#that you skip through the easier tasks w the knowledge that you already did the worst bit

[sergle]

you can't say you have Eating as a Frog hour and not elaborate?? (also what is scary hour but that's not as important to me)

IT'S NOT EATING AS A FROG HOURRR it's Eat The Frog. just a productivity rule for how to approach tasks. variations of the quote: “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” it's just the practice of getting the most difficult, unpleasant, daunting task done First. the idea is that by doing this, everything else you have to do will seem easy in comparison, and you won't have the weight of The Frog looming over you, with the knowledge that it has to be eaten. I think "scary hour" is supposed to be similar to this? Blocking out an hour to do the shit you absolutely don't want to do, suffering through it early in your day.

[wakaoujisenhime]

Hi, I just happened to stumble across you and now I’m addicted!😅❤️ anyway, I was hoping you could write some headcanons for a crack head rakuzan manager.

A/N: Hi there you two! Since your requests were for the same trope and the more or less same scenario, I decided to mash these two together, hope that’s ok with you guys! ( ´ ▽ ` )

Luckily, I grew up around some people that fit in that description, nevertheless this was a pretty new experience for me, so I hope I managed to deal with this successfully (I’m sorry in case that I didn’t ;-;)! Anyways, please enjoy and heed the warnings! ヽ(´ー｀)❤️

Tags/Warnings: Rakuzan x reader ✅ tw.drug mention/use ✅ tw.mention of bullying ✅ fluff ✅ friendship ✅

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

Rakuzan is known as an elite school, harboring only the crème-de-la-crème of students and yet you still couldn’t comprehend why you were a part of it

everyone was driven by either perfectionism or greed, the teachers only cared for themselves and their salary, and the expectations society put on every student that wore this school’s logo were downright inhuman

so could someone really blame or shun you for being into drugs? —No, they couldn’t...and yet some still tried

every time you skipped a class to go on either the rooftop or that one dark alley in the very back of the luxurious building to roll a joint, someone random would always come looking for you

they’d try to push their ideals onto you and pretend that they are some kind of Samaritan who only wants the best for you and your future

Yeah sure...you don’t even know my name, do you?

the first few times really annoyed the hell out of you and their hypocrisy almost made you lose yourself once, but as these scenarios started repeating themselves you grew used to it and learned how to completely ignore them

depending on your mood and the amount of dopamine you’re releasing there were even times when you’d get sassy with them or downright challenge them to a fight, knowing fully well that as the goody-two-shoes they were they’d never accept it

the teachers were also aware of your addiction, but were too scared for their own reputation and decided that it’d be easier if they just left you to your own devices and wait until you either failed their classes or graduated

and just like that, you lead a rather peaceful school life, until a certain someone decided to disturb it...

when you skipped classes for the umpteeth time you waited patiently for today’s candidate who’d drag you over the coals for your ‘unsightly behavior’

after you’d taken the third pull on your joint you finally heard light steps which were just around the corner

without moving your head too much, you simply glanced towards the figure that had appeared and chuckled to yourself

“Woow, the teachers must be quite desperate to send their star pupil in order to get me” you sneered after blowing some of the smoke right into his direction

the red-haired young man who’d arrived was none other than Akashi Seijirou, a student whose school record was full of nothing but perfect grades and perfect remarks from everyone who had entered this school

you didn’t know much about him except the typical gossips and the fact that he was the complete opposite of yourself

for a while none of you said anything so you continued to smoke shamelessly in front of him, hoping that you could provoke some kind of reaction from him...though in vain

if words weren’t provocative enough you decided to see how far he’d allow you to go until he had to open his mouth

“You want a pull?”

much to your surprise he actually extended his hand towards you, so with wide eyes you carefully handed him your joint

So even flawless students like him need to let go sometimes, huh?

he eyed it for a while and the next thing you saw was how he let it drop and stomped on it

“Was that really necessary? You could’ve just refused it, you know?”

“I want you to join the basketball team as a manager” he then said in a calm and pretty serious tone

....

....

...What?

you began laughing as if he had said some kind of hilarious joke, but much to your disappointment he simply raised his eyebrow

“W-Wait...are you being serious right now? You want me to take care of the basketball team?”

seeing him simply nod with the same stoic expression he’d arrived with made you realize that he wasn’t one to joke around

Akashi took out a handkerchief and wiped his hand, without bothering to hide his disgust and then simply turned his back to you

“I’ll be waiting for you at the gym after school and I hope you’ll be there...for your sake.”

and with that threat, he left you by yourself, confused and utterly speechless

you soon began giggling to yourself and you wanted to blame it on the drugs but deep down you knew the truth ...

.

as the school bell rang for the last time today you lazily packed your stuff and without paying any attention to neither your teacher nor your classmates you trotted out of the classroom

you hated admitting it but the red-haired young man’s words had haunted you for the entire day, but you weren’t one to simply obey whatever others told you

just as you were about to walk down the stairs someone muscular bumped into you, almost knocking you off your feet

as you looked up to see who it was you saw a dark-skinned and bulky man towering above you with a grim look on his face

“(Y/N)?”

you hesitated to answer for a moment, but his challenging expression downright forced you to respond, though it was merely with a small nod

“Excellent, follow me” he ordered after turning around and you did

while he was walking in front, you noticed that most of the students were intimidated or scared by his towering frame and now that you were behind him you realized how truly lonely he must be

“We’re here,” he began, “Akashi! I brought her!”

at the mention of that name you immediately wanted to just turn around and leave, but with that broad man next to you any type of escape was shut down

a pair of heterochromatic eyes looked in your direction and a proud smile adorned the rather emotionless expression of the red-haired young man who signalized the other club’s members to take a short break while he strolled towards the two of you

“(Y/N), I’m glad to see that you picked the right choice to come here. Now...follow me.”

you simply glanced up at the broader man next to you with a pleading expression, but he simply grinned and gave you a thumbs up

Akashi led you to a bench where an older man had already taken a seat, reading through some papers

he was so into it that he didn’t even bother to look up at you two

“Alright your task is simple, I want you to learn the basic rules of basketball and everything else that surrounds it. You have a week and then I’d like to test your knowledge during a practice match. There are also several other things I want you to fulfill, but this will be enough for now” he took a short breath and looked at his team players with a slightly annoyed gaze before he continued “I also provided you with one of those ‘how to’ books so I hope you won’t need long. Any further questions?”

Where do I even start?

“Listen up, I never said that I was going to be your team’s manager or anything like that, you literally forced me to come here by sending that giant after me! And you can’t be serious with all of this right? You guys are a pro team and you want me - a mere amateur - to manage you? Starting next week? I don’t even th-“

“I don’t remember giving you a choice in this matter and yes, you’ll learn it all until next week. You being a student at this elite school speaks for itself, so learning the basic rules of a mere sports game isn’t going to cost you much. Now sit down and start reading.”

his condescending and overall rude tone made you more than just mad, but before you could utter any kind of comment, he had already turned his back to you and was heading for the court

“If I were you, I’d just agree with whatever he says” commented the older man whose gaze was still on the papers before him

you clicked your tongue and put both of your hands on your hips as you stared at him and asked whether that was how he usually dealt with him

“That’s how I learned to deal with him. A genius like him is only getting held back by simple-minded people...or those,” he paused and finally looked up, eyeing you judgingly before he finished his sentence, “that can’t read the mood.”

you were absolutely speechless and enraged, so before you completely lost your wits you grabbed that stupid book Akashi had gotten for you and purposely stomped towards the gym’s entrance doors to roll yourself another joint

.

you spent the entire duration of their training outside and even though you didn’t intend to really read the booklet, you eventually started and got into it, until you heard a loud whistle and Akashi’s voice announcing the end of today’s practice

“I’m expecting you at tomorrow’s practice as well, (Y/N)” said the red-haired captain as soon as you re-entered the gym to take your bag and go home

you answered with a simple nod and left, figuring that you’d just go along with him for a while but secretly do whatever you wanted

or at least that was supposed to be your plan, but something quite unexpected happened

while you had set your mind to obey whatever the captain wanted from you, you caught yourself actually having fun during the guys’ practice

you did know a little about basketball even without the book’s help, but as you gradually read chapter after chapter and actually witnessed the real thing before you every single day, you came to truly enjoy it

there were always some rumors that Rakuzan’s basketball team was on an entirely different level and you finally saw why

the four players that always accompanied Akashi on the court were some kind of prodigies the others referred to as the “Uncrowned Kings” or the new and improved version of “The phantom sixth man”

during your first days of hearing those rather over the top nicknames, you couldn’t help but laugh out loud

These four having such titles? Don’t mess with me, that’s just hilarious!

and even if you were the only one laughing at it while the others simply looked away, your laughs were shut down pretty quickly as soon as you saw how they played

seeing just how powerful and overall perfect they seemed to be made you even more pissed off than you already were

luckily you were standing right next to the gym’s door so you cracked it open, leaned yourself on its frame, and began smoking one of your self-rolled joints

“Wow (Y/N), I didn’t know you smoked! You look really cool!”

the sudden compliment from the cheerful blond with the sharp canine caught you off guard, not to mention that he was the first one besides Akashi to even attempt some sort of conversation...and it made you unexpectedly happy

“Thanks, I guess?...would you like to have a pull?”

you couldn’t help but smirk at how his eyes lit up after nodding multiple times and just as he was about to take the softly smoking joint from your hand, someone snatched it and threw it out, closing the door in the process

that someone was Reo, whose eyes looked down on you with a rather hurt and sad expression

out of nowhere, he took a gentle hold of your cheeks and softly tilted your head up so that you could look him directly into his mesmerizing eyes

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this, but smoking is bad for you (Y/N)-chan. You’re such a beautiful young lady and being a crackhead just doesn’t suit you, you know?”

thanks to the soft tone with which he’d complimented and lectured you, you just couldn’t be mad at him

but before you could even say anything you felt a big and strong hand slap your back with so much force that you almost fell right into Kotaro’s arms

“Geez, Nebuya you brute, how many times do I have to tell you to be more careful!”

completely ignoring the tall man’s protest the more muscular man simply laughed and took a tight hold of your upper arm saying: “All she needs are more muscles and meat on her and she’ll make a great opponent!”

the way the three of them had surrounded you while laughing at each other’s comments and even making you part of their discussion warmed your heart, and you caught yourself thinking that being the manager of this team might not be such a bad idea after all...

.

the day of the practice match came along and you were a bundle of nerves

who would’ve thought that you’d actually prefer going to the gym to check up on the players instead of straight-up heading back home

much to your surprise, it didn’t even take you three days to get almost every club member to respect you, sure there were obstacles along the way, but you managed to deal with them rather quickly

not too long ago, you had actually helped out Mayuzumi, who usually avoided you and barely ever talked to you

you had been on your way to your usual spot to light up a joint and just before you cut the corner you heard some loud voices

“Just ‘cause you’re in the basketball club, doesn’t make you special!”

“What’s with those dead-looking fish eyes of yours anyway?”

“C’mon guys, don’t you see that we’re wasting his precious reading time here? Let’s hurry up and scram so that he can continue reading his novel!”

you had no idea just what the hell was going on, but it sounded a lot like someone was getting bullied and you weren’t in the mood to let it slide

“Ok guys, I need you to wrap whatever this is up. I’m in a rather bad mood right now and I really need a smoke, so get going” you said in a rather dark tone

the students who had encircled someone you couldn’t quite identify yet jumped a little at your sudden intervention and turned their attention to you

all remarks they had prepared for you were gone the moment they realized just who was standing in front of them

nevertheless, the group remained stubborn and tried to chase you away by asking you to wait for a little

while you were dealing with the group, the person they had ganged up on stood up from the ground and that’s when you finally recognized who they were bullying

Isn’t that...Mayuzumi?

and at that moment something inside of you clicked

with confident steps, you made your way to the tall young man and placed a hand on his shoulder

“There you are and here I was thinking you’d bailed on me” you began as you gently squeezed his shoulder, giving him a signal to make him play along before you continued, “I got your stuff, you got the money?”

thanks to his constant poker face and slight nod the group of bullies was instantly on their guard

in order to give them their last push you pulled out a small and transparent bag with white powder out of your pocket

“You guys are still here? Sorry, but if you wanted a package you should’ve told me beforehand. Just so you know, it isn’t going to be cheap.”

seconds later the group finally gave up and stormed off, murmuring something about it not being worth the trouble

as soon as they were gone you let out a loud sigh of relief and crouched down, exclaiming how relieved you were that it was finally over

your sudden reaction caught the young man off guard and at first, he was stomped at what to do but he eventually crouched down next to you

“If you were that scared you shouldn’t have helped me in such an...unorthodox way. They might snitch on you, you know?”

you couldn’t help but giggle at the rather clumsy way he tried to thank and reassure you

“It’s fine even if they do, the teachers wouldn’t be surprised anyway and besides...that bag contains nothing more but some makeup powder I got from Reo to...to hide the bags under my eyes.”

even though you whispered the last part Mayuzumi still heard it and then chuckled

since then he actually began listening to you and even talked to you whenever no one was around

the other three were fond of you since day one so you had no trouble dealing with them whatsoever, or protecting them for that matter

someone was making rude remarks about Nebuya while he ate his daily portion of meat (which equaled five of yours)?

you’d tap them on the shoulder, lean on them and say that they were lucky enough he didn’t hear them, or else he might actually devour them instead

hearing how people made fun of Reo’s way of talking and even shun him for his behavior behind his back?

you’d directly go up to them and intentionally talk in a loud voice for everyone to hear how cowardly they were and how their behavior would drag their beloved school’s reputation down if you decided on making it public

witnessing how naive and warm-hearted Kotaro got roped into some even shadier business than what you were up to with sugarcoated words?

you’d do something similar to how you saved Mayuzumi back then: threats and bluffs and luckily all of them worked out in your favor

the only one who needed more time to warm up to you was Akashi

it was obvious that he hadn’t approved of you despite your (in your eyes) good performance during the first practice match

he’d simply nodded in the end and coldly stated that he’d accept this rather poor performance, warning you that there would be consequences if you don’t improve yourself

back then the others had joined you on the bench and were trying to cheer you up by saying that the red-haired young man was usually that demanding, but only towards people he knew had the potential...in a way he was trying to bring forth your hidden talent

with these sweet words and your own ambition to prove yourself to the seemingly perfect emperor, you finally started taking the club more serious than you’d originally intended

.

..

What did he just say..?

“Sei-chan, y-you....you can’t be serious”

“Akashi...”

said man turned towards you guys with a warm but twisted smile as he stretched his hand out towards you

“I swear to you, that if we lose this match, I will leave the club and...gouge both of my eyes out, and give them to you.”

after that proclamation each of the players gave it more than just their all, even you who could do nothing but cheer them on from the bench began analyzing everything you could from your team’s opponents

during that very emotional match, you found yourself praying multiple times that your team wins and not only because of Akashi’s oath but because you knew just how much they had trained for this

additionally, Kotaro and the others told you that this match was of utmost importance to the captain and his former teammates, all the more reason for you to worry

.

sadly in the end you guys lost and you were too overwhelmed with everything that had transpired in the last quarters

Zone? What the hell is that?

Another Akashi? How is something like that even possible?

the entire Rakuzan team walked back to the locker room in complete silence and that silence remained until all of them had changed their clothes

“(Y/N)-chan, let’s go,” said Reo in a gentle and silent tone as he gently squeezed your shoulder

“Y-You guys can go on ahead, I still have to check something” you answered with an apologetic smile

you were thankful that the young man could read the mood and agreed, so you re-entered the locker room, looking around searching for something

the moment you wanted to take a step forward, your legs gave out and you fell to your knees

H-Huh..? What’s w-wrong with me, I-I need to get up...

no matter how hard you tried you just couldn’t muster the strength to stand up, and before you knew it, tears had started rolling down your cheeks without stopping

frustration, despair, anger, and sadness overcame you and at some point you caught your thoughts drifting off in a direction you had never taken before

with trembling hands, you took a small package full of some kind of powder out of your jacket and looked at it

you weren’t the type to resort to real hardcore drugs and as of late you had been so busy with the team that even your usual smoke breaks became less and less, but now...

just as you were about to open the small bag in your hands the door to the changing room slowly opened

“A-Akashi...?”

the young man looked at you with a worried expression and as soon as he saw what you held in your hands he grew even sadder

without saying anything he simply walked towards you, kneeled down, and embraced you

you were quite shocked at first, but too emotionally tired to resist at this point so you simply let him comfort you

he told you that these overwhelming emotions you were going through right now were normal and absolutely understandable in this situation, and even without you saying how guilty you felt for the boys’ loss he calmed you down by stating that one person alone could not be at fault for an entire team’s failure

.

that day engraved itself in your brain and you promised yourself that you’d give it your all and even go further beyond it, just so you wouldn’t have to see the sad faces of the people who had given you a chance and loved you for who you are, including all of your “flaws”

unbeknownst to you, they had also found the same resolution as you

the day on which they had lost their match against Seirin made them realize that there was indeed something lacking in their way of playing basketball, and in order to improve that they had to start with a rather peculiar mission, namely to make you, their manager, proud and make sure that you never cried ever again...

[nelvana]

In which the forest of ice is explored

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which curses are spoken of Previous: In which those at home do what they can

    Ninetales was going to be harder to reach this time. Nelvana knew that.

    She carefully sat in her perch from a pine that they had decided to camp by. It was one of the few sturdy trees that sat in the ecotone between the burning Mt. Blaze and the freezing Frosty Forest. From up here, she could see where the land began to become covered in a thick layer of ice and snow, where the temperature would only plummet from here.

    This time, she would have none of the advantages that had helped her before. She would not have Alex’s speed, Keahi’s warmth, or even Tsuki’s guidance. In fact, Gengar’s “ability” to absorb heat along with her ground-typing might complicate this even further.

    None of these concerns had been brought up to her traveling companion, or her teammates back at home. Despite the dread building up inside her at the thought of having to pass through this area again, she didn’t want anyone else to worry. While she could not remember it, she felt like she had been through worse anyway.

    Quietly, Nelvana made her way down the tree and onto solid ground. Between the heated area they had just passed and the frozen area they were about to head into, not much grass was able to grow. She glanced over at Gengar, still sleeping and undisturbed from the cubone’s movement.

    Deciding to give him a bit more resting time, she wandered over to their lifeless firepit to check the coals. She hadn’t stirred it to properly make sure no fire would restart yet, and procrastinated this task even longer as she picked up one of the coals to test its warmth. With disappointment, she found that they had already naturally gone cold from the chill of the night. Nelvana had had the sudden idea to take some coals with her for extra warmth, but evidently that wouldn’t work now. Perhaps if they had located themselves where the wind was blocked more, then she would have been able to put this plan into action.

    Brushing out her hands and scattering out the remaining coals, Nelvana stood up again and turned back to her client, still sleeping. She wondered if she was actually quieter than she thought, or if Gengar was just a really deep sleeper. Regardless, she knew that they would have to continue on this journey soon. Risking having to still be in the Frosty Forest when night returned felt like sealing their defeat. They couldn’t waste this daylight any longer.

    “Gengar.”

    Nelvana stared at Gengar, waiting to see if he would respond. Nothing. This had been easier the previous night; what made this different this time?

    “Gengar, come on, we need to get up and going,” Nelvana insisted, louder this time.

    For a moment it looked like he was actually going to wake up, but he just rolled over instead. Curiosity ebbed at her at the idea of seeing if she would be able to get away with stealing the bag without him waking up, but she didn’t feel willing to waste that much time for curiosity’s sake.

    “Gengar I’m going to throw one of these coals at you if you don’t wake up.”

    A woman of her word, Nelvana waited a few moments to give Gengar a chance before she turned back around and picked up one of the coals that weren’t buried in the dirt. She even waited for a couple more seconds before following through and chucking what was basically stone at this point at the sleeping ghost-poison-type.

    Now, he shot awake, “w-wha- Hey! What was that for?” Gengar snapped.

    “I warned you,” Nelvana chuckled, “you wouldn’t wake up, and I’m afraid that you stealing my body heat when I try to shake you awake right before we go to possibly the coldest place on this continent is not how I wanted to start this morning.”

    “So, you threw a rock at me,” Gengar stated bluntly.

    “A coal, actually,” Nelvana corrected, before pausing. “Sorry though, I didn’t mean to hit that hard.”

    Gengar narrowed his eyes, but then relaxed again and exhaled instead of giving her another retort. One of his ears twitched irritably before he seemed to gather himself enough to speak again.

    “Fine, let’s eat and then head out then,” he sighed, pulling the bag onto his lap to search its contents.

    There was only the food for this morning meal and a bit extra to carry over just in case, which was fine with the knowledge that another storage statue would be coming up soon. If they didn’t have that to help them out, Nelvana would have made sure to pack more food to begin with.

    “Alright, so we’re going to have to keep our distance more now,” Nelvana announced as they began heading out on the trail again. “Otherwise, I will freeze here,” she gruffly admitted.

    Gengar nodded with an amount of understanding and respect that continued to surprise Nelvana. Once again choosing not to mention that confusion, she continued to lead them off into the Frosty Forest, allowing herself to go further ahead of her client than she normally would. She would check over her shoulder every once in awhile to make sure that she hadn’t accidentally lost him, but fortunately he was diligently following every step of the way.

    No snow fell from above even as it seemed to appear on the ground. In fact, the skies were clear with a nice sunny day. This would have made them feel better if it didn’t make the snow gleam dangerously into their eyes. Nelvana had to squint as she trekked forward; wishing that she had sunglasses with her instead. At least the shadows coming off the edge of her skull helmet’s eye sockets provided her with some slight assistance against this.

    Regardless, the snow only continued to mount up as they continued, each misstep sending one’s feet sinking deeper and deeper into the white flakes. There were no signs that anyone had travelled here lately; any previous footprints covered up in the most recent layer of snow. Nelvana was running on her memory of her last visit through here and her general sense of direction to make sure that she wasn’t putting them off path in any way.

    It was nearly two hours since they had departed that morning when they had arrived at the storage statue together. Nelvana shivered from the cold and had been able to see her own breath in front of her every since they spotted the first snowflakes on the ground; so, she was incredibly thankful when they made it to the iced chest. Gengar stood behind her at a respectable distance as she opened up the box, rummaging through it for proper winter supplies.

    Inside the chest were all the cold-weather clothing they owned, of which Nelvana swiftly donned the sweater and tail warmer she had used before, as well as the gloves that Alex had bought from Kecleon. Said gloves were made for those with one less finger than she had, but she with fine with putting two of her fingers into one of the finger holes of the glove for the extra warmth it would provide in the long run, over skipping out on the clothing entirely. She did also try using the hat that Alex had worn, but there was no real good way to fit it over the other headgear that she already wore; and considering the skull also covered her face from the wind among other things, she preferred to keep it on over the hat.

    As she pulled the sweater over her head and began readjusting her scarf, she felt the fabric of the mobile scarf tickle her neck. She couldn’t help but chuckle at this, and she pulled out the purple object. It was almost funny how she hadn’t needed it thus far, and continued forgetting about it even being with her. Would it have been possible to accidentally walk through a wall? Nelvana doubted it, but imagining how that would go down was an interesting thought.

    However, she felt like she should hold onto it in a more secure place. Nelvana couldn’t see it being needed for its intended function; but at least it was extra fabric, meaning it had the potential to provide extra warmth. She took off her left glove so that she could wrap the tattered scarf on its usual spot around her knuckles before tugging the glove back on her hand.

    Unfortunately, there was no other clothing that had been made for this sort of mission. Which, considering the suddenness of the entire thing, Nelvana couldn’t say that she was surprised. All of the winter clothes that were left were the other warmer and the hat, leaving Nelvana with an odd feeling of incompletion with them…

    “Hey, Gengar, will you need anything too?” Nelvana asked, glancing behind her. “There’s a hat and… tail warmer left if you’d like,” she offered.

    Gengar shook his head, “nah, I can take the cold pretty well, don’t worry about me. Do you have everything you need?”

    “Almost… just give me a few more moments, alright?” Nelvana responded, earning a quick “mhmm” as a reply.

    Turning back to look inside the chest, Nelvana made sure to bring out some more food, knowing that walking through deep snow took more effort than an ordinary hike though. She quickly passed these items over to Gengar with the bag before continuing to search the chest.

    When pushing aside some of what she deemed less important items, she found some stones carefully wrapped together with some cloth. It was already warm to the touch, so Nelvana opened it up to see what was inside; finding some hot stones collected up together. A smile grew on her face at the sight, and the thought that someone from home had put this together to help make this part of the journey just a bit easier. She had no idea how long these would last, but they would help for however long they stayed heated. For now, she would just hold them in her hands to help the blood circulating through them without just freezing.

    “I think that’s it!” Nelvana hummed, closing the box and looking over at the entrance of the dungeon before turning back to Gengar. “There were some heated stones in there too, so hopefully that will help out.”

    “Heated stones?” Gengar repeated, “from Keahi then,” he clarified.

    “Probably,” Nelvana agreed, “if it was him, I’m glad he decided to help keep us warm despite not being here himself,” she continued.

    “Wait, ‘him’? Isn’t Keahi a girl?” Gengar questioned, “did I miss something here?”

    “He’s genderfluid,” Nelvana corrected, “so, sometimes he is a girl, and sometimes neither a girl or boy, but right now he is a boy,” she briefly explained, “this most recent change was mentioned in part of the message from last night, so I guess you wouldn’t have known.”

    “Oh, uh, alright…” Gengar shrugged, his tone suggesting that he didn’t entirely understand, but that he was willing to accept it regardless. “I’ll keep that in mind, I guess.”

    Nelvana blinked, and then turned away again, “okay… we should get going though. It will do us no good to just stand around here,” she murmured.

    “Got it!” Gengar replied, waiting for Nelvana to enter the dungeon before continuing to follow. “I didn’t actually know that the badges could do that, the messaging thingy, before I noticed you guys using it.”

    “Really?” Nelvana quirked a brow. “How long were you in a rescue team, and you didn’t mess with all the functions of your badge?”

    Gengar scoffed, but it was almost friendly this time, “we didn’t use anything we didn’t need. What use is figuring out a messaging system when everyone is in the same place and you have a psychic-type anyway?”

    “But you’re interested in it now,” Nelvana pointed out.

    Gengar sputtered at this statement, but instead of getting frustrated or just flustered, he ended up laughing it off, “alright, you got me. None of us ever really learned how to use the badge in general.”

    “You’re… in a good mood today,” Nelvana finally couldn’t help but mention.

    “Maybe so!” Gengar shrugged again. “I mean, we are almost there!”

    “Well, hate to tell you this then, but it will still probably take another day to actually get to Ninetales,” Nelvana told him, “there is a fair bit of distance from this dungeon to the next.”

    “We are still getting closer than before, at least!” Gengar replied.

    Nelvana flinched as a furret scurried in from around a corner, but made quick work of the dungeon spawn by punching it with brick break. Shaking her head to herself, she continued to the next room and up the stairs, keeping an ear out for Gengar’s footsteps as he followed her.

    “So, you’re a pretty good, uh, fighter,” Gengar commented.

    “And…?”

    “That’s… cool!”

    Nelvana turned around to give Gengar a perplexed look, and found him smiling stiffly. If he was capable of sweating, she betted that he would be right now. While she once again bit back any comments about this, she couldn’t help but find this behavior really confusing for him. What was Gengar up to?

    “All that winter… stuff. You got that from Kangaskhan, right?” Gengar asked, deciding to speak up again.

    “Yeah,” Nelvana replied, “the clothes, at least,” she added.

    “That was really nice of her,” Gengar responded, “Kangaskhan is really nice…”

    “She is,” Nelvana agreed courtly.

    Gengar clicked his tongue, and without even looking Nelvana could tell that he was trying to think of a way to keep up this weak conversation. There was silence for about a minute, enough time to bring them to the next floor, but then Gengar spoke up again.

    “So, that skull of your’s. Does it ever get uncomfortable to wear?” Gengar asked, “I can’t imagine that you would have worn something like that all the time as a human.”

    Nelvana swallowed, “no… it’s actually nice to have. Fits nicely, adds extra protection…” she murmured.

    “Huh, that’s, uh, nice,” Gengar said.

    “Y-Yeah,” Nelvana replied, her teeth beginning to involuntarily chatter from the cold.

    There were no more attempts for conversation after that, Gengar letting out a sigh of defeat, and they just continued making their way through the dungeon.

    While it wasn’t apparent at first, their pace did not stay very consistent, only slowing as they went on. They had gotten through the early third of the dungeon in under even a half hour, and yet they hadn’t since arrived to the safe room on the ninth floor after an hour of continued exploring afterwards.

    Gengar only ended up realizing this when he zoned out and accidentally caught up to Nelvana despite not believing to have started walking faster. And while he had to admit to having a terrible sense of direction, he couldn’t help but wonder a few times if that was the same tree that they had already earlier on this floor…

    “Hey, Nel… er- Nelvana, you alright?” Gengar called ahead, surprising himself with the worry in his tone.

    “I’m f-fine!” Nelvana responded, another unmistakable chatter of her teeth in her reply.

    This answer did nothing to stop the dread building up in the pit of Gengar’s stomach. Why hadn’t he taken note of her shivering frame only intensifying before now? Should he stop her, or would movement help keep her warm? She had packed extra food; did that mean something? She hadn’t asked for anything yet… All he knew for sure is that whatever he did, he had to stay back or risk making things worse…

    He didn’t want to though. The just watching and doing nothing helpful felt all too familiar in a way, and how Nelvana was forced to drag herself through all this snow was weighing down on his consciousness in a way that felt less familiar and more uncomfortable.

    But he would have to. Have to hope everything would turn out alright without him interfering.

    At least… Nelvana was still fighting. While her reaction time wasn’t the best, and perhaps she wasn’t hitting them as hard as usual, any dungeon pokemon still would usually go down in a single hit, making them the least of the worries here. They could focus on just finding the stairs and moving forward instead.

    Finally, they managed to climb their way up to the safe floor. Here, they paused for a moment for some snacks, though like any other break, it was brief.

    Nelvana also passed the stones that had been given to her from Keahi over to Gengar to put in the bag. When he touched them, he found that they were only warm at best now; obviously useless to be held onto for warmth now, but could be saved for another time.

    Gengar couldn’t help but notice here that Nelvana had stopped shivering. He hoped that was a good sign; that she was warming up on her own. No other reasoning came to mind on why the shivering would have stopped. She seemed to be oddly tired now, but perhaps that was just stress…?

    He shook himself out of his thoughts as he spotted Nelvana beginning to head out of the room. Only a few more floors… and then to shelter, he assumed. Gengar would have to ask later. She had mentioned there being a cave that she had rested in the last time her team was there, so he could only assume that that was their next destination after they completed this dungeon. Hopefully it wasn’t too far away.

    They hadn’t gotten too far into the next floor before Gengar felt the presence of a psychic-type. He flinched at the suddenness of this; especially after having not had anyone speak to him through telepathy in a long time.

    ~*Calm yourself, it is just me,*~ Ceebee’s voice faintly sounded in Gengar’s mind.

    “Ceebee?” Gengar blurted aloud in confusion, glancing over at Nelvana, who oddly didn’t seem to have noticed anything, before taking in a breath and trying to respond through his thoughts. *Why are you speaking to me?*

    ~*…I unfortunately must warn you of something. I would have gone to Nelvana, but it would seem that she isn’t in the right mindspace for telepathy right now,*~ Ceebee told him.

    The aggression coming off this statement sent a shiver through Gengar, *we’re just almost through Frosty Forest! She’s cold, but it’s fine…* he responded, hoping to convince her that everything was okay despite that not entirely being the truth.

    ~*”It’s fine”? Gengar, Tsuki just sensed danger that we still haven’t been able to calm her down from that is related to your mission, and now I can sense that Nelvana has stage two hypothermia!*~ If it was possible to yell through telepathy, Ceebee was definitely doing that now. ~*It had better be fine soon, because we can’t be taking any sorts of risks with this. Look, I’ll let you keep going for now, but the moment that anything else goes wrong, you had better use Nelvana’s badge and get back to base, got it?*~ she ordered.

    *G-Got it.* Don’t ever try lying to a psychic-type, even in the slightest.

    ~*Good. I will check in later then. I would be keeping a constant eye on you two, but unfortunately it is not the most pleasant thing to have to use telepathy with a ghost-type. So, you are on your own for now. Until we speak again, goodbye Gengar.*~

    Gengar couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when the mythical’s presence faded from around him. Telepathy wasn’t the most comfortable for him, either. Now that he had his thoughts to himself again, he mulled over the message that had just been brought to him. Ceebee was definitely forceful about this, though despite her best efforts, he could tell that she only threatened him out of worry. Team Galaxy was really worried about them… well, probably more Nelvana than Gengar.

    Realizing that he had stopped walking, Gengar hurried to catch up with Nelvana, who thankfully hadn’t gone too far away in that short telepathic conversation. His ears drooped as he watched the ground-type continue pushing herself further through the snowy dungeon.

    “H-Hey, Nelvana? How many floors do we have left?” he called out.

    It took a few moments, but Nelvana did quietly respond, “three… eugh, maybe fouur?” she mumbled.

    “Okay, thanks!” Gengar replied, feigning cheerfulness at this answer.

    The next room presented the stairs, and they made their way up to the next floor again. This next floor opened up to a larger clearing, and in the distant end of the room, a metang floated with its back to the pair. Nelvana slowly lifted her head to look over at the dungeon spawn, and stiffly shifted her grip on her club. Gengar blinked at the sight of this larger pokemon, and his gaze shifted from his ally to this foe before he hesitantly stepped forward.

    “Um… Actually, I think I want to try fighting again, alright? You can hang back for this one,” he said.

    Nelvana gave Gengar a confused look with her eyes before accepting this decision, letting herself relax again tiredly as she took a clumsy step away. Seeing this, Gengar took in a deep breath and approached the metang. He had never had to fight something of this size… Regardless, he knew that he was going to have to try, despite his fears. Backing out now would not only be foolish, but likely the sort of risk Ceebee had warned him against.

    Gengar readied himself in a loose battle position, readying a fist to attack the metang. He knew his shadow punch move would be reliable, even having the type advantage here.

    However, he stopped himself right before he was about to charge the move. Nelvana… wasn’t comfortable with that move. Perhaps it was one of his better moves, but he also knew that if he used it now, it would just make this experience worse for her… and perhaps, she deserved better than that. He had other attacks to try.

    At this point, Gengar had stalled enough for the metang to notice him standing there, and the steel-psychic-type began its advance. He stiffened at the sight, trying to recall what other moves that he could actually use here. There’s… lick? No, that move is super awkward. What else…

    When it dawned on him, Gengar almost felt like slapping himself for not remembering sooner. He knew sucker punch, which was also super effective. Plus, this metang was predictably about to throw themself at him to attack, so this move would be a safe bet.

    He could feel the dark energy readying itself around his fist, only growing stronger as the metang dove towards him with their steel claws glinting in the sunlight. Gengar’s attack landed first, and he punched the larger pokemon, forcing them a few feet away.

    Unfortunately, any victory felt at this was short-lived, as the metang was not defeated and still ready to use their own attack. Gengar stiffened again, realizing he was now fully vulnerable to this dungeon spawn, without any more ideas of attacks to use. He curled into himself, turning away from his foe and awaiting the impact of the metal claw move.

    The loud clank of bone against steel was what greeted him instead. Gengar looked back up just in time to see Nelvana’s club plop into the snow, and the metang to fall over before disappearing in a flash of golden light.

    “O-Oh, hey! Thanks!” Gengar blurted out, turning around to look over at the cubone.

    Nelvana was crouched on the snow with her tail curled around herself and her right arm laying limply in front of her. She seemed to make the tired effort to smile in response, but made no other movements or noises. Gengar’s own smile fell slightly, and the thought crossed his mind that normally the bonemerang attack was supposed to return to the user.

    “Heh, that fight worked out alright at least…” Gengar continued, idly scratching his arm. “You know, we actually handled that pretty well, together! Er, well… Here, let me just grab your club and then we can continue. You said three more floors, right?”

    “Three or two left now…” Nelvana mumbled, nodding slowly.

    “Great, let’s hope it’s that second one,” Gengar replied.

    Reaching down, Gengar pulled the long bone weapon out of the snow and shook any remaining cold flakes off of it. He was about to just walk over to Nelvana and hand her her item, but then flinched back at his own foolishness; if he got too close, he would just end up absorbing her warmth.

    “Uh, I’ll just slide it over to you then…” he murmured, setting the club back onto the ground and pushing it towards its owner.

    Nelvana barely seemed to acknowledge this until the club bumped against her foot, causing her to blink and actually look at her. She shook her head before grabbing it and pulling herself back onto her feet, beginning to take the lead through the dungeon again.

    “You still holding up alright?” Gengar couldn’t help but ask her.

    “’mm jus’… really tired,” Nelvana admitted, “but it’s jus’ the cold, I know I hafta stay awake… come on.”

    Gengar let out a sigh; at least Nelvana knew how to take care of herself, even like this. If he could feel the cold as badly and was as tired as she probably was right now, he wouldn’t be surprised if he would have just given up at this point; clicked the button on the badge and teleported back to a home full of warmth and relaxation.

    There were only two more floors after that one, fortunately. Gengar made sure to keep his word and kept trying to battle the dungeon pokemon, leaving Nelvana to hang back and just throw in her club if it was ever needed as a last resort.

    With this strategy, they managed to pull through the rest of the dungeon, exiting out and into the open air and sky again. An icy gust of wind blew by them, but there was still no falling snow from the sky. It seemed that through the dungeon they had managed to climb all the way up to a large, rockier clearing, with the snow-drowned pine forest stretching all around them.

    Nelvana didn’t mention Articuno; but after Moltres, the expectation was still there for the other bird legendary to arrive before they would be able to properly get out of here. And sure enough, there was the distant flapping of wings that only grew louder as they approached and landed in front of the pair.

    “Greetings,” Articuno said, holding themself more composed than Moltres had carried themself. “What brings you back through my domain?”

    “We’re gonn’ to see Ninetaless again…” Nelvana responded, doing her best to keep any tired slurring of her words out of her speech. “Need t’ask ‘er about the curss again, with him,” she added, gesturing vaguely to Gengar.

    Articuno nodded, “I see… Your client here, Gengar, you are the same that spoke to Skarmory about the false rumors before, are you not?”

    Gengar flinched, “h-how did you…?”

    “Moltres decided to pay me a visit late last night to inform me of your arrival here,” Articuno told him, “but have no fear, I have no intentions of threatening you like they did. I trust that… Cubone will keep you in line if you do try anything; though I do hope that you are on your best behavior here.”

    Gengar could only nod as quickly as he could in response. He did not want to piss this bird off in any way, especially since he wasn’t certain if they would actually be able to beat Articuno in this scenario.

    “Before I allow you to continue, however…” Articuno began, looking back over at Nelvana. “How does Absol fare with your team?”

    “’suki is doing good,” Nelvana responded, managing a small smile. “S-Sorry shee wassn able t’ come.”

    “That is pleasing to hear,” Articuno hummed, “Absol is quite the honorable person,” they added, “I shall not keep you two here any longer. You may continue on your way now. Farewell, and best of luck to the both of you on your journey.”

    “Thankss,” Nelvana replied.

    Deciding not to waste anymore time here, Nelvana accepted this dismissal and began to sluggishly make her way down the pathway again. Gengar waited for her to get some distance as he had been throughout this area, but then hesitated.

    “Actually, hold on for a second!” he called, watching for his ally to stop walking before he turned back to Articuno. “H-Hey, could you, uh… do us a favor?”

    Articuno blinked, “what sort of favor are you requesting of me?”

    “W-Well… Look, this is sort of a time-important mission and we already have a lot more to go ahead of us,” Gengar stammered, trying to figure out how one was supposed to ask a legendary for help. “It’s… It’s really cold here too, it’s kind of taking its toll on us, so…”

    “Go on,” Articuno prompted, their feathers ruffling with amusement.

    “Would you mind giving us a lift to Ninetales?” Gengar finally asked, “you know… Nel’s team did kind of save the world, it would be-“

    “Cease your rambling,” Articuno ordered, causing Gengar to jump in surprise. “I will take you both to see Ninetales; no need to attempt to convince me with your stammers.”

    Gengar’s eyes widened, “r-really?”

    “Indeed,” Articuno assured him, nodding.

    “This is great! Thank you!” Gengar exclaimed; he had done something right! “Nel! Nelvana! Come back! I got us a ride!” he called out again.

    Some of Gengar’s excitement faded when he met Nelvana’s gaze again. Confusion flickered in her eyes for a moment, as if she hadn’t completely caught up to what he had told her, and there was almost a sense of being lost with her tiredness.

    However, she continued pushing onward, and dragged herself back up to the others again. Articuno crouched so that the two of them would be able to climb onto their back with more ease. Nelvana managed to clamber her way up, and Gengar followed suit, doing his best to sit as far away from her as possible.

    Articuno stood back up again, spreading out their wings and taking off into the sky again. Nelvana stared with lidded eyes at the land that they were now above. It was… peaceful up here. She distantly wondered if she had flown with someone like this before, but couldn’t recall anything right away and let the thought fade away in the back of her mind. This had been a good idea at least; they would be able to-

    “-vana? Come on, we’re here,” Gengar pleaded.

    Nelvana opened her eyes; though she couldn’t remember when she had closed them. They were here already? Hadn’t they just taken off…?

    She shook her head, sliding off the large bird’s back and landing her numb feet into the deep snow again. Articuno said something that she couldn’t pick up, and then took off again and disappeared into the clouded skies, leaving the pair alone again. Taking a moment to look around where they were now, Nelvana remarked how this place was quite unfamiliar to her for once on this journey.

    “Alright, this is the Frosty Peak…” Gengar muttered to himself, “how do we get in…? Oh, this… is the top,” he continued, his ears drooping with this sudden realization. “I told Articuno to bring us to the top, but we were supposed to go through a dungeon; now we’re just at the top of this peak and the top of the cave! Dammit! Why did his have to get messed up…”

    Gengar continued to talk to himself for a few more moments, and Nelvana let herself zone out of his rambles. This predicament was definitely worrying, and distantly she was aware that she probably should be stressed about it or just try to help think of a solution… but somehow, she couldn’t work it up in herself to care anymore.

    “…I guess I could go through the wall, or teleport in. But I would have to hold onto you to bring you with me,” Gengar continued, “maybe there is a back entrance somewhere?”

    “Through the wall…?” Nelvana murmured.

    “What? Oh, yeah, ‘cause I’m a ghost-type. But you aren’t, so that wouldn’t work…” Gengar replied.

    While Gengar continued pondering up a way to actually get into this cave, Nelvana slowly began fumbling with her left glove. It took a few seconds, but she managed to tug it off, and she looked over the purple fabric still wrapped around her knuckles.

    “Wait, is that my mobile scarf? Where did you-“

    Nelvana didn’t pay attention to the rest of Gengar’s questioning. Instead, she did her best to focus on the special item, and threw herself at the cave wall, fazing right through it to the other side.

    Distantly, she was aware of Gengar letting out a yelp as she disappeared indoors, but his voice was cut off the moment she made it inside. Not making much of an effort to land properly, Nelvana crumpled onto the stone ground, her club clattering on the floor not far away from her. It was immediately much warmer in here, almost trying to lull Nelvana to rest… But she forced herself up on her feet again, gently tapping on her arm to hopefully keep herself awake for just a bit longer.

    Gengar tumbled in not long afterwards, landing not any more gracefully than Nelvana had, despite probably trying more than she had for it. He grumbled to himself for a moment before glancing over at Nelvana, checking her condition with a quick look before turning his gaze away again to scan his surroundings.

    He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself, the spikes on his back nervously bristling. After a couple more seconds to gather his courage, he opened up his mouth to try speaking again.

    “N-Ninetales? We… We’re here!”

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which curses are spoken of Previous: In which those at home do what they can