#gauntlet launcher

[yugiohcardsdaily]

Gauntlet Launcher

"2 Level 6 monsters You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 monster your opponent controls; destroy it."

[gigginox]

new weapon in hades 2 has quickly become my favorite its very fun to play

[wingedshadowfan]

just saw someone call the hellfire squad "caitlyn's goons" and say that they were "targeting civilians in the undercity" so let's get a few things straight AGAIN

caitlyn proposed the squad as an alternative to a full scale hextech armed enforcer invasion (specifically bcuz she was afraid "civilians would get caught in the crossfire") so the hellfire squad was decidedly NOT targeting civilians - neither w/ the grey, nor with weaponry, as it had three main objectives:

dismantling shimmer (factories, shipments, whatever tf)

neutralizing any agents still loyal to silco: and i wouldn't consider the (armed) chem barons civilians in this case

catching/killing jinx

caitlyn's "goons" in question were

vi, a zaunite, armed w/ the hextech gauntlets, which can be non-lethal

caitlyn, the one who was concerned abt harming civilians, armed w/ a hextech rifle, which has been shown to be non-lethal

maddie, junior officer, armed w/ a normal pistol (she was also seen loading a grenade launcher, not at people)

steb, presumably a medic, armed w/ batons

loris, only shown protecting, armed w/ a shield

some more things to mention abt the harm caused by the squad

if caitlyn's aim was to cause chaos and harm actual civilians, she had much more effective ways of doing it at her disposal - she wasn't aiming for it and in fact went out of her way to try to limit the harm she'd cause

the selective use of the grey - basically factory smaug the longterm exposure to which is harmful, but has been seen inhaled and used in the show before, by silco on his own people - was facilitated by vi to "clear the streets" (again, so civilians wouldn't be caught in the crossfire) + caitlyn had access to the vents

the only deadly weaponry the squad had was very clearly not used at actual civilians (unless we count isha at the very very end, courtesy of caitlyn)

when caitlyn herself became more aggressive and prone to arrests, vi immediately spoke up abt it

now ik this person was referring to the hellfire squad bcuz they'd just been talking abt jinx blowing up the council and vi facilitating whatever followed, but in case they were talking abt the actual armed invasion caitlyn tried but failed at preventing:

this statement may be true for enforcers depending on what can be seen in the montage, but keep in mind their orders were to find jinx and that caitlyn was on ambessa's ass for rictus instigating violence and arresting without cause behind her back

on that very topic, it becomes clear the noxian soldiers - the clearly more aggressive ones and the ones w/ demands for fortification, aren't "caitlyn's goons" and she's hardly in direct or absolute control of them

[the-cauldron-witch]

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, c’mere. With Donnie pls? Maybe still crush state? 👁️👁️ (thank you in advance!)

Thank you so much for the ask!!! 🫂🫂🫂

I'm really sorry for taking so long, Donnie was being difficult and wouldn't let me write this out apparently! I hope you like it!

Taglist: @silverwatergalaxy @thelaundrybitch @sophiacloud28 @iridescentflamingo @thegirlwiththeninjaturtletattoos @yorshie @truffle-draws-turtles (message me if you want to be apart of my taglist! I just started keeping it, so if I forgot to tag you don't be upset)

Sparks scattered from the tip of the soldering iron in Donnie’s expert hand, putting the finer finishing touches to the circuit board inside the device resting on his work bench. Sweat beaded at the top of his brow, trickling down his face and neck behind the welding mask as he worked. Once he was satisfied with the work he lifted the shield from his face and smiled down at his creation, closing the panel and sealing away the wires and circuits from the rest of the world. With the final touches finally complete Donnie felt confident enough to test out his new invention; a shuriken wrist launcher. Although his brothers and himself had incredible accuracy with shurikens, they could only throw so many so fast, with this new device whomever used it should be able to send multiple shurikens at a target at top speed.

“Hey, Donnie!” Your voice broke the silence like a thin sheet of ice, snapping him out of his studying gaze and fumble with the invention for a split second. “Oh, jeez, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you” You couldn’t help but giggle an apology while Donnie sighed in relief with the invention still in his hand.

“No worries, I just finished my shuriken launcher actually,” He said with a grin, peeling the welding mask from his sweat covered head and placing it on his bench. Donnie was grateful for the way his purple mask hid the slight color that came to his cheeks at the mere sight of you standing at the entrance to his lab, shifting from one foot to the other while watching him. This could be the millionth time he saw you, yet it still gave him butterflies like it was the first time.

“Shuriken launcher? Seems kind of redundant,” You questioned with a raised eyebrow, walking into the lab and to Donnie’s side so that you could eye the metal gauntlet in his hand.

“Well, because of our tridactyl hands we are only able to throw at maximum two shurikens with each hand, totaling to four shurikens for each of us. Leo is the only one who managed to throw three in each hand successfully, but they weren’t as accurate compared to throwing the typical two in each hand.”

Slipping the gauntlet over his muscular green forearm Donnie studied his invention, pressing a button on the side facing himself. The gauntlet hissed for a second as the inner cuff began inflating, securing itself to his arm. Donnie flexed his hand and wrist, making sure that the cuff wasn’t too constricting but also held firm enough to not budge easily. Curiosity now piqued you watched while Donnie flexed his muscular arm, admiring his physique more than the invention if you were being honest.

“I recycled a blood pressure cuff machine for the base so that it could be used by anyone who wears it, no matter the size of their forearm,” Donnie explained, pointing his arm to an invisible target ahead of him. “It keeps the device secure against the users arm for better aim,”

“Oh, like the ones you see at the pharmacy?” You questioned enthusiastically, drawing yourself closer to Donnie so you can inspect the shuriken launcher closer. Now that you were closer to it you could see he had taken the blood pressure cuff as he said, mounting what looked like a modified multi-disc CD player onto the top where the shurikens were stored and ejected through a slim opening at the wrist. There were a few other components you couldn’t identify, but they all seemed to work together by Donnie’s ingenuity.

“Yeah! I haven’t put the shurikens inside the launcher just yet, I was just about to test it out in the dojo for the first time, if you’d like to join?”

“I’d love to! Can I try it out next?” Bouncing on your toes with eagerness you followed him out of the lab like an excited puppy. Your enthusiasm and excitement to help and learn from Donnie always sent a small whirlwind of butterflies fluttering in his stomach, something about the way your eyes lit up and voice heightened made him feel weak in the knees.

“O-of course, sure! But I want to take the first test, just to make sure everything is programmed correctly” Donnie spoke a little louder than intended, mirroring your own excitement as he strode his way to the dojo. Once entering the dojo Donnie made his way over to the training dummy, many shuriken already scattered about and lodged into different surfaces. Plucking the ones from the floor and pulling the three out of the wooden dummy he pressed a button facing him, the top of the devices panel popping open. Placing the shuriken collected in his hand into the compartment and closing the hatch he turned to you.

“Alright, so here’s how it should work,” Slipping into his ‘Bill Nye voice’ as Mikey described once, Donnie began explaining the device on his arm to you with a small smile turning the ends of his lips, “I modified the blood pressure cuff with some sensors that read the way your muscles move and flex, so that when I clench my fist and move it in just the correct way it should launch one shuriken at a time when flexed or sending multiple when your hand is held in that position,”

Taking a stance in front of the target practice dummy Donnie locked onto the blue and yellow target painted on the torso, lining up his shot and flexing his hand downward as though he were throttling a motorcycle handle. There was a long, drawn out moment of silence where nothing happened. Another moment and Donnie flexed his hand in the same way again, clenching and unclenching his fist in the manner needed for the device to launch a shuriken. Still nothing.

“Did you turn it on?” You questioned, giggling nervously as you earned an incredulous deadpanned look from the tall terrapin. After another second of holding the gauntlet out, Donnie sighed and brought his arm towards himself once again and relaxed his hand.

“That’s strange, maybe I didn’t calibrate the sensors correctly?” Donnie murmured to himself, studying his invention with a furrowed brow and small annoyed huff. He had gone over the programming his usual four dozen times and tested the sensors inside the blood pressure cuffs with his computer the same amount, the device should at least attempt to launch a shuriken.

Approaching Donnie as he continued his intense gaze as though the problem would be written on the surface of the uncooperative device, he didn’t register your proximity as he continued scrutinizing and silently questioning what could not be working right. Grazing the tip of his finger over the area where the shurikens had been loaded into earlier Donnie noticed the small door had not latched shut properly. Pressing his finger on the hatch the smallest and softest ‘click’ registered in Donnie’s ears a millisecond before a glint of metal shot from his wrist.

You didn’t have time to so much as blink. The weapon was ejected in the flicker of an eye with incredible speed, the sharpened tip grazing the skin of your cheek and leaving a thin trail of crimson beads behind. Hissing as the fiery sting settling into your cheek you reached a hand to your face, fingertips meeting warm blood as you and Donnie stared at one another in shock. Blood trickled down your cheek for a second longer before Donnie snapped out of his daze, pressing the button to disengage the gauntlet from his arm and let it drop to the floor without a care.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit, c’mere” Donnie breathed as he quickly leaned down to capture your face in his massive hands, the sudden closeness causing your breath to hitch in your throat and heart to stammer a beat. Not giving you a chance to find your voice again Donnie swept you off of your feet and into his massive arms, carrying you to the med-bay hastily in one fell swoop. How could he have let something like this happen? Something as stupid as the hatch not being closed correctly shouldn’t have gotten you hurt! You practically blinked and the two of you were in the medbay. Placing you on the exam table gently Donnie studied your face with concern and guilt wrinkling his brow and eyes.

“Donnie?” You questioned as he darted to the otherside of the room, opening a drawer or two before pulling out a plastic med kit.

“So fucking stupid...should have fucking known better, didn’t pay attention enough!” You could hear him muttering angrily to himself, berating himself for letting you get hurt in the most ridiculous way. Guilt clutched at your chest as you heard him curse under his breath. It wasn’t like he did it on purpose or knew something so small would go wrong, things like this just happened sometimes.

“Donnie?” You tried again when he sat himself in on a rolling chair and slid clear across the room to your side. The cut no longer burned as harshly now, but the sting still lingered and pulsated. Blinking himself out of the fog the panic settled in his mind Donnie’s eyes finally met yours.

“It’s okay, really,” A smile attempted to dimple your cheek, making you wince a tiny bit from the fresh pain, “I’m okay, honestly. It’s just a little scratch! Stop beating yourself up,”

“I...I know...I should have known better than to point it-” He began berating himself again as his fingers fiddled with the antiseptic wipe in his hands, fingers fumbling and making him more frustrated. Taking his jittering hands in your own you brought his attention back onto you, his heart hammering in his chest as he felt the warmth of your soft hands wrapping around his rather larger ones. The sudden urge took over you, leaning you forward and pressed so that you could press your lips to his forehead for a moment. Electricity ran from where your lips met his skin down his neck and through every nerve ending in his shell and skin, sparks crackling and sending shivers down his spine. Pulling your lips away from his forehead you registered what you had done, offering a shy smile.

“It’s just a little scratch. I’m okay, really” You giggled nervously.

Swallowing the thick lump suddenly lodged in his throat Donnie couldn’t bring himself to speak again, knowing his voice would crack and betray him now. Instead he focuses on the dried blood staining your cheeks, despite the fact they were already flushing red from your own doing. Not that Donnie’s own face wasn’t heated by the kiss placed on his forehead, but he wasn’t going to admit that out loud just yet.

[lukedanger]

If you will forgive me being rather blase for a second... a sniper rifle, a pair of gauntlets, and a grenade launcher can be a polyarmory.

[agbpaints]

Solstice present from my friend- more machines for the CCAF dirty tricks brigade! Eat your heart out @house-liao-official.

The mech, as the package says, is a Gùn- a dark age era infantry support omni that looks like a fat locust and plays like a panther with an iron deficiency. Lots of weight savings tech has been used- an XL-gyro, endosteel structure, small cockpit, and with a frankly pitiful top speed of 86.4 kph and only a half ton more armor than a wasp the mech is devoting all of that to pod space, 10 tons of the stuff.

The prime mounts a plasma rifle with two tons of ammunition and a pair of ER medium lasers, the A packs a single Heavy PPC (making it afaik the lightest mech to mount a head chopper, along with the Stinger IIC 2 and Howler 3), and the B mounts an ER large laser and the most advanced electronics package the Capellans could muster in the form of an Angel ECM system, Bloodhound Active Probe, and TAG. As a direct combat mech, the thing is a miserable failure (most main guns will gut the thing down at the leg) but as a garrison mech to attach to CCAF augmented lanchs as a bipedal IFV for battle armor platoons it aquits itself well with a variety of capabilities.

The stands of bipedal battle armor are the Fa Shih medium suit. Intended as a mine warfare specialist, the Fa Shih found wide adoptance within the CCAF because its new magnetic clamp system allows it to latch onto and ride conventional battlemechs and vehicles without the specialized hard points most battle armor requires to ride omnimechs. The suit moves similarly to IS standard or Clan Elemental battle armor, capable of performing 90 meter jumps, however the armor and weapons capacity is quite lacking, with armor weak enough to fail when hit with a standard inner sphere large laser and only enough weight devoted to direct weapons for an anti-personnel mount and a small modular mount capable of accepting equipment such as a small laser, flamer, or light TAG. The Fa Shih does, however, come equipped with a pair of mine clearance gauntlets and an air launched FASCAM dispenser, which allow teams of Capellan combat engineers to quicky deploy and clear minefields as they move around the battlefield.

Finally, the quadruped armor is the Shen Long heavy suit, another post Jihad innovation. While the quad design does preclude the use of mech rides entirely for moving the Shen Long around the field, the armor does acquit itself reasonably in the speed department with a loping top speed of 43 kmph, while the armor is slightly thicker than that of a standard elemental suit. That armor is quite special too- the suit is equipped with a Mimetic Armor System that allows the Shen Long to blend into its surroundings when stationary and fool all but elite gunners even at close range.

Nearly all of the Shen Long's weapons are mounted in the a modular turret behind the head, with some common configurations including a quartet of david light gauss rifles or machine guns, an 4-tube SRM launcher, a 5-tube MRM launcher, and a pair of flamers supported by a battle armor-scale ECM suite. There's also a config I can only describe as a Sommerset Strikers homage which uses a pair of grenade launchers and a pop-up mine system to ape the weapons loads of the early Infiltrator mk 1 and Sloth battle armors. Where the Fa Shih is designed to prepare the field for battle, the Shen Long is designed to take and hold it for the Confederation, galloping into the fight alongside the rest of their augmented lance or melting into the terrain and waging a campaign of guerilla warfare.

[clingyduoapologist]

L’mantrio but I assign them hidden blades:

c!Tommy: ok like to me ctommy 100% has a hidden blade similar to Connor’s

Like with the swivel there? Mans is here to fuck shit up and he doesn’t particularly care how. Fear him.

c!Tubbo: easy answer the Syndicate gauntlet

Bro is kitted OUT. He’s got the grappling hook, the dart launcher, the blade itself, plus whatever other mods his sick twisted little self could come up with. Wrist mounted war crime right here.

c!Wilbur: Arno’s phantom blade

Sleek. Understated. And yet with just the little bit of added functionality of the crossbow. Lets him pick off targets before they ever even see him. He’d like it. #archerbursupremacy💯

[fulcrum-art-fox]

Jinx slagging the gauntlets off as overdesigned is hilariously ironic coming from the girl who made a rocket launcher look like a shark

[oddlyzephyrous]

where the fuck did aypierre get a rocket launcher. and a lazer gauntlet. and a fucking. BLOODBORNE SAWBLADE.

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Metru Nui Archives data log 35494: Cordak Blaster Prototype

Log author: Chief Archivist Etoku

I am prefacing this data log with a reminder to the Kehrex Weapons Company that the Archives is not seeking a corporate sponsor, and that any attempts to convince us, or any other Metruan organisation, to convert to your philosophy of "capitalism" will not succeed, no matter how many "rare" prototype weapons you send us (if you wanted us to believe they were rare, you shouldn't have sent so many).

With that out of the way, let's talk about what our... magnanimous would-be benefactors thought was worth shipping all the way from Xia, starting with a bit of preamble about the history of Cordak Blasters.

The Cordak Blaster is a rotary-barrel, muzzle-loaded missile launcher, and one of the most widely used vehicle-mounted weapons in the universe, though beings with enough strength (or under other conditions that make things lighter such as being underwater or within the radius of a Toa of Gravity's powers) can also carry them as handheld weapons.

The Blasters work by using a reciprocating motor to drive a pump that pushes compressed air into the top barrel, propelling the missile (or "mini-rocket", as they are commonly known) forwards, while also triggering a mechanism that rotates the barrels through 60°, readying the next shot. Meanwhile, the missile's inbuilt propulsion system activates, and it travels in a roughly straight line before usually hitting its mark. This process takes such a short time that Cordak Blasters can fire rapidly, though their low ammunition capacity can be an issue.

As you can guess from its… unusual firing method, the Cordak Blaster was first conceptualised by the Vortixx of Xia during their industrial revolution. They were sold to military commanders and rulers on other islands, most of whom proceeded to resell theirs elsewhere.

The ammunition is surprisingly stable, and can be safely stored upon a being's armour with little to no fear of detonation. It's also worth noting that any object with a similar diameter to the barrels of a Cordak Blaster can also be fired by one, though it won't go far without any additional propulsion.

Along with the standard version, there's also a much larger variant, the "Nui Cordak", designed for mounting on warships and other large vehicles, and a smaller, cheaper variant known as the Firework Revolver, which is said to have been developed in collaboration with the legendary Nynrah Ghosts (though this could just be a fabrication for marketing purposes).

The weapon's name is derived from the Toa Cordak, a Toa Team who are most well-known for being disintegrated by Zyglak, to the point that, according to my more... outgoing colleagues, the word "Cordak" has come to be used as a colloquial synonym for desolation. Prior to the unfortunate demise of the Toa Cordak, they were referred to as simply "Revolving Blasters", and you can tell the age of a Cordak Blaster by whether the name on the side is prefaced with the word "Cordak".

Now then, let's get onto the topic at hand. This prototype Cordak Blaster looks and functions vastly differently than the final version.

To start with the least notable change, the pumping mechanism is an external unit, connected via thick, translucent hoses to the back of the weapon. The hoses would presumably have been a major weak-point, and the pump is about as large and as heavy as a regular Cordak Blaster.

But where things get interesting are with the weapon itself, as well as its ammunition. Rather than a rotary design that allows for rapid firing, the prototype Blaster instead uses a gravity-fed loading system, drawing from a box-magazine that clips onto the top, and fires from a single, rather bulky barrel.

The overall form-factor, air-pump aside, is much smaller, built into a gauntlet that is sized for most classes of Toa. The Matoran over in the Weapons Testing complex managed to get it to work by attaching it to an ancient artificial Toa arm from the Level 2 Prosthetics & Implants gallery, then controlling the arm using a machine that Archivists Nuparu and Mavrah designed for this exact purpose.

What this testing showed was how the prototype missiles worked; painted entirely yellow, they were cylindrical, rather than the thin, flared shape and red colouration of the final missile designs, and seemed to be made out of solid metallic protodermis. Rather than exploding on impact, they instead functioned similarly to traditional projectile weapons such as Kanoka, impacting the target with a large amount of physical force; all but one of the targets that the weapons-testers had set up were destroyed by the Blaster, with the remaining one gained a large dent in its torso-piece when the aiming system of the testing arm glitched.

Since Kehrex provided us with a hundred crates of ammunition (each crate contains seven magazines, for a total of exactly two-thousand eight-hundred projectiles) and twenty Blasters, I got the weapon testers to try loading the prototype projectiles into the final design and vice-versa, and the results were. Interesting.

Test 1 resulted in the projectiles loudly falling to the testing-chamber floor, due to the lack of additional propulsion. Rather disappointing, but to be expected. However, Test 2 was far more interesting; while the Blaster itself was damaged, the rockets fired as standard, albeit with a far higher initial launch velocity. I requested that the damaged blaster be put on display next to the intact versions, with an explanation of what happened to it, and that only one of the intact blasters be displayed; the rest will go into storage, along with the remaining ammunition.

Personally I believe these will be quite popular with visitors, though I doubt this will cause Kehrex to cease their attempts at buying our attention.

Artifact information:

Categories: Inanimate, Weapon

Current location: Level 3, Weapons gallery.

End of log.

Addendum by Surgical Director Gogot: Hey boss you should of just asked me what toa types it fits. You're office is literally like five doors from the dissection lab. For the record, its only compatible with the arm structures of class-2 toa, as they are the ones who were active during the creation of this weapon.

[rollerderbydropout]

hmm

what mech do you pilot

so okayso i mean I dontactively pilot ut but i have one its an Enkidu form my very legitimate license

printed it andbnow it just sits in vissilys workshop and stares at us.

-- HA Enkidu @ LL7 --

"FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY"

[ LICENSES ]

IPS-N Blackbeard 2, IPS-N Zheng 2, HA Tokugawa 3

[ CORE BONUSES ]

Improved Armament, Integrated Weapon

[ TALENTS ]

Vanguard 3, Combined Arms 2, Hunter 2, Nuclear Cavalier 2, Brawler 1

[ STATS ]

HULL:2 AGI:5 SYS:0 ENGI:2

STRUCTURE:4 HP:20 ARMOR:1

STRESS:4 HEATCAP:10 REPAIR:6

TECH ATK:-2 LIMITED:+1

SPD:5 EVA:13 EDEF:8 SENSE:5 SAVE:14

[ WEAPONS ]

Integrated: Plasma Talons

INTEGRATED WEAPON: Bristlecrown Flechette Launcher

FLEX MOUNT: Bristlecrown Flechette Launcher / Bristlecrown Flechette Launcher

FLEX MOUNT: Tiger-Hunter Combat Sheathe

FLEX MOUNT: Bristlecrown Flechette Launcher / Bristlecrown Flechette Launcher

[ SYSTEMS ]

Total Strength Suite II, Plasma Gauntlet x2, Synthetic Muscle Netting, Rapid Burst Jump Jet System, Personalizations

[elzifelzi]

So here are the rules of this omnitrix

Firstly concept wise and appearance wise as you'll see below it's a combination of almost every canon omnimatrix device that ben has worn in the classic continuity.

This is because #1 in my AU there is no separation between AF/UA and OV it's just one series and #2 i wanted to limit the amount of omnitrix devices that ben uses for story and convenience purposes.

Now on to what thiw omnitrix actually is.

It's essentially just the classic omnitrix with some Alterations think of the recalibrated omnitrix from af except the reason for it recalibrating is not because ben hadn't used it for awhile It's because of a device called the matrix core.

This lil thing right here...it may not look like much but it is conceptually the most powerful piece of technology in the universe.

What does it do?

It's a device that upgrades and enhances any device it integrates with almost like a portable galvanic mechamorph for example integrate it into a rocket launcher and it can have the power of a tank..integrate it into a tank and ot could have the potential power of a nuke etc etc.

Azmuth developed this device to boost galvanic planetary defenses in case of emergencies but Myaxx sent it to ben before it was completed.

He also never calibrated it to work well with the omnitrix.

After ben integrates the matrix core into his omnitrix the omnitrix recalibrates changing it's appearance and features.

It is now more gauntlet shaped with the omnitrix dial located on the back of the hand and It has an alien selection wheel like the ov omnitrix (but not the touchscreen dial)

Now since the matrix core was not perfected there are some new features as well as bugs that come with it...the mistransformation glitch is back not as often as in ov but it still happens from time to time,Ben is back to only 10 aliens at the moment some are new and some are the ones he had when he was younger with the others being locked away...he'll unlock them again at some point.Transformations use wayyy more power than the regular omnitrix forms he runs the risk of draining the "battery". And since the core was never perfected staying transformed for too long as well as switching through aliens too frequently puts a huge physical strain on ben himself.

As for Bens aliens since the matrix core upgrades technology and ben put it into the omnitrix then his aliens have also been augmented.

Now as for how the augmented forms themselves work..think of the ultimate aliens crossed with the anti trix aliens from the reboot.So the Matrix core basically takes whatever species Bens selected and evolves them the evolutions themselves aren't all exactly the same and neither are the evolutionary requirements for example alien a might be put through a simulation of the worst possible state of their planet and will be forced to evolve to adapt to that while alien b might be put in a situation where they have to evolve to overcome their predator etc

The forms also have to make some sense from an evolutionary standpoint to Ult Humungousaurs hand missles,Ult big chills Fire ice and Ult Wildmutts speaking don't count. So after the alien is evolved they remain that way as long as the matrix core is part of the omnitrix..no turning it off and on like the ultimates. So like how the anti trix aliens are constantly mutated.

[iamblue15]

Mystery Gems: Fusions (Steven Edition)

Dipper (Blue Agate) = Purple Labradorite

Extra Body Parts: 3 Arms

Weapons: Boomerangs

Mabel (Pink Agate) = Pink Labradorite

Extra Body Parts: 3 Arms

Weapons: Clawshots

Raz (Orange and Green Tourmaline) = Mystic Quartz

Extra Body Parts: 4 Eyes and Arms

Weapons: Battle armor with gauntlets that detach and can be controlled telepathically.

Lili (Dragon's Blood Jasper) = Unakite

Extra Body Parts: 4 Eyes and Arms

Weapons: Flaming buzzsaw attached to whip.

Coraline (Sodalite) = Hackmanite

Extra Body Parts: 4 Eyes

Weapons: Large bubble wand that can fire projectile bubbles, form a bubble shield, or even be made into a close-ranged weapon, using the bubble fluid to create a spear or axe shape.

Wybie (Lodestone) = Cinnabar

Extra Body Parts: 3 Eyes

Weapons: Produces his own metal that he can mold into different weapons or shields.

Norman (Prehnite) = Green Variscite

Extra Body Parts: 3 Eyes and 4 Arms

Weapons: Acoustic bass guitar that produces Norman's animating lightning when strung.

Neil (Amber) = Honey Calcite

Extra Body Parts: 3 Legs

Weapons: Arms molded into a launcher that shoots instant hardening goo or a hard golden disc with precision.

[secret-fiction]

Sonic & Stick's Hold Hands

When Sonic visits Sticks at her burrow on Bygone Island, she takes the opportunity to ask him a question that's been on her mind. What ensues is the two of them going out together on a short adventure, giving Sticks the opportunity to see some of the world she usually hides from.

General Audiences, Friendship, Romance, Oneshot 6,733 words. A Secret Santa gift fic, and a neat challenge!

Even from within her Burrow, one of the only places comfortable and safe enough for her to sleep, Sticks the Badger heard Sonic approach. The breeze trailing behind him jostled bells she’d hidden in the jungle branches, making a song distinct from those of natural wind gusts. None of her other friends or enemies moved that fast while also evading the traps. Yet he still couldn’t outpace her broad attention, allowing her a full second to process his arrival before he knocked on the door. 

Sticks bounded over to the door, but stopped short of opening it. A sudden worry had frozen her, compelling her to press her ear to the door and double check it wasn’t some government imposter. Arguing with such worries was pointless. It was easier to listen to the distinct footfalls of sneakers on her driftwood doormat, accompanied by a familiar post-run breath. Finding this confirmation, Sticks threw open the door before any more worries could interject. 

“Sonic!!!” shouted Sticks.

Sure enough it was Sonic the Hedgehog, arm outstretched to knock on her door as a breeze of leaves and dust caught up to him. He smirked immediately with a soft chuckle. “Wow! How'd you beat the fastest thing alive to your door?”

“Cause I can hear ya from a mile away! Even when you somehow dodge all my best booby traps.”

“Gotta say you had some fun ones this time,” said Sonic, stepping aside to gaze at the jungle where his trail passed a gauntlet of well concealed traps, having narrowly avoided setting them off. “Didn’t know you knew how to build a trebuchet.”

“What’s a trebuchet? D’ya mean my intruder launcher?” said Sticks.

“Guess you didn’t either!” said Sonic.

“What brings you to Bygone Island today? Need help getting off the grid? Or hiding from G-U-know Who?” asked Sticks.

“Psh, they’re hardly worth hiding from,” said Sonic, wiping his nose and leaning casually. “I just felt like headed this way today. Oh! Amy also wanted me to give you something.”

Sonic pulled a small binder of photographs from his quills and offered it to Sticks, who immediately accepted it. Inside were photos of Amy, taken of herself in a wide variety of locations. Some she was with friends like Sonic & Tails. Others she was alone with some scenery. Each one had a small note written on it as well, like custom postcards inviting Sticks specifically to join the others on one of these adventures. 

This gift made Sticks happy, but it was that annoyingly complex kind of happiness that made her want to cry. Especially the photo of Amy, Sonic, Tails, & Knuckles in Station Square. Behind them one tower was taller than the rest, a multimedia headquarters covered in satellites & antennas. Able to distract herself with this detail, she pulled the photo up close and looked for signs of tampering.

“I also got a bit to hang out today if you want, after you're done looking that over,” said Sonic. 

“Huh?” Sticks glanced up at Sonic and back to the photo a few times. It was hard to ascertain if his height matched with the distance from him to the tower. If this was a fake background, it was professionally edited. “Oh, sure, whatever. More importantly, is this photo real?” 

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Sonic leaned over and cocked his head. “I wind up in Station Square all the time.” 

“If it is real, then it further disproves the Postcard Conspiracy,” said Sticks.

“The Postcard Conspiracy.”

“Y’know, the one where they make up whole cities to sell ninety-cent postcards.”

“Can’t say that I do.” 

“What? But I thought you watched TV!” said Sticks, staring closely at him with her inquisitive glare.

“I thought you didn’t!” said Sonic, copying her inquisitive glare.

“Well I don’t, but I overheard it on someone else’s TV in town. Which is why I don’t fully trust the idea, because-”

“Because TV can’t be trusted.”

“Exactly!” 

Sticks and Sonic nodded to each other, affirming the logic she’d worked through. 

“But yeah I was there. That tower is real, as is Station Square.” Sonic put a hand to his chin as he processed Sticks’ information. “Honestly I’ve probably been to most places you could get a postcard of.” 

How had Sticks never considered this before? Of course he could reach any place on a map with his speed! She dashed into her burrow and dug through her pile of evidence boards, easily finding the one she’d nailed every postcard she could acquire to. It wasn’t her best work, but only because she had known this conspiracy was probably being spread on TV to waste her time.

“Quick, tell me about each of these!!” said Sticks as she pushed the board into Sonic’s arms, allowing some loose cards to fall off.“

“Hm, alright!” Sonic leaned the board on a wall then cracked his knuckles. 

Having apparently taken this as a challenge, Sonic picked through each postcard at an increasing rate. After stating that each was real, he stacked them in a pile on his right. Based on this, Sticks could discern that he’d place any faux locations on his left. After a minute all had been sorted, only one laying to Sonic’s left in the fake pile and the last one in his hand.

“Hmmm, nope, never been here,” said Sonic as he turned to show Sticks the postcard. It depicted a wide waterfall, labeled as Geauga Falls. Sonic’s finger tapped an additional note on the bottom that Sticks had written, saying the scene would be awesome if it is real. “But that doesn't mean it’s not there. Y’know you could go see places like this if you wanted, right?” 

Sticks felt her teeth clench for some reason and had to shake her head to clear it enough to form words worth speaking. “Yeah yeah, I just don’t got the time. I’m a busy gal! Or guy! Or whatever!”

Sonic leaned around Sticks to glance inside the burrow, no doubt taking notice of her well organized hoard of potential crafting materials. “I can see that.”

“Also if any of these places aren’t real, they could be some kind of a trap! For Tourists! A Tourist trap!”

“Oh, several of them are definitely also tourist traps,” said Sonic. As he made eye contact with Sticks again, his eyes widened for some reason as he continued, “But there’s no danger if you don’t have money with you.”

“Ah, I see! A financial incentive.” Sticks let herself snarl at the concept of finance for a moment, she knew Sonic would understand. “Of course they’d save money too by setting these traps at preexisting real locations!” She glanced back at the postcard stacks again, remembering the single one sorted as ‘not real.’ “What about that one?!”

“Oh, that’s just art of a place called England. It’s the setting of a popular book series, completely fictional… I think.” Sonic’s eyes trailed to the ground for a moment. “Anyway, they sell them as gifts for the fans.”  

“If they keep that up, one of these days some poor schmuck will think this here ‘England’ would be a good place for a vacation, and then they’ll try to find it!”

“Well if that does happen, somehow, that theoretical person will still get to experience the journey of trying to find England.”

Sonic smiled in that way that he often did where he looked truthfully content. He’d leaned back against her Burrow with his arms behind his head, gazing up at the treeline or sky. Looking down at all those postcards made Sticks wonder, were all these places really that great? How could they be, especially the cities, where so many eyes could be upon her.

“Okay seriously, I gotta know something’ while I have you here,” said Sticks, taking a deep breath to brace herself. “How the heck can you stand being in all these places where the Government, Eggman, or whoever else could find you?! Spy on you! Especially the big city, where the ole’ big G can watch every step you take?”

“Oh!” said Sonic, for a moment looking at her with that ever frustrating incredulity. Soon though, it shifted to what seemed like thoughtfulness, before he stood up from his lean and answered. “I guess… I just never really worried about that.”

“Wha-HOW?!” said Sticks as she grabbed Sonic by the shoulders and almost gave him a shake before realizing her teeth were barred, certainly betraying a hint of desperation. “I mean, weren’t you arrested in Station Square?!”

“Oh yeah, twice! In a row!” said Sonic with a chuckle.

“Then HOW do you go back there to see Amy and be certain you won’t get captured again?!” 

“Well for one, the President and I made a truce,” said Sonic.

“Which you’d be a fool to trust!” said Sticks.

“But also, now that I think about it, it’s probably pretty hard to track me,” said Sonic.

“How do you figure?” asked Sticks.

“This isn’t just me bragging about my speed again,” said Sonic as he calmly pulled Sticks’ hands off his shoulders. He then dashed a superspeed loop around to behind Sticks, of which she was able to follow on her heel to keep facing him. “Though I am pretty fast. I think setting a trap for me can be hard because I move in what I’ve been told is an… ‘erratic manner’.”

“You mean you don’t know where you’re going?” said Sticks.

“I know what’s ahead of me, and I always figure out how to find my way through any obstacle. But more importantly, I only really decide where I’m going and how I’m going to get there as I'm on the move!” said Sonic. 

“Yeah okay, but who’s to say one of these times you wind up on their doorstep, the government won’t just decide to snatch yo up?!” said Sticks.

Sonic folded his arms and looked around, then walked under one of the taller nearby trees. “How fast could you build a trap in this tree, one that could catch me.”

“Oh, pretty fast,” said Sticks. She started walking a semi-circle around the tree, pretending to look for a good place for a trap. Then when she reached the trigger vine hidden among other vines on the ground, she casually tripped it with her boot. 

The secret trap that Sticks had already set in the tree went off, using tension to send a weighted net down upon Sonic. It hit the spot he was standing hard, kicking up a cloud of dust. However she did not see his silhouette trapped there, finding him instead standing on a tree branch a few meters away.

“That doesn’t prove anything! We're talking about people with resources & budgets way beyond mine.” said Sticks.

“Hm, I suppose so…” said Sonic as he jumped down from the tree branch and rolled across the ground, popping back up into a casual lean against the wall of her burrow. “Honestly the easiest way to show you what I mean would be if you came with me for a day or two.”

Sticks’ heart jumped, but it felt like a different kind of worry than usual. Her fur bristled as her nerves spiked further due to her considering his offer. Gripping her arm to feel the bristling fur, she couldn’t help but wish her reaction to the idea of going on such distant adventures wasn’t so negative. Yet this time, her breath felt light but her thoughts weren’t so dreadful. Just a day? And with Sonic the whole time? That could be safe enough, couldn’t it?

Sonic started to speak again. “I just figure-”

“I want to go!” 

Sticks made eye contact with Sonic again, trying not to care how much terror her wide eyes betrayed right now. This was the closest to willing to travel she’d felt in a long time. Something about the joy she saw on her friends faces in the photo binder got her yearning. Still, thoughts started creeping up to hold her back, to stay home and safe. Looking around for an excuse to take up Sonic’s sudden offer, her eyes fell on the postcards.

“I want to see for myself that this place is real,” said Sticks, lifting the postcard for Geauga Falls to Sonic's view.

“I mean it probably is…” Sonic looked up to Sticks’ face, then gave her a smile. “But y’know what? I can see myself taking a short trip there.” 

“Good, let’s go now!” said Sticks.

“Really?” said Sonic, his voice raising in excitement. “No one’s ever ready as soon as I am.”

Sticks could not afford to give the idea of preparing any thought, she knew herself. Her mind would continue finding issues with this plan until she couldn’t go. So she needed Sonic to help her outrun that zipline of thought before it could get going. Instead of telling him that though, she said, “Well that’s been disproven just now. Let’s go, no more yapping!”

With a chuckle, Sonic smiled, then pointed out the direction he’d landed on the beach. The two of them took off in a race, exclusively sticking to the jungle branches and canopy. Sticks had a lot of experience traversing this whole jungle, which allowed her to not only keep up with Sonic but to overtake him several times. Meanwhile he sped up everytime she swung ahead of him, almost cornering himself in the canopy leaves half of the time. Yet he always got around it without her help, at the cost of adding a few leaves to his quills. 

The Tornado Mark-whatever-it-was-now had been left tied off on a pier near the beach, floating on air filling things.  Sticks herself had enough momentum to swing from a vine and whip herself toward it in the air. As she landed atop its wing, Sonic dashed up and touched it at the same time she did. Managing to make the race a tie. 

With how winded this had left her, Sticks felt more content with the idea of strapping into a seat and letting the plane do the flying for a bit. It was hard to tell if Sonic was good at hiding physical exhaustion or if his stamina legitimately had yet to be challenged. As the plane started and Sonic started directing it faster through the water, Sticks found her rate of breath not decreasing. It wasn’t due to fear of flying, she’s done that fine before. This had more to do with the view of the horizon ahead of her.

Sticks did not look at the horizon for the rest of that flight, instead holding onto the seat ahead of her and keeping her eyes pressed onto her boot. This whole operation started to feel like a horrible idea, who knew what dangers were ahead? She wanted to think about anything else, but that was not easy. So she was left bickering with every worry. The only reason she was able to keep a leg up on that internal debate was thanks to Sonic’s presence. 

With a lurch the Tornado landed once more, skidding across the waves of the continental coast. This wing of the journey had been shorter than she worried it would be. Releasing her deathgrip on the seat in front of her, Sticks realized her nails had poked holes through to the stuffing. “Well, now I owe Tails an apology.”

“Oh don’t worry, I have to apologize to him all the time for what my quills do to the cushions when I’m tense,” said Sonic.

“How’d you know I’m tense?! Was it the interrobang in my punctuation?!” said Sticks.

“Because you just told me, Badger girl!” said Sonic, before spitting up a laugh. ”Sorry! Gotta remember If I keep mimicking Egghead like that I might start talking like that for real.”

Seeing Sonic’s logic, Sticks took a moment to steady her nerves to a nice level of ‘totally panicked’, down from ‘a catastrophe is imminent’. She then took to running alongside Sonic again, quickly passing through a small coastal community into lands of open fields. There was a concrete road nearby occupied by cars, dangerous metal machines powered by a flame combustion engine. Luckily Sonic already took the lead up some dirt roads to head further inland.

As the two of them passed over a knoll, Sticks saw a vast hilly landscape ahead of them. Possibly more land than she’d ever seen all at once. She couldn’t help but gasp. It was immense, terrifying, and fascinating. Most of the land was covered by forests, grassy fields, and crops broken up occasionally by barns & houses. This must be that ‘industrialized agriculture’ she’d heard all about. 

At this point Sonic moved up to her side and held out an arm. “We can move faster if you want!”

Sticks was already breathing heavily, though at a pace she could maintain. Any faster on her own and she’d burn out. “Sure, you gotta show me how you move around after all!” Sticks wrapped her arm around Sonic’s. “You better not hold back!”

“Alright! Here we go!” said Sonic.

Sonic's footsteps increased in pace, the sound of his patter on the ground reaching an impossible rate. Staying right with him made that sound so much more distinct in her ears somehow. As they speed down this incline Sticks was able to keep herself mostly upright by keeping pace with her legs, but not able to contribute at all to their speed. She could feel his movements and hear his breath. That gave her enough information to match with each of his moves.

It felt absurd how fast they met the bottom of the first hill and moved up the next. Within a moment they’d reached the next knoll and launched off of it, flying several feet into the air. There was a tractor below them, the driver looking up in disgruntled awe. Frankly, there was something awesome about being beyond anyone’s reach like this. She could feel a wide smile on her muzzle as she and Sonic arched toward the downward slope of the next hill.

They let go of each other long enough to make a rolling landing, Sonic going ball mode while Sticks reached out like a beast pouncing on prey. She threw herself into a roll upon hitting the ground, tumbling several times before kicking herself upright hard enough to bounce back into the air a bit. A frenzied laughter overtook her between laboured breaths. She turned to watch Sonic unroll beside her, looking behind himself before facing her with wide eyes. They both then grinned wide as he reached out and took her arm again. 

Their ensuing journey continued at an incredible pace as Sonic listened to Sticks and did not hold back. Soon the landscape was constantly changing around them. Farms shifted to wildflower fields, then to forests. Their route involved several sharp curves. While Sticks watched their surroundings, she noticed Sonic kept his eyes ahead a lot of the time while his ears kept a lookout of his sides. Then occasionally his head would turn one way or the other for a split second before he decided whether or not to turn.

After what felt like a half hour Sonic gasped and came to a sudden sliding stop that almost sent Sticks tumbling into the trees if not for her agility. He then ran backward a bit to a particularly large tree and looked up. 

“Why’d we stop?” Said Sticks between fast breaths.

Sonic pointed up the tree and said, “Bees!”

“Huh?” Sticks followed Sonic’s line of sight up. There indeed on a branch pretty far up was a massive swarm of bees. 

“Bees.” said Sonic.

“Bees…” said Sticks.

After a moment of watching the swarm in silent appreciation, Sonic bumped Stick’s shoulder and asked, “Whaddya think they’re doing?”

“They seem lost,” said Sticks, tilting her head to listen to the patterns of buzzing better. “They’d only be out in the open if they needed a new place.”

“Oh… wonder if I can help with that.” Without any warning Sonic dashed off around the forest for a moment. He then returned to Sticks’ side and pointed. “There's an empty unoccupied hollow tree that way. But, I also remembered I have no idea how to communicate with bees.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Sticks.

Sticks jumped up the tree and dug her nails into the bark, scrambling up to the hive. Once up close, she looked at the mound of bees hanging from the branch closely, soon finding one that was not like the others. She carefully snatched it up and cupped her hand around it before dropping back down to the ground. 

“Hold this,” said Sticks.

Sonic accepted the queen bee into his hand and looked at it.

“Don’t let her fly away. I just remembered how awful pine sap smells, so I’ll wash that out of my claws and be right back.”

Sonic nodded and gave a thumbs up with his free hand. So Sticks hurried to a nearby audible stream and scrubbed her hands with freshwater and silty clay. She also took a sip of the stream, finding this freshwater tasted a bit different than the stuff on her island. Then after a minute or so she returned to Sonic, seeing his quills coated in an increasingly large swarm of bees. 

“Okay, looks like they’ll follow you now!” said Sticks.

“Cool! Gotta say, I assumed they’d be mad I was holding the queen bee,” said Sonic.

“Oh yeah there was a chance they would be.”

“Well, glad they aren’t!”

Moving with more care, Sonic paced over to the other tree, climbed up to the opening of its hollow interior, and put the queen down inside. He then gently shook the bees off of his quills into the hole. Soon many more showed up flying along the air to coalesce at their new home. Sonic then dropped down beside Sticks and took her arm again.

“Nice thinking, glad I didn’t get stung!”

“Eh, bee stings aren’t that bad. It’s the venomous ants ya gotta watch for!” said Sticks.

The two of them started running again, quickly reaching the edge of these woods. As they passed under nearby electric pylons, Sonic skidded to a stop again.

“Wait! There was another reason I stopped,” said Sonic.

“What?”

“I have no idea where those waterfalls are. Gonna hafta to look at a map.” 

“Oh.”

So Sonic took Sticks to follow along the Pylons. Soon the skyline of a city appeared ahead and drew closer before Sticks could mentally prepare for it. Then the towers of the city were over them. Its people, machines, and stores around them. All a blur that faded into clear view as Sonic slowed to a leisurely stroll. Though they were moving a manageable speed now, Sticks tightened her grip on his arm.

“Okay, just gotta find a map now…” said Sonic, loosening his grip but letting Sticks hold him. 

“Sonic!!!” Shouted another familiar voice. 

“Amy?” said Sticks.

Sure enough it was Amy Rose, shopping bag in one hand as she waved the other. She ran across the street, having to jump out of the way of a moving car, landing her boots on its hood before jumping to the sidewalk. Her landing was absurdly graceful. Then up close, she gasped and dropped her shopping bag to jump onto Sticks with a hug.

“STICKS!!! Oh my gosh! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Hey Amy,” said Sonic with a wave.

“Hrgh, Amy…” muttered Sticks. This much contact so suddenly was a bit overwhelming, she couldn’t help but start to squirm.

“Oh sorry!” Amy pulled away and looked Sticks in the eye. “I wasn’t prepared to see you, joy got the better of me.”

“It’s okay, this whole trip is kinda random,” said Sticks.

“By the way Amy,” said Sonic, pulling the relevant postcard out of his quills with his free hand. “D’you know which way Geauga-”

Amy held her arms out and looked at Sonic with wide charming eyes. So he held his arms out and let her hug him for a second as well. He tensed up for that moment, but didn’t stop smiling. 

“Thanks! What were you saying?” asked Amy.

“Geauga Falls, on this postcard, you ever been?” said Sonic.

As Amy took the postcard and looked at it, Sticks watched Sonic relax. She wanted to do that. Why couldn’t she do that? Just, exist with ease in a place like this? Even before the surprise hug she was all tensed up, to the point of still gripping Sonic’s arm tightly. All those people around, cameras by the storefronts, and so many windows above them anyone could be watching her from. 

“I’m afraid I haven’t, though it’d be a nice spot for a date,” said Amy, pulling Sticks back to the present conversation.

“Do you happen to know which way it is?” asked Sonic.

“It’s of vital importance! I have to check if it’s real!” said Sticks.

“I’m sure it is! Oh I bet you’ll love the view Sticks!” said Amy, “Hang on, we can check the travel maps in that store over there!”

Everyone turned to walk toward a nearby convenience store, but Sticks quickly stopped. There were so many security cameras positioned around its door. This sent a flood of possible motives into Sticks’ mind, all speaking of reasons to stay away. Sonic kept walking, until Sticks’ grip on his arm anchored him down.

“Everything okay?” asked Sonic.

“We can’t go in there! They’re obviously using those cameras for nefarious purposes!” Sticks turned to Amy, trying to find the words to impress upon her the severity of the threat. “They could be stealing everyone’s fashion sense for marketing data, even yours!”

“I… Kinda doubt that. The cameras are probably for crime,” said Amy.

“Criminal purposes? Maybe! All the worse!” said Sticks. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Amy, putting a hand on Sticks’ shoulder. “I can check it if you want to stay out here.”

Looking around the street, the number of people out here, everything, did not make staying out here seem like a safer prospect. She wanted to hide. Dig a hole if necessary! But the concrete below here was clearly placed to block that sort of escape. This whole place was a trap. If it wanted, the city could corner her. All she had here was her claws, teeth, and… her friends.

Sonic took hold of Sticks’ hand, and she loosened her grip on his arm. It was okay, she was safe from hypotheticals with him here. 

“Do you want to leave?’ asked Sonic.

“Don’t worry if you can’t stay here,” said Amy. “I forgot how scary the city can be on your first visit. I just really appreciate getting to see you.”

“I don’t-It’s just… How can you guys handle all the eyes on us?” Sticks tried to keep her eyes on Sonic and Amy, despite compulsions to check her surroundings. Even though it never worked before, she hoped they had some answer that’d give her enough of a leg up on any hypothetical to stop needing to worry. 

“Hey, let’s get a bit more altitude for now,” said Sonic.

Despite uncertainty of how it’d help, Sticks nodded. 

Sonic proceeded to say something to Amy, then take Sticks into a run again. They ran a lap around several city blocks, blurring the view of the city around them. Then they jumped onto the side of a skyscraper and dashed up it. Their momentum slowly faded until they reached the peak and fell onto its roof. The only thing standing above them here were radio towers and satellite dishes. Every other structure of the nearby city lay below. 

“This is a lot better,” said Sticks, before releasing Sonic's arm. “Sorry.”

“Eh, we were standing still longer than I’dve liked anyway.”

“I like Amy, I like you, ugh.” Sticks leaned onto the ledge overlooking the city, taking in all the visual information she could and trying to process through it. 

“She’s gonna check the maps and come up here,” said Sonic, “But if you want to go back home we can do that too.”

“No. I want to see how you travel. That’d… that’d muck it all up.”

Sonic nodded to that, and joined her on the ledge gazing at the city. While her eyes darted between details, trying to map potential intentions, he looked across the city as a whole. After seeing this, Sticks tried to copy him. However, it brought no relief. Her mind bombarded her with worries of hidden dangers she might be missing. Unlike at her home jungle, she hasn’t had most of her life to memorize the environment enough to just live. If Sonic weren’t with her, wasn’t a tangible route of escaping any surprise scenario, Sticks doubted she could even think straight.

A surprise scenario such as some sort of jet engine approaching from below. Was it the police? Eggman?! Sticks turned to Sonic, but paused as she saw no worry about the noise from him. Was he actually just a total fool?

“Sonic! Sticks!” 

That was Tails’ voice! Flying up in a cross between a robot and a jet was the fox himself, with Amy in the passenger seat. He landed it on the roof and immediately jumped over to Sticks.

“It is you! Sticks, you gotta try this!” said Tails, holding out two paper bags that smelled of greasy food.

“Oh!, is that-” started Sonic.

“Street vendor chilidogs? YES! With chips and Sandwiches!” answered Tails.

“Awesome! He’s right Sticks, you gotta try this food!” said Sonic.

“Alright, sure.” Sticks accepted one of the bags, finding a chili dog in a basket with chips inside. “Just as soon as you guys start eating.”

“I got you ice cream too!” said Amy, walking over and presenting a waffle cone of vanilla ice cream. “I realized you’ve never had anything from my favorite parlour!”

“Oh! Thanks, gimme a minute here.”

While Tails did take a moment to exchange a fist bump with Sonic, he soon returned to focusing on Sticks. Between him and Amy, they gave Sticks a long list of potential eateries she should try if she’s ever in Station Square again. She might’ve doubted their judgement if the warm chili covered hotdog wasn’t actually pretty dang good. It was gone almost as fast as Tails’, though devouring a whole meal didn’t seem to slow his rate of talking. After his fuzzy muzzle was completely covered in grease, Amy made him wipe his face with the provided napkins.

Meanwhile Sonic ate his food at a surprisingly reasonable pace as he sat there cross legged, listening intently to their friends talk. There was something to the fondness in his eyes. Every recommendation, all their enthusiasm, seemed familiar to him. At least that’s what Sticks deduced, finding focusing on the subtleties of his expressions much less stressful than focusing on the city surroundings. 

The icecream was also really great actually, though Sticks was so slow and careful to avoid a brain freeze that it started to melt. At that point, with some advice from Tails, she treated it like a drink with an edible cup. Soon it and all the chips with her meal were gone. This almost felt like the days when everyone, including Knuckles, spent time with her on Bygone island. Although the food here was much better. 

“Amy, did you find out about those waterfalls?” asked Sonic in a break of conversation. 

“OH! I did!” 

Amy released Tails’ head and he scrambled away from her to Sonic’s side. Though the cleaning had already been done. His muzzle was spotless aside from one crumb, of which Sonic wiped off with his thumb.

“It’s a little ways up north, one of the rail lines actually goes that way if you want to take it!” said Amy.

“Ehhh…” muttered Sticks.

“We’re gonna run there actually,” said Sonic, standing up and dusting off his legs. “I'm tryin’ to show Sticks what it’s like to live like me.”

Tails gasped, looking at Sticks with stars in his eyes. “That’s so awesome!”

“Yeah, turns out going fast feels like going fast,” said Sticks.

“No! That is Sonic praise! You’re honored!” said Tails.

“I am?” asked Sticks.

“He’s making a reference to a show I showed him,” said Amy.

“I’m also speaking the truth! Have fun!” Tails turned to Sonic and gave him a hug. “I’ll see you later! Bring Sticks by the workshop later if she wants to come too!”

“I’m glad I got to see you today!” said Amy, taking Sticks’ hands and visibly resisting the urge to hug her goodbye.

“Thanks… that means a lot.”

“HEY!” shouted a man in a suit as he pushed through a door to the roof. “WHAT are you critters doing up here?!”

“Time to go, ready Sticks?” said Sonic.

Sticks nodded and took Sonic's hand. With that, everyone left the top of the media tower. Tails and Amy flew away overhead while Sonic took Sticks down the side of the skyscraper. Instead of going all the way to the streets, they jumped onto the lower ceilings and awnings of the city storefronts. This route involved a lot more jumping and dodging as they navigated elevated cables, street signs, and even the odd pole decorated in traffic cameras. 

Sticks found a good use for the leftover paper bags from that lunch by covering a couple of the cameras they leapt over. Just as a bit of punishment for the dread being under them caused. If anyone was bothered enough to stop her, they weren’t able to catch up to Sonic’s speed. Soon enough they were on their way to the outskirts of the city and picking up pace. Suburban homes blended into a boring beige blur until they reached the countryside again. 

They traveled for several more hours together, passing towns, rivers, and flora of all sorts of colour. After so much running and agility, even with Sonic providing the momentum, Sticks started to get a tad sore. Mostly in her abdominal muscles, which is something she hadn’t actually considered worrying about even after that meal in Station Square. As she came to terms with this, she noticed they’d begun running parallel to a reasonable-speed train. 

“I’m gonna take a break, that alright?” asked Sonic.

“Yeah, sure!” said Sticks, holding her torso in less-than-subtle pain.

The top of the train offered the breeze and travel progress of a run alongside an opportunity to sit down, which Sonic did. Sticks joined him on the sun-heated metal roof and came to the realization her legs were feeling a tad wobbly as well. If Sonic was sore at all, he showed it by laying down on his back and looking like the most comfortable guy ever to ride atop a train.

After watching the passing landscape for a moment, Sticks glanced back at Sonic to find he’d closed his eyes. “Are you asleep??”

Sonic’s ear flicked slightly, but his breathing remained slow and steady. This blue hedgehog was asleep. On top of a moving train, in a part of the continent he’d never been to before. How was he asleep?! How was Sticks so calm about this as well? She looked around, seeing no obvious threats on the landscape ahead of them. But clearly someone had to keep a watch for any danger, Sonic must’ve just trusted that task to her. 

Sticks sat upright for a little while, occasionally staring down the occasional passing airplane or car. Nothing turned out to be worth waking Sonic for. In the meantime the warmth of the sun felt nice. Who knew steel made for such a good basking rock? At the behest of her legs and cramping abdomen, Stick laid down on her back as well. Just for a moment. Yet, with her side to Sonic’s side, it became hard to keep worrying. That was… the opposite of what her trouble usually was… 

Sticks woke up when the train steadily slowed to a stop. The Sunlight in the sky was notably more orange than when she’d closed her eyes. She shot up and looked around with this realization. Sonic wasn’t at her side anymore as he now sat at the edge of the train, his legs dangling off of the roof. Everything else was as it had been, aside from a massive river now being in view less than a mile from the train.

“Oh hey, I think we’re arriving!” said Sonic with a smile.

Sticks’ breath hitched. This wasn't panic, but not knowing what it was made her worry in a new way. At least she trusted Sonic. At this point, she couldn't find any reason to feel any major doubt in who he was. It was just so obvious, he was Sonic.

“I like you,” said Sticks.

“Oh!” replied Sonic.

“I like Amy, and Tails, and especially Knuckles too. But today is the first time in a while it’s been so easy to say.”

Sonic reached out his hand. “Let’s hop down before the train gets moving again.”

“Good idea.”

Once on the ground, they made their way from the small train station toward a hill. Not running, just walking. With the echoing noise of water over the hill, the voices of other people, and the cool feeling of the breeze, going any faster would clearly be a waste. Over the knoll, there was a grassy hillside that led down to a wooden pier. All of this overlooked what was indeed a massive waterfall. Geauga Falls was somehow simultaneously bigger and smaller than Sticks expected it to be. It was real. 

As several other people watched the falls down on the pier, Sticks and Sonic sat on the grass. It’d be a lie to say the nerves under Sticks’ hide had subsided. But they didn’t feel as overwhelming now thanks to the other feelings here. 

“I like you Sticks, we all do,” said Sonic as he gazed at the rolling waterfalls.

“I know, I should know this,” said Sticks.

“I’m not sure I thought out what taking you with me for the day would be like for you.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I haven’t pinned you as someone who ‘plots and schemes’.”

“Heh, I’m usually the one who has to spin it as a good thing,” said Sonic, letting out a sigh and he laid back onto the grass.

Sticks let herself flop down onto the grass as well, the feeling of it on her hide helped occupy her mind. “Somehow, I’m able to worry a little less around you. I’ve been beginning to think I might, possibly, worry a little too much.”

“Yeah, you kinda do.”

“Everyone just-, they act like they don’t see everything I do. But man, am I beginning to envy you.”

“Envy me? D’ya wanna improve your super speed? Tails can-”

“No no, I envy the way you somehow have everything sorted out already.”

Sonic sat up and looked at Sticks. “I… I really don’t think I do.”

“For every possible problem, you already have a way to deal with it!”

“Well, kinda. I mostly just apply the same solution to everything.”

“But it works somehow!” Sticks huffed and wiped her face, taking a moment to try turning her thoughts into actual words. “I feel safe with you in a way I otherwise can’t. So I’m trying to figure out why!”

“Oh. Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, why?”

“There you go!” 

Sonic flopped onto his back again, but Sticks turned to look him in the eye.

“It can’t be that simple.”

“Maybe it isn’t.” Sonic put his hands on his chest and smiled. “But it’s close enough.”

They sat in silence for a few moments after that. The sun continued to set, and the air already started growing colder. For some reason, ruminating on why she felt comfortable around Sonic was starting to make Sticks worry. She hadn’t realized she’d reached for Sonic's hand until he held hers. It was calming. It felt like no matter where she was, she’d feel safe with him. 

“I like you,” said Sonic.

“Thanks,” said Sticks.

Sonic squeezed her hand, then rolled over to look her in the eyes. “...D’ya wanna ride down the waterfall before we leave?”

Sticks gave Sonic a sharp toothed smile. “Heck yeah I do! Let’s find a boat!”

If you made it to the end, please tell me what you thought of this however short or long you want in the comments or tags! It was fun to write this! I don't usually write romance, so it was interesting to try finding an angle two characters can have chemistry, especially two I've never seen shipped before. For this I actually drew on personality traits I've imagined both Sonic & Sticks could have before. Ones that makes interactions between them still interesting but amicable/friendly. I do worry a bit that I took an "easy route" for the ending by leaving it open ended what way Sonic & Sticks feel about each other here, but I at least personally kind of like it.

[prince--esque]

Had another Destiny dream, hoo boy. This is a long one.

So it was my first time booting up the game and I got transported into the TV (great stuff). But I didn't start off in the cosmodrome. Instead, it stuck me in some sort of Braytech facility that had recently been abandoned. (It was broken down, but not due to age.) There also weren't any lights, but there were these reflective square on the floor that would shine whenever I looked at them.

My starting (and only) weapon was Compass Rose, but it was severely underleveled, so it didn't do anything against the enemies. I was also not wearing any proper gear except for what i think was the default(?) Warlock helmet and a weird fauld. Other than that, I was wearing regular clothes.

Also I didn't have a Ghost. Nothing killed them or anything, I just...didn't spawn with one. So no Light.

As for what I'm up against: some amalgamation of Scorn. But it's not normal Scorn. It's like...even more infected than they normally are. And crazy smart. And look like a cross between a Hive ogre and a Clicker from The Last of Us. And they're fast.

So I start wandering around in this labyrinth; can't use my gun cause it'll make noise and draw all of the Scorn to my location, and can't really defend myself at all because my gear is not optimal for this situation.

Get to this corner of the facility that is littered with these guys, and I have to get through an archway on the other side. So my natural reaction after being stuck in here for several (dream) days is to just gun it. I weave between the enemies, dodging their attacks and grabs, and make it!...but I forgot something. What? I have no idea. But I have to go back and get it.

Start running back through them again when I get conked in the head and put in a chokehold until I pass out. Thought I was dead. Nope.

I wake up in some kind of large machine that has a spinning mechanism along the floor and ceiling. Kinda like a dryer. Have to start running hamster-wheel technique to get the momentum to launch myself onto a ledge above me. Though, I am rudely interrupted by a Brig waltzing into the room like it owns the place. Which, it kinda did.

This was the Big guy. The Boss. A pitch black Brig that was restored using a mix of Braytech and Vex parts, being piloted by...something. Never got a proper look inside, but he was speaking English while mocking me, so. Hm.

Anyways, I get thrown back into the giant dryer, pass out again, then wake up hours later. I struggle to get on my feet for a minute, then stagger over to my gun. Broken. (Not like it did much in the first place.) But beside it is a...gauntlet? I'm not sure how to describe this thing. It was about the length of my forearm and was equally as wide, except the top piece of metal curved downwards. The Nine also had their logo on the top, so cool. Didn't really matter what it looked like at first though because I was more focused on the fact it was something.

Anyways Mr. Big Brig comes back, does the classic Evil Laugh and taunting. Starts the actual boss fight. I'm grasping at straws on what to do, but have some kind of divine instinct to shoot it. Shoot it? With wha—THE GAUNTLET IS A ROCKET LAUNCHER! Somehow!

I get a shot in directly into the guy's legs. But even with the sweet relief of not being completely helpless anymore, it only took him down to 9/10ths of his health. And I couldn't manually reload it, cause it didn't take any ammo! I had to wait until it magically gained another rocket every ten-ish minutes.

Start stumbling around the area, trying to get to an exit. The Brig follows me around in a way that it always ends up looming over me. I am sobbing at this point. I am hungry, drained, and stuck and i can feel my gut practically collapsing in on itself. My vision was blurry to the point I could hardly see. I am not having a fun time.

Eventually, I get the final shot it. It doesn't feel as good as it should. I clamber up the edges and roll myself up onto the ledge, walking over to a doorway while trying not to trip over my own two feet. I get through the arch.

Then I wake up.

[lipstickchainsaw]

hi i saw your reblog to mine on jayce and caitlyn and i think i love you OMG WHAT IS THAT?

DUDE

COMPARING THEM TO SNIPERS AND HAMMERS??? DUDE

I AM

OH MY GODS

MOUTH O SHAPED RN

I think there's a ton of fun to be had in analysing the various characters through the lens of their chosen weapon, and what it says about their attitudes towards violence.

For Vi, she uses her fists. She gets up close and hits hard and always has her weapon on hand. You could argue that this makes her quick to violence, sure, but she's also clearly very skilled. When she resorts to violence, she tends to have a purpose in mind. Vitally, she fights to protect, and because her weapons are her hands, she can comfort with them just as much (although everyone points out that her guard's bad; she protects others, not herself).

Of course, when she starts using the gauntlets, armorus her hands, as it were, she becomes less able to be comforting (see her awkwardly putting the gauntlet on Caitlyn's shoulder in S2e2, not exactly reassuring!), and it leaves her less able to protect, rather than more. (I'm cribbing from Disco Elysium's notes on the power armour some, here.

Jinx is interesting, because she has several weapons, and they all say something important about her attitude towards violence. Powder was clearly traumatised by her experiences on the bridge as a kid, and violence deeply unsettles her, but she's also an excellent shot with her pistol (which is a pea shooter, because it's meant for the arcade, not to actually hurt people).

So after the time skip, Jinx' use of the pistol is still a targeted and precise weapon, and she uses this violence to take out problems, but violence still triggers her, so in a sense, her use of this pistol is a form of self-harm.

Her machine gun, then, is the result of her spiraling, losing control. Her trauma and pain express themselves as poorly directed violence, very much the opposite of her pistol, uncaring of whether she's hurting friend or foe, just spreading the hurt.

And finally, her rocket launcher is the result of her anger, her pain, her trauma reaching a boiling point, all stuffed into one big bomb pointed at what she perceives to be the source of all that pain in an attempt to get all that chaos and noise in her head to just stop, once and for all.

Jayce I touched on, he's a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In season 1 we see him thinking he can basically do anything set in front of him, because qualifications don't matter, willingness to act matters. He doesn't ask questions, he's just presented with a nail and hits it (which is why everyone in Season 1 manipulates this man like nobody's business).

Caitlyn I also mentioned, but I think the fun part here is that her unleashing the Gray on Zaun, an expression of her own grief and anger that she's making the Zaunites' problem (after all, her mother was the one who put it away to start with), also reduces her own vision. Her own grief is clouding her vision, and getting in the way of her achieving the goal she's actually after.

I think someone on TvTropes mentioned that Sevika's arm signals her current loyalty: her first and second were provided by Silco, and Smeech offers to build her a new one if she hands over Jinx to Piltover, but she ends up going with the one Jinx made her as a gift.