have a goku from earlier this year that i never finished

bokuto confession scene

a/n: hi, it’s cocoababy~ so i’m new to the writing scene here, so i’m a little nervous about posting, so i figured i would post something unfinished of mine. if it gets some attention and people like what i’m writing, then i’d definitely consider finishing this out. anyway, i hope that everyone is having a safe and happy week! thanks for reading, and i’m sending you lots of ~socially distanced~ hugs and kisses! <3

-word count: 1.1k words

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“Hey, aren’t you going to tell me I did a good job on the court today?”

You roll your eyes as you hand your friend his blue sports drink.

“Kou, do you really need me to tell you that you played well? Could you not tell by how packed the bleachers were? Or the sounds from the cheering squad? Or the fact that we won?”

Bokuto chuckles at your retort as he takes a couple gulps from his drink you gave him.

His golden eyes meet yours as he covers his drink and stands up, completely towering over you. You swallow the lump in your throat, and hope that it’s not obvious there’s a blush creeping across your face.

You were currently in a state of awe due to the five-set volleyball game you had just watched. This was nothing new to you, but it always amazed you to see how fast, powerful, and strong Bokuto was on the court.

“Why else do you come to my games, except for me to feel better about myself? I need you to tell me I’m absolutely amazing! That I was a star on the court today! That I really am the number one ace!”

He strikes a pose, with one fist in the air, while he throws his free arm around your shoulders. Bokuto pulls you in close to him, and squeezes you against his side as he steers you both towards the exit of the school.

Your heart skips a beat, and you try not to focus on how good you feel against him. Or how you can feel his strong muscles on your shoulders, even though he’s wearing his team jacket. You definitely try not to think about how he somehow smells good to you, even though he’s still sweaty from the game.

He gives you a side glance before letting you go from his grasp. Bokuto readjusts the bag on his other shoulder, and you slowly exhale, trying to slow your speeding heart.

As you both exit the gymnasium doors, the cold of the night hits your face and you breathe in the fresh air. It feels good to be outside, but you got cold easily, and already you were starting to feel your ears begin to freeze.

“Hey, so can I ask you something?”

Your heart instantly dropped down to the soles of your shoes.

“You just did.”

Bokuto laughs at you before shaking his head and trying once more. “You know what I mean! Don’t give me a hard time.”

You smile back at him, trying to rub the sides of your arms for warmth. Damn, was it cold outside. You should have brought an extra jacket for yourself.

“Are you cold? Here, you can wear my sweater.”

You’re too cold to say no, so you silently nod. He shrugs off his jacket so he can put it on your shoulders.

You sheepishly look at him and say, “Sorry, I’m stealing your stuff. You literally just put this on, too.”

Bokuto smiles once more before replying “Y/N, don’t even worry about it! It’s actually better off, since now I get to cool down. It’s a lot more cold tonight than I thought.”

You zip up his jacket and bury your nose into the collar. It smells so warm and comforting, and you didn’t want to give it back to him.

Bokuto is oddly silent, leaving nothing but the sounds of your combined footsteps to make noise.

The autumn weather was officially ushering in a new season of winter, which was evident by the slow-moving clouds that escaped your lips whenever you exhaled.

You always felt like some kind of smoke-breathing dragon whenever that happened.

“Kou, did you want to ask me something?” you gently remind him.

He smiles at you before answering, “Yeah, I did. Just something that’s been on my mind recently, is all.”

That instantly takes your mind to a place of worry.

What could he have been thinking about recently? Why hadn’t he already told you? Bokuto is the type to tell you exactly what’s on his mind, so to hear that he had something he’d been mulling over definitely raises your curiosity - as well as your anxiety.

You stop walking and turn to face him.

“Alright. Go ahead and ask me what you want to ask me. The suspense is gonna kill me if you don’t tell me what’s going on in that big ol’ head of yours.”

He cocks an eyebrow at you as you chuckle at him. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but quickly purses his lips together, as if he wanted to suddenly keep his thoughts a secret.

The two of you continued to stand there, scanning each other’s faces for what seemed like an eternity.

The tip of his nose was pink, which was a stark contrast from his pale skin. Bokuto’s cheeks were beginning to look rosy because of the chilly night, and your eyes followed up his cheekbones before admiring the rest of his handsome face.

“Do you like me, Y/N?”

His sudden inquiry hit you like a train, and you stopped breathing for a second.

Your fists instinctively ball up and gather his fabric into the palms of your hands. You weren’t sure if it was to hit him for asking such a stupid question, or if it was because your body suddenly ran cold.

“Why?”

“Because Akaashi told me you did.”

You were going to strangle Keiji the next time you saw him. Snitch.

A slow exhale left your lips again, and you started to avert your gaze down at your shoes. You could easily lie and say no, you didn’t.

Maybe it was the cold, but for some reason, you couldn’t bring yourself to say that.

“I mean, how do I even respond?”

Bokuto takes another step closer to you, essentially leaving only a couple of inches between the two of you.

“You either say yes or no.”

“And what happens if I say no?” You kept your eyes fixated on your worn-out shoelaces. Something told you that if you looked up into his eyes, you would probably start crying.

“Then it’s a no, and I know that he was lying to me.”

You tried to ignore how the timbre of his voice was a direct link to the dopamine entering your body and instead, thought of a lie to feed him.

Didn’t he realize how awkward it was, asking you if you liked him? He seriously had no sense of shame.

“Lately, what’s been on my mind is if you really did like me. I was wondering if I liked you, too. I wanted to know if things would change between us, and if I would like those changes, or if I didn’t.”

“Okay…” you trail off, allowing him to finish his piece.

Now, you were looking at how big his shoes were compared to yours.

“And I think I like you.”

18 19 20 27 28 from the protag questions <3

Ooooo! Lots of goodies! o3o You all spoil me~! X3

Thank you so much! Let's get into it! >:D

18. What is the biggest similarity between your protagonists?

Grey morality. PFFFFT!

I'm serious. I have a habit of creating characters that have questionable methods to situations, but yet can be empathized with or even sympathized with. Fane, Rylen, and Elise all do what they have to do, and it's up to the audience to formulate whether or not they agree or disagree with their personalities and actions.

I'll say this once because I've had people in the past kind of...bash me for it, but just because your character has a specific view does not necessarily mean you as the creator share that same view. That isn't me throwing swings out at self-inserts or characters that are reflections of their creators, this is just how I feel in response to my own characters. I try to disconnect from my characters because I want them to be their own. I build the foundation, give them a name, a history, or a family to influence them, but I don't steer their minds, their decisions. They flow the way they want to flow. Simple as that. Fane is the OC that is most reflective of me, but not with everything. He has his own methods, own reasons for thinking the way that he does and so do I.

I think it has a lot of my fixation on making characters teeter has to do with how I interact with the world in real life. I just...don't see black and white. I give everything the benefit of the doubt and I hold my ground concerning my views even if others might see them as 'wrong' or 'controversial'. I'm horribly analytical and I'm always like, 'But what if...'. That's just...me. XD

But yeah! Grey characters are my vice and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right most of the time, but I try! :3

19. What is the biggest difference between your protagonists?

Mainly how they approach situations and their feelings surrounding leadership.

Fane is rash, doesn't plan, doesn't think everything through before acting or he just outright chooses not to. He tends to make decisions on his own, but mainly only in battle. In more diplomatic settings, Fane is the master of deferral. XD He divvies out tasks that he feels aren't his area from either a lack of interest, a lack of confidence in himself, or just feeling that someone else would be the better option.

Rylen has his moments of brashness, but he's pretty subdued, go with the flow type of deal, but most who know him intimately know he's pretty high strung when it comes to matters where his voice has power. Man's a ball of stress and anxiety. PFFT!

Elise is the calmest out of the three. It was practically trained into her in the Circle. She's also just inherently docile, but after the Blight she does have moments of being feral and unhinged. That mostly happens if one of her companions are in danger or if her own life is threatened. She's not afraid to make her voice heard, either. Generally, Elise is soft spoken, but she will stand up for herself and other people, despite the grief it could cause her.

20. Who handles responsibility the best? And who handles it the worst?

If Fane puts his mind to it, he can handle responsibility pretty well. His want to involve himself deeply in matters doesn't happen until after Adamant and only gets stronger and stronger after Trespasser. Fane is a force when he wants to be and Solas tries to draw that out, to make him realize he can do whatever he puts his mind to. However, Elise would be the best in terms of responsibility. She had a lot in the Circle, even more during the Blight, and a substantial amount as Warden-Commander. Does she wish she could rest? Of course! But she doesn't complain because she knows she can make change. Rylen's okay with responsibility; he becomes Viscount after all. But, he is prone to slacking off at times, but really only after the Chantry explosion. The guy is TIRED. What can I say? XD

All in all, none of them bad at handling responsibility. They just have different ways that they go about it! :D

27. What would their fears on the graves in the fade during Here Lies The Abyss be?

Yes, yes, yes, YES! The question! The big question! The question that leads to Fane and Solas' first kiss! AHAHAHAH! >:D

Elise - Betrayal. This is more in terms of Elise towards herself and her own actions. She's afraid that everything she's ever done has been one great betrayal to everyone and everything she has ever cared about. She had no choice but to witness Jowan become Tranquil, Alistair, so hurt and angered by her decision at the Landsmeet, abandoned her to face the possibility of the death alone, her faith was sundered after the Broken Circle, making her fear her magic for the first time in her life and making her wonder when she would become the very monsters she had just finished killing. The list goes on. Elise made so many decisions in service to the world, but she silently wonders when it'll all come crashing down around her, when everyone will leave her because they'd been betrayed.

Rylen - Wasn't enough. Rylen wrestles constantly with the fact that he's never been strong enough. He wasn't strong enough for Carver; the ogre ripping him from their family and pounding into pulp. He wasn't strong enough for Bethany; unable to protect her from the templars, so he opted to take her to the Deep Roads, thinking it would be safer, but it wasn't. He wasn't strong enough for his mother; his eyes focused on the horizon rather than the ground that began it all.

And he hadn't been strong enough to end Corypheus for good. We all know what happened wasn't Hawke's fault, but Rylen the master of blaming himself for everything, so that's one event he dwells about every. day. every. night.

Last, but not least, FANE. *sounds the horns* You ready? You ready?! >:D

Fane - To be forgotten. That's right.

That's Fane's biggest, deepest fear; to be forgotten. I know there's only been a few chapters of my main fic that kind of reference this, but you know how Fane constantly says to himself, 'I wish I could be forgotten. It would be better if I would just disappear and be forgotten.'? Yeah, it's a front. He's trying to convince himself that that's what he wants, but in actuality, it's reversed. He's terrified, terrified of being forgotten by the world, by his sister, by the Inquisition...

...by Solas. That's the worst person who could forget Fane. And around the time of Adamant, Solas and Fane being the stubborn fools that they are, act as if they haven't known each other for fucking centuries even though the truth literally screamed at them after Haven. They were lost together in the mountains with that truth hanging between them, and still they ignored it because it hurt and they both felt they didn't deserve the hope that they could be together. Fane attempts to unearth some lost memories, some lingering feelings, but Solas wasn't ready and guided them away from that unopened bag, refusing to let Fane in on his agenda or allowing him to help in any way. It gets to a point where Fane starts to believe Solas doesn't actually recall their relationship, who he is and he spirals pretty bad in the Raw Fade when that tombstone is glaring at him.

When Solas sees it...he cracks. Quietly, in his mind, but he realizes how stupid he'd been, how stupid they had been. The truth was looking at him in two tones and he ignored it out of fear. It's what spurs Solas to take Fane into the Fade and show his dragon the place where he had endeavored to make sure the other would never be forgotten. Solas also makes it clear that he had never forgot Fane, ever.

"I could never forget you, my dragon. Your memory lingered within the halls of my mind even as I slumbered. I am but a fool, a fearful fool. I thought it kinder to let you live a new life, unburdened by my burdens. I do not wish for the past to repeat itself, to see two tones ebb away and breath leave your lungs once more.", Solas said, eyes downcast, pained grimace housing sorrow, grief, and despair in its curves. "...But, it is not kinder. It is more agonizing to try and forget than it is to remember. Though, I have never tried to erase you from my memory nor have I tried to abandon what I felt for you--what I feel for you.'

Fane frowned, tugging on the mage's forearms to bring him closer, urgently, but timidly; Solas didn't even protest, but his eyes remained downcast. "What do you feel, Solas?", he asked and received no answer. "What do you feel, Solas?! What can't you forget?!", he repeated, voice echoing off the halls of death and remembrance. He needed these words, he needed to know!

What did the sky feel?! What did it remember?! He just wanted one damned answer in this upside down world!

Solas' eyes shut slowly, chest rising with a deep inhale. "I..", he started, but paused again, face twitching with hesitance and reservation. "No, it's not--!"

Fane growled low. "Enough! If you won't tell me,", he barked, yanking Solas forward by his arms, barely registering the grunt of surprise that left his lips, and shot his hands up to hold a bewildered face. "...then show me!"

I tease~ >:3

-----

28. What is their favourite location within their own game and what would be their favourite in each others?

I answered this ooooonnnneee HERE! >:D (I would just copy and paste, but it LONG. ADHDKS)

And there we have it! Beautiful! Perfect! And FUN! X3

Static and Stars: Episode 1 - Jay Day

Index

Jay and Nya haven’t been on a date in like... ever. So when they finally do go out on their own, some unexpected memories catch up with them.

AUTHOR’S NOTES:   Hey guys! At long last, S&S continues. I hope it hypes you up just like it does me! I was planning this for OC Day when I realized that it actually didn’t have any of my OCs in it (yet) so I’m happy to throw it out now.   This episode is quite guiltily Jaya-centered but PLEASE understand that it will be the only one. I laid out my plan for this fan season and I liked it, so I’m following through with having it kick off like this. This is a Jay fan season. Not a Jaya fan season. Thank you!

-

  A patronizing BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! rang out beside Jay.

  He groaned and sat up, hair messily flying all over his face. He slammed his hand onto where the sound was coming from, but found he slapped the smooth surface of his phone. He let out another grunt while the alarm was still judging him.

  He shot out a small current through his fingertips and the beeping stopped. Right… he forgot. They weren’t in the Bounty anymore.

  Jay climbed out of his sleeping bag and looked to his right, where Kai, who had just awoken, was trying to quickly rearrange his bed hair. Further past him, Cole was still sound asleep.

  Kai noticed that he was still as a rock and, mid-hair-fixation, kicked him hard.

  “Ow! Dad! Fine, I’ll get ready for dance practice-“ Cole jerked awake and then looked at Kai scorningly.

  “This sucks,” Kai groaned. He plunged his arms into his “hygiene” kit and pulled out a hairbrush, some cologne, and a bit of blush fell out.

  Jay stood up (while making sure his plushie stayed safely tucked in his sleeping bag) and smiled. “Aw come on guys, it’s not that bad!” He said, stretching.

  “Whatever you say,” Cole sighed, tying his hair up in a bun.

  In full pajamas, Jay exited the tent. Outside it was full sunlight, with shadows of leaves dappling the ground. He gazed at Ninjago City in the distance; it looked so much quieter from the outskirts.

  Zane was already outside making a meal for breakfast. He slept outside. Jay didn’t see the appeal, but he said that it was better for him to be out with the stars and one with the (mild) wilderness.

  “Good morning, Jay.” He smiled with ease. “You should really wash those gloves.”

  He took a look at his hands. “Funny coming from you, ya barely change your clothes,” he playfully argued, knowing already it was a useless excuse. Zane sat there in full gi wear and looked up.

  “I do not have the rather disgusting human body which pollutes cloth,” he responded simply.

  “Any updates on how the monastery is going?” Jay asked, changing the subject.

  “Indeed!” He flipped a pancake with a spatula. There was a whole contraption set up so that Zane could do his thing, even outside. “I have been notified that it is going smoothly.”

  Jay nodded. He sat on a cushioned log. “I’m still so glad it’s over.”

  “The First Realm was certainly a tiring event.”

  “Yeah, and Garmadon… that fight was insane, huh?” Jay scratched his head. He was grateful that even with this makeshift living situation, they could rest.

  “You don’t even know the half of it.”

  The two ninja looked up. Nya was strutting toward them, tying up her hair casually. Unlike Jay, she had already gotten dressed.

  “Nya!” Jay brightened up, even more energized from the sight of his girlfriend. The morning sun made her look quite phenomenal. She sat down by him, very close, physically. Zane’s (literal) inner timer dinged, and he stood up. “Breakfast is ready!”

  At that moment both Kai and Cole rushed out of the tent, still very unready. Kai’s hair was half-done, his arm through just one sleeve of his jacket, and he was still pulling up his pants. Cole had yet to do much. He was just running out with his pajama pants on, and… that was it.

  “What were you guys doing?” Jay asked.

  “Shut up,” Kai said immediately, his eyes suddenly very focused on the pancakes that were now out and ready.

  They all sat in their eating area on the cushioned logs in their circle beside Zane’s cooking tools and contraptions. It was a very average day, at least, for one where they had to camp together without a strong shelter and where they had nobody to fight anymore. But there were obviously some things missing.

  Nya turned to Jay. “Well,” she shrugged, “Lloyd and Wu are off on their things.”

  “As they have been for a while, making their own camp in Misako’s space,” Kai interjected, eyes narrowed. “Meanwhile we have to make it out here, in the wild, the cold-”

  She ignored him. “And we have nothing going on, finally. So.. well… we haven’t really done much recently. And you were off in the realm for…. A while.”

  Jay swallowed a chunk of bacon. “Right! How long exactly has it been since we’ve done something, just you and me, that didn’t involve snake venom or the fate of the world?”

  She looked at her paper plate of food, thinking. “Like. Never?”

  “Yeah.” He chewed more, a bit unbelieving. They’d only ever done fun things with at least one person from the team or when a villain was on their tail. Or if it was work or training.

  “We have never really had a normal date, like, at all, have we?” She looked straight at him, making her point.

  “Okay, today is perfect!” Jay finished the last of his meal happily.

  “Alright, you guys, calm down,” Kai stood up, smirking. “I know that must mean you’re all very new to this, so if you’d like to ask the master-”

  And then Cole just straight up picked Kai up. He just yoinked him from off the ground and slung him over his shoulder. He turned toward the pair, genuinely smiling. “Hahah, he’s one to talk. Come on buddy.” As he carried him back to the tent, Kai let out yells of protest, but it was nothing against Cole’s strong hold.

  Zane smiled. “You enjoyed your meal, I hope?”

  “Breakfast was great, Zane,” Nya commented, laughing.

  “I guess this means we’ll finally have a day all to ourselves,” Jay winked, standing up. “I’ll devote this day to being Nya Day.”

  She winked back. “And I, Jay Day.”

  “Let me just go put on my clothes first.”

 -

  The wind of the mountains blew fresh through the couple’s hair. Jay had dug through his bag to try and salvage what he could of the nicest clothes in there and had just barely scraped out a clean look. He’d stepped back outside, surprised to find Nya in a brand new, somewhat formal outfit.

    “Oh,” she had said, reddening a bit. “Maybe I should go get that other stuff back on.”

    “No! No,” he’d interjected immediately. “You look really nice.”

    Now they were climbing down the rocky side of a steep mountain that led down to Ninjago City from their camp. Or, well, they weren’t exactly- their hybrid elemental dragon guided them down slowly, walking so as to not be easily detected.

    “Where are we going?” Jay asked from his spot behind Nya, who had the reins.

    She glanced at her boyfriend quickly with a sly smile. “You’ll see.”

    Jay grinned and kept his silence for a little while. But inside his thoughts were racing quite a bit. He felt tense and nervous- and not because of the date. It was all so familiar. Too familiar. Sitting behind Nya, holding onto her... the feeling of the dragon’s spine beneath him and the thrum, thrum of what was the dragon walking but what his brain turned into the panicked beat of wings. His thoughts wandered through that old experience and he wanted it to stop. But he decided not to say anything.

    At the edge of the city they, to Jay’s relief, put away the use of their dragon and grabbed a ride from a surprisingly mellow fan who was happy to provide service to the “folks who’d saved the city’s ass more than once.” Nya whispered the destination into his ear and he chuckled. “Well y’all enjoy your time, n’.”

    “Shut your eyes, boltbrain,” Nya pleaded, trying to hold back a laugh.

    “I wanna see, though,” Jay whined with a smile, trying to swat her hands away. She was reaching from her spot in the passenger seat of the car.

    He (eventually) complied and they stepped out onto what felt like some concrete. Jay heard the car drive away.

    “Okay,” Nya giggled, sounding slightly embarrassed. “You can look.”

    Light flew into his eyes as he shot them open. He blinked a few times and observed the building in front of him. It was a fairly average-looking concrete building on the outside, but the windows were plastered with 80s-themed patterns, stickers, and paint. He gazed up at the sign that marked the building, which read in bright neon letters, “Ninjago Roller Rink.”

    He turned to his girlfriend with a shy smirk. “Nya, what is this?”

    “Okay, okay, so. It looks a bit run down. But I remember that you were into roller skating as a kid. So I just thought-“

    He pulled her into a tight hug, his excitement growing. “This is awesome! Let’s go!”

    He tried to rush to the door, but Nya got there first and held it open for him. “Ladies first,” she said.

    “Ha-ha,” he joked, unable to hide his grin. They stepped confidently into the building.

    The floor, cheap carpet with an 80s pattern, stretched out beneath them. There were party tables all around them, broken up by counters on the side of the right wall selling the snacks and roller blades. And on their left down a ramp, in all its glory, was the large wooden rink with a disco ball hanging above it. Popular 80s music played but it was barely heard among the conversations of the many people in the building.

    The couple got stares as they entered, but they were too excited to care too much. They rented their skates and set off towards the rink.

    They stepped out onto the floor and the rink suddenly cleared. Bunches of people crowded around the edges to watch two ninja in fancy clothes do normal people stuff.

    While Jay eased on Nya stepped on immediately, and almost fell to the floor but grabbed hold of the edge just in time. She looked surprised.

    “You’ve never done this before, huh?” Jay questioned, sympathetic.

    She shook her head, blushing. “I didn’t know it was that difficult.”

    “Well it’s not, once you learn. Here, let me show you.” He held out his hand.

    She grunted but took hold of it.

    A scene flashed in Jay’s brain. He was forced to remember. The rooftops of the tall, wide building of the city stretched before him, and he felt a feeling of dread, the intrusive thought that this was where it started. He dropped her hand suddenly.

    “Jay? Are you okay?” Nya asked, worried.

    He took her hand again quickly. “Yeah,” he lied. “Just a little nervous, I guess.”

    He took her along the walls of the rink, guiding her with his words. But all the while, he was wondering what had happened. It’s not like it was the first time they’d held hands, of course. So why get so heavily reminded of that now? He was fooling himself. He knew the answer. None of the other ninja were around. Just like… he shook his head. No, stop Jay, you’re literally on a date, he told himself.

    They were eventually off of the walls together, rolling slowly and steadily around the rink. Since it was empty, there was no need to go in the required circles, so they freely went where was best.

    “Alright,” he said gently. “I’m gonna let go now.”

    She looked at him, panicked. “Wait! Don’t!”

    Jay gave her a serious look. “I’m going to, okay? Are you ready?”

    She paused for a second and then nodded.

    “You sure?”

    She nodded again.

    “Go!”

    With a gasp from the crowds, they let go together and Nya rolled ahead. She picked up her pace as they cheered, feeling confident, and then promptly lost her balance and fell down in a tangle of girl, skates and kimono.

    “Nya!”

    She punched the ground. “This is never going to work!”

    Jay frowned. “Don’t say that, you’re doing real good! Look,” he brightened up a bit, “next time I’ll wait until you really want to do it yourself.”

    Reluctantly, she nodded, and took his outstretched hand again. As he pulled her up the music turned to a certain kind of song. An incredibly sappy, incredibly overly fitting song.

    “Oh.” As Jay scratched the back of his head, getting all red, the crowds murmured in wondrous anticipation. He looked around and saw the guy behind the counter put his phone down with a wink. “I guess this isn’t really what you expected,” he told her nervously.

    “It’s cool,” she shrugged, smiling. “Besides, I wanna show you off.”

    He chuckled. “I wanna show me off, too.”

    And then it became perfect.

    Nya picked up the skating incredibly quickly and was able to do very well by herself after just a few seconds. They rejoined at certain points and laughed. When he caught gazes from the crowd, Jay did some age-old skating tricks from way back, rousing several cheers. He always looked back at Nya wherever she was, who was always sporting a proud smile. It was foolish. It was childish. It was fantastic.

    But their finish wasn’t as strong at all.

    They met up towards the end of the song and started to feel something deep in the memories of their bones. Deep in their roller dance, they didn’t think and posed in a way they’d done before- in a fight. Like an instinct of feel-good thrill, they posed, and Jay suddenly gripped his head and fell to the floor.

    It was dark and they were on top of a shining tower. Maybe they might’ve been able to hear the sounds of the black ocean, just maybe, if not for the cries and shouts of leader-blinded, bloodthirsty pirates. They were back to back, their swords drawn, fighting off the swarms of their enemies that no longer even existed within their realm. Jay thought of the lighthouse and this time he couldn’t stop.

    “Jay!” Nya gasped, and the crowd let out shouts of concern. He was brought back to reality with their noise- somehow not hers. He was breathing heavily, still on the dirty wooden floor.

    “I can’t…” he was almost okay when the music switched to something that bored into his brain. He’d never heard it before but it was saying things that couldn’t be unheard.

    “We’re alone together, in a familiar place.”

    He couldn’t stand it.

    “Waves beat upon the rocks and moonbeams shine upon your face.”

    It was pop and terrible but it still existed, and as Jay continued to fall in and out of reality he felt himself being hoisted from the floor by someone strong. “Let’s get you some water… ‘SM, this music… c’mon, Jay…”

    Nya was leading him out of the rink and back onto the carpet, and in her hold he found himself back in the roller rink’s building- but not completely. She sat him down at one of the tables and left him staring at the ground for a moment. When she returned she put an opened bottle of chilled water right in front of him, and wearily, he took a few sips.

    A teenage girl from the crowds, who were now mostly filtering back onto the roller rink, shuffled up to them shyly. “Is the blue ninja okay?” She asked.

    “Yes,” Nya snapped, which quickly sent the girl scuttling away.

    “Better?” She asked, her voice edged with worry. Jay nodded. She sighed, smiling in relief. “That’s good.”

    “Oh, but I ruined it…” he groaned, staring at the top of the table.

    “Ruined what?” She asked, confused.

    “Our date…”

    Nya gave his hair a ruffle. “No ya didn’t. Let’s go talk about this over some lunch.”

-

    Twenty minutes later they were ordering their favorite dishes from Chen’s Noodle House. They sat along the edge of the kitchen and a familiar face decided to pop into their conversation.

    “I think I know what happened,” Nya answered after said familiar face asked.

    “Oh, what then?” Pushed Skylor, leaning in.

    “I just can’t get it out of my brain. Now that we decided to do something on our own, I guess,” Jay frowned, feeling absolutely terrible.

    “What?”

    “It’s difficult to explain,” Nya said quickly, before Skylor delved too deep into speculation.

    The redhead left for a brief moment to grab their food, and returned looking excited for a tale.

    Jay picked around at his noodles. “You’re not gonna believe me, but it’s a different timeline. That only Nya and I remember, I think. It involves a lot of evil pirates, and everyone being trapped in a sword, and Ninjago being in the sky. You were part of my ninja replacements,” Skylor gave him a weird look as he was mid sentence, “and Nya even…”

    He paused and dropped his chopsticks back in the tub. Nya stopped eating suddenly, and looked down, feeling sick.

    “Nya what?”

    “Nothing important,” Nya said, trying to force another bite of food into her mouth.

    “Well, hm,” said Skylor, looking a little put off, “sounds like you guys need to somehow sort this out.”

    “Yeah,” Jay stared at his food. “I know. You’re right. We have to stop pretending like it never happened. We have to think about it. Sort out all the lost… stuff from it.” He reached into a pocket to pull out his wallet, but Nya was there first, holding her card out to Skylor with a smile.

    She shook her head. “Today’s on me, ya crazy lovebirds. I just hope things are okay for you from now on.”

“Thanks,” said Jay with an exasperated sigh. “You’re a life-saver, Skylor.”

    “Well, where do we start, then?” Nya asked when Skylor left them, looking at Jay with some nervousness.

    He narrowed his eyes and gave one of his eyes a rub. “The lighthouse.”

JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World Author Ko Hiratori Discusses World-Building and Realism

Ani-Gamers’ light novel review podcast, the Ani-Gamers Book Club, so enjoyed the light novel JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World that I reached out to the author, Ko Hiratori, for an interview. JK Haru examines a number of traditional light novel conventions in a story about the experience of sex work in both the real world and in an isekai setting (that is, in a “transported to another world” story, for those still unfamiliar with the term). In this exclusive interview, I had the privilege of talking to Ko Hiratori about the novel’s creation and themes.

A full, in-depth AGBC podcast review by David Estrella and myself is available as a reward for $5 patrons on the Ani-Gamers Patreon.

Ani-Gamers: First off, would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

Ko Hiratori: Hello, my name is Ko Hiratori. My literary debut was the light novel JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World. I live in Hokkaido, Japan, and work in an office but write light novels as a hobby.

Ani-Gamers: What are some works that have influenced your writing? Things outside of literature are fine as well.

Hiratori: As a child I was into Doraemon instead of looking at picture books. When I became a student was when I started to read a lot. The books I can recall having a big impact on me at the time were The Grapes of Wrath, Fight Club, Ode to Gallantry, Franny and Zooey and Lord of the Flies. In Japanese literature specifically, Record of Lodoss War, The Decagon House Murders, Genocidal Organ, and Majin Gakuen.

There's lots and lots that I could recommend but those are just off the top of my head.

Once I started working I started reading manga a lot more. I like Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan, and of course masterpieces like Akira, Parasyte, and Dragon Ball. If something gets popular, I'll always want to read it.

Anime I've enjoyed recently has been the Demon Slayer adaptation and A Place Further than the Universe. I don't really think I can write about any games at the moment. (laughs)

Ani-Gamers: Speaking of literature, isekai stories are pretty popular at the moment, aren't they? Although JK Haru isn't such a typical isekai story, what do you think the appeal of isekai is? Do you have an opinion on the genre as a whole?

Hiratori: Although there are a lot of things that have a boom period of popularity, I think the appeal of isekai is the fantasy of “I want to imagine a new world only for me,” and “I want to go to that world”. Maybe it's so resonant because it's a fantasy everyone has had at some point. “Next time, I'd like you to show me your world” kind of thing.

JK Haru is set in a world I wouldn't want to live in, but the point of that was to more or less follow the “classic” rules of isekai stories up until then. (laughs)

At the moment we're all coping with an unprecedented feeling of being cooped up. Don't you think that, at least for the time being, people who wish to go to a fascinating new world certainly aren't going to go away?

Ani-Gamers: That's the power of books, isn't it? Whatever is happening in your life, the power of imagination can help you escape.

Prostitution in Japan has a complicated legal status. Why did you decide to tell a story about this subject through an isekai?"

Hiratori: You need to understand that even in modern Japan there's many compelling reasons people might work at a fuuzoku such as poverty or becoming unemployed. It's not an issue with any kind of easy solution.

JK Haru is a story that takes place in a society of exaggerated male supremacy, but even so the reader is still able to sympathize with the women's circumstances. It's kind of a cheat, a way for Haru's strong heart to inspire the others in the story to work at making a better world. I wrote it with the intention that this would also be the hope of the reader.

Ani-Gamers: The sex workers in JK Haru go through a lot of horrible things but also have a lot of happiness. But a thing that really caught my attention was the use of contraception. Normally in fantasy and isekai stories the idea of contraception is ignored, or it just has an easy solution. But when Haru uses contraception, the reader is really made aware of her body, and it's critical to the overall narrative.

Hiratori: I did try to keep in mind what was normal for a fantasy story, but more than that I was conscientious of what felt real. Kind of like I was trying to please the readers who would be very interested in that sort of thing as well as the people who would want to skip over it. (laughs)

In the end it was another way to demonstrate Haru's strength and tenacity to the reader. I did kind of simplify the issue of contraception and venereal disease though. Although if I could get away with it I wouldn't think about either of them.

Ani-Gamers: When you were writing JK Haru, how much importance did you place on the real experiences of sex workers?

Hiratori: Actually, I didn't do a lot of research, but I thought a lot about the isekai setting and that of the shop, and thinking about how Haru would advance herself in the shop was an interesting process.

Oh, but the first time Haru takes Sumo to the second floor, I did some research into how a sumo wrestler has sex. Some readers expressed their gratitude at having found it very helpful that I had considered how people with very different bodies would have sex.

Ani-Gamers: There was a really fascinating contrast between Haru's appeal as a high school girl in a world where nobody has any appreciation for that, but Haru also felt a lot more realistic as compared to the “JK” character archetype. The character Chiba also made me feel Ah, yes, I've known this kind of person in the past.

Hiratori: Haru very much feels that being a “JK” is a large part of her identity, and she's determined to enjoy it and drag everyone she knows into performing that part of herself. Similarly, Chiba is desperately holding onto being an “Otaku” as his reason for living, the kind of person who won't ever consider the source of his fixations. The two are very similar, but because their outlook is so very different they won't ever be able to understand one another.

That being said I don't think most people have a very memorable personality when they're a teenager. I had a lot of fun writing those two, you've really given me nostalgia.

Ani-Gamers: Thank you very much for answering our questions. I'm really looking forward to your next book. Is there anything you've wanted to say thus far but haven't had the opportunity to?

Hiratori: Thank you as well. Up until now I've only really had people who read my stories on the web, but thanks to JK Haru a lot of people have had the chance to see my work. I'd love to write another book that people will have the pleasure of reading. But until then, thank you for all your support.

For even more JK Haru discussion, check out David and Inaki’s full podcast review on the Ani-Gamers Book Club!

JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World Author Ko Hiratori Discusses World-Building and Realism originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on July 31, 2020 at 5:19 PM.

By: Inaki

Honest Opinion - Lizard Misty

You guessed it. Italian name? Eris. A name that, like Shaina’s I kinda like more. Can’t tell you why.

Overall score (character, not looks): 7/10

You know why his score is not top tier? Because he’s a narcissistic little bitch. And even if I loved this character, it’s borderline ridiculous.  But no, despite this harsh start, I really really like Misty. This man is, alongside Aphrodite, a big “fuck you” to gender stereotypes and expected behaviors. 

You know how easy could have been for many other animes to take a character like Misty and deem him weak and/or ridiculous for his appearance and attitude? Way too easy, if you ask me.  But Saint Seiya doesn’t do that, Saint Seiya goes the extra mile and includes literally every single type of person that exists without denigrating, and Misty is the perfect example among the Silver Saints. 

Why? Well, I’m glad you asked.  Misty is a well respected Saint, it’s easily understandable even if it isn’t stated out loud. He gets chosen to kill Seiya not because he’s some sort of random warrior, but because he’s actually capable and strong.  Hell, Misty is one of the best Silver Saints out there! He’s so good that, even though many people have judged his technique lazy (trust me, I’ve seen enough of those people), he can win fights without lifting a finger. 

Sure, he’s way too much fixated on his appearance, and exaggeratedly thinks beauty is power (unlike Aphrodite, “power is beauty” is my go to for him), but he’s capable.  Misty mastered his barrier as to never be touched during battle, to the point of becoming one of the bests of his rank. On top of that, he has a powerful attack technique, able to make quick work of his opponents.  And, to top everything, he’s smart. He’s clever. 

As far as I saw, and think as of me, this man was able to see thought Marin’s (weak, in my opinion) disguise and lie, and subsequently checked for himself is Seiya was dead or not.  Fully knowing he was still alive. 

[Dub digression]

Ok, remember when I praised the Italian dub left and right? I still do, but what the hell, when Misty talked he scared me.  His voice actor, despite being one of the best in the series (he’s the main voice for Shiryu, more on that when I’ll modify his entry I already published), definitely doesn’t fit the character.  The voice is amazing, but not for Misty. 

That said, his name is Marco Balzarotti, a terrifyingly good voice actor that is known for a bunch of other stuff like, obviously, Dragon Shiryu, Mamoru Chiba (Sailor Moon), Rex Goodwin (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s), Kurogiri (My Hero Academia), a lot of people in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and way more.  If you want to hear him, here’s the video! Il Cavaliere d’Argento

[End of the dub digression]

So, in all fairness and put bluntly out there, why the fuck did he lose against Seiya? Plot relevance, you might answer, and that’s correct. But, taking away the damn plot that made Silver Saints less than their subordinates, Misty would have won. Easily. 

I do have to say, though... taking off his Cloth as he was still engaged in battle? I appreciate the balls he had for having his dick out in the middle of a fight, but come on.  This is the only thing I complain about him, he believes in cleanliness and personal image purity way too much.  He’s a Saint, dammit, I can’t believe he actually strips and bathes during a fight to the death because of two drops of blood. 

Sure, I would have reacted even worse if I had Seiya’s blood on me, probably would have set myself on fire, but come on. I’m an idiot, he’s a Saint. 

That said, I appreciated his dying words. He realized what he was doing, and understood the wrong parts of it. I’m still mad he died lie that, with no actual reason behind the plot’s need to advance, but what can we do. It’s the sad fate of every single Silver Saint in this series. 

Is that (CHARLIE HUNNAM)? NO, it’s (MARCELLUS IGNIS). He are (500+) years old and a (Dragon/Warlock hybrid). He are charming, skillful, protective but he are also possessive, devious, aggressive.

Marcel was created by one of two covens of warlocks using magic along side dragon DNA, in hopes to make a perfect solider race, the two covens wanted to breed their two specimens together to further and strengthen the new race they created. Marcel had no knowledge of any of this information for most of his life, he knew he was created by magic but he never understood or was given the true reasoning behind it.

When the other coven was destroyed, suddenly one day, Marcel’s coven made new plans for him, still turning him into a weapon, an assassin for hire. He took down monarchs, lords and even leaders of demonic groups, stealing what treasures he found along the way. He quickly realized at some point he stopped aging completely which only pleased his coven even more.

Two hundred years ago however his life changed completely, while at party he was stalking his next target when he locked eyes with a woman, who even from across the room he could tell was like him. His target was easily forgotten as he became fixated on the woman, testing her, teasing her almost as much as she seemed to be doing so to him. 

Marcel didn’t know a damn thing about this woman but he sure as hell was going to, he needed to, no matter the cost. Which was great indeed, cutting ties with his coven wasn’t only unheard of, it was deemed damn well impossible. Well if they weren’t going to let him go freely, he’d fight for his freedom. They spent three hundred years training him and perfecting him in the art of murder, it was their greatest mistake.

Once he was finally free of his coven, once they were all no more, he made it his own mission in life to keep Carmen in his for however long their kind would live. Their game was mostly stealing, from anyone and anywhere, getting out before they could be seen or caught. Marcel was trying to put his life as an assassin behind him but in a tight spot somethings just had to happen.

The worst spot they found themselves in was when they went by the names Bonnie and Clyde, the only way out was to kill the characters but bodies needed to be left behind, now Marcel and Carmen aren’t completely heartless which was why they picked an unsavory couple to take their place. Some sort of odd ball justice in his eyes at least. 

Marcel is a charming sort of man when he needs to be, he realized at an early age, how smooth talking can get you out of just about anything and what it can’t, fighting will. He’s masterful in lock picking, pocket picking, any slight of hand, sword and knife play, hand to hand combat as well as many formal dance styles, horse back riding, and safe cracking. Personality wise, Marcel is the more rough around the edges type with a soft center. He is strong and tough outwardly as a means to protect not only himself but mostly Carmen, he’d lay his life down to protect her.  

As far as Carmen is concerned, Marcel is head over heels for the woman same as he was two hundred years ago. He is possessive when it comes to her, other men cause him to get aggressive and even violent if pushed but he trusts her heart is his always. Though if Carmen ever asked him about bringing another female into their bed, he’s happily humor her, though his interests in other woman is limited, his attentions rest with Carmen.  

If you can get Marcel to laugh you’re in, he loves a good laugh another sure way is show your worth, your own strength without making it seem like you’re challenging his, because this man has a huge alpha vibe going. Though he was raised by warlocks, Marcel doesn’t align himself with them, he thinks of himself and Carmen as chaotic neutral parties. Which is why being sent back in time for whatever war is brewing really pisses him off, he and Carmen had real plans going but on the plus, now they have advantages in the year 200, so the year 2032 can wait. 

Dragon Ball Z 204

Welp, Gohan’s just chillin’ in a giant nest.

Oh, also Goten’s here.    So there’s a family of those big pterodactyl-looking creatures and apparently Gohan and Goten are friends with them, but they’ve gone missing.  

This episode used to confuse me a lot when I first saw it, because I hadn’t watched the entire series up to this point, so I wasn’t sure if Chibi and his parents were a retcon or if they had appeared before this.     Gohan acts like he’s known them his whole life, but this is indeed their first appearance.   I think I might have confused them with Icarus aka Haiya Dragon, who was Gohan’s animal companion in Movies 3,4, 5, and Episodes 108-119.     Kind of weird how Toei just sort of dropped that altogether once the androids showed up.    Maybe Icarus died during the three year gap?   It just feels like this episode was written with him in mind, like he married a female of his species and now Gohan has to save his newly-hatched offspring.   

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan is chillaxing in his home, watching footage of himself winning the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai with a bottle of wine.    I suppose this is telling.   In private, this is the stuff that keeps Mr. Satan going.    His victory over Cell was a fabrication, but winning the World Tournament was a genuine achievement, one he can truly take pride in. 

I just wonder if he’s haunted by the memory of the Cell Games.   He’s the only one who knows what really happened, so he can’t tell anyone, even his own daughter.    Everything worked out, sure, but he still has to live with the knowledge that all of those strange people were stronger than himself.   That must put these highlight reels into a different perspective.   Maybe Mr. Satan is watching them for the sake of nostalgia.    He’s thinking back to a time when he didn’t know better, and he really believed he was the strongest man in the world.   

Anyway, Videl asks him about the previous Tenkaichi Budokai champion, and Mr. Satan explains that Son Goku was a mysterious man with a lot of fancy tricks, but he was surely no match for Mr. Satan.   

And this is apparently the moment when Videl realizes that the former champion has the same family name as Gohan.   Hmmm...

Meanwhile, Gohan and Goten watch news coverage of a circus wth a new act: a baby monster.  

Turns out, it’s Chibi, the baby they were looking for at the top of this episode.    This asshole named Musuka caught him and made him part of his asshole circus.    Seriously, what sort of act is this?    He just stands there with a whip and Chibi curls up into a ball and shivers in terror.    Why would people pay money to see this?

Awww, look at this adorable little man.    Fuck you, Musuka.    Fuck you and fuck your audience.    Fuck the circus, while I’m at it.  

Seriously, I don’t get the circus at all.    I have faint memories of going to one as a kid, and I’m pretty sure the only thing I wanted to see was Pac-Man, and I missed him while I went to the restroom or something.    I have no idea how Pac-Man was at the circus, but I just know I sat through like 95 hours of boring-ass non-Pac-Man content, and then I blinked and he wasn’t there.    Maybe I dreamed the whole thing.    Fuck the circus is my point.  

I’m pretty sure it was real, though, because I’ll see ads or circuses today and they promote appearances by Spongebob or some other cartoon character, and it’s probably just a guy in a suit.    The point is that they have to do that kind of thing because kids haven’t cared about animal acts for at least forty years.    They like cartoons and video games, because those are fucking awesome.   

And you don’t need a circus to have meet-and-greets with cartoon characters.    Just slap a costume on a guy and have him chill out in an air-conditioned building.    Circuses do it because they have to adapt to the times, except they keep clinging to all this other stuff that doesn’t work anymore.  

I have no pity for it.    I read a Batman comic from like 1988, where Dick Grayson checks up on the circus he used to run with before his parents got murdered, and every time Robin checks up on his circus pals they always do the sob story about how business is down because no one goes to the circus anymore.    It was cliche in 1988, and that comic is older than most of the people reading this.   I’ve been hearing about the slow, agonizing decline of the circus my entire life, and I was born in the Carter administration for crying out loud.   Nobody goes to Sears anymore, and you don’t see anyone feeling sorry for Sears.   

I don’t want to get too anti-capitalist on this thing, but it annoys me when people get all weepy over businesses that can’t keep up with the market.   Everyone was all sad when Toys R’ Us went bankrupt, but that’s bullshit, because no one really cares about Toys R’ Us, or they wouldn’t have gone out of business in the first place.   What is it we miss about that store?   You can buy the merchandise elsewhere, which is exactly what everyone did.    So what’s left?    Geoffrey the Giraffe?    Fuck that guy.    He’s no Pac-Man, that’s for sure.   The jingle?   You can look that up on YouTube right now.   

The circus is the same deal.    We’re supposed to care when one of them shuts down because it had been in business for like 105 years or something, like just because something is old that makes it important.   Once upon a time they didn’t have Pokemon, and the best you could do was to hope some carnies rolled through your town and they had a cool bear that would do tricks.    But that business model wasn’t going to last forever, and if it can’t adapt to the times then it doesn’t deserve to continue as it is.    I feel like I read once that circuses have shifted their focus towards human performers, which makes more sense to me, because it gets the animal rights activists off their back, and the humans can do flashier things anyway.    Then again, I scratch that itch by watching pro wrestling, so I don’t know if that’s viable.    It comes down to a question of what a circus has to offer without giving up its identity as a circus.    if the answer is to rebrand as some other kind of show, then just do it and don’t look back.    If you’re determined to keep up the pretense out of some misplaced sense of obligation, then don’t look for pity when the business dries up.  

Same deal with trains.     I dig Johnny Cash, but he had this one song that was basically all moping about how nobody travels by train anymore.    Well I rode a passenger train once and it was exactly like taking an airplane only cheaper and slower.   That’s why people don’t do it as much.    You can romanticize this stuff, but you need more than romance to turn a profit.   

Anyway, where was I?    Oh, right, Gohan tries to talk the owner into releasing Chibi into the wild, and when he gets shot down, Gohan just waltzes over to Chibi’s cage and busts him out.   

Yeah!    Fight the power!

Yeah, this is a Triangle Guy episode, by the way.  

Musuka doesn’t take kindly to hearing his star attraction has been stolen.   What’s amazing to me is how he’s just sitting at his desk counting huge stacks of cash, presumably earned from people paying top dollar to watch him abuse a defenseless animal.    I mean, yeah, this is Dragon Ball Z, but this is pretty broad, even for this show. 

So Gohan plans to just fly Chibi back to his nest, but oops, Chibi’s having a hard time flying so high and so fast.     Awwww, look at the spirals in his eyes, he’s all dizzy.  Hang in there, buddy.   

So basically Chibi is baby.    Gohan will have to carry him out of Satan City on foot.   

I forget why, but the truck driver from the Vegeta/18 fight is in this episode.    Pretty sweet.

Then Videl shows up.    Musuka called the cops, who in turn called in Videl, since Great Saiyaman’s a little out of their league.    Videl’s shocked that Saiyaman would steal like this, but it gives her an excuse to fight and unmask him, so she’s down with it.  

So yeah, you’ve probably seen the gif of this shot where Videl jumps on Gohan and wraps her legs around his head, but I’m pretty sure she was setting up a hurricanrana.   Everyone needs to get their heads out of the gutter.   

Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

For some reason, Musuka wanders over and starts whipping Chibi, like that would help anything in this situation.    Seriously why does he need a whip?   Anyway, Chibi cries out and...

... Uh-oh.

So here are Chibi’s parents, and they’re not pleased.   This was exactly what Gohan was afraid might happen, but Videl wouldn’t listen to him, and he didn’t want to just punch out Videl, Musuka, and the cops to avoid this.   

The cops try to shoot at Chibi’s parents, and Gohan can’t get anyone to back off.   I don’t see why he doesn’t just grab Chibi and hand him over, but whatever.

I think around here, the dub has Gohan try to talk to them, and Videl points out that dinosaurs can’t talk.    So Gohan goes “Yes, thank you Videl, you’re very smart.”

But I do like this version, where Videl is surprised to find that Great Saiyaman’s childhood involved playing with pterodactyl monsters.    This is the sort of stuff Gohan doesn’t want gettng out about himself.   Not this specifically, but just the idea that he’s super strong and runs with huge animals and his best friend is King Piccolo and he turned into a giant gorilla a couple of times.   

Anyway, Gohan’s idea is that he can use his voice to get them to calm down, since they ought to recognize him.�� 

But at one point he almost uses his real name, and Videl gets so fixated on it that she takes her eye off the whole “giant monster” situation. 

Then Masuka pulls a gun and Chibi’s dad almost eats Videl and it’s all breaking down...

(Awwwwwwwwww.....)

So Gohan has to deck Chibi’s dad to get things under control.    Maybe he should have just done that in the first place.  

Chibi’s all upset, but Gohan didn’t hit him that hard, so it’s cool.  

Fortunately, Chibi’s mom is a bit more practical, so Gohan hands him off to her and escorts them out of the city, carrying Chibi’s dad on his back.   

Nice shot of the reunited family.

And Goten flies over to get a kiss from Chibi.    What a good boy.    My only regret here is that no one kicked Musuka in the balls.    He threatens to go back and capture Chibi all over again, but Videl threatens him into abandoning that idea.

The next day, Gohan’s wearing a bandaid on his face because of a scratch he got from Chibi’s dad.   I think in the manga, he got it from the Red Shark Gang, but whatever.    Point is, Videl thanks him for yesterday, and he completely forgets himself and responds to this, which basically blows his secret identity.   

The moral here is that there’s more to a secret identity than the disguise.   In the end, Gohan’s just too honest to live a double life.   Videl asks him if he’s the Golden Warrior too, and he insists that he isn’t, because he absolutely cannot let that secret get out.    I’m not sure why, though, since Videl already knows he has super powers.   A few episodes later, it’ll become clear that Gohan doesn’t want Videl to find out that he beat Cell instead of her father, so maybe that’s part of what’s going on here.

Anyway, Videl agrees to keep his secret, if Gohan agrees to enter the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai.    Last episode, she found out that the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai’s winner was Son Goku, and she figures that must mean Gohan is his son.  And since her father won the 24th Budokai, she’s thinking it might be cool if they both entered the next tournament.   Gohan isn’t too interested in that idea, but he has no choice, since Videl will expose him unless he plays along.   

I never really thought about this, but Videl really acts as the flashpoint for this entire arc.    Everything that happens from this point onward is a direct result of the tournament.    All the major players converse there, and that only happens because Gohan chose to enter, and that only happens because Videl blackmailed him into it.   

And really, Videl’s only taking this much of an interest in Gohan because of the Cell Games, and the Z-Fighter’s indifference to Mr. Satan claiming the victory over Cell.    She’s convinced that her father and Gohan’s father are peers, and that the two of them could have an even match.     If the Cell Games had played out differently, maybe Videl wouldn’t bother bringing any of this up.   

Oh, one last thing, Videl wants Gohan to show her how to fly, since it gives him an unfair advantage over her.   

So now Gohan’s stuck.    He has to fight Videl in public and teach her how to fly.     Well, he’s been through worse situations than this.   

Kimetsu no Yaiba Chapter 177 Review

The battle has ended, but Kokushibo’s story has not. He is perhaps the last remain of the past generation; now fading to the afterlife. Before he goes out, the backstory begins to unfold, revealing the life and downfall of the Moon Breather. It all started with the Sun Breather.

This chapter is all about the flashback. That’s definitely not a bad thing; however, if you’re dying to know (no pun intended) the status of the Pillars, you’ll have to wait. It’s not confirmed that Tokito and Genya are dead, though for Tokito I can’t see any way around it, so patient is key. In the meantime, the flashback will serve a sob, depressing tale of brothers that couldn’t have their own way.

We know Kokushibo envied his younger brother, Yorichi, but we don’t know when exactly that sin began to consume him. Honestly, I didn’t expect the last chapter’s closure was seguing to his entire backstory, but not only it’s welcoming, it’s warranted. Not only will we learn the depth of Kokushibo’s character but so as Yorichi’s. While the future of the series is still unknown, despite the feeling of closure is strong, this flashback will set up for what’s to come today.

Although they are twins, Yorichi was born with the Mark. It disturbed the father so heavily, he wanted the baby killed. That’s just sad. Curse or not, what kind of person would want to kill a baby? Thank the sun for the mother, for she denied him and kept the baby alive; like a true loving person. It’s only when he turns ten that he will be sent to a temple.

The idea is, Yorichi was treated like a special person; differentiate from how Kokushibo was raised. Different food, different clothing, and so on. Yorichi had cling to his mother’s left side; as if she is the only one he is treated with love and care. She did save him, so no child would ever leave their mother’s side. However, there’s a major key to that illustration, but let’s go one step at a time.

Kokushibo pitied his younger brother for how he was treated. I thought it’s sad to know he did care for him. He even went out of his way to make a flute for him. The brotherly love or bromance did exist once upon a time. It’s also sad to know how lonely Yorichi was; unable to smile or even speak, like a mute person. It’s amazing how much he will change as young adult, but saddening to see him as a child.

The seed of envy was planted when Yorichi watched him training. It was that moment where he was fascinated by his dream to become the strongest Samurai in the nation; so he too wanted to become one. Kokushibo was shocked to not only hear him speak for the first time, but so as see him smile. It’s like a blind person finally able to see in 20/20 vision; it’s a miracle. It’s a heartwarming moment, but disturbing to Kokushibo. This moment is very crucial to the following scene for it would become apparent how much life changes for the two.

He believed it was unthinkable for Yorichi to become a Samurai. This gives you an idea how he judged the book by its cover, and you know the old saying goes. He was a kid, so it’s understandable in some regards, but this is where it began to change. Yorichi takes a practice sword and goes against the instructor for fun. Kokushibo has practice for so long, he’s still unable to land a hit on the instructor. Yorichi however on his first try not only lands it, but soundly defeated him.

It’s striking to see him go at it, practically annihilated the instructor in his first try. He was only seven years old. It’s as if he’s the Broly from Dragon Ball of this series; gifted with incredible power. It becomes more apparent when Kokushibo asked him about his strength. Yorichi was already able to see the Transparent World. That’s unheard of, but according to his description, it’s most definitely the case. All this time, Kokushibo pitied him when he’s in fact not only gifted, but vastly superior. “Looks can be deceiving” is what he should have known.

This should have been an uprising hill for both, but it sadly becomes a downhill spiral. Yorichi’s smile faded away once he realized the damage and pain as a Samurai. This explains why we hardly see him happy until he spoke about the next generation. Maybe he found it again, but as of now, it appears his life was forced to live this path, based on his gift or maybe curse. It’s crushing to see him wanting to play games with his older brother, yet all they can talk about is Samurai, something he wanted to avoid.

As for Kokushibo, his downfall is much clearer in compare. He was outclassed by his younger brother by a large margin. It was then their father changed his mind about his sons’ role. Yorichi would inherit the House, while Kokushibo would be sent to a temple. In other words, the roles have been reversed.

It’s bad enough the same guy who wanted Yorichi dead now kisses him like the favorite, it is worse that Kokushibo is now treated like a second fiddle. It’s not like he was rude like a spoiled brat to warrant this kind of karma. It’s not designed for us to laugh at him, rather sympathize. The sad part is, he was raised to be a Samurai from the get-go. Because of House’s status, he can no longer be as such. Imagine being raised to be a football player, training and all, only to be declined seven years later. Your mind is fixated to live that life, but now that’s taken away, how can you adjust to something else. It’s not easy and Kokushibo got it really rough.

Perhaps the last tender bromance moment is Yorichi’s farewell. Their mother had passed away and Yorichi was departing to the temple. He stopped by to say goodbye to his brother, presenting him the flute, the same one from the past. It symbolizes how much he cherished it. Even with their shortcomings as of late, Yorichi truly loved his brother; like their mother, he saved his life. Now the tear scene back when they are much older holds so much meaning. It’s quite sad to look back.

The nail on the coffin for Kokushibo is the mother’s journal. She has been dealing with a bad illness for a long time, and her left side was suffering. That’s when he realized Yorichi was supporting her since the beginning. Once again, seeing is not believing. With Yorichi winning the father’s approval, loving and caring the mother, and being a superior Samurai in every way, Kokushibo was enraged with envies.  Looking over the chapter, I can’t really blame him.

To me, this is deemed as a sad story. Yorichi had nothing, only to be granted with everything, yet he wasn’t amused. Kokushibo had everything he thought to have, only to be discarded by reality, yet he thought he was doing well. The best way to describe him is a Shounen protagonist gone wrong. He was treated with respect, but inside, he was the underdog. He trained hard, yet Yorichi was gifted with everything. Because we know he became a demon, hard work didn’t pay off. I look forward to that moment.

I thought this was a touching chapter. It delivered the insight depth of the Sun and Moon Brothers back in their childhood. Their adulthood differs greatly from their childhood. I would have assume they lived mostly normal, but their childhood shows hardship and painful reality. Kokushibo’s envy was reasonable and sympathetic in my opinion. It would have been pitiful if he was just jealous without any circumstance such as raised as a prodigy or approved by the House before changing plans. I know I mainly summarized here, but the narration is very good. It’s wall of text, but compelling and thoughtful. The tale isn’t over, so the downfall will resume.

Fairy Law — One

A Not-So Typical Beginning

Summary ⟶ Whereas our story finally begins.

Pairings ⟶ Guild Friendship, Laxus/Mirajane, Natsu/Lucy, Erza/Jellal, Gray/Juvia, Gajeel/Levy.

Tags ⟶ Fluff.

Setting ⟶ After Alvarez arc.

Note ⟶ I present to you, the (unedited) beginning!

In the town of Magnolia, just at the edge of their territory, past the Kardia Cathedral, resided the guild that was known as Fairy Tail. More specifically, the strongest, most reckless, quite fearsome, very persistent, and the most unpredictable wizard guild to ever grace the continent of Fiore.

Don’t get me wrong, that guild can also be one of the most loyal of allies one can ever hope to have.

Anyone who passed by the guild could feel the tremors of the ground from the mere clatter of their daily brawl, hear the incoherent chatter, taste the barmaid’s incredible cooking, see the different mages walking through the door, and more importantly, practically smell the destruction that was about to come.

But nobody who ever set foot in the guild hall truly knew the horrors of Fairy Tail.

A typical day for the Fairy Tail wizards entailed many, many brawls that either ended as quickly as it started or ended until the Master had a thousand Jewels or more ripped right out of his pocket.

And there Makarov sat, in his usual spot in the bar counter, as he watched the chaos wrecking every corner of his guild hall. His soul practically left his body by now, leaving a ghastly pale old man in it’s absence.

“We’re gonna–we’re gonna rebuild again, aren’t we?” Makarov choked out as he watched the plethora of chairs flying from each side of the room, tables being upturned and tossed, and walls having cracks after some wizard has been roughly tossed to the side. He prayed dearly to the First Master that he’d live through this. But the thought of the amount of Jewels that would cost him today struck him painfully through the heart.

But luckily, he still had some angels left in the guild. An angel that took form of a blue-eyed demon. Truly, what an astounding guild.

“It’ll be alright, Master,” Mirajane came up to him, sporting a sickly large bump on her head, and smiled ever so sweetly. Her dark blue eyes glittered with happiness despite the commotion behind her.

The endearing smile never left Mirajane’s face as she glanced at what was left of the guild hall. She sighed contently as she leaned on the counter, supporting her head with her palms. “It’s good to be home. I wish we could stay this happy forever. We all deserve a break. Don’t you think, Master?”

Makarov nodded subtly, his arms crossed and eyes closed. “I suppose so.” Then he slammed his fist on the surface, leaving a large dent, he stood up straightly, “But it doesn’t mean the brats should tear the guild to pieces!”

“Tch.”

The brooding interjection came from Laxus who had been bobbing along to the rhythm of his music without a care to his surroundings, his fist was glowing brightly, a clear indicator that he would join the fight. He turned to Mirajane with a devilish smirk, showing off his sparking hand—not to mention the bulging muscles that tensed under the tight shirt of his.

“Want me to take care of them for you, Mira?” Laxus teased.

Mirajane immediately whacked him on the head. She put one hand on her hip as she furiously glared at him—at certain times like this, she didn’t even need her Demon Soul—and jabbed an accusatory finger at his chest.

“Don’t you dare, Laxus!” Mirajane exclaimed, a dark and cold aura emanating from all around her. “If you were to do that, you’d wipe out everybody in the guild!”

Laxus chuckled, lowering his fists as a sign of submission. “Are you saying I’m strong?”

“No!” Within a split second, Mirajane managed to slap the back of his head yet again. “I meant that you have no control on your impulses!”

“I’ll show you how much impulse control I have tonight,” Laxus’s dark eyes glinted with danger. His large arm wrapped around her tiny waist, gradually drawing her closer until he dipped down in the crook of her neck. His nose trailed along her neck until the outline of her jaw. Laxus smirk grew arrogantly as he lightly bit the shell of her ear. “Mirajane.”

Mira blinked a few times, laying her hands on his chest—definitely not feeling the muscles underneath—since her legs were so wobbly from the intimacy. After getting her woozy head from the clouds and realizing what had just happened, she wriggled her way out his grip, staggering a few steps back.

“Laxus!” Mirajane shrieked in shock. Her hands were balled into fists, ready to unleash an attack. She couldn’t believe what actually had just happened. Stupid Laxus, she thought.

Laxus only chuckled at her frantic state. Yes, he did anticipate an attack from the She-Demon, but he was positively sure that he’d be able to take whatever she threw at him. He saw eyed her small fists, and expected a flurry of pretend punches. But as he turned his gaze away, he should have realized that doing anything half-assed was not Mirajane’s favorite thing to do.

Because Laxus underestimated Mirajane, he totally didn’t predict that he’d be graced with the presence of the demon Mirajane Sitri.

And that was how Laxus was sent flying across the room. Everyone stared in shock with their mouth agape as the wizard shot across the room. And perhaps it was the surprise of it all that they didn’t realize who was he was going to crash into.

That person, who unfortunately took the brunt of his weight, was none other than the wizard who had less luck that she claimed to have, Lucy Heartfilia.

“Kya!”

Lucy yelped out loud when Laxus slammed into her side, sending her off the barstool and flat onto the floor with Laxus beside her. Both blondes were incapacitated on the ground, though Laxus was already sitting upright after a matter of a few seconds. Lucy, on the other hand, didn’t look so good. After all, no normal human could withstand Laxus’s attacks, or literally himself in her case.

Laxus turned to the side and rolled his eyes at the sight that greeted him. He stood up, despite the pounding headache, and offered a hand to her. “Geez, blondie, you look horrible.”

Luckily, it was an overstatement. It was only her hair that got dragged into the mess. What once was a neat, high ponytail, now became loose from her elastic band suddenly snapping, resulting into Lucy’s yellow hair to fall down to her waist.

Nonetheless, Lucy accepted the hand, wincing once she tried to stand up. “Thank you. What did you do to Mira-san this time, Laxus?”

Laxus grunted, crossing his arms. “I don’t know with the She-Devil. She just attacked me when I stood there silently—”

“Laxus!”

Everyone knew that somebody would smack some sense into him—after all, Mirajane wouldn’t just attack someone unless heavily provoked—and they all expected it to be Mirajane. What they didn’t expect was Natsu interrupting him.

Natsu Dragneel stood a few metres from them, obviously taking a break from his one-on-one. His entire body erupted in flames so hot that some of the guild members began to complain. Natsu’s ebony eyes fixated on one thing.

Lucy.

“What the hell did you do?!” Natsu growled out. At times like this, he couldn’t control his emotions. The determination to protect his mate—excuse me, best friend—and mixed with the adrenaline of his precious fight both clouded his way of thinking.

Laxus, eyes dull of emotion, just shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Fire Dragon’s Claw!”

And just as Natsu’s fist collided with Laxus’s face, he suddenly stopped.

He didn’t forego with his attack because somebody covered their fist over his own, their hand acting as a comforting blanket. Because he’d been so accustomed to the warm and gentle touch of this person he immediately calmed down. It was Lucy. And she was very mad.

Lucy had an eyebrow raised, her brown eyes no longer filled with sweetness and innocence, but irritation. “What do you think you’re doing, Natsu Dragneel?”

A split second later, Natsu swept Lucy off her feet and into his arms. He had one arm supporting the back of her legs and another arm cradling her head close to his chest. He completely forgot that Laxus was in front of him, and frankly, he didn’t care. But don’t fret, he’d get his well deserved fight sooner or later.

“Kyaa! Natsu! Have you gone crazy?! Put me down! Natsu! What are you doing?!” Lucy cried out in panic.

He smirked at her, thinking that he had the upper hand now. Slowly leaning towards her, he replied ever so softly, “Carrying you, Lucy Heartfilia.”

Lucy couldn’t take everything much longer. His scent. His eyes. His voice. His warm, muscly, wide chest. His arms. Just everything about him. But she didn’t want him to see how much he had affected her—damn that Salamander.

She covered her eyes dramatically, a poor tactic but she was desperate, as she whispered, “Well, my back does hurt. . .”

Natsu nodded grimly before comically turning to his side. “Happy, translate.”

Happy then appeared, his majestic wings flying him up to Natsu’s height. He had a paw underneath his chin, eyes squinted as if he was thinking hard about something. Then suddenly he turned to Natsu, eyes gleaming with pride.

“Natsu!” The Exceed exclaimed joyously. “I think she means she wants to go home so that we can all have a delicious fish dinner!”

Natsu turned his piercing gaze back to the woman squirming in his arms, a devilish smirk gracing his lips. “Oh? Then I guess I gotta do what she wants!”

Lucy shook her hand in a frantic pace, panicking that they were already moving to the direction of the guild’s doors. “Natsu, put me down!”

Natsu paused in his steps. He clocked his head down a bit, eyebrows frowning. “What was that, Luce?”

“Oh!” Natsu lifted his head, beaming like a little child. “You want me to carry you all the way home? Alright, you naughty girl!”

“Natsu!”

Before the two couple—excuse me again, best friends—left the guild, a certain someone caught the attention of Natsu.

“Natsu, come and finish the fight, you bastard!”

Gray had both of his hands prepared to throw an attack. He gritted his teeth, still having lots of energy to spare. And he had no doubt that he would throw Lucy on the floor and come spar with him.

Unfortunately for him, he was met with a surprise.

For Natsu, there was no rivaling spending time with Lucy. He had plenty of time to beat Gray’s ass but now he just wanted to snuggle with Lucy in the most comfortable bed of all, her breas—bed.

“Goodbye, Ice Queen!” Natsu waved at him enthusiastically.

Out of impulse, Gray replied with a spell. “Ice Make: Lance!”

Now the good news is that Natsu dodged the attack and was now headed down towards Lucy’s apartment.

The bad news was that Erza happened to pass by and took all of the impact.

Erza didn’t flinch when his attacks met her flesh. She just stood there, bored eyes and stiff posture. And when the spell finally ended, she turned to Gray with the darkest of glares.

“Gray Fullbuster,” Erza said menacingly. Her body was rigid, tremoring slightly from the fury welling up within her. “Better say your last words.”

The aforementioned Ice Mage trembled slightly. His eyes widened, fearing his best friend’s wrath. And before Gray could escape her fury successfully, he heard the most terrifying words known to mankind.

“Requip!”

There she was, Titania, clad in the glory of her Heaven’s Wheel Armor, with the number of swords at her back, awaiting her first command. Erza did not waver, clearly about to join the brawl in a second. With one step forward, Erza raised her sword, “Prepare to fall beneath my sword!”

Gray paled, already feeling lightheaded from his soul leaving him. Despite knowing that Erza would at least pull her attacks a little bit, Gray still wasn’t quite sure if she was being serious—but knowing her, he knew that he was about to get concussed.

Erza let out a battle cry. She was about to run into Gray, preparing for a swordfight when she was interrupted quite rudely.

“Kyaa!”

Titania let out one of her rare shrieks of surprise. She felt herself being hoisted onto something high. Her hands landed on hard, thick muscle. It took her seconds before she fully realized.

“Jellal?!”

The cloaked wizard nodded gently, patting her bum softly, not really caring if she’d decapitate him later. “Yo.”

Erza’s armor began to fade, as well as the armor around her heart. She kept hitting Jellal’s—muscled—back whilst attempting to cover her face from her nosey guild mates. Damn it. Why was her heart beating so fast?

“Jellal, put me down this instant!” Erza commanded. Though the blush on her cheeks and the cracks in her voice made it harder to take her seriously.

Jellal only shook his head. He waved everyone inside the guild hall a respectful goodbye, as if he didn’t have the great Iron Maiden on his shoulder.

“C’mon, Scarlet. I’m treating you to strawberry cake down at the bakery.”

And with that the two lovers—excuse me, my bad, I meant childhood friends—set off into the distance.

“Gray-sama!”

Juvia’s concerned cry filled the guild hall as she ran to Gray, who promptly fainted and fell to the ground. She tenderly laid his head on her lap as she brushed the tendrils of pitch black away from his eyes.

“Gray-sama, are you okay?” Juvia poked at the pale cheek. She briefly wondered if he was out for the count.

Gray, eyes halflidded, nodded sadly. He gently caught the hand that was cradling his cheek. “Juvia. . . come closer.”

The Water Mage’s eyes practically balled out of her sockets. Her heart pounded erratically as it it would bounce right through her heart. Slowly and softly, she leaned her head down until her nose met his lips.

“Yes, Gray-sama?” Juvia asked, her voice as soft as a whisper. She couldn’t believe she was this close to him. Was she finally going to get her first kiss? Her first marriage proposal? Her first child? Her first wedding? Her first boyfriend?

“I need to pee,” Was Gray’s simple answer.

Juvia froze. Her heart stopped beating so frantically. All of her weird fantasies went down the drain. She quickly muttered a myriad of apologies before setting his head on the floor.

“Juvia is sorry, Gray-sama.” She squeaked one last apology before leaving to find Wendy, who currently was lounging about with Carla and Romeo.

“Wait!”

Gray still didn’t move from his position. He laid on the floor lifelessly. But tugging at his lips, was the most devious grin ever. He stared at Juvia, eyes clouded with something undetermined.

“I need you to carry me there.”

Once those words left his mouth, nobody thought that they’d ever seen Juvia move so damn fast.

Everyone else either stifled a chuckle or went outright stiff. Of course it was only their guild that would have the pleasure of seeing weird events in the span of about ten minutes. The silence continued for about a few minutes before Cana’s burst of laughter filled the guild hall.

“Man oh man, I said it before I’ll say it again!” Cana exclaimed from her table, raising a bottle high, her cheeks flushed and eyes half closed. “I love this guild!”

“Aye, sir!” The rest of the members cheered ecstatically.

From the Raiijinshuu table, Freed leaned back on the wall, carefully watching his guild mates, one leg crossed over the other. “It’s good to be home.”

“Do you really mean that?” Evergreen said that with a blank tone, dull eyes and arms wrapped around her chest. But behind that fan of hers, was her cheeks tinted pink. Not that she’d say but she was incredibly happy to be with her guild mates as well.

“You’re just cross because Elfman won’t pay any attention to you,” Bickslow commented a bit too freely.

For the next few minutes, only the sound of Evergreen’s fan clashing against Bickslow’s head—plus his wails of surrender but don’t tell anybody that—could be heard in the Raiijinshuu’s table.

Lisanna stretched from her spot, exhausted from serving all of the members’ hungry stomachs. She laid her head on Elfman’s side, smiling happily.

“I’m going to treasure today forever, Elf-nii-chan,” Lisanna said. She saw a lot of smiles today, and she knew instantly that this was something that she’d keep in her heart a long time.

Elfman peered at his sister fondly. He ruffled her shoulder-length hair, smiling warmly at her high-pitched protests. “You’re manly, Lisanna.”

“Nii-chan!” Lisanna pouted. She huffed and turned her head to the side. “I’m a woman, you know. I’m bound to get married soon.”

“That’s not manly!”

And from there, the two siblings bickered about marriage and boys. Unbeknownst to them that there was a couple—silly me, I meant friends— also bickering beside them.

“Gajeel!”

“Shrimp!”

Levy McGarden stomped her tiny little foot on the floor. For the past minute she was trying to tell the stubborn man in front of her that she was cross with him, but he didn’t pay any attention to her ramblings.

“Gajeel!” Levy shouted. She pushed headband back into it’s proper place before jabbing a finger at his chest. “I said leave me alone!”

Levy already turned around with every intention to leave. But before she could continue on with her dramatic entrance, somebody had put a tight grip on her wrist. She spun around to meet the intense crimson eyes of the Iron Dragon Slayer.

“Gajeel,” Levy whined. Her attempts at freeing herself failed miserably. “Let me go.”

“Never.”

Levy raised an eyebrow. She started to become slightly annoyed with his antics. She was practically drooling at the thought of his ches—she meant her books. “Stop this right now, Gajeel. You’re being a dummy.”

Gajeel only shrugged. But he did relent and let go of her wrist. But mark his words, the next time he wouldn’t be so easy to manipulate. Damn the Shrimp for having an effect on him. Damn her!

Grumpy and slightly angry, Gajeel crossed his arms, sporting a tiny pout. “I don’t know why you’re so mad, Shrimp.”

Levy’s eye twitched.

She pulled a book out her of backpack. It was soaking wet and some of the pages were missing as she skimmed through it. Levy slammed the book into his chest—his big and hard chest—with comical tears streaming down her eyes.

“This! You bastard! When you ran into me, you spilled a glass of water on my book! This was a rare copy, Gajeel!” Levy cried out like a little child. She felt her heart break just by reliving the death of her baby. No magic could revive her child now.

Gajeel chuckled, running a palm down his face. “So that’s what this was about?”

Levy wiped another year from her eye as she spun around again, this time with the utmost determination to leave him. “Goodbye!”

“Oh, no you don’t.”

Before Levy could even take another step, Gajeel grabbed her waist and hoisted her onto his shoulder. All the while his heightened hearing became filled with her piercing screams.

“Honestly, Shrimp, if that’s what you wanted, you could have just asked. C’mon, how much does that cost? Twenty books? Fifty? A hundred?”

And so, the new couple—I’ve been making a lot of mistakes lately, I meant the guild mates with a platonic friendship—headed to the nearest bookstore.

Master Makarov, formerly the third and sixth master, watched as another two of his brats left the building. He took in the disappearance of their silhouette before taking another sip of his beverage. And then he smiled.

“It’s really good to be home.”

609-610: "Luffy Dies from Exposure?! The Spine Chilling Snow Woman Monet" and "Fists Collide! a Battle of the Two Vice Admirals!"

Surrounded by trash, unsure of location or direction. Too real, Luffy. Too real.

I feel like a broken record at the moment but Punk Hazard really is delivering.

Across 609 and 610, we had Law vs Vergo with a surprise interruption by Smoker. Caesar was the subject of unexpected character development. Even Luffy vs Monet had a twist, with Luffy falling into a trash compactor and meeting a tiny talking dragon.

I bet that’s Foxfire’s son. The little dragon had a kid’s voice.

I’m just glad the big dragon the Strawhats roasted wasn’t Momonosuke (@mrkashkiet, I am looking at you sternly. xD)

Law Just Cannot Quit Smoking

And does not want to.

The action picked up with Vergo hoofing it to the SAD Room. Speed lines ahoy!

Inside, Law slowly drew his sword in front of a vast tank of SAD Gas. Not sure what he was planning to do, but let’s not dwell on it, in case his plan was literally explosive.

Vergo appeared at the door. “I feel like my hand has been bitten by my own dog. This is too much even for a mischievous child. You were always too smart for your own good. People like you tend to die young.”

You know, I’m not keen on stoic villain types but I’ve got to admit that Vergo has some killer lines.

“It would be easiest to crush your heart but I won’t do that. I’ll torment you slowly as I please and warp your smart ass face with fear.”

Like I said, good lines.

He wailed on Law with grim purpose to the point I found myself shouting, “Come on, Law! ROOM YOURSELF OUT OF THERE!”  Law was not having a fun time. (Dare I say, he was SAD?)

But his instinct for shit-talking was irrepressible. “Are you guys frustrated because your scheme is coming crashing down? Is this thing that important to you?”

Well, yeah... If Caesar is *the only person* who can make whatever it is that Doflamingo wants, then SAD must be profitable. Profits before pals seems to be Doflamingo’s modus operandi, but I don’t get the feeling Law is all that surprised Vergo is trying to kill him.

Law did fight back. There was an attempt.  He tried to Room his heart back. But Vergo is fast and snatched Law’s heart from the air.

The worst thing, though? Vergo punched Law so hard he lost his hat. That is not cool. It must have riled Law enough for him to try his (awesome) Counter Shock attack. It was big, flashy and high voltage, but it only left Vergo lightly toasted.

Vergo must have decided to kill Law then because he said, “I have a message from Joker. He said, ‘What a shame.’”

Law was weirdly zen about the whole situation. “Oh, well. It didn’t work. I was pretty sure I could take my heart back from Caesar, but I didn’t expect you here, Vergo.”

The lack of -san honorific was the last straw for Vergo. He squeezed Law’s heart like a stress ball. Toei’s red filter descended. Soul-shredding pain was experienced. Law screamed a lot. As you would if your heart was being squeezed by a maniac.

Then, a shaft of light descended from the vaulted heavens.

Except not really because it was Smoker.

It’s almost the same thing.

Vergo was typically cool about the interruption. “I’m in the middle of something. Does it have to be now, Vice-Admiral Smoker?”

And I did a backflip. Yes. Excellent interruption. Great timing, Smoker! Now stop being so fixated on the Big Tanks That Go “Blort” and execute your glorious revenge!

Really, now I think about it, Vergo is almost as bad as Caesar. When Smoker called Vergo out on his deceit and told him not to tell the G5 Men as he was a father figure to them, Vergo said, “Don’t tell me you actually care about those guys? I’m a base commander. I can do whatever I want to my no-good subordinates.” Another one who treats other people as disposable pawns.

Unsurprisingly, Smoker and Vergo came to blows. Smoker seems to be having more luck than Law, but then Vergo does not have Smoker’s heart in a box. What I’d like to happen is Smoker retrieving Law’s heart and they tag-team Vergo into oblivion.

That sounded wrong. But you get what I mean.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Rubbery Hope

How did Luffy end up in the Death Star’s trash compactor? 

His battle with a bird woman from Hoth went south. Literally.

And I cannot believe I am about to say this, but I kind of wish Luffy’s fight with Monet was a little bit longer. Her powers are great. Her self-awareness and cunning are too.

She maintained those ten layer kamakura walls without breaking a sweat. When Luffy smashed one layer, she wrapped another around her frozen prison without missing a beat. Luffy knew she was stalling for time and said he’d just break every layer quicker than she could replace them.

“I bet,” she said. Then swept up behind Luffy and, in an oddly flirty manner, whispered in his ear, “I don’t think I’ll win if I fight you, but the strongest isn’t always the winner in a fight.”

Then she grabbed him and wrapped him, literally, in winter’s embrace. 

That hypothermia power was quite cool (no pun intended). Paired with those desolate, snowy vistas and her eerily calm voice urging Luffy to let go, to sleep, relax and let it be, Monet’s Devil Fruit seems pretty strong to me.

But just as Luffy was about to pass out, Zoro’s voice - the very warning he yelled at Luffy a couple of episodes ago - cut through the darkness. “THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW WORLD!”

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the blue filtered haki moments. When he sprang up and let loose that Jet Spear attack, I cheered.

Then he fell through the floor into a garbage chute and I laughed.

It was cool, though. He’s rubber. He’d bounce. And sure enough, it wasn’t long before he was raking through broken gadgets for food. At which point a tiny dragon spoke to him and that is where the story ended.

I am now 75% sure that tiny dragon is Momonosuke. It had a kid’s voice. Probably should be a higher percentage than that but I like to hedge my bets, haha.

Chopper Looks Like Every Harried Substitute Teacher Ever

While Luffy was readjusting to life in a trash compactor with a small talking dragon, Monet flapped away to tick off another box on the never ending to do list: securing the Addicted Experiment Kiddies.

Said kiddies were knocking lumps out of Chopper with their ferocious addict strength. He could not restrain them without hurting them. He tried to convince them not to eat the candy. “I know it’s hard but you have to endure it!”

The thing is, Chopper was dealing with a double helping of trouble here. Not only are they kids, who are naturally more self-centred due to their developing brains. They are also addicts who are so far down the rabbit hole of whatever drug Caesar was peddling they’ll do anything for a fix.

When Chopper’s rumble ball wore off, the kids trampled him and thundered straight for the Biscuit Room, where Mocha was waiting alone.

Luckily, he was picked up by Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Robin, Brook and Foxfire. (Do not remember Brownbeard hanging around. Did he leave or did he just not have any lines?) 

Robin tried to restrain the kids. That was interesting for two reasons: one, I didn’t know Robin could feel damage sustained by her extra hands, and two, she asked Usopp and Brook to try and find a pair of Sea Prism Stone cuffs because Luffy had asked her to. (I bet his plan is to cuff Caesar!)

The kids charged Mocha, who tried to tell them the candy was evil! Then Monet whirled into the room on a frosty zephyr. (The best part of this entrance was when Usopp shouted: “I TOLD YOU THERE WAS A BIRD WOMAN!” He was finally vindicated.) 

Yay, thought Mocha. It’s Monet-san. She’s lovely!

Nooooope. Monet told her, in a sweet, ever-so-reasonable voice that it wasn’t nice to keep all the candy for herself. Mocha should share it with the others, like always. Mocha’s little face when she sensed betrayal was just heart-wrenching. “Why?” she whispered.

Because Monet is a nasty piece of work just like Caesar? Just a thought.

Not sure what’s going to happen here. There are a *lot* of Strawhats in the room, so I’m guessing Monet will be defeated by them. Then they’ll push through, deliver the cuffs and - BAM - we have one angry, kidnapped scientist. 

Sanji Acquires Unexpected Fans

This was a short scene but the fact that Sanji has a cadre of devoted fans in the G5 is hilarious. Yeah, he claims he doesn’t want their approval. And he probably doesn’t.

But Sanji cannot stop himself running back to save the poor saps who can be saved.

This is the Sanji I like: surly on the outside with a golden heart on the inside. More, please!

And the Academy Award for Best Actor goes to . . .

CAESAR CLOWN!

Seriously.

The yarns this guy can spin could crush the GDP of a small textile-dependent country.

Caesar should run for office somewhere. Then he could appoint himself head of the science department.

For that is exactly what has been bugging him for years, it seems. He wants Vegapunk’s job.

Well... maybe not the job. (He’s getting by just fine thanks to pirates. A Government job would ruin that). It’s the fame and kudos. That’s what he’s after.

Plus he has a weird goal: to achieve world peace by obliterating all sources of conflict - collateral damage be damned. Unless he’s lying about that. Given his oscar-winning performance, that would not surprise me.

The action picked up with Caesar caesaring through a pipe and landing outside the Secret Room (I laughed when I realised everyone on Punk Hazard literally calls it the Secret Room).

He was bitching about having to enter the room because it was Vegapunk’s old office. Still, he claimed it was the only place where he could “pull it off”. (I am unsure why he had to go to Vegapunk’s old office just to close some doors, but I’ll chalk it up to plot and say no more.)

He promised to make Luffy, the Strawhats, G5 and Trafalgar Law pay for ruining his plan. It was all their fault! The experiment could have been a great show - everything perfect and beautiful and befitting of the world’s greatest scientist (Vegapunk says hi!) But they screwed it up. He couldn’t let the Strawhats do as they liked. They’d pushed it a little too far and he has Joker on his back now.

He ordered a minion to close the gates to Buildings C and D. This would lure all survivors into one narrow room. His plan? Trap them in the bottleneck and pump the room full of his poison gas through the air vents. He would broadcast it as a snuff movie for the brokers. That would show them what he was really made of!

But the minions hang on his every word and they caught one small discrepancy.

“Um... did you say that *you* had created the poison gas, Master?”

Caesar’s haughty reply was, “Yes, I did.”

“But it’s like Vegapunk’s gas. It freaks us out.” Understandably, the minions probably have ptsd from four years ago.

The moment when Caesar realised he’d let his ego run away with him and opened his big mouth was glorious. How could he spin this? How? The animators did a great job here. You could see the evil, conniving cogs turning in his mind. 

Then he broke out his Oscar winning performance. 

“This is . . . an avenging battle of science. My people! That day, I tried to stop the mad scientist, Vegapunk. No! If such a weapon exploded, what would happen to the people on the island?” Caesar even threw in a melodramatic “YAMEROOOOO, VEGAPUNK!” for some extra emotional sparkle.

“But the accident happened. And he still lords if over us as the head of the science department of the Marines. and he’s considered the world’s greatest scientist. I cannot tolerate it! He’s the cruel man who hurt you all! Do you think it’s right that people still call him the number one scientist? That’s why I want to prove them all wrong. I didn’t want to make a weapon of mass destruction! But I want to show them that there is a greater scientist here. That I am the greatest scientist in the world! When the Marines acknowledge it and when I become head of the science department, my dream will come true. I can use my scientific knowledge to bring peace to the world!”

I honestly had to stop myself giving Caesar a standing ovation. What a performance that was.

You know, it’s weird. Every lie Caesar told there has a basis in truth. That’s the most dangerous liar right there because the lies they tell are more believable. Does the Gas-Gas Fruit confer gaslighting powers too? Because Caesar is a hellishly efficient manipulator.

And while Caesar was congratulating himself, a flashback happened!

Caesar is Prime Material for /r/IAmVerySmart

Caesar with a bob was weird. I’m guessing when he moved to Punk Hazard, there was a lack of stylists, so he just grew his hair out. That hair you see right now? That is four years of growth.

At any rate, Caesar was doing something a bit more important back in Vegapunk’s lab. He was debating morality with some other scientists. They begged him to stop his experiment. If it exploded, it would kill everyone on the island. 

Caesar was typically receptive to criticism. “STFU, boneheads! Where do you think you are? This is a Marine research facility. They want to kill as many pirates as the can. What they need is a weapon that will do it for them.”

“But they don’t want one that will also kill civilians!”

Caesar’s rebuttal? “It’s called collateral damage! If we blow away everything, we can bring peace to the world.” (Does he genuinely believe that? That’s a properly depressing view of the world he holds there, if true.)

“You’re so...”

Caesar had a, “I’m gonna stop you right there” moment. They wanted to say he was cruel? What a joke. They were using prisoners as guinea pigs as if they were trash. What was the difference? (Fair point, Caesar.) Moreover, Admiral Sengoku was too soft, but Akainu, if he was in charge, *he* would want a weapon Caesar made. (Also interesting. I hope Caesar never decides to change sides again. He would be dangerous in Akainu’s hands.)

He went off on one about how Vegapunk had failed to turn people into giants again. Caesar knows you can’t turn people into giants in a short period of time unless you use magic, so had suggested Vegapunk just kidnap some kids and feed them drugs until something worked. What a lovely idea, Caesar! xD

The flash forward revealed Caesar’s “William Birkin Moment”.

Just as he made a significant discovery, Marines burst in and cuffed him with sea prism stone. Vegapunk himself came to see off his old colleague. I was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT HYPED for about half a second. But there was no face. 

Blue balled. Again. xD

Caesar was summarily dismissed from the Science Department. “Your eccentric behaviour is intolerable and I cannot protect you anymore, Caesar.”

Interesting that what the rest of the scientists did was viewed as fine and dandy, but Caesar taking it a step further was regarded as “eccentric”. First off, eccentric is a gross understatement. Secondly, what they’re doing is pretty evil too. Caesar is just overtly, unashamedly amoral. They hide it better.

Suffering such a humiliation, Caesar had his “SCREW YOU!” moment and pushed the big red button. Punk Hazard went up in a Mighty Kaboom-Boom Cloud. 

Still wondering how they all survived that, but I will chalk it up to plot and say no more.

Of course, after Caesar’s theatrics, his minions fell over themselves to apologise. Sorry, Master! You are the saviour, after all.

“Thank you... thank you all,” Caesar simpered, while inside he called them unintelligent fools. So easily manipulated. Dumb as bricks.

This guy needs taking down several pegs. Maybe an entire cloakroom rack.

Luffy, please oblige asap.

Caesar tells a rip-roaring, thigh-slapper of a yo momma joke. 

(No one laughed.)

Project 3: Curated Playlist (Week 6)

My curated playlist is designed by the apparently seven stages of heartbreak. According to https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/me-we/201406/the-7-stages-grieving-breakup which was written by Suzanne Lachmann who is a clinical psychologist specializing in psychotherapy in New York, there are in total 7 stages of heartbreak:

Desperate for answers

Denial

Bargaining

Relapse

Anger

Initial Acceptance

Redirected Hope

Although this was a great list to follow. It still felt lacking due to what I have experienced in my personal life and what I have noticed in break ups from people close to me. I decided then to update the list into something more suitable since it is my playlist not Lachmann’s. Therefore I altered the list to make it suitable for the playlist I will be creating.

I try to bridge each categories into each other the best I could because I didn’t want my playlist to be choppy. What I mean by choppy is that if you could tell very distinctively that the songs are very much grouped together in different groups, I don’t want it to seem like there should be a playlist for each group. I rather would like it to all play out smoothly. This is because although breakups processing and emotions are different as categorized in these groups they are still parts of one process that normally does flow naturally this way. However hard and long this process takes, it is only natural and it will get gradually better. And these parts of the process are not something you notice the majority of the time. You don’t get into a breakup and notice every stage your in and prepare for it. Your emotions and how you’re dealing with the situation is what leads you there. So that’s why it shouldn’t be choppy.

Most of the songs in the playlist are going to be pop music, the reason for this is because pop music is becoming less and less appreciated even though it is still a very popular music genre. The reason for this is apparently a lot of people believe that pop music all sound the same, almost like there’s no distinction from it. I see this point but I don’t think that that could generalized for all pop music. I think there is are obvious distinctions between pop music and especially the songs that portray heartbreak. Pop is the type of music that let’s you feel the intensity of the feeling of heartbreak sometimes. But it isn’t just limited to heartbreak.

I didn’t want to include any ‘basic’ break up songs. I wanted these songs to be enriching, powerful, where it really touches you. Not songs like ‘Thank you, Next’ by Ariana Grande, because in my opinion, although it was the hit song for getting over breakups, it wasn’t really deep, it gave a sort of ‘whatever’ vibe which isn’t something constructive. Some of these songs don’t actually literally describe that specific stage in a breakup but that is the point, it is the the feelings and emotions connected to the song and powerful specific lyrics that represents these stages.

I didn’t just include purely heartbreak songs but also songs that provoke the same type of emotion as the stage you’re in. For example, Chandelier by Sia isn’t a song about heartbreak but it is the song’s language, beat, rhythm, symbolisms, motifs, metaphors, and the way in which the singer Sia sings the song that creates such a powerful strong emotion that fits perfectly in the categories they’re under.

Planning of the Playlist

1. Fixating on things that happened in the relationship / Pain / Disorientation / Confusion / Desperate for answers / Fixating on things you and your ex did in the relationship / despair

Rolling in the Deep - Adele

I'll Never Love Again - Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga

Bruno Mars - Talking To The Moon

Just Give Me a Reason - P!NK ft Nate Reuss

SLANDER - Love Is Gone

2. Denial / Grief / Sadness / Depression / Struggling to cope / Isolation / Losing your mind

Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

Pills N Potions - Nikki Minaj

Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey

What A Time - Julia Michaels

Never the same - Camilla Cabello

This City - Sam Fischer

Stay High - Tove Lo

Chandelier - sia

3. Bargaining / you are willing to change and be better because you can’t accept that it’s over / clinging on hope

Clarity - Zedd + Foxes

Fix You - Coldplay

When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars

Back to December - Taylor Swift

Whatever it takes - Lifehouse

4. Relapse / literally trying to get back into the relationship / literally acting on the bargaining stage

Stay the Night - Zedd

We belong together - Mariah Carey

5. Anger / “Why can’t I get over my significant other?!” / self defeating at first until you turn that anger into realizing you deserved more in the relationship

Call Out My Name - The Weekend

Green Light - Lorde

We are never getting back together -Taylor Swift

Fuck you - Lily Allen

Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

Up out of my face - Mariah Carey ft Nikki Minaj

Part of me Katy Perry

Outside - Ellie Goulding Calvin Harris

6. Initial Acceptance (surrendering / “You are holding up your end of the breakup because you have to, not because you want to”)

Love yourself -Justin Bieber

Wells - Joshua Hyslop

I can’t make you love me - Bonnie Raitt

Somebody that I used to know - Gotye

It ain’t me -Selena Gomez

Remind me to Forget - Kygo and Miguel

7.  Redirected Hope / finding the strength in yourself

Say Something - A Great Big World

Elastic Heart - Sia

Lose you to love me - Selena Gomez

Begin Again - Taylor Swift

She will be loved - Maroon 5

Stitches - Shawn Mendes

Survivor - Destiny’s Child

Perfect Places - Lorde

Titanium - Sia

8. Getting Over them finally!

Paradise - Coldplay

Beyoncé - Irreplaceable

New Romantics -Taylor Swift

Whatever it takes - Imagine Dragons

red sun summary (7/30/2020)

in recapping the previous session, there were some strong words given about Laliya. “this bitch kidnapped my girlfriend!” “you kidnapped hers first.” there was also some debate on whether the party should take Laliya alive or dead. and what would the King do after this combat was over? ultimately it was decided that the party would not kill Laliya, and they would take her to be reunited with Amata because lesbians make the world go round.

cluk cast Enthrall on Elahe and Laliya by singing and very enchanting song. Elahe voluntarily failed her saving throw against the spell, and Laliya involuntarily failed hers. cluk then flew over to the elevated walkway and inspired zoroe. Laliya, still under the effect of the caster Afsoon’s Haste spell, was utterly fixated on cluk, and disengaged from khaela and calypso. “i have unfinished business.” she jumped up onto the walkway to meet cluk and said “you must not like Elahe much, because i’m going to kill her.” with another flourish of her weapon, the aura around grew more dangerous, and attacked cluk. an annoyed calypso ran over and grabbed her javelin and threw it at Laliya, missing. “man why’d you have to run away?!” she was unaware that Laliya couldn’t hear anything besides cluk at this point, but continued heckling her anyway: “man, it must be hard bein’ nothin’ without all those magic tricks! fight me like a real warrior!”

phosphorra made her way through the office she had holed up in, setting her sights on Afsoon on another one of the balconies. davke scored a critical on a guard and dodged some attacks from others. an out of breath (late to the party) Afsoon cast Fire Ball on zoroe, khaela, and calypso. khaela once again dropped to zero and failed her first death save, but luckily zoroe cast Spare the Dying on her. zoroe also healed cluk a bit at range while she coiled protectively around khaela. finally calypso caught a sling bullet out of the air, frustrating the guard that threw it even more than she already was. cluk had intended to cast Shatter on Laliya, but changed her mind when she realized the spell would hurt herself as well (”but i’m a bird!”). cluk instead absconded, taking a savage hit from Laliya’s opportunity attack, leaving the bard just barely hanging in there. Laliya, still Enthralled, was able to notice calypso’s approach. “so, we were dancing?” “YEAH” “let’s pick ba--” “YEAH!” despite calypso’s enthusiasm and zoroe’s Warding Flare, Laliya knocked calypso out. calypso made her first death save.

having made it outside, phosphorra looked around and asked zoroe about the status of things. “what’s going on? is khaela still down?” “yes, and i need help... the others are gone.” “you mean they’re dead?!” “no! but do something!” turning to Afsoon, phosphorra apologized sweetly and said that she had to attack Afsoon and get back to her friends. she then threw a Fire Ball at Afsoon and one of the guards nearby. Afsoon was roasted, but still alive and still concentrating on Haste. davke, shouting about stopping Laliya, rushed up to the King’s right hand and scored another critical. from a distance, phosphorra reminded davke to knock Laliya out, not kill her. Afsoon, now even more flustered (and burnt) apologized to phosphorra that she had to return the favor, and shot phosphorra with a Fire Bolt. khaela, having been stabilized by zoroe, was vibing. zoroe then healed her awake (again), uncoiled from her, and moved over to coil around calypso. one of the guards threw another stone toward calypso, but zoroe took the hit instead, protecting calypso. from the office roof cluk cast Shatter to finish off Afsoon. cluk called out to phosphorra, “you’re welcome.” “cluk?! where are you?” “i have the high ground.” “zoroe said you were gone??” the Haste spell on Laliya faded, leaving her unable to act on her turn due to exhaustion (”POG!!!”). calypso failed a death save, prompting zoroe to whisper “i got you, i got you.” phosphorra twin cast Fire Bolt to kill one guard and hurt another. davke deals another blow to Laliya, just shy of knocking her out. then khaela, once again healed thanks to zoroe, brings down Laliya with Siege. with Laliya out of the battle, the King’s troops froze, shocked. the King rolled her eyes, disappointed, and commanded her remaining troops to abandon the fort and go to Misitu for further orders. then... the King called the party over to her. quickly, zoroe healed calypso back to consciousness. calypso realized she might’ve gotten her nose broken again (for the... third? fourth time?). phosphorra tried to hide, to no avail. “i know you’re there, little tiefling.”

the King offered to answer any questions the party had before she posed any of her own, because she’s “benevolent.” phosphorra raised a hand and stuttered out a “miss king...?” the King corrected her to say “majesty.” phosphorra asked why the King was doing all this, and was this her new dragon kingdom? the King stated that it was her divine right to rule, which made calypso roll her eyes, and added that the old dragons have taken much of the other food and land. at the divine right bit, phosphorra asked which god the King was referring to. “no god, just divinity of life.” at phosphorra’s lack of understanding, the King said it was a birth right. zoroe asked if there were others like the King, meaning others with land outside the dragons’ range in the mountains. the King said that there weren’t others that she knew of, but young dragons do go north or east of the range as well. tapping into her historical knowledge, zoroe recalled that a long time ago, dragons came over the mountains and there was a big war between them and the naga and dwarves who banded together. they ran the dragons off, and there was a stipulation made that no dragon would hold land in the area southwest of the mountains.

with this in mind, zoroe asked if the King feared the same fate of the other dragons. “i don’t fear the fate of fools.” “what makes you think you’ll stand up to the forces of this area?” the King insisted she had forces of her own, and calypso countered that with “well, a lot of them are dead now, so...” the King sighed and said that Laliya wasn’t actually that great, and if she cracked under and attack from this party, it was better to lose to them than to die at the King’s own fangs. she added that the empires of the area were weaker than once before. again, phosphorra timidly raised her hand. she pointed out that the lands the King was trying to control are becoming deserts now, and asked what the dragon was planning on do about it, since there was starting to be less of a point to living there. the King stated that the people would manage, as people always have. after all, Mahiru, Melu, and Bet Tabti had thrived for centuries. but zoroe pointed out that they were struggling now. “that’s temporary. we’ll wait it out.” calypso gave that an unimpressed “uh-huh.” 

the King explained that the drought would end, and the bounty would come, everyone just had to wait. zoroe insisted that the people... couldn’t just wait. she brought up that the party encountered a creature beyond their comprehension and that it had been summoned by the King’s left hand, and asked what the deal with all that was. the King had apparently been aware of Sapphira and the cult’s dealings, and she had plans for when all of that became a problem. phosphorra asked if the dragon was going to kill her. the King said that her agents had been reporting to her about the party, that she had been hearing about them since they appeared in Mahiru. “i’ll give you one chance to join me, to accomplish what you want, i just expect your service and loyalty. i make this offer once, and if you decline, you will be a hated enemy of my kingdom. and if i see you again, i’ll kill you like the insects you are.” the party had a few minutes to make their decision. zoroe requested some privacy and herded the party into the office to talk.

at the question of the party’s feelings on the King’s offer, calypso immediately said “fuck no.” zoroe agreed. phosphorra admitted that the dragon was a bit rude about killing the party, but then again she’s “not really into politics.” zoroe remarked that the King seemed like a rebellious child. phosphorra replied with “a kid, yes, but also a mythical city-destroying creature.” after a moment of consideration, zoroe said that joining the King would be a smart choice, but not a wise one. it would not be right to follow the King, though her threat was a heavy one. she wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts, starting with cluk. “we’re going to end up on the opposite side of her either way. it might be possible to get her to give us the rope to hang her with, so to speak.” davke said that her family was tied to Abban Serru, so she didn’t want to go against them. but she would follow the party. calypso was solidly opposed to joining the King at all, but appreciated what cluk had said. “i don’t like kissing up, but cluk is smart.” davke pointed out that if the group joined the King, they’d probably have to stop Kissare. zoroe, especially at that revelation, hard disagreed to joining the King. khaela insisted that her loyalty lied with Kissare so she didn’t want to go against that. phosphorra agreed with that sentiment. and so, with the group’s unwillingness to turn against the land they had been fighting to save, they collectively decided to turn down the King’s offer. before leaving the office, zoroe told the party “well then... if we die, i love you all.”

returning to the waiting dragon, zoroe announced that the group was honored to have been given the offer, but they were rejecting it. “disappointing, but not surprising. you are not the first ones to have some misplaced morality getting in your way. i hope you don’t end up like them. do not let me see you in my kingdom again.” and with, the King flew off. after a moment of quiet, calypso said that she felt like she’s heard something like that before, and zoroe patted her head.

now the party needed to deal with Laliya and Elahe. zoroe, khaela, and davke would watch over Laliya after tying her up, while phosphorra, cluk, and calypso would investigate the now abandoned fort. phosphorra told zoroe to be nice to Laliya, and zoroe assured her that she would be, like she was nice to Amata. “tell her i said to get fucked.” “no, calypso.” “please?” upon investigating, there wasn’t all that much to find, since the guards had cleared most things out. eagle-eyed cluk, however, did find the pay chest containing a lot of gold. she also found some documents pertaining to troop movements, trade goods, boring stuff like that. cluk took Laliya’s fancy magic armor, her weapons, and a silver necklace. phosphorra and calypso (due to some garbo rolls) didn’t find anything, and instead talked a little bit about finding a bunch of empty in various rooms, feeling bad for killing Afsoon because she was cute, calypso wondering if she was smelling her own burnt hair or if that was just what a broken nose smells like from the inside. “i’m... concerned for you.” “aw, don’t be. i’m good.”

zoroe woke up Laliya, and Laliya sulked. “seems like the King doesn’t want you anymore.” “no shit.” zoroe explained the group would be taking Laliya to Amata, which Laliya didn’t believe because she didn’t trust the party. zoroe told her to not mind the others, and that the group should just get her to Etaqu. meanwhile, upon cluk’s return to the office, Elahe ran up and gave her a big hug. zoroe confirmed that Laliya wouldn’t bite her when she fed her on the road, then prepared to Send a message to Kissare as a heads up. the party debated on whether they should take the travel time required to bring Laliya all the way to Etaqu, or if they should have someone just pick her up. it was decided that the party would carry Laliya with them to Melu, where they would meet up with Kissare and have her or her people deal with Laliya there. zoroe assured Laliya that she just needed to cooperate and she would see Amata again. the group then settled into the fort’s tavern for a much needed rest. they were given free rooms because the people living there didn’t want the party to kill them. upon receiving a response from Kissare, zoroe blushed darkly, muttering something about being a holy woman. (and then we LEVELED UP) the party arrived at the city of Melu, where there was a fiery atmosphere and clear signs of fighting. things were different here than they were the last time the party was here. they spotted a noble-looking naga, who khaela recognized to be Gemekka, a friend of Kissare. Gemekka tackle-hugged the vampire, who was taken aback and kinda flustered by this. Gemekka mom’d khaela a little, fussing over some minor scratches and applying a little healing magic. she declared that the party must be the group Kissare was expecting. calypso introduced davke as “dave.” Gemekka, in a hurry, dragged the party along with her to a building near the Abban Serru embassy. inside this building were weapons everywhere, and people that looked they were ready to incite a rebellion. most of the rooms were rather cramped, but the party were lead to a smaller, cleaner room, where Kissare was. Kissare immediately went to hug khaela, then proceeded with personalized greetings for each member of the party. zoroe also got a nice hug, but Kissare didn’t completely let go of her, and she asked zoroe for a recap of what the party had done since the last time they met up.

zoroe provided the recap up until the point where khaela joined the group, and then khaela took over from there. Kissare listened intently, and concluded by saying the party had gotten a lot done. she said she’d take care of Laliya later, and that Laliya could share a cell with Amata, it was whatever. Kissare, in the meantime, had also been up to a lot. she had made a Melu map, marked with critical locations in town and where troops were located. she got out a bunch of clay figures to denote these locations, explaining to the group that, basically, they’d be commanding the rebellion of Melu. (phosphorra: “oh! i love board games!”) from a gameplay perspective, this meant that there will be a sort of mini-game where we control where the troops move, taking turns, following specific rules, etc. zoroe’s only condition was that Kissare had to hold her hand during all this. turned out, Kissare did the impossible and enlisted Parikh in on the rebellion as well. Kissare then realized she had forgotten about herself in all these plans, and took out a spare figure to represent herself. she made a show of kissing this figure to decorate it a little, then said “there, it’s been personalized. how’s this, zoroe?” poor zoroe, through a coughing fit, told her that it looked great and suited Kissare. calypso, very amused, told Kissare that she had to go easy on zoroe, or else she would kill her. Kissare explained that the first step in the rebellion would be to get more troops. there were two options to go about doing this, either win over the captain of the lower city guard, or win over the leader of the palace guard. her take was that the lower city guard would be more convenient due to their location, but the palace guard’s immediate threat to the palace and opening of the palace gate would be worth more overall. they could distract the Melu army. the party seemed to agree that ultimately they’d need to control the palace to win this thing, so that would be the goal. (calypso also asked if she would still get to punch things, and was happy to know that she would.)

Kissare asked what she should do, saying that she could go wherever or tag along with the party. calypso, partly motivated by Kissare’s antics in regards to zoroe, said she should go with the party. zoroe made sure to ask Kissare what she wanted to do. “i defer to your judgment.” zoroe admitted that she had been looking forward to a ‘change of pace.’ Kissare then asked what weapon she should use in their battles together, and excitedly listed off a bunch of different weapons. “how about a whip, zoroe?” calypso, once again, was like “ya kill her, slow down!!” a flustered zoroe said that she didn’t know if a whip would be able to like, damage buildings or anything, “but... if you want?” “whip it is.” at this display khaela was holding back laughter, covering her mouth with her hand. calypso was loudly, openly laughing. zoroe could only mutter “oh Hvare.” then Kissare announced that she some final preparations to do, and that she would join up with the group later. “let me know how it goes!” phosphorra was a little disappointed that the party had to leave. “i want the play the board game...” khaela hugged Kissare goodbye, and calypso gave her a smile and a thumbs up on the way out.

next time: R I O T

The Lines Between Ricks And Mortys – Chapter 5: Looks like we'll have to change tactics for this one / I'm not the real bad guy here

AN: Things are going to pick up in this chapter and some puzzle pieces will finally fall in place and confirm what a lot of you readers most likely have already guessed. Warnings: more Morty battles (so it gets violent again), smut in the form of an orgy (five Mortys on one Rick) – yes, you read that right. I'm not kidding you. That's really in this chapter. Might feel a bit non-con, but is more dub-con though.

The Lines Between Ricks And Mortys – Chapter 5: Looks like we'll have to change tactics for this one / I'm not the real bad guy here As they walked through the portal, they were greeted by darkness. Not pitch-blackness like in a cave without a source of light. It was more the kind of darkness that you have in the middle of a night that was only illuminated by the moon and the stars in the sky. Just that in this dimension, the stars were on the ground. At least that's what it looked like to Morty as he saw the shimmering lights on the dark-blue soil and grass that emitted a soft glow. It was a breathtaking sight. Sadly, Morty didn't had time to admire it as his Rick was completely unfazed by the wonders of this new dimension and pressed onwards. His eyes were fixated on his Mortytector like so often and he was probably analyzing whatever data the device showed him to determine which the strongest Morty that freely roamed this dimension was and how to get to him the fastest. They continued on for a while until they witnessed an alien trainer fighting against a wild Morty. Presumably the one that Rick had wanted to catch. "Looks like we're too late, Rick. This guy is probably going to catch that Morty now." He told his grandfather. "We'll see." Rick seethed between his teeth, not wanting to believe that he let that one get away. Team C-137 watched the brown blob-like alien send in one Morty after the other and with each defeated boy, Morty C-137's eyes grew wider and his face paler. "What?! That can't be!!" The alien screeched after his last Morty was also defeated. "Hell yes!" Rick cheered. "See, Morty. He's still free for us to catch. And just look at how crazy strong he is. There's no way I'm gonna lose against anyone if I have this guy in my team!" His grandson gulped audibly. Trying to catch this Morty involved fighting against him first and after seeing just how strong his other-dimensional counterpart was first hand, it left him with zero confidence. "C'mon, Mortys! After him!" Rick yelled as he dashed behind the brunet before he could get too far away. Not that he wouldn't be able to find him again with his Mortytector, but why stall when he was right there? Morty whined a little, but obediently followed with the rest of the group behind the excited scientist.

"Well, this just doesn't work out." Rick C-137 mused loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. His entourage of Mortys was behind him and panting as if they just finished a marathon. In a way they did, seeing as they had tried to catch that wild Morty for the last two hours without much success. He just managed to escape every time and didn't let himself get cornered. It was getting quite frustrating to say the least. "Okay, looks like we'll have to change tactics for this one." Rick continued. "But I already have an idea. He's just a Morty, so it really shouldn't be so hard to catch him." "What's that supposed to mean?" His original Morty immediately complained. "What? I'm just stating a fact. He is a Morty. And there's no way that a Morty could ever outsm—outrun me." Rick caught himself on that one. He had almost accidentally said 'outsmart', but that wasn't even something that a Rick should ever be thinking about. There was absolutely no way that a Morty could ever outsmart a Rick especially not the rickest Rick. That thieving Morty fanboy from Mysterious Rick, who had stolen his portal gun, was not counting. That had nothing to do with getting outsmarted!! "We're just going to make a few traps. There's no way that that won't work." The scientist stated confidently. So, they – they being just the Mortys of course – went to build a few simple traps like you would see them in comic books. Leg-hold traps, snares, dug out pits and even the classic rod underneath a box traps were laid out and equipped with bait. Morty eyed the constructions warily and doubted the effectiveness of it all. "Are you really serious about this, Rick? I mean, aren't these traps a bit too obvious?" He asked. "And what's with the bait anyways? There's no way that anyone is going to fall for that." The traps were indeed not hidden very well and the bait were snacks, soda cans and some comic books and porn mags. Obviously none of these things would just lay around somewhere in the wild, so there was no way that anyone would be really dumb enough to fall for that. "Just you wait, Morty. Just you wait." Rick said only as he seated himself behind a bush to wait for the Morty to show up and run straight into one of the sloppy traps. His grandson just sighed and shook his head as he seated himself next to him as the rest of the Mortys also went into hiding, each right next to one of the traps that they had built.

Rick was right – as always. Morty was so ashamed of himself as every single trap was activated and in each one was a captured Morty. It was really embarrassing to think that he could be caught this easily. In such barely hidden traps and with such obvious bait. But it had worked and yet… "Dammit!" Rick cursed. While it was true that there was a Morty in every single one of the traps, none of them were the wild Morty that he had been aiming for. It seemed as if this one wasn't just super strong and crazy fast, but also a little clever. "Looks like we have to change plans again." Rick concluded. "C'mon, Mortys." Morty C-137 jerked away from peeking inside one of the bait porn mags. "Wait, Rick! Aren't you going to release the caught Mortys again?" His complaint was ignored and he was forced to quickly follow the retreating scientist lest he was left behind.

"If nothing else works, we have just have to use brute force." Rick explained. Well, the term "explained" was used very loosely here. Rick's plan was simply to wait for the wild Morty to walk underneath the trees that they were currently sitted on and then just all jump on him at once. No more chasing, no more bating and if everything went as it was planned then even no battling involved. Needless to say that Morty still didn't like this idea even though he should be glad that they could avoid fighting against that crazy strong Morty. Super Morty Fan had obviously loved the idea and Shadow Morty was just rather confused about it than anything else, but they were all in on this. Morty C-137 sighed quietly as his grandfather occasionally checked his Mortytector to ensure that their pray was on its way to them. Luckily, he was just about to pass by. "Get ready, Mortys." Rick whispered loudly and his team readied itself to pounce on their unsuspecting victim any moment now. Not too long after, the Morty in question really wandered completely unaware of what would await him on this path. "NOW!" Rick gave the command and team C-137 jumped simultaneously down. Everyone, minus Rick, pounced on the unsuspecting Morty and nearly squished him under their combined weight. Muffled yells came from the captured boy, but he was unable to get up again or free himself. Rick jumped down last and landed squarely on his grandson's back, ignored the pained yowl that it caused. He fumbled to reach between the mass of pubescent teenage boys (including one girl and one specter) until the wild Morty's head was in range, then pressed the injector to his temple and waited. Only after the positive beeping sound rang through the air, did the Mortys scrambled to get down from their newest addition. The caught Morty's eyes were dazed for a while as was typically for when the manipulator chip overrode the memories and after his vision focused again, he looked at Rick, looking even more lost than he did when the chip was still busy. "Mr. Allen?" The Morty in the black robes reminiscent of a judge asked as he looked very suspiciously at the scientist. "What?" Rick was at a loss. Who was Mr. Allen? Did he have a different name in that boy's dimension. "You know what? Never mind." He gave up wondering about that with a sigh. "Let's just go, Morty." "Go where? And I don't remember giving you permission to call me by my fist name, Mr. Allen." 'Or maybe the chip is broken?' Rick thought now. At least Judge Morty's defiance struck him as a malfunction. "H-hey?" As he was still fixed by the boy's glare, he bent down to his grandson and whispered, "You'd think I should put a second manipulator chip on him? Y'know, just in case…" "I don't think that it's such a good idea, Rick." Morty whispered back. Maybe catching this one wasn't such a good idea. But damn, if this Morty wasn't a badass!

After many discussions, Rick – who was still being mistaken for Rick Allen by Judge Morty…whoever that guy was – managed to lead his group of five Mortys to the next arena. While usually Morty would be rather impressed or frightened by the "gym leaders" that they met, he wasn't really sure what to think of this one. "This Rick looks like a Dragon Ball reference." Morty commented more embarrassed than impressed as he eyed Shibuya Rick. "What-what-what's that, Morty? Don't be such a little bitch about it." His Rick defended their opponent. "I-I mean, it's not like you would know if that Rick isn't actually the equivalent to Vegeta in his dimension or something." Morty looked with big expectant eyes at him. "Is he?" "No." was the flat reply. "He's just a bad cosplayer." "Cut the small talk and let's get to the point, Rick!" Shibuya Rick looked clearly annoyed by the duo chitchatting as they were. "That's actually an idea that I agree with. Let's just dive into the battle. Morty—" C-137 was about to send in his grandson when he was interrupted by his opponent. "If you like that idea, I have an even better one for you." The platinum-blond Rick offered. "How about a battle royal instead of the lame one-on-one?" "Isn't that against the rules?" Morty C-137 spoke up as he looked over their opponents. Next to Shibuya Rick stood (or floated) a Psychokinetic Morty, a Mortysaurus, a Gaseous Morty, a Flaming Morty and a Frozen Morty. Even this guy's Mortys seemed to be a bunch of anime and comic references. "Sounds exciting. I'm all for it." Rick C-137 apparently didn't give a fuck about the rules. He honestly thought that in comparison to his opponent, he was probably way overpowered now anyways. While his original Morty was only really useful in battle when he snapped – or at least when he was really determined about it – his Morticia was really dedicated and quite strong ("for a girl"), the manic Super Fan Morty was also not easily beatable, his Shadow Morty was practically invincible and while he couldn't test his Judge Morty in an actual battle yet, he already knew that this one was super strong, fast and clever. There was no way that he could ever lose. Especially with a bunch like that. "Rick!" Morty C-137 protested that his grandfather was so ready to ignore the rules and just make this battle more dangerous than it needed to be. An all-versus-all? Really now? That meant that they all needed to fight at once. Aside from the fact that there would be no rest for them between the fights, it also would be pure chaos for Rick to give them a proper strategy. He couldn't really issue commands to all of his Mortys at the same time. However, this flaw was something that Rick C-137 readily overlooked at the prospect of crushing the enemy and flaunting with his strong team of Mortys. Besides, the other Rick was right, he had started to grow bored of the old rule-based battle schematics. I mean what it this? Some sort of round-based Fantasy JRPG or something? Shibuya Rick looked delighted that C-137 had so readily agreed to his idea. Of course, he didn't just come up with this simply out of boredom. He had a plan and it would lead him to victory – as always. "Okay, then. Let's battle, Rick. Just don't get my clothes dirty. It takes work to look this good, Rick. I don't need you messing it up." With those words, he ran a hand through his extremely spikey hair, looking every bit the arrogant asshole that he was. C-137 ignored it. "Get ready, Mortys." Both teams of five entered the middle of the arena, staring fiercely at their opponents. Well, team C-137 mostly tried to look fiercely, but in all truth, they looked a little nervous. Each wondered whom they should single out and attack from their opponents, while their counterparts didn't look like they had the same troubles. Something was fishy here… "Well, then Mortys. Get going. You know the drill." Shibuya Rick said and thus started the battle. While team C-137 was still waiting for orders from their Rick who to attack, the opponents didn't wait for anything. They all targeted Super Morty Fan Morty first, who actually looked delighted instead of frightened (as he should be) when they all approached him. The Mortysaurus bit into his arm and held him still as a stinking cloud began to surround the two of them – without a doubt the work of the Gaseous Morty. As if following a signal Mortysaurus let go again – much to the fanboys dismay even if the bite had hurt – and Flaming Morty suddenly set him on fire. The Super Fan screeched in panic and tried to roll around on the ground to put the fire out again, but he didn't get very far with it. The next thing he knew was that he turned into a frozen popsicle – if it was even possible for him to still be aware of that. Without question the handiwork of the Frozen Morty. The finishing move was delivered by the Psychokinetic Morty, who lifted the solid ice block in the air with his mental powers before letting it drop to the ground again. The force of the impact shattered the ice and revealed an unconsciousness Super Morty Fan Morty. The first Morty of Team C-137 was already down and so quickly. "Rick!" Morty C-137 yelled in a panic at seeing how quickly that went down without anyone of them able to prevent that. "Calm down, Morty." Rick instructed from the sidelines while looking like he tried his hardest not to lose his nerves either. "Don't act like an idiot and just fight back!" Team C-137 indeed tried to fight back, but it wasn't going all too well. Morticia screeched as she tried to punch the Flaming Morty and ended up burning her hand. Shadow Morty tried in vain to reach Psychokinetic Morty, but even his many tendrils were constantly being pushed back the psychic's mental powers. Judge Morty just squinted at the Gaseous Morty, clearly at a loss what do to with an opponent that had no solid form. And Morty nursed his hand which had received frostbite from trying to attack Frozen Morty before he squeaked and ran away as he saw the Mortysaurus approaching him with his sharp teeth. It was complete chaos. "It's all about mind over matter. And I think you don't really have what it takes to beat me, Rick." Shibuya Rick mocked as he unnecessarily straightened out his cheetah patterned shirt. Rick C-137 scowled as he saw that his oh-so overpowered team was indeed about to lose. He didn't understand why in the universe this could be happening. Just why was this going so wrong even though he was pretty sure that he should have the upper hand in this battle? His Mortys were clearly the stronger ones so how could that be? He didn't really need to think long as he saw the enemies teaming up again to try and take out his grandson now. The problem was that Shibuya Rick's team was attacking them systematically – they all worked together as if they were one, not even needing any orders or instructions from their Rick. His own team on the other hand was totally uncoordinated and relied on him to give them orders on what to do. Something that was even getting hard for a genius like him to manage with so much stuff going on at once. "Goddammit, Mortys! You need to work together on this one!" Rick yelled over the battlefield. "Quit doing your own shit and look at how the enemy is doing it! You just need to do the same thing!" Sure, maybe it sounded cheap to just copy the enemy's strategy, but it was a working strategy and if it came down to pure strength, they could still come out as the winners even if he was already one Morty short (and not counting the injuries his Mortys had already sustained). Morty C-137 stopped to think for a moment even if he was getting cornered by the enemy. The enemy was singling them out to take them out one after another, all working together on that. Of course, if you were attacked by five opponents at once, you wouldn't be able to stand a chance, no matter how strong you are. So, what they needed to do was break that teamwork apart and work together on taking the enemy out. "I think, I got!" he declared loud enough for his team members to hear. "We need to stop relying on Rick and coordinate our attacks!" Rick C-137 nodded approvingly on the sideline, glad that his grandson wasn't as stupid as he always said he was and that he finally understood. Though while figuring out what to do was a good start, doing it was still a different matter. And this was what would decide over victory or loss. Despite the flash of genius, Frozen Morty was still advancing on C-137 with the intent to freeze him up. "Judge Morty!" he called out in his panic as the other came way too close for comfort. The judiciary abandoned his gaseous enemy and came to the rescue. Instead of using his bare hands as C-137 had tried before him, he struck his enemy with a wooden gavel and hit with dead precision. Frozen Morty tumbled to the side and landed on the ground. C-137, glad that this enemy was out of the way since Judge Morty was going to take care of him now, was now faced with the Mortysaurus, who was also still advancing on him. "Morticia! I could use your help here!" He called for his female counterpart. The girl overlooked their rivalry for this battle and came to his side, so they could take on the dangerous Godzilla-like Morty together. As they fought back against him, Flaming Morty was trying to land an attack on both of them from the air. Fortunately, C-137 saw it coming in time. "Shadow Morty! You take care of this guy!" The specter didn't waste any time and attacked the Firestarter before he could cause any more damage. Luckily, being a phantom made out of shadows made him pretty fire resistant, so he didn't sustain any damaged when he wrapped his dark tendrils around the living flame. Soon the shadowy swirls were able to extinguish the fire and Flaming Morty dropped on the ground – unconscious. The duo meanwhile had also managed to render the Mortysaurus incapacitated and Judge Morty was also done with Frozen Morty by now. The Gaseous Morty looked utterly terrified in the face of the four Mortys who were approaching him now. With a sound that was reminiscent of a fart, he flew over to his Rick and hid behind his back. "What the heck do you think you're doing?! Get back in there you cowardly weakling!" Shibuya Rick's smug expression had been quickly wiped off his face as he suddenly saw one Morty fall after the other and he was legitimately angry now. "Looks like your Fart Morty is clever and knows when to give up." C-137 mocked from his side of the arena now. "Who's talking about giving up? We're not defeated yet." True to his word, Shibuya Rick's Psychokinetic Morty was still standing on the battleground. Being the only one left, naturally he was getting cornered by the four Mortys from team C-137 now. Unfortunately, they had to learn that this Akira reject was not a pushover. Just like Shadow Morty's previous attempts at landing an attack, the other Mortys fared no better. Not one of them came close enough to the opponent to land an attack on him. Psychokinetic Morty used his powers to lift them all up into the air and let them drop on the ground again, just as he had done with Super Morty Fan Morty before. Fortunately, they weren't already as badly wounded as their teammate had been, but it still hurt and pushed the air out of the Mortys' lungs. The only one that had been mostly unaffected by the attack was Shadow Morty, who rose to the sky again. "Shadow Morty, attack him like you did before again." C-137 wheezed as he picked himself up from the ground again. "Why? It didn't work before." Morticia chimed in, not understanding why to repeat something, which had been already a useless attack. "Just trust me on this one." Morty told her and then instructed the specter again. "Try to use as many tendrils as you can and concentrate the attacks on his front." Shadow Morty followed the orders even if he himself was not able to see the point. He vicariously tried to attack the Psychokinetic on the front, but unsurprisingly he blocked every last one of them, keeping the tentacle-like shadow appendages at bay. As she watched the one-sided battle unfold, Morticia slowly seemed to understand her companions plan and she nodded towards Morty and Judge Morty, seeing that they were all on the same page now. Psychokinetic Morty was still fully concentrated on mentally blocking the specters attacks and despite his Rick's (late) warning call, he never knew what hit him as he was suddenly attacked by the other three Mortys from the back. The fight was over quickly after that since he lost his concentration to properly fight back or even defend himself. Shibuya Rick was stumped. He turned around to look for his traitorous Gaseous Morty, but the none-physical boy had already fled the scene, so it was clearly a loss for him now. He grit his teeth as he faced his opponent again. "My Morty's power level must be too low. I need to train more." Was his admittance to his defeat. Without much fuss, he handed over his badge and opened a portal while team C-137 celebrated their victory with cheering and fist bumps. Rick smiled at his Mortys, feeling quite proud of how well they did in this fight – especially his grandson. "That was some good teamwork and some nifty, strategic thinking." He praised. "And now pick up the unconsciousness fanboy and let's leave this shithole dimension." And the fondness was gone again as quickly as it had come…

"…so yeah, Rick D-9 is also out of the question." Morty K-4872 concluded. The Mortys were back to telephone conferencing. "So, we don't have any suspects anymore now, huh?" C-133 spoke up. K-4872 replied again. "I don't think so. What about Storage Rick?" "I've already talked to him. He was the first one that I talked to." C-137 said. "Y-yeah, but wa-wasn't he the o-one that t-told y-you ab-about the other R-Ricks?" A-22β6 asked in his stuttering voice. "I agree. That seems awfully suspicious of him to just draw the attention to other Ricks just so that he's off the hook." C-133 had to agree. "W-well, he said that the Day Care is a safe place and that he had nothing to do with it, but you're right. I guess it's really suspicious that he defended himself like that and then started to point his finger at other Ricks." C-137 realized his mistake. "I'll have to check him out again." A-22β6's voice piped up again. "M-me and my R-Rick will a-a-also cu-come with." "I think that's a good idea. I'll come with my Rick, too, and we'll interrogate him together." C-133 chimed in. "I would like to come also, but I have to investigate a different lead." K-4872 apologized. "It's an information that I got from Rick D-9, but I'm not sure if it has something to do with this. It does concern the owner of the Morty Day Care though." "That's okay. I think we three will be enough for this." C-137 spoke again. "We're currently on the way to the hotel, but I think the Day Care is closed already anyways, so we should go check it out first thing tomorrow morning. When does it open up again?" "Sh-should be a-around 8." "Okay then we meet tomorrow 8 am in front of the Day Care." "Good. See ya guys then." The Mortys then all bid their good-byes and hung up. Morty C-137 felt a little angry with himself that he just let that Storage Rick off the hook so easily. He should have been more suspicious about the fact that he went on the defense so fast and then tried to divert the attention to some of the other Ricks. This Rick was certainly the most suspicious one out of all of them now. "Wow, you seem really engaged in that case." Morticia commented. She had overheard a few of those telephoneconferencings and therefore had also gotten a whiff of this Morty trafficking schemes and that Morty and his friends were trying to find the perpetrator. However, she did find it a bit silly for them to get involved in this. Shouldn't they just let the CPD or the Citadel's militia handle this? Morty C-137 already knew the girl's opinion on this whole thing and her comment made him more angry than necessary at the moment. "Well, how would you feel if you were kidnapped and brought to a strange place where a Rick would just use you sexually against your will?!" All the Mortys just stood stunned into silence. It seemed that C-137 was projecting what had happened to him and therefore took this crime rather personally. Since none of the other Mortys knew about what had happened between him and Mysterious Rick, they had no words to offer in regards to the emotional outburst. Rick took a sip from his flask and only eyed his original Morty, not commenting on the situation. However, he thought that they should just be done with this whole crap fast, so that they could finally start to work out Morty's issue with what had happened. The boy certainly needed it.

Storage Rick sat in the small parlor, smoking and reminiscing about all the stuff that had happened in the last weeks. In a way, it felt all too weird to be true, but it definitely happened and he would be reminded of it each day. This whole thing had started after that one night – the night where that Blue Shirt Morty had come onto him. And from there on everything just went downhill. Things got out of hand and that way too fast. It was just the next night that another Morty came into his room. This wasn't unusual, but unlike the other times that one of the boys would come and ask for cuddles and just sleeping in bed next to him, he asked Storage Rick to have sex with him. After that, it would happen again and again and again. Every night a different Morty would come into his room and wanted to get fucked by him instead of just wanting the simple affections that Rick had always given out at the time as part of his daily routine. He couldn't really explain it and he also found no pattern for why it happened. Sometimes it were Mortys that he had just released from their cryogenic sleep that day and other times it were Mortys that had been around the Day Care for a long time already. He couldn't explain why those horny little bastards suddenly decided to relieve their sexual tension with him. Part of him wondered if that first Morty had just told some of the others about their sex and planted weird ideas in their confused little heads. Still, that didn't sound like a satisfying answer, but then again it wasn't really an answer that he was looking for. He needed a solution. Especially after that one night when things had gotten completely out of control! He remembered still how he had laid in bed, eyes already closed, but still awake as he practically expected his door to open any moment now. And he shouldn't be disappointed because open it did. With an almost inaudible sigh, he blinked his eyes open to check, which of his Mortys had decided to visit him this night. Honestly, he kind of hoped that it would be his favorite – that Blue Shirt Morty – who still came to him about every other night at least. What greeted him instead was something that he really hadn't expected at all. It wasn't just one single Morty that came in and approached his bed – it were five. He tried to make out the intruders in the darkness and could recognize that it was a Reptile Morty, a Business Morty, an Evil Rabbit Morty, a Robot Morty and a Blob Morty. "Hey! What's all this about?" he asked as he sat up. They surely couldn't be here because of the "usual" – whatever the usual actually was at this point. However, completely unfazed the bunch of Mortys crawled on his small bed. "Just relax, Rick." "Yeah, let us handle this." "We just want to make you feel good." They said, as they approached him and his queen-sized bed suddenly felt way too small. Before Storage Rick even had the chance to protest, he was roughly pushed back onto the mattress and the Business Morty – one of the two culprits that pushed him – crawled up his body until he straddled his face, pressing his crotch right against his mouth. All struggle was in vain, as his hands were held by his side by strong furry paws and he couldn't lift his head up with the weight on his face so Rick could only lay back and let things unfold. It didn't even take long for him to get hard as he inhaled the smell of arousal directly from Business Morty's crotch, who moaned and mewled happily as he rubbed his hardening bulge all over his mouth and nose. Any protests that he still tried to make, came out muffled and aroused the boy only more as it caused vibrations against his stiff dick. The other Mortys also weren't just idle. In quick movements, eight hands rid him of all his remaining clothes and started to explore his body. Since he couldn't see what was going on, Rick could only guess, which Morty was doing what to him. He could feel furry paws roaming over his chest, one clawed scaly hand rubbing one of his thighs after prying his legs apart and one cold and metallic hand grasping and stroking his other one. The weirdest sensation was the one on his stomach though. It felt weirdly warm and slimy. Oh, right. The Blob Morty. He gulped a little as he felt the slick sensation move towards his abdomen, slowly closing in on his tall standing and by now fully hard erection. His concentration was ripped away from that as an eager tongue started to lap at one of his nipples. A sharp pinching sensation made him gasp as the Evil Rabbit Morty nipped a little too hard on it, but Rick didn't really mind the pain. Just as the pink tongue lapped apologetically over his aching nub, claws were digging into the skin of his thighs – deep enough to leave scratches, maybe even scars. So caught up in the mix of sensations, he didn't notice when the Blob Morty bent down over him and took his erection inside his mouth – or well, just inside his body – until it already happened. Shit! The feel of that warm gooey substance was enough to drive him nuts! The smell of musk grew even stronger as Business Morty finally freed his throbbing cock from his pants and underwear and shoved it directly in Rick's face. The old man groaned, feeling more turned on by being dominated like this than he would like to admit. Again, he wasn't aware until it was already too late when a metallic "finger" worked its way into his anus, slowly probing deeper. He hissed a little at the sensation. The metal felt smooth though the shape was weird and nothing like a human finger and the lack of lubrication still caused a slight, burning sensation inside him. As if reading his thoughts, Robot Morty said, "Hey, Reptile. Lube me up with your spit." The thought wasn't the most pleasant when Rick pictured the violet spittle of the scaly Morty, but there was little that he could do in his current position and it was probably better than no lube at all. There wasn't much time for thought though as a harsh pinch on his other nipple caused by rodent incisors made him forget everything and cry out a little in surprise. The moment that his mouth was open, Business Morty must have been getting tired of just rubbing his dick all over Rick's face and shoved it inside his mouth. Rick, never one to displease a lover, sucked immediately on the intrusive fleshy pole. Bobbing and moaning around the delicious little cock, he was surprised again when he became aware of another sensation once more. His eyes widened as slicked metal started to slide into his ass and it wasn't only because it felt cold. 'That doesn't feel like his finger…' he pointed out inside his mind as the thicker and longer object slid deeper and deeper inside him. What part of Robot Morty was that? Did he even have a part like that? It was only then that he suddenly understood what the other Mortys had always meant when they talked about Robot Morty playing with his "joystick". Where was the boy even hiding that thing? The "stick" was now poking right into his prostrate and made him moan loudly around the meat in his mouth. He almost missed completely that Blob Morty who had been slurping eagerly at his cock had stopped doing that and shifted around to sit down on him. While the sensation wasn't that extremely different – the sticky goo of his body kind of felt the same no matter where you would stick your dick in – he did notice that it was vaguely different. The sucking motion and the sounds where the slightest bit different and obviously the boy wasn't making gagging sounds anymore, but used his now free mouth to moan like a bitch in heat. Storage Rick felt a little disappointed that he wasn't able to see the pink blob fuck himself on his dick, but oh well. Tough luck. That disappointment didn't really last all that long as he could feel Robot Morty thrusting into him in hard and fast movements, hitting his prostrate every time with an unbelievable precision. The Business Morty was also thrusting into his mouth, forcing Rick to deepthroat him, which he gladly did. In between the actions, he was only dimly aware that one furry paw grabbed his hand and made it wrap around something pulsing and warm. It only registered fully to him when Evil Rabbit Morty started to hump into his hand what that object was and he tried to help by massaging the furry boy's erection. His other hand was soon occupied likewise as Reptile Morty also grabbed for his hand so he would stroke his two stiff members, too. With everything that was happening around (and inside) him, Storage Rick wasn't able to last for very long. With a muffled moan – that sounded more like a scream – he bucked his hips and came. Not a second later, cum shot into his mouth and down his throat as Business Morty also reached his climax. A wetness on his hands, chest and stomach told him that Evil Rabbit and Reptile had also found their release. It was hard to tell with Blob Morty and in the case of Robot Morty, Rick wasn't even sure if he was physically possible of ejaculation. It didn't matter though as the metallic rod pulled out of him. Blob Morty also got off from his now limp dick and Business Morty had also pulled out of his mouth. Rick released a little sigh of relieve as he tried to catch his breath. Finally, it was over. Or, so he thought. Unfortunately, he noticed quickly that the Mortys were only swapping positions with each other and they started to pat and stroke his body all over again to bring him back to hardness. "Oh c'mon. Gimme a break." He groaned. Of course, he couldn't keep up with five horny teenagers. He was just one man! And despite being as fit as he was in his age, he was an old man at that. That fact didn't stop the horny Mortys though… After that night, he knew that he couldn't handle these abandoned Mortys anymore and that something needed to be done whether the higher ups finally made a decision or not. It must have been fate – even though no Rick believes in such a thing – that a solution showed up on his doorstep right the morning after. After he had opened up the Day Care, the Rick Guard had looked over to him and then actually abandoned his post to come over and talk to him. It was the guard that had just arrived for his morning shift and had exchanged the post with the nightshift guard while Storage Rick opened the store. "Hey, you look like shit. Didn't get any sleep last night?" he asked after having noticed the heavy dark bags underneath his eyes. "Yeah. The Mortys kept me awake." Storage Rick explained, carefully leaving out the detail how they had kept him awake. That wasn't anyone's but his and the Mortys' business, so no one needed to know about that. "They're becoming a handful, huh?" The guard commented. "You bet. I mean they always were, but I feel like things are totally getting out of hand recently…" "Need some help to take them off your back?" Guard Rick asked after he looked around and made sure that no one was in hearing range. Storage Rick's eyes narrowed and he knew that he shouldn't, but he asked what the guard had to offer him anyways. Guard Rick only grinned before he proposed to him the offer of his lifetime. Storage Rick knew that what he did was probably not okay. He was violating regulations. He was handing out Mortys to someone other than their owners and that without a specific permission from the higher ups. He let those Mortys be carted off to a brothel. It wasn't right, none of it was, but he still did it anyways. He just kept telling himself that if those Mortys were so eager for a Rick's cock then they would get what they wanted there and he wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. So, any Mortys that still continued to come onto him in the night were fair game to be shipped off. It wasn't like their owners would ever come back to retrieve them anyways. They were abandoned Mortys and no one ever came back for them! Therefore, Storage Rick tried not to feel bad about it. Was trying to tell himself that what he did was the right choice. Heck, they didn't pay him enough to deal with all of this bullshit and this offer wasn't just the perfect solution for his problems, but also earned him something extra. Since he had started with this he couldn't just back out of it anymore, no matter how illegal it was. He probably would have if there weren't constantly Mortys trying to get into his pants because he didn't want to ship off any that were not interested in something like that. He wouldn't condemn innocent Mortys to such a fate. However, for whatever reasons, many of his Mortys seemed to get the appeal and made advances on him so it wasn't like he planned to stop these illegal shipments anytime soon. The only Morty that he didn't dare to send off was the first one, the Blue Shirt Morty. He couldn't really say why, but he just couldn't get rid of him. It was probably too much to say that he was special in anyway because Mortys were never special, but this one had just grown on Storage Rick. The little shit was almost constantly at his side, helping him out around work and after working hours. It was almost as if this was HIS Morty and he kind of liked that and not just because of the great sex that he had with him. This Morty was probably the only one that he could never give away. Maybe not even when his original Rick would ever show up and want to withdraw him again. He took another drag from his cigarette and held his breath. Before he could release the smoke again, a pair of soft lips pressed against his own and two small hands gripped his hair. Rick closed his eyes and the smoke gently wafted out of his nose and between the small gaps of their lips. The Blue Shirt Morty ended the kiss and looked dreamily up at him, licking his lips as if Storage Rick had the most delicious taste ever. "I doubt that my mouth is that tasty while I smoke." Rick commented, his eyes fixated on the pink tongue as it glided over the pretty, rosy lips. He remembered the complaints from some past lovers who weren't smokers and didn't like it when he kissed them after a cig, much less during smoking one. "There's nothing more delicious than the taste of my Daddy." Morty said seductively. Rick drew the boy into his arms, pulling him as tight to his body as possible. "Well then, how about letting daddy take care of you now? Mhm, baby?" he asked huskily. Their lips found each other again.

As promised amongst the Mortys, all three duos – plus the rest of team C-137 – met up in the morning just outside of the Morty Day Care to confront Storage Rick. Rick C-137, C-133 and P-78 didn't look really happy to be there, but obviously their Mortys had found a way to persuade them in joying them today for this initiative. After the last Morty trainer left, the small group approached the counter. Storage Rick only lifted one side of his eyebrow in question, having already noticed the little gathering and wondering what this was about now. Especially since it were three Mortys that lead the group while the Ricks stayed more in the background. "What do you want?" he asked in not exactly a friendly tone. "We have a few questions and this time we want honest answers." Morty C-137 said in what he hoped was an intimidating voice. Storage Rick's face didn't change. "Sure. I've got no reason to lie to you. What is it?" C-133 spoke up now. "We have been checking out all the Ricks that you had suggested might have something to do with the Morty kidnappings and illegal Morty brothel ring and we found out that they're all innocent." "So?" "S-so, you ha-have-haven't proven yo-you're innocence yet." A-22β6 spoke up now. "Excuse me? I've already said that I got nothing to do with this. And it's not like I know anything. I just made some random suggestions because those Ricks were weirdos and suspicious. I'm sorry that the Rick you're looking for was not among them, but it's certainly not me." Storage Rick defended himself. "If you would leave now, I got some working to do here." "Not so fast, Rick!" The first Rick – C-133 – finally spoke up. "It's not really that farfetched to think that you might have something to do with that." "Yeah, you have an entire Day Care full of Mortys. Who says that you're not handing some of those over to those brothels on the side." P-78 added. C-137 also had to comment. "Yeah, can you actually prove that you really got nothing to do with it and know of nothing? Because only someone who wants to hide something starts pointing with fingers at others and you were really quick to do so." A drop of sweat ran down the side of Storage Rick's face and his mouth and unibrow formed a straight line. "What the heck are you talking about? You noticed that we have really strict regulations in here? I can't just hand out Mortys to anyone. If someone wants to withdraw they have to have a ticket and also need to show an id. I mean just think about how much trouble I would get into if a Morty trainer shows up and wants to withdraw a Morty that I gave out to whoever you think I hand them to?" Rick C-137 noticed the other's nervousness and immediately latched onto it like a predator that detected fear in its victim. "Surely not all the Mortys, but I bet you have quite a few around that no one comes picking up anymore." "W-what?" "You can't tell me that Ricks leave their Mortys here and ALL of them come back to retrieve them again. We Ricks are assholes! As soon as a Rick grows bored of this shitty game, he'll just abandon all their caught Mortys because anything else would be just a hassle. So if you try to tell me that it doesn't happen or you don't know anything about that then you're just a liar and a pretty bad one at that!!" "W-well…" Storage Rick had to swallow because his throat felt entirely to dry and he cursed that he was stuttering so badly all of a sudden. He never had that problem before. "Yeah, okay. We have a bunch of abandoned Mortys running around here. I mean, you can clearly see them." The Morty keeper mentioned with his hand inside the Day Care and to the area behind the electrical fence where Mortys were busy with whatever they were doing. "Still, doesn't give you the right to assume that I just sell them out or whatever." "Really? Then what do you with them?" Rick C-137 wasn't about let up. He actually had fun with this verbal fight and trying to corner the other who was clearly trying to hide something. "Surely those Mortys aren't the only abandoned ones. Where is the rest of them?" "The information where we store the Mortys is confidential." The reply shot out of Storage Rick as if he was trained to answer that by his employer – which he probably was. It didn't deter the Rogue Rick. "Say, this is a really small building. I have trouble believing that you can keep all of those stored Mortys here and the ones that no one comes to pick up anymore. You sure you don't hand some of them out to get some space in there?" "Yeah, even if we don't have any proof now, are you sure that we won't stumble over something if we dig around in regards to those Mortys?" Morty C-137 leaned cockily on the counter, feeling confidence from also noting how much his grandfather had cornered the other Rick. Storage Rick looked unnerved at the bratty Morty before he finally seemed to give in. They had fucking cornered him on this one! As if he hadn't already had enough trouble with rumors coursing around because he had messed up one time and handed out a Morty whose Rick actually did come back to retrieve him again. Of course, he had tried to swipe that one under the rug, explaining it away as a misunderstanding. As an error in the computer system or something like that. He had consoled the Rick with some bribe money, which the greedy bastard readily accepted. And after that, he deflected anyone who was questioning the safety of this place because unfortunately, once rumors came to exist on the Citadel, they had a tendency to last. However, if these Ricks and Mortys would get too nosy and snuck around, they really might end up blowing his cover – aside from that, he had no idea if they had good connections to the Citadel HQ and when those bureaucrats would start investigating, he would get into a shit ton of trouble. There was no way that it wouldn't be noticed that Storage Rick had forged some documents and they would see that Mortys weren't actually retrieved, yet missing from the Day Care anyways. While that wouldn't be too fatal to him, he would have some real trouble if they linked him together with that illegal brothel ring. And since these guys seemed to only be interested in those, they might leave him out of this whole bullshit if he just confessed now… Sure, he was going to be in trouble either way now. And that didn't come entirely unexpected. He had a good run, but realistically speaking, this whole thing was bound to blow up eventually. And maybe, if he played nice now, he would get away with a milder punishment. Probably try to make it look like he was only a victim in this, too, or something. Because honestly, he was! "Fine. Maybe I do sell some of those Mortys underneath the table." He finally admitted. "And do you sell them to some brothels, too." Morty C-133 also leaned on the counter now, fixing the other with a hard stare. The Rick sighed in defeat. "It-it's not unlikely that they end up there." "S-so you r-really d-do sell the M-Mortys t-to the brothels?" A-22β6 stuttered accusingly and also leaned a little bit closer. "Hey, it's not like I'm doing it for the money!" Storage Rick was immediately on the defense again. "You-you have no fucking idea what is going on here! The place is fucking overcrowded with abandoned Mortys and neither Morty Inc. nor the Council of Ricks are doing anything about it. And it's not only that! Believe it or not, but the Mortys that I hand over actually want it. They-they're coming on to me and I really don't wanna deal with those horny little asses. So if-if they want Rick cock so badly then what's the harm in sending them to the brothels? I'm just doing everyone a favor like this." The disapproving looks he received from the Mortys and their Ricks in front of him spoke otherwise. Of course, Storage Rick himself knew that what he did was wrong, but he just couldn't feel bad about it anymore. He continued. "You know, I'm not the real bad guy here. Do you wanna know who it is? It's the Ricks! All of the Ricks that decided that they grew bored of the Morty craze and then just dump them here with the false promise of eventually retrieving them again instead of just releasing them into the wild. No, they just leave their Mortys here who are waiting for their stupid Ricks to come back, which let's face it will never ever happen!" It was true! And who was the one who was always left to pick up the shambles of those abandoned and broken Mortys? It was always him – Rick S-124! No, in his opinion he had no reason to feel bad about himself because he was still by miles a better Rick than those who were visiting his Morty Day Care. "Well, it's neither for you nor for us to decide who the bad guy is, so chill out." Rick C-133 was trying to be rational even if it did make him receive disapproving looks from the three Mortys at the counter. "Just tell us about your contacts. We're not really interested in you. We want to know who the big boss behind this entire thing is." Storage Rick quickly glanced over to the tensed up Guard Rick that stood in front of the electrical fence. "Sorry, no can do." "Wait? What?!" Morty C-137 practically jumped at that answer. "You already confessed that you're shipping the Mortys off to the brothel, so why are you trying to hold that information back from us now?" Morty C-133 also couldn't believe what he had heard. "Surely you can't be willing to stick your neck out for them?" The Morty of the Rogue Rick continued still. "If you leave it at that, we will have to hand you over to the authorities who will just get the information out of you somehow. You can't really want that?" "Sorry, but I actually don't have any names or addresses. And even if I did, I won't squeal on anyone. Not my style." Storage Rick said as he slowly distanced himself from the counter and waved a Morty in a blue t-shirt over. "If you'll excuse me now, it's time for my break." "What!? Hey!!" The Mortys protested at the sudden retreat. "Morty, let it be." Rick C-137 said. "What are you saying, Rick?" Morty whirled around to face his grandfather, not believing that he was just giving up like that after they already got a confession out of the other. The Rogue Rick sighed and began to move while shaking his head. "As I said, Morty. Just. Give. It. A. Rest." He emphasized each word, hoping that Morty would catch on. However, the boy was too worked up to get it and angrily followed after his Rick who rounded the corner of the Day Care. The other Ricks and their Mortys wordlessly followed, Morty C-133 and Morty A-22β6 looking slightly confused but much calmer than their interdimensional counterpart did. "I-I-I just can't believe you, Rick!" the angry brunet bellowed loudly. "Just shut up for a minute, will you?" The scientist said calmly as he leaned against the wall. "What? No! I won't—" his grandson started, but was interrupted by Rick C-133. "Calm down again. If you keep being this obnoxious we will never get the information." "What?" The Morty quietened down as his anger was instantly replaced with confusion. "Well yeah, it would suck if he overheard me ratting him out. Already got my neck way to deep in the noose thanks to you." Morty turned to the source of the voice, only to see Storage Rick coming from the back of the Day Care, taking a drag from his freshly lit cigarette. He was so confused right now. Did that mean that the other was going to tell them now? Rick S-124 leaned against the wall and took another puff. "So, that Guard Rick is your contact person. Is that it?" Rick C-137 asked. The other nodded. "Yeah, I didn't lie when I said that I have no addresses and no names. I really have no direct contact to the brothels. Rick T-42 is the one who pays me and comes to pick up the Mortys. He'll dress up in civil and come pick up a batch this evening again." It was pretty simple actually. The "disguised" Guard Rick would act as if he wanted to make a withdrawal, handing him cash instead of the tickets in exchange. Then he would leave with his happy band of five Mortys as if he was just another trainer, pretending to go adventuring with them when in truth he carted them off to the brothels, however he continued to do that. Rick S-124 didn't really know anything further than that. Not that he actually needed to know. "So basically, someone of us just needs to stick around this evening and then follow him to wherever he brings those Mortys." C-133 concluded simply. "Exactly." Storage Rick breathed out with some smoke. "Are you really sure that he'll still come after you just confessed to us?" "Don't worry about that. I'll talk to him later and make sure that he will." "Well, guess that's that. Good job. C'mon, Morty." C-137 said as he was about to take his leave. "Not so fast, Rick." His grandson halted the other. "We still have to discuss who's going to stay behind and spy after the guy." "It's not going to be us 'cause we have stuff to do and places to be at." "I'm serious, Rick!" "So am I, Morty." "No, Rick. You-you're not taking this very seriously, Rick. Doesn't this whole sex trafficking thing that these Ricks have going on with Mortys bother you at all?" Morty stared accusingly at his grandfather. Now the scientist looked offended. "What kind of question is that? Of course, it does bother me. I mean, this whole thing is just really fucked up. You Mortys are still minors and on top of it, you're our grandsons and incest is just gross! Aside from that, I don't really get why they would run after Mortys. I mean, we're all Rick Sanchez, we can bed anyone that we want, so why chase after a stupid, pubescent teenager?" "Excuse me?!" his Morty asked back, a frown on his face. He was clearly offended by what his grandfather just said by making it sound like there was nothing desirable about a Morty. Sure, he didn't get lucky with Jessica or many other girls, but he also got to make out with a few pretty ones. "Well, I'm sorry, Morty, that you feel offended about that. You know, other kids would be happy if their grandpa told them that he has no desire to fuck them. Didn't know that you would have a problem with that. Is there anything you wanna tell me?" "What?! No, Rick! Is-it's just—you didn't need to phrase it like that, you know?" "What? I was stating facts. Honestly, I can't see the appeal." "Well, Mortys are said to be a pretty good lay, actually." P-78 butted in from the sideline. "They're also pretty good at giving head – supposedly naturals at it." Then he lifted his hands in a defensive motion, "It's not l-like I would know, it's just what I heard from other Ricks who're into that sort of thing." "Well, yeah. That's still no excuse to fuck your own grandson." C-137 replied back, remembering that the part about giving head was indeed true according to his own experience with that Rick Fan Morty. "I get you, man. I'm not into it either. Just saying." P-78 defended himself and couldn't help but glance at his own Morty, who gave him a look that he couldn't read. "Mortys are made for Ricks." Rick S-124 suddenly joined in on their conversation. He had already lit a second cig – or was that his third? "They're a perfect match to us—fucking compatible to us in every way, even to our sexual needs. The marriage between a Rick and Morty would be the only one that could actually work out and that was even admitted by Ricks who have already had more than one failed marriage behind them. Not that I would know since I've never been married to begin with." "Ah, just shut up about it, will you! This talk is going to make me vomit all over this shitty place." C-137 retorted angrily. "C'mon, Morty. Let's go. We still got stuff to do." Morty and the rest of the team began to trail behind their leader as they left. "We talk over the phone again." He shouted towards Morty C-133 and A-22β6, knowing that his grandfather wasn't willing to wait up for him any longer. They made their way silently towards the portal in the middle of the square. Before they arrived there, Morty spoke up again, albeit much quieter this time. "Do you actually think that it could be true, Rick? I mean about the match and marriage thing?" "Are you actually a Morty that hasn't been fucked by his Rick yet?" Mysterious Rick's words rang in his head again. "No need to look so surprised. Ricks and Mortys fucking with each other is actually a pretty common thing." 'Is it really such a common thing? Is it normal for Ricks and Mortys to fuck with each other? Is that as natural as a Rick usually having a Morty? Are we the odd ones out for not doing it…?' "Morty, let's stop talking about it! It's just disgusting!" "Yeah, I know…but do you think that there could be really a Rick and a Morty who could be a happily married couple? It's just so hard to imagine…" The brunet trailed off at the end of the sentence and looked like he tried very hard to picture it. 'Actually it's not that hard to imagine now that I know that it's probably a thing…' Rick abruptly halted, turned around and got down on one knee while grabbing Morty's shoulders. "Listen up, Morty. Ricks will make up whatever kind of bullshit they need as a fucking reason to excuse themselves away. So don't you worry your stupid little Morty head about the crap that you just heard. The Ricks who say that kind of shit just try to make that up as an excuse to be openly sick fucks. I mean, I'm pretty sick, too, not gonna lie about that, but not like this! You got that, Morty?" Morty nodded and it was a good enough response for Rick to let go of his grandson and continue on his way again.

AN: Okay, I have to admit that I was thinking really long and hard about who should be the last and fifth Morty on Rick's team. I was contemplating even giving him the One True Morty, but in the end, my decision fell on Judge Morty because for one, he's super cool (you need to watch the animation if you haven't yet) and secondly, he was the first really strong Morty that I got on my team when I was playing Pocket Mortys for the first time. He was really way stronger than anyone else in my team, so sorry for putting him on such a high pedestal here, but it's just my way of honoring him in good memory. And phew, 10k long chapter, but we're finally getting to the good parts – and the finale is right around the corner. So stay tuned for the last chapter next week! (And yes, I do feel bad for making Storage Rick turn from a decent to a bad guy. He's my favorite Rick and I never intended for that to happen when I wrote "Ricking the Routine"…)

Part 11 of Entricked Fates

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Part 1 of Entricked Fates: Gotta Catch Me Some Morty

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 2 of Entricked Fates: Mortyfied and Rickfused

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 3 of Entricked Fates: Ricking the Routine

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Part 4 of Entricked Fates: Ricks will always be Ricks

oneshot

Part 5 of Entricked Fates: The Morty-Lover

oneshot

Part 6 of Entricked Fates: Second Chances AKA The Rick One For Me

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Part 7 of Entricked Fates: Rickvestigating the Morty Disappearances

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part 8 of Entricked Fates: When the Morty’s away, the Rick will play

oneshot

Part 9 of Entricked Fates: It’s Not His Ricking Fault!

oneshot

Part 10 of Entricked Fates: I Ricking Hate My Life!

oneshot

Part 12 of Entricked Fates: The Mortys and their Stories

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

I feel like people can’t see the forest for the trees

It’s not so much as “hood niggas” didn’t like some say Dragonball Z, because obviously it’s Dragon Ball Z. Arguably the biggest and most mainstream anime in the US. I do feel like people are being dishonest when they suggest there isn’t a massive gap between what “nerds” like versus the expectation of young Black people regardless of gender. A few things having crossover appeal doesn’t change that gap. Like if you’re a Black goth kid people are still going to look at you weird even though there are a handful of bands that crossover to predominately Black audiences. 

There’s a fixation on how “we all aren’t that different” or rather “fuck you you aren’t special because you like weird/different thing X!” It’s a bizarre and unnecessary reaction to a larger conversation. A better bridge would be to stop making it a Black vs white culture thing because I promise you as someone who went to mix schools for a solid portion of my life there are weird white kids who get picked on and ostracized for not liking whatever is currently the larger dominant culture norms in activities, hobbies, music, film, or anything you can think of. 

The fundamental issue (at least I think) is the issue with Blackness being tied to a lot of our identities implicitly/explicitly. People have strong reactions because they feel like liking things or engaging in certain things makes them un-Black or less Black because contrary to popular belief people do still in 2017 and beyond react really odd to Black kids not liking things that are assumed to be culturally inherent to Blackness. And they often articulate/interpret it as someone trying to distance themselves away from Blackness and Black people by not liking or engaging it. I know we have to pretend everyone on the internet is and has always been this open-minded person in regards to Blackness and has never questioned anything and always has open arms to every Black person, but that’s not reality.

G, J and U?

G- Haveyou ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

HAHAHAHA omg I hadn’t thought about this in ages but my first OTP was most likely Vegeta and Goku from Dragon Ball Z! I remember so clearly whispering to a friend in primary school that I thought they should be “special friends” and she was SOOOO DISGUSTED she told our teacher and I got into trouble but had literally no idea why. Ah, funny times.

J- Name a fandomyou didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have tocare about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made youaware of.)

There are a few of these but I think the biggest one is probably Overwatch, and even though all I’ve gathered about it is that it’s a game, it’s all over my dash! Not that that’s a bad thing and if anything it gives me something to look into when I have a little more time, but it’s funny how things can seep into your consciousness sometimes, without you even realising it. I guess other example are Steven Universe and Black Sails (which is HIGH on my list of new things to watch!!!!)

U- Threefavorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re yourfavorites.

Ooooh, this is a toughie! 

Hamilton - HAMILTON is my favourite and I will defend him to the end, followed by Laurens who I also relate to a lot and just generally find incredibly interesting (I think partly because there’s a limit to how much I can ever really learn about him so that’s a perfect storm for hyper-fixation and emotional projection haha) and then Lafayette, who I love for his unbridled enthusiasm and commitment to the cause, even if as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before his characterisation in fic tends generally to drive me mad!

I was going to do some honourable mentions too haha but that would nearly be pointless because there would be so many! 

Pretty Little Liars- I got really not this a few years ago, and then one of the big reveals was so AWFUL and dumb and offensive that I stopped watching it but I’ve been sucked in again now that new episodes go up on Netflix weekly, and it’s only 8 episodes away from the end so I kind of want to know who A is. ANYWAY, my favourite characters are Spencer, Hanna and Mona. Spencer because I relate to her a lot (she’s a perfectionist, she’s witty, she’s been through a lot with her family in particular but keeps pushing on, plus I think she is most linked to the reason A is still tormenting them so that’s super interesting), Hanna because she is hilarious and so badass (her first response to things is usually to say how they’re complete bullshit and she’s always the one who wants to just smash up any of the random shit A sends to them) and Mona because she is the ultimate genius and she is always SEVERAL steps ahead of everyone else, plus I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned out to be A and I would actually really love that. Also the commitment she showed when faking her own death was borderline terrifying and I love how she is the definition of EXTRA.

Jane the Virgin - Irish netflix have FINALLY uploaded season 2 so I’m getting to enjoy all of the soapy goodness for another 20 something episodes, yay! My favourites are Rogelio (I’m pretty sure this is true of anyone who watches this show though, he is truly an icon), Jane (I LOVE her and aspire to be more like her in a lot of ways, because she is so strong but also not perfect and she is constantly facing the most ridiculous situations but managing to get through them in a grounded way, plus this is a surprisingly feminist show and that’s partly because of who Jane is as a character and a person) and Xiomara, who is so caring and loving and supportive while also getting out there and living her own life and being determined to chase her own dreams. The Xo/Jane relationship is one of my favourite fictional mother/daughter relationships actually :)