#blast off needs reassurance and confirmation that ons overlooks

[they-hermes]

its not that they're terrible for eachother just they are terrible for the people around them. remember when they combined and tried to destroy everything. yeah <33

[saabbi]

Regret part 8

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Genshin Impact Adeptus!au

warnings: -

notes: I definitely did NOT forget tumblr and posted this chapter on all other platforms except here. ao3 series link

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A wave of nausea hits you, as you sit up with a throbbing headache. Your pounding head feels like it’s about to crack open, and the bumpy searide is definitely not helping, disrupting you from your much needed rest.

Knock knock. You dragged your body to the door, opening it to find a crew member greeting you.

“Hey! Our crew has prepared some meals, the captain asked if you’d like to sit with us to eat as well?”

“It’s fine, I don’t-” rumble , your stomach rumbles like the storms in Inazuma. Oh, how embarrassed you are.

“Oh my, you must be starving! Come on out! It should be ready!” they drag you out, seating you by the round table with several dishes already served.

Adepti don’t need sustenance , you remember what Xiao always said. Which is, or was , true, as you never felt the need to consume food, eating was only an act to satisfy your own taste buds, not that you ate much except for occasional snacks Childe brings you. But archons do you finally understand the word famished .

The Crux’s crew members are all amiable towards you and lively; filling your bowl with rice to the brim, keeps on adding more meat and vegetables to your bowl after seeing you wolf down the food given like you haven’t eaten for days- you couldn’t even thank them fast enough with your mouth full. The captain, boisterous and energetic, would tell you stories of the crew’s sea journeys while you devoured the dishes. It’s the first time we’ve had a Snezhnayan onboard , she told you with her crew’s eyes sparkling and nodding in agreement.

“So...you’re what they call the harbingers, right? From the Fatui-gang thing? Why are you heading to Liyue?” The captain nonchalantly asked you, causing your hands to freeze on the spot.

Swallowing the mouthful of rice and putting down your chopsticks, you lowered your voice, “Um, I was one, until recently. For now I suppose I’m… meeting up with old friends back in Liyue.” You awkwardly rubbed your neck. The harbinger title may once mean everything to you, but not anymore.

“Oh... is that so?” Beidou sensed stiffness from you, deciding not to press any further, “well, starting off fresh doesn't always mean it’s bad, and meeting up with good old friends huh? That is quite nice, must be looking forward to it, huh?”

“Yes...i-it is quite nice…” Beidou chuckles at your slightly flustered response and lightly ruffles your hair, then continues to stuff your bowl with even more food to make sure you eat enough. She said that you looked pale and sickly, urging you to gobble down more food, with you unable to protest with your mouth full.

.

.

.

You’re definitely less agile compared to before. Your body doesn’t feel as light, no longer able to reach high grounds with a simple jump. Your sword is also a lot heavier than it was, or maybe you just lost strength.

“The clean strikes and experience hidden in the stance...impressive indeed, gozaru. ” a uniquely dressed crewmate who saw you practicing your swings clap at your demonstration. You remember Beidou calling him Kazuha, he seems to be impressed at your skills which are aged like fine wine. Your swings are less powerful and slower than before, but you still have your swordsmanship skills and techniques embedded in you.

“Yet you seem a bit… preoccupied. Is there something on your mind?”

You put your blade aside and lean on the railing of the ship, aimlessly tracing the waves that seem to chase after the ship, “I’m not sure what to say when I see him again.”

What should you say when you see Zhongli? Long time no see? I was fired by the Tsarista herself, so I came back? Everything just sounds incredibly wrong.

“There’s a lot of things I want to say, but I also don’t know what to tell him.”

The tingling excitement in you clashes with the anxiousness, uncertain of how to face Zhongli. You were once an adeptus of Liyue, then the twelve harbinger of the Fatui, and now… you lost both titles. You even lost your adeptal powers, could you even consider yourself an adeptus now? How would Zhongli respond when he hears all of this? You sigh, wishing the ship would give you more time for mental preparation before reaching Liyue.

“I’m sure that your feelings, just like the wind, will surely properly reach them. What’s important is that you convey them before everything’s too late.” Kazuha gazes distantly into the ocean. You overlook the lingering loneliness in his last sentence, deciding you’re not in the position to pry into it and put your focus onto the gentle rocking of the sea instead.

.

.

.

Zhongli paces back and forth continuously by the harbour, rubbing his fingers apprehensively with a stern expression on his face which made even Hutao, who was passing by the harbour, not dare to sneak up and pull a prank on him.

Zhongli, usually a calm and reserved man, well liked by people, now shooting up and flinching at the slightest noise of a ship’s horn and looking around with uneasiness, seemingly searching for something, received confused looks from passersby.

Zhongli, who received a letter not long ago, delivered in a hurry by one of Childe’s subordinates, spit his pu-erh tea out when he read the contents. The letter was short, with messy and almost unreadable handwriting which seemed to be written in a rush, and only included a very brief idea of what happened in Snezhnaya, something about you getting exiled and hurt, now returning to Liyue on Crux, telling him to wait at the harbour for Crux and to get you home safe.

That letter gave him no further useful information at all on your safety, or whatever craziness happened to you, which nowhere reassures him. He fumbles with the letter until it’s all crumbled and wrinkly, as if it would speed up Crux’s arrival.

The blast of a ship’s horn grabs his attention, eyes widen at the long awaited sight of the majestic ship.

Zhongli spots you effortlessly among the crewmates, mouth slightly parting as his golden amber eyes lock onto yours. You watch as his ponytail dances freely in the wind, his diamond pupils containing mixed swirls of emotions.

Suddenly, you feel like a guilty child who secretly ate candy before dinnertime and turned your head away at lightning speed as you waited for Beidou to park her ship by the docks.

“Excuse me.” Zhongli hurriedly makes his way to where you are, scuffling across the harbour and pushing the offboarding crewmates aside. He needs to confirm that you’re okay. He halts just before the boarding plank, your figure located at the other end of it, standing slightly above him. A wave of intense relief rushed up his head making his vision spin for a second. You’re alright, you’re safe.

“Zhongli,” the worries you held dissipate upon the presence of him, your quiet voice reaching his ears without getting carried away by the wind.

Time is never enough, everytime he sees you, he is reminded of this saying. Never enough time to make amendments, never enough time to love his children and his people the way they deserved it. Time is never enough, but for you, he’ll always make time, as long as he still has the chance to do so, as long as you’re still here, alive and well.

Zhongli is not a man of many desires. The waves brought you back to Liyue, to him. What more to that would he ask for? He has all the time for you.

“I’m back, Morax.” You muster up the courage and break the silence, your words concise and firm. Morax, the name you liked most, also the one you’re most familiar with. You take a step forward, so does he.

“Yes, my child,”A soft smile gently spreads across Zhongli’s face, one that radiates warmth and relief. “Welcome back.”

Zhongli takes another step, his arm reaching out to you and the gloved palms spread open right before you, awaiting.

“Let’s go home.”

This time, without reluctance, you respond by taking up his offered hand.

You’re home.

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[of-tatooine]

for the record. | chapter 3 - charlie

the return back on the grid set fire to the rain. 

[Day 1, 2011 - 01:23:36, Bering Strait]

The roaring thunder shook the helicopter, raindrops hitting fabric in such speed as the giant ocean waves rumbled beneath the Bravo Team, rippling against the freighter.

“Rules of engagement, Sir?”

Many pairs of eyes then raised up to the squadron captain, his commanding voice still managing to give you the resolve you needed under the almost melodical purring of the engines. A couple of side glances were exchanged between all the soldiers, seemingly at edge but concealing it all too well as they waited for their captain to speak.

The orange blaze of his thick cigar a blur underneath the storm clouds and the rain, the only small beacon of warm, ashy specks of light illuminating the darkness of everything around.

Grey smoke trailed upon the cold air as he took one final drag overlooking the scenery. A couple raindrops managed to sneak their way into the evident target, gentle hisses emanating off of the partially extinguished cigar. He seemed to pay no mind.

“Crew expendable.”

The cigar was thrown out swiftly into the vastness of the ocean. A hitched breath left your mouth, laced with the slightest of hesitation under the brave face you put out for the squad to see - the clenched jaw, determination flowing from your irises, lips pursed yet relaxed. All clad in tactical gear, you had been expecially thankful for the light leathery scuba fabric - keeping the raindrops from penetrating down to your skin. Goggles ready to be slid down, gloved hands clinging onto the rifle as the seatbelt of the small chopper seat kept you from falling over in this forsaken rain flurry.

Deep breath in, and out. Another one. Chest heaving ever so gently as red signaling lights mixed in with the pure white glow of thunder illuminated you occasionally, approaching closer and closer to the landing point of the deck. The entire view of the ship right in front of your eyes, surfaces shiny and darkened by the rain.

Everyone on board is hostile.

This was your job, the job, what you did for a living - it had been surprisingly easy to forget without going out onto the field much. Successfully passing Selection and the endurance tests all those years ago, these types of covert missions were what you had done and trained for the relatively short duration of your entire life. Extracting packages and securing hostages. Surviving in the gnarliest conditions that mother Nature had to offer. It should have been natural to shoot and never ask questions by now, to follow your superior officer’s orders to the very nitty gritty detail, word by word.

“Thirty seconds, going dark.”

A subtle glance and the meaningful tilt of the head from the Captain sitting to your diagonal in front of you, right across the FNG huddled up to your rightside, seemed to do the trick.

Whatever you had to do to stop being in your thoughts that much, you had to do it pretty damn fast - the chopper began a slow, barely noticeable descent as it approached the main deck facing the control room, recalling the ship plans you had spent hours memorizing in preparation.

“Lock and load.”

The cocking and bolting sounds coming from the rifles mixed in together as your nimble hands worked with accustomed ease, turning the safety off and adjusting the nozzle - the ritual sounding like music to your ears at that point. Red signaling lights turned on, the buzz of the helicopter slowing ever so slightly. The man huddled right next to you, with only the padded columns of ammunition pockets and holsters separating the space between the small bench caught your eye for the briefest of moments - and at that moment, you were no more than two newcomers exchanging a look of reassurance, ice blue eyes almost sensing your unease as they somehow insinuated you would all make it back alive.

It gave you enough of an incentive that your hands would swiftly lower the goggles down to clear your vision.

“Green light - go, go, go!”

Gloved hands found the thick rope as you began your fast descent, legs wrapped and your weapon strapped to you back - the FNG hot on your tail as he had given you way. The first wave of the squad had been sent in to clear the deck - including you. As your boots found the slippery, hard metal surface of the deck, the rifle was switfly pulled out.

“Weapons free,” came your Captain’s orders and it did not take too long for the glass to shatter within suspended gunshots into the control room, leaving the two men lifeless on the ground.  It was as is a small switch in your brain had been flicked off - the wheezing sound of bullets hitting surface and human flesh, blood trickling out onto the metal seemed to have emancipated one thing that had kept you going for all of those years into training and fighting.

Fear.

It kept you alive. It kept you alert and on your toes, with your fingers wrapped tightly around the handles of the killing machine, your stride methodical.

For your first mission back in the grid, that would just have to do enough to keep you safe from bullets.

Get the intel and get the hell out, as per Captain’s orders.

Finger pulling down the trigger as your aim impoved within every step, Soap and you trailed behind the Captain as they advanced down deeper into the confinements of the ship - groans of fallen soldiers echoed in the otherwise silent atmosphere. The crew had been asleep this late at night, the only ones partially awake had been on the edge of complete drunkness.

It almost felt cruel to lay these ones down the ground but a mission was a mission. This was what you were trained to do, what you were getting paid to do - and you would be damned if you did not give it every effort you had in you, after all this time spent away from the field.

Anything less than that, you knew you would be a bloody, lifeless mess on the floor.

Killing was your second nature, some sort of second skin you wore during the calls of duty - it had to be that way. Reflexes and trained eyesight continued to save you as the guns kept on blazing in the close-quarters of the ship. Crimson splattered through the rusty walls as the unit kept on advancing through, deeper and deeper, checking corners at each and every turn. The air growing more and more stale, smell of residual salt surrounding you, mixed in with the decaying metal.

“Stand by. On my go,” echoed the Captain’s words through the comms, making you halt in your step as you waited near the entrance of yet another hallway. The FNG moved up from behind you, tossing a flashbang from cover amidst the source of the bullets hitting the crevices - way too close to your liking.

“Go, go, go!”

And onwards you went. Taking out enemies as their dying screams echoed, the team found themselves in the storage of the ship - with big containers and all sorts of various cargo packaged, you would note, as your boots carried you down towards the opening in a fast harmony of thuds.

“I’m getting a strong reading, Sir. You might want to take a look at this.”

Gaz’s insight was what made Captain Price stop in front of a certain container and signal at you and him to open the doors up - rushing towards the metal handles, a soft groan did the trick as Price took a peek inside. Sneaking your head in, the evident flag and a couple of documents screamed “mission complete” at you. As you held onto the doors for support, you would exchange confirming looks with the rest of the team and Soap - who all looked equally on edge, and they had every right to.

“It’s in Arabic. Baseplate, this is Bravo Six. We have found it. Ready to secure package for transport.”

That dreaded static ran through your ears yet once more.

“No time, Bravo Six. Two bogies headed your way. Grab what you can and get the hell out of there.”

As Soap rushed past you to grab the intel document, tucking it in his waterproof compartment, the gun was back in your grip as you all rushed towards the exit route, heart thumping and your muscles screaming at you to rest up. Following Price through the wings, the FNG kept a close pace just couple strides ahead of you.

“Wallcroft, Griffen, what’s your status?”

The rushed and scared voices of your fellow soldiers rang through your ears like bullets wheezing. “Already in the helicopter, Sir! Enemy helicopter inbound! Shit - they opened fire – ”

And fire indeed, was all you saw.

A loud bang and the residual echoes of ringing and buzzing in your ears were all you heard as your body collapsed onto the floor with the impact of the blast. A grunt emanated from your lips, mixing in with the others’ as your eyes tried to regain focus.

“Bravo Six, where the hell are you?”

The tactical gear suddenly began sticking into your skin more, your movements creating slight splashes as you managed to slowly get on your knees first, then on your feet. Panic rushed through your very core as you saw the Captain rise up too, the FNG and Gaz just a couple feet away from you - with Soap struggling to regain his composure.

“The ship’s sinking! We’ve got to move!”

Waves burst through the opened doors and sprinkles of saltwater leaking in through the pipes as a curse slipped past your lips. Mouth slightly parted as you considered your options, you slung your gun back and moved towards your fallen teammate - only to be beaten by the Captain as he motioned you to go with the others.

Tossing yet one more look back as he was helped up, your feet inches deep in the rising water would rush you though the maze of cold and darkened corridors yet again, illuminated by the red light of the alarms. Standing on straight ground was no more as you felt the rumbles of the sinking ship under you, your entire being disoriented with the increasing tilt - yet you would not dare slow down.

“Back on your feet, let’s go!”

As you finally stepped outside and ran towards the lowering helicopter who had thankfully waited for all of you, the control over your body no longer belonged to your conscious as adrenaline took over. Without looking back, or a second of hesitation, you had managed to jump onto the welcoming opening - the bedlam of the storm wreaking havoc outside easing slightly as your body hit the hard surface, crawling and reaching up to hold onto the benches as it straighened itself up. Amidst all of it, came Price’s loud yell, cutting through the rain with a certain fire in the words.

“Jump for it!”

Chest heaving, your eyes widened as you saw a pair of arms slipping down in pure desperation, trying to claw their way back up onto the platform. Maybe it was muscle memory, some sort of underlying reflex, the mantras and philosophies from your training deep within the confinements of your soul - but you did not think twice, did not bat an eye as you rushed towards the open rear end of the chopper, rain and wind hitting you hard yet you kept your balance.

In the peripheral, you spotted Captain Price do exactly the same, rushing towards his Sergeant holding onto the edge for dear life - his body dangling halfway over the angry ocean.

We leave no soldier behind.

Huffing and groaning a bit as you helped pull the giant of a man into the transport, you were more than thankful that Price had been there too, realizing you may have failed to pull Soap up given your relative size - just the thought of it making your jaw clench. Some relief washing over you in your state of exertion upon seeing the soldier get to his feet and catch his breath, one hand extended out to hold onto the vertical railing as your own left his gloved one in a fleeting second.

“Thank you.”

The words came out in a muffled, breathless yet genuine tone as Soap tried to get his composure back - which he had managed without much trouble, sending you another lingering nod to which you reciprocated, equally breathless. Hand rushing to take off the goggles that have been keeping your eyes safe, your side leaned against the sturdy metal wall - adrenaline pumping through your veins as the entire team relieved in the needed silence of a job well done, the only sound being the pilot’s static ringing in your earpiece.  Almost all eyes were fixated on the sinking freighter, minds possibly thinking about what was to come next.

Almost all eyes but his. The icy blues, now relieved from the protective goggles, shot a sideways glance at you as you stood close to the edge of the chopper, the landing platform partially lowered to grant you the full experience. Storm breaking all hell loose, sparks of white lightning and the moonshine illuminating metal sinking.  The sight alone enough to make you shiver knowing that had you been just minutes, hell, seconds late, you would have been drowning in the unknown ocean as well.

“Hell of a view, eh?”

As you looked up to the source of the accented words, you would note he stood taller than your chunky military boot enhanced frame. The gun identical to the one that was strapped on your back stood slung across his shoulders, laying in gentle thuds on his chest - maybe not the smartest way to store the deadly weapon but it certainly had done the job, considering the man had just jumped for his life. Raindrops pattered down his camoed face, droplets sliding down the leathery skin - and in those orbs, he housed some sort of relief. If there had been an ounce of fear within, he knew how to hide it well.

That earned a pensive nod out of you, slight upwards curl on your lips. Meeting his eyes for a brief second before your gaze refocused on the dark, dark ocean waves, the breeze caused by the storm and the chopper blowing stray hairs out of your face. Mind racing with the sounds of bullets and static - with a certain aura of calmness.

“You could say that again.”

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[silver-embersss]

Broken Horns and Broken Hearts Chapter 10

Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

TW for festival-typical violence, Techno shoots Tubbo, death etc.

Tubbo woke to someone shaking his shoulder frantically. Blearily, he opened his eyes to a half-asleep Tommy, who upon seeing he was awake let go of his shoulder to help him up.

“Tommy, what…?”

“Tubbo, if you don’t leave now Schlatt’s gonna start getting suspicious! Techno woke me up cos the festival’s gonna start in an hour and if you’re not there-”

The teen tripped over a chest in his hurry, slamming his elbow on the hard ground, but at least it helped him wake up a little.

Tubbo limped over to him, concerned, but Tommy just brushed it off, getting up and rummaging through the chest he’d just tripped over for something.

“Aha!”

He pulled out a rusty iron axe, and Tubbo shuddered at the memory of blood dripping down a wooden handle.

“Here-” Tommy shoved it into his hands before grabbing his arm to pull him up the narrow stairs.

When they reached the clearing outside Pogtopia, Tommy also gave him two stacks of logs.

“If anyone asks, you were getting wood and you got cornered by zombies, okay?”

Tubbo nodded, bewildered but waking up slowly. Tommy seized him in a quick hug then pushed him away, nodding one last time before disappearing back into the ravine. Tubbo used the rusty axe to slice through the brambles, not wanting a repeat of last night, and made his way back to Manburg, hoping and praying that he wasn’t too late.

Thankfully, Tubbo saw no-one on his way back to the White House, so he didn’t have to use Tommy’s poorly-constructed excuse, even if it was the best he could come up with on short notice. The teen had mentioned they had an hour until the festival, so Tubbo freshened up as best he could, wiping the mud and blood off of his skin and changing into a different suit. He re-wrapped the bandages around his horns, and ran over his speech a couple times, finishing up just as Quackity came to get him.

-------

“And now, I’m gonna put my protege, Tubbo, up on the mic, spit some bars, ya know?”

Tubbo saw Tommy’s face contort briefly in disgust at the word ‘protege’, even from where he stood on the rooftop overlooking the square.

There was silence for a moment and he and Schlatt swapped places, before the president sent them all a threatening glare and the crowd cheered reluctantly.

“Tell them how much you love the president!”

Quackity’s tone sounded friendly and encouraging, but it seemed fake somehow, with the hint of a threat behind it.

“Yeah, talk about how awesome I am!”

Schlatt agreed, grinning wolfishly at him.

The teen could have sworn he heard Techno call ‘Whoo, state secrets!’ from the crowd, and his suspicion was confirmed when Schlatt breathed in his ear:

“Tubbo do not give away any state secrets during this speech, I swear to god.”

Tubbo glanced apprehensively at them both before turning back to the mic with a nervous cough.

“Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, I- I actually um, I’m, I’m too short to reach the microphone, so it doesn’t uh, do the thing like Schlatt…”

He continued with his lettuce analogy, inflating Schlatt’s ego when he talked about how the president had improved the country. Occasionally, the tyrant butted in to agree, but other than that there was silence throughout the crowd.

“...So with that in mind, I’d like to thank everyone for coming to this wonderful event-”

Tubbo broke off as Schlatt began to chuckle, the microphone picking up the laughter, making it echo across the square.

“W-What’s wrong, Mr. Schlatt?” The teen stammered, glancing up at Tommy for reassurance. This wasn’t part of the script.

“I was just thinking about something, Tubbo. You got anything left in the speech?”

“U-uh, n-no, no, um… let the festival begin, yeah!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Tubbo saw Wilbur push past Tommy and flit like a ghost across the rooftops and out of sight.

Schlatt cleared his throat.

“Here, Quackity, help me do somethin’ real quick.”

The president and his fiance began to pile up yellow concrete around Tubbo, and in seconds he was trapped.

“M-Mr. Schlatt, what are you-”

The crowd began to mutter confusedly as the teen pushed against the fence post that blocked the entrance but kept him visible. He started to panic, and he could see Tommy doing the same. His voice trembled, but he tried to seem calm.

“S-Schlatt, uuuhhhh- what’s g-going on?!”

The president laughed again.

“I’ll cut to the fucking chase, alright Tubbo.

“Ya know it really sucks for me to say this in front of everybody- I mean it’s kind of awkward…”

“S-Schlatt, I- I can’t get out-”

He was focussed on the ram in front of him, baring his teeth in a grim parody of a smile.

“Tubbo, Tubbo, Tubbo. My son. I know what you’ve been up to.”

“What- what are you talking about-”

Schlatt turned to his audience, his laugh turning into a cackle.

“‘What have I been up to’, he says.”

“Schlatt, I- I’m actually- I’m actually t-trapped in here-”

He flinched when the tyrant turned to him with a yell, still addressing the crowd directly.

“HE HAS CONSPIRED, WITH THE IDIOTS! THE TYRANTS, THAT WE KICKED OUT OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY, MONTHS AGO!

“Tubbo I don’t know if you know this, but Treason isn’t exactly a respectable thing around here you know. It all adds up buddy! The absence for great events- I mean you walked off last night!”

Schlatt cackled again, a wild, crazy laugh.

“You know what happens to traitors, Tubbo?”

The teen shook his head, unable to speak.

“Nothing good.”

“Technoblade, you wanna come up here for a second?”

Quackity built The Blade a small ledge to stand on, and the piglin stood there awkwardly, just as confused as Tubbo was.

“Tubbo, as an enemy of the state”, Schlatt continued, “I think we need to send a little message, don’t we. Techno.”

The piglin glanced between the president and Tubbo, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

“What- What are you asking of me Mr. President?”

The dictator grinned.

“I want you to take care of him.”

“What, you want me to take out for dinner or somethin-”

“I don’t want you to take him out for dinner, Techno, I want you TO KILL HIM! RIGHT NOW! ON THIS FUCKING STAGE!

“And make it hurt!”

The crowd erupted in cries. Niki could be heard sobbing from the front row, and even Fundy called for Schlatt to reconsider.

“T-This is a high-stress situation, I deal with these poorly!”

Techno sweated.

Schlatt looked Tubbo dead in the eyes and leaned forward.

“We’re gonna do this again,” He muttered, so only Tubbo could hear.

“And we’re gonna do this right.”

Then he stepped back, looking Techno dead in the eye with a manic glee.

“So what’s it gonna be, Technoblade?”

The piglin glanced nervously between Schlatt and Tubbo. Then he focussed on the teen, loading his crossbow with the festival rockets.

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry Tubbo, I’ll try to make it as painless and colourful as possible-”

“Techno what the hell?!” His voice cracked in fear as Schlatt’s laugh echoed around him. The box was too small, too cramped, and Techno was saying something as he levelled the rocket at his eyes but all he could hear was the laughter, that sick, twisted cackle and then the sound of a rocket being lit, too loud too loud-

He felt himself be thrown back against the blackstone seat, red, white and blue sparks dancing across his otherwise black vision. Faintly, as though underwater, he heard Tommy scream his name, over and over- everything hurt, his face, his arms where he’d held them up to ward off the blast, his ears, his horns-

Faintly, he felt himself be pulled into someone’s lap as the person - Tommy? - sobbed over him. He raised his hand as high as he could, and his best friend clutched it tight as he slipped away.

[stormquill]

Misconduct, Ch. 11 [Soldier 76/Reader]

You have an extremely inappropriate crush on your commanding officer. Maybe if you work hard enough, you’ll stop having feelings.

[ AO3 Link ]

Author's Notes: Collaboration with @antiloquist. Follow the blog @ http://miss-conduct.tumblr.com/

Chapter Notes: look man it's been a solid year and a half i don't really have anything to say for myself lmao

The dead of night gave you plenty of cover as you kept perched atop your roof, overlooking the harbour.

Several days of recon had pointed to the indication that Amélie would be prepped for transport tonight, smuggled aboard one of the many ships bound for the Atlantic the following morning. However, some last-minute digging had uncovered Amélie herself—safe and sound in suspended animation—hidden away in a repair dock on the opposite side of the harbour.

You and 76 had the upper hand for three simple reasons: first, you were aware of the trap waiting for you at the harbour; second, you knew the real location of your target; and third, they weren’t expecting your Commander to be approaching the situation with backup.

76 was advancing towards the repair docks at that very moment. All you had to do was sit tight and pay attention to their presence at the harbour, in case there were any additional circumstances you hadn’t accounted for.

Surprisingly, getting out was the easy part.

The dropship was already in-range. Your handheld evacuation devices—the ones you’d developed with Winston to make your technology more portable—would transport its wearers to the main evac apparatus, installed safely on-board. One of the major flaws of the new tech was that, like its outdated, bulkier version, all nodes had to be activated at once, and once they were activated, it took several hours for them to recharge.

There were three devices in total—one with you, two with 76—and as soon as he confirmed that he’d affixed one to Amélie, you would activate the devices and transport all three of you onto the dropship.

Wait for 76’s confirmation. Hit a button.

“Easy,” you reassured yourself.

You were so tired.

Maybe it was a good thing, you thought. The unholy mess of stress and exhaustion numbed your fear and steadied the grasp on your rifle. At the same time, however, it dulled your senses, making you feel unreactive, and slow. As much as you didn’t want to dwell on the idea, you couldn’t wait to be rid of this mission.

You didn’t tell him that, of course.

Your Commander had glanced down at you before you parted ways, the glaring light of his visor back to the familiar cherry red that suited him most. When you held his gaze, a sinking feeling dropped heavy in your gut, with the inescapable anxiety of absolutely everything going wrong. You’d completed enough training and gone on enough missions throughout your lifetime to be able to control these last-minute fears, but within that moment, you couldn’t shake them off as easily as normal.

“Nothing reckless,” was all you said, “we promised.”

He nodded.

You felt stupid for thinking it at a moment like this, but you wanted to nestle against him again until your raging nerves ebbed to a crawl, until his scent was all you needed as reassurance that everything would be alright.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before you realized you were holding your breath.

“Good luck out there,” you settled on.

“You, too.”

And that was the last you saw of him.

Sudden noises drew you from the memory.

A box truck pulled into the streets below, near one of the boats docked along the harbour. Once they killed the engine, four men rushed out of the vehicle and rounded towards the back of it, hoisting the rear door and prepping to transport something out.

“Athena,” you whispered, voice still feeling too loud in the chill of the early morning. “How many heat signatures in the back of the truck?”

“Calculating...” The female tone was cool and even in your ear. “Detecting six additional heat signatures in the back of the vehicle.”

Four in sight, six in hiding.

Hissing urgent commands at one another, the four visible agents worked together to ease a massive crate from the truck onto a large metal dolly.

“And how many signatures that crate?” you asked.

“Zero.”

As expected, you thought. The crate was a decoy. They were expecting 76 to muscle his way in—and maybe, if you weren’t here, that’s exactly what he would’ve done, only to be met with an empty container and an ambush.

...you both should’ve been gone by now.

You touched the communication device clipped to your ear. “Commander, do you read me? Do we have an ETA on evac? Over.”

The silence sent your mind racing.

“Athena, can I get a status report on the Commander?”

“Vital signs: stable. Communications online. Evacuation node two is prepared for activation. Evacuation node three is prepared for activation.”

Then why the hell wasn’t he responding?

The answer was obvious—he must have encountered enemy interference, either en route or at site. However, the agents below were still maneuvering the decoy cargo towards their ship docked at the harbour, meaning neither them nor the ambush in hiding had been notified of the compromise.

That meant you could still buy him time.

“Commander,” you started, “assume contingency 32B. If I do not receive orders within five minutes, we abort without payload. Athena?”

“Understood. Initiating contingency 32B.”

A split-second later, several cracks shattered the air like fireworks, as every hidden camera your Commander had planted in the immediate area self-destructed.

Neighborhood dogs began barking. Windows of nearby apartment complexes lit with newly woken civilians. The agents below surrounded the dolly, drawing their own guns in response.

Amidst the sudden confusion, you balanced your rifle along the edge of the rooftop, charged your shot to maximum power, and fired at the ship—another crash echoed through the harbour as you blew a hole in the ship’s main hull. The damage wasn’t enough to sink it, but it was enough to keep it from disembarking—more importantly, it was enough to get their attention.

The hidden agents were already piling out of the back of the box truck, while those guarding the dolly shouted and pointed towards your rooftop. Though the shot had given away your position, you immediately lined up another, this time aiming for the vehicle’s engine. The explosion tore through the air louder than any disruption that had come before it. You ducked for cover just before automatic fire began spraying in your direction.

The self-destructing cameras had woken up half the neighborhood, so French authorities would be on their way. You made yourself out to be someone making a play for the fake cargo, which would buy 76 a few extra minutes. And you’d crippled the agents’ ground transportation, meaning they couldn’t fall back to your Commander’s current position, even if they were called to retreat.

Rifle slung around your shoulder, you fell back. You could already hear the heavy footfalls of enemy agents scrambling up your fire escape; you headed for the opposite side, instead, using your grappling equipment to hook onto the roof’s edge and scale down the side of the building.

Three agents were standing guard at the bottom of the fire escape.

You hit the ground running.

Enemy fire sent your heart rattling inside your chest like a bell in a cage, but you kept focused. You’d studied the layouts of these alleys a hundred times over, and outmaneuvering the enemy was child’s play—but the knowledge of what was behind every corner did nothing to ease the sound of their bullets ricocheting as they missed, blasting off bits of brick and concrete around you.

Behind this dumpster. Through this door. Right turn. Left turn. Right turn. Right.

You couldn’t let yourself get hurt again. Not after last time.

“Payload secured,” came the voice you were waiting for, like music to your ears. “Requesting evac.”

“Copy.”

And you hit the button.

Teleportation felt like being yanked by a set of wires tied to your ribcage—it always left you feeling disoriented and unsteady on your feet, even as you made solid contact with the floor of the dropship.

The sight of the unconscious woman jarred you to your senses. Though she was unarmed and barely out of stasis, you weren’t about to underestimate the lethality of a known Talon agent held in such high regard.

Falling over yourself with urgency, you rushed over to the side of her unmoving form. You lifted her body, bridal-style, to the small holding chamber in the back of the dropship, and sat her upright.

You sealed the door shut, and stumbled backwards with the shock of what you’d just done.

You did it.

You rescued her.

As your adrenaline-fueled haste died down, the electric excitement vibrating within your chest replaced itself with a cold, harrowing realization—that the dropship was far too quiet, far too empty around you.

You knew what was behind you before you bothered turning around.

A spent evacuation node sat on the floor where your Commander should have been standing.

“Athena,” you near-whispered, voice weak, “status report?”

“Vital signs: unstable. Communications offline. Evacuation node two, offline. Evacuation node three, offline.”

You took a deep, shaky breath.

You knew what you had to do.

-

To say you hadn’t planned for this was a lie.

Of course you’d planned for it—you’d planned every iteration of every possibility of any combination of the three of you becoming compromised. The contingency of this scenario was clear: neither one of you would leave without the other. Surely, he’d know that.

Surely, he knew you were coming.

All three of your evacuation nodes were spent, which meant you would have to get him out the good old-fashioned way. The question gnawing at you remained: what could have happened that necessitated him removing the transportation device from himself? The node was an instant get-out-of-jail-free card, one which hadn’t been damaged or malfunctioning at time of transport, so why would he ever take it off?

You didn’t have much time to wonder.

Athena dropped you off as close as she could to your Commander’s last known coordinates on the dry docks.

If your positions were switched, you had little doubt 76 would’ve come after you, guns blazing, regardless of enemy numbers or positioning, but you couldn’t afford the same bravado. If you were too heavily outnumbered, trying to get him out on your own would be nothing short of suicide. For 76 to have been taken down, you expected to be faced with an army.

But the dry docks were barren when you arrived. Almost serene.

There were no signs of recent activity in the area, let alone of a recent fight. Aside from 76’s signal pinging you from across the docks, Athena confirmed there were no other heat signatures in the immediate area.

Had he been abducted, maybe? Taken to a secondary location without his tech?

You shook your head, doing your best to parse contingency from paranoia. You were approaching the cargo ship where Amélie’s body was being held mere minutes earlier—unfamiliar enemy territory—and you needed to pay attention.

Readying your weapon, you ascended the set of metal stairs along the side of the ship; already, your footsteps sounded far too loud.

The large, open deck of the cargo vessel was crowded with storage units—massive, rectangular metal boxes of identical shapes and sizes stacked on top of each other like multi-coloured building blocks. As you approached 76’s signal, you kept your steps light and your wits about you, checking your corners while keeping your back pressed to solid surfaces. The deck was dark, claustrophobic, terrible grounds for a fight—if it weren’t for Athena’s confirmation there were no other living souls on-board, you wouldn’t have stepped foot in here without backup.

The pinging in your ear grew more rapid as 76’s signal became stronger on your radar.

To your right, an open storage unit containing the now-empty stasis machine, still running, casting an ice-blue light across the deck and illuminating the scene before you.

Several toppled cargo units crowded the area, all of which were heavily damaged with massive dents and bullet holes. The path of destruction led to the rear-most area of the deck.

A splash of blood was illuminated brilliantly against the dark surface of the ship, awash in the stasis machine’s ice-blue glow, as if it were under blacklight. Another spatter, smeared along the side of a storage container. Several drips along the metal flooring, rounding the corner of another open unit nearby...

You checked your corners before checking inside.

Inside the open storage container sat the form of a man in the glow of his own cherry red visor, hunched over with a hand pressed to his thigh, a pool of his own blood seeping beneath him.

“Don’t,” 76 croaked, sounding weaker than you’d ever heard him, “it’s a trap—”

Reflexes kicking in, you raised your weapon and did a swift 180, aim landing on the head of the other man standing behind you.

And you fired.

You thought you missed, at first—your laser burned a hole in the storage unit behind him—but you realized your shot had gone through him, as the man’s entire body morphed into a cloud of black vapour before your charge made contact.

This didn’t make any sense. There wasn’t anyone else alive on this ship.

You’d checked.

“Athena?” you whispered.

“Target possesses no heat signature. Target possesses no pulse.”

The insinuation of her words sent your mind reeling.

You had no contingencies for this.

The swirling cloud solidified into being once more. Hooded and broad-shouldered, the man towered before you, the sharp edges of his bone-white mask glinting in the blue light. His gloved hands—every finger clawed with a sharp silver talon—carried a mammoth pair of black shotguns you could’ve easily mistaken for cinder blocks. He was black leather and red adornments. He was dread and absolute foreboding.

The partner in more ways than one.

The one he cared about finding.

And Gabriel Reyes laughed at you, his voice as ethereal as the rest of him. “You’re late.”

You blurted out the only words that came to mind. “What the fuck?”

“...eloquent.”

As much as you were trembling, you didn’t lower your gun. “You’re here to kill us, then?”

“And if I am?”

“Anything happens to either us, Amélie is dead,” you snapped. Your voice was much steadier than you were. “The dropship is already en route to headquarters—if we don’t both check in within the hour, it’s set to self-destruct.”

“That so?” His claws readjusted their grip on his shotguns. “How were you planning on getting out of here?”

“Dunno.” You swallowed, hard. “Didn’t think that far ahead.”

He made an amused noise, low in his throat. “It’s been a while since you’ve had someone so willing to die for you, Jack.”

...Jack?

Attention faltering, your blood turned to ice beneath your skin. Pieces of the puzzle were jamming themselves into place, violently, all at once, and as the big picture revealed itself to you, you felt more and more like a complete fucking idiot for not having seen it earlier.

As if reading your mind, Gabriel tilted his head to the side.

“Oh my god,” he chuckled, darkly. “You didn’t know.”

You stood there, facing each other—his guns still at his side, yours still pointed at his head. If your Commander was Jack Morrison, that meant the Gabriel Reyes in front of you wasn’t just any Gabriel Reyes—this was the Gabriel Reyes, ex-commander of Blackwatch, public scapegoat for the first fall.

You suddenly found yourself in the company of men who were killed in an explosion nearly a decade ago and you no longer knew what was real.

“Congratulations, Jack,” said Gabriel. “You managed to find the one person on the planet who bought into the world’s worst-kept secret.”

“Leave them out of this,” snarled the voice behind you. “Your fight is with me.”

“Oh, but this is so much bigger than you and I. Why shouldn’t your new lackey come along for the ride?”

Your desire for an explanation outweighed your caution. “I thought you died, Commander Reyes.”

You could tell the use of his name gave him pause.

“He did,” he replied. “It’s ‘Reaper,’ now. Or did he leave that part out, too?”

Your breath caught in your chest. So not only was Gabriel Reyes still alive, but it was the true identity of the infamous terrorist you’d only ever heard rumours of. The ghost of the battlefield, the shadow of death, the one rumoured to steal the very souls of his victims until their bodies were nothing but dried husks—here he was, standing before you, dismantling your worldview one word at a time.

And yet, you didn’t want him to stop talking.

You lowered your rifle by an inch or two, just enough to better meet his gaze. “What did Commander Morrison do to you?”

He sneered beneath his mask. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would.”

Though you continued aiming at him, Reaper still had not yet raised his weapons against you. He seemed to consider you for a moment—your quivering hands, your unblinking gaze, your steadfast positioning in the face of common instinct screaming at you to run. The sounds of your Commander’s laboured breathing seemed to do little to break your resolve.

Were you really so curious?

Reaper took a few steps forward, his footfalls heavy against the ship deck.

“War is a game,” he said. “A game you can’t win if you’re the only side playing by the rules. But Jack was never one to get his hands dirty. That’s where I came in.”

He continued his approach. The closer he came, the less you could move.

“You’ll do what they ask. You’ll do what is needed. Then they’ll orchestrate your downfall, and deny they had anything to do with you.”

He was inches away from you, now.

He smelled like a battlefield—like death and decay, like earth and gunfire.

“There will always be war,” he continued, “and there will always be people they need to do their dirty work. People just like you.”

“I haven’t—”

“You’ve taken Lacroix. You already are.”

Though you managed to keep your rifle raised, your subconscious had already surrendered, knowing full well you posed no semblance of a threat to this anomaly of an undead man who could dissipate at will.

Slowly, carefully, he pushed the aim of your rifle off to the side, as if he were drawing a curtain in his way.

He closed the distance between you by pressing the tip of his shotgun beneath your chin, tilting your head up until you were gazing into the black sockets of his mask.

You hear your Commander’s voice call out one of your names. You can’t tell which one.

“Remember, when you leave this place.” His gravelled voice was low and deliberate. “Every breath you take is air I’ve let you swallow. Your every heartbeat is a gift from me. From this moment on, you are living on time I’ve allowed you to borrow. And I will be back to collect my dues.”

You barely registered the next words that left you. “I’ll be waiting.”

To your surprise, Reaper laughed. “You don’t deserve them, Jack.”

To your surprise, 76 responded. “I know.”

And Reaper was gone, dark plumes of smoke vanishing into thin air.

Once again, you didn’t have time to wonder.

You immediately unslung your rifle and yanked your jacket off, rushing to 76’s side, the floor of the storage unit scraping hard against your knees.

“...Reader.”

You reached for the side of his belt and pulled out the Biotic Field canister yourself, slamming it onto the ground and activating it. Reaper had prevented him from using it, you figured, in order to have 76’s unstable vital readings lure you here faster.

“Reader.”

You bundled your jacket and helped him apply more pressure to his thigh to stop the shotgun wound’s bleeding. The blood loss had made him several shades too pale, you noticed, but the flow already seemed to be easing as the biotic yellow glow knit his insides back together. It wasn’t going to be a complete recovery, but it would be enough to keep him stable until you reached headquarters.

A gloved hand brushed your bangs out of your face and tucked your hair behind your ear.

You looked up to meet the light of his visor.

“Hey,” he offered, sounding almost playful.

“Hi,” you said back, still feeling numb.

“I know asking if you’re okay is a stupid question, but I’m asking it anyway.”

“I’m...compartmentalizing.” You took a sharp breath. “We’re not safe, yet. We need to get out of here.”

“Mm. How are we getting out of here?”

“Dropship’s on standby. Should be here in a few minutes.”

“I thought you said the dropship left.”

“I lied.”

With your jacket soaked through with blood, the fabric as a whole became easier to twist around; you wrapped the wet jacket firmly around his thigh, tying the sleeves into a tight knot to keep the makeshift tourniquet in place. He reacted little to the pain—he must have been exhausted.

“You took off the evac node,” you said, dully. “You took off the evac node to go after Reaper.”

You didn’t need to see the look on his face when his silence already spoke volumes.

“We promised.”

“...I’m sorry.”

“Nothing reckless.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You promised.”

“I know.”

As hard as you willed against it, tears stung the corners of your eyes as you tried to look down to hide them, down at the rapidly blurring vision of your hands covered in his blood. The memory of you turning the corner and finding him sitting here, bleeding to death, rewound and replayed in your mind’s eye. What if he was hurt just a little worse?

What if you got here just a little too late?

“You promised.” Your cracking voice gave your tears away. “But you don’t give a shit about dying, do you?”

“Not until I met you.”

“Don’t give me that.” Your chest felt tight. “Not after what you just pulled. We could’ve gotten killed—Commander, I almost lost you—”

His hands reached for you, moving up to hold the sides of your face, and your words died in your throat. You could feel the blood in his gloves pressing against your cheeks—everything around you smelled like it now, smelled like him now, like regen and blood and leather—but he leaned his forehead to yours, and the warmth of his skin steadied you.

You’d never felt him tremble, before.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he breathed, and the way his voice broke on the words shook you to your core. “I’m sorry.”

The sound of his faltering only made you break worse. Your shoulders shaking, tears still streaming down your face, you held your hands against his, keeping them pressed against you—he was holding onto you as if he needed you to anchor him in place, as if you were the only thing on this earth keeping him tethered to it.

For the briefest of moments, he touches your lips to where his would be.

He passes out against your shoulder before you can register what happened.

And your dropship arrives.

[spyder-m]

Shumako Week, Day Two: Rumour Has It

@shumakoweek​ Day Two: Power Couple

AO3

Summary: When word gets about Makoto and Ren’s relationship, the Student Council President earns a surprising reputation. 

A/N: My first foray into the Persona 5 fandom! I’ve been wanting to contribute something for awhile now and when I saw that Shumako week was coming up, I jumped at the chance. 

Took a bit of inspiration from the P5 Manga Anthology for this one. There's a chapter where one of the student council members sees Makoto reading a weapons catalogue in the library and freaks out, thinking being friends with Ren/Ann/Ryuji has turned her into a delinquent.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

.

"Did you hear? Apparently Niijima-senpai and that transfer student are dating." 

"Huh? F- for real? How do you know?"

"I heard from Takao-senpai they've been spending time together in the Red Light District."

"What? But why would the Council President want to date that punk criminal?" 

"He must be blackmailing her or something. There's no other way."

"I dunno. Have you noticed that lately, Niijima-senpai seems kind of... scary?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's always been strict. But nowadays, if she gets pissed off, she gets this crazy, murderous glare in her eyes. I swear, I never noticed how intense they are before."

"No way. Y-you mean, she's been influenced?"

"I guess. She'd have to be kind of a badass to be able to keep a criminal like that in line."

.

The rumours of her and Ren had spread through Shujin like wildfire.

While Makoto was familiar with the gossip shared among students, it had been some time since she'd been part of the conversation.  

She could feel their eyes lingering as she walked through the grounds. An uncomfortable weight, bearing upon her spine. Whenever she glanced over her shoulder, they would slip away, hidden among the crowd.

She was worried, initially, that maybe they’d been found out.

That their circle of friends, past victims of Kamoshida and Kaneshiro, would have stood out as suspicious. After all, it had been relatively easy for her to confirm her suspicions back when she’d first investigated the group. If their connection to Yusuke was uncovered, it would only incriminate them further.

But, from what she'd heard from Ann and Ryuji, there had rumours about her before. Talk of her playing teacher's pet to Principal Kobayakawa or overlooking Kamoshida's abuse.

They'd never stood out to her, though. Perhaps she'd never cared to pay attention.

These days, with their time spent regularly scouring palaces, Makoto, was more in tune to her surroundings, having to be prepared for the moment a shadow might strike them by surprise. Suddenly, she was conscious of even the slightest whisper of her name carrying from a stranger's lips. The lowered voices, and subtle glances should have been easy to ignore. Yet, as the rumours continued to spread, they bled together, building into an overwhelming cacophony.

"I heard that she's part of a biker gang."

"One of the council members said that they saw knuckle dusters in her bag."

"They were at the Red Light District- She got into a fight with some Host."

Makoto sighed, it seemed she was earning herself something of a reputation.

She'd like to think her time in the Metaverse, awakening to Johanna, had changed her. She was more confident, carrying herself with a sense of purpose and belonging she hadn't realised was lacking before.

And as much as Makoto wanted to pass these rumours of as exaggeration; that this change in her was all the students were noticing; she knew there was a thread of truth to each of them.

She had been keeping a catalogue from Untouchables on her, wanting to take of the customisable weapons Iwai-san offered. There was a chance it had slipped out doing one of her Council meetings. She'd also been studying up on Motorcycle handbooks, hoping to one day get a real licence. That likely had sparked the biker gang rumour.

Still, upon learning that the rumours weren't as dangerous as she'd initially feared, Makoto decided it would best to leave them be. She had more important matters to focus on, after all.

Making her way across the second floor, Makoto noticed the Newspaper Club's member lingering outside one of the classrooms. Remembering that she had some business with her, Makoto approached.

"Excuse me?"

"Eh? Niijima-senpai?!" She said as she turned, eyes bulging and face ashen.

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you might be able to submit expenditure report for the Newspaper Club to me today?"

The girl wilted beneath her, like a weed shriveling in the sunlight.

"O- of course, Niijima-senpai. I can- I can fetch it right now!"

Before Makoto had a chance to reassure her that wasn't necessary, she had turned and practically sprinted off in the opposite direction.

Under normal circumstances, Makoto would have reprimanded her for running in the halls. Instead, she could only watch, expression wrinkled in confusion.

"Well, you certainly seem popular." A voice teased, a figure stepping out from Classroom 2-E.

"Ren?"

His gaze shifted down the hall, just catching the retreating form of the Newspaper Club member.

"You know, for someone interested in Journalism, you'd think she'd actually take the time to try and fact check some of these rumours." He smirked.

"I would have thought that after everything with Kamoshida this kind of gossip would die down." Makoto sighed, fingers kneading against her temple.

“How did you ever get anything done with this constantly following you around?"

Ren shrugged, adjusting his bag over his shoulder. "You get used to it."

"Not me. There's no way I'll be able to focus in the library today. Not with all that chatter."

Ren's eyes softened, the subtle curve of his lips lighting up his features.

"Need a study partner? We could always use Leblanc."

The offer awoke a flood of tempting memories for Makoto. Thoughts of perfectly brewed coffee and pop quizzes in the attic, braced against a warm, familiar chest. Lips peppering her with soft kisses for every question she answered correctly. The ever-present, unspoken promise of studying more outside of what was in their textbooks.

Thought it best to study at home, where she could devote work with all her attention. Lately her mind tended to wander, often questioning the purpose of her education. The cafe, and a certain barista, offered a far more welcome distraction.

Her eyes closed, a contented smile gracing her lips.

"I'd like that."

"It's a date, then."

No sooner had the words left his throat, then the Newspaper Club President came running back towards them, stack of papers in hand. Her head was bowed as she held them out, eyes never quite meeting Makoto's.  

"Here you go, Niijima-senpai! I'm sorry for taking so long!"

"O- oh. No, that's... fine, really." Makoto assured, taking them. "Thank you."

On the plus side, it seemed she wouldn’t have to spend as much time chasing up club members. Ren watched with a knowing glint in his eye, as if reading that she had found enjoyment in her new reputation. She could feel the heat working its way through her cheeks.

"Anyway,” Makoto cleared her throat. “I'll just drop these off and we can go."

"Sure, lead the way." Ren said, slipping his arm around her waist.

The gesture came naturally and was one that Makoto had grown intimately familiar with. Perhaps too much so, as she leaned reflexively into him, moulding to the warmth and shape of his body.

That they were in school and not the private alcove of Leblanc’s attic; were such affection was normally reserved; drifted momentarily from her mind, as they moved through the halls.

It wasn’t until they stopped before the Student Council Room that she realised, his touch suddenly searing through her like a blast of Zio.

"Ren, what are you doing?" Makoto exclaimed, pushing him away. Her eyes darted frantically across the hall.  

"What?" Ren asked, feigning innocence. "I mean, it's already out in the open. There's much not much point in trying to hide anymore."

"S- still, I-."

Her voice broke into a soft, strangled cry as Ren slipped back into her line of sight, with a swiftness and grace she'd normally attribute to Joker. His face lingered inches away from her own, grey eyes piercing and voice a low rumble.

"I've been waiting all day for this." He uttered, his hand snaking around the back of her neck and pulling her lips against his own.

Makoto was overcome by the urge to push him away. Yet she found her thoughts dissipating under the soft pressure of his kiss. Her hands instead bunching in the lapels of his blazer, shifting upward to tousle his hair.

She had been waiting too.

In their private moments together, she had been steadily growing bolder and more comfortable in expressing her feelings. This seemed to be the next, logical step.

While she felt self-conscious about the gathering crowd of gawking students, the knowledge that their relationship was out in the open brought her some semblance of relief. The realisation that they would no longer have to worry, or constantly be on guard, wary of where they were. Instead, simply being able to surrender to one another without a care.

That was, until…

"It was true after all!"

"Do you see that! Miss President is blushing!"

Pulling away from Ren, Makoto turned towards the offending voices, levelling them with a menacing glare; one normally only reserved for unfortunate shadows.  

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh, shit!"

[classicdaisycalico]

Shadouge 19~!

fifty ways to kiss someone.   send me a 💏 and i will randomise a number in order for my muse to kiss yours…

Ooooooh this actually gives me some really good fodder for my Team Dark longfic I haven’t worked on in a while! Thanks for sending me this!

Shadouge #19: “For Luck”

It had been half an hour since the Ultimate Life Form slipped away from the Resistance HQ, for the most part undetected. The rest of the team were busy discussing rebuilding strategies after the War to Take Back the Planet had since ceased. It appeared that Sonic was on his way out, too, already eager to take on the last remaining hordes of badniks that strayed elsewhere. Shadow, on the other hand, was pursuing a different target, which was why he was heading right back to the Imperial Tower at Eggman’s base of operations.

It was the last place Infinite had been defeated, but Shadow was absolutely certain that somehow the jackal in question was still alive. Weak, of course, but nevertheless, very much alive.

Before long, he had reached the entrance of the base. After speeding through several winding floors and crashing through every last hunk of scrap metal on two legs, he had conquered the labyrinth that was the fortress. From there, all he needed to do was reach the top of the tower.

The aforementioned building stretched up to obscenely high heights, reaching past the clouds. Scaling it from the outside was impossible for any normal being. Thankfully, he wasn’t normal. Moreover, he didn’t even need to do that, thanks to a little bit of reinforcements he had on hand. “Chaos control.”

In a brief flash of light, he warped away from where he stood before. Not even in the blink of an eye, he reappeared again, at the overlook where Sonic and Infinite stood off for the last time. He dashed around the rest of the overlook surrounding the top floor, scanning the perimeter. Surely, he had to be somewhere.

He slipped in through a broken window. The rest of the facility was completely dark. The electricity must have died after he crashed into that generator back at the bottom of the fortress, he thought to himself.

“I know you’re here…Shadow the Hedgehog.”

The Ultimate Life Form’s ears twitched at the remark. Infinite sounded different than normal…weaker, perhaps. He whipped his head around, searching for any source of the jackal nearby. Suddenly, a loud crash came from close by. Distracted by the noise, he hadn’t noticed Infinite zip around and deliver a blunt kick to the chest. The impact sent Shadow soaring across the room until he fell into a scrap heap.

“Yes…I’ve been expecting you.”

“That’s why I’m here,” the hedgehog replied as he stumbled back to his feet. “To finish you off…Zero.”

He was met with a sharp punch to the jaw. Even through the pain, he smirked. “Did I strike a nerve?”

“NEVER address me by that wretched name!” the jackal exclaimed furiously as he delivered another blow, then another, then a fourth, and continued as he seethed, “Zero is dead. Zero is long gone, never to return. There is only…INFINITE, the true Ultimate Mercenary…no, the true Ultimate Life Form.”

As Shadow struggled to get back on his feet, a Chaos Emerald clenched in hand, Infinite smacked him, a hit so devastating that the hedgehog crumpled to the floor at his feet, dropping not only the gem in his hand, but the remaining two he had hidden in his possession.

Underneath his mask, Infinite couldn’t help let out a condescending snicker. “What’s this?” he mused aloud. “These must be the elusive Chaos Emeralds the good Doctor was rambling about for so long.”

He plucked the red one from its spot on the ground, inspecting it carefully. There was not a scratch or a blemish in sight. At its core, brilliant sparks of energy pulsed, like a heartbeat. “He mentioned something once before…that there were seven altogether. And when all are in hand…the wielder possesses unimaginable power…truly a magnificent sight to behold.”

He looked back down at the green and cyan emeralds. “How lucky am I to have been gifted three at once.” He bent down and picked up the remaining two. “Halfway there, pitiful creature,” he spat in Shadow’s direction. “Your lifeblood now lies in my worthy hands. And with this much power alone…my reliance on the Phantom Ruby is now completely obsolete.”

Upon realizing what the jackal’s intentions were next, Shadow strained to stand back up again. “You’ll…never…find them…” he stuttered.

“I don’t need to,” the masked menace answered nonchalantly. “They will come to me…almost as easily as you will come to your demise…right here, right now.”

He summoned a flurry of energy cubes, no longer just a swarm of plain red, but accompanied by an electric cyan and a neon green. As he readied his attack, he glared directly at his target: the Ultimate Life Form.

“Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

Before he could strike, however, a laser blasted right at the jackal’s back, and the cubes dissipated into nothingness as quickly as they were summoned. He growled in anger, turning to face his mystery attacker. “How dare–”

He was met with a swift kick in the face before he could unleash his fury in full force. The impact sent him flying into the same scrap heap as Shadow, but the latter already evaded the impact, instead sprinting towards the rest of his team. “What are you doing here?” he asked as Rouge floated gently back down to the ground. “This is not your fight. It’s mine.”

“We got word from Sonic that he saw you heading towards the Imperial Tower, so we’re swinging by to investigate.”

His red eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, ‘we’?”

“PHASE 1 OF REINFORCEMENTS: TEAM DARK. ACHIEVED SUCCESSFULLY,” Omega beeped. “PHASE 2 OF REINFORCEMENTS: RESISTANCE LEADERS. WORK IN PROGRESS.”

“You brought along the entire Resistance?”

“We had to,” the bat answered matter-of-factly. “If Sonic couldn’t do it alone, then neither can you. It was his idea.”

“How close are they to the fortress?”

“RESISTANCE LEADERS LOCATED,” Omega boomed, as if on cue. “SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND COMPANY SITUATED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE FORTRESS.”

“And that’s not all we have on hand,” Rouge grinned. “Omega: Initiate Phase 3 of Reinforcements.”

The entire back compartment of the Ultimate Robot popped open. Shadow peered into the machinery and his jaw nearly dropped. Within Omega, the remaining Chaos Emeralds were placed neatly into 4 slots, out of 7.

“Tails tinkered around a little and found some extra use for one of Omega’s compartments as a storage space,” Rouge explained. “Now let’s go kick some jackal behind and put this guy out of business for good. Where is he now?”

She got her answer as she heard a growl of resentment coming from the scrap heap. From the hunks of rusting metal parts in the pile, a hand shot up balled into a fist.

Hastily closing Omega’s back, she readied herself into a fighting stance. Shadow followed suit as he hurriedly made his way next to her. “Ready when you are, Rouge.”

He froze as he felt something press against his cheek for a quick second. Almost immediately, his muzzle flushed a deep red as he realized what happened, something that finally confirmed his suspicions for quite some time now.

Rouge the Bat had finally kissed him.

It appeared that she was feeling rather embarrassed after the fact, as well; her muzzle was just as red as the color for which she was named. Her eyes were solely focused on the jackal in front of her emerging from the debris. “For luck,” she choked out, trying not to lose her cool in front of him.

Her hands were balled up into fists, shaking vigorously. The shaking stopped only when he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Nothing she could do would stop him from taking her seriously. After all, she had already earned his respect after stealing many things in the past.

His heart, he just now realized, was quite close to the top of that list.

“Let’s get moving.”

Together, they launched themselves at the jackal, who was already out of the scrap heap, making his way towards Team Dark. The true final battle, at long last, had begun.

[rubyspearsmegamanproject]

18. War On Nature

The episode begins with a pleasant view of a wooded river. Two people are overlooking the whole scenery. They come up to two robots and tell them that the land is not for sale. The people walk away, and the robots tell their superiors, who are revealed to be businessmen. The businessmen tell the robots that they know who will help them. Dr. Light and his robots are at an elementary school, answering questions from the students there. Mega Man is meeting up with the children after the questionnaire. One of the teachers tells him that she heard on the news that some robots are ravaging a protected wildlife area. Mega Man asks her what they look like. She tells him that one of them looks like an orange rabbit, and the other one has a buzzsaw on his forehead. Mega Man immediately knows who she is talking about, and relays the information to Dr. Light. Mega Man, Roll, and Rush go over to the protected area to stop the robot masters from destroying it. The school children wave goodbye to them as they fly away.

They quickly arrive at the wildlife area, only to find Dr. Wily's robots wrecking it. Cut Man and Metal Man are cutting down the trees. Guts Man is smashing up rocks. Charge Man is flattening the land. Skull Man and Proto Man are overlooking the damage. Mega Man yells at Proto Man and Skull Man what they think they are doing. Proto Man tells him not to bother them, as they are getting paid a large sum of money for demolishing the area. Mega Man berates them for being so greedy and careless. Proto Man tells him that he should tell that to Dr. Wily. Mega Man demands them to tell him where he is. Proto Man points up to the sky as the Skullker nears them. The Skullker shoots at Mega Man and Rush. They are knocked to the ground. Proto Man and Skull Man attack Mega Man and Rush while they are on the ground. Rush bites Skull Man's arm, but his Skull Barrier weapon knocks him away. Mega Man shoots at Skull Man, but the Skull Barrier reflects the weapon back at him. Mega Man sustains some damage. Before he can shoot again, Proto Man and Skull Man grab him and haul him off. They tie him up with chains and lie him down on the ground. A steamroller is about to flatten him. Mega Man is too weak to break out of the chains. The steamroller is getting closer. Rush shows up and drags Mega Man out of the steamroller's path just as it is about to flatten him. Rush takes out a large energy pellet from his chest, and places it in Mega Man's mouth. Mega Man swallows the pellet and is fully charged. Mega Man thanks him and gives him a pet as a reward. They go over to where the trees are being but and come across Cut Man and Metal Man. "Not so fast, Captain Planet!" Cut Man cries out to Mega Man. He and Metal Man shoot their weapons at him. "That's not very sustainable, you know!" Mega Man snaps at them. He shoots two shots at them both at the same time. They are both knocked out. Guts Man comes up behind Mega Man, grabs him, and lifts him up over his head. "Your kind aren't welcome here!" he yells to him and he is holding him up in his arms. "Let me go you big lunk!" Mega Man yells out to him, trying to get free of his strong grip. "We're gettin' a lot of bucks for this job, so stay out of this!" Guts Man snaps back. Guts Man walks over to a clearing of land. "No blue dweebs allowed! Now scram!" He yells out as he throws Mega Man with all of his might. Mega Man is thrown nearly 75 feet from the area. Mega Man lands hard on his left arm, causing it to get badly damaged. Mega Man calls up Dr. Light on his arm cannon and tells him that Dr. Wily's robots are destroying the protected wildlife area because someone is paying them a large sum of money to do so. Dr. Light has confirmation that the woman at the elementary school was right. He has Mega Man return to the lab to figure out how to stop them. Mega Man and Rush fly back to the lab.

At Dr. Light's Lab, Dr. Light is calling up a forest ranger and is telling him about the situation while repairing Mega Man's arm. The ranger tells him that a company has been wanting to purchase the protected land, but the offer was turned down. The ranger knew that the company would go so low as to hire Dr. Wily to help them claim the area. The call is then interrupted by a man who introduces himself as the CEO of the company that hired Dr. Wily. He tells them not to intervene in saving the area anymore. Dr. Light and Mega Man tell them that his company is doing something very illegal and that his company will be held accountable for their crimes. The CEO hangs up the call, and the screen shuts off. Dr. Light sends out Mega Man, Roll, Eddie, and Rush in the Air Raider to the area to stop Dr. Wily from causing anymore damage to the wildlife area. Meanwhile, Dr. Light contacts the state police. As the Air Raider flies into the wildlife area, the Skullker shows up and chases the Air Raider. The Skullker fires a beam at it. Mega Man and Rush jump out of the Air Raider and fly up to the Skullker to confront it. Mega Man shoots at the Skullker. The shot breaks one of its windows. Mega Man then shoots a barrage of shots through the broken window. The shots badly damage the Skullker's control panel, sending the Skullker plummeting towards the ground. Dr. Wily and his robots escape from the wrecked Skullker. Dr. Wily commands his robots to attack Mega Man. Guts Man swings at Mega Man, who touches his arm and copies his weapon. Guts Man tries to swing at him yet again and he jumps back to avoid his attack. Guts man then uses his Super Arm weapon to pick up a large boulder. Mega Man

himself picks up an equally large boulder. He crushes the boulder against Guts Man's. "You're not the only one who's super strong!" Mega Man snaps at him. "Oh yeah!? Well, we'll see about that, Mega Dweeb!" Guts Man cries out to him. He throws his crumbling boulder aside, and tries to punch Mega Man. Mega Man dodges the punch and punches him with his Super Arm weapon. The punch sends Guts Man smashing into a cliff wall, the resulting smash causes rocks to crash on top of him. Mega Man hears a male voice crying out "Out of the way, blue blockhead!" It's Charge Man, rushing down a clearing that Mega Man is standing on. He is attempting to mow him down with his Charge Kick weapon. Charge Man is going at top speed, making it impossible for Mega Man to dodge his attack in time. Mega Man takes the full impact of the Charge Kick, losing nearly all of his power. "Mega Man!" Roll cries out, seeing Mega Man on the ground in the process of shutting down. Proto Man readies his cannon and charges it up. "So long, tree hugger!" He says as he is about to shoot him with a fully charged blast. Roll runs over and kicks Proto Man away with a martial arts-esque flying kick. Proto Man lands onto the ground with a big impact. Proto Man falls on one side of his face, the force breaking half of his visor. Proto Man gets up, looks at Roll with one half of the upper part of his face peering through the broken off part of his visor, and yells out to her "Now look what you've done!" He gets himself up and fires a shot at her. To his surprise, Roll sucks up the shot with her vacuum attatchment and shoots it out back at him, knocking him out.

Roll whistles with her fingers in the Air Raider's direction, and Eddie jumps out of the Air Raider and runs to Mega Man. "Time to hydrate, Mega Man!" Eddies says to Mega Man. He gives Mega Man some energy cans, which revives him and restores his energy. Charge Man is approaching them quickly and readies another Charge Kick. Mega Man uses his Super Arm to stop Charge Man. Charge Man is shocked that Mega Man managed to stop him this time. Mega Man picks up Charge Man with his Super Arm. He says to him "This railway is closed!" Mega Man then hurls Charge Man away, damaging him as he lands on the ground. Dr. Wily yells out to Mega Man that he can fight them all he wants, but that they will still destroy the area and still get paid for doing so. Mega Man tells him that he and the CEO will get what is coming to them. Cut Man and Metal Man come up to Dr. Wily and tell him that the state police and the park rangers are on their way to the area to stop them. Dr. Wily tells them to get into the Skullker with him. They all do so, and the Skullker flies away. The state police and the park rangers arrive and survey the damage caused by Dr. Wily's robots. Mega Man tells them that Dr. Wily and his robots may be back with a vengeance, and that they should have the robo commandos summoned in order to drive them away for good. The state police tell him that they are going to find a way to arrest the CEO and his cohorts for this crime against nature. Meanwhile, at the company's headquarters, Dr. Wily and some of his robots are having a "meeting" with the CEO and some of the executives of the company. Dr. Wily tells the CEO that the state police and the park rangers know what they are doing, and that if they go back there, there might be military forces waiting for them. The CEO reassures Dr. Wily that he and his robots can fight them off. "What about Mega Man?" Proto Man asks the CEO. The CEO answers that he can take care of him himself. Proto Man does an arm pump and shouts out "Yes!" Dr. Wily tells the CEO that he can create a Wily Machine that will quickly destroy the area in a matter of minutes, but that he needs the materials, manpower, and the funds to do so. The CEO tells him that he will give him anything he wants in order to complete his job. They both shake on it. The other robot masters are watching this take place, expect Guts Man, who is busily munching voraciously on the robot food that was provided by the company for the robots.

Mega Man, Roll, Rush, and Eddie are camping out at the area as they watch over it, making sure that Dr. Wily and his robots don't come back. Mega Man and Rush are cooking robot hotdogs over the campfire. Dr. Light and some of the state police tell the robots to continue to watch over the area while they prepare the robo commandos for defending the area. Roll is a little bit afraid that Dr. Wily will come back with a bigger and stronger force, since he has the CEO paying him, he will give him all of the money and resources that he needs to fulfill his goals. Mega Man tells her that the robo commandos will help them defend the area, and that there is also the police and the military to back them up just in case. It makes Roll less afraid. Mega Man and everyone else sleep overnight in their respective tents. The next morning, Mega Man and his allies are awakened by a strong rumbling sensation and noise. They rush out of their tents and see a very large Wily Machine and a massive army of robots coming towards the area. Mega Man and Rush run over to the Wily Machine to destroy it.

Dr. Wily tells them on the machine's speakers that they are invincible now that they have the CEO footing the bill for their job. Mega Man yells at him that it looks like he is going to put the company in debt. Dr. Wily scoffs at his reply. He then orders the robot army to attack them. The robot army shoots at them. Mega Man shouts at everyone to take cover in the nearby bushes. Mega Man calls up Dr. Light on his arm cannon and tells him that Dr. Wily has brought in a huge Wily Machine and an equally large robot army. Dr. Light tells him to whittle some of the robot enemies away and stall them until the robo commandos arrive. Mega Man tells Dr. Light that he doesn't know how long he can actually stall them for. Dr. Light says to at least try. Mega Man tells him before hanging up that if he should not make it, he would like for him to bury him as Rock. Mega Man goes up to some of the robots and blasts them away. While Roll and the others are hiding in the bushes, Roll hears someone coming up behind them. She turns around to see Cut Man in the process of slashing them with his Rolling Cutter. She blocks his attack with her upper arm. She switches her hand to a spatula and slaps Cut Man's face real hard with it. The slap dazes Cut Man. Roll, Rush, and Eddie run away from him as he is still recoiling from the slap. Roll accidentally runs into Guts Man. Guts Man grabs her by her ponytail and is about to toss her, when Rush bites him in the butt. Guts Man cries out from the pain and drops Roll. Roll gives his bottom a strong slap with her spatula attatchment, causing him to fall on the ground on his face. Roll, Rush, and Eddie go down to the riverbank to hide from Dr. Wily's robots. Mega Man meanwhile, is blasting away the robot army. He eventually starts to lose power from sheer exhaustion, and runs down to the river to join his allies.

At the riverbank, Mega Man meets up with Roll and tells her that he needs more energy. Eddie gives him two energy cans. Mega Man thanks Eddie and makes his way up the hill and back to fighting the robot army. Metal Man and Charge Man are at the top of the hill to stop Mega Man from returning to the area. Charge Man rushes at Mega Man with a Charge Kick. Mega Man charges up his cannon and blasts a full-powered shot at him, knocking him out. He then takes his Charge Kick cannon and says to Metal Man, "You're next, Metal Mouth!" Metal Man throws a Metal Blade at Mega Man, who kicks it back at him with a Charge Kick. The Metal Blade cuts off Metal Man's head. Metal Man can do nothing but watch as Mega Man takes his weapon. Mega Man then goes over to the approaching army and Wily Machine. He uses his Metal Blade weapon to take out the remaining army. Only the large Wily Machine is left. Mega Man attempts to use the Metal Blade, but finds that he is out of power. He finds some weapon energy pellets amongst the destroyed robots. He quickly swallows them up and regains his weapon energy. "Now it's just you and me, Wily!" Mega Man shouts out to Dr. Wily. But to his surprise, the Wily Machine instead of attacking him, fires at the foliage nearby. The trees then catch on fire. "Now you've really made me angry!" Mega Man yells at him. As he is shooting some Metal Blades at the Wily Machine, the robo commandoes arrive. They help Mega Man damage the large Wily Machine. The Wily Machine then breaks into its smaller form. The now smaller Wily Machine fires some powerful beams at Mega Man and the robo commandoes. Mega Man dodges the beams. Dr. Wily tells Proto Man, "Your part is coming up now!" "About time!" Proto Man yells out as he gets out of the Wily Machine to confront Mega Man. He fires some shots at Mega Man, who Charge Kicks him, causing him to trip and fall on the ground. Proto Man gets back up and fires a fully charged shot at him. Mega Man throws a Metal Blade in a curved direction, and dodges the blast. The Metal Blade cuts off the lower sections of Proto Man's arms. "My arms!" Proto Man cries out. He tries to kick at Mega Man, who gives him a strong kick to the jaw, knocking him out. Dr. Wily becomes furious. "My money is on the line!" he cries out. "So is the environment!" Mega Man shouts back at him. Dr. Wily in desparation fires every weapon on the Wily Machine. Mega Man fires out some Metal Blades, which cut up the Wily Machine into pieces, leaving behind only a Wily Capsule. Dr. Wily flies away as he grumbles about the fact that he is not going to be paid. "Hey! Wait for us, Wily!" Proto Man cries out as he gets up and runs after Dr. Wily as he flies away in his Wily Capsule. "Don't leave us here!" Guts Man cries out, running after the capsule with the other robot masters. Mega Man then runs off to help the robo commandos and the park rangers put out the fire.

That night, Mega Man, Roll, Rush, Eddie, and Dr. Light are relaxing at the campsite after a long, grueling day of restoring the wildlife area. They are listening to the news report on the radio. The report says that the CEO and the executives of the company have been arrested and are awaiting trial. Dr. Light tells them that it unfortunately will take a very long time to reverse the damage that Dr. Wily did to the area, but at least the CEO and his cohorts have been brought to justice. An owl flies down and lands on Mega Man's shoulder and hoots. Mega Man tells the owl "You're very welcome!", then the episode ends with Mega Man petting the owl while other nocturnal animals call in the background.

[gostumpz]

Destined Conclusion - Ash vs Alain Revision

Still salty about the conclusion of the Kalos League? 

I am. Enough to write up the proper ending to the Lumiose Conference; what we would’ve had if the writers were left to their own devices, for sure. Enjoy!

“Blast Burn!” Alain punched the air, leading his Charizard, who spun into a dive.

The ground was struck with Charizard’s awesome might, sending explosive tremors through the grassy battlefield. Greninja was soon to be claimed as their victim.

“Slam Water Shuriken into the ground!” A supportive voice rang in Greninja’s mind, prompting the Water Frog to reach behind his back for his signature weapon. He felt Ash’s own movements guiding him; reassuring him that every move would lead to victory. The large Water Shuriken was gripped, its sharp edge smashed into the ground before him.

The resulting geyser tore through the earth, colliding with Blast Burn with explosive results. 

“It managed to block Blast Burn with Water Shuriken! I’ve never seen a battle like this before!” The announcer gave the play-by-play, mirroring the audience’s awe. 

Ash didn’t let the moment slip away. “Aerial Ace!”

Greninja charged into the steam at once, cutting the distance between himself and Charizard in an instant. With the momentum, he slammed a fist into the dragon’s gut, flipping into an axe handle kick. His strike buried Charizard’s head in the dirt. 

“Well done, Ash! Way to go, Greninja!” Bonnie cheered from the stands. 

“Charizard,” Alain started, “are you okay?” 

Charizard grumbled in reply, willing himself to stand.

With that assured, Alain turned his gaze to their two opponents. Ash, and Greninja. Both stood tall in defiance. An assured confidence that he wasn’t quite sure he could break. The thought made him smile. 

High above, Mairin pressed her palms against the glass of the stadium’s most luxurious view. The look on her friend’s face alerted her. “Alain’s enjoying this battle with Ash…” 

Overlooking the battle from a more modest vantage point, Sycamore gave a subconscious nod of approval. 

“Ash,” the rogue trainer addressed. “Thanks to you, I’ve had several intense battles. I’m grateful for that. Thank you.” He took a deep breath. “So, I’m going to repay you, by giving my all!”

This was a strange sensation. To be free of any worries; any doubts. In this moment, nothing but their battle mattered. Anything short of his absolute best wasn’t proper payment. “Charizard!” He roared, outstretching his hand with tensed fingers. “Dragon Claw!”

The dragon took his cue, promptly shooting across the field with sharpened claws.

Greninja barely had time to prepare. Without so much as a command from Ash, he instinctively raised his arms to guard his torso.

It didn’t prepare him for what was about to come. An intense pressure struck his arms and chest, launching the frog painfully across the field.

“Augh!” An intense pain struck Ash’s upper body. He hissed, doubling over to clutch his forearms in anguish.

“Pikapi!” Pikachu gasped, looking to his trainer in worry. 

“It’s seriously strong,” Tierno marveled. 

“I-it still has that much power!?” Trevor blurted in awe. He felt his blood run cold. That was the monster he’d been up against, earlier… It was no wonder at all that he’d lost. 

Greninja forced himself to stand, shaking his arms out. “Kouga,” he grunted. He wasn’t done.

Ash stood up, just the same. He gripped his cap. ‘I’m… I’m happy. Happy I got to fight someone like you, Alain. But, this is the end.’ With that thought in mind, he shouted across the field. “No hard feelings, Alain! No matter who wins!”

With that declaration, Ash felt his blood rush through his veins. “Take this,” Ash grinned, clutching one of his fists before him. “This is all of our power! Greninja,” he started, throwing a tensed hand to his side, “use Cut!”

“Kouuu…!” Greninja roared as he charged into battle, forming knives from the marks on his hips.

“Charizard, Dragon Claw!”

The Flame pokemon raised his hand, forming long, emerald claws over his own. With a guttural roar, he swept into battle on his wings. He smashed his claws into Greninja’s knives.

Unable to overpower the other, the two parted. Charizard’s strikes were slow and heavy. Greninja kept up with swift acrobatics, striking at the other’s limbs at any chance he had. But, he was quickly forced to disengage, giving himself a brief reprieve. 

When he felt the familiar chill of danger, he leapt away, again. The smashing of Dragon Claw against the dirt confirmed his suspicions. 

“Water Shuriken!” 

“Thunderpunch!”  

Charizard resumed his assault, this time, with sizzling sparks crackling around his claws. The first punch was thrown. 

Greninja was forced to respond instantly, yanking the Water Shuriken from its holster on his back. With a flick of his arm and hips, he spun the weapon before him, gripping it just in time to hold off Thunderpunch.

Greninja and Charizard swung with abandon, each violent collision rattling each. But, neither would willingly give in, swinging rhythmically at one another with calculated blows.

Every one of Charizard’s punches was fended off. Every one of Greninja’s swings was rebounded by Thunderpunch.

That was, until Greninja found a sweet spot. He watched Charizard retreat his hand in pain. This was his chance. “Kouu… Ga!” He roared, slicing Water Shuriken across Charizard’s chest.

The dragon reeled, sliding back across the field.

This was the moment of truth. A sudden, overwhelming instinct struck Ash. “Let’s go, Alain!” He challenged, throwing an open palm above his head. “Water Shuriken!”

Greninja turned, tossing his weapon into a spin above his head. With a growing roar, he poured his remaining strength into Water Shuriken. A twister raged around his body, sending the star into a white-hot spin. In a show of might and iron will, Water Shuriken became a gigantic, orange disc, bursting at the seams with energy.

Alain gasped, his blood running cold at the sight. That power… If he didn’t act fast, this was over. He knew this as he shouted his last resort, punching the earth. “Blast Burn!”

Charizard reared back, letting out a thunderous roar as he slammed his fist into the ground in tandem. 

“Kouuuu…. Ga!!!” Greninja shrieked, tossing the shuriken with all of his might.

An explosive ripple ran towards Greninja, and the Water Shuriken launched at Charizard.

Explosions ripped from one end of the field to the next, deafening any words from the audience. Ash and Alain were forced to brace themselves. 

The former gasped, suddenly brought to his knees. “Greninja…!” Ash hissed, holding his shoulder, fearing the worst. 

“Pikapi!” Pikachu lamented, turning towards the smoke. “Pi-ka-ka…” 

Alain’s nails dug into his palms. “Charizard…”

Both Greninja and Charizard stood amidst the thick smoke. Greninja was down to one knee, and Charizard was hunched over. Heavy breaths kept both riding the last of their strength.

Greninja croaked, losing his footing. The stadium collectively held its breath. 

Charizard huffed a grunt of victory, before his eyes turned to pin-points. He collapsed heavily onto his side. Rainbow light enveloped and left him, shedding his larger black and blue exterior. The quiet flame on his tail had lost its blue glow, burning the usual red.

“Charizard is unable to battle!” The referee declared over the loudspeaker. “Which gives Ash the win!”

Ash found himself short of breath, smiling from cheek to cheek. He was awestruck. 

“That decides the victor of this match, and the Lumiose Conference; Ash Ketchum!” 

Thunderous applause erupted, drowning out anything else the announcer had to say.

“Yes!” Ash punched the air, falling on his rear as he did so. Suddenly, all of his strength left him.

Greninja collapsed the same, returning to his normal state. He laid on his back, exhausted. “Kouga…!” 

“Ash…!” Serena swallowed, beaming with pride. 

“They did it! They won! Ash and Ash-Greninja won!” Bonnie cheered loudly, waving her hands in the air. Dedenne joined the cheer atop her head.

Clemont, meanwhile, collapsed into his seat with an exasperated sigh. “That’s just like Ash… Making us worry until the last second like that!” 

“But, he won!” Bonnie reminded, hooking her arm around her big brother’s yanking him to his feet to cheer. “Bonnie’s super-happy!”

“It seems he did… Just what I’d expect.” Clemont beamed with pride. Loudly cheering was out of his range, but he was content to watch his inspiration – no, his friend, bask in his victory.

“Congratulations,” Serena thought aloud. “All of your hard work paid off.” The blonde felt a trickle running down her cheeks. Burning red, she hastily wiped her tears.

He didn’t even fight his exhaustion. His tongue hung unceremoniously beside him, his limbs relaxed in all directions. Only one thought ruled his mind right now. They’d won. He couldn’t bother to try standing up, or celebrating. He was content just to lie.

But, he quickly found that he was no longer on the ground. No, his arm was slung over someone’s shoulder. Ash’s. He wasn’t bearing the brunt of his weight anymore. “Kou…” 

“Congratulations,” Ash beamed, grinning wide. “You did it! Awesome job, Greninja.” 

“Pi-Pikachu!” Pikachu agreed, standing at their feet. Neither needed the extra weight, now. 

The frog smiled, visibly, before retracting his tongue back around his neck. “Kouga!” 

“You’re right. We did it.” 

“Ash!” 

Ash and Greninja turned from one another to look to their right.

Alain stood, with Charizard nowhere in sight. The man’s expression looked hazed, at first. Lost in thought. 

“Alain?” Ash tilted his head, wearily. 

The man smiled, shaking his head before holding his hand out to shake. “Thank you.”

“Hey, right back at you!” Ash beamed, reaching to shake. Though, his grip wasn’t quite as strong as he’d have liked. “That was fun!” 

“It was,” Alain agreed, meek in comparison. “I’m honored to have lost to you, if anyone.”

“C’mon,” Ash laughed, running his finger over the bridge of his nose. “You’re making me blush, here!” Meanwhile, he overheard something next to him. He heard Greninja snickering. “Hey, very funny,” Ash pouted, turning a glare on his companion. Greninja only snickered louder.

Alain smiled to himself. They were something else. “You should probably get some rest. You both look exhausted.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Ash agreed. “See you in a few?”

“I’ll look forward to it.” On that high note, Alain turned, walking towards his end of the field.

“What a great display of determination and sportsmanship! Let’s offer a big hand for our competitors!” 

“You finally found what you were looking for, didn’t you?” Sycamore looked down upon the field with pride. “Well done, Alain, Ash.” 

“I can see why I had so much trouble with him.” Diantha thought aloud, her hands folded in her lap. She was having a hard time containing her excitement. “A victory well-earned.” 

“What a battle!” 

“Your rhythm was amazing!” 

“That was beautiful!” 

Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor swarmed Ash in the locker room, loudly gushing their thoughts. 

“I… think Ash could use some space,” Sawyer spoke up, clutching his notebook to his chest. When the trio backed off, he stepped forward. “Ash… I’m glad you won! I gained EXP, just watching that battle! I enjoyed it almost as much as ours.”

“You know,” Tierno interrupted, “you just said that he needed space, but I think you’re just hogging Ash for yourself!”

“What!?” Sawyer flustered, backing away from the taller trainer. “I-I wasn’t!”

Ash laughed, leaning back on the bench. “It’s alright, guys, really. But, I could use a nap.”

“Not before you claim your trophy!” The voice of Serena chimed, as the performer stepped forward, winking at her successful companion.

“You can’t doze off on us, now!” Bonnie agreed. “That was so cool! Ash-Greninja was amazing!”

“Just a bit longer,” Clemont gently reminded. “All of your pokemon are proud, I’m sure.”

“Pika-Pikachu!” Pikachu agreed, nuzzling into Ash’s face.

“Hey, quit it!” Ash chuckled, scratching the mouse’s opposite cheek. “Thanks, everyone. Just… Wake me up for the…”

“Mr. Ketchum!” An official stepped into the room, waving out the victor. “Could we have you on stage, please?” 

“So much for that,” Ash sighed. 

“Ash,” Diantha, the Champion started, hoisting a golden trophy to the young man above. The molding was fit with beautiful antlers of Xerneas, and the wings of Yveltal. A fitting symbol of the region’s blessings. 

Ash took it into his gloved hands, swallowing quietly. Pikachu leaned over his shoulder to peer at the trophy with curiosity.

“I praise you as a trainer who has raised his pokemon well, forged solid bonds with them, and demonstrated unparalleled strength in battle. Congratulations.”

It was all Ash could do to contain his enthusiasm on stage, a smile pressing at the edges of his cheeks, daring to go further, even. “Thank you, Diantha!”

Deafening applause rolled in from Lumiose Stadium, from strangers down to the competitors’ dearest friends. For Ash, his team, and even his opponents. 

“Ash.”

The youth from Kanto turned, and Alain stood below him, at ground level.

 “Congratulations.”

Ash beamed, brushing his finger over his nose. “Thanks a lot, Alain! Really.” 

“I really would’ve liked to see him win…” Mairin pouted, her cheek puffed up in a frown. “He fought so hard, too… But, I guess he’s happy, now, anyway. That’s what matters, right, Lysandre?” The young trainer perked up, turning to the philanthropist.

But, she found herself alone. The man’s overwhelming presence had vanished.

“Lysandre…?”

The Kalos League had reached its thrilling peak, and its conclusion, with it. Dreams were fought for, sorrows were forgotten, and promises were delivered on.But, the grandiose dream of a madman was moments from unfolding… 

[bestvrsystem-com]

Why You Should (And Shouldn't) Buy PlayStation VR in 2019

okay so I haven't really done a dedicated PlayStation VR video in a while in fact I think the last time I did one was back in 2016 when the platform originally came out and since then a lot has changed I mean it's two plus years the device is certainly matured gotten a lot better and it really is giving you the point where I think you should consider buying one and to be fair we're not going to spend ten plus minutes making this a PlayStation VR promotional campaign there's certainly some negatives and we're going to go over those as well but it is a situation where if you weren't sold on it back in 2016 maybe you will be now see the thing is back in October 2016 when PlayStation VR first came out the reservations many people felt were certainly warranted it was brand new unfamiliar tech to many that was essentially launching as a platform by itself with a steep starting price of $400 in requiring a ps4 to begin with it was easy to understand why people weren't so quick to throw money at it especially given the circumstances of virtual reality it's like asking someone to buy a car without letting them test-drive it if anything it's probably more comparable to say you're asking somebody to buy a car and they've never driven a car to begin with virtual reality is a really tough sell when you've never even tried it and this was something Sony was vehemently aware of you've got to have people actually try it firsthand to understand how immersive and incredible of a gaming experience it can be no amount of promises gameplay aware testimonials are going to relay what it's like so when you have a hurdle like that on top of a high price with requiring a ps4 and it essentially being a brand new platform with its own set of launch games it's understandable that the adoption rate has been slow going but fast-forward to the making of this video in the first half of 2019 and you'll notice that two of these hurdles have been rectified because it's been two years PlayStation VR like any platform has now matured to the point of coming in at a lower price point with a vast library of content the passing of time is indeed a gamers best friend when looking to buy into a system they've never owned it before PlayStation VR can now easily be had for as low as $250 brand-new and that's almost always going to include the necessary ps4 camera and two games bump that price up to the $350 range and you'll find retail bundles with two PlayStation Move controllers which you'll certainly want to grab at some point as they are required for some games and enhance the experiences of many more speaking of which can we just pause for a second and wreck that PlayStation Move was announced in June of 2009 10 years ago during Sony's e3 press conference and do you remember watching that press conference and gamers in the video game industry across the world everybody was just reacting to this thing and thinking off sell anyone what are you doing a PlayStation motion controller being demoed as a tennis racket and a sword and this was at the height of Nintendo Wii sales and yes PlayStation Move was probably are indeed well before Sony ever caught when to what Nintendo was doing at the week prior to its public reveal but it's the simple fact that PlayStation move came after so it never really broke that identity crisis especially when you have games like Sports Champions or being shoehorned into games like Killzone socom BioShock Infinite just never really worked out but would you believe in 2009 that we'd still be using this today 10 years later on ps4 with virtual reality mind you I think it's much better used today for that case but man I don't know if we should say like that's a true testament of time or if this thing really just needs to be updated and to be fair totally does need to be updated and it we probably will get a PlayStation Move 2.0 of some kind on PS 5 whenever Sony decides to show us that but yeah I think it's much better used today with PlayStation VR the unnoticed side-effect of PlayStation moves still being relevant 10 years later is that it's held its value because it's still being used today on ps4 with PlayStation VR you're still seeing used mini-usb Move controllers being sold regularly for more than twenty dollars people are picking these controllers up to use them today on PS VR which just as an FYI brand new Move controllers today come with a microUSB and they do not work on ps3 so if you ever find yourself buying move for ps3 specifically make sure you buy the correct one but this whole discussion of move and its retain value brings me to this greater point and that PlayStation VR itself is very valuable if you buy into it you feel that it's just not for you you can get a lot of your money back by posting it on a third-party site so at the very least you don't have to feel as though you're taking this huge risk buying something that you might not like hell if you don't mind the more personal aspect of the device by PlayStation VR used from eBay and if need be list it back on there for what you paid you'd only eat the eBay fees at that point in fact here's an extra tip assuming the sellers shipped it in a cost-effective box that wasn't overly way down keep the box and packaging materials for a little bit so if you decide you don't like it you have all the packaging ready to go I actually do this a lot as you can see we're in my living room and uh yeah I got a lot of box just in case you know Sam that's actually Melissa's house and yeah liver rooms basically turned into a storage closet at this point now monetary value aside here's the real safety net Sony had a pretty rough reputation with her PlayStation Vita support they spent the first two years releasing some first party games giving the Vita some stage time at press events and that was really about it so while Vita was a fantastic handheld with great games it was a tough sell for people when you see the manufacturer not giving it the support that it needs if there's one thing about PlayStation VR that everybody can agree on it's that Sony supports the living hell out of it to the point where it's beginning to annoy a regular ps4 users that have no interest in VR and they're tired of seeing it it's almost ironic but it really does give that reassurance that two years onward it's a great time to buy there's a ton of games on the horizon Sony has constantly filing new patents related to VR tech and most importantly the headset you buy today has recently been confirmed to be playable on Sony's next-generation PlayStation presumably PS 5 that in itself is fantastic news because while yes there will probably be a next-generation version of PlayStation VR at the very least your current headset can still be used and all the games that you buy today will still be playable but another key factor many are also overlooking as Sony's dominance in the VR space while some may say psvr isn't doing all that well it's actually the market leader in the premium line up against HTC vive and oculus with over 4 million headsets sold with sony securing all these patents and supporting VR like crazy you have to imagine that it's only going to get better from here and what does here look like we've talked a lot about the value in the future of the unit but realistically what does today get you as it stands I think you're finally seeing some prime examples of just how fun immersive and compelling PlayStation VR can be initially a lot of these games were more static experiences where you don't actually move around and all the content is seen in under an hour but today we've got games that well they're really considered more full-blown games Skyrim VR Resident Evil 7 or 2 - these are perhaps the best examples they're games that are very familiar but can be played completely in virtual reality and it's one hell of an experience to finally be inside those worlds these are the kind of games that are proof-of-concept to ease that transition of someone who initially would never care for VR because naturally people dismiss experiences they can't relate to [Music] the thing is though original VR titles are also blossoming and finding their place games like beat saver Farpoint doom VFR firewall zero our job simulator Moss Astra bot rescue mission Creed rise to glory and so so so much more and you know one thing I'm really starting to notice with PlayStation VR is that it has the same magic from 2006 you know what I'm talking about the first time you and a group of friends played a weed together you all had a blast that was the catalyst a lot of people were first exposed to we in a group setting with friends and it was just a fantastic time that social experience is what got so many people into it and ironically despite VR being an enclosed experience it's becoming social just as Sony planned it you're seeing friends together playing psvr and taking turns laughing and reveling and how cool the tech is now yes the barrier of entry is still much higher and I'm not saying PSP are suddenly going to see a massive jump in sales just like Nintendo did back in 2006 but the magic is there slowly but surely every time people try it they always have a great time geez now let's get to the negatives here's one of them the set up is a mess wires everywhere so when you're doing PlayStation VR you really have to consider where you're going to put this in terms of your play area in your room so for me I think I've found a pretty good balance here which is that I keep it on the bottom shelf of my TV and whenever I need it obviously I kind of made a mess here on purpose but basically whenever I decide to play it I keep most of that tucked under there I keep this whole area free it's a little bit dusty excuse me but I keep that whole area free and without having to think about it I just plop it in plop it out one wire just to hold it and move it around freely but for my space specifically it's a bit cramped as you can see I've got my desk right here with my computer and I do that in close proximity to do YouTube videos and gameplay recording and things like that but because of this my reach is severely limited when doing things like a PlayStation Move so I often hit the desk a lot my vertical is also a bit limited in this regard and so sometimes a lot of the games just flat-out don't work for this particular space and I have to take the whole setup out to the living room which as you can see I don't really like moving all this and then there's the general fatigue of the device even if you don't experience motion sickness you really should take a break every hour two hours and I know some people play longer than that but you do want to avoid that eyestrain that exhaustion especially if it's a move game or if it's using a lot of head tracking it tires you out a bit you do have to have the energy you do have to be in the mood for which I know sounds off-putting to want to be in the mood to move around like that but that's kind of how it is and that's actually why I've been gravitating more towards the games that just let you sit down be in that world and use a controller although it's also because of my setup like we just went over but it is a thing where once you are in the mood for it you still have a really great time so if you're on board now here's some quick tips to get you started definitely get those Move controllers you'll need them for some of the best experiences the aim controller I wouldn't buy right away until you know you're really enjoying VR but then definitely get that as well because it really feels like firing a gun and it's just a blast be sure to visit the PlayStation Store and go to the free section there's actually a lot of free viewer content you could spend all day playing with from live experiences to videos and speaking of videos if you have any 3d blu-ray movies psvr can play those and reproduce the 3d effect beautifully so try that out be conservative with your play time so you can avoid sickness or eye strain and perhaps most importantly invite some friends over who have never tried it watch how much fun you have order a pizza for the night and just have a good time thank you so much for watching this video I hope you've enjoyed it if you haven't yet of course please subscribe for the best PlayStation news reviews and updates that are here on YouTube and also follow along on twitter at mystic ryan and tweet at me let me know if you bought PlayStation VR because of this video if you didn't if I'm wrong please let me know because I'm pretty much wasting all my time on Twitter anyway so might as well have some things to read other than that though that's pretty much it I will see you on my next video and you take it easy

https://youtu.be/0PsfotRimXs