#i mentioned on discord that this plot summary sounds like a fanfiction plot to me. not in a means of ''oh fanfic inherently bad pbbbt''

[aroaceleovaldez]

just read the plot summary for Wrath of the Triple Goddess and. wow this is. painful this just sounds painful to read.

Why is Grover the incompetent inciting incident character? That is not his narrative role ever, really. That's like, the fanon conceptualization of his character where he's reduced down to comedic relief and nothing more. He's mostly exposition and support. Why not have the inciting incident be something about Annabeth's hubris - something that has gotten the gang into situations tons of times before in a way that doesn't put down any of the characters? Heck you could have even tied it into some Sea of Monsters stuff, like Circe having told Annabeth that she'd make a good sorceress. That'd be perfect for how this book literally just exists to be advertising for s2 of PJOTV. Or maybe call-back to Percy's introduction, where he talks about how he doesn't try to cause problems but problems tend to find him. Or use the established personalities of Hecate's animal companions from HoO, since we know they have attitudes. Just what are you even doing here????

[theguardiansseries]

From the Beginning Chapter 5

Bonjour, mes chers! Here's chapter five and chapter six will be coming up in the next hour or so!

Make sure to follow this blog so you can stay up to date on the latest chapters and news about the Guardians series!

You can also join the group discord to talk about all things Guardians here at https://discord.gg/mnDVQXa.

If you’re willing, you can also pledge to me on Patreon where you can unlock polls, read chapters in advance, and even get links to the docs on stories I’m currently working on. There’s also a tier that will allow you to receive monthly physical copies of one of my completed works.

Don’t have the money to pledge monthly? Consider making a one time pledge by buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. It’s basically Patreon without the monthly part of it. Every $25 I’ll be doing a giveaway so anyone who donated during that period will have a chance to win a published copy of one of my fanfiction works!

Click here to read on FFN Click here to read on AO3

Summary: Danny Fenton was a simple, sixteen-year-old teenager who loved fast food, video games, and getting a B on surprise pop quizzes. He’s also the half-ghost teenage hero Danny Phantom who defends Amity Park from ghost attacks on a daily basis. Somehow, the ghost attacks make a lot more sense than crushes, friendships, and falling in love with someone he is definitely not supposed to be falling in love with. It was a lot easier to separate Phantom and Fenton before, but now it’s getting harder the more he learns about himself. Just who was he? The dorky son of scientists who loved the stars or the hero that protected the town. He’s starting to feel like he won’t like the answer. (Iambic Prose) (Prequel to Guardians and Partial Show Rewrite)

<<First Chapter>> <<Last Chapter>><<Next Chapter>>

Chapter Five

::

“I still can’t believe Vlad bought this place out.” It wasn’t that Danny hated Axion Labs or anything, but after dealing with the ghost of a dead puppy they put down, it was kind of hard to bring himself to like them any. “I mean, what is he up to?”

“You know, I’d really like to have a day where you didn’t become your parents and get paranoid about ghosts and their plans. You realize you sound like your dad, right?” Sam was looking utterly unapologetic at the lies that were coming out of her mouth. “All your missing is the orange jumpsuit.”

“Didn’t he give you one as a Christmas present, this year?” Traitors. Danny’s best friends and closest confidants were traitors. “You should wear it for Halloween next year. You can go as a ghost hunter.”

“Isn’t the point of Halloween to go as something I’m not?” Danny might not be a ghost hunter like his parents or the Guys-in-White or anything, but, come on. He protected the town and caught ghosts for not even a living. He was a ghost hunter. “Seriously, though. You guys know Vlad is probably using this place to run some secret experiments on ghosts or something like that.”

It wouldn’t surprise him if the man was. Vlad was rich and powerful and all that shit, but he was also an insane fruit loop who seemed to think he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. Now, suddenly, they were visiting Axion Labs on a school field trip? Suddenly it was Danny’s class that was there? That reeked of suspicion. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”

“A Fenton with a bad feeling? Should I be worrying about any ghost attacks?” Startling at the words more than anything else, Danny looked over to see Valerie’s dad.

“Oh, hey, look, I think one of our classmates wants to ask us something.” Sam, the heartless traitor, grabbed Tucker by the hand and left Danny to what was probably going to be the most awkward and threatening talk by an adult he’d ever had as a human.

“Ha- Ha! Hey there, Mr. Gray!” Danny swallowed and tried to calm himself down. He had faced far worse things than a protective dad, after all, right? “What, uh, what can I do for you? Sir?”

“I’ve noticed that you and my daughter have been spending more time together, lately.” Oh, god, please, no. “I just wanted to make sure I don’t have to worry about any funny business.”

“Oh, uh, no- No. We’re just- We’re still just friends, and stuff, and-” Danny snapped his mouth shut as the man raised a hand.

“I meant ghost wise.” Oh, man, that was even worse. “Valerie’s had a hard time with the ghosts that attack Amity Park, especially when they cost me my job at one point in my life. I don’t want any of that Fenton ghost business to interfere with her life.”

“Trust me, sir, we’re totally on the same page about ghost business and it not affecting Valerie.” The last thing Danny wanted was to deal with the Red Huntress again. Like, okay, he could understand why Valerie had started the whole ghost hunting thing, but things were finally settling down! In fact, Danny was almost certain that her dad had taken away her suit, which meant way less worry for him.

Plus, Danny was getting better control of his powers, the ghosts were becoming less of a danger, and Danny knew that he could finally keep his friends and family safe without having to worry about them getting hurt by all of this. Things were good, so he wasn’t too worried about Valerie running off to pick a fight where there wasn’t one.

“I promise you, sir, I’ll be keeping the ghost stuff away from her as far as I possibly can.” Valerie’s father seemed to study him and look him up and down for a moment before patting his shoulder.

“You’re a good kid, Danny. I hope I see more of you around.” Huh. That sounded like he just got roundabout approval to date Valerie. Did he just get roundabout approval to date Valerie? It sounded like her father just gave him approval to date her. That- Okay. Cool. That was cool.

“Right, er, yes- Yes, sir!” The man walked away to probably go continue doing his work, Danny staring after him for a moment before shaking his head and alright, that had certainly been something. Danny couldn’t help but mutter a little ‘weird’ under his breath as he looked around to see where the rest of the class had gotten off to.

It was actually kind of cool to explore Axion Labs and see all the science and stuff they were up to, especially considering they were working on space exploration lately, but Danny couldn’t even enjoy himself. Who knew what Vlad was using this research for.

“Hey, Danny! They got this cool jetpack rocket thing over here!” Looking around quickly, and spotting where Tucker was waiting, Danny’s eyes widened at just what he was talking about and that was so cool.

Danny managed to enjoy himself for almost an hour as they got into the science behind their space research, but of course this was Danny and his life could never be enjoyed for very long before his worries came speeding back at full force.

They were just starting to head to another section of the building, which was shaping up to be just as sleek and shiny as the rest of it, when Danny felt Sam grab his wrist and pull off into a corner between two large databanks. “Are we about to have some movie moment where you tell me someone is following us?” Even as he joked, Danny was already scanning around them. He hadn’t noticed anything strange, and there didn’t seem to be anyone paying them attention. Mostly it was tired security guards and even more exhausted scientists.  

“What? No. Your life isn’t a movie, Danny.” Hey, now. “If anything, it’s a Saturday morning cartoon with a poorly contrived plot and even poorer writing.” Hey. “No, look, you just- You need to be careful around Valerie.”

“C’mon, Sammy, not this again.” Danny groaned as he scrubbed his hands down his face, shaking his head. “Sammy, I thought we got over the whole jealous thing- Ow.” Clutching at his right arm where he was very solidly punched, Danny pouted at a completely unapologetic Sam.

“You deserved that and you know it.” Yeah, he totally did. “You know I’m not jealous. Unless you want to have that very uncomfortable talk about feelings and emotions, again?”

“Ugh, no thanks.” Having one ‘We’re just friends, so I guess we can finally stop crushing on each other and please let’s not make this awkward!’ talk was enough for one lifetime and all the ones after that. God. That had been such a long conversation and Danny was beyond grateful that both he and Sam had made a pact to never mention the tears shed by both of them that night. “Sorry. Still, I mean, come on. She’s not that bad.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” Sam crossed her arms and rubbed at the skin where goosebumps were rising, Danny frowning. It wasn’t that cold in here. “She just… She really hates ghosts, Danny. She really, really hates ghosts. If she ever found out about you-”

“Which she won’t.” Danny knew the price of his secrets and they were ones he wouldn’t be telling anyone. Enough people knew who he was, and he knew that if the ghosts knew just how big of a wreck they could make his life, then they would tell the whole town with no hesitation. He was honestly surprised Spectra or Walker hadn’t tried that, yet. “It’ll be fine, Sammy.”

“Will it?” Oh, jeez. Danny hadn’t thought Sam would get so worried about all of this. Glancing around to make sure no one had noticed they were missing, Danny stepped forward to pull Sam into a tight hug. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. It takes work to find new friends, you know.”

“And we all know how much you hate putting effort in being social.” Danny laughed at the swat to his side even as Sam hugged him back. “I get it, Sammy. Just… trust me, okay?”

“You sure? You tend to get a bit stupid around the people you like.” Yeah, well, that was true, but there were limits when it came to being a little bit stupid. “It looks like you’re really starting to like her, Danny.”

“It’ll be fine.” The ghosts weren’t that much of a threat, Danny was getting more control over his powers, and Valerie didn’t seem to hate ghosts as much as she used to. It wasn’t perfect, but things would be okay.

::

He was an idiot. Danny was an idiot. Trust me, he had said. It’ll be okay, he had said. He had told Sam, and then eventually Tucker, that things were fine, that he and Valerie were okay, and this was fine. It had been going great, and then Danny had forgotten that he was the half-ghost little freak that wasn’t allowed to have life be good to him.

It hadn’t even been a week before everything had gone to shit. Now Danny could only stare at his hands as he panted harshly through the stale air of his bedroom and tried to figure out where it had all gone so wrong. It had been going so well in the beginning.

He and Valerie had been getting closer and spending more time together and Danny had started to believe that something was really there for them. He had overheard her that one day and Valerie had been willing to give up ghost hunting for him, and then fucking Technus had come in and ruined everything-

No… No, Technus hadn’t ruined things. He had just been the one to show Danny how wrong he was about all of it. It was one of the tougher fights he had been in lately, and they had all ended up fighting in space. He didn’t even have a chance to enjoy it because he had been trying to destroy that stupid satellite that could have ruined so much, and he ended up fighting both of them and he had almost-

He had hurt her. He had hurt her. He hadn’t even thought about it, before, but just how much power did he have? Was he supposed to be this powerful? None of the other ghosts were ever really a huge threat to him anymore, so just how much of a threat was he?

Ha, well, he already knew the answer to that one, didn’t he? He had seen how much of a threat he could become. Just because he was no longer going to become destroy-the-world evil didn’t mean he still wouldn’t have the power Dan did. Fuck, he had power now that Dan didn’t have until years later. He had defeated Dan when no one else in the world could. That… What did that mean for him?

“Danny?” Quiet knocking on the door startled him out of his thoughts, Danny swallowing as he heard Jazz’s soft voice. “You in there? Sam and Tucker texted me. They thought that maybe you would want to talk?”

Unable to even think of anything he could say, Danny instead wrapped his arms around himself. For as much as he loved his sister, she couldn’t help with something like this. God, and the only ‘ghost therapist’ was fucking Spectra. No doubt she’d get a kick out of all of this when they next met.

The freak who couldn’t control his powers. The little weird child who didn’t know where he belonged. Collapsing back onto his bed, Danny stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars that barely glowed anymore, the edges becoming blurred and undefined in the darkness of his room as the sun really began to set.

“Stupid.” He finally got up into space and he didn’t even get to enjoy it. There was a peaceful quiet in his room that lasted for a wonderful thirty seconds.

“Danny? Are you even in there?” Throwing his hands over his face, Danny stared at the backs of his eyelids for what felt like an eternity before he was triggering his transformation into his ghost half. “Danny! I know I just heard you change! I can see the light coming out from under your door, young man!”

Just as the door began to open, Danny triggered his intangibility, falling through the floors and ceilings until he was in the basement. The lights were off since his parents weren’t there at the moment, but that just meant it was lit up only by the active ghost portal which… was sort of amazing.

Setting his fingertips against the energy, Danny frowned as he almost felt like he was being pulled towards the portal. “I’m not that much of a ghost.” Great. He was talking to thin air. Again. “Might be more of one than I thought, though.”

Pressing both palms up against whatever the Ghost Zone was really made of, Danny breathed out slowly as he glanced upstairs at the sound of Jazz’s heavy footfalls. He just… He’d talk to her later, but right now he needed someone who wouldn’t have an opinion about all of this.

“Doors are always open, huh?” It hadn’t been too long since he had last been there, but… Maybe Ghostwriter wouldn’t mind a friendly chat?

It was better than thinking about how he’d always grow up to be Dan, in some way. He didn’t want to think about that.

No. Right now a chat with a ghost who didn’t hate him sounded perfect.

[tsukikoayanosuke]

New ask game for writers: 10 - 18

Once again, I’ll be specifically talking about fanfiction writing unless it’s stated otherwise

10. Pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

Actually, my friends on Discord have a great talk about some Kingdom Hearts AU with our TWST OC and I had a lot of fun writing it, because I adore Kingdom Hearts. So, watch for any drop announcement.

11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

A beautiful jumbled mess.

Alright so, TW:OPT behind the scene. I think I mention this before. In short for the main fic (not including editing for cross-posting):

Red and watch the translation to pinpoint when does the twist want to happen, especially around Jonah’s villain arc. I have some advantages to reading the translation when the episode first came out in the game, thus I have a vague idea of what I want to happen and every plot I want to destroy.

Plan the episode list on MS Word. Using the titles of the episode appearing in the game and add the summary, because some chapter is a combination of more than one episode, depending on the initial cliffhanger/chapter break. If I can, make a target of how many chapter I want in this arc. This is flexible especially knowing there will be changes along the way.

Red and watch the translation again to write the dialogues. While some can be summed up as copy-paste, modification needed to be made, especially since Jonah and Yuu speech is quite different along with their relationship with the other characters.

In between this, read some character cards or any related research thing. Like, for example, in my case, Harry Potter spells, Disney movie reference, recipes, or battle scene.

Write the narration while imagining manga panels or anime scene. Since we have the dialogues ready, we have a sense of direction of where the story is heading and it become easier to imagine the movement of the characters.

Copy paste parts per parts after writing it to Grammarly desktop, mostly  because the adds-on on my laptop is very lagging. Then, copy paste everything back to word.

Once the chapter is done, copy paste everything to AO3 and check for additional mistake.

Write some crack summary and author notes, then update. After that, check inbox and reply every comment.

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

This might sound strange, because usually when writing fanfic, I just winged it. Back in FF.net, it’s very rare for me to get review, so I always go in without any expectation of whether people like my book or not. There will be moments where I just stare at a fic and wonder “man, my writing is shitty and they write it better.” but then I just go “eh, so what?”. “Oh? They write more words than me. Man, that sucks. Anyway, how can I make Jonah suffer more?”; “Aw, they have more likes of Wattpad. Eh, let’s see if I can make more shipping moments.”; “Damn. I wish I can draw ... Gacha club my beloved.”

Weird right? That’s just how my brains work.

Back in the early days of TWST, there aren’t many novelization of the game in AO3, and if there are, most of them are Female MC. So, why not make a Male MC? And that’s how we reach to day.

I don’t really care if people write better than me. I know people write better than me, but they aren’t me as a writer. I keep reminding myself that, even though we’re making the same game novelization, I have my own style and my own goal. My writing is not the same as others. It can be better, but it can be worse in any reader eyes, but as long as I’m writing it, I’m providing content. I would remind myself that writing is my personal goal. I am a writer and I want to share it.

13. How do you deal with writers block?

I would do some ask game just to keep me writing. Or go back to my docs and do some editing, so when the time comes, I did half of the work. It’ll keep me productive.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?

Tabs and tabs. Most I’ve done is the Harry Potter spells, but also translation for the characters card and main story for TW:OPT. Also that one time I download the first eight episode of Eyeshield 21 and watch how to play american footbal and quidditch for that one mini arc in Break & Gosh.

For Hybrid AU, is the origin mods and the Minecraft environment.

For KH AU, is reading the manga, watching Let’s Play, and trying to understand the timeline to simplify things (I still don’t know what the heck with that giant ass white door at the end of KH 1)

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

Many places. Some favorites tropes or great scene from Disney movies, even memes. Or just many scenario in my head that I always wanted to write

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

This may sound cliche, but reviews. When I get a review, I get so excited and just want to give something more for the readers. 

But also, the support I get from the Discord group where I usually share a part of my fic that ongoing and just the warm feeling of knowing I can share all of my shitpost and early draft to someone.

17. On avarage, how much writing do you get done in a day?

Back in 2020, I can write at least one chapter a day, that’s how I can update nearly everyday. One chapter is around +1k words. But recently I do slowed down, in turn, some chapter ended up sometimes passing +2k which usually for final battle scene.

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

This is exclusive for TW:OPT revision. Mostly is just fixing grammar and typos, and I make sure it happens at least one month after I wrote the chapter so it was “marinated” enough.

Open AO3 or Ms Words (depending on what number of editing, if it’s first edit then it happens on AO3, if it’s second edit, the it happens in MS Word)

Re-read the whole thing and find all the typos and grammar mistake

Open translation, but different from the previous writing (usually AimiYoshiko), if needed. Usually this is for fixing the sentences, to make sure nothing is out of the context.

If I know that new material had been added, I would either add or reduce some scene, but need to make sure that the new changes doesn’t feels out of place (for example, before Ghost Marriage, I assumed that Riddle has a little brother, but after GM and finding out Riddle is the only son, I edit that to talk about Trey’s siblings)

Go through the same process of grammarly and copy-paste to Wattpad, AO3, Ms Words, and FF.net

[a-lilacsong]

Little Black Dress

On April Fool's Day of 2020, I posted this Fanfiction onto the EOA Discord server under the gauze that it was a summary of an upcoming episode. We were all very anxious for any news about future episodes, and I was able to fool some people with this. I wrote this before “Crash Course” came out so all the “main plot things” that happened in this were just me guessing and making jokes about what could possibly happen. Originally I thought of just doing a little description, but pretty soon it turned into an entire plot summary. I just thought of all the things that would be cool to see in the show, as well as some things in my personal life, and wrote it all on April Fool's Day itself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Here's the introduction I did for it, straight from the server itself:] Hey guys I just found this full on plot summary of the Elena of Avalor episode that comes after Crash Course! So don't read this Unless you are ready to get spoiled big time!

Ready for spoilers? Okay, here we go! The episode is titled “Little Black Dress” Mini description is: “Elena and Naomi have to find a way to stop Elena’s new dress colour and power, Meanwhile Gabe, and Mateo try to stop Ash, with help from an unlikely ally.”

That description makes it sound really good but wait, I have the whole plot summary so here you go: [Synopsis under the cut]

It starts off at the castle, we see Elena, reading a book in her room. Naomi comes in and asks what book she is reading while also making the bed, since now Naomi's technically out of an official job so she's been trying a lot of stuff around the palace to see what job sticks. We even get a little montage of this. It turns out Elena is reading a book that Naomi recommended to her and is almost finished,  Naomi is happy to hear that, and decides to leave Elena in peace until she's finished reading.

But just as she's about to leave the room she hears Elena's scream and she runs back into the room to find that Elena's dress has turned black!  All of the light seems like it's being sucked out of the room while a feeling  of the deepest despair comes over them, but Naomi is able to make it across the room and sing a bit of love always to Elena, which gets her back to normal. Then Naomi asks Elena what happened, why did the dress change colour like that?

Elena takes a deep breath and explains to Naomi that the book ended on a cliffhanger, why had she not told her that this book ended on such a big cliffhanger! Naomi tells her that she'd read the book so long ago, she had sort of forgotten the weight of the cliffhanger at the end. Naomi tells her that she had once checked before if there was a sequel to this book, and there wasn't, but she's pretty sure that the author is planning one. Elena retains her composure, but you can tell she is still deeply disturbed. But it's time for the Grand Council meeting now, so she goes to the Grand Council room. Cut to the Grand council meeting, Doña Paloma and Julio are already there, arguing over kingdom finances, when Elena comes in and apologizes for being late. Her grandparents start to fill her in on what has been happening in the meeting when Doña interrupts them. She tells Elena how they've been arguing over whether to spend tax money on relief to chocolate farmers who are having trouble with a fungus that's been growing on the chocolate trees making them less productive. She believes the farmers should spend their own money on anti-fungus measures for the trees but Julio disagrees, so what does she think they should do?

But Elena's dress turns black,  almost all the light gets sucked out of the room and strong winds begin to blow, everyone gets under the table. Her grandparents are able to calm her down and ask her what happened. She explains about the new dress colour and that the mention of fungus reminded her of how that book ended with half the characters getting possessed by an evil mushroom that was bent on taking over the world, and not knowing would happen next was filling her with suspense and dread. Julio recommends that she go find the author of the book and ask them how it ends. Elena thinks that's a great idea and decides to do that with Naomi.

Just as she's leaving the grand Council room she bumps into Mateo and Gabe, they tell her that they have some important security matters they need to share with the Grand Council, so they can get the green light to go ahead with their defeating-evil plans. “Just do whatever you must!” She tells Mateo and Gabe before leaving with Naomi to go find the author. They take this to mean they can do ANYTHING they feel they need too.

We follow Gabe and Mateo down to the dungeon where they go to Carla’s cell. She's petting the dog and looking out the window when she hears them come in. She turns and is quite surprised to see them. They tell her that they are planning an important mission that will stop Ash, and her gang, but they need her help to pull it off. She tells them that she will only help them if they de-stone Victor. They agree that they will do that once the mission is completed, as long as she doesn't double-cross them. Carla says they have a deal, and asks them what the plan is.

Gabe explains to her that the guards have sightings of Ash’s gang on the coast of Avalor in a certain village, which means that there is only one place they could be going… “Los Diamante!” finished Carla. It was one of the most famous card game playing houses and music lounges in the entire Everealm. It was run by a gang of criminals and Malvagos led by El Destello. They are so powerful that during Shuriki’s rain they were still able to operate, because they could destroy any Royal Guards or other threats to the place.

It would be a disaster if Ash got them as allies, so Gabe and Mateo decided they would try to convince El Destello to join the good guy side (or at least not join Ash). But they knew they wouldn't last five minutes in that place without a criminal who could help guide them through it, and that's why they needed Carla.

Carla told them that  her father had told her all about this place before, and that the place had a strict dress code they would need to follow before they got there (“They don’t let Guards or nerds in there” she said). The dress code was formal suits and dresses. So they got changed and then rode some Jaquins to Los Diamante, and went inside.

The place was very ritzy, and it still had that Avaloran style architecture to it. There were guys playing Go Fish at the tables, people ordering drinks from the counter, and a big stage where an Avaloran-style jazz band is playing. Everyone had a Churro in their mouth. Mateo went to the drink counter and ordered an apple juice, but the guy behind the counter said they didn't have any, but they did have tomato juice, and chocolate milk. Mateo realized they were in the deep end now.

Suddenly Ash, Esteban, and Chatana walk in, all of them dressed up in super fancy outfits. Ash walked up to one of the burly looking criminals standing by the door and asked to see El Destello, so she could give him an offer he couldn't refuse.  He said that she would have to wait half an hour for him to finish with his  accountant upstairs before he could see anyone. 

Carla, Gabe, and Mateo (who had hidden under a table when those three came in), heard all of this and knew they needed to come up with a plan to stop this.

Meanwhile, Elena and Naomi were in the middle of town looking through the town records, to see if they could find the author's name and address. One of the clerks at the building asked them what they were doing and they explained to her their situation. She said she knew where the author lived (whose name was Q.W. Southland)  and gave them her address, but told them that the author was planning on leaving Avalor for Norberg today, so they better hurry.

They both ran to the author's house, but they saw that they were too late, a carriage was already leaving the house with Southland inside! Elena refused to give up, so she and Naomi hopped into an empty cart, and attached a large sheet to it like a sail.  Elena mustered up her feelings and the strong winds blew,  blowing their cart towards the carriage.  The carriage sped up in reaction to this, and now they were in a full-on chase scene,  zooming through the streets of the city towards the port. Finally, the carriage stopped right before it fell into the water but Elena's cart fell into the water and she and Naomi had to swim back to shore. They were just in time to reach Southland before she got on the ship. 

Elena begged to know the rest of the story, but Southland explained to her that she wasn't going to tell any of her readers anything about the next book until it was published, even if they were a princess. Elena would have to wait another eight months like everyone else.

Elena and Naomi were deeply saddened. Elena said that she wished there was at least something she could have to keep her occupied until the next book came out.  Naomi looks like she has a moment of inspiration, and tells Elena that she needs to get home and that she should go back to the palace and wait for her there. Elena is confused by this, but sees her friend’s enthusiasm and agrees.

Meanwhile in Los Diamante, El Destello had finally finished with his upstairs business and had come down to the lounge. Ash walked over to him and began to tell him about who she was and about her plans for the most powerful group of dark wizards ever. Suddenly Carla jumped out and interrupted her, she told El Destello that she heard he liked music (why else would you keep a music lounge open during Shiriki’s rain?) and that she was a great singer and dancer.

Carla said that she and her team (Mateo and Gabe) would challenge Ash and her team to a music contest, and that whoever lost wouldn't be able to get help from El Destello or his gang. El Destello thought that sounded like a great idea and agreed. Ash, still surprised by this turn of events, wasn't going to back down from a challenge and also agreed.

So the music contest began. Ash and Chatana sang a Peggy Lee-style song called  “Touch of a Feather'' with Esteban playing guitar to back them up. It's lyrics show that it's a really good villain song, referencing Ash’s ambition and Chatana’s yearning for a world she can control. It went off without a hitch, except for when Chatana did a spin and her wings knocked Ash, and Esteban off the stage at the end of it.

Carla sang a Nancy Sinatra-style song called “These Violet Times” with Mateo and Gabe singing backup (Gabe also had a trumpet solo at one point). The lyrics reflect Carla’s feelings about her past and hopes for her future (They also make some not-so-passive-aggressive jabs at Ash).

El Destello said both songs were good, but there was only one winner. He beckoned Ash and her team over to him. Ash smiled, said she was glad to have won, and asked if this meant that he would accept their deal of a partnership?

He told her no, she had not won. He just summoned them over to tell them that they had five minutes to leave before his gang would throw them out. Ash was shocked, Esteban then teleported them out of there before Ash had a chance to do something violent.

El Destello congratulated team Carla on the win. Mateo asked if this meant he would never colaberbate with Ash, and he said “Of course and that from now on whenever they came back to Los Diamante, drinks were on the house.”

Gabe and Mateo were happy that the mission had gone so successfully, and thanked Carla for her help. She asked if this meant that they would free Victor now, and they said yes. “What are we waiting for” yelled Carla as she grabbed them by the hands and dragged them out to the Jaquins, to get them back to the Palace as fast as they could.

Back at the Palace, Elena is sitting in her room tuning her guitar when Naomi walks in with a bundle of scrolls and papers in her hands. She tells Elena when she had finished that book a long time ago, she had been destroyed by the cliffhanger ending as well. So she had written a whole bunch of fanfiction about what could happen next. Then, with all the crazy stuff that's happened in the last few months she forgot about it. She said it's not as good as another book but at least they have it. Elena smiled and said that it's just as good as another book, but then she asked Naomi, “You did complete these right? They don't end on cliffhangers too, do they?”

“No,��� Naomi said with a smile “I made sure of that.”

The episode ends with Gabe, Mateo and Carla in the palace garden. Mateo is holding a small vial which he then hands it to Carla, saying she should do the honour. She runs over to Victor and says:  “Finally you can be free, Papa!” She holds the potion above his head and pours it on him. And just as the potion touches his forehead- the credits cut in and you have to wait until next episode to see what happens next.

So that definitely sounds like an episode I would want to see, if only it were real… Happy April Fool's Day everyone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[And now for a bit of a retrospective on that piece. Reading this again really takes me back. Back then I was so worried about Carla and Victor, sometimes I wondered if they'd even get a redemption arc at all. But as the moral of this episode goes “Fanfiction and other fans make you feel less bad about waiting for new content.” And writing this did make me feel a little bit better about everything.

Oh yes who can forget the “ what if black is an emotion colour” theory.  most people were taking that to really angsty places, but I decided to do something a little closer to home for me. There was a certain book series [Wings of Fire] that I had in mind writing the plot with Elena. Because I really did feel those emotions when it left off on a cliffhanger. And that was kind of the same with the show as well.

I always liked it and shows and movies where they have parodies of 1930s gangster movies, so I decided to do a kid-friendly parody version of that. I always love the fancy outfits the characters have in those. I realized that churros look like cigars from a distance, so that's why I mentioned that. I was also really hoping for another villain song, and for Carla to confront her mom. So I just fused the two together.

In my mind when I was writing this I imagined that Pili and Tziloco were in another section of Los Diamante, that was meant for Animal Companions, waiting for the rest of Team Ash to finish. And at one point they play some kind of card game against the Jaquins. But I didn't know where I could smoothly fit that into the summary, so I left it out.

Also I just want to explain the title, I decided on it because 1, Elena's dress turns black in this. And 2, a little black dress is a term that's often used for describing simple, yet fancy dresses that some women wear, and that would be fitting for the other plot of this story. So it's sort of a pun!]