#chapter 4 out of 10

[wishmaker1028]

Farewell to You, ch 4

"Toge?"

A Togetic perked up, sensing something terrible coming. Seems like she wasn't the only one. A few other Togetic perked up too. This was the Togepi Paradise, protected by Misty's Togetic. But several of the Togepi had evolved into Togetic and the eldest had evolved into a Togekiss. The Togekiss flew over to Misty's Togetic. She seemed to be sensing the same thing. She seemed to have nodded to the guardian. It was time. The guardian seemed to have understood and made itself a portal. She knew what she had to do. She had to find Mama.

...

Pikachu, Buneary, and Piplup were starting to sense it too. Ash and Dawn both perked up.

Dawn asked, "Piplup? Buneary?"

Ash asked, "Pikachu?"

Misty frowned, "Their faces look familiar."

Brock agreed, "Yeah, they do."

Brandon turned to Anabel and Looker, "Didn't you two have news?"

Anabel explained, "Yes Mr. Nanu had told us that the temperature in Alola, near the Wela Volcano Park had been increasing."

Looker added, "We originally thought that Solgaleo had been up there but that didn't make any sense."

Lillie was admittedly worried about Solgaleo. She had a feeling that the Psychic/Steel type had gone back to Ultra Space with Lunala. Gladion saw her face.

He asked, "Worried about Nebby?"

Lillie answered, "Yeah but I'm pretty sure it went back to Ultra Space with Lunala. So it couldn't be our suspect here."

Looker stated, "Oh, we know. We think Moltres is hiding there."

Lucy frowned, "Moltres?"

Anabel confirmed, "Yes and not just any Moltres. The one you and your friends encountered years ago."

Tracey started to say, "You mean where..."

Anabel interrupted, nodding, "Where Lawrence was starting to collect the legendary birds."

To that, everyone paled.

Daisy pointed out, "But isn't, like, he still in jail?"

Looker stated, "You are right Daisy but we don't want to rule anything out."

Melody told them, "Lugia did ask for the trio to go hide elsewhere since Shamouti was no longer safe. And to take their treasures with them."

Rudy commented, "So we at least know where Moltres is. Just in case things start going south."

Mahri turned to Melody, "Guess you practicing for hours on end might be coming in handy."

To that, Melody blushed.

Lily said, "But we only know where Moltres is. Won't we also, like, need to know where the others are too?"

Before anyone could say anything, Looker's Pokenav rang.

He answered, "Hello?"

Nanu said, "Looker. Anabel."

Anabel blinked, "Mr. Nanu!"

Nanu stated, "Heads up. We've got an airship heading towards Lumiose City in Kalos."

Clemont was confused, "Why would someone be headed towards our hometown?"

Bonnie thought for a moment, "Wasn't there a lot of surges of power there before we left...?"

Serena confirmed, "Bonnie's right. Maybe Zapdos is there."

Ash stated, "I think we ought to split up. If this is really starting again, I'll need more help."

Pikachu said, "Pika pi."

Piplup said, "Piplup!"

Buneary said, "Bun!"

Nanu commented, "Good luck kid."

With that, he hung up.

Professor Kukuki asked, "Want us to check out Wela Volcano Park?"

Ash answered, "Yes please. And be careful."

Professor Kukui nodded as the Alola group headed out first.

Goh asked, "Where do you want us to go?"

Ash told them, "I would rather some groups hang back. We still need to find Articuno and Lugia."

Chloe stated, "We could do that."

Ash regarded, "Thanks."

Clemont told Ash, "Then we'll head out to Lumiose City."

Ash said, "Thanks Clemont. Be careful."

To that, he nodded. Bonnie and Serena followed him. Serena had a blush on her face when Clemont passed by her. Misty saw that and grabbed Serena real quickly.

Misty whispered, "Tell him!"

Serena yelped, "Right now? While we're on a mission?"

Misty stated, "You'll regret it if you don't."

Serena replied, "Speaking from experience much?" To that, Misty didn't deny it. She added, "Look, my crush on Ash ended a long time ago. When I realized that he had feelings for someone else, it took me a while to move on. And when I started to, Clemont was there for me." She blushed again, "And you know something? I'm glad. It means you can finally ask him who he has feelings for."

Serena gave Misty a quick hug before running off to catch up with Clemont and Bonnie. Misty knew that she was right but how was she going to ask... Before she could say anything, that's when they saw the weather changing. It was starting to rain. The population of Pallet Town ran off inside.

Delia stated, "I can't believe that this is happening again." Ash hugged his mom. Delia returned the hug, starting to cry. Ash rubbed her back, holding her close. She sniffled, "I miss your father."

Ash admitted, "Me too."

Pikachu looked up at the two humans sadly. None outside of Pallet Town actually knew what had happened to David Ketchum. Not even Misty knew.

Iris was very hesitant in asking her question, "So, if I'm asking the wrong thing, just let me know. But uh..." She paused as she played with her hands. She looked Delia in the eyes and finally asked, "What happened to your husband? Ash's father?"

Delia looked at her son for a minute, the tears in her eyes. There were tears in Ash's eyes too. Professor Oak looked at the two, as if he was seeking permission to tell the group. It was Delia who nodded.

The professor answered, "He died...a long time ago. When Ash, Gary, and Erika were all three years old. He had cancer."

...

Everyone was oddly quiet. They had no idea. Misty placed her hand on Ash's shoulder. Ash looked at her, sniffling. Misty gave him a small smile.

She admitted, "At least you remember your father. I...barely remember mine."

Daisy started to say, "Misty..."

Misty looked to her oldest sister, seeing the sad look on her face. Lily and Violet had the same look.

Gary asked, "I hate to ask but what happened to your parents anyways, red?"

Misty looked at him, back to her sisters, and then back to him. Daisy placed her hand on her little sister's shoulder.

Daisy answered, "Our mom was in a bad accident. And our father tried everything to help us but...he eventually left."

Erika raised a brow, "He just left?"

To that, Daisy just nodded very sadly. Tracey was instantly at her side.

Daisy sniffled, "Sorry, I don't like talking about our parents much."

Erika understood that so she just nodded. She decided to change the subject, "So...what now?"

Ash sniffled, "Not sure, Erika. Not sure."

...

Wishmaker1028: This is in a different universe where Ash's father just dies from natural causes. I liked doing that better. Please read and review! And always think outside of the box! 

[twosides--samecoin]

"Some people reflect light, some people deflect it; you by some miracle seem to collect it" Mark Z. Danielewski. House of Leaves, 2000.

[caseykeshui]

More X-Lord! but his road ready style this time ❤️and bean version- my baby boy rust!! . . . But fr tho I was surprised to see his helmet just chilling in the sand at the start of the trailer- I'm not showing his face just yet- X-Lord - Road Ready style

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 24

PREVIOUS

“What do you MEAN Smithy is in the hospital with a stab wound to his stomach?!” Nicky’s own voice is agony for his hangover but honestly, how the fuck else was he supposed to respond when he had asked Andrew where FF was and gotten that as a response.

“Calm down.” Andrew says and he looks tired, looks stressed, and maybe even just…a touch nervous?

Nicky isn’t as good as Neil at reading Andrew Minyard. He doesn’t think anyone will ever be as fluent in the language of Andrew Minyard as Neil Josten but Nicky has picked up some key phrases.

He can see when he’s making a joke that is a step too far. He can see when his cousin wants to kiss Neil but is holding back. He can see when his cousin is stressed.

He can see a guilty curve to Andrew’s spine.

“Andrew, answer me honestly, did you stab my sweet baby freshman?” Nicky asks and he’s not sure if the nausea he feels anymore is from horror or from the sheer number of drinks he had put in his system the night before.

Roland usually cuts him off before he gets this level.

Roland also has a habit of pouring heavier when he’s stressed.

Roland also also tends to make complicated fruity drinks that Nicky likes when he’s stressed.

Andrew’s jaw tenses but it’s Neil who speaks up, “It was an accident. It happened during a fight.” Neil says and Nicky throws his hands up in the air.

“You got into a FIGHT with my sweet baby freshman? Sweet little Smithy? The boy who made brownies that made me feel kinda straight for a dead woman?!” Nicky exclaims and sees Andrew and Neil open their mouths to say something but, “I promised him that if he wanted I’d get him something hard that’d mess his GUTS up but this isn’t what I MEANT.” He lets himself collapse dramatically over the table.

“Nicky, shut up!” Kevin hisses from his spot on the couch.

“When the fuck did Kevin get here?!” Because seriously, how fucked up was Nicky last night that he doesn’t remember Kevin coming on this Columbia trip? Where’d he sit? He couldn’t really remember coming over after Thanksgiving. Had Andrew put Kevin in the trunk? Had Andrew put Nicky in the trunk?

“He came with Wymack.” Neil cut in before Nicky started testing reality. “Wymack is at the hospital since he’s…uh…he’s the…”

“Medical Power of Attorney” Andrew answers.

“Yes! Thank you, the Medical power of attorney for Smith. He needed surgery and Wymack wanted to be nearby in case he had to make any pressing decisions.” Neil explains and yeah that tracks, he knows a little bit about FF’s family and knows that aside from his grandma on his dad’s side the rest can go take a long walk off a short volcano observation platform

“Okay, that explains why Kevin is here….how?! Despite all of the unwarranted advice, Kevin is not a medical professional.” Nicky says before turning to Kevin, “So Kevin, what insane Exy-related reason are you here? Don’t lie and say it’s because you want to sign the get well soon card.” He hisses.

“Fuck you!” Kevin spits, “I need to know how long Smiths is going to be out of commission and what his PT is going to look like. He was supposed to be starting during the spring season.” Kevin growls.

“There it is!” Nicky throws up his hands.

“Nicky, just calm down!” Neil pleads.

“How can I stay calm? Andrew stabbed Smithy! So not only is my favorite freshman in the hospital Andrew’s going to end up back on those god forsaken meds again!” Nicky shouts and buries his face in his hands.

“Smith isn’t going to say that.” Andrew’s voice is calm but Nicky can hear the slight edge.

“Oh yeah?” Nicky asks because he could see FF promising to never mention who stabbed him if Andrew would just spare his life. FF was going to be even MORE of a disaster when it came to his anxiety around Andrew. Nicky wouldn’t be surprised if his friend just straight up dropped out after this. His cousin is safe but he’s absolutely going to lose his friend.

“Because he’s saying Romero Malcolm stabbed him.” Andrew finishes.

Nicky sits up.

“Wait, what?” Nicky asks.

“Last night Romero Malcolm was at Eden’s.” Neil says voice even in a way that lets Nicky know that he’s trying to stay calm, “Smith recognized him, heard he wanted to grab,” Neil swallows thickly, “…grab one of my friends and saw them looking at…” Neil trails off and looks to Andrew who shakes his head, “…around for someone to grab.” Neil seems to decide and Nicky knows when something is being hidden from him but he’s more interested in the story than what Neil is hiding at the moment, “He got Romero’s attention so that he wouldn’t do anything bad in Eden’s and let Roland know to call help. He went out alone into the alley but Romero didn’t follow him.” Neil explains.

“Oh thank god.” Nicky sighs.

“Because he’d alerted Jackson Plank was lying in wait to ambush him.” Neil continues.

“Oh dear god.” Nicky exclaims.

“He uh…” Neil looks to Andrew who shakes his head again, “okay we don’t know exactly HOW Smith managed to do it but he beat Jackson up pretty bad.” Neil explains.

Nicky feels his brain stop working.

He has watched FF trip over his own feet, walk into four different trees, and almost sprain his ankle walking across a flat surface. He knows FF has been watching self-defense videos and had even gotten some pointers from Matt but even Matt had told him his better bet was probably just to yell “WOW WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE?!”, point behind the attacker, and run as fast as humanly possible away from a fight.

Neil is still talking.

Nicky boots back up quickly.

“…a gun. He tackled Romero into Andrew and Andrew’s knife ended up in Smith’s stomach on accident while they were wrestling for the gun. Smith is the one who said he’s going to tell everyone who asks that it was Romero. He even said it to me.” Neil says with an awkward laugh.

“And you believed him.” Andrew says and there’s warmth in his cousin’s eyes as he looks at Neil and teases him.

“And I believed him.” Neil confirms.

“Okay, so you swear to me that you did not INTENTIONALLY stab my BFF?” Nicky asks looking at Andrew seriously.

“BFF, seriously?” Kevin asks.

“Best Freshman Friend.” Nicky answers quickly, “Don’t worry Kevin, you lose out to Matt in all regards for my Best Senior Friend.” He says.

Kevin just flips him off but Nicky turns his attention back to Andrew, “Andrew, I need to hear it.” He says .

“I did not intentionally stab Smith.” Andrew confirms.

Nicky lets the horrified nausea leave him with only his hangover nausea.

“Okay, we can work with that.”  Nicky leans back. “Have you heard from that Agent?” he asks looking at Neil.

Neil nods but then looks nervous and shoots a look towards Kevin, “The FBI is sending Browning and a field office agent to talk with us but…Ichirou also contacted me.” He says and Nicky watches as Kevin perks up.

“He did?!” Kevin squawks looking around like he expected the head of the Moriyama family to appear from the shadows.

“He wants to make sure we do our part to keep the Moriyama name out of this. He is going to deal with Romero and Jackson himself.” Neil says looking nervous.

Nicky clenches his eyes shut, “Well you’re not going to mention them right?” he hears Kevin ask.

“Of course not Kevin.” Nicky hears Andrew hiss.

“Good.” Kevin says.

There’s silence in the wake of Neil’s statement.

Nicky takes a deep breath and wishes his head was a little less agonizing. “Why aren’t we at the hospital to see Smithy?” he asks because he has nothing he can do about Ichirou so he may as well put it out of his mind.

There is some grumbling.

“Wymack said that he’ll just make us sit in the waiting room without any updates.” Neil says. “We’re picking up Smith’s grandma from the airport and she’s our ticket to getting an actual update beyond ‘not dead yet’ from Wymack.” He adds.

“What, you really can’t get updates without Wymack?” Nicky asks.

Andrew looks at Nicky and Nicky can’t read a single thing his cousin is thinking.

“What’s Smith’s first name Nicky.” Andrew asks.

“Oh God fucking Dammit.” Nicky’s head hurts too bad for this.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

Per your requests:

@i-have-three-feelings

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The requests to be added to the tag list keep being spread out across a few different areas. If I missed you please just ask again in the replies I promise I just missed you.

As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly?

[onebizarrekai]

disclaimer: there is like no way on this green earth that ibvs is going to update on time this halloween despite it being a halloween chapter. I feel like it would take a miracle and an adhd dove descending from heaven upon me to write that much of it that quickly. I can do my best to work on it productively, but the state that it's in right now (1400 words of drafting, 1700 words of actual writing) doesn't really make finishing it in so little time seem feasible haha

[courtney-deserved-better]

just finished the latest chapter of the longfic and it's now broken 30k words! we're currently at 10/14 chapters

[lieutenantbiscute]

Me, @sebastian-moran-has-arrived and @flowery-musings have a GO Dragón au that we made the year the show aired and its safe to say it’s taking up my brain space again;;

[bedlamsbard]

running through plot ideas for The Next Big Fic in a "well everyone ELSE did this ten years ago but I haven't done it yet" *shows up ten years late with Starbucks* kind of way

[entomolog-t]

7) Describe them in three words. Now let them describe themself in three words.

For Aedes and/or June?

Aedes: Charming, lonely, hurt

He would describe himself as dangerous, lonely, and dishonest.

June: Blunt/honest, curious, caring

She would describe herself as impulsive, playful, and dedicated.

Oooh! So these will make a lot more sense after a few more chapters 👀💕

[otrtbs]

Would you ever consider writing a one-shot (maybe for the 1 year anniversary?) with what would have happened had reg made it out alive (I would cry)

hi! i don't know if i'm going to put out anything for the one year anniversary of art heist but if i did it wouldn't be a regulus-living-situation sorry! any situation that comes out of art heist where regulus lives is an alternate ending to me. and regulus living was just,,, never the story i wanted to write. and tbh my fear is a lot of people would read that ending and say "this is the ending we deserved" or "this is how it should've gone" or "i'm pretending this was the original ending" and none of those things feel super great i can't lie! and i feel like it detracts from the original intent of the story i wrote which makes me :((( yk? (maybe you don't know and that's okay) but regulus was always supposed to die! he was never meant to make it out alive in this story so as far as any writing from me goes in the ahb! universe,, regulus will be dead

[charmac]

PLEASEE POST A NEW CHAPTER OF THE SUGAR DADDY FIC I AM ON MY HANDS AND KNEES 😭😭😭😭😭

Updating All These Nights tonight and then Sugar is next to be updated, promise promise.

[magic-is-something-we-create]

15/25 pages for chapter one COMPLETE

[eddsworldstuck]

i am once again jumping around in writing and wrote part of a chapter in act 3 while writing more of A1C1

and i am not okay

it was very cathartic tho

...i wrote it at 2 in the morning

on my phone

...do i need to mention again that this AU was revived to be a representation of my grief and help me process it, after playing both persona 3 portable and reload made me think about its core theme quite a bit?

anyway have this doodle from last month from my doodle psd cause it's cute and to offset the sadness (guidesprite duo cause they both merged with their guidesprite when ascending)

also the height difference is pretty accurate (heightcomparison.com)

[doublekanble]

mfw the fic i "write as a relief/buffer between the chapter fic" get to 11k and counting

[vermillioncrown]

Fuck you and your writing. What the hell. How tbe fuck did you make a tasteful brothel scene, how the hell did you manage to do all this shit. This chapter was fuckin heart wrenching. I wanted to see WWX get fucked up and then he did and it wasn't satisfying, but it was good writing and i liked it regardless. God. How the hell did you do this shit. What the fuck.

:^) thank you, i hit my target :^) :^)

=

because i really, really cared about getting the exact flavor of this chapter right, so much so that it took over a year.

the brothel scene is so important in what it means in the fic, which is more than showing that zyx fucked. or that zyx fucked a girl for real. or to do some questioning of sexuality.

(which i think i had to go through the five stages of grief when someone excitedly talked about it like having sex means someone is no longer aspec like... every day i am confronted by the fact we all coexist with vastly different perspectives on reality, and these realities are all true to some extent, sigh)

it's also not about being edgy and buying hookers, getting drunk, and all that.

so without using prostitution, nightlife, and sex as a prop and just being real with it, i hope that it doesn't come off goofy, edgy, or objectifying. the perils of trying to convey complicated feelings without therapy speak in-fic, and being really honest in someone's motivations and reactions (bc, unavoidably, it IS an SI).

the brothel scene and its whole fallout was so important, in fact, that i rewrote the entire order of the chapter. originally, the scenes were supposed to be in chronological order. logical, but it just felt like a boring recounting of events. sure, the events are fresh and we wanna see what zyx-mess happens next, but it's just a bunch of 'and then, and then, and then'. works for interlude chapters (ch8, ch15), but this really isn't one.

seguing, i learned a lot from how i wrote bil. dbd will never be as lean as bil, but it reminded me that when i drafted the fic, i focused on certain developments and ideas for a reason. also, since it's a chapter that doesn't involve too many canon characters, which let's be real that's usually the reason we stick around these kinds of fics, it needed to have purpose and be clear about what feeling it's trying to convey

even at the cost of simplicity in order of events

it would have been so difficult to keep the type of upset that zyx is feeling through a chapter that spans months, develops two interpersonal relationships, has a big oopsie, in chronological order without a too-angsty tone. too many periodic reminders would feel jarring and obtrusive, and exaggerate it. and that's also just not how zyx (i) deal with upsets, thank you adhd

and like, doing that for 10k+. (eternally i thank my readers for their patience and willingness to read so much bc people don't read fanfic for deep analysis and extra hw...) that's too much.

=

the second most important scene is the wwx duel, you got it. (i'd lump the lxc duel there, too bc those two are kinda related)

(sometimes i worry i made wwx too annoying. but then i talk myself back--it's always perspective. wwx isn't doing more than he already did in canon. we just have someone who can articulate how they feel about what he does, and he's not the main narrator of dbd.)

we get to a very clear demonstration of zyx as a character--it's more or less "i have no mouth and i must scream". here's your chance to be violent. you know you want it. do it. act out, make yourself heard.

zyx doesn't do it.

and you know what? i will be honest, truly honest here: i am sorry if you can instantly clock why zyx is the way they are, because for real 'recognition of the self in the other'.

lack of satisfaction--when you know what you wanted all along was for something to have never have happened at all, would punishment (displaced punishment) satisfy you? would it fix you? sometimes it helps, just for a moment. but i've answered this question enough times that i know i'd rather have never had to ask that question in the first place.

=

tldr: it's because it's a chapter about emotional honesty, and i as the author was really fucking honest and tried my fucking best to convey that.

[mushiemellows]

about to go to bed, but I just finished the last big construction rewrite for SRH, everything here on out is rewording/clean up/two medium scene fixes. But I'm done with all the major demolition work. It no longer feels like I actively detest Sanji, at least i don't think.

(It’ll get posted later this week prob)