#a thing i was surprised they did more than once minus when they showed his and pecco's fight then he was full of enthusiasm yapping to Pecc

[screwdriver-and-souffle]

Bezz said that Turn 8 was still wet and he learned which line to do in order to not slip and fall looking and following Marc during the race in the cool-down room... that's where the urge to suck Marc off comes from

Also when Pecco passed Bezz at the start he said he didn't see because he was watching Marc and then immediately he corrected himself by saying he was watching Marc and Martin

[cookiescribble]

Flufftober Day 20: Paw

A/N: i was half tempted to write this one about Gambit with his cats because we met A.J. LoCascio but i love Dick and Haley entirely too much i’m so sorry - mod ghost

Ship: Dick Grayson x GN!Reader

Summary: Waking up in the middle of the night to a fluffy surprise

You were mostly still asleep when you felt how cold the bed had gotten. Dick must’ve still been out doing his thing as Nightwing then. You shifted and started to get up, rubbing your eyes as you heard the familiar sounds of him getting home.

But then you heard a bark.

That wasn’t usually a sound you heard in your apartment, considering there were no dogs in it, so you were about to investigate when light from outside the room started to shine in. The room was pitch black other than some street lights, since it was the middle of the night, so all you saw was Dick’s silhouette as he opened the bedroom door.

“Hey, sorry…did I wake you up?” Dick, still fully dressed as Nightwing minus the mask, greeted you as he stepped in the door and closed it behind him. He had both of his hands behind his back, clearly holding something that he was hiding from you.

“It’s okay, you didn’t. But what do you have behind your back?” You asked as he stepped closer, clearly watching him struggle with whatever it was. You could’ve sworn you even heard a soft but distinctly dog-like whimper from behind him.

“…Nothing.” Dick grinned, trying to seem innocent.

Another bark, though much louder now, proved that that was a lie.

“Do you have a dog?” You raised an eyebrow and crossed your arms, chuckling at your silly boyfriend.

“…Possibly.” Dick’s grin was more sheepish than before, which made it obvious that he was definitely hiding a dog behind his back.

“Dick, show me the dog! I wanna see the dog, gimme.” You shuffled toward him as he stood at the end of the bed, holding your arms out once you were sitting on your knees in front of him.

“Okay, fine, but be warned; she’s very cute.” He pulled the puppy from behind his back, revealing a three-legged gray and white pitbull who immediately pushed herself from Dick’s hand into your arms.

You caught her immediately, petting her as she licked at your face which made you laugh. “Oh my god, she’s adorable! Where did you get her??”

“She was getting attacked by some bullies on the street because she’s only got three of her legs,” he scratched the top of her head as he spoke, “so I did as any vigilante worth his salt would do, I saved her.”

“Can we keep her??” You asked excitedly, your eyes briefly leaving the dog to look at him.

“I don’t see why not?? She doesn’t have a collar or anything. I kinda may have already picked out a name for her, too.” He laughed, watching how you interact with the puppy with the look of an idiot in love.

“Really?? What is it?” You weren’t at all surprised that he’d already become that attached to her, Dick had the biggest heart of anyone you’d known.

“Haley, I think it really suits her.” Dick spoke fondly, petting her back as she settled in your lap.

“Aww, I really like that. Welcome to the apartment, Haley Grayson.”

[bleedingoptimism]

part four: Jeff

It’s been two weeks since their gig, two weeks since they last saw Steve.

Frank had been right in assuming Steve wouldn’t show up to hang out with them at rehearsals but Steve hadn't shown up at all, not at rehearsals, not at get-togethers or Hellfire meetings, they hadn’t even seen him at his work, although Jeff suspects that was because Robin was hiding him from them in the back.

He’s frankly a little offended Robin is being mean to them when they didn’t do anything wrong but he knows he would’ve probably reacted the same if someone had broken the heart of one of his friends.

And speaking of his friends, Eddie is been insufferable the last two weeks, he goes from quiet and twitchy to whining loudly about being stupid and blind and a mess. Gareth just agrees with him which isn’t helpful at all, Frank keeps telling him that it’s fine, he made a mistake, and he can still fix it, and Jeff keeps telling Eddie to shut up, man up, and go talk to him already.

But Eddie freaks out every time, says Steve is avoiding him, and that he wouldn't even know what to say if he saw him. 

Safe to say, it’s been a rough couple of weeks, and the worst part for them to admit is that they kind of, sort of, maybe? Miss Steve. This is why Jeff can’t help but get excited when they see him again.

The band is hanging out at Gareth's place, minus Eddie, who is studying at Nancy’s house just like every Wednesday since he came back to school. Something Steve knows, which is probably why he chose that moment to show up.

They are sitting in the living room chatting about their latest campaign, DMed by no other than their newest addition to the club, Will Byers, when there’s a knock on the door.

Gareth opens the door and Jeff and Frank lean over the couch to see who it is, surprised to see Steve there.

He’s holding the shirt Gareth lend him, washed and folded neatly, and on top of it is a box, a rich smell coming from it.

“Hey!” Steve says, “Sorry it took me so long to return this Gar. I brought you cookies! As a thank you”

And then Gareth does something that surprises all of them, probably himself too, he takes the offered items and puts them on the table beside the door and then hugs Steve.

Steve looks at them shocked over Gareth's shoulders and barely has time to return the hug before Gareth lets him go and pulls him inside by the wrists. 

“Dude! We missed you! Why did you have to disappear like that?”

“You know why” Steve smiles sadly at him.

“Are you mad at Eddie?” Jeff asks him as they make room for him on the couch, immediately digging into the box of cookies when Gareth brings it to the coffee table. But Steve just stands in the middle of the living room, probably not planning on staying long.

“No! Of course not!” he assures and runs a hand through his hair, “He didn't do anything wrong. I’m the one who fucked up. I should’ve never assumed tha-” he interrupts himself and shakes his head, grins at them “I shouldn’t have disappeared like that on you guys, I’m so sorry. After you practiced so much. Wished I stayed long enough to congratulate you as least. You were amazing!”

They smile at him, murmur some thanks, and then Steve claps loudly once, “Well! I should get going,”

“See you,” Frank says but it sounds more like a question and Steve picks up on that,

“I- look: the thing is, I really like you guys and I want us to be friends but I- I got everything mixed up in my head and I need some space to… deal with it. I need time,” Steve tells them and turns towards the door, 

“What if you didn't get it wrong?” Jeff blurts suddenly.

“Jeff!” Gareth exclaims shaking his head.

But Jeff is determined, “Steve, what if you were right, what if Eddie likes you back?” he says, ignoring Gareth.

“Well that kind of makes it worse doesn't it?” he chuckles, pinching the bridge of his nose,

 “No, but! See… Eddie didn’t know you like him too, and if you would just let him talk to you…”

And Steve laughs again but cruelly this time and he looks sad when he says, “Jeff that’s the thing, I haven’t been avoiding him. Yes, I didn’t show up when you hung out but It’s not like I’ve refused to talk to him. I’ve actually been waiting for him to talk to me. Does he even wonder what’s wrong? Because even if he didn’t like me back… I was hoping he would care enough about our friendship but it seems I was wrong about that too. I was wrong about… everything”

“Jesus Christ this guy is undefendable!” Jeff groans and Steve laughs again but this time is more sincere.

“You don’t need to defend him, I told you, I'm not mad” 

“It’s worse that you are sad, you know that right? I kinda wished you were mad at him” Frank says and Steve snorts, his eyes getting some of their usual shine back. 

“I’m gonna go but, I’ll be fine guys. We’ll be fine, I promise” He smiles genuinely and turns to leave again and Jeff stands up and walks him to the door,

“Steve wait, I know it's not fair for me to ask you this but, you know Eddie makes assumptions about people and it’s really hard to get him to change his mind about them, and he’s always thought of you as unobtainable” 

Steve's eyes go wide and his eyebrows raise before they drop in a frown, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that”

“Nothing! Just I know Eddie will get his head out of his ass eventually, you just have to… just don't give up on him yet, please?”

Steve huffs and shakes his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Yeah, okay”

part one

part two

part three

part four (you are here!)

part five

☕🥐💕 cafecito?

[theweebnextdoor]

Operation: S.E.C.R.E.T.S

Sunnie☀️: Started this story sometime last year but decided to start posting the chapters on here as well. Hope you enjoy the chaotic adventures my ocs go through and be able to get to know them a little more.

Operation: S.E.C.R.E.T.S

Sector

Enlisting

Child

Recruit

Ensures

Trouble

Surfaces

A new girl claiming to be family shows up on the Uno's doorstep but not everything is as it seems as she trains to be an operative. Meanwhile, an adult with a connection to this child becomes involved in the DCFDTL's lives as trouble ensues.

Chapter 1: Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Uno's Door

The evening had been quiet minus a few lousy villains trying to sneak into the treehouse. Thankfully their defense system made sure to alert that someone was on the property and was immediately dealt with. It wasn't too much for one kid to handle himself seeing how all his teammates were in their own respective homes on a school night but he could do without the minor annoyances. Things would quiet down soon but he wanted to be able to update the computer system of some of the newer villains they had fought recently. Even if they had defeated those adults and they weren't a threat at the time there was a good chance they would strike again soon enough so they had to collect as much information on their enemies to ensure another victory by the Kids Next Door. From now on there will be no more distractions.

DISTRACTION DETECTED!!

Dropping his clipboard in surprise, the boy groaned that it was the phone of all things interrupting him. Not wanting to hear it keep ringing he rolled his chair to the other side of the computer and picked up his phone, telling himself that it had better be important. "Hello?"

"Oh, good! So glad you picked up Nigel, honey!"

"Mom? I told you not to call me unless it was an emergency and besides I'm very busy trying to-"

"You'll consider it an emergency if you don't hurry down here and eat your dinner before it gets cold, young man! We're going to spend some family time together."

The boy knew he wouldn't be able to get out of it. Sure he could refuse and just find something to eat in the treehouse once he was finished with his work but he would be in trouble for not listening when he did finally go downstairs. Hearing that there was a dessert after was enough to convince him to stop his work for now but he would be sure to return once he had been full and satisfied.

"Okay, okay I'll be down in five minutes." He sighed as he began saving the information he had already typed up as he held his handmade phone between his ear and shoulder so he could hear his mother speak.

"Wonderful! We'll wait for you until you come down. Love you, honey!"

"Love you too, Mom," Nigel muttered before hanging up. He sighed as he made sure the defense system would stay on while he left the base of his treehouse. It was highly unlikely that there would be any more unwanted visitors for tonight but he couldn't be too careful. Once everything seemed to be in order, he made his way to the elevator and hit the button for house level.

"Ugh, the things I'll do for cherry pie." He put his head in his hand in slight disbelief at himself as the doors closed.

Like his mother had said his parents had waited for him, welcoming him as he sat down. Nigel said hello to his parents before beginning to tune them halfway out as he focused on his food instead. He picked up a spoonful of mashed potatoes with gravy, making sure to push his asparagus away. No way he was going to let those vile things contaminate the rest of his dinner more than it already had.

His father talked about another fishing trip they could take next weekend and he only got a few bites in before the doorbell rang, setting off an alarm system he had his teammate install. Jumping from his seat, Nigel made his way to the door before one of his parents could get there first. In case it was another adult villain he would be sure to deal with them with one of the weapons he kept hidden in the house. When he did open the door the alarm shut off and he was ready to question what the person wanted but grew confused when a woman he never saw before with long black hair stood at their doorstep.

"Oh! Um, hello young man but are either of your parents home?" She seemed like she didn't expect a kid to answer the door so he could guess that she didn't come here on Kids Next Door business but still raised a brow at her as he answered that they were.

"Nigel ol' boy, don't just stand there. See what the nice lady wants." His dad had left the table to see what was happening, only to find his son glaring at some woman in a pantsuit. He didn't know what he was going to do with that boy.

"Hello sir, are you by any chance a man named Monty Uno?"

"Why, yes I am." He answered and Nigel stepped to the side to observe. "Is there a problem of any kind I can help you with?"

"My name is Patricia Foster. I work for social services and it has come to our attention that you have a long-lost relative in the system that has been orphaned recently and it states that we track down any potential family members to see if they would be willing to take the child in even if temporary or else they will remain in foster care until further notice. No decisions have to be made right away but I have brought the child here with me so you could meet her in person."

Stepping to the side, Patricia showed that there was indeed a child standing behind her who looked up at the man with a sheepish smile as she took one of the hands resting behind her back and gave a little wave.

Both Nigel and his father stood there not saying anything for a moment. Neither one was sure how to properly take the information in. Finally, Monty called for his wife over his shoulder, hoping that she could help address the situation.

"Jen dear, could you please come in here for a moment?"

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

They were all seated in the living room with Nigel sitting on the couch next to his parents while they looked through some of the paperwork that this Patricia woman was showing them. He tried to sneak glances but his main attention kept going back to the girl sitting on the ottoman on the other side of their coffee table. They were supposed to be related in some way? She had been observing what the adults were doing as well and when she went to move a strand of brown hair behind her ear her eyes suddenly locked with his. Giving a little wave, she mouthed, "Hi" to him, and smiled when he awkwardly waved back.

"As you can see here it says that her dad's second cousin twice removed matched your info." Patricia passed the letter to Monty along with a document of a family tree showing that Nigel's father and this girl did share the same bloodline.

"I guess this is what we get for skipping out on your last few family reunions otherwise we might have already met-." Nigel's mom paused for a moment realizing she didn't catch the child's name and looked to her for an answer.

"My name is Robin. Robin Hughes." The girl answered, biting the inside of her cheek for a moment before speaking again. "So what happens now? Is this where I'll be living or will I have to keep staying in foster care?"

Monty and Jennifer could both hear the nervousness in Robin's voice and looked at each other wondering what on earth they should do. Everything checked out and this girl needed a proper living situation but could they take on another kid out of the blue like this?

"I think if Robin will be more comfortable knowing she's around family then she can have a place here with us. We'll do what we can to make the proper arrangements for this young lass."

"What? Dad don't you think this is all just a little too-" Nigel didn't get a chance to voice his opinion that he felt something was fishy about this whole thing as Robin suddenly jumped up.

"Really? Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me! I know this is a lot and I'm sorry to spring all of this on you.." Robin looked to her feet and shifted.

"I can drop Robin here off tomorrow along with the paperwork I will need you to sign claiming to be her new legal guardians." Patricia stood up from the chair and began organizing her copy of the files into her briefcase while Jen took Robin to the kitchen for a moment to get her a slice of pie to take with her.

"Dad, I'm not so sure about this. I'm all for helping out another kid. It's what I do but they don't just show up at your doorstep and suddenly start living with you this fast. At least I don't think they do.." He didn't know how all this was supposed to work but sharing his home with a girl they just met seemed a little weird.

"Nonsense, Nigel ol' bean." His father waved him off. "I know this will take some time to get used to but I'm sure you'll learn to love having a new playmate. You and she appear to be the same age so she'll even be in the same class as you."

"We'll need to make arrangements to have her enrolled in a new school but we'll worry about all of that once Robin has settled in here." Patricia closed her case, having gathered everything, and smoothed out her pants. "It was a pleasure to meet you, folks."

Patricia shook Monty's hand before saying that she was going to warm up the car and just have them send Robin out once she was finished.

Shutting the car door after slipping into the driver's seat, Patricia threw the briefcase in the back before reaching up towards the top of her head. Pulling on her hair it completely slipped off to show that it had been a wig this whole time and her natural red hair was pinned up underneath. Grabbing her phone she quickly began typing a number and spoke once she heard someone answer on the other end.

"Step one has been completed. She's in.."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"So a total stranger is going to be staying in your house?" One of Nigel's best friends, Wally, questioned trying to understand the situation his leader was in even though it had been explained twice already.

"Maybe she will be our friend and I can invite her to my Happy Tea Time Rainbow Monkey Party!" The raven girl, Kuki, giggled to herself not paying attention to the eye roll Wally gave her.

"What did you say her name was again? Raven or something?" Hoagie questioned his friend as they neared the street the treehouse was on. It was after school now and they were walking home while Nigel told them to watch out for this girl when she arrived.

"Her name is Robin. At least that's what she claims to be called." Nigel responded, lifting his sunglasses as they began to slip further down the bridge of his nose. "I just don't get it. Yesterday I was an only child living with my parents and now today I have to share the space with my so-called long-lost- I want to say, Cousin?"

"Maybe you're thinking about this too much Numbuh 1. I mean you have a long-lost cousin on your mom's side and she's a member of the Kids Next Door." The dark-skinned girl of the group, Abigail, reminded him as she twirled a red lollipop between her fingers before putting it back in her mouth.

"Numbuh 10 didn't come to live with me in less than twenty-four hours of meeting her." Numbuh 1 pointed out to his second in command. "Don't you agree it's a little bizarre?"

"Maybe it is but Numbuh 5 thinks you're too tense even more. Ever since that last attack with the Delightful Children you've been a little on edge. I know you went through a lot and it took over a month for us to rebuild the tree house but you need to chill man. If this girl is your cousin and needs a place to crash then as members of the Kids Next Door, Numbuh 5 says we give her a chance and welcome her. She still is just a kid after all."

Numbuh 1 had to admit that Numbuh 5 was right. Maybe he was overthinking this too much. He had been even more suspicious of adults ever since transforming into one himself and having to face their greatest enemy so far. Father. There was no reason to take it out on a fellow kid.

"I suppose you make a good point Numbuh- Hey!"

The four members looked to their leader wondering what caught his attention all of a sudden. They followed his gaze ahead of them to see a car parked in front of his house. She was here already? Numbuh 1 motions for his teammates to follow him as he crept closer and stood on his tiptoes to peer through the side window. The others crowded around him trying to take a look as well. Nigel didn't see any signs of Robin. Only Patricia was sitting with his mom at the kitchen table; talking and laughing with a cup of coffee in each of their hands.

"Hey move it, would ya?!" Wally yelled, jumping to try and gain some height over his taller friends. He tried to elbow Hoagie to the side only for his friend to tell him to watch it and shove him back.

"Would you two knock it off?" Numbuh 1 warned moving the sleeves of Kuki's green sweater from his face while her chin rested atop his bald head, having hopped up on his back so she could get a good view too.

Numbuh 5 stood back with her arms crossed while the other four tried to squeeze around the window. If they kept at it the two women would hear them and see that they were trying to spy on them. Having finished her lollipop, Numbuh 5 pocketed the stick to throw away later when she saw a figure moving toward her friends. "Uh, guys?"

"Can someone just-!" To try and share the space Wally jumped on top of Hoagie but in doing so he made the other boy lose his balance and crash right into the other two, sending them all into a heap on the ground.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

"What was that?" Patricia questioned from inside, having heard a noise. Jen only shrugged with a smile before continuing her story.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

"Get off me!" Nigel lay face down beneath the weight of his friends trying to lift himself. He was able to prop his elbows when a pair of black shoes came into his field of vision and he looked up to see Robin standing over them with a box in her arms.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Oh! Um-." He began as he felt his teammates move their weights off him. "Nothing?"

Robin raised a brow at him then chuckled before shifting the box to one arm and offering her free hand to help him up. "Good to see you again Nigel." She smiled.

"It's good to see you too Robin." He responded before clearing his throat. "These are my friends." Nigel pointed his arm to the other four behind him. He introduced them each by name along with their respective Numbuhs 2 through 5 as they waved and gave hellos of their own. "And this is Robin. The girl I was telling you guys about."

"Spreading rumors about me already, eh Numbuh 1?" Robin joked using his codename that she learned.

"Ooh! Robin, your hair clips are so pretty! Can I try them on? Please! Please! Please!"

Robin turned to see the bubbly Japanese girl bouncing on her feet. She was the cutest thing but she didn't give in to her request.

"Sorry, Numbuh 3 no can do but thanks. They are pretty, aren't they?" She smiled, hovering her free hand over the clip that was pinned to the left side of her hair. It was merely a gold-colored barrette that mirrored the one on the right. They held importance and no one could wear them but her.

"What's that?" Nigel questioned, nodding towards the box that had 'Robin's Stuff' written on the side.

"Oh! Just the last of my belongings. Your dad is upstairs trying to make sure that the sofa bed still works." They didn't have another actual bed for her to use on such short notice but this would do for now.

"Hey, maybe once you're finished we can all hang out and get ice cream or something?" Numbuh 2 suggested, thinking that they were lucky to have such a cute girl staying here.

"I'm lactose intolerant but I'll take on your offer to hang out." Robin smiled, saying that she would be right back before turning and making her way back into the house.

"What does lacruz indolent mean?" Wally questioned out loud, completely mispronouncing the words.

With a sigh, Numbuh 5 corrected that it was lactose intolerant and it meant that she couldn't digest dairy products well which included ice cream. It would make her sick.

"That's a bummer." The blonde mumbled.

"Well, it looks like it's official." Numbuh 1 said as he watched Patricia walk out with Robin, hugging the child before stepping into her car and driving off. Before they had fallen from the window he was able to see some papers with his parents' signatures on them. "Robin is a part of the family now."

-End Transmission-

Sunnie☀️: I don't think we ever learn Mrs. Uno's real name. If it was brought up and I don't remember, feel free to correct me, but I chose Jennifer cause that's the name of her voice actor. Let me know what you think of the first chapter and I will have the next one posted soon.

[see-arcane]

I might have pitied this deformed woman

With all due respect ACD why is everyone calling someone with a limp deformed... Also to be honest I would have felt more horror from the story if Gilroy found her attractive and/or charming and enjoyed her company and work relationship but also did not love her for whatever (non-physical) reason, because then there could have been a potential inner conflict and guilt, instead of ''this is out of my hands she is icky-looking and a crone (Gilroy you are 35) so I have no self-doubts about being in love involved on top of it all yay''. Having him vehemently dislike her all the time minus during hypnosis removes those layers.

It isn't 'everyone' in the story who calls her deformed, though. It's just Gilroy. No one else is mentioned deriding her for her disability or her looks or anything else beyond Penelosa's talent.

Considering ACD's comparatively progressive track record with the Sherlock Holmes stories--a series notable for how often it takes the side of oppressed parties, including abused or preyed-upon women--I can't see Gilroy's ageist and ableist views as anything but an intentional setup for the narrative payoff of his disgust as well as his anger and fear.

The story does feel slightly karmic at the start and, to give ACD the benefit of the doubt, I agree with you that having Penelosa not be an attractive hypno-dominatrix likely played a part in Gilroy's initial revulsion at her controlling him into playing paramour. I think this was intentional for the character's buildup, but also for the audience's. Even in the present day, there's no ignoring that there are demographics out there who are Highly Interested in the erotic implications of hypnosis. BDSM for the brain, puppet master kinks, et cetera.

If Miss Penelosa had been hot, or even just pretty, I wouldn't have been surprised if the horror story ACD was trying to put together would lose much of its punch in his era's audience. Sure, it's still icky that Gilroy's a man being Controlled By a Woman (!!!), but having her be attractive would 'soften' it for them. Still, all this is only in play if ACD was really truly adamant about selling the horror of 'A Stranger Now Owns My Free Will and Is Planning to Violate My Life in Intimate Ways.'

It could also have just been intended as an eerie scientific*** what-if adventure applied to a then-popular (and wildly overestimated) practice of the time. Or maybe he meant it as a straight-up supernatural escapade in the vein of vampiric mesmerism from a psychic monster. I don't know, I can't ask him.

All of that said, the horror is soured a bit by Gilroy being a haughty skeptic snob who had some comeuppance heading his way in the first place. Similar setups are common in horror flicks today, where we get to cheer at least once in a movie when the Big Villain takes down a more commonplace bad guy. There's no scare there, just vindication.

And me being me, that's not enough. Because I am all about two things.

One, adding more horror to everything, always, forever.

Two, making life harder for Jonathan Harker.

Jonathan 'Holiest Love means I Will Walk Backwards into Hell to Protect/Stay with My Wife Whether She's Mortal or a Literal Monster' Harker is not about to shit on anyone for a bad leg or some crow's feet.

More importantly, we've already seen his reaction to sexy sexy undead ladies trying to hypnotize him into compliance so they can take certain bloody/eternally conscripting liberties with him.

To judge by the 1000+ Dracula adaptations that show the directors' fetishes in full view, Jonathan being preyed on by the hot vampire Brides is seen by many people as...you know. Hot. Enough to rewrite and bastardize his character every time to make him seem like he was genuinely tempted by them.

But He Was Not.

He was being hypnotized into artificial attraction and paralysis so the ladies could take their turns with him without his fighting back or trying to run. Which he does later! More than once! Every time this voluptuous trio tries to hypnotize or corner him again, Jonathan catches on and sprints in the other direction. He is not into that shit no matter how pretty you are, ladies.

Specifically because, as I and Bramothy Stoker cannot stress enough, Jonathan Harker is strictly Minasexual. All Mina all the time. 24/7 Mina lockdown 365 days of the year. Mina, Mina, Mina. Mina? Mina. (I personally headcanon him as demisexual with shades of biromanticism and ace, but that's beside the point.)

The point is, even if Penelosa was a knockout, Jonathan wouldn't notice. He wouldn't care. Just as his love would not have been stopped by Mina turning into an actual monster; he would rather be damned and in love than slay her and be holy. You can bet your ass if Mina suddenly had a handicap he'd still be enraptured with her to the point of blasphemy. You know he's going to still be heart-eyed as they grow older. Jonathan Harker is made of unconditional and extremely focused love. It is all-encompassing and yet it belongs to a single person. It's the kind of love we all wish we had for ourselves.

It's the kind of love that someone like Penelosa--who latched onto a random handsome prick of a professor after she had known him LESS THAN AN HOUR and started plotting to groom him into her personal Ken doll--would do anything to have for herself; Jonathan Harker, the true Prince Charming, the gallant beloved, the guileless charmer who holds the One He Loves above himself, above God and Devil and the world itself...being wasted on some pretty young thing who hardly needs such a treasure.

It isn't fair. Mrs. Harker will never appreciate dear Jonathan like other, more deserving women would. Not like her. She would show him. Help him through the motions until he learned better; learned to love in the right direction.

Her direction.

Only if given the opportunity, of course.

(👁)

In short, yeah, Gilroy was not the best option for a sympathetic horror story protagonist who we could feel real fear and empathy for. We only really get a glimpse of that toward the end, when Penelosa escalates enough to start injuring innocents and tries to make Gilroy throw acid in his fiancée's face. A big scary leap, but also too late in the game for a proper punch. Especially with the abrupt copout of the ending. Bleh.

I think we can do better than that. Say, with a protagonist who can balance on the pro-and-con line of keeping the supernatural puppet master of their life happy enough to not act rashly, who knows the value of dancing on eggshells in a tight spot, who could tug the heartstrings of villain and audience just enough to let fuller and far more frightening machinations come to light as time goes by.

Especially with certain other powers lurking in the shadows, which might make a trifle like death a far less permanent end to their ~romance~ than it ought to be.

Don't you agree, Mr. Harker? ❤

P.S. Gilroy's still absolutely getting his ass handed to him in this take, don't you worry. He's been demoted from crush to chew toy to minion. RIP sir, but you're not off the hook just because Jonathan's distracting her with his dreaminess. Get to work.

[echantedtoon]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch18 Battle Gym Leader Melony

It wasn't too surprising all of you fell asleep on the train again that night, seeing how late it was getting when you all hurried onto it like an army of onix was chasing after you all. Thank goodness you managed to catch it and settled down into a couple empty seats to sleep for the night. Come morning the lot of you were already digging into your rations for breakfast to comfort your hungry stomachs that growled for food. And made small talk as the world went flying by outside the windows.

"So how long until we reach Circhester?," you asked biting into come kind of breakfast bar that tasted like bacon bits and oatmeal.

"It's the farthest town from all the others in Galar except for the town in the Crown Tundra Valley but that's farther in the mountains than we need to go," Victor explained after he had pulled out his own phone and pulled up his regional maps to look through them, "It's also deep within the Galarian Mountain Reign so it'll take us about three weeks to get there by train."

"Oh really?"

He nodded again. "The stop we want is Steamdrift Station. From there it's about an hour walk down Steamdrift Way until we get to Circhester and it's gyms."

You paused before blinking and looking at him. Drizzilie taking this chance to pull the rest of your food away from you to eat itself. "Gyms? As in plural?...Like more than one gym?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we haven't told ye!," Gloria cut in leaning into her hand. "The Ice and Rock Type Gyms are located up there and are handled by the gym leader Melony n' 'er son Gordie!"

You paused...eyes blinking wide at them for a moment before pointing. "Hey! Wait a minute! I remember those guys!" YEAH! You did remember them! Ironic since you couldn't remember much of anything else in game. Melony according to in game info was supposed to have a harsh battle style and supposedly be an incredible coach. She ran the Ice type Gym while her son Gordie was in charge of the nieghboring Rock Type Gym also in Circhester. He's supposed to be really popular in a similar way to Raihan and have his own fan base as well that he treats respectfully. ..But the mother and son had a fight over Gordie not wanting to take over his mother's gym and instead but somehow she still became the very first member of his fan club. ...Also he was supposed to have younger siblings as well but you didn't think they were ever shown in the game. You remembered!! That's great! Maybe now you'd start remembering things much more now!! ....You blinked upon noticing the three staring at you. "Uh!...I m-mean I remember some people talking about them before. Apparently Gordie's pretty popular in Galar."

Hop nodded. "Yeah he is! Last year he was voted Galar's third most eligible bachelor behind Raihan and Lee himself. But unlike Raihan he actually throws a lot of his own events and showings. Lee mentioned once he trained under the old Rock Type Gym Leader before he retired and took over the gym after."

You sighed. Bullet dodged! "Oh. Sounds like he's really nice then." And hopefully won't flirt with you like Raihan did.

Thus began your group's long, LONG trip to the Galarian Mountain Range. Just like your trip back to Motostoke, you all slept on the emptied seats at night but being more prepared Victor had set up his Rotom phone's gps to set off an alarm once the lot of you reached the likes of the station you wanted so you all wouldn't have to take turns staying up all night again to keep an eye out for the right station you wanted. Which was a great idea! Over the next few days you all fell into that repeated pattern minus taking turns staying up at night and during the day just talking about random things while eating food from your rations or looking at whatever the teens pulled up from the internet to show you. Gloria at one point even pulled out her dex books again to finish putting the rest of her pictures into them and showed you the new addtions courtesy of her twin before passing the books over towards the two boys for them to flip through themselves and admire Gloria's handy work. A few more days went by this way until one day Victor all of a sudden said you all should stop at the next town to restock up on food again since it wasn't as much as he thought it was. To which everyone agreed too and at the next town, got off the train and went into one of the random stops which turned out to be a small town like Postwick. From there the four of you gathered supplies and did everything else to prepare to travel again by the time the next train came around before getting back on it and back on your way to Circhester. Day in and night out you four traveled and traveled and traveled. You were starting to get train sick with how much this was going on and found yourself walking up and down the walkways in turns with the others to keep up the exercise and not let yourselves turn your legs to jelly. Until one particular night when you woke up with a shiver. There was a chilly atmosphere inside the metal train from when you were last awake and it was enough for you to make yourself get up groggily. Only to find your drizzilie was lightly shivering as well curled up against your warmer body and stayed clung to you as it groaned in protest at the cold.

"What the-"

"Hey you." You rubbed your eyes turning tiredly to Hop who had his own coat thrown over his shoulders and smiled. "So you're finally awake huh?"

You yawned. "What time is it?"

"About ten in the morning. We're getting closer to the mountains," Victor said and you turned to him next as he rechecked the map on his phone, "We'll be at Steamdrift Station within 'bout three days but you might want to throw on a coat. It's gonna get a wee bit more colder from 'ere on out."

That wasn't a too bad idea actually. You were quick to pull on the coat you had bought and with a bit of a tussle you somehow with Gloria's help managed to pry Drizzilie off of you and put him inside your bag's main opening with Gloria holding it open before you pulled both him and the bag into your lap to make room. And to help keep the lil guy warm. Your pokemon gave a bored expression as he settled down into using the bag as his personal sleeping bag.

"Hey. Don't get too comfy," you reminded him, "Cuz when we leave Circhester you're going back to walking with us again Mr. I-Refuse-To-Get-In-My-Pokeball." Other than rolling his eyes with a sigh, Drizzilie didn't say anything against what you said. "You heard me. This is just to make sure you don't go from a water type to a frozen-water type."

The rest of the three days there was pretty much the same, only now it was hard for any of you all to get to sleep now curled up in the seats because of the cold. Why you even dug out a scarf and wrapped it around your neck and half your face. Didn't these trains have darn heating!? The landscape outside the windows changed too. Going from looking like fall-ish time of the year to mid way between fall and winter, until the last day when you all woke up to have found yourselves so, so...SO!! Cold, and you shivered yanking the hood over your f/c hair more as you looked around and noticed white snow was being blown against the windows like some snow storm. And for all you knew there could actually be one out there.

"ZZZTT. Attention Passengers!," the conductor announced over the speakers to anyone left on bourd. "We'll be arriving at SteamDrift Station within ten minutes. That is all."

"That's our stop!," Victor confirmed, "Make sure you all grab everythin' before we get off."

You all made sure to gather your things, you especially making sure to pull the small hoodie over your Drizzilie's head before pushing him into your bag and telling him to stay in there until you said it was safe for him to come out before zipping your bag up but leaving enough of an opening to allow fresh air to him. Slowly after a few minutes the train finally came to a stop and you all followed Victor out towards the door, you grunting as you struggled to sling the bag over your shoulders. You had forgotten how heavy this lil guy actually was when carried. You were extremely thankful for the guys getting you the thick coat and scarf too because the familiar full force of Winter hit you as soon as the you all stepped out the door and you shivered from the frosty cold greeting you all. The entire sky was painted in grey snow clouds that made the day look a little dull while snow gently fell from them and down towards the earth below. Around you was a plain looking station that looked more deserted since no one not even a station master was there, and surrounding you all was cliffsides and hills like in Stow-on-Side except unlike Stow-on-Side these were absolutely COVERED in snow and ice as far as the eyes could see as the four of you stood there taking in the sights. The only living things besides you all being pine trees scattered across the snowy land with a cobblestone road leading away from the station that Victor after a moment pointed at.

"That's Steamdrift Way," He explained holding up his phone with a gloved hand to the lot of you showing a map with a red blinking dot that signaled where you all were. "It's connected to Route E-E-Eight. If we go this way we should be at Circhester w-within an hour after crossing Circhester Bridge."

"T-T-Then w-what are we waiting f-f-for?!," Hop stuttered in the cold before pointing a hand forward. "L-Let's get there before we become on thin ice!"

There wasn't any arguments with him as you all headed off. Snow and ice crunched under your all's feet making your group sound like a couple of wooly mammoths trudging through the snow. You all (even you through your scarf covered mouth) could see your breath as snowflakes stuck to your bodies like someone glued white confetti to your clothes as you all followed Victor and his map through the snow. Thank goodness it didn't cover the road up, or else you all might've gotten lost. As you all trudged alone keeping your hands in your pockets after pulling the ends of the sleeves over them to help keep them warm, you all FINALLY came to the stone bridge Victor mentioned before. A cold river running with cold water ran under it as you all crossed and as you walked over it you prayed your drizzilie didn't decided to pop out wanting to swim or see what was going on.

"W-W-We should be there in t-t-ten m-m-more minutes!," Victor shouted back pulling his beanie further over his head.

"B-B-Bloody heck, V-Vick! 'M freezin' my t-tail off 'ere n' I-I ain't even got one!," Gloria yelled back complaining.

"The sooner we git there the sooner ya can rest! So take the energy from ya yappin' mouth and put it to your feet!," He yelled back and Gloria mumbled under her breath.

So you all continued to walk and walk, until you finally reached the end of the road that lead into a metal fenced entrance to Circhester. And you all had a collected sigh of relief once you all got there. It was decently big with it's many story stone buildings you could make out in the snow with cobblestone roads leading everywhere and the figures of two large stadiums on either side of the town as you all got to walking into it. You all passed the pink pokemon center near the entrance of the town and turned right heading towards what you guessed was the town square. A hot spring like fountain was dead set in the middle and there was people walking all around in winter wear with some ice type pokemon or pokemon who could stand this cold weather. Two men had stands selling food in the square as you walked past, one selling some kind of hot wraps and the other......ice..cream??

"D-Dang nabit, V-Vick! W-W-Where's the b-b-bloody hotel a-around here?," Gloria asked rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm herself.

"I-I'm with G-Glory on this," Hop added looking around, "I d-don't feel like camping out here at all."

"I'm WORKIN' on it!," Victor spat scowling at his phone hand lightly shaking.....before he pointed ahead of him at a BIG building in front of you all. "H-Hotel is there! L-Let's go!"

You all didn't hesitate to RUN your way to the building he pointed out jack frost biting at your ankles as you did. You all didn't even care if the door was flung open with a loud noise. The rush of warm air greeting your skins was enough to make up for it in your minds as you sighed. Turning your head up to the ceiling in the bliss of getting out of the cold. After a moment or two you finally opened your eyes and blinked them wide open at what you were all looking at. If you thought the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke was Fancy this place was absolutely F A N C Y with a capitol F!!! It was like one of those luxury hotels in Paris you'd sometimes see in movies or on tv. Complete with marble floors and chandeliers lighting the place up. It was also HUGE!! And this was just the lobby as you gawked around. The other three were busy shaking snow off themselves as Victor walked up to the man at the lobby counter most likely to book your rooms. You hope they weren't too expensive by the looks around here. A moment later he returned with two keys handing one to Gloria before he gestured to the elevator.

"Let's go get settled in and rest for a bit. I'm too cold to think straight. You guys got room fifthteen on the first floor." Whelp! You couldn't argue with that as you all headed towards the elevator and got inside. The trip to the first floor wasn't a very long one as you all piled out and Victor motioned for Hop to follow him to one of the very first rooms closest to the elevator. "I say we all get warmed up and meet up in the lobby to talk 'bout what's the game plan for us 'ere."

"Alright," you agreed with a nod before following Gloria, "We'll see you two in a bit."

Both boys nodded as well before they turned back, Victor unlocking the door with his key before opening it and they disappeared inside. You sped walked to catch up to Gloria who was already standing in front of a door and turning the knob and throwing it open-

"So that means the culprit must be among us!" Gloria paused in the doorway. Eyes wide and hand still out from throwing the door open. "....Wait....Who are you!?" ..You wanted to facepalm. Oh NO!! Don't tell me Gloria opened the wrong door and walked in on someone. You sped up your walking pace as she blinked again. "After all the trouble of deducing things don't go messing it up now!"

By the time you got to Gloria she was already scowling before pointing her frozen hand at him. "N' who might the likes o' you be!?"

You blinked when you looked inside the room....There was a man there along with an older man, a 'hipster' looking girl, a young boy, and some kind of squirrel looking pokemon chewing something as you all stared at one another...Until the middle aged looking man coughed.

"*cough* I suppose I should introduce myself," he proudly put a hand to his chest, "The name's Howses. Yes. THAT Howses. The great detective. I've been hired by the hotel. At present I have corner the culprit of a most heinous crime!"

"What happened?," you asked. Did someone get robbed? Did something go missing? Something worse?!

"I'm glad you asked," Mr. Howses stated, " And that crime is!..The strange case of who ate the large quantity of berries in the lobby!" He shouted pointing to a random basket of apple cores....You and Gloria both gave each other a look. "I've gathered the three people who were present in the lobby at the time of the crime but because of the noise my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present."...The hotel...Hired a private detective ..to investigate missing fruit.....What a waste of time! He suddenly pointed at Gloria. "That's it! You interfering child! You will be my assistant!"

Gloria gave him a blank look. "...What?"

"Listen to the stories of each suspect and find the culprit," he said as if what he had just said wasn't crazy or unprofessional at all.

"....Yeah. I ain't doin' that." Gloria dead panned before pointing at the obvious pokemon in the room. "'Sides. I already know who it was-"

Instead of listening the man waved her off and laughed in her face. "Heh heh heh. After listening to everyone's accounts deduced the culprit!"....NO ONE SPOKE!! He pointed at the young hipster looking gal who looked just as deadpanned and done with this as Gloria. "Dancer! You are the culprit!"

"WHAT!?," she demanded angrily, "Why me?!"

"Because you're a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you needed all that food for extra energy! That's evidence as clear and sharp as the leek of a farfetch'd!"

"WHAT!? What does that even mean!? You're no detective! You're a fraud!" Your thoughts exactly!

The man gave a nervous look all of a sudden. "W-Who are you calling a fraud!? You can't be referring to me! The great detective!"

"I can't deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the real culprit-"

"*AHEM!!*" Everyone looked back to Gloria who scowled and pointed to the small pokemon chittering at everyone around them. "IT. WAS. THAT!! They ate the darned fruit ya ninnies can't seem ta take a hint of."

The 'detective' blinked before turning to the pokemon. "What? That skwovet is the one responsible?" He looked closer at the small pokemon who looked at him curiously covered in food. "A-.....As expected of my assistant!" He loudly proclaimed all of a sudden proudly and crossing his arms looking pleased with himself. "Splendid! Just splendid! I'm overjoyed!"....He peeked an eye out at all of you annoyed and angry at him before coughing. "Well now that's taken care of...I must be off now." He suddenly sped walked towards you and Gloria and you both scrambled to move aside as he took off down the hall. "Take care, Everyone!"

"Hey you! Just wait a minute!," the girl yelled before running right after the 'detective'.

"Hahaha! I guess I'm supposed to chase after him too," the old man said before also jogging after the two as you and Gloria squished against the sides of the doorway to give them room...before looking after them....and blinking to one another.

"What the world was THAT about?," she asked.

"Honestly I have no idea and I'm too tired to really care," you mumbled gesturing her towards your actual room. "Let's go set up our room and take a break before we have to meet back up with the others."

Fast forward about an hour after finding the right room and getting yourself settled, you all made it down to the lobby to meet up with Victor and Hop. After you had let your Drizzilie out, thankful that he didn't seem to be hurt or even bothered as she walked out and stretched out like a cat before you all left. Promising you'd bring him back some food. Finding the boys already waiting for the both of you with their winter wear and waved the two of you over.

"There you guys are," Victor greeted seeing the two of you walk over, "We've been waiting for ten minutes and I wanted to try and get things as done here as soon as possible."

"We've only just got here this morning," you calmly reasoned raising a questioning brow at him. Yeah you wanted to leave as soon as you all could too since it was freezing and obviously the weather probably wasn't good for your pokemon, but you didn't think you've ever seen Victor this insistent on leaving somewhere so quickly. "What's gotten you into wanting to leave so soon?"

"Vick here hates the cold," Hop explained before humming, "Scratch that. He absolutely despises it."

"Well it's not MY fault that ice is so dangerous and you have a great chance of freezin' ta death," Victor snapped back pouting.

"Nevermind that! Did you guys figure out what you wanted to do yet?," you asked changing the subject to avoid more fighting.

Surprisingly both boys nodded and Hop spoke again. "I wanted to try my hand at beating the Rock Type Gym since I think I've come up with a strategy to beat him. Victor does too since it's a lot warmer than the ice type gym."

"I was actually thinking about taking on the other Gym 'n town, "Gloria pondered thoughtfully, "I got a good idea 'bout how to defeat Melony after watchin' a lot of her battles on the train ride 'ere. But first I need ta stop by the center and switch out some of me pokemon in order to make it work."

"Well I wanted to stop by around town and get some pictures of the famous Circhester hot springs 'fore I do any battlin'," Victor explained holding up his camera, "The legends say that the great Hero of Galar rested in the springs and it healed all his wounds. ..Plus I wanted to try the famous Bob's Your Uncle cafe here too. They're supposed to have THE best curry in all of Galar, and who knows when I'll come back here again." He then looked at you. "What about you Y/n?"

You looked at him interested. "Well if I'm being completely honest I think I'll come with you. It's been a while since I've been able to walk around and go sight seeing."

"Then it's settled! Let's meet back 'ere in the lobby when we're all finished."

You all agreed and after tightening your coats around you more, all made off your own ways. Gloria heading in the direction of the pokemon center on the other side of town before going off to battle with you and the boys heading in the opposite direction towards the rock gym since the famous Hero Springs Victor wanted to look at. Eventually parting with him too as soon as the both of you got there. Wishing him luck against Gordie before he left and you followed Victor to what you could only describe as a bath house modeled closely to the buildings of the ancient roman times back on your world. You followed Victor around marveling the sights and old looking structure as he smiled despite his hate for the cold and snapped plenty of pictures of everything as he did back at the Hammerlocke Castle Ruins. You walked up to the steaming water that almost looked boiling hot that was roped off from the public just touching it and watched the warm steam rise from it. Sighing as the warm steam was welcomed against the biting cold you couldn't get away from right now. Victor having getting his share of the old historical sight mentioned there was a few other places that the spring water came through, like the fountain in the town square and mentioned wanting to check out the extended parts of the underground spring as well and offered for you to come if you were interested in coming with him. Of course you agreed since you really had nothing else to do at that moment while waiting for the other two to complete their Gym battles, which by now you were sure they were doing or at least finishing up any gym challenge they were doing at the moment, before going back to the meet up spot anyways. So together you two traveled from the front of the rock type gym to the center of town so he could document more of the springs, before following him again as he moved somewhere else and you followed him down a small flight of stairs to another but much more smaller part of the springs that wasn't so visible or visited by the public. And then another small spot just like a little farther aways on the other side of town. It was...Pretty peaceful despite the chilling cold and snow lightly still falling around you, Victor, and everyone else walking around. It was quiet except for your footsteps crunching through the snow and anyone else walking around or talking. Walking around the decently big town with Victor you noticed there was also a few businesses besides the pokemon center. Your resident barber shoppe, an antique store, a few small little thrift shops that sold merchandise of what looked like the two gyms and their gym leaders at the brief glances through the windows you gave, a grocery store, a clothes store, of course the hotel, and a strange looking cafe with the Logo of a man out in front. A sign above the door told you the name of said establishment. Bob's Your Uncle. Hey. Wasn't that the cafe Victor mentioned back at the hotel he mentioned wanting to see? You pointed it out to him and he seemed to light up! Mentioning how you two should drop by and seeing it even if you didn't eat anything. You agreed since by all the walking around and sight seeing you did, you two must've been out here for nearly two hours by this point. So it'd be nice to warm up for a bit. So you two happily walked up to said store and pushed the door open before walking right in. The warm air of the cafe combined with the mouth watering smells of the food made you sigh in relief. Another bigger picture of the logo man was inside on one of the walls, with the place being a color scheme of yellow and red, and a few people sitting around eating already. Including one particular boy who looked up from his seat in the back when Victor pointed him out.

"Hey Hop!," Victor called over to him and Hop looked up from where he was sat phone in one hand and hot coco in the other but smiled when he saw you two approaching. "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet back at the hotel."

Hop shrugged. "Yeah, but I thought it'd be fine to stop by for some hot chocolate. Who doesn't like hot coco?"

"I know I do!," You agreed with a smile, "How did your battle go?"

"Arghhh." He slumped back turning his head up to the ceiling with a groan. "I lost. It all went to pot. There must've been something wrong with my strategy but I just did what I've seen Lee do in battles!"

"Huh..Well maybe that's the problem."

He paused before blinking back to you as you looked at him. "....Huh? Whaddya mean?''

"Well, everyone has different fighting styles. Including you and Gloria, and if these guys are a part of the league and you're trying to fight like Leon, they'll probably be able to beat you because they've seen how Leon fights and knows how best to counteract his style."

"But he's the unbeatable champion! If I use his method I should be able to be unbeatable too! I've studied his style for years!"

"It may seem like that," You explained, "But it IS Leon's style and he's perfected it. If someone tries to copy him they won't be as perfect as it compared to someone who's mastered his own style to a degree that makes him such a powerful trainer. And everyone's style is constantly changing. Think about it. If Lee kept his style the EXACT same then eventually someone would've found a flaw in it by now and taken the title from him. Leon doesn't have 'just one style' either. Like everyone else they train and adapt to better themselves that's how he's unbeatable. It's ok to use things you learnt other people do, but you said yourself you were thinking of new strategies. Instead of trying to apply what you think Leon would do, ask yourself what would YOU do."

Hop paused seeming to stare at you for a while before humming and looking back to his phone. "...You actually might have a point. I'll have to rethink a few things then."

You smiled. "Glad I could help. Speaking of which Where's Gloria? If you're finished with your battle then that must mean Gloria is too right?"

"Maybe she's waiting for us back at the hotel."

"Oh hey!" You yelped and jumped around at the lady's voice that suddenly came up behind you, and found yourself face to face with none other than said brunette Girl and Sonia who chuckled at your reaction. "There you are."

....You sighed before giving her a frown. "First Leon and now you too Sonia?" You crossed your arms. "Seriously. Give a girl a warning you're gonna do that first...Wait. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Got that Gym badge, Glory?," Hop asked politely.

Gloria nodded with a proud hum. "I jus' had ta switch out for some fire n' steel types I caught. Wasn't easy tho."

"Nice one!," Hop complimented before holding something out to her, "That reminds me. Here. Take this. It's the rock leader's league card. You guys should check out the gym leader you'll have to face too. And me. I've gotta figure out what to put on my team once and for all and no more of this doubting! Especially when I have to defeat at least one of the gyms here for their badge."

"Gee thanks!" She eagerly took the card from him.

"I've been trying to found out more about the Darkest Day and the sword and shield pokemon, but still no luck." She sighed before shaking her head. "I was hoping to investigate the Heroes Bath after studying the tapestries and castle ruins in Hammerlocke." Oh. So she had been there before. "And I haven't been able to get more intel on the strange discovery in Stow-on-Side since the Chairman's team is still researching and the area's become off limits to anyone who isn't the League or authorized. But I just ran into Gloria here and figured the rest of you couldn't be far behind her."

You chuckled. "Well you aren't wrong. I'm really sorry about all the dead ends stopping your work Sonia. I'm sure you'll get a break through somewhere." And you DID know since according to the game she does.

She smiled. "Well thank you, Y/n. It's much appreciated." Her blue eyes glanced behind you. "It's really nice ...." She paused staring right over your shoulder. "...to..see you...Wait."

You rose a brow. "What?" Your f/c eyes blinked in confusion when Sonia all of a sudden grabbed you and pushed you aside a bit as she moved behind you. Unintentionally making you bump into the table Hop was sitting at making him scramble to hold his hot coco out of harm's way as you gave her a look. "Sonia!?"

"Hold on!" She exclaimed back looking at a wall. But more importantly what was ON the wall. Which looked like half a tapestry. And in the very SAME art style and people on them from the Hammerlocke Vault!! "No way! What's this!?"

"Uh...A fifth tapestry??"

"The heroes!" She exclaimed pointing to both of the same men from the first tapestries. "Look..sad. And where are the sword and shield?" She hummed before scanning it more. "What was the meaning of this picture?" Ever the fast thinker wasn't she?

You pushed yourself from the table dusting your still slightly snow covered self off before shrugging. "Well those behind them look kinda like grave stones or some kind of sealed tomb." You pointed out pointing at the tapestry and Sonia squinted harder at where you were pointing. "This probably just means the end of the legend. Y'know. Where the hero finally gets to have peace after his long battle? It happens all the time in fairytales."

"You think so?," she asked giving you a glance. As you shrugged she looked back to the tapestry, or what seemed to remain of it, with her hand to her chin blankly staring at it. "....Didn't think I'd see something like this in Bob's Your Uncle. I guess it could be they passed on or that they were sealed away. Or maybe they've gone into some kind of sleep?"

"Well...I mean they call it 'rest in peace' for a reason."

"Well.." You flinched when Hop spoke, not expecting the boy to be studying the tapestry too. "Based on those statues we saw at Stow-on-Side, the sword and shield were actually two pokemon right?"

You rose a brow. "Since when did you see those statues back in Stow-on-Side?? You and Victor left before Bede's stunt."

"Gloria showed me pictures she took of it before you left. But it kinda dawned of me seeing those sword and shield symbols on them. Couldn't they have been pokemon?"

"That's right! That's my take on it at least."

"......Hey." She suddenly turned to Hop and blinked as he pointed to Gloria. "You remember the pokemon we met that day?" ...Gloria rose a confused brow as he spoke. "You remember. That weird giant blurry pokemon we met in the Slumbering Weald."

"Oh yeah! I've completely forgottin' 'bout that by now." She shivered. "Still gives me the heeby jeebies."

Hop chuckled a bit. "Do you think...it could've been one of them?" he gestured the hand holding his phone to her. "Either the sword or shield pokemon? The blurry fog monster we saw kinda looked like those pokemon statues in Stow-on-Side you showed us."

"You..." Sonia was slow to blink and look at Both the kids wide eyed as she talked. The only one who looked super confused was Victor who you guessed hadn't heard of the 'mysterious fog pokemon' bit. "Met them?! Like...Really REALLY met them!?"

"Come on. You know what I'm talking about right, Glory?"

She nodded, "Yep. Right before Lee bailed us out o' the Slumberin' Weald."

"Exactly! We told you too Sonia remember. The mad pokemon we ran into in the fog! Although..I can't remember seeing it too well. Don't you think that could've been it?", Hop pondered.

"Oh right! You lot have been in the Slumbering Weald!"

"Duh."

You gave Gloria a small tap to her shoulder as if to say 'Don't be rude.' "As much as I agree this is all strange, don't you all think you're jumping the gun here a bit? That could've been any big pokemon in the fog, and you said it yourself. You don't remember much of what it looked like. We shouldn't just make assumptions without proof."

Hop hummed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much of a coincidence anyhow. But it's not an assumption, just a guess. Doesn't hurt to theorize ideas."

Sonia on the other hand smiled happily and held up her hands excitedly. "I only started on this journey because my gran told me to, but this is turning out to be so much fun! You've got to tell me more! How about we discuss this over a meal? Go on. What do you want to eat? Let's get our orders in!"

"Whoa! Hey there buckaroo!" She blinked when you grabbed her shoulder and she blinked. "As much as I love the food as much as the next person, maybe you should slow down there a bit. Didn't you just get here or something?"

...She gave a bashful face. "Oh yeah. R-Right. Sorry I must've gotten caught up in the moment. But hey! How about I treat you all to a nice curry and hot chocolate anyways? It'd be the least I could do for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I dunno. I don't wanna leave my Drizzilie in the hotel room for too long. I'm afraid he's gonna come looking for us if we're gone for too long and I don't want him outside in this weather."

"How about the sweet instant noodle curry they serve here?," Victor suggested as a compromise pointing to the counter the two men were currently cleaning, and the stack of supplies, food, and other things lining the wall behind them. "All they would have to do is poor hot water in it and it's the cheapest curry on the menu. Plus I don't like the spicy ones too much. I may hate the cold but I'm not up for burning my tongue."

Sonia nodded. "Quick and simple. Sounds like a good match to me!" She turned towards the two men and waved a hand gaining one's attention. "Yoo hoo. Sir! Five instant noodle curries and hot cocos please! Uh. Sweet wise." The man nodded before putting down the cloth he was wiping the counter with and turning to grab a few things from the shelf as Sonia gestured for the five of you to sit with Hop at the big table he was currently at. "While we wait, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Slumbering Weald again. Maybe it'll help me piece together something."

"Sure!"

So the five of you at around the table as you all patiently heard Hop recount the entire events of the Slumbering Weald incident starting from the wooloo banging against the gate to the Slumbering Weald to when you all left it. In the middle of him retelling his your food was delivered by one of the men behind the bar and you gladly took it wanting something warm in your stomach before having to go back out in the cold, Gloria taking a quick picture of it before you all began eating it. It looked and smelt a lot like those instant ramen cups you'd sometimes had to resort to have for lunch back at home since money was tight with your mother working hard as a single mother now and you having to work summer, weekend, and afterschool jobs in your spare time to help with bills. If you didn't then she'd say you were being lazy with your music and games again...Anyways. It looked like instant ramen and was sprinkled with curry sauce. You were a bit doubtful of how it'd taste but when you ate it it wasn't that bad. It had a bittersweet kinda taste that wasn't too sweet or sour thanks to the sauce covering the noodles when you ate it, and it was a bit more like pasta than a curry. But you weren't going to complain about free curry and hot coco in this cold weather and neither was anyone else as they ate and listened to Hop, and then Gloria as she recounted her own point of view on the events which was pretty much Hop's as well but you all let her speak her mind. By the time she finished everyone had already finished eating and drinking their food even Hop who had gotten a second hot coco thanks to Sonia's generosity.

"-and then Lee found us and marched us both back home where we met up with Y/n," Gloria finished pointing at you. "Mum was...not very happy about it all."

"Fascinating," Sonia commented thinking again, "All right." She suddenly stood up making all of you blink. "The next thing to do now that we're done eating is to have a look around Circhestester! Let's inspect the Hero's Bath."

"Huh? But we were just there. Wasn't anything that could be tied to your research," Victor said.

You shrugged as you stood up. "Well we were going to leave to go back to the hotel soon anyways. Let's go have a look since we'll have to go that way anyways."

Victor looked like he wanted to protest but sighed as his Best friend and twin also stood up to follow Sonia out the door. The cold outside nipped back at all of you as you tightened your scarf around your nose and mouth. Following Sonia back to the steaming waters of the spring under the town as you all entered back under the historical sight. Hop and Gloria looking out in awe at the place.

"The Hero's Bath, "Sonia commented looking around the place, "They say this is where the two heroes came to soothe their wounds after the battle to bring down that evil presence long ago. Nowadays only pokemon really use the Hero's bath though. Hmm. Who exactly were the heroes that bathed here? I think I'll have to look into that...Gloria! Hop!" She turned her head to shout at the two and both looked up from one of the carvings in the stone at her. "You two met a mysterious pokemon back in the Slumbering Weald. Perhaps...you two can become new heroes."

You blinked at her. Where did that come from?

Even Hop looked at her confused and skeptical. "What? Like some hero waving around a sword and shield? Psh. Pull the other one."....But he hummed. "Though...I guess I'd fancy a shield if I had to take my pick."

"Hm. What kind of battle do you think the heroes had back then?"

You shrugged and went to say something- "Why don't we show her, Glory?" Hop asked giving his friend a playful shove, "Think we can pull off a real heroic battle?"

Gloria giggled back before giving him her signiture determined look. "Oh I think that'd be just the thing ta warm up me bones!"

"Sonia treated us to a great meal. After all that curry I feel like I've got the energy to wrestle a bewear!"

Sonia returned her hands to her hips amused. " A battle now? I don't entirely understand your reasoning but I might as well see what you can do."

"FORG-G-GET IT!!", Victor yelled as you all looked at his shivering form turn on his heel and stomp off towards the direction of the gym, "Y-Ya'll can battle if ye want! 'M headed ta b-b-battle that bloke and return to the h-h-hotel! I w-wanna leave this place as soon as possible!"

"..Hm. I'd hate to say this, but I think I getting get back too." You gave Sonia a look. "Thanks for the food. It was really good seeing you again, but I REALLY wanna go back and check on my drizzilie."

She nodded understanding. "Of course. I'd feel the same thing about Yamper if I was in your position."

You nodded before turning to the other two. "And you guys don't stay out here for too long. Come back when you're all done battling."

"We will!," Hop quickly agreed before pointing away from the Springs, "Time for a little exhibition match starring the future champion!"

With a wave to them all you all turned and jogged to catch up to Victor who was rubbing his arms and muttering to himself as he stomped his way back towards the gym. And you didn't blame him, you wanted to get out of the cold too and see how your Drizzilie was doing. You two made your way across the town and into the familiar fancy hotel, through the elevator and immediately headed onto your own separate rooms. You were kinda worried your pokemon might've wondered out of the room but when you entered you found him in the same spot you left him in. Curled up on one of the beds and barely even opened an eye at you as you came back in gave giving a small thrum before curling back onto it's side away from you and going back to napping. Hmm...Maybe Hop was right about your drizzilie developing a new lazy habit. Or maybe it was because he was cold blooded or something like a snake and had a hibernation thing?? You shrugged it off and instead sighed as you finally had a moment to shed your winter coat and relax for a little bit, flopping onto the bed next to the napping pokemon who again barely moved as you did so. And you remained there even when Gloria returned and you gave a small wave as a greeting.

"Hey. How was the battle?"

"Fine! Although I won Hop seems to finally have gotten out of the lil funk he was in thanks ta Bede!," she answered happily, " 'E's with Victor right now."

"Hey that's great to hear! It's good he's getting back into a healthier mindset."

"Yeah! I still can't wait ta see him compete in the champion finals this year! It's gonna be so much fun! I-....." She stopped talking for a second and then you heard frantic shuffling about and footsteps. With a sigh you turned your head up from the spot you were laying down at and was met with the sight of her shaking her coat upside down frantically over he bed as she looked worried. When nothing dropped from the coat she unceremoniously dropped it and whipped her head around back to you. "Y/N! My camera's gone!"

"..What?," you asked pushing yourself up as she patted herself down searching her pockets.

"Victor's camera he's lettin' me borrow!," she yelled sounding more concerned, "I was supposed ta give it back ta him once I finished fillin' me dex books!! He's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa! Hey!" You were quick to push yourself up into a sitting pose as you watched her start to likely panic. "Gloria!" She paused blinked wide eyed worried at you as you groaned standing off the bed and stretching out your back. "First you need to calm down." You held up a hand rubbing your back. "You probably just accidentally dropped it somewhere."

"WHERE!?"

"I have no idea." She looked worried again. That was probably the wrong thing to say apparently. "Whoa. Don't freak out on me here. Look. There's still plenty of daylight left. I'm sure if we just retrace your steps then we'll find it for sure. When's the last time you remembered having it?"

.....She blinked. "Uh! A-At the cafe! Then we went to the hero's bath."

You nodded. "Ok. Then let's go look over there and see if we can't find it ok?"

Gloria nodded and you sighed again. Looks like you all were going out yet again. You both quickly put your winter wear back on and out you went again. The winter weather nipping at you even colder now that it must've been about near sun down by how limited light there was too. There was still enough to clearly see the snow and all the surroundings but it was noticeably colder as night drew nearer as you both stopped in front of the warm springs in the town square.

"A-Alright! 'Eere's the plan!," Gloria said pointing at you, "I'll go check the cafe you go check the bath. We'll cover more ground like that!"

You nodded wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "Alright. But hurry, and keep an eye out in case you dropped it on the ground somewhere. Meet me back here as soon as you can."

She nodded and before you could get another word in she turned and scurried off towards the cafe area. After a moment to relax you sighed shaking your head and started walking off towards the Hero's Bath, making sure to scan the road and ground around you for any signs of a camera dropped in the snow. But you saw nothing as you looked around. Your footsteps crunched in the snow once again and you shivered rubbing your arms as you made your way towards the hero's bath still looking for it. Just when you thought you'd be able to rest for the rest of the day. You just wanted to find the darn thing and return back to the warm hotel. As you circled the large building needed to get to the Hero's Bath you paused blinking at the sight in front of you. Oh great what was it now? In front of the Hero's Bath was a small crowd of anywhere from fifthteen to about twenty people mostly women huddled around...something? Sure the Hero's Bath must've been a really cool historical sight to see but you didn't think such a crowd would gather here all of a sudden especially when it wasn't like this the other times you passed by it. Oh well. Right now you could care less and just wanted to find that darn camera and return to the hotel as soon as possible. Besides you could easily just walk around the happily chattering crowd without having to bother anyone. Get in, look around for a camera, get out, and then meet up back with Gloria. Easy enough. Or so you thought. With a sigh behind your scarf, you braced yourself and began walking your way over towards the crowd, and like you had suspected there was plenty of room to walk passed them, or so you thought again when a woman dressed in all while and with white hair suddenly appeared and you both ran right into each other. With the speed walk you were going it was impossible to stop on time before you collided with the white blur with a yelp. Stumbling back your foot slipped on some snow and down you went arms flailing landing on your bottom on the hard stone ground. Luckily you weren't hurt but you hissed and mumbled something under your breath at the feeling of the cold seeping into the back of your pants now.

"Oh my goodness gracious!," an older woman's voice exclaimed above you and when you looked up you were met with a woman who looked about the same age as your mom as she held her face in an 'Oh no' kinda pose as she looked at you. All decked out in white winter wear. "I'm so sorry, Young Lady. I didn't see you there."

You waved her off as more people turned their heads at the commotion. "Nah. It's ok. It's my fault I wasn't looking where I was going-," you had begun to say before another's voice much more louder and angrier sounding made you both look over.

"MOM!! What are you doin'!?," A man's voice shouted out as people parted and a guy who looked vaugely familiar marched his way forward. The man wore...Shades of all things in this not so sunny weather with a tan-ish coat thrown over himself and blonde-white hair that draped to just above his shoulders as he pushed his way through the small crowd of people until he stopped right in front of you and the woman. He looked right at your confused self still sitting on the ground for a moment before looking over at the woman with a deep frown. "Seriously!? Ya knocked one of my fans over?"

"I'm so sorry, Honey. Really I am," she said calmly as if she had all the patience of an ancient monk. "But it was an accident." Oh. So this must've been his mom. But what does he mean by fan?? You didn't even know this guy.

"Tch!," he scoffed before crossing his arms, "Yeah right. You crash all my events especially after I win against a gym challenger." Your eyes widened. ....Gym chall-..OH!! Now you remember! You looked between the two who had a resemblance now that you looked at them. Gym Leaders Melony and Gordie! So that's why he looked semi familiar to you. These were some of the few characters you actually remembered from your time playing the game! ..Oh. And they were known for fighting of course. "You're lucky you didn't cause her to hit her head during the fall!" You looked back up blinking wide eyed at him as he scowled at his mother. "Did you even apologise to her or were you just gonna forget that too?"

You stared wide eyed at him. Who says that to their own mother!? Through all this Melony just calmly and sadly watched him as he angrily spewed out. You WISH your mom was like Melony- "HEY!!" You were quick to try and rise to your feet stumbling a bit on the snow as you did. Rising up with your own frown behind the scarf covering your face and quickly dusting yourself off.

"Ah man. Are you alright there?," he asked holding his hand out. "Sorry about my mom-"

"Oh be quiet!" You bluntly said as you snapped your face to him, which combined with your sharp tone seemed to make him pause in the moment. "I know exactly who you are!! What is WRONG with you man!?" You couldn't help but shout at him. Well considering Gordie's only a side character who you wouldn't probably see again after Gloria defeated him, it would be ok to shout at him. Especially since you weren't in the game's storyline at the moment. So you jabbed him in the chest which made him blinked and take a couple steps back. "Of course your mother apologized to me but that's NOT the point! It was an accident and I happened to run into HER! Not the other way around!! Are you kidding me with your behavior right now, Gordie!? Don't you see what you're doing!?" You gestured towards Melony who looked shocked herself seeing you jab at her son. "You're yelling at your own mother who didn't do anything wrong in front of a bunch of your fans in public!? Are you trying to embarrass her or something!? Your mom's so much nicer than you!! Geez! What were those guys thinking!?"

"I-...W-Wha-" He sputtered but you shut him down real quick.

"NO! You're not allowed to talk to me! You know why? Because your mom's one of the nicest people in all of Galar!! DUDE GET OVER YOUR STUPID EGO!! You both had a fight like..years ago!? So WHAT?! You're running your own stadium you wanted and you have like loads of fans! Don't you think that bashing her in front of your fans would make her look bad!?....No. Scratch that." He blinked as you took a step forward and he stepped back. "It makes YOU look bad! SO I am NOT a fan of yours! I'm just here looking for a missing camera but even if I didn't I'd still feel bad for your mother! Don't you think the reason Melony makes an effort to be in your fan club and trying so hard to support you is her way of showing she cares about you and is actually sorry about the fight you two had!?" You shook your head. "Gosh. Your head must be thicker than a onix if you missed that!!"

There was silence all around as the once crowd of chattering people were all shocked and staring at you, Gordie, or Melony or looking between the three of you as Gordie just stared jaw dropped and making noises like a fish out of water as you scoffed and turned around. Melony watching with equal reaction to her son and even passing people who weren't a part of the crowd was staring right at you as you turned your back to him. 

"So don't apologize to me. Because the only one you should be apologizing to is your poor mother." You gave him one last very SERIOUS look over your shoulder. "As someone who wished for a parent like her, you need to get a reality check man." You turned back to his shocked mother before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all this, Ma'am. But I gotta go. I have to meet up back with my friends."

With a new sour feeling that combined with your annoyance with the cold and falling down, without looking behind you, you turned on your heels and stomped off back towards where Gloria was headed when you both split up. You didn't feel like staying at the Hero's Bath any longer now with the eerie silent you left behind. Everyone watched after you as you disappeared....until a single THUNK sound broke the silence as Gordie's shades fell off his shocked face to the cold ground below.

[skye-huntress]

RWBY Volume 9 Reaction

Episode 1: “A Place of Particular Concern”

Did I ever say anything about the meeting with Little before? I don’t think I have much to say, a talking mouse is hardly much of a surprise when I long expected this Volume to get so much weirder.

So, as the trailer showed us, Weiss and Blake somehow found each other first. Unsurprisingly, Weiss is tight-lipped about what happened at first. Better to prioritise finding everyone else before having to unpack what happened

Bit of luck perhaps that they found the other half of Gambol Shroud, and so quickly, but that makes Crescent Rose’s absence even more conspicuous. More thoughts on that when I get to the OP

I missed Weiss’ sense of humour.

That reminds me though, we’ve never had a situation where our heroes were low on Dust and other supplies (Weiss even had that dream where she had unlimited ammo). There’s always conveniently been some on hand, but after fighting for so long while on the run from the military, and throwing everything they could at Cinder, they’re bound to be low at this point. And since they’re not on Remnant anymore, no chance for resupply. Whatever they have on them is what is left, and who knows what threats are ahead, so I expect they’ll be more conservative in how they fight. This probably affects Weiss the most, but she can hopefully still use her summons to compensate.

There is nothing I love more than seeing Weiss act like such a complete dork. More please!

That’s quite a scene to walk in on. Imagine if Ruby hadn’t found Little first, she’d be so confused and have no idea how to respond.

So Little has “nothing to do” and offered to be a guide, only to fall asleep, again. Perhaps the reason they don’t have a name/purpose yet has nothing to do with their age

Creepy demon-like thing from the trailer. Hard to follow what it was saying. Was it talking to itself, or something that the girls couldn’t percieve?

It targeted Yang when she was alone and minus an arm, and it had no problem attacking Weiss and Blake head on, but it retreated when surrounded by all three. If it comes back, it’ll probably be when the odds are tipped back in its favour somehow.

And now the team’s all back together again, glad it didn’t take too long this time. No one else is missing, right? We’re not forgetting anyb- oh, wait, that’s right! We’re still missing the most important one of all. However it’s too early to panic, I’m sure Crescent Rose will turn up eventually.

Have we seen any of the girls faint from anything besides exhaustion or pain? Still, I expected an extreme reaction from Ruby most of all. She fears further loss more than anything else at this point, and she’d already lost Penny once and she only just got her back. She did everything she could to avoid losing her or anyone else ever again, but it wasn’t enough. She wasn’t enough.

They don’t know about what happened to anyone who passed through the portal, only that no one came back. They don’t know how literal Ambrosius took Weiss’ words, so they can only assume something happened on the Vacuo side, which isn’t exactly wrong either. They bet everything on this plan, yet they don’t know if any of it paid off, if their sacrifice meant anything.

So the current situation is as follows. Penny is dead, but they don’t know the status of anyone else. Yang’s arm was stolen, Crescent Rose is MIA, and Neo is out there somewhere, and still after Ruby’s head. And they are apparently in a fairy tale, according to Blake. That’s all right? Nothing else we’re missing? Well, if we are it was probably nothing important

Now on to the OP:

Okay, so first off, we got shots of Jaune, angry and tears in his eyes, with his bloodied, broken sword, and Neo, looking I wanna say, downcast? Not surprised their shots are separated from the others. Then, Yang, Weiss and Blake, all looking fairly determined and ready to push on. Then lastly Ruby, alone, eyes closed and falling, I would guess.

Then we have shots of each of Team RWBY through the years, though a bit out of order. Weiss, Blake and Yang all look more confident after each subsequent version of themselves, as well as them progressively moving further forward. Unfortunately, Ruby is the opposite, she loses her smile and moves further towards the back and starts hiding herself. This isn’t exactly unexpected for anyone who has been paying attention throughout the show. The others have had amazing growth over their personal character arcs, especially over the Mistral Arc, but Ruby never had her arc and has been spiralling for a long while now, probably starting from Penny’s first death. A few different people have said their piece to her over that time, Jaune, Qrow, Blake, Yang, but I could tell none of them have really reached her, yet. They may have alleviated some of her worries and doubts for a spell, but it was only temporary.

There are a few shots of another girl, and by the end I’m convinced this is Alyx, I believe the name is. Makes sense, to find their way out of the Ever After, Team RWBY will be using her story as a guide to get back home.

Crescent Rose makes a few appearances on her own. She’s Ruby’s signature weapon, and as the girl herself said, a Huntsman’s weapon is like a part of who they are. No surprise that the notable absence is both indicative of, and further fuelling Ruby’s growing identity crisis.

We’ve got a brief shot of Jaune, just to remind us he still exists but no further insights into what he’ll be dealing with.

There’s a brief shot of Ruby looking over that hazardous-looking bridge at Alyx, before she turns into a Ruby with a very creepy smile, before seemingly diving into Neo’s tea. Creepy Ruby is probably Neo, though given the setting, it could easily be something else entirely

Oh no, Neo has teamed up with the shadow people! They must want revenge after being given the boot after Volume 1!

Neo seems to be showing some confidence. Roman Holiday did tell us that she wished to be like Alyx and disappear into another world. She’s probably more at home in the Ever After than anywhere else, and it seems like the OP is implying she is the main threat.

The lyrics are about looking inside and finding yourself, but at the same time, there’s some anxiety about losing your own sanity or not recognising yourself anymore.

All signs pointing to what we’ve already known for a long while now, this is the much anticipated, and desperately needed Ruby character arc we’ve waited many volumes for.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

A Champion Time For The Heart Ch18 Battle Gym Leader Melony

It wasn't too surprising all of you fell asleep on the train again that night, seeing how late it was getting when you all hurried onto it like an army of onix was chasing after you all. Thank goodness you managed to catch it and settled down into a couple empty seats to sleep for the night. Come morning the lot of you were already digging into your rations for breakfast to comfort your hungry stomachs that growled for food. And made small talk as the world went flying by outside the windows.

"So how long until we reach Circhester?," you asked biting into come kind of breakfast bar that tasted like bacon bits and oatmeal.

"It's the farthest town from all the others in Galar except for the town in the Crown Tundra Valley but that's farther in the mountains than we need to go," Victor explained after he had pulled out his own phone and pulled up his regional maps to look through them, "It's also deep within the Galarian Mountain Reign so it'll take us about three weeks to get there by train."

"Oh really?"

He nodded again. "The stop we want is Steamdrift Station. From there it's about an hour walk down Steamdrift Way until we get to Circhester and it's gyms."

You paused before blinking and looking at him. Drizzilie taking this chance to pull the rest of your food away from you to eat itself. "Gyms? As in plural?...Like more than one gym?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we haven't told ye!," Gloria cut in leaning into her hand. "The Ice and Rock Type Gyms are located up there and are handled by the gym leader Melony n' 'er son Gordie!"

You paused...eyes blinking wide at them for a moment before pointing. "Hey! Wait a minute! I remember those guys!" YEAH! You did remember them! Ironic since you couldn't remember much of anything else in game. Melony according to in game info was supposed to have a harsh battle style and supposedly be an incredible coach. She ran the Ice type Gym while her son Gordie was in charge of the nieghboring Rock Type Gym also in Circhester. He's supposed to be really popular in a similar way to Raihan and have his own fan base as well that he treats respectfully. ..But the mother and son had a fight over Gordie not wanting to take over his mother's gym and instead but somehow she still became the very first member of his fan club. ...Also he was supposed to have younger siblings as well but you didn't think they were ever shown in the game. You remembered!! That's great! Maybe now you'd start remembering things much more now!! ....You blinked upon noticing the three staring at you. "Uh!...I m-mean I remember some people talking about them before. Apparently Gordie's pretty popular in Galar."

Hop nodded. "Yeah he is! Last year he was voted Galar's third most eligible bachelor behind Raihan and Lee himself. But unlike Raihan he actually throws a lot of his own events and showings. Lee mentioned once he trained under the old Rock Type Gym Leader before he retired and took over the gym after."

You sighed. Bullet dodged! "Oh. Sounds like he's really nice then." And hopefully won't flirt with you like Raihan did.

Thus began your group's long, LONG trip to the Galarian Mountain Range. Just like your trip back to Motostoke, you all slept on the emptied seats at night but being more prepared Victor had set up his Rotom phone's gps to set off an alarm once the lot of you reached the likes of the station you wanted so you all wouldn't have to take turns staying up all night again to keep an eye out for the right station you wanted. Which was a great idea! Over the next few days you all fell into that repeated pattern minus taking turns staying up at night and during the day just talking about random things while eating food from your rations or looking at whatever the teens pulled up from the internet to show you. Gloria at one point even pulled out her dex books again to finish putting the rest of her pictures into them and showed you the new addtions courtesy of her twin before passing the books over towards the two boys for them to flip through themselves and admire Gloria's handy work. A few more days went by this way until one day Victor all of a sudden said you all should stop at the next town to restock up on food again since it wasn't as much as he thought it was. To which everyone agreed too and at the next town, got off the train and went into one of the random stops which turned out to be a small town like Postwick. From there the four of you gathered supplies and did everything else to prepare to travel again by the time the next train came around before getting back on it and back on your way to Circhester. Day in and night out you four traveled and traveled and traveled. You were starting to get train sick with how much this was going on and found yourself walking up and down the walkways in turns with the others to keep up the exercise and not let yourselves turn your legs to jelly. Until one particular night when you woke up with a shiver. There was a chilly atmosphere inside the metal train from when you were last awake and it was enough for you to make yourself get up groggily. Only to find your drizzilie was lightly shivering as well curled up against your warmer body and stayed clung to you as it groaned in protest at the cold.

"What the-"

"Hey you." You rubbed your eyes turning tiredly to Hop who had his own coat thrown over his shoulders and smiled. "So you're finally awake huh?"

You yawned. "What time is it?"

"About ten in the morning. We're getting closer to the mountains," Victor said and you turned to him next as he rechecked the map on his phone, "We'll be at Steamdrift Station within 'bout three days but you might want to throw on a coat. It's gonna get a wee bit more colder from 'ere on out."

That wasn't a too bad idea actually. You were quick to pull on the coat you had bought and with a bit of a tussle you somehow with Gloria's help managed to pry Drizzilie off of you and put him inside your bag's main opening with Gloria holding it open before you pulled both him and the bag into your lap to make room. And to help keep the lil guy warm. Your pokemon gave a bored expression as he settled down into using the bag as his personal sleeping bag.

"Hey. Don't get too comfy," you reminded him, "Cuz when we leave Circhester you're going back to walking with us again Mr. I-Refuse-To-Get-In-My-Pokeball." Other than rolling his eyes with a sigh, Drizzilie didn't say anything against what you said. "You heard me. This is just to make sure you don't go from a water type to a frozen-water type."

The rest of the three days there was pretty much the same, only now it was hard for any of you all to get to sleep now curled up in the seats because of the cold. Why you even dug out a scarf and wrapped it around your neck and half your face. Didn't these trains have darn heating!? The landscape outside the windows changed too. Going from looking like fall-ish time of the year to mid way between fall and winter, until the last day when you all woke up to have found yourselves so, so...SO!! Cold, and you shivered yanking the hood over your f/c hair more as you looked around and noticed white snow was being blown against the windows like some snow storm. And for all you knew there could actually be one out there.

"ZZZTT. Attention Passengers!," the conductor announced over the speakers to anyone left on bourd. "We'll be arriving at SteamDrift Station within ten minutes. That is all."

"That's our stop!," Victor confirmed, "Make sure you all grab everythin' before we get off."

You all made sure to gather your things, you especially making sure to pull the small hoodie over your Drizzilie's head before pushing him into your bag and telling him to stay in there until you said it was safe for him to come out before zipping your bag up but leaving enough of an opening to allow fresh air to him. Slowly after a few minutes the train finally came to a stop and you all followed Victor out towards the door, you grunting as you struggled to sling the bag over your shoulders. You had forgotten how heavy this lil guy actually was when carried. You were extremely thankful for the guys getting you the thick coat and scarf too because the familiar full force of Winter hit you as soon as the you all stepped out the door and you shivered from the frosty cold greeting you all. The entire sky was painted in grey snow clouds that made the day look a little dull while snow gently fell from them and down towards the earth below. Around you was a plain looking station that looked more deserted since no one not even a station master was there, and surrounding you all was cliffsides and hills like in Stow-on-Side except unlike Stow-on-Side these were absolutely COVERED in snow and ice as far as the eyes could see as the four of you stood there taking in the sights. The only living things besides you all being pine trees scattered across the snowy land with a cobblestone road leading away from the station that Victor after a moment pointed at.

"That's Steamdrift Way," He explained holding up his phone with a gloved hand to the lot of you showing a map with a red blinking dot that signaled where you all were. "It's connected to Route E-E-Eight. If we go this way we should be at Circhester w-within an hour after crossing Circhester Bridge."

"T-T-Then w-what are we waiting f-f-for?!," Hop stuttered in the cold before pointing a hand forward. "L-Let's get there before we become on thin ice!"

There wasn't any arguments with him as you all headed off. Snow and ice crunched under your all's feet making your group sound like a couple of wooly mammoths trudging through the snow. You all (even you through your scarf covered mouth) could see your breath as snowflakes stuck to your bodies like someone glued white confetti to your clothes as you all followed Victor and his map through the snow. Thank goodness it didn't cover the road up, or else you all might've gotten lost. As you all trudged alone keeping your hands in your pockets after pulling the ends of the sleeves over them to help keep them warm, you all FINALLY came to the stone bridge Victor mentioned before. A cold river running with cold water ran under it as you all crossed and as you walked over it you prayed your drizzilie didn't decided to pop out wanting to swim or see what was going on.

"W-W-We should be there in t-t-ten m-m-more minutes!," Victor shouted back pulling his beanie further over his head.

"B-B-Bloody heck, V-Vick! 'M freezin' my t-tail off 'ere n' I-I ain't even got one!," Gloria yelled back complaining.

"The sooner we git there the sooner ya can rest! So take the energy from ya yappin' mouth and put it to your feet!," He yelled back and Gloria mumbled under her breath.

So you all continued to walk and walk, until you finally reached the end of the road that lead into a metal fenced entrance to Circhester. And you all had a collected sigh of relief once you all got there. It was decently big with it's many story stone buildings you could make out in the snow with cobblestone roads leading everywhere and the figures of two large stadiums on either side of the town as you all got to walking into it. You all passed the pink pokemon center near the entrance of the town and turned right heading towards what you guessed was the town square. A hot spring like fountain was dead set in the middle and there was people walking all around in winter wear with some ice type pokemon or pokemon who could stand this cold weather. Two men had stands selling food in the square as you walked past, one selling some kind of hot wraps and the other......ice..cream??

"D-Dang nabit, V-Vick! W-W-Where's the b-b-bloody hotel a-around here?," Gloria asked rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm herself.

"I-I'm with G-Glory on this," Hop added looking around, "I d-don't feel like camping out here at all."

"I'm WORKIN' on it!," Victor spat scowling at his phone hand lightly shaking.....before he pointed ahead of him at a BIG building in front of you all. "H-Hotel is there! L-Let's go!"

You all didn't hesitate to RUN your way to the building he pointed out jack frost biting at your ankles as you did. You all didn't even care if the door was flung open with a loud noise. The rush of warm air greeting your skins was enough to make up for it in your minds as you sighed. Turning your head up to the ceiling in the bliss of getting out of the cold. After a moment or two you finally opened your eyes and blinked them wide open at what you were all looking at. If you thought the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke was Fancy this place was absolutely F A N C Y with a capitol F!!! It was like one of those luxury hotels in Paris you'd sometimes see in movies or on tv. Complete with marble floors and chandeliers lighting the place up. It was also HUGE!! And this was just the lobby as you gawked around. The other three were busy shaking snow off themselves as Victor walked up to the man at the lobby counter most likely to book your rooms. You hope they weren't too expensive by the looks around here. A moment later he returned with two keys handing one to Gloria before he gestured to the elevator.

"Let's go get settled in and rest for a bit. I'm too cold to think straight. You guys got room fifthteen on the first floor." Whelp! You couldn't argue with that as you all headed towards the elevator and got inside. The trip to the first floor wasn't a very long one as you all piled out and Victor motioned for Hop to follow him to one of the very first rooms closest to the elevator. "I say we all get warmed up and meet up in the lobby to talk 'bout what's the game plan for us 'ere."

"Alright," you agreed with a nod before following Gloria, "We'll see you two in a bit."

Both boys nodded as well before they turned back, Victor unlocking the door with his key before opening it and they disappeared inside. You sped walked to catch up to Gloria who was already standing in front of a door and turning the knob and throwing it open-

"So that means the culprit must be among us!" Gloria paused in the doorway. Eyes wide and hand still out from throwing the door open. "....Wait....Who are you!?" ..You wanted to facepalm. Oh NO!! Don't tell me Gloria opened the wrong door and walked in on someone. You sped up your walking pace as she blinked again. "After all the trouble of deducing things don't go messing it up now!"

By the time you got to Gloria she was already scowling before pointing her frozen hand at him. "N' who might the likes o' you be!?"

You blinked when you looked inside the room....There was a man there along with an older man, a 'hipster' looking girl, a young boy, and some kind of squirrel looking pokemon chewing something as you all stared at one another...Until the middle aged looking man coughed.

"*cough* I suppose I should introduce myself," he proudly put a hand to his chest, "The name's Howses. Yes. THAT Howses. The great detective. I've been hired by the hotel. At present I have corner the culprit of a most heinous crime!"

"What happened?," you asked. Did someone get robbed? Did something go missing? Something worse?!

"I'm glad you asked," Mr. Howses stated, " And that crime is!..The strange case of who ate the large quantity of berries in the lobby!" He shouted pointing to a random basket of apple cores....You and Gloria both gave each other a look. "I've gathered the three people who were present in the lobby at the time of the crime but because of the noise my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present."...The hotel...Hired a private detective ..to investigate missing fruit.....What a waste of time! He suddenly pointed at Gloria. "That's it! You interfering child! You will be my assistant!"

Gloria gave him a blank look. "...What?"

"Listen to the stories of each suspect and find the culprit," he said as if what he had just said wasn't crazy or unprofessional at all.

"....Yeah. I ain't doin' that." Gloria dead panned before pointing at the obvious pokemon in the room. "'Sides. I already know who it was-"

Instead of listening the man waved her off and laughed in her face. "Heh heh heh. After listening to everyone's accounts deduced the culprit!"....NO ONE SPOKE!! He pointed at the young hipster looking gal who looked just as deadpanned and done with this as Gloria. "Dancer! You are the culprit!"

"WHAT!?," she demanded angrily, "Why me?!"

"Because you're a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you needed all that food for extra energy! That's evidence as clear and sharp as the leek of a farfetch'd!"

"WHAT!? What does that even mean!? You're no detective! You're a fraud!" Your thoughts exactly!

The man gave a nervous look all of a sudden. "W-Who are you calling a fraud!? You can't be referring to me! The great detective!"

"I can't deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the real culprit-"

"*AHEM!!*" Everyone looked back to Gloria who scowled and pointed to the small pokemon chittering at everyone around them. "IT. WAS. THAT!! They ate the darned fruit ya ninnies can't seem ta take a hint of."

The 'detective' blinked before turning to the pokemon. "What? That skwovet is the one responsible?" He looked closer at the small pokemon who looked at him curiously covered in food. "A-.....As expected of my assistant!" He loudly proclaimed all of a sudden proudly and crossing his arms looking pleased with himself. "Splendid! Just splendid! I'm overjoyed!"....He peeked an eye out at all of you annoyed and angry at him before coughing. "Well now that's taken care of...I must be off now." He suddenly sped walked towards you and Gloria and you both scrambled to move aside as he took off down the hall. "Take care, Everyone!"

"Hey you! Just wait a minute!," the girl yelled before running right after the 'detective'.

"Hahaha! I guess I'm supposed to chase after him too," the old man said before also jogging after the two as you and Gloria squished against the sides of the doorway to give them room...before looking after them....and blinking to one another.

"What the world was THAT about?," she asked.

"Honestly I have no idea and I'm too tired to really care," you mumbled gesturing her towards your actual room. "Let's go set up our room and take a break before we have to meet back up with the others."

Fast forward about an hour after finding the right room and getting yourself settled, you all made it down to the lobby to meet up with Victor and Hop. After you had let your Drizzilie out, thankful that he didn't seem to be hurt or even bothered as she walked out and stretched out like a cat before you all left. Promising you'd bring him back some food. Finding the boys already waiting for the both of you with their winter wear and waved the two of you over.

"There you guys are," Victor greeted seeing the two of you walk over, "We've been waiting for ten minutes and I wanted to try and get things as done here as soon as possible."

"We've only just got here this morning," you calmly reasoned raising a questioning brow at him. Yeah you wanted to leave as soon as you all could too since it was freezing and obviously the weather probably wasn't good for your pokemon, but you didn't think you've ever seen Victor this insistent on leaving somewhere so quickly. "What's gotten you into wanting to leave so soon?"

"Vick here hates the cold," Hop explained before humming, "Scratch that. He absolutely despises it."

"Well it's not MY fault that ice is so dangerous and you have a great chance of freezin' ta death," Victor snapped back pouting.

"Nevermind that! Did you guys figure out what you wanted to do yet?," you asked changing the subject to avoid more fighting.

Surprisingly both boys nodded and Hop spoke again. "I wanted to try my hand at beating the Rock Type Gym since I think I've come up with a strategy to beat him. Victor does too since it's a lot warmer than the ice type gym."

"I was actually thinking about taking on the other Gym 'n town, "Gloria pondered thoughtfully, "I got a good idea 'bout how to defeat Melony after watchin' a lot of her battles on the train ride 'ere. But first I need ta stop by the center and switch out some of me pokemon in order to make it work."

"Well I wanted to stop by around town and get some pictures of the famous Circhester hot springs 'fore I do any battlin'," Victor explained holding up his camera, "The legends say that the great Hero of Galar rested in the springs and it healed all his wounds. ..Plus I wanted to try the famous Bob's Your Uncle cafe here too. They're supposed to have THE best curry in all of Galar, and who knows when I'll come back here again." He then looked at you. "What about you Y/n?"

You looked at him interested. "Well if I'm being completely honest I think I'll come with you. It's been a while since I've been able to walk around and go sight seeing."

"Then it's settled! Let's meet back 'ere in the lobby when we're all finished."

You all agreed and after tightening your coats around you more, all made off your own ways. Gloria heading in the direction of the pokemon center on the other side of town before going off to battle with you and the boys heading in the opposite direction towards the rock gym since the famous Hero Springs Victor wanted to look at. Eventually parting with him too as soon as the both of you got there. Wishing him luck against Gordie before he left and you followed Victor to what you could only describe as a bath house modeled closely to the buildings of the ancient roman times back on your world. You followed Victor around marveling the sights and old looking structure as he smiled despite his hate for the cold and snapped plenty of pictures of everything as he did back at the Hammerlocke Castle Ruins. You walked up to the steaming water that almost looked boiling hot that was roped off from the public just touching it and watched the warm steam rise from it. Sighing as the warm steam was welcomed against the biting cold you couldn't get away from right now. Victor having getting his share of the old historical sight mentioned there was a few other places that the spring water came through, like the fountain in the town square and mentioned wanting to check out the extended parts of the underground spring as well and offered for you to come if you were interested in coming with him. Of course you agreed since you really had nothing else to do at that moment while waiting for the other two to complete their Gym battles, which by now you were sure they were doing or at least finishing up any gym challenge they were doing at the moment, before going back to the meet up spot anyways. So together you two traveled from the front of the rock type gym to the center of town so he could document more of the springs, before following him again as he moved somewhere else and you followed him down a small flight of stairs to another but much more smaller part of the springs that wasn't so visible or visited by the public. And then another small spot just like a little farther aways on the other side of town. It was...Pretty peaceful despite the chilling cold and snow lightly still falling around you, Victor, and everyone else walking around. It was quiet except for your footsteps crunching through the snow and anyone else walking around or talking. Walking around the decently big town with Victor you noticed there was also a few businesses besides the pokemon center. Your resident barber shoppe, an antique store, a few small little thrift shops that sold merchandise of what looked like the two gyms and their gym leaders at the brief glances through the windows you gave, a grocery store, a clothes store, of course the hotel, and a strange looking cafe with the Logo of a man out in front. A sign above the door told you the name of said establishment. Bob's Your Uncle. Hey. Wasn't that the cafe Victor mentioned back at the hotel he mentioned wanting to see? You pointed it out to him and he seemed to light up! Mentioning how you two should drop by and seeing it even if you didn't eat anything. You agreed since by all the walking around and sight seeing you did, you two must've been out here for nearly two hours by this point. So it'd be nice to warm up for a bit. So you two happily walked up to said store and pushed the door open before walking right in. The warm air of the cafe combined with the mouth watering smells of the food made you sigh in relief. Another bigger picture of the logo man was inside on one of the walls, with the place being a color scheme of yellow and red, and a few people sitting around eating already. Including one particular boy who looked up from his seat in the back when Victor pointed him out.

"Hey Hop!," Victor called over to him and Hop looked up from where he was sat phone in one hand and hot coco in the other but smiled when he saw you two approaching. "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet back at the hotel."

Hop shrugged. "Yeah, but I thought it'd be fine to stop by for some hot chocolate. Who doesn't like hot coco?"

"I know I do!," You agreed with a smile, "How did your battle go?"

"Arghhh." He slumped back turning his head up to the ceiling with a groan. "I lost. It all went to pot. There must've been something wrong with my strategy but I just did what I've seen Lee do in battles!"

"Huh..Well maybe that's the problem."

He paused before blinking back to you as you looked at him. "....Huh? Whaddya mean?''

"Well, everyone has different fighting styles. Including you and Gloria, and if these guys are a part of the league and you're trying to fight like Leon, they'll probably be able to beat you because they've seen how Leon fights and knows how best to counteract his style."

"But he's the unbeatable champion! If I use his method I should be able to be unbeatable too! I've studied his style for years!"

"It may seem like that," You explained, "But it IS Leon's style and he's perfected it. If someone tries to copy him they won't be as perfect as it compared to someone who's mastered his own style to a degree that makes him such a powerful trainer. And everyone's style is constantly changing. Think about it. If Lee kept his style the EXACT same then eventually someone would've found a flaw in it by now and taken the title from him. Leon doesn't have 'just one style' either. Like everyone else they train and adapt to better themselves that's how he's unbeatable. It's ok to use things you learnt other people do, but you said yourself you were thinking of new strategies. Instead of trying to apply what you think Leon would do, ask yourself what would YOU do."

Hop paused seeming to stare at you for a while before humming and looking back to his phone. "...You actually might have a point. I'll have to rethink a few things then."

You smiled. "Glad I could help. Speaking of which Where's Gloria? If you're finished with your battle then that must mean Gloria is too right?"

"Maybe she's waiting for us back at the hotel."

"Oh hey!" You yelped and jumped around at the lady's voice that suddenly came up behind you, and found yourself face to face with none other than said brunette Girl and Sonia who chuckled at your reaction. "There you are."

....You sighed before giving her a frown. "First Leon and now you too Sonia?" You crossed your arms. "Seriously. Give a girl a warning you're gonna do that first...Wait. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Got that Gym badge, Glory?," Hop asked politely.

Gloria nodded with a proud hum. "I jus' had ta switch out for some fire n' steel types I caught. Wasn't easy tho."

"Nice one!," Hop complimented before holding something out to her, "That reminds me. Here. Take this. It's the rock leader's league card. You guys should check out the gym leader you'll have to face too. And me. I've gotta figure out what to put on my team once and for all and no more of this doubting! Especially when I have to defeat at least one of the gyms here for their badge."

"Gee thanks!" She eagerly took the card from him.

"I've been trying to found out more about the Darkest Day and the sword and shield pokemon, but still no luck." She sighed before shaking her head. "I was hoping to investigate the Heroes Bath after studying the tapestries and castle ruins in Hammerlocke." Oh. So she had been there before. "And I haven't been able to get more intel on the strange discovery in Stow-on-Side since the Chairman's team is still researching and the area's become off limits to anyone who isn't the League or authorized. But I just ran into Gloria here and figured the rest of you couldn't be far behind her."

You chuckled. "Well you aren't wrong. I'm really sorry about all the dead ends stopping your work Sonia. I'm sure you'll get a break through somewhere." And you DID know since according to the game she does.

She smiled. "Well thank you, Y/n. It's much appreciated." Her blue eyes glanced behind you. "It's really nice ...." She paused staring right over your shoulder. "...to..see you...Wait."

You rose a brow. "What?" Your f/c eyes blinked in confusion when Sonia all of a sudden grabbed you and pushed you aside a bit as she moved behind you. Unintentionally making you bump into the table Hop was sitting at making him scramble to hold his hot coco out of harm's way as you gave her a look. "Sonia!?"

"Hold on!" She exclaimed back looking at a wall. But more importantly what was ON the wall. Which looked like half a tapestry. And in the very SAME art style and people on them from the Hammerlocke Vault!! "No way! What's this!?"

"Uh...A fifth tapestry??"

"The heroes!" She exclaimed pointing to both of the same men from the first tapestries. "Look..sad. And where are the sword and shield?" She hummed before scanning it more. "What was the meaning of this picture?" Ever the fast thinker wasn't she?

You pushed yourself from the table dusting your still slightly snow covered self off before shrugging. "Well those behind them look kinda like grave stones or some kind of sealed tomb." You pointed out pointing at the tapestry and Sonia squinted harder at where you were pointing. "This probably just means the end of the legend. Y'know. Where the hero finally gets to have peace after his long battle? It happens all the time in fairytales."

"You think so?," she asked giving you a glance. As you shrugged she looked back to the tapestry, or what seemed to remain of it, with her hand to her chin blankly staring at it. "....Didn't think I'd see something like this in Bob's Your Uncle. I guess it could be they passed on or that they were sealed away. Or maybe they've gone into some kind of sleep?"

"Well...I mean they call it 'rest in peace' for a reason."

"Well.." You flinched when Hop spoke, not expecting the boy to be studying the tapestry too. "Based on those statues we saw at Stow-on-Side, the sword and shield were actually two pokemon right?"

You rose a brow. "Since when did you see those statues back in Stow-on-Side?? You and Victor left before Bede's stunt."

"Gloria showed me pictures she took of it before you left. But it kinda dawned of me seeing those sword and shield symbols on them. Couldn't they have been pokemon?"

"That's right! That's my take on it at least."

"......Hey." She suddenly turned to Hop and blinked as he pointed to Gloria. "You remember the pokemon we met that day?" ...Gloria rose a confused brow as he spoke. "You remember. That weird giant blurry pokemon we met in the Slumbering Weald."

"Oh yeah! I've completely forgottin' 'bout that by now." She shivered. "Still gives me the heeby jeebies."

Hop chuckled a bit. "Do you think...it could've been one of them?" he gestured the hand holding his phone to her. "Either the sword or shield pokemon? The blurry fog monster we saw kinda looked like those pokemon statues in Stow-on-Side you showed us."

"You..." Sonia was slow to blink and look at Both the kids wide eyed as she talked. The only one who looked super confused was Victor who you guessed hadn't heard of the 'mysterious fog pokemon' bit. "Met them?! Like...Really REALLY met them!?"

"Come on. You know what I'm talking about right, Glory?"

She nodded, "Yep. Right before Lee bailed us out o' the Slumberin' Weald."

"Exactly! We told you too Sonia remember. The mad pokemon we ran into in the fog! Although..I can't remember seeing it too well. Don't you think that could've been it?", Hop pondered.

"Oh right! You lot have been in the Slumbering Weald!"

"Duh."

You gave Gloria a small tap to her shoulder as if to say 'Don't be rude.' "As much as I agree this is all strange, don't you all think you're jumping the gun here a bit? That could've been any big pokemon in the fog, and you said it yourself. You don't remember much of what it looked like. We shouldn't just make assumptions without proof."

Hop hummed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much of a coincidence anyhow. But it's not an assumption, just a guess. Doesn't hurt to theorize ideas."

Sonia on the other hand smiled happily and held up her hands excitedly. "I only started on this journey because my gran told me to, but this is turning out to be so much fun! You've got to tell me more! How about we discuss this over a meal? Go on. What do you want to eat? Let's get our orders in!"

"Whoa! Hey there buckaroo!" She blinked when you grabbed her shoulder and she blinked. "As much as I love the food as much as the next person, maybe you should slow down there a bit. Didn't you just get here or something?"

...She gave a bashful face. "Oh yeah. R-Right. Sorry I must've gotten caught up in the moment. But hey! How about I treat you all to a nice curry and hot chocolate anyways? It'd be the least I could do for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I dunno. I don't wanna leave my Drizzilie in the hotel room for too long. I'm afraid he's gonna come looking for us if we're gone for too long and I don't want him outside in this weather."

"How about the sweet instant noodle curry they serve here?," Victor suggested as a compromise pointing to the counter the two men were currently cleaning, and the stack of supplies, food, and other things lining the wall behind them. "All they would have to do is poor hot water in it and it's the cheapest curry on the menu. Plus I don't like the spicy ones too much. I may hate the cold but I'm not up for burning my tongue."

Sonia nodded. "Quick and simple. Sounds like a good match to me!" She turned towards the two men and waved a hand gaining one's attention. "Yoo hoo. Sir! Five instant noodle curries and hot cocos please! Uh. Sweet wise." The man nodded before putting down the cloth he was wiping the counter with and turning to grab a few things from the shelf as Sonia gestured for the five of you to sit with Hop at the big table he was currently at. "While we wait, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Slumbering Weald again. Maybe it'll help me piece together something."

"Sure!"

So the five of you at around the table as you all patiently heard Hop recount the entire events of the Slumbering Weald incident starting from the wooloo banging against the gate to the Slumbering Weald to when you all left it. In the middle of him retelling his your food was delivered by one of the men behind the bar and you gladly took it wanting something warm in your stomach before having to go back out in the cold, Gloria taking a quick picture of it before you all began eating it. It looked and smelt a lot like those instant ramen cups you'd sometimes had to resort to have for lunch back at home since money was tight with your mother working hard as a single mother now and you having to work summer, weekend, and afterschool jobs in your spare time to help with bills. If you didn't then she'd say you were being lazy with your music and games again...Anyways. It looked like instant ramen and was sprinkled with curry sauce. You were a bit doubtful of how it'd taste but when you ate it it wasn't that bad. It had a bittersweet kinda taste that wasn't too sweet or sour thanks to the sauce covering the noodles when you ate it, and it was a bit more like pasta than a curry. But you weren't going to complain about free curry and hot coco in this cold weather and neither was anyone else as they ate and listened to Hop, and then Gloria as she recounted her own point of view on the events which was pretty much Hop's as well but you all let her speak her mind. By the time she finished everyone had already finished eating and drinking their food even Hop who had gotten a second hot coco thanks to Sonia's generosity.

"-and then Lee found us and marched us both back home where we met up with Y/n," Gloria finished pointing at you. "Mum was...not very happy about it all."

"Fascinating," Sonia commented thinking again, "All right." She suddenly stood up making all of you blink. "The next thing to do now that we're done eating is to have a look around Circhestester! Let's inspect the Hero's Bath."

"Huh? But we were just there. Wasn't anything that could be tied to your research," Victor said.

You shrugged as you stood up. "Well we were going to leave to go back to the hotel soon anyways. Let's go have a look since we'll have to go that way anyways."

Victor looked like he wanted to protest but sighed as his Best friend and twin also stood up to follow Sonia out the door. The cold outside nipped back at all of you as you tightened your scarf around your nose and mouth. Following Sonia back to the steaming waters of the spring under the town as you all entered back under the historical sight. Hop and Gloria looking out in awe at the place.

"The Hero's Bath, "Sonia commented looking around the place, "They say this is where the two heroes came to soothe their wounds after the battle to bring down that evil presence long ago. Nowadays only pokemon really use the Hero's bath though. Hmm. Who exactly were the heroes that bathed here? I think I'll have to look into that...Gloria! Hop!" She turned her head to shout at the two and both looked up from one of the carvings in the stone at her. "You two met a mysterious pokemon back in the Slumbering Weald. Perhaps...you two can become new heroes."

You blinked at her. Where did that come from?

Even Hop looked at her confused and skeptical. "What? Like some hero waving around a sword and shield? Psh. Pull the other one."....But he hummed. "Though...I guess I'd fancy a shield if I had to take my pick."

"Hm. What kind of battle do you think the heroes had back then?"

You shrugged and went to say something- "Why don't we show her, Glory?" Hop asked giving his friend a playful shove, "Think we can pull off a real heroic battle?"

Gloria giggled back before giving him her signiture determined look. "Oh I think that'd be just the thing ta warm up me bones!"

"Sonia treated us to a great meal. After all that curry I feel like I've got the energy to wrestle a bewear!"

Sonia returned her hands to her hips amused. " A battle now? I don't entirely understand your reasoning but I might as well see what you can do."

"FORG-G-GET IT!!", Victor yelled as you all looked at his shivering form turn on his heel and stomp off towards the direction of the gym, "Y-Ya'll can battle if ye want! 'M headed ta b-b-battle that bloke and return to the h-h-hotel! I w-wanna leave this place as soon as possible!"

"..Hm. I'd hate to say this, but I think I getting get back too." You gave Sonia a look. "Thanks for the food. It was really good seeing you again, but I REALLY wanna go back and check on my drizzilie."

She nodded understanding. "Of course. I'd feel the same thing about Yamper if I was in your position."

You nodded before turning to the other two. "And you guys don't stay out here for too long. Come back when you're all done battling."

"We will!," Hop quickly agreed before pointing away from the Springs, "Time for a little exhibition match starring the future champion!"

With a wave to them all you all turned and jogged to catch up to Victor who was rubbing his arms and muttering to himself as he stomped his way back towards the gym. And you didn't blame him, you wanted to get out of the cold too and see how your Drizzilie was doing. You two made your way across the town and into the familiar fancy hotel, through the elevator and immediately headed onto your own separate rooms. You were kinda worried your pokemon might've wondered out of the room but when you entered you found him in the same spot you left him in. Curled up on one of the beds and barely even opened an eye at you as you came back in gave giving a small thrum before curling back onto it's side away from you and going back to napping. Hmm...Maybe Hop was right about your drizzilie developing a new lazy habit. Or maybe it was because he was cold blooded or something like a snake and had a hibernation thing?? You shrugged it off and instead sighed as you finally had a moment to shed your winter coat and relax for a little bit, flopping onto the bed next to the napping pokemon who again barely moved as you did so. And you remained there even when Gloria returned and you gave a small wave as a greeting.

"Hey. How was the battle?"

"Fine! Although I won Hop seems to finally have gotten out of the lil funk he was in thanks ta Bede!," she answered happily, " 'E's with Victor right now."

"Hey that's great to hear! It's good he's getting back into a healthier mindset."

"Yeah! I still can't wait ta see him compete in the champion finals this year! It's gonna be so much fun! I-....." She stopped talking for a second and then you heard frantic shuffling about and footsteps. With a sigh you turned your head up from the spot you were laying down at and was met with the sight of her shaking her coat upside down frantically over he bed as she looked worried. When nothing dropped from the coat she unceremoniously dropped it and whipped her head around back to you. "Y/N! My camera's gone!"

"..What?," you asked pushing yourself up as she patted herself down searching her pockets.

"Victor's camera he's lettin' me borrow!," she yelled sounding more concerned, "I was supposed ta give it back ta him once I finished fillin' me dex books!! He's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa! Hey!" You were quick to push yourself up into a sitting pose as you watched her start to likely panic. "Gloria!" She paused blinked wide eyed worried at you as you groaned standing off the bed and stretching out your back. "First you need to calm down." You held up a hand rubbing your back. "You probably just accidentally dropped it somewhere."

"WHERE!?"

"I have no idea." She looked worried again. That was probably the wrong thing to say apparently. "Whoa. Don't freak out on me here. Look. There's still plenty of daylight left. I'm sure if we just retrace your steps then we'll find it for sure. When's the last time you remembered having it?"

.....She blinked. "Uh! A-At the cafe! Then we went to the hero's bath."

You nodded. "Ok. Then let's go look over there and see if we can't find it ok?"

Gloria nodded and you sighed again. Looks like you all were going out yet again. You both quickly put your winter wear back on and out you went again. The winter weather nipping at you even colder now that it must've been about near sun down by how limited light there was too. There was still enough to clearly see the snow and all the surroundings but it was noticeably colder as night drew nearer as you both stopped in front of the warm springs in the town square.

"A-Alright! 'Eere's the plan!," Gloria said pointing at you, "I'll go check the cafe you go check the bath. We'll cover more ground like that!"

You nodded wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "Alright. But hurry, and keep an eye out in case you dropped it on the ground somewhere. Meet me back here as soon as you can."

She nodded and before you could get another word in she turned and scurried off towards the cafe area. After a moment to relax you sighed shaking your head and started walking off towards the Hero's Bath, making sure to scan the road and ground around you for any signs of a camera dropped in the snow. But you saw nothing as you looked around. Your footsteps crunched in the snow once again and you shivered rubbing your arms as you made your way towards the hero's bath still looking for it. Just when you thought you'd be able to rest for the rest of the day. You just wanted to find the darn thing and return back to the warm hotel. As you circled the large building needed to get to the Hero's Bath you paused blinking at the sight in front of you. Oh great what was it now? In front of the Hero's Bath was a small crowd of anywhere from fifthteen to about twenty people mostly women huddled around...something? Sure the Hero's Bath must've been a really cool historical sight to see but you didn't think such a crowd would gather here all of a sudden especially when it wasn't like this the other times you passed by it. Oh well. Right now you could care less and just wanted to find that darn camera and return to the hotel as soon as possible. Besides you could easily just walk around the happily chattering crowd without having to bother anyone. Get in, look around for a camera, get out, and then meet up back with Gloria. Easy enough. Or so you thought. With a sigh behind your scarf, you braced yourself and began walking your way over towards the crowd, and like you had suspected there was plenty of room to walk passed them, or so you thought again when a woman dressed in all while and with white hair suddenly appeared and you both ran right into each other. With the speed walk you were going it was impossible to stop on time before you collided with the white blur with a yelp. Stumbling back your foot slipped on some snow and down you went arms flailing landing on your bottom on the hard stone ground. Luckily you weren't hurt but you hissed and mumbled something under your breath at the feeling of the cold seeping into the back of your pants now.

"Oh my goodness gracious!," an older woman's voice exclaimed above you and when you looked up you were met with a woman who looked about the same age as your mom as she held her face in an 'Oh no' kinda pose as she looked at you. All decked out in white winter wear. "I'm so sorry, Young Lady. I didn't see you there."

You waved her off as more people turned their heads at the commotion. "Nah. It's ok. It's my fault I wasn't looking where I was going-," you had begun to say before another's voice much more louder and angrier sounding made you both look over.

"MOM!! What are you doin'!?," A man's voice shouted out as people parted and a guy who looked vaugely familiar marched his way forward. The man wore...Shades of all things in this not so sunny weather with a tan-ish coat thrown over himself and blonde-white hair that draped to just above his shoulders as he pushed his way through the small crowd of people until he stopped right in front of you and the woman. He looked right at your confused self still sitting on the ground for a moment before looking over at the woman with a deep frown. "Seriously!? Ya knocked one of my fans over?"

"I'm so sorry, Honey. Really I am," she said calmly as if she had all the patience of an ancient monk. "But it was an accident." Oh. So this must've been his mom. But what does he mean by fan?? You didn't even know this guy.

"Tch!," he scoffed before crossing his arms, "Yeah right. You crash all my events especially after I win against a gym challenger." Your eyes widened. ....Gym chall-..OH!! Now you remember! You looked between the two who had a resemblance now that you looked at them. Gym Leaders Melony and Gordie! So that's why he looked semi familiar to you. These were some of the few characters you actually remembered from your time playing the game! ..Oh. And they were known for fighting of course. "You're lucky you didn't cause her to hit her head during the fall!" You looked back up blinking wide eyed at him as he scowled at his mother. "Did you even apologise to her or were you just gonna forget that too?"

You stared wide eyed at him. Who says that to their own mother!? Through all this Melony just calmly and sadly watched him as he angrily spewed out. You WISH your mom was like Melony- "HEY!!" You were quick to try and rise to your feet stumbling a bit on the snow as you did. Rising up with your own frown behind the scarf covering your face and quickly dusting yourself off.

"Ah man. Are you alright there?," he asked holding his hand out. "Sorry about my mom-"

"Oh be quiet!" You bluntly said as you snapped your face to him, which combined with your sharp tone seemed to make him pause in the moment. "I know exactly who you are!! What is WRONG with you man!?" You couldn't help but shout at him. Well considering Gordie's only a side character who you wouldn't probably see again after Gloria defeated him, it would be ok to shout at him. Especially since you weren't in the game's storyline at the moment. So you jabbed him in the chest which made him blinked and take a couple steps back. "Of course your mother apologized to me but that's NOT the point! It was an accident and I happened to run into HER! Not the other way around!! Are you kidding me with your behavior right now, Gordie!? Don't you see what you're doing!?" You gestured towards Melony who looked shocked herself seeing you jab at her son. "You're yelling at your own mother who didn't do anything wrong in front of a bunch of your fans in public!? Are you trying to embarrass her or something!? Your mom's so much nicer than you!! Geez! What were those guys thinking!?"

"I-...W-Wha-" He sputtered but you shut him down real quick.

"NO! You're not allowed to talk to me! You know why? Because your mom's one of the nicest people in all of Galar!! DUDE GET OVER YOUR STUPID EGO!! You both had a fight like..years ago!? So WHAT?! You're running your own stadium you wanted and you have like loads of fans! Don't you think that bashing her in front of your fans would make her look bad!?....No. Scratch that." He blinked as you took a step forward and he stepped back. "It makes YOU look bad! SO I am NOT a fan of yours! I'm just here looking for a missing camera but even if I didn't I'd still feel bad for your mother! Don't you think the reason Melony makes an effort to be in your fan club and trying so hard to support you is her way of showing she cares about you and is actually sorry about the fight you two had!?" You shook your head. "Gosh. Your head must be thicker than a onix if you missed that!!"

There was silence all around as the once crowd of chattering people were all shocked and staring at you, Gordie, or Melony or looking between the three of you as Gordie just stared jaw dropped and making noises like a fish out of water as you scoffed and turned around. Melony watching with equal reaction to her son and even passing people who weren't a part of the crowd was staring right at you as you turned your back to him.

"So don't apologize to me. Because the only one you should be apologizing to is your poor mother." You gave him one last very SERIOUS look over your shoulder. "As someone who wished for a parent like her, you need to get a reality check man." You turned back to his shocked mother before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all this, Ma'am. But I gotta go. I have to meet up back with my friends."

With a new sour feeling that combined with your annoyance with the cold and falling down, without looking behind you, you turned on your heels and stomped off back towards where Gloria was headed when you both split up. You didn't feel like staying at the Hero's Bath any longer now with the eerie silent you left behind. Everyone watched after you as you disappeared....until a single THUNK sound broke the silence as Gordie's shades fell off his shocked face to the cold ground below.

[thefishesbite]

Diary Entry: 10/17/2024 || Romance is not included

God, having a crush is terrible. Currently, I have a crush on one of my friends called Luca. He’s a senior and currently one of my close friends in the friend group- considering he is always on our group calls, which means that when I’m there (which is almost all of the time) he’s there too. He’s also a part of a D&D campaign that a few of the friend group has had for a few weeks now- it happens every Saturday, from 2pm to 11pm.

I do not dislike having a crush due to the amount of time I’m around him. I love hanging out with him, if I must be honest. I don’t like having a crush because nothing is coming from it. Luca and I are quite physically affectionate with each other- we essentially act like we’re dating, without truly discussing feelings or doing immensely romantic things like kissing and going on dates.

The worst of our seemingly platonic affection is Oct 2. It was a Thursday when we didn’t have school due to rosh hashanah. A small part of the group ended up hanging out that day- that being Luca, Nick, Carlos, Owen, Javi and I. We went to Lucas house and ended up spending most of the day there- going out only to get lunch.

There was a time where I was getting sleepy, which happens often for some reason. I made a joke that I was going to go sleep in Luca’s bed, to which he followed me to his room. When I laid down, he joined me on the bed. It was a small bed so I laid on my side and pushed myself up against the wall so he could have all the space- he’s quite muscular and naturally much taller than I am so he obviously would take more space. Instead, he rolled onto his own side and pulled his arm over me.

He began to cuddle me, pulling me in closer to him. I was quite surprised because there were others in the house- and I wasn’t meaning to actually go lay in bed for very long. But he continued to pull me close as we both attempted (terribly I might add, since I kept on almost laughing) to take a short nap. Later on, I realized that quite literally the day before he refused to take a nap- because he “doesn’t take naps”. When I asked him about it, he said that he was just tired.

This was not the first time I’ve cuddled him. The first ever time was at a D&D campaign, where I had gotten sleepy near the end (sensing a pattern yet?) and went to lay on the bed in the room we were in. He joined me, though laid simply flat on his back next to me. I got a sudden burst of confidence and threw my arm around his chest. I don’t know exactly what happened but it evolved to us cuddling closely. Then, when we had to go back and focus on the actual D&D, he continued to rest his hand on my thigh- or even put it on my waist to pull me closer to him, since I was sitting next to him.

We actually cuddled a second time, much later and for much longer, where he slid his hand into the back pocket of my jeans. Someone in D&D took a photo of us- which was quite silly. I was expecting much more poking, prodding, comments and photos. But everyone let us be, minus a few comments, and continued just talking in between themselves since it was downtime.

This is not the first time we’ve had physical affection that could be easily misread as romantic. It certainly won’t be the last.

I’m confident enough to be physically affectionate with the people I have crushes on, but never confident enough to actually ask them out. Luca is not the first case of this happening- where I like someone, pursue them, and they may like me back. Luca is not the first limbo case- where the two of us are in a perpetuating cycle of being almost romantically involved but neither saying anything to actually pursue more.

Soon is homecoming and I wanna make a much more confident move with Luca- instead of pretending we are just friends who cuddle in his bed and rub each other's lips (yeah! He actually did that to me once, when I had laid my head on his lap while we were watching a show. He had put his arm on my chest and began, possibly subconsciously, rubbing my lips with his thumb). I’m getting tired of us running in circles, but I’m too nervous to do anything myself. I just wanna kiss him but I just can’t muster up the courage at the moment.

I hope, in some way, something comes out of this crush that's possibly not just a one-way street. Unfortunately, it's not truly confirmed if Luca likes me back- but it’s quite probable that there's at least something. When I admitted my crush to two new people today (so far only Carlos knew for a while, but now Brian and Nico do as well), Nico immediately shrugged. He began muttering something about how Luca always attempts to protect me.

That’s also not including the lip rubbing, ass touching and cuddling. Which really sounds like he really likes me when written out.

I wish he could just get the memo, but at the same time he probably won’t. He’s quite dense and very autistic, so he might have issues with being able to tell my physical affection- although limited to him somewhat- is an attempt at romantic affection. I do not truly limit the touching to him, since I do terribly enjoy being physically affectionate with everyone- though it’s only him who I do the more blatantly romantic affection.

This isn’t even all the complications of my love life with Luca, but the basis of “will he, won’t he?” is irritating me and I need to say something.

[electricprincess96]

Ep 2 of Season 2 of HOTD was.... disjointed. It felt like just as I was getting into a scene it changed.

Once again we are robbed of girl dad Daemon Targaryen because the show seems to believe he is not allowed to have even one redeeming quality. Baela Targaryen of all people having daddy issues is just wild to me I'm sorry but who are these characters cause they aren't the Daemon and Baela I know. And yes I know Fire and Blood is not a reliable narrator but when all the sources in that book seem to agree that Daemon for all his many faults was at least a decent father to Baela (if not both his daughters) then I don't see why that can't be adapted in the show. Daemon can be all the other horrible things that he is but removing this one trait from him making him so much less interesting.

I don't like how.... weak Rhaenyra seems to be. Also she can't seem to decide if she's sad, vengeful, level headed. Like I do not have a grasp of who this Rhaenyra is the way I did in Season 1.

I see everyone in Team Black minus Jace have already forgotten Luke. 10/11 days of mourning is all you get my sweet boy.

Otto Hightower was the star of this episode (and honestly i liked him in the last one too). Like yes is this whole entire situation almost entirely his fault? Yes. But it was fun watching him realise his family are all idiots and he's unable to control their stupidity. Like Otto was one second away from sailing to Dragonstone and begging Rhaenyra to be Queen that's how much Aegon and Alicent annoyed the crap out of him in this episode. Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised of we don't see much or any of him for the rest of the season and dare I say that's kinds sad. The collective IQ in the Red Keep has plummeted.

Aegon's pain and mourning was believable and very well portrayed. The issue is they really want me to feel bad for Aegon but these are the same writers that made him a rapist, child molester and fan of watching children fighting in pits (some of them his own bastard children) so like..... I would feel sympathy for him except you've made him a colossal piece of shit and no I won't forget.

Helaena has been able to portray a lot of emotions despite the script giving her very little to do. I thought the funeral scene would be more than it was honestly. Aegon not even speaking to her on the staircase was cold but I think fit the characters well.

Crispy Cole.... if hypocrisy had a face. Him gaslighting Sir Arryk into going to try and kill Rhaenyra to cover up COLE'S mistake of not doing his job cause he was too busy doing Alicent was oh so scummy. Also do we really need to keep ending episodes on Cole and Alicent fucking?

.... I won't talk too much about the Daemon and Rhaenyra scene cause I just don't think it was very good. Like these two can absolutely fight after what Daemon did with Blood and Cheese but it felt like the writer of this episode wanted to retcon their entire relationship into being "oh she never really believed in him or trusted him" which makes the whole scheme last season to get Laenor out the way and allow her to marry Daemon seem really fucking stupid right now and makes Rhaenyra seem incapable of making good decisions regarding her allies if she claims she never even trusted her own King Consort. Like Rhaenyra KNEW who Daemon was before all this, her acting like she didn't somewhat sign up for this when she chose to marry him is dumb. I don't want perfect angel Rhaenyra who does no wrong, Rhaenyra is a Targaryen but she's lacking the fire recently. Like yeah she shouldn't be happy about this but to act like she doesn't hold some responsibility is nonsense. Making both Lucerys' death and now Jaehaeyr's deaths down to "accidents" or miscommunications is merely robbing so many characters of agency in a desire to make them sympathetic and marketable.

But yeah I didn't really like this episode, maybe upon rewatches I'll appreciate it more but overall it wasn't great. Neither ep1 or ep2 have really reached the heights of Season 1 for me so far.

[just-emerald-star]

MY THOUGHTS ON THE TOTAL DRAMA REBOOT (BOTH SEASONS)

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for both seasons of Total Dram's Reboot. Just as a head's up.

Since I never intend on discussing the series on my channel (at least not until it gets an official release in the US...thx for that WB/Max) I'll share my thoughts on the Total Drama Reboot (both seasons in context) here in detail. I'll be doing so through explaining my thoughts on the characters.

If you want my basic thoughts on both season first, here's the gist:

SEASON 1: Excellent from start to finish. Minus a few glaring issues the show has been known for (gross out jokes/fart jokes), it was absolutely phenomenal. A real & true breath of fresh air after a streak of shit seasons (not including Ridonculous Race <3) | 9.5/10

SEASON 2: This season had a lot to prove since it was gonna bring back the cast and we all know what happens when Total Drama insists on keeping characters longer than necessary. I was pleasantly surprised when they dodged a bullet and made a damn good second season with the cast. The new writing team has given this series a much-needed edge to put it back on the map. That said, some of the characters very clearly stayed on for too long or in one person's case...won the whole damn season. It suffered from keeping certain characters around for too long but it did give some (mainly my boi Caleb) some much needed screentime and development. | Gets a 8/10.

Now onto the character stuff.

First things first: Here's the tier list I made for the cast. It'll help as I explain myself per each placement.

Ok so let's start from the bottom and make our way to the top cuz I'd like to end this on a positive note.

No. Just. No Tier

Chase: Easily one of the most annoying characters in the entire show. I know that's the point, cuz he's a shitty influencer type who cares mostly about himself and the views. I totally get that. But that's ALL he was. We often saw him be a nuisance who cared more about himself or impressing Emma. I didn't laugh at him not once. He was just plain awful. And if that was the point, then good shit writers, I guess lol

Emma: Sadly she suffered from being attached to Chase. Her whole reason for being on the show was just connected to Chase. It was also the point for her but what gets me is that she was a tour de force outside of Chase's shadow. This was proven when she tried focusing on herself and was besties with Bowie. Those were glimmers of hope. And I was hoping she'd come back stronger post-S1 upon learning that Chase lied to her. But in the end, Emma was just...kinda there until she left.

Millie: Nah fam, I couldn't stand her. Started out fine enough and was fun to have around, but once she started moving forward in the game with Priya in the alliance, I started growing tired of her. I'm glad she started taking the game seriously but man oh man it was too late. Didn't need to see her in that finale, but she's lucky it was for the sake of reconciling with Priya. And the less said about her time in S2, the better. Just glad she left early.

Ripper: Fuck Ripper. He wasn't funny. He had a few good lines here & there but was just...not great. If you like him, that's cool. His relationship with Axel was admittedly adorable though. Not enough to make me like him but still cute nonetheless lol

WASTED POTENTIAL & MEH TIERS

Gonna combine these two since they have one character each in there.

Nichelle: Sweetie, I'm so sorry. We were all rooting for you. you were a victim of high expectations just by design alone. And it's a shame cuz you could've been great. You left in S1 so early & that hurt like hell. But then you came back swinging in S2 and kicked ass...until you fell for such a shitty tactic. Brilliant on Julia's part but fuck y'all for not giving Nichelle more time to shine.

Axel: I don't have much to say on her tbh. She was just kinda in the middle for me. She honestly would've been much higher if she wasn't dragged down by her lovey-dovey relationship with Ripper as S2 went on. Still adorable pairing tho. Glad she was around a bit more in S2 tho.

GOOD & GREAT TIERS

Wayne: I suppose I'll start with S2's winner. I love Wayne. He's a great friend & ally to Raj, on top of just being hella funny. Love what he was all about. Sadly, S2 didn't do him any favors. He was still the lovable goof we know & love but it felt like his IQ took a bit of a nosedive between seasons. And on top of that, IDK how tf he reached the finale over Raj. Again, I love Wayne. I really do. But him winning S2 was...a choice.

Zee: Funny af guy. Crazy how he got sent away for similar reasons twice. I don't have any critiques of the guy. He was funny everytime he was on screen. He's just good. Not great, but good. Loved him.

MK: This lady would've been a bit lower if I was only talking about S1. But the writers gave her a major glow up in S2. Seriously, her & Julia's friendship is some excellent TV. Seeing them work together and fuck around with everyone was fun to watch. She's never been a fave for me but I do appreciate having her around.

Damien: Oh honey, you were robbed. Damien was one of my faves from the beginning. Was hoping for more from him in S1 but realized he left at the perfect time, otherwise he would've gotten annoying af. S2 however...my man stepped the fuck up & I'm so damn glad. He was SO GOOD and he made merge. And then my heart broke when he got sent packing. I knew the moment he found that idol he was done for. He was gonna lose it. I hated it. He could've reached the finale.

MY FAVES TIER

Scary Girl: Scary motherfucker who had some of the best lines/moments throughout S1. I appreciated the writing for her in S2, even if it didn't quite stick the landing...that is, until she returned in the finale. She was back to her crazy self and I loved every minute of it. Entertaining character from start to finish.

Julia: Easily the second best antagonist in this reboot. One of the best surprises in the reboot. Holy shit, Julia was given all the good shit. Whether it was the writing or character moments, Julia basically delivered what I look for in villain in Total Drama. One thing that bitch is gonna do is find a way to win immunity by any means necessary and honey, she's a challenge beast in the right circumstances.

Priya: Ah yes, S1's winner. One of the best competitors in Total Drama. She was made for shit like this, as explained to us by her lol. I loved her in S1, cuz she was hella focused and stayed in the game despite being let down by Millie at every turn. Don't cross Priya y'all homegirl will win lol. S2 Priya was solid and I especially loved her budding relationship with Caleb, despite all the hiccups. She kinda lost her focus when Caleb came up but even that didn't entirely stop her from kicking ass. Also kudos to Total Drama & I having characters named Priya.

TOP TIER

Bowie: The baddest bitch out there. I've spoken at length about how I'd love to see more prominent queer black rep in mainstream media not centered around being punchlines or tragedy. And Total Drama delivered just that to me on a silver platter. Bowie is literally everything I was looking for in great queer rep. Best part? He was well-written. Dude was written perfectly from start to finish in S1. Every move he made was executed well. Even when he fumbled, he found a way back on top. His rivalry with Julia is perfection. His friendship with Emma was cute...wish they rekindled it. And of course his relationship with Raj was so damn cute. Speaking of Raj...

Raj: Y'all gave me not one but TWO queer POC in the same season?? And they ended up together??? Total Drama you're spoiling me! Raj is one half of the hockey bros. And he was my fave of the duo. Raj just kept surprising me as the show went on. When I realized he was gay, I screamed. Jaw dropped...I really thought Bowie would be the only one. So glad I was wrong. Similar to Wayne however, his IQ did drop a bit in S2 but it wasn't as bad compared to the former. I would've preferred him to reach the finale over Wayne. Raj v. Caleb v. Julia would EAT DOWN.

And finally...

Caleb: From a first boot to a literal king of the game. Caleb was one of the biggest surprises in the show and I'm so thankful he did the dam thing in S2. Seriously, Caleb could've been another one of the show's infamous first boot punching bags. He was the one I was cautiously optimistic about coming back for S2. What was he gonna do? Was he actually a threat as Bowie assumed? How will Caleb turn out character-wise beyond the good looks? All of that was answered and then some in the first ep of S2. He made a point to be a great asset to his team. He's the embodiment of the hot guy who's got a great balance of brain & brawn, while also being a very nice guy. I especially appreciated his whole thing with Priya. I was almost certain they were gonna reach the finale ngl lol. If there were ANY justice in the world, it would've been a Caleb v. Julia finale instead of what we got. But hey, at least he made it to the end. Biggest glow up from a Total Drama character.

Annnnd that's all I've got. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Share your own thoughts in the replies below. These are just my thoughts and I've been holding them in ever since S1 got leaked last year. With both seasons out, I just felt like it was time to finally speak on them since I had no plans to make a video. As I said, maybe I'll still make one if there's interest...but no promises.

Anyway, thx again for reading & until next time, peace out!

[queenbirbs]

reblogging my old CoP theory posts to tack on my thoughts on CoP2 below

(This is as of chapter nine, where Trystan and the detective visit Juli’s room)

I’m working off the assumption that Juliana and Nadja’s killer are the same person(s). I know Trystan makes several comments about deaths being linked to each of their siblings, but I don’t think the mystery would be as delicious if the women’s deaths weren’t related

in Scooby Doo and a lot of American crime drama, the first person they interview / speak with about the crime is often the murderer (i.e. Bones, Psych, Lucifer, etc), mostly because their latter eps are 45 minutes long and they have to dangle the killer in front of us in at least the first 15 minutes because you can’t always introduce them in the last 15.

going off that, Seb or Lydea could both be considered first since we meet Lydea in NYC and then Seb on the steps (ignoring the possibility that it’s Marguerite, which I would enjoy, but I don’t see PB pulling that)

The only thread I can weave between Juliana and Nadja’s killer being Lydea is that she would be the right age for being Juli’s secret Thorne lover and the surprise Trystan and Olivia (my detective) showed at the appearance of her bedroom. While traditional (which tracks with Lydea’s personality), It was flowery and romantic and thus very offbrand for her.

Other than that, I don’t see any motive for killing Nadja over the Heir bill. Lydea is a legit heir, so unless it’s her wanting to get rid of someone for disrupting the status quo. And Ruby mentioned Nadja’s wounds were messy, and I just think the Captain of the Royal Guard would know the proper way to use a garrote. She also has her dagger with her later at dinner, so minus another suspect point.

Also, it got all confusing with the info dump (and I only played through each chapter once), but I think she did have an alibi for Nadja’s death since she was busy setting up Astrid’s latest scandal.

She could have snuck Nadja in, since she’s the captain, but I also think that any of the Thorne siblings could sneak someone into the palace without Lydea finding out (sorry, big sis).

Suspect level: 🔪🔪

Seb is clearly the red-herring. He’s the person 22 minutes in to this theoretical “episode” that looks guilty but it’s going to be revealed isn’t. He has strong connections to both women and he clearly hates Trystan. If he or his connections were revealed later in the book, then I’d give his theory more credence, but for it to be him would fall very flat. No one wants a whodunit murder story where the very obvious suspect is the “who.”

He is at the right age to be Juli’s past lover, though, and he’s apparently bad at throwing knives, so he stays on the board.

Suspect level: 🔪🔪

Patryk, Emika, and Kaspar are all about the same threat level for me, which is hardly any. For one, they’re all too young to have been Juli’s secret lover (if she was a teenager ((16-19)) when she was writing her smutty letters, I can’t see her addressing them to someone 6-8 years younger ya know).

I think they’re all classic examples of rich people treating the world as their playground, especially since they’re so low on the succession line that they don’t have any responsibilities to the crown. They get to fuck around and be artsy and misunderstood and film tiktok pranks and form pretentious cults. Patryk was introduced later in the book (similar to Tony in book one), but with his age and his ability to only hit the record button, he’s not really a threat.

The twins would kill for each other, sure, but they have no motive and, though Mags talked them up, the only thing we saw was them playing Perez Hilton on twitter. ~Ooh how scary~

All of this takes them all three off the board for me.

Suspect level: 0.5 🔪

That leaves Astrid and Vasili as my top two suspects.

I think it’s very telling that in the throne room scene after Nadja’s death that most of the siblings are paired up (Vasili and Mags looking at security cams, Lydea and Seb practicing dagger throws, etc) but Astrid is on her own (though she’s busy texting her ex or whatever Gregor was). By chapter nine, we don’t see her bonding with any of the others and she’s noticeably upset when they start dinner without her, but the queen doesn’t seem to care.

The line about the Nightingale’s song being a sound of loneliness points me to Astrid. We haven’t gotten a dossier yet on her, but I think she’s old enough to have been Juli’s lover (though her letter being in the stack they find in Juli’s bedroom loses her a point IMO.)

The only points against her are I think she had an alibi for Nadja’s death (when she was at the theater cheating on her bf). She is third in line for the throne, so even if the Heir act fell, she would have to get rid of Lydea as well.

Her connections to the mob might be useful to her, too. And Olivia Nevrakis did say she was a master manipulator.

Suspect level: 🔪🔪🔪🔪

We know that Vasili is used to covering for Trystan, is the right age to have been Juli’s lover, and is a cunning strategist. Though it would be odd that he would want the woman dead who would help him becoming king if the Heir Act passed, maybe there’s a reason for it. Maybe this secret love child (which I’ll put my hat into the ring that it might be Nadja herself, whether she’s aware or not ((because the theory that it’s Juliana is a little too medieval European for me)).) would be ahead of him in line. So he took her out of the picture so someone else would pick up the Heir Act.

Olivia did say that he did not have motive to kill Nadja, but he’s one of the last four siblings (him, Seb, Astrid, and Patryk) we haven’t gotten a dossier on yet.

His alibi for Nadja’s murder is that he was with Mags, but he does say he left a few minutes ahead of her.

Suspect level: 🔪🔪🔪🔪

And I know Eveline isn’t a Thorne sibling, but she’s still up on my sus board. I’ll give her one 🔪 simply because I think it’s weird she lives at the palace. Girl get your man to buy you a cute little penthouse in the city.

Also want to tack on that there is the possibility that two people murdered Nadja together. One more experienced garroted and did the killing, while the other stabbed her PM in an act of passion/anger. Sure, it could be the work of one person (maybe they were angry her death was over too quickly, so they stabbed her again?) but it’s very odd that one murder weapon was left at the scene — even if Kaspar did steal it later — and one was wiped clean and dropped in relatively plain sight.

Could it have been both Vasili and Astrid? She said she lost her dagger, but that could have been a lie. Or a certain someone could have stolen it.

okay I have no real basis for these accusations and I’m just spit balling here but I really, really want

trystan’s sister marguerite to be involved in the cult stuff and/or Juliana’s death

the only instance of her being sus i can pinpoint is her being shocked that they’re using a black light in his apartment to find out the number, and the emphasis on how she came over to the states to keep an eye on trystan

(also every outfit she’s given us has been ugly so I think she could be fucking with us, but that’s neither here nor there)

and when devona says that she likes us more than the other two…

or maybe I’m getting huge [redacted] vibes from the royal masquerade but…. I dunno….

[writingforatwistedworld]

REQUEST GALLORE I AM SORRY FJDKDJ--

Okay but what if, reader/mc in the self aware au already in their universe (no I don't see a patter what are you talking about-) who was usually pretty physically Affectionate to those they concidered close, friends or others. This affection Carrier also over to the twst characters they meet with hello/goodbye hugs, holding hand when walking together, headpats or patter on the back for encouragment and even mayhaps a forehead kiss or too (if the caharcters allowed it of course)

This bur liek with Leona, Azul and Malleus (ik u see a pattern Veil just don't comment on it i don't have faves i SWEAR--)

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, murder, violence, blood, death, obsession, possessiveness, kidnapping, manipulation

Leona Kingscholar/Azul Ashengrotto/Malleus Draconia-Player who is physically very affectionate

Little comparison

That scratch on that student's face that is getting stitches at the doctors? That is a random someone who tried to get just lightly pat him on the back

That person hugging Leona whilst he has to hold back from straight up holding on to them? That is the Overseer with our local not so tame house cat

Ruggie thought he was dreaming the first time he saw that happening (although he is still doing a double take after that every time)

However, at the same time it is you so is this a surprise

But let us make sense of this and not let it stand as some lonely points that crave physical affection themselves

Leona is not used to any kind of touch that is meant to show some sort of affection (minus his brothers family and he is still acting as if he got thrown into cold water)

I mean, come on. What did you expect? The servants smiling and hugging him after saying all of that?

So when you finally started to go all in (in other words wrestle jump onto him in hug version) he was this, and I really mean this close to throwing you off and making sure that you and he adore the same scar

And then, oh Overseer, it is you

The one person he imagined himself to be with since he was a child, seeing you as the only one who would accept him no matter what

This also tells us another thing: he would shred the individuals whom you also show affection towards like that

And also, once or twice, he might have returned the hug with his grip getting tighter, and tighter, and tighter, and...you ended up having a few deep scratches on your shoulder blades

Ruggie was also tempted more than just once to put up a sign saying “DO NOT ENTER!!! DON’T! DON’T ASK WHY!!! JUST DON'T!!!!!” whenever you two are in a room together. (There were a few incidents...)

That special paint the Queen of hearts loved so much is hard to get off of clothing you know?

But it is not Leona's fault for his shirt to get dirty! They just didn't know their place and who is he to deny them lessons which will teach them a lot. Perhaps he should teach them some courtesy...

YESYESYESYESYOUDOINGGREATYESYESYES

*ahem* Interruption aside, you are really doing great work

I mean, my poor man over here is just craving some affection from others than his parents

Now, of course, he isn't just some oversized pillow and will whack anyone who tries something like that with that came of his

But this is you

You and not like some noisy first year why can't keep their hands to themselves and get the note that no, he doesn't like hugs from strangers

But mhm imagine this, the guy is just working there, writing stuff and so on

And then suddenly you throw the door open, looking like you are ready to tear down this place and that special thingy when a person looks way more frightening because the lightning is falling just right

And then you attack... hug him! Attack! No that looks like a hug... And then you attack-hug him!

Ah... his soul just left his body... floating in the air as he watches what happens to his body from the ceiling...

And then he gets sucked right back into it from shock as you tell him how great he is doing and yada yada all of that

Look at how nice you are to others as well... hadn't he told that freshman to stay away from you just two days ago?

Whoops! Looks like Jade and Floyd are allowed to play with their new friend... if he hadn't runied them with a deal before that

How dare that imbicle try to get close to you!

That spot is reserved for him only!

But don't you worry dead! He is very forgiving so why won't you just promise to stay with him for the rest of his life and to please tell him what made you cry like this? Oh? His fingernails are digging a bit too much into your side? Pardon him!

*sigh* I swear to the Overseer people are requesting Lilia and/or Malleus with these kinds of scenarios because they know that it ends with the world burning

But hey aren't you a kind one?

I mean, Malleus is, and this is no big secret, starved for any kind of attention so once you show your affection for him like this?

All I'm telling you is to pack your bags and just say “yes” when he forces asks you to follow him to the Valley of Thorns, so that fire insurance or maybe even the end-of-the-world insurance doesn't have to be used by the Headmage

But ok, sweet great can you do a favour for me?

When you are already sealing your fate so that it's doomed could you please pet that tail and those horns for me? I was always interested in the texture...

Malleus pupils are slits? Nah, he so tame they became big big circles

But imagine, you have been feared all your life and then suddenly your God themselves is like “you are awesome and this is why I'm hugging you”

So, one sunny day a Malleus, a most rare kind of student, was walking down the path... and was ready to make someone's height a head shorter

Why? Well someone just hugged him from behind and thank goodness am I glad that his reflexes are also better like his overall strength because otherwise that would have been the new reality

But I think you might have to teach him how to hug someone properly before proceeding because...

No? Just the nerves? Ok, he just nervous

What Lilia is doing over there with a bag dripping some weird liquid? Nah, that is just your imagination!

Nope! That isn't the hand of that one person you had patted encouragingly on the back sticking out of it!

Just... just pack those bags and show him a big smile!

His home is already eagerly awaiting you so don't fall behind. You usually like to sick close, no?

[echantedtoon]

Love Doesn't Do Encores Ch18 Battle Gym Leader Melony

It wasn't too surprising all of you fell asleep on the train again that night, seeing how late it was getting when you all hurried onto it like an army of onix was chasing after you all. Thank goodness you managed to catch it and settled down into a couple empty seats to sleep for the night. Come morning the lot of you were already digging into your rations for breakfast to comfort your hungry stomachs that growled for food. And made small talk as the world went flying by outside the windows.

"So how long until we reach Circhester?," you asked biting into come kind of breakfast bar that tasted like bacon bits and oatmeal.

"It's the farthest town from all the others in Galar except for the town in the Crown Tundra Valley but that's farther in the mountains than we need to go," Victor explained after he had pulled out his own phone and pulled up his regional maps to look through them, "It's also deep within the Galarian Mountain Reign so it'll take us about three weeks to get there by train."

"Oh really?"

He nodded again. "The stop we want is Steamdrift Station. From there it's about an hour walk down Steamdrift Way until we get to Circhester and it's gyms."

You paused before blinking and looking at him. Drizzilie taking this chance to pull the rest of your food away from you to eat itself. "Gyms? As in plural?...Like more than one gym?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we haven't told ye!," Gloria cut in leaning into her hand. "The Ice and Rock Type Gyms are located up there and are handled by the gym leader Melony n' 'er son Gordie!"

You paused...eyes blinking wide at them for a moment before pointing. "Hey! Wait a minute! I remember those guys!" YEAH! You did remember them! Ironic since you couldn't remember much of anything else in game. Melony according to in game info was supposed to have a harsh battle style and supposedly be an incredible coach. She ran the Ice type Gym while her son Gordie was in charge of the nieghboring Rock Type Gym also in Circhester. He's supposed to be really popular in a similar way to Raihan and have his own fan base as well that he treats respectfully. ..But the mother and son had a fight over Gordie not wanting to take over his mother's gym and instead but somehow she still became the very first member of his fan club. ...Also he was supposed to have younger siblings as well but you didn't think they were ever shown in the game. You remembered!! That's great! Maybe now you'd start remembering things much more now!! ....You blinked upon noticing the three staring at you. "Uh!...I m-mean I remembering some people talking about them before. Apparently Gordie's pretty popular in Galar."

Hop nodded. "Yeah he is! Last year he was voted Galar's third most eligable bachelor behind Raihan and Lee himself. But unlike Raihan he actually throws a lot of his own events and showings. Lee mentioned once he trained under the old Rock Type Gym Leader before he retired and took over the gym after."

You sighed. Bullet dodged! "Oh. Sounds like he's really nice then." And hopefully won't flirt with you like Raihan did. 

Thus began your group's long, LONG trip to the Galarian Mountain Range. Just like your trip back to Motostoke, you all slept on the emptied seats at night but being more prepared Victor had set up his Rotom phone's gps to set off an alarm once the lot of you reached the likes of the station you wanted so you all wouldn't have to take turns staying up all night again to keep an eye out for the right station you wanted. Which was a great idea! Over the next few days you all fell into that repeated pattern minus taking turns staying up at night and during the day just talking about random things while eating food from your rations or looking at whatever the teens pulled up from the internet to show you. Gloria at one point even pulled out her dex books again to finish putting the rest of her pictures into them and showed you the new addtions courtesy of her twin before passing the books over towards the two boys for them to flip through themselves and admire Gloria's handy work. A few more days went by this way until one day Victor all of a sudden said you all should stop at the next town to restock up on food again since it wasn't as much as he thought it was. To which everyone agreed too and at the next town, got off the train and went into one of the random stops which turned out to be a small town like Postwick. From there the four of you gathered supplies and did everything else to prepare to travel again by the time the next train came around before getting back on it and back on your way to Circhester. Day in and night out you four traveled and traveled and traveled. You were starting to get train sick with how much this was going on and found yourself walking up and down the walkways in turns with the others to keep up the exercise and not let yourselves turn your legs to jelly. Until one particular night when you woke up with a shiver. There was a chilly atmosphere inside the metal train from when you were last awake and it was enough for you to make yourself get up groggily. Only to find your drizzilie was lightly shivering as well curled up against your warmer body and stayed clung to you as it groaned in protest at the cold. 

"What the-"

"Hey you." You rubbed your eyes turning tiredly to Hop who had his own coat thrown over his shoulders and smiled. "So you're finally awake huh?"

You yawned. "What time is it?"

"About ten in the morning. We're getting closer to the mountains," Victor said and you turned to him next as he rechecked the map on his phone, "We'll be at Steamdrift Station within 'bout three days but you might want to throw on a coat. It's gonna get a wee bit more colder from 'ere on out."

That wasn't a too bad idea actually. You were quick to pull on the coat you had bought and with a bit of a tussle you somehow with Gloria's help managed to pry Drizzilie off of you and put him inside your bag's main opening with Gloria holding it open before you pulled both him and the bag into your lap to make room. And to help keep the lil guy warm. Your pokemon gave a bored expression as he settled down into using the bag as his personal sleeping bag. 

"Hey. Don't get too comfy," you reminded him, "Cuz when we leave Circhester you're going back to walking with us again Mr. I-Refuse-To-Get-In-My-Pokeball." Other than rolling his eyes with a sigh, Drizzilie didn't say anything against what you said. "You heard me. This is just to make sure you don't go from a water type to a frozen-water type."

The rest of the three days there was pretty much the same, only now it was hard for any of you all to get to sleep now curled up in the seats because of the cold. Why you even dug out a scarf and wrapped it around your neck and half your face. Didn't these trains have darn heating!? The landscape outside the windows changed too. Going from looking like fall-ish time of the year to mid way between fall and winter, until the last day when you all woke up to have found yourselves so, so...SO!! Cold, and you shivered yanking the hood over your f/c hair more as you looked around and noticed white snow was being blown against the windows like some snow storm. And for all you knew there could actually be one out there.

"ZZZTT. Attention Passengers!," the conductor announced over the speakers to anyone left on bourd. "We'll be arriving at SteamDrift Station within ten minutes. That is all."

"That's our stop!," Victor confirmed, "Make sure you all grab everythin' before we get off."

You all made sure to gather your things, you especially making sure to pull the small hoodie over your Drizzilie's head before pushing him into your bag and telling him to stay in there until you said it was safe for him to come out before zipping your bag up but leaving enough of an opening to allow fresh air to him. Slowly after a few minutes the train finally came to a stop and you all followed Victor out towards the door, you grunting as you stuggled to sling the bag over your shoulders. You had forgotten how heavy this lil guy actually was when carried. You were extremely thankful for the guys getting you the thick coat and scarf too because the familiar full force of Winter hit you as soon as the you all stepped out the door and you shivered from the frosty cold greeting you all. The entire sky was painted in grey snow clouds that made the day look a little dull while snow gently fell from them and down towards the earth below. Around you was a plain looking station that looked more deserted since no one not even a station master was there, and surrounding you all was cliffsides and hills like in Stow-on-Side except unlike Stow-on-Side these were absolutely COVERED in snow and ice as far as the eyes could see as the four of you stood there taking in the sights. The only living things besides you all being pine trees scattered across the snowy land with a cobblestone road leading away from the station that Victor after a moment pointed at. 

"That's Steamdrift Way," He explained holding up his phone with a gloved hand to the lot of you showing a map with a red blinking dot that signalled where you all were. "It's connected to Route E-E-Eight. If we go this way we should be at Circhester w-within an hour after crossing Circhester Bridge."

"T-T-Then w-what are we waiting f-f-for?!," Hop stuttered in the cold before pointing a hand forward. "L-Let's get there before we become on thin ice!"

There wasn't any arguments with him as you all headed off. Snow and ice crunched under your all's feet making your group sound like a couple of wooly mammoths trudging through the snow. You all (even you through your scarf covered mouth) could see your breath as snowflakes stuck to your bodies like someone glued white confetti to your clothes as you all followed Victor and his map through the snow. Thank goodness it didn't cover the road up, or else you all might've gotten lost. As you all trudged alone keeping your hands in your pockets after pulling the ends of the sleeves over them to help keep them warm, you all FINALLY came to the stone bridge Victor mentioned before. A cold river running with cold water ran under it as you all crossed and as you walked over it you prayed your drizzilie didn't decided to pop out wanting to swim or see what was going on. 

"W-W-We should be there in t-t-ten m-m-more minutes!," Victor shouted back pulling his beanie further over his head. 

"B-B-Bloody heck, V-Vick! 'M freezin' my t-tail off 'ere n' I-I ain't even got one!," Gloria yelled back complaining.

"The sooner we git there the sooner ya can rest! So take the energy from ya yappin' mouth and put it to your feet!," He yelled back and Gloria mumbled under her breath.

So you all continued to walk and walk, until you finally reached the end of the road that lead into a metal fenced entrance to Circhester. And you all had a collected sigh of relief once you all got there. It was decently big with it's many story stone buildings you could make out in the snow with cobblestone roads leading everywhere and the figures of two large stadiums on either side of the town as you all got to walking into it. You all passed the pink pokemon center near the entrance of the town and turned right heading towards what you guessed was the town square. A hot spring like fountain was dead set in the middle and there was people walking all around in winter wear with some ice type pokemon or pokemon who could stand this cold weather. Two men had stands selling food in the square as you walked past, one selling some kind of hot wraps and the other......ice..cream?? 

"D-Dang nabit, V-Vick! W-W-Where's the b-b-bloody hotel a-around here?," Gloria asked rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm herself. 

"I-I'm with G-Glory on this," Hop added looking around, "I d-don't feel like camping out here at all." 

"I'm WORKIN' on it!," Victor spat scowling at his phone hand lightly shaking.....before he pointed ahead of him at a BIG building in front of you all. "H-Hotel is there! L-Let's go!"

You all didn't hesitate to RUN your way to the building he pointed out jack frost biting at your ankles as you did. You all didn't even care if the door was flung open with a loud noise. The rush of warm air greeting your skins was enough to make up for it in your minds as you sighed. Turning your head up to the ceiling in the bliss of getting out of the cold. After a moment or two you finally opened your eyes and blinked them wide open at what you were all looking at. If you thought the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke was Fancy this place was absolutely F A N C Y with a capitol F!!! It was like one of those luxery hotels in Paris you'd sometimes see in movies or on tv. Complete with marble floors and chandeliers lighting the place up. It was also HUGE!! And this was just the lobby as you gawked around. The other three were busy shaking snow off themselves as Victor walked up to the man at the lobby counter most likely to book your rooms. You hope they weren't too expensive by the looks around here. A moment later he returned with two keys handing one to Gloria before he gestured to the elevator.

"Let's go get settled in and rest for a bit. I'm too cold to think straight. You guys got room fifthteen on the first floor." Whelp! You couldn't argue with that as you all headed towards the elevator and got inside. The trip to the first floor wasn't a very long one as you all piled out and Victor motioned for Hop to follow him to one of the very first rooms closest to the elevator. "I say we all get warmed up and meet up in the lobby to talk 'bout what's the game plan for us 'ere."

"Alright," you agreed with a nod before following Gloria, "We'll see you two in a bit."

Both boys nodded as well before they turned back, Victor unlocking the door with his key before opening it and they disappeared inside. You sped walked to catch up to Gloria who was already standing in front of a door and turning the knob and throwing it open-

"So that means the culprit must be among us!" Gloria paused in the doorway. Eyes wide and hand still out from throwing the door open. "....Wait....Who are you!?" ..You wanted to facepalm. Oh NO!! Don't tell me Gloria opened the wrong door and walked in on someone. You sped up your walking pace as she blinked again. "After all the trouble of deducing things don't go messing it up now!"

By the time you got to Gloria she was already scowling before pointing her frozen hand at him. "N' who might the likes o' you be!?"

You blinked when you looked inside the room....There was a man there along with an older man, a 'hipster' looking girl, a young boy, and some kind of squirrel looking pokemon chewing something as you all stared at one another...Until the middle aged looking man coughed.

"*cough* I suppose I should introduce myself," he proudly put a hand to his chest, "The name's Howses. Yes. THAT Howses. The great detective. I've been hired by the hotel. At present I have corner the culprit of a most heinous crime!" 

"What happened?," you asked. Did someone get robbed? Did something go missing? Something worse?!

"I'm glad you asked," Mr. Howses stated, " And that crime is!..The strange case of who ate the large quantity of berries in the lobby!" He shouted pointing to a random basket of apple cores....You and Gloria both gave each other a look. "I've gathered the three people who were present in the lobby at the time of the crime but because of the noise my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present."...The hotel...Hired a private detective ..to investigate missing fruit.....What a waste of time! He suddenly pointed at Gloria. "That's it! You interfering child! You will be my assistant!"

Gloria gave him a blank look. "...What?"

"Listen to the stories of each suspect and find the culprit," he said as if what he had just said wasn't crazy or unprofessional at all.

"....Yeah. I ain't doin' that." Gloria dead panned before pointing at the obvious pokemon in the room. "'Sides. I already know who it was-"

Instead of listening the man waved her off and laughed in her face. "Heh heh heh. After listening to everyone's accounts deduced the culprit!"....NO ONE SPOKE!! He pointed at the young hipster looking gal who looked just as deadpanned and done with this as Gloria. "Dancer! You are the culprit!"

"WHAT!?," she demanded angrily, "Why me?!"

"Because you're a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you needed all that food for extra energy! That's evidence as clear and sharp as the leek of a farfetch'd!"

"WHAT!? What does that even mean!? You're no detective! You're a fraud!" Your thoughts exactly!

The man gave a nervous look all of a sudden. "W-Who are you calling a fraud!? You can't be referring to me! The great detective!"

"I can't deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the real culprit-"

"*AHEM!!*" Everyone looked back to Gloria who scowled and pointed to the small pokemon chittering at everyone around them. "IT. WAS. THAT!! They ate the darned fruit ya ninnies can't seem ta take a hint of."

The 'detective' blinked before turning to the pokemon. "What? That skwovet is the one responsible?" He looked closer at the small pokemon who looked at him curiously covered in food. "A-.....As expected of my assistant!" He loudly proclaimed all of a sudden proudly and crossing his arms looking pleased with himself. "Splendid! Just splendid! I'm overjoyed!"....He peeked an eye out at all of you annoyed and angry at him before coughing. "Well now that's taken care of...I must be off now." He suddenly sped walked towards you and Gloria and you both scrambled to move aside as he took off down the hall. "Take care, Everyone!"

"Hey you! Just wait a minute!," the girl yelled before running right after the 'detective'.

"Hahaha! I guess I'm supposed to chase after him too," the old man said before also jogging after the two as you and Gloria squished against the sides of the doorway to give them room...before looking after them....and blinking to one another.

"What the world was THAT about?," she asked.

"Honestly I have no idea and I'm too tired to really care," you mumbled gesturing her towards your actual room. "Let's go set up our room and take a break before we have to meet back up with the others."

Fast forward about an hour after finding the right room and getting yourself settled, you all made it down to the lobby to meet up with Victor and Hop. After you had let your Drizzilie out, thankful that he didn't seem to be hurt or even bothered as she walked out and stretched out like a cat before you all left. Promising you'd bring him back some food. Finding the boys already waiting for the both of you with their winter wear and waved the two of you over.

"There you guys are," Victor greeted seeing the two of you walk over, "We've been waiting for ten minutes and I wanted to try and get things as done here as soon as possible."

"We've only just got here this morning," you calmly reasoned raising a questioning brow at him. Yeah you wanted to leave as soon as you all could too since it was freezing and obviously the weather probably wasn't good for your pokemon, but you didn't think you've ever seen Victor this insistant on leaving somewhere so quickly. "What's gotten you into wanting to leave so soon?"

"Vick here hates the cold," Hop explained before humming, "Scratch that. He absolutely despises it."

"Well it's not MY fault that ice is so dangerous and you have a great chance of freezin' ta death," Victor snapped back pouting.

"Nevermind that! Did you guys figure out what you wanted to do yet?," you asked changing the subject to avoid more fighting.

Surprisingly both boys nodded and Hop spoke again. "I wanted to try my hand at beating the Rock Type Gym since I think I've come up with a strategy to beat him."

"I was actually thinking about taking on the other Gym 'n town, "Gloria pondered thoughtfully, "I got a good idea 'bout how to defeat Melony after watchin' a lot of her battles on the train ride 'ere. But first I need ta stop by the center and switch out some of me pokemon in order to make it work." 

"Well I wanted to stop by around town and get some pictures of the famous Circhester hot springs," Victor explained holding up his camera, "The legends say that the great Hero of Galar rested in the springs and it healed all his wounds. ..Plus I wanted to try the famous Bob's Your Uncle cafe here too. They're supposed to have THE best curry in all of Galar, and who knows when I'll come back here again." He then looked at you. "What about you Y/n?"

You looked at him interested. "Well if I'm being completely honest I think I'll come with you. It's been a while since I've been able to walk around and go sight seeing."

"Then it's settled! Let's meet back 'ere in the lobby when we're all finished."

You all agreed and after tightening your coats around you more, all made off your own ways. Gloria heading in the direction of the pokemon center on the other side of town before going off to battle with you and the boys heading in the opposite direction towards the rock gym since the famous Hero Springs Victor wanted to look at. Eventually parting with him too as soon as the both of you got there. Wishing him luck against Gordie before he left and you followed Victor to what you could only describe as a bath house modeled closely to the buildings of the ancient roman times back on your world. You followed Victor around marveling the sights and old looking structure as he smiled despite his hate for the cold and snapped plenty of pictures of everything as he did back at the Hammerlocke Castle Ruins. You walked up to the steaming water that almost looked boiling hot that was roped off from the public just touching it and watched the warm steam rise from it. Sighing as the warm steam was welcomed against the biting cold you couldn't get away from right now. Victor having getting his share of the old historical sight mentioned there was a few other places that the spring water came through, like the fountain in the town square and mentioned wanting to check out the extended parts of the underground spring as well and offered for you to come if you were interested in coming with him. Of course you agreed since you really had nothing else to do at that moment while waiting for the other two to complete their Gym battles, which by now you were sure they were doing or at least finishing up any gym challenge they were doing at the moment, before going back to the meet up spot anyways. So together you two traveled from the front of the rock type gym to the center of town so he could document more of the springs, before following him again as he moved somewhere else and you followed him down a small flight of stairs to another but much more smaller part of the springs that wasn't so visible or visited by the public. And then another small spot just like a little farther aways on the other side of town. It was...Pretty peaceful despite the chilling cold and snow lightly still falling around you, Victor, and everyone else walking around. It was quiet except for your footsteps crunching through the snow and anyone else walking around or talking. Walking around the decently big town with Victor you noticed there was also a few businesses besides the pokemon center. Your resident barber shoppe, an antique store, a few small little thift shops that sold merchandise of what looked like the two gyms and their gym leaders at the brief glances through the windows you gave, a grocery store, a clothes store, of course the hotel, and a strange looking cafe with the Logo of a man out in front. A sign above the door told you the name of said establishment. Bob's Your Uncle. Hey. Wasn't that the cafe Victor mentioned back at the hotel he mentioned wanting to see? You pointed it out to him and he seemed to light up! Mentioning how you two should drop by and seeing it even if you didn't eat anything. You agreed since by all the walking around and sight seeing you did, you two must've been out here for nearly two hours by this point. So it'd be nice to warm up for a bit. So you two happily walked up to said store and pushed the door open before walking right in. The warm air of the cafe combined with the mouth watering smells of the food made you sigh in relief. Another bigger picture of the logo man was inside on one of the walls, with the place being a color scheme of yellow and red, and a few people sitting around eating already. Including one particular boy who looked up from his seat in the back when Victor pointed him out. 

"Hey Hop!," Victor called over to him and Hop looked up from where he was sat phone in one hand and hot coco in the other but  smiled when he saw you two approuching. "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet back at the hotel."

Hop shrugged. "Yeah, but I thought it'd be fine to stop by for some hot chocolate. Who doesn't like hot coco?"

"I know I do!," You agreed with a smile, "How did your battle go?"

"Arghhh." He slumped back turning his head up to the ceiling with a groan. ""I lost. It all went to pot. There must've been something wrong with my strategy but I just did what I've seen Lee do in battles!" 

"Huh..Well maybe that's the problem."

He paused before blinking back to you as you looked at him. "....Huh? Whaddya mean?''

"Well, everyone has different fighting styles. Including you and Gloria, and if these guys are a part of the league and you're trying to fight like Leon, they'll probably be able to beat you because they've seen how Leon fights and knows how best to counteract his style."

"But he's the unbeatable champion! If I use his method I should be able to be unbeatable too! I've studied his style for years!"

"It may seem like that," You explained, "But it IS Leon's style and he's perfected it. If someone tries to copy him they won't be as perfect as it compared to someone who's mastered his own style to a degree that makes him such a powerful trainer. And everyone's style is constantly changing. Think about it. If Lee kept his style the EXACT same then eventually someone would've found a flaw in it by now and taken the title from him. Leon doesn't have 'just one style' either. Like everyone else they train and adapt to better themselves that's how he's unbeatable. It's ok to use things you learnt other people do, but you said yourself you were thinking of new strategies. Instead of trying to apply what you think Leon would do, ask yourself what would YOU do."

Hop paused seeming to stare at you for a while before humming and looking back to his phone. "...You actually might have a point. I'll have to rethink a few things then."

You smiled. "Glad I could help. Speaking of which Where's Gloria? If you're finished with your battle then that must mean Gloria is too right?" 

"Maybe she's waiting for us back at the hotel."

"Oh hey!" You yelped and jumped around at the lady's voice that suddenly came up behind you, and found yourself face to face with none other than said brunette Girl and Sonia who chuckled at your reaction. "There you are."

....You sighed before giving her a frown. "First Leon and now you too Sonia?" You crossed your arms. "Seriously. Give a girl a warning you're gonna do that first...Wait. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Got that Gym badge, Glory?," Hop asked politely.

Gloria nodded with a proud hum. "I jus' had ta switch out for some fire n' steel types I caught. Wasn't easy tho."

"Nice one!," Hop complimented before holding something out to her, "That reminds me. Here. Take this. It's the rock leader's league card. You should check out the gym leader you'll have to face too. And me. I've gotta figure out what to put on my team once and for all and no more of this doubting! Especially when I have to defeat at least one of the gyms here for their badge."

"Gee thanks!" She eagerly took the card from him.

"I've been trying to found out more about the Darkest Day and the sword and shield pokemon, but still no luck." She sighed before shaking her head. "I was hoping to investigate the Heroes Bath after studying the tapestries and castle ruins in Hammerlocke." Oh. So she had been there before. "And I haven't been able to get more intel on the strange discovery in Stow-on-Side since the Chairman's team is still researching and the area's become off limits to anyone who isn't the League or authorized. But I just ran into Gloria here and figured the rest of you couldn't be far behind her."

You chuckled. "Well you aren't wrong. I'm really sorry about all the dead ends stopping your work Sonia. I'm sure you'll get a break through somewhere." And you DID know since according to the game she does.

She smiled. "Well thank you, Y/n. It's much appreciated." Her blue eyes glanced behind you. "It's really nice ...." She paused staring right over your shoulder. "...to..see you...Wait." 

You rose a brow. "What?" Your f/c eyes blinked in confusion when Sonia all of a sudden grabbed you and pushed you aside a bit as she moved behind you. Unintentionally making you bump into the table Hop was sitting at making him scramble to hold his hot coco out of harm's way as you gave her a look. "Sonia!?"

"Hold on!" She exclaimed back looking at a wall. But more importantly what was ON the wall. Which looked like half a tapestry. And in the very SAME art style and people on them from the Hammerlocke Vault!! "No way! What's this!?"

"Uh...A fifth tapestry??"

"The heroes!" She exclaimed pointing to both of the same men from the first tapestries. "Look..sad. And where are the sword and shield?" She hummed before scanning it more. "What was the meaning of this picture?" Ever the fast thinker wasn't she?

You pushed yourself from the table dusting your still slightly snow covered self off before shrugging. "Well those behind them look kinda like grave stones or some kind of sealed tomb." You pointed out pointing at the tapestry and Sonia squinted harder at where you were pointing. "This probably just means the end of the legend. Y'know. Where the hero finally gets to have peace after his long battle? It happens all the time in fairytales."

"You think so?," she asked giving you a glance. As you shrugged she looked back to the tapesry, or what seemed to remain of it, with her hand to her chin blankly staring at it. "....Didn't think I'd see something like this in Bob's Your Uncle. I guess it could be they passed on or that they were sealed away. Or maybe they've gone into some kind of sleep?"

"Well...I mean they call it 'rest in peace' for a reason."

"Well.." You flinched when Hop spoke, not expecting the boy to be studying the tapestry too. "Based on those statues we saw at Stow-on-Side, the sword and shield were actually two pokemon right?"

You rose a brow. "Since when did you see those statues back in Stow-on-Side?? You and Victor left before Bede's stunt."

"Gloria showed me pictures she took of it before you left. But it kinda dawned of me seeing those sword and shield symbols on them. Couldn't they have been pokemon?"

"That's right! That's my take on it at least."

"......Hey." She suddenly turned to Hopand blinked as he pointed to Gloria. "You remember the pokemon we met that day?" ...Gloria rose a confused brow as he spoke. "You remember. That weird giant blurry pokemon we met in the Slumbering Weald."

"Oh yeah! I've completely forgottin' 'bout that by now." She shivered. "Still gives me the heeby jeebies."

Hop chuckled a bit. "Do you think...it could've been one of them?" he gestured the hand holding his phone to her. "Either the sword or shield pokemon? The blurry fog monster we saw kinda looked like those pokemon statues in Stow-on-Side you showed us."

"You..." Sonia was slow to blink and look at Both the kids wide eyed as she talked. The only one who looked super confused was Victor who you guessed hadn't heard of the 'mysterious fog pokemon' bit. "Met them?! Like...Really REALLY met them!?"

"Come on. You know what I'm talking about right, Glory?"

She nodded, "Yep. Right before Lee bailed us out o' the Slumberin' Weald."

"Exactly! We told you too Sonia remember. The mad pokemon we ran into in the fog! Although..I can't remember seeing it too well. Don't you think that could've been it?", Hop pondered.

"Oh right! You lot have been in the Slumbering Weald!"

"Duh."

You gave Gloria a small tap to her shoulder as if to say 'Don't be rude.' "As much as I agree this is all strange, don't you all think you're jumping the gun here a bit? That could've been any big pokemon in the fog, and you said it yourself. You don't remember much of what it looked like. We shouldn't just make assumptions without proof."

Hop hummed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much of a coincidence anyhow. But it's not an assumption, just a guess. Doesn't hurt to theorize ideas."

Sonia on the other hand smiled happily and held up her hands excitedly. "I only started on this journey because my gran told me to, but this is turning out to be so much fun! You've got to tell me more! How about we discuss this over a meal? Go on. What do you want to eat? Let's get our orders in!"

"Whoa! Hey there buckaroo!" She blinked when you grabbed her shoulder and she blinked. "As much as I love the food as much as the next person, maybe you should slow down there a bit. Didn't you just get here or something?"

...She gave a bashful face. "Oh yeah. R-Right. Sorry I must've gotten caught up in the moment. But hey! How about I treat you all to a nice curry and hot chocolate anyways? It'd be the least I could do for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I dunno. I don't wanna leave my Drizzilie in the hotel room for too long. I'm afraid he's gonna come looking for us if we're gone for too long and I don't want him outside in this weather."

"How about the sweet instant noodle curry they serve here?," Victor suggested as a compromise pointing to the counter the two men were currently cleaning, and the stack of supplies, food, and other things lining the wall behind them. "All they would have to do is poor hot water in it and it's the cheapest curry on the menu. Plus I don't like the spicy ones too much. I may hate the cold but I'm not up for burning my tongue."

Sonia nodded. "Quick and simple. Sounds like a good match to me!" She turned towards the two men and waved a hand gaining one's attention. "Yoo hoo. Sir! Five instant noodle curries and hot cocos please! Uh. Sweet wise." The man nodded before putting down the cloth he was wiping the counter with and turning to grab a few things from the shelf as Sonia gestured for the five of you to sit with Hop at the big table he was currently at. "While we wait, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Slumbering Weald again. Maybe it'll help me piece together something."

"Sure!"

So the five of you at around the table as you all patiently heard Hop recount the entire events of the Slumbering Weald incident starting from the wooloo banging against the gate to the Slumbering Weald to when you all left it. In the middle of him retelling his your food was delivered by one of the men behind the bar and you gladly took it wanting something warm in your stomach before having to go back out in the cold, Gloria taking a quick picture of it before you all began eating it. It looked and smelt a lot like those instant ramen cups you'd sometimes had to resort to have for lunch back at home since money was tight with your mother working hard as a single mother now and you having to work summer, weekend, and afterschool jobs in your spare time to help with bills. If you didn't then she'd say you were being lazy with your music and games again...Anyways. It looked like instant ramen and was sprinkled with curry sauce. You were a bit doubtful of how it'd taste but when you ate it it wasn't that bad. It had a bittersweet kinda taste that wasn't too sweet or sour thanks to the sauce covering the noodles when you ate it, and it was a bit more like pasta than a curry. But you weren't going to complain about free curry and hot coco in this cold weather and neither was anyone else as they ate and listened to Hop, and then Gloria as she recounted her own point of view on the events which was pretty much Hop's as well but you all let her speak her mind. By the time she finished everyone had already finished eating and drinking their food even Hop who had gotten a second hot coco thanks to Sonia's generiousity.

"-and then Lee found us and marched us both back home where we met up with Y/n," Gloria finished pointing at you. "Mum was...not very happy about it all."

"Fascinating," Sonia commented thinking again, "All right." She suddenly stood up making all of you blink. "The next thing to do now that we're done eating is to have a look around Circhestester! Let's inspect the Hero's Bath." 

"Huh? But we were just there. Wasn't anything that could be tied to your research," Victor said.

You shrugged as you stood up. "Well we were going to leave to go back to the hotel soon anyways. Let's go have a look since we'll have to go that way anyways."

Victor looked like he wanted to protest but sighed as his Best friend and twin also stood up to follow Sonia out the door. The cold outside nipped back at all of you as you tightened your scarf around your nose and mouth. Following Sonia back to the steaming waters of the spring under the town as you all entered back under the historical sight. Hop and Gloria looking out in awe at the place. 

"The Hero's Bath, "Sonia commented looking around the place, "They say this is where the two heroes came to soothe their wounds after the battle to bring down that evil presence long ago. Nowadays only pokemon really use the Hero's bath though. Hmm. Who exactly were the heroes that bathed here? I think I'll have to look into that...Gloria! Hop!" She turned her head to shout at the two and both looked up from one of the carvings in the stone at her. "You two met a mysterious pokemon back in the Slumbering Weald. Perhaps...you two can become new heroes."

You blinked at her. Where did that come from?

Even Hop looked at her confused and skeptical. "What? Like some hero waving around a sword and shield? Psh. Pull the other one."....But he hummed. "Though...I guess I'd fancy a shield if I had to take my pick."

"Hm. What kind of battle do you think the heroes had back then?"

You shrugged and went to say something- "Why don't we show her, Glory?" Hop asked giving his friend a playful shove, "Think we can pull off a real heroic battle?" 

Gloria giggled back before giving him her signiture determined look. "Oh I think that'd be just the thing ta warm up me bones!"

"Sonia treated us to a great meal. After all that curry I feel like I've got the energy to wrestle a bewear!"

Sonia returned her hands to her hips amused. " A battle now? I don't entirely understand your reasoning but I might as well see what you can do."

"FORG-G-GET IT!!", Victor yelled as you all looked at his shivering form turn on his heel and stomp off towards the hotel, "Y-Ya'll can battle if ye want! 'M headed inside the warm hotel!"

"..Hm. I'd hate to say this, but I think I getting get back too." You gave Sonia a look. "Thanks for the food. It was really good seeing you again, but I REALLY wanna go back and check on my drizzilie."

She nodded understanding. "Of course. I'd feel the same thing about Yamper if I was in your position."

You nodded before turning to the other two. "And you guys don't stay out here for too long. Come back when you're all done battling."

"We will!," Hop quickly agreed before pointing away from the Springs, "Time for a little exhibition match starring the future champion!"

With a wave to them all you all turned and jogged to catch up to Victor who was rubbing his arms and muttering to himself as he stomped his way back towards the hotel. And you didn't blame him, you wanted to get out of the cold too and see how your Drizzilie was doing. You two made your way across the town and into the familiar fancy hotel, through the elevator and immediately headed onto your own seperate rooms. You were kinda worried your pokemon might've wodnered out of the room but when you entered you found him in the same spot you left him in. Curled up on one of the beds and barely even opened an eye at you as you came back in gave giving a small thrum before curling back onto it's side away from you and going back to napping. Hmm...Maybe Hop was right about your drizzilie developing a new lazy habit. Or maybe it was because he was cold blooded or something like a snake and had a hibernation thing?? You shrugged it off and instead sighed as you finally had a moment to shed your winter coat and relax for a little bit, flopping onto the bed next to the napping pokemon who again barely moved as you did so. And you remained there eve when Gloria returned and you gave a small wave as a greeting.

"Hey. How was the battle?"

"Fine! Although I won Hop seems to finally have gotten out of the lil funk he was in thanks ta Bede!," she answered happily, " 'E's with Victor right now."

"Hey that's great to hear! It's good he's getting back into a healthier mindset."

"Yeah! I still can't wait ta see him compete in the champion finals this year! It's gonna be so much fun! I-....." She stopped talking for a second and then you heard frantic shuffling about and footsteps. With a sigh you turned your head up from the spot you were laying down at and was met with the sight of her shaking her coat upside down frantically over he bed as she looked worried. When nothing dropped from the coat she unceremoniously dropped it and whipped her head around back to you. "Y/N! My camera's gone!"

"..What?," you asked pushing yourself up as she patted herself down searching her pockets.

"Victor's camera he's lettin' me borrow!," she yelled sounding more concerned,"I was supposed ta give it back ta him once I finished fillin' me dex books!! He's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa! Hey!"  You were quick to push yourself up into a sitting pose as you watched her start to likely panic. "Gloria!" She paused blinked wide eyed worried at you as you groaned standing off the bed and stretching out your back. "First you need to calm down." You held up a hand rubbing your back. "You probably just accidentally dropped it somewhere."

"WHERE!?"

"I have no idea." She looked worried again. That was probably the wrong thing to say apparently. "Whoa. Don't freak out on me here. Look. There's still plenty of daylight left. I'm sure if we just retrace your steps then we'll find it for sure. When's the last time you remembered having it?"

.....She blinked. "Uh! A-At the cafe! Then we went to the hero's bath."

You nodded. "Ok. Then let's go look over there and see if we can't find it ok?"

Gloria nodded and you sighed again. Looks like you all were going out yet again. You both quickly put your winter wear back on and out you went again. The winter weather nipping at you even colder now that it must've been about near sun down by how limited light there was too. There was still enough to clearly see the snow and all the surroundings but it was noticably colder as night drew nearer as you both stopped in front of the warm springs in the town square.

"A-Alright! 'Eere's the plan!," Gloria said pointing at you, "I'll go check the cafe you go check the bath. We'll cover more ground like that!"

You nodded wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "Alright. But hurry, and keep an eye out in case you dropped it on the ground somewhere. Meet me back here as soon as you can."

She nodded and before you could get another word in she turned and scurried off towards the cafe area. After a moment to relax you sighed shaking your head and started walking off towards the Hero's Bath, making sure to scan the road and ground around you for any signs of a camera dropped in the snow. But you saw nothing as you looked around. Your footsteps crunched in the snow once again and you shivered rubbing your arms as you made your way towards the hero's bath still looking for it. Just when you thought you'd be able to rest for the rest of the day. You just wanted to find the darn thing and return back to the warm hotel. As you circled the large building needed to get to the Hero's Bath you paused blinking at the sight in front of you. Oh great what was it now? In front of the Hero's Bath was a small crowd of anywhere from fifthteen to about twenty people mostly women huddled around...something? Sure the Hero's Bath must've been a really cool historical sight to see but you didn't think such a crowd would gather here all of a sudden especially when it wasn't like this the other times you passed by it. Oh well. Right now you could care less and just wanted to find that darn camera and return to the hotel as soon as possible. Besides you could easily just walk around the happily chattering crowd without having to bother anyone. Get in, look around for a camera, get out, and then meet up back with Gloria. Easy enough. Or so you thought. With a sigh behind your scarf, you braced yourself and began walking your way over towards the crowd, and like you had suspected there was plenty of room to walk passed them, or so you thought again when a woman dressed in all while and with white hair suddenly appeared and you both ran right into each other. With the speed walk you were going it was impossible to stop on time before you collided with the white blur with a yelp. Stumbling back your foot slipped on some snow and down you went arms flailing landing on your bottom on the hard stone ground. Luckily you weren't hurt but you hissed and mumbled something under your breath at the feeling of the cold seeping into the back of your pants now.

"Oh my goodness gracious!," an older woman's voice exclaimed above you and when you looked up you were met with a woman who looked about the same age as your mom as she held her face in an 'Oh no' kinda pose as she looked at you. All decked out in white winter wear. "I'm so sorry, Young Lady. I didn't see you there."

You waved her off as more people turned their heads at the commotion. "Nah. It's ok. It's my fault I wasn't looking where I was going-," you had begun to say before another's voice much more louder and angrier sounding made you both look over. 

"MOM!! What are you doin'!?," A man's voice shouted out as people parted and a guy who looked vaugely familiar marched his way forward. The man wore...Shades of all things in this not so sunny weather with a tan-ish coat thrown over himself and blonde-white hair that draped to just above his shoulders as he pushed his way through the small crowd of people until he stopped right in front of you and the woman. He looked right at your confused self still sitting on the ground for a moment before looking over at the woman with a deep frown. "Seriously!? Ya knocked one of my fans over?"

"I'm so sorry, Honey. Really I am," she said calmly as if she had all the patience of an ancient monk. "But it was an accident." Oh. So this must've been his mom. But what does he mean by fan?? You didn't even know this guy.

"Tch!," he scoffed before crossing his arms, "Yeah right. You crash all my events especially after I win against a gym challenger." Your eyes widened. ....Gym chall-..OH!! Now you remember! You looked between the two who had a resemblance now that you looked at them. Gym Leaders Melony and Gordie! So that's why he looked semi familiar to you. These were some of the few characters you actually remembered from your time playing the game! ..Oh. And they were known for fighting of course. "You're lucky you didn't cause her to hit her head during the fall!" You looked back up blinking wide eyed at him as he scowled at his mother. "Did you even apologise to her or were you just gonna forget that too?"

You stared wide eyed at him. Who says that to their own mother!? Through all this Melony just calmly and sadly watched him as he angrily spewed out. You WISH your mom was like Melony- "HEY!!" You were quick to try and rise to your feet stumbling a bit on the snow as you did. Rising up with your own frown behind the scarf covering your face and quickly dusting yourself off.

"Ah man. Are you alright there?," he asked holding his hand out. "Sorry about my mom-"

"Oh be quiet!" You bluntly said as you snapped your face to him, which combined with your sharp tone seemed to make him pause in the moment. "I know exactly who you are!! What is WRONG with you man!?" You couldn't help but shout at him. Well considering Gordie's only a side character who you wouldn't probably see again after Gloria defeated him, it would be ok to shout at him. Especially since you weren't in the game's storyline at the moment. So you jabbed him in the chest which made him blinked and take a couple steps back. "Of course your mother apologized to me but that's NOT the point! It was an accident and I happened to run into HER! Not the other way around!! Are you kidding me with your behavior right now, Gordie!? Don't you see what you're doing!?" You gestured towards Melony who looked shocked herself seeing you jab at her son. "You're yelling at your own mother who didn't do anything wrong in front of a bunch of your fans in public!? Are you trying to embarrass her or something!? Your mom's so much nicer than you!! Geez! What were those guys thinking!?"

"I-...W-Wha-" He sputtered but you shut him down real quick.

"NO! You're not allowed to talk to me! You know why? Because your mom's one of the nicest people in all of Galar!! DUDE GET OVER YOUR STUPID EGO!! You both had a fight like..years ago!? So WHAT?! You're running your own stadium you wanted and you have like loads of fans! Don't you think that bashing her in front of your fans would make her look bad!?....No. Scratch that." He blinked as you took a step forward and he stepped back. "It makes YOU look bad! SO I am NOT a fan of yours! I'm just here looking for a missing camera but even if I didn't I'd still feel bad for your mother! Don't you think the reason Melony makes an effort to be in your fan club and trying so hard to support you is her way of showing she cares about you and is actually sorry about the fight you two had!?" You shook your head. "Gosh. Your head must be thicker than a onix if you missed that!!"

There was silence all around as the once crowd of chattering people were all shocked and staring at you, Gordie, or Melony or looking between the three of you as Gordie just stared jaw dropped and making noises like a fish out of water as you scoffed and turned around. Melony watching with equal reaction to her son and even passing people who weren't a part of the crowd was staring right at you as you turned your back to him. 

"So don't apologize to me. Because the only one you should be apologizing to is your poor mother." You gave him one last very SERIOUS look over your shoulder. "As someone who wished for a parent like her, you need to get a reality check man." You turned back to his shocked mother before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all this, Ma'am. But I gotta go. I have to meet up back with my friends." 

With a new sour feeling that combined with your annoyance with the cold and falling down, without looking behind you, you turned on your heels and stomped off back towards where Gloria was headed when you both split up. You didn't feel like staying at the Hero's Bath any longer now with the eerie silent you left behind. Everyone watched after you as you disappeared....until a single THUNK sound broke the silence as Gordie's shades fell off his shocked face to the cold ground below.

[anxietysslave]

Dangerous Fellows X Klee like reader

(PLATONIC VERSION)

You are a child instead of an adult in this one. If you want the one where you aren't a kid, then here's that part: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/anxietysslave/691337857953136640?source=share

This was requested by @lilqi :)

Ethan:

-Honestly was so surprised- How could a kid make it through this nightmare with no one??

-Truth be told, the second he found you he was so protective- You're a little ball of sunshine that must be protected at all costs-

-Probably was so surprised when he watched you explode a zombie- Asked you where the bomb came from, and became even more confused when he heard you mention a vision and showed him the vision-

-Honestly, he just stopped asking after that-

-He'd be the type of guardian who's so protective of you, except he's a very quiet man. Except lots of head pats from him

Harry:

-A child?? In an apocalypse? Alone?

-Yeah, he was shocked- But at the same time; he was so concerned- Like what had you been through??

-Mans would instantly see you as his new child-

-Congratulations! You have been adopted by him now! Even if he finds your parents, mans is keeping you. He raised you, after all.

-He'd be the best guardian father you could ask for. He'd make the most of the zombie apocalypse and would try hard to take care of you.

-So when one day you just threw a bomb at him... Yeah, you've broken him-

-He asked so many questions. And asked even more when you explained it to him.

-God? Pyro Vision? What?

-Harry.exe.has stopped working-

-But in all seriousness, he'd try his best to find out more about these so-called visions. And you may be able to protect yourself, but that doesn't make him any less worried.

Lawrence:

-Oh boy... Yeah, this man is already crazy enough. :/

-When he saw you, it kinda reminded him of how he was when he was a kid and how his parents treated him. So he'll try his best to not like to act like them.

-Minus the overprotective-

-It's like everywhere you went, you can bet he's a few feet behind. If someone tries to hurt you, then they're gone- and if he finds your parents.... Well... Yeah, you're his kid now. No buts.

-At first he was so surprised that you had been alive for so long. But it shocked him even more when he saw how kind and clueless you were. How did you survive by yourself??

-So you can imagine how surprised he was when he watched you chuck a bomb- But at the same time, he's also thrilled. I mean... That can be used for a lot of things.

-Would demand you tell him how you did that. And if you tell him, yeah... He's going to give you so many rules to it. Like you can't use it more than a few times a day, blah blah blah- Definitely went on for over an hour about it

-He doesn't trust the others around you one bit. So if anyone gets too close... He's going to glare at them. Maybe take their life if it's not too suspicious.

-Just like the first part, he'd be so annoyed that he had to bomb-proof the basement. But would do anything for his new child.

-Seriously, someone smack some sense into him-

Eugene:

-A kid? Really? What was Lawrence thinking?

-Eugene was so annoyed about it- I feel like he dislikes kids with a passion. So now ones living with him... Yeah, not too impressed.

-He'd try to avoid you at any cost. But once he sees you become sad about it, he's quick to rethink that.

-He'd ask you how you survived so long, and once you tell him how, he'd be even more shocked- Like you can make bombs?? How???

-Would pretend to listen to the whole god and vision thing, but really didn't hear a word about it- He just didn't want to hurt your feelings-

-If he gets close to you and grows to love you, then you can expect him to take you into his care. But he still won't admit it

-He'd want you to call him a brother rather than a guardian or a parent. He feels old if you do that-

-If he meets your parents, he's going to demand why they left you alone. If they say they lost you, they're going to get smacked. If they say they didn't expect a zombie apocalypse, still gonna get smacked.

-Whenever no one's looking, he'd totally sneak you a snack and give you head rubs. Like you're too cute not tooo

-Remember when he asked you in the game if you wanted to run away with him? Yeah, this time he's not going to ask-

-Just one night, he has enough of Lawrence being so possessive, and all the drama. So he just walks over to you, picks you up, and carries you away. If you ask questions, he'll explain that he wants the best life for you. Not one that's so full of fear

-Boi needs a hug

Zion:

-A kid!? What the actual fuck!? How are we supposed to raise a kid when we barely have enough food for ourselves!?

-Yeah, not impressed at all. Would argue with Lawrence or whoever brought you in because not only are they low on rations, but raising a kid is already hard enough. Now there are zombies and famion involved?

-But would calm down once it's pointed out that you had no one before. Only a little-

-Would at first glare at you and be furious at you. But once he sees how adorable and kind you are, he eases up.

-He finally gets to know you more. And once he hears you can make bombs? Yeah, chaos-

-He'd ask you to blow up zombies, buildings, and prank the other people there. He'd have so much fun doing it too. Even during the lectures, he'd take full responsibility.

-You grew to be his favorite person in a short amount of time. Expect a lot, and I mean a lot of head pats. This man just finds your confused face so adorable-

-If he meets your parents, he'll full-on say that he's stealing you and you are now his child. No one can stop him. If they try, they'll get bapped

-Would ask how you do it, but it would go in one ear and out the other- So he gave up on asking questions after that

-Would definetly talk about legally making you his child. You're like the only ray of hope in his life-

-And since you're so young, he feels like you aren't like all those people who wanted him for his money. In fact, you never want to buy stuff anyways-

Judy:

-Has no problems with you being there once she sees you. She instantly goes into like protective parent mode. In fact, Lawrence's biggest threat is her-

-She'd have you stay in her room and would call them sleepovers. Would definitely stay up late with you and tell you stories of her life, or just some stories she's heard.

-Whenever she goes out on expeditions, she'd bring you back stuff she found. Whether it be some cool toy or some board game. She loves to see your face lit up with excitement.

-If she met your parents, she'd curse them out and then just pick you up and forge some adoption papers- Yeah, you're hers now

-She'd be the perfect mom for you. Do you need a shoulder to cry on? She's already leaning out. Need some food? She's already stolen like 10 snacks. Are you feeling tired? She's already set up the bed. Feel like a story? She's started it.

-Would love to give you hugs throughout the day. You're just too adorable, not too!

-If someone's yelling or if something's happening, she'd cover your ears and yell or attack whatever is causing it. You must be protected at all costs.

-And that's when you chucked a bomb-

-She was low key kinda sad that you didn't tell her any sooner. It could've come in handy for so many things.

-She wouldn't understand much about what you said, and may even think it's just something you were told and isn't true.

-But she wouldn't tell you that. :)

Scarlet:

-Got so mad when she first heard the news. But the second she saw you... Yeah, it changed real quick.

-Instantly became so protective of you. She also developed a sweet side just for you.

-If anyone dares to object to you staying there... You got a very, furious Scarlet.

-Everyone was so surprised by how fast she changed. She went from absolutely not to. This is my child. You better stay away-

-Would read you bedtime stories and make sure you're as comfortable as possible. Like you need extra pillows? She's sacrificing hers.

-She won't let you go on expeditions. Not with how young you are, and because they're dangerous no matter what. She may let you go on patrol as long as you're by her. Or Zion-

-She may not seem like she'd be a wonderful mother, but I believe she would be. 10/10 would recommend her.

-And the one day you pulled out a bomb and blew up a zombie... Yeah, you got the longest lecture ever. Why didn't you tell her??? >:(

-She'd ignore you for a couple of days- or brush you off. But if you become sad, she'll regret it and instantly try to make it up to you.

-She wouldn't ask about why you can make bombs. You're her new child and are important. That's all that matters to her.

Hailey:

-A child? Okay.

-She's a kind girl, so she'd instantly embrace the idea. And once she meets you... Yeah, you're her younger sister now.

-Also feels too old if you call her mother-

-But she'd be a wonderful mother. She's quiet around everyone else, but around you, she can talk for hours.

-She'd read books to you, would teach you everything she knew about the world, and would have long discussions

-You don't even need to respond. She just loves your presence-

-Would also give your head pats and rubs. But not in front of the others. She'd feel so embarrassed if they saw that-

-If she met your parents, she'd kindly ask them if she can be your older sister. They don't even need to claim her as their kid- If they say yes, she'll be so happy. If they say no, she'd point out how she was technically the one who raised you.

-Wouldn't be protective of you. She can't really fight, so she doesn't want to put the both of you in danger. But will not let you go on any sort of patrol or expedition.

-Was quite shocked when she saw you chuck a bomb out the window- But I feel like she'd know what the vision was and would be so proud that her younger sister was gifted. She'd compliment you so much.

-Still no patrols or expeditions tho-

Jay:

-Was so disturbed by the idea of a child. Like ew, don't you know they carry disease?

-Even when he saw you, he just ignored you. You could try to talk to him, and he'd pretend he couldn't hear you. If you tried to give him something, he'd turn away from you so you couldn't.

-But over time, he loosens up. Not enough to adopt you though- He's more the type who'll watch over you from the sidelines.

-He'd try to convince Lawrence to never let you go on expeditions. If Lawrence listens, then he'd be happy. If Lawrence didn't, then either he'd tag along all the time or he'd keep bugging Lawrence until he changed his mind.

-The first time he actually talked to you was when you used a bomb- He freaked out at first, thinking Zion gave you one, or you just found one lying around-

-Would instantly go into panic mode and would freak out at anyone who walked by- And once you explain you made it and that it comes from your vision, he'd just stand there and stare at you.

-He didn't understand a word you just said- All he knows is you're an arsonist

-Would talk to you more, but still not much

Sue:

-Would be so concerned about a child being out there by herself-

-Would also keep pestering you until you tell her how you survived like that. And once she finds out, she understands. She knows the smallest bit about visions, and then she knows you could be of use to her.

-At first, she may just think of you as extra protection. But over time, you become like her family. You are just so pure and full of life- She can't help but love you.

-She would read you anything and everything she can find. She'd actually be the one to teach you how to read and write.

-Would also not allow you to go on any sort of patrol or expedition. She knows you're capable, but that doesn't mean accidents can't happen. And she's not losing you.

-Since she's suspicious of Lawrence, she won't even allow you to be in a room next to that man- In fact, you're never allowed to even look at him.

-If Lawrence gets mad about that, then she doesn't care. You keep her safe, and she'll keep you safe. So Lawrence can kiss her ass. :)

-Would tell you that once they get out of this nightmare that she'll take care of you if she can't find your parents. And even if she finds them, then she'll still be family to you. If they don't like it, they can suck it. :)

-Got a question or need advice? Best women to go to. She'll answer anything and everything. And is so kind about it.

-She's not one for affection but will do her best to show you it. So please forgive her if she's a bit awkward.

Sorry, that's its short- This is my first ever platonic writing- But hopefully it's good and thank you for requesting it! :)

[absolutebl]

ohhh the ask game is so fun, i couldn't pick just one question 👀 here are my favs qs i would love to hear your answer to

4 9 20 21 24

thanks for the game, meta, analyses, reactions, screenshots and so on, i have a lot of fun reading you. have a nuce and calm weekend.

4. most ridiculous plot

I picked twice before but since I got this again I’m picking a third one! This is where being a BL completest helps. 

TharnType 2. Like WHAT was going on? Here is the trash watch with me slowing going mad trying to follow the plot. 

9. name a BL and I’ll pick my fav character

You didn't name one *pouts* 

20. drama I thought I’d never watch but did (and liked it?)

I already picked for this, Great Men Academy. But that was kinda a cheat because I didn’t think I had to watch it because maybe not really BL. I try to watch ALL BL so I guess this is more, BL I thought I’d DNF but didn’t.

My Esports Genius Brother - China (2021) Gaga  

A strangely cute somewhat incomprehensible censored magical realism BL micro series about fated mates who balance each other out and must find the courage to stay together. Way more gay than I thought they could get these days. 

21. if I could pick one thing to fix about BL dramas, what and which country

HOW SHORT KOREAN BLS ARE.

I was hoping to get this question! 

I was okay with their shorter runs to start, but I also love regular Kdramas, and I'd really like to start seeing some proper 16 ep KBL! 

24. I’ll tell you some dumb fact or stat I know about BL that surprises me when people don’t know it

As much as I slag off H3:MODC it’s an open secret that Wayne Song (at least) also hated the ending. Or maybe he hated how many fans whined at him about it (and he’s apparently dragged Huang Chun Chih into his madness). He, or both of them, have to date cameo appeared (as their characters or an alt reality version) in 

Be Loved in House I Do 

Life Love On The Line (form Japan - ironic) 

Plus & Minus (Taiwan) 

There’s an informal pool going amongst BL super fans as to which BL he (or they) will show up in next. 

The BL Drama Ask game is here, but I'm shut to to anonymous asks once more, until I feel brave again.