#i remember there was a december pokemon challenge a while back and i wanted to do it again but december obviously ended so january it is | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

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Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch16 Battle Gym Leader Opal

You did NOT want to get into the flying taxi! Even when the kind middle aged man in the flight suit and goggles let you pet the pretty friendly corviknight and assured you it was perfectly safe you did NOT want to get into the flying taxi!! Of course your Drizzilie didn't seem to care about anything and had jumped into the awaiting metal carriage and seated itself into one of the seats available and curled up to lay down on it as Gloria climbed in as well and had a firm grip on you as she tried to pull you into the cab with her.

"Y/n! C'mon! Don't be a wee lil baby!," she grunted as she tried to pull your struggling form into the cab with her. But you effectively blocked yourself from coming in with one heel dug into one of the steps and a hand firmly placed on the outside. After you had gotten yourself to eat and then downstairs to the outside of the inn, the cab was already ready and waiting for you two. The corviknight and it's owner even perched on top of it watching awkwardly waiting. "I'm not walkin' days ta Glimwood Tangle in this bloody heat!"

"I think I'd rather take my chances with the sun- ACK!?" That was it. Your hand finally slipped and you faceplanted half your body onto the floor between the two seats. And you immediately scrambled when you felt something grab at your legs. "GLORIA NO!!"

You two fought against each other as you were losing and yelled at Gloria who was quicker than you thought she could be as she wrestled the rest of your fleeing body inside the cab as you continued to physically and verbally protest and within the scuffle somehow managed to slam the door shut behind the two of you, yelling the word 'GO!!' and not too long after you felt a lurch as the cab took off. You let out a bloody curdling scream and clutched onto the seat your drizzilie sat upon smashing your face into the seat from the force of the take off and cutting off your scream only after a second of it leaving your mouth, half your body still on your knees on the floor as Gloria sighed and plopped herself into the seat across from you as the wind whipped through the windows. Acting like vents and while the wind was warm it most certainly wasn't the grueling heat you two had been traveling in. You remained face in the seat for a little while longer clutching onto it, your stomach felt like butterflies were in it, your feet felt awfully light, and you were kinda starting to regret eating that waffle before the two of you left. .......After a few more moments of just staying in that death grip position your Drizzilie gave a questioning noise and tapped the top of your head.

"Y/n you're perfectly alright. Just sit in the seat there instead of lookin' like you're prayin' to Arceus himself," Gloria encouraged.....You didn't respond for a hot second before she watched as your body shook as you weakly pulled yourself from the floor, trying not to get sick and pulled yourself onto the seat to face her. Pausing for a moment before with a click you scrambled for the seat belt and hastily threw it around yourself before gripping the sides of your seat next to your pokemon. Pale as a ghost. "See? It's not so bad!" She turned and stuck her arm out near the nearest window as her hair blew around her face as did yours. "And feel that air! It's great! Look at the view-"

"HEY!" You managed to pull yourself together enough to shout at her and shakily point a hand to her. "A-Arms, legs, and head INSIDE the taxi cab at all times!! And p-put on your seatbelt right now! W-We might hit some wind turbulance or something!"

"What? But I've done this before. It's perfectly safe."

"HEY! I-If I'm going to agree t-to ride this thing all the way to Glimwood Tangle then you're going to wear a seat belt all the way there too! There's no getting around that!....Speaking of which." Your Drizzilie made a sound of protest but didn't fight back when you pushed it back against the seat next to you and buckled it in as well. "Much better. Now you."

She rolled her eyes but complied. "Fine fine. I'll put the bloody thing on." And she began to do so.

"Thank you. So how long until we reach Bellonlea?"

"A whole two days and a night. It would've taken much longer ta get there by foot and there ain't no train running to or from Glimwood Tangle since the entire place is a national wildlife preserve as well as there ain't too many places like it in the world."

"...What do you mean?"

"It's a fifty square mile forest of giant trees so big and growin' so closely together that it blocks out the sun. It's full of these glowing giant mushrooms that light up everythin' in there 'n there's a whole slew of pokemon from dark to physcic to ghost....But mostly a bunch o' fairy type pokemon. It's why the fairy type stadium is located there."

You nearly felt sick to your stomach again. You had to sit and ride on this thing who knows how high off the ground for a two whole days and night?! ".....Well great."

"Oh relax, Y/n. Once we get in ta that big shady place from the sun it'll be worth it I promise."

"Where did you even get the money to pay for this trip? We used the last of it at the inn."

"Remember how Gym Challengers are paid a bit once they win a gym battle? I had enough ta pay for two people to be flown there don't worry." She looked back out the window. "Let's just relax n' enjoy the trip."

"Body stays inside the cab!"

Relax? It was easy for her to say! She was used to this!! Thus began your nerve wracking over the next two days. Gloria attempted to distract you and calm your nerves by having her rotom fly between the two of you and showed her uploaded battle against Allister from the Gym League's official sight. That helped a little bit as you two talked about Allister and the Gym battles that Gloria had had thus far, and you ended up rewatching them all including the ones you missed. Milo, Nessa, Kabu( Your Drizzilie looking the slightest bit proud of himself as you watched again this time without the panic or worry), Bea (you were surprised Gloria won against her actually. And you had a sneaking suspicion still that she might've won easily against her and Milo due to being worn out by the incoming of multiple trainers), and Allister again. Recounting that she had five gym badges thus fair, four needed to compete in the finals at the end of December, and was half way there already. This stop would hopefully make it five badges by the time of your departure. By the time it was night you all had the driver stop and take a rest for the night, you SO GLAD to be back on none moving land again with jello legs and shooting a glare to Gloria when she giggled at your predicament. Rinse and repeat. Pitching a tent, as the driver slept in the cab, and then the next morning you all packed and were off a second time. This time you didn't HAVE to be pulled in by Gloria but it still took a lot of coaxing and Gloria mentioning how much money she already paid for this trip to get you back on. But Gloria found out that meant you wouldn't budge unless she buckled up as well. Safety first after all. The second day went pretty much the same as yesterday lovingly distracting yourselves by talking a lot and looking anywhere but outside and down to keep your nerves down as well. During this time Gloria decided it'd be a great time to glue whatever pictures she had left over into her dex book as you two talked, apparently she planned on using the same lense on her camera to take pictures of the pokemon you both came across while in the Glimwood Tangle, and then showed you her small collection of League Cards so far. You weren't sure how she managed to balance a hobby of collecting multiple things on this trip but glad she was having fun and enjoying herself so far. Ultimately it reached the second night and you two (with her having to convince you) agreeing to flying through the night in order to reach Bellonlea by morning. It's safe to say sleep did NOT come easily to you that night when it eventually did come. The Moon replacing the sun and stars replacing the clouds. You weren't sure when or how you were able to fall asleep still buckled into the seats, but you must've been too tired to stay awake. The next thing you knew was that you were jarred awake in a panic when the entire cab was shaken like some rollar coaster upon landing on some path! Your Drizzilie chirping out in panic as it bumped in shook and even Gloria had clutched her seat for stability on your decent. Thankfully SOMEHOW NOT crashing but you two did end up a bit shaken from the experience.

"I'm so sorry!," a man's voice called out and you guessed the driver must've hopped off the bird pokemon because not a second later you saw his concerned self in the window looking at the three of you. "Is everyone alright? We were cut off by a flock of wild spearow outta no where!"

".....I'll let you know when I find out where my stomach flew off too," you mumbled back clutching your seat and still half asleep brain processing what had just happened.

"She's fine," Gloria assured rubbing her head, "Are we there?"

The man nodded and it was only when you finally dared to look out the window yourself you noticed that the cab was set down in the BIGGEST shadows from trees you had ever seen. Gloria was quick to unbuckle herself(thank gosh. You were glad she was buckled in for that fun fair ride-) and run herself out of the cab and after a moment you slowly followed. Legs feeling like Jello and SO GLAD to be on ground that you almost collasped to the grassy fields below you. When you looked up however is when you realized how small you actually felt. Before you was the BIGGEST DENSES TREES YOU HAD EVER SEEN!! THEY WERE LIKE SKYSCRAPERS WITH HOW BIG THEY WERE!! Their branches and leaves entertwined so much that the inside completely blocked out the light right inside the inner workings of the forest inside, and on the inside of the darkness you could make out lots and LOTS of different glowing lights in the shapes of mushrooms within there as the path you all landed on continued off into the darkness. And in front of the entrance to this forest was two large lamp posts that at the moment remained unlit. This was it. The Glimwood Tangle.

"I'm afraid this is as fair as I can take you ladies to Bellonlea." You blinked to the Driver as your Drizzlie stumbled out to walk over to you. "The trees are too tight nit to fly through and it'd be too dangerous to risk that."

"That's ok," Gloria assured him. "Would you mind waiting for us here? This shouldn't be take more than a couple hours if we're lucky."

He nodded. "Sure. Corviknight could use the break anyways after the long night we had."

She smiled before turning away and waving. "Thanks! We'll be back soon!" She walked past you towards the entrance to the forest and after blinking you followed. "OH! This is gonna be great!"

"Uh huh. And how are we not supposed to get lost in there?," you asked walking away the feeling of you as a violently shaking jello someone tossed to the floor with your pokemon at your side. "It's pitch black in there besides all those mushrooms but I dunno if that's gonna be enough to keep us from getting lost."

"Don't worry. I checked my regional maps before we got here. As long as we stay on the main dirt road and not go off onto any of the hiking trails or other paths leading to someone's house, we should be totally fine. And the main road is always the biggest one, so all we gotta do is stay on the biggest road and we're there...buuut it'll take us a bit to get to Bellonlea. It's dead smack in the middle of the forest and this place is pretty big."

"Y'know I think as long as we stay out of the hot sun I'll be perfectly fine. Just make sure the both of you stay close and no wondering off. The last thing I need after a ride like that is a sour stomach from worrying over you."

As you two entered leaving the taxi behind, it didn't take too long for it to get dark really fast. And it was like you two were traveling at night even tho you were absolutely sure it was daytime. You all marveled at the colorful glowing mushrooms along the path being your only source of light as you all traveled and casting dancing shadows within the dark as well across the trees. It was really beautiful but also in a way scary like when you all saw those ghost pokemon in the middle of the night. More than ONCE you had to smack one of the smaller glowing shrooms out of your drizzilie's hands before he could eat it. Maybe pokemon could eat these things, but you weren't about to risk finding out and unintentially making himself sick or worse. At the five minute mark the entrance you came through had completely disappeared from view, and at the ten minute mark the larger path shrank before splitting off into two different directions and you two had stopped...And you turned to Gloria who didn't look too sure where to go before pulling out her phone again as you stood there.

"Well so much for following the bigger path. Which way do we go?," you asked.

"Accordin' to the map we goooooo..." Gloria paused for a moment lifting a hand before pointing to the left, "That way! And then we go straight when we hit the second set of paths."

You two had continued down the path she pointed out with her phone out and she continued taking pictures now that you two began seeing a few pokemon. Usually some small imp looking pokemon she mentioned were called impadimps, a couple hatenna, some tea cup looking thing called a sinistea, some mushroom looking pokemon, and quite a few others as you two walked. Eventually coming across to the second set of pathways and continued to walk down the middle pathway as the map said to go....Although you began to have an off feeling as you walked. Almost as if you were being watched but that was ridiculous! There was pokemon all around you probably watching as the three of you walked on the pathway so of course you'd feel like you were being watched. But neither of you were aware of the larger figure moving from the brush over towards the both of you as you walked.

"So where do we go from here?," you asked watching a couple impadimps as they laughed and bounced on a mushroom as you walked, "And how long have we been walking anyways?"

"Lost count after forty five minutes. But accordin' ta this thing we take another left up ahead and that should lead us straight to Bellonlea!" The bushes up ahead of her rustled out as someone peeked out.

"Oh good. I'm kinda getting tired of walk-"

"FUGAAAA!" Before you had even finished talking the person in the bushes jumped out at you from the middle of the path spraying you two with a shower of leaves from the poor plants. Pokemon scattered as Gloria let out a scream and your Drizzilie let out a panicked chirp diving behind your legs. In an instant, Gloria was yanked from in front of you as you shoved her behind you from the crouched form, arms raised in a 'I'm going to get you' like way with a wild look in his eyes. "FUGAGAGA!! I'm a pokemon! Have a battle with me!"

Startled the two of you wide eyed stared at this messy looking man who had literally appeared out of NO WHERE....before you looking to the petrified looking teen peeking out from around your back. "Hey. Are you ok?"

"......Define 'ok'."

The man held up a hand with a crazed smile and spoke before you could speak again. "Listen for a second. Scorbunny and sizzlipede are different species, but they're still both pokemon! Scorbunny and I are different species just like sizzlipede and I are different too! If you think about it that way there's no problem with calling me a pokemon. I don't mind!," he explained/rambled on much to the terrified people in front of him.

"What?," Gloria eventually spoke after a silence, "Did you hit your head there, Lad?" She asked before ducking behind you again as he snapped to her. You were starting to feel very uncomfortable now and cringed with every word the man spewed from his mouth.

"What? You don't have to worry about me! Even I know it's pretty lofty logic. I...I wanted to become a pokemon once," he rambled on staring off into space at nothing..and you two exchanged an uncomfortable look.

"Uh..W-Well good luck with that-," you tried to defuse inching with the two behind you over towards the right around this crazy man.

"Hey! I've got it!," he giggled happily to himself, "A change of fashion style could change the way I feel too! Basically if I can make myself feel the same way a pokemon does, it'd be like I became a pokemom. Don't you think?!" The three of you froze as he snapped to you again. By now you were ready to just push this guy over and making a run for it if it'll mean to get away to safety. He suddenly pointed at you. "YOU! Would you please put on some clothes with a fiery spirit that embodies my burning feelings?"

....And you stared.....Was this middle aged crazy man asking you to change right here and now!? The man at your silence hummed and glossy eyes looked up towards the darkened tree canopy mumblng something about fire types..when your brows rose as an idea hit you. "....Gloria." Said freaked out brunette blinked up to you as you slowly leaned your head towards her but kept staring at the man who mumbled off to himself. You weren't risking taking your eyes off this creep for a second. "Listen to me very carefully. Reach into my bag and hand me the blue shirt with the arcanine printed on the front. Once he's distracted we'll make a run for it." She didn't answer you but by the way you were lightly forced to lean back and someone quickly opening your bag she didn't have too. After a moment longer a blue shirt was thrown over your shoulder as you grabbed it. OH! You hoped this would work. "Oh wow!" In an instant he snapped to you and your flinched...before slowly holding the shirt out. "What's this I found?"

"What's this? Is that-?" He snatched it from you and you quickly whipped your hand back as a result from his face actions. Curiously he opened the shirt and his crazy eyes widened more as he saw the arcanine printed on it. And he chuckled. "I feel like I've completely become a pokemon! Wearing a hot fire styled outfit can make you feel different! I feel like I've become a Fire Type pokemon!"

"RUN!!"

The man blinked as you both bolted. You gripping Gloria's hand for dear life as you both scrambled in fear to get the heck out of there. Your poor Drizzilie fearfully scrambling at your feet as the three of you ran as fast as you could down the pathway towards the next crossroads.

"W-WAIT! DONT YOU WANT TO BATTLE ME!?," the man called out after you.

You didn't answer and you didn't stop. Pumped full of panic and adrenaline telling you to get AWAY from that crazy guy. You both ran and RAN until you came to the third way the path split and stopped to catch your breath. Eventually you also released Gloria's hand when she gently tugged at you to let go and you did. Silence filled the air as you two just breathed for a moment, often glancing back to make sure the crazy guy didn't follow you. At one point you looked to Gloria who pointed in question towards the left path you needed to take to Bellonlea before you nodded your head and the two of you two slowly went on your way again still looking behind you in case the guy showed up. It was better to keep moving and get out of that area as soon as possible before that guy found you again. With a new tired feeling in your guts, you two made to continue on down the pathway deeper and deeper into this strange forest right out of a fairytale. You might as well have been walking for a good hour or more at this point when you all finally turned and there it was. Among a whole bunch of mushrooms, some of which being the BIGGEST you had seen thus far, was the unmistakable shine of the metal stadium through the trees, along with a lot of houses scattered around and that same pink pokemon center. The town of Bellonlea. And already there were a few people walking about as you could barely make out thanks to the lights in their houses and the glow from the mushrooms. Hopefully none of them were the weird man you had encountered back on the trail.

You pointed. "There it is! Guess your map was right after-" You had paused and blinked upon looking back to Gloria who was again digging through her bag. "What are you doing?"

She smiled holding up the old looking letter from her bag although it was slightly wrinkled from being in the bag for so long. "Don't ya remember? Allister said I needed ta return this letter ta whoever Frank is as soon as possible."

"Well...yeah. But I thought you were going to challenge Opal." You started walking as she did into the town.

"I am, but this seems really important for me ta do if even Allister thinks I should." She gestured around to the town of small fairytale houses you all couldn't stop admiring. "Plus there's not too many cabins 'ere. We should be able to find this Frank really quick."

"Well, let's ask someone. It'll be faster than knocking on doors at least." She agreed and you both walked up to the nearest person. A small little boy with brown hair and jeans playing with what you were assuming was his impadimp, but both looked up as you walked up to him and stopped. "Hi there" You greeted with a smile and wave. "Sorry to bug you but do you know if there's anyone named Frank who lives here?"

The boy blinked at you both. "Frank?" You both nodded at him. "Only one person in Bellonlea has that name. That's my granddad's name."

"Oh really?" His grandfather?? Why would a little girl write a love letter to someone's grandfather? But the boy nodded yes. "Could you tell us where he is right now?"

He turned and pointed to one of the cabins closest to the stadium. "In there with my sisters."

You smiled and waved at him again as Gloria immediately began walking in that direction. "Ok thanks!" Increasing your pace to catch up with her, the both of you walked up to the door and before you could say anything Gloria had already knocked loudly on the door.

There was a pause for a moment as you both looked at one another, then not a moment later footsteps approuched the door as you two looked back at it, and a man who looked to be in his early sixties and cap opened the doors to the two of you. And Gloria smiled. "Hi! Is there a Frank here?"

The man hummed looking the two of you girls over for a moment. "You're looking for Frank?" You both nodded. That'd be me yes. Can I help you ladies?"

Gloria held up the letter to him. "A girl in Hammerlocke asked us ta give this to ya."

He blinked in surprise at the letter. "What's this? You've got a letter addressed to me?" He reached out and grabbed the letter from Gloria, and the two of you watched as the elderly man opened it. "Now who could be sending me letters." He went silent for a moment as he opened the letter, held it up to his face, and scanned the words on it..before he smiled. "Oh! Why this says it's from Paula! That does take me back ages."

"Oh. So you two do know each other!"

He chuckled. "Paula was the name of a girl I spent all my time playing with when I was a young lad. She fell ill. Didn't tell me though. She kept it a secret just how sick she was. We ended up having a great row of it...then I moved away not long after that fight. I never met her again after the day I left."...Illness? The flashes of how sick the little girl looked flashed through your mind and when you looked at Gloria, who could see that the connections must've hit her too cuz she looked a bit pale. The man looked up at you two semi sadly. "How was she? Did she look well? Dear old Paula."

"I uh-....Well she looked...well I guess," you managed to force out awkwardly.

The man nodded. "That's a comfort to hear. I thank you both very kindly for delivering me this." He smiled again looking down at the letter. "For you've brought me back a piece of my youth. ...Do you have a dear friend in your life? Make sure you treasure those dear to you while you have them close."

You nodded before signaling to a lightly spooked Gloria that you all should go. "Y-Your welcome. Have a nice day, Sir." He smiled and nodded to the two of you before going to close the door as the two of you turned around. You felt a little spooked yourself. Both of you had just managed to step onto the path leading to the stadium too when-

"...Thank you..." You both froze at the young girl's voice. "..for delivering my letter...."

.........Both of you slowly looked to one another......before you pointed to the gym. "To the stadium?"

"TO THE STADIUM!," Gloria agreed grabbing your arm and already making you two speed walk towards the building. As you both quickly approuched, neither wanting to acknowledge what had just happneded, you were more surprised by how they managed to find a big enough space between the tight knit trees to build it. Gloria letting go of your hand the closer you both got to the stadium and it's entance. "Why don't you go on ahead and go around and to the seating area then?" She suggested as she stopped in the doorway. "I'll just go ahead and go do the gym challenge. Oh. After this I'll need ta stop by the center and move some of my new wee ones inta rotomi boxes."

You nodded. Sounded like a plan to you. After all you were wanting to get away and distract yourself from the goosebumps forming on your arms. "Alright. You be careful now." She nodded before turning and with a whoosh sound the door opened for her to enter, and you turned to your bored looking drizzilie. "C'mon. Let's head in through the side doors and get a good front row seat. Ok?"

He rolled his eyes and groaned but followed you anyways as you turned and began walking around the giant stadium. To make a long story you walked around the giant stadium and found the entrance leading into the stadium for people to access the bleachers, and went inside with your drizzilie right behind you looking bored as always. The regular flight of stairs you usually encountered with these stadiums lead up, and up until you both reached the enormous stadium insides that you were used too. With rows upon rows of seats but besides you and your pokemon there was at most maybe twenty other people besides you that you could tell. Must be due to Bellonlea being such a remote and small town. But hey! This gave you a great chance to get a front row seat to a battle for a change and experience it at least once. Still following you, your Drizzilie walked behind you all the way towards the very first row facing the giant grassy field and joined you as you sat down with it taking up a seat next to you. Perfect! Now all you had to do was wait!........And wait...........and wait........And wait some more. You hadn't realized how long it would take for you to wait for Gloria to finish the gym's challenge, but that's alright. You didn't mind waiting. It gave you a long chance to rest your feet and for your Drizzilie to fall asleep leaning it's head back on the seat. And you chuckled at it's snoring. .......And waited even longer with a sigh. Until FINALLY with what seemed like forever somone came onto the field. You didn't even notice it at first bored out of your mind, with your head leaning in your hand until you just happened to look up at the screen and perked right up seeing someone. HEY! It was the same elderly lady you and Gloria kept running into! It was Opal. And at this very moment she was slowly making her way across the field, until she got to the very center, and turned to face the middle and closing her eyes. As if waiting for someone. And it didn't take too long for you to find out too. Gloria came jogging onto the scene out from one of the openings onto the field and you perked right up as she walked right over across from Opal who finally opened her eyes to her. You watched as they exchanged a few words, before jumping at the announcer's voice.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! THE GYM BATTLE BETWEEN GYM CHALLENGER GLORIA AND GYM LEADER GLORIA SHALL BEGIN!! BATTLERS PLEASE TAKE YOUR PLACES!!" Both turned, Opal more slowly than Gloria obviously, before walking to their places on the field. Before turning to face one another. "POKEMON AT THE READY!! FIRST ROUND MATCH BEGIN!!"

In a flash of bright light both ladies sent out their pokemon. Gloria her raboot and Opal a weezing. And Opal was first to make a move when, fast for an old lady too, she slammed her umbrella to the ground and the wheezing puffed up it's cheeks like it was about to puke and suddenly it began spatting out purple glowing balls at the raboot. The move was sludge if you remember right. In an instant the rabbit pokemon looked panicked and began hoping about in weird poses and sometimes belly flopping to avoid the oncoming toxic attack thrown at it. Until Gloria pointed and gave it an attack. Then it was a whole new ball game as the raboot used that same technique you recognized she used back when battling Kabu. Using the quick attack of the raboot to boost it's speed as it turned it body and began charging at the weezing who amplified it's sludge attacks just as quick as the raboot was running with the flames at it's feet. Kicking something towards the weezing like a soccer ball player would before with a mighty bound it launched itself into the air, and kicked the flaming rock ember move at bullet speed towards the weezing. And no sooner than it did when a giant sludge ball hit it directly as well. With a cry of pain the small bunny pokemon FELL to the ground hard onto it's back. And didn't move. Meanwhile the rock launched at the weezing went straight into the larger mouth and the reaction was instant. It doubled over. In fact it went straight down to the ground almost at the same time as the raboot when the poison attack hit it head on. Your eyes widened as you leaned forward from where you were sitting. The weezing was unable to move besides shaking a bit and coughing from the flaming rock that went into it's mouth, and Raboot stayed there laying on the ground...until it got up. The poor thing looked like it was in pain forcing itself to sit up, and then eventually stand wobbling on it's two shaking feet. Shaking it's head and then facing the weezing with a look of determination in it's eyes. At least it did before the weezing was gone within a flash of light back into it's pokeball by Opal.

"FIRST ROUND MATCH OVER!! WEEZING WAS DETERMINED TO BE UNABLE TO BATTLE!!," Announcer stated as Gloria swiftly returned her own pokemon. "GYM CHALLENGER WINS FIRST ROUND!! SECOND ROUND MATCH IS ABOUT TO START! PLEASE READY YOUR POKEMON!!....POKEMON AT THE READY!! SECOND ROUND MATCH BEGIN!!"

And in more bright lights appeared two pokemon with the ability to fly. Opal sending out a togakiss and Gloria a corvi-......A CORVIKNIGHT!? SINCE WHEN DID SHE GET A CORVIKNIGHT!? The VERY large and black pokemon gave out a mighty roar at it's opponent. A shiver running down your spine. You still didn't forget how you arrived here after all. Opal was first to make a move again as she pointed and the togakiss sent out what looked like giant orbs of rocks. Ancient power?? Gloria did nothing at first and the corviknight screeched out an annoyed or perhaps painful reaction as the rocks shot out at bullet speed head on collided with it. But the BLOODY giant bird didn't even land from it's flying in place position, jut shake out it's feathered head and looked to the togakiss. Before bright light slash marks were made at it. Hone Claws! Was she planning on using the same technique she used against Hop? Well you found out when the corviknight let out a shrill cry that seemed to finally wake your sleeping drizzilie as it spread it's wings and with one beat of it wings launched itself into the air, before doing an entire circle upside down and with it's beak glowing launched itself right towards the togakiss who it turn made it's wing like appendages glow and with a shrill bolted right towards the corviknight. They were using steel wing to combat the drill peck!! But who'd win in this clash. Or at least that's what you thought would happen. To be honest what happened next was so fast you couldn't believe it unless you were sitting right there to watch as the corviknight out of no where extended it's GIANT sharp claws, and like an eagle completely SNATCHED the togakiss right out of mid air, encasing it comepletely in one of it's feet. Startled the togakiss could do only one thing at the moment. Shrill cry in panic as the corviknight parachuted using it's wings as it flew overhead. Opal must've been as surprised as you as you all watched the heavy duty bird pokemon, landed on the very edge of the feild with the yelling togakiss in its claws, stumbling a bit with landing on one leg, then simply while still holding the togakiss, placed it on the ground outside the boundary lines.

"SECOND ROUND MATCH OVER!! TOGAKISS IS OUT OF BOUNDS!! GYM CHALLENGER WINS SECOND ROUND!!" You watched as the corviknight ruffled its feathers before giving a few chirping noises, and walked it's way back over towards Gloria who waved at it. The togakiss looking rather spooked and shocked sat there for a moment....before flopping over onto it's side. And you frowned at it. Poor thing. You felt it's pain. "PLEASE READY YOUR POKEMON AS THE THIRD ROUND BATTLE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!" In a flash of light both pokemon disappeared off the field and you hope the poor togakiss would be alright after that. "POKEMON AT THE READY!! THIRD ROUND MATCH BEGIN!!"

Although things were looking really well for Gloria so far. She won two rounds! Two more pokemon entered the field. Gloria's roselia and Opal's mawile. Oh boy. Gloria better watch out for those giant jars. In fact it didn't look too good at all when the thing use steel guard! That means it's defenses rose greatly. And Gloria pointed. The roselia used what you recognized as it's famous stun spore attack as it darted towards the mawile at lightning speeds, roses already tingling with electricity as the mawile turned to face it's upcoming attack as the grass pokemon threw it's roses out in a move to shoot at it- When the GIANT MAW engulfed it entirely. Stunned, you and your Drizzilie watched as the mawile gave a shrill as the stun spore kicked in and it's body was enveloped in electricity. Before with a grit, it raised the maw the roselia was still encased in, and SLAMMED IT down onto the ground multiple times. SLAM!! SLAM!! SLAM!! The sickening sounds echoed throughout the mostly empty stadium as you grimaced and could only watch as with a final slam the mawile stopped...it's body giving a spark every so often..before it's giant maw opened and the poor roselia fell out unconcious.

"THIRD ROUND MATCH IS OVER!! ROSELIA IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!! VICTORY OF THE MATCH GOES TO THE GYM LEADER!!" You sighed slumping back into your seat. Oh well. Couldn't win them all. Well she won two out of three rounds anyways so that was good enough to get a bad- "PLEASE PREPARE YOUR POKEMON FOR THE FINAL ROUND!!" Your eyes popped back open. Final round?! You mean there's more than three rounds!? "POKEMON AT THE READY TO DYNAMAX!! FINAL MATCH MAY BEGIN!!"

You leaned forward as you watched. Red energy forming around their wrists for the dynamax bands and you breathed. Here we go. Both held pokeballs the size of watermelons glowing red, and with incredable strength on Opal's part. Both tossed them into the air. And then came the shaking of the stadium as you held onto your seat as they appeared. Opal's alcremie as it was huge and.....and......looked like a giant decorated cake you'd find at a wedding or fancy party. Huh. Didn't remember that. On the other hand with Gloria, out came her corviknight. Her GIANT. Black. Menacing looking. Corviknight. Which gave a giant shrill cry of it's own that made your otherwise bored looking drizzilie yelp in fear and LEAP into your arms knocking you back against the seat for a moment. Not that you could really blame him really. You had bad experiences with this type of pokemon after all. And you could guess why Gloria would choose her corviknight. Raboot was most likely still affected by that poison attack from the weezing and even if he could still stand, he'd be crushed easily from being weakened. And roselia was most likely still passed out from mawile's body slamming. Corviknight would be the obvious choice since he didn't seem to be too affected by how easily he took down the togakiss and being a flying and steel type pokemon, he would be the most durable against a dynamaxed alcremie. Opal lifted her umbrella again and slammed it back down and the now dynamaxed alcremie made it's first move. You had too look away fromhow bright it was as the corviknight let out a shrill eagle like cry of pain as light enveloped it ending with a burst of stars but that big chicken was still flapping by the time you even looked back up, the wind from it's massize wings making you squint against it. It was bad enough the entire place shook as you held onto your petrified drizzilie and seat to not get knocked off. Instead more bright light danced across the sky infront of it, Hone claws. Before the thing let out a loud caw of protest as what you could only discribe as a huge pink light in the shape of a kiss mark and pink marks danced around it's head. What the- OH! That must've been alcremie's Draining Kiss move! Although unluckily for it it didn't seem to be very affective towards the bird brain. Another giant eagle cry pierced the air making your ear hurt and two black jet streams poured from it's wings. You watched as the dark jet streams poured like snakes from it's wings and in that move you had seen it use before when battling Milo encircled the poor pokemon. Encasing it with a dome of black before exploding in a blast of black. The alcremie crying out in pain as is tilted towards the ground. The pokemon went out in an explosion that sent dirt clouds flying up everywhere as it timbered glowing brightly through the dust clouds as it magically shrank down within it's own mess. You all watched with baited breath as the clouds spread out and covered the famous gym leader as well, Gloria's bird pokemon glowing a bright reddish color before beginning to shrink down until it was back to it's normal size. Normal being big enough to carry off a whole elephant. And you slammed your eyes shut at the shaking and the dirt that flew up everywhere with the gust of wind blowing it everywhere. ....You coughed and waved your hand in front of your face to swat away any left over dirt from your face as the dust clouds slowly settled on the field in front of you. Gloria was doing the same with the giant bird pokemon standing right behind her and Opal was merely standing there with a calm expression as if a giant pokemon didn't just fall over and shrink behind her...speaking of the alcremie, it was no where in sight when the dust settled other than the rubble it left behind in it's wake. Did that mean-

"FINAL ROUND OVER!! ALCREMIE WAS DETERMINED TO BE UNABLE TO CONTINUE BATTLE!! VICTORY OF THE GYM BATTLE GOES TO THE GYM CHALLENGER!!," the announcer shouted over the mic.

You sighed in relief, leaning back against your seat from all the tention that you had been feeling throughout this entire experience. Gloria and Opal in the mean time walked over and met somewhere in the middle of the field most likely talking, and you took that as your que to stand and slowly lower the lightly spooked drizzilie to the ground off your lap.

"Come on," you said starting towards the stairs as it blinked and followed you, "Let's go wait for her outside." You had made your way out of the stadium and walked the full way around the stadium towards the front of the Bellonlea gym to where the door was located and Gloria would soon walk out. And that's where you waited with your Drizzilie patiently until you turned your head at the whoosh sound of the door and smiled upon seeing the excited face of Gloria jog out excitedly. "Hey! There you are! Took you a while to get to the field."

"Hey. It's not my bloody fault," she protested with a light frown, "Opal's challenge was ta battle three of her employees n' answer questions at the same time! N' then she even asked me stuff during the battle!! I'm lucky I didn't exhaust my pokemon fully before the actual battlin' began! I swear she just does that to wear ya down before battle...OH! N' I ran inta Marnie again."

Your brows rose at that little tidbit. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yep. Ya probably didn't see 'er since you were already headed off to the entrance ta watch me."

You nodded in agreement. "Yeah. That is probably why I didn't see her leave." You then looked around with a raised brow suspiciously. Did that mean Team Yell was also around here as well? They usually weren't far behind if Marnie was involved. You hummed before turning to Gloria and pointing the way back towards the pokemon center. "Well, how about we head back to the pokemon center and get your pokemon checked out then head back to the cab?"

As much as you didn't want to ride that taxi again, you weren't too comfortable staying now that there might be Team Yell on top of that crazy man from the woods running around. Luckily Gloria was already wanting to get her pokemon checked out and it didn't take too long for you two to get to the pokemon center for her pokemon to get patched up. Thank god Nurse Joy was a miracle worker with these kind of things. It only took about ten minutes for her to heal up Gloria's pokemon and another five minutes for Gloria to comb through her rotomi boxes to add a few more pokemon she required before the two of you were able to leave the pink building and head back towards the way you two came in.

"So, do you know the way back out?," you asked glancing at Gloria. She hummed with a nod holding up her phone to you. "Good. If we run into that crazy guy again we'll have Drizzilie spray him down and make a break for it. Hopefully we won't run into him again."

"Hold on now." Both of you paused, blinking before looking behind you and low and behold right there walking slowly up towards the both of you was none other than Opal herself once again.

"Ms. Opal?," Gloria asked confused, "What are ye doin' 'ere?"

"I've got a few errands to run in Hammerlocke," she explained, "Care to join me for the journey?" Both of you blinked before looking at one another in a mix of confusion and surprise. "If you're headed for the next gym stadium you'll need to get to Hammerlocke too after all."

"Next stadium?"

"Oh right. We can take the train to Circhester from Hammerlocke!," Gloria mentioned and your mood soured a bit at the memory of Raihan hitting on you. You had to go back there??

"I surely do hope you wouldn't mind if I caught a ride back with both you young ladies. And as thanks I wouldn't mind covering the tab for the ride over there," Opal offered, "If you wouldn't mind of course."

"Are ya kiddin? With pleasure!," Gloria answered with a wide smile and nod and you sighed.

"Excellent. They say two's company after all." Two? Counting Drizzilie there was four of you taking this trip back now. She began slowly moving towards the exit herself. "Come along now. If we want to start before nightfall I suggest we leave now."

"Sure." You made to go after her but paused. "...Wait. How long will it take to get back to Hammerlocke from here?"

"Not very long with the taxi," Gloria mentioned following the older woman, "About five days and even faster if we fly one or two nights."

You groaned but followed after them. This journey just keeps getting better and better.

#pokemon shield #pokemon piers #pokemon sword #pokemon piers x reader #Pokemon reader x piers #piers x reader #reader x piers #Piers #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield

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necrowriter · 4 years

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monday thing: april 27th (the myriad challenges of growing)

it is the last Monday in April, warm and sunny today after a cool, wet weekend. many of the trees in the back woods were hit badly by a late, hard frost, which has made the view outside my window look oddly like early hot autumn. there are so many young green leaves gone brown and dead. the poplar tree in particular is all over brown and I worry about it. but today there is a lot of green out there glowing soft in the sun, so I will take that as a good sign.

it seems like a good day to think about gardening.

for a lot of my life I have thought of myself as having a black thumb, unable to grow anything. I kept plants in my dorm rooms all throughout college, lined up on sunny windowsills and carefully packed back and forth at the end of every semester. some of them lasted longer than others, but they all died in the end. I still remember bemoaning the loss of a mint plant to a friend and getting the incredulous response how did you kill mint?

during my last semester I had a labor position at the college greenhouses. for reasons too lengthy and bothersome to go into here, I had to stay on an extra semester in the fall and graduated in December. also for entirely different reasons too lengthy and bothersome to go into here, I was determined to not spend that semester working in the same place I'd been in for the last several semesters. the greenhouses weren't my first choice, but it was the first one that was willing to accept someone coming in new for only one semester.

bit of a misnomer, that: the 'greenhouses' were one glass greenhouse, several plastic hoop houses, and a few assorted small fields, along with a processing and packing building; a small shed-like building with a bathroom, an office, a sink and a fridge where we kept water bottles and a pitcher of gatorade; and a clearing in the woods that was home to a truly enormous amount of compost-in-progress. they grew produce and herbs, which were either sold locally or used by the college cafeteria.

working there left an impression on me, I think.

it was hard work, and I'm not a very physically sturdy kind of person. I also have no tolerance for heat, and more of that semester was hot than it wasn't; it was worst at the beginning, in late August, where I often found myself out working in the mid-90s, a temperature range I can barely abide sitting still in. even when the hottest days were past, that tail-end of summer clung on tight for a long time afterward. days warm enough to need a cold wet bandanna tied around my head popped up well into November.

it brought out a fear in me that is rarely far away: of falling behind, being lazy, not being up to the task. I was sure that I would find myself getting told off for not working hard enough, or accused of shirking. but it didn't happen.

"it is pretty hot out here," my supervisor said when I started getting sick on one of my first days on the job, out picking tomatoes with her in one of the fields. "you better go sit in the truck for a bit and drink some water. don't pass out on me."

I sat in the truck and drank some water, and did not pass out. we finished picking the tomatoes, and went back and sat outside the office-shed and drank cold gatorade. never in my life had gatorade tasted so good.

the other thing I discovered was that I liked gardening.

it seems a bit of a cliche but I was surprised to find how much satisfaction I got from watching seeds that I had planted start to sprout, or helping harvest enough butternut squash to fill up the back of the pickup truck. I worked through podcasts and audio books while weeding plots in the hoop houses or washing and boxing sweet potatoes alone in the packing house on a cold Saturday morning. I helped plant things, and water things, and pick things. it was hard sometimes, but I was able to do it.

then I graduated, packed up the houseplants from my dorm room windowsill, and went home, and watched them die.

well, I suppose a part of it's this: when you're having a hard enough time looking after yourself, it's perhaps not surprising to find yourself struggling to look after anything else as well.

sometimes it's easier. sometimes you need to look after something else; sometimes watching something else grow gives you what you just don't get from the care and keeping of your own self. but sometimes it just becomes another task on a list that already feels too long to bear.

but there have been other obstacles, and it's only in looking back now that I'm starting to piece together what they were.

so let's talk about ADHD and houseplants.

it wasn't something I knew I was dealing with while I cried over homework and watched my plants die on the windowsill in college. depression and anxiety, sure. I figured that much out well before I was ever actually diagnosed with either one. but ADHD was not a consideration at the time. sometimes I would look at a list of symptoms and think could it be...? but then I would shake my head, close the tab, and admonish myself that surely having ADHD did not look like getting straight As and showing up to all your classes on time, no matter how many anxiety spirals you went down at one in the morning.

so if I didn't realize ADHD was a problem there, you can bet I didn't realize it might have anything to do with the plants. I just kept admonishing myself over and over: come on, just remember to water them. is that really so hard? surely you can do it if you try.

when I finally got my diagnosis I started thinking: well. hm. maybe that explains something.

memory is the most obvious thing that comes to mind. remember to water them, or remember that you did water them so don't do it again now or they'll drown. remember to put this one out in the sun, and take that one away. did you repot that one like you were going to? no, you didn't, and it's been a week. have you ever fertilized any of these? lord! I'll do it when I've finished this paper. it's half past midnight. I'm going to bed.

etc.

but--like most things that have to do with ADHD, as I've been perpetually discovering the past two years--it's a bit more complicated than that.

you get a plant. you saw it at Lowe's, or Wal-Mart, or Trader Joe's, or the nursery while your mom was buying tomatoes, and you knew you probably shouldn't have, but you couldn't resist. you want to try again. you always want to try again. so now you have a plant, and you don't know much about gardening but you at least know that the tight little plastic pot it came in is probably not optimal growing conditions for anything, so you'd better do something about that.

only, you don't know what this particular plant needs and you don't have anyone on hand to ask. so you have to look it up. you google it. (if you're lucky enough to know what it is--if not, you have to find out, setting you back even further.) you find several websites with information about this plant. you open one. you stare at it. you go back and look at another one. you stare at that one for a while too. the information is not entering your brain. all of these websites seem to have slightly different information. you try to coalesce this mix of information into a series of steps you can follow and fail utterly. at this point you probably close your laptop and, now too frustrated to think about this anymore, decide you'll get back to this later.

(you probably will not.)

ADHD makes it hard to do anything that requires a series of steps. on bad days, this includes things like making lunch or taking a shower. you sit there thinking about how many different things you have to do to make a sandwich (get the bread out, get the peanut butter out, get a knife, get a plate, put the peanut butter on the bread, god, it never ends) and each step feels like its own task entirely and it's just too damn much to even think about so you sit there and scroll tumblr endlessly while getting progressively hungrier and crankier.

that difficulty increases tenfold if the steps required aren't clear to you. if you have to actually work out what they are yourself? and then go do them?

forget it!

and then--and then!--you have to retain that information. you have to remember for each plant: this is what it needs, and this is what I need to do and this is when I need to do it. the plant is not much help in this regard. the plant will not shout at you in the morning like a hungry cat, nor will it pop up a handy notification telling you when it is too dry or too wet or has had too much sun or not enough. certainly there are some indications it will give you--but you have to know how to read those, too, which brings us back to the first problem.

the amount of information you need to be able to keep in your head about a plant may not seem like very much. certainly it apparently isn't to many people, or we wouldn't have gardens in the first place. but ADHD doesn't tend to give you a choice about what knowledge you're going to be able to hold onto well enough for any of it to be useful. sometimes you can read up on something and then the moment you look away from the page, it's gone. sometimes you can take in the information, but will only be able to recall it at erratic times, which will almost never be when you actually need to do so. and sometimes you will absorb an astounding amount of information, but this will almost always be about something like Pokemon which has fairly limited applications for everyday life. if I could remember and reliably access as much information about my plants as I can about the making of the Lord of the Rings movies, I'd never be in this mess in the first place.

suffice to say, while remembering to water the dang things was a significant problem, it certainly wasn't the only one.

and that, I eventually realized, was why I could garden just fine at the college greenhouses, but couldn't seem to do so on my own. it wasn't--as I'd started to suspect--that I had some foul curse on me that killed everything I touched. I didn't radiate something that killed off any plants in my radius. and I wasn't incapable of doing the tasks required, or of understanding what those tasks were and why they were important. it was figuring it all out for myself, and then remembering it, that was getting in my way. when I showed up to work at the greenhouses, I was told what I needed to do that day, and if I didn't know how to do it, I'd be told that. and, barring the occasional problem of heat sickness or sensory overload while dumping food waste in the compost piles, I could go do the job just fine.

when I look back at that semester, I realize it didn't only teach me that I could do gardening, and get enjoyment out of it. one thing I will tell you about why I left my previous labor position: part of why I was miserable there is that I often wasn't given clear instructions--sometimes not any instructions--and thus spent a lot of time feeling miserably incompetent and behind everyone else. I'd have to choose between asking for clarification on something I seemed to be expected to know how to do, or risk doing it wrong and getting told off for it.

god bless my supervisor at the greenhouse! before giving me any new task she'd check to make sure I knew and fully understood what to do. she made it clear that I could ask questions, and if I did misunderstand something she didn't take me to task for it, just explained what I'd done wrong and how to do it right. it has become a valuable experience to have had as I am still trying to work out what I need to do things without so much pain and anguish over it.

when it comes to gardening, I don't have much in the way of answers yet. I don't know the secret key to dealing with all of these problems well enough to keep my houseplants alive and healthy. I'm still working on that. I'm sure there is an answer. I suspect it may involve a lot of writing things down, and possibly a lot of sticky notes with "WATER ME" written on them.

but I think--for all that I have tried and failed at this many times by now--

I think I'd like to try again.

so maybe I will plant some flowers this week.

and we will see what happens.

#nonfiction #monday thing #monday thing april 27

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kenkamishiro · 5 years

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Ishida’s Q&A comments from YJ compilation, Part 4

Food recs from Ishida, and remembering a disastrous date. Also it says 2013, but Issue no. 1 begins in December of the previous year because that’s how magazine dates roll.

For anyone who doesn’t know about the relevant Questions to Ishida contest, please read here. You can start from Part 1 here.

The recent set of zakki:re and interview translations take a lot of time and effort, so if you enjoyed it please leave a like or reblog. Thank you!

2013

No. 1

We’re already into December of 2012! What do you consider your most important news of the year?

Definitely when I got a comment on the volume obi from Togashi-sensei.

For me, probably finishing my series.

No. 2

When you think of December, Christmas comes to mind! What present would you be most happy to receive?

Ham.

Ham, huh.

No. 3-4

This year is almost coming to an end! What is your most memorable New Year’s Eve story?

When I went to visit the shrine on New Year’s Day and my fortune slip said I’d have excellent luck for the year.

Feels like I end up pulling for a fortune slip every year one way or another. I think this year it said I’d have average luck.

No. 5-6

Back to work starting from today! This year, what do you want to challenge yourself to do for the entire year?

Sleep early and wake up early on a regular basis.

I’ve been able to do that recently.

No. 7

What is the manga that influenced you most when you first became a mangaka (can be a novel or artwork)?

Naruto.

I think the first chapter of it is perfect.

No. 8

Exam season has now arrived! What is your most memorable story that have to do with tests?

When I ranked both first and last in the same school year.

I remember for the test I placed last on, I’d gone on a day trip to an onsen the day before.

No. 9

Time to job hunt at full speed! It’s fine if you only want to do it for a day, so what job would you like to do?

I’d like to try making games.

I wouldn’t even last a day.

No. 10

Valentine’s Day is coming up soon! Where is a date spot that is a part of your memories?

The seafood corner in the supermarket.

I was dumped after that.

No. 11

What’s your favourite song that fills you up with strength even when you’re tired?

“Shine on June’s Sky” by People In The Box.

It hasn’t changed, I still listen to it.

[T/N: If you want to listen to it it’s on the 2nd CD of the TG Sound Chronicle, titled 六月の空を照らす.]

No. 12

The Academy Awards are taking place soon! Do you have a movie you want to recommend everyone should watch?

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

This year I thought “The Greatest Showman” was interesting.

No. 13

Who is a great historical figure you want to talk to until morning?

The 6th generation Sanyuutei Enshou.

I think I’d get along with Nobunaga.

[T/N: The 6th generation of rakugo masters. Nobunaga referring to Oda Nobunaga.]

No. 14

Spring is when animals wake up from hibernation! What pet do you want to raise? (or the pet you’re keeping now)

A turtle, hedgehog or a pig.

I don’t wait to raise a pet.

No. 15

Who is your eternal idol? (male or female okay)

Darth Maul.

Nemu-kyun.

[T/N: Nemu-kyun is from Ishida’s favourite idol group Dempagumi.inc. who he’s drawn on more than one occasion.]

No. 16

Today is Ransel Day! What were you most passionate about playing when you were in elementary school?

Pokemon.

I wrote stuff about the game in my notebook. By myself.

[T/N: A ransel is that stiff-looking backpack that little kids wear to school.]

No. 17

Which person would you want to trade places with, even if it was just for one day?

A student, doesn’t matter who.

I know the feel.

No. 18

Tis the season for starting a new life! What city would you like to try living in once?

Kyoto.

New York City.

No. 19

Which real-life celebrity would you like to draw an illustration of?

Himura-san of Bananaman.

I’d love to draw him.

No. 20

What day is special only to you?

I’m excited on the days when the chapters are released!

So pure.

No. 21-22

What part of your body would you like to remodel?

I want to augment my arms as much as possible. Thank you for your hard work Nakayama-sensei!

I want to fix my nose (I have rhinitis).

[T/N: Referring to Nakayama Atsushi, the mangaka of Uratarou and Nejimaki Kagyuu.]

No. 23

Mother’s Day is coming up soon! What reminds you of your mother’s homemade food?

A long time ago, she made me so many meatballs that I ended up hating it for a while.

When she found out I liked yakitori, I was almost served that to death.

No. 24

Do you have any museums or art museums that you’d like to visit or recommend?

I recommend the Ghibli Museum.

I’m not really interested in art museums.

No. 25

What do you personally think is the most delicious confection you’ve ever had?

Bavarian cream.

Ah, Bavarian cream really is good. I wanna eat some now.

No. 26

The rainy season is fast approaching! What do you recommend spending your time doing on a rainy day off?

Reading.

Training at the gym.

No. 27

What’s a local dish you still remember?

Hakata ramen.

I was definitely just giving out a random answer.

previous || next

#Tokyo Ghoul #zakki:re #Ishida Sui #Ishida Q&A #Translations #my translations #i wanna try bavarian cream now #i don't think i ever had any while i was in germany T^T #though i never stayed in the bavarian region #maybe frankfurt would've had some

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sepublic · 6 years

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2018 in review...

What a year. I’m honestly baffled at how... LONG and eventful 2018 was. People really aren’t joking when they say it felt like forever.

And I can see why, with all of the many, many things that happened. Many, major things. So to celebrate the end of 2018, which I consider to be one of the better years of my life... I really just want to review, in as close to chronological order, all of the major things I remembered and enjoyed;

There was me wrapping up Pokemon Ultra Moon.

I also began to finish Super Mario Odyssey, as well as Mario Kart for the Switch.

I watched the Greatest Showman, which was amazing.

There were the memes, of course. Ugandan Knuckles, Tide Pod challenge, Spaghet...

I began writing a personal, original story of mine and felt for the first time in a long while the simple joy of writing and the imagination that comes with it...

I tried Super Chix for the first time.

Shortly after I got my braces, which was genuinely painful.

Black Panther came out and was a MASSIVE success as the ninth highest grossing film of all time.

I watched my first new season of Voltron, Season 5. I’d also like to point out that the latter half of the entire show aired this year. All of it, from Lotor to Sendak to Adam’s rushed death to the disappointing finale. Yet I still enjoyed the show, by the end of the day.

The first Aru Shah book came out and I enjoyed that immensely.

Kirby Star Allies has its initial release, as well as the release of its DLC, this year. A VERY satisfying game with plenty of new lore for the series, as well as certain characters returning and being playable.

I got introduced due to Heathers the Musical, and later got interested in Hamilton and Wicked.

Infinity War, my most anticipated film of ALL time. I legit bought reserved seating for it ASAP upon the release of the second trailer. The film was amazing and somehow exceeded my wildest expectations... and then there’s the cultural impact, from the memes, the quotes, the mutual tragedy, all of it. Cinema history.

Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze was released. RIP

I achieved a personal fitness record by jogging for about an hour and a half, my longest time yet- and I continued to do that every once in a while.

There was the many, many Steven bombs... we got Emerald, a Lapis Lazuli song, and of course the Pink Diamond reveal... THAT messed me up. Then the aftermath, including the return of Bismuth, the Diamond attack, Nephrite, as well as White Diamond and her pearl.

I rekindled my interest in Bionicle, and went back to doing drawings and creating lore for a hypothetical rewrite of G2.

There was the beauty that was Ninjago: Sons of Garmadon, as well as Harumi. Up there with Tournament of Elements as the best seasons of all. Harumi is one of my favorite characters now, as is Faith.

I saw the trailer for Hazbin Hotel and got hooked onto the series, and have since followed its numerous updates, including clips of the show.

I got reinterested in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and completed it after years in my ownership. Then I got Explorers of Time, but I’ve dropped that. I’ll finish it next year.

Solo: A Stars Wars story was surprisingly enjoyable and inspired me creatively.

I went to Florida again and had a great time at Crab Island. I revisited New York a second time, and I’m still surprised by how much I enjoy just the atmosphere of being there.

There was E3, with all of the game announcements. Me following up excitedly on Smash Bros Ultimate, the directs, the character reveals, the memes... and of course me playing the game on release day.

I’m still hyped for the Resident Evil 2 remake.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom came out with the Indoraptor, one of my favorite monsters of all time now. There was also Incredibles 2, something we’ve waited for for over a decade. And after that, Ant Man and the Wasp.

I got interested in the Metroid Series, and have played Fusion, Zero Mission, and Samus Returns. I have yet to give Super Metroid or the Prime series a try.

Speaking of games, I enjoyed Warioware Gold. I also got my aunt’s old NES and some classic cakes like Mario and Zelda.

I read Poisonwood Bible. I dressed up as something different for Halloween for the first time in years- A Plague Doctor.

There was also a lot of depressing deaths... Stefan Karl Steffanson. Stephen Hawking, Stan Lee, Stephen Hillenburg. All of their names started with ST and I will continue to cherish all of them.

I also discovered Tumblr for the first time and have since been riding the highs and lows of this hellhole. I’ve made posts and a few have gone past 100 notes, which is neat.

I worked on my drawing skills and did a personal major accomplishment on a piece.

I watched Venom and enjoyed it WAY more than I ever expected myself to. Like, WAY more.

The Castlevania Netflix series had its second season, and I began and finished both seasons in a day.

Speaking of Netflix, Hilda was amazing, as well as She-Ra, and Dragon Prince.

Thanksgiving Break, I watched both Fantastic Beasts movies back-to-back, first at home and then in the cinema.

I went Black Friday shopping for the first time ever.

All of the splendid movies that came out in December, including Into the Spiderverse, Bumblebee, and Aqua Man- another film I enjoyed a lot more than I did. Not as much as Venom, but still.

For Christmas, I had SEVERAL back-to-back feasts, lunches and dinners, eating out and/or eating big at someone else’s home, or my home. I really need to burn off the fat.

I got a Zoku Slush maker and experimented with that with varying degrees of success.

AAAAND that’s about it. I watched the New Year’s countdown for New York, like every year, with my family.

It’s been quite a wild ride, and one of the craziest years I’ve ever experienced. And yet, looking back...

I wouldn’t change a thing.

Happy New Years, everyone. Goodbye to a beloved 2018, and hello to new hopes for 2019!

#new years eve #new years greetings #new years day #2018 #2019 #nostalgia #year in review

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superaus10 · 7 years

Text

24 months: December

First of all, thanks to @bills-pokedex, @shadowshrike, @melohax and @littletoughpuff for making this AU possible. Enjoy! ---

En la puerta del Sol, como el año que fue

Seriously, Xander didn’t knew what was wrong with him. It was the second time they celebrated New Year’s Eve in that hotel and he was being late again. He just hoped it wouldn’t become a tradition, as surely Odin, no, Owain, would say. And everything because he couldn’t find his watch. The one he got at Christmas from Ángel, he still needed to improve his pronunciation, and Celine decided that it was shiny enough to take it as a treasure. And then it was getting Celine in the transport. How much he wished for get Celine there like Angel’s Midori in her pokeball. But of course, he always had to dance with the ugliest.

Finally, he reached the Tide Song Hotel and Celine wasn’t so bothered. But of course everyone were there already, including his little sister, Elise. When Laslow, Íñigo, tried to explain him how parallel realms worked and how many different versions of one self could exist, he just got a big headache and decided that it didn’t matter in the end, his family was his family even from other realms.

-There you are big brother! The others are in the dinner hall by now! -exclaimed Elise from the reception, ready to throw herself into his arms. He grab her and give her a spin in his arms. By the Dusk Dragon, how much he missed those moments two years ago. When everything ended, when everything started.

otra vez el champagne y las uvas y el alquitrán, de alfombra están. Los petardos que borran sonidos de ayer y acaloran el ánimo para aceptar que ya, pasó uno más.

After leaving Celine and the birthday present, trying to get Elise not to squeal and disturb it. They went to the dining hall.

-By the way Xander… There is someone in the table that I haven’t met before

-Really? Who is it? -he asked, not expecting anyone except some friends and the Reyes family.

-I don’t know, but he is very cute with his black eyes and green hair and…

-Uncle Xander!

-Huh? -he turned his head to the voice’s direction. He felt tears on his eyes -Jordan! Wha-What are you doing here?

The teenager run towards him and they hugged each other. Xander could hear the kid trying no to cry. He wasn’t in a different situation.

-I missed you a lot Xander

-Me too, little sprout. But tell me, what are doing here?

-Oh! Don’t worry about it! Ms. Schiller allowed me to come and I’ve been in the hotel since noon with Mr. Reyes

-You should have told me, Jordan -he scolded, patting his shoulder.

-But then it wouldn’t be a surprise! Ángel and I were preparing these since November

Xander eyed the table, looking for the accomplice, but his frown couldn’t last too long after seeing them.

He was beautiful tonight, wearing an elegant beige robe, with long sleeves and embroidered with chrysanthemums, roses, peonies and other flowers Xander couldn’t recognize with different colours and shapes. He also had an decorated obi, which rested at his chest, with a decorative, bow at the end. The light brown bangs were styled a bit at his side, with a big peony working as a hair clip, the usual pixie cut was neatly styled too, in contrast of its usual way. He wore a bit of makeup too, so his eye bags weren’t noticeable, and a sharp brown eyeliner. Most of their friends complained that Ángel was wasting his talent to make a winged eyeliner with such simple forms, but he couldn’t care less. He was beautiful with or without makeup.

-Hey! What’s up Xander? Did you went to the moon or what? -said the other holding a laugh. Xander couldn’t help but sigh at the light tease, but decided to play a bit more.

-I’m sorry, but I was admired at how much do you look like my boyfriend, though he usually has eyebags for working at night.

The other couldn’t help but laugh. -Oh really? Well maybe can you tell me why is Nohr’s sky cloudy tonight? I can’t see the stars -that was really smooth even coming from him, and Xander hoped the concealer hid his blush as it hid his freckles when he kissed the other. He wouldn’t stand another compliment like dad or he would melt. The other guests rolled their eyes at the scene.

-But seriously Ángel, you look wonderful tonight

-It’s all Gabriel’s fault. He was so heartbroken I had to work on Christmas so I couldn’t go to Mexico that he got a Johtonian Kimono as a present. An actual Johtonian Kimono! Do you know how expensive is this? I’m going to get married with this for The Guardians’ sake

At the mention of marriage, Xander suppressed a shiver.

Y en el reloj de antaño como de año en año cinco minutos más para la cuenta atrás. hacemos el balance de lo bueno y malo cinco minutos antes de la cuenta atrás.

After greeting everyone, he sat in front of Ángel, because both Elise and Jordan wanted to be with him. Jordan told him everything he did in Japan after they arrested the former director of his orphanage, and how he passed last year’s subjects with a notable. It wasn’t like Xander didn’t knew already, he was always in touch with the teenager since he found him by himself, but he was so proud of that green haired teen. Xander told them different tales of his work at Aether Foundation, winning the table’s laughs and Ángel’s ever loving look. It was so hard for him to not just lose himself in those sharp, violet eyes and loving smile.

Marineros, soldados, solteros, casados, amantes, andantes y alguno que otro cura despistao. entre gritos y pitos los españolitos enormes, bajitos hacemos por una vez, algo a la vez.

And there they were, eating together and remembering this past year’s events, hearing Owain’s jokes, Íñigo’s travels stories, Lucio and Angel’s experiences at the hospital, Elise’s Island Challenge, she nearly defeated Alolan Champion! And so on. It was so nice to see everyone enjoying an evening together. It was surprising how many different people could be there, in peace. So different from anything he was used to live.

Y en el reloj de antaño como de año en año cinco minutos más para la cuenta atrás. hacemos el balance de lo bueno y malo cinco minutos antes de la cuenta atrás.

They finished the delicious menu the hotel served them, and they left to the room, better said hall, they rented for the night, where Ángel’s birthday presents waited for him. It wasn’t his real birthday, he didn’t remember it, but it was the day when Gabriel found him, and he decided to adopt that date as his birthday, or as Jordan proposed to called it, rebirthday. That kid was a ball of sunshine, and he and Elise rapidly became friends. Even Elise’s Eevee, Michaela, liked him.

They entered the hall, beautifully decorated for a Christmas party. There was a counter where they could get drinks, a sound mixer, he could see Lucio’s eyes lighting up, some sofas and coffee tables for those who wouldn’t want to dance, and a big Christmas tree where the presents were placed underneath.

-Oh my-! There are so much presents! What were you thinking when you bought me these!-he breathed, putting his hands on his face in embarrassment.

-You deserve every single one of them, little angel -his tutor interrupted. -So please, don’t be ashamed and open them before this year ends

All laughed, including the birthday boy. Lucio got the idea to sit Ángel, even though he was already sat on his wheelchair, in the center on the room and each one giving him their present, as it wasn’t enough embarrassment for the poor man. Xander wanted to be the last, and so everybody gave their gifts: a shiny bracelet Íñigo bought in Kalos, a grooming set from Severa, one of the limited editions of “The Silmarillion” Owain knew he would love, a new set of wheelchair modifications from Lucio, they were deep purple and green, and a silver pendant from Gabriel, Ángel said that the kimono and the pendant was too much but Gabriel dissed him saying he bought it for Christmas, before de kimono. When it was Xander’s turn, he box began to move, surprising everyone but Elise and Gabriel.

-Well, you know. I know you and the girls -Xander began signaling Midori, Ángel’s phantump, and Sweetie, Gabriel’s Mimikyu. They were properly dressed for the occasion. -were heartbroken after you couldn’t keep the sneasel you found. And you have recently made a friend in Aether Foundation. And since that little rascal wouldn’t want to go back in the wild…

-Xander, what did you? -Ángel asked, seeing three holes at the box said, opening it. Inside, an Alolan vulpix looked at Kaze with its wide eyes partially hidden by a hood. When the tiny pokemon recognized him, it jumped at him, howling in excitement. Ángel petted the little creature’s soft hair, in awe.

-Xander, why? It’s so small, I don’t know I can take care of it properly

-I know you can, Ángel. And it likes you more than any other trainer. And I’m the one watching over it every day at the Foundation! So please, let it be with you

Ángel watched Xander, then Sweetie, Midori and finally the vulpix. All of them wore that abandoned puppy look. He then looked at Gabriel, who instead had a knowing smile. Ángel was sure his tutor had something to do with all of this.

-You are a troublemaker Xander -he sighed, but with a smile underneath- don’t worry little thing, you’re coming with me tonight! -he laughed, lifting her. The room broke in applauses and hails while the tiny vulpix curled itself in Ángel’s lap. He would have to clean the kimono after, but he didn’t care.

Y aunque para las uvas hay algunos nuevos a los que ya no están le echaremos de menos y a ver si espabilamos los que estamos vivos y en el año que viene nos reímos. 1, 2, 3 y 4 y empieza otra vez que la quinta es la una y la sexta es la dos y así el siete es tres. Y decimos adiós y pedimos a dios que en el año que viene, a ver si en vez de un millón pueden ser dos.

After all the presents were given, the moved to the balcony. Severa and Owain prepared the champagne and non alcoholic drinks for the kids and Íñigo brought some party poppers and blowers. Lucio took photos of all of them. And in the balcony they were waiting and counting for the new year.

10!

All the pokemon stopped playing and came to the balcony.

Neither Jordan nor Elise could hide their excitement, and began to bounce.

The atmosphere was tense with the anticipation.

Xander looked at Ángel, which smiled at him.

Even at that moment, he couldn’t get past of how beautiful the other’s eyes were.

So full of determination and strength. So familiar…

Just like his.

It didn’t mattered how much time it passed, he seemed always stuck in the past.

But he was living a new life now. And how much grateful he was

Happy New Year everyone!

The fireworks began, and both Íñigo and Owain used the party poppers, filling the air with confetti. Xander bend down and kissed Ángel.

He couldn��t believe how much his life changed in the short span of two years. He still remembered how it began, very far away from there, when he actually had the duties of a Crown Prince on his shoulders.

En la puerta del sol como el año que fue otra vez el champagne y las uvas y el alquitrán, de alfombra están.

#xander #elise #odin #laslow #severa #kaze #gabriel reyes #lucio correia dos santos #midorikawa ryuuji #phantump #mimikkyu #alolan vulpix #eevee #fire emblem fates #overwatch #inazuma eleven #pokemon

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halcyonkrp · 7 years

Photo

WHO’S THAT TRAINER ?

coming from seoul, south korea and settling into the haeundae district here in busan as a model and pokemon researcher, he’s not participating in league! but don’t underestimate him, can you guess who he is?

IT’S BAE DOHYUN !

ADDITIONAL POKEMON

empoleon, sceptile, blissey, tyranitar, dragonite, kadabra, umbreon, espeon, litten

POKEDEX ENTRY

tw: car accident, death.

april 1999. he stares up at his family’s portrait hung on the wall, a box in his hands as several people move behind him hauling heavier boxes with more objects. the box he holds just contains his growlithe’s necessities, which weren’t much since his bed had already been taken. the young boy can’t help but wonder what would become of his life now as he was forced to live with his aunt and uncle in favor of not living out in the country with his farming grandparents.

he doesn’t want to leave home.

he’s tempted to glue himself to his home so he’ll never have to leave.

why did his parents have to leave him?

it was not their choice, and if they were given one they would still be here, taking care of their little boy. fate was not their friend, however, as they had been caught in a four-car collision that had taken both of their lives. their son, however, was not given the details. he was just told that his parents would be gone for awhile. you’ll know more when you’re older, they tell him, it’s better for you that way.

oh how he wishes he was older now.

he feels something soft beside him as he continues staring at the photo, but he doesn’t need to see to know exactly who it is. the growlithe barks for his attention, but he doesn’t to take his eyes off of the portrait. he’s scared he’ll forget their faces.

“do you think they’ll come back?”

“what are you still doing here?” another voice asks him. it’s his aunt, a trained gym leader in seoul. her eyes travel to the large, painted portrait, a small smile on her face. “you were supposed to be in the car ten minutes ago.”

“i just wanted to say goodbye.”

he doesn’t expect her to laugh, so he can’t help but pout when she does. he watches with curiosity as she reaches for the painting, before taking it off the wall and taking growlithe’s things before giving the painting to him with a smile.

“take them with you.”

may 2003. living in seoul is not too bad. he gets along with his cousins well and his aunt and uncle treat him like one of their own. he is loved and he is cared for, he is mostly smiling whenever he was playing in their home and loves spending time with the family.

today is not one of those days.

his uncle had come home not too long ago, a solemn look of his own as he approached the younger boy. he had led him back to his bedroom and sat him down, the same look he had given dohyun when he had to tell him that his parents were gone. the older man held out two pokéballs, a regular pokéball and an ultra ball.

“they’re all that’s left, they were your parents’ pokémon. please take care of them well.”

two pokémon? everyone knew they had more than two. they they both had five on them at all times. he couldn’t help but give him an incredulous look; his uncle knew he couldn’t ignore it. he told him everything about the crash, how his parents had passed away, how they were buried back in incheon and not seoul.

“your family’s survivors from the crash.”

he didn’t need to hear more.

he was scared to release the pokémon. he was familiar with his parents’ pokémon, but he didn’t know them well. what if they don’t like him? what if they want to leave? do they know what happened? the spheres shone in the sunlight, as if they were new— where had they been all this time?

he presses the buttons on both when he gets to the backyard.

his mother’s chansey.

his father’s aurorus.

they looked so happy to see him.

he couldn’t help but start crying again.

june 2005. “why are you crying?”

“i let him go.”

his aunt gave him a look— she didn’t understand. she only knew when he held out five pokéballs, a sixth pokéball ( the very different ultra ball ) missing from the group. they had travelled up north for a few days as a break from the city life that consumed them so much.

“aurorus is happier now, don’t you think?” he doesn’t answer, and continues crying. “your father would be proud of you.”

that’s when he looks up. tears stain his cheeks and his eyes are red, a frown in the place of a smile that was always so bright. his uncle told her he’d be inconsolable for awhile, but he seemed to be calming down at the thought his parents may just be happy with his decision. dohyun really loved aurorus— he was his father’s partner.

“you will see him again one day, i promise.”

the boy can’t help but think she’s lying— no one comes back for him.

march 2006. he’s been wandering in circles with his piplup for awhile. they were playing hide and seek with his friends and family, and they thought it’d be a good idea to hide deep in the park. what they didn’t account for was that since this was a national park, there’d be no fences or direction signs anywhere unless they were by a path— which they were absolutely not.

he regrets leaving his sick growlithe at home now; piplup is just as scared as he is. it’s getting dark and they’re unsure of what to do. dohyun is pretty certain that someone is following them too, but they disappear out of sight as soon as he turns around.

piplup is tired, and he knows this. they stop by a big tree, and he places the small pokémon in his backpack before he starts climbing the tree. “we’ll rest here for the night until someone finds us.” he pauses, settling the backpack in between his legs once he’s seated. “it’s safer up here than it is down there.”

they fall asleep a couple minutes later, but his rest doesn’t last very long before a high pitched chirping is sounding by his face. except, it’s not a bird, but a small onion-looking pokémon. it looks awfully happy, almost like it’s relieved.

before he could say anything, piplup is out of the bag and chirping louder, almost like he’s yelling. “time to sleep,” and he succumbs to slumber once again.

the next morning he’s awoken by a rock being thrown at his head. his cousins are below him and so is a crying piplup ( he happened to fall out of the tree ). he quickly climbs down himself, hugging his family and thanking them for finding him as he begins to cry.

what he doesn’t realize is that there’s a hitchhiker in his bag, who is sleeping soundly and quietly with no one noticing a thing.

september 2008. turns out the hitchhiker’s name was celebi, and while growlithe was by almost every moment of the day, the small pokémon was doing its best to do the same. the young pokémon remained a secret for awhile, but eventually he grew tired of carrying around celebi in his bag and naturally let it slip.

his family didn’t mind, but they told him to always be careful with it. it’s a mythical pokémon, they told him. looking at celebi now, he regarded it as one of his best friends.

surprisingly, celebi liked training with him and his other pokémon. he had his eyes set on the league since his cousin had finally taken over for his aunt as a gym leader and had been endlessly teasing him— not that he’d like to use celebi in the league at all, but it seemed to like learning about its power as well.

this definitely included unexpected time travelling at the worst times.

dohyun began researching about celebi, and found out there were probably dozens, hundreds of different celebi from different timelines. he managed to befriend one, and had gotten it in a luxury ball gifted to him by his uncle a couple days after celebi was revealed to his family. ( it doesn’t use its pokéball very often unless it’s scared— dohyun doesn’t watch horror movies anymore. )

“try again!” he cheers on both lairon and celebi, who were going at each other for awhile now. even if celebi can’t compete in the league with him, it’ll be with him during the entire journey.

december 2010. his birthday was a month away, but his excitement to compete in the league was out of this world. with the help of his aunt and his “ace trainer” cousins, he’s been working on his goal of challenging the league for months now and feels confident enough in both himself and his pokémon.

he really doesn’t feel nervous at all, trusting his team wholeheartedly. his cousins tell him it’s just wishful thinking, and for awhile he thought he was being too optimistic.

dohyun wanted to be a son, a champion, that his parents would be proud of. his father had dreamt of challenging the league when he was younger, and his mother did actually compete for a couple of years, just collecting all eight badges of each league. they told him stories when he was younger; he remembered them well.

he wants to continue their dreams.

this is no longer his and his pokémon’s challenge, it’s his parents’ too.

( his mother’s chansey, now a blissey, will make her proud for sure. )

july 2011. “congratulations to bae dohyun, south korea’s new national champion!”

it feels surreal. he doesn’t believe it even when he’s crowned the champion after the final pokémon battle. it’s even more unbelievable since he still had two pokémon still capable of battling in their pokéballs. his smile is so wide, happiness overflowing from not only him but his team as well.

is this real life?

he only begins crying out of proudness when he’s by himself, in his new home just a good thirty minutes away from his aunt and uncle. he made it not for himself, but for his parents too. the champion title would not be his had he not been finding the will to continue for them as well.

this was a win for his entire family.

the newfound attention is weird, and it’s something he isn’t very comfortable with in the beginning. he has to keep celebi a secret again ( scared for its safety now that there were more eyes on him ), and he had to watch everything he did. he had been offered different deals that would boost his popularity, which was all so overwhelming in the beginning.

he wasn’t cut out for it, but he’s willing to learn.

this is his new life now.

august 2014. he’s able to defend his title for the next two years, but a team change had to be made last minute due to an unforeseen injury that just couldn’t heal any quicker. it threw his entire team off balance, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have his head held high when someone knew was crowned.

he knew this moment was coming and had feared it for a while, but nearing last battle he felt more content knowing he had tried his best despite the circumstances.

he was still seoul’s elite.

it’s still a big deal, but he’s glad the cameras shift elsewhere. he could finish his last year of university without as many offers as before. he still sees his face on some posters and billboards, but people are less invasive— the public knows him well enough already.

he feels more content, more free even if it’s not by much.

it’s something new he’s excited for.

october 2016. “bae dohyun steps down from elite position ahead of the elite four battle!”

unsurprisingly, the title went to the person who has almost beaten him. it wasn’t his plan to leave the league in the middle of a big tournament, but it was better to do it now than announce his leave later when the league was over.

it wasn’t that he was unhappy; he loved being a public figure young kids could look up to. it was fun doing all these things that would make other people satisfied, but after a couple of years he’s just gotten a little tired. if given the chance, he knows he’d always compete again one day, but even he doesn’t believe it’ll happen. he is satisfied knowing he’s allowed to live freely, doing what he wants when he wants.

he’s always wished he could somehow make himself disappear.

and disappear is just what he did.

currently. he returned to south korea in november, and headed to busan for a new start. he got himself a nice penthouse that overlooked the water, a place where he can relax and do what he likes.

when his aunt asked what exactly he was doing now, they were surprised to find out he’s a pokémon researcher studying pokémon development in the wild ( in the past & present— thanks to celebi ), while also unsurprised that he had also been hired as a model once again, this time in the city of busan. his aunt always tells him that he should come back home and relax, not work for a couple more years.

what good would come out of staying home and doing nothing? would his parentswouldn’t be proud of that?

he is exactly where he wants to be.

#hc.entry #hc.byun baekhyun #tw.death mention #tw.car crash mention

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cosmosogler · 8 years

Text

i was trying to meditate to help myself fall asleep last night. but thoughts kept coming up and i was stuck between trying to remember them so i could write them down later and letting them go so i could sleep. i ended up doing NEITHER!!!

yesterday i took wiley for a walk and played outside with the dogs and my brother for a little while. it was impossible to sleep last night though, and it took me like 2 hours to fall asleep (so i didn’t doze off until after 3), and then i woke up again around 6 and couldn’t fall back asleep. i know it was around 6 because as i was laying there trying to fall back asleep my mom came upstairs to wake my brother up to get ready for school. i was exhausted by the time my alarm went off four hours later so i napped a bit.

i was trying to do the mindfulness stuff, like focusing on my breathing. i wasn’t thinking TOO hard. i remember wondering if i should let thoughts go as they come up, or let them finish and then let them go. and then i was struck by the oddity of the process of thinking. i knew what the end of my thought would be before i got to it in “words.” but i was unable to stop thinking it until i wordlessly reached the end of the “sentence.” i wonder if that’s what really keeps my thoughts from going as fast as i’d like- stopping to put them into words instead of just letting the process go until it reaches a satisfying conclusion. but i wouldn’t know it had reached a conclusion unless i stopped to put the thought into words. i wonder if animals think faster because they don’t use words. do birds think in song? do dolphins think in squeals?

i am regrettably flagging in my efforts to socialize even a little bit. i said maybe a sentence today. i only left my room for about 20 minutes total. and i didn’t message anyone. i parked at my desk and read tv tropes for hours and hours. i’m kind of, sort of considering what my next move should be toward writing up some new drafts of my stories, or at the very least filling in some missing scenes and character motivations and logical strangeness in my comic script. i actually came up with a really good reason for the climax of the comic to go the way it does, which i did not have previously. just gotta... add some stuff in so it doesn’t look like a total ass pull.

maybe i almost feel ready to start liking my characters again. i don’t know if i’m really there yet, but i could see myself getting there. i still don’t want to draw or write. that’s a problem. i noticed i feel like i have a little more energy/motivation to do literally anything if i do actually get some exercise during the day. so i’ll take the dog out around the neighborhood again tomorrow. i feel bad having to leave eve and diogi behind though, since diogi can’t even get to the park and back any more without running out of steam. she gets so upset if i don’t take her though...

my therapist gave me a thought journal i still haven’t started writing in. it’s one of those cbt things where you, like, figure out a harmful thought, write it down, and challenge it with the power of logic and write down how you feel after creating the new thought. but i can’t seem to disentangle specific negative thoughts from general malaise.

i also didn’t compose the letter to my grad schools. nor did i start training for the pokemon competition. sign ups start on the 9th, so i have a little time... i don’t know why i haven’t started that. it’s not hard. it’s not even unenjoyable. it’s exactly the kind of more or less mindless chore that should be perfect for the level of effort i’m able to give right now. i already made the charts and spreadsheets and wrote down all the information i needed from the computer back in like december. i could go sit outside and do it with my notebook on my lap. actually that sounds like a good idea and i should try that tomorrow morning.

i dunno. i am... profoundly sad. i’m so sad i don’t even feel it any more.

this would be so much easier if i could just blame it all on one thing. like my closest friend dumping me like hot garbage with no warning. i mean yeah, that really bummed me out, but i started feeling sick before all that. it’s been two and a half months. i’m starting to think i’ll never feel better.

my mom keeps encouraging me to look for an outpatient clinic in the city. i couldn’t find one i’d feel safe at when i spent a couple hours clicking around the insurance list last week. she says i “need to get this solved.” i keep wanting to say, like... you can’t solve depression. that’s not how depression works. i don’t think that’s what she wants to hear though. also i don’t think that will actually help or change anything. she would say i’m obviously not trying hard enough, and if i just TRIED HARDER i wouldn’t feel so bad and sick all the time. and i don’t think that would be helpful for me to hear. so i don’t correct her.

i wanted to ask my therapist what she thought about meeting more often, or where i could go to see someone more often, when i saw her on friday but she kind of steamrolled over me. i didn’t get to talk about my nightmares either. it’s just, there’s only so much i can talk about and work on in an hour, and i just don’t have enough time to get through everything that i’ve been feeling in that amount of time once a week. even if it was just twice a week that would be so much better. i understand that i need to prioritize when i share my feelings with a therapist, but there’s just... an overwhelming amount of material to sort through. there’s no possible way to get to everything i feel is important to talk about right then, let alone everything i WANT to talk about.

and when she says stuff like “but the earth is sentient” it kind of blindsides me and i lose my train of thought because i stop to remind myself that that’s not how reality works as i understand it, and i shouldn’t believe everything someone tells me just because they’re a therapist. i have to stop to address that internally every single time because i don’t want to believe that. yes there is something strange going on with synergy and life and consciousness as concepts but having mass and chemical reactions doesn’t make everything sentient. if “planet earth” is sentient, are individual pebbles sentient? dust grains? individual atoms? where is the line? what even is consciousness? when and why does a collection of tons of cells start thinking “i” instead of “we”? when does a collection of cells even START thinking? what about the solar system as a whole, since planet earth is just part of a system itself? is the galaxy as an entity sentient? where is the line. even a fuzzy line still implies a distinction.

i got sidetracked again. as much as one can get sidetracked on a stream of thought glorified diary entry. i sure hope you wanted to read about cosmic consciousness, because that’s what ended up happening. man even i don’t want to read all the bullcrap i just spouted into the last 12 paragraphs. i mean, i read over my journal entries anyway, when i want to collect my thoughts and figure out what i should talk about in therapy that week, but i’m sorry for dragging you through this nonsense too if you got this far. i’m sorry.

it’s just very difficult to capture the exact nature of a thought in only words. even moreso for dreams, since they are somehow even more abstract and detailed and littered with fragments of emotion and knowledge and association that don’t make sense any more when you give words to them. words aren’t FLUID the way thoughts are. even writing down this garbage somehow makes it... less than what it was in my head. this applies to trying to write stories too. but looking over the journal entries i can sometimes remember exactly what i was thinking about and feeling from looking at the words, even though i know no one outside of me can ever get those exact feelings even looking at the same words. it’s weird, but... sharing them makes it feel more real than just keeping them in a word document. like someone else might care even a little bit. and that makes the lack of privacy and full coherency sort of, in a way, worth it.

#depression #s u p e r d e p r e s s i o n #do you like navelgazing because i aim to deliver

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laureviewer · 8 years

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My Year in Pictures: 2016

Having realised I posted so little last year, it’s time to get back into it with a lovely little memory post - my year in pictures, once more!

So in January we had just got back from travelling and had Christmas back in England, so really very little happened as we were very tired and broke and searching for jobs. But we saw our lovely friends who we’d missed loads over the last four months - I will always be grateful for those who stick around for us to come back to.

Gacy? Storge?

In February, we did what we do every year - make sure we don’t go out on Valentine’s Day because of the ridiculous prices and busy-ness, and went out for dinner for an anti-Valentine’s instead. 2 for 1 cocktails are fun when one of you has to drive ;)

George, Stacey, James and I (AKA Universally Challenged) lost at the pub quiz in the Comrades Club, though we really won as coming dead last means you get FOOD.

Tash, Beth and I also met up for Beth’s birthday, when we went to Soton for the ultimate student night in Jester’s - that student club where you have to wear old shoes because God knows what crap you’re going to get from the sticky floors in there.

In March, I took THE PLUNGE. One I had been wanting to take for years. I got a tattoo!! My little Mantine is on my left thigh, happily swimming around like the manta rays we swim with in Fiji on our round-the-world trip (though he is a little smaller than the ones we met). It was sore but not as bad as I thought… though doing it on your ribs like I thought I wanted originally might be a different story. This is a photo of it on the day:

And how could George, Stacey, James and I pass up a Misugo’s and Creams?

God knows what we did in April, other than watching Eurovision with Alec… where a face swap meant that a celebrity turned up out of the blue!

In fact, April (or really March 30th) saw me start my new job with the Haulfryn Group as a Marketing Executive, where I still am today.

In May, Beth came up to see me, and we took a lovely summery walk around Virginia Water Lake.

Then James and I made sure we went to Comicon in London, where we finally got to meet our idols, the Yogscast & Hat Films! They really were lovely, especially their man man Lewis, who made sure to talk to us for ages despite the hours-long queue behind us!

In June, Stef and I showed our mutual love/obsession with sushi by having a sushi-making session (though I may have got a bit tipsy and got impatient with all the fiddly rolling!).

For those of you who remember (or care) the Queen turned 90 in June, so at work we had a ‘dress like a royal’ day. I won and my fellow Marketer/graphic designer Hannah (AKA Kate Middleton) came second!

July marks the second half of the year, and also when my year started to pick up. That always seems to be the case with me - I do so much more exciting things in the second half! Though nothing could top my 4 months travelling, I’m sure.

James and I took advantage of my company being the owner of holiday parks throughout the UK and took a trip down to Paignton, Devon, to stay in a luxury lodge, relax, and see his lovely cousins who live down there. We even had a hot tub!!

We also finally met his cousins’ hairless kitties, who are actually gorgeous and not weird like so many people think about hairless cats. They were so friendly, though it is a bit weird stroking something without any fur! The female with a little bit of fur is named Lumi, and the completely bald male is Kuro (photo credit to Elise Preston for the latter).

Those eyes though.

James and I also took advantage of the lovely scenery around us and the hot Summery days to play Pokemon Go, as it had only just come out then!

I was also reunited with my uni girls again in Shoredich (2 out of 3 of them) and we had a lovely time, eating delicious street food and catching up (dat oversized bag wow)!

My nephew also turned 1 on the 16th of July, so my sister had a birthday party for him.

In August I saw the girls (and Freddy!) again at a Hong Kong Drinking Team gig in London; perfect location for all of us to meet up!

I also took time off work to spend time with my little sister Harriet at the beach…

…had more sushi and plum wine with Stef at Mikado’s…

…and saw the girls (all of them this time) again in London!)

Also in August, James and I took a day trip into London to take advantage of Harriet’s Merlin pass!

We had crocodile and ostrich burgers at Shaka Zulu (a cocktail, burger and chips for £10 in the middle of London, whaaaat?) and then went onto Maddam Toussards - somewhere I’d never been, but had wanted to ever since seeing loads of them dotted around countries you’d never even think they’d have them on our travelling adventures.

We met loads of celebrities there too #blessed.

With that chaotic month over, September didn’t slow down that much, with our friends Rosie and Josh having a leaving party before they jetted off to South America to do some travelling.

See my Facebook timeline for an amazing video of Josh’s dancing!

My sisters and I also took my dad out for a late Father’s Day trip into London to again take advantage of Harriet’s Merlin passes - we went to the London Dungeons and the Aquarium! The Dungeons were brilliant, having not been there for ages, - of course my dad pointed out every inaccuracy, and Amelia being pregnant meant she couldn’t go on the little rides they had in there, haha!

Beth also came down to go to one of James’ gigs…

…and I was sad to have to move offices in September, as my commute would be slightly longer and I’d miss reading by the beautiful Thames on my lunch breaks.

October saw Stef turn 23, and we had a big house party over her’s, which was great fun! Sam debated heavily with her mum, we took some great photos, and I saw Laura again for the first time in nearly 2 years. ^-^

We also went back down to Devon to see James’ cousins again…

…went to MCM again and met Tomska, another of our Youtube heroes…

…and finally I went down to Soton to go with the girls to Oceana for Halloween! We had such a good time at predrinks together in our posh little hotel rooms.

Sadly, James’ gran passed away at the end of September. However, she very lovingly left her home to James, and so we had spent the whole of October and November doing it up, so that we could finally live together after 7 whole years of being together. It took weeks of painting and sorting and carpets and quite a bit of our savings, but it was totally, completely worth it, just to be finally living together after so long.

In November, our lovely neighbour, Joe, installed our shower for us and put up the beautiful splashboards that we picked in a stunning slate colour.

November marked our 7 year anniversary - can you believe it?!

So, at the end of the month we went to the Ice Bar and Winter Wonderland, both of which we’d never been to before, so it was lovely and a completely new experience, going around one of the biggest Christmas markets in the UK.

And what anniversary would be complete without sushi…

Weirdly, PM Theresa May came to our work on Friday to open our new Maidenhead offices, being the constituent for Maidenhead. She had her funky shoes on and looks suitably confused. This may be when one of our managers asked “Is Brexit actually going to happen?”

December was SUCH a busy month. Not least because James and I FINALLY MOVED IN TOGETHER!! My cats tried to sabotage our efforts however by camping in my last pile of dirty laundry…

We moved in on the 2nd of December, and due to our efforts of the previous couple of months, it very quickly felt homely and cosy. We bought 2 sofas from the charity shop, put up the Christmas decorations, and - most importantly - made sure both our computers fit in the living room for optimal gaming time!

Despite being pretty ill the first week, it was great.

Our good friend Lynne even made us this lovely moving in present!

After all that excitement, I had a very early birthday party on the 10th of December, seeing all my friends in the local pub, The Squirrels.

I also made sure to see the girls from uni one last time this year in London for dinner and drinks.

In the middle of December, Haulfryn had a Christmas party, which I could take James along to. It was really fun - it was a masquerade mall in Reading, with a three-course meal and wine, as well as acrobats and other acts to keep as all entertained, and a casino for James to try his luck! Having been at Haulfryn for almost a year now, it’s nice to be able to go to a big event like this.

For my birthday this year, James really went all out. I had no idea what he had planned - only that we were going to London, and I had to wear my Pokemon dress! So I donned it and off we went.

First he took me to Sticks ‘n’ Sushi in Covent Garden for a late lunch - and as all I seem to eat is sushi you’ll know how incredible that must have been!

Mmmm big decanter of sake.

Then afterwards we got on the tube to Hammersmith, where the London Philharmonic Orchestra were playing… and what were they playing? Pokemon!

It was incredible - they played music from all of the games, telling the stories of the games throughout, and showing a lot of the game footage on their screen. It was incredibly nostalgic, amazingly well done, and even if you aren’t a fan of Pokemon, the Philharmonic are obviously incredible, and so the music was flawless.

I couldn’t have asked for a better (or geekier) birthday. Thank you James.

On the 23rd, Hong Kong Drinking Team had been asked to headline the ‘best of the year’ show in the Facebar, and so I went along - and they didn’t disappoint. While most of the acts were heavy, James and his band dressed up as Christmas characters (James: Santa; Jack: Jesus; Dave: sexy Christmas pudding,#; Luke: Bongle the Bear from Rainbow (he thought it was a reindeer in the fancy dress shop); and Charlie: sexy elf). And boy, was Charlie a sexy elf. They did Santa Baby and Charlie was especially camp. My favourite gig of theirs for the whole year!

Christmas was incredibly special this year, as for the first time James and I didn’t have to balance our days - we were just together. As cheesy as it sounds, it was magical!

For Christmas Eve, we went to a onesie party up a the Squirrels to see in the big day.

Christmas Day saw us opening our stockings together, and then going to the Squirrels for Christmas drinks.

Afterwards we had a lovely Christmas dinner with the Skinners and a chilled out evening.

On Boxing Day, after seeing my Mum and Amelia, James and I had my dad and Harriet over, as my dad hasn’t had a family Christmas in a few years. It was great - we played Cards Against Humanity (which my dad loved!), I cooked, and James’ parents came over late afternoon.

The last few days of the year were just as exciting. On the 30th, it was the Squirrels’ landlady’s birthday, and so we had an 80s night up the pub!

James also met Jess’ South African boyfriend Adrian, and now I’m worried about us staying together… they have a proper bromance going on!

Seeing in the New Year was just as great, with karaoke, dancing, and lots of booze.

And lastly, as I put on a bit of weight travelling and got out of my fitness regime, I took up running this year rather than paying for the gym. It’s amazing how much more you want to exercise when you don’t have to travel as well! I smashed my distance goal for the year, and running has now become part of my lifestyle as well as an easy way to keep healthy.

Thank you 2016, it’s been an incredible year. Here’s to the next - the first one of me being a ‘proper’ adult, responsible for a home. Gulp.

#2016 #icebar #love #moving #yearinpictures #year in review #friends #life #personal post

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