OH YEAH i made my guy a pokemon team :) its dark/steel

+ mine (ghost/grass) :3

the site i used!

Are You Watching?

Katsuki Bakugou x reader

~ Bakugou has never seen your favorite movie before, and so you end up watching him more than the movie.

Genre: Fluff

a/n: I do this alot, I just get so excited when I’m watching one of my favorite movies with someone I want to know that they are liking it.

As you walk through your front door and kick off your shoes that just don't quite fit right, you are hit with an overwhelming sense of victory.

Today was a bitch, but you made it through unscathed.

That in itself calls for a celebration of self-care. With Katsuki still out on patrol for a bit, you decide to slip into something cozy, get yourself a big bowl of microwavable popcorn, and take out your stack of DVDs.

But these aren't just any DVDs; these are your favorite comfort movies, the kind you can watch anytime and never get bored. You know every line by heart, quoting the lines under your breath and laughing in anticipation of your favorite scenes.

You've only been watching for twenty minutes or so, but your mood has already been raised up out of the gutters of exhaustion and disappeared when you first came home.

"Oi, what are you watching?" a familiar guff voice calls from behind you, sending elated prickles over your skin as your turn around.

Katsuki Bakugou, your boyfriend leans up against the doorway, he looks so natural, but you have a feeling he posed himself that way to look cool in front of you. You pause the movie and turn your full attention to your handsome partner, who looks just as exhausted as you did earlier.

"Suki, I didn't hear you come in." you smile, scooting over on the couch. "Get changed and come watch these with me."

"Haven't you seen this one before?" he yells from down the hall, already changing into his comfy clothes. He loves watching movies with you; it makes him feel normal after a long day dealing with the worst society has to offer.

"Yeah, so? It's one of my favorites," you call back defensively. "What's the big deal?"

"I just don't get how you can watch the same damn movie so many times," he grumbles, coming back into the living room wearing a black shirt and some flannel pajama bottoms you got him for Christmas last year. He is already looking more relaxed than he did before. Off in the distance, you can barely make out the sound of the washing machine buzzing to life, cleaning the rest of the day out of his hero costume.

"But you haven't seen it yet." you giggle, flipping up the mountain of blankets dramatically so he can get under them with you, patting the now open spot with your other hand.

He chuckles amusedly and joins you on the couch. His warmth comforts you in a different way than the blankets have as you breathe in his familiar scent. "This is much better," you sigh as his arm wraps around you. You place your head on his chest, your favorite kind of pillow.

"Bad day?" he asks, gently rubbing circles onto your skin.

"Not the best," you admit, shuddering at the memories from earlier today. You'd tell him all the annoying details later, but now, unwinding is the priority. "You?"

"It was pretty shitty, but I've had worse," he responds flatly. You believe him; the news coverage today told you all you needed to know about his bad day. 

"Then I guess we can just stay here until it all goes away," you chuckle, reaching for the remote and pressing play. Bakugou wouldn't admit it out loud, but the idea of just staying here on the couch, cozy with you in his arms, is the perfect ending to any day, no matter how shitty it was. 

Your conversation dies down as you both watch the movie. It really is the kind that you can watch over and over again. 

You think to yourself that it's strange that even after watching this movie in your living room so many times, Katsuki has never seen it for himself.

Wait, if he hasn't seen it before, that means he doesn't know about The Twist. 

You find your eyes drifting from the screen over to his handsome face. His crimson gaze remains transfixed on the screen in front of him. There is something so satisfying about watching someone watch your favorite movie so intently. Even if it's one he would not choose to watch himself.

You know what's going to happen, so you don't need to be watching as close. Katsuki is much more interesting right now. How will he react? Some of your friends said that the Twist was predictable, but others said they had no idea it was coming. The anticipation of it all makes you look at him even more intensely. 

Sensing your gaze on him, he turns his head towards you. "What are you looking at?" he huffs, "Do I have somethin on my face?"

"No," you say, looking away quickly, "It's nothing; keep watching."

He shrugs it off and returns his attention to the screen. You try and focus on the movie, but you can't help it; you have to see what he thinks about the Twist. You have to see his face. You shamelessly bring your gaze back over to him, only to find that he is not looking at the screen at all. His eyes are on you.

"Suki, you're not watching; this is important," you whine dramatically as if you are not the whole reason he is distracted in the first place.

He tsks, "How am I supposed to watch the damn movie if you're staring at me like that?" his voice rising in volume. 

"Just pay attention," you pout, crossing your arms over your chest., "I just wanted to see what you thought about the next part. It's my favorite."

His gaze softens as he tries to untangle your crossed arms. "Such a weirdo," he chuckles, leaning over and giving your cheek a quick kiss. "I'm watchin, I Promise."

Despite the dry air outside, his lips are still soft and smooth against your skin. You uncross your arms and return to your previous position on top of him. "You gotta watch," you mumble, trying to discreetly look at him and the screen at the same time.

And then it happens—the Twist. 

The main character being betrayed by their own best friend. You've seen this part so many times you could quote it word for word. But Katsuki…

"Where the Hell did that come from," he yells, sitting up quickly, ruining your comfortable resting spot against him. His mouth is agape, and his eyes are wide as he stares back at you, hoping for some sort of explanation. His features then go from shock to loving irritation as he ruffles your hair on top of your head. "You were waiting for me to watch this, weren't you?" 

"I knew you'd be surprised," you grin cheekily. Trying to bat away his hand from your head. "There were a few hints earlier on that make more sense."

"What hints?" he asks, narrowing his eyes and biting the inside of his cheeks as he tries to recall any sort of detail that would lead to the reveal of this betrayal. Obviously, he is still very troubled by the turn of events. "I didn't see any damn hints. Gimme the remote; we are watching this thing again."

so Lily Orchard made a video about Hazbin Hotel and it's kind of odd, tbh?

her coverage of the working / pay conditions basically boils down to 'animators just need to unionize' (seriously, she spends barely any time on it at all), which like, unionization would definitely help but it doesn't let Viv/Spindle off the hook for poor management in the meantime, & it's baffling to me that she implies otherwise. If Lacakdaisy and (as far as we know) other indie productions like Far-Fetched can behave professionally, why can't Spindle? (also like, absolutely zip mention of how the pilot cast were treated. nada. nothing.)

the entire hope of the indie scene was that it could grind up less animators than big studios do, & sweeping all that under the carpet is so deeply unempathetic to me. so animators being subject to poor deadlines, favoritism, unprofessional behavior, having their work literally stolen from them or going uncredited and then getting blocked when they try to correct it is no big deal, apparently? (which strikes me as funny bcause Orchard's work is so obviously inspired by The Jimquisition and Stephanie Sterling's work constantly critiques the game industry for its poor working conditions even though they also don't have unions)

a lot of the vid has this undercurrent of 'Viv has a big hatedom just for being a bi woman of colour and hatedoms are always bad and parasocial' and like - yes, I agree Internet mobs are bad. Yes, I agree people can get into a parasocial hatred of someone just as easily as parasocially loving or defending them. Yes, I agree someone who isn't straight, white or male is more likely to attract haters. And yes, I agree a lot of the criticisms of Viv are stupid.

my problem with this framing is it lumps in all criticims of Viv with the stupid ones. Again, does Lily Orchard not care about people being underpaid, overworked or uncredited? Does she expect unionizing to solve all the immediate issues people have faced with Spindle in the meantime? Also like - what Viv has done herself to feed this toxic environment goes totally unacknowledged. Viv's bad faith framing of her critics and multiple defensive threads get no mention, & Lily's video implies that only the critics of Vivzie are toxic and doesn't mention at all how bad /much worse some of her supporters are. none of the bullying and silencing attitudes from her fans get brought up; it's not like it would be hard to find when researching critiques of the show to see how even big creators like Cartoonshi were harassed into never covering it again.

I find her attitude towards the writing of HH odd, too. I understand why she doesn't like cartoons dragging their heels and stretching things out (goodness knows HB has been wheel spinning basically its entire second season and Western Energy was a complete waste of an episode), but calling HH's pacing 'breakneck' is generous. There's no time to breathe and none of the nuance or quiet moments she claims to want more of in other shows.

If the show is also about Heaven&Hell being an unjust sorting system as Lily claims, why isn't that more clear in the writing? Why is the viewer simultaneously supposed to believe Hell is full of murders and etc. but also is just full of people being unjustly persecuted. Even Angel Dust, the one character we're supposed to believe has developed the most, was a gangster in his human life & presumably killed people along the way, none of which the show bothers to examine even though his sister made it to Heaven and he didn't. (she has said she has no interest in helluva boss, which is a shame because I would have been curious to see if she would have convienently ignored the bootlicking praise for Stolas and the misogyny in the writing just because she seems to feel Viv is getting unfairly criticized)

she has said she's making a follow up that's more about the voodou issue, which she does agree is a problem, but idk. I just find it odd to watch a video where someone is willing to be critical of how voodou is represented, but the additional problem of real harm being done to up and coming animators is treated as not worthy of discussion. I think representation should be critiqued as much as the next person, but aren't the actual materia conditions faced by people working on the show as important, if not more important, than that?

Lily talks a big game for someone who molested her sister.

Civil War Brooklyn

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes

Word Count: 2570

Summary: Brock’s mansion is finally raided by Steve & Bucky. The reader, not waiting to be saved, takes matters into her own hands. No more being a victim is her mentality as she makes her way through the mansion. When she is finally reunited with her men she wants nothing but revenge. Don’t cross a woman with anything left to lose.

Warnings: Violence, Minor Death, Mention of Torture

A/N: Finally after this being on hiatus since 2021 I bring you a new chapter. Thank you to those who understood why it took so long to write. It’s been a tough road health wise but I’m hoping now things will be updated more often.

A/N 2: Thank you to my beta readers @pigwidgeonxo​ & @lfnr-blog-blog-blog​ & @music-culture-mythology​. Without you this would never have gotten out. (All grammar and spelling mistakes are my own.)

Reblogs & Comments on Tumblr are welcomed and encouraged. Even if you leave an emoji you will make my day. 😊💜

I do NOT give my consent to have my work translated or reposted on any social media platform, apps, or third-party sites. If you see my work anywhere else besides my personal Tumblr & AO3 accounts then it has been stolen. I will NEVER give written or verbal permission to repost or translate any of my fanfics as they’re MY intellectual property. 🚫🚫

Steve, Bucky, and Tony parked their SUVs just down the street from the mansion you were being held at. Their crew consisted of Rhodey, Nat, Clint, Thor, Loki, and fifty other men that worked for them collectively. This was going to be an ambush and Hydra agents were going to be slaughtered. Fury had given Steve and Bucky the green light to do whatever was necessary to get you to safety. They had a small window of time to get in and get out before Fury showed up with the remainder of Shield and the FBI. 

One of their men was set to have the power shut down to the mansion. This would give them the coverage of darkness that they needed to go in guns blazing. Steve’s phone finally dinged with the order to move in from Fury. Quickly the lights went out in the mansion and the ambush descended onto the Hydra home. Hopefully, you weren’t in bad shape when they found you or hell would freeze over.

You stood there, knife in your right hand as the lights went out inside the room you were in. The sounds of footsteps running around and shouting could be heard clearly. This is what would make your fight for your life easier. Remembering all the skills you learned over your life you gripped the knife tighter. The sound of a key unlocking the door to your room seemed louder in your mind. You crouched behind the door waiting for whoever decided to come into the lion's den.

The door was pushed open by a tall, burly man who scanned the room for you. Keeping his back to you, you decided to strike fast like a viper. Quickly you stabbed the man in the neck, blood squirted everywhere as his finger squeezed the trigger causing the gun to go off twice. Your hand let go of the knife and you grabbed the Glock before it could hit you. The man fell dead at your feet and you had his Glock in hand. 

Outside the room, you heard yells from men and gunshots. Whatever was happening you needed to leave now before things got worse for you. Quickly you checked the gun for ammo and had thirteen bullets left. Looking down at the dead body you knelt next to him, pulling the knife out of his neck, and wiped the blood on him. If all else fails, this was your backup. 

Standing up you stalked slowly to the bedroom door, gun raised in defense. The echoes of gunfire continued outside the front door. You poked your head out quickly to see if there was anyone on your floor. Thankfully there was no one to be seen as you made your way to the stairs, back against the wall, you descended one step at a time. 

Halfway down the stairs, you saw a Hydra agent run through the front corridor. Your finger was quick, you shot him twice and he dropped dead. Your feet descended the rest of the stairs just as you saw another agent. You both saw each other simultaneously, guns raised as you hollered at him, “drop your gun now!”

“Not a chance in hell you bitch!” He shouted back with a sneer on his face.

Wrong thing to say to a woman unhinged. You lightly squeezed the trigger and shot him but not before he grazed your shoulder. You yelped in pain from where the bullet grazed you. More yelling and the commotion was growing louder outside as you took a right, heading into the kitchen. Gun still raised, you cleared the kitchen and could see through the window that the fighting in the backyard was slowing down. 

Who in the hell would attack Hydra? 

Behind you there was the sound of a boot on the floor that made you spin around, throwing the knife you had on you at the sound and training the gun on the person sneaking in. Your breath hitched as you came face to face with your blue-eyed and blonde-haired man Steve. The knife was embedded into the wall near his head.

“That was a great throw sweetheart.” He proudly said.

You ran and threw yourself into his arms, he quickly caught you. His familiar scent filled your senses as you nuzzled his neck. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Steve smiled into your hair. “I would burn the whole world down just to find you.” You looked up at him and kissed him passionately. In your heart, you knew both men would rain hell on the world to get you back. You pulled away just in time to see Bucky shoot a Hydra agent that was approaching you both.

“Hate to break it up but we have a clearing in the front to leave,” Bucky said, as soft eyes landed on you. “Fury showed up with some of his men and they plan to secure the mansion until the FBI gets here and he wants us gone.”

Steve nodded in agreement, “Let’s get you out of here and get you home.”

Bucky left first while you followed him and Steve followed behind. Gunshots had now ceased and Hydra agent bodies littered the front yard. It was a massacre. As you got closer to the SUVs you spotted Tony standing with Rhodey as they chatted. Tony caught sight of you with Steve and Bucky, and ran towards you, calling your name. You sprinted towards him and you both embraced. 

“Thank God you’re okay kiddo. I was so worried.” Tony spoke softly to you as he hugged you tighter. You squeaked out in pain from where you were injured. Tony pulled away to look you over and saw your arm lightly bleeding. 

“I will be okay.” You looked between Tony, Rhodey, Steve, and Bucky trying to brush off your injury. “Where is Brock? Is he dead?”

“He’s gonna wish he was once we find him.” Bucky blurted out. 

“Brock must have hopped on his boat down by the dock and taken off into the bay. Though our guys grabbed Zemo instead and took him to the barn.” Tony answered, trying to hold back his anger. Your stomach sank at hearing Brock got away but knowing Zemo was captured both scared and made you happy to seek out revenge against him for what he did to you. You knew what the barn was and that no one left alive. 

Steve and Bucky walked you to an SUV where you all made your way back to Tony’s place.

You sat at the kitchen table sipping whiskey from a glass as Dr. Cho patched up your left arm. The bullet as you thought grazed the skin. Once you were patched up you walked into the living room and to a large window that oversaw the barn. They had told you about Rollins going in there and you breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the bastard wasn’t coming back. 

You lost count of how many men went into the barn and the dark part of you didn’t care. Only the wicked go in and that’s where Zemo is now. Tony, Steve, and Bucky went in thirty minutes ago and hadn’t appeared yet. Tony told you to tell them everything Zemo did to you and reluctantly you did. Now you’re nursing a drink because this was going to be a long night. Revenge on Zemo goes beyond you, it also goes to Steve and Bucky. Zemo had tortured them a decade ago and you knew the boys wanted blood. For them and for what he did to you, they would have blood.

Finishing off your whiskey you decided to go to the barn to see your tormentor. Heading out the French doors you were met by one of Tony’s men who was standing guard. 

You nodded at him as you passed by and headed out to the barn. The sound of crickets filled the air on your short walk but that would change as you opened the door. 

Zemo was hanging by metal shackles from the ceiling and was shirtless. His body was littered with fresh cuts from one of the knives Bucky was holding. Tony sat in a chair watching as Steve and Bucky let loose on him. When they heard the door and saw you they stopped.

You looked at the pained face of Zemo and felt pity for the torture these men were causing. That was until Zemo spoke.

“Hello, my kotyonok. I’m so happy to see you again.”

Bile rose from your stomach at hearing the pet name he gave you. But you swore to yourself you wouldn’t let this man get to you. Not now or ever again. You grabbed a knife off the table, approaching Zemo menacingly. Both Bucky and Steve stood back as they watched you spin the knife in your hand.

“You won’t be happy to see me once I cut your balls off and shove them down your throat.” Your hand twirled the knife and you slashed him from neck to belly button. Zemo hissed out in pain but never broke his stare at you. “If I did that to you it would be a quick death and I would rather know you were going to suffer. When you’re being tortured I want you to think of me and the hell you put me through. Think of every time I begged you to stop and you didn’t. Not only will these three men in here torture you but I was told a certain man with the same tastes as you, torture, will be here any minute. You should know him, Lloyd Hansen.”

Zemo paled at the name but refused to beg for mercy. “When you go to sleep tonight little lamb will you dream of me or Brock? I’m so curious to know if I left a lasting impression…”

Your hand moved quickly as you stabbed him in the right shoulder causing him to holler out in pain. “I will never think about you again once I walk out of here. As for Brock, once he is in jail or dead he will never cross my mind again.” Turning on your heel you started to walk out but stopped at the door. “Make him pay, guys. Let him know he fucked with the wrong family.” On that note, you walked out of the barn, and before the doors closed you heard the sound of an electric screwdriver.

The next morning you woke up in bed between Steve and Bucky. There was no telling what time they joined you. You didn’t dare move as you watched both men sleep peacefully, each on their side facing you while you lay on your back. It was nice to finally feel safe again with them. With everything you have been through it was going to take time to heal your mind and body. Something you knew they could help you with over time. 

Bucky’s eyes fluttered open, his soft blue eyes looking into yours as he smiled. “Good morning, doll.”

You smirked at the pet name and rolled onto your side to face him. “Morning Buck.”

“How did you sleep last night?” He inquired, watching you closely as you let out a sigh.

“I slept the best in ages honestly.” You spoke the truth. It had been over a month since you were with them last and that’s when you slept normally. With the trauma you went through with Zemo and Brock, sleep was not something that came easy. 

Bucky ran his hand up and down your arm. “I’m happy you slept. You need all the rest you can get.”

“Speaking of rest, when did you both crawl into bed?” 

“A couple of hours after you. Don’t worry, everything is taken care of and we have things under control.” Bucky reassured you, his hand moved from your arm and caressed your cheek. You couldn’t help but nuzzle into his hand as you placed your hand on his. 

Behind you, you felt warm lips kiss your shoulder. Steve stirred behind you and wrapped an arm around your waist. “Less talking and more sleeping.” You couldn’t help but chuckle as these men did not like early mornings. Your eyes softly closed as you took in the feeling of them. Steve pressed against your back, his arm still holding tight. Your face was inches away from Bucky as he held your hand. This is where you belonged. This was your safe space. The three of you could do anything in this world as long as you were together. The last thought you had before you drifted off to sleep was that hell was going to rain down on Brock.

With Zemo off in an undisclosed location with Lloyd Hansen being tortured to death the only thing left was to locate Brock. This gave you a spring in your step as you dressed and made your way to Tony’s living room. There you found Tony, Rhodey, Thor, Loki, Clint, Nat, Steve, and Bucky all talking business. Tony got up to hug you while the other associates nodded at you as you walked over to sit in between Bucky and Steve.

“Sorry, I’m late. Continue with what you were discussing before I walked in.” You crossed your legs while Thor spoke.

“Our intel has Brock staying in Brooklyn but we don’t have a location. The word in Hydra is that he plans to fly out of New York tonight on a private jet from JFK airport. Rumor is that’s where he flies out of normally.” 

You slightly leaned forward and nodded your head. “You’re correct. His plane will be there. He talked about taking me to the Caribbean where his money is in a bank. When I was taking photos and sending them to you Tony there were accounts listed. I’m sure if you look through them we can find his offshore account and drain it of all the funds. That will get him out of hiding. Hit him where it hurts since the FBI has arrested all of his associates and taken the weapons he was trying to sell.”

Steve smiled proudly at you as he spoke. “I have to say, she is right. Hit him hard in the wallet and he’ll come crawling out of his hiding place.” 

Tony grinned at you and stood up. “Well let me see what I can dig up on my computers.” He excused himself and headed to his office, followed by Rhodey. 

“While Tony is doing that we need to strategize, bring Fury and the FBI into this. I want to see that man rot in prison for the rest of his pathetic life.” You angrily said to everyone in the room. 

“We will make sure that happens, doll.” Bucky put a hand on your knee. 

“We’re with you till the end of the line,” Steve reassured you, his hand grabbing yours. 

You shook your head, your lips curling into a sinister grin. “Well let’s get started.”

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Pokemon Team Characterization - Steven Stone

When I first decided to start doing these, I was initially going to go forward in time, starting with Lance’s team, and just do Champions.  And then I realized, I remember Lance’s team, but not much about their moves or what they do.  But I know Steven’s.  I am now intimately familiar with Steven’s team, because his Emerald fight is my current pick for “Best Fight in the Series.”  I feel like it’s one of the best crafted fights they’ve ever designed.  But does it tell us anything about his personality?

I’ll be operating strictly from his superior Emerald team today.  I’m saying that like the others aren’t worth talking about but that’s not really true.  His other iterations are all largely this exact same team with the exact same strategies so nothing new can be extracted.  Emerald is just the best picture of what he does and why due to a few superior choices in moveset in my opinion (Ingrain over Sludge Bomb on Cradily, Shadow Ball over Hyper Beam on Metagross).  But it’s entirely the same across games and generations.

Well except the ORAS rematch.  He trades out the fossil Pokemon for Carbink and Aerodactyl, both of which just know four offensive moves with...varying degrees of useful coverage.  Aero just knows the elemental bite moves, which aren’t especially strong, so like...look, the team is worse, okay?  It’s just worse.  It’s a worse strategy with less personality, I’m sorry I said I wouldn’t do this

The Lead (Skarmory) Skarmory is a glorious lead.  Toxic and Spikes!  That’s such a smart opener!  Like a lot of teams in Emerald, Skarmory beautifully punishes setup sweepers through the use of Toxic, while Spikes is consistent damage throughout the match on anything that doesn’t float.  Its offensive moves are just STABs, but Skarmory’s role is to be a wall that endures, and provides strong and consistent moves that set the battle’s pace.  Its typing is also well adapted to his team.  As a Steel-type master with Rock on the side, Fighting and Ground types are exceptionally dangerous options to come up against.  Skarmory immediately denies them the sweep, countering both spectacularly.

This kind of lead establishes three things about Steven.  First is structure.  Steven Stone is a man of structure and routine.  There is a set gameplay, and by god it will be followed.  This isn’t inflexibility though; the decision between Toxic or Spikes can be adapted on the fly, and he can even throw out offensive moves if he has the right matchup.  The second is as someone who takes control.  Steven immediately sets out to stop any attempts to counterpick his team, and sets tempo for what’s to come.  The last is that Steven is a man who needs consistency.  Right from the beginning, it’s about setting conditions up.  Toxic and Spikes are guarantees.  If one isn’t ideal, the other probably is.  The ability to produce a consistent outcome is something he strives for.

The Ace, and its Guardian (Metagross and Claydol) I want to talk Metagross before the rest of the team, because it meshes with one of his others in a wonderful way.  In the fight, every time Claydol came out, its focus would be on setting Dual Screens.  This, inevitably, led to Metagross when Claydol went down.  Metagross is nothing but huge damage across all offensive spectrums.  It is exceptionally difficult to wall, and the AI seems primed to set up the defenses so it can’t be broken past easily, then threatening with overwhelming firepower.

This, again, speaks to consistency.  Steven aims to set conditions in his favor before aiming for a sweep, using the same general approach.  He’s someone who appreciates safety in that consistency.  It’s a viable approach, and if it’s not broke, why fix it?  When things are properly set up, and he’s ensured that structure for himself, he’s able to shine better than most, producing incredible levels of potential.  Metagross being his ace implies that there’s a strong preference for the direct approach, but the need for setup implies that he’s at least aware that direct doesn’t always get you what you want, and may be the kind to preface blunt statements with caveats about what he’s trying to say.

The Godwall (Cradily) Cradily is supremely tanky, and has two interesting things going for it.  One is its sustain.  Ingrain and Giga Drain are good sustain tools, and Confuse Ray is a means of denying damage outright.  The other is that, offensively, Cradily has 5PP moves.  They can’t be used often.  But, Ancientpower being one of them, it has an exceptional effect in the +1 to all stats that, when hit, turns Cradily into a massive threat.  It’s also worth noting, Cradily was almost always the second Pokemon on the field when I played.  He uses this as a response to just about everything.

Conceptually, this paints Steven as someone who is somewhat willing to take risks, but only calculated risks with plenty of cushion.  So long as there’s something to fall back on, he’ll take a bit of a gamble.  If he’s going to play a bit risky, he wants to do it early on when there’s less to lose, and plenty of opportunity to correct.  He won’t go too far off the beaten path.

The Unexpected (Aggron) Armaldo is a fairly straight-forward damage dealer that still uses the Ancientpower luck rolls.  There’s not much to say about it.  Aggron, however, has a ton to say.  Look at that nonsense moveset.  For Gen 3, Earthquake is literally the only physical move.  Special offense does not make any sense for an Aggron, yet here it is.  With Thunder, Solarbeam, and Dragon Claw.  Moves that, coincidentally, happen to respond really well to the box legends.  Thunder hits Kyogre really hard and never misses in Rain.  Solarbeam is an auto-fire in Sun, and trucks Groudon.  Its typing is a solid wall to Rayquaza, and Dragon Claw is supereffective.  It’s also worth noting that Electric and Grass are solid answers to Water and Ground, which are the biggest threats as a type.  Even beyond that, it’s an unexpected gambit to throw out special offense on something so known for being physical.

Steven is someone willing to get creative.  While he values structure and consistency, that, again, doesn’t translate to rigidity.  He’s more than willing to do something that’s wildly unexpected to gain an upper hand, or cover a missing gap as needed, even if it’s largely considered a poor idea.  His eccentricities are calculated, there’s a method to the madness, even if it looks like nonsense at first glance he’s doing a thing.

General Team Notes His team is interesting, because the majority of it comes from the desert.  Not the caves you often see him rock hunting in.  The desert.  Which is really interesting.  There are, however, cave systems underneath the desert.  That’s how you find the other fossil in Emerald, after all (maybe the others, it’s been a while).  So it’s possible they just came from there.  It’s where he’d have to get his Aron from.  Though interestingly, Skarmory also is strictly outdoors, near the volcano.  Metagross comes from the void.  I could see this referencing the fact that Steven is a bit more of an explorer than he seems, and more of an outdoorsy boy than he lets on.  But also he only goes outside where the sun is blocked out by sandstorms or soot, so he is a pasty boy who burns in the sun.

There’s the obvious connection to the fossils as a rare thing, and to Metagross as something so rare it can’t natively be found.  Skarmory’s also fairly rare in its location too.  But Aron and Baltoy aren’t.  So there’s a preference for the rare, while still finding value in things that are common, if they’re too his liking.  Basically, he likes what he likes, and what he likes is rocks and steel.  Whether it’s common or rare, anything within his area of interest is good.

Summation Steven is someone who thrives off of structure and consistency.  He operates on a strict game-plan with clear setup and a clear win condition, and makes few deviations from it.  Where he opts to take risks, they are either cushioned by safety measures, or taken with precise calculation as a creative measure to difficult problems.  He prefers the direct approach, but knows to set the stage so it comes across with the right intent.  He takes a liking to specific things, and whether rare or common, finds significant value in it so long as it aligns to his interests.

If anyone has an alternate read on the team, I’d love to hear it.  Steven’s a stupid popular character, so I’m sure plenty of people have opinions about his team.  Like how the ORAS rematch is worse than the first fight.  We’re all in agreement about that?  It can’t just be me.

Dumbest Thing I've Ever Heard: 8/3/2023

Fifth place: Twitter user @eyeskewer

This is a little older than the stuff I normally cover on this blog, but I feel like this is worth highlighting as it perfectly shows my issue when many who make conspiratorial claims about transgender medical care:

my "informed consent" was my doctor I had just met handing me papers telling me my voice would drop soon, I could freeze my eggs, I might get acne, and whatever else. I probably didn't even hear everything she said, I just told her I wanted the shot. so I got it. I just turned 18

So you were told you wanted something medical done to you, were told about the risks and consequences, and then got it. I really don't see what the big deal is here.

Fourth Place: Marco Rubio

Elon Musk's time as CEO of Twitter has been far from perfect, but easily the best addition he has made is the community notes feature. For just one example, here is a Tweet from Marco Rubio:

Also, those claims about the 2016 Presidential Election were never proven to be fake--just wanted to add that real quick.

Third Place: Scott Lively

The deranged homophobe who wrote an entire book blaming the Nazis on homosexuality wrote a column a couple of days back with the headline "Leftist lawfare and the abuse of power." A decent chunk of it is spent defending Russian President Vladimir Putin, but here are some highlights:

In all my years of watching corporate U.S. news about Russia and Putin, I have never seen a single counter-argument ever being offered in defense of President Putin (coverage of him is even worse than that of Trump). It's been more than a decade since Obama restarted the Cold War to punish the Russians for banning "gay" propaganda to children, when every story began to paint him as a "brutal monster" – to the point that even many conservatives (who have zero reason to trust that same media on anything) seem to agree.

The hatred of Putin on an international scale has nothing to do with the anti-homosexuality laws he has put in place while President of Russia--although, don't get me wrong, that didn't help matters, but several countries with anti-homosexuality laws are still seen in a positive light by the international community (wrongfully so, in my opinion). It was more his imperial ambitions--starting with his invasion of Georgia in 2008--that caused the international community to move away from him.

Second Place: Abby Johnson

I've mostly been ignoring the story about a handful of far-right Christians refusing to support the fringe Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy because of his Hinduism, however given Abby Johnson was sold to us a few years back as a a reasonable anti-abortion activist--an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. And she has decided to take a stance against a Hindu President, saying:

Do not be a victim of Satan’s confusion right now. This is an important time for us to have clarity of mind as we are going into an election cycle. So please discern. Please use discernment right now because God hates those who are willing to put up idols over him, and he will not be mocked.

All I wish to say is that if you really want a President that's a dedicated Christian--can I recommend you a guy named Joe Biden? Oh who am I kidding, if Ramaswamy does get the nomination it's going to be just like when Billy Graham took Mormonism off his list of cults so he and his followers could vote for Mitt Romney in 2012.

Winner: Ben Shapiro

This man, considered by many to be serious political commentator, does not know the difference between eating and drinking:

[Trump] would face a whopping 641 years in prison. Which I assume means he would not survive prison. Although he is 70% preservatives at this point because he eats so much McDonalds and Diet Coke.

He eats Diet Coke? Ben, do you know how Diet Coke works?

Ben Shapiro you've said the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 7, 2023

Heather Cox Richardson

In a New York Times op-ed today, President Joe Biden offered the opening salvo in his battle with the Republicans over budget measures. He outlined his promise to make the Medicare trust solvent beyond 2050 without cutting benefits. Indeed, he says, his plan will make the program deliver better value on the money Americans invest in it.

Biden noted that both he and former president Barack Obama signed into law the biggest health reforms since the creation of Medicare in 1965. In 2010, Obama established the Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as Obamacare, extending medical coverage to many for whom it was out of reach. That law significantly slowed the growth of healthcare spending. In 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, permitting Medicare officials to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices and capping the costs of drugs for seniors. This measure is projected to reduce the deficit by $159 billion. Biden proposes to build on those two measures, increasing the scope of Medicare’s negotiations over drug prices, a process he claims would yield $200 billion in savings that he would put directly into Medicare’s trust fund. He also proposes to raise the Medicare tax rate on earned and unearned income above $400,000 from its current rate of 3.8% to 5%. That money, too, would go into Medicare’s trust fund. “When Medicare was passed, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans didn’t have more than five times the wealth of the bottom 50 percent combined,” Biden commented, “and it only makes sense that some adjustments be made to reflect that reality today. Let’s ask them to pay their fair share so that the millions of workers who helped them build that wealth can retire with dignity and the Medicare they paid into.” Biden wrote that his budget would protect Medicare for more than another generation, beyond 2050. In contrast, he pointed out, MAGA Republicans want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, getting rid of drug negotiations and price caps. Biden promised that this week he will release his “full budget vision to invest in America, lower costs, grow the economy and not raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000. I urge my Republican friends in Congress to do the same—and show the American people what they value.” The circus at the Conservative Political Action Conference and the outrage when House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave exclusive access to 44,000 hours of videos from the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, have taken oxygen away from what amounts to a crisis in the Republican Party. Republican leadership has vowed to cut the U.S. budget significantly but has also said publicly that it would not touch Social Security or Medicare. (However, former vice president Mike Pence promptly negated that promise when he said, "While I respect the speaker's commitment to take Social Security and Medicare off the table for the debt ceiling negotiations, we've got to put them on the table in the long term.”) Few Republicans will agree to cuts in the defense budget, either. So McCarthy is in the impossible position of delivering the budget cuts his conference demands without actually having the room to cut in most of the budget. It’s a circle he is unlikely to be able to square. Biden seems to be pushing the Republicans to release a budget plan not only to illustrate to the American people that for all their grandstanding they don’t have one, but also because he would like to return to a political norm in which parties actually explain how they would address issues, and then let voters choose which approach they prefer. It’s an old model and one the Republicans, who since 1980 have for the most part simply complained about the government rather than offering positive solutions, have no interest in adopting. Worse for them, polls show that the solutions Democrats want are popular, while their own insistence on privatizing everything is not. Going forward, I suspect we’ll see a lot of distractions rather than an actual budget plan from the Republicans. While they try to fudge the budget issue, the Republicans are still vowing to refuse to lift the debt ceiling, which is separate from the budget. The debt ceiling is a holdover from the World War I era, when Congress stopped debating which financial instruments the Treasury should use and instead just set an upper limit on borrowing. Raising the debt ceiling does not create new spending; it simply enables the government to pay for expenses already incurred. If it is not lifted, the U.S. Treasury will default. The U.S. has hit the current limit of $31.4 trillion, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is using extraordinary measures to pay bills. Republicans are eager to pin the growing debt on Biden and the Democrats, but as Jim Tankersley noted in the New York Times yesterday, “Republicans bear at least equal blame as Democrats for the biggest drivers of federal debt growth that passed Congress over the last two presidential administrations.” Since early 2017—the start of Trump’s administration—three fifths of the ballooning new debt was signed into law by Trump, and nearly 75% of it came from bills approved by a majority of Republicans in at least one chamber of Congress. In laws passed on strict party-line votes, Republicans added slightly more debt than Democrats did. Notably, the Republicans’ tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations under Trump cost at least $2 trillion over time. Today the Senate Subcommittee on Economic Policy, which sits under the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and is chaired by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), heard from economist Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics. Zandi warned that a U.S. default would “be a catastrophic blow to the already fragile economy.” As Chelsey Cox of CNBC reported, Zandi explained that “[g]lobal financial markets and the economy would be upended, and even if resolved quickly, Americans would likely pay for this default for generations, as global investors would rightly believe that the federal government’s finances have been politicized and that a time may come when they would not be paid what they are owed when owed it.” Zaidi also warned that, considering how much of the budget is now off-limits, the cuts Republicans promise will be so extreme they will prompt a recession that will cost as many as 2.6 million jobs. The Republican Party is in its current chaos in part because it has been boxed in by the former president. Trump’s base has forced party leaders to take impossible extremists stands like, for example, a showdown over the debt ceiling. New materials released tonight in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against the Fox News Network confirm that Fox News Channel executives and hosts did not believe that Trump won the election in 2020, although they continued to push that lie on their channel to hold Trump viewers. But tonight’s material went further, suggesting that some of the hosts who were most vocal in promoting Trump were less fond of him in private. On January 4, 2021, host Tucker Carlson tweeted to someone: We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait…. I hate him passionately.” Speaking of Trump’s presidency, Tucker wrote: “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Media reports about Dana white slapping his wife: I’m silent

media after slapgate and will smith:

I’m traumatized this is traumatic pornography

Shame on the media for not covering this disturbing incident and being so loud on their silence that we have to post it multiple times to demand more coverage about it as much as they were loud about the Oscars slap which by now we are overtired of hearing about rn! 😡

fquck the media! Racist biiiches fquck them and Dana white privilege

I’ll take a man slapping the crap out of someone who was talking reckless about his wife (though I think he could have handled it differently but then again Chris shouldn’t be talking reckless about jada either so make of that if you will) over someone being an abuser especially a woman beater any day and twice on Sunday . The media finna burn

Hey every celebrity who was so “traumatized” by slapgate: if slapgate was traumatic to you is this incident the definition of “traumatic pornography” to you ? Y’all “traumatized” people need to get over slapgate because there’s people who been through worse traumatic events than your “trauma” over a literal slap in the face . I sure enough hate to see the reaction if someone slaps you in the face. But then again I couldn’t care less .

Black Twitter Calls Out Scarce Media Coverage Of Dana White Slapping His Wife Compared To Will Smith

Coincidence?

Dana White speaks to the media on Jan. 11, 2023, for the first time since he was caught slapping his wife on New Year’s Eve. | Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty

Perhaps, by now, you’ve seen the video circulating on social media that shows UFC president Dana White slapping his wife on New Year’s Eve at a nightclub in Mexico. Or perhaps you haven’t. Or maybe you had to Google it because it hasn’t exactly been the subject of a weeks-long media frenzy the way similar events have been for celebrities that don’t possess the complexation for protection.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen the video yet, here it is:

Now, some people will note that White’s wife slapped him first. Those people will probably also ignore the fact that White, who is at least twice her size, was excessive in his response to what was a relatively a light tap on the cheek.

The funny thing is even White doesn’t appear to think his actions are defendable.

“One thing I do want to clarify in this thing that I didn’t talk about on TMZ, because I didn’t expect it or I didn’t see it coming, is the people that are defending me,” White said, ESPN reported. “There’s never an excuse. There’s no defense for this, and people should not be defending me, no matter what. All the criticism I’ve received this week is 100% warranted.”

Of course, it probably doesn’t help that he practically boasted about the fact that he won’t be punished for any of it outside of the court of public opinion.

From ESPN:

White said that internal discussions regarding the incident have taken place, including with ESPN, and that he has already been dealing — and will continue to deal with — his “punishment” from the incident.

“What should the repercussions be?” White said. “I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me? I told you guys as we were going through [the COVID-19 pandemic], COVID could last 10 years, and I could sit it out. It’s much like COVID, actually. Me leaving hurts the company. Hurts my employees. Hurts the fighters. Doesn’t hurt me. I could’ve left in 2016 [when the company was acquired by Endeavor]. Do I need to reflect? I’ve been against this. I’ve owned this. I’m telling you that I’m wrong.

“Here’s my punishment: I have to walk around for however long I live — and this is how I’m labeled now. My other punishment is that I’m sure a lot of people — whether it be media, fighters, friends, acquaintances — who had respect for me might not have respect for me now. There’s a lot of things I have to deal with the rest of my life that’s way more of a punishment than, what, I take a 30-day or 60-day absence?”

White did not outline any changes to UFC policy regarding its athletes and domestic violence, which has varied on a case-by-case basis. White has stated in the past, “You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman,” and he said Wednesday that that is still the case.

“You don’t bounce back from this,” White said. “For the rest of my life, people will label me that. I did it.”

Yeeeeah, I’m pretty sure White is ignoring how short public attention spans are, especially for a story that hasn’t even gotten a fraction of the constant coverage Will Smith got for slapping Chris Rock—a thing Black Twitter had no issue pointing out.

Now, granted, Smith is much more of a household name than White will ever be, and the Oscars stage is certainly much more noteworthy than some random club in Mexico. Still, the coverage of Will’s slap seemed like it would never end, and it appears people are still waiting for wide coverage on White to begin.

Also, where are all the “traumatized” celebrities that immediately hopped on their soapboxes to condemn Smith? Why isn’t Rosie O’Donnell erroneously comparing Dana White to Donald Trump right now?

Hell, the media, as well as all these outspoken celebs, could at least have the same smoke for White as they did for Kyrie Irving.

As far as many of us are concerned, “White” is Dana’s middle name and his last name is “Privilege.”

That’s about all I have to say about that.

SEE ALSO:

The Academy Moves Faster To Punish Will Smith Than It Did For Cosby And Polanski Sex Assaults

Rep. Ayanna Pressley Addresses Deleted Tweet Saluting Will Smith Slap

12 photos

Sent from my iPhone

Charles Payne Renders Jessica Tarlov Speechless About Biden's Hatred of MAGA Voters and It Is Glorious

Charles Payne

Coverage of the New Hampshire Primary on the Fox News Channel became "must-see TV" for a time on Tuesday night as a panel consisting of Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, Charles Payne, Kellyanne Conway, Kayleigh McEnany, and token liberal Jessica Tarlov discussed the night's events. Discussion turned to President Joe Biden's frequent use of the term MAGA as a pejorative to encompass all Republicans. As Tarlov prepared to defend Biden, Payne would have none of it and called it exactly what it is: the fact that Joe Biden and his media cheerleaders despise half of the population of the United States because they have different political views.

Payne began with Trump's no-nonsense approach that if someone hits him, he hits back twice as hard, citing the fact that Trump won the presidency in 2016 with that bold aspect of his personality. But then proceeded to point out Joe Biden's clear disdain for Trump supporters, and the epic rant was on,

"I think it's worse with Biden's calling MAGA, listen I think Biden's anger and vitriol and hatred for MAGA is far more worse than President Trump's individual battles with someone who crosses him. That is something that is really detrimental to this country. That the President of the United States despises half of the United States...he has expressed hatred for half of the country."  

When Payne mentioned doing research for a segment, he said he googled "Biden hates MAGA," and was greeted with numerous articles on that topic. Tarlov's assumed tactic at that point was to blame the authors of the articles and she was summarily slapped down again, with Payne noting: 

"It doesn't matter. The bottom line is he says it. He has vitriol for them. And so does MSNBC and so does CNN and so does the New York Times. They have vitriol for half of the nation. They don't look at them like fellow Americans, and it's unfortunate. They try to paint them as racists..." 

Thank you @cvpayne (Charles Payne). https://t.co/sCArrsPDuH— USAF Veteran ✈️ (@bluensx) January 24, 2024

Payne then went on to talk about Trump supporters wanting the same things as other Americans and mentioned the fact that Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who is also running in the Democrat primary against Biden, went to a Trump rally to find out exactly who Trump supporters are, something other Democrats and the media haven't ever bothered to do. He said he talked to roughly 50 people standing in line and said that they could not have been nicer. He also mentioned how diverse the crowd was and concluded by saying, "My party is completely delusional right now." 

READ MORE: WATCH: Dem. Dean Phillips Reveals What He Found When He Visited Trump Rally - 'My Party Is Delusional'

Tarlov then takes issue with Payne's math and points out that, "it's only the 74 million that voted for Trump, and he (Biden) is explicit that every time he talks about the MAGA movement, to say that this is a subsection of the Republican Party..." Oh, well in that case... Bret Baier then attempts to explain that Biden "gives teleprompter speeches. I mean, you have to understand..." But as a faithful foot soldier, Tarlov digs her hole deeper and says, "Yes but he is talking about insurrectionists." 

It was here that the rest of the panel was done with Tarlov's defense of a sitting president showing outward hatred and contempt for half, yes half, of the country's citizens. Charles Payne needed no help in saying out loud what that half of the citizenry no doubt thinks, but Martha MacCallum, through a lot of cross-talk, summed up, not just Biden's contempt for Trump supporters, but also described the dark debasing way Biden uses the term MAGA saying, "He (Biden) says MAGA like it's a swear word instead of a slogan." Tarlov then brought out her victim card, saying that Democrats are called "thugs and pedophiles, socialists..." Here's a bit of advice, Jessica, you Democrats love people who announce what they "identify" as. Go ask Bernie Sanders and AOC how they identify, I believe the the correct term is, Democratic Socialist. Kellyanne Conway also had a good wrap-up to Charles Payne's spot-on rant, saying that it is "Joe Biden's version of Hillary's deplorable and irredeemable."

This is going to happen many more times to Jessica Tarlov. I have another bit of advice for her: Brace yourself, it's a long way 'til November.

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

정오의데이트 어플 후기 채팅 만남 사이트 앱 리

Originally, he is not a very good defensive player by objective standards, but in the national team, where the 2nd line is overflowing but the 3rd line is poor, there is no midfielder other than Hwang In-beom who can play a box-to-box role that can show vigorous activity and participation in defense. He is emerging as a box-to-box central midfielder in the third line. However, in this position, the weakness of the game due to physical and physical problems, especially the pass miss, is being criticized more and more.

This is a matter of his own ability, but it is somewhat unfair, and if he is left out, the problem of the national team's participation in defense becomes very serious. Lee Jae-seong has good activity and defensive ability, but his main job is a side attack and second-line offensive midfielder, and Lee Kang-in is a fairly classic attack type, so his defense is even worse. At least, Ju Se-jong is better at distributing the ball, but his defense power is also followed by a question mark, and Baek Seung-ho is on the third line in his team, but he is still immature in terms of positioning and experience when defending, so it is uneasy to trust and entrust him to the national team. . After Ki Sung-yong's retirement and Jang Hyeon-soo's exit in 2019, the national team's third-line professional midfielder is Jung Woo-young. Jung Woo-young has excellent defense and plays well when the opponent's pressure is weak or almost absent, but his feet are slow, so the coverage is narrow and the opponent's pressure is low. When this gets stronger, the build-up becomes unstable, making it too vulnerable to the opponent's pressure. Because of this, Hwang In-beom, who is actively participating in the defense, has no choice but to relieve the pressure by taking on the box-to-box role.[19]

Wearing clothes that don't fit you can cause a drop in form, and due to the nature of domestic soccer fans, the box-to-box type tends to be undervalued compared to players who are good at passing and kicking, and get criticized for their size. The older midfielder is essential for a stable midfield.[20][21] It is because it can energize the team with the cover of empty space and the amount of activity. This is the reason why Bento cannot easily serve Hwang In-beom, but nevertheless, his skills in this role are not too good, so the player himself is in a very dangerous situation at the moment.

In the East Asian Cup, I played in the second line Mezzala instead of the third line box-to-buck, and my performance has definitely improved. There were still some pass misses, but other indicators such as pass success rate and shooting improved significantly. It was a tournament that showed that the role Hwang In-beom is playing in the current national team is not the best for him, and it was a tournament that showed that no matter how active he is and how good he is in defense, he has to use it aggressively to show his true worth. In fact, the problem of using Hwang In-beom is the problem of the national team squad itself, as mentioned above. The second-line resources and aggressive midfielders are overflowing, but the defensive midfielder who protects the four-back in the third line, shows vigorous activity, or takes care of the build-up is currently [22]

If you look at the play in the Russian league, it also shows that the offensive role is more suitable. Even though the level of the Russian league is not low, after joining the ball game, he quickly became the main player and accumulated attack points and is active. In any case, the sluggishness at Bentu seems to be the result of wearing clothes that do not fit well due to various circumstances.[23]

Ula'ula Island

This was where the Trials started becoming more of a challenge if you're unprepared. Sometimes even if you ARE prepared, they can take you by surprise. The Totem Battles in this game were definitely a bit harder over the base game. Nothing insurmountable but with a higher level and better coverage and allies, they do require some strategy if you want to take them on at level parity or below. Also by this point in the game, I was rotating through enough Pokemon that even with Exp. Share on, nothing is over-leveled. In fact, save for when I trained the team to match Totem Mimikyu's level, I was 1 to 3 levels behind every other major fight. That said, I don't think the game itself is much more difficult than the average Pokemon game, especially if one were to stick with mostly the same team. I just found that, by using a wide range of Pokemon, I got a bit of an unexpected though not unwelcome challenge.

Anyways, play by play on the Trials below the cut.

After a brief detour to the Aether Paradise, I disembark on Ula'ula and set to exploring Malie City and the surrounding routes. Once I escort Lillie to the library, I challenge all the trainers on Routes 11 and 10 then take the bus up to the Hokulani Observatory. There, I take the time to fight all the trainers on Mt. Hokulani for what I thought would be some extra experience. Having cleared out 3-and-a-half areas' (counting the Malie outskirts) worth of trainers, I figured it's high time to do the Trial. In my haste, I forgot to switch around my team and go into Sophocles's Trial with the following team: Vela the Noibat, Oort the Alolan Grimer, Bellatrix the Tsareena, Tucana the Toucannon, Makemake the Ribombee, and Berehynia the Araquanid. Sophocles's Trial is the electric-type Trial. You can start to see the problem at hand. Not only that, but because this was the catch-up team, they were all around level 30 save for Noibat and Grimer who were at 36. So not only is half the team sporting an electric weakness, we're about 3 levels under the Totem Togedemaru.

This was going to be a tough fight. Noibat got outsped and knocked out by the Totem immediately and couldn't even get off its U-Turn to switch into something else. I then sent in Grimer, thinking he would be okay to tank a hit or two with Eviolite and hit back with Fire Punch. He ran into Toge's Spiky Shield on his first attack but did manage to do a couple of (much weaker than I'd've thought) hits before falling to the combined attacks of the Totem and its ally Skarmory. At this point, I was not sure what to do. Toucannon and Araquanid are weak to the Totem's Zing Zap while Cutiefly, though fast enough to get off a hit, is weak to the Toge's Iron Head AND Skarm's Steel Wing. My best bet was then Tsareena since I hadn't seen a Flying move from the Skarmory. She came in and tries to Low Sweep Togedemaru since it should be Super Effective. It dodged the hit by using Bounce! At this point, I didn't think this battle could be salvaged, but I persisted and went into my bag and, for the first time ever in all of my Pokemon playing, used an X Defend. If this doesn't let Tsareena survive the hit, then we're wiping. Miraculously, at +2 Defense, she took the hit and a Steel Wing as well! I healed her up and we begun a battle of attrition. I tried to time my attacks to dodge Spiky Shield and Bounce and healed whenever Tsareena got under half. To make matters worse, the ally Skarmory had Torment and Tailwind, making us have to alternate between Trop Kick and Low Sweep all while keeping Totem-maru faster than us even with a couple of speed drops. I chose to focus on the Totem because the other possible ally was an unknown factor and I did not want it to throw a wrench into this already precarious but managed situation. It took awhile but after enough Attack and Speed drops, I got to a point where Tsareena was relatively safe (barring a Crit on Bounce) and it was just a matter of chipping down Togedemaru.

For the Ghost Trial, I went in much more cautiously since I knew Totem Mimikyu would start with an omni-boost. I don't remember exactly what I brought but i took in anything with a Dark or Ghost coverage move that wasn't itself weak to Ghost or Fairy. However, for all my caution, that was still not quite enough as, at +1, Totem Mimi's Play Roughs hit like a truck and also outspeeds my entire team. Not wanting to burn through another bunch of items, I wiped and got to planning while training everything up to level 35 to match the Totem. Luckily, in that first-go-round, I was able to Poison Mimikyu and learned that it carried a Lum Berry. With that knowledge, I was able to determine that Toucannon should, even if just barely, survive a Play Rough from Mimikyu. This means we can make Mimikyu use up its Lum Berry, break its Disguise, and--if we sacrifice Toucannon--burn it again with Beak Blast. With the burn, Centauri the Mudsdale only takes about a quarter from Play Rough instead of half, which, in combination with its Stamina ability, gives it the bulk to hit Mimikyu twice with Heavy Slam even after the ally Pokemon hits him. A much cleaner fight, and I even took an extra turn to Revive Toucannon for the exp.

The rest of the island wasn't much issue, but by the time I'd gotten to Guzma, my team was starting to get outleveled again so his Goliospod and Pinsir hit rather hard but were manageable due to a few of my team dropping rocks on them. Then with only a fight against Gladion inbetween, I found I was about 2-3 levels under Nanu's team but was able to power through with Choice Specs-boosted Pollen Puffs from Ribombee after Toucannon dealt with Nanu's Sableye.

On to the Aether Paradise (again)!

Soccer spirits tier list fourth

SOCCER SPIRITS TIER LIST FOURTH FULL

Mahomes ranked first during the previous three seasons at 20.3%. That ranked 19th among qualifying quarterbacks. The Chiefs gained more than 15 yards on 14.6% of Mahomes’ pass attempts where gains that long were possible. Last season, defenses for the first time curtailed Mahomes’ ability to strike for explosive plays. If you had the worst seat in the house, you would still go watch Patrick Mahomes play.” “I mean, anybody would pay to watch Aaron Rodgers and him play. “This guy, he’s box office,” a quarterbacks coach said. Mahomes during the past three seasons has commanded 149 Tier 1 votes, with just this single vote in Tier 2. But take his first read away and what does he do? He runs, he scrambles and he plays streetball.” “And when that disappears, that is when they lose games. “We love Mahomes because of his unorthodox throws, not because of his natural pocket presence,” this voter said. That voter, a veteran defensive play caller, thinks there were times last season when Mahomes failed to read defenses the way top-tier quarterbacks should. He’s just an extreme challenge to go against, beyond any of these other guys that have talent.”Ī single contrarian voter prevented Mahomes from tying Rodgers at the top. He is outsmarting you … always trying to catch you in a blitz and throw a little smoke out, or whatever. “He wants you to know that he got you and look at the sideline with that smirk. “It’s not enough to make a good read and see a coverage rotation and throw where he needs to throw,” a defensive coach said. Aaron has had Davante Adams, but he is still waiting for a first-round receiver, they have not had great receivers overall and he is still putting up major numbers.”Īs for showing up opponents, Rodgers owns the most condescending smirk in the game. Brady with N’Keal Harry did not elevate his game. “Aaron Rodgers has helped elevate every player on that offense. “(Tom) Brady has had the more decorated career with 10 Super Bowls and seven rings, but I will say this,” an offensive coach said. Rodgers beats the competition in two categories multiple voters cited: the ability to elevate his weaponry and in how he not only outsmarts opponents, but relishes doing so. The guy oozes Tier 1 in ways others QBs can only dream doing.” “The head coach (Matt LaFleur) wants to run the field goal team on and Rodgers waves them off, calls another play, completes it to make the field goal try easier and burns enough time so the kickoff coverage team doesn’t have to run out there. “The smirk, the shoulder shrug, the command of hurry-up tempo in 2-minute, he’s got it all,” a coach said. This is the sixth time in nine years Rodgers was a unanimous Tier 1 choice. “He can make every throw, he has got command of things, he can read defenses, he is challenging to go against because of the mental part of it.” “Where is the flaw?” a defensive coach asked. Some who placed him in Tier 2 previously repented in follow-up conversations. Rodgers through the years has received 401 votes in Tier 1, seven in Tier 2 and none lower than that. “That will be like the favorite day of my career.” “I can’t wait to rate him as a 2,” a defensive coordinator said. He is the standard for Tier 1 quarterback play. Rodgers stands alone at the top, the eighth time in nine years of QB Tiers balloting that he finished no worse than tied for the top spot. He expertly handles pure passing situations. TIER 1Ī Tier 1 quarterback can carry his team each week. More than one quarterback is featured for teams with unsettled starting jobs. The survey excludes rookies because voters have not seen them play in the NFL. Quarterbacks were then ranked by average vote and placed into tiers based on vote distribution, beginning with Aaron Rodgers, whose 1.00 average vote reflected his status as a unanimous Tier 1 selection. The panel placed 35 veteran quarterbacks into one of five tiers, from best (Tier 1) to worst (Tier 5). The remaining ballot was put together by four members of one team’s personnel department. The results reflect voting from 50 NFL coaches and executives, including six general managers, eight head coaches, 10 evaluators, 12 coordinators, six quarterback coaches and seven execs whose specialties include analytics, game management and the salary cap.

SOCCER SPIRITS TIER LIST FOURTH FULL

The full 2022 Quarterback Tiers results are below for every veteran starter. Young guns Josh Allen, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow have joined the Tier 1 ranks, while a couple big names are conspicuously missing - including a certain quarterback the Seattle Seahawks traded to the Denver Broncos in a blockbuster deal recasting expectations for both franchises. It’s a new era for Quarterback Tiers as 50 NFL coaches and executives have shaken up the elite ranks for 2022, the ninth incarnation of my annual survey.

For anyone seeking a non-limited (but very high investment) solution to Rose's Extreme Battle, here's mine. All general pool, but also all 3/5 EX.

Melony is very good for this fight because the accuracy boosts prevent missing on the sides. Melony is atrocious for this fight because the wide majority of useful Galarians are physical. As an independent buff bot, this puts Melony in an awkward spot, having ideal traits for some aspects of the fight, but ultimately being wholly irrelevant for anything that normally wants to take it on. Sonia, by comparison, is ideal for most of your offensive options, and is like the only solution you have to gauges. Team Swift Reaction rules. Their grids can be tweaked, notably for Endurance on Sonia, but there's not as much wiggle room as you'd like.

So, with the dual support thing out of the way, let's talk damage. Gordie. Gordie, listen to me, you beautiful man. You are the only reasonable general pool option we have. Bede has Clear Advantage 8. This is what I could call a Dick Move. You need field effects. Guess what Galar is really fucking bad at! Well okay, that's not fair, they have a few included Gordie. Your other damage dealing options are Bede (Sun or Psychic Terrain), Anni Raihan (extend Sand), Palentine's Marnie (Steel Wish), Winter Nessa (high Hail MPR), Leon (Fire Damage Field, massive DPS), and NC Hop (Fighting Zone). All of them are limited. If Nessa had Max Moves, we'd at least have a second option, but nooooooo. Fucking Galar. The worst part is, some of these aren't even viable on their own. Bede gets one application and likely won't finish the job, and Winter Nessa sucks for damage, so unless you have Winter Leon too, that's not gonna fly. You may also note that all of these, barring NC Hop, are slow as sin. This is why Sonia is such a good frontline tank; Team Swift Reaction is like your only Galarian solution to the issue of gauge.

Gordie was a fairly safe pick, because Sonia and Melony combo extremely well with him. Inertia is capped naturally via Sonia, while Melony gives him the accuracy for Rock Tomb. The goal here is to disrupt strategically with Sing, buying extra actions for Sonia to debuff defense, and Gordie to debuff speed. Given they're all EX, the structure is that while Melony is performing her disruption, let Sonia take first sync, Melony second, and Gordie all the rest. Gordie's third sync is pictured above. 60k is definitely enough for a one-shot. At present, I don't know how low you could shift that to still perform a one-shot, but 40k might be sufficient. I think 32k was close on a different run, so one of Melony or Sonia at EX might be sufficient. The main thing is to set up his GMax Volcalith just before he takes sync, so the damage reduction isn't in play.

The problem then is sides. Gordie is a great sync nuke, but a terrible DPS unit. Ideally, Melony can Sing again for a bit of disruption. If you can take out one of the sides, the other can be slowed down enough that they miss some turns. But only some, it's...worse than it seems. The issues are many. Their AoE alternates between physical and special, making the Sonia/Melony core particularly valuable for their defensive coverage. Sonia needs to be on her Potion MPR game, though, because things get worn down. It's also not a bad idea to, once both enemies are asleep/while they have Resistance to Status, to pop Melony's GMax Resonance for the shields. The last problem is accuracy. Rock Tomb has 80 accuracy, so even with +2 accuracy from Melony, you'll still miss. You need like +4, which is heavy on MPR, and not worth resetting for since you're aiming for sync. Also a miss means you take less time in animations and can get another action in, so my misses may have saved my life considering how close this came.

Like many stages for a Tech, dealing with Bede isn't so bad. It's taking out the sides that's the problem. There might be smarter rotations and ways to perform a denial on the sides with Gordie that makes it less risky, but given the timer on his Max Move, I wasn't about to test it. The sides don't have Clear Advantage 8 though, so you can at least save the field effect for when you're specifically aiming at Bede.

New Post has been published on https://www.packernet.com/blog/2022/09/12/thats-on-you-coach/

That's on you Coach

What’s worse than an uninspiring game plan? Being too foolish or stubborn to change course when you see it’s not working. On Sunday in Minneapolis, Coach Matt LaFleur had numerous blinking light alerts that their plans were not getting it done. Mostly, they ignored those warnings.

Game plan changed too little, too late

Dec 1, 2019; Glendale, AZ, USA; Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach/linebackers coach Joe Barry against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Although they slowed the bleeding in the second half, MLF and his assistants didn’t do enough in-game modifications to salvage a winnable game. That’s on Le Fleur, and to some extent Joe Barry and Adam Stenavich. It’s hard to tell what exactly the offensive game plan was, but even the untrained eye would call it disjointed. Except for the second drive of the second half that got the Packers only score, the offense felt out of synch.  There were clearly not enough touches for their two best offensive playmakers, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. The lack of commitment to the run game provokes the age old question, is that on the Coach or the QB who’d rather throw it?

As for the defense, anyone who watched Justin Jefferson slice the Packers up on the opening drive could see something was not right. Maybe if it were better executed a zone defense could have worked. But when you’ve paid a cover corner like Jaire Alexander, doesn’t assigning him to lock down Jefferson just make more sense?

Not as simple as man-to-man coverage

Yes, having one guy play man coverage complicates things for the other 10 players. What wasn’t complicated was Jefferson moon-walking through the Packers zone defense.

My point, the Packers had nothing to lose my trying man-to-man coverage, yet they stuck with the zone and Jefferson put a 158 yards and 2 TD’s on them by halftime. Presumably the changes they made in the second half helped slow him down. But with a 17-point lead the Vikings also altered their approach to drain the clock.

Offense now Davante-less

Green Bay Packers’ Davante Adams (17) is helped off the field after being injured against the Carolina Panthers during the second half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

In fairness, most football observers expected a bumpy adjustment to the loss of a proven star like Davante Adams. It’s likely we’ll see an offense that will sometimes look disjointed for many weeks to come.  Still, I expected Coach Matt LeFleur and Aaron Rodgers to be  highly aware of a need to be flexible to doing things differently. Hopefully we’ll see that flexibility in the coming weeks.

There’s a lot to like about Coach Le Fleur. 39-regular season wins in his first three years doesn’t happen by accident or with a coach who doesn’t know what he’s doing. Certainly it helps having a proven top flight QB like Rodgers, but that alone doesn’t win a team 39-games.

  As much credit as Le Fleur gets for stellar regular seasons, his season openers and playoff performances have been pretty bad. One way to address those performances would be by making in-game corrections in real time to shift away from plans when they’re not working.

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/biden-the-invisible-man/

Biden, The Invisible Man

The budget pamphlet in my mailbox was titled “Financial Realities.”  I laughed.  As a person once responsible for a  $200 million budget, I know financial realities are imaginary.  Budgets are guestimates of the future based on the unlikely assumption that history will repeat itself. Smoke and mirrors some call it.  Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee confessed as much. Sometimes economists are right, and sometimes they are wrong. The same could be said about political projections. I’m baffled that President Joe Biden’s accomplishments have done little to lift his polling numbers. Opinion, it seems, informs opinion rather than facts.  Perhaps our parents were influencers. Or our peer group. Or our religion.  Education appears to have the least effect. Knowledge is easy to set aside if it conflicts with what we want to believe. Biden’s achievements in the first year-and-a-half of his presidency are so historic I wonder what more the public expects from the man. And how am I to understand that Republicans and not his party threaten to win control of the House in November? I can only surmise that achievement and reward aren’t always traveling companions.    Harry Truman faced similar hurdles. Historians consider him to be one of our greatest presidents.  Yet, he got little respect in his time. Critics called him plodding, stubborn, and undramatic. His decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II should have made them eat their words. Not to mention the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, and his support for the United Nations – decisions that set the free world on a new course. Myth may be the problem.  One generation whispers to the next, passing its legends along like a genetic code.  A persistent one is that Republicans manage the economy better than Democrats. Data reflect otherwise.  History reveals that Democrats grew the economy by 4.4% each year versus 2.5% for Republicans.    Democratic presidents also tend to have better results when it comes to raising home values, increasing healthcare coverage, raising wages, and boosting the performance of the S&P.  They make the average person richer, too. To be fair, not all experts agree on the data. One study mirrors Baneriee’s ambivalence.  …we cannot conclude that either party does any betters (or any worse) than the other when it comes to managing the economy.   One fact is beyond dispute. The Biden administration has taken the biggest step to address climate change in American history. Some people wanted to reserve more money for that purpose in the Inflation Reduction Act.  Even so, environmentalists agree the amount in the bill will reduce U. S. carbon emissions 40% by 2030.  My projection for the future is that one day historians will compare Biden’s Presidential accomplishments with those of Harry Truman’s and find that the men stand shoulder to shoulder.  I wish I could live long enough to say, “I told you so.”   About the present, I’m less hopeful. Too much of the country remains in thrall to Donald Trump. Should Attorney Merrick Garland find evidence at Mar-a-Lago of the 45th President’s criminal behavior, calls for revolution will rise in certain parts of the country. I hope I’m wrong. But I’m inclined to agree with Mark Twain.  Truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie.  

This request started one way and then took a whole other turn that I'm going to blame on the pain meds they gave me. I hope you enjoy it, anon reader. 😘💚💚💚

♤♡◇♧☆

Something went horribly wrong. It wasn't expected and no one saw it coming despite weeks of planning. The coppers showed up as expected, but something fell through when someone didn't do their job. A post that should have been manned was left wide open and that's how the GCPD got the upperhand.

You were there, holding your own, the armored truck on its side and smoking. The bags you helped carry were heavy and you were distracted, not noticing the officer until he had you restrained. They didn't make a fuss, pulling you away from the scene as discreetly as possible, but it didn't take J long to notice your absence.

He wheeled in place, scanning the street, and that's when he saw them dragging you away, his rage palpable. They thought you were a hostage, surely a nice, rich girl like you forced to commit such heinous crimes. They had no idea that you were important to The Joker or that you were madly in love with your so-called captor.

You fought and clawed to get back to him, but the cops threw you into a police van, the back empty except for you. Now that they had you in their custody, they intended to get you away from the scene, your father waiting for the phone call that you were safe.

You were a Daddy's girl, growing up privileged and rich. Things were planned out for you, your father the puppeteer. It didn't take long for you to tire of his control, a new Daddy altogether pulling your attention and keeping you captivated.

The Joker was just as rich, but dangerous and unpredictable. The night you met him at the annual Gotham Gala was the best of your life and you never looked back.

The van shifted as it pulled away from the curb, a single police car following while the others stayed behind to deal with and round up J and his crew. At least that was their plan. But the cops would fair no better, The Joker's men creating such a scene that J managed to slip away in your pursuit.

He wasn't alone, a handful of goons tagging along, and they were the ones to open fire. The tailing cruiser caught the first wave of bullets, the back tires popping and sending it into an uncontrollable spin. A row of parked cars cushioned the wreck, but the car was inoperable and left behind as the van tried to race for the station.

You were in the back, unable to hang on as a curve was taken too fast, crying out as you were thrown against the bare, metal wall. You found yourself on the floor, clutching for the bench leg that was bolted down, using it to pull yourself under for coverage as bullets ricocheted outside. You could hear shouting from the front, returning fire sounding close and making you scream as a bullet tore through the metal above you.

You rolled yourself into a ball and braced, not seeing the collision coming, but safe as the van slammed to a stop. It was no longer moving, but the shouting continued, eventually two single gun shots marking the silence.

Nothing happened, the van whining as someone cranked the engine and finally got it to start. You stayed under the bench shaking, beams of light shining through the bullet holes as the van started to move again. Even as the ride continued on for what felt like an eternity, you stayed on the floor unable to move out of some fear that The Joker had been hurt, or even worse, killed.

Eventually the van came to a stop and you held your breath, hearing the front door open, and approaching footsteps. They crunched in what sounded like gravel and stopped at the back doors. Then there was unnerving silence. You continued to hold your breath, eyes closing as the screech of metal unlocked the doors and light flooded over you. It took you a moment to open your eyes, the sunlight blotting out the figure that peered inside. You blinked, trying to clear your vision, and a hand at your ankle made you lash out. You kicked hard, snarling in anger as they avoided your booted defense and dragged you closer.

Hands groped at you, pulling you upright, and that's when you were finally able to focus. The Joker leaned over you, a gash at his forehead sending a steady stream of blood down the side of his chiseled cheek. He was bleeding, but seemed unharmed and very much alive. With a gasp, you clutched for him, anchoring your hands at his face and kissing him hard.

His metal teeth hurt against your own, but you didn't care, deepening it until you felt certain you could drown. He was the one to break the kiss, eyes darting and taking inventory. You were unharmed, maybe a little bruised, but not hurt. The relief made him purr and he pushed forward, kneeling at the metal floor and hovering over you.

You let him lay you back and didn't protest as his hands slid over your body, making sure you weren't damaged or in pain. As his exploration continued, you reached for him, pulling him on top of you, your arms and legs trapping him. He grimaced, a single droplet of blood falling on your cheek, and you couldn't stop yourself from kissing him. He tasted like blood and gunpowder and you savored it.

In the distance, you could hear approaching sirens, your moment ending almost as quickly as it had started. Surely the van could be tracked and they would be here soon, both of your hearts racing as you fled the scene. You took back alleyways, hiding in the shadows, ducking into dark doorways as police cruisers rolled past.

It was in one of these doors that J cornered you, smiling in his mischievous way. You smiled back, head tilting as he leaned in for a kiss. It was slow and deep, ending with a purr.

"Are you my girl?" You nodded to his question, feeling his hands on you, fingertips digging into your hips. You let out a gasp of surprise as he slid a hand over, cupping you and pushing you harder against the door. It creaked with your weight but held as J frantically pulled at the waistband of your leggings. You joined in, flipping his belt loose, and popping the button to pull down his zipper.

A single slam against the door made you both groan, The Joker not stopping until he was buried deep. He burned and stretched you in the most delicious way, his face burying at your neck. Another thrust of his hips made you cry out, the sound echoing around the alley and building as his movement grew frantic.

Voices yelled out nearby, causing you to tense, and a shift of your hips sent you over a dangerous edge. Your cries of pleasure bounced off the walls, dissolving into the air and mixing with the sounds of the city. The Joker had reached his end, as well, and held you in place, nuzzling at your neck until he left a purple mark with his mouth.

For a long moment, nothing else existed, the sounds of the city fading away. You relished in his touch and taste, his crimson smeared lips leaving no doubt that you belonged to him. It was a bubble of happiness that you lived in precariously, not ready for it to pop so soon.

But pop it did, and you were both on the run again, dragging your pants up with laughs and tripping away. The cop that discovered you was close, but not enough to catch you, both of you sliding out onto the crowded sidewalk, people rushing out of your way as you ran.

You felt like Bonnie and The Joker was your Clyde, hands joining as you ran, more fits of laughter falling from your lips as you veered off the sidewalk and into traffic to avoid another cop.

You didn't see it coming, so lost in your delirious happiness that the delivery truck went unnoticed. Brakes squealed as the large vehicle tried to stop, but too much weight and speed kept it coming in your direction, both of you freezing on the spot.

There was a second where you realized you were about to die, turning towards J, but feeling yourself lifted and flung in the opposite direction. You waited for the pain, but it didn't come, instead air whipping past and making your hair swirl. And then your ride was abruptly over, Batman releasing you on the far sidewalk.

Stunned to see him this close up, it took a moment for you to wheel back in search of The Joker, horror making you cry out at his still form on the road. You pulled and screamed, tearing yourself away from your savior to run to your lover.

No one tried to stop you, everyone frozen and watching as you collapsed by his side, hands shaking and touching him. You were frantic, pulling at him, screaming his name, but getting no response. He was gone, his body broken and bleeding before you like a living nightmare.

You tried to revive him, performing CPR, pushing and thumping at his chest until Batman pulled you away. His arms locked around you like a vice and carried you from the horrible scene, your pleas falling on deaf ears.

Your eyes pinched shut, your cries turning into begging, everything fading until you jolted awake in a cell you couldn't remember. The pressure around you that had once been Batman's arms was a straitjacket keeping you secure. It was an embrace you could never escape, eyes heavy and sweeping the empty, dim room.

Who knows how long you had been here, time meaning nothing. Who knows if anything was real, the pain in your heart the only reminder that something had been taken from you.

The ground vibrated but you barely noticed it, the extinguished lights above you swaying and sending dust down upon you. Your neck was stiff as you slowly looked up, the hanging light swaying back and forth. Another much harder vibration caused it to pick up momentum and you were mesmerized by it, not hearing the screams in the hallway.

A fresh explosion buckled the door, leaving a gaping hole filled with smoke. You stared at it, unable to move even if you felt the desire, a single figure stepping through as a floating silhouette. They crossed the room, kneeling before you, and a tug at the helmet they wore revealed a shock of green hair and icy blue eyes.

He smiled at you, your own lips twitching and pulling until the corners lifted and mirrored him. His laugh came next, eerie and almost mournful, but your own joining in until it was deafening and terrifying to all that could hear it.

Again you felt yourself lifted, this time in the arms you wanted more than anything, The Joker carrying you from the cell and into the fiery hallway. Bodies lay before you, framing your escape route, and J didn't let you go until he reached the getaway vehicle, slowly placing you in the backseat. Leaning down, his lips ghosted over yours, a new scar across his cheek catching your eye. His kiss was brief, a peck at your lips, and then he spoke the words you had been dying to hear for so long.

"Let's go home."