#preliminary round wave 1

[overworkedblorbobattle]

Preliminary Poll 1: Ace Attorney

[its-to-the-death]

Battle of the Gingers Wave 3 Preliminary Round #1

Only one will make it into the bracket

Gracchus Garovirus (Astérix & Obélix)

[zegrasdrysdale]

we now need a fic of how Jamie reacts when you wear the Canada jersey👀👀

[ oh canada ] j. drysdale

paring : Jamie Drysdale x fem!reader

summary : Jamie finds his girlfriend in his Team Canada jersey and shows her what he thinks of her in it

warning(s) : smut ! slightly dom!jamie, fingering, p in v penetrative sex, unprotected sex (don’t be silly, wrap your willy), pet names during sex

author’s note : ask and you shall receive anon (with canada’s loss in the quarterfinals at the wjc, i had just the idea for this request). this was also mostly written pre-jamie trade so … yeah

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It wasn’t long long after the horn before the first wave of notifications began rolling in.

WJC SHOCKER: Team Canada Loses to Czechia in the Quarterfinals

Team Canada went 3-1 During Preliminary Round; Loses to Czechs in Quarterfinal Match

Czechia is Moving On! Czechs Celebrate Shock Victory Over Reigning Champs

She isn’t from Canada and doesn’t quite understand why the entire hockey world goes crazy for the World Juniors tournament every year, but her boyfriend is from Canada and he played in the World Juniors tournament in 2021. He gets into it every year, and even places bets with his teammates that have played in the World Juniors, mostly Trevor and Mason though.

Jamie’s team lost to the US in 2021, and it was a rough loss for the entire team. He’s told her so many times that he wishes he was able to do more to help his team win.

She didn’t meet Jamie until after the tournament but he is always talking about it. She knows how much he loves the World Juniors, and she knows how much he hates watching Canada lose.

The idea doesn’t come to her until she’s digging through their closet to find something to wear to go out with her friends later that night. She finds Jamie’s Team Canada jersey in the back with his old Ducks jerseys.

A smirk forms on her lips as the idea slowly forms in her head. She grabs the jersey from the closet and a pair of lacey red panties from her underwear drawer and puts both of them on. She wears nothing but the panties under the jersey.

If Jamie comes home from watching the game with his teammates all mad that Canada lost to Czechia, he won’t be as soon as he sees her in his jersey with barely anything on underneath.

The game ended fifteen minutes ago so Jamie will be home any minute since he was just down the street at Trevor’s with Mason. She makes her way out to the kitchen to make some coffee since he was out early this morning for practice then went right to Trevor’s for the game.

She stands in the kitchen in front of the coffee machine when the front door opens. She hears Jamie’s voice before she sees him.

“No, Z,” he is saying. “I am not going to wear your jersey for arrivals at our next game. I never agreed to- um, we can argue about this later.”

Jamie must’ve seen her because he hangs up the phone really quickly. She turns her head and sees a flustered Jamie Drysdale standing behind her in front of the door. His eyes rake her entire body. Her bare legs and loose jersey that is too big on her. Her hair is in a bun on top of her head so his last name can clearly be seen.

“Hi, baby,” she happily says. “How was your morning? I heard about Canada’s loss.”

“Yeah, it was a rough, uh, loss,” Jamie stammers. “Um, is that my Canada jersey? Why are you wearing it?”

She finishes making Jamie a cup of coffee and walks over to him. His eyes widen when he sees the Team Canada logo on her belly. “I thought you might be a little upset about Canada losing so I wanted to surprise you,” she explains as she hands him the cup of coffee. “Are you surprised?”

Probably out of instinct, Jamie takes the coffee from her. His eyes are on the jersey on her body. “I’m definitely something,” he mumbles. “Jesus, (Y/N).”

The most innocent smile forms on her face. “Glad I was able to surprise you,” she says. “Do you want something to eat? Or did you eat at Trevor’s?”

“I was too stressed out to eat at Trevor’s,” he replies. “I can grab a snack or something later though. I’m a little tired between being up early for practice then yelling at Trevor’s TV.”

She shakes her head. “I can grab you something,” she tells him as she heads to the cabinet. “Do you want sweet or savory?”

(Y/N) reaches up to move things around to see what they have for snacks and feels the jersey ride up. Her ass is definitely exposed and Jamie probably has a nice view of the lace panties that are under the jersey.

There’s the sound of a mug being put down behind her then there’s a hand on her ass and a hand on her waist on top of the jersey. Jamie presses his entire body against hers.

“Did you actually wear this jersey to surprise me or did you wear this jersey because you wanted to get fucked?” he asks in her ear. “Because I’ll gladly bend you over the counter right now and give you what you want.”

She turns her head and meets Jamie’s eyes. There’s a fire behind them that she rarely ever sees — usually after a rough loss. His usually bright eyes are dark with lust.

With a moment of hesitation because she’s unsure what she’s going to start, (Y/N) softly says, “I always want to get fucked by you, but this was genuinely meant as a surprise. I always want you though. Counter or no counter. Jersey or no jersey. I want you."

Jamie processes what she said and blinks before he turns her around. His eyes drop to the jersey that practically swallows her. She doesn't understand how Jamie finds this attractive. It's big enough on her that she could get away with wearing it as a dress.

"You look so pretty in my jersey," Jamie tells her. His voice has dropped to a whisper. "The things I would do to you in this jersey."

"So do it and stop talking."

His lips are on hers as soon as the last word passes her lips. The kiss is rough and feverish as soon as their lips connect. She lets out a soft groan as Jamie presses himself completely against her. He slots a thigh between her legs and she has to refrain from grinding against it.

One of Jamie’s hands cups her jaw while the other is on her thigh. He lifts her leg up around his waist and she jumps onto the counter behind her without breaking the kiss. She grips the collar of his t-shirt and his hands slither up underneath the jersey.

He cups one of her breasts and groans when he realizes that she isn’t wearing a bra under the jersey. She swears she feels the bulge that’s resting against her thigh grows a bit at the realization.

When she smirks into the kiss that follows, Jamie nips at her bottom lip. She yelps in surprise but he quickly kisses it softly.

Jamie pushes the jersey up her body so she leans forward a bit so he can get it over her butt since she’s sitting on it. She laughs and wraps her arms around her boyfriend’s neck so she doesn’t fall.

The laugh is quickly cut off when he slides his fingers down her belly and into the waistband of her lace panties. She gasps when his fingers run through her already soaked folds. She spreads her legs wider for him without Jamie needing to ask.

He breaks the kiss and rests his forehead on her for a second. She leans backward until her back collides with the wall behind her. Jamie bites his swollen lip and hooks his fingers in the waistband of her underwear. He pulls the lace off her body and throws it somewhere on the ground.

“Tell me to stop if you get uncomfortable,” Jamie reminds her. “You know I will.”

“Get your fingers inside me, Drysdale,” she replies. “I’m about to do it myself in about two seconds.”

“That would be kind of hot.”

“Jamie!”

He smiles before he slips one finger inside of her to start. She sighs and leans her head back against the wall. He slowly begins to pump that one finger inside of her, then he adds a second one seconds later.

Her legs are already shaking as Jamie fingers her closer to an orgasm. He places soft kisses on the inside of the bent knee. Her one foot is on the counter so Jamie has better access.

(Y/N) has to bite down on the collar of the jersey she’s wearing to stifle any noises.

That doesn’t last long.

“Nuh uh,” Jamie says as he pulls the fabric out from between her teeth. “I wanna hear you, baby. Let me hear those pretty sounds you always make when you come on my fingers.”

She whines and bites her bottom lip.

A third finger is added and she lets out a noise that doesn’t sound human. It’s like a moan and a yelp at the same time, but Jamie seems to love it. She has to resist covering her mouth with a hand because of how embarrassing that sound was.

Then Jamie begins to curl his fingers in a “come here” motion. She’s immediately done for without warning.

(Y/N) involuntarily rolls her hips against his fingers and cries out Jamie’s name repeatedly. If she slams the back of her head against the wall, she doesn’t notice because her entire body is overwhelmed with pleasure. Her vision goes completely white for a second before she comes down from her high.

The first thing she notices is how shaky her legs are. The second thing she notices is Jamie licking her come off of his fingers. “Fuck, Jamie,” she mumbles. He smiles and sends her a wink.

“Think you can stand?” he asks after a moment.

She slides off the counter very slowly and carefully just in case she’s unsteady on her feet. Jamie helps her until she’s sure she’s steady.

Then he turns her around and wraps one arm around her torso. She gasps when his lips attach to her neck right under her ear. “Gonna give you what you really want,” he mumbles into her skin. “Gonna bend you over this counter and give you my cock right here. Gonna fuck you in my jersey.”

Goosebumps rise on her body from his words. It’s so rare when Jamie speaks like this but she loves it.

“Please,” she sighs. “Jamie, please.”

He sucks a mark into the skin right under her ear before he bends her over the counter. The sound of a belt buckle rings throughout the kitchen before it hits the floor. There’s a zipper being unzipped and movement behind her before she finally feels the tip of Jamie’s dick run through her folds and already sensitive clit.

Jamie lifts the jersey up and kicks her feet apart. She sighs when she feels him begin to fill her up. “Fuck,” she groans. “Come on, Jamie.”

As soon as he bottoms out, he begins rolling his hips. His cock is moving slowly and deeply at first. Jamie doesn’t wait to pick up speed and intensity.

Soft noises come from both of them. She squeezes her eyes shut and Jamie grabs a handful of his jersey that rests on her body.

She finds herself thankful that Jamie has a hold of the jersey because she’s afraid she’s going to fall with how weak and shaky her legs are. There’s nothing for her to grasp on the counter so she’s fully trusting Jamie not to let her fall.

Jamie lifts one of her legs up onto the counter so he can get a new angle. “Holy fuck,” she cries out. “Baby.”

“I got you,” Jamie assures her. “I have you. Relax.”

She rests her forehead on the cool, smooth countertop. That’s probably the only thing keeping her from sweating at the moment. Her nails claw at something to grip but she finds nothing.

The familiar knot forms in the pit of her belly. It threatens to come undone every time Jamie thrusts into her. She can tell he’s close to with how sloppy his movements get.

(Y/N) looks back at Jamie and finds that he’s taken off his shirt. His chest glistens with a thin layer of sweat. She bites her lip and rests her cheek on the counter.

“Come inside me,” she croaks. “Wanna feel you come in me.”

Jamie lets out a soft whine. “You can’t just say that,” he breathes out.

“I want you to,” she tells him. “Make me come on your cock then come inside me. Please, baby. Want you to.”

Her words must really affect him because he’s shooting into her seconds later. His thrusts are slow and deep so it’s not long before she’s coming after him.

He slouches against her back and presses soft kisses to the swell of her ear. She smiles and stands up. He slips out of her and he grabs paper towels to clean her up as she spins around to face him.

Jamie throws the paper towels out and (Y/N) runs her fingers down his chest and over his abs. “I will never get enough of you,” she admits to him. “That was crazy and you’re unbelievable.”

“Unbelievably good, I hope,” Jamie replies with a smile. “It wasn’t too much?”

She shakes her head and captures his lips in a lazy kiss. “I might have to wear more of your old jerseys if it means getting bent over the nearest surface and fucked,” she mumbles.

He laughs and picks her up. She helps in surprise. “We’re going to bed and we aren’t getting up for a while,” he tells her as he walks down the hallway. “No phones either so if you have plans, cancel them now because I’m not done with you in this jersey yet.”

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MASTERLIST

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taglist: @fanboysfangirl @dasiysthings @equallyshaw @dancerbailey3 @goldihocksrocks @love4lando

[muchanmocha]

Hey So Why is Till Wearing a Sponsor Logo?

I am now connecting many, many dots.

[Please keep in mind the following is just a giant conspiracy board for a wild interesting path they could take]

Let's assume that's a sponsor logo Till's wearing. Just for this post.

Alien Stage puts a lot of intention into every outfit design so there must be a reason behind this purposeful inclusion in Till's Round 7 appearance.

To review, Till's Round 2 and Round 6 outfits reflect two very different states.

In Round 2, his outfit is closer to his personal style, but he's barefoot because he kicked off the shoes given by the designers (Artbook Interview). This nods to the fact that he doesn't want to cooperate or care to respect any part of this.

In Round 6, he's wearing an outfit reminiscent of kpop because he's finally conforming to Alien Stage (Patreon). He has no will to live, nor will to fight. He allows the segyein to style him as they wish because nothing matters anymore.

Now in Round 7, from what we can make out, Till is wearing a ripped, translucent tank top of unknown material over a black one underneath. This is paired with baggy pants, and a pair of armbands on his biceps. These armbands have what appears to be a sponsor logo that doesn't match any that we've seen so far. The overall vibe is closed to his Round 2, yet with a few disconcerting elements — the most obvious of which, is the logo that was intentionally included in the teaser.

Till is the rebellious character. Segyein sponsorships go against his very concept, demonstrated by the fact that they've only appeared in relation to Ivan and Luka, the characters who conformed to and worked the system the most.

Till: Passive vs Active

Up to this point, Till actually seems fairly passive for a character symbolizing rebellion and rejection. Everything he does is a reaction to something, rather than taking any action first.

His rebellion -> reaction to the segyein's attempt to control him. He doesn't take the initiative to do anything, whether that be sabotaging the segyein or escaping their control. His rebellion only lasts as long as the segyein are present.

His music and song-writing -> a reaction to the emotions generated by Mizi

Him killing Freddie -> a reaction to Acorn trying to take control in the middle of his song to Mizi while his feelings were running high

His death-seeking -> a reaction to Mizi's incident and losing his sole motivation, his light in the dark

And then two specific scenes:

1) Standing up to the wagyein aka the scene wherein Ivan fell in love -> Till is reacting to Mizi being in danger.

You'll notice Till doesn't actively do anything once Mizi is out of danger (for example, attempt to sneak back in to eliminate the wagyein so that Mizi will never again be in danger)

2) Unknown (Till The End) for Round 2 -> Till is reacting directly to My Clematis

The theory that Till sang this song instead of the one he was supposed to was confirmed (Artbook Interview). I don't think this was planned by Till either, until right before the round.

Canonically, Till has put on lukewarm performances in the preliminaries before this (Magazine Site Article) yet for some reason he exploded in Round 2. So what changed? What was the catalyst for his behavior? My Clematis.

Till presumably hasn't seen Mizi since graduation (implied in everyone's graduation messages) and now he's hit over the head all over again by the full impact of his emotions as he watches Mizi at her brightest, living out her dream with Sua (see Mizi flashbacks Round 2). He's overcome by these emotions and impulsively chooses to sing Unknown to channel and express this new tidal wave of feelings. So this would be yet again, Till in the passive role of reacting.

There is a certain irony in Till being the rebellious character, the one fighting against his restraints, yet he is held completely at the mercy of his emotions.

I think his passiveness is due to not having any real goal or direction. Up to this point, his only motivators are Mizi and music.

Mizi — Surprisingly, Till shows no desire to date or aim to have any specific relationship with her. Most of his wants are limited to just existing near her and bask in the feeling her presence gives him. Part of this is because they possibly haven't even been taught the concept of dating or romantic relationships (see "do they even know what a kiss is" comic). So while Till knows Mizi makes him Feel, he doesn't know what to do with said feelings.

Music — Music isn't a goal for Till. It's a way of living. The sounds come to him. The notes dance on his fingertips. He lives, breathes, is music, whether he chooses or not. There is no goal he sees in music, except the abstract want of expressing his feelings.

This lack of goal and initiative serves as an even bigger contrast to the rest of the characters.

Sua and Ivan are overachievers because they wanted what little control and special privileges that would grant them.

Ivan -> Sua (Piggyback Comic)

"It seems like you're overdoing things these days, aren't you? At the end of the day, I know best that good grades here are useless."

Luka has reached the epitome of the road Sua and Ivan chose to take.

Hyuna broke free of Alien Stage and now works as part of the human rebellion, saving Mizi and carrying out raids.

Mizi shooting the gun in All-In is representative of her overcoming the trauma imposed by Luka and choosing for the first time to actively take control of her own life (Artbook All-In Commentary).

As for Till?

He did kill Freddie on stage, but it looks more like an impulse than a premeditated murder. There was no deliberate planning for it — no request to use Freddie, no seeking permission or sneaking to bring Freddie on stage, no sign of murderous rage directed to Freddie himself. Freddie just happened to land in his possession because of his musical talents (Urak: "He [Till] should know he's only alive due to his talent.") and from there Till simply followed his emotions.

Other than Freddie's incident, nothing notable has been seen from Till for the ~20 years in segyein captivity.

Round 7's Resolution

The worst has happened — both Mizi and Ivan are gone. He's even been denied death by Ivan. Where can he go from here?

Round 7 specifically explores Till's "emotional journey" after these major events (Patreon) so it's safe to assume Round 7 is meant to be a turning point for Till.

Considering his overall aimlessness up until this point, I think this emotional journey and ultimate turning point will take the form of him finally finding a goal and therefore his resolution.

So here's the real conspiracy-boarding:

What if the sponsor logo is Till's resolution?

What if this is a sign of Till finally compromising with the segyein for the first time in his life?

His resolution is the end of his absolute rebellion.

Of course, only on the surface.

This time, Till chooses to work the system and destroy it from the inside.

Hear me out:

Mizi and Hyuna manage to get to Till.

Mizi reaches out a hand to save him, just as she had in his visions during his darkest hours.

But this time, he doesn't reach out for that hand. Instead, he walks back to the segyein.

He turns away from Mizi, his reason for staying all those years ago, and stays, this time for Ivan's sacrifice.

Poetic, really. A full circle, you can say.

He's very specifically turning away from Mizi, his only driving motive in his life up until now, to devote his life to something bigger than just the two of them. He is no longer waiting to be saved. He is one doing the saving.

His Round 7 outfit is rebellious, yet segyein-favorable.

Instead of rebelling aimlessly, he rebels in a way that makes him sick to the stomach — he rebels in a way that weaponizes his appeal to the segyein audience.

Instead of throwing his life away, he claws for survival, compromising just enough to grab at the chance to bring this system down from the inside.

It's Mizi/unknown till the end, but in a way he never expected.

Till becomes their man on the inside.

-

Wow, congrats on reading to the end of the crazy conspiracy board theory

-

Bonus:

What if we got rebel Till in the song cover because it's not gonna happen canonically

[vulpixisananimal]

B-side. Chapter 3

The 4th day

"Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle-fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash! That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match!"

(The sandlot had been renovated for todays Struggle tournament, with lots of seats and a big combat ring to fight in. It would have been exciting, if you didn't screw things up yesterday. You were standing with the other contestants, who were. . .)

"Welcome, the four bad boys who struggled their way through the preliminaries!" (The guy in charge of all this, you never learend his name, really did like driving up the crowd and making a show of this.)

"Regular finalist and head of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee, Seifer!" (You can see Seifer sneer at you, of course he made it in. Maybe beating him would finally shut up him.)

"Completely out of nowhere, who knew he'd make it so far THIS year? Vivi!" (The small and cheeky looking. . . Uh. . . Shadow person? You didn't know Vivi that much, just that he was good and knew some magic.)

"An underground favorite and local attitude problem, Hayner!" (You look over to Hayner, silently wishing he got over yesterday.)

"It's his first trip to the finals! And Struggler number 4, who happens to be my absolute favorite customer, Roxas!"

(You awkwardly wave to the crowd. Yeah, favorite customer. Last time you checked, you were still being framed for stealing things around town. Why the sudden change?)

"So, who will win this sweltering summer Struggle!? And win our grand prize!! But more importantly, who will get the chance to face off against our surprise champion, the pale blur of Twilight town, Siffrin!!"

(Siffrin waved from nearby to the crowd. Honestly, they looked nervous. Not really used to the attention, maybe? Then why'd they go and beat Setzer? You see him glance over at you, then look away.)

>>>

(Round 1, you and Hayner.)

". . ." (The two of you were all ready in the Struggle arena, foam bats and everything. Hayner looked excited, you sighed, and looked away.) "Hey… Sorry about yesterday."

"What?" (Hayner shrugged.) "You still worried about that? You need to learn to let that stuff go Roxas."

"Sorry. . . I've got a lot on my mind." (You take a breath.)

"Sorry, man- wait," (Hayner gets in his fighting stance.) "What am I sorry for? C'mon! Let's get the match going!!"

(You smile, and get your bat ready. You glance over the crowd, your eyes landing on Pence and Olette cheering you on. Hah, you had some good friends, Roxas.)

>>>

"When did Vivi get so tough?" (Hayner asked.)

(Round 2, Vivi and Seifer. You had one in your match against Hayner, he was bumbed, but bounced back quickly.)

"I dunno. . ." (You say, watching the two go at it.)

(Vivi was fast, faster than you'd seen someone move in a long time. By the look of it, Seifer was just as surprised as you, struggling, haha, to keep up.)

"I guess it wouldn't be the first surprise Struggle winner in the past couple days." (Comments Hayner.)

"Yeah. . ." (You glance over to Siffrin. He wasn't watching the match.)

>>>

(Round 3, you and Vivi.)

(You held you Struggle bat tightly. Vivi had been a beast last round. So much so that Seifer himself had given you some words of wisodom.)

("That's not Vivi, thrash em.")

(Well he didn't have to tell you twice.)

(The match started, and you rush forward, taking a few swipes, but the shorter opponent just dodged and jumped away. You try a few more times but each time he'd jump around with his annoying little laugh.)

(You take a few breaths, alright, if that wouldn't work, let him come to you.)

(Vivi hopped around a bit more, before rushing at you with a few strikes. You block him and take your chance. Striking back at Vivi and connecting!!)

(Just a little bit more of that and you're set, Roxas!)

(And so the little dance continued, don't go on the offensieve, wait for an opening and strike!! Again, and again! Vivi struck again and again, but you already got his whole gameplan locked down!! You parry his next swing and send him flying, now's your chance!! You rush forward and. . .)

(Time stops.)

"Again?!?" (You shake your head.)

(You look around, everyone's frozen. Your Hayner, Pence, Olette, the crowd, Siffrin, all of them unmoving. You took your fighting stance, 'cause you could tell what was going to happen next, and the Keyblade appears in your hands.) "Bring it!!"

(From flashes of dull light four of those dusk things surround you. You got this, you got this, YOU GOT THIS!!!)

(You breathe in, and out.)

(You swing, one at a time!! Again, two, three!! It's easy!! This is EASY!! You jump to the side to dodge one of those sharp limbs, you feet feel like they're floating as you drift around the creature. And that must have confused them!!!)

(Again, and again!! And again!!! One down, you strike the others too, keep going!! Keep going untill-)

(Done!!! Finally!!! Stupid, stupid weirdo stranger things!!!)

(You're panting, and you shake your head. Wow, you were light headed. Looking around, everything was still frozen, though. You look around. . . Do you hear clapping?)

"Roxaaaas, alriiiight, fight fight fight!" (You turn around, there was a man in a black cloak clapping, he walks towards you. You take a step back.)

". . . You really don't remember?" (The figure shakes his head. He takes off his cloaks hood, revealing a head of long, spikey red hair, blue eyes, and teardrop tattoos.)

"It's me, y'know, Axel."

(You squint at the weirdo.) "Axel?"

(He shakes his head.) "Talk about blank with a capital B. . . Dusks wont be enough to get this done."

"Hey what's going on here?!?" (You take a stance, getting annoyed at all of this weirdness!)

"Sorry, no time. You're coming with me, conscious or not." (With a burst of flame, Axel reached out and from nothing summoned a pair of chakrams, and started twirling them in his hands.) "Then you'll get your answers."

"What?!?" (You grip the Keyblade closer.) "No way! Just tell me what's going on!!"

"Number 13. Roxas. The Keyblade's chosen one. . ." (Axel said under his breath. He looks to the side. Then back to you.)

". . . Fine! You asked for it!" (You charge Axel, taking a few swings.)

(Axel blocks easily before swinging one of the chakrams into your side, you grit your teeth feeling the fire glance against you. You hop back as Axel takes advantage of that and swipes at you.)

"Hey! Do I ring any bells yet?!?" (Axel yells as you block the swings. You wait for a second, then counter, swiping under Axels swing and hitting him once, twice, thrice, again!)

(He stumbles back, watching you for a moment before dashing forward and twisting behind you in a fraction of a second. You only just have enough time to turn around and block.)

(You take another step back, and wait for Axel to swing in again, which he does. Just like Vivi. You block it and attack again.)

(You're trading blows, but you can't go on forever, c'mon Roxas, get it together!!)

(Axel swings again, another swipe, another retaliation. Don't get greedy, back up once you got your hits in.)

"Roxaaaas c'mooooon." (Axel's taunting you.)

"Shut up!!!" (You yell, charging at him again. He blocks your blows easily. Stupid, stupid-)

(He charges at you again, Chakrams ablaze. He unleases a fury of attacks, each one harder to keep up with. C'mon, Roxas, just a bit- there!!)

(You see an opening, and take it! You swing for Axel, striking at his chest with all you had!!!)

(And it was enough, he stumbles back.)

(You're panting, out of breath.) "NOW will you tell me what's going on?!?"

"Heh, Sorry." (Axel gives you a grin.) "No can do."

(You feel the world distort even worse than before. You stumble back.)

"Roxas," (A new voice, you turn, theres a man standing nearby, red outfit. Face mostly covered) "this man speaks nonsense!"

"Roxas!" (Axel yells.) "C'mon, don't let him deceive you!"

"Roxas!"

"Roxas!!"

"ROXAS!!!!!"

(You grip your head, it hurts, headache. Eyes squeezed shut, stumbling back. Roxas. Roxas Roxas Roxas Roxas ROXAS!!! STOP! YELLING! YOUR! NAME!!)

"H-Hayner, Pence, Olette. . ." (You mumble to yourself. Your friends, your friends you, you needed your friends you- it was, still just, so loud and-)

"Hey. . ." (You feel a hand on your shoulder, a calm voice, a familiar one.) "Breathe with me, okay?"

(. . . . . . You breathe in. . . . . And out. . .)

(You remove your hands from your head, and look up. The crowd was cheering, Vivi lay defeated at the other side of the arena. Those two men were gone.)

(Looking to your left, Siffrin had their hand on your shoulder, they were smiling at you.)

". . . How'd did you-" (You start, he cuts you off.)

"Looks like you'll be after my championship, big guy." (They pat your shoulder before walking away.)

"Roxas!!" (You turn, your friends were running to you.) "You did it!!"

(. . . Yeah, you really did.)

(Somehow.)

[Prev] [Masterpost] [Next]

[animemusicbrackets]

Vocaloid Song Showdown!!!: Prelims Part B Brackets

You can find the preliminary brackets, as well as the full list of submissions here

ALL MATCHES CAN BE FOUND AT THIS LINK

All prelim matches were made with a random sorter. They will all be posted at noon EST, and will last for one week. There will be one winner per match that will advance (17 total winners).

The Preliminaries Part B will be released as follows:

Saturday, February 10th

Match 1:

"Honey I'm Home" by GHOST; feat. DEX

"Hyperventilation Dance" by Nashimoto We; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Spinning Sky Rabbit" by Orangestar; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Marshall Maximizer" by Hiiragi Magnetite; feat. KAFU

"Children Record" by Jin; feat. IA

Match 2:

"Remote Control" by WONDERFUL☆OPPORTUNITY; feat. Kagamine Rin & Len

"Unicorn" by Teniwoha; feat. flower

"DEAD HAND" by Ferry; feat. Yuzuki Yukari

"Drowning in a Wave of Sadness" by Neru; feat. Kagamine Len

"Mozaik Role" by DECO*27; feat. GUMI

Match 3:

"Proto Disco" by nulut; feat. flower (with KurageP, Bis, MatuMotoMoti, *Shimi, nulut)

"Meteor" by Jonsann; feat. Hatsune Miku

"SUSHI-GO-ROUND" by Utsu-P; feat. ROSE

"Town of Jade" by Mel; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Kaisei" by Orangestar; feat. IA

Monday, February 12th

Match 4:

"The Liar Witch and Gray Rainbow" by Soraru; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Testament" by Hiiragi Magnetite; feat. Hatsune Miku

"ROKI" by Mikito-P; feat. Kagamine Rin and Mikito-P

"BRING IT ON" by Giga-P; feat. Kagamine Rin & Len (with MEIKO)

"World is Mine" by ryo; feat. Hatsune Miku

Match 5:

"Mermaid" by Somari; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Waltz of Anomalies" by Hoehoe-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Magic Mirror" by teamOS; feat. Kagamine Rin & Len

"Doctor=Funk Beat" by nyanyannya; feat. KAITO (with maimie, Shindou Gaku, Amaoto Junca, and Dashio)

"Mirage" by Harumaki Gohan; feat. Hatsune Miku

Match 6:

"Hate it Hate it! Huge Ego!" by Wada Takeaki; feat. Otomachi Una

"*Hello, Planet." by sasakure.UK; feat. Hatsune Miku

"The Last Revolver" by MOTHY; feat. GUMI

"You’re Telling Me A SHRIMP Fried This Rice?!" by Jamie Paige; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Vita" by Hiiragi Kirai; feat. flower

Match 7:

"Witch" by Suzuki-P and Ryotai; feat. Megurine Luka (with Camui Gackpo, Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin, Hatsune Miku)

"MONSTER" by KIRA; feat. GUMI

"Karakuri Pierrot " by 40mP; feat. Hatsune Miku (with GUMI)

"Kakome, Kakome" by Zawazawa-P; feat. Hatsune Miku and Megurine Luka

"Parade of Mediocre People" by Wada Takeaki; feat. Otomachi Una

Wednesday, February 14th

Match 8:

"Dreaming Chuchu" by emon(Tes.); feat. Megurine Luka (with Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin)

"iNSaNiTY" by CircusP and Azuralunar; feat. KAITO and SF-A2

"RRRRafflesia" by Utsu-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Spinning Song" by DATEKEN; feat. Kagamine Rin & Len

"Common World Domination" by Pinocchio-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

Match 9:

"The Intense Singing Voice of Hatsune Miku" by CosMo; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Heavenly You" by LonePi; feat. REML

"The Madness of Duke Venomania" by MOTHY; feat. Camui Gackpo (with KAITO, GUMI, MEIKO, Megurine Luka, and Hatsune Miku)

"Heart Democracy" by Mikito-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Fake Fake Psychotropic" by Kairiki Bear; feat. GUMI

Match 10:

"Jitterbug" by Kuriyama Yuri; feat. Hatsune Miku and MEIKO

"LIAR DANCE" by DECO*27; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Unfriendly Hater" by Meddmia; feat. Hatsune Miku and KAFU

"HITO mania" by Haraguchi Sasuke; feat. Kasane Teto

"Teo" by Omoi; feat. Hatsune Miku (with Kagamine Rin, GUMI, IA)

Friday, February 16th

Match 11:

"Shunran" by john; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Sand Planet" by Hachi; feat. Hatsune Miku (with Hachi)

"Triple Baka" by LamazeP; feat. Hatsune Miku (with Kasane Teto)

"Blessed Messiah and the Tower of AI" by teamOS; feat. Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin, Megurine Luka, Camui Gackpo, GUMI, IA, MAYU, MEIKO, and KAITO

"Datte" by Yuyoyuppe; feat. Natsuki Karin

Match 12:

"oyasumination" by ippo.tsk; feat. Eleanor Forte

"I’m Gonna Buy! Buy! Buy! " by Signal-E; feat. Luo Tianyi

"Propose" by Naisho no Pierced; feat. KAFU

"Neo-Neon" by DECO*27 and TeddyLoid; feat. Hatsune Miku (with Shiho)

"Jailbreak" by Neru; feat. Kagamine Rin

Match 13:

"Play" by shr and itsuki; feat. Matsudappoiyo

"Reckless Battery Burns" by GHOST and Vane; feat. Kevin

"Hungry Nicole" by Niru Kajitsu; feat. flower

"Tell Your World" by kz; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Gehenna" by wotaku; feat. Hatsune Miku

Match 14:

"Abstract Nonsense" by Neru; feat. Kagamine Rin

"Electric Angel (Giga-P Arrangement)" by Yasuo-P and Giga-P; feat. Kagamine Rin & Len

"Mind Brand" by MARETU; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Vampire" by DECO*27; feat. Hatsune Miku

"makka" by Yuyoyuppe; feat. Natsuki Karin

Sunday, February 18th

Match 15:

"Can't I Even Dream" by Fumii; feat. Hatsune Miku

"hand" by Avogado6; feat. Asane Ema

"Weenywalker" by youman; feat. GUMI

"Schadenfreude" by Guchiry; feat. Otomachi Una

"Alter Ego" by Misumi; feat. Hatsune Miku

Match 16:

"All I Need are Things I Like" by Pinocchio-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Machine Gun" by KIRA; feat. GUMI

"Love Me, Love Me, Love Me" by Kikuo; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Kimagure Mercy" by Hachioji-P and q*Left; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Seraphim on the Ring" by Mitchie M; feat. Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, KAITO (with Kagamine Len)

Match 17:

"Super Nuko World" by Mafumafu; feat. IA (with Kagamine Rin)

"Love! Snow! Really Magic" by Mitchie M; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Crazy ∞ nighT" by teamOS; feat. Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin, GUMI, Camui Gackpo, Megurine Luka, KAITO, and MEIKO

"Nobody Makes Sense" by Pinocchio-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

"Reincarnation Apple" by Pinocchio-P; feat. Hatsune Miku

[mcufan1066]

[tora-the-cat]

Happy womans history month! everybody place your bets now: How long does it take Naruto to pass the Bechdel test?

I'm watching it until it does as soon as this poll ends so. we will see!! <3

(Also obligatory 'I know the bechdel test doesn't actually indicate or mean anything by itself and is literally a lesbian in joke that went viral' like. I'm just doing this for funsisesss)

[thefinalcinderella]

Tsurune Book 3 Chapter 3 - The Song of Naru (Part 2)

Let me share my personal theory: In this universe, the sport of kyudo possesses the supernatural ability to alter one's brain chemistry. Those who have a deeper affinity with the bow are more transformed by this ability. Kyudo, it seems, can make one become more spiritually attuned and connect seemingly completely unrelated concepts, but also warp one's thought processes to the point of non-kyudo practitioners finding them incomprehensible.

Anyways I still had no idea what's going on. And yes, that last line in the chapter is real

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

The word used here is 文字絵 (mojie) which means a picture formed by letters

In Japanese, superstring theory (超弦理論) contains the character for "bowstring"

A yotsugake is a kyudo glove that covers four fingers

Dousha is "a form of Japanese archery with the purpose of shooting arrows from one end to the other of the outer area on the west side of Sanjyusangen-do temple"

Toshiya is another name for dousha

A kosode is a short-sleeved kimono. It contains the character for sleeve

Apparently this is a quote from Kuroko no Basuke?

Previous | Next

The sun was flashing, spreading rainbow-colored wings of light.

It was the middle of May. The prefectural high school kyudo tournament preliminaries were being held.

The competition event was “close range.” The first day’s “individual competition” consisted of shooting four arrows in two stages in zasha, and the top ten with the highest number of hits would be selected for the next round.

The “team competition” on the second day consisted of one coach and five to seven archers, and one male and one female team per school could participate. The competition format was teams of five, four shots in zasha, and a time limit of eight minutes. Forty-one schools participated in the boys’ competition, and the eight teams with the highest scores in the first and second rounds would advance to the prefectural tournament. Looking at the past results, winning was between thirty and thirty-five hits, and the lowest halfway point was twenty.

Kazemai High School had a total of six girls: the three second-years Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo, and three first-years. The boys had a total of seven, with the five second-years Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, and Minato, and the two first-years Himuro and Kanbayashi. A total of thirteen people entered the individual and team competitions.

Kazemai was the winning school last year, so they attracted a lot of attention. Their school’s name was printed on the back of their green jerseys along with the illustration of an arrow.

When a student from another school said, “Oh, it’s Kazamai,” Nanao folded his hands behind his head.

“This is read as Kazemai. I get it, I sometimes say it wrong too.”

Kaito was appalled. “Don’t get the name of your own school wrong.”

“Japanese kanji is hard because there are so many different readings. Nippon, Nihon, Hinomoto, and Yamato are all examples of the ever-changing name of our country, after all.”

“Oh, it’s Asahina and Eddie from YumiDou,” they heard someone say.

They looked and saw the Haneina High School members passing by, with the flashy duo leading them. “Haneine?” someone muttered when they saw the characters printed on the back of their orange jerseys.

“Those guys are called ‘Haneina High School’… Oi, Asahina and Eddie! Merha!”

When Nanao waved at them, Asahina and Eddie also waved back. In addition, there were other unique members following them, such as a man with narrow eyes, a boy with a notebook and pen, and a boy with fresh flowers in his bag.

Asahina saluted them. “Hey, Nanapri and everyone from Kazemai. It’s been a while. How are you guys?”

Eddie continued, “Prince Nanao, it has been long seen we’ve last contacted each other. The frog art (1) I received from you the other way has seen a lot of uses, that it has.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I saw your last stream. You hit the center of the target in the dark!”

“Thank you. My body learned how to do it using something interesting. If it’s my dojo, I rarely miss a shot.”

“That’s amazing. I’d like to learn that technique too,” Seiya said.

“During kai, the second joint of your bow hand’s index finger should be in line with the position of the tree branch outside the kyudojo.”

“That isn’t something you learned with your body, it’s something you saw with your eyes…”

“Haha, well, it’s alright, isn’t it? I’ll be able to do it with my mind’s eye sooner or later.”

Suddenly, Asahina stared at Minato.

“Hmm? Is there something on my face?”

“I don’t know why, but I feel like rubbing your forehead, Narumiya.”

Seiya quickly hid Minato’s forehead. “You need our advisor’s permission.”

“Seriously? Just how strict are things at Kazemai? If only we can use a jutsu to clone him and borrow one of them. Oh, speak of the devil, Doppelgangers No. 1 and 2 have arrived.”

Asahina’s gaze was directed at a group of people dressed in purple jerseys.

It was the Kirisaki High School kyudo club. The twin brothers Senichi and Manji stopped walking at almost exactly the same moment. Their bangs were arranged symmetrically to each other. Senichi, whose bangs were parted to the left, spoke.

“Doppelgangers are already old news. We’re the Twin Fighters now.”

Hearing this, Kaito’s jaw dropped.

“I can’t believe there are guys with terrible naming senses in a different way from Seiya… Are you sure you guys aren’t going against the times?”

“Huh!?” The twins exclaimed in unison. Kabashima and Yushima tried to calm them down, but Senichi picked up the corners of his mouth and bared his teeth, and Manji pulled his eyelid down and stuck out his tongue. Without paying any attention to what was going on around him, Ryouhei ran up to a certain person.

“Shuu-kun!”

“Hey, Ryouhei. Did you grow taller again?”

“Yep. I’m not losing to you yet!”

“Fufu. I guess I have to give up.”

“It’s a shame that Motomura-senpai and Sase-senpai aren’t here anymore. It’s so sad that everyone has to go their separate ways after graduating from high school, even though we had so much fun together. I wish I could shoot with everyone more.”

Shuu’s pale eyelashes wavered. Senichi and Manji reacted.

“Yamanouchi, stop calling him that.”

“Huh? But Shuu-kun is Shuu-kun, isn’t he?”

Someone was watching the jumble of green, orange, and purple as they chattered.

Kuon was lamenting outside the circle.

It’s him! The man I saw in my dreams.

…No, wait. Who is Fujiwara-senpai looking at?

Following his line of sight, Kuon found Minato there. Shuu had a gentle smile on his face.

I can’t believe this. Those who stand at the top should not smile so frivolously. I don’t care about the dog anymore. This guy must be harmful to Fujiwara-senpai.

The antique doll smiled coldly.

After the opening ceremony, the individual competition started. The order was random in individual competitions.

The girls went first. Hanazawa, Shiragiku, Seo, and six other girls put on their yugake and headed for the waiting room with their bows, arrows, and tsurumaki with spare strings. Tommy-sensei went with them.

Cheering squads from each school took their places in the stands. It was filled with people holding paper cranes with prayers written on them and others recording in notebooks.

The Kazemai girls started appearing from the third group. Hanazawa’s matooto was cheered by the audience, and Shiragiku and Seo, who were in separate groups, followed. They performed a light and lovely dance, and as a result, Hanazawa had two hits, Shiragiku had three hits, and Seo landed all four of her arrows.

Next was the boys’ division.

Haneina’s Asahina, Eddie, Matsuda, Kanuma, and Igarashi. The five unique and showy individuals captured people’s attentions even when they were alone. Two in particular, Asahina and Eddie, had hair colors that couldn’t be misperceived even from a distance, and their shooting was even more beautiful than in their videos. Their arrows were like flashes as lightning, and they hit with all four arrows.

Kanbayashi, a Kazemai first-year, watched them from the waiting room and thought, I can’t shoot disgracefully. I have to do my best not to bring shame to Kazemai.

The first individual match. Kanbayashi was at the second target in the second group. The archer before him drew his bow. He released his arrow and hit the target at three o’clock. It was a good start.

Meanwhile, tension had stiffened Kanbayashi’s shoulders.

Huh? Why can’t I focus?

As he panicked in his mind, he raised his bow and moved to daisan. He slowly pushed his bow open—

Right when Kanbayashi realized it, the arrow was no longer in his hand and was sticking out of the arrow path. The arrow had jumped out of his hand while he was still drawing his bow. He had no idea what happened.

Crap, crap, crap.

No way, is this target panic…?

No, no, no, I’ve been nervous plenty of times, but I’ve never let go this early. No, there’s no time to think about this. I have to nock the next arrow—. His hands were shaking, and his bow grip was becoming slick with sweat.

It’s fine, it’s fine, it’ll be okay next time.

The more he chanted that in his mind, the rougher his breathing became.

For his second shot, Kanbayashi’s arrow was once again released before reaching kai. The venue became noisy as people started murmuring to each other, and the sound of someone saying “Ah” remained in his ears. The archer behind him released a sharp-flying arrow. Shouts of “Yes!” reverberated.

Kanbayashi’s third shot came around. He could feel his hands shaking. He didn’t know how to interpret this first-time sensation. What did Narumiya-senpai say? To overcome target panic, focus on breathing and exhale slowly. Exhale, exha…, oh no, I can’t do it—.

Again, before he even drew his bow back, the arrow was released in an instant. The sound of the aluminum arrow sweeping across the ground resounded, and it pierced the target after bouncing.

Is this what it means to not hear a tsurune?

It was almost terrifying for an archer.

After shooting all four arrows, Kanbayashi didn’t make any matooto, while Kaito, Seiya, and Minato landed all their arrows, and the others ended the first round with three hits.

Once he left the kyudojo, Kanbayashi buried his face in his hands. His heart was still pounding. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Nanao called out, but Kanbayashi’s face was so stiff that all he could manage was a forced smile.

This is so embarrassing. I became a complete mess in front of my senpais and my family who came to support me.

I’ve been practicing and practicing, but when the actual competition comes, I end up like this. What am I doing—.

Kanbayashi gripped the arrows that he retrieved.

“Please remove me from the lineup for tomorrow’s team competition! I can’t do it! I definitely have target panic! I don’t want to be a burden on everyone!”

This time it wasn’t Kanbayashi, but Minato and the second-years who were blinking rapidly.

It was Kaito who responded. “Oi, oi. We’re still only halfway through the individual competition. Why don’t you just hit the remaining four?”

Nanao and Ryouhei also chimed in.

“That’s right. It’s a little too early to give up. Let’s focus on the individual competition in front of us first.”

“Yeah, what he said. There was also a time when I panicked because my string snapped, but I managed.”

However, Kanbayashi didn’t change his opinion.

“It’s impossible! I’ve always had the potential to get target panic! My mental weakness is the only thing I’m confident about! You have to have had it to understand how awful it is!”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Minato. Nothing but the words of someone who experienced target panic could reach Kanbayashi’s heart now.

Minato stepped forward.

“Although it’s called target panic, it’s still a relatively early and sudden system. It’s not severe yet. We can get back on track.”

“You saw me, didn’t you!? My terrible shooting! I was so careful about target panic, but why, why…”

“Let’s do the dantian breathing exercises together. You’re too worked up right now, but you’ll calm down in a few minutes.”

“I can’t do such wishful thinking!”

Minato took Kanbayashi’s hand.

“Kanbayashi, listen to me. My mom once told me about something she read in a book. In ancient times, the Japanese named very fast vehicles ‘tsubame.” The second-fastest were ‘kodama,’ and the ones after that were ‘hikari.’ What do you think is a vehicle that’s faster than light?”

“…Was there anything faster than light?”

“The Shinkansen ‘Nozomi.’ It’s the Japanese word for ‘hope.’ The slogans were, ‘Nozomi of Ambitious Japan! is always there for you’ and ‘Nozomi is the fastest way to meet the person you want to see.’”

Tommy-sensei, who had been watching their exchange, smiled broadly.

“I’ve ridden on the ‘Hinotori’ before. E=mc2. It reminds one of Einstein, the monument of theoretical physics. When things move, they get heavier.”

“Tommy-sensei, you’re knowledgeable about physics too?” Kanbayashi said.

“No, not at all. I’m just a geography teacher. I only know the two theories: relativity, which deals with gravity, and quantum mechanics, which explains the behavior of matter in the microscopic world.”

“The only one of the seventeen subatomic particles that hadn’t been confirmed, the Higgs boson particle, was discovered in this century. It was called the God particle, and is responsible for giving mass to everything. And I guess there’s also the ‘superstring theory,’” Seiya supplemented. (2)

“Super-string?”

“The superstring theory. It’s a theory that claims that the origin of all things is ultra-small ‘strings’. The theory is that particles are actually the vibrations of these strings. It’s still at the stage of hypothesis.”

“The universe is made up of the sound of strings. I guess it would be too poetic to say that tsurune is the true nature of matter. Sound is the vibrating waves of air. Since it’s said that everything from people and plants to minerals are made up of waves, to say that ‘Nozomi’ is faster than light might not necessarily be wrong,” Masa-san said.

“Wow, tsurune is incredible.”

Tommy-sensei smiled with satisfaction at Kanbayashi, who was blinking rapidly.

“When I hear the word ‘ambitious,’ I think of Dr. Clark’s words. ‘Boys, be ambitious. Like this old man.’ I can almost hear the doctor laughing as he says, ‘I’m an eternal young man.’ Now, there’s still a long, long way to go. Let’s go to the next stage together.”

“I don’t really understand, but I’m going to let the team competition wait and focus on what’s in front of me right now.”

Kanbayashi changed his mindset and practiced dantian breathing as Minato put his hand on his lower abdomen.

As for the results of the individual competition, Kazemai’s Minato, Seiya, and Kaito, Kirisaki’s Shuu, Kabashima, and Kuon, Haneina’s Asahina and Eddie, and Seo from the girls’ division would be advancing to prefecturals.

The second day was the team competition.

The first round. The Haneina team, who were famous as Yotubers, drew a lot of attention for their shooting.

The oomae was Eddie Fox.

His long, blond hair was tied high up on his head, and a headband was tied around his forehead. He looked like an actor in a period drama. Once he gripped his bow, his jokester persona disappeared as his eyes sharpened, his breathing became shallower, and his face became dreadfully serious. A burst of sound resounded from the target area as he took advantage of a momentary gap and got in close to his opponent.

The second target was Matsuda Kotetsu.

He had poor vision, and the world he saw was composed of multicolored balls of light. His hearing was above average, and he had an excellent sense of perception. Whenever he stood before the target, he always stood behind someone else because it was easier to perceive the distance when someone was standing in front of him. Kyudo was a sport that could be played by people of all ages, and physical differences were no handicap. With the use of remote video conferencing, it was even possible to have a match with people on the other side of the world at the same time.

The third target was the naka, Kanuma Nobuhiko.

He was a haiku poet who loved writing haikus. He was staring absentmindedly into space during the middle of a competition.

A staff member approached him and asked him in a whisper, “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

“The eye of the snake/the white water surface holds/the golden-scaled fish. I tried to write a poem about carps living in a pond, but I guess it’s too mediocre. On a summer’s day/the koi frolic and a cat/sleeps beneath a tree. How’s that?” (3)

“This isn’t a haiku contest, it’s a kyudo tournament! Concentrate on your shooting!”

“Okaaay.”

Kanuma nocked his arrow. The spectators who had witnessed the scene were taken aback by his lack of nervousness and extraordinary strength of his heart.

The fourth target was the ochimae, Igarashi Shion.

He was the Gardening Prince who loved flowers. Even when he was sitting in his chair in the waiting room, he kept fresh flowers with him and left them with his tsurumaki. Even his bow was decorated with flowers he drew himself, and there were even people who wanted him to sell it to them. His shooting was as sweet-smelling as a flower and created the illusion of a fairy flying.

The fifth person was the ochi, Asahina You.

His red hair symbolized the rising sun. He parted his bow and followed the correct tsurumichi path. What was beautiful was good, and what was good was true. If you sought beauty and aesthetic, you would naturally follow the right path without being aware of it. Far from concepts such as “seeking the truth” and “ascetic training,” and the irrepressible joy that radiated from him captivated those who watched him. He liked to have fun, and believed in fundamentally ignoring what wasn’t fun or changing it to be fun.

The Haneina High School kyudo club was both noble and greedy. They lived not by the values of others, but their own axes. The five of them were comrades and friends who had met each other on their travels. Of course, there were occasional clashes of opinion, but they knew when to quit, so there were no lingering resentments. Making videos was a great way to learn about life and society, as what one said and did was constantly exposed to the public eye. It wasn’t easy to communicate something to others. True expressive people seemed to be free and unfettered at first glance, but they kept their feet on the ground and devoted themselves to their work.

The five of them carved out the Eight Stages of Shooting.

Ashibumi, douzukuri, yugamae, uchiokoshi, hikiwake, kai, hanare, zanshin.

When five circles, a “yoko kaichuu,” were lined up next to each other on the scoreboard, there was an eruption of applause.

Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo, who were watching from the stands, let out sighs.

“It feels really fun.”

“Their shooting was brilliant.”

“They’re formidable opponents. It seems that the boys’ division won’t be so smooth-sailing.”

The members of the Haneina High School kyudo club achieved the high results of four, four, four, three, and four hits each.

Second round, first kyudojo. The champions, Kirisaki High School, were taking their turn.

The oomae was Kabashima. He was particular about his face and form. In the name of Kirisaki High School, he shot so that no one could complain. When gripping the bow, the tenmonsuji should be firmly sticking to the todake, and the skin between one’s thumb and index finger should be rolled up from below. It was no exaggeration to say that kyudo began with the Eight Stages of Shooting and ended with the Eight Stages of Shooting. Originally, it was the Seven Stages, but with the addition of “zanshin,” it became eight. Why did they make it eight? He felt something profound in it. He earnestly, single-mindedly, carved out the Eight Stages and created a matooto. He was intoxicated by the sweet tone.

Senichi was at the second target, and Manji was at the third. Although their time-difference attack was sealed up, the confidence of the Twin Fighters was evident. We stand on the front line, the firing line. Come on, follow us. They looked completely relaxed, as if victory had been decided before the fight had even begun.

The ochimae was Kuon Takumi. Unusually for a high school student, he used a yotsugake. (3) There were slight differences in gripping the string depending on whether you were wearing mitsugake and yotsugake. Originally used in dousha, (4) and it was said that yotsugake was more suitable for people who drew many arrows like the toshiya (5)in Sanjusangen-do or for people with tough bows, but since Kuon believed that yotsugake were more superiorly ranked than mitsugake, he chose to use it. The arrow that was released almost hit the center. A rapturous air exuded from his whole body.

When the ochi, Shuu, started to lift his bow, the entire venue resonated with silence.

Even the sound of his clothes rustling was daunting. He possessed a divinity, as if he had reached a higher level than what everyone called the “Young Lord.” He himself became a bow and emitted a tsurune that soared through the heavens. Shuu’s sound instantly erased the uncanny colors created by Kuon and purified the place.

A true sound.

A good sound.

A beautiful sound.

By the time the people whose hearts were pierced came back to their senses, Shuu had already left.

The results were announced over the loudspeaker.

“The results will be announced now. First shooting range, Team 17, four, four, three, four, four, nineteen hits total. Second shooting range, Team 18, four, two, two, four, 12 hits total. That is all.”

Kirisaki won, and Kazemai went after them.

The oomae, Kaito, drew his bow tightly. He relaxed his hands and stretched his upper arms.

More force, more force. He stretched and stretched—then released. The arrow was sucked into the target while spinning clockwise.

The second target, Ryouhei, didn’t only grow in height. He had the dignity of an archer, and he shot with majesty. He was someone who had love for everyone. He would continue to have affection for himself and others for the rest of his life. The target accurately reflected the archer, and the round target, without deceit or calculation, was waiting to be pierced.

The naka, Seiya, was also clearly different from who he was a year ago. He took off his obstinate armor and stretched his limbs freely. He hated himself. He hated irrationality, fate, all of it. When he became entwined with hatred and fell into a swamp, there was someone who reached out to him. That person said that they didn’t care what kind of person he was.

The ochimae, Kanbayashi, began to carry out his shot. He concentrated on the lower abdomen that Minato had put his hand on before.

The dantian is “here.”

Now, gather the light here.

He threw away all speech and listened only to the sound of his breathing. When the wind calmed down, his arrow flew at high speed.

The ochi was Minato. He summoned the wind that should have stopped. The wind that rushed around the earth was the land’s breath. Once you were able to feel that, you became a wind user. He manipulated the wind at will and connected it to a new era.

The tsurune took everything away.

For the results of the first round, Kazemai had fifteen hits out of twenty.

After the first and second rounds were completed, Kirisaki had thirty-six hits, Haneina had thirty-five, and Kazemai had thirty-three.

All three schools made it through the preliminaries.

After the tournament, the Kazemai second-years and Masa-san waited for a car to pick them up. Tommy-sensei and the first-years went home first. Waves of people came and went to the other shore.

Minato, Seiya, and Ryouhei sat on the edge of a flower bed. Ryouhei immediately started to eat his sweets. Seiya, finding the verse from “Greensleeves” stuck in his head, couldn’t help but hum it.

He met eyes with Masa-san, who was next to them.

“Is that an English folk song? You know a lot of old songs, Seiya.”

“If you know it, then you must be ancient as well, Masa-san. Minato’s mom used to hum it. Oh, it can’t be helped if you don’t know it.”

A bell was rung. Fighters burned with quiet fighting spirit.

Seeing the two jab at each other, Nanao quickly took out his phone. He entered the search words, and the English lyrics and translation were displayed.

Kaito peered at them.

“What’s this? Isn’t this just a guy who got dumped and kept whining about it? Isn’t it too obsessive to say at the end, ‘Goodbye, please come here again and love me?’”

“Kacchan, you don’t understand heartbreak at all.”

“Hah? I don’t need to.”

“Yep, that’s what I thought.”

Ryouhei said that he would eat all the sweets.

“What kind of woman is Greensleeves? He’s calling her name over and over, right?”

Seiya was the one who answered. “I did some research, but the prevailing theory seems to be that it’s a metaphor and not a real name. There are various theories that Greensleeves is a prostitute, a dead person, or a ghost. Also, some people think that Greensleeves isn’t a song about lost love, but more like a hymn.”

For a moment, sound disappeared.

Even though it should have been extremely noisy with all the people around, the area was so silent that it made their ears hurt. Even the birds were quiet.

Masa-san murmured a few words.

“Green kosode—. (6) I think it’s talking about the upper arm.”

“What do you mean?” Minato asked.

“There’s a custom in the West to wear green when one turns into a spirit. When you think of Santa Claus, you think of red clothes, but that was because he was dressed in a company’s image color in advertisements, and in England, he was originally dressed in green. According to one theory, Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas, that is, a clergyman. He is a person who seems to have existed, and his name and deeds are passed on to his disciples.”

“What does that have to do with ‘upper arms’?”

“I think ‘Greensleeves’ refers to the arms themselves. It’s ‘green sleeves.’ When you touch the arm of a person, a miracle will occur. That makes them a vessel of the divine.”

Masa-san typed into his phone.

Alas, my love, you do me wrong.

Greensleeves was all my joy.

Greensleeves was my delight.

Oh, my chest feels like it’s about to burst. You who bestow love, how cruel you are.

You let enjoy your love, and say you’ll forsake me. Is this a test of God?

Greensleeves, you are joy itself.

Greensleeves, you are days of happiness.

I was happy just being by your side.

Seiya spoke.

“That sound like words dedicated to God. A somewhat critical song of lamentation and resignation.”

“Greensleeves may have been a person who had a healing hand that could cure illnesses and injuries, or maybe she was a saint. There are even those who say that it is the name of God. It’s distinct from the secular world and doesn’t appear openly. Even if you’re attracted by, yearn for, adore, sacrifice yourself, and give up all your wealth and power for the singing voice that you overhear from the church, you cannot touch ‘it.’”

“I see. In that case, I can at least acknowledge the manly spirit of ‘I’ll stop you even if I have to cling to you,’” Kaito said. (7)

“Kacchan, this isn’t a rugby play. And ‘manly spirit,’ really? You completely ruined the mood,” Nanao said.

 Seiya lowered his eyes and took off his glasses.

“Being abandoned by God might be an indication that humans are irredeemable.”

Shiragiku’s expression clouded over, and she gripped Seo and Hanazawa’s hands.

“How awful…it was such a wonderful melody.”

As everyone fell silent, Minato pondered.

Has God abandoned humans?

Is this really true? Didn’t I forget something important?

“You’re wrong! Such a sad and gentle melody could never be a criticism and lament to God. This is a joyful song for a coming-of-age ceremony!” he started shouting.

Before he knew it, everyone was staring at him blankly. The three girls shrank back while still holding hands.

Masa-san tried to follow Minato’s thought process.

“Coming-of-age ceremony? What’s with this all of a sudden? Where did your thoughts fly to, Minato?”

“I remembered my mother’s words. She said that at coming-of-age ceremonies, it’s a ‘song of naru.’”

“…What do you mean? Did your mother have a shrine maiden disposition?

“No, she was a normal mom.”

“Don’t put too much stock in what Narumiya calls ‘normal.’ By the way, who’s Naru? Is that a new character? Now I’m even more confused.”

Kaito scratched his head.

Previous | Next

[dragonsdomain]

Blob Ghost Supreme chapter 2

AO3

Chapter 1

Danny's first victory was not met with the unadulterated praise for which he'd hoped. He heard terms ranging from "Cheater!" to things he wouldn't be able to repeat over the dinner table flung towards him like javelins, along with empty snack packages he had to dodge. The screams of the audience carried a whole range of emotions, the kind of sound that might herald a riot. Would it make things better or worse if Danny tried to step in and get them to settle down? No, Walker's minions were already on that.

Danny glared defiantly at the audience, then headed out of the arena. This was the beginning. So they didn't believe a blob ghost could win that fight fair and square? So they were enraged by the very idea of it? He'd show them. He'd make them believe he was the real deal, that he deserved their respect. If winning this whole tournament was what it took to make that happen, so be it. He would do it.

...

Sam and Tucker had to grab hold of each other to make sure neither got swept away by the increasingly riotous crowd after the battle ended. The ghost cops all jumped into action and soon enough were able to calm the crowd into a tamer simmering discontent.

Muttering continued between audience members as they finally started to settle back into their seats.

Tucker grabbed the shoulder of a Day of the Dead skeleton to his right. "Hey excuse me, what was that? What just happened?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed. "A blob ghost, just taking out so many ghosts like that? It shouldn't be possible! Did it cheat? Did it bribe all those ghosts somehow? What does it want? We can't let a cheater get away with becoming the ghost king! We—"

"Wait!" Tucker waved his hands to grab her attention. "I just mean like, what are the rules of this tournament? How does this work?"

The woman sagged, scowling at Tucker. "If you care so little about this tournament, why are you even here?" she sighed. "It's the Ghost King Tournament. It'll have three rounds of one on one battles between eight contestants, and the final winner will be the new ghost king." She pointed down at the arena, where the ghost cops were now working on freeing the defeated contestants from ice. "That was a preliminary round. There'll be eight, with contestants randomly divided between them, and the last ghost standing at the end of each preliminary round will be one of the eight contestants."

Tucker nodded. "Okay. Thank you. That helps a lot."

The woman stood, dusting herself off. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go discuss this with someone who actually cares how it turns out."

Tucker turned back to Sam as the other ghost turned away, finding her having some debate about ghost races with a dangerous-looking ghost to her left. Tucker pulled her away from him. "Sam, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Sam looked like she was about to fire some final word at the large ghost behind her, but Tucker yanked her away into the crowd before she could.

Tucker grabbed her face in his hands. "Sam, that blob ghost Phantom is really powerful."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "We're not leaving."

"What do you mean?" Tucker glared at her. "What are we even doing here then? Putting our lives in danger for curiosity's sake?"

Sam grabbed his shoulders, holding him away from her. "Look, we may not be sure exactly what's important about what's going on, but this tournament is a huge deal. Seeing it could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Tucker started to respond, but Sam interrupted him. "Plus, how much danger can our lives be in if we've somehow been sponsored by the Observant boss or whatever it was that police officer ghost said?"

Tucker frowned. "What was that about, anyway? Why would some important ghost want us here?"

Sam let go of Tucker and started tapping her chin. "I think the ghost mentioned that it was because we're the future ghost king's friends. But we don't have any ghost friends. Do you think it's some kind of mix-up? Did we actually fool them?"

Tucker shrugged. "Yeah. I don't know. It's weird." He straightened. "If we're not the right people, then... what'll happen when they find out the truth?"

Sam cringed. "So we might be in a little danger. Okay. Still, it's not like we'll ever get another chance like this."

Tucker curled in on himself. "I don't know. I don't like it. I feel like we're getting in way over our heads, Sam. We're supposed to be having a hangout with Danny right now! What are we going to tell him when we get back if he's been there waiting for us now?"

Sam pulled out her phone. "Do we have service—? No. Yeah, um. Okay. How about we compromise. If things start going south, if somebody tries to hurt us, we leave. Okay?"

Tucker rolled the idea around in his head. "Okay. Fine. I mean, yeah, I'm curious too." He shuffled awkwardly. "Do we have to watch all the prequalifying fights though?"

Sam smiled in relief. "No, we can probably find some hallway to hang out in 'til the one-on-one fights start. Thanks, man."

Tucker smiled wryly. "I'm the one who gets to call if things are getting too dangerous, 'kay?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Fine."

The two of them walked up towards the top of the audience seating, looking for an exit to somewhere else. The next pre-round was about to start, and it'd be better to get out of the way before things got exciting again.

Tucker worried there wouldn't be anywhere to go since most ghosts got around by flying, but thankfully they were able to find an exit to some hallways that could easily be reached by foot. Was this place based off of a human colosseum? Or was it originally built by humans? It'd be pretty interesting if the places in the ghost zone were the ghosts of places from the real world too.

The hallways weren't completely quiet and still had a fair number of ghosts milling about, but it was significantly more peaceful back here than out in the audience.

Sam and Tucker started strolling aimlessly down the hall.

"You know," Sam said, "If you don't want to be here, I could drop you off back at the Fentons' with the Speeder. You don't have to be here with me."

Tucker snorted. "Yeah, right. I'm not leaving you here in some deep part of the ghost zone all alone."

Sam smirked. "I guess it is kind of nice having you here too."

They found a bench and sat down. "Too bad Danny's not here," Tucker said.

Sam leaned back, stretching her arms above her head. "His fault for being so late," Sam said. "Plus, he hasn't been that interested in ghost stuff anyway. Any time I try to talk about that blob ghost—Phantom—he's always changing the subject."

Tucker frowned, thinking.

Sam glanced at him. "What?"

"Why is it always us who see Phantom? It's not like it’s rare for the little guy to show up, but Danny's never been there when he does."

Sam tilted her head. "Well, huh." She frowned down at the floor. "Is he avoiding Phantom on purpose?"

"But how would he know when Phantom was gonna show up?" Tucker asked.

"I mean, whenever a ghost shows up for it to fight? I have noticed Danny taking bathroom breaks often when that happens." Sam tapped her fingers.

Tucker stared down at his shoes. "Correct me if I'm wrong. But didn't Danny always leave before the ghost would show up?"

"Oh." Sam nodded. "I mean, that makes sense. I was trying to remember why teachers would let him leave if a ghost was there. Makes more sense if he'd left before."

"Weird," Tucker said, folding his arms.

A flash of green zipped by at eye-level.

Tucker and Sam launched up from their seats. "Phantom!" Sam cried, dashing after him, and Tucker followed quickly after.

Phantom was far faster than the two humans were on foot, even when he was having to slow down to take turns in the narrow hallway. Soon enough they'd lost sight of the blob ghost, but kept tracing his path by asking nearby ghosts which way they'd seen him go.

Eventually they wandered their way down to a basement story, where there was some kind of ghost gym (it looked pretty similar to a human gym except that some things were floating). Phantom was visible repeatedly tackling a sandbag with enough force to send it swinging wildly, and the ghosts near him kept giving him nervous glances.

Sam strode up to the blob ghost and said, "Hey, Phantom!"

"AH!" the blob ghost jolted to a halt with an adorably high-pitched shriek.

Yeah, okay, Tucker was no longer scared. He walked up to the ghost and stood next to Sam.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," Sam said with alarming respect towards a tiny creature with such an adorable voice.

Tucker coughed, trying to regain his composure.

Phantom muttered something about how he wasn't startled, and was Tucker imagining things or was his face a darker shade of green? Anyhow, "Well, what is it?" Phantom asked.

Sam drew herself up and cleared her throat with a level of professionalism that made Tucker wonder what was about to come out of her mouth. "As the ambassadors from the humans to this auspicious occasion, we'd like to ask you a few questions about you and this event."

Phantom scoffed. "You two are ambassadors? From what government? No one sends ambassadors to the ghost zone!"

Tucker glared at Sam with the intensity it'd take to telepathically call her an idiot for thinking that would work again.

"Uh," Sam continued. "Well, from America. We're the kids of the president!"

How far are you going to push this? Tucker telepathically glared.

Sam glanced at him and finally noticed his glaring and gave him a telepathic I dunno, man.

Phantom dipped down low in a mock bow. "Oh, my apologies, Princess Samantha." He froze.

"How'd you know her name?" Tucker asked.

"I- uh- I heard it? From someone? Didn't you mention it?"

"No?" Tucker said in bafflement.

"Uh, well, I think my fight is about to start!" Phantom gave a laugh that sounded very fake and anxious. "BYE." The blob rocketed out of the room.

There was an awkward silence in the gym as the other ghosts stared after Phantom. "I don't think they're even done with the pre-rounds yet," one of them muttered.

After a minute, the ghosts started going back to their exercising. Sam and Tucker looked at each other. "Is it just me," Sam began, "or did Phantom know a lot about the human world?"

Tucker frowned at the floor. "Maybe he died recently? And how did he know your name? Do we know him?"

Sam inhaled. "Something felt familiar about the way he talked. I can't put my finger on it."

Tucker shrugged. "He hurried away pretty quickly. Seems like even if we did know him, he doesn't want to talk to us."

Sam folded her arms. "Or he doesn't want us to find out."

...

If Danny was lucky, Sam and Tucker would write off that interaction as just weird and awkward and forget all about it. And then they wouldn't bother him anymore, and they'd never have to find out that he had secretly passed halfway into the afterlife in the most embarrassing way possible.

Danny was not lucky very often.

Still, he was trying to put it out of his mind. He had to be focused when it came time for his first battle. It would stink if he lost in the first round.

"Welcome to the first round of the Ghost King Tournament! Behold our first two contestants: Phantom the Blob and Skulker the Hunter!"

Both contestants entered the ring, and Danny saw who he was fighting. Was that a mech? His opponent looked like a robot. Maybe he was operating it through possession.

Skulker gave a condescending smirk. "I usually don't waste my time with common prey, but I'll make an exception this once." He lifted his arms, which unfolded into a gun. "Make this interesting for me, whelp."

Danny dodged away from the blast, hissing. "Since when are we allowed to use outside tools in this fight?!"

Skulker glared. "This mech is as much a part of me as any other ghost's power." He raised his arm cannon for another shot.

Danny dodged easily again, but the shots looked powerful enough that he didn't fancy getting hit by one. He should make this quick.

Danny tapped into his second core, pulling forth the power of space. He opened his mouth, letting loose a miniature black hole.

Crowd members shouted as they started being pulled towards the battle. Danny's eyes widened. Oops. He hadn't thought about that. With some focus, Danny managed to create a shield around the arena, stopping the force being exerted on the crowd and eliciting some relieved breaths.

Skulker, though, was still struggling against Danny's hole's gravity. Danny floated lazily beside it, waiting for it to do its work. Starting to look panicked, Skulker fired another blast at Danny but it curved into the black hole harmlessly. Skulker gave a cry of dismay as his arm gun broke loose and was consumed by the black hole. Danny smiled smugly.

"What are you?!" Skulker huffed as he pressed himself up against the wall.

Danny sneered. "I'm a ghost, just like you!"

Skulker looked terrified. "Blob ghosts can't do things like this."

"I can," Danny answered darkly.

The black hole grew in size, and Skulker's armor started ripping away piece by piece. He shrieked, trying to hold onto his breastplate, but it flew out of his grip. Skulker finally gave a last ditch effort to lunge at Danny with a set of blades, but Danny dodged easily and started firing his own ecto-shots to slice off whatever weapons he could see.

After another second, Skulker's entire silhouette seemed to break apart and fly towards the black hole. Danny yelled, zipped over and consumed the black hole before it could destroy the ghost.

He hovered there panting.

That. Had been too close.

Skulker's robotic limbs lay scattered across the arena. Danny was suddenly aware of how quiet the audience was.

He floated forward in dread. Nothing was moving.

"...Skulker?" Danny pleaded, drawing close to the disembodied head.

It broke open, and Danny screamed.

"Hey! Shut up! You won, okay?"

Danny froze.

Inside the opened robotic helmet was... another blob ghost. Kind of skinnier than Danny, with shrimpy little limbs. He sat up and glared. "I hope you're happy."

The audience burst into murmurings. Danny heard snippets again of what they were saying, accusations of cheating again, of collaboration, miscellaneous trash talk about blob ghosts.

Danny floated away from the blob ghost that was apparently the real Skulker. He hadn't killed him. That was good. Still, he'd probably need to be more careful with his powers in the next battles.

...

"Another blob ghost! Of course. Finally, something that makes sense. Of course a blob ghost could beat a blob ghost."

The ghost beside Tucker started laughing rather hysterically as pandemonium continued in the audience around them.

Tucker turned to Sam. "Did you see that?"

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific, Tuck," Sam responded.

"At the end there, after Phantom got rid of the black hole," Tucker said. "It looked like he was breathing. Panting."

Sam gasped. "You're right. And the black hole? Space powers?"

"Who's one of the people we know who's most likely to accidentally call you by your name? Your nickname?" Tucker said, feeling thoughts piece together in his mind.

He and Sam stood up as one and bolted out into the hall.

"What does it mean? It doesn't make sense!" Tucker called after Sam.

"I don't know! But we're going to get answers." Sam shot back over her shoulder as they ran.

The two of them pounded down a staircase, dashing down the hall and past a couple security guards. They yelled after them but were ignored by Sam and consequently by Tucker.

They reached their destination: the door where Phantom would come out after the battle. There he was, just about to head off down the hall.

"Phantom!" Sam called at the same time as Tucker yelled "Danny!" All three of them froze.

Tucker gulped. "I, uh. Wasn't planning to call you that."

Phantom swooped closer and bit Sam and Tucker's backpacks to drag them hurriedly into an empty side room.

He pushed them in and wrenched the door closed.

"You can't be yelling weird stuff in the halls at me," Phantom snapped in a voice that Tucker was now distinctly aware sounded almost exactly like Danny on helium. "I don't know who this Danny is, I don't know anything about him. What do you two want?"

Sam started spouting out their handfuls of evidence at the blob ghost's annoyed face, but Tucker started to tune her out as his mind whirled. This ghost was acting exactly how Danny would if he was annoyed, or even more like if he was pretending to be annoyed but was really trying to hide something.

"...Did you come from him?" Tucker said softly, almost not even aloud. "Were you born when Danny had that accident with the ghost portal?"

Phantom froze, looking at Tucker in alarm.

"Or... no, you were breathing back there, like a living human. Wait, and why-- you--" The pieces snapped into place. "You are Danny."

Phantom started to pull back, eyes wide and scared.

"Tuck?" Sam spoke softly.

"That's why you didn't show up this morning," Tucker breathed, piercing the ghost with his gaze. "Because you had the tournament to go to. It's why you've kept leaving class before ghosts show up and why you're late for things and busy so often these days. Because you're Danny. You're Phantom."

It all made sense in Tucker's head, but spoken the ideas sounded almost ridiculous. Almost, because Phantom looked far too alarmed. Like Tucker was right.

Sam gave a weak laugh, glancing searchingly between Phantom—Danny and Tucker. "What?" she asked.

Danny shrank down towards the corner. "I... I didn't... not like this..."

"What?" Sam asked desperately. "He's right? You-- Danny?"

Danny curled down further.

That was all the answer Sam needed. "What happened to you?"

Danny couldn't look at them. "The ghost portal half killed me. So I'm part my human me, and part... this."

Why didn't you tell us? Tucker wanted to ask, but he knew the answer. "And you were too embarrassed to tell anyone."

Danny nodded. "Nobody respects my ghost form. I wanted to use this tournament to prove to everyone that I'm not just some tiny cute ghost."

"Can we go back to the part where you're dead," Sam said dazedly.

Tucker ignored her. "So were you gonna tell us about this after winning?"

Danny tilted thoughtfully. "I dunno. Maybe."

Sam blinked. "I mean. Do you really need to do all this? I mean everybody already knows that you're crazy powerful, even if you're also kind of ado—" Tucker smacked her.

"For the record, this doesn't change how we see you, man. You don't have to win some crazy tournament for us to know you're cool." Tucker put out a fist for a fist bump before awkwardly remembering that Danny currently was a blob and had no fists.

However, Danny hovered up off the floor and gave a little smile before headbutting Tucker's fist. Tucker couldn't stop a little laugh from escaping. He was so squishy!

And adorable.

But he would die before saying that out loud again.

Chapter 3

[pokepollsters]

Best Pokémon Gym Leader Tournament- Round 1: Match 7

It's a Water type showdown! Let's get started.

An artist, and lover of water, Wallace has not just served as Sootopolis' Gym Leader, but also Champion of the Hoenn region! So finding himself seeded in spot 13 is not surprise. A man of elegance, he's the only Gym Leader to give out an HM upon defeat- in the generation 6 remakes he gives the player the HM for Waterfall. Wallace is also the only trainer to ever use the trainer class Sootopolitan! With all that makes him stand out, is he going to stand out in this match?

Nessa, the Raging Wave, is a force to be reckoned with! She landed herself in spot 20 after the preliminaries, and now faces down another Water type appreciator. She, like Flannery has inconsistently gendered pokémon, with a male Drednaw in her initial battle but a female one in subsequent matches. In Galar, she's a famous battler and model, and very popular, plus very competitive! Can that competitive streak win out today?

[overworkedblorbobattle]

Preliminary Poll 11: Doctor Who

[its-to-the-death]

Battle of the Gingers Wave 1 Preliminary Round #58

Whoever gets the most votes moves onto the next round

Pictures below the cut

Leo (Magic 7)

Sybil - Principesse dell'Alba (Principesse del Regno della Fantasia)

Karis (Cronache del Regno della Fantasia)

Dran (Cronache del Regno della Fantasia)

Mara (Un Oscuro Manto)

Teresa Valero (Contrapaso Los Hijos de Los Otros)

[best-kpop-song-tournament]

What is the best kpop song?

Please vote for which song you think is better! If you haven't already, make sure to listen to both songs under the read more before voting.

Propaganda is encouraged, but please do not be negative towards the other song in doing so. This is meant to be a fun tournament! If you write propaganda in the text of your reblog (rather than in the tags), I will likely reblog it!

By the way, you can still nominate songs for the best japanese release tournament! This is the last week for nominations, so I can sort out preliminary polls and the like next week.

SNSD needed no Genie to make their wish of winning Round 1 Match 24 come true! If you voted for this song in Round 2, you weren't the Only One, which led to their victory! In Round 3, SNSD recieved much more Hype than Newjeans, giving them a solid win! Although it may still be summer, Touch My Body went out of season in Round 4. Genie must have used some magic to cause the perfect 50/50 split with Move in round 5! Representing the girls, Genie won against both Move by Taemin and View by Shinee, landing it a spot in the finals!

Genie is a 2nd gen icon! This song has all the bass and synth of early 2010's pop with a fun melody on top! Girl's Generation is an absolutely legendary group, and this song is no exception from that!

Shinee received a huge Wave of support in round 1 match 64 against Ateez! Then they proved that you don't need a newer song to be Hip when they won against Mamamoo in round 2! It seems like 2ne1 really aren't The Best- as Shinee's round 3 victory showed. (f)x's 4 Walls made it a fitting 4 rounds, but Lucifer was the one to move on! After 5 rounds, Gashina ended up leaving (the tournament), just like the subject of Sunmi's song. Round 6 saw Infinite and Shinee Chase[ing] the finale spot, but by just 1% Lucifer pulled ahead.

Shinee nation! Lucifer is Shinee's 2nd most viewed MV, and it was submitted twice to the poll! This iconic song is a bit dark and edgy but is still a huge bop even now!

[sonicroyalrumble]

Round 1, Wave 2, Match 5

Royal 'Corrupt' Hedgehogs (Sonic Underground) vs. Sally (AoStH)

Why should the triplets win?

Royal status: Rulers of Mobius

No propaganda submitted (preliminary winner)

Why should Sally win?

Royal status: Princess

No propaganda submitted (preliminary winner)

[best-kirby-character-tournament]

Preliminary Round Wave 1:

Scarfy (Kirby's Dream Land) vs. Dark Matter Blade (Kirby's Dream Land 2)

Music/theme:

Scarfy

Dark Matter Blade

The winner will be placed in the official bracket! The 5% rule will not be in effect for this round.