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Quinn flinched the moment when Route One Oh Two became the smallest bit wet. It was not enough to keep from carrying on, but she kept thinking about it as it took further and further steps. Quinn was intimately familiar with mud, for reasons they rather kept to hirself. As Route One Oh Two became a full-on bog, Quinn spent more time looking for the safest places to step than zir stated goal of hunting for Pokémon. Cassiopeia had to help with a few of those jumps, putting all her effort into pulling upwards, giving Quinn just a few extra moments of airtime to navigate safely. It did not always work, and every piece of clothing below Quinn’s knee suffered the consequences, but there was still entertainment in the process, so Quinn did not mind. There were wild Pokémon to encounter, of course, and for those, Quinn did faer best to stay in place. Normandie did not seem to mind the environment fighting with her trademark ferocity, and Cassiopeia was unaffected by most terrain in general. The Pokémon that truly caught Quinn’s eye, however, was a Bearble standing stock still and facing away from her as it approached. Quinn recognized it immediately. “Peat? Where is your friend Nathaniel?” Quinn asked. But the Bearble did not respond, still looking ahead and growling under his breath. “Ahead, then? What is he doing without you?” Quinn made a move to continue, but Cassiopeia suddenly jerked its hand back, pulling the rest of the young ghost back with her. “Oh!” Quinn said, in more of shock than actual pain. “What is with you, you silly balloon?” That was when xe heard the whispers. In all likelihood, they had always been there since first stepping into the marsh, but it had taken breaking focus to notice them, and now they were impossible to ignore. The whispers in the back of Quinn’s mind were incomprehensible, but in the sort of way that promised comprehension if one only listened harder. Quinn tried again to approach the statue -- the whispers had to be coming from there, right? -- but Cassiopeia once again refused. “Do you want to go back into your Pokéball?” Quinn asked. That seemed to be an acceptable compromise for Cassiopeia, who practically opened her ball for Quinn as ze took it out. Approaching the statue alone made staying clean a practically impossible task, but Quinn no longer cared. The statue’s aura was awesome in the literal sense, with all the terrifying implications that that implied. It was no wonder that both Cassiopeia and Peat were not interested in such a place. Nathaniel was also there, hesitating just before placing his hand on the edifice. Quinn did likewise but overcame that final mental barrier to find out what the statue felt like. The statue was warm, but not in a way where the rock had absorbed sunlight all morning and was now radiating excess heat, nor was it warm because Quinn’s skin, as a ghost, was naturally cooler. No, it felt warm because it felt like it was alive, an impossibility in itself, but that was what it felt like. Even more, it felt like it was breathing, too. There was a pulse of energy in the statue. Its rhythm was slow, but it was there and it was consistent. Quinn could tap along with it if they didn’t feel compelled to keep his hand on the rock. “Material or Astral, I have never encountered anything like this,” Quinn said, Quinn’s voice soft. The voices in her head got louder, and faster too. And yet, Quinn still could not understand it. “What secrets do you hold?” Quinn mused. Still keeping faer hand touching the rock, Quinn began walking clockwise around the base, searching for more phenomena to experience -- an irregularity in the rock, perhaps, or a change in the statue’s beat.

The most surprising thing about YCMaker embracing the AI art thing is that he was actually around long enough to implement an art theft button. Also hi everyone, I know I have been dead for like 2 years now

“Does being an aspiring professor mean you know a lot about caring for Pokemon? Is there any advice you could give me with Peat? I make sure to brush and oil his fur every night, and I help him pick his teeth and claws clean too." "Weeeell..." Not really... Now that he'd mentioned it, it was probably best to double-check Arthur. He'd just been recovered from a kidnapping, after all, and Bridget wouldn't forgive herself if she was so caught up in having him back that she overlooked some sort of injury on the Trapinch's part. Thus, as the team continued along Route 102, did Bridget pop open Arthur's poke ball and give the creature a good, thorough inspection. And, like the impudent toddler it could very well pass for when not playing, Arthur resisted her every step of the way. "What kinda stuff do you have to do for Artur?” "'E's real fussy about 'is care, actually," Bridet answered, as she tried to part-coax Arthur into opening his mouth, part-pry it open herself. "Won't let me do anyfin' for 'im, 'side from feedin' and playin' wiv 'im. C'mon Arfur, open up, I'm makin' sure you're not hurt!" After several defiant chirps and chitters, and no small amount of trying to wriggle out of Bridget's grip, the Trapinch finally relented, and opened his maw of a mouth for Bridget to investigate. As she confirmed there was nothing of concern inside his mouth, and continued checking the rest of his body for anything that could be a possible concern, she remarked "See what I mean? Best I can do is force 'im to take a bath when he's dirty, and that should be its own category of battle." As if to prove her point, the mere mention of the word "bath" elicited a growl of obvious protest from Arthur, and further attempts to escape Bridget's grasp. The Trapinch only settled down once it seemed to process Bridget was just talking about baths, and not saying it was time to take one. "Pokemon care isn't really somefin' I know much about though. And I 'aven't seen that species until gettin' to Korova, either. Sorry. Peat looks healfy 'n' happy though. I'm sure anyone who knows more about care stuff would say you're doin' a good job." The bog up ahead was, as bogs went, certainly a bog. Nate and Quinn went on ahead into the marshy wetness with varying degrees of effectiveness. Bridget followed suit, taking to the marsh with a sense of familiarity gained from some field research back in certain parts of Galar. Which isn't to say she was just at home in a marsh as on dry land, but between having put up with this sort of terrain before, and having the appropriate footwear for the job, it was safe to say Bridget was faring better than her peers right now. Of bigger concern to her was the statue in the middle of it all. People could be fickle creatures sometimes, but Bridget was always willing to trust a pokemon. And as she eyed the statue's surroundings, she couldn't help but notice almost all of them were avoiding the statue. Peat even refused to follow Nate right up to it, which was an immediate red flag to her. She wasn't an art history major, or a geologist, or anything else that could potentially pertain to identifying a statue, but if all the local wildlife was avoiding that thing, it couldn't be anything but bad news, as far as Bridget was concerned. As much as she wanted to get up close and inspect the statue for herself - really wanted to, more than usual - Bridget made a point to keep her distance, and to keep an eye on the other two in case some sort of timely intervention was needed. Plus, somebody had to make sure Arthur wouldn't get into trouble. Bridget looked down to Arthur... only to find that while she was keeping a watchful eye on Quinn & Nate, her pokemon had slipped away, and was now proudly trotting about in the bog. Gonna have to give him a bath later. Might as well make something of this! Not keeping her attention away from her teammates for too long at any point, Bridget followed her Trapinch companion through the water and mud, then pointed at the first pokemon to cross Arthur's path. A Solosis that was otherwise minding its own business. "Let's blow off some steam, Arfur! Give it a good Bite!" Arthur, for one, seemed all too happy to oblige, charging up to the stray Solosis as best it could, jaws wide open and ready to snap shut on its new quarry.

Nate and Peat rushed into the water of the marsh without hesitation. The water went up to Nate’s ankles, soaking into his sneakers and socks. The mud beneath clung to his shoes like it was reluctant to relinquish him. Nate bulled forward. Peat, beside him, cut through the water with far more grace than he usually had on land. He barked and smiled and raced past Nate. “Oh no ya don’t!” the trainer shouted, pulling a burst of speed he hadn’t had a moment before. Wild Pokémon scattered into cover as the two raced by. Nathan was not a perceptive man on his best days, but even he might have noticed how the amount of Pokémon dropped severely the closer they got to the statue, if he hadn’t been so distracted. “Ha! Caught ya!” Nate was winded when he caught up to Peat. “Not as fast as ya thought, are ya, bud--bud? Peat?” Peat had stopped running. His teeth were bared and he was staring ahead at the statue in the marsh. It was probably only a few yards in front of them now. It was much more interesting up close; towering over the area and chiseled with the skill of someone that had obviously been a master of their craft. Nate felt the sudden urge to touch the statue. Which wasn’t that weird. His Mom had told him a thousand times throughout his life that he didn’t need to touch everything when he went to the store, but he lived in the physical world. His senses were driven by touch. He hadn’t ever felt the need to touch a statue though. He could guess how they felt. Smooth. Cold. Wet, in the case of the statue before him. Still, his Pokémon had stopped for a reason. Peat seemed unwilling to move even a step closer. “Wait right there, bud,” Nate said, moving toward the statue. “I won’t be long. I just… I just need to look. To get my hands on it. What if it has something to do with that rare Pokémon we heard about?” Peat gave him a look that he interpreted to be uncomfortable, skeptical, but he barked again and took a fighting stance. Nate usually trusted Peat. He trusted the instincts of Pokémon more than he did his own. They were connected to the world in a way that humans could never hope to be; more than one trainer had lost their lives by not listening to the Pokémon around them. But something was calling him forward. A tugging in his thoughts that demanded he investigate. “I’ll be right back.” Nate jogged toward the statue.

It was not every day that a person expressed genuine curiosity at Quinn’s condition, and Quinn took full advantage of Briget’s invitation. He told Bridget about its abduction, how xe was found dead on Mount Coronet, and how only a spirit and Cassiopeia remained. Even when a shorts-wearing Youngster ran up and demanded Quinn battle his brand-new Starly, Quinn’s focus was still mostly focused on her new companion. It was a good thing Normandie was used to fending for herself. “It does not affect my usual day-to-day activities as much as you would expect. I still walk along the material plane. I still consume food for nutrients, although, of course, more spiritual fare is preferred. Oh, use Tackle!” Quinn called out. Normandie hissed and charged right at the Starly, who flapped its wings in an attempt to escape, but by the time it was airborne, it had extra Ratffian weight keeping it down, and the two tumbled to the ground in a pile. Quinn continued, “Perhaps the part that is most odd to me is the occasional reaction I get. People identify me as strange, which is understandable, but when I explain my situation, it only seems to amplify their assessment. I do not see anything strange about it. You said it yourself. Ghost-type Pokemon exist. Can Human ghosts not also exist?” Bridget nodded. “You’ve got a really good point! Tho’, ‘sides yourself, all I’ve ‘eard of ghosts is just rumors. Bet everyone’ll fink this’s just hearsay too when I go back an’ tell ‘em about you.” “I understand,” Quinn said, returning Bridget’s nod. “I do not have a way to prove myself, but I do not have a particular desire for one either. Tail Whip, Normandie, let us make this next hit count!” Normandie was in the middle of dodging the Starly's counterattack but as she ran around the field of battle, she did manage a few cracks with her tail as requested. Quinn said, “Thankfully, I do have other things outside of being a full-time ghost. I have my art. I have this journey.” They broke zir attention completely away from the battlefield and stared at Bridget directly. “What are you besides a Pokémon Professor to-be?” It took a moment for Bridget to respond with anything more than “Hmm, difficult question, that.” She watched the two Pokémon battle even when Quinn did not. She came up with the answer: “A gym battle fan, I suppose. Dunno how the rest of the world handles ‘em, but in Galar they're a big deal. I’d even bet I’m one of the top fans of my hometown’s gym leader.” Quinn widened hir eyes. “Oh, your town has a gymnasium as well? Everyone in Eterna City knows the movements of our gymnasium leader, Gardenia. She is surely the city’s foremost celebrity. Even those who do not follow League movements know Gardenia. And why should they not? Everybody sees the influx of fresh young upstarts. We all want to succeed.” Quinn felt herself get a little melancholy, but ey pressed on anyway. “I want to succeed. What I did not have the opportunity for in life…” But the moment passed quickly. Quinn whipped back around to the battle. The Youngster seemed annoyed and was recalling his Pokémon, but Quinn put a stop to that. “Now, Normandie! Pursuit!” It was amazing how fast the Ratffian could run when she needed to, glowing with that purple aura as she raced forward to catch the Starly before it could fully retreat into its ball, a snarl so loud that even Quinn had to flinch. But Normandie did let up as soon as all could confirm the Starly had fainted. Quinn was glad for that, at least. “Well done, Normandie!” Quinn said, digging through faer bag. “Come get your reward!” The Youngster pouted. “It’s not as fun when you’re just battling a Pokémon. I wanted to banter too,” he said. Only then did Quinn realize just what he had done. “Oh! I apologize. Here, if you go and heal up your Starly we can go again if you like.” The Youngster wanted to sulk instead. Quinn forewent taking any money from the boy, though. It was the least ze could do. All Quinn could do after that was wish the Youngster luck on finding an opponent who would better respect his time and effort. Yet still, Quinn was happy for the victory. E turned back to Bridget, a smile escaping their lips despite her best efforts. “I think it is time for me to go looking for more Pokémon,” Quinn said. They pointed at the statue off in the distance. “I am going to go this way and see what I can find.”

When will these bozos take the L

Migrated over from cardmaker.net, so I'm working on getting my stuff from there moved over here as well. I have a Silver Fang archetype that's totally finished (except for lacking artwork of any kind) and I'm working on a very ambitious Mega Man Battle Network project at the moment as well.

...okay, color me interested...I'll be dropping into the Discord shortly

Anima couldn’t help but feel her smile try to falter, for a moment, as she heard about this ‘ghost’. Of course, it was likely that they existed; but the meat of the story was… Something else. It was almost ominous sounding, the way one of their servants offered to ‘show them’ what happened, only to never be seen again. And then, for her parents to have told her she had to let go… Perhaps, then, was the Servant the ghost in the story, and not the grandfather? Or had the parents been responsible for the Servants’ grandfather’s death? Or, perhaps even more... had the servant been planning to kill Anneliese…?! Only the first concept seemed remotely… Interesting, from a supernatural perspective. The other two aspects, however… Anima was only taken from this state of mind, as Jacklyn arrived to greet them… And immediately mentioned the man in the mask. She frowned, for a moment; visibly, before nodding. “...Actually, I will… Definitely believe you,” Anima chuckled lightly, rubbing at the side of her neck. “His name was Brady, and he was weird as…” she trailed off, letting the others carry on the conversation for a moment as she set to softening her expression. It was then, of course, that Jacklyn suggested they take a photo of them with the ‘first major landmark’ of their journey… The weird, half-sunken statue. “Oh, er... Right, of course, I can take your photos!” Anima almost immediately jumped in, voice a bit more enthusiastic than it should have been, as long as she didn’t have to… "Oh, I'll take one for you guys if you want too!" “Huh?” Anima paused for a moment, before shaking her head slightly. “No, you, um, you don’t have to do that,” she murmured, grip on Confi tightening ever so slightly as she gave an apologetic smile. “I, er… Confi’s camera-shy,” she tried to excuse herself; even if it was a flimsy lie, it was one that couldn’t easily be contested… And if she didn’t want to admit, or didn’t want to voice that she wasn’t comfortable having her photo taken, she didn’t have to. Instead, without waiting for any further prompting, she knelt down and put Confi down. She then rummaged through her backpack for a moment, to pull out her PokeDex. It was scratched up, been repaired, had buttons replaced and had been bashed several times… All by people who had owned it before Anima, and before she had gotten it, but it was hers; and the camera, at least, functioned well enough to take some pictures of her friends. It stalled for a moment as she opened the camera, but after a second, she saw a reasonably clear picture come onto the screen, and set about lining it up to catch both Anneliese and Jacklyn… Even as their faces scrunched up. “Ah… Right, that thing...” she murmured, before spamming the picture button roughly ten times in quick succession. It was always best to go for quantity, and then pick out the best one to have printed, she had been told. After that moment of repeatedly taking photos, she quickly folded the PokeDex back closed, before stuffing it back in her backpack. “Well then--” she began, acutely aware of the pounding headache the statue was likely giving her friends, and hoping to alleviate that pain for them. “We should move on now, we, uh, we don’t want to burn too much daylight on this leg of our, er, adventure, after all!” she explained, already beginning to move on herself. Hopefully, if she was lucky, they’d follow without questioning the strangeness of the statue-- For as long as they didn’t question it, she didn’t have to question it.

Sekibanki (Beach Dullahan) [universe C3]

"Eh? I- I see..." Carmen trailed off, now certain that she never wanted to meet a demon if she could help it. Of course, the thought of what the building was didn't really sit well with her either. A ghost haunting a building was simple enough to understand, it came from a dead person so all she had to do was avoid places where people died or try not to do specific things to anger it. A cursed object? Sure she didn't know where those things came from but if she saw some grotesque looking severed monkey hand lying around she just had to be sure to never speak any of her desires around it and leave it be. A demon? Simple, avoid Hell. But buildings could just become possessed for no particular reason. The girl shuddered at the thought that at any moment her very living space could turn into an infinite corridor of which she'd never be able to reach the bathroom and then kill her with some apparition of her disapproving mother. The girl was snapped out of the thought spiral as Shiki asked their question. Relationship value? Event? "Eh..." The girl was certain that every dialogue choice that she had picked with Brian so far only served to lower his opinion of her. And what they were doing was more akin to a main story, after all it wasn't like they went out shopping together or bumped into each other on the side of the road while it was raining and desperately needed to share an umbrella or anything like that. Unless this was just the common route. Did Shiki plan on bringing more men to go aid the two of them? The mere thought nearly sent Carmen into shock, she was already terrible at dealing with strangers and men more especially and having all three of them pay any amount of attention to her and force a spotlight on her made her feel as if she would just wither and die immediately. She already had a hard enough time dealing with Brian but she wasn't sure if she could deal with someone aggressively nice either. In fact she was sure they'd be just as forceful but try to spin it as "for her own good" while also making her go down roller coasters that could derail and fly off into the ground at any time or give her food that she didn't ask for - well Shiki just did and she liked that so perhaps that wouldn't be too bad - but the sheer radiance of a person like that would only serve to drive her further into her home base. And then some kind of smug rich know it all would only remind her of her poor status and general inability to accomplish anything, making her wonder if perhaps entering society at all had ever been a mistake. Or maybe Shiki was planning the opposite? Two other girls would certainly be more welcome. After all that would get the attention from Brian off her and they would be able to do more in her place. Besides she was always better at talking with other girls after all. Though if one of them were the sporty athletic type she knew she'd only be reminded of her past in school and see the social divide between the two of them even more. And those kinds of girls were always looking down on others that weren't her type so Carmen knew that if such a woman were around she'd have to tip toe around every line of dialogue she tossed out lest she be socially murdered for all to see. But if it were a cute and innocent type of girl perhaps it'd be easier to get along with them. Though she was a gloomy and utterly creepy creature so she was certain that she'd call the police on herself just for being in that kind of girl's presence. Actually, was she even better at talking to females? “I don’t know,” Brian said. “I don’t hate her, I guess. Somehow, despite watching whatever that was in that building dance around in her body.” Brian speaking up, using a rather disturbing turn of phrase, had once more pulled out of her spiral as she thought on his words. The girl didn't realize she had gotten to the point of not being hated, unless his loathing of her somehow transcended the word hate and he just couldn't figure out how to put it to words. As for her opinion of him. "Eh?" A mortified look crossed her face at the thought, shaking her head violently to reject the idea. "Taking a nap here?! No no no no, I don't want to close my eyes in a haunted building that'd be the worst! And," the girl gave Brian a side eye, nervously taking a step back and shaking her head. "...I definitely can't sleep here..." Her last mission made her well aware of what kind of man she was dealing with. As the man reached down and grabbed for her hand, the girl's terror that the monster was coming for her again was soon abated as she realized he was just dragging her through the building. With the man's forceful nature pushing the both of them forward the girl let out a sigh of relief, knowing that if he were a fake he would've asked anything about her well being or need to take a break first. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Diiiiiiiiiiiiiie!" Sweat on her brow, wide eyed yet not looking directly at either of them she said, "I um...I think...we're um, maybe near our next rank...ehehe"

From Dance with Devils

the only PC-98s in lostword are Mima & Shinki, and even then they got sewn by the hip to the sealing club Alice Margatroid (Skilled Droid Engineer) [universe B5] remilia my beloved Kogasa Tatara (Beach Umbrella Castaway) [universe C3]

As Ziun walked over the girl simply nodded and returned his greeting. However when he asked if she was ready she simply looked to the side saying, "I could do without any of the horrors from yesterday. But, if you must know," a look of pride crossed her face as she pointed to the axe on her back, "I'm all freshly armed and ready to take this whole set of floors on." With Chris coming next the girl's expression soured at his question. Her instinct to his question was to say, "no I was haunted," but that would've both been tattling out Farah and it also wasn't really true. Though, it did make her morning much less pleasant then it needed to be but that was less the ghosts fault. Lana couldn't help but wonder if Anna was actually the one doing the haunting between the two. All the same, the girl shrugged and said, "I just hope nothing tries to eat my ace again." A frown was across Lana's face as they went in without Estelle to the next floors. It was a bummer to her for sure, both losing a friend and capable mage to help them out, to no longer go down deeper into the dungeon with. She couldn't dwell on it for long though, and thankfully the fact that there were more skeletons on this floor already had her irritated attention. Hardly paying attention to their new choice in weaponry, the girl raised an eyebrow at the incredibly suspiciously basic, not foggy and almost empty looking room. After having something fall from the ceiling and try to eat her head, rats hiding out in tunnels and skeleton dogs running endlessly out of fog that this was so simple looking both made Lana feel greatly at ease and incredibly on edge all at once. Lana, however, decided to err on the side of it being a much easier floor then the last. As such, when Ziun went to use his magic, she had brandished her great axe and was ready to get into the fray as well. With Chris charging ahead to take down one of them, Lana decided to go after the skeleton that Ziun had just attacked. The man didn't have a great track record with undead being on top of him and Lana would much rather take of it immediately then have to run back and forth across the room. Charging with her axe overhead, the girl brought it down smashing against the skeleton, its already brittle and now melting bones giving way under the weight with no effort. With the skeleton having been defeated the girl turned her attention towards the center of the room, getting ready to aid Chris next when she noticed that the coffin next to her slid open. "Huh?" The girl looked on with trepidation as the lid came off the coffin fully, revealing a husk of rotting flesh covered head to toe in bandages. It wasn't her first zombie of course, but the girl grimaced at the sight saying, "oh gross." At least it had the decency to mostly cover up. Still, with a new enemy appearing right next to her the girl raised her great axe and went to smash in the head of the newly risen creature.

Brian was in the middle of peeling off the pickles on his second burger, considering between throwing them in the sink or yanking open the door and throwing them onto the open road, when Carmen asked her question. Was whatever was in that building a ghost or a demon? It wasn’t any sort of ghost that Brian had heard of, so the answer was obviously the latter. Besides, it sure seemed like the whole building had been possessed, which sure seemed like something a demon would do. Once he was satisfied his burger was pickle-free, he opened his mouth to respond and set the record- “If it were a demon, you would have had a much harder time.” …and thankfully he was in a position to eat some of his burger instead of his words. “That’s what I was going to say,” Brian said in between mouthfuls. Thankfully, Shiki kept talking before anyone had time to interrogate that. Not that the follow-up question was any better, though. What the fuck was a “Relationship Value?” “What the fuck is a Relationship Value?” Brian said, still chewing. His focus shifted between Shiki and Carmen, trying to determine any further clues as to what was going on. “Like, have I gotten to know Carmen better? Shiki, until like ten minutes ago, I was dealing with a fake Carmen, and she with, well, I don’t know if Carmen was dealing with a fake me or not, but I assume she was. You think I know Carmen any better because I had to wrestle a demon version of her to the ground tonight?” He sized the real Carmen up. “It was even weaker than you are,” he said. Having said that, and looking at Carmen more closely. If she had been stuck in that room with a demon or whatever it was, she did manage to get out of it all by herself. She’d even managed to get out at about the same time Brian had, like, yeah, he’d spent a lot of time going through some really stupid potential solutions that went nowhere, but he hadn’t taken that long, had he? And like he’d told the fake Carmen, hell, like he'd told Shiki late last night, she’d been almost okay when they were dealing with the school. Two times in a row reduced the chances of a fluke significantly. It was some measure of respect. Some. It still had to be couched in, you know, the rest of her whole deal, though, and he wasn't about to admit anything out loud anyway. “I don’t know,” Brian said. “I don’t hate her, I guess. Somehow, despite watching whatever that was in that building dance around in her body.”

close enough Yuyuko Saigyouji (Tiny Ghost Mistress) [universe R2] it is the 2024 Kasen Ibaraki (Oni Gate Abou Yaksha) [universe W5]

There's only one choice \ Sparkle

Lynx

the video's back up on youtube again so let's try this again

With the next stop being a "boxing ring," Fen looked around to see that as far as things that she had seen thus far this one actually had a little of familiarity to her. Combat sports weren't exactly uncommon where she was from, though this specific one seemed to be entirely about punching one another only and having to face off in a rather small arena. While the girl was looking at each of the people currently fighting, trying to understand just a bit better any other rules of the sport, a large muscular individual had promptly entered her field of view. The girl looked him up and down as he explained who he was and examined his body as per his invitation to do so to see that he was in fairly good shape overall, figuring that he was both a regular here and perhaps a sporty individual in general. But raising her hand to wave off his earlier comment the girl said, "oh, um, well that's quite a kind offer, I think. But no, I'm here to um," Fen looked towards Kelsey saying, "box? Was it?" Adonis followed her gaze and when he saw Kelsey, "Gah!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I, uh, did not see you there!" Kelsey ignored him and responded directly to Fen, "Yup that's the plan. Maybe I should show you how it's done with that punching ba- that guy over there?" She said, indicating Adonis. Putting her hand to her chin the girl said, "oh well, I do learn well by watching first, so if you'd be so kind to." Fen looked over and innocently smiled to Adonis saying, "and then maybe we can box too after." Adonis coughed awkwardly. "Ah well that, you see. My, uh, my hip! My hip has been acting up and I wouldn't want to step into the ring without showing my best..." "Oh that won't be a problem this won't last long enough for that to matter." Kelsey said in a falsely sweet voice before grabbing Adonis and half-dragging him to the ring. Fen marveled at first at Kelsey's display of skill, her technique and sheer power behind her fists with each strike she made. She then started to wince a bit as the fight continued and a look of growing concern crossed her face as the fight continued. Yet all the same with the match finished between the two, Fen looked thoughtfully about what she had just saw and nodded to herself. "I see, so that's how it's done. I think I have a good grasp on the rules now. Oh and um, well I knew you were strong but I didn't realize how good, er well, skilled at punching you were." Looking at Adonis she asked, "is he um, alright for more though? I didn't realize a person's arm could bend in that way when taking a punch." "Oh him? Yeah I'm sure it's fine! He isn't good for much but he sure can take a beating." Kelsey answered for him as Adonis seemed to be dazed still. Her expression was still a bit concerned about the well being of her opponent yet decided to still trust Kelsey's words. "If you say so. Well, um, if you don't mind." Getting into the ring and putting on a pair of gloves herself the girl said, "well, um, whenever you're ready, Adonis." Once Kelsey left the ring life seemed to return to the man as Adonis refocused. Seeing it was not just Fen in the ring he cleared his throat and stood taller. "Ah, so it's you now! Well I'll have you know I was taking it easy to let you learn! But now that you have I suppose you won't mind if I take this seriously right?" "Oh, please, go ahead. I know I may be knew to this but the last thing I'd want is, well, for you to take it easy on me." Shifting her feet, posture and arms into a stance similar to what Kelsey had just had she said, "so um, uh, put 'em up?" "Forgive me if this hurts too much, feel free to cry if you must!" He then ran forward to take a heavy swing. Seeing the man take the initiative to attack, Fen realized how one sided the match against Kelsey and Adonis had been as she didn't actually know what was allowed for defense. Given his large musculature the girl didn't really want to attempt blocking the attack, and instead opted to duck under the swing, striking him in the gut with a swift jab. Backing off, not hearing anyone complain about what she had done she thus inferred that dodging was legal in this sport. Still, the girl remembered her friend's form and strikes and seemed dissatisfied with her own. She was never much of an unarmed fighter to begin with so all the technical aspects of it weren't ingrained in her body, and so she could do was keep improving. Each time Adonis went in for a swing Fen would dodge the punch, either by ducking, or stepping back or to the side, before going in for yet another punch of her own. And each time she did she would mumble something to herself, before trying to shift around her footing or the positioning of her arms. The fight didn't last very long and Fen had gotten through it without too much difficulty, her opponent being KO'd for the second time in a short time frame. Taking a deep breath, getting herself out of her combat focus, the girl gave a bow to Adonis. "Thank you for the match." Then looking over to Kelsey she smiled saying, "that was pretty fun."

It took Carmen a moment to realize that she hadn't just looped back into the previous room. Only when Brian mentioned the time did she look at her own phone again. She had used it as evidence to figure out that she was in some kind of fake room but she didn't even realize how long the whole thing had gone on for. It was at this moment that Brian started taking a step towards her and the girl's instinctive response was to back away, though on the floor she could only hope to shuffle her position without moving very far. As the man reached down and grabbed for her hand, the girl's terror that the monster was coming for her again was soon abated as she realized he was just dragging her through the building. With the man's forceful nature pushing the both of them forward the girl let out a sigh of relief, knowing that if he were a fake he would've asked anything about her well being or need to take a break first. Wordlessly following along, the girl's silence was only broken with a small, "geh," in surprise as she saw Shiki. As it turned out her night wasn't over yet, though that was clear enough from how the last mission she and Brian had been on ended. As Shiki introduced themselves, Carmen's eyes widened as she pointed to herself saying loudly, "I- I'm Carmen!" She looked back and forth between Shiki and Brian as if too say, "you have to believe me," before her attention turned to the burgers. The girl's face lit up with excitement at the sight of the fast food, only to then drop and blink several times. She was positive she had just mentioned McDonalds not a moment ago...the girl looked back towards the driver's seat, before looking back to the burgers. Oh well, it was free food. The girl's hunger was enough to at least keep her paranoia from getting in the way, as she grabbed a burger and began to eat. After a brief period of choking, having eaten her first burger at an alarming speed, the girl looked back to the driver's seat and said, "u-um...thanks...." After a moment longer the girl then asked, "do you uh, think it was a ghost or demon?" To the both of them.

All the Aeons come up to you offering to give you the power of their path. You don't know how the power will manifest or what will happen once you accept what do you do?

wtf i didn't have to bump it myself what is this anyway it's kinda tough because the paths are sorta intentionally extremes in a way. Like Destruction there's some stuff there that actually fits but obviously I don't want to break everything. Honestly it's probably somewhere between Nihility and Preservation even though that feels almost at odds. It's actually Voracity because I always hunger 138

Walking up the road, not paying any heed to the conversation the two of her teammates were having Jacklyn said, "oh there you guys are. You'll never believe this! There was some guy with a cool looking mask just now. I wonder if he's also an adventurer?" Before she could get her answer though Jacklyn's eyes immediately shifted to the statue in the center, "Whoa! What the heck is that?" The girl walked on the path, curiously eyeing the statue before walking into the marsh proper. The girl seemed to be bothered by her shoes sinking into the mud at first, disliking how much harder it made it to walk, but shrugged and persevered without much worry. Up close and looking at the statue, the girl couldn't help but feel this strange sensation in her head as she tried to figure out just what it was supposed to be. It certainly wasn't a person but if it was supposed to resemble a pokemon she didn't have the faintest idea of which one it would be. It didn't help that she was developing a growing headache, of all the luck, making it harder to figure out anything about it. Furrowing her brow in annoyance, closing her eyes as she put a hand to her chin the girl opened them back up as she thought of something. She then looked back at her map and raised an eyebrow. "Why is there even a statue here?" Jacklyn had grown up in a big city and as such she was very familiar with statues being every which way. She didn't know the purpose of most of them but she generally thought they served some kind of symbol beyond just decoration, or they were some rich person's very expensive decoration for the whole city to see. Not to mention, even the older ones, she still had some idea of what they were trying to depict. Perhaps this was what lead to this sudden insight, though the girl didn't really have anything else to offer. Looking back to the rest of the group with a smile on her face she said, "someone take a picture. After all, this is our first major landmark on our journey, so we gotta capture it in a photo right?" The girl winced as her head still hurt, growing a little impatient though her adventurer's spirit still burned brightly. "Oh, I'll take one for you guys if you want too!"

Brian didn’t do anything to the new Carmen that appeared in front of him -- she just fell over on her own. There was a part of him that wondered if he was supposed to test this new person in front of him, like, get her to say something that only the real Carmen would know or whatever, but two things stopped him. The first was he didn’t want to get too paranoid. A password just set the point of failure back a bit. Who was to say what someone could and couldn’t figure out? And if he went down that road, well, then he’d just be back where he started. The second reason, though, and the more important one in his eyes, was there was no way something trying to copy Carmen could ever be as dopey as the real thing. The fake Carmen had tried, but it had to give up the ghost eventually. His phone buzzed. Brian’s first reaction to the news was, “Holy shit, we spent how long trapped in there?” But he didn’t want to think about it, so he just let the expression hang in the air while he read the notification. “Yeah, okay, we’re done.” He grabbed the box of seals and a flashlight in one hand and offered the other hand out to Carmen. Unless she picked herself up, Brian dragged her along out of the building. It was relieving to see Shiki, if only because it meant he didn’t have to drive this time, especially this late at night. Becoming aware of the time made Brian’s brain realize how tired it was supposed to be, even with a sleep schedule as weird as his was. That inner paranoia bubbled up again in a “How could he be sure anything was real anymore?” sort of way, but Shiki seemed to know exactly what Brian was thinking. “We ARE Shiki,” they said. In fairness, Brian thought, nothing could be as weird as Shiki was for the same reason nothing would ever be able to replicate Carmen. But he didn’t let that get in the way of a good snark. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess,” Brian said. “Had to deal with a worse version of Carmen that I think was about to eat me, but the seals are still working, so I guess that’s good. Do we have to go apologize to this ghost too? Oh thank god, you got McDonald’s.” Not that he was a particular fan of hamburgers -- there was a reason he took Carmen to tacos the night they’d met -- but just as he had only just now realized how tired he was, the missing hours had not negated his growing hunger. He snatched the top burger in the stack and unwrapped it messily. He grimaced after one bite. “Get them without pickles next time,” Brian said, but he kept eating.

i have 2 whole posts on this forum how crazy

you right I did open it and i'd fuckin do it again

So as for the "we'll be interacting with AI bots" thing...unlikely. Even if a bot gets so close to human speech as you're worried there will always be things it can't do. Plus even if bots become more frequent on social networks then people will simply move on. And once that happens the people in control will realize "oh I'm not making money actually" and it'll get cracked down on. AI can't take over because once it has "taken over" then the bigwigs on their golden thrones will notice their precious numbers decreasing and they can't have that. AI is self-defeating. Which brings me to humanity.... Do you know what would most likely make an "AI Takeover" possible? Freaking out too much about it. The more people panic the more people will start to think that it's pointless to make things ourselves. I see plenty of artists wanting to give up because of AI but the thing is....actual art usually gets more praise than AI regardless. Same for music and so on. As long as there are people willing to keep creating and to do things without AI it can never take over and will eventually turn into a niche fad that people wave off. Companies will start to lose money as less people are awed by the "cool new tech". Speak up about how AI creations suck and you don't want to pay for it sure but there's no reason to dive down into pessimism. And now to be cheesy here's one of my favorite quotes. “I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams are something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.” - Monty Oum

So I got curious and decided to give this a looksee. I'm not gonna watch a 30-minute youtube video just to reply to a forum post because there's no topic on or beyond this earth that I'm that invested in, but from what I gathered reading your post on the matter... Seems kinda silly, don't it? Much as I'd love to make a nice beefy post about this, I know I'm not gonna be able to do so without going into several sidenotes that have nothing to do with the matter at hand, so I'll keep this nice & concise. The notion that we'll be mostly interacting with AI in the future is frankly absurd. We are social primates after all, and if a robot that can mimic language is all it takes to change that, we would have fallen apart as a society long ago. I want to say AI used for creative purposes will ultimately end up as a fad - albeit one that stays in the spotlight a fair bit longer than it should, much like NFTs did - but it's just as likely they become a long-term problem like the many -isms and -phobias out there. The future is, after all, infamously unpredictable, and I'm not one to speculate on real-life unknowns like that. I don't really have a satisfying bow to tie this post off with so uh... yeah.

"What keeps you up at night?" The fact that my sleep schedule is fucked beyond belief.

Though she on her last legs, unsure of how she was going to deal with the now transformed Lucas, she was glad to see that Lindow had at least managed to defeat his werewolf. As he regrouped with the Chosen, he began to heal her and handed her a healing potion to which she immediately used on herself. Her arm was feeling better now, though she still didn't think it could take too many direct attacks before giving out again, and her breath was steadying as her vision started to normalize as well. Though she was in much better shape then she was a moment ago, with Keres attending to both Madelyn and Reinaan at present it was down to her, Lindow, Cym and Pan. Ryia did not have any idea on how to approach this man, however. From the brief showing of strength she saw against Reinaan she had already expected him to be in a league of his own compared to the other werewolves and now he was transformed. Simply walking forward and getting into a straightforward altercation with the werewolves hadn't worked all too well for her up to this point and she didn't think she'd last a moment if she just stepped up and went for a frontal attack. However, Lindow had a different idea in mind. Taking the last of the greharms he had purchased, the man tossed it forward towards the Lycan. Before the Lycan could react to the projectile, the Thunder Chosen let out a discharge of lightning into the object, detonating it in the man's face. Lucas was certainly made surprised by the attack and though it most certainly didn't stop him, it still managed to damage him. Taking the moment to step up, Ryia still didn't exactly know how to proceed but got herself ready for his attack. The werewolf had moved forward, swinging one of his arms down in an overhead towards her. The girl raised her shield to parry the attack away as she side stepped, though grit her teeth immediately as the force of the arm, not budging from her shield parry, came down on it. Getting ready for an attack of her own, Ryia started a swing only to see that he had already begun swinging his other claw. Doing what she could to evade the next attack, the girl attempted to duck, using her already awkward balance to move under the swipe. Before she could think of what to do next the lycan's knee struck her in the face, forcing her backwards. The girl didn't get to recoil very far back though, as he grabbed onto her. Cym took the opportunity to stab Lucas in the back, though her offense was not without retaliation as he picked up Ryia and swung her at Cym. Hitting the elf with her steel coated body, Ryia could barely make sense of what was going on, having never been tossed around like so, before she finally hit the ground. Letting out a pained groan, the girl tried to get her bearings as she brought herself up. She had certainly fought opponents that she wouldn't have been able to properly block before, they were all far larger and with far more mass than herself that she would've expected it. And while his strength was surprising in of itself, the fact that he had a speed that she hadn't encountered before to back it up made it all the more dangerous. She didn't think that she would be able to land a good hit in against this man, but she didn't think she had to. As long as she could endure his attacks and create an opening for the others that would be enough for her. Looking to Cym she huffed out a, "s-sorry," feeling bad that she had just been used as a weapon against her teammate. Then, she stood up and got ready for the next go.

a male clodsire named jimothy

As Kelsey explained the distinction between her world and this one, Fen couldn't help but be both impressed and in disbelief. It wasn't as though that she thought Kelsey was lying to her, simply that the scale of distance to refer to them, almost in the same manner as going from one city to another, was more than she could presently comprehend. As the girl went on to mention that no one had left yet, Fen's brow furrowed. She didn't exactly know what to make of it, both because she didn't know how people's attempts to do so had gone nor did she truly understand her employer in general. In fact something that seemed even stranger to her was that Percival was here. It wasn't so strange that if there were people from different worlds being recruited that others from her guild would find their way here - in fact she found it odd that she was the one picked from all of them to begin with. Rather, he had clearly been here for longer than she had but she didn't have any real recollection of him not being home for any length of time. She told Kelsey that the job she had now reminded her of her guild work, yet she hadn't realized just how many similarities there were. Snapping back to reality, the girl looked over to Kelsey as she mentioned the fish. "Oh, uh right. Well that rainbow trail one you mentioned certainly sounds delicious but only a poor chef would limit their choices to the first thing they heard." Fen smiled back as the two looked further in the aquarium. There were many sights to see, their forms generally looking familiar while the actual mechanics of their biology being entirely different. There was a pufferfish that pushed out spikes from itself, each one having a light at the end of them to act as a large multi-light globe to attract prey towards. There was a lantern fish that no one quite knew what it actually looked like as it obscured the area around it, forming a large dark mass that traveled through the water. Fen couldn't help but stop in her tracks as they came across a shark. Putting a hand to her chin, examining it she said, "so the kind that live in water also exist here too." After traversing the aquarium for awhile, the two started to make their way for the exit. However before actually getting to the exit Fen remembered something before saying, "oh, um one moment." After hurrying away from the entrance Fen left Kelsey there for a moment before returning. Proud, carrying what was clearly a plastic bag from the gift shop, the girl said, "I wished to thank you for the trip today, and as you paid for the entry I decided to pay for the souvenir." The girl pulled out a shirt, a very plain blue shirt with a few fish on the front and the back emblazoned with the same penguin the building was structured after. Forcibly handing it off to Kelsey she said, "oh um, you don't have to worry either." The girl pulled out a second one. "I bought one for myself as well." After the gift giving had been done, the girl looked up and said, "oh hm, it's still not that late. You mentioned some uh, other more physically active places to go, right? Would you want to go to one of those?" Catching herself on her question the girl said, "oh, um, of course only if you still aren't busy or the like."

“...Now, dodge to the right… Astonish.” Anima directed Confi with a calm voice, eyes narrowed on the battle as she kept her hands clasped behind her. She watched as Confi took the direction in stride, pink eyes diverting from the swirling stomach of the Poliwag in front of them as she tumbled forward in a rightward arc, coming to a stop right in front of the Pokemon… Before letting out a piercing shriek, ghostly aura rushing-forwards in that instant. The Poliwag stumbled backwards, burbling for a moment, before slumping forwards, unconscious. Anima smiled then, kneeling down as Confi trundled back, patting the Pokémon on the head slightly, and offering some food as a treat in return. “...Thanks for… helping me work out some stress here, Concon. I know they’ve not been… Too exciting to battle so far,” she tapped the Corsola on the head. “But it’s been nice to watch the fruits of our labor. I’m… Feeling better now; it feels more natural,” she smiled, even as the Corsola playfully tackled the palm of her hand. “I know, I know. Let’s do it one more time and see what comes out, alright? Maybe something stronger will pop-up,” she pat the Pokémon on their head, before rising to her full height. In response, Confi trundled back forwards into the Marsh, standing at the ready, and waiting for Anima’s instruction. “...Look up, and use Astonish,” she instructed, clasping her hands behind herself, as the Coral Pokémon raised her head to the sky-- And screamed. It was a… Novel use of the move, to be sure; in fact, to most people, using the move on the sky might have seemed idiotic. But when your Pokemon was slow… Anima’s eyes scanned the marsh around Confi, eventually locking into what appeared to be flashing lights darting through the reeds. They were hard to spot, but as they drew closer to Confi, it became much easier to pick them out. “...In front of you, to your right. It’s coming fast-- Harden,” Anima spoke calmly, even as her voice remained low; and despite the quiet way with which it was spoken, it came out so quickly and so naturally that, to her Pokémon, it was as if she had shouted it to the world. Confi’s surface went a pale white just as a blur of white, pink, blue, and even yellow shot from the depths of the marsh to slam into Confi; a glowing, pink beak attempting to pierce through the Corsola’s undead ‘skin’. “Before it can get away, stun it with Astonish,” she commanded, narrowing her eyes. Confi shrieked even louder, seemingly growing larger for a second as the Pokémon which had attacked her-- An Inkay, she realized-- A pokemon she had seen back home. Astonish will be weaker here, I think-- Isn’t it Dark Type? And it can hit Confi, so I need to be careful… But what was it Mom used to say about Inkay, if I saw one at the Beach…? To… “Look away,” Anima narrowed her eyes as the Wild Pokémon rallied itself; lights at the top of its head began to flash various colors. She felt her stomach begin to turn as her eyelids grew heavy, though she didn’t dare look away from its hypnosis. It wasn’t aimed at her, so it wouldn’t hit the right nerves in her brain, but the same wasn’t guaranteed for her friend. She glanced slightly to the side, and for a moment, she worried that their attacker had succeeded, as she saw Confi’s face buried in the water, but… Confi’s back legs peddled idly, pushing up water, marsh, and grass in front of her as she trundled towards her opponent, unabated by the flashing lights! “...And…” Anima trailed off, eyes narrowing on the Inkay slightly, watching as it kept up the barrage of lights… “...Tackle,” Anima instructed, smiling as Confi was almost pressing up against the (now particularly worried looking) Pokémon, pausing for a second, before looking up and charging forwards with a tiny, screeching war-cry. The impact was hard-- Harder than Anima was expecting, and elicited a small smile from the trainer as she nodded her head forwards. Even still, the Inkay had barely taken the hit before letting loose its own screech, and surging towards Confi at tremendous speed, beak slamming into and pecking away at the Coral Pokémon several times. She knew Confi would have been fine had this been their only fight; especially having used Harden before the battle had even truly begun, but… “Don’t let the battles before change the outcome of this one,” she instructed Confi as she forced her nerves to settle down. “Wait for the next attack, and… Tackle,” she instructed, as the Inkay reared back for one more Peck-- Only to meet Confi’s forehead in a sudden burst of speed. The Inkay recoiled from the hit, rearing back as if to peck one more time… before falling over backwards, floating in the water, facing the sky as it did so. “...Alright, up you go then,” Anima smiled, picking Confi up almost as soon as the battle was over, bringing the little Pokémon into a hug. “Thank you… You did wonderful,” she smiled, breathing a sigh of relief, even as the Pokémon's eyes began to droop in her arms. “...Yeah, I guess you’re probably pretty tired, huh?” she chuckled, tapping the Coral-Pokémon's forehead. “But-” "Anima, I found a new friend! She was hiding under my hat!" Anima smiled, as she turned to Anneliese, and gave a slight wave. “A-Ah? Another?” Anima looked almost gob-smacked at the prospect, mouth slightly agape. “Already? But you just caught Leopold-” she began, slumping slightly. For a moment, she wondered if she had been going about this the wrong way; after all, she had hardly caught anything, and here one of her companions was with three Pokémon already! But… Everyone does these things their own way. She smiled gently as she walked forwards, awkwardly stepping to the right to unstick herself from the marsh as she did so, and… Inadvertently revealing a trail of unconscious Poliwags, which had been conveniently hidden by her silhouette. “What’s, um… What’s the little guy or gal’s name?” she asked, leaning forwards to get a better look at the Rookidee. Anneliese presented the Pokémon, who turned away from Anima immediately and gazed off into the distance. "This ray of sunshine is Eleanora!" Anima snickered at Anneliese’s comment, before returning to her full height, and holding Confi parallel to the Pokémon. “I… I see,” she nodded, trying to figure out if Anneliese actually had meant that sarcasm or not, before finally caving to her instinct to deflect. “Sorry, I know this is going to be a weird question, but, did you, er… See a guy with a weird mask on your way here?” she’d ask, staring idly at the ground. "Mask? Oh, no not at all. I haven't seen any guys actually. Oh except for that young boy I battled but he wasn't wearing a mask....At least I do not think so." She screwed up her face as if trying to remember. Anima paused for a moment, nodding slightly. “...Good, then. Perhaps he was just a ghost, then, given how strange he was,” she chuckled lightly, looking up to Anneliese with a smile. “A spooky-marsh like this… Seems just the place for someone to haunt, don’t you think?” "Is that so? The only ghost I knew was in the basement and that was certainly not marshy at all. Oh but I suppose you would know better than I do would you not?" “You had a ghost in your basement?!” Anima brought a hand to her mouth instinctively as she began to smile. “Oh-- I was about to say we should go find Jacklyn, but you have got to tell me more--” she began, sounding… Excited, well and truly, for what may have been the first time since she had begun this journey.

This has been weighing me down for a while and after spending some time with family on Easter I decided I should be upfront about something

This is not true, and you know it. The real truth about this situation is

Almost 1 April… some jokes are okay, others, not so much.

Mt best:

Nate struggled to follow the conversation between Quinn and the newcomer. The woman had an incredibly thick accent, and he had no idea what region she must have been from judging off of it. No one in Hoenn or Kanto or Johto sounded like that; he had met or been to all three places at different points in his life. Quinn didn’t sound like that, and she was from Sinnoh. That left Alola, Galar, and, uhh… Nathan blanked. There’s so many regions. How can they expect me to remember m’all? He really had tried to get it down back when he was in school. It was just, well, studying individual climates and weather patterns and the best ways to survive in them had seemed so much more worthwhile than studying the cultures or the names of land masses. Nate realized he was zoning out of the conversation when he heard Quinn say, “Of course he is alright with that,” while gesturing to him. Wait, what was he alright with? Oh well. He was sure Quinn wouldn’t agree to just anything on his behalf. The boy seemed smart enough to trust. A moment later he pieced together that the new person was asking to travel with them. Nate smiled at her and stepped forward eagerly, offering her his hand to shake. “Yeah! ‘Course you can! Journeys are better with good company, right?” If the woman accepted the handshake, she would find that his grip was firm, and his hand surprisingly calloused for a trainer just starting on his journey. Nate would pull his hand back and immediately reach for the Poké Ball on his belt. He clicked the button once to enlarge it to full size, then again to release Peat. The sea-bear materialized in a glow of light and butted his flippers into the ground playfully, rumbling when he saw the newcomer and waddling up to her to push his cold nose into her leg. “This is my best bud, Peat. He’s the only Pokémon I got right now, but he has enough personality for a whole team!” Peat showcased this by rumbling again and blowing a stream of bubbles into the air, showing off his newly learned move. A thin mist of water showered down on the party. “We’re aiming to be champions!”

Run with the pack using this custom Silver Fang archetype! Core: 5 "Silver Fang" monsters with different names This card can be Link Summoned using "Silver Fang" monsters from your Deck as Link Material. This card is unaffected by card effects, except its own. This card cannot be Tributed or used as material for the Summon of a monster from the Extra Deck. If this card is summoned to a Main Monster Zone: Destroy this card. While you control another "Silver Fang" monster, your opponent cannot target this card for attacks. Other "Silver Fang" monster(s) you control gain 300 ATK for each face-up "Silver Fang" monster in your Extra Deck. Main Deck Monsters: If a "Silver Fang" monster(s) you control would leave the field because of an opponent's card, you can banish 3 "Silver Fang" Pendulum monsters from your GY or face-up Extra Deck instead. This effect cannot be negated, also neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this effect. You can only use this effect once per turn. If a "Silver Fang" monster(s) you control would leave the field because of an opponent's card, you can place 3 of your banished "Silver Fang" Pendulum monsters into your face-up Extra Deck instead. You can only use this effect once per turn. Monster effect: If this card is Pendulum Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Spell Card from your Deck to your hand. Pendulum effect: If your opponent controls a face-up monster (Quick Effect): you can place this card into your Extra Deck face-up, and if you do, place up to 2 "Silver Fang" Pendulum monster(s) with ATK greater than 500 from your Deck into your Pendulum Zone(s). You can only use this effect once per turn. Monster effect: If this card is Pendulum Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. Pendulum effect: If your opponent controls a face-up monster (Quick Effect): you can place this card into your Extra Deck face-up, and if you do, place up to 2 "Silver Fang" Pendulum monster(s) with ATK less than 500 from your Deck into your Pendulum Zone(s). You can only use this effect once per turn. Monster effect: This card can attack your opponent directly while you control a "Silver Fang" monster in your Extra Monster Zone. Pendulum effect: If your "Silver Fang" monster inflicts damage to your opponent: banish 1 random card from your opponent's hand face-down. Monster effect: If this card battles an opponent's monster, that monster's ATK and DEF become halved until the End Phase. Pendulum effect: If your "Silver Fang" monster attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage. If your opponent controls more cards than you do: you can return all cards your opponent controls to their hand, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand to their field. While this card is face-up on the field, neither player can Special Summon monsters, except "Silver Fang" monsters. This card's ATK and DEF are equal to the number of face-up "Silver Fang" monster(s) on the field and in the Extra Deck x 1000. Neither player takes any battle damage from attacks involving this card. If this card battles, after damage calculation: inflict 1000 damage to both players. If this card leaves the field: shuffle this card into the Deck. This card gains 300 ATK and DEF for each of your other "Silver Fang" cards that you control or are in your GY, banishment, or face-up in your Extra Deck. This card can attack once for each "Silver Fang" monster you control, except this card. You cannot attack with other monsters during the turn you attack with this card. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Spell or Trap card from your deck to your hand, then, you can select 1 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster from your Deck, and if you do, place that Pendulum Monster on top of your Extra Deck, face-up. (Quick Effect) You can Special Summon 1 Warrior-Type "Silver Fang" Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, and if you do, attach this card to it as Xyz Material. You can only use each effect of "Outsider to the Silver Fang" once per turn. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster from your Deck or GY to your hand, then, you can select 1 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster from your Deck, and if you do, place that Pendulum Monster on top of your Extra Deck, face-up. (Quick Effect) You can Tribute this card: Special Summon "Princess of the Silver Fang" from your Extra Deck to a Main Monster Zone your Link Monster points to. While this card is in your GY and you control a "Silver Fang" monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck: you can shuffle this card into your Deck, also, you can draw 1 card. You can only use the effect(s) of "Child of the Silver Fang" twice per turn, and each effect can only be used once per turn. Extra Deck: Monster effect: This card cannot be Link Summoned. This card must be Summoned by the effect of "Child of the Silver Fang" and cannot be Summoned by other methods. You can declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap): until the end of your next Standby Phase, "Silver Fang" monsters you control are unaffected by your opponent's cards of that type. If your opponent activates a card or effect, you can negate that activation, and if you do, banish that card face-down. You can only use each effect of "Princess of the Silver Fang" once per turn. If you can Pendulum Summon Level 3, you can Pendulum Summon this face-up Monster in your Extra Deck to any of your unused Main Monster Zones. Pendulum effect: If this card is face-up in a Pendulum Zone: Destroy it. Monster effect: This card cannot be Xyz Summoned. This card must be Summoned by the effect of "Outsider to the Silver Fang" and cannot be Summoned by other methods. While this monster has material: the effects of your "Silver Fang" cards cannot be negated by your opponent's cards and effects. If you can Pendulum Summon Level 3, you can Pendulum Summon this face-up card in your Extra Deck to any of your Main Monster Zones. Pendulum effect: If this card is face-up in a Pendulum Zone: Destroy it. This card cannot be Xyz Summoned. This card must be Summoned by the effect of "Outsider to the Silver Fang" and cannot be Summoned by other methods. The original ATK and DEF of this card are equal to the number of "Silver Fang" Monsters on the field and face-up in the Extra Deck x 1000. Neither player takes any Battle Damage from attacks involving this card. When this card battles another monster, during the Damage Step: detach 1 Xyz Material from this card. If this card battles another monster while it has no Xyz Material: destroy this card during the Damage Step. Field Spells: Each time you Summon a "Silver Fang" monster(s), place 1 Wolf Den Counter on this card for each of those monster(s). All "Silver Fang" monsters you control gain 300 ATK and DEF for each Wolf Den Counter on this card. If this card leaves the field because of an opponent's card: you can add 1 "Silver Fang" card from your Deck to your Hand, except "Den of the Silver Fang Wolf Pack". You can only use this effect of "Den of the Silver Fang Wolf Pack" once per turn. Each time a "Silver Fang" monster is summoned, place 1 Wolf Pack Counter on this card. Once per turn (Quick Effect): you can remove all Wolf Pack Counters from this card, and if you do, Special Summon "Silver Fang" monsters from your Deck, up to the number of Wolf Pack Counters that were removed. If you use this effect, you cannot activate it again until after the End Phase of your next turn. Each time a "Silver Fang" monster is summoned, place 1 Pack Hunt Counter on this card. (Max. 3) You can remove all Pack Hunt Counters from this card: Destroy cards your opponent controls, up to the number of Pack Hunt Counters that were removed. If this card leaves the field because of your opponent's card: you can draw cards equal to the number of Pack Hunt Counters on it. You can only use each effect of "Legendary Forest of the Silver Fang Wolf Pack" once per turn. Traps: If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters in your Main Monster Zone, you can Special Summon up to 2 "Wolf Pup" Monster(s) from your Deck, and if you do, you can place up to 2 "Silver Fang" Pendulum Monster(s) from your Deck into your Pendulum Zone(s). Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to the activation of this card or its effect. You can only use the effect of "Silver Fang Pups at Play" once per turn. If you control a "Silver Fang" Field Spell, this card can be activated from your hand. All "Silver Fang" monsters you control gain 300 ATK and DEF for each of your "Silver Fang" cards that you control or are in your GY, banishment, or in your Extra Deck face-up.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. -Matthew 19:14-15 (NIV)Melissa was surprised when she was asked to reconsider her journey downwards. The option was there, wasn’t it? Why would they have the option if they dissuaded people from using it? And if they were only dissuading her specifically, well, that just opened another host of questions. So, in a moment of self-determination that was becoming more and more common for her (should she be worried about this?), Melissa persisted onwards, downwards one more level into Prana. Teleporting almost felt natural this time. The next level down shocked Melissa, though, in how drastically the city changed. After two levels of urban development, what was supporting it was dirt paths and buildings that could be described as cottages at best. It wasn’t all like that but that certainly was the first impression she got. As she continued, she found the activity lay mostly in two forms. The first was vehicles -- these hovering cart contraptions -- making their way in the direction of a large white-walled central structure. Melissa decided to follow suit in that regard, keeping off to the sides of paths to let the vehicles pass her by. The second form of activity was children. Melissa had seen a few loitering around the shrine when she had exited, but there were many more out and about. Most groups had at least one guardian that she could see, though there were a few wild packs chasing each other about. Part of the way through her trek, one child about waist-height tall crashed right into Melissa’s leg. It hadn’t even been enough to knock either of them over, but the child still looked up at Melissa with eyes that seemed too big for their head, an expression on their face that was a mix of incredulity and regret. “Sowee,” the child said. “It’s alright,” Melissa said. “I’m alright. Are you alright?” But the child heard their parent calling after them and ran off without answering, so she continued onward. When the entrance to the white-walled structure came into view, Melissa saw a secret third type of activity: guards. Several were stationed around the exterior of the building, and the entrance was basically a checkpoint for those trying to get in. Vehicles had to stop and be searched before the entrance, an energy barrier the same size as the rest of the wall, lowered and they could continue onward. Melissa’s curiosity was certainly piqued, but it was tempered a little by the thought of how to actually sate that desire. She wasn’t about to go up to one of the guards and interrupt them in the carrying out of their duties just to ask a silly question. Even the thought made Melissa shrink back a bit. She thought one of them looked her way and retreated back. She just had to ask someone else. She just had to ask someone who looked a bit more accommodating. Melissa retraced her steps back to where someone was supervising a gaggle of children and tried there. “Excuse me,” she said. “Sorry, um, I’m new in town and was just wondering, what is that building?” They followed where Melissa was pointing and identified the building instantaneously. “Ah, that’s the wall around the mines, that is. Not a very pretty thing, but guess it’s prettier than the rest of this place, eh?” It felt weird to be defending a place she had been in for an hour at most, but Melissa still stepped to the plate. “I wouldn’t know if I would go that far,” she said. “I suppose you could think of it as an eyesore, but there are words you could use for this level of Prana that aren’t so bad. Rustic, rural, um, down-to-earth I guess is hyphenated…” Melissa hadn’t meant it as a joke, but they laughed anyway. “Down to earth is right!” It was a quick laugh, though, before their tone got more serious. “But what’s a young lady like yourself want with a place like that, anyway? It’s not very safe, you know. Monsters lurk down there, I hear.” Melissa blushed and looked down at her feet. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll actually be going down there anytime soon,” she said. “I hope not, anyway. I suppose dealing with monsters is technically my business, but that wouldn’t be my decision.” Another unintended joke, apparently. “Some kinda monster slayer, huh? That’s a good one. Really, though, best stay away from that place. The Great Dragon knows we all would if we could.” Melissa thanked them, but she had to be off. That was enough exploring for one day. She knew they weren’t laughing at her, or, at least, they weren’t in a meanspirited way, but needed a break from maintaining herself in the face of it regardless. She went at a brisk pace back towards the temple and the associated teleporters. As she neared the shrine, her stomach began to rumble, and she started to think about food. It at least got her calmed down a little, but now she was wondering what she might have for lunch.

Between the Sega Mega Drive, Playstation, and XBox, I prefer using the XBox ones. Feels like I've spent much more time playing one a 360 than using any of the PlayStations I've had (1 through 4) so the controller just feels much more comfortable. Plus the XBox had more games I actually went achievement hunting one. Also due to lots of time playing Halo and Mass Effect on the 360 I hate using a mouse+keyboard for shooters. Controllers allow for more comfortable sitting and/or reclining positions than mouse+keyboard.

Once again in the mood to share my ideas, this time the somewhat incomplete "Zaparticle" Archtype, a group of Thunder monsters that like to either have empty zones between them or a sequence of monsters whose combined Level is 0 to make their spell/traps and ED monsters more powerful, all loosely based on the idea of positive/negative ions. it uses my (very unoriginal) concepts of "Negative" monsters (monsters whose level is a negative value) and my iteration of Trap Pendulums (seen here: The Monsters The strategy primarily revolves around using the effects of the three pendulum monsters to easily swarm the field, after which they can be used as both link materials and tribute fodder for you link monster's effects. "Once per turn, If you have a Thunder-Type monster in your other Pendulum Zone, you can draw one card for each empty zone between (exclusive) this card and that monster." "If you control a face-up Thunder-Type Negative Monster you can Special Summon this card to a zone adjacent to that monster." "Once per turn, If you have a Thunder-Type monster in your other Pendulum Zone, you can target one card on the field; return that card to it's owners Hand. You cannot Pendulum Summon except "Zaparticle" Monsters. (this cards Pendulum Scales is always treated as -2)." "If you control a face-up Thunder-Type Monster with a positive Level you can Special Summon this card to a zone adjacent to that monster. This cards Level is always treated as -1." "Target two Thunder-Type Monsters you control whose combined Levels equals 0, monsters you control in zones between those targets cannot be removed from the field until the Endphase, then you can Pendulum Summon Thunder-Type monsters. This cards Pendulum Scale is always treated as the scale of the monster in your other Pendulum Zone x-1." "Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. If you control Thunder-Type monsters whose combined Levels equals 0 you can Special Summon this card from your Hand." The Link monsters, with the exception of Collida, each have effects revolving around the level of monsters you tribute for their effects or summon. "1 Thunder-Type monsters You can also Link Summon this card by discarding one "Zaparticle Prota" and "Zaparticle Electra", if Link Summoned this way you can, immediately after this effect resolves, Link Summon one "Zaparticle" monster from your Extra Deck using this card and other "Zaparticle" monsters you control. Once per turn you can tribute this Link Summoned monster (quick effect); Special Summon up to three monsters from your Hand, GY, or faceup from your Extra Deck whose combined Levels equals 0. You can only Link Summon one "Zaparticle Collida" per turn." "2 Thunder-Type Monsters This card and any monster it is used as a Link Material for the summon of gains the following effects based on the level of "Zaparticle Monsters used as Materials for this card's Link Summon; ● -1 or lower: This card is immune to Spell Cards/Effects. ● 0: When this card is summoned destroy cards on the field equal to the number of empty zonesthis card points to. ● 1 or higher: This card is immune to trap cards/effects." "3 Thunder-Type monsters If you control a Negative Monster and a monster with a positive Level you can move this card to a main monster zone between those monsters. Once per turn you can tribute a monster linked to this card, add one "Zaparticle" Spell or Trap card from your Deck to your Hand." image has an error, Reactor Dragon's ATK is 2800 "2+ Thunder-Type and/or Negative Monsters Once per turn you can tribute a monster linked to this card, activate the appropriate effect based on that monsters Level; ● -1 or lower: this card can attack all monsters with a positive Level your opponent controls during your next battlephase. ●0: add monsters from your Deck or face-up from your Extra Deck to your Hand whose combined Levels equals 0. ●1 or higher: Special Summon one Thunder-Type Monster from your GY or Face-up from your Extra Deck to a zone this card points to." The Spells/Traps I currently don't have images for the few spells/traps I have made. Ionized Zaparticles Quickplay "Discard one card then target two Thunder-Type Monsters you control whose combined Levels equals 0; Special Summon as many "Zaparticle Ion Token" (Thunder/LIGHT/Level 0/ATK 0/DEF 0) as possible to Monster Zones between those targeted monsters." Zaparticle Inversion Normal "Target one Thunder-Type monster you control; it's Level becomes equal to it's original Level x-1." Zaparticle Barrier Continuous "Face-up Thunder-Type monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or your opponents card effects. Destroy this card if the combined Levels of monsters you control is not 0." Charged Zaparticles Normal "Target all "Zaparticle" monsters you control in zones adjacent to each other whose combined Levels equals 0; Those monsters gain 500 ATK for each targeted monster until the Endphase."