#also the onii chan line?????????

[bl0rbohandbag]

Idia after finding out his mama saw the naked anime girls on his computer because SOMEONE decided to overblot and cause a widespread catastrophe:

[ednaeflowers]

With a smile, she nods and follows him, and there's a happy skip in her heart.

It's been so long since they can walk together like this too; it's so nostalgic. She used to trot after him wherever he went around their home all the time, and he'd even sometimes carry her if she fell behind. He'd lift her up and she'd realize just exactly how things looked from his height: how small everything looked and, in turn, how small she was to him. It gave her a sense of protection, a sense of comfort, because she's always thought of Onii-chan as her tall, sturdy guardian. She's grown up now, but a part of her still thinks fondly of him like that. After all, he was all she had, and she was all he had—but now, they've both expanded their worlds and she's accepted that his world is big like hers.

So when he says that she's his best assistant, that's when she also acknowledges that while they've explored many places and met many people individually, they can still come back to each other. These memories they share become their anchor, no matter where they are. Home, she has come to realize, can be a person. Home is with Onii-chan.

❛  Of course I'm the best,  ❜ she says, and fails to tell him that she still confuses the sugar for salt at times. It's not her fault none of her friends label them. The oven accidents, though, those are definitely his curse's fault. Still, he is genuinely better at baking than she is by a long shot. ❛  I had to get it from someone, you know.  ❜

Then at his inquiry, she pauses and contemplates. ❛  It's my first time attending a festival like this, so I don't know what's it usually like to attend one. After we saw each other at the hot springs, I've been here and there.  ❜ In short, she mainly just wandered alone, but that would sound so lame and she refuses to be lame. ❛  I went to the inn and met Silva, the boy malak you helped named. I also met one of your friends, Velvet, at the hills. Outside of that, not much else happened until I bumped into you.  ❜

And he said he was here last year? ❛  Was the festival from last year this lively too? I've been hearing weird talk about sharks no matter where I go.  ❜ Sharknado, was it? She hadn't been there to see the actual action, but it sure sounds chaotic.

Truthfully, Eizen wouldn't have known exactly where the kitchen was at the inn either. Still, the reasoning did make sense. They wouldn't have to worry about people watching them, or seeing something go wrong if it turned out the Reaper's Curse wasn't actually gone. Things had been going so smoothly, though. He didn't think they had to worry about anything.

"To the inn, then," he said. He could feel the rebelliousness of Edna's earlier comment. Perhaps it was just the mood of the day. Rebellion, so they could be together. So he could keep spoiling her. So he could treasure every single moment he had free of the Reaper's Curse.

He loved her. Eizen didn't toss around the word 'love' lightly. Not when it came to people in his life. Edna, though? She was different. They were of the same blood, or earthpulse point as the case may have been. If there was anyone he was willing to drop everything for, anyone he would be willing to go that extra mile for, it would definitely be her. A few other close friends fit the bill, too, but nothing was quite like the bond he had with her.

He led the way again, though kept to a little bit of a slower pace so he didn't get too far ahead of her. Edna had grown, sure, but she was still fairly short compared to him. He didn't want to go ahead without her.

Her question tugged at his heartstrings.

"...Of course I do," Eizen answered as he looked back at her. "It wouldn't be the same without an assistant. And you're the best there is." With the curse gone, it would be safe for her to help. There was no risk of ovens suddenly catching on fire, smoke overtaking them, or anything else horrific happening. She'd used to help when they lived together, too. He knew how much she loved helping him. Why take that opportunity away from her?

"Hey... how have you been liking the festival? As a whole?" Eizen thought it was worth asking. They hadn't gotten to see each other much before that day. They'd encountered each other in the hot spring, sure, but what had she been up to outside of that?

[dark-konohagakure2]

can i request a brother!sasuke + his friend naruto x (younger) sis!reader where sasuke decides to invite naruto over for a threesome? ( preferably, the reader + sasuke have a pre-established relationship)

tw: incest, sibling incest, dubcon, sex toys, bondage threesome, implied abuse, implied grooming, pre-established Sasuke x reader, praise, spitroasting

All characters depicted are 18+

Naruto has been getting very suspicious of Sasuke as of late. Naruto keeps asking to come over to Sasuke's house to hang out, but the Uchiha has been refusing to let him come over as of late, saying that he's busy 'training his little sister'. Naruto is pretty annoyed that his best friend is ignoring him seemingly only to teach his sister some new jutsus, so he asks if he can help with the training, and much to the blonde's shock; Sasuke agrees.

Naruto is really excited to hang out with his best friend, and he hasn't seen the youngest Uchiha sibling in a while, so he's excited to catch up with her! Sasuke also seems to be in a bit of a rush to get home. When they get to Sasuke's room, the brunette tells his friend that's he's going to show off the results of his sister's training, and Naruto is innocently excited! Until Sasuke opens his closet door...

Sasuke's younger sister is tied up and gagged, with sex toys turned on and stuffed into both of her holes, and she looks scared too, like a scene straight out of a smut novel. When Naruto gets incredibly flustered and asks Sasuke what the hell is going on, Sasuke simply shrugs and says that this is the 'training' that he was putting her through.

Naruto watches, mouth agape and pants tented as Sasuke handles his sister with uncharacteristic gentleness, sitting her down on his bed and untying her, removing the sex toys and a slow and torturous pace. Sasuke will speak to his sister in the softest tone Naruto has ever heard from the Uchiha's mouth, despite the words he's saying being less than soft and gentle.

"Cmon baby, it's time to show Onii-Chan's friend how well he's trained you... Can you do that? Hmm? That's my girl, now hurry it up, slut."

The younger woman looks nervous and hesitant, but Sasuke's encouragement wins out in the end and she obeys him. Naruto can barely look at her when she starts undoing his pants and stroking his cock with an almost practiced precision, like she'd been made to do it before. Naruto is shocked that the innocent girl who he almost views as a little sister figure is now taking his entire cock now like a trained slut, but despite his shock he isn't exactly complaining either.

The blonde's shock suddenly increases tenfold when Sasuke starts positioning himself behind his very own sister, and before Naruto can even ask what he's doing, Sasuke is already thrusting inside his sister, but the raven haired male assures Naruto that it's okay, and that she likes it, in fact; she's the one forcing Sasuke to do it with how adorably irresistible she's being on purpose.

Sasuke is nowhere near as gentle as Naruto, he'll praise her occasionally, but other then that he's just downright mean, thrusting into her roughly and smacking her around if he thinks she's being a bad girl. Naruto will call him out on this, but Sasuke shuts him up quickly by saying that this is just how big brother's play with their little sisters.

Naruto feels a little bit bad when he sees tears filling her eyes, although he can't tell if it's from pleasure or her current situation. Regardless, the Uzumaki comforts her, telling her that she did a good job and that her big bro taught her very well.

"A-Ah... There there, y-you're a good girl, just like Sasuke said, ya know? You're swallowing everything I shoot... I'm gonna go again, I'm sure that's okay with you..!"

The two friends are going to keep going at it with her regardless, and whenever she looks like she's about to say or do something out of line, Sasuke gives her a sharp look that shuts her up almost immediately, a look that tells her that she's gonna get punished again if she ruins the fun. Naruto is oblivious to these dynamics however, and just thinks to himself that he needs to go to Sasuke's house much more often now.

[satsuha]

i'm always really interested in how the characters call each other in japanese games, so i laid out a few differences between the japanese and english versions of some ace attorney games that particularly interest me. this isn't meant to be an exhaustive list but it did get really long 😭

i highlighted english nicknames/etc in blue while japanese nicknames/etc are orange just to make reading a little easier

AA1-2

while only playing the english version i liked that maya called phoenix nick, it's a nickname that makes sense and phoenix is annoying to say and write anyway (lol) but the reason maya gives for this nickname in english is that it's what larry uses for him, which pales in comparison to maya in the japanese version opting for how mia used to call him: naruhodo-kun.

to me, this is a LOT more meaningful and informative than the english nickname because it not only is evidence of how much maya heard about phoenix from mia using that nickname, it also gives us a glimpse of maya's personality and her relationship with phoenix. -kun is an honorific that's usually used for either male classmates or for teachers/superiors to use with their students/subordinates. maya falls into neither of these categories with phoenix, but it also lines up with how she acts like the boss of the office a lot of the time. SO LIKE... ultimately the nickname nick just does not hold up in terms of both maya's reasoning for using it, and phoenix's apprehension at her calling him that... which i just think is a shame!! in the same vein, this nickname is passed down to pearl, and again you see phoenix having a Reaction to it which makes sense considering it's funny that a kid is calling him naruhodo-kun...

i don't only want to talk about changes in english that i don't prefer, so i also want to mention that i'm very impressed that they managed to get phoenix and edgeworth referring to each other by their surnames in english to sound natural... because it's also exactly what they do in japanese except there, the idea of male friends using their surnames with each other is a very very normal thing. i AM torn on the fact that in japanese larry also refers to the two of them by their surnames, which means all 3 of them are on equal grounds in that respect. AT THE SAME TIME... english makes larry's "nick" and "edgey" work so well that i really can't say we missed out with this localization, but i do like the relationship between these 3 so i do like that the japanese is indicative of it too :)

AA4

i'm skipping ahead to aa4 because trucy's also a very interesting localization to me... the first time i played aa4 i felt like trucy wasn't sufficiently differentiated enough from maya's character which is like. debatable but those were my initial thoughts anyway. in japanese though she uses third-person pronouns (calling herself by her own name, minuki) which is VERY distinct from maya. there are a number of ways to interpret this choice but i like the one that indicates that it's part of her stage persona. aside from that though, she also has a very normal nickname for apollo (odoroki-san, with -san indicating general politeness) while polly is um well canonically the name of a parrot LOL

i do find it pretty interesting that the above exchange is the first instance trucy uses the polly nickname, because it's entirely different in the japanese version. phoenix says "if this onii-chan over here can't help you..." to which trucy responds by saying "how could you, onii-chan!" this exchange is hilarious to me because phoenix referring to apollo as an onii-chan is pretty normal? it's common to refer to any young man as that and in this case he's also referring to apollo from trucy's perspective. but trucy DIRECTLY calling apollo onii-chan (brother) is just so funny because HERE it's a lot closer to how an actual younger sister would refer to her older brother; there's a difference between saying "this onii-chan" and just "onii-chan". now i'm not saying this was direct foreshadowing because onii-chan is also used between close friends/acquaintances but like... the possibility is there.

AA5

now onto simon because i don't actually have a problem with the localization making him a british weeaboo i think that's really funny but i DO wish the nicknames he uses for the defense attorneys were more... appropriate? the honorific -dono that he uses in english does complement his samurai look but it's usually used in contexts where there's some respect involved, which is... not simon's intention in japanese. i'm admittedly not too familiar with the nicknames he uses in japanese; he uses "[kanji] no ji", while using a kanji from phoenix/apollo/athena's surnames. by searching it in japanese, i'm finding answers that it was medieval slang used by men usually in red light districts and such, and was used to refer to those with equal or lower status to oneself but never to those of higher status. this is kinda the opposite of what -dono is which is used for those of equal or higher status!!

i also find it pretty amusing that despite him using the first kanji in phoenix's name; 成 (turn into, grow), he uses the second kanji in both apollo and athena's names; 泥 (mud) and 月 (moon) respectively. i can only imagine that he did this because the first kanji in their names; 王 (king) and 希 (rare, hope) respectively, were too positive/complimentary for him? LOL

AA6

now i want to to talk about apollo in aa6 because NNGNRHGH i'm not normal about this one. because like, similarly to what i said up there about phoenix, edgeworth and larry's relationship, it's completely normal for close male friends to use their surnames with each other. phoenix, being apollo's boss, refers to him as odoroki-kun (mirroring how mia and maya call phoenix). trucy uses odoroki-san, indicating general politeness and athena uses odoroki-senpai, because he's her senior in their workplace. clay uses odoroki (no honorific), which is the same "level" as phoenix/edgeworth/larry's relationship.

a male character never being referred to as their first name is pretty normal, which is also the case in the aa games. franziska calls edgeworth by his first name reiji which is SUPPOSED to stand out because it's notably impolite/informal for someone who is younger than him, which suits the idea of her thinking of herself as the elder sibling. for additional reference, phoenix is only referred to by his first name by dahlia/iris; ryuu-chan ("feenie" equivalent) and desiree; ryuuichi-kun ("nicky boy" equivalent). so apollo is referred to exclusively by his surname, because there isn't anyone who's associated with him who would feasibly use his first name.

THAT IS. UNTIL we meet datz who is the first (!!) character to use apollo's first name in japanese. this moment doesn't stand out in english because i KNOOWWW datz uses the AJ nickname which is very cute but he doesn't actually use that nickname the first time he indicates that he knows apollo in case 6-3!! phoenix's momentary confusion here is also explained because while he obviously knows apollo's full name, he's never heard anyone refer to him with it!!!

so phoenix's thoughts in japanese here were originally "housuke... wait, that bracelet! that's odoroki-kun!"

dhurke and later nahyuta (during the last moments of the 6-5 trial) also refer to apollo with his first name, which is... really nice!!! they're family!!!! i mourn the fact that this distinction isn't visible in english because most characters just call him apollo but it's special in japanese... it's only dhurke, nahyuta and datz who use his first name.... i'm normal i promise

funnily enough i sort of have the opposite issue with nahyuta, who is generally referred to as prosecutor sahdmadhi in english but nayuta-kenji (prosecutor) in japanese. i'm assuming this is because his name is written with his given name first unlike japanese names, so they just used his given name instead of his surname...? unfortunately we don't have an example of any other foreign prosecutor as reference (i'm excluding van zieks here because they DO use his surname but it's also an entirely different time and place) but i prefer the english here since it also makes it stand out when apollo, dhurke and datz (with yuty hehe) use his first name with him.

but then again... rayfa also refers to him as prosecutor sahdmadhi in english, but just calls him nayuta in japanese. there aren't a lot of characters rayfa refers to by name but generally she's either overly polite (with ga'ran and inga) or overly impolite (with phoenix and apollo). it makes sense that the way she calls nahyuta is a little unique, since he's of lower status than her but not enough to get a rude nickname fdjhja... and then of course at the end of the game she tries to call him onii-(chan? san? sama? we just don't know) which nahyuta interprets as oni (demon) i think the localization here is really impressive actually. they somehow managed to seamlessly fit braid head into the mix of barbed head and horn head (both nicknames that refer to their hairstyles) while braid also begins with the same letters as brother... anyway i think i slightly prefer that rayfa (and ga'ran) call nahyuta by his first name rather than by his prosecutor title, it's indicative of their higher status because of the lack of an honorific but by the end of the game it fits in with the idea of them all being family...

TGAA1-2

you would think that because tgaa opted to leave japanese honorifics in the dialogue that there wouldn't be any differences in how the characters refer to each other but there are... first of all kazuma and ryunosuke are once again male friends who refer to each other by their surnames without an honorific in japanese, but the english has them use their first names with each other instead. i can understand this change because characters using only their surnames with each other feels oddly distant in english, and while it worked for phoenix and edgeworth's relationship it definitely doesn't suit kazuma and ryunosuke's.

additionally, the way susato calls ryunosuke was also changed from naruhodo-sama to naruhodo-san. this is... also an interesting change since it requires the player to have some basic knowledge of japanese honorifics but for some reason decided to change it anyway, despite the fact that susato also uses -sama with kazuma... one thing to note is that susato does use kazuma's first name instead of his surname like she does with ryunosuke, which helps indicate their closer relationship despite her still showing respect with the -sama honorific. in that sense naruhodo-san feels like an interesting middle ground because she's still using his surname but doesn't seem to view his position with her as equal to kazuma's? i assume that was the intent of the localization, similarly to how the way kazuma and ryunosuke call each other was changed to indicate closeness to the english-speaking player

--

anyway while i do prefer the original japanese version most of the time, my general view of original vs localization is like wow! two cakes! i might prefer one of those cakes more, but the english version usually provides enough that i like that both canons exist. because of this i can't agree with the idea that all localization is bad nor the side that believes the original doesn't matter because you're engaging only with the english side of the fandom. both are good and can reveal interesting things about the characters, story and setting!!

and thank you for reading if you got this far 🙇 i'm not an expert at japanese so i try to do my research and use multiple sources to get a better view of things, so please let me know if i got anything wrong! i also recommend checking out this post if you haven't seen it already since it's where i got some pointers on the trucy and simon segments

[enstarriedownbad]

Leo Tsukinaga x F!reader

Minors DNI

Genre: smut w/ comfort at the start

Tags: switch!Leo, Invited over, music production, fluff, sleeping in his room, confession, hurt but healing

Plot: Leo invites you over to help you with music production. Looks like it turned into something else.

Words: 3,040

By clicking on "show more," you acknowledge that you are 18+ and consent to read this fiction.

"Onii-chan! This is the first time you bring a girl over! ... Does mom know?~" a shy voice says while peeking inside the bedroom.

"Here is my room! Make yourself at home--"

"Ruka!" Leo exclamates, surprised.

"Is she your girlfriend? Can you introduce her to me?~" Ruka asks her brother.

"G-girlfriend??", Leo says while looking at you, blushing briefly. He coughs. "This is Y/N, a fellow musical artist. She's staying for dinner, so I'll introduce her to you at that time when Mom and Dad will be here too," he replies in a serious tone.

"Good afternoon," you greet her joyfully, "so you are Leo's sister, 'Ruka-tan'. I heard a lot---"

Leo cuts you off and puts his hand over your mouth.

"Wait. Ruka-tan doesn't know I call her that. And she isn't aware of the way I talk about her," he whispers in your ears, embarrassed.

"...? What are you two doing?" Ruka asks.

"Hum, nothing. We're busy with music right now. We'll come down for dinner," he ends the conversation.

"Oh, okay... Sorry for disturbing you. See you later Onii-chan and Y/N!" she says with a soft smile as she leaves the room.

Leo removes his hand from your mouth.

"Sorry about that, Y/N, my family is erm... A tad bit curious about my life, hahaha~ But Ruka-tan is a sweet girl! I'll introduce you two formally later. ☆"

Sounds like his tone is back to his usual one. You start wondering why he's using a different one with his sister. After all, when he's around the rest of Knights, or with his friends, he's always laughing or shouting something joyful. But you also like this new-found side of him.

"So, should we start working on the music part? I'll teach you the base of producing," he adds.

"Sure!"

"You can sit over here next to me. Can you see the screen well?"

"Yep!" you reply.

"Okay, so~ To start, the program I use is---"

"---And then to add harmonies, I suggest you scale the song up by 3 tones and record the main lines while listening to it. That way it's easier to record and you can cut the parts you want~ Or you could just scale up the lead vocals! But be careful because sometimes singing the 3rd above the melody creates a dissonance with the chord structure underneath."

"Okay, I see. Hmm... Can we do a quick break before going into the harmonic dissonance details please?" you ask him.

He looks at the time on his computer screen.

"Oh it's already been a few hours, haha. It's only 6 PM, then we still have time before dinner, so sure!☆ What do you want to do in the meantime?~" he asks.

"I don't know, but my back hurts from sitting on a chair for so long," you reply.

"You can stretch a bit or relax on my bed if you want~ I'll go get you something to drink," he says while getting up. "What do you want? We have orange juice, coffee, tea, water..."

"I'll get the same thing as you if that's okay," you reply.

"Okay got it! ☆ See ya in a second!" he tells you while leaving the room.

You do as he says and lay down on his bed for a bit. You look around you. Posters of music, musical instruments, lyrics, musical sheets WIPs... Even those very sheets are tinged with his fragrance. Everything in that room makes you think of the great Leo Tsukinaga.

He's very passionate about music. When he was teaching you earlier, you noticed that sparkle in his eyes, even though it probably wasn't his first time teaching music. He seemed happy to give music lessons. Often, Leo seems so... out of reach. Therefore, you are glad to be able to bond over something together.

You hear the door move.

"Okay I'm back!" Leo says as he enters the room with two cups of coffee. "You said you'd take the same thing as me, so I brought coffee! ☆"

He hands you a cup and waits for you to sit on his mattress before sitting next to you.

"Thank you, Leo," you thank him kindly as you drink on your coffee.

"No problem, Y/N!" he replies with a wide smile.

"And thanks again for inviting me over and for teaching me, I really appreciate it..." you say kindly.

"Oh, well, it's the least I could do for you. You've been a big help to Knights, and I've always wanted to return the favor to you~ So when you asked me for musical advice earlier today, I didn't waste a second to invite you here hahaha. After all, who better than me, a musical genius, could teach our dear Y/N? ☆"

'Dear Y/N'... That nickname makes you smile.

"I see, haha," you reply.

"You know," he adds with a softer tone, "before we met, during the year I founded Knights, I was used to constantly pleasing people for different reasons. But it only took the better of me."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that..."

"But seeing you act so kind with us - with me... It gives me a reason to keep trying my best every day and to always keep doing what I like," he says.

You both smile at each other.

"Did you finish your coffee?" he asks.

"Yep," you reply.

Leo takesyour cups away and sits back next to you. He seems to be stressed out.

"... Is it safe to assume that you'd pick me over my music?" he whispers with a cold, anxious gaze.

"What do you mean?" you reply.

Leo gets closer to you and firmly looks you in the eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Of course, I'd pick you over your music, Leo."

"..."

"Is that not what you wanted to hear?"

Leo moves his torso and puts both of his arms next to your thighs. You try to back up a bit but Leo gets even closer to you, making you lay on top of the bed sheets. He gets on top of you.

"Really ☆? Me? But why?" he asks.

You look away from his persistent gaze, not wanting to look at him in the eyes with what you are about to tell him, as you feel it is a bit clingy.

"Well, I do love your music for sure," you reply. "Both your talent and hard work can be felt in your productions. Your songs have such a nice touch to them. But, I obviously like you more. You would still remain the Leo I look up to, even without your songs,. Your energy, your smiles, your kind words, and your affection... I could go for weeks without listening to your songs, but I'll miss you a lot if I don't see you every other day. I'm also thankful that you reply quickly to my messages. It makes me feel like I'm wanted. And you know, even during the weekends, I keep wondering what you are up to, and I..."

You stop talking, realizing that it looks like a confession. Leo has yet to react. You are starting to feel embarrassed.

"Sorry, was I rambling too mu--"

You feel a drop falling on your face. You look up, only to see Leo, tearing up.

You are met with Leo's bare and genuine gaze as if his smiley mask has finally fallen.

You gently raise your thumb toward his cheek, wiping a tear away from his face.

"Are you sad because of me?" you ask him with an empathic smile. "Is it because you don't--"

"... Not at all," he cuts you off. "If anything, I couldn't be happier right now..."

"?"

"You know," he adds, "I've been anticipating your answer ever since I've been interested in you. I wanted to ignore it, but I couldn't close my eyes on such matters anymore. That's why I finally got myself to ask you before our relationship got... more serious," he replies as tears escape from his eyes.

'Our relationship'... you wonder if you heard that correctly.

"Leo, do you...?" you ask as you brush his wet cheek.

"Sorry if that sounds selfish," he replies. "But..."

You swallow your saliva, anxious.

"Can I be childish with you one last time and ask you to say it first?" he says with a look even more anxious than yours.

"Fine," you reply while softly brushing his hair. "I like you."

"Mhh?" he mumbles like a desperate child.

You take your courage into your own hands as he gets closer to you.

"I love you, Leo the genius," you emphasize the adjective with a sarcastic tone.

"I love you too, Y/N."

...

You look at each other, eyes filled with all sorts of new feelings.

Leo slightly tilts his head.

It only took a second of intense eye contact before your lover leaned in for a kiss. His lips feel soft. The kiss is so gentle and sweet. You wrap your arms around him, not wanting to let him go.

As the kiss gets more and more heated, you can't help but taste a salty flavor from Leo's tears of joy. This doesn't stop you nor him from going all the way in, twisting your tongues together, only inducing more and more needs in each other.

It looks like he has finally opened himself to you. And you, on your side, desire him just as much. You want him to be all yours. He wants you to be his.

The stimuli don't make you think straight, but you two are sure of one thing: this kiss is only the start.

You pull away for a few seconds to catch a breath.

"...", you pant.

"...", he grasps for air while looking into your eyes.

His green gaze is so mesmerizing. You fail to remember what you wanted to say. Leo's looking at your lips.

Your lover gets closer to you, sealing a second French kiss. You don't need words to communicate now: you can use your body.

As his tongue touches yours all over again, you can't help but moan of pleasure. The arousal is building up. You keep following his lead. An aroma of coffee, tears, and sweetness accompanies this second kiss.

"Ah! Y/N...," Leo moans. "I don't think I can hold myself back any longer," he says, all red.

You look down, only to find a bulge in his pants. You have an idea.

"Don't move," you tell him as you reverse your respective positions, with him now lying on the bed while you sit on his legs.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"Leave it to me," you reply as you arch your back and move your face towards his crotch.

You unzip his pants and lower them as well as his boxers.

"!"

You get met with Leo's rock-hard cock. Now, nothing is retaining him. You take a last good look at him, all red and shy, before diving in.

You slightly open your mouth as you put some hair strands behind your ears. Your lips finally touch his cock.

"Mh!" Leo moans.

You lick his tip while looking at him in the eyes. You can tell it's his first time from how much that first contact turns him on.

After coating his head in your saliva, you begin taking the whole thing in your mouth and start the blow job. Your lips are wrapped around his length. You swirl your tongues in circles, going back and forth. Your hands are also doing a great job caressing his thighs.

"haa~," he moans.

You suck gently on his cock, varying the pressure of your suction based on his moans.

As much as you want to keep his dick in your mouth, your jaw is hurting.

You take his length out of your mouth and begin stroking it. You gently squeeze his cock and spread his precum over it.

"I'm close..." he whispers.

You give him a few last strands to finish him off.

"Y/N..." he moans as he cums on your clothes.

You both take a few minutes to get your breath back, panting. You lay next to him.

Leo looks at you with insistence.

"What is it?" Did you like it?" you ask.

Before you get to hear an answer, Leo flips over and gets on top of you.

He begins stripping you off.

"Wait, don't remove everything. It's embarrassing me," you guard him all shy.

"Everything about you is beautiful, Y/N," he says as he removes your shirt and bottom clothes.

Now, only your underwear is left.

Leo removes his shirt, making you see his bare chest and upper muscles. As you appreciate the view, he opens a pack of condoms and opens one with his teeth in a very sensual way. He carefully puts it on his member.

"Are you ready?" he asks in a lower register than usual, teasing a very intense intercourse.

"Yes, please be gentle," you ask, even though you don't mean it, and he knows it.

He places the tip at your entrance and begins entering you. Having a thick length like his in your pussy rather than in your mouth is extremely different. It even hurts a bit.

"Wait, Leo, it hurts," you tell him.

He quickly stops and changes the position by bringing both of your legs on his left shoulder. He resumes grinding again.

"Does it hurt now?" he asks you.

"Not really," you reply.

He took this as a green light. He's almost fit his entire shaft inside of you by now. The new angle is more pleasurable for both of you.

"Are you comfortable now?"

"Yea..."

"Then I hope you're ready for this," he says, "because I'm about to make you remember this moment."

"Wh-? Ah!", you moan as he begins thrusting into you with no restraint.

His rock-hard cock is hitting your deepest end without fail each time he thrusts. You feel full, yet still want more of him. You're drawn to the manly expression he has on his face while doing you. You could leave everything to him, and he'd still do such a nice job satisfying you.

"I like that face you're making right now," he abruptly compliments your love-driven look. "If I could, I'd make sure you keep this expression every day when it's just the two of us".

This implies he would be down to fuck you so brilliantly every day like he is doing right now.

"I..." you're at a loss for words.

Leo kisses you on the lips as his cock keeps going in and out of you.

"Mh!" you moan out of pleasure as his mesmerizing emerald eyes are fixated on your expression.

Wet noises are getting louder and louder with each thrust. The atmosphere is so intense. You feel your climax approaching, as well as his. After all, his cock is so dominating that you can't help but tighten over it.

"Ah~" he finally lets out a deep moan. "So tight... I can't last any longer."

"Me neither..." you reply.

Leo rests his head next to yours, closing the last bit of space you had between you two, keeping you still below him.

Leo starts pounding into your pussy in a way faster way, indicating a climax.

"Ha..." he moans. "Ah..." "I'm gonna cum right now".

"Me too..."

Leo locks you in that position and gives you his last yet deepest thrust before giving in to a mutual orgasm.

"Ah ah, Y/N, I love you!" he moans as he cums inside of you.

"I love you I love you," you say in ecstasy while holding onto his back.

You feel warm and safe in this moment. You completely let go of everything, only caring about Leo.

Both of your breaths take a while to recover. Leo pulls out cock, and you got to see the condom full of his semen.

He puts his boxers and pants back on but remains shirtless.

Since the climax sensations went off, you feel embarrassed about the situation and put your clothes back on before Leo lies your body back next to him.

"... That was nice," you break the silence.

"For sure," he replies. "You know..." he hesitates. "What I said still stands," he reminds you while looking elsewhere.

"What you said?..." you ask before remembering the next second. "...Oh!"

"Is that a no?"

"No, I mean no, I mean..." you stutter. "I mean I'm down too, if it's with you."

'With you' those words make him all flustered even though he's the one who asked you to hook up from now on.

"What is it? You're all red," you tease him while pinching his cheek.

"It's nothing!" he pouts like a kid before taking on a more serious voice. "I've been thinking..."

"Mh?"

"I don't want you to think I just want your body, not that I don't want to do it with you but... Ahhh," he struggles. "Okay let me ask you this before I lose the courage."

He looks at you in the eyes and doesn't break the eye contact.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"I'd love to", you reply with the biggest smile.

Leo kisses you on your forehead before kissing you everywhere on your face.

Knock knock.

You hear the sound of a door opening.

"?!"

"Onii-chan and Y/Nnee-chan! Time for dinn-" Ruka calls for you before stopping in her tracks. "Wait, Onii-chan, why is your shirt turned upside down?"

"Oh it's nothing don't mind it," he says all sweaty while trying to remain a composed look, all that as you acquiesce all awkwardly while sitting on the floor.

"Ookay...", she replies, confused. "Whatever, dinner is ready", she says while closing Leo's bedroom door.

You look at each other.

. . .

...And burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! ☆ Did you see that? Safe!!!," he laughs.

"I was sitting on the floor and she didn't ask me any questions hahaha," you laugh. "But maybe next time lock your door, Leo," you say sarcastically while giving him gentle elbow bumps.

"Sure, sure," he says while having tears of laughter in his eyes. "Well, should we go eat dinner with my family?" he asks. "I'm going to present my girlfriend to them".

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LONG ASS HIATUS HOLY MOLLYYYY 👤👤👤🤬🤬🤬🤬

I've had this in my drafts for 10 months and finally finished it 👤💧

Many things happened, including me being busy with other stuff and also taking a break from enstars. Hope you still enjoy my writing, and have a nice day 👤💖

[yuurei20]

Hello! Thank you for all your very informative/helpful posts! Since I was having a hard time finding these answers on my own, I was hoping you could help me. Regarding Najma, what does she refer to Jamil as when she addresses him? When I look at subbed videos of Jamil's hometown event, it seems like she just says his name, but I think I once read a comment where someone mentioned that at one point in the event she calls him "Onii-chan" or something along those lines, but maybe I misread that? I was just curious about that, and I was also wondering how both Jamil and Najma refer to their parents, like do they use "Otou-san" and "Okaa-san" or something else? Thanks again!

Hello hello! ^^ Thank you for this question! 🐍

Najma refers to Jamil consistently throughout the event by his first name with no honorific, with one exception: right before she leaves the group they have a conversation where she says that she is worried about him, referring to him as, "Onii-chan" ^^

There could be many reasons for this, such as she used to call him "onii-chan" when she was younger and grew out of it, or maybe he doesn't like being being referred to by his first name so she started doing so to annoy him and it stuck (Jamil is big on hierarchy)--

--or because "onii-chan" is how she refers to him when they are at home but she prefers not to do so in public, etc.!

(This is all conjecture! None of the above reasons are canon and are just personal thoughts~)

It is generally a good idea to not apply grammar rules from media directly to reality, but if you are also interested in real-life examples for language study I found a thread by a lady asking about why her grandchildren do not use honorifics with one another ^^

And the general consensus by the commenters is: family dynamics just vary by family!

Much like how people in different families often have different ways of referring to their grandparents, familial terms of address are moreso based on personal preferences than societal expectations ♪

Concerning their parents, you are very right!

Both Jamil and Najma call their father "tou-san," without the polite "o" in the beginning, three times out of the four times they refer to him!

Their mother is referred to only once, by Najma, as "o-kaa-san" ^^

(Jamil uses "chichi" and "haha" for "dad" and "mom" when speaking with Silver.)

And Najma does refer to someone as "o-nii-san" at one point, but it was not Jamil--it was Malleus! ^^

But this is not because she literally decided to see Malleus as an older brother! (She also refers to male vendors in the marketplace as "ojisan")

It is not uncommon to refer to people with whom you are unfamiliar as "o-nii-san" or "o-nee-san" ^^ It is more common in casual settings like when shopping, events like festivals, etc., where many people who are not well acquainted come together!

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 781: Three wheels!!

Pag 1

1: Ohhh... this fence?

2: He jumped over it!?

With a bicycle!?

As he was riding it!?

3: Ahaha you're lying

That can't be, Taa-kun

4: It's true... I saw it!

There's no way he jumped over it

He showed me a jumping technique called bunny something!

You said that guy is running in the race now?

Ye!Yeah!!

Pag 2

1: Then if it's true, should we go see him?

The television there is showing the race, right?

If he's such an amazing cyclist then he'll play a big role in the race, right?

3: Onii-chan....

4: It's exciting, they're arriving here at the sprint line

The race is at its climax

How does this guy looks like

Uhm, huh

5: He- he wears sunglasses and they're huge

But he might have takes them off.... he's very tall and his hair are chestnut color....

There's an “R” written on his pants

Ehh, he's realistic (haha)

Pag 3

1: Taa-kun, you're practicing with your bike yet you haven't improved at all

Hahaha

2: So... if I practice I'll be able to do it too one day?

Of course

If you fall a lot, and skin your knees a lot, and eat a lot

3: And he had really beautiful eyes!!

4: It would be so cool if someone like that actually existed

Let's find an “R”, an “R” (haha)

Huh... it's true!

5: Hahaha

6: Three people are neck and neck before the sprint line

Please look!

Pag 4

1: Because there's a small kid

Pag 5

1: cheering for me

Pag 6

1: 30m left!!

2: They're still neck and neck and the sprint line is getting closer!!

Pag 7

1: The sprint line!!

2: This year for sure I'll take it!!

3: Impulse!!

Pag 8

1: It's an “R”

A person with beautiful eyes

Chestnut color hair

3: Amaziing...!!

Do your best, Onii-chan!!

Pag 9

1: Doubashi-san!!

2: Kaburagii!!

Pag 10

1: I'll take it!!

2: Pedal!!

3: I won't yield!!

Pag 11

1: I'm right

I'm Hakogaku

The right person wins

2: I'll be the one to prove it!!

3: This is why I gained experience

4: To win the spot of number one in Japan!!

5: MTB and road racing are different

In MTB you're always....

6: you always fight alone!!

Pag 12

1: Three people are jumping towards to sprint line!!

Pag 18

1: It's decided!!

Did you see? Just now

The one who controlled the sprint line is Gunma!!

Amazing

The last speed was terrific

2: From Gunma Ryosei, who's participating for the first time this year, number 181, the two times champion of the mountain bike Inter High....

Pag 19

1: Kiji Kyuui!!

Ah.....!!

2: It was hard

Yon

4: Well, I'll play a big role in the race, so watch it!

Cheer for me!

5: He really did play a big role....!!

Pag 20

1: Wait, who's that – Kiji, they said

Gunma!?

That guy caught up all on his own, and at the end he also lined up on his own....

2: And passed Hakogaku and Sohoku!!

3: Isn't this the first time in history? That an unknown cyclist takes the first result!?

He must have held those two down with his power!!

He rode in mountain bike until last year?

This year's Inter High is incredible

4: The flow is changing!!

[nikkotinamide]

my observations and take on some nuances not conveyed in translation

to cope while waiting for Tuesday, I've been rewatching Ai Di scenes and noticed some things! this is my drawn out summary

*Disclaimer: I'm not critiquing existing translations, I think the translators have done a phenomenal job! Just wanted to add my 2 cents worth.

Part 2

Language Use in Kiseki

Ep 2

Here I realised, Chen Yi was the one who first said these lines to Ai Di, before Ai Di repeated them to Chen Yi in Ep 12. And the wording is exactly the same...sighs...these two

Ep 3

I died. After Chen YI delivered his line "我不找你，你就不会��喔" - "Like as if you wouldn't have tagged along if I didn't find you", Ai Di actually mouthed "我就不会跟" - "I wouldn't have come". Given his facial expressions mocking Chen Yi's brooding face, I think he was being snarky and just parroting Chen Yi 😭

Chen Dong Yang asked them "当回总堂是回娘家" - basically asking them if they take HQ to be their maiden home. 回娘家 doesn't really have any deep meaning (except returning to your maiden home), but chinese/taiwanese dramas usually have female characters use this term when they are being bullied by their husband's family...make of it what you will...

Furthermore, before this he asked them to "叫老爸" (call me dad) when they called him 老大 (boss) and he kept making excuses for them in front of Zhou Ming Lei.

CDY really sees himself as their papa...

Ai Di calls Chen Yi "竖子". Coward fits the context but more directly, it is a derogatory way of calling someone a brat. Chen Yi gets upset because a punk younger than himself is being rude, and I think he got Ai Di's hidden barb - a reminder that Chen Yi is but a kid, especially in CDY's eyes, and how CDY will never see him as a man.

Ai Di makes a double entendre. He says "他会变老，你会长大。长大。" - "He'll grow old, you'll grow up. Grow big." 长大 in mandarin usually means growing up but can also mean /ahem/ growing big. To let Chen Yi know he's thinking dirty, Ai Di purposely looks down in the vicinity of Chen Yi's crotch and smirks.

Ai Di continues provoking Chen Yi, calling him 大哥哥 mockingly. Big bro is a correct translation but doesn't convey Ai Di's feelings. Here he's ironically calling Chen Yi the mandarin equivalent of onii-chan.

Our boy is a big ball of hurt and only knows how to express it through antagonising Chen Yi 🥲

Ep 4

Sighs. I really believe Zong Yi has a profound impact on Ai Di. Zong Yi is the one who told Ai Di that birthdays should be shared with people you like, and Ai Di took it to heart! He repeated this to Chen Yi in Ep 12.

Chen Yi I love you but I wanna smack you. Here he is speaking to CDY and in reference to their birthday, he uses "我的" (my), before adding on "还有艾迪" (and also Ai Di's), instead of using “我们的" (ours). Boy here really wants to be special in papa's eyes...

The translation is correct but the emphasis is lost. 那么 - so much. Ze Rui is asking Ai Di why he likes Chen Yi so much. Ai Di's dejection must have been so palpable Ze Rui felt he had to ask Ai Di just why Chen Yi was so good that Ai Di has to subject himself to so much pain.

Time for some Chen Yi redemption. Ai Di explains why. Again, translations are okay but nuances are lost. Chen Yi is the one who found Ai Di when he was so ill he was on the brink of death. Chen Yi is the one who cares for him the most (alt. gets in his business the most), the one who scolds him the most. And Chen Yi is also the one who looks after him the most.

替他 - substitute for him. Chen Yi really is Ai Di's everything so much so that he is willing to die on behalf of Chen Yi. There is a fine nuance between dying for (为他去死) vs dying on behalf (替他去死). I can't put it into words well but to me, I would say the former means there is an intentionality in following your fate, while the latter means there is an active choice in exchanging your fate for someone else's.

this post is getting too long, continued in Part 2

[i-heart-hxh]

Do you know what Alluka's exact wording was when she promised she'd give Killua back to Gon? I've seen different translations of those lines and was wondering what was the most accurate (a lot of nuance gets lost in the English translation).

Hi! She said "しばらくの間独り占めしたらお兄ちゃん解放しますから

また遊んであげて下さいね.” (Shibaraku no aida hitorijimeshitara onii-chan kaihoushimasu kara. Mata asondeagete kudasai ne.)

This is essentially, "I'll release my big brother after I've had him all to myself for a while, so please play with him again later."

There is some very good insight into the exact wording/phrasing used in this post (that I link constantly, but it's really helpful). I was going to pull out an excerpt, but I think it's better to just read the whole post--it has a lot of pieces that all tie together, and pulling out parts of it doesn't allow for a full understanding.

But basically, she's saying that she's going to keep Killua to herself exclusively for a while, and then she'll release him back to Gon so they can play again. I think this statement bodes very well for Gon and Killua's relationship in the future, both because Alluka is saying that so directly and because Togashi chose to have her saying such a thing, as if telling the readers clearly, "Yeah, they'll get to be together again in a while, don't worry."

Though, I wonder what it will mean for Alluka when she does "release" him--what she'll do at that point, what that will mean for her. Of course, it's possible they'll just all stay together nonetheless, and I'd love to see that, but I almost wonder if Alluka knows something we don't about her situation with Nanika... It's a slightly ominous feeling I get with regards to Alluka and Nanika's future, but I could be overthinking it.

I hope that's helpful!

Also, here's the official translation just to compare with:

[thebottomfromhell]

can i please request the upper moons +muzan falling for a human female reader please? i kinda wanna see how they treat reader different ( cause akaza don’t hurt women)

Ok, female version of this post, then. Again, it won't be pretty, Reader being a woman instead of a man won't make most of these guys act much different, since the reaction was more focused on Reader's humanity than the gender/sex. But they would feel it very differently, considering that this guys would be sexist AF (reminder that being sexist is more than hitting women).

For this time I will not be adding Muzan for tha sake of making something more abour him later (Sexism is an important topic for this prompt, and I am still figuring out how to make traist of his) sorry for that. :''/

Uppermoons reaction of falling in love with Human Female Reader

Warnings: Manga spoilers, Reader's death, Cannibalism, Yandere behavior, Mentioned torture, Non-consented body modifications (becoming a demon), Implied non-con sexual content, Predatory-animalistic behavior, Münchausen syndrome, Vore elements (not in a kinky way), Implied child abuse, Typical sexism of the time period, Mentions of menstrual period, And Each of these is a warning on their own.

Gyutaro (ft. Daki):

First things first, Daki loathes you. She sees you as hag trying to steal her big brother away from her. Good luck so she doesn't kill you.

"I have my eyes on you, you whore! I'm watching!" .... brats.

Meanwhile, Gyutaro knows he likes you but he doesn't want to acccept it. Liking a human? It's acary, a weakness against other demons and slayers.

Also, he is sure you won't want him, an ugly freak with a lady, what a laugh! He can't trust you, specially if you say you want him back. It's a lie.

He doesn't know how to behave with you, the only person he ever loved was his sister, and he was never able to tell her "no", and he is sure he won't be able to say it to you too. That is scary.

You have a lot of power over him, he protects you, takes care of you, obeys you when you tell him something, but he stays away most of the time.

He looks at you, yearning, to the point it's obssesive. You never leave his head.

Daki, because she has been also looking, knows if you do something, threats and destroys your things, protective over Gyutaro.

"Daki, ne... cut it off." "BUT ONII-CHAN!"

Make a move yourself, or this will continue until you die, since Gyutaro will also protect you from his sister, but won't be able to stop her completely. She hates you.

He won't force you to anything, respect you, understand you have it hard as a woman without him, so he won't hold it against you id you want to leave. Or at least he will try not to.

Still, against him? You will always be free.

Gyokko:

Gyokko is fast to figure put what he wants you to do, that he wants you to stay, even if it takes a bit more time to figure out how he feels about you.

You fill his taste, there is no mistake, and his tastes are the best. So he makes sure to praise you almost as much as his ability to choose.

"You are beautiful, no canvas can compare to you. Look at yourself and tell me I am right, that you don't deserve my praise and attention."

He will teach you a bit of his arts, even if he doesn't really expects you to learn in the same "profesional" way he does. Art for women is a hobby, and if it gets as far to be a job then they must abandon the idea of having husband and children.

Then again, he is not a husband, and having him gatting you away from human standards and society might give you the chance to be a true artist.

He eats parts of you as punishment id he thinks you crossed the line, but he is more lenient he would be if you were a man. "Woman are more fragile and hysterical, of course you I need to be understanding."

3 strikes is a foot in his mouthes, 6 to the knee, 9 all the leg. You can only have so many strikes before becoming more a burden than you are worth, without limbs.

You can beg for him to turn you or die, neither way he will make a piece of art of your body before your death. You will be sublime no matter what, but life will only come with begging.

He will make you stay awake through the pain, he will open you up a hole in your stomach, mold it into a form that represents the new birth. He will take away your organs, use your blood as make-up, dress you up nicely in red and white.

He won't even take a bite off as he pours his blood in the new hole, making you his forever.

Hantengu:

He cowers away at the slightlest chance of falling in love.

He disappeared, almost from thin air. Hiding... from a human... Upper 4 for you, ladies...

He comes back to cry about it, sobbing and sometimes hurting you with his clwas by accident as he grabs you.

He had several wives in his life as human, he knows how to treat them, or at least he should know, feeling pressured.

Why can't he just treat you like he treated them? Why is he so scared? He knows he is not doing it right but he can't bring himself to be charming and behave as a gentleman.

He is aware of his flaws, and id terrified with the idea you will leave him for it, even if he is not around most of the time, coming back and forward, comes to cry and then leaves.

Are you food? Are you beloved? Are you useless? Are you beautiful? Are you conforting? Are you nice? Are you about to die because of him? Are you going to reject him?

He will stab you in your sleep, or in an argument, he killed wives during those before. All with a knife instead of his abilities as a demon.

He didn't have to be a demon to kill women and children, and he is really sorry, but you had to die for his sake.

Sekido:

Ok, you have three seconds before shit explodes, so if you run you might save yourself.

3... 2... 1... "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME YOU PIECE OF SHIT?!" There it is, that is all it took him.

A few days he kept think of you and he knew... you fucked up. You must scape until he calms down.

The fact that a fragile human, a defenceless woman, can make his heart beat faster and his face blush is simoly embarrasing. He hates it, it makes him angry, it makes him feel vulnerable.

The other clones are your best bet to get it this far, go for Karaku, he will keep you alive only for the sake of teasing Sekido.

Both of you know you will die, the more the likes you, the worse he will feel, and he will take it out of you.

You are just a human, you won't be able to survive him unless you become a demon, but he will not accept your refusal. He won't even tell you.

The relationship becomes stable in your new form, he just bites your neck and opens his wrist with his nails to transform you.

"Don't you dare trying to get away from me, woman."

Karaku:

"Gonna rock your body all night, it's lust at first sight" - probably Karaku if he knew Chris Crocker.

That is your chance for survival, and you take it, making him chose lust over gluttony.

He does threat of getting rid of you, but he makes sure to get you money, besides the flirting and gifts, considering he is aware he basically ruined your chance of a married life. He teases you about it when he feels cruel.

He makes sure to pleasure you, even if you don't want to, you don't get to make that choice.

It does take him more years than if you were a man to realize this is not normal lust, but that he is romantically attected to you.

He decides to transform you into a demon, doesn't warn or ask, when he realizes it.

He does it during sex, he bites you, moaning against your new wounds and the taste of blood. He will open his neck for you.

He will offer yourself to you once you wake up as a demon, memories lost and replaced with hunger and thirst. Not remembering the cold feeling of losing blood against his skin.

"Hey love~. Spend the night with me, will ya? I am all yours now, show me what you can do with it~."

Urogi:

Good news, Urogi doesn't want to hurt you.

Bad news, Urogi will hurt you anyway.

It's not even on purpose, he just gets carried away when he plays with you. He is not the most aware of the clones, so playful scratches and bites become dangerous.

He chases you sometimes, always wants attention, to play with you.

He likes to stay with you while you sleep, cuddling against you, sometimes you find him smelling around your scrotch when you are in your period, keeping his face around the area like a dog...

He gets bored of your limitations rather easily, so he decides to try to turn you i to a demon, consecuences be damned.

The last straw is a night when you have your period, the bited part of your legs your thighs, excited in different ways by the scent of ruined blood and vagubal fluids.

Then he will bleed into you, biting his own wrist off, feeding you chunks of his arms after spreading the blood over you.

He will chew and feed you mouth to mouth if it troubles you, only wanting to play with you, the new demon you.

Aizetsu:

His priority is that you are human.... and again, he is rude and hurtful about it.

"It's so sad for both of us. You can't be enough for me just like I can't be what you need. Pathetic." This bit-

Just a heartbeat put of place and knots in the throat were enough for Aizetsu to figure it out, and he didn't like it.

Humans are meant to die, besides, he can't be the husband you would need.

Still, he takes the chance of comfort, to pretend for both of you. He manipulates you into feeling pity for him, and that is how the relationship is formed.

He does kill you, painless and softly conforting you first, the second it becomes a problem.

He will also let you have your last words and wishes, will tell you that he wishes he could have been husband material for you.

He makes a memorial, kisses your corpse goodbye before leaving you behind.

"This is so sad."

Nakime:

Truth be told, she is not surprised.

She can see the appeal in you, she has always prefered women over men, Muzan being the exception, even if he is the exception of many things.

Nakime is very lenient with you, she understands that, as a human, you are more fragile than her, so she must treat you carefully.

She would not put you above Muzan, but she takes care of you, gives you gifts, spends time with you, praises you. You are a lovely lady to her.

Still, unless he approves she will not be transforming you. If he does, she will without any second thought or opinion.

The breaking deal is the next one, she kidnaps you for a while and the leaves you safely at your home. She controls all the interactions.

Why should she listen to you? She adores you, but you are still a human, nothing worth her obedience.

She would not kill you, no matter what. The only way you could die like this is suicide, age or ilness.

Then again, at the end Muzan decides to let her turn you, so he bleeds into a cup and feeds you ger blood, not letting you out until you do.

Akaza:

It starts when Akaza accidently calls you "Koyuki..." the first time you met. He fell hard and fast, and in a painful way.

He begged you to stay, not really knowing why. He cried, grabbed your legs as his knees stayed on the floor.

He needs you, craves for you, to the point of obsession. It takes him a while for him to realize he could turn you into a demon, because part of him venerates the image of a human girl with pink eyes and cheeks.

He can't hurt you when you deny him, but he wants to. He needs to, you have to understand why you should want to be a demon. Why you should want to be forever young, strong and healthy, to stay in the way things were before the poison in the well.

At the same time, he wants to take care of you, and he starts inviting himself to your house, doing the chores and watching you sleep.

He doesn't understand why he is always cheking your temperature and if you are breathing correctly, there is something relieving but also off putting when you always are ok. As if you should be sick.

Maybe part of him wants you to be sick so he can take care of you, but he can't hurt you.

You can't get rid of him, no matter how much you try, he always ends tucking you to bed and forcing you to stay in there until you sleep. He never listens, always treat you as if you were fragile and sick.

He learns how to make your favorites, cleans the house and laundry, starts getting money and pretends to nurse you, even if you don't have anything.

He doesn't know how to feel when you die of age, it's the only way you could die like this, but he breaks. Again.

Sometimes he still calls you Koyuki.

Douma:

Douma starts comparing you with Kotoha and his mother, he is quite vocal about it.

He tells you how silly you are, that his mom and Kotoha were the same, but each of you had your charm.

Yes, "had". He mostly talks about you in past tense, ge is planning to eat you soon. Kotoha almost scaped him and his mother became "too irrational, killed my father with a knife but poisoned herself" with time, so he wants to spare you the chase.

He talks about your face, your eyes, your hair and skin, mostly, he does things he did with Kotoha, hoping to make you laugh. Simple pleasures, not meant to last.

Both women left him, he is 100% sure you would if he gave you the chance, so he doesn't. He kept you by his side for some months, at most.

You are fun to be with, and he is sure he is fun to be around with too... maybe. Not that it matters, you don't really have a choice. Your words against his.

Also, turning you into a demon would give you the chance to run away while he is in a meeting with the other moons. How silly and stupid would it be from him!

He has made his mind to eat you the second he notices that, whatever he is feeling, this lust hunger, this craving, is like Kotoha's.

Because of his experience with her, he will make sure it's in his room, to make it right this time. Also, he will break your leg first, so you can run, coveribg your mouth and cooing you as you try to scream.

He will eat your tongue and lips first, complimenting the taste and texture, in a soft kiss, not really caring if you want it or not. That way you won't be able to formulate your screams for help.

He starts eating you from below, wanting to finish with your head and eyes since he had to blow Kotoha's. He doesn't want to repreat the regret of ruining such a pretty face.

Douma takes his time with you, talking softly and gently, praising you you taste and feel in his mouth, praising how you look.

He is more than satisfied after he finished, stomach full and you forever inside of him. Lovely.

Kokushibou:

This is the first time in his life that he wants the attention of a woman that isn't his mother.

He never felt attracted to women (or anyone, even if he always felt more in place sharing his life with other men), his wife included, he married her as his duty of producing heirs.

Having a woman by his side has always been a responsibility at best, a chore at worst.

But he wants you, and he can't understand it. It's new and confusing, that is the only reason he notices a few days after he catched feelings. Because loving women, wanting women, it's not normal for him.

He watches you, even yearns for you, but his pride and confusion don't make him do anything.

He blames you, resents you, calls you "a temptress" in his mind. What have you done to him? At least he doesn't conpare you to his his brother, but his other relationship with women don't let him relate you to a pleasure.

You are also human, meant to die like his mother and wife did, meant to be remember just as someone's husband and mother. Why are you stealing his attention, then? There is nothings special about you.

But this way it's easier to pretend he doesn't care the moment you die, easier than with Yoriich.

You are lovely, he keeps you around, but besides that? You are just a woman. A pause from his life as a samurai demon at best, a distraction at worst.

He will resent you after you die, but he will also forget you the same way he forgot about the other women in his life. There are only two people in his life with any importance, one was a boy to a man, the other is his King and Master. Women were never important in his life.

[roseyrays]

Hi can you please make a request about housewardens with mc who is like little girl aka memory from identity v. Identity v is a mobile horror game like dead by deadlight. Of course PLATONIC!! little girl! Mc loves to draw, play dolls and always calls the housewardens and the rest of the boys onii chan. She's also shy around people.

🌻- OUR LITTLE SISTER featuring a little girl/memory!reader

dorm leaders | headcanon | platonic

warnings: includes overblot spoilers! and possibly ooc

notes: so being completely honest, i’ve never played idv before so i did my research so bare with me 🫠

🌹- Riddle Rosehearts

a child? what is a child doing here?? he has so many questions

when he heard that crowley is gonna let you stay in NRC he’s worried

you’re a child alone with no one who can take care of you (kinda)

he noticed how shy you are when you don’t really respond to anything, you just nod at whatever he’s asking you

whenever someone is teasing you ESPECIALLY when it’s someone from his dorm it will be off with their head

after his overblot he is very scared on what you will think of him now

but you actually warmed up to him and see him as a big brother

you would always mention your hobbies with him

you mentioned that you love drawings and dolls

so he decided to give a some more dolls to play with and some paper and pens for drawing

he’s the best big brother anyone could ever ask for

🦁 - Leona Kingscholar

he saw you in person during the entrance ceremony

and he met you in the botanical garden

you were a lot shy when you first met him but you needed adult supervision so you decided to stick around him

leona dislikes children though (that’s a lie, he does care for children he just doesn’t really like them that much)

he realized how sweet you were to everyone and him

after overblot, even though he did some terrible things you were still kind to him

which surprised him

now he takes care of you and boom you have leona as a big brother now

he secretly loves it when he sees you playing with cheka

will buy you crayons and papers for you to draw with

(big brother lion we stan)

you once called him "big bro" and he was definitely trying to hide a smile

buys you dolls and drawing stuff with his money

(ruggie is fuming)

🐙 - Azul Ashengrotto

concerned that there’s child with no guardian in the school

would try to keep you away from floyd

(you actually wanna play with floyd cuz bro is great w/ kids)

makes you eat at the mostro lounge because he doesn’t like you eating cafeteria food (especially w/the long ass lines)

after his overblot he was terrified to face you because he would think that you would hate him

but ofc you don’t

you guys created a small bond and you actually got used to him

you called him cute when you saw his childhood photos

he was embarrassed

he buys you stuff that you love <3

🦦 - Kalim Al Asim

found you adorable!

he has like 30+ siblings, so he definitely loves taking care of kids

but the issue is he isn’t very good at it

jamil has to help him (like always)

anyways when you told him about your interests, he immediately buys you tons of dolls and art stuff!!

he let’s you play with his hair

wants you to meet his siblings because he found adopted a new friend sibling for them!

you also get along with jamil very well and nicely

he cooks for the both of you

after jamil’s overblot though like the others he (jamil) is scared of what you will think of him

but as expected you did not hate him which he’s very thankful for

so technically jamil is babysitting two kids

🦚 - Vil Schoenheit

why is there a child here?

concerned

surprised

shocked

anywayssysys

rook is very delighted to see a child, he found you adorable and saw you as a sister while vil, very worried for your safety as well cause a child with no guardian?? dangerous

so he decided to take you to pomefiore dorm

he loves your cute doll

and will send rook to buy you some art supplies

during the vdc he makes you watch their practices because children easily get entertained right?

ok but like imagine a scenario when you guys meet Neige and he took one glance at you and immediately calling you “cute" and "adorable" cuz you are and once Vil sees you vibing to Neige’s song, he tries not to get jealous

after his overblot though

he finally let’s you interact with Neige for a bit jist fir a little bit

he acts like father lol

spoiling you with gifts and stuff

💀 - Idia Shroud

doesn’t really mind tbh

i mean he has ortho and he’s a little robot kid

he met you in person for the time when ortho decided to let you in the ignihyde dorm

he noticed how shy you are around people and he gets it

he himself is shy too

doesn’t really say it to you but he sees you as a sibling

pre overblot btw

when he saw you with rook and epel in styx, he was shocked

also worried for your safety cuz that is not a place for children

after his overblot

he was so nervous and sweaty on what you think of him

he was scared, he thinks he was gonna lose another sibling

but to his surprise and to no one elses

you forgave him

and called him big brother

he cried

so now you, idia and ortho are technically siblings now

they adopted you and you cannot decline that

🐉 - Malleus Draconia

he wasn’t there during the entrance ceremony or whatever you call it

but lilia was and you know he has an eye on adopting lost children

surprised to see lilia with a child in his arms

but at the same not (i think)

noticed you were a lot shy around people

so he (m.d) decided to make the dorm more lively

like adding more green fireflies and (very dark) but beautiful roses

after being settled in and being comfortable

you told him about your hobbies

asked lilia to buy dolls and drawing supplies for you

ofc lilia agreed, he loves making children happy

loves to watch you draw

he sent a letter to his grandma about you

something like “i would like to introduce you to the new addition of the draconia family"

that was after you called him big brother

he was happy :) he cried happy tears

and lilia is your father and silver & croc nut are your brothers

what a happy family

a/n: SORRY THIS TOOK A LOOONG TIME BUT I HOPED YOU LIKE IT ANON

[yyh4ever]

BOING BOING 🖐️

A funny scene from the 1994 "Yu Yu Hakusho Gaiden" game for mega drive, an original story that takes place two days before the Dark Tournament.

Demons are popping up all over town, so Koenma sends the guys off to investigate and get to the root of the problem. Reminded me of Maji Battle a little bit.

My favorite part of the game intro is when Botan is looking for the guys to inform that Koenma wants to have a word with them. Hiei's line, "who's disturbing my nap", is the best 😂

The first part of the game is divided into 4 chapters: Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama. Each one takes to the streets to investigate, and eliminate demons.

Yusuke's Chapter

Yusuke is so upset about Toguro being so much stronger than him that he forgets about the mission. He asks this seemingly strong old guy, who saved Keiko from a gang, to teach him his technique. But ... he's trouble.

Gladly, Master Genkai comes to his aid.

Kuwabara's Chapter

All delinquents in town are acting strange. They have suddenly become just and been refusing to fight (isn't that a good thing? lol).

Apparently, they are all attending this strange place called the "Touzai Seminar". Kuwabara sneaks in to investigate, and fights a pumpkin-demon.

The power of love is invincible XD

Guess everything went back to normal.

Hiei's Chapter

Hiei comes across this little girl, but he doesn't have time to play with kids. It's cute that she calls Hiei "onii-chan". Hiei also mentions he's not good dealing with children XD.

Later, she goes missing.

He senses a nostalgic youki in town, and suspects the mastermind behind it is Kuroneko (dark cat), a cat demon who was Hiei's partner during his bandit days.

Kurama's Chapter

It's basically a story about Kurama's mother being kidnapped. Kurama fights some demons and rescues his mother in the museum.

I like this illustration included in the game manual. Kurama is in the museum fighting the dinosaur fossil youkai.

That blue-haired girl is also interesting, looks like Botan a little. She's looking for her dog, Pochi, but Kurama didn't see it. Then, she re-appears as a youma, and Kurama defeats it.

My Red Rose Prince ♡

After investigating and eliminating random demons, they gather at Yusuke's place. They found out that the source of the problem is in a place called Gokumon Island. It's time to go to the Demon World.

After you clear the first part, the familiar eye-catch from the anime shows up.

The second part of the game is on Gokumon Island - Makai.

The imaginary illustration of the island is beautiful (taken from the manual). I think it was inspired by the Maze Castle in Demon City.

Well, Gokumon Chapter is kinda boring. They basically walk around the island, fight demons, help human souls, and defeat the final boss in his tower, a youkai called Choujou (超嬲).

The manual illustration of the final boss castle with Kurama and Yusuke is more exciting.

Btw, even though she's not the real Keiko, it's a cute scene ❤

After defeating the final boss, Gokumon Island disappears. Mission complete! Now, it's time to go to the Dark Tournament.

But, before that, Yusuke meets the real Keiko boss XD. The game ends with the classic boob scene. Yusuke wants to check her reaction, because he was deceived by a fake Keiko last time.

IT'S THE REAL KEIKO!!!!

In the end, the guys lose the shuffle boat to Hanging Neck Island (Dark Tournament) 😂

Poor Hiei and Kurama...

The credits show monochrome images of the Dark Tournament. I like that Atsuko Urameshi appears with the girls instead of Jorge Saotome. Just like the manga!

Sorry for the lame summary, I just shared my fav parts 😅

You can find full walkthroughs of this game on YouTube.

Lastly, some love for my boy Kuwabara ♥ (illustration from the game manual)

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 02x10 - The Enemy is MetalGreymon / The Captive Digimon

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Fed up with a society that doesn't understand him, Ichijouji Ken took Taichi's ball and went home to the Digital World. FOREVER!!!

We open on Taichi in class, staring solemnly out the window as the rain pours. Symbolizing the storm going on in his heart right now.

Taichi: (thinking) Agumon... Five more minutes....

The teacher silently looks Taichi's way. He doesn't say anything, but Taichi flinches and gets back to work on his test.

Taichi: (thinking) Ugh, this test... I can't deal with this!

So they've definitely broken the news to Taichi between episodes. Koushiro probably called him right after Iori's email came in.

In the dub:

Tai: (thinking) Hold on Agumon! I'll be there soon! (sigh) Just a few more minutes. (Teacher looks Tai's direction) Tai: Oh! (Tai gets back to the test) Tai: (thinking) Antegrade... quadratic... it's like this stuff makes no sense!

Taichi can't pay attention to his test because he's so worried about Agumon. Tai's just ill-prepared.

After school lets out we cut across Odaiba to the elementary school.

Hikari, Daisuke, and Takeru race down the hall as fast as they can, ducking into Computer Club. Inside, Iori's waiting for them with Taichi and Koushiro.

Daisuke: SORRY, WE'RE HERE!!! Taichi: Why are you so late!? Hikari: Sorry, Onii-chan. Daisuke: You're wrong, Taichi-senpai. It's not Hikari-chan's fault. Okada and the guys started playing hockey with the brooms.... Takeru: Yeah, and then the teacher lectured us too! Taichi: Who's this Okada? Daisuke: Oh, he's in the same cleaning crew as us. Hikari: It's okay, Daisuke-kun. I couldn't stop them, so it's my fault too. Daisuke: But-- Hikari: No, really, it's okay. Thank you. Daisuke: Okay.

It's not clear from the animation that Taichi's snapping at Hikari specifically, but the conversation that follows seems to indicate it. Daisuke and Takeru specifically step up to defend Hikari. But though she appreciates the gesture, she takes responsibility anyway.

Despite it honestly sounding like entirely Okada's fault. "I couldn't stop him so it's my fault too." Hikari, no. Sweetheart. You unlearn that defense mechanism right now before you end up in an abusive relationship for twenty years.

It's customary in Japan for the students themselves to be responsible for cleaning their school. To my understanding, the goal is to teach kids to be responsible for their spaces. But it runs into the same problem as any parent trying to teach their kid to do chores: Children like to goof off.

Taichi is polite as he asks about Okada, but then visibly seethes as Daisuke explains. He's got a lot of emotional turmoil that he's biting back on right now.

Taichi has a history of lashing out when he's upset, both verbally and physically. But here, he seems to be trying to restrain himself and be civil. He's clearly feeling violence, but unlike his behavior three years ago, he's learned how to avoid expressing that violence.

In the dub, the junior kids get lines before we see them running to establish their panic.

Kari: HURRY!!! T.K.: WE'RE LATE!!! Davis: QUIT SPLASHING!!! (Kari and the others run into Computer Club) Tai: You guys are late. Kari: We're so sorry, Tai. Davis: H-Hey, don't blame Kari! It's my fault we're late. I had an appointment for a haircut, but when I looked in the mirror, I realized my hair was perfect! T.K.: The problem is, he was looking in the mirror for over an hour! Tai: But what about Agumon!? Davis: Have him make his own appointment. Tai: (seethes) Rrrrgh! Kari: Davis, if you're gonna be a member of the DigiDestined, you're gonna have to think less of your hair and more of the team. Davis: Okay. Kari: Now let's go and save Agumon! Davis: ...

In the dub, the team's tardiness is entirely Davis's fault because he's a raging narcissist. Why T.K. and Kari didn't just leave his ass there goes unexamined. He's also so self-centered that he's completely forgotten Agumon's plight.

...though I am ashamed to admit that "Have him make his own appointment" got me. XD I don't like the way the dub characterizes Davis but that was pretty funny.

So, this explains why the fifth-graders are late, and Iori's already here. That just leaves....

Takeru: By the way, where's Miyako-san? Poromon: She isn't here yet. Koushiro: Could she still be in class? Daisuke: Class let out a long time ago. She must be goofing off somewhere! Taichi: (forcefully) Then go look for her! Daisuke: R-right! Iori: I'll go too!

Daisuke and Iori flee the room, only to run into Miyako standing right outside the door. It's unclear how long she's been out there.

Iori: Miyako-san! Miyako: (weakly) Sorry I'm late.

With almost no emotion in her voice, Miyako makes her apology and enters Computer Club.

Koushiro: Alright, we're all here now. Takeru: Then I'm counting on all of you. Daisuke: Go on, Miyako! Let's have the usual cheer! Miyako: ... Daisuke: (concerned) Huh? What's wrong? Poromon: Are you sick? Miyako: That's not it. Chibimon: We won't know if you don't tell us. Taichi: To put it simply, you don't want to go, right? In that case, it'd be better if you don't come. Hikari: Onii-chan....

Hikari defensively latches onto Taichi's arm as if trying to calm him. But it isn't necessary.

Taichi: (to Hikari) Don't get the wrong idea. (to group) I'm not mad. I just don't want to put anyone in danger. At worst, I've even thought about going with just Hikari and me. Hikari: (nods) Mhm.

Taichi is a boiling kettle under the surface and everyone can see it. But again, he's restrained himself and is avoiding lashing out at everyone like he might have done three years ago. He's showing his emotional growth and maturity.

In fact, he's showing specific growth and maturity as he's demonstrating what he learned from the way things went with Mimi and Yamato way back when. That he can't force-march the team against their will, and it's honestly better for everyone if they can take the time they need and come back when they're ready.

Even if their destinations are the same, everyone must find their own path to it. Taichi is going. But he's more than ready to split the party if splitting the party is how he has to go.

In the dub:

T.K.: But where is Yolei!? Poromon: WOOHOO WEEHEE!!! Izzy: She's cleaning her glasses. Davis: As big as her glasses are, that could take hours. When are people gonna learn to wear goggles!? Tai: Well hurry up and go find her so we can leave already! Davis: Okay, okay! Cody: I'll go too!

They really had no idea what to do with Poromon's lip flaps so he just makes contextually-inappropriate hooting noises. XD That's... one way to handle a dub script, I guess!

Not sure why Yolei had to leave the room to clean her glasses.

(Cody and Davis run out into the hall and find Yolei there) Cody: Yolei!? Yolei: (weakly) Hey, how ya doin'. (Yolei enters Computer Club) Tai: Yolei, we've been waiting for you to go to the Digital World! We're going to save Agumon! Davis: And show that Digital Emperor just who's boss! Yolei: ... Davis: Huh!? What's wrong? Poromon: Aren't you excited to go to the Digital World? Yolei: I'm not going. DemiVeemon: Why not? Tell us what's wrong so we can help! Tai: Well, I can see you're the last person I would ever turn to if I was in trouble and needed some help! (Kari latches onto Tai's arm to calm him) Kari: Be nice, Tai. Tai: (to Kari) I'm sorry. I'm just worried about Agumon. (to the group) I don't want any of you to put yourself in danger if you feel like you're not up to the challenge, so maybe it would be best if you stay here, Yolei. I don't want anyone going if their heart's not into it. Kari: (nods) Mhm.

...Digital Emperor, Davis? Who dat?

Miyako doesn't feel up to going but is willing to force herself to do it anyway, for Agumon's sake. Yolei firmly states that she won't go.

Kari still grabs onto Tai to calm him, but in the dub, it's because he actually is having an angry outburst. Taichi's restraining himself and says something that sounds harsh but is actually well-intended, while Tai does lose his temper and lash out at Yolei. Still, after calming himself, he finds his way to where Taichi's at.

Takeru: It's okay, Miyako-san. You're not obligated to come or anything. Daisuke: Yeah, it's fine. Iori: That's right! We go because we want to go.

Iori poignantly reciting the wisdom he learned from Jou, back when he was the one who had to stay behind.

Miyako: Izumi-senpai, I-- Koushiro: That's what we'll do. Since everyone agrees, we'll stay here in reserve in case of emergency. Miyako: But.... Tailmon: It's okay. It's better not to go until you've sorted out your feelings. Poromon: They're right! Miyako: Ah!? Poromon: Going in like that, you'd just become a burden for everyone. Miyako: (sigh)

Miyako isn't happy about it, but it's decided. She's too depressed to put herself on the front lines, so she'll hang back with Koushiro.

Takeru: Then Hikari-chan can do the usual cheer. Hikari: Yeah!

Hikari steps up to the computer and holds up her D-3.

Hikari: DIGITAL GATE OPEN!!! CHOSEN CHILDREN, LET'S ROLL!!!

Miyako's officially said that so much that the team doesn't feel right deploying without it.

In the dub:

T.K.: (snide) And if it will make you feel any better, Yolei, you can stay and do my math homework. Just to keep yourself busy. Davis: Mine too! Cody: Now that I think about it, my kendo sticks could use some polishing.

"Kendo stick" sounds wrong to me and made me flinch, but I don't practice kendo so I can't say if that's actually a way practitioners might refer to their shinai or not.

Yolei: It's alright if I don't go? Izzy: (snide) Sure, you can make a day of it! Cleaning, math homework, and all those other fun things you love. Yolei: You sure? Gatomon: What do I have to do, hold up a sign? If everyone says you should stay, then you should say! Poromon: Gatomon's right, Yolei! Yolei: Huh? Poromon: If you don't feel like going to the Digital World then I don't feel like going either! Yolei: Hmm.... T.K.: Now that that's finally settled, let's go get Agumon! Kari: Right! If everyone's ready, let's go DigiDestined! DIGI-PORT OPEN!!!

Again, in the original, Miyako is willing to force herself to go and everyone has to convince her that she should stay behind if her heart isn't in it.

In the dub, Yolei's determined to stay behind no matter what anyone says. And, for their part, everyone's willing to let her but they're going to be passive-aggressive about it. Just to make sure she understands how much she's holding the team back.

This is particularly glaring with Izzy, who isn't going either yet still uses this as an opportunity to be an asshole. Because he is an asshole.

While 4/5 of the junior team and Taichi transfer over into the Digital World, we cut away to the Digimon Kaiser reflecting on the recent failures from his Evil Ring.

The Kaiser flashes back on Andromon breaking off his own ring, and then on SkullGreymon nuking the Dark Tower.

Kaiser: Why...? Why can't it control the Perfect stage? Are there limits to the Evil Ring? If so, then where is the problem...?

While the Kaiser contemplates his device, most of his screens are blank. He's got two that he's considering: One showing the Evil Ring and its Digital World code and the other showing his captive Greymon.

In the dub, the Emperor offers a little narration over the flashbacks, but just to guide them.

Emperor: (thinking) The Dark Rings keep failing me. First there was Andromon. (Flashback to Andromon breaking the Dark Ring) Emperor: (thinking) Then SkullGreymon. (Flashback to SkullGreymon nuking the Control Spire) Emperor: The Dark Ring... There must be a flaw with it, but what could be wrong? Is it just not powerful enough? (suddenly chipper) Ooh, I can still experiment on Greymon! Wormmon: Here we go again....

With that ominous proclamation, the dub takes its first commercial break here.

Wormmon mouths off but in his defense, that shit with SkullGreymon was pretty fucking ugly. I wouldn't be psyched for a repeat performance either.

The Chosen Children return to the volcanic region from the previous episode, where Tentomon meets them.

Tentomon: Ah! I've been waiting for you. Hikari: It was here. Right here, SkullGreymon.... Taichi: ...yeah. Tentomon: His destructive power is as dreadful as ever. Daisuke: It's infuriating! He captured Agumon, knowing full well that he was Taichi-san's Partner Digimon! Taichi: Made me look like a fool, too. Never thought in a million years that I could be humiliated like this by an elementary school student.

The group's standing around the edge of a crater filled with lava, but the camera slowly pans out to show us the massive size of the crater, as if we're meant to find the crater impressive. So I think this is supposed to be the blast zone from Ground Zero, which would parse with why they're discussing SkullGreymon's destructive force.

While they're discussing this, Iori's found an actual stick to carry around as a substitute for his shinai. We cut over to Armadimon ducking under Iori's wild, furious swings.

Iori: UNFORGIVABLE!!! Armadimon: Iori, what's wrong dagyaa? Iori: It's unforgivable. I'm ashamed to even call him a fellow human being! Takeru: Iori-kun.... Iori: (snaps out of it) I'm sorry. I let my anger get away from me.

Somehow, Iori sheathes the stick.

In the dub:

Tentomon: It's good to have the whole gang back again! Welcome to my treehouse! Actually, it's not much of a treehouse anymore since SkullGreymon disintegrated it. Now it's more of a twig house. That's okay! I was planning on redecorating anyway! Davis: We don't care about your stupid tree, Tentomon! We're here to stop the Digital Emperor from hurting more Digimon! Tai: It's incredibly important that we stop him! If he continues to gain power like this, he'll threaten the entire Digital World! (Armadillomon ducks under Cody's swing) Armadillomon: Hey, watch it, Cody! Be careful! Cody: I'm sorry, but that Ken makes me so angry! Armadillomon: YEAH, ME TOO!!! Cody: (snaps out of it) Armadillomon, you really need to control your temper.

Okay, I figured it for just a flub the first time but I guess we really are going with Digital Emperor for this episode, not Digimon Emperor.

Tentomon quips over the entire discussion of SkullGreymon's terrifying destructive power and weirdly implies that he lives here? I guess there's no reason he can't but he seems like an odd fit for a fiery hellscape.

Then the part about how personally hurtful this all is for Taichi is completely depersonalized, replaced by static recitation off the team's heroic duty.

Moving along, the group continues to discuss while Tentomon oddly flies past, saying nothing. Just... buzzing the camera to remind us that he's in this scene, I guess.

Tentomon: (silently flies past the screen) Patamon: Hey, where did they take Agumon, anyway? Takeru: That's the question, isn't it? V-mon: Don't worry, we'll find him soon. Right, Daisuke? Daisuke: Yep yep! Taichi: (snaps) DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX!!! Daisuke: (embarrassed) O-Okay.... Hikari: Onii-chan....

Now Taichi lashes out. He takes offense to Daisuke's cavalier attitude and snaps back. Taichi wants action, not hollow optimism.

Tailmon: I've never seen Taichi lose it like this before. Takeru: Well, it's to be expected. Tailmon: In any case, there's nothing we can do here. Let's visit the next area over and gather intel. Tentomon: Yeah, go do that. I'm going to see if I can find information another way. Hikari: Onii-chan, should we go? Taichi: (gruffly) Yeah.

Tentomon flies off across the blast site crater. No idea what he's looking for. While the rest of the team move out to follow Tailmon's strategy.

Emotionally, no one's in a good place. The SkullGreymon incident and the fact that the Kaiser still has Agumon has put everyone on edge; Taichi most of all, but he's far from the only person who's pissed.

Also, I don't know what Tailmon's on about. I've seen Taichi lose it like this plenty. He's hot-headed. The fact that he hasn't thrown a punch at any of his teammates yet is still pretty restrained of him.

In the dub:

Tentomon: (silently flies past the screen) Patamon: How in the Digi-World are we gonna find out where Agumon is!? T.K.: Tentomon will help! Veemon: Now that Tentomon is out of his tree, maybe we can climb it and have a look around! Davis: You bet! Tentomon: AND STAY OUT OF MY TREE!!! Davis: Aww.... Tai: (silently scowling) Kari: You okay? Gatomon: Tai hasn't been this angry since I popped his soccer ball with my claws. T.K.: He certainly has the right to be! Gatomon: All this standing around is making my paws itch! Let's get going! Tentomon: Good idea! I'll go see what I can find out! AND DON'T TOUCH MY TREE!!! I know exactly how many pieces of bark are on it. Hmph! Kari: Everything will be okay, Tai. Tai: (gruffly) I know.

Again, we are massively talking around Tai's barely-constrained nuclear fury. Gatomon does bring it up, but the part where he explodes at Daisuke gets dropped.

In its place, Tentomon's weird buzzing of the camera gets roped into the dialogue, setting up an extended set of gags about the treehouse that SkullGreymon destroyed. Tentomon is very protective of it.

While the Chosen Children head out to look for leads, we cut back to the Kaiser's base. Greymon wakes up for an experiment in an enclosed chamber.

Kaiser: GREYMON, DARK EVOLVE!!!

The Kaiser gets SkullGreymon again for his efforts. SkullGreymon rebels against his confinement immediately, pounding against the metal walls of his sealed chamber.

Kaiser: (gasp) O_O ....

One monitor shows SkullGreymon, while the other show data on the Evil Ring. The Kaiser goes over the data.

Kaiser: Where is the problem...?

While he's going over that, SkullGreymon fires his Ground Zero missile into one of the walls, tearing open a small hole. He fires again, blowing open a more sizable hole that he can climb through. However, when SkullGreymon leaps to the edges of it, a surge of electricity shoots through him and knocks him back down into the chamber.

Then he runs out of energy, regressing to Greymon once more. As he regresses, the Evil Ring on the Kaiser's screen flattens, distorts, and then disintegrates. Though the one on Greymon's neck is still there, so it's not super clear what that was a representation of.

Kaiser: What was that? Wormmon: Did you figure out something, Ken-chan? Kaiser: Maybe. GREYMON, DARK EVOLVE!!!

Trial and error. Maybe wanna patch that hole first though? IDK.

In the dub:

Emperor: Greymon, the time has come! (Greymon wakes up) Emperor: GREYMON, DARK DIGIVOLVE!!! Greymon: (Digivolving sequence) GREYMON, DARK DIGIVOLVE TO... SKULLGREYMON!!!

Like last episode, Greymon's dark evolution sequence gets the typical Digivolving callout in the dub, while the original is just a silent transformation.

But unlike last episode, they're using the "dark" modifier now. The Emperor says to "Dark Digivolve" and Greymon uses the same language during his Digivolution sequence despite not doing it before.

The Kaiser may have actually coined the term "Dark Evolution"? I don't remember if it was ever used in the episode "Dark Evolution! SkullGreymon"-- Well, fuck me, I guess.

(SkullGreymon rampages around) Wormmon: Look, Master! He's trying to escape! And we just had those walls re-stuccoed. Emperor: (gasp) He's too powerful! He's overloading the Dark Ring! I must transfer more power to it. (SkullGreymon tries to escape but gets shocked) Emperor: That was close. (SkullGreymon regresses to Greymon) Wormmon: You can't control SkullGreymon. He's too powerful! Emperor: Oh yeah? Wanna bet? Wormmon: Please, Master, let's just let him go. Emperor: Be quiet! GREYMON, DARK DIGIVOLVE!!! Wormmon: (thinking) Why won't he ever listen to me?

SkullGreymon is too powerful. The problem the Kaiser is running into is that the Evil Ring can't control Perfect Digimon. For some reason, the dub's avoiding using their own terminology of Ultimate Digimon, but they are correct when the Emperor assesses that there's a problem with how powerful the recipient is.

The tone of the scene is totally different. The Kaiser is quiet and contemplative, attempting to unravel this situation as a puzzle to be solved. The Emperor is taking this as a personal challenge and brute forcing it, despite Wormmon's pleas to stop.

Meanwhile, Daisuke and Fladramon have their sights set on the next area's Dark Tower.

Daisuke: Tear down that tower, Fladramon! Fladramon: Yeah!

As Fladramon approaches, a Woodmon suddenly erupts from the ground wearing an Evil Ring around their head.

Daisuke: W-What is that!? Woodmon: ROOOOOOARGH!!! THIS IS THE TERRIFYING NATION OF WOODMON!!! TAKE ONE MORE STEP AND-- Fladramon: FIRE ROCKET!!!

Wreathed in fire, Fladramon slams into Woodmon and sends them hurtling helplessly back into the Dark Tower. Their wooden skull cracks the base of the monolith.

Woodmon: (whining) But I wasn't finished yet.... Fladramon: KNUCKLE FIRE!!!

Fladramon lobs a volley of fireballs into the cracked base, toppling the Dark Tower and bringing it down right on top of Woodmon, who's forced to catch it to avoid being crushed.

Woodmon: (pathetic) It can't be! (Woodmon's Evil Ring disintegrates) Woodmon: Ohhh... What was I doing? Taichi: HEY!!! DO YOU KNOW WHICH WAY THE DIGIMON KAISER WAS GOING!?!? Woodmon: UM... UM.... Taichi: DO YOU KNOW OR NOT!?!? Woodmon: Probably that way?

Still struggling to hold up the massive broken obelisk, Woodmon gestures with one of their roots.

Taichi: Thanks! Let's go, guys! (Chosen Children run off) Woodmon: BUT WHAT ABOUT ME!?!? (Fladramon reverts to V-mon) Woodmon: HEY, COME HELP ME WITH THIS!!! (V-mon runs off with the others) Woodmon: NOOOOOOOO!!!

Woodmon is slowly crushed beneath the weight of the obelisk while the Chosen Children leave them to their undeserved fate. XD Great job, team.

Woodmon is so pitiful and only here for the joke that they don't even get a rundown. And they never will. The one they got in the first Adventure series will have to suffice. Eat shit for some reason, Woodmon.

In the dub:

Tai: Look, a Control Spire! This is one of the areas controlled by the Digimon Emperor! Daisuke: Something's coming! CAREFUL, FLAMEDRAMON!!! (Woodmon erupts from the ground) Woodmon: I AM WOODMON!!! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED!!! Flamedramon: FLAME SHIELD!!! (Flamedramon tackles Woodmon into the Control Spire) Woodmon: (panicking) HEY!!! I'M BEING DEFEATED!!! Flamedramon: FIRE ROCKET!!! (Flamedramon's fireballs bring down the Control Spire on Woodmon) Woodmon: YIKES!!! (Woodmon's Evil Ring disintegrates) Woodmon: What happened to me? And who are you? Tai: Hey, Woodmon! Do you know where the Digimon Emperor can be found!? Woodmon: Well, I'm not really sure. But I think he went that way! (Woodmon gestures with one of his roots) Tai: Thanks a bunch! GO!!! GO!!! (DigiDestined run off) Woodmon: WAIT!!! CAN I GET A LITTLE HELP HERE!?!? (Flamedramon reverts to Veemon) Woodmon: SERIOUSLY!!! BIG SPIRE!!! (Veemon runs off with the others) Woodmon: REALLY HEAVY!!!

Solid. Knuckle Fire is Fire Rocket as usual but this time Fire Rocket is Flame Shield.

They sanded some of the rough edges off, particularly where Taichi snaps at Woodmon when they don't answer quickly enough. But the central gags of a) how pathetic Woodmon is and b) everyone abandoning Woodmon to be crushed both make it through intact.

Returning to school, we find Miyako in the bathroom washing her hands.

Looking herself in the mirror, Miyako holds up her D-3.

Miyako: (uncertainly) Chosen Children, let's roll!

Miyako sighs and puts her D-3 back down.

Miyako: Everyone's getting serious about this. I can't keep acting like we're just going on a picnic. I know that; But even so....

This short conversation with herself seems to make clear what's going on with Miyako. The escalation and the incident with SkullGreymon freaked her the hell out.

It's not fun anymore.

While Miyako's trying to find her confidence in the mirror, Tentomon reports in to Koushiro across the Gate in the Computer Club.

Tentomon: I think that's where it is. Could you please inform Taichi-han and the others? Koushiro: Of course. Tentomon: And I'll keep my ear to the ground and see what I can find.

Miyako returns on the tail end of this conversation.

Miyako: (gasp) Did they find Agumon!? Koushiro: If Tentomon's intel is correct.

Koushiro stands up from the computer, and Miyako takes his place.

Miyako: I'll let everyone know. Where is it? Koushiro: It's a place called Locomotown. Miyako: Got it.

With that, Miyako gets to work, typing out an email for the field team.

In the dub:

Yolei: (thinking) Huh. I cleaned my glasses for the third time today and I'm still not happy! (Yolei holds up her D-3) Yolei: Tai? Guys? Is everything okay? (Yolei sets her D-3 down) Yolei: Ohh... They probably don't want to talk to me anymore after I let them down... Well, it's time I got tough. Oops, I missed a spot!

Not giving Yolei her catchphrases is really coming back to bite them in this episode. They have nothing to explain what she's doing when she holds up her D-3, so they have to act like the D-3s work like radios. Even though that would make all the emails everyone sends to each other totally pointless.

Tentomon: According to my information, Agumon can be found in Railtown. Izzy: That's great, Tentomon. I'll let them know. Tentomon: And tell them to stay out of my tree! Izzy: Uhh... You bet!

Okay, that one got me. XD I'd actually had enough time to forget about the tree thing.

Yolei: Is everybody okay, Izzy? Izzy: Tentomon may have found Agumon! Hey, what's wrong? Yolei: I wanna help. Please let me tell them, okay? (Yolei replaces Izzy at the computer) Izzy: Well, sure. Just tell them about Railtown. Yolei: Yeah....

The dub scenes here miss the heart of Miyako's drama. She's wrestling with how dark things have gotten versus her own cavalier attitude towards it all. Yolei just feels insecure about her previous decision to stay behind, where Miyako's trying to process the feelings that motivated that decision.

Returning to the Kaiser's experiments, SkullGreymon rampages in the contained room while the Kaiser monitors his data feed.

SkullGreymon fires off his Ground Zero missile again, this time causing so much destruction that a chunk of the ceiling conks him on the head and knocks him out. This Looney Tunes moment knocks him all the way back to Agumon.

Kaiser: That's it! The Evil Ring can easily control the Adult stage but can't process all the data needed to control the Perfect stage. I need to expand its functions by altering its shape. Huhuhuhu... The word "impossible" isn't even in my dictionary!

This time, the Kaiser's pretty sure he's cracked it.

In the dub, the Emperor thinks out loud while he's analyzing.

Emperor: Once more... (SkullGreymon rampages) Emperor: The power levels.... (SkullGreymon rampages more) Emperor: Hmm.... (SkullGreymon shoots his missile and conks himself out) Emperor: Foolish creature. You should know better than to fight me. But you have given me what I need. The Dark Ring can control an Adult-stage Digimon... but not a fully evolved Digimon! It needs to be a different shape like a cylinder or a... AH!!! Of course! I know what I need to do now! Hehehehehehe....

I love the Emperor snarking on SkullGreymon's embarrassing self-KO.

Okay so... XD ...first, he accidentally uses the original Japanese terminology instead of changing it to the English "Champion".

And then we see the return of the now long-inaccurate terminology "fully evolved" for Perfect Digimon. He doesn't even use the dub term "Digivolved", either.

Returning to Taichi and the junior team, they're coming up on Locomotown.

A long stretch of railway tracks winds through the countryside, leading towards a town in the distance. A town in the shadow of a Dark Tower, no less.

Patamon: There! Daisuke: That has to be Locomotown! Iori: It's like a town made from railroad sets. Taichi: Wait for me, Agumon. I'll save you, no matter what!

As the team makes their way in, we go to commercial.

In the dub:

Cody: Tai, slow down! Tai: We don't have the time to slow down! Patamon: Oh hey, look! Tai: We've made it! Railtown! Patamon: Railtown! Cody: Railtown! Davis: Looks more like Grass and Hill Town to me! Tai: Come on, guys! Agumon is in this town somewhere so let's GO!!! Everybody split up and start looking for him!

The dub postpones its second commercial, kicking it out to later.

Tai's lashing out some more in this version. Also, he tells them to split up, which is an odd order to give when their next scene will see them all still together.

We return from commercial on an act of treachery.

Wormmon silently enters Agumon's cell. He presses down on the back of Agumon's Evil Ring, causing it to pop open, then takes the Evil Ring. He examines it for a moment, as if uncertain whether he really wants to do this. Then he turns and leaves, casting the Ring back into the room beside Agumon.

Agumon: (coming to) ...I'm free? Why?

Agumon's question goes unanswered. But the door is wide open, so he musters what strength he has to stand up and make a break for it.

Agumon: I have to get out of here....

This moment is such an enigma in the original. Wormmon has offered no indication yet as to what he's thinking, and so this sudden act of treachery comes straight out of left field. Maximum intrigue.

The dub goes the other route and has him explain himself.

Wormmon: (thinking) If Agumon escapes, Ken will have to use me. But he's gonna be mad! (Wormmon breaks Agumon free) Wormmon: (thinking) Eh, I'll bake him some brownies. (Wormmon tosses the Ring aside and leaves. Agumon rouses) Agumon: The Dark Ring's gone; I'm free! (Agumon gets up and stumbles towards the door) Agumon: Now it's time for a little payback!

It is not. Agumon is injured and is going to try to escape. Revenge is not on the agenda right now.

In his control room, the Kaiser examines his new three-ring design.

Kaiser: Not good enough. Its processing capacity has increased, but it's still not enough. Hang on.... (Keystroke) Kaiser: That's it! I should have done it like that from the start! Hahaha! Why didn't I think of this sooner!? There's strength in continuation!

The Kaiser here quotes a Japanese proverb: 継続は力なり Keizoku wa chikara nari. The idea is basically that activity leads to improvement in the activity.

We study the task, and we get better at the task. We practice the task, and we get better at the task. We do the task, and we get better at the task. In whatever form it takes, strength is acquired through repetition and continuous activity.

It's real life XP grinding, basically. Practice makes perfect, except that perfection is unattainable.

The Kaiser hit his head against this particular brick wall until he had a breakthrough that, at his heightened level, now seems so obvious he can't believe he overlooked it. He's made himself smarter through repetition and continuation of the problem he couldn't solve.

On the screen, the three rings change shape and merge together, forming into the shape of a coil.

Kaiser: This will boost both processing and reception capabilities, so it won't need to rely on power from a Dark Tower. Let's try out this ring!

The Kaiser flicks his monitor back over to the containment room's feed, only to find Agumon missing and the door wide open.

Kaiser: HUH!?!? (disbelieving) He's gone? ...why?

Oh, he just went out to get cigarettes. I'm sure he'll be back any moment.

In the dub:

Emperor: This new structure will increase the power tenfold. (Keystroke) Emperor: I won't even need the Control Spires! Huhuhuhu! No one will ever be able to stop me from taking over the Digital World! (The three Dark Rings merge into a spiral shape) Emperor: Not a Dark Ring but a Dark Spiral! With this, I can control even a fully Digivolved Digimon! Now to test it on Agumon. (Emperor switches to Agumon's feed) Emperor: What!? He's gone! But... But how!?

Solid. Still saying "fully Digivolved" but they remembered to use their term this time.

Minor change in that the Kaiser celebrates his personal growth and individual improvement while the Emperor celebrates his grand ambition and prospects for domination.

Meanwhile, Taichi and the junior team enter Locomotown.

Taichi: So, where do we go from here? Hikari: Should we split up and search? Tailmon: Sounds good to me.

Suddenly, the sound of a train's horn blows through.

V-mon: A train's coming. Daisuke: From over there?

The train's headlight appears in a nearby tunnel, followed shortly by the rest of the train emerging into the light. As it passes through town, Agumon can be seen in the engine compartment.

Taichi: (gasp) That's Agumon! AGUMOOOOOOON!!! Agumon: Taichi!?

Tailmon throws a switch to change tracks, bringing Agumon's train screeching to the end of the line. Taichi races to the front of the train as fast as his legs will carry him.

Taichi: AGUMON!!! ARE YOU OKAY, AGUMON!?!?

Agumon leaps from the engine straight into Taichi's arms.

Agumon: IT'S TAICHI!!! IT'S REALLY TAICHI!!! Taichi: Of course it's me! Oh, I'm glad you're okay!

Taichi hugs Agumon so tightly, Agumon winces in pain.

Taichi: I'm sorry. Are you hurt? Agumon: It's fine. I'll recover soon.

Agumon is safe and back with Taichi where he belongs. ^_^

In the dub, Tai already suggested splitting up. They have not done so and will continue to not do so, but stealing credit for Kari's idea frees them up to make fun of Davis here instead.

Davis: Tai, Agumon's close! I'm following his tracks! Tai: (annoyed) Those are train tracks, Davis. (Train horn) Veemon: What's that noise? Davis: Huh? (Train appears in tunnel) Kari: It's either the local or the express. (Agumon's train emerges) T.K.: And look who's driving! Group: WHOA!!! Tai: It's... It's Agumon! AGUMOOOOOON!!! Agumon: TAI!!! (Gatomon changes tracks) Gatomon: That ought to slow him down. (Train comes to a halt) Tai: Agumon, are you okay!? (Tai runs up to the train and Agumon leaps into his arms) Agumon: I'm fine! TAI!!! Tai: I'm so happy to see you! Give me a great big hug! (Hug) Agumon: Ouch! Tai: Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Agumon: No, you were just squeezing my ribs too hard.

He did hurt Agumon but the censors won't let us say it out loud.

Hikari: Onii-chan, we should get out of here while we can. The Digimon Kaiser could strike at any moment--AH!! Daisuke: WAIT A SECOND!!!

Daisuke hip slams Hikari out of the scene so that he can talk to Taichi in her place. There's no frame of contact in the animation, but she yelps and there's an impact sound.

(Hikari will remember this.)

Daisuke: We came all the way out here, and we're just going to leave!? Taichi: Don't worry, Daisuke. After what he did to Agumon, I can't let this go either. We'll settle things with him one of these days. But right now, nothing is more important than getting Agumon to safety. Daisuke: (deflated) If you say so, Taichi-senpai.

See, Daisuke? You didn't need to smack Hikari with your butt after all.

In the dub:

Kari: Tai, we should get going. I'm sure Ken will come after Agumon--Oof! (Davis shoves Kari aside) Davis: Are you kidding!? We all came here to fight! Now you want us to turn around and go home!? Tai: Listen, I want to get back at the guy who did this to Agumon too but you gotta learn, Davis, that sometimes you gotta think with your head and not with your heart! Remember, we're not at full strength! And Agumon's been through a lot so our first priority is to get him back to safety. Davis: You mean we can come back here later and get him? Tai: (confidently) Mhm!

The dub puts its second commercial break here, on the promise of future revenge.

Kari's "Oof!" here doesn't have the accompanying shoving sound effect so Davis may have just crowded her out of the scene instead of slamming into her.

Back in his control room, the Kaiser's trying to make sense of Agumon's escape.

Kaiser: How did he escape? Wormmon: What's wrong, Ken-chan? Kaiser: Agumon's escaped. But how was he able to get the Evil Ring off? Wormmon: Hey, Ken-chan! Kaiser: What!? Wormmon: Forget about him! You can use me for your evolution experiments! I can evolve. I'll evolve and fight for Ken-chan! That's why I-- Kaiser: YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!?!? Wormmon: That's not what I mean. I'm your Partner, Ken-chan! I should be able to evolve. So if you're going to study someone, you should study me. Kaiser: (dismissive) Heh! Wormmon: KEN-CHAN!!!

Wormmon reveals his motivations for setting Agumon free. Ken has reached a point where he's actually using his Digivice to evolve a Partner to fight for him, but he won't even look Wormmon's way for it. Wormmon makes a compelling point, too.

If Ken evolved him to Perfect, he wouldn't even need to worry about whether he can control him or not. Wormmon would fight for Ken loyally, with no need for a control device.

In the dub:

Emperor: HOW DID AGUMON GET AWAY!?!? Wormmon: An escape clause in his contract? Emperor: I'm in no mood for humor. Wormmon: Good, because I want to talk to you about something serious. Ahem, Master? Emperor: WHAT!?!? Wormmon: I-I was just thinking that y-y-you could use me for your experiments. I mean, I am a Digimon just like Agumon. I can Digivolve too. What do you say? Emperor: I SAY YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT IT!!! Wormmon: But Master, please! I've done absolutely everything around here you've asked me to do and more! I even cleaned that hair trap thing in the shower! Emperor: (dismissive) Ha! Wormmon: Don't laugh.

Unlike the Kaiser, the Emperor does not glean from context that Wormmon freed Agumon.

Dub Wormmon grovels as he makes his pitch. He seems to be aware that this could go badly for him, but he tries to plead his case nonetheless. Original Wormmon is more hopeful; He's pouring his heart out to make the case for his Partnership with Ken-chan.

So, that's his pitch. Digimon Kaiser, your answer?

Kaiser: And what kind of majestic Digimon do you think you'd evolve into? You're supposed to be my Partner? Hah! Not a chance. How could the Digimon Kaiser have a Partner like you? Wormmon: KEN-CHAN--

Before Wormmon can say any more, the Kaiser kicks him in the face, knocking him on his back.

Kaiser: From now on, I don't want to hear you call me "Ken-chan" anymore. My name is the Digimon Kaiser. Wormmon: I'm sorry, Ken-- No, Digimon Kaiser-sama. Please.... I-- Kaiser: SHUT UP!!!

The Digimon Kaiser raises his whip to strike at Wormmon. But before he can swing, an alarm on his console alerts him to the Chosen Children in Locomotown.

On his monitor, Taichi and the junior team are making their way out of town, following the train tracks. Taichi's carrying Agumon on his back.

Kaiser: Huh? ...his nakama came to rescue him. I won't let that happen.

The Kaiser goes to leave, then stops and informs Wormmon:

Kaiser: You got lucky. Wormmon: Ken-chan--ACK!!!

Retaliating against his use of the forbidden name, the Kaiser whips the floor right in front of Wormmon. He doesn't make contact, but he startles Wormmon into submission.

In the dub:

Emperor: And what kind of Digimon would you Digivolve into, huh? Perhaps you'd transform yourself into a giant butterfly with scary-looking wings? Hah! You're about as useless to me as an old pair of underwear that's made out of 100% poison ivy.

The dub cuts the shot of the Kaiser kicking Wormmon in his face, as well as the shots of the scared and trembling Wormmon on his back. They splice in shots of Wormmon standing there and talking normally so that no one's the wiser.

Wormmon: Just give me a chance, Ken, and you won't be-- Emperor: AND WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME KEN!?!? MY NAME IS THE DIGIMON EMPEROR!!! Wormmon: All I'm saying is, now that Agumon has escaped, I'm all you've got. Emperor: ENOUGH!!! (Emperor raises his whip) Emperor: ...huh?

Missing sound effect time. There's no alert noise from the computer to pull his attention. The Emperor suddenly stops and looks at the monitor due to a psychic premonition.

Emperor: They're here! And they've got Agumon.... (Emperor starts to walk away, then turns back) Emperor: ...and he's a useful Digimon. Wormmon: But Ken, I am-- (Emperor whips the floor, startling Wormmon)

All this drama around the use of the name Ken doesn't really land when Wormmon typically calls him Master. And has been doing so as recently as earlier in this same scene. Wormmon only ever uses the name Ken when his Japanese counterpart is getting in trouble for it.

On their way out of Locomotown, Taichi checks on Agumon again.

Taichi: Agumon, do your wounds still hurt? Agumon: Mm... I'm okay. Thank you, Taichi. Kaiser: Huhuhuhuhu... Takeru: ICHIJOUJI KEN!!!

Perched atop a railway tunnel, the Kaiser's distinctive chuckle alerts everyone to his presence.

Kaiser: (dramatically) Please, call me the Digimon Kaiser! Daisuke: Keh! Who would ever call you that!? Ken Ken Ken ICHIJOUJI KEN!!! Kaiser: (angry) Do you really want to piss me off?

Taichi sets down Agumon.

Taichi: I should be asking you that. After what you did to Agumon, I hope you're ready for this. Kaiser: Hehe... A middle school student losing his temper at an elementary school kid? You should be ashamed. Taichi: WHAT WAS THAT!?!?

Iori draws his stick, brandishing it at the Kaiser.

Iori: Well I'm younger than you, and I despise you! YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO HUMANITY!!!

Iori chucks his stick at the Kaiser as hard as he can. The Kaiser whips it out of the air, breaking it in half.

Kaiser: I don't care about the opinions of worms.

We already know from earlier that Taichi feels humiliated by the fact that a kid as young as Ken has managed to hurt him like this. Part of his agitation stems from the fact that he's been victimized by a little boy of Takeru's age.

The Kaiser in this scene hones in and presses that button, forcing Iori to come to Taichi's defense from the other side of the age gap.

In the dub, Tai doesn't need to check on Agumon because we've already established that he's totally uninjured.

Tai: ...and we'll have cookies and ice cream. Agumon: I want mine with chocolate sprinkles! Emperor: How endearing! Group: (miscellaneous surprise noises) Kari: It's Ken! Emperor: My name is the Digimon Emperor! Davis: So now you don't want to be called Ken, huh? Alright then, how's Kenny or Kenneth!? Emperor: You really don't want to make me angry! Tai: So you're the one who put Agumon in a cage like a wild animal! Davis: You come down here now and take your medicine like a man! Emperor: You do amuse me so. I can defeat you just as I defeated Agumon! Davis: Try it! (Cody brandishes his stick) Cody: You should be ashamed of yourself, Ken! You're the kind of bully that gives bullies... a bad name! (Cody throws his stick; Emperor whips it out of the air) Emperor: I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that, little boy.

The dub sidesteps Taichi's emotional anguish and has the Emperor bicker with Davis instead. They just puff out their chests and bellow at one another, which Cody soon joins in.

Though Iori's attack proved futile, it's still the first punch thrown. We're done talking.

Backed up by three Airdramon behind him, the Kaiser cracks his whip. Five DarkTyranomon emerge from the surrounding area. Three to the team's left and two to their right.

V-mon: Daisuke, my evolution! Daisuke: Got it. DIGIMENTAL UP!!!

V-mon Armor Evolves into Fladramon, but he's not the only one.

Armadimon: Should we get in on this too dagyaa? Iori: Of course! DIGIMENTAL UP!!!

The dub explains who these Digimon are, in case the audience doesn't remember from last episode.

Davis: DARKTYRANNOMON!!! T.K.: WE'RE SURROUNDED!!! Veemon: Give me the word, Davis! Davis: Yeah! DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! (Flamedramon evolution sequence) Armadillomon: Don't let Flamedramon have all the fun, Cody. Cody: Right! DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!!

Takeru and Hikari seem to be staying in reserve for now and Taichi can't evolve his Digimon under the influence of a Dark Tower. But it's fine. Fladramon and Digmon can handle this.

With gusto.

Fladramon: FIRE ROCKET!!!

Fladramon takes the two on the right, slamming into one horn-first with his Fire Rocket. The other tries to flank him from behind, but he lays that one out with an armored backhand that breaks their teeth.

That hit might also have broken their Evil Ring? It's hard to tell. DarkTyranomon's teeth shatter but the chunks that fly off are black.

Digmon: BIG CRACK!!!

Digmon goes for the three on the right, proving his Big Crack to still be OP. Do not nerf.

Kaiser: What!?

He really thought he had the advantage here. Problem is, the junior team's gaining experience with every fight and the Kaiser keeps bringing fresh-faced new minions to the table. What was that about strength in continuation?

In the dub:

Flamedramon: FLAMING FIST!!! (Flamedramon KOs one DarkTyrannomon) Flamedramon: HI-YA!!! (Flamedramon backhands the other) Digmon: ROCK CRACKING!!! (Digmon takes out the other three) Emperor: (outraged) THEY'RE WINNIIIING!!!

Fire Rocket is back to being Flaming Fist.

As soon as he's through the DarkTyranomon, Fladramon goes for the Kaiser.

Fladramon: KNUCKLE FIRE!!!

Fladramon punches six fireballs up into the edge of the train tunnel the Kaiser's standing on. Kaiser leaps off the edge, landing on one of his three Airdramon.

Tailmon: Put me in. Patamon: Me too! Hikari & Takeru: Finish it (ganbatte)! DIGIMENTAL UP!!!

Yeah, the withdrawal plan is scrapped at this point. Everyone is in agreement: New plan is to shitstomp on the boy genius.

Nefertimon: CURSE OF QUEEN!!!

Nefertimon clears the path, parting the two Airdramon in front and forcing them to open the way for Pegasmon.

Pegasmon: NEEDLE RAIN!!!

Following up on that opening, Pegasmon unloads a spray of needles from his mane. The attack proves ineffective, however, as the Kaiser shields himself with his cape. Apparently that thing is functional and not just a fashion choice.

Pegasmon: SILVER BLAZE!!!

Since shooting at the Kaiser isn't working, Pegasmon changes tactics and shoots his mount out from under him. One shot from Pegasmon's forehead beam straight into Airdramon's face dislodges their rider and sends the Kaiser plummeting to the earth.

In the dub:

Flamedramon: FIRE ROCKET!!! (Emperor jumps to an Airdramon to avoid Flamedramon's shots) Gatomon: He's tough! Patamon: I'll say! Kari & T.K.: DIGI-ARMOR ENERGIZE!!! (Armor Digivolution for Nefertimon and Pegasusmon) Nefertimon: ROSETTA STONE!!! (Nefertimon divides the Airdramon and opens the path) Pegasusmon: WIND MANE!!! (Emperor blocks Pegasusmon's rapid-fire needle spray) Pegasusmon: EQUUS BEAM!!! (Pegasusmon shoots Emperor's mount out from under him)

Gatomon and Patamon are content to just rubberneck in this version. Kari and T.K. basically spring the Digivolution on them.

The dub tends to have Pegasusmon call Shooting Star for both Pegasmon's Star Shower and Needle Rain. But this time they went with Wind Mane.

Ken lands on the ground and he's fine. It's not super clear whether his cape is slowing his descent or if it's just cartoon logic, but he lands on his feet completely undeterred after that drop.

Agumon: And now it's my turn! Taichi: WAIT, AGUMON!!!

Agumon inadvisably charges at the Kaiser to get some licks in himself. Realizing how bad an idea this is, Taichi frantically chases after him.

Kaiser: Oh, what a shame. You're too late. The Evil Spiral is complete.

The Kaiser holds up the very first Evil Spiral, letting everyone see it, then throws it at Agumon.

In the dub:

Agumon: Attack! Tai: AGUMON!!! (Agumon charges the Emperor) Emperor: So, you've come back to me, Agumon. And I've got a new friendship bracelet for you!

Calling the Evil Spiral a friendship bracelet is both wickedly poetic and a slap in the face to Wormmon. Really rubs salt in the wound of the Emperor replacing him. I kinda love it.

The Evil Spiral latches on around Agumon's right arm.

Agumon: W-What is this!?

That's all he gets out before it seizes control. Agumon collapses to the ground.

Kaiser: The Evil Spiral is the improved version of the Evil Ring. Taichi: What!? Daisuke: LOOK OUT!!!

Under the Spiral's control, Agumon stands up and fires off a shot of his Baby Flame at Taichi. Daisuke tackles Taichi out of the way just before Agumon shoots.

Iori: This is bad! He's already being controlled! Taichi: Agumon!

Agumon really should have let the Armor Digimon do the shitstomping, but I can understand his eagerness. This is the payback time that his dub counterpart wanted. It does not go well.

In the dub:

(Dark Spiral latches onto Agumon's arm.) Agumon: What is this!? (Dark Spiral forces Agumon down) Emperor: YOU ARE MINE AGAIN!!! Tai: Agumon, are you okay? Davis: LOOK OUT!!! (Davis tackles Tai out of the way of Agumon's fireball) Cody: He's being controlled again!

Emperor explains nothing about the Dark Spiral but that's fine. The audience watched him design it and he's under no obligation to explain himself to his enemies.

With the Spiral in place, there's one thing still to do.

Kaiser: Now, Agumon... DARK EVOLVE!!!

The Kaiser raises the Dark Digivice and lets it shine. Its power overtakes Agumon, but this time the process works. Agumon evolves all the way into his Perfect form MetalGreymon... kind of.

Hikari: MetalGreymon! Takeru: No, he's different....

He is! This is actually the original version of MetalGreymon from the very first V-Pet, overshadowed by the orange Vaccine version invented by the anime. Often referred to as MetalGreymon (Blue) or MetalGreymon (Virus).

MetalGreymon (Blue) is a Perfect-stage Virus-attribute Cyborg Digimon. Available as the evolved form for Greymon, Devimon, or Airdramon, he stands shoulder to shoulder with Monzaemon and Mamemon (more on that one later) as the three Perfect Digimon that started it all.

Narrator: MetalGreymon! A Perfect-stage Digimon whose special attack is Giga Destroyer. His blue color is due to his Virus attribute!

Narrator breaks formula with this rundown. Typically he'll give a fun fact about the Digimon then close with "His special attack is XYZ!" But here the narrator's like "Yeah yeah we all know MetalGreymon; Look, lemme explain why he's blue real quick."

Kaiser: Just like I planned! This time, he evolved exactly the way I expected him to!

Taichi isn't having it, though. He goes out to try and appeal to his Partner.

Taichi: Agumon! Daisuke: Taichi-senpai, it's too dangerous! Taichi: It's me! Don't you recognize me? Kaiser: Your words are futile. He's not your Partner Digimon anymore. He's my servant! NOW, METALGREYMON!!! SHOW ME THE POWER OF THE PERFECT LEVEL!!!

MetalGreymon obediently raises his mechanical Trident Arm to strike.

Daisuke: LOOK OUT!!!

Daisuke grabs Taichi from behind, pulling him away just before MetalGreymon's claw strikes down where he's standing.

Taichi's efforts are futile, but it's easy to see where he's coming from. This actually worked for Hikari with Andromon, so appealing to the controlled Digimon has a precedent.

Unfortunately, the flaws in the Kaiser's system that made that possible have now been eliminated. MetalGreymon will not be defeated with words.

In the dub:

Emperor: Now, Agumon! DARK DIGIVOLVE!! Agumon: Agumon, Dark Digivolve to.... MetalGreymon: METALGREYMON!!!

As with SkullGreymon, Agumon calls out the evolution sequence here where it's a silent transformation in the original.

Kari: He looks so different! T.K.: And mean! T.K.: (rundown) MetalGreymon's armor not only protects him from harm, but it conceals his destructive Giga Blaster attack!

T.K. offers no explanation for why he's blue. Probably because he has no idea. The audience is left to infer the reason behind the palette swap for themselves.

Which, to be fair, isn't that hard. "The Spiral did it" is not very far of a logic leap, at the very least.

Emperor: The Dark Spiral is working perfectly! AGUMON IS MINE AGAIN!!! Tai: MetalGreymon, you've got to fight the Digimon Emperor's control! It's me, Tai! Don't you recognize me? Emperor: Ooh, such a tense moment. I've got chills. Will he remember you? Allow me to answer. METALGREYMON, ATTACK!!! (MetalGreymon attacks) Davis: LOOK OUT!!! (Davis pulls Tai out of the way of MetalGreymon's claw) Davis: Tai, he doesn't know who you are!

Thanks, Davis. That was unclear.

They're finally getting the Digimon Emperor's name right again. No more Digital Emperor.

The Kaiser celebrates finally getting the results from his experiment that he wanted, while the Emperor's just happy to have Agumon back.

Now that we once again have first shots fired, things escalate quickly once more.

Takeru: STOP METALGREYMON!!! Pegasmon: Let's go, Nefertimon! Nefertimon & Pegasmon: SANCTUARY BIND!!!

Pegasmon and Nefertimon break out their incapacitating dual tech, wrapping their golden light around MetalGreymon's neck, which ends up being around his arms and chest. They pull him to the ground.

Taichi: Agumon! Fladramon: What should I do? Daisuke: Like I know what to do!?

Daisuke tries his best to hold Taichi back from approaching MetalGreymon again, but his senpai is stronger too of body and will. Taichi drags him forward.

In the dub:

Pegasusmon: Nefertimon, help me stop MetalGreymon! Nefertimon & Pegasusmon: GOLDEN NOOSE!!!

They really used the name "Golden Noose" while the animation briefly wraps it around his neck. That really happened. In the dub.

Tai: Don't hurt him! Flamedramon: He's metal; He'll be fine. (Tai drags Davis forward) Davis: Hey! Whoa! Hold it!

Flamedramon making a valid argument here.

With MetalGreymon incapacitated, the team plans their attack.

Iori: Digmon, is there a way for you to attack just the Evil Spiral? Digmon: Eh... I don't know. It's a small target and he's moving around too much. Fladramon: I'll do it! Taichi: NO, STOP!!!

Taichi nearly reaches MetalGreymon before Daisuke regains body control and manages to pull him back again.

MetalGreymon: (roar) Daisuke: (struggling) It's too dangerous! Taichi: Stop it! Don't attack Agumon! Hikari: But if he stays like this.... Takeru: We have to do something, and quickly! Iori: He's about to break free! Shouldn't we at least try?

Window of opportunity is closing fast. Still bound by the golden ropes, MetalGreymon manages to get his wits about him and retaliate. He stomps down at Digmon and Fladramon, scattering them from their attack positions.

Taichi: WAIT!!! I'M BEGGING YOU, JUST WAIT A SECOND!!! Iori: WE CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!!! Daisuke: WAIT!!! Taichi-senpai told us to wait, so we have to wait!

Daisuke casts the deciding vote out of loyalty to Taichi. Against all reason, we wait and try to come up with a better option.

For some reason, despite being a key part of this argument, Iori never appears onscreen during any part of it. I wonder if Taichi was originally supposed to be arguing with someone else? Nefertimon and Pegasmon are onscreen whenever Iori's talking so it could be one of them.

Nefertimon would make sense. Due to her Adult base form and rough history, Tailmon tends to be the adult in the room when talking to and directing the other Digimon. I could see her being the one having this argument with Taichi.

In the dub:

Pegasusmon: We've got him trapped! Nefertimon: Digmon, can you get to the Dark Spiral? Digmon: That won't be a problem for old Digmon... If he'd just stop dancing around! Hey, quit it! Flamedramon: ...

Flamedramon sidles up to Digmon but I guess he's just there for moral support. He says nothing.

(Tai drags Davis over to MetalGreymon) Tai: AGUMON!!! MetalGreymon: (roars) Davis: Okay, we're out of here! (Davis drags Tai away) Tai: LET!!! GO!!! Kari: I'm still too scared to move! T.K.: I've forgotten how to move! Pegasusmon: He's trying to break the Golden Noose! Nefertimon: WATCH IT!!! (MetalGreymon stomps down and scatters Flamedramon and Digmon) Tai: Let me just try to reach him! Nobody: ... Tai: AUGH!!! Davis: The only thing you'll reach is the bottom of his footprint, Tai!

The dub solves the "Iori never appears onscreen" problem by kicking him out of his scene, and making him take the whole argument with him.

The prospect of shooting at MetalGreymon is briefly raised, but the conversation quickly pivots. Rather than arguing about whether to shoot at MetalGreymon, they're arguing about whether to let Tai try to reason with him instead.

Moments after Daisuke casts his vote and the team holds their fire, time runs out.

MetalGreymon breaks free from Sanctuary Bind, blowing Nefertimon and Pegasmon away from the force of his escape.

Taichi: I-It can't be.... Takeru: GUYS, RUN!!!

Daisuke drags Taichi offscreen to the right, while Takeru and Hikari flee left. In an easy blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Takeru and Hikari are holding hands while they run.

Nefertimon and Pegasmon join Fladramon and Digmon, presenting a united front against MetalGreymon.

MetalGreymon: GIGA DESTROYER!!!

Nefertimon and Pegasmon scatter, leaving Fladramon and Digmon to their fate. The twin missiles collide with them, kicking up a smoke cloud that blankets everyone.

Fladramon & Digmon: UWAAAUGH!!! Kaiser: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Smoke cloud) Kaiser: Just as I expect from Perfect level! This was too easy! (Another smoke cloud) Kaiser: MetalGreymon, with your power, I'll conquer the Digital World in no time at all!

It's a bit of an awkward transition. The Kaiser laughs and then a smoke cloud transitions him to boasting, and then another smoke cloud transitions to the Kaiser perched atop MetalGreymon and exclaiming his plans.

In the dub:

(MetalGreymon breaks free) Davis & Kari: AHHHHHH!!! (The kids scatter) MetalGreymon: GIGA BLASTER!!! (MetalGreymon shoots Flamedramon and Digmon) Emperor: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA--hack gck! (Smoke cloud transition) Emperor: With the new Dark Spirals, I will control the whole Digital World! (Smoke cloud transition) Emperor: Goodbye, Digi-Fools! And say goodbye to your pet Agumon... FOR GOOD!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The Emperor chokes on the smoke cloud transition the first time, which is cute.

The Kaiser's putting all his eggs in MetalGreymon's basket. As long as he has this Digimon, he's unstoppable. The Emperor's keeping his options open, and is just proud of the fact that he can control stronger Digimon now.

The fight is over. The four Armor Digimon revert to their Child forms. Even Nefertimon and Greymon, who avoided MetalGreymon's attack but I guess took damage anyway. Rude.

Taichi: Agumon! Kaiser: Now go, MetalGreymon! On to the next area!

Flanked by the three Airdramon, MetalGreymon reminds us all that those tattered ass wings of his are still functional and takes to the sky. With the Digimon Kaiser perched atop his head, MetalGreymon flies away.

Along the way, he punches rock formations for funsies. ...because animators get bored sometimes, IDK.

Kaiser: Ahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Leaving the junior team and Taichi behind.

Iori: There's no way we can catch up to them! Daisuke: MetalGreymon is incredible.... Taichi: What do I do...? How can I bring Agumon ba-- Miyako: GUYS!!!

Coming up the railroad tracks, Miyako arrives in a mine cart she's fashioned a sail to for propulsion. Not only that, but she's pulling Yamato in the cart behind hers. She hits the brake and their carts come screeching to a stop.

Iori: Miyako-san! Takeru: Onii-chan! Miyako: I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. Iori: No, I knew you'd make it. Yamato: For my part, Miyako-chan staying behind wound up being really helpful. In any case, what's the situation here?

FUBAR, sir. The situation is FUBAR and it's kind of Taichi's fault 'cause he wouldn't let us shoot at the Dark Spiral.

In the dub:

Tai: Agumon, no! Emperor: With the Dark Spirals and MetalGreymon I am INVINCIBLE!!!

That proclamation brings us to our third commercial break.

We come back to MetalGreymon punching rock formations while the Emperor reminds us of what was happening here.

Emperor: MetalGreymon was the missing link I needed. There's NOTHING that can stop me now! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!! (Transition to the protags) Davis: That kid is just begging to be taken down a peg! Cody: But how can we defeat him? Tai: I let Agumon down just when he needed me the most, and then I... huh?

Yolei doesn't say anything to interrupt Tai, but this isn't a psychic premonition moment. You can faintly hear the rumbling of the minecart when he stops, so that's what pulled Tai's attention.

T.K.: It's Yolei and Hawkmon! Kari: And Matt! Yolei: I'm sorry about not coming before. Cody: That's okay! I knew you'd show up eventually. Matt: Well, it's a good thing she did stay or I never would have found you all. Why don't you fill me in on what's happened up until now?

For some reason, they decided not to have T.K. be the one excited to see Matt. Brotherly snub.

Catching Yamato up takes long enough for the sun to start going down by the time they're done. Taichi hangs out by the tracks, wallowing in grief with Daisuke, while the junior team explains it.

Yamato: So that's what's happening. Taichi: (separate) What do I do... What do I do...? Yamato: (gently) Taichi.... Taichi: Huh?

Yamato walks over to Taichi and gently gets his attention. Then, when Taichi looks up, Yamato punches him right in the fucking face, knocking him on his ass.

Daisuke: WHY THE HELL DID YOU HIT HIM!?!? Agumon was just captured, and Taichi-senpai is in shock! And you just... WHAT THE HELL!?!?

Yamato keeps his gaze fixed on Taichi, ignoring Daisuke. Daisuke raises his arms as if to grab Yamato from behind, but Hikari calls out to stop him.

Hikari: Wait, Daisuke-kun! Daisuke: Eh?

Daisuke relaxes and the scene continues to play as if he weren't there. Yamato holds out a hand for Taichi.

Yamato: Taichi. Taichi: Yamato. Daisuke: What.

Daisuke doesn't know what he's watching but he knows that he hates it.

Taichi takes Yamato's hand, and Yamato pulls him to his feet.

Taichi: Thanks, Yamato. Yamato: You're welcome, of course. Taichi: You've opened my eyes. I can't hesitate like that again. I don't even know if we can pull this off. If I hold us back, then we definitely won't. If we don't fight with everything we have, then we won't take Agumon back. Yamato: That's right. I'm sure that's what Agumon would want too. He'd rather be defeated than used as the Digimon Kaiser's minion. Taichi: Yeah.

With that, Taichi addresses the junior team.

Taichi: Guys, this is what I'm asking of you. Next time we fight MetalGreymon, hold nothing back! Junior Team: ... Hikari: ...are you sure? Taichi: Yeah! Tailmon: Taichi's right. Listen up, everyone! If you care about Agumon, then do not hesitate! Digimon: (half-hearted) Understood!

Nobody seems happy about it, but we have our marching orders. Next time we see MetalGreymon, we hit him hard and fast with everything we've got. If he dies, he dies.

Takeru: Yeah! Let's go! Oh, uh, that's Miyako-san's job, huh? Miyako: Ehehe! CHOSEN CHILDREN, LET'S ROLL!!!

Miyako seems to be back with us. Looks like she just needed time to process her feelings and get her head in the game.

Finally, the teams pile into the minecarts. Most of the junior team takes the rear cart while Daisuke and V-mon sit up front with Taichi and Yamato. Taichi and Yamato exchange a brief smile.

Daisuke: What is with those two? V-mon: Yeah... Daisuke: (affectionately) I don't get it at all.

Oh, it's about 54 episodes of complicated, Daisuke. Ask Takeru if you really want to know. He was adjacent to just about all of it.

In the dub:

Matt: I see. Well, it certainly sounds like you guys had a full day! Tai: (separate) That's right. It's all my fault. Matt: (gently) Tai? Tai: Huh?

They censor the moment of impact with a white flash, but Matt punching Tai in the face is retained nonetheless.

Davis: Hey! Why're you hitting Tai!? You're supposed to be friends! And friends don't fight friends unless they're on a boxing team, and that's a whole different thing! HEY!!! (Davis goes to grab Matt) T.K.: DAVIS, LET THEM BE!!! Davis: ...

The dub again avoids the topic of how much this is affecting Taichi personally here.

Also they have Yamato's little sibling stop Davis instead of Taichi's. A fairly lateral change, but I do believe him holding back on Hikari's behalf more than on T.K.'s. Especially in the dub where he refuses to even say T.K.'s name correctly out of spite.

(Matt holds out his hand to Tai) Matt: Tai? Tai: You're right. Davis: Huh!? (Matt helps Tai up) Tai: Thanks, Matt. I needed that. Matt: (enthusiastic) Sure, any time! I'll do it again! Tai: I really appreciate that.

XD Perfect.

Tai: I know that I was just blaming myself for something that was completely out of my control. And also, it doesn't help if I stand around here and feel sorry for myself. But now we need to focus on how we can get Agumon back. Matt: Okay. We have to be willing to fight Agumon at full strength. I'm sure Agumon would definitely rather be defeated by us than remain a slave to the Digimon Emperor. Tai: You're right! (Tai addresses the junior team) Tai: In the future, when we battle the Digimon Emperor, we have to be prepared to face our friend Agumon as well. So, I don't really know how to say this-- Gatomon: Let me handle this, Tai. Everyone? THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE AGUMON, TRASH HIM, UNDERSTAND!?!? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!! Digimon: (affirmative) O-KAY!!! T.K.: DEFEAT AGUMON!!! I can't believe those words actually came out of my mouth! Yolei: Ehehe, yeah! Let's all go get Agumon back!

Decent. They keep the tone light and upbeat as usual. They keep the central point that we need to hit MetalGreymon with everything we've got, while sidestepping the ominous tone and chilling undercurrent of what that might actually mean for our friend.

Though, like when Yolei was being hard on herself for hanging back instead of going over her actual issues, they mess with Tai in a similar fashion. Tai criticizes himself for how he's behaved since the fight ended rather than how he behaved during it.

Taichi's problem isn't that he's upset. His problem is that they could have hit MetalGreymon when they had the chance, and he stopped them. His hesitation let the Kaiser get away with MetalGreymon.

Yolei is also denied her symbolic moment of return to form due to the decision to strip out her catchphrases.

(The team departs by minecart) Tai: Hahaha! I've never traveled by sailing train car before! Kari: That's how all the important people travel. (Tai and Matt exchange smiles) Tai: Hehe, cute. Davis: I can't see a thing! Who put the sail in front of everything!? Narrator: Will the DigiDestined be able to meet the challenge of fighting Ken and their friend Agumon? Find out on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!

Tai's meant to be responding to Kari's joke here but have fun, Tai/Matt shippers. We already threw a bone to Takeru/Hikari shippers so why not?

Davis raising a valid point about Miyako's reckless design. Though, to be fair, the minecarts run on a track so it's not like you need to see where you're going necessarily....

Assessment: Here we are with Part 3 of the arc. Wormmon, in his desperation to fill his role as Ken's Partner, betrays the Digimon Kaiser and gets kicked again for it. Miyako wrestles with how serious this all got, while Daisuke demonstrates his loyalty to Taichi which... is going to be a pretty important topic next episode IIRC.

And Iori haaaaaaaaaates the Digimon Kaiser. We got a lot of drama from Taichi in this episode. But, as hard as Taichi is taking the humiliating slap in the face that is Ken stealing his Partner, Iori's taking it pretty hard. He's furious.

[sephirthoughts]

Vincent's New Kid Just Dropped CH 13: Deepground Flashback and Present Day, Sephiroth and Cid get a little screentime

prev. chap

RATING: this is a pretty teen-and-up chapter

WARNINGS: disgustingly fluffy family stuff, gratuitous reading of Loveless, Genesis being the world's best onii-chan, referenced torture, phantom pain, PTSD, Vincent being an old man, canon-typical Sephiroth sadness

HE'S JUST A LITTLE GUY

brothers 🖤♥️🤍

also keep this outfit in mind

“Self-care is an essential life skill,” Genesis was saying, as he sat at the table, in Weiss and Nero’s room, gently pushing back Rosso’s cuticles, with a tool from the manicure kit he’d produced from a coat pocket. “We don’t groom and dress for others, but for ourselves. Even if you’re not going out, on a given day, you should take a little time to make yourself feel beautiful.” 

“I am not going out any day,” Rosso said disconsolately. “And I don’t care about feeling beautiful, I just want to kill things.”

“Well, live your truth, darling, but self-confidence is an essential battlefield tool. Good grooming habits are a foundational element of self-confidence. Even on the front lines, I always kept my manicure kit with me.”

Rosso appeared skeptical. “You really did?”

“Mn,” he nodded, as he smoothed the rough edges of her fingernails with the crystal emery board. “I consider it a necessary item for survival.”

“A necessary item for survival…” she repeated, gazing dazedly at her newly manicured hands.

When Genesis was satisfied that the girl’s nails were as good as they were going to get, he stowed the tools and zipped up the little case, which had obviously been custom made for him, with an ornate apple tree embossed in the red leather.

“You know what? I want you to have this,” he said, holding it out to Rosso. “You can use it to establish your own pre-slaughter self-care regimen.”

Rosso’s eyes went wide, and she glanced over at Nero and Weiss, who were paying no attention whatsoever. “Me? I can’t…I can’t take such a nice thing, from you.”

“Nonsense, I have a hundred manicure kits. I insist,” Genesis countered, pushing it firmly into her hands. Seeing that she was still hesitant, he added, in a softer tone, “Every girl deserves to have pretty things, little sister.”

That master stroke thoroughly conquered Rosso, who had never been spoken to so kindly, before, let alone received a gift from anyone. She accepted it without further protest, blushing nearly as red as the manicure kit, in her flustered state. “Thank you, b—brother.”

“Don’t mention it. Now then, I think it’s high time we…ahem.” Genesis planted his hands on his hips. “Little brothers? I do admire your unquenchable passion, but if you could remove your tongues from each other’s mouths for long enough to have a conversation, I’d be much obliged.”

“We can talk without our mouths,” Nero informed him, through the darkness link.

“But our sister can’t,” Genesis said aloud. “It is rude to exclude her.”

“They are watching. And listening,” Weiss replied.

“Are they indeed.”

Genesis stepped to the center of the room and scanned the area, quickly spotting the concealed cameras and listening devices, in addition to the openly visible ones. Then he wheeled about, smiled directly into the primary camera, in the ceiling above the door, and raised his middle finger, before he tossed out a sparking and snapping thundara burst. 

Rosso gasped and the two boys gave a jolt of surprise, as it struck the camera dead-on, and went crackling along precise and specific paths through the metal walls, instantly frying all the surveillance equipment, while leaving the lights and other systems intact.

“I do dislike being spied upon,” he sneered, dusting off his hands. “Now, tell me why the hell I can hear you two in my head. And why I get such a strong feeling, as if…I don’t know. As if we’re all actually blood related.”

“We don’t know, either,” Nero answered truthfully. “Weiss and me are half brothers, by our mother. We can talk to you in our heads because the darkness thinks we’re connected to you by blood. Rosso, too, but not as much as you. That’s why I can’t use it to talk to her, without hurting her. But it hasn’t ever thought anyone else is connected. Only us four.”

“Hm. You wouldn’t, by any chance, happen to have a parent from Banora, would you?” Genesis put forth.

Weiss shrugged. “Maybe. Our mother was a scientist here, but we don’t know anything else about her. She could have been from there.”

“I don’t know anything about my parents,” Rosso said, in answer to Genesis’ questioning look. “I only know I was born in Deepground.” 

“You were all born here, then. That makes sense for the three of you, but how do I fit into this little chain,” he mused, tapping his chin with a perfectly manicured finger. Then he shook his head, with a sigh. “Well, speculating isn’t solving anything. I shall have to do some digging around, on my own. I have a sneaking suspicion that behind this thread there will be a much bigger knot, to untangle.”

Weiss studied the young man surreptitiously, as he arched his back in a stretch, then carded his fingers absently through his auburn hair. 

His red coat and leather waist armor hung on the hook by the door, and he’d removed his gloves, before working on Rosso’s fingernails. Now, in only his sleeveless SOLDIER uniform top and trousers, it was suddenly apparent how very hard and muscular his body really was. 

His long, streamlined trench coat, with its black, scarab-wing epaulets, had a minimizing and slenderizing visual effect, on his tall frame. It was the opposite effect to Sephiroth’s huge, white pauldrons and exposed chest, which made his lean and agile frame appear bulkier and more imposing than it was. Sephiroth was almost half a foot taller than Genesis, and somewhat broader in the chest, but the two were actually fairly comparable, in terms of muscle mass.

If Genesis and Sephiroth were built like swordsmen, however, Weiss was built like a heavyweight boxer. He needed no creative costuming whatsoever, to make his body appear more tank-like. The researchers liked to say that all the boy had to do to gain muscle mass was eat and breathe, which was fairly close to the truth. 

“So, you want to fight Sephiroth,” Genesis said, sensing that he was being sized up. “How very amusing that will be. If he doesn’t just kill you, I mean.”

Wiess gave a snort. “Unlikely.”

An auburn eyebrow arched. “So confident. But take care it isn’t baseless arrogance. Remember, we trained together. I have sparred with him, on many occasions. Not to compliment him unduly, but I will tell you now, he is the strongest opponent I’ve ever faced. There is no way to describe him but…monstrous.”

“He is a monster because he is impure,” Weiss said, unconcernedly. “I am not. The corrupted can never triumph over the immaculate.”

Genesis squinted doubtfully. “Purity is a rather esoteric principle. I do hope that’s not all you’re basing your self-assurance on.”

“One way or another, I intend to defeat him. Is that a problem?”

“Please,” Genesis scoffed. “I would like nothing more than to see Sephiroth taken down a peg or two. His ascendancy has gone on quite long enough. But, you’ll have to forgive me for doubting your ability to do that. You may be naturally gifted, but he has years of experience in real, life and death combat.”

Weiss only smiled. “You doubt me because you’ve never fought me.”

“True enough. I suppose all will be revealed when I test you, tomorrow.”

“My brother is the strongest, you’ll see,” Nero put in, proudly, which made Genesis smile and ruffle his black hair.

Rosso said nothing, but quietly hoped Weiss was not making a serious miscalculation. She still wished he wouldn’t do this mad thing, but he was the leader and he’d made his decision. She had no choice but to trust him, and hope for the best. 

All that afternoon, no one came to see about the damaged surveillance equipment, and when the handlers delivered evening meals, they didn’t mention anything about it. Genesis imagined that Hojo was probably fuming, but he seemed to have an understanding with Weiss, and there was no way he was going to risk a full-scale disaster, at this point, by interfering with a bunch of teenaged weapons of mass-destruction, at their slumber party. 

Much later that evening, Rosso had gone back to her own quarters, leaving the other three to themselves. Genesis was seated on the bed, reading aloud to Nero, whose ink-black head was nestled in his lap, and to Weiss, who was snuggled up to him on the other side, with his snow-white head resting on his shoulder, gazing curiously at the first ink and paper book he’d ever seen in person. 

“There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the goddess. Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds. Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is lost. Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.”

“This isn’t a very nice story,” Nero grumbled, from his lap, rolling his shoulders with their bare brackets, since his metal wings were hanging on a rack on the wall.

“Not every part of a story can be nice, little one,” Genesis explained. “They’re a bit like life. If there’s nothing sad or bitter in them, how can we fully appreciate the sweet parts?” 

“Hmph,” was all Nero said in response.  

Genesis chuckled and petted his head, then returned to reading. 

Despite Nero’s initial grouchy declaration, both boys eternally endeared themselves to the famous SOLDIER, that evening, by listening attentively, through the entirety of the meandering and abstruse narrative, all the way to the end. Even Sephiroth had only done so once, in all their long acquaintance, and he’d fallen asleep halfway through.

“My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment to find the end of the journey; in my own salvation, and your eternal slumber. Legend shall speak of the sacrifice at world’s end. The wind sails over the water’s surface, quietly, but surely.”

As he wrapped up his reading, Genesis heard a sniffle and looked up from the book. He was astonished to find Weiss wiping away tears, from his silver-blue eyes. 

Weiss saw that his unwonted display of emotion had been noticed and scowled sullenly. “The end is too sad. I don’t like it.”

“But it hasn’t ended, yet,” Genesis pointed out. “How do you know it’ll be sad?”

“What do you mean? There’s no more written, after that. The pages are blank.”

“That is one of the most intriguing things about this work. It was either left unfinished by the original author, or that part of the text hasn’t been discovered yet. Who can say what the ending will be?”

“It doesn’t matter if we don’t have it written out. I know it’ll be sad,” Weiss maintained. “The end will be about sacrifice. That’s the theme, the whole way through. Even if the world is saved, someone will have to die saving it.”

Genesis tilted his head. “And that makes you sad?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Weiss paused, struggling to clearly frame his ideas. “Because…only someone who deserves to live would give up their life for the world’s sake. Tragedy is inherent in the very act of heroism. It makes me sad that someone so strong and brave has to die, to save all the weak, undeserving people, who will never know, and never appreciate it.”

“Hm. You are very astute,” Genesis remarked. “It takes most people much longer to decipher the themes in this work. But, might it not be the case, that true heroism lies in self-sacrifice, for its own sake, without expectation of recognition or reward?”

“Maybe, but that only happens in fantasy. I would never sacrifice myself or my brother, for the world’s sake. Even if we didn’t deserve life, I’d take it for us, with my own hands, and destroy anyone and anything that stood in the way.”

Genesis smiled archly. “I think, little brother, that would make you a villain.”

“I’ll be the best villain, then,” Wiess declared staunchly. “Being a hero sounds stupid, anyway.”

By way of reply, Gensis laughed aloud and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek.

It was the first time anyone but Nero had dared to so boldly assail his person. Weiss was startled by the gesture, but found that he didn’t exactly dislike it. No, in fact, he rather liked it.

He nuzzled his head back into the crook of Genesis’ neck, to conceal the color that had risen in his cheeks, and mentally added him to the list of people who were allowed to touch him in a familiar way. It was now up to a grand total of two.

Nero, meanwhile, not wanting to be left out, sat up and presented his face for a kiss, too, which was duly granted. Neither of the boys had any way of knowing that this was the most affectionate Genesis Rhapsodos had ever been, with anyone. Including his own parents.

That night, the three newfound brothers talked and debated and laughed, well into the small hours, and eventually fell asleep together, in the narrow bed. Three heads lined up on the pillows, white, black, and red, with little Nero in the middle, safely enclosed in the arms of Weiss and Genesis.

Some time in the early morning, Sephiroth appeared silently, to check in on Nero. There he still stood, as the indigo sky lightened with the approaching dawn, gazing down at something, with a strange expression in his catlike eyes.

On the bed, his little half-brother was sleeping peacefully, in the arms of their father, who was also fast asleep. Two pale, beautiful faces, in repose, so like to his own and yet so unlike. 

Sephiroth had never dared to touch his biological father. Never dared to reach out, to ask for anything, to make even the slightest nuisance of himself, for fear of shattering the uneasy peace, in which he was somehow allowed to remain here, with his infant sister. 

But his brother, who had done nothing but kick and curse, and make his detestation of the whole household loudly known…he was embraced. Held. Soothed and comforted. Nero was treated like Vincent’s son, while Sephiroth was little more than a lonely specter, haunting this happy home. 

They were wary of him, he knew, and viewed all his actions through a lens of suspicion, because of what he’d done. It would be useless to explain that he had been out of his mind, possessed by that creature, and deceived into committing atrocities. The atrocities remained committed. Innocent people were still dead. Exculpating his own guilt would help no one and repair nothing. 

Ironic, that they should fear him, having no idea that the most dangerous man on the planet spent every moment paralyzed with fear, of being cast out from among the only family he’d ever had. Of being cut off from humanity, left to drift through existence, alone and untethered. To become a real ghost, and eventually to fade away.

His entire body and soul ached with longing to be embraced by his father as well, but that was foolishness. He needed no such coddling, he reminded himself. He was a grown man and Nero was a child. Younger than Cloud, by several years.

His cold, flickering body warmed and became more tangible, at the thought of his fiery-tempered and sharp-tongued darling. The only one who had held on, through the madness, and refused to let go of the man.

Cloud was all he needed. Cloud’s love was more than enough to keep him alive. He didn’t need his father’s love, as well. That would just be childish greediness. Tacit acceptance of his presence was all he could hope for. It was far more than he deserved.

Like a little alarm clock, always set to the same time, he sensed Ollie begin to stir, and knew that it was six-fifteen on the dot. With one more lingering glance at his sleeping father and brother, he vanished into purple-black vapor, to retrieve the warmed bottle from the kitchen, and begin his daily tasks. Quietly attending to the things that would otherwise lie neglected, in a house full of men.

“Yeah, I seen ‘em, plenty of times. Usually they’re bein’ used to couple old tech to new tech, where there ain’t compatible connectors.”

It was a little past noon, and Vincent had come to find Cid, in his workshop, out back.

“Newer OS uses a emulator program to talk to the old tech and make it all synch up.” Cid ran a hand back through his hair, giving a shudder as he recalled the metal brackets in Nero’s back, surrounded by deep, ugly scars. “I guess hookin’ up a human body to a machine is pretty close to the same principle, but…god damn. You’d have to be a sick fuckin’ bastard to do that shit to a kid.”

“Can you do anything?” Vincent asked. 

“Don’t know. Maybe. There any way to find his wings?”

Vincent shook his head. “They were obliterated with everything else. I wish I’d known this would be an issue. I’d have been more careful not to leave them behind.”

“Only other way would be to get into Deepground’s system and look for files or anything that might have info on the design.” 

“We should contact Reeve, then. He downloaded Deepground’s entire database, wanting to study its AI program. If there is anything about the prosthesis, he’ll have it.”

“Oh great, he’s studyin’ the fuckin’ AI. Just what the world needs more of,” Cid grumbled, as he lit a cigarette. 

Vincent tilted his head to one side. “What’s wrong?” 

“I just…I don’t get how ya can be so calm about this, Vince,” Cid answered, blowing out a plume of blue-white smoke. “That’s your kid in there, out of his mind and in constant pain, ‘cause of some monstrous shit Shinra did to his body, without—” He broke off and looked away, clearing his throat. “Sorry. Sometimes I…I let myself forget they did that same shit to you. If I didn’t, I’d be angry all the goddamn time.”

“You are angry all the time,” Vincent said affectionately. 

“But like, even more angry all the time.”

“Thank you for worrying about Nero. I know he hasn’t been easy to deal with.”

“He’s your son, baby. You’re my husband, so that makes him my family, too. That’s the deal. That’s what marriage is.”

Vincent only answered with a stiff nod, but Cid was well aware that in Vincent-language, that meant he was suppressing some strong emotion, that he was unable or unwilling to express, at that moment. That worked out fine for Cid, because it usually meant he’d express it later, in private, which was bound to be a lot more fun.

Unable to help himself, he hooked an arm around his husband’s narrow waist and pulled him closer. Vincent’s long hair hung loose and free, half over his face, and he had his red headband on, like usual, but he’d started wearing more ‘normal’ clothing at home, which today took the form of a red v-neck, haphazardly embellished with a number of inexplicable and completely unnecessary zippers, and with a long, frayed and torn hem (all of which made it look suspiciously like his cloak). 

His clothing items almost always featured similar signs of damage, despite the fact that he’d created them himself, in the moment, and it was literally impossible for them to have collected wear and tear. Same with his faded, black jeans, which were slashed all over like they’d been in a knife fight. He looked a hell of a lot like one of those guys on the rock’n’roll posters, in the 80s, come to think of it.

“Hey babe, y’ever listen to Guns N’ Roses?”

“No. I assume it’s a musical group?” Vincent ventured. “Rock’n’roll, from the sound of it?” 

Cid snorted with laughter. “Fuck…you’re such an old man. They’re only one of the most famous bands of all time. Hottest shit goin’ in the 80s and 90s.”

“I spent the 80s and 90s sleeping in a coffin, under Shinra Manor.”

“Ain’t no excuse for cultural illiteracy, Vinnie. Specially since ya look just like one of them rock’n’roll dudes.”

“No, they look like me,” Vincent scowled. “I’ve looked like this for thirty years.”

“Mm, true. Who knows, maybe Axl Rose wandered into the basement and saw ya sleepin’, and it inspired the fashion of a whole generation.”

“Hmph. Axl Rose is an absurd stage name.” 

“That’s his real name, sugar dumplin’.” Cid searched up a picture of the band on his phone and held it up for Vincent to look at. 

“Oh. That does look rather like me,” Vincent admitted. “Does he also wear his headband to conceal a scar?”

“Maybe. I never seen him without one.”

“Cid…why did you say the person who attached Nero’s wings would have to be a sick bastard? I understand it’s gruesome, but we’ve seen many such things. You seem especially upset by it.”

Cid hesitated. “It’s cause…in order for the nerves to be spliced in right, they’d have to do it without anesthetic, and keep him awake, the whole time.” 

Vincent’s black brows drew together. “Oh. I see.”

“I’ve seen a lotta shit, but never anything that fucked up. Fact the kid lived through it is…I can’t decide if it was a miracle or a cruel joke.” 

“It was Chaos. His regenerative factor comes from the darkness. I wouldn’t call it regeneration, so much as indestructibility. More like my body, than a SOLDIER’s. But he does feel pain, normally. If he is like me, he does.”

The mood was growing heavy, so Cid changed tracks, to lighten things up. “Since we’re on the topic, you think you got a lot more kids lurkin’ around, out there?”

“There’s no way to tell,” Vincent said, shaking his head. “My DNA was taken and used without my knowledge. But, knowing Hojo, I somehow doubt Sephiroth and Nero were the only ones. He liked to have backups. The question is, whether any others survived.”

“If so, we’re gonna need more space. And, even if Seph and Nero are the only ones, Ollie’s gonna grow outta that nursery pretty quick. So, I was thinkin’…maybe it’s time we started fixin’ up the old Valentine property.”

“You hate that place,” Vincent objected. “You called it a creepy Dracula castle and said even ghosts would be afraid to haunt it.”

“I stand by that. Didn’t see any ghosts, there, did ya? Point proved.”

“I don’t think that’s logically sound.”

“The point is, ain’t no sense in just lettin’ it sit there gettin’ dustier and creepier. ‘Sides, it’s your family’s home, ya know? Wouldn’t it be nice to have it all cleaned up? Just in case?”

Vincent very nearly smiled. “Of course. Just in case.”

THE AUTHOR HAS SOMETHING TO SAY

yeah i put the stray dog outfit in there WHAT OF IT

next. chapter

[entertext]

HGSN Voice Comic: Original Voice Dramas

Translations for the two official voice dramas done by the voice comic team:

Afterschool at the family restaurant

On the way back home from school

==

Afterschool, at the family restaurant

'Hikaru': (yawns)

Yoshiki: Stop pushing around your cherry tomatoes with a fork, its bad manners

'Hikaru': Aw, but I hate cherry tomatoes... Apologies to the farmers, but every sentient being in the world has a dislike or two

Yoshiki: (sighs) fine, pass them over

'Hikaru': Mn.

Yoshiki: Cherry tomatoes are delicious though

'Hikaru': Yoshiki, you're like... really good at looking after people. A caretaker-type?

Yoshiki: Caretaker? Who's taking care of you?

'Hikaru': 'Cause every time I leave anything on my plate, you're finishing it off for me

Yoshiki: That's just because its bad to waste food, so I have no choice but to eat your leftovers

'Hikaru': Hm? Other than that, whenever there's an important due date or something, you always send me a reminder the day before

yoshiki: hey, apron tomorrow

yoshiki: math quiz tomorrow

yoshiki: dustcloth

'Hikaru': But to be honest, I'm always finding it really helpful, its actually useful

Yoshiki: That's 'cause you always forget so quickly. And even though I send them, you're always leaving me on read...not that it matters

'Hikaru': (laughs) Maybe the reason you're so meddlesome is 'cause you're a big brother

Yoshiki: Ah...well maybe. Come to think of it, my little sister's also a picky eater so I'm always eating her leftovers

'Hikaru': Then I'm also triggering your big-brotherly-ness, huh? Onii-chan~

Yoshiki: Gross... and stop taking advantage of me. You could stand to do things properly on your own instead of relying on me once in a while

'Hikaru': Hmm, that's true. I guess I'm so used to you being around that I'm always depending on you. That's no good now that we're second-years. Gotta become independent soon. By the way, what's the upcoming test supposed to be on again?

Yoshiki: Ah, this guy's a lost cause

===

On the way home back from school

'Hikaru': Hey, Yoshiki. Let's pretend we're elementary school kids

Yoshiki: What?

'Hikaru': Until we're back home we'll act like we're elementary school kids again

Yoshiki: Hm..like what? ...What are you doing pointing at your feet?

'Hikaru': See this white line? If you step off of it... the world will end!

Yoshiki: Haha..I remember that. Alright, I got it

'Hikaru': Ah! Look, your foot's a little off the line

Yoshiki: Hah? Your foot's already off the line

'Hikaru': It's fine for me, I have 3 lives

Yoshiki: No fair, when'd you say that? What hour, what minute, what second, where was the earth around the sun when you said that?

'Hikaru': (laughs) Wow, you're good. That's got big elementary school energy. Hmm... alright, say "tree" 10 times fast*

Yoshiki: Alright... trel-

'Hikaru': (pfft) What's trel!?

Yoshiki: I tried to say tree and elbow at the same time...

(both laugh)

Yoshiki: Damnit... alright then, 'Hikaru'. Say "black bear" 10 times fast

'Hikaru': Black bear black bear black bear black bear black bear black bear black bear black bear black bear black bear... done!

Yoshiki: What animal lives at the South Pole?

'Hikaru': Huh? The polar bear, duh! You can't trick me with this!

Yoshiki: But there aren't any bears at the South Pole...

'Hikaru': (gasps) Aughhhh, that's truuuue. I've looooost

Yoshiki: ...This was a competition?

--

* The referenced playground trick in Japanese:

A: Say pizza 10 times fast

B: Pizzapizzapizzapizza...

A: Now, what's this body part called? (points to elbow)

B: Knee (hiza)

A: No, its an elbow (hiji)!

[asksythe]

I'm venturing into making homemade merchs. Behold! My first attempt!!

Haha! I'm sick... again... so slow with writing. Also I have another story idea!

I want to write a crack fic featuring Ritsuka dirty talking Oberon for months on end without realizing what she's doing.

Hahahahaha! Hear me out.

Intrusive thoughts. How weird they can get. Like people sometimes out of nowhere wonder what it's like to kiss complete strangers they just meet. Stuff like that right.

Do they fall into the purview of Fairy Eyes? Can Oberon's fairy eyes see Ritsuka's intrusive thoughts and spontaneous daydreaming as they take place?

Here's another thought. What if intrusive thoughts are strictly a human thing? Fairies don't do intrusive thoughts. So servant Oberon would be completely unused to the experience of watching intrusive thoughts.

So let's say, the story goes like this. Riri goes about her day as usual but now and then she would have intrusive thoughts about Oberon. Tsundere, weirdly complimentative, wildly inappropriate trains of thoughts. Like this:

'Haaa, as usual Oberon is prickly and hard to please. Did he have to open his mouth and let out thy pretty, barbed tongue?'

'He's like a giant grumpy cat! His hair is even smooth and soft like one of those prissy, expensive pedigree cats from Britain!'

'Cat Oberon. Kitty Oberon. Kittyberon! Hehehehehe'

'I wonder how it feels if I pet him. Cat bellies are nice and soft and tempting. I always want to rub my face into a cat's belly. Can I do that to Kittyberon? Rub his tummy with my face? Would he yowl or would he purr?'

Imagine Ritsuka thinking that while in line to pick up lunch in the cafeteria, with none of it showing on her face. And Oberon in the same cafeteria growing increasingly flustered but can't do anything about it.

Or how about when the fairy summer event rolls around with the two Oberon summer costumes? Maybe she would think something like this:

'Oh man, I wonder where those abs come from. He didn't look like he's that packed under the clothes.'

'Are those abs fake? Did he paint them on like he painted the whole refreshing summer prince persona on? Does it rub off? Is it waterproof? Is that why doesn't get into the water? Cause them abs wash off?'

'Hmm.. I wonder how far down he painted. Would he be like a spitting mad cat if I try to examine with my hands right now? Would that smear the ink?'

'Hehehehe, spitting mad Kittyberon!'

And what about the gloomy Summer Oberon costume?

'Wahahahahaha!! He looks like a college dropout who works at the local gas station convenience store! Gehehehe! A sad hikkikomori who just can't help himself! His room even looks like it and he has a forever crush on a 2D girl!'

'Mm-hmm! Hey, isn't that the setting of a bunch of different Ecchi manga and eroge games? The protagonist is some shut-in who hasn't been to school for years, and his only contact with the outside world is the persistent childhood friend who won't leave him alone! She goes over to cook for him, clean up after him, and look out for him every day!'

'Like a persistent little sister! Always yelling for Oberon Onii-chan to get up, it's the middle of the day already!'

'Hmm? Come think of it, isn't that what I already do for him this summer? Coming over to clean up after him and dragging him out of his depressed hole? Huh, I wonder how he will react if I come up and call him Oberon Onii-chan to his face! I know! He will do the whole jeering, barbed tongue prince again and call me an idiot with nothing good to do with her time. Typical Oberon! Always a depressed downer! No wonder he's always abyss this, the end that! Oberon Onii-chan is super lame! Hehehe!'

'And if we are going with eroge game story, then one fine day the childhood friend will just have it and kabedon him! And ravish him because she just about had enough with his obtuse way! Like that game Private Nurse, the protagonist ends up getting chased around town in an embarrassing outfit! Hahaha! Oberon Onii-chan, what are you to do if something like that happens to you? Hahaha!'

And how does Ritsuka have all the patience in the world to deal with Oberon's snarkiness? Maybe she just superimposes Kittyberon on real Oberon the entire time. Imagine Oberon being snarky as usual and Ritsuka looking at him and seeing a hissing kitty, and, in her head, imagining all kinds of scenarios. Petting him like a cat, snuggling and kissing him and annoying this grumpy kitty with smooches and whosagoodkitty! You are! Yes you are!

Or if she's feeling frustrated with him then in her head she's thinking: 'Bad kitty needs a spanking and no melon snack for you until you properly apologize by cutely meow meowing at me!'

And so on...

Hmm hmmm. So this story would effectively have two parts I think. The first part is just all the slapstick, wacky intrusive thoughts in Riri's head. The second part is Oberon finally snapping and acting out some of the intrusive thought scenarios in Riri's head on her, much to her mortification.

Imagine that scene!

Oberon meow meowing in that prissy princely British manner at Ritsuka while reminding her of the dirtiest, most inappropriate thoughts she hashad about him in the weeks prior to her face.

'Hmm, how is Kittyberon today, Master? Is this enough for you to forgive me yet?'

'Didn't you want to rub your face in my belly and find out if these muscles are painted on or not?'

'What were those eroge scenarios in your head again?'

'Depressed shut-in onii-chan being kabedoned and ravished by the childhood imoto was it? Or was it the other way around?'

'Master, won't you call me Oberon Onii-chan. You always wonder how I would react, don't you? Here is it. Call me. O-Nii-Chan.'

Until Riri wants to run away, but she's locked in with him.

Hahahhaha. And then the ending, I'm thinking. Riri is all sore and tired the next day after having paid the price for her months of dirty talking Oberon without realizing it. She thinks she's got to be careful now where her thoughts lead. No more intrusive thoughts about no-good, very-bad, should-definitely-be-punished Kittyberon!!

And there is the punch line of the joke. Ritsuka realizes that oh crap, she can't help it. Cue Oberon looking at her from across the cafeteria with a look that promises 'You are going to pay for this later.' And Riri meeping and running away.

Hah!