#which is ironic considering they are the reason he and the others chose hisui to escape to | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rockheadcd · 1 year

Text

roark's hisui team cheatsheet!

TYRANITAR ♂️ // tybalt

one of his aces from sinnoh

now essentially team lead in place of ramses

hangry. all the time. in case anyone didn't know

now he's hangrier because food is harder to find

The Reason why roark has to settle with working outside of jubilife village

violencia on sight if he sees zoroark

The 'mon that was transported with him, Tybalt is one of Roark's longest team members and is the one who shares the battle bond. Although useless here, he does just about everything he can to keep Roark safe, which includes roaring, charging, biting, stone edge—just about anything will set him off if Roark leaves him to his devices. That being said, Roark tries not to, considering how poorly his introduction into Jubilife went.

Roark's personal skills with excavation and mining are the only things that managed to keep a roof over their heads, given he made the mistake of having Tybalt with him during the trek to the only other civilization he could see. Due to the folklore surrounding Tyranitar for those that emigrated from Johto, and the unfortunate realization that everyone else had never seen one before, the understandable reaction upon seeing his disgruntled expression was to fear him, and by proxy, try to kick Roark out on sight. It took some insistent negotiation that was barely ever in Roark's favor as an outsider, and proof that he could, in fact, be a Really Nice Help to Jubilife directly without having to completely rely on the Ginkgo Guild ( he basically offered himself as cheap labor ) for materials, and vowing to never release Tybalt out in the vicinity of Jubilife, that he managed to have a place to sleep.

Out of safety, Roark tended to have bigcat out with him more than Tybalt—a behavior even Roark had to take time to get used to.

LUXRAY ♂️✨️ // bigcat, blondie, lux², luxray, no specific name

alpha! him big.

gets along well with volk's luxray

not injured when found as a shinx, just really really hungry

found in the northern region of the obsidian fieldlands

He Was There First (roark's first hisui timeline mon)

big ( literally ) brother energy, often pressing his snoot into roark, growlithe, clowning on tybalt by just putting A Paw on him

community snuggle pillow

barely fits anywhere that isn't outside

Bigcat was one of roark's first encounters after assimilating himself in Jubilife, when he set out on his first task order of minerals that was beyond just the fieldlands. Naturally, he wanted to end up closer to where Oreburgh would eventually stand, knowing there was coal to be had, but his curiousity got the best of him and he chose to survey west as well. There he found bigcat, very much hungry and very much capable of taking a chunk out of roark's leg if given the chance. He wasn't expecting to come across a shiny of all things, no less, and with such parallels to a certain someone back home, he was compelled enough to catch him ( but not until after he came back with food no cat could resist ). Roark has had a relatively easier time handling bigcat due to the sheer amount of shinx line knowledge he's gotten through osmosis from volk. Bigcat has become much of a therapy cat as much as Tybalt is a reminder that roark has a home he has to come back to. He's still trying to acclimate to urban life when they go to present.

BASTIODON ♂️ // basti, big guy, no specific name

also an alpha, caught in the coronet distortions ( it was the mental illness )

not sure quite how old he is, but due to his size and maturity, roark can at least guarantee he's reaching the end of his lifespan

tired and grumpy

LOVES king's leaves, will take a chunk out of them

rather kind of likes the concept of pokeballs bc that means he doesn't need to walk everywhere

presumably a pack leader at some point—very quick to chase off predators alongside luxray

he can't fit inside

banned from iron island for literally everyone's safety

Bastiodon is one of the guys caught when Roark discovers that distortions are his way out of Hisui. An alpha like him would nearly kill him no matter how well he knows Sinnoh's token fossil pokémon, so it was safer to catch him than risk being spotted ( and also, he really wanted to bring him back for byron ). Basti is as sturdy as they get, but his sheer size makes him incredibly slow compared to those of his species of the same egg type. Short bursts are his go-to kind of strategy, and although he has the muscle to carry himself, he's a bit immature in his maturity and would rather be in a ball than toddling behind Roark.

He works well as a battering ram and a meat shield, especially for the littler 'mons that Roark ends up finding or simply spending time with. He really doesn't like Zoroark, but will only do something about it if he's out of his ball. Otherwise, that job is for Luxray.

GROWLITHE ♀️ // no specific name, but every compliment under the sun

literally the same instance as volkner's go read it here

STEELIX ♀️ // tsunagu, tsu, nagi

alpha lady out in the highlands, the static spawn

it was either catch her or catch the alpha rhyperior or perish

also banned from iron island

respect her and she respects you

not above gnashing just about anything between her teeth

perhaps half the age of byron's steelix, if roughness of edges is any indication

Roark did not intend to come home with a Steelix, much less an alpha one, knowing Volkner's very specific trauma with them. However, with Rhyperior being the other option, his decision was easy, and he refused to let his Luxray get clowned on, so even battling was off the table. With his prior knowledge the only thing he had to work with, he lopped a gigaton ball and booked it, only to be surprised when he heard the fireworks crackle and the Steelix was nowhere to be seen.

It turned out her agitation from hunger and competition forced her above ground in order to consume minerals, and Roark hypothesizes that her size was likely deemed a threat despite her new coat, all things considered. She helps him with his excavations, happy to tunnel below ground when man-made surface tunnels are not enough for materials he may need to bring back to Jubilife, especially up in the icelands where very few travel. Due to her size, Roark doesn't let her roam around much unless she has the capability to go underground. Once in awhile, he does opt to use her as a land mount.

She gets along well with Onyx in the present, and in order to give Volkner peace of mind, Roark lets her roam freely around Mt. Sinnoh, so she can traverse as deep into the crust as she wants.

KLEAVOR ♂️ // no nickname, he's already metal af

originally a scyther he caught in order to make camping and getting tinder on the fly easier

also makes an incredible fishing assistant

naturally territorial, was very unhappy with roark for quite awhile

eventually compromises with acting as a scout to ensure roark is safe when hauling back materials

evolved after taking interest in a black augurite specimen that was found in the denser forests of the fieldlands

Another option that Roark picked for his own survival upon realizing how much of the land was dangerous for humans in particular. Being comfortable with Asago's Scizor growing up made him confident he could do more than just a Bidoof at his side, despite many of the common 'mons being rock types. Agility would be valued with his headstrong team. Scyther ( at the time ) was Roark's second encounter after finding Shinx after traveling south of the Oreburrow Tunnel, and into the Heartwood. He's a very agitated personality, likely due to the competition between other Scyther, and was certainly not thrilled to be taken from his territory, but alas, Roark expressed that his territory was now fit to be anywhere they were, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. Needless to say, Tybalt and Scyther often got snappy with one another, given their similar instincts. They make a surprisingly good team despite being supereffective against one another.

One of Roark's first augurite specimens caught Scyther's interest as much as his trainer's. Upon giving it to him, he chose to evolve, and much to Roark's surprise and delight, the newly evolved Kleavor became a rock type. With now tools at their disposal, Kleavor fit right into the little system Roark have come up to make sure he didn't die in god knows where. Back home, Kleavor is efficient in battle, and a welcome surprise for the museum and competitors in both the gym circuit and the battle park.

#🗻 ━ 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍'𝗌 𝗐𝗁𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗒 𝖼𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝗆𝖾 𝖺 𝗋𝗈𝖼𝗄. / roark hc.#long post #🌑 ━ 𝗈𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝖺 𝗏𝗈𝗂𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝗆𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌. / pla verse.

4 notes · View notes

chilly-territory · 7 years

Text

K ~ Four Seasons of K: Koinobori

The fourth story from the 4 seasons of K series. The Green clan’s turn to have a story. The original Japanese text is kindly provided by blueseraphima.

Koinobori[*] by Suzuki Suzu

"Come to think of it, Children's Day is coming soon, is it not."

The moment Hisui Nagare made this remark, everyone's chopsticks froze mid-motion.

At the time, Gojou Sukuna, picking his avocado salad, thought to himself, 'Here Nagare goes again, saying weird things.'

'Here Nagare-chan goes again with his weird remarks,' Mishakuji Yukari thought to himself at the same time, taking a bowl with miso soup.

Iwafune Tenkei wasn't an exception, thinking to himself as he gazed at pure white rice, 'That Nagare sure loves him some weird stuff'.

Only Kotosaka, pecking at fried chicken, thought at the time, 'Yummy!'

After a momentary silence, time started flowing again. Their tableware producing quiet clicking, each of the Jungle clansmen made an attempt to change the subject.

"By the way, Yukari, how did your latest mission go?" "Ah, monitoring Scepter 4's movements, you mean? It was too much of a hassle, so I threw it Douhan-chan's way." "Again? That's all you do lately!" "You're the one to talk, Iwa-san. Don't create a mission like 'We're out of toilet paper, so go buy us some' and set 1000 Jungle points for its completion like you did the other day!" "Well, it couldn't be helped, I had an emergency." "Oh right, thanks to that we can forget about toilet paper trouble for the next year or so though."

Listening to this exchange that sounded more like a family banter than a discussion between clansmen, Hisui ate his avocado salad, sipped his miso soup, and after finishing his rice and fried chicken, spoke up. "Come to think of it, Children's Day is coming soon, is it not."

Time came to a standstill yet again.

There were 2 patterns when Hisui Nagare brought up weird topics. The first one was when something weird suddenly occurred to him and he immediately voiced it. In this case, given a little time, he would let go of the subject like nothing happened more often than not. It was the second pattern that presented a problem - when Hisui tried to put into action something weird that he had thought up in advance.

The will of the Green King, Hisui Nagare, was iron. After all, he was a man who didn't shy away from doing something as reckless as challenging the strongest king, the Gold King, all alone for the sake of his ambition. You could ignore once what Hisui Nagare said, but if he bothered to repeat himself, trying to stop him was futile - this truth was fast becoming common knowledge among the Jungle leaders.

"...Indeed. In the world up above the Golden Week is about to begin, I suppose." The first to reply was Yukari. If there was no avoiding it, then he chose to dive into it head-first, fueling further discussion on the subject. "But well, it should be a rather distant topic for us, or what, did something happen? A random guess: do you want us to go on a trip somewhere all together or something?"

Sukuna and Iwafune started chiming in, too, probably getting the clue.

"A trip? Like last year when we went to the crater?" "In that case, we gotta make appropriate preparations. But what made you bring up such a topic all of a sudden, Nagare?"

Hisui, gazing at his clansmen, slowly shook his head. "No, I have no interest in a Golden Week trip. What I want is to celebrate Children's Day."

Yukari and Sukuna exchanged glances, talking to each other with their eyes only.

'Do you get what he means?' 'No, he totally lost me.'

Hisui spoke up, although it was unclear if he did it because he sensed his clansmen's confusion or not, "There was something that I have been pondering ever since Sukuna joined Jungle. To be exact, the premise is that since we have a child among our members, we have to celebrate Children's Day." "Hey, don't gimme that kid treatment!" "For that reason, I was preparing for it since last year. I researched the origin of Children's Day, screened customs and events associated with it, stocked up on the necessary materials..." "Listen to what I said!"

Completely ignoring Sukuna's burning anger, Hisui continued with a distant look, "I would like to celebrate it not only for Sukuna's sake, but for my own as well. In hindsight, I hardly ever had a chance to enjoy Children's day, you see. So I thought it would not hurt to make use of this opportunity and try. So I request we put it into practice." "Ugh," Iwafune groaned like he was stabbed in a weak point. Blank stare fixed upon the top of the tea table, he started muttering under his breath, "...Figures. To avoid Timeless Palace's pursuit, we couldn't do anything conspicuous..." "So long as we are staying here, at our secret base, there is no need to worry about that kind of public attention. We can celebrate to our heart's content. Since we have both the place and the occasion at our disposal, there is no reason not to." "Nagare, you, you're willing to go to such lengths..." By the time he wiped his eyes roughly, Iwafune already had an expression on his face like he had weathered the wave of emotional something. Clenching his hand into a fist, with the chopsticks still gripped in it, he thumped himself on the chest. "If that's the case, then we just have to celebrate! If there's something I can do to help, just tell me, no need to be shy!" "Understood. I will certainly appreciate your help on the matter, Iwa-san."

Faced with the two kings who came to a mutual understanding, Yukari and Sukuna could only exchange looks yet again and breathe out sorrowful sighs.

The secret base was a spacial long-abandoned underground water reservoir that Hisui illegally took over and remodeled. With the exception of the area where the Jungle leaders lived, it was an unduly wide empty space, sprawling far and wide. Colossal pillars standing tall at fixed intervals in the endless dark brought the image of an ancient temple to mind.

Walking between those pillars, Sukuna voiced one simple question, "By the way, is Children's Day something you're supposed to celebrate? Isn't it just another day off?" "Oh? I suppose it isn't celebrated as wide anymore for your generation, Sukuna-chan. Traditionally though, you were supposed to fly the carp-shaped koinobori flags and decorate special dolls on that day." "Originally, it was called Boys' Day. It originated in China and included a custom of decorating the gates with irises and cleansing the evil, which essentially represented the warring spirit - that is, it bore the meaning of honoring the art of war, and in the samurai society of Japan, it became a day to celebrate boys' growth and health. These are the roots of this marked day that later became modern Children's Day." "It sure brings back memories. In the past, kids would cosplay as warriors, armor and all, on that day. Hear this, Sukuna?" "I ain't doing that. Just. No. Way." Turning Iwafune down, Sukuna even shook his head pointedly from how much the idea evoked rejection in him. He also griped tighter the long stick that could become a scythe at any moment if he so wanted, his battle readiness eloquently showing that no amount of coercion would make him yield even an inch in this matter.

"Nowadays, the only celebratory practices remaining are carp flags and bathwater with iris petals. I considered doing armored warrior cosplay, but after taking into account the time and effort it would take to complete material selection, organize the manufacturing process and convince Sukuna to put it on, among other things, I had to perish the thought. Regrettably." "So you were planning to force me, huh..."

They threw comments in the same vein back and forth as they walked, until Hisui, who was leading the procession, stopped in his tracks - or more accurately, stopped his wheelchair.

"Whoa, that's..." "When did you..."

The clansmen couldn't help half-shocked, half-impressed noises that escaped them.

The object those utterings were about was a giant pole. Towering on a foundation so sturdy that it probably could only be made on the spot, it had a presence about it that rivaled that of the surrounding colossal pillars. Illuminated from the four sides, it commanded the impression of a through-and-through monument.

Hisui crossed to the pole, and only then turned to the other three. Usually Hisui's poker face remained emotionless, but this time, with shades of light and shadow playing on his face, he looked vaguely proud.

"I have everything prepared. All that is left is to pull that rope to raise the koinobori flags."

And like he said, the koinobori had been prepared as well. Four emerald green flags lay there, like fish washed ashore.

"If you already went that far, you should've just finished it and raised them yourself..." "This wheelchair's arms could not grasp the rope tightly enough, so Iwa-san, Yukari, Sukuna, I ask you to do the honor." "Sure! Leave it to this old man!" Iwafune rolled up his sleeves excitedly and grabbed the rope.

Meanwhile, Yukari and Sukuna noticed a certain fact and, exceedingly puzzled expression on their faces, turned to each other to exchange troubled looks again.

"Hey, whatcha two standing there for? You got a mission from the king! Get pumped up and let's do this already!" "Sure, sure." "Iwa-san, you're a king, too, though."

With visible reluctance, the two grabbed onto the rope as well.

Observing them, Hisui nodded to himself with satisfaction, then announced like a host, "And now, celebratory raising of the koinobori flags for Children's Day. Please begin."

Prompted by his words, the three tugged at the rope simultaneously.

"Well, I had a feeling it would turn out this way." Yukari’s short harsh comment echoed through the sprawling space.

They did raise the koinobori. If three clansmen put effort into it, raising a flag or two was a piece of cake. The flags slid higher and higher as they pulled at the rope, eventually reaching the top of the pole and stopping.

On the pole, strangely brightly lit with light among the otherwise sinking into darkness pillars, 4 carp-shaped flags were suspended. The green bodies of the fish, hanging down listlessly, brought to mind morbid associations with corpses hung by the neck and looked like a ghastly objet d'art at best.

Sukuna tagged at Yukari sleeve, asking, "I haven't really seen the koinobori before, myself, but... Are they supposed to look like that?" "Well, at the very least, the koinobori that I've seen in my life streamed in the wind triumphantly."

Gazing expressionlessly up at his objet d'art, Hisui whispered a single word, "Wind..."

No wind blew in the underground. Naturally. Neither Yukari nor Sukuna knew how the Green King, Hisui Nagare, could overlook that simple and obvious fact.

Hisui's head dropped limply as he said in a quiet voice, "...Iwa-san, Yukari, Sukuna. I sincerely apologize. It is a grave overlook on my part. For some reason, I was under the wrongful impression that once raised, the flag would flutter on its own. Regrettable lapse of memory." Hisui, as he spoke dispassionately, didn't look any different than how he usually did. Except... "Children's Day celebration resulted in a failure. I will clean up here myself, so you can now lower the koinobori. Thank you for the effort..."

It left him feeling depressed, after all. Hisui Nagare may appear expressionless and unsocial, but he wasn't emotionless, and his clansmen knew it perfectly well.

Iwafune, Sukuna and Yukari looked at one another. Communicating their intention to each other took only a moment, and once they had confirmed it, they all started on a slow approach to Hisui.

"Giving up that easily ain't like you, eh, Nagare?"

Hisui lifted his lowered head. His eyes went just a little wide as he turned to look at the three.

"Like Iwa-san said, you're a king, so all you gotta do is just order us around." "Now then, let's get ready." Yukari put his hands on the wheelchair's handles and rolled it. Winking at Hisui who started up at him, he added in a light tone, "If wind doesn't blow, we just need to make it blow. That's how we do things at Jungle, isn't it?"

It was hard to call the secret base, originally constructed as a water reservoir facility, a place suitable for humans to live in. Hisui, having chosen this place out of necessity to hide from Timeless Palace, remodeled it in a few ways. He added lighting, installed a security system for the passages that led outside, built a 4 tatami living space... and also restructured water discharge channels, adding a number of vents.

"And hop!" Sukuna, jumping down from one of such vents, held out his PDA with a grin. "I dialed it up as far as it went, and it's ready to start operating any time. I rerouted all the power from the other fans to this one, so I guarantee we'll get us a good wind." "I'm finished with my preparations, as well. Moving the pole is quite bone-breaking, I have to say, but oh well, let's call it special training and leave it at that." "I'm all done sewing the koinobori. Had to shorten them a wee bit, but they still look nice enough."

Sukuna, Yukari and Iwafune gathered back together at Hisui's side.

No wind blew in the underground. But said underground had the necessary equipment to make wind blow. So the plan was to move the pole, placing it in the vicinity of a vent, and make the koinobori flags flutter in an artificially produced wind. Of course, they had to make up for the meager strength of such wind by reducing the mass of the koinobori...

Iwafune, Yukari and Sukuna cooperated, dividing the tasks between themselves and quickly completing all the groundwork. Hisui didn't waste time giving some instructions, and in no time, everything fell in place, illuminated koinobori flags shaped like carps hanging loosely in front of Hisui's eyes once again.

"All that's left is to turn on the fan in the vent, and we'll have us some wind. I transferred the operator rights on the fan to you, Nagare, so you do it." Grinning Sukuna flashed a thumbs-up.

Hisui blinked twice, stared at him for a while, then bowed his head to his clansmen. "...Iwa-san, Yukari, Sukuna, thank you very much." "You don't have to bow your head to us though." "You were so pumped up about this whole thing that I found myself wanting to see it, too. Alright, turn it on, c'mon!"

The clansmen's anticipating gazes focused on the koinobori flags.

Hisui, too, staring up at the pole's top once again, murmured, "Commencing operation."

A low rumble resounded. The fan, activated remotely, started rotating, slowly at first, then faster, gaining speed by the second. Its low droning echoed through the darkness, and before long the flapping of cloth started mingling with it. The four carp flags streamed in the wind, like they came back to life, swimming in the water.

"Quite beautiful," Yukari voiced his impression honestly.

Illuminated from all sides, the 4 green carps swayed, fluttered and danced in the wind, beating their tails as they did, and indeed, it was a beautiful, if somewhat fantastic, sight.

"Ohh... So this is the koinobori, huh! Pretty cool I gotta admit!" "Yeah, and it sure makes a far greater impression like this than if we did it outside. Oh well, all our troubles were worth it, then, heh."

Sukuna and Iwafune nodded to themselves with obvious satisfaction, and only Hisui didn't say a word, gazing at the swimming fish fixedly.

Tossing a glance at him from the side, Sukuna spoke up, trying to make it sound like an afterthought, "Speaking of, this is my first time seeing the koinobori, is this your first time, too, Nagare? Is that why you wanted to see it?" "No," Hisui quietly shook his head. "This is not my first time. There was one other time when I saw the koinobori, although I cannot remember when and where."

Hearing that reply in a murmuring calm voice, Sukuna's breath caught.

Iwafune said that due to being pursued by Timeless Palace, they had never had a chance to do the koinobori flag raising. In which case, the one other time when Hisui could see the koinobori had to take place before that. That is, before he had become the Green King. At the time when Hisui Nagare was still a normal human who had normal parents and lived with them as a family.

In a natural progression, the three's gazes shifted from the carp flags to Hisui then. It was unclear whether Hisui felt those stares or not when he continued, as if speaking to himself, "The meaning and influence of the koinobori that I saw at that time is very different. But... I feel that this one is more beautiful." "..."

Silence fell for a while, and then, Iwafune's mouth spread in a grin as he clapped Hisui on the shoulder. "Is that so. Great, then."

Hisui took his time to gaze at Iwafune, then Yukari, then Sukuna, and only after that said, "Yes. Great indeed."

A tiny smile curved his lips then.

T/N: koinobori = carp-shaped flag raising

#k project #project k #k translation #short story

140 notes · View notes