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bamfdaddio · 3 years

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X-Men Abridged: 1981 - the Body-Swap

The X-Men, those body-swapping mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. We’ve been untangling that history for a while, but sometimes, you really want a more in-depth look. Interested? Then read the (un)Abridged X-Men!

(Uncanny X-Men 151 - 152) - by Chris Claremont and Josef Rubinstein

Emma Frost and her frenemy Ororo Munroe have not been getting along! One fateful evening, as the two quibble away, they mysteriously switch bodies and minds. Talk about your Freaky Friday! What lessons will they learn, walking a mile in one another’s shoes? And will they be able to switch back, or will they stay in each other’s bodies forever? Mutant Monday, coming soon to a cinema near you. Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett and Elliot Page. (PG-13)

For a moment, we’re in a proper period drama: a letter delivers ill tidings!

I love that Kitty’s parents are so self-involved that it took them A WHOLE YEAR to realize that it’s weird that Kitty is the only non-adult attending the Xavier Institute.

I can only assume the mailman interrupted a pool party of some kind? Or a communal shower? I get why Kurt would not swim a lot - all that fur - but did Scott wear that while they were splashing around? Was it a beach volleyball competition where one half got to wear swimsuits and the other half superhero costumes? Most importantly, was Scott’s costume always this tight?

Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

The awful thing is that Kitty’s parents are transferring her to the Massachusetts Academy, not realizing that headmistress Emma Frost is, in fact, a terrible human being. Charles, uncharacteristically, says that changing their minds telepathically is a line he does not cross (any more) and half the viewing audience bursts out in laughter. More importantly, last they saw Emma, she was kind of dead-by-Phoenix, so it might be better there this time? Kitty does a Classic Teenage Stomp-Off and Storm comes to comfort her. Kitty cries that life is unfair (“My parents are only doing this because they’re splitting up”) and Ororo tells her that yes, life is unfair. You just gotta roll with the punches as best you can.

To be fair, bald men are technically all cheek, so it doesn’t matter where you kiss them.

While I enjoy the relationship Kitty has with the other X-Men (Scott gave her a compliment! Logan told her his name!), especially the mother-daughter-bond she shares with Ororo, the whole Piotr-thing always gives me pause. Even if we’re being very generous with age, Kitty is, what? 14 going on 15? And Piotr is… 19? At best? I get why Kitty would have a crush on him: he’s a gentle hunky giant: at fifteen, my teenage ass would have felt the exact same viz-a-viz Colossus’ upper arms. The fact that Piotr reciprocates feels skeevy, though, especially because they’re always treated like star-crossed idiots these days.

Skee-vy.

Ororo drives Kitty to Massachusetts, where her young ward is greeted by someone named Muffy and whisked away for orientation. All seems well. Ororo stands in a parlour, surveying the grounds and considering that they should have fought harder for Kitty. Still, nothing seems too wrong just yet: this Academy just seems very preppy.

Not-at-all-dead Emma takes her cue and jumps out, saying (essentially): “Surprise motherfucker.”

There’s a flash of light, and then...

I’m willing to bet that Emma’s EVIL journal has the following to-do-list: - Steal Storm’s body. - Experiment with her powers. - See how good Storm looks in white. (Leather? Fur?! Both!??) - REWARD: Smoke break.

I wonder if Emma’s plan hinged on being able to body-swap with Storm, or whether any X-Man would have sufficed. Was her original target Xavier? Cyclops? What if one of Kitty’s parents had brought her to Massachusetts, would she have taken Kitty instead?

In a locked cell, Storm wakes up in Emma’s body and is horrified. I wonder why Emma didn’t take any more precautions. Couldn’t the guy who made the freaky friday-gizmo also make a power dampener to nullify not!Emma’s telepathic abilities? Or did Emma count on her victim being so utterly incapacitated by her mind-powers that they’d be driven mad? (This would actually tie in with some of Emma’s later-revealed history: when her powers first emerged, she also got locked away in a padded room because of her madness.)

Emma is not wrong, by the way: Storm can’t get a handle on Emma’s powers. What follows is possibly the sweetest moment in an arc filled with sweet moments:

This arc isn’t drawn by any of the regulars - not Byrne, not Cockrum - but Josef Rubinstein brings his own kind of panache to the pages. I love the way he draws women’s faces: in a story that’s all about women, their faces are actually distinguishable. Kudoz.

Emma, meanwhile, coordinates with Sebastian Shaw to execute the second part of their two-pronged attack on the X-Men. They both laugh evilly in their phones while the mansion is attacked by Sentinels! These androids take out Cyclops and Xavier with some sleeping gas and knock out Nightcrawler, but the rest of the X-Men manage to trounce these robots. Then ‘Storm’ appears! She zaps the rest of the X-Men (and Amanda Sefton), successfully finishing their master-plan.

It’s not entirely clear what the Hellfire Club wants with the X-Men this time, but I’m assuming it’s more experimentation to improve the sentinels? Eh, doesn’t matter! Nefarious Hellfire Club is nefarious.

The real Storm, meanwhile, comes to claim Kitty, forgetting that she looks like the one and only Emma Frost. Kitty spooks and Storm accidentally reaches out, knocking her out telepathically. Whoops! Storm takes Kitty and flees in a car, while Emma gives chase. (How dare Ororo run off with her body, which is absolutely the kind of hypocritical hilariousness we all love Emma for.)

Kitty awakens and jumps from the car, causing Storm to swerve and...

JETSTREAM!? Speaking of which, where are the Hellions in all of this?

Kitty sees that an unconscious ‘Emma’ is about to burn to a tender and moist little crisp and she is faced with the hero’s dilemma: would you save a villain that would never save you?

Emma, meanwhile, has realized the downside to body-swapping: somebody else gets to run around with your body too. Shaw, of all people, talks her down from her anger.

You can’t just introduce a persona exchange gun to the plot WITHOUT EXPLAINING WHERE THE FUCK YOU GOT IT FROM.

My favorite detail is that Emma keeps calling Kitty brat, like she’s some sort of Pokémon-villain.

Kitty, meanwhile, has saved ‘Emma’ and tied her up with a special knot. Storm tries to convince Kitty, going for the “ask me something only Storm would know”, but Kitty’s all: “Duh, you’re a telepath.” Ororo insists, but the thing that clinches it is when she breaks free of her ties without breaking a sweat. That knot was taught to Kitty by Ororo and she’d be the only one who knew how to break out of it.

Storm and Kitty recruit Stevie Hunter to come pick them up and during the ride, Storm-being-angry-mother!Storm convinces Kitty more than anything else:

After all, Storm was voted most likely to say: “If you don’t stop this nonsense immediately, I will turn this Blackbird around, so help me God!”

Ororo and Kitty sneak inside. Ororo even uses Emma’s telepathy to help her pick a lock after phasing through a door. (Kind of funny: Kitty’s still such a neophyte that she can’t even phase with anyone else yet.) Emma, meanwhile, taunts the captured X-Men, presenting herself as the new white queen:

Anybody feel the inclination to point out that the Hellfire Club did this exact same thing last year, except then they tried it with a redhead?

I secretly suspect that the Hellfire Club’s plots always revolve around seducing X-Men to their side and dressing them up in sexy lingerie. (Which: fair.) There’s also a subplot where the guys Wolverine cut apart last year want to exact revenge on him for being made bionic, but eh. We’ll start paying attention to them when they become actual Reavers.

Kitty phases through the locks of the X-Men, freeing them, and a kerfuffle ensues. Emma starts using Storm’s powers, but they grow out of control. Colossus tosses Shaw out of the window - which should just be company policy, really: all Shaws should be defenestrated - where he’s promptly hit by a rogue thunderbolt.

When he doesn’t get up, Emma starts to lose it. The weather goes wild. Storm intervenes, using her telepathic power to help calm down Emma (and the raging storm), but she also manages to get a hold of the swap-gun. There’s a zap, and with a satisfied sigh, the status-quo is restored again.

My favorite implication is that, apparently, Emma decides which school Kitty attends and not her parents.

While this little arc is neither the most iconic nor the most profound of 1981 -- those would be Days of Future Past and I, Magneto, respectively -- I still love this for a couple of reasons.

As a lover of Freaky Friday, 17 Again and the new Jumanji-film, I just have a soft spot for body swap plots. (Hi Psylocke!)

It focuses on the Xavier Institute as a school, planting seeds for the upcoming New Mutants.

It is very female-driven without beating you over the head with it. (Looking at you, Birds of Prey.)

It has three definitive main characters, who all get fleshed out in fun and interesting ways. It starts the trend of robbing Ororo of some of her powers and tossing her into against-the-odds circumstances, only for her to come out on top.

It solidifies the Storm/Kitty mother/daughter (or older/younger sibling) dynamic. Kitty is a believable teenager when it comes to Storm - clever and kind, but also looking for answers and prone to rash decisions - and I love how much they care for each other.

Jean/Storm-friendship-callback, yay!

Emma gets fleshed out as a villain. Resourceful and petty, powerful and vain. It’s no wonder she’s one of the break-out antagonists of the X-Men, because, like Magneto, Claremont is not afraid of giving her depth. Arguably, she is the most three-dimensional of the Hellfire Club at this point.

Yay! And fuck completely sensible plots, if you don’t know what to do with your plot, just introduce a random persona exchange gun. Let’s use it on Xavier and Legion in Way of X next!

#x-men abridged #abridged x-men #x-men #storm #professor x #kitty pryde #uncanny x-men #emma frost #cyclops #nightcrawler #stevie hunter #colossus #sebastian shaw

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pokemoncreepypasta · 3 years

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My Shining Star

[STORY SOURCE]

Up until some recent events, I used to be an aspiring shiny hunter. Technically I was pretty good at it, too, at least by encounter standards. But even though I was great at finding my fair share of shiny Pokémon , I’ve never been able to keep any of them.

The first one of these shiny Pokémon I found was by a random encounter. I’d gotten lost in Rock Tunnel after forgetting to bring Flash, and spent so long in there that I ran out of Repels. Just as I was giving up hope that I’d be able to escape on my first run, she appeared.

I knew about shiny Pokémon, but hadn't ever thought I'd encounter one of my own in the wild. I was unprepared, and after a moment of staring in surreal wonder, I concentrated on figuring out how to catch her with my limited supplies. Thankfully it wasn't very hard, and soon I had my first legit shiny.

I normally wasn't creative with naming my Pokémon, but I wanted her to have a special name. I asked my mom for help, and she suggested "Star." I liked it, but the name itself seemed short and boring, so I added a couple stars to the ends to give her name a little flair.

I was beyond excited to put my first shiny into my team, and plowed through the rest of the cave. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, and I had to get out to the nearest PC, because I knew a shiny baby Cubone was waiting for me to adopt her.

I quickly fell in love with the little green dinosaur, and soon she was the shining star of my team. I used her more than my starter, and neglected the rest of my party a bit in the process, but still made it through the game alright. Setbacks didn't matter when I had a shiny.

Lots of time and multiple trips through the Elite Four later, I proudly turned ★Star★ into a level 100 Marowak. She was the first Pokémon I ever raised to level 100, and I couldn't have been prouder of her.

It had been a couple years, and I was starting to feel unsatisfied with just ★Star★. I was itching for more, and felt like I probably should have found some other random encounters by now, with all the time I'd spent playing.

Feeling inspired by all the shiny hunter videos I'd been binging on YouTube, I decided to start taking up shiny hunting. I was feeling ambitious, and decided to go straight to hunting for a shiny legendary Pokémon. I was a weird player who didn't really bother going after the birds or Mewtwo in my HeartGold, since I planned on transferring up my legends from my LeafGreen. I decided to rework ★Star★'s moveset for capturing legendary Pokémon.

The moveset I settled on was Bonemerang, False Swipe, Stone Edge, and Swords Dance. I decided to keep her moveset mostly offensive because she was still a member of my team, and not just a shiny-catcher. I planned on replacing False Swipe with Aerial Ace at some point, but I never got the chance to.

I decided to pick Mewtwo as my target. Lots of people find green shiny Pokémon overbearing and unattractive, but ★Star★ made me fond of them. Plush, Mewtwo was awesome, and I thought the two of them would look great together.

I spoke to ★Star★ aloud, saying, "Are you ready to do some shiny hunting, ★Star★?"

"★Star★ let out a roar!"

I thought she was just as enthusiastic as me.

I made it to Mewtwo, saved my game, and started the tedious process of soft resetting.

I’ll spare the details of how long it took, but eventually I came across the sparkling green Mewtwo.

I led with my team's Ampharos to paralyze it, and switched to ★Star★.

I remember being very lucky with this fight at first, with Mewtwo being fully paralyzed every turn.

I used Swords Dance to fully buff ★Star★'s attack stat so False Swipe would do as much damage as possible.

But even though I swore that I had chosen to use False Swipe, ★Star★ proceeded to use Bonemerang.

Shocked, confused and distressed, I watched as ★Star★ mercilessly beat the shiny Mewtwo down, knocking it out in one hit with her increased stats.

I felt crushed and dejected as I went back to the overworld. I blamed myself, thinking I had misclicked the wrong move and killed the Mewtwo myself. In my wave of disbelief, I absentmindedly talked to ★Star★.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I decided to go back to square one and start over.

A dozen thousand resets later, I saw it sparkle again and I was shaking with anticipation. Part of me felt twitchy and paranoid, like I should have used my Master Ball right away.

I decided against it because I wanted to hunt the birds later, but decided that if the Mewtwo seemed like it would run low on moves, then I'd use it as a last resort.

I probably should have listened to my guts though, because the same thing happened all over again. I knew for certain this time that I had chosen False Swipe, but the game purposefully made ★Star★ use Bonemerang. I saw it completely clear.

After seeing the Mewtwo go down a second time, I just cursed and slammed my desk a bit. I glared accusingly at my Marowak.

I decided to put my shiny hunting on hold. I used an Escape Rope to leave, and decided to place ★Star★ in the PC, quarantining her in an empty box for a time-out.

As I dejectedly hunted for a third time, I thought to myself what was wrong with my game. I wondered if it was just glitchy, or if I was misinterpreting the situation. I decided to convince myself that it was a mistake on the game's part; otherwise I wouldn't have been able to handle killing the Mewtwo twice in a row.

Finally, it sparkled one last time. I decided not to screw around while reclaiming this shiny. I had hunted it twice before, and decided to just use the Master Ball on it.

I had earned this.

After the initial rush of finally obtaining the shiny, I decided not to nickname it until I thought of something good, and watched as it got sent to the PC. I excitedly saved my game, and made my way out of the cave and to the nearest Pokémon Center.

But when I got there, the Mewtwo wasn't anywhere to be seen.

I shouted curses in confusion as I scrolled through every box in a state of denial. Where did it go, what could I have possibly done? I thought of all the ways I couldn't possibly messed up, did I have an evil hacked Pokémon from the GTS that deleted it, was this actually a bootleg game and Nintendo's anti-piracy revenge was to delete my legendary?

After a few minutes of searching, I gave up. My Mewtwo was gone.

I scrolled back to ★Star★'s isolated box and looked at my only green shiny in mourning. Obviously it wasn't something wrong with just her, but the game itself. In a game as glitchy as this, I was seriously worried that I might lose her, too.

After looking at her for a bit, it seemed like she might've been looking at me? I wasn't sure if she was supposed to do that, but in a game that was acting up like this, I didn't doubt it.

I took her out of the PC and put her at the front of my party to talk to her, to see if anything else was up.

"★Star★ nodded slowly."

She only did more random friendly things after that. Quite chipper for someone whose life might be threatened, I thought.

I decided to trade her over to Platinum for safe keeping. I wasn't sure what to do about the rest of my Pokémon on HeartGold, but ★Star★ was the most important one to me right now.

As I traded her over, I noticed that her eyes were red now, instead of the green I was just looking at. I was off-put by this inconsistency, especially with the recent events surrounding her. I forced myself to brush it off, however, notice I could do about it.

Even though I had an unfortunate experience with my HeartGold, my thirst for more shinies still persisted. Maybe it was the fact I had lost my shiny three times that I really had to fill the void, now. A couple weeks later, I found out about a method of shiny hunting called chaining, and wanted to try it out. I felt a little more at ease, since if you accidentally killed a shiny with this method, the chain wouldn't break, and you could keep going. Plus, Platinum should've been fine.

I chose Route 208, as it had a good selection of Pokémon for me to choose from. I wasn't picky, so I just started chaining whatever Pokémon I liked until I got a decent chain. I heard that the shiny odds max out at a chain of 40, so after that you can just keep resetting the radar until the grass sparkles.

I landed on Roselia, and sent out my shining star Marowak.

I started with False Swipe, since I wouldn't need to buff up ★Star★ for a LV. 19 Pokémon.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

Oh no.

I panicked as memories of the last incident came flooding back, and how it had started out with her disobeying. Not giving her a chance to kill it, I frantically switched to the items menu to start throwing PokéBalls instead.

(Name omitted for personal reasons.)

I had plenty of them, so I stared throwing Ultra Balls, since they had the highest odds. At least one of these would probably work.

" blocked the Ball!"

"Don't !"

I tried throwing one, but it failed, as if I tried using it on a trainer's Pokémon.

I had no idea what in the world was going on, what could be stopping me from catching a wild Pokémon? Was my Platinum glitched out too? Was I cursed??

I tried using different balls, but nothing would work.

Eventually, I ran out of PokéBalls to throw. I'd failed the shiny.

Frustrated, but not enough to kill the Roselia, I fled the battle.

I had no idea what to do after that, and was exasperated. I wanted to berate myself, and that I should've tried test catching a normal Pokémon in Platinum first to make sure it was going to work okay. But really, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen? And always, conveniently when I was in the middle of hunting a shiny. I thought of berated my parents instead, if they had bought all my Pokémon games for me on eBay.

Was it really my games, thought? I don't even know if you can trade Pokémon from fake games. Was it my DS could it have been hacked? Can you even bootleg a DS? I tried going to the Internet for answers, and read some Reddit and random Pokémon forum posts about glitches and bootlegs for an hour, but gave up without finding a real conclusion.

So, I'd given up hunting for some time. But, I hadn't gotten tired of Pokémon. I bought Black for myself, and played through the story just fine.

I found out you could get a Shiny Charm if you completed the Pokédex. That made me excited, until I remembered my past luck. Was it worth trying again?

Shortly after transferring up all my Pokémon, I decided, yes. It was. I went for the hatching method this time, since the Pokémon ends up right in your party afterwards- no catching, no PC transfer. It would be my final test, and if THIS didn't work, I would officially give up on ever getting nice things.

Foreign Ditto in hand, I went to work. I went for a shiny Flygon, since they were one of the best looking, and it'd be a nice addition to my competitive team.

One long hunt and a really late night later, eyelids barely able to stay open, I saw it.

I'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Skipping the nickname, I rushed to immediately save my game, wasting no time. I checked my party to see my Trapinch was still there, and chalked it up as a success. I was an official shiny hunter now.

Since ★Star★ was level 100, I figured she could battle for my baby Trapinch until she could hold her own in battle. I only wanted to take her up a few levels, so I could personally train her afterwards. Just raising her immediately into a Flygon would be too soon.

I attached an Exp. Share to her, and started running around in the tall grass. After a little bit of grinding, my Trapinch made it up to level 8 before I accidentally stepped into the thick grass and triggered a wild double battle.

Knowing the wild Pokémon were too strong for the underleveled baby Trapinch, I wanted to flee, but I first noticed ★Star★'s sprite as it asked me what to do.

The end of her bone facing the wild Pokémon was no longer symmetrical, being sharpened at the end of it. I'd seen her sprite enough times to know it wasn't supposed to look like this.

I tried to flee, but it failed.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

"The wild Pidove is watching carefully!"

"The wild Patrat is watching carefully!"

"Trapinch is watching carefully!"

★Star★ had started using moves on her own. Stunned, I tried to switch out.

"★Star★ can't be switched out!"

Giving up, I told ★Star★ to use Stone Edge on the Pidove, and told the Trapinch to use Bite on Patrat.

"★Star★ ignored orders!"

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

I gasped as she struck my Trapinch instead.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

As soon as I read that text, it hit me. This wasn't any ordinary friendly fire.

"Trapinch fainted!"

It finally allowed me to run, so I immediately tapped the button and rushed to my party to see the damage.

My Trapinch was gone.

I tried resetting to bring her back, but it was hopeless. My shiny new baby had been murdered.

Connecting all the dots in my head, I realized the reason I'd failed every encounter was because of ★Star★.

My grief and fear quickly turned into outrage. I couldn't believe she'd done this to me. She'd made me suffer hunt after hunt, just to take every shiny away from me.

This was the source of my games acting strange, and I knew there was only one way to correct it.

Feeling rash, I rushed over to the PC and hovered over the "Release" option for a few minutes.

"★Star★ was released."

It hurt to let her go, but I didn't want my game behaving strangely with her around.

"★Star★ came back!"

"★Star★ will never leave you."

But she refused.

Resorting to desperate measures, I did the only other thing I could think of.

I traded the stubborn Marowak over to my nearly empty White version that I never got around to playing, and deleted the save file.

"Deleting all saved data... Don’t turn off the power."

"★Star★ will n"

Sayonara, ★Star★.

After deleting the save file, I thought things would start working like they should. Sometimes, I'd replay other Pokémon games just for the fun of it, hoping I'd find other shiny Pokémon with ★Star★ gone.

Almost comically, I somehow thought it would be a good idea to go full circle and try hunting on HeartGold for a shiny starter. I had heard from other shiny hunters that it was an easy hunt, and it was, only taking a few days.

I affectionately named him "Chico."

My first step into the tall grass, and...

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I had never been so unhappy to see a shiny.

I guess she's been out in the wild all these months. And looking at her sprite, I can only wonder what she's been up to. I wonder how she feels to see me again?

Oh, no.

“Can’t escape!”

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

"Chico fainted!"

Of course, Chico was no match.

The game froze after I blacked out.

I figure it was because ★Star★ killed my only Pokémon.

"The save file is corrupted. The previous save file will be loaded."

My save file, corrupted with the loss of my starter's data, brought me back right to this spot that I was all too familiar with. Through frustrated tears, I begrudgingly went to pick a normal starter so I could play the game normally.

“I dare you to love again.”

And I’ve never found a shiny since.

#Pokepasta #Pokemon Creepypasta #Marowak #My Shining Star

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starboltprojects · 3 years

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This is a new non-profit game guide for the Wii U game - Xenoblade Chronicles X. It concluded work a week or so ago, and most of the information inside is new to the internet. And I’m the author.

So, to anybody who knows me from university or elsewhere, my last five months after my Masters finished (more like mid-August to September, then late September to Mid-December, then mid-January to Present), have been spent in the darkest depths of a JRPG datamine, checking through hundreds of columns in tables like these.

Definitely not the natural environment of a perceived 3D artist, yet I’ve been attacking it with the same kind of fervor that created my first transformer.

Lots of underscores and numerical references in need of interpretation, which I was constantly hopping back and forth between tables for. Needless to say, I’ve learned a thing or too about dev commons cataloguing convention. I can imagine my programming lecturers back at Staffs can appreciate what it’s like going through these kinds of tables, and would probably chuckle when I say my head was down in these for about three full months.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) - Monolith Soft, is the same game which my INFERNO Skell 3D piece came from. It’s a game I’m intimate with, and for a Wii U JRPG, it's renowned for being a technical marvel, fitting a seamless open world, larger than the one in Breath of the Wild and as dramatic as Avatar’s Pandora, onto the Wii U hardware.

It’s also dense, brimming with micro-management philosophy, augmentation for every possible battle tactic, and featuring over 100 different kinds of fantastic enemies to fight. But at the time of delving into this datamine, big pieces of information about the creatures’ capabilities were simply not covered. You couldn’t pick up a guide or the in-game enemy index and find anything useful about them to help you plan a fight. And without that intimate knowledge, battles just devolve into damage sinks.

And this became the topic of my digging. I’ve played the game twice and run up against walls I couldn’t beat on both playthroughs. I refused to go to the effort of customising a build to beat tougher enemies without having all of the information I needed, and while plenty of guides exist on builds and gear, none exist for enemies, and the game’s in-built enemy index is functionally useless. I wanted to make my own enemy dex for Xenoblade, like the pokedex in Pokemon, so I could arm myself with that sense of knowledge and control.

But it goes deeper than just personal peace of mind. There’s a let’s player I follow - Chuggaaconroy, who’s known for in-depth let’s plays of games covering everything a game offers, particular JRPGs, who loves Xenoblade Chronicles. I was anticipating, and had seen evidence of, a let’s play of Xenoblade Chronicles X being planned by him. I wanted to see him NAIL this game, expose it for all of its richness and, knowing his calibre and the herculean task it would be to apply it to XCX, I became an editor on the game’s wiki in 2018 and reached out to Emile (Chuggaaconroy), asking to help with any info I could get my hands on. He told me a let’s play, were it to happen, would be some way away, likely after a Switch port. In hindsight I’m thankful it hasn’t happened yet, since a Masters has occured in my life between starting and finishing this endeavor.

Back then I’d originally planned to just grab the base stats for every species when the game’s index only displays a range specific to level-bracket. I thought it was something I could achieve with my available resources. But then, when the datamine was shared with me, my list lengthened to include:

- Arts – Attribute, Category, Hit No., Direction, Scaling, Cooldown, Effects - At least 3 of these per enemy, and increasing

- Appendages – Hardness, Skell Targetability and Exposure

- Battle Skills – Aura Effects, Tiers and Duration, Spike Scaling, Attribute, and Rate of Damage, and other invisible Skills and Enhancements

- Immunities & Resistances to Debuffs

- Size-Category

- Stats

& Drops – Armor, Weapons, Skell Armor, Skell Weapons, and Materials & their crafting use

For context on the quantity of information that amounts to, just add up the number of capitalised points on that list, multiply it by 110 or so, and then assume the time necessary to locate and translate the relevant information from the tables.

By May of 2018, I was organising the findings onto spreadsheets for the information, and translating it to a document guide. Then I started the Masters and it was put on hold, about a dozen species done, but some still with gaps and ?s that I hadn’t worked out from my digging. But in August of 2020, Emile teased a let’s play which had the potential to be Xenoblade Chronicles X, which spurred me to pick up the work while concluding my dissertation piece. It turned out to be a different Xenoblade, but then I was in the clear of the Masters and working in earnest, identifying everything I’d previously been unsure about and concluding first drafts of all 100+ entries going into December. The time since has been spent on a handful of further additions, then editing, until we come to February 2021, where everything is ready.

I did have some help from a collaborator by the online handle of Abarax for playtesting, and in the process of the digging I’ve also ended up building several more documents for look-up purposes. And I’ve produced a full set of clean portraits for the enemies which the wiki was previously lacking.

I know hundreds of players will be able to benefit from these guides. Truthfully, despite whatever preconceptions my portfolio pieces would have people believe, this project is just as in line with getting me closer to my dreams as building technically impressive transforming robots. My passion lies in JRPGS – Pokémon, Xenoblade, Final Fantasy, Persona, Kingdom Hearts. Getting to work with one during this project has been immensely fulfilling.

In total, my findings have produced a little less than 200 pages of new and clear information. I’ve already shared them both with the game’s wiki and made proposals to have the information in them implemented in their pages. I’ll let the guides speak for the rest.

PRESENTING NEW GAME GUIDES

- Xenoblade Chronicles X - Enemy Notes + Augment Crafting Guide

- Xenoblade Chronicles X - Enemy Info Sheets

And I’ll add this response I got from one of the moderators after they’d looked through it.

And a poster -

#xenoblade chronicles x #xenobladex #playerguide #game guide #pokedex #nintendo wiiu #wii u games #monolith soft

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skylarmoon71 · 3 years

Text

Leonardo x Reader Oneshot TMNT 2014/2016

Disclaimer: I own my love for fanfiction, nothing more. Enjoy!!

"I don't trust you." To say those words didn't hurt would be a blatant lie. Standing in the lair with all four turtles around, you blinked, determined not to show any type of weakness. Leo's eyes were resolute after the statement, and the three other turtles grew quiet.

It started with Mikey's casual teasing. You were so used to it, so when he joked about Leo having a crush on you because he constantly gave you the cold shoulder, you laughed it off. Mikey's wasn't being serious. But apparently it struck a nerve with Leo.

"Leonardo." Splinter heard it all. You could see the way Leo's jaw was clenched, and all you wanted to do was punch him in his stupid leader face.

"Raph is right, you really are nothing but a jerk!" you pushed up your glasses, turning on your heels as you stormed off. You knew the moment you got back to your room you'd fall apart. But you could save a little face. You just needed to ensure you didn't fall apart in front of him. You wouldn't give him that power.

Leo's mistrust wasn't completely unwarranted. Your meeting with the turtles was fairly unique. It wasn't in an act of heroism. You had in fact tracked them down. Like Donatello, you were very good with computers. A master hacker. Because of your little hobby, it provided a lot of room for snooping. In middle school you hacked NASA, and they were none the wiser. By the beginning of high school, you were hooked up to every police scan and federal cases. Everything and anything that you wanted to know was right at your fingertips.

Being an orphan probably didn't help with your moral compass. As long as you knew it was always about seeking our own self interest. You were now a junior in high school. Being a New Yorker was pretty much the usual. Grumpy people, busy bodies. What wasn't ordinary was alien invasions. It alarmed you when there were metal boxes floating in the streets, panic throughout the city. What pissed you off was the fact that it was never addressed as to what really happened that day. The government provided some half assed excuse, and everyone just accepted it. Determined to get to the bottom of your newest interest, you'd stumbled upon something quite interesting.

A fellow hacker, almost as gifted as you. Not nearly as careful though. At the time you had no idea it was Donnie. You just followed the informational patterns that strangely aligned with all the unexplained incidents that occured in New York. Intrigued, you kept pushing, and even decided to confront the individuals that you were led to. Safe to say four giant mutant turtles were not what you were expecting. After nearly having a heart attack, you finally solved the mystery of the vigilantes.

A very unexpected development emerged from your discovery. You befriended them. Donatello was impressed at your technical skills, and you were even more with him. You were born with the genes basically, probably from your parents, but they were created. He adapted his intelligence all on his own, and to you that was astounding.

Months passed, and you found that being with the turtles and even assisting when you could, you felt like you were a part of something great. Something amazing. You were helping people with your gift, rather than using it for your own means of living. All in all, they seemed to like you. Even Raph who probably was the least trusting of strangers warmed up to you. The only one who held a general dislike for you was apparently Leo.

Since your meeting was a bit forced, he was weary of you. As time went by you thought that would fade. It wasn't like you would reveal their secret to anyone; they were your friends. At least that's how you saw them. Leo obviously didn't feel the same. Not that you cared. If he wanted to act like a douche then you would let him. If he thought those words would make you run he was wrong. You will be back first thing tomorrow. After you were done crying a little to day that was.

~The Next Day~

"Don't worry too much about Leo. Ya gotta give him time. " Raph nudged you on your seat on the couch as you were beating him in mario kart.

"I'm not worried. It's his fault if he wants to keep that giant stick up his ass." Raph laughed out loud and you joined, adjusting your glasses quickly so you didn't lose your spot on the course. Someone clearing their throat behind you made you drop the control. You didn't have to turn to know who it was. Raph was already standing, flipping over the couch.

He was probably there because it was about that time for them to go on patrol. Raph ruffled your hair with a grin. "See ya later kid, I'll be back to beat ya."

"Hah, maybe in your dreams!" Donatello rushed past, handing you a computer. "Thanks for the codes, the servers are moving a lot faster (Y/N)." you nod. "Sure thing Donnie, anything for a brother hacker." you showed him a peace sign smiling. Mikey was the last to join, swinging his nunchucks. "Who's ready to kick some criminal butt!" he said excitedly. Raph and Donnie just turned, not really acknowledging the younger turtle's antics. "Really? No one." he followed behind still trying to get a word from his brothers. Leo lingered there, and it took you a moment to realize he was staring at you.

You frowned. "Don't worry, I'm not going to burn down your home or anything, so you don't have to keep watch. " you stood, pushing your glasses up your nose, heading in the opposite direction. Leo knew he deserved the hostility. After the conversation with Splinter, he felt like he really understood nothing about his feelings.

~Flashback~

"Did they forget that she basically blackmailed us just to see who we were. Why am I the bad guy." He was more than a little frustrated. Even Raph was lecturing him on his statement that day. Raph of all people.

"Leonardo, she's young, just like you. I believe there is another reason you're conflicted about her."

"What do you mean?" He couldn't understand what Splinter was trying to say.

"Maybe you have learned to see her in another light. And it's difficult for you to understand. So your mind is telling you it's mistrust, but is that what you really feel?" His forehead creased in thought.

"What I really feel." He couldn't come up with a good answer. His encounters with you were never lengthy. He barely acknowledged you on most occasions. But when he did, he found that he was watching, or more like studying what you did. Your intelligence, humor, and those glasses that never seemed to stay perched up on your face. Leo's eyes grew wide.

"Sensei I..."

"You have feelings for her." Leo wanted to swallow his tongue. That couldn't be.

"There is nothing wrong with what you feel, however you need to be more careful with your words. (Y/N), despite her resilience is still very much a child. " Leo was still in a sense of shock. Splinter walked over, patting him on the shoulder. "I know you will find a way to make amends with her. Just be honest." he said nothing else, walking off with his hands folded behind his back.

"How am I supposed to do that." If you disliked him before, you definitely hated him now.

~Flashback end~

Leo released a heavy sigh. It would take a lot to take back those words. Right now, all he wanted was to let you know that he was wrong. It didn't matter if you detested him. He just needed to restore the trust he should have placed in you the moment he realized you cared for his family the same way he did.

~~~

"Mikey check out my costume!!" you were sporting a pikachu onesie. It was halloween after all, and you were more than excited to show off the cute yellow design.

"Pika pika~" you mimicked the sound your favorite Pokémon with a smile.

"You're so cute!" he gushed in a baby voice. You giggled, adjusting your glasses. The parade was about to start and you didn't want to miss it. Since this was one of the few days the turtles could roam around without suspicion, you were overjoyed. It was the first outing you had with them all together outside. You bounced on your feet when Donatello and Raph came from around the corner talking about training most likely. "Come on guys we need to get going!" you urged. Raph placed his hand on your pointed hoodie. "Alright hold ya horses. Leo's coming too." You puffed your cheeks at that.

"Great, the world's greatest killjoy is joining us." You really didn't want Leo's strict attitude on your night of fun.

"Speak of the devil." He was walking with his eyes in a book. When he saw everyone gathered his eyes raised. When they landed on you, he stopped completely. You knew it was stupid, but you blushed, because of the awe in his eyes as he looked at you. Your gaze moved down as you grabbed at the tail of your costume, fiddling with it. "Dummy, why is he looking at me like that!" Leo was the last person you wanted to make your heart beat that way. You weren't even wearing tight clothing either, so why the hell was he staring like you were the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. Leo willed himself to look away, placing his book down.

"She looks so cute." Of course he didn't say it out loud. Regaining his cool, he folded his arms.

"You guys ready."

"Yeah dude we were waiting for you." Mikey reached over picking you up, you were laughing the entire time.

"Onward soldiers!!" he shouted. Raph just tapped him on the head. "Dude!" Donnie rolled his eyes.

"If you guys start fighting Sensei won't let us go." he informed. Mikey made a zipping motion on his lips. Leo watched his brothers marching away with you. And a tinge of jealousy rushed through his body seeing how comfortable you seemed with Mikey.

~~~

Walking through the streets you took in all the creative costumes. Bands were marching, people cheering, bodies jumping and prancing to the music that blared through the speakers. Mikey was a little ways ahead, easily making friends in the crowd of people. He looked so happy. Raph and Donnie's eyes were also trained on Mikey. The content expressed on their faces was really indescribable. They usually gave him a hard time, and you knew it was just how brothers acted with each other. He was the youngest, and you were positive if anyone tried to hurt him, they would protect him in a heartbeat.

"Hey there, are you all alone cutie." you were so distracted that you didn't realize you got partially separated from the others. The male blocking your way annoyed you. Raph and the others were a short way up the street. If you could just get past this guy you could join them.

"Sorry but I'm with my friends. I've got to go." He moved closer to grab your hand, and you were about to recoil when a hand came down and pulled you backwards. You stumble into something firm, and when you look up, blue eyes are glaring at the man before you. "She's taken." the guy raised both his hands with a laugh. "Alright hulk no need to get mad. You should keep a better watch on your girl." He backed up, leaving, falling back into the crowd. When he was gone, those electric eyes moved in your direction. He was still holding unto you.

"T-Thank you Leo." you weren't much of a fighter, and you would hate it if the turtles first outing got ruined because you couldn't stay close. "Be more careful, guys like that are nothing but trouble. I'd hate it if you got hurt."

That was the nicest thing he'd ever really said to you.

Wait a minute.

"What did you mean I'm taken? " you raised a brow. Leo let you go, taking a step back.

"I was just..I didn't want him getting any ideas." He wouldn't look at you. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"N-No it's okay. I kinda figured as much." Why the hell were you disappointed at his answer. You should know better.

"By the way, you're costume it's..really nice." you flush, fixing your glasses.

"O-Oh! T-Thanks." You must have been dreaming. Another nice statement from Leo. What was the world coming to? The both of you stood there awkwardly for a while, neither sure what to do.

This was the longest conversation you had with Leo that didn't end up with animosity on either side. Your eyes caught his hand that was hanging, and you took it softly in your own. Leo looked up stunned. "S-So we don't get separated again." you clarified. Raph and the others were already a ways ahead. It would have been bad if you got into another little scuffle. So you started moving to them, keeping a soft grip on Leo's hand so he didn't fall behind. You kept your eyes forward, because you knew if you looked at him again, he'd figure out just how happy you were to hold his hand.

If only he knew how you felt.

~~~~

"Ugh! I hate these so much." you sighed heavily, massaging your eyelids. "What's the matter?" you almost jumped, startled by the concern in Leo's voice. Everyone else seemed taken in their own task. Mikey didn't even turn from his game at your small yell. "I-It's really nothing, just a code. It's been stressing me out for the last hour. "

Leo took a seat next to you on the chair, turning you in his direction. You just watched him, waiting for whatever he was about to do. He smiled, reaching out and removing your glasses. You closed your eyes not really expecting the gesture. "You have to stop for a while and..." when his words started to trail off you were confused. "W-What's wrong?" He looked so dazed, it sort of alarmed you.

"It's nothing, it's just your eyes...they're beautiful." he muttered.

"Oh boy."

Since the Halloween party, Leo was being especially nice to you. Now that you thought about it, he'd been doing it way before that.

"You're beautiful.." He was very careful not to voice that, still, he could think it. Because it was true. To him you were breathtaking, his only regret was that he'd didn't figure out his feelings before. Maybe now it wouldn't have been so hard for him to be honest about how he felt.

Your eyes were staring in shock, your mouth slightly agape.

"Did you just...call me beautiful." Leo paused.

"W-What?"

"You said...you said that I'm beautiful." surely you didn't imagine those words coming from his mouth. What was really going on here. Of course you were overjoyed. But didn't he still not trust you? Why was he saying these things, looking at you the way he did. Leo stood in ample time, and before you could get another word in he was leaving hurriedly.

"I-I have to go." He didn't offer an explanation, just bolted like his life depended on it. You sat there, flustered and maybe even a little irritated.

"Why the heck is he pulling me in so many directions."

One day he's telling you to your face that he doesn't trust you, then the next he's looking out for you, complimenting you. It was driving you crazy.

"I hate boys." you groaned.

~~~~

The soft knock on his door had his eyes lifting. He stopped momentarily attending to his bonsai tree. When the door opened, his heart staggered for a fleeting second. You walked in, shutting it. Your hands were behind your back, and you could barely hold eye contact with him. Leo wasn't much better. He placed down the small clippers, shifting on his feet. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, concerned about the surprise visit.

"Y-Yes actually." you needed to get a handle on whatever this crazy thing was between the both of you.

"Why have you been acting so weird with me. I know the both of us we've never really been on the best terms. And I guess I don't help that much. But you're the same. You say things to me to piss me off and I get so agitated! " You were shouting, and Leo's head lowered.

"Then you act so sweet and kind out of nowhere and it completely messes me up because I can't read you at all. Do you hate me or not!"

"I could never hate you (Y/N)." That simple statement the way he said it, the look on his face. It struck you right in the heart.

"Why do you do that.." you lips quivered, and you took a step forward, Leo didn't expect to see the tears that were gathering in your eyes.

"Stop giving me hope and then tearing it from me. Y-You have no idea how I feel about you.." Damn it, your intention was never to break down in front of him. Leo clenched his fists, and you raised your hands to wipe away your tears. When you heard him walking towards you, everything in your body stilled. Leo's hand rested on your cheek, and you opened your mouth to say more, but Leo stole whatever words you had prepared. Standing there wide eyed, you could barely believe the feeling of his lips pressed softly to your own. Because of the height difference. He had to lean down slightly. When he pulled back, his eyes flickered open. The glow of his eyes were somewhat surreal.

"I should have never said that to you (Y/N). That day..I was stupid. Long before I had feelings for you. I guess I was just too scared to admit how I felt, so I kept my distance, and created excuses to keep it that way. I'm so sorry that I made you feel like you weren't welcomed. You're just as much a part of this family as April and Vern. "

"Leo.." so the entire time he cared about you, the same way you did for him. He just didn't want to accept it. Maybe he was terrified you wouldn't see him the same.

"Dummy." you mutter. Leo smiled at that, scratching his neck. "I have been an idiot. As a leader I should have understood better."

"Maybe you should stop expecting yourself to constantly know the answer for everything Leo. Somethings just aren't that logical." He knew that, now.

"There's still so much I need to learn. Will you help me?" you blushed, trying to hide it.

"S-Sure. I am a genius after all." you boasted, nudging your glasses.

"Yes you are." you gazed at him, nibbling on your lower lip.

"Leo..that kiss.."

"I'm sorry! That was definitely not okay. I think I just..reacted." You could tell he was still a bit unnerved by it all. He still wasn't completely sure of your feelings.

"I kind of liked it." you mumble. Leo is still, processing your words. When he takes a step forward, you can't stop the quickening of your heart beat.

"Can I kiss you again?" The fact that he asks permission this time causes your heart to do flips. He's standing right in front of you, and his eyes have already zeroed in on your lips. You stop nibbling on your lips when you feel his warm palm on your cheek. He doesn't make another move, waiting for an answer. When words fail, you simply give a small nod. Leo smiles warmly, that all he needs.

He lowers to meet your lips, and as he does, his forehead lightly taps your glasses. You flush in embarrassment, and Leo just chuckles. "Have I ever told you that you're absolutely adorable in glasses." The comment makes your cheeks darken even more, and as you think of a reply, Leo banishes any chance of you forming coherent thoughts. His lips are so soft. And the way he's holding your face in his palms, it makes you want to melt on the spot. Every movement is gentle and almost calculated.

The right amount of pressure and passion. How does he know to kiss so well? It shocks you, the expert way his lips are clashing with yours. It's possible he's seen one to many movies, and like the prodigy he is, the skill was something he picked up quickly. "Leo.." You can't do much but submit to him, and this time. This time there is no doubt in your mind. Because you finally know his feelings, and he's aware of yours as well. When he picks you up bridal style, you're a bit taken by surprise, separating for a brief moment. As you do so, his eyes are a lot closer, and you can see everything. All his fears, wants, struggles, desires...

It's enough to overwhelm your heart. But you aren't afraid. Not at all. Because this is Leo. He may be terrible at voicing his feelings, but you know for a fact that he won't hurt you. Not at all. His blue bandana does wonders to highlight the similar glow of his eyes.

You can't look away, and you don't want to. Your hand presses to the center of his chest, and right beneath your palm you feel it. The insistent strumming. The look in your eyes changes to one of surprise, and he immediately knows why. "It's...harder for me to hide it when you're so close." This entire time he's been acting so confident and in control. Yet, he's just as smitten as you, Maybe ever more. You grin at that. "You don't have to." You reach up, reclaiming his lips, and nothing in the world seems sweeter than the taste of Leo's lips. And you know for a fact, nothing ever will.

#leonardo #leo x reader #raphael #michelangelo #donatello #splinter #trust #love #tech #cuteness #costumes #brothers #protective #newyork #halloween #enemies to lovers #cute

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echoeternally · 3 years

Text

Mini Gift

It’s @mrnerdling‘s birthday, and I wrote up a longer story for the day. However, I also wanted to write a small thing based on another suggested pairing! So, I did, and it’s sloppy, but I tried to cram it in within like...I dunno, four hours between research and writing.

Anyway, I know extremely little about Pokémon Unite, so it’s going to be rather choppy and probably have nothing to do with the game. (I didn’t even include evolutions because that hurt my brain to consider evolving back and forth, which I think they do in Digimon, but not Pokémon.) But, hey, it was worth a shot, and I experimented.

Just a cute fic to feature some ship teasing that he should enjoy. And I hope you do too!

...

Four trainers joined together at the Aeos Island team rooms. While they carried on discussing strategies for their upcoming practice, they sent out their current selected Pokémon, allowing them to gather together while their trainers continued planning.

Lucario folded his arms and surveyed his team, noting his usual companions in Cinderace and Slowbro. He tilted his head at the appearance of Blissey, a newcomer to the team and the island overall.

“Huh, first of our team newcomers.” Lucario nodded. “Welcome aboard, Blissey! My trainer is the team captain, so I try my best to reflect her efforts.”

“Oh, thanks for the welcome!” Blissey bowed her head and smiled. “It’s going to be fun getting to join everyone.” She blinked and blankly stared at the group. “To be honest though, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

“Me neither,” mumbled Slowbro.

“But…you’re already on this team.”

“…I am?”

“Don’t worry, Slowbro’ll come to life in a little while.” Cinderace rubbed his nose and smirked to Blissey. “Name’s Cinderace, and I’m part of this team too. Our trainers tried to match the variety in roles among Pokémon for this island.” He pointed at the egg in Blissey’s hands. “You’re a healer, right?”

“Normally, yes.”

“Right, so there are a few different types of roles for each of us,” went over Lucario. “Since you have a focus on healing, that makes you our team’s new Support member. Slowbro can make strong blocks, so he’s our team Defender.” He pointed at Cinderace. “Since he’s fiery and likes to battle, Cinderace is our Attacker.” Lucario rubbed behind his head. “We’re supposed to have someone that’s quick around the field, who is the team Speedster. I suppose you’ll meet him later.” Lucario shrugged. “As someone that tries to cover multiple roles in one, I do my best to be the All-Around type on our team.”

“Wow.” Blissey brightly smiled. “This already sounds complicated. I love it!”

“It takes a bit, but you’ll get into it after a few rounds,” offered Cinderace. “Since we’re just practicing today, though, I don’t imagine it’ll be too rough on you.” He stretched and winked to her. “Basically, we just need to worry about scoring more points than the other team, and that’s the idea of the game.”

“Each role helps determine how well we perform,” brought up Lucario. “So, with that, we’ll let the rest get resolved on the field.”

“Ooh, my trainer is calling me over that way,” pointed out Blissey. “What do we do by the benches?”

“…Wait for your turn to practice, I guess,” determined Cinderace, glancing at Lucario who shrugged.

“Neat!” Blissey wandered off from the group. “I still don’t get any of this!”

“Well, waiting won’t help much,” mumbled Cinderace. “…Huh. Hey, Slowbro, they’re calling you over too.”

“…Who?”

“Your trainer, knucklehead.”

“Oh, ok.” Slowbro blinked and then slowly waddled down the same direction that Blissey had gone in.

“Guess they want to focus on offensive plays first,” suggested Cinderace. “If those two are sitting on the sidelines, that means it’s you, me, and whoever the newbie is when they get jump in.”

“That makes sense, since we’ll need to learn covering the field.” Lucario tapped on his chin and nodded. “Ok, so, practices today are mostly relying on us getting Aeos Energy to score points. If we’re doing some offense training to start, that’s the main goal to focus on.”

“Are we just going on the field as is?”

“Yep, going right into it.”

“Huh, should be fun.” Cinderace grinned and lifted a thumb up to Lucario. “Want to see who can score the most points between us two? New guy will probably figure it out and join in.”

“We do need to work on strategies too.”

“Where’s the fun if we’re only working and not bringing out the best of each other?” Cinderace slid closer to Lucario, patting his head and nudging him. “Come on, huh? Let’s have some fun with this!”

“Well…it is technically part of our exercises, tallying high scores—”

“Aha, knew you’d see it my way!”

“Just don’t get too carried away,” requested Lucario. He frowned and looked over as Blissey tried talking with Slowbro, who vacantly stared off around the meeting room. “Last time, you knocked Slowbro too hard on the head, and now he seems like he’s back to basics.” Lucario lowered his eyes as he watched Slowbro drool, while Blissey chattered on. “…Or worse, actually.”

“Coach, you’re thinking way too hard.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not? You basically are!” Cinderace jogged in place, getting his feet warmed up. “Going to roll some heads on the field and get the highest scores like you wouldn’t believe!”

“Do you ever turn over the competitor in you?”

“Nope!”

“Well, that does help us.” Lucario shrugged and smiled. “Come on, let’s get ourselves ready.”

“You’re so cute when you’ve got a big work ethic going,” teased Cinderace, leaning over Lucario’s head.

“Get off.”

“Make me.”

After chasing his teammate to the practice field, Lucario lined up with Cinderace at the starting gate. Their trainers readied their supply of Aeos Island balls, ready to capture the wild Pokémon that their partners battled against. The two trainers were joined by a third, who hurriedly sent their choice to the field as they set the practice timer.

However, the purple gates opened, and Lucario raced off alongside Cinderace.

“Try to keep up, Luca!”

“Don’t call me that either!”

Laughing, Cinderace hurried up the northern route, while Lucario traveled down the southern side. Kicking streams of fire and sliding past his opponents, Cinderace swept at the wild Aipom and Audino. His trainer from the sidelines collected Aeos Energy from the capture.

“Nice and easy,” cheered Cinderace. “They better get that Speedster straight to work to catch up with me!”

“Might as well, you’re right!”

Blinking and halting from the new voice, Cinderace turned around as a yellow blur rushed past him. A loud clap rang out, as lightning bolts danced through the air and zapped at the wild Pokémon nearby.

The striker rabbit watched as the blur raced around, snatching more Aeos Energy before running for a hoop. Jumping up, the thunderclap cat slammed in a ball of energy, scoring points for the corresponding trainer.

Setting down, Cinderace gawked as the cat beamed to him.

“Hey there, sorry for the interruption introduction,” called the newcomer. “I’m Zeraora, and I’m your team’s latest Speedster!” He swiped below his nose. “Heard that we’re having a little contest of our own, so I hope you don’t mind me joining in.”

Slowly nodding, Cinderace looked the yellow cat up and down, impressed at just the sight alone. Watching him run around once again, Cinderace flailed around, trying to attack the wild Pokémon to score more energy.

However, Zeraora’s speed helped him collect bits of energy from the ground and take down emerging Pokémon faster than Cinderace could keep up with.

Knocking enough energy into the goal, Zeraora grinned as it faded, and spun around to Cinderace, winking to him.

“Check it out! We scored a load of points on this one.” He waved. “Come on, cutie, let’s see if you can keep up!”

“Wow, I think this is how I sound to Lucario,” mumbled the flushed face Cinderace. “…Why doesn’t he like me even more?”

Both rushed to the next goal, knocking more energy into it. Lucario had chased an evasive Audino over, and was able to help his trainer capture them for Aeos Energy. Once that was done, however, Lucario gawked as Zeraora raced past him, jumping up and slamming more energy into the nearby goal.

“Wait, what?” Lucario fumbled back and stared up at the cat hanging from the hoop. “Are you the new speedster?”

“Nice, you’re the team captain!” Zeraora grinned. “They told me you’d be handsome, and they weren’t kidding!” He dropped down and ran for the next wild Pokémon. “Come on, little guy! Let’s see if you can keep up with me!”

“…He’s like Cinderace, but worse,” muttered Lucario as he blushed.

As they continued scoring points, practice time ticked away and ran out. Checking over the final scores, Lucario gawked at how high Zeraora’s score was, in spite his late start. Cinderace had scored the lowest, which was quite unusual for him. Turning for the rabbit, Lucario raised an eyebrow, as Cinderace shrugged and gazed back to Zeraora, beaming from his results.

“Ha, check it out!” Zeraora placed a hand on his hip. “Didn’t think I’d score so high, but you guys made competing pretty fun. I think we’ll make a strong combination!” He winked to his teammates and wandered toward the exit. “I wonder who else is on this team? I think they were both pink…”

“Well…at least he’s fast,” decided Lucario.

“He’s amazing, and I have to know more,” rambled off Cinderace.

“Look in the mirror.”

“He’s even better than me!”

“That’s not what I—”

“Best newbie ever!” Cinderace hurried after him. “Hey, Zera! Tell me more about yourself! Like, everything!”

Rolling his eyes, Lucario slapped a paw over his head and dragged it down. Sighing, he followed his teammates out from the first practice field, looking to join them for the next session.

Though Zeraora enjoyed chatting with Cinderace, he would steal glances to Lucario and grin to him, making the captain blush.

This was certainly going to be a new dynamic for them.

...

Whoosh, there it is!

Yeah, I did my best while hurrying it along. This wasn’t the original gift idea, but I wanted to include both ideas sent to me.

Since I normally write like medieval Pokémon, or otherwise normal stuff where they battle and such, I decided to try following another game, and went with one that all three leads appear in, which was the latest game.

Even though I’ve never touched it, so maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but oh well! That’s what research is for. (Also, there’s other stuff that I didn’t get to touch on about Unite, but alas.)

If I had more time, I’d probably write more, but this is it for this one. Hope you enjoyed the quick bit!

#pokemon unite #pokemon fanfic #cinderace #zeraora #lucario #birthday gift #one-shot #scribble #ship tease

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moved-to-void-kissed · 3 years

Note

how about work it, remix, and swap for whoever you'd like !

Another round of several, hehe - thank you for all of these, Bing!~

I think I’ll use my selfship with Luna for these, if that’s alright - I know I’ve already answered Remix for us, but this was the only ask that asked Work It, which I really want to explore if that’s okay!

(question source: “Okay Hear Me Out, Ask Game” by dragonsmooch)

..These got long, I apologise, so I think I might put them under a readmore.

Work It: Your S/I and/or your F/O(s) are unable or unwilling to continue doing their main career anymore. (Optional: Why?) What do they replace this job with? Alternatively, what is an equivalent of their current job in another time period/setting? - Hmm.. If it’s specifically that Luna has to step down from being the Dark-type Gym Leader, and Adriana is no longer a travelling Pokémon Trainer, then I think it could make sense for Adri to become a Contest Coordinator instead - specifically entering Cuteness Contests alongside her Shiny Pumpkaboo, because hello have you seen those things they’re adorable! And then, Luna is the one who becomes a travelling Pokémon Trainer, and she goes on a journey around either Kalos (since that’s where Adriana is from) or Hoenn (since that’s where Adriana would go to participate in Pokémon Contests). She could well still specialise in Dark-type Pokémon still, so that sort of aspect wouldn’t really change much, especially since a fair few of her current team of Pokémon are found in a number of different regions - Umbreon, Weavile, Tyranitar, and so on.

On the other hand, if it’s that neither of them are able to be Pokémon Trainers in any kind of sense, then.. that would be a lot more interesting, especially when kept in the world of Pokémon since so much of it revolves around Pokémon, haha. A number of Reborn’s Gym Leaders have other roles in addition to being Gym Leaders (Kiki is the sensei of Apophyll Academy, Ciel and Samson and Terra all perform in the Agate Circus, Florinia runs the Onyx Trainers’ School, and so on), but Luna isn’t one of those, so.. I guess the only other role she has to fall back on is her technical status as a princess, haha! (She says it herself in an interview - her father owns the castle that she lives in, which she supposes makes her a princess, and honestly I’m not going to argue with that logic!) She also acts as the castle’s maid, but.. Luna will always be a princess first and foremost, especially with the also-noble Adri as her partner.

As for what Adriana herself would do, though.. I mean, she technically doesn’t need a career because of her family being so prestigious. The only thing I can think of is that she would get railroaded back into Laverre City itself, and.. maybe end up as some kind of model for or assistant to Valerie, because of Valerie being a fashion designer? Adri really isn’t as hands-on or fieldwork-y as Noire, my other Pokémon self-insert, so I can’t really put her in much of like a scientist sort of setting.

Remix: What are your thoughts on your S/I and your F/O(s) with the same canon but in a different setting? i.e. steampunk instead of modern, fantasy instead of sci-fi, etc. (Optional: Asks can specify a setting.) Alternatively, what’s an aesthetic/style you’d like to see your S/I and/or F/O(s) dress-up in? - I’ve already answered this one somewhere else, I’m afraid! To summarise my response from then.. we’ve both already got some pretty solidly-set aesthetics already, so seeing plays on that (like a cyber sort of thing) could be pretty different!

Swap: Your S/I and your F/O(s) exchange roles for a day, willingly or begrudgingly, casually or through supernatural circumstances. How well (or terribly) does it go? Alternatively, how would things be different if the roles had always been swapped? - well, at the current moment in time (i.e. the end of the most recently-released episode of Reborn), Adriana doesn’t actually have a lot to do, because the only Gym Leader she has yet to face is Saphira, and she can’t battle her yet because her Gym in Labradorra City is still sealed off by a PULSE barrier. (Although.. Adri did fight Noel in completely the wrong place and the battle still counted for all official purposes, so.. technically there’s nothing stopping her obtaining the last Gym Badge. But then I think this game’s Victory Road is only accessible through Labradorra, so that would also stop her.)

And then, Luna gives the ninth Gym Badge of eighteen, so any potential challengers would have had to defeat the previous eight in line first, and.. Shelly and Noel both ran away and went up to Calcenon, Aya’s not taking battles for spoilery reasons, Shade is Shade, and so on and so forth. Therefore it’s very unlikely any challengers would actually be coming through to face her. So, from an if-this-actually-happened-right-this-moment perspective, neither of us would actually have to do much in these roles, haha - but, I think we would actually both do pretty well!

Adriana would probably fare better with using Luna’s Pokémon, compared to Luna working with Adri’s, just because Adriana’s team has a wider variety of types and personalities in it. So, it might be quite hard for Luna to take Adri’s place as the travelling Trainer who saves Reborn, given that she pretty much has the most important part of it ahead of her - the final battles with Team Meteor and finally facing Lin. On the other hand, Adriana used to specialise only in Ghost-type Pokémon when she went on her initial journey around Kalos, and there are a fair number of similarities between Ghost-types and Dark-types (such as the types their moves are super-effective against), so I don’t think she’d find it too difficult to adapt to Luna’s Dark-types. (One of Luna’s Pokémon she uses in the Glass Workstation, her Gothitelle, is actually one that Adriana gifted her in the first place, so there’s always that.)

I hope that is alright! Thank you again for sending all of these in, and I’m very sorry for how long it took me to get to them!

#a call from the void #selfship #selfshipping #love: dark dreamer (luna)#selfship: void‑kissed (luna/adriana)#self‑inserts #self‑insert: soul‑touched (adriana)#i've already put us in each other's outfits before in MMD so there's that =P #selfship asks #ribbitships #selfship AUs #selfship events #AU april 2021 #it's been almost two weeks I am *so sorry everyone*#but I haven't had a lot of opportunity to write out asks without them being read by others in the house so to speak #out of the inbox

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thebladeblaster · 3 years

Text

Pokémon: the Dark Circuit (aka Vanguard Descends season 2)

Chapter 10 The Sneaky First Match! The Legend Q4 Is Born!

Aichi’s current team

Level 90 Takuto (Solgealeo) steel/psychic

Moves:

Sunsteel Strike

Flare Blitz

Solar Beam

Psychic Fangs

Level 93 Wingal (Lycanroc (dusk)) rock

Moves:

Stealth rock

Crunch

Stone edge

Play rough

Level 91 Llew (Golisopod) water/bug

Moves:

Sucker punch

Blizzard

Liquidation

First impression

Level 95 Gancelot (Lucario) fighting/steel

Moves:

Focus blast

Stone edge

Meteor mash

Dragon pulse

Level 100 Soul Saver (Haxorus) dragon

Moves:

Outrage

Iron tail

Dragon dance

Scale shot

Level 100 Alfred (Aegislash) ghost/steel

Moves:

Sacred sword

King’s shield

Iron head

Shadow Claw

From his seat in his booth Gin watched on with interest as the pairings were announced. The first match was team Q4 vs team Ninja.From the entrance to the battleground stood Misaki, Kai, Shin, and Kamui. Strangely, Aichi was currently missing.

“What’s with that weird name?”, Misaki questioned.

“It’s short for Quadrifoglio which is Italian for four leaf clover, the ultimate symbol of luck.”, Shin explained.

“I like it!”, Kamui replied.

“I’m a bit worried. Aichi still hasn’t shown up yet. Do you think there’s any foul play from Team Asteroid?”, Shin questioned.

“It’s nothing like that. He’s just running late.”, Kai replied, with his eyes closed and crossing his arms.

“How do you know?”, Kamui asked.

“Because I was training with him. His final test has been taking awhile. Takuto wants to make sure he’s really ready.”, Kai replied.

The others gasped in shock hearing that Kai trained with Aichi.

Back in Kakusa many recognizable faces gathered around their TVs to watch the Circuit. At the Sendou household along with its usual residents was Mr. Mark, Miwa, Naoki, Mikuru, and Chrono. They watched the screen intently and Shizuka did a prayer for her son.

“I thought this was a tournament of 4 why do they only have 3 guys?”, Kamui questioned.

“The fourth person is as a alternate just in case and another person to switch out to. You technically can compete with just 3.”, Shin explained.

On the opposite side to team Q4 was team Ninja. The tallest of their members had cyan and black hair with grey eyes. He wore a fishnet shirt with a red scarf and a silver necklace. Another was a redhead with slicked back hair and red eyes. He also wore a fishnet top along with a purple and grey jacket. The shortest one who was even shorter than Kamui had blue hair covered by his hood and yellow eyes. He had a white hood and a gold part covering his mouth. Underneath it he wore an orange shirt and red arm warmers on his arms.

“Where’s your leader 003v? He’s not scared is he?”, the tallest one taunted.

“Hey, Aichi isn’t scared of anyone! He’s just late! That’s all!”, Kamui replied.

“Well then which one of you has the courage to go up first against a world class team.”, the redheaded one asked.

“I’ll be glad to kick your dory cuts!”, Kamui said, raising up his fist.

“Sorry butts you mean.”, Misaki corrected, making Kamui sweat drop.

“Whatever! I, Kamui the great, am gonna take you losers down!”, Kamui announced.

“We’ll see about that. I’ll be your opponent. I am Crank, a master of the grass type”, the shortest one said.

“I’m master of uhh...the winning type!”, Kamui replied as he walked up to the battlefield causing Misaki to face palm.

“Remember Kamui you only get to select one Pokémon in this battle so be careful. If you get defeated then one of us is up next against Crank.”, Misaki said.

“For team Ninja we have the master of grass, a veteran in this circuit, Crank. And for team Q4 we have the whirlwind fighter hailing from the Kakusa region, Katsuragi Kamui!”, MC Miya introduced.

“Go, Ludicolo!”, Crank called out.

“Go, Buster!”, Kamui called out.

Leon narrowed his eyes from his booth.

“003v us somewhere near here, but it seems he’s learned to suppress the energy his Psyqualia gives off.”, Leon thought.

He could feel him very vaguely somewhere near the arena. He didn’t know why he hadn’t appeared yet though.

Back to the battle…

“Buster use blaze kick!”, Kamui commanded.

Buster kicked off, launching a flying flame-covered kick at Ludicolo.

“You must really be a fool! Ludicolo is also a water type! Ludicolo ninja arts of hydro pump!”, Crank said.

Ludicolo shot a torrent of water at Buster.

“Oh no!”, Miwa said, watching the match on the tv.

“Buster!”, Kamui called out as he did Buster twisted mid air away from the water.

Buster then landed briefly, kicking off the ground and delivering a rising flame kick to Ludicolo’s face.

“Ninja art of hydro pump!”, Crank ordered.

As another torrent of water was shot Buster spun out of the way of the attack.

“Wow, Kamui’s Blazekin sure is fast.”, Emi commented, as she watched.

“My! My! It looks like Crank’s mon can’t even touch Kamui’s! We’ll our rookies get actually win over our veterans team Ninja?”, MC Miya said.

Buster was very light on its feet, easily dodging the watery blasts sent its way.

“Buster use thunder punch!”, Kamui commanded.

Buster moved swiftly like lightning before Crank could give his next order Buster struck Ludicolo with its lightning punch. Ludicolo stubbled a bit but as it tried to right itself and was hit by another punch. With every hit the was a crackle of thunder following it.

“Ludicolo ninja art of-gah?!”, Crank gasped in shock as Ludicolo fell to the ground fainting.

“Heh! Is that all you got world class losers?!”, Kamui taunted as he did Buster bounced around punching the air.

“Why you little…”, The tallest one grumbled.

“Don’t worry Jack I’m gonna teach that cocky brat a lesson.”, the redheaded one saint, putting his hand on his shoulder and smirking.

“I’ll be your next opponent. I am Lizard master of the water type.”, the redheaded one introduced.

“All you’ll be is another loser!”, Kamui replied.

Many of those back at the Sendou household sweat dropped at Kamui’s confidence.

“Let’s just hope he can continue to back it up. At least they got one win so far. That’s good.”, Shuka commented.

“Woah, that Blazekin is so rad. I should catch something like that.”, Naoki commented.

“I wonder where Aichi is though…”, Shizuka thought.

Somewhere near the area…

“Takuto!!! Takuto!!! Wait the match has started should we be-AHHH!!!”, Aichi screamed comedically as he ran from the sun lion shooting beams of light at him.

“You must be completely prepared, Aichi now fight me!”, Takuto said as Solgealeo.

Aichi looked over at the restraint bracers nervously. They seemed to be upgraded, their gems were now black and there was another one around his neck.

“But, you shut off my powers, how can I fight you without my Pokémon?!”, Aichi questioned, before squealing as he narrowly dodged another beam of light.

Back with Kamui…

Lizard walked up to the arena pulling out a Poké ball. Jack crossed his arms smirking, ignoring the sulking Crank.

“I don’t understand. I’m a veteran how did I lose to a rookie kid like him?”, Crank questioned.

“You can still redeem yourself, Crank.”, Jack whispered to him, causing Crank to turn to him and nod.

“Up next for team Ninja we have the master of the deep, Lizard!”, MC Miya announced.

“Go, Greninja!”, Lizard called out.

Buster faced the water Pokémon who got in a fighting stance.

“Greninja ninja art of spikes.”, Lizard ordered.

“Buster use thunder-“, Kamui was saying before he was caught off.

“Ninja art of smoke screen!”, Lizard cut him off.

Greninja made a hand sign and smoke filled the arena.

“What the heck now I can’t see!”, Kamui complained.

“This isn’t good. Greninja will likely be able to find Buster. But, Buster can’t see him.”, Yugi commented.

“How can Greninja see but Buster can’t?”, Jonouchi asked.

“Think Jonouchi, think. Why would he use this strategy if he didn’t have a way to find his opponent.”, a new voice said who entered.

He had black hair in a ponytail and green eyes. He had a black shirt with a red vest and pants. He wore dice earrings and had a red headband. He also had black makeup on his face under his right eye.

“I don’t remember asking you Ryuji!”, Jonouchi grumbled as Ryuji smirked at him.

“I thought you’d graduate from being a Lillipup before this tournament began. I hope you don’t hold us back.”, Ryuji teased.

This made Jonouchi growl.

“Hey! Hey! Settle down guys!”, Honda said, getting between the two and raising up his hands.

Kamui squinted his eyes trying to see through the fog.

“Oh no! Lizard has already set up his specialty! This could be the beginning of the end for our rookie team!”, MC Miya announced.

“Greninja use ninja art of water shuriken!”, Lizard ordered.

Kamui could hear a loud splash and a stumble from within the smoke clouds which was likely Buster getting hit by the attack. Kamui growled in frustration at not being able to see what’s going on.

“Buster use thunder punch! Punch around till you find him!”, Kamui ordered.

They could hear Buster swinging but no impact while instead hearing loud splashes and stumbling.

“This isn’t good.”, Shin commented.

They could hear feet running and a loud thunder crack as Greninja was sent flying out the smoke.

“Darn! He got a lucky shot!”, Lizard said angrily.

Out from the smoke Buster pulled back a fist ready to strike Greninja again.

“Greninja use hydro pump quick!!!”, Lizard ordered.

At almost the same time the lightning punch and torrent of water connected with their intended targets. Both Pokémon fell over fainting.

“Darn. I hoped I could sweep the whole team! You did good, Buster. Who’s tagging in next?”, Kamui said, returning Buster.

“I’m up next.”, Misaki said, before they high fives signaling Kamui tagging out.

“Oh my oh my! A double knock out! This battle just keeps getting more thrilling! The rookies may really win this match at this rate! All who’s left for team Ninja is their leader Jack, master of the inferno! However he’s the strongest of them all! If anyone can pull of a comeback victory for his team it’s him!”, MC Miya announced.

“So, fire type huh.”, Misaki thought.

“For team Q4 we have Tokura Misaki, the Kakusa region’s own Psychic type gym leader! She’s been rumored to have mystic powers which she uses to completely dominate her opponents!”, MC Miya announced.

A tick mark appeared on Misaki’s head after MC Miya announced the rumor. Kamui and Shin nervously stepped back from Misaki.

“I don’t have any powers, you moron!!! Just photographic memory!!!”, Misaki yelled in annoyance at the commentator who nervously flinched.

Yugi and his friends sweat dropped from the stands hearing Misaki’s outburst.

“Woah, she’s as feisty as she is beautiful.”, Ryuji commented, cupping his chin.

“She would break you in half Ryuji…”, Anzu replied, still sweat dropping.

The two competitors brought out a Poké ball.

“Go! Incineroar!”, Jack called out.

“Go, Sakuya!”, Misaki called out.

Sakuya winced as her feet dug into the spikes laid in the previous match.

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stillchaoticlogic · 4 years

Text

Stumbling: Chapter 10

Pairing: Raihan X Reader X Leon

Your life hadn’t gone exactly as you planned…

This is why when an old rival walks into the coffee shop you work at he gives you an offer you just can’t refuse. Finally, a chance at the League. Suddenly you are thrust into the spotlight and a world you thought you had left behind. Dreams aren’t always what they are cracked up to be though, especially when you find yourself the tangled up with the champion and a certain gym leader.

Has all your dreams come true?

Or is this your worst nightmare?

Masterlist

Chapter 10: Hit Me with Your Best Shot You gaze into the sunrise taking in the colors with your sweater wrapped around you for warmth. Zuko lays curled next to you as a source of heat and protection, the little fire lizard yawns and stretches as he blinks up at you. You glance down at him as you giggle to yourself and pull a few berries out for him to eat. He happily snatched them from your hands and eats them as he too watches the colors dance across the morning sky. You had been up for a couple of hours now, allowing the guys to get some sleep.

You watch as the quiet is broken by the Pokémon in the tall grass and the little pond slowly stirring to start their day. You are a little surprised when an apple is suddenly sitting next to you, also gazing up into the sunset. You blink as you look down at it and it turns to look at you.

“An Applin…” you mutter to yourself.

“Your Applin,” says a voice behind you.

You whip your head around and you’re surprised to see Raihan sitting in the entrance to the tent.

“My Applin?” You ask turning to fully face him.

“I caught him for you yesterday, I figured he would be a good addition to your team and…”

“And?”

“And I wanted you to know that I’ll always be here for you. I know you have a lot going on right now so I don’t expect you to…”

“To what, Rai?”

“Return my-“ Raihan is interrupted as Leon shoves him aside and walks out of the tent yawning.

“Hey what was that for?!” Raihan yells after his friend and rival.

“You were blocking the exit of the tent,” Leon says innocently, maybe a little too innocently.

You glance back and forth between the two of them in confusion.

“What is going on between you two?” You ask in exasperation.

“Nothing!” They both exclaim a bit too forcefully.

“Whatever, let’s eat breakfast and get going,” you grumble to them.

The air is filled with the sounds of Raihan packing up the tent, Leon feeding the pokemon and you fixing breakfast for the three of you. Oatmeal is your breakfast of choice today, so while it’s cooking you chop up some berries, get the seasoning ready as well any other topping you have on hand.

“We’re going to need to grab food while we are in Hulbury,” you tell the guys.

They just grunt in answer as they continue to focus on the task at hand. You have a feeling that whatever is going on between the two of them is a big part of the silence. You ignore them as you complete your task and announce that breakfast is ready. They finish up quickly before they rush over to grab their respective bowls.

The three of you set out towards Hulbury the minute that the dishes are washed and put away. You gaze up at the blue sky as you walk along a little behind the duo. The clouds in the sky lazily float over the sun casting shadows every once in a while. Your newest team member is resting on your shoulder while he chirps up at the sky, clearly happy to travel along with you.

“What are you going to name him?” Raihan asks, clearly enjoying the sight of the Applin he got you resting on your shoulder.

“I don’t know… I’ve been thinking about it all morning.”

You think you hear Leon huff from in front of you and Raihan but you decide not to pay him any attention.

Raihan sends him a look before he returns his attention to you.

“So Raihan…” you start glancing over at the Dragon trainer beside you, “You know about the rumor for Applin right?”

He glances over at you, “Sure do.”

You just nod with a soft blush on your face, “Okay I wanted to make sure…”

“Don’t worry princess, I gave him to you on purpose, but things are crazy now and…”

“I know…”

“It’s cool if you don’t feel the same you can still keep him…”

“I don’t really know how I feel… things have been very overwhelming recently.”

“I understand.”

“How about… once the League challenge is over we… talk about this more?” You ask hesitantly.

“I’d like that… Plus I technically can’t get involved with competitors soooo…”

You laugh, “So what was the point of this?”

“I want you to know that you’re supported and no matter what you have someone even when this is all over.”

“Thanks, Raihan. I needed to hear that… I’ve been doing everything on my own for so long that it’s nice to know that I have someone there for me…”

You share a smile with Raihan as he slings his arm around your shoulder. You notice how stiff Leon’s shoulders are and you wonder what has gotten into him lately.

Hulbury is upon you by the afternoon and you head to the pokemon center to get your Pokemon healed up. You notice a few shady characters loitering around the alleys as you exit the center and head towards the gym. A crowd outside of the arena blocks the entrance and you raise your brows as you watch a kid rush out and smirk at the crowd.

“Fan favorite?” you wonder aloud as you watch the kid sign autographs and give an interview to the reporters standing by.

You continue your way toward the doors and you’re surprised when shouts of “There she is!” rise up among the crowd. Before you know it they are rushing towards you and you are surrounded by a group of fans and reporters are shoving a microphone into your face. You blink in surprise as you are bombarded with questions. You can feel yourself being overwhelmed as you stumble back.

“Hey!” A forceful voice cuts through the crowd and everyone stops to stare in shock at Nessa standing on the front steps of her gym.

“Could you give my challenger some room please?” she asks in an icy voice as she approaches you, the crowd parts like the sea as she does so.

You heave a sigh of relief as you smile at your friend, “Thanks,” you mutter as you step in line beside her.

“Don’t mention it!” She says as she makes her way into the gym the reporters and crowd following closely behind in order to watch the battle that will soon unfold.

You head over to registration after waving bye to your friend and get signed in. You find out there are a couple of challengers in front of you so you head to the locker room to wait your turn.

Sitting on the bench watching the battles take place on screen you almost don’t notice the person that plops down next to you.

“Well look who it is!”

Turning you to your right you see Sonia sitting next to you.

“When did you get there?!” you exclaim in surprise.

“A minute ago! Nessa has been helping me with some research but when she texted me that you were challenging her I knew I had to come to see you for myself!”

You chuckle as you gaze up at the screen showing the battle taking place before you. You sigh as you look down at your team on your belt.

“Nervous?” Sonia asks.

“Yeah… Things have been a lot lately… And Raihan kinda just confessed to me…”

“Raihan?! Really? What about-”

“Challenger (Name)! You’re up next please take your place,” a referee interrupts.

“I’ll talk to you later okay? I have a battle to win.”

“O-kay…”

You don’t pay attention to Sonia as you rush to the starting area and race to complete the puzzle to get you there.

By the time you make it to the arena, your clothes are sopping wet and you basically feel like a drowned Ratatta…

You shiver as a gust of air from the interlock doors assault your senses before you make your way down the hallway towards the field. Once you step out onto the green you feel yourself straighten up as you head towards the center at the same time that Nessa is. You meet in the middle and shake hands before turning and walking towards your respective sides.

“I’ve been waiting for you, you know…”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“You’re Leon’s chosen one, so clearly you must be good! Don’t worry though, I’m better,” she says with a smirk while she flips her hair over her shoulder.

“We’ll see about that…” you smirk as you ready your first pokemon.

Nessa sends our Goldeen as you release Axel your sweet baby throwing his fists onto the ground as he regards the fish Pokemon before him.

“Axel, are you ready to play? Acid!”

“Goldeen! Use Agility then Water Pulse!”

You see sparks jumping from Axel’s skin before he sprays the general area with the acid. Goldeen dodges just in time and hits Axel with a blast of water. He Flails about out of habit hitting Goldeen and sending her to the ground.

“Nuzzle!” you yell as the fish pokemon leaps up.

Axel throws his arms out and wraps them around the fish Pokemon sending electric currents through her body.

“Whirlpool! You have to get away!”

“Acid! Spray the water!”

You watch as the poison from Axel’s Acid attack mixes with the water swirling around the two of them. They both get swept up into the current, however, due to the paralysis and the poison now running through Goldeen’s system she is rendered useless. Once the whirlpool has subsided both pokemon lands harshly on the floor and you wait with bated breath to see if one of them is getting up.

Axel sits up and shakes his head, water flying everywhere with a look of confusion.

“Round one goes to (Name)!”

“Yes!” you exclaim as you throw your hands up and Axel throws his fists into the air.

“Not bad… Let’s see how you handle Arrokuda!” Nessa releases her next pokemon and you know that Axel can’t survive this battle as well. Hopefully, he will be able to paralysis his opponent before you switch him out.

“I know what you’re thinking!” Nessa says, “And it’s not going to work!”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking…”

“Don’t I? Aquajet Arrokuda!”

You curse under your breath, “Acid then Nuzzle, Axel!”

You know that Axel’s speed isn’t anything near this Arrokuda’s so your only hope is to slow it down.

Dodging the acid from Axel Arrokuda slows down enough for Axel to catch him right as he’s hit with a Nuzzle. Axel falls backward knocked out from the move and you frown as you call him back.

“Great job sweet boy… you deserve a nap.”

“Not bad… you still managed to get me…”

You frown, “I was hoping he would have survived at least one attack, your Arrokuda is stronger than I thought…”

“Serenity! Let’s go!”

Serenity readies herself as she glares at her opponent.

“Bite Arrokuda!”

“Oh no, you don’t! Confusion then Magical Leaf!”

The attack knocks Arrokuda back as the paralyzed pokemon attempts to get up leaves whip up from nowhere and fly towards the fish pokemon. She takes a direct hit and is down for the count.

“Impressive…”

“Oh, I’m just getting started…”

“Now we’re talking! Drednaw, go!”

“Return Serenity! Go Arum!”

Arum your Steenee dances across the field as the Drednaw roars.

“You ready?” Nessa asks.

You can hear the music pick up and the fans are already going wild for the Dynamax battle about to happen.

“Let’s do this…”

Your bands activate and both of you return your pokemon before the Pokeball enlarges and you throw it behind you. Arum is released and grows about 10 times her normal size. She thrills as she glares at the roaring Pokemon before her.

“Max Overgrowth!”

“Max Geyser!”

Both Pokemon release their moves simultaneously. You watch as the root-like vines fight to cut through the cannon of water blasting at it. You smile as the floor becomes grassy and flowers blossom right before your eyes.

“AGAIN!” you yell hoping that Arum has what it takes to overtake the Drednaw before her. She dances around missing another blast of the Geyser just as it begins to rain. She sends the vines across the field with a direct hit sending out a shockwave of explosions as the Drednaw shrinks to its normal size before returning to its home.

You laugh as you leap into the air in excitement before you turn to Arum who is shrinking to regular size again. She runs up to you and jumps into your arms as Serenity pops from her Pokeball to join in on the hugging as well.

“We got our second badge!”

“Great job, (Name). I knew that Leon’s original rival had to be something. Looking forward to battling you in the finals!”

You take the badge from Nessa and the two of you shake hands as you give her a watery smile. Suddenly overcome with emotion you hide your face from the cameras as you make your way off the field. You throw your fist into the air one more time and grin as the crowd goes wild.

You inhale the sea air as you step out of the gym. You aren’t surprised when several people flock to you and for once you’re prepared for the onslaught. Kids ask for your autograph and you’re surprised at how many young women call you an inspiration. Young men blush as they ask for your autograph and several ask how Davine and Hades are doing.

“When are we going to get to see them battle!?” a little girl of 10 asks.

“When they are ready. Davine went through a lot and while she’s definitely improving I’m afraid the arena may be too much for her, same with Hades. He can’t see so loud noises still disorient him. They both need more training before I bring them out for a league battle.”

“That makes sense… I didn’t think of that… But they are doing good?”

“Yes! They are doing well!”

“You should put up videos on your trainer account!” says a fifteen-year-old girl.

“Huh? My what?”

“Your trainer account! All trainers have one! It’s connected to your ID number so that fans can keep track of you on social media! You can upload pictures and videos of you and your pokemon!”

“Oh… Can you show me?”

“Sure!”

She takes your phone and shows you the app and how to use it. She asks you to pull out your badges so you hand them to her. She holds the ring up to the sky, so the blue is the background and snaps a picture. You watch fascinated as she captions the post and tags it before she posts the photo.

“Seems simple enough…”

“Here! I’ll follow you!” She says happily as she pulls her own phone out, “The names Sunny!”

“Me too!”

“Same!”

“Post great updates!”

You’re surprised when the entire crowd pulls out their phones to follow you and you’re pretty surprised to watch the count go up right before your eyes. In less than a minute you have about 50 followers. You chuckle when you notice both Leon and Raihan’s username float across your screen.

“She’s being followed by the Champion! And Raihan!”

“Hey look! Nessa too!”

You chuckle as Raihan comments, “About time!” on your photo.

“The second badge already?!” comments Leon.

“They’re commenting!!!!” squeals one of the girls.

You laugh as you turn back to Sunny, “Thanks for your help! How do I follow you back?”

She happily shows you how to follow people and you smile as you follow back everyone in the area and thank them for their support.

“We’re rooting for you!”

“You’re going to crush them in the finals!”

You giggle as you walk away from the fans and head towards the hotel that you are staying in. You are greeted by Leon and Raihan as you walk in through the door.

“TA-DA!” They exclaim as they show you the celebratory spread they bought.

“Wow!! So much food!”

“We wanted to surprise you, plus the seafood here is the best!” Leon says.

“And what if I had lost?”

“Food always works both ways! In celebration or in comfort! It’s always a win-win!” Raihan chuckles.

“True! Let’s eat!”

You all sit down at the table and eat to your heart’s content. For the first time, the past few days things between Leon and Raihan seem to be at least at peace. You decide not to question it and just enjoy the moment. Right now you are victorious and one step closer to being the champion.

“Kabu is next, you think you’re ready?” Raihan asks.

“I need to get Nile ready for that battle.”

“Do you think Nile can take Kabu’s team by himself?” Leon asks.

“Not right now… I may have to test the waters with Hades or Serenity.”

“You’ll figure it out!” Leon says encouragingly.

“I know but I think it would be good to take some time and train a little before we head to the next gym.”

“Whatever you need Princess…” Raihan says with a smile.

You feel yourself blush remembering your earlier conversation with Raihan.

“Whatever I need? What if I need an Ice stone?” you joke.

“Then your wish is our command.”

You chuckle at him.

Glancing up you notice the way that Leon seems upset and refuses to meet your eyes. He’s playing with his food and you can’t help but wonder what is bothering him.

Your thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door. You get up and open the door to find Sonia and Nessa on the other side.

“Hey! We heard there’s food!” Sonia says as she makes her way into the room.

“Plenty for everyone!” Raihan exclaims as he pulls you back down beside him, “Even if my plans to seduce you are ruined…”

“Raihan!” you yelp as you swat at him.

He laughs as he lets you go and you notice the look that Nessa is sending you.

‘Get that,’ she mouths before taking a bite of the shrimp on her plate.

You roll your eyes with a shake of your head.

You all fall into easy banter and you have to admit it’s nice having the girls around.

“You know when I’ve had enough of the testosterone, the three of us should go on an adventure. Girls only!” you joke as you take a bite of the kale salad before you.

“Hey, that’s a great idea! You can help me with my research!” Sonia exclaims.

“Plus the challengers will be finished in a month or so I could use an adventure!”

“Plus the guys are going to eventually have to back to their duties, Raihan’s going to have challengers to battle,” Sonia reasons.

“Are you two suggesting that I leave my favorite girl to fend for herself?” Raihan asks with false outrage.

“She can handle herself!” Nessa exclaims, “We’ll be there too!”

“No. It’s too dangerous,” Leon says in an angry tone.

You all look over to Leon, who had been quiet up until this moment.

“Leon…” Sonia starts.

“I said no,” he says before he gets up and storms from the room.

“What just happened?” asked Nessa looking after the champion.

Sonia frowns before she gets up to follow behind him. A moment after she disappears behind the door you all hear the two of them arguing before Sonia bursts from the room looking angrier than you’ve ever seen her before.

“Let’s go, Nessa,” She says as she makes her way to the door, “I’ll call you later (Name).”

You and Raihan blink as you look from one door to the next.

“What the hell…” you grumble as you begin to clean up the plates.

“Hey, I got it… why don’t you go check on grumpy? I have a feeling he wants to talk to you…”

“I don’t think so…”

“He does… Go talk to him.”

You frown before you knock hesitantly on the door before you enter. Leon is sitting on the bed with his back to the door.

“Leon… what’s wrong?” you ask in a small voice.

He heaves a heavy sigh, “I’m sorry… I ruined your night…”

“I don’t care about that… I just want to know you’re okay…”

“I’m not…”

“Why? What happened? Is it you and Sonia? Did you break up? What just happened?”

“Break up? Sonia and I are just friends…”

“What do you mean? Aren’t you two together?”

“No! I don’t see her like that! She’s like my sister!”

“But… when we were younger…”

“I lied…”

“You lied?”

“That day you asked me who I liked I lied to you because I was too afraid to tell you how I felt.”

“How you felt?”

“I had the biggest crush on you when we were younger… I regretted not telling you how I felt after I set out on my journey so I promised myself that once we faced one another in the league that I would tell you how I felt…”

“But I never made it…”

“No… And then when I came back home you weren’t there and no one knew where you were… Your parents didn’t even know…”

“I remember that year… You wouldn’t have liked me very much then… I didn’t like me very much then…”

“I would have liked you… I have for a very long time.”

“Leon…”

“Raihan confessed… If you want me to leave so that…”

“No, I don’t want you to leave! How could you say that?”

“Don’t you want to be with him?”

“I don’t… know what I want…”

“I made this whole thing worse didn’t I?”

“No… I just want us all to be together… Things can’t change right now, there is too much at stake.”

“You’re right… We have a band of thieves to apprehend and you have finals to get to.”

You chuckle as you look away…

“I had a crush on you too…”

“Had?”

“I thought you liked Sonia! I thought you wanted to be with her and you finally got what you want so I don’t really know how to feel right now.”

“If I could go back and tell young me…”

“Stop… We wouldn’t be who are today if anything had happened any differently. Our paths have shaped us and it’s not always been an easy path, but I love who I am in this moment with the people that I care about supporting me. I wouldn’t change my shitty life for anything ever.”

“Only you…”

You just shrug as you smirk at him, “Good night Leon. Oh and apologize to Sonia for yelling at her.”

He winces as he recalls his earlier actions, “Will do… Good night…”

You step out the door and Raihan is waiting on the other side.

“So now you know our secret…”

“That’s what you two have been fighting about? Me?”

“We both like you, but we both want to make sure you’re safe. So we’ve just been co-existing while trying to get you to figure it out. You’re kinda dense when it comes to flirting you know that right?”

“I literally thought you were joking this entire time…”

Raihan chuckled, “Nope! Dragons always go for what they want Princess and believe me when I say I want you. I know you have history with Leon, but trust me when I say I’m not giving up to a man who didn’t have the balls to asks you out when he had the chance.”

“I believe you Raihan.”

“Good, now let’s head to bed, you’ve got training in the morning and I have to prove I’m the better man for you.”

You roll your eyes as he winks at you, but you can’t help the giggle that escapes as you head to your own room. When you pull out your forgotten phone from your bag you notice two text messages one for Sonia and one from Nessa.

Sonia: You know that Leon likes you right?

Nessa: You know that Raihan likes you right?

You heave an exhausted sigh, “Thanks for the heads up ladies…”

You flop back onto your bed and close your eyes vaguely wondering what the future will hold now that everything is out in the open.

Notes: So a lot happened... Thoughts? Opinions? Concerns? Names for our sweet Applin? What does this mean for our crew? Things are probably going to get worse before they better... I’m just saying... BUT you should like and comment and reblog! As always if you want to be tagged drop an ask! I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Also, this isn’t fully edited... I was excited to get it out tonight...

@Ichigokage @pinktowne @marina-and-the-memes @ssskeletonsoffun @secretly-a-weeb @duizhangdeluxe @swiftly-heart @invaderbekk @crowkie @narees17 @skinklady @nerdyeldritchhorror @wthyuta @serendipityseoul @crescentrax @ninjarose23 @chiizwiz @cherryrocks505 @just-a-dregular @bonniestreet @theofficialkanekibarbie @maryry24 @zea-is-amazing @loch-monsta @artisticchihuahua @hadeselegy @rociomz @emeraldluna

@shinsvu-talks @eeveesjourney @cherryrocks505 @exoticxchicken8 @spilltheearlgrey @marydragneell @quincymaru @zebrabaker @ct9ner

#pokemon #pokemon fanfiction #pokemon scenarios #pokemon leon #pokemon imagines #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #love triangle #leon #leon x reader #raihan #pokemon raihan #raihan imagines #raihan x reader #champion leon #champion leon x reader #stumbling

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sunshine-shitposts · 3 years

Text

(Takes place a few months into Sunnie's employment at the Foundation. The whole 'roommates with Dio' thing is still relatively new. 😌)

Experiment

～

He was in his shower when he heard her muffled shout from her room.

"HOLY SHIT!!!!"

"Well that's odd," he mused, running his fingers through his wet hair, "She's usually asleep at this time."

He easily caught the sound of her wooden door slamming open with a resounding thud.

"HOLY SHIT DUDE!!!!!"

Dio smiled to himself and turned the water off, stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist. "It's not quite 'eureka', but it seems she has had an idea."

When he left his room, he heard furious grumbling and shuffling from the kitchen, so he followed the noises to see Sunnie, in her usual giant NASA shirt and cotton shorts sleep ensemble, rushing around the tiled floor and quickly looking into the recycling, pulling out a couple of empty Izze cans.

"Oho? What has you up so late at night?" Dio asked.

"Okay, so I had an idea? I guess? In my dream?? Well whatever it was, I woke up with an idea!" She was speaking quickly, not even really paying attention to Dio. "You know what wind is, right??"

He leaned against the doorway, smirking. "I'm familiar with the concept," he said, "but the specifics are something I've never looked into."

She continued to move around the kitchen, not sparing a glance at her roommate. "Okay. So, air is the word we use to refer to atmospheric gases surrounding our pale blue dot, kept in place by gravity, right?" She hopped up on the counter, opening various cupboards frantically, "Naturally, wind occurs because of—where the fuck is the flour—because of horizontal and vertical differences in atmospheric pressure, and I have a leetle theory that that might be what I can manipulate, through Windy." Sunnie looked behind some pots before closing that cabinet door with a thud as well. "Of course, that's just naturally. There's also mechanical reasons for wind moving; fans, turbines, even walking through a room, yadda yadda right? But I'm focused on the regular way, yeah? High pressure to low pressure and all."

"I understand," he hummed. Watching her tiredly yet animatedly rifle through their things was amusing, but he took pity on her and walked over to the pantry, pulling the flour off of the shelf as she hopped back off the counter with single-minded focus. "You were looking for this, dear?"

"Oh, you got the flou–" she turned around and nearly fell to the floor, finally noticing his glistening wet skin and the towel wrapped low around his waist. "FUCK. JESUS CHRIST DUDE, PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!!"

His smirk grew into a full-on grin, "I thought you wanted the flour?" he asked, leaning over her and jiggling the bag in front of her face. She stepped back, cheeks flushing.

"It's–I do, but you're…" Her eyes strayed from his face, tracing down the lines of his body, his abs, to the top of the towel, and immediately looked back up into his eyes, willing herself to not get distracted. "You're one mishap away from straight up nudity, man. Just… uh—"

Reveling in flustering her, he took a step forward, and she stepped back again. "Darling," he purred, backing her against the wall, "your eyes are wandering. I wonder, do you see something you like?"

The air between them was thick for a moment, her eyes darting to his arms, to his chest, to the scar around his neck, before she huffed and shook her head indignantly, laughing to herself. "Oh, no. No no no, I'm not letting this happen!" Sunnie grabbed the bag of flour from his hand and ducked past him. "I refuse to let you kabedon me when you're in nothing but a towel!!"

Dio turned and looked at her as she started to leave the kitchen, his eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Kabedon?"

"Look it up, asshole!!" She snapped, looking at him from the doorway, cheeks dusted with pink, "And if you're curious, I'll be in the living room. Put on some damn clothes."

Upon arriving in their living room, he was surprised to see that Sunnie had expeditiously spread the flour in a light layer across the coffee table, and was delicately placing an empty green Izze can in the center. Her hair, up in a bun, was a mess, and her eyes were wide, focused, and slightly manic.

"This is not quite what I was expecting," Dio hummed, an eyebrow quirked.

"Well what were you expecting?" She grunted, lining the other three empty cans up neatly along on the edge of the table.

He shrugged. "I suppose I don't have an answer to that."

"Well there you go," she replied, finally happy with her setup, looking up at Dio as he walked over to sit in one of the wing chairs and her expression dropped into an unamused leer. "Really dude? Just sweatpants? Not even a shirt?"

He gave her a dazzling, shit-eating grin. "What? It's comfortable." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, and he chuckled. "So, my dear, what's…" He whirled his hand in the coffee table's direction, "…all of this?"

"An experiment!!!" She shouted happily, demeanor immediately changing. "I thought up an experiment for me to do!! A test of sorts!! Something to try out!"

Dio raised his eyebrows, regarding her curiously. "Care to elaborate?"

"So how I usually use Windy is, either she or I physically manipulate the air to get it to do what we want. Like…" she thought for a moment, "...Think of it like pulling your finger through water. It leaves a path, you know? And then there's the direction, it feels like a push, or a pull. And that's how I," Windy's wing shimmered on her left wrist and she flicked her hand almost dismissively, knocking her scarf off the console table on the other side of the room, "do that. I feel like the physical aspect of it helps me… connect with the air molecules, make them flow. You following?"

"It sounds very intuitive for you, little bird," he said, "What does this have to do with the empty cans?"

"PRESSURE, dude! Atmospheric pressure!!" she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air, "If that's what I'm able to manipulate, if THAT'S part of my ability, I may be able to remotely crush an empty Izze can!! By exciting or dampening the activity of air molecules, I might be able to do it. And I want to try!!"

Dio grinned widely, thoroughly amused and highly intrigued. "And the flour you've spread on our coffee table?"

"The flour's so I can see the movement of air. It helps me visualize it!!" She said, clenching her fists excitedly, "I used to do this with my best friend after I told her about Windy. Given, that was with dirt or sand or whatever was available at the time, but it's the same concept! She'd set up courses that I'd have to move a line of air through, and I steadily got better at controlling wind that way!!"

Hearing that there was someone besides her immediate family and her husband that knew about her Stand was news to him, but he took it in stride for the moment.

"See? Like this," Sunnie continued, the wings appearing on her wrists again and she swept her hands up and out, and two curling paths began to snake through the flour like filigree. "I've gotten really good at it, to be honest."

"Your control over your Stand is impressive indeed, Sunshine," he agreed, and she smiled wide, a satisfied giggle escaping her.

"Hell yeah. So! Let's begin!!" Sunnie plopped on the sofa and Dust in the Wind popped out behind her, grabbing her shoulders and looking at the can as well. "I'm gonna try to do this without, y'know," she gestured wildly with her hands, "any of that. Just… stare at it and go cronch." She paused, then her eyes positively lit up. "Like Mewtwo!!!"

Dio looked at her oddly. "Like what?"

She gave him a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's Pokémon, I'll introduce you later." Sunnie settled into the sofa, wiggling a bit to get comfortable, then gave him a slightly shy little glance. "You, uh, you don't have to stay and watch. This is just a little personal project of mine and all. You can sleep or whatever."

His smile, this time, was sincere rather than smug. "Oh, I know that, but I don't technically need to sleep, and I'm also terribly curious about where this goes." Dio crossed one leg over the other, leaning back in the chair and propping his elbow up on the arm rest, settling his jaw in his palm. "Watching you approach your Stand's ability with science in mind is utterly fascinating, you know."

He caught a faint pinkish blush on her cheeks, which dissipated as quickly as it rose and she looked back at the can, her Stand tapping her fingers on Sunnie's shoulders excitedly. "Whatever. Now, it's time to get funky."

Thirty eight minutes later, the Izze can was still intact and all Sunnie had to show for it was some eye strain and a very light sheen of sweat on her forehead.

Dio, who had been watching her the entire time, had seen her eyebrows begin to twitch in frustration. He had a feeling she was seconds away from snapping when she suddenly careened herself into the corner of the sectional head-first, whining loudly.

"Bullshit, this is bullshit!!! I can't—I can't feel anything, I can't feel the air, it's… fuck this, dude. Fuck this!!!" Dust in the Wind floated over her user, massaging her fingers on Sunnie's scalp reassuringly.

"You do seem tired, dear, would you like to—"

"BUT THERE HAS TO BE A WAY!!!" she insisted, shooting herself upright once again. "There has to be. I just have to figure it out. Maybe if I…" She looked down at her hands, perplexed, and flexed her fingers. "Yeah, I mean, I can feel the air now, but I wanna try without moving my hands."

Dio grinned as she continued mumbling to herself. His little human certainly was stubborn. "So, how exactly are you envisioning doing this?"

"Well, I supposedly should be able to do it two ways off the top of my head," she replied, pulling her legs up onto the sofa, resting her elbows next to her feet and subsequently almost folding herself in half. "The first is simple brute force. That's the easy one. Pushing the can in on itself from the outside. The second one is more fine-tuned and still a theory. That's the air pressure one." She sat back up, the soles of her feet pressed against each other and tapping impatiently. "So… air molecules, right? They're everywhere, air is basically everywhere. You know the 'glass half full or half empty' thing? It's bullshit because the glass is always full. It might not be full of water, but it is full. Air takes up space. That's why we can blow up balloons, or make bubbles underwater. That balloon is inflated because we put that air in there. We see the bubble in the water because water has to move out of the way because air displaces it. Make sense?"

"It does. I can see why you used to be a STEM teacher," he said, bouncing his foot slightly.

"Alright. So the reason that can," she pointed at the can in the center of the table, still undisturbed by her efforts, "is still the way it is is because the pressure outside the can is the same as the pressure on the inside of the can. If there's an imbalance, it rushes to maintain equilibrium. That's why weather happens. Hot air rises, and the denser cold air swoops in to take its place. Hypothetically, if I can manipulate air molecules, I should be able to cause a pressure imbalance great enough to trigger an implosion." Windy swooped over to the can, hovering above it and inspecting it curiously, and Sunnie heaved a large sigh. "There's some temperature stuff involved, water molecules and all, but again, this is a theory."

"Interesting," Dio hummed, uncrossing his legs slowly and leaning forward, "Well, if using your hands helps you feel the air, why not hold them out in front of you?"

Her shoulders slumped and she pouted. "I said I don't want to use my hands though." Windy, however, floated over to Dio and cocked her head to the side inquisitively.

"I didn't say you needed to move your hands, dear," he said, reaching a hand up to pet Windy on her head, earning him a swift blush from his roommate while the Stand just made a soft yet happy trilling noise, "Just hold them out. Not unlike warming your hands in front of a fire."

Sunnie considered Dio's suggestion for a moment and Windy returned to her, circling her a few times before holding her hands out. Sunnie then grinned and gave her Stand a double high-five before facing the can again, determined. "Alright." Both user and Stand readied their hands. "Second try. Let's crush this bitch."

Seventy two minutes after that, there was a small, barely-there flicker of flour kicking up about an inch away from the can. Sunnie's eyes sharpened and she leaned forward a bit, focusing on it like a hawk.

"Shit. There–I just—"

Dio raised an eyebrow and watched as more flour began flying in the air bit by bit, like a butterfly unsure of how to get off the ground.

"Come on," she grunted, "A dome…"

The geometric wing shapes on Windy's outer wrists flared up, spreading open slowly into ferocious points as the flour began to swirl around the can in a circle. Sunnie's skin glistened with sweat, her teeth gritted and her jaw tight. Her fingers twitched, tensing up, and her hands shook from being held up for so long, for trying as long as she had been. Puffs of flour shot off in a few directions, and the white particles churned up and around, the rough shape of a dome slowly becoming more and more refined, twisting faster and faster.

Dio sat forward in the chair slightly, watching the scene before him with interest. He knew she'd already been working hard earlier that day, doing tests with Catherine and Ellison, and humans typically felt fatigue when using their Stands for extended periods of time. She was already tired when she came back down to their suite, and she was pushing herself even further simply because of an idea she had.

She truly was a fascinatingly stubborn woman.

The dome around the can smoothed out, and both Sunnie and her Stand's fingers were trembling with effort and single-minded focus. The geometric wings on Windy's head had also begun to grow in length, the Stand's narrowed yellow eyes nearly glowing.

Then in a flash of a second, Sunnie turned her hands upwards and clenched her fist, and the aluminum buckled inward with a metallic crunch.

It took a second for her to process what had just happened. Her eyes were wide, her mouth dropped open slightly, and her breath stuttered. The room was silent for a moment, and she shot up off of the sofa, threw her fists up in the air, and crowed with triumphant laughter.

"HAH!! I GOT YOU, YOU METAL MOTHERFUCKER!!! I CONQUERED YOUR ASS!!! I FUCKING DID IT!!!!! YEAAAAAAH!!!!"

But almost the second she was up, she was falling. Dust in the Wind vanished and she toppled to the side, and Dio was there to catch her.

"If you make any sort of 'falling for me' joke," Sunnie grunted, "I am going to kick your ass."

"You're far too tired for that, darling," he chuckled, "And I highly doubt that you could."

"I would fucking try," she insisted, trying to move. "…My bones are jelly. Help."

"You worked hard today, Sunshine," he said, standing up with her in his arms, "And you accomplished something fantastic. I'm quite impressed, you know."

She buried her face in his chest to avoid him seeing the blush on her face. "Shut up. I wanna hibernate now."

"Understood," he said, turning to the hall and starting to walk as a grin curled his lips.

"Maybe…" she mumbled softly, "maybe I'll try the second method later."

"There's an idea," Dio replied, The World materializing in front of him and opening the door to Sunnie's room, following its user in as Dio walked over to her messy bed.

"Ellison can probably get his hands on some instruments that can help," she continued as Dio bent over, laying her down on the nest of fluffy blankets and pillows on her mattress, "It's not like I can, like… see air pressure. I need to monitor that shit."

"That would certainly make it easier for you," he murmured, pulling her favorite comforter over her as she snuggled her face into her pillow.

"Dioooo," she whined after a second, "I'm gross."

"You're not gross," he laughed softly, moving a bit of her wet hair out of her face.

"I'm sweaty."

"That isn't gross," he continued, "That's just proof of your incredible efforts tonight. You can bathe when you wake."

"Fine," she huffed, her eyes losing the fight to stay open. "Night, Dio."

Dio stood and turned to leave her room, eyes twinkling. "Goodnight, Sunshine."

#i just had a little idea and wanted to write it hehehehe #SunnieD #sunnie writes

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ragingbookdragon · 4 years

Text

Red & Silver In A Romance Not So Unfamiliar PT. 1

Tim Drake x Speedster!Reader Story!

A/N: This was actually an...impulse story (pun intended)...and I’m still happy with it because I actually like it. Enjoy! -Thorne <3

“How is it that you are the one who managed to get all the brain cells in the womb?” She sighed at his question, watching her twin nurse a bruise in the center of his face.

“Honestly, that has baffled me since I became sentient.” She glanced at him, a grin on her lips. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m like ninety percent of Bart’s impulse control,” She held a hand up, silencing his groan, “No pun intended, so when I’m around he tends to be kept on a short leash.” She turned and stuck her tongue to her teeth, letting out a sharp whistle. The boys across the cave turned to her and she looked at he brother. “Bart, stop trying to phase the barrier.” Her brother threw his arms up.

“But I can do it (Y/N)!” She sighed, rubbing her temples.

“Bart, the barrier is built to withstand speedsters.” (Y/N) looked at him, emphasizing, “It’s made to stop speedsters from phasing into it.”

“But what if I just had to go faster?” She threw her hands in the air, tone becoming exasperated.

“Oh my god Bart.” Her hands dropped and she waved him off. “You know what, go nuts. Try and phase the barrier again.” An ear-splitting grin appeared on her twins face and he ran back a distance; the man beside her grunted,

“Why are you-” She held up a hand.

“You’ve got the barrier connected to the generators in the cave, right?” (Y/N) glanced at him and he nodded; she tipped her head to his gauntlet. “Redirect the power into the conduits on the side he’s gonna try and phase through.” The man nodded knowingly, fingers tapping on the screen at his wrist.

“And when he hits the barrier, he gets zapped.” He clicked a button then looked at her. “Shouldn’t you be against harming your brother?” (Y/N) shrugged.

“We heal fast. He’ll be alright.” She nodded at the barrier. “Just make sure the electricity is a higher voltage than what runs through our bodies or the only thing it’s gonna do is power him up not power him down.” The man laughed and they faced the barrier, watching Bart speed towards it only to stop once he hit it. He dropped, spazzing as the electricity surged through his body. The two boys standing apart from him dropped to his side, worry on their faces; (Y/N) called out to them. “He’s fine. He just looks like he got in a tangle with Godspeed.” She turned to the man beside her. “If we can put him in a bed Mr. Wayne, he’ll sleep it off for a few hours.” Bruce nodded, turning to walk up the steps. “Oh, can Tim, Conner, and I go to the carnival in town?” He raised a hand as he walked off.

“Take Dick and Jason.” (Y/N) groaned, tossing her head back.

“But we’re all eighteen…why do they have to come?” He gave her a laugh in response, and she sighed, watching Conner heft an unconscious Bart over his shoulders. Tim and Conner made their way to her and she tipped her head to the stairs. “Let’s go put thing two in Tim’s bed.” Conner snorted at her words, and Tim stared at her, a look of disgust on his face.

“Why do we have to put him in my bed?” He pointed at Bart. “He drools! He’s drooling on Conner right now!” Conner twisted his head, trying to see Bart’s face on his shoulder.

“What?!” (Y/N) rolled her eyes, climbing the steps.

“The sooner we put him in bed the sooner we can get to the carnival.”

“Don’t we have to take Dick and Jason with us?” She glanced at Tim, a smirk on her lips.

“We do…but I’m sure the lot of us can figure out a way to give them the slip and then we can go run around the city.” The two boys grinned, breaking into a conversation about the trap they were going to set.

Later That Night:

“See, this is fun, isn’t it?” The three of them glared at the man sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, if fun is three eighteen-year-old vigilantes who need two chaperones with a combined intelligence of my right foot. But sure Dick, it’s fun.” The two boys on either side snorted at her words, and Dick looked at her from the rear-view mirror.

“It’s not so bad (Y/N). Jaybird and I are just here to make sure that you three don’t get in trouble.”

“Does Bruce expect us to get into a fight with somebody?” Jason spun around in the passenger’s seat, glaring at Conner.

“The last time you three were in Gotham, you got into a fight with Joker, Penguin, and Two-Face’s gangs. At the same time.” He glared at Tim and (Y/N). “So yes, he does expect you to get into a fight.”

“Technically they started a fight with us, we only defended ourselves.”

“(Y/N), you and Bart broke someone’s spine by running into them.” She raised her hands in nonchalance at Dick’s words.

“I mean if they aren’t built to withstand the slamming weight of two speedsters, that’s their problem and not ours.” Dick glanced at Jason, his voice lowering as he asked,

“Does she ever scare you when she does that?” Jason shrugged, eying the carnival coming into view.

“She’s got her head on straight. I won’t be sad about gangbangers.”

“Yeah, we can still hear you, you know that right?” Dick chuckled, turning into the parking lot.

“We’re aware.” Dick parked the car and looked back at them. “Let’s go have fun, eh?” The three groaned, climbing out of the backseat.

“Ow Conner, that’s my foot!”

“Well that’s my hand you’re kneeling on (Y/N)!”

“Will you two just get out of the backseat so I can get out?” The two turned, glaring at Tim.

“How ‘bout you shut-up or we’ll sit here all night?” Tim shrugged at her words, pulling his tablet from his backpack.

“I mean, I like doing nothing anyways so…” (Y/N) reached over, plucking the tablet from his hands. He reached for it, but she pressed a hand to his chest, keeping it from his reach.

“You told me you wouldn’t bring this with you.” Tim rolled his eyes.

“I brought it in case we had an emergency.” (Y/N) glanced at the tablet, scanning the screen.

“And is that emergency the state of your Pokémon go team?”

“There might be legendaries around.” The two climbed out of the car, and (Y/N) passed his tablet back.

“You’re such a nerd Tim.” He leaned beside her, nudging her arm.

“Takes one to know one.”

“Fair point.” As Tim shoved his tablet back in his bag, Dick and Jason walked back over, handing them their wristbands.

“Alright, neon pink means you can go on as many rides as you want, so long as you flash them the band. What do you guys want to do first?” The three wound the bands around their wrists, and Tim looked at his brothers.

“Don’t you guys have something better to do?” The two crossed their arms.

“Nope.” Tim eyed his oldest brother.

“Really? No date to go on?” Dick shook his head and Tim looked at Jason. “No Outlaws to hang out with?”

“Kori’s with Damian and the Teen Titans, and Roy’s hanging with Wally in Central.”

“Damn, all your friends are busy, aren’t they?” They glanced at (Y/N) who wore an unamused look. “You know we can handle ourselves.”

“We already talked about this (Y/N).” She rolled her eyes as she started walking towards the gates.

“Yeah well, I didn’t finish arguing about it, so no we didn’t.” Tim and Conner laughed as they followed her.

For a solid hour, the three friends spent their time being followed by Tim’s brothers. The three climbed into the hollowed figure, closing the gate before Dick and Jason could climb in with them. (Y/N) smiled sweetly at the two quipping, “Sorry boys…this one’s full.” She tipped her head to the empty one across the platform. “Maybe try the other one?” The two glared, but conceded, and once they were in, the ride started. Immediately, the three started spinning the wheel in the center, but also started their plan; Tim spoke first.

“Alright, Dick and Jason are two of the best trackers alive, and if we’re gonna get away, we need a solid plan of escape.”

“We could always run once the ride ends?” (Y/N) shook her head at Conner’s suggestion.

“No, we need to lose them in the carnival then make a run for it.” She glanced at Tim. “They’re your brothers…what are their strengths and weaknesses in terms of carnival rides?” Tim sat back against the seat, thinking, and (Y/N) added, “This ride’s gonna last for another minute Tim. Hurry up the gray matter.” He nodded, sitting back up.

“Dick can escape mirror mazes faster than Wally, so we can’t put him in there, but Jason might be able to spend enough time searching for a way out that we can get away.” He looked at (Y/N). “You’d be the best person to do that job.” She nodded, and he looked at Conner. “You stay with (Y/N) and I’ll go with Dick to the Shock Drop.”

“How are you gonna get out of that Tim?” He glanced at (Y/N) who wore a concerned expression. “The bars lock once they lower. You won’t be able to get out.” Tim flashed a smile and shimmied his shoulders.

“I can wriggle out of anything.”

“And you don’t think Dick couldn’t do it either? Your brother’s practically a contortionist.” Tim waved off Conner’s objections.

“I used to think me being small and lanky was a bad thing, but in the sense of a bar that locks a few good inches from your chest, it’s actually a great thing. Dick’s shoulders are too broad for him to maneuver out of the bar in time to catch me.”

“I mean, in a sense it’s a good plan, but if you can’t get out fast enough, you’ll be in serious danger.” (Y/N) turned to Conner. “I can phase through the mirror maze with no trouble. Stay with Tim and if anything happens, get him out.” Conner nodded, and the ride began to slow. She looked at them, a sharp look in her eyes. “Everybody know the plan?” They nodded. “Suits ready to change into?” They nodded once more, and she grinned. “Alright then. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Ten Minutes Later:

The two stepped into the mirror maze, getting into the line; Jason glanced at (Y/N). “I’m surprised you want to do a maze (Y/N). I thought you didn’t like enclosed spaces?” She shrugged, eyeing the neon lights.

“I don’t like spaces that have no exits.” She looked at him. “If I know there’s an exit, I can deal.” Jason nodded, and the line moved forward, putting them closer to the front.

“I’m sorry you’re stuck with Dickhead and I.” (Y/N) laughed at his apology, and she waved him off.

“It’s cool. I understand Mr. Wayne’s concerns about us.” Jason eyed her, his tone in slight disbelief.

“You do?” She nodded.

“We can get into a lot of trouble when we aren’t supervised, so I can get behind the chaperone.” She glanced at Jason. “But two is a little excessive.” The line moved forward again, and it was their turn to go in. They wandered through the maze, and (Y/N) glanced at her wristwatch. She had about a minute until she needed to set out; she watched Jason wander into another dead in and turn around, brushing past her.

“This is a dead end.” (Y/N) waited until he turned the corner, then changed into her suit. Drawn back by the noise and the flash of silver lightning, he turned the corner to see her smirking at him; he pointed at her. “Don’t you dare.” (Y/N) flipped him a peace sign and turned, speeding into the mirrors and out the other side. She could hear him yelling as she exited the maze, and as she turned, she saw Conner and Tim running towards her, already in suits. Conner waved a hand.

“Start running! The shock drop just went down! Dick will be out in a few seconds!” (Y/N) nodded, running forward and leaning down in front of Tim.

“Climb on and hang on! We have to go now!” He climbed on her back, wrapping his legs and arms securely around her, and she spun, speeding off. (Y/N) was certain Conner was following her and when she stopped, he landed on the rooftop beside them. She lowered Tim to the ground, laughing as he sprawled on the roof and groaned. “You good Timmy?” He waved weakly.

“I have vertigo right now.” Conner and she laughed at their friend, laying on either side of him. They stared up at the stars, and after a moment, Tim quipped, “Dick and Jay are gonna be so mad when they find us.”

“It’ll be worth it though.” (Y/N) glanced at him. “I couldn’t stand another minute being followed by those two.” Before anyone could say anything, a grumble sounded from Tim’s other side, and they looked over at Conner, who wore a faint blush.

“Uh…sorry…I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.” Tim and (Y/N) laughed, and Tim reached into his belt, pulling out a fifty.

“Go get a pizza and bring it back.” Conner scoffed, but took the bill anyway.

“What am I? Your maid?” (Y/N) smiled at him.

“No, you’re our best friend who enjoys feeding us with Tim’s money.” Conner rolled his eyes and rose from the building.

“There’s a pizza joint like a block from here. I’ll be right back.” The two nodded, watching him fly off before returning their gaze to the sky. After a moment, (Y/N) felt fingers brush her palm, and she looked down, seeing Tim lace his fingers through hers; she grinned at the sight.

“Why Timmy…are you making a move on me?” Tim laughed, looking at her.

“I think I’ve already made a move on you (Y/N).”

“Mmm…you have.” (Y/N) rolled over, looping her arm over his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. His arm curled around her waist, pulling her closer to him, and they laid in silence until she said, “I wonder if your dad is gonna shit a brick when he realizes we’re dating.” This time, Tim snorted, and he raised a hand to muffle his laughter.

“Can you imagine the family dinners when we have to invite Bart over?”

“You mean more than you already do?”

“Yes.” (Y/N) nodded.

“Yeah…your dad is gonna shit a brick.” The two of them giggled at that, and (Y/N) gazed at him. “I love you Red Robin.” She poked the end of his pointed mask. “Pointy beak and all.” Tim rolled his eyes.

“The mask isn’t that pointy.”

“True…but it was really pointy when you looked like Doc Midnight.” Tim sighed in exasperation.

“Oh my god, no one is gonna let that go, are they?” (Y/N) grinned.

“Nope…now tell me you love me, so I don’t look like a fool for telling you.” Tim glanced down at her, hand raising to caress her cheek.

“I love you Silver Streak.” (Y/N) turned her face to the side, kissing his palm.

“Prove it.”

“Escaping a carnival with a master plan so we could be alone isn’t proof enough?” He let out a breath. “Woo Ms. Allen, you are a tough woman to please.”

“And you Mr. Drake are most certainly not trying your hardest.” Tim’s lips curled into a smirk and he leaned down murmuring,

“Then let me fix that.” As their lips brushed together, they heard a grunt from behind them.

“If you guys are gonna do that, please do it when I’m not coming back with food. That kinda defeats the purpose of me bringing food.” The two looked up to see Conner walking towards them, pizza boxes in one hand, a soda pack in the other. They pulled apart, sitting away from each other and Conner waved them off. “You guys don’t have to get all antsy about it. I know you’ve been seeing each other for a few months.” (Y/N) raised an eyebrow, taking the boxes from him.

“You do?” Conner nodded, deadpanning,

“I think you guys are forgetting that I have super hearing.” He stared at them. “You two aren’t exactly quiet in the tower.” The two looked down, cheeks warming at the truth coming out. Conner gestured to the pizza. “Are you gonna open that? Because I’m still hungry.” (Y/N) passed him the box, and he flipped it open, setting it down in front of them. They each took a piece, and after a moment Conner asked, “Have you told anyone yet?” Tim and (Y/N) shook their heads.

“No…we were gonna do it at the gala next month.” Conner nodded.

“Cool.” He went back to eating, and Tim stared at him questioning,

“You don’t have any objections? No complaints?”

“Nope.” He glanced at (Y/N). “Not my sister you’re dating.” She rolled her eyes at that.

“Bart’s not gonna be upset about it. Just that we didn’t tell him earlier.” Conner hummed, and they went back to eating. When they’d finished, they sat on the ledge overlooking the city. (Y/N) glanced at the cars passing in the street. “Do you think Dick and Jason have figured out where we’ve gone yet?”

“No, they probably called Bruce and told…actually, no they wouldn’t call Bruce and admit that they got duped by three eighteen-year-olds.” He glanced at another rooftop. “They’re probably looking for us.” (Y/N) rested her chin on her hand.

“Do you think Bart’s awake yet?” Tim shook his head.

“Nah…the voltage was pretty high on the barrier…he’s still out cold.” Before she could ask another question, Conner stood up, pointing to the west side of Gotham.

“There’s a bank robbery in process over in that direction.” The other two stood up, and (Y/N) nodded at him.

“Go, we’ll be right behind you.” Conner took off, making his way across the city, and (Y/N) turned to Tim. “Well Red Robin…ready for a night of patrol?” Tim grinned, pulling out his grapple.

“Ready and waiting Silver Streak.”

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