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wtiennest · 3 years ago

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Burned alive: How the 2014 Odessa massacre became a turning point for Ukraine

Eight years ago this Monday, something significant happened in Odessa, a historically important city in the southwest of Ukraine. Although the West didn’t see it as such, for Russia and the newly formed Donbass republics, what transpired there became a symbolic episode.

Provincial revolution

From late 2013 into early 2014, a conflict between the government of President Viktor Yanukovich and the pro-Western opposition was unfolding in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. The series of events that would ensue were dubbed the ‘Euromaidan’. Meanwhile, Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, was of course affected by these events too, albeit to a lesser extent.

Occasional clashes with police and scuffles between supporters of Euromaidan and those aligned with the government, which became known as the ‘Anti-Maidan’ movement, were nothing compared to the bloodshed in Kiev, where people were being killed.

Many Ukrainians didn’t welcome the Euromaidan, and they had their reasons. Lots of Odessa residents had strong ties with Russia, and still do. When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, a large number of ethnic Russians were living in Odessa and many had relatives in the old country. The city was built during the reign of Catherine the Great and has always been seen as an integral part of Russia’s history.

Thus, the aggressive nationalism of Euromaidan was largely unpopular there and plenty of locals were frightened by what seemed to be a passion for forming militant units. Euromaidan and Anti-Maidan in Odessa began to form parallel paramilitary organizations. Armed with a primitive array of sticks, biker helmets, and homemade weapons, these groups trained for street fighting. At first, nobody sought a fight to the death – the radicals hadn’t yet gained the leading role in either movement.

In Odessa, Anti-Maidan activists had begun gathering at Kulikovo Field, a square near Odessa’s House of Trade Unions in the city’s historical center. This became the site of an ongoing protest – it could also be described as a forum in the classical sense. People came to hang out, discuss the news, and even sing together. It was a very diverse crowd, from energetic youngsters to the elderly. Those who assembled there weren’t officially united by any specific ideology. One could run into Russian Orthodox activists, Cossacks, and a number of smaller groups.

The movement was led by local pro-Russian and leftist politicians, such as activist Anton Davidchenko and his brother Artyom. Their demands were very moderate – to protect the Russian language, grant the eastern regions economic autonomy, protect Russian and Soviet historical heritage, ensure monuments weren’t vandalized, let the East elect its own judges, etc. But Ukraine was in turmoil, and this program seemed extremely confrontational to the nationalists.

On the third of May 2014, after Yanukovich had already fled to Russia and Moscow had reabsorbed Crimea, Vladimir Nemirovsky, a nationalist politician, became head of the Odessa Region. He intended to harshly crack down on any form of protest. Dispersing the Kulikovo Field camp was a key point in his platform.

People hold up flares as thousands of Ukrainian nationalists, veterans and local residents march to commemorate the 2014 clashes between pro-Kyiv and Russia-backed groups on May 2, 2021 in Odessa, Ukraine. © Pierre Crom / Getty Images

Tensions had been gradually rising throughout March and April. After an armed uprising broke out in Donetsk and Lugansk, Euromaidan activists set up checkpoints on all roads leading to Odessa. Nobody knew who or what they were guarding, but about 500 people, not all of whom were even from Odessa, manned these very strange checkpoints. At the end of April, Nemirovsky announced that ‘Territorial Defense’ units, which are essentially military reserves, had been bussed into Odessa.

‘Territorial Defense’ buses were arriving in the region at that time. A lot of them. We tried to keep them away from Odessa whenever possible, but they went to Belgorod-Dnestrovsky and other places. They spread throughout the region. They were coming from the direction of Kiev. The police stayed away from them, the officers were demoralized.”

Even back then, these nationalist units were dangerous. They were arming themselves: we know of at least one case when a Euromaidan activist accidentally blew up a hand grenade. Molotov cocktails were also manufactured at these checkpoints.

Anti-Maidan found itself in a difficult situation. The initial excitement was winding down. There was a feeling that the struggle against the nationalists had been lost and nobody wanted to take a step toward violent conflict. In fact, the Kulikovo Field camp would have disappeared on its own in a few weeks. The Anti-Maidan leaders were already discussing the subject with the local authorities. They had even reached an agreement to shift it from the city center to the World War II memorial, which is in a less central location. The move was scheduled for May.

However, a less peaceful transition was also in the works. Though the police and governor didn’t want to get their hands dirty, there were enough ‘volunteers’ willing to take matters into their own hands. A football match against a team from Kharkov, a city in northeastern Ukraine, was scheduled for May 2, and Odessa was flooded with radical football fans. Rumors of potential violence began to circulate in April, and the Anti-Maidan activists had reason to be concerned about a possible raid on their camp. Some anticipated the future clashes with fear, others with excitement, but everybody knew that the Anti-Maidan camp would be destroyed. It was a perfect solution for everyone, except the activists themselves.

While rebels took over one city after another in the Donbass, and people in Crimea enthusiastically welcomed the Russian military, an easy victory for the nationalists in Odessa would give them the opportunity to demonstrate their strength. It would also allow the governor to show that he had the city under control. At this point, though, nobody was thinking that what was going to occur would take a lethal turn. A few Anti-Maidan activists wanted to remain in the central part of the city. Their idea was just to intimidate the nationalists.

On May 2, the football fans were to march through Odessa to the stadium under the slogan “for unity in Ukraine.” Euromaidan activists declared that this was to be a peaceful demonstration, but adherents of Anti-Maidan were convinced that the march would just be a cover for violent tactics.

Early in the morning of May 2, Sergey Dolzhenkov, the leader of the Anti-Maidan security group and a former police officer, contacted a member of the local parliament to request that the march be canceled:

“People saw what happened in Kharkov, Kherson, and Donetsk. The football fans were out of control. We need to make sure there is no bloodshed. No march – no bloodshed,” he said.

“I was on Kulikovo Field on May 1, and Artyom Davidchenko {the leader of Anti-Maidan in Odessa} announced from the stage that Right Sector {an ultra-nationalist Ukrainian organization whose name has become synonymous with all Ukrainian nationalists} was coming to town, and they would destroy the Kulikovo Field camp. We have to fight them off,” remembers Maxim Firsov, an activist from the left-wing Borotba movement.

Dolzhenkov and his Anti-Maidan group had limited forces. Officially, there were a lot of people at the camp, but the majority were women and elderly, who would not be able to fight. In fact, they themselves needed to be protected. That’s why Dolzhenkov decided to accompany the march with some of his men, while keeping a distance. Not everybody in the Anti-Maidan camp liked this plan, but Dolzhenkov was a man of action and thought it was better to meet the opponent head on and block them if they decided to walk toward the Kulikovo Field camp.

The police and Ukraine’s Security Service knew what was afoot but had no plans to interfere. On May 2, Artyom Davidchenko met with both agencies and was informed that detentions and arrests would start only when there were dead bodies, and there “would definitely be bodies.”

On May 1, activists from both groups were anticipating a fight, but nobody expected what actually happened.

Fighting on Grecheskaya Street

On the morning of May 2, an off-schedule train took around 500 Kharkov football fans to Odessa. Along with them, there arrived Pro-Euromaidan groups having nothing to do with football but who were armed with street fighting equipment, including personal armor and weapons. In the afternoon, they began to gather on Cathedral Square in the center of Odessa.

An Anti-Maidan group 150-to-300-strong departed from Kulikovo Field, which is about a 30-minute walk away. Although vastly outnumbered by the 2,000-3,000 Euromaidan fighters and fans, Dolzhenkov guided it in the direction of Cathedral Square anyway.

The Odessa police refused to intervene in the events. Its main forces of around 700 officers guarded the stadium, while around 80 followed the Anti-Maidan activists and 60 kept watch over Kulikovo Field. High-ranking police officers had been summoned for a meeting and were ordered to turn off their phones.

A small police unit tried to block Dolzhenkov’s group, but it simply circumvented the officers.

Meanwhile, an excited crowd had already gathered on Cathedral Square armed with clubs, shields, helmets, Molotov cocktails, and rubber-bullet handguns.

At around 3 pm, the Anti-Maidan activists from Kulikovo reached Cathedral Square via the adjacent Grecheskaya Street. Many accounts describe the arrival of Dolzhenkov’s group as an all-out assault resulting in a breakthrough. This is often referred to as an Anti-Maidan attack on the ultras. At first glance, a group of 300 charging a mob ten times its size would appear to be folly. But if you scratch the surface, new details emerge.

Some football fans saw the Anti-Maidan activists approaching and engaged them. The actual fight was initiated by two small groups of Dolzhenkov’s men and a crowd of Euromaidan activists. The main contingents did nothing at first, keeping their distance, but this was enough to spark the conflict.

With a thin line of police officers between them, at first the sides threw stones at each other. But the numerical advantage of Euromaidan was overwhelming and Anti-Maidan was quickly put on the defensive. Most of the officers were facing the Euromaidan side, which was throwing bricks, stones, and Molotov cocktails. The police began firing air and rubber-bullet guns almost from the beginning.

For Euromaidan, the altercation on Grecheskaya Street was amusing but accomplished nothing, so some activists went to the parallel Deribasovskaya Street on a flanking maneuver. This is where the first real blood was spilled.

The fight was already on when the Anti-Maidan supporters began shooting their firearms. A Euromaidan activist and nationalist named Igor Ivanov was killed by a bullet. He was likely killed by Kulikovo activist Vitaly Budko (Boatswain), who had arrived at the scene quite late – around 4 pm – with a civilian rifle, and opened fire as soon as he joined his companions. Neither he nor his weapon was ever found in the aftermath, and information on the bullet that killed Ivanov disappeared from the police database. However, several videos and photos show him having been firing his weapon before himself being shot. Another Maidan activist was shot dead with an air gun.

Anti-Maidan protesters soon came under fire too, and some were wounded. The subsequent investigation was conducted so poorly that none of the guns involved in the shootout were identified afterwards. There is footage of at least one injured protester.

The fighting went on for several hours. Reinforcements periodically came to bolster the Euromaidan activists, and they soon blocked all approaches to Grecheskaya Street. The Kulikovo group found itself surrounded at the Athena shopping mall, while well-coordinated Euromaidan teams were cutting off any reinforcements or avenues for retreat. Around 4 pm, the Euromaidan side captured a fire engine and drove it into a small barricade the defenders had built. Around 5:30 pm, a group went out onto the balcony of a nearby building and opened fire on their adversaries. Bullets and pellets extracted from the bodies revealed that at least three guns were involved. Four men died instantly, and several more were wounded, including a journalist, a police colonel, and a couple of officers. The defense crumbled. Some retreated to the shopping mall, barricaded themselves inside, and eventually surrendered to the police. Among them was Sergey Dolzhenkov, who had suffered a bullet wound. It seemed as if everything was over.

Death by fire

The Maidan activists had essentially already won the battle. The Kulikovo Field activists were defeated. By this time, people were simply roaming around aimlessly. Some sports fans from the stadium had joined the commotion after the game ended. But events were about to take a completely different turn.

Mark Gordienko, one of the leaders of Odessa’s Euromaidan movement, was one of those who began shouting, ‘Kulikovo!’ encouraging the crowd to go to the site where the Anti-Maidan protesters had put up their camp. In March of 2014, he was known to have said that he “would shoot down all separatists.” That day, he had an opportunity to fulfill his promise. Later, he seemed to have conveniently forgotten that he had spearheaded the violence.

Gordienko and a number of others managed to reignite the cooling crowd. Later, a recording of a conversation between Odessa Deputy Mayor Igor Bolyansky and one of the Euromaidan commanders was leaked, during which Bolyansky not only suggested that the commanders lead the crowd on the 30-minute walk from Grecheskaya Street to Kulikovo, but even discussed the logistics of how this should be done. In other words, this wasn’t a case of a crowd spontaneously moving in a certain direction but of one being steered there by leaders who made sure it arrived at the destination.

Meanwhile, the people at Kulikovo were confused and disoriented. Most were civilians with no military training whatsoever, and they weren’t particularly keen on participating in any battles. There were many women among them. Artyom Davidchenko had already briefly told them what had just transpired, while some people who had managed to escape Grecheskaya Street returned to give them a run-down of events. Many who had been on the square had already gone home, yet a number of them returned when they heard a crowd was on its way to attack their camp and fellow protesters.

That’s why a sizable number of the protesters who ended up at Kulikovo knew an attack was coming. Someone suggested taking cover in the massive Trade Unions building on the square, and people began to move their belongings from the camp into the building. They set up an improvised first aid station there, brought in supplies and built a small barricade in front of the building. They also had a couple of hunting rifles and a few Molotov cocktails. Davidchenko then left the square. Aleksey Albu, a low-level local politician, stayed in the building. At the time, he was not the kind who would be eager to participate in any fighting. In fact, he had learned about the clashes from the news.

The Trade Unions House had around 300 people inside that evening.

At 7:20 pm, the angry Euromaidan crowd entered the square. They moved through the abandoned camp and started throwing Molotov cocktails at the barricade in front of the Trade Unions building. Those inside responded by lobbing a few Molotov cocktails back at the attackers from the roof. It was then that a reporter who was filming everything said, “Now, they’ll definitely kill them.”

The attackers kept throwing rocks and improvised bombs at the barricade, which mostly consisted of wooden furniture and crates, and finally set it on fire. The protesters behind it retreated into the hall of the building. Later, many reports exaggerated the scope of the resistance put up by those in the Trade Unions building. Available footage shows that the attackers freely moved around the square, not needing to duck or take cover because there was no fire coming back at them.

The barricade was in flames and the attackers had set fire to the tents on the square. The whole square was full of smoke and flames. The attackers continued to hurl cocktail bombs filled with a home-made napalm mixture consisting of gasoline, acetone, and Styrofoam at the building. The holed-up protesters called the fire brigade, but no one came. The few policemen on the scene did nothing to interfere and just watched as the events unfolded.

The attackers made sure the fire didn’t die out, throwing more and more cocktail bombs into it. They even tossed in a burning car tire, while firing at the windows with anti-riot guns.

Then tragedy struck.

Independent expert Vladislav Balisnsky explained that the fire raging at the building’s entrance ignited the paint and varnish on the hall’s walls and ceiling. The burning entrance door collapsed, and the window panes were broken one by one by gunfire, creating a powerful draft. The resulting chimney effect turned the central staircase into a huge incinerator, with temperatures at the center rising to 600–700 degrees Celsius. The fire spread nearly instantly and everything that could burn was consumed in the fire. The people in the vicinity were essentially burnt alive. Others tried to save themselves by taking refuge in rooms further from the blaze. The draft continued to pull large clouds of smoke down the building’s corridors, killing more and more people on its way.

That’s when people began to jump out of the windows, which seemed a better alternative than being burnt alive or suffocating.

But for some leaping turned out not to be the lesser of two evils. Those who jumped ended up injuring themselves badly, sometimes fatally. But surviving the hazardous jump did not mean the end of the suffering. One activist was captured on camera running up to a person who had jumped out of a window, injured by the fall but still alive and moving, in order to beat the victim with a baton. Later, local journalist Sergey Dibrov spent some time studying footage and images from the incident and concluded that the victim ultimately received medical assistance and survived.

It was at this point that some people in the mob started to feel remorse and tried to help those caught in the burning building. Some threw a rope to those on the upper floors. Others dragged scaffolding to the building to help those trapped inside escape. These acts helped quite a number of people get out of the building alive, although some emerged only to be beaten on the ground. The last cocktail bomb was thrown into the building at 8:08 pm. The police reinforcements finally arrived and pushed the most belligerent attackers back. The fire squad arrived at 8:15 – despite being stationed just 400 meters away, it took them 30 minutes to arrive on the scene – and started to rescue the last survivors.

As it turned out, quite a lot of people survived the fire. The havoc subsided, and the fire squad and police restored order. Some people had been rescued from the roof, while others were found in rooms untouched by fire or smoke. The last survivors, who had been hiding in the attic, left the building in the early hours of May 3.

Elena was among those from the Kulikovo Field camp who had helped set up the first aid station before the attack. Later, she told reporters that she had been harassed by the people outside after escaping the fire. They shouted insults at her and even roughed her up, while the police paid no attention at all. During the fire in the building, those on the winning side displayed quite contradictory behavior. Some made genuine attempts to save people from the conflagration they had just started, and even risked their lives to do so, while others were happy to take advantage of the opportunity to continue to assault and humiliate the survivors.

A total of 48 people died: two Maidan activists and 46 Kulikovo Field Anti-Maidan protesters – two on Grecheskaya Street, and 42 at Kulikovo Field Square. Eight people jumped from the building to their deaths, while others suffocated or died from burns. All were citizens of Ukraine. A total of 247 people requested medical help following the incident, of whom 27 had been wounded by gunfire.

Albu, the local politician and one of the leaders of the group, was among those who had taken cover in the building but survived. He later joined the LPR’s Prizrak Brigade in Donbass. Another leader, local MP Vyacheslav Markin, died the next morning from injuries sustained after jumping from the building to escape the fire.

Ashes

In the following years, not a single person responsible for the killings in Odessa was punished in any way. Many of the murderers acted openly, wearing no masks or disguises, and were very straightforward about their intentions. Only a handful even faced criminal investigation. But ultimately, not a single one was brought before the courts to answer for the crimes committed. Whatever hearings did manage to be scheduled were derailed by the so-called ‘patriots’. A number of judges were forced to recuse themselves from the cases after receiving threats from militants.

Meanwhile, high-ranking Ukrainian politicians were quick to identify the ‘culprits’. Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchinov said that the disturbances in Odessa “were coordinated from a single center located in Russia.” Sergey Pashinsky, acting head of the presidential administration, said that it was “an FSB provocation to divert attention from the [so-called] anti-terrorist operation [in the Donbass]”. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry declared that “the tragedy was a pre-planned and well-financed operation by the Russian special services.”

From the very beginning, the authorities in Odessa seemed to deliberately obstruct the investigation. By the morning of May 3, the area around Grecheskaya Street had been cleared by municipal workers, who quickly disposed of all the physical evidence. The Trade Unions building remained open to the public for the following month. Citizens could watch live streams from the smoldering ruins, with one cameraman referring to the corpses of a young pair as “Romeo and Juliet.” No attempt was made to preserve the crime scene. The weapons used to kill people were never found. And these are just a few examples of the investigation’s dismissive and negligent attitude toward the case. In September 2015, UN Special Rapporteur Christof Heyns acknowledged that the bulk of the evidence relating to the May 2 events was destroyed immediately after the crime.

Euromaidan activist Sergei Khodiyak, who fired at people with a hunting rifle, was released from custody, and the judge recused himself from the case under pressure from a group of Maidan activists led by Igor Mosiychuk, an MP from the nationalist Radical Party. Vsevolod Goncharevsky, who used a club to beat and finish off Kulikovo activists who had jumped out of the windows of the burning building, was released due to a “lack of evidence.”

Dolzhenkov and a number of other Anti-Maidan activists remained in custody. In 2017, after many delays, the court acquitted Dolzhenkov in connection with the case. But he was immediately arrested again on the trumped-up charge of chanting illegal slogans at a political rally that had taken place a month before the tragedy. In December 2017, the last pro-Russian activists were released from custody as part of an exchange of detainees and prisoners from the Donbass conflict.

Ukrainian society reacted to the events in Odessa in a very peculiar way. Naturally, the majority of the population sympathized with the victims. Flowers would be brought to the Trade Unions building every year on May 2. The public realm and the media, however, were dominated by nationalists. For a few months after the events, social media platforms were overflowing with ‘jokes’ about the ‘Odessa barbecue’, the ‘burning of vatniks’ (a typical Soviet-era wool-padded jacket that became used to refer to Ukrainians espousing pro-Russian views and to Russians themselves), as well as slogans eerily reminiscent of those employed by Nazis about the Jews that they murdered in World War Two. The Ukrainian internet was flooded with pictures of burnt corpses accompanied by derisive comments. Many of the people who took part in the Odessa event soon thereafter ended up in the Donbass, fighting in the volunteer battalions of the Ukrainian army. “All it takes is to kill fifty ‘vatniks’ in every city, and then we shall have peace, then the war will end,” remarked Maksim Mazur, a member of the Aidar Battalion – a statement that was eagerly endorsed by many of those who had attacked people in Odessa.

In fact, Ukrainian social media did exactly what is commonly attributed to Russian propaganda. The piles of burnt corpses evoked feelings of horror, but also of rage. May 2014 was a breaking point: volunteers from Russia started to arrive in the breakaway republics en masse and even some men from Western Europe came to fight on their side. Slogans about autonomous status and the need to engage in talks with Kiev gave way to an unwavering resolve and determination to stand and fight to the bitter end. Just a few days after May 2, a Donbass rebel wrote on a destroyed and burned-out Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle: “This is for Odessa, you bastards.”

The voice of those who were horrified by the events from the very beginning and understood what had really happened was simply not heard. But they were probably worth listening to. Two years later, Artem Sushchevsky, from the Donbass town of Makeevka, wrote:

“I can repeat all I want that not everyone is crazy and that most Ukrainians are still the good and sensible people they always have been. I’m convinced this is true, and I’m not contradicting myself by saying this. But there’s one ‘but’: these good and sensible people can live peacefully with the events that transpired on May 2 in Odessa, already two years ago. And they also somehow live with the shelling of Donetsk. And in general, they have to put up with this shameful war, consoling themselves with fairy tales about a Russian invasion. But I can't live with those who can live with this. I don't care how I live – as long as it's not with you.”

Alexander Topilov, an Odessa musician and Euromaidan supporter, wrote a few days after the tragic events:

“…there were boys born in 1994. There were young girls, university professors, mechanics. I don’t know. Not all were quick enough to jump. Not all survived the landing. It’s not a victory, like hell it is! Don’t cheer us. I saw some exalted comments. Who the f*ck wants a victory like that? And who can even call it a victory? That’s a f*cking fiasco. It’s civil war. Odessa residents at each other’s throats. Who’s the winner here? I don’t need victories like that, the f*ck I do. Some people are like animals and some beasts are humane, that’s what I’m talking about. The line between ‘us’ and ‘them’. I lost mine on May 2. I don’t know where to draw it. I see people. And I see animals. Animals on my side, people against me. So, what do I do next? Damned if I know, boyo, as they say on the other side… And there are not less real people there than animals here…”

That desperate cry fell on deaf ears. On the same day that the Trade Unions building was burning, there was intense fighting in Slaviansk in the Donbass. The Ukrainian army was trying to enter the city. Soon, the militias armed with a motley assortment of hunting rifles, handguns stolen from police officers and Molotov cocktails were replaced by battalions and brigades equipped with artillery and tanks. Eastern Ukraine quaked with the blasts of howitzers and the rumbling of tanks.

#odessa #odessa massacre #ukraine war #ukraine crisis #russian ukrainian war #russian ukraine conflict #crime against humanity #russia invaded ukraine #defense of europe

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readerinsertfanfiction · 4 years ago

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Work-a-holic

Fandom: Haikyuu!!!

Character: Tsukishima Kei

Prompt: First impressions are lasting impressions and this holds especially true between you and your new colleague, Tsukishima Kei.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

“That was rather unlucky, eh?” Shifting your weight from one leg to another you groaned at that statement as you couldn’t wait for the doors to open. Unlucky indeed, first overtime, then just as you thought you could leave the elevator got stuck. Just for a short period and it turned out to be nothing serious, but still. The delay of a mere minutes was crucial as you eyed the time on your phone nervously.

“Well, good night!” your elevator buddy waved when the door opened and you zoomed right past the doors, barely minding your own manners to throw a greeting back as you ran down the streets into a sprint for what was hopefully going to help you catch the ride you needed.

Except, luck wasn’t on your side there either. Barely through the ports you heard the familiar shrill sound of the flute sounding as your ride rolled off, the next announced to arrive in another half an hour. A sigh of defeat escaped you at that, your hands landing on your hips as you straightened your jacket while you caught your breath.

And if you hadn’t been unlucky enough yet a familiar figure popped up. Deciding to grab a bite before you hopped on the next train you had exited the platform and plopped down in the first and the best convenience store where you could enjoy a snack to still the hunger. A place, so it turned out, to be frequented by another whose mocking smirk was all you really needed to recognise your colleague by.

“A headstart and you still miss the train?” the blond tells you, and you can only glare back at Tsukishima as you shove the rest of your food into your mouth. Trust Tsukishima to make a nasty remark as well.

“It sure was unlucky that you got stuck in that elevator,” the male continues, obviously not planning on letting you go so easily as he pays for his drink and orders a fresh bun from the counter. “I laughed the whole while,” Tsukishima relays to you and you feel your patience wearing thin again as you swallow your bite down.

“Bet you were disappointed it wasn’t your brilliant idea,” you snipe back at the male, annoyance further increasing as you try to open your drink, the frustration at the day and mostly at your colleague further increasing.

The click of his tongue, annoyed and distant, but also familiar by now goes by ignored as Tsukishima helps you with your drink, a scoff escaping him as he hands back your drink. “Whatever,” is all he murmurs as he pushes himself away from the counter, warm bun and strawberry milk in hands as he saunters out of the shop.

You wonder what caused the change in mood, or if there was anything you had missed.

“Tsukki is always a little moody,” Suga tells you over the phone later that night when he checks in on you. It seemed that even HR had heard of the little elevator mishap, and worried as ever the man had taken it upon himself to call you to make sure you hadn’t stranded somewhere because of the late hour and the delay in your travel time. A sweet gesture, but also enabling as you felt you could ask the HR manager this at least.

Tsukishima’s behaviour in the shop had seemed a little odd to you but with Sugawara’s reassurance you feel a little better.

“Though, I do admit that the two of you banter a lot,” the male continues, his voice turning into a contemplative one as you can almost imagine him tilt his head, “I think he is trying to be friends,” the way he says this earns an apprehensive pause from you, your face falling into something mixed in with disbelief and disgust.

“Yes, because I soooo want to be friends with that dude,” you sigh, glad to be finally home where you can vent yourself like this without seeming improper. It also made it easier to talk to the HR member who could only chuckle more.

“I didn’t say anything, but Tsukki has been taking unpaid overtime to help you out.”

With that the call is ended and you are once more left alone with your thoughts. Was Tsukishima awkward or so? You couldn’t imagine the male to be anything but arrogant with you, his constant remarks never ending. The thought of him trying to be friendly seemed even stranger.

“Suga needs to lay off his regency romances,” you conclude out loud, your eyes narrowing as you face the ceiling, “I’m not a romantic trope,” you continue, dispelling the thoughts from your mind.

Yet you can’t help it to hop by the bakery before work. And you can’t help picking out a few strawberry shortcakes, a few more than you originally planned to, but as you carry the box up into the office you are glad for it.

“Celebrating that you got in on time?” Tsukishima is quick to remark, earning a roll of your eyes as you set the box down, opening the box as you set one of the pastries down on his table.

“No, I thought I could sweeten your bitter mood,” you shoot back at him, knowing you have already failed the mission to which you had set yourself out to do. But, so you tell yourself later, an interaction between Tsukishima and you without some insults pointed at each other was going to be a strange day.

“Oh, Tsukki’s favourite,” Yamaguchi exclaims, eyes beaming as he picks up one of the shortcakes. You feel your heart jump a little at that, feeling a little exposed in your intentions as you try to think of a reason why you had picked strawberry shortcakes.

“Lucky guess,” Tsukishima supplies the answer for you as he works away his pastry with a disinterested look. Or is it a pout? You can’t really tell, but you find yourself looking at your bickering co-worker in a different light.

“If you say ‘please’ I will give you another one,” you tease the male, which earns you a roll of his eyes as he looks away with another click of his tongue. You grin at that, not missing the way his eyes fall over the box ever so often to steal another look, just to see how many there are left.

Work that day goes steady, the biggest projects now out of your way and the load easing up as you ease into your new role as well. For once you get to say goodbye together with your colleagues, excitedly discussing the possibility of maybe grabbing some dinner together with some new friends you have made.

“I will take the last one, if you so please,” Tsukishima announces from behind you, and as you turn around you realise that there is indeed one last shortcake left, as if waiting for the male to pick it up and eat it.

Throwing a look back at him you are not about to let him slide off so easily, a finger tutting at him as you decide to have one last jab for the day: “what’s the magic word?”

But if you had learnt anything from the blond then it was that he always had his answer ready and his quips prepared. And that there is nothing that comes between Tsukishima and strawberry shortcakes.

“I already said the magic word.”

The way he says it, pretending to be annoyed accompanied with that shit-eating grin as you realise that he did indeed say ‘please’, just not in the context you had wanted him to, doesn’t match with the slight eagerness you can read in his eyes. Impatient, excited, nearly flipping it as his hand already reaches for the pastry.

“Please~”

Another voice joins in a Kuuro from accounting comes sweeping away the last pastry with a wide smile. “I heard there were treats,” is his only explanation for his presence in your department, enjoying the glare that Tsukishima gives him.

“Oho? Did you want this? I will give it to you if you show up for practice,” the male taunts. The sigh that escapes Tsukishima is deeper than any you have ever heard before as he shrugs his shoulders.

“Yeah, whatever. Was planning on coming tonight anyway.”

#tsukishima kei #haikyuu tsukishima #tsukishima x reader #hq tsukishima #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu tsukki

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evabellasworld · 4 years ago

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Death of Mandalore

Chapter 14

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

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Summary: After murdering Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic, Vanya Doyvesky joined leagues with both Death Watch and Darth Maul, hoping to reclaim her Mandalorian warrior heritage. But with broken promises and betrayal against Death Watch and Maul’s crime syndicate, the former Mandalorian Jedi had to choose the right path not only for her but for Clan Doyvesky as well.

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Jumping from hyperspace, Obi-Wan flew into the Mandalorian atmosphere, which was barren with no trees or bushes, except for smoke rising from cabins, where people lived away from the city of Sundari. Despite that, however, they weren’t free from their new ruler, who monitored their citizen’s livelihood.

The port on Mandalore, however, was quite the contrary. With ships landing and departing from their respective platforms at the same time, workers on the docks were preoccupied with unloading supplies from outside. There were security guarding the docks, making sure that nothing suspicious happened under their prying eyes.

As the Twilight was about to land on an empty spot, a Mandalorian guard watched as the fins folded upwards, with Obi-Wan controlling the ship from the stuffy cockpit he was forced to endure. Surrounded by smokes and shaky controllers, he braced himself as she landed on the ground smoothly.

He sighed in relief as the lights were cut off, when one of the controllers beside him burst into a small flame, making him jump. “Anakin, that's the last time I borrow a ship from you,” he grumbled as he got off his seat and grabbed his helmet that was worn during his last mission to save the Chancellor.

Walking out with his Rako Hardeen disguise, the ship’s platform opened halfway, causing Obi-Wan to stomp on his foot to force it open. He inspected the condition of the ship, with the oil spilling from the engine and more smoke blowing from the exhaust port. Sometimes I wondered how Anakin took care of his own ship in the first place.

“You better get your ship looked at,” one of the guards came up to him, silently judging.

“Oh, it's my friend's ship,” Obi-Wan answered smoothly as he rested his hands on the handle, only for the platform to drop suddenly, making him stumble. Parts of the ship were peeled off as the nuts and bolts were loosened from its grip, further embarrassing the Jedi Master. “He told me it was perfectly fine. Terribly sorry about that.”

“Do you have a landing permit?” the guard asked, ignoring the crash sound from the Twilight.

“Um, I think I left it in the ship,” he pretended to check on his pockets, before gesturing to him. “Come with me, and I'll get it.”

The guard followed him all the way towards the ship’s common area, only to be knocked out in just one punch. The Moogan traders were startled by the faint sound, before continuing with their business. Obi-Wan emerged with a full set of Mandalorian armour, along with a jetpack and a brand-new helmet. After putting them on, he looked around and headed towards the airspeeder that was parked in front of his ship.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by Bo-Katan Kryze and her renegade soldiers. With a smirk painted on her face, one of her soldiers pulled out their blaster, only to be stopped with her head shaking. Activating the vehicle with a press of a button, Obi-Wan drove into Sundari, without any knowledge of what he was about to walk into.

Meanwhile in the Royal Prison, Satine’s eyes were closed as she pushed herself to focus on peaceful thoughts. Remembering the techniques to calm herself down whenever she was locked inside a cramped space, she breathed in while squishing her thumbs to sedate herself from her fear.

Obi-Wan noticed specks of her shoulder-length blonde hair as he glanced at her from behind, before unlocking her cell. Assuming the disguised guard as either Vanya or Maria, she didn’t bother to turn around. “Here to do more of your master's bidding?”

He took off his helmet and gave a warm smile, announcing his presence. “I do my own bidding.”

“Obi-Wan,” she beamed as she sprung up and wrapped her arms around him, much to his pleasure. Feeling each other’s warmth for a moment, Satine broke off their hug as she searched for both his apprentices behind him. “Are you alone?”

“Yes, the remaining Jedi Council and Republic officers will be no help to us here,” he told her, as he took a peek at the corridors, which were seemingly empty. Taking her hands, he dragged her towards the lift, waiting for the next one to arrive.

“I trust you have an escape plan then?” Satine raised her doubts, as Obi-Wan put on his helmet.

“As always, my dear,” he winked as the lift door slid opened, only to stumble upon Maria Doyvesky, who was waiting for them to enter. Playing along with his part, he shoved the Duchess inside the lift as it closed, heading towards the prison exit.

Peering at Satine and Obi-Wan, she wondered if she ever said anything about transferring prisoners from one block to another, before realising she didn’t. “There's no record of a prisoner transfer here,” she pointed out, not breaking eye contact with the both of them. “Care to explain yourself, soldier?”

“The orders came from upstairs,” he hesitated, looking away from the Chief of Security.

Now why would I give an order from one of my men upstairs on prison transfer? Maria blinked, until she recalled what Katrina told her earlier on in the hallways. “Hey, could I talk to you for a moment?”

“Oh, umm…”

Before she could begin her sentence, Obi-Wan knocked her as the lift opened, leaving her lying on the ground. Blood oozed from her nose as she watched them escape towards their speeder, making her scream in fury. “Get your ass back here, you son of a bitch!” Maria raged as she got up, chasing after them.

Obi-Wan and Satine drove away as the commando guards tailed them all the way to the docks. The others who were patrolling the area saw them heading towards the ship, asking for reinforcement. “It's the duchess,” one of them shouted. “She's getting away.”

Buckling up inside the cockpit, Obi-Wan lifted the ship in the air as Death Watch opened fire towards them. “We have to contact my sister for help,” Satine suggested, holding his hand. “She'll send reinforcements.”

“Who's your sister?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. Before he could leave, however, the engines took the worst hit, causing the ship to blow up. “Brace yourself!”

As it twirled in the air, Obi-Wan stood up and rushed out of the cockpit with Satine beside him. “Let's get out of here.”

Within a second, the front part of the Twilight was pulled apart, causing Satine to grip her hands tighter as she found herself hanging for her dear life. “Obi-Wan,” she cried.

With an ear-piercing crash and a huge explosion, Obi-Wan's grasps loosened as they crashed to the ground. The debris of the ship crushed Satine who was underneath it, prompting the Jedi to lift it away with the Force. Her eyes were closed as he tried to reach her, only to hear a familiar footstep.

He took a peek and saw his best friend walking towards him, giving her hands. “It's okay, Obi-Wan,” Vanya reassured him, caressing his cheeks in a gentle manner. “You're safe now.”

Sighing with bliss, he took her hands and gazed at his childhood best friend, with whom he shared a close bond. From sharing a piece of candy with each other to training their Padawans together, Vanya was the only friend he could rely on when it came to his deepest, darkest secret. For a while, her disappearance after the Battle of Coruscant made him stay up all night, wondering whether she was still out here, until today.

“Thank goodness you're here,” he smiled as he rubbed behind his head. “I thought something bad happened to you.”

“I'm alive and well, burc'ya,” Vanya smiled back genuinely. “I was worried about you too. I heard that Dooku really took over Coruscant and destroyed the Jedi Temple.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, sadly. “And he took Eva and Lira too.”

“I know, Obi-Wan,” she pulled him into a hug, frowning. “I miss them too. They were like daughters to me.”

“They were,” the Jedi Master let out a sniffle. “I still have their toys with me. You know, the cowgirl doll, their tooka doll, and a raggedy doll that Padmé gave them.”

“And the hummingbird droid that Lira built from scraps.”

“That too,” he bobbed his head when he saw his lover on the floor, making his jittery. “Goodness me, I almost forgot about the Duchess. We need to get her out of here.”

Vanya sealed her lips together as she watched him carry her in his arms, leaving her beaming for the couple. She remembered him telling all about her, and how they used to kiss before Obi-Wan had to separate from her. She finds their story romantic and yet sad, as she was aware of what's going to happen next.

I hope Maul spared both of them, she thought, as Obi-Wan glanced at her. “Do you happen to have a spare ship around or something? We need to get Satine to safety before Death Watch gets to her.”

“Oh, yeah, we do, actually,” she lied, as she led them to the same speeder they took. “I could lead you to my family’s ship, if you want to.”

He took a seat behind, holding Satine with him. “Thank you, Vanya,” he showed his appreciation. “I knew I could always count on you.”

She could only fake a smile as she felt remorseful for her actions that she is about to undertake against them.

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satoshi-mochida · 3 years ago

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Gematsu recently spoke to Ryuichi Nishizawa, creator of the Wonder Boy series and co-founder of Westone Bit Entertainment, to discuss his upcoming arcade game revival Clockwork Aquario, which was originally planned for release in 1994 before the fighting game-dominated arcade game market caused its cancellation. Now, with ININ Games and Strictly Limited Games, the side-scrolling action game is being completed and released for modern consoles.

In the email interview, Nishizawa discussed how the revival came to be, how it feels to revisit and complete the project, how it differs from the 1994 version, the game concept, its staff, and even shares what game he hopes to bring back next—albeit not one that was cancelled.

Get the full interview below.

Gematsu: Before its cancellation, Clockwork Aquario was originally planned to be released as Westone’s final arcade game. What was the ultimate nail in the coffin?

Ryuichi Nishizawa, Game Creator: “After we decided to cancel the release of Aquario, we discussed the plan for the next arcade game. At that time, we had not yet decided to withdraw from arcade games. We spent several months considering our plans, but the arcade game market at that time was split between fighting games and casual games such as puzzles and mahjong, neither of which were games we wanted to make. Arcade games were the star of the game industry, but we decided to withdraw from arcade games and concentrate on console games.”

So what led to its revival?

Nishizawa: “With the spread of social networking sites, the existence of Aquario became widely known to overseas enthusiasts, and the number of requests from fans who wanted to see it increased. And fortunately, we were able to restore the source code of Aquario because it was still in our company.”

Now that you’re back at it, how does it feel to revisit the project?

Nishizawa: “It’s a strange feeling. Experiences like this are hard to come by, so I am grateful for the twist of fate. During the development process, as the restoration of the game progressed, I was reminded of many things from the development days 27 years ago. I wanted to reward myself for not giving up and completing the game until the end.”

Clockwork Aquario was mostly complete back in 1993. How much of that has been salvaged for its revival, and how much of it is all-new?

Nishizawa: “When we started restoring the game, we thought we had all the programs and data needed to do so, but while the development proceeded, we found out that there were several pieces of missing image data. The title screen and part of the ending background were missing. We had no choice but to make new ones for those parts. It was a very difficult task to make them fit the pixel design of the time. It was similar to the work of a craftsman restoring a work of art.”

Clockwork Aquario wasn’t very well received during its initial location tests. What were the main issues and how are they being addressed this time around?

Nishizawa: “At that time, fighting games were booming at the video game arcades. This was a time when games in genres other than fighting games were all struggling. The management of video game arcades focuses on sales per unit area. The sales of fighting games were very high because they had a short playing time. They earned three to five times more than other games. Aquario was a traditional type of game where the better you play, the longer you can play, so it was not comparable to fighting games.”

Have any quality-of-life or accessibility features been implemented, such as a rewind option? Or is the game being kept as close to the original vision as possible?

Nishizawa: “Since this is a game that no one has ever seen before, we are focusing on recreating the original. However, since the platforms on which the game is running are different, we have optimized the controller and screen display for today’s consoles.”

Who are the main characters of Clockwork Aquario, and what are they setting out to do?

Nishizawa: “The player can choose one of the three main characters to play as. They are Huck, a boy; Elle, a girl; and Gush, a robot. They fight to destroy the ambitions of Dr. Hangyo, who plans to take over the world. And they only use their bare hands.”

Each character has their own moveset. Can you tell us a little bit about their actions?

Nishizawa: “Each character has slightly different controls and animations. I’d like to properly explain the differences, but since there are no remaining written specifications, I don’t know exactly how it works either. (Laughs.)”

OK, so what would you say are the defining gameplay traits of Clockwork Aquario? What separates it from other side-scrolling action games?

Nishizawa: “The concept of the game is simultaneous dual-player action. It is characterized by the feature of holding and throwing enemies. You can also throw allied characters. On the other hand, it also means that you can also be thrown.”

Which Westone Bit Entertainment game would you say Clockwork Aquario most resembles?

Nishizawa: “I think Monster Lair is the closest in terms of side-scrolling two-player simultaneous play. It’s also similar in that the boss battles are flashy.”

How much of the original staff is working on the revival?

Nishizawa: “There were four original members who participated in this work. Mr. Kurihara, who was the main programmer for Aquario, took the lead in supporting the project. United Games Entertainment was in charge of the actual development of the restoration, but whenever we encountered something we didn’t understand during the development, we contacted the development staff and solved the problem through consultations.”

Are there any plans to release the game on additional platforms, such as Xbox One or PC?

Dennis Mendel, Co-Founder of ININ Games and Strictly Limited Games: “As we have more projects to be announced later this year, we need to be careful with our resources—this is why we decided to focus on Switch and PlayStation 4. If we see demand from the Xbox and PC community, then we will definitely look into porting the game to other platforms as well.”

Do you expect we’ll see more of Clockwork Aquario‘s world and characters in the future—be it in additional games or media?

Nishizawa: “The main game is 27 years old, so it is indeed old-fashioned, but I have the impression that the enemy characters and the world are still suitable for today. The boss characters in particular have great designs, and I would love to see them modeled and animated in 3D. I’m waiting for fan art. (Laughs.)”

Are there any other Westone Bit Entertainment games you hope to bring back in the future?

Nishizawa: “I would love to remake the arcade version of the robot shoot ’em up AURAIL. It’s a personal favorite of mine, as I took hard work to create this title. The world was created with a lot of effort, but it’s not fully expressed on the game screen, so I’d like to use modern technology to express it to the fullest.

“Also, the other day I was watching a gameplay video and I thought it would be interesting to remake it. The first game that was released only in Japan was Milano no Arbeit Collection. It’s a game for the original PlayStation that was only released in Japan. It is the ultimate 2D game for pixel-art lovers, and the quality of the animation is outstanding. I’d like to remake this game with the original pixel art, but I’d have to find about five professional pixel artists to do it. It’s quite difficult.”

Clockwork Aquario is still without a concrete release date. Is there a narrower release window you can share other than simply “2021”?

Mendel: “As development on the game itself is basically finished, I think it is safe to say that the game will see a release in the fall. All missing graphics and sounds have already been implemented and some extra features have been added, so if we don’t encounter unforeseen problems during testing, the game should reach gold status soon.”

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about Clockwork Aquario?

Nishizawa: “This game is truly a ‘discovered’ visionary game. It is something close to a miracle that a game that was cancelled is now being released after 27 years. I would like to thank Dennis and everyone involved for their hard work in making this project happen. Thank you so much. I look forward to sharing this miracle with you, all readers.”

Thank you for your time, Nishizawa-san and Dennis!

Clockwork Aquario is due out for PlayStation 4 and Switch this fall. Limited print physical editions are currently available for pre-order.

View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.

#Clockwork Aquario #Westone Bit Entertainment #PS4 #Nintendo Switch #ININ Games #Gematsu

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eat-the-richard · 4 years ago

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Sonic’s 30th: What it could be and what it won’t be

Well folks, it's about that time again. Our beloved Sonic thee Hedgehog is turning the big three-oh this year.

I say that time “again” because, y’know, it seems like we just went through this. The last mainline Sonic releases, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, were both revealed as part of Sonic’s 25th anniversary. In a sense, that’s all us fans really have to look forward to anymore. Waiting for about five-or-so rotations around the sun to pass until SEGA can slap that big number next to Sonic’s mug to usher out as much celebratory marketing material as they can, all for the chance to get a smidgen of new video games to get our hands on.

This anniversary feels... different, though. Last anniversary SEGA had an absolute winner on their hands in Sonic Mania. There was no way the team behind that one could possibly mess up. And even if Sonic Forces turned out like... that, it at least made sense from SEGA’s perspective to greenlight a game like it during that time. But the five years since those games were announced have done little to assuage my worries about what exactly is planned for this year’s big game.

You see, Sonic has kind of vanished. He’s lost. M.I.A.. Which feels strange. Even during the supposed “dark age” of Sonic, he never really went anywhere. New games were still being produced like clockwork for a whole host of gaming systems. From mainline titles to spinoffs, dedicated Sonic fans had a lot to sink their teeth into back then. Since the release of Forces, all we really have to show for ourselves is a (personally) insignificant expansion to Sonic Mania and a new racing title which, frankly, didn’t set the world on fire when it was released. I suppose there’s a whole host of mobile titles that I didn’t mention but it’s difficult to get excited over yet another Sonic auto-runner. Perhaps most bafflingly, there haven’t even been many ports of older Sonic titles to modern hardware. If the mid-2000s were the dark ages of Sonic, perhaps right now we’re living in the “silent age,” where basically nothing is even happening and the franchise is at an eternal standstill.

The sole exception to this self-titled silent era was the Sonic movie, which I don’t think anyone anticipated being as big of a success as it was. Including the studio behind it. And especially including SEGA. It was utterly baffling to me that, upon the film’s release, there was nothing in the way of a tie-in game. Nothing directly associated with the movie. Nothing separate to release alongside the movie. Nothing. Some have speculated that SEGA was supremely unconfident in the film and it's hard to argue otherwise. It seems that, in a sense, the movie was a success in spite of the company the IP is linked with.

That’s why this anniversary feels more peculiar than the last one. At least Sonic was doing something in the early 2010s. Perhaps nothing groundbreaking, but he was at least around. If it hadn’t been for the movie, how in the world would the series be attracting new fans? This anniversary needs to be big. It needs to be the explosive re-emergence of Sonic to not only please the jaded oldies but the next generation of kids. And… I just don’t anticipate anything of the sort.

To me, Sonic Team has about four directions they could take the 30th anniversary game. Here they are, listed in descending order of likelihood.

4. A new “boost” game. Sonic Team ain’t opening that can of worms again.

3. A new “classic Sonic” game. While Christian Whitehead’s new studio has been deafeningly silent since forming, I believe that we’d have a bit more information about a Sonic Mania sequel by now if that was indeed in development.

2. Something entirely different.

1. Sonic Adventure 3 (or comparable analog).

Now, your reaction to that list may differ depending on your preferences and the year you were born. To me, something evoking nostalgia to the two Sonic Adventures is the safest and most likely choice for SEGA and Sonic Team. Just as classic nostalgia permeated through the 2010s, Adventure nostalgia will trailblaze full force through the 2020s. There are a lot of people whose only exposure to Sonic at all is playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on their GameCube. And the only way those people could potentially get funneled back into the series is through a proper Sonic Adventure 3, or at least something like it.

This, of course, says nothing about the overall quality of what this new Adventure title would be. And really, this is my main concern with the 30th anniversary. Can I even trust Sonic Team anymore to put out a good game?

Regardless of style, I’m unconfident to say the least. The staff that worked on the Adventure titles are not at SEGA anymore. The staff that spearheaded the “boost trilogy” of Unleashed, Colors, and Generations are not at SEGA anymore. And modern-day Sonic Team’s idea of something entirely different is, well, unappealing. Sonic Lost World proved that trying to change the core of the series for its own sake leads to a bland and uninspiring experience. And Forces? Oh… Forces.

Really, Forces is the main reason why I’m so disillusioned. Maybe it was that I was excited for the grand return of the boost. Maybe it was that I loved Generations so much that a proper sequel to it couldn’t possibly be bad. Instead of being a sequel to Generations, though, it tries to be everything at once. A game to appeal to the classic fans, the Adventure fans, the boost fans, those whole love complicated narratives, those who love the many characters this series has, and, obviously, the Original Character Artists™. Jack of all trades, master of nothing. A directionless, soulless game that in some instances is seemingly artificially-generated.

If this spectacular 30th anniversary Sonic game is something entirely different, it had to break an astounding amount of new ground. It had to rethink and reshape the series so drastically that, honestly, I don’t think it's very likely. I don’t think Sonic Team has even the slightest clue about what makes their flagship IP so appealing to so many people. If the nostalgia-fueled 2010s are any indication, SEGA only understands what makes Sonic so popular on a superficial level.

They know we liked the 2D games, so now EVERY game has 2D in it! Oh, they didn’t like that Sonic has green eyes. Well, let’s bring back the CLASSIC version of Sonic. Let’s actually make him his own character who will also appear in every game!

New zone ideas? LMAO how about we reuse the same set of classic levels over and over! Green Hill? YES! Chemical Plant? Of course! Let’s make an entire game that has both Sonics running around in a bunch of old zones. Wait, didn’t we just do that idea last year for Sonic 4 Episode 1? And aren’t we going to do that idea NEXT year for Sonic 4 Episode 2? WAIT DID SOMEONE SAY CHECKERBOARD PATTERNS IN WINDY HILL ZONE!???!!!!

Oh wait, Christian Whitehead just pitched to us a brand new 2D Sonic game with classic physics and new levels? We’ll let him do it, but ONLY if it is ANOTHER nostalgia game that reuses old zones!

Let’s inundate our fans with the same images of their childhood to activate their dopamine receptors!

I can hardly wait for what this team’s idea of Sonic Adventure nostalgia looks like. Hope you really like City Escape.

Really, while such appeals to nostalgia are welcome the first few times, after a while it starts to get grating. Sonic Team leaning so hard into it during the 2010s reeks to me of desperation. As if the constant callbacks are the only thing the team knows how to do to link new games with the rest of the series.

In actuality, fans don’t like Sonic because of the classic design or 2D-platforming or Green Hill Zone. They may like those things, but it isn’t why they continue to support the series. Fans love Sonic so fervently because, when he hits on all cylinders, he really hits. His games play in a supremely rewarding way where skill mastery is key. The better you are at Sonic, the better you feel while playing it. The personalities and designs of all of the different characters, from Sonic to Tails to Vector the freakin’ Crocodile, are not only distinct from each other but bleed through into gameplay in the way that they control and in how they are animated. Sonic’s best stories are ones that people can really relate to, dealing with a whole host of themes such as environmentalism, resisting fascism, surpassing expectations, and even the concept of free will among nonhuman entities. Not especially deep, but certainly thought provoking, especially for kids. All tied together with top notch visual and audio design that will stand the test of time. I’d posit that, while people like Sonic for a whole host of reasons, their starting point lies somewhere in the above explanation.

Hopefully, Sonic Team has realized by now that nostalgia will only get them so far. While a Sonic Adventure 3 would turn heads, it wouldn’t push the series forward. While a proper sequel to Sonic Mania would be a critical darling, it would continue to keep Sonic’s feet firmly planted in 1991. Sonic needs to evolve. He needs to change. And it seems like a change is happening. Roger Craig Smith, the voice of Sonic for the last 10 years, is no longer working with the series. The new TV series, Sonic Prime, is set to take place in a “strange new multiverse.” Even the Sonic movie refuses to lean on nostalgia too hard.

So maybe the future will be set in unfamiliar waters. But if this is the case, I don’t want SEGA to half ass it. I want them to boldly step into that abyss with a vision of Sonic that appeals to the heart of the fandom. Because, even if it's been down recently, that heart is still beating, and after the abuse it's already taken, it’s going to take a hell of a lot to get it to stop. And if SEGA can get this heart pumping to its full extreme as it had in years past, we may have something legendary to look forward to.

They could also just release a bunch of old Sonic games on Switch. I’d like that too.

#sonic #sonic 30th #essay #sonic team

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chanceywxy757 · 3 years ago

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How the 10 Worst GTA Online Money Generator from GTA5MONEYGEN.ONLINE Fails of All Time Could Have Been Prevented

Doubters have actually implicated publishers of abusing lawsuits, overemphasizing the damages done to knock rip off designers out of commission as well as frighten others. However, there's little doubt that online cheats impact many players, not just the ones who install them-- and authors can rely on that fact tipping lawful choices in their support. Since the moment of composing, cheating and also modding the tale mode element of GTA 5 is fair game, yet the online setting is a various story. Take 2, the game's publisher, has a tendency to relocate promptly, shutting down one cyberpunk after one more.

You can obtain all tools in the game conveniently, yet limitless ammo isn't feasible. There is no way to get limitless money through cheats in GTA 5. You'll have to make use of legitimate ways to generate income in GTA 5, such as buying the stock exchange. Though several of the hacks are not harmful, there are still a lot of gamers who take cheats as well far and mess up the game environment for everyone else. So today, Superstar Studios and Take-Two Interactive have actually made a massive leap to removing these cyberpunks.

Some gamers claim that they were illegitimately captured in the reset wave, while others are directly up ridiculing Superstar for not capturing them, or stating that their accounts still have millions left in the financial institution. Some are excusing the use of the problem by defining GTA Online as a grindy game, or are stunned that Superstar would go this far, as opposed to simply erasing the cash. Others are confused that Superstar would establish such steps when the MMO has, in their view, a lot larger disloyalty issues coming from malicious players who proactively attempt as well as destroy other people's games. Nonetheless, in spite of this, unfaithful remains to be a large problem in Grand Burglary Automobile Online, and recently it's only become worse. Gamers are clearly tired of Superstar's pretension, as well as especially the lack of interest they've offered to fixing the game's various free money problems. This implies that players who use cheats to add large amounts of money would have the ability to influence supply rates for non-cheating players as well, and Rockstar can't have that. It would skew the balance and negatively affect the game experience of gamers who don't wish to consider using cheats.

Spawn Golf Cart.

Said player then obtains charged an insurance fine due to the fact that they are "responsible" for "ruining" an additional gamer's cars and truck. Moreover, that unjustly criticized player obtains "bad sport" points, increasing their opportunities of entering into even worse servers with even more cyberpunks. If the track has a visual alongside it, try continually driving on and also off it, weaving backward and forward. Somehow or one more, this controls the physics of the game, boosting your auto's top speed. This strategy is known as "curb improving" and "kerb enhancing," as well as it's a lot more effective on PC, where you can get greater framerates. Of the lots of methods to generate income in GTA Online, racing seems like one of the much less criminal ones.

Based on the previous video games we are aware of what to anticipate from the Grand Theft Car 6 Cheats. Staple rip off codes like "Lower Wanted Level" and also Unlock All Weapon" are nearly guaranteed to be in the game. Many players are on the up and also up, grinding away or making use of Shark Cards to make cash money, however there are lots of cheats, also. Some are fun, briefly altering the look of other gamers in the entrance hall right into a sphere, yet others go a little bit too far-- be via making use of god mode or spawning limitless money. To make one of the most money in GTA Online as fast as possible you want to resource top-range automobiles and then market them on at the highest possible cost. This can be achieved by cheating the game right into only offering you distinct, premium lorries that aren't replicates. There is no way to obtain limitless ammunition by means of cheats in GTA 5.

The cheats listed below isn't for normal variation of the game. They will certainly work just if your port your game to PS4 from previous generation console. However, programmers of GTA 5 really did not add money rip off to the game. Right here, we have actually gathered for you the recognized rip off codes for GTA 5 on PlayStation 4!

Rockstar constructed these tools to handle their own livestreams or various other events.

This set of cheats are all targeted in your personality, so if you happen to're trying to spawn completely different automobiles to get round after that do that list of cheats proper right below.

Select which cheat to appoint to the LT/L2 faster way toggle.

Below you will the exact same cheats equated for the PS3 version of Grand Burglary Automobile 5.

This can likewise create the in-game Initial Person Speedometers on the PS4/PC/Xbox One version of the game to exceed their regular limitations, exposing that HGVs are capable of speeds of approximately 150 mph.

With each time you enter the cheat, time will certainly decrease even additionally.

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Nevertheless, when it comes to GTA Online, you can obtain banned for using cheats to obtain a benefit over other gamers If you're a proud owner of Xbox One or Xbox 360, after that utilize these GTA 5 cheats sequence on your Xbox console to include some crazy components in the game. When it comes to GTA 5 cheats as well as codes, you can use them on PS3, PS4, Xbox One/360, and also PC. However, you have to understand the right command to make a specific cheat work. So, if you're starting with GTA 5 without understanding of cheats as well as codes, then do not worry.

Gta 5 Cheats: Vehicle Generate Cheats.

If, for one reason or another, you can not make use of Grand Theft Vehicle 5 cheats, then attempt utilizing an option method to apply cheat codes. As an example, if you're using COMPUTER and you can not apply cheats via key-boards, after that try utilizing the cellular phone to apply the cheats. Regrettably, no, there is no GTA 5 money cheat to obtain easy in-game cash. Much like various other players, you will have to strive to make some cash in Grand Burglary Automobile 5. It's very unlikely that you will certainly get prohibited for using GTA 5 cheats in the story campaign, specifically if you are playing offline.

The 'Enhanced and Improved' version of GTA 5 for PS5 and Xbox Collection X was introduced in mid-2020 and would certainly represent the third generation of consoles that the game will feature on. Its announcement as well as ultimate launch will certainly guarantee that GTA followers are amused up until GTA VI has an official date. Normal recipients of this promotion may wonder why they haven't gotten their free $1 million this month. The system to distribute the money has changed, and also we have all the details. As such, the game was re-released on last-gen, and it's also involving the PlayStation 5 as well as Xbox Series X for one more round.

Keep reading as we run through all GTA 5 rip off codes, including information on just how to activate each gameplay tweak regardless of your favored platform. Respecting its forebears, the GTA 5 cheats system does without a doubt involve numerous button inputs, with codes and also phone keypad series for COMPUTER as well. If you've ever before wished to make individuals explode with your fists or generate a BMX GTA 5 Online Generator from gta5moneygen on the top of a building (we have actually all existed) then you have actually concerned the best area. GTA 5 cheats will certainly aid you get one of the most out of Superstar's near-limitless digital playground.

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astxlphe-fics · 4 years ago

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Atsukyou Week Day 1 // Roleswap AU

@atsukyouweek

There is a boy with a bomb on the train, and if Kyouka can save him, then maybe she can save herself too.

(Platonic atsukyou)

Word Count : 4 296

Content warning: Graphic Depiction of Violence

Basically the train scene with Kyouka and Atsushi swapped. It was pretty fun to write uh.

“Thank you for your help, Kyouka-chan,” Yosano says as they carry the groceries on the train platform.

Kyouka doesn’t say anything, glancing up and nodding quietly, but Yosano doesn’t seem to mind.

“I’ll hide some of the sweets for you, so Ranpo won’t snatch them away,” Yosano continues with a quick wink. They walk onto the train and take their seats.

She eyes the man from earlier, who is carefully avoiding their gazes. When he bothered Kyouka about bumping into him, Yosano sent him groveling at her feet and he ran with his tail between his legs.

In Kyouka’s opinion, considering Yosano’s anger, he was lucky to have kept it, the tail.

“...Thank you,” she says quietly. “About earlier.”

“Don’t worry about such trivial things.” She waves her hand dismissively. “So, I heard you knew Dazai before you joined us?”

“Not really.” She thinks back about Dazai, whom she dragged out of the river just a few days ago. “I’d heard about him.”

She knew him only by reputation — Dazai Osamu, Port Mafia executive turned traitor, the one the boss still refuses to replace.

There isn’t much talk of him, unless you managed to pull Akutagawa or Chuuya into a rant, and what information she gathered during her past six months as a Port Mafia assassin was enough for her to recognize him as soon as he told his name.

He looked at her, eyes wide and round, before he laughed, recognizing her as a fellow turncoat.

“I killed 35 people,” she said that day— she ran away from the Mafia with the full intent of killing herself, at some point, but she ended up saving a man instead.

“So what?” he answered, and gave her a chance.

Or maybe it was him who saved her, the lines have blurred since then.

And so, she’d been hired, passing the agency test, though no one but Dazai — and probably Ranpo, smart as he is — knows of her background.

She is snapped out of her recollection as the loudspeakers let out a high-pitched sound.

“ An announcement from the driver's cabin ,” the loudspeakers sputter out. “ I apologize for the intrusion! Now, I am about to conduct a little experiment!”

The voice is familiar, one Kyouka has encountered several times before. She blanches, hand closing tight around Yosano’s arm. “That’s—”

The voice keeps going, enthusiastically announcing the passengers would be the subject of the experiment. Then, the train churns, shaken by a sudden explosion.

“Do you know who that is?” Yosano asks, having noticed her reaction.

"Did two or three people just die~?” the voice continues. “The next blast will do better than that! I have installed bombs at both ends of the train — enough to blow everyone up!”

“Kyouka-chan?” Yosano insists.

“Motojiro Kajii,” Kyouka answers, trembling.

Yosano stills, recognizing the name. Kajii, despite being in the Mafia, is still a bomber and explosive specialist well-known of the authority and, as a result, of the agency.

That Kyouka is able to recognize him by voice is a whole other can of worms.

“Well then, hello Kyouka-chan~" he calls in a sing-song voice. “ We’re here for your head, and if you you’re careful all those passengers may not be blown up all the way to heaven...it’s up to you!”

So, the Mafia is coming for her already? She joined the agency barely two days ago, how did they find her so quickly?

“We don’t have a lot of options,” Yosano says, deciding the aforementioned can of worms will have to wait. “Either we let them take you, or we jump out of this train with dozens of passengers. Or—” she sets her hand on her hips.

“We fight them?” Kyouka suggests. She doesn’t want to face Kajii, she would need to use Demon Snow to beat him, and right now this is the last thing she wants.

“I’ll got at the front and take care of the bomber. You go look for the bomb at the back.”

“Kajii has a special ability too.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Yes.” At Yosano’s questioning glance, she elaborates. “He is immune to lemon shaped bombs. He uses them to fight, especially if he is fighting up close. It allows him to stay unarmed while doing a lot of damage to his opponent.”

“Thank you,” Yosano says. “This information is precious; I’ll keep it in mind.”

Kyouka nods. “Be careful,” she tells her, because she knows Kajii and how dangerous he is despite appearances.

“Don’t worry.” Yosano pats her head with a smile. “We’re the Armed Detective Agency.”

Taking that as a reassurance, Kyouka takes off, running towards the back of the train.

If Kajii is the head of the squad behind this attack, then maybe he’s the only one with an ability. The bomber at the back, hopefully, isn’t as strong, ability or not, and she may be able to take him without using Demon Snow.

She pushes past the crowd pressing around her until she reaches the second to last carriage, fully expecting a group of black-clad, armed men to ambush her at any moment. Instead, she runs straight into a teenage boy.

“S-Sorry!”

“You shouldn’t stay here,” Kyouka tells him. “You heard him. There is a bomb.”

“I know— I—”

Her instincts tell her something is wrong. The boy is a few years older than her, white haired and golden eyed, and she doesn’t recognize him at all. He is pale and looks just as scared as everyone else, but something is wrong.

He is dressed in black.

There is a gun strapped to his belt.

Then, he starts running past her, further towards the back of the train, and she runs after him until he’s cornered in the very last carriage — one the civilians have already evacuated.

“I— I’m Atsushi.”

“Kyouka.”

“I know.” He gulps, and his hand closes around the handle of the gun at his belt. “I’m supposed to keep the bomb safe,” he says, “and kill you.”

Atsushi doesn’t look like a mafia operative, but neither did Kyouka in her days. He is obviously a newbie, but it doesn’t make sense. Kyouka, before being a traitor, was regarded as a competent and powerful assassin, so why give this kind of task to a newcomer?

It doesn’t matter. Two days ago, she would have welcomed death gladly. She doesn’t deserve to live — she has killed 35 people in six months, her ability exists for murder, and her skills revolve around assassination.

But now her wish has changed.

“You’ve killed 35 people, so what?” Dazai said. “Does it make you unsuitable for the agency?”

She thought so, but Dazai is suitable for the agency despite having been an executive, and she passed the test — a test of character, for them to see how willing she is to help people in need.

Glancing back, she looks at the civilian in the next car. If she doesn’t find the bomb, they’ll die.

If she can save them, with her own skills, maybe she can truly believe Dazai.

Maybe she can give herself a chance. Maybe it’ll be okay for her to continue living in the light, to help people in the hope that one day she’ll earn her right to be alive.

Clutching at the phone, at the only thing she’s left of her mother, she shifts her position, moves herself in front of the open door and draws her blade, standing ready to protect them.

Atsushi’s hand shakes, and so does his gun.

Getting him to tell her where the bomb will be easy. He’s so scared of her it’s a wonder he hasn’t spilled his guts yet.

“Where is the bomb?” she asks.

“It’s—” He winces, and his free hand flies to his ear — an earbud, she notices. Someone is giving him orders from afar. Maybe Kajii? But if Yosano is keeping him busy... “If you try to escape, I’ll set it off.”

Someone on the other side shuts him up just as he goes to say something else, giving him more orders, and Kyouka takes advantage of his distraction. She adjusts her grip on her blade and moves. Her blade slashes through the teen’s shoulder, sends him sprawling backward on the ground with a scream of pain. He clutches at the wound, gasping, and she moves again, cutting his cheek.

She doesn’t want to kill him; she just wants him to talk.

“Where is the bomb?” she asks again, more forcefully.

The cut on Atsushi’s cheek heals before she can blink. So, he does have an ability — a healing power, then? Those are quite rare, but not suited for battle, making the fact that they sent him even stranger.

Pinching her lips, Kyouka attacks again, and he reflexively raises his arm to protect himself. She tries to hold back before she cuts through it too deeply, to avoid cutting the limb off, but her blade suddenly comes to a stop.

The teen’s arm has changed shape, stopping it before it could make damage. It’s now covered in fur — white and stripped with black — and his fingers have elongated in long, sharp looking claws.

He stares up at her, wide eyed, and they have changed too, now bright yellow with slit pupils.

“Oh—” His breathing becomes even more erratic. “It’s coming,” he says quickly, agitated, “I’m really sorry.”

And his whole body shifts. His skin boils over, his muscles distort and he lets out a pained grunt, killing intent rolling off him and Kyouka has to take a step back, fear only now starting a crawl up her guts.

A giant, white tiger stands in front of her, snarling.

“We are looking for a beast ,” Kunikida explained as he joined Dazai and her for dinner the night they met. “A giant, man-eating white tiger. The military police asked us to find it and dispose of it.”

The tiger the agency is looking for belongs to the Mafia.

All of Atsushi’s fear seems to have faded now that he is in his tiger form. He looks at her, eyes full of rage, and pounces.

Its claws rip through her clothes and sink into one of her arms, and she is thrown backwards, back hitting the train seats. Pain throbs through her but she doesn’t scream, merely grits her teeth and takes it.

Kyouka is a fool, sometimes. Underestimating the scared-looking teen was a mistake — has he been biding his time, camouflaging his killing intent, waiting for the moment he could transform and take her by surprise?

It attacks once more. She tries using her blade to fight back, but a single swat of his paw is enough to break it. Her body screams in pain as he hits her, and the severed half of her weapon clatters uselessly upon the floor.

She may need Demon Snow for this one. She grits her teeth, closing her eyes.

Her ability is good for nothing but battle, and she used it to murder 35 people under Akutagawa’s orders. Even before then, it killed her own mother. She doesn’t want to use it. But as the tiger looms over her, teeth bared, she knows she doesn’t have a choice. If he kills her, it could go after the civilians, and Kyouka will have been unable to save anyone .

The ghostly woman appears behind her, now bound to her will by the president’s ability. She takes in a deep breath, shoving aside her hate and disgust for it to focus on the fact that she is using it to save innocents.

It’s coming. I’m sorry .

She still can’t shake off the wrongness of the situation as Demon’s Snow cuts through one of the tiger’s legs. The suddenly missing limb throws him off balance and he collapse, but it doesn’t take long for it to grow back.

This Mafia newbie is a giant, regenerating tiger.

She doesn’t understand.

Why not set off the bomb like he threatened? Why keep up with the act until last second? Why is there still something wrong?

She thinks about the last six months, about Akutagawa’s orders coming from the phone and her ability reacting to it, outside of her control. She didn’t really want to kill anyone, but her ability had still obeyed.

It’s coming. I’m sorry .

It's not an act.

“You don’t control it,” she says out loud, staring up at the tiger. It stares back — there is nothing of the scared Atsushi in its eyes. “And you don’t want to kill me.”

The Mafia must have taken in another person with a destructive ability to make murder his life purpose, just like they did for her. She feels a twinge of sympathy for him — maybe, if she could convince him to show her the bomb earlier...

It doesn’t change a thing. Atsushi can’t hear her now. She closes her eyes, gripping her weapon tight. She doesn’t want to kill him either. But the civilians are her priority, she has to do everything in her power to keep them safe.

This isn’t Atsushi anymore.

The beast charges, and Demon Snow meets it heads on. Blood sprays around them as she cuts the tiger again, trying to slow it down. It heals fast, and she needs to be faster.

Distracting it with Demon Snow, she runs towards it. Another hit from the beast has her bones creak and protest, but she can’t give up. If it goes on a full rampage, bomb or not, everyone on this train is dead.

She slides between its legs and stabs its belly with what is left of her weapon. The beast roars and trashes, it tries to claw at Demon Snow, who avoids it. The metallic door bends and shatters under the blow. The people in the next carriage scream.

Before it can heal, she stabs it again and rolls out of the way. Demon Snow catches her and helps her as she jumps, grabbing onto the fur, until she’s on top of it.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “You’re just like me. I wish — I wish I could help.”

Her halved, jagged blade sinks deep into the back of the beast’s neck.

It shakes, and throws her off, stumbling. Its legs folds from under it, and she sees the strange, eerily glow of its eyes fade as its body shifts again.

Leaving Atsushi curled up on the floor, groaning in pain.

Atsushi coughs, one of his hand massaging his nape. It’s already healed, just like the cuts on his stomach. He looks up at her as she presses her blade to his throat, eyes roaming all over her, taking in each of her injuries.

She’s still standing, and there is something like relief in his eyes when he sees it.

“Why,” she asks, breathless, “do they send someone like you against me?”

“It’s—”

The ear bud has fallen off and he is now palming around, trying to find it, until gaze fixes itself on something close to Kyouka’s feet.

When she glances down, she sees it. The communication device has fallen there. Careful not to move her weapon and cut his throat by accident — though she now doubts it’ll actually kill him — she steps on it, crushing it under her shoe.

No orders will come for him anymore.

“It’s a test.”

She almost lowers her weapon in surprise. “A test.”

He nods. “I am — a beast,” he tries to explain. “A beast of calamity. I bring misfortune to everyone around me. My life has no worth at all if I can’t be of use to someone—” he licks his lips. “Akutagawa said—”

Akutagawa. Of course, it’s Akutagawa . He must also be the one who convinced him he is a calamity.

“Akutagawa said, that if I kill you and protect the bomb, I will have proven useful to him, and they’ll keep me and show me how to control the beast.”

“And if you fail?”

“They’ll sell me — there is this organization looking for me, the Guild? Or the military police, he said they will put me down. But—” he shakes his head, and his voice’s pitch rises. “I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone! ”

She almost asks why he didn’t just say so — but the answers come to her by itself as she remembers the earbud she just crushed. If Akutagawa was on the line, Kyouka doesn’t doubt that, at the slightest hint of Atsushi trying to explain, he would have blown all of them to kingdom come.

First, they need to defuse the bomb.

“The bomb,” she says instead. “Tell me where it is.”

Paling, Atsushi tugs at his white tie, undoing it, before unbuttoning the first few buttons of his shirt, pulling it open to reveal part of his chest — and the bomb strapped to it.

She can’t, for a few seconds, breathe. Her knuckles turn bone white as she clenches hard around the handle of her blade.

The bomb is on him. Akutagawa put the bomb on him.

She doesn’t expect the sudden rage bubbling under her skin.

“Okay.” She says, trying to stay composed. “We will take it off.”

She can still save him. She can still keep him safe. She can save the passengers and Atsushi.

Kneeling besides him, she takes a look at the way the bomb is attached. It would be more prudent to carefully undo the strap than try to cut it with her weapon.

“He’s wrong,” she suddenly says. It’s been bugging her since Atsushi said it. “You’re not a calamity.”

“What?”

“Akutagawa is lying. He told me that my life only had value if I killed people. So, I did. But—” she shakes her head, looking for the straps holding the bomb to his chest. “I'm working on changing it, which means he was wrong. He will make you into a calamity if you obey him, but you don't have to. You can still get away.”

“Kyouka-san, I brought a bomb in this train.”

“So what?”

Compared to 35 people in six months, one bomb they’re working on defusing is nothing.

She looks at him in the eyes, serious. She wants this point to get across, to show him what Dazai showed her.

Unlike her, he hasn’t truly harmed anyone yet. If people like Dazai and her can have a chance at something different, at giving their lives the value they want instead of the one others want to give it, Atsushi can too.

“I put all those people in danger—”

“So what?” she says again. “Do you wish to hurt anyone?”

“No!”

Her fingers close around his wrist, steadying his trembling hands. “Then what do you wish for?"

“I want—” He choked on his own breath. “I want to fix this.”

“We will,” she promises and he looks at her doubtfully. “I’m from the Armed Detective Agency. It's my job to help now.”

It seems to calm him down, and he smiles at her tentatively. "Thank you."

She is just about to resign herself to cut through the straps when the speakers come to life.

“Announcement from the driver’s cabin!”

Yosano’s voice echoes through the train, and both Kyouka and Atsushi look up to the nearest loudspeaker

“Is Kyouka-chan alive? ” Yosano asks. “ That bomber wasn’t actually that much to deal with. According to him, the bomb on your end is set off remotely. It’ll blow fast if not defused properly too— is that right?” A soft mumble is heard through the speaker — Kajii sounding very out of it. Yosano hums in approval at the reaction. “The only way to defuse it is with the emergency button, that the Mafia member on your end has.”

Turning to him, she extends a hand without a word.

“Ah—” Atsushi stands and dusts his pants, before taking a remote out of his back pocket. “Yes, I have it.” He holds it out to her, allowing her to take it. “Here.”

Kyouka studies it. It’s a simple remote, with a single button at the center, but there is a gnawing suspicion in her guts. It’s too easy.

Akutagawa would never let them get away so easily — send a newbie so obviously unwilling to harm anyone with the only mean to defuse the bomb? That’s practically asking him to disarm it and make a run for it.

Was he counting on her to kill Atsushi swiftly and try to defuse it on her own? Did he think the prospect of being caught and killed — or sold to whoever gave the Mafia the most money — would be enough of a deterrent? Did he believe the promise of acceptance, of giving his life worth, would have him cave in and obey?

Atsushi looks at her expectantly, biting his lips, twisting his fingers. He tries hard not to show how terrified he is, and Kyouka nods at him, attempting to be reassuring.

She presses the button.

Her phone rings.

Heart pounding in her chest, she freezes.

The phone — Akutagawa used it to control Demon Snow, but she didn’t want to get rid of it anyway. It was what she had left of the mother her own ability had killed, and he couldn’t take that away from her.

With a shaking hand, she flips it open, and Akutagawa’s voice echoes from the other side. “ He pressed it, didn’t he?”

Her eyes fly to Atsushi, who is trying very hard not to move, and she makes herself sound more confident for his sake. “Leave him alone.”

Atsushi slowly backs away from her, but her focus is back on the phone.

“How cute, ” Akutagawa says dryly. “Don’t take it off, weretiger. Kyouka decided to take all the passengers with her.”

“Kyouka-san—”

She whips around. The bomb makes a ticking noise, and she drops the phone. It clicks shut as it bounces on her chest.

“Take it off,” she orders, but Atsushi takes another step back instead, towards the gaping hole left by the tiger’s claws earlier in the fight.

“It’s too late. I’m sorry — I— It’s my fault everyone here is in danger.” He’s speaking fast, words almost mixing with each other. “They’re right, I only bring trouble and bad luck but— it’s better if I —” His jaw clenches, and the fear fades from his eyes. “I want to fix it. It's the only way.”

He is getting closer to the edge. The train is passing over the river and the drop, on top of the explosion, would probably kill him, the explosion too close for the regeneration to kick in fast enough.

He’s going to jump, and it’s like she can’t move to stop him.

"I made this mess and my life has no value anyway, so if I can do something right—” His heels come to the edge of the drop. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Don’t—”

“Thank you, Miss Detective.” Atsushi smiles at her. “You helped a lot.”

He falls.

Kyouka runs.

She jumps after him, Demon Snow materializing in front of her, pulling her downward until she can wrap one of her arms around him. With a quick work of her weapon, her ability cuts the bomb free, and Kyouka grabs it with her free hand, flinging it away from them.

It blows in a jumble of unbearable heat and ear-piercing sound and a burning sensation on her skin, and Demon Snow embraces them, taking the brunt of it.

They hit the water hard and the cold makes her skin tingle where the heat burned her. She can’t see straight, can’t tell up apart from down.

When her head breaks the surface, she takes a large gulp of air and coughs. She stays there for almost a minute, refusing to move, her muscles aching but still holding onto Atsushi.

Then, she kicks her feet, trying to swim, though a kimono is probably not the best outfit for it. In the end, Demon Snow reappears on its own, gently wrapping its arms around them and pulling them towards the riverbank.

After being hauled there, Kyouka pulls Atsushi up on the dry ground, never once letting go of him. She breathes in deeply, the adrenaline fading, and her shoulders slump. Her kimono sleeves are charred, but thankfully she wasn’t burned in the explosion.

Atsushi still unconscious, she gives him a once over, making sure he’s not hurt. One of his sleeves is ripped and the slight burns are already healing, but he otherwise looks fine.

“We made it,” she whispers, holding him close, fingers running through his hair.

She will have Akutagawa’s skin if he harms him again.

Demon Snow sits by them, and one of her translucent hands rests on Atsushi’s shoulder. Kyouka pointedly looks away.

She did it. She used Demon Snow to help and protect, but still, she can’t forget that it’s her ability who murdered her mother, the ability she used to kill so many people.

But it saved them.

If she keeps using it to save people, maybe one day she’ll have earned her right to life, the same way Dazai is earning his own.

“Kyouka-chan!” The clacking of heals on the cement draws her attention to Yosano, hurrying in her direction. She stops once she reaches them. “Any injuries?”

“I’m fine,” Kyouka answers. The cuts the claws left in her arms sting. “But I’m not sure about him. I want to bring him back to the office.”

Yosano pauses, considering the tight grip Kyouka has on the boy, and the way Demon Snow looms over them protectively. The translucent woman’s head snaps up towards her, blank face evaluating her until Yosano is deemed harmless and she fades away.

“He is from the Mafia, isn’t he?”

Kyouka shakes her head no. “He is not an enemy.”

“Very well.” Yosano straightens up and fishes her phone out of her bag. “Let's take him home, then.”

#atsukyouweek2020 #bsd #bungou stray dogs #nakajima atsushi #izumi kyouka #bsd atsushi #bsd kyouka #cw violence #writing

9 notes · View notes

cuthian · 4 years ago

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Dancing in the Rain Chapter Five

Hi again guys!

Thanks for sticking around so far :) I imagine this is the chapter everyone has been waiting for.

Please, read the tags again before reading this and the next chapter. Please feel free to DM me about any concerns you have!

As always, much thanks to @juuls, who has helped me make this entire series a reality!

Lots of love, Annaelle

Chapter Five

UNKNOWN KIDNAPPERS LIVESTREAM THREATS TO REBECCA BARNES

Just a little before midnight today, several social media platforms and news channels picked up on an online video feed that went live with footage of Rebecca Barnes – former U.S. Army Captain, former ambassador to Asgard and S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to the Avengers – tied to a wooden chair in a non-descript room, clearly beaten and roughed up as several unknown men taunted her and the viewers.

The video ends abruptly after three minutes and forty-seven seconds when a commotion behind the camera leads to said camera being knocked over before the feed shuts down after what seems to be a gun is fired.

The kidnappers seem under the impression that the Avengers were also watching the footage and uttered a threat specifically addressed to Captain America in the name of a Nazi-cult Captain America fought and died to stop during the Second World War, named Hydra.

[…] Barnes attended a charity gala with close friend Captain Steve Rogers earlier tonight. It is currently unknown how and where Barnes was taken. All we know at this time is that around ten p.m. a sudden, unannounced thunderstorm hit New York city that intensified abruptly during the broadcast and has yet to let up. […] weather experts have no other explanation for the storm than Thor’s potential and likely influence—not without considerable provocation.

[…] no official statements from the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. yet, although many of the Avengers’ and Barnes’ fans have already picked up on the footage and are running through it with a fine-tooth comb and now have started launching large-scale search parties. […] several independent sources have also picked up the footage and are calling into question the authenticity of the video.

—P. Adams, “Rebecca Barnes Kidnapped by Hydra?”, Daily News Online, 3 April 2016

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Avengers Tower, New York, Manhattan, New York State, U.S.A.

12:14 a.m., 3 April 2016

Tony

While Steve was off trying to find the nearest uniform to squeeze himself into, the Widow sidled up to him and handed him a flash drive. He eyed her before frowning at the flash drive in distaste. “I don’t like being handed things,” he said reflexively, but he didn’t set it down.

If she made a point of giving it to him, there was a good reason.

“Look at what’s on there,” she said. “I haven’t told Steve. I don’t think we should until we’ve got Becca, at least. He can’t take much more, I don’t think.”

Tony shot a glance at the hallway, and J.A.R.V.I.S. chimed, “Captain Rogers is currently in the team locker room, changing into his suit and retrieving his shield,” before he could even ask.

God, he loved J.A.R.V.I.S.

Tony slotted the drive into the nearest USB port and blinked at the onslaught of files that popped open as soon as his computer recognized the drive and accessed it. There were dozens of documents, pictures and graphs, and the more he read, the sicker Tony felt.

Phrases like, “destabilized mental health” and “suicidal ideation encouraged” stood out to him, and he jerked away from the screen as though it had physically hurt him, turning back to Natasha incredulously.

“What is this?” he demanded shakily.

“I don’t know,” Natasha admitted, and Tony was unnerved to see she looked scared. “Steve never—he never told me about any of this, I don’t think he told Becca either. But if this is real…” She shook her head and leaned her hip against the table. “They either have someone who looks a hell of a lot like him, or they have Bucky Barnes himself. And they used him against Steve.”

Tony blinked.

“Bucky Barnes died,” he said stiffly. “Seventy years ago.”

“Yeah,” Nat said softly. “That’s what we thought about Steve too.”

Tony opened his mouth to… to say something, anything, because this was horrifying, but then Cap walked back in and Tony hastily collapsed the screen, because Natasha was right.

Cap wouldn’t take this well.

He’d nearly flipped out just by the mere mention of Bucky Barnes’ name. Tony had no idea how he’d respond to the possibility that Barnes was actually still out there. Let alone what he’d been up to.

“You ready?” Cap asked Natasha, who uncrossed her arms and nodded at him.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she said, striding over to him and leading him out of the room.

As soon as they were gone, Tony opened the screen again. “Fuck,” he sighed. “Fuck.”

------------

Brooklyn, New York State, United States of America

12:23 a.m., 3 April 2016

Loki

As always when Thor unleashed the thunder, the air reeked of burnt ozone. He waded through the rain-soaked streets of New York, each clap of thunder so loud it reverberated into his very bones. He knew the storm that raged was Thor’s doing—how could it be anything but, when the air was saturated with so much seiðr that he could very nearly taste it.

There had always been an intrinsic quality to Thor’s seiðr that Loki would recognize anywhere, even amidst the chaos of the most turbulent battle.

He could not deny, even to himself, that its familiar feel was… comforting, in a sense.

He had spent the past five years in isolation, hidden away from the mortal world in one of the few sacred places that was left on Midgard—a small island, hidden from mortal eyes, off the coast of Norway near Älesund. The land was still infused with seiðr, its roots tucked into deep, primal wells of power that Loki had not yet been able to unveil—he had, however, used said power to hide himself from Heimdall’s all-seeing eye.

He’d assumed that, as long as he refrained from using his own seiðr for more than the menial, his presence would be entirely undetectable underneath the land’s stifling presence.

Considering he had not yet been dragged from his little hiding place by Einherjar, he felt it rather safe to assume his little plot had worked.

He had spent his time there trying to learn more about the origins of the universe and the stones that he knew Thanos sought and was willing to commit genocide for. He had not learned as much as he would’ve liked, but his knowledge on the subject was, he thought, likely more extensive than most other scholars except Thanos himself.

It would, hopefully, serve him well.

Not, of course, that his knowledge of infinity stones was going to do him much good now.

He surveyed the scene before him with some disdain and refrained from shaking his head. While he may be a god of mischief and chaos, he did so dislike pointless violence and fruitless chaos. He had been summoned here, unable to deny its insistent call, and had transported into what appeared to be a small underground chamber with bodies littered across the floor, bleeding everywhere—he glanced disdainfully at the puddle of blood beneath the closest man that inched closer to his shoes—and noise.

There were two men left, fighting hand to hand with a speed that might have impressed him if he had not been forcibly removed from the comfort of his home, where he had been taking a break from his endless research to watch a few episodes of a wonderfully bloodthirsty, morally ambiguous television show called Game of Thrones.

It really was quite inconvenient, being called here just as he’d been rewatching the previous season to prepare for the new episodes in a few weeks.

“Loki.”

He glanced around until he found the source of the voice that called to him, and barely repressed a sigh. He should have known, in hindsight, that the only living being with enough sway over him was his brother-betrothed’s favorite little mortal.

He did owe her a life debt, after all.

He had also not been quite so far into isolation that he had not heard of his brother’s scandalous and lengthy affair with the mortal. It’d been easy to pretend, when he had been alone, that it did not bother him so much that Thor had been able to move on quite so easily.

It was much harder, he found, to pretend when he was standing before her and he could see the evidence of her affair with his brother-betrothed with his own eyes. She lay collapsed against a far wall, a small trickle of blood running down from the corner of her mouth to her chin, one cheek bruised rather heavily, both hands cradled protectively around her swollen belly.

There was a rather lengthy, deep wound on her upper thigh that had been crudely wrapped.

Loki had, of course, known that his brother-betrothed had done the impossible and impregnated the twit.

The pregnancy announcement had made international newspapers, and while Loki had been rather shocked—and quietly dismayed—to hear of it, he had also been entirely unsurprised at the same time.

Thor was a fertility god, after all.

If anyone would be capable of procreating with someone they should not be able to procreate with, it would be Thor.

Of course, knowing was different than seeing.

“Rebecca,” he said smoothly, strolling towards her with an ease he did not feel. The two men that were still fighting did not seem to see him, and that suited him fine—he was here for her, after all.

“Help us,” she panted, looking up at him desperately. “Get us out of here.”

The request was, as he expected, dreadfully vague.

“Are you seriously injured?” he asked, eyeing her contemplatively.

“Only a little,” she said shakily, rubbing her hand over her stomach nervously. “I don’t think—he hit me and kicked me out of the chair, I twisted my ankle, and they kicked my legs out from under me when they took me, cut out the tracker in my thigh and smashed it… My knee—it hurts, but—the baby… it’s not moving so much, but I don’t think anything’s wrong. I don’t know. I’d know, right?”

He nodded lightly, although he was altogether unsure if that were true, and bent down to set his brother-betrothed’s intended on her feet. She wavered briefly, unsteady as a newborn fawn, before grabbing hold of his arm and steadying herself.

“Very well,” he said. “I presume we are to go without arousing suspicion. Shall I dispose of those as well?” He nodded towards the two men that were still fighting, although he noted that one seemed to be tiring rapidly.

He supposed that would make things a lot easier for him.

“No!” she shouted abruptly, wavering on her feet again, startling both him and the two men. Both men turned, eyes widening when they saw him.

“What the fuck?” the shorthaired, armored man shouted, but before Loki could act, the other man, lanky and longhaired, his eyes dark and filled with shadows, snatched a weapon from one of the dead men and fired a volley of shots towards Loki—all meticulously aimed, but dodged easily nonetheless—before he turned to the man beside him and hit him square in the face with his left, metal arm.

The armored man crumpled into a heap on the floor.

Loki looked the man with the metal arm warily up and down, but he did not move against him again. “Uncle Bucky,” Rebecca said from beside him, and it took him a moment to realize she was talking to the longhaired soldier. “Bucky, it’s okay, he’s going to help us.”

“What the hell is a Bucky?” Loki uttered under his breath, but both humans ignored him.

“He’s coming too,” Rebecca told him sternly, transferring her ironclad grip to the sallow-skinned soldier’s arm, as though Loki was in any position to refuse her. He sighed again but eyed the other man curiously—there was something… oddly familiar about him, although he was certain he had never met him before.

“Well then,” he nodded, dismissing the thought. “I haven’t all day.”

He held out a hand at her and wiggled his fingers insistently.

Rebecca swallowed thickly, blinking slowly at him as she rubbed the side of her belly before she finally reached out and placed her hand in his, keeping a firm grasp on the other man’s arm. “Take us to the Tower,” she said, biting her lip lightly. “Please. I need—we need to go back to the others.”

To Thor.

She did not say his brother-betrothed’s name, but she did not need to. Thor hung heavily between them without his name needing to be spoken aloud anyway.

Loki nodded silently.

Perhaps it was long since time for him to reveal himself to Thor and to also trust that Thor would protect him from Odin. He lowered his gaze to Thor’s mortal’s swollen belly and swallowed. Perhaps it was time to face the consequences of the choices he had made.

“To the Tower,” he repeated, curling his fingers over hers. “Hold on tightly. And close your eyes.”

------------

12:34 a.m.

Tony

Thor, his friends, Steve, Natasha and the twins were still searching the city block by block, able to cover a lot of ground with Pietro’s superspeed and Thor’s ability to fly. Clint still sat ensconced, himself, in a far corner with three laptops, a tablet and a phone and had declared he was more useful contacting everyone he knew to see if there was anyone who’d heard anything.

He only looked away from his screen to glare balefully at his apparently-not-so-dead husband, who had set up operations with Fury on Tony’s conference table. Natasha had eventually gone with Cap to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid—which was probably for the best—and Bruce was quietly going through several of the files Natasha had collected earlier.

Pepper had been here for a little bit earlier, but Tony had managed to convince her to go back to bed. At thirty-two weeks pregnant, she was uncomfortable all the time, and Tony knew their doctors had specifically told her to take it easy and to avoid very stressful situations.

He had finally convinced her to go back to bed by promising to keep her in the loop on everything, and to let her call in her various contacts to see if she could find out anything more.

He was pretty sure she was talking to Rhodey now—who was flying back from his conference in Germany immediately—and he felt a little better about leaving her while she was talking to their boyfriend. Rhodey would be able to keep her calm while Tony and the others combed through the city to find Becca.

“If this is Hydra,” Bruce said quietly from his corner, looking rather green around the edges, “it’s not going to be easy to figure out what’s going on. These records go up to the highest level of the government—they go up to the World Security Council.”

“Well, when have we ever done things the easy way?” Tony said, mildly hysterical, wringing his hands together. “J.A.R.V.I.S., are you done yet?”

“No, sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S. intoned politely. “But you do have an incoming call from Peggy Carter.”

Tony frowned. “Aunt Peg? Put her through.”

He could do with the distraction, and he felt a little bad that he hadn’t even thought to tell Aunt Peggy and Aunt Becky what was going on yet. “Aunt Peg,” he said jovially when J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded an upbeat little beep to signal he’d connected them. “Good that you called, I’ve got—”

“Stark!” someone who was very much not Aunt Peggy barked. “It’s Sharon! Aunt Peg told me what happened—we saw the video online—you gotta—is Brock with you?”

Tony frowned. “Shar,” he said slowly. “No… I thought you were sick? Brock said you w—”

“He knocked me out and locked me in the basement,” Sharon interrupted, and Tony’s jaw dropped.

“He—what?”

“Tony, I don’t have time,” Sharon spat impatiently. “We’ll be there in ten minutes. It’s Brock—this is no fucking coincidence—track his fucking phone, it’s gotta be him.”

“Are you sure?” Clint blurted, having dropped his tablet to his lap, staring at Tony with wide eyes.

“Do you think I’d be accusing my fiancé if I wasn’t fucking sure, Barton?” Sharon barked irritably. “Go track his fucking phone, I’ll be there in five.”

She hung up.

The silence in the conference room was deafening, and everyone stared at each other for a long, stunned moment before Tony jumped into action. “J.A.R.V.I.S., notify Thor and Rogers, get them back here ASAP, and track Brock Rumlow’s phone and hack into it. I wanna know everything, where he is, how long he’s been there, what porn he last Googled—just get into his phone and find everything.”

“Yes sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Fury cleared his throat and said, “Rumlow should be on a two-week mission with STRIKE. His personal phone will likely ping in his locker at HQ.”

“Then get me access to his work phone,” Tony said impatiently. “You heard Sharon—it’s probably—”

“Pardon the interruption,” J.A.R.V.I.S. cut in. “There is a mild disturbance in the lobby. I suggest your presence right away, sir. As well as Clint and Director Fury.”

Tony blinked. “What? What do you mean a disturbance?”

“It appears…” J.A.R.V.I.S. said slowly, “…a rift opened up, and Becca Barnes, Loki and an unknown third man have stepped out.”

-----------

12:36 a.m.

After the tensest elevator ride ever, the doors opened up into the lobby.

There was a tight ring of security guards surrounding their unexpected guests, and Tony wondered if any of what he was seeing was real. Loki was dead and Becca had been kidnapped less than two hours ago—neither of them should be standing in his lobby like nothing had happened.

Well… Becca did look paler than he had seen her in years—possibly even paler than she had been when he had blown through the metal door in the dank little prison cell they’d kept her in in Iraq.

She’d been hit, clearly, with dried blood running from the corner of her mouth down to her chin, and dark bruises were forming on one side of her face. She was leaning rather heavily on the dark-haired man clad in black under-armor, fingers white-knuckling in the black fabric, and she looked like she was about to throw up. There was a crude, bloodstained bandage around her upper thigh and Tony felt nauseated—they’d cut the tracker out?!

Said dark-haired man had a gun pointed at one of the nearest security guards with one—was that metal?—arm, the other around Becca’s waist, keeping her upright.

Loki—what the actual fuck—looked rather perturbed and was frowning at her.

“You said you felt fine when we left,” Loki said accusingly.

Well. Tony blinked and glanced to Clint, who stood to his left. He certainly sounded like Loki—but then again, Loki had been dead for five years.

“I’m just nauseated,” Becca said, wavering where she stood. “My leg hurts.”

“Becca,” Tony hissed impatiently, worriedly, raising his gauntlet to aim at the man with the gun. “Let one of the guys help you and get away from them.”

“No,” Becca refused immediately, tightening her grip on the dark-haired man’s shoulder and drawing a highly reluctant Loki closer by his hand. “He saved my life, Tony. Both of them. They’re on my side.”

Tony opened his mouth to protest—why, why did the people in his life have no sense self-preservation whatsoever—when the doors behind the trio burst open and Cap, Thor and Nat burst inside, stopping short as soon as they spotted Loki, Becca and Rambo.

Said trio turned slowly to face the new arrivals, and the metal-armed man stiffened as his eyes went wide beneath the poor excuse of eyeliner, and even Loki seemed at a loss for words. Thor looked like he was about to burst—whether into tears or laughter was unclear, and Cap looked like he’d been punched in the face.

Tony moved slowly around the group, making sure he was positioned a little in front of Rogers, Thor and Romanoff and facing Becca and her new strays. The metal-armed guy looked at Rogers in a way Tony couldn’t quite decipher though, but that looked like Rogers was both the cause and solution to every single one of Terminator’s problems, and...

Yeah, Tony commiserated with a shrug. That probably sounded right.

“Steve,” the man growled, though it looked like it hurt to speak at all, and Tony was entirely taken aback by the sound of the shield falling to the tiled floor behind him.

Cap let a sound not unlike a fucking whimper fall from his lips, and choked, “Bucky?!” and...

Oh. Oh. Shit.

Tony looked again, and yeah, now that it was out there, he definitely saw the resemblance. Barnes’ face scrunched up when Steve spoke, shaking his head jerkily as he glared at Steve.

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

Oh. Well... Tony grimaced at Becca.

That wasn’t good.

——————

Start from the beginning:

In Hell We Stand By You:

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Never Feel Alone:

(1) (2)

Decisions: (1)

Dancing with a Limp:

(1) (2)

Chances:

(1)

Starting Over:

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

Dancing in the Rain:

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Or read it HERE on AO3 :D Find the next chapter HERE on Tumblr in two weeks :)

#ihwsby sequel #dancing in the rain #ditr #stucky #thor #steve #bucky #becca barnes #avengers family #my writing #lisa writes

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wolfliving · 5 years ago

Text

The Corona Reboot

It’s early yet, but we’ll see once the bodies are buried.

https://www.ianalanpaul.com/the-corona-reboot/

The Corona Reboot

by Ian Alan Paul

A decade from now, historians may very well call the coronavirus pandemic the great deceleration. The bodies that had been endlessly propelled through cities on metros, buses, bicycles, and freeways now sit in self-imposed isolation at home, the international flights that had been relentlessly criss-crossing continents now are increasingly grounded, and the container ships that had been churning steadily back and forth across oceans now drift idly beside coastal ports, buoyed by their lack of cargo. Chinese factories lay serenely still without their workers as if they were relics of a bygone industrial era, while environmentalists post online about the substantial reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions. The relentlessly accelerating velocities of capitalism appear, quite unexpectedly and abruptly, to be grinding, lumbering, and lurching into a languid slumber.

Following from the desertion of offices, factories, universities, restaurants, and other places of work, the historical suspension of the planet’s economy has given us all time for long conversations in living rooms and on phones, for cooking intricate recipes and reading long-forgotten books on shelves, for bringing groceries and medicine to neighbors in need, for playing in baths with children sent home from school, and for watching films that had been put off for years. People sleep, write, cry, dance, play, exercise, have sex, and laugh in the new pause we find ourselves within. The fragility, vulnerability, and interdependency of life come to be more intensely felt and drawn more acutely into focus as the virus spreads, opening the way for new intimacies, solidarities, and creativities. Even when surrounded by crisis and fear, fragile but utopian moments nonetheless find life.

And yet it already appears that, after only a few days of a planetary interlude characterized by an unprecedented deceleration of life on every continent where people have begun questioning the social order that had defined their lives up to this point, immense accelerations have been set into motion in an attempt to socially, economically, and politically compensate for the velocities that had been lost elsewhere. The shutting down of our planet’s systems appears to have already been answered by a system reboot meant to capture the unactualized potentials of so many newly immobilized bodies, to economically put to use the many bodies that have rather unexpectedly found time to experiment with the multiplicity of life’s uses.

If a system reboot, what we might simply call the corona reboot, can be said to be taking place, it is only because power now understands society as being wholly integrated as a vast computer that can be programmed and reprogrammed as needed in response to whatever disruption, contingency, or event. In this sense, the deceleration of so many bodies appears to have opened the way for the cybernetic reorganization and reacceleration of planetary life, where social distancing has justified the implementation of the most intense forms of digitized connectivity and control technically realizable in our present. This text is ultimately an attempt to think through the possibility that the shutting down and subsequent rebooting of the planet presently underway may not in fact be a collection of ad-hoc measures that will fade as the contagion does, but that the coronavirus may come to serve as the catalyst for a new kind of society built upon the forms of digitized subjectivity that are forged within the unique historical circumstances of the pandemic.

At the very minimum, in this moment we must all struggle to understand the rapid transformations of social life, of work, and of politics presently underway not only in the interest of surviving this together and defending our common humanity, but also in hopes of establishing a different kind of society than the one presently imagined by power. If this planetary reboot takes form as a total recalibration of social, economic, and political life in the interest of preserving the continuity of the social, political, and economic order of capitalism, how might we begin to imagine social life differently in this trying moment?

At this early stage, it appears that at least two new kinds of subjectivity have already begun to take shape, both of which are mutually constitutive, intimately dependent upon, and shaped by the informatic infrastructures and apparatuses that now run through and organize much of our planetary society. On the one hand, we have the domesticated/connected subject, who in being confined to their home is pushed to invent new ways to reconnect to and participate in a virtualized economy. On the other hand, we have the mobile/disposable subject that serves as the circulatory system of the pandemic, a subject that becomes increasingly vulnerable and precarious as it is compelled to move at ever greater velocities. In order for domesticated/connected subjects to materially sustain themselves, they must be coupled with the mobile/disposable subject that fulfills the minimum material needs of society while ensuring the social possibility of isolated yet networked domestic life.

The domesticated/connected subject is horrifically cut off from social life in their home yet is intimately plugged into an increasingly networked economy. They are as docile as they are productive, integrated with society but integrated only as separate. Office workers, university professors, programmers, reporters, and cultural workers, among others, are all ordered to stay home, but to stay logged on. Video streaming platforms struggle to handle the new volumes of traffic while raking in profits, and everyone undergoes online training so they can continue to collaborate and work on a domesticated network. The isolation of the home corresponds with its degree of connectivity. The domesticated/connected subject can avoid the risk of being proximate and promiscuous with other possibly-infected bodies by simply connecting to the office meeting on Zoom, streaming culture on Netflix, ordering food on Postmates, venting on Facebook, and purchasing more hand sanitizer on Amazon, while Trump has announced that if you do end up with symptoms of the coronavirus all you must do is visit a site designed by Google to schedule a remote test. As the mobility of bodies becomes restricted to domestic spaces, computer keyboards dance with frenzied kinetic activity in service of slowing the contagion and keeping the economy stumbling along through waves of turbulent market volatility.

Emerging as a refrain to the domesticated/connected subject, the mobile/disposable subject moves at ever greater speeds and at ever greater risk so no one else has to. The interruption of public life is overrun by the feverishly accelerated mobile/disposable subject that is connected and subservient to the same informatic networks that connect domesticated/connected subjects to planetary economies. Commanded by smartphone apps delivering endless streams of pings and alerts that steer them from one gig to the next through nearly vacant streets, migrant workers on electric bikes have never been in higher demand, carrying food boxes from restaurants, bags of groceries from supermarkets, and miscellany from pharmacies, bodegas, and liquor stores to all of the salaried domesticated/connected workers who, now confined at home, create vast deluges of online orders.

Amazon truck drivers speed across neighborhoods, always over capacity and behind impossible-to-meet computationally-generated schedules, carrying boxes filled with diapers, batteries, bleach wipes, laptops, and breathing masks. Ambulance drivers are asked to simply never stop driving, while garbage workers haul larger and larger bags of trash filled with larger and larger volumes of domestic refuse. All of these workers are expected to go increasingly fast to keep up with increasing demand, and thus increasingly expose themselves to the contagion and other forms of risk associated with their embodied acceleration. The massive containment and isolation of the domesticated/connected subject has as its twin the mobile/disposable subject that constitutes the system of distribution for a new pandemic economy.

Both the domesticated/connected subjects working from home and the mobile/disposable subjects racing through the streets are ultimately brought together not only by the immense interconnected apparatuses of the digital economy but also by the blanket waves of social abandonment that now affect all life. When bodies of all kinds can be connected as isolated nodes on a network, remaining deeply reliant upon and subject to shifting algorithmic command and demand structures, the value of any single body approaches zero as every node on the network can be algorithmically swapped out and replaced with any other.

The cybernetic management and distribution of labor and commodities allows for the economy to draw on the population only as needed, while effectively abandoning the waste that is the remainder. When a domesticated/connected subject gets sick with the coronavirus and can no longer work, the still-healthy occupants of another house are ready to log on and fill their place, just as when a delivery worker breaks their leg after falling off of their bike, another can be pinged and made to run out the door. The emerging economic system doesn’t spare any time thinking of what may happen to all those who for whatever reason cannot manage to stay connected and working in this economy.

The massive deterritorialization of labor spurred on by the pandemic response has allowed for the implementation of a newly flexible organization of work that frees capitalism and the capitalist state of any responsibility for life in general as long as the economy survives. Providing adequate testing for the virus, guaranteeing universal access to healthcare, and ensuring monetary relief to newly impoverished populations are seen as unnecessary as long as everyone remains willing to connect, log on, and answer the relentless call of capitalism’s networks. The management of the population has become synonymous with the management of waste, excess, and trash, and only those who have the ability to accelerate will be sustained and supported by the larger logistical and infrastructural systems of a new post-pandemic cybernetic economy, which in reality is just a more extreme and refined form of the capitalism we had all already been accustomed to living within.

In this moment it is crucial that we insist that the reterritorialization of our society, the corona reboot, that is presently underway is not inevitable nor undefeatable. In the interlude of the pandemic there is an opportunity to refuse the imposition of digitized commands and coercive connections while defending and cultivating different kinds of human relation and interdependency. There is a chance now for all of us to consider how we might restart society differently rather than allow the logic of capital to unthinkingly do it for us. We’ll likely be in these pandemic circumstances for many months, so let’s use this time to disconnect from the pressures, exigencies, and demands of the economy and to reconnect with others in ways that do not conform or submit to the new kinds of acceleration and abandonment that are already being implemented everywhere around us.

The coronavirus pandemic marks the first time in our history that a planetary disruption of this kind and scale has occurred in a networked society such as ours, but that does not mean that we have to let the logic of capitalist networks be what ultimately reorganizes our ways of life. Already, we see mutual aid networks being constituted, new forms of digital labor being subverted, carceral structures being dismantled, and market logics being refused. We must think of this as just a beginning. How freely, wildly, and courageously will we allow ourselves to dream in this moment? What new practices of living and relationalities will we dare to put into practice? How can we overcome the domestic paranoia that sends people sprinting to supermarkets, the fear that keeps us away from neighbors, the depression that follows from reading the news, while also keeping one another safe and caring for one another as the virus spreads? How can we begin to find one another to act compassionately and collectively together in a struggle to arrive on the other side of this pandemic in a world not structured by abandonment, isolation, and acceleration but by the inextinguishable dignity and value of life itself? Each of us must dedicate ourselves to begin not only articulating but living answers to these questions in all of the varied situations we find ourselves living within.

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georgecrecy · 6 years ago

Text

Charlie 6

Seeing it for the first time, despite what he knew happened inside, James was still impressed by the scale of the Hub. The massive rock which the whole station rested in and upon was festooned with gantries, buildings, and laser batteries. Floodlights and windows lit the surrounding area of this part of the asteroid belt like it was a Festivus Tree. On top of the imposing defenses, the area was littered with ships of varying classes going to and from the villainous port. Forming a defensive screen was the small, yet formidable main fleet of Lord Takrex, featuring an imposing and gold-embellished cruiser as its figurehead, and many frigates, corvettes, and gunboats around it.

As their ship neared the port, they were hailed, and the comms officer provided the necessary passkey to gain entry. From there, the ship coasted towards one of the outer gantries which served as the docking ports for the gargantuan asteroid. Within minutes the ship was docked, the “fees” (or bribes) to the dockmaster paid, and the crew departed off the ship to go down the long corridor of the gantry. At the end of the corridor, which met with several others from other sections of gantries with their own ships docked, James and the others of his own crew joined the converging crowd of mean scavengers and boisterous marauders alike here on their own bit of leave. The crowd thinned as it went past a security checkpoint, and noticing the scanners and vibro-sensors James was quick to double check that his ear transmitter was turned off, lest its power signature give him away. Many had been killed in the past when the vibro-sensors set off a feedback ring in the transmitters of infiltrating agents, their pained cry as their earphone unexpectedly squealed in their ear a give-away to their impending demise. Fortunately it was off, and James was able to get past the checkpoint without incident, though his heart raced with nervousness. This newer model was supposed to get past such countermeasures, and he was glad the advertising was actually correct. His heart almost stopped, however, at what he caught sight through the dispersing crowd.

The checkpoint opened up into the inside of the asteroid, which in this section was a massive open-air market square, the smell of many kinds of foods coming from plumes of smoke and steam above stalls and more permanent storefronts mingled with the stench of many poorly washed bodies in the throng. Cryers and barkers could be seen in various corners hawking their wares, though their vociferous voices were almost drowned out by the drunken sounds of revelry which came from the many taverns, inns, and brothels that could be found in almost every available space. Indeed, this was a place where many tastes could be satisfied, James thought.

After finding accommodations at a relatively quiet inn, James changed into a more inconspicuous outfit, and now that he was in the protection of the cacophony of communication signals from all the ships and station systems, it meant he could somewhat safely turn the transmitter back on. They would still have to speak in a code to avoid immediate detection in the jumble by computers searching for keywords, but it was a start. After a few annoying clicking sounds, he almost sighed in relief when he heard the friendly voice on the other end. “Good to hear from you, it has been a tense couple of months. One moment, I will connect you with Eagle.”

James had asked that his friend Colonel Eahn be given the callsign ‘Eagle,’ though he had to explain the reference to ancient American military rankings. He only had to wait a moment before he heard the welcoming voice of Eahn bluster over the radio, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner he was back? No matter, Starkiller, are you there?” The miner’s face broke out in a grin both at Eahn’s bombast as well as at his own moniker. He had a thing for outdated and obscure references. “I’m here Eagle, hoping you’re paunchy as ever! It’s good to hear yer voice.”

“You are one to talk Starkiller, I would venture. But I am glad to hear from you as well. I hope the table has been set without a hitch.”

James nodded his head to the empty room as he said, “Yep, there’s an unclean plate but it shouldn’t affect the meal.” Here he was referencing Argax and his doggedly determined suspicions of him, but James pressed on. “What are the dinner plans, anyway? Any updates from the kitchen?”

“Hmph, unfortunately not. Dessert is looking to be hard to arrange, but we are working to see if we can bring in additional guests to the party.”

Eahn had put together a whole task force of ships to help extract James and the Dragon, though this was one part of the plan that had been in the process of being hammered out when James had left months before, and the Vlexeene’s task force wouldn’t be enough to get through the fleet and defenses by themselves. If James understood correctly, it looked like he was trying to garner some help from other systems that were usually too busy squabbling with each other than to band together. “Interestin,’ that would make for a very… crowded party.”

He heard some murmuring on the other end before Eahn replied, “Indeed. Considering what we are seeing arrayed outside, we are wondering if there is any help that you could provide to reduce the… what was the word… ah yes - dogs in the front yard. It would help us immensely.”

James frowned. He was a miner, not an Ian Flemming character! “And what, dare say, would you suppose I could do about that Eagle? I’m not the best equipped for such shenanigans.”

He could hear an exasperated sigh from the other end. “I realize it isn’t ideal, but if we are to have a chance, you will have to think of something, use that infamous human guile! As I said we couldn’t provide as many guests as originally thought, but we are working on it. In the meantime, do what you can Starkiller, and see what can be seen around your end. One thing I could say to help would be that the more you know about the cutlery and plates, the better you might do.”

He heard the Velxeene clear his throat, and after a brief pause say, “Whatever you do, Starkiller, be safe. The last thing we want to do is have another funeral. Until next we speak, you will be on your own.”

James smiled and said, “Thanks Eagle. I will. Keep the coffee warm for after the party.”

Once the communicator was off, he cleared the frog in his throat and set off for downstairs, and pulling out his combi-pad to bring up a map of this labyrinthine place in order to find a route to the gladiator pits. James followed the directions, which was a convoluted route through shops, tavern stoops, and the avoidance of a plethora of brawls with bets and jeers being made on the fly as they occurred. He noticed that the brown and black suited security for the station mostly looked on or would actively take part in the betting and jeering.

Eventually, James was able to make his way to another section of the asteroid that was equally as large as the market cavern, this one a jumble of interconnected large caves with the stands hewn into the rock itself. The public path which connected all the respective entrances of the smaller pits circled the largest arena of them all, the inner wall of the path operating as a viewing gallery as much as having several entrance doors available. Far below past over a hundred yards of stands was the equally huge fighting arena itself, the floor sunk precipitously lower into the stone to create a pit for which the fighters to do their bloody business. On opposite ends were gates that opened to the prep areas hidden in the catacombs below, and a raised announcer’s platform rested on another of the sides of the circle overlooking the entirety.

Holo-screens interspersed around the ceiling of the circular hallway noted times and combatants of all sorts of species and match ups, each promising to ensure a bloody fight. According to them, a few hours remained before the next main event was scheduled. He poked his head through the doors of some of the other smaller arenas, puzzled to see that there were no entrance tickets required. Then he noticed the betting girls as they walked up and down the stands in each room, attending to the myriad and rowdy pirates that filled the seats. As one walked seductively past he noticed what was on one of their combi-pads. Printed alongside the list of bets made was the fees applied to each of them. Lord Takrex was a wily one, to be sure.

He exited the last gladiator arena where two Gruats were facing off in a traditional form of fighting similar to Ancient Sumo wrestling when he noticed an offset doorway that was lightly guarded. The sign above indicated it led down into the fighter’s catacombs, the series of tunnels and chambers where the fighters and animals brought in for the various savage shows would stay and move around in. If he was to find Charlie, this would be the place.

He watched the situation, just like Eahn said, and he noted that the singular guard was rather distracted, his attention mostly focused across the hall. When James looked, he saw that across the way was one of the entrances to a smaller arena with an active and uproarious fight underway. As the guard craned his neck to try and get a better view, the miner slipped through the door and began his way into the darkened corridors beyond with an anxious purpose. All of his hopes, all of the long preparations, culminated in this search and this moment. Dim red lights lit the way every few feet, while his solemn figure quietly followed the slowly descending hall.

The rooms he passed carried various purposes to them, ducking his head into as many as he could while trying to avoid the guards that roamed the halls, with only a few close calls. Some were barracks for the many species that were willingly partaking in the gladiator sport, while those with bars over the doors for the less than willing subjects of entertainment for the bloodthirsty ruffians above. An ill-equipped hospital in one cave stood stark contrast to the several larger, brightly lit caves had been set aside for gymnasiums and training fields. Finally, he came across the entrance to another large tunnel that led to where the animals were housed, if the stench of manure which wafted his way gave any indication.

Swiftly turning down it, his heart sped up. He would soon be coming to the end of his quest, and though he realized it might have been for nought, a desperation that quivered in every part of his being begged the fates and heavens above that it would be his long-time friend that he would find in these forsaken passages.

Cave after cave swept by, housing everything from Narx Rats kept for feeding, all the way to large Rhinoceros-like Crowned Vules, until he got to the end of the corridor, where a huge and heavily-bolted door was set firmly into the surrounding rock, as large as the tunnel itself. Inset into the base of the left door was a more humanoid-sized opening, though the door was locked with an electronic seal. Breaking out his combi-pad, James opened up a program hidden in the sub-code which the Vlexeene had put on his pad for such a purpose. Hooking the two together, after a few minutes of beeps and ticks, the electronic lock eventually clicked. James froze for a moment, then sighed in relief that no alarm had been tripped, and he stepped inside.

The cave was one of the largest in this part of the asteroid, though much of it was cloaked in shadow. The miner could see various spaces inset into the cave walls which made makeshift nests, the cold rock floors worn down into shallow bowls from use over the years. A single lamp above provided the meagerest of light in the large cavern, but it allowed him to see the single occupant which was curled up in a far spot opposite the door. The large, scaled hide showed it to be, unmistakably, a Tilluxian Dragon.

James rushed to the spot, but almost stopped in his tracks as he neared the animal. The hide was gutted in many places with gory, oozing stripes of whipped flesh. The sides of the animal shuddering painfully with each breath, which cracked what little had been allowed to scar over.. James felt everything he saw, but mostly he felt both grief that it had been able to get to this point due to his own failings to realize the truth, and absolute burning-hot anger at those that had done this. Trying to get past a frog in his throat, he managed to gasp out, “Charlie? What have they done to you?”

The neck of the beast uncurled from the lee side to reveal the head, which was just as damaged as the rest of the body, including one dark and empty eye socket with a deep scar that blazed a white trail through it from top to bottom. A chain around the neck clanked as the neck shifted around, which he could see was bolted heavily to the wall on both sides of the nest. But most notable was the fact that the face which greeted him wasn’t Charlie. It was a female, the striped muzzle and protruding nose horn - now sheared off - a clear indicator.

James sank to one knee, the pain in his heart reaching a breaking point as he gasped with grief. They had been wrong. And he had been wrong. He had given himself the nicety of hope, and now it came crashing down in a wave of undivided sorrow. It wasn’t Charlie. He was gone.

He was jolted from his newfound grief by the rustle of chains that wrapped tightly around the female’s neck as she craned to see what had made the noise, her remaining eye a pain-filled yellow pool. Blinking away the tears, James stood up and slowly made his way forward, his hands outstretched non-aggressively. Just this movement caused the gargantuan beast to shy away in a pitiful display of fear, as she tried to make herself smaller against the walls of the nest she laid in, whining all the while.

Before James could try to assure the cruelly-mistreated creature, he heard a deep-seated, angry growl and the jangle of another set of chains rushing towards him from his left! Even as he turned to see the source James was slammed backward, his whole body rocketed several feet to end up skidding on the floor from the blow with him winded and dizzy. Before he had the chance to recoup, a humongous clawed paw that was the size of most of his body landed on him, pressing him hard into the floor, while a set of teeth the size of his forearm gritted menacingly down at him, the growl continuing to an angry crescendo. James’ eyes cleared even as he felt himself getting ground painfully into the stone floor, and the golden orbs that gazed at him with a righteous fury past a smooth snout were familiar.

“Ch-Charlie?”

The growling petered down, and the eyes so full of hatred and a determination to cause some very imminent and painful death changed to show wary confusion. The paw lifted off of James while the large Tilluxian stepped back a pace, though still in easy reach for it’s snapping jaws. He allowed James to sit up, and watched carefully as a hand reached up to pull back the hood which covered the miner’s head.

“I-its me Charlie. I’m here.”

The low grumble stopped entirely, and after a moment’s pause James was knocked over again, this time from the none-too-gentle flurry of recognition and absolute happiness that both of them felt as Charlie tried to nuzzle and sniff him rapturously. For his part, James felt his face wet with more tears as he tried his best to hold on to Charlie’s muzzle in the bear hug of the millennia, and wishing that it would last as long. “Oh man, Charlie, I- I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t try harder or even bother to think past my blubbering self. I don’t ever want to let you out of my sight again.”

Moments passed like days as they held each other, each quietly rejoicing at seeing each other again. James pulled away eventually, wiping the tears that coursed openly down his face, and took greater stock of Charlie’s situation. Fortunately, he wasn’t as bad as the female, though he was thinner and sporting a good number of scars that hadn’t been there previously, but was yet still in OK condition. One of the biggest marks on Charlie’s tough hide was the chafed skin around the collar that he wore, also bolted by two (now straining) chains to both sides of the wall in the nest Charlie had chosen for himself. He had obviously strained with all his considerable might against the equally considerable restraints over the months he had been here. Thinking of the female, James glanced her way, and saw that she was looking intently if confusedly at what had played out in front of her.

James longingly detached himself from Charlie, patting him on the nose as he did, before advancing towards the female with deliberate step. Charlie watched quietly, though as the Tilluxian reared again in fright the male Dragon cooed softly and reassuringly to calm her. Looking between Charlie and James, she apprehensively allowed the human to walk up to her, and gingerly sniffed the proffered palm that James put out. Charlie shifted his large self to sit as close as his chains would allow to the nest the abused female resided in, trying his best to use his gargantuan body even from a distance as a form of comfort.

Once the Tilluxian seemed willing to accept his touch, James slowly assessed the considerable damage more closely, her body shuddering from both the pain of breathing and from the novelty of a kind touch. His fears were confirmed, as the red swelling and ooze that leaked out of several of the wounds showed a complete neglect for the sizeable being. He remembered that mounted on the wall outside the huge doors of the enclosure was a med kit that, while usually meant for humanoids, technically could also work just as well for a hurt Tilluxian, he theorized. Standing up, he walked slowly to the door so as not to spook the female Tilluxian, and went to retrieve the med kit. He opened the door slowly though, and made sure to see that the coast was clear before stepping out. The kit was close at hand, though dusty from lack of use, but he decoupled it from the wall and hurried his way back inside.

The miner was no more a doctor than he was an ancient Cold War-era spy, but his basic survival training helped him a little to help the poor female Tilluxian. As he worked, Charlie sat on watch, as much sharing his company with the agonized female as with his longtime friend. James patched what he could, and was rewarded with a snuffle of his hands by the female’s massive snout before she laid back to rest.

His calves flared painfully as he stood and stumped over to sit down at Charlie’s side, and as Charlie wrapped his large form comfortingly around his friend against the chill of the cavern, James made sure to scratch around Charlie’s nostrils just as he liked, to which the gargantuan head twisted and turned to ensure the hand found the best spots. The miner mused as he gazed at Charlie, and at the surrounding dark granite walls. How were they gonna get out of this latest pickle?

He took out his combi-pad again to look at the map, and after a moment of thought used the hacking protocols again to access the maintenance directories. He laughed at how quickly the virus bypassed the dismal security, maintenance records seemed to not be high on their priority list. He was able to bring up a new map overlay, which included the utility networks, the hubs and chains that ensured things like power and water got where they needed. As he mused and scrolled through these maps, his hands absently rubbed against Charlie’s flank, now festooned with scars of varying depths. As his fingers traced these scars, new and old, feeling the muscles twitch from his touch, his mind blazed into overdrive. He looked more carefully at the maps, and scrolled through maintenance records, before jumping up suddenly with a burst of newfound energy. He had a plan.

Having to leave Charlie again, if only for a little while, was one of the worst parts of the plan, but it was necessary if they were to have any chance of getting off this forsaken rock. The guard at the door to the fighter’s corridor was then even closer to the arena, rather than keeping to his post, so it was easier than before to slip out and mingle with the rest of the crowd. Once he was back in the main marketplace, he weaved his way through various storefronts and street corner hawkers until he found what he needed. Packages in hand, he then used the overlaid map to deposit the packages in various locations, before making his way back to Charlie and the female Tilluxian. However, from farther down the circular passage, James couldn’t have noticed a pair of compound eyes that watched him go through the door.

He rushed his way down the red-lit corridors, pushing the limits of stealthiness to avoid the guards along the way. He was glad he wasn’t wearing his clunky exo-suit, with all its whirring servos and metal framing, they would have heard him from the next star cluster. Thankfully, he was able to avoid the patrols and duck down the stinking passage that led back to the Tilluxians.

The door was still unlocked from when last he had been in, and he was glad to see that the female was looking a bit more lively on his return, though she was still in need of at least several months of rest. After being practically enveloped by Charlie again, which James didn’t mind in the slightest, he decided to put the first aid box back lest it being missing might arouse suspicion by a passing guard.

He stepped half out of the door, reaching around it to click the box back into its mounting, but as he looked ahead he realized that a large procession was heading down the corridor towards him! Leading the column was Argax, his chitinous hide reflecting off of the light that drifted through each set of bars the group passed.

They were well away, and fortunately their attention was divided on the animals on either side that screeched and hissed through their respective bars, the guards also searching each room as they passed. They would quickly reach the main enclosure the Tiluxians were housed in, so James ducked into the door and closed it, discovering there was no way to re-engage the electronic padlock from this side. There was nothing he could do about it now.

Rushing back to the two that looked at him through three yellow pools that reflected even the poor lighting here with an amber glow, he motioned to Charlie the ‘company coming’ motion. James reached into a pocket, pulling out a small device which he hid under Charlie’s collar, hoping beyond hope that friction would keep it in place.

Clicking on his communicator, he muttered, “Is someone there? Hello?” After a few moments he was relieved to hear a reply from one of the officers, “I read you, how goes it, Starkiller?”

“Not great, the dinner party is about to start without you. Half the dogs will be gone, but you need to get here soon.”

“I will relay your information on, anything else for the party goers?”

“Just that the sooner they get here, the better. I’m not sure what room they might find us in, but my guess would be the basement, we’ll find out shortly. I’ll keep the line open.”

James could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door, particularly Argax shouting, “Tktktktktktkt I was right, my Lord! Look, the door is unlocked!” Another voice said in a deep and menacing tone, “Which of you shiftless fools left the lock on this door turned off again? You know the penalty for disobeying my direct orders.” In fearful unison, James heard numerous guards shout out, “Death to defiers of Lord Takrex!”

The towering doors opened, the jolt sending dust cascading down from the ceiling, and the large procession marched in. In first was a cordon of guards that quickly surrounded James as he stood in the center of the room, but at the center of the group was the imposing figure of Lord Takrex himself, decked out in finely embroidered clothing. James immediately recognized the species of the illusive Takrex as being Strehxi, a species that was equally cunning and cruel, with several rows of eyes set on a malevolently angled face. While those in power of the Strehxi Empire were constantly exhorting against stereotypes against them, it was most common to find their members in some form or another of illegal activity across the galaxies. Usually they would also be found in positions of power within these enterprises.

The numerous guards took post around him, and then carefully around Charlie as well, who growled deep and menacingly, though was noticeably wary to attempt anything with the threat of the guards’ electric spear prods threatening him at every angle. The wretch Argax stood at the outskirt of the group of courtesans and lackeys which - quite wisely perhaps - waited at the opening to the room. One of the several arms pointed at James and triumphantly declared, “There he is, my Lord! Tktktktktktkt Surely he is here for ill, to spy or worse!”

James put on an indignant face as combi-blasters and spear prods were pointed his way. Lord Takrex moved closer into the light of the singular lamp, which cast deep shadows across his hollow face. “Who might you be, and why are you on my station, human?” As Takrex spoke, James could hear a gasp through his communicator, and the sound of a chair rapidly being vacated.

Thinking quickly he said, “My good Lord Takrex, my name is James, I’m the finder on Cap’n Choep’s ship, the same one that worthless pile of Narx shit came on…” Here the miner pointed at Argax, who ruffled his back spines at the slight. “... and I do hope you might forgive my intrusion. I had heard that they had some of these Tilluxian Dragons and I just couldn’t wait to see for myself. Not much chance at a good look from the stands, you know! Hehehe.” He made an attempt at a rakish grin to go along with his laugh, and also heard through his earpiece some muffled conversation.

The Strexh just smirked condescending, “For one who claims such simple aims would have needed some robust decryptors to get through the door security.”

At this, Agrax seemed to find his voice again, bursting out, “My Lord! This one is obviously a spy! Tktktktktkt. My captain took him on some weeks ago, and he has never been trustworthy and I suspected him from the start!”

Thinking fast, James said, “Maybe ‘cause you’re a spineless coward Stubby, and no saint yerself. Since I help with findin’ the right markets fer Cap’n Choep, that requires a little no-how when it comes to gettin’ into the commerce intra-net systems. Again, I hope you might forgive my usin’ such knowledge for a closer peek.”

Argax was fit to burst, and only the guards between them stopped him from assaulting the incognito miner right there. James heard still more muttering through his earpiece as the Strexh walked past the cordon of guards up into James’ face as he purred out, “Ah, if this was merely a case of unbridled curiosity, who am I to fault you?” A sick smile curled across his face, “But this one here claims you are a spy, and spies tend to be curious ones. In fact, perhaps your curiosity hasn’t been sated? How about a closer look!”

His hands lunged out with surprising speed to wrap around James’ neck and arm, and the guards scattered as the miner was shoved backward head-over-heels across the room by the Strehx, skidding across the smooth rock floor between the front legs of the Tilluxian Dragon. Lord Takrex laughed with malicious glee, stating “Now you will have the closest view of all!” The guards laughed with him, expecting a gruesome show.

However, all were quite surprised when, instead of a gore-strewn scene with much gnashing and gnawing of teeth, the muzzle of the huge Tilluxian merely bent down to snuffle into James’ chest, the human reaching up to scratch around the nostril playfully!

The human looked back towards the rest in the chamber from where he had ended up on the ground, smiling as he saw the looks of pure shock that covered every face, particularly enjoying the look on Argax’s face, the eyes bugging out all the wider.

James shrugged unassumingly, “You know us humans can pack-bond with purty much anythin’? Well, that allows us to get in close when we need to. Now part o’ the reason I was so keen on gettin’ in here was ta see if I could help considerin’ my abilities. I figure you might have liked a little bit o’ help gettin’ this female ‘ere into fightin’ shape again, for instance. I’m sure it was expensive to get.”

Once the shock subsided, Takrex’ hand went up to stroke his chin as he looked between James, Charlie, and the female, an evil smile slowly spread on his face as an idea came to him. “Very well, if you are as adept as you claim, I would welcome the assistance. Perhaps these two might fight each other should it get well enough, what money that would make me! It had certainly become more of a burden than it was worth. Even the two whelps I had gotten along with it didn’t last long, much to my displeasure. With the male proving itself, I was just about ready to get rid of this pile of Narx filth.” He waved dismissively at the female, who had at this point been doing everything in her power to seem small in her cubby.

Inside, James was seething at just how little regard for other life the Strexh showed. On the outside, he smiled absently and nodded as he partly stood up. “Lots of money indeed, my Lord!”

Again, smiling wide, Lord Takrex held up a bony hand to stifle the loud sputtering coming from Argax, “To forestall those that would still question your validity, perhaps you can show me the best way how! Take the Tilluxian and the human to the ring to prove to all how best you might deal with it. We have a show to put on for our newly-arrived guest, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to miss this.”

The guards - careful of the nearby maw - rushed forward and roughly took hold of James on either side as the spear prod wielders first unlocked the chains from the wall, and then shepherded the enormous form of Charlie towards the door, the attendants scrambling to get out of the way. As James tried to protest, he saw that Argax looked extremely satisfied at the situation, though his grin faded as Lord Takrex looked at him and said, “Should the human be right, this one can be fed piecemeal to the female Tilluxian. A little meat always helps one who needs mending.”

Read the other parts of the series!

Part 1: https://georgecrecy.tumblr.com/post/183762132696/charlie-1

Part 2: https://georgecrecy.tumblr.com/post/183787102041/charlie-2

Part 3: https://georgecrecy.tumblr.com/post/183794906326/charlie-3

Part 4: https://georgecrecy.tumblr.com/post/183805565796/charlie-4

Part 5: https://georgecrecy.tumblr.com/post/183818824461/charlie-5

Part 7: https://georgecrecy.tumblr.com/post/183819391261/charlie-7

#hfy #haw #humans are weird #humans are space orcs #earth is space australia

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eggoreviews · 5 years ago

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E3 2019 Nintendo Direct - BREAKDOWN

Oh wow. That big ol direct sure was something. So now I’m here to break down everything that happened in unnecessary fashion and give my personal reaction to everything that happened with my tried and true Excitement Rater. Want to see my heavily scientific and not at all arbitrary process? Then click down to see the deets.

Before we kick off my (very very scientific) breakdown of this year’s packed direct, I thought I’d briefly go over how I rate things:

A random string of letters/numbers = Immeasurable excitement

YEEHAW BABEY = Big excitement

Heck Yeck = Vague excitement

Yeah! = Not really excited, but still could be good

Sure, why not? = I’m more confused than excited but sure

Oh = The excitement isn’t there

Oh no = Used on the rare occasion I really don’t like what I’ve seen

The Hero from the Dragon Quest series in Smash!

After a brief montage of some games that already came out I guess, the direct jumps straight into an ominous shot of World of Light baddie Dharkon, followed by a seemingly hopeless fight between Link and one very possessed Marth. Then the Luminary turns up gloriously on his horse. With all the leaks that had been flying around for so long, I think pretty much everyone had accepted the presence of Dragon Quest at this point and I was totally stoked when this happened! I love Dragon Quest! And my boi from 11 is here, along with a few other DQ veterans as alt swaps and a pretty awesome looking stage overlooking what seems to be the land of Erdrea and the World Tree. Now to wait until summer and hope the Smash team have some sick ass remixes for us when the time comes!

Excitement Rating: YEEHAW BABEY

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition

In a move that makes it a lil obvious that DQ’s Smash addition was more than a little commercially minded (not that I really care I’m still big hyped), a trailer for the expanded edition of the series’ latest installment follows. Seeming as I’ve already played this, I doubt I’ll be picking it up again but I still heartily recommend the game to any JRPG fan. Admittedly, the fact you apparently get to explore worlds from past games is pretty exciting.

ER: Heck Yeck

Luigi’s Mansion 3

In a way I thought was surprising, Nintendo’s first proper focus of Luigi’s Mansion 3 actually took up more time than Animal Crossing, but I guess that’s because it’s further along in development. We now know that the game is set within a haunted hotel and had some new gameplay features shown off, including the various ways Luigi can succ a ghost. Most exciting I think for me was the various multiplayer aspects, such as the local co-op option to play as Gooigi and the seemingly challenge and minigame-based ‘Scarescraper’ which I think incorporates online co-op too. Overall, this is looking to be a creative and well thought out entry in the series and I’m here for it.

ER: Heck Yeck

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - Tactics

A licensed tie-in game for a thirty year old film feels a little odd, but I suppose stranger things have happened. This looks to be a sort of top-down tactical thingy involving the various characters from The Dark Crystal and for some reason Netflix is involved, I don’t know, but I guess it could be interesting.

ER: Sure, why not?

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

The adorable remake of this classic Game Boy title seems to be coming along great and this direct’s extended trailer gave us a good look at what we’ll be exploring come September 20th. The overhaul Koholint Island has had is phenomenal, giving us designs for Link and various other characters that we’ve never seen before and that makes this remake look especially unique. Another very exciting aspect for me was the dungeon builder that looks like great fun! You collect different dungeon parts as you go and then you can build and explore your own! Am I a goblin child or does that sound like the best thing ever?

ER: YEEHAW BABEY!!

Trials of Mana / Collection of Mana

I’ll admit I’m not really familiar with the Mana series, but from what I was shown in this direct, it looks to be a fairly standard JRPG. That’s definitely not a bad thing, as most JRPGs are amazing, but nothing in this trailer really stood out and came into its own. That being said, the gameplay and graphics look pretty solid and I’m sure the Mana fans have been fairly starved for content for a while so that’s something to look forward to. On top of this remake/new game with the same title as an older game (I really don’t know), the Collection of Mana containing the series’ first three games is being released real soon on the eShop.

ER: Yeah!

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition

Following a few scattered rumours, we finally have confirmation that a Witcher 3 port is in fact in the works, coming packed with all the game’s DLC. This basically legendary RPG is not one I personally had a great experience with, but I’m sure a lot of people are gonna be happy to play this in handheld. I’d keep expectations tempered however, with the likes of Assassin’s Creed 3 and Saints Row the Third proving that these ports don’t always function brilliantly on this platform.

ER: Yeah!

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Yet another and probably our last Fire Emblem trailer was shown in this direct, giving us a better look at how the story might play out and what our villains are going to be. With most of the gameplay features explored in the previous February direct, it’s good to have a slightly better idea as to what’s actually going on in terms of story and, to me, the results seem pretty damn good. Definitely one to keep an eye on!

ER: Heck Yeck

Resident Evil

In a slightly unnecessarily convoluted advert, we were given a two minute reel of two teenagers playing the original RE in tabletop mode in an abandoned house (??), along with the kind of less than exciting announcement that we’re getting the two weakest entries in the series for Switch, RE 5 and 6. I probably wasn’t the only one who felt a little passive about this whole thing. That being said, definitely not complaining about 1 & 4 being ported over.

ER: Oh

No More Heroes III

After the very slightly disappointing Travis Strikes Again, I really wasn’t expecting them to drop a trailer for the series’ third mainline installment so soon after. What we’ve seen looks pretty much like classic Travis, with a smidge of gameplay seen that looks just a bit more like what we’re used to. Of course, with this being the first reveal, there’s still a lot to find out but this looks very promising.

ER: Heck Yeck

Contra: Rogue Corps / Contra: Anniversary Collection

I’m not gonna pretend to be familiar with the Contra series, but this doesn’t at all look like what I’ve seen in the past. Honestly, this seemingly tactical shooter didn’t elicit much excitement from me and neither did its rushed character drops or its oddly rough textures. I’m unsure of actual fan reactions to this, but in my mind this one kind of sits in the ‘guess this exists’ category. As well as this, we got a shadowdrop for the Contra Anniversary Collection, whereas Rogue Corps comes on September 24th.

ER: Oh

Daemon X Machina

In what seems to be almost a mainstay in Nintendo directs, we’ve got another vague trailer for this mech shooter that finally has a confirmed release date of September 13th. The gameplay looks harmless enough, with the mechs seeming to be a blast to pilot, but beyond that, I can’t really see a lot of substance that would draw me in beyond the cool robots. I’m sure it could be good, but not really one for me.

ER: Yeah!

Panzer Dragoon

I was completely unsure of what this one was, but it looks a bit like a cross between The Last Guardian and those bullet hell sections from Kingdom Hearts 2. They’ve certainly nailed the smooth graphics and the cool looking creatures, but this one is mostly a case of needing to know more.

ER: Yeah!

Pokemon Sword & Shield

This one’s obviously a title so monumental that it consistently needs its own directs, but there wasn’t any *real* news about it in this direct. We were given a brief explanation as to how the Pokeball Plus works in conjunction with the games (something to do with taking your Pokemon for a walk) and the fact that we’ll see more gameplay during Nintendo’s Treehouse streams. Still, excitement remains pretty high for these titles.

ER: Heck Yeck!

Astral Chain

This game, to put it bluntly, looks awesome. The newest Platinum Games IP seems to be set in Blade Runneresque futuristic city with an alien threat and some cool ass looking fighting police people. Our second proper look at this game has cleared up a few murky doubts as to what exactly is supposed to be happening, so now we’ve got a much better idea of what this game is going to be. The story seems pretty full and polished, the gameplay looks like brilliant fun and I’m definitely not mad at the cool monster designs. This is one I’m definitely watching.

ER: Heck Yeck!!!

Empire of Sin

I know very little about what this game is supposed to be, but it looks to be a 40s gangster XCOM, substituting alien fighting marines with gun toting mafia dudes. The trailer went for style over substance, giving us an edgy visual thing of some burning playing cards and broken bottles, but the little gameplay we saw looked decent enough and may just end up injecting more variety into this genre.

ER: Yeah!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

An obvious pick for any Marvel fan, this hack-and-slash is jam packed with various heroes and villains from the comic series’ rich history. Ghost Rider and Elektra were among those revealed to be playable, while the likes of Mysterio, Hela, the Destroyer, Doctor Octopus, Surtur and MODOK are seemingly part of growing cast of villains. Looks like a good bit of fun if nothing else, though the immediate presence of a season pass is a tiny red flag.

ER: Yeah!

Cadence of Hyrule

In an unexpected but greatly welcomed crossover between Nintendo’s RPG titan Zelda series and the indie developed Crypt of the Necrodancer, a new rhythm based dungeon crawler with some brand new Zelda remixes and the presence of Link and Zelda as playable characters. This game’s retro graphics look totally adorable and the addition of the Gohmaracas were a definite highlight.

ER: Heck Yeck!!!!!

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tell you what, this definitely looks like a Mario and Sonic Olympic Games game. There looks to be a decent amount of variety in terms of what sports are involved and with its online multiplayer, there’s no shortage of vaguely cartoon sportyness to be had with friends both real and virtual. I’d be lying if I said I was totally disinterested because it does look a bit fun, but we all know it won’t be anything groundbreaking.

ER: Yeah!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

In a fairly drastic formula change, Nintendo have decided to strand us on a desert island rather than move us innocently to another village, but Tom Nook is still here and oh yes he’s coming to collect his bells. From this surprisingly brief trailer, most of Animal Crossing’s core gameplay seems to be intact, with the return of craftable items from Pocket Camp, and the sudden bombshell that the game has been pushed back to March next year. Never going to be a bad thing if the finished product is all the better for it, but I guess that just means more info is to come!

ER: Heck Yeck

Highlight Reel

In what looks like a list of honourable mentions, Nintendo gave us a laundry list of other titles coming to the system:

Spyro Reignited Trilogy is joining Crash on the Switch with his acclaimed remaster trilogy.

Hollow Knight: Silksong, the prequel to the original game, looks just as charmingly dark as its predecessor.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is showing up I guess, but I’ll come out and say I know nothing about it except that it looks cute.

Minecraft Dungeons looks better than it has any right to be and looks a bit like blocky Diablo I guess

The Elder Scrolls: Blades sure exists and I’m unsure of what it’s trying to be, but whatever quells off the need for Elder Scrolls 6 I guess.

My Friend Pedro, another strangely unique title from Devolver Digital, looks like it somehow incorporates banana peels into its combat system.

Doom Eternal looks like Doom always does, but a distinct lack of gameplay may put its dual release with the other consoles into question.

The Sinking City with its Lovecraftian inspiration looks totally brilliant and looks to be a unique experience for sure, so eyes firmly open for this one

Wolfenstein Youngblood definitely looks all Wolfenstein-y, but rumours of Dishonored-like sandbox levels has definitely piqued my interest.

Dead by Daylight still looks unfortunately a bit eh, with its slightly not great graphical quality from what we’ve seen in the trailers.

Alien Isolation was an extremely odd one, but I’m not gonna say no to more good horror content on the console.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles seems to be continually delayed, but they’ll probably get round to it eventually.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 looks adorable and I’m very into the idea of Dragon Quest Minecraft, so sign me up.

Stranger Things 3: The Game looks a little more SNES-like in terms of graphics than its 8 Bit mobile predecessor, which is definitely a decent step. An obvious pick for fellow fans of the show.

Just Dance 2020 is definitely a Just Dance game. Yep, sure is. I even checked. And it is.

Catan is a tabletop game of sorts, but I really couldn’t figure out what kind from that few seconds of vague footage.

New Super Lucky’s Tale looks like Bubsy, but actually good and worth real money

Dauntless looks like a bit of a Monster Hunter clone, but you know, doesn’t look terrible.

And lastly, Super Mario Maker 2 was tacked on the end there to remind us all that Nintendo is taking our money in 2 weeks.

Banjo-Kazooie become Smash Ultimate’s 3rd DLC Fighter

Just when we all petering out a little and the hype seemed all but dormant, they go and drop this on us out of nowhere. While I personally don’t have an attachment to the bear and bird, I’m fully aware of their significance and how much they mean to a lot of people out there. And that excitement ended up being contagious, so this fact coupled with a pitch perfect reveal trailer has got me hugely hyped to see these guys join the fight come autumn.

ER: YEEHAW BABEY

Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

And now, dear reader, for the reveal that removed my scalp and cut out my eyeballs. At first, I was totally confused as to what this could be. And then I recognised the symbols, and then my perfect lil Hyrule eggs come on the screen and it’s all spooky and there’s dead Ganondorf and I don’t clock the fact that I’ve just screamed out loud. A direct sequel to my absolute favourite game of all time is happening and it’s real and I get to live another adventure in the best game world ever crafted all over again. I think it’s safe to say I have transcended the definition of hype when it comes to this one.

ER: AAA!!! AA!!! GFFGF!!! THIS!!! ZELDA!!!! HGGGG!!!!

So there’s my probably a little stupid breakdown of everything Nintendo bestowed upon us this E3. Guess I’ll jump in after the next direct to give you yet another heavily scientific analysis of its events. Or I’ll babble at you until I start punching the keyboard. Either way, happy trails my dudes. Don’t let the hype bugs bite.

#e3 #e3 2019 #zelda #loz #the legend of zelda #mario #smash #super smash bros #super smash ultimate #astral chain #fire emblem #animal crossing #pokemon #Luigi's Mansion #dragon quest #final fantasy #nintendo #marvel #resident evil

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levelstory-old · 5 years ago

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Top 5 E3 Announcements

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3, is a yearly event that showcases what is up and coming in the video gaming industry. Gamers across the world get hyped and this year packed a huge punch.

To be honest, I never pay close attention to E3 because most showcases tend to look very samey (i.e. watch the Bethesda showcase). I'm not all that interested in the "dark and gritty" genre of games and so I usually hang back and let twitter fill me in on the hype. I didn't expect much.

Sure I expected to get excited by some things, but I was caught off guard by the several moments that blew me away, surprised me, and even made me tear up a bit! Here is my top 5 list, 1 ranking as least exciting (even though least exciting is still really freaking exciting) to 5 ranking as the most exciting (the G.O.A.T. of E3).

Number 1: Ni No Kuni Coming to Switch, Remaster Coming to PC & PS4

Originally released on the Playstation 3, Ni No Kuni is a game that stands out due to it being animated by the renowned Studio Ghibli. Since I never owned a PS3, I never played the game. After the sequel came out, I had high hopes that the original would port to the PS4 but no such announcement ever came. I was starting to give up. In fact, only days ago I went so far as to look into emulating the game on my PC as I've been dying to play it.

This news has come at a perfect time! The game is releasing on the Switch, PC, and PS4. But there is a catch. The game has been remastered for all systems but the Switch which will be receiving the original port of the game. Now I will have to decide if I want the game on the Switch or PS4. I enjoy playing games more on the Switch but also want the remastered version. Decisions decisions.

Number 2: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

I still have yet to finish the original Yooka-Laylee game (read about my experience with the game thus far in the first issue of Level Story) but now it seems I have reason to be excited to play it some more. The announcement of the sequel to the highly successful modern platformer came as quite a surprise to me. While a sequel has certainly been on my radar, I didn't quite expect one so soon.

What really excites me about this sequel is how it appears to capture the spirit of the first game while also moving in a completely new platforming direction in the side scroller. Several commenters wrote that the game looked similar to DKC Tropical Freeze and that is a pretty nice complement. Waking up to this news was just a treat.

Number 3: Banjo-Kazooie in SMASH

Okay, confession time. I don't like the SMASH games. I've never gotten into them and haven't had the desire to change that. Seeing all the hype for the recent Switch release got me excited in a very removed sense. Watching other people get excited about the game (and about Joker from Persona 5 being in the game) made me excited even though I knew there was very little that would persuade me to shell out my money for this title.

Throughout this time, rumors were strewn about twitter saying that Banjo and Kazooie might be announced as the next characters in SMASH. Banjo-Kazooie is a game I grew up playing all the time and I have a strong connection to it. While I had no connection to SMASH, I had a strange desire to see the bear and bird get their dues since they haven't really had much luck since being bought by Microsoft.

Their announcement brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps nostalgia had taken over, or maybe it was the fans joyful reactions that made me emotional, but I finally have a reason to pick up this game. Whether that will actually happen or not is still to be decided. But after watching that trailer, how can you not be hyped for this?!

Number 4: Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is one of those celebrated games that I hear about all the time yet somehow I am so separated from it that I only know that it is considered a good game and literally nothing else. I didn't have Playstation growing up and never had an interest in Final Fantasy games so just never played it.

But since my love for the Kingdom Hearts series has pushed me to enter the realm of Final Fantasy and since I am just generally interested in stories told in games and FFVII is said to have an amazing story, I have decided to put a bit more stock in FFVII. I have just started to play the ported game on my Switch and have watched closely for updates about the remake.

And turns out, this new interest has paid off because wow does this game look really good. Square Enix really stole the show when they premiered the full length trailer at E3. Everything looks so polished and beautiful. While I imagine there will be changes from the original, I still think this game looks amazing and I look forward to real time action gameplay vs. the original turn based combat.

Number 5: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel

Okay...let me set this up for you. I did not grow up playing Zelda. My cousin gave me a hand-me-down copy of Ocarina of Time and I just didn't play it all too often (yes, I regret my adolescent decisions). Breath of the Wild is technically my first Zelda game and it is hard to put into words how much I love it. I've put in over 150 hours of play time and when I finally beat the final boss this past Sunday, I was happy but also sad that the game had come to an end.

My biggest wish was to explore Hyrule some more post beating Ganon (when you beat the game, a star appears on your file and you are placed at the point right before beating Ganon). Then, a few days later, this sequel was announced. This is the GOAT for me. I am on the Breath of the Wild hype train. There is no release date for the game yet which kind of gets me down but I am too excited for this game to care! This was easily the best announcement at E3.

And I can't finish this article without an honorable mention….

Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC

Kingdom Hearts is my all time favorite franchise. Despite its existence in the absurd and the blatant examples of bad storytelling, I always find myself coming back to these games and having a blast with them. It is a series I will stick with through and through.

DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 has been on the horizon ever since the game was released back in January of this year. Fans of the franchise know the "vanilla" KH games are only the starting point. Almost every title has come out with a re-release known as "final mix" where new content is added including cut scenes, gameplay scenarios, additional mechanics, and more. Back in the early 2000's, final mix was a pretty unique concept. Today, final mix is just DLC. Yes, I know, KH was ahead of its time.

The new trailer showcasing what is to come in the new paid DLC has got me very excited. It looks like we will get to play as new characters, have new keyblades, and there will be a ton of convoluted plot dump that only KH can bring.

While this would have been a highlight for me, I thought Square Enix gave zero hype to this. The trailer was originally shown at the KH Orchestra concert in LA and director Tetsuya Nomura told the audience not to film it or there would be dire consequences. Someone filmed it and now the conspiracy is that this person made Nomura angry. While I don't think this person should have filmed the trailer, I also think it is kind of sick that Nomura can put out a threat like that and KH fans tweet out, "you upset Nomura. Thanks a lot."

Speculation went about saying that Square might have been planning a longer trailer at E3. Whether this was correct and Nomura pulled it due to his "dire consequences", or the E3 and Orchestra trailer were the same all along, we will never know. Either way, the trailer was exciting to see the first time but didn't do much to get me really excited like the 5 announcements I talked about in this piece.

What Did You Think?

So what did you think about E3? What were some of the highlights and your favorite announcements? Let me know in the comments!

#Kingdom Hearts 3 #Kingdom Hearts III #The Legend of Zelda #Zelda #Breath of the Wild #Ni No Kuni #Banjo-Kazooie #Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy VII #Yooka-Laylee #Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

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