#oh and the duel screens for their final bosses

[errorwarblesrr]

Oh, how I want a Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks remake in the Wind Waker style so bad, but I know it's never going to happen

[primevein]

The Prime of His Youth: Book V: Where There's Smoke: Ch20: His Power

"Not worried?" Charon salaciously asked Arcee.

"Oh?" Arcee asked. "When it comes to Jack, I'm ALWAYS worried."

"And you are relaxing on the... Human thing?" Charon asked her.

"Couch." Rust Dust said as she walked up and jumped onto the couch.

"Aren't you?" Charon asked her, "The one always watching from the shadows?"

Rust Dust's eyes fell on her and did not leave, "Depends if they know I'm watching."

Charon developed instant respect for her, "Oh?" she warmly asked, and then looked over to Japheth up front, "Don't you trust your?.."

"You - don't - want - to - know - what - I - would - do - for - Him." Rust Dust said firmly.

Arcee looked Charon deep in the eyes, such that Charon almost felt nervous. She then looked over to the twins who were at a console. Arcee had learned the screen they were on was about movies. Arcee then looked back deep into Charon's eyes. "They cut off Airachnid's spider legs." She paused a moment, "Without a moment's hesitation." Arcee then lovingly looked at Japheth, "And He stranded her in space." She looked back to Charon, "He threatened to do it forever."

"He wouldn't." Charon accused.

"He would." Arcee said with all of her will and spark, such that Charon was left shaken.

"The boss seems chaotic." Rust Dust stated, "But, He thinks about things so deeply. He puts all of the pieces together in His head, and acts when things come together."

"Meaning?" Charon asked.

"If Airachnid could not be reformed, and He released her, He would be culpable for every - single - death she causes, from every - single - species."

"Imprison her?" Charon asked.

"She would escape." Arcee uttered.

"He is the most loving, peace-minded Autobot in the history of Cybertron." Rust Dust stated, and Charon watched, waiting for the other shoe to drop, "Until he needs to be something else."

"And then he'll pin a spider down?" Charon asked, "And pluck off her legs?"

"With Victoria?" Rust Dust asked, "The first thing he did was beat us in a duel. The second thing he did was change our name from Victorion to Victoria. Because it's prettier. The third thing he did was declared us His Wrath, and taught us to make orbital drop attacks."

Charon looked dumbstruck, taking a few moments to find her words, "You don't mean dropping from orbit?.."

"Yes." Rust Dust affirmed.

"By yourselves?" Charon continued.

"Yes." Rust Dust continued.

"How?.. did he?.. teach you?.."

"By believing in us." Rust Dust said with finality, as if there could be no question. She then pointed over to Arcee, "And then our princess turned us into concubines."

Arcee sat there for a a few moments before it dawned on her, "Wait, what? I'm your what?"

"Is Japheth a prince?" Rust Dust asked.

"Human ranks aren't exactly my strong suit." Arcee dismissed.

"You... married - one, right?"

"I married one." Arcee stated, "Not a whole... what was the word, kingdom? Is that the word?"

"Yes." Arcelia said with a brilliant smile as she stepped up, Sirenia looking longingly from the background.

Arcee looked at Arcelia, and then back to Charon. She went to speak, and then looked back to Arcelia, "You are enjoying this way too much." Arcelia kept the brilliant smile. Arcee slowly looked back to Rust Dust. "So, I'm a what, now?"

"The wife of a prince." Rust Dust simply stated.

"The wife of a lord gains his title, with -ess." Arcelia lovingly added.

Arcee looked back to her, glaring into her eyes, "You are enjoying this too much."

"Does that mean I can't join the cuddle?" Arcelia asked.

"Not a cuddle." Arcee said sardonically, and Arcelia sat down beside her, leaning into her. Arcee simply sighed, "I literally asked for this, when I made all of you concubines." she said dismissively. She then looked at Charon, "You know the rules if you want to join."

Charon looked about the Skyfall, at all of the femmes present. Her many eyes focused on Stormwright.

"Except her." Arcee stated. "She's dating one of the astronauts."

"The what?" Charon asked her.

"The Humans." Rust Dust quickly stated, giving a look saying that she did not want to add any more. She then looked over to Arcelia, "She'll explain it if you ask her nicely."

"Or just don't actively stop her." Arcee uttered.

"You know you love me." Arcelia said with glee, and Arcee just sighed. Arcelia turned to Charon, "See, she didn't deny it."

"Will you just?.." Arcee said sardonically, and Arcelia just hugged her. Before she realized, Sirenia was also hugging her from behind, too. Arcee eventually stood up and stepped a bit away from the couch before turning around to them, "I have a reputation to keep." she firmly said.

"As the anti-social loner?" Rust Dust asked.

"Exactly." Arcee affirmed.

"Which is why you brought a dozen people together as a family?" Rust Dust taunted.

"Well, yeah." Arcee said dismissively, looking about nervously, "Families are stronger."

"Says who?" Charon asked.

"Optimus." Arcee said with finality.

* * *

Japheth stood on the Skyfall's hull, looking over at the Phthia. He looked at Charon behind him, trying her best to not look desperately afraid. "You act like this is the first time you jumped between moving spaceships?" Japheth said with a warming smile.

"It's not like I'm afraid..." she uttered, and He still smiled. The smile made her want to not feel afraid.

"If we miss, someone will pick us up." Japheth said. Again, His smile was so warm and enthralling.

"You sound certain of that?" Charon nervousy asked.

"Autobot protocol." Japheth said, "And we don't leave anyone behind."

"Except the Wreckers." she nervously stated, and somehow His smile found a way to get brighter.

"You'll see." He replied, and turned towards the Phthia. He took a few steps and them jumped. She stared in awe and fear as he flew through space before landing and gravitizing on the Phthia's hull. He turned back towards her, warmly holding out his arm towards her, beckoning her towards him.

She wanted to believe in Him. No, she DID believe in Him. She DID believe Him. She stepped her right leg backwards a couple of paces, and then leaned forward. She ran foward and leapt from the Skyfall's hull. She felt strength and warmth she had never felt before. She felt joy and freedom. That is until she realized that she had missed. She was stuck in a panick. Never before had she been in a situation so dire before. She had never felt this much fear and despair.

"Silk!" Japheth shouted, but while she heard it, she did not register it. It simply passed through her without interference. "Use your spider silk!" He shouted. This jostled her out of her despair long enough for her many eyes to focus on Him. "Throw me a line!" He exclaimed, and it seemed so obvious for her. She extended her right arm and launched a webline at Him. He caught it, and braced to stop her from drifting further away. He then started pulling her towards the Phthia. Quickly enough He could allow the momentum to carry her, and then catch her like a princess. She was stunned as she looked up at Him. It felt like her spark chambre was ready to burst. He put her down, and held her there for a few moments until her senses returned to her, and she gravitized to the hull.

* * *

Japheth walked onto the Phthia's bridge. He smiled at Dodge, without saying a thing, and without slowing down. Charon stepped off to the side, trying to hide in the background. He stopped in front of the public address station and turned it on, "All crew, this is Japheth Prime. We all know how much the Wreckers like being ordered around, as little as I like ordering them. As one of the only orders I'm going to give, all crew to the bridge."

"News?" Dodge asked. He wanted to ask more, but resisted the urge.

"It affects everyone, including you." Japheth simply replied, and then turned to step towards the monitor. He stopped and turned around. He looked around the, bridge, aside from Dodge, empty of Cybertronians. Human astronauts at most of the stations. He then turned to Charon, "You should get over here." He said. It was not an order, but a suggestion. A suggestion that carried the weight of His concern for her. She moved towards Him with all due haste, not out of obedience, but out of concern. She walked up beside Him in front of the main screen, and turned to nervously look around the room. The only one there was Dodge, and she had absolutely no idea what to think about him. All she could do was look at him nervously, almost oblivious to the tiny animals moving about the gantries.

Japheth took a step forward, and all of her eyes were immediately forcused on Him. He turned around to look at her, firmly but warmly. "You are a Black Widow." He said with a warm, inviting strength, strength that would cause her to believe anything He said, "Being afraid is unbecoming of you." She was too shocked to react. He turned back towards the rest of the bridge, and took a step backwards. "That said, they are Wreckers. But it will be alright."

"It will be alright." she said to herself, under her breath.

* * *

Miko stepped onto the bridge, looking frightfully determined. Her eyes focused on Japheth with such a harsh gaze that Charon was fearful. As if feeling it, Japheth turned to look at her, "It will be alright." He said.

"You get back, and what?!" Miko shouted, "I get called out like a schoolgirl?"

"I hate to break it to you," Japheth said with a smile, "but I'm married."

"Slag off." Miko added.

"Being married means I don't have to do that anymore." Japheth replied.

Miko's eyes grew wide. "Scrapper." she added.

"You'll have to wait for the big reveal." Japheth replied.

"Yeah, yeah..." Miko said dismissively. She then looked at Charon, "And who's this? New girl for your harem?"

Japheth just shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah." Miko replied.

"I can give you a hug, if you want." Japheth said with a smile.

She nervously thought it over before walking over to Him. He pulled her in for a powerful hug.

* * *

Most of the Wreckers, along with the pair of battle sisters stood on the bridge. Then Knock Out, Colossus, and Ratchet. Last but not least was Wheeljack. The gantries having triple the number of Humans. "You back from la-la land?" Wheeljack asked, "Or is it lulu land?" He looked at Miko, "Still working on my Earth slang."

"Lala." Miko said with a smile.

"Yes." Japheth starkly said, with it reverberating around the bridge. No one wanted to be the first to speak.

"Then, if I might ask?" Colossus' great voice asked, "What is?.."

"That would spoil the ending." Japheth said with a smile.

"Then what are we?.." Miko tried to asked.

"When Smokescreen gets back, I'll be giving him the Phthia."

"Gets back from what?" Miko asked, and Japheth just smiled at her.

"That's kind of the way secrets are." Bulkhead chided her.

"Still, it's me." Miko said to Japheth.

"Who is not exactly known for being able to keep her mouth shut."

Miko glared at him, before lightly nodding her head, "Okay, yeah." she replied.

"And what about us?" Wheeljack asked.

"That's the question." Japheth stated, and a pregnant pause followed.

"Even more important, would Smokescreen even want us?" Seaspray asked.

"Oh, Smokey loves us." Miko interjected.

"And, quite frankly," Wheeljack added, "of all of the Elite Guard, he's the only one I can really stand."

"Didn't you work with Ultra Magnus?" Seaspray asked him.

"Don't remind me." an annoyed Wheeljack added.

"Weren't you all buddy-buddy?" Seaspray chided.

"I don't know WHO could have told you that." Wheeljack said to him, and then looked at Miko, "Scratch that, I do."

"Oh, come on?" a snickering Miko replied, "I mean, seriously, you were like..."

"NOPE!" Wheeljack replied.

Japheth took a step forward, his footfall echoing about the bridge. "As far as everyone else is concerned, you don't exist." He soundly stated, "And I want to keep it that way. I need to stop off in Doc. Knock's workshop. If anyone wants to talk before I go, I'm all ears. If not, have Dodge give me a call, and I'll pop over."

[blackjackkent]

OK time for yet another boss battle combat report!

(Everyone seemed to like the Iron Throne play-by-play so I guess I'm getting more thorough with these. XD )

We get to fight big boy, who i'm not referencing by name till under the cut, and his three lady friends from the other thrones, plus the three guards from the front door.

Sarevok is quite beefy - 206HP. Surprisingly, the guards from the front door are the other scary ones; That Which Guards has 236HP and the other two are 162. Amelyssan and her cronies are a much more reasonable 72, which means that they're our first targets to get off the field as quickly as possible.

springagainafter: hee hee I've been waiting for you to get to the bit where Sarevok shows up springagainafter: ghost Melissan too UGH springagainafter: PUNCH SAREVOK, HECTOR springagainafter: do it for Rasaad, it's what he would want XD blackjackkent: heeeeee blackjackkent: hell yeah

Let's see how well Team Juggernaut holds up to this challenge.

Minsc was able to open the fight by taking out Amelyssan at once. (He gets five attacks with Nyrulna on the first turn of the fight due to Dread Ambusher and Enraged Throw and he used them all on her.) I like to think that this was not actually strategy but just him zeroing in on her immediately as the person he hates second most on the field (but was most likely to kill quickly) and wanting her GONE.

I backed up out of combat for a bit so I could look at Sarevok's inspect screen and he's a spooky boy. Among his Exciting Features are: Legendary Resistance (unsurprising), Exceptional Plate (decreased physical damage), multiattack, bleed infliction on enemies with full health, and 20AC. Fundamentally, though, the scariest thing about him is that he has a number of equally scary friends and a lot of health, so we'll be better off taking the friends out of the equation fast. We've dealt with Steel Watchers, so as long as Sarevok doesn't start exploding, I'm not as worried as I was with them. XD

The three echoes also turn out to be primary targets because they cast Haste on Sarevok and Slow on our party, both of which are TERRIFYING in this context, so good to get them off the field as quickly as possible.

As the fight goes on, though, things get... interesting. Every time our boy Sarevok hits something he gets a stack of "Murderous Strikes", and when it hits 4 he can cast "Deathbringer's Legacy" which basically allows him to do a four-strike multihit. And when hastened he can get that VERY often.

On her second turn, Jaheira DISCONNECTS HERSELF FROM THE PARTY because she doesn't have time for my mediocre combat skills, casts Confusion on all three of the weird scary guards, and beelines straight for Sarevok like a house on fire entirely without my input.

CORRECTION: The above point seriously confused me through quite a few reloads and I couldn't figure out what was causing it bc it only seemed to happen sometimes. Turns out that one of the Big Scary Guards cast "Compelled Duel" on her, which I think broke her out of my control briefly even though it's supposed to just prevent her from attacking anyone other than the caster. And then I think her casting Confusion caused the control to drop (when the BSG failed its save) but didn't put her back in the party.

I like my interpretation better, though, that she's so pissed off with Sarevok that she doesn't have time for my bullshit.

Honestly Hector's brute force punching is carrying the day. (The spirit of Rasaad moves within him indeed.) His second turn he got a starting topple on Sarevok and melted him for a total of [does hasty math] A HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE DAMAGE. My boy is a guided missile and we love that for him! This build is so broken oh my god, Zen. XD

Looking more closely at the Big Scary Guards, I noticed this:

This is good news actually and means we probably don't have to kill them, just keep them from killing US long enough to deal with Sarevok.

Having finally, after a number of confused reloads, figured out what was going on with Jaheira, it was time to bring out the owlbear to smack Sarevok around, and leave Karlach in the back to deal with the BSGs. Four owlbear claw hits in a row for ~22 damage each is spicy, plus each of them does knockback, which gives us the incredibly satisfying image of Sarevok Anchev bouncing across the floor like an errant ping-pong ball.

Eventually we whittled him down! The BSGs, as expected, despawned when Sarevok died, and we just had to clear out the remainder of the echoes in order to finish the fight.

Yasssss. SAREVOK ANCHEV IS NO MORE!

*loud cheering from Faenya-Dail*

I would damn well hope the Murder Tribunal are impressed after that display. XD

I didn't even know that was an option but I think I'm glad we didn't become whatever that is. XD

Excellent. That will be Thursday's project since I have raids tomorrow. XD

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Ornstein and Smough tell the story of Anor Londo

Oh lord these bastards. We've talked about how bosses like the Bell Gargoyles and Capra Demon have tried to teach you to deal with multiple opponents in boss fights, well welcome to the exam with professors Ornstein and Smough, hope you like dying. They are brilliantly designed to cover each other's weaknesses, because while you can duel Ornstein 1 on 1, and Smough is actually pretty slow and easy to simply dance around, trying to do either while the other is bearing down on you is an instant ticket to the You Died screen.

Thematically, these two are the final test before you're allowed audience with Gwynevere, they are royal guardians and representatives of Anor Londo and the Gods' overwhelming power. They're also a classic double act: sleek and agile paired with huge and powerful, with Ornstein the upstanding and honourable knight counterposed by Smough the brutal and merciless executioner. Again, there's storytelling there - the golden ideals of the gods vs the brutality they use to enforce them.

Oh and hey there's these three plints in the room with statues of Gwyn, Gwynevere and then one of them is empty like there's a third god you haven't been told about. Huh. I wonder if that means anything.

[mirror-to-the-past]

Okay, but what if we expanded upon the already awesome level 83 duty? I was thinking about a way it could've been executed in retrospect, and I'm just wondering if we could've let the possession thing simmer a little longer.

That duty was *this* close to being the Scions v. WOL scenario I've wanted since the WOL was almost overcome with light in SHB, except it could've worked! So what if it was tweaked a bit?

The WOL finishes their part of the duty, and the screen fades to black as the point of focus shifts. Same scene with the Scions noticing "your" arrival, and they approach Zenos disguised as the WOL with excitement, only to find that the person who appears as their companion is anything but. However, instead of the WOL jumping in at that moment, I say G'raha and Alisaie are joined by the other Scions, and react quickly, defending themselves from Zenos' initial attack in your form.

Thus begins the duty continued from the Scions' perspective of fighting against Zenos while habiting the WOL's body, obviously while controlling a specific Scion. I'd pick between Alphinaud or G'raha (Alisaie already gets a duty during END, and I know Alphinaud does as well, but this is a pivotal moment, and I'd love to hear Alphinaud's thoughts of fighting the WOL, their longtime companion, while I'm sure Alisaie would be yelling her thoughts out anyway), but it really doesn't matter for me.

I was thinking that this idea might be difficult to implement, because "oh, but everyone has a different job, so I don't know, the custom actions from a WOL boss fight might be too difficult," but the fact that in the cutscene where Zenos-WOL ambushes G'raha and Alisaie while using a Reaper skill removes that fear. They could use actions similar to the Zenos duel in the finale, which would already be existing. The only potentially difficult factor would be assigning your character model to doing said actions, which I admittedly, from a game designer's perspective, don't know how that would work. (But to be honest, this whole fantasy is purely spurned from 'wouldn't that be badass?' so I'm not being entirely practical.)

This whole premise of the Scions having to fight against the face of their friend, while also getting slowly pushed back/exhausted is not only tragic, but raises the stakes even more. You are here, as the player, worried for your WOL's body, and the well-being of the Scions, and are wondering how long they'd last without you.

As a potential additional factor...

Remember that timer from the duty with Hien, where it said "Time until WOL arrives?" This would've a great time to do a similar callback, as that was in a fight against Zenos possessed by Elidibus, simultaneously creating a fun parallel. However, having a timer for the WOL's arrival would take away the surprise from the WOL's rescue of the Scions in the actual cutscenes' climax. Thus, I propose a simple, and chilling alternative:

"Time until Zenos tires of this."

A ticking clock that, from the player's perspective, establishes the fact that, while the Scions are making a noble, collective stand, Zenos is choosing to hold back throughout all of this, and could wipe them out with your form if he so chose. This leads to the assumption that, once the clock strikes zero, Zenos would trigger an insta kill.

So, we're sweating, watching the clock tick down, and the Scions getting weaker. Perhaps Lucia runs in at one point, only to be quickly driven back, and the Scions tell her to "get everyone ready to flee the camp if need be! Something is terribly wrong!"

The clock runs down, and you're probably there sweating bullets, fearing the worst, and then a cutscene hits that's similar to the one we see in canon. Zenos is about to land a killing blow on two nearest Scions, which could still be Alisaie and G'raha from the original cutscene, only to be foiled by the true WOL throwing their sword (god, I loved that part), and crashing into him while he's off guard, before reclaiming their body.

I think the whole encounter, played out that way, would've been even more intense than before, and have wracked the Scions, and Camp Broken Glass, much, much more than it did in the story, as a result of things being drawn out.

What are your thoughts?

[ichika27]

TWEWY 12

Grande Finale already!

I felt the same nervousness and excitement I felt when I watched the first episode while watching the last one. I’m excited, half knowing what I’d see but not knowing what else to expect.

Can’t believe we finally got to this point. I took so many screenshots... I had to limit myself cause they’re not all gonna fit in one tumblr post.

Also I don’t have to give a spoiler warning anymore. Length warning though cause this is super long!(longer than the usual posts I made for this series at least).

Kitaniji transforms into a three-headed monster and unlike in the game, he doesn’t capture any of Neku’s partners nor use Josh’s power to do so. I’m not sure what explanation there is as to how he got more than one noise form but I guess he’s the Conductor so maybe it’s part of his powers here.

Shiki and Beat awaken in the middle of Neku’s fight and help out. The trio then forms some kind of three-way pact (four if Rhyme actually counted although now completely sure?) and continue battling Kitaniji. The fight scene was pretty cool especially Beat’s attack with the chains. It just sucks the fight ended too fast. I guess all of TWEWY anime’s boss fights end kinda fast even though they’re uh, boss fights.

Final attack beam like in the game! It was too fast and I couldn’t get a good shot of the white version this transforms into (which looks like the one in the game). They have an explanation later as to why it looks different at first but they’ll talk about it later.

It’s sad Joshua isn’t part of this. This is supposed to be the four-way fusion attack. (;-;)

They defeat Kitaniji who disappears, sad that he was unable to protect Shibuya. Joshua never showed up in this boss battle so Kitaniji never got to talk to Joshua for the last time. In the game he at least dies happy in a way - he lost but he gave it his all and his Composer praised his efforts. He was also able to tell Neku that the rest is up to him now. Here in the anime, he just... he lost and felt bad. I wish they had Josh show up here but they had other ideas.

A new door opens and Neku braced himself as he knows the fight isn’t over cause there’s still one last guy on top.

They find themselves in this room/hallway (is this supposed to be the Trail of the Judged?) filled with CAT murals. This somewhat confirms the “CAT = Composer” theory and Neku has now accepted it, calling out Mr. Hanekoma to show himself.

And yeah, the last episode’s title is the show’s title as well “It’s a Wonderful World”.

Someone else showed up instead. Joshua finally makes his reappearance!

Boy, have I been waiting for you! I wish you were with them in the final battle earlier so you guys could be a team (and you could be one of Neku’s partners) one last time.

Neku is surprised but happy to see Joshua again. He thanks Joshua for saving him before and is glad that he’s okay.

In the game, this never happened cause Josh appears in the middle of a fight. Things were too hectic and when the battle with Kitaniji finally ended, he and Josh talked about their own game and so after Kitaniji disappears, what’s left is questioning what was happening. Since Josh didn’t show up earlier, they were able to reunite in a more peaceful way and Neku had no suspicion until Joshua himself brought it up.

And I guess that’s why I was so nervous when I watched this. It’s a bit too peaceful. I know what’s gonna happen next but not exactly how they’d adapt it.

Joshua finally explains the truth to Neku and his friends.

This felt more... awful to watch. Like we had both Joshua and Kitaniji giving bits and pieces of the truth in the game via their conversation so there’s two people to focus on. Here it’s just Joshua. But in a way, I guess this works cause there’s no one else there to soften the blow and Joshua could make the revelation hurt more if he wishes so. It also kinda feels worse cause you see Neku happy to see Joshua earlier before the reveal happens. Kinda heartbreaking.

“I’m the Composer of Shibuya.”

He finally says it clearly to a confused and surprised Neku.

We get a flashback of Joshua and Kitaniji talking about Shibuya’s impending destruction, why it must happen, and Kitaniji making a deal to try and save it. He has a month to change things for the better and if it works out, he wins. If not, Joshua continues the destruction plan.

Joshua’s Composer form is more vague here. It’s human shaped but you don’t see his face and the outline glows like this so you don’t properly see the shape. I think this is better cause there’s no way you can tell who the Composer is like this and he looks less human.

Beat gets angry at the revelation and tries to attack Joshua which he couldn’t do because of Joshua’s powers. I wasn’t able to get a screenshot of this but Josh is twirling his hair after this while Beat struggles to try and punch him. He’s cute and I know this is kind of inappropriate to say in this situation given he legitimately made someone mad and he deserves that punch to his pretty face.

Joshua uses his powers to freeze the others (and later renders them unconscious to keep them quiet). Neku is worried about his friends and is mad.

Joshua tells him he won’t hurt Neku’s friends. He then explains about how he found his proxy. Which is Neku much to his horror at what this meant.

I just had to get this with the subtitles on. I replayed the scene several times to hear if there was no error. Joshua says “Daiji na Neku-kun no tomodachi...” and I google translated it. It says “daiji” means “important”. So yeah, he definitely called Neku “important” to him. It’s surprising although this wouldn’t be out of place in the original game since they had more moments to just talk on there.

Yeah, I know I focused on this a little but I’m a nekujosh/joshneku shipper so forgive me for latching onto this.

Neku slowly sees the bigger picture as Joshua continues to explain himself. As a reward for getting this far, Joshua returns Neku’s memories.

He really had to get that close while saying Neku’s name, didn’t he?

Neku’s death flashback. The scene plays almost similar to the game right down to the censored guns (is this a creative decision to make it faithful to the game or are they really just not allowed to draw actual guns?). I was gonna make a joke about how Joshua stopped Minamimoto’s bullets using an AT field but the shot was different and the bullets just looked like they froze midair and not stopped by some kinda force field like in the game.

Neku ends up getting shot by Joshua complete with bleeding unlike in the game. I just have to wonder if I was the one who got it wrong cause in the game, Joshua looks like he’s aiming for Neku’s head and here, Neku gets shot on the chest. Did they change it cause a headshot would be too much or has it always been a shot to the chest?

Neku angrily walks over to Josh and grabs him by the collar. Joshua stops Neku with his powers as he continues to explain about what happened regarding the death scene and Minamimoto. Joshua then materializes two guns out of thin air and places one on Neku’s hand as he tells him the rules of their final duel: just shoot and if Neku wins, he could save his friends and he becomes Composer and do what he wants. What stood out with how he said it is that he didn’t exactly go “If you don’t beat me, Shibuya is destroyed.” and instead went “If you win, these are what you get to be Composer and whatever else you’d like! Sounds good, right?”. As if saying killing him has a lot of perks.

It feels weird seeing Josh physically placing the gun on Neku’s hand cause in the game, the gun was by Neku’s feet and Neku had to pick it up on his own accord. Anyways, I like the effect they used to materialize the gun cause it’s the same effect for the names of the routes when they show them on screen. Like graffiti or something.

At this point Neku’s crying. The shot didn’t feel as dramatic as in the game in my personal opinion. Neku is tearing up here but he looks tired and was about to sob in the game. Joshua meanwhile, counts down from ten.

Before Joshua’s count hits three, Neku hears a somewhat distorted voice (which we know is just Mr. H) saying “Trust your Partner”. This reminded Neku how he got to where he is: by trusting his partners. (I have something to say about this later)

In a very shocking turn of events, instead of just lowering the gun and letting himself be shot like in the game, Neku drops his gun and with a hand outstretched tells Joshua “I’ll trust you”. Oh my god... they really did it. I love this change not gonna lie. I think they might have added this cause they didn’t adapt Neku’s ending monologue where he does say he trusts Joshua. It’s less dramatic than the game though since Neku doesn’t say anything while Joshua is counting down. In the game, he was crying and saying how he thought Joshua was his friend and how all of this really hurt him. Guess we take what we can get and they gave us this.

Joshua smiles as he shoots but as Neku falls, the smile on Joshua’s face disappears.

Mr. H didn’t show up at the end here either so Neku didn’t get to see him.

Neku wakes up in the middle of Scramble Crossing like usual but he bumps into people and so he realizes that he’s alive now. He doesn’t scream after the very stressful crap he went to like in the game. Might not be entirely the same but Joshua still left him lying down in the middle of the street. Nice.

We then see a short timelapse from above Shibuya which is probably supposed to show a week has passed. Neku’s monologue wasn’t added in and no ending music as well. I’m disappointed “A Lullaby for You” wasn’t used. Here I was hoping for a miracle.

By the way, Shooter, Yammer, and I think Makoto all passed him by the scramble. They really didn’t get much screentime but at least they made cameos.

Neku finally meets up with the Bito siblings like at the game’s epilogue! The shot they did was almost the same as with the game, too. They have dialogue here instead of just stills with Neku showing how happy he was to see his friends alive again, too. I’m happy the anime version showed him smiling more at the end cause he needed that after everything. It’s nice to see him smile.

RG! Shiki is here! With the same shot as in the game! They really aren’t gonna show us her face, huh? Also, all of the shots with Shiki on them has her back towards us. Like there are scenes where Neku and the rest are looking forward and she’s in front of them with her back turned on us. Why? They could’ve used the lighting on her glasses to obscure her eyes, too. So her bangs are a secret as well then?

They show Eri later, too enjoying a concert, by the way. I was hoping to see a reunion between her and Shiki as well and them finally talking after the stuff from before. Oh well.

Neku takes off his headphones and he and Shiki do a proper introduction with each other with Shiki being herself this time. (Is Shiki the same height as Neku? It looks like that from this angle.)

Anyways, this was a nice way to adapt Neku taking off his headphones since they can’t do it like in the game.

They adapted the secret ending but expanded it to add stuff from the secret reports to explain other lore stuff which would’ve been missed by the anime-only watchers since those are part of bonus game contents. Mr. Hanekoma and Joshua talk about the events of the long game and Joshua says he knew it was Mr. H whose responsible for Minamimoto.

They also talk about the Red Skull Pins and how Mr. H made it for Kitaniji. Mr. H says the pins imprints Kitaniji’s will on people and that he himself (Mr. H) doesn’t need that cause he could do so with all the graffiti he left all over town.

Which brings me to earlier in the duel: Neku hears a voice, clearly (to us) is Mr. Hanekoma’s and it’s in a place filled to the brim with CAT graffiti. Did he imprint the words “Trust your partner” to Neku?

Meanwhile, Beat wonders how they were able to pull off the final attack. Neku says it was probably the pin Hanekoma gave them (the keypin looking thing). I guess they needed an explanation for the last attack but they didn’t have the fusion pin so they used this keypin instead. It’s why the attack looked different in the beginning when the attack was powering up.

There’s apparently a new CAT graffiti at Udagawa and of course, CAT-fanboy Neku has to see it. On the way, they meet Sota and Nao who are now alive! I’m so happy!! Joshua brought them back, too! I always felt bad about what happened to them in the game. I’m glad they got a happy ending in the anime.

Def March, 777′s band, are back as well and look... they got their winged mic back! It makes me wonder if they found it later on or if Joshua gave that to them back the same time when he brought them back lol. I’m just really happy for all of them.

Joshua’s wings!! This is, unfortunately, the best shot I could get since they never really zoom in on this. In the game he is in his Composer form in the secret ending and turns into a ball of light when he leaves. Here, we see his wings. It’s smaller than the one he has in KH:DDD. At least we canonically see it here.

I can now use the term “Joshua Maji Tenshi” and be accurate!

Mr. H points out that Joshua looks lonely and is in denial and Josh just leaves. Mr. H also shows his wings and leaves afterwards, too. I didn’t take a pic of it since we see it in the game’s secret ending anyways. His wings also seem smaller than in the game.

Final shot of the new CAT graffiti. I was so close to crying the entire ending and this nearly tipped me over but it didn’t. If “A Lullaby for You” was playing, I’d have probably bawled my eyes out. This graffiti is beautiful. I want a sticker of it.

Also, I just noticed but CAT’s old graffiti at Udagawa had mostly darker colors. This new one is brighter and is more colorful.

--

First of all, I wanted to thank tumblr for not giving me an error for posting more than 15 images like I usually did. I was bracing myself for the error pop up and was gonna make a part 2 instead but there was some kind of miracle and I got more than 20 pictures on here.

I have a lot of melodramatic things to say about the anime but I’ll save it all for later. For now, I’ll say something else. I’m sad they didn’t adapt Neku’s monologue. Those words from Neku still hits me in the feels to this day. Him saying that the entire ordeal really affected him in more ways than one and it wasn’t all good even though he’s happy about changing and what he learned from the experience. His line about how he can’t forgive Joshua but trusts him was cut along with it and it would’ve been nice to have to know what he thought of Joshua.

The thing I missed the most was the “I have friends now. We’re meeting each other for the first time in a week. See you there?” lines. It shows how happy Neku is that he now has people to call his friends which is super heartwarming and the line implies that he counts Joshua as one of those friends, too (which is properly confirmed in KH: DDD which I’d probably make a post about later if I get the motivation to do so). That would’ve also made the last scene with Josh hit harder. In the game, knowing Josh wanted to be with them and is sad he couldn’t already makes me sad but also knowing Neku is waiting for him makes it much worse (and I still feel pain thinking about it even after all these years).

Maybe we’d see them get reunited in NTWEWY. Hopefully. I really do hope so.

The anime isn’t perfect but it did what it could with the limited amount of time it had. The show would’ve been better if they had more episodes but we don’t know why it ended up with just 12 so we can’t really say anything else. They did it and it wasn’t as bad as I was fearing in a way. Would I recommend it? I’d probably rec the game first, to be honest. I was only okay with watching cause I have played the game and could fill in the missing stuff but the anime-only fans couldn’t and the thought that they won’t be able to fully appreciate the entire story of twewy is kinda sad. It was a nice watch though and I’d miss waiting for it every week.

I wonder if they’d make “A New Day” OVA since the anime is supposed to help the ones who haven’t/couldn’t play the first game but would go play NTWEWY and that scenario has story stuff that’s connected to the sequel.

Anyways, thanks for reading this far if you did! I’ll be watching gameplays of NTWEWY when it comes out in full (since I don’t have the money nor the console for it). 

[whirlybirbs]

;   ---   SHATTERED HILT   /   01

summary: ru’kali survives order 66. cal kestis does, too. while cal spends his days on bracca, stripping starships for parts, ru spends her days earning her protection from the empire in the fighting pits on ordo eris; both do what it takes to survive. but, when a wayward quest and a plethora of owed debts lead cal kestis straight back to his fellow padawan -- a once shy girl turned raging fire -- the pit fighter is left with a choice: leave, or spend the rest of her life a pawn in a game much bigger than her. pairing: cal kestis / original female character, ru’kali lof word count: 2k a/n: i cannot remember the last time i wrote something that wasn’t a reader-insert, and i’m not sure how this will do -- feedback is genuinely appreciated on this, since i know i’m mostly a reader writer! everyone loved ru from her intro to my clone trooper squad, which you can read here! 

Ru’kali Lof startles awake to the sound of three loud, rough bangs on the door to her quarters. 

She wonders bitterly, as she blinks up at the ceiling, if she can just ignore the sound. With any luck, they’ll leave her alone and Ru can go back to bed --

Then, the knocks come again. Louder and faster. 

“Rise ‘n’ shine, sweetheart!”

Ru snarls.

Beneath the durasteel door, she can see the long shadow of someone shifting back and forth in their boots -- immediately, the Mirialan, as she stands and throws herself to the door, knows it’s Atticus. The sheer bombastic chaos that follows the bounty hunter swims through the force to greet her before she even opens the door.

When she does, he’s got an arm on the doorframe and he’s leering. 

Atticus Rex isn’t much to look at, nor is he kind nor smart, but he’s muscle -- his head is shaved in a tight buzz, littered with scars, and his muzzled grin is picked clean with a toothpick that hangs from his lips. 

He smells like day-old ale and sweat.

“Where y’ been, Ru?”

It leaks out of him like a jab. She has to restrain the snarl that threatens to leap across her face. Her attitude is sharp and wants to go straight for the Haxion Brood Lieutenant’s throat. 

“Asleep,” she bites, crossing her arms and cocking a hip as she goes to hit the switch and shut the door, “Do you mind?”

Atticus snorts, hand planted on the frame and forcing the door to stay open. 

Ru leans back, peering into her room, to eye the chronometer hanging on the wall. The digits read 1038 -- it’s late, and she’d finally fallen asleep after she’d managed to quiet down the usual roaring river in her mind. Not an easy task. 

"Get dressed,” the Bounty Hunter chirps, “S’ fight night, sunshine.”

--

Fight nights were common.

But, fight nights were Ru fought? Those were rare -- and though she’s sure Sorc Tormo would put her in the ring every night if he could, she’s also aware that to the Umbaran crime-lord she’s an asset. A big asset. A big, money-making asset that draws a big crowd and big bets.

Huge bets.

(The exact kind of bets that got Greez Dritus into this mess in the first place, and by proxy his new-found friend.)

Ordo Eris, on fight nights, becomes more like a city than the cold, lonely, terrible astroid colony it really is. The space station fills with scoundrels and thugs from all across the galaxy who traverse the rocky space around the arena’s hub to get a spot around the ring -- Ru eyes the growing crowd, nearly every attendee with credits in hand, as the lift carries her upwards to the top level of the arena’s loge.

Beside her Atticus flicks the smoldering bud of his deathstick down the shaft.

Speaking of Sorc Tormo, the sleaze ball greets Ru’kali with wide open arms and a devious grin. 

“Ah! My prized warrior princess!”

Ru cross her arms and swaggers forward -- the small rope of lucky beads tied to her sash tinkers as she does, knocking against the chromium smelted hilt of one of her two sabers. One is hers from when she was a Padawan. The other is a recent build and it’s temperamental. Using a stolen, mined kyber crystal is to blame, no doubt.

Master Yoda was right -- the crystals are supposed to pick the Jedi. 

Atticus meanders along behind you. Skulking as per usual.

Ru looks out past the arena to the screens bolted up along the pit. Pale blue eyes narrow tightly, the deep scar over her right eye warping slightly as she does. The broadcast is in the lower levels. Some idiot running around on the walls. Plugging wires in. 

A show, for sure.

Ru raise a brow.

“What’s all this about?” she asks, turning to eye Sorc Tormo.

The Umbaran man is eccentric, to say the least. His facial hair runs right down his chin in one fine line, green in color. That same green, punchy and vomit-reminiscent, echoes in his Canto Bight-esque outfit. Large, pompous sleeves and pants that are three sizes too tight. All green. 

He looks like seventy kliks of bad road, honestly. 

Hell, everyone on Ordo Eris does. 

Ru’kali is no exception -- she’s rougher than she was when she first arrived here. Littered in scars and bitter. The years of pit fighting have settled in her stance and though she’s athletic, she’s a rogue brawler with enough crackling, dangerous rage to power an entire Star Destroyer.

Fighting takes the edge off. Makes her feel less afraid. 

“Well,” the lone, pale fingers of the Umbaran curl around Ru’kali’s pale pink shoulders, nails drumming against the diamond shaped markings there, “I am glad you asked, my dear. We have a special contender for you --”

“Cut to the chase, Tormo.”

The egg shaped head of the Umbaran rolls as he steps away, waving off Ru’s evident irritation; the crime-lord gestures to the screen. “He’s friends with someone who owes me a lotta money. He was carrying this around --”

His fingers snap twice.

“Atticus --”

Ru’kali was not expecting Atticus Rex to procure, from the back of his belt, a lightsaber.

And she certainly wasn’t expecting him to hand it to Tormo and for the Umbaran to ignite it, presenting a glimmering yellow blade. 

The Mirialan’s face falls -- anger bubbles up there, warping the navy tattooed features of her face as she steps forward and yanks the hilt from the hands of the crime-lord.

Her lips twitches.

“What?” she sneers vengefully, “Did he pull this from a corpse, then?”

She has seen another Jedi’s saber three times now in this station. Once on the belt of a traveler who’d laughed in her face and waved the blue thing around, proudly proclaiming they’d bought it off clone trooper for drinking money. The second time, on a bounty hunter -- he’d murdered a Jedi Knight for Imperial credits, kept the blade though. The third, was now. 

Ru could only assume the weapon to be another stolen relic, a ground-in-the-dirt memory of her life before Ordo Eris. This contender probably had no idea how to use it, let alone the life this saber had before now.

A laxidasical wave. “Maybe. Don’t care. But! My sweet, sweet, Jedi -- I want you to kill him. Seeing two saber swordsmen dueling... Goodness, me oh my, that will certainly bring in the money, won’t it, Atticus?”

“Sure will.”

And it does.

--

Cal Kestis is having a pretty shit day.

Not that he’d ever say so -- no, because, sure, it might be terrible and he might be navigating some wild underground dungeon maze, but Cal has BD-1 back on his shoulder and that’s all that matters. 

He’s got a mission, he’s got BD-1, and despite being a little sore, he’s good. All good. Everything’s good. Totally good. 

As he rides the lift to the upper levels of this... place... Cal wonders if he’s gonna eat that sentiment.

The first thing he hears is the chants -- raucous roars of a large crowd. Before him lays a large square space, illuminated by stark spotlights and swarmed with drone droids, each with blinking red lights on their helms to show their recording status. 

It becomes abundantly clear to Cal that he’s suddenly in the spotlight. And, that the itching feeling that he was being watched was correct. 

The redheaded Jedi steps out from under the bay, suddenly exposed to the bright light of the arena. 

Around him on the upper decks are hundreds of people, all clamoring to get a view of him -- the large screens on the sides of the loge show him squinting, raising a hand and grimacing into the light. 

BD-1 gives a worried boowoop. 

“I got a bad feeling about this too, lil’ buddy.”

Suddenly, a holo-projection fizzles in before Cal -- large and tall and to the excitement of the crowd. The man’s appearance is met with a rise in cheers, rolling off the voices of the spectators with thirst for action. 

Sorc Tormo laughs.

“Ah, finally he arrives!” 

The projection waves wildly, spinning about, and Cal watches carefully as this eccentric ego-maniac waves his hand with a grandiose flourishes as he speaks. 

“We had action on how long it would take for you to get here!”

Yeah, well, BD-1 was kinda his priority.

Irritation bites at Cal’s features. The Jedi scowls. His stance is tense.

“And who are you?” Cal calls out, voice rising over the roar of the crowd.

“Ha ha ha! Who am I? I’m Sorc Tormo, baby! I’m the boss of this operation!”

The crowd goes wild at that, whoops and hollers serenading the arena to the tune of the crimelord’s name. A television drone swoops close to Cal’s head and the Jedi side-steps it with a disgusted look on his face. 

“Right,” Cal snarks, “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“Maybe not you, but to your friend Greezy Four-arms it does! You’ve got him to thank for gettin’ you into this pickle!”

Of course. 

Cere had made a comment off-hand about the pilot’s penchant for gambling -- not that Cal was any stranger to the concept. Back on Bracca, Prauf had muscled Cal into tagging along to a few card games here and there. And though the redhead never partook in wagering his entire week’s pay on precious metals, Prauf had once or twice. On those nights that Prauf lost -- because he always lost -- there was nothing that could lift the Abednedo’s mood. 

Not even a signature Cal Kestis smile 'n’ pat on the back. 

Cal could use one of those right about now. 

“Yeah, well, once I’m finished with you, I will thank Greez,” it comes out just as cocky as it feels -- and maybe Cal shouldn’t had tried the attitude. 

Either way, when this Sorc Tormo guy laughs and waves his hand, proclaiming, “No, no, my friend, you won’t be fighting me...”

Suddenly, the air becomes electric.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the crime-lord turns on a heel, gesturing to the crowd with the all the practiced cool of an entertainer, “Our lovely little guest will be going head to head with our favorite...”

There’s a crescendo of excitement. Cal notices an uptick on the counter on the broadcast screens -- he realize, quickly, that they’re bets and currently, someone named Fropolo’f is betting the most money against him. Real confidence booster that is. 

“Someone get baby his toy! He’s gonna need it!”

His lightsaber is launched from the loge, and the Jedi catches it quickly, igniting it on instinct as his skin crawls in anticipation. The redhead looks around, eyes cast on the crowds of smugglers and thugs lining the balcony.

The wide angle shot of fear on his face is painted across the rumbling arena’s screens.

Before Cal can bite in a retort, the echo of boots on durasteel begins -- coordinated and rhythmic. Boom... boom... boom... boom, boom, boom.

“You know her well -- a pure whirlwind of rage! She’s pink, she’s tatted, she’s daaaaaaaangerous!” 

Boom-boom-boom. Boom-boom-boom.

BD makes a nervous boo-weeeeeeeep as the pace picks up. Cal swallows, gloved fist tightening nervously around the hilt of his glowing, golden blade. Green eyes dart around the square expanse of the arena, trying to get a gauge on where this opponent might appear from --

“Give it up for our girl...”

Boomboomboom, boomboomboom. 

“RUUUUUUUU’KALLLLI!”

The roar is deafening. 

Suddenly, the paneling in the floor separates, and from it emerges --

“...Ru?”

Ru’kali Lof is suddenly staring face-to-face with a ghost.

Her stance, wide-set with double blades humming in a hot white, seems to crack when she finally sees the face of her opponent.

She’s a handful of meters away but she’d know that flash of red hair anywhere.

Cal Kestis.

Cal fucking Kestis.

Oh, this is bad. 

This is really bad. 

[maswartz]

In honor of MAR10 my idea for a Mario fan game

Trust me, I would make this myself if I could but I have no skills so could someone please make this real. Super Mario World Elemental Quest If you want to make this all I ask for is credit for the ideas Play as either Mario or Luigi NO KAIZO TRICKS NO INVISIBLE BLOCKS Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, Wood 6 paths 1 per element Map is giant snowflake like shape Each path has unique enemies, Yoshi, Power Ups, music, etc 2 bonuses Both unlocked after first path is finished Power Up Bank Air • Flying Yoshi • Cape or Wing Cap (if possible) • Flying Enemies LEVELS A-1 Nimbus Valley A-2 Tornado Canyon A-3 Whirlwind Wayside A-4 Flying Foes A-5 Boss BOSS Terror Tornado Tornado with two smaller twisters for arms. Has eyes and mouth Mouth will periodically suck player in and launch them far Battle takes place in large field Player must throw blocks knocked loose by the winds into the mouth 5 times to win Earth • Ground Pound Yoshi • Stone ball suit (if possible) • Thomps, etc LEVELS E-1 Quaking Caves E-2 Geo Gauntlet E-3 Terra Tunnel E-4 Mountain Mayhem E-5 Boss BOSS Thompus Made up of tons of thomps and thomp like things Small thomps for limbs Bigger thomps for body Giant Thomp for head Stomp head 3 times Fire • Fire Spitting Yoshi • Fire Flowers • Piranha Plants, Lava, etc LEVELS F-1 Vile Volcano F-2 Flame Field F-3 Eternal Inferno F-4 Hot Foot F-5 Boss BOSS Giant Piranha Plant Battle takes place in Pipe room Shoots fireballs at Player Player must dodge fireballs and lead them into a pipe to shoot them back at boss few time Metal • Bullet Bill shooting Yoshi (if possible) • Hammer Bro suit/ Metal Cap (if possible) • Bullet Bills, Hammer Bros, etc LEVELS M-1 Forging Foundry M-2 Steel System (factory) M-3 Storm the Fort M-4 Heavy Metal M-5 Boss BOSS Weapon William Metal humanoid with bullet Bill and bazooka launchers Player must throw bullet bills back into his main gun to win Water • Water spitting Yoshi • Frog Suit with Yoshi tongue as weapon (if possible) • Fish, sharks, etc Wa-1 Wart’s Waterfall (Wart Cameo) Wa-2 Aqua Adventure Wa-3 Shark Tooth Pass Wa-4 H2 Oh No (or) Rampaging Riptide Wa-5 Boss BOSS Giant Bloop (ala Super Paper Mario) Attacks with tentacles and ink Attack eye 3 times to win Wood • Seed Spitting Yoshi (SMW 2) (if possible) • Super Leaf • Woodland creatures Wo-1 Fiendish Forrest Wo-2 Under the Trees Wo-3 Nature’s Might Wo-4 Cute, Fluffy, Deadly Wo-5 Boss BOSS Giant Wiggler Beat in the normal way BONUSES Lightning Tower Lightning themed Tower Player must climb to the top Lightning themed enemies BOSS Angry Cloud Shoots lightning When the lightning knocks blocks loose throw them back Spirit Grave Spiritual tomb Player must descend to the bottom Undead themed enemies BOSS Undead Nightmare Beast made up of bones of fallen foes from the past Throw bones back at heart BOSS part 2 Restless Spirit Spirit rises from the bones to get final revenge Cannot attack Only way to beat is to trick into the light by breaking blocks covering holes Every time the light hits the spirit it burns more and more away When both bonus stages are complete player unlocks Power Up Bank Power Up Bank- When a player gets a item they already have in the storage at the top of the screen or in use it gets sent here for them to “withdraw” whenever they want. FINAL STAGE Bowsers Castle Castle is split into 4 levels First 3 are duel element themed CASTLE STAGE 1 Fire and Water Lava and waves flow Fire and water themed enemies BOSS Duel Dragon Two headed dragon One head shoots fire Other shoots Ice breath Each head is weak to the other Turn heads against each other and strike CASTLE STAGE 2 Air and Earth Twisters and rocks attack Air and earth themed enemies BOSS Boulder Lakitu Battle takes place on an incline (skate ramp like) Boss throws boulders at Player Player must dodge and let them hit the boss to be victorious CASTLE STAGE 3 Metal and Wood Technology and nature strike Metal and wood themed enemies BOSS Steampunk wooden robot Attacks with wooden mallet Stomp on head to beat BOWSER 1 Regular Bowser battle Try not to die BOWSER 2 Bowser calls upon the power of the elements and grows to huge size Player must avoid some attacks until… BOWSER 3 Player with their unending courage, mighty strength and pure heart unlocks a hidden Mega Mushroom Battle Bowser at his size! TAKE HIM DOWN! Please do not steal this

Someone with skills PLEASE make this real somehow.

[zwiezraczek]

Criminal - Chapter 8

Billy (viliain) x Female reader (cop)

Prologue/Chapter 1 - CHAPTER 2 - CHAPTER 3 - CHAPTER 4 - CHAPTER 5 - CHAPTER 6 -  CHAPTER 7 - CHAPTER 8:  And even I know this ain't smart - CHAPTER 9

SUMMARY: You always wanted to become a police officer. And you became one of them, brilliantly and they offered you your first case. “The Ghosts” case. The case of fleeting people and one sneaky bastard parkouring around the town to annoy you. You swore to yourself to catch him them. 

WORDS: 1.9k

NOTE: An we’re back on a Friday schedule, yay! A strange week, abut here we are with a week-end and another week which will hopefully be a good one! I hope you’ll like this update!!! 💕

TAGLIST: @onceuponadetectivedemigod​ @natsficrecs​ @suckerfor-fanfics​(leave a comment to be a part of it!) PERMANENT TAGLIST @suckerfor-fanfics​ (leave a comment to be a part of it!)

“Y/n? Y/n, you're here with us?” Jake's voice asked you as you snapped in again

It was the third time today. The third time that somebody had caught you thinking about something, something you couldn't share, so you told them it was about the case, your Ghosts case. And in a way, you weren't lying. You were thinking about Billy and his letters, Billy and his humor, Bill and the memory of his blue eyes, Billy and his blonde locks, Billy. At this point, you knew it had become an obsession to wait impatiently for your mail a week after you left the letter in the dumpster he indicated you – he hated when you called it the dumpster, he crossed the word a few times while replying to you and telling you that it wasn't a dumpster. But, it was a professional obsession, right?

It had totally helped you to sort things out, it had cleared your mind and your view on all the had done since you followed them. They had done many good, via very strange ways and methods but in the end their purposes seemed to be worthy. Not worthy killing so many, acting as outlaws and being hidden forever. You told Billy that you thought that their means were a bit harsh, but he told you that he wasn't the brain of these operations, only a pawn, a useful one but still a pawn. And he was certain that there was no other way of action, only being illegal allowed them to quickly dismantle all these dangerous groups. It was a risk that they had to take, as criminals.

A risk you surely wanted to avoid, by working with them.

“She's not here apparently,” said Gina as she put a hand on your shoulder. You absolutely zoned out again. Thinking about the case, and him.

“I'm here, I'm here,” you finally said with a smile on your face, “still working on my case but still here with you.”

“Apparently not with us, because you're not saying a word about your case lately,” Jake remarked and you bit your thumb. Damnit.

“I'm digging deeper into some things, with a new perspective, you know...”

“New perspective? Tell me more,” Gina said as she put her elbows on your desk.

“Well. The Ghosts are always striking at strategic points, their actions are always linked to a bigger picture it seems. All that we see are disconnected events, shootings, kidnappings, gang wars, but at the end there is always something big falling. Always, systematically. Just like in Russia the last time. We're not seeing the things as big as we should. We're always missing the final piece.”

“What do you mean,” you looked up at Jake who seemed a bit lost.

“They're doing basically our job, but without any morals and without any political limitation.”

“No shit way,” Gina whispered.

“You're joking y/n.”

“Not at all,” you said showing them a file in your computer filled with missions they had done in the past, “ look here. If we align their actions from the last few years, we have corresponding dismantling of some mafias in the country and even abroad. Their actions are linked in that way, they're not striking just to strike in a place, but it's all planned even more than we thought it was.”

“Damnit, y/n,” Gina whispered with her eyes still looking at the screen, “you're having something here. It's huge, the boss should know about it! You should tell him in order to make all the things work out again!”

“He's still pissed about the last mission I organized, you know,” you sighed. It wasn't your proudest moment, you had to admit. But, thanks to that moment you met Billy again... Focus, focus y/n. “And besides, he won't believe me. He'll tell me it's a happy coincidence, as everything I found on them so well... I'll keep working on that alone.”

“You can count on us, right Jake,” Gina asked as she looked up at Jake who nodded. “We're working together for years, I mean, at least in the same department, so if you need a hand just hit us up y/n!”

“That's lovely, thank you Gina,” you replied with a smile.

If they were about to work with you, you were screwed. Absolutely screwed. And knowing Gina, she would be there for you, obviously.

~~~~

The day you knew you screwed things up was when you had a day off and your mail came to the station.

But the worst part of your day off was that you spent it with Billy. Discussing. In a coffee shop. About things and others. You told him about your day off in the previous letters, and he decided that it would be a great opportunity to catch up together, as two normal individuals. And you didn't refuse trying to convince yourself that it was all because of the case, not because you found his jokes funny when he wrote them or when you slowly understood what they were doing, and mostly what he was doing to you and your poor heart. Your cat noticed it too.

When you saw him sitting with a cup of coffee in front of him your heart almost missed a beat. He wasn't wearing his signature hoodie, but a bomber golden jacket as he listened to some music and drummed with his fingers on the table, with his eyes closed. You truly thought about going back home, but he opened his eyes and waved at you. Shit. Breathe in, breathe out and smile.

You sat on the opposite side, looking at him as you took off your jacket. He was strangely silent. You were too. For a split second, you thought it was a trap and looked all around you, a bit nervously. You had your gun with you.

“I'm not trying to kidnap you, relax,” he said with a smirk, “keep that gun in your bag and I'm keeping mine in my pocket.”

“We said no guns today, what about our sight-duel,” you playfully asked.

“We both cheated because we don't trust each other enough, nemesises,” he concluded before sipping some coffee from his cup.

“Yeah, nemesises,” you repeated looking at him for a longer moment than intended before a man came to take your order.

“So, what's up? How's the whole investigation and the case?”

“Yes, I feel good too, nice of you to ask,” you replied as you rolled your eyes and smirked.

“How are you? Have you eaten today? Drank? Took care of yourself?” He asked you as he fluttered his eyelashes. You looked right into his green pearly eyes. Oh shit.

“I'm good, I haven't eaten yet, but I'll be drinking coffee right now, with the guy I should jail, so it's like fine I guess. And you? A casual day off, Billy?”

“I'm enjoying my time with the woman who wasn't first keen on bondage but now,” he started and you sighed knowingly.

“This joke has to stop, I can't do this anymore,” you complained as the waiter put the coffee right in front of you.

“You never tried,” he insisted and you gave him almost a death glare and he began to laugh, “fine, I'll try to stop with the whole bondage thing, but that's one of my best jokes so for so I was sticking to it!”

“I'm sure you can do way better, cocky Four,” you said before sipping some coffee from your cup.

“Yeah, always for such an ungrateful cop as you are. Sure.”

You chuckled, and then you talked. Probably more than intended. He was a funny guy, with beautiful hair and mesmerizing eyes. He was probably too nice to be true, and too nice to be genuine. However, you could tell he was.

But the real problem began when Gina found your mail and couldn't keep her hands to herself when she saw that the letter was from an unknown somebody from the city. And when she opened it, she knew she had to talk to you about it, immediately. So when you came to the station, all happy and sunny she was waiting for you, sitting at your desk with the letter open. And you smelt the rat. A big rat.

“How was your day off,” she asked you with a too wide smile.

“Nice... I guess... Why...?”

“Because you have some mail from Billy, he says that you're a funny cute cop, and that the Ghosts are planning new things. And oh, what the fuck with bondage?” For God's sake, not the bondage.

“Gina, follow me please, I can explain everything...”

“You sure have to, or I'm taking all of this to the boss,” she whispered as she got up.

You had to convince her that all of this, including the personal letter, was a trap set to catch them. That Billy never meant anything to you, that he wasn't even your friend. And these words hurt, especially after the afternoon you shared the previous day, talking about everything and anything and mostly not about the case.

He was just a lost guy who had it rough and who found his way now, by doing what he believed was right. You had it rough too, and wanted to make this world a better place. You were too similar to not get along well. And this was because of that that it did hurt so much to tell that to Gina. That he was only a pawn, you told him so many times that he shouldn't see himself like this yesterday and that he should believe in himself because he would rock this world. And somehow, you had appeased Gina, who had already told Jake about it. And you just hoped that this would end right there.

~~~~

“Our traitor's back online,” One greeted Four as he connected himself to their chatroom.

“Traitor,” Four repeated as he adjusted his headphones.

“Man, you're really trying to fuck our cover up,” Seven asked and Four began to sweat in his little crappy room.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“The 'cute cop' date thing,” Two quoted and Four closed his eyes. He was probably screwed.

He knew that doing this for months wasn't the best idea, and he probably should have told the squad that you were there, in his house, and that he met you yesterday but no, it was his little secret mission. And even more.

“Oh, you mean my solo mission,” he asked carelessly. “I'm trying to save our asses here, no biggie...”

“No biggie,” One repeated sarcastically. “No biggie? Somebody heard your conversation in the coffee shop Four, you're trying to give us away? What's your fucking plan? You want us to kill you? Tell us!”

“Jesus, I'm fucking having it under control,” Four exclaimed. “She's wrapped around my finger, I'm basically trying to have a cop on our side so we won't be bothered!”

“And yeah, no other than the fucking girl, the cute cop leading our fucking case! Genius!”

“One, stay calm,” Two said in a plain tone. “We have to do something before they do.”

“They won't do anything,” Four interrupted her.

“Because of what? You being her boyfriend? Grow up Four, we're not in a fairytale.”

For a moment, he wished he was.

[lils420]

A lil something for the kids - Part 7

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Summary: Y/n settles in in Wakanda. A few weeks have passed since Part 6

https://lils420.tumblr.com/post/617217077016756224/a-lil-something-for-the-kids-part-6-pairing

Warnings: Swearing, mention of Torture, a lot of hospital stuff.

The next few weeks, y/n followed a strict routine. It ranged from combat training to doctor’s examinations to hours and hours of what Shuri called ‘Fire Feast’; those sessions where y/n was using her power, again and again, until she would final control it. Sometimes, T’Challa came to these sessions, not to talk, but to observe. But apart from him and Shuri, y/n lived secluded. She didn’t mind that much, after all she had been alone for far longer than that before, but she did mind not being able to leave the tower. Every morning, y/n would wake up just before sunrise to watch it. It was by far one of the prettiest sights in Wakanda, and she regretted not being able to breathe it in. At night time, similarly, y/n watched the sunsets, whenever she could from there training room, as it had the biggest windows. It was spacey in general and y/n liked being in there. Apart from a range of weapons which were hung up on the wall, it also housed the other foreigner, the popsicle. Although he was put into something that looked like a fridge, and had multiple medical cords attached to his head and breast, he looked peaceful, sleeping the days away. Once or twice a day, a medic would come to refill some of the tubes, check his vitals and attend whatever needed attending to. The visits had increased the past few days and y/n wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad sign. Apart from that, she knew little about the man. His name was James Buchanan Barnes, or so it said on the fridge, and he looked about thirty, maybe thirty five. Sometimes, when y/n felt particularly lonely or sad, she would sit next to his fridge and tell him about her worries. Of course she knew he couldn’t hear her, but afterwards she always felt better. But usually, she went about her day ignoring him, and sometimes, she forgot he was there, until one of the medics would kick her out of the room to attend to him.

It was the beginning of July when things started to change. As y/n wasn’t allowed upstairs, she gathered little of what was going on, but one day, when Shuri came down to examine her and she looked particularly stressed, y/n decided to ask.

“Shuri? What is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Up there. With you and king T’Challa and... I don’t know. But your vibe is off.”

Shuri playfully hit her with a few sheets of paper. “At least I have a vibe.”

“I’d have one too if I was a princess.”

“I’d hAvE oNE tOo iF i waS a pRinCeSs”, Shuri sticked a few more white stickers on y/n hand, “No you wouldn’t. But regarding your question, T’Challa was crowned king a few days back.”

“I thought he was already king.”

“He needed to go through a ritual first. And everything was fine, until we heard of this one guy we’ve been trying to catch for a while, but after we caught him, he escaped and this morning a dude shows up, says his name is Killmonger and claims his Wakandan. Anyway, he brought with him the dude that escaped us and claimed he was rightful air to the throne.”

“That’s fucked up.”

Shuri pulled down her screen to read y/n’s vitals. “That’s not even the fucked up bit. He challenged my brother for the throne and this stupid ass accepted.”

Although Shuri said it lightly, y/n could hear her concern. Unable to think of something reassuring to say, y/n said the first thing she could think of. “Killmonger is a stupid ass name. At least T’Challa sounds normal.”

Shuri chuckled softly. “Yeah, fuck this dude. Also, you’re fine, everything is normal, no abnormalities.” She sighed. “Seriously, if you don’t give me something to work with soon, I might stop visiting you.”

Y/n frowned. “But, but I’d miss you”, she complained jokingly, elongating the u until Shuri smacked her with the papers again. “Yeah, well I wouldn’t miss you.” Now it was y/n’s turn to hit her friend, multiple times. Both were laughing until Shuri gasped for air. “Fine, maybe I can find a few minutes in my busy busy schedule for you tomorrow.” In that moment, a medic came in. Y/n was going to get up and leave, as usual, but she too was stringed up. Luckily, Shuri was with her. Apparently, the medic didn't feel half as comfortable bossing her around, as she did with y/n. Her work was barely noticeable, so Shuri and y/n continued with the check up. “Small flame”, Shuri commanded and y/n produced a small flame in her hand. “Blue flame”, once more y/n delivered. It went like that for a few minutes until the medic approached Shuri. “My princess”, she said in a deep voice, “Could you please look at this.” She held out her paper, but it was turned away, so y/n couldn’t see what was on it. Shuri studied it with a grim look on her face. “Oh, this had just been missing”, she sighed, “How long do we have?”

“We are not sure. Probably a few more months, maybe two. If we’re lucky, half a year.”

“Can we not refreeze him?”

“Not until he has woken up completely.”

Shuri sighed once more. “Fine. We will wait.” After the medic had left the room, y/n looked at the princess in confusion. “What happened?”

“The Winter Soldier. He is waking up.”

Y/n gathered that the Winter Soldier referred to James Buchanan Barnes, the frozen man. “And why is that such a problem?”

“It’s not under normal circumstances. But when he wakes up he will be delusional. He might have a short episode, an incident like the one you had, before remembering who he is. Nothing we’re not prepared for, but it takes time, and, at the moment, I wanted to concentrate on T’Challa.”

“What do you mean ‘an episode’?”

“You see, before he came here, he had been tortured for years to become this super soldier. In that state, he has killed many people, hurt even more. Stark’s parents were under his victims. We put him on ice to help him, to fix his mind, but we aren’t ready yet, so if he wakes up in the next few weeks, he’ll need time to readjust.”

Y/n felt her jaw drop. “What the fuck?”, she whispered, “This is a plot twist I was not expecting.”

Shuri laughed. “Oh Fire girl. You are so incredibly dumb. And I am so incredibly smart, which is why I must go now. My brother’s duel is about to start and he needs my brilliance.”

“Hope he doesn’t need to be humble to win. Because that you couldn’t offer”, y/n snickered, “But good luck! I am sure he’ll smash it!”

Shuri’s face turned serious. “God, I hope so too”, she mumbled, before leaving the room.

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

Speaking of Cards, Hamefura Yu-Gi-Oh AU

So, here's the deal: Back in the Days, Konami (Cursed be their name), actually DID, for real, make a Harem/Otome based Yu-Gi-Oh game, in the Form of the Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force series, each set in a different Yu-Gi-Oh series.

So, all we need to do, is adapt that into thr context of Hamefura.

So, we have 3 strata of AU here:

1) First Strata, Yu-Gi-Oh: Fortune Lover, the Anime Series. Geordo is the Main Character (Warrior based Deck), Alan the Main Rival (Sea Serpent based Deck), Mary the Female Character treated awfuly by the Plot (Plant based Deck), Sophia doesn't duel, Nicol is the Best Friend (Winged Beasts based deck), Keith is the Rival Turned Friend (Rock Based deck). Sirius Dieke (Demon Based Deck, specifically Archfiends) is the main villain of the series but is actually being, like, controlled from the shadows by a bigger villain from next season, and gets redeemed by the power of friendship in the end.

(This is using a Duel Academy setting ALA GX, we could almost pinpoint it as a future sequel to that too).

In the Anime, Katarina isn't even a rival or a villain, she's the joke villain, the clingy female character with a subpar deck that shows up to annoy watchers and the main characters with her antics. She is ridiculed, disgraced, traumatized and mocked by the narrative and the plot, with a awful personality to boot.

2) Second Strata, Yu-Gi-Oh: Tag Force 7: Fortune Lover. For the first time in any Tag Force Game, you can FINALLY make a female character. Your OC, whose default female name is Maria Campbell, is like in any other Tag Force Game introduced in the middle of the series, there to choose a tag team partner, raise hearts with them as you follow their route and then finish said route after it reaches 8 hearts, fighting against other tag team enemies, either other OCs created specifically for the game or recurring characters from the anime.

You can Tag Team with everyone from the anime but Katarina. Sophia gained a in-game only fairy deck (Like Thea did in most other Yu-Gi-Oh games) just for that, and their routes have been greatly more romanticized (but only if your OC is the opposite sex, because Konami is a heteronormative prick), even compared to the already pretty romantic routes the other tag forge games had (Like, those games were really trying to sell your "bond" with the characters). Katarina is the first boss of most routes and is then promptly forgotten by the route, to die, off screen, during each Heart 6 Event, as a Victim of Sirius' Evil Plan alongside most other in game OCs.

Katarina's deck in Anime is BAD. She uses scummy tactics and lacks any real consistency or theme, and uses typical noob trap cards. Her tag team partners in most other routes are random OCs, where she always blames them for losing the game after their loss to the MC on the first heart event, with your tag team partner commenting on how weak their "bond" are compared to yours. They then "break up" and she remains partnerless till, again, her "death."

3) Third Strata, the one we see in the AU proper, is the one where Katarina grts reincarnated as Katarina. She ends up becoming Maria's tag partner, and she doesn't understand how or why since she shouldn't be possible to be tag teamed, and together they finish the game, deepening their "bond," as all the other tag team partners look at them in awe and some mild jealousy.

Maria's deck is based on the first deck you get in the game, and that deck is a Lightsworn deck.

Katarina, since she's filthy rich now so she can get all the cards she wants for once, now has a wild variety of decks for each heart event/fight. All her decks, however, contain Divine Serpent Geh as a signature card after she saw Geord disconfort over Venom cards, but not wanting to overcommit to the archetype. The fact she's using the signature monster of the villain of the original Orichalcos ark is missed by her by a long margin.

At 4 hearts bond (which she can't see since this is not a gane, but if the events and duels are summing up right she's getting close to it), Maria's partner will usually offer her the ability to fix up their deck (aside from chosen signature cards), to symbolize how much they trust them now, so she's wondering who will give Maria their decks now that she's stubbornly teaming up with her (Mary seemed present in most of the events till now fighting against them to "break" their bond, maybe she's the one who wants to team up with Maria, Katarina wonders, as dense as a brick wall)... except then Maria offers her to be able to fix HER deck instead, as do all other characters as soon as they hear this, and she's amazed and stunned by this because, the dense brick wall she is wonders: WHY ARE THEY ASKING HER THIS AND NOT MARIA?

As a side note, Sophia, for some reason, is also using a hyper competitive tournament deck rather than the bog standard Fairy one she had in the game. Maria doesn't understand why the sudden change.

Will Katarina survive her 6 heart event now that she's teaming up with Maria?

And will she survive the Yu Gi Oh curse on its female characters alongside Maria and the newly revalued Mary and Sophia, finally important to the plot? Or will Konami be sexist dicks once again?

And will their new hairs be as crazy as a standard Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist's?

[classlesstulip]

So, You Called for a Handyman?

(A little medly of a day in the life of a ‘handyman’ in the mob. One who doesn’t really take his job too seriously.)

     “*che,* a tall and shadowed figure snorted as he flicked the long blade he held. The wet, viscous sound of blood flying through the air and splattering onto concrete was heard, the whistle of metal short but sharp.  

     Tiberius looked around the room he was in, sharp ears pricked, listening for any of the tell-tale sounds of life: breathing, twitches, the shuddering gasps one gives when in great pain. He was only satisfied when he heard nothing from the collection of bodies spilled around him.

     'There’s a group of Mick’s boys over on 8th and North. Go and fix them.’

Heh, they’re fixed now, alright, Ty thought. Now he just needs to call in Lenore for disposal; he needs to pass over that new fertilizer recipe he’s got, using these mooks may be just what her flowers need.

*****

     Storing his machete in one of the many caches secreted in Sepulveda territory, Ty swapped out his fingerless leather gloves for a new set. A quick check showed that even after all these years he’s still got it; not even one drop of blood on his 3-piece.

     If even ONE of those mooks had spilled on his Armani, he would have rioted. This suite was a gift!

     His internal rant was cut off when his phone chirped. Pulling it out of an inner pocket, he saw a new text from Little Cruzi: seem’s their Apa is done putting up with Jericho. Needs to have the jackass fixed. And-, oh!

     'Apa says make it messy. The wetter the better.’

     Ty can do that. He’s pretty good at getting things wet.

     Oh, that was a good one! He’ll have to try that one on Val; the poor dear’s been wound up tighter than a spring the last few weeks. A good laugh followed by a good fuck should fix that.

*****

     "Hey, Ty? Boss has a new stop for ya!”

     What the fuck? Seriously!? "Uh, Amber? Ya can see I’m currently up to my elbows right now, yeah!?“ The wet squelch and Ty’s grunt as he pulled on Jericho’s lungs rung through the warehouse. It was dark and dusty; the perfect backdrop for a Splash-n-Dash.

     Currently, Ty was bent over a stack of pallets, the beaten corpse of Jericho splayed across them. Scattered on the walls and floors around them were gouges and bullet marks, with streaks of blood interspersed, belying that a scuffle had taken place, the loser of which had his chest cracked open and Ty cleaning the innards like he was preparing a chicken to get roasted over open coals.

     The driver held up their arms, shrugging. "Hey man, I’m just the messenger. Turns out, Jericho was fucking with not just the Sepulveda’s, but the Alnazar’s AND Satrinava’s.” Amber looked a little green at the sound of flesh and ligaments ripping as Ty finished his impromptu vivisection. He went even more green when Ty overhand-hurled his double-handful of offal at one of the far walls with a loud 'YEET!’, the wet splat and fanning of blood from the impact causing Amber to jump back with a heave. “Dude, what the fuck!?” The thick gurgle he swallowed back after his outburst showed just how DONE he was with Ty’s nastiness.

     “Hey, Val says wet and messy, I deliver wet an’ messy! Now keep your pants on and drag over my duffle. My shirt is ruined.”

     Keeping an eye on a blood-soaked Tiberius, Amber did as bid. It took him a few minutes to locate said bag, during which Ty lit-up a cig.

     “Move it, cupcake.”

     “Alright, alright, jeez. Go fuck yourself, asshole.”

     “I HEARD THAT!”

*****

     “Alrighty then,” Ty propped his feet up on the desk in front of him, ignoring the glare Asra shot him. “So, we gots a case of ol’ Jerry boy putting his fingers into too many pies, both literal, figurative, and colloquially. Drugs, rent girls, and laundering, right?” He pulled in a big drag from his cigar, having lighted up the moment he entered Fluff'n'Stuff’s digs.

     With a grunt, Asra pushed the big booted feet off of his NICE mahogany desk. Getting a few smoke-rings blown at him in retribution, he glared at the 'handyman’ sitting across from him, but knew any more fussing on his end would be futile; the only reason Asra isn’t currently a smear on the wall is that Ty thinks he’s adorable AND they go way back.

     That and Val and Asra once had a Thing, but that’s none of his business.

     “Yes,” leaning back, Asra pulled out a thick manila file folder and dropped it onto his desk. The poor thing was only kept together by a single rubber band, and Ty’s surprised it hasn’t snapped already. “These are the places that Jericho’s Number Two and Three have holed up. Taking these two out will cause the whole operation to fall apart.”

     As Asra was speaking, Ty secured his cigar between his molars, propping his jaw open as his fingers started pulling apart the file. Flipping through the first few cover papers, he soon got to the meat and potatoes of the lot. “As you can see, Vinny is in the heart of the Garment District…” Ty stopped paying attention as he looked through everything, Asra’s voice becoming a low, soothing drone. He leaned back in his chair, holding up a few A4-sized photos.

     “Now, Illian was able to-” Asra was cut off at a loud, 'interested’ hum from Tiberius. Seconds later, the handyman turned the papers in his hand’s landscape, and a few sheets accordioned down. A slightly lewd chuckle floated up from behind the papers before Asra snatched at them, Ty letting out a disappointed 'awww’ at the loss of his smut.

     “A-HEM!” Crinkling the purloined pornography in his fist, Asra pinned Ty with A Look. “This is no time to be looking at, at, uh,” he peeped at the rag, “PLAYBOY!”

     “Azzy? That was IN the file. I had nothing to do wi-”

     “REGARDLESS,” tossing the magazine at his wastebin (and making a mental note to speak to his son about leaving his 'reading material’ out and about), Asra huffed. “Just, get out of here and fix 'em. Oh, and…”, rifling through his desk, he pulled out a box. He pushed it across his table, a curious Ty picking it up gingerly, “wear this. We need proof of the job, to be a warning.”

     “A body cam? Shit son, y'all mean business.” Snorting, Ty threw himself out of his chair, tossing the little box in the air before catching it and slipping it into his suitcoat pocket. “Got it. The usual fee to the usual account. Give hugs and kisses to yer fam for me, yeah?”

*****

     Walking down a softly carpeted hall, a slight shadow was seen. Soft curls were piled atop their head, and one hand held a glass of wine while the other pulled their robe tighter. Light filtered through shuttered blinds, car head beams and static lamps fighting the darkness of night. Occasionally, the honk of a horn or the revving of an engine sounded out, despite being muffled by layers of brick and insulation.

     Sipping their wine, they stopped just outside a cracked door. Peeping in, a soft smile curled their lips as they spied one of their little ones (though, being nearly twenty, they are fairly certain that Sol would object to such an endearment). Seeing them softly snoring away, the door was pulled shut. Checking on their other child, Cruz, showed the same result.

     Once satisfied that their children (grown though they may be) were tucked away safely snoozing, Val continued down the hall. A few twists and turns later and they were in their office. Opulently decorated with heavy dark wood pieces and bold colors, it was quite a large and stately room. Near the far wall was their desk, and on the blotter was a thumb drive.

     Knowing that it must have been left by Tiberius, Val plucked it up. Wandering towards the entertainment center, they plugged in the drive, turned on the screen, and got comfortable on the couch, sipping more wine as they navigated menus with the remote.

     “Hey, is this thing on?” The sound of someone tapping a mic was heard before the picture abruptly turned on. A large brown eye was center stage, the corners crinkling briefly before the cam was pulled back, revealing the familiar face of Tiberius. “Alrighty, then! So, the usual drivel: Tiberius working on behalf of Don Valentino of the Sepulveda Family, yadda yadda yadda,” Ty’s eyes rolled, and his body moved like he was waving his hand. “Here to fuck some shit up and make a statement. So here’s,” he tapped the screen, “the mutherfuckin’,” more taps, “TEA,” a final tap. “Vinny’s been baaaaaaaad. Not only,” Ty brandished a finger, waving it around his head like a conductor, “has this bonafide dickfuck fuckface been doin’ Jerry’s dirty work, but this FUCKER has also been bringing in kids. KIDS I TELL YA! Now c'mon, Vinny, baby, ya don’t bring kids into your prostitution ring! Fucker! So, time to clean house! And Val?” Ty winked at the camera, “I’ll have a nice little pressie for ya when you finish this!”

     Some fumbling and cursing later, and Val had a chest-high view of whatever was in front of Ty. Currently, it was the door to what may be a warehouse. The video jumped up and down a few times, and the cocking of a gun was heard. Something very familiar was playing in the background, and it came to a hard beat as Ty kicked in the door-

     “Some-BODY ONCE TOLD ME,” duel-wielding, Ty buried a bullet into the head and gut of the bouncer standing guard as the kicked-in door bounced off of the wall. “THE WORLD WAS GONNA ROLL ME,” two steps down the hallway. “I AIN’T THE SMARTEST TOOL IN THE SHED,” one guy burst out of a room and got pistol-whipped for his stupidity, getting a few slugs to the back as he fell.

Hopping over the new body, Ty continued his song. “SHE WAS LOOKIN’ KINDA DUMB WITH HER FINGER AND HER THUMB,” this time, he peeped around a doorway into a room, squeaking out a startled 'Errol!?’ as a knife buried itself into the wall behind him. A feminine voice started spewing curses as he backpedaled, hands still clutching Glocks up in the air. “Aight, aight, I got it! Sheesh!” Huffing, he continued his journey down the hall, bellowing an 'IN THE SHAPE OF AN L ON 'ER FOREHEAD!’ behind him as he went.

Now Val wants to know what she was doing there. Did Jericho piss off Lucio, as well? They jumped as Ty continued his bit of Musical Mayhem.

     “WELLLLLLLLL THE YEARS START COMIN’ AND THEY DON’T STOP COMING!” At some point, the handyman had swapped out his handguns for a combat shotgun, opening up rounds into the chests of three forgettable thugs in beat to the last three words of his stanza. “FED TO THE RULES AND I HIT THE GROUND RUNNIN’!” Coming to the end of the hall, Ty blasted through the door, revealing the large, empty space typical to warehouses was replaced with a sort of hotel-like setup. An open-air lobby, with staircases spiraling up, leading to floors with open walkways. It looked like someone tried to recreate the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, but it just went up and up, with each floor being closer to a balcony than a full floor. All of the open space allowed for the panicked cries and screams of the brothel inhabitants to echo in upon themselves.

     There were also a LOT of fine rugs, marble, and gilt furniture. How long has this operation been going on, and how did fucking JERICHO of all people get this set-up on the DL?

     “DIDN’T MAKE SENSE NOT TO LIVE FOR FUN,” *boom!**boom!**boom!*; a rapid release of shots into a group of mobsters as they tried to rush Tiberius, giving Val a front-row seat to the amount of kick a combat-class shotgun has as one man went flying, streamers of blood shooting from the stump that used to hold his head. “YOUR BRAIN GETS SMART BUT YER HEAD GETS DUMB! HAHA, FUCKER!” Ty’s voice was starting to get difficult to hear over the amount of sheer NOISE in the background.

     “SO MUCH TO DO!” *blam!* “SO MUCH TO SEE!” *blamblam!* “SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH TAKIN’ THE BACKSTREETS!?” The bodycam started shaking at Ty charged over to a staircase, plowing shoulder-first into a group of people storming down it while waving their guns. The picture blacked out and the muffled scratch of fabric rubbing over the built-in mic took up a few seconds of footage before a bright light cut through. Val had to squint their own eyes, and everything came back into focus just in time to see Ty hurl a middle-aged, half-dressed wanna-be mafioso over one of the balcony floors, singing out 'YOU’LL NEVER KNOW! IF YOU DON’T GO!’ as the man plummeted. He landed with a rubbery thump.

     “YOU’LL NEVER SHINE IF YOU DON’T GLOW,” more singing/screeching from Ty as he tossed a grenade down another balcony/hall. As it erupted, it covered the huddled gangsters in liquid fire. “HEY NOW! YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR! GET YOUR GAME ON! GO PLAYEEEEE! C'MON ASSHOLES! YOU WANTED TO BE A ROCKSTAR! HOW NOW! YOU’RE A ROCK STAR! GET THE SHOW ON! GET PAIIIIIIIIIIID! HA HAHAHAAA!”

     Val made a quiet note to themselves that Ty, while very funny, can also be downright sinister.

     “AND ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GO~OOOLLLLLLD!” And that Ty should also never attempt a falsetto that high ever. AGAIN.

     “ONLY SHOOTING STAAAAAAAAAARS BREAK THE MO-OLLLLLLD!” Another flame-spewing grenade was thrown, this time hitting what looked to be a fire extinguisher. Seconds later, foam started jetting out of the damaged, high-pressure steel canister, turning what was once a life-saving device into a literal missile, which shot off and plowed into the chest of a woman in Jericho’s colors, launching her airborne before the canister exploded, spreading shrapnel and viscera into a mist.

     Smothering their face with their hand, Val let out a disbelieving laugh as Ty continued to wreak unholy havoc on the hideout to the tune of an upbeat, mid-aughties pop-rock song. Knives were thrown, bullets buried in brains, and it all came to a crescendo as Ty unloaded a stereotypical tommy-gun down into a group of wannabe gangsters that had jimmied themselves into the lobby. The last note to the song was capped off with a tossed Molotov, the ring of shattering glass pairing well to the last guitar chord.

     Chuckling in satisfaction, Val finished their wine before shutting off the television. Wandering out of their office, they refilled their wineglass before heading toward their bedroom. Humming in pleasure after taking a fresh sip of chilled wine, they gently opened their door, stopping in the doorway before raising a sculpted brow. “So,” they queried. “Is this my 'pressie’?”

     It’s quite a nice present, Val thought. Tiberius was lounging on Val’s obscenely large bed, on his side and completely nude. If not for a strategically-placed pile of rose petals, the fit man would be putting on quite the show. As it was, Tiberius decided to take a page out of every cheesy romance novel/movie and had bedecked the bedroom in dozens of low-burning candles and scattered roses, capping-off the trope with a single rose clenched between pearly whites. It’s something the Valentino of twenty-some years ago would have swooned over.

     Although, the Valentino of now is feeling quite swoon-y, now. "Heh,“ they chuckled as Ty wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I’ve got to say, this is a nice surprise, viejo amigo.” Quietly shutting the door behind them, they leaned against the slab of wood-encased steel and gave their 'present’ a heated stare. “What gives?”

     “Eh, nothing much.” Pulling the rose out of his mouth, Ty tossed it aside with a flick of the wrist. “Just, ah, you wanted a job wet and messy, and I decided that you could use a little 'wet 'n messy’ yourself.”

     Val barked out a laugh. “Oh, but that was horrible!” Wandering closer to the bed, they held out a hand, gently cupping a warm cheek. “What am I going to do with you- MERDA!”

     Yanking Val towards him, Ty rolled them, stopping on his back with Val perched on top. “Well, first things first! Let’s fuck!”

*****

     The room stunk of sex, and all of the candles had burned themselves out. Entwined under a thin sheet, a sticky but satiated couple cuddled. Bite marks and hickeys decorated soft skin, and Val laid with their head tucked under Ty’s chin, one set of fingers lazily tracing circles over the larger man’s lower back.

“So,” Val lazily purred. “Aside from the cam footage, did you learn anything else?”

Ty hummed. “You may want to speak to Head in the Clouds.”

“…about?”

     A hoarse chuckle. “Seem’s someone’s son has a little crush on our Cruzi. A Playboy got mixed into my briefing file, and a VERY well-worn page had a model that looked startlingly like our bambino was on it.”

     “…really?” Ty hissed as sharp nails dug into his back, relaxing when Val apologetically rubbed them. “I’ll need to set-up a meeting. But, that can wait until tomorrow.”

     The last thing Ty thought as they both dropped off to sleep was that he was glad he didn’t let on that he’s pretty sure Lucky and Cruz have a thing.

     But he’s not sorry for telling Cruz’s Apa. Serves the little brat right for shitting all over him as a baby and giving him heart attacks every week since they learned how to walk.

     HA!

@agent-darkbootie @thraxbaby @lazyvoyager @magicianapprenticelyra @plaguedcount

[alectoperdita]

Fictober Day 25 x KaijouWeek Day 6

prompt: 25. “I could really eat something.” x “birthday” fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters pairing: Jounouchi Katsuya/Kaiba Seto rating: PG warnings: none a/n: happy birthday, you fuckin’ dragon nerd. enjoy one of the rare times i will write boss/employee relationship.

“I could really eat something,” Jounouchi declared as he flopped onto the office couch. 

Kaiba spared a glance at the time in the corner of his screen. It was nearly midnight. He’d stayed far later than even he meant to on a Friday night. His attention wandered back to Jounouchi, draped across the leather sofa like a fainting Victorian damsel. Jounouchi tossed his head back and dangled over the edge of the armrest so he could watch Kaiba without shifting positions. 

From under his bangs, Kaiba’s gaze traced Jounouchi’s feather bangs hanging loose up his nose, lingering his lips and finally settling on the tantalizing stretch of neck bared to him. The inherent vulnerability of Jounouchi’s posture made Kaiba’s stomach twist uncomfortably.

Kaiba tore his eyes away and fixed them determinedly on the half-finished email on his monitor. “I’ll alert HR that you need another tour of the facilities. You’ve mistaken my office for the cafeteria.”

Ever since Mokuba contracted Jounouchi to beta-test and QA the next Duel Disk model, Jounouchi made it his life’s mission to pester Kaiba. If only Jounouchi slacked off on his job responsibilities, Kaiba could at least fire him. But Jounouchi was infuriatingly conscientious about his job and wouldn’t give Kaiba the satisfaction of dismissing him. He wisely made his impromptu visits outside of regular business hours, long after Kaiba’s secretary left for the day. He was rarely hostile, but his familiarity and friendliness made Kaiba suspicious.

Mokuba called it paranoia. Kaiba wondered if this was payback for all the times he antagonized Jounouchi in high school.

“Nah, cafeteria’s closed at this hour. We are literally the last two people in the building,” drawled Jounouchi. “C’mon, let’s go grab a bite, Kaiba. My treat.”

He glared at the blinking cursor instead of the man. Thanks to Jounouchi’s interference, he was blanking on the English words for eigenvectors and eigenvalues. Inhere—he deleted the characters. No, that wasn’t it.

Jounouchi, not content to be ignored and determined to annoy Kaiba to an early grave, yammered on, “Did you even eat dinner? I bet you didn’t. You’re gonna waste away at this rate, Kaiba. What will I tell poor Mokuba?”

“Tell him to have me dressed in the navy pinstripe for the funeral,” he snapped while painstakingly jabbing the letters, e-i-g-e-n-v-e, on his keyboard.

“Hah, why wait? Wear it on Monday. I bet you look good in pinstripes.”

Kaiba fumbled the remaining keystrokes, typing the word “eigenvextie” instead. He deleted the mistake and saved his email draft before closing the window. After staring at his desktop and collecting his whirlwind thoughts, he stood and crossed the room to loom over Jounouchi, who continued to lounge with a coy smile and mischievous eyes. Although the workday ended hours ago, Jounouchi had yet to change out of the corporate uniform. Kaiba both liked and hated seeing his company’s logo emblazoned across Jounouchi’s heart.

Jounouchi shouldn’t look so good wearing the KC corporate uniform…

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, Jounouchi, but stop now,” Kaiba warned. “Unless you want me to fire you.”

Jounouchi swung his feet off the sofa and sat up properly to look up at him. He planted his hands on his knees and squared his shoulders. “You can if you want. My contract’s up next Friday anyway. I won’t be your employee for much longer.”

Jounouchi’s declaration startled Kaiba. Right, it would be November soon. Mokuba had hired Jounouchi in late April for a six-month contract in the run-up to the Duel Disk’s holiday release. How time flew. In the blink of an eye, six months had come and gone. Soon, Jounouchi would also be gone. 

Something inside Kaiba plummeted into the sole of his feet.

With a heavy sigh, Jounouchi climbed to his feet. Kaiba took two steps back to insert some much-needed space between them. Their eyes met for a heartbeat before Jounouchi dropped his gaze to his worn sneakers while rubbing the back of his neck. “So don’t worry. After next Friday, I won’t be bothering you anymore. I just thought we could have a nice meal together before then…”  Once again, Jounouchi flicked his gaze to Kaiba’s face before darting to the view outside the office windows. “I dunno why I thought asking today would make any difference. God, I’m so fucking dumb.”

It slowly dawned on Kaiba. A wave of heat crept up his spine and past his shirt collar. “Were you asking me out?”

To his even greater horror, Kaiba didn’t object to the idea. He should. He really, really should though. The last six months flashed before his mind’s eyes. He reconsidered all the times Jounouchi dropped by to annoy him after normal work hours. When had Jounouchi started to flirt with him? Why didn’t Kaiba pick up on the flirtations sooner? 

“Yeah, I figured since you won’t be my boss next week and today being, well, you know, I thought I’d just take that leap of faith.” Jounouchi shrugged. 

His nonchalant act didn’t fool Kaiba though. He caught the inward curve of Jounouchi’s shoulders. It reminded him of a wounded animal drawing into itself. His head still spun, unable to process the idea that Jounouchi could like him as anything more than a longtime acquaintance. They were less combative than they used to be, but what could Jounouchi find attractive about him?

Instead, he asked, “Today?”

Jounouchi shook his head. “Wow, I knew you were a workaholic, but you seriously forgot?”

When Kaiba didn’t respond, Jounouchi pulled out his cellphone and powered on the screen. The time and date, 00:03 on October 25th, shone against the dark wallpaper on his lock-screen. 

“Happy birthday, Kaiba,” Jounouchi said with a wry grin. “I thought maybe I could treat you, but I guess me getting out of your hair soon is probably enough of a gift. But if you really want, you could fire me now as a present to yourself.”

Kaiba hadn’t celebrated his birthday in a very long time. Even Mokuba gave up on convincing him otherwise years ago. As for the last birthday present he received… A 2% share of the company, a billion yen loan, and a final aptitude test for his fourteenth birthday. KaibaCorp itself may have counted as one too given how he overthrew Gozaburo’s position the following year. 

The truth was Kaiba hadn’t associated his birthday with anything truly good ever since. Maybe it was time to change that… 

“There may be a present I would accept from you,” Kaiba said as he straightened and batted away his nagging doubts. 

Jounouchi lifted his head. A cautious optimism lit his brown eyes. “What’s that?” 

Kaiba stepped forward until the toes of his loafers brushed Jounouchi’s sneakers. He bent forward as Jounouchi tilted his head back in a mindless but coordinated dance. He traced the interlocked KC he’d admired earlier. Under Kaiba’s hand, Jounouchi’s chest rose and fell rapidly while his breathing hitched. Flicking his gaze from the uniform to Jounouchi’s lips then to his eyes, he held Jounouchi’s eyes. Jounouchi swallowed thickly. His Adam’s apple bounced. 

“Well? Come on, Jounouchi, you need to give it before I can receive it,” Kaiba laughed. It was a quiet and strangely affectionate sound that bubbled from his gut. 

Jounouchi complied with a chaste, close-mouthed kiss to his lips. His eyes remained open, studying Kaiba’s reaction. The unexpected yet undeniable tenderness caused Kaiba’s heart to flutter and butterflies to stir in his stomach.

Jounouchi drew back only far enough to ask, “How’s that?” 

Kaiba’s lips tingled. He wet them and enjoyed Jounouchi’s stare that followed. “It’s hard to say. One is hardly generous given the occasion.”

When Jounouchi laughed, a puff of hot air fanned across Kaiba’s cheek and warmed him to his core. 

Jounouchi broke into a grin bright enough to light the night sky. “You know what? You’re totally right, Kaiba. Since it’s your special day, you get to call the shots. I’m not stopping until you tell me to.”

“Good,” Kaiba purred and crushed their mouths together again. Neither of them said much afterward.

Check out other puppy/violetshipping ficlets I’m writing all #fictober19 long

[dietaku]

Amazing Quest 1: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Heart of a Pudding

(You find yourself exactly where Chapter 6 left off, with Kord mumbling to himself about his incompetent peers)

Hiro: So, are we cool, or....

Kord: Oh, yeah, man, we're the best of buds!

(Kord gives him a slap on the back that sends him flying)

Kord: Oh, uh....HAHA! TAKE THAT!

(He does the same to the rest of the party)

Kord: Ha! No one's the wiser! Kord, my man, you are one smooth operator!

You land nearby a gigantic looming tower with a unique sprite and a large city. Welcome to Gemadne, and ironically, this is only about 2 screens northeast of where you were! Yeah, you could've walked here in five minutes, even if you factored in the random encounters.

--Gemadne, the City of the Dark Puddings--

This place is gloomy and not at all enheartening. The locals mention how the winters are cold, and that food is stale and tasteless, being grown on the irradiated plains nearby. If you talk to an elderly man in the pub, he mentions how in ancient times, a battle between two goddesses warped the land and caused their current misfortune, but considering this is next to a clown doing a juggling act who yells “KATZU BICYCLE SOUP!”, you can take that for what it's worth. However, you need to go to the large dome on the northeast side.

(Man in a robe): Hey, you guys are new....and that scar! You must be the ones.

Hiro: Are you going to fight us?

Man: Naw. I'm on your side. Kind of. You can call me House Man (No, seriously. This is his name in Japanese as well. His name was translated into German as Hausen Mensch, and, the series director liked it so much, she kept that as his name. And now that I've sufficiently raised the blood pressure of veteran AQ players...) So, you want to challenge Zoddon? He's tough and wise, but you can do it. However, I'd recommend going in here first. You'll need this, though (He hands Hiro the PAPER)

Hiro: Is this just a piece of paper?

House Man: NO! It's PAPER

Hiro: Ooooooh.

In any case, head over to the door, where a guard awaits us. With the PAPER, we can now pass, lest the guard turn us away for being unqualified.

Guard: Papers, please.

Hiro: (Presents PAPER)

Guard: Ooh, nice!

Hiro: Eh?

(Hiro looks at the PAPER, and realized there's a picture of a woman's butt on the other side)

Moore: Nice!

Loyroll: Eeeeeh.

Hiro: I...I'll be going now.

Welcome to the Pudding Shrine

--Pudding Shrine--

This area is a stark marble building, with robed monks and nuns slowly processing through. Don't attack them (You get the option if you talk to them), as they do nothing but pray as you hack them down, and really, it's not worth it, as they give pittances of gold and exp. Continue on, and you'll see various portraits of apparently famous people, and on the west side, you can see a trio of large statues, one of Zoddon, one of Jaydea, and the third being a woman whose face is cracked and marred, making it unrecognizable. On the east side, you find a giant slab titled the “Wall of Memory, and all the Dark Puddings you killed are marked here. However, as soon as you stop reading it...

Armored man with flared eyebrows: Impressive, is it not?

Armored woman with a flash of white in her green hair: The Light Pudding, so weak with his P-Centage, and yet he has bested five of our siblings.

Man: PRAETORIAN LAA

Woman: PRAETORIAN TII

Laa: These halls, where the ghosts of our comrades cry out, is a fitting locale for our duel. Now, draw your weapon. You must answer to your ancestors!

Tii: Say your prayers to the finest of Zoddon's Praetorians, Light Pudding!

Hiro: Who are you guys again?

Laa: LET US DO RIGHTEOUS BATTLE!

Hiro: Seriously! Did you listen?

Kimyawa: Hiro-nii-chan, they just introduced themse--

Tii: AAAAARGH!

Loyroll: Let it go, sis

Hiro: HIYAAAAAAAAH!

Kimyawa: S-sumimasen...

--Boss Fight!--

Praetorian Laa x1

Praetorian Tii x1

Laa

LP: 36000

MP: 3500

Tii

LP: 36000

MP: 3500

You're probably thinking, “Oh, these two won't be so hard. None of the other Praetorians were that hard. HAHAHAHAHA....HA.  No. These guys don't let up. Laa begins the fight by “Flaring up a Storm,” and then casting 'Storm Shield, that cuts all physical damage by half. This includes Pudding Forms. Tii, on the other hand, will begin by engaging her Pudding Form, and attacking with “Frozen Custard Tart” which inflicts water damage and also has a good chance of Depression. As if this weren't bad enough, when you defeat one, the other will “Steel their brow” and then being to use “Pudding Braver,” a move that hits all party members for large water and air damage. Press on, and you can do it!

--Boss Fight!--

Laa: Urgh, e-even with our combined power....

Tii: I'm s-sorry, my siblings....

Laa and Tii: (Explodes)

Hiro: Just like the others, they all are willing to sacrifice themselves for Zoddon's ambition. C'mon! We need to stop him.

Ozma: YEAH!

Kimyawa: HAI!

Loyroll: Hear, hear!

Mancala: Yeah, whatever!

Deima: C'mon, then!

Hiro: YEAH, I...

(Hiro hears a squeaky noise he hasn't heard since--)

Hiro: WAIT!

You then have to search around for the noise, and cannot leave as Hiro cites “This is super important,” the source of the noise is the upper right corner of the room. Inspecting it now will open a hidden door. Go down the stairs to enter a caged room where someone we haven't seen in over thirty hours now is sitting.

Hiro: EMILIA! YOU'RE ALIVE?!

Emilia: Oh, hey, I thought you were the guard. They gave me tacos last night, and YECH, my bucket needs to be changed.

Hiro: I WAS SO WORRIED, AND—Oooh, urgh, yeah, you're right.

Emilia: Sorry. Who are all these people?

Hiro: These are my friends! We're here to save you and stop the Dark Puddings!

Emilia: Stop them? You?

(A clanking noise begins as a feminine robot appears)

Robot: YES, HOW AMUSING, STOPPING THE DARK PUDDINGS. TIME FOR YOUR DAILY MEAL AND BATH, EMILIA, AND FOR ME TO TAKE OUT THE RUBBISH!

--Boss Fight!--

Nannydroid x1

LP: 43000

MP: 4500

After the Praetorians, this is nothing, She's fond of “Hell Duster” a hit-all earth based move, and “Take out the Trash,” a move which can instantly kill one party member while inflicting Drunk on another, both of which are randomly selected, but she isn't too tough.

--Boss Fight!--

Emilia: Anyways, You...You came for me. I thought you were going to curl up into a ball and Ladd or Lady would come, but you...I'm proud of you, bro! And, you also got yourself some nice friends.

(Turns to the party) Look, I see where you all are coming from, but he's emotional and  naive. If ANY of you break his heart...No monster, devil or sealed ancient death goddess will stop me from tracking you down. GOT IT?

Party: ….

Nannydroid: M-must take out trash. Executing final cleansing routine

(She explodes, vaporizing the entire building, leaving the party in the rubble of Emilia's cell, with Emilia huddled behind a wall.)

You then can talk to her, where in Japanese, she'll complain of a draft. In the Localized version, she yells at you for not having stopped the Nannydroid from self-destructing. You see, the blast very clearly blew Emilia's pants off, even in the Localized version.

Emilia: Goddammit! Hiro! You can't leave me like this!

Hiro: I'M SORRY!

Emilia: I'm staying RIGHT HERE until you fix this!

Now, the trick to rescuing her, and making her playable is not what you'd imagine. The canny among you would scour the globe for “Pants” armors or items. The amusing thing is, the solution is right in front of you. You know, how you pay Loyroll to use better swords? Well, if you get to his tenth sword, the Plasmium Blade, you get the option of upgrading again. If you do so, he'll upgrade to Emilia's Saber, that energy saber Emilia used in the opening fight. How Loyroll came across this, we'll never know. However, if Loyroll has it, and you talk to Emilia...

Emilia: Oh, hey, one of your girlfriends has my sword, give it here!

Loyroll: My dear lady, I'm a ma--

Emilia: Yeah, sure, whatever, toots (Steals the sword out of Loyroll's hands) I'm pretty sure I've kissed girls more manly than you.

Hiro: Wait, WHAT?

Emilia: What happens in Girl Pudding Summer camp STAYS in Girl Pudding Summer Camp!

And with that, Emilia leaves her wall, and joins the party! Yes, she wasn't complaining about her lack of pants, but her lack of a weapon. Go fig. Anyways, you now can explore the ruins of the Pudding Shrine, where if you go near where the three statues were, the one with the broken face is still mysteriously intact. Go behind it, to go down a hidden flight of stairs, where you'll find a blue-haired woman in a robe.

Woman: Halt? Who dares challenge the wielder of the power of....Emilia? Hiro?

Emilia: Wait, MOM?

Hiro: I...I thought you died?

Mom: No, I was taken here by those damnable brats years ago. However, they couldn't kill me. So, they locked me up here! However, I can see it in your eyes. Your quest of vengeance! Very well, if you wish to wield my power, you must battle me!

Emilia: Hiro! This is it! We must fight as one!

Hiro: R-right?

--Boss Fight!--

Saint Cocoa x1

LP: 50000

MP: 6000

You only get Emilia and Hiro for this fight, but that's all you need, if you're smart. If you proceed with brute force, you'll get destroyed, as Cocoa will engage her Pudding Form, and more or less go Super Saiyan. She'll blast you with “Pudding Stream” a powerful magic attack that ignores magic defense, and “Rich Flavor” which will raise all her stats based on the last digit of your gold. Yes, YOUR amount of money powers up Cocoa. When she gets down to half health, she'll begin abusing “Cut your teeth,” a move where she randomly punches the party ten times for physical damage. This can be dangerous, especially if she focuses on Hiro. However, if you are strategic, and abuse Emilia's Steam Breath in her Pease Pudding form, you can win!

--Boss Fight!--

Mom: Emilia, Hiro. I-I'm so glad I could see you before I pass on...You are both members of the Royal Pudding Line, and within you is the power of [Golden Choco Majesty]. Realize it within yourselves, and it will be you's! Now, with that, farewell...

(Mom collapses, dead)

House Man: (Claps) Excellent! I knew you could do it! Now, you can fight Zoddon on even terms!

Hiro: Uh, thanks?

You can now proceed to Gemadne Keep. Well, you could do so before, perhaps advisable, to acquaint yourself with Emilia's skill set, but you would be hard pressed to be able to beat Zoddon as you were.

--Gemadne Keep--

This gigantic fortress is just as gloomy as the town it stands before, with “Dark Pudding Veterans, Dark Pudding Survivors, and Dark Pudding Centurions,” all as common enemies. Funnily enough, the GBA version retains an amusing programming error, where a certain corner of the third floor has a tile which always queues up a battle with three Veterans and a single Dark Pudding Rookie, the kind that you'd fight in Ddimopint, way back in the first section of the game. The fans loved him so much, he shows up as an Easter egg in various places in later AQ remakes,  known as Dark Survivor Zechs.

Returning to important matters, the trick of Gemadne Keep is the elevators, as each goes to only certain floors and you need to find the right ones to proceed. Basically, my best advice is to go left to right as far as you can, and those elevators will be the ones you need to use to proceed.  When you get to a single large room, you're where you need to be.

Zoddon: (Sitting in a large throne) Light Pudding. You arrived. I am genuinely impressed. You have a cut a path through my subordinates for your own ambition. However! Your burning passion and my own can not coexist in this world! Whose will be doused?

Emilia: OH MY LULZ! SHUT UP, ZODDON!

Zoddon: Hm? And the Sword God has been freed? You are a truly implacable man. Very Well! Steel Yourself, Light Pudding!

--Boss Fight!--

Dark Pudding Lord Zoddon x1

LP: 75000

MP: 5500

Zoddon, is, understandably, the hardest boss up to this point, as his LP count might indicate here. He will engage his “Noble Pistachio Pudding Form,”  and then begin his assault. He is fond of using 'Burning Ambition,” a move which inflicts heavy fire damage on one target, and “Towering Presence,” an earth move which deals heavy damage to one target and deals splash damage to adjacent party members. He also rarely will raise his sword. Be wary, as his next action will be the devastating “Pudding Grande Destroy” or in Japanese “Boddhisattva Pudding Ignorance Cleaver,” which deals a huge amount of Light-based damage. My best advice is to use Emilia's “GET BACK” action, which causes all non-Puddings to flee, which might seem bizarre until you see what the Golden Choco Swirl does. It is an androgynous, golden figure with glowing aura and flashing eyes. It screams in an auto-tuned voice with each attack, and has a chance of doing either “Pudding Slice,” a single physical move, “Golden Slam,” a powerful light elemented magic attack, or “Golden Aura Slice,” a physical move which hits all enemies and induces Depression. If you can land one of thees, then you'll most likely be pleasantly surprised to see it shave off 9999 damage off of Zoddon.

“Great,” I hear you say,” Why don't I use this swirl all the time?” because this form is berserk. You can't chose who you hit, and many times, Hiro will take his time blowing away his own friends, drunk on the massive influx of power the fusion with his sister provides.

So, yeah, now you see why I don't recommend doing this fight with everyone around.

--Boss Fight!--

Zoddon: (Clutches his bleeding chest) I...I see. Your will is stronger. Listen to this man's final words, Light Pudding. Light, Dark. These aren't Good or Evil. Nor are they families. They are your Will. Go now, Go with my sister, and forge a world where Puddings rule. We have been trampled countless times in the past, and yet we are the strongest clan on the planet. Your mother aided us, once. We worked together to build this place and free others from the Golden Tribe. With you and Emilia, now, we could wipe away all the chaos and produce a world free of strife. Be that man....

(Zoddon collapses)

Emilia: Goodbye, Zoddon.

Ozma: Is this it? Did we win?

(Jaydea runs in, a look of pure shock on her face)

Jaydea: ZODDON! ZODDON! ANSWER ME! THEY....They killed you!

Hiro: Give it up, Jaydea! Your brother wanted us to work together! Listen to his request! You can't win!

Jaydea: Oh? Do you know what I need to unlock the Goddess?

Emilia: The blood of a Royal Pudding and the Five Talismans, right?

Hiro: And we have three of them!

Jaydea: Hehehehe, correct. And, well, you're wrong, too. Y'see...Do you remember when I let you borrow my razor?

Emilia: Yeah, I cut my le—Oooooh, you bitch....

Jaydea: Yup! And on top of that? Remember that one weekend at Girl Pudding Summer Camp?

Emilia: You bitch, you promised we'd never speak about tha--

Jaydea: (Produces a walkman with a microphone) “I'm lonely. I miss my little brother, and I'm cold, could I sleep with YOU?” Do you want me to continue? If so, I can. If not, give me the Talismans.

(Emilia, face beet red, rummages in her backpack, producing the Talismans as the Party can only look on in shock)

Jaydea: Thank you! (Warps away)

Hiro: (In a squeaky voice) Sister....WHY???

Kimyawa: BAKA BAKA BAKA! WE'RE ALL DEAD NOW!

Mancala: I wonder if I can get a coffin sale going?

Deima: Relax, we can still win! It takes a while to unlock Halst, and she needs to GET to the seal first!

Hiro: Where IS that?

Deima: The Tower of Zyrtroph, the Flying Dragonfish.

(You might have seen a giant floating...thing out in the middle of the ocean. THAT is where the seal is. However, we're going to ignore that in Chapter 8 as we do a roundup of ALL the remaining side missions and fetch quests available.! See you then!)

[flydotnet]

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VRAINS Rarepair Week - Day 1: Domestic/Adventure

Summary: Ema discovers croissants and playing games together with her boyfriend

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS Ships: Hireshipping (Ema/Akira)

Wordcount: 1.1K words

Notes: The floor is writing Datastormshipping: the week. It kind of turned out to be the "Playing Games" prompt later down the line, but it's okay lmao. It's not very inspired and I'm very rusty for VRAINS, but I hope I can provide good shit for y'all. It's kind of over the place haha. I just hope I'll write longer stuff for the next days, this one is really short. I think this would happen after the hypothetical show finale? Who knows, I just wanted to write something for this good Rarepair Week day 1.

Event hosted by @vrainsrarepairweeks

AO3 version available here.

It’s still weird to wake up every day and realize once again that this is what her life has become. It really is.

 The weirdest thing for Ema was to wake up in a well-furnished flat to the smell of pastries. She was more of a cereals-and-milk kind of gal when living alone, because it was easy to make and didn’t cost her an A.I.’s arm to pull together and eat before delving into today’s activities. To be fair, that was also because she was always lazy to make herself real breakfast. Cereals did the job perfectly fine, why put it more effort than that in it? Eating wasn’t a very big deal anyway, compared to what she could use her brain and energy for. Hacking, spying, missions? Now that was the big, real deal. The juicy stuff, if you will. The adrenaline thrill from the forbidden aspect of it all and the rewards from it exceeded just money to buy cup noodles.

But now, this is all different. When she wakes up, she doesn’t have to worry about what kind of cereals she ate yesterday to make sure she mixes it up enough not to get bored of one flavour. Now, when she makes it to the dining room, she is greeted by a table with real breakfast food on it, whose smell is guaranteed to make someone hungry. With her sister-in-law gone to college, she knows it’s all for the both of them, thus why it’s little but still expensive enough for her to feel a bit awkward about the entire ordeal. She isn’t used to being rich yet.

 Of course, breakfast is long done by now, since she’s on her laptop and he’s next to her with yet another order from his boss to take a day off or… a thousand, because he can’t be employee of the month every month. This is the only way they can force him not to come at work, so he gulps his pride down and she always laughs it off internally as not to offend him. You never know, with her boyfriend: sometimes, he is rather sensitive and irritable about some topics. That’s why he’s so fun to date, sometimes: it’s easy to make him embarrassed and the Winged Dragon of Ra sure knows how much she loves to embarrass people. It’s so easy, yet so fun: it’s all a question of finding a new creative way to do it.

By definition, Akira is the guy who is always serious, always straight and always stiff, too much so in fact. It took her a while to soften to him because of this: but when he shines, he sure shines. When he gets concerned for his sister, when he dares show a bit less pristineness, when he worries for her, that’s when she kind of melts on the inside. Of course, she’d never show it: the always-cool Ghost Girl can’t show she’s weak for anyone, and especially not her former main hirer. She knows she shows her own softer sides when they’re alone together: her messy bedhead hair, her unironic love for magical girl animes, her collection of pretty cards that suck in duels but are too pretty to pass up, her pink laced… Wait, scratch that one. The day Akira found those, she was redder than Flame.

 “You look like you’re bored beyond your mind,” she asks him as she notices he’s getting restless on his own computer. His screen? His emails. Again.

“I hadn’t planned to have a day off today. How are you supposed to fill your time when you have nothing to do?”

“You’re making days off sound like a chore. That’s such a you thing to say,” she deadpans back, wishing she could be disappointed about the situation.

“Then, perhaps you could teach me how to kill time when we’re both here and free to do so?”

“You bet I can.”

 Before he knows it, she has already put out a few games on her laptop to show him around gaming. It’s an old hobby that kind of went extinct with the rise of Link VRAINS and Duel Monsters in general, but she still practices it happily when she’s not on a mission for some money. It’s not because she lives with Mr Zaizen of SOL Technologies that she’s decided to be a housewife that does nothing all day.

These games, she has collected them year after year, torrent after torrent, and buying the ones she genuinely enjoyed and loved. These games, she has had some of these since she was a child: they may not be Game of the Year-worthy, but their pixels and music is still dear to her and she will defend these one-on-one in the pit. There is an excitement to show these to her boyfriend, thinking about how she may be able to virtually kick his ass in her favourite fighting game. She’d have to get out of her old console for it, though, but it’ll be worth it.

 He asks her an infinite amount of questions about these games. God, the guy really hasn’t caught a break since he was sixteen or so, he seems to just be discovering what fun is on a computer. The games that get Akira the most interested are, without a surprise, simulators. Her hospital simulator, an old thing from a century ago or so, is the most fascinating so far, so they play it together. She has to explain to him the point is to make a ton of money and not just to cure poor virtual patients, but once she does, he immediately gets the hang of it. She’s the mouse and he’s the instructions.

“Place a dispenser here, it’ll attract people in queue for the doctor and it’ll give us money.”

“Put a fire extinguisher here, it’ll kill the rats and we won’t have to hire a new janitor to take care of that, then you sell it again or keep it place on another spot later.”

His advice was always good, it always worked, and then she wondered why he wasn’t into gaming in the first place. That guy had a gifted talent for simulation games.

 “Hey, you’re actually really good at these! You played them before, don’t tell me otherwise,” Ema tells him as she cannot retain inside her admiration, and yet her frustration and jealousy.

“Never,” Akira replies seriously but with a slight smile when he notices how envious she’s getting. “But if you want, we can finish this game together. It seems like we form a good tandem.”

“Smartass… Yeah, works for me. Let’s finish that game with your expert advice and my,” she makes a dramatic pause before glancing at him, seductress eyes on, “professional clicking skills.”

That gets him to flush. Mission accomplished.

There is one thing to get out of this afternoon of playing: Ema needs to play simulator games with him more often.  

[makerof150papermasks]

Bonus Area

Gnasty’s Loot: Interchange between Kirby, Knuckle Joe, and Sirica

While Spyro is busy looting the brute’s crooks and nannies, it’s up to the Kirby trio to finish Dark Matter off so they can get Kabu to teleport everyone back to Pop Star.

Enemies: Robber Gnorc, Thief, Tac, Dark Waddle Dee, Dark Shield Gnorc, Dark Sparky, Dark Vulture, Dark Miniature Shemp, Dark Monster Shrub, Dark Poppy Bro, Dark Hot Head

Boss: Dark Matter Gamma (Knuckle Joe only), Dark Matter Epsilon (Sirica only), Gnasty Matter (Kirby only)

Free roam for all characters

Before the boss battle with Gnasty Gnorc

Not long after defeating the two halves of Dark Matter, Knuckle Joe and Sirica meet up with Kirby as they watch the two halves join back together. As they watch Spyro leave the stage, Gnasty Gnorc unexpectedly shows up alive and taunts the three heroes.

Gnasty Gnorc: Spyro foolish! He can’t outsmart the great Gnasty Gnorc!

Knuckle Joe: But didn’t Spyro defeat you earlier? I don’t understand what’s going on?

Gnasty Gnorc: Dark Matter helped me create clone of me! He helped me make gnorc army, he helped me freeze dragons, and now he help me defeat you all. This time, there will be no leaving the great Gnasty Gnorc! (Raises his staff to the sky to freeze the dragons again) No stopping me now!

Sirica: Then how come you didn’t freeze us? You do realize there are no more gems left, right?

Gnasty Gnorc: Ah, no matter! Dark Matter, down here!

The two halves of Dark Matter plummet into Gnasty’s body, turning him into a dreadful fusion of the two scoundrels.

Knuckle Joe: Sirica, give Kirby the rainbow drops! He’ll need them to defeat this brute.

Sirica: On it!

Both warriors gather the rainbow drops, which Kirby swallows to become Rainbow Sword Kirby for the second and final time.

Knuckle Joe: He’s learned his lesson since last time. Attack the goons he summons to disable his armor.

Sirica: Attack when the timing is right! That blade is more than meets the eye. Good luck, Kirby.

Both child warriors leave the stage to help everyone else try to re-rescue the dragons, while Kirby duels with Gnasty Matter.

True Ending:

Gnasty Gnorc: (Wailing as Dark Matter leaves his body) Filthy dragons! (Glares at Kirby) YOU!!! You will regret this, pink ball! REGRET!!!!!! (Gnasty vanishes in a cloud of flames while Dark Matter slowly disintegrates in the sky)

Screen cuts to Kirby helping the residents of Pop Star unfreeze the dragons before cutting back to them gathered at the Artisans world.

Meta Knight: Keerby, thay time is near. Now that Dark Matter is no more, Kabu has broken free from his curse and can send thay warp star to teleport us back.

Sir Arthur: (Walks up to Nestor) Thank you, my liege. I am proud to support those who need our support the most.

Nestor: My greatest pleasure, sir. Without all of the help from you and Spyro, Gnasty Gnorc could have turned this entire world into a wasteland.

Tokkori: Oh, I got a good idea! How about we let Kirby and the rest of you stay here while I get to go back to Pop Star and nobody can bother me! Huh?

Spyro: Ahem (He and Sparx stare tensely at Tokkori until he reluctantly says “Fine.”).

Tuff: (To the adult dragons) You guys are awesome, I wish I could talk to you again!

Lady Like: All right, all right. We’ve had our fun, Tuff.

Sir Ebrum: All good things must come to an end, unfortunately.

Escargoon: Castle sweet castle, we’re coming home.

King Dedede: Ah miss clobberin dat dere Kirbeh (He hugs Escargoon and cries hysterically before the screen pans to Fololo and Falala)!

Fololo and Falala: Really, Dedede?

Tiff: Meta Knight, I’m glad we could make a friend like Spyro, don’t you think?

Meta Knight: Ah yes, he has been veddy kind to us today.

Tiff walks up to Spyro and tickles his nose, much to his relief.

Spyro: Hey, thanks!

Tiff: No problem.

Knuckle Joe: It’s about time we return home. We’ll really miss you, Spyro.

Sirica: (Stares at Spyro) I don’t think I’ll have another friend like you. Goodbye, kid.

Spyro: I’ll miss you, guys!

Kirby: Poyo?

Spyro: Miss you too, pal.

Nestor: Farewell, comrades!

Tiff: Bye, dragons!

Meta Knight: Would you do thay honors, Teef?

Tiff: Yes, Meta Knight. (Begins calling to Kabu) Come, warp star.

Everybody present (Except Spyro, Sparx, and the adult dragons) begins to gather under a radiant yellow gleam emanating from the sky before vanishing. Screen then cuts to Pop Star, where Kirby and his friends enjoy life in Cappy Town once again. Meanwhile, a sentient chunk of Dark Matter somehow finds its way back to Pop Star, a friendly monster that may someday team up with Kirby in the future…

Cue 2nd set of Credits