#Trav is a dog I swear

[miracleonice87]

from uncle trav to killa dad

part of the kissing kelce universe

a/n: apparently she writes NFL fic now. no one is shocked. the first installment in the kissing kelce miniseries / universe! sharing the first 3,400ish words of the 8,100ish I already have written... "alright nah" 😈 hope y'all enjoy! (also, will make a masterlist for this universe specifically -- until then just use the "kissing kelce" tag)

warnings: swearing, sickness / vomiting, alcohol, mentions of menstrual cycles / unprotected sex / pregnancy / babies, allusions to not keeping a pregnancy / not being ready to have kids, basically don't read if pregnancy / having kids is triggering for you

word count: ~3,400+

___

February 2023

It was only the end of its second month, but 2023 was already one of the best years of Travis’s life. 

First off, this was the first calendar year he had ever begun as your husband, not your boyfriend or your fiancé, which still delighted him to no end, hence why he was constantly referring to you as “Mrs. Kelce,” both publicly and, his favorite, privately. Two weeks ago, he’d won his second Super Bowl after competing against his big brother and best friend, Jason – a literal childhood dream come true. And in one week’s time, he’d be hosting Saturday Night Live. Saturday. Night. Live. As in, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.” As in 30 Rockefeller Plaza. As in who in the fuck was about to let him do that?!

Travis Kelce had the world on a string, you by his side, and he could not ask for more. 

Except for you to shake the illness that had been plaguing you for the last several days.

You’d always been an expert napper, but usually for no more than an hour or so; this week you’d been going to bed early, sleeping late, and napping for two or three hours at a time, and Travis was highly concerned. He didn’t like seeing you stub your toe, let alone seeing you struggle with such low energy. He had a growing feeling this was more than just you catching up on your rest after a jam-packed week of team festivities and visitors. 

This especially worried him knowing that the two of you needed to leave for New York City first thing tomorrow morning. For a normal event appearance, he’d be moving flights or changing dates, making any adjustments necessary to tend to you and make you as comfortable as possible, but he didn’t exactly have that flexibility with SNL, and he was beginning to panic a bit. 

After a Zoom call with his agents and the SNL producers walking Travis through the schedule for his upcoming rehearsal week, he flipped his laptop shut and immediately hustled up the steps to the primary bedroom, where he assumed you must still be sleeping, as he hadn’t heard any movement upstairs during his call – not even that of the dogs, who usually found their way downstairs to him when they heard his voice as he was taking calls.

Your husband couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something was off. 

Travis made quick work of striding down the long hallway and sneaking into your bedroom, trying not to make the hardwood floor creak beneath his large frame as he sidled up to your side of the bed. Sure enough, he found both Rambo and Chauncey snuggled at your feet, popping their heads up when he entered the room, clearly on guard and ready to defend their sleeping mama should the need arise. He ruffled their fur upon his approach and made a mental note to reward them with treats for that later, then focused his attention back on you. 

Usually, you rested serenely on your back or side, with a single pillow beneath your head; today, you obviously couldn’t get comfortable, because you were curled into the fetal position with an arm flung between two pillows messily folded under your head, another pillow shoved between your chest and your knees. Even in your sleep, your brows were drawn together in discomfort. He hated to wake you, but his intuition was nagging at him to ensure that you were okay. As he slowly lowered himself to the edge of the bed and traced your bottom lip tenderly with his thumb, you stirred, blinking bleary eyes. 

“Hey, sweetness,” Travis whispered, leaning down to press a kiss to your forehead. “How’s my girl doin’?”

With his lips still resting against your skin, his hand cradling the back of your head, you groaned. You weren’t one to complain, but whatever this sickness was that you’d been dealing with was kicking your ass, and he knew it. 

“Mm, I’ve been better,” you admitted, grasping his forearm with both hands to keep him close, ever comforted by his presence and touch. “It is flu season — must just be some bug going around.” 

Travis hummed contemplatively, then broke away to peer down at you carefully. 

“Maybe, but if you’re not feeling better by tomorrow, we’re gettin’ you to a doctor, even if it’s in New York,” he announced, gently palming your stomach which had been uncharacteristically sour all day. The warmth of his touch soothed your whole abdomen like a heating pad. “Capisce?” 

“Yes, captain,” you muttered, hiding your face in his sizable bicep as he snickered. “I’m due for my period soon so that’s probably not helping either,” you added, a throwaway comment on any other day… 

But not today. 

Though you couldn’t see it, Travis’s eyes narrowed at that remark, flickering around the room wildly as his mind began to race. 

Nah, he mused silently. Couldn’t be.

But it seemed you arrived at the same possibility on your own, because seconds later, you gasped, exclaimed “oh, my fucking god!” and sat up straight, leaning your arms against his thigh for strength as the room seemed to spin around you, the dogs hopping off the bed, annoyed at the interruption of their own naps.

“Travis, what’s today’s date?”

He bit the inside of his cheek. “It’s the 28th, baby,” he said evenly. 

And with that, you flung the covers off and ran for the bathroom once again, dropping to your knees on the marble and leaning over the toilet just in time. 

As Travis followed closely after you, he knew. He couldn’t believe that, in all of the Super Bowl hype and hysteria, he had missed it up until now. It was so obvious. Your monthly visitor always arrived on the 20th of the month – when you’d asked once how he remembered to bring home Diet Cokes and chocolate-covered pretzels, items you purposely didn’t keep in the house and only indulged in when you were PMSing, on the correct day, month in and month out, Travis often teased that you were so regular, he could set his watch to you. 

He hadn’t purchased those items this month, though. Hadn’t even thought of it due to all of the post-win, postseason pandemonium.

And apparently, neither had you. 

He hastily did the math. Today was February 28th, which meant that you were now eight days late. His pulse quickened at the realization, adrenaline coursing through his veins. The Chiefs had won the Super Bowl on February 12th, and unsurprisingly, the two of you had taken every single available opportunity since then to celebrate his big win behind closed doors – even if they were occasionally car or coat closet doors. And though the chances of getting you pregnant during that window were not exceedingly high, it was certainly far from impossible – plus, he thought immediately of the many times he had teased his brother Jason about his “super sperm,” having gotten his wife Kylie pregnant every other year since they’d been married. And it was a well-known fact that the two brothers shared many genetic characteristics, including their size and their athleticism.

Maybe this particular trait was no different.

Though you were busy actively being sick, you were doing the same calculations in your head. 

Shit. Shit shit shit. You were always so careful, so meticulous, so diligent about timing your intimacy with Travis, taking extra precautions during those prime times and consistently warning him verbally when you were ovulating, as you never wanted him to feel like you were trying to “trap” him, even though you’d now been married for nearly a year. He gently poked fun at you and playfully rolled his eyes in those instances, assuring you that he, first of all, would never question your intentions regarding your relationship and, second, would be absolutely thrilled if and when that time came for the two of you. 

But in other conversations, outside the bedroom and the heat of the moment, the two of you had mutually agreed that since you yourself weren’t 100% ready to start a family just yet, you would wait. You respected Travis endlessly for that, because anyone who knew him knew how desperately he longed to become a father. But if you didn’t want that right now, that was the end of the discussion – Travis was adamant that nothing was happening in that department until you made the call.

But these past couple of weeks… there had been so much emotion, so much energy, and so much alcohol involved that admittedly, neither of the two of you had given timing or protection a second thought. All that each of you wanted was the other, and nothing – not the calendar nor visiting parents nor the prospect of arriving late to the celebratory parade nor being in Travis’s Range Rover when the desire arose – was going to keep you apart physically. You’d thrown caution to the wind as you enjoyed being in your little fantasyland bubble together, and now, reality was sinking in.

As you finally finished coughing and sputtering, Travis broke from holding your hair into a makeshift ponytail in order to pour a small cup of mouthwash and offer it to you. You graciously accepted and swished it around generously before flushing it away. As you leaned back from the bowl, he gathered you into his arms with a quiet but firm “come ‘ere.” You both sat on the tile, backs against the glass wall of the shower beside you, and he rested his cheek atop your head, looping his long arms around your waist.

“Better?” Travis inquired simply. 

You groaned, eyes falling closed as the now-familiar weariness enveloped you again. 

“Yeah…” he answered himself with a sigh, sensing your utter exhaustion. 

The two of you sat in wordless contemplation for what felt like an eternity. 

Finally, you broke the deafening silence. 

“Trav?” you croaked. 

“Yeah?”

“I think I need to take a pregnancy test…”

He tipped his head backward against the glass, guilt wracking his every cell. 

“I think so, too,” he echoed. 

After a long debate on the bathroom floor about how to go about obtaining the home tests – with Travis arguing “you wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for me, so it should really be on me” against your “I’m way less likely to be recognized in the aisle of the drugstore” – you finally reached a compromise, which was to DoorDash a wide variety of tests straight to your door, avoiding the need for either of you to be seen out in public. Kansas City was a larger city with a small town feel, and most of the time, you loved that about your adopted hometown, but today, the prospect of being recognized sent your anxiety into overdrive. Photos of either of you purchasing pregnancy tests being splashed all over social media two weeks after the Super Bowl was truly the last thing you both needed, especially if it turned out to be all for nothing, a false alarm. 

So, instead, you had waited the fifteen long minutes until the bag full of tests arrived at your doorstep, peering through the blinds until the driver was completely out of sight before opening the door and retrieving the delivery. You grabbed a Solo cup from the pantry and quickly climbed the steps back up to your bedroom, where you found Travis sitting in a lounge chair, hands folded together, elbows on knees, chin to chest – obviously deep in thought. He didn’t seem to hear you coming until you purposely rustled the plastic bag. As you held it up weakly, his eyes met yours, and he offered a soft smile which seemed forced. 

Travis Kelce forcing a smile. A rarity.

“Secured the bag,” you said quietly, attempting to lighten the mood. “Literally.”

He nodded and slowly stood as you extended a hand, which he grasped in his as you headed into the bathroom together. When you reached the counter, you climbed atop it and shook out the contents of the bag, revealing half a dozen boxes of all shapes, sizes, types, and colors; contained in them were sixteen tests in total. You gazed down at them with pursed lips for a few quiet moments, then Travis cleared his throat, causing you to look up at him.

“Honey, before we do this, I just need to…” he swallowed thickly as his hands found the tops of your thighs, and you could tell that whatever he was about to say was weighing painfully heavy on him. You weren’t used to seeing him so serious, and you reached out a hand to rub his shoulder in support. “Listen… you know I’ve always been excited about the prospect of… well, not just having a baby, but having a baby with you, but… it’s really important to me that you know that we do not have to do this. Not now, not ever. Not if you don’t want to.”

The sincerity in his icy blue eyes was enough to make your heart skip a beat, and you hummed appreciatively, cupping his stubbly cheek in your hand. 

“Thank you,” you whispered as he turned your wrist to press a featherlight kiss to the inside of it. “And I can’t tell you how much I love you for that. But… one thing at a time, okay? Let me go take care of this, and we’ll go from there.”

Travis nodded, concern etched on his brow. It wasn’t an expression he commonly wore, and it certainly didn’t suit him. 

“Yeah… yeah, alright,” he said, sniffing. “You, um, you want me to stay in here with you, or…”

You shook your head, a small smile at play on your lips. 

“No, I’ve been peeing on my own since I was about two, so I’ll do that part myself and report back, captain,” you teased, and Travis offered a shy smirk. You rested your forehead against his. “Okay?”

He nodded, head still pressed to yours. 

“Okay,” he said, caressing your jaw before standing up straight to allow you to shimmy down from the counter. He took a few steps toward the door leading into the bedroom, then turned back. 

“Hey, one more thing?” he said solemnly. You stared at him expectantly. “No matter what the test says… doesn’t change how bad I fuckin’ love you.” 

You stood floored, forcing back tears. “I fuckin’ love you so bad,” you softly concurred. 

Then, your normal playful Travis was back at least for a moment as he winked at you, clucked his tongue, and pulled the door closed as he encouraged, “Do your thing, girl.”

You rolled your eyes, then “did your thing” as instructed. You returned to the counter with the plastic cup sufficiently full and opened different tests from four of the boxes that looked the most promising, meticulously following the instructions for each. You turned them all so that the windows were face-down on the counter, washed your hands, then took a deep, shaky breath before opening the door with trembling fingers to find a pacing Travis burning a hole through your bedroom floor. You said his name softly, then tilted your head in the direction of the tests, inviting him back into the bathroom with you while you waited. He met you at the edge of the tub, where he wordlessly pulled you into himself and held you there. You closed your eyes and breathed him in, more grateful than ever that you’d chosen this man as your life partner, and that he had chosen you. 

“How long we lookin’ at, sweetness?” Travis asked, resting his chin atop your head, gently swaying the two of you back and forth. 

“Longest one takes three minutes,” you answered. “Figured we’d just wait until then and check them all at once.” 

You felt him nod and check his Apple watch. He grew quiet again for a few moments, then he heaved a sigh.

“I’m sorry for putting you – us – in this position, baby,” he apologized, immediately breaking your heart. “I should’ve been more responsible and mindful in the moment. I just got caught up in you and I… I just, I’m sorry.” 

You stood up straight, holding him at arm’s length, your brow creased ruefully as you realized how badly he was beating himself up over this. 

“Trav, honey, don’t,” you pleaded. “You did nothing wrong,” you assured, reaching your hand up to rest against his neck. “We both got us into this situation, and to be honest, I wouldn’t change how we got here. We could have been more careful, yeah, but… all I was focused on was being as close to you as possible. I mean, these past couple of weeks with you have been some of the best of my life. I feel closer to you than ever.”

He studied you diligently, rubbing his hands up and down your sides. 

“Yeah?”

You nodded, sliding your hand to the nape of his neck and bringing his lips to your level to kiss him softly. 

“Yeah,” you whispered in reply. 

He drew in a deep breath and squeezed your waist. 

“‘Bout ready to check?” he asked timidly. 

You nodded, arms falling back to your sides. 

“Do it together?” you requested hopefully. 

He nodded, too. 

“Just like we do everything else,” he replied with conviction, taking your hand in his and pressing a firm kiss to your knuckles. “Let’s go.” 

Hand in hand, you approached the counter, four eyes boring into the upside-down test sticks. 

“You take two, I take two?” he suggested. You nodded, biting your lip and grasping the two sticks closest to you as he did the same. 

“Ready? One…”

“Two…”

“Three…” 

Both of you flipped the cheap plastic tests at once, gaping silently down at the counter.

For the past hour since you’d realized you’d missed a period, anxiety, nerves, and even dread had been coursing through your body at the speed of light.

But as soon as you saw those test results, inexplicably, the fear, the worry, the anxiety, the anticipation… it all melted away. The little blue plus sign and the pink double lines and the blinking “YES +” and the word “Pregnant” all laid out in front of you unmistakably brought an unexpected swell of peace and joy to your soul. 

Travis’s hand flew to his mouth as he processed the results himself, and his fingers didn’t leave his lips as his eyes stayed fixed on you in quiet anticipation, refusing to react in the way that came naturally to him until he allowed you to react in your own authentic way. 

So, when you looked up at him with your chin quivering, eyes rimmed red, tears threatening to spill over at any moment, his heart flipped inside his chest, then sank into his stomach…

But then you smiled. 

“Looks like we’re having a Super Bowl baby,” you told him decidedly, starting to giggle. 

His brows shot to the top of his forehead, his hand slowly falling away from his mouth. 

“Really? You want to?” he asked softly, and you could tell by his tone that he was still focusing all his energy on suppressing his pure, unadulterated excitement. You nodded. “You’re sure this is what you want?” he confirmed, cocking his head as he surveyed you closely. You nodded again and stepped closer so that your feet were planted between his, leaning your body into him. 

“I’m sure, Trav,” you promised as he tenderly combed some of your hair behind your ear. “I honestly wasn’t sure until we flipped the tests over, but… I’m sure. I’m ready for this with you, Travis. It feels right. Let’s have a baby.”

At that, he allowed the floodgates to open. His broad shoulders began to wrack with quiet sobs as his arms folded you against his chest. You cried along with him, sharing in his relief, his elation, his bliss. 

“I love you so much,” he choked out between shuddering breaths. “Fuck, I love you so much. You’re everything to me. You always have been, but this… this is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Thank you.” 

You smiled into his pecs, sniffling. “I love you, too,” you replied, pulling away just far enough so that you could meet his eyes. He wiped away your tears with the pads of his thumbs as you continued. “Thank you for the way you handled this. There’s nobody I’d rather do this with than you.”

Travis beamed and leaned in for a kiss, certain that he’d never received a more meaningful compliment, and certain that he had never been more in love with you.

[kelcemesoftly]

Hey! One-sentence: "Are you sure that's what you want?"

Triggers: swearing

Notes: Thank you so much for the blurb request @killatravtramp. You da best. Hope you like!

What I Want

Travis had been gone so often this offseason that his relationship with you had been struggling, pushed to the side. It was getting the best of you, even though you tried to be the most supportive girlfriend that you could be. It would be one thing if he'd invited you along with him, but he hadn't because you weren't public knowledge. So, while he was out doing Jimmy Kimmel, SNL, doing this and that golf tournament, going to the Espys, attending the Quarterback premiere... you were at your home. Sure, you had the dogs, but that wasn't enough. Not when your favorite person was doing all these activities without you, going to all these clubs and parties without you. Sure, you trusted him with your heart and everything in you, but trust only went so far. He didn't seem to want to share you to the world, and that fucking hurt.

"I can't do this. I can't be in the background. You don't fucking care about me!" you cried to Travis, tears leaking down your cheeks.

"Yes I do! Everything I do is for you, for us. For our future. How do you not fucking see that, Y/N?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in pure aggravation.

As soon as he said that, your jaw tensed and tears stopped, sadness being replaced with anger. "I don't know, Travis, maybe it has something to do with all the girls you've been out with lately," you bit back humorlessly, crossing your arms.

Travis' face told her all that you needed to know, the guilt-ridden face being the only thing you could see. Even though he didn't do anything behind your back, going out and being that close to girl after girl wasn't something someone in a committed relationship should be doing. "That I've done nothing with!" he defended, despite the fact that he knew that he'd fucked up.

"I'm moving out, Travis. This is it... I can't... I can't fucking do this," you whispered, wrapping your arms around your body, small sobs raking through you.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Travis asked, pure surprise painted on his features.

"No, Trav. This isn't what I want. I want you! But I want you to care about me and want to show me off to the world. So yes, this is what I want. I'll be gone in the morning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taglist: @kelcemenow @hearts4papayas @keiva1000

[thebiggerbear]

"I hate you." "You have a weird way of showing that." - Jason Teague Prompt Response

Summary: When another student makes an unwanted move on you, Jason's not above flexing his assistant coach authority muscle a little to get the guy to leave you alone and send a message.

A/N: Prompt from @creativepromptsforwriting (#941). I absolutely adore early s4 Jason Teague. He's such a cutie. I always loved him and Lana together until the dark turn happened & he chose to keep seeking the stones for his mom. This was something that just popped into my head for the prompt line. Hope it's okay.

Reader is 18 (similar dynamic setup to him and Lana in the show). This is meant to take place during s4.

Thank you to my beta @rieleatiel for her services. You rock, girl!

Pairing: Jason Teague x Female!Reader; Jason Teague x Student!Female!Reader

Warnings: guy gets a little too close for Reader's comfort and he gets handsy for a second

Word Count: 4725

Taglist: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187

Jason Taglist: @heartlessdelusions; @nancymcl

Jensen Taglist: @samanddeaninatrenchcoat; @deansbbyx

This was recc'ed by @winchestergirl2 here.

"I hate you." "You have a weird way of showing that."

Soldier Boy version ✨ Beau version ✨ Dean version ✨ Jenny version ✨ Tom version ✨ CJ version ✨ Rachel version ✨ Anael version ✨ SDV Leah version ✨ Alec version

You closed your locker only to jump as an undesired face appeared beside you. Said face of the unwanted senior broke into a wide grin. 

“Derek,” you chuckled nervously. “You scared me.”

He gave you what he seemed to think was his most dazzling smile. “Sorry.” He seemed anything but. “So, I was just wondering if you were going to Trav’s party later?”

“Um, I don’t think so,” you offered as you rearranged the books in your arms, gesturing towards them. “Gotta study.”

His smile faded a little. “That sucks. Wait… Today’s Friday…”

You could see him working it out in his head and you hurried to find another excuse. “Plus, you have the big game later.”

“But Trav’s party is after the game.”

You nodded, internally rolling your eyes. “Yeah, it is.” Why couldn’t this guy just take no for an answer? He’d been after you for most of the semester and you wanted nothing to do with him. You never flirted, never gave any signals or showed even a sliver of interest in return, so why was he so persistent? You’d turned him down and made excuses time and time again. 

You might feel bad if Derek was a genuinely nice guy, but he wasn’t. He’d bullied you all throughout most of your middle school years — knocking books out of your hands, purposely tripping you in the hallways, calling you horrible names, and even shoving you into lockers as he passed you by. He’d even smashed a tray of food into your clothes once in the cafeteria; he and all of his buddies laughed as mashed potatoes and gravy dripped off of your sweater. Lana would always ask if you’d tell your parents or the principal, but you refused; your parents were dealing with enough thanks to their divorce, and the principal would only make it worse.

Lana would then give you a hug and be there for you as much as she could. Chloe offered to handle it for you, but you begged her not to, swearing her and Lana to secrecy. By the time Clark joined your friend group in freshman year, Derek had moved on, giving you a reprieve for a few blissful years. Before then, however, there were many days you went home and sobbed into your pillow, hoping beyond hope that the next day he’d just decide to act like you didn’t exist instead of continuing to torment you. Thanks to him, you learned how to become invisible and you were good at it… Until you grew up and became a Smallville High senior. Now, all of a sudden, Derek was dogging your every step for some reason.

“You can come watch me play and then join me at the after-party.” Derek actually looked as if he had given you the solution you had been hoping for. “No test tomorrow,” he added proudly. 

“Actually, I have plans later, so I’m sorry, but I can’t make it. Good luck at the game, though.” You went to turn to leave when he grabbed your books from you and tossed them behind him with a grin, not caring in the least that a passing student had to duck to prevent a possible head injury.

Derek boxed you in against a locker, both arms on the sides of your head. He leaned in and your heart began racing, half in fear and half in anger. You usually tried to keep things civil so that his bullying wouldn’t start up again before you could graduate and get out of this godforsaken high school, but this jerk was getting on your last nerve.

“You don’t have any plans now,” he said in what he must have thought was in some sort of sexy tone. All it did was cause a knot to form in your stomach and increase your anger. “Come on, Y/N, come to the game and then we can head to the party together. Whaddya say?” He playfully wiggled his eyebrows at you and you reached your limit.

You took a deep breath, looked him square in the eyes, and stated firmly, “No.”

That took him aback for a moment. “No?”

“No.” You went to move under his arm when he stopped you.

“What do you mean no?”

“Exactly what it sounds like: no. As in nope, nein, nyet, negative. As in never going to happen.”

“But…” You could see him trying to understand how you could turn him down. “Why?”

“Why?” You laughed in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Why won’t you go out with me? I’ve been asking and asking.”

You had to restrain yourself from asking him again if he was really serious. Apparently he was and, while you had so many potshots you wanted to take at his ego and so many horrible things you wanted to say, you decided against the alluring idea of being petty and just gave it to him straight. “I hate you.”

His jaw dropped. After a moment, however, he gave you that creepy smile again. “You have a weird way of showing that, though. Seems to me you like playing hard to get. I can dig it.” He went to move closer to try and kiss you when you quickly slid out from under his arms. You swiftly picked up the books he had thrown and you were about to start down the hallway when Derek’s voice stopped you.

“So I’ll see you at the game later? Then you and me, we can go to the party together.” 

You knew you should ignore it but you’d had enough. You’d been dealing with this for weeks and in your bid not to stir the waters, it had only gotten worse. Time to pull the pin on that grenade and hit him with the cold hard truth that no one else in Smallville was aware of. 

You blew a wayward strand of hair out of your face and took a deep breath, spinning on your heel to face him. “I don’t know how you keep missing the fact that I’m not going with you, that I will never go out with you, but that’s your problem. As it so happens, I’m already seeing someone.”

He stiffened at that. “Who?”

“Someone and that’s all you need to know. And even if I wasn’t, let me just make this perfectly clear: there is no way in hell I would ever go out with you, especially not after all you did to me back in middle school. You’d have to be crazy to think I would.”

Derek waved a hand dismissively. “Come on, I was just playing around with you back then, not to mention it was like a million years ago. You don’t need to make such a big deal about it.”

Your eyes widened. Wow, this guy was even more of a jackass than you imagined. If you didn’t despise him so much, you might actually feel bad for him, or at least you’d feel bad for the future girl who did decide to give him a chance one day. It was a real mystery to you why any girl in this school, cheerleader or not, would ever date him for anything other than his football jock status. “Do you have any idea what you put me through?”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay now, you’re just overreacting. So we played a couple of pranks on you when we were kids, big deal. They weren’t that bad. Just get over it and get under me already.” He smirked at you and waggled his eyebrow again. You began to feel nauseous, disgusted and in disbelief; did he really just say that? Did he really say something that crass and suggestive after telling you that you were overreacting and needed to get over his bullying you?

“Wow.” You blinked. “Derek, you are…something.”

“Don’t I know it, babe.” Derek stepped closer to you, instinctively making you hold your books in front of your chest as if they were some form of shield. “Come with me to the party tonight and you could know it, too. See why they call me the D-train, on and off the field.”

If your heart wasn’t pounding in a mix of fear and anger right now, you would have laughed right in his face. For someone involved in sports, he sure didn’t have any game. You really couldn’t believe this was happening. And to think, when you woke up this morning, you thought it was going to be a halfway decent Friday, especially when you got a sweet good morning text from a certain someone.

“Not happening,” you seethed.

“You say that now,” he said in a throaty murmur. “But you’ll be saying something different later, trust me.”

Your jaw tightened and you turned to leave when he grabbed your arm. “Let me go!” You yanked your arm out of his grip just as Clark appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stepped between you.

“Derek, leave her alone. She said she doesn’t want to go with you so just let it be, alright?”

“Who the hell are you to tell me what to do, Kent?” Derek bit out, not one bit happy about the interruption. A crowd had started to gather and you could hear the whispers and feel everyone’s eyes on you — which was exactly what you didn’t want. You nervously buried a hand in the back of Clark’s t-shirt and tried to tug on it to get his attention so he could walk away with you. He didn’t budge and continued to stare down Derek, unperturbed.

“Alright, break it up. Break it up.” Assistant Coach Teague suddenly appeared and he quickly glanced between Clark and Derek. “What’s the problem, fellas?”

“Nothing, Coach,” Derek answered. “Just a little misunderstanding between me, Kent, and my girl.” He glared over at Clark.

“Oh my God, I’m not your girl,” you snapped. “Get it through your thick head already!” You leaned into Clark a little, asking “Are you sure there’s enough padding in those football helmets you guys wear? Because I’m going to start worrying about you if this,” you gestured towards Derek, ”is the end result.”

A hint of a smirk played on Clark’s face, but he tamped it down and immediately echoed you. “She’s not your girl, Derek. She never has been. Just leave her alone and we’ll be cool.”

“It’s not your business, Kent,” Derek hissed, yet his cheeks had darkened a shade in embarrassment, having become aware that more people than Coach Teague were carefully watching the scene.

“No,” the coach agreed. “But it is mine.” Your eyes widened and your heart rate picked up a little at that. Still, you did your best to hide your reaction from the student populace currently congregating in the hallway. “And I gotta tell you,” the blond took in Clark’s determined expression and protective stance in front of you. His green eyes roved over you and landed on your fingers buried in the tail of Clark’s t-shirt before looking back over at Derek. “This doesn’t look like nothing. I pretty much already have an idea of what’s going on, but because I like to be fair, I’m gonna give you one chance to tell me what’s really going on here, Deakins. And you better make it good.” The coach had his arms crossed and he stared down his player, a stern expression on his handsome face. 

“Look, Coach, it’s nothing. Y/N and I were just talking when Kent—”

“Derek was having trouble with the word ‘no’ and what it meant so I stepped in to make sure he understood it loud and clear,” Clark interrupted. Coach Teague’s eyes widened and snapped over to you. You subtly nodded, biting into your bottom lip and hoping he recognized the nervous gesture for what it was: that you wanted this to stop and go away already. You’d been through enough over the years where Derek was concerned; you’d be damned if the idiot was going to ruin your senior year for you, too.

The coach’s jaw tightened and he gave you an almost imperceptible nod in return before glancing between his two players once more. “Okay, that paints a pretty clear picture. Deakins, you’re going to head straight to Quigley’s office right now and tell him why you’re not playing tonight.”

“Coach, that’s not—”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Coach Teague growled. “As a matter of fact — Hopkins!” Another player emerged from the growing crowd. “Escort Deakins to see Coach Quigley. Right now.”

Hopkins nodded. “Yes, Coach.” He moved next to Derek who was glaring at you over Clark’s shoulder.

“Stupid bitch,” he muttered. “Not worth my time.” Clark tensed against you and you noticed Coach Teague’s hand clench underneath his crossed arms.

“Get going,” the latter spat. “Or I’ll see that you’re benched the rest of the season.”

Derek spared you one more heated glare, but turned at Hopkins’ urging and began walking away. Clark relaxed slightly and you let go of his shirt, letting out a small breath of relief. Thank God a fight hadn’t happened. You were grateful that your friend stepped in and had your back, but you didn’t want him getting hurt on your account and you really didn’t want a huge dramatic scene. Of course, the small crowd that had gathered around you might prove you wrong on that last account. You snuck a glance in Coach Teague’s direction to find his green gaze already intent on you. You quickly snapped your eyes back to Clark, the one person you were allowed to be looking at without drawing too much attention.

“Alright, show’s over. Everyone, get to class!” The coach urged. People began to disperse, talking loudly once more as they milled the hallway. Great, what happened between you and Derek was now bound to be the talk of the school for the next week at least.

Clark spun around to face you. “Are you okay?”

You gave him a small, grateful smile. “Yeah. Thanks for having my back like you did.”

He returned the smile. “Of course. What are friends for?”

Coach Teague appeared and clapped a hand on Clark’s shoulder. “Alright, Kent, I appreciate what you did and I’m sure Y/N does, too, but you need to get to class. I can take it from here,” he assured the younger man.

Clark nodded, glancing back and forth between the two of you, and adjusted the strap of his backpack. “Sure. Call you later?” He asked you, suddenly seeming unsure which was strange for your usually confident friend. 

You didn’t know why he appeared to be so uncertain all of a sudden, but you nodded, your smile as kind and as reassuring as you could make it. “Yeah, definitely.” 

He gave you a nod and turned to head in the opposite direction. Confusion furrowed your brow as you watched him go.

“Miss Y/L/N.” Coach Teague’s voice right next to you snapped you out of your thoughts and you turned to see his gaze burning into you once more. Unlike Derek’s leering stare, these eyes were warm and made you feel safe. “If you want to report Deakins to the Principal, I can escort you. Or if you want to go to the nurse’s office first to get looked at…”

Your eyes widened slightly. “What? No, no, I’m fine. No need for the nurse.”

He arched a brow over at you. “The principal then?”

You pressed your lips together and rearranged the books in your arms. “No. No need,” you answered quietly. Honestly, you just wanted this whole thing to go away, especially Derek himself. You’d like him to go away most of all.

Coach Teague’s jaw tightened and he gently took your books from you and indicated for you to start slowly walking down the hall. He kept an even pace with you. “What Kent said sounded serious.”

You shrugged a shoulder. “It wasn’t. Derek was just being a jerk like usual.”

The coach thought on it for a moment and then licked his lips. “What class do you have now?”

“I don’t. I have a free period. I was just about to head out actually.”

He nodded in approval. “Early Friday. Not bad. Perks of being a senior.” He shot a grin over at you.

You couldn’t help but return it. “Something like that.”

He came to a stop and handed you back your books. “Well, before you go, would you mind helping me out with something?”

You slipped the books into your bag and dug your teeth into your bottom lip. “Gee, I don’t know,” you teased. “I’m supposed to be meeting this guy I’m seeing for a quick lunch before he has class in about an hour. And I need to swing by my house first, so that might be kind of cutting it close.”

Coach Teague furrowed his brows as he considered your words. “You’re right, that is kind of cutting it close. Any chance that this guy that you’re seeing is good-looking? You know, to make it worth the trouble?”

You pretended to think over it for a moment and then shrugged a shoulder. ”He’s…fairly handsome, I guess.”

His jaw dropped. “Fairly? Really? That’s—” Jason quickly glanced around as you snickered behind your hand. He saw that there were still a couple of students in the hallway. He quietly cleared his throat and Coach Teague was immediately back in place. “Well, be that as it may, I only need a moment of your time and then you’re free to go meet this guy who sounds way more good-looking than you’re giving him credit for.” He ignored your grin and gestured over your shoulder. You turned to see the door to his office. He opened it and held out a hand towards the office in open invitation. “After you, Miss Y/L/N.”

“Sure thing, Coach,” you quipped. You stepped inside, hearing him mutter under his breath, “fairly handsome” followed by a scoff as you passed right by him. You bit your lip to keep from laughing.

Once you heard the door close, you spun on your heel to face him. “So, what is it you need my help wi—”

He was already on you, cupping your face and kissing you. Once you needed to breathe, he laid his forehead against yours. “What Clark said… Did Deakins put his hands on you?” He panted out. “Tell me.”

Still dazed from the kiss, you fought to answer his question. “Only for a minute.” Whoops, that hadn’t been what you’d meant to tell him. Damn Jason and his talented kissing… not that you’d ever admit that to him. His ego didn’t need to become any larger.

Sure enough, Jason’s eyes went wide. “Only for a minute? What the hell does that even mean, Y/N?”

You wrapped your arms around his neck, trying to pull him back into another kiss, but he resisted. He wanted answers and he wasn’t going to give in until he got them. You were quick to assure him, “He grabbed my arm for a second, but I immediately pulled away and then Clark was there. It was barely half a second, I promise.”

His jaw clenched and he stared into your eyes. “Did he hurt you?” His tone took you aback for a moment. You’d heard him irritated before, but you’d never heard something so…menacing. It actually made the tiny hairs on the back of your neck stand up. “If he hurt you…”

“No, no,” you reassured him, stroking his cheek. “I’m perfectly fine.”

The unfamiliar fire in his eyes began to dim a bit and his jaw unclenched. Jason was usually a pretty easygoing guy and you rarely saw him get angry, if ever. Even in the few arguments you’d had, he never got mad, not really. While you understood his justifiable reaction, something told you that if Derek had had his hands on you for one more second or if he had seriously hurt you — and if Clark hadn’t intervened — you may have seen a new side of Jason that you hadn’t seen before. You weren’t sure why your instincts were screaming this at you, but they were. This was definitely something you filed away to discuss with him later, choosing instead to focus on reassuring him for now. 

“That creep better think twice before coming near my girl again,” he murmured, tenderly pushing your hair out of your face.

“I think you and Clark made that pretty clear,” you soothed. Because he certainly wasn’t listening to me. Talk about dense.

He gave you one of his charming smiles. “Gonna make it a lot clearer.”

Again, you felt a little perturbed but you quickly pushed the feeling back down and decided to recalibrate the situation. You tightened your embrace around his neck and moved into him more, giving him one of those smirks. “So, do you really have to go to class or do you think you can skip just this once?”

His smile brightened and you knew you had been successful in changing his thought track. “Look at you trying to be a bad influence, trying to persuade me to ignore the call of higher education.”

You leaned in and brushed your lips against his ear. “I’ll make it worth your while,” you whispered huskily. You felt him shiver slightly against you and you pressed your lips together to keep the triumphant smile off of your face. He was practically putty in your hands now and you knew it.

“When you say worth my while…”

You moved his collar away and placed your lips on that spot of his neck.

“Oh, you mean that,” he chuckled quietly. He briefly closed his eyes as you began to apply pressure and added your tongue into the mix. “You know,” he murmured, biting his lip as his hands glided down your back. “I really shouldn’t skip class.”

You lifted up to his jawline to plant kisses there. “True. So, how about we skip that lunch instead?” 

Jason pulled back to grin at you. “Now we’re talking.” He kissed you and when you both needed air, he placed his forehead up against yours. “But what kind of boyfriend would I be if I made my girlfriend go hungry just so we can make out under the bleachers?”

You snorted a laugh. “We are not going under the bleachers again.”

“Why not? You know it’s my favorite spot.” Seeing his adorable pout made you want to give in, to give him everything he wanted to make him happy since he made you so happy, but you couldn’t forget that you both had almost been caught the other day. The junior gym class had been running the required annual mile for their fitness tests. He had to pretend he had caught you smoking a cigarette under there just to cover up what you had really been doing. The stern talking to he gave you was beyond ridiculous, but you’d had to go along with it to keep up the charade. It was too risky and you didn’t want him to lose his job. You knew how much he needed it to be able to afford staying in college. 

You decided to dig your teeth into your bottom lip and tease him. “We could go to another one of your favorite spots,” you enticed. His eyebrows shot up and your smirk grew. When he realized which one you were talking about, his face brightened and his smile was so wide it had to hurt his cheeks. He looked like an excited overgrown kid who just learned he could open his Christmas presents early. 

“Really?” 

You held up a finger. “But no skinnydipping this time.”

He immediately deflated and you fully expected to hear another cute whine. Instead, he mumbled, “Okay.” You giggled at his reaction under your breath and he gave you his charming smile once more. There had been skinnydipping (all him though he didn’t realize it) but it had been dark and definitely nothing was seen. The water had been cold as hell and it had been a quick swim, the chill in the night air dashing Jason’s romantic plan for the evening.

“And then after the game tonight,” you continued, kissing his chin. “We can go back to your dorm,” You then kissed near the corner of his mouth. “And play your Xbox,” you hummed.

“I really hope that’s code for something else,” he whispered teasingly to your lips. 

Instead of answering, you just smiled. Truthfully, your relationship hadn’t reached that point yet. You’d only been dating since the summer when you two had met at a party where you both spent the whole night talking after hitting it off well. He was planning on traveling to Europe in the next week to spend some time in ol’ Paris on the advice of his mom since he was still hurting over losing the prospect of a football career due to his injury. However, he ended up changing his mind and instead spent all of his time with you. He enrolled at CKU once he got a job — funnily enough as an assistant coach at your high school (so he could still see you in between classes and be able to make money while also doing something he actually liked) — and he continued his relationship with you. Grand romantic gestures, stolen kisses during working hours… And throughout it all, he’d never pushed you for more than you were comfortable with. He’d been patient and understanding, even telling you “I’m good with where we are as long as you are, too.” And of course you were, how could you not be? He was an amazing guy who made you laugh, texted you every morning and night, insisted on taking you out and spending his free time with you, whose kisses made your knees turn to jello and your heart race. You could talk to him about anything; he was good and kind and everything you could ever want in a guy. Everything jerks like Derek weren’t. You loved everything about Jason (though you hadn’t exactly told him that yet). He was everything you wanted and somehow also everything you didn’t know you needed. You were beyond happy.

Jason cupped your cheek and leaned in, kissing you sweetly. When he pulled back, he whispered. “Hey, are you really okay?” All traces of humor and flirtation from a moment ago were gone; he was now completely serious.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I promise.”

He studied you for a minute, most likely trying to determine if you were being completely truthful (you were), and then he tenderly rubbed his nose against yours. “Okay,” he conceded. “But you just say the word and he’s out the rest of the season. I mean it. He will be riding the pine pony so long he’ll be getting splinters in places one really doesn’t want to get any splinters.”

You shook your head and gave him a warm smile. “Thanks, but I’m okay,” you hummed as you brushed your lips against his.

His eyes were still closed when you moved back. “How do you do that?”

Your brows furrowed in confusion. “Do what?”

“That.” Jason opened his eyes and he looked genuinely awe-struck which took you aback slightly. “You kiss me and my brain goes to mush.”

Chuckling, you shrugged and ran your fingers gently through his hair. “I could ask you the same thing since every time you kiss me, it also happens to me.”

A familiar warmth began to light up his eyes and a hint of a grin played upon his lips. “Well, that can’t be good for either of our studies. Maybe I should stop kissing you. You know, since we seem to have special kissing powers that have bad effects and all. You’re pretty bad, but me? You won’t have a single brain cell left if we keep going like this for another month or so.”

You lifted up in his arms and murmured to his lips, “Maybe you should stop talking instead.” He snickered into your mouth and tightened his embrace around you. You were on a timeclock, after all, and you intended on making good use of the time you had together.

Please let me know if you would like to be tagged for this character.

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[fly-sky-high-bug-games]

*sneaks in here* may we have some... Trav lore/fun facts?

Holy crud, I get to talk about Trav! (I’m so sorry my neglected void child)

Okay so, Trav was a very peculiar baby. They were driven by the survival instinct their whole life and that’s basically what drove them out of the Abyss through some unusual narrow paths and such. BUT, before all this... this baby took a good sip of the void lake. Out of their fighting instinct they may have eaten a tendril or two as well... It affected their memories and threw the mind into a kind of mess but they were sturdier then most of their siblings because of it.

Outside, they encounter mostly wild critters, from Deepnest, to Fungal Wastes, to Fog Canyon, through the Gardens onto the Greenpath. Travs climb there took several years, it was gradual since they weren’t sure where they were going or where they’ll pop out or in what they’ll run into and who they gonna chew on or fight next... so they had time to grow from things they ate and fought against.

This growth was stunted by Hornet at some point. She fought, much more skilled, damaged Trav to quite a degree and the poor vessel escaped a near death by hiding away into Greenpath. They couldn’t hunt much, they couldn’t move quick to escape enemies nor could they search for Soul to heal. Think of it as Ghost sitting in a safe spot for couple of years with a single mask left. (basically me too scared to progress through the area since I can easily die BUT GOTTA LOOK FOR THE BENCH OR I’LL CRY)

They eventually started moving about and hide in just about every tiny place possible to avoid trouble and such, having slow movement and reactions while having absolutely no knowledge of social cues and alike. A lot of time they spent regaining energy by sitting motionless and staring into nothing like no thoughts, head empty... so their coat got mossy and kind of bioactive.

Eventually, they saw Pim and came out. Pim, being the sweet friendly sibling they are, encouraged Trav to come with them. Silva freaked out about them a lot then but Yonna understood quickly their mental state is still that of a toddler so they both started treating Trav with more patience. The group slowly started teaching them basic stuff, from hugs to words and their meanings but Trav stuck to Pim, as they understood body language the best.

Then they found some totems in the Gardens and one, good healing with Focus later, Trav was more or less themselves again. They turned swift and... battle friendly. Luckily, Pim made them hold back a bit stay close without falling into too much trouble. As the group met up with Rham, the big roach started helping Trav learn less nail and more physical moves for the fight, since Trav’s nail usage was more club like rather than blade like. Trav wanted to become stronger and loved to spar with a sturdy fighter like Rham.

Trav also stayed behind when Silva had her whole “I must save miners from Radiance” arc, making sure she was alright while others left for the coli. Funny enough, when Silva locked her memories, Yonna and others had gain her trust as “strangers” and ask her to go to sleep but Trav took the chance while Silva was out of the room and knocked her out physically, pissing everyone off but solving the issue in two seconds... (I still laugh at this moment to this day)

More or less, everything was fine while they were with a group for a good portion of the time, just sort of backing everyone up in a fight and clearing paths from small infected critters... until Trav fought Trail at the mines, lost and almost got killed while also failing to protect Pim who got kidnapped. They were like depressed puppy for a bit but thanks to their ability to sense other siblings close by, they managed to locate and save Pim from Zeeke’s clutches... and then Trail stayed with them.

Trail and Trav... had a terrible start to begin with. Trail’s guilt wasn’t helping her but Trav also got too nosy, picking on Trail and even would turn territorial of aggressive at her at times (which Pim would resolve because they can’t say no to Pim). They did started cooling off and getting a better understanding of each other though.

However, Trav is hitting something like “puberty” (not really but I guess it resembles it), starting to pick up growth even more now. They turned super energetic and kind of pushy so the group decided for Trav to go on with Mugo on his hunting business and let out some steam there while they head for the coli, basically splitting Trail and Trav for good measure.

Guess who’s currently crying about trying to keep the critters alive and unhurt while also not chasing them away from the traps! :D

Anyway, Trav is maturing, some of the void that they consumed started to “activate” but is basically surfacing out due to Trav being the healthiest AND, what’s important, more mentally focused and understanding since they’re getting a grip of patience and socilizing. (Primrose even warns the girls and Trav in Taka’s Drop arc not to let Trav consume more void)

So that void is going slowly to their external look, from how the mandibles work and how buff they look to the fuzzy void “beard” they’re sporting now!

[american-satanxx]

Gave Your Heart to a Hurricane//Albert Bishop Ch 5

Author’s note: If you want to be tagged, let me know.

Taglist: @SOLLLARIS, @BOBASHEEBABY, @ANOTHERRENNELL, @NEVER-NEVERLAND

MASTERLIST

You're as Smooth as Tennessee Whiskey

You can cut the tension with a chainsaw.

Travis and Albert are sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen island. Both of them are glaring at each other as they nurse their battle wounds with frozen peas. The only sound we can hear is whatever Feedback Revival song that’s playing outside.

“So I learned something very important today.” Albert speaks, breaking the awkward silence between the three of us. 

“Yea was it that you shouldn’t fuck your Army brother’s sister?” Travis spits.

“No.” Albert replies before a smirk tugs on the corner of his lips as he looks over at me. “It’s to never, ever mess with Grace. She can definitely pack a punch.” He motions to the ice pack on my right hand. “Seriously babe, who taught you that perfect right hook?”

“Travis and several self defense teachers.” I chuckle before turning to my big brother. “Trav, we met on Lovelink, way before you introduced us. We already had feelings for each other when you “introduced” us at your little get together. You can ask us to turn off those feelings. I know both of us promised you something but we really do like each other. He’s the reason why I deleted the app. He’s the reason why I’m not going on dates with randos. This last month has been heaven. He’s really sweet and caring and makes me feel safe. Please understand that we didn’t do this to hurt you.”

Travis sighs. “When I taught you to punch, I never thought I would be on the receiving end of one.” He chuckles before turning towards Albert. “We took an oath to protect each other on the frontlines and I’ll respect that..to an extent. You break my sister’s heart, I’ll fucking kill you. And you know exactly how talented I am behind a gun.”

Albert smiles. “Honestly Trav, I’m currently more terrified of what your sister will do to me if I break her heart. But don’t worry about that. She’s definitely a girl worth fighting for.” He looks over at me lovingly and I can’t help but to blush. His look grows serious when he turns back to my brother. “I honestly didn’t know she was your sister when we matched. If I knew, I wouldn’t have kept talking to her.”

“All I’m asking is that you keep her heart safe.” Travis says, placing his bag of frozen peas on the counter. “She’s one of the most important people in my life and I’ll risk everything to keep her happy. Got that?”

“If I ever break her heart, I’ll be on the lookout for random sniper rifles.” Albert says. “Gotcha.”

Travis gives me a kiss on my temple before heading back out to the party, leaving me and Albert alone. “So, I’m sorry my brother punched you.” I walk over to him, standing between his legs. He puts down his bag of frozen carrots and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His hands rest on my ass, giving a little squeeze as a smile appears on his lips.

“Not the first time he punched him and probably not the last.” He states. “But you know something? You punching him in my defense was kinda hot. I’m a little turned on right now.” I just laugh as I playfully smack his chest. “Hey, I’m serious. Nothing is sexier than a girl that knows how to handle herself. And you, my dear, definitely know how to handle yourself.”

“Thank Travis for that, I suppose.” I tell him. “He’s the reason why I learned how to defend myself. He said it would make him feel better when he was away. He was always so used to fighting my battles for me...then something bad happened during his time at boot camp.”

“I remember he was pissed after a letter he got from his dad. He never mentioned what set him over the edge. But that was also the night he made us swear not to even look at his sister. What happened, Grace?”

I force a smile on my lips before wrapping my arms around his neck. “That’s a story for another time. Let’s go out there, have a few beers, eat a couple hot dogs. Then later we can go back to my place, since it’s closer and you can show me how turned on you really got when I punched my brother. Sounds good?”

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” He asks, seriously. 

“I know and I’ll tell you that story later, I promise. Army Brat’s honor.” I smile before pecking his lips. “I don’t want the story to ruin the mood, okay?”

He pulls me in for a passionate kiss; a kiss that tells me everything I need to know. A kiss that tells me Albert will protect me and keep me safe until his dying breath. A kiss that truly leaves me breathless when he pulls away. He rests his forehead on mine. “I know it’s only been a month since we truly started dating and only 24 hours since we made it official. But Grace, I love you. And I’ll make sure you know that each and every day. I’ll make sure those assholes in your past become a distant memory. I’ll show you exactly how a girl like you should be treated. Soldier’s promise…”

[pucking-insane]

Sick Day

Player: Travis Konecny (PHI) Word Count: 870 Warnings: Swearing (It’s TK, what do you expect?)

You woke up early, almost two hours before normal when you felt Travis get up and go to the bathroom. You tried to fall back asleep, but then you heard your fiancé throwing up into the toilet. At least you hope it was in the toilet.

You threw the covers back and rolled out of bed. You scurried to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

“Trav, babe, you okay?” You asked him through the door.

“No.” He threw up again.

You opened the door to find Travis hunched over the toilet, emptying the contents of his stomach into the bowl.

“I don’t feel good.” He told you as he leaned his head back against the bathroom wall.

“Oh baby.” You said to him, sticking your lip out in a pout.

You strode over to him, crouched down, and felt his forehead with the back of your hand.

“You’re burning up, Trav.” You sat down beside him. “Why don’t I get you a bucket and you go back to bed?”

He simply nods his head. He reaches his hands out to you, wordlessly asking for help getting up. 

You roll your eyes and help Travis off the floor. He trudged over to your bed and flopped down. You placed a kiss on his forehead and then walked into the kitchen.

You grabbed an old ice cream bucket from where you kept your Tupperware. You brought it back to your bedroom where Travis was still lying awake.

“Cuddle me.” He says with puppy dog eyes. Travis was one of those people that if he didn’t get what he wanted when he was sick that he got crabby, even with you.

“Fine.” You sighed. “But only if you promise you’ll try to sleep.”

“Okay.” He sighs as you cuddle up next to him. He wraps his arms around your waist and keeps you close. 

You both fall asleep and wake up 2 hours later. You decide to call in to work to take care of Travis, who is still asleep. You also shoot a text to Nolan and let him know that Trav wouldn’t be practicing or playing in the game that night.

Future Mrs. Konecny Teeks got sick last night, won’t be playing today. Tell coach for me please

Patty That big baby… Idk how you put up with him y/n/n I’ll tell coach

Future Mrs. Konecny Thanks nols

You made yourself some avocado toast for breakfast and turned on the TV to pass time while you were waiting for your big baby of a fiancé to wake up. 

It was around nine-thirty when Travis finally woke up.

“I feel like absolute shit, Y/N.” He moaned as he laid down on the couch.

“I know, Trav.” You sighed. “I’ll make you some toast.”

“I’m not hungry.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“I know, babe. But you need to try to eat. You won’t get better if you don’t eat.”

“Babe, you sound like my mom.” Trav giggles weekly from the couch.

“You watch your mouth, young man.” You say with a giggle.

Travis turned on the TV and settled on some outdoors show (you hated watching those shows and he knew it, but you let it slide since he was sick) while you made toast.

You brought Travis his toast and sat down beside him. He put his head in your lap and let you play with his hair. He nibbled on his toast as he watched some fishing show that you had absolutely no interest in watching.

One thing you had learned about your fiancé in the years that you had been with him was that a sick Travis was a clingy Travis. He would always want to be with you, whether it was with his head in your lap, head on your shoulder, letting you be the big spoon for once, or cuddling with his arms around your waist. 

By the time lunchtime rolled around, Travis was already feeling better. He was able to keep down the piece of toast you gave him for breakfast and you made him another piece of toast for lunch. He switched the TV over to Netflix to watch “Friends,” knowing you were sick of his fishing shows. Eventually, the two of you fell asleep, letting the TV keep playing. 

When you both crawled into bed after you watched the hockey game on TV (which was an interesting experience with Travis (“That call was bullshit!” “Atta boy Ghost!” “I can’t believe they didn’t call that.” “Babe, did you see that save? Atta boy Hartsy!”), Travis was feeling much better.

“Thank you.” He said as he had his arms wrapped around you.

You rolled over to face him. 

“For what?” You asked, a confused look in your eyes.

“For taking care of me today, and anytime in general.” He smiled, reaching over to brush your hair out of your eyes. 

“You are very welcome.” You smile and place a sweet kiss on the tip of his nose.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Travis leaned in and kissed you on the lips gently, making your heart melt.

Travis continued holding you close and you let yourself fall asleep.

[cactibarber]

Monster Factory

So I may have decided to write my first fanfic and it may be an awful crackfic between My Brother, My Brother, and Me and The Magnus Archives- two podcasts with completely complimentary humor, tone, and storylines. 

Since it’s my first fanfic- please give me advice/critique! It’s been forever since I’ve written anything non-scientific so I need the practice lol

I’m planning on this only being the first chapter so stay tuned I guess! I don’t have an AO3 account yet, but I’m planning on putting it up there too. 

anyways enjoy the mcelroys annoying the shit out of jon sims or whatever (and also some jonmartin)

Jon tapped his fingers on his desk slowly, while he listened to the clock behind him tick on. Slowly. So, so slowly. He sighed, trying to relax his shoulders past their usual home of “right near his ears”. His boredom started to reach and stretch into that little part of his mind that could See™, but he quickly sucked those boredom tendrils back in.

After his “encounter” with Peter Lukas, nothing much had happened in the institute. Elias had disappeared after his brief meeting with him in the Panopticon, Basira had returned with a slightly more aggravated than usual Daisy in tow, and life at the Magnus Institute had gone back to whatever semblance of normal it had had beforehand. And it was driving Jon insane. He was constantly worrying about where Elias was, if Julia and Trevor were still staking out the institute, and what if Peter Lukas hadn’t been lying about the Extinction, and he was just about to miss the ritual- 

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, and Jon looked up quickly. Martin’s round, perpetually slightly worried face peeked through the crack in the door. Jon looked up and smiled, shoulders dropping at least halfway back to their anatomically correct position. “Martin,” he said excitedly. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fine, Jon,” Martin replied. He nervously tapped his fingers against the doorframe, looking as if he had marbles in his mouth, and he was rolling them around trying to find the right one.

“We’re still on for tonight, if that’s what you were wondering,” Jon said hurriedly. “Unless-”

“Oh, no- that’s not what I was here to talk to you about,” Martin interrupted. “I mean that’s good-”

“Great, then-”

“Well, there’s another- thing- that’s come up,” he finished. 

“Oh lord,” Jon groaned. “Is it those two again? We should make sure Daisy and Basira know, and get ready to pull the fire alarm-”

“No, no,” Martin interrupted again. “It’s not them, but Rosie said we might have to watch out for anyone taking the east route since it’s full of alleys that they could be hiding in, but that’s not the point.” Martin drummed the doorframe again, taking a second before he said, “Someone wants to give a statement.”

Jon’s reaction was immediate- his shoulders shot up and he slumped in his chair, trying to make himself smaller than he already was. But his eyes seemed to light up, with a ferocity only seen in wild animals and slighted moms at soccer games. “Martin, you know I can’t- I said I wouldn’t- not to another person. Especially after-”

“Yes, I know, and I told them that I could take the statement for them, but the older one started talking about “taking it to the top”, and, well, I feel that, well, I think that we might need a little help from the Eye.”

“What does that even mean- wait. The older one, as in, there are multiple people trying to give a statement?”

“tmfhree.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, three. Three people are outside waiting to get their collective statement taken.” 

Martin quickly slipped into Jon’s office and shut the door to keep the very loud curse Jon let out inside. 

“Come on, Jon. It won’t be so bad. You might not even have to compel them or anything-”

“Oh, I won’t have to compel them? That makes it so much better, Martin, that I don’t have to compel them. It’s not like you’re basically showing me, no, giving me, a five-course meal when I’m on a diet-”

“Jon-”

“And I know that when- if- I give in, everything will be ruined again. And- and I’ve been making progress, I swear, and-”

“Jon.” Martin brought his hands down on Jon’s shoulders heavily. Jon shakily breathed in, grounding himself through the added weight, and the warmth of Martin’s hands. “Look at me.” When Jon refused to look up from the hole he was drilling into the table with his eyes, Martin gently cupped his chin and raised his head to meet his eyes. “If you really don’t want to take their statement, you don’t have to. I’ll do my best, or get Rosie to send them along. But, their situation is a bit immediate, and they need help. And I know, that you’re worried about what happened before, but I trust you to, you know, rein yourself in.” 

Martin suddenly realized the position he was in, and flushed red, quickly trying to extract his hand from its position on Jon’s face, but Jon moved quicker, pressing his own hand into Martin’s. “Okay,” he muttered quietly. “I’ll do it.”

A slight smile spread across Martin’s face, and he rubbed his thumb in circles on Jon’s scarred skin. “Okay,” he said softly. Martin reluctantly pulled his hand away and moved toward the door. “By the way, if you do scar or retraumatize them awfully, you shouldn’t worry about them too much.” Martin opened the door and stepped into the hallway. “They’re Americans.”

Jon shifted in his chair, waiting for his customers? Patients? To step in. He caught a tape recorder in the corner of his eye, and moved to grab it and place it in the center of his desk. It wouldn’t hurt to seem a bit more professional, he thought, as he willfully ignored the state that his office was in. He heard multiple voices and what sounded like the footsteps of a monster with thirty feet coming down the hallway. “Come in,” he said sharply, before Martin could knock on the door. 

Martin opened the door and let in three men in their early 30’s. The contrast between them startled Jon, and it took a while to let the wild picture in front of him sink in.

The tallest man had bright purple hair and a beard, and what looked like eyeliner behind his glasses. He was wearing what could only be described as a cowboy shirt, and the look was completed with his dark brown cowboy boots. The oldest looking of the three was wearing a garishly neon Hawaiian shirt with a bright green fanny pack, with some weird designs on it. The shortest and youngest-looking looked like he could work in the financial department of the institute. He looked absolutely normal. No, not normal- boring. 

  But that wasn’t the whole deal. Because each one of these men was talking. Whether they were talking to each other or to Martin or Jon or just to thin air was incomprehensible, and Jon felt a migraine coming on. 

“So you’re the big boss, right? The big dog of this little establishment,” the purple-haired man said.

“Well-” Jon started.

“C’mon Trav, the big boss boy wouldn’t have this small of an office,” the Hawaiian shirt man interrupted. “Not that there’s anything wrong with your office,” he said quickly. “It’s homey and cozy in here but I would expect-”

“A penthouse office in the middle of Central London?” the youngest one interjected. “Are you kidding me? How many stories did you see on the building when we walked in, Justin?”

“How many stories a building has has nothing to do with it, Griffin! I”m just saying that-”

“That you’d expect a weird cryptid magic institution to have nice offices? This is probably one of their front offices, and they have the nice ones, you know with the haunted stuff and ghost circles and-” The purple-haired man broke off and turned to Jon. “Not that we have anything against haunted stuff or ghost circles, but-”

“But that’s not what we’re here about, we discussed this, that we weren’t gonna get sidetracked and now look at you trying to get a job here-”

“I’m not trying to get a job here, I’m just saying-”

Jon desperately looked up at Martin, pleading with his eyes for him to stay. Martin smiled, a little too cruelly for his liking, and waved to Jon as he left, shutting the door quietly behind him. 

“Gentlemen,” Jon began, raising his voice over the din. “Please- can we start with names?”

“Oh, of course,” the oldest one said, pushing the other two over to the chairs in front of Jon’s desk. “We’re the McElroy brothers-”

“You might have heard of us from our great bits in Trolls 2,” the youngest one said brightly.

“Trolls World Tour, Griffin, I told you. And I don’t think he’s even watched Trolls 1 so-”

“How would you know that? You don’t know him, he might be the biggest Trolls fan in England-”

Jon cleared his throat, and when it didn’t stop the deluge of conversation, cleared it again. By the time the three men heard him, it sounded like he was trying to hack out a hairball. “Gentlemen-”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” the older man said, shooting the other two a dirty glare. “Like I was saying, we’re the McElroys- I’m Justin McElroy, and these are my two dipshit brothers Travis,” he said, pointing at the purple-haired man, “and Griffin.”

“You didn’t let us introduce ourselves,” Travis pouted. He turned to Jon. “We have this thing we like to do, and I get to say that I’m the middlest-”

“That doesn’t matter Travis, we’re not recording an episode of the fucking podcast,” Griffin said exasperatedly. “Sorry for being blue, but we’re here to talk about some real nasty shit,” he said, whispering the last word. 

Jon took the opportunity to jump into the conversation. “Yes, what are you here to talk about? Martin said it was rather urgent.” 

For once, there was silence in the room, as the three brothers shared glances. The silence went on for a bit too long, until Griffin elbowed Justin in the side. “Ow- I guess since my brothers have decided that they have lost all use of their vocal cords, which is great for our careers, by the way, that I’ll explain.” Griffin rolled his eyes and Travis stifled a giggle. 

Jon, out of habit, reached to turn on the tape recorder, and was only mildly surprised to see that it was already running. Maybe there was a statement here after all. “What is this regarding?” he asked seriously, willfully ignoring the glances at the outdated technology.

“Well,” Justin started, “it’s about, I mean it’s a bit hard to explain.” He stopped abruptly and ran his fingers through his hair. “We-”

“We saw our video game monsters last night,” Griffin interrupted.

Jon sighed, deeper and fuller than he had ever sighed before. “Statement of the...McElroy brothers, regarding,” another deep, deep sign, “video game monsters come to life. Statement recorded direct from subjects, 1st October, 2018. Statement begins.”

[psychospeak-blog]

Nights with You

Warnings: Swearing

It had been a really strange day. 

Not strange in that fact that weird things were happening.  In fact, it was really an ordinary day in that sense.  You'd gone to work as normal, moving easily throughout your day, and even been delighted to discover Starbucks was practically empty when you'd gone to grab an afternoon coffee. No, it was the weather than was strange.  Hot and muggy, with barely any sunlight to be found, despite the fact that you felt a thin sheen of sweat break out across your skin whenever you'd stepped outside.  It seemed, strangely ominous.  

So, you really weren't surprised to see several dark storm clothes off in the distance when you stepped out of your office building at the end of the day, just hoping that you could get home before the rain broke free.  It was windy as you drove home, the car shaking, yet no rain coming yet.  It was starting to drizzle once you pulled into the parking lot of your apartment building, and you quickly gathered your files from the seat, hugging them to your chest as you pushed through the wind, your hair whipping wildly around you, until you were able to step inside, the door banging shut behind you.

"Getting stormy out there," your sweet older neighbor Bill asked you, as you stepped in next to him to check your mail, "You got candles and flashlights?  I heard the power's already out in half the city.  Likely to go out here, too." "I do," you confirmed, "How about You?"

"All set," he said confidentially, like he'd been planning for this moment for years.  "You just come knock on my door if you need anything, alright, dear?"

"Sure," you confirmed, him tapping you on the shoulder as he passed by with his mail in hand, heading back to his apartment. 

Collecting your own mail, you bypassed the elevator as the lights flickered, opting for the stairs.  You weren't a big fan of elevators as it was, and no way were you going to risk getting stuck in that little metal box if the power went out.   The lights flickered once more as you reached your floor, unlocking your door and stepping inside, startling when you saw a form sitting on your couch out of the corner of your eye, letting out a surprised gasp, your hand flying to your chest.  "Jesus, Trav, you scared me."

"Welcome home," he said, his eyes darting away from the T.V.for a moment, still smashing buttons on the controller on his lap. Your little Havanese, Milo, jumped off the couch where he'd been next to Travis, trotting over to you and circling through your legs. You walked further into your apartment, looking to see some video game on the T.V., his Xbox laying on the carpet and connecting to your television by a cord. He was eased back into the cushions on your coach, legs crossed, set on your coffee table, just like he owned the  place  "What are you doing here?"

"The power's out at my place," he explained. " So you used the key I gave you for emergencies, to come over here just to just steal my power?"

" So, it was an emergency - It's a double XP day and I couldn't play without power," he said, "and, like, you were at work all day, so what else was I supposed to do?"

You laughed, flinging your key ring around on your finger.  "I'm just going to take Milo out." "I just did, like, twenty minutes ago?" Travis said.

" You did?" "Mhm.." he nodded, not breaking his eyes from the TV, "it looked like it was going to start pouring, and I didn't know what time you were gonna be home, so.." he shrugged nonchalantly.  You crossed the room, leaning over him on the couch and ruffled his hair, and he scowled because he hated it when you did that.  "I guess you can stay then," you relented, and he turned his head, his hands still moving on the controller yet giving you his full attention as he kissed you.  You really had no idea how he did that.

" Why don't you go shower?" He suggested, " I'll be done here by the time you're out and we can hang out." "Are you trying to tell me I stink?"

"Nah, you smell good actually," he seemed to close his eyes momentarily and inhale deeply, "Fresh, like rain.  I just know that you like to shower before bed AND there's supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight and you're super freaky and are convinced you're going to get struck by lightening."

"It's a thing!" You said, laughing even as you made your way into your bedroom, grabbinga pair of pyjama pants and a cami,  "The National Weather Service advises against it." "The National Weather Service," he scoffed.   " It was on Mythbusters!" You yelled, disappearing into the bathroom and starting the shower. 

"Nerd!" He called from the couch, and you could hear him even over the sound of the running water.  

You had intended to shower quickly, but the warm water felt so good against your skin, and you realized you might have gotten a little more chilled on the walk from your car than you thought.

Just as you were beginning to try and psych yourself up to step out of the warmth, the room suddenly went dark.

" Oh, come on," you mumbled, shutting the shower off and stepping out onto the bath mat, trying to blink your eyes to adjust to the blackness.  You dried yourself off as much as possible, and then reached for the doorknob to open the door, hoping that would help you see a little better, but was being turned from the other side.  The door flew open, and you were immediately blinded by a bright light, your hands flying up to shield your eyes.

"Sorry," you head Travis say, but you still couldn't see him, blinking away the bright spots in your vision until you could see him, holding a flashlight, pointing it at the ground, this time. Now that you could see, you started gathering your clothes, letting the towel slide to the floor and pulling your PJ pants on.  "Travis," you laughed when you noticed where the light was shining, "Would you stop it with the flashlight?"

"You want me to just leave you in the dark then?"

"If you want to help, you could shine it at my clothes so I can see what I'm doing, rather than just illuminating my boob." He laughed but kept it focused there, even as you pulled your tank top on.

"Hey," he said, sounding excited like he'd just discovered something cool, "If I shine this just like this, it totally makes your shirt see-through."

You laughed, because he was acting like a 13-year old boy who would do practically anything to see a pair of boobs, and not like he saw - and touched - yours on a regular basis.

"Can I have my flashlight back, please?" you asked, extending your hand, because you needed to go into the kitchen to try and figure out what the hell you were going to put together to eat for dinner now that you didn't have a stove. "Fine," he relented, but then smirked at you, "I'm just gonna use the light on my phone then."

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head, but only laughed harder when you wanted him walk right in the couch, practically tumbling over the side.  You couldn't resist when you say him get knocked off balance, pushing him so he faceplanted onto the couch.  

"Hey," he chastised, immediately wrapping his arms around your legs, grabbing you behind the knees so your legs buckled, pulling you on top of him. And, then, of course, Milo jumped right on top of your back, seeing all of the excitement.

"Ah!" you squealed, shifting on top of him as he pressed playful, wet kisses, all over your face and chest.  The moment was broken, however, with a loud, sudden, crash of thunder, Milo immediately running over to the door, barking and snarling.

"Shhh....it's okay," you said in a calm voice, getting up from the couch and picking up your dog, who gave a couple of more growls in your arms, his noise twitching.  

You cradled him in one arm, and Travis gave him a little scratch behind the ears as you passed by, pulling the door of your fridge open to see it...much fuller than when you left it. 

"Whaa---" you started, but Travis pushed passed you, pulling a pizza box out of the fridge, setting it on the counter, followed by several take-out containers.

"So, cold pizza, or cold Chinese?" he asked, and then started pulling more stuff out of the fridge, "Actually, I think there's pasta, too, and like, a quinoa salad or something?"

"Where did you get all this from?" "I brought it.  From my place," he explained, "I didn't want it to all go bad.  What do you have?"

"Uhh...goat cheese?" you said, "And a butternut squash." You'd been planning on making some type of pasta or grain bowl for dinner but, of course, now that the power was out, that wasn't happening now that you couldn't cook anything.   Travis made a face," Yeah, you can let all that stuff rot," he said, "C'mon."

The three of you got set up in your bedroom, you holding Milo on your lap, arm tucked around him, petting him whenever he started shaking. You watched a couple of TV shows that Travis had saved onto his ipad, nibbling away on your dinner, illuminated by a couple of lit candles, a turned over flashlight, and the flickering light coming from the ipad. Eventually, the sound of the pounding rain outside was drowning out the sound of the show, and you shut it off, cleaning up your makeshift dinner, and grabbing a glass of wine, the goat cheese, a few crackers, and some chocolate for a midnight snack. 

You got back in bed, half propped up on the pillows, half laying down, slipping a piece of chocolate in your mouth and letting it melt.

Travis was on his side, facing you, and gave you a curious look.  "If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?"

You shut your eyes in contemplation, listening to the pouring rain, seeing the soft flicker of candlelight, your boyfriend and your pup curled up with you.  "Here's good," you answered.

Travis laughed under his breath.  "Why? It's so ugly outside."

"Because you're here." "D'awwee," He teased. " You could take me with you, though."

"Oh," you said, thinking, "I don't know." "France?" he suggested, "With your fancy-ass wine and cheese."

"It's a five dollar bottle of wine from Target," you laughed, "France would be okay though, but not Paris."

"Why not Paris?"

"It seems so....tourist-y and overdone?" you said, "If I'm going to go to all of France, Iwant to experience all of France, like the countryside and all of the cool little spots, not just get a picture of me with the Eiffel Tower, y'know?"

"Hmm...." Travis considered.   "How about you?"

"Alaska," he responded right away.  "I've always wanted to go to Alaska." "Alaska?" you asked, "You're complaining about the rain here, and you want to go to Alaska?"

"Yeah, on one of those wilderness adventure tours," he said, "You can see bears, and go traversing, and there's boat tours so you can go whale watching. You'd like it."

"Would I now?" you asked playfully. "Mhmmm..." he murmured, snuggling closer to you, "I look really cute in a parka."

You laughed against him, another crack of thunder crashed overhead, and Milo huffed, pushing between your bodies and burying his head in your chest. 

  "What about you, dude?" Travis asked, in a voice that he had reserved only for use with dogs.  Seriously, you'd heard him talk to babies in a more serious tone.  "Where'd you like to go?  Anywhere but here?"

You were both quiet for a moment as a flash of lightning illuminated the room from behind the curtains, and then Travis sucked in a gasp like the lightning had inspired a light bulb moment.  "We should go camping!"

"Camping?" you asked with a laugh. Truth be told, you'd never been camping in your entire life.  Other than sleepovers in a tent in a backyard.

"Yeah," Travis said, "It'd be fun.  We could go to a lake, get a canoe.  Get this guy one of those little doggie life jackets and he can come with us.  We could even go fishing and then cook it all up over the campfire for dinner." "That sounds like a lot of work."

"But it's fun," he complained, "you wouldn't even have to do anything.  Just sit there and...sun yourself or whatever, and make sure this guy doesn't jump overboard." He said the last part while rubbing Milo's head.

"Why do I feel like you would push me overboard?" you said, laughing, knowing that he'd probably do just that, but end up tipping the whole canoe over, and then you'd all end up in the lake.

"I would never do that," he said, looking offended, "That's what oars are for.  For splashing people." "You're such a jerk sometimes," you laughed.

"I haven't even done anything yet," he protested.  "You know where else I want to go?  Carlsbad."

"Carlsbad?  Like in California?" "Yep." "What's there?"

"Legoland," he answered, not even trying to stop the smile from appearing on his face.

"Legoland," you repeated, "You want to go to Legoland?" "Yes, it looks fucking awesome, there's..."

You held up your hand right there, "Pretty sure you're not allowed to say the F-word in Legoland."

He rolled his eyes. "Freakin' awesome then.  There's that whole Ninjago area, and there's a Starwars section, and you can even dig for dinosaur fossils." "You've really researched this."

"Yeah," he said, "Honestly, I was going to wait until we had kids.  But, we'd probably have to wait until they were, like, two or three, which takes forever.  So, we should really go scope it out first."

You were smiling at the thought of you running around Legoland with a little one of your own one day, when Travis spoke again, "Actually, do you think your sister would let us borrow her kids for day or two?"

"Do I think my sister would allow us to give her a couple of kid-free days to run the energy out of them?" you asked, "Yeah, I somehow think she'd be cool with that." "Awesome," he smiled.

"You know where I've always wanted to go actually?" "Where?"

"Bora Bora," you said.  It was a pipe dream really. But something about sleeping right on the water and getting lost in paradise really appealed to you.  So, you fell asleep, curled up, daydreaming together, and pretending that the sound of the rain falling outside was just crashing waves.

[grell-writes-stuff]

First Impressions Tag

I’m just bored so let’s do a Thing(TM)

Rules: you must post;

The first sentence of your WIP

The genre

The name and age of your main character

The first line of dialogue in your WIP

(I’ll do both of my current WIPs because of reasons)

Blood Bound Series

1. The first sentence of your WIP The air of the cool, black night smelled of crisp cold, split pine, and dewy leaves that were just starting to turn colours and fall. 

2. The genre Vampire (vampyre) romance mystery? 

3. The name and age of your main character Jessica Palmero. She is technically 14 but that’s because of a late birthday, so she’s about four months from turning 15

4. The first line of dialogue in your WIP “I’m just saying, I’d prefer Edward over Jacob. It’s a no-brainer! Who would want to bang a dog? Awesome abs or not…” (It’s better in context I swear)

Interlude

1. The first sentence of your WIP My story doesn’t have an ending.

2. The genre Contemporary

3. The name and age of your main character Morgan Scott, age 17

4. The first line of dialogue in your WIP “You care about this thing too much, Trav,” I tease, “I can’t sit comfortably. Jesus, I can’t even eat in here.”

[morphogenetic]

#taz spoilers below the cut. this is a liveblog compilation bc i didnt think it would be a good idea to make 1000 different posts about it. all you really need to know is that i sobbed over magnus. if you’re on mobile i am so, so sorry

“cause that’s the sex number” GODDAMNIT GRIFFIN

“Alright buddy, dance for me” HOOOOO MY GOD!!!

“i just wanna tell you that i stole your cousins’ shoes” ASDLKHAFSD TAAKO

“LETS ROLL INITIATIVE” HOLY SHIT THIS MUSIC IS GOOD

jesus did magnus just take half of his health in damage

“i do not have a vertical jumping height of 21 feet”

98 points of damage.jesus christ

i hope john doesnt take the sword

the music when john transformed was so good

SEPHIJOHN

“oh my boys” thanks trav

“ive played final fantasy before”

abracafuck yOU

oh shit taako’s down too

jesus everyone is fucking unconscious

oh no. oh no

thank god for pan

OH MY GOD DID THEY FUCKING SUMMON TROTH

jOAQUIN!!!!!!

garfield. oh my god

FREE GRENADE SAMPLES ANYONE

ROSWELL!!!!!!

holy shit this time loop thing was fucking wild

FISCHER!!!!

DEATH METAL VOIDFISH

THOUSANDS OF BONDS!!!!! THOUSANDS!!!!!!!!!!

“and then the light sweels and consumes everything you see” FUCK

dONT FUCKIN TAKE DAVENPORT I SWEAR

PORTAL HOME???

YOU’RE GOING TO BE AMAZING!!!!!

whyyyyy are they on rockport

....is griffin going fucking meta

IM SO GLAD THEY LET ANGUS SAY THAT THEY WON!!!!! SO GLAD

im also so glad that refuge is in a boom now

“the gift of a normal life” FUCK!!!

GOD I FUCKING LOVE LUP

griffin’s voice breaking is making me tear up honestly....

the lifestyle brand of taako

“i should mention my boyfriend is death” perfect

GOD taako giving angus the offer was the cutest thing

extreme teen adventures. thanks, merle

governor merle!!!!

LESBIAN SWEET FLIPS WEDDING!!!

MERLE AS THE OFFICIANT AT THE LESBIAN SWEET FLIPS WEDDING!!!

magnus opening up a dog school. magnus getting a dog. magnus naming a dog johann. brb im sobbing

“how does magnus die.” GRIFFIN.....

god i love magnus. so much

both travis and griffin crying during magnus’s part is the fucking WORST

“i tried to make you proud” THIS WHOLE PART IS MAKING ME SOB

“magnus rushes in” GOD!!!! FUCK ME UP

im so glad the balance arc ends on a lesbian wedding

“looking into new worlds, looking for new stories to tell” BIG EYES EMOJI

god what a fucking ending. i love it

[thefaeriereview]

Blitz: Unsportsmanlike

https://ift.tt/2Qw2o2f

  Gods of the Gridiron, Book 1

Sports Romance, Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 28, 2020

  They don't call him Ares for no reason!

Travis Redmond, the ram of a running back for the Atlanta Gladiators, may be a lot of things—hot-headed, arrogant, rash—but a cheater isn't one of them. Until cheating is the only option he has to save his brother, Tucker, from the clutches of a dangerous criminal mastermind.

When his impulsive actions get him an UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT penalty and he ends up suspended and back in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, the last person he expected to see again was Skyla Larson, his former classmate from Brevidge High.

Skyla isn't the shy girl he remembers from Biology. She's changed after a decade and man, is she scorching hot now… and with the sass to go along with it too! Sly little Sky’s got a few secrets of her own, including a particular person she's investigating as Atlanta’s assistant district attorney.

Their reunion and bar-side banter are short-lived though as these two suddenly find themselves running for their lives...and falling in love on top of that!

Love has poor timing, especially when they have everything to lose including their hearts… The “god of war” may have found something worth fighting for—the mighty Aphrodite of his.

    Excerpt

PROLOGUE

  Travis Redmond sat at the bar, beer in hand, feeling like the biggest loser in the NFL. He’d gotten formally suspended this time after he’d pulled his helmet off and gone nose to nose with a player on the field, during a game, in front of eighty-thousand plus fans.

Yeah, he’d been wrong. Yeah, he’d been angry. Yeah, he’d been throwing the game...intentionally. And Pollux Reed had called him out for it. But dammit, he had no idea what Travis was going through and why he’d done what he had. He was tired of the talk behind his back and when Reed had mumbled that bullshit under his breath, Trav had seen red and went at him before he could even think.

He’d only been playing for the Gladiators for a month now and he was being scrutinized, his motives questioned—like they’d been before he’d gotten traded from the Stallions. But no one understood what was happening, what a shit-show his little brother had gotten the two of them into. There were some dark and shady men at the center of this whole scandal, and if Travis didn’t play his cards right, Tucker’s life was at stake. He had to do what they said, had to subtly throw the games, had to keep the facade going. The alternative was unthinkable.

For now, Travis was simply biding his time and looked back over to Hank, the bartender of Gunslingers, the current bar he was in, here in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. He’d needed a break from all the heat he was in, back in Atlanta, using the excuse to come out and visit his family and catch up with his former teammates. 

Tonight, Trav was meeting up with a friend he used to play with on the Stallions—his former QB, Judd Gilbert. He’d be heading back to Georgia in a couple days’ time.

Travis checked his phone again, all too aware of the eyes that kept coming back to him. He was as inconspicuous as a famous football player and record-breaking running back could be in his backwards ball cap and shades, despite that it was so dark in the place that he could barely see. The tight Nike t-shirt and jeans probably didn’t help. Judd hadn’t texted him back, although Travis had been at the bar for about twenty minutes now, waiting.

“Is it true? Were you throwing that game like they said?” Hank asked, leaning over the half-empty bar top, polishing a beer stein.

“What the fuck do you think?” Trav grumbled and looked around. “You know me. You know I ain’t like that!” It hurt that people had no more faith in him than they did...even if it were true.

“I know, but it sure don’t seem that way. You shouldn’t have fumbled that ball, Trav.”

“What do you do for a living?” When Hank paused, Trav buried the hatchet. “You pour fucking liquor into glasses. Why don’t you do that and stop telling me how to do my job? When you bust your ass on that field every Sunday, then we can talk. Until then, shut the hell up.” Travis looked away, his heart hurting at the acid dripping from his lips. He had to make this seem legit though or Tucker was a dead man. They’d warned him and warned him and warned him. And Tucker was in their grasp now. They could put a bullet through his head in the blink of an eye if Travis acted suspiciously. They’d already sent him a pinky toe in the mail. He assumed it was his brother’s but couldn’t verify it for a fact. They could be bluffing, but he knew them too well; they hadn’t bluffed prior to now.

Travis pulled his shades off and looked around, narrowing his eyes at the onlookers, almost growling like a cornered dog. Yeah, it’s me fuckers, Travis fuckin’ Redmond! In the flesh, he wanted to shout but took another sip of beer instead, back home and up to no good, he thought to himself.

Just then his phone beeped and he checked it, seeing a text from Judd.

Judd: Hey, man. Sorry, I’m gonna have to bail tonight. Jerica is running a fever and Gemma thinks we should take her to urgent care. FML. I really hate this. I’ll call you tomorrow. Maybe we can do lunch before you head out on Thursday?

Well, shit! Trav was on his own tonight...in a bar he didn’t even wanna be in. His night just kept getting better and better.

Travis texted back with: No worries, man. Hope she’s alright. Talk tomorrow.

He replaced his phone in his back pocket and looked at the opening door, seeing that it was raining out now as an impeccably dressed redhead with a giant umbrella stomped in, huffing.

Trav’s eyes narrowed as he tried to place her. That face, mouth, and skin tone… He could swear he’d seen them before. When she looked up, her blue eyes grazed him robotically before zeroing in on the bartender.

“Excuse me, do you have a phone I could use?” she asked and got a scoff from Hank.

“Payphone’s in the back, lady.”

She sighed heavily and closed the dripping umbrella, swiping her black heels on the giant rug at the entrance of the door. She was clad in a striped, heather-gray pant suit with a cream silk top. She rifled through the big leather bag on her shoulder before tucking her unruly, long curly hair behind her ears. He heard her grumble, “Fuck,” as she pulled out a wallet and runaway coins began to bounce onto the floor with little pings here and there.

Travis understood; his day was just as shitty.

He decided then to move off his seat and assist her. He stepped forward and bent down to retrieve the three quarters, five nickels, and four dimes that had fallen out of her wallet. As her sapphire blue eyes fell to his, the woman’s jaw literally dropped as she recognized him.

He was used to this. Being a professional athlete got a man all kinds of attention; some wanted and others not so much. He wasn’t sure of the attention here but hoped she didn’t draw too much his way. The heat of the chaos he’d already generated himself was creating steam around him and he wanted to hug a wall at this point.

The shock on her face quickly turned to scorn. Great! She not only recognizes me, she hates me. No scoring for me tonight.

“Here, you dropped this,” his voice plunged in annoyance as he thrust the fist full of change forward.

“Keep it! No one asked for your two cents anyway.”

Ouch! Feisty. Well, she was a redhead after all.

“It’s actually $1.40 to be exact,” he smarted.

“Hmm, you could probably use it more than I could right now, Mr. Redmond.”

He rolled his eyes. Maybe she was a jaded fan or the wife of an opposing player. Either way, he wasn’t taking her money, to hell with her.

He slammed it on the bar top because his temper was the shortest thing on him. “You’ll need it for the fucking payphone,” he grated out even as she turned her back to him and walked in the direction of the phone and bathrooms. “Ungrateful bitch,” he mumbled under his breath.

Travis sat back down at the bar and continued to nipple his beer, looking up at the television that hung on the back wall. It was set to SportsCenter, so he kept his eyes locked on it, listening to the play by play of past Sunday’s games. The sportscasters began arguing predictions of the coming games, evaluating the players and their stats, and then started to debate Travis’s future with the Gladiators. Again, anger seized him. What the hell did they know? His head coach, Greg Cavanaugh, and the owner of his team, Jerry Taylor, hadn’t talked about cutting him. He was only suspended for two weeks, and it’d been for taunting, not throwing the games.

Travis sighed and leaned back on the bar stool. His guilt might be enough to kill him; the team didn’t deserve to be done the way they were, nor his teammates. Travis wished things could be different, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t go to the cops, he couldn’t discuss it—with anyone—and he couldn’t allow them to fire him. He had to keep this up. Had to continue to keep his brother alive.

“Can I have a water please?” Joy! The stuck-up lady was back.

“Does this look like a Waffle House?” Hank snorted.

“C’mon, I’ll pay for a soda. I—”

“Give her a damn water, Hank, and quit bein’ a dick,” Travis scolded with yet another scowl, getting one in answer. Hank huffed but did as he was told. “You’re grumpy tonight and it’s showing.”

“Yeah, and with no damn help from you. You’re supposed to be the town hero, Travis. You’re really disappointin’ us lately.”

Yeah, that makes two of us, buddy, he thought but spoke instead to the mysterious redhead who’d sat down two stools from him. “You sure you don’t need somethin’ stronger?”

“I don’t drink.”

“Figures,” he mumbled and sipped his beer again.

“Yeah, well maybe if you didn’t drink so much, you could keep your damn hands on the football.” The redhead smirked, and Travis frowned over at her. Who did she think she was, talking to him like that? What Hell had she come from to torture him like everyone else was tonight?

“Like you’d even fuckin’ know,” he retorted back. She probably didn’t even watch football, he bet. She just went along with what the man who’d put that big rock on her finger told her to do.

Travis rolled his eyes and looked back at the TV, getting nothing else out of her for a minute. As soon as this beer was done, he was saying, “Fuck off” to all of ‘em and getting the hell out of Dodge while the gettin’ was good.

The redhead rifled through her giant bag once more and sighed at the cell phone in her hands, drawing Travis’s attention again.

“Fuck,” she mumbled under her breath and threw it back into her purse.

Trav’s brows went up in question, but she looked away quickly, as if his stare was abhorrent. She’d be pretty if she would stop being such a cunt. There was something about her though that, again, made him feel as if he knew who she was.

“You from around here?” he finally asked, curiosity getting the best of him, and moved lithely onto the stool beside her. He was curious by nature; he couldn’t help himself.

“Yes, unfortunately I am,” she responded, running a hand through her mane of red hair.

“Unfortunately?” he sassed. “What? You too good to come from ol’ San Antonio?”

“No,” she smarted back and rounded on him. “But I certainly wasn’t hoping to run into you again.”

Again? When the hell had he run into her in the first place? He hadn’t slept with her, had he? If he had, he was certain he would’ve remembered a set of tits and a pair of legs like hers.

He grinned. “I don’t reckon I know you, darlin’.”

“Oh, yes, you do,” she retorted hotly and took a sip of her water. “You just don’t recognize me. I mean, it’s been almost ten years since we graduated.”

Holy shit! He’d gone to high school with her? Who was she?

He looked her over and tried to rack his brain. High cheekbones, great tits, curvy hips, porcelain skin... Nope, he was drawing a blank. But then again, he’d been hit one too many times in the head since high school.

“Got a name, Fireball?”

“Yes, Travis Redmond, I do. Too bad you don’t remember it.” She huffed, and he couldn’t help but laugh at this woman’s audacity. He was certain he would’ve remembered a sexy, feisty redhead; this lady was unforgettable.

“You’re gonna make me work for it... Ok, fine. Maybe it’ll be fun.” His grin was like the cat that ate the canary for a moment before he spied her engagement ring again. Damn! She was engaged, he’d forgotten. Too bad too, because he could’ve had loads of fun with this sassy, little ginger. Each one he’d ever taken to bed had truly been straight fire and tonight, he needed that kind of fire to forget all his problems.

“Oh, I—” she stammered as she went to remove the ring from her finger. “I—I’m not—”

“Sure. And I’m not one of the NFL’s leading running backs.”

“No. Actually. He—he, uh—”

“Sure, he did.” Travis went to turn, annoyed by the woman’s sudden separation from her fiancé on his account.

“He was fucking his secretary. I just found out yesterday. It’s one of the reasons I’m here. Along with work. I needed to get away.” She blushed, her face as red as her hair. Tears hit her blue eyes. “The affair is big news now. The media got wind of it this morning,” she mumbled, looking down. 

“Bummer.” He understood how the media took a story and ran with it. “So, your fiancé a politician or somethin’?”

“He’s the mayor of Atlanta.”

“No shit!” She lived in Atlanta too? “Wait, ain’t he a bit old for you?” The mayor was, indeed, an old dude.

She shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t matter much anymore, does it?” She smirked sarcastically, and Travis’s eyes fell over her face.

She had a light dusting of freckles, which her foundation covered, rosy cheeks, an aquiline nose, and no-nonsense blue eyes. And in that moment, she looked as run-down as he did. He took pity on her and felt bad for calling her a bitch behind her back.

“Hank, get us two shots. Make ‘em lemon drops.”

“No,” the pretty woman protested, shaking her head. “I can’t. Really.

“Oh, c’mon. Have a drink with your old classmate. We’re celebrating a reunion. Just a round or two. It won’t hurt ya. Besides, there ain’t enough liquor in those things to even get you good and buzzed.”

She cocked her head, trying to get him to understand, but he persisted.

“Just one. Maybe two. I swear, I’ll get you home in one piece.”

“Oh, I know exactly what you’ll try to do, if you’re anything like what you were back in high school. But my car needs a tow and the wrecker’s gonna be a while, so I’ll have one, maybe two with you. But I am not going home with you, Travis.”

“Deal!” Travis grinned and motioned for Hank to get the shots. “But I gotta ask? Have we slept together before?”

She shook her head dramatically. “I’d never sleep with you. Not in a million years.”

“Right, but you’ll sleep with the damn, old-ass, bald guy you were engaged to,” Travis snorted. The woman didn’t confirm nor deny the accusation but she sure as hell was gonna marry the asshole, so there was that.

“So, you gonna tell me your damn name so I can get reacquainted with you or continue to keep me guessing?”

She laughed, like genuinely laughed, and Travis was taken by how beautiful she was as her face lit up.

Wow! How had he forgotten a woman who looked like that?

“Skyla.”

“Skyla?” Travis was combing through every neuron to try and remember this lady, but he couldn’t place her to save his life.

“I wore glasses, had braces, was overweight,” she elaborated. “Skyla Larson from Bio.” 

“You’re fuckin’ kidding me!”

Travis was literally dumbfounded as he recalled the chubby, strawberry blonde he’d had Biology with. The girl he remembered was shy, practically mute, and tripped over her own two feet constantly.

“No way! You are not.”

“Am too.” Skyla’s brow rose.

Travis’s eyes roved over her. She’d honed that fleshy pubescent body into a slender masterpiece, taken those ugly-ass glasses and braces off, and now she was fine AF, and he told her so. “Damn! You’re smokin’ fuckin’ hot now, Skyla. What’d you discover? P90X.”

She rolled her eyes but gave him a smile. “Thanks, Travis. That means a lot coming from you. But not only did I discover P90X and clean-eating, I also grew the fuck up… unlike some of my classmates.”

Travis laughed. Damn, this was entertaining and got his mind off the fear that his life had become since his brother had come to him six months ago, pleading for five million dollars and protection. “You grew up alright.” Travis’s eyes focused on her big breasts, and he remembered that she did have those in high school—Braces, buck teeth, and big tits. It was starting to come back to him now. “You were never sarcastic though, and I can’t say I like that about you.”

“Good thing I don’t give a shit what you like.”

“Burn, baby.” He smirked. “Is the rest of you as scalding hot as that tongue of yours?” He gave her a crooked grin.

“Wouldn’t you like to find out?” she asked and thanked Hank for the shots he placed before them.

“Yes! I would indeed,” Travis answered and raised his shot after Sky grabbed hers. “Here’s to reconnections.”

   About the Author

Shanna Swenson is an award-winning finalist in the Fiction: Romance category of the 2020 International Book Awards for her books Abundance and Return to Abundance. She's known for writing endearing adult romance novels that showcase the healing power of true love in the face of tragedy.

She's a dreamer turned author who does cardiac ultrasounds by day and creates fictional worlds every spare chance she can. Shanna started writing at the age of fourteen and has always loved dynamic characters. She's fascinated by the unknown, is a Cancer with a capital "C", and has an eclectic taste in music, movies, and books.

When she's not writing or reading, she's working out, taking photographs, or hanging out with her own "knight in shining armor."

You can find her on BookBub, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

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Chapter 3- De Capo Aria: Bel Canto de Verismo)

Connor shifted his weight for the fiftieth time that night, visibly uncomfortable. He absolutely hated these stuffy, boring formal outings. Everybody around him always felt so tired and lifeless, at least that’s how they made him feel. The way these posh elitists talked with their weird accents just rubbed him the wrong way, as if they never knew what they were talking about but they were so sure of what they said anyway, hoping that someone would be impressed with them. Why did his uncle even bother with this place?

It didn’t help that the opera was dull as dirt either. He glanced down at his tiny, six-page program. These damn things never told you what was supposed to be happening. The only thing that told him anything was the front that read “COCville Opera House Presents: Where Love Goes.” He groaned and tossed the program over his shoulder. He didn’t even need to read the plot blurb for this, or even to understand what the singers were even saying to know what was happening. The dead boyfriend from the scene earlier had returned to his girlfriend, who sang and gestured at other people that had to be the family she had during the guy’s absence. And here was the guy’s vows to not leave until she returned his love, or something. He groaned again. God, this is so boring! Who wrote this?! He tried to shift in his seat so he can get the program back in a way that wouldn’t grab the attention of the one person in the box with him that he recognized.

“Yes, my dear sir, five hundred feet tall, it was, I say! Nothing at all like the shabby thirty-foot curtains in this excuse of an establishment!” the fat, frilly Gengar sitting opposite him was yelling to his guest beside him, who looked as if he wanted to leave more than Connor did. He couldn’t say he blamed him, though; this man was around complaining since Connor was a child. “Yes, sir, I say they should’ve demolished this eyesore of a theatre when that Charizard fellow left us! Oh, what was his name, Charles wasn’t it? But no, instead he just had to leave it with his nephew! Or was he the man’s son? Oh, I’ve never been so good with remembering these things! All I remember is that he didn’t leave the property to Gerald Gengar Pewtersby!”

Connor always felt like this Pewtersby guy didn’t like his uncle. He sighed and sat back in his seat. If for no other reason, he supposed that the best thing for him to do would be to wait it out. He felt like doing anything else would just leave Uncle Carl’s standing legacy to the mercy of this disrespectful fat cat. Outside of that, though, Uncle Carl always stuck it out for him before, so it only felt right to do the same for him, even if he passed on. This could be seen as payment for the money too. He thought back to that large inheritance. Man, he just couldn’t get over that. He already did his best to make a difference in the lives of his friends with it. Bram’s ring, Sam’s rug. He hoped Sam liked it enough to forgive him.

Once the overture came on, Connor felt his phone buzzing. He tried to check it in a way more respectful to those around him than stupid Pewtersby was. It was a text from Sam asking if he wanted to go out to lunch tomorrow. Connor texted ‘yes, of course’ back to him then added that to his calendar before the curtain went up. Good, we’re making progress, at least.

The curtain went back up, and Connor did his best to turn his head in a way that made it seem like he was paying attention. And that was when he saw her. She must have been an angel, she was far too beautiful for this world. This new lead singer had deep black eyes and bright blue hair that stuck up in two places almost like a cowlick. Connor could see the silver string keeping her hairstyle in place from where he sat. She was wrapped in a white and blue dress and wore a furry white scarf around her neck. Her voice was everything Connor assumed to be all of heaven and everything good in the world converted entirely to sound.

Connor found that he could ignore that idiot Pewtersby much easier now. (“I swear, the morons in charge must want to leave the business. They promised up and down that this role would be Wiona Wigglytuff!”) It took him a minute more until it struck him. He’d seen this lovely woman before: “Anna…” he whispered to himself.

After not seeing her since before high school, Anna Altaria, the girl from next door suddenly reappears. He kept his eyes on her, remembering back to the days of their childhood, the entire concept of the opera now completely irrelevant. He remembered when his uncle introduced him to her and her parents. He always said that his neighbors were very good friends, and up until that point Connor didn’t understand why. Then again, he was quite young, so he didn’t understand a lot of what his uncle said or did. He thought back to their treehouse, where the two kids would spend their entire summers together. As the years went on, Connor and Anna were said by the adults to be like two peas in a pod, if Uncle Carl was to be believed. He remembered how much Anna liked to make s’mores with his tail and talk to him about how she wanted to be a singer or ballerina. To be on stage, to have everyone clapping and cheering for her, that had always been her dream. Connor smiled wider; looks like she’s gotten her wish. Even back then, Connor didn’t have a dream like she did. He remembered how this bugged her. As he continued reminiscing he remembered how Uncle Carl would play on his violin as the sun went down. He still remembered the melody and shook his head in bemusement as he remembered on in particular. Looking back, it was as if Uncle Carl wanted them to get together. Maybe that’s why he asked me to come here. The old dog.

Connor sighed again, but was suddenly brought back to reality when a pair of opera glasses tapped him on the head. Connor died a little inside when he learned they belonged to Pewtersby.

“I must say, my good fellow, it’s impolite to those around you to be so loud and obnoxious in the middle of an opera house.” Connor didn’t reply; he just stared at the Gengar, dumbfounded by the lack of self-awareness, before turning back to the opera and returning his cheek onto his knuckles. Quietly.

Anyway, that treehouse. Connor loved that old treehouse. But it did have a few sobering memories tied to it too. He last saw Anna in that treehouse, right before they went off to high school. They lived in different towns, and Connor was only with his Uncle during the summers. At the time, he thought the kind of sadness he felt at their parting ways as what every friend felt in that situation, when school beckoned them away from each other, never to see one another again, it seemed. He knew better now, though. He didn’t feel the same way he did towards Sam or Bram as he did for Anna; Connor definitely had a crush on her. Maybe Uncle Carl just acted on what he saw from Connor, trying to make him happy. Connor didn’t know for sure. Despite how much time he’d spent with his uncle, he still wasn’t entirely convinced he knew how that weirdo thought. Connor could not bring himself to remember the exact conversation they had before she left. All he remembered was that Anna was going away to a prestigious art school a very long ways away and she would not be able to spend summers with him anymore. He still remembered quite vividly the knot that developed in his chest. He tried to hide his feelings, but it was obvious to Anna that he was upset by the news. Connor cried a little that night once she had left since he was trying to be a manly man about it in front of her, back when he still cared about such things. Ever since, he would ask his uncle if she was back, to which he’d always answer no. He seemed rather down every time he had to answer this way.

Man, Anna Altaria! He still couldn’t believe he finally saw her again. As the curtain fell, Connor immediately shook away the memories, escaped from the still-complaining Pewtersby, and made his way towards the opera owners – Travis Flygon and William Beedrill. Connor had met them earlier that day when he dropped by to confirm that he was taking his uncle’s place as the main supporter of the opera house.

“Well, she seemed like she did fine to me,” Travis was saying as Connor began walking over. It sounded like he was trying to convince William of something. “I don’t know why we have to give the main spotlight back to Wiona if she ever comes back.”

“If we don’t, there will be rioting in the streets! Wiona is a world-renowned opera star! We can’t replace her with some… with some nobody!” William snapped.

“Look, Will, I see why you’d be concerned, but I feel like we really have some untapped goldmine on our hands! I’d hate to see any of our talent go to waste.”

“It’s too much of a risk to do it now, Trav. I want to see our actors used as best they can be too, but we have too much to lose if we replace Wiona right now.”

Travis shrugged before running his hands through his dark green hair and wiggling his pink shaded glasses a bit. Connor noticed that Travis’s tail twitched as well.

“Hello, gentlemen!” Connor said in an amiable voice. Travis and William both scrambled to finish the preceding conversation and greet Connor. “Who was on stage tonight? I thought Wiona was going to -” Connor began.

“Oh, well, that’s Anna Altaria.” Travis stammered.

 “Really?” Connor gasped. It was her!

 “Wiona will come back, we’re sure of it though. Anna is just a chorus girl after-” William started.

“May I go see her?” Connor asked, not even realizing William had begun a sentence.

“Wiona?”

“Uh, no, Anna.”

 “Oh. Um… sure.” The two businessmen instantly agreed. They headed back towards the changing rooms, which a grim-looking Sierra Leavanny watched over.

“Do you need an introduction?” William Beedrill asked nervously, doing his best not to upset his opera’s newest and biggest patron.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Connor said before he began to knock on the door. If she truly remembered him, she would remember this knock. One knock, a slight pause, two soft knocks. It was his signature knock – he used it when he wanted Anna to open her bedroom window back in the day.

“Come in,” came a soft, hushed, humble voice from within. Connor let himself into the room and smiled as he was met with a grown-up version of his friend taking off her jewelry and makeup.

“Madame Leavanny, you don’t have to check on me every-” Anna began before catching Connor’s reflection in the mirror. “Oh, you’re not Madame Leavanny.”

“Never said I was. You’re Anna, right?” Connor asked.

“Yes. If you’re here to ask why Miss Wiona left today, I’m afraid I don’t have the slightest idea.” Anna replied, taking off the giant jeweled necklace she was wearing over her scarf.

 “No, actually, I’m not. To be honest, I don’t care if Wiona falls off a cliff. You were wonderful out there.” Connor said, stammering on his last sentence. He broke into a cold sweat, realizing too late how he sounded. Damnit, why’d you rush it?!

She was looking at him with suspicion now, and Connor knew he’d creeped her out. “Um, okay. Look, I don’t know who gave you permission to come back here, but I’m going to ask you to kindly leave before I call security-” Anna began.

“No, wait! I’m sorry,” Connor squeaked quickly. Squeaked. Damnit. He hated himself so much, why’d he have to be an idiot this quickly?! “I’m not in here to do anything to you, I swear! I just… I just wanted to know if you remembered me.”

Anna remained motionless for a second before removing her scarf and turning to face him. “Remember you?” She lifted an eyebrow dangerously, or at least it felt dangerous to Connor. “Can’t say I do. Where would we have met each other?” This was not going the way Connor had hoped it would at all. A small part of him expected that he’d stride in confidently and greet her with a smile, earning her fawning adoration. Apparently that only worked for Bram.

“Well, um, it’s- it’s Connor. Connor Charizard. You remember, right? We used to spend every summer together as kids… I had a tree house?” He began, not budging from his spot near the door in case he had to flee suddenly.

The silence between them was pushing down on Connor’s shoulders more and more. The only sound in the room came from the after party outside the door. Anna’s eyes danced around as they did whenever she was deep in thought. Just as Connor could no longer take the suspense, Anna lit up and gasped. All of the memories they shared when they were younger may as well have been playing back on a projector reel behind her eyes. “Wait, Uncle Carl, right?”

“Yeah!” Connor felt he could die inside, this time for a completely different reason.

 “Yeah, I remember now! Uncle Carl would play the violin, and I’d sing along. You always said I was wonderful at singing.” Even though they weren’t actually related, Anna always referred to Uncle Carl as her own uncle, a sentiment that he didn’t shy away from sharing with the girl. Thinking back to it, Connor remembered how he seemed to want the two kids to be together, how he’d ask them if she was staying every time she had to leave. At the time, they both thought he was joking.

Anna, beaming and looking even more beautiful than she did on stage a few moments before, began excitedly listing off her memories they had together, which Connor was more than happy to join in on. Together, they remembered the times they got into trouble with the neighbor behind Uncle Carl, the awful Mr. Sullivan Granbull, by accidentally dropping things into his backyard. “Still not sure why he didn’t actually live in his house,” Anna wondered aloud. They recalled the time that they were stuck in their treehouse during a terrible lightning storm. It actually got to the point where Anna had to do everything she could to keep Connor dry or else his tail fire would have gone out. They were almost afraid to go back into the treehouse for a few days afterwards. Connor remembered how Anna got so exhausted from protecting her friend from the elements that she fell asleep on top of him. He said nothing to her about it back then, and he wasn’t about to say anything now. Anna then recollected the one summer where they tried to make a go cart in their tree house. They almost had it ready before they realized they didn’t know how to get it back out. Because it was more Uncle Carl’s idea, they both just left him to get it out. He didn’t seem to mind, though, he always was such a good-natured man.

“Did Uncle Carl send you?” Anna continued. “I haven’t seen him for weeks now. He’s always talking about you.”

Connor felt like he’d been rudely punched in the gut as he was pulled back to the present day. “Um… no. Uncle Carl’s…. well, he passed away last night.”

Anna gasped in shock, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned back to her mirror to try and hide them. “Oh, I… I’m sorry.” She turned back to Connor, not trying as hard to hide the tears. “Why didn’t I hear sooner?”

Connor reached for her hand, trying to be reassuring. “It’s not your fault, Anna. It only happened last night, and you’ve been pretty busy lately.”

“It’s just- I knew he was sick, but I- I thought he was getting better…” Anna choked, tears rolling down her cheeks. Connor knew she and Uncle Carl got along, that they probably still talked when she started working here, but he didn’t think they’d been this close for all this time.

“He left me the opera sponsorship. So that’s why I came here. Maybe, in a way, this was him sending me.” Connor chuckled, trying to make her smile. He was starting to believe his own words, though. He really was trying to enforce his will from beyond the grave, it seemed.

Anna sniffled and looked at her vanity, searching for a handkerchief to dry her tears. “First time in years you see me, and I have to start crying,” she muttered bitterly, the last word uttered as if cursing herself. “I’m sorry, Connor.”

“Don’t be.” Connor handed her the handkerchief he found in his suit pocket earlier that day when he bought the suit.

“Thank you,” Anna said between sniffles.

“You can keep it. I’ll get another one.” Connor smiled.

Anna smiled back, her eyes still a little weepy. He hated to see her cry, he always did, but he couldn’t shake how cute she looked.

“Oh, Connor!” Anna exclaimed suddenly, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him close. “I thought you had forgotten all about me!”

“Forgotten you? I could never forget you!” Connor replied, hugging her back. “I went to Uncle Carl’s almost every week to ask him if you came back from school yet. By the way, when did you come back?”

“Just a couple of weeks ago,” Anna admitted, pulling away from their hug. Connor let her go, albeit with a reluctance he tried to hide. “I was thinking about going to look for you, but I thought that’d be weird. That I’d look like a crazy stalker or something.”

You mean like I just did? He felt himself turning red.

Anna noticed this and smiled. “Well, anyway. I have a job here at the opera as a member of the chorus.”

“Only the chorus? But your voice… you were the star tonight!” Connor added. He wished someone told him about her being in the chorus, whoever came up with that idea would have a piece of his mind!

“Well, that’s only because Wiona left the opera house today in a rage. Someone wrote her a note about how she’s our worst singer. I can’t blame whoever sent it, though, her singing sends me to sleep.” Anna sighed.

Connor thought this over. The only person he could think of that would care enough would have to be that Pewtersby guy. Wait, no, that doesn’t make sense. He wanted her to be here, didn’t he? Right?? He shook this off and laughed a bit. “Well, you deserve her job anyway.” Connor was being as serious about his words as he felt he could be. Anna let out a slight, weary chuckle. “What?” Connor asked.

“You always think things like that, Connor. You always say I’m amazing.” Anna sighed.

“But it’s true!” Connor interjected.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Anna mused. “What have you done since I’ve been gone? It’s been a good… eight, ten years?”

 “Oh. I’m a chef at Mimi’s Diner.” Connor muttered, trying to say it under his breath so she wouldn’t notice his embarrassment.

 “Oh, you work at Mimi’s? I’ve been planning on going sometime, I haven’t been since they first opened! I’m glad to see that you’re cooking professionally!” Anna said, grinning ear to ear as she slid off her bracelets. “You always made the best food. You need to make me that award-winning quiche of yours now that we found each other again!”

Connor matched his friend’s smile at the mention of his quiche. Not only was it award-winning, it was an undefeated champion. He’d perfected it because his Uncle Carl and Anna loved it so much. She was better than he remembered. Not only has she not changed as the sweet person she was, but she was now the star that liked being a person just as much. There needed to be more people in the world like her.

Anna and Connor spent a good half hour chatting away until Anna asked him to leave so she could change out of her bulky opera costume. Connor agreed, said goodbye, and decided he’d head on home. It was the first time in forever that either one of them had felt so cherished.

I hope it stays this way for a while, Connor thought as he walked up the stairs to his apartment.

==

Chris glared over at the approaching enemy as she stood defiantly between them and her fine city of CWCville. Yet another day of fighting; hopefully this will be the last. Her friends in the Chaotic Combo stood behind her, awaiting the battle alongside her. Chris was glad they were all there for her. And not just them, but also her otherdimensional counterpart, Night Star, and the Draconequus Discord were there to help her out. Punchy smacked his spiked fists together a few times and swung at the air. "Let's get going!"

Chris pointed imperatively at the approaching horde and shouted "Graduon!" The army stopped in response, and the two leaders, Count Graduon and Dr. Ren Skysoar, pulled up to the front. Skysoar looked bemused by all this, while the wizard Graduon looked more serious about this whole thing. "You and Kurome are both misguided! You're stopping here and now, so make this easier on yourself and turn back!"

Sonichu jumped in front of his mother in a ready stance. "Yeah, go away before we make you!"

The horde of villains laughed. Chris didn't falter, but took a quick look around at the army of Jerkops, Janekops, enormous lumbering Decepticlones, and artificial lifeforms from the world of Gamindustri. Graduon replied with "Hmph. Sorry, Christine Weston Chandler, but we've prepared for you all this time. You cannot stop us this time!"

Chris looked around at her friends. Sonichu, Punchy, Wild, they were revving to go. Rosechu, Bubbles, Robee, Cera, Christine Rosechu, they eyed the enemy with determined expressions. Angelica Rosechu hovered above them, hands clasped to ready herself for healing. Silvana, Blake, and Simonla looked over to Chris, hoping she knew what she was doing. The unicorn Night Star and Discord glanced at each other, light, knowing smiles on their faces. Chris glanced at Magi-Chan, who stared ahead with his arms crossed, and smirked before turning back to their opponents. "Okay, have it your way." Magi-Chan, give the signal.

Right. And with that, the psychic hedgehog closed his eyes, prompting a small army of police officers, and several Transformers to run in from around the many street corners to join the heroes. Five figures in body suits, one red, one yellow, one blue, one pink, and one green, all jumped in from atop a building, all striking different martial arts poses directly behind Chris. Angelica gasped in surprise when she looked around her and found five girls with mechanical wings hovering around her. “The Gamindustri Goddesses!”

One of these Goddesses with orange hair laughed. “Yep! Chris thought it’d be a better idea to get this going before taking the time to tell you guys.”

Chris laughed at the surprise on Graduon’s and Skysoar’s faces. “Uzume’s right, guys! Sorry to keep y’all in the dark! Well, Count Graduon! If we can’t convince you with words, I guess we’ll just have to do this the old-fashioned way.” And with that, she pressed her hands across her chest, and the Sonichu Medallion around her neck. She burst out in a flash of bright light, and immediately traded out her human form for the form of a blue-furred humanoid hedgehog like her allies, including a thunderbolt-shaped tail, ears, and a black nose. Chris pointed at their enemies, who have now recovered from the shock of a small army appearing from nowhere to oppose them. “Get ready, everybody!”

Graduon’s eyes glowed red as he seemingly grew a couple of inches in anger. “ATTACK!!” he hollered in a distorted, deeper voice than the one he used a moment ago. Skysoar pressed multiple buttons on a remote control as he cackled madly. Seemingly in response to his inputs, the army of Jerkops advanced on the defense force, the Transformers immediately engaged with a swarm of Decepticlones. A man in a full suit of metallic and red jumped forward yelling as he attacked the Power Rangers, the Jerkops strangely acting as if setting a defensive perimeter around this man. Another Jerkop with metal limbs bounced around several times, screaming a battle cry, as he attacked Blake, who managed to block the hit with a well-timed elbow strike. The two combatants continued to trade blows as they ran off. A forty-foot-tall robot with a head in a jar affixed atop the body ran forward and clashed with Son-Chu, the two giant robots wrestling each other, refusing to give ground. A black man in golden armor rushed the Goddesses, letting out a roar more like a lion’s than a man’s as he rammed himself into Neptune. Another black man from the PVCC’s side yelled out a sentence that nobody managed to hear properly as he shot after Punchy, Bubbles, and Wild.

Sonichu rushed in as fast as he could, leading his family in the charge, as he made straight for Graduon. “You’re wide open, Graddy!-“ He suddenly yelled out in pain, his family in surprise, as a large yellow metallic object rushed him and flew about with him in tow. Sonichu grunted as he tried to break free. “Metal Sonichu!” The robot replied by pushing its prey into the side of a building, running him along the windows, dealing lots of damage, and showering the embattled streets below with glass and debris.

Robee found herself leading the family this time, now in pursuit of her father. “C’mon, guys, they’re getting away!” She blew down 30th street, bowling over Jerkops along the way, with her mother and sisters doing everything they can to try and keep up.

“Slow down, we can’t keep up!” Cera yelled in vain after her sister.

Christine ran alongside her mother and glanced over inquisitively. “You have a plan, Mom?”

“Uh, let me think…” Rosechu examined the area as they ran along, trying to find something they could use to maybe make a trap of some kind.

+++

Chris didn’t have time to wonder what happened to Sonichu before she ducked under and knocked away several Jerkops. She could see him. Graduon. If she could take him out, they win. She rushed at Graduon, who noticed and simply stood there, glaring at her. Suddenly, she too got knocked back by some unseen force. She gingerly lifted herself off the ground as a familiar laughing voice came closer and closer. “Naitsirhc!”

“We’ve got a score to settle, Christine,” the green-haired hedgehog spat before kicking her several feet into the air. Midway through her arc, however, Chris managed to regain her composure, perform three flips in midair, and land on the ground. She immediately dodged away from a dive kick and pushed herself back into the new opponent’s stomach.

“Why didn’t I expect you to appear?” She blocked two punches aimed at her face and replied with a kick.

Naitsirhc blocked the kick and smirked. “Maybe it’s because you’re a stupid girl, now, bro!”

Chris growled, noticing in her peripheral vision as Graduon lifted his hand, palm facing towards her, as he prepared to fire an energy blast at her. Suddenly, his arm transformed into a tree branch. “What?!”

“Not so fast, Graduon!” Chris smiled; it was Night Star. Discord floated beside her, the way he held his claws suggesting that the transfiguration was his doing. “You can’t get past all of us! Magi-Chan!”

“Right!” The hedgehog fired a Psybeam at the villain, who managed to break off his tree branch of an arm, replaced with an instantly-regrown human arm, just in time to engage the attack in a beam lock. Graduon yelled out in anger as he held back the magic from the two Equestrians and the attack from Magi-Chan.

Chris continued trading blows evenly with Naitsirhc, who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. They rushed in and out, punching and kicking and shooting off lightning at each other each chance they got, but neither managing to gain any ground on the other. Chris grunted and turned her attention to Graduon again as an idea struck her. She didn’t exactly need to defeat Graduon. “Graduon, you have to listen! Kurome doesn’t want what she told you she wants!” The wizard didn’t pay her any heed, probably because of the battle he found himself in. Still, she had to try. “She doesn’t want to rule the world, she wants to destroy it!”

Naitsirhc laughed and landed a punch on Chris’ left cheek. “What’re you tryna do, win him over with lies or something? You should focus on me first, bro!”

Chris rubbed her cheek and narrowed her eyes at Naitsirhc. “Rrgh. Fine.” She yelled out and ran at her opponent, fist clenched.

+++

Uzume blasted their opponent with her megaphone as the others tended to Neptune. Whoever this guy was, he knew how to hit hard. Vert was shouting at Neptune, trying desperately to get her to answer if she was alright, and Neptune, who was still not quite on her feet yet, was yelling back that she couldn’t hear her friend. Eventually she ran out of breath, much to the Manajerk’s happiness.

“I said ‘Are you alright’?!” Vert asked again, louder than she probably needed to.

“What?!” Nep asked again. “Oh, whatever! Let’s get ‘em!” She yelled out, knocked away her friends’ hands, and swooped forward, attempting to slash at her target. Right behind her, Noire followed suit, her sword in hand and trying to yell louder than Nep. The Manajerk simply smirked and parried Nep’s backflip kick and three kicks from midair, before being staggered by a sudden high-speed slash from Noire. Nep then followed this up with two slashes to the man’s head and uppercutting him into the air.

“Good work, Nep!” Noire shouted as she slashed at her target three times, getting him to yell out and ragdoll a bit. Nep followed this up by slashing at him a bit more and knocking him back to the ground, where Noire encircled the opponent at high speed and slashed more times than the girl could count. The man snarled in annoyance as he continued hitting the ground from these attacks.

Nep clenched her fist victoriously. “Yeah!”

“I didn’t need your help, Nep.”

“Yeah, sure. Ready?”

“Yeah.” The two girls readied their weapons, yelled again, and rushed their opponent once more.

The Manajerk rubbed his chin before swinging his kanabo, sending the two girls flying backwards to collide face-first with the ground. The other three gasped as Vert called out “Nep!” and Uzume called out “Noire!” in concern. The Manajerk stood back up and cracked his neck. “Annoying bitches,” he said with a rumbling hiss before beginning to lumber towards them, his studded club in hand.

Nep pulled her head from underneath a mound of dirt. “Wow, that hurt. What’ve they been feeding him?!”

A cackle erupted from nearby, a voice belonging to Skysoar. “Only the finest in genetic manipulation, my dear! Now B-Manajerk is so much more than a man!”

Blanc crossed her arms in disapproval. “’Manajerk’? That’s what you’re calling them?? Really?”

“Exterminate them!!”

B-Manajerk raised his weapon and rushed at them, each step shaking the ground around them much more than a man of his size should have. Acting on instinct, Neptune reached for every single Preset Disk she had and threw them at the advancing soldier, who ignored every single effect they inflicted on him. Ice forming, blasts of fire and wind, growths of rock, they did absolutely nothing to penetrate his golden armor, and did even less to the man’s killer instinct. He reached the girls in a few seconds and smashed them all into the side of a building with a single swing of his weapon.

Uzume could barely see straight. Nep was right. This guy did hit hard, really hard. She felt a large lump on her head as she drunkenly flew her way back to the battlefield ahead of the others. “’Genetic manipulation’, you said?” she asked without even really thinking about why she was asking this.

Skysoar put his hands on his hips dramatically and smirked up at them proudly. “That’s right! He is now no longer human!” He pointed imperatively at Uzume before continuing. “B-Manajerk now has the genetic makeup of the legendary oni! B-Manajerk, a demonstration!!”

The man bellowed like a cow as he transformed before everyone fighting nearby, growing horns and tusks, a third eye in the middle of his forehead, and growing to fifty feet tall. His roars now shook the nearby buildings, breaking some windows along the way, and prepared a small hellstorm of magma breath. “EVERYBODY DUCK!” Neptune yelled as everyone narrowly avoided being scorched. Vert flew as high as she could, Uzume bolted to the left, Noire to the right, and Blanc jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding getting her hat singed. Neptune looked up and noticed what everyone just did. “Guys, why didn’t you duck?!” Everyone replied by yelling “Shut up, Nep!!”

B-Manajerk roared once again into the sky, shaking his head like an enraged bull, and rushed at Blanc, who barely managed to jump out of the way. They all rushed in with everything they had. Neptune tried turning into her jet form and encircling the battlefield, unloading her guns into the large new target. Blanc ran in with her hammer, swinging wildly and causing small ice explosions on the areas of impact. Noire slashed away, jumped into the air screaming, and lunged back down with a fiery slash attack. Vert tried summoning a giant spear and telekinetically hurling it into her target, an attack that he effortlessly blocked with one hand. Uzume ran in and hit everywhere she could, each punch counting for several hits through her powers helping her out. Vert tried again, this time summoning multiple spears. None of these attacks did anything to their opponent, who surprised them by scooping them all up and tossing them into Neptune, laughing all the while.

The girls found themselves in a pile of arms and legs on the ground. Skysoar swooped about laughing at everything going on. “Gwah hah hah! It’s useless!! His golden armor is invulnerable to any damage, and his new physiology makes him resistant to all of your elemental attacks! B-Manajerk! I’m going to check on my other beautiful creations and be right back! Have fun with your new toys!” Neptune and Uzume glanced up at their opponent, who grew larger and larger while roaring all the while.

+++

Not much more than a few hundred yards away, down Third Avenue, the Power Rangers found that they were faced with similar problems. Each of the Rangers was fighting as hard as they could, but the sheer numbers of Jerkops were starting to wear them down. The Red Ranger grunted as he was kneed in the chest before grabbing the leg of the Jerkop who hit him and tossing him over his shoulder. “You never could fight fair, could you, Baggett?!”

The Jerkop in grey and red jumped atop a car and pointed dramatically at his opponent. “Of course not, old friend! Villains and criminals don’t fight fair, and neither should I!”

“How many times- urgh!- do we- hiya!- have- grah!- to tell you?!” The Blue Ranger cried out. “We’re not criminals!”

Baggett stood back up and crossed his arms. “Hmph! Didn’t you hear, Tony? Sanctuary Cities break the law!”

The Yellow Ranger managed to floor four Jerkops in a single twisting motion in midair. “If this city wasn’t- grah!- then I wouldn’t be here, Baggett!”

“I know.”

“This creep!” The Pink Ranger yelled out and attempted a flying roundhouse kick on Baggett, but he was simply too fast and threw her over his shoulder, avoiding the attack completely.

“Silvia!” the Green Ranger called out as he saw his friend tossed aside. “That does it! This creep needs to die!”

“Why’d you give the boy my suit?”

The Rangers didn’t answer. Instead, they pushed back the Jerkops and all gathered together to take a ready stance. The Red Ranger turned his head at the others. “Be careful, everyone! Baggett’s a tough one!”

Baggett held out his hand theatrically. “Allow me to show you one of my new toys, courtesy of Doctor Skysoar!” He held out one of his fingers and pressed it to his temple, causing the Jerkops to all perk up. The Green Ranger looked around at them, clearly uneasy. “Uh, what’re they doing?”

“JERKOP SWARM!!” On command, the Jerkops clumped together, almost as if they were a bunch of humanoid magnets. They continued to group together until they formed around Baggett, lifting him into the air and using their collective bodies to form a dozen very large arms.

The Rangers eyed what was happening apprehensively. “Uh-oh,” The Blue Ranger muttered. “This is bad, guys,” The Pink Ranger chimed in. “Gee, you think?” The Green Ranger replied, attempting to stay tough by being snarky.

“JERKOP PUNCH!!” Baggett yelled as one of the arms, now the size of a tanker truck, slammed into the ground the Rangers were just a second ago. “JERKOP KATA!!” he yelled as he continued the assault, launching punches in a way very similar to how he would’ve fought on his own.

Each Ranger managed to dodge, albeit barely, but The Yellow Ranger caught her leg on one of the punches in midair, spinning about and yelling as she flew into a nearby café. Baggett laughed, now using every voice of the Jerkops to amplify his own. “JERKOP….!!” He yelled as he cupped the hands together into pairs.

The Red Ranger had a pretty bad feeling about what was coming. “Everyone run!” And it was a good thing they did, because Baggett finished preparing his attack by them. “…BALL!!” The fists broke off as large boulders built from men, which chased down the Rangers throughout the streets under their own power. “Split up!” They all did, and the men-boulders all split up as well, one for each remaining Ranger, decimating whatever cars or combatants they came across.

Baggett laughed and hoisted himself up more with his new bodily extensions. “THIS IS YOUR END, RANGERS!!” he called out as he pursued The Red Ranger.

+++

Meanwhile, Silvana and Son-Chu found themselves pushed back Downtown, where they faced off against a mechanical Manajerk the size of Son-Chu himself, the two robots trading blows ferociously. Silvana had since transformed into a European dragon, and was doing everything she could to keep the pressure on. She reared up onto her hind legs and roared at her opponent, before being knocked back and winded from a concussive blast from the cyborg’s palms. The head floating in a jar atop the robot cackled loudly, the bubbles of the preservation fluid audible even from the ground.

Simonla popped out of the ground, flipping over and knocking out several hapless Jerkops, not noticing that they were wandering listlessly down the road. “Hangin’ in there, partner?!” she called up to the panting dragon. Silvana pushed herself up and growled in reply. “’Atta girl, Silvana! Let’s go get ‘em!”

The two girls yelled as they joined the fight with Son-Chu. The robot, which had the letters “W” and “M” on either of its shoulders, glanced down at Simonla before getting knocked around by a particularly nasty right hook from Son-Chu. W-M took a moment to recover, during which his head swirled around, making him dizzy. After everything settled down for him, however, he readjusted his head and chuckled. “I’M DISAPPOINTED, HEROES. I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT MORE FORCES WOULD’VE BEEN DEEMED NECESSARY FOR DR. SKYSOAR’S GREATEST CREATION.”

Simonla continued to rush her opponent. “We’re more than enough to deal with the likes of you!!” She yelled out and drilled the robot’s foot. But to no avail. To her surprise, she didn’t even scratch it. “What in…?” Then she got a better look at it and gasped. “Simitanium!” This was the same material that her own skeleton was made from! Before she could say anything else, W-M twitched his ankle and kicked her away and through several buildings.

Silvana noticed this blow on her friend and roared in anger. She blasted the Manajerk with her fire breath as the Transformer continued to pummel him, but it was no use. The cyborg just continued to laugh as he traded blows with both of his opponents. The titans continued to stomp around the park, kicking up everything they could to try to get the others to lose ground, which didn’t exactly work. W-M eventually started kicking large balls of compressed Jerkops into Son-Chu’s face, getting in a few blows each time he did so. A collection of voices from the distance cried “DAMNIT, W-M, I WAS USING THEM!!” The slurry of Jerkops somehow all managed to stand up and wander over somewhere around the corner. Moments later, as they continued fighting, these titans didn’t even notice that they almost pulverized the Red Ranger, who leapt from building top to building top to try and escape the Jerkop Ball chasing him.

W-M pulled back for a bit and grinned smugly. “THIS IS REALLY THE BEST YOU CAN DO, ISN’T IT? ISN’T THERE SOMEONE THAT CAN HELP YOU OUT, MAKE THIS MORE FUN-?” He was cut off by a building falling on top of him. Son-Chu and Silvana looked over to where the building fell from and saw Simonla whooping and hollering at a small crater where the building used to stand. As the dust began to settle, W-M marched out from under the wreckage, looking more happy than damaged. “OKAY, THAT MIGHT MAKE THIS INTERESTING.”

+++

Blake ducked under another extending punch from his opponent, who continued to bend and contort his arms and legs in seemingly random configurations. All the while, this human combatant continued to yowl a continuous war cry at him, as if he had nothing to lose from going all-out here. The mechanical limbs continued to stretch and bend, creaking and croaking as if made from extendable metal and plastic. Blake ran about, jumped off of the arms and legs as best he could, rolling and ducking as he went. The damage this maniac was doing was insane!

He weaved in closer and closer, trying to find the opening he needed. He rolled along the man’s arm for a moment, propelling himself into the air, and he saw it. The Manajerk noticed this too, but smirked. Blake could hear Angelica call out “Look out, Blake!” before he got smacked out of the air and through two buildings. He yelled out. Everything hurt.

But then Angelica flew in and used her Catholic healing spell, or whatever it was, closing his wounds and easing the pain. “Thanks,” Blake mumbled as he pulled himself from the wall.

“Blake, I think I have a plan-“

“No, you stay back and keep up the healing.”

“But-“

“If that Manajerk gets one good hit on you, you’re down for the count. Don’t try to jump in and help,” he warned as he activated his rocket shoes and rushed at the Manajerk, the one he remembered to be named “Merried Seinor Comic”, or something to that effect. Merried retracted his limbs and held out his hands, readying himself for the impact, and managed to hold Blake back, causing them both to push at the other with all their might as they grappled.

Merried flashed a mischievous, toothy grin. “Always wanted t’crush yer head, Blachu!”

“Don’t call me that!”

“’Cuz if I can, I can do it t’ the yellow one! And maybe move in on your girl. Heh?” Merried licked his lips.

Blake roared as he suddenly relented so he can toss the mechanical man over his shoulder. As the lanky Manajerk pirouetted through the air, however, he used this momentum to slice everything around him in a singular cyclonic motion, barely missing Angelica, who was hovering not too far from the fight. “Angelica, I said stay back!”

“You’re going to need healing, Blake!”

“I’m doing fine- ARGH!” Blake flew back from a sudden blow to the face and felt half his teeth fly from his face, only for them to miraculously reappear. Merried Seinor Comic laughed as he launched himself forward as if his legs were large springs. The two proceeded to wrestle on the ground, kicking up dirt as they did so.

Angelica looked up, startled as a maniacal laugh erupted from not too far from her. It was Skysoar. “Ah,” he called out as he swooped in from around the street corner. “It seems my new and improved Manajerks are exceeding my expectations!”

Angelica narrowed her eyes. “Skysoar…” She coated her wings with a metallic aura and proceeded to divebomb towards him. Underneath her, however, Merried broke away from his scuffle and performed a one-handed handstand. “Not so fast, Missy!” he called out as he shot out his other hand, intercepting her and crushing several of her ribs as she cried out in pain, flying through three office buildings from the impact.

Blake noticed this and froze up. “Angelica!” He hated to think what Punchy would say if he were to find out about this. He overclocked his shoes and rushed over to where she landed and found her lying limply on the street. “Hey, wake up! C’mon!” He shook her, managing to his relief to wake her up.

“Ughhh… Blake… Did you get him?”

“Not yet. I told you to stay back!”

Angelica grimaced and held her side. “I’ll be fine. Just… Just need to heal.”

“You don’t have-“ A loud crash interrupted Blake as Merried stood back upright, having bounded over to them once again for more combat.

+++

Rosechu examined the tunnel the rest of the family found themselves in. If Christine was right about this, then Metal and Sonichu would fly in through the tunnel very soon. Cera backed the last eighteen wheeler into place, completely blocking the road through. “Mom, he can still just fly over, though.”

Christine looked at her mother with deep concern in her eyes. “What’re we doing about that, Mom?”

“I’m throwing that truck into them.”

Both the girls were taken aback by this. “But,” Cera interjected, “won’t that hit Dad too?”

“He’ll be fine. See Robee yet?” The yellow Rosechu appeared beside her, kicking up a small windstorm as she did so. “They’re coming, get ready!”

Rosechu barely had time to jump get into position when the sounds of jet engines cascaded throughout the tunnel. Without even taking the time to think, she forced her arm muscles to bulge a sudden burst of power, easily flipping the truck into the air. However, to their surprise, Metal Sonichu simply punched a hole through the side of the airborne vehicle through sheer momentum, completely ignoring this useless obstacle. The merciless robot landed several yards away and bashed his helpless captive into the side of every vehicle he could as he stomped along.

Robee watched with a tear forming in her eye, noticing the cuts and bruises on her dad’s head. She ran at the robot. “Let go of my Dad!” The robot responded to this sudden attack by taking flight, causing the young hedgehog to miss, and spat a laser from his chest, the tunnel now sliced in half and expelling cars into the air like blood from an artery. The hedgehogs barely managed to jump from car to car and land on the ground in ways that, while still painful, didn’t kill them. They all panted and watched as the robot flew off with Sonichu, who yelled something they couldn’t understand.

Rosechu gingerly stood back up, helping her daughters to do the same. “Any other ideas, kids?”

“You mean you don’t have any more?”

“Um…”

“What if we forced him into the river?”

“He’s too fast for us. We need something else, sis.”

“Oh! How about the crane over at-?” Christine found herself cut off by a loud metallic crackle as they looked up to find the gigantic W-M-Manajerk uprooting the crane to smack Silvana as he held Son-Chu in a headlock. “Oh, no!”

Robee followed the robot with her gaze, trying desperately to think of a plan. Metal Sonichu buzzed around W-M-Manajerk’s head, choking her father until he almost turned blue. She had to act. She thought back to something her father told her about acting on instinct, so she did. She ran up the side of a building, barely even noticing the static electricity building underneath her feet or across her body. She didn’t notice the giants’ struggle narrowly missing her several times as she scaled the side of the building. She didn’t even notice that she almost bowled over the Red Ranger when she reached the top. She simply continued running until the familiar clouds formed underneath her feet. She leveled out and readjusted herself to find the robot, who now held a limp Sonichu and held its clawed hand up to the sky, ready to land the final blow.

“I SAID, LET… GO… OF… MY… DAD!!” She ran at the robot at full force, creating a Sonic Rainboom upon impact and reducing the robot to smithereens. Robee circled around her father, who seemed to be falling in slow motion, until she slowed down enough to actually grab him.

The Sonic Rainboom wreaked havoc on everything around her, the other Chaotic Combo members barely managing to even remain standing. W-M buckled as the ground beneath him crumbled completely, swallowing him into a large sinkhole. The wind kicked up and rainbow-colored flashes emanated throughout the city block. Son-Chu, Silvana, and Simonla looked down the hole, confused. “Y’all think that did it?” Simonla asked her comrades.

Robee finally caught her dad and came to a halt once she reached the ground at a much more manageable speed. The rest of the family rushed over, ecstatic that Sonichu was still alive.

“Sonichu, darling, wake up!” Rosechu shook her husband, worry still etched in her face.

Sonichu coughed and opened his eyes, his vision very blurry. “What happened?” he murmured, his voice scratchy and weak.

“It was incredible, Dad!” Cera interjected. “Roberta here ran up that building, caught some clouds to run on like that one time, and then rushed at Metal Sonichu fast enough to create a Sonic Rainboom!”

Sonichu coughed again as he wobbled his way up to his feet. “You’re getting better at those, sport.” He chuckled. “You might even be close to getting faster than me.”

“What? Dad, c’mon-“

“Where are the others? We need to help them.”

“Sonichu, dear, you can’t help anyone right now.”

“I’ll be fine,” he murmured as he stumbled forward. “Just need to find Angelica, and I’ll be zappin’…”

+++

Baggett covered his face as the rainbow energy flew by. He didn’t know what that was, but he saw it knock W-M down into a sinkhole. Whatever it was, it was some strong stuff. He had to make sure to avoid whoever did that. A noise from over his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts, and to his surprise it was the Rangers, including The Yellow Ranger, who Baggett noticed was unsteady on her right leg. He smiled at this. “SO YOU’VE ALL MANAGED TO SURVIVE MY JERKOP BALLS!! BRAVO, RANGERS!! BUT YOU WON’T BE LIVING THROUGH THIS!! JERKOP….!!”

The Rangers stood ready as the nearby Jerkops, which now numbered into the thousands, rushed with unnatural speed to gather around their foe, who continued to grow in front of them. “Oh, no!” the Green Ranger cried out. “At this rate, even the Zords won’t be big enough to fight that!” The Blue Ranger yelled out.

Baggett laughed a thunderous laugh, now taking on a semi-serpentine appearance and dwarfing the buildings around them. “THE ONLY GOOD SANCTUARY CITY IS A LEVELLED SANCTUARY CITY!! TIME FOR A GOOD STOMPIN’!!” He glanced over a few city blocks at B-Manajerk, who was still fighting evenly with the Gamindustri Goddesses. “DON’T WORRY, B!! I’LL BE THERE TO GIVE YOU A HAND IN JUST A MINUTE!!” He ignored the Purple Goddess, he was pretty sure she was called Neptune, who yelled out “Hold on, what!!?” Instead of answering, Baggett uprooted a skyscraper and attempted to squish the Rangers with it.

The Rangers tried to run, but couldn’t make it in time. They held their heads in a vain attempt to cover their heads, but quickly realized that the building hadn’t hit them quite yet. Red Ranger looked up and noticed that the pink Transformer, Excelina, was barely holding the building back, despite the intense strain on her robotic face and how much her arms and legs were shaking from the effort. There was no time. “Keep going, everybody!” Red Ranger called out as he rushed the rest of the way.

The Rangers barely managed to get away from the impact site before it came crashing down, Excelina’s hand reaching to the sky from underneath the building. Green Ranger shook his head. “We have to stop him before he destroys the whole city!”

“It’s Zord time, everyone!” The Rangers took their positions and summoned their Zords, five thirty-foot humanoid robots in different colors. The Yellow Ranger struck a pose and called out “Huang-di!” before jumping up high and materializing inside the yellow-colored robot. The Red Ranger struck a pose and called out “Chidi!” before jumping up high and materializing inside the red-colored robot. The Blue Ranger struck a pose and called out “Cangdi!” before jumping up high and materializing inside the blue-colored robot. The Green Ranger struck a pose and called out “Baidi!” before jumping up high and materializing inside the green-colored robot. And finally, The Pink Ranger struck a pose before calling out “Heidi!” before jumping up high and materializing inside the pink-colored robot.

The Rangers all landed snugly in their cockpits before the Yellow Ranger opened up a communication link between the Zords. “Time to come together, everyone!” In sync, the Rangers all crossed their arms and yelled out “Emperor Megazord!” The robots jumped into the air, transforming in different ways all the while, before they all conjoined into one larger Megazord big enough to wield a skyscraper like a polearm.

Baggett turned towards this new opponent and smiled to himself. They’re finally a challenge. The Megazord unsheathed a large sword and rushed at its opponent, who responded to each slash with an outstretched clawed hand deftly catching it before it landed. After thirty seconds of close combat, the monstrous Jerkop grew a tail and jabbed the Megazord before tossing it away and laughing. The Rangers yelled out before they managed to right themselves. The Green Ranger punched the stabilization button before turning to the Red Ranger. “Man, he’s going to be tough!”

“He was our best before he turned evil. We have to give it everything we’ve got. Ready guys?”

The other Rangers turned to him and nodded as one. “Ready!”

“Alright! Celestial Dragon Tooth!” The Megazord’s arm transformed into a giant drill as they rushed the target. With a great crash, they slashed through the Jerkop’s abdomen, nearly ripping him in two. Baggett roared and clutched his side before yelling out angrily and closing the wound as more and more Jerkops joined the conglomerate being, leaving the citizen fighters to look on in awe.

“That didn’t finish him off?!”

“HA-HA-HA-HA!! DOCTOR SKYSOAR, YOU’VE OUTDONE YOURSELF THIS TIME!! HOW DO YOU LIKE SOME OF THIS?!” Just by raising his hands, Baggett created tentacles from the ground large enough to completely encircle the Megazord from many more surrounding Jerkops, preparing to demolish his former comrades.

+++

Still in her dragon form, Silvana looked down at Simonla. I don’t see anything down there, do you?

“Not a lick ‘a movement.” She looked up at Silvana and smiled. “Looks like we won!” She then turned and screamed as a small forest of metal tentacles erupted from the hole. Simonla narrowly avoided getting grabbed by the top of her head, and Silvana managed to keep four of them at bay with her fire breath, but Son-Chu wasn’t so lucky, and yelled out in a metallic scream as close to eighty clawed tentacles latched onto his body, effectively holding him in place.

A moment of struggle later, and the source of these new threats became obvious. W-M’s head slowly lifted from the hole, revealing a levitation device at the base as all of the metal tentacles protruded from a large ring on the bottom. As the disembodied head smiled smugly, several tentacles morphed into buzz saws, lasers, and three-pronged hooks. “DID YOU THINK IT’D BE THAT EASY?” He glanced down, the expression on his face suggesting everything he was doing was casual, and fired eight unbroken laser beams at Simonla.

Simonla narrowly dodged the lasers as if playing Limbo, and yelled out “Shit!” as one of them took off a tuft of her hair. “Just had that done!”

Silvana roared at the Manajerk, but soon roared from pain as he jabbed the dragon several times with spiked tentacles. This was not going well. If Chris can just get through to Graduon…

+++

Bubbles fired off Water Pulse after Water Pulse simply by pointing at her opponent, the heavily-armored Jerkhief, making a show of the effort on her part being virtually nonexistent. She intercepted each of his missiles, knocking them off-course and causing them to explode harmlessly. Beside her, Wild continued throwing Razor Leafs at him, hitting soft spots at his joints. “Where’d Punchy go?” Wild asked out loud. Bubbles didn’t answer, instead opting to blast the Jerkop in the face with some water.

The large man yelled out angrily and looked around. “Damnit, where’s my backup?! You took them, didn’t you, Baggett?!”

“Still have the chance to give up, Jerkhief!” Bubbles offered.

The man growled as his suit powered up, enabling him to rush at the Rosechu. “NEVER!” Before Bubbles could react, she was caught, and the angry Jerkop tossed her into a fifth-story window.

“Bubbles!” Wild called. “Punchy, where are you, man?!”

Jerkhief reached over for Wild now, but suddenly his arm was batted away by a red blur before he got hit in the chest and knocked into a post office. “Okay, I think I have an idea!” Punchy said to announce his presence. “Bubbles! You okay?!”

“Yeah!” she replied, even though Punchy couldn’t see her.

“Great! Wild, you see those traffic lights?”

Wild looked over where he was talking about and saw them, and then he understood. “Got it! How we doin’ this?”

The Jerkhief tore the walls around him apart as he angrily got back to his feet and rushed at the two hedgehogs. “I’M GONNA STUFF YOU ALL UP MY BUTT!!” He seemed like he was going to say something else, but a geyser of water erupted from the manhole underneath him, kicking him up into the air. Wild then quickly followed this up by wrapping his arms in vines and suspending him from the traffic lights. Punchy then finished the plan by lunging at the Jerkop and smashing the metal suit to pieces.

Bubbles jumped down from the window and slowed her fall with a smaller water geyser. “We did it!”

Punchy chuckled. “Nothin’ to it, huh? Let’s find the others.“

+++

Blake picked up the injured Angelica without even thinking. “How dare you injure a woman!”

Merried shrugged, clearly bemused. “War. Time to die, bitches!” He pulled back his arm and swung it at Blake’s face. But Blake was through with his bullshit. He caught the arm mid-flight and tore it straight off the man’s shoulder with one movement.

“Angelica, heal yourself. I’ll deal with him.” Without even waiting for an answer, Blake rushed at the Manajerk, a new fire burning in his eyes, and before the man could yell out in protest, he’d torn off the man’s other arm and both his legs.

Merried knocked his chin on the ground before managing to right himself. “Sunovabitch!” He hopped as he turned to Blake and attempted to bite his ankle. “I’m not done with you!”

Angelica finished her quick healing and nodded at Blake. “Well, that was quick.”

Blake just grunted and turned away. He wanted to find out how Bubbles was doing.

Angelica looked down at the Manajerk and noticed his eyes glowing blue. “Blake!” Blake looked down and noticed this too, before both jumped back. Blake suddenly grimaced as a quarter hit him squarely in the back of the head. “What the?”

+++

Punchy turned to walk away from the fight scene, but then the pieces of the mechanical suit began rattling, as did the nearby cars and every other metallic debris in the area, before they all began to float and whiz around at random. Before any of them could really process what was happening, a nearby car rammed into all of them, knocking the wind out of them.

+++

Blake and Angelica turned and noticed the maelstrom of metal closing in and ran without a second thought. They watched in amazement as Merried Seinor Comic not only grew back his limbs from the debris, but managed to encase himself in a shell of junk that towered over them. He laughed, the sound like that of scraping metal, and launched another punch at them.

Blake somehow managed to catch the fist on instinct, and did everything he could to hold it back. Angelica flew up and tried to hit the new monster with a Steel Wing, but soon found herself stuck to his shoulder, so she had to stop the attack.

Blake yelled out from the effort of holding back the Manajerk. “ANY IDEAS?”

Angelica thought for a second before replying. “Yeah! Keep holding him there!” She flew up to the monster’s face and began a prayer that she was taught as a Rosee. She didn’t think she’d ever have to use it, but if she was ever going to, then now was the time. She prayed to God and Jesus for them to use their power to vanquish this opponent, to lend them the strength to win. As soon as she muttered the last “Amen!” Merried groaned as if heavily weakened.

Blake’s eyes widened in amazement. “That did it, Angelica!” He gave another heave and just as before managed to tear the arm from his opponent. He then proceeded to swing it around and hit Merried in the face with his own hand. He then tossed it aside and leapt into the air, performing a Spin Dash and cutting right through the monster’s chest. Blake stood up and crossed his arms as the exoskeleton fell apart behind him. “Hm. Let’s find the others.”

+++

Neptune yelled out, very frustrated, as she peppered the target with laser fire, of course doing no damage. Of course! The giant ogre of a man laughed and lunged at her, propelled forward by his jetpack, and smashed her yet again with his weapon. Neptune flew backwards in a heap next to the others. “OW!! This is stupid!”

“Anyone have any ideas?” Blanc asked nobody in particular.

“I’ve got one,” Noire chimed in suddenly. “Everyone know how concussions work?”

“Intimately,” Neptune fumed, rubbing her head and finding the eighth lump.

“Follow my lead!” Noire then began her transformation into Next Black, the others all following suit with their respective forms. “Hit him so that he bruises on the inside!”

The girls all roared as they rushed forward. B-Manajerk swung once again at Noire, who managed to zip through his guard and land a nasty slash that erupted with lightning. The man crumpled from this, but not much more than that before Neptune slashed at him herself and gauged the fabric of reality from her strike. Vert then summoned an uncountable amount of spears and pelted him incessantly with a rain of blades. Blanc then finished the combo by firing a freezing shockwave at B-Manajerk, summoning a large laser cannon, and torching him with it.

The girls all landed several feet away as a group and reverted back to their civilian clothing, panting as they eyed the monster cautiously. Uzume prepared her megaphone just in case. The monster groaned, roared in pain, stumbled forward, clenching his kanabo, and inched forward. After three small steps, his breathing heavy, he fell forward, belching a black darkness from his mouth before closing his eyes and hitting the ground.

Neptune couldn’t even celebrate properly. Her arms were heavy, and her head hurt. She panted heavily and managed to shout “Yeah!... Take that…. You… Monster!”

“The day’s saved now, right?” Vert asked as they turned to look at the city. They noticed Baggett and W-M’s tentacles and groaned.

“You’re kidding me! We have to take out more of these guys?!”

“Not me, I’m clocking out.” Blanc threw down her weapon in the middle of the road and began to walk away.

Uzume began looking around. She couldn’t stop now, not when she promised Chris that she’d help.

+++

Naitsirhc landed yet another kick across Chris’ face, knocking her backwards once more. She couldn’t see straight, her eyes have swollen over. Things shouldn’t be ending this way. Magi-Chan, Night Star, and Discord continued their struggle with Graduon, who had since taken a knee to better steady himself against this assault. “My, my,” Discord commented, seemingly disinterested. “You’re a tought nut to crack, aren’t you?!” Night Star and Magi-Chan just continued grunting from the effort of continuing their assault, and Graduon was likewise doing everything he could to hold their attacks back.

“Graduon, you can’t do this!” Chris began.

“I’ll defeat you or die trying, Chandler!”

“No, it’s not that, listen!” She yelled out as Naitsirhc slammed her head into the ground. When he pulled her face from the asphalt once again, she continued. “If you keep following this path, then Kurome will just destroy everything!” Graduon wasn’t listening; he was too preoccupied with his fight. Chris then had an idea. “Guys, stop fighting him!”

Night Star glanced over in confusion. “What?”

“Just do it!” Magi-Chan answered, and the three let down their guard in a way that allowed the beam to fire harmlessly into the sky.

Graduon and Naitsirhc were dumbfounded. Graduon turned on her with a new expression. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I’m telling the truth! Kurome doesn’t want to conquer the world like you, Graduon, she wants it destroyed! She told Blanc this when she tried to destroy her region of Gamindustri.” Graduon stayed silent, so Chris continued. “If you want to conquer the rest of the world, then fine. But help us stop her first. You can’t rule over something that isn’t there.”

Graduon continued to avoid Chris’ gaze, thinking over this new information. Finally, he returned Chris’ gaze and nodded. Chris smiled, but felt something encroach in the back of her mind. “You useless fool,” she muttered in a voice not her own, and she began to yell out in pain as her body contorted and began to levitate. Naitsirhc jumped back in shock. “What the hell?!”

Chris continued to yell, a dark energy emanating from her body. This energy danced about like a flame and began expanding, firing off flares across the city and drawing the attention of all. Uzume gasped as she saw this, clenched her fist and ran at Chris, holding out her hand and creating a bubble of energy around her before jumping in herself. Inside the bubble was another dimension, made entirely from Share Energy and created by her own power. While Chris and Kurome were inside this, then the rest of the world was safe.

The energy continued to surround Chris, beginning to morph her appearance into a dark version of Uzume herself. Behind Chris the energy began to grow a face of some kind. Uzume knew what she had to do. She held out her hand imperatively. “Kurome, you’re coming with me!”

Chris began to contort again, this time the new voice screaming out in protest. “NOOO!!” Uzume continued to absorb her evil half, not even paying any attention as the right side of her face began to scream too. She concentrated hard, and after ten seconds of supreme effort, everything was silent. Chris lay on the ground, not moving for a few seconds, before coughing, groaning, and slowly lifting herself up.

“Uzume…? What-?”

“Kurome tried to take over your body, Chris. But don’t worry. She’s taken care of now. She’s now a part of me, and she won’t be a problem anymore.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Uzume.”

Uzume giggled. There’s something I need, though. Chris, I’m afraid I need to take my powers back.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Without another word, Chris extended her arms in offering as a softer orange energy glowed from her heart and into Uzume. “Let’s get out of here.”

The two girls exited the pocket dimension, which faded behind them. Both sides had stopped fighting and were watching them. Chris turned to Graduon and smiled. “We don’t have to stay enemies, Graduon. For your whole life, you’ve never known love. How about you stay with us, and we show you?”

Naitsirhc shook his head. “How lame would we be-?”

“Very well,” Graduon boomed. “Henceforth, the PVCC forces and the city of CWCville are now allies!”

Everyone from the CWCville side cheered. Uzume hugged Chris. “We did it!”

“We sure did!”

“But, Chris. We have to go back to Gamindustri now. We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. Oh! I have an idea.” Uzume reached into her pocket and handed Chris a holographic card. “If you ever need our help, let us know, okay?”

“Thanks for everything.”

Uzume then smiled and waved as she turned to leave with the other Goddesses. A man in armor and a military-grade gas mask approached Chris with several magical girls behind him. “Good work, Chandler,” the man began in an electronically-augmented voice. He looked around at the heavily damaged city. “Well, you’ve managed to minimize damage, at least.”

“It was a war hard-fought, John. But now we’ve got new friends,” Chris explained as she looked around at people from both sides of the war helping each other tend to their wounded.

John looked around, his expression understandably unreadable. “Mazel tov,” he said finally. “There are still some cloaker agents that Kurome had set up, so we’ll need to deal with those.”

“Perhaps I could be of some assistance, Mr. Yamada,” Graduon interjected from over Chris’ shoulder.

“That’d be great,” Yamada replied, almost as if distracted. “But I need to bring something… else to your attention…”

[riddlebot]

okay taz fucking liveblog all in one post under the cut so no spoilers happen here we goooo

i’m listening to it w/o downloading it first which is gonna mean my internet is going to be SO SLOW but its worth it i cant believe he fucking ended it on episode 69 griffin is a monster i just realized this shit is 3 hours long and cuts right through lunch so i know imma be on my way out to eat a bunch of twinkies in about an hour in to the episodes thank YOU griffin mcelroy, this podcast got me out of the most horrible depressive episode (along with the fallout 4 monster factories) and i love it so much. shut ur face you wonderful boy.

okay okay okay okay okay okay im not ready its about to start i’m not ready here we go

FUCK IT UP DAVENPORT YOU WILD BITCH THE GREATEST STARSHIP CAPTAIN THAT EVER LIVED im literally already crying this music is so good also is it greg grimauldis oh wait no its john hi john!!! you goopy boy oh no he’s bad blast him boys blast him boys 

“it’s just one guy shouldn’t be an issue” “it’s a nice suit tho”  “i stole your cousins shoes” TAAKO “if you’re mad about it direct it at that man over there” “i’m wearing the shoes” “CAN YOU GIVE US A MINUTE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT SHOES”

griffin’s excited dm voice mixed with this fucking awesome music “LETS ROLL INITIATIVE” djaklfjkl;asdjfkljlKJALKJFLKDAJLFJDALKJFLKJL;J

merle starting out strong with healing for once i’m so proud of him and maxes them the fuck out NICE MERLE “the first death, who knew it would be so painful” “hey merle i know i give you shit - thanks for healing!” “oh! ‘s good to be appreciated” MERLE BB

i wonder if garyl will make an appearance in this 3 hour episode bc i miss him a lot

GO MERLE WITH THE CIRCLE OF KNIVES AND HURT nat 20 on the swing “yeah sorry trav i’m SO good at magic” jesus trav with the the fucking 6 attacks what the fuck  “where was i at? 92-” “fuck off” john hitting them w/ the fus ro knife  if john gets ahold of that sword i s2g magnus you should have held onto it OH FUCK OH FUCK GRIFFIN WHAT ARE YOU DOING griffin u are describing the sexiest tar monster hello new fav enemy like hi johns fucking tarsona  “ultimate john!” “demi john-” “sephajohn”

i saw justins tweet about them dying i swear to god griffin mcelroy griffin sounds way too delighted to be describing merle feeling back fire burn inside him EXCUSE ME DEATH SAVES FOR MERLE ALREADY bangs my head on a table they are rolling so bad oh my god they’re all gonna die taako you beautiful flip wizard thank god you avoided that  “regular non magical amount of fear” taako HIT EM ABRA CA FUCK YOU IM CRYING AHHH THATS MY BOYYYYYY clutches my chest merle please please please get a success  NOOOOOOOO MERLE COME ON BUDDY PULL THROUGH if merle dies i die

rip blue orb and also fuck you  magnus has so many weapons okay john weird face beam thats p cool “hey! my armor, finally works”

i wonder where griffin got the inspo with this boss fight, his boss fights are always so interesting? like the orbs and stuff are such an interesting concept imo TAAKO IS OUT TOO WHAT THE FUCK THEY’RE ALL GONNA DIE AND JOHN JUST HEALED WHAT THE FUCK GRIFFIN THEY CANT DO THIS they’re all fucking out oh my god whats happening i cant i’m gonna cry this is horrible  i’m gonna puke griffin what the FUCK who is merle gonna choose  its PAN god thats so gay merle/pan otp rip my soul IM ALWAYS GONNA BE THERE FROM NOW ON FJALDFJKLSDAJFLJASLDFJLASJF I LOVE PAN SO MUCH im fucking sobbing

TROOOOOOOOTHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHH THATS MY MOOOOOM

puts my chin in my hands time for taakos bond huh YES YES YES YES YES YESY ES TAAKO  LIGHT ‘EM THE FUCK UP THIS IS SO AWESOME HE IS FUCKING DOING PHARAH’S ULT I’M SCREAMING I CAN NOT

why didnt they destroy the green orb first god boys please clint is such a cute dad  let him summon garfield!!! i love griffin refusing to describe garfield  “i cant handle that emotionally”  FREE SAMPLES i’ll put it on your taaaaaaaaab

ROSWELL ROSWELL ROSWELL ROSWELL  roswell’s music swelling is making my heart hurt roswell is so pure

i swear to god taako who are you about to fucking call TAAKO YOU ARE SO DUMB I LOVE YOU SO MUCH “you’re all double blind!”

this fight has gone on for an entire hour aldfkjladjf;sjfl;djaflkdja;fd

merle is so good this episode god this music is beautiful 

“wait before you go do you see the mask i made that looks like a bear face?” ME TOO MAGNUS NO THE BOND ENGINE 

THE BOY S IM CRYING THEYRE ALL HOLDING ON TO EACH OTHER AND IM FJADLKFJLKADJFKLJDS IM SCRYIN SO MUCH IM FUCKING SCREAMAING AND SOBBING OH MGY DO AHHHHHH i literally am crying so much my eyes burn

“you got it buddy” f uck my heart

what happened to davenport ajldfkjakldjflk the ship ATE HIM

as soon as time froze i was like istus is here yall

taako what are you doing bb KLAAAAAARRRRG THEY’RE WINNING taako oh my GOD

pls save lucretia 

YOURE GOING TO BE AMAZING

how is there still a fucking hour left of this episode oh my god

RIDING ON GARYL’S BACK WOOOO YEAH FUCK IT UP

im crying again this is so much oh my god i literally dont know im so emotional i buried myf ace in my hands and sobbed this fucking podcast is so much

awww scuttlebuddy why are in the rockport limited omg  “just like you left it” griffin they left it destroyed “i’m not god” “thats exactly what god would say” “mhm” “mhm” what is going on my head hurts lajdflkajdflsj;f “i’m so proud of how you turned out” “thank you jeffandrew”  “i’m getting a migraine” god me too

oh thank god davenport is okay JEFFANDREWWWW they’re so dumb

“hey everybody! johann was right! WE WON!” i’m a fucking wreck and THERE IS STILL AN HOUR LEFT WHAT THE FUCK im legit sobbing over dryad lesbians did he say mayor cassidy oh my GOD angus is my fucking smart and perfect son AND HE’S GOT SO MANY FRIENDS AND HE PLAYS SOCCERA FJALDKFJALSJFLAJF IM CRYING davenport made me start giggling and sobbing at the same time LUP AND BARRY ARE FUCKING GRIM REAPERS NOW FUCK YEAH BARRY AND LUP AHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHH AHHHHH AHHHHH AHH IM SOBBING AGAIN still 50 minutes left how?????  “i think you forgot to make it taste good” “it’s kinda artisanal-” “you’re full of dog shit sometimes y’know?” “that’s what it is, i put dog shit in it” what part of that sounded like i was joking JUSTIN taako’s hogwarts  “students in my school have to duel constantly” ITS MAGICALLY DELICIOUS  ren is perfect and i am dead “i should mention my boyfriend is death and he’ll be staying over from time to time” AHHHHHHHHHHH taako you’re GOING ON VACATION TO THE AFTERLIFE JAKLFJDA;LFJAS i hope someone draws taako on a beach chair in trunks next to a pool of souls “i promise not to take you anywhere too spooky” “you know what? i’m a big boy” “i know you are” BIG TALL BOY ANGUS AJDFKLJALDF;ASFJ HE’S GROWING UP I CANT “i’ll have my people talk to your people sir!” “you changed my life” AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH “i know about silverware” this boy is too smart for all of us

i love merle with my whole entire heart i can hardly stand it merle basically started adventure camp thats adorable  i wish clint mcelroy was my dad he’s so adorable and sweet and funny and good i’m having a moment help me i am like weirdly fond of lord sterling  magnus and taako constantly try to get in touch with merle but he’s too much of a dad to ever realize it i’m SCREAMING earl merle  I LO VE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH HE’S SO SILLY merlegaritaville  VINE LOVERS HE NEEDS TO STOP merle i love you “mookie’s the BEST” they all love the best npcs AUNT LUP AND AUNT LUCRETIA AND UNCLE MAGNUS AND UNCLE TAAKO AND UNCLE BARRY FUCK THIS IS SO EMOTIONAL IM GONNA BE SICK NO I DIE

my eyes have not stopped leaking since the episode started  oh my god this fucking episode ends on a lesbian WEDDING GRIFFIN MCELROYYYYYYYY im going to DIE im gonna D IE IM GONNA DIE “if you all excuse me i- have to shit” JKLFDSAJKL;FJADL;FJL;SJL;FASD hammer and tails (a dog school)

okay holds up a hand griffin fuck off with this death shit excuse me travis i heard you break up a little there and literally cant handle a second of this THIS IS DISGUSTING AND SAD FUCK WHAT THE FUCK im sobbing so loudly fuck im glad i’m home alone fuck i cant breathe oh my god im gonna throw up i already know where this is going  thank god they’re all friends with death i caNT TRAVIS IF UR CRYING I SWEAR TO GOD I’M GOING TO DIE i cant take this  its so emotional im literally leaving my body FUCK “you lived so much longer than i thought you were going to” GIRL SAME griffin literally descended from heaven to give underdeveloped characters some personality when no one else would  god i need to fucking blow my nose  “he said he was a cleric but we can never be sure” as magnus rushes in GRIFFIN MCELROY fuck that was SO GOOD OH MY GOD OH MY GODY fuck i CANT BELIEVE WE GET THEIR FUCKING WEDDING IN CANON GRIFFIN YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN THIS MUSIC IM HYPERVENTILATING AJFKDAJDLFJALDJF AHHH

i’m light headed 

god this is beautiful thank you griffin thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so much 

that was the ending you earned

ooo this music is cool. fisher!!! where are you and junior off to huh

god...what an adventure this has been. what an amazing end. it was beautiful. thank you, boys.