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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years

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What do you think would happen if one of the Cullens realized they might also be "in love" with Bella during Twilight along side Ed. Mates be damned (not like their marriages are gonna last anyway), and everyone's on the table (just 1 love rival, not at the same time buuuuut could you imagine the chaos? *cough*). The usual Bella eaten/killed by Eddy boi is def on the table obvie, but like do you think there's a chance he might concede to one of his family (or just any other alternatives)? -Sw

Oh boy.

Why I Don’t Think This Is a Possibility

That said, I have to caveat that I don’t think this is a very likely path (sorry, I cannot resist).

It’s true I don’t think any of the Cullen relationships will last in the long term, but I also don’t think they’re inclined to cheat on one another or fall apart at a moment’s notice. They’ve made it this long, several decades, but more, none of them realizes anything is lacking from their respective relationship.

Carlisle and Esme are very devoted to one another and don’t realize they have fundamentally conflicting values. Jasper and Alice think they fulfil each other’s needs and don’t realize that they share nothing in common. Rosalie and Emmett’s is the healthiest relationship in the house but don’t see their major issues (Emmett doesn’t really support or understand Rosalie and Rosalie loves Emmett mostly for his love of her).

My point being, none of them are going to realize it’s not working out anytime soon. They’re going to need a catalyst, and per the end of Twilight, one is coming. Either a confrontation with the Volturi occurs, Renesmee decides to leave, the Cullen lifestyle changes, or things with Bella go awry. It can be any number of things, and it will happen given time, but at the start of Twilight we haven’t hit that point yet.

There’s also the fact that of the Cullens, only Edward would do this nonsense, and even for him it takes Bella’s delicious blood to grab his attention. When she was an ordinary human, he was not interested in the slightest, not even in her gift.

Each of the Cullens (Sans Alice and Esme) is completely baffled by Edward’s emotional whiplash and attachment to this human girl he doesn’t even know. Bella only becomes a vague concept to them when she enters as a serious fixture in Edward’s life, but even then, they really don’t know what to think.

No one in the family will do what Edward did in Twilight. Look at this girl they don’t even know and say “Ah, yes, I’m in love.”

Now, that out of the way, let’s play ball.

Alice

This actually will work out shockingly well if only because I suspect Alice will come up with the pragmatic solution of “sharing”.

First, Alice is by far the closest Cullen member to Edward. He holds her in high esteem, feels a strong sense of kinship with her, actually confides in her, and sees her as a very close friend. Edward looks up to Carlisle and adores Esme, but it’s not the same.

If Alice sees herself as getting together with Bella I don’t think she’d see this as mutually exclusive to Edward having Bella. Alice cares deeply for Edward’s happiness, far more than she does Bella’s general existence, and I think the idea of entering a joint marriage with Edward and Bella would be very appealing to her.

She’d have to ease Edward into it, of course, as he’d balk at the very idea of it, but I think he’d see it as a strengthening of his and Alice’s relationship as well as having the wonderful Bella. Better yet, Alice can be physical with Bella while Edward can go compose music about their love.

As it is this... This is kind of what happens in canon.

Alice tells Edward that not only is he in love with Bella, but that Bella is going to be her best friend, so he better not muck it up. She has to ease him into the idea of being in love with Bella throughout the first part of Twilight. Then, when the relationship is solidified, Alice is right there introducing herself as Bella’s new BFF. Bella’s friendship with Alice throughout the series is extremely homoerotic and I imagine it remains so after Breaking Dawn.

Edward is very pleased that Bella counts Alice as her best friend, Alice being far and away his favorite sibling and the one he approves of Bella spending time with (generally, when she’s not foiling his schemes).

I don’t think Alice and Bella will ever have sex, per se, but I imagine they remain quite physical with each other and Edward looks on with approval thinking to himself that this is how all female friendships should be.

And if Jasper has the nagging suspicion his wife is cheating on him then he’s not functioning quite well enough to put it into words just yet.

Carlisle

Edward would lose his mind.

First, Edward is very into Carlisle, and for all he insists his feelings are filial they sound remarkably romantic. I’d drop a quote, but it’s pretty much every time Edward thinks of Carlisle in Midnight Sun. More than that, Carlisle is the man Edward aspires to be, someone he sees as profoundly more good than he could ever hope to be.

Edward projects a very similar personality onto Bella herself.

So, I imagine if Carlisle sits Edward down and says, “Actually, Edward, I have fallen in love with this Bella” Edward feels very conflicting things all at once.

On the one hand, this means Esme/Carlisle is collapsing. Edward personally brought those two together and adores the idea of their relationship. Their relationship is what he hopes his and Bella’s will look like and is to him the married ideal of a perfect Mother and a perfect Father.

Carlisle/Esme alone falling apart would give him a complete existential crisis. That’s not allowed to happen.

And then that Carlisle wants Bella Swan for himself?! Edward would be faced with the immediate,horrifying, thought that for all Carlisle is a vampire he would be the perfect man for saint like Bella. Carlisle and Bella deserve one another, would be perfect together, and Edward should not begrudge them that.

On the other hand, Edward himself is in love with Bella, and while he thought he could nobly leave her, now he has to nobly stand to the side and watch as Carlsile and her marry. It’d be a very romantic and tragic thing to do, but there’s leaving Bella to her human life, and then watching her up front for the rest of eternity while bitterly hiding his feelings.

More, Carlisle will turn her. If Bella is his true love, then there’s no question of that. Edward’s seen where this goes with Emmett. He will destroy Bella Swan to be with her forever, and Edward will have to live with the shell of Bella Swan staring back at him, fucking his father, forever.

I imagine Edward desperately pretends to concede to Carlisle, to be happy for the pair of them, but as things progress and Bella’s permanent position in the family looks more and more likely, he loses his mind. He’ll snap and there is no telling what he might do.

My money’s on him mercy killing Bella while she’s still human behind Carlisle’s back. He’s sobbing while he does it, but he just can’t let Bella be tarnished by vampirism, and now he will carry this tragic, terrible, secret for the rest of time.

Whether Carlisle was going to turn her or not is up to debate. Given he turned none after Emmett, I think he learned his lesson from Rosalie and would be more than willing to let Bella go, even if he loves her, should it mean he would not force something she does not want and does not understand upon her.

That said, I think he’d never tell Edward his feelings for Bella, as that would ruin Edward’s fledgling relationship with the girl. This is Edward’s first brush with love and seems to be the only romantic love he’ll ever have. Edward has been so miserable for so long that Carlisle would easily give up his own happiness for Edward.

So, more likely, Twilight would happen anyway and Carlisle would spend the entire time being utterly miserable and pretending he’s perfectly fine. LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS, ESME.

Emmett

Edward tattles to Rosalie immediately.

He loves Emmett, but he knows Emmett can’t possibly be serious about this, and more, fundamentally doesn’t understand how wonderful and amazing Bella is. He wants to turn her into a vampire, clearly, Emmett doesn’t know what’s best for the girl.

More, a man who would so easily break his marriage vows (even to Rosalie), does not deserve Bella Swan.

Edward watches Rosalie and Emmett’s marriage utterly disintegrate with a juice box filled with mountain lion blood and swoops in on Bella while Emmett is thoroughly distracted. Edward then gaslights Bella into believing Emmett is dangerous and despises her, making Emmett the new and improved Jasper.

Esme

Esme would never tell Edward or likely even realize her feelings for Bella herself. If she did though, she would give up the possibility of a future with Bella Swan in a heartbeat for Edward’s happiness, which means everything to her.

Esme will have no regrets, won’t even smile sadly at Bella, because she has Carlsile as her consolation prize and she gets to see the joy in both Bell and Edward’s faces which is far more important than having Bella to herself.

Esme would live vicariously through Bella and Edward’s relationship as well as the very existence of Renesmee.

Like Alice, this is one of those things that’s pretty much canon. I won’t say anything for Esme’s feelings, it’s more that Esme ships Bella with Edward (and mostly because Edward himself comes to obsess over her), but she does seem to vicariously get her joy through their nuclear family within the Cullen family.

Esme is a very strange person.

Jasper

Edward would attempt to murder Jasper or at least severely injure him. Jasper would be the ultimate threat to Bella, not even a man unworthy of her but not a man at all, and exactly what Edward needs to protect Bella against.

Alice tries to stop the fight, to no avail, and Edward will ultimately lose (despite all his confidence). I imagine Jasper doesn’t kill him, but tears apart his limbs, and uses Edward’s lack of mobility to kidnap and then turn Bella.

Bella has no idea what’s happening and the next thing she knows she’s a vampire and Jasper is telling her they have to leave the area (as he must now leave the coven).

Edward tries to track them down for the rest of eternity. He will get vengeance upon Jasper and save Bella this terrible demonic existence forced upon her. Of course, he ends up lost in Rio.

Rosalie

Edward would tell her that her feelings cannot possibly be real. Bella is a woman. More, Rosalie is unworthy of Bella in every possible regard, even more so than Edward himself.

Basically, Edward would lay into Rosalie in a way that he never has before with all of his venom. He will do everything he can to sabotage Bella’s opinion of Rosalie before Rosalie can even get a word in edgewise. He is successful at it due to Bella’s perilously low self esteem (much the reason he was successful with this endeavor in canon).

Rosalie and Edward get in a vicious fight and I imagine Rosalie eventually confronts Bella, making an opportunity to do so, and both warns her away from Edward, tells her everything, and offers to turn her despite Rosalie’s own mixed experiences.

Rosalie and Edward probably then fight and it quickly turns into something that’s very serious. If Edward wins, he murders Rosalie in the heat of the moment, and then leaves the coven in horror over what Carlisle must think of him now. If Rosalie wins... I don’t think she will, she cares for Edward far too much and would never truly be able to aim to kill or maim.

Edward disappears, drowning in his self hatred, and returns to find Bella Swan at some later date unable to resist the call of her scent. Depending where she is in her life, he likely murders her human husband if she has one and dvours her, as Alice prophesied so long ago.

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samatheia229 · 4 years

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PJO Mortal AU (Solangelo-centric)

The Olympia Family

(AKA the family with so much chaos and drama, they would have made an even more popular reality TV show than Keeping Up with the Kardashians)

Thalia Grace - 24

An ambassador of the Artemis Foundation

Badass

Won't hesitate to throw hands at anyone who messes with her family.

Very protective of her little brother and cousins.

Not afraid to speak her mind and fight for what she thinks is right.

Has a kind of love-hate relationship with her stepmother Hera. While Thalia respects and acknowledges Hera as her stepmother, she is a free spirit, and hates being chained down by the old-fashioned rules Hera imposes.

Briefly dated Luke Castellan for 2 years, but broke up due to reasons. The break up was mutual and Luke still remains as one of Thalia's closest friends.

Deadly with a bow and arrow (she'd be hunting down hunters like they hunt animals for living if it weren't for the fact that murder is unfortunately illegal).

Jason Grace - 19

Sophomore at Uni (double majors in Management and Aerodynamic Engineering)

Flight school graduate

Heir to Jupiter Airlines (given that his father doesn't plan to retire anytime soon, Jason is considering becoming a pilot in the meantime)

Hera's favourite child since he actually follows her rules (He bends them slightly every now and then, but she doesn't need to know that).

Regular at the Manhattan Chess Club

Has an intense rivalry with his older cousin Percy that's been going on for like 10 years now... (his life goal is to beat Percy. They're currently at a stalemate of 3795 wins each.)

Very protective of Nico. He almost had an aneurysm when he heard that grumpy, little stay-away-or-I’ll-death-glare-you Nico had a boyfriend. A boyfriend.

Has a best friend Leo Valdez who is an engineer student with an eccentric personality and is a mischievous menace. His childhood friend, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, is an athlete in javelin-throwing and currently resides in her hometown in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but they still keep in touch.

Dating Piper McLean, the 19-year-old founder of the Beautifully Imperfect Foundation

Zeus Olympia

CEO of Jupiter Airlines

Drama Queen TM

Favours Thalia more despite Jason being his heir and enables most of her rebellious antics, much to Hera's chagrin.

Can be rather childish and petty ("It's been 43 years, and I've long since given up on expecting him to change," Hades deadpanned.)

As the youngest child of the Olympia family and with his father on Death's doorstep, Zeus was given a lot of free reign, hence his playboy tendencies. He eventually did settle down with Hera Junos, the single daughter of one of the oldest families in Greece. Hera was fond of children but was unable to sire her own due to medical issues, which led to Zeus getting a mistress (with Hera's begrudged consent), Beryl Grace, the daughter of Hera's family chef. Beryl has always had a rather strange personality and an unhealthy obsession with alcohol. A few years after giving birth to Thalia and Jason Grace respectively, her liver gave way and she died before they could find a solution.

Hera Olympia (formerly Junos)

Zeus' wife

The kids call her ‘Aunt Ra’

Jason is her favourite child because he actually listens to her

Coming from both a high-class and old family, Hera was raised to be a perfect lady (a lady should not wear pants or speak out of turn etc. etc.) and has a rather old-fashioned way of thinking, enforcing strict rules in her household.

She still loves Thalia, but because the way Thalia acts goes against everything Hera was taught, her relationship with her stepdaughter is a bit strained. Hera now mostly lets Thalia do her own thing, but every now and then might still be a bit controlling. She's trying, okay?

Bianca di Angelo - 19

Sophomore at Uni (majors in Journalism and English Literature)

Works part-time at the Artemis Foundation

Generally quiet and shy, but has a tendency to fuss over small details.

Very responsible and possibly the only one with a brain cell among the cousins. (Proteus and Triton don’t even live in the same continent half of the time; Kym doesn't give a damn; Thesi is too nice to reprimand them; Ro‘s too busy fawning over her fiancé; Hero is more likely to fan the flames than quell them; Thalia, Jason, Percy and Nico are always either competing against each other or breaking the Internet with their antics again; Hazel is pretty innocent but has a slight vindictive streak so caution must be exercised; and Tyson and Estelle are innocent beans of sunshine that must be protected).

She can be bold when she wants to be, as well as reckless.

Has her father's habit of gesturing with her hands while talking and when she is on edge.

Ace

Nico di Angelo - 17

High school Senior

Heir to Pluto Corp.

Resident Emo in the family (“I'm not emo!” “Your only-dark-clothing phase says otherwise.” “It's not a phase, Persephone!” “Like father, like son.”)

Stubborn AF

Can't deal with all his overprotective sisters and cousins

Currently pining over William Solace ("Shut up!")

Avid gamer, plays digital games, card games (his childhood and to-this-day favourite is Myth-o-magic, which is one of the reasons he approves of Hazel's boyfriend, Frank) and all games in general (he visits the arcade monthly to make sure he's still 1st place in every game there)

Has a tendency to hold grudges and gestures with his hands while talking or when on edge, a habit he shares with his father and older sister.

Plays the violin (Persephone had introduced him to it, and he'd taken a liking to it)

Hazel Olympia (formerly Levesque) - 14

High school Freshman

Aspiring artist (she’s won thirty different art competitions locally in the span of three years and placed silver last year in the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition under an anonymous name because she wanted to win by her own merit rather than rely on the Olympia name. Hades plans to surprise her by giving her own exhibition hall for her next birthday.)

Regular at the Manhattan Riding Club

Has a bit of a vindictive streak in her that was probably born out of spite due to her upbringing

Exudes a powerful aura of passive aggressiveness, but is also incredibly kind and magnanimous

Has the ability is summon, manipulate and detect precious minerals, as well as the ability to place curses on them. (This knowledge is confidential and hidden from the public)

Loves her family with all her heart, and literally no one is more protective of Nico than she is

She was the first but also last person to know about Nico's boyfriend (First because she goes to the same school and is not dense, thank you very much, but technically last because she was the last person that Nico officially told since Will is terrified of her for some reason, something about her being 'the FINAL BOSS'; this amuses Hazel to no end).

Has a very cute crush on Frank Zhang, a HS Junior who’s an archer and animal lover (it’s mutual, by the way).

Hades Olympia

CEO of Pluto Corp., one of the largest companies in the mining industry.

#DONE with life and all the people in it, particularly his crazy family

Functions solely on his children, Persephone and caffeine, usually caffeine because the other two are often the cause of his high blood pressure

Broods a lot (”I don’t brood.” “Yes, you do.”)

Deadpan 200% of the time and takes no shit

Loves all his children equally and definitely does not have a favourite (it’s Hazel, in case you’re wondering)

As the eldest son of the three brothers, Hades was betrothed and wed to his childhood best friend Persephone Terrafield by their fathers in an attempt at a business partnership (Spoiler Alert: It didn’t work out in end). Admittedly, Hades and Persephone did have a small infatuation with each other when they were younger, but it never grew into anything serious, and as they grew older he saw her as more of a sibling than a lover and vice versa. After the inevitable death of his father, Hades and Persephone divorced but literally nothing in their relationship changed since they’d never loved each other romantically in the first place. When Hades decided to court their mutual friend, Italian diplomat Maria di Angelo, Persephone supported both of them wholeheartedly. In the span of the seventeen years they were together, Maria gave Hades two beautiful children, Bianca and Nico. Unfortunately, Maria passed away after being on life support for two years in result of a plane crash when Nico was 6.

In the two years when Maria was hospitalized, Hades was so desperate to find his beloved a cure that he sought out a witch doctor that was rumoured to be in New Orleans. Marie Levesque, the aforementioned witch, was a greedy, manipulative person with a deluded and unstable mind, who drugged Hades and essentially raped him because she thought his spawn would have the perfect blood for experimenting magic on. She used magic to wipe his memory of the previous night’s events and handed him an ‘antidote’ that was actually just water dyed a milky white. After ten years, Marie finally revealed to Hades a 12-year-old Hazel, who looked miserable, was suffering from malnutrition, wounds, burns etc. and had a supernatural ability which Marie proudly said she had bestowed to her via dark magic. Hades was absolutely mortified, revolted and a bunch of other things. He filed a lawsuit against Marie, charging her for rape, child neglect, child abuse and human experimentation, as well as taking permanent custody over Hazel Levesque (now Hazel Olympia).

Persephone Terrafield

CEO of jewelry enterprise The Red Pomegranate which was a sub-branch of Pluto Corps. The enterprise has the highest production rate in the US.

Self-designated matchmaker for Hades (Hades always tells her she should focus on her own love life first, but he’s just an ungrateful brat)

Current life goal is to fulfill Maria di Angelo’s dying wish: help Hades find love again. (Mission status: still at Square 1 because Hades has some trust issues after the Levesque Incident)

The kids all call her ‘Aunt Seph’, but she loves the children as though they were her own

She and Hades often joke that they would totally still be married if they didn’t see each other as siblings and platonic soulmates and she hadn’t had her sexual awakening of being lesbian.

She lives with Hades and the children as she finds it too much of a hassle to move into her own place, not to mention lonely (with the kids at school and doing club activities, someone needs to make sure Hades gets exposure to the sun anyway).

Persephone is the daughter of an unnamed businessman and Demeter Terrafield, an agricultural revolutionist and healthy-cereal-obssessed woman.

Her mother and Hades have this sort of weird rivalry going on whenever Demeter visits; Demeter hates Hades because he hates healthy cereal, and apparently anyone who hates healthy cereal isn’t good enough to be hanging around her daughter, so she always replaces all his coffee with decaf and puts the healthiest cereal she can find on his bedside table every morning; in retaliation, Hades will deliberately eat the most sugary sweets he can find in front of her and locks her out of their personal greenhouse. (The glass walls are made of the strongest glass he could find and the door is locked by multiple manual and digital locks.)

Hestia Olympia

CEO of WarmHearth Interior Design Agency (WHIDA)

Everyone's favourite person, indefinitely

Has the infinite patience of a goddess

Gentle, kind, very wise, gives great advice

The kids call her ‘Aunt Tia’

Often fondly exasperated by her younger brothers' antics (because no, just because they’re grown men now does not mean they are going to stop their childhood feuds since despite their protests, they are all petty AF), but once she snaps, they all line up like toy soldiers and behave nicely.

Knits a lot. Most of her carpets, quilts, bags, scarves etc. are handmade.

She looks relatively innocent, but don't be fooled. There's a hidden arsonist in her that is always ready to come out when she's angry.

Hestia has a 'I'm not mad, just extremely disappointed and upset' Mom Look that has sent people bawling their eyes out and begging for her forgiveness with just one glance

She is the oldest of the Olympia siblings, but as a child had a frail and weak body. Kronos wanted to get rid of her since she was 'useless and couldn't be wed off', but Rhea, their mother, begged and pleaded Kronos to let her live. For some unknown reason, Kronos complied.

Her brothers are all very protective of her

YOU DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, MAKE HER ANGRY

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thinkingisadangerouspastime · 4 years

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Zukaang!

001 | ZUKAANG

when I started shipping it if I did: i shipped kataang from day 1 and zukaang really just followed so easily from that since it's so clear how important aang is to zuko and how much aang cares about zuko in return. it's about them being narrative foils!! the connection they've had since the beginning of the series!! (also i've been a follower of @thethiefandtheairbender for a while and all their good zukaang content really just cemented it for me)

my thoughts: i LOVE how much their relationship is rooted in canon! i adore both platonic and romantic zukaang (i picture them getting together romantically after aang is in his late teens usually) so it's the perfect win-win situation. aang was the first person outside of iroh to extend kindness to zuko (multiple times, for that matter) within atla and it's so clear how that kindness has impacted zuko even just by the end of book one. and ahhhh their matching scars!! given by azula and healed by katara!! the parallels between zukaang run deeper than largely any other relationship in the show, and for good reason - zukaang being foils is key to the story, imo, and people who don't understand that are really missing out lmao. and hello!! they build republic city together and that makes me all 🥰 inside. and oml the comparison of sozin/roku (with sozin betraying the avatar and destroying the air nomads) to zuko/aang (with zuko becoming one of aang's closest friends and i firmly believe helping him restore the air temples), e.g. repairing the damage of one's ancestors and healing the cycle of hatred and war!! goddamn!! it's too much for me. basically zukaang is for the cool kids so why y'all still shipping zuko with the water tribe sibs that he probably didn't know the name of for the longest time while he was obsessed with aang 😂

What makes me happy about them: how much they love and care about each other, whether you prefer to see it as strictly platonic or watch it grow into something more romantic 🤧, the mutual trust and respect (especially as zuko matures post-series), iroh himself talking about how important aang is to zuko, the picture of them holding hands for the republic city thing, how aang no doubt makes zuko laugh and smile more than anyone else, how aang probably enjoys getting zuko flustered - okay literally everything about them. they're so in love and i freaking love their love

What makes me sad about them: this is sad in a bittersweet way lol but zuko feeling responsible for what his ancestors did to aang's people and aang not wanting zuko to carry that burden because he doesn't and could never blame him. so much possibility for that good hurt/comfort! also i feel like it would take a while for zuko to grasp the importance of aang's culture to him and would probably accidentally make some callous remarks especially after they first got together (i haven't forgotten that "air temple preschool" bs, zuzu) and i imagine aang would be really hurt and it's something they'd have to talk about and work through together (so again yes kinda sad but it's really about the chance for growth™ haha!)

things done in fanfic that annoys me: i haven't seen it much but i don't like fics that suggest aang would drop katara for zuko. katara would still be very important to aang and he to her even if they weren't together. (again tho i don't think i've seen this more than once or twice)

things I look for in fanfic: aang explaining his culture to zuko, them working on restoration of the air temples together, aang being so bright and positive and zuko just there like "oh my god he's so cute. fuck", zuko's feelings for aang hitting him like a sledgehammer (bonus points if it's him seeing aang after like a year and aang is suddenly almost his height 😂), zuko taking aang to fire nation festivals, tender first kisses that result in them both becoming flustered, blushing messes

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: kataang and maiko for sure! i do think zukka is pretty cute, too, tho (even if it is oversaturating the fandom rn lmfao)

My happily ever after for them: my ULTIMATE happily ever after is zutaraang with aang in the middle (and platonic zutara) but oh man the ot4 of maixzukoxaangxkatara is soooo good, too, and i can't believe im only just getting into it now. but in terms of zukaang specifically - thanks to zuko's help aang is able to restore all the air temples before he dies, both of them being great dads to their kids (zuko probably spoiling them rotten and aang like "babe. babe they don't need another [insert random trinket here]" 😂), zuko working with aang to dismantle fire nation propaganda and to properly educate his people on the air nomads, aang travelling a lot and it being a rare but amazing occurrence when zuko is able to go with him, and literally just them being in love forever tbh. thanks for coming to my tedtalk

who is the big spoon/little spoon: they switch it up but zuko is usually the big spoon and aang the little spoon bc it allows their scars to line up almost perfectly

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: aang totally makes zuko dance with him all the time. zuko pretends to be all begrudging but he secretly loves it.

#amy answers #intezaarlily1 #THANK YOU FOR SENDING THIS I HAD SO MUCH FUN #zukaang #aang #zuko #aanglove #atla #avatar the last airbender #amy writes #kinda? got some headcanons here lol

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yoursummerfrost · 4 years

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Ask meme time! Pick three fics you have written, post a favorite section of each and explain why it is your favorite. Then, pass it on!

How could you ask me to choose between my children?! :P This is fun, though, thank you! I’ll pick three fics that have gotten less traffic compared to my others :) Going under the cut ‘cause it’s kinda long!

from my bones, wrapped around you:

"Mazikeen," Lucifer calls. Maze bites the inside of her cheek and walks back out into the living room. Everyone is sitting on the couch except for Eve—who's hovering near the piano where Maze left her—and Lucifer, at the bar. "At least let me pour you a drink, before you go?"

Maze swallows, looking at all of them. Linda is smiling at her. Trixie's in Chloe's lap, holding a glass of chocolate milk.

Lucifer gestures with her favorite bottle of scotch.

"Okay," she says, and slides onto a stool to watch him pour.

There's quiet conversation behind them; someone talks about calling Ella and Dan. Lucifer slides the glass into her hand and she can't think of drinking it.

"I worried about you, while I was gone," he tells her. "I hoped you were well."

She swirls the scotch around, watching how it reflects the light. "It doesn't really matter how I was."

"I've no idea what you mean," he says.

"I'm supposed to live in the moment, right?" Maze finally takes a drink, rolling the sting around on her tongue. "Benefits of being soulless."

"Mazikeen," Lucifer says, and his voice cracks with something she has to chase down her throat. "I've never lost sleep over your soul. But I care very much about your heart."

Maze's second thought is of the balcony. How she could jump off of it, and he'd use those wings that once upon a time he made her hack off to catch her. Her third thought is about glass, and how it breaks.

Her first thought is, You're home.

Maze chugs the rest of her scotch and tells him, "Make the next one a double."

It’s hard to pick one snippet from this fic, because there were so many little moments where I wanted this reflection of soullessness to weave itself together. Ultimately I went with the culmination, which is this interaction between Maze and Lucifer. These are two people who went from being all each other had to drifting apart while they tried to grow. And now, trying to navigate this horrible mess of lingering loyalty and growing resentment, Lucifer reaches out with this peace offering--pouring her a drink, which is a refrain from the show.

Throughout the fic, Maze has been grappling with her lack of a soul. Rivers told her that she had one, Amenadiel suggested she could grow one. Eve is fixated on the freedom that being soulless brings. And Lucifer, who stood with her in Hell and abandoned her on Earth, says this: it doesn’t matter how you were created, or what you were born with. I see who you’ve become.

from truth (like blood under fingernails):

"You didn't fool me," Dan argues. "I know you."

"No," Lucifer says, "you don't."

Dan takes another step forward. "I do."

"I'm the Devil!"

Dan throws his hands up and snaps, "I know," and Lucifer snarls, "Do you?" and his face is gone, charred and blistering like it's been peeled off under a blowtorch, and—

Dan thinks, Did you do that, too? and—

He understands, suddenly. The mutilated wings he can't touch and the nauseous fear that curls up and hisses in his own belly and the fucking horror of what can you make out of this?

"It won't work," he says, and takes a gnarled hand up in his own. "I'm so fucking tired of running away, Lucifer. I won't do it again."

Lucifer's face flickers back into place. He says, "I don't understand."

Dan swallows. He looks down, traces a careful finger over the ring on Lucifer's hand. "You can't push me away because you're scared. I won't let you."

"You need to leave," Lucifer insists.

"Tell me you don't want me," Dan says. He looks up, meets the confusion in Lucifer's eyes. "You never lie, right? If you can tell me that you don't fucking want me—that you don't want me here—I'll go."

Lucifer's lips purse. He laughs, softly, this beautiful wide-eyed thing spreading across his face. Dan always wants to touch the space between his eyebrows when he looks like that—the gentle furrow of them.

"You still owe me a favor," Lucifer says.

Dan frowns, a little amused. "I… yeah, I do."

"And you'd do anything?" Lucifer asks. "Whatever I asked of you?"

"Of course." Dan reaches as Lucifer pulls his hand away. "Luce, I don't understand."

Lucifer smiles and cups Dan's cheek with the hand and kisses him, chaste and gentle and with the faintest taste of salt even though Dan can't remember him crying, and he feels as all-encompassing as he always does right up until he pulls away.

"Leave me."

Dan opens his eyes, feeling— "What?"

"Pay me my due," Lucifer says, gently. "And leave me."

Hoo, boy. First of all, this fic was supposed to be like 16k of enemies to lovers hate sex, and then it wasn’t. But the penultimate scene is my favorite because of the way we finally see Dan and Lucifer’s hangups smashing against each other--Dan is always running, and Lucifer is always pushing people away. But Dan is finally ready to be brave, and he quite literally sees Lucifer at his worst and wants to stay anyway. So he uses Lucifer’s Devil-ness against him, and gives him an ultimatum to force his hand.

And Lucifer’s response has a lot of layers: at first, he’s genuinely trying to push Dan away with his Devil face. But then there’s a shift that we don’t necessarily understand until the finale scene. For most of the fic, Lucifer has been hanging this favor that Dan owes him over Dan’s head; it’s been in a pretty light-hearted way for Dan, who can’t think of much he wouldn’t do for Lucifer. But for Lucifer, who cares so deeply about free will--who Fell for it, the idea of having that control over Dan was unthinkable. So Lucifer cashes in the favor by forcing Dan to leave him, which is the one thing Dan wouldn’t do of his own free will--thus simultaneously exercising Lucifer’s power over Dan and freeing him from it.

from a heart i couldn’t silence:

"I miss pigeons," says Julian. "I mean, some would say seagulls are effectively the pigeons of the coast, but there's subtleties. Pigeons have a humbleness to them that I can respect—seagulls think they're better than us."

Yen barks out a laugh before she can stop herself. "That's the most incomprehensible pile of bullshit I've ever heard."

"It's not!" Julian insists. "You know I'm right, Yennefer."

Yen rolls her eyes and looks over at Ciri; she's smiling now, her hands still wringing her sweatshirt while she talks to the group.

"... I never thanked you, you know," Julian says abruptly.

Yen shifts uncomfortably. "For what, not failing you? It was for my own benefit—I couldn't risk you retaking my fucking class. I would've killed you and prison isn't in my five year plan."

Julian says, "For Geralt."

Yennefer loathes playing dumb. It's beneath her in every way. She asks, "What about him?"

"There was a month and a half period where I got really into playing 'Jolene' on guitar," Julian answers.

Yen's nostrils flare. "I don't want to play six degrees of separation with your brain right now, Julian."

She can tell it hits too hard by the way his posture changes. She doesn't apologize.

"I know that if you'd asked him not to, he wouldn't have ever…" Julian trails off, but she'll grant him that measure of obscurity. "I mean, I just—I know it makes you uncomfortable. You don't really like me. And I love him more than pretty much anything and… thank you, for that."

What do you love more? Yen wonders. Says nothing about it or anything else that could lead the point of a dagger to somewhere soft.

Remarkably, a crab skitters across the wooden walkway and into the brackish water of the creek.

Julian says, "Forget I said anything," at the same exact time Yen tells him, "It was the way he smiled at you."

"I'm sorry?" Julian asks.

"People like you and I," Yen says slowly, "learned how to be greedy. Geralt doesn't want loudly, or often. He's convinced he isn't made for it."

Julian says softly, "I know."

"And he smiled at you," Yen says, "like he wanted to be wrong."

Look, this scene isn’t even really the point of the fic, so much as it’s setting up for a story like 3 or 4 fics later in the series, but I’m low-key deeply obsessed with yennskier and I just really love this dynamic for them. This mutual dislike that morphs into begrudging respect, and slowly they uncover how similar they are in key ways? I eat that shit up. Also, they’re having this interaction coming off of some joint protectiveness over Ciri, which is also my shit.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #personal writing meta #the witcher #jaskier #lucifer #Anonymous

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sweetsoundsofignorance · 4 years

Note

For the fanfiction ask game: F, J (fic of your choice), S

F. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

From chapter seven of loose lips sink ships:

Bret checks his watch again, obsessively accurate. He has ten minutes before the tardy bell and he lends that information to the kid before repeating his question. “It seemed like you enjoyed it.”

Forsythe smiles at the trophy case. “That’s because I did.”

“It’s a much more intimate setting.” Bret fiddles with the leather of his wristwatch.

“There’s that,” Forsythe agrees. “But you’re all really engaged, too. It’s not something I’m used to.”

Bret is tempted to remind him that he barely spoke a word during seminar today, but he nods instead. “Feel like a fish out of water?”

The kid laughs short, leans against the trophy case with his body canted towards Bret. “More like an aquarium fish that just fell back into the ocean. It’s overwhelming in a good way.”

“Outgrowing your own bowl back home?” Bret wonders, idly twisting the knob on his watch.

“Something like that.”

“Well, here, you won’t ever feel like you’re out of place,” Bret assures him. “At least intellectually. If you feel challenged, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

It sounds like a promise, and perhaps it is. He watches that information melt through the boy’s mind like a hardened salve softening on warm skin. Forsythe seems delighted by the prospect. His cheeks are pinker than they were when he first arrived at the salon, something livelier in his mien after his discussion with Chipping over the subjective allegories in Moby Dick. It is the first time Bret wishes he could bottle a look.

This is the first one-on-one between Bret and Jughead for loose lips sink ships. It doesn’t happen until the seventh chapter, lol. They interact before that, just not alone together. It’s right after Jughead sits in on the salon for Moby Dick and highlights the contrast between his public school English class and the salon. Here, Bret and Jughead haven’t become too antagonistic of one another yet, and to be honest, I have written their relationship much differently from canon. They still fight and argue a lot, but there is also a certain amount of mutual, begrudging respect between the two, eventually becoming good friends who argue all the time, occasionally to the point of violence. I felt the inklings of that future development were highlighted well in this first exchange. It’s also where Bret first keys into something specific in Jughead, especially regarding Jug’s passion for writing, building up some envy but also intrigue. Bret is hella obsessive in this story, towards both Jughead and Betty, and this is like the first lick of that effed-up lollipop.

J. Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].

I realize this now even after asking it earlier. This one is difficult because it pretty much gives away the ending of any of my Riverdale WIPs and leaving readers hanging until the end is half the fun of writing for me. Some might say mean. I say leave some mystery in your life. I will say I was going to write the devil’s daughter as Betty and Jughead fleeing Riverdale Bonnie and Clyde style, but I ended up shifting that over to as we go up, we go down.

S. Any fandom tropes you cannot resist?

I am not a big trope person. Mostly because I didn’t learn what a trope was until recently (I mean, I knew; I just didn’t know there was a name for it) or that defining fics by tropes was a standard convention. If I look at my history, it is probably monster fucker, reading and writing. I know, crude, but it is true. Though it would take too long to unpack why, I really enjoy writing the darker sides of people.

#thank you for asking!#ask games

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warlordess · 5 years

Text

An Alternate Journey (Pokeshipping; part four)

Authors - @warlordess and @miyatoriaka

Notes - So here it is, the major motion-fanfic of the century! For those who don’t know, famed Pokeshipping artist Miyatoriaka drew a twelve or thirteen page comic for Pokeshipping Week 2018 based on the “role reversal” theme. After seeing a few pages, and then obsessively rereading all the pages over and over, I felt inspired to write for the first time in months, to really sit down and dedicate hours to a specific project. When I mentioned casually that I was interested in writing a fanfic version of her comic, she was immediately supportive! Since then, we’ve discussed the project over a few conversations and figured a lot of little details and kinks out and I was able to draft a few chapters while working which I finally had time to start typing up…

You can find the prologue here.

You can find chapter one here.

You can find chapter two here.

OoO

Title - “An Alternate Journey”

Summary - Eleven year old novice trainer Misty starts her Pokemon adventure, best friends Gary and Ash by her side. But will she withstand every test her travels throw at her and become the greatest master trainer of all time? Fic co-crafted with famous fan-artist, Miyatoriaka!

Ages - Misty and Leaf are eleven years old, Ash and Gary are thirteen, and the adults are adult-aged so who cares about ‘em? Lol.

Chapter Three - Brock

OoOoO

“Misty, get back here!” Ash huffed in exasperation, gasping for air to ease his burning lungs as he and Gary continued to chase after their mutual friend. “Why would she follow Leaf like that? This is too dangerous! I mean,” he paused to catch his breath again, offering the other boy a furtive glance before refocusing on the semi-dark path before them, “you know who that guy was with, right?”

“Yeah, trust me, I noticed the logo same as you,” Gary replied, gritting his teeth, face darkening in thinly veiled fury. “Team Rocket… But Misty doesn’t know anything about them since she only just left home…” Then he raised his voice loud enough for the redhead to hear despite the distance between them. “I just wish she’d wait for us to catch up!” he finished, lengthening certain syllables to better get across his point.

“Can’t!” the aforementioned female shouted, barely bothering to turn her head as she and her loyal Eevee speedily skipped and leapt over multiple fallen brambles, thick tree roots, and otherwise uneven footing. “If Leaf thinks she can do something here then I can too! Ah! I hear something up ahead!”

[read more]

The night had almost completely taken over and Misty had to strain her eyes momentarily while they adjusted to viewing her surroundings exclusively via moonlight. She crashed through a thorny patch of foliage and entered into a clearing, where she found the man in black and what seemed to be a cohort of his, who was now in possession of the entombed Pokemon fossil. Both of them were actively battling against Leaf while the three security guards from the museum were on the ground behind her, each nursing a fainted Pokemon of their own.

“Leaf!” Misty yelled, leaping into action with Eevee in tow, however she was blown back by a gust of wind that seemed intent on driving both a physical and metaphorical wedge between the two girls.

It was Hypno against Hypno and Misty, blinded by curiosity, couldn’t ignore the sudden feeling of inadequacy she felt as she watched her rival up in arms and doing serious battle with someone else, let alone a criminal.

A Hypno? Since when did she have one of those?

Ash and Gary appeared behind the redhead after clearing the obstacle course themselves but she was too enthralled by the amazing show of power before her to notice them.

“Use psychic and, when they’re down, finish this up with headbutt!” Leaf commanded, throwing out an arm to point out their target before having the gall to glance at Misty over her shoulder as if just noticing her presence. “Well, if it isn’t my precious little late bloomer. Actually you’re just in time for once. You’ll get to see my Ditty crush these two losers,” she concluded proudly with an almost affectionate wink.

“Ditty…?”

“Like we’ll let you ruin our weeks of planning with one little Pokemon! Hypno, barrier!” the same grunt Misty had seen earlier in town growled.

It was a quick draw. Leaf’s Ditty (odd sounding nickname but sure) released a blast of unnatural energy so powerful that even the surrounding atmosphere was thick with it. This energy grew, condensed into a barely visible beam that shot in the opposing psychic type’s direction, shattering the mirror of light that had been erected in front of them. Then Ditty dug their stubby claws into the ground and propelled toward their somewhat dazed and injured opponent, smashing into them and knocking them backwards into a nearby tree.

Hypno fell limply to the forest floor, clearly unconscious, the man in black clicking his tongue in frustration before returning the Pokemon to their Pokeball.

“You assured the boss that this would work!” his female partner wailed angrily, shoving him in the shoulder to soothe her own ire. “Like you said, weeks of planning, right? And then we’d definitely get away with a priceless fossil that the boss would undoubtedly promote us for!”

“Look, I promised we’d escape the museum security and the cops if we followed through with my plan! I never said nothin’ ‘bout some snot-nosed trainer and her friends!”

“Well, either way, I did my part sneaking up on the guards’ Pokemon and using mine to knock ‘em out! I’m not gettin’ pinched again this soon after the last time!” And thus, she haphazardly threw the artifact she’d been holding into his arms. “Here! You take it and figure out our backup plan!”

“We don’t have one to figure out! And I’m not risking prison just yet either!”

Scowling, he faced the group of children who’d spectacularly fowled up his last month of impressive scheming, taking in the sight of a smirking Leaf to a courageous Misty, to a stone-faced Ash and downright furious-looking Gary.

Finally deciding that the odds were stacked too high against him, the dastardly villain tossed the fossil into the bushes nearby, grabbed his partner’s hand, turned and dragged her away deeper into the woods while she screeched indignantly in protest.

“Ah! Get back here!” Misty shouted too, lunging forward as if to initiate another chase, but she was stopped just as swiftly by Ash snatching a hold of her hand and shaking his head at her. “Ash, what’re you…?”

Perhaps thankfully, she was distracted from finishing her accusatory inquiry by the sight of Hypno glowing white. It seemed blinding in the darkness, their form shifting and morphing, molding and shrinking. The light faded into an odd violet blob with a humorously minorly animated expression on its face.

“Wait, that wasn’t a…? What is that?” Misty asked, shaking Ash off of her and pulling her Pokedex from her pocket, flipping it open and pressing the analysis button.

“Ditto, the transforming Pokemon. Due to its unique organic makeup, it can rearrange its cell structure to transform itself into any other shape upon sight. It has a fault memory, however, and relying on it can cause it to inaccurately mimic its target. This Pokemon is one of a few species that has no gender.”

“Wow…” she exclaimed in awe, unable to conceal her envy. A Pokemon that could turn into anything, huh…?

“Thanks, Ditty, you were perfect as always,” Leaf told her Pokemon affectionately, bravely leaning down and further expressing her adoration with a kiss to the side of Ditto’s face before recalling it to its Pokeball. Then she turned and winked at her audience, fossil now tucked neatly under her arm, “Well, Misty dear, boys, I hope you enjoyed our show. Though I’m afraid if you’re looking for an encore worthy of me it might take a little while.

“Feel free to watch me as I walk away, okay?” Another wink and a suggestive puckering of her lips and she traipsed by, leaving the rest of them to follow after her.

By the time they’d made it back to Pewter’s Museum of Science and Natural History, Sergeant Jenny had arrived and was alternating between barking orders at her subordinates and double-checking details from the witness statements previously relayed to her, including the three security guards who’d retreated after their Pokemon had been knocked out in order to explain the situation to their superiors and the police. At the sight of Leaf leading the group of other trainers, however, ancient and priceless artifact in her grasp, everyone and everything came to a halt.

“Oh, oh my, I can’t believe it!” Penelope was the first to regain her nerve, hand over her mouth and looking downright tearful at the truly victorious outcome. “You found our project! You got it back f - from them? Oh, thank you!”

Leaf was almost instantaneously surrounded by officer and employee alike, all showering her with praise and applause, shaking her hand and calling her a hero, telling her that she would of course have unlimited free access to the Pewter museum, lifetime guarantee. And Leaf was lapping it up while Misty and her friends stood in the background.

“Yeah, I still don’t like her much…” Ash muttered, but his begrudging tone belied the newfound respect he couldn’t contain.

“She sure does make a lasting impression though,” Gary replied softly, his tone much more accepting of how impressed he was, and he purposefully avoided eye contact with his old friend, who was suddenly sporting a half-knowing, half-disbelieving expression.

Finally deciding that she’d seen enough, Misty beckoned to Eevee and her friends, turning and heading back to the PokeCenter.

While a large part of her couldn’t help but envy Leaf for becoming so unattainably strong and knowledgeable, another much smaller part of her couldn’t help her pride.

At least one of them had made large strides towards their dream…

And, while nobody else could see it, the redhead smirked to herself, the next thought running through her head both courageous and frank.

She would catch up to her old friend soon enough…

OoO

Misty spent the next two days training her Pokemon, challenging or being challenged by any local or passing trainer, especially those who’d also decided to go watch Brock battle at the gym. She still wasn’t sure of the strategy she should use to face the gym leader but she was at least able to gauge the Pokemon he had in possession and what moves they knew, how strong they were.

“My Metapod evolved into a Butterfree, so I could use sleep powder to put them out… But does putting a Pokemon to sleep actually win the round?” she mused aloud the next day after lunch. Their group was currently back at the gym for another recon mission, sitting halfway up the bleachers and watching Brock beat another young trainer.

“I think regulations say the Pokemon has to be unconscious for one full minute or else must withstand three impacts from enemy Pokemon techniques before being declared unable to battle,” Ash told her, brow creased as he did his best to remember the rules.

“Really? They want me to hit an unconscious Pokemon?” Misty yelped.

“Well, Pokemon are generally able to handle a lot, otherwise being a trainer and the existence of the league and all that wouldn’t be possible. But also, unnaturally induced methods of status effects - sleep, poison, freezing - are usually minor and only have very short-term effects unless there’s a drastic strength difference between the one inflicting and the one inflicted, which means the latter wouldn’t stand much chance against the former anyway.” Noticing this more in-depth explanation didn’t ease the redhead’s discomfort, Gary added, “But yeah, most people just wait the minute out and have the other side forcibly forfeit the round.”

“Mm hmm… I guess that makes sense.”

“So what are ya thinkin’? Is today the day? Honestly, I’m kinda impressed you’ve been able to keep yourself from running straight up to Brock and challenging him these past couple days. I dunno if I coulda withstood that kinda wait if I was in your shoes,” Ash told her with a snarky grin.

“Well, I guess that just means I have more patience than you!” Misty joked back, shuffling to her feet and sighing to calm her nerves. “But I guess I’m not gonna get much stronger or smarter than I am now, am I? So…” the redhead replied with an affirmative nod, maybe more to encourage herself as she rose to her feet rather than to further impress her decision on her friends.

Then, before anyone could continue or conclude the conversation, she was bounding over the bleachers in front of her, taking care not to knock into any of the other spectators in her excitement as she hopped from row to row in pursuit of the gym floor.

“Brock!” she shouted in between shallow grunts as she weaved and leaped her way closer, Eevee in tow. Her fists formed, shoulders tight, eyes ablaze, before pointing out the shirtless gym leader who was practically gaping at her from his earthy arena below. “I’ve come to beat you and get my first gym badge!”

“Uh…” the teenage gym trainer blinked, flustered by her manic enthusiasm.

“Well, that’s not embarrassing for anyone,” Gary commented with a hollow laugh, but Ash already had his mortified and flushed face in his hands, shaking his head halfheartedly in exasperation.

Misty vaulted over the wall dividing the seating sections and the arena floor, gasping for breath all the while. Eevee joined her moments after, looking mighty ferocious for such a small creature.

“Ah, so you’re next, huh? And what’s your name if I might ask?” the suddenly quite imposing teenager asked, teeth sparkling as he smiled at her and skin glistening with sweat after his previous workout.

“My name is Misty and this is Eevee, and we’re gonna take on the whole Pokemon League together because it’s our dream to be the best trainer in the world! You’re our first step so you better be ready to lose!”

“That’s some good energy I feel comin’ from you two! I like it when my challengers are filled with the kind of passion you have for your dream. It makes for a good match,” the teenage boy replied with what appeared to be a charming smile.

Ash, having barely recovered from his bout of secondhand embarrassment after Misty’s most recent spectacle, felt an agitated tingling flare up in the back of his mind, his eyes narrowing subconsciously at the display before him.

There was no way Brock was… was there?

“Now if we’re talking about dreams, I have one of those myself. You see, though my family maintains the Pewter City Gym, I don’t wanna stay here running it forever. No, in fact, what I really want more than anything is…” There was a drum-roll playing inside everyone’s heads as they braced themselves for his answer. After all, who’d heard of a gym leader who didn’t really want to be a gym leader before?

“What I really want is a girlfriend!”

Misty and Gary immediately facefaulted at such a proud (and wildly random) declaration but Ash’s reaction was the exact opposite.

“What are you doing?” Gary muttered in objection, looking up as the raven-haired trainer leaped to his feet with the appearance of a man whose brain had just imploded.

And internally even it felt that way to him, his nerves snapping and muscles going rigid. He had thought for sure that, despite whatever slight paranoid concern that had crossed his mind at first, he was just reading entirely wrong into the situation, but now he couldn’t help thinking it to be true…

“Well,” the lean and (still) shirtless gym trainer went on contemplatively, “I want a girlfriend, but also I wanna go on a sabbatical and learn the ins and outs of Pokemon breeding. I guess that means I have two dreams, and twice as much to accomplish once I leave this place to my family…

“So let’s start this battle, okay, Misty? And we can see if your passion for your dream is strong enough to take me down!”

“This is a Pokemon battle between gym leader Brock and challenger Misty for the Boulder Badge! The official rules of this gym state that the challenger may use any and all Pokemon on hand in order to defeat all Pokemon in Brock’s possession. There is no time limit!” Brock’s assistant explained from the sidelines, holding up both arms as he did so, then drawing them both down as if they were slicing through the air. “You may start!”

“I call Geodude!”

“Come on out, Butterfree!”

The two Pokemon appeared in a symmetrical flash of red light from across the field from each other, the bug-type floating up on their sparkling wings while the rock-type levitated in place, flexing its gravelly biceps.

“Ah, rookie mistake! Bugs have a distinctive weakness against rock-types!” Brock warned her tauntingly. “Geodude, tackle!”

“Dodge it, Butterfree! And counter with your gust!”

The rock-type Pokemon propelled itself up at its foe, who was light enough to twist himself sideways in mid-air, escaping a direct hit. Geodude was still able to clip the bug-type in one of his wings however, causing a momentary lack of control. Butterfree struggled to stay up in the sky, fluttering backwards to what seemed to be a safe distance before starting to flap his wings, the wind picking up and swirling around in response. With one final brutal thrust, Butterfree was able to push the wind tunnel at his opponent, who automatically crossed its muscular arms in front of its combined face and torso, blocking the impact from doing any significant damage.

“Butterfree, let’s try your supersonic!”

“Rollout, Geodude!”

The felled bug-type shook off his recent failure and unleashed a high-pitched yet somehow hollow wail that Misty could barely make out. Geodude, however, was already on the move, tucking itself into a mostly perfect sphere and spinning in place before shooting itself at his opponent.

The supersonic appeared to miss its mark due to the increase in the rock-type’s speed and, what’s more, Geodude continued to swing his entire mass back and forth across the battlefield, picking up momentum and coming closer to direct impact with the bug-type with every attempt.

Butterfree dodged to and fro even without Misty’s directive but he was losing ground - er, air - as Geodude continued to pick up speed, climbing drastically higher towards the ceiling until finally…

“Freeee!” the bug-type screeched out loud, falling haphazardly toward the ground after being slammed into by his opponent.

“Ah, oh no, Butterfree, quick! Use your gust to keep yourself from hitting the ground!” Misty yelped, internally admonishing herself for not thinking up a better strategy more quickly.

This battle was already reminding her of her recent discouraging loss against Leaf…

Nevertheless it worked, and the adamant wind bursting back at him helped him glide high into the sky despite his latest injuries. Unfortunately, he wasn’t out of the woods quite yet because first contact did nothing but ignite further Geodude’s thirst for victory.

“Keep it going!” Brock shouted triumphantly, throwing forward a fist to urge his Pokemon onward.

“String shot, Butterfree!”

White, sticky thread shot out from between the small fangs in Butterfree’s mouth, the bug-type going so far as to spray it in all directions.

It didn’t take long for Geodude to get caught up in the webbing, though it didn’t bring him to a complete stop.

“Gust again, Butterfree!”

“Geodude, defense curl!”

The dusty wind cycle hand next to no effect on the rock-type Pokemon, something Misty was getting both used to and frustrated by. Not to mention that Geodude adding to his already stellar defense was going to make him downright infallible. And there was still that ongoing rollout technique too…

There really was nothing else for it. She would have to use her special not-so-secret strategy after all.

“Butterfree, use your sleep powder!” Misty commanded, and her Pokemon followed suit quite dutifully.

“Nice try but you can’t stop Geodude that easily, especially not now!”

And it appeared that Brock’s latest taunt was true, for even when slowed down by Butterfree’s string shot, the previous momentum and combination of reckless power and speed it’d gained from rollout were enough to evade any targeted area of status ailing dust as it floated towards the ground from Butterfree’s wings. The rock-type was out of reach way before the sleep powder drifted toward his original position on the field.

But watching her recent maneuver fail gave Misty another idea.

“Butterfree, one last time, use your gust!”

The bug-type screeched, holding himself high above the stream of sleep powder, flapping his paperlight wings rapidly, causing the aforementioned powder to dispense suddenly over a much wider range. It sparkled in the artificial light from the rafters as it landed all over the battlefield, including…

“Ah, Geodude!” Brock gaped before a mildly impressed grin spread across his face. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded affirmatively, his Pokemon faltering mid-roll on the ground, trying to blink away the onslaught of excessive exhaustion setting in.

Misty waited the mandatory sixty seconds, not having the heart to attack a defenseless, unconscious Pokemon (no matter what mineral composite their body was made out of), before the makeshift referee raised the hand that was closest to her side of the arena.

“Geodude is unable to battle! Misty is the winner of round one!”

“Not bad at all…” the Pewter City gym trainer lamented, returning his Pokemon and repocketing the Pokeball he’d used, at the same time removing another one and holding it up.

“This next one won’t be so simple for you to beat though! Truth is, I only have two Pokemon on hand that adequately produce a challenge as rock-types but this other one is my strongest and it’s usually all I need to teach new trainers a lesson or two…”

Misty knew what was coming before the next words had even left Brock’s mouth.

“Go, Onix!”

He launched his second Pokeball into the air where it snapped open of its own accord, scarlet light shooting out of it and forming a large scale semi-opaque mass that took up a significant portion of the gym leader’s side of the field. The Pokeball flew back to Brock’s hand, a ricochet effect after the release of the Pokemon held within.

“The challenger now has an opportunity to exchange their Pokemon before the new round starts. You have thirty seconds!” the referee shouted in clarification.

Misty paused momentarily where she stood, weighing her options, looking her airborne Pokemon over and assessing his damage. True, he’d been knocked around a little by Geodude’s rollout but he’d been quick enough to dodge most everything else and tough enough to outlast the hurts he had received.

“Butterfree, are you up for another battle?” the redhead chose to finally ask, the bug-type twisting around and bobbing up and down in response, which seemed to indicate a ‘yes’. “Alright then, let’s go!”

“You got this, Misty!” Ash cheered from the bleachers, and Misty offered him a thumbs up from where she stood, only now just realizing that he and Gary had moved down to the first row of seats for a closer view.

“Round two, start!”

“Butterfree, string shot and then combine your sleep powder and gust like last time!” she ordered of her Pokemon. Why fix what wasn’t broken after all?

“I told you I wouldn’t make this one so easy for you to win! Mud sport, Onix!”

The giant rock snake gave a mighty roar and thrashed around, disrupting his opponent before the second phase of attack could be commenced, kicking up much that lay throughout the entirety of the arena with his tail. He flung it around, submerging the sticky threading meant to slow him down and negating its effects.

“Rock throw!”

“You gotta dodge it, Butterfree!”

Onix smashed his tail into the ground, unearthing a few boulders, curling his tail halfway around them one at a time and launching them in the bug-type’s direction. Butterfree weaved left and right, barely missing multiple direct hits until, finally, he couldn’t maneuver fast enough.

He careened backwards flat against the wall behind him and fell to the ground, the damage too great for him to catch himself as he went.

Misty panicked internally, running around the marked edges of the gym’s battlefield boundary to get a closer look at her hurt Pokemon but was unable to get any closer, prepared for the round to be officially called in Onix’s favor.

And perhaps she’d counted her Exeggcute before they’d evolved because, despite all odds as well as Butterfree’s major weakness to rock-type damage, he began to cautiously and feebly flap his wings again, winnying his name as he slowly rose back into the air once more.

“Great job, you got this, okay?” Misty encouraged, Eevee apparently coaching her ally with similar words of comfort from beside her trainer. “Now try using your confusion!”

“Onix, rage!”

The rock-type roared again, his eyes appearing to glow somewhat from his suddenly unbridled fury just as a wave of psychic energy blasted against him, knocking him back a foot or two. Grime and dirt that had settled in the crevices between each of his nodes instantaneously unsettled and wafted into the air. Even more enraged after this latest attack, the earthy serpent let loose a torrent of wails and slams, beating and crumbling everything in his wake. Butterfree barely rose high enough to avoid this terrifyingly aggressive outbreak, though both he and his trainer were caught off-guard by what happened next.

“Wrap him up in your bind!”

Onix lifted himself up to his full height, encircling the bug-type with his whole body and coiling tightly around and around, crushing Butterfree from without.

There was a screech as Misty’s Pokemon vanished completely from view. Seconds later, Onix unwrapped himself and dropped the nearly fainted bug to the ground.

As Butterfree landed, he automatically unleashed a toxic cloud of dust and then went completely limp.

“Oh no, Butterfree…” Misty moaned in concern, removing the aforementioned Pokemon’s ball from her belt just as the referee began to make his announcement.

“Butterfree is unable to battle. Brock is the winner of round two! The challenger may have thirty seconds to choose their next Pokemon!”

“You did really well; thanks so much for everything,” Misty whispered to the Pokeball in her hand after recalling her Pokemon to it. “I promise I’ll get you some treatment after this.”

She then took a few seconds to weigh her options. Onix’s defensive stat was so high that most of her Pokemon were going to have trouble doing any damage. It was the very same problem she’d acknowledged since the beginning but it was even more evident now as she experienced the situation firsthand. She had originally hoped that the ingenuity of her sleep powder strategy would be enough to carry her team straight through to complete victory but she knew that chances of that were rather slim…

“Fifteen seconds, challenger!” the referee warned her.

“Eevee vee eev eevee!” her starter Pokemon yelped from her wide, nudging her in the ankle to get her attention.

“It’s nice that you wanna help but I don’t know how much you’ll be able to do… And I don’t want you… getting hurt too, like Butterfree did… or like what happened to you before when you fought Squirtle, you know?” Misty reminded the fox-like Pokemon with a sigh. She was quite surprised when Eevee not only stood her ground but ended up leaping into the fray without her trainer’s say-so.

“Wah, Eevee! But…” the novice trainer called out but her Pokemon twisted her head around, offered one last confident bark of her own name in her direction before marching on. “Well then… heh, I guess I choose Eevee!”

“Round three; start!”

“Tackle, Onix!”

“Eevee, use your growl!”

Despite his size, the rock-type Pokemon seemed rather put off by the smaller one’s throaty howl. He still pursued a direct hit with his physical techniques but Eevee bounded sideways, sliding in the dirt, and the tackle missed.

“Sand attack!”

It took much effort on Eevee’s part as she rocked back and forth on all fours, kicking up at the earth with her paws until a decent dusty smog hit the air, bellowing up into Onix’s face, causing him to roar and blink his eyes rapidly in discomfort, wrenching sideways while he waited for his vision to clear.

“Now’s your chance, Eevee! Tail whip and then quick attack!”

The normal-type Pokemon hopscotched around on all fours, wagging aforementioned tail back and forth, before grinding her paws into the ground. Then, using that friction as a base, she dashed off at high speed, leaping up onto the closest boulder-fragmented portion of Onix’s body, shooting up and up until she was close enough to smash him in the face.

“Again! And again!”

Eevee bounded to and fro in less than a second per command, so instantly that Brock hadn’t even drawn his breath to utter a counter just yet.

Onix, made of rock though he was, did seem to be looking a little short of breath. Misty was just starting to think that she and Eevee would be able to win this without having to call on any other Pokemon when…

“Onix, rage!”

The rock snake’s eyes glinted red and he unleashed a full, deep cry, much the same as the first time he’d been ordered to use that technique. His sudden flailing maneuver forced Eevee to evacuate, and she dodged one last earthy jab by flipping backwards and landing on all fours without a scratch.

“Rock throw!”

Now on the defensive, Eevee dodged as one - two - three! - giant masses were thrown haphazardly her way. Soon the whole battlefield was covered in smog from the dusty ground, so thick that neither trainer could see their Pokemon.

“Eevee!” Misty shouted desperately.

“Onix!” Brock’s tone was quite similar.

“Eevee, if you can hear me, hit ‘em with your quick attack a few more times!”

“Not gonna be quick enough! Harden, Onix!”

They were finally able to make out two distinctive shadows as the dust around them really began to settle and it looked at first like Onix was starting to buckle under Eevee’s repeated full body barrages but the smaller Pokemon let out a high-pitched yelp as the rock-type noticeably upped his defenses, stature growing stiff in response to Brock’s order. The normal-type bounced off her opponent and fell backwards, rolling into the dirt.

“Rage again, Onix!”

It was over so quick, Misty felt winded by the results. Eevee fainted and she went to pick her Pokemon up, carrying her over to Ash and asking him to watch over her for the duration of the battle. Knowing that her starter had willingly made such a sacrifice for the sake of their dream unnerved her some but it mostly left her feeling resolved to not let such a thing go to waste.

Between the type advantage and the sheer massive physical and defensive power, Onix continued to successfully fell most of Misty’s other Pokemon, usually in two to three shots a piece. They did their best to each whittle away at his energy before they were knocked out until, finally, only one was left.

Her last hope…

“Go, Gastly!”

Round seven. If she didn’t win this one then she’d be defeated and have to try for her first badge again another day. After all the training she’d done, all her observations, all of her Pokemon’s efforts, after her loss to Leaf and subsequent first row seat to her rival demolishing Team Rocket’s theft at the Pewter Museum of Science and Natural History...

“Let’s start this off with your confuse ray!”

There was a flash of blinding light that left Brock’s Pokemon looking moderately dazed. Onix swayed from his massive height but didn’t buckle entirely. The gym leader, acknowledging that most of his Pokemon’s attacks would be rather useless, did what he could to strategize around it.

“Rock throw!”

Unfortunately his Pokemon didn’t seem to hear him properly, instead slithering forward before ramming himself straight into the far wall.

“Onix?! Snap out of it! I said you have to use your rock throw on Gastly!”

Knowing better than to wait for Brock’s voice to get through, Misty decided to take advantage of the situation.

“Use your lick attack!”

Gastly floated dutifully up towards his opponent’s face, a prime target for a nice sick lick, guffawing all the while. Onix seemed to stare through him as he approached, appearing both absent-minded as well as short of breath, and neither affect seemed to improve after the ghost-type made contact.

Onix, I said use your rock throw! C’mon, buddy!” Brock shouted from the ground.

Perhaps it was due to Brock’s soothing (yet uneasy) tone finally reaching him, or perhaps he was simply so grossed out by Gastly’s slimy organ streaking across his face, but his vision seemed to immediately clear and he shrieked throatily, going on the offensive and launching a few boulders at the ghost-type’s speedily retreating and gassy back as it trailed away.

Gastly evaded by altering his visibility, fading in and out of sight and appearing in multiple different areas of the gym, once or twice even sneaking up on Ash and Gary (causing the former to vacate not only his seat but that entire section of the bleachers in mere seconds).

If the ghost-type’s uproarious laughter was not indication enough, his level of distraction being so high that he couldn’t be bothered to listen to his trainer’s next directive, cost them their opportunity to maintain a purely offensive position.

“Darn it, I told you to use hypnosis, Gastly!” Misty cried out, stomping her foot into the ground. It took her three attempts just to be heard and Brock and Onix weren’t having it anymore.

“Just keep using your rock throw, okay? Gastly can’t dodge forever!”

And the gym leader was right. Despite his ability to turn invisible at will, Gastly still maintained a semi-corporeal body, and his attempts at escaping a direct his were eventually thwarted by his opponent digging up and utilizing the entire battlefield against him.

Gastly smashed into the wall behind him, pieces of it crumbling to the ground in retaliation. The ghost-type appeared to be downright winded - flattened - where he landed before popping back into full form and gravitating dazedly back towards the center of the arena.

He seemed to turn more serious after taking some decent damage, eyes glowing a smoky violet as he attempted to use his hypnosis after all, however Brock told Onix to avert his gaze, which caused it to fail.

“Don’t waste any time, Gastly; try your night shade instead!”

The gaseous smog floating around the ghost-type seemed to size and shudder, the lights all around the gym fluttering from up in the rafters. There was an eerie shift in the environment and the energy around them all before Onix seemed to be smacked by a mostly invisible wave of dark power, the impact sending him flipping backwards. Just as he was crawling back to his full height, another burst of unearthly energy careened into him, and he crashed back into the wall behind him.

“Onix, counter with your rock throw!”

The two Pokemon were both up in arms, using their natural element to try and take the other out over the next several seconds. Everytime Gastly let loose another round of night shade, it would shoot straight into the newest boulder Onix had dug up from the ground, shattering it to pieces but otherwise dissipating harmlessly. Likewise, the rock-type’s onslaught was useless in reaching the ghost-type Pokemon, though not lack of trying. Alas, any boulder that happened to successfully make it past wave upon wave of elemental power was dodged by Gastly anyway.

It was watching this transpire over the following few seconds that gave Misty an idea.

“Gastly, stop what you’re doing and just listen to my directions… Go left now!” the redhead shouted aloud, watching her Pokemon follow her latest orders to a tee. “Now go right! And… right again! Left now! Left! Right… Now use your sucker punch!”

With each specific instructive shout, her Pokemon phased forward on the battlefield a little at a time, perching in mid-air just long enough for one of Onix’s impending attacks to get within a few inches of impact before being told to move again, and each maneuver got him closer and closer to his target, hiding behind the hurled boulders to conceal his location and eventual trajectory.

The gaseous smog swirling around Gastly darkened and tightened up into what appeared to be a clenched and gnarled fist, smashing into Onix’s stony face and sending him careening to the ground. For the last time, dirt was loosened and lifted up due to the ferocity of the battle taking place before settling once more where it had come from.

Brock returned his family’s precious momento Pokemon to his ball, waving at the referee to call the final round and the victor’s name.

“Onix is unable to battle! The winner of the round, the battle, and the Boulder Badge, is the challenger Misty and her team!”

Gary rose, cheering and clapping, Ash let out a whooping holler, still carefully holding the now barely conscious and still wounded Eevee in his arms. Gastly was rolling around the arena, laughing outrageously to himself, and Misty continued to stand there in the middle of the challenger’s box, hardly daring to believe what seemed to have transpired.

“I… we… won?”

The question came out breathless, almost pained. Her last ditch strategy had somehow panned out and earned her the win? She’d gotten her first badge? She’d… finally proven herself as a professional trainer!

“We won! We won!” she screeched, hopping and dancing around, repeatedly pumping her fists into the air, Gastly swooping in and twirling joyously around her. We did it! Yay!” And she ran towards the area of the bleachers where her friends stood waiting for her, Ash squaring his shoulders and losing all functionality in his limbs as Gastly came near, relinquishing Misty’s Eevee to her so they could properly celebrate their victory together.

It was, in fact, after she’d called Gastly back to his Pokeball (causing Ash to loosen up) and while her starter Pokemon was affectionately and softly licking her cheek that Brock thought it was finally time to approach them all.

Misty nuzzled Eevee’s forehead before giving her to Gary, turning and waiting to receive her prize. But to her confusion, Brock took her by both hands and pulled her close. She felt a rippling shock course through her but it faded immediately when Brock opened his mouth to speak.

“Misty, I…” he began but was interrupted by a balking, apparently infuriated Ash.

“Excuse you!” the raven-haired trainer squawked, eyebrows twitching madly, skin and brain aflame with… with something as he quickly intervened between gym leader and challenger, pulling Misty backwards and freeing her from Brock’s dastardly grip.

“Um…” the redhead began in befuddlement.

“Ah,” the rock-type trainer responded knowledgeably, “so the headstrong, over-protective, jealous boyfriend comes to the rescue.”

The words flew from Ash’s mouth in a flighty rage before he could stifle them.

“I’m not her boyfriend!” And, to further prove such a fact, he willingly stepped away and let the two of them get on with their business.

Misty appeared to have a delayed response after the strange scenario that had just occurred between herself, the gym leader, and her old friend. Nevertheless, she shook it off after a few more moments of half-baked contemplation and resumed her conversation with Brock, clearly ignoring a still furious Ash, who was stomping around and muttering to himself in the background while Gary smirked at his odd behavior.

“You’ve got a good team with you, Misty. May you never forget that this badge,” he told her as he revealed the shimmering circular item, “was earned through the use of your combined power and not just your personal wit alone. It’s important to rely on teamwork and to honor everyone’s sacrifices. Your Eevee, your Butterfree; they knew how important this victory would be to you and fought despite their weaknesses.”

“Yeah, it was probably thanks to Butterfree that you beat Onix at all, ya know?” Gary mentioned from the background.

“Wha’d’ya mean?” she asked in confusion.

“You didn’t notice?” Ash replied, having recovered from his recent temper tantrum, or perhaps he just felt as though he needed to be included in the conversation. “When he fell to the ground and fainted, Butterfree released some of his poison powder. It drifted up and infected Onix. That’s why your Pokemon’s normal physical moves began doing more and more damage; because he was weakened by poison.”

“Wait, really?” And, to think, it had still taken the rest of her team to knock Onix out...

“Anyway, here ya go! You’ve definitely earned this,” Brock relented, handing the shimmering gray pin over to the redhead and watching her eyes slowly widen in awe, her lips starting from slack before curling upward into a relieved smile.

She accepted the token of her victory and couldn’t contain her whoop of glee, throwing up her hand holding the Boulder Badge into the air as if to show it off to the world. She then took a moment to show the badge to Eevee, who cheered her own name from the safe haven of Gary’s arms.

Her next step to becoming the world’s greatest Pokemon Master was complete. And so, her adventure would continue on.

OoOoO

Notes - And so, trainer Misty has earned her first Kanto League badge! What will be her next adventure? Will she have to battle Leaf again anytime soon? And will she learn anything about the evil Team Rocket organization that everyone else seems so wary of?

#pokeshipping #fan fiction #an alternate journey #chapter three #role reversal au #miyatoriaka #fanfic #multichaptered

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