#they’re not spats they’re kitten pumps apparently

[loganslowdown4]

I can’t explain it

But this has so much Janus energy 💛🖤💛🖤💛🖤

[cheswirls]

What You Gave to Me - 5

She wasn’t expecting anything like this.

The cavern was ginormous, with patches of greenery and canopies of leaves scattered about. Several hollow structures above made the sunlight shine through the foliage, and sent down groups of beams that made the ground seem to glow. She could see now why this was considered a sacred place. Ever the air somehow felt different here.

“Allow me to formally welcome you to Verdant Cavern,” Ilima called, striding over to stand by her. “Beautiful, isn’t it? Just magnificent.”

Faaora nodded. “It really is.”

“What you’re attempting to do is defeat three of the pokemon here that lurk in their dens.” They pointed to a small hole in the rock structure. “They’ll most likely be in there, though some like to dart out. After, travel to the pedestal deep within the cave and collect the Z-crystal that awaits.”

Faaora nodded along, then hesitated at the last statement. “Z-crystal,” she murmured. “Is it really okay for me to have it?”

“Of course. They’re not a one-in-a-million stone, because these trials are sanctioned by the island guardians. As long as they are around, the crystals are still in abundance.”

“R-Right. That makes sense.”

“Ki Ki Ki Ki Kiiiii!”

Both trainers jumped, startled by the booming noise coming from the back of the cavern.”

“One last thing,” Ilima said, wincing. “The pokemon here are strong, but there is one stronger and more fearsome, the Totem Pokemon, that also resides here. It will be your greatest obstacle.”

At this point she could feel the sweat trickling down her neck. The Alolan people didn’t mess around. She swallowed deeply, her throat suddenly dry, and tried to steady her breathing.

“Now, let the trial of Captain Ilima begin!”

Faaora stepped up, hand dropping from her racing heart, and scanned the cavern. Upon finding what appeared to be a den, and somewhat out of Ilima’s view, she began to walk in that direction. Litten popped out of his ball, padding beside her, then a bit ahead of her as her legs stiffened up.

When the pokemon spotted the den, he began to run towards it, then paused and turned back to tell his trainer to get a move on. But, when he saw she was still a ways back, seemingly frozen, he paused. She covered her eyes, palms shaking, and the kitten darted back over, stretching up to place his palms on his trainer’s knees.

Faaora peeked out from her hands, downturned lips slightly perking at the sight of Litten. She bent down, lowered herself to the pokemon’s level, and let him jump into her lap, grasping him tightly. “S-sorry,” she breathed. “I’m just-a little freaked out.”

“Mrow.” Litten lifted his tail up to dust across Faaora’s cheeks, settling on the skin. She paused, leaned into the fur giving off warmth, and the nodded to herself. Eyes popping open, she looked down at Litten, limbs steady. “Okay,” she told him. “I’m ready now.”

A well-timed ember attack directly into the den apparently knocked the first one out. Rotom confirmed it, saying she now only had two left.

She hiked up the path further, Litten alongside, and paused along the edge of one of the sunbeam circles. Once she had a little warmth on her face, she broke into a run further up. Litten caught her attention by pointing out another den, and when they grew nearer, both were surprised to see a little dust cloud darting out from the hole. Once the dust settled, it revealed an oddly-familiar pokemon. Faaora tipped her head and pulled out the Rotomdex. It told her this was a Rattata,  and at her confused insistence, relayed this was an Alolan version. She cupped her mouth with her hands, looking back at the pokemon. When it made to move forward, she moved in front of Rotom. “Litten, use ember,” she called.

After the pokemon was defeated, she let out a little burst of laughter. “Hey, Rotom, would you take a picture for me? I wanna send it to mom.” Upon complying, she viewed it as they moved on, laughing even more. “It has a mustache aww. Kinda like an office man actually. Okay. Okay focus.” Deep breath in, and she led Litten on.

They came to a bridge at one point, a long plank seeming to grow from the stone, with a large split so it looked like two separate pieces. Faaora, despite his complaints, picked Litten up for this. It was a long way down, and she wasn’t taking chances. She carefully walked to the edge, quickly moving away once she was off, then sat Litten down.

There was a path to another den ahead, but it was blocked off by a raise in the rock. They chose another path to the left, crawling through a hole at the top, tiptoeing through the green area behind it, and jumping off the incline to right in front of the den.

But nothing was there.

Frowning, she stepped back, only to see a dust cloud dart back from the edge above. Hmm. Maybe some of the caves were connected? She gestured for Litten to follow and together they made their way to that den. Again, it was empty.

She let her eyes roam until she spotted one more hole, on the opposite upper end of the cavern. They treaded over there, jumping down a few raised paths, to another deserted den. Faaora breathed through her teeth, Litten glaring at the air at her feet.

Since there was nothing from there, they crossed the bridge once more. Halfway across, they saw another pokemon dart in and out of the first den they had checked. Both looked at each other.

“We are going to be the sneakiest, stealthiest pair and nab that one,” she told him. Litten agreed with a nod.

A few feet from the end of the planks, she was forced to jerk to a halt, feet tripping over themselves. Litten jumped out of her arms onto the bridge, growling at the sudden Team Skull members that had nearly charged them. She managed to regain her footing, holding her arms out like a bird.

“Yo yo yo!”

“It’s your berry thief boys, back- . . . back again! Remember us?”

“Sure I do,” she told them, tensing up.

“Oh? Good! You better always remember-”

“Bro, we’re here to mess up her trial, remember?”

She let out a small exhale, eyes widening. They were what? “Yeah, that’s right! Let’s nab that pokemon, homie!”

They sent out a Drowzee and took one more step before Faaora brought an arm out and ordered an ember attack from Litten. She wasn’t being pushed back, not by these jerks. Drowzee went down after a successive bite attack and was returned quickly. Her pokemon glanced back, making sure she was alright, before hissing at the two, trying to be intimidating.

“W-What’s up with this, bro?”

“For real though?! This kid’s mad strong, I can’t wrap my skull around it!”

The first turned back to the other, eyes narrowed. “Naw, it ain’t even like that. This kid’s straight up dangerous.” The both darted up the path to a slightly higher point, giving the trainer a perfect opportunity to hop back to steady ground.

“This whole place is trouble, man!”

“Right? I mean, that thing is so strong that regular pokemon don’t even wanna come out to battle it.”

They both darted up to the top of the path, then one came right back down, not stopping til he was nearly on top of her. She leaned back and Litten sent flames on his shoes, backing him up. His eyes were widened. “Yo kid,” he murmured, voice echoing back against the rock to their right. “Y’know there’s a mad strong pokemon lurking here somewhere, right? I’d run if I were you.”

Just the tone of voice made her shiver. Still, she stood her ground. The one at the top noticed this, and ran down a couple steps. “Naw, we’re not going down like that,” he screamed to his partner, tucking his arms in. “We gotta get our revenge! Go stand over that den and catch the skulking Rattata, yo!”

The one in front of her immediately glossed his voice with annoyance, expression mirroring it. He put his arms of his hips, lips puckered. “For real?! Fine then. I ain’t got no bones to pick with you!” With that, they both ran up the path, going to the two dens in the back of the cavern. Faaora growled, frustrated, and stomped her foot down. “How dare they?!

“Mrow!”

She stopped to look at Litten, the pokemon pointing towards the den they were originally going for. It was clear. Faaora picked up her kitten, thrust herself through the hole, and sprinted to the den. Fuck stealth, she was gonna nab this pokemon before it ran off into their hands.

“Litten, use ember,” she spat, backing up. The pokemon shot out the attack and moved back as well.

“Scarr-am!”

With the noise, a Raticate came hurling out, straight into their path. It stood on two legs, cheeks chubby, but she was too pumped to joke about it’s appearance. Before it could run back in, Litten charged forward, mouth aflame, and sank its teeth into the pokemon, hurling it back, defeated. Faaora breathed in, shocked by the gesture. “What that . . a new move?”

Litten tipped his head at her. That’s when Rotom chimed in, calling the move fire fang and proclaiming it was time to head for the pedestal.

She gave Litten a treat and returned him to his ball, letting him munch on it in peace. Peeking out from her spot, she noticed both Skulls were still kicking up a ruckus in front of the other two caves. Taking her chance, she sped out and up to the back entrance, hurling herself through it.

-

She came out to an open clearing, the sky overhead. Layers of rock foundation stacked to form the area, the pedestal at the base. She moved closer.

The crystal was right inside, shining off of the golden interior. But she felt a gaze that seemed to cut right through her, and all the warnings she’d been given resurfaced.

But she had been through so much to get this. With that thought in mind, she reached for the crystal.

Before she could get far, a flickering shadow on the ground caught her attention. Drawing back, she saw what appeared to be an Alolan Raticate, except . . this one was about three times larger than the other she’d seen.

The pokemon jumped up and flipped to face her in midair, landing hard on the ground in front of the crystal. Faaora backed up more, giving herself some space. Defeat the Totem Pokemon. That had been the next step. That was right.

“Litten, go!” Once her partner appeared, he immediately lowered into a battle stance. “Take it easy,” Faaora warned. “We got this. Stay your distance and start with ember.”

It landed good, making the Totem wriggle with discomfort. It let out a harsh sound, and a Rattata darted over from somewhere, standing beside the Totem. Okay. Two against one. Because that was fair.

The ally went towards Litten with a tackle attack, but after being pushed back, Litten retaliated with a fire fang, sending the pokemon running off. Raticate still made no move.

Then suddenly, it was on Litten, headbutting it full-force in a tackle. Litten was send flying, landing a bit aways, and Faaora moved back a few steps. “You okay?” she called, eyes still on the Totem. This wasn’t a trainer battle, there was no chivalry here. She didn’t have backup either. Lucky for her, the Totem didn’t seem interested in attacking anyone but Litten.

They’d have to go full-force.

“Litten, fire an ember attack!”

Her pokemon did so, jumping to his feet and running forward. It circled a bit, dodging that humongous tail, and landed an ordered fire fang, making the Totem screech. Another ember towards the Totem’s back, then sliding away to avoid attacks.

Faaora moved towards the opposite side of Litten, watching the Totem’s movements. “Steady,” she called.

Right when the Totem began to lean back, teeth snapping in preparation of a bite attack, she made her move. “Fire fang!”

Raticate dove forward and Litten managed to use that as leverage, jumping onto its nose and landing the attack on its back.

Litten jumped off, but Raticate stayed down. They had won.

Faaora bent down and Litten came running, the two staying like that for a moment. Raticate slowly got up, but just to move further into the cave. Faaora let the tension drain from her body. It was over.

“What an incredible trainer you are!”

She sagged her arms and Litten jumped down, both turning towards the voice to see Ilima.

“For you to be able to defeat the Totem Pokemon that I had trained up to such a powerful state . . I don’t know what I can say!”

Her eyes twitched. Ilima had trained this pokemon. This enormous, three times larger than usual pokemon. I bet they set the Rattata in too. She sure had some things to say. On the other hand, it showed what an incredible trainer Ilima was themselves to be able to do such. Faaora stood up.

“Working in harmony with your pokemon, you have cleared the trial of Ilima. You’re a phenomenal trainer, Faaora. Congratulations, the Z-crystal on the pedestal is now yours-Oh, seems someone was a little ahead.

She looked down to see Litten sitting beside her, the crystal in his mouth. She reached down and took it, a soft smile on her face.

“What you have now is the Normalium Z. If you let a pokemon who knows a normal move hold it, then strike a pose like this-” Ilima paused and went through a short series of steps. She made a note to ask again later. “Then you’ll be able to strengthen the move by unleashing Z power.”

Faaora tipped her head,  question on her lips. What exactly was-

“Moving right along,” Ilima trolled, turning. “Ah, first, something I forgot to mention.” Terrific. Giving me hints only after the trial is over. “The Totem Pokemon are a part of each trial, and all have the ability to summon allies to help out. It’s not a tactic often seen in other regions. Perhaps pokemon in Alola are more inclined to help one another?”

“Hmm . . Possibly,” she replied. “Back in Kanto, it might not be that rare to have a wild battle interrupted by a third party pokemon attacking your potential capture.”

“How interesting,” Ilima hummed, pressing a hand to their chin. “Ah, speaking of which, a have a few great balls here for you.” They handed them over, and Faaora stuffed all ten inside her bag with a short thank you.

“And here, let me see to Litten after all its hard work in here.”

Litten didn’t have a single problem with that. After, Ilima mentioned showing her something on Route three, and although she was a little tired, Faaora obliged, promising to follow after the trial captain.

She had a few moments of peace to gaze around the clearing, the sun’s gentle light touching most things in the closed-off area. It was . . nice. She wondered if Tapu Koko was watching. Would they ever get a chance to meet the guardian again? To-

If you want to see more of that dreamboat Ilima, he’s waitin’ for you outside that cave of hizzz.

Faaora felt a blush steadily creeping up her face, and with a huff, she stuffed the Rotomdex back into her bag, moving towards the exit.

Ilima had the gates to the mountainous paths of Melemele opened for her. They also told her they were the only trial captain, meaning she’d get a chance to battle Hala now for the grand trial. Kukui had descended route three at the same time, and offered to teach her how the Z-crystals worked, even explaining how the intensity meant only one Z-move per battle.

“Oh? Is that why you look so ragged, professor?” Ilima asked.

Kukui shook his head. “No! It’s like I was hit with amnesia. I forgot that I lost Lillie somewhere on route three!”

Faaora tensed, letting the words run through her. When Kukui asked her to help, she responded quickly. They both split up, and Faaora headed out up into the mountains.

[close-to-the-edge12]

So, this woman’s a fucking moron....

Oooh my. 

So it’s upcoming winter, right? Becoming all cold and dreary and ick. 

Weeell, it turns out my mum’s friend is a complete fucking moron. She’s got six kids under her custody, the oldest being in freaking primary school. This is the bitch that has spats with her partner and kicks him and his kid out every couple of weeks.

And apparently, she’s used up all the money for their summer camp - fucking ages away, I tell you. Next year, actually. December at earliest. So you wanna know what she does? Sells all the fucking blankets. How did she use it up? Smoking and drinking. All contexts of smoking.

Should I mention at this point she got drunk with her sister and her partner WHILE being in charge of the kids. She did it at home, admittedly. But there was no one sober to look after them. One’s a baby.

Now, as of recent, she’s relocated into a new house. It’s more suitable for the amount of people. But she’s only got a heat pump. No ability to warm to house out of electricity. Not only is that expensive as fuck and way above the pathetic budget she has because she won’t fucking learn or get off her ass and work - even before the pregnancy she refused, and she’s just in general a horrible mother, so don’t bitch at me for her ‘wanting to take care of the baby’ - but if we get a cold snap, they’re doomed. 

I know she’s going to whine about this. “Oooh, my poor babies! They’re freezing what should I  - help me! Please. We don’t have anything to keep them warm.” Yet I also know that she’s only going to sell things off like a fucking moron in trade for something new, or no purpose at all. Maybe even fucking bin them, cause why not?

A list of ‘motherly’ - because at this point, can we really call her a mother? -  crimes include:

She’s also making her kids stick with head lice - “We don’t have the money for it!” - and doesn’t have any winter clothes for them. I think at some point this year she sold the kids bunks, to get them beds. Not second hand. Completely new. Like always, the bunks were suitable for someone to use and there really was no fucking reason for her to get rid of them. Asked for someone to get her brand new bikes - “They deserve better than second-hand!” Bitch, there’s no difference. Literally. The only thing that’s going to fucking be different is that someone would have owned them prior. And if you look around, you can generally find reliable, second-hand items. Furniture, toys, clothes. You got it.

She reckons you can hit your kids. Things like being disrespectful and anything plus. Minor things. Who were they being disrespectful to, though? Her. Her partner. Which, in this case, is warranted, because I’d be fucking disrespectful if I was one of her kids. Heck, that’s not even stopping me. I’m not their kid, but do ya see me trying to be nice?

I can distinctly recall a comment on Facebook about how she was teaching her kid not to hit... by hitting them. Kid has ADHD. Was acting up. Can’t blame ‘em. Isn’t like she makes life easy. Ditches father, moves everyone up to Christchurch. Hooks up with current partner immediately, gets knocked up, and gets herself another kid (his. The eleven-year-old from a previous partnership) which is totally unexpected and decides she wants to live way above what she can actually damn afford.

Broke her phone, pleaded for someone to get her a new one. Mum went and got her one, but she didn’t want it. Why? It wasn’t a smart-phone. Mum was nice and got the cheap one ‘cause she was pregnant. You need one when pregnant if you don’t have a landline - which she doesn’t. A couple of months later, she was asking for a new one because it ‘exploded’. Which is her for fucking binning it.

Half the time she has no money for groceries. Drinking and smoking, once again, come into play.

Constantly breaking up with her partner. As I said before, she doesn’t just chuck him out, but goes and kicks out his kid, an eleven-year-old girl, out. They don’t have anywhere to stay at this time. She knows this. So it’s usually an alternation between his car and his work - working at a car repair place. Completely unsuitable for a child to be around.

You know those adorable little furred, 25 pound fluffballs we call cats? She has them. Multiple. She doesn’t collar them. Doesn’t realise there are safe ones that break away, apparently. And you know vaccinations you’re meant to get, and worm stuff, so they don’t get sick? Yeah, nah. She doesn’t do that. Lost one of the kittens, too. No idea where it is - probably dead cause, you know, if Rise and Jamie, her brothers, weren’t wormed, she sure as hell wasn’t.

Did I mention drinking with her kids around, no adult there (three) sober, and giving no shits about the baby? Cause I feel like I should mention that again.

You know that money people in charge of disabled, parents with a kid that probably won’t be able to work or whatever because of it, carer support? She wanted mum to give that up. Keep in mind we live below average wages - mum’s benefit, Rachel’s, and whatever’s scrounged up, added together. That’s not gonna work out. We need that for Rachel, because she’s a high-maintenance terror. 

The list goes on and on. 

Makes you appreciate your parents a little bit more, doesn’t it? I know I certainly do.

*Big thanks to my mother, who I need to unblock ‘cause she wants to see this post and knows I’ve blocked her, for helping listing things off. You be goods mother. 

*No names are listed in this because, although I really, REALLY, want to say her name and get those poor kiddo’s taken off her, mum says no. Mum’s word is all. Because she’s scary. Like most mothers.