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"There is no way you were two hours late because of me! You probably ran off after another Pokémon!" That… was not wrong. Anna had, in fact, gotten distracted by a Pokémon. A Rattata who had alerted her to some unrest going on at the harbor. Not that she had seen any sign of that herself. Still, she hadn't been in the city for very long, what with hurrying to make it to the meeting spot on time. She was sure that Professor Appel had meant for this to be some grand meeting with at least a couple dozen young trainers. The sun would be shining overhead, like it usually was in the Zeia Fields. The professor would arrive, right on time as usual, where Lytos Pier met the main harbor. As he would call it, "the junction between land and sea." There would be a speech, since it was expected, but it would be short, because it was him, after all. And everybody would smile and laugh and even the most nervous of them all would relax. Because that was who the professor was. And they would depart with more smiles and waves, and then Anna would return to the lab with the professor to continue his research. But that was not what happened. Instead, Anna had volunteered to do this for him, and now she and the five remaining trainers huddled in a circle to dry off in a dark warehouse. Outside, a veritable hurricane lashed its fury against the walls, rattling the rafters and blowing rain into the open doorway. None of them were far enough inside to avoid the rain entirely, but none of them dared to venture further in where they couldn't see, either. At least, not until Nikolaos brought out his flashlight. The rest of them seemed to ease up at the light and named themselves, but Anna tensed. Not even the introduction of two of their Pokémon was enough to drop her shoulders. Because she could hear something. Something that the others seemed unaware of, though those with sensitive ears would hear what sounded like high-pitched squeaking. Dahlia had hit the nail on the head with her comment. They were not alone, and the others did not like the light. "Light." "Bright." "Sun?" "Lightning?" "Bad." "Twofeet." "Two others. Bigmouth and dreamflower." "Dangerous?" "Dangerous." The Totodile and Munna, called Chomper and Pinky, both tensed and moved forward to stand between the group and the inner part of the warehouse. Anybody paying attention to the two Pokémon would be able to tell that something was wrong. Anna sucked in a breath. "It's nice meeting you all," she said, keeping her tone steady. "But, uh, I need to bow out for a moment. I'll be… right back." The girl walked past the two Pokémon to face the darkness. Small pinpricks of red light broke up the blackness, which from up close could be identified as glowing eyes. "It's fine, it's fine," the two-toned girl reassured. "We won't hurt you. We just came in to get out of the storm. The light's for us to see by." "Hurt us?" "Storm." "Bad light." "Hate light." "Bad twofeet." "Run?" "Bighouse no escape." "Attack?" "Attack." BGM: Pokémon Anime Sound Collection - Raid! "Come on, listen to me. Wait, no, hey, turn off the light—" Anna turned around to shout at Nikolaos, but she wasn't able to finish her sentence. Something small and heavy crashed against her back, and then several more followed suit. The girl fell to the ground on her stomach again. "Ouch," she groaned. "I did not need another crash landing today. And this time, I don't have somebody to break the fall for me." She glanced up at Shawn and the others, who were all a good several feet away now. Closer to her, Chomper and Pinky faced off against the darkness. Tiny claws dug into the back of her raincoat as several creatures ran forward at the group. One of them jumped into the beam of the flashlight, revealing itself as a tiny brown rat Pokémon with black extremities and red eyes. Anna struggled to rise, but found herself unable to when several rats stood on her, their weight keeping her down. She lifted her head instead to shout out a warning. "Be careful, everybody! These are Crowdent! They're pretty weak, but don't underestimate them, especially in these numbers." OOC: Our first fakemon appearance! I will be including a picture of Crowdent and any future fakemon in the Discord chat. Also, we have our first battle! However, only two of you have Pokémon. Guess the rest of you should've decided to bring your own, too bad so sad. :P However, there might just be a way for those of you without a Pokémon to join in as well... And yes, the Crowdent are attacking all of you, not just Chomper and Pinky. Fortunately, those two Pokémon are also between all of you and the rats.

With Ryia still holding Lucas in place after her devastating combination attack with Keres, Lindow intended to take full advantage of the situation. Appearing at the Lycan’s flank with the Cleaver raised high above his head, the Thunder Chosen tore into the back of his foe’s legs with a brutal two-handed slash. Lucas snarled in pain, erupting to life once again and furiously shaking Ryia off before turning to lash out at his new attacker in feral rage. But Keres was ready. She quickly blasted him with another powerful jet of water, causing the hulking figure to stumble and leaving him vulnerable to Lindow’s follow-up. “Ha! Atta girl…” Lindow sneered through his fatigue. Pushing his speed to the limit, he quickly closed the gap again, this time slashing at the Lycan’s stomach. The plan was simple, requiring no communication between the Water and Thunder Chosen despite their lack of affinity. With Lucas’s wounds clearly fatal, all they had to do was overwhelm him until his body realized he was dead. “Tsk,” Lindow muttered. Even at death’s doorstep, the Lycan managed to avoid the brunt of his attack. Lindow’s eyes narrowed in begrudging admiration as Lucas countered with his claws immediately. The shriek of scraping metal rang through the clearing as Lindow turned the Bandit Cleaver flat in a desperate parry that sent him skidding backward. Panting, Lindow retook his stance as Lucas charged forward. He could tell his foe’s strength was finally waning, noting that the follow-up attack seemed sluggish and sloppy compared to earlier in the battle. Growling with effort, Lindow ducked and weaved under another series of swipes from Lucas before darting under his arm and slicing at his ribs with the Bandit Cleaver yet again. The wound wasn’t deep enough to end the fight but enough to keep Lucas’s attention away from the spectacle happening behind him... Meanwhile, Keres swirled the water above her, moving it faster and faster into a spinning vortex. With all her might, she shot it up into the air and curved it above the wounded Lycan just as he turned to attack Lindow again. The water crashed into him between the shoulder blades. At first, the beast stayed standing even as the water tried to crush him. But his wounds soon caught up to him, and his legs gave out. He came crashing to his knees and then, as the rest of the water rushed over him, fell forward, catching himself with the palms of his claws. Seeing the opportunity he had been waiting for right in front of him, Lindow dashed forward one last time. With his own primal roar, he swung the Bandit Cleaver in a deadly arc, aiming for Lucas's neck. The blade bit deep, severing the Lycan’s head from his body, and seemingly causing the entire woods to grow silent. The beast’s lifeless form slumped to the ground, finally still. The Thunder Chosen stood over the fallen Lycan, panting heavily but victorious nonethless. “It's over,” he muttered, wiping the blood from his blade with a wide swipe to the side. "let's have a rematch in the underworld someday, kay?"

Chigusa's ears perked up as her face continued to be pressed against the ground. While she could barely see anything going on, save for the area illuminated by the flashlight, the girl could definitely hear something coming. It wasn't just the various introductions of everyone else, but the introductions being made by some things else. She wasn't really sure what it was at first, simply hearing the high pitched squeaking but before long a pack of something called a crowdent was rushing them. Chigusa, of course, could not see them. She also lacked the strength in any of her limbs to get herself up, let alone run. So, naturally, she was pretty sure that meant she was simply going to be eaten by the whole swarm. What a bummer of a way to both start and end the journey. It seemed, however, that she was not first on the menu to be eaten. She could hear the struggle of the others as they started fighting the crowdants, and specifically two more of the people here had fallen to the ground as she had. Chigusa had never experienced so many kindred spirits in one day and if the situation were different she would've found it heartwarming to know there were others who had problems standing on their feet as she had. Unfortunately her imminent demise dampened this. It was then that someone had walked over to her, telling her to get up. While this was a task that was impossible for her, she looked to see the boy reaching out his hand to her and so decided to try with some assistance. Reaching up and weakly grabbing onto his hand, the girl managed to get to her feet, shakily as it may have been and said, "merci," as he told her he didn't want to see her get eaten. She was glad to receive such a compliment, and stood behind him as she decided to confirm his suggestion from earlier. "Oh, I am useless in a fight." Though thinking back on her life Chigusa was starting to wonder if she were perhaps less than useless in one. With no special abilities to speak of and the ability to lose to a first grader in a foot race quite convincingly, she was certain that she was more likely to drag the boy down with her than anything else. But she reciprocated his feelings in not wanting to see someone get eaten, broad or otherwise, and so she had a thought. If she couldn't fight, maybe there was someone else who could? "Ooooh...Selini." the girl called out, still in a very unconcerned tone at a normal volume to the pyschic. "Can you shove them?"

"My nom is Chigusa Akihara." Was this girl broken in the head as well as the body? She had basically crumpled to the ground and now she was talking about eating while introducing herself? "Aki Desu? What's that supposed to mean?" While he was still worried about the girl's physical and mental state he was growing even more antsy as the older girl, apparently some kind of weird magician, kept hinting that something was wrong. What did she know? Was this some kind of trick? Were her buddies about to come out and mug them when they were paying attention to her? He nudged Chomper in the hopes that the Pokemon would get up to no avail. "You know I don't think any of us has much money on us right?" Shawn said. Then glanced at the bright and fancy flashlight. "Well maybe he does." "I'm Selini, but please just call me Lini. As pointed out, I'm a psychic. I'm generally not awake and alert like this, but for all intents and purposes, please just treat me like anyone else. And this here is Pinky, my partner. He's a service pokemon meant to help me with my powers." Shawn was about to make a snarky comment about psychics but stopped himself at the latter part of her introduction. Service Pokemon? So some sort of disability right? Maybe he shouldn't be so harsh...at least not right away. That's when the other weirdo, the one that had run into him, started once again to talk to the darkness. At first he tried to ignore her but then he noticed something concerning. Chomper wasn't just up. He was alert. Something like that almost never happened and it immediately put Shawn on guard. "Uh, I think..." He wasn't able to get his full sentence out when suddenly a swarm of....not Ratatta came out of the darkness towards them. "Blimey!" he called out. "Be careful, everybody! These are Crowdent! They're pretty weak, but don't underestimate them, especially in these numbers." "Weak for a Pokemon you mean right? Ever get Tackled by a Zigzagoon before? I'd rather you run into me again than that!" He didn't have much time for more than that as everyone surged to action. The magician girl looked like she had armed herself and the other guy was trying to go grab the Pokemon that the assistant had brought. Which brought to mind his own Pokemon. "Alright Chomper lets show em what you're made of, Aqua Jet!" He called out and water surrounded Chomper as he surged forward and crashed into the nearest Crowdent. "That's right mate, keep it up!" He shouted for Chomper to continue like that. As he did this he took a few steps back towards the Aki Desu girl. She had fallen to the ground and he imagined she would have trouble standing up. Especially if she got swarmed by those Pokemon. He thrust his hand towards her "Get up, and stay behind me if you can't protect yourself." His blush was hidden by the darkness but he still snapped defensively at her, "I just don't feel like seeing some broad get eaten by Pokemon okay, that's all!"

Nikolaos had decided that he was the stupidest person in Lemu. He was a complete and utter dunce. His spirit Pokémon was a Dunsparce—no, Dudunsparce—and even amongst his dopey kindred, he was particularly empty-headed. Stupid. Stupid. How could I miss a thing as obvious as that? What am I gonna tell Vasia? Sorry I couldn’t come and find you, I was dumb and failed my journey on my very first day. How? Oh I just ignored all of the stuff you ever taught me. A little kid would have done better. To understand what had caused such a revelation, though, one would have to turn the clock back a few minutes. “Chomper is awesome!” Nik crowed. He swooped in and leaned as close as he dared to the Totodile. “He looks tough. Is he native to Galar? Have you ever battled together before?” His amber eyes were alight with awe and, to a lesser degree, envy. “I hope my starter is half as cool as Chomper.” He had wanted to ask more questions about Chomper when one of the girls collapsed. She treated the whole ordeal like it was totally normal for her, not even bothering to roll over so that her face wasn’t smooshed against the floor. “Hey. Uh, Chi, Aki, uhh… is the desu part of your nickname? Or was that separate? Because you kinda paused between the two.” Nik used his flashlight to start rummaging in his backpack for some pre-packaged snacks he had tucked away. “Are you okay? Do you need help? Is it a blood sugar thing or something? I have some snacks with sugar in them. You can have them if you want.” His hand was still shoved into his backpack when Dahlia approached. Nik frowned. That was the girl that had jumped to blaming him for abandoning Anna. “I’m not causing her any trouble,” he said defensively. Even to his own ears it sounded petulant. “I’m being careful not to point it where it will blind anyone. The dark is a danger too, you know. Someone could trip and break an arm or a leg. But if it bothers you I can turn it down. It’s adjustable,” Nik twisted the cap near the end of the metal flashlight counter-clockwise and the light dimmed considerably. “Happy?” Dahlia gave him a thumbs-down and walked away. Nik rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and muttered something rude in Greek under his breath before he went back to rummaging through his bag, triumphantly pulling out a package of peanut butter crackers just as Dahlia started to introduce herself. She was apparently a performer. A street magician. Nik had questions he wanted to ask, but he was too stung by her attitude and repeated attempts to make him look bad to put voice to them. He was a performer too. He had made some of the money he used to put towards his journey by playing on street corners and singing popular songs. That was exactly where the money for his flashlight had come from. He would have assumed they had a lot in common, but she was more than happy to throw him to the Woofes. Did I do something to her? Was it some kind of cultural boundary I overstepped? Am I just being too sensitive? Nik was glad when Linni the psychic released a munna that she called Pinky. It was a welcome distraction. “A service Pokémon to help you master your powers?” He wasn’t a very learned person. School was hardly his favorite subject, and the feeling was mutual if his test scores were anything to go by, but even he knew that service Pokémon were hard to get. There was a whole process that involved proving to the government that one was needed and also that they were properly trained. Once the process was done, that Pokémon had a lot of privileges that a normal one lacked. Access to Pokémon resisted areas. A pass to travel through most international borders. Nik shook his head. “Being psychic must be a lot harder than I thought. I always figured it was just cool powers and no drawbacks. Glad to know the secret of my underwear is safe at least, I guess.” Chomper and Pinky tensed and moved in front of Shawn and Linni. Nik blinked, shocked. He recognized a danger response when he saw one. “What’s going o-” Anna sucked in a deep breath and then cut him off. Her tone was even, but he could still see how tense she was. Nik watched her leave and walk into the darkness. She started to talk to nothing. Again. She had done that several times on the trip to the city. Nik was beginning to wonder if she was crazy. She was saying something about not hurting… someone? It was hard to hear. Then something about the light. His irritation flared again, unsure why his flashlight of all things was such a contentious subject. The moment that made him realize he was such a dunce struck. He heard something the moment after Anna stopped talking. Faint, easy to miss, but when he really strained his ears he could make it out. Squeaking. Chittering. Nik gasped. He knew that noise. Crowdent. It was just a pest. They got into houses and had to be removed by traps or by being caught, but they weren’t a threat. They were scaredy-rats on their own. The only time Crowdent would pose a problem was if they had formed a swarm. Which never happened domestically. It only happened in… in… "Come on, listen to me. Wait, no, hey, turn off the light—" Something slammed into Anna and knocked her into the ground. That was the moment Nik decided he was a total dunce. Of course this warehouse has a Crowdent infestation. Anna tried to warn me. Even Dahlia realized something was wrong and she isn’t even from here. I’m supposed to be the one that knows this area, but all I did was make everything worse. Nik was frozen. His flashlight hung limply at his side, still casting a dim beam of light forward toward where Anna had fallen. The pack of crackers slipped from his grip. This is my fault. I have to fix this. I can’t let everyone else get hurt because I’m stupid. What would Vasia do? Dahlia tried to bludgeon a few Crowdent away with an umbrella. Several more leapt onto her and pulled her to the ground. Come on! Think! Vasia would say that all the best trainers would make the best of a bad situation. Know your environment so that you can avoid danger. Not like that helps now. I shoulda been paying attention. Nik growled and slammed the heel of his hand into his forehead hard enough that it broke skin. What else did she say? Improvise. Use what you have. All I have is this dumb flashlight. I don’t even have a Pokémon yet. Getting a Pokémon is why I came here. Gah! Why did Anna not hand them out yet?! Nik jolted like he had been hit by a super-effective Thunderbolt attack. “I’m so stupid! Anna, where are the Pokémon the professor promised to hand out? Please tell me you brought them!” “Oh! Yeah, they’re right here in my bag!” She shouted from somewhere in the darkness. “We have to get to them! Crowdent are cowards! They’ll run if you have enough Pokémon out!” Nik hadn’t wanted to admit before that part of the reason he had been so quick to pull out his flashlight was that the dark scared him. It wasn’t a phobia, but it made him uncomfortable. A lot of the Pokémon that dwelled in the dark did too. They were just so… different. Unlike any of the daytime Pokémon. They scurried and scavenged and hid. They were attracted to messes and superstition said they carried all kinds of diseases. He knew that had been disproved, but the connotation was still there. No time like the present to suck it up. I need to get over it anyways. Vasia always said that there were plenty of awesome nocturnal Pokémon. Nik shucked his bouzouki case off his back and put it on the ground between the two people with Pokémon. “Hey. Watch this please. It’s really important to me.” Nik said loud enough for Shawn and Linni to hear. He didn’t wait for a response. He turned and cranked his flashlight all the way up to max. The beam of light tripled in intensity, shining all the way to the other wall of the warehouse. It revealed a swarm of Crowdent rushing toward him. His hand shook, but he pointed it directly at the group. The bright light caused them to hiss and spit and stumble, freezing. “Cover me, if you can!” Nik shouted. His stomach churned. His skin prickled up into goosebumps. You caused this. Fix it. A good trainer cleans up his messes. He summoned all of his courage and rushed forward, toward the Crowdent swarm. At the last possible second he jumped and soared completely over the swarm he had stunned. A second later they recovered and turned to chase after him. One of them jumped for him and Nik swatted it away with his flashlight, sending it sailing across the warehouse. He kept moving toward Anna without stopping. He knew that if he stopped his legs would quit working.

It was always great when someone with a knack for it could pick up what she was laying down-- And Anna had taken to what Dahlia had instructed like a skrelp to water. Of course, it helped that the chatty-guy self-incriminated; or given enough of a reason to blame him, when he confirmed that he abandoned her. Dahlia didn’t have to talk, or comment on that; merely clicking her tongue in a disapproving manner as he confirmed it, and with a slight shrug going. “Oh, and I thought better of him,” quietly enough so as to be heard, but not so loud as to spark a conversation, as everyone kept moving. It was always a good thing to reinforce who was supposed to be in the right, when trying to change a group’s opinion in your favor; and it wasn’t as if the chaos this could bring wasn’t more than interesting enough for her to try and sway public opinion here. Still, that was all for that as one by one everyone entered into the darkness of the warehouse, and as Dahlia smoothly side-stepped the collapsing form of the human-translation machine. Of course, things didn’t get any more normal either, as they stepped inside (and as she closed her umbrella, and leaned it against the warehouse wall), what with her newest prospective protégé talking to figures that no one else could see, and… The chatty-guy, who introduced himself as Nikolaos, pulling out a stupidly-high-powered flashlight. A hiss escaped Dahlia’s mouth as Nikolaos was illuminated by the light, and the fact that Anna had been talking to something, and promised not to disturb it, came to mind. She let the others who were prone to introduce themselves; the grumpy-looking-guy was apparently called Shawn, and already had a Pokémon… Who was way, way more chilled out than she could ever see him being. And code-talker had a name too-- Chigusa, and a few other nicknames like Chi or Aki. It was only after those two finished, and a lull set in for a moment, a singular moment, that Dahlia took a step forwards and extended a hand towards Nikolaos, though, she wasn’t sure if he could see her. “Careful there,” she began, twisting her wrist lightly as she turned a gesture of greeting into an accusatory point towards that light of his. “IIII’d probably turn that off, if I were you. We’re in an awful dark place, and-- Well, I don’t know about you, but I like having my corneas-- So let's maybe cool it with the miniature sun, m'kay?” she paused for a moment, bringing her hand back up to her mouth, as she smiled mischievously, tapping idly at her chin. “...And also, wasn't Ms. Anna talking to someone just a moment ago, and promising not to disturb them? Y’know, you’ve caused an awful lot of trouble for her-- It'd be rather rude for you to cause even more after she got lost because of you, wouldn't it? And isn't that a truly terrible way to start a journey? Causing trouble for a potential friend not once, but twice? It’s bad form to break someone else’s promises, after all,” her voice dipped slightly, taking an almost disappointed tone as she clicked her tongue, and gave him a thumbs down, before turning away from him rather suddenly; towards the rest of the group (or at least, where she expected them to be). “...But that’s enough chastising for now, don’t you think?” she closed one eye as she stared lazily through them all, waiting for the occasional lightning-strike to tell her where they were again. “My name is Dahlia-- Dahlia King. I’m a street magician from Kalos, though, I came here while practicing my trade in Unova,” she explained, planting one hand on her hip as she gestured habitually with the other, a coin rolling from one finger to the other, illuminated only by the constant, near-rhythmic lightning strikes outside. “Gotta say, so far, this place’s beaten Unova in excitement when it comes to welcomes,” she paused, timing a flourish so that she flipped the coin during one lightning-strike, and caught it just as she was illuminated by the next. It was always good to use your environment to your advantage when making an impression, after all.

"Feel free to thank me later," What was that supposed to mean? Thank her for what exactly? Shawn stared at the girl for a good few moments, more like glared, trying to work out if she was pulling his chain or not when the excitable boy from earlier chimed in. “Huh? Of course it didn’t come off on its own. That sleepy-eyed girl from Borya Town used her psychic powers to knock it down.” "Oh is THAT all?" Shawn said. "Just your casual every day occurrence right?" Shawn said then muttered under her breath, "this place is loony." “She isn’t reading our minds though. At least as far as I can tell. She didn’t react when I thought about my underwear.” "Wha...why're you trying to get her to react to your underwear in the first place?" Shawn couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this kind of thing normal for people of this region? He supposed it could make sense. After all they didn't really have contact with the outside world so there was no telling what kind of strange behaviors are normal here. ...Which made him even more leery about going into the warehouse. Who knew what kind of mad things they might find inside it. As more of the remaining people began to make their way inside Shawn found himself at an impasse. Sure he didn't know what was in the warehouse, he wasn't afraid of the dark or anything of course just logically it made sense to be worried about something so unknown, but realistically he also didn't know much about the city itself. For all he knew there could be people who roamed these parts and kidnapped people in the middle of storms. Ultimately he decided to follow the majority and went into the darkness and for the first time in hours out of the rain. Which of course only made him more aware of how wet he was. "Bloody cold innit..." He groaned. He paused as the girl who had crash landed on him began to talk to the darkness. What....exactly did she expect to respond? Was this place haunted? Or maybe they had just stumbled into the hideout of some Rocket-like gang? The moment passed pretty quickly but it was enough to make Shawn feel even more nervous about standing around there. "That's not important right now, though. It's time for introductions! I'll go first. My name is Anna, and I'm Professor Appel's assistant. I volunteered to substitute for him today to meet you all and ask you for a favor on his behalf. He's been pretty busy at the lab, so it worked out okay, I think. Weeded out some of the less worthy." Shawn groaned again and rolled his eyes. "Yeah I can really feel the worthiness of this group." It sounded like they were expected to introduce themselves. Which, okay, sure, if they were going to be stuck in this place it'd be good to have names he supposed. That Nikolaos guy started to brag about his flashlight and Shawn held himself back from telling him a lantern would have helped a lot better if they wanted to actually see what was in the warehouse more than a straight line. The only reason he didn't was....he might need Nikolaos and that flashlight later. Still it didn't really make him any more comfortable standing around in the dark surrounded by strangers. "I'm Shawn." He said simply. "And don't think just cause little miss assistant got the drop on me that I'm some pushover, got it?" A thought came to mind and he decided to let out his Pokemon. Chomper came out and seemed quite confused at having been let out in such a dark place. "This is Chomper, toughest Totodile around....I'm just letting him out because it's been a while, not cause I think I'll need him or anything." Even though his thought process was in fact "If something's gonna attack me I better have someone I can trust ready." Though as Chomper's first action was to sit down and nod off between his feet perhaps he wasn't much better off anyway. "He, uh, likes to conserve his energy for when he's battling."

Unfortunately, Carmen was right. If the seal actually exorcised anything about the dog skull, it would have burned up, and probably taken the skull with it too. Brian made a little “pah” sound and placed the skull back in the dirt -- still with the seal on it, just in case. He had just gotten ready to shovel the (thankfully small) pile of dirt back in when Kenneth decided that he wasn’t okay with whatever he thought Brian and Carmen were doing, and though Carmen did her best to try and soothe the situation over, in classic Carmen fashion, she really was only making things worse. Brian gave Kyle a nod that he hoped signified respect. “Apologies, sir,” he said, echoing Carmen but more sure of himself. “You’re correct, and we probably should have called 811 while we were out here too, but when your problem is a ghost dog and you stumble on some dog bones… you can see why we made some assumptions, can’t you? If you’re taking your car to the mechanic to get serviced, you want to tell the mechanic all that’s wrong with the car before they start tearing it open to look, right?” Klyde grunted. “Haven’t had to take a car to a mechanic in a long time…” he said, which made so much sense to Brian, one more puzzle piece put into place even if he couldn’t explain why. But Kaden shook his head. “Alright, but don’t start digging up holes everywhere.” “Wouldn’t dream of it, sir,” Brian said. The phrase was especially boy scout-ish, but better safe than sorry. “So long as there aren’t any other dead dogs we don’t know about, we’ll keep the hole-digging to an absolute minimum.” K. narrowed his eyes. “No, no other dead dogs. Wherever that ghost dog came from it wasn't around here. No more holes.” But he didn’t seem in the mood to keep an eye on the two, and he turned around and went back to his house. Brian watched him go, making sure he was back inside and out of earshot before he started talking smack. “Seriously, like, are there any more dogs, Kent? Maybe you only have one ghost dog now but how many ghost dogs in potentia do you have, Kent?” Whatever. If there weren’t dog bones there were probably human bones or something. He turned to Carmen. “I almost don’t want to fill in this hole now, but that’ll definitely make more ghost dogs. You know, if there is even one here in the first place. Give me a sec.” Displacing the same amount of dirt the second time was technically easier thanks to gravity, but not by much. “Alright,” Brian said. “The bonus of having a shovel is there’s now something we can whack it with, I guess. That’s not nothing. But you’re digging the next one and leaving the talking to me.”

While light enough not to be crushing her, being pinned by the little Crowdents was less than ideal; something that Dahlia was terribly aware of as more moved in to hold her down, face staring upwards towards the sky as she heard… Several things happen at once. Nikolaos had realized that they did, technically, have other Pokémon to fight with; the first truly smart thing he had said and done. Of course, what he did next was less smart, she gathered, as it sounded like he was charging into the Crowdent to retrieve the Pokémon. Next, then, the people with Pokémon actually got their act together, for once; a miracle, really. They had seemed as hopeless as they came when it came to actually acting in any sort of assertive manner, or making a decision-- Or at least, the guy who seemed to suck the fun out of anything did. Of course, the little psychic girl was as impulsive as ever, something she noticed as raw force lightly crashed into her, and sent a smattering of the Crowdent flying. The perfect diversion, and a weight off her shoulders; literally. Taking her cue, Dahlia forced herself up to her feet, and swept her arms upwards and downwards; slapping the remaining Crowdent, disoriented by the psychic throw from before (not to mention the inertia of her getting up), towards the ground. Their claws dug deeper, briefly cutting into her skin, before being wrenched free by the force of her movements, a distinct frown coming to her face as she noticed that while many of the Crowdent were going towards the active Pokémon, just as many seemed intent on getting her. She had intended to protect herself with the Umbrella, not make herself a target… And yet, just as she braced to try and dodge, there was a bright flash of white-- And their saviors appeared in the center of it all, disorienting the Crowdent with their flashy entrance. They were small, to be sure, but they were helpful just by their presence, and they each looked vastly unique compared to one another. Of course, as Anna spoke, Dahlia had already been moving towards them, using the momentum from what was originally going to be a motion to dodge the Crowdent, to instead propel herself closer to the Pokémon. “Crowdent are a Pokémon extremely similar to Rattata, in a way; even if they’re more pathetic. Meowth and Ekans are known to hunt Rattata where I come from-- Delcatty and Seviper too…” her mind raced as she came to a sliding stop beside the Pokémon, eyes scanning over them, with a distinct, important thought: “So which one of you appears to be the best hunter of the group?” Her eyes darted from Pokémon to Pokémon, before settling slightly as they came not to meet the top of a head, as she expected, but sky-blue eyes which darted from person to person, before settling on her with a growl; all while an enchanting red tail shook and illuminated the room around them from behind the little creature. “When it comes to show business, and when it comes to entertainment, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you need to catch the attention of those around you. When you want to entertain, you need to draw their gaze to you by sticking out; and when you want to deceive, you need something to draw their attention away from your left hand… All while making sure you’ve got an eye on every person present, to make sure that you’re not being deceived yourself.” In an instant, Dahlia dropped to a crouching position, eyes locked with the growling Cub, and… She gave a slight nod, as she let her smile soften a little. "...Perceptive little one, aren't you? You don’t trust a single person here-- Especially not me, which means you’re an excellent judge of character,” she winked, before throwing a thumbs up at herself. “...But you can trust me for now, friend. After all-- We’ve got bigger problems than one untrustworthy lass right now,” she nodded, gesturing towards the Crowdent around them, who had rallied in the moment her conversation had taken. “So, mind teaming up with me for a moment?” The Felight watched her with narrowed blue eyes, unwilling to remove their eyes for any period longer than the second it took them to glance away and see the Crowdent, before… Releasing a quiet huff, that almost sounded like a sigh, growl dissipating for a moment as they shifted their weight slightly, turning in an instant to face away from Dahlia, tail thumping into the ground, light bobbing up and down not unlike a lure. “...See? Bigger problems,” Dahlia teased-- Earning a hiss from the Felight as she spoke; tail thumping the ground heavily with displeasure as they continued to size up the Crowdent. “Right, right, that’s not what you wanted to hear,” Dahlia smiled, still staying crouched behind the Felight. “Wait for the right moment…” she trailed off, eyes scanning the approaching Crowdent, voice growing hushed as her mind raced-- Going to the only move she could be sure that a cat like this would know. “...And then scratch, disabling as many of them as you can. Don’t charge in, since they outnumber us still,” she advised, as the Felight began to slowly stalk at an angle, waiting for the right moment to strike, as they were instructed.

new berserk check it out

←Previous Post Episode Seven -- The Sword’s Owner Or: The Love Triangle Becomes A Love Square Content Warning: This episode introduces Princess Charlotte, a sixteen-year-old girl who adult-aged Griffith is attempting to woo throughout the story. This is treated as normal by Berserk and, aside from naïveté on Charlotte’s part, is going to go completely unexamined. I mention it now in this otherwise tame episode in anticipation of it getting worse. Let’s take a brief moment to talk about the team who worked on Berserk ‘97. It won’t be too long, because I’d just end up reading off Wikipedia for half of it and cribbing from video essays for the other, but I wanted to do it so here goes. It takes a real nerd to know anything about Japanese animation studios, but I guarantee that anyone reading this has heard of something produced by an Oriental Light and Magic studio, which is an impressive guarantee for a name that Google says is inspired by Industrial Light and Magic (aka the Star Wars effects team) without any sources backing that up. It’s extra impressive given that it’s no longer their name now: it’s just OLM Incorporated. In recent years, they’ve had reasonable success over here in the English-speaking world with the “Komi Can’t Communicate” adaptation and a season of “Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro,” and if you’re a nerd like me, they did the Deltora Quest adaptation and have a unit dedicated to following Takashi Miike around. There’s Berserk, obviously, which is why we’re talking about them, but the reason they had the experience to adapt such a dark and twisted fantasy manga is because they had prior experience with similar material: Pokémon. That joke is cribbed from the Lady Emily video essay on Berserk but it’s too good not to repeat here. Perhaps the joke is backwards, because the production team that worked on Berserk wouldn’t work on Pokémon until 2006, but it does mean you get some pretty funny credit portfolios. The Chief Director of Berserk, Naohito Takahashi, has a key animation or storyboard credit on ten Pokémon movies and a few episodes to boot. But we can find some more connections by digging into specific episodes. Episode One of Berserk, The Black Swordsman, was directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, a very prominent member of Studio Trigger and Studio Gainax before that, directing FLCL and the first half of End of Evangelion. Because everything ties into Utena, he apparently found time to do key animation on Episode Thirty-Seven of Revolutionary Girl Utena as well. On the writing side, the job of adaptation was split roughly equally between five screenwriters, including the current head writer of the One Piece anime, Shoji Yonemura. In fact, a majority of the screenwriters have a double-digit number of writing credits for One Piece, and one of the ones that doesn’t, Yukiyoki Ohashi, has several dozen Fist of the North Star episode credits instead. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me when I find these connections. The American film industry has a large amount of crossover as well, to the point that there’s a memetic number linking actors to Kevin Bacon -- and there’s no reason not to include the rest of the crew as well when drawing those connections besides some nebulous “sharing a camera with” definition. So many people work on a project, it’s not surprising that some number of them have done other well-known things. Perhaps what I should be doing instead is giving shows an Utena number. I don’t hate that idea. I generally want to give the credits that I can anyway. It’s never just one person, especially for something as massive as Berserk. Which reminds me, I should probably talk about the other people who drew the manga. Next time, then. The meaning behind the episode title takes a bit of work to get to, though, at the same time, we’ve done a lot of the groundwork already because it’s going to be drawing many of the same conclusions we already have been in previous posts. Which is good! It means I’ve been following along and properly relaying the facts to you as well. In fact, on my watch of this episode, I nearly missed the conclusion it was getting at because it felt like old knowledge at this point. But it’s good to reinforce it. Let’s start with the facts of the episode in sequential order. Griffith, thanks to his continued success on the battlefield post-knighthood has been causing quite a stir amongst the nobility of Midland’s court. Rumors include that he even fought a demon (though of course, magic isn’t real in Berserk, so that’s obviously fake) and that he is about to be made a member of the peerage (a notion so insulting to the existing gentry that it must be stopped at all cost). Despite the negative conspiracy that is a minor focus of the episode, this is still a net good in terms of Griffith’s goals. He is even developing a small contingent of favors, people within the court who are trying to ride the coattails of his rise to power. Of course, all of that excitement means Griffith has less time to spend with the people who got him as far as he has. When the Band of the Hawk commanders all try and visit him, they are barred entry. Griffith even laments this to Guts, though given how we’ve seen him pull everyone else’s strings to keep them complacent, he may be using a similar tactic here. “Oh, if only I could, but alas,” is a common excuse, after all. At the same time, when Guts does finally get time with Griffith, there’s a pretty big hint that this isn’t the case. When Guts asks Griffith why he charged in to fight Zodd, putting his life on the line to save Guts, Griffith hesitates. “I thought we settled this three years ago,” he says. “Do I really need a reason?” And, like, we know he has a reason, but this is a nineties anime adaptation of a late eighties manga, so… As much as I’d like to continue speculating on the sexuality of these fictional characters, I have already made the joke about a love square and I’ve already said who it’s with in the Content Warning. This episode introduces Princess Charlotte, who is Griffith’s best chance at seizing the throne. Her hand in marriage is the ultimate goal, and Griffith is very good at making you fall in love with him. The King notes that she is normally afraid of the warrior-types that have been populating the palace, but Griffith demonstrates a softer side of himself that endears him to her. To the Band of the Hawk, that’s one extra person competing for Griffith’s attention, and sure they might understand on a logical level why he is doing what he’s doing -- and some of them might even encourage it -- but that’s still going to matter emotionally. You know, like a love triangle. It is despite all of this that the meaning of the episode title becomes clear. Guts, reflecting on the events of the episode, including a moment of Casca lashing out that I didn’t deem necessary to cover (it’s mostly following through on the end of the previous episode, you can imagine what happens), finally resolves that yes, he is going to help Griffith get his kingdom, defying Zodd’s prophecy, not out of any sense of obligation to the Griffith who defeated him three years ago, but to the Griffith that has saved his life twice now. He has internalized Griffith’s invisible message, and now believes they regard each other as friends. In the words of another fantasy story, he is telling Griffith, “You have my sword.” The Sword’s Owner is Griffith. Also in this episode is General Coborlwitz, making another anime-only appearance to extend his mini-arc, but also a brief discussion about what Nosferatu Zodd even was. We know the answer is Apostle, but Guts and Griffith don’t have that language yet. The rumors say he is a demon, and Guts seems to agree, but Griffith instead calls him a “God.” Now, this is a dichotomy that’s going to run through basically the entirety of Berserk the manga, so I can’t get into too many specifics here, but because this is the start of the narrative throughline, I do want to point it out for those starting on that particular journey. I’ll try to talk more about it when I can. Until then, -r Next Time: Every man makes sacrifices for his ambitions. Especially when he possesses a young heart, he is unable to suppress the consuming hunger. Achieving glory for oneself, and crushing the dreams of another… Is this an unavoidable result of causality? ←Previous Post

BGM: Pokémon Anime Sound Collection - Raid! "Weak for a Pokémon you mean right? Ever get Tackled by a Zigzagoon before? I'd rather you run into me again than that!" Shawn shouted over the din. Anna chortled from her position on the floor. "Yeah, I meant for a Pokémon! Even a Zigzagoon is stronger than them." "Hell of a first test for us, Assistant Professor!" Dahlia called out, somehow retaining her sense of humor even now. "Hey, this wasn't my—ugh!" Anna's indignant cry cut off as another Crowdent jumped on her back. The air came out of her chest in a whoosh. For one terrifying second, she could not breathe. And then the Crowdent crawled off, skittering to join its fellows in their assault against those still standing. Anna took in a deep breath then, letting it out quickly in her panic. Another breath in. And then the backward slide as she exhaled. Spots gathered in the corners of her eyes. This was a disaster. And it was all her fault. She had known the Crowdent were inside, had heard their faint whispers that grew silent at her call. But she had told the others to enter, anyway. She had erroneously assumed her abilities protection enough. She had been wrong. 'This never would have happened if I had just went with the original plan and let the professor come here instead.' Nikolaos's question tugged Anna away from her pity party. It also provided her with a glimmer of hope. She could still fix this! She could fix this and pretend like this was all part of the plan. Except she had a feeling the others wouldn't fall for it. Especially Dahlia. She hadn't known the woman for very long, but the other seemed as sharp as a Larvara. But even if Anna couldn't pretend, she could still fix this. That was what mattered. Their current situation was precarious at best. Dahlia had been overrun with Crowdent, though as soon as the woman fell down they lost interest in attacking her, content to sit on her instead like they did Anna. The rest crawled off of the woman, aiming for the others. Several flew at Shawn and Chigusa, but scattered at Chomper's Aqua Jet. Those that were hit passed out then and there. Several more, aiming for Lini, fell to the floor in sleep from Pinky's Hypnosis. The nearby Crowdent let out high-pitched keens, which the others soon took up. Then they came at the Totodile and Munna with Tackles, joined by others racing in from the back of the warehouse. Though Chomper and Pinky posed the greatest threat so far, not all the Crowdent focused on those two. One Pokémon found the pack of crackers that Nikolaos had dropped, paying no mind to the battle as it stuffed its cheeks. Various Crowdent still kept Anna and Dahlia flattened to the ground. A few more approached the latter, wary of her skill with an umbrella. Though they would soon have something else to distract them from the fallen woman. Selini found that telekinesis on an animate organism was much harder than on inanimate objects. Objects didn't resist being pushed, but living beings did. And the psychic's attention was divided between multiple Pokémon, which made it even harder. Still, the rodents' lightness worked against them here, and three Crowdent were thrown back into the horde. While she still had some Crowdent on her back, they were few enough now that Dahlia could pick herself off the floor if she wanted. The keening resumed, but this time the Crowdent had no obvious target to direct their energies towards. The rats shifted in confusion before running toward Dahlia, Chomper, and Pinky in renewed fury. With most of the pack distracted like this, Nikolaos made his way to Anna mostly unmolested. The girl was ready for him, having shifted around enough to open up her duffel bag and take out the thin square metallic box containing the starter Poké Balls. How she had imagined this would go! She would give a grand speech—but not too long, of course, because she was never great at public speaking. And then she would provide a test to choose which trainers to give the starter Pokémon to. Professor Appel had thought it a good idea to give them out to those trainers who were less confident in themselves, or less likely to catch one themselves. But Anna thought that was stupid. Why give out valuable Pokémon to weaklings who would give up before they even got their first Gym badge? They wouldn't be of any help to the professor or his research. So she had devised a test. She would find some willing wild Pokémon to scare the group, and she would choose the three trainers who could handle the fright best to receive the starters. Honestly, not that different from what they were going through right now. Except now Anna was also part of the test. The girl handed over the container to Nikolaos, gritting her teeth as the boy stared down at the box, making no effort to help her up. While she also would've appreciated some help, she knew that time was short. She wasn't the priority right now. The Pokémon were. And then a Crowdent crashed right into Nikolaos's back, another running forward and knocking the box out of the boy's hands. "No!" Anna cried. With a surge of adrenaline, she clawed her rat-laden self forward, desperate to catch the container. Her focus narrowed on the box, and for one second, she believed she would make it. And then the back of her hand slapped against the latch of the box, and instead of catching it, she threw it further away. The movement had also undone the latch, and the container flipped open, revealing a velvet interior cushioning three shiny Poké Balls. It was like watching a chariot wreck in action. The box crashed to the concrete floor, dented but whole. Separately, the three Poké Balls all landed as well. BGM: Pokémon Anime Sound Collection - Pokemon I Choose You! When she first arrived at the laboratory, Anna didn't know the first thing about Poké Balls. But Professor Appel was quite knowledgeable. He had showed with an empty Poké Ball how clicking the button in the middle once would resize it, and holding it down would open it. Closing it required just a simple press of the two sides together. "Applied force to the surface of the Poké Ball also works," the professor explained. "When thrown, they open after hitting the ground. If the ball is empty, they release a red particle beam that converts electrons into muons, and if the ball is full, they do the reverse. It's quite fascinating, and discussed in full in Professor Westwood's essay on the mechanisms of Poké Balls." And that was where he lost her. But she understood the basics. Using force from the outside on a Poké Ball would open it. So then, these falling Poké Balls… would the force of them falling to the floor be enough to open them? According to Professor Appel, the answer was no. "Considering the negligible mass of a Poké Ball combined with gravitational acceleration… not even mentioning air resistance, ahem. Dropping a ball from up to seven feet above the ground does not produce enough force to open it. Poké Balls were designed that way to avoid accidents. After all, most new trainers drop their Poké Balls from time to time. Heh, even I've done the same when my arms were full." So normally, the balls would have just dropped to the floor. But Anna, in her attempt at catching the container, inadvertently transferred energy, or positive work, to the container, which then acted on the Poké Balls. Now their acceleration had increased, surpassing the threshold. In simpler terms, her knocking the box away caused the Poké Balls to fly out and not just drop, but slam against the floor. This excess of force caused them to open, revealing the Pokémon inside in a flash of white light. The first to appear was a tiny green snake with a darker scale pattern on the back of its head, narrowing down to a point between yellow almond-shaped eyes. A shiny round red fruit hung from its tail. It blinked and tasted the air, then shook its tail in a rattle of warning. The second was a fierce-looking silver kitten with blue extremities and a shock of white hair on its head. It bore matching white markings on its face and belly. A spiky tail glowed faintly, lighting up the surrounding space. It crouched down, letting out a low growl as its sky-blue eyes darted from person to person. The last was a small calf with a milk-colored coat and brass-colored nose, horns, and front hooves. Aqua blue hair curled over its head in gentle waves. While the front looked like a normal bull, the back ended in a blue fish's tail, giving it the look of a bovine mermaid. It peered into the darkness with wide eyes, hooves pawing at the ground. "Grissy, Felight, Calfin!" Anna called out, still lying on the ground. The three turned toward her, recognition lighting up their faces. "I know this situation isn't like we discussed before, but these people will be your new trainers." She gestured at the group. "Listen to them and follow their directions!" The two-toned girl looked toward the other humans in the warehouse. "These are Grissy, the fruit snakelet Pokémon; Felight, the glowing cub Pokémon; and Calfin, the sea calf Pokémon. They are—" she cut off as a Crowdent jumped on her, and then took a deep breath when it leaped off, "—grass, fire, and water types respectively. I wish I could give you more time to decide, but you'll need to choose quickly. Or just take a random one for now and decide your starter later. We need more battlers, and fast!" OOC: Hello, hello! It's that time of the RP. Yes, it's starter time! For those of you choosing fakemon starters, anyway. Just as Anna said, you can either decide amongst yourselves which starter you're choosing (and of course, certain people get priority for certain starters). Or you can choose a random Pokémon to fight this battle now, and decide your actual starter later. Also, once I am sure everybody has read this post, I will post a picture of the starters in the Discord chat.

They were victorious. Though looking around you might not think so. Reinaan was propped up against a tree. Unconscious and only barely a step away from critical condition. As he was he could be felled by tripping and falling. Damien too was still unconscious and the only sign of life from him was the way that he gripped his sword tightly. The two elves both were exhausted and battered to the point that they could barely prop themselves up to survey the scene. Madeline had collapsed down onto her knees the second that Lindow had finished off the lycan leader. It was clear she wanted to say some sort of snarky remark but she was even too worn out to do that. Keres was still standing but that only lasted a moment. She attempted to step towards the others and simply toppled to the side and landed on the ground with a thud. "Ow." She winced. "I...do not believe...I can move." She said. Keres felt her eyelids grow heavy and knew that she wouldn't be able to fight it off for long. Before she slipped into slumber she said a simple phrase that, despite her usual tone, managed to convey some emotion after all. "We...did well, didn't we?" Only Lindow and Ryia were still standing but for both of them it was a struggle. The bodies of the lycans remained around them and the fire that they had set had burned down to cinders so the entire clearing was shrouded in shadows and soon they would not be able to even see where their companions lay. Still, they had to keep going. At least to gather everyone close together and remove the corpses before some sort of carrion beast decided to come in to finish them off for the easy meal. Only Lucas's head, which had yet to revert back to human form, was kept nearby as they still needed it if they were to enter the elven city. Despite their weariness the Chosen would feel a strength surge in them as the spirits collected the energy from the powerful foe. There would be no watch that night. Only the hope that the intense struggle scared off any other would be predators. This battle was over but they still had work to do. But, for now, these remaining warriors had to lay themselves to rest. If only for a moment. The Demon Gate still waited.

I legit haven't played the game in years and when I did I was bad; anyway I had an idea so here have a card NCM. This card can only be activated on the opponent's turn. For every 1000 damage you have taken this turn you may Special Summon 1 "Slime Token" (Aqua-Type/Water/Level 1/ATK 500/DEF 500) in Attack Position.

That is fair, I can (and usually do) always adjust my criteria of a card's power/efficiency to something being competitively good nowadays, casually good/fun, or good if it existed in X past format that is still popular (Goat, Edison, etc). So power/efficiency is.... it's not unimportant but I'd rather find and read something interesting in flavor/theme here. There are extreme cases when somebody at YCM would post a 100% "kid thinks it's cool" kind of card like a 4 Tribute monster with 3400 ATK whose effect is something lame like "gains 250 DEF if it destroys a monster by battle" or "gains 600 LP" that are totally not worth the effort or they ARE but their effect is so weak that it can be ignored or deleted and it'd even make the card better xD But those are the extreme cases, your stuff even if you don't play/don't know the card pool/say you have never been good/etc. I find it is on the fun and competent side. Had this card been printed back in 2007 I would have tried making a deck with 3 copies of it along with 3 copies of "Sinister Seeds" and some effects that give me some LP back to help against the constant damage, just because 6 copies of "I make 2+ tokens that can be Tributed for big chungus" effects would be enough things to make a deck around. It would probably not be good at all but it'd be fun haha (actually I kinda did make a deck like that with those and a card called "Regenerating Rose". I won a game against a HERO deck at the Swap Meet and caught the attention of another player that proceeded to stomp me with Lightsworns out of curiosity).

Reminds me of a GX era card (2007-ish) named "Sinister Seeds". Though the condition to activation is a bit different come think of it. I think even back then, you could get away with it being a x500 damage deal instead of x1000. Part of me wants to suggest "make the Tokens 0/0 Aqua Level 10 and make it so you can Summon as many as possible when any damage is taken regardless of whose turn it is. That way you can transform them into Egyptian God Slimes when your turn comes around" but like.... there's barely a cap in how much you can get away with nowadays, I'd rather keep only the first 2 lines and think this card was meant for like Edison-like power levels and I have more fun thinking of that xD

Fen couldn't help but feel a bit awkward about the witch girl continuing to boast about how powerful she was, in addition to not particularly being able to pin down what her magic was. It was clear that she wasn't just hot air though, and as she further elaborated that she was the daughter of a lich Fen couldn't help but be more careful about the girl. After all she didn't know much about liches, having never personally faced one among the necromancers she had fought, but she knew that they were typically at the apex of strength a necromancer could attain. Having someone of that power and knowledge to help teach her made sense then as well as if her magical bloodline as a result was also strong..."Wait, bloodline?" Her father was a lich. A lich? A look of confusion and contemplation crossed her face as she tried to figure out this puzzle, though this was swiftly wiped off as Morgan had reformed the skeleton into something even bigger. As it lumbered its way over towards Fen the girl had a good idea that getting struck by bone club would not be a good idea. As she dodged out of the way, she could see the impression in the ground the skeleton made with its weapon knowing that it was exactly as strong as she'd expecting something of that size made to be if it were made of flesh and muscle. Conjuring a few of her ice daggers the girl then decided to test the waters and throw a few at the monster's legs. They were about as successful as she was expecting, crashing against the bone for absolutely minimal damage. Perhaps if she could throw a few hundred more of those it would eventually give way but she had neither the mana, stamina nor time to really accomplish that. Instead, when faced with something this big, her best course of action was to conjure something equally as big to hit it with. Her go to was the large, almost ballista like, bow and arrow of hers to attack but at this range and with the amount of wind up time she'd need that was next to impossible. The next choice was just a normally big weapon, like a hammer. A really big hammer. But if she tried to just attack it like so she'd have to get close enough to it to whack it and if that were to happen it was more than likely just going to kick her away and that certainly sounded painful. Maybe it'd even try to golf swing at her. So, if that were the case then she needed to find a way to keep it motionless long enough in order for to safely get a swing with her hammer against it. Her first thought was to simply try to root it in place with her ice constructs, but with the amount of ice that would take she simply wouldn't be able to hit the skeleton because it would be encased in ice already. So the only other plan was to bring it down to her level and find some way to trip it. Maybe some kind of giant ice trip wire? Fen couldn't even conceive how a thing could work out and she was starting to wonder how someone made a flexible string out of ice to begin with but decided not to ponder the workings of her own magic too greatly. As she got to her next thought, the girl perked up and said, "oh, maybe that could work." After having had an entire dialogue in her head, the skeleton continued to lumber towards her with its club at the ready. Fen created an array of ice balls in her hand, tossing each of them around onto the ground. Retreating, she continued to scatter them in her wake as the skeleton made its way towards her, before the girl finally turned around. "Alright, let's try this." Creating a glove of ice over her hand, the girl pressed it against the ground before launching out several strands ice from her glove into some of the nearby balls. From there, the ice balls let out their own strands, creating a web of ice thread. She had learned in her fight, so long as there was a connection between her hand and her ice it didn't matter where it was nor what shape it took. All she needed was to let loose. "Now!" Sending another pulse of magic through it, all of the ice threads hummed with energy before creating an incredibly thin platform of ice for the skeleton to step onto. As the giant placed its foot onto her makeshift ice slick the ice cracked, making Fen realize the flaw in her impromptu plan that she hadn't actually frozen the ground itself. However, as luck would have it, the skeleton didn't seem to care about this flaw. In fact, as it stepped on the ice its foot came out from under its body. In fact its entire body soon went airborne following after its foot. Fen blinked in confusion at the skeleton that seemed to be defying gravity both with how it entered the air and the amount of hang time it had. Then the body came crashing down and as it struck the ground, rather than simply lie there it exploded like some kind of bone grenade, launching bones at everyone in the cemetery. "Oh no." The girl swiftly conjured an ice wall, but it was hardly sturdy enough to actually stop the large bone headed her way, shattering through it and hitting against her head with a resounding "bonk" noise. Putting her hand to her forehead, which unintentionally doubled as a cold compress, the girl winced in pain. She was thankful for the wind shield that Trevor had put on her earlier, but realized that Morgan certainly had even more tricks up her sleeve than she was expecting.

Anna went off to go talk to someone. Which Lini already found strange and unusual, as there was surely nobody else in this warehouse except for the people who had been toughing it out in the storm until just now. Otherwise, whoever else could have been in here must have been a truly awful person to keep the door locked and leave everyone else outside to fend for themselves. Luckily, there was no such monster in this warehouse, as it turned out. And, furthermore, the someone Anna went to talk to was in fact somemany. A pack of Crowdent, as it turned out. Lini had never seen one face-to-face - and she was perfectly happy that way - but she'd heard of them before. Awful little things. Where there was one, there were always more. She'd heard many nasty rumors and stories too, but those were just rumors and stories. Probably. More to the present issue they represented, where the Crowdent were, chaos soon followed, as it turned out. In no time flat, the Crowdent were upon them, Dahlia and Anna were down and getting swarmed, Shawn was helping Chigusa up to her feet while his friend Chomper was trying to square off with the Crowdents, and Nik was trying to get the pokeballs that contained the professor's starter pokemon meant for the rookie trainers gathered here. “Hey. Watch this please. It’s really important to me.” Also, he had left some kind of instrument case behind. Since nobody else had taken the initiative on it yet, Lini made sure to pick it up off the ground. Either it was heavier than it looked, or Lini needed to get a bit more exercise in while she was awake. As she picked up and secured the instrument, she made sure to tell Pinky exactly what to do. Thinking about it would be faster than talking, and time was off the essence. "Well, this isn't a great start to our adventure. For now, try to put some of these Crowdents to sleep with Hypnosis if you can!" By her command, Pinky began firing off rounds of psychic pulses meant to lull the targets into a comfortable little sleep. He didn't have any particular Crowdent in mind, and was more going for an "indiscriminate fire" approach, albeit taking care to avoid aiming at Chomper and the humans in the building. "Ooooh...Selini. Can you shove them?" Speaking of thoughts, that was a very interesting one! "I can try? I've never tried using telekinesis on something that's alive before, and there's an awful lot of them, but I'll give it a go!" Realistically, Lini had her doubts this would work. Moving multiple things, all of which were alive, after she'd put so much effort into busting open the door just a few short moments ago? Plus, if the Crowdents saw her as a threat... a shiver ran up Lini's spine at the thought of being swarmed by those awful little creatures. But this wasn't the time to be selfish and refuse to help over such a thing; they'd come for her either way, so it was better to help while she could, however she could. So, while Pinky was busy with the Hypnosis attempts, Lini made an attempt of her own. The Crowdents that were on Dahlia. Those were the most immediate threat. So, Lini envisioned a psychic wave of sorts, washing over the critters and throwing them into the rest of the Crowdent. And then willed that push with her mind. If it would actually work as well as Lini imagined it, if at all, was another matter entirely.

The woman couldn't help but wonder if she had stepped on something of a sore spot as Anima continued to elaborate but cleared her throat as things seemed to be fine. "Well...it's good to be so determined and know what you want when you're still young." The woman looked barely older, if at all, then Anima did. Then thinking about something else she said, curiously she asked, "oh, are you something of a picky pokemon catcher?" "Ah..." Anima paused for a moment, considering the woman's words. "You could, um... Say that," she smiled, rubbing idly at the back of her head as Confi splashed happily below. "I'm... Mostly interested in catching Ghost type Pokémon, though, I'm honestly interested in any sort of Pokémon that has a bad rap, so to speak," she laughed a little, staring down at her partner. "I... Want to prove people wrong, about Pokémon like Galarian Corsola-- Show them that they aren't really all that scary, or, um... 'Evil'," she explained, making air quotes to emphasize the last word. The woman chuckled at the response and said, "Ghosts, huh? Well, I think I can understand what you mean by 'evil' pokemon." "Why, you found a new friend I see! How delightful!" The woman looked up, seeing that one of the other two who had been fishing had no longer been doing so. In fact neither of them seemed to be actually fishing now that there was something on the dock that they presumably pulled up. The the girl's sudden intrusion Anima had not quite jumped out of her skin but definitely seemed to be startled by the sudden comment, glancing away from Confi, and the woman, and towards where Anneliese and Jacklyn were. "Ah-- I, um...! Yes! I have!" she called out, smiling. "It, uh, looks like you have too!" she called across, pointing towards the Goldeen Jacklyn held. "My I suppose you're right! Though I do not think they were caught the same way....were they?" She looked at Jacklyn, "Shall this Goldeen be a new companion?" The woman gave a slight look of confusion at the question that Anneliese had asked Anima. Jacklyn, for her part, had sent out Cherry and was ready to battle. "Hm? Nah, this one's for training. And proof that I'm a great fisher! Alright Cherry let's go!" "Bu bu!" The woman sighed at their exuberance, commenting, "how lively." Then looking back to Anneliese will say, "don't mind me too much, I just sat down to rest." After a moment of pondering she asked, "but, if you're her companion then how about you? Do you want to be champion of this region?" "Champion? Oh...my that would be rather exciting wouldn't it?" Anneliese said, before scooping Eleanora up. "What do you think, Eleanora, do you want to be a champion?" The bird seemed more flustered than anything at being picked up suddenly but Anneliese interpreted its fluttering as excitement. "I believe she does!" Yet another chuckle escaped the woman's mouth at Anneliese's somewhat noncommittal answer. Figuring that it would only be right to go for all three she asked, "and how about you?" "Hm?" Jacklyn turned away from her battle to face the woman. "Do you want to be champion?" Jacklyn scoffed at the question saying, "that's like, the whole point of the adventure right?" With a bright smile she pointed at the woman, "so of course I'm going to be champion at the end of it all!" "Well, before that you uh, might want to..." the woman pointed to Cherry and the Goldeen's battle behind her. "Ah! Cherry, stop using Splash!"

what i would sacrifice for a kinder egg... new berserk blag check it out there are some thoughts on lost children too for those of you who know what that is

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Episode Six -- Zodd the Immortal Or: I Can Make Either A General Zod Reference Or An Immortan Joe Reference Take Your Pick Content Warning: This episode comes off as one of the ones they spent less time on, what with all the dramatic zooms on matte paintings instead of motion (they don’t even bother animating Zodd’s mouth most of the time), but in all those mattes is probably the second-most gore in the Golden Age. It isn’t that much further than what you’ve already seen in the Black Swordsman episode, but still feel free to take a break if you get squeamish. I do want to cover the rest of Berserk even if the anime is only about a fifth of it because I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to do so again. The problem is that there’s the inherent spoiler of the Eclipse in the way, meaning I can’t talk about motivations as much as I would like, but that sounds like a writing challenge for future radio to figure out. Let’s talk about the Lost Children arc. Lost Children isn’t so much an arc as it is a continuation of the Black Swordsman story and transitioning that Guts into the one about to go through the Conviction arc that follows it. It’s one more story before we introduce the characters who will be following Guts around with the added bonus of Miura having five extra years of storytelling experience under his belt and a stronger idea of what Berserk is at this point. It’s here that Berserk starts to interrogate its central thematic premise a little bit more. How can you face reality when reality is so bleak? The Lost Children arc deals with this in a threefold manner. The most obvious is in the arc villain, Rosine. Rosine’s character is probably best described as a Changeling, that classic fable trope of being a mystical creature swapped at birth with a human and forced to live in a culture that she is neither a part of nor welcomes her. It's an ugly duckling scenario, but there are two twists. The first is that the duckling knows the story, and just can’t wait to become that beautiful swan creature that was promised to her. Rosine is obsessed with fairy tails. In one of the funniest panels in the manga, Rosine poses (nude, because Berserk) and declares “This is a fairy tale for children.” The second twist is that despite all the other fantastic elements that make up Berserk’s world, changelings don’t seem to exist, or, at the very least, Rosine isn’t one. She’s just a sad, abused girl who wished on the wrong rock that she was something else. Like the Count before her, Rosine’s apostlehood is a tragedy. Even if she has done monstrous things since that require Guts kill her, we can lament that things led to this. Mirroring Rosine is her childhood friend Jill, a girl in a similarly abusive situation but has managed to hold onto her humanity despite both that and Rosine’s “Elves” constantly attacking the village. Jill is also a mirror to Theresia, the Count’s daughter from the Black Swordsman arc. If you remember my description, Guts had to force upon her a reason to live, even if it was the self-destructive goal of revenge. Jill is stronger than Theresia in that aspect, given she has been enduring for so long already, but she does want to use Guts as an escape, demanding to follow him even if it means her death because she prefers it to the alternative. Her arc through this story is realizing through both Guts and Rosine that she’s doing the exact same thing they are, and life is better spent confronting her problems. If you’re very clever, you’ve probably figured out the third aspect of Lost Children’s thematic throughline already. It’s Guts, obviously. He is the main character of Berserk, after all. Guts is running from something too, using his quest for revenge as an excuse to not think about what he’s leaving behind. This is something he has to realize about himself as he fights onward, eventually being told outright by a blacksmith named Godo how much he is wasting his life. It’s an important turning point in Guts’ life. Once again, he realizes just what it means to have something worth fighting for. This leads into an arc aptly titled “Conviction,” which pushes the question further and finally introduces most of the deuteragonists we’ll see for the rest of Berserk. But that’s a story for another time. If I say the words, “Nosferatu Zodd is an apostle,” that probably gives a good idea of where this episode is going already. Guts and Griffith are ill-prepared to deal with supernatural forces despite how superstitious the common mercenary is to have heard of Zodd’s exploits already. Zodd the Immortal is the first sign (chronologically) that the world of Berserk even has supernatural elements that need confronting. If it weren’t for the Snake Baron (and the Count and the one from the first pages of the manga we don’t talk about), Zodd would have been a good introduction to the Apostle concept. After all, his apostle form is literally the Western conception of a demon, with horns and cloven hooves and an absolute lust for power in his battlefield domain. It is difficult to be even more direct about what these things are. At the same time, by having the Black Swordsman already under our belts, we can skip over all of the exposition that would otherwise be necessary for such a scene. If I were being cynical, I would say Miura was trying to have his cake and eat it too. But let’s actually buckle down and talk about the episode. It’s actually a close follow-up to the one before -- Guts charges ahead to protect the men under his command, and Griffith follows after him. Before, this was a considered part of Griffith’s strategy, but now we see that he would have done so regardless. It was in this episode that I noticed just how often the shots of Griffith wordlessly receiving information are framed through Casca’s eyes. It’s two reaction shots in one, really. This plays into the ending, which may seem like a step backward from the relationship change Guts and Casca had at the end of the last episode, but it is in fact an escalation. In the previous episode, Casca was commending Guts for keeping Griffith from harm, but now his “antics” (as she might call them) have directly led to Griffith being in mortal danger, protected only by the prophecy of his Behelit. And this is the core of the Zodd encounter. Zodd delivers an omen of doom to Guts: “If you and this man truly regard each other as friends, be mindful of this: When his ambition crumbles, you will be destined to face your death!” He also names the stone “The Crimson Behelit of the God Hand,” which, like, the fact that it has a name is ominous, right? Even without getting into the specifics of what that name even means which can probably again be inferred through context clues from The Black Swordsman, it’s proven twice now to be a spooky rock. But the moment it opened its eye in Guts’ hand could be dismissed as a trick of the light. Here, the Behelit falling out at just the right time is what stops Nosferatu Zodd’s rampage in the first place. The way Zodd acts, it is more like the will of Fate with a capital F. This is not the last time the Behelit acts like this. If Fate with a capital F does exist, it is certainly looking out for Griffith. We’ll get to that when we get to that. The last thing I want to mention is someone Guts talks to early in the episode: Gaston. Gaston is important to Guts as his second in command within the Falcon’s raiders, but there isn’t much to say about him besides “He exists. He’s his own person.” That being said, it’s very important to me to point him out when he shows up because he is frequently forgotten about. He barely shows up in other adaptations, to the point that a friend of mine asked “Who’s Gaston?” when Guts finally said his name aloud in one of them. Gaston isn’t very important in the grand scheme of things, even when contained to Berserk, but please remember him, at least for me. Next Time: Providence may guide a man to meet one specific person. Even if such guidance eventually leads him to darkness, man simply cannot forsake a cherished goal. When will man discover a way to control his own soul? ←Previous Post -- Next Post→

The girl was fine to sit back and watch Brian dig the hole himself, worried about whatever that could be under the dirt, only to back off a little with an "eee," as she saw that there was a dog skull buried there. With a ghost dog roaming around she supposed this was a pretty obvious conclusion to reach, though the girl wasn't sure if unearthing was going to cause some pack of ghost dogs to come down on them immediately. Brian seemed entirely unperturbed by this though as he went to place down a seal on the dog skull without incident. In fact nothing happened at all. Still keeping a bit of distance from it the girl looked at the skull and then to Brian asking, "sh-shouldn't it have like...fwooshed, or something?" She was pretty sure if they had managed to seal away the ghost there would be some form of spectacle that came about as a result of it. But no such thing happened this time. The girl frowned at the notion that their job wasn't quite as easy as she would've preferred, and that she would have to keep searching this woods that might also be a mysterious bog for more animal skulls guarded by deer. All the same she agreed with Brian and thought that putting the skull back before it could do anything like actually curse them could happen. Once they did the girl, reluctantly, was ready to get going to search deeper into the woods. "Hey! What are you doing?" The girl let out an "Eep!" as she heard the shout of the man who had employed them. She turned around to see him there now, looking between them and the dug up patch, before saying, "I never gave permission to go digging up my land." Carmen had gotten very used to not having to worry about anything other than Brian and the ghosts that they were hunting that the employer being here was a frankly foreign situation to her. Add to that , that she had felt like she had gravely offended the man and that he was likely to be both incredibly angry and perhaps kick them off the property thus failing the mission and making her have to report such a failing to Shiki, Carmen couldn't help but start stammering "uh...ghost...skull...there was, er we thought that there was something uh...haunted? About the dirt, ground...there was a skull and uhhhhhh..." "Of course there was a skull. That's where I buried my son's dog years ago...You don't intend to start digging everywhere willy nilly do you?" If there was another patch of dirt somewhere that looked suspicious she had figured that would only be the obvious course of action. She had sense enough to not say that though, instead letting out a brief, "...no?....Sorry..."

like is a strong word, but i think they're pretty neat

"Most recent reports say that weird shit is happening northwest of here. Likely a Sojourner, you know how it is. Wooded area spawned around it, with reports of horrific screams and strange creatures! Sounds fun, yeah?" That was their heading, but even still...it was something that Jet wasn't too keen on. Horrific screams and strange creatures...that probably wouldn't end up being very good if anything specific were to happen. But at the same time, Jet had a belief that he and these other two could handle this situation, whatever it was. Following after Zeru with the others, however, Jet caught something about their esteemed benefactor. They never spoke, but kept foraging...and yet, the constant glancing around at the various intervals in the opposite direction of the foraging... Jet knew the signs of this: anxiety. Zeru was anxious about something, but what exactly that something was, he didn't know...yet. "I don't know exactly where we're headed, but I doubt it'll be easy to miss. Stuff has a way of being found here, so if we keep heading this way, well... We should find it. For now, let's set up camp. It's important for ya to eat something before we arrive, and it's probably been longer than ya think it has." Setting up camp was a perfectly fine idea, especially when it meant that Jet could... The young man took the opportunity to approach Zeru, whilst Sakura spoke up to Cade. Those two could talk for a while, he on the other hand, needed to figure out what was going on with Zeru. "P-Pardon my i-intrusion into y-y-your personal b-business if it is..." he spoke, getting up beside Zeru. "...w-why are you anxious, Zeru...?" The masked figure stood silent as they continued to survey, acting almost as if they hadn't heard the boy... but a soft sigh soon escaped their lips. "Hyper-vigilant, aren't ya? I guess that tracks with what ya said back there." Zeru threw a glance over their shoulder to make sure the others were out of earshot, contemplating what they should say. "... Didja notice anything weird at the end of our talk with Deneb?" "I-I take it...p-p-potentially the 'sounds fun' p-part?'" Jet asked puzzled, crossing his arms slightly, putting a hand to his chin. "...i-i-if not, w-what was it?" "Deneb mocked my mention of dragons appearing as fantastical. At the end, they mentioned a strange creature being seen around where we're headed." He paused. Jet closed his eyes for a moment...and clear as day, that portion rang in his ears... "Sometimes odd things like dragons or monsters show up. They don't, y'know, exist here, but they seem to show up around Sojourners. It's how many of ya end up being lost. At least, that's a standing theory." "You really believe that bullshit? I thought you of all people would know better." "...t-t-they did..." he nodded, recalling that portion of the conversation. "...y-you still t-t-think that t-this creature...i-is a dragon?" "I don't know what we're dealing with. But I... that's enough for now. Just... think on it. The conversation as a whole." Jet was a bit worried now, but simply nodded, letting Zeru ruminate and keep their watch, but at the same time...now he was going to be looking around. And not only that, he was going to think about the conversation that took place. Something was misplaced and something smelt strange with this situation...he just needed to figure that out. He figured this would be his goal for the time being, or at least a side quest for him.

hey what's a rose of versailles meme doing advertising a berserk blag i guess you'll have to read the post to find out

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Episode Five -- A Wind of Swords Or: A Game Of Thrones At Home This episode introduces a lot of what Berserk’s Golden Age arc is going to be about, which means it’s just about time to talk about some of Berserk’s inspirations. Some of them are obvious. If I say there is a character named Ubik and he’s one of several characters named after science fiction stories, that gives a general idea of what Kentaro Miura was reading during Berserk’s creation. Ubik is a deeply psychological novel by Phillip K. Dick about filling in knowledge gaps with the divine with an extra dollop of examining the very human problem of inability to move on after the death of a loved one. Berserk has both of those things. We could also talk about Berserk’s artistic influences. Kentaro Miura trained under George Morikawa and helped work on the boxing manga Hajime no Ippo, for example, and the Fist of the North Star comparisons write themselves. But there is one manga Miura attributes to influencing The Golden Age specifically that stands out above the pack. Amidst all this genre fiction and shonen manga, the work that influenced The Golden Age the most is a shojo manga called The Rose of Versailles. This is why I feel confident in pointing out the homoeroticism in The Golden Age’s primary relationship between Guts and Griffith. The Rose of Versailles is, despite what more literal and/or conservative-minded commentators might tell you, a deeply queer text. While it is largely a tale of the rise and fall of Marie Antoinette as Queen of France -- a story about how nobility, despite its power and decadence, is still beholden to the will of the people they rule -- it tells this story through a fictional perspective character named Oscar François de Jarjayes, a woman raised as a man to inherit her father’s estate. A good portion of the manga is Oscar trying to resolve this contradiction within herself. She is in a position of power as commander of the Royal Guard but is also under constant pressure to prove herself because of her outlier status. And wouldn’t you know it, Berserk has one of those too in Casca. Casca doesn’t get into this on the same level Oscar did (partially for some real shitty reasons), but there is a particularly famous line in a few episodes where she says, “I didn’t ask to be born a woman!” which I think speaks for itself if her appearance in the show so far hasn’t been evidence enough. Oh, and The Rose of Versailles in general and Oscar in specific is also a noted influence on Utena of Revolutionary Girl fame, because everything comes back to Utena. But this is not to downplay the political aspect, which as much as it would be funny otherwise, is where Berserk takes much of its inspiration. This is something Griffith shares with Oscar, someone who is always shown as being measured in her actions, accepting every possible outcome of a chaotic situation because she has thought it through to the best of her ability. Here’s an example: Early on in Rose of Versailles, Oscar is tasked with becoming an attendant to Marie Antoinette, but doing so would put her in the crosshairs of Madame du Barry, King Louis XV’s favorite, who has been exercising the political power of her position to torment Antoinette. This is a conflict that the Jarjayes family had been staying neutral over, but that’s not an option here. It’s a simple choice when laid out like this, a question of present versus future returns. Marie Antoinette doesn’t have nearly the amount of power in the court as du Barry, but she is first in line to be Queen of France. Whatever hardship Madame du Barry can throw her way can easily be swept away by the ravages of time, but that hardship still has to be taken into consideration. Griffith and the Band of the Hawk officially join Midland’s army in the middle of this episode, which stirs dissent among the gentry. We’ll get to that after the break, but suffice it to say that the next half of The Golden Age is about Griffith’s rise to power, how he applies a mind demonstrated to be a master of the battlefield to a different but no less tactical puzzle. As mentioned at the end of last week’s post, three years have passed since that fateful duel on the hill, which means a lot of this episode is playing catch-up to those three years. The biggest question among all of this is: How has Guts changed? It’s an interesting question to ask because the answer depends on who you are talking to. If you’re talking to Casca or Corkus, the answer is no. To them, Guts is still that same reckless person who cares only about himself and the glory of the battlefield. I should note, though, that they think this for two different reasons. Corkus thinks so because he can only see things through his ambition. It’s one of those “he can’t conceive of anyone else being any different from him” situations. He’s a pretty simple character to get, the “problematic uncle” of the named Band of the Hawk characters. Casca, meanwhile, is a character I’ve been dancing around for the past few episodes. I’ve called The Golden Age a love triangle, yes, but I haven’t really gone into the specifics of that dynamic. Your standard love triangle with a main-character Guts would involve both Griffith and Casca pining after him, but that isn’t really what’s happening here. The focus of the love triangle is Griffith. Casca is so devoted to Griffith because she is loves him. It’s an obvious fact, and one she’ll open up about eventually, but yeah it’s not blind loyalty to the cause that causes Casca to lash out when Guts does something gutsy. What Casca has picked up on, another pin i’ve had in the board for just this moment, is how Griffith is providing a lot of the emotional support for Guts that Casca has been pining for. “Griffith has never said anything like that to me,” she’s thought. In a word, she’s jealous. And the fact that Guts doesn’t seem to reciprocate Griffith’s feelings fuels that jealousy all the more. Speaking of this unrequited love are hints that Griffith is going to be good at the political game he’s about to be thrust into here. He gets Guts to apologize for his reckless charge from the beginning of the episode with barely a word, instead acknowledging the lapse in judgement with “I plan my battle strategy around your tendencies.” More importantly, when Casca and Guts are given the undesireable task of working together, he placates Casca with a very specific phrase: “I need you to do this.” So it’s not that Griffith is somehow oblivious to his own magnetic charisma, just that returning Casca’s feelings in any greater measure than that would not benefit his grand ambition of his own kingdom. There’s tragedy in that, but there will be time for Casca to explore that in more detail. Let’s return to the main question, then. Has Guts changed in his three years of service to the Band of the Hawk? I feel like this is a bit too leading of a question because the answer is yes, obviously. Casca accuses him of not caring about his men, and not only is that a false accusation -- the reason for his reckless solo charge is all but stated to be because the only person Guts wants to place in danger is himself -- but Guts reacts strongly to it, seizing Casca by the wrist and daring her to say it again. The Guts of three years ago would not have acted in the way he did in the supply raid, warning off Griffith from charging into Adon Coborlwitz’s trap. Guts used to want Griffith dead, remember. And it’s this last point that begins the reconciliation between Casca and Guts. When the dust from the explosive trap settles, Casca approaches Guts and apologizes for trying to head him off. “You were only desperately trying to protect Griffith,” she says. It’s the highest compliment she can give right now. But speaking of Adon Coborlwitz, we’ve got a whole swath of new characters to introduce. Adon’s introduction is actually a little early compared to the manga, but in a way that reinforces him as an arc miniboss, a lackey a bit too big for his britches below General Boscogne and the Governor. We’ll get to those in time, but it’s more important right now just to recognize that they exist. On the Midland side meanwhile, is the first appearance of Minister Foss and Count Julius, the two most outwardly antagonistic towards Griffith’s rise to power. The seeds of further conflict are sown, we just have to fight through a demon to get there. Next Time: In this world, there are certain things that exist beyond human knowledge. Humans worship such things as gods, or fear them as devils. And when one encounters such fear and agony, is this, too, simply fate? ←Previous Post -- Next Post→

Letting out one deep breath after the other Ryia slowly picked herself up off the ground. She could certainly feel the fatigue accumulating in her as it had been for everyone else. Her body had been thrown around and struck at more times than she could remember to count and she had used her magic more in this series of fights then she had over the collective of her entire journey. There was very little left in the tank for her to fight with and she couldn't simply attack haphazardly to win, so she needed to think. Think of anything to turn the tables here with. Looking to her side, she saw that Keres had finished channeling her magic and was ready to fight with it. She knew how strong Keres could be when she had with enough set up but even still she wasn't sure a simple powerful blast of water would be enough to end this fight. Thinking of all that she could do and all that she had on her person, it was then that Ryia had come to a conclusion. Looking at Keres she, through labored breaths, asked, "Keres...if I manage to stab him...can you help me push it in deeper?" The Water Chosen nodded, giving Ryia all the confirmation she needed. Loosening the straps on her shield, the girl gazed down at her opponent as she muttered, "let's go." Running fast as she could, the werewolf took notice of her and started to sprint towards her practically on all fours. If they went like this then he'd simply tackle her down and she would be in no position to actually strike at him. And so, loosening the grip further the girl tossed her shield at him, getting the wolf man to smack it down out of the air. Without her shield she had no way to traditionally defend anymore, but she was fine. It was only going to be in the way from here on out. As the two continued to close the gap between each other, Ryia shouted,"Ackrin!" The earth spirit formed firing rocks once more to slow down Lucas, bringing him to a more upright stance, and giving Ryia the opportunity to give a superficial cut against his torso. Locking eyes with him, the both of them now within swinging distance, Ryia was ready to put her everything into the fight. As Lucas swiped his claw at her, the girl could only first duck under the attack, slashing upwards to cut into his chest again. It was clear that Lucas was starting to get slower and that his body wasn't holding up as well as her attack managed to draw yet more blood from him. Yet this wasn't the kind of attack she was aiming for. As he ducked to meet her height better, he went to swing with his other claw. This wasn't the attack she was waiting for. She couldn't afford to simply be tossed to the side by his claw yet. And so she brought her blade back, striking his hand with her weapon. Of course, he was still stronger than her and the attack sent her off balance yet thankfully uninjured. And then Lucas went for the kill on her. Opening up his lupine mouth, Lucas bore his fangs down on her. And in response the girl could only bring up her blade to defend against it. He still went forward though, and brought his jaws down on her weapon locking the two in place for the moment, causing Ryia's eyes to widen at the situation she was now in. This was it. This was what she was waiting for. With him now as close and as locked in as he could be, the girl reached back and pulled out a dagger. Lucas, tired though he was, still managed to see the attack coming as the girl went to stab the weapon at him. He pulled back, dislodging Ryia's weapon from her hands as he attempted to retreat from her. Yet his reactions were not fast enough. With a defiant shout Ryia plunged the dagger into the wolf's neck, and let go of the blade. Ensuring that he could do nothing to avoid, the girl then tackled him, wrapping her arms around him to hold him in place as best she could as she shouted, "Keres!" The Water Chosen heard. As if all the logs that made up a dam had suddenly burst, a pressurized torrent of water flowed from the mage girl. With such speed Lucas could not react. With such force he could not resist. The water hit into his neck directly, hammering the dagger that Ryia had plunged into him. And soon the dagger was no longer in him. The blade came out the opposite end of the neck it was put in, the water jettisoning the dagger through it from end to end with the water itself flowing through the wolf man as well. With all that the two of them had he now had a hole in his neck, a surely lethal attack. Surely, on anyone other than the self proclaimed lord of the forest. Though he had suffered injury after injury, he was still standing. It was clear he was suffered heavy damage and Ryia wasn't quite sure if left to his own devices if he'd just bleed out and die. But defiantly he still stood, any sense of rationale and humanity leaving as he became more and more feral.

Well, here's to hoping our weather doesn't result in a missing roof or something--

USA!! USA!! USA!!

It is I, Zeppeli Gyro Supreme from YCM, using the original username from that site. On YouTube, I am necromancy4kids. I was active on YCM during my middle school and high school years and had lots of fun creating cards and just being a part of the community all those years ago. Even if, in retrospect, I was extremely cringe-worthy. I might not be extremely active here, but I do have a related project in the works which I may post about, and will definitely try to be around every so often.

Dahlia liked meeting people more than most; it was a good way to get familiar with a new area, and generally it meant she’d have lots of opportunities to get a good gauge of who she would be working with. Unfortunately, as Anna backed her up, and as she pocketed her coin and looked towards Nikolaos’ still-lit light, it seemed she’d be working with… Well, idiots wasn’t the right word, but extremely short-sighted people. Or unobservant people? She didn’t hear anything to tip her off to what was actually going on, of course; the rain was too thick, too loud... But she did notice as Anna’s posture was significantly less relaxed than they were outside, and that had been in the rain. No, something was off and Dahlia would bet money to that; perhaps that’s why, as the sleepy-dile and the pink-dreamer moved between their group and the darkness-- Dahlia herself moved back towards the entrance... Dahlia knew she would feel safer with something solid in her hands, after all; and she had left something by the entrance that fit the bill just right. She paused for a moment as she picked up the umbrella that she had left to dry by the door, and ran a hand across it to slide the majority of the rain that was on it off of it. It wasn’t that sturdy, she had bought it from a small shop in Virbank city, but it was at least sturdy and heavy enough to clobber someone in the head and make them wish they hadn’t crossed her; or at least to give her a few more seconds of triumph before being stabbed in the chest by a mugger. Really, though, it was to combat rain, nothing else. To ask more of it was insanity, and to ask it to fend off something that wasn't human even more so. Yes, rain was really all it was good for-- Which is why Dahlia winced as Anna yelled for Nikolaos to turn the light off, and cut herself off. For a second, of cousre, Dahlia considered once again strolling out into the rain; given that would be much, much easier than whatever was about to transpire… And shunned the notion in a heartbeat, as she slid her umbrella over her shoulder like one might a cane, and walked back to stand by the others, as if she had never left, as the torrent of… Crowdent, Anna had said? Surged forwards, even jumping in some cases. This was, after all, to be the beginning of their journey; what kind of trainer would she be if she ran away right at the start? She could save the running away for after she had become a trainer, after all. “Iiiiiiiiiiiinteresting,” Dahlia spoke up, slinging her umbrella forth-- And keeping her eyes trained on the several eyes in the darkness, waiting for any figure to actually make a jump, or anything towards her, as her finger hovered over the button to unfurl the umbrella… And as they jumped, she pressed the button, prompting the umbrella to unfurl, and open rapidly. To her great surprise, a couple of them were actually caught off guard by this; the extending umbrella sending them backwards onto the floor, where their claws skittered against the concrete. “I expected them to be smarter, Ratata-like as they are… Or to go right through... Ah, but maybe their thing is numbers, righ-” She was cut off, as, something much more in line with what she was expecting to happen, happened. A heavy impact first met her left foot, then another hit her right leg; followed by another as she was shoved backwards, claws digging into her clothes-- An almost defeated expression coming to her face as she was knocked to the ground by a heavy impact to the chest. “Agh-- there it is-- I thought that had worked too well for a moment,” she grumbled, wincing as more surged forth to weigh her down like they had Anna. "Hell of a first test for us, Assistant Professor!" she called out, tone somewhere between joking and completely serious.

Oooh so just flavor text nothing game related? I think Creative Writing should be fine yeah!

“Do not allow a sorceress to live.” -Exodus 22:18 (NIV)“Powers beyond mortal comprehension” felt blasphemous somehow. Melissa couldn’t put a finger on exactly what it was. She supposed part of it was how her current companions took forms she might have thought beyond the ken of most mortal minds, yet, here everyone was, herself included, comprehending them just fine. Melissa had rationalized these away as facsimiles. She had no presumptions that whatever was inside of her was in any way divine, at least any more so than a human form, and humans could perceive each other just fine, despite her occasional wishes otherwise. It felt weird being the skeptic for once, but then again, Melissa supposed even Moses had to deal with court magicians. If she were particularly fervent, she could imagine Zadkiel and Sandalphon in much the same way as Moses’ staff-serpent, overwhelming and consuming anything “Morgan Reaperson” could throw at her, but no, she was here on Mauvache’s behalf, not God’s. She had Sandalphon follow up Fen’s pummeling with another beam, but she dismissed the ophan when one of Morgan’s skulls exploded into it. Morgan seemed like the sort of person who would mock her for the perceived instability of a summon, and it seemed reasonable to let her hold on to that assumption for as long as possible. Melissa realized it was a similar strategy to when she had been training with Rei. A good portion of that spar had been both of them just trying to suss out what the other was capable of, and Melissa had most succeeded when she’d had the element of surprise on her side -- when she’d found some new tactic that Rei hadn’t been expecting. “Of course it’s nice to meet someone as great as I,” Morgan said, finally recovering from her laughing fit. “If only you lot were half as exciting for me.” Melissa wondered if Morgan could possibly be negotiated with, if even to move the fight to somewhere that was less likely to desecrate a grave or twelve, but given what little she had seen of Morgan’s ability, they probably wouldn’t be so lucky. She also recalled that woman she and Devin and Morgan (zombie Morgan (two Morgans with undead connections had to be a coincidence)) had fought, how that woman had refused to listen to any sort of reason despite her best interest. There was a temptation to assume a pattern. This Morgan certainly didn’t make it easy to think otherwise. But no, Melissa thought. She wasn’t going to think like that. If there was an opportunity to resolve this amicably, she would take it. At the same time, they weren’t exactly working from a position of strength here. They had a numbers advantage in theory, but if Morgan was responsible for one skeleton, surely she could make another. They had to find something, though. For now, Melissa just tried to get their footing a little more equal. Morgan could fly? Well, so could Zadkiel. She brought out the cherub and fell into its arms as it took to the air.

I think you did a good job putting everything together. Unfortunately, most personal projects don't take off, especially not right away. So don't be discouraged. Also remember, it took 6 years to develop the first Pokemon game, with massive changes happening time and time again until we got the final games. It will take a lot of time, but you may want to clip out all of the "appearances in" sections from the pages, since they won't be relevant.

Happy Canada Day~

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Episode Four -- The Hand of God Or: Featuring A Homoerotic Water Fight Just In Time For Pride Month Content Warning: This episode features an extended flashback of Guts’ backstory, largely centered around his relationship with his adopted father, Gambino. Gambino was physically and emotionally abusive to Guts, culminating in a scene where Gambino breaks into Guts’ tent and tries to kill him. Also in this episode, the King of Midland calls an enemy army “black devils” which in context is a reference to their dark armor, but also, given that the leader of this band of knights has darker skin (among other Tudorian dark-skinned characters), it feels derogatory enough to warrant a mention here. We talked about the general sound design last time, with only an offhand mention of Berserk’s Opening and Ending songs, so let’s talk about those while we’re still on the topic: They’re bad, thanks for reading. Okay, okay. When I made mention of Penpals’ “Tell Me Why” and Silverfins’ “Waiting So Long,” it was in reference to a sort of “90s-ness” that Berserk 1997 carried with it, a defense of hiring Susumu Hirusawa for the dark fantasy anime. In the week since then, I’ve found myself reckoning with the idea that fantasy in the popular consciousness did not have such grand reference points. The Ralph Bakshi-directed Lord of the Rings animated movie nearly had a rock opera, for example (“nearly” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, the rock opera was in John Boorman’s United Artists script before Bakshi got a hold of the project and replaced the script with one written by Peter S. Beagle (yes that one), which is a story for another blag but the point stands). This also ignores that the Lord of the Rings is an American production of a British book directed by a Kiwi in his native country of New Zealand and that Fellowship of the Ring would not be in theaters for another four years. There were a lot of reasons to not even see any dissonance with an artificial soundscape in 1997, even if I do maintain it means something to the story that Berserk sounds like it does. At the same time, the reason that I’m inclined to factor in a little bit of nineties cheese into the decision is, well, the opening and ending songs are peak nineties cheese. Tell Me Why sounds like it was recorded in a garage (I mean this with as much appreciation for garage rock as can translate onto a web page), with such nonsensical lyrics as “Put your glasses on, nothing will be wrong. There’s no blame, there’s no fame. It’s up to you.” Meanwhile, Waiting So Long is, by some nebulous definition of the genre, a shoegaze song with a chorus that is just the line “I’m waiting so long” repeated four times. Both are full of non-fluent English, which means I get to note that the online Berserk fanbase near-universally refers to the “glasses” lyric as “grasses,” and I hope you can hear the derision in my words as I type that. But okay, let’s put some analysis glasses on and try and figure out something that aligns these songs with the rest of the text. An interpretation I’ve seen elsewhere is that these songs are somehow in-character to someone in Berserk, and I don’t hate that Idea. I have already come up against the question of “why are you following Griffith” in my own analysis, and so there’s a lot that can be done with that. It’s a question we’re still answering in the series proper, though, so we’ll be following this pin later. More distressing are the final lines in the OP, “It’s too late. It’s too late.” Although we are already vaguely aware of the tragedy coming around the corner, this repetition serves as a constant reminder, especially when we get to the darker parts of The Golden Age Arc. There’s some animation that reinforces this as well: a white flower consumed by flames. “Waiting So Long” as an in-character piece is also interesting to analyze at this point in the series because it is a song about death and loss and an inability to move on. We have seen Guts begin the healing process from his own traumas, but again, we know how this ends up. This one is emphasized by its visuals. The credits play next to a montage or slideshow of the named characters, evoking an in-memoriam. That’s a smaller touch, I think. It could just be as a reminder of who these characters even are, as the story focus narrows to its core three, but the two together certainly feel meaningful, even if the majority of the depicted characters don’t even die. I guess that’s spoilers, sorry. Feel free to guess which ones! This episode is a lot prettier than the past three. Maybe it is because I was watching this episode late at night, maybe it was because of the soft morning light spread across the first half, maybe it was just because Griffith is naked in it, but I felt there was a notable animation quality bump going on here. There’s nothing that would break a budget going on, just all these little touches that take a little extra time to draw. During Guts and Griffith’s gay water fight, for example, they didn’t have to include the frames of both figures from behind the water that’s about to splash onto them, but they did, and the show is better for it. The meat of the episode is again split into two areas of focus -- Guts gets his backstory even more fleshed out and the two scenes with Griffith warning us of his fated destiny in the form of his behelit and how his ambition to have his own kingdom plays into that. We’ll start with the former. When Griffith made the assessment that Guts was fighting to find a reason to live, it was a guess based on how Guts carried himself in battle. Here, we find out that that guess was accurate. Guts was found under the corpse of a hanged woman, and all sources indicate that he was indeed born under this cursed sign. He was found adopted by Cis (or Sisu depending on the translation, but I prefer Cis because it demonstrates that Berserk is very gay), and when she died soon after, Guts was raised by her husband, the mercenary Gambino. Not only has Guts been fighting for a reason to live, he has been doing this all his life. In the beginning, Guts is fighting simply for his father’s approval -- I mentioned in the content warnings how this relationship is abusive. The pivotal moment comes, though, when, after running away from the camp, Guts finds himself injured and surrounded by a pack of wolves. Even after accepting that he is likely to die here, Guts fights onward. At the beginning of the episode, Judeau notes that Guts might have found his reason in Griffith, just like everyone else who follows him. It has not been officially established yet, but given what we have heard from nobility talking about him, and the fact that he’s leading a mercenary band at all, we can infer that Griffith is of common birth. Perhaps the best piece of evidence from this episode, though, is how he talks about nobility. Griffith wants a kingdom for himself; the big selling point for fighting for him is the reward for meeting that goal. But he also talks in this episode about how even a king must on some level meet the expectations of his subjects. A person is still a product of the system they are born into. He makes the point also that you can’t choose to be born a king even if you want to, it’s just the guiding hand of fate. A natural question then arises: What is Griffith’s fate? We the audience already know from Guts’ hallucination during the Black Swordsman episode (and even more if you read the manga). That can lead into a postmodern take on storytelling where a character finds their fate laid out on the page and is really interesting, but in the moment within the story, Griffith is fighting to find that out. He has set his ambitions high and counter to his birth because that, he believes, will demonstrate what Fate with a capital F has in store for him. He is exploring the boundaries of what it means to be Griffith. In a way, this also circles back to the comment at the opening of each episode by Void, wondering if even this personal rebellion is preordained. For now, though, we have established another parallel between Guts and Griffith, both fighting to find out what the world has in store for them. Guts has, even at this point in the story, already rejected what Fate has in store for him. His utter refusal to die is his defining character trait. Griffith, meanwhile, has a fate more nebulous. It seems he has been dealt the role of a mercenary leader, but then again, he’s had his behelit since he was a child, which has its own dreadful fate attached. We close the episode with exposition about the actual war all these mercenaries are trying to make a living on. The Band of the Hawk has allied itself with the Kingdom of Midland in their hundred-year war against the Tudor Empire. We have already heard rumblings of what Griffith’s success on the battlefield might mean for them politically, but this is the first time Midland’s king has caught sight of their activity. Three years have passed since the start of the arc. Guts is one of Griffith’s most trusted companions. We have yet to see what that means, though, outside of offhand remarks, but there are another twenty-ish episodes ahead of us for that. -r Next Time: People gaze upon others for different reasons -- to protect one’s own happiness, to fulfill one’s own dream, and to simply survive. Is there ever a time where one can live his own dream without inflicting a wound on someone else’s heart? ←Previous Post -- Next Post→

A trek in the woods. Under normal circumstances, such as ones where she had her memories, Sakura would probably think that sounded pretty nice. There were just a few problems with that. One, she didn't have her memories. Two, these woods were fucked up. Space didn't make sense in the conventional three-dimensional sense, with the group advancing through the woods far faster than they by all rights should have been. Perhaps it was because of that very same unnatural alacrity that Zeru decided this was a fantastic time to just stop entirely. A quick camp break was in order, apparently. "I don't know exactly where we're headed, but I doubt it'll be easy to miss. Stuff has a way of being found here, so if we keep heading this way, well... We should find it. For now, let's set up camp. It's important for ya to eat something before we arrive, and it's probably been longer than ya think it has." That was the first time Zeru had spoken since entering the woods. Sakura, who had also kept quiet until now, kept a hand near her gun, just in case something leapt out of the trees. She was no wild west gunslinger, but she liked to think she knew a thing or two. It did, after all, feel quite natural. Having the gun. Which frankly infuriated her, because she wanted to know why. But that was a mystery that probably wouldn't get solved in these woods. So, after a bit of a wait, Sakura at least relaxed her posture. Though her hand never moved far from the gun, either way. She took a seat on the grass, and looked around at her surroundings. Trees were neat. As far as "things everyone to ever live, ever, saw so much of that they never really actively thought about them" went. If not for everything leading up to now and the exact situation of now, Sakura would probably even go so far as to say that this place was actually quite nice. Not out loud, of course. "For whatever definition of "longer" we've got here, anyway," Sakura commented. Then her attention turned over to the old man of the group. "So, government projects, huh? While we're here, you might as well spill some exciting federal drama, if you've got any to share."

"Comprendo," the girl nodded as the boy disclosed the way he was greeted by and found people. Chigusa looked between the different people, the ones named Anna and Nik talking about some kind of abandoning that happened, then looked towards the one other girl who managed to open a door without touching it. Chigusa again noted her comment before walking into the darkness, before looking back towards Nik who explained that she was a psychic. Chigusa had heard about psychics before. She had read many a fantastical story about them and the use of their powers, though she had also read stories about them existing in real life. More specifically she had heard hearsay in her trips to Saffron City that their gym leader was one, though she had never entered the gym herself to confirm such things. The girl thought that having psychic powers must have been very handy and certainly would've liked to possess them herself. Though being psychic was a born thing, as far as she was aware, and she didn't think there was any part of that had ever used psychic powers before. Though she hadn't ever tried either. The girl looked at Nik, her eyes narrowing and her expression taking on a more focused look before relaxing back to its default neutral state. She did not know what kind of underwear he was wearing and so she could determine that she was not a psychic. As the group had started to slowly fill into the warehouse, Chigusa realized that in order to follow everyone and get ready for the journey she would have to actually move herself. And so, after everyone else had already made their way inside the girl slowly walked to the entrance of the building. Each step she took was unsteady, her legs wobbling all the more the closer she got. As she finally entered the darkness and safety of the warehouse, the girl's body seemed to find this an acceptable time to finally give up. The girl let out a small, "oh," before her legs buckled under her and forced her to her knees though that too was too much weight for her body to support, so she simply flopped down. Now lying on the cold floor of the warehouse, blinded from the darkness and practically motionless, all Chigusa could really do was look at the beam of light coming from Nik's flashlight. As introductions began Chigusa spoke up, her voice slightly muffled yet entirely unbothered by her face being pressed against the warehouse floor. "My nom is Chigusa Akihara." After a brief pause she added, "people call me Chi or Aki, desu."

The ripples in the waves made by not only the bob, but by Confi as she swam lightly around were… Soothing to watch, Anima would have to admit. There was something so… Simple about it all, that made it relaxing. As if this could soothe any turmoil, as if this could smoothe over any problem that arose, merely by letting the waves crash into it, chipping away her stress bit by bit, until it had eroded completely. That was a thought that, admittedly, was… Comforting to Anima, as she stared at the little lost soul, which swam about in the water chittering quietly herself, occasionally glancing upwards towards Anima to make sure she was still there, before returning back to the waves. So it was, that she had focused upon Confi so much, that Anima hardly noticed the pale woman as she approached; only really reacting to her a moment later, when the woman spoke to her, though, even then, for a moment… Anima did not reply. Her expression shifted, slightly, as after a moment, she realized that she was even being spoken too, noticing the woman’s shadow first, and then glancing up towards her. She examined the woman for a moment, nerves still softened by the waves, so that she did not scream, panic, or even flinch at the prospect of meeting and talking to someone new-- And instead smiled, and nodded. “It’s, um… No bother at all,” Anima spoke softer now, the bombasticity of getting to fish having worn off by now, as she brought a hand away from her fishing rod to rub idly at her neck. “Are you, um… here to fish too?” she asked; though, she doubted that fact as she did so. The woman sat down, letting out a sigh of relief as she was no longer standing. Looking at Anima the woman shook her head and said, “I’m here for a break until I have to start walking again.” Then looking down at Confi she asked, “you aren’t from around here, right?” “Ah, just here to relax then?” Anima nodded. “I’m not much of the outdoorsy-type either, to be honest,” she laughed a little, before nodding. “...But, er… You’d be right. I’m from Galar,” she confirmed. “My partner here, Confi, is a type of Corsola that you can find there.” The woman nodded slowly, a small flash of pride going across her face for a moment and muttered, “Galar, I thought so…” returning to a more neutral expression she looked back and, rather than answer asked, “are you looking to become champion then?” Anima’s expression shifted, then, as she contemplated the question she had just been given. The natural answer, would be to say… Yes. that she wanted to become the Champion… And yet the answer didn’t come right away. Perhaps, it was because of the doubts which had set root back from her first battle. Perhaps, it was because she didn’t want to seem conceited. Perhaps… It was simply because she wasn’t sure if she would be capable, and yet… She had to put all of those reasons behind, as she nodded, after a moment, and closed her eyes. “I hope to, one day, yes. I…” her hand shifted then, from her throat, to one of her sleeves, twisting the fabric into a knot as she spoke. “I know it won’t be easy, especially for a trainer as inexperienced and impulsive in battle as I am, but… I’d like to do it, or to at least try. To... prove to myself that I can do it.” “I see…” the woman faintly smiled as Anima gave her answer. “That’s commendable for an indoorsy type. Or maybe it’s because...” The woman trailed off before looking past her and muttered, “right they come in…” looking back to Anima she asked, “are those your partners?” “Hm…?” Anima cocked her head to the side at the ‘maybe its because’, before following her gaze at the question that came next, to see… Jacklyn and Anneliese, working together to fight against a tug on their line. “Ah… Yes, I suppose they are,” she nodded, laughing a bit. “They’re a bit of a… Um… Handful, as you can imagine,” she winced slightly. “But so far we’ve been managing alright, I think.” The woman looked at Jacklyn and said, “my condolences.” Sighing, the woman joked, “but I can barely handle myself on a journey so maybe that too is commendable.” “It’s… Not easy,” Anima admitted, her tone dropping a little. “We’ve only just begun, and yet I find myself wondering at every junction... If I’ll be able to take care of myself; let alone both of them,” she muttered, hand balling the edge of her sleeve further into a fist as she spoke. “But… They’re good kids. They’ve probably got more of what they’ll need to become champion than I do--” she chuckled a little, her expression softening. “But… I won’t let that stop me from trying. Even if they’re way ahead of me in the actual catching department when it comes to Pokémon-- I’ll work as many times harder as I have to, to keep up, and… Even surpass them, should I have to.”

"Sometimes odd things like dragons or monsters show up. They don't, y'know, exist here, but they seem to show up around Sojourners. It's how many of ya end up being lost. At least, that's a standing theory." Well, wasn't that just wonderful? As long as she wasn't the one paying, Sakura had no reason to object to being given food, so she'd elected to tag along for some wraps on which she wasn't entirely sold on being a returning customer. The owner, apparently named Deneb, was... chatty. At least Sakura could remember that she was never the chatty type herself. Rather, she couldn't stand people like that. Always all chipper and bubbly like "How was your day?" or "Hey there, buddy!" when they were in fact, not buddies. Questions, pointless small talk, and brimming with grating upbeat attitude. "As you can see, I'm not exactly busy with how people around here are, so I need entertainment. Tell you what- You three tell me something about where you come from, and I'll cough up the info Zeru here wants. Deal?" At least this one was doing something useful, albeit at something of a cost. Well, it wouldn't hurt to at least try to remember. Not that Sakura hadn't already done that several times already. She sat down, closed her eyes, and tried to think as hard as she could. Something. Anything. ... And yet, despite her brain's best efforts, there was simply nothing there to remember. No names, or places, no stories or faces. Not even an footnote. "I can't remember shit about where I'm from. We have guns, and I only know that because I have one. Thrilling, isn't it?"

It's been a while since this section was used I see xP I've been doing a custom TCG project on the side of other things I've worked on over the past year or so. From there, I got the idea of working in a sort of "how to play" booklet but with the deck's characters doing a sort of wall break explanation to the reader. Ideally there'd be at least 4-ish more pages like this. It looks.... VERY hand made. But still wanted to share it.