#nai………………….would destroy the world to build you a new one

[rush-the-stars]

tonight i am thinking ab characters who’d go on a journey of vengeance for you. who’d burn the world down for you. who’d destroy everything for you. a love so devoted that it tears everything asunder.

[majesty-madness]

No More Denial - TriStamp!Vash x reader (sfw)

Summary: In a moment of desperation, Y/N reveals a secret that transforms the now uncertain future.

Word Count: 1900+

Warnings: angst, Vash being kidnapped, reader and co. trying to rescue him, female reader, mentions of pregnancy, injuries, blood, acts of violence, attempted murder (because it’s Knives), comfort, reassurance, crying from stress and joy, good ending

a/n: Not proofread. I just watched the 98’ Trigun series, the movie and then the reboot “Trigun Stampede” and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I usually don’t watch new shows, but Trigun has been something I’ve been meaning to get into ever since I first started watching anime back in 2014. And here we are…

Main Masterlist

The moment his eyes laid on her his heart stopped. ���No! No, get out of here! You shouldn’t be here!” 

Y/N almost scoffed at his words as she approached him with haste. “You think I’m really just gonna turn around and leave you?” She attempted to unlock the chains bound around his wrists, and managed to get a few off. 

“If he realizes you’re here, he’ll kill you! You know that!” 

“You would do it for me!” Y/N shouted back at him, her eyes brimming with the slightest of tears. 

Before Vash could come with any kind of response, Y/N was ripped away from his side that had her letting out a scream. She felt a white hot pain in her calf, the sharp edges of Knives’ abilities digging deep into her flesh when she looked down. 

The coil of blades tightened around her calf causing her to shriek in pain. 

“Nai, stop it! Please!” Vash begged, as he tugged helplessly against the only chain keeping him bolted to the wall. 

“This pathetic human tried to set you free, but I’ll take care of this soon enough.” Knives sneered, forcing Y/N to a standing position she couldn’t fully maintain from her injury. 

The metallic coils came out from his back, slowly inching closer and closer to her body. She gulped hard, giving one last look to Vash before spouting out the only thing that came to mind.

“I’m pregnant.”

Knives smirked, expression almost amused by her desperate ploy. “Did you really think that would matter to me?” 

She gulped as a cold sweat dripped down the back of her neck. “It would if it was Vash’s baby.”

If she had been paying attention, Y/N would’ve heard the slightest of gasps leave Vash’s mouth but she was too busy maintaining eye contact with the man that held her hostage in his grip; a grip that grew tighter once she uttered those words. 

“That’s not possible.” He growled back to her. 

This time she smirked as the urge to taunt him pushed her rationale to the back of her mind, “How are you so sure? You and Vash are the only independents in the world, and I don’t think that you’ve tested the theory yourself.”

His grip tightened around her leg, causing her smirk to die on her lips while the heat of her own blood dripped into a puddle on the floor. “It’s not possible; plants are perfect in every way, bringing life to this broken world and humans are disgustingly flawed, spreading like the pathetic parasites you all are!”

“It is possible!” Y/N shouted back to him, surprised to hear the desperation cause her voice to waver. “A plant and human hybrid; the only one of its kind. A new species, a new life. Would you really destroy one of your own?”

In a blink, Knives whipped the pointed edge of one of his blades a mere inch from her eye threatening to gouge it out; the anger within him reaching its boiling point. “You are not one of my own!” 

Y/N took the smallest of breaths, fearing that any sudden movement would cause her to lose an eye. “But Vash is.”

Knives’ eyes narrowed but otherwise made no other movements as he took in her words. 

“And if you care about your brother, you wouldn’t murder the one thing he loves.” 

Suddenly, the fluorescent lights blacked out causing an immediate red night to replace it as a loud whirring sound crashed somewhere in the building. 

“What is this?” Knives muttered out loud as he became distracted by the sound and lights. 

Before he could do anything the sound of bullets whizzing toward causing him to duck away, loosening his grip on Y/N completely. He made quick movements backward, using his bladed coils as a shield from the spray of bullets being fired at him. 

Then while bullets still rained from beyond the darkness of the hallway facing him, a cacophony of multiple metallic objects clinking against the floor echoed throughout the gigantic room. Knives could make out several cynical objects hit the floor before they doused the room in smoke, a large plume of fog blocking his view of anything. 

Vash stared in shock for a moment then snapped back to reality when he saw the familiar figure approaching him, “Meryl? What are you doing here?” 

“Hush now! We’re here to save you!” Meryl quickly retorted while still a lockpick into the only cuff keeping Vash chained up. Once she unlocked it, she grabbed his hand and b-lined for the exit. 

“Wait! What about Y/N? I have to go get her!” Vash pleaded, pulling back from Meryl a bit as they ran. 

“Don’t worry, Wolfwood and Roberto got her! Now let’s go!” She shouted over the gunfire. 

Vash, though scared, trusted her word and followed her without resistance. 

It took a while because as it turned out, Wolfwood had thrown a few more smoke bombs as they ran into the hallway to cover their tracks but eventually Vash and Meryl managed to meet up with Wolfwood and Roberto further down. 

When Vash saw Y/N, bleeding and being held up by Roberto he ran to her. “Y/N, are you okay? You’re bleeding so much.”

Y/N shook her head in a whimper, in too much pain to offer any kind of reply. 

“Of course, she’s not okay. She’s got cuts all over her leg and she’s bleeding all over the place.” Roberto quipped with Y/N’s arm still over his shoulder while he kept her standing. 

“Hate to break up the reunion, but if we don’t get out of here soon a bleeding leg is gonna be the least of our worries.” Wolfwood cut in, keeping a sharp eye on the hallway they just escaped from. 

“But Y/N can’t run, how are we gonna get outta here before Knives finds us?” Meryl asked with urgency, her own panic rising to the surface. 

“Give her to me.” Vash said, walking over in front of Y/N and crouching down. “Get on my back and I’ll carry you.” 

Without a word, Y/N slipped her arm from around Roberto’s shoulder and precariously leaned down to wrap her arms around Vash’s neck and legs around his waist. He reached back to grip the underside of her thighs and propped her up as he stood. 

She made a muffled hiss as the pressure of moving her leg at all caused pain to shoot up through her body. 

“Ready?” Vash asked her, glancing over his shoulder at her. She gave a pained nod before tucking her face into the back of his neck.

“Okay, let’s blow this joint.” Wolfwood huffed, turning to face them. 

Everyone began running as fast as they could out of the building and just when they’d turned their backs to the hall, several bladed whips propelled out from the smoke screen towards their direction. 

“Watch out!” Wolfwood shouted, stopping briefly to point his cross shaped gun towards the blades and fired. He aimed with precision, each bullet bouncing off the whips as it made each one change trajectories.

“Wolfwood!” Vash exclaimed and too, stopped briefly to wait. 

“Keep running, Needle-noggin! I got this!” 

Vash hesitantly kept running, and glanced over his shoulder again in time to see Wolfwood making a quick getaway with them after shooting a couple more times. 

Luckily, the team managed to escape the maze-like building and to the outside. They ran and ran and ran until they were outside the city; their truck waiting for them not too far from the main entrance. In a flash, they hurried inside and Meryl punched the gas without even bothering with her seatbelt; leaving puffs of sand in their wake. 

She floored it a good fifteen minutes before Vash told her to stop. Once stopped Vash administered some first aid to Y/N’s leg, giving them a moment to talk. 

Vash had finished cleaning all the cuts in her once bloodied limb when he spoke. “Is it true? That you’re pregnant?”

He knew that while Y/N had said such a thing in the heat of the moment so Knives would spare her, he couldn’t deny the sincerity of her words. She sounded so scared, so afraid for not just her own life but possibly her baby’s as well. 

Y/N took a moment to prepare her words and she timidly nodded. “I think so.”

“How long have you suspected?” Vash spoke softly, keeping his voice low as if speaking at normal volume would cause her to shatter. 

“A couple of we-EKS!” She hissed when Vash began applying the bandages to the open wounds which made him utter out a quick apology, though continued to wrap her leg. 

Vash said nothing, his brain thinking a million miles a minute. He honestly didn’t know what to think; he was a plant and Y/N was a human, could plants and humans even procreate? Or was it something else, something life threatening? He did notice in the last few weeks that Y/N hadn’t been acting like herself but he thought perhaps it was the heat getting to her, or maybe they had been stuck inside the car for too long or even that time of the month but the idea of her carrying his child never crossed his mind. He assumed that because he and Y/N were two different species, there was no way. 

“Vash?” Y/N called to him, bringing him out of his thoughts and back to reality.

He looked up at her, worry and fear etched in her face. “Sorry, love.” 

“It’s okay. I understand that it’s probably a lot to take in.”

Vash shook his head, “I was just lost in thought.” 

“Are you upset?” Y/N nervously asked, making Vash raise his hand to gently cup her cheek as a tender smile graced his lips.  

“Of course I’m not upset, I’m only worried about you since I’m not completely sure if it’s possible for plants and humans to have children together.” He carefully explained watching Y/N tilt her cheek to rest fully into his palm. 

Y/N sighed, “I’m not sure either but all the symptoms are there. And even though I don’t know much about plants, I can’t imagine what else it could be.” 

Vash sat up on his knees, retracting his hand from her face but soon leaned forward to hug her from her spot from the truck. She happily reciprocated when she wrapped her arms around his midsection, face buried in his shoulder. 

“We should go see Luida.” He suggested kissing her temple and stroking her back comfortingly. 

He felt her nod against him. “She can fix up your leg and she probably knows more about plants than I do or something along those lines that might help figure this whole thing out.” 

“Okay.” Y/N simply said, going silent and enjoying the presence of Vash holding her. 

Vash didn’t say anything else either and like Y/N, opted to enjoy the warmth of her against him. 

He thought back to only minutes earlier, when Y/N had attempted to save him and Knives quickly finding her, hurting her and the screams she let out. 

Never in his life did he ever want to hear those sounds again. 

From here on out, Vash vowed to himself he would do everything in his power to keep her safe, and with the new information of Y/N’s possible condition, he‘d protect his child all the same.

[devnicolee]

The Chosen Ones (8)

A/N: Enjoy! If you read chapter 7 like shortly after it was posted, the council scene was originally in Chapter 7 but I moved it here because that chapter was too long. So you may have already it read the first section.

This is the last chapter - I am really sad to end this series :( but I might do an epilogue or something if anyone is interested. I have been writing this for literally a year so thanks to everyone who liked and commented and read a chapter here or there. I appreciate it! 

Warnings: Smut

Word Count: 6,000 words

Pairings: M’Baku x OC

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Asha fidgeted nervously, sharing anxious glances with M'Baku as they waited with bated breath for her brother to enter the council meeting. They arrived back in the Golden City with mere minutes to spare before the meeting, two herbs in her pocket and a video of the garden. Shuri chastised them for giving her an ulcer during their long absence. However, she couldn’t hide the deep sigh of relief as the pair rushed through the tall gold trimmed throne room doors with triumph and hope in their eyes. 

Asha scanned the council circle, passing by M’Baku’s reassuring eyes, to connect eyes with Elder Shani. Far from her usual contempt, her eyes were filled loathing and disgust. Instinctively, Asha felt herself starting to wilt like a dying flower. But something in her pushed back, forcing her to sit up straighter and send a pointed, cold glare back at the woman. Never again would someone else’s disdain silence her or force her to cower.

Their staring match only ended when the double doors entered. They all rose from their seats, saluting T’Challa as he walked to his seat, as cool and calm as ever. They did not have to wait long before he started speaking, getting right to the point of this meeting.

"I have called this meeting because much has changed in the last 36 hours, many things revealed about the Panther Tribe. Many have questioned my fitness to be king in light of these revelations. A lesser man would sit here and defend these lies but I cannot. They were an error in judgement, an error that was not my decision to start but could have,” he sighed, “Should have been mine to end once I became King. I did not. And for that, I am sorry. A king that cannot admit his failures is no king at all, only a tyrant. I know Elder Shani has lobbied many of you, encouraged you to demand a new challen-“ 

Elder Shani jumped up from her seat, her disrespect toward the throne on display as she cut the King short. "That is right! He is not fit to be King! Not while you and your family hid this abomination.” Her finger wagged in Asha's direction, forcing all eyes toward the young woman. She sat up a bit straighter, noting the looks of fear from some, the admiration from others. 

"You expressed no qualms with our secrets when you were blackmailing my sister into an engagement with your abusive son, when it suited your needs. I have forcibly removed you from this throne room once, do not make me do it again. Sit down," T'Challa threatened, his voice low and menacing. 

The elders of the Mining and Border Tribes shared a concerned look. They had taken the time to listen to Shani's pleads, and agreed with her in many ways. But they were quickly realizing the error in taking her words as the only truth. 

"Now. I could plead my case, preach to you all about why I am fit to wear the crown of King and hold the mantle of the Black Panther. However, this conversation is not about me or my fitness. It is about our country's distrust and hatred toward the more powerful... the chosen among us... the Wakandan like my sister." He offered Asha a small smile before continuing, "Prior to today, Wakandan's future was in a precarious state. Prior to today, the mantle of Black Panther was to die with me. And if we went through with today’s challenge, the centuries-old legacy would die today. That is just one of many reasons why Elder Shani’s desires are so short sighted. However, Bast... and Hanuman, it seems, have other plans. Asha, a powerful and chosen member of this family, and Lord M'Baku, have breathed new life into our dying future."

"What do you mean?" Elder M’Kathu inquired, leaning forward with interest. 

"I shall allow my sister to show you." T'Challa nodded at Asha, giving her the cue to pull the bright purple herbs from the pouch in her lap. They attracted everyone's eyes, captivating everyone with their glistening light. 

The throne room filled with exclamations of shock, joy and excitement. 

"How is this possible?" He asked in amazement. "N’Jadaka burned all the herbs." 

"He burned all the herbs we knew of, yes. But there is another garden hidden on the edge of Jabariland. Bast led Lord M'Baku and I there. There are enough herbs on the top of that mountain to sustain the Black Panther for hundreds of years," Asha explained. 

"Without my sister, without this gift Bast bestowed upon her, we... this country would have been lost. Without the Jabari so many of you despise, we would have been lost. Bast led the first Warrior Shaman to the herb years ago to save us from tearing ourselves apart. Today, she led Asha and a Jabari there to do the same. Together, two people, who represent what so many fear, opened a door that our failures shut forever.” 

He stood up, pacing behind his chair as he spoke. 

“That is bigger than me, it is bigger than Elder Shani, and it is bigger than our ignorance. Her campaign against me is rooted in hatred, hatred for a people who just saved our country. I ask you to vote against a new challenge, not because it suits me, but because we have the opportunity to build a new Wakanda. A Wakanda built on love and mutual respect for all of Bast's and Hanuman's people, not on the unstable foundation of distrust and prejudice.” He paused. “Now Elder Shani, I believe you have a proposal to raise for our vote. I await you all’s judgement and decision.” 

Her brother’s passionate monologue was met with silence, silence as Asha watched each person introspectively think about the future they wanted, the Wakanda they wanted. 

Elder Shani stood up once more, clearly unmoved by this new discovery or her brother’s passionate speech unlike everyone else in the room. It seemed she was committed to dying on this hill and was more than willing to do so alone. “This boy speaks of a new Wakanda, a new order. Wakanda prospered for hundreds of years before King T’Challa and it will do so after him. He does not think the way we do, he does not respect our traditions and so, he should not be King. I raise the motion to invoke a new Challenge Day, so we may have a King that will respect our traditions.” 

“The motion is on the floor. Elder Shani, how do you vote?” Asha’s heart raced, praying that her faith in Elder M’Kathu and Elder Olabisi was not misplaced, that her brother’s words had swayed them to choose progress over hate. Asha felt Shuri’s hand grab hers and squeeze it tightly as they listened. 

“Yay.” 

“Lord M’Baku?” 

“Nay.” Unlike his girlfriend, who was clearly filled with nervous energy, M’Baku seemed annoyed and bored with this whole spectacle, simply ready for this to be over so they could officially move on with their lives. 

���Elder Kwame?” 

“Nay.” Nakia’s stoic and quiet father responded swiftly with a nod to his daughter who sat beside the Queen Mother. Asha’s already racing heart seemed to beat even harder as they reached the two undecided Elders, the two that had the potential to change the fate of her family forever. 

“Elder M’Kathu?”

A beat. 

“Nay.” 

Despite wanting to jump up and praise Bast, Asha maintained her composure, they all did. T’Challa offered the older man a head nod as a silent thank you for his support before finishing the roll out of obligation. For good measure, Elder Olabisi also voted against the motion, effectively leaving Elder Shani on an island alone. 

“Thank you, thank you all. I believe together we can build a stronger Wakanda. Thank you for believing in that future as well. This meeting is now adjourned and I will see everyone at the King’s Exhibition.” 

The room stood and saluted him, all except Elder Shani and her son who swept from the room as soon as the final word left T’Challa’s mouth. 

At the official end of the meeting, Asha immediately walked to her brother and wrapped him in a tight hug. 

“I am so glad I didn’t ruin everything,” she whispered in his ear, finally letting out that sigh of relief she had been holding in. She felt as if that weight finally evaporated from her shoulders. “Thank you.” 

“Thank you,” he emphasized, pulling back to look at her. “You could never ruin us, Asha. You are the best of us. You saved us  and for that, I could never thank you enough. You both,” he motioned for Shuri to join their group hug, “are the best sisters I could ask for.”  

Asha broke apart from her siblings, giving space for others to congratulate her brother, and walked toward M’Baku. He stood, in the now-repaired window she destroyed, staring down into the heart of the Golden City, which was bustling with activity and life as everyone prepared for the coming festival. 

She stood beside him, looking out at her home with something other than envy and heartache for the first time. Hope. They stood in silence for a bit, the chatter of Asha's family fading away as they slid back into their own small world. 

"Thank you, M'Baku. T-this would not have been possible without you, without the Jabari. Thank Bast you decided to concern yourself with the drama of us lowlanders," she teased.

He chuckled, his brain conjuring that moment on the fields of the Great Mound, deciding to play along with her game. He remembered exactly how that conversation went… he would never forget it. "Well, it seems you all continue to need us to save you." 

She turned briefly and smiled at his profile, leaning against the window. "Yes... it seems we do. Wakanda is forever in your debt. Perhaps she will find a way to repay you one day." She added, stealing his line.  

A tug at her arm brought her close to him, the space between them evaporating. He cupped her face, uninhibited love and adoration passing between them. Her signature sparks immediately encircling the couple as he stared down at her, the love of his life, the woman he felt Hanuman destined for him to be with until the end of his days. 

“She led me to you and now I am forever in her debt,” he whispered as his lips captured hers, the audience of her family mere feet away from them mattered little. The two kissed deeply for a few moments before a wolf whistle caused them to break away. 

Asha laughed as she looked over and saw her entire family, minus her mother, staring at the couple with shocked and excited grins. Shuri continued to cheer loudly before her brother pinched her and ushered her out of the throne room. He winked at her before allowing the doors to slam shut and giving them some much-needed privacy. 

“Come to Jabariland.” 

“What?” 

“Later this week. I-I need to head back tonight and you should spend time with your siblings. But come to Jabariland for a few days, spend some time together where you aren’t almost dying and I am not having to save that brother of yours.” 

Asha mulled it over in her head. Though she figured her brother would be slightly annoyed at her absence from some of the festival events, she yearned for the private and uninterrupted time with M’Baku. She had not truly rested in the last 4 days, had not taken a real breath. There, they could finally do that together. 

“I would love to.” 

****

“Nakia!” Asha smiled as she threw some more clothes in a bag and beckoned her friend into her bedroom. She eyed Nakia and the medium-sized gift bag in her hand suspiciously as one of her closest friends sat down on her king-sized bed. 

“What is that?” Asha asked, gesturing toward the bag as she pulled a dress off the hanger. 

Nakia smiled slyly, “We will get to that in a second. First, I just wanted to see how you were doing. The last few days… weeks, years frankly, have been tough for you.” 

Asha smiled and reached across the bed to squeeze her future queen’s hand. Nakia was the big sister she didn’t have but always hoped for. And she knew she would be the perfect queen for them all.

“I am good, Nakia. Fantastic, actually. I got what I wanted, T’Challa’s position and title are safe. Everything is good now.” 

Nakia nodded but Asha could see the speculation in her eyes, the look that called her positive attitude into question. 

“Yes. All of that is true. But look at what it took to get there? Your father died, you watched your brother get murdered, you endured verbal abuse from all sides, you almost died… twice, according to M’Baku. I’ve seen enough of this world to know a happy ending doesn’t mean the road to them wasn’t paved with trauma and pain. It’s just… I’ve seen what happens when people don’t address what it took to get them what they wanted, what it cost them. I don’t want that for you, nor does your brother. Just, if you ever want to talk, let me know?” 

Asha bowed her head, she didn’t like to think Nakia was right. What mattered most, in her mind, was the fact that they were ok now. But she could not ignore all the tragedies littered throughout her life, the scars they left. She couldn’t pretend like those wounds of her chains healed just because she escaped them. 

“You will be my first call, I promise.” Asha came around to sit on the bed next to her. “Thank you for being here for me.” 

Nakia smiled and squeezed her hand. She pushed the bag toward the young girl. “Always. Now onto the fun part of my visit. This is for you.”

Asha grinned brightly as she excitedly tore the tissue paper out of the bag and pulled out several pieces of lingerie, her grin fading slightly with shock.

“Nakia,” she whined. “What is all this??” 

“It is for your trip. Essential wear.” 

“’Essential wear??’ N-Nakia, I d-don’t think we are going to get there yet.” She let the skimpy Burgundy lace fall back into the bag, laughing lightly. 

“Maybe you won’t, but maybe you will. Look, I see the way Lord M’Baku looks at you - he is ready to rip those clothes off your body every time you’re in the same room. He wants to show you the might of the Jabari, FIRST HAND!” Both girls laughed at her callback to M’Baku’s epic entrance at the battle on the Great Mound. “And if that is what you want, you should.” 

“I am sure my brother does not know about this part of your visit,” Asha mused. 

“No, he doesn’t,” Nakia admitted. “Because it isn’t his business, or mine, to be frank. I just wanted you to be prepared if you decide to travel down that road. Essential wear for the journey.”

She threw Asha a wink before leaving her to mull over her thoughts. Asha didn’t understand her own hesitation. Perhaps she was just overthinking it. The cave… it was spur of the moment, natural, intimate and unexpected. All their best moments were just that… unexpected. They produced magic when she didn’t have time to analyze or second guess, when she just lived in the moment with him. And here she was overanaylzing and second guessing. Her fingers fiddled with the edge of the gift bag as she thought. Nakia was right; M’Baku wanted her and she wanted him, desperately so. She pulled each piece of lingerie out, eyeing each one with speculation. They left little to the imagination but they were gorgeous. She slipped both into her suitcase. 

Just in case. 

****

“Try not to destroy the palace while I’m gone eh?” She implored as she gave Shuri a hug outside. 

Shuri, who looked like someone had just stolen her pet panther, nodded sadly. “You’ll call me tomorrow right? Make sure they haven’t turned you into an anti-vibranium fanatic?” 

Asha laughed, “Yes I will call you tomorrow, I promise. Don’t look so glum, I will be back in a few days.” 

“I know, it is just hard to say bye to you. I am usually begging for this one to get out of here.” Asha laughed as T’Challa clutched his imaginary pearls in faux offense. “But you are the constant of our triangle. It’s not the same without you.”  

Asha’s nose wrinkled, shocked to see her sister so despondent about her leaving. She glanced at T’Challa, whose face was also a bit crestfallen but he did a better job of hiding it. 

“Come on guys! I’m gonna be gone for a few days, a week tops. I have to come back… all my clothes are here,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. Her joke only earned her small chuckles much to her dismay. 

“Would you want it to be permanent, though?”

“What do you mean?” 

“Would you want to live in Jabariland? With M’Baku?” T’Challa asked, already knowing the answer even if she didn’t yet. 

“I hadn’t thought about it honestly. Maybe, one day.” Under her siblings’ knowing stares, she amended her statement. “But M’Baku and I are trying to go slow, take our time. We have been dating for two days, I doubt he is redecorating the Lodge for me yet.”

T’Challa and Shuri shared a knowing glance that didn’t go unnoticed before ushering her toward the plane, a sudden 180 turn from their original despondent looks. “What was that look for?” 

T’Challa smiled, “Nothing. We just think you are underestimating the speed of the Jabari. Have fun sister. Try not to burn Jabariland down while you are there,” he winked. 

“Too soon, brother… too soon,” she chuckled before waving them goodbye as the Talon ramp closed and the plane sped off. 

****

“M’Baku! It was foolish to think you could redecorate your quarters in three days,” N’Danna reminded him as the man rearranged furniture and put new things he got at the market out. “I thought she had been here once, I am sure she likes it just fine.” 

M’Baku scoffed, “I do not want her to like it. I want her to want to live in it. I spoke to T’Challa to learn a bit more about her, things she liked. I picked up a few things from being in her office but he gave me some other ideas. I commissioned two new paintings from her favorite artist but those won’t be here until her next visit, Olabisi was able to make her flowers again,” he pointed to the red-orange tipped roses on the bedside table, “I put them on this side of the bed because… well, does liking sunsets mean you also like the sunrise? I have only slept with her twice so who knows if she is a morning person. Oh but T’Challa said she really doesn’t need much sleep so… Oh look at these… I just got them carved.” 

He rushed to the bag by the door and pulled out a box that contained wooden panthers and rhinos. He laid them on the coffee table in his lounge area, excitedly looking from them to N’Danna like a child showing off a new toy. 

“You have been inside the mind of a woman, you think she will like them?” 

“Relax brother. She will love all of it, they are… cute.” 

M’Baku nodded, taking some of his older carvings down and sliding the animals into their place, putting one by her side of his bed. Just as he was examining the room, looking for another thing to move or switch out to expel his nervous energy, Kide popped his head in. 

“The Talon is approaching, my Lord. About 5 minutes out.” 

M’Baku nodded, rubbing his hands together nervously. He nodded at N’Danna to walk with him toward the landing outside the Lodge. 

“Oh N’Danna, I need one more favor.” 

N’Danna rolled his eyes before they bugged out of his head, his chief’s passing thoughts cueing him into the favor before the words left his mouth. “A-are you serious? M’Baku? So soon?” 

M’Baku sighed, it didn’t feel too soon to him. “I have known since the moment I first spoke to her. I do not need to see anything else. I-I do not need anymore time. And I don’t think she does either.” 

N’Danna stood and pulled the man into an embrace. “Congrats. I will get everything squared away for you. Don’t worry about a thing. Just spend time with your girl.” 

The two men shook hands before N’Danna took off in the opposite direction and M’Baku headed to greet Asha. 

This time when Asha stepped off the plane and into the fresh snow of Jabariland, it felt totally different. She was still nervous but not in the anxiety sort of way. It was nervous excitement filling her belly. She didn’t have to wait long before M’Baku rushed forward and swept her into a tight hug.  

“I have missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” she whispered, kissing his lips.  

Their hands joined, her fear of burning him long gone and almost forgotten. She felt sort of out of place as she walked, soldiers saluting her and M’Baku as they strolled through the Lodge. 

“I hope you do not mind but I was hoping you would stay in my quarters this trip. But I had your room from your last visit set up for you, should that make you more comfortable.” 

Asha smiled, appreciative of the sweet but unnecessary gesture. Where ever he was, that’s where she wanted to be. 

“Your quarters are perfect, thank you.” 

And thus started, what Asha could only describe as three magical days with the love of her life. M’Baku spent half of the day working, during which a guard would take Asha down to the market. She spent most of her time chatting with Olabisi, who told her thrilling tales of the Jabari and The Chosen, stories Asha imagined she would have read in that book, had she ever gotten past the first page. She explained all the different powers the Chosen in the tribe had now: flight, chlorokinesis, elemental control like Asha, mind reading, telepathy, invisibility… they were as diverse as they were powerful. She offered book recommendations for Asha, which she immediately went and found in the Lodge’s library. 

After, she just roamed the market, under the watchful eye of one of M’Baku’s guards. She stopped at every merchant asking them every question she could think of about their work and life in Jabariland. She sat and watched the wood makers carve Jabari wood and knobkerries. Every day she met someone new, learned something new, and basked in the beauty of Wakanda’s most plentiful resource: her people. This is what she knew she was missing her whole life. This was her freedom, to be among her people. No one was afraid of her here, no one cared about her powers. She watched all day as Chosen used their powers to help get things done faster and more efficiently, assistance that was not only accepted but appreciated. Asha thought back to her conversation with her brother, about potentially living here permanently. And she knew, in her heart, she could… that she wanted to. Jabariland was starting to feel more like home than the Golden City ever had. 

After leaving the market and shops, she would meet M’Baku for a late lunch and then he would take her to his favorite spots around the Lodge and mountains. They would hike each evening, catching the sunset at a spot, Asha giddy like a child at every single one. Her third night, he even had a picnic set up waiting for her at the end of their hike. 

“How was the market today?” M’Baku asked as they walked back to his bedroom after returning from their hike. 

“Amazing as always. I met this man, he said he has been carving Jabari wood since he was 10. He made the cutest rhino figurine for me - I am going to give it to Okoye. He was so nice and just told me about all the different things he carves and all the Jabari symbols, what they mean. Oh I met the Chief Fisherman and his husband at their shop. They were so sweet, told me all about their daughter who, apparently, wants to be an engineer like Shuri. I will have to tell her, maybe on my next visit she can come and meet her? Do you think she would like that? I think Shuri would be really excited.” 

M’Baku smiled brightly, listening to her go on and on about the Jabari, all stories he already knew as Chief but there was something about hearing her say it. The excitement and passion for the people she was meeting… she sounded like she born for the title of Queen of Jabariland.

“What? Am I rambling? I am rambling, aren’t I?” She asked as she noted the look on his face. 

“No, no not at all. I just like seeing you like this. So excited about the people here.” 

“Well, the Jabari are the first Wakandans I have had a conversation for longer than five minutes with. To be among the people, learn their names and their stories? There is nothing better. I didn’t realize how much I was missing, how much joy it brings. Thank you,” she stretched her body and kissed him gently on his lips. 

In lieu of responding, he just wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in deeper for a long, passionate kiss. After a few moments, they broke apart, Asha muttering that she wanted to take a shower after such a journey. The hikes still didn’t seem to bother M’Baku, but Asha always felt like she had endured a rigorous workout afterward.

M’Baku shook his head slightly. He understood and respected her desire to go slow. But that wasn’t making it any easier. He wanted her so badly it hurt. But he wanted her to be ready. 

After her shower, Asha stood in his mirror, giving herself a pep talk as she examined the dark red lace lingerie on her slender frame in the mirror. Though there was always something she could find wrong, aside from the blemishes she could not get rid of in 5 minutes, even she could admit that she looked good… sexy even. She whispered confident words to herself before opening the bathroom door. His back was to her as he stood, looking out his window. Her walk faltered for a minute, her confidence fading fast as she realized she would have to actually get his attention. 

He wants you. You want him. You can do this.

“M’Baku,” she whispered. He turned around slightly at the sound of his name, doing a double take as he realized what exactly covered her beautiful frame. 

“Usana,” he breathed quietly as she had literally stolen his breath and ability to speak. He had never been rendered speechless by a woman before, usually he had that effect on them. But here his goddess stood, more beautiful than anything he had seen on this Earth. His eyes studied the smooth brown skin peeking through the triangle cut outs of her bra and panty set, studied her so closely as if he had to commit her to memory.  

“You like it, my love?” She teased, his inability to form words fueling her confidence as she walked toward him, her fingers trailing up his biceps once she was in arm’s length of him. 

“Who wouldn’t? You are a vision, sithandwa sam” He whispered back before gently grabbing the back of her thighs and hoisting her up. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his midsection as he carried her to his bed. She quickly found herself laying on her back among the mountain of soft white furs covering his bed. He stared down at her for a moment, soaking in her beauty. This is how he always wanted to see her… wild and unreserved. 

He leaned over and kissed her deeply before creating a path of kisses down her body. Her body and mind knew his end destination, her quiet squirms begged him to make the journey there faster. But he didn’t care, he wanted to take his time… watch her come undone piece by piece. His mouth explored her soft, supple skin, kissing or gently biting every available and exposed inch. Soft moans escaped her lips, a sensual symphony to his ears. 

“M’Baku, please,” she begged as he placed soft kisses everywhere but where she needed it most. Asha’s eyes clenched shut in anticipation and her hands gripped the furs on his bed as his lips finally reached the promise land of her sensitive bud. Her back arched slightly as he sucked on her clit, sending shockwaves through her body. His thick finger entered her, curling immediately into her g-spot, increasing her pleasure tenfold. 

“Fuck… M’B-Baku… don’t stop, please,” she begged. Unnecessary words because stopping was the furthest thing from his mind. He was doing Hanuman’s work, pouring all the love and adoration she missed out on in her life into her, showing her what it meant to be worshipped and adored as she deserved. He had no intention of stopping that important work. Hell, he could do this all night. 

Asha’s eyes clenched shut as she rode the waves of passion and pure ecstasy his mouth and hands were providing. His eyes never left her face as he devoured what was now his favorite meal, each moan, groan, and plead for mercy or more spurring him on. Her thighs clamped around his head as he pushed her farther up the mountain of desire. He inserted a second finger in her as she grew louder, signaling that her orgasm was near. 

It didn’t take long of his expert ministrations for Asha to feel that snap that led to the most life-altering orgasm of her life, years of self-pleasure paled in comparison. She let out a continuous stream of praise and curse words as she road the waves of bliss. 

“That’s it, come for me my queen. Hanuman, you are beautiful.” 

He emerged from between her legs, immediately kissing her deeply. The smell of smoke caught both of their attention at the same time, pulling them out of their own little world of pleasure and passion to find smoke rising from the comforter. A large black patch of burnt fur now staining his white fur blanket. Asha quickly removed the smoke from the air before hitting herself in the forehead, embarrassment and frustration quickly sliding onto her face. 

“I am so sorry, M’Baku! Ugh, I h-have never done this, especially without the rings. I-I didn’t know that would-“ He captured her lips to shut her up, laughing lightly. 

“It is just a blanket, my love. I have five more just like it in the closet. And if we burn all of those, I can get fifty more made. Take a deep breath. I do not care about that.”

She nodded, laughing lightly before recapturing his lips. There he was again, pulling her back from the cliffs just as she was about to tumble down with such ease and care. Her anxieties and frustrations melted away as he kissed her, her hands drifting down toward his pants, preparing to pull them down.

“Are you sure? We don’t have to do this.” 

His breathy whispers in her ear made her want him even more, despite the content of his words. 

“I want you. I want this.” She offered him an encouraging smile before he stood up and pulled his pants and boxers off. Her voice hitched and eyes widened as she took him in. He was more than she could have ever imagined… in every way. The bed dipped as he climbed back on top of her. Every second felt like cruel and unusual punishment as she waited, every pleasure sensor in her body begging and pleading to be catered to. 

She gasped as he pushed into her, her body wholly unaccustomed to being stretched this much before. It was painful, as she expected, but she could already feel the pleasure brewing underneath… the pleasure that made getting passed this uncomfortable part worth it. He kissed her softly and whispered sweet nothings into her ears as he slowly slid into her. She was thankful he was a thoughtful and gentle lover, her mind briefing thinking about the bullet she dodged with Hasani, who wouldn’t have cared how painful the experience was for her. 

It didn’t take long for the pain to quickly fade into earth shattering, mind-blowing pleasure as M’Baku started his slow and steady strokes into her. His dick curved right into her g-spot, forcing moans and words of love and adoration at the end of every stroke.

“How does it feel, my queen?” 

“F-fuck, M’Baku,” she panted as he rocked into her, slowing picking up the pace as her moans grew louder and her orgasm approached. “Feels… so.. g-good. D-don’t stop.” 

M’Baku’s never-ending stamina meant that stopping wasn’t in the cards for him anytime soon. Through orgasm after orgasm, the couple spent the evening completely enthralled in passionate love-making. His quarters soaked up the screams and moans of the princess of Wakanda as they transitioned between positions and he took her to places she never knew possible. She lost track of the orgasms he pulled from the depths of her soul throughout the night. She was completely spent by the time M’Baku came and rolled off her. 

She shifted to her side lazily to watch him walk to the bathroom, eyes half closed. “How are you not exhausted?” 

“The might of the Jabari,” he called from the bathroom. When he returned, he sat down next to her and cleaned her up with a warm wet towel before climbing into bed. She shifted to lay on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as they fell asleep in each other’s arms. 

***

“My princess?” 

Asha looked up from her spot curled up in an oversized arm chair in the library to find Kide looking at her. After last night, she didn’t really have the energy to walk around the market today and M’Baku had a long day of meeting so she opted to stay in the library and snuggle up by the window to read. 

“Asha will do just fine,” she reminded the young guard as she slide her bookmark in place. 

“Asha, Lord M’Baku has asked that I escort you to your spot on the west mountains. He will meet you there. The carriage is waiting outside.” 

Asha’s nose wrinkled at the break in their tradition of hiking to the various spots together but she let go of it rather quickly. She imagined that the only reason he would break their tradition was for some sort of surprise. And while she had no earthly idea what it could be, she certainly didn’t want to ruin it by messing up his plans. 

She followed Kide outside, one foot in the carriage before an idea struck her. 

“Kide?” 

“Yes?” 

“C-could we maybe get there a different way?” 

Kide’s eyes widened before a smile graced his face. “Are you sure?” 

“Well, the last time I tried it… I almost died? So I figure I could use the practice?” 

She wasn’t sure if her black jumpsuit, while insanely cute, was functional for flying. But she decided not to let that stop her. She looked up to find Kide already circling her head, waiting for her. 

I can do this. I can do this. She chanted before pushing off of the ground. She wobbled a bit before finding her balance and propelling herself higher into the sky next to him. The cold air whipped against her face as she flew behind Kide, slightly lower than him, around the mountains. She looked down and she could see everyone walking around below them, the occasionally hand pointed up or waving at them as they flew past. 

The higher they climbed up the side of the mountain, the more her eyes watered. However, she continued to push forward. She followed close behind Kide, circling the clearing she knew too well before diving behind him to land. The first thing she heard was applause when her feet touched the white snow. She turned to find M’Baku sitting on a rock, waiting for her, a bright smile on his face. 

“Thank you, Kide.” 

“Any time, my princess.” He turned and walked back to the guards waiting on the snow-covered road by the carriage. She turned her attention to M’Baku, noting the nervous look in his eyes, the way his hands fidgeted with his fur collar. 

He didn’t say anything as he approached her, holding out his hand. She immediately placed her small one into his. They stared out at the horizon, the sky starting to fill with the oranges and yellows of sunset. 

“Asha…” 

She quickly turned her attention back to him, facing him as their fingers interlocked. 

“I-I had this whole speech written out b-but seeing you here… I just… I am in love with you, Asha Udaka. My love for you has only grown stronger and deeper since the moment you walked into my throne room filled with grief and pain. And since then, I have witnessed you step into your power, into who you are and demand acceptance from the people who would deny you with the power and grace of a Queen. I don’t know what Hanuman has for my future but I know I want you in it… I need you in it. I don’t need anymore time to know you are the love of my life. We have proven that our love can melt away even the toughest of hardships, that this… w-what we share is unlike anything else in this world. And I know you will make a beautiful and compassionate Queen. And so…”

Asha expelled a shaky breath as M’Baku spoke. She had a feeling she knew where this was heading but she wouldn’t dare let herself believe it until he said the words. She watched as he pulled two wooden bands out of his pocket. The tears streaming down her face obscured her vision slightly but she knew exactly what those meant. Her mind called back to one of the many books she had read over the last few days, one detailing the engagement tradition of the Jabari. The dark brown wooden bracelet was the standard tribe engagement band, engraved with Jabari symbols that represented the future they would build together. But the gold one, reserved only for the tribe’s chieftess, carried a small inscription chosen by M’Baku. 

“Will you marry me?” 

“Y-yes, yes! 100 times yes,” she whispered immediately. She didn’t need to think about it, didn’t need more time. Her love for M’Baku… she knew nothing like it in this world. And here he was, offering her a future she thought she would never get to have. “I love you so much.” 

Her hand shook slightly as he slid the bracelets onto her arm and wrapped his arms around her. He peppered her face with soft kisses as she laughed, pure joy radiating off them. They only stopped when Asha heard cheering from around them. 

“What is th-“ she turned to find all the important people in her life emerging from the trees. Shuri was the first to rush toward her, running into her like a small train as she always did. Her crying intensified as she hugged her sister and looked at T’Challa, Nakia, Okoye and all the Dora behind her. 

Shuri released her and T’Challa wrapped her in a tight hug, wiping away the tears that streamed down her face. 

“D-did you all k-know about this?” 

“We may have had an idea or two. Congratulations, Asha. T-this is truly amazing.” 

Asha shared hugs with everyone as they offered her congratulations, before returning to M’Baku’s side. The guards brought out rum from the carriage for the group to toast, passing cups around for each person. 

Asha felt as though her heart was so full it may burst at the seams, her happiness almost overwhelming. 

“Lord M’Baku, if I may? A toast!” T’Challa called out, raising his glass. “To my younger sister, Asha and Lord M’Baku. I don’t know if I have ever met two people more destined for each other than you. We are so happy for you, you both deserve the world and I know you have that and more here. Congratulations and here is to many more sunsets together.” 

Asha’s smile could have lit up all of Jabariland as she listened to her brother. They toasted and drank rum as they watched the sun fall below the horizon together. Asha nestled herself into her fiancé’s side as she looked around at the people she loved and who loved her immensely. Bast was right, Asha’s life was overflowing with love and her future with hope. She couldn’t wait to spend every moment of it surrounded by M’Baku, T’Challa, Shuri, Nakia and Okoye… the people she loved most in this whole world. Their journey had been long and rugged, but every step brought her to this summit. And it was worth it. 

****

Tag List: @destinio1 @muse-of-mbaku @jellybean531 @skysynclair19 @ashanti-notthesinger @gloriousgam3r @archivistofwakanda @leahnicole1219 @mygirlrenee @dramaqueeenamby

[yamithediaperdork]

Cutest widdle champion (original characters)

As it always was in Midnight Eden, land of dreams and realm of Lulnyq, Goddess of Night, Shadows, and Darkness, the light was low, mostly from from street lamps as a trio of misshapen shadow blobs with bright red eyes that whenever possible avoided any of the dim light.

They were creatures known as nightmares, who used Midnight Eden for easy access into mortals dreams where they could gain power. Once they were rare and hardly seen in this blessed land atlas, hard times had befallen the once grand realm as the once Intermediate level Goddess had been reduced to a lesser god, and with her lost of power her army of angels who had once served her proudly had been reduced to a handful, and couldn't be everywhere at once.

Thankfully for the mortal's who's dreams would of been infested by this wicked trio, one of the remaining angels, nay, the greatest of them still loyally served his goddess and while he was angry at the lack of faith the mortal's put in his beloved Lulnyq, he would still protect them in her name.

Allimir had been tracking the three nightmares for half a hour now, blending into the shadows with ease as it was only of his gifts from her and had only refrained from assaulting them till now to make sure they weren't meeting up with more of their kind. Seeing them find what they were looking for, a crack in the realm that would make they're journey easier he flew up and came down in front of the trio.

His dark blue and black armor shone in the dim light while his blue on the outside and black on the inside cloak billowed out behind him as he drew his trusted Lance, dubbed Nightblade and pointed it at them.

"I don't suppose you three have obtained permission to visit the mortal realm have you? there ARE strict laws about that sort of thing." Allimir asked dryly.

The nightmares snarled and began to change shape, taking on hulking bipedal forms with sharp claws forming at the end of their arms, and large mouths filled with razor teeth.

"I'll take that as a no. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave then gentlemen." Allimir said politely, trying to give the monster the chance to save themselves.

"Kill the angel, then go to mortal realm?" the nightmare closet to him asked the other two.

"EAT the angel, then go." Said second closet.

"Kill!" the third snarled and tried to shove past his companions.

"-Sigh- Alright, but just remember I DID give you a chance." Allimir said, shaking his head.

Dashing forward he swung Nightblade, willing it NOT to kill, not yet at least, as he caught it across the chests of all three and sent them stumbling back into the full force of the street light,

they're monster forms weakened in the light and they howled, lashing out blindly as Allimir flew up out of they're called down to them.

"this is your LAST warning. Willing leave this place and never come back, nor attempt to enter the mortal realm and I will let you live. Refuse and I'll have no choice but to destroy you!" He warned.

"KILL THE ANGEL!" was the roar from all three and Allimir signed and nodded.

"Very well." he said.

Coming down fast and hard, Allimir willed his lance to kill, as the weapon responded to his will when it came to how lethal it was.

he came down hard point first, going though the middle of one of the nightmares, dispelling it and it faded away with a shriek.

Not leaving anything to chance even before he fully landed on his feet the angel lashed out with a sweeping motion and cut the second nightmare in half right where it's chest would be and it too was gone, leaving one.

"Wait! Mercy!" the creature whimpered, trying to back away.

Twirling Nightblade and pointing it at the remaining beast, Allimir shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but you were offered mercy before." he said then ended the battle with a final thrust.

Lulnyq sat on her throne, watching the events unfold and while she was pleased with the actions of her top angel, she was still somewhat unnerved that nightmares would be as bold as to come right into her city. If only she hadn't of gambled so much of her power and influence in the last tournament of champions things wouldn't be so bleak.

But in her defense she had been so SURE that her champion, would of swept though the other champions with ease instead of losing in his first match, within 20 seconds.

Having been boosting proudly of how powerful her champion was and how he'd make history to her sister the sun goddess, she'd proven right since it WAS the quickest defeat in the history of the tournament.

in the aftermath she'd been bumped down to not just a lesser goddess, but the bottom of the lesser god's and now was at risk of being made into a small goddess which would mean she wouldn't be trusted to run her own realm and a Intermediate god or goddess would have to over see her, and knowing her recent run of luck it would be her brat of a sister.

She had a nagging feeling that the quick defeat had been a set up, enforced by the fact her champion had ditched her after the tournament to become a worshiper of her sister.

"My Goddess, I'm back!" Came the voice of Allimir, and instantly she felt her gloomy thoughts leave.

Yes, the last years tournament of champions hadn't gone her way, but THIS time she had a ace up her sleeve.

Allimir could tell as he walked in and knelt that his beloved Goddess had been brooding again. He wished she wouldn't focus so much on the past but short of telling her to snap out of it (Something he would never in a million years do) the best he could do was act silly at times to try and cheer her up.

"I witnessed your battle, you've proven yourself worthy as always, and in fact, you've done more then that. You've proven yourself worthy of a honor that I know you've been wanting for awhile, but never asked for it because you didn't think it was you place." she said, winking and smiling warmly.

Allimir blushed a little at the teasing tone in her voice. Sometimes despite her height and build, and her long regal black hair and star and moon filled eyes he could almost forget that she was a goddess with how warm and teasing she could be.

"I would never presume to-" Allimir started to say but then his goddess was right in front of him, amazing him as it always did that with her er.. ample backside she could move so quick.

"Ah ah ah, stop being so stuffy and formal. I'm about to give you the great honor of being my champion!" She coo'ed and tapped a finger on his nose and despite himself, Allimir giggled.

regaining his composure, Allimir bowed and then looked up smiling.

"It'll be my honor to serve as your champion my Goddess, and I swear to fight and win for your glory!" He vowed.

"Well duh, I wouldn't be picking you if I thought you were gonna fight and lose for my glory." the semi Chaotic goddess giggled and blew a raspberry. "Now this might sting a little.." She said, taking a few steps back.

"It'll be worth it."

making a finger gun with her left arm and putting her right hand on her forearm to steady it, she closed one of her eyes and stuck her tongue out then a blast of black energy with stars mixed into fired out and stuck Allimir, overwhelming him with new found power even as the world seemed to spin all around him.

"No Longer shall you be called Allimir, strongest of my angel. rise up my new champion and serve your goddess well..Umbraby!" Lulnyq intoned, and walked over to her new champion.

the being once known as Allimir was woozy at first, but looked up with pride to his goddess who suddenly.. seemed like a semi giant to him.

"My goddess, why did..you..What's wrong with my voice?!" Umbraby squeaked.

he'd never had the deepest of voice before but now he sounded like a little boy! Looking down down at his hands he could see they were covered in purple gloves and he was wearing a grayish long sleeve tight shirt, that was fair enough, but it was the SIZE of his arm and hands that had his eyes going wide.

that and as he looked down, he could make out a blueish purple loose shirt over the grayish one and stocking that came up to his mid upper thigh's, colored again grayish.

he seemed to be wearing a hooded black clock and he could feel material on his face which would of indicted he was wearing a mask of some sort.

All this he took in within second but what had his stopped dead in his tracks and eyes going wide even as Lulnyq smiled warmly and giggled, was the massive puffy white DIAPER around his hips at the moment.

"M-M-My goddess, I..what.. " he stammered.

"Shhh it's ok~" She coo'ed, picking him up and cradling him in her arms.

the realization that she hadn't gone, rather he'd been shrunk.. no not even that, but turned into a toddler hit him hard like a ton of bricks.

"I..You..Why am I a toddler!?" he cried out, bottom lip trembling and huffing and blushing.

Normally he would of NEVER raised his voice to his beloved Goddess but his new form while he could feel the additional power, clearly lacked the emotional maturity he'd always had.

"What, you don't like the form I chose?" Lulnyq asked, frowning and pouting a little.

guilt washed over him instantly, and he tried to back track when as she rocked him and despite himself his eyelids were starting to get heavy.

"I..No I just..I was shocked..Um.. I'm sure you had a very good reason for this form mo- I mean my goddess!" He said, almost calling Lulnyq mommy.

"heh, you almost called me mommy!" Lulnyq giggled, taping a finger on his little nose and making him blush and squirm. "Actually, I think I like that.. from now on your to address me as Mom or mommy, Understand Umbraby?"

Umbraby mentally whined and squirmed, so much was happening so fast for the little ex angel now champion. Still, it was a order from his beloved Goddess and he knew he couldn't disobey.

"As you wish." he said, and she looked down at him, waiting. "...Mommy."

Lulnyq squealed with glee and cuddled him close, which while embarrassing and unexpected wasn't half bad.

the only thing that kept him from truly enjoying the cuddles with his go- His mommy, was the thick diaper crinkling around his hips.

"Who's the cutest widdle super duper champion of all time? you are! yes you are!" She was coo'ed and tickling his chin which forced giggles out of him.

"Hehehehe me! I am!" he replied instinctively then blinked and swallowed. "M-Mommy I have a question!" He said, getting her to stop for the moment at least.

"Oh? Ask away, you'll find me a well of information both great and silly." Lulnyq said, smiling all silly.

"..Why am I in a diaper?" Umbraby asked, a whining tone to his voice. "I mean, not to question you, but I've never needed one before, so why now?"

"oh, that's easy!" Mommy said and giggled. "in your old form much like most angels and gods of any level, while you ate and drank you body used what you took in so well you never made waste or needed to tinkle. And that's all fine and good if you're just going to serve in the godly realms. " she paused and sat down in her throne, sitting him up on her lap before going on. "however, the contest is held in the mortal realm and ergo you needed a body that could go there and handled it. Since you've never had to worry about potty training before, I'm just playing it safe and keeping you diapered."

Umbraby hmmmed and nodded, and was about to tell mommy that that made lots of sense when she went on.

"Plus I thought you'd look totally adorable and cute, I've always wanted to diaper you!" She added and pinched his cheek.

'And there it is..' Umbraby thought dryly though he endured the cheek pinching.

With everything explained out to her widdle champion, Lulnyq decided it was time to feed the little champ in the making, his tummy was growling and she wasn't about to let him go night night all hungry!

Poofing a large bottle of rich creamy milk that had been warmed just right out of thin air, she started cradling Umbraby in one arm and moved the ba-ba towards his mouth.

"M-Mommy I promise you I can feed myself!" he whined, cheeks flaring with a adorable blush.

"Oh But I insist! you're going to restore my glory, the least I can do is give you your ba-ba and burp you." She coo'ed.

She could see he wanted to fuss and argue but like the good widdle champion he was, he just nodded his head and opened him mouth.

he seemed to struggle a bit at first trying to adjust to drink from the rubber nipple and so she used a bit more of her skill and power to give him a infant urge to nurse, a trait she had left out at first.

with his new 'power up' so to speak Umbraby was chugging down his ba-ba like a champ, though Lulnyq could see she was gonna have to burp him with all the air bubbles he was making.

"Easy there little guy, it's not going anywhere, you don't have to force it all down at once.." She teased giggling.

Umbraby mumbled something with the bottles nipple in his mouth making milk run down the sides of his milk.

"I can see somebodies gonna be a sloppy eater. don't worry, I'll have lots and lots of bibs for you." She coo'ed, making a napkin appear and dabbing at the little guys chin and making sure none of the milk went onto his little uniform.

even as she did that she had a 'duh' moment and nodded her head slightly, his uniform was gone leaving just his diapers now.

"I don't know why I didn't think of that to begin with! Mommies a silly butt huh?" She giggled and tickled the blushing champ's tummy tum.

Umbraby tried to protest he wanted his gosh darn clothes back, but the ba-ba was just too good to give up. As mommy kept feeding him and made the comment about being a silly butt he found himself giggling and nodding as much as he could.

The rich creamy milk was just so good though it was filling him up in a different way then he'd ever felt before, something he suspected had to do with the fact he'd be -ugh- expelling it back out of his body.

he wasn't sure what to expect when that happened and he wasn't looking forward to it though as the bottle drained to it's last little bit he furrowed his eyebrows getting a confused look on his face as his crotch was getting all warm and damp.

"Hmm?What's wrong little one?" Mommy asked, pulling the basically finished ba-ba out of his mouth with a popping sound as his lips didn't wanna let go.

"I.. My diapie feels weird." Umbraby said and then squirmed more, his chest starting to feel owie. "My chest hurts too."

His Mommy goddess just smiled and poked a finger in the leg hole of the diaper before shifting him around, a towel over one shoulder now and resting his head on it.

"It's ok, you just had your first piddle accident. and the chest thing is you need to be burped because of all the air bubbles you took in." She explained, patting his back softly.

Umbraby blushed bright red at that.

"I..I piddled myself already!? But I didn't even feel it! and Mommy, I don't think it's a burp, I know how to bu-" Umbraby whined, squirming and about to say he could burp himself when a LARGE belch escaped from his mouth, echoing in the royal chamber.

"You were saying?" Mommy asked, amused.

"...Never mind." Umbraby said, burying his face in her shoulder. he had wet himself and belched like a total pig in front of his goddess.

'There was no WAY this could possibly get any worse.' Umbraby thought, tempting fate and as he would soon learn, little boys in diapers shouldn't do that.

Lulnyq was patting her little champion's back, coo'ing and reassuring him everything was going to be alright when a loud brassy fart erupted from his backside, again echoing in the chamber.

"oh my, someones gas powered tonight~" she teased lightly.

before Umbraby could go to defend his gas attack however several more poots escaped and the back of his diaper started to puff out and sag as she held him.

"Ah! Mommy! something's coming out of my butt! My insides are leaking out!" Umbraby cried out, sounding scared and she had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing.

"Shhh, it's ok silly. it's called pooping. you're having your first" and she mentally added 'of many' "Stinky diaper. It's ok." she coo'ed.

"THIS is what p-pooping feels like!?" Umbraby cried and whined, squirming in her arms. "And mortals do it all the time!?"

"well not ALL the time, depends on their diet.." Lulnyq said.

"I hate it! make it stoppp!" Umbraby cried, blubbering now like the little boy he looked like.

"Awww, it's ok. don't worry. Mommies here." She coo'ed and kissed her stinky little champion.

NOT the end.

AN: these characters do NOT belong to me, but are Lancetheyoung's. ^^

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 15: DR. EGGMAN

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a mini-series of mine, in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, it’s finally time for him. The bad doctor himself. Gather round ladies and gentleman, for the spotlight is on the arch-villain that shines above them all... Dr. Eggman.

The Gist: It's the dawn of the 90's. A little company called SEGA had an ephiphany. They wanted to make a video game juggernaut that could rival the quality and iconic appeal of the then-unmatched Super Mario Bros, and their current star, Alex Kidd, just wasn't doing it in the way that they hoped. They promptly set about starting anew, as a worldwide phenomenon wasn't going to make itself.

So a gentleman named Naoto Ohshima created a selection of design concepts for this brand new mascot. One of these concepts was President Roosevelt in his pajamas.

Seen here with his catgirl body pillow.

The response to this character was “This is good, but we think kids would prefer kicking the shit out of him”, and so he was given an antagonistic role instead. In the meantime, after juggling the rest of their ideas, they eventually settled on a rabbit hedgehog named Sonic for their main protagonist, knowing his Mickey Mouse-like aesthetic would help endear him to the audience, and the franchise as a whole would have an easier time gaining a DeviantART fanbase later on down the line.

Initially, the character of today's review was but a mere lackey among many, seemingly little more than one of numerous minions working for Sonic's originally intended main villain, the Nonspecific Goblin. He was also dressed as a bee for some reason.

Which is the least weirdest thing in this image.

At some point however, they all got together and decided that actually, the guy with the moustache was the only one worth shit, and so he was upgraded to the role of main villain himself. With a spiffy new attire of red and black, he was given the bold title of Dr. Eggman, because with a shape like that, what else are you gonna call him?

“Funny you should say that”, laughed SEGA of America, as they rebelled like an angsty teen and named him Dr. Ivo Robotnik instead. While this name does make equal sense for the character, as he is indeed a hard worker who also happens to like robots, the reason for this name's existence seems to have been mainly because they thought Eggman was too out there of a name for an egg-like man. Whatever the case, this would confuse a lot of fans for years, and remains a point of divisiveness to this day... Unless you're like me and your first game in the series was Advance 2, in which the manual clears it up right away, and you accept the idea of a character having two names and immediately carry on with your life.

He would have aimed it perfectly if it weren't for the Sonic Heroes Parrot distracting him.

And that was that, really. It didn't take long for them to come up with his characterization, which was that of a cackling fiend with an ego to end all egos. This guy was the Narcissist Alpha, more king than actual kings, no strings attached. Other villains would build statues of themselves, but only Robotnik would deface Ancient Egyptian monuments to improve them with his face. Other villains would think “Nah, refacing all four in Rushmore would look silly”, but only the Eggman, the Eggmyth, the Egglegend, would go “Well fuck you, I'm doing it anyway.” Then he'd do it anyway, and proceed to address to the entire world that he did in fact do it anyway.

It also didn't take long for them to develop his primary schtick. With the dynamic of Sonic VS Eggman, you had a classic rivalry between nature and technology. Interestingly enough however, this turned out to be executed more tactfully than your typical Amish-abiding examples in similar media. Never was technology itself regarded as a corruptive influence that you should never utilise no matter what. Rather, it was only as good or as evil as the person using it, with it just so happening that the villain loved machinery only slightly less than he loved himself, and it was countered by Sonic’s best friend being a techno wiz in his own right anyway. Anyhow, with his machinery, the doctor would make a name for himself among video game baddies by confronting his enemy as the boss of nearly every zone in each game, rather than hide away until the endgame.

And all without a driver's licence.

In his soon-to-be-30 years of activity, he has largely remained the same since his inception. Other characters have been introduced, other villains have came and went, but Eggman has remained THE villain of the franchise, and he's remained a vital part of the Sonic the Hedgehog universe... with a slight redesign along the way.

The only ad I don't want to skip.

The Design: Eggman's design may be more simplistic than the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf, and he may not look as openly threatening at first glance, but it's still a very iconic look no matter what look it is. His original appearance was devised so that kids could have an easy time drawing him, which only makes me feel worse about not being able to do it as a grown adult without it looking like a Sexy Legs Kirby.

Still, it's a classic for a reason. With his to-the-point colour scheme, contrasting heavily with Sonic's blue, and his capelet collar resembling walrus tusks, it was an instant winner and made everyone goo goo for g'joob.

The Emeralds he’s juggling are a metaphor for the divided fan community.

And when it was time to give the cast an update for Sonic's first real 3D adventure (or at least the first one that didn't get axed for being a magic eye seizure), Eggman got a respectable change of his own. He was taller, his getup was militaristic, and his body was more legitimately egg-shaped rather than basketball-shaped. He also gained a pair of goggles that he never uses, except in scenes where he puts them on and then never uses them.

“How do my chicken legs not collapse under the might of my gluttonous mass? Find out in an unrelated tie-in novel that you have to pay additional money for.”

There was also that one redesign from 2006, but...

Be it Classic or Modern, I've always loved his design. Before he even says a word or does anything, you know from his appearance that he's a bit of a clownish sort. But he also has a subtle creepy vibe going on, with the way his glasses often obscure his eyes, and how this only makes the pearly-white, unnecessarily wide grin on his face that much more empty and unsettling. This little bit of eeriness hiding among his cartoonish physique reflects the full extent of his character pretty accurately, as we’ll delve into soon enough.

If nothing else, it's more effective than him having no eyes at all.

GRRRRRRRR FUCK YOU BUNNIES THAT I CAN'T SEE

The Personality: If you've seen my villain reviews, then you'll have gathered that Sonic's rogues aren't known for having much in the way of personality. There are exceptions, but they are indeed the exceptions. More often than not though, whether it's an alien conquerer, an ancient monster, or Dan Green the Recolour, they can be summed up thusly: They're evil, they want to destroy the world, and the heroes stop them because they're evil and want to destroy the world. If they're feeling particularly daring, they might go for a second colour.

Luckily, as if to counter all these cardboard drawings, the central adversary of the franchise makes up for these voids of personality by actually having one. And what a personality it is.

The writers of SatAM looked at this and thought “No, this won't do, there's no character to work with here.”

He really is brimming with comedic charm. Every moment that he's present...

Every moment that he shows off...

Every moment that he basks in his own glory...

Every moment that he unveils a new wicked scheme...

Every moment that he puts his enemies to the test...

Every moment that he challenges the world...

Every moment that he laughs at the world...

Every moment that he lives, nay, every moment that he breathes...

Yes, the man has plenty of humor, and it's part of what makes him so enjoyable and memorable. However, if you think being a clown is all there is to him, then prepare to have your expectations subverted initial assumptions taken in a unexpected direction, because although he puts the goof in goofy, he ALSO puts the “oh...?” in “oh shit”.

For you see, Eggman is by all means the epitome of Laughably Evil, but do not, under any circumstance, take him at face value and write him off as a joke. He is anything but.

For starters, he can swing a planet.

There is a rule of thumb that I personally go by with Eggman’s characterization, one that I believe is an immediate make or break factor in regards to whether or not you understand what makes this villain work. Eggman - when you put all his secondary traits aside - is made up of two prominent halves. There’s the egocentric meme machine that bounces up and down like a kid with his N64 and laughs like Santa... and there’s the monster buried within that remains completely and utterly unrepentant for everything he’s responsible for. This is very important. Despite the character’s simplicity at his core, many writers have failed to grasp this, official writers included, and I for the life of me cannot understand why this is such a recurring problem. Eggman is funny, AND Eggman is evil. Both are equal. When you take away one or the other, you may have a funny character, or you may have an evil character, but you don’t have Eggman. Simple as.

Armchair intellectuals may argue that Eggman’s deeds aren’t that evil, since he tends to be merely callous rather than actively trying to hurt or kill people. Those people are probably the types on TV Tropes who weigh a villain’s evilness and effectiveness purely through the surface-level scale of their goals rather than what they actually do to achieve them. While it is true that Eggman tends to be more apathetic about the aftermath of his actions, that doesn’t - and shouldn’t - negate how dangerous he is. It shouldn’t negate what he’s capable of. It shouldn’t negate how far he’s willing to go. And it shouldn’t negate the consequences and casualties that can and do result from his many schemes.

Seriously, think about this for a second. If you confronted Eggman about his current plan to... I dunno, make a water park in Africa or some shit, and you informed him that there has been unexpected mass suffering as a result of this, how do you think he would truly feel about that? What do you think he would actually say to that?

Spoiler: No fucks.

If anything, that he “merely” doesn’t care either way as long as he gets what he wants is more uniquely horrific and deplorable than if he were a generic baddie who committed his evulz specifically for evulz’s own sake and nothing more. At least you’re inadvertently acknowledging that other people’s lives have value when you act one-dimensionally gleeful over ending them, but when your immediate response to the side-effect of a million potential deaths and environmental disasters is “Oh well, fuck ‘em, Eggmanland time baybeeee”, that’s a new level of cruelty.

Besides, even in the Genesis era, he was carpet bombing Angel Island...

“Good thing I have this shield. Sucks to be this forest!”

And he’s only gotten worse since then, indulging in such acts as going full suicide bomber with a missile, after his initial plot to destroy and rebuild Station Square through the means of Chaos and the Egg Carrier didn’t work out...

But don’t worry, he kept it lighthearted by making it look like a penis.

Making one of Sonic’s friends go insane with power against their will, forcing the Blue Blur to put them down personally...

It’s ironic, cause he’s metal. Or do I have to awkwardly explain the joke two more times before I’m a proper YouTuber?

Capturing thousands of innocent aliens, and forcefully converting them into mindless beasts...

I’m pretty sure I saw Alfred Molina conduct this experiment one time.

He even removed the heroes’ collective IQs so that he could shoehorn a cliffhanger on an already terrible game.

Thanks, cunt.

And honestly? When it comes to Sonic and chums at least, Eggman does let out a more openly sadistic side now and then. Need I mention that time when the doctor forced Sonic and two random buddies to make their way through a trap-infested island of his own creation? Not for the sake of nabbing Chaos Emeralds or anything of the sort mind you, he just wanted the blue motor mouth to suffer.

Images you can hear.

To make matters even worse, as befitting of his manchild tendencies, he’s ridiculously petty. How petty? Petty enough to abduct a little girl’s mother for no other reason than because Cheese completely trivialized his forces the girl was friends with Sonic and helped participate in the latest kicking of his own ass.

He only picked Vanilla because there was no Strawberry.

But at least his captives can admire the sheer variety that their captor has to offer. One of the greatest things about the doctor's style is that anything goes. With all due respect to Bowser, he tends to stick with his fiery castles (although he has been branching out recently), and plenty of other villains in gaming tend to be similarly stuck in their ways when it comes to tastes. Eggman, on the other hand, will create all sorts of fortresses and reside anywhere on the planet and beyond. It can be in the sky, in space, somewhere hot, somewhere cold, under the sea, in a circus... and every now and then, he might combine some of them together and thensome. So long as it's even vaguely mechanical in some way, his ground rules have already been ticked off.

Hang on a minute...

You know what else Eggman is? Relentless.

Persistence is a quality that most villains by their very nature share, lest they cease to be an effective antagonist. But once again, Rrrrrrrobotnik maxes out more than any other, and will often go to insane lengths to keep the current plan going, or if not that, then to spite Sonic.

Exhibit A: Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in which the grand finale consists of the madman throwing a gravity-shifting contraption your way, busting out a Kaiju-sized robo, escaping with the Master Emerald after his defeat, continuing to escape even after the Death Egg has been thoroughly destroyed, getting chased through the asteroid fields in space by Super Sonic, and only finally going down when the escape craft and the piloted mech controlling the escape craft are down. And all of this came after a grand adventure where, among other things, he destroyed an entire level just to kill you.

There are immortal omnipotents that put up less of a challenge.

“Looks like it’s time for Plan... *checks paper*... F.”

His relentlessness also reveals another side of the doctor that is simultaneously admirable and terrifying: He bows to no one. No one. Doesn’t matter who it is. Doesn’t matter how powerful they are. Doesn’t matter how much the odds are stacked against him. If another villain were to demand that he cower before them, the scientist would laugh and show through physical demonstration that this is not the way the egg rolls. Unless he’s absolutely unable to do so, he will give it his all every time, and even if he can’t, he’ll use his crafty mind to find some other way to get around the issue. You can beat him in battle, you can foil his plans, but you absolutely cannot break his resolve.

“Dad said it’s my turn to play with the Ruby. I know this, because I’m your dad.”

What about his relationship with those who actually serve him? Specifically, his own robots? Well for the most part, he treats them like absolute crap, what with verbally abusing them at every corner and being all too willing to go full Vader on them the moment they mess up. He IS capable of expressing fondness and giving praise to his more successful creations, like with Metal Sonic and Gamma, but even then, it’s a roundabout way of praising himself, since he’s the one who made them what they are. So basically, you’re only valuable to him if you make him look good.

Gaming in the Clinton Years in a nutshell.

And as for Sonic? Yeah, like with any legendary and long-lasting hero/villain dynamic, it’s obvious that Eggman has some degree of begrudging respect for his opponent. But if you think this respect would dissuade him from actually going through with his ambitions of rulership...

As the hedgehog’s apparent demise in Sonic Adventure 2 proves, as well as his defeat at the hands of Infinite and the subsequent six months of brutal conquest in Sonic Forces, Eggman is dead serious about his goals. If you think he’d get bored after conquering the world, he would simply expand his resources and have a crack at conquering the rest of the universe. When he says he hates that hedgehog, I’m inclined to believe that he means it, and although he may enjoy his “games” with Sonic to an extent, I also can’t see him wanting to remain stuck on square one forever.

If this were Sonic X, he’d just grieve.

By the way, the scene above? Undeniable proof that for all the doctor’s boasting, he’s not actually lying or exaggerating when he prides himself on his brilliance. Because when you get past his goofy exterior, when you look beyond the occasional, relatively minor mistake (*glares at IDW*), you’ll see that... yes. He IS brilliant. And not just in the science department either, although his countless robots and strongholds over the years are no doubt a testament to his credentials there. While he may prefer to go in big and bold, he can also be shrewd with his strategies when he wants to be.

Sonic’s aforementioned near-death experience, for example, was the result of Eggman turning the heroes’ own cunning plan on its head by being one step ahead of them. And in Sonic Unleashed, he lured his enemy into a trap, culminating with him cancelling out Super Sonic.

“...and pay the price for your Werehog gameplay...”

And after all those years of struggling, he finally got a giant monster under his complete control. “But he had help!”, you say? Yeah, from himself.

Did Flynn sleep through all this...?

Much like his inner nature as an evil bastard, Eggman's effectiveness is likewise commonly underestimated by writers. Yes, he occasionally makes mistakes. Yes, he occasionally overlooks details. Yes, he occasionally lacks foresight. But he is NOT stupid. A hero is only as good as their villain after all, and if Eggman is portrayed as a bumbling fool, then how can Sonic be a truly great hero? Eggman is humorous, sinister, and when the chips are down, competent.

...Did I mention that he's also a master Olympian?

The Execution: There's no surprises here. You knew from the moment you saw this review that my stance wasn't going to be anything less than 100% fanboy adoration. In that respect, this section almost feels redundant, because there's only so many ways I can say “Dr. Eggman is the fucking shit and I'm eternally grateful to Mr. Ohshima for bringing this absolute masterpiece into our world” without it getting repetitive. So to cap this review off, I'm going to very briefly compare his portrayals in other media, and explain why they tend to not be as good as the original SEGA Eggman.

“Cause they’re not balanced, right?” you ask. “Cause they veer too far in a particular direction? You're so predictable,” you add. To that I say:

1. Yeah, basically.

2. ...S-Shut up...

3. While the conclusion may be obvious, it's nonetheless important because as I mentioned previously, despite how straightforward this villain is, writers seem absolutely intent on not getting the point. There are loads of villains out there who share Eggman's talent of mixing hilarity and evil together with a bow of competence on top. Two of those villains are among the most famous supervillains of all time, in fact. You might have heard of them.

Joker can do it just fine. Green Goblin can do it just fine. And plenty of others can do it just fine. So why is it such an issue with Eggman? What is it about a round body and a long moustache that gets people to think “No, this guy is absolutely incapable of being comedic and threatening at the same time, no question, end of.” Is it because he’s a more cartoony franchise? Well, that can't be the case, because even Mario has a couple of beloved examples. Fawful, anyone? How about Dimentio? Cackletta? King Boo? K. Rool? Hell, you could even count Bowser himself depending on the portrayal.

Anyway, the point is, writers tend to miss the mark for one reason or another. With Sonic X for example, he wasn't too bad in the beginning, but as the show went on, he became exactly the toothless non-villain that many people misjudge him as. We all know that scene where he berates Black Narcissus for harming their captives (not for pragmatic reasons mind you, he genuinely took issue with the act on moral grounds, even though his own hands weren’t exactly clean either), but even before that point, he was doing such things as healing an injured Sonic without an ulterior motive, not taking any opportunity whatsoever to start conquering Sonic's world because he was pining for Sonic's attention, and being the Jiminy Cricket to Chris Thorndyke's Pinocchio. Why they thought the goddamn villain should be the moral conscience of this show remains an unanswered question, but at least it no longer influences how he's portrayed in the games.

Then you have the IDW comic, which is a similar tale of starting off decent and then careening wildly into the abyss, but for different reasons. Initially, he was built up to be in-line with his competent, foresight-packed self from Forces, with his inevitable return being met with dread, and a delightfully devilish scheme to match when he finally did so. But somewhere along the way, Ian Flynn thought that Eggman coming back from his amnesiac period and returning stronger than ever with a new minion and a deadly virus wasn't enough to up the stakes... so they decided to “up the stakes” by turning both the doctor and his new minion into massive imbeciles so as to justify their plot getting hijacked by the Deadly Six, a move so predictable yet infuriating that it got even me to turn against the Six. And the reason the Six got invited in-universe is because Starline decided he didn’t like being unique and devolved into Snively 2.0 behind Eggman’s back. All this from the alleged “best writer” for the series...

Yeah, same.

And then you have the Boom version, which shares basically the same issues as Sonic X but in a more mundane fashion. It's easier to dismiss because it's a comedy-centric show and his redesign makes it easier to separate him from mainline Eggman, and I'll gladly admit that he does have a lot of genuinely funny lines that redeem him a little bit. But yeah, too much of not being a true villain for my tastes.

Now this isn't to say that there haven't been portrayals in other media that are up there with the original. The versions that I consider better off than the ones above include...

- The OVA Eggman is pretty faithful all things considered, aside from his romantic feelings for Sara, which feels slightly off since the idea of Eggman loving anyone other than himself is incredibly unrealistic at best. But it doesn't actually soften or undermine his deviousness, so I'm willing to let it slide for an alternate take. Especially since he gave us the best Metal Sonic out there.

- AoStH is far from a perfect show, but there's a reason why even its detractors tend to treat its version of Robotnik like a national treasure. Admittedly most of that is because of the legendary Long John Baldry and the endless memes associated with this incarnation, but despite hailing from a comedy-focused show like Boom Eggman, this Robotnik still had a lot of legitimately dangerous moments, more than you'd think.

- And of course, Jim Carrey's Robotnik in the Sonic movie is just... *chef's kiss*

So obvious aesop though it may be, but you see what the more effective portrayals have in common, I assume?

Granted, this also isn't to say that SEGA Eggman himself has had a perfect track record. The decade's worth of upstagings and backstabbings by other villains should be enough of a counterpoint to that claim, and I've also made it clear now and then that I take issue with certain games regarding what they do with the doc, no matter how revered they may be by other fans. Sonic Adventure 2, for instance. I praised the fake emerald scene, and I do sincerely believe that he has a number of other badass moments in that game, but because Shadow was playing him like a fool the whole time, I can't help but have a bitter taste in my mouth when I look at the bigger picture.

So close to greatness, yet so far...

So in that case, which game do I think has Eggman's best showing overall? That's not in any way an easy question, but lack of dialogue aside, I'm gonna go with Sonic 3 & Knuckles again, as the classic journey through the sights of Angel Island plays out in a way that highlights just how determined, ruthless, and underhanded he is with carrying out his mission to revive the Death Egg by any means necessary. Other games do win out in other areas - SA1 for how bastardly he is, Forces for how cunning he is, Colours for his hilarious announcements, CD for using the scenery to show the effects of his actions, Mania for not letting the other villain walk all over him - but for the purest essence of the doctor at his cartoony yet competent best, I'd say S3&K is a reasonable bet.

And when it comes to all his many traits, which one do I find the most special one of all? Well again, far from easy to answer, but I think the coolest aspect about him is also one of the most overlooked. Robotnik, despite whatever superhuman qualities he may occasionally unveil, is for all intents and purposes a regular guy with a big brain. This might make him appear unimpressive when compared to your average Final Fantasy villain and the like, but if anything, it paints him in a more flattering light than expected, because he doesn't even need to be on their level to still be on the radar. It's easy to be a big bad threat when you're an ancient demon or an almighty god-like being, and you only have to wave a hand to cause armageddon. But when you're just Some Guy™ going up against superpowered opponents, meaning you have to earn your threat level the hard way, and you prove to be a challenge every step of the way regardless, because you're just THAT much of a genius... that's fucking awesome, no other way to put it.

And you know what else is awesome? You may not like Eggman, and you don’t have to like him, but like it or not, he is directly and indirectly responsible for a vast majority of the coolest and most loved moments and aspects of this franchise.

The opening to Unleashed? Eggman set up the scene.

Shadow running around and continuing to be part of the franchise? Eggman released him.

Blaze getting involved with Sonic’s world and continuing to be part of the franchise? Eggman’s half-responsible for that.

Metal Sonic? Eggman made him.

Egg Dragoon? Eggman.

Big Arm? Eggman.

Monkey Dude? Eggman.

That text is missing a blue checkmark.

This review is probably longer than the echidna family tree in Archie at this point, so I better finish it off. If it wasn't obvious from all the paragraphs I've belted out in this post, I'm very passionate about Eggman and the way he’s portrayed. Ever since I got into the Sonic franchise in 2003, I immediately took a liking to the doctor, and to this day, he remains not only my favourite Sonic villain, my favourite Sonic character, but also my favourite character period. Some may find it a weird or lame choice compared to other, “better” characters, but that's the way it is, and I ain't about to change it. I am very unlikely to ever stop enjoying the hell out of this villain, and even if he got irreversibly ruined in some way, I'd still continue to love what he was before that point.

Because yeah, he's not the deepest character ever, but... who cares? Is it not enough that we find something that appeals to us? When I got into Sonic, I was introduced to fantastic games, a likable cast, high quality soundtracks, beautiful worlds, numerous friends on this very site, and of course, the lovely treasure that is my partner. I may not have been with this franchise during the 90's, but it's given me just as much fun, nostalgia, and happiness as those who were. Despite the flawed titles, despite the fandom conundrums, I still love this series.

And I still love this absolute prick.

Crusher Gives Dr. Eggman a: TWO Thumbs Up!

[rideboldlyride]

Calloused

Summary: Iroh hadn’t been able to watch. The pure horror of a man - a father- burning their child for a slight infraction... He couldn’t do anything to stop it, but he will stop his brother from destroying entirely the kind boy he knew Zuko could be.

(I’ll post this in the morning to AO3, but I really wanted to get this out today, since it’s been something I wanted to write since I began Perfect.)

[EDIT: here’s the link!]

Iroh was not surprised, but deeply saddened when the news reached him at his nephew's bedside. It arrived inconspicuously, in the hand of an unassuming and unmarked guard. The only thing to identify the origin of the letter was the Fire Lord’s insignia on the seal.

“By Order Of Fire Lord Ozai,

Former Crown Prince Zuko is hereby stripped of both rank and home, and forthwith banished from the lands, commonwealth and colonies held by the Fire Nation, for the crime of dishonoring the Fire Lord, and bringing shame upon the Throne of the Fire Nation. Immediately, upon receipt of notice, the Crown Prince is to move with all reasonable haste from the Nation and its Territories, lest he wish to face the Lord’s wrath.

By the Decree of the Fire Lord,

Long May He Rule in Agni’s Light.”

His brother’s firm, bold character at the bottom of the notice left no doubt of his perspective on the matter. Disgusted, Iroh hefted his solid frame from the chair beside his resting nephew’s sick bed. The healers had already come and gone -- there was no certainty that the young man was going to regain sight in his injured eye, and the ointment used to coat and soothe the burn was only to dull the pain. Due to the extent and severity of the burn, there was a great chance of infection. The only thing that kept the young man from screaming out in pain was the tranquilizing tea he was coerced to swallow down between his feverish episodes. 

If the Fire Lord was following the tradition associated with banishment, Zuko was to be moved immediately. The Dragon was certain what that would spell for the young man, and was determined to prevent any more loss of those he loved. 

Turning to the menservants hovering near the young man’s bedside, he located the one in charge. 

“Whatever may happen while I am gone,” the retired general leveled a steely gaze at him, his amber eyes leaving no room for failure, “no one is to move the Prince. If anyone, guards or otherwise, arrives to take him away, send for me at one.”

The young man, hardly older than the 13 year old in the bed, nodded sagely. Face softening, the General nodded slightly, then made his way out the door. As he entered the hallway, he allowed the storminess that had brewed inside him from the moment he had heard of the Agni Kai, to finally show upon his face. Ozai might be Fire Lord, but to Iroh, he was still his obnoxious little brother. Once upon a time, he might have felt a certain pity for him, but the years had not been kind to his disposition. While this once may have been a factor to consider on the part of the older brother, the public humiliation and mutilation of his own son had put what once may have been pity far from his mind. Instead, Iroh felt the rage of a thousand suns build in his belly. The Dragon of the West had made up his mind, and he knew he had the strength behind his words to fulfill what task lay before him. 

Ozai deserved no son of this caliber.

To Iroh, as he had given up his right as Crown Prince when he chased his lost son to the Spirit World, Ozai had lost his right as father to Zuko the moment he laid a scorching hand on his son’s face.

With that determination and fire in his eye, no guard stepped forward to stop him as he flung open the doors to his younger brother’s private study.

“What is the meaning of this?” the Dragon’s words hissed, the notice of Zuko’s banishment raised in a barely restrained fist.

“The boy dishonored my general and I.” Without turning away from the fireplace, the Fire Lord - his brother, Iroh reminded himself - responded coldly. He knew Iroh would come in with fire on his heels, and it gave the old general pause. “He must learn the path of honor through pain and shame.”

The Fire Lord turned in his chair by the raging fire. Did he have to keep the fireplace going even in the middle of summer?? Iroh kept the thoughts to himself, exasperated at his brother’s jockey for relevance and drama. Instead, he watched as the dismissal danced across the younger man’s face. Fury continued to eat at the Dragon’s belly.

“Was his public humiliation not enough for you, Ozai?!”

A scowl pulled at his lips, and amber eyes turned back to the burning fire. 

“No.” 

The response was simple and quiet. Yet, within it Iroh could hear the disgust, the disdain of his own son. All the things that had wronged his brother, real or imagined, they were laid solidly at a thirteen year old boy’s feet. And with a simple act - a scrawl of ink on parchment - he could send his son away with those guilts upon his shoulders.

“You send him away,” Iroh’s voice was quiet, but his words held steel, “with nothing to fight for. You wound him, physically shaming him, in such a way that he will never escape, to wander lands he is not welcome to. You leave him with nothing!”

Incredulousness licked like flames at the older man’s heels. “You don’t even give him a purpose! What do you wish for, Ozai? For him to die?”

Slowly, the Fire Lord stood from his chair before the fire, his slim silhouette cut an intimidating figure before the flames. They rose precariously higher before falling again. It followed a steady pattern. Iroh watched as his shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh, smoke curling from his lips, pulled into a sneer. 

“I wish for him to learn the pain that his existence has brought upon me.”

Aghast, Iroh took a step back from the firebender, wishing he had never heard his brother speak so callously of his own son. For a moment, he attempted to envision a situation where his anger could have ever led him to speak so heartlessly of his dear Lu Ten, and his imagination fails him. He swallows hard before continuing.

“You wish upon him a fate worse than the death you could have easily wrought. And you give him no goal for him to reach for - no chance for his own reinstatement to a place of honor before you.” Even as he speaks, the horror of the Agni Kai still sits behind his eyes, the young boy’s screams in his ears. “Give him something, Ozai. Something to attain.”

A dark laugh reached his ears, and stately, Ozai turned to his brother, disgust evident across his features. 

“This is why you would have failed as a Fire Lord, Iroh. You cling on to hope for those who do not deserve it. The boy was born weak, and he will die the same. Weak. You want to give him hope that he will live to be more than he is capable of. 

“‘It is the duty, nay, the privilege of the mighty to cull the weak. To pull the thorns and thistles from the lilies, so they may grow, devoid of the leeches of the unculled.’ Or have you forgotten your duty, Iroh?” 

Amber eyes narrowed. “You may quote from our father as much as you wish. But I recall my younger brother, scared and barely able to stand, cowering before our grandfather, much as your son did before you.”

Eyes like fiery coals rounded on him, wide. “And I fought back. I learned strength! That child has learned nothing! He cowers and cringes and scrapes, and never once does he stand!”

“But he did. He stood for what he thought was right. And for that, you marred him. He has stood before you in the past. Stood between you and his sister, even if she is unaware.” Iroh’s voice dropped dangerously. “How many hits has he taken since Ursa left, Ozai? He cowers before a volcano he cannot hope to stop. And now you tell him he is adrift amongst the lava flow.”

“What would you have me do?!” Ozai stood close, almost nose to nose with his older brother, and washes his expression of disgust with the smoke from his lips as he hissed.

“Give him a quest. Give him hope for his return. A way for him to redeem himself in your eyes. For that is the only person he begs that from.”

“Fine.” The Fire Lord turned away, moving back to the fire.

Iroh nods despite the sensation of dread suddenly curled like a snake in his belly. It was not like Ozai to give in without more of a fight. 

“Tell me, Iroh, respected General and Dragon of the West; what is the greatest threat to the Fire Nation?”

Without thought, Iroh speaks, the words of his father and his father’s father ingrained into his subconscious. 

“The Avatar.”

A malicious glint catches at the younger man’s eye, casting a smirk over his shoulder to his brother.

“No.” It escapes Iroh’s chest like a death rattle. “It’s an impossible mission.”

The glint hardens like steel. “If my son wishes to prove himself to me, he will find it possible.”

***

Not a full day beyond the fateful Agni Kai, Iroh stood at the cusp of the bow of a small, decommissioned Fire Navy frigate, his back turned away from his nation as the coast disappeared behind him. The salty breeze whipped away the tears that attempted to fall. He had left Caldera City, Ember Island, the Fire Nation itself, before, and he was free to return whenever he so desired. The young man he now accompanied, however, no longer held the same option. His tears fell only for the lost youth in the belly of the ship. 

Even as the last tendrils of steam from the Caldera City mountain disappeared into the horizon, he heard the commotion rise from below. The general made his way down below deck, and the doors to the young man’s room were left ajar. As he entered, sad eyes fell upon the young man who struggled against the ship’s only medic - an old field officer unprepared for this sort of wanton injury - trying to restrain him. Iroh rushed to his side, pulling the young man into his arms. 

At first, the boy struggled against him, pushing him away. His freshly shaved head glistened from the exertion, combined with the after effects from his severe burn. The struggles became sluggish, and slowly the young boy sagged into the embrace. Iroh didn’t notice when the medic took his leave, a small jar left on the nightstand beside some fresh bandages, or that he made certain to close the door completely as he exited.

A soothing hand circled the young man’s upper back, as the cries of pain mixed with his tears of shame. Through the hiccuping sobs, he managed to get out a few words.

“Why- whe-where am I? W-What happened?”

“That is for another day, Prince Zuko.” 

[keyofjetwolf]

Bonus Question Answers! (live action final)

I asked a silly question! You gave me incredible answers. SO VERY MANY INCREDIBLE ANSWERS. If yours is listed below, you’ve earned an entry in a random draw to win a GIFTENING liveblog OF YOUR CHOICE

—

Q: There's a new Big Bad in town: JET WOLF. What am I after? What is my power? How will I, hypothetically, be defeated?

*  Agents, we have a problem.  There is a new player in town, goes by the name of Jet Wolf.  She seems harmless, but don't let that fool you.  From the information we were able to gather, she accidentally triggered her own power by completing an unknown ritual called the Giftening (we're still researching to see what that is in her world). She can review a situation and instantly analyze all angles of motivation and character.  She can see what drives any person to behave in any way.  However, she does have a weakness for understanding homosexual motivations.  We may have to bring in the Butch squad to assist on this one.  The biggest trouble is that a Chaos God insists that she belongs to Them, so now there are chaos acolytes following her everywhere she goes. When she is upset, she can manifest multiple demonic plush multi-colored cats to throw at people.  Luckily, her aim is not the best, but even a glancing blow from a single cat can disorient you for hours. We've seen references to a previous companion named Holligay, but no knowledge of their status or whereabouts at this time.  Her overarching goal is to get back to her own world, and we MUST assist as soon as possible.  Our world may not survive continued long-term exposure to the myriad chaotic forces she brings everywhere she goes.  If you have any ideas for strategy, please bring them forward.  We'll meet again this afternoon.  Dismissed.  -- @amberlilly  [AGAIN WITH YOU AND YOUR PERFECTION. The “weakness for understanding homosexual motivations” and calling out The Butch Squad made this TRANSCEND.]

~~

*  The smoke poured over Tokyo in slips of purple and black, twisting around the buildings, as Usagi Tsukino pulled herself up from between the fallen stones. In the clearing, there was...a woman. Nothing like a youma, or some fallen queen, just a woman, laying waste to Tokyo, brown peppered hair shining the fires of all she had brought to bear. "What do you want??" Cried out Usagi, tears of fear and rage cluttering her vision. "The reboot.." The woman turned toward her slowly, dark storms in her eyes, "No. More. Classic." "BUt--But--" Usagi stood on shaky legs, "The Dark Kingdom has--" "OH MY GOD FUCK THE DARK KINGDOM!" Lightning and thunder clashed into the skies, bringing down a ray of destruction to what was once a giant Sega arcade. In the background, a man howled. "I want," she bared her teeth, "Fresh. Senshi. Adventures." "The new merchandise..." "How many times are you going to release the same figuarts in new colors? How many goddamn fucking heart compacts are you and bandai going to shove down my throat!? Another moon stick--well I do want the moon stick. BUT STILL!!" USagi's lip trembled. "My name is Usagi Tsukino, I'm 14 years old, and--" "Bitch you're over forty!" "What is this?!" The buildings glowed brighter as the flames in them grew, kindled, "Who the hell do you think you are??" The adversary turned. Rei Hino stood behind her, hands on hips, glowering. She advanced, slowly, and the woman who had destroyed a very particular subsection of Tokyo was forced to take a step back. "You think you can come here--and TELL ME??" Rei had a certain way of ignoring that anyone else might have been troubled or bothered by events, for she personally was affronted, "What the new anime is going to be like?? What story *I* can tell?? YOU DARE TO TELL ME--" "No, of course not!" the woman fell to her knees, "Of course not, esteemed fire maiden!! I love you!" IN the rubble, a small redhead crawled out of a hole in the wall, grasping plates of conveyor-belt sushi in her arms, an eel roll hanging out of her mouth. "Gotta say this trip to Tokyo was different than I thought it'd be."  -- DOC DOC [You were here when I read it and so heard for yourself, but I laughed SO HARD at this. BITCH YOU’RE OVER FORTY]

~~

*  Jet is after potatoes and her power is her army of clever black creatures. Namely her murder of crows always quick to summon and her shoulder void cat man who is helpful up until the vault of potatoes are found whereupon, one fears he might suddenly become Jet's rival   -- Furi  [OH MAN I WOULD WANT THE POTATOES GOOD CALL GOOD CALL]

~~

*  Jet Wolf did not start out evil. No, once she was a mild-mannered blogger, commenting on various properties with enthusiasm and passion. But then came The Erasure. Jet Wolf was halfway through a particularly interesting episode of PGSM. Rei was doing something particularly Rei-like. Jet was pontificating on the Rei-ness of Rei. When the power flickered, there was a surge of electricity up Jet's arms, and when the power returned, her screen was free of any sign of Rei. The episode was still there, but Rei was not. No Sailor Mars at all. Jet checked the previous episodes; no Rei there, either. She checked her copies of the anime: No Rei. Jet was frantic. "Hey, Doc," she called across the room, "What happened to Rei?" "What?" Said Doc. "You mean that character from the manga that they thankfully left out of all the other versions? Why do you care? She sucked." "But I love her!" Replied Jet Wolf. "No you don't; you've always loved Seiya best," was the response. And this is why Jet Wolf now haunts the internet, spoiling any media she can, exposing plot holes and character inconsistencies, pointing out exactly why your fave is not awesome, until she is able to get her precious Rei Hino back. Be careful. You never know when she will jump out from behind a comment and attack. -- @incorrecttact  [All of this is amazing, but I so very much want the backstory on Who Erased Rei Hino. WHO WOULD HATE THE WORLD THAT MUCH]

~~

*  You're just here to stomp the village. You have no power, just size 23 heels. You will not be defeated  -- Isa  [The purity in this is unparalleled.]

~~

*  You are strong and powerful, capable of sending your void man minions and excessively loving underdogs to attack others. Babies cry as you steal their candy. Lesbians moan as you punch their toilets. Doc screams in horror as you take not 1 but 2 desserts. Your goal is to take over the town, nay, the world. All shall tremble and cower before your feet, all shall--wait, is that a Rei&Usagi cell? Is that SOCKS? You let the void man take over while you immediately go investigate. That's fine, though. that's exactly how the void man had planned it.  -- @kumeko  [HOT POCKET HOW COULD YOU BETRA-- oooo, socks!]

~~

*  TOWERING GODZILLA STOMP. The mighty Jet Wolf careens through the town like a drunken tornado, causing furniture to spontaneously explode just from being nearby, on a quest to find the PERFECT CHEESE. the mighty jet wolf is eventually defeated by a small tortoiseshell kitten whose adorable mew causes the jet wolf to freeze in place to avoid upsetting it further.  -- nerdy-flutterings  [Every word of this sounds like it was pulled from my dearest dreams. DO I GET TO KEEP THE KITTEN I NEED TO KNOW]

~~

*  The answer to all three: ~*~INSIDIOUS~*~MISANDRY~*~  @rasiqra-revulva  [MY TRUEST NEMESIS]  (I’d somehow forgotten INSIDIOUS MISANDRY thank you for reminding me that the world can always be just a little bit sillier.)

—

I’ll be drawing for the bonus liveblog around the start of THE GIFTENING 2020 (which will be Monday, 11 January 2021). Each bonus question is another chance to earn an entry! AS WE SEE I CAN ABSOLUTELY AND SHAMELESSLY BE BOUGHT.

[blowingoffsteam2]

Ultimania Updates-SRT

Gathered in one place, here’s the updates from the new Ultimania (and maybe some other tidbits) added to the Sleeping Realm Theory (SRT) doc so far.  The sections these updates are found in are bolded so you can find them within the doc and read the surrounding context:

1.  The Theory Itself

Time travel at KG to save everyone’s hearts has been confirmed by Nomura! Look, see, where we said the second timeline went Save Everyone > Time Travel / Rewind > Xehanort Gay Dies After Decades Long Marriage Dispute, that’s been confirmed!

Q: When we leave the Final World, we are back to the point just before Sora and his friends were defeated. Why is that?

Nomura: “The power of awakening is essentially "the power to put sleeping hearts back the way they were." But the impact of forcing his friends' fading hearts back the way they were rewrote reality, and created a singularity. The rewrite caused the chronology in which they were destroyed to have "never happened." Source

2. Dive to the Heart

Now that the main interview with Nomura has been translated, it’s confirmed a very important thing for this theory.

“Q: The Final World, a place very important to the story, appeared in the game, but what kind of world is it?

A: It is a place where those just a step from death arrive, connected to the Station of Waking. Up until now, the Station of Waking was always a dark place where the floor was made of stained glass, where the condition of the inside of one's heart could be shown, but in this case I made The Final World a place where I could show [that] more concretely, a place similar to a portal to [people's] respective hearts. Within the game, it's said that sleep and death are intimately linked, so if one's heart were in a state of sleep and they found themselves in the Station of Waking, the idea is that if they moved on from there, they would find themselves in The Final World.” - Nomura, KH3 Ultimania.

What this says basically, is to arrive in The Final World during Dive to the Heart in the first place, your heart should already be “in a state of sleep”. Nomura has confirmed, before the first DTTH we see, at the very start of the game we play, Sora is already in a state of sleep.

3. KHII.9(Context: This update is placed in the translation section talking about Riku’s growth from saying his wish is to have “strength protect the things that matter”- “Daiji na mono”- in BBS to “strength to protect my cherished person” in KH3- “Taisetsu na hito”)

The Ultimania actually goes out of its way to explicitly state this growth on Riku’s character page: “‘I want to become strong enough to protect the things that matter.’ Roughly 10 years later, after many twists and turns, he has finally obtained the strength to protect the person who matters.”

4.  KH3 for realsies this time

(Context: This one is in regards to the “logo conspiracy”, just to show that this sort of obscure hinting is not beyond something Nomura would do)

In an interview with Nomura in 2016, he revealed that he hid secret clues in the cover art for 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8. Because of course he did, I guess!

“Nomura: There are actually two secrets about the illustrations from [KH1.5] until [KH2.8]. Extremely attentive KH fans might have already discovered them, but one is that Sora's movements change from sitting, to standing, to walking. One more is that when you line up the three illustrations, you'll notice that they show the flow of time with changes in the sky. [KH1.5] is sunset becoming night, [KH2.5] is the middle of the night, and [KH2.8] is night breaking into dawn. Those three illustrations have a message regarding the final chapter, [KHIII].”

Ultimania Update: Oh boy did you think Nomura was done? Cause he wasn’t!

These party people were confirmed by Nomura in the Ultimania to actually be robed figures, sneakily placed to look apart of the building, people hidden in plain sight. What’s silly is that people had been wondering this exact thing when the box art had been revealed, and that too got shot down on the same premise of “reading too much into it”.

5. The Paopu Fruit

In the Ultimania, Irino (Sora’s VA) stated that they recorded two versions of the paopu scene:

Irino: “We recorded both a sharing scenario and a not sharing scenario. During the editing, it wasn’t decided which [Nomura] would go with, but it seems in the end he went with the sharing scenario.” - KH3 Ultimania VA Interview

In an unseen timeline (the waking/real world) a litany of things could go differently, and while this tidbit could be nothing, it’s at least an interesting note and a fun little fact.

6.  Flowmotion and Attraction Flow

There’s a section showing concept art and planning for Attraction Flows. (thanks to @gummiphoned for the discovery and photos!)

In the bottom corner, there’s an in game concept example. 

With Sora in his DDD outfit.

Set in DDD’s Traverse Town. 

7.  Reality Shift

There’s a section that elaborates a little on the Combined Keyblade, confirming it to be the very same one we see in DDD.

Top Text: "During the special event in the realm of darkness, when Sora and Riku deal the finishing blow against the Demon Tower, the two of them used their fusion keyblade. That keyblade is the same as the one that appeared in 3D."

Bottom Text: "In 3D this fusion keyblade appeared in The World That Never Was when using Reality Shift."

8.  Promotional Materials

Later, official sources started to use a simple but unrelated, specific hashtag.

夢しかない (yume shika nai) translated to “ONLY DREAM” or just “There is only a dream”. The first time it’s used was the 6 days to go countdown

It was then used moving forward in all promotional tweets including release day (PlayStation japan was also using the tag). The last time they used this was the secret movie announcement tweet.

9.  The Secret Ending

This has actually been confirmed by Nomura to take place after KH3 and that when Sora disappears in the ending he arrives here. More or less exactly as we thought.

“Q: I see. Then, continuing on, I'd like to ask about the secret movie; is the location connected to the ending? A: Yes. After disappearing in the ending, Sora arrives in the world shown in the secret movie.” - Nomura, KH3 Ultimania.

10.  Shibuya, Baby!

Nomura also made note that this Shibuya isn’t the original in universe TWEWY world Shibuya. It’s Shibuya, but ~Shibuya~. As in, some kind of alternate version.

“Q: Is the place Sora is in the same world as the one in The World Ends With You?

A: It looks that way. However, rather than saying Sora has gone to the TWEWY world, the meaning is that it's not exactly Shibuya, but ~Shibuya~ (note: this is hard to explain in English, but instead of it being written in kanji, the name for "Shibuya" is written in katakana here. This basically means it's not the same Shibuya as in TWEWY or in the real world.) Also, although Sora promised Neku and his friends that they would meet again in Shibuya, this video is not connected to that.” - Nomura, KH3 Ultimania

11.  Rage Form

From the Dengeki Playstation interview:

--There's a form that appears called "Rage Form," which reminds us of the "Anti Form" from KH2. What is the setup behind that?

Nomura: The forms in this title are very different from that of KH2, so we decided to change all the names. Rage does indeed have characteristics that are reminiscent of Anti, but it's basically a separate thing setup wise. Anti is based on Sora getting completely stained in darkness, but Rage doesn't go quite that far. It's based on him going into a rampage state, controlled by feelings of anger.

12.  Namine

Nomura has since elaborated a little bit on what happens with Namine tho it still doesn’t really answer the biggest question. It’s said that when Kairi took the blow from Xehanort, this set her free (even if we don’t see a heart whatsoever). Nomura plans on explaining it more down the road, apparently.

13.  Xion

Nomura has since stated in an interview that upcoming DLC will go into Xion and how she’s here so, hooray!

[fyrapartnersearch]

Hello I am Laura, a gerbil mamma and special needs teacher living in the UK, GMT time zone and so fourth. I am above twenty five. I am writing more often then I was, I am trying for three or four times a week and I am looking for a few new threads to get me though the cold days. What do I want to write? Male or Female, not bothered. I like to write M/F and M/M. F/F… never done, but I am willing to talk. I like to write, but I don’t like to write for the sake of writing. Three detailed paragraphs… but I do love a bit of quick fire too, especially when things in the story are tense.  I am willing to double, but prefer not too… however, I love secondary characters, and if they develop to main characters, then I wont say nay!  What do I want from you? Please be… Twenty-one plus.  Open minded and willing to talk.  Patient and able to communicate. Nice and not just poof without notice – I understand crises happen, but after a week of no contact, I prod people… if nothing after that then I move on. If you contact me after that and explain I am usually willing to listen. Most of the time.  Willing to world build, bounce ideas and plot. What am I looking for? Genres…  Fantasy: Urban Fantasy: Witches, werewolves, vampires but set in a modern, day to day world. Love to write a female in this, always end up with a male. High Fantasy: Elves and quests and destroying the dark forces.  Slice of life Political Drama’s – I have a plot or two here…  Romance between extreme wealth and almost poverty  A bit of sci-fi Fandoms… Although this can be negotiated, I have indicated with a * who I would prefer to play… Harry potter: • Harry*/Draco* • Harry*/Snape • Draco*/Hermione* • Snape/Lupin* Sarah J Mass Books • Feyre*/Rhys* • Cassian/Nesta*  • Aelin*/Rowen* • Dorian*/Manon* • Lysandra/Aedion Others… • Bond/Q* • Christian*/Ana* – Fifty Shades  • Ava*/Gidion* I will love you forever • A few specific characters and plots… After rereading a few old role plays, I have a few cravings to dust of a few characters who died or perhaps I felt didn’t get there full run.  Supernatural: I have an OC who I would love to play against Dean Winchester. Elle is a spitfire who can give Dean as good as she gets. She had seen what’s out there… I was thinking set after season five when Sam fell into the pit. Romance isn’t necessary. I would prefer to start with a teacher/student relationship, and a strong friendship before anything else. Also, I have a psychic cop who works for the freak squad. A damaged, sensitive soul, Nick Clarke needs someone to love him and to help him heal… and perhaps help him on cases Also in the mix is a half angel assassin who is on the run from those he worked for (they killed his wife) and needs a companion (female) who is also on the run! I have a highly cynical stripper who would love to meet a vampire or something else. Smut I prefer to play switch rolls. Tops and bottoms. I have an F list for kinky times, but I love a bit of plain old vanilla smut as well. I also reserve the right to fade to black because sometimes, if a character has that connection, then do we really need to write it all out?  How to contact me? I only role play over email, and I don’t really do chat apps and so on. My email is: Angel.feathers1111@gmail.com 

[joie-university-rp]

Dear DANTE NOIRE,

It is with great pleasure we invite you admission to Joie University! Welcome to the Thunderclap family!

-

Congratulations, JUSTIN! Please be sure to check the New Members’ Checklist and send in your character’s account within 24 hours from now. We cannot wait to see all that you will bring to this roleplay! We love you already!

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Alias; pronouns: Justin, he/him

Age, Timezone: 20, MST

Activity, short explanation: 3-4 hours a day, after work.

Ships: Dante/Kurt since I am filling the connection. Dante/anyone.

Anti-Ships: Nothing.

Triggers: None for me.

Preferred photo for Character’s ID (please give a link): https://media.gq-magazine.co.uk/photos/5d138d392881cc034d0a7267/master/w_1280,c_limit/Adam-Driver-04-GQ-12Dec17_Dante-Brookes_b.jpg

Anything else: I’m filling this connection. https://joie-university-rp.tumblr.com/post/189809373804/requested-connection-for-kurt-hummel-suggested

IC INFORMATION:

Full Name (First, Middle, Last): Dante Matthew Noire

FC: Adam Driver

Age/Year at University (Freshman [1st Year], Sophomore, Junior, Senior, or Graduate Student): 24 years old, freshman/first year

Birth date (MONTH DAY, YEAR): August 13th, 1995

Hometown (please be sure to check the hometowns listed for characters your muse is related to!): Los Angeles, California

Gender/Pronouns: Male, he/him.

Sexuality: Pansexual

Major(s): Philosophy

Minor(s) [optional]: Songwriting/Music

Housing request (remember, only the president of a Greek Organization is required to live at a Greek House to be in it!): Schuester Dormitory Single Dorm 205

Extracurriculars (Click here for the list. Be sure to specify any executive board positions [i.e. president, secretary, etc.] If something isn’t listed, please put it here and we will add it to the masterlist!):  Glee Club Member, Fencing Team Member

Greek Life Affiliation [optional] (Please be sure to specify any executive board positions [i.e. president, pledge educator, etc.] or if your character is not yet a member, but plans to rush): None.

CHARACTER PROFILE (TW; Alcohol abuse, suicidal tendencies):

Dante was born into a relatively normal upper-class family. His parents were a very successful pair, his mother a lawyer and his father a banking executive. He lived in peaceful comfort, went the best private schools for teaching, yet when it came time for him to start building towards a career path, he couldn’t seem to pick one. He was a joy in the classroom and had a knack for tutoring other students that struggled as well. Alas, he didn’t want to be a teacher like his mother recommended, or a social worker like his father suggested. He found his true home in the music room. His parents had him learn piano and other various instruments, including vocal lessons, much to their detriment. When it came to his senior year of high school with not a single college application submitted, Dante came clean to his parents; he wanted to be a musician.

He moved away from L.A. when his family rejected his selected career path, especially after they cut him off from his allowance. When he got to New York, he was dead-broke, but found a job quickly as a jazz -ballad singer and pianist at a couple bars around the city. He sang in parks and street corners, releasing self-written songs online, hoping one day he would get noticed. It wasn’t until he actually took a piece of his father’s advice that he started to gain fame; “Dress as if you already have the job when you go in for the interview.” So, Dante gave himself the new look, dressing like the jazzy, big band singers and performers of old, promoting his image as well as his music.

Dante’s relationship with Kurt ran along with his quest to fame. He met Kurt during one of his nights working at an underage-friendly jazz bar near NYADA’s campus. Due to his talents, the students that came in would tip him well. It was in September of 2016, one year into Dante’s tenure in New York, did he spot the other man in the same seat once a week. It didn’t take long for Dante to introduce himself. Kurt and Dante together felt like they were two puzzle pieces, making a complete picture. When Dante started to gain a small following online, he made efforts to separate his professional life from when he was at home. Kurt made him feel like he could be his true self, open and free, yet while he was on stage, performing for an audience of strangers, he was putting up an act. He knew Kurt’s voice was magnificent, but he never wanted Kurt to think he was using him like that to promote his own career. Dante loved Kurt, and he wanted to keep Kurt far away from his growing spotlight. Let Kurt find his own dream, his own claim to fame, with Dante supporting him the entire way. At least, that was the promise Dante proposed to Kurt with in 2017.

As his fame began to grow and explode, the lines between his face to his growing public and at home began to mix. Dante would come home shitfaced from some party, or a concert, or PR event. Photos online with him holding fans close, kissing their cheeks, and being flirtatious would come out in the tons each time he stepped outside. Kurt would have to sober Dante up, thwarting his attempts to get into his pants. Kurt never obliged while he was drunk, which would result in a heated argument. It wasn’t until the next morning that he would apologize. Trust became very thin, very quickly, turning into a vicious cycle, over and over. It was Dante returning from his first 3-month tour, as drunk as ever, that ended the relationship for good. Another argument had broken out, this time Kurt demanding to know why there were clips online of him running around some party with his hand in some girl’s back pocket. Dante became furious Kurt would think he cheated, yelling up and down it was just for PR. Kurt didn’t buy it, eventually locking himself in the bathroom when Dante threw a glass at him. It wasn’t until Dante woke up the next morning, somehow in his bed, that he realized just how badly he had fucked up. Kurt left him, with the ring on the kitchen counter, the glass cleaned, and fresh coffee brewing in the pot.

The depression that followed Kurt leaving had Dante near suicidal. He tried to find Kurt; his number was blocked, and when he contacted NYADA to find him, they said that he had dropped out. He was blocked on social media, using dummy accounts to find out none of them were being updated. Kurt had disappeared, and there was no way Dante could find him. He gave up, vanished for months from the public eye, nearly destroying his career in its infancy. In that time, Dante wrote songs, poems, and love letters for Kurt he could never send. When his agent demanded work from him, he just tossed the papers on the table in frustration, that having been his only work during that time. It was a good thing his agent had more business sense than Dante, recommending he commit his works to the studio, to audio, to music. And hence, his chart-topping, record breaking, radio dominating album, ‘To Kill the Canary’, was born. It tore away from his jazz swings of the past into a ballad genre, featuring less sax and more acoustic guitar. The day the album released, he saw the crowds form at his feet, resonating and praising his work. He was determined to live despite what happened, even if he couldn’t seem to move on.

With all this success, why attend Joie for a degree? He was set for life, he didn’t need more education. Dante’s agent thought the opposite. With the influence he held, and with him turning twenty-five in August, they thought it would look great for his image if he wasn’t just some good-looking musical flounce, doomed to fail when he was no longer dominating the public. They opted for the Emma Watson route; go to college. Get a degree. That way, he was a cut above all the others in his industry; he wasn’t just a talent, he was educated. He chose philosophy as his major over music because he already mastered music. He didn’t want college to be a complete waste of time, so he decided to learn something completely new. Joie was an easy choice for a university; it was a world-renown college, one his fans would recognize. The fact one of his dummy accounts notified him of a post to Kurt’s Instagram had absolutely nothing to do with this college selection. Nothing at all…

STUDENT CENSUS SURVEY:

(Please answer the following questions IN CHARACTER. Responses can be as long or short as you see fit!)

What made you want to attend Joie University?

The prestigious nature of the school seemed the perfect place to both earn my degree and gain life experience I have been lacking. The administration seemed accommodating considering my current position and gave the impression that I would be treated just like everyone else. Overall, I felt very welcomed and fell in love with Joie instantly.

What are at least 3 positive or neutral and at least 3 negative traits that you believe you possess?

My most positive trait would be my unwavering determination. Even in the face of my family being nay-sayers in the quest for my dreams, I went after them anyway. Now, I wish to prove there is more to me than a pretty voice, exceed my own expectations. Perhaps that is my second trait; ambition for a new challenge. No mountain is too high for me. And that ties into my third best trait being creative problem solving. I simply cannot take no for an answer. If there is a will, there is a way, and I have a lot of willpower.

As far as the negatives of my personality, every positive is a doubt edged sword. For all my determination, it is very difficult for me to know when it is time to stop, reflect, and take it what is around me. I am always pushing for the next goal, leaving me often forgetting to savor the moment. I don’t know when to stop pushing for more, for better. This has had my personal relationships suffer in the past as well, and I do plan to remedy this. Apologies are another weakness of mine. For all I try to correct any wrongs on my part, simply saying ‘I’m sorry’ seems to escape my mind. A third flaw… I am frequently told I am too generous with my money. It isn’t like I could possibly use it all, so I use it on others. This has lead to a few personalities latching onto me simply for my wallet or my fame. I suppose that makes me a sub-par judge of character.

Which of your traits do you value most?

My ambition, by far. Taking on the impossible and making it believable is something I enjoy doing, both in music and in life. I wish to up the ante by studying for my degree, see what challenges I can tackle next.

How can that trait benefit the University (or its student body) as a whole?

Being I am a special case, it would be no lie to say my experience in the school could lead to positive press. I would also be interested in investing in the school through funding scholarships and such, once I am no longer a student. I do believe in the power of education, so on the same hand I do not wish to distract from other students attending. Making a show of myself here is not the goal. I wish to meld into the student body just as a regular attendee, no special treatment. That is what I could bring.

What do you hope to gain from your experience at JU?

The typical college experiences. The ups and downs of dorm life, the stress of finals, the development into a greater person leaving than you were when you arrived. I want all these things.

What is a quote or song lyric that describes you?

“I wanna take you high up, Let our hearts be the only sounds, I wanna go where lights burn low, And you’re only mine.” -James Bay, ‘Wild Love’

[rpmatchmaker]

I need the fire

Hello I am Laura, a gerbil mamma and special needs teacher living in the UK, GMT time zone and so fourth. I am writing more often then I was, I am trying for three or four times a week and I am looking for a few new threads to get me though the summer term and into holidays, and beyond!  What do I want to write? At the moment, I am looking mainly to play male in a m// generally. I am comfortable playing a male against a female but I have done that… a lot. I am a little out of practice writing a female.  I like to write, but I don’t like to write for the sake of writing. Three detailed paragraphs… but I do love a bit of quick fire too, especially when things in the story are tense.  I am willing to double, but prefer not too… however, I love secondary characters, and if they develop to main characters, then I wont say nay!  What do I want from you? Please be… Twenty-one plus.  Open minded and willing to talk.  Patient and able to communicate. Nice and not just poof without notice – I understand crises happen, but after a week of no contact, I prod people… if nothing after that then I move on. If you contact me after that and explain I am usually willing to listen. Most of the time.  Willing to world build, bounce ideas and plot. What am I looking for? Genres…  Fantasy: Urban Fantasy: Witches, werewolves, vampires but set in a modern, day to day world.  High Fantasty: Elves and quests and destroying the dark forces.  Slice of life Political Drama’s  Romance between extreme wealth and almost poverty  A bit of sci-fi Fandoms… Although this can be negotiated, I have indicated with a * who I would prefer to play… Harry potter: • Harry*/Draco* • Harry*/Snape • Draco*/Hermione* • Snape/Lupin* A Court of Thorns and Roses/Mists and Fury/Wings and Ruin • Feyre*/Rhys* • Cassian/Nesta*  • Azriel/OC* Others… • Bond/Q* • Christian/Ana* – Fifty Shades  A few specific characters and plots… After rereading a few old role plays, I have a few cravings to dust of a few characters who died or perhaps I felt didn’t get there full run.  Supernatural: I have an OC who I would love to play against Dean Winchester. Elle is a spitfire who can give Dean as good as she gets. She had seen what’s out there… I was thinking set after season five when Sam fell into the pit.  Romance isn’t necessary. I would prefer to start with a teacher/student relationship, and a strong friendship before anything else. Also, I have a psychic cop who works for the freak squad. A damaged, sensitive soul, Nick Clarke needs someone to love him and to help him heal… and perhaps help him on cases  Smut I prefer to play switch rolls. Tops and bottoms. I have an F list for kinky times, but I love a bit of plain old vanilla smut as well. I also reserve the right to fade to black because sometimes, if a character has that connection, then do we really need to write it all out?  How to contact me? I only role play over email, and I don’t really do chat apps and so on. My email is: Angel.feathers1111@gmail.com  I look forward to hearing from you!

[terryadventures]

Wanderers - A Terry Story

In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness for us.

We were like sheep, waiting to be rescued.

But it all changed when the Color Wizard rose...

He pickes us up and examined us. He saw that we were worthy.

So he carried us into the light.

He showed us our new world: The Grey Plains. He set us down and allowed us to build our homes here.

And soon, we had created Monochrome Town. And we all lived happliy here. 

“So this is why Terry. This is why we don’t wander.” 

“But dad, we’re the Colorless Wanderers! Are you sure we aren’t meant to explore the world sometime?”

Terry’s dad chukled. “Of course not son! Otherwise we’d be defying the Wizard’s wishes!” “Terry, Reginal, dinner’s done!” “Oh, I hear your mother’s calling! Come along now Terry my boy.”

“I dunno dad, I’m not sure I wanna spend all my life doing the same thing.” “Nonsense, you’ll grow to love it! We all did.”

But Terry still wasn’t satisfied. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Should he really only do what the Wizard told his people?”

His train of thought did not continue however, as his mom placed a bowl of grey porridge in front of him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

“Have a nice eat!” Terry loved his folks and grey porridge.

But somehow, today grey porridge didn’t seem good. His parents enjoyed it, why couldn’t he? So, he decided to head out and ask his good friend Muscle Pete, out in the Greywood Forest.

“Oh boy, Terry, I don’t know! I kinda just like chopping down trees! There’s always a tree chopper in town, and that’s me for now! Why would I wanna do something else? You should ask Farmer George though, he might have the answer you’re looking for!”

“Nay Terry son, never thought about doing anything differently! Outside world? That’s danger and stuff. Besides, I’m the farmer, I can’t leave. You should ask the Priest.”

The Priest and his assistant were standing in front of the temple. “Here ye, here ye everybody! We need donations! I will venture out to the Crossroad Village to buy new paint for the statue of the Grand Color Wizard!”

The crowd seemed to be supportive of that plan. Terry wasn’t. This wasn’t getting him anywhere.

“How can everybody just be happy doing what they’re told? I don’t get it.” The other kids look perplexed. Henry raises an eyebrow. “Man Terry, you are one odd kid.”

Terry took offense to that. But before he could respond, Gerald approached. “Ey y’all, the Baker’s letting us help him bake the bread for tommorow! Come on, you can’t miss this!”

Excited, the other kids ran off, leaving Terry behind.

He had to get out of town, there was no quiet moment here.

And so, Terry just began walking. Past the town square, and past the Wizard Temple, the only building allowed to have colors.

He walked past the farm, and past the Hump Animals. Night was setting in. 

He walked past the very last buildings of the town, and into the open plains. He did not care that everybody told him it was dangerous, he just wanted to see what was out there.

Eventually he came to a cliffside. And what he saw was beautiful.

A wide, open landscape. Filled with colors!

The Priest always told them, that only the Wizard could lay claim to colors, which is why the outside world would soon be destroyed. But Terry liked colors. 

Maybe the other Colorless Wanderers didn’t see it like that, but that’s okay. Someday, he’d wander away from Monochrome Town. And if he did, he would make sure never to think about the Wizard.

And until then, this seemed like a pretty good spot to think. And that’s just what Terry did.

[desperatelyseekingroleplay]

Hello I am Laura, a gerbil mamma and special needs teacher living in the UK, GMT time zone and so fourth. I am writing more often then I was, I am trying for three or four times a week and I am looking for a few new threads to get me though the summer term and into holidays, and beyond! What do I want to write? At the moment, I am looking mainly to play male in a m// generally. I am comfortable playing a male against a female but I have done that… a lot. I am a little out of practice writing a female, but I would love to write more. I like to write, but I don’t like to write for the sake of writing. Three detailed paragraphs… but I do love a bit of quick fire too, especially when things in the story are tense. I am willing to double, but prefer not too… however, I love secondary characters, and if they develop to main characters, then I wont say nay! What do I want from you? Please be… Twenty-one plus. Open minded and willing to talk. Patient and able to communicate. Nice and not just poof without notice – I understand crises happen, but after a week of no contact, I prod people… if nothing after that then I move on. If you contact me after that and explain I am usually willing to listen. Most of the time. Willing to world build, bounce ideas and plot. What am I looking for? Genres… Fantasy: Urban Fantasy: Witches, werewolves, vampires but set in a modern, day to day world. High Fantasty: Elves and quests and destroying the dark forces. Slice of life Political Drama’s Romance between extreme wealth and almost poverty A bit of sci-fi Fandoms… Although this can be negotiated, I have indicated with a * who I would prefer to play… Harry potter: • Harry*/Draco* • Harry*/Snape • Draco*/Hermione* • Snape/Lupin* A Court of Thorns and Roses/Mists and Fury/Wings and Ruin • Feyre*/Rhys* • Cassian/Nesta* • Azriel/OC* Others… • Bond/Q* • Vignette Stonemoss*/Rycroft Philostrate* • Christian*/Ana* – Fifty A few specific characters and plots… After rereading a few old role plays, I have a few cravings to dust of a few characters who died or perhaps I felt didn’t get there full run. Supernatural: I have an OC who I would love to play against Dean Winchester. Elle is a spitfire who can give Dean as good as she gets. She had seen what’s out there… I was thinking set after season five when Sam fell into the pit. Romance isn’t necessary. I would prefer to start with a teacher/student relationship, and a strong friendship before anything else. Also, I have a psychic cop who works for the freak squad. A damaged, sensitive soul, Nick Clarke needs someone to love him and to help him heal… and perhaps help him on cases 

Also in the mix is a half angel assassin who is on the run from those he worked for (they killed his wife) and needs a companion (female) who is also on the run! Smut I prefer to play switch rolls. Tops and bottoms. I have an F list for kinky times, but I love a bit of plain old vanilla smut as well. I also reserve the right to fade to black because sometimes, if a character has that connection, then do we really need to write it all out? How to contact me? I only role play over email, and I don’t really do chat apps and so on. My email is: Angel.feathers1111@gmail.com I look forward to hearing from you!

[storiesbeyondthestars]

Season 8 Predictions and Speculation

Buckle in boys and girls, because this ended up being over 7000 words long (with no pictures, sorry, I’m tired), and consists of wild speculation of many different theories and storylines, and how I see them playing out. There’s a huge focus on Allura, Keith, Lance, Lotor, Acxa, and Honerva over anyone else, but with explanations as to why. 

We have a combinations of theory, meta, and, well, most likely fanfiction ideas (also typos and me ignoring plot holes or things I can’t think of RIGHT NOW). I’m fine with that. This was fun to write. I really apologize to anyone if the link doesn’t work.

Also, yes. I am a klance shipper and that does colour things at one point, BUT I tried to leave it so where their relationship could largely still be seen as platonic too. Let’s do this!

I’ve said a few times that VLD, instead of being a straight-up adaptation of the 80s Voltron, is both adaptation and a sort-of prequel for it, as well as original twists and things thrown in. I think that this is a great way to make something new while still respecting the original material.

We’re seeing how Keith becomes the leader he was shown to be. We’re seeing how Lance becomes his best friend and right-hand man. We’re seeing how Allura became a Paladin. We’re seeing why their armour colours don’t match their lion colours (except for Hunk, since in the 80s he had orange armour, not yellow, and technically only Pidge matched).

In the 80s Voltron, the Galaxy Garrison was one of the main headquarters for the ‘Galaxy Alliance’. I think we’re seeing the Garrison building up to this, especially since aliens came to Earth and seem to be staying. Instead of the galaxy alliance though, we have the Voltron Coalition. It’s going to be like their headquarters.

The MFE fighters and Atlas, I think, are going to be like Vehicle Voltron, where they stay closer to Earth and defend things there while Voltron deals with farther away. (Edit: after writing this, I see that Fictional Crystals made a video saying something similar.) It should be noted that Atlas, in Greek mythology, holds the world on his shoulders.

So where does the story start in S8?

They’re working on cleaning up Earth, the coalition seems to be largely coming there as a home base. Things, all things considered, as probably very peaceful for the Paladins. Hell, they’re heroes there. They get Earth food. They get to be with their families. For most of them, they’re probably getting comfortable there again.

However, there is the fact that an Altean was found inside of the robot that tried to kill them. I don’t think she was just a power source. I think she was actively controlling it. I think she was still conscious when she activated the self-destruct in it.

That’s something that they should be very worried about. In fact, I think that this is going to be consuming Allura especially. Romelle, I think, will be used at first to identify who the Altean is and confirm that she was from the missing colony.

Sam mentions that they were looking for months though, so unless she was somehow in a stasis of sorts, the Altean should be dead. If she is, that’s going to leave a lot of wondering about what’s going on, and I think if she somehow is alive, they’re going to learn that Honerva sent her.

Fact: Romelle was the only Altean in the colony that knew what Lotor was up to. As far as anyone else knows, he just left and never once came back for them. The rest would still be loyal, nay, devout to him.

Theory: I think Honerva went to them and manipulated them. She’s presented herself as Lotor’s mother, and told them that Voltron killed Lotor. So now they’re loyal to her. In fact, Honerva may have told something similar to the Druids when she left, since the one Keith fought said that, “Haggar has forsaken us because of your treachery”, which, honestly, is an oddly specific thing to say and super strange.

Let’s focus on Allura first.

Taking a step back from that for a moment, I think at the beginning of the season, we’re going to see Allura and Lance already in a relationship. This is fine. This might even be healthy for both of them in the long run. However, I don’t think we’re going to see anything like a kiss or any super specific romantic stuff between them.

Time and time again, this show has gone with ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’, which isn’t great for a story in general, let alone an animated show. It’s not a writing practice I agree with, but I get it. They have to cut things in order to fit everything in. I believe one of the writers said that if they could have used all of the cut material, they might have been able to fill up another 26 episodes. We’ll never get to see those.

Anyway, with that in mind, they have 13 episodes left to wrap up everything with these characters. In fact, I’d dare say that we’ve largely seen the wrap up of the individual stories for Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro (In fact, you’ll notice I focus a lot less on them, because their personal stories are mostly done). So we need to see the wrap-up for Allura, Lance, and Keith (as well as everyone as a Team).

The reason I don’t think they’re going to show us any real romance between Allura and Lance, and just tell us that they’re together, is partially because they have 13 episodes left, and partially because it’s not a show about romance. The only reason that the romance will be included in a small way is for specific character arcs that were always going to end that way.

It’s why, after some thought, I’m sure they’re not shoehorning random ships in. The writers aren’t perfect and make decisions that I don’t completely agree with, but they do know what they’re doing. If they couldn’t write, no one would have been interested in the first place.

I think we’re going to be seeing the end of Allura and Lance’s relationship, and like I mentioned before going off on 100 tangents, I think this is going to be healthy for them both in the long run. There won’t be any wondering if they made the right choices in the long run, or any huge ‘what ifs’.

What’s going to lead to this tension very early on is the Altean. Allura is going to want to go to Haggar. She’s going to want to help the Alteans, to show them that Honerva is wrong about them and is using them.

I’ve said before that Allura’s story is not one about romantic love. Yes, she experienced it along the way, but it wasn’t the point. Allura’s identity has largely been tied to being ‘Princess Allura, daughter of King Alfor of Altea’. Think about it. Allura chose Pidge to leave because she and her family were the ones most likely to be able to complete her father’s work. Lotor grew up her so quickly, because he kept comparing her to her father, and clearly held him in high regards, and his more studious nature probably reminded Allura a lot of Alfor.

Shipping Sidenote

I think even her attraction to Lance is based on this in a sense. She genuinely liked Lotor. That was not a lie, and she didn’t get any kind of proper closure on that. Lance though, he’s been compared to Alfor a lot, including by Allura herself. I think she’s leaning more towards Lance not only because he’s a good friend, but because she seems some of her father in him, and she misplacing her admiration due to the heartbreak and hurt she’s feeling. Lance is her friend. Lance likes her already (thanks mice). Lance is a good person of her father and she sees other qualities that are the same that she always admired. Lance is safe.

I don’t at all mean this is a creepy way. Allura does not love her father that way. What I’m saying is that in her hurting, she’s misinterpreting her feelings for Lance. It’s why they came out of nowhere. Allura, before Lotor, has never had to seriously deal with romantic love as far as we know. Meaning she’s just as much as disaster as everyone else in that regard.

In S6, the castleship was destroyed, and in S7, Allura was treated less as a Princess and more as just another Paladin. This is shown by the fact that she’s very rarely referred to as a Princess, and the fact that she was wearing the same uniforms as the Paladins at the Garrison. If that’s not enough for you, she gave up her tiara to help Shiro (something she’s been shown to have almost all her life). This is the most stripped of her titles that she’s ever been. The most herself and not just a Princess.

Allura’s endgame is going to be all about building her own identity outside of her father. Not just that, but it’s going to be about surpassing him. Going from ‘Allura, daughter of the Alfor’ to ‘Alfor, father of the Allura’.

As I said before, Allura is going to want to go after the Alteans, and this is what’s going to be part of the end of her relationship with Lance. Why? Well…

Let’s take a look at Lance next.

Themes surrounding Lance can be largely boiled down to two things: self-worth, and romantic love.

People complain a lot about ‘they’re not addressing Lance’ or ‘he’s being overlooked’. Well, in this case, they actually do ‘show’ us instead of ‘tell’ us. There’s really no rhyme or reason to things like that.

Lance’s confidence is arguably at its highest in S7 in regards to his place on the team, and his usefulness. We don’t see him wavering like we did when Kuron was Black’s pilot. Lance knows how he fits into the team. Of course, there are still a few more things in regards to that that need to be addressed.  

I think those insecurities are largely going to involve Keith, which makes sense. We were introduced to Lance being compared to him pretty much out the gate. Keith has been both a huge source of motivation, inspiration, but also insecurities for Lance.

I think we’re going to see Acxa hanging around Keith a lot. I don’t think it’s going to actually be portrayed as romantic between them, but Lance is going to think it is, just like he questioned Allura and Keith’s relationship when they ran off together. It’s going to make him insecure despite his relationship with Allura, because she’s never been able to help him emotionally in quite the same way that he could help her.

Lance is going to become insecure again due to this, and he’s going to want to stay on Earth. I think that this is going to be the thing that finally leads him and Allura to separate from one another. I don’t mean ‘finally’ as in ‘thank god finally’, I mean as in they could both kind of see it coming. Allura never got her closure with Lotor. Lance has all those ‘what ifs’ involving Keith. She wants to go to space. He wants to stay on Earth.

I think we’ll see Hunk and Pidge wanting to stay on Earth with their families too.

Keith though, he’s going to agree with Allura. Though they have their differences, the two of them are a lot alike. They do things differently, but often times have the bigger picture in mind.

Of course Lance will be a bit hurt by Allura at the time, and vice versa, and I think he’ll lash out at Keith like he did in the past during moments of high stress. He’ll accuse Keith of wanting to run away again. Maybe Hunk tries to keep things calm like before, but this time, Keith is going to end up storming away from them.

It’s not like they’re in deep space. Nothing can happen this time, right?

Well, in space, they were tricked into thinking that a predator that wanted to eat them was the safety of Earth. This time around, the safety of a friend turns out to be not-so-safe.

Time to talk about Keith.

I genuinely think that Keith’s gay, and that he was coded that way on purpose. I do not think he has romantic feelings for Acxa, and I do not think she has romantic feelings for him either. Him going back to save her at the time makes sense, because Keith started as the person that would suggest leaving someone behind for the bigger picture (Allura in S1), then grow as a team player to the point where he’ll run back for others when he’s told not to (Regris in S4, to stop the bombs in S5), to someone who in theory understands the concept of leaving someone behind but only when that person is him (flying at the shield in S4, telling Krolia to leave him in S5, saying he understands why she left him for the mission in S6). Keith would have gone back anyone that was on their side as it was, let alone the person that keeps saving him or letting him go. (Sidenote: this should not be surprising, because look at Shiro. Shiro who would go back and fight for anyone else, but takes shit care of himself. You know, the dude that raised Keith in his teenage years? Yeah.)

I think that Acxa was looking for the Paladins, specifically Keith. Maybe it’s on a personal level where she thinks that he could be a good leader, sees a little bit of Lotor in him, and she wants to be his sort-of right hand in the way she was with Lotor. I don’t think so though. He already has a ‘right hand’ he trusts without hesitation (as shown time and time again in S7 alone).

I really don’t think this is where this is going though.

Keith has always been the ‘special snowflake’ of the bunch, but he’s written in a way that, unless you hate him anyway, it doesn’t make him a bad character. For every one thing that makes him ‘special’ he has a downside that balances it out.

It’s not even that he’s part-Galra that actually makes him ‘special’ though. There are plenty of part-Galra characters. It’s whatever he has going on with quintessence, which was shown in S1, then shoved aside for everything else, and brought back slightly in S6, and then in full-force in S7. That wasn’t a mistake. They’re taking his connection to quintessence somewhere.

Not just that. Thematically, it would have made more sense for Shiro to land the killing blow on Sendak. I thought that was where it was going to go. But instead they chose Keith to kill him on-screen in a way that is framed very similarly to Zarkon defeating Alfor.

Given that Keith’s the leader of Voltron, and that he killed Sendak, I think perhaps the blade is encouraging him to take up a leadership role with the Galra. Maybe others are too, and this is another factor about why he wants to go back to space.

Keith would not at all want to be an Emperor. I don’t think he’d want to be any kind of political leader. He can be more of a military one like with Voltron, in charge of a small team, but politics? Nah. He’s not going to want that, but he’s going to feel pressure from a lot of sides to do it.

After his fight with Lance, he goes to talk to Acxa, who he’s been close to lately. Maybe he decides to apologize to Lance, to tell him he’s not going to be this Galra leader, but as a team they need to go after Haggar.

Then Acxa is going to lure him into a trap.

I think that Acxa is still working with Honerva, but only as a means to an end. I think they have a common goal: they both want Lotor back.

Now time to talk more about Acxa and Honerva to show I’m not taking a female character and making her bad for the sake of a ship because, ew. Also, we’re going to talk a lot about Lotor too.

So yeah, the Lotor stuff first.

First and foremost, we’re not done with Lotor. One of the first things you should realize is, unless they’re actually shown as dead, assume they’re not dead. Sometimes they are (side-eyes Shiro), and sometimes they’re shown as dead and still come back, but you know what I mean.

The Paladins are assuming that Lotor could not survive in the rift. Keep in mind, both Allura and Keith wanted to go back and get him, to bring him back out, but then the other three said no, and Keith sided with the majority instead of fighting, so they left him.

Lotor is not a normal Galra. I don’t mean in the sense that he’s part Altean, or seemed to value intelligence over brute force. I’m talking about the fact that Honerva was pregnant with him when Lotor brought her into the void. Maybe part of the reason (not the whole reason), she became so obsessed with Quintessence and the rift was trying to find a way to save her sick unborn baby or something. Given that she had notes and stuff, Lotor would see that love towards him, and it would make him value her more.

Keep in mind, he hated Zarkon. He also knew who Haggar was all along, you can tell, he just separates them into two different people, because Haggar didn’t know who he was and was a witch and monster that probably worked against him time and time again, but Honerva was the mother that loved him and wanted to save him.

Lotor values loyalty almost above all else. That shit matters.

Anyway, Honerva was pregnant when she went into the rift, and those creatures took over both Zarkon and Honerva, twisting them into the corrupted form of Zarkon that lived for 10,000 years as a monster, and Haggar.

When Zarkon died, the black bayard changed back into the non-corrupted form, showing that, for that split second before he died, he was free of those monsters. He died as himself. Honerva went to Oriande, and I think that perhaps it expelled the creatures from her body, hence the shift even in the subtitles from the name Haggar to Honerva. Like Lotor, she too separates herself into two different people.  

My point is though, these rift creatures took over two adult minds. What do you think they did to an unborn child that’s essentially a blank slate? When Lotor used the black bayard, it was in its corrupted form, and I think that they showed us that to show that something isn’t right with him on that level.

That’s why Oriande didn’t ‘cure’ him like it did Haggar. That corruption is the reason he’s alive, it’s a part of him in a way like non-other. Or, perhaps, Haggar knew how to handle the white lion, and if Lotor would have done that properly, the creatures would have left him. Who knows?

We do know that there was something wrong with Lotor at birth. Zarkon asks if he can be saved. We also see little Lotor with glowing eyes. Yet, he’s been alive for 10,000 years and looks like a young adult.

Yeah, he can survive the rift for a long period of time. In fact, he’s probably the only thing that physically can.

What does all this have to do with Acxa though?

She has been loyal to him through everything. He killed Narti, and that had Ezor and Zethrid wanting to run for the hills. Acxa seemed to agree, but we later find out that she was playing everyone right alongside Lotor. He had to go on his own with the Paladins, and she was the oen that suggested going to Zarkon. Who do you think gave her that idea?

I don’t think she knew that Haggar would seek them out after Zarkon was gone, but she rolled with it, keeping eyes and ears with the Galra while Lotor did his thing.

I cannot stress that again. Lotor killed Narti, and she was still loyal to him. Unwaveringly loyal and willing to shoot Honerva for his sake. Lotor knew this. He trusted Acxa above all others.

Then she saw him unhinging during the fight with Voltron. She says ‘separate ties with Lotor for good’, but then she tries to plead with him later and looks genuinely heartbroken over what’s happening.

I think she’s still loyal to Lotor, and she wants to help get him out of the rift, which is exactly what Honerva’s planning on doing.

We know from interviews that Honerva actually does feel love towards Lotor. It’s what motivated her from being all ‘yes Zarkon kill the bitch’ to ‘ohfuckno activate babysitter-Kuron, give him black bayard’ probably knowing that Zarkon wasn’t going to come out of it alive.

Instant switch when she remembered. We have no idea what she wanted to use Sendak for. No idea what her plan was for capturing Lotor.

Neither Haggar nor Honerva are necessarily leaders. She has almost cult-like control over the druids, and now probably the Alteans, but she’s not an overall leader.

Honerva and Acxa are working together to bring Lotor back, and then they’re going to make him Emperor of a proper Empire this time. At first, Honerva wanted to use Sendak to bring together the Empire, and then probably off him for Lotor to take over (and proving some kind of loyalty).

I think that’s still her plan. Put her child in power, and be able to run her experiments and do as she pleases since she’s his mother and helped him.

Okay but what does this have to do with Keith?

I’ve said this in other posts, but it’s almost like a double-whammy. They need to get control over the factions of the Galra Empire for her plans to work. We know it’s in shambles with warlords running amok, and Haggar needs a new puppet.

Who is someone many people are likely going to follow? Perhaps a half-Galra that happens to be the current Black Paladin? The Black Lion seems to be almost a symbol towards the Galra too. Lotor presented himself as bringing Black back to the Galra, and Black showed Shiro Daizabaal as her home.

Not only that though. Lotor probably had the greatest collective forces in the shambles of the Galra Empire, and Keith just fucking shanked him. Came flying down from the heavens and delivered a holy ass whoopin’, skewering him in half. On screen.

The coalition, in this theory, already wants him as the leader, so she’s going to sink her claws into him and control him. Keith isn’t at all going to do this willingly. Perhaps this leads to some answers about Narti and Kova, since Narti’s the only character that was shown to be able to control minds directly of people that she didn’t create, and it’s still suspicious that she had Haggar’s fucking 10,000 year old cat as her seeing-eye animal (also, Haggar looking through Narti’s eyes in S4? Not to be insensitive, but she literally didn’t have eyes, so how was Haggar watching them? Oh, right. Through the fucking cat.)

(Kova is secretly the one that controls minds, Narti was just a puppet.)

She doesn’t want to keep Keith around permanently though.

NOTE: this Galra Emperor stuff might mean nothing at all. In fact, you can take that part out of the theory all together and it can still work as long as you just focus on getting Lotor back.

Honerva had zero interest in Keith as of S6. She wanted Kuron to get rid of him. However, I think she was also watching that fight through his eyes. Keith, if he would have been fighting as offensively and aggressively as he used to, would have beaten Shiro. We saw this in the fight, because the times he did go on the offensive, he was close to overpowering him (“There’s the Keith I remember”).

The only things that might have caught her attention were Keith’s strength (he did win in the end), summoning the black bayard from Shiro (which, yes, I do think is what happened despite some others not thinking so), and when his eyes changed.

Shapeshifting is not something associated with Galra. Not at all. We’ve seen half-Galra with strange abilities (Narti with mind control, and Ezor with turning herself invisible that was never really used properly again), but that doesn’t explain Keith’s eyes changing. Galra have never been shown to do that. It would have been easy to show. It wasn’t though, because it’s not a Galra trait.

Also, Galra haven’t been shown to have a connection to Quintessence.

Humans certainly don’t shapeshift. Humans don’t seem to have a stronger than normal connection to Quintessence, otherwise we would have seen more of the other Paladins doing stuff with it like Keith was shown to do in S7.

Originally, with him, it seemed more like a slight ability that may have been slightly watered down from human or Galra genetics over time. A part of me thinks that Krolia herself isn’t all Galra. A parent or grandparent could have been Altean, the only species shown to be shapeshifters at this point. Krolia doesn’t look like any other Galra we’ve seen, outside of Lotor and Acxa.

That might not at all be the case though. Or maybe someone even farther in the past wasn’t entirely Galra but far enough back where Krolia doesn’t even know about it. Genetics sometimes keep things around like that, and they randomly pop up every once and a while. Hell, maybe it’s just because he was born and grew up in his young years so close to Blue.

Doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that he then got doused with a vat of raw quintessence.

Honerva said a small amount of it could power things for a long period of time. She used it to keep Kova alive for over 10,000 years. Not just Kova, but Zarkon, herself, potentially Zarkon’s closest generals (Sendak seemed to imply that he was around when Altea fell), and then there’s Lotor, or course. Keith took a fucking shower in it.

It’s not like she has any way of knowing that, right? It’s not like someone loyal to her would have pointed it out, ri—

Oh.

Honerva went looking for answers, and the druid brought up what happened. I don’t think she knew about that beforehand though, because, again, she never seemed interested in Keith before.

Through all her observations, she knows Keith probably is a walking quintessence hotspot. It was Lotor’s idea to take the quintessence from the Alteans themselves, and she said that she was impressed with it. She definitely took it further, making a robot that can be powered by a single Altean that’s strong enough to technically defeat Voltron by sapping away it’s quintessence, and also doing a lot of other weird shit while fighting Atlas.

Honerva wants Keith for his Quintessence, most likely to open the rift to get Lotor back. This is exactly why Acxa’s working with her, because though she has a connection to Keith, Lotor means so much more to her.

Acxa was looking for Voltron, and Keith specifically. We literally have no idea where she went after she separated from Voltron, but she definitely didn’t tell the coalition that they were back. So where did she go?

I think she went back to Haggar and told them that Voltron was heading to Earth. That was how Haggar knew to watch Earth. She waited until Keith killed Sendak to make her move. She was absolutely keeping track of this somehow. Maybe she was already paying attention to Earth, but given everything else she seems to have been doing, she was probably tipped off about where they were going.

Also, I find it suspicious that Haggar was the one that gave the orders to target the Blade of Marmora, and then later all the Voltron Coalition.

Maybe other groups were hunting the Coalition down, but we know that Haggar gave the druids the job of hunting the Blade. The Blade, that also wasn’t on her radar until she was watching Keith through Kuron’s eyes, saw him dressed in that uniform, and introduced his Galra mother to Kuron as a part of the Blade of Marmora.

Yes, they were more out of the shadows since teaming up with Voltron, so she probably heard about them before, but that was the first time she’d shown true interest in the entire group specifically. I think she was trying to find Keith too.

That druid singled out Keith. Yes, Kosmo was the one that teleported Keith away, but still, the druid (who I know has a name but I’m lazy). Krolia was a higher ranking Blade with more experience. She’s arguably more dangerous than Keith. Then there was Allura, who is a walking power house. But he went for Keith.

This all leads up to…

Acxa gets close to Keith to trick him, and brings him to Haggar. Perhaps to use as a puppet for a while, but definitely to use to bring Lotor back (in this theory). Except, maybe she didn’t tell Acxa that Keith would most likely die doing this.

Loyal to Lotor or not, Acxa has a connection to Keith. She still wants Lotor back, but she doesn’t want him to die in the process.

So she’s going to go back to Voltron somehow to get their help. She’s a morally grey character, and that’s fine. It doesn’t make her demonic or anything like that. She’s allowed to make mistakes and be played herself.

Meanwhile on Earth…

The other Paladins do notice that Keith is gone. However, they think he left with the other Galra. Lance is probably going to be shown as the angriest about this, but also acting like he doesn’t care.

Then Keith’s mother and Kolivan show up and they’re all confused. Then Acxa shows up and tells them what’s up.

Side point

I don’t think that Atlas is made to replace the castleship, though there’s definitely the parallels of Shiro taking Allura’s place in that respect with it. I think that Atlas will be staying close to Earth to protect it and act as the new Vehicle Voltron. 

I think that they’re going to work on creating a second castleship that Voltron can use to get around. Maybe it won’t be a castle, but another ship at least so the lions can recharge. It’s why they brought the whole fucking Balmera at the end of S7. So Shay could come back, and so they can get a crystal to power it. Maybe the Alteans end up living there as the explorers and peacekeepers they always were in the end. (With Romelle flying it in Allura’s old position).

This is what prompts all of the Paladins into going after Keith. Perhaps Haggar tries to keep them busy on Earth by sending other Altean-robots to fight them. That’s where Atlas comes in. Atlas and the MFE fighters are going to protect Earth, keep it safe so that the Paladins don’t have to worry. I’m not entirely sure if Shiro’s going to go with them or not.

If there’s a replacement castleship by this point, I don’t think it’s done, so they have to take the lions.

They realize that they’re going to need Voltron for this. They can’t leave Black behind. So once again, they need a temporary Paladin.

At this point, they’re not going to do a permanent lion switch again.

Just like Keith didn’t want to go into Black, Lance isn’t going to want to either, because he’s going to be blaming himself. It’s what Lance does. I think this is where he’s going to have a one-on-one talk with Shiro about everything. Shiro’s going to be the one to urge him to try, to go save Keith. I could see him encouraging Lance to go after Keith, to not give up, because he’s still there (unlike Adam).

I think that Lance will be the one that Black accepts, because he’ll be the one that wants to get Keith back the most out of all the current Paladins.

As for who temporarily flies Red? There are two options and I’m open for either of them. One is Coran finally getting the chance he’s wanted since before. The other is Romelle, explaining why she was shown in with Lance in Red several times during S7. She’s familiar with Red.

I’m leaning a little more towards Romelle, because of how they need to get to Keith. Allura can create wormholes again, and we know that Coran knows how to open them as well as long as Allura powers the teleduv beforehand. Plus, Coran helps pilot Atlas, so he’d be more useful on Earth, and Romelle going with them helps too.

No matter if Keith is being used as a pawn, or just basically a sacrifice, Honerva is going to use him to fight the others. Maybe he’ll be in a weakened state that she can take over (OR THE CAT CAN CONTROL…yeah I’m done with that) while also opening the rift to get Lotor back. Kind of like the last bit of energy he has left.

Allura is going to face Honerva, Altean vs. Altean. Since she’s there in this theory, Romelle tries to get through to the Alteans, because she’s a familiar face. They know her. She’d pump up Allura and rip both Lotor and Honerva down.

I haven’t focused much on Hunk or Pidge, and it’s not because they’re not important. Like I said before, their personal arcs are pretty much over as of S7. Here, they’re going to function in much more a team aspect. Planning together, being the ones to break in and fight sentries and stuff like that.

Lance is going to be the one to face Keith alone. I’ve gone through this theory before, even used it in a writing prompt. It’ll be the last Black Paladin vs. Red Paladin fight. Corrupted Zarkon vs. Alfor. Clone Shiro vs. Keith. Mind controlled Keith vs. Lance.

This is a secondary reason Lance has been compared to Alfor before. Why he was given the sword. It’s not a fair fight gun to sword, and not interesting visually. Lance could snipe Keith without much trouble.

Sword fights though are close up and much more intimate. We saw this in the Shiro vs. Keith fight, which was probably the BEST and most intense fight of the series to me.

There’s a reason why it’s important that Lance and Keith left off on seemingly bad terms. Keith’s been putting walls up again when it comes to Lance, having been rejected and having had time to dwell on that.

Haggar is going to use this to help control Keith, to get in his head. In this theory, Keith has had feelings for Lance for a long time, but Lance was with Allura. Haggar’s going to use that too. Hell, she’s going to use the fact that everyone seems to be using him for their own agendas when he doesn’t want to be a Galra leader. It’s a strong way to break through his stubborn defenses (plus she’d be sapping the quintessence from him).

Normally in a sword fight, Keith would destroy Lance. That’s the truth. No matter how much Lance has been practicing, Keith has been doing it for years and it’s his specialty (along with hand-to-hand).

Keith being weaker, and maybe a part of him still fighting back against the control, will allow Lance to put up a bit more of a fight, but ultimately, it’s going to be his words that get through to Keith.

It’s like how we saw Kuron react to Keith saying he loves him, except this time, Keith’s going to react strongly enough to either break through the control, or give Lance the chance to knock him out. Alternatively, it’ll give Lance the chance to quickly change bayards and maybe shoot something close by that’s controlling him (if there’s someone like Narti around).

(IF IT’S THE CAT KOSMO TAKES IT OUT. HENCE WHY HE WAS INTRODUCED. OKAY THIS TIME I’M DONE WITH THE STUPID CAT THAT PROBABLy MEANS NOTHING BUT LET ME LIVE)

There’s not going to be a romantic, love confession here. Maybe friendship and love. Definitely more personal stuff.

Then we get Lance getting Keith out of there, and ideally, we get a flashback of the actual bonding moment, because it’s being mirrored here.

Meanwhile, Allura ends up defeating Honerva, but she says something like she’s too late, and the rift opens again. Romelle’s words and Allura’s actions prompted many of the Alteans to agree to go with them, so they’re all bailing out.

The creatures are coming back out, but in a few form, because the Lotor that went in is not going to be the Lotor that comes out.

The Sincline ships didn’t quite function like the lions. They were ships that could combine together, but showed no sentience of their own. That’s going to change now, because the rift creatures (which were shown as being quadrupeds like the lions) gave them sentience.

Maybe Lotor lets Honerva and Acxa pilot two of the ships now, maybe he doesn’t need to. Maybe he looks the same, maybe he’s completely different, I’m not entirely sure.

If Lotor doesn’t let Honerva help him, I think he’s going to be the one to kill her, just like he killed Zarkon. As for Acxa, either she helps Lotor and goes back to him, she was back on Earth the entire time, or she goes back with them. I don’t want her to die, though that’d definitely make it super obvious that this Lotor isn’t right.

The Lotor that went into the rift was misguided, had a bad moral compass, but he wasn’t pure evil. This Lotor though is exactly the monster that Allura claimed he was.

The Paladins are going to retreat. Probably back to Earth.

What now?

There are many ways this can go. If it’s a mid-season kind of thing (which is…a lot but this show has been going full-tilt for a while now), there’s time to plan, to show the destruction the rift creatures can cause, to perhaps come up with an idea to save Lotor like neither of his parents could be saved.

Allura needs to have closure with Lotor in some form. She needs that.

Like Romelle was a Princess in the original, I could see her becoming something of a Leader with the surviving Alteans. The one to guide them into this new world with both Coran and Allura helping. This leaves Allura open to continue being the Blue Paladin.

Allura, however, will focus on alchemy. Somehow, she’ll figure out a way to make the lions stronger, to give them an upgrade.

Both Allura and Lotor were following in the footsteps of a parent. For Lotor, it was Honerva. For Allura, it was Alfor. Lotor did improve on Honerva’s work and took it to places she couldn’t imagine (but then later used herself). Allura is going to surpass her father too by somehow improving the lions, making them stronger.

Allura’s future is going to involve a combination of being an alchemist, helping the Alteans, and being a Paladin of Voltron, and kicking ass at all of them as the strong, confident woman she truly is. Alteans definitely age differently than humans, so in the distant future, I could see her eventually being the Black Paladin. But we won’t see that in the show.  

There were some toys released a while ago with the lions looking different, perhaps that was done for a reason. Toys sometimes do spoil things amongst many franchises.

They all know Lotor’s going to come for them, so they’re getting ready for it. I don’t think the final fight will be by Earth though, they’ve already done that. The battle with Lotor technically took place by the ruins of Daizabaal were if I remember correctly (that’s where the rift originally was). Where would be a significant place though that we haven’t seen at all?

Who were the ‘bad guys’ during the first part of this season?

The fight with Lotor will be by the ruins of Altea, which we have yet to actually see. Allura said Altea and the entire star system was destroyed. Sendak said that Altea was the only world to fight back against the Galra, the only one to be completely destroyed.

We saw Daizabaal. We saw Earth. We have yet to actually see Altea, or what’s left of it. If there’s something left of Zarkon’s home that was destroyed first, there’s something left of that too.

Maybe Lotor offers them a challenge. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s done something like that. It’d give him the upper hand luring them in. Maybe they go there first, knowing that there won’t be anyone else there that can get hurt in the process.

Of course, it depends on when this type of things happens and who’s on his side. There’s a lot that can happen in half a season. Either that, or this is going to be towards the very end and we’ll have a couple episodes with a single intense and emotionally draining battle in it.

Before they go, we’re going to see a lot of intensely emotional moments between characters and families. We’ll see Allura and Lance reconciling and agreeing to be friends. We’ll see Lance with his family. We’ll see Hunk with his. Pidge with hers. We’ll see Allura with Coran and Romelle, as well as the other Alteans.

Three important ones will happen though.

We’ll see Krolia with Keith. All of this happening doesn’t change the fact that the Galra need some kind of leader to get their shit together (even if it’s not an Empire). Everyone else will finally listen to Keith when he says he doesn’t want that. In fact, going off of him killing Sendak is just keeping those old ways alive. Instead, we’ll see Krolia as the leader (no, not Kolivan, Krolia). Maybe she needs to be an Empress for a bit before changing things. (Keith would be a pretty princess in this case, wouldn’t he, AJ?)

We’ll see Shiro with everyone else too. Some hugely emotional moments where they’re all talking about how far they’ve come.

We’ll see a moment between Lance and Keith too, where they get their shit together and are honest with one another. Keith is going to ask if Lance wants to fly Black, insisting he could go to Red (Romelle does NOT want a second time of that), but Lance is going to say no, because he’s confident in himself now. He knows where he belongs and that he’s good enough.

IF there’s any direct romantic implications, which I think there will be, this is where it’s going to be MOST obvious. We’ll see a hug no matter what, but if they want to do it, this is the right place to frame a kiss too where the judgemental assholes can still say ‘no they’re just HUGGING’ even though they’re definitely not.

Honestly, I’m not sure how whatever big final fight they have is going to pan out. I THINK it’s going to be with the rift creatures/Lotor, but there’s always the slightest chance it’ll involve Honerva as well, all things depending.

Of course they win in the end. Maybe people get scarred and injured, but no one is going to die from the main group.

Over 7000 words and I’m not even sure if they save Lotor to help him, or just defeat him. I’d like to think they help him this time around though. Or at least try to.  

What I do know is that a show called Voltron is going to end with an epic battle involving Voltron.

I also think that, at the end, everyone will have lives on Earth/with Alteans/other aliens, but our current team of Paladins will also be shown to be going back into space in the end. They’ll be excited, ready to go as a team, and they’ll go together and by their own choice. The Galra Empire did do a lot of damage, after all, and there are plenty of worlds that need help anyway.

And that is how the show will end.

Things I did not address: What’s going on with the MFE fighters? I genuinely don’t know. Their inclusion threw me off. It really felt like they were setting up a spin-off series with them, and S7 was used to introduce them. They’re defending Earth while Voltron is off in space I guess?

I didn’t really address Hunk and Pidge, because like I said, their personal story arcs are either finished or almost there. We even saw Hunk reuniting with Shay, which is something that tends to happen at the end of a story arc, especially since she, more than anything else, was what really started his growth as a person.

Pidge, as well, was shown surrounded by her family. Her mom was there. Her dad was there. Matt was there. Matt has a masked girlfriend. Hell, Beezer was there along with Nyma (though Rolo was suspiciously absent…which I don’t know what to make of that at all). The goals she set out to accomplish have been accomplished. She now has friends, is part of a team, is less selfish. Again, what prompted her to grow and change has largely been accomplished and shown.

Shiro is another character who has found his place and where he belongs now. He’s not a Paladin anymore, but that’s okay. Shiro has had the amazingly unique story of being both The Mentor and being an active character in his own right. That’s incredibly rare in stories, since the mentors are normally shrugged aside or killed (which…yeah…was supposed to happen). He’s found a place as a bridge between the Garrison and Voltron more than anyone else.

I didn’t talk about the rebels or coalition really, or the rest of the blade, or even Krolia for that matter, cause I’m not entirely sure where that fits in with this. That can be worked out later.

SO, this is some wild speculation mixed with meta, mixed with theories, mixed with fanfiction ideas. I just pretty much planned out an entire story here that I do not want to write myself.

Hit me up if you’re interested.

…Also if even ONE thing ends up happening, I’m going to lose my shit. And I accidentally predicted a ton of stuff that ended up going down in S6 once. Maybe I’ll get lucky again?

[spacejellyfish3]

Thought I was joking about that essay in my last post, didn’t ya?

Well guess again.

So if you know me, you know that my absolute favorite comic book storyline, NAY, fictional storyline of all time is the incredible, incomparable, indomitable, Dark Phoenix Saga...

I love this story to death! It’s such a great tale of love, loss, pain, action, and space genocide! It’s the story that cemented Chris Claremont as the definitive X-Men writer AND catapulted Wolverine into the ensemble darkhorse we know now! What’s not to love?

But everytime DPS gets adapted, it falls flat with an unimaginable thud. There are many reasons for this, and in this tangent I will be listing the reasons why I, in all my teenage wisdom, think adapting the Dark Phoenix Saga will be a thankless, thankless result for everyone of its fans:

1–The Changes:

This is the reason I hear of the most whenever a DPS adaptation is criticized. You know the drill; they changed it, now it sucks yadda yadda I’m gonna complain to the internet about it! (Hello irony, it’s been a while...)

But in all seriousness, this complaint is a mixed bag of sorts; any adaptation has to have changes not only to be unique and original to fans new and old, but also to fit the new medium it’s being adapted into. This is true for many Marvel films; Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse may be adapted from the Spider-Verse event comic, yes, but it’s change of the method of transportation from The Great Web of Life and Destiny to a particle collider as well as its focus on just six Spider-People instead of thousands makes the story more clear and concise but still adhering to the roots of the comics, and while Days of Future Past’s switching up of the characters involved and plot points is annoying to some, it did so in a way that made sense and kept true to the plot of the original.

But for some odd reason, any changes made to the Dark Phoenix Saga ends in tragedy (which is hilarious to me considering how the storyline ends). The Last Stand (which I am only acknowledging as existing for the purposes of this essay, and everything besides Kelsey Grammer as Beast, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, and that one scene with the family in the car on the Golden Gate Bridge can go die in a dumpster fire..) changed the Phoenix from an intergalactic force to a psychopathic split personality in Jean that Professor X suppressed for years, which, to be frank, I could forgive since the 2000s X-Movies were set up to be more realistic than the comics. What I can’t forgive is the addition of characters like Magneto to a story that they weren’t even a cameo in, the numerous plot holes, the atrocious Phoenix costume, and fusing DPS with The Cure storyline for some god forsaken reason...

And while Dark Phoenix 2019 seems to at least try and be more faithful to the original story (with a Mastermind analogue, aliens, and keeping the Phoenix Force an actual intergalactic force of power), only time will tell whether or not it is as such...

2–The Characters:

In any story, the characters are one of the most important aspects. They move the plot, twist the narrative, make funny quips, etc...And for the Dark Phoenix Saga, the most important character is Jean Grey herself.

And you might be saying: “But Jellyfish, isn’t that kind of obvious?” Well, in any other case, you might be right. But for some weird reason, Jean is never defined enough as a character for us to care.

In The Last Stand, Jean is basically an afterthought while the audience is subjected to “The Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine Show”; she’s just there to act as a macguffin for the characters to fight over who occasionally has a line or two with a hint of character depth. It’s insulting how I know more about Movie!Nightcrawler (who we got to know over the course of a single movie) than I do about Movie!Jean (who we had THREE movies to get to know). Dark Phoenix 2019 does carry the positive of putting Jean in the role of main character, but we still know nothing about her because the writing in X-Men Apocalypse for Jean is very, very lacking...

In the original Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey was simultaneously hero, victim, and villain. She was a heroic figure who tragically fell from grace, ultimately sacrificing herself to save the entire universe. She was a selfish, cruel, and wicked monster who cared only for her own passions and desires, with no regard for the hundreds of thousands of lives she destroyed in the wake of her malevolent acts. She was caring, kind, fiery, fierce, terrifying, vain, passionate, etc...In every aspect of her—from Jean Grey to Marvel Girl to Phoenix to the Black Queen to Dark Phoenix—you could see shades of all of these traits and emotions in her. Phoenix and Dark Phoenix weren’t two separate entities, and neither were Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force itself. Two sides of the same coin. Yin and Yang. Mortal and Goddess. Maiden and Monster.

In the end, however all these problems with defining Jean Grey’s character are symptomatic of a much larger issue that these movies continuously fail to acknowledge. That reason being:

3–Buildup:

This reason may be, in my opinion, the one that ultimately causes the failure when it comes to adapting DPS.

The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the most impactful and powerful stories ever written, and the reason behind that distinction is, in my opinion, because of the amount of buildup it had; this storyline wasn’t done in just a few months, it had taken place over 41 issues, which is five years in real life time. There was time spent with the X-Men and building up the Shi’ar Empire and Princess Lilandra as allies and friends to them. We were intrigued by the mystery of Jason Wyngarde and his intentions towards Jean, all while the sinister Hellfire Club lurked in the shadows. We saw the gradual change in Jean Grey as she became more powerful, as she seemingly relived the life of her ancestors all while growing more unsure of her identity with each timeslip. As Jean lost control of her reality and sense of self, the audience was right there with her, trying to make sense of the world we had come to love and enjoy.

And even before all of this—before the Dark Phoenix Saga and the Phoenix Saga—from the very first issue of Uncanny X-Men, we’ve been with Jean Grey. From being the newest student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to awakening her telepathic powers for the very first time to piloting a space shuttle in the middle of the worst solar storm in history, we’ve been with her every step of the way. And with that history, seeing that fiery redhead fight a herald of Galactus to a standstill, save the universe from destruction! It was so triumphant, so full of awe!!

And...it only served to make things even more tragic with the coming of the Dark Phoenix Saga. Seeing this girl, this heroic girl, as she was twisted and controlled and tamed and broken. As her struggles mounted, with each manipulation and lie, every use of her awesome power growing more tempting and seductive, Jean began to crack—piece by piece—until eventually she just...snapped.

To see her consume that inhabited Star like she was simply drinking a bottle of water, fighting her friends with no remorse, her kind face twisting into a monstrous mockery of a smile...It was terrifying. The buildup gave this story depth, impact, emotion! You could feel every punch, every blast of energy, every scream, every cry, every word echoing in your head and in your heart. And seeing her sacrifice—it was truly uncanny. Begging Cyclops, the man she loved with all her heart, to kill her before she transformed into a nightmare goddess of death was heartbreaking, but his refusal to do so led to her doing the unthinkable; from the moment they were abducted by the Shi’ar to face trial, she knew what she had to do. To destroy any chance of the Dark Phoenix rising ever again, she had to destroy it...and herself as well. So, to save the galaxy, Jean Grey killed herself. In the words of Uatu the Watcher:

“Jean Grey could have lived to become a god. But it was more important to her that she die...a human.”

This storyline was filled with blood, sweat, and tears. It’s a reading experience like no other. A love letter to every X-Men fan, past, present, and future. It astounded me when I first read it 5 years ago, and it still astounds me when I read it now...

And that’s why I think we might never get a great adaptation of the Dark Phoenix Saga; to build up a story like this is a undertaking. It wouldn’t be like the buildup to Infinity War, because that was done so that every character in the movie would be well-defined and known to the audience so that they would care what happened to them. If you wanted to make the Dark Phoenix Saga into a movie, you would have to build up Jean Grey throughout each and every movie before that while simultaneously building up the other X-Men too. It would require more than 5 movies to do this; introducing Jean Grey, having her in the X-Men as Marvel Girl for a 2 movies, doing the Phoenix Saga with the M’kraan crystal and the Shi’ar, another movie where she grows in power and develops, and finally the actual Dark Phoenix Saga.

This storyline is incredibly close to my heart for many reasons, not the least of which being that it was the comic book that officially got me into comic books for real. I want to see it done right so badly!!

It’s a tale of tragedy and terror. A symphony of love and loss. A story of absolute power corrupting absolutely, and the unbeatable spirit of humanity that triumphs forevermore...

[7deadlycinderellas]

Keep on smilin’

(in which I see a movie, and manage to barf out a fic within a week)

(https://archiveofourown.org/works/17404283)

Michael Banks was eternally grateful for the six extra years they all got in the old house. Six years that could have been stolen from them.

For it was 1940 and Cherry Tree Lane, nay, the whole of London, had transformed.

Jane had been the first to feel the wind changing. She’d been out of work for the first two years after Winnie had been born, and when everything had settled, she found that someone with her organizational experience was suddenly in great demand, and the position of helping coordinate the ambulance services for local hospitals had become one of great importance. Many of her coworkers were from families who were high up in politics, and they talked.

She had been nervous about going back to work with Winnie still so young, the question of her mother’s life niggling in the back of her head. Money was still tight, nothing to pay for a true nanny. What her and Jack would have given for Mary Poppins to return to them again at that time.

It ended up being almost a non issue. Winnie was a self possessed child even as a toddler, and turned out Ellen’s sister (who had moved in with the Banks following the scare at the bank) was a former school teacher who could spare an eye during the day. Ellen herself tutted at the arrangement, at least before slipping Winnie a sweet.

“I hate leaving here all the time, it feels like taking advantage of poor Ellen, you know how she always reacted when Father and Mother tried to convince her to watch us.”

“I’m home half the time as is Jane, working on my art, it’s no trouble at all. It’s the least I can do to repay you for all you did to help out after Kate passed.” Michael assures her.

The true answer appeared in Georgie, who adored his young cousin, and when out of school spent much of his spare time reading to her from storybooks and pushing her down Cherry Tree Lane and in the park in her little wagon, later tied to the rear of his bike.

Michael had been the next. The handful of pieces of art he’d completed and sold through newspapers and magazines had earned him a name, and a man visiting the bank one day had given him a business card and told him that if the wind kept blowing the way it did, he might be in touch.

In his office years later, drawing barrage balloons and Spitfires, he mused that no one had ever told him war could be a boon for an artist in need of a job.

Before Winnie was born, Jack had taken a job as a tram driver. Though he really missed the routine of lighting the lamps, most positions had been eliminated when the city changed over to electric lights. He chose to revel in the ability to still lead people home at the end of the night. One night at the flat, he told Jane about a supervisor at work who had inquired about his age.

“He said something about positions being reserved after a certain age.”

“Conscription? We’re not at war yet- why would they even be talking about it?”

Jack’s age ended up keeping him out of the forces, but he told Jane that most of his former fellow lamplighters joined up. For some, it was a god’s send.

“Nothing quite like a war for opportunity, it seems.”

John and Annabel had studiously read the newspapers and listened to the newscasts, still retaining a bit of the tiny adults they had spent far too much of their lives being. Annabel, in particular had decided it was her life’s goal to become a journalist.

A few days before the big news, Annabel heard the announcement that the government was evacuating children to the countryside.

“If there doing this they must have a reason….oh but John, we can’t leave everyone!”

“They do seem to be being overly cautious, it’s not like Germany’s declared war or anything….”

The twins shared a look.

“We should remember this. It might end up being safer. For Georgie and Winnie at least. But we musn’t worry Father and Aunt Jane”.

When 1939 had come, and the first air raid sirens blared after Chamberlin’s words on the wireless, only Georgie and Winnie seemed truly unawares. While they cowered in the cellar until the all-clear, Michael was so grateful that Jane and Jack had come over for breakfast. At least they were all here.

Winnie was frightened by the noise, so Georgie pulled her into his lap.

“Don’t cry Winnie, just pretend we’re on an adventure. This isn’t a cellar- it’s a cave! And on the other side is a magical valley! Where elves live, and fairies,”

“And unicorns?” Winnie wants to know, sniffing.

“Of course!” He adds enthusiastically.

“And animals that talk!” Annabel adds. “Just be careful of the wolf, he might not be trustworthy”.

Michael raised an eyebrow. The children had of course told them all about their adventures that awful year, but they hadn’t spoken of it often. Whereas him and Jane had seemed to forget Mary Poppins, these three had seemed to simply move on.

Eventually the all-clear comes, and they leave the cellar and go on. They put up blackout curtains, carry gas masks and line the house with sandbags. The young men in the neighborhood were called up for military service. Even Admiral Boon abandoned his cannon. Him and Mr. Binnacle even did their part by joining the Home Guard.

But still, no bombs fall. And for a time all seems well.

“Some of my schoolmates who left have already returned”, John comments around Christmas.

“It does seem like it was a bit of an overreaction,” Annabel admits. “Maybe this will be over soon.”

1940 comes. Ellen despairing at the state of her meals now that rationing had taken hold.

“Can’t bake hardly anything with the butter and sugar they give us, and feeding you lot was hard enough as it was.”

Annabel had dug up the zinnias and planted some potatoes and carrots, but Ellen still insisted that if the ones’ who had hired her were still around could see what she put on the table now, they would have thrown her out on the street.

“What do you think Mother and Father would have thought of all of this?” Michael asks one day.

“Mother and Father both saw the Great War. That was the world they left when the flu came. To think they lived in a time of prosperity when they were our age. It’s completely changed. I don’t know what they would think of where we are now.” Jane admits.

“I could hardly blame them. We’re all on tenterhooks.”

The unspoken between them was the fact that the family was still together. The children being at home and Michael’s work for the War Office precluded him from being conscripted. Jack, it turned out, had been correct in his assumptions about his supervisors questions- bus and tram drivers over 25 were considered too important to draft. Though Jane admitted that she still had a niggling fear that that might one day change.

One night he told Jane what hurt him most was that they took away the light on the fro of the tram. Complete blackouts all night, even a tiny gas lamp could be a risk.

“Can hardly see a thing at night. Always afraid I’m going to hit someone. As if the crowds on my tram weren’t ashen faced enough as it is.“

Jane held tightly to his hand. Always a leery at heart, and here trapped in darkness.

The older children march down the street with Winnie a number of times. They map out every single house with an Anderson shelter, and every tube station, between the schools and home. Georgie, again, tries to get the girl to see it as an adventure, like the marches were the world’s biggest game of hide and seek. Michael just feared that one day, Georgie’s own childlike resolve would break.

Once during a raid, Michael sees the older children showing Winnie the bowl they used to keep in the nursery (how it never broke during the Admiral’s cannon fires he will never know), and over hear them telling her.

“There’s magic everywhere, you just have to remember to look up and find it. Even when things are hard. Especially then some might say.”

Annabel keeps tight to her radio. Despite the quiet, Germany invades Norway, then the Netherlands, and then France.

And just when the rest of England seems to practically have become compliant, summer comes and the first bombs fall.

The church down the road is destroyed. The park is burnt to a crisp. Jane biggest challenge at work becomes guiding people around fire and debris to help the ones they can. She suddenly has all the work she could ever want, and never enough vehicles or doctors.

Some nights the older children don’t return from school until late, stuck in the shelters waiting for the all-clear, hoping that they continue to be alive to hear the explosions.

One night Jack doesn’t return until sunrise. Jane cuddles Winnie in one of the apartment buildings four underground shelters fearing for the worst.

When sun comes along with the all-clear, he finally emerges from the dark, eyes bright when he sees the two of them, alight.

“I was about to clock out when the sirens started.” He says, breathy, barely able to stop embracing Jane and Winnie long enough to speak. “We all had to dash for the tube station. There must have been two hundred of us in there overnight. So many of us it seemed we might suffocate.”

“I’m so glad,” Jane implores, voice wavering. When they settle Winnie down over breakfast, so adds.

“I never thought I would have this. I always thought I had to pick, that I couldn’t live in the world my mother wanted for us and be a wife and mother. Then you came along.”

“I showed you the light, you might say?”

Jane nods. She spares another glance at Winnie.

“Mother always said ‘our daughters daughters will adore us’. It’s so strange to say, that admits a war, that it’s nice to be needed, for my work to be valued. It feels selfish, but it’s all we can try to do, for them as well as us.”

She reaches over and smooths Winnie’s hair, and dreadfully misses the other children, even as they’re just across town.

There’s no more hiding it. John and Annabel go to their father with the paperwork. Three more days of terror, and all four children are hastily packed and taken to the train station to be evacuated.

Jack had had to go to work early and couldn’t them seeing them off. It had taken him nearly ten minutes to let go of Winnie in the morning. She doesn’t stop tearing until they meet up with the others, bags in hand, signs around their necks.

“Keep good care of her will you all?” Jane says, tearing up herself.

Georgie takes Winnie hand tightly, and Annabel wipes her face with a handkerchief.

“Wouldn’t imagine doing anything else.” Georgie assures her. His other hand is holding his carpet bag, a copy sticking out of Peter Pan.

“Do they know where you’re going?” Michael asks, anxiously. They always managed to act so big but right now his three children seemed so very small.

“Australia,” Annabel says.

Australia, both Jane and Michael thought, that’s a whole half a world away.

“I thought most of the children were being sent to Canada?” Michael asked, shocked.

“Anywhere that will take us. Besides, I’ve always wanted to see a kangaroo,” Annabel adds, trying to sound light, to steady her father’s nerves and her own.

“We’ll be fine Father. There are no bombs in Australia. As far away as we’ll be from you, Germany will be even further.” John assures him.

No bombs. Such a small wish it would seem.

“Fly a kite for us will you?” Michael asks, embracing John and Annabel in turn, Jane following him after.

“We’ll fly one every day we can.” Georgie promises.

The train whistle sounds, and the four children grab hands and turn away from Michael and Jane. The siblings hold onto each other, and Georgie tight to Winnie, as they fade from view.

That image won’t leave Michael. The next time he has a moment to himself, he pulls out his sketchbook and draws them, in middle of a crowd of faceless children. And as an afterthought, he adds balloons into the distance, and a barely recognizable figure holding an umbrella, leading them towards the balloons through the sky.

Maybe he could use it for an evacuation poster.

After that, the days turn into weeks, and autumn comes. The day raids slow, but the night’s are still hellish. The sights of smoke and fire are every day, and everyday, more of the familiar city disappears.

Michael’s at work when it happens. He never thought he’d be grateful for a day raid.

When he returns, all that’s left of Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane is a pile of wreckage.

Head swimming, Michael barely as time to think before he’s joined by Ellen and her sister, who had been at the grocer’s, and are now by his side, cursing the Germans.

“We’ll all be flattened, and they still won’t be satisfied will they?” She insists. Her voice is enraged, but her eyes are wet. Number 17 was as much her home as theirs.

They all crowd into Jack and Jane’s tiny flat, so empty now without Winnie. Jane has a night shift at the hospital, and the others have already tried to get some sleep before the nights raids could start. In the dim light of the single gas lamp they keep lit, Michael wallows.

Everything lost say the clothes on his back and briefcase. So many things. The dishware passed from their parents, the knick knacks Kate had brought to their marriage. And the photographs…

Michael feels his eyes stinging again with tears. Memories could fade all too easily, compared to pictures.

Pictures.

Removing his sketchbook from his briefcase, Michael commits it to paper. Number 17 Lane as it was in full bloom. It’s spring in his drawing, the cherry trees are in bloom, and the Banks family stand in front.

In his drawing, Kate is still there, her face as clear as in his mind’s eye. His parents are on the steps, in the flush of their lives. The children are as grown as they are now, Georgie flying his kite, while John and Annabel look on Jack and Jane stand off to one side, a little in their own world.  Michael thinks, and adds two more small figures to the roof of the house beside them, twirling amidst what must be the soot.

He would draw it as it was, as it had been, as it would always be for them, no matter where the rest of the world took them.

His spirits are lifted a few days later, when the post comes in. Jane hands him the envelope.

“They don’t know. I’m amazed this even got through.”

Number 17 is written in John’s neat script, but the drawings inside are Georgie’s and Annabel’s. They both had inherited Michael’s artistic skills, but Annabel was far too sensible to indulge them much.

Her drawings are of the trains, the ship, the farmhouse where they have been billeted. Georgie draws the kite in the sky, the chickens and sheep, and yes the kangaroos, though they look far more ordinary to Michael’s eye than what the children had probably thought. John���s letter inside is equally reassuring. They are safe, and together. Winnie swears she saw a mermaid on the trip, and all four speak of having never seen the sun so much in their lives.

“Don’t worry too much of us Father,” Georgie adds as a post-script, his handwriting far shakier than his siblings, “we could never have imagined such an adventure. “

Michael tucks the drawings in his jacket pocket. When he goes to work the next day, he sees a poster someone has put up from the US.

“Keep em’ smiling with letters!” It says, with a drawing of a smiling serviceman accompanying.

And for the first time, in a long time, Michael feels like he might be able to.