#Pallette game that I have Yet to name

[saltysunflowersugar]

ADD 'EM ALL UP AND YOU'LL STILL GET ZERO

[lisa-russell]

Another point I will stick onto my GreyScale Agent 4 Hijacked Security System Avatar Conspiracy Board.

EDIT: Saw the new info. A copy of Four is Still...in a loose sense Four, like have you seen the Lesser Four Copies? The way they all pose and how the last one is just pulled down in the Grey Ooze cause they weren't focusing on 8...It's like the main Copy has all of the Ogs agents skills and drive. Yet pieces of Fours funky personality from in-game cannon got carried over by the portion of Said Soul being drawn in to form a pallette!

Click or tap images tah read and zoom in...So yah gonna tell me non of this has any real correlation or claim? *jabs finger at the images below.*

EDIT: I WAS RIGHT!, so what if The Parallel Cannon is said to be just a copy surronded by lesser copies. Order still had to capture a fraction of Fours Soul and than Copy a template or construct of Four, in the process of also Greyscaling those copies and reprograming them into a Security Force for its own use!

Meanwhile the Original Soul Fragment was WAS USED, to form a Pallete.

So...yah. Its maybe not the full 4 BUT it's also still technically 4 to a degree!

EDIT: Hmph. So I was pretty clam close to the lore!)

I am like 71% convinced that it is Agent 4. Despite. What. The. Game and Off the hook reacts to. Theirs faaaar to much evidence to not considered or convenience, me otherwise!

Another interesting detail is the very boss name itself...

And than these little tid bits below...theres far too much stuff HINTING AT 4...like we all know how Nintendo loooooves tah hide der lore.

EDIT: JUST LIKE THE JELLOTONS FOURS COPY WAS REPROGRAMED AND RECONSRRUCTED INTO A ROLE ONLY ORDER WOULD WANT.

And from dat ominoius statement Baby Order left on 4s Soul Weapon Pallete, I point to this other little fact.

Overlorder...so many little hints at the corrupted A.I twists what was going to be 4s job, or rather reaaaaally likes that idea.

And just inking goes for 4.

We or those who have read Marina's Dev Dairies know the rather horrifying and painfully traumatize process of being Sanitized.

And I point out GreyScaling sounds pretty similar no?

The memverse was made to REVERSE IT, or at least help bring life back to those poor empty husks. Yah, they legit said Husks.

I'm thinking Overlorder took dat Data and used it to form the Greyscaling process, taking advantage of the Glitch or Security Risk in the memverse and sucked up A Soul Fragment of Agent 4s portion via the Shellphone -to form the Copy Amalgamation of Parallel Cannon.

Ironically creating a Security System Avatar.

For its own purpose.

And may I point out, in my run after defeating Marina...it was them who I encountered next as if my 8 had activated the Avatar by excuting some form of alarm system built into the spire. And I recall that Marina made the whole thing to be repeatable, helping 8 or any Sanitized Octo regain their memories--yet when yah defeat dah boss, she reacts if she had never designed or even put in a template for that boss...unlike the other two. Which would explain dah new info e got on Order capturing and copying 4s Agent Skillset and Biodata for its own foul use!

-------(Edit: The famistu interview duddddes.)

A MUCH clearer new info about 4...

See dah part where der made out of sludge?

GREY FAMILIAR LOOKING SLUDGE. Grey Oooze...apparently capable of not only erasing memories and the conscious self, but also copying the Soul Fragments of captured victims when installed or pasted into it, thus creating an Artificial and rather freaky constructs or Avatars for Order to use...

A copy they maybe...but it still had to come from the Original Agent 4.

And I don't think Four would have willingly allowed the Corrupted Order A.i to use their biodata and skillsets for such a dark purpose.

IF yah think about it dis way, they had a fragment of der soul torn from themselves, thus becoming a victim and vulnerable to Greyscaling. THAN that Fragment was, forcibly copied without OGs Fours permission and most likely put through some kind of Greyscaling process, it's body and much like the Jellotons, was reconstructed and copied again tah be used as a weapon...

THAN that remaining OG Soul Fragment as turned into 4s favorite weapon...

Like hers how the describe Fours personality and traits directly from in-game lore:

"Agent 4 is described as a silent squid who goes with the flow even in raging waters, and values freedom and flexibility. They also "blast through any situation with ease." Agent 4 did not initially know who the Squid Sisters were, but later came to respect them after their journey in Octo Canyon. Agent 4, as seen in promo pictures and art, has a diligent work ethic, a lot of confidence, and is extremely free-spirited. Compared to Agent 3, they are shown to be more easygoing and relaxed, yet slightly upbeat in their mannerisms and are constantly depicted as smiling in official art."- Inkipedia

Now try and imagine how having a fragment of their soul captured would effect such a sunshine ray of an Agent... and I could see why Order made a moldable copy of Four. Four would rebel with all der might against Order, like Corrupted Order sounds like their worst nightmare...

And that is my thoughts on dah whole Agent 4 Thang.

[masked-and-doomed]

heya do you got any oc's or anything? like funger oc's n stuff? i'm obsessed with oc's

*since this post mentions her relationship with pocketcat, implied csa warning. also she's depressed so suicide warning ig*

Also. this is 2k words. waow.

Not specifically funger OCs, but I do have a self insert character that I've put in the funger universe!

(the hair is supposed to be black btw it looks more brown to go better with the colour pallette)

I welcome you to- uh. Right. *Turns to face her* You don't have a name. It's been what, fuckin' 3 years? You still haven't decided anything? Oh, now it's kinda maybe meaningful for your character to have no name? Poetic shit? Yeah sure. *Turns back to face you* So, no name. For our sakes, I'll call her Unnamed Girl(ie). UG for short.

She was a human that suddenly got snatched from Earth and put into a white void. And she was trapped there. With memories of nothing. Why she has no name. Well she has some vague memories of her previous life, like her being fatherless, she doesn't remember any names, faces. Just some interactions.

We dunno what the hell happened to Earth nor her, really, all we can assume is that there's probably some sadistic ass higher being that's putting her through that shit? Watching her suffer every moment here. But, we never got to know. They don't really matter to us really, they've never showed up. Not important.

In the white void, she also gained. Some sort of Godhood? She got powers of some sort. So that's one upside. Downside with this is that she's immortal. And as you see, a white void. Is well. A white void. Nothin in it. Sure, she's made a room for herself to get comfy but then you start to go insane with the fact that you're isolated and that there's no one to talk to and you have no purpose in life and that it feels like you were an unwanted part of the universe that wasn't meant to ever be existing but yet you still do, and then erm she can't take it anymore and tries to. Off herself. Multiple times, in fact!

Too bad for her, immortality exists. Or perhaps better called, eternal youth. She hasn't aged since she got here. Perpetually 12, what a hell to be in, huh buddy? Fucked up thing to add on, the way her immortality works is that she suffers the wounds, damage, pain, before her body starts to regrow it back. (Usually like a minute but if she pushes it, it can be instantaneous.)

After a few days in the white void she starts conjuring up friends in her head to try and combat the eternal loneliness. Barely works. She's got three guys in her head, that talk to her from time to time. They're pretty flat and 2D in personality, UG really isn't that much of a creative girl.

(Oohh tumblr compression...)

So, with these characters, let's show you how horrible she is at naming, hm? We got the furry one, Kats. Sadistic and mean one. Guy with the hat is Meowzerz. Cheerleader, also tries to advise UG to be kind. Gas masked fellow is Koolmeow. Wild card, she does whatever she finds fun. Mostly burning things up.

Really shitty names for those last two. No wonder she hasn't picked a name for herself if these are the names she gave these mfs.

...

Well, fuck. Friends aren't really friend-ing great unfortunately. What to do?

Oh, lookie that. That's a buncha.. games and anime. Huh. Well, might as well get through them. All this white is awfully boring.

So after some days of hell, she got to see stories she's vaguely familiar with. Must been stories she experienced back in her previous life. Entertainment is entertainment.

With nothing else in the void really, she gets heavily attached to these media. Filling her time with making fanart and obsessing over the characters. Three in particular she got attached to, but only one of them is of importance considering where we're headed to in this timeline.

Ahh the cat. The horrid horrid cat. I mean she's a young child, having a man tell him she loves her even when it's just a character written by someone else to be a creepy piece of shit is. Well a charming and interesting specimen such as him sharing affection? She can't help but reciprocate back.

With all the time in this non-existence, she makes a whole shrine of shit. Plushies, posters, figures. She loves recreating his likeness and having something physical to hold. Well, she is most well versed in digital art. That she does remember about herself. She was an artist. And most of him is drawn in a computer over and over again. She has no other way to show her love other than to put him in silly situations and emulate how he reacts. Yes I do mean fanfiction. She has a lotta files of just art of him she made, you don't wanna know how big it is.

Even besides him, she's pretty enamoured with this world of Funger. She'd much rather go through that hell than this hell. At least you can die there. And things actually happen.

...

Oh? We can finally go out? After all this time?

You really did get to find a way out, Kats?

It's.. Ahah. The multiverse thing does actually exist, doesn't it? This.. this is the dungeon...

...

Ah, so much explaining her backstory and I haven't gotten to her personality! Well she's. Seriously mentally ill for one. Isolation for god knows how long and all that. I can only conclude Depression or some variation of it for now, though there is definitely another mental disorder at play here. Erm. We might never know. I don't think she'll ever go to therapy or a psychiatrist.

Due to her being in that void for so long, and with barely any memories, there's some things that she's real bad at. Of course, she retains her memory of how to walk, how to speak and communicate, and most basic human things.

However, this bitch cannot social interaction. How unfortunate, my friend.

She can be very blunt and clear with her words. Oh she also has this stupid thing where she's either really crass and informal or just talks fancy and with a thesaurus. Fucking weirdo. can't talk normal ever.

Next note, she has no respect for anyone. That's not to say she doesn't appreciate anyone's company, she definitely likes a good amount of people. Thing is, since she saw this all in a game she played and saw as fiction. Little dolls for her to play with. She never really got to get out of that thinking. Also that with her being some sorta higher being? Yeah, she thinks a little high of herself. Sometimes. Sometimes. (She also think she's the worst thing ever that existed lmao)

Adding on, she also possesses no self respect. No shame. No dignity. No regrets about anything ever. She just lives on. She's a very YOLO it is what it is kinda gal.

UG has a very normal perception of love. She thinks of violence as a sort of love language to her, she just wants to rip her beloveds to shreds. She also has an intense hatred for the cat, despite him being the one she loves most. The hatred plays along with her obsession of the cat. Also. Um. Yandere. yeah. She's obsessive. Isolation and all that. Makes you intensely crave affection and attention. And also being a child. Forever. Yeah she's quite an attention whore. (self label)

Other effects from the isolation also happen to be extreme boredom. She wants to do anything. In her life. And hey, she's got a lot if it to spare.. plany of time. It is mildly boring her that she knows she's most likely gonna win any battle with enemies but still, the experience of fighting is pretty banger. The adrenaline... Thrill seeking. Ahh... She loves fighting.

So um, with those last two paragraphs, she does normal things to both the party that dared step into the dungeon, and the termina contestants. She's normal about them. She is both heavily protective and extremely violent murder maim.

Ah, next thing! She's quite the contradictory thing. Mental disorder again, she can go from one extreme scale to another. Like her love and hatred, protecting her allies to killing them. High self confidence and self praise to self loathing. Sometimes a little bit of a hypocrite. She's weird.

Her morals are. Eh. Eh. Again, she both cares about everyone's lives yet is also apathetic. She doesn't mind murder too much, as she'll dirty her soul a lot through experiencing the funger universe. This. Image.

Everything might as well just be a game to her.

With all o' this. There's multiple timelines of her doing many different things because of how much she can vary and still be in character (well to me, at least). She can do so much. Silly girl.

--

That's all I can think of for now about personality! Little tidbits about her powers before onto the brief timeline. She has some future telling. If the future is far, she can see more possibilities it can go in, not giving an exact determined route of what will happen. If the future is soon, as in, will this guard swing at her right arm or her left arm in 5 seconds? She can check and the future will be certain, that it will be her left arm that will get cut if she doesn't prevent it.

Most of her powers stem from the other media she watched during the isolation period; she rarely uses the Gods' powers in funger purely to fuck around with it and also confuse smart asses. (enki)

--

After finding an escape from the white void, she wakes up in front of the.. dun dun dun... funger dungeons...

She does what any sane person would do and explores with glee.

They aren't really all that scary to a creature like her, only serving her to activate fight mode and get a rush.

She recruits everyone possible with her knowledge of these dungeons, and decides to change some things.

She approaches Pocketcat as she is done with her journey. There are no more battles to fight. No more exploration to be done in this dungeon. She is satisfied. The girl wishes for Pocketcat to eat her, since she hasn't tried that method of killing herself. (Also because she is crushing hard on this man and she knows he loves her too)

He instead gives a different proposal...

...

Remember how she's a sort of 'god' (but not in the funger way) and has OP ass powers? Well there's actually 2 drawbacks to them.

First one, it is quite exhausting. It is also exhausting just living and breathing in fact, but that's the mental disorders. She can go on long without rest but she will be extremely fatigued if she pushes. And my, she pushes a through a lot.

Second, there's one thing that nullifies her powers. Fear. But ah, with a soul like hers, it is quite difficult for her to fear anything. With problems in her way, she either brushes it over, gets enraged, or drowns in sorrow. How on earth could anything scare her?

Ahaha... Well a few actions made by a specific person could scare her...

(he soo gets off being the only one that can get her into such a submissive state, btw)

The one thing keeping her heart from total darkness, now entirely painted black. What a sad soul.

...

So, he didn't kill her. big whump. Fine though, she thinks about the termina festival in 350 years. She wouldn't mind living for that long to see more silly people. Plus, the dungeon took a lot out of her. A lot more magic she used than usual. This period will be... A nice and long break, she thinks positively. One hell she has endured in here, she will prepare to live through and enjoy another. Plus, if it's all adrenaline rushes, how is she meant to savour Termina?

She occupies her time by living with Pocketcat, and.. His usual activities. She joins in on his child murders from time to time. Not as fun as killing monsters that are fully intending to end her life but snuffing another life is still somewhat satisfying, nevertheless. And hey, fun bonding activity, right?

She also does the same as she did in the void, making a bunch of art and stuff. But this time, she actually has someone she can show it to! Speaking of the cat, they do typical lover activities time to time. Dates, and stuff. Doing things together. Fun!

Both of them had their fair share of isolation for a long period of time and needless to say, their 'eternities' are much more lively and worth living through with a like-minded being by their side.

She also.. has a little fun with the contestants before they enter the worst period of their life..

(This part is totally not because of recent events) After spending 350 years with Pocketcat, she picked up some of his mannerisms to her misfortune. Her hand feels like it should be doing something within conversation, so her subconscious makes her jack off a ghost dick. She's gonna have a fun time with talking to people.

...

Now we're at the festival, one meant to end all festivals! And boy it'll end more than just festivals, alright! Hehe.

At the end of this festival, she has one plan.

And that is to finally rest.

She will not be returning from this trip.

...

So, some stuff were left vague because. well. yeah. I don't fully expect to write this into actual fanfiction, but no worries, I'll reveal the gist of what happens at some point. Whether I actually can find it in me to write it out or just make a post about what happens, we shall see.

Extra stuff to mention:

This is basically her. In every universe she visits.

You can check out the '#unnamed OC core' tag to see. More of her vibes.

I also got a playlist.. of her..

(Also, since this is a self insert about half of the traits mentioned are. me. so. yeah. I should try getting diagnosed for something but idk man I can't find shit)

Got any questions! Feel free to ask anything!! >:3 Hell, I'll even answer in character for fun.

[thepeonysbackup]

◇Dry Humping◇

Pairing: Alastor x Fem!Reader

Summary: Gumbo, a soup that brings out more then just the taste of its ingredients, but desire from within from a source only taste can trigger. A broth that acts as a honey sculpted cup that holds the aphrodisiac to the minds most fondest of memories. Affection. That is its purest name.

Tags: Mdni, boring plot, dub con (She ultimately enjoys it), dry humping, something I came up with on the spot.

Word count: 2.2k (not proofread)

Request: Yes/No

Part two at: Meal Time

As you stirred the ladel within the large deep pot from your place at the stove, atop your stool with your apron. You gently leaned over the pot as steam rose, inhaling the heated air so you could smell your progress, it was daring to graze the mark of heavenly, much to your excitement as you shifted to finish chopping up the vegetables that were set up on a chopping board on the off side of the stove as the radio played soft jazz in the background.

Being the kind and sweet little vixen you were, you thought you'd do the hotel a favor by cooking the rest of the staff a meal. Taking care to check on the individuals before you went all in on your choice. Angel wanted Asian food, claiming that he'd seen one of the girls at his work snacking on rice balls and wanted some too. Husk said he'd been craving seafood, groaning about how none of the places near the hotel had anything good to sell. Vaggie was bias, 'okay with whatever was cooking in your noggin' in her own words while Charlie urged you to surprise her with excited squeal. Nifty had ended up finding you before you could her, and then handed you a bag of maggots that were still very much alive and asked for a paste. Creepy, but you said okay before actually thinking it through. Pentious had taken a rather long while of thinking before he settled on soup, he wanted a tomato soup. That left you puzzled at what you could possibly make for everyone to equally enjoy, because fusing palletts with rices and seafood was a breeze, but adding a soup into the mix? Oh dear, your idea was becoming difficult to come into flourishan as you trekked down the halls of the hotel to locate the facility manager and overlord whom was currently residing in his pocket dimension like room, which never seemed to stay in a singular one of them, but shift everytime he wanted it moved. So it was a game of chance, knocking on every door you knew as vacant before finally having one opened by the smiling radio demon. He held his cane in the same hand that he had for the door, the other arm folded behind him as he tilted his head to the right in question down at you. "A meal, you say? My, I was going out this evening but I must ask what it is!" He had enthusiastically voiced through his static, but when you said you hadn't decided yet because of how different everyone's cravings were he seemed interested in also giving an option to you. "You always choose Jambalaya, why not another meal?" You complained while thinking of what you could do with all these choices. "I'm afraid it's Jambalaya, my dear. Unless you have any access to some truly delicious venison!" He chuckled out, lightly twirling his cane in his hand as he tapped it on the ground so he could lean his chin on the handle. This was so unfair, what could you possibly make that would—

"Wait, Jambalaya- Jambalaya, Cajun‐ Cajun means that rice, shrimp and- Yes, wait, hold on- Soup- Tomatoes- Vegetables and add extra meat like chicken and venison—" You babbled quickly aloud, drawing Alastors attention a bit more. He cocked a brow at you, lips thinning out as he grinned at your unintelligible banter, "My Dear, you must speak up. I simply can't understand anything when you mumble." He straightened himself up so he could examine his nails as you let out an excited noise, in all fairness it was so sudden that he had every right to tense up as you grabbed his arms suddenly in a tight grasp so you could pull him towards you, "You're a Genius Al, thank you!" You beamed, bouncyness following your stride as you began to quickly make your way back down the hallway to the stairs after letting him go like you hadn't even realized that his static was buzzing like a hornet around the two of you. You were something alright.

As you had just finished throwing the rest of the vegetables into the pot, you pulled out the spices from the lazy susan on the counter, choosing the more mild spices and only about four drops of tabasco before the basil and parsley were dashed in on top. Now the lid was placed, holding in the mouth watering scents that were to come later when they were ready. The music continued, your figure bopping gently around the kitchen as you began to get the plates ready with the rice, plopping large scoops into the bowls so you could hallow them out by pressed them inward with the bottom of the ladel you were using. At the bottom of each of the rice bowls you'd made, you added thoroughly cooked slices of venison to everyone's except Al's and Niftys. Those two were getting their own special snacks added in, the maniacs. Al's bowl got raw, uncooked deer meat at the bottom instead that and a few on a plate below his bowl that had the maggot paste for the side dip. Niftys maggot paste was poured into her bowl and topped with raw shrimp and then the cooked venison. After all of them were prepped, you picked up a rag and wiped your forehead because all you had to do was wait just a bit longer.

"Ah, so you're really cooking. I would have assumed the hotel would be in flames if anyone else were to take a chance in this room, of course Nifty can make some delicious demon spik."

"Haha, very funny Al." Your back was facing the radio demon, ears on alert as his footsteps slowly but casually drew him over to your bubbling pot, inhaling while lightly using his hand to bring the scent of the steam rising from the sides of the lid. He made a delighted noise, static almost completely gone as his claws grasped the handle of the lid and tugged it off, steam bursting upwards to show the contents within. “Well, this sure isn't Jambalaya but by good golly it's gumbo! How clever of you, little darling!” He spoke loudly, amused and seemingly with a truly gleeful smile on his face as his other hand grabbed your waist to pull you near him as he examined your work, nose catching whiff of a different scent near as well. “And if my nose doesn't deceive me," He inhaled deeply near your ear, nose just barely grazing your cheek as he leaned further up until his head was resting above yours, using his height to allow himself to break character for a moment, his eyes turning wide with dials fixed in the center as blood stains began to run down his chin from how hard he was grinning,

"₮Ⱨ₳₮ ĐɆⱠɆ₵₮₳฿ⱠɆ ₴₵Ɇ₦₮ ł₴ VɆ₦ł₴Ø₦.."

The harsh sound of his static made you wince, body tensed further, “Yes, I thought it would be a nice addition, the meats flavor is a bit different and so when you eat it with the broth i-it tastes mildly spicier then without it.” His voice buzzed, a satisfied noise leaving him as he side stepped around you, now back to his normal cheery grin as he took hold of one of the raw slabs of venison and dangled it above his mouth before slowly opening his jaws like a snake threatening to attack. Then, with a swift move, he clamped down on the thin piece of meat and tore it out of his hand in a single whip of her head to the side. “Truly a marvelous snack you've provided here, darling doe.” His nicknames were slowly progressing to more dearing comparisons, making you flush as you lifted you ladel and placed it back into the pot to stir it, but not before you climbed back onto your stool to do so.

-

Time went by as you cooked, Alastor remaining hovering with his quiet buzz of static as he enjoyed the meat that you had to offer, the fact that you had taken so much time just to get everything you had needed for him making him feel as though he was more important, even if you were making dinner for everyone. His eyes held true to your figure, that smile that forever kept its place on his face widening as he slowly lost himself in thought as he observed your lips lightly shy away from the utensil you'd pulled from the hot boil to get a taste of the broth, the contents being too hot to consume so suddenly before you blew on it. He reveled in the way you moaned at the creamy liquid, eyes shutting blissfully as a hand came to cover your lips like it would hide the long trickle of the broth from his sight. No, he saw it, and how he craved to be the very thing that would lick the taste off you, the tongue that would replace your own that darted so quickly out to take the drop for itself. That, nostalgic.. that warm and soft, dare he say heavenly taste from your lips, from your tongue. Alastors static began to grow in volume, his body inching closer to yours on the stool as he felt a growing pain from below at your half bent over form over the stovetop. “Do you often leave yourself so openly vulnerable to just anybody.. or… Am I just lucky?” He asked, suddenly right against your ear from behind, both hands atop each of yours as his physique pressed you into the dangerously hot Kitchenware. “What?-” You had asked, bewildered at the sudden change in atmosphere the room was in just moments ago. 

Alastor hadn't really heard you, ears pressing back into his head as he pressed his crotch against the plush softness of your ruffled skirt, lightly moving the fabric of his bulge against your rear in slow rolls of his hips. It was sudden, hesitant almost, as if Al hadn't been planning for this to happen whatsoever. “I asked you a question, hmpf- d-dearest..” He hushed against the back of your neck, nipping it with his teeth with a hiss, his hands that had yours pinned down gripping harder to keep you in place as the stretchy fabric of your skirt rode up on your ass at the force used in his motions. The friction had you boggled in the brain, a few noises of concerned pleasure rising up into your throat as you thought hard about his question. “Ahn- N—no-..” She answered, earning a tut from the overlord behind her, the fabric of your panties were getting bunched up and pulled down about half way, “That's not a proper answer, now is it Mon Cher?” A little cry escaped you, the feeling of his pants rough texture against your soft petals making tears of overstimulation well in your big doe eyes. “I-I— I don't know- I can't- Ouu- Fuck!-” Alastor hushed you, a hand freeing one of yours so his could trail up to your neck so it could wrap around it in a firm grip. Your pretty face being cranned upwards and back so he could see the fucked out blissful expression on your face as your own hand reeled back to hold fast against his hip, a last attempt to push him away being futile as his movements became more spurred by you noises, faster and faster. "Such vulgarity," He groaned into your ear, breath hot and growling excitedly, "Speak again, speak to me. Tell me how you crave more, Mon Cher-" Your voice called to him, his name slipping past your lips like a hymn, a lament, a song.

Oh, how he adored your voice, strained and laced with need.

How he desired more as the coil in his mind snapped, antlers growing in size as he hunched over and into your back, head lightly using you as stability while his demonic form grew, long arms and gnarly claws digging into your clothes enough to tear the flesh, not only fabric. The dials of his eyes spun, his legs buckling as your bare cunts juices flowed lazily down his front, the warmth he felt as he released as well pulling a guttural growl from his throat as the both of you eased into a slower more controlled pace.

This hadn't gone as planned, but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.

[dawn-falls]

Is FNAF still relevant? I don't know, but I'll share a little (or not) idea I had for a fangame/story. I actually had this since 2019/2020, but to my lack of motivation, drawing skills (which I still don't have), social media and other personal reasons I'd not like to share, I gave up on it. Without taking any long, I'll share what I have in mind for now.

Five Nights at Moon's.

(Written in first person, since the player/you will control the MC).

You're a senior high schooler and you're a new nocturnal bodyguard of a local store of your town, the Moon's Sweets and Pies. Just in there for some extra money to pay for prom tickets and college. Before your shift, you met Ella Waldridge, the manager, who takes you around for a tour to meet the main five animatronics, who were all named after natural satellites: Europa, Triton, Phobos, Deimos and Moon; Moon was the leader of the group.

On your first night, you're assigned to keep an eye on the kitchen, since the employees have complained of things going missing at night. What you didn't expect was to find out that the animatronics of the bakery were not turned off and they were programmed to attack. But, were they really just animatronics...?

The truth is far beyond that, but you'd have to investigate yourself, since your coworkers denied everything. It would take you five nights of lurking and surviving for you to find pieces of two sides of a very dark story; one in an old newspaper and the other one in the spread pieces of a teenager's diary.

Notes

I have not planned much of this, since it's a story I brought back to my memories not too long ago and decided to build it up. Too bad for me that:

I suck at drawing, especially digital.

I can't make any games.

I have a thousand of stories, both digital and physical ones to complete.

But I didn't give up yet! I am lucky that my mind races like a machine with very little need of being fueled back up, since it's always charged.

If you're wondering if I have any plans for a greater antagonist, more animatronics, or if I planned the MC's name, the answer is yes. About the MC, though, I didn't think of a surname.

Two extra animatronics:

Callisto;

Ganymede;

Greater Antagonist:

[Redacted] Hughes

She has a past connection with FNAF Purple Bunny Man.

MC's name:

Allison Lytle

That's all I have for now. If someone shows interest or I start finding my style more likeable, then I'll get to drawing it all. The animatronics will be the hardest for me, as they all have humanised traits but with colour pallettes and details of the moons they're named after.

Thanks for reading this! See you next time.

[ye-local-simp]

Warnings: Chapter 5 spoilers, theories

Just for those who have not yet done it since you know, ENG version

So wait... Mickey doesn't know us either??? But it's also kind of a coincidence as well. Like I feel like Crowley knows about Mickey though. Otherwise he wouldn't give us a room with this mirror and a ghost camera to top it off. Plus it might explain why he isn't particularly that worried about us getting home. And he isn't worried at all when it comes to us(as if he knows), like he isn't worried about evacuating us even though we would certainly not have the magic to defend ourselves.

Plus this makes me even more curious about RSA:like how do their students get picked. Is it something like the dark mirror. Maybe Ambrose may know(he's based on that Wizard in the sword in the stone), so he does know a lot about magic and maybe other dimensions. And if Ambrose and Crowley are rivals in a way, who is Crowley even based on. Because it seems that most of the rivals are enemies in the actual story.

I feel like at some point we would visit RSA too because I dont think one Malleus overblot is going to get us home.

And Grimm, I feel like he also knows something. I mean more about how we got there. I mean it may not look like it but he was written in a way that it makes it look like that. Even his name,(Grimm is the surname of the twins that originally wrote these most of the fairytales that Disney animates). Plus the monster we fought at the very beginning of the game(it had the same pallette of colours Grimm had and it had blue flames/a monstrous cat appearance. Basically, I'm trying to say that maybe it wont end with Malleus but rather Grimm. In addition, I think that Grimm is a actually based on a character but the question is what character?

Another thing is that I think the dark mirror does know something as well. It's just how it was portrayed that it makes me think that it was hiding something. Like it somehow knew where Epel should go even though the nature of his heart isn't the goal of Pomefiore. Plus this mirror has a connection to every story somehow despite the role of a mirror being essential in snow whites story(Im trying to say that the mirror is closely linked to for example,Savanaclaw, even though a mirror hasnt been shown in the lion king even once.

Anyway that's all I have for today so now I want to hear your ideas!!

Feel free to also type your theories/ideas

[justanotherfanartist]

Realizing now that 12 year old me wrote some deep and unnecessarily complicated shit, included but not limited to:

-a main cast and storyline of Splatoon 3, mostly with original characters and crossed over with the CoroCoro manga. Including new bands, idols, main enemy story, new weapons, stages, ranked modes etc. I made goddamn character lineups for these, I have a ton of sketches. There were complicated dynamics including the falling out and repair of a drunk fight between an older brother and his bipolar younger sister, realistic friend group reactions to that, how it pushed her on her femme retake yet unstable path. Includes Mutual pining between other characters, relationships. One of them was flamboyantly gay.

-an entire new tf2 class that I balanced out, detailed down to ammunition and health (+ Uber charge) character backstory etc, relationship dynamics with the other classes and specific taunt/dialogue lines. Included character sketches.

-a main villain for agents of shield, included a character design, personality to a tee. Included specific scenarios and character deaths she would cause. Femme fetale but murder energy. Signature weapon, her whole thing was hiding in plain sight. Fancy antagonist.

-wedged a character and storyline into the force awakens when it first came out. Relationships, sibling reveal, followed the canon.

-when Fucking insane for the clone wars. Jedi commander, a shit ton of clones whom I fleshed out to a t, CC numbers, unique armor. Jedi commander whom I loved, nickname backstories for all the clones, a complicated rivals to best friends storyline that ended in a self sacrifice that left the rest of them with trauma and ptsd. Followed them through order 66 and after, all of their deaths planned out, I even wrote the reuinion between the commander and her surviving battalion members. They had a unique name and custom armor designs/symbols. Followed the canon timeline while doing all of this. barely any canon characters however r, when I tell you I went batshit with the originality I mean it.

-AN ENTIRE FUCKING VIDEO GAME.A DETAILED PLOT LINE COMPLETE WITH CONCEPT ART, BOSS FIGHTS, ABILITIES, ENDEARING SIDE CHARACTERS AND SO MUCH SYMBOLISM. I WORKED OUT GAME MECHANICS, I KNEW HOW THE PROGRESSION WOULD FEEL AND HOW THE ANIMATION WOULD LOOK. I HAD EVERYTHING SHORT OF A SCORE. I HAD THE SEQUEL AND THE DLCS PLANNED OUT. I DESIGNED IT TO EMOTIONALLY INVEST THE PLAYER AND INTRODUCED UNIQUE MECHANICS INTO THE GAME TO SET IT APART FROM OTHER TITLES. Main themes included internal conflict, revenge, the morality of deciding whether you’re human or not, so much gore, choosing your own path, destroying capitalism, environmental issues, how to cope with you being the monster, watching The main characters morality deteriorate. Bomb ass character design if I do say so myself. Would have been a pixel art metroidvania with a distinct Pallette and art style I created. that wasnt detailed at all compared to the real thing but when I tell you I literally have an entire video game franchise I made in my head I am not kidding. The one person I’ve detailed the entire thing out to thought it was genuinely cool so I’m happy about that.

-had a really gay webtoon I plotted out. Character dynamics, pining, coming out, will they won’t they, diverse cast. Punching homophobes included. Lovable characters. Emotionally investing. Cute name. Not as detailed as everything else but I still like my idea. A trans big sister figure who I don’t think anyone could hate.

-an entire warrior cats book series, loosely plotted out. I wasn’t alone in making this actually, a friend and I did it together. All original characters, we made all for clans. Drew and developed self inserts. Complicated dynamics. Included outcast trope, kinda creep behavior (to me at least). Naive characters, sibling dynamics, very good art my friend made- Full pallettes and ref sheets to.

BRO I WAS TWELVE HOW DID NO ONE REALIZE I HAD ADHD JFC

the problem is most of the details are in my head. I’ve written and drawn a large chunk of this out but I have so much more to do ugh. I do have some old writing I’ve been going through and a chunk of it holds up so there’s hope yet.

*protective of my own ideas sorry if these are vague lol. I love some of these and I’ve filled sketchbooks and notebooks with them. I’m just paranoid sometimes.

[equestrianwritingsstuff]

OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE THE DROWNED SERIES, IT'S SO DAMN GOOD

Thank you for the ask, it makes me excited to see that people are still interested.

Drowning Part 10

@shydragonrider @asrasmysoulmate @sunflower1000

This one is kind of short, and probably makes no sense, but it starts to explain the story line a bit more and what my goal is with Supervillain (and perhaps the reason I am not having him rescued... yet 👀). Anyway, not edited.

Ask games for this series are here and here.

Masterlist

Warnings: referring to person as "it", altered state of reality, dehumanization, muzzled, talk of surgery, weaponizing a human, fear

~

"Okay thank you for your cooperation," the director said as he stopped the recording. He looked up, smiled, and began to pack away his things- an array of various instruments to enable both Villain and Hero's voices to be clearly heard all the way at the Hero Facility.

"Yeah well, I expect my pay within the next two days," Villain crossed his arms and swung his leg over top of the other one.

"That may not be-"

"Director. I am doing this for you guys. I have my record cleared, Hero in my custody, and a billionaire. I don't need to this for you guys."

"But you are in love with the cash," Hero chimed in, rolling her forestry green eyes. Not with attitude or snarky annoyance, but out of pure loathing.

Villain shot her a glare the second she closed her mouth and stood up, pacing. "I want my pay, fifty-thousand for a mere conversation isn't something you come by everyday," he said, rubbing his hands through his blonde mane.

"Yes but-"

"The only reason it was fifty-thousand," Hero interrupted the director. "Is because you pushed it that far." She didn't exactly understand her exasperation. After all, she agreed to do this with him- not that she had a choice. She was, in fact, thankful for him for breaking her out of the facility, even to the point of restoring friendship.

"Well they consented..." Villain's voice trailed off as he stopped his aimless walking. He sneered, a mischievous look dawning on his face. "I could, just for the record, break Supervillain out of his cell easily. Actually, I bet a novice could."

The director stiffened, fingers tapping the screen on his phone, prepare to call the authorities. Hero smiled slightly. After her aided escape, the heroes didn't bother to recapture her or Villain. And it was all because her rescuer threatened the Hero Facility if they tried to reclaim her. It was like he controlled the heroes- and maybe in a way, he did.

"Okay you will get the money! Write him a check or cash him over some. I don't care, just give it to him."

Villain snickered at the director's desperation and fear.

Hero watched as a young girl scribbled a check and handed it to Villain. Then, after than transaction, the whole team wrapped up and left without another word.

"Hmm," Villain said, eyeing the check he possessed.

"What do you want for dinner?" Hero asked, repeating the lines her current maid position required of her- not that she had to, Villain was not strict enough to enforce rules, but cleaning and cooking seemed to put his explosiveness at ease.

"Nothing. I have a date."

A date?!

"You have a girlfriend?" Hero chuckled. "Who is the unlucky damsel?"

"That's besides the point, but she is quite pretty."

"How long have you been dating?"

"This is our third date within the course of two months."

Two months... that was duration of time since she and Supervillain were kidnapped.

"Not that consistent then," Hero commented instead of voicing her curiosity.

"She works as a nurse, so she is quite busy," Villain replied, folding the check and placing it in his jean's pockets.

"I see," Hero replied. "Where is your date? Please tell me you are not taking her to McDonald's."

"That coffee date in the park sounded great," Villain replied. "Then I was thinking Taco Bell."

"No, no, no!" Hero scolded, pushing herself to her feet. "You are not taking this poor girl on a date to a fast food restaurant. You are a billionaire, Villain. Take her to one of those places where they serve an ounce of food for thirty dollars and spoil her."

Villain blushed, pulling at his fingers nervously. "You know a couple months ago I thought I would be taking you on a date."

"Me too," Hero sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

"I guess life took a turn, didn't it?"

"Yes," Hero replied, extending her arms and wrapping Villain in an embrace. Before she let go, she whispered:

"Torture was in that turn to, wasn't it?"

Villain's muscles tensed, he coughed and pulled away. "See you tonight," he said and ran up the stairs to go get changed.

《~~》

All at once, a piece of light, a string of consciousness sprouted through the dark unconsciousness of the patient's mind. It swirled, bombarding lidded eyes with intolerable brightness. They strained, trying to shut, but it was as if the motor lost control- or gained control, depending on which side of the metaphor you are one.

Then the light formed into various shapes, some holding objects of humanoid form whereas others were cubical, rectangular and circular- making the world around the patient pixelated and blurry. Colors rounded to the basis of their hue- cyan swirling into blue, pale yellow whisking itself into an off-white- until the world was a pallette of bland coloring.

The noise, lolling in a sense, but also increasingly obnoxious. Beeps and rings, rumbles and grumbles, but all the vowels and consonants equaled a series of off-tune words, some faded, others marked with clarity.

Not safe, were the only cognitive thoughts. Not safe not safe not safe. He tried to thrash, anything to get away from the looming danger, though his protruding limbs were too weak, will devoid of any resolve.

More sounds rumbled and purred around him as equally slow restraints grappled at his arms and legs- or were they fast paced? The man didn't know. The perception between reality and unreality was dim, as was his ability to process sleed and direction. Heck, he didn't even know his own name, just the anticipated danger.

He coughed, or tried to, some form of blockade in his mouth inhibited any sound, cough or otherwise, to escape. Tears pricked at his eyes, later streaming down his cheeks- he wanted to go home. Home to that dank apartment that couldn't seem to leave his very intellect. He wanted home, needed home...

The shapes around him once again began to evaporate, but this time instead of mixing into like shades and tones of color, they all shifted to one mass of brown-colored mud before it all vanished into blackness again.

《~~》

"Vitals?"

The doctor's voice ran throughout the room as nurses scrambled to check Supervillain over. The room soon sung with a chorus of "Good".

"Then everyone is dismissed other than Doctor and Medic," a new voice, equally as authoritive yet significantly much more of a feminine type.

All the nurses practically galloped out of the room as a hoard, not daring to look at the woman who just stepped in.

"Leader," the doctor greeted the woman. "What brings you here?"

"I've come to look at the project. I heard it just underwent surgery?" The lady spoke, walking up to the bed where the unconscious patient rested.

"Yes, knee replacement surgery," the doctor replied, joining Leader by the bed. Medic appeared across from them, tenderly rubbing her fingers over the supervillain's hand.

"Fifteen hours on the table," Leader continued to speak, observing Supervillain with contempt in her gaze. "Why?"

"We had to replace the entire knee cap with a newly engineered material made from cells of donors and a type of substance formed from titanium to enhance strength and durability. Then we had to connect the nerves and ligaments to the knee so he can control it like normal."

"Also known as a high-tech prosthetic? Why, may I ask, did my project have to get one?"

"Broken knee..."

"Shattered, Doctor," gray eyes darted around to meet the doctor's humble brown ones. "Not broken, but completely shattered. It needs to be fully operational by the end of the month."

"Ma'am, the recovery is going to be rough-" the doctor tried to protest.

"We have serums for that," Leader groaned, throwing her head into the air.

"It is not safe to drug him with much. His cells and blood need to adapt."

"I don't care. I put a lot of time and effort and money into this project. The enemy is going to launch an attack soon, our spies have gathered enough data to anticipate it by the end of the month. You have been soft Doctor, in his training."

"It's been working," the doctor reasoned.

"It's submission, not training. Ever hear of conditioning?"

"I have done some research into it and I believe that we need to take a more-"

"Yes you are right," Leader smiled. "I don't want a bodyguard. I want a weapon with one, single purpose. Eliminate Hero."

"I don't get that," Medic spoke up, her voice soft, yet filled with courage. "Why get rid of Hero when she is not the enemy?"

Leader chuckled, eyes thinkling. "What an ignorant little girl, so cute though. Did you do your make-up today? Hmm." The baby talk rapidly switched to a more serious tone, "She is a threat, even bigger than this newfound enemy. The moment she joins sides, which we know she will, the odds will be... let's say any attempt to stop them will be suicide."

"We contained her once before..."

"She will be mad, you'll see," Leader acquired a distant look in her dreary gray eyes. "Start weaponizing it. Immediately."

《~~》

Run.

Duck.

Jump.

"I love you."

"Love you more."

Punch.

Supervillain was panting for breath by the time he collapsed on the ground, exhausted to the highest extent. Sweat beaded around his hairline- recently trimmed in a convenient, yet flashy style, with a lightning bolt shaved into the side.

"I love you."

"Love you more."

Supervillain groaned, rubbing shaking hands over his face. Turn it off turn it off turn if off...

Everyday started with a morning workout in the gym. The gym had a track running around the whole thing with obstacles for him to duck under and jump over. The center only had a punching bag and a benchpress, but equally sweaty and daunting.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker rang, signaling that Supervillain could leave.

Once, of course, training was done.

Workouts weren't training, they were extra credit designed to get him further, to get him a higher GPA.

The doctor entered the room, so Supervillain stood up- respect, expected and therefore delivered.

"How many laps?"

"Twenty-five, sir."

The doctor took note of that on his clipboard, frowning before asking his speed.

"5 miles per hour, sir."

This time, the doctor smiled. "Good," he praised, then looked at the benchpress.

"Three hundred pounds," the doctor tapped the dumbbell with his pen, still grinning widely. "Nice work, but yesterday you did three-fiftey."

Supervillain whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut. He failed he failed he failed he failed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, proceeding to walk towards the nearby intern to receive the needed correction.

The intern raised her hands, holding a contraption of metal and leather, and slipped it into Supervillain's mouth. He whimpered upon feeling the cold metal slid onto his tongue. A leather strap held it in place, tightly buckled in the back of his head. From that extended more leather that went over his nose. A chain was linked through the nasal strap, more cold metal on warm skin.

Abruptly, he was pulled forward. The metal pinched that nerve- the one that always ached from the commonly given treatment.

The intern pulled him into yet another white room.

Yet this one contained the most dreaded torture implement.

[wm-paintbrush]

🖊

So you're letting me pick? ... *laughs maniacally* THAT WAS A BAD IDEA HUN ---------------------------------------- So i have alot of ocs actually- and alot of sonas also from the past, present, future- so excuse me but you GAVE ME PERMISSION TO GUSH. But to keep you sane, i'm gonna skip over most of the "dead" characters Savvy is one of 4+ characters that i absolutely still adore, and keep in my little oc-world A grey to red and reddish pink color pallette, fennec fox-plushie. I mainly inspired her personality of the vibe i give off to any newcomers- and well- she also has 1 different form that i previously called "Darkus" for some reason Void is the next, a white to turquoise and cyan color pallette, glitchy fox. I think she's kinda like the vibe after you've known me for awhile? But that might have changed- all i know is she glitchy and cool lmfao Also previously shown to melt, might keep that Mayah and Daeva simultaneously are Bacterial Contamination Cats Because DAMN if being edgy wasn't enough, add the spooks! and stabs Enough of the jokes though, Mayah is the one with a scarf and is overall shy for some fucking reason and Daeva is an edgelord due to- well i'll mention them later. Both are (darker) grey and red with possible pink/white stingers... idk yet it's been a while! Molse, who i actually felt like should have kept the albino-mouse-rat species, might become a rabbit later on. White-black-red and neutral. Smol boi lmfao. Might have been a victim to either Mayah or Daeva- I forgot the name of this one, probably was too complex- I have a molecule-alcohol-dog character and i think they're absolutely NOICE! Might have to explore this character more so their story could begin showing to me. I have a few others somewhere but those are the most interesting... But i bet you wanna know that guy who corrupted Daeva, didn't cha? Corrupto is currently their/his name, and currently is a loose runaway corruption. Took a liking to Daeva, but.. they still are a fuckass even if that liking exists (= Oh and they probably will stay like that until showing a clear sign of redemption muahahahaha i'm evil Now for some of the interesting ones Starting of with another corruption who'se previous host i won't say.. We have my little experimental creature, Vortex! They're a little mess, learning as they go. But man, they're a BIT different from the others, and fun to draw for some reason. Btw both corruptions are black (white or red) goopsters lmfao Honorable mentions before the ones i've drawn more often: Pencil [AU], kinda child and bean, might not be innocent deep down though. Zodiac dream demon, and of course you already have the possible right guess at who their origins deprive from. That one roomba and (grappling+something else) gun who if i draw more often, will be to background tests or other fun shit Emma and that one sign, two characters i entirely made up just from the game and previous arg that i love(d) as fuck [Changed | Pooche and Pansy] Now excuse me, but i wanna talk about Tempus! That one bibically accurate angel looking clock! I love that one. A time entity who i'm starting to suspect might be related to Painty over there- Also they have a cracked side of glass for some reason?? Hmmm.. Well i obviously know why for that one, but go ahead and theorize. Also i haven't choosen their colors yet but they have a tail, lmfao- that's mostly all Chi, who i might be mashing up with the other heart character in a weirdcore post, is my little emotion/soul demon who started of as a pure vent character but now might just be an emotionally unstable bean. Can't decide if they're blue or purple, but otherwise i just love my little heart fello <3 Also she chills around PaintBrush cause yes. And PaintBrush, my dearie self, multidimensional zodiac dream demon! Creative, unpredictable, and matched to my chaotic personality, and i absolutely love her so much i swear to axol- Um anyways, she is really respecting and caring, but can lose herself to demonic senses and also emotions (cause i lose myself to emotions sometimes

no cap) and might or might not have been- [spoilers] Also she's friends with a Bill cipher, how perfect, totally not the same Bill cipher that hangs around me. And i think that's most that i can gush about.. for now. If it sounds like i rambled then sorry, but.. not sorry agDSGOPIEOSPRHI- Anyway this is from a while ago, but shows alot of the characters i've talked about here. NOW MERRY CHRISTMAS SHOOKAS

[dr-mesmer]

I.The Carpenter

Rumor "With many skeletons in her closet, she came to the manor in search of her lost lover."

Name: Lucy Fritzel Sex: Female Age: 28 Date of birth: October 17th Good at: Working with wood Like: romance novels, housework Hate: fake people Role: Contain Tool: Hammer

External traits:

Handyman: Carries around a hammer that is used to fix broken palettes, bringing them back to their laid down state. There is 20 seconds cool down between each use. Fixing the palette alerts the hunter.

Lovestruck: Not wanting to hurt her lover, the Carpenter is not able to stun the Hunter.

Alert: Due to her excellent knowledge of surroundings, the Carpenter can't be hurt while throwing down the pallette.

Woodwork: Wood is the material she knows the best. Her vaulting speed while vaulting through palette is increased by 10% but window vaulting speed is decreased by 10%.

Deduction Target:

1. Forever together There is an unbreakable bond between them.

Conclusion A photo: A young girl and a boy standing in front of an orphanage, holding hands.

2. Innocent There is nothing more pure than young love.

Conclusion A list: Piece of clothing, toothbrush, lighter, wrapping paper, envelope

3. Splitting up It's a heartbreaking experience

Conclusion From a letter 1:"Please. This got out of hand. We can't be seeing each other anymore. You have to leave me alone..."

4. Following The want to be as close as possible.

Conclusion From girl's diary 1: Today I've seen him with some people I don't recognize. Are they close?

5. Protection This is for your own good.

Conclusion From a letter 2: "I beg you. Leave them alone. They did nothing wrong."

6. Warning Sometimes things don't go as planned.

Conclusion A restraining order: "Violations of restraining orders is associated with certain stalking themes and the number of stalking actions." 7. Labyrinth If you love me, you can find a way out.

Conclusion A plan of a labyrinth. The path to the exit seems to be changeable.

8. Reunited The day has finally come

Conclusion From girl's diary 2: "It's been a week since we started living together. For now, the construction seems to be working. He is still searching for the path."

9. Searching Where are you my beloved?

Conclusion From girl's diary 3: "I don't know how, I don't know where but he escaped. The only thing left is this envelope."

10. Missing What happened here?

Conclusion From police's investigation: The owner, just like the victim, has not yet been found.

11. Clue It must be true.

Conclusion Lucy Firtzel's Invitation Letter: We sincerely invite you to join a special game. Someone is waiting for you in the manor.

[saltysunflowersugar]

POV: you just pronounced Veniza as Venice

[currently-in-fanfiction-hell]

Days at the Hunter Base, CHAPTER 3: GAME ON! (Originally from my Quotev account)

Axl was bored.

Well, it was to be expected, with no Maverick incidents around, he was bound to be bored, while he did think that it was nice that Maverick Hunter HQ was quiet for once, he also found it quite...well, boring.

He'd go to the training room sometimes and fight against old Mavericks, but after a while to him it had the same entertainment value and skill needed to watch paint dry.

Occasionally, he'd use his A-Trans ability to take the form of X or Zero in an attempt to confuse and prank the two, but it stopped being fun when they learned how to figure out it was him, the joke lost its charm quickly.

Needless to say, when there weren't any Mavericks around, there wasn't a lot to do around HQ.

But then, a conversation with X and Zero immediately fixed this problem.

"Y'know, Axl, you haven't really been acting like yourself recently." X said, "is there anything going on?"

"Yeah, Axl," Zero nodded his head in agreement, "Normally you'd be pretty...active around HQ, but these days you seem to be quieter than usual, and, since we're talking about you here, well, I'm a little concerned." He smirked, X let out a poorly muffled laugh.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just..." Axl paused.

"It's just what?" X asked.

"It's just that I've been pretty bored lately, there haven't been any big missions lately, and there isn't a whole lot to do, so..."

"...So you've been really jaded recently, is that it?" Zero concluded.

"Yeah...that's basically it." Axl said, "Now I really don't know what to do and it's just... bothering me." He looked down, he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand the boredom, He just wanted to do something.

He waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, he looked at X to find that he was deep in thought, after a while, X came up with a solution.

"What about going outside? If you can't find anything to do inside Hunter Base, then why don't you try to find something to do outside Hunter Base? That's what I do most of the time."

Axl's eyes lit up like a candle, instantly bringing back the energetic Axl everyone knew, "That's a great idea! Thanks, X! I'm heading out now!"

And with that, he sprinted out of the door.

"Well, that seemed to solve his problem quickly." Zero remarked.

"Yeah, let's just hope that things don't get out of hand." X joked, they both shared a good laugh.

_______________________________________________

Shortly after his chat with X and Zero, Axl arrived at an arcade in a local shopping plaza, he'd never been to an arcade before, but he'd heard a fair amount about them thanks to Palette, who seemed to go to one every now and then.

While he knew that there were a lot of games in an arcade, he wasn't expecting THIS much.

Come to think about it, Pallette never told me about the kinds of games they had in here. Axl thought, all of the arcade machines looked foreign to him, Rhythm games, Claw machines, Street Brawler, and... Dance Dance Robo-lution? Sounds interesting. He thought to himself.

All of these games looked fun to him, but he had a hard time choosing, finally, he settled on trying out Dance Dance Robo-lution first.

He stepped on the platform connected to the arcade machine, energetic music started playing, and on-screen he saw arrows rising up from below going to the top of the screen, they disappeared once they overlapped with arrows of the same type above, marked as a "miss".

"A miss?" Axl thought, he looked below him, the platform he was standing on had arrows, just like those on the screen.

Suddenly, it made sense, it wouldn't be called "Dance Dance Robo-lution" if there wasn't, well, dancing.

He began to move his feet and step on the arrows according to the ones on-screen, he figured that the closer they were to the arrows on top, the better his score would be.

"GOOD!"

"GREAT!'

"PERFECT!"

"MARVELOUS!"

By the end of the game, he did surprisingly good, despite the major mistakes in the beginning.

"Phew!" Axl wiped sweat off of his face, "That was actually kinda fun!"

"Hey, Axl! Didn't expect to see you here!" A familliar voice came from behind.

Axl turned around, seeing an equally familliar face, "Oh, hey Palette! I was just bored and decided to check out the arcade, you keep on talking about them, after all! I just finished up a round of Dance Dance Robo-lution, I think I did pretty good, whaddaya think?"

Palette stepped closer to examine the screen, "Pffft, you scored a B? Good, maybe, but nowhere near impressive, move aside."

"Wha-?"

Palette shoved him off the platform and started the same level up, "Watch this." She winked.

Axl watched very intensely, the longer she played, the wider his eyes became.

Every movement Pallette made was very precise, and, the more he watched, the more he couldn't believe it.

She hadn't made a single mistake.

By the end of the game, Axl's jaw dropped to the ground.

She managed to get a perfect score.

Palette stepped down from the platform, smiling as she noticed the face of a very shocked Axl.

"So? What'cha think, Axl? Is that impressive or what?" She grinned.

Axl still was trying to recover from his shock, he was lost for words, "Y-y-you wha-? H-how-"

"Relax," Palette put an arm around him, "It took me ages to ace that level, wanna try some other things around here?"

"O-okay..." Axl said, slowly beginning to calm down, "What about that machine over there?"

He pointed to another arcade machine across them, it was a drum-themed rhythm game.

"Sweet! Heheh, Palette, professional drummer, prepared to take the spotlight!" Pallette beamed.

"Heh, we'll see about that," Axl smirked, "Prepare to get your butt kicked!"

They rushed to the nearby machine, going one-on-one, the competition was intense, as the beat got faster, they were getting more and more tense, the sticks on their hands hitting the drums harder and harder, their eyes narrowing closer and closer to the screen-

Finally, the tension broke, the screen rallying up their scores...

P1: RANK A

P2: RANK AA

Axl's screen showered with confetti, the young Hunter raised his arms up in celebration.

"YES!" Axl cheered.

"What?!" Palette gawked in disbelief, "I was so close!!" She pounded her fists on the drums, "How'd you do that?"

Axl beamed, "Heh, I have a few tricks up my sleeve..." By "tricks", he meant sneaking out Red's old drum kit back in his days at Red Alert for secret practice sessions, but hey, Palette didn't need to know, did she?

"Anyways..." he continued, "what about that claw machine over there?"

"A claw machine?!" Palette panicked, "Axl, that's a bad idea, don't-" it was too late, Axl had already sprinted ahead and plopped a Zenny coin inside the machine.

Palette rushed up to him, "Axl, this is a bad idea, it's a claw machine, you're basically paying for nothing!" She pleaded.

"Pfft, what's so bad about a claw machine? All you need to do is grab a toy like so and-"

Plop.

The toy that Axl had successfully grabbed had fallen back down the moment the crane reached the top.

"What?!" Axl frowned, stomping his foot in defeat.

"See? I told you so, here, let me try." She flicked another Zenny coin into the machine.

"And who was the one who said that this was a bad idea?" Axl teased.

"Shut up, this is a matter of personal pride now." Palette snapped, keeping her eyes on the crane, she successfully picked up a toy.

Plop.

It dropped back into the pile.

She placed another coin inside.

"Y'know, you're starting to sound a lot like Zero now." Axl smirked again.

"Stop teasing me, I'm trying to focus here." Palette grumbled, visibly annoyed.

Plop.

This time it dropped the moment she grabbed it.

"UGH! WHY DOES THIS MACHINE KEEP DOING THIS TO ME?!" Palette whined, banging her fists on ths glass of the machine.

"Y'know what? Let me try." Axl stepped forward and flicked another Zenny coin into this demon of a claw machine.

He focused his eyes on the crane in front of him, attempt after attempt, the toy kept on falling, after several more rounds of grumbling and screams of pure agony, they definitely had an audience watching them now.

Axl looked at his free hand, one last Zenny coin, reluctantly, he slid it inside, hoping for the best.

Eyes were watching closely and intensely, his own staring at the crane, as if he had telekenisis of some sort, c'mon, move! And don't drop! He said in his mind, knowing that the claw machine wouldn't listen.

The machine successfully managed to grab a stuffed rabbit out of the pile, grabbing it by the ear.

The crane moved closer and closer to the tube, he was nearly there-

Plop.

A few moments later, A small, white bunny came out of the claw machine.

He did it.

He actually did it.

Cheers and applause from humans and Reploids alike roared in the background, it was almost deafening.

"You did it, Axl!" Palette exclaimed, "I never thought this would happen, but it did!"

"What? I'm sorry, Palette, I can't hear you!"

...

A few moments later, after the crowd had quietened and broken up, Axl and Palette walked out of the arcade.

"Well... that was... something." Palette grinned, "What did you think of your first arcade experience, Axl?" She asked.

"I thought it was pretty great!" Axl grinned back. "Except for the part where I went broke trying to grab a bunny, but hey, at least I got something!" He beamed.

"Hey, you started it!" Palette playfully nudged him on the shoulder.

"And you insisted to keep going." He smirked back.

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right." She groaned, "But you're right, it was fun."

She looked at the stuffed rabbit in his arms, "Have you figured out what to name it yet?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, this?" Axl looked down, staring at the rabbit with it's cute pink bow, "I dunno, here, you get to keep it." He tossed it over to Pallette, who thankfully managed to catch it.

"Well, if you say so..." she paused, "I guess I'll call it Fluffkins..."

"Aw, c'mon, that's all you could think of?" Axl frowned.

"What? Do you have a better name?" She smirked.

"What about something like, Ms. Hopps the 3rd?" He grinned, they both burst out in laughter, "No way I'm calling her that." Palette chuckled.

"..."

"..."

'Hey, Palette?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we could do this again sometime?"

"Sure! But don't expect me to go easy on you just because you got me Fluffkins!"

"Oh, you're on!"

_______________________________________________

(Author's Notes): This was definitely the most fun chapter to write so far! Axl may not be my favorite, but I still love him and this was interesting to write.

The entire chapter was inspired by the scene in the arcade in "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", where the character Kyoko has a conversation with Homura while playing what appears to be Dance Dance Revolution, the entire chapter idea kinda morphed on it's own after that.

I hope you enjoyed it! There's definitely more coming up, so stay tuned!

[genderfreezone]

Do you like the Evil Within 2?

Yeah! Certainly not as much as the first one (i was not immune to being sad they left out fan favorites Jojo and Ruvik's Cube)

The rest of this post is me rambling about things i didnt like about the game, and then things i did like (most of my issues are how they treat the female characters tbh)

Its missing kind of the action-noir-gone-horrifically-wrong feel of the first game. The scare factor also suffers bc our player character has been through this before, hes a veteran at dealing with this crazy shit, it doesnt phase him anymore and by extension it doesnt phase the player. They really like tripled down on the Evil Corporation thing and both the intrigue and horror suffer for it.

This game did not drink its respect women juice (the first one didnt really either, case in point: Everything About Kidman) Sebastian is surrounded by 5+ female characters and only 2 of them survive (and one of them is his 7 year old daughter hes spent the whole game trying to rescue... and yet they never bothered to give her any kind of characterization or agency. A highly empathetic and supernaturally powerful little girl in a monster-infested hellscape?? HELLO???? Lily really had the potential to be the most interesting, sympathetic, and complex character--especially as she slowly lost her innocence--in the WHOLE GAME, but she was just sort of relegated to Plot Device McGuffin) The rest of the female supporting cast are killed off for Sebastian's Man Pain. In fact, THIS ENTIRE GAME IS CENTERED AROUND SEBASTIAN'S MAN PAIN. Torrez is a walking stereotype, shes literally just Vasquez from Aliens. Hoffman was the most likeable and believeable, except when it Turns Out She Was In Love With Liam Or Whatever (psst, guess what, i dont care. Also O'neal was kind of a dick anyway? I dont care x2)

And you know who i SUPER dont care about? Bland-White-Bread-And-Mayo-Sandwich Myra. Where's the no-nonsense firecracker of a police lieutenant Sebastian married? Not here, thats for sure. Her entire personality is "mother" and "worries about stressed-out husband". We got more characterization of Myra in seb's jornals from the first game, where she never even made a physical appearance! Horror media does this SO MUCH, women are either A. Sexy Lamp B. Hurts Men (Sexily) C. Mother or D. Innocent Virgin. It sucks. Do better.

The story lacked the "digging up old buried memories" and "theres more to this than meets the eye" of the first game. It felt too...... Straightforward. Everyone told Sebastian the truth. EVERYTHING WAS EXACTLY WHAT IT SEEMED. It all felt too simple, too easy, like there SHOULDVE been something else beneath the surface. And yet there wasnt. (I watched markipliers playthrough and i loved his theory that Kidman was actually Lily. It had such potential. Kidman's entire resume for the police station was fabricated, who's to say the rest of her past wasnt fabricated as well? It would retcon a lot of stuff and like 80% of her backstory from the DLC, but you know games like this arent above retconning important shit, and at least it wouldve been sacrificed for something with actual intrigue. Maybe it wouldnt even retcon anything! Consider: tiny Lily is taken by Evil Corporation and dropped off in a non-nurturing environment that would lead her to become the kind of person who would willingly join & work for an organization like Mobius. At least wouldve been a nice excuse for why Kidman and Lilys face models looked so similar... other than... yknow.... "WomEN ARe hArD tO DRaWwwwwee")

Okay okay ive been ranting for long enough. It probably makes it sound like i kinda hate this game, but i dont! It certainly doesnt hold the same place in my heart as the first one (which i still have very glaring issues with lmao Kidman deserved WAAAAAAY better), but i do like it! It brings back salty, grizzled, tsundere Sebastian Castinellos. It brings back spooky monsters that kill you dead. It brings back having a fun theatrical over-the-top villain who takes himself a litte too seriously.

I love Stefano. Probably not in the way some other fans do, but i love him as a ridiculous theatrical over-the-top villain. He sucks! And i love that he sucks! I love him BECAUSE he sucks! Hes terrible and exaggerated and completely up his own ass and ITS GREAT. He isnt as ACTUALLY THREATENING as Ruvik was (even in his bad assassin's creed cosplay. I could go on and on and on about why Ruvik is simultaneously a ridiculous AND frightening antagonist and how much i love it but uh..... maybe later) but hes such a FUN villain! Hes the kind of pretentious art snob shitheel i cannot STAND irl, but in this game i LOVE to HATE him. Hes just SO over-the-top you kinda wonder if he actually subscribes to the pretentiousness he spouts, or if hes just being Exceptionally Extra.

The other villains? Theodore was.... forgettable. His monsters were forgettable. (Its like how i completely forgot that Frank Manera was a character in Whistleblower for like... 5 years lmao i guess this game also kinda followed that "having multiple named/characterized antagonists in one game" thing that Outlast did) Myra, i just didnt care. Her final design was kinda cool, i liked the red clusters of insect eyes. Her monsters werent really gross enough to be memorable. The only reson theyre gross at all is bc they kinda look like theyre made of semen. (I checked the wiki and apparently Myra's white goo is "psychoplasm" and her monsters lost 99% of their gross factor. I just dont care.) The Administrator literally just looked like a 3D human model of Maxwell from dont starve, and i have to laugh every time i see him. Hes not terribly threatening, all he does is threaten characters to work faster and doesnt actually follow through on those threats. He doesnt even make fun threats like HABIT or anything. He thinks hes so powerful and ominous that his mere presence will frighten the player but hes just kinda all bark and no bite. Hes The Big Bad Company Man so you know hes gonna get whats coming to him, and you know Kidmans gonna be the one to do it to him, so hes not even that much of a threat. Hes whatever.

Stefano definitely got all of the coolest monsters. Many Arms Buzzsaw Lady was terrifying and i love her. And OBSCURA was just *Chef's Kiss* Anima was cool, she kinda looked like a mix of Laura and Samara. The Harbingers were neat, but really only bc ive got a thing for gas masks. The rest of the monsters werent really unique or weighty/threatening enough to be memorable. Now the first game is a fucking TREASURE TROVE of unique monsters *muah* you got Sadist, Sentinel, Keeper, Amalgam, Heresy, Laura, Shigyo, the Twins, Alter Egos, and im probably forgetting some!! But holy FUCK!!!!! And if we're includong the DLC?? MOTHER FUCKING SHADE. SPOTLIGHT LADY. LIGHT WOMAN.  SEXY LEGS.  Whatever you call her, i fucking love her. Her design is so simple. Helmet. Sheet. Legs. Her voice? Unnerving as hell. Love it. (Also i just personally love the diving helmet. Also like you know how a lot of games have a spotlight mechanic where you have to avoid the light and if it lands on you, you're fucked? LET'S MAKE AN ENTIRE MONSTER OUT OF THAT. She's PERFECT.) Oh and also those weird crawling exploding dudes. They made gross sounds and it was great. (Tbh Keepers still probably my favorite, if only for horny reasons)

TATIANA HOW HAVE I NOT FUCKING TALKED ABOUT TATIANA. Shes like the ONE female character that i fucking LOVE in the sequel. I love how they finally gave her a personality, and that personality is literally just "fuck you, Sebastian" Oh GOD its great shes SO FUNNY. I just.... god i love Tatiana lmao. I love how she makes you kinda uncomfortable too, like she knows something, but she wont tell you bc youre stupid. I didn't like the kind of "all-knowing guide" thing they did to try and make her creepy (like she's a "guide" but then also turns around and is like "no i wont tell you what you need to know bc you """have to discover it on your own""" or whatever") it serves no purpose since she never gave you any actual information, and it didn't succeed in making her creepier, all it did was frustrate me. She was at her creepiest when she IMPLIED she was doing something behind the scenes or knew something you didn't know and then didn't elaborate (not REFUSING to elaborate, just... stopping talking and leaving the statement to hang in the air, like the "getting her nails done" and "its been a long time, detective" and the "now what makes you say that" from the first game) and she was at her funniest when she was interacting with Sebastian from the sidelines, her snide little comments and sarcastic clapping cracked me the fuck up. Tatiana not treating Sebastian seriously was a fantastic touch for a game that otherwise would probably take itself so seriously it would double back around to being silly. Without Tatiana, it would've been just another male-centric gun-toting "survival horror" game, and for the most part, it was just that. She was definitely a much-needed source of slightly derisive comedy and a definite high-point for me, even if they didn't so a great job of making her creepy or fulfilling her "purpose."

Oh I also really love the COLORS in TEW2. The first game fell into the trap of having the colors be totally washed out that a lot of horror stuff does, but it also kind of worked for it. Especially with the color pallette of our main villain and how the whole thing was His World. The saturation of the colors in the second game is a breath of fresh air and gorgeous to look at, and you can even see the color motifs of the game change with each new villain: the game starts out with Stephano has lots of blues and purples and dark reds, when Theodore takes over we get bright orange and yellow contrasted with black and brown, and in the climax with Myra the game goes back to having washed out colors and white (and with her villain design? Let's face it: they were kinda just trying to do Ruvik again) We did get portions that were still kind of wahed out whites and greens and greys, but it wasnt the ENTIRE game, even the big blood-and-brains splatterhouse sections of the first game kinda had their colors weirdly muted for that "Horror Aethetic."

In conclusion, i do like the evil within 2, but i also had a lot of problems with it. And i complain about these problems because i like the game and know it couldve done better, tried harder, and been a LOT more than it was (the wasted character potential is my real overarching pet peeve, probably becuase i loved the characters in the first game, and character development is kind of my whole jam) . But all in all, it was still a fun monster-zombie romp with at least one entertaining villain and fun-to-look-at designs and environments. It wasn't character or horror or even REALLY story driven in the way I know it COULDVE been, but i still had a fun time and enjoyed myself.

[zombiescantfly]

Words About Games - Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic Games, 2007)

Unreal Tournament 3 is nothing short of an utter embarrassment, incompetent at nearly every level, and a gross misunderstanding of a playerbase that was, at the time, nearly a decade old.  I wish I could just leave it at that, but this is the first game I ever felt wronged by.  

This was a franchise killer.  UT3 flopped so hard that it took fans desperate for any sign of a new game ten years to make Epic even consider adding a new entry to the series, and even then it is, as of time of writing, on indefinite hiatus so the handful of developers assigned to it can make more Fortnite dances.  But that comes later.  Unreal Tournament 3 comes first.

The Unreal series was hardly a stranger to hard knocks.  Return to Na Pali was a dull-at-best expansion pack while the much-maligned Unreal 2 missed the point entirely and has since slipped into laughable obscurity, and even the original Unreal Championship on Xbox had to be redeemed with a well-received followup.  I played neither of those, by the way, it's just my understanding that the first one was bad and the second was good.

So what made UT3 the last chance?  What about it was bad enough to kill the franchise that had gone toe-to-toe with Quake and lived to tell the tale?  The real question is what the hell Epic was thinking.

Unreal Tournament 3 lacks a great many things.  At launch, it boasted a meager six gamemodes, and even then only by virtue of splitting 1v1 deathmatch maps off of Deathmatch and into a new category called Duel.  So, our gametypes are: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Duel, Capture the Flag, Vehicle CTF, and Warfare.  That's it.  No Bombing Run, no Mutant, no Invasion, no Domination (double or otherwise), and yet again, for some ungodly reason, no Assault.

I feel like I've done this before.  What else did UT3 leave out?  Facing Worlds!  Yep, it's out again, and this time without a replacement.  That's right, no Face 4 to make up for it.  A new Curse map, a staple of the series since the original Unreal multiplayer, is also missing.  Most of the character factions introduced in UT2003 and 2004 are gone, like the Nightmares, the Robots, the Juggernauts, the Mercenaries, the Gen Mo’kai, the Egyptians, and the Skaarj.  You know, the Skaarj, literally the most important faction to the series at large.  They're gone.  Xan Kriegor, the Big Bad of every Tournament since 1999, the final champ who uses an AI setting above Godlike, who has his own spaceship where the ultimate match is duked out 1v1 in a truly brutal and awesome deathmatch?  Gone.

But that's not the worst of it.  Sure, they stripped out almost everything they'd spent so much time building up throughout character and map descriptions for three games, but even that wasn't enough.  There has to be something else they could take away to really strip the game of its identity.  The Flak Cannon?  No, too easy.  The Shock Rifle?  Almost.  Malcolm, the veteran of all the in-universe Tournaments and arguably the (human) mascot of the series?  I'll do you one better.

They took away the Tournament.

They took away the Tournament.

They took away.

The Tournament.

Unreal Tournament 3 has no Tournament.  

What do we have instead, in Unreal Tournament 3, if not a Tournament?  Calling it Gears of War 1.5 is a good place to start.  

Unreal Tournament never really had a defining artstyle to call its own, but it was still recognizable.  UT99 had its harsh shadows and pockets of bright light on largely cool-colored maps, a very neo-industrial/tech vibe with a smattering of ancient temples thrown in there to call back to Unreal.  UT2003 and 4 turned their tech maps into something a bit shinier overall, left a bit of industrial grunge in, had their fun with future space techno Egypt, and splashed a bit of East Asian architecture in one or two maps for good measure.  Colors were bright, each map had an identifiable pallette, and it's hard to confuse one for the other.

UT3 came out after Gears of War, which means it looked like this:

Not helping matters is the new direction character design was taken, which basically boils down to taking Gears character out of their usual armor and putting them in UT styled suits.  Malcolm’s there and he's put on about 200 pounds of muscle.

Man, just look at all those graphics.  And it's a good thing there are so many, because otherwise how would we know what we're looking at when the dramatic cutscenes play?

Because since we have no Tournament in our Unreal Tournament game, we of course have to have a very dramatic story about a Krall invasion and this guy named Ronin’s quest to get revenge.  

Let's unpack that.

The Krall invaded.  The Krall, the mercenary/slave race kept on retainer by the Skaarj, are the primary antagonists, but not the Skaarj themselves.  Ronin, an entirely new character made for this game, is the primary focus when actual series (human) mascot Malcolm is right there.  And the whole thing is a heroic revenge story, not a Tournament.

I hate this game.

So UT3 forces a series of ladder matches across all of three gametypes into a narrative nobody asked for.  If it had had anything to with the series’ history, it probably could have been acceptable, but it doesn't mean anything as it is.  Matches are now short gameplay segments in between an overproduced narrative about revenge and retribution, and they're given wholly unnecessary context.  Deathmatch is no longer literal bloodsport to entertain the masses but a gritty, brutal battle of attrition until one side wears down the other side’s respawner charges.  Capture the Flag isn't a game, it's you taking a daring and gritty shot at capturing your ugly, inhuman enemy’s Field LAttice Generator to turn off their respawner.  Warfare/Onslaught isn't a fun territory control match, it's a gritty and unrelentingly brutal comment on how war is hell, as you capture territory to destroy the Core that powers your gritty enemy’s respawner.

Do you get it.  Respawners.  Real war.  Not a game anymore.  No fun allowed.

Sigh.

This game came out when I was late into highschool, and was one of the first games I was super excited about.  Back then I didn't actually play all that many games, tending instead to stick to a smallish library of my favorites.  So when UT3 was announced, originally as Unreal Tournament 2007, I was hyped.  It would be one of the first games on the brand-new Unreal Engine 3, and the handful of prerelease screenshots kept my attention for months with their unparalleled lighting and detail.  Blurbs about the changes they were making excited me, talking about how they were putting a bit more speed back into the game to win over the holdouts who thought UT2004 was too slow.  An entirely new roster of vehicles was going to sit alongside the existing ones, and a whole host of changes was coming to merge the best of UT99 with UT2004.

That's what they promised.  What was actually delivered was an anemic blend of half-baked executions.  People don't like double jumping and think UT2004 is too floaty, others like double jumping and think UT99 is missing critical movement options?  UT3 keeps double jumping but makes the total jump height of both equal to a single jump in UT99, removes wall and air dodging, and adds a noticeable recovery delay after dodging from the ground.  Cool, great.

People didn't like the weapon balance changes and replacements?  Toss out the Assault Rifle, bring back the Enforcer, but make it just as inaccurate as the AR!  Make the spread on the Flak Cannon’s primary tighter, but have its alt fire shell fall off even faster than UT99’s!  

That's not to say all of the changes were bad.  Believe it or not, Unreal Tournament 3 actually does have a handful of things I really like, which makes their presence in an overall worse game all the more painful.  Vehicle physics are greatly improved, the new vehicles are amazing, Adrenaline is gone, the Rocket Launcher has its grenades back, a lot of the new weapon designs are superb, powerups are back on the map, you get a hoverboard on Warfare and VCtF maps, and I'm all out of nice things to say.  

The game, visually, is a mess (see above).  A new graphics engine means new effects to play with, but those effects here are bloom and more bloom.  Players get lost in overstuffed scenery because the artstyle inherited from Gears of War is red on brown on gray.  A more grounded overall concept strips a lot of identity from returning maps, taking them from space or exotic locales and putting them in a generic futuristic cityscape.

That's a small complaint, and totally worth dismissing, but it shows a certain lack of respect to the history of the series, to me.  These are maps that have been iconic as a whole that have been repurposed to show off how many pixels can be crammed into a skybox.  When Facing Worlds was eventually re-added in UT3’s first and only content update, it was transplanted from two opposing towers on an asteroid spinning above Earth and just set in the mountains somewhere in China.  

If you're looking at it from a pure gameplay perspective then there's nothing wrong with the change.  But it's just part of an inherent ignorance as to what players wanted from this game.  We didn't want a weird storyline where we watch Epic mush per-pixel lit action figures into each other before graciously being allowed to capture the enemy’s Field Lattice Generator three times, we wanted to mush those action figures together ourselves as we climbed higher up the ladder towards facing the Tournament champion.  We wanted to thunder across whatever alien landscapes the map designer thought up that day and add another piece to the expansive puzzle of the Unreal universe, not spend two-thirds of the game puttering around China or the generic scifi city. 

Also, in going back to get those above screenshots, I discovered something I’d entirely forgotten: there are no map descriptions.  The strongest part of that good old fashioned world building is just gone.  No more short tales of a skyscraper built by a hubris-devoured crazy person, no more small insights into the shipping lines around this or that outpost, no more glimpses at all into the world beyond the game.  For them to suddenly make such a big deal about the story, Epic sure didn’t care about anything beyond their cutscenes.

But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.  What else is in UT3?

Not a whole lot.  With a lack of gamemodes came a lack of maps, though I suppose 41 maps was still more than you could expect at the time.  The bonus pack that turned UT3 into the “Black Edition” (I have no idea) added 19 more and did, as previously mentioned, re-add Facing Worlds.  Mutators are also lacking, with a fair chunk appearing just as basic gameplay tweaks - no hoverboard, no Orb (we'll talk about the stupid Orb), no powerups, the Arena mainstay, no Translocator (just a game setting in all previous titles), friendly fire (also a previous game setting), game speed adjustments (yep, was a setting before), and your basic Instagib/big head/super berserk mutators like you always get.  

Gone are fun things like quad jump, vampire, big wheels, slow motion corpses, all the “other UT” mutators (UT Classic and UT 2003 Style if you recall), and vehicle arena.  Remember, no fun allowed.

And I sure do wish there was fun allowed, because some things almost are.  Warfare is the star here, or at least it should have been.  Imagine:  a map five times as large as the largest Onslaught map, still joined by paths of dozens of capture nodes linked together to create distinct fronts, laced in between guided objectives reminiscent of Assault scenarios.  Completing these objectives grants you unique bonuses on your path to the enemy Core, if you can make it past the army of players and vehicles ahead…

That's what Warfare was billed as, but that's not what Warfare ended up being.  What did it turn out as?  Literally Onslaught again, but with an Orb now.  

The Orb is a game-breakingly frustrating mechanic.  Here's how it goes:  the Orb spawns at a node you control.  Someone can pick up the Orb and carry it around, shooting a giant pillar of light into the sky wherever they go.  The Orb will instantly destroy and capture any enemy node it's brought to, and will be destroyed in doing so.  The player carrying the Orb can't use any vehicle except their personal hoverboard.  

The Orb either wins games outright or does stone nothing.  See, both teams get an Orb, so what happens most of the time is that one guy uses the Orb to capture a node, then the other Orb is used to take it back.  It's not like you can use it to get a sneaky capture, because of the giant pillar of light shooting into the sky and an icon on the minimap.  The Orb is stupid, and proper control of the map makes sure that absolutely nothing comes from its presence.  So good work Epic, you added another layer to a gamemode you already stripped back to exactly what we'd gotten before, and all that comes of it is absolutely nothing.

The new vehicles are cool though.  Everything from UT2004 makes a comeback with a tweaked design, and new Necris vehicles are added as well.  They're usually just an analog of an existing vehicle except with wiggly scifi tentacles, so you get a single-person hoverthingy and a VTOL jet with lasers and missiles, but they really outdid themselves with some of the other ones.  Filling the spot of the main battle tank for the new vehicles is a giant War of the Worlds style tripod that can clamber over most obstacles and terrain.  The light attack jeep spot is a laser-toting mini-walker that can retract its tendrils and roll around as a ball, squishing people on its merry way.  Like I said, not all bad.  Oh, but only one team gets them, and not all maps support their inclusion.  So only mostly bad.

But they are all that's left of a much larger gamemode that had more and more stripped from it until they were left with literally just Onslaught but with the Orb.  

And the bad things just kept coming, this time in regards to the music.  New composers were brought in again, in the form of Jesper Kyd and Rom DiPrisco, and they make a total mess of the place.  There are a good number of “remixes” present on the soundtrack, but where the musical genius Kevin Reipl took GoDown and made Hyperblast Redux, whichever of the duo made the UT3 remix of GoDown just added some modulation and a breakbeat.  Or maybe the classic Foregone Destruction, where the UT3 version just adds some modulation and a breakbeat.  Mechanism Eight?  Modulation and a breakbeat.  Skyward Fire?  Modulation and a breakbeat.  The classic Unreal Tournament theme itself?  Modulation and a breakbeat.  The instantly recognizable stage music for UT2004’s Torlan, SDG-ONS1?  Surprisingly, a mold-breaker here: no modulation, only an added breakbeat.  And someone wailing over it.  I get that it's supposed to have a vaguely Middle Eastern or whatever sort of vibe, ‘cause the original did and Torlan itself was set in a dusty oasis sort of thing, but they changed the setting for UT3 to be more temperate so I really have no idea.

My point is that the music in UT3 sucks.  Even past the embarrassing quality of the remixes, none of the original compositions are memorable.  There's no energy, there's nothing that plays to the idea of the game, and there's no bombast.  The music probably has its fans out there, but I'm about as far from one of them as you can get.

I’m also about as far from a fan of the game itself as you can get.  When this came out, I was mainly confused as to how it could be so bad.  It’s not like it was the first time I ever didn’t like a videogame, but for Unreal Tournament of all things to turn out so bad, I just didn’t really know what I was experiencing.  UT3 was so bad that within a month I was looking up tutorials on how to use UT2004’s editor.  A year or so later Epic put UT3 on Steam and added a content pack that turned it into Unreal Tournament 3: Black Edition (I still don’t know), but that added so little that it barely made a difference.  Two new gamemodes that just amounted to new types of Deathmatch, a handful of maps, and that was it.  

People made their own maps, sure, and I’m sure if I looked now I could find mods that make it a more bearable experience.  But at the same time, I’m not really sure.  Because see, UT3 didn’t just release on PC this time around, it also came out on PS3 and the Xbox 360.  Epic wanted to bring the award-winning modding scene to those platforms as well, which means the entire process of modding and the number of things that could be modded was cut way down to adhere to guidelines from both companies as well as the much more limited space available on the console’s hard drives.  I only ever looked into mods back around when the Black Edition dropped, and the most popular mods I remember from back then is just adding a Master Chief character model.

To say that Unreal Tournament 3 was a disappointment is perhaps the biggest understatement of this entire essay.  I’m not going to rant on about how it was a betrayal of brand integrity or something, because I’m not entirely that naive, but the failure of this game to do as much right as its predecessors or even impress on any great scale meant a lot for the arena shooter genre.  Id Software had bowed out and wouldn’t reappear with Rage until years later.  Halo was wrapping up its trilogy to critical acclaim.  Call of Duty was rapidly changing the face of shooters with Call of Duty 4.  Fallout 3 was near, Bioshock had come out a year or so prior, and Gears of War 2 would cement Epic’s new direction.  

There was no redeeming followup to Unreal Tournament 3.  Nothing came out to add Assault or Domination or Bombing Run back in.  It came out, bellyflopped, and Epic let it sit in the lovingly-rendered mud full of bloom and speculars that it landed in.  

In the decade-plus since then, the face of shooters has changed again and again.  CoD4 ushered in an unrelenting push towards modern-day settings, a small subset of shooters with RPG elements grew larger, Bungie made more Halo games and then Destiny, a whole indie subgenre popped up to try to let us relive the days of Doom and Quake, then a fantastic new Doom came out, and now everyone has a battle royale.  Even Epic.  

A few years ago on the official Unreal Tournament forums on Epic’s website, a group of fans formed a plan to make their own Unreal Tournament entry under a different name.  Work started, schedules were made, and it caught Epic’s attention as so many remake projects do.  But rather than end with a Cease & Desist like just about every other one out there, a few people from Epic expressed surprise that there was such a massive push and actually pledged their own support to the project.  Unreal Tournament 4 was suddenly an official project.  

It was a strange relationship, of course - Epic’s people gave it a place in their launcher and let it use their official servers, they signed off on all major updates and made everything nice and official, but the weapon, map, and character design was going to be on the community.  We can get into the ethics of that some other time, but the point was this:  Before all that long, there was a playable Unreal Tournament 4.  Maps were using placeholder art and geometry, most of the weapons were just the UT3 models, there was one character model, and all you could play was Deathmatch, but it was coming along.  And it did come along.  The Enforcer, Link Gun, Flak Cannon, Rocket Launcher, and Sniper Rifle were all finalized and modeled, a few maps were finished entirely and look gorgeous (and play really well!), and more character models were added.  

And then Fortnite got big.  

Fortnite, a weird little Orcs Must Die-alike with building and survival elements, wasn’t much of a big name until Epic added a battle royale mode of their own, not too long after Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds swept across the Steam Early Access scene.  What that meant for the UT4 project is that the handful of official Epic people who were getting paid to curate this giant mod endeavor were suddenly reassigned to work on something a little more immediate, namely Fortnite.  

The long and short of it is that Epic killed Unreal Tournament twice in a row.  There are still arena shooters out there.  Toxikk is basically just UT2004 deathmatch with a shiny coat of paint (I played a bit, it’s okay but lacks a lot in comparison); Quake Champions is a perfectly fine hero shooter with a lot of balance problems and way too few maps, plus it’s Quake which means all the problems I have remain; Tribes: Ascend came and went just as fast as players in it moved thanks to a suddenly overaggressive monetization model; and lately I guess Dusk has its multiplayer which I hear is pretty healthy.  

The arena shooter isn’t dead; no genre really can be, and I have firsthand experience with how much work can be done to keep individual games alive, but it’s certainly not a popular choice these days.  If so much has happened to the shooter genre at large since Wolfenstein 3D came out, that much and more can happen again.  More people are playing videogames than ever, technology marches onward, and maybe one day someone in the right position with the right resources will create something that finally puts the public eye back on the most classic of multiplayer shooters.

But until then, the decade of languishing that arena shooters have been the subject of is entirely Epic Games’ fault.

[nervouswreck-96]

Supernova (Sonic fanfic): Chapter 5: What's He Building In There?

Well…shoot. I can't really say anything here, other than I'm sorry. This is where you'd usually find me giving an excuse for slacking off (busy schedule, hectic family life, kidnapped by Bowser, etc.), but I honestly don't have one. There is no explanation for the delay other than a combination of writer's block, a horrific lack of inspiration, and flat-out laziness on my part.

In fact, the chapter you're reading here is somewhat unfinished, making up about 75-80% of the chapter I wanted to write. I'm only posting it for the sake of posting something, and just to see if anyone is still interested.

Don't be surprised if it takes another year for the next chapter to come out, although reviews may shorten the wait ever so slightly.

...too late.

He exhaled, forgetting his place for a moment, and slumped in defeat. Disconnected chunks of black plastic sliced through the lining of his gloves, cutting into his hands. This was all that was left of Tails' communicator. The damned thing had burst open from the casing, revealing a veritable Escher painting of disconnected wiring and snapped capacitors. Through the wreckage of what used to be a working radio, Sonic swore he could hear voices reaching out to him…the same ones he knew might be calling his name this very second, seeking a connection which had been rudely cut.

For a moment, time froze in the fierce stare between Sonic and his metallic duplicate, which isolated the two from the carnage formed in their struggle. A curtain of smoke enveloped the two combatants, as hardly a square inch of the once-pristine area remained untouched by Metal Sonic's explosive arsenal. But at last, there was a moment to breathe, free of the steady stream of fire, shrapnel, and near-death. The orchestra of battle went into intermission, its echoes still ringing in Sonic's eardrum. Still, it was nice to be able to hear his own thoughts for a change. Then again, that didn't mean very much when those thoughts mostly consisted of the words "too late" playing on a continuous loop.

Which quickly shifted to "get him".

Still very much compromised by the high-speed collision with solid ground, Sonic's mind continued to send mixed signals, playing a sick game with his sense of direction. He was twisting, spiraling, traveling at a million miles a minute, yet at the same time, going nowhere, for he knew his hands and feet were tethered to the floor. Even the slightest impulse to his eyes sliced and stabbed at his cranium, which with each passing second felt more and more like an overripe cantaloupe which had some things done to it by a sledgehammer, but by now he'd kept them closed for so long he didn't realize the multi-colored morass of noise in front of him was only an illusion. Regardless – once he worked out which way was up - he contracted his left leg and used it along with his right arm to push himself off the ground.

No sooner had he raised his body off the canvas than it slammed back down again, weighed down by a heavy, steel boot.

Urghhh…feels like someone dropped an anvil on me!

Second by second, keeping his body above the floor became more of a struggle. The weight on his back only seemed to grow heavier the more he fought against it. One forearm could only quiver at the sheer effort it took, so he moved his other down for extra support. But it did no good. The shaky foundation looked ready to crumble at any moment.

No…no, come on, you're better than that! Fight through it, Sonic! Fight through it!

But his puny arms could not take the strain, and his tenuous grip gave way. As he collapsed chest-first to the floor, repressed physical torment was unleashed in a firestorm that exploded from his aching calf muscle and raced up his backside, forcing a bone-chilling wail out of his mouth before he even realized the noise had come from him. That did it. No longer could he bottle everything up. He had been sent over the threshold where the deepest of primal urges finally surpassed overcame his will to fight them off.

There was something weighing him down. Metal Sonic stood over the pathetic sight…staring at him…judging him...his titanium foot firmly nailing the hedgehog to the floor.

"So…this is what the self-proclaimed hero of the universe, slayer of gods, savior of time and space, has been reduced to? Hmmph," he said, afterwards doing his best to synthesize the sound of a disapproving sigh. "I must say, I can't help but feel disappointed."

"Urgh...I've gotten out of bigger jams than this!" The words choked, sputtered out of his mouth as he fought and clawed to escape Metal's hold. He had to keep to short, stilted sentences, a sensible balance for getting his burning thoughts out.

Suddenly, a breakthrough. Sonic's glove managed to catch on a random spot on the floor, and saw his chance to propel to it and break free. He gradually swung his one free arm out, too gradually, and that's as far as he got. Metal Sonic swooped on the maneuver and crushed it with the other foot. With the hedgehog back under control, Metal leaned over to face Sonic's ear, in the process driving just a few more pounds worth of pressure into his back.

"You are nothing more than a horsefly who thinks himself capable of slaying a lion," said Metal. "As I see it, you have two choices; surrender to the Eggman Empire or face the inevitable."

Sonic's teeth clenched, as he channeled his own physical torment into seething rage, glaring with such fury that he could almost feel his eyes changing to match Metal Sonic's blazing red. 'Surrender'. 'Inevitable'. Those words tended to have that effect on him...now, of all times.

A subconscious impulse glued him to the floor, sending him on a mental journey to the other side of the ESS-1, and a picture emerged in front of him where there was none before, a picture of Tails and Knuckles' battered and broken forms lying before him, bearing the scars and bruises forced upon him by some unknown attacker.

But that's all it was. A picture. An apparition. They may have been on a distant planet for all he knew. The radio transmission was the only link the three had left to share, and it was gone.

Guys…I don't know if I'm gonna make it out of this one…

He scooped the cluster of metal and wiring from the floor and balled it tight into a trembling fist. As if to block out the voices, he thrust that same trembling fist into the floor, creating a shockwave that tremendous enough to resonate across the ESS-1 and command Metal Sonic's attention.

…but so help me, we're gonna finish this thing no matter what!

The next words passed from brain to mouth like a whisper, but with the ferocity and impact of a knife in the dark:

"You really don't know me at all, do ya?"

If he had a fighting chance, he had to make something happen now. Just as Metal Sonic put his entire stock of energy into this finishing blow, Sonic shoved himself in a roll toward his left, holding in a scream as Metal - in a last-ditch effort to hold him back - dug his claw-like toes into Sonic's chest, tearing into exposed flesh.

The gamble paid off. He'd forced the mecha-deity into an undignified pratfall.

With momentum on his side, Sonic rolled into a somersault and bounded back onto his feet. Every step he took widened the ever-growing cracks in the foundation that was his body, but he either didn't know or simply didn't care. The weight was now off his back, and it almost felt like he could leap into the air, swing his arms out, and fly. Sweet, sweet mobility, how he missed it so.

A plasma shot flew across his radar, forcing him into a slide that saved his face from extinction...yet plunged his lower body back into a maelstrom of grinding pain. If that was the price he had to pay for mobility, then so be it.

The world flew by in a blur, or at least this cold, gray prison of a world - man, Eggman really needed to vary the color pallette a bit here - and out of the corner of his eye he managed to catch the doppelganger in his moment of weakness. In the nick of time, he transitioned into a twirling handstand, his legs unfolding and spinning like the blades of a ceiling fan, aiming straight for Metal's head.

"Hey...what the-!"

He struck Metal's left hand instead, which did not flinch, but grabbed hold of Sonic's ankle. A flick of the robot's wrist, and Sonic was cast across the room like dirty laundry.

Hmph...not playing games anymore, Metal? Well, neither am I!

With one flick of his leg, Sonic went from tumbling uncontrollably to tumbling with perfect control, recovering with a short, impromptu breakdance routine and finishing with a devastating kick to Metal Sonic's head.

Too devastating. It actually seemed to connect.

At first, Sonic wondered if he'd missed Metal altogether and actually hit a nearby pipe. But after he got to his feet and noticed the fresh, new shoe scuff he'd added to Metal Sonic's shiny gold paint scheme, it all seemed to come together. The aura surrounding Metal Sonic had dimmed, fading out whenever he did anything more energy-intensive.

Just then, the room was set alight in a red glow so intense it forced Sonic to shield his eyes to look up.

When Sonic finally gathered the strength to gaze into the blinding gleam, he noticed Metal just…standing there, bent over, letting the energy channel into his body. A pair of miniature turbines spun in opposite directions, generating light from pure nothingness and storing it as pure energy, until the mechanism burst into life, ready to unleash it all on the hedgehog. When he noticed that the source was the engine contained in Metal Sonic's chest cavity, he engaged his defenses, expecting another pounding.

But something was off.

He stood perfectly still, both feet planted...never leaving the ground, not floating. That couldn't be right, unless...unless he simply couldn't.

Yes! I knew if I ran him ragged, he'd lose his strength!

"What's the matter, pal?" asked Sonic. "Gettin' tired?"

As if jolted with a cattle prod, Metal jerked his head toward Sonic, who realized that was probably the only answer he would receive. The glow intensified, and along with it came a high-pitched hum.

A very familiar hum.

One engine sputtered, throwing Metal Sonic off balance for just a moment. An auto-gyroscopic correction system boosted power to the other to compensate, and order was restored…until the other engine blew fumes. The problem spread across his body, as his internal processes couldn't figure out whether to stay on or not. Finally, all four rockets expired completely, forcing Metal Sonic to drop.

That laser. Sonic could recognize that whining hum anywhere.

I guess he's tryin' to go out with a bang!

A single sentence played on a continuous loop in Tails' mind – This wasn't supposed to happen.

The halogen spotlights practically seared into his fur. This was a play he'd never rehearsed for, and yet he'd practically been thrust onto the stage to perform to a packed house. And everyone in the packed house was itching to mow him down if he slipped up. They'd left him nothing. An entire battalion of Egg Gunners closed in on all sides – some forming an orderly division on the ground, others lining the catwalks above, a few even scaling the walls to get a good shot at the hapless fox.

The companionship of his radio earpiece was cold and dispassionate, providing no comfort or answers, only non-stop static. Static bombarded his left eardrum for so long that the sensations of dizziness he felt when taking a step were the only reminder he was wearing the stupid thing at all.

It all seemed so simple before. A race against time, and nothing more. Just find the nerve center of the ship, get inside, and raise hell. No questions, just do it. He knew he might run into some resistance along the way, but he hadn't counted on the possibility of this much resistance. There was no telling how much time he'd have to make up…how much time he'd already lost…how much time Sonic had to spare…

His head tilted toward the sky…more specifically, toward the impossibly-high ceiling that covered it. It was the only place that looked to be bot-free…at least he assumed it was. After all, the logic was airtight. Even if a Gunner was somehow stationed up there, how could it see him from so far away, much less keep a steady enough aim to shoot him down?

It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. With one massive burst of energy to his tails, he took off, with the resulting wake force knocking a few Egg Gunners to the ground.

He curled his body into a corkscrew loop, rolling himself over to get a better look at his position. A veritable city of lights took shape behind him, hundreds of little specks of light forming one by one, like fireflies dancing in the autumn breeze. Well, except for that one little speck of light rising toward him. Rather quickly, in fact. Uncomfortably so. Enough for him to see the bolts of electricity jutting from it.

Crud. Make that a dozen big specks of light.

Suddenly, Tails knew how his mono-tailed, ground-bound brethren felt during the hunting season. He was all alone, and that made him the perfect target. There was, quite literally nowhere to go but up.

His lungs were fit to blow at any moment, each twist of his tails seeming like it could be the last his system could take, but damn it, he'd just have to outdo his usual best today. If these baddies were packing anything like what Metal Sonic had, he couldn't be a millisecond off. He sliced through the air like a knife through butter, pushing straight upward against gravity with every ounce of energy he had, because if his calculations were accurate—

A balcony railing passed by his field of vision.

Now!

In one massive effort, he flung his tails into reverse and brought them to a gradual stop, curtailing his ascent. With nothing propelling him, he curled into a sudden dive, and not a second too soon. His face scrunched into itself – he couldn't dare look. He could only pray he made the right call. The world around him flashed once…twice.

Then a thunderous smack. Then another, heralding an ear-splitting chorus of metallic clanging above. Tails' heart went up his throat. Was he hit? Was he hit? No…he wasn't.

The sight of the searing, magma-like red stain dripping from the ceiling, still sizzling from the heat of the combined laser blasts, was a stark reminder of what would have become of him had he not been so fortunate. It eventually dawned on him that this was all that remained of a steel beam that once suspended from above.

At the last moment, he revved up his tails again, seamlessly transferring the momentum from his dive into a near-vertical climb, toward the only open space . Great, he thought. You survived that. Now what?

As if in answer, from a shot rang out.

He couldn't see it, couldn't track it, until it was too late. He suddenly fell into a sharp, uncontrollable dive...and as the laser's searing kiss finally started to settle in his tail, he realized why. He'd taken a hit.

He managed to keep his convalescence to a brief yelp before the adrenaline of the moment kicked in. Powered by little more than panic, he reached into his draining reserves for one massive boost from his one remaining tail. Unfortunately, he'd generated more problems than lift. In his compromised state, all he managed to do was send himself careening upside-down, sideways, every direction other than the correct one. If anyone were to ask him how it felt to be trapped inside a juice mixer…yeah, this was probably it.

If this was the Tornado, the alarm would have been blaring already. PULL UP! PULL UP! But by then, it was too late. He'd fallen too far, too fast. He couldn't put in any more power, but maybe if—

Then the floor came out of nowhere and knocked the wind out of him.

Guess not.

Knuckles' face dripped with sweat, flushed by equal parts exertion and rage.

One door. One lousy, infernal steel door stood between him and the closest thing he'd ever have to a child. It sapped his strength, it took his breath, it took every pounding he could give it and practically mocked him.

He practically threw himself back onto his feet, throwing aside some flotsam from the pile of deceased Egg Pawns gathered around his feet. That situation went to hell in a handbasket real fast. At least he learned two things from the experience. 1: Entering the wrong password on the keypad will trigger a sneak attack by specially-placed Egg Pawns and gun emplacements. 2: The password is not "password".

Still, that was all he had in the idea bag until Tails got him through the door.

Where was he, anyway? He really should have called in by now.

Knuckles pulled out his earpiece just to check whether he hadn't accidentally deactivated it. Nope…the light was green. Still on.

He scoffed. "Typical. Of all the times to go radio silent…"

Deep down, he was thankful no one could hear him. He knew that they could've heard straight through the mask he tried to project. The irony was as unavoidable as it was painful. He found himself truly alone for the first time since he boarded the ship. In a way, he'd gotten what he'd wanted.

But at what cost?

Screw it. Being a guardian meant having to make difficult…even borderline illogical choices. It said in the old mantra that Chaos is power…power enriched by the heart. He could recite that mantra from memory, but now was the time to act on it. What the Master Emerald truly needed was an act of selflessness.

It felt wrong to turn away from the Master Emerald's glow when it was so close…separated from him by no more than a thick steel door and a line of encrypted code. But eventually, he wrenched himself away and headed down the corridor.

Hold on, guys, I'm coming!

Then it happened again.

Argh!

Knuckles stumbled, barely regaining himself. Everything went dark in a hurry, and the room spun out of control, becoming little more than a featureless vortex. The faint echoes of machinery and radio static faded out, giving way to the sound of the rustling wind – a vague, nothing sound which signaled that his mind knew to process something, but not exactly what. Both sides of his head throbbed in almost rhythmic fashion, seemingly ready to explode any second.

These pulses…they were worse than ever. The Master Emerald was in pain, and he could feel it. Not only feel it…see it. His eyes were drawn back toward the other side, where a blazing green light shone through the gloom, in tune with the pounding inside Knuckles' skull. Even from behind the thick steel door, the Master Emerald beckoned to its guardian. He tried to take a step, but when took his next one with his leading foot hanging over thin air, he nearly tripped.

This wasn't real. This was only in his head, he'd told himself. He'd been through this very situation time and time again. And yet, he had to ask. What the hell was real anymore?

Ugh…now he could hardly hear himself think.

Real or not…if the concept of pain could be distilled into a single sound, this was it. This…he didn't even know what to call it, this…throbbing in his head that wouldn't go away. It was there one moment, gone the next, then back again, and like clockwork the pattern repeated. Each step was a furious struggle, his better judgement knowing where to turn, but his senses pulling him in different directions. As he edged closer to the gleam, the flux between "searing pain" and "just fine" faded to nothing, and the pounding only intensified, latching onto him, chipping away at his senses like a mad gremlin crawling inside his cranium.

Nope. Not real. Only in his head. Keep moving.

The more he told himself that, the more he was convinced otherwise.

He pulled closer to the noise – if nothing else, to confirm his skepticism. But with each second, it came into focus, and he noted its location on his right. Some kind of impact…could those be gunshots? Punches landing on someone? No…more like metal clanking against metal. Best guess…someone's footsteps. Knuckles got as close as he reasonably could, and tracked the location of the sound. It didn't stay in one place, it was slithering like a snake…tunneling beneath his feet. It had to be on the next floor down.

There it was again. Tap. Tap. Tap.

…Tap.

Yep…those definitely were footsteps. Slow, consistent footsteps. Whoever this was, it didn't sound like they were in any hurry.

That makes one of us…

Sensing Eggman's presence, every light fixture in the room burst into life, bringing into focus the sheer scale of what he had created. The walls were covered in an intricate series of pipes and cables, every single one of them vital to the operation of the ship. They gave off a faint, green glow, normally too faint to have been visible to the naked eye were it not for the ever-present smog giving it something to bounce off. Soon, the majesty of the cosmos would come streaming through the panoramic viewscreen...though for now, he'd have to settle for a view of the sea and the occasional shipping vessel that passed by.

Strange. Somehow this space seemed almost too expansive to fit on a ship this size...and yet still too cramped. Perhaps the tubes were the culprit. They had arrived just last week, after all, and this was the only safe place on the ship where he could store row upon row of cryogenic-stasis tubes.

Speaking of which...

Dr. Eggman paused and turned toward the lines of tubes. There was one more thing he needed to check on.

"Hello? Sonny boy?" he said. "Daddy's home!"

He walked over the capsule marked with the Roman numeral 'I', the only one in operation. Yet more tubes jutted out the sides of each, meant to hyper-accelerate growth by supplying oxygen and water at high enough doses at the proper times. For all his studies and labors, this was his reward.

A shriveled mass of a lifeform grew inside, flaccid tentacles jutting out of the bulbous mass of a body trying desperately to form limbs, its color as pale as cigarette ashes. Eggman's head slumped to his chin, unimpressed with the results. It was just as he'd left it that morning...and the morning before that, and the night after that. He'd hoped he would see some positive growth after a hectic day apart from its master. But one look dashed those hopes.

He tapped on the tube vigorously, waiting for something, anything. Nothing changed...not even so much as a ripple in the standing water.

From a nearby table, he picked up a pen and clipboard and set about marking off all of the project targets that he hadn't come within a country mile of reaching. As he made his way through the list, marking off failure after failure, his nerves frayed.

Grandfather never had it this rough...

"Sir?" asked a muffled voice from afar. Dr. Eggman turned to find his trusty Egg Flapper occupying the space where he'd directed him to go, the glass tube at the very heart of the room. "Shall we begin the experiment?"

Oh! Of course! The...um..."experiment".

In one smooth motion, he tore the sheet off the clipboard, crumpled it, and threw it toward the closest trash can. Turning away, not even taking care to note that his impromptu sky-hook had undershot the basket by twenty feet, he entered the radiation-proof observation chamber. By the time he settled into his seat, he had already lapsed into another episode of "Dr. Eggman's Thinking Out Loud".

"Bah! No matter! After I'm through with the hedgehog and his friend, I'll have all the time in the world to perfect the procedure!"

"Sir, may I politely remind you that Project Beacon is still in an untested state?" asked Flapper.

"Hmm? Oh…yes," muttered Eggman, as he tapped on a touchscreen, cycling through a rather rudimentary menu. Sprawling bulleted lists of flora and fauna from all over the planet were, for the moment, rendered in little more than a white background and the default system font. He was planning to mold it into a sleek and shiny interface worthy of the Eggman name, but Sonic and his annoying friends just had to butt in and ruin his schedule.

If there was going to be a guinea pig for this test, Flapper was the ideal candidate. One of the few remaining holdovers from the Legacy Series, which all drew power from an "organic battery", it was effectively rendered obsolete for battle duty once Dr. Eggman had found a self-sustaining power source. In one stroke, this opened the possibilities for larger and more destructive Badniks...although Sonic and Tails' little jaunt through the middle decks of his ship should have indicated how successful he was on that front.

But Dr. Eggman kept many of the Legacy Series mechs around – or at least the few that hadn't been felled by the hedgehog's foot. Perhaps it was out of a perverse sense of loyalty. Maybe it was his sick version of 'survival of the fittest'. Either way, he bided his time, waiting for the right moment to use them in the field once again. That time had finally come.

"Ah!" He'd finally reached the right selection in the menu.

Theoretically, there was a checklist with scores of other safety procedures both before and after this part, but they'd all become unreadable by this point, obscured by months worth of coffee stains. Throwing caution to the wind, he flipped open a glass box and pressed the silver button encased inside.

The moment his finger pushed down, all electric light in the room dimmed, sprang back into life for a nanosecond, then went out altogether.

Flapper turned upward to watch the spectacle of light above it. Tiny, green bolts of lightning crackled from an orb at the center of the tube, intermittently at first, but becoming more and more frequent...even persistent. As more energy fired through the tube, the bolts connected with each other, forming a consistent pattern which settled in the miniature vaccuum-chamber at the top. The energy only intensified, and chaos collided with chaos to create more chaos. With nowhere else to go, it grew into an unstable vortex looking for an outlet.

This was an inconvenient time for Flapper to notice that the outlet was pointed directly at it.

"Sir?" Flapper asked. "Requesting information on the nature of this experimen-"

Eggman didn't even wait for his loyal servant to finish before pressing the button a second time. The time for questions had long since passed. Had Eggman given Flapper X-ray vision, perhaps it would have been able to see what Eggman saw on his touchscreen.

The target species he'd selected: FLICKY - Flapper's container animal.

Then again, there wasn't anything Flapper could have done about it.

One blast of Chaos Energy from the top of the tube phased through its skin, tearing through every atom of its being. One second passed. There was no movement, no signs of resistance. Two seconds.

The weapon depowered, and one by one, lights returned to the room to revealing Flapper unmoving at the bottom of the tube, reduced to little more than a non-functioning shell - a shell which the Chaos energy had left almost as pristine and new as the moment it left the factory.

But only a shell, with no power. And no power source.

The word, stuck to the tip of the doctor's tongue, fell out with a soft, almost awed whisper.

"Success."

"AAARGH!"

Knuckles fell to his knees. Never before, not during any of the crises he'd dealt with before, had Chaos cried out to him like this.

[arse-blathanna]

Evening Report - 25/30

Chapter 25: planning ahead

[Ao3] [FFN] [Fic Tag]

Fic Summary: Blake Belladonna has one job in her life, and its to provide accurate information in a timely manner. A relatively mundane story is all that it takes to throw her into direct contact with Weiss Schnee, whose family secrets could make or break Blake's career as a journalist.

Word Count: 3,110

Chapter Summary: Blake makes a decision about her future with The Fang. 

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!

Going to Adam's apartment always ended up feeling like she was throwing herself into a lion's den. Even knowing that she wouldn't be there alone with him, Blake was worried for what was going to come. The presence of Ilia, or Sienna Khan, or the Albain Twins wasn't going to be able to save her entirely from what was to come that day. Adam was able to put her off of her game by just looking at her most of the time.

If she was going to have the whole thing go well for her, she needed to be prepared for anything. She couldn’t afford for Adam to throw her off of her game.

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In truth, it had been quite some time since Blake had last ended up at Adam's place. She hadn't wanted to go there at all, but since work called and she was going to need to be able to play along with things anyways, Blake had made the decision to go.

The apartment was like she remembered it, severe color pallette intact and the furniture all in the same places as they had been when she’d been living there. It was still kept starkly clean- not so much of a single sign allowed to be there that people actually might have lived there. It seemed like Adam was living there alone, which was odd to Blake since before she and him had partially lived together to save on rent. He must have gotten extra money somewhere to help pay for it.

It left her with a lot of questions, and Blake didn't know that she wanted answers to any of them.

She had gotten Ilia to agree to carpool with her. Somehow that had felt safer to Blake than bringing her bike. Ilia didn't seem worried about what was to come at all, despite knowing enough about how Adam could be. Perhaps it was because she had always managed to avoid Adam’s wrath when Blake hadn’t been able to. Instead she'd spent most of the ride there telling Blake about who else would be there.

It had been a long time since Blake had last spent time around so many people attached to The Fang. She didn't really know how to feel about it.

But they were there, gathered in Adam's apartment with a map of the SchneeCorp headquarters there on the table in Adam's kitchen. Blake didn't know where they'd gotten the map, because it definitely didn't look that much like the one that she had gotten off of Weiss. If anything, the version that Weiss had gotten was simply much more detailed. One of the perks of being part of the family, Blake figured.

"The Schnee family’s little fundraiser is in two days." Adam explained, leaning back in his seat and making himself comfortable there. He had one leg crossed over the other in a way that made it so that he took up as much space as he wanted to. "Me and Blake are going to be going in. We’re hoping to play along like we’re on the guest list."

"Good." Sienna replied. Blake couldn’t even remember the last time that she had seen the woman. She knew that Sienna had worked with her father once, very far in the past but not much beyond that. Her father always made a point to let his history with The Fang lie and focus on the future and a legitimate political career.

Once, Blake had admired Sienna. Once Sienna had been a voice for people, someone that had once worked a legitimate reporting job. Something had happened to make Sienna want to leave that life, and The Fang had been created as a result.

"We're going to be going in formal wear, aren't we Blake?" Adam looked at her and grinned, that harsh smile of his that Blake was entirely too used to and yet hated all the same.

"Of course." Blake said, doing her best not to come off as too wooden. “I’ve already arranged something, personally.”

Sienna nodded, swirling the glass of wine that she'd gotten for herself. "And you are sure that you will be able to get into this without trouble?" She seemed skeptical about the story, if the purse of her lips was any indicator.. "Because as much as I would love to be the ones to break this story, I'm not doing it if it's going to compromise my publication."

"It's not going to." Adam responded. "We got our names onto the list. Or at least fake ones."

"We'll be going using fake names." Blake cut in, needing to be able to take control somehow. She and Adam were at least in agreement on how they’d be making their way in. Not that Adam knew all of the details of it.

"Good." Sienna replied. "You need to have a plan for once you get there, you know that."

"We do." Blake said, blinking and remembering that she couldn't risk making it clear that she knew people on the inside. She needed to keep as many cards in her pocket as possible, even if it would make her position in the job more difficult.

Sienna nodded then looked to Adam, clearly searching for some better, further explanation. Apparently in the time that the two of them had spent apart, Adam had spent some time setting himself up to be in Sienna’s metaphorical lap.

“Can you confirm this?”

“I can.” Adam responded, his voice still hard and unwavering as always. “We’re going to get in under the names that are on the list, and slip away to get to the offices upstairs later on. Once we get what we want, we are going to take what we need and get out of there.”

“And if you get caught?”

"We won't." Adam said, sounding a little too confident. It grated on Blake's nerves, because it told her that she wasn't going to be having an easy time moving forward.

Blake rolled her eyes and locked gazes with Sienna, who raised an eyebrow at her. "If we're caught, we'll pass ourselves off as party guests that wandered a little too far away."

"You think that this will be enough?" Sienna asked, still sounding more than thoroughly unamused by the place that they were in. "Because if it is not-"

"It will be." Blake said this time, doing what she could to imitate Adam's tone because despite everything, and all of her misgivings with him, she knew that he had an uncanny ability to command a room. Blake wished that she had some of that for herself, but that wasn't how things were.

Sienna nodded along, but she raised her drink and pointed at Blake and Adam both, her finger moving between the two of them. "I will trust you two with this story, but if either of you screw this up, I will not hesitate to see you fired. The Fang cannot afford either of you creating a mess with the Schnees. We can’t afford litigation from them when this could be easily considered a burglary. Am I understood?"

“Loud and clear.” Adam said with a shrug.

"Right." Blake said, shrinking back a little bit. She made herself more comfortable in her seat and took a breath, hoping that she'd be able to slide under the radar for the rest of the meeting.

After that, she listened along as the meeting went on and everyone involved simply sank into it. Apparently Adam had been rallying the troops with regard to the story for some time. Blake didn't know how she felt about that, but she wasn't going to go reading into it too much.

In the end, the meeting ended up feeling more like they were at a simple work meeting rather than one that was impromptu or being held at someone's house. Blake sat back quietly, and listened. She listened as Ilia gave a status update on what she was seeing and working on. She listened to the Albain Twins as they discussed a set of photographs and a story that they were working on that would accompany them.

Ilia sat next to Blake, and during a lull in the quiet Blake caught the way that she gave a slight smile. Blake wanted to smile back but couldn't. Not when she didn't know what Ilia wanted, or what she was supposed to do anymore.

The meeting went on for a while, and once it was over, Blake ended up staying behind with Ilia for a little bit. It wasn't that she wanted to be there, but if Ilia was insisting on it, Blake would play along. It had the chance of getting Blake more of what she wanted- that would have to be enough for some time.

Blake wasn't happy with it at all.

She got her ride home, and did what she could to push the evening's events from her mind. All that Blake did as soon as she got home was scribble down a set of notes on everything that she had learned before she picked up the phone and made a call.

The phone rang several times before going to voicemail. Normally, Weiss would have just picked it up, but if she had just let it ring through...

Blake didn't know if she should have been worried or not. Weiss was an adult and could take care of herself, but at the same time Blake knew just how badly being in Atlas seemed to mess with Weiss. It couldn't have been anything even close to pleasant, and Weiss was probably more than well aware of that.

But the call hadn't made it to Weiss, so Blake sat down on her bed and laid back in it. In two days, she was going to go and do the thing that might make or break the way that the entire rest of her life.

The thing was, Blake had realized, that no matter what if she was figured out as having sabotaged Adam's story- and that was definitely the intent, she would probably be removed from the writing staff at The Fang. Sienna wouldn't forgive the infraction, and everyone else there was even less likely to. Ilia would probably even feel somewhat betrayed for it.

As for Adam, Blake expected that she was going to be forced to take everything that she had and she was going to need to run. Adam was far from normal, that was something that she had learned far too long ago. If he saw an infraction against him, or he saw some reason to feel angry, Adam would and he would do so in a way that was over the top and dangerous.

There was a reason that Blake had needed to run from him the first time. There was a reason that she was afraid of him, and afraid to do this job with him. There was a reason that she had been talking to Klein quietly, trying to make sure that she would have a safe way out of the benefit because she couldn't allow herself to be around Adam that long. Klein would do what he could for her, that much had already been promised, but still Blake was worried and afraid.

She was worried for what would happen if Adam figured out what was going on between her and Weiss. She was worried for her friends- for Yang, for Ruby. She was worried for her own safety, and Blake was already thinking about what she would do if she ended up in a situation where the best thing that she could do was run back to Kuo Kuana. Adam probably wouldn't follow her there, and her family-

Well, they were there for her. That was something that Blake could be confident in.

She took a deep breath and reached over for her phone. There was still no sign that Weiss had seen the missed call. Perhaps she was busy with something at the Schnee Manor? Blake couldn't have imagined what, but with Jacques Schnee apparently back in the picture Blake imagined that Weiss' free time and her general personal freedoms had been scaled back a bit.

Blake took a deep breath and dialed a number on her phone. She listened to the phone ring once, before her father's voice was there.

"Blake?" he asked, sounding tired. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright." Blake said, looking out the window and swallowing down the lie. "I wanted to call and see how you guys were doing."

"Well, everything is good here, Blake." Her father explained, but he did sound exhausted. Blake's eyes flicked over to the clock, and she felt a pang of guilt at the realization that it was much later in the night in Kuo Kuana than it was in Atlas. Had she woken her father up? Or was he spending a late night at his office? "Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know." Blake admitted, hugging herself slightly and wishing that she was home instead. "Things are just... messy right now."

Her father hummed. "Would you care to explain what you mean?"

"I'm... probably going to be in trouble at work soon." Blake said quietly, not wanting for Yang to overhear it. "And I just... I need to know that I can come home if I need to."

The silence that Blake heard was really able to speak for itself on some level. She could already imagine what was happening on the other end- her father was worrying and probably leaning forward at his desk. Pinching the bridge of his nose in worry, or taking off his glasses. Blake didn’t know which, but she definitely knew what she expected from him.

“Blake.” He said, his voice quiet but gentle and warm like it always was. That was all that she wanted to hear. “You know that you’re always welcome here, no matter what. Me and your mother love you more than you will ever know.”

He wasn't asking her questions, and that was about all that Blake could have ever wanted. She needed to now that she was going to have the freedom to come back, without ending up in a position where she would be judged and interrogated for why she was coming home.

"I know." Blake whispered back into the phone. "I just need to know that it's okay."

"Of course." Her father replied. The sounds coming through the phone were accompanied by him moving around and getting up. There was a quiet rustle of paperwork. He must have been getting ready to go home for the night. "Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

Blake looked back out at Atlas through the window in her bedroom. It was gorgeous out there, with bright lights that made the dark of the night into something. It created a skyline and an outline that Blake had learned to love, despite the many problems that she had with Atlas.

"I won't force you." Ghira added.

She took a breath, closing her eyes and hugging herself. "I don't want to work with The Fang anymore." Blake said, her voice quiet. "I don't think that... it's a place for me anymore. I care about what I've done, and what I've been writing and fighting for, but... I don't think it's right."

Ghira was silent, for too long, and when he finally spoke up again it was with a little bit more grit or gruffness in his voice. "Is there a specific reason for you wanting to run. Blake, if this is about-"

"It's not about Adam." Blake cut him off. Her parents didn't know the whole story about what had happened between herself and Adam, or more than the bare minimums when it came to Ilia. That was for the better, and that was something that Blake prized. She didn't want any part in just how much could go wrong if they knew more.

As far as her parents knew, Blake had simply moved in with Yang because she needed someone to help pay the rent. It had been a nasty breakup, as far as they understood. They didn't know that part of the reason that Blake had moved was because she felt like she was being stalked, or because Adam was insane. They didn't know that Blake had broken things off with Ilia because of reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Ilia herself.

They didn't know about Weiss, either.

She took a deep breath. "I just... As far as I know I'll probably be breaking things off in the next few nights. I'm going to put out my last story, take my work, and then I'm going to leave Atlas probably."

Ghira was quiet, hesitant. Clearly trying to figure out what he wanted to make of himself. "If you feel like you need to come home, you are always welcome here. No matter what."

"Even if I don't deserve it."

"Even if you don't think you deserve it." Ghira finished for her, softness oozing into every syllable that he said. "We love you, Blake."

"Thanks, dad." Blake replied, smiling softly and feeling a little bit better about where she was. At the very least she had a way out of Atlas, and Blake was going to take it if she got the chance.

There was another thing that Blake didn't want to focus on, though. If she went back to Kuo Kuana, then she wondered if that might actually comfort her a little bit about Weiss. If Weiss decided to go back to Vale, then she would. Blake could go to Kuo Kuana and then she wouldn't feel that guilty for it.

"I have to go home," Ghira explained quietly. "If you think that you still need to talk to me, you know you can always call."

"I know." Blake replied, still smiling. "I love you."

"I love you too." Ghira said before saying his goodbye and hanging up the phone.

Blake pulled it down from her ear and looked down at the little screen. She watched as it went dark, and felt a sorrow in her heart that she wasn't going to be able to shake.

Only a few more days, and then she was going to be able to make her decision and she'd be able to go home. That was all that she needed to do.

She had the plan in place. She had everything that she needed, she had contact with Weiss, she had a way out.

All she had to do was pull herself together and do it.

Everything else could come after.