my only critique of hi fi rush is that there shouldve been blood. and sure, maybe it wouldve been totally tonally incongruous, but consider this: i want BLOOD.
The fic by Rockity Sock is still an unpublished WIP so far, but it's really nice and will hopefully be completed and published later.
It begins at the end of the Ultimate Enemy episode, with Dan getting trapped in the thermos. And... I'm not sure how much I can say without spoiling it, but a lot of really cool stuff happens. It's a psychological type of fic, about different types of prisons and punishments, and has time stuff and pocket dimensions, and redemption stuff. (I was only planning on drawing one illustration for IB, but when I saw the WIP, I wanted to see so many things animated. So many awesome visuals. I wish I could've animated them all.)
This is the part I did animate:
He just walked for now, searching for the tiniest crack. The darkness went on for seemingly forever though, and no matter how far he walked it kept on going
Dan kept moving
He tried his best to break through the walls but every ectoblast he formed fizzled out. Fading into the darkness.
Oh, now it makes sense.
His powers are being limited, it takes him a few more tries to believe it. The fact that he’s trapped with nothing whatsoever. Endless hours spent, and wasted. Powers he has built up from the ground with no mentor, ones he trained endlessly after a decade.
Gone, disappeared, muffled. Limited. Dan let out a laugh, one with no humor. A laugh that turned into a cackle, he couldn’t stop.
Here's Rockity Sock's AO3 account: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockitysockity and tumblr account: https://rockitysock.tumblr.com/
(I also uploaded the video on deviantArt and YouTube)
There’s a character in the books called Nathan Nutcracker and I wanted to make a design for him because I think Cedar deserves a friend who can relate to her
Fallen Gabriel is so friggin cool, but I have to wonder how he would fight in his new form? How would he utilize hell energy, and would some trace of his original powers (Materializing weapons from light) remain? I’ve seen art of Gabriel wielding his og swords but now partially broken, so is it made up for the fact he is physically stronger or that he can imbue his swords with hell energy?
my idea is that gabriel goes through a lot of evolution with how he fights now that his wings have been taken from him - airborne combat is what he was most comfortable with and adept at, but he does have plenty of ground-based training he pulls on to reinvent his technique. initially, when met in his tomb, gabriel engages v1 much like the prime souls, with fast and brutal assaults dealt with only his body as his weapon as he's no longer capable of light materialization and his swords are sealed elsewhere. for a time, this is what he continues to do when he and v1 move forward together as even though he regains his swords, they are broken in the recovery process and burn his hands now besides. gabriel is left...weaponless, and he refuses to acknowledge his capability with hell energy until his demonic transformation completes. and in that, he rebels against everything he once was as a way of processing his own grief.
he fully embraces his hell energy then, corrupting justice and splendor into demonic weapons so they fit into his hands once more, and becoming a gifted conductor of his newfound power source. i'm certain he could use it to craft weapons as his light once did (as a fallen archangel, he is accordingly high tiered as a demon) and he even begins making bombs that v1 can use. he also likely raids hell to get his hands on the weapons that once belonged to the fallen angels all that time ago, as he seems to be a bit more partial to the physical weight in his hands now. in this phase, he is a vicious combatant, abusing his self-sourced energy until he's drained to tear apart any enemies he and v1 come across. he revels in the bloodshed as much as the machine does, and he relishes his fallen nature in defiance of a lifetime spent as a tool now discarded from its master.
this mellows eventually however, with gabriel achieving a peace in his new status and recognizing that while he loves battle, he enjoys it most as his art form, something he can engage in with grace and mastery above all else. it was once his way of connecting to god, and now it is his way of connecting to himself, the very core of who he is. and gabriel, while enchanted with blood possibly as much as v1 is, also values his poise and chivalry just as much. this is when his final battle style is acquired, adjusting to a much heavier, much stronger body that he dedicates himself to feeling just as light in as when his wings once carried him. it's difficult of course, he feels clumsy and his tail presents a terrible annoyance at first, but he actually takes to the challenge with great joy. he learns his balance, to use his tail as a counterweight (and weapon, given its size) and how to put all this raw strength into graceful maneuvering. he feels invigorated moving fluidly across hell's floors, in touch with his battlefield like he could never be in the air. it grounds him in a way he delights in, working closely with v1 to develop a horrifically cruel duet that gabriel turns back into a dance. he continues to take his broken swords in hand, but he keeps his hell energy constantly on stand-by now - i like to think when in battle, a ring of skulls replace his halo
you know tbh i know people are joking when they say 'skill issue' to someone failing at a game but it low-key feels a bit ableist for someone to say that because not everyone has the same coordination with their hands or body as someone else and like... people should be allowed to play games for their own enjoyment and not be judged for not being able to do certain stuff in a game 😔