#and the guy who plays the bait shop owner is gonna be played by a different guy for the other nights of the show cause we just needed him

[milo-is-rambling]

My (second) favorite prop of theater

[amostdelectablescribbler]

i’m making a new thing and want help

i’m doing a whodunnit in which we know pretty much whodunnit and it’s about how they did it and how they were caught. We are now at the “how they did it” part. I am not that clever, so i am asking for help. For context, this story is inspired by the following image that i nicked from @ultrainfinitepit (you don’t mind me writing something with these guys as a base for inspiration, do you? They’re just so gorgeous and full of character i just gotta!)

We got, by chapter order:

-What The Cat Dragged In: i’ve decided he’s gonna be the counterpart to the protagonist, alongside a woman who looks like Jane Romero from Dead By Daylight operating the radio, and they go and bust into a big room in a mob base full of half-finished plans and clever things and riddles and foreshadowing, but i need something to foreshadow, which brings us to:

-High Stakes: a corrupt casino owner, who is this cool smooth-talking vampire lady, who uses her looks and her charm to keep your attention while she changes the rules and stacks the deck. What would the tells of someone lying be? How would you bait someone?

-Dead Man Walking: a voodoo skeleton drug lord who cheated death and is buying lives and enslaving people in exchange for drugs. I can do this myself as there’s always cameras, witnesses on the street reporting it, people going missing in the same few locations, etc.

-Swimming With The Fishes: a selkie jazz singer/theatre actress/opera singer/whatever fits better who wears her pelt as a scarf, and drowns people who disturb her performances or for suggesting someone is better, or someone being better, they get drowned. She wants to stay desperately relevant and perpetually famous.

-If Looks Could Kill: drop-dead-gorgeous gorgon (a la medusa), possibly a runway model or fashion designer, who kills by turning people to stone and disguising their bodies as mannequins in her shop. She seduces them into going to a backroom with her and turns them to stone in a nice pose, but what would that look like?

-All Bark, All Bite: a werewolf cop who is higher in the chain of command than Clyde (protagonist. Will do a big wip intro later) and abuses it regularly in the previous chapters. Is mean and corrupted by the monetary gain of protecting the previous charismaniacs from legal trouble at the “behest” of the guy below. What would corrupt cops do to pull the wool over peoples eyes? What would be the tells that you’re being played for a fool and silenced?

-Angel-Face: a mob boss who made a deal with a little-known angel called Lucifer for immortality in exchange for his own soul, or the souls of others. He’s been the kingpin holding all the other operations together, and he’s been doing it to get the bodies from the others and sacrificing them in exchange for immortality. It becomes a race to piece together the puzzle before one of the supporting cast gets sacrificed, culminating in Angel-Face failing to meet the sacrifice deadline and getting dragged down to hell by the Devil. This one I can do myself, as i can use regular wet footprints on the floor, security cameras, and following cars in a cool chase scene, the very climactic works.

My plea to my mutuals, and in general those cleverer than myself, can you guys come up with some genius schemes for these brilliantly illustrated Magnificent Bastards?

[fictionfeast]

Sasuke kind of loves where Naruto lives, though he isn’t quite sure why.

He likes the smell of salt by the sea when they open the window, and he likes how Naruto looks outside on the shoreline, wind in his hair and water at his feet. He likes how Naruto looks at home, even when a storm rages, he’s always right where he belongs. He likes the cozy feeling of the Uzumaki household, it’s just a house on a small island, where Naruto knows all the local shop owner’s, wearing them down with barter, but they still always smile at him when he walks through the door.

Sasuke desperately wants to kiss him.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Naruto jumps onto his bed, where Sasuke is half-laying against his headboard, schoolwork open on his lap.

Sasuke raises his eyebrows, as if he would reveal that information out loud in actual words. He and Naruto were currently caught in something. It felt inevitable, like they’d been caught in things before.

“If you purposely have terrible perminship to cover up your logs,” Sasuke proposes instead.

Naruto squints at him, clearly not buying it.

“I’m not gonna get caught.” Something a little mischievous appears in those ocean blue eyes. “Sweet of you though, to worry about me.”

His gaze turns a little more searching, and Sasuke always feels a particular way, when Naruto looks like that. Sasuke doesn’t personally think his thoughts are all that different from anyone else’s, but sometimes, it feels like Naruto wants to know every single one, like he’s never had access before, like he has to soak up everything he can, before it’s gone. It makes Sasuke’s chest hurt, and if anyone were to ask, he could never justify why.

Naruto asks again. “What were you really thinking about?”

It’s a nudge. Sasuke doesn’t know why Naruto does that — uses that careful, more gentle tone — except that maybe he worries about overstepping. Maybe he’s worried that Sasuke was thinking about his father’s recent death, and just hadn’t wanted to say so out loud.

“I like where you live,” Sasuke gives.

There’s a small release of tension in Naruto, and Sasuke watches it fall away under that hideously patterned orange shirt. Naruto has an attachment to a specific color scheme that must go back lifetimes for how stubbornly he clings to it. Sasuke has tried to sway him from it to no avail, and it’s easier to think about that, rather than what if he gives the answer Naruto is so scared of. He’s not quite sure what it is, or how to prevent it; he’s not sure he could guess it, even if he tried.

“Guess it can be hard, moving around so much,” Naruto offers, by leeway of giving room for Sasuke to expand.

“I don’t mind it,” Sasuke says and he means it. Though, he hesitates, gaze lifting. “I just... like it a little more here.”

It costs him to say these things, sometimes, like a lump caught in his throat, but it’s always worth it when he can manage.

Naruto’s smile is immediate, small and knowing. “Are you trying to say something, Uchiha?”

Sasuke can’t run from that challenge. Naruto is already moving in any case, there’s no time to even consider running, as he shifts over Sasuke to lean down, as Sasuke’s arms curl up and around—

Sasuke freezes. “Naruto,” he says.

Kushina looms over them, tapping a frying pan against her hand like a baseball bat. Naruto pauses at Sasuke’s pause, catching on and following where Sasuke’s eyes are looking, and turns to—

Scramble for his life.

He makes it to the edge of the bed, before Kushina has pulled off his jacket, which Naruto quickly twists and sheds, but unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with grace, as Kushina yanks on the sleeve just in time to offset his balance, sending him to the floor with a yelp. Flat on his back, Naruto holds his hands up in surrender, and laughs the most sheepish, red-handed laugh that Sasuke has ever heard. It threatens a small smile at his lips, but Sasuke isn’t idiotic enough to piss off Naruto’s mother.

“Naruto!” Kushina raises her voice, standing over him. “What did I say about leaving the door open when Sasuke is over!”

“It’s not like that, Ma, really—”

“It’s a little like that,” Sasuke corrects, because what? He values honesty. His job is to make Naruto’s parents like him, not to take the heat.

Naruto throws him a look of betrayal, and his eyes narrow even further when they notice the tiny quirk in Sasuke’s mouth. Sasuke refuses to take the bait, raising his eyebrows with false innocence. Naruto needs to get in trouble once in a while. Otherwise, he’ll get caught for the things he should actually get in trouble for.

“Door open,” Kushina growls. “I won’t allow my son to be a delinquent, yanno!”

Naruto nods with such enthusiastic agreement, a bobblehead would be jealous. Satisfied, she turns to Sasuke and smiles. “Nice to see you again, Sasuke. Say hi to your mom for me when you go home before your curfew. No more sneaking through my obedient’s son’s window, okay?”

Saskue nods, politely. He likes Naruto’s mother. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and all that.

Though, he does appreciate her for what she did for his mom. Since Kushina suggested she come back to her hometown after the funeral, his mom has been doing better. It’s been strange, to see his mom function in a completely different element, where the shopkeepers talk about her and Kushina getting in trouble together as little girls. Before coming to the island, he didn’t even know his mother had friends.

It’s been... nice.

Kushina takes her frying pan and her leave. Naruto groans, sitting back up.

“I hadn’t even kissed you yet,” he complains. “She has some freakish sixth sense.”

“Well, you are a delinquent.” Sasuke plays devil’s advocate. “And I did crawl through your window.”

It’s difficult to find alone time on a small island, especially on a small island where the guy you keep trying to make out with knows everyone, and while his own mom is a little more... laid back than Naruto’s, at least in terms of open doors, Sasuke doesn’t want to cause her any trouble right now. He thinks Naruto inherently understands this, because he never suggests his house.

“Who’s side are you on?” Naruto huffs. “And I dunno what you think you’ve pieced together, but I’m not a delinquent.”

It’s almost a mutter, and Sauke gets the impression that he’s not a delinquent, but he is something. Sasuke watches Naruto stand back up, eyeing the door where his mom left, like he’s seriously considering bolting it shut, while Sasuke contemplates on revealing what he has pieced together. It just seems pointless when he’s relatively certain Naruto won’t tell him the rest, if not to protect whatever he’s involved in, then to protect Sasuke’s deniability if he ever does get caught.

“Smuggling—” That’s all Sasuke gets out before Naruto is tackling him and clamping a hand over his mouth.

The clock ticks as Naruto watches the door like prey waiting in the brush, holding its final breaths. When there’s no sign of either of his parents, he turns back to Sasuke with a firm look of warning, before removing his hand.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Is that it?” Naruto asks. “A stroke, an aneurysm?”

“I was aiming for brain aneurysm, actually, until I remembered you need a brain for that,” Sasuke points out with a smug smirk that he knows will drive Naruto up the wall.

He enjoys watching Naruto’s hackles rise.

“Just because you—Ugh,” Naruto eloquently voices, like he might start pulling on his hair. Sasuke quirks an eyebrow in encouragement, that may or may not be a trap. He wants to know the truth. If he’s reached the correct conclusion about Naruto’s spare time activity. “It’s not something you want to be involved in, okay? Why can’t you just drop it already?”

There’s a desperate note in Naruto’s voice, an askance for Sasuke to stop. Out of worry. Out of concern. But that’s why he can’t drop it. Why the hell does Naruto always sound like that?

“Are you in some sort of trouble?” Sasuke finds himself asking, and the backlash is immediate. Not from Naruto. Naruto just blinks at him, looking vaguely startled at Sasuke’s flinch, and then just confused. The internal backlash strikes with enough ferocity for everyone involved. He’s showing too many cards. He knows he is, and he can see the rigidity of his father’s face, too soft, those eyes said, too emotional, and Itachi’s quiet agreeance, it’s better this way.

Sasuke pushes at Naruto’s chest, telling him to get off without words. “Curfew is in a few—”

“No, Sasuke.” Naruto grabs his wrist, halting movement. Sasuke refuses to look at him, too open, too exposed. “No.”

Words can’t find their way out of his mouth, so he stays silent. The salt in the air suddenly feels far too thick.

“It’s not like that,” Naruto reassures, quickly. He lets go of Sasuke’s wrist, leaning back onto his own thighs to give them room. Sasuke studies a spot on the wall, until Naruto’s apparent distress draws his eyes back over, watching him push a hand through blond hair. Those frustrated blue eyes have taken partial to the wall too. “It’s... complicated.”

Sasuke observes the frown in his mouth. He’s already shown his cards. It’s too late to take it back.

Maybe it’s an argument worth committing to. It’s a foreign concept to Sasuke outside of his family. He hasn’t had many friends in his life, and even those he would consider friends, he’s never found much of a point in fighting. If they want to be stupid, then they can be stupid. Sasuke is hardly domestic enough to start little arguments. He can remove himself if he doesn’t want to be involved. Until now, apparently.

He cares if Naruto is stupid.

“Complicated sounds dangerous,” Sasuke tests. “You’re not denying it’s dangerous.”

Naruto’s mouth thins. His eyes refuse to come back to Sasuke, and Sasuke knows what it means. Naruto isn’t willing to argue.

He’s not willing to talk about it.

Sasuke waits, carefully, for what feels like several stabbing heartbeats. Naruto probably regrets it — the first time he took Sasuke out on his boat, gifted to him on his sixteenth birthday, two years ago. Traveling by boat was the only way to get to the mainland, and Kushina made Naruto his official guide when he and his mom first arrived, to both of their horrors.

He and Naruto incidentally met the day before at school, eleven kids to a grade. It would be hard to miss each other.

Naruto took him out anyway, and they grumbled and bickered for a majority of it, and they’d ended the night with Choji’s famous Kraken Skewers. Sasuke isn’t the biggest fan of squid, but he ate it anyway, after being convinced by Naruto that it was a crime against humanity not to try it.

On their way back, growing comfortable around Naruto at an unusual rate, he started poking around and noticed the logs. His memory has always been pristine, and he knew there were more crates underneath the deck than what it said on his logs. Naruto played it off, I crate over extra goods sometimes, Naruto admitted, caught and rubbing the back of his neck, there’s this girl...

Sasuke completely bought it, he didn’t even question it, in fact he immediately told Naruto he didn’t need to hear it. He’d been around enough guys his own age to know they were annoyingly obsessed with girls and Sasuke had no shared interest.

In hindsight, there’s a good chance Naruto had a hunch and wielded it as a weapon of redirection.

Given, the illusion was shattered when Naruto kissed him.

He probably wasn’t sneaking extra goods to a mainland girl, but it was a decent cover. Especially when the maritime patrol were mostly older men, who liked to reminisce in their testosterone riddled days as a teenager, or whatever the fuck. Sasuke wonders how many times that story worked, and how many different ones Naruto has told.

Sasuke began to notice more, how easily Naruto crawled in and out of his bedroom window, like he’d done it a thousand times, the bags under his eyes, the way he could anchor his boat in the dark, not a single light needed. Sasuke can tell apart Naruto’s real smiles and ones that meant something different, like he was sad, or just a little too tired of something heavier than this island could hold.

But Naruto thinks he can hold it. And he thinks he can do it alone.

Sasuke collects his study books and shoves them into his bag, sliding out from underneath Naruto and off the bed. Naruto still won’t look at him, hands resting on his knees, and mouth pinched.

“You know I’ll figure it out,” Sasuke says. It’s not a threat. It’s just the truth.

He pauses in Naruto’s doorway before leaving. He hesitates. He can’t help that he notices these things. One day, the pieces will fall into place, and it will all click together, whether he or Naruto wants it to or not.

“You should decide how you want that to happen.”

He doesn’t notice Naruto frown at the door when he walks out.

[readyourimgaines]

Shyan-- Comfort Don’t Only Come with Ghosts

My mom and I recently got this piercing done so I wanted to write a thing about it to help myself feel less like a baby, and this is what I came up with. By the way, I just pulled the photo off Google.

Ryan was no stranger to migraines and headaches. In fact, he’d come to expect them. He would miss work sometimes because the pain became too much. So Shane started looking for cures online.

There were the usual lavender oil, heat and cold packs, and this, that, and the other thing. God knows they tried those without any real luck. Finally, Shane found a cure he hadn’t seen before, but he knew Ryan wasn’t going to like it.

*****

Shane put his feet up on the coffee table and Ryan laid his head in the half-giant’s lap.

“Hey, Ry?”

“Mhm?”

“Those uh...acupressure bracelet things for motion sickness...those help you on planes, right?” Shane started playing with Ryan’s hair gently. 

“Yeah. They work great. Why?”

“Well, I found something linked to those that could help your headaches, but it’s a bit more extreme…”

“Okay…?”

“There’s an acupuncture point in your ear, right there,” Shane poked the spot in Ryan’s ear. “It’s called Daith. A lot of people have found that getting it pierced stop the headaches completely or at least how often they happen and how painful they are.”

Ryan opened his eyes. “But that’d be an actual piercing. Not the little pistol thing they use at Walmart.”

“Right.”

“I don’t know if I could do that.” 

“And you don’t have to. It’s just an option I thought I’d put on the table.”

Ryan closed his eyes again and focused on the feeling of Shane’s finger playing in his hair.

*****

Ryan sat on the kitchen floor, his head on his knees, and a garbage can between his knees. It had been a while since he had had a migraine so bad he threw up. He wasn’t missing them. 

Shane sat behind him, rubbing his boyfriend’s to bring some form of comfort. 

“Shane?”

“Yeah, Little Guy?”

“If I got that piercing…you’d come with me, right?”

“You didn’t even need to ask.”

“I think I’m gonna do it.”

“I’ll look around, ask some friends who the best person is.” Shane nodded. “Remember, I’ll be there with you.

Ryan nodded the immediate wake of nausea made him regret it. Shane rested his head on Ryan’s back, not stopping the soothing circular motion of his hand.

*****

A week later, Ryan and Shane sat in the lobby of a tattoo and piercing parlour. Both men felt out of place but Shane didn’t show it as much as Ryan did.

A large man covered in tattoos with a number of piercings can into the lobby. When he smiled, a piercing in his tongue the size of a marble could be seen.

“Hey! It’s the Ghoul Boys!” The man laughed. “My daughter loved your show. Now, what can I do for you?” 

“I’ve been told you the Daith piercing?” Shane spoke.

“That I do. 40 bucks, even; takes about ten minutes cleaning and all; take six to eight weeks to heal.”

“What are the success stories you’ve heard?” Shane asked.

“I did the piercing for a young nurse upstate and she called me saying she hasn’t had a migraine for three years.”

“What do you think, Little Guy?” Shane looked to Ryan, his eyes gentle and warm.

“Alright. I’ll do it.” Ryan nodded slowly.

The owner of the shop got all the paper ready and lead the two men upstairs to where he did the piercings and tattoos.

“What side do you get the most headaches on?”

“The left,” Ryan finally opened his mouth.

“So, how exactly this work?” Shane asked as Ryan shakily sat in what sort of looked like a confused, if not converted, dentist chair.

“Well, I’m gonna clean the ear around and on where the ring is gonna go, insert the needle and the ring, and get the needle outta there,” the man explained as he set up everything he needed. 

Ryan’s face lost all colour. 

“Ry, you good?” Shane checked.

Ryan simply nodded and held his hand out for Shane to hold. Shane held the smaller hand and Ryan’s empty hand balled up the hem of his shirt into a tight.

“How did you two end up doing Unsolved together?” the man asked, opening a plastic bag Ryan couldn’t see from where he was sitting. 

“I uh...I-I started the show on a whim with another guy but as the show’s following grew, so did the wanted content. He couldn’t out in so much time, so I asked Shane if he wanted to join in.” Ryan tried to keep his voice from shaking as he spoke. 

“I accepted it as a joke and here we are years later,” Shane finished. “You’re gonna ruin your shirt. Gimme your other hand, Baby.” Shane clasped Ryan’s other hand in his.

“You two being together isn’t click-bait?” The man looked almost shocked. 

“No,” Ryan answered simply. “We got together a couple of months after Shane joined the show.”

“That’s cute.”

Ryan jumped when something weird, cold, and wet touched the rim of his ear.

“Just a wet cotton swab, Little Guy. He’s cleaning the area.” Shane’s smile was small enough and Ryan was enough on edge that he didn’t pick up on it. “You’ll be okay.” Shane started gently rubbing his thumb across Ryan’s wrist in an attempt to calm the short man. 

“Holy fuck am I a baby.” Ryan’s chuckle was nervous and forced.

“You be a baby and I’ll worry about everything. M’kay?” 

Shane smiled again. This guy was pretty cool.

“Alright, this is gonna be the most painful part.”

Ryan tightened his hold on Shane’s hands, his whole body seeming to clench in fear. 

“Deep breath in,” the man instructed. Ryan did so and squealed as the needle pierced him. “And out.”

Once Ryan released the breath, his breathing pick up speed and Shane cleaned closer.

“Breathe, Ry. You’re okay. Wiggle your toes. In...out...in...out…” Shane continued to coach Ryan’s breathing, giving words of encouragement. 

"Now the ring," the man warned.

"This ain't gonna hurt as much but it's still uncomfortable."

Ryan squeaked as again as the small, cold, metal ring entred the new hole in his ear. 

"All done."

Ryan loosened his grip on Shane's hands but didn't let go. He stayed seated for a few minutes, letting himself fully calm down.

"You okay, Little Guy?"

Ryan shakily nodded.

"You okay to get up? When we get home, I can make popcorn and we can find something to watch on Netflix." Shane adjusted the way he was sitting, unfolding his legs.

"Yeah. I think I'm good." Ryan pushed himself out of the chair and followed the two other men down the stairs.

The man tapped his tablet a couple of times and turned it towards Shane and Ryan so one of them could swipe a card. "$40 even."

Ryan moved to get his wallet but Shane beat him to his own and paid.

"Here's a sheet for the aftercare. I'm gonna give it to you because he still looks pretty fucking out of it. Clean it once in the morning and once in the evening; make sure to twist it. If you have any questions, call me. Don't ask your friends 'cause they don't fucking know either. The only stupid question is the question you don't ask."

*****

“It’s a good thing you sleep on your right side, huh?” Shane asked, holding Ryan in his arms as they cuddled. The smaller of the two men was happily curled into a tiny ball between Shane’s legs.

“My ear feels weird.”

“Does it hurt?” Shane tilted his head so he could Ryan’s face.

“Not really. It just feels weird. Like...it’s cold and sort of feels like it’s bleeding, but I can’t tell and I don’t wanna touch it.” Ryan paused, nuzzling his nose against Shane’s collar bone. “It feels like how metal tastes.” 

Shane stretched a little more to get a look at Ryan’s ear. “It’s not bleeding. It does make you a little hotter, though, if that helps.” 

Ryan laughed. “You know I’m gonna make you dry this thing with a cotton swab after I shower, right?”

“I was going to offer anyway. You have a tiny pain tolerance.”

[littledorkydemon]

Events and things mentioned in Powerpuff Girls comic Mini Series: Second Chances

The mini series is broken into 6 chapters and a short epilogue, as are the notes. In total the notes are just shy of 4,000 words

Chapter One

• The comic starts with the City of Townsville being set on fire

• The girls are called and fly downtown to find Mojo is the cause and Buttercup starts complaining

• The then start trying to recall what they fought already and when, this includes a giant metal robot, giant metal spider, and a giant metal shotgun

• This time he's using a giant metal exoskeleton, and apparently this isn't the first time he's used one

• Exoskeleton looks like the one from the Alien movie

• Mojo tries to convince the girls how cool his and better this plan is only to get upset when they show disinterest

• “Oh, what do you know anyway? It's not like I took an industrial design course! I Mojo Jojo have no need for a college diploma on account of my superior intelligence- ...and superior firepower”

• He then fires a barrage of missiles at the girls, who get them all together and following them before leading them back to hit Mojo

• Buttercup taunts him after, saying they haven't fought a Giant Metal Hedgehog yet [Fist Bump cover by Natewantstobattle played right after I read that]

• Mojo is taken back to jail and on the way he is talking out loud trying to figure out how his genius plans are always stopped by children

• The officer lists off all of Mojo's belongings which are:

    ○ One big hat

    ○ One singed purple cape

    ○ One death ray gun

    ○ One pack of gum: Mint Fresh

    ○ Two double-A batteries

    ○ One Frequent Coffee Buyer's Reward Card

    ○ One Self-Help Book on Public Speaking

• The girls are at Malt's Shoppe when the shop owner, Mr. Malt, gives them a banana split as thanks for taking care of Mojo. He also tips them off to a special event happening tomorrow in honor of the girls

• Buttercup is exited thinking they finally made statues of the girls

• The next day the Mayor unveils the gift for the girls, Three sets of golf clubs and a Lifetime Membership to Townsville Golf and Country Club

• And the Mayor hopes they'll join him for a round of Charity golf that weekend

• Buttercup is upset, finding golf boring

• A swamp monster rises from the water trap at the 16th hole and the Girls fly off to fight it, but not before making a bunch of golf puns

• The girls fight the monster, not understanding it's heavy accent

• It slaps Bubbles away into a puddle of algae to which both she and Buttercup find disgusting

• The girls use their new clubs to slice and hit the monster, and Buttercup shouts that she now loves this game

• The monster turned out to be a man, Jock Scott, at its core, who thanks the girls for freeing him

• Blossom knows the man saying, “Not Jock Scott, famous golfer who hit a 225 on a Par 72 and mysteriously disappeared at the Masters open in 1963?” to which he confirms he is.

• Blossom says she likes to watch golf

• Mojo is shown watching the live new of the girls' fight

• on the cell wall it says “The Amobea Boyz wuz hear”

• Mojo is upset and ranting about how he has never won against the girls, then asks the visitor he requested see him, free Mojo from the prison of his mind and the memories of his repeated failures

• He begs the Professor for Antidote X

Chapter Two

• It starts back at the prison, with two inmates talking about Mojo Jojo giving up villainy

• It's all framed like Mojo is on death row and heading to the electric chair

• He's last words before Antidote X enters the gas chamber are an apology for any and all inconveniences he's wrought on them. Them being The Mayor, Ms. Bellum, and the Girls

• The gas is let in and Mojo breaks his bindings, but as more of a reaction to the Antidote X

• The Professor has the girls stay back while he gets a sleeping Jojo out out of the chamber

• He also says that Jojo is his responsibility and is thus taking Jojo is as part of their family, to which Buttercup protests claiming it's just some trick of Mojo's

• despite her protesting, they take in Jojo, throwing him a “Welcome Home” party

• Jojo starts running around the kitchen, swinging from the banner and falling on the cake they had for him, which starts a food fight between him and the girls

• during that he manages to slip passed them and into the lab where he is running around breaking more things, and knocking down a beaker of Chemical X

• The Professor catches it before it can fall on Jojo's head

• The Professor locks away the Chemical X in a safe and gets everyone ready for bed

• Bubbles really likes Jojo and wants him to like living with them, while Buttercup hates the idea, saying “A leopard doesn't change its spots”

• Blossom says that he's not Mojo Jojo anymore, that they'll have to find it in their hearts to forgive his past attempts to destroy them, saying it's the right thing to do and that everyone deserves a second chance

• Him is shown watching the girls and complains that they never gave him a second chance

• Enjoying the idea of an eventual betrayal of the trust earned in a second chance, Him decides to “give these girls a little lesson in 'forgiveness'...”

• Him's eyes glow green, and so does every major villain in Townsville

• Blossom bolts up out of bed the next morning and rushes to the window followed by her groggy sisters

• They fly off to get the Professor and all go outside to see Townsville's villains doing a bunch of chores; mowing the lawn, washing the car, repainting the house, and gardening

Chapter Three

• Starts with the Ex-villains of Townsville

    ○ Sedusa is a hair stylist working on three clients' hair at once

    ○ Princess is at a soup kitchen ladling money to the poor

    ○ Fuzzy is a Realtor selling properties to people

    ○ The Gangreen Gang are making a large statue of the girls in the park

• Buttercup thinks its all fishy, complaining that she hasn't been able to hit anyone in the past week because their all too nice

• Bubbles says she and Fuzzy are volunteering at the animal shelter after she's out of school

• Blossom says she and Sedusa are going to get things ready for the annual tulip festival in the park

• Buttercup points out the weird timing, first Mojo then the rest of the villains, gets frustrated talking to Blossom and unable to completely voice her feelings, and says warned them for when it all goes wrong

• Meanwhile The Professor is having a hard time with Jojo

• The Professor sets some bananas down on the floor below Jojo

• Jojo takes the bait and the Professor sets off a rube goldberg machine to trap him in a cage

• The phone rings and the Professor politely refuses their offer saying his too busy to play any games, and saying he's been getting a lot of telemarketing calls lately

• He then goes to show a grumpy Jojo the experiment he's working on; “an atomic-powered coffee maker guaranteed to keep your coffee hot for 24,100 years!”

• Also meanwhile, Him is shown taking a bath and watching what's going on in Townsville; Blossom is flying kites with Little Arturo, Bubbles is fishing with Fuzzy, and Buttercup is by herself looking grumpy

• There's also two monitors? Him has of cats just to the side of the ones of Blossom and Bubbles

• Him goes on to the next step of his plan and wakes up a giant octopus to attack the city

• The girls are in class when they hear a loud boom and see smoke coming from the city

• Buttercup is excited, taking the lead on the way downtown and saying that she is going to knock Ace and the Gangreen Gang into next month

• Her sisters point out they don't know who is causing trouble yet, and after saying she'll beat up who ever is actually responsible, she's going to beat up

• They get downtown and notice Ace is there

• He and everyone else are wanting the Powerpuff Girls help in fighting the monter

• The girls are all stunned, Buttercup thinking it's weird but doesn't care as she gets to punch something

• Working together, they all fight the octopus; who, when it's had enough, squirts ink on all of them and runs away back to the ocean

• Sedusa says that from now on they'll all fight together to defend Townsville

• Princess suggests they all go for malts, and that it's her treat

• Buttercup says this is going to take some getting used to

Chapter Four

• Starts with the Gangreen Gang at the park playing basketball when a business man walks by throwing his empty coffee on the ground

• Ace, “Eh, youse might want to reconsider your decision there, mister”

• Business man calls them punks and says he has more important things to do, to which Ace replies, “Oh, far be it from me to stifle the progress of commerce in our fair city, but you is gonna put your litter in its proper place if'in you know what's good for ya.”

• Guy still refuses and they stuff him in an trashcan with his empty coffee

• Fuzzy is aiming his shotgun at a poacher planning on killing a moose

• Princess is helping out Madame Foster cross the street and carrying her shopping bag

• The Amoeba Boys join the army

• And the Girls are dealing with a robbery at the jewelry store, and the robbers involved are two nameless guys never seen before

• According to the Narrator, Him resides deep below the city of Townsville

• Him's monitors are place so that Princess's head is covering Ms. Bellum's head

• Now that everyone in Townsville believe the villains have turned over a new leaf, Him says he'll loosen his mind control over them and watch the villains slip back into old habits

• Looking at a screen of Ace and Buttercup laughing together, Him says, “A leopard doesn't change its spots, you know!”

    ○This saying dates back to the Old Testament, Jeremiah 13:23

• Blossom and Princess are fixing beams under a bridge when Princess's eyes glow green and she aims her laser to hit Blossom

• Buttercup is with the Gangreen Gang cleaning the subway of all their graffiti when Ace's eye glow the same green and he pushes Buttercup in front of a Subway

• Buttercup is able to stop the Subway, pushing against it to stop it

• Bubbles and Fuzzy are having a picnic

• Fuzzy says that he love all the forest animals and that he plays the banjo for them, also stating that the rabbits are his favorite

• Bubbles complements the sandwiches Fuzzy made, and he informs her that they are; meat jelly sandwiches, and are a family recipe

• Fuzzy's eyes glow green and he gets mad at a group of ants on the picnic blanket

• Bubbles tries to calm him down, but Fuzzy says that this is his home and they don't belong here. Then pointing out that all this land belonged to his ancestors until Townsville came along

• He give Bubbles to the count of five before he chases her off his property with his boomstick, and she flies off crying at his threat

• The Professor is at home putting sugar, spice, and everything nice into a bowl

• Jojo is next to the bowl looking ad a bag of Flour and the Professor is laughing about the nostalgia

• The phone rings and The Professor tells them that he's busy at the moment and has no time for games

• He state after hanging up that he's going to have to talk to the mayor due to crank callers constantly calling

• Bubbles flies home just as Jojo spills all the flour on himself, and the Professor mistakes her being upset over the lost of the cake he was preparing

• Bubbles tries to tell him why she's really upset but the Professor interrupts her saying that they'll take a trip to the store and stop for ice cream on the way. Bubbles then tries to bargain for three scoops

• Blossom and Princess are fighting as Bubbles and the Professor drive by on the bridge, Bubbles trying to get even more scoops of ice cream

• Princess says bridges are stupid and blasts a chunk out of it, and Blossom rushes down to catch it, punching Princess on the way and telling her to stop

• Meanwhile the Gangreen Gang are at the park cleaning up litter when Billy sees a hot dog vendor, and starts eating all the hot dogs despite not having money

• Ace says that he's had enough of “this goody-goody business” and he and the other start making a mess of the park

• Sedusa is working again as a hair stylist and is bored and irritated with her clientele, and she shaves off all the ladies' hair. Their screaming gets Buttercup to crash through the window and start a fight with Sedusa

• Meanwhile the Amoeba boys are in the Nevada Desert and put in charge of guarding the states supply of canola oil said to be the backbone of the fast-food economy

• The boys can't stand the heat and head to the mess hall for a drink of plankton water when a bomb goes off on one of the canola silos

• The Amoeba boys get court-martialed, and Slim says Bossman is a criminal genius, while Bossman looks unsure of what happened

• Back at the Utonium house, the phone is ringing non-stop

• Jojo gets out of his cage, smacks the phone and leans in to hear it, hearing, “Why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?”

• His eyes start to swirl green and he sets up a game of solitaire, muttering, “Jo, Jo.” three times before, “Mo- Jo. ...Jojo” and turning green and sneering finally says, “Mojo.”

Chapter Five

• Starts with Bubbles and the Professor at Malph's getting flour when Fuzzy is outside shouting at everyone to get off his property and turning everything into various cuts of meat

• Bubbles is scared stating the last time Fuzzy used that meat gun he turned her pigtail into a drumstick

• The professor comforts her when Blossom and Princess come flying by, only to continue their own fighting

• Princess says that being good is too much work and not enough pay, also saying bridges are for people who have to go work for a living and that she is never going to need a bridge

• Blossom gets one more hit on Princess before Buttercup gets thrown through the window

• Outside, Sedusa, Fuzzy, Princess, and the Gangreen Gang are running amok

• Buttercup and Blossom get ready to go out there and fight them all when Bubbles tells Blossom she doesn't think she can do that. Admitting that she is a little scared of Fuzzy as well as that there's still good in him, that she can feel it.

• her sisters help her not be scared and that while Fuzzy may still be good deep down, he is currently doing bad and needs to be taken care of.

• The Girls start fighting all the villains in the parking lot when an earthquake happens and Him rises from the ground

• Calls the girls gullible children for believing they could reform the worst of society with kindness and understanding. Adding that the girls “never want to see the shadow cast by all living things.”

• Him claims that “They just take what they want, without remorse, and give nothing in return. It's in their DNA!” also says that all it took was a “teeny bit of mind alteration” to have them all getting along

• Him tells Ace that all he did was “put a cork in their bad habits” for a while and when he stopped the suppression of them, all the villains when back to petty crimes and misbehavior

• All the Villains are upset at Him, Fuzzy saying he had a good thing going with the real estate business, saying he was a closer.

• Him says it's all in their nature, and not to blame the chef when the ingredients are rotten

• Fuzzy rallies the villains to stand up against Him and Fuzzy shoots him with his meat gun

• Him gets mad that Fuzzy “dare turn [his] weapon on [Him's] haute couture” and sneers asking what he's going to do about it, calling Him a “Lobster Man”

• Saying that they have their own demons to battle, Him names off the seven deadly sins and the shadows of those around Him, villains and heroes, weigh down the person and bare the names of various sins

    ○ Sedusa's shadow is Envy

    ○ Princess's shadow is Greed

    ○ Big Billy's shadow is Gluttony

    ○ Blossom's shadow is Pride

    ○ Buttercup's shadow is Wrath

• Blossom's and Buttercup's shadows actually speak

    ○ Pride, “I'm the prettiest, smartest, and most important Powerpuff Girl”

    ○ Wrath, “I have so much anger in my heart. I must hurt others to keep the rage at bay.”

• Bubbles doesn't have a shadow bearing a sin, saying Him's whole shadow talk “falls apart when the light is too bright!”

• Bubbles starts to actually shine, blinding everyone, but also makes the shadows disappear, saying that nobody is perfect but there's goodness in everyone, and all you need is love

• Him has had enough and leaves with these parting words, “Take heed! Trust no one and forgive no trespass. Suspicion, fear, and hatred are the natural order of things, and you'd do well to embrace that.”

• Ace suggest that everyone just go their own way since Him messed with all of them, to which Buttercup protests, but Blossom agrees to, since they aren't actually at fault this time

• Bubbles asks Fuzzy before he goes if they could finish their picnic sometime and though he's still grumpy says maybe, and Bubbles hugs him thanking him

• Blossom and Buttercup are ashamed and tell the Professor that they aren't perfect little girls after all, But the Professor says they're perfect to him, and loves them just as they are, which gets the girls to smile again

• Buttercup asks the Professor how long until go back to how they were, and the he says its hard to say. That real change takes time, but every good deed leaves it's mark, and that the hard part is never giving up hope

Chapter Six

• Starts with the girls and Professor driving home, and Buttercup asking the Professor if he saw all her attacks, getting so excited talking about it she doesn't see that their house is smoking with the Front door blasted away

• The Professor is worried about Jojo and the girls clear the smoke to make it easier to see

• They see the Lab also has blast damage and find the safe with Chemical X has been broken, with the beaker broken on the ground

• Buttercup points out a message written on the wall saying “I'm BACK! -sincerely, Mojo Jojo”

• The message is brown, and Mojo left his diaper pinned to the wall of the lab

• The girls are understandably grossed out

• The Professor points out his coffee maker full of Plutonium-239 is missing as well

• There's a loud, earth rumbling boom and the girls fly outside to see a laser coming from Mojo's volcano top lair

• Buttercup says, “I told you so” to her sisters before braking in to stop Mojo

• Mojo tells the girls he plans on destroying Townsville to rebuild it as he wishes, and when Bubbles asks what changed his mind to make him go back to a life of crime, Mojo admits this has been his plan all along

• Hours before his original attack in the exoskeleton robot he realized that his plan would be stopped again by the girls so;

    ○ He hypnotized himself with subconscious instructions to find Chemical X

    ○ Faked all his moping while being dragged to prison

    ○ Tricked the Professor into giving him antidote X knowing he'd feel responsible for Mojo, and take him back in

    ○ Set up a giant drinking bird that would make a phone call to the girls house every hour and play his trigger message, “Maybe you should play a little solitaire”

    ○ Once he heard the message, he sought out chemical X, got back to his old self and stole the Professor's coffee maker

• Mojo had an atomic bomb powered by the Plutonium-239 coffee maker and plans on sending it down into the volcano where it will cause lava to rain down on all of Townsville and cover it in atomic ash for then next few decades

• Mojo also says he has a secret plan B if the girls stop plan A, and Mojo leave in an escape pod while the girls are left trying to stop the destruction of Townsville

• They can't find the button in time and the giant drinking bird hit the button sending the rocket and bomb into the volcano

• The girls dive after it and it's going to fast to disarm it, so instead Blossom get under it freezing the cap with her ice breath to cool the lava under it and slow the rocket, Bubbles screeches to get the outer shell of the rocket to break away and buttercup spirals around the plutonium case and bringing it up with her

• Buttercup's spiral keeps the lava from pouring out after she' out of the volcano,

• Blossom and Bubble are both shown using ice breath to cool the pillar of lava into rock

• Way above the earth Buttercup gets dizzy from all the spinning, but manages to kick the plutonium right into the sun and just missing Mojo's escape pod, to which she's irritated she missed

• Buttercup, still dizzy falls off the top of the very narrow volcano and her sisters catch and hug her, and starts shouting “enough of the mushy stuff! Sheesh.”

Epilogue

• Mojo is in space and not terribly upset that his plan failed, saying that's why he has a plan B

• He hits a button and a “World re Vision” is on the screen with a download bar under it

• Says that he'll come back after a few weeks and come out of his egg ship and the people of earth will worship him like a king

• Realizes that if he's going to be up in space orbiting the planet for a few weeks, that he should have installed a bathroom, adding that he really didn't think this plan through

[just-jordie-things]

The Child and the Coyote - Malia Tate (part one)

word count: 2081 summary: nine year old y/n meets a friend in the woods while her father is out to work... and it’s quite a mystery to her how they click so well warnings: dead family members (y/n’s mother passed when she was young) *gif isn’t mine, credits to rightful owners*

You brought your plate with your sandwich sitting on it outside with you so that you can enjoy the scenery of the woods while you ate.

In the nine years since you’d been born, you’ve lived in a small cabin in the Beacon Hills Preserve.  Your father always told you that your mom had loved the hiking, and that she used to paint the beautiful setting.  So when she passed away, he didn’t want to leave the home that your family had built there.  You were young when she passed, about three years old, so you don’t remember much of her.  Just small memories that are painted in your dreams and when you daze off and your mind goes places you don’t mean for it to.

You looked over the outside, a morning light shining through the trees and casting different shadows and rays of light on the forest floor.  You loved having a non traditional yard, no bright green grass and sidewalk leading towards the front door, but a ground of matted down dirt and twigs and leaves that would fall from the trees on windy days.

After breathing in the smell of pine and something that could only be described as ‘outside’ you took your lunch and sat down at the wood picnic table your father had built before you were born.  You hadn’t seen his boots at the door this morning, so you figured he’d already gone into town for another day of work.  You felt sad for not having been awake to wish him goodbye, but he’d be home before supper to tell you all about his day.

Just as you’d sank your teeth into the delicious sandwich that you took such pride in making, you heard a rustling.  The eerily familiar sound of leaves crunching and sticks snapping as heavy feet fell on them towards you.  You set your lunch back onto it’s plate, your eyes trained on the open part of the woods where the sound had come from.

“Hello?” You called, trying to keep your voice as steady as you could.  Logically, you thought, it must be a hiker.  Hikers often came through here, and a few regulars that you and your father had made friendly with.  But this time felt different, you didn’t have your father’s protection in case it wasn’t a kind regular woods enthusiast.

But when the owner of the noise made itself present, you weren’t as terrified at all.  Especially since it wasn’t even a person.  No, it was a young looking coyote.  You smiled at the small and quite frankly, scraggly animal.

“Hello” You said again, but this time with a bright smile at the creature.  “Come here” You clicked your tongue a few times, turning with your plate and sandwich in your hands.  The coyote raised it’s nose, smelling your meal from afar.  You noticed this, and ripped the meal in half.  “You want some?” You said in a light tone, holding it out to it.  Upon the gesture it stepped backwards, taking nervous stature.  “I won’t hurt you” You prompted softly, then tossed the piece of food out towards it away from you, hoping it’d eat it.  It looked like it hadn’t eaten in days.

You giggled and smiled when it took a few hesitant steps forwards, and grabbed it quickly in it’s mouth, practically swallowing it whole.

“You want some more?” You asked, and held out the rest of the sandwich.  Something in you clicked that this animal needed the food much more than you did.  You could always make another sandwich, right?

This time, it came up to you, and carefully took it from your hand, it’s blue eyes not leaving yours as it slowly chewed and swallowed the food, as though savoring it.  You smiled at it, and held out your hand, palm open.  Something your father had once told you about dogs, to hold your hand out for them to sniff so they know you’re safe and mean no harm.

As you suspected, the coyote put it’s wet nose to your hand, and licked it upon taking in the scent of your sandwich.  You giggled, and rose your hand, slowly setting it on it’s head to pet it.  It’s ears went back, not in aggression, but in a slight fear.  Anxiousness as you slowly and gently pet it’s soft fur.  After a few strokes it nuzzled into you, setting it’s head on your lap.

“I’m gonna call you…. Blue” You said.  “Cause your eyes are blue.  Like the sky” You told it.  “Now, are you a boy coyote or-”

It growled at the assumption, and you jumped slightly before you laughed.

“So you’re a girl” You said cautiously, and it nodded it’s head.  You swore it nodded it’s head.  “Do you… do you understand what I’m saying?” You asked, voic quiet like you were sharing a secret.

Another nod.

“Really?”

Another nod.

“Do you… do you have a family? A mama somewhere? Are you lost?”

A small head shake.

“You don’t have a home?”

It looked into the woods, where it had appeared from, then back to you.  You didn’t know what to make of the answer, so you asked a different question.

“Where’s your family?”

A head shake again.

“You don’t have one?”

A head shake.

Your heart clenched and your eyes saddened upon realizing the young animal had no family.  You frowned, petting her softly again.

“I lost my mama too” You said quietly.

Suddenly she stepped away from your hands, and backed up towards the trees.  You wanted to call for her to come back, but you didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already seemed to be.  So you just waved your hand slightly in parting.

“Goodbye Blue” You said quietly, before she turned, and ran off through the woods.

You smiled to yourself as you went inside to make another lunch.  Certain that she would return.

Your father came home from work a few hours later, and he was surprised to find you in the kitchen, standing on the step stool as you stirred a pot of something that smelled too good to be made by a child in the fourth grade.

“Hey princess!” He called, baring as big a smile he could after a long day’s work.  You grinned as you looked over to him, a soup spoon in your hand.

“Hi daddy!” You responded.  “I’m making us dinner!” He chuckled, hanging his coat on a hook and placing his boots away from the door.

“I can smell it! Good cookin’?” You giggled again as he came into the kitchen to inspect what it was that you were making.

“Chicken noodle” You told him, offering him a spoonful to taste.  He gladly did, smacking his lips before ruffling your hair.

“Tastes wonderful y/n” He told you, and you smiled to yourself out of pride before going back to stirring the pot.  “You don’t have to constantly stir it dear, the flavor is well distributed” Your father said as he began to get down silverware and bowls to set the table.

“I know.  I just like stirring” You said, making him laugh at your adorable antics.

“Alright kiddo” He said, setting the tabletop neatly before taking a seat.  “You need any help?”

“Nope! I’ve mastered my chef skills” You said, making him chuckle again.

When you’d filled both of your bowls with the meal you’d conjured up, you fell into a conversation about his day.  Your father worked at a bait shop, selling everything from fishing gear to camping gear.  He tells you about the strange people who come in, as well as friends of your family that stop by to say hi.

You don’t really go into town that often, not that you weren’t aloud to, you did for schooling, but you prefer your home in the woods.  Something about it’s secluded area and quietness just appealed to you more than busy streets.  But some days you’d walk home from school instead of taking the bus, maybe stopping in a few shops just to look around and get a feel for city life.  

(Beacon Hills wasn’t New York City by any means, but to you, it was a city)

“So princess how was your day?” Your father asked, dipping a piece of his bread into his bowl before taking a bite.  You looked down to where you absently twirled the spoon around the soup bowl.  You were conflicted on whether or not you should tell him about the coyote friend you’d made earlier.  Mostly out of fear of him not believing you.

Or worse, wanting to hunt it.

No, he wasn’t the kind of man to go hunting for sport, or even for a meal on the table.  In fact he was more of a fishing guy.  But when he felt there were predators too close to your home, he’d do what he had to to protect it.

“The McCalls called earlier” You said, deciding against telling him about Blue, and instead about your friend Scott.

“Oh yeah? You planning to have your little boyfriend over sometime?” He asked light heartedly, but with a wink and a knowing smile.  You rolled your eyes.

“Daddy I don’t like Scott like that.  He’s just a friend” You told him, and he chuckled, knowing perfectly well that you and Scott were merely best friends.  He just liked to mess with you seeing that your best (and sadly, only) friend was of the opposite sex.

“And what did you and your friend talk about?” He asked, keeping up the banter, to which you huffed, crossing your arms in a sarcastic sort of way.

“Just school stuff.  He wanted to play cars tomorrow at recess because he got a new one from his dad today” Your father nodded, a small huff sound coming from him at your mentioning of Rafael McCall.

You and your father were very aware of the drunken habits of the man.  So you kept special tabs on Scott, just to make sure he was always okay and safe.

“Well if you want him to come over after school, I’ll be home before your day’s over” He said.  “And I could give him a ride home as well if he’d need it” You grinned excitedly.

“Can I call and ask him?” You asked, and he nodded.

“I’ll clean up in here” He said, and you jumped out of your seat to retrieve the phone from the living room.

But not before swiping the bread that you had tucked into your lap and hid for most of the meal.

You grabbed the phone and went outside, closing the door quietly behind you as you clicked the number 2 on the phone, speed dialing the McCall household.  Melissa picked up shortly after it rang.

“y/d/n?” She asked.

“Nope! It’s y/n” You replied, and the woman chuckled, seemingly in a tired fashion.

“What can I do for you sweetheart?” She asked, and you began looking around in the dark, holding out the bread roll in your hand.

“I was wondering if Scott could come over and play tomorrow after school?” You asked her.  “My dad said we can drive him home afterwards” You added.

“Of course! I’ll let him know I'm sure he’d love to” Melissa said, and you grinned excitedly.

“Okay, thank you Mrs McCall!” You said eagerly, before hanging up the phone.

You continued to look around, clicking your tongue and hoping to see Blue appear from the shadows.

And she did.

You happily tossed the bread out to her, about to approach her to pet her for a few minutes, when you heard your father calling for you.

“y/n? Did you go outside?” You wildly looked to the coyote.

“Go!” You whispered loudly, and she seemed to take the hint, taking the bread and running back into the trees like she had before.  “Yeah I’m out here dad!” You yelled back once she was out of sight, and safe.

The door opened, revealing your dad, and you went back indoors with him.  “Just enjoying the scenery” You said, setting the phone back on it’s stand in the living room.  He nodded, smiling at you.

“Your mother loved it too” He said, a sad sort of smile on his lips.  You smiled back at him, before heading upstairs to get ready for bed.

But all you could think of was your new friend.

*cackling* AND SO MY NEXT SERIES BEGINSSS

xoxo ~ jordie

[dracula-in-purple-story]

From Enemies To Friends

CHAPTER ONE

Both of them have nothing in common. She terrorise opponents and teammates alike; he cover turfs and run away from opponents at first sight. She thought it's going to be the solution; he thought it's life or death situation. What makes them become the legendary duo in Turf War History?

Author’s Note : All of this is ENTIRELY NON-CANON. I’m still working on my writing skills. Thank You and Enjoy, hopefully.

“Wow, this is Inkopolis Plaza? It’s so much more cooler than you let on, Nick!” a blue inkling boy, wearing the classic Starting Gears, exclaimed as he looked around the place he’s going to grow up independently. The buzzing crowd, the fresh air, the outstanding Booyah Base and the sleepy cat just outside from the Deca Tower, he love it.

A man, wearing a red yukata with a unique symbol on the back and a matching bucket hat, chuckled as he put downs the last luggage into the pile onto the cart. “I can’t said the same thing though, Erek. After all, I still have that traumatic memory at here. Barely surviving before I met Mistress.” He arranged the luggage to make sure it won’t fall. “Talking about Mistress, she is sure spoil you to the core, kiddo! Making sure you did your best with these sick gears!”

Erek looked at the mountain-like luggage before sighing, “Geez, Grandmama shouldn’t pack this much! What am I suppose to do with all of this, Nick?”

“Well, all of it is to make sure you have a fun time playing.”

“Fun? Do you see this shirt? It’s stacked full with Damage Up!”

“That is the definition of fun for Mistress, kid. Do you want me to take this luggage of food from the pile? You always want to cook for yourself, kiddo.”

“Oh yeah, thanks! Wait... I’m being mean... I really need to apologize to Blan. They put effort to this...”

“Erek, they won’t mind if you take a portion of it for dinner.”

The boy brighten up quickly. Before Nick could push the cart, Erek push him away so he could handle the cart himself. “Sorry, Nick but I want to do this myself. I’m a grown inkling now!”

Nick tear up a bit before drying his eyes on his yukata. He couldn’t believe that the boy that he helped to raise suddenly become independent now. He was so glad to got chosen to help his young master to move out, even though it’s by cheating. “Want me to accompany you? It’s gonna be our last time hanging out with each other, kid.”

“Sure, Nick! Beside, who say I’m going to stay here forever? I would still go back home to visit you guys! After all, we are still family!” Erek exclaimed before pushing the cart. The man almost cried. “Thank you for accepting me, young master...” he whispered before following behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~

In all of Piranha Pit maps, battles are still going on or in the middle of calculating the results. Out of all of them, one of the map catches the eyes of all the people in the Spectators Only Area. The map are almost covered in purple ink and the Yellow team is still inside their base, refusing to go out with that one Inkling girl, wearing the Starting gear and equipped with Splattershot Jr, waiting outside while playing around with her Splat Bomb. She look bored as she glanced through the Yellow team again and again, waiting for at least one of them to come out from their base.

“What in the Zapfish are we gonna do, Skul?! There are only two of them and four of us! We can’t keep this up! We are the cod damn Team B-Rush! Our reputation...” one of the members, wearing SQUID GIRL Tunic, cried in frustration as he plopped down to the floor. Another member, who seems to be cosplaying as one of the Barbershop Quartet, sighed dramatically as he patted his friend on the head, “I know, Fishy. This is a very unfair battle at first, ironically. To think they balance their ‘two disconnected teammates’ situation out with that Monster Rookie... that Stealth boy got lucky.”

The timer struck down to one minute and ten seconds when the girl’s only teammate finally appears. The Stealth Goggles boy seems to be cocky as he squid-taunt towards the team. He stopped before got glared down by the Monster Rookie, whimpering while apologising to her. “Ugh, I want to splat that guy. Can I splat that guy?” another inkling, wearing Squid Nordic, tried to step out before got hold up by the cosplayer. “GG, wha-”

“Choco, that dangerous woomy is still out there. Three seconds out of the base, KERSPLAT, and you are a goner.” GG interrupted as he re-analyse their situation. As much as he didn’t want to admit, Team B-Rush had no hope in winning unless that girl got splatted miraculously. Each time they leave the Respawn Point separately, they ended up getting splatted out of nowhere. Whenever they leave as a group to split her attention, she somehow managed to splatted them all before they could even inked up to their specials. Try to splat her as a group, managed to dodged each hits before splatting them into an oblivion.

“Guys, stop installing fear yourself! Get your act together! Monster Rookie or what not, she’s still a beginner!” the leader of Team B-Rush, Skul with his untied long tentacles, shouted as he nervously looked at the timer. 50 seconds left and that girl is still not moving an inch since she stand there. Team B-Rush have reputation as a team formed with Splatubers and Splartist, and now he fear that this kind of gameplay would make their fans disappointed or even worse, quitting their fan club. Fishy stopped his gibberish tantrums as he glared at Skul.

“Beginner?! Skul, you know better than this! How could she still a beginner?! She debuted two months ago and almost everyone is terrified of her! Remember last week? That devil squid splatted Crystal fifteen times in one match! Fifteen! Splats! Our combined splats against Crystal can’t even best that rookie’s score! And you said she’s still a beginner? When she splatted our ace multiple times?” Fishy stated angrily as he start to pulled his tentacle. What he said is true. That insquid girl really splatted their ace player so much that Crystal is still locked in her own room, drawing disturbing image that portrayed that Monster Rookie a devil under the sea.

Each of them was starting to getting restless as the girl in front of them starting to resemble the drawings in Crystal’s sketchbook. It’s not helping that the timer struck down to forty seconds and half of the spectators are their fans. The Squid Nordic boy suddenly shouted, “Guys, I think I have a plan to overturn this match!”

“It better is, Choco, it better is.”

~~~~~~~~~~

As they walked on, the workers inside the their shops stopped what they are doing and stared at them in disbelief. Few of the shop owners started to shout orders at their employee. Nick knew this is going to happen if he wears clothes with that specific symbol, but he still wears it in order to make his young master to get more respect. After all, Erek have a... unique play style. Despite the fact that the symbol indeed make some difference, he still worries that Erek is going to make friends that have ill intentions. Though it’s so funny to listen the commotion from the outside.

“Waiting for, what are you? Dirty tables, clean you must!”

“Be more representable, sleepyhead! Your messy behaviour might change the fate of this Zekko shop that its company managed to settle!”

“Replace those outdated magazines into new ones, my little darlings! Must not disappoint those unannounced visitors!”

“You three! Better not mess up this time! The Shogun Family gave this place one last chance and I don’t want to see this restaurant get closed down because of you meddling troublemakers! Do I make that clear?!”

“Nick? World to Nicholas!” Erek raised his voice a bit, finally catching the man’s attention. “Whew, got your attention. You zoned out a lot! We reached my place already! Don’t you wanna come inside?” Erek asked before unloading his stuff from the cart. “Man, Suzuki pack a lot of books in this luggage! Do I have time for all of this? I haven’t finished that book for a long time.”

“ ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’... do you know what will happen to Dumbledore?” Nick smirked as he sort out between gears and daily outfits. It is terrible on knowing how much some of those ugly clothes cost. What were those idiotic designers thinking when they make this? Why does Kevin think this is the peak of fashion? He glanced at his distracted master before slipping all the ugly clothes into a disposal bag. 

“I don’t know, Nick... Is it good?” he finalised his thought before turning to his friend, startling him as Nick quickly closed the bag tightly. Luckily, the boy isn’t aware what’s going on. Nick took a relief breath before answering, “It depends, kid. I need to get out and take out the trash, if you may excuse me.”

“Okay, Nick. Can you throw this as well, please? It’s a piece of receipt that I forgot to throw it and I kinda use this as a bookmark.”

“Sure thing, kid. You have a proper bookmark, right?”

“I think so... I just don’t know where I put it...”

“Okay, Mr I-have-more-than-ten-bookmarks-but-I-don’t-know-”

“Nick...”

“Geez, make it twenty then.”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!”

Nick laughed after he quickly ran out of the door, leaving a shouting boy behind as he locked the door. He adjusted his yukata before rushing to the elevator. The door is almost closing but Nick is faster to reach it. When he enter, he met someone he thought he never going to meet again.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Tres! Over here! See if you can catch me!” Skul yelled as he inked up a path down the conveyor belt on his left side of his base. The girl seems to took the bait and chase him, not realising that his teammates were on the other side of the map covering turf after they splatted her teammate. It’s like a game of catch between the two of them. Skul is lucky that he have Swim Speed Up stacked fully in his gears, with Ninja Squid to caught her off guard. He was mentally celebrating for his survival when he suddenly got splatted by the Stealth boy, who seem to have respawn. Before the girl realised what’s going on, she heard cans opening.

“SPECIAL WEAPONS! INKZOOKA/KILLER WAIL/INKSTRIKE!” Three members of Team B-Rush shouted in unison as they targeted at both members of the purple team and blast off their special weapons. This is Choco’s plan, and it seems that there’s no way those two would get away from the chaotic special deliveries. 

“Did you all get them, especially her?” the leader spoke through the Speaker Screen. He always have high hopes for his team but not much hope for their plan execution. The plans in his teams are always easier said than done. So, he couldn’t believe how much effort his team is putting for a beginner rather than highly profreshional players.

“Yep, I think so! There’s no way they could make it out alive, Skul. I have that Stealth boy in my Splat ScreeAAAAAH!” Choco screamed suddenly. Another shout and bomb could be seen exploding at the enemies’ base. Before Skul could even react further, Fishy swore bad censored words before shouting, “YOU HAVE THAT BUBBLER READY FROM THE START?! OH COME O-GAH!”

Sound of splatting have been heard from the speaker and Skul was too shocked to speak. And then, realisation hit him. Did he saw her activate her special weapon, even once, in the match? Tres has never been splatted in this entire match, which means that she already inked up her special gauge and find the right timing to use the Bubbler. “That inkling is no beginner... She must been planned everything out from the start... What kind of squid is that girl?!” He plopped down to the floor as the match ends.

Tres looked at them disappointedly before retreating in front to Judd Result Stage.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh my...” a light grey inkling, which had her tentacles tied in a large bow on the right side of her head and wears a black corset dress with three lime green stripes in the front, chuckled lightly in her living room as she watch Team B-Rush stared at Judd in disbelief through her SquidPad. 86.3% to 11.8%, that must be the highest record for some team with two disconnections. “What a powerhouse girl...” she curiously thought, “... no wonder she was named Monster Rookie.”

Another inkling, which had her black tentacles tied in a large bow on the back of her head while leaving the ends to dangle and wears a similar corset dress with pink stripes, came rushing through the main door with plastic bags, shouting, “Marie, you have no idea what happen! Do you know those popular Splatube sensations play against that overpower solo player? Team B-Rush? Monster Rookie? I run back home as fast as I can to tell you that-”

“They lose, Callie? I know, that’s the SquidPad for you,” Marie looked up to her pouting cousin as she turned off her devices calmly, “Tres Perdere won with 30 splats. And she got away from the special chaos with a Bubbler.” Callie quickly settled down her bags and plopped down to the sofa with Marie. “Oh my zapfish! She’s so cool! To think she just debut that start with a BANG like that!”

“I know, Cal. I wonder if we could battle against her... or even recruit her as Agent 3 for Squidbeak Splatoon.” the light grey inkling wondered, “On the second thought, maybe those squiddos are exaggerating when they post things like ‘She’s worse than the devil squid itself!’ or ‘Can’t get out unless you want to suffer’.”

“But, Marie~! She’s like a Holy Zapfish level type of squid! Tres beat up Crystal who was like, the undefeated champion of the Hill of Rollers! I co-host that League for two seasons and Crystal was like ZAM and KERSPLAT to all those opponents! And there’s Tres splatted her like she was nothing!”

“Please, Cal, remember a Dynamo Roller users can’t put their roller fast enough to dodge a Shooter type weapon.”

“Marie, Crystal use her Damage Up gear for that match which make her Dynamo Roller weights like, nothing at all!”

“Well, I prefer not to get that immersed in League players as much as you, Cal. Don’t look at me like that. In the meantime, why don’t we rehearsed for our host debuts for Inkopolis News? Jems sent their regards and congrats gift for being chosen as their successor.”

“Really?! How sweet of them! Is it candies? Or chocolates?”

Callie squealed in delight as she go through the gifts. Her cousin just shook her head lightly before joining her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Team B-Rush was embarrassed as they walked out the lobby to wait for the next announcement. Fans are already started to crowding to comfort them, especially Choco who was starting to tear up, “We had one job, guys! One job! And we screw it up! Badly!”

“I know, Choco, I know! Carp, that was the most horrible match we ever play against unstable connection team!” Skul cried as he threw his .52 Gal Deco to the floor and apologised whoever he accidentally hit. GG was frustrated like Skul is but he kept in his emotions as to not ruin his team’s already damaged reputation. He simply shrugged it off, “Well, we will get her next time, mon ami! C’est la vie!”

“Is this your human language again, GG? It better not be a swear word like that last recording we had or Skul is gonna kill you for tainting his audience,” Fishy warned before accepting donations from his fans through his Patreon Screen. The team were lucky that their fans are still so supportive. Maybe they should film something to honour their supports.

Just then, the crowd literally saw a flying squid, screaming in terror, from the Deca Tower. As the squid slowly turned to humanoid form, they all recognised him as the Stealth boy from the Monster Rookie’s team. Speaking of the orange devil squid, she appears after him with imaginary dark flames surrounding her, wielding plain expression with the eyes of a merlion. The boy tried to crawl away but he got kicked by her, multiple times on the ‘junior’. Skul quickly pulled her off before the orange could do even more holy damage.

“What in the name of The Holy Zapfish did that boy do to deserve this, Perdere?!” he questioned angrily while glances at the poor boy. The aggressive inkling seems to calm down for a while, before glaring at her previous teammate, “He-”

“I’M SORRY THAT I HOGGED ALL THE VICTORY CASH, TRES! I’M SORRY! I WON’T DO IT AGAIN!” the Stealth boy scrambled to his knees as he clumsily scanned the victory cash out of his Cash Screen into hers. “LOOK, TAKE ALL OF THIS. DON’T COME FOR ME!” he run away before the Rookie could stop him. She sighed with a hint of stress, “That’s what happen. Stop grabbing me, wannabe.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The apartment ended up looking great, as Erek said so himself. He managed to do this without Nick too! Speaking of the devil fish, Nick came back with a dreamy gaze. Even though his face is ripe red like he got slapped on the face. The man then composed himself and chimed, “What ever it looks like, don’t question it. Okay?”

The inkling boy nodded as he quickly ran to his bedroom. He is going to assume that Nick have a crush. He never thought his friend is capable on doing that expression. The all-so-in-love expression. But that doesn’t explain about that face that looks like he got slapped.

“Kid?” the man opened the door and peeked his head out, “Dinner or shower?”

“Dinner, please! Can I prepare dinner myself?” Erek grinned as he walked out of the door and headed to the kitchen. He opened up the last suitcase that contains packaged food that Blan prepared. There are lots of varieties that Erek had hard time in choosing. Should he pick that fried sea chicken rice? Or that tasty looking Kimchi? The roasted sea beef looks delicious too. 

“You know, kid? You could just pick a few that you don’t know how to cook, right? Blan probably taught you most of their recipes.” Nick glided over to his young master and looked at the food. The boy immediately grabbed some of the food boxes and set them out to the table. The man chuckled before grabbing some utensils to the table.

After they ate their dinner, it’s time for Nick to go back home. Erek can’t believe how the day end so quickly, and he’s going to have his first Turf War debut tomorrow too! He can’t wait to make new friends! It’s finally his chance to live independently!

“Erek,” Nick took some empty luggages as he went to the front door, “Be safe. Make us all proud on how much you have grown.” He smiled before shutting the door. Erek smiled widely before locking the door. “It’s gonna be fine, what else could go wrong?”