#little Olivine sneak

[not-a-seagull]

PRISON CELL – 09: “Carpentry Operations” 

Background: None.

Music: BGM 022

Eiden: Merciful God of Klein, we pray to you that you may forgive our sins with love and affection…

? ?: Finally, we ask that you may return us to the righteous path, with these two hands we pray.

Quincy: ……

Eiden: Finally, we ask you that you may return us to the righteous path…

Eiden: (I can’t believe I’m in prison with Quincy and a bunch of other inmates… praying…)

? ?: Well done, everyone. You may open your eyes.

Eiden: (Oh, and guess who’s leading the prayers…)

Background: None (white.)

Olivine: Wash your hands, let go of the sins of the past, and reaffirm the pious hearts of the God of Klein has bestowed upon us all, His greatest gift.

Background: Prison Workshop. (closed)

Eiden: (Olivine could make a sewer feel sacred… I’ve never seen so many smiles around this place…)

Olivine: Next, I would like to invite each of you to come up and collect a wood block and a set of tools.

Olivine: I will then show you how to make a simple handicraft, which we will bring to the temple to offer to the God of Klein so as to receive His blessing.

***

Background: Prison Workshop. (closed)

Music: BGM 023. (soft sounds of tools working the wood.)

Eiden: (Edmond sure works fast— by pressuring the prison to allow the church to help with rehabilitation, he was able to get all the inmates to take part in a carpentry activity.)

Quincy: Here’s yours.

Eiden: Ah, thanks… Hmm, but there doesn’t seem to be anything special about this wood…

Quincy: Uh-huh, it’s just regular wood.

Eiden: So where are they hiding the you-know-what—

Quincy: Shh, keep quiet.

Music: None.

The two halt their conversation and glace along the long work table.

Walking in their directions, hands held neatly behind his back, the Warden closely observes the inmates at work.

Eiden: (It’s just like Edmond said… He’s the only one observing.)

Eiden: (Better focus on the task at hand for now… I’ll discuss the rest with Quincy later…)

Quincy: ……

The forest guardian, head bowed, deftly works his cutting tool across the wood block, carving out a model boat far more intricate than the other inmates.

Eiden: (I know he’s good at this kind of thing, but I can’t help feeling a little envious of his skills…)

Eiden: (But I won’t be beaten! I used to make model toys all the time! There wasn’t a better designer around for miles—)

(More sounds of tools softly working the wood)

Warden: ……

***

Background: Prison Cafeteria.

Music: BGM 023

Eiden: (Looks like it’s back to business as usual… it wasn’t easy getting Olivine here— i just hope our plan worked…)

Eiden: (But I have to admit, it was fun trying something new for a change… Olivine even complimented our work—)

Music: None.

Warden: Attention, everyone. There has been a slight change to the afternoon’s work schedule.

The Warden pauses and turns his gaze on Quincy and Eiden.

Warden: You, and you. Come with me to the carpentry workshop after lunch.

Quincy and Eiden: …!

Eiden: … Yes, sir!

Eiden: (Hook, line, and sinker!)

Eiden: (Hehe, it’s no surprise the Warden selected us for carpentry duty after all the praise we got for our carvings this morning…)

***

Background: None.

Music: None. (sounds of footsteps)

As they’d hoped, Quincy and Eiden have been selected for so-called carpentry duty.

Walking single file behind the Warden with the other select inmates, they make their way to the workshop.

Background: Prison Workshop.

Music: None. (sound of door opening)

The long work table sits littered with drawings, tools, and wood blocks— an almost identical setup to earlier in the day.

Warden: Here you will find the necessary materials, and over here are carving instructions. You may use any of the provided tools as you see fit.

Warden: Today’s assignment is a tough one, so be sure to put your best foot forward.

Eiden: Lemme see… Whoa, this looks super complicated!

The instructions show an intricately complex design that appears to be some sort of pendant.

Eiden: (If we can really make these, I bet they’ll sell like hotcakes…)

Eiden: (But these wood blocks look identical to the ones we used this morning—)

Quincy: … It’s faint, but I sense essence radiating from the wood.

Eiden: Essence?

With the Warden surveilling the other end of the room, Quincy sits beside Eiden, an ordinary-looking wood block in his hand.

Eiden: Ah, I see what you mean… It feels as if it’s coated with a layer of essence…

Quincy: It’s a camouflage spell.

Quincy cautiously checks his surroundings, then squeezes the wood block in his fist, channeling his essence in order to reverse the spell—

In his palm sits an ordinary wood block no longer. Instead, there lies a smooth, fragrant, densely-grained piece of lumber as black as night.

Eiden: Is that… crowcave?

Quincy: Yes.

Eiden: Edmond was right! the Warden really is using the prison as an illegal crowcave processing plant!

Eiden: We better meet up with him after we’re done here to discuss our next move.

Quincy: ……

Offering no reply, the stoic forest guardian slips the crowcave block—so fast you wouldn’t notice it—into his sleeve and gets back to work.

End of chapter.

Sources:

Background Images: NU Carnival wiki.

Transcript: did it myself, with the help of this video.

Last chapter: Prison Cell 08 | Next chapter: Prison Cell 10

[eggyboyoart]

NU: carnival harem and if they would/would not fuck their clone

[RATED +18]

EIDEN;

yes. he is unbelievably pro clone-fucking. he canonically fucks his clone (SSR Salacious King). While I haven't got Salacious King and idk what the intimacy rooms are; I know for a fact that Eiden (both of them) are having the time of their kinky little lives.

I imagine that they’re both teasing and confident, manoeuvring around each other with expert ease. Since eiden himself is incredibly versatile already, its not hard for them to fall into a sexy rhythm...

Eiden is also pro clansmembers-fucking-his-own-clone-in-front-of-him and pro clones-fucking-the-clansmembers (my boy is versatile).

ASTER;

Aster is pro clone-fucking in the way that both him and his clone are ganging up on Eiden or Morvay. Imagine with me; one Aster behind Eiden, nibbling on his neck and the other in the front - torturing him with some toys. Thats Aster, baby.

They end up with their focus split, torn between watching their partner fall apart beneath them and sneaking glances toward his clone while hes not looking – secretly checking himself out.

Eiden ends up covered in bites and passed out from exhaustion at the end :))

MORVAY;

YES YES YES YES YES YES

THEY GET SO FREAKY. mmm incubus x incubus.. it starts off a little hesitant, with both of them wondering if they could feed off each other’s ‘essence’ and soon after - like Aster, they both ALSO end up ganging up on Eiden – damn near fist-fighting each other to get to Eiden’s ‘prize jewels’.

Eiden ends up ABSOLUTELY exhausted at the end. Its like that meme with the shriveled up man next to other person sleeping.

this isn't the exact meme, but its the same vibe.

YAKUMO;

ohh.. sweet baby yakumo..

hes so hesitant, he most likely got the idea from Eiden asking both Yakumos to double-team him. Yakumo usually struggles with 'possessive' snake instincts and weirdly enough, its the same with his own clone (despite the fact they're the same person lol).

however.. a little after Yakumo x Eiden x Yakumo's Clone.. both yakumos sneak off into the night for some 'private exploration'.. neither of them speak of it out of pure embarrassment, but the suspiciously snake-shaped bite marks on each other’s neck do not go unnoticed..

EDMOND;

hes offended that you would even suggest such a thing. he is a righteous man of noble intentions, he would never even think of such perverted acts- get your mind out of the gutter, you scoundrel-!

while edmond doesn't necessarily feel attracted to himself sexually, neither of the vice-captains can resist sneaking a little peak around the back.. but overall, nothing beyond some subtle glances.

eiden tries to convince them both for some 'regulation' but he doesn't get very far when two blushing swordsmen put their blades up to his throat.. (better luck next time, big man)

OLIVINE;

... :3

this busty priest has probably never really thought about his own attractiveness too much but... is his chest really that voluptuous?

honestly? olivine is probably the one to bring this up to eiden. both priests approach the grand sorcerer quietly in the evening, mumbling about 'essence regulation'.. thats really just an excuse though. hes both insanely embarrassed and intensely aroused at his own sounds and squirming body ('does he really sound like that?').

eiden also has a good time when he gets to see two busty priests pressed up against each other and making out (LUCKY BITCH)

QUINCY;

ahh yes, our resident bear..

i don't believe he would be particularly interested in fucking his own clone, unfortunately. I just don’t think that he is his own type.. but, with a low mumble of 'troublesome..', he could be convinced/teased into tag-teaming eiden or a certain cheeky fox..

in this situation, i imagine one quincy leant back against the headboard, eiden/kuya on top of him and the other quincy behind eiden/kuya with double penetration orr.. both quincys spitroasting eiden/kuya :))

either way, the clones are less focused on each other and more focused on their partner.

KUYA;

soo, the myth, the man, the legend - our local mischievous fox yokai..

i believe this would start off relatively simply, with both kuyas ganging up/sexually torturing eiden in possessive competition. similarly to yakumo, his jealous instincts are not curbed when faced with his own clone and they both spend the whole time exchanging quips and witty remarks while just plowing eiden.

but after.. i believe both kuyas sneak off to 'hate-fuck' essentially. its bitter, aggressive and honestly violent with how rough they get with each other and in the end.. i don't think there is a winner here.

GARU;

okay.. desperate bottom x desperate bottom AHH-

its wild how they go at each other.. honestly, eiden probably walks in on them frotting – the room thick with the scent of sweat and slick and a sight so erotic that eiden is mystically compelled to join (honestly bro? me too).

honestly, if i can get a little 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂.. its wet. they're both drooling, from their mouth and.. down there.. and honestly, eiden is too. and if both wolf yokai desperately cling to their master, whining so sweetly.. who is he to deny them?

KARU;

honestly? I do believe that within karu is a man capable of being on top. It takes a lot, some self-given pep-talk and enough teasing – I do genuinely believe karu would be able to successfully dominate someone, though in more of a ‘whimpery top’ kind of style..

that’s sort of what happens when eiden tries to get under both karu’s skin, sliding up to them with his usual audacity. Eventually, both karus come to a mutual agreement that there is strength in numbers and agree to take the grand sorcerer down.

It ends in a similar position as quincy’s – spitroasting eiden though with a lot more whimpering and drooling from all parties involved.

BLADE;

My other, beautiful pookie..

This story starts with some good old fashioned exploration. At first, its purely curiosity – poking and prodding at each other with eager fingers and excitable eyes. But once one of them press on a particularly sensitive spot, its all over for them. Once one of the e-droids gets the idea, the other is all too eager to delve right into the good stuff.

Eiden probably walks in on them right in the middle of the act – the two tangled up and sweaty, and they’re more than happy to extend a hand to their darling~

DANTE;

The identical Sun Lords are appalled at the very idea. They are not interested in each other like that, at all – and truthfully, they end up barely getting along due to both of their stubborn natures.

Though, the one thing they can agree on is that eiden needs to be taken down a peg. This probably ends up as a mixture of Quincy and Kuya’s scenarios – with both Sun Lord’s less focused on each other but more so on tormenting the frustrating ‘grand sorcerer’.

Spitroasting is probably the way to go here, with eiden’s mouth being put to ‘better uses’.. it looks like they’re finally getting along :))

REI;

(I don’t know much about rei so forgive me lol)

Fascinating.. they spend a majority of the time researching each other, jotting down notes and findings as they debate and theorise. Eventually (to no ones surprise), this research ends up becoming ‘research’ – if you know what I mean, wink wink, nudge nudge..

Interestingly enough, I don’t see eiden being involved at all here, nor do I see either of them topping the other.. I think its mostly ‘experiments’ that rei more-so wanted to perform on himself, that has now been made easier using his body double.

Either way, with both intelligent minds - their time researching has actually proven to be rather productive, which leads rei to seriously consider finding a way to regularly clone himself..

[sinnohelitefourlore]

Two weeks later, came an announcement from the Indigo League, from the champion himself. Kanto-Johto tournaments had gone out of style. Most trainers opted for the Nugget Bridge experience in Kanto, or in Johto they would sign up for Johto's Armed Forces if illegible. But when Sergei announced that if gym trainers between the ages of fourteen and nineteen in the following cities and towns: Olivine, Saffron, Vermillion, Celadon, Cerulean, Cinnabar Island, Pewter, Fuchsia, and Viridian, that wanted to compete in a tournament for that gym leader position, to sign on up by tomorrow. "You're aware of what Kanto is doing, do you?" Iruka asked her rhetorically. When Jasmine nodded, Iruka explained anyway. "They want to push the Kantonians against the Johtonians despite our history together. They want to give Johto a message. That if a Johtonian defects to another region, we will punish you by putting a Kantonian in your gym's place since we don't think a Johtonian is strong enough. Prove them wrong, girl, I know you can do it." Jasmine looked down at her shoes. "Let's say I do sign up. The people I would be going up against. Most of them have been gym trainers for quite some time. I'm still new. And I'm a Johtonian. You don't think people will look down on me because of that?" "Oh they definitely will. Compared to the Kantonians they're putting up there," Iruka told her bluntly. "They'll see a shy, timid little girl that has no chance against the seasoned Kantonians that had trained in Nugget Bridge and then became a gym trainer. Johtonians are weak, in their eyes. They're going to look at you and see a Magikarp out of water." Jasmine felt anger rile up within her.

~Sneak Peak of The League Chronicles, Chapter 49- Jasmine

Link: Ao3

[leonleonhart]

dream anon here to say i got partway through the astral event, enough to know how it's gonna go for the most part i'm just too weak for some. final battle things. tbh i like most of the boys. i like that kuya is capable of murder especially. i like olivine's boobs. i like men so it's hard to pick. regardless everything can get surprisingly deep at times and i'm here for it. that's why i downloaded was i was like sniff sniff there's potential here. everyone has their individual charms i like to examine bc again the characters are kinda unexpectedly complex. i got super duper lucky and nigh immediately got Rei's Truth Seeker outfit. i like the glass heart. I like mad science lookin stuff in general so I'm biased towards him just bc that outfit is very sciency. I LIKE THAT BLADE LIKES CUTE AND SOMETIMES FRILLY THINGS. it's sooo hard to pick a favorite. i like quincy's little thing of calling things troublesome but helping anyways. ITS SO GOOD. currently having to grind for levels though bc im stuck on [squints] chapter 6 start.

HAVE YOU SEEN BLADES MAID OUTFIT? HIGHLY RECOMMEND

i hope you enjoy getting to blade's proper introduction too (❁´◡`❁) and i cant wait for you to meet garu/karu. the halloween event rerun coming up features him and yakumo as the title characters. and it will give you a sneak peek at dante

quincy is such a sweetheart even from the start

edmond's one of my particular favorites, the way his character growth has come through the main scenario and events has me chewing and gnawing on him (positive)

the writing has such brainworm effects you shall also be taken hold by the yaois

[kleinstar]

Hey Eiden rate your clanmates on how good they are/would be at cuddling, go

Ask my muse questions about their relationship with another character. (ACCEPTING)

" I don't have the heart to give them numbers ok.... ? I'll just talk a bit alright... Um let's see uh... "

Aster: " Extremely prone to giving cute excuses to get a little time in my hands, err, after and before... He'd sleep in my arms when I was recuperating in Solaria too. He's short and light so honestly it's pretty easy - plus he can turn into familiar form... However err, when Morway's around they start bickering a lot and that can get a little difficult when I'm trying to sleep but ... well, sometimes it leads to other stuff so.... "

Morvay: " Pretty nice but he always leaves a mess after him... It's fine since he's cute and kind of sexy but he's a heavier than Aster with all that muscle on him... And like I said he and Aster bicker all the time haha. Friendly or not sometimes I just really want to sleep..... "

Yakumo: " He's kind of shy but sometimes but he's also reaaaally gentle and gets these bursts of what I'd call cute aggression but... maybe that's me overthinking it, sometimes he hugs reaaaally tight haha. It's not too bad though - he's cute, shy, really sometimes struggles to just hold my hand and that's all very cute - how he tries his best regardless!! A bit on bonier side but his skin is so cool sometimes... I wonder if it's the serpent thing... "

Edmond: " He's really shy too so it takes a bit of convincing... He was getting a little more comfortable though, before I got here. But usually he ends up falling asleep, it's nice though, I'll watch him sleep and play with his hair so he can wake up to handsome sight of me sleeping right in front of him --- maybe he'll try to sneak a kiss before I wake up hehe... "

Olivine: " Soooooo comfortable.... His chest is just so soft, like a pillow, I'll sleep on it anytime... He sometimes reads me fairytales to bed haha... His voice is so soothing and the way he strokes my hair.... Sometimes it's awkward when people do that but it never bothers me when Olivine does hehe. Sometimes he sleeps on me too but that can be a struggle when he moves around in his sleep..... That's not too bad though heheeee....

Quincy: " He's huuuge and there's so much muscle but even so it's always comfortable... Just curling up against his chest. All those lazy mornings in Klein. The guy already sleeps so much so it's so easy to spend a whole day there, barely getting out of the bed... I always feel like I should be doing something but that guy just tells me go to back to sleep. A handsome guy like that then bringing you bed into breakfast, freshly made and all.... How lucky can you get. I might turn into completely useless guy like this. "

Kuya: " Err yeah just how lucky can I get haha... Sometimes it feels like I'm in danger but... I guess since it's rare it has it's on luxury there. If I adjust to him it's really great, he's very light on touch... but also damn, how I'd like to be wrapped in that tail.... "

Garu/Karu: " Karu is a handful but more bark than bite - usually he just falls asleep there grumbling something about how great karusama will next time prevail haha... It's cute I guess, he drools but I can't move him about.. I can't do that much hugging with him without heavy grumbling though but it's cute enough... Garu on the hand loves nuzzling himself into me like a dog! It can get awkward but it's easy to hug him like that, he'll nuzzle his head and all. And then also fall asleep, also drooling on me haha..."

Blade: " It's comfortable - Blade has his own eccentries haha, he can be pretty rough with his hug but I can't help but forgive him haha... As long as I can breathe it's fine. "

Dante: " Urgh. He sooooo annoying!! I mean like, his arms and all are great, fine even. But when he opens his mouth he's soooo full of complaints and and .... well, err... I guess I sometimes too run my mouth, fine fine... It's nice to have quiet moments with him sometimes too, he's still a pain in the ass though. Maybe he's not always but.... err.... If we're uh cuddling... usually he just tells me to shut up like and practically forces me to go sleep and not to talk to him. I'll follow that.... I mean it's rare he comes to visit from Solaria, so I don't want to ruin the moment so... And it's not really that bad so....I guess it'd be nice if he gets to relax too? I worry sometimes.... don't tell him that though."

Rei: Errr I juuuuust met the guy but forget about cuddling, that guy barely does any foreplay.... I mean he has his reasons, it's probably complicated, can't get too nosy but like .... Sex is just end of a mean to him and I can't think of a scientific reason for cuddling. He'd sneer at me for just suggesting it so like... forget it haha....

I mean... I wouldn't mind cuddling him but it's like that... y'know. Can't force a guy. Maybe it's selfish and nosy of me but ... But I do hope he could just stop to enjoy himself a little more. "

[ask-olivine]

A soft gasp leaves Olivine's lips as Eiden pulls him in, but it quickly turns into a half-lidded, warm smile, clearly enjoying this a little *too* much. One of his hands rests on Eiden's shoulder as the other stays on his hip, thumb gently sneaking under the hem of his shirt. The tiniest amount of contact, yet so intimate...

"Oh, my," Olivine lets out a hushed giggle, mere inches away from Eiden's face. "I'm the same way, you know. The way you talk to me just makes me melt..."

In a moment of boldness, Olivine places one of his hands on Eiden's cheek, pulling him in by the waist and planting an incredibly soft, feather-light kiss on the opposite cheek.

"But I like it that way. ♡"

Okay I'm curious. What do you think your clan members would be like if they switched from top/bottom for a day?

Lemme thiink uuuh...

Top!Olivine: Cute. Bad at dirty talk. Spanks me or bites me and immediately apologizes. Desperately wants me to go "bad boy♡" and pin him down the entire time.

Top!Garu: Copies what Kuya does and "roleplays" breeding me or making me his mate. Karu would be this on steroids. I try not to laugh the entire time

Top!Edmond: I ACTUALLY will be the reason why he fumbles this. Talk dirty in his ear and he'd melt in my hands. "Ah! My intentions were to top you but you've turned the tables on me!" Says the innocent knight. He's so EASY TO TEASE!

Top!Rei: Usual sex with him with a twist! He bullies me so BAD, he could do this easy. Just has a preference and so do I ♡♡♡

I like how we usually do things though ... ~

Bottom!Quincy: Quincy likes looking tough and thick. So he'd take everything I dish at him with either silence or grunts. I'd HAVE TO BE SO ROUGH WITH HIM? I think he'd be into it but likes using his huge dick more.

Bottom!Yakumo: Crying. Begging. Cute cute cute. Takes a long time to ease into it. I think he'd have fun with it for sure.

Bottom!Blade: ADORABLE. I think he'd be cute and high energy like Garu is. Just happy to bounce on my dick and say he liiiikes me♡♡♡ hehe..hehe...♡ it'd be embarrassing

Bottom!Dante: Cuuuuuuute. He'd be so SHY and GRUMPY THE ENTIRE TIME. Kind of like Edmond but would hit different. I'm 300% sure he'd cry alittle. Resist aftercare because he thinks its for cowards. Weirdo♡.

Bottom!Kuya: I fear this. This is a survival situation. My dick will not leave the same.

Is it getting hot in here???

[pwurrz]

oh.. it’s pocky day tomorrow~ that’s why i’m seeing so many drawings of pocky

in light of that, here’s how eiden would play the pocky game with everyone

yakumo would be interested because 1) a new dessert he hasn’t tried yet and 2) he’s doing something with eiden. get flustered about his lips being so close to eiden’s and tries really hard to just focus on eating the pocky stick not knowing the true goal of the game. when eiden does kiss him at the end he’s genuinely surprised that the eating pocky part of the game was just a cover up for exchanging kisses

edmond would act affronted when eiden sneaks a kiss but he’s not-so-secretly pleasantly surprised. plays a few more rounds with eiden under the guise of wanting more pocky sticks but everyone knows he also wants kisses

quincy wouldn’t get it. he thinks it’s troublesome and that if eiden wants kisses he can just give him a kiss. topper likes the pocky sticks tho

kuya is slightly interested in the idea of a new game but sees the intentions from a mile away and teases eiden relentlessly for it. steals eiden’s pocky (and a kiss) when he’s least expecting it

olivine and blade think it’s a cute little game. blade loves giving his darling kisses anyways but he’s not opposed to making a little game out of it. olivine implements the game into their study sessions so eiden gets a treat and a kiss whenever he gets a question right

garu just immediately eats as much of the pocky stick as he can. doesn’t think about the fact he has to kiss eiden to do it he’s just like ‘cool yummy treats!’. karu does the exact same thing except his cheeks are slightly pinker than garu’s when he steals the pocky from eiden

dante wouldn’t do it. he thinks it’s stupid. he steals eiden’s pocky from him (but not with his mouth) pretending not to care about the fact that they’re indirectly kissing but he very much does care. lowkey thinks it’s cute but highkey thinks it’s definitely something eiden would do, being as cheeky as he is

morvay also wouldn’t get it but he would? like he wouldn’t get the point of the game and he just assumes it’s a way to make the kiss taste like chocolate. he’s not entirely wrong.

aster thinks it’s a bit silly but indulges eiden anyways. don’t get him wrong, he likes giving eiden kisses from time to time, but he’d much rather be sucking his blood <3

[irxnmaiden]

MEET THE MUSE.

[rules: answer in-character. repost, don’t reblog.] [tagged by: @obliviouskind​ (thank you!!)]

► NAME ➭ “Jasmine... Some call me Jas... close friends, mostly.”

► ARE YOU SINGLE? ➭ “I am.”

► ARE YOU HAPPY? ➭ “Generally, yeah... I’d say so.”

► ARE YOU ANGRY?  ➭ “I... usually don’t ever reach a level of anger that’s noticeable... usually, things that upset me make me sad, not angry.”

► ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL MARRIED? ➭ “...mom passed when I was still real little. My pop fought in a world war away from Johto, I-” she pauses. “I haven’t heard from him, or seen him, since. I do miss him.”

NINE FACTS!

► BIRTHPLACE ➭ “Alto-Mare is where I’m from. It’s a pretty island city, south of Azalea. It’s full of color and life and community, kinda like Olivine, but with its own unique culture and charm. The gondola races are a must-see!” 

► HAIR COLOR ➭ “Brunette. I was called ‘plain’ a lot for it when I was little, but... it’s the same color as my mom’s was, and I think she was the prettiest woman ever.”

► EYE COLOR ➭ “A light brown, I-I’ve been told they’re pretty but I kinda envy those with brighter or more vibrant colored eyes.”

► BIRTHDAY ➭ “March 12th.”

► MOOD ➭ “I try to keep a sunny disposition. It’s kinda hard, juggling everything on a daily basis, but if I don’t at least try to approach each scenario with a good mindset... I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to give it my all.”

► GENDER ➭ “I identify as female.”                                                                      

► SUMMER OR WINTER ➭ “Summer! Olivine has a really temperate climate, so it’s never too hot. Although I don’t mind a little heat.”  

► MORNING OR AFTERNOON ➭ “I-I don’t mean to be difficult, but I think the brief time in-between the two is my favorite time of day. That, or what they call ‘the golden hour’.”

ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE!

► ARE YOU IN LOVE? ➭ “...kinda the complicated question. I have a lot of love in my life, for so many. It’s kinda a state of mind, y’know?”

► DO YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT? ➭ “I-I do believe it’s possible. I also think that sometimes, first impressions aren’t the most telling... sometimes, it can take a while to grow into love. I think that’s more typical, actually.”

► WHO ENDED YOUR LAST RELATIONSHIP? ➭ “It was sorta mutual. He was here for the summer, and left like many do once the colder months roll in. I wonder about him sometimes...”

► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN SOMEONE’S HEART? ➭ “I-I hope not...”  

► ARE YOU AFRAID OF COMMITMENTS? ➭ “No, I think it’s really sweet to be in a committed bond with someone else. I’m sure for some folks, it’s challenging, but challenges make us stronger, y’know?”

► HAVE YOU HUGGED SOMEONE WITHIN THE LAST WEEK? ➭ “A couple times. My grandparents, some of the co-workers at Asagi Cafe... just little signs of affection can really make someone’s day.”

► HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SECRET ADMIRER? ➭ “I receive a lot of fan mail and, well, I guess you could call some of them love letters. It’s kinda awkward for me to receive those sorts of things, from strangers...”

► HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN YOUR OWN HEART? ➭ “I... can get ahead of myself sometimes. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, though.”

CHOICES!

► LOVE OR LUST ➭ “Love.”

► LEMONADE OR ICED TEA ➭ “This is a really hard one... so an Arnold Palmer, maybe? Kinda the best of two worlds.”

► A FEW BEST FRIENDS OR MANY REGULAR FRIENDS ➭ “I think having a lot of friends is great, but sometimes you can stretch yourself too thin. Most of the people I’m super close with are a part of a smaller group, honestly.”

► WILD NIGHT OUT OR ROMANTIC NIGHT IN ➭ “Maybe this is me with my head in the clouds, but a romantic night with someone special... I’m not the most wild person, I think I’m better suited for one-on-one interactions so I can give the person I’m with my full attention.”

► DAY OR NIGHT ➭ “Daytime. Nighttime, I tend to get a little in my head...”

HAVE YOU EVERS!

► BEEN CAUGHT SNEAKING OUT ➭ “Only a few times... mostly when I first moved to Olivine, and wanted to explore. Luckily, I never got in too much trouble!”

► FALLEN DOWN/UP THE STAIRS ➭ “I... can safely say I’ve had both happen to me, and I’d like to think I’m pretty agile! Sometimes, though, I’m in such a hurry, the steps in the Glitter Lighthouse become... treacherous would be the most appropriate word for them, I think!”

► WANTED SOMETHING/SOMEONE SO BADLY IT HURT? ➭ “I have. But I’ve also told myself that some things are just not meant to be. Healing those sorts of feelings can be real tough. Time helps, but doesn’t do all the work.”

PREFERENCES!

► SMILE OR EYES ➭ “Smiles draw me in, but I think eyes are the most telling feature on anyone.”

► SHORTER OR TALLER ➭ “Either? I-I’m not sure the context...”

► INTELLIGENCE OR ATTRACTION ➭ “O-Oh, we’re talking about people. I can’t say definitely, either way...”

► HOOK-UP OR RELATIONSHIP ➭ “A relationship, always.”

FAMILY!

► DO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GET ALONG ➭ “My grandparents are getting on up there in age. I take care of them pretty much daily, and when I’m unable to do house visits, I always make sure to call. They’re very self-sufficient, actually! It helps for them to have trustworthy and dependable Pokemon living with them, also.”

► WOULD YOU SAY YOU HAVE A “MESSED UP LIFE” ➭ “There have been lots of times it’s felt that way, but I’d never sum up my life so far as being a mess - some things just happen for reasons out of our control. I do my best to roll with it.”

► HAVE YOU EVER RAN AWAY FROM HOME ➭ “No.”

► HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN KICKED OUT ➭ “...also, no.”

FRIENDS!

► DO YOU SECRETLY HATE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS ➭ “Why would I consider them a friend if I had any kinda resentment for them? Seems silly to me to live a lie like that. I can’t respect that in others, either.”

► DO YOU CONSIDER ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS GOOD FRIENDS ➭ “I’ve never been let down by any of those I call friends. And, hopefully, on the flip side, the same can be said.”

► WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND ➭ “Stahlos has been in my life since I was a very little girl. He was first my pop’s Pokemon, before being entrusted to me. Although to many, Steelix are cold, even intimidating, Pokemon... to me, Stahlos has always been like a guardian. A close friend. Amphy is the same for me, since moving to Olivine. She’s taught me diligence. Determination. To light up any storm I may find myself in, so that I can find my way home again. I consider the lessons they’ve taught me to be invaluable.”

► WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU ➭ “Perhaps this is silly to say, or maybe it’s too abstact. I feel like the sunset knows more about me than any living thing. It knows my longings, my fears, my dreams... I-I’m assuming that’s not the answer you were looking for, however, so my apologies.”

[chibistarlyte]

Four’s Company

Makoto heads off to Sunyshore City for university and makes some new friends in his first week, including his slightly enigmatic roommate, Haru. 

ohhhhhh my gosh here it is! This Free! Pokemon AU fic is a gift for @boiishorts for the @tachibanamakotobirthdayexchange that I decided to participate in this year! This is my first time taking part in a gift exchange and I had a ton of fun with it.

Maria, I saw that you had Pokemon on your list of likes, so I immediately jumped on the Pokemon AU train. I really hope you like it!

And just in case it’s a little too difficult to read on my blog, the AO3 link is here!

.

 “What do you think, Kawa?” Makoto asked his Pokémon as they both lay on the floor of his bedroom, university brochures spread out before them. He’d been poring over them for hours today, and for some time in the couple weeks prior. The time for applying for schools and their subsequent entrance exams were fast approaching, and Makoto was no closer to making a decision than he was last month.

 He had absolutely no idea what he wanted to study in school. He’d tossed around a few different fields—Pokémon medicine, Pokémon breeding, teaching trainers—but hadn’t settled on any of them as of yet. He thought looking at a bunch of different universities in a few different regions would help him narrow down his decision, but it had done nothing but make the choice that much more overwhelming.

 “Buiiiii,” his Pokémon said, pointing to a brochure of a small university in Hoenn, in Mossdeep City.

 Makoto laughed and took a cursory glance at the unfolded pamphlet. “Hm, you want to go to Hoenn?” he asked his otter Pokémon. It wasn’t a bad choice, though the university’s specialty was the field of astrophysics and the like, which he didn’t have much interest in.

 Unhelpfully, Kawa then slammed his paw down on a brochure for a completely different university, one in Violet City in Johto.

 “Well, there      is    the trainer school there I could intern at if I decide to go with teaching…” Makoto said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin a little. He grabbed the brochure for that particular school and folded it up, setting it in the ‘maybe’ pile along with brochures from Sunyshore University in Sinnoh and Hau’oli University in Alola. There was another one in Johto, in Olivine City, where he could study Pokémon medicine, that made it to the ‘maybe’ pile as well.

 An hour later, and Makoto had whittled down his choices to three: Sunyshore, Olivine, and one in Lilycove City in Hoenn that he had totally forgotten about until he came across the brochure again in his stack.

 “Bui Buizel!” Kawa cried before crawling over to his food bowl, nudging it with his nose and whining slightly.

 “Oh, is it already dinner time?” Makoto said, sneaking a quick glance at his clock. Realizing that it was, in fact, time for dinner, he headed over to his desk to grab the bag of Poké Kibble that he kept underneath. Kawa shrieked happily and jumped around Makoto’s legs as his trainer poured out the food into the bowl. When his Buizel was enthusiastically munching his meal, Makoto thought he’d better head downstairs for dinner himself.

 But before he headed down, he grabbed the three brochures from his ‘maybe’ pile so he could talk over his choices with his parents.

.

 Makoto was helping his mother dry the dishes when the subject of university was broached.

 “Have you made a decision?” his mother asked over the running water, giving her son a loving smile.

 Setting down the plate he’d just tried and picking up another from the rinsed pile, Makoto shook his head. “I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few choices, but...I’m not sure which one to go with.”

 “Which ones?”

 As they continued washing dishes Makoto explained to his mother the three schools he’d narrowed down, making sure to include his possible major for each one. Once the dishes were done, they sat back down at the dining table together and Makoto showed her the brochures. He also brought the websites for each school up on his phone, in case they needed to look anything up.

 At some point, Kawa made his way downstairs and was now curled up asleep in Makoto’s lap.

 “You’re really leaning towards Pokémon medicine, aren’t you?” his mother asked, tucking her olive green hair behind her ear. “At least, all three of these schools seem to have good programs for it.”

 It was kinda funny how it took his mother vocalizing it for Makoto to realize that, yes, all three of his potential schools had the one thing in common.

 “I think Sunyshore sounds like a really good place,” his mother finally said after an elongated silence between the two of them. “Plus, Sinnoh would be a great place for us to come visit you,” she added with a smile.

 Green eyes trailed back down to the brochure of Sunyshore University, their owner still slightly unsure. But if his mother thought it was a good idea…

 Besides, if he didn’t like the school, he could always just transfer after a semester or two.

 Finally allowing himself to smile, Makoto looked back up at his mother.

 “Okay. I’ll apply for Sunyshore University.”

.

 The rest of Makoto’s third year of high school came and went, and before he knew it, he was graduated and packing up his most treasured belongings to bring with him to Sinnoh.

 He still couldn’t quite believe he’d gotten into Sunyshore.

 When it came time to take the entrance exam, his father had flown out with him across the continent to the Sinnoh region. They were there for a few days, and in his downtime when he wasn’t in the exam hall, Makoto urged his father to come around Sunyshore City with him and see the sights. It reminded him a bit of his home of Ambrette Town back in Kalos, both places being located along the coast—which his Buizel would like, Makoto thought as he explored the beach along the east side of the city. Of course Sunyshore was a bit more of a bustling place than the small town Makoto grew up in. But he liked it, and he was excited to hopefully begin making a life here.

 When the results of the entrance exam were posted online soon after, Makoto could have fainted with relief.

 “Oniichan, you can’t leave us!” Ran cried as she clung to her older brother, preventing him from taping up the last of his boxes. Following his sister’s example, Ren also ran up to Makoto and held onto him. Tears leaked out of his eyes, though he was much quieter about his crying than his twin.

 “You guys can always come and visit,” Makoto said with a fond smile, though he couldn’t help the sadness settling into his chest at the thought of leaving his family behind for a while. “Plus, we can video chat at least once a week.”

 “Every day!” Ran said emphatically.

 Laughing a little, Makoto said, “I probably won’t have time      every    day…”

 “Every other day?” came Ren’s shyer voice and he looked up at his older brother with huge eyes that made Makoto melt.

 “That sounds more manageable,” Makoto agreed, ruffling Ren’s hair. He tried doing the same to Ran, but she was wise to his ways and ducked out of the way just in time, sticking her tongue out at him.

 “Come on, let oniichan finish packing,” their mother chided the twins, “unless you want to help.”

 “We’ll help!” they said in unison, each grabbing a roll of packing tape to help Makoto seal his boxes for the movers.

.

 There were more tears a week later when the entire family escorted Makoto to the airport, seeing him off to his new life. Makoto gave Ren and Ran extra long hugs, with Buizel squeezed in between them all.

 “Call us as soon as you land,” his mother said, patting his cheek and bringing his head down so she could deliver a kiss to his forehead. “And be safe, okay?”

 “I will,” Makoto assured her. Kawa clambered up on his shoulder and squeaked in assurance that he’d make sure Makoto was taken care of. Smiling, his mother scratched the Buizel’s snout.

 “We’ll miss you too, Kawa.”

 After one final group hug with his parents and siblings, Makoto shouldered his duffel bag and dragged his rollerboard behind him. His adult life was ahead of him, and he was nervous and excited at the same time. Kawa nuzzled his cheek and together, they headed to the gate where their flight would be waiting.

.

 Many long and tiring hours later, Makoto was finally in Sunyshore City. It was early morning when he landed, and with the time difference, he knew it’d probably take at least a few days to get through the worst of his jet lag. And even though it was late at night back home, he still dutifully rang up his mom when he was off the plane to assure her that he made it safely.

 When he reached the Sunyshore University dorms, he was surprised to see so many students there as early as him. But, he supposed, it was best to arrive early and have ample time to get settled into the dorms. And really, considering his habitual tardiness, it was only thanks to his flight that he’d arrived so early.

 Heck, even his Buizel was still half-asleep, curled up around his neck like a scarf and yawning with a squeak in his ear.

 After speaking with the dorm advisor and collecting a booklet of dorm rules and regulations, Makoto was able to retrieve the keys to his room and he made his way to his assigned room. He was ready to collapse into bed and sleep for a good few hours before he even thought of doing anything else. If Kawa’s continued yawns were anything to go by, his Pokémon felt much the same.

 Makoto stuck the key into the lock and turned the knob, announcing himself before entering the dorm room proper. He didn’t make it even two steps in the door before he was greeted by a Vaporeon at his feet.

 The Vaporeon tilted its head, staring up at him with curious violet eyes.

 “Uh...hello…” Makoto greeted the Pokémon, smiling tiredly and raising his hand in a friendly wave so as not to appear threatening.

 “Saba, let him in,” came a voice from the other side of the room.

 “Vay!” The Vaporeon, apparently named Saba, did as its trainer bade and trotted away from the doorway, giving Makoto space to enter. Looked like his roommate was already here and had chosen the bed along the far wall.

 Shrugging, Makoto made his way to the unclaimed bed and dropped his duffel atop it. He parked his suitcase at the foot of the bed and turned to look at his roommate.

 The other boy was turned away from him, crouching in front of his own bag and setting his clothing on the bed. He had raven black hair and seemed a little quiet.

 “You must be my roommate, then?” Makoto asked in a friendly manner, aware that he was stating the obvious but a tad too tired to care all that much.

 The boy finally turned and Makoto caught sight of the bluest eyes he’d ever seen in his life. Giving a nod, the boy said, “Nanase Haruka. You can call me Haru.” His voice was soft and smooth, like an Eevee’s fur.

 Makoto smiled. “Tachibana Makoto. You can just call me Makoto,” he echoed back in a similar fashion. “And this is Kawa,” he introduced, reaching up to his own shoulder to pet his dozing Buizel. “He’s still sleepy from the flight.”

 His roommate—Haru—finally stood and turned to face him fully, and Makoto felt his mouth go a little dry. Good gravy, his roommate was. Um.

 Beautiful? He couldn’t think of a word that was better suited than that.

 “You met Saba,” Haru said, nodding toward his Vaporeon. “She can be a little too friendly sometimes; sorry if she ends up sleeping in your bed with you.”

 Giggling, Makoto said, “She’d have to fight Kawa for the space.”

 Haru gave him a small smile and set to putting his clothes in the dresser by his bed.

 Well, they seemed to be off to a good start, at least.

.

 In the week before classes started, Makoto learned a few things about Haru in their cohabitation.

He was a swimmer.

 Not professionally, though. When Makoto had asked him that, he got a scowl from the other boy and a curt, “I only swim free.”

He was from Alola.

 If Makoto would have known this first, he wouldn’t have been surprised in the least that Haru loved swimming.

He was quiet, but extremely straightforward.

 Haru didn’t talk a whole lot, which didn’t bother Makoto at all because his roommate was friendly enough. But if he had a particularly strong opinion or thought on something, he wouldn’t hold back and would just say what was on his mind. The bluntess caught Makoto off-guard the first few days, but he got used to it after a little.

 The bluntness wasn’t just reserved to speaking his opinions, either. Haru was also the kind of person, Makoto was learning, to kind of just...do what he wanted. Sometimes he would up and leave the room without much of a word, but not in a rude way. It was something Makoto would have to get used to.

 One day, Haru even asked Makoto if he wanted to accompany him to the beach and swim a little.

 “You can bring Kawa, too, if you want, since he’s a water-type and all,” Haru added when Makoto hadn’t answered him yet, only staring at the raven-haired boy in slight shock.

 “M-Maybe another time. Thank you, though, for the invite,” Makoto said with a genuine smile. He wasn’t sure he was ready to tackle swimming in the sea just yet. Though he did reason he’d have to go sometime soon, because yeah, Kawa would love it.

 Haru just shrugged, not seeming bothered at all with Makoto’s rejection to his invite. “Alright then. Saba and I will be back later.” Then, shouldering his bag with his swim gear, Haru left with his Vaporeon in tow.

 Makoto stared at the closed door for a few heavy seconds before returning to unpack the boxes that had arrived yesterday.

.

 The day before classes started, their dorm building was hosting a dinner-slash-get-together for all the students as a way for them to get to know their neighbors and make friends. Makoto was glad for the opportunity to get to know some of the other people in their building, but Haru seemed a little reluctant to go.

 “I don’t like a lot of noise,” Haru said from where he was lounging on his bed, one headphone in and his phone lying on his abdomen.

 Makoto frowned. “But it would be good to meet some of the other students, right? You might find someone also studying what you’re studying.”

 A shrug was all Makoto got from his roommate.

 Sighing, Makoto held out his arm for his Buizel to crawl up and onto his shoulder. “Do you at least want me to bring you some food?” he offered.

 Haru’s face turned thoughtful for a moment, then he shrugged again. “Only if you want to,” was his passive answer.

 “Alright...I’ll be back later,” Makoto said, remembering to grab his keys from the nightstand before heading out of their shared dorm room. He took the stairs down a few floors to the student lounge, where this gathering was to be held. The second he stepped out of the stairwell, he was greeted with noise of chatter and several Pokémon coming from the lounge area.

 Wow, there were...a lot of people.

 Makoto immediately made a beeline for the refreshments table, which was usually a safe place to go when he was feeling a little socially overwhelmed. He was a really friendly guy, yeah, but large crowds still made him a little nervous. He grabbed a small plate and piled it with snacks, also grabbing a couple Poké Puffs for Kawa.

 He heard a slight whining noise in his ear, coming from Buizel. “Hey, Kawa, what’s the matter?” he asked his Pokémon, following the otter’s line of sight. At the end of the food table, there was a small blue tail poking out from under the white tablecloth.

 Was it a Pokémon?

 Kawa leapt off Makoto’s shoulder to go investigate.

 “Iwatobi-chan! Where are you?!” Makoto heard someone yell from the crowd.

 Putting two and two together, Makoto took a few steps to where his Buizel was poking his head under the table and squeaking. Kneeling down, he lifted the tablecloth to reveal a Piplup hiding under there, flapping its little flappers and chirping excitedly.

 “Are you Iwatobi-chan?” Makoto asked the Pokémon.

 “Piplup!” the little penguin responded, though it remained under the table.

 “Bui?” Kawa said, trying to talk to Piplup.

 Makoto picked up a Poké Puff from his plate and held it out, wiggling it a little to entice the hiding Piplup. “You want this? You have to come out first.”

 Piplup leaned forward a bit, its beak moving up in down in what Makoto assumed was a sniff. Slowly, the little blue penguin waddled closer to Makoto and reached for the Poké Puff. When it was happily munching on the treat, Makoto set his plate on the table above him and grabbed the Pokémon with both hands and pulled it out from its hiding spot.

 “Um...did anyone lose a Piplup?” he called out to the people near him, drawing a few glances his way but not much else.

 A few moments later, though, a short blond boy came barreling toward him.

 “Iwatobi-chan, there you are!” the boy exclaimed.

 The Piplup paused in its eating and looked at the boy, eyes widening in what must have been recognition because it then began squirming to get free from Makoto’s arms.

 “Here,” Makoto said with a smile, holding the flailing Pokémon out to its supposed trainer.

 “Thank you so much for finding him!” the blond said, taking his Piplup and hugging him close. “Iwatobi-chan likes running off, the mischievous little guy!”

 Makoto laughed, squatting down again to let Kawa onto his shoulder. “He seems like a handful.”

 “Oh, he totally is!” The boy pouted at the little Piplup, lips pursed all the way out. But then he changed gears and flashed a sunny smile at Makoto. “I’m Nagisa, by the way. What’s your name?”

 “Makoto,” he introduced himself, holding his hand out for a shake. “Good to meet you!”

 Nagisa took his hand and squeezed really tightly, shaking it vigorously. He was a tiny ball of energy, it seemed. “Nice to meet you too, Mako-chan!”

 “Mako-chan?” Makoto asked, not opposed to the nickname but a little surprised at its usage since they just only met.

 “You wanna come sit at my table? I’ve met a few other people and they’re really nice!” Makoto didn’t really have time to answer before being dragged by Nagisa to a table where two other guys sat—one with maroon-colored hair and matching eyes, and the other with jet black hair and piercing teal eyes.

 “Rin-chan, Sou-chan, I found another friend!” Nagisa announced as they approached, waving enthusiastically. The both of them looked up and the redhead chuckled, showing off his sharp teeth.

 “Jeez, Nagisa, at this rate, you’ll make friends with the whole building by the end of the night.” Despite the slightly chastising words, sharp-tooth guy fixed his red gaze on Makoto and pulled out the chair next to him. “C’mon, have a seat.”

 “Ah, thank you,” Makoto said a little shyly as he sat down in the proffered chair.

 “This is Mako-chan!” Nagisa introduced, waving his hand at Makoto. “Mako-chan, this is Rin-chan and Sou-chan!”

 The raven-haired guy scoffed. “Would you cut it out with the Sou-chan? We’ve barely just met.”

 Nagisa sat down in his own chair with a slight pout, settling Iwatobi-chan in his lap. “But Rin-chan is my roommate, and you already know Rin-chan...so that means we’ve already been friends by association! So      that     means I get to call you Sou-chan!”

 “You little shit, it doesn’t work that way!” Rin said, flicking Nagisa on the nose.

 Makoto shrugged, the action on one shoulder much more subdued than the other due to Kawa perching himself there. “I don’t mind,” he admitted with a friendly smile.

 “See, Mako-chan gets it,” Nagisa said a bit smugly, stealing a piece of taiyaki from Rin’s snack plate and stuffing it in his mouth.

 “Oi, get your own!” Rin yelled.

 Smiling, Makoto was about to slide his own plate of snacks over to the hungry blond, but belatedly realized he must have left it on the refreshment table after retrieving Iwatobi-chan.

 “So, what is your actual name? I’m Sousuke,” the dark-haired guy said, offering a small grin to Makoto that made him look much less intimidating.

 “I’m Makoto, and this is Kawa.”

 His Buizel squeaked in greeting to the table, holding his paw up in a mock wave.

 “So, where are you from, Makoto?” Rin asked, leaning his elbow on the table.

 “I’m from Ambrette Town, in Kalos.”

 Rin gave a low whistle. “That’s pretty far from here.”

 Chuckling Makoto nodded. “Yeah. The plane ride was super long. I had jet lag for three days afterwards.”

 Rin laughed and flashed his sharp teeth. “Jet lag and I are best friends. I’m originally from Alola, but I went to middle school and part of high school in Unova.”

 Makoto’s eyes widened. “Wow, that’s impressive!” And Makoto really was impressed. That had to take a lot of guts to study so far away from home at such a young age.

 Nagisa lit up at Rin’s words. “Unova is where my boyfriend is studying!” he exclaimed, pulling out his phone and thumbing the screen really quickly. Letting out a gasp, he held out his phone to the table. On the screen was Nagisa with another boy, who had purplish-blue hair and red, thick-framed glasses. Nagisa was holding his Piplup and there was a Beautifly behind the other boy. “This is Rei-chan!”

 “You two look happy,” Makoto commented with a soft smile. “It must be hard being so far away from him.”

 Nodding, Nagisa’s smile turned a bit sad. “Mhm, I miss him a lot. But we video chat every day, even with the time difference. It makes it better.”

 “You never video chatted with me while you were in Unova,” Sousuke said to Rin with a light shove to his shoulder.

 “Shut up, you big lump,” Rin said, shoving him back.

 “Can I join you?”

 The four of them looked up to the source of the new voice and Makoto was surprised to see Haru standing behind him with Vaporeon in tow.

 “Haru! I thought you didn’t want to come?” Makoto asked as his roommate pulled out a chair and sat down without waiting for an answer from anyone present.

 “Ooh, who’s this?!” Nagisa yelled, his sunny smile returning.

 “Oi, Haru! Who said you could sit with us?” Rin said, his words sounding harsh but there was a smile on his face that said otherwise.

 “Makoto said it was okay, right?” Haru responded coolly, fixing his blue gaze on Makoto.

 Swallowing, Makoto let out a slightly nervous laugh. “Yeah, sure. I’m just glad you decided to come.”

 “Wait, how do you know each other?” Nagisa said, having caught Rin calling Haru by his name.

 “We knew each other as kids,” Rin supplied, reclining in his own chair and slinging his arm over the back. “Used to be on a swim team together.”

 Haru nodded to confirm Rin’s words. He pulled another chair out and Saba

 “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Haru-chan! I’m Nagisa!”

 Haru scowled. “Cut it out with the -chan.”

.

 When Makoto and Haru returned to their dorm room, it was a lot later than either of them anticipated. Makoto didn’t expect to make such fast friends at this shindig, and he      really    didn’t expect Haru to show up after the disdain for the event his displayed earlier.

 Kawa leapt off Makoto’s shoulder and onto his bed, where he was already curling up for sleep before Makoto even had his jacket off.

 “That was really fun,” Makoto said, sitting down on the bed and slipping his shoes off. “I’m so glad you decided to come down, Haru-chan.”

 Haru stopped in removing his own hoodie, raising a dark brow at Makoto.

 The brunet, realizing his misstep, giggled and clapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry. I think Nagisa rubbed off on me a little.”

 A hum was all he got from Haru before a comfortable silence descended between them as they got ready for bed. Haru took the bathroom first, since he had class earlier than Makoto the next day and thus needed to go to bed earlier. Makoto took the time he spent waiting for his turn to text his mother, letting her know about the good time he had this evening and the new friends he had made. He liked to keep her updated on the daily so she wouldn’t worry too much about him.

 “Bathroom’s yours,” Haru said as he emerged in his pajamas, which was really just an oversized t-shirt and shorts. He flopped down on his bed and grabbed his phone off the nightstand, presumably setting his alarm for the morning.

 Muttering a small thanks, Makoto gathered his own belongings and made his way to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth, and almost left the bathroom before he remembered he still needed to take out his contacts. He stowed them in their little case and squeezed some contact solution into each compartment to keep them from drying out. Then he settled his glasses on his nose and left the bathroom.

 He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw not one but two Pokémon taking up the space on his bed, Saba curled up close to Kawa and both sound asleep.

 “Um…”

 “I warned you,” Haru said. When Makoto turned to look at him, his roommate was smirking. “You can wake her up and move her.”

 “But she looks so comfortable…” Makoto said, a slight whine to his voice. It was practically illegal to move a sleeping Pokémon, especially when they looked so cute.

 To Makoto’s surprise, Haru scooted over and fixed him with a serious stare. “Alright, then sleep in my bed tonight.”

 “What…?  No! I can’t do that!” Makoto exclaimed, already feeling himself go red in the face.

 Haru shrugged, though he was still staring intently at Makoto’s face.

 Makoto could have sworn there was a slight tinge of pink to the other’s cheeks.

 Sighing, Haru got up from his bed and picked his Vaporeon up from Makoto’s bed. “C’mon, Saba, don’t hog Makoto’s bed.”

 Stunned, Makoto watched Haru carry his Pokémon over to his own bed with little to no effort. Which was shocking, since most Vaporeon usually weighed around sixty pounds.

 Must be the swimmer muscles, Makoto reasoned with himself.

 “Are you just going to stand there all night?” Haru asked after he’d already laid both Saba and himself back into bed.

 Blinking rapidly to regain some sense of himself, Makoto let out a sheepish laugh. “Ahh...no, I...I’m going to bed,” he said and he padded over to his now vacated bed, throwing his clothes on the floor to be picked up later. He crawled under the blanket, careful not to kick Kawa with his long legs.

 “I’m turning off the light now,” Haru said before the entire room was plunged into darkness.

 “Good night, Haru. Good luck with classes tomorrow,” Makoto said.

 “You too,” Haru said mid-yawn. Makoto heard shuffling as Haru rolled onto his side, facing away from Makoto.

 Makoto just laid there for a little bit, staring up at the ceiling through the darkness with a small smile on his face.

 University was going to be fun.

[veemopusvulgaris]

ANYWAY here’s that essay:

eiden: def a shooter main! tried and true splattershot boy, admittedly favors vanilla over ttek bc trizooka is fuckin cool. mains tri-stringer as a secondary.

aster: (vanilla) inkbrush main, definitely the type that zips around the map to try and flank (and succeeds… usually)… but will also just as easily draw a heart for u <3

morvay: splatling main. hydra is his baby, but also good with the ballpoint and heavy splatlings. very good backliner who totally doesn’t pick off anyone trying to sneak up on aster wait what??? nope that shitty little inkbrush can fend for himself >:( he totally does tho.

yakumo: also a shooter main, favors the high-fire weapons (like n-zap. especially n-zap. vanilla and ‘89.). admittedly gets a little serotonin boost from eiden grabbing a sippy from his tacticooler and thanking him :3

edmond: DEFINITELY a splatana main (uses wiper a bit more often though). has 5-starred both wiper and stamper. he’s kinda scary with it. also a former inkbrush main but not really

olivine: roller main! mains vanilla carbon and big swig, he’s definitely one of those sneaky carbon players who just appear out of nowhere and whack you silly. uses octobrush as a secondary main.

quincy: roller main 2 electric boogaloo! (least troublesome weapon) mainly plays dynamo roller (fuckhuge roller for a fuckhuge man) but also dabbles with the krak-on splat roller. usually stays out of sight and back of line, cept when he’s playing kraken.

kuya: E-Liter Motherfucker Supreme™ mainly plays chargers (and mini splatling, surprisingly), mains the aforementioned e-liter (definitely uses respawn punisher.) he’s very slippery. uses the default flip out emote just to fuck with ppl (eiden) after relentlessly tagging them

garu: mains shooters and sloshers! specifically .56 gal and vanilla slosher. the bucket is just fun to play, but he REALLY shines with the .56! he can’t spin it on his fingers unfortunately like some of the cooler squids do 😭

karu: shooters are lame. blasters are DEFINITELY a choice the great master karu would make though! range blaster is his go-to, followed by rapid pro and vanilla blaster.

blade: brellas! he regularly uses them to shield darling <3 any specific favorite? all of them! but splat brella has the cutest pattern <3 he favors the tetra dualies when in assassin mode.

dante: also a slosher main, but favors explosher and sloshing machine especially. esp machine that’s his go-to. smartest booyah bomb user /srs also uses goo tuber as a secondary main.

i cannot control the hyperfixation; here’s what weapons i think the nukani guys would main. in this essay i will

[gotitmeme-orized]

Scars

It became clear, very swiftly, that the two of them had bitten off more than they could chew.  Apprentices to the great Ansem the Wise.  Despite the dark goings-on that they had discovered that fateful day, it did not seem like such a dangerous field.  After all, the would simply become scholars.  While Lea might have found the prospect of burying himself in old tomes and scrolls every day positively horrifying, it was hardly the end of the world as they knew it.  How could either of them had expected that everything would change, literally in a heartbeat.

The true Ansem the Wise was banished, in his place the shell of his former apprentice held sway.  Xemnas. Empty shells.  Nobodies.  All that remained of those who held powerful hearts, once those hearts became lost to the darkness.  If they wanted to continue their search, to find her, then they would need to follow this man, if man he could be called.  As the two newest recruits, they were regarded with little trust.  Everyone knew of the two local brats who had taken to sneaking into the Castle. The question was, how to change their minds?  To prove that he and Lea could stand toe to toe with the group of powerful beings who now stared them down.

 “And how do we know these two got what it takes?  They're newbies.”  Xigbar scoffed, voicing the concerns that echoed in his mind.  The new leader, Xemnas, inclined his head, unnerving gold eyes fixed on Isa.  No.  Saix.  The new name this creature had bestowed upon him.  Xemnas did not speak, but it was clear from that gaze he expected an answer, and swiftly.  Should that answer not be to his liking, Isa... Saix... couldn't help but think their dismissal wouldn't be a simple toss out of the castle gates, as it had been in the past.  No.  Those cold gazes told him everything.

They had a goal, and now the posts had been moved.  His gaze met Lea's.  No... Axel's.  They had to prove that they were loyal, that they could be trusted.  Isa's olivine hues swept from his friend's and up to the lupine gold of their Superior's.  He had to make them believe that the old him was truly gone, and that their new goal, to delve into the heart's darkness, was truly his own.  

No, not just that.  He couldn't simply be another one of them, not if they wanted answers.  Saix had to prove that he was worthy of rising up in the ranks, even as the five before him had seniority.  How to show them?  Spontaneity was not his MO.  Saix preferred to think things through first, to plan every move.  Of the two of them, he was level-headed, as cool as the moon's light.  It was Lea, Axel who acted on impulse, fiery as the sun. Deep green eyes flicked to brilliant emerald.  What would Axel do? The other was as wild and unpredictable as his flames.  Something idiotic and flashy, something that grabbed the attention of everyone around him.

Screw it all.  A pocket-knife sat on the console, left by one of the other's human selves.  Before he had time to think himself out of it, his fingers curled around the implement, turning the blade on himself.  He heard the sharp intake of breath from Axel, but did not stop.

It burned.  

He might not be human now, might not have a heart, nor bleed, but the pain was real.  White teeth clenched, eyes blazing, no sound but a resolved growl deep in the back of his throat as the blade flicked twice, leaving crossed slashes across his face.  Nobodies did not bleed like humans.  There was something, a dark ichor that rose in smoky clouds around him.  It felt the same as bleeding, a stinging dampness, but there was no metallic tang in his mouth as the darkness fell around him.  

Axel stared at him in horror, moving to step forward, hand outstretched.  Saix snarled again, raising the blade to halt his friend's motion.  “Is this proof enough?”  He gazed wildly at the Superior.  “The sigil that binds us all.  That shows we have abandoned the past utterly.  I will wear it so all can see.”  With that he turned, leaving the others staring in his wake. Not one moved to stop him, but a stolen look to his side revealed the ghost of a smile on the Superior's lips.  

**********

“What the HELL, Isa?”  Axel burst into his room, wild eyed.

“Saix.”  He scowled, trying unsuccessfully to push the other's hands away from his hastily patched wound.  “And you're Axel.  Get it memorized, idiot.”  A huff left his lips, and he gave up trying to stop his friend's concerned doting.  “We're part of this Organization now.  It's bigger now than what we first thought.”

“Yeah but...  You scarred your own face. You...”  Saix could see the tears welling up in his green eyes.

“Axel.”  He took a deep breath. “It's not for them.”

“What?”

“This mark.”  He raised a hand, fingers tracing along the edge of the bandage.  “You heard what they said.  Nobodies don't have emotions.  What we have now, it's just those memories.  What's going to happen when we've been like this for months?  Years?  What will we forget?  Maybe not just our emotions.”  He reached out, fingers brushing away some of his friend's tears, voice dropping to barely a whisper.  “This X is for her.  It will be here, every day.  Whatever the Organization has planned, it will not eclipse our goal.  But to accomplish that, we must be what they ask of us.  They cannot know.  You saw their eyes.”

Axel glared, drawing a shaky breath. Saix gave him a weak grin, lowering his head to press his forehead against the others, despite the dull pain pulsing through his injury. Maybe it was this Nobody form, but it seemed already the sensations were fading.  “We agreed.  I'll rise to the top.  But I cannot do it alone.  I need you.  You're strong, Lea.”  The old name rolled off his tongue before he could stop it.

“Yeah, yeah.  I got it,” he grumbled.  “And like ya said, it's Axel.  I'll be your go-to guy. The best spy in this damn place.  I'll show those losers, they're gonna burn out long before I do.  But this.”  He raised his head, moving to shift some stray hair back from Saix's wound.  “You're going to change for them.”

“No, I'm not. Any more than you are, dumbass.  Like you'd ever become anyone but your loud, annoying, fiery self.  You just need to stop being a crybaby.”  The quip earned him a punch in the shoulder.  “Hmm... I have an idea.” Pushing past the redhead, he rooted around in one of the drawers until he came up with a purple marker.  He turned, a glint in his eyes.

“Hey Axel.”  Saix didn't really wait for a response before gripping his friend's jaw, holding him in place while wielding the marker threateningly.

“Wh... whrr oo 'oin?”  The other boy sputtered indignantly, glaring daggers at Saix.

“Stop squirming, you're going to make them uneven,” he admonished, focused on his work.  “There.” Axel stared at him for a moment before moving to the mirror.  His fingers traced along the new markings.  “Wow, ya suck at drawing. They're upside down.  Don't quit your day job.”

“I know.” He swatted at the back of Axel's head.  “It's on purpose.  They're upside down, so the tears won't fall.  When you feel your eyes burn, remember those marks.” He crossed his arms, eyes fixed on his own reflection.  Now, they both had reminders.  They would blend in with the others, standing out all the while.  “Starting today, we're part of this Organization XIII.  Numbers VII and VIII. Very well.  We can play their game.”

[lostchoice-blog]

Pokemon Verse

its here fellas

Trainer Notes !

His homeland is the Johto region and he grew up in Ecruteak City, however growing up he would occasionally leave the city and go visit Olivine City because it’s right there and he was always curious about where the routes led to. He’s all too familiar with the burned tower and its story and its one of his favorite parts about the city, the top of the tower is where he usually chills at

Gym battles aren’t his main priority, which is why badges kinda stops at Morty’s gym. He’s more interested in traveling and seeing the sights, however does the gym battles when he feels like it for the experience and to have fun with the challenges

He calls himself a traveler but truth is he’s pretty laidback, not showing too much interest in leaving the region or having a ‘proper’ journey. He stays at his home or leaves the city from time to time to check out other places in Johto but never really too far unless he has a reason to / he has someone to go with

His treehouse is hidden in the trees near Bellchime Trail, he and his father built it there with his father’s promise that it’ll be close enough to Ho-Oh so it can protect Larry. It remains his safe place and hides there away from others when he needs to be alone

Despite his love for Ho-oh he’s a lot more interested in Lugia and wants to one day meet the guardian of the seas due to the fact Lugia is more of a mystery to him than Ho-Oh is, sorry dad

Once he was old enough / okay enough to travel that far he’ll occasionally go to the daycare to help out and care for the Pokemon that are in there, not minding the distance because hanging out with the tiny creatures makes it worth it

On top of that he knows how to bake, especially Pokemon treats and he’s more than willing to share

His method of catching Pokemon more involves letting the ‘mon do what it wants, he doesn’t throw anything at it right away, but prefers to get close to it and befriend it. If he thinks it wants to join him he’ll set a Pokeball down and let it decide. So more often than not he’ll have a few critters following him around that aren’t officially caught yet. Despite this he calls his team more of a family and he treats them as his friends above anything else, since battling others isn’t on top of the list of things he wants to do all the time

He loves his Pokemon dearly; often pampering them by playing with them, feeding them treats, and essentially giving them whatever they wanted. They’re family to them, and hopes that he can protect them the best he can just like they would to him. Despite they’re outside sweet demeanor though he won’t shy away from training them and teaching them ways to defend themselves if the situation were to arise

He’s not scared of Team Rocket, he calls them cowards if anything, he’ll fight them if he has to especially if its involving protecting someone or something from them

He’s team Valor because its the best team I dont take criticism

Mon Notes !

Cinnamon / lvl 30 / m

Agility ● Slam ● Shadow Ball ● Surf

He’s considered to be Larry’s first Pokemon. The two met back when Cinnamon was just a Sentret, and it was like love at first sight. They both immediately clicked and Larry would spend countless hours playing with and talking to the little guy. To this day Cinnamon is considered his best friend and remains by his side through thick and thin.

He’s considered Larry’s partner pokemon, he’s never inside a Pokeball and can always been seeing riding Larry’s shoulders or walking beside him. That’s mostly because he never actually caught him, Cinnamon has just always stayed with him so there wasn’t never any need to officially catch him. Because he doesn’t have an assigned Pokeball he sports a musical note necklace in a similar way as a collar, so Larry can easily pick out who he was and because it was just a nice gift to give to his friend

Cinnamon has a wild personality. Constantly having energy and sneaking away to hide in nooks and crannies and not hesitating to taking anything he can gets his hands on. He’s extremely attached to his trainer and would often push away others with his itty bitty strength if they get too close to him. He enjoys being the center of attention and loves to be given pets and cuddles and treats, it won’t be rare for him to deliver a loud ‘chirp’ to get eyes to focus on him or for him to nudge someone’s hand to get them to give him a scratch. The friendly yet protective leader of the pack, he’ll also be vocal about when things don’t feel right, and it’d be one of the rare times he’d growl if he finds someone or something suspicious

Marigold / lv 31 / m

Smokescreen ● Flame Wheel ● Quick Attack ● Leer

This a one that Larry actually went all the way to the professor for. After Cinnamon started to be less of the ‘wild’ slot and more into one that he took care of and was part of the team that a part of him felt bad that Cinnamon didn’t have someone else to spend time with. Especially another Pokemon to call a friend. So with the goal to give him a playmate, Larry went all the way to the lab to pick up one of the starters that was advertised to be someone’s actual first Pokemon. A pokedex was offered as well, but he just wanted a new ‘mon. Out of all three starters the Cyndaquil was what caught his eye first, and that was that

Cinnamon and Marigold are like brothers, and Cinnamon is the only other member that Marigold is fine with being around with. Marigold is a lot more on guard, and has issues with ‘attack first ask questions later’. However he has his sweet side, and is a cuddler when he genuinely warms up to someone and trusts them. He has a tendency to escape from his Pokeball to show his face and say hello, more often than not he does this because he wants to hang out with Larry and Cinnamon and see the surroundings, so he doesn’t get called back unless he wants to cause trouble.

Hoot / lv 30 / f

Confusion ● Hypnosis ● Psychic ● Aerial Ace

She was once Larry’s stalker, as he liked to put it, because at some point she suddenly showed up in the city and would constantly follow his every mood. Of course it would never phase him, if anything he would just drop food on the ground just in case she was hungry and to show that he didn’t want to harm her. 6 times out of 10 she would swoop down to take the free food and then go back to doing what she was doing. This was a routine that Larry got stuck in the middle in for many nights, until she dropped to the ground suffering from an injured wing. Immediately he wanted to help her, but she continued to back off and keep her distance. Despite the hesitation seeing Cinnamon and Marigold be so close to him brought her comfort and she allowed them all to get close. Soon enough Larry had a wild owl in his house.

Once she was fully healed Larry took her to the usual spot where she watched him from and waited for her to head back into the wild. However, she stayed put, and instead stared at him. Her message was clear, she wasn’t going anywhere, yet when a ball was offered she instead knocked it away. She liked him, but she wasn’t going to join him that easily and wanted to show her recovery and see his skill in a fight.

Of course Marigold was more than willing to do it, she was strong but he got the upper hand. Her final move was to knock into Larry himself to unlock a Pokeball. The Noctowl was his.

She continues to be quiet and keep to herself, constantly glaring at others simply because she isn’t a people person. Unless that person was Larry, who is the only person where she would perch on top of the head of with no hesitation. Once or twice she’ll show affection in her own ways, which is usually a headbutt or her sharing pieces of her own food. Due to him saving her life she has vowed to help Larry in every which way she can while also devoting her life to protect the reset of the team. She’s the mother of the group so to speak, the quiet terrifying mother who constantly tries to keep everyone else out of trouble. She’s a battler at heart, and won’t back down from a fight.

Midnight / lv 30 / m

Screech ● Toxic ● Psychic ● Shadow Ball

Eevees aren’t always the most common ‘mon, so to find one just wandering around felt like it was just too easy to get. Turns out the Eevee was abandoned, tossed aside into the woods after its trainer deemed it too weak and not worth making the effort to take care of. Because of this, it would constantly run off at the sight of any human being and would much prefer to keep to itself. It didn’t take long for Larry to understand his pattern, so he would instead leave food out for it close to his hiding spots and then leave.Usually, he wouldn’t take the food, but one day when he came back to check on it the food bowl was empty, and an Eevee slowly approached him out of the bushes.

It took a few more weeks to fully gain the Eevee’s trust, but once he did he saw that he was a playful creature and enjoyed chasing anything that moved to try and play hunter. Larry was the only person the Eevee was perfectly comfortable with being around, however he never followed him home and still liked to hide in the bushes. During a visit, the Eevee was given a Soothe Bell as another peace offering, which the Eevee happily accepted.

Soon after the Eevee evolved right in front of him, it was late at night when this happened, earning the name Midnight. Midnight pawed at him, knowing that there was an empty slot on the team that was reserved for him and he was finally ready to take it.

Midnight continues to be playful, his favorite toy being a laser pointer that he can chase around and never get tired. Another favorite toy item is the Soothe Bell that’s ties around his neck, he often paws at it to hear its jingles whenever he’s bored and never lets the item out of his sight, viewing the bell as some sort of special safety blanket. He continues to be extremely wary of other humans, constantly sticking close to Larry whenever someone approaches and instinctively growls at them to let them know to not mess with either of them. He’s grown a level of confidence that he didn’t have when he was an Eevee, enjoying battles that he participates in and likes to stand up tall to protect his family. He’s a loyal and observant Pokemon, and wants to prove himself strong.

Chomp / lv 3 / f

Tackle ● Sand Attack

The Gible was actually a gift egg, the owners having offered the mysterious egg to Larry knowing that he would care for it to the best of his ability. Apparently the old owner was a trainer from the Sinnoh region, but had returned to SInnoh without picking the egg back up, leaving it behind. After days of them never returning the egg became Larry’s, and he panicked. He had never taken care of an egg before but he trusted himself to know he wasn’t just going to break it on purpose. The other members were happy to have a baby in the party, and Marigold served as the egg’s main source of heat because he constantly curled up next to it.

It took a hassle, but the egg finally hatched into a baby Gible. She bit Larry immediately, but he knew it wasn’t out of malicious and more because she was a baby who got too excited. It won’t be the last of those bites, but Chomp was finally born.

Being the baby of the group, Chomp was the team member that everyone in the vicinity vowed to die for. Because she’s just a baby in needing to experience the outside world, she’s rarely inside her pokeball, almost as often as Cinnamon is. He’s constantly carrying her around and doesn’t let her out of her sight, she only gets called back whenever he can’t carry her around anymore for the day or he’s going to go somewhere where its not safe for her to be out. She’s a curious and playful baby Pokemon who bites and chases anything that moves. It’s her own way of having fun, seeing as how cheerful she really is. She tries to act tough though, and would jump out of Larry’s arms in occasion to join in on the fight. That’s another instance where she would get called back into the ball.

Pepper / lv 40 / f

Icy Wind ● Slash ● Agility ● Shadow Ball

Larry would never in his life sneak his way out and attempt to go to Mt. Silver itself. Then he actually did.

It was a dare, and one that of course he was not going to back down from despite it being a near impossible challenge. He traveled far, but ended up being unable to go up the mountain anyways since it was a closed location only the best of the best can enter. Viewing his current location as being close enough and calling the dare a win, he turned around and headed for the long journey home, unaware that someone else decided to follow him.

Cinnamon immediately picked up that they were being followed and showed hostility at whatever it was that tried to get too close. In that moment a Sneasel finally popped out. Her mischevious nature was clear, and it attempted to steal from the pair, but was immediately stopped by Cinnamon. She retreated back, but she was obviously not going anywhere. Not seeing the Sneasel as a pure threat, he tossed some food down and continued walking.

She popped out again when he was close to home, but this time gives a warning swipe, wanting a fight. They both gave her what he wanted, with Cinnamon being the one who battles her because by that point he was sick and tired of her and didn’t appreciate her following them around. They both gave a good fight, enough for the both of them to suffer from cuts and bruises. The Sneasel was too stubborn to give up and it was only until it collapsed from fatigue that Cinnamon was declared the winner. Once he was rewarded with a berry to get his strength back up, Larry turned his attention to the exhausted Sneasel and treated her with potions and berries too. It felt a little better afterwards, and showed her appreciation for his kindness and the fight by clinging to his leg until the Pokeball was offered.

Pepper is stubborn and quick to fight, often wanting to be the first in line to prove her strength in a battle. She’s constantly finding ways to get into trouble, whether it be challenging random wild Pokemon or stealing from strangers. This is simply her way of having fun and doesn’t seem the harm in doing what she wants to do. Even if she wants to be the problem child, her loyalty to Larry and the team is easy to see, and won’t go against orders when she sees the situation is serious and she’s needed. Pepper also has a soft side of her own, many of the objects she steals are often so she can give them to other rather than keeping them for no good reason.

[morganaux]

🤱What sort of person was Morganaux's mother like? What was her name?

Morganaux had two mothers: Diwata and Olivine!

Diwata:

Diwata was a Sharlayan sage and researcher who studied medicine along with her identical twin brother, Guildivain. (Yes, that guy from the Sage quests. They don't look identical, but that's because the quest dialogue states that he altered his appearance in order to evade capture.) While her brother had little regard for ethics when it came to their shared research, Diwa was always respectful of living beings and put their comfort and safety first. It was for that reason that she turned her back on him, fleeing Sharlayan with her share of the research and sneaking into Ishgard to start a new life.

There, she made little effort to fit into Ishgardian society, mostly keeping to herself and being seen as an eccentric. That, however, ended up catching the eye of the woman she would fall in love with, and the two of them would have made great strides in the study of medicinal herbs and aetherology, had fate been kinder to them.

Olivine:

Olivine was a lady of House Roulemet, a once proud highborn family known for producing several talented goldsmiths a few generations ago. As such, most trueborn Roulemets were given names based on gemstones, and although their elaborate jewelry and rosaries fell out of fashion over the years, they were rarely seen without their baubles.

But flowers were Olivine's passion, and it was the blossom of a muscmaloi plant that caught her eye and caused her to meet Diwata. While most Ishgardians would have refused to associate with an outsider, Olivine was fascinated by the Sharlayan researcher and would end up becoming her assistant in cultivating and studying the aether-fortifying herb. And eventually, the two would fall in love.

This did not go over well with her family, who intended to marry her off to a wealthier family in hopes that the arrangement would restore their reputation. Olivine was firm in her decision to be with Diwata, even when threatened with disownment, though the Sharlayan woman would meet an untimely end less than a year later, supposedly having fallen down a flight of stairs on an icy day.

With child and knowing full well that her family had something to do with Diwata's sudden death, Olivine started making arrangements of her own to leave Ishgard and seek independence, putting her newfound interest in herbs and medicine to use and studying to become an apothecary. However, she needed a roof over her head to raise her child, so she remained at the Roulemet Manor during her years of studying.

Her decision to stay would ultimately be her undoing when Diwata's past came looking for her, spelling the end for House Roulemet.

[pkmnomegaverse]

Do you know anything yet about some of the new/newly named fankids? Just trivia is fine!

Lynn

- Childhood best friends with Rosette. She the chipper extrovert to Rosette’s sullen introvert, although the two still get along surprisingly well despite this. While Rosette would rather just stay at home, Lynn is always pushing for the two of them to travel and explore together. More often than not, they go with Lynn’s idea, since Rosette finds it easier to just go along with what others suggest.

- Lynn is partly responsible for Rosette getting her Tangel/Gelanla. When the two are around 8, a rumor springs up about an odd, never-before-seen Pokemon showing up in Ilex Forest. Lynn becomes fixed on the idea of them finding this new Pokemon so she insists they sneak into Ilex Forest to look for it.

- Her character was basically added to be a support/friend for Rosette. If Rosette had her way, she’d never leave Goldenrod, so Lynn is there to get her out traveling. Once Lonan makes an appearance, she’s also the one that encourages interaction between them (aka she’s Rosette’s Ultimate Wingman).

- Chuck actually still remains married to his current in-game wife despite the affair, so she acts as a step-mother to Lynn. The two get along well enough, but Lynn definitely prefers staying in Olivine with Jasmine.

Gunnar

- Does not get along with his father, Bruno, at all. He doesn’t act out or get angry at him, but he maintains a distant politeness with him (and as that’s basically how his father treats him, the two don’t have much of a relationship). The situation is more complicated than this, but his main resentment towards Bruno has to do with how he’s rarely, if ever, around as well as how he treats Bugsy.

- He’s a very quiet person in general and mostly keeps to himself. He trains Bug Pokemon like Bugsy and has plans to maybe take over as the Azalea Gym Leader some day.

- If I continue the theme of a good chuck of the Johto kids getting beta Pokemon from the Gen 2 demo, he gets the evolved form of Pinsir, Plux.  I thought Plux looks a bit scary with that blank mask for a face, which fits aspects of Gunnar, being as stoic as he is.

- He has some interaction with Hale, particularly when they’re little, but they can really only be considered acquaintances. Maybe childhood friends if we stretch the definition. They’re roughly the same age, only being a few months apart, so their parents (Ethan and Bugsy) arranged play-dates between them as children.  In an AU where Lance hadn’t ‘died’ and been around to raise Hale, the two would have become good friends. 

Xenica

- Gunnar’s little sister who’s abducted when she’s just a baby. She’s mainly abducted because there’s a bunch of sadistic assholes in Team Cross and it’s as punishment/deterrent to the Elite 4 to stop investigating their group. The Elite 4 don’t take the death of Lance lightly, and there’s a strong push from them (and all of Kanto/Johto really) to find whoever is responsible.  Bruno gets the closest to uncovering anything useful, so they abduct one of his children to act as a deterrent to others to stop (the group moves regions shortly after this anyway though, so it’s really just needless cruelty on their part). They don’t fake her death, but as no one knows what happened to her and they have no reason to assume she hasn’t been killed, she’s eventually declared dead.

- So goes through a similar hybridization process as Lance and Kris. While I’m not sure what Pokemon she’ll be combined with yet, it’d be some sort of bug Pokemon.

- She’s very chipper and flighty, despite everything.  As she literally doesn’t know anything but Team Cross, she’s not upset about her situation.  She has almost no knowledge of what the outside world is like and whenever she’s sent on ‘missions’ she always has to have a teammate and a handler.  She’s paired with Kris a lot.

- Since she’s so flighty, she’s prone to absentmindedly wandering off, which is how some of the other fankid end up meeting her (for sure Penel and Feng who are traveling together at the time, but possibly others).  Since she does interact some with Lance as well, she really likes Penel because they have a similar scent.  It was the similar scent that made her initially wander towards Penel’s group.

Yumi

- Her name is still very much a placeholder (whereas the above three are set), so maybe it will change to something like Yume/Yumiko?

- She takes a lot more after Will than Karen and loves Psychic Pokemon.  She wants to be just like her father one day and thinks the mask thing he has going when he battles is the coolest thing.  Karen is a bit chagrined by the whole thing, but still encourages her daughter to wear what she wants.

- She really likes Uncle Lucian for his psychic abilities as well and gets along well with her cousin.

- She inherits Karen’s silvery blue hair and Will’s purple eyes.

[twxntrash]

The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn’t It? Ch. 15

The car came to a slow stop, parking beside a line of shops downtown. There weren’t too many people out and about on the sidewalk or in the stores. The sun was shining brightly above in contrast to the rainstorm the city got hit with last night. All traces of the rain were gone, the sidewalk dry and not a wet spot to be seen.

Lapis gnawed on her lower lip as her fingers tapped on the steering wheel at a staccato tempo. Glancing over to the blonde in the passenger seat, she felt a bit of worry twist in her gut. “I could drive you all the way home, it won’t be a problem,” she offered and then, after a moment of thought, “I could call your mom, too, say that we’re running a bit late to give you more time away from her.” It was painfully clear that Peridot didn’t want to have to deal with her mom at all today and Lapis wanted to do what she could to help her out here.

The girl shifted uneasily in her chair and shook her head, “No… that’ll only make things so much worse,” she said. “Here is fine, um, thank you.”

The artist offered a weak smile as she reached over to take a hold of Peridots hand in her own, “Okay, got it. Just text me when you can so I know everything’s okay,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the back of Peridot’s hand in a soothing manner, “it’s going to be okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“Easy for you to say,” Peridot said with a sardonic smile, “You’ve never met her before. She sounded pissed.”

“You’re going to be okay,” Lapis pressed again, looking her right in the eyes. “Just, come here, get over here,” she took hold of Peridot by the shoulder, leaning over the middle piece of the car as she drew Peridot closer. She pressed her forehead against Peridots for a moment and then leaned closer to give her a gentle kiss on her lips.

Peridot melted into the soft kiss, bringing her hands up to bury themselves in Lapis’ blue hair as she pressed against the woman’s lips in return, eyes fluttering closed. Lapis could taste her, she tasted like--amazing, cherry lip balm and a hint of mint toothpaste from this morning. She moved her hand to cup the back of Peridot’s neck, her mouth complying gently against Peridot’s own trembling lips. Just like their first, they could feel the electricity rushing through them. She didn’t want the kiss to ever end.

The kiss felted like an eternity but lasted only a few seconds before Lapis drew back with a kind smile on her face.

“Go on, get out of here,” she said, giving Peridot a playful shove on her shoulder, “Whatever happens when you get home, don’t let it get to you and just call me later, okay?”

Peridot nodded slowly, leaning in to kiss her once more. Lapis complied easily, happily even. “Try not to drink anymore when you get home, okay?” Lapis said as she pulled away, grinning a little, “I don’t want to have to find you drunk again, I much rather prefer you sober.”

The younger of them blushed brightly, “Trust me. No more alcohol,” she said, shaking her head as she spoke, “I’m lucky the headache and hangover aren't too bad.”

“You lucked out, I wish I was that lucky my first time drinking.”

Peridot offered a little smile, sneaking one last kiss before she grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car. “I’ll talk to you later!” she yelled, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and waving Lapis goodbye.

The teacher waited a few seconds, waving back, blowing a kiss before she drove away.

Waiting for a little while, Peridot stayed on the sidewalk until Lapis was out of sight. When she saw the car turn the corner, she heaved a sigh. Her energy from the kiss gone rather quickly now that Lapis wasn’t there anymore. She adjusted her grip on her bag as she turned on the sidewalk and looked the way opposite of her way home.

She could just walk somewhere else. Maybe avoid meeting with her mother altogether. No… no like she told Lapis, it would only make things worse. Her mother was likely going to be in a poor mood, to begin with, if she made her wait any longer before coming home, her mother could very well fly into a fury of some kind.

The risks greatly outweighed the rewards when her mother was involved.

She could feel a shudder up her spine just thinking of how angry her mother could be. She was lucky enough to only see her mother angry, truly angry, just a few number of times. It just, it wasn’t a risk she wanted to take, it wasn’t something she wanted to face.

With trepidation and fear deeply seeded in her heart, Peridot began the walk home.

It didn’t take very long. Twenty minutes at most before Peridot made it home. She could see her mother’s fancy and a sleek black car parked right in the driveway. Her fear grew as she tried not to give in to her instinct to just flee. Slipping in through the door, she left her shoes at the doorway and quietly made her way into her own home. Though at the moment it felt like an execution room rather than a home now that mother dearest was home.

She padded in quietly, hoping that maybe her mother had gone out and the car was just there to deceive her. But that was proven wrong when Peridot stepped into the living room and was met with sharp yellow eyes. Her mother's face was upturned into a frown, brows narrowed down with clear displeasure on her face. She was seated on the couch, still dressed in one of her business outfits and her legs crossed as she held a glass of wine in one of her hands.

It wasn’t even noon yet, and yet her mother had already cracked open a bottle of wine. Who knew how much of it she had already drunk. That was always the first sign that things were not going to be good for Peridot.

Her mother was the exact opposite of Peridot. She was tall, standing well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a sharp jaw. Her hair was short, but unlike Peridot’s own short mess of hair, her’s was kept in control, tamed and perfected. Her eyes were always cold, always angry or disinterested. It was sometimes hard to believe that they were related. Diane Diamante; Yellow Diamond was a hard person, firm and strong while Peridot was soft, weak and malleable. Traits that had gotten her no end of criticism and verbal lashings from her mother.

“Peridot,” Diane Diamante-Olivine greeted. Her voice was cold, an authoritative, distant tone like she was talking to some distasteful employee she was eager to be rid of. It lacked any sort of warmth one would expect a mother to hold after seeing her only daughter again after months of being apart. It showed just how little Peridot likely meant to Diane in that one word and tone.

It sent shivers up Peridots spine.

The girl in question quietly stepped forward, further into the living room like she was walking into a lion's den. Moving like an obedient, timid puppy with its tail tucked between its legs. Her head was ducked down, staring at the floor and unable to look her mother in the face lest whatever assurance she had would crumble. She could feel shame rushing through her, not that she knew what it was she was ashamed of. Just that she knew that she must have done something wrong that her mother expected her to feel shame for.

“Chin up!” the tall woman barked and Peridot felt herself flinch at the raised voice. “I’ve told you time and time again about that horrid posture of yours! Straighten your back and don’t you dare look at the ground when I’m talking to you,” she ordered.

She did as she told, but looking up at her mother’s face, the clear dislike on her expression, Peridot felt something awful twisting in her gut. Dread and guilt. Dread for what was bound to be coming and guilt for whatever it was that she had done wrong. She swallowed, her hands shaking just a little.

Her mother did not break eye contact as she took her wine glass and gave herself a long sip of the dark red liquid. She waited for a second, and then another. It felt like she was sizing Peridot up, weighing her worth and her everything as she stared at her own daughter. After what felt like eons, she reached over with her free hand to a small pile of papers stacked nicely beside her. She picked them up and held them out to the small blond. Holding them between her fingertips lightly as though she were holding something filthy that she wanted to touch as little as possible.

“Mind explaining to me what this is all about?”

Her question was cold, but Peridot could just fear the traces of anger in her voice. She carefully stepped closer to take the papers from her mother, to read them over as Diane drank from her glass of wine.

They were papers from the school.

More specifically. They were Peridot’s grades and notes from some of her teachers.

She could feel in that instant her heart drop and her own death sentence being written out as she saw what some of her teachers had said and what her grades were. She could feel her mother staring at her with judging eyes as the papers shook in her hands. Her grades were supposed to be A’s all the time. Every grade had to be an A. Her mother would accept nothing less from Peridot, she barely accepted straight A’s.

Peridot’s grades had dropped. Quite a bit.

She had several B’s, a couple of C’s and just one lone A. There were copies of her quiz and test scores as well, and she had gotten mostly C’s on them as of late. Her teachers had left notes about how Peridot had been spacing out quite a lot recently, was clearly not paying attention in her classes. Little observations they’d made of her drop in performance.

No wonder her mother was so displeased today.

“I hope you have an explanation for this,” Yellow Diamond said slowly, “and it had better be a good one. I had to drive all the way back home because of this, wasted time and money that you’ve caused.”

Peridot ducked her head down but quickly looked back up at her mother could snap at her again, “I… um, there’s been a l-lot,” she began, stammering in her nervous state.

Her mother cut her off again with a pointed look, “Quit that stuttering of yours! You’re a grown woman, not a babbling child!”

She barely held back a yelp in response, furiously nodding her head as she swallowed. “There’s been a lot of, I’ve been overwhelmed a lot this semester,” she said. It wasn’t a lie, but not quite true either. “Classes are getting harder and I was having trouble staying afloat with a lot that’s happening. That’s why I was studying with a friend last night.”

Her mother stared at her, taking a sip of her wine before standing up. She easily towered over Peridot, and the way she looked down on her made Peridot feel even smaller than she already was.

“Your recent behavior is unacceptable,” she said slowly. “I will not have an idiot for a daughter, you know this.” the words cut through Peridot and she allowed herself to look at the ground, guilt, and shame growing stronger in her. Her mother watched her for a few seconds before she continued on talking, “Since you’ve become incapable of managing your own schedule and handling school on your own, I’m having my assistant stay here and keep you in line until your grades come back up and your behavior improves.”

Peridot looked up at that, confusion rushing through her, “I… what? Your assistant?” she asked her slowly.

Yellow Diamond nodded and began walking away to the kitchen, to put her wine glass in the sink no doubt, or perhaps to refill it. “Yes. She will be here shortly, she had business back in Empire City to take care of. I’m giving her a paid leave of absence while she babysits you,” she explained, Peridot following her on her heels, “She will be reporting back to me if you do anything… displeasing. So you are to be on your best behavior.”

Her mother dumped the glass into the sink and brushed past Peridot as she went to retrieve her coat, “I have a company to run so I’ll be off. I want you to bring your grades back to A’s before this term is over. You understand?” She said and as she slipped her heels back on, she lingered at the door, “Oh, and one more thing. That friend of yours… Bobby, was it?” she asked.

Peridot perked up at that, “The one I was with last night?” she asked her, “Um… what about her?”

“I don’t want you spending time with her. Or that Amethyst girl either. They’ll only get in the way of your studies and they’re not worth your time anyway. I’d advise you to cut your ties with them.”

With that, the door slammed shut and Peridot was alone in her home once again.

She could feel her heart racing like she had just run a marathon. Her body felt cold, it was shaking with the adrenaline and fear that always resulted when she had these brief meetings with her mother. She wanted to laugh, her mother had only spoken to her for five minutes and then she was going back to work. Taking a deep breath, she moved to the living room and collapsed onto the couch.

That was… terrifying for her.

Rolling over, she held out her phone and opened up her apps until she found her contacts. A few clicks later and she’d brought up Lapis’ name. She hesitated at the call button and settled on texting as she brought it up and quickly typed up a short message.

(Peridot): Meeting with the mother is done. I’m alive. Somehow.

She watched her phone and it only took a minute before the text bubble popped up and shortly after Lapis’ reply was in there as well.

(Lapis): How’d it go? Are you okay?

The concern that she had, it brought a smile to Peridot’s face. Yeah, it was fine if her mother treated her so distantly, so harshly. At least she had Lapis, right? She could feel butterflies in her stomach as she thought of the woman.

(Peridot): I’m alive

(Peridot): Mother wasn’t too pleased with my grades. I’ve a babysitter now.

Just thinking of that left a bad taste in her mouth. She’d never even met this woman who was her moms new assistant. All she knew of her was what Diane had told her when bragging about the girl. All she could think of what this woman was like was that she was bound to be a miniature version of Yellow Diamond.

(Lapis): Yikes. Well, don’t worry about your grades, you’re still plenty smart

(Peridot): You sure know how to sweet talk a girl, Laz

(Lapis): It’s an art

Peridot laughed a little as she held the phone to her chest. She could feel her earlier fear and anxiety from just minutes ago after talking with her mother easing away. She felt calmer now that she was talking to Lapis. The artist always had that effect on her.  She was so sweet. Peridot really was lucky, wasn’t she?

She took her phone again and started typing up a reply, trying to think of something witty and smooth to bring to Lapis, but was distracted by a knock on the front door. Frowning, she looked over to the door, if that was her mother’s assistant, then that was pretty fast.

(Peridot): BRB someone’s at the door

She slipped her phone back into her pocket and got off the couch. Making her way to the doorway, she hesitated as she touched the knob. Maybe she could pretend no one was home and avoid dealing with this assistant altogether?

No, she would just report it back to her mother, and then she’d have Yellow Diamond breaking down the door.

There wasn’t really any way out of this, was there? Feeling dread bubbling up in the pit of her stomach, she slowly opened the door to the woman on the other side. “Hello, how can I help you?” she said, trying to be polite as she greeted the woman.

The one who was on the other side of the door, she was younger than Lapis by maybe two or three years by the looks of it. She was tall like Pearl and had a similar nose to her as well, though her skin was slightly darker. Her bright blonde hair was styled in an updo and she had a kind of smile that showed all her pearly white teeth.

“Hello! It’s nice to meet you, you must be Peridot Diamante, right?” the woman held out her hand, her smile far too chipper for a first meeting. Peridot didn’t have the guts to correct her that she didn’t like to go by Diamante, and preferred ‘Olivine’. “My name is Marigold, I’m your mother's assistant, and I’ll be helping you out until your grades are up again.”

Peridot awkwardly took hold of her hand, “Um, hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

[pocket-monsters-precure]

Chapter 7: A Granddaughter’s Promise! Asuka’s Kindness!

“Oh, thank goodness…”

Asuka sighed in relief as she approached the Ilex Forest Shrine. With the howling winds being what they were the night before, not to mention the passing storm, she had been worried that a tree had fallen on the old shrine. To her relief, it stood where it always had—soaking wet and with some errant leaves stuck to it, but in one piece.

“…alright. I better head to the ferry, now.”

As she began to walk, she heard the clatter of something falling out of her school bag. She turned, to see her precious trinket had fallen out—a round, compact-like object that refused to open, colored a dull, faded green. She had found it under the shrine just a year before, and had grown very attached to it. She quickly picked it up, sighing in relief that she had noticed, before placing the compact deeper in her bag.

Summoning Togekiss from her pokeball, she took to the skies to head for Olivine City.

–

“Back in olden times, my ancestors were known for magikarp fishing,” Naomi said as she stood before the class—the assignment had been to research family histories as far back as possible. Resting on the teacher’s desk was an old sumi-e style painting of a man pulling a giant magikarp from the sea.

“It was said,” Naomi continued, “That one of my earliest ancestors rescued a golden magikarp tangled in his fishing net, and let it go free, despite his family being low on food. The next day, a giant magikarp was found in his fishing nets, and his family could eat heartily.”

The class applauded, as Naomi took her seat.

“Asuka? Are you ready to present?” Mr. Barton asked.

“Yes, sir,” Asuka replied as she stood up. As she crossed to the front of the room, Fae looked up from checking over her project, spotting something shimmering sticking out of Asuka’s bag. As she squinted and leaned over to get a better look, she let out a small gasp, sitting up straight as Asuka began.

“My family has always been steeped deeply in Johto tradition,” Asuka began, “My ancestors were mainly priests and priestesses, and growing up I was always told about the various folklore and legends that my ancestors chronicled in journals.”

As Asuka went on, Fae carefully pulled out her Cure Dex, opening it to let Rotomi’s face appear on-screen as she pointed it at Asuka’s bag. Rotomi stared for a while, then…

“Wah!”

The class looked up, as Fae hastily shut the Cure Dex and put it away.

“I’msosorrythatwasme!” Fae bowed, then smacked her head on her desk.

–

“Are you sure what you saw?” Naomi asked, incredulous.

“Yes! I think Asuka has a Cure Compact!”

“I’m positive that’s what it is!” Rotomi agreed. The girls had gathered for lunch, and an impromptu meeting.

“Well, in the instance that we’re wrong, we can’t just go up to her and ask her if she’s a Precure,” Kailani reasoned.

“So what do we do?” Naomi asked. Kailani looked down and began to think.

“Well..maybe we can just bring it up as a conversation piece? Fae, just say you noticed it and couldn’t help but wonder what it was.”

“Um…I’m not very good at just starting up conversations…”

“I think you’ll be fine,” Kailani said reassuringly. “You just need to have faith in yourself.”

“I-if you’re really sure…”

“Ask her after school,” Naomi reasoned, “Before she heads home. She commutes to the school, so you’ll have to catch her before she heads for the ferry. I’d join you, but I…kind of have to do some homework I forgot.”

“I’ll join you,” Kailani pat Fae’s shoulder. “I want to see it for myself, anyway.”

–

“Asuka!”

“Hm?” Asuka looked up from packing her bag; classes had let out for the day. Fae gave a shy smile.

“Um…would you like to join us at the snack stand?” Fae asked, as Kailani nodded in agreement.

“Well…” Asuka checked her watch, then smiled. “Sure. I have another hour until the next ferry leaves.”

“G-great!”

As the girls were heading out into the hall, Kailani gave Fae an urging prod with her elbow. Fae took a breath.

“Um…so, in class, I couldn’t help but notice…”

“Notice what?” Asuka looked over, in the middle of digging through her bag for a particular pokeball.

“I saw something shiny sticking out of your bag. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, and it’s…kind of been bothering me,” Fae murmured, poking her fingertips together, “So…”

“Something shiny?” Asuka pulled out the weathered compact. “Do you mean this? I mean, it’s not too shiny, but…”

“Y-yes! That’s the one!” Fae exclaimed, as Rotomi peeked out of her bag to sneak a glance.

“Isn’t it pretty? I found it by the shrine last year.”

“Shrine?”

“Oh, yes,” Asuka ran a finger along the compact idly. “I live in Johto, near Ilex Forest. There’s a shrine to the guardian spirit of the forest there. It’s been there for a long time…I’ve been visiting the shrine since I was a little girl.”

“A guardian spirit, huh?” Kailani grinned. “Like the island guardians back home!”

Asuka suddenly stopped, as she remembered something. “Oh! I almost forgot!”

Asuka pulled a pokeball out of her bag, tossing it lightly in the air as a Scizor emerged.

“Wow, a Scizor!” Fae cried out, “I’ve never seen one up close!”

Scizor eyed the group suspiciously, then fell into step beside Asuka.

“He seems a little…” Kailani began.

“Scizor is a little protective of me,” Asuka admitted, “He always has been…even before I was his trainer.”

“Before you were his trainer?”

“Scizor actually used to belong to my grandfather. We caught him together as a Scyther, when I was around eight years old…”

~

“I’ll need your eyes, Asuka,” Asuka’s grandfather Kazuya smiled down at his granddaughter as they walked into the national park hand in hand. The two had decided to go participate in the bug catching contest together.

“I’ll spot the biggest, prettiest bug ever, Grandpa!” Asuka replied with a wide smile.

“I know you will!”

As the contest went underway, Kazuya stood back with a light grin as Asuka peered into every bush and tree for the perfect pokemon. Eventually…

“Now, Grandpa!” Asuka cried out, pointing to a rustling patch of tall grass. Kazuya responded by hurling the pokeball, catching the emerging Scyther instantly.

“That was a big one, Asuka! You did great!”

~

“Grandpa won second place in the contest, and from then on I always saw Scyther, and eventually Scizor, by his side.” Asuka looked down. “When Grandpa passed away…my grandmother said he wanted me to have Scizor.”

“That’s a wonderful story, Asuka,” Fae replied with a smile, “And while Scizor may seem a little…unapproachable…he’s clearly loyal to you.”

“Thank you,” Asuka returned the smile, then checked her watch. “Well, I best head to the ferry.”

“Oh, we’ll come with you! I wanna see the shrine! We’ll just have to be on time to catch the ferry back to the island!” Kailani declared. “…if you’ll have us.”

“Certainly. I don’t have any other plans today, and I’m sure my parents and grandmother won’t mind.”

–

“Johto is definitely way different from Alola…” Kailani observed as the trio was walking toward Ilex Forest, having walked from Ecruteak and through Goldenrod, “The air itself seems different.”

“It’s not too different from Kanto,” Fae replied, “But the architecture and culture are more steeped in tradition in some parts, compared to Kanto.”

“That’s true,” Asuka agreed, as they reached the forest entrance, “Please stay close as we go in; the forest is thick and it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know the way.”

“Got it!” Kailani replied, only to bump into Scizor. As she stepped back, the bug pokemon responded with a steely-eyed glare over his shoulder before continuing ahead.

The air grew cooler as the group entered the forest, shaded by the dense treetops. Asuka took the lead in front of Scizor, carefully parting brush and ducking low branches. Fae practically clung to Kailani’s arm anxiously, flinching at every branch and twig that brushed against her.

“Almost there…” Asuka parted a bush with a wide smile. “And…here! …hm?”

Ataxia stood in front of the shrine, nostrils flared in disdain.

“What a tacky old thing,” she mused, “If I were a forest guardian, I would smite everything in the immediate vicinity.”

“Who are you?” Asuka spoke up. Kailani narrowed her eyes, as Fae whimpered anxiously. Ataxia turned, then scowled as she noticed Kailani.

“So, we meet again!”

“You know her!?” Asuka looked to Kailani. Scizor immediately stepped in front of Asuka, raising a pincer threateningly. Ataxia raised a finger toward the sky.

“What perfect timing…Nega-Evolution! Come here!”

The ground shook. Kailani and Fae clung to each other. Another violent quake caused a tree to fall between the group, separating Asuka and Scizor from Fae and Kailani.

“NEGA-POM!” A voice boomed, as a large, nega-evolved Aipom emerged from the brush. Asuka let out an alarmed gasp, while Scizor rushed forward. An attempt to use Bullet Punch on the nega-evolution was blocked by its large tail-hand, smacking Scizor aside.

“Scizor!” Asuka cried out. Scizor rose back to his feet to attack again, and was knocked back just as easily. Cures Sunrise and Wish leapt up from behind the fallen tree, kicking Nega-Aipom back while it was distracted. Asuka used the chaos to run to Scizor, helping him to his feet.

“Scizor, are you alright!”

“Sci….” Scizor growled, staggering once as it stood up.

“You can’t fight it, Scizor…it’s already hurt you really badly!”

Scizor pushed her away with a shoulder, as Ataxia approached them.

“You’re out of your league, little one. You and your piddly pokemon.”

Ataxia raised a hand, charged with dark energy as she moved to strike Scizor. Asuka felt her heart stop and her body move on its own, as she violently shoved the Dysphoria general away with a scream. Ataxia staggered back ungracefully, falling on her butt.

“Why…you…!” Ataxia stood back up, fists clenched.

“I don’t care who you are! No one attacks this sacred place, and nobody hurts my pokemon!”

There was a flash.

Asuka found herself in a green, shimmering void.

“Scizor? Kailani? Fae?” She called out, looking around. She felt something move in her bag, as the faded compact floated out and stopped in front of her.

“Celebi!”

Asuka gasped. The legendary forest guardian, Celebi, appeared before her. With a spin, it placed a hand on the compact, which flashed, and regained its vibrance and shine.

“Guardian of the forest and pokemon of time…” Asuka whispered breathlessly, as she took the compact in her hands. “…did you know this moment would come?”

Celebi merely smiled, as a new energy rose up in Asuka’s body.

“Precure! I! Choose! You!”

Sunrise and Wish were pushing against Nega-Aipom’s outstretched hand-tail, trying to knock it back. A powerful kick knocked it away once more, as a new Cure landed before the group. Ataxia let out a surprised squawk, jaw dropping.

“Guardian of nature’s green serenity…Cure Willow!”