Dick, pour into his mouth ounce after ounce like his life depended on it, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

There’s nothing, not a sobering thought, not the lightning in the sky, not the dark clouds in the distance, that could free him from the hold you have on him. Your eyes are so big and round you remind him of the softness he hated in himself, the same he tried to strangle with his own hands. In you, it only made him want to kiss you. Right there. Right now. Ace swallows down the last of his apprehensions. He tightens his grip around your wrist, and thinks everyone and everything could go to hell and stay there. If he caused a scene by dragging you away, he simply did not care.

Nature had other plans. The wind picks up, the sea fights back. Waves rise, and rock the Moby Dick—a feat that’s not as easy as it sounds. Marco gives you one last look before he scrambles away, shouting orders to the crew. They desperately climb to close the sails, but you can’t finish watching them work. Ace drags you away from the deck, down a path you’re ashamed to be familiar with.

In his room, he finally lets you go and you stumble forward with momentum. You hear the door close, and a lock click. You spin around belatedly, trying to keep your arms from swinging too much and losing your balance to see Ace’s back pressed against the door.

He watches you from where he stood, hair soaked through. His raven curls are slicked against his forehead, so he runs a large hand through his hair, pushing it back and away from his face. He can’t be bothered to find his hair a nuisance. Not when you’re standing in front of him, wet from head to toe. You’re out of your nurses’ uniform, something he is not used to seeing. Your hair is lose and partially wet, wavy tendrils sticking to your cheeks and shoulders. Your round face looks precious, he swallows as he fights the urge to cradle it in his hands. Your wide eyed expression forces a chuckle out of him, one he tries to hide on the back of one hand.

He notices belatedly, and with a little remorse, the slight blue tint on your bottom lip and the redness on your cheeks. Your eyes are hazy, heavy lidded, and he tilts his head at you, dopey smile on his face.

“You were having fun,” he mentions, eyes trailing away from your cheeks to your torso, the dips on your sides that make your waist. The soft rolls that settle there make him want to touch you. He raps his knuckles on the door behind him instead, fingers tapping without rhythm; anything, and everything to keep himself controlled, especially at the sight of your wide hips, the thickness of your thighs.

“Yeah, I was actually,” you finally find your voice to speak. You swallow with difficulty, slapping a hand against a thigh, over your wet jeans. “Anyway,” you mumble, pinching the bridge of your nose. You should stay focused. You do your best, but the sight of Ace’s bare chest reminds you of how warm he is and how frigid your fingers currently are. You’d love to warm them up right now, skim them over his toned abs. “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?” he asks you quietly.

“Drag me here. Can’t you see?” you start, licking your lips, feeling very very parched when you follow the small trail of hair beginning at the bottom of Ace’s belly button, and disappearing underneath his shorts. “I have working legs!” You make a show of lifting each one, one at a time, and pointing obnoxiously. “See? Perfectly healthy.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, pushing away from the door. He walks slowly towards you, steps hesitant and careful. His eyes roam over your body. You watch him drag his gaze from the top of your head, to your feet, and back up again at an excruciatingly slow pace. Your heart accelerates, and it thunders in your ears. “You’re perfectly healthy,” his voices comes in softer now that he’s standing in front of you. “I can see that.” Ace hands wrap around the roundness of your shoulders. He slides them down slowly from the short sleeves of your crop top, thick callused fingers skimming along the back of your plush and soft biceps. Your skin is soft, tantalizing. It feels as if he shouldn’t touch you. It feels sinful, something he has no privilege to but he continues anyway, down to your wrists until his fingers grip yours gently. Ace tightens his hold on your hands and pulls you closer to him.

He wraps your arms around his waist. You don’t fight him. You move; a leaf carried in the wind. Your fingers grip around his belt loops, as he dips his face to the crook of your neck. His hot breath fans against your skin, when he drops the softest kiss—his lips, or the wind, you’re not sure. He nuzzles the exposed skin, using his nose to move the neckline of your crop top as much as he can to drop more soft kisses. You’re colder than he expected, so he holds you tighter, until your softness fills all his hard edges and gaps. Your curves are a pleasant surprise. He had expected some of it from the way you filled the skirt of your uniform but seeing you out of it had been a vision he shouldn’t be worthy of.

He shouldn’t be worthy of any of it. He shouldn’t enjoy the way your hips feel under his hands, but he still runs them over them up and down, over and over again. He shouldn’t enjoy their width, the way the flesh caves under his grip, how his fingers dig deep and it still isn’t enough to touch all of you. He shouldn’t enjoy the way your skin feels so impossibly soft against his lips, as if it melts under his heat; snow under a sunny sky. He shouldn’t enjoy the scent of your skin, the scent of your lotion that brings him to the brink of madness. He shouldn’t enjoy the way you sigh his name when he sucks on your pulse, and grabs your ass. He shouldn’t tell you the way he thinks no matter how much alcohol swims in his veins. He shouldn’t tell you the way he feels, but words bubble up his throat and out his mouth—a freshwater brook whose source he can’t define.

“You feel so good,” he moans against your ear, when he pushes his hips forward. Your eyes flutter at the feel of his erection against the softness of your belly. “I love touching you, Mermaid.” The nickname usually bothers you; given in passing because you loved swimming in the sea despite the dangers, but from his lips it feels like a spoken song; a poem only for you. “You smell so good,” he licks the shell of your ear, bites on the sensitive cartilage on top. You gasp, and dig your nails into his back, desperately holding on to whatever was left of your self preservation. “Do you know how sick I was?” He thinks he should punish you, and so he does, nipping at the sensitive skin of your neck. You yelp, and slap his back but it doesn’t deter him. He smiles against your skin, licks the blooming bruise with a flat and sloppy tongue. “When Marco’s hands were all over you. I thought I was going to burn. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand a second of it.”

His words sound desperate. You try to stay present by drawings circles on his back with your fingertips. The storm screams outside the room. You hear the wind pick up its shrill song, tinny and distant. Water pelts against the small circular window on the door, a drumming sound that soon grows deafening.

“Ace,” you try to interrupt his rambling, but his hands are tangled in your hair. His lips brush against your temple, before he speaks against your head.

“I felt sick watching you. It felt like I was in pain,” he groans into your hair. His hips press against you again. You bite down on your lip hard enough to inflict pain. You rub circles on his back, and force yourself to focus once more. His words come in belatedly, sound traveling a long distance in the air. You press your small hands against his chest.

“Where does it hurt?” you ask him, brows furrowing together. Leave it to Ace, to be injured in a moment like this. You shake your head, not sure to trust yourself or his words. You should have drank less. You should have stayed away from Ace. You should have left with Marco instead. Ace presses his forehead against yours. His breath tickles your nose. He moves his hand over yours. His fingers clutches your hand, and warmth seeps from him to you. You feel it sink it, seep into the rest of your arm and down to your elbow leaving a tingling sensation.

“Here,” he breathes out in a whisper. He squeezes your hand, presses it closer to his chest. “In here.” He pats your hand once, and again, repeatedly in a rhythm that matches his heart beating under your palm. Ace moves slowly, and gently brushes his nose against yours. His heart beats faster under your hand. Your eyes are tethered to his mouth. You can’t look away from the sight of his lips parting, as if he couldn’t catch his breath. You feel your mouth do the same, feel the air in your lungs run out; breathing is not enough, nothing is enough. His head tilts, and you follow his lead; reflections on still water.

“Idiot,” you finally whisper, a breathy laugh bouncing away from your mouth. He feels it reach his lips, and he swallows it whole in his mouth. “You mean your heart?”

“Yeah,” he admits fighting a smile, his lips brushing against yours. “My heart.”

You should laugh it off. You shouldn’t take him seriously. A drunken confession would be forgotten the moment the sun rose again but there is a screaming in the back of her mind—distant and ancient like Sirens on rocky shores. The storm grows louder outside. You had always thought you were a serene passing wind, something to soothe and lick old wounds better; something to be forgotten once you left, but the heat of Ace’s breath against your mouth, spun around you in circles. It transformed you into something bigger than you thought you could be. You wanted to be bigger. You wanted to be something destructive, something that would tear him from limb to limb, leave him with the wreckage of your path so he could have something to remember you by when he was gone.

You reach out, hands seeking a target. You clasp his face as you smash your mouth against his. He hums into the kiss. It’s clumsy and forceful. You leave him no room to push back, no gap to slip his tongue past your defenses. It isn’t until he is grabbing fistfuls of your ass to pull you closer to him, to rub his bulge against your belly once more that you concede. You gasp, and it’s the only weakness he needs to exploit. His tongue strokes against yours, hunger forcing him to be overzealous. He is sloppy, and imprecise, kisses so wet saliva coats your lips, making them shiny under the yellow sconce’s lights of the room. Ace knows he should slow down, show a little finesse but your ass feels divine in his hands. He had been watching it the whole time during the party, watched you saunter back and forth, hips swaying; teasing him.

He moves against you, and you step backwards, the ship swaying enough to make you forget your route. You land against the wall with a thud, your plush ass making you bounce slightly in Ace’s embrace. He laughs against your mouth, nipping at your bottom lip. “Nice,” he mumbles before he takes your bottom lip for a long and noisy suck. “It’s like a safeguard.”

You groan, hands traveling down the wideness of his back, and over his shorts. They settle over his ass, and you return the favor, digging your fingers into the muscle. He groans loudly, pushes his hips immediately against yours and grinds against your lower belly. The smell of wine on your mouth threatens to intoxicate him further. He closes his eyes as he pushes against you, feeling precum starting to soak through his underwear. Your tongue feels perfect in his mouth. He sucks on it time and time again, taken in by the sheer softness of it. How it doesn’t feel unfamiliar at all, as if he had kissed you thousands of times before.

He wished he had kissed you that many times already. He wished he could tuck away those memories somewhere no one could take them away from him.

Every time he kisses you, it feels like dying, and it feels like coming back to life. You’ve died hundreds of times already, hundreds of little deaths by his hands and by every stroke of his tongue. You think you smell smoke in his hair when he holds you close, when he whispers sweet things in your ear before biting down your neck, leaving a trail of bruises in his wake. His hands are weapons he uses to tear your down. Their heat eviscerates all your defenses. It kills you how they feel so hot, even over your clothes. How when he drags his palms over your belly, you want to feel them lower, towards the center of your legs. Your belly is soft, and pliable, he squeezes and kneads until he memorizes it. His hands move to your sides, where he grips the soft flesh, the rolls that are tender in his hold.

Your cheeks color, and your heart flutters. Embarrassed, you swat his hands, and move them away from your waist.

“Don’t push my hands away,” he says annoyed, going back to grab your sides. “Before I–”

You cut him off with a kiss, pressing your mouth hotly against his. You wrap your arms around his neck. “Shut up,” you say breaking the kiss. You kiss the corner of his mouth, and up his jawline. “If you say it—I’ll leave.” You press your mouth against his pulse, and a soft spot behind his head. “I’ll walk out right now. Don’t even say it.”

He kisses you, and you crumple under the weight of it. It feels like a last desperate attempt at silencing you, at keeping you here with him. His heart is in tatters. He tries to ignore the debris of it, the way it splinters off into pieces. Ace deepens his kisses, crushes you against his chest, and traps you tightly between him and the wall. He knows the truth. He knows the more he kisses you, the more he’ll discover all the things he wondered about you, the more he’ll become familiar with your softness—the more he’ll miss you. A feeling of unworthiness crawls out of a well. He tries to smother it with another kiss, one you moan into. You bring a leg up and he holds on to it, hooks it around a hip and pushes against you, his cock feeling painfully hard. He thrusts his hips, and he tries to forget every touch of your fingers on his back, how your trail them along his muscles, leaving memories in them he could never forget, memories you shouldn’t give him so willingly.

He should be the one to walk out without a further word. If it hurt you, it would mean you’d never look at him again. That was the right thing to do. He should let you go immediately. He should stop craving the heat of your body. He should stop pushing against you, and moaning into the crook of your neck, giving into every desire and fantasy that had filled his body since he met you.

He should. But he couldn’t stop himself from being selfish. Just this once. For once, he wants to seize a semblance of happiness by his own hands without needing a reason for it—without needing a reason to simply exist.

Ace brings you to his bed, pushes you down until you’re seated on the edge of his mattress. He kneels before you. You blink, mouth surprisingly dry considering all the wet sloppy kisses Ace had been giving you. You lick your swollen lips, and think you taste beer in the corner of your mouth; residual of Ace’s conquest. Ace kisses your cheeks—one at a time. He reaches around you to the bow holding your crop top together. He unties it easily, and just as easily pulls it over your head. You don’t know where it lands, and it honestly doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the way Ace’s eyes land on your breasts, the way he licks his lips as if he’s gearing up for a feast.

He wasn’t expecting you to not a have a bra, but he couldn’t complain either way. Once again, he is amazed at his sheer stupidity. How he had never noticed the size of your breasts, how large they were and how beautifully they hanged from your frame. He swallows thickly, wishing he had done this sooner. He presses his mouth against the middle of your chest, hands tentatively taking in the weight of your breasts. He palms them gently, cupping and lifting as he moves his fingers. His intentions are well meant. Ace would love to take his time with you, but you react so deliciously when he flicks his thumbs over your hardened nipples, mewling against the top of his head that he felt like he had no choice.

If his hand felt like furnaces, his mouth is incomparably vicious. The heat of his tongue is paralyzing. When he sucks on a nipple, his free hand twisting the other one between thumb and index finger, your toes curl. Your panties cling to your folds, covered in your slick since earlier. You whimper, embarrassed and aroused as Ace continues his streamlined assault. His teeth leave marks over the swell of your breasts. You respond to every lick and nibble he gives. Your soft moans leave goosebumps on his skin, reminding him that this is him making you moan, him who has you scraping your nails against his scalp.

He shouldn't—but he smiles—thinking Marco can go kick rocks. He bites down on a nipple, a bit too hard, at the thought. He should mark you more, lest anyone get any ideas.

And like that, his heart aches. Ace sighs against the side of your breast, licks over a bruise in apology. He shakes his head, trying to dislodge thoughts that had no business polluting his mind. He wonders what would happen if he leaves you for too long. Would you move on? His fingers stumble to unbutton your jeans so he tries again. Of course, you would. Who wouldn’t? Marco seems to like you, and what’s not to like about Marco?

Desperate, he finally unhooks the button. You fall back on the mattress with a surprised squeak when he pushes you. Ace tugs your jeans off. You see him standing between your legs, as he unbuckles his belt, and drops his shorts. You hear the thud on the ground, the creak of the mattress as he joins you.

He cages you in, and you immediately reach out. Your fingers splay against his broad chest. His shoulders are wide, and strong, muscles rippling with every movement he makes. The yellow lighting of the sconces compliment the golden tone of his skin. You bite your lip, and rub your legs together, deeply aroused when you brush your fingertips against his muscular abs. Lightning strikes, and bathes him in a flashing white light. You see for a moment, every freckle on his shoulder, and chest. You run your fingers over them, connecting the dots, making up little galaxies on his chest and shoulders and committing them to memory. You’d remember these later, on lonely nights, and hold your hand to the ceiling, pretending that if you trace over the memory of them you could bring Ace back to you like a spell; like a wish.

His kisses scatter your thoughts, little stars clouding your vision. His mouth is on your neck, and on your chest. Heated, and wet. He leaves hot wet trails of saliva wherever he goes, coating you with his smell. He kisses your belly, and nibbles on the soft flesh underneath your belly button. His fingers dancing over your thighs. Ace moves lower as you hum, parts your legs to drop kisses on the inside of your thighs. For a split second, you consider being embarrassed at the state of your arousal but you are past the point of caring. Soaked right through your panties, all you want is for Ace to keep kissing you.

He smells you before he sees it—before he sees the big wet spot in your underwear. Ace chuckles, and you reach out to swat at his head but he is faster than you—as usual. He grabs your wrist and kisses the inside of your palm.

“Don’t be like that, Mermaid,” he says in a good mood, smile wide and crooked. He looks up at you through black lashes, a faint flush over his cheeks. “I know how much you love being wet.”

You think about screaming, and beating him senseless for saying something so embarrassing but when he pulls your panties down in one quick move you are left speechless. Just as quickly, his mouth is on your pussy. He gives long, meticulous licks; ones he uses to slurp up every drop of your arousal. He uses his fingers to part your folds, and traces your slit with the flat of his tongue. Your back arches, and you moan loudly, hands flying to tangle in his black curls. He is noisy, but he does not miss a spot. He slurps up a lip, sucks on it gently. He flicks his tongue around your sensitive nub, making you shiver and tremble.

Just when you think you can’t take the heat of his mouth any longer, Ace pulls your lips apart again, and slips his tongue inside your aching pussy. He thrusts it in and out, upping the pace the more you moan. He slurps up, wet and noisy to suck on your clit. His fingers tease your entrance before he slips two inside you. He scissors his fingers inside, the squelching so loud and lewd, you’re forced to slap a hand to cover your mouth. It is sinful, and you wonder if you should worry when you grow hornier the louder the wet sounds get. He curves his fingers, seeking out that spot that makes your toes curl. His moans against your clit as he sucks vibrates against you, and you cry out as you cum. Your pussy flutters around his fingers as you reach your peak, little tremors running their course throughout your body.

The way you look so disheveled makes him want to stay down there longer. He’d love nothing more than to feast on your pussy all night long, but his throbbing cock is becoming increasingly harder to ignore. He moves to climb over you, but the ship tilts when a particularly large wave comes. Ace sways, but you reach out to grab him by the arm before he rolls off the bed. You pull him towards you, and laugh at Ace’s shocked expression. He laughs with you for a moment, before it dies out. Your eyes captivate him—their sparkle too bright to be dimmed by the yellow lighting of the room, or even by the darkness of the storm outside the room. Ace kisses your cheek, and licks your ear. He laughs into your hair when you yelp, and hit his shoulder with a tiny fist, your own laughter overtaking his.

“Your laughs always carries so easily,” he says quietly, a hand brushing hair away from your face. You wrinkle your nose up at him. “You know that? I always hear you wherever I go.”

There’s a breath that refuses to come back to you. It stays there behind Ace’s smile. You swallow, following the path of his trail of dark hair that starts at his belly button. You grip the tip of his cock gently, and watch his brows knit together, teeth clenching to keep from moaning. You brush a thumb against his slit. His lips part, eyes fluttering close, and as you squeeze your hand down his shaft, he lets go; a moan flying past the front of his teeth. He is thick in your hands. You move them gently at first, taking in the sight of him above you. His dark hair spilled around him like a curtain.

His eyes that he fights so hard to keep open but flutter close every time you squeeze his pink tip just right. He cusses under his breath, upset he can’t watch you jerk him off, how he can’t keep the sight of your white teeth sinking into your berry colored bottom lip in his vision.

You are mesmerized by the sight of him. You try your best to commit to memory the planes of his face, the sharpness of his jawline. You rub your legs together as you stroke, enjoying the way your slick slides down your thighs. You love how vulnerable he looks, how soft his expressions is as he gives in to you, his dark lashes that flutter open and close, the freckles on the bridge of his nose; everything leaves their residue behind like sticky fingers on glass.

You feel his hand swat yours away from his cock. “Stop,” he whines in a hiss, eyes opening partially. He frowns down at you, cheeks bright red, mouth hanging open. “I don’t want to cum like that. I want to cum inside you. With you.” There’s no time to think, you feel him shift your legs, and feel the tip of his cock pressing against your entrance. He pushes inside you, slowly, inch by inch. Your mouth drops open, a sound that refuses to leave your body. When he bottoms out, you moan gently, wrapping your arms around his shoulders.

Your thighs are thick and plush as they tighten around his strong hips. Ace feels as he would be swallowed whole—like a small vessel in a raging sea. If you wanted to drown him, he’d let you, if that’s what you really wanted. He grunts with every slow thrust of his hips, wanting to feel you first, let you adjust around him. He’s only begun, but he feels you fluttering around his cock, senses the tightening of your grasp around his shoulders.

He picks up the pace, as the storm rages. You’re panting against his hear, so loud that even the thunder can’t drown you out when you moan. Lightning splits the sky, over and over, bathing your sweaty body underneath him in bright white. He tries to remember the pieces of you, the soft breasts pressed against his chest, the sight of his cock disappearing into your soaking pussy. He tries to remember the sound of the rain, how it compliments your voice when you sigh into his neck. He pushes against you faster, deeper, your moans grow closer and louder. The scent of rain and wet wood floods the room along with the scent of your arousal. Ace can almost taste it on his tongue all over again, as he breathes through his mouth, panting loudly—moaning when you clench around his cock again.

His cologne makes you delirious—mahogany, and sweet blossoms, or it’s the thickness of his cock or both. You bite his neck, scream into the crook of his neck when he picks you up slightly by the hips, when he angles his thrusts and slaps his hips against yours viciously enough to bruise. His cock pushes against your gummy walls, stretching you out until it’s almost painful. He is so hot and warm inside you, you feel like you’re melting, as if your body is built by nothing but pleasure and pleasure alone. You bite his shoulders, leaving marks behind. Your attack is as relentless as his thrusts. You continue to sink your teeth into his shoulders, and his neck, you nibble at his jawline.

He loves it. He loves the pain you leave behind. Ace digs his fingers into your hair, and he tilts his neck to give you more access—anything to keep you going. He groans with every thrust into your pussy, his heavy balls slapping against your thick and plush ass so noisily he worries for a second someone might hear.

“Go ahead,” he whispers to you when you nibble on his neck once more, groaning right after. “Make it hurt.” It is a fitting punishment, he thinks. Pain always left the deepest scars. If it was you, he’d take the scars with him.

The wind picks up more, the shrill tinny scream rises, banging against the round window on his door. It pounds at the glass, demanding tribute. Ace cries out when your pussy clenches around his cock, his body tensing before it relaxes at his climax. He releases, spilling into you, hot cum that oozes slightly out of your cunt. You stay tangled with him in his bed sheets, lightning coloring your bodies in bright white every now and then. Heat envelops the room, a humidity so thick it feels suffocating; muggy. Your bodies covered in sweat, are slippery, almost uncomfortable but you don’t care.

You don’t care about the incessant heat beaming off his body, you don’t care how his hair sticks to your skin when he nuzzles in your neck, you don’t care bout the storm outside the door, the angry sea. You bring your hand to Ace’s chest, feel his heart thumping against your palm. What you care about is there, under skin and bone, just out of reach.

You shut your eyes when he kisses your lips, when he holds your face in his hands.

Your mother’s words cut through the screams of the hurricane outside. Don’t head straight into storms. They forgive no one.

But who was the storm? Was it him? Was it you? Who’s to forgive if there’s no one left in the wake of the storm?