#at least my team got almost 3 gens done while i was running him around

[rootsofdread]

me giggling like a little girl as i drop 50 million pallets on a wraith at the game

[plush-anon]

Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! Review

Muahahhhahahhahahaha! Thanks to the Walmart tradition of stocking movies for sale weeks before the intended release date, I have myself a copy of what claims to be Scooby Doo’s FIRST Halloween adventure!

…in spite of movies like Witch’s Ghost and Goblin King, holiday specials like WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween (which had a haunted Scarecrow too…), BCSD’s EL Bandito (for Dia de los Muertos - obvs not the same, but most companies act like it) and Halloween, The NSDM’s Halloween Hassle at Dracula’s Castle, and the DTV short film Scooby Doo and the Spooky Scarecrow (which, ironically enough, did NOT take the opportunity to feature Dr. Jonathan Crane). 

So let us take a look now at Happy Halloween Scooby Doo! and see whether this film will be a graveyard smash of a treat, or a black licorice bomb of disappointment.

Full review (and SPOILERS TO GO WITH IT) are below the cut in my new review format; if all goes smoothly, I’ll go with this for future Scooby films.

WARNING: This review is very long.

One minor note before we begin: the Special Features actually include BCSD’s Halloween, WNSD’s A Scooby Doo Halloween, and PNSD’s Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner

...so they were AWARE this was not the first Halloween adventure of the Scooby gang, and yet still use that tag line. Hm. 

Still, kudos for including them - this’ll help boost the reasons to keep this movie, if it turns out to be a real Milk Dud of a movie *ba-dum tish* :D

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The movie starts off rather abruptly, actually - no slow pan over the setting, just WB Animation credit and BOOM, we’ve cut to a Halloween parade and Elvira is talking. 

I’m of a mixed opinion including Elvira on top of having Bill Nye and a Batman Rogue - while she most certainly fits the Scooby aesthetic, it doesn’t feel as grand an impact after her weird little cameo in Return to Zombie Island (ugh) and I’m not sure how well the movie will balance her in wait a minute

wait just a

WAIT A MINUTE

Did - did that parade float skeleton just sing Crystal Cove as the town’s name?

oh no. 

Oh No.

....also their song is terrible and they should feel terrible.

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Fred: We got him! Banh Mi Shop, second floor!

me: the heck is a Banh Mi Shop? *mild googling noises*

So I guess Jonathan Crane really had a craving for a Vietnamese sandwich before he enacted his Halloween scheme.

...you think he’s a lemongrass chicken type of guy or a BBQ pork guy? It’s always hard to guess at these things, esp when coffee and pumpkin spice aren’t on the table (as per fanon, of course)

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Velma: We have a flawless track record!

So I guess WB is just gonna ignore the past few DTV retcons established in 13 Ghosts and Return to Zombie Island?

I mean that rather defeats the purpose of them existing at all, but fcuk YEAH I can get behind throwing that retcon garbage out of canon!

And STAY OUT!!

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Shaggy, talking about ghosts being real: I’m like the boy who cried wolf - I keep warning you but like, you won’t believe me until I finally get eaten!

Yet again, Warner Bros makes a wolf reference to Shaggy. Yet again, I am torn asunder between wanting werewolf!Shaggy in a new Scooby property, and fearing for the appearance of werewolf!Shaggy in a new Scooby property. 

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Velma: Point is, being afraid is a waste of time!

Scarecrow, LITERALLY EXPLODING THROUGH A BRICK WALL three buildings away:

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He’s floating through the air and t-posing to assert his dominance 🤣🤣🤣

Gods bless animation 😁

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Daphne @ Shag and Scoob locking themselves in the van: Are you serial?

Me: wait, SERIAL? *re-reads captions* yup, that says “serial”.  

Is this an editing mistake? I don’t think that works here…unless that’s supposed to be a joke on how they always do this. But then why would that be an irritating surprise, they literally do this EVERY episode 🙄

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Oh hey, Red Herring’s Party Screams truck has Red Herring running out of it

Could this be a hint to how the story goes? The villain appearing on a literal Red Herring?

Naaaaaah, WB’s not THAT smart

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So if we take @captainbaddecisions​​ crack theory on Jonathan Crane being Shaggy’s uncle seriously, does this mean that Jonathan is using magic to fly, float fear toxin orbs around himself, and making things explode, a la the family trait of Crack Theory A? 

Logically he’s probs using wires or magnets or some shit, but it’s a fun thought to entertain 😁

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Welp, we finally get the opening credits! … with Jonathan Crane smashing through the Mystery Machine’s windshield, set to a slow poppy song straight from the 60s, and spewing the title of the film out in glittery pink mist.

All the while Scooby and Shaggy throw candy at each other, deliberately obtuse to the cloud of fear toxin enveloping their friends and the townsfolk, the steady destruction of the Mystery Machine they’re laying in as multiple cars crash into it and send it spiraling, and the general mayhem and destruction that Scarecrow is causing

Never change, guys, never change

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I just choked on my lemonade

There’s an article plastered to the roof of the Mystery Machine titled “Talking Dog Confounds, Ignites Ethics Debate Over Dog Labor”

ahahahahaha

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Annnnnnnnd there goes the Mystery Machine, tumbling in the air and over the roads with Shaggy and Scooby still inside without seat belts. Will they perish in this horrible road accident? Will Death finally come to claim them at last?

Of course not. This is Shaggy and Scooby we’re talking about - I’m almost positive they can survive anything up to and including a nuclear bomb. This is child’s play to them.

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So they “capture” Scarecrow… by pinning his cape to a tree with crossbow bolts. 

And they do not try to at least tie up his arms or his hands in ANY capacity. 

JUST the cape. 

...you know, Velma, for a team with a “flawless” track record, you guys are making a hecking TON of mistakes in facing against one of Batman’s ROGUES GALLERY, ESPECIALLY with no Batman in sight, good freakin’ grief. 😩

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Yaaaaaaaaas, this Scarecrow design is LUSH

He’s got the lank, the height, the BTAS costume colors, the elongated face with beaky nose and pointed chin and angular cheekbones, the eyebags like Gucci, the furrowed brow… honestly the only thing missing is the more reddish color hair, and even that isn’t mandatory. I love 😍

Not to mention the HOT DAYUM voice he has - low and velvet rough and so godsdamned particular in a way that could either tie in to obscuring a southern accent as in fanon or just as a stringent academic, oh my yes. He’s voiced by someone called Dwight Schultz, who’s most well known for playing Captain ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock in the OG A-Team show, and someone called Reginald Barclay in Star Trek TNG and Voyager, if any of y’all know that character in particular. 

And of course, the first line he says is a delightfully wry “Oh, but I AM getting away with it,” with the sort of smirk that absolutely lends credence to why he’s a threat to Batman, and not some simpering wimp that can be defeated with some crossbow bolts in a tree.

I think I’m going to enjoy this movie at least somewhat, so long as we get to see him 🥰🥰🥰

(tho on a side note: Daphne why on EARTH are you trying to film Crane saying the meddling kids line? Do you have a video compilation of past villains who’ve done that, and you hope to add his to it? Was your phone damaged when you went up against the Riddler a few DTVs ago and you want a second shot at recording a Gotham Rogue saying it? Bc I don’t think a Gotham Rogue would be too pleased with seeing himself as a Mystery Meme on the Youtubes, you get what I’m saying?)

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Okay, so the floating orb things are explained away as fear toxin bomb drones somehow… despite looking nothing like the other drones and being much smaller with no visible propulsion, while also flying unassisted through and around objects to explode against places once flung…

(tho interesting note, none of them are aimed directly at the crowds, just behind them - odd, that)

But how did he heckin’ FLY at the beginning?

Yeah, they show him wearing wrist-mounted grappling hooks at the end of the intro song sequence, but they are NOWHERE IN SIGHT at the beginning - and I do mean in sight, since he emerges against a backdrop of flames. There was nothing there (see the T-pose above for further evidence), and nothing there when he FLEW THROUGH THE MYSTERY MACHINE��S WINDSHIELD AND FLEW BACK OUT AGAIN. And these things are pale silver, which stands out like crazy against the darker backgrounds, so no hand-wavy ‘they were always being used’ bullcrap we’ve seen in other movies. 

Hmmm *scribbles in notepad* note to self, add notation concerning Crack Theory A on magic!Shaggy to “Uncle Crane” theory files - evidence denotes that Crane is able to fly (or at least hover in mid-air unassisted) for terrorization purposes. May boost strength of CTA by family association, lending credence to magic inheritance along the bloodline...

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“Avocado Toast Generation”? Crane, I honestly don’t know if you really mean that, or if you understand just how much that phrase gets under any Millennial/Gen Z kid’s skin. Having seen multiple variations of your character, it really could swing either way (tho kudos on the dead switch idea - very nice 👍🏻) 

Although this does lead to an interesting stand-off: Fred, upon seeing the town threatened with 3 days worth of fear toxin, immediately moves to let Crane go, while Velma stops him and refuses to consider compromising if it means Crane escapes.  They both look legitimately frustrated at the other for taking the stance they do. 

Fascinating~

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Hmmm

Crane honey, I don’t know if your drones are made of flash paper and hope, or if Scooby and Shaggy are using the reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally old candy (the stuff made about ~3 years ago most neighborhoods give out to the teenagers that knock around midnight on Halloween) to shoot them down, but either way you may wish to speak with the manufacturer about this

Then again, this IS Shaggy and Scooby - they probably could’ve spat marshmallows at the drones and brought them down with equal success and explosions 

(and good on them for shooting those down! Atta boy 👍🏻)

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Aw dang it

1. They still have Crane captured and now in handcuffs (despite having… you know… NOT been bound by anything except cross bolts in his curtain cape thing)

2. Dwight Schultz has decided to pitch his voice higher and more nasally than what he has. Hopefully this is more of an incredulous sort of pitch than something that sticks for the rest of the movie, ugh.

Also, I think they’re framing the movie to be more Velma-centric this time around - she’s the one explaining to Crane how they tracked him down, apparently through a piece of fan mail he sent Elvira (is that the only reason she’s there? Also why was Velma examining random pieces of fan mail for toxins, Elvira probs gets hundreds a week irl) and it looks like they’re framing something up on how fear isn’t something you can pretend isn’t there. neat!

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whajit

53rd? 

53rd?!?!

ONLY 53rd?!?!?!?!

Boooo, Scarecrow’s WAY more popular than that! I call foul

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Okay why is Daphne’s schtick so far to spit laaaaaaame slang after every sentence Velma says

I would rather this not be her schtick

Actually could she go back to filming mystery stuff, bc at least I can pretend it’ll build into the OG Zombie Island Daphne

----

Phew, his voice has returned to its low, raspy goodness

also, Crane needs to learn about personal space, good grief

(interesting clue brought up tho - Crane only steals tech that CAN’T leak his toxin, ergo it can’t be tracked until he releases it. Sensible use, given that Batman probs tracks it if it does.)

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Velma: I’m not afraid of you, Crane. Fear is an illogical reaction to an imagined threat. 

Crane:

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Crane: Fearless, then. Intelligent. Proud and stubborn. You remind me very much of the one person in this world I care about. 

uhhhhhh

Yourself? Harley? Edward Nygma? Ichabod the raven? Idk, I’m honestly curious as to where this thread will go 🤔🤔🤔

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Fred, leaning against the Mystery Machine: Guys, it’s gonna be okay. She told me!

O_o

Fred? Honey? Are you sure you weren’t supposed to join Crane in the transport vehicle back to Arkham? 

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OH SWEET JESUS SHAGGY GREW YAOI HANDS

WHAT THE HECK 

THAT’S WAY MORE UNNERVING THEN YOU GUYS NOT BEING AFRAID ANYMORE

(although the fact that they’re both unsettled by NOT constantly shaking or having their heart racing is honestly kind of heartbreaking. Y’all need therapy, good grief)

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Shaggy and Scooby just chewed up candy (wrapper and all) to make themselves a Halloween costume of… what looks like barfed-up candy (ew)

Before then proceeding to dance so well that everyone around them also starts dancing in a 60s-70s era rainbow light show and giving them candy

I worry for these two sometimes - that kind of power seems to be getting to their head 😬😬😬

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Oh hey, acid green toxic waste is spilling from an 18-wheeler onto the Fear Toxin drones and emitting a purple pink haze that envelops a pumpkin patch! That won’t do anything suspicious at all I bet!

(wait is Poison Ivy going to come into this at some point)

(also major kudos to the music here - very 80s horror synth, I like)

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So the Pumpkins have grown faces, limbs, consciousness, the ability to fly and a lust for human flesh

And they appear to be led by the Pumpkin King of the Pumpkin Patch mentioned in the Charlie Brown Halloween special

He’s not as friendly as I pictured him being, sadly 😕

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Why is this random ass cop coming up to FD&V to say that they’re in over their heads… AFTER the mystery’s been solved?

Like dude, you’re only making yourself suspicious at this point, go home

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Huh, interesting - the gang are being interviewed for a tv news network while they’re considered the town heroes

Why am I getting bad vibes from this…

Eh, it’s probably nothing

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Velma: {Shaggy and Scooby} are, um… REALLY into the Halloween spirit. 

Shaggy: THIS ISN’T COSPLAY, VELMA!

I’m dying 😂

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Holy Shit

Velma just snapped and went off on Shaggy and Scooby for acting scared and doing nothing to help wrap up the mystery

(even though these guys are the ONLY reason that the gang didn’t have to choose between setting Scarecrow free and poisoning the entire town for 3 days straight, but hey, what do I know - I’m just writing an in-depth reaction post to this movie and taking note of details like this, clearly I know nothing *eye roll*)

Last time I saw Velma critique the guys’ usual mystery solving shenanigans, it was much more low-key and without knowing they were nearby

But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence

------

What the

Bills?

Bills?!?!

Fred just mentioned that fixing the Mystery Machine was going to leave a hefty bill and that they may need to get dishwashing jobs to earn money

Which is more of a job you might expect a high schooler to get on the go and yet

They actually have to pay bills 

How old are they here??!

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wait a tic

THIS is how they introduce Bill Nye?

He just calls up Velma with no explanation other than Velma saying “Oh hey, it’s Bill Nye!”

I just - what?!?!

How do you know him so well that he can just pull up your number and call you, and then geT YOU A NEW FREAKING CAR LIKE

WHAT?!?!?!?

Was there a Scooby episode with him in the past two years where the fcuk did this come from

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Also the car is dressed like Bill Nye

And he can talk to the gang directly as the car

So that he can solve mysteries with them whenever he wants

This… this was not what I was expecting to come about from the Bill Nye cameo 

(alas, poor predictions of being Crane’s roommate, you will not come to pass this day) 😔

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Ooooo, purple haze throbbing on the horizon! That’s always a good sign of things to come! 😀

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 And now Daphne’s… asking Elvira to mentor her fashion wise. And Elvira’s taking her on as her unpaid intern/personal assistant.

Yooo, movie, can you pick a direction and stick with it for Daphne? You’ve gone from her spewing outdated slang to wanting a costume for trick-or-treating, and now this. 

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Welp, now I can say I saw a giant pumpkin dog vore an old woman

I didn’t WANT to see that mind, but I guess I can say it now 😐

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OH SHIT NO

IT TURNED HER INTO A FLYING PUMPKIN SHAPED LIKE HER FACE

ABSOLUTELY UNSETTLING, 0/10 WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

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At least we get a nice scene of Daphne kicking the pumpkins’ collective butt

Something normal

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Elvira: WOW! You’re a regular Mary Sue!

*falls over cackling*

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And now there’s a giant purple fissure opening up in the concrete to swallow the town of Crystal Cove whole 

(good, i whisper softly into the darkness of my living room. Let it fall)

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Man, I feel so bad for this single father right now

He’s gotten wrapped up in all of this nonsense with his daughter, and he is just Distraught at being chased by Jackal Lanterns, having the town collapsing under his feet, and having to gorge jump in his sedan to get away from the worst of it

It’s okay, Mike Dad - we would feel the same way in your shoes

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Hologram Bill Nye is wearing Cat ears and cat whiskers/nose, and is cleaning his hands like a cat cleans its paws

Why was this the movie we found out Bill Nye was a furry

Why Warner Bros 

Why would you inflict this upon us in a Scooby Doo-Scarecrow mystery

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Hey, can Jonathan Crane return now? The movie needs its dignity back. 

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A clue on the whys here - the town was built on top of a MASSIVE lithium deposit, with the talks to mine it being scrapped due to environmental concerns. That’s actually a decent lead in for why some 

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Welp

The Jackal Lanterns just went full Mad Max with the Halloween Parade floats and cars

No, I don’t have any idea why either, just roll with it

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Nice, they confirmed that Fred’s full name is still Frederick Herman Jones XD

Also a great little action sequence with Daphne - while there’s not much movement, they frame the scene dynamically, with some good quick wordplay. Very nice. 

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Velma has a mind palace

Aight

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Velma: Shaggy, I could kiss you!

Oh, to hear this as a child, when I still hardcore shipped Shelma *sigh*

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Oh thank gods we’re going back to Scarecrow again

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Shaggy ate some Scooby Snacks, leapt out of a moving vehicle, and onto the backs of two flying pumpkins that he promptly reined in to fly to Crane’s prison transport

...yet again, I am amazed at the sentences I am led to type for Scooby Doo DTVs

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Ah, how very Hannibal Lector of you, Jon 

Man, he actually looks very meek in normal clothes - red long-sleeved shirt and grey slacks

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Hmmm

So Crane ISN’T behind the Jackal Lanterns - in fact he’s outright befuddled by them. This means his whole spiel to Velma earlier about both of them being caught in the same trap was… metaphorical? The breakdown doesn’t actually go into WHY he thinks they’re in the same trap - Crane’s whole schtick is tied to accepting fear, not denying it, so why would they be the same?

Either way, someone is using both him and Mystery Inc to do something to Crystal Cove (please be Red Herring, please be Red Herring, please be Red Herring)

Actually, that reference at the beginning really WAS a red herring - they framed it as being Jon the whole time when it wasn’t. Kudos!

Additional kudos to having Jon be seen more out of mask than in - he is a looker, and I aim to look as much as I can ;)

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Annnnd Daphne’s now trying to convince Elvira to switch clothes with her

I don’t get it - how on earth did we get from Daphne trying to find a good costume for trick-or-treating to asking Elvira to switch oh there it is nevermind.

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There is literally a scene where a giant buzzsaw is slicing towards Crane

and he just

stares at it

going “huh, that’s different”

And I LOVE IT

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And here we have another fascinating scene: Velma going to free Crane from his cell, as Daphne tells her to just leave him to die by pumpkin

I’m wondering if they meant to draw a parallel between the two here - Velma starts by reciting a nursery rhyme, then overcoming her fears in order to release madness to take control. It’s not done very cleanly - mainly bc we barely have any time with Crane in this movie - but I wonder if they meant to insinuate that Crane was like Velma once, where he refused to acknowledge he was afraid, which caused him to lose focus on his initial goals

Idk, ignore my ramblings

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Crane, smirking: I’ll need my personal effects - extenuating circumstances.

Me, fanning myself: I’ll need you to remove yours first

(i am not even kidding, Crane is an absolute DILF in this movie and it flusters me. Stupid sexy animation)

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YAAAAAAAAAAASSSSS

SCARECROW TO THE MOTHERFCUKING RESCUE BABY, SCYTHE AND FCUKING ALL!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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FCUK YEAH THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

HE HAS A DANCE LIKE QUALITY WITH SOME OF HIS FIGHTING MOVES

VIOLENT DANCING BRINGS THE GIANT JACKAL LANTERN DOWN BABY

THEN HE BACKFLIPS AND GYMNASTIC SWINGS INTO THE VAN

ROCK IT SCARECROW FCUKING ROCK IT

(minor note here, but the subtitles show Dr. Crane instead of Scarecrow - unsure if that’s more that the movie calls him Dr Crane or if it indicates he’s acting more heroic than villainous)

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GODDAMNIT

THE GIANT PUMPKIN SNUCK VINES INTO THE VAN AND STOLE HIM BACK 

WHEN CRANE WAS... wearing a seatbelt before, but isn’t now.

...

BOOOOO

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Yet again, we find a Scooby movie that attempts character development, but with Velma

Unlike Shaggy’s Showdown however, I’m mixed on how successful it is.

For starters, Velma hasn’t been this cocksure in other DTVs we’ve seen, so it’s a bit odd to see it now. While not 100% out of place - after all, the gang DID capture one of Batman’s Rogues Gallery on their own - it still feels a touch forced. Compare that to Shaggy’s Showdown, where Shaggy has ALWAYS been a coward (one that, in more recent years, writers have had willing to abandon his friends for safety), so the character development there feels more natural. 

The progression of events with Velma actually work somewhat okay - but again, here’s where past DTVs come to bite them in the ass. The past handful have had the gang be wrong, have had them fail, or catch the wrong guy. This makes Velma’s attitude here at odds with the other films, something that sticks more due to a character that’s appeared in the past few films as a minor inconvenience - a Sheriff who keeps telling the gang not to interfere, they’re doing things wrong, etc. If this had been a character who was completely wrong in the past AND SHOWN TO BE WRONG FOR HIS OPINIONS, while the gang never guessed wrong, this would work much better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and here we are. 

I think it would have flowed better if Velma’s cockiness came solely from catching Crane on their own. Have a random cop character or reporter or whatever (just not the recurring cop), insinuate that the gang is in too deep with Scarecrow, that he should be handled by the adults or professionals or whatever. Velma could bristle, overcompensate, and THEN fall from her pedestal like we see, reach out to the gang and commiserate over feeling scared, and grow. Again, it’s not too far to reach for, but they handle it poorly; as a result, the outcome feels a little more shoehorned in. 

It’s an honest shame, bc we haven’t had a Velma centered story since Frankencreepy, and we all remember what a hideous fcuking mess THAT was *shudders*. Still, it somewhat gets its point across, I guess.

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Fred why did you rip your shirt off

Actually better question why do you not have nipples

--- 

Awwwwwww

Velma just apologized to Shag and Scoob for snapping at them earlier, and admits how she doesn’t appreciate how much they make Mystery Inc what it is

Also she eats a Scooby Snack with them and admits they taste pretty good

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Huh

Velma’s mind palace is the Mystery Machine driving through space

Also Shaggy and Scooby are able to telepathically follow her in and communicate with her

Literally, they actually followed her into her head telepathically, and show her their memories of things she hasn’t gotten to see tonight (while also possibly enhancing her ability to remember things, given how much DETAIL she captures perfectly of things that she would maybe have glimpsed in a millisecond AT MOST)

...another tally for Crack Theory A of magic! Shaggy and Scooby *scribbles*

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Fred, be very very thankful that there are no people operating those pumpkins in person cause uhhhh

Those traps would be spraying red instead of orange

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Another weird music choice - the gang goes up to fight the Jackal Lanterns, but the music is the same 60s bubble we heard earlier 

Not terribly atmospheric, really

(wouldn’t a Smashing Pumpkins cover of Scooby Doo be more appropriate, or did you guys spend all your money on hiring Elvira and Bill Nye?)

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Dang

Velma just admitted her fears and jumped into the mouth of the Mega Pumpkin, before getting Fred to use the app from earlier to shut it down, revealing it to be a giant drone surrounded by smaller pumpkin drones

This feels… counterintuitive, but I’ll try to explain at the end

---

Okay

I’ll admit it

The Whodunnit is actually pretty decent in concept

There was a sprinkling of tidbits that could be assembled for the final conclusion and still make a decent amount of sense, all to find the sheriff doing it 

Only he isn’t a sheriff

He’s a former Tech CEO who was also busted by the gang years ago in a case the Sheriff kept bringing up throughout the movie - due to his prison sentence, he lost more than half his wealth and the opportunity to expand it further with the Crystal Cove Lithium deposits

He was also someone who sold tech to Crane for his fear toxin distribution, where he got the idea to frame him for it

(tho on a side note, Crane is an absolute dork and a terrible liar - just look at the email he sent XD and that profile pic, my gods)

He deliberately picked at the gang for the past few DTVs (specifically 2: Return to Zombie Island and Curse of the 13th Ghost) to fracture their confidence, undermine them, etc - all so that in one fell swoop, he could retake his fortune, frighten everyone in town away from the mines so they couldn’t interfere, frighten away the gang (while also ruining their reputation as mystery solvers), and take Crane off the docket so he couldn’t identify the CEO when he pretended to be the sheriff

This… is actually a pretty damn good plan, for a Scooby villain. He was patient, manipulative, and clever, learning how best to tie up loose ends and win back what he lost. A clever revenge story that came so close to coming to fruition, and could have honestly been sold convincingly… 

...if it hadn’t been done so much better in Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. 

Yeeeaaaah, this movie basically lifts the rough framework up from that one - past mystery villain comes back to attack the gang and ruin their reputation (tho this one decides to also make his fortune back and tie up loose ends with former criminal contacts, a la Crane). Gang is embarrassed in front of the news folk, another villain is framed for it (like Old Man Wickles of the Black Knight fame), and the gang must reconcile to foil the villain for good.

Although it also??? Merges elements of Frankencreepy in it?? The movie is focused on Velma, who is struggling to admit when she’s wrong (which ties into her fear, somehow… I’ll think on that point a little) and things purportedly go haywire when she won’t bend. This… isn’t illustrated as well here, since there’s very little direct cause-and-effect from Velma’s actions that would prove this point - that insisting her way is the right, best, and therefore only way to go ends up making things worse.  

As much as I despised Frankencreepy (and I DESPISED IT), it did do that part well - showing that refusing to budge on something can lead to you hurting your friends (literally, in that one), and that admitting you were wrong and need help isn’t the end of the world. 

(that movie also had former villains returning to gain vengeance upon the gang using psychological warfare, hm - may need to go over that one again, unfortunately).

It’s a shame, too -  the basic elements for this plot are all here, they just need to be polished and reworked a bit to make a really fascinating movie. 

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Anyways, back to the asshat CEO who just… faked being a sheriff. Because white people can get away with that so long as they have the outfit and the car *throws up hands* (the sad part is this is probably something that actually happens)

As he drives away we see a familiar silhouette looming in the cornfields, watching him approach

Velma had Bill Nye on speaker, so he could record the entire confession for the federal officers nearby (who were taking Scarecrow back to Arkham), and track the phone signal to his exact location

And right as his holographic call cuts out, we see the shadow of a Scarecrow looming over him, causing him to scream.

When the feds arrive at his final location, both his body and the money have vanished. The car still sits, engine running, before the crows leering over him from the field vanish into the sky. 

-------

Now that he’s dead, the gang walks and finds themselves at a Halloween party, with friendly faces and good food. The mystery is solved, though the culprit may never be found again. 

Then Daphne admits to NOT trying to steal Elvira’s costume for Halloween, but instead trying to steal Elvira’s identity and replace her. 

Something that she’s apparently nearly gotten away with on past mysteries working with Phillis Diller

*sighs* movie, why couldn’t you just stick to the costume schtick? This is just… so much worse. 

-----

From there, Elvira walks off to wrap things up, reveal the monster face on the back of her head sans wig (which was also a monkey), and start the credits, where we see the gang working to bring the Mystery Machine back to its former glory a la Frankenstein pastiche. 

This movie… this movie is a hot mess, but at least it’s an OKAY hot mess. 

It really does feel like someone started writing a decent Velma-focused movie concerning the Scarecrow and a past Mystery Inc villain interfering, but was bogged down by notes from higher-ups: Wait! Write in Elvira! Also write in Bill Nye! Hey, let’s have a Mad Max car chase with the Jackal Lanterns! And have Daphne obsessed with literally becoming Elvira! Also make reference to things that we’ll insist be explained this way instead of a way that makes sense! Great!

(seriously tho, we never find out who Crane cares about most that reminds him of Velma, what the heck?)

It’s like two or three different scripts were smooshed together without being cleaned up - stuff is said that doesn’t get resolved, the celebrity guests don’t get to breathe much and feel squished together, and the build-up for the villain feels… less impactful, even knowing that he’s been in the past two films. 

It might have worked if he’d been in… let’s say like 5 or 6 DTVs in a row, speaking roles for dissing the gang growing in each (ex start with “Good job kids! But maybe next time, leave it to the professionals, okay?” and growing more bitter from there), but only 2 feels kind of meh. Still, I do appreciate the clues we got to collect together, and they all work in the final breakdown of the scheme - some DTVs can feel like they pull stuff completely out of nowhere, so kudos there. 

I appreciate what they wanted to do with Velma - give her a character development arc similar to Shaggy’s in Shaggy’s Showdown. Unfortunately, it wasn’t set up quite so neatly: they blended her ‘refusal to admit fear’ with her overconfidence that she was always right, and it led to a weird conclusion. To face her fears, she leapt into the Giant Pumpkin, which… proved that she was right all along about it being fake, and that solves things somehow. It doesn’t address how she can get something wrong sometimes, it doesn’t really address what she’s afraid of (which is honestly quite good: she’s afraid of failing in a way that allows bad guys to escape justice and in a way that hurts her friends), it’s just a bit of a mess. Points for aiming the focus the right way (and in a way that DOESN’T sexualize the underage teenage girl, unlike some DTVs cough cough Frankencreepy cough cough), but it’s very very messy how it goes about it. 

The movie actually balanced pretty well for the whole gang - no excessive focus on one leaving the rest in the dust (too much at least - Fred was a touch underdeveloped, but nowhere near as annoying as past iterations have been. Shaggy and Scooby were kind of meh in some places but great in others, while Daphne was just odd. I think they were trying to recapture the BCSD Daphne characterization, but they failed. Still, she did spend some good time kicking ass with the pumpkins, so that was fun.

Now for the Rogue, Jonathan Crane. If you like Crane, this movie gives you: maniacal Scarecrow, calm and creepy Crane, a brief glimpse at fanboy!Crane (he admits in his own awkward way that he’s a fan of Elvira, and later tells her he loves her work - it’s fun), and (best of all for me) a heroic Crane - one who helps the protagonists and ends up kicking ass pretty damn well, brief as it was. And while DILF Crane is always a treat, he feels underutilized in this. In comparison, Scooby Doo/Batman Brave and the Bold really utilized a lot of different aspects of Riddler, to the point he actually does feel pretty menacing by the third act. It’s a shame we don’t quite get that with Crane, but I do love seeing him 1. More out of mask, and 2. Acting as a good guy (in his own way), so he’s enjoyable on the whole. 

I kind of wish that the whole movie was spent more with Crane, but again, the script is a bit of a mess on this part - the fact that he’s not completely screwed over is a goddamn miracle. 

Elvira was… okay. She didn’t have much of a purpose beyond getting the plot started and giving Daphne some hooks to play off of. Bill Nye (abrupt as his introduction was) did provide some necessary elements to the mystery, as well as the tech; he wasn’t too bad by the end. (still a touch bitter we didn’t get ex roommate Nye, but hey, what can you do)

Humor was… mixed. Some good, some meh, but very few long enough to feel painful. Some bits felt extraneous at times, but they did help to build to the conclusion, so points for effort.

At the end of the day though, I’m probably keeping this more for Jonathan Crane than anyone else. It does have a lot of fanfic potential tho 🤔🤔🤔

That’s all from me tonight, folks! Hope you enjoyed my own little breakdown of the movie. 

[jarmes]

Beating Pokemon Sapphire with (almost) no damaging moves

Last year, I decided to beat Pokemon Leafgreen without using any damaging moves. It was hard, but doable. A few weeks back, I decided to try and find out if you can beat Pokemon Sapphire under the same ruleset. The answer is no. You can’t. It is physically impossible. Let me explain why.

I started the game up, fast-forwarded through the introduction, and chose Mudkip as my starter. Unlike Leafgreen, which features Bulbasaur, one of the best stall Pokemon in Gen 3, all of the starters in Hoenn are terrible for this run, lacking any real way to stall. I went with Mudkip because it’s the most defensive. Tackle is a damaging move, so Mudkip is unable to use anything but Growl. Fortunately, the Poohcheyana is programmed to run away before it beats you.

I named Mudkip GarbageBoyStinkman (technically GBSM because of character limits) and traveled to Route 103 to meet with May. Having no way to deal damage, I ran from all wild Pokemon along the way. Unfortunately, this is the point the run becomes unwinnable.

You cannot beat May without dealing damage. It cannot be done. None of the starters have any moves that can take out opponents through status moves. Now, you may be thinking, what if I caught another Pokemon on the route? Well, you can’t. You can’t buy Pokeballs until after you beat May. And you can’t trade because you only have one Pokemon. We can’t beat May because her Torchic takes us out in a few hits, and we can’t level up before May because all of the wild Pokemon around do the same. So, the run is over. Game over.

Hence the “almost” in the title. Because May is impossible, we’ll try to beat the game without attacking anyone else. It takes four tackles to take out her Torchic. Technically, because criticals do double damage, two criticals could take May out in two hits, setting our minimum attacking moves at two. Getting two crits in a row only happens one percent of the time, but it is possible. I opted for four hits because the battle was already a wash and moved on.

Birch gives us five Pokeballs and we finally have a little breathing room. Our best strategy, for now, is going to be stalling until enemy Pokemon struggle themselves to death. Mudkip lacks the bulk needed to take a few dozen hits and would end up struggling before the opponent, so I need to get some reinforcements. I caught five Zigzagoon: Chocolate, Caramel, Taffy, Lolly, and Liquorice. Full party in hand, I marched to Route 102 and ran into Youngster Calvin, a six-year-old with a single level five Zigzagoon.

Calvin is the hardest trainer that I’ve ever beaten in any challenge run. Calvin is so insanely difficult that he made me question if the run is actually possible.

At level five, Calvin’s Zigzagoon knows three moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, and Growl. Combined, these two moves have 75 PP, meaning I need to stall for 105 turns before the Zigzagoon will struggle. Growl and Tail Whip are fine, but Tackle deals damage, and my team needs to shrug off 35 of them, plus however many struggles it will take for the Zigzagoon to knock itself out.

Even when my team has used Growl six times and Calvin has avoided all uses of Tail Whip, Calvin’s Zigzagoon can take a member of the Candy Squad out in five hits and GBSM out in six. Now, looking at those numbers, it seems that Zigzagoon should just barely be beatable. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Cal’s Zigzagoon is able to take out the first two of its brothers before they minimize its attack and tail Whip lowers the number of hits we can take. Plus, Struggle does just as much damage as Tackle but only does half as much in recoil, meaning that, if my math is right, it’ll take ten struggles for it to die, meaning that even in the absolute best circumstances, we’d need to survive 45 hits when we only have enough HP to take 36.

Now, there are a few random factors that make me think this battle may be technically possible at this point. Zigzagoon chooses its moves at random, meaning that it could in theory save all of its Tail Whips until after wasting its Tackles. And, as previously mentioned, Tackle can miss, which gives us a free hit to survive. But, at the same time, Zigzagoon can get criticals which effectively doom us. After two more tries, I decided that this battle wasn’t winnable, at least not yet.

So, we can’t beat a level five Zigzagoon. But, the question is, can we beat a level two Wurmple? Because if we can beat some wild Pokemon on Route 201, we can get some EXP and become strong enough to beat Youngster Calvin. Unfortunately, my team right now is just barely too weak to survive a single battle.

Fortunately, I bought a couple of potions. If I use a potion right before the Wurmple can take out Mudkip, I can just barely survive. Now, I only had a few potions, but I wasn’t too worried. After each battle, Zigzagoon has a 10% chance to give a random item after battle, including Super Potions, Rare Candies, and things like Nuggets and Full Restores that I can sell for money. With five Zigzagoon, I had a ~40% chance of getting an item after each battle I won.

But, luck wasn’t on my side. By the time Mudkip reached level eight, I was completely out of items. And Mudkip still wasn’t tough enough to survive a battle without a potion. Game over.

So I completely restarted. This time, I was smarter with my Pokeballs. Instead of throwing them willy nilly and having to buy ten more after running out, I saved and reset until I caught five Zigzagoon using the five balls Birch gave me. I also avoided Calvin until I was ready for him, because losing to him wasted money. The extra money this run gave me was enough to start my grind with ten potions instead of three. Also, I made sure that all of the Zigzagoon I caught were level three this time, hoping that the one extra HP would help. I made a save state and started grinding.

I also switched to hunting Poochyena instead of hunting Wurmple. They deal the same damage at level two and don’t know string shot, which made things go quicker. After my first Poochyena defeat, one of the Zigzagoon picked up a Full Restore, which I was able to sell for five extra potions.

Finally, after hours of grinding, Mudkip hit level ten and was able to survive a battle without a potion. I was ready. I marched up to Calvin and stalled. The battle came down to the wire, with Mudkip being the only team member standing when Calvin started struggling.

And then I ran out of Growls. I could not switch out, I could not attack. I was at full health from the last potion, so I could not use another. Calvin was struggling and I was without any means to beat him. Fortunately, one of the Zigzagoon picked up a Revive while I was grinding and I was able to use it to revive a Zigzagoon and switch to it. Still, I came dangerously close to losing.

After Calvin was defeated, I knew the run was possible. There were half a dozen trainers between me and Petalburg Woods, but fortunately, all of them could be avoided. Petalburg Woods contains two things that were useful for me: Cascoon and Silcoon, who only know Harden and can be trained on easily, and Shroomish, the first member of my actual team.

I caught the Shroomish with an Ultra Ball one of the Zigs picked up and named it Plus Ultra. Shroomish didn’t have any status moves yet, but it did have the ability Effect Spore, which could in theory be used to poison opponents. Effect Spore was too unreliable to rely on, though. I trained Shroomish up to level ten, where she learned Leech Seed. Finally, I had a consistent, controllable means to deal damage. Leech Seed drains one-eighth of the target’s health each turn, giving me a way to slowly whittle down opponents. It doesn’t work on grass types, and it’s slow, but it works well enough for now.

I stormed my way through the early game, beating Roxanne without issue. In Dewford Cave I got the TM for Flash and taught it to Shroomish. Flash is actually a decent stall move; the lowered accuracy does wonders to help Plus Ultra survive while waiting for Leech Seed to kill. I also grabbed the Everstone and gave it to Shroomish to keep her from evolving. Brawly was tough. His Pokemon hit hard, especially after a few Bulk Ups. I managed to get lucky and beat him on my second attempt. All of what I’ve said so far happened in a single six-hour play session, by the way. After beating Brawly, I saved the game and went to bed.

I booted up the game the next day and, for some odd reason I was back in Odale town. That’s weird. Also, I didn’t have any badges. And I didn’t have Shroomish. And all of my Pokemon were as weak as they were before the grind. That’s really weird.

I’m sure I saved after Brawly, but for some reason, it didn’t go through. I reverted to my last save before that. So, naturally, I did the only sane thing: redid everything until I got back to Brawly. It was...fun.

I went through Slateport without much issue; I ran out of Leech Seed PP against a Marill in the Seashore House and had to struggle it out, but that only took an eternity. North of Slateport I caught a new team member: Tex Mex the Gulpin. Gulpin had a decent bulk and comes with Poison Gas and Yawn, giving me a second way to take out opponents and a way to deal with Grass types.

I ran into a trainer with a Roselia on Route 110 and was reminded that Grass/Poison Pokemon are nightmares. Fortunately, I was able to walk around her. I mean, in theory, I could either take a Roselia out with a Zubat that knows Supersonic, by struggling it out, or getting it to kill itself by using Mega Drain on Gulpin because of her Liquid Ooze ability, but none of those plans are worth the effort.

May was, like before, annoying. I took out her Wailmer and Numel easily enough, but her Grovile took out Gulpin with Quick Attack. Fortunately, it poisoned itself thanks to Effect Spore. I made my way to Mauville, grabbed the Mach Bike, and made my way to the Day Care. I abused the Day Care to get both of my main team members up to Level 28. Gulpin evolved into Swalot and gained the new, fantastic moveset of Toxic/Poison Powder/Encore/Amnesia.

Leech Seed and Poison Powder both kill in eight turns. Toxic kills in five, making it our new method of taking things out. Also, I kept Poison Powder because it has a lot of PP making it a good move to waste time with.

I also evolved Mudkip, hoping the new Ground typing would help me beat Wattson. I ended up not needing it, because Shroomish and Swalot took him out with ease. I kept moving through the game until I reached a roadblock on Route 112. An unavoidable trainer with a Roselia. Fortunately, I had a plan.

In the Fiery Path, you can find wild Slugma. Slugma has the ability Flame Body, which has the ability to burn your opponent if they hit you with a contact move. The roadblock Roselia knows Poison Sting, which is a physical move. So I caught a Slugma and named it Sheers. Unfortunately, it has Magma Armor instead of Flame Body. So I caught a second one and named it Sheerz. It also had Magma Armor. The third Slugma, Shers, did have Flame Body. I took it to the Roselia, let it get pounded by Poison Sting, and...it fainted. Turns out Poison Sting doesn’t do contact.

So anyway I released the three Slugma and struggled out the Roselia. On Route 113 I caught a new team member: Punji the Skarmory. Skarmory is a famously bulky Pokemon, with great defensive stats, fantastic typing, and access to the interesting combination of Spikes and Whirlwind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t learn Spikes until level 42. And I caught it at level 16. So, he’s going to be wearing the EXP share and working as a tank for a while.

I stormed through the game until reaching Lavaridge. Lavaridge features cheap herbal medicine, which I used constantly throughout this run. Flannery’s fire Pokemon were a nightmare for Shroomish and Skarmory, but Swalot saved the day, using Amnesia to boost her Special Defence and tank Torkoal’s Overheat. After Flannery, I ran to the desert and grabbed the Sandstorm TM, which I taught to Skarmory to give him a way to deal damage. Sandstorm kills in sixteen turns, which isn’t great, but it does give us a way to take out Roselia. I also caught a Baltoy. I named it Tick because the first two I tried to catch Self Destructed. Baltoy doesn’t learn any status moves until 31, so I taught it Flash and kept it on the bench for a while.

Norman was tough. Poisoning his Pokemon allows them to decimate me with Facade, so I was forced to rely on Leech Seed for damage. Even then, he was able to use Focus Punch flinching, making the battle brutal. Fortunately, Truancy gave me time to heal my team and Norman eventually went down.

I ignored Wattson’s pleas for help and made my way to Fortree City. Along the way, I picked up an Absol I named Obama. His only good move at that point was Taunt, meaning that I had another near useless Pokemon to babysit. Wiona was tough, but Skarmory’s bulk and Swalot’s toxic helped me survive. I had my new Absol Taunt her Altaria to keep her from spamming Dragon Dance. Her Skarmory ended up being the most frustrating one to take out, because it kept killing Shroomish before I could get a Leech Seed off.

After Wiona, Baltoy learned Sandstorm and I taught it Reflect and Light Screen via TM, giving it a use. I caught a Duskull and named her M87. She started with Confuse Ray and Disable, making her a good Pokemon to shut down opponents while waiting for Toxic to kill them. Tate and Liza hit hard, but they only had two Pokemon, both of which Swalot was able to Toxic before going down. At the end of the battle, only Duskull and Baltoy were still standing, but the twins were down. I saved the game and ended another lengthy play session.

And I ended up back at Norman. It was at that point that I learned a fun quirk of my emulator. If you make a Save State, then play for a few hours, then make a battery save, it deletes the battery save and instead opens the save state next time. This also explains the weird issue with me ending up back at Odale Town.

This time, I didn’t have the patience to go through the game fighting trainers. Instead, I snuck past trainers until I caught Absol and Duskull again then abused the Daycare to get all of them up to level 42. This left the team without EVs, but I considered it a good sacrifice for not having to sit through dozens of slow battles.

After my Day Care abuse, I had a few new toys to play with. Duskull evolved into Dusclops, learning Will-O-Wisp and Curse along the way. Baltoy learned Cosmic Power and evolved into Claydol. Finally, Skarmory learned Spikes which, when combined with the Roar TM, gave him a reliable damage method. I also taught Obama Protect from a TM. I stomped the rematches against Wiona and the twins and made my way to the undersea cave.

The Undersea Cave was annoying, both because I had to leave Claydol and Absol behind for HM requirements and because the grunts kept using Taunt. Archie revived Kyogre and I went to Sootopolis to defeat it. Kyogre, the monstrous God of the sea, went down in four turns thanks to Dusclops’s Curse.

Wallace’s Milotic’s spamming of Recover was annoying, but I taunted it and stalled it out. With my eight gym badges, I was able to take on Victory Road. But I wasn’t ready, not quite. The late game battles had been getting harder and harder, so I decided to do a bit of prep work. I fought one hundred different Marill to give my team some HP EVs. I was going to do the same with Cascoon/Silcoon, but decided that I value my own time too much. I grabbed the Focus Band from Meteor Falls. I also made my way through the Ruined Ship because I remembered that the Leftovers were located in a trash can; they aren’t, they’re on the boat that you unlock by beating the Elite Four. Finally, I went back and fought some of the trainers I skipped so I could get money for healing items. My prep work done, I marched through Victory Road.

The trainers were tough, but beatable. I did have to keep leaving to heal my team at the Pokecenter, which was annoying. Waiting at the end of Victory Road was Wally. He sent out his Roselia, that devil, and I took it out with Dusclops’s Curse. I did some quick grinding before the Elite Four and Absol learned the move I caught it for: Perish Song. Perish Song essentially allows me to automatically win if I can get an opponent down to a single Pokemon. Going into the Elite Four, this was my team:

Plus Ultra (Shroomish)

Leech Seed/Flash/Stun Spore/Toxic

Tex Mex (Swalot)

Toxic/Amnesia/Protect/Attract

Punji (Skarmory)

Spikes/Sandstorm/Roar/Sand-Attack

Tick (Claydol)

Sandstorm/Cosmic Power/Reflect/Light Screen

M87 (Dusclops)

Will-O-Wisp/Confuse Ray/Disable/Curse

Obama (Absol)

Perish Song/Double Team/Taunt/Protect

I started out my battle with Sidney with some Spike/Roar comboing from Skarmory. After Skarmory went down, I switched to Swalot and took out a few Pokemon with Toxic. His last Pokemon, his Absol, went down to my Absol’s new Perish Song.

Phoebe’s team of Ghosts abused status moves, forcing me to keep switching out Pokemon. None of the team was knocked out, but the whole team had to step in to get rid of Phoebe.

Glacia was a challenge. Her super effective Ice Beams and Shadow Balls cut through my team. Worse, she managed to freeze Swalot twice. Her Walrein hit like a truck and would have taken out the entire team without Perish Song. At the end of the battle, all I had left was a red health Absol.

My plan for Drake was to have Swalot use Toxic then switch to Claydol. Unfortunately, I was out of Toxic when the battle started. Shroomish managed to take out Shieldon, but was one-shotted by Drake’s Flygon. I sent out Dusclops to use Will-O-Wisp, which missed three times in a row. Dusclops went down to a super effective Crunch, but I revived it and took out both Flygon and the Salamence with Curses and heal item spam. Altaria went down to a Perish Song, opening up the Champion battle, but I knew I was far from ready.

I used my Rare Candies I’d collected over the run, thanks to my Zigzagoon, to get a few last minute levels in. Shroomish finally learned Spore. I took off the Everstone and my boy finally evolved into Breloom. Would it have been easier to just forget about Spore and evolve at 23, as opposed to carrying around a near useless Shroomish for half the run? Yeah, probably. But whatever, I wanted the cool 100% sleep chance.

So, how did my fight with Steven go? Well, I recorded it and uploaded it here.

By the ingame timer, this run took 72 hours. But, I used superspeed. In reality, it only took 17 hours, mostly done during college lectures. I enjoyed this run, it was a fun challenge. I’ve already started on another run, this time in a much more difficult Pokemon game, so look forward to that. Thanks for reading.

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

“My play style is to immediately tunnel people the moment they get unHooked to ensure I get at least 1 Kill, but if someone has Decisive Strike then they’re toxic asshole!” Just say you’re not good at the game and go.

So Jake led this Michael on a 5 Gen Chase and finally got downed after the last Gen popped. Michael then camps the Hook and takes up a position sort of out of the way but the red stain gives his position away so it was kind of pointless. I have Borrowed Time so I crouch around the corner. This is near an open door. He got Hooked right around the corner, in a corner that should be able to give Michael the ability to see every direction. But Michael forgot to check all sides so he only faced one direction and stayed that way. So I slipped behind Michael close enough to touch his ass, moved around the other side of the Hook, and then unHooked Jake when Michael turned away. He goes Tier 3 instantly but BT activated and we all were able to Sprint Burst right out the Exit! It was great!

Got rescued off the Hook and the camping Leatherface downs me immediately. Then decides to pick me up. After wasting 2 Gens Chasing me and 2 Gens camping me mind you. And Ace, who had just saved me, got a Flishlight Blind so I can go free. And what does this pansy ass lil bitch of Killer do? Rage-quit. So you can play toxic and shit but someone does something even somewhat toxic in return and it’s the end of the world for you. Are there any Leatherface mains who can handle getting outplayed(because they made dumb decisions) for a whole second or am I just unlucky with the ones I get stuck playing against? Dude decided to pick me up face to face with the Flashlight guy! Instead of downing Ace first, he had to tunnel someone and because of his own fuck up, I got to go free. As if he wouldn’t have been able to swing his chainsaw and down both of us seconds later. ffs

I got stuck with an swf group that abandoned me even after my Injured ass Rescued all three of them from their Hooks in order. I’m getting Chased and each one of them gets Healed up fine, and then they Escape one by one with still 1 Gen left. I got Killed after never being Hooked all match cuz of that. The one sent me a message saying ‘sry bro but it was u or us and we chose us’. And what do you know, I got the same swf team in my next round! I didn’t save any of them. I brought my own Key so when the last dude and I were left, I left him on the Hook while I went to find the Hatch. I then teabagged over it so he’d see my aura, and left him. I then replied to that person from before by saying, ‘sry bruh, it was y’all or me and I chose me’. They never replied. I am a salty bitch.

Got an Oni on the saloon map. I ended up paired up with a 3-man swf group and we all did pretty good tbh. I was being Chased on one side of the map while he had his Demon Dash active, and avoided the attacks by quickly jumping into Lockers. I then led him to the opposite side of the map and ran him around the rock formations and pallets over by the scaffold. He got one basic attack in, which allowed me to power him up over and over. 2 people were on the scaffold doing the Gen up there and they got to watch as I looped this dude long enough for him to go through 2 more power-ups and land no hits. 2 Gens were done in this time. I finally get downed, and he collects enough blood for another Dash, so he goes for the 2 on the scaffold and leaves me there. I have Unbreakable. I’m almost completely Recovered when Steve and Yui come to Heal me up good. After the game I got a message from one of them telling me I got the ‘spicy jukes’! XD

I look up as the match begins to load, long enough to see the names of the people in the lobby. Redhead Meg, Feng Min with a bun and dress, and blond Kate in her original getup. The names were Charlie, Good, and Morning. If in proper order it would be Good Morning Charlie. This swf group were Charlie’s Angels and I died laughing!

The game was updated with a new patch today and there’s a problem with the Med-Kits. All of them. I first noticed with the brown one that only has 16 Charges. 16 is the standard amount necessary to Heal 1 Health State of any survivor if you aren’t affected by any Perks that affect the Healing action. I was using it, and even got 3 Great Skill Checks while doing so, and it only Healed me about 97% of the way. I actually needed someone else to finish Healing me. So I tried out all the other Med-Kits, using add-ons for additional Charges if necessary. If the Med-Kit has 32 Charges, which should = 2 Health States worth of Healing, I would get 1 Health state, and 97% of another Health State. Even with successful Skill Checks. idk wtf it means but it only started after the patch because I played DbD until 5 AM yesterday and started it up again about 12 hours later.

A Blight that I managed to trick. I did the open the door a little then hide while he runs by. By the time he came back I was just finished opening the door and getting out. I had a Daily Ritual to perform 3 Hook Rescues as Jane which is the only reason I played her at all.

He Chased me around the map twice and finally got me downed. Meg Sabotaged the Hook he took me to, and took a Hit, which let me wiggle off. Seconds later he rage-quit.

Today was the day for fucking corn maps out the ass and I hated every minute of it.

Twitch dude spectated me running the Nurse around while I had on No Mither! So I clipped it! [1] [2] I’m actually really proud!

I had a Challenge to avoid 5 basic attacks from a nearby Killer and used Dead Hard and somehow this Michael kept falling for it enough for me to finish the Challenge in one match.

Faced a Hag who was silent af. I need to take notes or some shit. Silent traps + teleporting to any trap of my choosing seems to be the best build because I keep getting dry-fucked without the decency of a lube by those add-ons.

btw I got so many Hags today and idk why!!!!! All of them different people too! Why was she the choice today?

New Ghost Face ended up memeing when we had 1 Gen left cuz he wasn’t doing very well. He had a single Tier 1 Perk and that was it. But he was funny.

Pig ended up letting us go in the end. She was hilarious! I gave her my Med-Kit at the end, even though it was my last med-Kit and those seem to come up in my Bloodwebs sparingly.

[sleepyverstappens]

Let me share this whole new world with you (Chapter 3/6)

Title: Let me share this whole new world with you

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen

Rating: Gen/PG

Word Count: 5482

Tags: Oliver Verstappen-Ricciardo, Original Child Character, 5+1

Summary: Time for some home GPs :D

A/N:  Just a reminder, Max talks Dutch with Oliver when he’s younger/alone with him. Apart from a few Dutch sentences/words, that should be clear enough through context, but will also be translated in the end notes, most of it is written in English but in italics to indicate that it’s spoken in Dutch.

Read chapter 3 or Read from the start

2) Melbourne, Zandvoort & Monaco 2024

Melbourne 2024

Oliver’s tiny hand is clutching onto his own as they walk into the Red Bull garage, big headphones already covering his ears as engines are revved. His wispy blond hair is almost white from the sun it had gotten during the winter break spend in Australia and is now starting to fall over his eyes, in desperate need of a haircut.

“You stay with Vicky yeah, Papa’s gotta go drive the car now,” he said trying to push the strands of hair from Oliver’s eyes one last time.

“‘kay Papa, be safe,” the little boy mumbled back, the words always tugging at his heartstrings. He’d picked them up from his mum, the words always said by her every time he stepped into the car, whether it was in person or via text.

“I will Oli.”

After 2 weeks of testing in Spain and plenty of time spend in the Red Bull and Renault factories, winter break was now really over, the first practice session of the season about to start. Pre-season hadn’t been the easiest on them. Even with Enstone and Milton Keynes only being an hour apart, their rental place somewhere in the middle, they’d barely gotten the time to spend together, both of them exhausted from long days at the factory. They’d both crashed pretty much as soon as they’d managed to get Oli to sleep. At least with testing they’d had to be on track opposite each other, one of them getting to spend their day with their son as the other worked up miles on the racetrack.  

Now though they were finally back in Melbourne. He loved Melbourne, a fresh start to a new season where everything was possible again. Over the years he’d been with Daniel it had become sort of a home race for him as well. A home race without the busy schedule that Zandvoort or Spa brought. While for Daniel it meant a jam packed schedule and barely any time for his family, for Max it meant he got to spend some time with his extended family. Grace, Joe and Michelle always happy to have Max to keep them company whilst their son and brother was rushed about the circuit. And of course these last two years they had all been excited to get to spend some extra time with their grandson and nephew as well.

He grabs his helmet and glances back at his son one more time, the boy happily playing with the toy car his assistant had given him. The bright yellow Renault shirt he’s wearing is clashing terribly with the colours around them, but even though Oliver had insisted on going with his papa today he’d refused to wear the Red Bull shirt to go along with it. No amount of playful teasing from the Red Bull crew had made him want to change it either, the boy happy in his ‘nana shirt.

With how quickly Oliver seemed to change his mind nowadays, the terrible twos finally rearing their ugly head just a few months before he would turn three, he would probably insist on wearing his Red Bull shirt at Renault on race day. He might be a handful at times, but Max loved him with all his being and he loved having him at the track with them.

---

Come race day he’s on his own at the garage, Oliver at Renault to spend time with Daniel’s family, it’s his home grand prix after all. It doesn’t mean Max doesn’t miss seeing his boy at the back of the garage though, his toothy grin the last thing he sees before strapping himself into the number 33 car. It makes him miss the old days sometimes, the days when he’d only have to look towards the other side of the garage to see curly hair and a bright smile. What he’d give to have been able to share that with his son, their son. Both of them giving him a kiss on each cheek for luck before they jumped into the car on their respective side of the garage.

It would never be like that, Alex now a permanent fixture on the other side of the garage, the man now his teammate for longer than Daniel had been. Them parting ways, so to speak, had probably been for the best. Made it easier for them to separate work and home, their battles now with their respective teams rather than each other.  

He’s shaken from his thought by Tom handing him his helmet, reminding him that there was installation lap to be driven, the clock steadily ticking down to 16.10.  

Zandvoort 2024

Home races were always special, while he was lucky to have fans come out in droves to quite a few tracks, the stands turning orange all over the world, Zandvoort was something else. The success of the first three years had made sure that Zandvoort would be a permanent fixture on the race calendar for the foreseeable future. And whilst the crowd was still mostly orange in its 5th year on the calendar he was happy to see that more and more different coloured specks had started to show up in the crowd. It’s what made the sport so special after all, there weren’t just the fans of two teams there like in football, there was a mixture of fans, even people who changed their shirts on each day of the weekend not being able to choose a favourite.

It was still all very hectic though, he’d flown into the Netherlands on Monday and had had pretty much every minute of his day scheduled from then on. Daniel and Oliver had followed on Wednesday, the hugs from his family a welcome reprieve from all the formal handshakes and (fake) nicery from the last few days.

Today hadn’t been much better, a room of bored looking media people staring at him, Lando, George and Daniil followed by a multitude of microphones waiting for him in the press pen. The pen was empty of other drivers by the time he’d been done with his last interview. He’d looked over at Vicky expecting her to tell him where he was needed next, but she hadn’t had anything planned for the next hour or two. Which is how he’d found himself here, his shoes getting filled with sand as he climbed down from the dune and onto the beach.

It wasn’t all that warm yet, the winds were strong and would surely be a big factor during the weekend, making him zip up his hoodie as he walked towards his family. He could see Victoria chasing after Oliver near the shore, his mum and Daniel chatting, sat atop a giant spread out blanket.

None of them had spotted him yet, only Victoria knowing that he had found himself some free time and was coming over, happy to help him surprise the others. He continued walking towards them, his shoes collecting more and more sand, and saw Oliver turn around still trying to avoid getting caught by his auntie. The second Oliver spotted him he was running towards him, yelling out Papa! and alerting the others of his presence. Max grinned as Oli jumped into his arms, pressing a kiss against the boy’s forehead as his son immediately started telling him all about his day.

“Hey,” he greeted his family, settling down next to them, Oli cuddling up on his lap.

“Hey, I thought you were busy for the rest of the day?” Dan asked him before pressing a kiss against his lips, a curious smile on his face when they drew apart again.

“I thought so as well, but Vicky doesn’t need me again until 4. Victoria told me you guys were on the beach and I didn’t want to miss that did I?” He addressed the last part to Oliver, bouncing him in his lap a little and ruffling his hair making the little boy giggle.

“Papa, kasteel?”

“You want to build a castle? Okay then go get your bucket.”

Soon enough not only his shoes were filled with sand, his hair and clothes covered by the sand as well, but an impressive, if he said so himself, sandcastle was standing proud in front of him.

“Come on Oli, let’s fill the moat to finish our showpiece.” He hoisted Oliver up onto his shoulders and ran over towards the sea, the plastic bucket hitting him in the head as he went, but the giggles floating along the wind more than made up for it.

The racing started tomorrow, the campsites already filled with thousands of people dressed in orange, but this right now is what he loved the most. He had never expected himself to love something more than racing, his whole life had been revolved around the sport, but now that he had this, a family of his own he’d give it up in a second if someone made him choose.

Monaco 2024

“Hello little man, are you lost?” They heard Lewis say, Oliver having ran right into him, the Brit’s hands reaching out for him before he could tumble over.

“Up?” Oli requested, hands already reaching up for Lewis, head tilted backwards with what were surely his best puppy dog eyes. They could see the other man melt before their eyes, one of Oliver’s many victims this weekend.

“You don’t have to,” Dan jumps in, but before the words could even fully leave his mouth Oliver was already in Lewis’ arms, the little boy happily snuggling his head against the man’s chest.

“It’s okay, I love kids, makes me miss when my cousins were this small. Don’t get me wrong I love playing soccer and games with them, but most of them are at that age now where they’re refusing cuddles.”

“Oh but you haven’t seen a two-year-old throwing a tantrum huh, uncle,” Dan said with a wink, clearly not having forgotten the fit Oliver threw earlier that morning, the boy refusing to eat his toast because it was cut into squares instead of triangles. Daniel had been close to pulling his hair out before Max had come into the kitchen after his shower and reminded him that squares could be cut into triangles, the boy’s cries stopping as soon as Max had cut the first one in half.  

Dan and Lewis fall into an easy conversation then, Oli sucking his thumb, eyes flicking between the two adults intently. Max should probably join in, instead of just standing here, but he can’t help but let his mind wander. He’d seen Lewis change a bit during this season, it was only the 7th race of the year, but the fact that these would be Lewis’ last races had shown a different side of the man. He would never refuse to talk to you if you started up a conversation before, but would usually stick to himself if he could. Nowadays he was happy to mingle with the rest of them. Noise cancelling earphones exchanged for friendly conversations on the drivers parades, relaxed walks through the paddock rather than quick scooter rides right into the garage. It made Max wonder whether he would change, once his time came. Not that that would be any time soon if it was up to him.  

Lewis’ announcement hadn’t exactly been a shock to people, 39 was already a pretty old age to retire, if you excluded Kimi of course. Still the knowledge that Lewis’ records would soon be up there ready and waiting for someone else to take them away again, had made the press go into overdrive, churning out article after article. Max didn’t really care about that though, he cared about the conversations he’d had with Lewis over the last few race weekends. About his plans to start his own fashion company, not just a fashion line but a proper brand of his own. The plan to travel to all the countries they’d been to so often but had never really gotten the chance to see properly. The wish for a child of his own, the registration for the adoption agency ready to be send off.

He’d not always liked the other man, had had more than enough moments where he’d despised him, but seeing him like this, happily chatting with Dan, Oliver now asleep in his arms, it made Max realise he would really miss him next year.

---

“Papa, kijk!” Oliver exclaimed as they crossed the street towards the harbour, the Red Bull yacht already pumping out music. That wasn’t what the little boy had spotted though, no he’d spotted the giant inflatable unicorn floating in the swimming pool.

“Wat is dat dan Oli?” They’d pretty early on decided to try and raise Oliver bilingual, Max talking only Dutch to him to try and get him to pick up Max’s native language alongside English. Max often tried to use German as well, after all now was the best time to try and teach their son more languages.

“Eehoon.”

“Eenhoorn, Oliver,” Max corrected him gently, the word still sounding silly to him in his mother tongue as well. “You want to go swimming sweetie?”  

Oliver nodded his head so excitedly Max was almost afraid it was gonna fall off. They had some time to spare between the last free practice session and qualifying. Whilst Oliver had of course been with them last year, this was the first time he really got to take in the Monaco grand prix weekend. The streets of his home transformed into the tracks where his fathers got to race their fast cars. He still didn’t understand it fully, the city not all that recognisable anymore after all, and this wasn’t the part of the city where they actually lived, but seeing the excitement on their son’s face never failed to make them melt.

They quickly changed Oliver into his swimming trunks, Red Bull branded floaties wrapped around his arms to go along with them. As soon as they reached the pool he was pointing at the giant unicorn again, clearly wanting to sit on it. They waited for it to slowly float its way to the side of the pool, the currents of people wading their feet in the water making it bop up and down in every direction before Daniel shouted for someone to push it towards them. No one was surprised to see Daniel there, even with it having been six years now since he’d gotten to swim into this pool himself. It wasn’t uncommon to see Daniel back at the Red Bull hospitality these days though, nor Max at Renault’s for that matter, having a child who wanted to see both of his daddies would do that for you.

Oliver’s giggles were barely audible over the music coming from the dj booth on the other side of the deck, but they managed to go straight through to Max’s heart anyway. The boy was now sat atop the floating animal, clutching onto its rainbow mane as Daniel pushed it around the edge of the pool, not caring about the people sitting in their way.

They finished the lap of the pool, Max taking hold of the unicorn as Dan took his shoes off to join him on the edge of the pool, and just taking it all in for a while.

“Papa, kiss!” Oliver requested excitedly, his tiny little body already leaning towards him. Max grabbed hold of him before he could fall off the floatie and pressed a kiss to his son’s lips.  They would need to go and prepare for quali soon, but right now as he sat on the edge of the pool, his feet in the warm water, his son happily splashing his feet into the water as he sat atop his unicorn, he couldn’t help but wish for more time.  

[crystalelemental]

Powercreep in Heroes is a big topic lately, and with good reason.  Gen 4 BST came early, and the fallout of this has been...less than stellar, including dancers that are actual combat threats instead of just support, flying and cav units being pushed further and further up, and infantry now essentially mirroring early Gen armor units with their disgusting 173BST totals.  Honestly, it is a lot, and for people who spent to make early game favorites work, they're probably falling off the meta pretty hard.

Here's the thing, though.  It's really not all bad.  Armor units dominated the metagame, and a huge part of that was simply the BST they carried.  180 is obscene when the next best thing is around 158, maybe 163 if you're really lucky.  It's a massive improvement over every other unit in the game.  Now, I do think that a defensive unit should have higher stats than an offensive one.  A defensive unit naturally requires more stats to be good to function; you can't exactly wall out without great defenses, but offense has to be able to potentially muscle past so you need the offensive presence to threaten back, and if you're too slow then the damage output is eternally stacked against you.  Offensive units really only need attack and speed.

To a degree, I kinda like the current meta better than when I started.  Maybe that's because I have units that can compete, but I feel like it's very rare now that I run into a situation where I absolutely cannot break past a defensive wall, and hyper-offensive teams just need debuffs and speed control, which is what I tend to emphasize anyway.  Things feel like they've shifted from "Everyone runs armor all the time, and all you do is turtle up and never take damage while DC/Bold or Wary Fighter and Aether do the work for you."  It's still a good strategy, but it's breakable now, and other strategies are just as effective.  Legendary Alm is all over Arena every time it's Earth season, but as scary as he is and as carefully as you have to play around him, he's beatable with all the dance support that exists.  Units like Sothis are terrifying and some of my least favorite to face, but she's super weak to Chill Speed, which is now a sacred seal.  And with the significant increases to flying and cavalry units' BST, I expect they're going to start making a serious comeback as well.  Which is good!  Variety is important in games, and I feel like Arena has gotten more and more interesting as time goes on.  Sure, L!Azura dominates every form of play because they forgot one extra movement space for flying and infantry units is obscene, and that giving a potential +7 to all stats was the stupidest thing they could do, but hey, something has to dominate the game. The biggest complaint against powercreep, and the argument with the most legitimacy, is simply that early game units are falling completely out of favor.  We all know a solid 60-70% of all Gen 1 5* units should've demoted.  Their stats aren't well aligned, they have absolutely terrible skillsets, and some of them are completely irredeemable even with their refines (Luke).  This poses a problem.  Those units can still be good, but only if you get them fully merged, and even then they're not as effective as newer units who could do the same thing.  A +10 Lucina still wouldn't perform as well as a +0 Brave Alm, for instance.  And that's a problem.  That's a big, stinky problem, and the solution is...half-assed, to say the least.

The attempt was Dragonflowers.  When introduced, they were given to all units, but infantry units only could get up to +10 dragonflower uses.  Which is okay.  It's a flat boost to all stats, which isn't terrible, but isn't the same as keeping pace with the heavily min-maxed meta we know today.  Really, all it did was let BST keep pace, without accounting for combat performance, allocation of those stats, and the fact that weapon effects went from a sentence or two to a paragraph to a novella.  Flat boosts just don't quite cut it, and weapon refines are helpful, but not to those who got early refines that just aren't good (ie, Takumi).  Worse, Dragonflowers were introduced with Gen 3 BST, which made the quantity of dragonflowers units could have sensible.  Infantry units got the highest buff, so old infantry units get the most dragonflower uses.  But, other movement types also got the BST increase, so they were outdated immediately (Thea has 5 more points than Clair, and yet they receive the same number of dragonflowers), and now with Gen 4 they're even further behind.

Essentially, the problem isn't that powercreep exists, it's that older units are not being given the tools to compete.  I think what the game needs is a major update whose sole focus is on early game units being given across the board buffs.  5 extra points, allocated intelligently, to all Gen 1 units could even be sufficient.  Some of the early refines getting a boost would help the 5* locked units continue to be worth existing in that pool.  And perhaps most importantly, Dragonflowers need to be a lot easier to obtain.  If those are going to be your balancing mechanic, you can't demand players excel at Aether Raids for 6 months just to make one (1) unit keep up.  Dragonflowers aren't orbs, they're not something we pay real money to obtain, so there is absolutely no reason to treat them as such a rare commodity (same with Grails, frankly).  Also, if you really want to go in a good direction with this, let players decide where Dragonflowers go.  Sure, you can have 5 uses of dragonflowers, each stat increasing up to 4 points.  Players get to customize their unit how they'd like.  Instead of a flat +2 across the board for, say, Karla, maybe you allocate her 10 by putting 4 in speed, 4 in defense, and 2 in HP so she can be a better duelist.  Maybe you like Desperation builds and go 4 speed, 4 attack, and 2 defense.  Maybe you did that weird wall Karla build with Pavise and Shield Pulse, so you allocate 4 defense, 4 Res, and 2 HP.  That...honestly feels like a much better use of these resources than a flat boost that doesn't really help combat potential, gives players more control over how to build their units, and offers greater variety because two players using the same unit are unlikely to build the exact same way.

There are plenty of ways to fix the actual issues inherent within the constant powercreep.  The problem is, IS likely won't do them.  Overhauling early refines means focusing on units they already consider complete, and because the profits are in the new units advancing the whale meta, they're unlikely to care if older units the rest of the playerbase use can compete.  Hell, it's almost better if they don't.  And overhauling dragonflowers would be a massive cluster at this point, having to create a way for players to essentially "redo" all the allocations u to this point.  Not to mention, their bizarre miser status when it comes to every form of basic resource in this game, even ones that have exactly no attachment to their profits.  You'd have to completely shift their focus to be more generous, which honestly is going to be like pulling teeth.

But at the end of the day, I don't worry about it too much.  Because the only PvP that exists are Arena and Aether Raids, neither of which are particularly scary.  Arena's frustrating until you have finished merge projects, but once your core is done, it's really not so bad.  Aether Raids sucks until you hit Tier 21, but then it's really not too difficult to maintain in that tier, especially if you have a Mythic that prevents some Lift loss.  A single perfect win with the doubler active is enough to cover an entire week in some cases.  And in-game content?  The recent Abyssals like Julia and Roy haven't been any harder than older Abyssals like Grima and Tiki.  Hell, Tiki's was harder in my mind.  So yes, powercreep sucks, and its constant advancement as time goes on can definitely feel like your well-trained and cared for Delcatty has to keep going against an Action Replayed Mega Salamence that can hold Choice Band.  But the good news is that AI doesn't change, and once you get use to that, yeah it looks scary, but for some reason they hacked Mega Salamence to know Bulk Up and locked themselves into only using that move, so really, it's not that bad.

Except for the +10 L!Azura/+10 L!Alm combos.  That's like walking into NU with a Mega Rayquaza.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Stars Align 5 - 8 | Dr Stone 19 - 21 | Shinchou Yuusha 6 - 8 | No Guns Life 6 - 7 | BnHA 67 | Iruma-kun 7

Stars Align 5

Geepers, I accidentally read some spoilers before watching this episode…so I realised that the person in te clubroom was Toma without his glasses, but it took me a bit to realise still.

“Makimaki”…cute.

Don’t give Maki’s father your name, Toma. Names are weapons for guys like him!

It’s ben a while since I’ve done this type of maths, although the answer appears to be correct.

Huh? The ED went straight to the teachers instead of going to Kinuyo/Ruriha/Kaori (whatever her name is)…

Oh! That heart gesture hints at the fact he has a sister (I’ve forgotten the guy’s name though) – he might’ve learnt some dance choreography from watching idols or magical girls with her. Update: That’s Shingo.

Dr Stone 19

Rule no. 2 of shonen – don’t underestimate the bishonen.

The guy who kinda looks like Kirishima with orange hair is definitely going to be important…(rule no. ???? of anime).

Ooh! The themes I thought would never came back…came back!

Some people do consider underpaying people a modern form of slavery, y’know.

Does Tsukasa always have to be called “the strongest primate”, though…? It’s a badass title, to be sure, but it certainly wouldn’t be said a lot in a normal conversation.

Judging by the flame (homura) she carries, I’d wager her name is Homu-oh, dangit. Her name really is Homura!

Senku teaches Fire Safety 101.

Ginro’s not holding his bokuto (wooden kendo practice sword) anymore…hmm.

I didn’t think Sulfuric Acid lady would be back…ever.

The funny thing is that Tsukasa seems to be a gender-neutral name, so telling the brawny men to “go suck on Mommy Tsukasa’s teat”…LOL.

Hyoga has that mask thing of his anyway, so he’s probably better off than, say, Homura.

Is that a Death Star??????!!!!

Kensaku means “search”.

Cell phone…you’d need extensive knowledge of electronics and/or IT and architecture (for the larger networks, or at least the towers) to get one running.

“…who’ll be our double agent?” – No duh. It’s either Gen (as suggested in the scene just before) or Taiju and/or Yuzuriha.

I never thought a smartphone would make me feel sad for what has gone before, but it just did when all these quotes from the past came through.

Okay, so one of the ingredients is steel (hagane).

I love how Gen gets the wine image. He’s a stage magician, so his fancy suit matches the image of a sommelier.

Byakuya seems to be the one represented in the battery image.

BnHA 67

Yay! Amajiki, my booooooooooy!

Shinchou Yuusha 6

I never thought I’d say this to my seasonal husbandos – I don’t even say this about zaShunina, the random yandere – but…Seiya, you a**hole!

Lemme guess…Seiya’s gonna use some speed seeds?

I read on Leviae’s status earlier that she has an immunity towards fire…*gulp*

A nurikabe is a wall youkai that blocks travel, while a hyosube lives in a river and eats rice plants.

What’s the age gap between Mash and Elulu? I know Mash is hot enough (in the manga) to be compltly within my range, so I’d say he’s about 16 at the youngest, but Elulu is, what, 12…? Update: There’s no real indication as to what the characters’ ages are, but Mash is lvl 16 and Elulu is lvl 8.

Ooh, this is new! Seiya’s thrown caution to the wind for once for the sake of Elulu!

No Guns Life 6

“Strong Smells” (on the can) – Yep, Olivier seems to be proving that name right.

Motor City…I didn’t really care for it at first, but now I’m starting to warm up to it.

Ooh, it seems the implication here is that Olivier inherited the title of EMS commander from her dad.

“…I’m gonna get shot!” - I guess when you’ve got a gun for a head, the assumption is you’re gonna get shot.

Armed Tokisada seems to be this world’s version of All Might…(but then is Juzo Deku? LOL.)

Iruma-kun 7

This OP is a lot more battle-oriented than I remember…

I want a GIF of sparkly Amelie, stat!

Iruma’s voice as Rin is too CUTE! LOL!

Kawaii Comics, LOL.

Ooh! I can recognise Opera by his nail polish now…! His nail polish appears to be purple today.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Opera express his own concern for Iruma until now. Maybe he’s like a surrogate mother to Iruma by now…?

They even have monsters to call out bell noises…LOL wut.

Hmm…I just realised Azz speaks to Iruma rather formally. Not just the –sama, but the keigo as well.

Azz is rather observant too…(Seriously, I swear he’s been teetering on the edge of being my husbando from this show, but since he’s so subservient, it’s a bit of a hard concept to grasp. Not to mention the guy is, what, 14…?)

Even the shadows of background characters are blue and pink…

The little arrow over Clara really sells the moment.

The bird is so cute~!

I only realised it this year, but boba is really in, all over the world, for young people. *stares at all the boba shops that have appeared around my area lately*

I think Ameri = watashi and Iruma = boku. It’s politeness all the way ‘round. I think Sabro might’ve used ore.

“Don’t let go. Desire is your life.” – Sarazanmai ad <- I think this quote is appropriate for this episode.

Oh! We see Kuromu the Akudol in the ED…I didn’t realise that. (<- knows about her due to spoilers)

Oh! I think next episode might be Clara’s seduction class! Ooh! Interesting…

Dr Stone 20

Come to the dark side, we have candy…amirite???

Dr Stone 21

The pun here is that tou is a way to pronounce “copper” and “steal”, so Chrome copped copper in the Eng subs.

Couldn’t Ginro just use the word “s***” instead? That would’ve made the pun a lot better, tbh.

Thy translated all the dialogue in the fake menus! Yay! (<- translator’s brain showing up) For instance, Senku’s attack is listed as 1 while Suika’s is 3 and Gen’s is 5…LOL. The one that really made me laugh was “Runs away the second he knows he’s at a disadvantage. You’re scum, Ginro!”

Magma wasn’t in the fake game menu…!!! (I like how Magma questioned how Senku suddenly started calling him a “friend”.)

No Guns Life 7

I feel like the length of time between distracting the guard and Tetsuro conveying his plan was a bit much, but…okay.

Shinchou Yuusha 7

LOL, Beel Bub…y’know, Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies.

If Seiya were watching No Guns Life, he’d freak out…

Is that Cerceus in the back-yep, thought so!

Shinchou Yuusha 8

I almost expected Rosalie to woof…that’s how doglike she is!

Why do I get the feeling we’ll 1) find out what the Warmaster looks like next ep and 2) find out Rosalie’s armour is actually the armour Seiya’s meant to look for…? I could be wrong, but my intuition has some chance of being correct, even if I think up stuff that’s pure speculation…

Stars Align 6

Does Yonex sponsor this show, like Mikasa for Harukana Receive…?

LOL, Mitsue’s reaction.

If this were the Amazing Race, the hometown advantage would suck…but this is Hoshiai no Sora, so this could go either way.

“How to Soft Tennis” indeed…sic.

Wait, who’s Takada…? Update: She’s on the girls’ team, IIRC.

The Takenouchi/Souga pair is a bunch of trolls…LOL.

Oji seems to be the leader, full stop. Same way Katsuragi has been running things.

It’s been a few weeks since I last watched this show, but…is Oji the guy who threatened to punch them all…? He is, isn’t he…?

Stars Align 7

I feel like Mitsue’s bitterness is fuelled by personal experience in the manga field…

Well, the guy’s name isn’t Arashi (storm) for nothing! Update: The guy’s name is in katakana, which may or may not prove my point…

Arashi’s surname sounds like the Japanese word for “prince”, if you’re wondering.

I LOLled so hard at the line “Versus Arashi?” Y’see, there’s this game show with a group called Arashi. Therefore, its name is “Versus Arashi”.

I learnt most of what I know about tennis from Wii Sports, LOL.

I mentally cringed when I saw Itsuki’s burns again…

“…years and experience.” – That’s two things, Tacky!

Souya from Planet With would be in heaven here…what with all this meat.

Doesn’t “Kamuy” mean “god” in Ainu…? That Ouji, so conceited! *huffs at how arrogant the boy is*

Girls do eat like fiends…LOL.

I can’t believe 7 episodes in real life time was only a month in Stars Align time…

Yuta’s really sensitive to Toma’s mood…probably because the former likes the latter. (Yeah, I’m a derp for saying what we already know.)

Stars Align 8

I-I wanna cry…you do realise I gave up piano halfway through high school, only to become an absolute bum when I got into higher levels because I can’t use my piano lessons to demonstrate I can manage my time responsibly anymore???? I quit Chinese the same year and now it’s the one thing that’s preventing me from getting a bunch of beneficial opportunities because now there are so many Chinese people in my region! Studies are not your life! (distant crying can be heard in the background)

I kinda get where the mother’s going with this, but knowing what I know…please compromise, you two.

“The handsome half” – I wasn’t sure what that meant until I saw the image…”half” meaning ha-fu, or a person who’s half Japanese half something else. It’s like calling someone gweilow in Cantonese –it’s vaguely derogatory at the very minimum.

*Yuta’s sisters suggest clothes for him to wear* “Don’t tell mom about this.” – Oh, I have a bad feeling about this…(Then again, I got vaguely spoiled for this point by the This Week in Anime segment…that’s why I decided to watch 3 episodes in one shot.)

Maki’s shirt says “to continue”, as if it’s echoing his nonchalance. Like, “Yuta, please continue” or something like that.

To be real with you, the first resource I consulted to start thinking about the LGBTIQ+ spectrum (outside gender-bending fiction) was a book about an FtM person, so I guess I’m the most used to that sort of thing.

This is why empathy is so good, Maki.

Go, Mitsue! Be the diversion!

Who’s “Kanacat”? Kanako?...Oh, it’s Mitsue. Rigggggggggght.*facepalm*

Why do I get the feeling Mitsue wants to join the soft tennis club…?

Sakurai-sensei’s glasses are all fogged up, LOL.

Ohh (sounds down). These kiddos are soccer nuts.*grumbles about soccer nuts*

Update: To be honest with you, I’m fine with not making hard gender decisions too…Just so you know.

[1wngdngl]

Pokemon Shield playthrough

I’ve been playing this game a lot since last night, and I still haven’t gotten on the train yet ;) I like to take games slowly to make sure I notice and experience everything along the way. It looks like the best way to share my game progress is through screenshots, so that’s what I’ll do. Cut for length and spoilers - I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers and leaks for the past couple weeks, so if you want to be able to experience the games fresh yourself, now might be a good time to click away. [This post covers up thru getting the Dynamax band]

I went ahead with the “standard” female character, but you can bet I’ll be customizing her as soon as I can. What’s with that knock-kneed stance, anyway? Pokemon trainers should stand strong and confident!

Chairman Rose greets us. Everyone online was guessing he’ll turn out to be evil or something. He certainly looks suspicious, doesn’t he?

And here comes the first surprise of the LP - a brand-new Pokemon, not even seen in trailers! (except for that fuzzy 1-frame image from a while back.) Its trunk looks kinda like a soup ladle. Maybe it’s a play on a teacup/teapot elephant? I wonder if it evolves...

Here’s Leon fighting an unknown trainer - maybe a Gym leader?

I really like the art style of the map - it’s so whimsical :)

The map also shows current weather for all locations. Look at all the different stuff going on in the Wild Area at the same time! I’ve been to the real England, and I don’t remember it having such extreme weather...

The map also has a few useful features, like displaying your next objective, and showing the facilities in a town (but only once you’ve been there yourself). The towns and such all have really interesting names that emulate that old English sound.

First thing I do when I gain control in a new Pokemon game? Change the battle style to “Set”. It seems more fair, plus it helps make the game just a bit more challenging.

I’m a little sad that the old option to change menu/text box borders seems to be forever abandoned, though... >.>

My house. It’s a pretty decent-sized place. We have a pet Munchlax and a few Budew outside. My character practices her whistling.

My mom. Or “mum” as the game calls her. The dialog is noticeably slanted toward a more British dialect - I wonder how they handled the accent in other languages?

Speaking of my mom, she seems rather big compared to me, doesn’t she? Quite a bit taller. I’m guessing my character is around 12 - when I was that age, I was the same height as my mom and done growing. Maybe they think people won’t believe this character is the mom’s child if she’s too tall?

Also, my dream is to one day have a /dad/ in a Pokemon game. Seriously, why does every other house I visit have a husband and wife, and my character is always stuck being the only child of a single parent? What if in one of these games, my dad was the champion or the evil team leader - how fun would that be?

My bedroom. The pink clock on the wall reminds me of one from a previous Pokemon game - was it ORAS that had those round clocks on the wall that you could set?

My first step on my journey. Looks like my mom spends every minute gardening - I guess the Budew help her?

Ah yes, every Pokemon game needs a “power of science” guy :)

Here’s another surprise - how many Pokemon games give you a fishing rod right at the start?! Usually you have to track down three different fisherman to get the three versions of the fishing rod. I’m also happy to see that Pokeballs have their own pocket again :)

The handy map tells us where to go next, with even a little picture of our destination.

The champion of Galar, of course, has a huge house.

Wow, a Purrloin! I forgot that they stood on two legs. I like its little bed.

Also, Leon’s family decorate their house mainly in trophies.

I guess this is Hop’s room - I like his artwork. I know Leon has a Charizard - does he have these other two Pokemon too, and that’s why Hop has posters of them?

Leon’s room is mostly a shrine to hats.

Speaking of Leon, he really knows how to play to the crowd ;)

So, some people are wondering if /Leon/ will turn out to be evil in the story. I didn’t really get that vibe from him. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, but he does seem like he has some worries on his mind, like his cheer is sometimes forced?

Maybe he actually hates the limelight and gets uncomfortable with attention? Maybe he’s secretly terminally ill? Maybe there’s some massive threat about to attack the Galar region? He seems really concerned with making sure that Galar has lots of strong trainers. Maybe he knows something about the legendaries?

Alternately, some people were saying that maybe Leon isn’t actually a great champion, and his fights are rigged in his favor by the chairman. /If/ that were the case, I bet that Leon is actually unhappy with that situation and wants to make the tournament more fair.

Or maybe everything in the game is exactly as it seems ;)

Nothing important here, I just like this screenshot. I wonder if Fletchling are native to Galar too?

My first Pokemon! (in this game, at least...) I picked Sobble because he’s the most endearing.

My first battle! I like how the interface is laid out, and how detailed the background is beyond the fighters - you can even see Leon standing there.

My Pokemon's details. I don’t play competitively so I don’t know if it’s a particular “good” Sobble. It seems like this species is a fast special-attacker, so I’ll have to keep that in mind.

The Slumbering Weald (my spellchecker doesn’t even recognize that word :) ) It’s very spooky and seclusive - and it’s right next to the starter town too! You’d think if it was really that dangerous, people would put up more than a flimsy wooden gate to keep trespassers out...Hop, of course, is an idiot and runs right into it; and I, the spineless protagonist, have no option to say no. >.>

My first wild encounter! This starts the trend I noticed all during the opening hours of this game - most of the wild Pokemon are brand-new, totally-unrevealed species. Like this squirrel thing. (Although some people guessed we would get a new squirrel based on that shirt design). I wonder if it evolves?

This part was actually pretty scary, with the Pokemon (I can’t remember its name...) suddenly appearing out of the fog. The Pokemon acted almost like a hologram in battle though - my attacks couldn’t touch it.

What if the twist is that the legendary wolf Pokemon are just illusions, perhaps even man-made ones created to keep intruders from discovering some secret in the forest?

Anyway, we escape from the situation perfectly fine, because of course we do ;)

I noticed that this particular generation gives you quite of a bit of money at the start, but I guess that’s because you encounter the first boutique so early. There’s a fair number of affordable options too. Some of these Pokemon shirts I wish were /real/ shirts.

My new look :) Mostly I just ditched the dress for jeans. This looks like a comfortable outfit, although that knapsack is a bit unwieldy.

We visit the professor’s lab. She has a lot of books, plants, and a tea set. I wonder if she ever has problems with Polteageist?

The new Pokemon center design. I love that the move deleter/relearner and nickname functions are all in one place - I always hated flying around the map trying to remember where they were.

That Pokemon behind the counter is another totally new one. Could this be a Galarian Audino?

Using mystery gift, I was able to get this “Gigantamax” Meowth. However, due to my rule of only using Gen 8 Pokemon, it’s just gonna chill out in the box >.>

Leon is very generous with Pokeballs. Even the items you find on the ground are generous, often containing 2 or 3 “copies” of an item when you check it out. Is that a new thing for Pokemon?

Here I battle my first trainer that isn’t named Hop. He has that squirrel shirt and is a total pushover.

Just chilling by the professor’s house. It looks like maybe you can only fish in fishing spots (those darker circles on the water), but at least you get your fishing pole right away.

Also, I discovered that while I could not sit on beds or chairs inside, I am able to sit on this bench :)

The way the Pokemon mill about in the tall grass is very interesting. Some will try to avoid you, others like this Yamper will chase after you. It makes the routes feel a lot more populated.

I guess this is Sonia’s room. It’s very pink. I wonder if she even /wants/ to do Pokemon research, or if she’d rather be a fashion designer or something.

The in-game time of day doesn’t seem to match up with the Switch system clock, at least not from what I’ve seen so far. For example, suddenly it is sunset and I catch a falling star. (look how the reflection in the water changes :) )

I haven’t decided yet if I want to buy the Switch online service, but in the meantime I decided to at least pick my profile picture. The icons you can choose from actually reveal quite a lot about the trainer classes and gyms that are in the game. For the first time ever, we have a Dark-type gym! Their logo is a sideways version of Team Yell’s logo - does that mean that Team Yell or Marnie is the Dark gym leader?

I spent a while catching Pokemon around the professor’s house. I can’t tell if I got every possible species without looking online, but I did build up a good roster.

I found it really cool how many new, surprising Pokemon showed up this early in the game. There’s the fox one (which is a Dark type and reminds me of Zoroark), the turtle one (which has got to be a pre-evolution of Dreadnaw, probably the 1st of 3 stages), the bird one (based on the “Rook” in its name and the fact that it learns Dark-type moves early, I’m guessing it’s a pre-evolution of Corviknight), and the bug one (can’t wait to see what its final stage looks like).

I went through the party to find the best Pokemon that fit my self-imposed rules (only new, Gen 8 Pokemon, no overlap of types). I know that this means I won’t be able to use Galarian forms or Gigantamaxes of old Pokemon, but just because I’m not using them in my main playthrough doesn’t mean I can’t catch them :)

Next time: I step onto the train and leave my home behind.

[badwritingbuttriessometimes]

The Project

Peter Parker x Stark!reader

Summary: you, like your father (Tony Stark) are literally done with everything. When you get kidnapped, Peter is right behind you hoping to get you back before your dad finds out.

A/N: this isn’t edited and was written at 1 am :) also kinda feel like writing a series so send in requests if they’re set up (I honestly don’t know if they are)

“Why can’t anyone do anything? Why is it always me? ALWAYS? ‘Oh they’re a Stark. They’re smart. THEY CAN DO IT’ Just because I’m amazing doesn’t mean I’m okay with doing everything!” You rant as you pace into your workspace in the Avengers facility. You were assigned a group project and had the pleasure of being with the kids who don’t care. You asked your teacher if you and Peter Parker could do it and the rest of your groups be a big group, but your teacher said no. Shocker.

“Hey hey hey, what’s wrong?” Your dad asked, hearing your ranting from down the hall.

“Group project due Thursday and I’m with the dumbasses who don’t care.”

“It’s always like that isn’t it?”

“Yup. I just- I can’t believe that JUST because I have your last name, everyone thinks I’m a genius.”

“But... you are,” Tony replies slowly, “you made your own AI for your fourth grade science fair. You made a projector of the galaxy instead of a solar system model. You-“

“OKAY! I get it. Thanks.” You say, cutting him off.

“What I mean is: you are a genius but you need to learn to work with others”

“Is that why you’re Iron Man and have been reported to ‘not play well with others’?” Tony’s eyes widened. “Okay I’m sorry I’m just in shock I have to do four peoples work in two days when I have more important things to do.”

“More important things like what? Reconfiguring F.R.I.D.A.Y quote-unquote just cause?”

“No but anything’s more important than someone else’s stuff they can handle but won’t. Meh whatever I’ll just hammer out the basic bones of it now and add some big words and synonyms after dinner then work on the presentation once the script’s finalized. Yeah that’s a good plan right?”

“Uh yeah sure okay. You could just do all of it in one sitting and have a self-loathing break at 3 am. Works great for me” Tony says with a laugh.

“I think I’ll save that tactic for uni. I’ll see you later though” you say as you usher your dad out of your workspace. You open your laptop and begin typing up the notes you took on the influence of Greek civilizations and the ways we see it today. You created a list of simple ways. Food. Fashion. Architecture. Parties. Frats/Sororities. Sports. Once you had enough ideas to last a ten-minute presentation, you began expanding on the topics you had. For food you wrote about how the spices and cooking styles changed the diets of North Americans. Fashion was kind of obvious just like food was; the use of white and simple sheets were good for the climate and breezy weather. Architecture was a no-brainer: columns. Parties was where it split into two different things. Weddings and party theme. After watching “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, you were ready to write that section. Using the Greek “toga party” as a transition to fraternities and sororities, you were close to being done. Sure, most sentences were full of nonesense but they were sentenced that took up time. You finished with sports because of the olympics. Everyone knew about the Olympics and it was easy to finish with a bang.

Speaking of bang, that’s what you heard. Living with superheroes wasn’t quiet so you just put on some music to tune out the training drill. Only, it wasn’t a training drill. It was a planned attack on the Avengers. You were too busy writing the conclusion and picturing what icons and images to have where to notice the door to your workspace open and three people came in. Their footsteps were inaudible compared to the drums of your song. You only noticed them through the shine of your laptop when it was too late.

———————————————————————

Peter was on his way over to the facility after school. You were lucky and had last spare which let you out at 1:45 compared to his 2:45. He was just as mad about the group project as you were and being grouped with Flash didn’t make it any more fun. Peter was walking in through the doors when he heard a loud bang. And another. And another. His arm hair stood up, alerting him something unplanned was happening.

He quickly put his mask over his head and web shooters on his wrists and ran towards the sound of the crash. That’s when he saw you. He saw three people in tactical gear holding your kicking body and dragging out of the building. Peter scanned the area. No one was around. How, in the Avengers facility, were no Avengers around? Peter ran into the bathroom and changed into his suit. He ran out and saw a truck driving its way out of the facility’s property. He asked Karen to track it for him but without having a tracker on the vehicle, it would be nearly impossible.

Peter swung after the truck, eventually landing in the bed and layed down to catch his breath and not be seen. He placed a tracker there too on the off chance he fell off in traffic. When the truck stopped and people began getting out, Peter got nervous. What if him being there would make you suffer more? What if he was on the wrong truck? What would they do to you if they knew he was there? Or if he wasn’t?

When his questions were swirling in his head, he barely noticed you be yanked from the truck cabin. Your hands and legs were bound but your mouth was running more than anyone had ever noticed.

“I swear to god if you don’t let me go I’ll kick your asses into the ocean!” Each word becoming louder than the previous. Your threats stopped while you were in the moving vehicle because you were outnumbered in a confined space. Now, you were outnumbered in a large, empty parking lot. You had space. You could fight back. At least, you would if your hands and legs weren’t tied. You moved your hands around, trying to undo whatever knot the person used. To your excitement, it was a simple bow. You unraveled the bow on your wrists and moved to the one on your legs. How your captors didn’t notice this, you had no idea.

“Hey! You know, tying people up is bad. Webbing them is better!” Peter yelled

So that’s how they didn’t notice you thought. You turn around and see two of the four people webbed to the truck. The other two were holding guns pointed at you and the Spider-Man. You hear the click of the gun being loaded as you think-in true gen Z fashion “thank god please kill me”

Quickly, a web-grenade is thrown and covers all four tactical members in webs. Peter rushes over to you, looking for bruises, cuts, anything that required medical attention.

“I’m okay, just mad. I’m not hurt you can stop worrying about that just worry about those four okay?” You say, trying to assure and alert Spider-Man of the fight that was to come.

“Oh yeah, right of course”

“Okay your sputtering. Here give me this-“ you say as you grab at one of his web shooters “- and watch me kick some ass”

For someone who has never used the web shooters in the field before, your aim was amazing. You knew all the different web combos and how each worked. It was almost like you helped make it or something. You webbed the four tactical team members to different walls and set web-grenades to go off at times intervals so they’d be stuck until the police showed up. The police showing up wasn’t your biggest concern. It was your dad. He didn’t know where you were and whatever happened at the facility never happened before.

———————————————————————

“Hey you still in here?” Tony called as he checked your workspace. Everything was exactly as you left it. There were no signs of resistance. He was beginning to worry. No one has ever been able to just break and enter the Avengers facility before let alone find your workspace and just grab you. F.R.I.D.A.Y. had no video of what happened and the audio recorded gave no help showing where you were. Tony was looking at your work when an idea hit him.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. track Parker’s suit for me”

“Located in the parking lot down-“

“Why do kidnapping always rendezvous there?” Tony wonders aloud as he walks to his armoury. He grabs the gauntlets he was fixing for you because of your school load and took off towards the lot. He saw the webs from a distance away and his worries subsided for a second until he realized that webs meant a fight. Fights mean pain. Pain is bad. His kid was in pain. His kid could be laying on the ground in a pool of their own blood. And he didn’t even realize.

———————————————————————

He landed in the parking complex and began calling out for you. “Y/N! Y/N! Please be alive. Y/N! Y/-“ he saw Peter. “Hey kid, where’s Y/N?”

“Hey Mr. Stark! Y/N’s over there. You flew right past them.” Peter replied pointing to just behind where Tony landed. Tony was shocked at how peppy the kid’s voice was. Was Y/N not in a pool of blood? He turned around and saw you laying on a web-hammock looking very relaxed.

“Y/N? You’re not dead?” He called out. You perked your head up and let out a nervous laugh.

“No, why would I be dead? I’m a Stark, remember? Plus I have that presentation so desth isn’t exactly an option right now.”

“So you just got kidnapped when the facility was down and no one was around, are deserted in a parking complex, and somehow made yourself a web hammock, and what you’re concerned about right now is that project?”

“Its a realllllyy big presentation Mr. Stark. It’s worth 30% of our grade.” Peter interjected “I’m about halfway done and it’s a lot of work.”

“See? Told you I had a reason to be mad.”

“Okay okay so why are you two still here when you have such a big project to do?”

“The police aren’t here yet.”

“They need to take those people away”

“Did either of you think of calling the police?”

“No but you can thanks Dad! Peter, let’s go back to the facility.” You say and begin shooting webs to get yourself out of the parking complex and towars your workspace with Peter quick behind you, leaving Tony to await the authories.

———————————————————————

Around 10:30, Peter’s phone was buzzing, waking the two of you up. You wiped the sleep from your eye and looked at your finished script and visual layout. As you were looking over your work, Peter picked up his phone.

“Hello?” He said, voice groggy from being asleep for who knows how long.

“No im not dead” “yes, I’m okay” “Y/N’s okay too... you’re okay too right” he whispers the last part to you as you laugh and nod “yes Y/N’s okay. No I didn’t. Why? Because it’s Y/N Stark! I can’t just do that! No, Ned ‘Y/N I’ve been hopelessly in love with you since freshman science please go out with me now that I’m a superhero’ is a HORRIBLE pick up line!”

“Hey, um Peter?”

“I’ll call you back, Ned.” Peter ends the call and turns to you, completely oblivious to you being within earshot of his and Ned’s conversation. “What’s up?”

“Wanna go out with me?” You say, a shit-eating grin on your face

“Y-yes. Uh yea of course!”

“Great cause you’re right, ‘Y/N, I’ve been hopelessly in love with you since freshman science please go out with me now that I’m a superhero’ is a bad pick up line.” You say as you walk out of the lab.

“Aha yeah.. I guess it is. WAIT YOU HEARD?!”

[fallinfor-youreyes]

Hi for the performing arts prompt thing for Lara jean and Peter: It’s the day before opening night and I’ve lost my voice, you have to nurse this melodramatic ailing actor back to health (P.S I read the fic you wrote about how Lara Jean got her lockscreen and it made me so happy it was so cute 💖)

Thank you for this prompt! It was so much fun! 

Read it on Ao3

She likes the dark corner of the stage, so the dark corneris where she will stay.

No one bothers her in her corner, and she’s actually able toget things done, which she really needs to do because opening night istomorrow, and someone messed up three of the sets by spilling paint on the wood.

Lara Jean took one, escaped to her corner, and set to work.

She’s not sure if she actually likes stage crew or not, butshe’s good at it. It’s like her scrapbooking, but on a much larger level. AndMargo was so proud of her when she skyped to tell her she was joining a club.She doesn’t have to tell Margo or her dad or Kitty that she hasn’t actuallymade any friends.

Instead, she paints in her corner, and mostly keeps out ofeveryone’s way.

That is until Peter Kavinsky decides to be a drama queen.

There’s a loud thump next to her, startling her out of herrhythm, almost making her drop her paintbrush.

“Covey,” the thing that made the thump croaks. “I need yourhelp.”

Lara Jean turns to the thing that made the thump, only tofind Peter Kavinsky, dramatically spread out across the floor, his hand overhis eyes.

The very same Peter Kavinsky who is the captain of thelacrosse team, boyfriend of 3 years to Gen, object of Lara Jean’s affection foran entire year in 7th grade, and now, apparently, a Troy Boltonwannabe.

She carefully moves her supplies out of the way of hisdangerously long legs and turns back to her project.

“With?”

He pushes himself up on his elbows. “I’m losing my voice.”

Lara Jean sighs. “Have you told Mrs. Klein?” She asks. Thiswill add just another flurry of stress to the night before the show opens, onethat Lara Jean plans on staying as far away from as possible.

Hence, the dark corner.

“No!” He grabs her arm, and glue drips onto her jeans. Sheblinks. “Please. I don’t want to be benched. I just need help.”

He pleads at her with his eyes that are too beautiful forsomeone like him to have. Those same stupid eyes that made her fall in lovewith him when she was 13.

“I don’t think I’m qualified.” She says. She tugs her armaway from him and attempts to clean the glue on her pants. “Plus, if you askanyone else in this room, they would be very willing to help you out.”

Peter pushes himself up fully now, and even though they areboth sitting he still towers over her.

“That’s why I’m asking you. You are the only one I trust toactually make me better.” His voice breaks over a few of the words, and thereis a small part of her that wants to help.

“Why don’t you ask Gen?”

Peter rolls his eyes. “We broke up. Like 3 months ago”

Oh.

That makes things slightly more complicated. “So you’resaying, I am the only one you want to deal with her wrath when she realizes youdidn’t go to her for help?”

“No. Come on, Covey please.” He pouts and gives her the biggestpuppy dogs eyes, and he knows it will work. And she hates that he knows that. “Youalways knew what to do when we were kids.”

“You have to give me a ride home.” She says, turning back tothe set piece at hand. “And try not to talk a lot for the next day.”

He nods and flashes her a smile before making his way backtowards the other actors.

She feels like this is bad idea but tries to focus on theactual task at hand.

Peter Kavinksy is sitting in her kitchen, drinking a cup oftea and staring at the lemon in front of him.

“According to google, there’s a few things we can try, but Idon’t know if they are going to work.” She jumps onto the counter, so she’smove level with him, and takes a sip of her own cup of tea.

Peter Kavinksy is in her house, and literally a staircaseand a closet away is a love letter she wrote to him when she was thirteen, talkingentirely too much about his eyes and a game of spin the bottle.

He holds up the lemon, his brows knotted in confusion.

“Before school tomorrow, you should put some slices in somehot water. Pretty sure it’s an old wives’ tale, but theater people swear byit.” She says. Peter continues to stare at the lemon.

And it’s weird. There’s a boy in her kitchen at a quarter tomidnight on a school night. A very attractive, very popular boy.

It almost feels scandalous, like one of her romance novels,when the heroine sneaks the handsome love interest into her room before theyare married, so they can do something that will be amazing, but she’ll regretin the morning, adding to the drama before said attractive love interest comesand asks for her hand in marriage.

Not that Peter Kavinksy is her love interest in any way,shape, or form. She’s not even sneaking him in. She texted her dad before theyleft school, and he was fine with it.

“Also, if you are singing correctly, you shouldn’t even haveto worry about your throat.”

“Mrs. Klein says-“

Lara Jean glares at him, and he holds his hands up insurrender, before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He flicks throughsomething, before he rolls his eyes, and grabs her phone out of her hands andtypes something in.

He hands her phone back to her, and it goes off, a textmessage coming through.

Mrs. Klein says I’m agreat singer.

He saved his name in her contacts with a heart next to it.She’s not entirely sure how to feel about it.

“Whatever you say, Kavinsky.”

He rests his head on his hand and stares at her, and shefeels like she’s exposed, like he can read her mind.

She takes a screen shot of her google search and sends it tohim, hoping it will distract him.

“Stop for cough drops and honey on your way home. I’ll bringmore tea tomorrow, and I can give it to you in English.”

He takes a sip of his tea and moves around the counter sohe’s standing closer to her. Close enough that his arm brushes against her legwhen he pulls out his phone.

13-year-old Lara Jean is screaming. 16-year-old Lara Jean ispretending that she does not care at all.

Thank you.

“You’re welcome.”

Can I give you a hug?

Her eyes flicker between her phone and Peter, who isintently staring at his own phone.

“Sure.” She says, because there is no harm in a hug, and 13-year-oldLara Jean would thank her.

His face erupts into smile, and then his arms fold aroundher, and his head fits into her shoulder, and this might be the nicest hugshe’s ever received.

It’s over before she has a decent chance to enjoy it, andthen she’s walking him to the door.

“I’ll see you in English.” She says. He nods and holds uphis lemons before disappearing into his car.

Lara Jean falls back against the door once it’s closed andtries to steady her heart rate. The last thing she needs right now is to haveanother crush on Peter Kavinsky.

“Kitty! Let’s go!”

Kitty runs down the stairs and almost right into Lara Jeanthe next morning, almost spilling not one, but two travel mugs worth of hot teaon her.

“Whoops!” Kitty says, slowing down. “Sorry, I had to grab myhelmet.” She flashes Lara Jean a grin before opening the front door.

Only to reveal a grey Jeep on the street, and a freshlyshowered Peter Kavinksy smiling at both of them from above his car.

And he has a sign.

GOOD MORNING!!!

“Who is that?” Kitty asks, the smile on her face so wideit’s almost threatening to split.

“That, is Peter Kavinksy.” Lara Jean starts to walk towardthe car and Kitty hurries to follow.

“Is he going to give us a ride?”

“It appears like that would be the case.”

Peter breaks out into a smile almost as wide as Kitty’s andjumps down from his Jeep to open the door for both of them.

He tosses the sign in the back, takes the tea and passes asmall note into her hands before making his way back to his side of the car.

Lara Jean can feel Kitty’s eyes staring into her back.

Before you try tofight me, I only came for the tea.

“You’re ridiculous.” She says. In the middle of the consoleis an industrial sized pack of cough drops, and three more lemons. He pops acough drop in his mouth, and Lara Jean has to try very hard to not watch himplay with it as they drive to school, while Kitty rattles off a hundredquestions that Lara Jean has to answer for both of them.

Under no circumstanceis she going to fall for Peter Kavinsky again.

He catches her staring and winks at her.

She almost chokes on her tea.

She finds three more notes in her lock her throughout theday, and he passes her at least 5 in English alone.

And he texts her. Periodic updates about how the cough dropsare helpful, or how much he likes the tea, and there’s one saying how much helikes her jacket, and it’s a lot.

They haven’t really talked in 3 years, but here, now, it’slike they never stopped being friends. And the smallest part of her feels likeshe never fully got over her stupid crush.

He finds her later, as they are setting up for the show, andshe’s putting the finishing touches on the set.

“I think it worked.” He says, coming up behind her, voicealmost completely normal.

This time she does drop her paint brush.

He picks it up before she has a chance to and holds ithostage.

“That’s great!” She holds out her hand to take the brushback, but he holds it over his head.

“I wanted to say thank you.”

“You already did that last night.”

“Not properly.” His leans down slightly so he is closer toher height, and Lara Jean is not sure where this is going. She’s not sure whata proper thank you for googling how to get your voice back looks like.

“Peter! You are needed in makeup!”

He stares at her for a moment, like he has something else hewants to say, but he just passes her back the paint brush. “Later, okay Covey?”He asks, and it feels like a promise.

Peter finds her, after the show is over, placing the propsback into their designated area.

The show went off perfectly, and Lara Jean was proud ofherself. She sort of saved the star of the show from certain theatrical ruin,and helped the half of the student population that wasn’t already in love withPeter Kavinsky fall in love with him.

“Hey,” He says, gently brushing his hand across her back ashe passes her his prop. “When you’re finished wanna go grab something to eat.My treat.”

“Sure.” She smiles at him, and he smiles back, until someonecrashes into backstage and nearly breaks two of the props they are holding, andPeter is called away for a cast huddle.

But he finds her again, once she’s finished packing up allthe last minute paints and glues and props.

And he holds her hand on the way to his car.

And he steals the fries off her plate at the café.

And her heart won’t stop pounding a mile a minute every timeshe catches his looking at her.

And then, they are walking to his car, and his hair is stillgreased back from the play, and he brushes a smudge of paint on her cheek thathe claims to have just seen now, and then before she knows it, his lips are onhers, and she she’s standing on her tippy toes trying to reach him.

He pulls back, cheeks flushed. “Thank you.”

She falls back down to her normal height and takes a deepbreath.

13-year-old Lara Jean has died. 16-year-old Lara Jean feelslike she might as well.

“That is quite the thank you.”

“Yeah.” He laughs slightly and tucks a piece of hair behindher ear. “You did give me a lot of lemons though, so I might need to say thankyou a few more times.”

“I think I can deal with that.” She winds her arms aroundhis shoulders and pulls him down for another kiss.

Yes, she decides. She can deal another crush of PeterKavinsky, as long as they get to keep kissing like this.

[jaybug-jabbers]

Bug Run 7: Alola, Bug Friends

I’ve done bug runs for six generations of pokemon games by now. I wasn’t going to leave gen 7 out of the fun. However, it does mean a little tweaking of my usual rules. New bug pokemon in this game are fairly rare and spread wide apart. So, to pick up some of the slack, I’m also going to allow bugs that aren’t new to gen 7 to fill out my team.

Despite the relative rarity of new bugs in gen 7, there are some really, really cool ones. So it’s well worth spending more time with these fellahs and going on our island trials with our new insect allies.

Now, keep in mind this is a pretty long post that goes into details on the major battles of the game. If that’s not your cup of tea, I suggest checking out the summary post instead that I’ll be doing soon. But if you enjoy reading the full story, then this is for you!

So grab your shades and your sunblock, and let’s go enjoy a tropical paradise, complete with the mugginess and mosquitoes!

Rules of the Bug Run

1.) The team must be bug types only, and only bugs found in Alola.

2.) No trainer items used during battle (unless the foe uses them first, and then you may only match the items one-for-one). Held items are allowed.

3.) No over-levelling. Pokemon should be at roughly normal levels for a given area and not be at a higher level than the maximum-levelled pokemon in a major trainer’s team.

Pretty simple, eh? Well, maybe. After doing a lot of these runs, I’ve often found the very start of the game can be one of the hardest moments. The start is when you have access to the fewest moves, almost no items and TMs, and there just isn’t much room for strategy if you run into trouble. Let’s see if we can overcome the first hurdles.

Early Gatekeepers

At the start of the game, the grass right beside your house offers four bug types: Grubbin, Ledyba, Caterpie and Spinarak. I chose to grab two of those, Grubbin (Gaz) and Ledyba (Protoman).

The first major battle, against Hau during the festival, is difficult but very possible for Grubbin to solo: Mud-Slap against the Pichu, hope you don’t get Tail Whipped too many times or, if you get paralyzed by Thundershock, that you don’t lose too many turns to paralysis– all of this so you can survive the fight against his starter (in this case, Popplio).

The first true difficulty was the teacher at the Trainer School, who has a Litten if you chose Rowlet as your starter. I had to equip both my pokes with an Oran berry, and then just barely squeaked by the battle with my two pokemon.

However, the next difficulty was fighting Ilima. With my Grubbin and Ledyba at level 11, I just couldn’t make it by Yungoos and Ember-weilding Smeargle. I thought hard about strats and decided to reset the game.

Sure, I could have added more pokemon to my team, but I wanted to see how well I could do with just two. So I picked Grubbin and Ledyba again– this time with better natures. This Grubbin was Brave and the Ledyba was Serious (a neutral nature). Now of course, when Grubbin later evolves, an Attack-boosting nature won’t do her much good. But in the early game, she’s a physical attacker and those extra points can make a big difference.

I also chose Litten as my starter. This allowed me to pass the teacher fight at the trainer school (Popplio) without using the Oran berries. Thus, I could face Ilima with both of my pokemon holding berries. My Ledyba could Swift Yungoos almost to death (even after an annoying potion) but went down hard after a Tackle following all those Leers. Grubbin finished the Yungoos off and then managed to solo the Smeargle: get several Mud-Slaps off, and with the help of one potion (since Ilima had used one earlier) and the berry, Grubbin could just manage to Bite the dog to death.

The fight proved the importance of very tiny factors turning the tide in my favor, such as pokemon natures and berries. This is especially important early game when there just isn’t a lot of options for strategy. Again, I could have just powered through with a team of four, but that seemed to run counter to the spirit of the challenge run. Perhaps I was just being stubborn. In any case, after passing Ilima’s gatekeeping, I was finally free to reach route 2 and add the third member to my team: Cutiefly (Ms. Sidle).

The remainder of Melee island was rather trivial. Cutiefly’s excellent speed and strong special attack made it essential on the team– especially when it picks up relatively high BP moves pretty quickly. The first totem pokemon was a piece of cake, and the Grand Trial was easy with Cutiefly’s Draining Kiss. Ledyba’s Swift was also very nice for Makuhita spamming Sand Attack.

Akala’s Trifecta

Arriving at Akala, I eventually decided to add a fourth teammember before facing Hau, since he had four partymembers. I trained up a Spinarak (Dipper) and sallied forth. Dartrix was slowly and patiently worn down with Ledyba (via screens and swifts and roosts), who eventually prevailed. Noibat still went down like a rock to a single Draining Kiss. Honestly, the only one on his team to give a little trouble was Dartrix.

At this point, Cutiefly and Ledyba had been the MVPs. Cutiefly’s speed and offensive prowess mowed through most foes. However, she is a delicate little thing that cannot really take hits, so Ledyba held all the tanking power. While Ledyba’s physical defense is poor, Reflect and Roost helped mitigate some of that. And Ledyba, of course, was a good spec. def. tank when compared to its kin. While Ledyba’s offensive ability is practically nil, at this point in the game, its move Swift was still very viable and useful. Ignoring all the Growls and Baby Doll Eyes and various attack drops, as well as all the Sand Attacks and other such issues, Ledyba had the bulk to get off enough swifts for victory. The two basically carried Grubbin; the poor little squishy babe just couldn’t do much. However, that changed when Grubbin finally evolved. Just in time for the water trial, too!

With Charjabug on our side, all it took was a couple Sparks to take out the  Araquanid totem. Cutiefly finished off the ally.

After the totem’s defeat, I caught a Dewpider and put Spinarak on the bench for the time being. It didn’t take long to train Dewpider up and evolve into Araquanid. This would end up pretty important for the next trial; the fire trial.

My Araquanid, Neptune, was quite the beast, able to solo the totem and its ally, surviving on 5 HP even while poisoned. Obviously, the water Z-move helped seal the deal.

For the last Akala trial, grass, it took a couple tries to figure out the best strat. I finally settled on one that took advantage of Gaz’s new tanking abilities. After my recently-evolved Ledian provided dual screen support and a little chip damage, and I gave Gaz a Sitrus berry, Gaz could tank hits from Lurantis and its ally long enough to bug bite ‘em both to death.

Not long after our grass trial, my Cutiefly Ms. Sidle evolved and we added yet a new team member: Wimpod (Luciel). We then sped toward the grand trial of this island– a dreaded rock team. But it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I had expected. Gaz took Anorith out with 2 Acrobatics. Ms. Sidle took Lileep out with her Pollen Puff. And Neptune could Z-Bubble Beam the Lycanroc to doom. We won the game of pokemon rock, paper scissors, because bug beats everything.~

Going Electric in Ula’ula

Truth be told, it wasn’t until the third island, Ula’ula, that things started getting a little sticky. The electric trial was a miserable affair. Togedemaru, with high spec. d. and totem-buffed defense, Spiky Shield, a million resistences, a Sitrus berry and an ally that laid down Stealth Rock (a terror for bug teams) and Tailwinds (so even Scary Face couldn’t help me), it was just a pain in the ass. Did I mention half my team was weak to electric?

I placed Dipper the Spinarak back on the team and trained him up; I also trained the team up to level 33, went around and collected some TMs, and pondered some options. After trying a number of ideas, I finally prevailed. What helped was this: teaching Reflect to Ms. Sidle (the only member to naturally outspeed the totem) so she could get that up first turn and then toss a paralysis onto the ally for good measure and even some chip damage on the totem before going down. Next, teaching Brick Break to Golisopod; he could get it off before dying to Zing Zap since the screen was up. He got a lucky critical hit and did loads of damage and triggered the Sitrus berry. Next, I brought Neptune in, set up Aqua Ring to let the totem Spiky Shield (it tends to do this when you’re holding a Z-crystal), and then popped the z-move. It took the totem out and Neptune could finish off the ally, too.

It was a relief to get the fight out of the way. As a reward for all my suffering through the electric trial, up next was my favorite boy. It was a joy to fight Guzma at long last, defeating his Golisopod with my own. And soon after, I could finally evolve the last member of my team!

I should mention that I kept Gaz at level 30 and didn’t use her during my electric trial because I really needed to get Bug Buzz at level 31 when she evolved. So I had no choice but to wait until after the trial when I could finally reach Blush Mountain. It was kind of a pain not being able to use her during the trial (and Guzma’s first battle– both his pokes weak to electric. Well, I used Gaz while fighting him but carefully arranged it so she would faint and not get exp) but at least it wasn’t a longer wait.

With my starter now fully evolved, and my team rounded out to a full six, we were sailing pretty smoothly now. At this point, my crucial ally Ledian was staring to lag behind everyone else. Protoman had no offensive presence, of course, and things were starting to outspeed him enough now that he couldn’t even get his screens off anymore. Even Ariados was doing okay for himself; with the priority moves (Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch) to make up for his crap speed and Swords Dance to make up for middling attack, he could manage to scrape by. However, time would tell how things would pan out in the long run. Perhaps it was just a rough patch for the Johto pair.

Dark, Darker, and Darker Still

The spooky ghost trial was up next, but we took it in stride with enormous ease. Starting off with support from the Johto duo, Dipper used Scary Face– somehow spooking the king of spooks, Mimikyu– and broke the disguise with a Shadow Sneak. Protoman got up a Reflect and heroically took the Curse from the ally before going down. Then I just sort of hacked away with Golisopod’s Shadow Claw. I finished it off with flare with Gaz’s z-powered zapping.

We were then led into the dark back allies of Po Town, one of my favorite parts of the game. We find big bad Guzma moping in his room and challenge him to a bug DUEL.

Guzma is a man who likes to hit hard right away. He always opens with his ace. However, don’t be tempted to do the same. If I used up my Vikavolt on his ace, well, I’d face problems later. So instead, I opened with Protoman and got up the usual Reflect. Truth be told, I had intended Protoman to simply be First Impression fodder, but for some reason that move never came. Next in was Ms. Sidle, who halved Golisopod’s health with her buzzing, getting him into Emergency Exit range. Guzma sent in Masquerain next. At full health, my Vikavolt could survive a hit and use its Z-move. Golisopod was back in, poor Ariados was next for First Impression fodder, and Sidle could finish the water bug off. Finally, Pinsir was the last; I beat him down with my own Golisopod and Neptune. It wasn’t exactly graceful, but it got the job done. My team was a little under-levelled compared to Guzma’s, but it was a satisfying fight.

Angry at losing the BUG DUEL, Guzma storms out of his own house and I pilfer one of his bug z-crystals like a common crook. And sit in his chair, because who wouldn’t?

After this, Gladion drops by and rambles about Nebby and we’re supposed to follow him to the weird Aether Paradise island. Although the island grand kahuna challenges us to a quick match on the docks before we go. The match was, as you might guess, incredibly easy for my team, so we finish up fast and then ship out.

Our task, of course, is to expose the dark underbelly of Aether Paradise. It’s a long trawl through the facility, especially since I arrived admittedly rather under-levelled for the place, so I have to take my time with the battles. Slowly but surely, though, we claw our way through. All through the bottom labs, through the weird man in the green glasses, through all the Aether employees and Skull grunts, until finally we reach ya boy Guzma again.

Ya boy … has been training. And he’s added a Vikavolt to his team. I get my ass handed to me. Honestly, though, I’m thrilled he’s not a pushover. And it revealed some crucial flaws in my team:

(1) I already knew this but yes, my team is very weak to electric.

(2) Holy shit my team is SLOW. Golisopod: base 40, Ariados: 40, Araquanid: 42, Vikavolt: 43. Only Ribombee is fast (124) and Ledian is fair (85). I knew Alolan pokemon tend to be grossly slow, but this was a painful reminder.

(3) Some of my pokes had movesets that didn’t really make full use of their potential.

So, I had to do some rethinking. First of all, I had to let go of Ledian’s dual STAB. It didn’t make sense. He was a support pokemon, not a fighter. I’d keep one attacking move because he still needs to grind, but for now, I removed Bug Buzz.

Second of all, Swords Dance on Ariados was no longer working. For grinding, yes, but not for serious fights. He just could not survive long enough to use it. So, I give him a new tactic: Toxic, Protect, and Sucker Punch. He would tox stall and throw some sucker punches in there in between stalling. He also had Black Sludge to help with the stalling (he’d always been holding it– I stole some sludge from a Grimer way back at the start of the game). He was hardly a tank or an ideal pokemon for stall, but it seemd a viable option until he picked up some of his late-game moves.

Third, Neptune was at an awkward place right now. Still limping by with Bubble Beam, and with an odd mix of moves because I had yet to decide what I wanted to focus on with him. I thought about it for a while, but ultimately got bored and decided I’d figure out Neptune later. For now I wanted to give the fight another go.

First up, I had Protoman get up his Reflect and U-turn out of there into Gaz. Gaz did take Guzma’s Golisopod out, though unfortunately only after heavy damage. Next up was Pinsir. I sent out my own Golisopod to deal with it. The plan was to use my newly acquired Rock Slide. I opened with a First Impression which did a nice, entire 50% of Pinsir’s health, but things go less nice from there. Pinsir’s Stone Edge lands and my Rock Slide misses. Because my Rock Slide missed the last battle, I am pretty salty. And Pinsir’s second Stone Edge also lands. Ffs. Luciel goes down before he can finish things. (He was holding a Sitrus berry to stave off Emergency Exit.) Ms. Sidle has to finish off the Pinsir instead.

Ok, it would be rough without Golisopod, but we were still in this fight. Guzma sends out Vikavolt next. I use Protoman to Light Screen and then faint. Then I send out Dipper. To my surprise, Dipper’s new strats work great and he’s able to solo the Vikavolt.

Finally, Masquerain, whose speed and Air Slash are terrifying. My idea is to paralyze it with Ribombee and then HOPE that is enough for Gaz to outspeed. But it is not. Gaz had too much damage done earlier from Golisopod and simply goes down. It was thus all down to Neptune. He’s able to live one Air Slash– not well, but he can– and doesn’t flinch, so he gets his z-Bubble Beam off. It does a lot, but it’s just not enough to take Masquerain out.

Obviously, the next Air Slash will kill, so I assume it’s over. But then, it isn’t. Because I forgot Air Slash has a 5% chance of missing. The damn thing misses and I can finish it off with a Bubble Beam.

I’m happy to call that a win, because it seems fair after my Rock Slide miss.

Guzma steps aside to let us by, but first calls me out for forgetting to tell my mom I was going on a trip. Oopsies.

A Whole New World

After visiting my poor mother and doing a little extra training, I came back to battle Lusamine. I was a tad concerned about Clefable, as Ariados, supposedly my fairy killer, wasn’t yet up for the task, in my opinion. So I tutored Iron Head onto Luciel. While I was wandering, I also picked up a Light Clay for Ledian.

After that, the battle with Lusamine actually went quite well. I opened with Protoman, got up the Light Screen, switched to Luciel, and Iron Headed away. With Sitrus berry, he could stay in long enough to get the job done.

Next up I planned on tox stalling the Lopunny, but when I put Dipper in I realized I had forgotten to put Protect back on him. Whoops. My plan B was to punch at it a lot with Luciel, and when Emergency Exit activated I finished the job with Sidle.

Lilligant went down easily to Vikavolt’s specs-powered Bug Buzz, although I was surprised at how much damage a Petal Dance did to Gaz. Sheesh. Milotic was next, but Gaz was locked into Bug Buzz, so I sent out Neptune. Apparently Milotic couldn’t do much to Neptune but spam Dragon Pulse. So Neptune just spammed Lunge to whittle Milotic down and eventually came out on top.

The last was Bewear. I sent out Protoman originally with just the intent of getting a Reflect up, but it turned out Protoman could solo Bewear with just his Air Slash. He got a couple flinches, which helped him survive long enough to win. I had Sidle waiting in the wings in case this failed, but it was surprisingly nice to have Protoman do it all himself.

And that was it for Lusamine.

After she hops into the portal (followed by Guzma), the next major battle really isn’t until the dragon trial on Poni island. I’m afraid that was a pretty dull battle; I just toxiced the Kommo-o and stalled a little before clearing out the ally with Ms. Sidle. Considering the Roseli berry the Kommo-o held, this was just the simplest way to take care of things.

Necrozma’s first form was easy enough for my team to defeat as well, especially for Neptune. It wasn’t until we stepped into the wormhole ourselves and reached super uber weird space and battled Ultra Necrozma that things were a little trickier. The thing was 10 levels higher then us and had insane stats. Fortunately, some chap had given me a focus sash at some point, so Dipper could still get a toxic off.

Luciel delivered the final blow.

Boss Rush

When we return from saving the universe and all that nonsense, Mina still wants us to complete one last trial, which she explains will be a boss rush. Eh, ok. I mean, I guess that’s cool.

Most were a piece of cake. Kiawe, being Fire type, is somewhat noteworthy for a bug team to face. I had Neptune use Reflect and then z-Bubble Beam, but it didn’t quuuuuite kill Arcanine. It went down to recoil after clearing out poor Dipper, though. Gaz tanked a Brave Bird and took out the Talonflame, and the Marowak was easy pickings for Luciel. The surprise ambush by Kiawe’s friend was kind of annoying, but Neptune was able to finish things.

Electric type battles are an old nemesis for my bug runs, but this one wasn’t bad. Neptune almost one-shot the Golem (but not quite) and Dipper finished it off with Sucker Punch. In the process, he FINALLY learned Poison Jab. It’s ridiculous how long it takes for him to get a good poison STAB. Anyway, after a nice Light Screen Gaz could finish off the Magnezone with Dig.

Everyone else was simple enough. I love how a couple didn’t even bother to fight and were just sort of, “Whatever, take the flower petal, I can’t be arsed right now.” The fairy totem was likewise simple enough to take down. Ribombee is a sweetheart, but even with Quiver Dance she isn’t exactly difficult to deal with.

With our final trials and tribulations out of the way, we moved on to climbing the icy slopes to the new Elites.

But first, Gladion ambushed us for a final smackdown.

I had Ledian as my lead at the time, so the poor fellow just died to speedy Crobat. Fortunately, Gaz could survive a hit and retaliate. Next in, I was nervous of Lucario, so I sent out Neptune to z-Bubble Beam it to death. Unfortunately the damned thing was Zoroark. It’s funny how often I fall for that trick. The Zoroark used its own Z-move and killed Neptune. D:

Silvally was next, and I looked at its color and assumed ice. I suppose it made sense to me since it was hailing, so why not match to the environment? Dipper toxiced it and Sucker Punched it to soften it up, and then sent out a weakened Gaz to basically just faint and rack up more toxic damage. It’s not as though Gaz is outspeeding anything. Then I sent out Ribombee to finish things off. Finally, Lucario (the real one) was here, and Ribombee went down. It was all down to Luciel. Thankfully, Lucario wasn’t so scary after all. It just used Aura Spheres on me. I took it out with no problems.

After clearing Gladion aside, we climbed the mountain and did a little training. Stocking up on items and enjoying hot tapu coccas in the last Pokecenter, we braced ourselves for the final push.

Elite Four

The Elite Four was not too frightening a prospect for my team. The most difficult two would be Rock and Flying, of course; but having already faced Olivia’s Rock team, I wasn’t as worried about that one. The scariest to me seemed to be Flying.

Kahili

Kahili was indeed a difficult opponent I had to be very precise with. I opened with my Vikavolt, which was able to tank a Brave Bird from the powerful Braviary. Truth be told, I intended to stick a Coba berry on Gaz, but I mixed up the names and put a Colbur berry instead. Oooops. Fortunately, Gaz can tank like a beast, and Braviary went down to the thunderbolt.

Kahili sent out Mandibuzz next, which was a fine opportunity to set up a Tailwind with Ms. Sidle. I had, in fact, carefully tutored this move onto Ribombee for the occasion. Mandibuzz loves to open with Flatter, but I had Sidle hold a Lum berry so she could get a Dazzling Gleam off guaranteed . Sadly, it didn’t kill– Ribombee never can actually get the kill when she attacks, it seems. She goes down to a Brave Bird. No matter! I had Gaz and Thunderbolt, with Tailwind at my back! Unfortunately, Kahili has Full Restores. I don’t quite take the healed Mandibuzz out with one t-bolt, but before I can finish it, Kahili oddly switches out into Oricoro. I have no idea why, but it does down to a single Thunderbolt, and then she switches Mandibuzz back in and I finish that off too. Tailwind peters out, and Toucannon is up next.

Now, I know Toucannon is the z-crystal holder, so I sent out Dipper and Protect on my first turn. I know that generally speaking the Elites like to use their z-move first thing when they get their poke in. Dipper survives the hit, barely; then I use Toxic. Of course I don’t expect Dipper to outspeed, but I do expect Toucannon to use Beak Blast, a two-part flying move signature to the species. It does so and I get the Toxic off before dying. Next I put Protoman in.

Unfortunately for me, Kahili then Full Restores again, making my poison useless. But Dipper’s sacrifice was not for naught. It gave Protoman the chance to Reflect. On the following turn, Protoman also gets to use Tailwind before dying to Beak Blast. After these setups, I get Gaz in to take out Toucannon.

The final of the foe’s team is Hawlucha. Gaz is in red health by now, and as it turns out, Hawlucha outspeeds despite the Tailwind. However, it goes for a Throat Chop for some reason, which Gaz resists– it only did a few HP of damage. We thunderbolt and finish the team off.

Olivia

Our second-hardest Elite, Olivia didn’t give us much trouble. I did my typical opening with Protoman to get up a screen (Reflect) before dying to some horrible rock move. Then I get my heavy hitters out– in this case, Neptune– and start blasting away with Liquidation. Down goes Armaldo. Z-Liquidation on Gigalith. Down goes Gigalith. Olivia sends out her ace, Lycanroc, so I put poor old Dipper out there as z-move bait again. He doesn’t live long. Neptune then comes in to take care of the Lycanroc too. Probopass means I switch things up a little, setting up Tailwind and then using Dig with Gaz to kill it off. The final, a Cradily, is simple for Luciel to take out.

Molayne

The steel Elite had the potential to be very scary, but we did surprisingly well against him. Gaz could open and take out Klefki with a few thunderbolts. This was nice because she was immune to the Thunder Wave the darn thing loved to spam. He sent out Dugtrio next, which was easy for Liquidation to demolish. Magnezone faced off against Gaz. I knew it died to two Digs, but unfortunately, Gaz was a little to weakened from Klefki, and went down to a second Tri Attack. It left the foe at at an awkward piece of ¼ health that was hard to cleanly take out, so I used Dipper to Sucker Punch it a couple times before sending out Luciel to First Impression and finish it off. Next, Bisharp goes down to Neptune’s Z-Liquidation, and Metagross is our last foe. Luciel uses First Impression and Liquidation to help chip it down. After using up his berry on the first turn he emergency exits out of there on the second turn, and Sidle gets off a Bug Buzz to contribute to the chipping. It does a nice chunk, but she goes down too. Luciel, back in, once again gets off a Second Impression, and after a hit ends up on 3 HP. Lucky for us, I am obsessed with keeping multiple priority moves and Luciel also has Sucker Punch, and he could finish off the Metagross.

Acerola

By far the easiest of the Elites, Acerola was a pretty quick mop-up. Protoman gets up screens and faints, Luciel takes out the Bannette (after it annoyingly potions up). Froslass is next, and I regretfully send out Dipper once more to just take one for the team– this time while I potion Luciel back up. Dipper does, however, manage to do a huge chunk to Froslass with a Sucker Punch before going down. Luciel finishes it off. Pallosand takes a big hit with Liquidation but it boosts its defense a bunch. As Luciel Emergency Exits out of there I send in the big guns and use Neptune’s Z-Liquidation. It works great. Dhelmise acutally falls quickly to a couple Bug Buzzes from Ms. Sidle (she survives the Slams), which is nice, because she rarely gets a kill all on her own. Finally, Drifblim goes down to Gaz’s thunderbolt.

Hau

Of course, it would not be a pokemon game if they made you the champ after defeating the Elite Four. There’s always at least one more fight to clear. In this case, it’s your old buddy Hau. After previewing his team, I formulated a rough plan and headed in, feeling wary.

Hau opens with Alolan Raichu. Fortunately for bug trainers of Alola, this is a boon. Luciel’s First Impression takes it out cold. At least that’s one out of the way.

Next up was a pokemon I had only a shaky plan for, Crabominable. This horrible-looking evolution of Crabrawler has the spooky Stone Edge and a terrifying Attack to back it up. This was also basically Protoman’s only chance to get a screen up, so I had him Reflect. We get a lucky Stone Edge miss so I also Tailwind before he goes down. Then, to my great fortune, Neptune can kill clean with a z-Liquidation.

Noivern up next, a foe that’s always gone down neatly to Ms. Sidle’s Dazzling Gleam. Somehow I suspected this time, it wouldn’t quite do it– and I was right. I finish off with Luciel’s Iron Head after taking a Super Fang to the face.

Tauros is out next, a relatively straightforward pokemon. I plan on poison-stalling this one and send out Dipper. It seems to work great– I Toxic, protect, the Reflect is helping a lot in surviving Double Edges, I’m about to finish things off and deliver the final blow … and then Hau Full Restores.

This one stung, people. Poor Dipper, the punching-bag of the team, was about to finally land a rightfully earned kill of his own, and Hau takes it away with his cheap item usage. Reflect runs out after this, to rub salt in the wound. Without Reflect up and on low health, I can’t repeat Dipper’s strat. So I have to let Dipper fall valiantly once again as I potion up Luciel. Then my Golisopod finishes off the bull.

Decidueye is out next. This is the z-crystal holder. I have three pokemon left: Neptune, Luciel, and Gaz. It really is about choosing who dies to a z-move at this point. I decide Neptune is the least crucial for defeating Hau’s final two pokemon. Neptune falls to the grass z-move.

Then Luciel can come in and take a big chunk with his First Impression before his Emergency Exit triggers and kicks him back out. Gaz thus finishes up with her Bug Buzz. She fortunately doesn’t take much damage from Decidueye’s Spirit Shackle.

Finally, this leaves Hau’s Vaporeon. I get a First Impression off first, as usual, which takes Vap down to around half health. Golisopod survives a Hydro Pump and lives on a few precious HP, and I’m excited about getting a Sucker Punch, but unfortunately Vaporeon has Quick Attack. Ah well.

My last pokemon was Gaz, at around half health. It seemed fitting it should all come down to my starter. It really was a question of whether she’d survive the incoming Hydro Pump before she could Thunderbolt, because of course Arceus knows she wasn’t outspeeding anybody.

I’m still not sure if she would have survived that hit, but I like to think she would have. At the time, I had faith she would. She had surprised me a lot with tanking hits and pulling through, after all. In the end, Hydro Pump missed, and she could Thunderbolt cleanly.

And Gaz took the championship for us all.

Could we finally rest now, having been named the Alolan Champions? Or was there still something left to do?

… stay tuned to find out! :D

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Aug 13, 2019.

[kristens-chaotic-life]

What in the world is happening..

*Fair warning...I decided not to proofread this lol. So this could be messy*

Well, remember how I said I blog and then I just stop? And don’t do anything for months..years, or whatever. Yea that kinda happened. I guess it's only been months this time. But several months...because I’m pretty sure the last time I blogged that COVID wasn’t a thing. At least not here. So it's pretty safe to say that life has been absolutely crazy since mid march.  Trying to adjust to this new normal has not been easy. We finished up the year of virtual learning with the kids almost a month ago.  This just confirmed that there is no way in heck I could ever homeschool. I know, people say it's easier than the virtual thing that we were doing, but honestly I just lack the organizational skills to do it. Ask anyone how well I do at following a plan or schedule, they will tell you. We developed multiple schedules for school and chores and everything like that and I think the most successful one lasted a week. Not even kidding. So you can bet I’m praying and have my fingers crossed that we go back to school in the fall with it at least being some sort of normal! 

I’m trying to compose my thoughts into some sort of order that makes sense...but there is just so much that's happened lately it's hard! So forgive me if this is ALL over.

So...real talk here. I spent about a week recently in one of my oh so fun anxiety filled modes. I won’t go into detail over what, because it’s weird. And I know it's weird. Only a handful of people know about it. And I am super grateful for those who do because while they may not understand it at all they have learned how to deal with me..how to be helpful to me and I’m able to talk and reason things out and get to a place of being temporarily ok. And when this is going on I really seriously struggle for a while. I’ll be very up and down. Sometimes wake up in a panic and don’t even get why exactly. I’m finally coming out of it. Thank goodness..but couldn’t have without the help of awesome people.Zach trying to keep me talked down and comfort me.. Keeping myself occupied with the kids and having a friend or two over(Stephanie&Sue), AMAZING friends to talk to on the phone(Christy&Gen) and an awesome therapist to talk things through with and make me feel like I’m not so crazy! I am really grateful that I was able to get an extra appointment in this last week because I was there on Monday..I was a mess but ended up feeling somewhat better when I left. But Tuesday morning I woke up in total panic. Like what the heck is happening...why is this bothering me...why am I so panicked. Its scary..waking up feeling overwhelmed. After monday I had got to the point where I could kinda realize when the panic was coming on and kinda separate it..not let it get too overwhelming. But how in the world can you overcome that feeling when you wake up feeling like you have no control? I wrestled with it through the night/early morning and decided to call up to the office and luckily got in. That afternoon after leaving I felt better...and have been better regarding that whole situation since. So very grateful for that.  OH MY GOSH though..let's take it back a week. So the week prior to all this craziness I left my counseling session feeling different. Not sure what the heck was happening with me. I had found myself feeling really uncomfortable over something that seems so silly. A simple question regarding what I wanted to work on..and I didn’t know what to say. And it just made me feel weird. Like I’m afraid to say the wrong thing? But why? Why the heck does that make me feel like that? It's extremely rare for me to get uncomfortable in a session. As I have literally talked about almost everything and everything you could think of and been very open. But when it comes to me answering a simple question about making a decision...couldn’t do it. So I left there that day and I just kinda drove. And processed. Tried to figure out why I felt the way I did. I honestly still don’t have an answer for that...but I ended up down at the tridge...if you are local to me you know what is. If you aren’t google the tridge in midland mi. Its pretty cool. But my thought process took me to how a lot of things make me nervous or scared. And the tridge is something I’ve been across many times. But never actually alone. Why? Because I don’t like heights..not that it's that high..but it's off the ground lol. And I don’t like bridges. I sat in my car and thought for a while and then decided I was going to walk it alone..and I did. And I sat in the middle of it on a bench for a while and just thought and tried to process some things...and it felt good. Maybe next time I’ll walk by the railing...but probably not .  And I will probably be confused for a while as to what the heck got me there..what a weird process! Maybe you’ve seen that jar of fears thing floating around on fb...I finally filled out lol...yep I’m just afraid of life apparently. I swear its missing like 50 more of my fears haha.

So I’m starting to feel like I should have split this up into separate blogs...but lets be honest if I were to do that it would be another month before I came back to it...so lets keep moving on, if I haven’t lost everyone yet with my randomness.

Having a moment experiencing God...So yesterday was the first time back at worship practice. Our church opened its doors last weekend. Now this weekend I get to help lead worship. Its one of my favorite places to be hands down. Just walking back through those doors yesterday evening felt amazing. I missed being there so much. Just being in the presence of God, and around those people. It was so fun to do music and worship together..and to talk to people I haven’t seen in months. When I left though I felt overwhelmed. Not in a bad way like the anxiety mess. But just overwhelmed by the presence of God. Something that is just so hard to put into words. I spent a little time reflecting on things...I prayed. I cried. I reached out to a couple people. Honestly the only 2 people that I felt would know or somewhat understand what I was experiencing in that moment. Because I didn’t even know. I had sent a few texts that I felt like made absolutely no sense just needing to talk a little bit about what I was feeling and needing someone to pray with. And how I felt so weird asking that because I didn’t even know how to explain what was going on, and I felt somewhat embarrassed because really the words that were coming out didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I actually erased what I had sent so I didn’t have to look at it again because it sounded crazy lol. But I was assured it was ok. And we prayed. What I think got me feeling that way is a particular song lyric that just hit me really hard from a song we were doing: 

'Cause Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

Your goodness is running after, it's running after me

With my life laid down, I'm surrendered now

I give You everything

'Cause Your goodness is running after, it's running after me”

Sometimes, well really a lot of times life gets crazy and we forget..just give it all to God...and it's like why haven’t I been doing this all along. All this last week, or almost 2 weeks when I felt like I was losing my mind. Filled with anxiety, overwhelmed. Why didn’t I just surrender it all over to God...even when literally just days before I was being told to just give it to God, cry out to him and pray. I did spend time doing that then...but I just wasn’t letting it all go and trusting God to take care of it, like I should be. SO to the 2 of you...you know who you are(I literally only talked to 2 people thursday night lol so if you were one of them...its you)  I appreciate you more than words can express. I spent some time praying on this today too and I feel like I’m in a better place. 

I am SO much looking forward to Sunday and worshiping..AND its my BIRTHDAY! No place I would rather be on my birthday than there <3  and then spending time with my family. God is so good <3 

In other news in my life...the kids are all doing great. Glad to be done with “homeschooling”. The big 3 have been getting to go up to Grayling with their grammy and grandma, leaving a lot of time for just me and the little man together. Which is fun. He misses his big kids though. 

 I recently became apart of the “Ritza Creative Team” with Ritza Life which I’m pretty excited about and will be a good opportunity! AND my boutique business has been thriving lately!  I mailed all this out yesterday! I’ve never been so busy! I love it! 

www.facebook.com/groups/ktrip86boutique

If you aren’t part of my boutique group check it out :) I have face masks for sale!!

I think thats all for now..if you stuck with reading all this thanks :D Maybe one of these times I will do a shorter entry with a little less craziness and seriousness :) 

[serenephenix]

Perdu (excerpt)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Perdu

[Fandom]:Voltron: Legendary Defender

[Rating]: Mature / Gen & Other

[Genre]: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Drama, Team as Family

[Word count]:  30k +

[Warning]: elaborate tags and warning on AO3

[Status]: ongoing/ 3 chapters total

[AN]: If you’re interested, go and read the full story on AO3. Make sure to read the AN before continuing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lance meets him when he least expected it.

He just dropped off on another moon specialized in trade for intergalactic travel - at least he hopes it’s that because despite Pidge’s and Hunk’s efforts to translate Altean with their program there still were some bugs that could lead to some rather hilarious mix-ups.

His eyes sting as he turns off the system and does his best to push down the lump in his throat, to swallow the bile rising.

No use mulling it over. There was no looking back now.

The mall is a copy of the one he had last visited with the team and he finds it rather ironic that it reminds him so much of home, where every mall, no matter the city, looked exactly the same.

He heaves a sigh, exiting his pod through one of the tunnels connecting his vessel to the structure. The duffel bag slung over his shoulder rattles with the mismatch of items he has stuffed into it. Hopefully, one of those space pirates would be willing to trade with him. It was his only chance at scraping together some GAC and hopefully get some canned food that was safe to consume.

He would need it for the trip he had planned.

Weaving through the masses was easy. Finding the shop was not. Maybe his appearance, a teenager with a ratty nest of hair and bags under his eyes, was working against him. He plugs some fuzz off his jacket absentmindedly as he sits at the base of a fountain, coins glittering enticingly at the bottom. He swallows and turns around. Getting in and picking up the money might attract the wrong kind of attention.

His stomach gives a menacing growl and he can’t help but weave his arms around his middle as his muscles cramp. He had not counted on how slow the pods were in comparison to the Castle or Blue...

Nope, not going there.

Anyway, whatever goop he had packed had not lasted long enough. And although it had only been a day since he had last eaten, he feels like he would not even turn down Coran’s disgusting paladin lunch. He gives a frustrated growl, getting up with a sharp jerk and navigated through the mall once again.

When finally, he had found the place he had been looking for, and finally managed to get the shopkeeper to trust him, it had taken all of his skill and charm to persuade the alien to buy his mementos off of him. It had kind of hurt to see the collection of knick-knacks, ranging from a small Balmeran crystal to a sea-shell from his and Hunk’s trip in the depths of the ocean planet, go over the counter. Those had been gifts he had actually wanted to give to his family.

He hopes his coming back will be enough to appease them and make up for his absence.

The 4.000 GAC he had received in return felt heavy in his hand but he was aware that it would never be enough to get a few months’ worth of food. But bargaining had not worked and sob stories had been of no interest to the gray-skinned individual behind the counter.

Shoulders slumping, he trudges over to a more secluded area, probably for employees only, and sits down on the ground with his legs outstretched, resting his head against the wall.

How sad that being a Paladin of Voltron, one of the people responsible for the downfall of Zarkon, did not give him any extra brownie points with strangers. But he had nothing on his person that could even hint at his connection to the group.

He gives a growl when the tears are back again. He had spent the last few days going through every range of emotion a human could possibly feel. A roller-coaster ride that had not done his stomach any favors. He finally understood Hunk a bit better, even if he would have been happy to live without that knowledge. He cusses at his stomach when it reminds him of his most pressing problem. The jingle from the purse filled with coins only fuels his dismay.

He would like to dig into a huge plate of pasta, pizza or anything greasy and savory. Anything to curb both the gnawing hunger and piercing homesickness. But he would have to ration whatever he got. This trip was going to be long and money was, sadly, scarce.

Getting up, he makes his way to round the corner and collides with someone.

His half-empty bag goes flying as he lands on is rear with a surprised shout. The person he had run into going down completely.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry!”

He scrambles to his feet hastily, trying to help the other person get up and extending his hand.

His breath gets caught in his throat.

The man was undeniably gorgeous.

Long, white strands frame a face with sharp contours but there is no harshness to his features. He looks smart in clothes that are plain but practical, a mix of black, grays and white. But what immediately has Lance’s undivided attention are the eyes of a gold so intense it is almost blinding.

He is the most human-looking alien he has come across yet, besides the Alteans. These things aside, if he didn’t know any better Lance would have thought he had just run into some sort of beautiful deity.

His outstretched hand is taken with little hesitation and Lance needs a second to remember that he needed to actually hold onto the stranger to heave him up.

The man gives quiet thanks in return, dusting himself down.

Every move was fluid and elegant as unspectacular as the actual act of dusting oneself down may be. Once he is done his gaze goes back to Lance, a small smile on his face that makes a knot form in Lance’s stomach.

“Ah – I’m so sorry.” He stammers, feeling heat rise up to his cheeks. It was so strange how words seem to fail him when he usually considers himself suave.

The stranger slowly shakes his head, grabbing the bag and handing it over to Lance who taks it without his eyes leaving the stranger’s face.

“It is no problem. In such a crowded place one must expect to run into other people, even literally.”

Lance gives a nervous laugh: “Or them falling for you.”

The words are out before his brain is able to put in a filter and when he is met with surprised blinking, Lance suddenly realizes what he has just done. He wants to die on the spot. What the quiznak was he thinking blurting out something like that?! Point is: he wasn’t. At all. And he usually isn’t this open or brash with guys. It’s strange… But damn that had been smooth.

“Ah- um- I mean… I” his voice breaks with the flood of embarrassment taking over his thoughts and stops when a chuckle meets his ears.

The stranger has a hand before his mouth but the crinkle around his eyes betrays his amusement.

Lance gives his own nervous chuckle before the loudest growl yet makes them both stare at his stomach. Lance never knew that one could feel this self-conscious.

What had he done to deserve this?

It takes his mind little to supply him with a quiet: A lot.

“If you don’t mind,” the stranger begins; voice as kind as his glowing eyes, “I would like to invite you to eat something with me. I am sure getting to know each other while seated, is much more comfortable.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Lance can hear the echo of his failed attempt at flirting with the princess, something about talking and eating equating a date.

“You know,” he replies, grateful smile twisting up the corners of his stiff lips, “I really would like that.”

For the full chapter/ story go to Archive Please make sure to read the AN.

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Gaim

*ominous chimes sound followed by the sound of marching drums* ♫ Got it, Move~ Wooow~ ♬

2013

After a long hiatus with clipshow series to tide fans over, Tsuburaya finally creates a brand new Ultraman Series and Ultraman to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary: Ultraman Ginga

Neo Ultra Q bring the original Ultra Q concept into the modern day as its “second season” and airs on satellite  TV.

Kyoryu plus Humans! After almost a decade, the fandom’s favorite motif of Dino Sentai returns! HEAR OUR ROAR! The invincible superstars of the 37th Sentai, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger debut! Perfect-de gozaru!

DokiDoki! PreCure runs alongside the Strongest Braves and Armored Riders as the Pretty Cure series of that year.

Garo: Yami o Terasu Mono debuts on TV and stars a new Makai Knight: Ryuga Dougai.

Kouga returns for one last outing as the original Garo in Garo: Soukoku no Maryu. This film takes a more dark fantasy approach akin to 1980s Jim Henson as it is less about the scares and boobs and more of a gothic Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland tale that the whole family can enjoy with only a little blood here and there.

Gatchaman becomes a live action movie....with disappointing changes made to the source material that upset the fans, resulting in a box office flop as it made it to #6 on the charts for only its first week and then fell hard straight to the bottom in the following weeks. Fans consider it one of the top 10 worst live action adaptations of an anime. 

Another dud was the film re-imagining of the 1960s hero Tiger Mask starring Eiji Wentz.

On the more raunchy side of things, Hentai Kamen debuts on the silver screen.

Koichi Sakamoto does two solo film projects: Travelers, a sci-fi action flick starring Nao Nagasawa and Ayumi Kinoshita and 009-1, a movie that commemorated the 75th anniversary of the birth of Shotaro Ishinomori (And haunts my nightmares!)

Nuligumar Z, something that slipped past even my radar. It is a film about a Magical Girl henshin superheroine who fights zombies!

When it came time to plan the next season, Producer Naomi Takebe had an interest in breaking away from the formula a bit as the Kamen Rider series had fallen into certain patterns such as only 2 or 3 heroes each season. The first idea that came about in the Toei studio was that there would be more Riders, akin to Ryuki. The next idea was that each would have a motif unique to each of them, at first the team passed around the idea of birds and insects but Bandai suggested something completely unorthodox: Fruit.

Naomi loved this idea as it was something that was never done before and would give a unique look to each Rider to match their personality. The Toei staff test marketed kids to find out what kinds of fruit they liked, with the most popular being oranges. So they decided to make an orange fruit samurai as the main lead! 

In terms of music, Avex got a band outside their record label, reggae group Shonan no Kaze, to perform some of the songs of the show and movies with the actors who play the main heroes doing their own themes. Ei Ei OH!

As for the trinkets, the staff wanted it to be like OOO where the device was easy to swap out. (And because OOO was the highest selling Kamen Rider toys on record to date and they kept trying to get those numbers again despite OOO being a lightning in a bottle happenstance.).

Naomi had one idea about “unlocking potential” and after some brainstorming, the staff came up with the idea of using padlocks as a gimmick and enhance it with the fruit motif. But the staff decided it needed a bit more pizazz so they chose to set the show it in a “Sengoku-like setting”, thus the concept of armors came about. To add more flavor, no pun intended, they chose not just armors from ancient Japan, but ancient China, European Knights, Norse Vikings, ancient Arabian archers and a Roman gladiator!

To add to the sheer bizarreness of this mixture they added a guy famously known for a show about killing young girls in a dark deconstruction of the magical girl genre as its head writer:

Gen Urobuchi, dubbed by fans of his work as “Gen the Butcher” or “The Urobutcher.” A self proclaimed nihilist in terms of his dark style of writing, Gen’s involvement caused quite a stir in the fandom and excitement built up. This happened because the voice of Kivat the 3rd from Kiva, Tomokazu Sugita, worked with him previously and introduced him to Naomi Takebe.

Despite seeming out of place for this type of thing, Gen was a huge fan of Kamen Rider, having read Ishinomori’s Black manga when he was a teen and favorites like Ryuki (which may or may not have inspired Puella Magi Madoka Magica) as well as universal fan faves like the Kamen Rider Black TV Show.

Gen also saw this as a challenge, as he had been in a rut doing nothing but anime for a while and needed a change of pace. He was instructed to make the series like “Early Showa Era” Kamen Rider, which only made fans want to see it more.

Then we saw the costumes.....and the fandom had a schism form as some thought Kamen Rider was “ruined 4everz”.

But Gaim is now one of the more highly praised Kamen Rider shows of recent memory. Many enjoying it for going into darker territory at times, having characters you root for, a few deaths and a genuine sense of danger if the heroes fail in the later parts of the season. Also, a plot that neatly threads together (more or less).

Granted, it also had a few hiccups, like the summer 2014 film that was more or less a forced tie-in to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Kamen Rider Taisen’s plot and the awesome but forced and disrupting-a-story-arc Kikaider crossover episode to plug the movie Kikiader Reboot.

The praise was so high for the show that internet geek fan website Den of Geek proclaimed it as the best tokusatsu show in years. (I’d like to think Garo deserves that title at least once in a while and every toku franchise has its day when it hits it outta the park, but I’m just a Fox with opinion) I’d say go into Gaim with expectations leveled, as you are automatically setting yourself up for possible disappointment if overhype clouds your judgement.

If you think it is as great as everybody says, great! If you don’t like it, there are (currently as of this post) 27 other shows of varying styles and tone you can try out or other franchises of the toku genre that may be your cup of tea.

But enough yammering...It’s Lord Kouta’s stage now! ORAAAAA!

(Mr. Kazuraba circa 2013)

Real Name: Kouta Kazuraba

“Pluck the fruit of Heaven. That the world may be dyed in your image. Is that the glory you seek? Is that burden one you can bear? Know this. The lives of men are not ours to control, not even our own. We cannot defy the inexorable current of fate that carries us. But what if fate itself were to call you... To change the world? To turn the course of the future? You cannot defy your fate. But the fate of the world is in your hands!”

In a bustling planned community called Zawame City, the Yggdrasil Corporation provides everyday needs, from healthcare to housing to schools. Zawame used to be a small town, but Yggdrasil moved in and made it a pet project. With a large corporation running everything, people in Zawame feel it is like a “castle town” of the Sengoku Era of old.

And in this town, they call home, everyone hails to a Beat Rider song. Beat Riders are special dance groups that lift the spirits of the citizens. Beat Riders also engage in competitions for turf with other Beat Riders dance groups in Pokemon-like battles using Lock Seeds to summon monsters from another dimension called Inves. One former dancer is Kouta Kazuraba, who has given up his life as a member of Team Gaim and fun to basically adult. (I know that feeling all too well). This has caused a rift between his friends such as Mai as he no longer has time for them and after spending time with Team Gaim’s leader Yuya, goes back to his adult life.

Yuya later talks to a Lock Dealer named Sid, who offers him something to turn Team Gaim’s luck around after their loss to Team Baron...

Kouta later gets a text from Yuya, telling him he found “something good” with an image of a strange device sent as an attachment. Mai and Kouta then encounter a dimensional tear and go inside it, After Kouta picks some strange fruit from the dimension, a larger Inves appears and attacks Mai. They find the device lying on the ground and no sign of Yuya anywhere. Kouta puts on the device, as it looks like a belt buckle and it causes the fruit he was carrying to transform into Lock Seeds. The Inves finds them and chases them again back into their world, and after distracting it, Kouta uses the belt and a Lock seed to become what would later be dubbed an “Armored Rider”.

During his battle with the Inves, a mysterious blonde woman appears to warn Kouta that what he chooses next will determine the course of his fate. If he continues to continue, he will be forced to fight until the very end. Kouta kills the Inves and then goes down a winding path of mysteries, alliances, betrayals and revelations of the dark truth of both Yggdrasil Corp. and the Inves.

Looking back on it, that was when the gears were just starting to turn. But, we didn't realize anything at all. We didn't know that our fates were already written in stone. We just wanted the power to reach our dreams. We thought that helped shape us. That's what we all believed. In the endless war that was yet to come. We would discover that for ourselves.

-Kouta Kazuraba

During one adventure, he met his predecessor Kamen Rider Wizard, who bestowed the title of Kamen Rider to him and the two fought an evil sorcerer alongside the other Heisei Riders.

Gear:

Sengoku Driver

Lockseeds

Lockseed Holder

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Lock_Vehicles

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_Parts

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Musou_Saber_Holster

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Musou_Saber

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Daidaimaru

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ichigo_Kunai

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Pine_Iron

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Suika_Sojinto

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Arrow

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Genesis_Driver#Genesis_Core_Unit

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/DJ_Gun

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Senyo_Joint

Powers:

Enhanced Strength from the various armors, skilled weapons user with various weapons at Gaim’s disposal which is further enhanced by his final form.

The Jimber Forms give Kouta a specific enhancement: Super Hearing in Jimber Peach, Super Speed in Jimber Cherry and Enhanced Power in Jimber Lemon. Kachidoki Arms generates fire from the war flags that Gaim carries and has an AWESOME Gun that turns into a Zanbatō!

When the “Madoka moment” happens in the show, Gaim basically becomes a demi-god. He has florakinesis, teleportation, spirit mediumship, telepathy, attack nullification, exorcism, healing powers, dream walking, reality warping, time travel (by way of the golden fruit), portal creation, resurrection ability and a healing factor. Kouta also possessed the power to terraform an environment as large as an entire planet.

Even if his Lockseeds are damaged, Kouta can regenerate them to working condition as long as he is alive and bears the power of the fruit.

Kiwami Arms can summon multiple Arms weapons which Kouta can manipulate via telekinesis to attack his opponents (as seen in the game All Kamen Rider: Rider Revolution).

Weaknesses:

Before the “Madoka moment”, all one needed to do to defeat Gaim was destroy his driver as he was an ordinary human or swipe away all his Lockseeds. He also was susceptible to mind control and “Dark Henshin-ed” once in to a black version of Gaim.

As a demi-god, it is shown that while Kouta is a formidable opponent, certain beings can drain his power away rendering him human again and thus able to be killed (Ex. Megahex). If the “back-up” of his genetic data inside the Kiwami Lockseed is destroyed, then Kouta would be dead and gone forever as he would have no means of reviving.

He also can be overpowered by stronger beings, though ones of such god-like cosmic threat level are few in the Kamen Rider universe.

Given his near God-tier status now though, it is a difficult task to even make a dent in him for the average Rider.

Enemies:

Inves

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Inves

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Advanced_Inves

Inves are beings from another dimension who at first are like Pokemon to the people of Earth, a fun harmless pet they could summon to fight battles in called the Inves Games from Lockseeds. However, it becomes apparent after the first episode that they are far from innocent, as they are wild beasts who feed on the fruit of the Helheim Forest/Lockseeds to grow even stronger and evolve into larger monsters and attack people. However, despite seeming to be mindless, there is a dark secret as to what exactly they are.

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Over_Lord_Inves

Some of the Inves posses sapient-level intelligence and these are classified a the OverLord Inves. They command the feral and savage members of their race.

Yggdrasil Corp.

(Riff: Yggdrasil, a subsidiary of EvilCorp Conglomerates United and Amalgamated Cheese.)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Yggdrasill_Corporation

Yggdrasil is a major multinational corporation run by the Kureshima family. They set up their new HQ in Zawame seemingly out of interest in a city development project, but have a more serious ulterior motive in stopping a mass outbreak of the Inves that they believe will wipe out humanity.

Despite this seemingly noble goal of saving humanity, Yggdrasil’s means of doing so are morally questionable at best and outright horrifying at worst.

Word eventually gets leaked that they were going to let 6 billion humans die as they could only save 1 billion in the event of mass outbreak if the Helheim Forest spread. They are then labeled as terrorists by the UN and after a domino effect, including a siege of the Zawame Branch by the Inves, the company went into bankruptcy.

However, its former CEO does try to repent for his company’s sins by helping rebuild Zawame and protecting it in Kouta’s absence.

(Though the Melon Lord wasn’t a bad guy to begin with, just a bit arrogant and misguided in believing there was no other way to save humanity and things went out of his control as the series progressed. Kouta eventually got through to him and the two became friends.)

That’s all for now, I leave you to bask in the metal mustachioed glory that is Kachidoki Arms!

#RiseUpYourFlag!

[jaybug-jabbers]

Bug Run 4: The Final Reckoning

So, here’s the thing. I wanted to go into this last gauntlet as low-levelled as possible.

So I tried several times. I’ll give some recaps of those warm-ups. But in the end, I did find I needed to level up on levels on par with Cynthia in order  to properly face her. I do want to include the warm-ups, however, because those lower Elite fights become quite trivial at higher levels. So I feel like the warm-ups do cast an important light on the merits of the team.

Just as a quick refesher on the rules:

1.) no healing items during battle unless the foe uses them first, and then I can only match the items one-for-one.

2.) no entering the Elite four at levels higher than the highest-level pokemon in the Elites/Champion.

Warm-Up One

With this first warm-up, my team was all at levels 55. Honestly, they did surprisingly well, all things considered. The first few Elites, specializing in Bug and Ground, were not any trouble. After all, ROFLCOPTER’s Ancient Power/Air Slash could just sweep the bug team, and I had plenty of ways of handling the ground team as well. (In fact, Maestro took out Rhyperior all on his own– which I am so proud of. The power of Screech and Brick Break, and Rhyperior missing one of his Megahorns, heh.)

The true challenge was Flint.

One of only two Elites who specialize in the Fire type, surely this was the true test of a bug team’s mettle.

I started off with my Drapion, as you can imagine his typing and his Earthquake were pretty important for this match. Sadly I fall JUST short of a 1HKO on Houndoom. The dog gets Sunny Day up, which is … really, really bad. Then Flint heals. I take out Houndoom the next time, but that’s the least of my concerns. Infernape is next up, and I send out Yanmega, because I’m certain it will outspeed Drapion. After a little Protect just in case, I Air Slash, which juuuuuuust barely falls short of killing. Fortunately Infernape Flare Blitzes and takes us both out. My Black Fang is back out again, squaring off against Flareon. Sadly, my EQ doesn’t one-shot, so I get an Overheat straight to the face. I finally bring Flareon down, but next up is the scary horse that is Very Fast. I revive my dragonfly (potion was used on Houndoom) and send him out. While Rapidash spends a turn getting Sunny Day back up, I throw some rocks. Another turn of rocks and it goes down, but then the major problem hits.

It’s Magmortar. In the sun, no less.

My Ancient Power hardly even phases him, depressingly. Once ROFL goes down, that’s it. Magmortar outspeeds everyone in a giant ball of fire.

Warm-Up Two

So, no real surprise that Magmortar presented a bit of a problem for us. My second warm-up had my team all at levels 57 when I started out. This is the level of Flint’s ace poke. These higher levels made things a lot easier: Black Fang took Houndoom out in one hit, preventing Sunny Day. ROFL’s Air Slash on Infernape took him out clean this time. Fang’s EQ could also clean out Flareon in one hit. Rapidash was the first to not fall to one hit: he took one Ancient Power, just barely. However, ROFL somehow survived the Flare Blitz and Rapidash fell to recoil.

I’m sad to say ROFL’s rocks still barely put a dent in Magmortar; and Magmortar still outsped nearly everyone on my team still. Except for one– Black Fang. Thankfully, EQ killed, letting us squeak on by.

The last Elite member was a Psychic specialist. As you can imagine, for a full-bug team, this wasn’t too terrifying a prospect. I sent Maestro out first, 1HKOing the Mr. Mime. Gallade was the ace, and pretty damn tough. I decide to send Fang out to get a couple Scary Faces off, because his speed terrifies me. Then I smash away with Poison Jabs, poisoning him in the process. I’m almost home free until (of course) Full Restore rains on my parade. So I continue the process, stabbing away with Poison Jab, but my foe decides to be clever and switch Bronzong in. I try using Crunch on it just to see, but it’s not really worth much; I drop to Extrasensory and probably shouldn’t have wasted Drapion like that.

That said, Maestro goes in and has this covered for me. I’ve spent many an hour beating up Bronzongs in Victory Road and know that one Screech and the bell falls to my X-Scissors, despite the bulk and the resistances. No worries.

Gallade returns from his break, so I send ROFL in. I proect on what I think is his last Stone Edge before Air Slashing him to death.

Last is Alakazam. Air Slash puts him at 1 HP, which is quite annoying, because of course Full Restore is next. Yes, I don’t have Bug Buzz on ROFL. I know, that’s a bit silly, but I wanted to pack a bunch of coverage moves on him. Anyway, I bring Fiberglass in and smash away with Iron Heads as plan B. I take 2 Focus Blasts to the face easily and immerge victorious.

Easy peasy.

But truth be told, despite how far we had gotten, we just weren’t ready for a particular pokemon to come.

Cynthia’s opeing Spiritomb is easy enough. I used Cleo to toxic it and healed heavily, and swooped in with Attack Order when the time was ripe.

Togekiss was out next, which … is pretty scary. I had equipped Black Fang with Rock Slide, but Togekiss is still bulky as fuck. Plus, Air Slash did a LOT to Fang, even though it wasn’t super effective. I got lucky with the flinches, simply put (even after one full restore from our champion). Somehow, against a Togekiss, this seems fitting, though.

Luck wasn’t going to carry us through Garchomp, though. The run ended there, once again in flames. It was just too high-levelled and too strong.

Warm-Up Three

I spent some time grinding more, getting the team up to levels 60-62. I also bought and grabbed a few extra HMs and items. I would need to be careful and incredibly precise with this battle.

This fight came so incredibly close. It certainly confirmed I was on the right track.

I opened with Fiberglass, setting down my Stealth Rock. I bashed away at Spiritomb with Iron Head, which was around a four or five hit kill. That sounds slow, but Fiberglass resisted the Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls that it threw at me, so it was quite reasonable. I did get some bad luck with a Special Defense drop on a Shadow Ball, though. This means when Cynthia stopped to potion up, I did too. Eventually Spiritomb fell, though.

Next was Garchomp. She was going right to the big guns this time. I had a plan for this, though. I sent out my Drapion, equipped with a Focus Sash. The plan was Scary Face. I absolutely needed to drop its terrible speed. Lacking any paralyzing moves whatsoever, Scary Face was all I had. Earthquake brought me down to 2 HP (which was hilarious, not even consuming the sash) and I got the Scary Face off; then I pondered my next move. I decided to risk swapping Cleopatra in.

She switched in on an Earthquake as I had hoped, and then was able to Toxic. She tanked Garchomp’s Flamethrower damn admirably, and was able to heal off the damage several times. Then a critical hit catches her and she goes down. Still, it felt like holding back an ocean tide, and I was impressed she managed to do it as long as she did.

Then I sent Maestro in.

“A fucking Kricketune against a Garchomp?” you ask. “Are you mad?”

But this Kricketune had a Pomeg berry and that weird move Natural Gift. As most of you probably don’t remember this weird-ass move introduced in gen IV, the move’s power and typing changes depending on the berry you hold. It’s kind of like Hidden Power, but easier to manipulate … but can only be done once, as it consumes the berry.

Pomeg berry translates to a base 70 Ice attack. And it worked, taking the Garchomp down. It was deeply satisfying.

Next was Togekiss. I had hoped Fiberglass could do a little chip damage but her health was just too low and she went down immediately. Somehow, I manage to take Togekiss out with 2 Ancient Powers from ROFL, though (after surviving an Air Slash).

Milotic is out next, and I’m fully aware how tanky this beast is. I send out Sparkler to try a Bug Buzz, and get a very lucky critical hit– sending the HP down to 1/3. Ice beam then takes us out, but ROFL can easily revenge with Air Slash.

Lucario is next! I try Air Slash, and it brings him down to less then ½ health, which is great! But what’s not so great is Lucario has Stone Edge. Another bug drops.

Maestro manages to get the kill with Brick Break– surviving a Stone Edge to do so. It feels fantastic, but we’re in deep trouble now. I’m down to just two pokemon; Maestro and Black Fang, and they’re both in the low red.

It’s just not quite enough. She outspeeds Maestro and so he’s gone.

And that’s it. The run stops here. I know Fang can’t 1HKO.

We came so close, though. So ridiculously close. What if our luck had been just a little bit better? Or what if … what if I put the Focus Sash on Sparkler? I’d already seen Fang could just barely survive one hit.

What would happen then?

One More Fight

The rematch is very, very similar to before, with only a few small differences.

This time round, Fiberglass got through Spiritomb a little more easily. I didn’t need to use a potion to get through it when Cynthia potioned it; I just plugged away and brought the ghost down.

The fight with Garchomp went pretty similarly. I got a Scary Face off with Drapion, swapped Cleo in, did some toxic stalling … although once Garchomp’s health gets into the red and I choose “Toxic” again, anticipating the Full Restore, for some odd reason it never comes. Garchomp Dragon Rushes instead– which misses, and toxic of course fails. The following turn, Garchomp goes down. I have no idea why Cynthia didn’t Full Restore that time, but in the long run, it didn’t make a difference, as you will see.

Next up was Togekiss, and I send Fiberglass back in, but potion up Drapion this time– using the potion I was owed that Cynthia used before on her Spiritomb. Fiberglass goes down to a critical Air Slash, and Drapion goes out to tough it out again with Rock Slides. Once again, Cynthia potioning up and I need to Rock Slide through another round, but manage to not fall victom to Rock Slide misses. I’m thankful.

Milotic is next again, and Sparkler Bug Buzzes. He does not score a crit this time, and I see just how pitiful the damage is when it’s not a crit. Oof. My sash is consumed and I get one more hit off, which helps, but Milotic is not as low as before. When I send ROFL in, Air Slash does not kill.

Oddly, Milotic decides to Mirror Coat instead of Ice Beam. I take heavy damage but don’t die. I try to Giga Drain, now confused over what Milotic was doing, and thinking the HP might help me survive a non-ice hit. It brings Milotic down into the red but she still doesn’t DIE, and Cynthia potions back up.

This wasn’t going good. I attack more, finally go down to an Ice Beam, and bring Fang in to revenge-kill with a Poison Jab, which thankfully does the job.

Lucario is out next. I swap in Cleo, who’s in the low red. I use the chance to do one thing: potion Drapion back up again. Cleo goes down, and Drapion can kill with one EQ.

Finally, Roserade. I’m back to the same scenario as before– with Maestro and Fang the last ones standing– but both are at full health this time.

Two Poison Jabs take Roserade down, and that’s that.

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Dec 14, 2018.