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courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years ago

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After much watching...I cut it down to 5 anime and 1 short.

Suppose a Kid… 1

I am not writing out that full title every time! Anyways, here’s the first “real” debut of winter 2021.

For some reason…this series reminds me of Pokemon. Probably how at the start, Ash tries to get along with Pikachu by doing all sorts of things like what Lloyd is doing here. (<- learnt protag’s name through synopses)

The name “Shouma” rang a bell and I was right – Shouma is voiced by Souma…Saito.

The Japanese title has “monogatari” on the end there…so it probably doesn’t fully translate into the English title.

These orange flecks in Lloyd’s eyes are kinda distracting…

Isn’t Kunlun in China, though…?

If this is just going to be Marie yelling…I don’t see why I should stay. (<- turned volume on for everything so far)

*facepalms* Lloyd is so dense…

That fight scene’s not very good…

…oh great. Selen’s fallen in love with Lloyd already…*sigh*

The missing princess is certainly going to be a plot point later.

Wow, that tiger looks impressive! If only they could’ve done that for the fight scene…

…oh great, Selen is a low-key yandere…

Didn’t Lloyd say he sucked at combat…? Anyways, I’m not keeping this. The designs are colourful and the tiger was good, but it’s meant to be a comedy and it’s not funny.

Hortensia Saga 1

Here for Ume! He’s voicing a guy called Defloitte Danois.

I-Is that CGI? So early on into the anime???

*a dude gets bitten into by the werewolf*…welp, at least this series isn’t afraid of its own gore.

I had a sinking feeling our real protag was Alfred…and I was right, according to the OP.

Huh? The song goes silent for a second near the end…what the heck?

The book appears to use English, albeit English so faintly inked in you can’t quite tell what language it is.

Alfred, governing Albert…? Isn’t that a bit redundant?

I swear all the female voices in this anime are squeaky as all get out…

All these high fantasy anime – or heck, any high fantasy series full stop – ever justify why the country is worth fighting for. It’s why I find war stories pointless and senseless.

You can tell from the voice and short stature “Marius” is Mariel…but she uses boku, which is why Alfred can’t really tell the difference. (Also, he wasn’t privy to the fact Mariel cut her hair.)

This almost smacks of a game tutorial. The CGI is still there…it’s not as bad as other examples I’ve seen, but you can tell it’s CGI when you look at it.

Roy’s kind of pretty, in a generic way.

A close-range archer! Ho, you’re kinda impressive yourself, Roy. (The feeling of a game tutorial has disappeared by this point.)

Hortense…of Hortensia…how confusing.

The scruffy guy you keep seeing with the dark hair is Defloitte. Keep an eye out for him for me, would you?

The ED seems to consist mostly of…anguished pop screams. *cringes slightly*

Anyways, this anime isn’t bad. It’s quite average though and its CGI could easily get worse.

Kumo Desu ga 1

…you know I don’t like 1st person cam, yeah?

…this is just Kumoko (as I’ve heard her being called) yelling so far…plus there’s quite a bit of CGI.

I like how the ED has an English overlay and the style they’ve used for it. The music, though…? Nah.

Wait a second? Millepensee? Shin Itagaki? That would explain the CGI!

“…a spider that just happens to have my memories.” – A butterfly dream, huh?

…well, at least this anime is well aware of the genre space it inhabits. Maybe you could say…it’s an isekai light novel, so what? *groans from the audience*

…well, you didn’t really “bring” your “brother’s” (?) corpse in case of an emergency, now, did you?

…welp, to have guts, you must eat guts. I guess that’s how it goes.

What’s a “skanda”?

This anime’s quite monologue-y (as expected of an LN). I can live with it, but I don’t know if it can carry the entire thing through the season.

…humans? Haven’t seen them almost all episode. What are they up to?

These designs sort of look like SAO’s. They’re not a dealbreaker yet, but they could be down the line…

This ED seems to take cues from Cop Craft’s OP (same studio). It also has some…“Aggretsuko rage”, I guess you could call it.

2.43 1

…Another confusing title, I see. I normally don’t do sports anime, but I’m here for Ume.

*sees the colour of the volleyball* - Basically anything volleyball has to collaborate with volleyball maker Mikasa, doesn’t it?

This anime seems to like putting characters’ thoughts on the screen for dramatic impact. The CGI is sort of visible, but not a dealbreaker.

I’d thought I’d heard of this OP artist before, but it turns out I haven’t.

This series has a nice sense of force. You see those moments where the ball squishes, or when Yuni presses against the wall without thinking? Those.

LOL, way to burn Yuni, Chika…

These transitions are a bit hard to detect. I think I like Akudama’s more overt ones more.

LOL, Dr Popper (sic).

The serves are nothing special. Haikyuu does the same thing from the episode I saw of it. (You know I don’t like Haikyuu, yeah? Dropped it after 1 episode because everything I heard the fans talking about caused me to connect the dots.)

The way Yuni blushes…it’s more than someone usually would, even if it is out of embarrassment. It may just be the entertainment I consume, but I could swear that’s going somewhere in more of a BL manner.

I get the feeling Chika has a bit of Virgo or Taurus in him somewhere. The sort of guy who nags at everyone to do stuff his way is probably like that.

Pocari Sweat (unaltered).

I gave myself dimples by puffing up my cheeks and poking them until they became permanent. I guess you can do the same thing with ambidexterity…?

For some reason, I can detect Chika’s jealousy when he discusses blocks and natural talent.

…wow, this anime is pretty serious for a volleyball anime.

The ED scene where the face is replaced with flowers is pretty creepy. Like Jigokuraku or something.

Cells at Work!! 1

What are these blob creatures you see in the OP, anyway…?

I think I remember reading something that the numbers assigned to the cells aren’t arbitrary – they’re hexadecimal colors, e.g. RBCs get shades of red as their numbers.

D’aww, Platelets warm the heart. They really do.

Platelets have a master…? I thought they were all just lil’ kids.

“What the cell’s going on?!” – Oh, I remember seeing a tweet about this. I love that pun! Kudos to whoever was responsible for that.

LOL, no. 4989 dancing in the background.

Hmm…those nets look like CGI.

…uh, I did not need that shot of the Megakaryocyte’s camel toe…that’s distubring.

Wait, Backward Cap is a she?!

Aw, lookit WBC being a dad. That’s cute.

Backward Cap = Ushiromae-chan.

Is that…a construction worker holding a giant pudding?!

Cells at Work Code Black 1

This anime is called “black” due to black companies. It’s Code Black to avoid being racist, I guess. I’m looking forward to it because it’s undoubtedly going to show a dark side to the main series…

…and there it is, the RBC complaining.

I assume OJT = on the job training.

I knew “pespin” (sic) was a typo. It’s pepsin.

Now that I’ve been working at customer service for two years (give or take COVID), I can see where the senpai RBC is smoothing over the relations.

…that also means I know where to suppress my emotions. I’m not a person who opens up to people easily without getting used to them, so people never see me as suitable for customer service anyway, but it’s the only experience I have so *shrugs*.

…oh gosh. I haven’t seen these words since…the time I was still learning biology.

…*sigh* Rookie RBC is worried about boobs.

The fact Senpai lost his iconic hat…is kinda sad, actually.

“Don’t let his resolve be for nothing.”

Hmm…does the male WBC from the main series wear black fingerless gloves?

I thought I’d heard of this artist before…but turns out I just can’t distinguish really autotuned artists from each other…(lel)

…and stuff goes ka-blam. It’s the spiritual successor to HypMic, even if I wasn’t asking for it. (LOL)

Back Arrow 1

…I heard you said “hot guys”? (Yes, I am predictable as all get out.)

What’s with that episode title…?

Stereotypes, eh? I kind of expected as much from the promo, but where’s the title character…?

…was that yuri fanservice? I can’t quite tell because it was the aftermath of an action scene, but I can see the shippers gearing up in my head.

…after a bit of waiting, there he is. Back Arrow himself. He kind looks like Takuto (Star Driver).

“I’m not trying to hide anything!” – Well, that’s…true.

…*sigh* Why do girls always have more feminine-looking mechs? (Plus this one has boobs…*sighhhhhhhhhhhh*)

So it seems mechs in this anime are the form of one’s conviction and they have skills along those lines, eh? An interesting concept.

…you do realise I abandoned an entire anime based on a joke about lucky underwear? However, this anime is so absurd and just keeps running with the joke that I just can’t say no to it. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from volunteering at a charity store, it’s that when it comes to selling stuff, you can’t say no to a lot of stuff…including selling potentially used underwear, so long as it’s not dirty or stinky.

Whoa! Those things break?!

Why does the title card mention the wall...?

Anyways, I…like it, surprisingly enough. Let’s keep going.

Back Arrow 2

…eh? Didn’t expect inflatable clothing, LOL.

I suspect Shu Bi is scheming something.

What’s the long thing…?

“…tomorrow might not come.” – A good reminder to have in these times of COVID.

Peath = Peace. (Heh. What a stupid name…*thinks about the name “Quattro Bajeena” suddenly* Okay, “Peath” pales in comparison to that.)

What is that creature that circles in the sky…?

I know this is meant to be a serious fight, but…that attacking guy’s hat seriously looks like a bamboo stalk and so I keep seeing it and trying not to laugh.

I only just now realised there’s CGI. CGI these days is getting much better than it used to be.

Tomozaki 1

LOL, Yontendo. It’s clearly Smash Bros + Nintendo Switch and the character designer was also around for Iroduku, so that’s why this style looks familiar.

…lemme guess, since this is a romance, it’s likely NONAME is Aoi. Or some other girl.

I would pay for a romance where it’s the girl building the guy up to be presentable, instead of a girl building other girls up to be presentable a la Ageha 100%.

Didn’t the anime show us Tomozaki reflecting to himself, though…?

“…rules working in combination.” - Well, there’s social norms (e.g. knock before entering a room), laws, contracts, societal standards (e.g. in Japanese society, you bow to others as a greeting or apology)…(continues to blabber on for a bit)

I think Aoi said something like “onitadaku”, but I’m not sure what the joke is there. Oni is in there, sure, but what’s the original phrase she’s playing off?

…LOL, it’s a good time to remind people to wear a mask.

LOL, Krout.

Anyways, this seems decent. I like how it’s going the way I want it to.

Tomozaki 2

“…make sure I’m nearby…” – Okay, that’s just being pushy, Aoi.

Minami and Hinami…so confusing…

*Minami chomps on Natsubayashi’s ear* - …okay, that’s not a thing girls do in real life unless they’re lesbians. This is likely trying to take the fanservice route.

They didn’t even show why the “kiss” was broken up…meaning they were doing it to make potential girl-on-girl look hot. Just great.

*Aoi touches Tomozaki’s butt* - Dude, that’s groping…

I didn’t think we’d get the story on Aoi’s “hexactly” so soon.

…well, that episode just made me feel mildly bitter. I’m dropping it here.

Praeter 1

…aw s***. Only a few seconds in and this looks like a terrible game…

It’s like someone barfed paint across Durarara…

The only time the background buildings look any good are when there’s a fight scene…

These Seals (or whatever those designs are called) seem to act like mini shields. Update: They’re called tattoos.

That transition was a bit fast for my liking…

Seems like the series is mildly peppered with Greek terms.

“To Infinity and Beyond” by…some author I can’t really read the name of.

Suddenly, they throw in more characters…?

Where does Eiji keep those bullet cases of his…? In his jacket?

Having a guy die in the 1st episode is cheap. I mean, we don’t quite care for him yet – it’s too early in the anime for that.

Now there’s Norse terms on top of the Greek ones…

Even more characters? You kidding me?

Lemme guess, Eiji gave up his tattoo because Yamato inspired him and now he’s a goner.

Welp, the weight of the world is in your hands, Yamato. Including that dead dude on your back. (<- sarcastic)

Sk8 1

I’ve been hearing good things about this anime! Let’s go! (<- about a week late to the debut)

That politician is probably relevant…probably someone’s dad, if HypMic taught me anything.

LOL, a beef. They call this stuff “beef”? Where’s the chicken? (<- joke from HypMic)

Haemanthus…apparently a flowering plant from S. Africa.

That’s rare, you don’t see Canadians in anime all that much. I was just thinking as I came home from volunteering how you know British people all have fancy names like William and Australians are Johnno, Danno etc., but Canadians? No clue. Update: Apparently you’d call one Arnold or something just as generic…?

Why are all foreigners in anime half-Japanese with the mother being the Japanese side, anyway?...Because people can make their character speak Japanese while looking foreign. Right. Moving right along.

Ahh…I understand your plight all too well, Reki.

…Hmm. It seems Reki’s surname is written kiya, but read “Kyan”. His name literally translates to “history (calendar/age) of bravery (military might)” Update: Turns out his surname is 3 characters (read “kiyan”, although I’ve never seen that final character ever being read as “n”) and his first name is one, so his first name is just “history (calendar/age)”.

Even I suck at balancing on bikes and stuff (…yeah, I still can’t ride a bike even though I’ve done so many other things in my life) and I know you have to support yourself with one foot on the ground before you do things like trick flips. I may not have observed Tony Hawk all that much, but he was on the periphery of my knowledge.

“What’s your hourly wage?” – Ouch, I feel ya, Langa.

Koko ni netete actually means “Lie down here”, but…okay.

These eyecatches are cute.

That’s a cute fox.

Yikes! 60 mph = approx. 97 km/h!!!

Random umeboshi, LOL.

Aghhhhhhhhhhh! Cherry Blossom’s so pretty~! I love him already!

Thank you, based Bones!

Something that can be enjoyed, even without sound: this is why I enjoy both action and comedy anime!

Okinawa? We’re in Okinawa?

Well, that was cool! I didn’t even ask where the location was until the end. Update: Why is this anime sometimes called Sk8 the Infinity anyway…?

Horimiya 1

Horimiya…I’ve been aware of this series for a while. There’s even a Chinese volume of it at a library close to me, although due to contact tracing I haven’t bothered to check it out.

Oh, I bet Hori is the otaku!

Ooh, Marketing Script!

Because I’ve been behind on the premieres, I’ve seen enough to know this boy with the chain is Miyamura.

…argh! Miyamura is cute! Y’all were right!!! (<- likes blushing bois)

I bet there’s going to be an emergency meeting!

“Sorry, it’s egg time!” – Oh, I’m laughing so hard! So that’s the context behind the Wonder Egg Priority meme!

“…see these?!” – Well, it’s not like you have a tattoo or some-*Miyamura shows his tattoos* Never mind…

Oh, I just realised they even animate the minute movements of the eyes Miyamura does…cool.

Notice how Miyamura is blocked from the other guy due to the window.

Miyamura goes “Ishikawa-kun” but “Hori-san”…hmm. No wonder he’s letting Ishikawa get Hori.

The problem I find with romance series is that they’re generally tied to heteronormativity. Hori is coded with red silhouettes and Miyamura with blue…*sigh* Whatever happened to gender ambiguity?

Good heavens, what is up with this ED?! It looks like Pocoyo! (…Does anyone else know that cartoon…?) Aside from that quibble, this anime is great though.

Mushoku Tensei 1

Apparently this is the grandad of all isekai. Why it took so long for an anime of this…who knows?

…and of course this guy’s a loser virgin. Go figure.

*sighhhhhhhhh* He’s just ogling this woman’s boobs…

…oh, sorry. I was so distracted by the man candy, I didn’t care about Rudy.

I-It’s actually quite refreshing to not have an OP protagonist from the get-go for once. (Or maybe I’ve developed such a disdain for isekai since SAO rolled around that everything here suddenly feels fresh.)

You can see the birthplace of isekai without having watched any of the others right here, it looks like.

“…what’s the point of incantations?” – To make it easier for you to cast spells, I gue-spoke too soon.

…wow, they shamelessly showed off Rudy’s privates. I know he’s still young at this stage, but that reminds me of how I dropped Dragon Ball around the time Goku was shown the same way (which is…very early on, by my own admission).

I believe, based on the name of the spinoff I see in the 7 Seas emails, the magic tutor is called Roxy.

You’re thinking about marriage?! At your (reincarnated) age?!

Oh no! The tree again!

LOL, Rudy’s acting like a kid who’s been in COVID lockdown for a while.

I think what most of the isekai that spun off from here missed is that the loser is job age. Losers at life at job age are relatable and high school geniuses are relatable (albeit sometimes insufferable), but losers who become NEETs for no reason whatsoever and then get banged up by Truck-kun are not.

Anyways, this was good, but a risky kind of good, since it seems like this male gaze will continue to be around as Rudy gets older.

Update: Dropped after learning Rudy was a paedophile in his past life.

Update 2: Apparently the anime toned down this paedophilic tendency of Rudy’s, so...now the verdict is that I move on while I let other people tell me if this is true of the anime or not.

Kemono Jihen 1

“Kemono Jihen” means something like “creature incidents”. I wonder why Funimation didn’t change the name…?

Kabane means “summer wing”.

Kanoko Villa, I’d assume, is named after the deer (the name means “deer’s child”).

My experience with Sho Aimoto (creator of this manga) is reading a bit of Hokenshitsu no Shinigami. (That, by the way, reminds me of Nube, but it’s nothing spectacular.) However, Hokenshitsu no Shinigami has a very detailed artstyle…That’s why I’m pretty shocked Kemono Jihen has such a scratchy one…

Ooh, edamame!

Oh, I see…this is like Furuba or a werewolf story, huh? Rather than a Natsume Yuujincho sort of thing.

…I thought Inugami and Dorotabo had seen everything of each other because of bathing together…I guess not, then.

…is Yataro going to die?

It seems the “immortal demons” are oni, so…why subtitle them as “immortal demons” and not just “demons”?

Ohhhhhhhh…this shite’s good. It seems to have a throwback feeling to it, moreso than even Yashahime or a lot of the sequels I’ve seen recently.

Cells at Work!! 2

I was going to move right along to Wonder Egg Priority because I’m really behind on the debuts right now, but I accidentally opened this up while I was cleaning up so I might as well watch another episode or two before setting it aside.

He’s dead, Jim. (<-joking)

…gosh, these walls look like Hover all over again and that’s from 1995…

LOL, these background cells don’t even have any details. They’re basically stick figures with fat bodies…

I think that phrase that appeared, “Take good care of B Cell!”, may be a pun on Give My Regards to Black Jack (written with similar Japanese, “B Cell wo Yoroshiku!” vs. “Black Jack ni Yoroshiku!”).

LOL, “you sure have the guts”…while they’re in the guts.

The certificate says something about it being presented to someone in the face of bravery, I think (<- just looked at it briefly).

“You have a good head on your shoulders,” says the T cell as WBC struggles with the disguise…stuck on his head.

Wonder Egg Priority 1

I’ve been hearing this series is surreal, but no more surreal than Flip Flappers. So…I don’t know if I’ll like it or not.

What’s this K?(?96…?

There’s a sunflower on her raincoat…so that’s why I saw a post called “You’re the sunflower”. Personally, that just reminds me of Post Malone.

Those Seeno Evils…they’re CGI, aren’t they?

As Boueibu once said (but I may be paraphrasing here), “nothing is more scary than free”.

…to be honest with you, I haven’t had a best friend for at least 2 years now. I only really feel close to people who are like me and who I have sustained contact with over many years, so I end up cutting contact with people after we part ways and never trying to fix it.

I always find it slightly absurd when anime girls get a little pudgy and go, “I’m so fat!” (See, for instance, the Dumbbell series.) Or, in this case, Ai’s going, “I’m so ugly!” when there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s only a bit different from everyone else due to her heterochromia - she doesn't have any physical or mental difficulties.

IChu 1

Here for Ume and, of course, dem bois. Bring it!

I seem to remember one of the magazines called an “Ichu” “an idol egg” (i.e. a fledgling idol)…More egg puns for me, then.

I found him! Ume! He’s Akira Mitsurugi! Update: Turns out that’s Toshiyuki Toyonaga…Oops. (Ume is actually Lucas from I*B.)

Huh? For a second, I imagined Akira with a dubbed voice. Of course, I could only be dreaming, because idol anime normally don’t get dubs, but…it was interesting to think about.

LOL, “Onsta”.

This Akio-type character is popular lately. The sort who’s timid but has an outstanding talent they themselves might not see.

…uh, but Kocho means “Principal”…?

An idol bear?!

Torahiko is crazy…(Note the tigers. Tora = tiger.)

Specifically, that’s black coffee with no sugar.

As much as I want to keep watching this, I’ll hit pause on it here. There’s much better offerings this season.

YuruCamp s2 1

…grandpa’s writing is so…neat.

*glares at CGI car…*

This OP just doesn’t compare to Shiny Days, y’know…?

OOPArts.

Talking pine cones! They’re back!

Curry rice! Literally had some of the Japanese-style stuff the other day. It was great.

All this talk about jobs…I personally don’t like jobs because I like to work at my own pace (hence one reason why I’m working on being a translator), but…money…I’m jealous, girls.

I’m trying not to rely on the subs for those texts that appear on the screen so that I can keep my reading skills up…I kept up with them for the most part…but then I got distracted by the croquette sign at one point…

“…buy you some local food?” – That’s omiyage, normally translated “souvenirs”. “Local food” actually does make more sense in that gap, though.

…man, I’m jealous that the girls all got jobs suitable for their personalities and everything. Lil’ ol’ antisocial me sucks at retail, even after 2 years.

Design-bu 1

LOL, that man and his bunny. Update: That’s Unabara-san.

…geez, these utaite are everywhere now. I’ve seen 96neko, USSS, Eve and more being more central to anime song creation…

Thise characters in the OP seal (<-the stamp, not the animal) are saiyou, meaning “recruited”, or in this case, “accepted”.

OEM = original equipment manufacturer.

Hrm…you can tell it’s a giraffe by description, but…that “base everything on the horse” is interesting as you could count several things as horse derivatives. Also, the angels’ names are all standard Japanese names with natural components to them (Ueda = upright rice field, Shimoda = frost rice field etc).

Is this pink-themed guy…a guy? Or a crossdresser? Update: That’s Kanamori-san.

I like how the suits have little wing-like flaps. Also the wings on Shimoda’s back.

…I never thought an anime episode would make me so concerned about giraffes.

That guy in the green I remember from the Wave x Tendebu (Heaven’s Design Team) collab, his name is Kimura.

Oh, so there is a bird like that!

The random wiggling the chibis do in these short segments…it’s a bit disorienting. (<-Just a small quibble of mine.)

Oh! Galapagos effect!

Agonistic: “polemical; combative.” I thought they meant “antagonistic”.

Oh man, that punch line was great! It took me a while to get into the spirit of it, but this anime is great!

Update: Oh, that’s where those nature names come from! They’re actually meant to be gods! (Or…named after gods…?) Also, Ueda vs. Shimoda (the “shimo” could be the kanji for “below”).

Ex-Arm 1

I’ve heard this anime looks bad…even well before its debut. How bad? Let’s find out.

*stifles laughter* From the first pan, I know this anime is doomed on my list. Even Praeter was better than this!

*stifles laughter again* This OP really does look as bad as the stuff I was seeing prior to winter 2021! Like a game I shouldn’t take out of my archives! (It’s not as bad as Hover’s graphics, but still…that’s from 1995. Cut it some slack.)

That’s the 2nd Kimura this season…

Yugg is just…ugly. Never try to render elaborate eyelashes in CGI again, people.

Dimension High School was better than this because at least that had puzzles. This is even jankier than that!

Wait, why is Akira 3D when his dad is 2D? It’s not that obvious, but I notice these things. Update: That’s not his dad…but close enough. (That’s his brother.)

…and here comes Truck-kun! (LOL)

This would be good…if it weren’t rendered in the jankiest CGI known to man…

Alma’s gun strike doesn’t have a lot of force to it.

The fire is rendered so terribly…*stifles laughter*

This part with a disembodied Akira is what I assume I got up at 6 am for…but I can’t hear it, due to background noise. Remind me to confirm this later. (Minami’s mouth is rendered so terribly…augh.)

No force to any of these recent motions, either.

LOL, this censorship.

Wave 1

Ever since this project was announced, I’ve been watching developments unfold on Anime News Network. I knew it would get an anime or something similar I could follow…and now here I am. I mentioned in the Sk8 comments I have basically zero knowledge of surfing, so…this is very unexpected, in one sense.

Was that a drone…?

“Wizard of the Waifu Board”?! Are you kidding me?! (LOL)

There seem to be shots where I can see the CGI here, but…anything’s better than Ex-Arm. Let’s say that.

Actually…yappe is a derivative of yabai, meaning “cool” or “crap” (in an ironic sense). So it would probably be better to translate it as “Surfing’s the greatest!” or “Surfing’s the coolest!” Anyways, what I was thinking before I was going to say this was that the waves are so enticingly animated, it feels like a summer anime. Basically the only other anime I’ve ever said that for is Grand Blue.

If I’m understanding where Isokichi’s name comes from right, “iso” is the character for seashore or a rocky beach (磯).

LOL, the teacher just wrote “Show must go on.”

Hayama, Kanagawa. Kanagawa’s capital is Yokohama, so it’s not quite Tokyo, but somewhat close.

“Murphy”? I have zero clue what that means.

Oh, I see. The title is translated that way due to context. Now that I can accept.

I just burst out into laughter when I realised Nalu hasn’t dropped or put down his ukulele once.

BSD Wan! 1

Here comes my past to haunt me…aside from me being a fan of BSD, I’m here because I influenced this series. How so? Once upon a time in the now-distant year of 2016, I was a scanlator for a brief period. Most of the work I’ve done hasn’t influenced the world at large, but this is the most influential manga I had a hand in working on.

Oh no! They’re starting with the dog AU?! (That comes from pretty far into the manga, IIRC. Further than my work was on it, at least.)

It’s Rashomon, but Rashoken (that last bit means “dog”). Hence Ruffshomon.

Basically, they just insert dog-related words everywhere…don’t make me explain every one!

Ouch, I can only imagine how much pain it was to translate Inu Shikkaku. Literally, it’s “No Longer a Dog”, but how would anyone make it in line with the other puns…?

I wasn’t fully aware of how the dog AU was connected to the main Wan series because I haven’t really looked at it after I quit due to aggregators, but…that was a nice fakeout. Also, I was concerned as to whether this was going to be a full-length ep or a short…seems like it’s a 10 minute short, so I have more chances of taking it.

…oh gosh, that pose! I remember it! I worked on this one! (Now that I know it’s a TV short, I won’t cover future episodes, but I want to at least finish this one because I started it.)

I think they added a bit there. I remember Kunikida’s and Yosano’s were in the manga, but not the other members or Fukuzawa going “the wind is smiling” + Kenji working on the roof at the start.

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I remember Rampo. I think I had to approximate how he would say stuff with Pocky in his mouth, but Slug (current scanlator) went the extra mile and stuck food in his mouth to do the same panel.

It seems to make a short ep., they strung a bunch of the chapters together. Also, I don’t think we ever found out what Yosano’s puddle was and that was…probably for the better.

Oh yeah…I think I remember this one.

Now I remember it! I remember having fun explaining what a youkan was.

Whoa, Higuchi scrapped the SFX! That wasn’t in the original…

The ED seems to be an Atsushi cover of Namae wo Yobu yo.

Oh noooooooooooo! The flower gazing episode! That’s the one I remember most, because I was trying to figure out how to translate 移動 while making it smooth-sounding English…(I remember the final result was something like, “Move! Move~!”

Dr Stone: Stone Wars 1

Final debut! Let’s go~!

The last time this series was on the air was about 1 year ago. I can remember that far back…

I like how that recap is framed as Gen talking to the kids.

Senku overcomes every problem with science.

…not much to comment on here.

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ask-the-friendly-ink-demon · 6 years ago

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Terrors Of The Inky Past Prologue Part 2- New Life

A/N: hereee is part 2 of the four part prologue to my au!, sorry that this is coming out slightly longer than i intended it to be, i honestly didint know what else to put onto here, but yeah, sorry if this sounded like it doesn't make sense, making this took a real toll off of me while being sick, and i shouldn't even be on here while im sick af but oof i needed to finish this cause i need to at leash do something about my au oofs. also, this was made in april 11th and finished on may 21st

"if one were to perish within battle or were to die in a accident, how would you all feel? would you feel upset, sad, or even angry? what if it was a loved one? what if it was someone you really care for? what if.... you could bring them back from the dead with a little help...?" --- White, white and bright lights were all that he could see, he covers his face as he groans, the figure emitting a "ughhhh..." as he looks around, seeing a tall but lanky figure, the taller figure turns around, and knelt down to the other's level, and held out it's hand, the smaller average size figure looks down at the hand, and then back at the other, before slowly reaching out, and taking the other's hand, the tall lanky figure smiled as the two were fused into one, followed by a slow flashing explosion, Henry wakes up with a loud gasp as he jolts from bed, sweating as he held his chest, breathing as he pants, he looks at himself, his eyes widening "W-wait... w....what.... hap-" he turns around to see the door opening, and his eyes widen at who he saw, a familiar figure, a woman in her early 30s, having dark colored hair, with blue teal eyes, and having a gown on, Linda yawned as she rubbed her eyes "Henry...? why are you up so ear- huh?!" she was cut off by the other hugging her tightly, henry, softly whimpered as linda looked, and felt like she understood "Hey... hey it was only a nightmare okay?" she said as she rubbed his head "come on, you don't wanna be like that for the studios tomorrow right?" she said as henry's eyes widen, "wait... studio?" he asked as she nodded "yeah, remember? you promised joey you'd help him with something about bendy?" she asked as henry blinked, before a foggy memory opened up in his head as he rubbed his head "uh, yeah, yeah um what time is it?" he asked as she looked at the clock "oh! well you woke up from your nightmare just in time, the studio opens in a few hours, should be enough time for you to get ready!" she said as henry nodded, before he broke the hug, and watched her walk off to get ready for her own job, as henry can finally breathe as he rubs his own head, he feels like his whole body was hurting "ughhhh...." he groans as he rubs his own head, he decided to see if he looked any different, he shrugged and decided to see if anything was different, taking a moment as he walked into the bathroom, he decided to look at himself in the mirror, and he stares at his own reflection in shock. he noticed that he looked much younger than before, maybe around his late 20s, he noticed how he had a light stubble and brownish colored hair, with a orange like color near the top of it, even his hair color was different than he remembered, including his eyes, they were a nice, calm peaceful shade of green, he also looked more taller than he remembered, being around 5'7ish feet, though he somehow knew he was gonna get much taller in the near future for some reason, he looks at his own body shape, it looked much more healthy and althetic than worn and tired like he was in the studio, he then began to think back to when he and bendy were fused together, he stares in shock as he remembers joey pulling the lever "he.... he used the failsafe... he did it on purpose..... im.... im the only one who knows what happen, i don't even know if joey even knows it or what he even looks like.... god.... god damn it" he rubs his own head, he should feel glad that he's not in the loop anymore but, he's not, he's gonna be right back in the studio BEFORE it went to hell, and before the toons even existed, but for some odd reason he just knows that today's gonna be different for him, he just has a slight feeling about it, none the less he decides to get ready to go to the studio as he starts to think about what exactly happened. a couple of hours later henry reached the studios, he looks to see the difference between that building and the house as he tries to think about what the different was... aside from the fact that it was a actual studios and not a story build place in a house, before he could even question it, he yelps as he felt someone touch his shoulder "oh! sorry there henry old chum!" a familiar voice said as henry turns around, and his eyes widen, standing there, was none other than joey drew, instead of the old frail man he saw with a wheelchair and cane, he was more younger, with smooth, but slightly messy jet black hair, he wore a blue shirr, with a red vest, and sported a bowtie, along with cartoon like gloves that he made himself, his pants were a brownish color, and his shoes looking fancy, overall he had a snazzy looking appearance with his dark jacket on him, it did'int help that henry could see his strange yellow dark glasses, overall he was a bit frighten to see a more younger joey, he noticed as he takes his glasses off, his green and purple colored eyes staring at him with a confused look as his eyebrows furrowed "you alright henry? i haven't seen you this upset ever since halloween, oh now that was a fun time! sammy sure scared you good did he?" he said as he chuckles a bit. The Cartoonist on the other hand, was far but joining in, he was shocked to see this, but he does raise his own eyebrows at that, before somehow a memory formed up on his head "oh.... heh yeah, sammy did scared me pretty good did he?" he said as joey seem to laugh "ya darn right he did! now come on pal, we got some work to do!" he said as he unlocked the door, and the two walked into the studio. henry was..... shocked to see the inside of the studio, the walls were different, and cleaner, and it seems to be more lively, and the joey drew's studio logo wasnt even there, it said instead "HENRY AND JOEY DREW'S STUDIOS" somehow, he smiled at that, he looks at the nice reddish color the walls had, and how the style of the wood seems to be more like a oak color, joey seems to notice "enjoying the style change henry? i knew ya would, wally and thomas are good at doing their job, but norman helped out with the new logo change, it was fun seeing all of them work together, getting along, you should of seen it" he said as henry looked over, nodding "yeah, it does look good, you and the others seem to really did a good job with it" he said as joey seemed to grin "Well we got some time to kill before the others get here, wanna see what wonders we can come up with today?" he said as the cartoonist nodded, while chuckling, actually slightly forgetting about why he was so scared in the first place "heh, sure then joe, let's see what we can find out today" he said as the two started to chat while walking, all while henry was attempting to see what other differences he could find in the studio. a couple of hours later have passed as some more people got in to do their jobs, henry greeted sammy and jack, who were chatting, before they noticed henry, sammy looked taller than almost anyone in the studio, having a height of 6 feet, his hair having a mix of brown and blonde, his blue eyes darting those henry as he putted his hands in his brown jacket's pockets, tapping his dark colored shoes on the ground as jack notices henry too, he was the shortest, and possibly the youngest, being around 19 years old, and having a height of only 5 feet, having messy brownish hair, and wearing a nice hat, his joyful green eyes beaming with joy as he smiles at henry, before the two both waved as henry went over to them, with sammy being the first to speak out, his voice giving henry some familiar vibes "heya there henry, your here early for a change?" sammy asked as the cartoonist shrugged, but nodded "i guess so, just giving you two a heads up that joey wanted all of us over for a meeting again" he said as he nodded, while jack groaned "again? why do we do these things?" he said, before henry chuckled, even though jack was around 19, his voice sounded so much like a 30 year old man sometimes so it was quite funny to hear jack speak sometimes, which is why he's mainly slightly mute. still though the animator shrugged "he makes the rules, not me" he said as the three went their own ways for now, henry still had some time to kill before the meeting start so he went off to find his work desk, it was right where he remembered it being, he looks off to see that there was no new room when he left, which he was kinda glad for, he tries to remember what else was going on as he sat down, and just started drawing, halfway throughout he stops as he felt someone pressed a hand on his shoulder "hey there pal" a familiar voice said as henry turns around, to see norman, his eyes silently widen as he looks the same as he remembered him before he left the studios, same tall posture, same black cloths, same grey like hair, and of course, the same blue and yellow like eyes he seemed to have, norman smiled "what's wrong? did i scare ya? i thought i tolds ya that i sees everything henry" he said as henry chuckled, before something recalled in his head, a memory from when he heard about the tape "THeY dOn'T eVeN kNoW WhEn Im WaTChINg, eVeN when Im RIgHt BEhIND thEm!" henry started shivering but he was snapped back to reality when norman snaps his own fingers. the African American stares with a worried look "you alright there pal?" he asked as henry started breathing, taking a deep breathe as he gives him a thumbs up with a nervous smile "j...just peachy..." he said as the other seemed to smile softly "Well what's ya working on?" he asked him as henry looked at what he was doing "just, drawing i guess" he said as he does some finishing touches "you know, i never could stand the actual design of that cartoon devil, i don't know he seems... well uh.... naked" he said as henry shrugged "joey came up with the idea, not me" he said as he hums a bit, with norman looking rather nervous "well... it's not my own place to judge but have you ever.... thought about giving the little guy more... jazz?" he stated, to which the other looked up, actually surprised "um... well.... no really...." he said as he remembered something "joey never liked the old concept design we made for bendy... but i did" he said as norman sighed "no no no not that, i mean something new! something... original almost!" henry's eyebrows raised but he was interested "like, think about this, we have a upcoming show that's been getting a lot of fans, the only thing that parents complain about is that he doesnt have any other clothes so... why not give him some?" he said as henry's eyes widen "...norman.... your a genius" henry said as norman grinned "i know i am~" he said as the two chuckled, and henry began his work. Throughout half the whole ordeal of the drawing, norman watched as henry did his best to make a new, original, design of bendy, with norman grinning as he noticed how excited henry was as he chuckled a bit, eventually the animator was finished with the design as he showed it to norman as he inspected it, and the African American's eyes widen in shock and amazement, the design surely was VERY different than the original, for starters bendy looked more taller than he did, and unlike the other design there were two things, one is that he had a neck, and a tail, and the other was that he had actual, colored clothing, it was a jet black hoodie, with a red hood to go with it as he noticed the different gloves, they sported a green color, and he also had blue jeans on as well, the thing that norman liked the best besides the smooth head and horn design, were the shoes, they looked like tapshoes, overall the design was perfect, and he even chuckled at the little bendy badge too, and he noticed the bowtie, which raised his eyebrow "huh? you still gave him the bowtie?" henry seems to rub the back of his head "w-well uh if i ever plan on showing this to joey it's gonna have at leash one thing from the original design yeah?" he said as norman shrugged, but laughed "i guess so, but over all, the design is perfect, and unique, it really looks original, and a perfect design for a perfect show" he said as henry seem to smile "you really think so?" he said as norman grinned "i don't think so henry, i KNOW so" he said to him as henry smiled, and he hugged norman, with the other smiling and returning the hug "thanks pal..." he said as norman chuckled "no problem, anything for a friend" he said as the two parted ways, with norman going back to do whatever he was doing, and henry to go show joey the design. As Henry went to joey's office, he noticed that the other was getting ready to say his speech, joey perks up seeing henry "ah! henry! what brings you here this early before the meeting starts?" he asked as henry seem to nervously smile "w-well uh mister d-d- i mean joey, i was, doing something and norman gave me a really good idea" he said as joey raises a eyebrow "oh? and what is this idea?" he asks as henry seems to gulp, as he shows him the design, with joey looking it over, from top to bottom, as he gives henry a look "henry, this..., this design is..... is..." he smiled "perfect!" he said as henry actually perks up "r-really?" he said as he smiled "of course it is! im glad that you decided to show this to me! maybe someday we'll have him wear this kind of outfit" he said as henry seems to nod, but flinch slightly, now a bit upset that joey was still going to use the original design that they both made together as the official "is that all you wanted to ask me? the meeting starts in a couple of minutes" he said as henry nodded, as he grabbed the drawing "yeah... that's all, see ya later boss" he said as he walks out, as joey ponders on the sudden change in his friend's behavior, but he shrugs it off, he had more important things to worry about right now as he hums a bit, looking over a picture of him and a young boy, as he softly frowns at it, before sighing, and picking up his glasses, putting them on as he goes to where the meeting will take place. Henry sat down next to wally as the others were already there, henry noticed shawn, who seems to be humming as he looks over at henry, and waves, as henry waves back, next he noticed grant and thomas who seem to be having some small talk, before he notices susie talking with sammy, henry seems to smile slightly, it was... nice seeing them not as monsters for a change, he didint know what failsafe joey used but... maybe he could get used to this lifestyle, before long everyone grew silent as joey entered the room and went to start his speech, it was pretty much explaining some changes here and there, some minor stuff, along with adding a amusement park soon to the studios, as well as expanding it, making it big enough to house a lot of things, he even went on to explain that someday, there will be actual toons roaming around the studios, throughout most of the speech only henry and wally noticed this but joey seemed to act, a lot more different during the speech his tone was different, and the way he speaking sounded like he was 100% all of this would happen, the cartoonist started to get slight flashbacks to the loops again as he grumbled softly, rubbing his head, before long the meeting was over as joey said he needed to do something, as the others went off to do their breaks, wally was having a conversation with henry "man im telling ya, mister drew seems to be acting a lot different lately, more than usual, it's like he was so sure that all of this would happen, now im not complaining but like, i don't this it's that healthly for him to be... well that much obessessed over it, what do you think henry..... henry?" he looked over to see that the cartoonist was day-dreaming, or more like thinking heavily, henry was recalling more 'memories' he was having from his new life, before wally snaps his fingers, “mister Jarvis, you don’t look too good are ya sure your alright?” henry’s thoughts went into reality after hearing wally’s voice, remembering that boris snapped his fingers at one point to break henry out of a trance in the studios, the young animator smiling slightly at wally “y-yeah im a-alright” he said as wally stares, confused “Ya sure…. you’ve been real quiet ever since joey announced this whole bringing to cartoons life thing… I mean the moment he said that it’s like you experienced it before” he said as henry suddenly froze again, remembering bits and pieces once again as he started shivering, wally noticing as he looked around “Uh…… henry?” he snapped his fingers “ay! come on! If ya keep on acting like this im outta here!” he said as henry blinked, he groaned as he rubbed his head, before wally seems to chuckle "hey uh, remember that one time during your daughter's birthday i dressed up like the easter bunny? she was out of her own freaking mind, im telling ya if she didint get off of me sooner, i would of been outta there!" he said as henry, softly chuckles, with wally grinning "see! all ya needed was a little laugh and a smile! im telling ya henry, this whole thing is strange but, it's nice to know im not the only one who sees it!" he said as henry nodded, before glancing off at the distance, wondering how on earth did he get a daughter, when he blinks, recalling that he had a daughter and a son before, when he looks back at wally with a blank look “im.. gonna take a break, tell joey im going home early” he said as he got up and walked off as wally blinks “h-hey wait joey never lets us walk out of here early!” he said as henry paid no mind, wally blinking before he sighed “man, sometimes he can be strange like mister drew... but im not complaining, he writes the checks" wally said as he took a sip from his coffee. After the small talk he had with wally, henry huffs softly as he walks through the halls of the studio, slightly trying to remember what was going on, he had very few memories of what happened during the last loop so everything was slightly a fuzz, he did remember a big blur, and then he was here, in a different year, and now in a different universe but… he still have some sort of memories from the loops, the cartoonist humming softly to himself as he putted his hands in his pockets, he was about to go to his desk, before he suddenly hears… crying? henry raised a eyebrow as he listened in to the crying, before his eyes widen, it was joey’s crying, he hurries over to the room and saw the man himself, in the ink machine room, holding a frail child covered in ink, he instantly knew who the child was as joey turned around, with tears in his eyes as he stares at henry, his eyes staring into his as henry saw how much sadness were in them. “h-h-he was a-alive h-henry… h-he w-was a-a-alive f-for 1-10 m-minutes h-henry….. h-he…. h-he remembered….” joey said, hiccuping while tears were streaming down his eyes, he wasn't wearing his glasses, and he had a smile on his face, a smile that matched more akin to bendy’s but, it was a sad one as henry reached out, before joey hugged henry, crying into his shoulders as henry somehow remembered that they tried bringing bendy to life before, for a certain amount of times, all the attempts failing, henry even had a few tears rolling down his eyes as he hears joey's sobbing as he tried his best to comfort him “i-i missed him s-so much h-henry, i-i-i cant k-keep s-seeing h-him d-die over and o-over a-again! i-i need m-my s-son back! i-i need j-josh!” he said as he cried as henry looks over at the motionless body as henry shushed joey, patting his back. “it’s okay joey….. someday… you’ll see him again.. i know you will…” he said as joey hiccuped as he clutched his shoulders "…o-one more..t-try..h-henry…. j-just o-one… m-more c-chance….“ henry looks at him like he was crazy “w…wait what…?” he said as joey gives him a pleading expression as more tears seem to drip and shed down his eyes "h-henry please! j-just o-one more t-try! i-i need to d-do this! i-if i-it works t-then m-my s-son will c-come back! a-and o-our creation w-will f-finally b-be a-alive!… p….please….” he said as he sobbed some more, before henry stares, before he patted his shoulder, joey looked up at him as henry gave him a smile “…sure pal, anything for you” he said as joey sniffled, before giving him a broken smile "t...thank you my friend......i'll.... i'll clean this up, tell thomas to help me with the last attempt please" he said as henry nodded "yeah... i will" he said as he got up and walked off, before he turns back to joey, seeing him whimpering slightly, henry stares sadly, before he sighs and decides not to tell him about leaving early, he needed to make sure he was alright as he went off to tell thomas, as joey looked at the motionless body, tears swelling up in his eyes "what did i do wrong..... what do i have to do in order to get this right.... i just miss you so much son......." he said as he rubs his eyes, sniffling slightly as he just waits now for thomas to show up. after a few hours and after thomas came to clean up the mess, everyone was heading home as joey stayed back for a few more minutes, doing some research on his computer, before he looks at something that caught his eye, clicking the link and looking at a list, his eyes suddenly widen, as a smile formed on his face, this could be just what he needed to bring something back from the dead, he writes the items down on a piece of paper, taking a mental note to let henry know tomorrow as he grinned, this was it, this could be the last shot he has at trying to bring his son back from the dead "don't worry bucko.... daddy's gonna make sure your coming back alive" he said as he looks at the picture of him with his son, smiling softly at it as he takes off his glasses, rubbing his eyes slightly as he putted them back on, and shutted down his computer, getting ready to go home for the night, henry was on his way home when he stops for a moment, looking at the night sky as he stops at a stop sign while driving, the cartoonist looking at the beautiful stars with a smile, before he keeps driving back to his house, maybe he could get use to this new life he has, at leash he wasnt in a never ending story anymore, henry turns on the radio as he listens and hums to a song as he seems to get slightly lost in it, the song he was listening too was titled "country roads" as he hummed to it, driving back to his house, he just hoped that joey would be alright, but somehow, deep down in him, he has a feeling that it's not gonna be happy for long, he just hopes that day would never come.

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badwitchgame · 4 years ago

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Substance designer - part 2

Some issues were presented during the making of the ground texture, it turned out one if the nodes had a random value that I was cranking up too high and that caused the edges to look weird.. The resolution to that is in the Q&A at the training.

This was the better sand texture result, I guess, ground texture, but since it was too yellow, we can just call it sand with pebbles (unreal):

Then the wavy sand texture:

and the result in unreal:

Up close it’s not bad, but as we gat further the repartition is obvious. This should be mixed with the ground texture in a landscape material. Also needs different rocks.

I was pretty happy with how the grass texture turned out:

For the base colour I created the mix of white flowers and yellow center. The tutorial was same orange flower with no center. So I actually used my knowledge at this point to create a variation.

And this is how it looked in Unreal:

Not perfect, but this is quire OK, I guess. Considering that this is just a node based texture that I can modify any time for a different result. Grass without flowers, Grass with mud etc..

I made one more material, the wood plans with nails:

This was significantly more complex then what I did before, and I can’t say it turned out the same as in the tutorial, but what is mine is mine... I’m OK with it and received some praise praise from the friends I showed it to.

The next step is to finish the SD training, and then start the next training about Substance Painter: https://www.udemy.com/course/next-gene-assets-for-videogames/

12 hrs! When I have that I’ll have a good understanding of how to make textures and paint models with SP. That’s the modern workflow.. Not like I wouldn’t enjoy handpainted models, I’m not that good in painting to make a whole game with that technique. A simple model takes a better part of a day like that. Even with practice it’s not easy. I’m glad that I learned it, but for what I planned I need to learn more modern techniques. I need to be able to reliably make high quality models and textures with less effort. Once that is done I’ll go through some of the videos in my playlist that I saved over the years. I have a long list of interesting stuff saved for. When I can create foliage with SD and SP and models, I can start dressing various scenes and progress with the one map I planned to make.

Instead of shooting for a whole game at first, I planned to make 1 map with menu and settings, that can be played from beginning to the end and it has only (or mostly) my assets on it. I planned to make every model mine, but there might be some more complex stuff like NPC players that I don’t know how I’ll solve. it will be a simple story of the hero waking up in a cave, wonder out to a small island, a quest to go around it, then travel to a bigger island to small city and maybe up / into a volcano with some cinematic at the end where the character travels to the mainland.

I estimate the next year for completing this. Another till the end of the year to learn all the trainings for substance painter and designer to set into my brain, and maybe an unreal one ( https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Unreal-Engine-4-Open-World-Landscapes/1848786978/projects?via=watch-history ) Once I chewed through these, I need to make some plan on how the island will be sliced up to chunks that I can manage and build them up one by one. Once the environment is ready, I need to write the gameplay and dialogues. Items, inventory, pickups, sounds and music is stock for the moment, I bought enough music and sound effects to be able to cover this one map.. Then write dialogues, set NPCs, enemies, and the ability to “play through” the level, seal off off limit areas, and make sure that the level is ready for playthrough testing.

When it is done, and shared, the next step will be to build upon, but since the possibilities are limited by what I know, we’ll see what the possibilities will be with I have the knowledge of the level behind me. I might see a way to go bigger or to expand on the level. Maybe I’ll need to revisit the level with new knowledge. Maybe I need new techniques to be researched or new tools. Maybe FL studio for creating my own music. don’t know yet. Even learning this much will be a feat. Now sure if and how I’ll use it in the future.

At least the pandemic is helping me greatly, and now that I have a UK job with UK salary things will be more smooth hopefully, less worry about finances and money, more concentration on the task ahead with gamedev. If I find the motivation.. Because, although individual tasks are not impossible there are so incredibly much of them that I do realize why most people give up gamedev halfway through. Making a model is not much, but making a good model is more effort. Painting it with base colors is not much, painting it in painter or handpainted is half a day. Making a composition is not much dressing up an area in Unreal is huge task. Lighting, water, clouds landscape, landscape material layers, paint, Even if you think you have everything you need, adding details, setpieces, making sure some are interactable, have music, have sounds have footsteps, have a different weapon in hand, animations are good, interactions are good you have dialogues, everything is covered... player is blocked out of areas that he is not supposed to be in, make sure story is progressing as you expect etc..

Myriad of tasks. Each seems to be easy on its own, near impossible in complexity as you realize what more you need to make a convincing environment. An interactable game where you can be in the area and interact with it. and to make everything harmonize together. Enormous task. Game making is not easy, especially if you have other things to do as well in life. Sure you can just make simpler games or lower the scope, but I never seen any gain making a game that I’d myself not enjoy playing. Why learn towards making a 2d scroller if I never really played those games before? The last one I played was Hocus Pocus. And that was f long time ago..

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darkspellmaster · 8 years ago

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In the Forest of No Return: Chapter 2 Lotor’s Plan

AN: Copyright for Voltron, Toei Animation, WEP, Dreamworks animation and Studio Mir.

Lotor

The two merchants had hailed the city several vargas ago and insisted upon speaking with Mogor, Lotor’s advisor, who was in charge of the city on Mezora, practically foaming at the mouth with excitement and hoping to get in the Prince’s good graces. After all, with his father incapacitated, and the likelihood of him never making a full recovery, rumors abound that the young Prince would soon become Emperor. So it was wise, at least to the two merchants, to get in his good graces while there was still time.

Mogor knew the Prince hated that fact. He had been with the young noble since he was a child, barley able to hold a sword, and had seen him grow into the cunning dispassionate man that he was now. Lotor had dealt with fools all his life. Those that would smile to his face, and name call him behind his back. He was used to it, and had learned long ago not to care. Or at least hide that care behind ambivalence. The less people had reason to be around him the better he felt. He trusted no one, save Mogor, and that was how it had been for years. No one quiet knew the Prince’s real personality. Sometimes he could come off as charming and witty, other times quiet and reserved, still others scheming and ruthless. But above all else Lotor was a man who didn’t like chances to slip from his grasp that was the only reason Mogor had allowed the call to come through.

“State your business,” the tall and brutish Galra officer had stated. His gray and black uniform standing out among the men he over saw. Standing at attention, Mogor stared at the screen, watching the two merchants as they seemed to question who was going to talk first. The more they seemed to hem and haw, the more aggravated he got and turned to look at his communication officer.

“Close the link, I have no time for this idiocy. There are important calls that could come through and I would like to keep the channels open.”

The officer nodded and was about to cut off the transmission when the taller of the two cloaked figures shouted, “Wait! We have news.”

“So you said,” Mogor stated, his face showing no indication of his annoyance, nor did his tone shift in the slightest to show any sign indicating he was displeased. “What is it that you have to say? Either speak now, or I will have this call terminated. And you should make it quick, I’m not a patient man.”

“Ah, yes, so we’ve heard,” said the shorter one of the two. He looked at his partner who shrugged and the shorter one continued. “We’d like to let Prince Lotor know that we’ve found three of the Voltron pilots.”

Mogor smirked some, unable to hide the chuckle that came upon his lips. His yellow eyes lit up with amusement. “Have you now? And what makes you think you have found them.” “Well we were at a dinner on Eios, when we saw these three young creatures across from us, and we were discussing issues about Mezora when one of them got up to use the bathroom and…”

Mogor had heard enough. This was useless chatter and waved his hand to his officer readying him to cut the call short when the tall one quickly interjected.

“Wait! Don’t cut us off yet! We really did see them. One had a dark tan face with a really stupid grin. The other had dark black hair with an orange wrap around the head and quiet chunky…”

“Yes quiet,” said the shorter one, “And the last had big round glasses and big brown eyes!”

“That could describe any humanoid being in the galaxy,” Mogor pointed out rather board with the discussion. He turned his head to his subordinate, “Cut the link…”

“Wait!” screamed the short one and pulled out the device. “Here! They were listening to us with this!”

Mogor stared at the device and raised his eyebrow, “That?” he questioned, “That just looks like a toy of some sort.”

“It’s not, I assure you,” insisted the tall one and the short one vigorously nodded his head sending the hood violently flapping, making the communication officer cover his mouth so they didn’t hear him laugh. “This device let them hear what we were saying in our own language. We think they were spying on us. The one with the orange wrap was watching us, even though he thought we did not see him.”

The short one shouted as he pushed up his hood some, “Yes, yes, and they left quickly after the one with the glasses seemed surprised by what we were saying. Something spooked him.”

“And I think they had a ship docked at one of the ports.” The tall one was now waving his hands around as if trying to draw out a map in the air. “Please, let us speak to Prince Lotor. We’re sure that they heard us and know of Mezora now.”

Morgor sniffed, this was news, but how good it was he wasn’t sure and he wasn’t about to let these oafs speak with the Prince. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat. “The Empire thanks you for your excellent work, and is pleased that you did your job as dutiful citizens. We will allow you to keep that object and will let the Prince know of you findings.”

“Wait…” started the short one, hopping for some form of payment, but Mogor signaled to his communication officer, who terminated the call, causing the screen to go blank again. Mogor shook his head and muttered under his breath.

“A likely story…”

“Though one I’m interested in,” a smooth and calm voice came from the door way and Mogor turned to face an elegant looking young noble. The young man’s eyes were a strange set up. Yellow like most other Galra, but they had irises and pupils more in line with his possible other heritage. Blue markings cut by his cheeks and his white hair was slightly pulled back to give him a more mature look. Some locks had come lose and hung lightly like bangs, which he brushed from his eyes as he came into the room.

At once the other officers stood and bowed to the young man along with Mogor. Unimpressed the young noble snorted at the display, pondering if his father were still awake, or if Mogor wasn’t in the room, would any of them bow to him in such a manner.

“Prince Lotor!” Mogor said and looked down, “I did not mean to disrespect you, your highness.”

Lotor let out a deep sigh and crossed his arms as Mogor glanced up. He was in his custom uniform, with orange and blue tints mixed with the black and light gray of the traditional Galra officer. Lotor was the only one allowed to wear such an outfit, something no other member of the Empire’s army could do, and some thought it was garish and out of place, but the Prince had always been that way. Choosing to embrace some of the distain of others and flaunt that as a means of showing control over things that he could. Uniform choice was one of them, and he wore it with pride. It suited him, more so, it make him look imperial when need be. At that moment a cape was draped over his back and it was clear he’d put it on recently as the rest of his uniform showed hints of damage from laser fire. Mogor assumed then that the young prince had gone into the training chamber for practice.

“No, I’m sure you did not,” Lotor said with a distant look on his face and motion Mogor to rise, which he did as did his men. They went quickly back to work as Lotor waited for an explanation of what was going on. Mogor stood at attention as he spoke.

“Sire, there was a call from the planet Eios, two unknown merchant hailed with some information regarding a bounty.”

“And what does that have to do with us? We have no bounty here, well none that is worth much.” He muttered thinking of the young Prince that was in the holding cells on the lower floors of the command center.

“The bounty information was about the Voltron Paladins, my lord,” Mogor explained and Lotor, who had been watching some monitors showing off the city and some of the surrounding area (mostly keeping an eye on some of the larger creatures to be sure that they weren’t about to break another wall –since one had just been repaired the other quintent), turned his attention immediately to his advisor and stared with some disbelief.

“Are you certain of this? What did they say?”

“Not much, my lord,” Mogor explained and relaxed just a little as Lotor fully faced him. The two men were vastly different in height and looks. Lotor with his elegant Altean features and sharp ears, was like a perfect alien prince, and his shorter height stood out among his men as he came up to their chests. Mogor was far more beast like in face, with harsher angles and dark flushed hair. He had very strong chin with a pounced nose that seemed to be slightly crooked from not healing straight after it had been broken. There was an air about the two men that showed a great deal of power and intimidation. No one dared to cut into the conversation.

“However you think that what they did say had some merit?” Lotor inquire, intrigued. Mogor nodded slightly at this and Lotor tapped his chin with a nail. “And what was it that you thought was of use to us?”

Mogor motioned for him to look at the video that they had filmed of the exchange. It was common practice to record any calls that came in from unknown frequencies. He stopped the video and had the technician zoom in on the strange device in the shorter merchant’s hand. “They claimed that they had seen members of Voltron and that they had listened into their conversation, then left the dinner that they were eating at on Eios.”

Lotor stared at the device and waved at the officer, “Enlarge it.”

The Galra officer did so without question and Lotor came up to the screen, and quickly pulled up a console, taking a full scan of the object and started to run various tests on the image. Eventually after a few moments the computer came up with a holographic version of the device. Lotor spun it around and looked at it from all angles and then glanced at Mogor. “Do we have any scans of devices from Olkari on hand?”

“I believe so Sire,” the technician said, and looked through the files that he had on the various devices the Galra at the base had taken in over the years. “Ah, yes there are a few. Do you wish me to scan them and the item for similarities?”

“As quickly as you can.” Lotor told him as the computer ran over the files, his eyes watching for the proof that he needed. If this was an items from Olkari then he had an idea who designed it, the Green Paladin.

Lotor had taken it upon himself to learn all that he could about the Paladins since he’d been brought back into the fold. He didn’t want just words from those that would kiss up to him for a place in the ranks, and their intelligence was tentative at best. Seeing the Voltron crew in action was something that he felt that he needed. After all they were an intelligent group, and he’d seen firsthand how they’d used what they knew to gather scaultrite from inside the Weblum in a risky, but impressive, way. He’d owe them that much he knew, particularly the red one, Keith, for saving him from inside his ship.

He’d watched video after video of captured footage from different locations of fights with the Voltron members, both on the ground from destroyed drones and in space as they’d wrecked ships. Then there were the videos of them in locations where they were in bases and on their own being relaxed. He’d found it all to be very informative, although it only gave him some speculation on how their relationships worked as well as their personalities interacted.

From what he could tell Keith was very serious but also someone who could lead and crack a joke around those that he trusted. He also had issues with himself and longed for answers to his past. Lance was one that was unsure of his role in the team, but when push came to shove he was very efficient and could not only follow orders but also come up with things on the fly. Hunk was one that seemed to be off in lala land quite a bit, but it was damn clear to him that Hunk could be a challenge when he threw himself fully into something as well as being extra sensitive to others and their needs. Something Lotor admired in a fighter. Then there was Shiro, the clear leader of the team and one that seemed to have a strange mix of attitudes. At points he seemed clear and in control, but there were moments Lotor caught something of fear or doubt in his face. He was scared of something, and the others didn’t see it. Lotor had found that interesting and felt that if he met Shiro he’d hone in on that factor. Whatever it was, it was something he could use against him.

The last one though was interesting. Pidge was the Green Paladin, and someone who seemed to be heavily involved in his work, however he was nothing more than what appeared to be a child. From the reports after the near takeover of the Castle of Lions, it seemed that Pidge was far more capable a fighter then Commander Sendak had assumed. He’d underestimated the Green Paladin and had allowed for his plans to be destroyed by this Pidge. The more he’d watched of the Paladin the more Lotor was interested in the way his mind ticked. Pidge had the air of someone who could go from zero to one hundred in less than five ticks, and it was clear that he knew what he was doing when it came to hacking and getting into the Galra systems. This fact had bothered him a lot, if a child could get at the systems, was it any wonder that his father’s great ship had fallen to the warriors of Voltron.

Pidge was an oddity that he wanted to explore more. Not a full on fighter as the others were, he was more built for stealth, and the fact that he was searching for his brother had been something that Lotor found useful. If he could get this other boy, he could use that to get at the Green Paladin, which could effectively weaken the team.

But at the moment that was not what he was thinking about as the numbers and images flashed in quick succession before him. Lotor’s mind was on the way that Pidge had shown a great deal of interest in technology and could reverse engineer things. This bothered him as it meant that he could effectively rebuild something that they had made and this could eventually be used against them. He needed to find a way to deal with that issue first, as he was sure the others would have a harder time dealing with them if he could take out the tech guy in their little group. He was sure that the device before their eyes was something that Pidge had built based on Olkari engineering, the question was what was it?

A beeping noise from the computer signaled that all tests were completed and Mogor’s voice called him back from his thoughts. “Sire, I believe we know what the device is.”

“Well then,” Lotor examined the list of information that lay before him, and carefully combed through it. His fingers danced over the pink screen and he made a faced as he fell into deep thoughts. “So it seems it’s a translator, how clever, and one that learns as well…interesting. But uttlerly useless unless the words match something that was already in there, or similar to another language.”

“So it appears, Prince Lotor,” Mogor agreed and Lotor waved the device screen away, and stepped away from the computer. He muttered to himself as he walked back and forth, as if trying to decode some puzzle that had been placed before him as a test.

“So they listened in and heard a conversation, what were they talking of?” he asked Mogor, who cleared his throat. “Well?”

“They said they were discussing matters on Mezora.”

Lotor’s brows narrowed and a dark anger entered his eyes, “What…matters…precisely?”

“They did not say. Only that they were talking about the planet…” Mogor said and Lotor scowled.

“I want them found, find out what they know, and if need be…make it clear that if they talk anymore of this planet they will be silenced.”

Mogor bowed, “As you command, my Prince.”

Lotor closed his eyes and headed for the door, “I’ll be in contact. I need to figure out what to do next. If they know of the planet then they are sure to come…but what to do with it.”

Leaving the area he ignored the greetings from his subordinates and went to his quarters. Stripping from his clothing he quickly ducked into a shower to clean and think. Closing his eyes he let the water from Mezora’s springs run over his sore body. There were scars from where he’d been sliced in combat when he was a child. Training his father’s generals had insisted upon, training he’d learned to despise as his height had been a problem and made him an easy target for the far taller and stronger of the new recruits. However his height had an advantage in how he could move, and he was far mobile then the others around him, and his hearing was better than the other Galran officers in his academy. Yet that had not stopped them from treating him as useless, a waste of space.

He clenched his fist, he’d shown them though. The moment he’d come up with his gun he’d proven to be a far greater shot and his studies of strategy and hand to hand combat had aided him to get him out of scrapes a traditional officer would have lost in. He could recall the face of Keith when he’d managed to get over his head. It made him smirk to know that he could still surprise others. He preferred to work alone, but in that case, it had been a bad move. Then again, he was never one to think of plans in the long term, especially when it came to dealing with being ignored or rebuked. So he’d foolishly gone to get the scaultrite on his own. His plans to build a telladove were slowly taking fruition, but it had been hard going, and others had not wanted to help. Even now he felt alone, an outcast among his own people. The only ones that he actually trusted were Mogor and Kossak. Mogor had been his advisor since he was young and Kossak had been a fellow recruit in the academy and had since become the head of his elite squadron. Still, the trust only went so far, and neither were of the brilliant mind Lotor believed himself to be when it came to understanding the science of the universe.

Cleaned, and relaxed, he donned a casual uniform, looser pants and a top that was built more in a traditional Altean garb. He knew that some of the base would be displeased seeing him in such wear, and he didn’t care. He would wear what he wanted and damn them to hell if they didn’t like it. Taking a seat in his quarters he pulled up the device again and looked it over. It was well crafted, not at all what he figured someone of Pidge’s age could craft. It made him wonder what the child’s IQ really was.

As he studied it a thought crossed his mind. They would be coming to Mezora, that was a given. There was no way that Voltron would not try to come and see if what the merchants had said was true. If that was the case, then he knew that they wouldn’t just rush in, given that Allura was no fool, and Corran was good at planning. They would have to have the element of surprise that was a must for the base.

Lotor steepled his fingers and looked out at the device. “They’re going to come, they heard something to interest them, and they wouldn’t have wanted to listen in unless there was a reason.” He was muttering again to himself, ignoring the drink on the side of the table and the food that had been brought in. He rubbed his chin for a moment and closed his eyes again, focusing on what he’d seen in the videos, trying to think like the Voltron members.

“They’re going to send someone down….” He realized this quickly, but the question was who? Did it really matter? Not so much as long as he could get to them first. If he could capture the Paladin then he could use that against the others and possibly take the ship without firing a shot. A smile came over his lips as he got up and hurried out of the quarters, donning his cape again and heading to the command center’s main operations chamber. Again he ignored the greetings, and marched in without a second thought to protocol. Mogor was surprised to see him come back so soon and bowed.

“My Prince is there something wrong?”

“No, everything is right!” He grinned and quickly pulled up the console again, pulling Mogor over and showing him his plan. “We can trap a lion, Mogor.”

“How exactly, sire?” questioned the larger man as he stood beside his Prince. Moogor had seen Lotor like this before. When the boy had ideas he would stop at nothing till he had what he wanted. There were times his recklessness had caused more trouble than what the plan was worth, but Lotor always was thinking of plans that had merit, so he stood there and listened. If it was something that wasn’t feasible, he would just delay the orders and come up with an excuse later, at the moment though he let Lotor peel off his plan.

“If the Lions are coming they wouldn’t be dumb enough to just charge in and land, correct? Based on their patterns we can at least say they are smart enough to scout.” Lotor moved an image of the Castle of Lion’s ship into view of Mezora. Mogor nodded in agreement, as Lotor created another smaller ship. “We know that they wouldn’t risk a lion coming for us, so what’s the next best bet?”

“A scouting ship?” offered up Mogor and stared at the board before him. “Yes, I do see where you’re going with this. But how to deflect it?”

“We don’t.” Lotor said and smirked. “If the Castle is truly as old as Sendek had estimated, this means that the maps of the systems are no longer up to date. Which means they have no idea of the condition of Mezora as of right now.”

Mogor stared at the screen intrigued as the prince went on, moving the ship along a route. “They’re going to want to hide from us, so let’s not concern ourselves with that right now. Just focus on the pod that would be coming. A craft of that size travels at a slower speed then the lions. They won’t be traveling at the fastest speed as a means to stealth in, since they don’t know what’s down here. So if they’re going at a slower speed, they should show up around here.” He pointed to a location due west of the city. “More than likely they’ll try to go for the city to get some information from the locals.”

“And we catch them there?” questioned the advisor as Lotor shook his head. “Then where my lord? Wouldn’t it be easier to capture the paladin in the city?”

“No, we don’t want them getting into the city, it would cause issues,” he frowned slightly looking over the lay of the land. If the Voltron Paladins got into the city they could learn about the guest that they had in the cells and Lotor was planning on using him to get a great deal of resources for work on one of his projects.

He moved around some images. “We can get them to crash over here if possible.” He pointed towards an area with trees, far enough from the city to keep the paladin away from it’s secrets, but close enough so that his plans could come to fruition. “Then we can capture them while they’re not sure what’s going on.”

“And how do we get them to crash?” Mogor asked honestly and Lotor again pulled up some numbers and worked out a frequency as he applied a mathematical equation. Smiling he showed his advisor.

“Like this, this is a frequency that could disrupt a pod that was too close to the planet’s atmosphere. Once that happens, while the pilot is trying to figure out what’s going on. We swoop in and strike, causing them to crash.”

“And then what, my lord.” Mogor saw potential in this idea and Lotor’s knowing smirk came back.

“Then…you leave everything else up to me.”

**********

It was barely two Quintents had passed before reports of a pod had been brought up. Lotor had been in the command center’s chamber for vargas on end waiting. He watched every ship that passed by their area of space, searching for a telltale sign of the Castle of Lion’s pod ship that he was sure was going to come. And it did, during daylight of all times, cautiously entering their space.

“Sire, the scrambling device is working,” the communications officer told him and Lotor nodded watching with interest as the ship entered the atmosphere and began to have malfunctions. They’d picked some comments from the pod, but the scrambling device made it hard to hear who was inside. He had been sure that the Princess would have sent the Red or Blue Paladin since the Black one seemed to have been missing, or so the reports filtering into him had noted.

As the ship fell Lotor watched with excitement.

“Well, well, isn’t this interesting? So it looks like those two merchants were right when they said someone was listening to them. I wonder, just what prize have we caught?” He smirked and his yellow eyes brightened with anticipation of his catch.

With a resounding crash the pod had vanished into the trees and Lotor snorted, his calculations had been right, but he’d forgotten to add in error by the pilot trying to right the ship and the trees. This was going to make things a bit harder for him. Getting up from the chair he’d been sitting in Lotor looked to Mogor and waved at him.

“The rest I leave to you Commander Mogor. Make sure you don’t forget what we discussed.”

Mogor nodded and bowed his head, “As you command, Prince Lotor.”

Quickly he exited the main room and headed to his quarters. He’d instructed one of his servants to get him the garb of a prisoner, which was laying on his bed ready for use. Lotor scowled as he picked it up.

“Not dirty enough,” he grabbed hold of the top and pants then pulled them on. Without hesitation he took the drink and food he had in his room, and splattered it all over his clothing, staining it, then wetting the whole thing in his shower. He was soaked but that was only going to make it easier to gather dirt.

Grabbing a tie he pulled his hair back and went out of his room, and ignored the strange looks his officers gave him as he headed down to the holding cells in the lower floors. Here light was dim and designed to make the prisoners feel lost and abandoned. It was chilly and smelled of dry rot, but the place was oddly sanitary. Something he had made sure of. Sick prisoners were useless to him.

Marching at a quick pace past several guards, who were about to ask him questions, he moved over to a cell farther back. Inside a young man of about twenty sat, looking rather forlorn and scared. Lotor opened the cell with a quick hand press and the young man got up to his knees.

“Oh thank the gods, you’re here to let me go? Has my father paid my ransom yet?”

Lotor snorted and looked down at the man before him. He was younger then him, by Galran standards, and this young man certainly pulled off being a stuffy prince to a T. He had the soft face, the handsome eyes of a charmer, the well placed smile and the hands of one that had never worked a day in his life. This was vastly different to Lotor himself, whose hands had calluses from the gun he wielded, and the look to his eyes of someone who had known hardship. The only thing they shared was the white hair.

“Not yet, we haven’t even sent that out. But…Prince Bokar, I believe you can help me out.” Lotor told him and knelt down to stare at the prince’s face. He focused for several moments, examining as much as he could and the young prince seemed to become more and more unnerved the longer Lotor stared.

“What…what are you doing?” Bokar asked nervously after several dobashes went by and Lotor said nothing. Then the prince gasped as Lotor closed his eyes and seemed to transform before him. His form shrunk ever so little to match Prince Bokar’s and his skin went from a lighter purple color to a pale skin much closer to that of the man before him. Concentrating hard he willed the markings on his face to vanish, leaving not even the slightest trace. When he opened his eyes they shifted around until they were a light brown color. He pulled at his bangs to match Bokar’s hair style then smiled in a smugly satisfied way at the Prince that was sitting transfixed before him.

“Well that should do.” Lotor stood to leave and Bokar dove to grab at his legs. Lotor moved faster and kicked him in the chin, sending him flying back and crashing against a chair in the cell. Bokar winced and shouted at him as he locked him back in.

“What are you doing? Do you really believe you’ll be able to take my place?”

Lotor snorted and looked down at Bokar with an uncaring stare in his now brown eyes. “Hardly. You’re useful for a trap I have set for Voltron, and that is all. I would never think to take on your unworthy role. You aren’t even qualified to have the title of prince.”

With that Lotor turned and stalked out of the prison and went up to the main floor. He waited and watched the guards. If his trap was to succeed then he needed to be sure that the guards believed what they saw. He checked the cameras, and then threw a loose screw he’d picked up along the way, at one, damaging it, knowing full well it would get the guards attention.

And it did just that. At the prisons security center the guards saw what looked to be Prince Bokar escaping from his holding area. Lotor raced along the corridors, ducking and hiding between doors and columns to give the appearance of trying to sneak out. He moved quickly to the vehicle dock and stole what was pretty much a speeder bike from the hanger. The alarms were going off as he took off, allowing the guards to see him, knowing that they would be in alert.

If Mogor keeps up his part of the plan, I should be able to get out and into the forest with them following. Lotor thought as he raced around the city streets, dodging fire and pedestrians. A troop of drones were following him, running at full speed, a few on bikes. He snorted, if he didn’t want them to follow him, he would have lost them long ago. Turning several corners, to make sure they were coming, he went for the gate.

The main city of Asora that they were in had a high wall around the body set up for siege war fare which happened six thousand years before. The main gate was a huge thing that had two halves, the top part locked into the bottom through a series of lasers that interwove when they met up. Lotor had told Mogor to slow down the interlocking sequence so he could get out of the city before the guards to keep things looking legit.

“Mogor, don’t fail me now,” he muttered as he raced at top speed for the gate that seemed to be lowering. He gritted his teeth as he saw the gate going down faster and slid under to avoid the lasers that were starting to lock the two halves together. Lotor watched as the gate closed, and counted several ticks before taking off when he saw the guards pouring out of the reopened gate.

The cut at the gate was a bit close, it bothered him, and Lotor knew when he got back he would talk to Mogor about why he��d not given him room to breathe. Still he had to give the Commander credit. He was good at his job and kept true to his word. Lotor drove the speeder through the rough western terrain of the open meadows around the city limits, and towards the forests.

“Now where are you?” he pulled up a gps to map the location of the downed ship even as a hail of fire blasts were nipping at his heels. One singed his hair and he winced as he felt his flesh heat up. Well I wanted this realistic didn’t I?

He wished he had a weapon on hand, but the robots were catching up fast, so if they did shoot him too early he wouldn’t have the proper item to deflect their assault. However as it was he was in the forest around the trees and led them on a jolly chase through the trunks and up several fallen trees to higher ground.

As he buzzed around Lotor would glance now and again at the map and how far he was to the pod. Twisting past a number of dead trunks he made sure that the robots crashed into them as he weaved about, making as much noise as he could the closer he got to the site of the crashed ship. He was hoping that the Paladin would hear it and come see what the noise was.

“That’s it follow me,” he grinned to himself. At that moment he felt exhilarated by the whole pursuit and partly hoped that it wouldn’t end. His revelry was cut short when his speeder was hit and the whole thing took a nose dive into the ground, skidding deeply into the mud and throwing him hard into the air and he crashed into some bushes, feeling stinging pain.

Lotor could taste blood by his mouth and tried to get up. Suddenly several blasters came up to his face. He stared surprised at this, and held up his hands, “Hold it…don’t shoot. I’m your Prince.”

The drones looked at one another for a second, and he used the moment to jump up, and sweep kick two off their feet, forcing them to fall into their fellow guards. Lotor smashed his foot into one of their chest and leapt for a ledge that was just above them. He gained the ground as he pulled himself up, but the robots weren’t done and they tracked him now on foot.

He counted in his head, five hundred feet…he moved through the underbrush, pushing aside smaller trees and their limbs as he raced for the pod.

Three hundred feet…he could make out the break in the trees where the pod had landed.

Another few feet, One hundred feet….he was nearly there, and so were the guards. They were firing again and he used his agility to avoid being hit, but again he wished he had a blaster in hand. He missed his side arm, and throwing the robots around would not gain him what he needed. He was supposed to be a weak prince, not someone trained to fight. If the pilot was the Red or Yellow Paladin and saw him firing they would know something was up, and that would ruin his plan.

Fifty feet…he could hear a voice calling out, it was distant but he was sure it was the Paladin, but he couldn’t quiet tell which it was.

Twenty…Ten…five…He started to yell out for help. “Help! Oh is someone there! Please help me!”

His screams were loud, loud and scared. He needed them to be believiable and allowed one of the robots to hit him in the back of the leg, sending a sensation through his body that caused him to howl in pain.

Lotor doubled over, stumbling and falling, cluching his wounded leg as the robots surrounded him. He tried to calm his breathing but it was difficult and he could see a burnt mark appearing on his skin, turning it purple and he focused to cover the color. It hurt like hell, and he didn’t know if he could sustain the illusion. The guards drew closer and he could make out their hard metal clinks. For anyone else this would be terrifying, but he knew that he could take them. Right then though he had to at least give the Paladin time to find him, so he kept calling out for help.

“Please, if anyone is there! I need help! Please, they’ll kill me!”

The pain was starting to get to him, and he gritted his teeth as the drones started to hit him. He could feel their punches and was counting the number of hits, as that would be the number of robots he would destroy in training when this was all over. He was about to drop the farce as the pain from the hits was becoming too much for him to keep the illusion up, when he heard a shout from above.

“Hey leave him alone!” as a blur of a green lighting seemed to take a few of the guards out. In a moment there was a frenzy of black, green and white blurring, and whirling around him. The robots seemed to scatter and rush off, to regroup. A gloved hand touched his shoulder and Lotor looked up into a pair of soft brown eyes that was looking down at him with a worried look.

“Are you okay? Uh…Hello?” the voice was that of the Green paladin, but Lotor had to do a double take, there was no way this could be. He slowly sat up and took Pidge’s outstretched hand and looked at it, then let his eyes rove over the form before him. He blinked, he’d not calculated this at all in his wild plan.

The one to save him, the one to come to the planet was the Green Paladin, and to his disbelief, he’d been wrong about the gender. This was no male paladin, but a female.

“Ah, yes, thank you miss…” he started to say, when the pain made him double up and he had a choice, either try to deal with the pain in his real form, or keep up the illusion and let it over whelm him. The choice was made for him by his body though, and he passed out in Pidge’s arms to her utter shock.

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