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@Members @VIP - Just an FYI we've removed the necro bumping rule from the site (please let me know if there are still remnants anywhere!) We no longer feel the rule is necessary across the site, spam rules will still apply though.

NCM (nearly) a Year On I think I speak for everyone in saying that it’s certainly been an interesting year, from what feels like unending down time to what now feels like a new lease of life, communities are born and bred by people alone and you can’t force something to stick together when the cracks have already shown, and I think we’ve showcased that now more than ever, you’ll just continue to stick things back together as best you can in hopes that it will remain but, sometimes in life you need to move on and build something new up and that’s OK, nothing lasts forever but everything worthwhile only lasts for a period of time, and whenever this comes to an end I can only hope it inspires someone to pick up the mantle where it left off. That got a little… philosophical didn’t it? My fault, apologies, I just wanted to open a document and write down my thoughts and feelings with you all – bare bones you know how that stuff goes anyhow I think it’s important to reflect on how we’re doing and where we can go from here. So, how are we doing? That’s a great question and thanks for asking Torm! Fundamentally the site is stable, and activity is at an appropriate level, people are posting, RPs are… RPing? I guess you do roleplay in a roleplay so… ANYWAY things are good! There are some sections that have very little to no activity and I guess that’s something for me and the staff team to figure out together. I imagine it’ll be along the lines of consolidating “deader” sections together and making posts simpler to post but we’ll work on that. In fact, at the time of writing this we are roughly averaging 20 registrations per month, which are healthy numbers! It’s also probably a little more but I’m terrible at Math so… 20 sounds like a good enough number. There has been some considerable content committed to the site by many of our great users. I won’t go through all of them because honestly, I’ll be here all day and I think a couple of the staff team have ideas on events of their own accord for celebrating good content but stuff like .:Alive:. by Dad in the creative writing section, the NeoCardMaker Holy Grail War by Yui (whilst young, is a very creative take on the forum game genre) and RPs like Fire Emblem Curse of the Goddess which is so intrinsically Fire Emblem it’s great. So where can we go from here? Well personally I think I need to take on the leadership role a bit more, I just need to understand where the line is drawn with that and the like as we have a nice status quo going on and rocking the boat too much might cause us to get water on board when it isn’t necessary but I have ideas and thoughts for the site that I think will be healthy for the place. I would like to see a member of staff or two added to team at some point to help develop certain areas of the site, and perhaps cultivate new life and ideas into parts of the site but again it’s all about balance and that’s down to me to find that middle of the line, so please bear with me and provide criticism as and where it’s needed. I’ve yet to explore these ideas with Yemachu but getting the card maker more built into the site rather than relying on GitHub might allow for us to provide a better user experience for those of us who use the card maker on the regular, of course again I’m just vocalizing my internal thoughts so don’t take this as a “IT’S HAPPENING” (Yui please insert the appropriate gif in a reply thank you). It also seems the site is still struggling to send activation emails to gmail accounts… It’s something for me to look at as we are potentially missing out on active users, I’d rather publicly state this is an issue than it not be forgotten about (although I have mentioned it in the past). As for you guys? Keep doing what you’re doing. Maybe revive showcase for me I don’t have anything negative to say about the lot of you really, you’re all cute – except Cow, he’s a cow I mean they ain’t that cute maybe calves but like they don’t last very long in that state. So, thank you, for making this place what it is, and I wish you a fantastic Christmas, here’s to 2020 (we all legally have perfect vision now) ? @Members @VIP

Music So, it's been a while since we've really had a big statement put out or anything. We're almost at 2 years of NCM, and that's incredible! For a splinter community, that really stands out. All because people chose to take a chance and break away from simple numbers and the past itself. A sense of community that is more one of togetherness than obligation. I'm proud of us. Our little community. Sure, it's a quiet little corner of the internet, but it's far from dead. I'd almost go so far as to say that it's just right. Not too big, not too small, not too soft, not too hard. I just... really wanted to take the time, as a member of the staff and the community at large, to thank all of you. I know not everything is perfect. People have fights. Petty feelings can get in the way and blind us. Life gets in the way. People say things they don't mean. People don't say things that they mean to. Even so, there is a sense of community. Grudges don't seem to hold for long. Workarounds are found. Careless words are fixed, and overthought words eventually find their way to where they need to go. Our little home away from home isn't perfect, but it's a damn sight better than what it could have become if we hadn't had stood together. It's so different from what I remember, in general. I feel like I'm an old person looking at the forums and servers, even among people I actually talk to. So much history. So much time. But here you all are. People have come. People have gone. But the community is still here. And while I feel like a fossil, I still look forward to seeing you "younguns" a lot. So, thank you, NCM. For nothing other than being yourselves. Your kindness, your creativity, your intelligence, your humor, all of it. This quiet community means the absolute world to me. I can't speak for the team, in and of itself, but I can at least let you know how much all of you matter to me. And, as an absolutely personal note, I just want to say... if anyone is suffering. If anyone needs a shoulder to cry on. If anyone just needs to express something they don't feel safe to other places... I'm here. I'll listen. I'll give you my Discord if you want it. After all, life isn't easy. 2020 showed us that, if absolutely nothing else. But that doesn't mean you have to be alone. I see you. I'm with you. I'm sure a couple of you know who you are, and I hope you take this to heart... Yet I also hope anyone else who needs this right now sees it as well, and takes it as an opportunity. I love this place. And I love you guys. Thanks for two years, and I hope the third is great, too.

U.A. High. It had been a long time coming but Yasha was ready. He'd worked hard to get here, and now he had the privilege of attending Japan's most prestigious hero school. He adjusted his tie and collar, slapped his faceplate where cheeks would be on a regular head, and cleared his throat-- a sound like a stalling lawnmower-- as he approached. "Let's see here, are you--" "Yasha Yokuna, present SIR!" He said, standing rather stiffly at-attention. "I'm honored to be here-- and prepared to do my best!" "I... see. So, why is it that you want to be a hero?" Yasha grinned in response, showing off his teeth. Despite being abnormally sharp, they were also the only part of his head that looked even marginally human. The whole engine-block for a head thing wasn't going to earn him any points for beauty, that was for sure. "Because being a hero is hard work, and I LOVE HARD WORK!" His throat made a revving sound as his voice went up, and he covered his mouth with his hand. "Ah, sorry. I got excited there." "I never really got your type, kid. But go ahead and head on in. You'll probably make more sense to Ruby Heart." "THANK YOU, MISTER GLORY SIR!" The door to the classroom slid open and the sound of engines revving filled the air as Yasha entered, waving a pair of screaming chainsaw blades over his head. "HELP! MY HANDS ARE CHAINSA-HA-HAAAAWS!" He broke into laughter on the word 'chainsaws' and doubled over, the tools shrinking away. He straightened up and smiled, showing off his fanged grin, and waved his, now regular hands. "Nah, I'm fine-- 's just my Quirk. Hi!"

Inu wasn't happy. The field trip sucked, and while he was thankful it ended early, it seemed it didn't end for good reasons. The exact reason why, he actually didn't know though, he was hoping he'd find out in school today. Grumbling to himself, he popped a sunflower seed into his mouth as he walked into the classroom, hoping that it would distract him from a need to smoke. He walked in, scanning the room, looking to see if anything looked off or if people had some sort of gossip going on. Nothing really stuck at to him at the moment, and it was pissing him off. Did no one know what was going on? He sat down in his seat, sighing as slumped down. As if to signal that today wasn't going to get much better, it seemed a substitute teacher was here today. "So uh… I'm not Epicenter. You guys know that. I'm aaah… I'm the Destructive Hero - Dreadbolt. I'm a friend of Glory's, he asked me to sub for a bit while some of the staff is investigating some shi- errr, while the staff is investigating some bad stuff that happened yesterday…" Inu's eyes narrowed at that. So something did happen. He waited for some sort of explanation of what exactly the bad thing was, but instead, Dreadbolt moved on. "Fuck, why did I agree to this… Tomoaki you son of a bitch…"Quickly bringing himself to attention, he straightened his back and turned to address the class once again, "A-anyway, I'm sorry to inform you all that uhhh… Kikuchi Emi has dropped out of UA, for personal reasons. But there is good news, too! She will be replaced by the next runner-up in the entrance exam! Hoshinoooooo Rika!" With an unhealthy dose of melodrama, Dreadbolt pointed toward the classroom door with both hands… standing perfectly still in perfect silence for several seconds, before slouching in disappointment, "Is it too much to ask students to be punctual??? Can't I get one damn break???" "Don't worry about cussing, we're not kindergartners, we can taking some goddamn cussing without sullying our ears," Inu stated. "We'll probably hear worse out on the field," The new girl then went and made a fool of herself in front of everyone, but Inu wasn't going to hold that against her. At least she wasn't some joker that didn't take this whole thing seriously. Sun looked at the new girl with a sense of curiosity. She had a familiar look to her... well, kinda. It was more like she reminded him of lizards from back home. Now he was feeling nostalgic. But the poor girl seemed really scared, and that made Sun upset. He'd have to find some way to cheer her up... but, it seemed he wasn't alone in that endeavor. "Hi. I'm Hideyo," the happy sun man said happily. "And I think your quirk is the coolest thing I've seen. Ever!" "Aw, geez, I dunno about that really. Uh... I think if it was the coolest thing ever, I would've gotten in without having to get a little lucky." The chameleon laughed gently, her other hand rubbing at the back of her neck as she glanced up at the ceiling. "It's not, like... Terrible, at least! My dad had it bad, he didn't get any of the stuff mine can do. He was pretty nervous when I was born." She then began to look around the room. her eyes soon falling on the monkey king, who smiled at her. "Hello, I am Sun!" He greeted as he waved. "I like your quirk! It reminds me of home!" He hoped that despite his large size, she wouldn't be scared of him. "If you ever feel scared, just come find me! I'll protect you! You and Takehiko!" Before he could say anything else, the wolfman in the back raised his voice. "So... you gonna tell us what the fuck happened back at the beach?" Inu demanded at the sub. "Or are you really going to try to sweep some situation that was apparently so dangerous we had to leave right away, despite having three Pro Heroes there, under the rug?" Sun leaned over to Rika, whispering loudly. "Don't make the dog man angry. He looks very pettable, but he lights on fire, and fire is bad," "Shut the fuck up, monkey man," Inu snapped, causing Sun's eyes to narrow. That seemed like a direct challenge, and as king, he wasn't one to turn down challenges. However, it could have just been made in the heat of the moment, something that happened a lot back home. He'd wait for a second challenge from Inu before he showed him exactly why he was king of his home.

NEO is the best, most-well designed, efficient, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing yugioh card maker on the planet. In all seriousness, though... this has become a nice alternative hub for most active members of the community, and I commend your willingness and dedication to maintaining it as our beloved and reliable admin.

Yeah I cheated and gave u two Yeah yours is pretty sick so hard to beat tbh but here There abouts although I've seen @BGMキャノンs moustache and that thing is pretty stylish. I'm going to cheat and give you Fate stuff because hey, cheating is fine in moderation Finding art with just Kazooie is actually harder than I anticipated but this feels appropriate.

I hope you all like this (especially Dae) as I have poured countless painful hours into making this as perfect as the real Dae is.

Figured I'd post the cardless images I've drawn so far just in case anyone wants to use them for cards of their own. Canyon Battleguard Sword Slasher Mass-Production Model Malice Doll of Despair Gemini Metal Elf Identity Theft! Hopping Vampires Toon Swordmistress this one of Hungry Burger and the Bistro Butcher I don't actually have a card in mind for, but feel free to use it for something. The Snake Hairstyles Dark Scorpion Motivator Time Lizard I'll try to remember to add any more images here as I go along

A fic or series of mini-fics set in the Neo community based on superhero comics/cinema. The characters are the members, each having their own superpower (or not, depending on what they want.) This used to be in Misc, but I decided to make an official interest check thread in the writing section for more credibility. Thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions? Let me know.

Good morning/afternoon/evening all, Im happy to announce Yemachu accepted a position of administrator for the site! He'll be focusing on development of the card maker within the site itself please keep all site requests and support queries in mine and the other members of staffs direction (unless of course it relates to the card maker) I think I speak for everyone in saying that the work Yemachu has done for this community and the last up until this point has been nothing more then incredible. We look forward to working with him moving forward. Please use this thread for any questions you might have for Yemachu. @Members @VIP @Yemachu

tfw single but killin

OOC TUESDAY NOVEMBER 01 180 DAYS REMAIN “This is an imaginary story… Aren’t they all?” -Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (written by Alan Moore) Do All Words Can Do “Fuck!” The events of the last few hours had taken their toll on Director Sekelsky. The reports of rioting were finally dying down, people were returning to their homes, and heroes were permitted to stand down, but that just meant it was time for the casualty numbers. Multiple people had been trampled in the initial panic, and several more were injured in what ensued afterward, including one of their own, a cape who went by the name of Spotlight. It was worth another few expletives. “Fucking goddamn piece of horseshit! Cass goes off the grid for who knows how long and then decides to pull this fucking stunt. Did they know? They must have known. Surely they realized what would happen next, right? So they just left everyone else to clean up their mess, huh?” There were four other people in the room, and each of them was in costume, so Director Sekelsky mentally adopted the standard name protocols. Cape names when dressed as capes. Easy. At the opposite end of the sweatbox of a meeting room (how could it be this fucking hot in here in fucking November?) were Override, Ember, and Aeon. They were the main recipients of this briefing, chosen for a number of reasons but there was really one big one: availability. None of them had been at Hallowmas or taken the holiday standby shift (and who could blame them? It was Halloween. Even Director Sekelsky had hoped to spend the night with his husband and daughter until whatever this shit was), which meant they were actually around this morning. The fact they all had some sort of criminal record was concerning but not work scrapping and waiting for someone else. Bard was there too, seated alone on the near end of the sweatbox next to the projection screen. His costume was positively ancient, and his mask one of those tacky theater masks that only covered half of his face, but he refused to change it, always citing more pressing issues of the time. The Director couldn’t fault him for that this time. He was taking this even harder than Director Sekelksy was; he had a pair of white-knuckled fists pushed as far into the table as he could manage, and he was shaking and muttering something under his breath. It was probably something to do with his Thinker powers, Director Sekelsky thought. It wasn't something he understood, but Bard had also been instrumental in G3’s response the last few hours and he’d been a wreck then too. As long as he was functional and managed to check in with one of G3’s counselors later, he’d be alright, right? He sighed. Thinking things through like this helped get the anger out of his system. The only emotion that remained now was a quiet determination. From an egotistical point of view, it was his best feature. He didn’t have any superpowers, but he wasn’t powerless. “First thing’s first, where’s DEUS?” “Helping with the riots,” Bard said. He eased up a little too now that the meeting had started. “He was spotted in Graceland a little before midnight so he actually wasn’t too far away when it started.” “For once,” Director Sekelsky said. “For once.” “But that means don’t count on it happening again. Not that we should ever count on him.” “Especially now that it’s daytime,” Bard said. “He’ll probably be too busy rescuing cats from trees or helping old women cross the street.” “Or rescuing old women from trees,” the Director snarked. “So Plan A, then. Alright.” Bard handed him a trio of folders and he turned his attention to the three capes in the back. One for each of them. “As you are no doubt aware, the Renegade Cape Cassandra predicted the end of the world at Hallowmas last night,” he said. “This is so obviously S-Class, it’s practically the definition of the term. Unfortunately, the actual words on the truces don’t agree here. They were written more for singular, concrete threats. A tornado, some supervillain who’s gotten too big for their britches, a bio-Tinker’s experiment run amok. Not something as nebulous and off in the distance as this. If we try to litigate this through the normal channels, that’s precious time lost we could have spent dealing with whatever the fuck this actually is, so we’re hoping to avoid that.” He tossed the folders down the table, one at a time. Landing them neatly at the edge right in front of his target without anything spilling out was something that had taken countless briefings just like these to perfect, but it was worth it every time. “We do have some language in our favor, however. We just need the leaders of each of the three main gangs to agree with us, and sign a document saying as much. You three will be facilitating that.” “In those folders are our profiles on the three gangs and the leaders,” Bard said, standing up as well. “Gibbons’ Caesar” -- he pronounced it “ˈsi zər” -- “The Zodiac’s Ophiuchus, and, of course, the Moray Clan’s three Fates. Most of it’s common knowledge, but make sure you’re up to date on it. It also has my best guesses as to how the negotiations are going to play out. Unfortunately, it is probably going to be a negotiation. Six months is a lot of time for Scarlet City’s underworld to play nice.” “We’re going to have to play nice in return,” Director Sekelsky said. “We were the ones with the most cape activity last night. Again, the extenuating circumstances favor us, and obviously so, but they’ll be looking for any concession they can get. Also included in those folders is a copy of a temporary S-Class agreement. It won’t last until April, but it’s something we can use when the Peacekeepers get their act together, so as long as you don’t do anything stupid like make a legally binding agreement without our negotiators present -” “Or start a fight,” Bard said. “- or start a fight, we’re giving you a lot of leeway on this. We need those signatures, you understand? The meetings are already set up. Catty Key buzzed everyone earlier, so be sure to thank her when you get the chance. Your first meeting is with the Fates in Echo Park, the other places and times are in there as well.” His eyes met Ember’s “Ember, you’re not going to that last one as per our existing agreement regarding Gibbons, report back here after The Zodiac meeting instead for a different assignment.” The last moment lingered a bit longer than Director Sekelsky intended, which mattered in the face of all the time pressure, but was still recoverable. “You have a few minutes to finish your reading, ask any questions, you might have, and then get going. Leave through the back while the sixes don’t have the building completely surrounded yet.” Hidden World Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos Lanthimos, the Moray Clan’s three Fates, arranged themselves in various positions about their lair’s (for lack of a better word) throne room searching for something that might fit the correct vibe. It was the new costumes that were the problem here. They’d just gotten three matching dresses from Rajawongse made out of Clotho’s fibers -- and they were the kind of dresses that came with pockets! -- but the room had been put together with their old aesthetic in mind. They’d started out so stereotypical, even getting one of those prop replica thrones from that one show, but the dresses were some kind of postmodern art. They had a flow to them that looked especially nice when they all stood together and the blotches of color started to blur. It was a total clash. The only pieces of fabric left from their old costumes were their blindfolds. “Blindfolds” was another one of those words that was technically true but not really. They were a solid black, but The Fates could all see through them just fine. Part of the magic of Clotho’s string was that its properties could be whatever she wanted it to be. That was one of the reasons Rajawongse had been so inspired in the first place -- a practically infinite amount of new materials, right there at his fingertips, who wouldn’t? But phrasing it that way would also sell the Renegade clothier short. He was a master of his craft even without his power. Rajawongse had created dresses that were identical down to the tiniest stitch. With them, the only way to identify which Fate was which was their distinctive manner of speech. “Maybe it’s the room that needs to change, not us,” Clotho said. “Sure,” Lachesis said. “But that doesn’t change the fact we need to figure out what we’re doing right now,” Atropos said. She was also identifiable by the butterfly knife she carried with her, a helpful outlet for not just her power, but idle hands in general. The swish-clack sound of its handles seemed to punctuate everything that particular Fate said, and frequently some of her sisters’. They settled on one of their standard formations -- Lachesis lounging on the throne flanked on either by her two sisters -- just as three of their underlings entered the room. Vi, Sibyl, and Demiurge were their names. The Fates gave them some time to get situated and even offered them some fruit in case they hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. It was still early in the morning, after all. It also gave them an excuse to get everyone up to speed on the previous night's events, the prophecy, the riots, everything. “The Stadium isn’t our territory, though it’s close enough that it might as well be,” Lachesis said. “And we’re going to have to deal with the smashed windows that are in our territory. Some of our people are already on it.” “It won’t be finished until later, though. Right now, G3 --” “-- The Generic Good Guys --” “-- The Group of Giant Goobers --” “-- is going to be pushing us for some kind of temporary truce until they can get their act together, and we don’t have any reason not to accept.” “But we also have reason to believe the Gibbons aren’t going to take the deal,” Lachesis said. “There are a couple of reasons for that. The first is that, like, it’s Gibbons. There’s no way Caesar” -- she pronounced it “ˈsi zər” -- “is going to let a land grab opportunity slip through his fingers, no matter how bad of an opportunity it is.” “That’s what happens when most of your territory is crap,” Atropos said. Swish. Clack. “Even when you have the most of any gang in all of Skitty.” “So it’s in character for him,” Clotho said. “But perhaps more damningly, he laid out his plans this morning while Worm still had one of his walls bugged, and later we hear some Gibbons capes are on the way to our territory. So we just- we know it’s going to happen. ” “Sorry to bury the lede like that.” “Our people cleaning up Nola Street already know this,” Clotho said. “There are some pretty hefty capes helping out there, both ours and otherwise, and DEUS is still in the area for at least a little bit longer.” “We’ll fight too if we goddamn have to.” The swish-clack of Atropos’ knife was especially forceful that time. “The point is, there’s a little time before anything goes down. There are still a few preparations to make, though. More thorough battle plans, making sure complementary powers are together, that sort of thing. Your job this morning is to keep Caesar distracted, and the way we’d like you to do it is to wreck some of his shit first.” “The target is a warehouse eleven point five nine kilometers that way.” Lachesis pointed in a direction she knew to be Northeast. This was her showing off her Thinker power and she relished the opportunity. “Pretty close to The Shimmer without getting up and personal with it, about as far as possible away from what’s going to be happening here.” “We think it’s a lab for a Tinker on Caesar’s payroll, which means it’ll have a skeleton crew of just that one Tinker and an assistant or two.” “The point is to get them calling for help. We’re not killing them or anything. Just roughing them up a bit to get Caesar’s attention, you know?” Clotho winked. “Of course, if they do go running to the hills leaving a trove of Tinker tech behind, you might as well take any of the interesting shit, right?” “At the same time,” Lachesis was quick to add, “if help does show up, that’s your cue to get out of there. Remember The Stanley Principle. You’re not invincible no matter how far ahead you might seem.” The Fates finally went silent as the invocation of that nearly-sacred rule brought a little extra weight to the proceedings. Both Clotho and Atropos shifted uncomfortably where they stood, and Lachesis had to stop lounging and actually sit in her chair. “Oh, that was a lot, wasn’t it?” Clotho eventually said. “Sorry about that.” “Anyway, the actual meat and potatoes planning of this mission, that’s up to you,” Atropos said. “We’ve given you the place and the goal, kinda want to just see what you come up with,” Lachesis said. “Call it a test, you know? Show us what you can do.” OOC

Time Lizard | LIGHT | Reptile/Effect ATK 500 | DEF 400 You can tribute 1 Reptile monster you control: Toss a coin and call it. If you call it right, Special Summon 1 Reptile or Dinosaur monster from your hand or GY. If you call it wrong, take damage equal to the ATK of the tributed monster. A quickie I drew up because of a pun. Juggled a few different effect ideas so I hope the one I went with wouldn't be overpowered, but I'm always open to suggestions.

So, I wanted to build off of the depression entry. To a degree, at least. I want to talk about abuse. And I'll start with personal experience. You can skip to the second divider, if you don't wish to read this section. --- My dad was abusive. He never got to hit me, beyond a belt on my rear, thanks to my mom... but he was extremely emotionally abusive. He looked for any and all opportunities to belittle me or scold me, and then took them out on my mother instead if she objected, only to redouble on me. To make sure I wasn't an embarrassment to him. That I never even considered crossing him. He was the MAN of the house. What he said went. His wife was to be a stay-at-home mother who cooked and cleaned. His son was to be a clone of him who would exist only to make him look better. The Bible "said" he was to be the head of the household and in charge. So, of course, having a woman who didn't simply bow to him bothered him. Having a child be a child was unacceptable. Even my cousins were given similar treatment, especially before I was born. Like attempting to beat my older cousin with a brush for touching his bag when he had just returned from a trip. Where he cheated on my mother. But that's another story. Or how about instilling his young child with fear so great that a 6 year old was scared of burning in hell for not being perfect? Scared that the rapture would take place and leave them behind? My mother's parents as well. There's a laundry list that's come from my mother and her siblings about their childhoods, but the present is more pressing. Treating everyone around them like slaves. Gma pitting every single family member against each other, if given a chance. Resenting anyone that doesn't follow the plan she's set up. My gpa hit my mother recently for disagreeing with him. He threatened to call the cops on me if I ever disagreed with him. Told me we never made a deal for me to drive, and that I was a lying thief. Threatened to shoot us for not serving a meal he wanted, and gma only replied "you'd shoot me!?". Trying to kick us out, with nowhere to go, because mom was too sick to prepare a meal for their very able-bodied selves. All the while, these people play the victim. They're just suffering because of everyone else. My dad is a martyr, a God-fearing man who goes to church every week and beyond. He's a father figure to some people. An upstanding deacon. Any grievances that could be expressed could only be done so by a member of the church, as opposed to an outsider who KNOWS him. And he has sooo many illnesses, needs so many surgeries, and so on. Gparents are even worse for the latter. Trying to call social services because we weren't being proper caretakers, when they were more than able-bodied and we never agreed. Gma has been faking a cough almost my entire life, as she's admitted. Uses any appointment as a guilt to get people to spend money on her. And so many more fake things, always something to guilt someone into spending money and rendering service, all while playing up how cruel everyone is to them... when they both left their own parents to rot as they got into old age. Even before then. But they're owed it, because they were 'good' parents. Kids are for taking care of them, after all! --- ... and that's just people I, unfortunately, share blood with. But why do I bring up all this anecdotal evidence, when I'm doing what is normally philosophical or purely stream of consciousness? Well... that's because of the relationship that abusers tend to have to abuse's after effects, as I see it. As I experience it. I am so, so scared of calling myself an abuse victim. I never thought of myself as one for most of my life, just assuming that... everyone went through those things. And, even after that, I still just assumed I had to push on. It was just a hurdle. Just a scar that would one day shine. I wasn't a victim. Victims were people that the world hated, shunned, ignored. People that used it as a crutch. Sure, there were exceptions that I had met, but... by and large, people like my abusers portrayed themselves entirely as victims, never taking any accountability for their actions. Turning around anything they did to me back on to me as a source. Yet here I am. The moment I hear hushed voices, I go still and try to hear if they're going to be about me, if I fucked up, if they hate me. Loud noises cause me to shut down. I am oftentimes scared to even leave my room, to the point that I earned the nickname "Bernie-Bear" from Mel's friends for just how shy and bad I was with people. Which, coincidentally... was the moment that me being a victim of abuse began to set in. And I tried so hard to look away from it! I was strong! I had to be strong! I just had some hang ups, that's all! There was no way I was a victim! It is so, so, so hard to call myself a victim. I think it is for most people, really. I don't want to be like those in my life who I was abused by. I don't want to be perceived like them. I don't want to be pitied or looked at like I'm weak. If I'm weak, then I've failed. I'm letting them control me. I'm letting my abusers control my present, as they did my past. That's letting them win... BUT THAT'S WRONG! That isn't true at all! It is not wrong to hurt! It is not wrong to have been hurt by people who DON'T have power over you, much less those that do! You are not weak for being abused! You do NOT deserve that abuse! And those people that fake? Those people that use it to chase clout? Fuck them! They're more likely than not abusers themselves, and you shouldn't worry about them! You shouldn't have to be inhibited about your pain, you shouldn't have to shove it down so that you don't "let them win"! Shoving it down IS how they win, because you leave the trauma inside to fester and bubble, allowing it to consume you whole! You have a right to be angry! You have a right to be sad! You have a right to FEEL! ... It's okay to be a victim. You didn't make the choice to be one. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging what happened to you, be it sexual, physical, emotional, or any combination thereof. People can be monstrous. I do struggle with admitting to myself that I'm an abuse victim. I almost cried talking to my mother tonight, because we both are so close to being able to say and accept how we've been abused, but the people we know are so fake and wicked that we fear association with their behaviors. It's admitting that you aren't fully in control to admit to being abused, and it takes a LOT of courage to do so. So, to abuse victims... You are stronger than you think. That abuse isn't who you are. You did not deserve it. Cruel people inflicted it on you for a multitude of reasons, but none of them were your fault. It was not a result of your choices, but the result of others taking your choice away from you. This world has so much potential for love. So many people truly wishing to help heal a broken heart, soul, spirit. Sure, there are more abusers out there... But I sincerely hope that anyone this applies to finds someone they can truly depend on. Someone who will not treat them as you may have become accustomed to being treated. I see you. I hurt for you. I'm here for you. And, if given the chance, I will open my heart and love you. Stay determined, everyone.

Made about a week ago for the sake of having something of the season in time xD I had no idea how to go about the background once I had the character made, so I kept adding violets, purples, blues, vaguely resembling a cave-like pattern and after enough time I grabbed a pen and have what you see here.... I think the green is a bit too light and lime-y but that's what you get when you YOLO it and hope it ends up well hahaha....

"Ah what's the matter Dog Breath. Someone need a scratch behind the ear?" At this point, Inu growled, baring his teeth at the cat. "Go get high off some catnip, Cat Bitch," he snapped. Before it could go any further though, the teacher went off, ignoring Inu completely as he began to talk about everything else. "Fuckin' bastard's ignoring me...," Inu growled under his breath, but deciding to let it drop for now. He'd just grill Epicenter when she came back. She didn't look like she could keep a secret. However, before he could even fully calm down... "And finally, Kagarashi Hideyo, Konpaku Rei, Sogin Hakaro, and Sasaki Inu, you will all be against the number 5 hero, your history teacher Ruby Heart!" "Wait, Sasaki? Is there any chance you know the pro hero Howl?" "Fuck," Inu muttered as he gritted his teeth. "Yeah, I know the indecisive bitch. What a-fuckin'-bout it?" He took a handful of sunflower seeds and chomped on them with an angry crunching sound, just as Spidey O'Bitch came up to him. After their pleasant little exchange, the hellhound found himself standing in a corner of the room, chew on sunflower seeds as he watched two of his teammates at each other throats. Maybe they'd injure each other and Inu could transfer to a new group. That wasn't how it worked, and he knew it. With a sigh, he walked over, plopping his butt on the desk's top next to Hideyo. "So... you think we should stop them from fighting, or just wait it out?" He asked, chewing on yet another sunflower seed. Sun was ecstatic. He made a new friend in RIka, and Takehiko was trying to be friends with Rika to! Now he had two friends! There was only one problem though. "Sun Sun, Kaenbyou Tsubasa, Ohara Ben, and the new student Hoshino Rika, you will all be up against your JET teacher, Xionglauhu!" So Takehiko was on a different team, meaning Sun couldn't defend them. He had just had to believe in the guy. It wasn't like this was life or death anyways, so he should be fine, right? Sun wasn't convinced, but he couldn't let the others know that. For now, his team had gathered to make a plan. Sun could make plans, very good plans in fact! He bet his friends would be blown away with his great plans! "Ah... Does the sheet say anything about whether we're expected to actually win? With a numbers advantage, I get the idea of us holding up at least a bit, but... Winning seems like a long shot any way I look at it." Rika asked. Sun blinked as he looked at her. Why wouldn't they be expected to win? That was the law of the jungle, win or lose, kill or be killed. It was the same here... except without the killing. Most people weren't animals, they'd stop before that. "Hey Tsubasa, Sun...and you said your name is Rika, right?" The man with the many spiders approached them, causing Sun to subconsciously scratch himself. "Ahem...sorry I didn't probably make a good impression when you walked in. I'm Benjamin O'Hara, but I usually go by Ben. Nice to meet you. So...I guess it's going to be us four as a team." "A team huh?" the mini jaguar girl suddenly spoke up, "well, then alternate winning or otherwise, you have nothing to work about Iroko. After all, you've got three people with you, and most importantly I'm here with you. So, as long as those things are true, we're definitely a sure win." Smiling more excitedly she said, "and besides, haven't you always wanted to fight a bear?" "I dunno what a bear is, but it sounds fun," Sun admitted. "Nothing... To worry about? I dunno, I think we've got plenty to worry about. We don't know what our actual task is gonna be, aside from trying to overpower someone with more practice and experience than us. ...Fight a bear? I can't say it really ever crossed my mind. Generally you're supposed to, like... Play dead against them, right? Maybe we can do that against the bear then. I'd say we should come up with a plan, but... What can we plan for when we don't know the specifics? Hopefully we can get some actual time before the exam to plot a bit." "Oh, oh, do not worry!" Sun said excitedly. "I, Sun, have a great plan!" He cleared his throat before he started to explain. "So, we're gonna have you all stand behind me so I can protect you all, and then, I'm going to throw a rock at the bear!" He paused, waiting for a response, before adding as an afterthought. "It's going to be a very big rock,"

As he stepped onto the bus, Yasha was confident he had everything he needed. He was a bit over-packed, even for the beach-- a beach umbrella, a tarp/blanket, a couple gallons of water in a cooler bag, enough sunscreen to give the sun cancer, spare batteries for his phone-- but he was comfortable with carrying all of it, as long as it meant he could do what he came here to do. "Oi, oi, oi. You coming, O'Hara?" He stopped in the doorway to look back at the lagging American on his phone. "Hm? ...o-oh...uh...were we just supposed to enter the bus? I thought...jeez...gotta remember I'm not in America anymore. Uh, yeah I'm coming..." The two ended up sitting together on the bus, and Yasha was practically vibrating the seat-- which was notable since, at this proximity, it nearly drowned out the engine of the bus. Benjamin noticed Yasha's general noises and shrugged some. "I take it you're excited for the beach, huh Yasha?" Yasha looked up. "Oh, uh." He cleared his throat. "No, not really. Saltwater gums up my tool hands, I'm at a greater risk of heatstroke than most, and of course there's... sand..." He shuddered, then shifted back to his usual cheerful tone. "Pretty much everything about the beach is a horrible experience for me!" He smiled toothily. "Yikes..." Benjamin shook his head slightly. "Annnnd you're still okay with going? Despite the threats and risks that it brings you?" Yasha nodded emphatically. "Oh, totally. It's all worth it." "Uh-huh...alright, I'll bite...why is it worth it to you?" Yasha's expression, to the extend he had one, became suddenly serious. He glanced around, as though there were someone listening, though of course, nobody was. "Alright, don't tell anybody, but..." He leaned in and whispered. "I really just came to see the girls in their swimsuits. Think about it: Seigi, Konpaku, Ukemei-- all of them. In swimsuits." Yasha's faceplate was already red, and he had no skin above the neck so of course he couldn't blush, but there was an actual puff of steam from roughly where his nostrils would be as he straightened back up. Benjamin was surprised by this sudden turn of events as Yasha confided this information to him. The general thought of it, actually caused him to blush some. He looked around, before putting a hand on the chair, having a spider crawl out from his hand to sit on the chair, just as a lookout. "...that's why you were gung-ho about this? ...also do we need to even add Rei into this category?" Benjamin whispered back to Yasha. No going back with this conversation. Yasha nodded and huffed again, producing more little puffs of steam and folding his arms. "Even a cold girl like Konpaku can look good in a swimsuit, O'Hara. Heck, even a plain-looking girl like Sanada looks good in a swimsuit. It's science." Benjamin was still silent for a bit, before raising an eyebrow. "...uh, isn't Ren a guy...?" Yasha's eye twitched. "Not again..." he wheezed.

This is the NCM drawing resources, here you can learn to draw, see videos, programs, and etc that could help you. request drawings, learn to draw, get told how to draw, get critique, and etc. Only hand drawn things(from any program) are allowed, so no copy + pasting anything, but you can edit them however you like(warp them, put them in layers, overlay them, blur them, whatever you feel like doing), just not transplanting stuff from the internet. Some graphics programs you could use: Also, link your mobile phone to your PC to draw with it, if you feel like it. Use Chrome Remote Desktop or Teamviewer. A few throwaway tips of mine: Videos: A few of my drawings: Have fun!

pre-test jitters It was barely sunrise when Shoshiki arrived at the testing grounds. He would have left sooner, but decided that walking alone in the dark would be a bit too much for him. It wasn't a big deal, his hotel was only a few blocks away, but Shoshiki decided to play it on the safe side. He was simply being reasonable, nothing more. As far as he could tell, only one girl had arrived before him. She looked distracted, yet determined. Shoshiki figured she was probably friendly enough, but decided not to risk it. Who knows what kind of person could be here, she could have a quirk even grislier than his own. And so Shoshiki Kojin stood almost completely still at the edge of the waiting area, as the rest of the hopefuls arrived. It wasn't long before the gates opened, allowing Shoshiki and the rest of the applicants to make their way in. It seemed the testing ground had both a forest and a cityscape, two environments Shoshiki could only hope he would be able to use to his advantage. As a man in some kind of antique-styled armor explained the test, Shoshiki couldn't help but be distracted by the rest of the entrants, "To get this far…” was that a giant beetle? Did beetles eat meat? One of this size was probably very hungry... “forest type area, and a city type area…” a guy with blue hair and headphones was watching the samurai explain, but looked like he would rather be literally anywhere else... “your objectives will all be the same.” With this, Shoshiki perked up. He should probably pay attention to this part. “In each area are a limited amount of badges that resemble the U.A. logo. To complete the practical, one must obtain five badges and return to the gate before sundown. It doesn't matter how you get your badges. Just so long as you're here, you'll be permitted to attend U.A." Using wording like that is going to make people think we are supposed to fight over these. "So if I beat the snot out of some dude with three badges, and take 'em, I get in?" The question came from an angry-looking, muscular girl, who seemed to be about as tall as Shoshiki himself. Despite her apparent confusion over how many badges she needed, her strategy concerned Shoshiki. He had never really fought before, let alone with someone who had been training their quirk for that purpose for what could be ten years. He felt a terrible sinking feeling inside him as the people surrounding him changed from unknown entities to threats. “...our very BEST!" A loud screech interrupted his thoughts, as Shoshiki quickly pivoted to find its source. As best as he could tell, she had some kind of bat quirk. Wait. Wouldn't that make her a vampire? Was she going to murder Shoshiki and drink his blood as sustenance? The samurai/teacher hybrid had said that they weren't supposed to kill each other, but this was a vampire, do the rules even matter at this point? Even as the vampire was scolded by another scary girl with red hair, Shoshiki still found himself feeling like prey. Even if not literally, everyone around him was determined to get into this school, and Shoshiki standing in their way wasn't going to make them change their minds. He could feel the threads of nerve tissue moving just beneath his skin, his flight or flight response coming on in full force. Should he team up with someone so as to have strength in numbers should they be attacked? Or would that just put him at risk of being betrayed once they had found a total of five badges? As the rest of the would-be students were beginning to socialize, Shoshiki was overcome with fear. Even as he could feel himself shaking from head to toe, he forced himself to take a few deep breaths, before making his way to the least terrifying person he could see, a small girl with silver hair. He reached up to tap her shoulder, but hesitated before he could. She might have acid skin or something, I should be more careful. Averting his vision, he awkwardly scratched at the back of his neck, speaking in such a subdued tone that he was hardly audible, "So, if people are planning to take the badges by force, it might be a better bet to stick together... I don't know you, but, you seemed a bit more pleasant and a bit less violent than the others I see here..."

Getting up in the morning had hardly been a problem for Yuuka. She had merely figured what time would be the best to wake up to get through her morning routine and set an alarm for then. Having gotten up just when she should, the girl had made her way to school, and arrived with some time to spare before their exam had actually begun. As such, it did her good to see that there were those even more ready and on time then her, and so she simply smiled brightly and contentedly, awaiting their exam time to start. Standing around, the girl simply looked and studied the two instructors before her, head to toe while listening to the directions they provided. "Oh, this might be some trouble," the girl merely muttered to herself. While she had her own concerns as to how to approach this test, to her great pleasure it had seemed that there were a large majority of other heroes to be that did not. Though there was some to be desired she glanced from student to student as they talked to each other, stretching herself out as she was instructed to do so all the while. Two girls who definitely had the confidence and physicality to be a hero, though definitely lack in the tact of one. One girl who - Yuuka winced - definitely had the energy levels of one. A boy, Shiba Yuudai, who seemed to have proper manners. And then there were two other girls in particular that managed to catch her attention. Both being full of spirit and a certain righteous quality that set them apart from the others so far. The girl merely smiled in glee, wondering just what the test had in store for them, while also looking forward to seeing more of her classmates. Turning her attention to the blonde haired girl, she merely raised her own fist into the air with a smile on her face echoing, "<justice>" in a much more subdued tone than the girl's, but still in English all the same.

A while back I made a custom archetype named "Abystella" (stars of the abyss) consisting on marine life with patterns of glowing yellow stars. Here's the art I drew for it: Whale Narwal Jellyfish Squid Mantaray Sea Dragon/Sea Horse Isopod Marlin Fisher Nautilus Sea Serpent Mermaid Art for Spells or Traps

Once Z. and Hector got back, it was time to distribute. This was trickier than Z. expected, though. Not everyone wanted or in fact deserved some fruit. The former category was taken up by everyone surrounding Clobber the Clobbopus and his newfound coconut-cracking abilities and the latter category, well… Jirachi was busy producing fruit of his own, so he didn’t need any fruit either. Whatever. There were still a few people/Pokémon milling about, so Z. stopped pretending to be Hector and picked one of them. Chester seemed especially aimless, having just walked up to the stream and then just back again, so Z. zeroed in on him. “Catch,” Z. tossed an apple at Chester’s head, though with a bit of underthrow, the apple landed just short of the Chespin. “Eat up,” they said. “Need all the calories you can get if we’re gonna be saving the world.” They looked past Chester to the rushing stream. “Were you trying to catch a look at your reflection in there? Water’s kind of fast for that. I tried to be a Froakie earlier and just ended up looking like a Treeko.” They frowned. “Other way around.” Why was it so hard to get that right? Hadn’t Marv always been a Froakie? “Whatever.” Chester picked up the apple from the ground and looked at it. “I was, and well, it is. Sadly, I am not too accustomed to this body yet, familiar as it may be in a general sense.” The Chespin waved his stubby arms at his side as if to convey this feeling. Then he let out a small, if not begrudging, “Thanks,” gesturing to the apple. “Sure,” Z. said. “Hey, though, hold still.” Z. did the same thing they did with Hector, pacing around their target, trying to get a good idea of exactly how they looked from every angle, and, when they were ready, did another sick backflip and came down as a copied Chespin. “There’s a better look, I hope,” they said. They imitated Chester’s stubby arm wave and pensive face. “I guess it’s more like this right now, though.” Like, Hector, Chester was suitably impressed. “That is quite the amazing skill, Z. I suppose it would make sense being a Zorua you’d be able to pull off illusions like that, just as my own head is harder than steel. And it’s a better mirror than the river, I suppose. Though, uh,” his mood shifted back to concerned as he studied the finer details of Z.’s illusion “do I really look like that?” Z. tried a few more different poses. “Close, anyway. I don’t think it's perfect perfect yet. I can feel certain things just not working right. I can’t do stuff I think that I should, but I already promised myself those were- Oh, you mean the face? Yeah, my guy. You look so fucking lost right now, I’d be surprised if you knew which way was up.” “Ugh, how mortifying.” The (real) Chespin brought a stub to his face. “I suppose I have had a lot on my mind with all the recent developments. Though!” Chester pointed skyward. “I am very much aware which way is up right now, thank you.” Z. resisted the urge to roll their eyes, if only because they couldn’t imagine Chester doing anything of the sort, and they were still mimicking him as best they could. They focused on the second of those sentences instead. “Yeah?” they said. “Which one’s more shocking to you, waking up one morning from a night of uneasy dreams and finding yourself transformed into a Pokémon, or being conscripted by a demigod to save a world you know nothing about?” Continuing their mimic, they also brought a stub to their head, jamming it right under their chin. “Or is it a secret third thing?” They needn’t have bothered with the mimicking. Chester wasn’t paying attention to the physical mockery at all. He earnestly answered the question. “I feel like I have taken to being in a new body surprisingly well actually. Jirachi’s proposition is also exciting, if not a bit daunting, especially with how little we have to go on.” His voice got low, but the next question was still clearly directed at Z. “How exactly does someone help another in a situation they’re both wildly unfamiliar with?” “Oh god, teamwork questions.” Now it was Z.’s turn to bury their head in their stumps for real this time. “You moderated me enough on the forum, so you know I'm not the person to ask for that stuff, especially when someone else is already a one-person team.” They did another sick backflip, but their memory of what Hector looked like all joined together was already fuzzy, so their impression came out the same. Z. dismissed it quickly. “Fucking… Okay. But you did ask me. I think, then, the best thing someone who's lost can do for another lost person is just be there with them. Nobody wants to be lost alone.” “Right, I should have kept in mind who I was asking,” Chester joked. “But if that’s all it takes…” He looked past Z. over to Hector. “But you would expect someone to be spearheading the rest, correct? Showing them which way to go?” Z. couldn’t help but stare. “You’re really hung up on this, huh?” they said. “I mean, you could fight him on it. Six on one doesn't seem like a fair fight but I've got a feeling in my gut that says I’ve taken worse bets. Maybe you haven’t. I dunno. But okay, just between you and me, but when I jumped into the water all the way back at the bottom of that dungeon, I absolutely wanted people to follow me, even if I didn’t say it. That sort of teamwork, if it does need a set leader at all, is a two-way street all the same. Of course, who did end up following me…” Z. left an empty space. They didn’t even want to think the name. “well, that’s what I mean about two-way streets, I guess. “Oh, but if you tell anyone I said any of that, I’ll peel your little green shell off of your little brown head and drag it through the mud.” Chester nodded along. “I see…” Then he started to laugh. “You’re more of a team player than I gave you credit for, Z. And if that’s the case, don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. I may not be perfect, but I always respect another’s wishes. Now,” and this is where the laughter really got going, “let us be lost together!” And they wandered back off to the rest of the group for real this time. Z. shook their head. Part of them felt like a suck-up, going right after both moderators and getting back in their good graces. It was just part of the dance, of course. Act out, lie low, accrue social capital, and spend it all. But then again, Chester and Hector weren’t moderators anymore. They were people, and like Z. had just said, they were all lost. Before they could get too lost, they noticed something still on the ground. “Hey!” they called out. “Actually take your fucking apple!” They threw it at Chester’s head again -- harder this time.Z. balanced their new badge on both of their front paws, observing it as it glinted in the sunlight. It was just the right size to fit at the base of their new Zorua neck, but there were other ramifications to consider. Would it work while they had an illusion up, or did they have to illusion up a fake badge too to use the real one? It seemed like such an easy thing to test out, but they didn’t want to get sidetracked. They were playing good right now. That would probably change once they got where they were going, of course, and they’d otherwise have to force themself to listen to everyone’s yammering, but sure they could play nice for now. They put the badge down for a moment and took a drink of water. Were they supposed to set a home point now? Was this home? They hadn’t been lying about that Hierarchy of Needs snark. As frivolous as that chart was, shelter was still the next step. Was the night sky going to be their blanket? Z. scratched behind their ear and consciously felt the Zorua fur in the way. That would help in that case. Maybe they were supposed to make a bunch of lean-tos. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Not right now, anyway. “Alright,” Z. said, finally putting the badge on. “Let’s go get lost.”

A Knight's Tale Ends "Sir Petrus...?" Petrus heard the cooing of Gwenllian, causing the red armored knight to turn away from his steed, to see the princess standing at the doorway to the stables. "My princess, why have you come?" he sighed, looking away from the beautiful one before him. "I had wished not to see you, before I departed." "Yes, Sir Petrus." Gwenllian responded softly. "But I could not, nay, I would not be alright until I saw you off. After your engagement with the dragon under Adrien's control and even stopping Adrien from his unfathomable techniques in the dark arts, I prayed you would stay for a bit longer." "Aye, and I would indeed stay." Petrus spoke, his gaze returning to Gwenllian. "But you know as well as I do, my princess, that the longer I stay, the more danger that would be caused by Adrien and his magic. It is the duty of a knight to protect what I care for..." he paused. "To protect who I care for." The two continued to stare at each other, until finally Gwenllian embraced Petrus, holding him tightly and not letting go. Petrus could hear the young girl sobbing, even hearing her tears colliding with his crimson armor. He tried his hardest to fight the tears that hung in his eyes, but it was not to be. From his eyes, the crimson knight began to cry as well, continuing to hold onto Gwenllian and not letting her go. The minutes seemed to tick away as the two continued to hold each other endearingly, but alas, this slowly was broken apart by the crimson knight. Petrus wiped the tears from his eyes and then Gwenllian's eyes, before he took her hand and slightly kissed it. "Gwenllian, I promise to you, I will return to you." he spoke, his voice cracking with sadness. "I will defeat Adrien and return to you." Gwenllian's hand remained held by Petrus until she put her other hand on top of his. She gave off a faint smile before slipping something into his hand. It was a small ring with the emblem of a spider engraved into it. "Then return to me, Sir Petrus." she said softly. "This will give you reason to return to me." The crimson knight remained quiet, only holding the ring in his hand as he looked at Gwenllian. A small nod came forth as he turned and mounted his steed, before trotting out of the stables. With a small jolt of his foot, the painted horse galloped away fast from the kingdom. He jolted his foot again, the horse ran faster. Then faster. And faster... Petrus tugged on the reins of the horse, before he stopped and looked back behind him. Now the kingdom of Orléans was but a faint glimpse, a far distant goal now. He looked away, directing his gaze only to the spider engraved ring. His mind could only drift back to Gwenllian and her beauty. Petrus couldn't stand being apart from the love of his life, but he swore an oath, and as a knight, he knew he would have to uphold it. He put the ring into the satchel on the horse, before jolting its side again, riding off towards the rising sun. The sunlight glistened over his crimson armor. And once more, the spider knight rode off, to finish his quest once and for all. He looked at his computer screen, letting out a loud sigh. Right now, that was the last page he had on the story he’d been working on and off entitled “Of Spiders & Knights”. This was a project that Marcus had started since he was fourteen. Of course, it would’ve been done quicker iiiiiiiiiif he wasn’t also moonlighting as the one and only arachnid based hero and saving the city. He finally got up from his chair, moving away from his desk as he moved around his apartment. “Okay you guys…hit save on that for me…I'll send it to Triple J by the end of the day.” he said, pointing at a small group of spiders that were by his keyboard and mouse, to which they immediately went to work on saving the document quite a few times. "Who am I? You sure you want to know? Alright then, let's start at the beginning, one last time. Same story, different beats." From the Top! "My name is Marcus Mattox. I solved an ancient tablet and got bit by a mystical spider, and for the last four years I've been New York's one and only Spider-Man Multi-Threader! Pretty sure the rest of the narrative you know, or at least the broad strokes of it. Became Anansi's ambassador, became a superhero, lost my dad, saved a bunch of people, saved the city...quite a few times actually, fell in love...uh...she's on the wrong side of the law currently...hopefully that'll change, wrote a book...well...attempting to write a book. Hey, you try and juggle being an aspiring writer while also being a protector of the city and tell me how easy it is! Ahem...anyway, even though I have to juggle the career I'm chasing and being a spider-based hero, I wouldn't trade it for the world. After all, I'm the only thing standing between New York and the ever oncoming threats that rear their ugly heads. It's my story that I've been blessed with...and I'm going to see it through to its final chapter!" “Grazie, the first of many tales that'll be written for the Daily Bugle Publishing. Now…let’s see if the city that never sleeps has anything new for me.” Marcus said, immediately flipping on a police scanner whilst grabbing his phone. He started flipping around it as the scanner crackled to life. “ALL UNITS! We have a situation…” the voice said immediately. Marcus knew that always meant something ‘fun’ was afoot. Whilst shoving a chocolate chip muffin down his gullet, he could hear the scanner continue. “...Repeat! Mysterio in Times Square!” “Oooooh, more waxing lyrical with the discount Sorcerer Supreme!” Marcus laughed, fastening his web-shooters onto his wrists. Hang On...! Let's review this... "Bit of background on one Quientin Beck AKA Mysterio. He was generally just an illusionist that played shows out here in NYC, but he had the aptitude and determination to do more. Apparently he went to study the Mystic Arts from our own Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange. So he had the drive, the aptitude and determination…he ended up getting to the top in terms of skill levels to an extent…so what happened? Well, you're Friendly Neighborhood Multi-Threader happened. Mind you…not purposely. See about this time, Strange sought me out for a potential candidate for his replacement and wanted to train me. Now, this was short lived, considering the guy was very strict when teaching anything in the Mystic Arts, plus he hated how I utilized tech with my powers. Nice guy though, we occasionally chit chat from time to time, play chess…even assists me with ideas for my books…annnnnd I'm rambling. Back to the present topic! Beck seems to resent me, not only taking away his chance to become the next Sorcerer Supreme, buuuuuuut I sort of saw him attempting to mess with the wrong kind of magic while he was at Kamar-Taj. We're talkin' like serious Dark Dimension stuff, the kind that would probably make Criss Angel blush. Downside, most of Beck's stuff is all just illusionary based, cause that's all he's good with. Maybe one day he'll surprise me though." HELLO NEW YORK!!! He grabbed his suit and immediately tossed it on, sliding the mask on last. He flung his apartment window open and took a running leap out of it, immediately launching himself outward, shooting a web as it caught the corner of a building, slinging him around to follow after New York’s Finest, already rushing to the scene. The exhilarating rush of the web-swinging helped Marcus…Multi-Threader…focus and clear his head. Right now, he knew how the former Sorcerer Supreme candidate operated, he was a sucker for the audience…a sucker for theatrics, so if he played his cards right…it would be simple. His thoughts, however, were cut short by the ringing of his phone. Luckily he had the earpiece in his ear. “Hellooooooo?~” he answered with a laugh. “I assume you overheard the news?” the young man’s voice on the other end said. “Oh hey, kiddo!” Multi-Threader laughed, doing a quick flip in the air during his web-swinging. “Yeah, it’s ol’ fish-bowl head. So, we know what’s going on at present, Terry?” Terry simply sighed on the other end. “Honestly, it seems like the same situation as usual, buuuuuuut…looks like he brought in a giant wyrm-like dragon.” “A wyrm?! Oh man, he’s really upping his game if he’s going that far for an illusion!” Multi-Threader smirked, flipping over onto a SWAT truck’s roof. “Either way, this should prove to be fun for me…gotta cut loose after finally finishing that final chapter! Anyway, talk with you later bro…enjoy the show!” He cut the call short, holding onto the truck’s roof, watching them turn sharply into Times Square. Even before the turn, however, he was already feeling that sensation. His hairs standing on end, a tingling sensation at the back of his skull and the general chills he felt: his Spider-Sense. Once the turn was made, lo and behold, there was the green scaled menace of a wyrm dragon, terrorizing the citizens. “Sheesh, he wasn’t kidding…talk about a humongous beast!” he whistled, flipping off the truck’s roof and onto a nearby building wall. "Let's see if Beck's taught it any cool tricks." “BEHOLD!!! The return of the master of the arcane arts: Mysterio!!” a figure spoke, simply walking down a set of green magical steps. The man in a green pressed suit with a smokey fish-bowl helmet descended into the Square. “Purveyors of this new age, attempting to banish the old arts from this world, see before you the wyrm summoned straight from the Dark Dimension! You must know now that your resistance to the old arts is futile!” “So does Dormammu know that you took his pet or did you borrow it without permission?” Multi-Threader piped up, waving a bit at the villain, who now turned towards him. “Awww, what’s wrong Beck, you don’t seem happy to see me. Then again, it’s always hard to tell with that small fish tank on your head.” “Wall-crawler! You shall not hinder my plan to become the new Sorcerer Supreme this time!” Mysterio shouted, his hands began to have a magical aura around them as two green triangles began to spin in front of them. “Tibi gratias agimus quod nihil fumas!” He spoke, shooting out two green magical beams straight at the spider based hero. “-Well I tend not to smoke anything, it’s bad for the whole hero image!-” Multi-Threader shot back in perfect Latin, which seemed to make Mysterio grumble under his breath. The wall-crawling hero immediately jumped off the building’s roof, narrowly dodging the two blasts as he fired a web onto another nearby building and swung around Mysterio, flipping upwards as he shot a web ball filled with a few spiders right at the sorcerer. “Seriously Beck, I think you need to come up with some new ‘incantations’, and maybe ones that actually make sense?” “You insolent arachnid!” Mysterio shouted, already attempting to knock the spiders from the web ball off his clothing. “Totem of Anansi, you shall cease this mocking of the TRUE Sorcerer Supreme!!” “Hey, what can I say…I’m a mocker, I mock!” Multi-Threader landed on a nearby roof, immediately firing two webs at a nearby air conditioning unit that was on the roof. It was a bit of public property damage, but he figured New York would look past that part. “I’m also a puller…a tugger…a yaaaaaanker!” he grunted, pulling the unit off and proceeded to swing it around before launching it at the arcane lunatic. “Guess I’m just a general jack of all trades!” “Denique diatem efficacem inveni!” Mysterio fired off another set of magical energy in the direction of the flying air conditioning unit. “Beast of the Dark Dimension, dispose of this meddlesome spider!” he commanded the wyrm, to which Multi-Threader was now realizing..it was real, the damage it was doing definitely seemed 100% real. But luckily no one was injured that he could see…so it could’ve been much, much worse. “First, congrats on the new effective diet my guy. What did you decide to cut out…the fish?” he quipped, knocking on his head to refer to the fish-bowl helmet. “Secondly, color me impressed, Quentin! You managed to actually conjure something that isn’t a pale imitation and illusion! Maybe I should call the doc and have him inspect the impressive feat!” The wyrm roared as it slithered towards the wall-crawler, to which Multi-Threader leapt from the roof and proceeded to aim right in the direction of the creature’s face. “Let’s try and blind this guy…alright fellas, show time!” he said, holding his hands in front of him as he flung a few spiders that crawled along from them towards the oncoming beast. Once they were on the creature, Multi-Threader immediately moved mid-air to narrowly grab onto the wyrm. “Okay…time for some blindness. Go for its eyes!” For some, it would look like nothing was happening at first…until a loud, ear-piercing roar was heard from the wyrm…what truly was happening was Multi-Threader’s spiders were in the process of biting the creature’s eyes over and over again. “Alright, that’s Plan A…now…didn’t get to Plan B yet…” he grumbled, before running along the wyrm’s back, webbing one side of it’s head before swinging around it’s open mouth, narrowly avoiding it’s closing jaws, before webbing the other side. Now he held a makeshift set of webbed reins. “Alright boy…HEEL!!!” he shouted, yanking the reins upward and getting the wyrm to cease its moves.Eventually, it would stop, whether by the pulling or just due to the sheer exhaustion it was feeling. Regardless of the reason, he let go of the reins and stood victoriously over the wyrm…who…began to fade and disappear beneath his feet. “Awwww, so it was an illusion? Man, you had me convinced there Beck. Lemme take a guess…illusions with a sort of a Dark Dimension styled buff to make em feel more realistic in the moment? Gotta say, you're putting more work into this than you usually do. It's almost impressive…almost being the keyword." “Grrrr…you and your insistent meddling with my destiny shall not stand, wall-crawler!” Mysterio began to slowly descend, holding a hand out towards Multi-Threader. “Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere!” A quick bolt of magic was delivered towards the spider-hero, with another being prepared in succession. Multi-Threader glanced over, seeing a manhole cover and immediately fired a web at it, yanking it towards him as he used it as a shield against the first bolt of magic. He immediately spun a bit before launching it at Mysterio. “Cap…eat your heart out! Also, I'd kindly ask you to leave Elvis out of this. Let the King of Rock rest already, for Pete Sake!” Mysterio was hit by the manhole cover, trying to get his bearings back together, grumbling. “Nullae satisfactionis p-...” “Yeah yeah, you can’t get no satisfaction!” Multi-Threader was already right there in front of Mysterio, delivering a punch right into his helmed face, knocking him onto the ground. “Least you could do is not rip off Mick Jagger…first Elvis now Jagger, for shame.” he said, snapping his fingers as suddenly he was beginning to be webbed up like it was nothing. After a few moments, Multi-Threader had those few spiders start to crawl back up towards him. “Job well done, fellas.” he watched as the last one came up, noticing that it left the message: Baddie Bagged, courtesy of the Magnificent Multi-Threader. “Alright, time for us to go.” Multi-Threader chuckled. “Lest the news media decides to want to pin this on me…oh what am I saying, some most likely will anyway!” He grabbed onto a nearby light pole, swung upwards before firing a web to grab the nearest building, swinging away. Or at least…he would've, if something didn't immediately catch his eye. A bubbling black hole slowly opening nearby. Multi-Threader paused in his stride, sticking to a nearby wall, staring at the strange portal. He tapped his ear and immediately called Terry once more. "Hey kiddo…" "Marc! Saw everything, you really got him good this time round!" "Yeah…listen, there's a strange portal-like sight I'm looking at right now." Multi-Threader continued, sounding a little serious. "May want to cancel the plans with me coming to see you and the missus…" "...Marc don't do anything stupid, please…" A chuckle escaped his lips. "Me? Stupid? C'mon kiddo, it's more-or-less called creative curiosity. I'll be back, don't worry." he said, hearing his brother sigh on the other end. Once the call was over, the arachnid based hero made his way towards it, getting closer and closer…though it was beginning to be a bit too close…like at an alarming rate. "Okay…it's sucking me in like a Hoover…wonderful!!!" Multi-Threader shouted, trying to resist but ultimately took the plunge and was drug in. Hitchhiker's Guide to...the Spider-Verse? Multi-Threader wasn't too thrilled about this insane roller-coaster of a ride he was being taken on…even noticing a few of his spiders crawling on his arm and beginning to web a sign saying: S.O.S. "I doubt anyone's gonna answer that, fellas!" he shouted, falling or being drug along through wherever he was going even more. He did, however, eventually see quite a sight he'd never seen before. Was it…space? No…that couldn't be the case, as he could still breathe. Scratch space out of the equation for the moment. If not space, then what? He didn't have much time to ruminate on it, considering his eyes were glued on the grander picture before him. An infinite web…spread across this strange void. "Curiouser and curiouser…" he muttered, continuing to fall as apparently others before him did. As he passed by…he was stunned at seeing the sights he did. World's that were similar to his own…but vastly different. "It's a full on multiverse…interconnected by these weaved webs…" Multi-Threader guessed to absolutely no one. He had heard that it might've been possible, but this wasn't something he figured was. He passed by a few of these interconnecting threads…seeing the world's and even specific things. For instance, a young man being hit with an ancient arrow and obtaining a ghostly spider-like being that came from within… Then there was a robotic heroine dressed to the nines in black armor… And…was that a horde of spiders, dressed up in a spandex suit? That one there sort of hit home for him to an extent…just like how the world that was in front of him was planning to. "Oh damnit…" he gulped, bracing for impact as he was practically launched right out the portal into the air. It was a strange looking city, though at first glance he could've mistook it for Manhattan. Nevertheless, Multi-Threader exhaled slowly, immediately looking around as he found a nearby rooftop and a billboard on it. "Now…let's hope…my aim ain't off…otherwise this spider is going splat!" he muttered, immediately launching his web right to the billboard. It stuck successfully, allowing him to swing gracefully upward and land on top of the roof. "Alright, stuck the landing!!" Multi-Threader huffed lightly. "Now…where in the world am I?" He looked around, before glancing at the billboard and noticed the words: Metro City. "Metro City? Well, I officially know I'm not in Kansas anymore…and luckily no house was dropped on me." He took a moment to attempt to gather his thoughts, about the time a glider flew past his peripheral. Well, perhaps "flew past" is a bit of a stretch...it was more like it was stationary and hovering at about 50 feet above the roof line. Unbeknownst to him, it wasn't who he thought it was…but he wouldn't know this or care. "Oh goodie, looks like the Wicked Witch sent out at least one of her favorite flying monkeys after me. Well, better not keep ol' Norman waiting!" He began to jump building after building, eventually web-swinging towards the glider. "Ayyyyy Gobby! Been a bit! What's the plan this time? Drag me into a new dimension, attempt to squash the spider? Ooooh! Or are you planning to open that Goblin themed restaurant you've always wanted??" Multi-Threader called after the "Goblin".

The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die Alright, Nil said. Now, let me tell you what happens next. These things you have told me, your hopes for the future, both immediate and far-reaching, are not going to come to pass because you merely said them aloud. I would not grant you that even if I could. What you are asking for, above all else, is a better world than this one, and those do not come cheap. I will grant you the time to do so. I will grant you this as well: The words spoken here, are yours and yours alone until your death. It would not be fair for me to simply let someone else end the world in your stead, and you are correct in that I would like to be entertained. But also remember that we are still opposed. I grant you these things and nothing more. Nil’s form started to fade away; each passing word turned her more and more transparent. She spoke with the same even tone she had through her entire conversation with the watchdogs, though now, perhaps, there was a hint of wry amusement. It’s easy to defy me when I’m right in front of you, when there’s someone here explaining the stakes. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts out there facing the rest of the world. I am not alleviating the work required of you at all. If anything, knowledge of me surely only piles on more difficulty. After all, I only need you to slip up once. I only need one single moment of weakness. If anyone can avoid it, I suppose it would be you two, but even so, you had best stick together. Her last words before she disappeared entirely were, I’m leaving you the fire. Take good care of it. And indeed, while the form she had taken had disappeared, the flickering lighthouse flame remained, as did the lighthouse, the island, and the rest of the world. The sounds of life returned to the island. There were crickets chirping in the grasses below. Even with their small size and distance, they were still present against the towering lighthouse mirrors and the crackle of the bonfire, carried by the breeze to those who needed to hear it. Carried, too, was Captain Helmsley’s voice. “Oi! You alright up there? Had a bit of a scare with all the shaking and I think the ship’s a little banged up, but we can make do if you have something that needs doing!” After a moment’s pause, he added, “Take your time, though! Whatever you need!” The sun peeked over the eastern horizon, and the rest of the morning started to blot out the night, ushering forth a new day. As Kitt and Olive looked out to the west, though, to the edge of the world where Naviim met the sky, they could still, for the moment, see an innumerable number of stars. THE END OOC

Citron’s heart sunk as she watched the scene unfold. Even as Peaches arrived to help, something had seemed off; most cowered at a wyvern of any size before a bone-chilling roar, and yet… The ‘lord’ below had stayed strong. She felt her frozen blood begin to flow with the need for action however, as her suspicions were proven right, and he dropped the sack to heft a hunting bow. “Peaches!” she shouted, eyes going wide as she found herself moving without thinking-- And climbing out the window. It started with one leg, and then both as she began to slide out from the window, using her good arm to catch the window-sill and hang for a moment, getting her bearings before releasing. The roof below was close enough that her legs only rattled a bit, wincing as she took a deep breath and used the momentum from the fall to slide downward from the sloped roof. At the last moment, she found herself jumping and bracing herself as she hurtled towards the ground, using her good shoulder to tuck into a roll rather than force the full brunt of this fall onto her leg, even if it triggered another array of pain from her sling-bound shoulder. Still, she had to move. While her first reaction would have been to run the man down as soon as she came to her feet, she was caught off guard as the sickening piercing noise of an arrow, lodging itself in its prey echoed out - followed by a pained screech that she knew all too well. “Peaches!” She found herself repeating, heart sinking as she rose to glance towards Wyvern, staggering from the arrow in its chest-- And fear took hold, as she glanced at the man who hefted the bag with little care began to move again. He was much stronger than she had thought. Glancing around, she looked for something-- Any way to be of use, as a thrashing noise brought her attention towards the cellar door. “C’mon, c’mon, please--” she murmured to herself, voice stricken with panic as she rushed towards the Cellar-door. It was jammed shut with a wooden board as a familiar voice, Lincoln’s, she thought, struggled to escape. With a quick grab, and heavy pull, she yanked the door open as she pulled herself quickly to the side, panting as she looked up towards the Soldier who had come practically flying out. “Y-You! You gotta help-- You have to stop him! He-He shot Peaches! She’s hurt and he’s--! I can’t--” she’d point, tears forming at the corner of her eyes as the futility of her own actions came crashing down around her. “Please,” she paused, voice stammering as she glanced up towards the soldier again, even as he seemed nothing like she had known him to be prior. Up until now, she had regarded Lincoln as a a clean, proper soldier, someone who was… Controlled, neutral. It reminded her of her grandfather, in a way, that he never seemed angry or annoyed. Worried maybe, like in the house, but not angry, seething; something he… Most certainly was here. A ‘mess’ only really began to describe what she saw, eyes flickering from the blood on his forehead, to the splinters in his shoulder. All signs of neutrality had flaked away too, as a sword had flicked away from its sheathe in an instant, and was pointed at… Her. But still, this was her only hope, and so she stared down the blade with tears beginning to fall from her eyes. “Please-- Stop him,” she pleaded, panicked eyes for an instant meeting his own violent eyes, before he took off-- A single set of words being the only hope she had to cling to, at this point. "I'll handle it." --- Of all the stupid things humans did, Peaches had seen… Well, more than her fair-share, since she had fought alongside Citron’s Grandfather. And yet, every time, the wyvern found herself surprised as humans continually pushed their luck against creatures magnitudes larger than themselves. Still, the knowledge of how stupid an idea it was to test her did nothing to absolve the pain her chest as an arrow parted scales, wrenching a pained screech from her as she staggered back, and the portly man made for some comment she couldn’t understand. His bull-rush however, she understood perfectly. Angered by the blow, she once again opened her jaws even as blood leaked from around the arrow in her chest, lumbering forward as she lunged towards the rushing man with her jaws splayed wide in an attempt to bite him… Only to fail, as the top of his skull met the bottom of her jaw, snapping her jaws shut with a crack of teeth on teeth as she was sent stumbling backwards. The wyvern’s head buzzed with pain, and yet as her vision focused she watched as he attempted to move on unbothered, attempting to run past even now. Sic ‘Em! The command echoed again in her mind as she turned her neck to glance towards the fiend, entire body shaking with a mixture of pain and rage… As she swung her entire body to the side in a heavy motion, a single wing flapping with a heavy-beat as she threw her entire body towards him like a battering ram in a single, sobering moment, as she ever tried to fulfill the command she was given.

Moments Before the Duel "Team Wilding is making their first appearance today, led by their captain, Action Duelist Honey Froswald! Some of you in the audience may recognize her as the younger sister of Major League Champion Elliot Dritte! Cam she live up!?” “Her opponent is Daichi Raimu from Team Genesis! Not much is known about them, but perhaps we’ll learn some today! Can he measure up to the sister of a champion!?” Daichi looked at himself in the mirror of the locker room, as he just finished changing into his outfit, looking at the hat he'd be wearing. "Win or lose..." he smiled before nodding, putting the hat on. "It's showtime!" The Duel The lights in the arena cut off for a moment, until a series of spotlights started coming on one by one, moving in quite the rhythmic fashion...finally something cut through the hushed tones of the crowds. “Ladies and gentlemen!! If you would please turn your attention this way to the center field and you’ll see our illustrious challenger...miss Honey!” the voice boomed as the spotlights pointed at the Duelist on the field. But all but one suddenly left the Duelist in a swift fashion. “...and who comes to take the stage to meet this challenger? Why...none other than I...” The remaining spotlights converged on one fixed location and suddenly an explosion of purple smoke erupted in where the spotlights stood...and once it settled… “Ladies and gentlemen, the Moonlit Magician has arrived.” Daichi smirked, bowing slightly and facing towards the opponent, the lights immediately coming back on afterwards. “I’m Honey Froswald! I don’t have any special epithet, but I want to give everyone an entertaining experience, all the same!” “3… 2… 1… Duel!” LET THE SHOW BEGIN!!! Action Field - Grand Adventure...he was cool with this. It was something he'd spent some time on before, so he was in his element somewhat. "If you don’t mind, I believe I’ll take the first move.” Daichi drew his five cards and looked at them, nodding slowly. “I shall set the Pendulum Scale, using my Dragonpit and Dragonpulse Magicians!” Soon two magicians appeared at either side of Daichi before rising into the air above him, being surrounded by a pillar of light. “The scales of 1 and 8, meaning monsters Level 2 through 7 are fair game!” Taking another look at his hand, he nodded. “And now, I’ll use this moment to do just that! Using Dragonpit and Dragonpulse...time for the real show to begin!” Daichi watched as now a dowsing pendulum appeared between the two magicians and slowly began to sway back and forth. “Metronomic Pendulum, swing and sway to mesmerize the audience! Give way for the magicians to take the stage! PENDULUM SUMMON!!! Now, put your hands together!!!” Soon one light came from where the Pendulum swayed and in quite the light show and flair, one magician exploded in a bright colorful array of light and descended near Daichi. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the star of my performance: Oafdragon Magician!" Daichi proudly introduced as the magician took a slight bow. "Alas, it's the first turn and I cannot attack. So instead, I’ll set one card face down and relinquish my t-...” he said, simply placing one card face down just as he said, preparing to pass his turn...however, Honey didn’t seem to let him just yet. “Not so fast! I activate the effect of my Ursarctic Micbilis from my hand! By tributing another Level 7 or higher monster from my hand or field during either player’s Main Phases, I can Special Summon it! I tribute Ursarctic Mictanus! I then activate its effect! It allows me to summon another Ursarctic monster from my hand! Come down, Megapolar! When this one is summoned, I can destroy one spell or trap… and I choose your set card!” Ursarctic...that was something he wasn't expecting exactly. “Well well, now that is an impressive start from you!” he said with a smile, immediately flipping his face-down up: Pendulum Area. It did indeed shatter in front of him, but in quite the beautiful display. “I suppose my bait of Pendulum Area worked. Well, if that’s the case...then I shall now relinquish my turn...provided you have no other interruptions. Now go on, let’s see what we can do to entertain the masses!” “Then you’ll love what comes next! I use Megabilis as a tuner, with Polari as the non-Tuner…” She motioned to them as their forms became green rings for Megabilis, and a single black star for Polari, “to summon...Ursarctic Grand Chariot! When it’s summoned, it destroys two cards you control… So I’ll destroy Dragonpit and Dragonpulse!” The massive mech reared the scythe back as Honey hopped onto the mech’s shoulder before shooting forward, swinging the mech through the pendulums set as scales and shattering them, leaving Daichi with just one card in hand and Oafdragon. “Taking out Dragonpulse and Dragonpit...an impressive thing to do as of now...” Daichi nodded, before moving quickly towards an Action Card...however...he didn't get it whatsoever. Honey seemed to beat him to the punch as she was practically launched by Grand Chariot to grab it. “Now, Grand Chariot! Destroy Oafdragon!” As Daichi recovered from missing the grab, he shielded himself with his cape, only for his monster to be destroyed! His life fell to 3400 from the battle damage, as Honey walked back up beside her ace, panting. The crowd cheered for the display it saw, only a bit louder than Daichi earlier. “I’ll set one, then it’s your turn. Let’s see you beat that!” Surprisingly, Daichi was applauding Honey right now, the sounds of him clapping could be heard. “Impressive display...truly! But, we magicians don’t go down as easily...not when we still have so much to display and dazzle our audiences with! I draw!!” he said, drawing his next card. “From my hand, I activate Amazing Pendulum! Seeing as I no longer have any cards in my Pendulum Zone, I can add two Magician Pendulum Monsters with different names from my Extra Deck to my hand. I’m selecting Dragonpulse and Dragonpit!” Quickly removing the two cards from his Extra Deck, Daichi added them to his hand before swiftly placing them on his Duel Disk. “Time for a repeat performance, you two! Dragonpulse and Dragonpit now set my Pendulum Scale! Once more, metronomic pendulum! Swing and sway! Pendulum Summon! From the Extra Deck and from my hand!!” Two lights appeared from the swaying Pendulum as two monsters appeared in a kneeling position. “Oafdragon Magician returns and joining him is Rapid-Fire Magician in Defense Mode!” “In response, I activate the Micpolar in my hand!” She revealed the polar bear card, Mictanus in grave popping out to be moved to banish, “Summoning it in defense! And when I do, it searches for another Megapola!” As the polar bear mech surfed onto the field, Honey’s set card also rose up, shining as it activated. Her LP fell to 3300 as the name Ursarctic Quint Charge became clear. “Then I activate the first effect of Quint Charge! I add Megabilis back from Grave to hand, only to tribute it immediately for Megapolar!” The humanoid polar bear mech from earlier appeared once more, brandishing its hammer! It took aim at Dragonpit Magician, pulling the hammer back for a swing, and…! “Heh, truly trying to silence my performance with that. However, not this time!” Daichi ran off, giving a whistle to Oafdragon and Rapid-Fire to quickly follow him. He then found what he needed...an Action Card just hanging near one of the little ship fins. Running off the side, he held his hand out and immediately Oafdragon Magician caught it, flying him over towards it. In an instant, the ivory magician grabbed the card and added it to his hand. Once they were back on the ship, he immediately played it. “Action Card - Starry Night! This turn, all face-up Spells and Traps cannot be destroyed.” Once he played it, a shimmering set of stars seemed to shoot across where Dragonpulse Magician remained, protecting it from Megapola. “A valiant effort, but I believe that’s as much as you’ll be able to do there...and now, since I activated a Spell...to be accurate, a Normal Spell in the form of an Action Card, Rapid-Fire Magician’s skill activates.” The magician holding two scepters moved slightly for a moment, having various amounts of colored fiery orbs floating around him and the scepters. “Whenever I activate a Normal Spell, with him, I can inflict 400 points of damage to my opponent! Now, do your thing, Rapid-Fire!!” Rapid-Fire Magician nodded and began to wave the scepters in his hands, the fiery orbs dancing around him before being launched towards Honey, colliding and taking the damage out. Honey: 3300 -> 2900 LP “And with that, I shall end my turn!” Daichi declared with a nod. “Ahh, so that’s your strategy. I was wondering, but that’s pretty neat. Guess I have to take that out first!” Honey grinned as she drew for turn, looking over the board. “I Special Summon the Megatanus I drew from my hand, banishing Megabilis from grave for it!” As she placed the card on the disk, a black mech, not unlike Grand Chariot, appeared, though it stood not much taller than Micpolar and brandished a bow. It took aim at Rapid-Fire Magician, pulling the string back… and letting its arrow shoot true, flipping the monster to face-down defense! “When it enters, we’ll turn that burn off for now! On to battle! Megatanus, destroy the set Rapid-Fire Magician!” With a slight grit of his teeth, Daichi watched as Rapid-Fire Magician was attacked and destroyed by Megatanus. Luckily he didn't lose Life Points from that attack, but even still, that was an impressive move. He looked around for a moment, before finding another Action Card nearby. “Bingo!” he said, rushing towards the card. “Next up, Megapolar is going to destroy Oafdragon! Arctic Crusher!” “I don’t think so!” Daichi shouted, playing the Action Card he just picked up. “Action Card - Debris Shield! This prevents the destruction of one monster I control only once!” Soon a small shield of falling debris appeared before Oafdragon Magician and protected him from the incoming attack of Megapola. Or so he thought... “Useless! I activate Action Spell - Eclipse Event! During this battle phase, all action spells have their effects negated! Finish it off, Megapolar!” "W-What?! That's a trick I wasn't expecting!" he exclaimed, basically watching the shield of falling debris immediately vanish from in front of Oafdragon Magician. Daichi slightly gritted his teeth again, before attempting to outrun the incoming attack. Unfortunately, this put him at a huge disadvantage...now that he couldn't use any Action Cards during the Battle Phase. The attack struck true and it blew Daichi back quite a bit in the process. “Now, finish it off, Micpolar, Grand Chariot!” The two mechs mobilized at her command, Honey riding the synchro straight toward Daichi! The polar bear rammed him, then Grand Chariot’s scythe grazed him, knocking him down, and ending the duel. The area filled with the sound of clapping, and a bit of cheers. Nothing like a fully packed stadium, but enough to give Honey a little bit of warmth. As Daichi’s LP fell to 0, the area had lights appear around Honey as she rode Grand Chariot, showcasing her as the winner. The screens that showed their duel showcased such as well, while she stepped down to the ground, the duel fading away. Walking over to Daichi, she extended her hand and smiled softly. “Sorry if that was a bit… brutal. I actually thought you were really entertaining, good game!” The ivory magician simply was dusting himself off before extending his hand in response, a wide smile on his face. "Alas, my first Duel was one setting in loss...but, against someone like you, who was able to entertain and showcase to the audience in such a manner, I happily accept it. A truly entertaining game, miss Honey." Daichi smiled before holding her hand up high, practically doing a curtain call bow with her. "Ladies and gentlemen! Let's hear it for your victor in this Duel: Honey Froswald!" To this the audience began to cheer about this and once it was time for Daichi to take his leave, he exited the Duel field and made it to the locker room in order to change...taking the hat off, he simply looked at it. The smile on his face showed he had a fun time, to show that he enjoyed such an amazing Action Duel...but what laid underneath that smile? Was it...a bit of frustration? Sadness? No one but Daichi would know the answer to this.

Logo by myself Logo direction & assistance by Yui It Began With a Letter A character starts with an idea, an idea that flourishes and blooms into what the creator has seen within their mind’s eye. Where that character goes is determined by what the creator deems good for their respective creation and remains within the guidelines of the creation’s place of existence. Whether these characters are of a pure heart or whether they’re created solely for the purpose of evil, aside from an overarching narrative that the character’s find themselves within, it’s the characters themselves that truly make the atmosphere of a story. Isn’t it time we dove into the specifics of these characters and explored them even further than they have ever been? That’s the purpose of this blog: review characters, dissecting them bit by bit, in order to understand what they have in store. Along the way, we’ll discuss the creator’s views on the character and what the plans for them are (or would be). However, before we can do this, ground rules must be put into place: The Interviews

I think there's a fundamental flaw with the argument here that isn't being properly explored. That is to say, the point being presented is unsure if it's The Three Act Structure Is Not All The Matters, Stories Don't Need An Overarching Plot, or Conflict Is Not Needed. If we speak of the former, then sure, there's room to be explored... Even for the second, there's a strong case. However, it seems more like it's mostly on the third, while conflating it with the first and second for effect. Even cr47t's follow-up reply seems to fall into these pitfalls: This has the same idea that overarching plots and the requirement, or lack there-of, of conflict are the same thing... Making it just as muddled an argument as the original post. So let's break this down a bit. The four-panel comic in question is full of conflict, both overarching and small. Each panel has a small conflict, such as needing to perform action to get drink... But those are small, something we will return to later. For now, let's point out the man in the third panel of the 4koma. He's looking about, he's kicking his feet... This body language suggests that he is waiting for someone or something. That means that in panel four, either the girl arriving OR the girl giving him the drink, the conflict is being solved. In this case, the conflict is being alone and/or his thirst. For the purposes of a four panel comic, this is a central conflict. The tumblr post seems to hold 4koma, and other four act structures, up as some sort of ideal conflict avoiding storytelling, but... that simply isn't the case. This poptepipic 4koma is a better example of the argument for lack of conflict, yet there is clearly still a conflict. It just doesn't happen to be something the characters we see as the protagonists care about, so their resolution is to ignore it and carry on. In fact, this can be used to defeat one particular point from said original post. The conflict doesn't have to center on the protagonist, at all. The protagonist is, by definition, nothing more than the main character. Or part of the main team, depending. Of course, in many cases, this role is expanded... but it doesn't have to. Even then, both the Can 4koma and the one above show characters making decisions that influence what happens around them, so it cannot be argued that the problem has to impede the protagonist. We can even showcase this in western storytelling! Many western stories, especially fantasy, involve heroes going out of their way to help others. By its very nature, that cannot be described as impeding the protagonist, up until the moment they willingly choose to do so. Same with Can girl... or subverted by Popuko and Pipimi. You can argue the duo is embracing death, but that means it isn't impeding them and they willingly chose to not be impeded. Another issue I noticed is that the original post seems to conflate conflict and violence. Violence is conflict, but conflict is not violence. Hell, hunger being solved by eating is a conflict and resolution. That is not inherently violent. There's also this weird sense of "conquering" or "winning" they mention with the conflict, but, again... Popuko and Pipimi show how that isn't the case. Meanwhile, the Can 4koma can easily go back to my eating example, because you're quenching thirst with a drink. Conflict, resolution. I can't speak too much for the movies mentioned by cr47t, but from what I recall, Totoro has a series of mini-conflicts that all make up the tale of childhood. The movie acts as a series of snapshots, rather than an overarching plot. And that is a fine, valid way of going about storytelling! That simply isn't the case being made. It could have been. It could have been a case for 4 act storytelling. But... here we are, instead talking about "conflict". The very nature of humanity is conflict. To write a story without conflict is to make something completely alien to us as a species. You CAN make a story without a grand conflict, and Totoro is arguably an example of this... but the 4koma in the post is absolutely not. Because, for its small scale, it presents an action resolving its relatively minor "grand conflict". By the by, I wanna make a point about conflict. A GRAND conflict is not the same as a CENTRAL conflict, which seems to be another general issue with this tumblr post. You see, a grand conflict is something like... The knight has to slay the dragon to save the town. It's grandiose, it defines every point of the story in many cases, and it leads up to the final confrontation. However, Seinfeld is a great example of a show that lacks a grand conflict, yet has a central conflict... Life. Yep. There's no grand directive that keeps Seinfeld going, but there's is the central strand going through it that informs and affects the story. In the case of Seinfeld, it's just these horrible people going through their lives and just how shitty they can be. There are a series of small conflicts with each episode, and they aren't interconnected directly, but they're all a result of their lives and the decisions they made up until that point. It's a mundane central conflict, but that's one that a lot of people can connect with. You know, until they end up in jail for being pieces of shit. Totoro, too, has a central conflict. The mother in the hospital. It is the source of just about everything that branches off in the movie, and though it is not at any point the main point of the movie... It informs and affects many aspects of it. Being alive is conflict. Surviving, working, living day by day. And, if I'm honest? Most people lead mundane lives. But it's still a series of conflicts. Working to eat, eating to live, living to find meaning. Sure, this differs from person to person, yet the general idea remains. For example, I know someone who hates eating. Sees it as a total waste of time and money. As such, even the step of obtaining food is a conflict for that person. It's not exciting. It's not grandiose. It is conflict. Anyway, I would also like to add that the post in question is very, very clearly making a case for Western storytelling being inferior to Eastern storytelling (by virtue of being "violent" and "confrontational"), and it just makes the point all the more confused. Both Western and Eastern storytelling have merits. Neither is objectively correct nor incorrect, and it is a great idea to expand your horizons beyond one or the other. In fact, I believe that the meeting of the two and finding a balance can create absolutely wondrous, beautiful results. To sum it up: OP on Tumblr is very confused about what hills they want to die on. OP on Tumblr is confused about what the hills they got on even mean. You can lack a grand conflict, but you cannot be without conflict. Even then, a central conflict may be more subtle than it appears to be, as it still exerts at least a certain level of influence on the events of the story. Seinfeld lacks a grand conflict, but it DOES have Life as a central conflict. Let's hope that Konosuba ends the same way. Because it's just Isekai Anime Seinfeld. Life is conflict. Mundane though it may be, it is still conflict. While unrelated to the main point, beautiful things come from combining techniques and storytelling refined in different areas. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and they can compliment each other. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. EDIT: I also wanna point out that, while Life is the central conflict for everyone in Seinfeld... Newman is pretty fucking close, too.

Interview 2 - Christina Yates by Comrade Duck

Ok sooo umm... This is something I have wanted to try out for a long time but it's definitely not my style or strength at all... Even knowing my limitations it still surprises me that I've been working 4 hours on it and now I have to wake up in like 2 more to go to work xD The hair was a nightmare and I swear I wasn't trying to do a duckface or anything, I wanted to make one of those cute angry anime expressions.

Make of this what you will, guys.

Hey all, so I was thinking about all of the different Roleplays (RPs) that are on this site, and how confusing it might be for a new person to navigate through all of that. I thought it might be helpful for them to just have a place to go to quick reference what all the active RPs are, who's accepting, etc. So without any further ado, here's the list. For the sake of people looking for RPs to join, I'm also going to include new interest checks and out-of-character threads (OOCs) that haven't yet started or closed out, which do not need the "accepting" label as they are, of course, accepting. These will be at the very top. For prospective hosts, I would appreciate if you would either let me know or announce it in the thread if you decide to close an interest check or OOC due to lack of interest on either yourself or the RPers' parts. If you do not, I will give the interest check or OOC three months without you having made an in-character thread (IC) before declaring it inactive and taking it off the list. If you find that there are any discrepancies, such as members not being in the RP anymore, or an RP being tagged wrong, please let me know either through Discord or here. If you want to know when this was last updated, just check the very bottom of this post. Credit to various people such as LordCowCow, Saikazo, Skaia, Cheshire Toon, and Yui for their help. Without them, this list wouldn't be nearly as extensive or thorough. Terms Interest Checks / New OOCs Start Date - RP Name - Host [ Cohost(s) / Rating ] List of Active RPs (Cow Note: Including "On Hiatus" here for ease) Start Date - RP Name - Host - [ Cohost(s) / Rating / Acceptance Status ] 06/16/23 - Pokemon: Mind and Soul (Retry) - LordCowCow - [Cohost: Skaia / PG / Probably Not Accepting] 01/30/23 - The Others - LordCowCow - [PG-16 / Accepting] 11/15/22 - Walpurgisnacht - radio414 - [PG-16 / Conditional Acceptance] 04/12/22 -Dragon Sign - Skaia - [PG-16 / Not Accepting] 04/09/22 - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Union of Stars - Sethera - [PG? / Probably Not Accepting] 10/16/2020 - Overlap - Lord CowCow - [ PG-16 / Accepting] 12/07/19 - Of Magic and Dungeons - LordCowCow - [ PG-16 / Accepting ] 01/11/19 - The Chosen: RP Hardcore Mode - LordCowCow - [ PG-16 / Accepting] 01/08/19 - The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin - Merci - [ PG-16 / Not Accepting ]

The two brothers listened, unsure what to do. The creator of the world itself was offering them a wish. What could they wish for? Power beyond imagining? No, that felt wrong. They made it this far on their own strength, they could continue to grow even stronger. Overwhelming riches? No, they didn't want money. At the end of the day, Denku at the very least knew what he wanted. Taking a step forward, Denku made himself know. "Can you heal my heart disease?" the older brother asked. "I mean, it might be possible Xerenas already healed it, but I don't know for sure, and I rather not risk passing up a chance to be rid of this damned disease forever," Arceus looked at him and nodded to Denku's utter relief. It seemed he didn't have to worry anymore about it. The older brother turned to the younger brother, tilting his head and waiting to see what Kazo would wish for. The Gabite didn't say anything at first, his mind whirling with ideas. In the end though, he really only wanted one thing, a single wish that could never be granted... he wanted to have a race with Latios. But Latios was gone now, and the dead wouldn't rise again. Nothing else really came into his head. "I... I guess I'll pass on that wish," Kazo said sheepishly with a shrug. "Everyone else made the wish I would, and... the only thing left can't be granted," He smiled though. "But, just seeing the world go on and seeing it become better is reward enough for me," Was Kazo an idiot for passing this once in a lifetime opportunity? Probably. The Years Pass By After saving the world, the two brothers did many more things, perhaps not worthy of legend, but grueling to them nevertheless. The two of them joined Randy in wrestling, becoming a popular tag team for several years. They had grueling training and hellish fights, but it was exciting to them, and they were together. After five years however, the two retired, and they went their separate ways. Denku, using his savings he gained from his winnings, had moved back to Juyu and opened an orphanage, where he took in many kids and helped them find new homes. Meanwhile, Kazo went to train even more, to become stronger, to become faster, to become better than he ever was before, and eventually, became a Disciple of Ideals himself. Ten years later Denku took a large sip of his drink to hide the smirk on his face. He was now a Tyranitar, with a big and sturdy body that was nearly a mountain, yet every kid in the orphanage was climbing all over Kazo, who desperately just wanted to get a drink of the hot chocolate Denku's wife gave him. While Denku hit a major growth spurt and his hair changed to a healthier shade of green, these changes seemed minuscule compared to how Kazo changed. The now Garchomp was even taller than he was before, and unlike his old scrawny self, the Garchomp had some muscle on him. The most drastic change on him however, was that his hair had partially turned white, apparently due to a mistake during his training under Zekrom. The kids seemed to think it was cool though, so Kazo didn't care too much. "Uncle Kazo, tell us another story!" a Joltik clinging to the dragon's arm begged. "Yeah, yeah! Come on, tell us!" A Totodile on his shoulder added. "It's been a whooooooooole month!" "Hey, hey, I'm runnin' outta stories here, you know?" Kazo joked. "I don't go around doing amazing things 24/7," "The most amazing thing you could do right now is get a girlfriend," Denku teased, not even reacting to the dirty look Kazo shot him. "Uncle Kaz doesn't have time for things like that!" The Totodile claimed. "He's too busy being a super hero!" "Oh, but what if Kazo had a partner to help him with the superhero-ing?" Denku asked. "Maybe someone like... I dunno, Latias?" "I should have never told you about that kiss," Kazo groaned. "That happened a long time ago... and... well... you know, I don't... well, I don't...," "Kaz," Denku sighed before looking at him. "You need to stop beating yourself up. Latios's death wasn't---," "Wasn't my fault, I know, I know, that's what everyone tells me," Kazo muttered. The two kids, sensing their uncle's discomfort, let go of his arms and wandered into a different room. With a sigh, Kazo picked up his cup of hot chocolate and took a sip. "Look... I just... it probably wouldn't work anyways, okay? Legend and all," Denku nodded as he took another drink, a thoughtful look on his face. "... Zygarde," He said simply as Kazo took another sip, causing the dragon to spittake, a bright blush on his face. "I JUST SAID THAT LEGENDS AND----," "You should of wished for some courage with women back when we saved Arceus," Denku interrupted with a smirked, causing Kazo to scowl. "Nope, nope, nope. I can't, I just can't, I'm out," Kazo said as he stood up. "Later kids!" Kazo yelled into the house. "Uncle Kazo's heading out!" Grabbing the tip of an invisible hat, he moonwalked away, heading out the door and heading outside. Kazo sighed to himself as he ran, the world just a blur around him as he moved. After all his training, he could run much faster and for much longer, letting him travel across the continent in a record breaking time. His current plan right now was to check in with Weynon first and figure out the rest of his week from there. He was coming up to the city of Oasis when he decided to slow down. He wasn't expecting to see Mac here or anything, but he could check in on her folks for her for the next time they met. As he slowed down however, he noticed a band of bandits attacking what looked like a group of two or three families. "Well... that won't do," Kazo thought as thunder rumbled in the distance. He walked forward with purpose, cracking his knuckles as he approached one of the bandits, grabbing the man's head and tossing him to the side as easily as one would throw away garbage. The taunting and jeering the bandits were doing to intimidate the families died down as everyone realized what had happened, all eyes landing on the Disciple of Zekrom. "Oy, who the hell are you?" One of the bandits snapped, causing Kazo to smirk. "I get called a lotta things, but right now, I'm feeling like... I'm the storm that's approaching," Kazo felt pretty good about that one, especially as thunder rumbled just as he finished his sentence. Even Zekrom would have to think that was badass, right? Each bandit began to move towards Kaz, but faster than they could blink, they felt Kazo's fist bury into their guts, causing them all to fall to the ground in less than a second. "Heh, not even using any attacks. You wanna just leave now or make me use a Draco Meteor?" The bandits were quick to run. Cowards. Still, that made it much easier. With a smile, he turned to the families. "Oasis isn't much farther, a ten minute walk at best! Safe travels!" Before he could run off however, someone called out to him. "Wait!" Turning, Kazo could see it was a small Bagon that had called out, barely looking over eight years old. "Do... do you think that I could grow up to be a hero like you?" Hero. He hadn't been called that in awhile. It brought back some good memories of some old friends though. "A hero, huh?" Kazo asked as he rubbed his chin playfully. He turned around, showing his back to the kid before looking over his shoulder. "Well, can you keep up with me?" The Bagon, to their credit, didn't back down, in fact, it seemed a fire was lit inside of them. "I'll keep up with you! In fact, I'll surpass you!" They answered with the confidence of a Helioptile from days long past. "Good answer," Was all Kazo said before he ran off, the dragon rushing to his next adventure. The Guardian and the Hero FIN

After Mac finished speaking, a small Litleo scurried forward. "You always beat me to the punch," he complained, but his jovial tone took the bite away from his words. Turning to look up at Arceus, the smile slid from his face as he remembered her earlier statement. His chest had tightened upon seeing the blue-haired girl get her mother to live, but that was just saving an existing life. Once they were dead... "I understand," Ari said solemnly in a continuation of what the legendary had said earlier. "To bring back the dead would be going against the Circle of Life. I was taught that much at home." His father, especially, as the God of Life's Disciple, had made sure that stuck, but it didn't make the fact any less painful. The mere memory was enough to bring on a wave of emotion that he could only hold back with some difficulty. Regaining his composure--because he was a prince, and that was what princes did--the Litleo blinked, straightening his shoulders. "What I wish for is..." before, he would've wished to be strong enough to make everybody proud of him, and he still wanted that, but he didn't think it right to get that through a wish. In the end, he was only as strong as he made himself. "That everybody in Pride Rock may live in peace," his words grew uncharacteristically formal as he drew himself up with rare dignity. "That the divide that stands between lion and non-lion goes away. But I don't think that's something you can wish for either." He smiled sadly. "That kind of result can only be brought about by gijinka working together to achieve it. At least, that's what I believe." His smile brightened, and he was the normal Ari again. "So in the end, I guess I wish for nothing. I guess I just came here and wasted your time, huh?" But as he walked back, he paused, turning around. "Oh wait! I did think of something! If you could repair the damage done to Pride Rock, that'd be great. Mom said they're still trying to repair it." His smile widened. "So I guess I do have a wish, after all." -- No bringing back the dead, then? I expected as much, but still... If Easter had a choice, that would have been his wish. To bring back the Eevee child...but perhaps it was for the best this way. They had been dead for years, after all. He was glad that Dora got her wish granted, though. He had been worried about how she would react once her mother died. At least Brooke is here and would've been there for her. And me too. Denku as well, perhaps. The Sylveon hung back till most of the others had been granted their wishes. Because he didn't know what he wanted. That was the problem. To be granted a wish...it felt so cheap. He had always done things through his own power, if one left aside the fact that most of his moves relied on the power of the cosmos, so technically... And I'm stalling. I honestly...don't know. Eventually, he knew he had to do something, so he stepped forward. "My wish...I don't know," he said plainly. "I still don't know where I'm going, or what I'm going to do." This was the most honest he had been in a long time. "But I don't think I want to just waste a wish either." He tilted his head, thinking. That Litleo had a nice idea. Repairing his home. For a second, he thought about asking that for Deku, but, remembering the proud tilt to the heads of the town survivors, he changed his mind. No, rebuilding is the work of ordinary gijinka. We take pride in producing results with our own power. Which meant that was out. So then something that would aid his goals? But he didn't even know what those were anymore. For the longest time, he had wanted to grow stronger, no, to be the strongest. But now that didn't seem to matter anymore. Protection, that's what mattered. But he still wasn't good enough for that yet either. If he wanted to be able to protect others, he had to train further. These last battles had shown him that much. So perhaps, going off of that, he didn't need to amend his initial goals that much. He had to become stronger so he could protect others. In which case, he could continue on the path he had set himself on all those years ago. "I think I know what I want now. I thought that I had been wrong before, in wanting to gain strength, but I wasn't. I just wanted it for the wrong reasons." He smiled gratefully at Dora, Brooke, and Denku, who had helped him to reconcile himself with that notion. And that last conversation with Nine had been enlightening as well. "So I will be stronger, but that's not my wish. Instead," his blue eyes lit up with mischief. "My wish is that you set aside some time in the future for a match. One of the best ways to grow stronger is to fight strong opponents, and I can think of no one stronger than you." He winked. Afterward, the Sylveon swaggered back to his place, grinning like the Delcatty that got the cream. Until he realized what he could've wished for, and his face turned as long as a Rapidash. Damn, I could've wished for a year's supply of sweets, or even better...limitless sweets! It was too late now though. Oh well. Getting to fight Arceus was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. He could get sweets anytime, so he had to just stay strong. No matter how tempting they sounded. -- Keanu knew right away what he wanted to wish for, and he didn't waste any time when he came up for his turn. "I want help," he said flatly. "Help to bring us," he nodded at Randy, Marie, and Nani, "back to our home, and help to fight off the Beasts that took it from us." He looked back up at Arceus. "Maybe it's too big a wish for one gijinka to make, but that's what I want. Other than that...well, I can't think of any other kind of wish." Maybe a girlfriend? But no, that wasn't really a priority. Though, speaking of wahine... "Actually, I thought of something. I'd like it if you could repair the damage done to Kalia's mind, though I don't know if you can..." But if the god could repair physical damage, then couldn't she repair emotional or mental damage as well? "I know it's probably hard to forgive her for joining in with the Godslayers, but I don't think she was in her right mind." Keanu turned to the other Alolans. "Kalia...you've heard of her, right? She was quite famous back on Alola. Well, she managed to arrive in Adarid as well, but unlike us, she was alone... And so she decided to follow that evil Houndoom, believing it was the only way to go back to Alola. I wasn't able to convince her otherwise, but I can't just leave her alone either. She's an Alolan, like us. It feels wrong to leave her like this." Had it been him who had washed up on Adarid alone, he was sure he would've turned out similarly. And so, he couldn't really blame the Sandslash for what she had done, even though she had almost killed him. Yes. They were going to go home to Alola. All of them. Nobody would be left behind. Epilogues ==== Ariel: The Wise ==== "Hey, um...Jabari?" Ari approached the Zebstrika nervously, hands clasped together. "I, uh, need your help with something. I know it's probably not right for me to ask you of this, after everything we've done to your people, but..." he took a deep breath, and then looked the former Godslayer in the eye. "I don't think I can do this without you." -- "Your Highness! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Zago panted. "I had thought the worst, but I'm glad that isn't the case." "Yeah, I'm glad to be back too, Zago," the Litleo smiled before his expression turned serious. He turned to the Zebstrika behind him with a nod. "Because there's a lot to be done." -- "They won't approve, you know," his mother said, eyes sad as she watched her son go through paperwork. He was far too young to be tackling such a serious issue. "I know they won't. But I don't care. They won't approve because it takes away their privilege," Ariel, formerly known as Ari, snorted. "Well, we all saw where that lead us. If you tell somebody he's not as good as somebody else because he wasn't born a lion, well, you're just lying to them. And I know this much: lying is bad. Because of that lie, my uncle got my father killed, and himself as well. The God of Life almost died too." He shook his head. "Jabari's working hard on his end. I have to uphold my end as well." "I understand," the queen smiled. "I'm proud of you, Ariel." "I know. Thanks, Mom." -- "We did it," Ariel turned to Jabari with tears in his eyes. "We did it." He held up the stone slate, admiring the writing on it as he turned it this way and that. "It's set in stone now. This is the new law of the jungle." "They're waiting for you," Jabari nodded. The scarred warrior's countenance had changed; the ice had thawed from his blue eyes and his stance had relaxed. To the side, his younger sister Dalia stood, staring proudly at the two who had just made history. "No..." Ariel shook his head. "They're waiting for us. All of us. I couldn't have done this without you, Jabari." He smiled sadly. "I know this cannot make up for years of oppression, but I'd like to think it's a step in the right direction." "You did what I couldn't do before...for Dalia," the Zebstrika said. "You're a true hero." "I don't know about that. I think if anybody here is the hero, it's you," Ariel said honestly as he turned to the former Godslayer. "Your suffering pushed you into the abyss, but you crawled your way back out of that, protecting me and the other children from that Lucario. Not just anybody could do that." "Yeah, accept it, big brother. You're a hero, and not just to me anymore, but to everybody." "Me, a hero?" Jabari looked disbelieving for a second, face turning serious as he mulled it over. Eventually, he nodded, mouth quirking into a small, genuine smile. "I think...I can start believing that now." -- The Pyroar stood at the tip of the rock that gave Pride Rock its name. Next to him stood Jabari, and to the side, Zago, Dalia, and his mother the former Queen Leah. On the ground below stood a multitude of gijinka. Lions rubbed shoulders with zebras, and giraffes stood at attention next to hyenas. While there were still some who kept to their own kind, they were the minority and not the majority. The lion's chest swelled up in pride at the sight. "Thank you, everybody, for being here," he smiled. "This day is an auspicious one. Not just for me as king but for you all as well. Today marks the first year anniversary since we implemented the Gijinka Rights Act. As you all know, this act marked a change in our history. A change for the better. Before, we were divided, but now, we are one. Lions do not stand above zebras, and hyenas are no longer considered outcast." He paused as the crowd cheered below him. "When this Act was first made, many of you were skeptical. Many of you thought that it couldn't be done, that centuries of hatred and prejudice could not be wiped out overnight. And you were right," his expression turned sober. "This is not the work of a single year, but a lifetime...no, many lifetimes. When this day has passed, the fanfare has died, and you return to your homes, you must keep what you have heard here in mind. Because equality is not made in glamorous speeches, but in the actions that we make each and every day." "When I was younger, I never dreamed that I would set my mind to this issue. For me, it wasn't an issue because it was normal. Well, that 'normal' is no longer normal. I say this: the new normal is equality!" another cheer. "And though I never dreamed that I would do this as king, now that it has been done, I couldn't be prouder. I say here and now, I cannot think of anything nobler, or more important, than what we all worked together to achieve one year past. What has been achieved is bigger than what a mere king could do. Because it is through all of your efforts that this has been made possible." As the crowd cheered once more, he smiled. "And though this day is equally small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, I believe it should be celebrated. Because this day was when things started to move in a new direction for this land. Henceforth, this day shall be known as the Day of Equality." The people cheered, and the Pyroar's smile widened when he noticed a couple of familiar faces in particular among the crowd. They came. I'm so glad that they're here to see this. I wonder if Dad is watching from above as well? I can't help but think that he'd be proud of me, and what I've done here. And to think it had all started when he ran away from home. Though that choice had brought its share of sorrows, he couldn't bring himself to regret it, or the friends and family he made along the way. ==== Easter: The Guardian ==== "It's good to see you again, Dora. Sorry, Brooke couldn't be here. She's busy getting her shop set up right now. I'm here on her behalf though!" "Easter! Did you bring any candy? No, wait, I should get YOU candy!" "I brought some, you little scamp," Easter pinched her cheek--ignoring the nearby guard's look of shock--before bringing out a wrapped candy and presenting it to the Quagsire to take. "This is a Rare Candy. It's supposed to be super tasty and help you grow big and strong." "Yay! But we already saved the world do I need to get even stronger?" "Well, there's nothing wrong with being strong. And I heard it tastes pretty good too!" "Then I'll take it! Hey, hey, do you want to meet my mama?" "I think I've already met her, but sure," the fairy type replied with some amusement. When he saw the queen, he almost didn't recognize her, so different was she than the bedridden woman from before. Now, the woman appeared the very picture of health, with a regal bearing befitting her status as she smiled down at the Sylveon. "Easter! It's been a while. Thank you for coming to visit Dora. She's been a little lonely." Easter smiled back, the smile widening when he heard the Quagsire's confused sounds in the background. "I'm always happy to see Dora. And I'm pleased to see you're doing well, too." "Yes, I have much to be thankful to Arceus for. And to Dora, for thinking of me. I couldn't ask for a better daughter." "And she couldn't ask for a better mother," the Sylveon replied, tone slightly wistful. -- "Do you think...this is a good idea?" Morgan asked the gijinka next to her. Her big brother, who had, for her sake, decided to visit their parents in Northshore. "No, I think it's a terrible one," Easter replied flatly. "But I said I'd visit, and I'm not one to break my promises." He stared at the front door of the house he had grown up in as he shifted from foot to foot. "Oh, look, Lewis dear, the prodigal son has returned," a Flareon sniffed. Though she had aged much since the last time he had seen her, Easter knew her right away. There was no mistaking that disdainful expression. "Son? I have no son, Catherine," the Espeon at her side replied. "Just a disgrace for a daughter." The Eevee shrunk beneath his gaze. "Stop that," Easter snapped, moving forward. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. I don't care what you think about me, but Morgan loves you both and works hard for your sake. Can't you two see that?" "All I see is a disgraceful girl who chooses to associate with riffraff and ruffians. Not to mention," the man stared at Easter's clothes in disgust, "homosexuals." "Just because somebody dresses like this, doesn't mean they're homosexual," the Sylveon snapped. "I happen to be so, yes, but that has nothing to do with my fashion choices." "Regardless, you're not welcome here in Northshore. Leave, before I call the militia on you!" Easter stared at the man in disbelief. "It's been years, and you won't change your mind? At all?" "Of course not! It's obvious you haven't changed one bit since you left!" his mother cut in fiercely. The Sylveon shook his head. "No, you're the ones who haven't changed." He sighed. "I did expect this, though." He turned around, looking back. "All right, I'll go. But you should listen to what I said before about Morgan." "Get out of here. Now." The Espeon glared at the fairy type. "Come now, Morgan, let's get you inside. I cannot believe you. I knew we should've stopped you from associating with those Alolan savages from before. Ever since you met them, you've become so willful." The Eevee stared up at her mother for a few long seconds before shaking her head. "No." "I beg your pardon?" "No, I'm not going inside. I've had enough." Her lip wobbled. "I love Northshore, and the people here, but I want to explore the world too! I know that there's so much more beyond this town, and I want to see it! I'll come back when I'm done, though. Promise!" "You don't know what you're saying!" "She knows exactly what she's saying," Easter corrected. "So it's your fault!" Lewis snapped, whipping around. "I should've known you'd have put her up to this!" "No, this decision was all Morgan's. And it's your own fault for not realizing what your own daughter wants." Easter turned away from the pair, unable to bear looking at them any longer. "Come on, Morgan. Let's go." -- "You're sure of this then?" Easter asked, gazing at his newly-evolved kid sister. "Yeah," Morgan nodded. "I'm sure. I've grown stronger traveling with you and helping you fight legendaries--even if I usually get knocked out right away--but I can't rely on you forever. I want to strike out on my own. Maybe see if I can find Marie! You'd like her, she's super cool and awesome and--!" "I'm sure I would," the Sylveon interrupted. "Do you want me to accompany you until you find her then?" The Flareon beamed up at him. "Nah, that's fine. I told ya, I've gotta grow stronger by myself. And you don't have time to be getting off track anyway. Don't you have that delivery to make for Brooke?" "Ah, you're right," Easter frowned. "And I don't think she'd be too happy if it were late either." "See? Don't worry about me. You've got enough to worry about on your end." The Flareon nudged his shoulder. "Go on then. I'll see you sometime, big bro!" "Fine, fine, take care of yourself, all right?" -- Easter stared at the children running down the streets of the newly rebuilt Deku. Barefoot, and in ragged clothes that barely covered their skeletal frames, they looked as if one good gust would blow them right over. "Kinda sad, huh?" Brooke said, walking up behind him. "You'd think it's Thundurus's fault, but Deku's always been this way. A lot of kids get thrown out 'cause nobody wants 'em." She sighed. "It's not the worst. They'll band together, join a good gang if they're lucky. That's really the only way they'll survive around here." The Sylveon didn't reply for a long time. He couldn't help but see the faces of the children he knew superimposed over theirs. Dora, Fawkes, Morgan...if they had been forced to live like that... "The only way, huh...?" he clenched his fists. "I don't want to believe that. These children deserve better than that." -- Easter stared out at the waves from the crow's nest. Being back on the S.S. Showdown again with the old crew, even if just for a reunion, felt bittersweet. "I heard you turned down becoming a Disciple." A familiar voice called out from behind. Easter twitched, turning to the gijinka he had once thought of as his one and only. "News gets around." "Of course. It's not every day a gijinka completes the Chaser challenge, and then turns around and denies an offer like that. Why'd you do it?" "Because, I don't want to be the strongest anymore, John," the Sylveon said softly. "I have a different goal now. I want to protect others. And I think I found out how I'm going to do that." -- There it was. Easter stared at the finished building with pride. It had taken a lot of effort and money, but it was finally complete. The first orphanage of Deku, and perhaps Adarid as a whole. With this, those kids wouldn't have to grow up on the streets. They could hopefully live normal lives with people who cared about them. "Thanks for helping with this, Brooke," Easter said, turning to the Emboar beside him. "I don't think I'd have gotten this thing built and funded without you." Brooke wouldn't hear of it. "If anything I should be thanking you. The least I can do for those kids is throw some poke at someone who actually wants to HELP them." She gave him a friendly nudge. "I wish I'd had someone like you around when I was growing up. Kids shouldn't have to raise themselves." The Sylveon chuckled bashfully. "Ahh, well, I'm glad to help. I know this won't solve all their problems, and I can't help all the kids of the world, but, I want to help those I can." It didn't matter that he wasn't related to them. The blood of the covenant was thicker than the water of the womb, after all. He had seen that firsthand with his own parents. Hopefully, he could do better with these kids than his parents had with him. -- "Hey, ya 'aven't paid yer taxes. There's a fee t'own a buildin' in this area, see?" a thuggish-looking Arbok sneered at a young Teddiursa gijinka standing outside the orphanage. The child backed up, his eyes tearing at the corners, but he found he couldn't go any further, since the rest of the kids that had snuck out to play were huddled behind him. "Yeah, yeah, what bro said," a Weezing gijinka agreed as he flexed his muscles. "An' if ya can't pay, well, ya can just work the debt off!" "Or they can go back to what they were doing, and you can go back to what you were doing before you so rudely threatened my young charges," a soft, feminine-sounding voice said. The thugs turned toward the sound. The Weezing sneered. "Oh yeah? An' yer gonna make us? Yer nuthin' more than a--wow!" his eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw who had spoken. "Woman, whaddaya say to leavin' this dump an' comin' with me an' my bro here?" The speaker, a pretty Sylveon, smiled at him. "Sorry, but I'm not interested. Unless, of course," she cracked her knuckles, "that outing involves my fist meeting your gut. Then I'll gladly agree," her smile turned even more angelic. As the two paled, she continued speaking. "Think of it this way. You're lucky Brooke wasn't the one that caught you two, or you'd be even worse off. Then again, I'd like to think I'm pretty merciless as well," she giggled. "By the way, I'm a boy. Idiots," the last word dripped with contempt. He turned back toward the children, a gentler smile on his face. "Go inside and wash up for dinner now, kids. This won't take long at all." -- "When I grow up, I want to be a princess like Cousin Dora!" "When I grow up, I want to run a shop like Auntie Brooke!" "Well, when I grow up, I want to beat up bad guys while wearing a dress like Papa does!" "Copycat!" "No, you are!" "No, you!" "All right, settle down, everybody. You're all copycats," Easter snickered. "No, we aren't!" "Get him!" "Papa, I'll show you how strong I can be!" The Sylveon chuckled as the kids stopped their squabbling, working together to dogpile him. His path had taken many turns, some he had never expected, but he didn't regret a single bit of it. He had finally found it--a purpose in life. His reason to live. ==== Keanu: The Wave ==== Keanu stared out across the ocean from his position on the banks of Northshore, singing softly to himself. "Somewhere, beyond the sea, somewhere waitin' for me...Alola stands on golden sands, and watches the ships...that go sailin'." "Are you thinking of home?" a familiar voice caused him to turn, the song cut off. Standing there was Lunala, expression wistful. The Raichu was certain his expression matched hers. "Ae," he affirmed. "I can't help but miss it, after all. I know Arceus said she'd help, but..." "It's normal to doubt, and normal to hope," the legendary replied. "I too, worry that we might not be able to return." "Well, if we do return, then home will be a sight for sore eyes, that's for sure." He had grown fond of Adarid, even with its strange culture of fighting, but it wasn't home. Home was where the heart was, and his still lay in Alola. -- "There it is," Keanu whispered to himself from his position on the bow of the boat. "Home." His eyes began to water, but he blinked away the tears before they could form. It wouldn't do for the others to think he'd gone soft or something. Not when he'd already proven to be one of the weakest of them all. Passing out not just once, but twice in that battle against the Godslayers did not do good things for his rep. "I didn't think I'd get to see it again," he said, turning to the others on the boat. "Alola, in all its glory." It looked almost like a cloudbank resting atop the waves, but Keanu knew that was no cloud, but an island, and one of many. But just because he could see it, didn't mean he could return there. Not permanently, anyway. They had to first fight to reclaim the land from the Beasts that had taken over. His expression turned pained. I have to be ready to fight and face the Beasts that killed my family. Honestly, he wasn't sure he could do it, but it was too late for second thoughts now. -- The fighting was harsh. Keanu dove out of the way of a blast of energy, turning and firing back with a Thunderbolt. Panting for breath, he ducked behind a crumbled building. This is hard. Harder even than the Godslayer fights. At least then I only had to fight one enemy at a time. And I had others with me. He had gotten separated in the melee. A rookie mistake, but nobody ever said Keanu was skilled at fighting. He was no Randy, that was for sure. And there's another attack. Great. His position revealed, the Raichu jumped, using his psychic powers as extra leverage, and narrowly avoiding getting toasted in the process. He leaped onto a wave, toward the Beast that had just attacked him. Thankfully, he managed to hit, and he jumped down, kicking off of his opponent in the process. Just then, he froze, a prickle of fear running through him. What did I miss? A flash of light at the corner of his eyes caused him to turn, seeing a beam headed straight toward him. It was too close to avoid and too powerful to survive without major injuries. And then a storm of Swift stars arrived, redirecting the attack so it sailed past him instead. "This is not the first time I have had to save you," a blue-haired Sandslash hummed with some amusement as she landed at his side. "And it won't be the last time either," Keanu quipped. "Indeed," the woman nodded, holding her hand up as long claws grew out from it. "Shall we?" her face twisted into one of aggressive glee as she let out a manic laugh. "Those fools will rue the day they thought to challenge our might!" "Er...ae. Exactly," the Raichu agreed with less enthusiasm. "I'd really hoped Arceus would be able to cure you entirely, but I guess that was expecting too much," he muttered under his breath. "What was that?" the former Godslayer asked, distracted. "Nothing." "Good. Now let's tear these Beasts apart!" she giggled, the sound giving Keanu chicken skin. And not the pleasant kind either. How was it his luck that every single wahine he met since fleeing Alola was frigging terrifying? Even Marie had gotten scarier than when he last saw her. "Ae. Let's. Go, team." Once again, he couldn't help but thank Arceus, both literally and figuratively, that Kalia was on their side this time. -- "Guess my good looks are ruined," Keanu said as he glanced down at the bloody wound on his chest. "Won't be able to go around shirtless anymore. Minamina nō hoʻi. Too bad." He popped a Sitrus Berry in his mouth, ignoring the throbbing from his injury. He had grown used to that by now. At least his fighting skills had improved. Though there was no way they wouldn't, with the amount of fighting he had had to do. It was a nonstop battle for the most part once they reached Alola. And then, when they grew tired, they retreated back to Northshore. It was a pattern that the electric type had long adjusted to. Gone was the handsome youth with a lazy smile. In his place stood a man and warrior, body crisscrossed with scars and hair cropped close to his head. He'd had no choice but to cut it like that after it had caught on fire from one of the Beasts' attacks. His eyes were piercing and oftentimes glowing an unearthly blue through the usage of his psychic powers. But this was the choice he had made back then, that day when the four of them first fought the Lucario. To stand and fight, choosing to risk injury and death over safety and running away. For the longest time, he couldn't understand why his family had decided to give up their lives as they had, but now, he could. He had learned that some things, such as ohana, were worth more than one's own life. "Mom, Dad, Kai, I hope you're proud of me," he muttered. "One day, we'll win Alola back. And when that happens, I'll mark a gravestone for you all. I don't think I'll be able to find your bones, sadly, but I can at least hope you all made it to the other side safely." Keanu blinked, sending a Thunderbolt to the side where a Beast had been attempting to sneak up on him. Sighing, he backflipped to avoid an attack, touching down with one arm, balancing precariously for a second before flipping back to land adroitly on the ground. "Break time's over," he said as he summoned a large wave of water with practiced skill. "Time to fight again." And he would keep fighting. Again and again, as many times as it took to take back his homeland. The Raichu's expression softened as he turned to where the others were. The only reason he had made it this far was because of them. His ohana. Without them, he'd probably have given up. But because they were here, he could take heart and keep going. Ae. I chose to ride this wave, and I'll keep on riding it till the end.

Interview 1 - Thomasin Farros by Radio414

(full resolution) Not my best, but just thought I'd share. A discord chat was doing a fantasy-based contest and this was my entry. Figured I'd pay homage to my favorite scene from Lord of the Rings. Feedback is appreciated!

"AAAAAAAAAA--" Yasha's voice echoed down the road ahead of and behind him as he came flying out of an alleyway. Making a hairpin turn and sprinting through the mock city streets, followed by his own swarm of security robots, he came TEARING down the road towards Kio and Rei, screaming at the top of his lungs and pistoning his arms like his life depended on it. "--AAAAAAAAAA" And then he was gone, as swiftly and chaotically as he had come, still running at breakneck speed for the gate they came in from, making loud and distressed engine noises the whole way down.

As Kio walked to school, he traced the route he had been taking and ingrained it into his mind. This would probably be the same route he would take everyday from now on, and it was quite the easy trip. U.A. wasn't too far from home, but it was just far enough for him to get a brief amount of exercise before getting to class. He looked to the clear blue sky as a symbol that this was going to be a great start to his future career as a hero! Just the thought of being called that word excited him to no end! Who were his classmates going to be, what were they going to be like?! And most importantly, what were their quirks?! He smiled to himself, as he continued his brisk jog thinking of the possibilities the classroom would contain. Today was his first step to becoming the best! As he rounded the corner, he could see gate of U.A., clear as day. As he approached, he saw a familiar face. Standing on the steps before the school was none other than the Pro Hero, Glory! He was a relatively low-profile hero, but Kio wasn't the type to forget any sort of name, let alone that of an extremely capable hero. Instead of climbing the ranks to top hero, he was now the president of the school! Lucky him, he'd always wanted to meet the guy. But now, it was a bit intimidating standing in his mere presence. Kio was all for the challenge! That's what life was all about, baby! As he walked up to his new principal, he managed to get out a few words. "Principal Glory?" He managed to get out, without stuttering. The man, with a stack of sheets in his hand, proceeded to ransack through them in a quick attempt to find his supposed file. It didn't take much time at all, either! He really was a pro! "Somehow. And you're... Akagi?" "Akagi Kio. It's great to be here. But you, uh...Aren't you a bit too young to be a Principal?" He said, with a little hint of sass at the end. "Aren't you a little young to be asking questions like that? The people on the school board figured I would be best for the job a few years back. After all, I went here along with a few other names you are more likely to recognize." It made total sense to him, but he still wasn't sure why Glory would take up the job anyway. He tried to decide if he wanted to prod a little more, but it probably wasn't the time or place to do so. He wanted to give Glory a whole interview, but sadly schooling was in the way. "Probably. I never forget a name once I hear it!" He said, beaming a smile the principal's way. "Although, those can't be the only qualifications to run this place, right?" He knew the answer of course, but you didn't really get the chance to jeer pro's in the flesh. "Well, after the place got attacked so many times, they figured they would put the strongest person they could find right at the center. But now it's my turn to ask a question. It's one I'm asking everyone. Why do you want to be a hero, Akagi Kio?" "Strongest, huh? So number 77 gets title of strongest now?" Kio laughed, before clearing his throat. His reason was simple, after all. And it was his dream ever since he had become bored of sports. "I just want to challenge myself! I want to see what the real heroes deal with, and overcome all obstacles that come my way!" He stretched his palm, opening and closing his hand. "I just want to prove to myself and everyone else that my Quirk is strong." "You don't seem particularly interested in helping anyone." The question almost smacked him across the face. He never really thought about saving others...just testing himself. But that was all wrapped up in the title of being a hero, right? He'd hopefully learn that lesson here anyways! But for now, it was time to bs an answer. "Well that's all apart of the challenge, right? It would be too easy if I didn't have to help anyone." "This generation never seems to want to relax, does it? Go on and head inside. I'm sure you remember your way to class from the tour a few weeks ago." "Never forget!" Kio saluted Glory, before walking straight past him. After he was out of earshot, he let out a sigh of relief, picking up his head with a huge grin. "Man, I should have gotten his autograph! I'll remember for next time!" His class was close by, as he made his way in a hurry. He hoped he would be the first one, so he might be able to see all the others enter after him in an attempt to gauge how interesting they were. However, when he slid the door open, he realized that he was behind the curve by a small margin. He snapped his fingers in a small fit of annoyance, but smiled shortly afterward. There were snacks out on the front desk, as he glided over to them and promptly picked one up. He took an obnoxiously large bite out of it, before giving off a sound of delight. "Mmmm-mm! Scrumptious! Whoever made these is definitely gonna have to show me after class today!" He walked over to a vacant desk in the middle row on the left by the windows, and placed his backpack on the top. "I'm Akagi Kio, but you can just call me Kio! Pleasure to meet you early birds!"

OOC It was the day of the Entrance Exams. Normally, student's for a school would be nervous, but there was a certain buzz about the air. Soon enough, they'd be lining up before the massive pillars out front, waiting for the doors to let them in. In a room, with a sign outside of the door labeled "Principal, there sat a rather grayed man in a chair. His breathing was deep, like he was almost in a trance. Outside the door, someone suddenly stood. It was like someone had crawled in from the early Edo period, through his opened window. "It's not like you to be nervous...Principal. As a matter of fact, I thought you were nerveless." He said with a rather smug tone. "I just don't know if these kids know what they've signed up for. And I don't necessarily have a degree in teaching youngsters." He said with a sigh. "I'm sure it won't be all bad. These kids are the next wave of official licensed heroes right? We have to teach them what we've learned thus far." "I suppose you're right. Well...let's go greet them shall we?" Misu Yoshino stood outside the pillars of the newly built school, grinding her teeth as she waited for the doors to open so she could take this shitty test. She was tired, and her hair was a mess, but at least her stomach was full of food. No way in hell was she missing breakfast for this thing. As she left for the exam, she couldn't help but look back and see her entire family with tears of joy running down their cheeks. Even her little sister, and dad...was this all it took to make them happy. "I guess it's fine...if it's for them..." She grumbled to herself. There weren't as many kids as she expected, but that was to be expected. Quirks were rare enough as it was, but people who actually fit the criteria for this school must've shaved down the numbers tenfold. She towered above them all, as was to be expected, besides one insect like guy. She could fight them all off, probably. With a loud creaking, the doors to the school swung open fiercely. An old man and a samurai of sorts walked out of the doorway to meet the crowd of examinees. A loud roar could be heard coming from the old looking man. "Welcome, Hero Hopefuls! The Entrance Exam will start soon, so kindly follow us." With a groan, Misu did as she was told, as would all the other teenagers. They would be lead through the entirety of the school, before taking an entrance through the back. A large gated fence sat in front of their face. Over the top of it one could see large trees, and even larger buildings. The man clad in samurai armor began to speak next. "To get this far, you must have already passed the written test. Today will be the day of the practical. Beyond this gate lies a forest type area, and a city type area. You are free to roam wherever you please, and do as much damage as possible, but your objectives will all be the same. In each area are a limited amount of badges that resemble the U.A. logo. To complete the practical, one must obtain 5 badges and return to the gate before sundown." He then looked to the teens with a sharp look. "It doesn't matter how you get your badges. Just so long as you're here, you'll be permitted to attend U.A." "So if I beat the snot out of some dude with 3 badges, and take 'em, I get in?" Misu asked, with a perked eyebrow. "It doesn't matter how you get them. Any which way is fair game. Although, if you kill anyone on practical grounds, you will be immediately disqualified and placed under arrest." The Samurai responded. "Now, we'll give you some time to stretch, and think of any strategy, before the main event. Heroes don't normally get prep time, but that's a lesson you'll surely learn in time." The older gentleman chimed in. The samurai nudged him with an elbow, before scoffing. "Not too bad, chief." Her question might have been too provocative for this type of deal, but she was sure of her abilities. She did as was instructed, and started to stretch her legs and arms properly. This was going to be a cake walk.

Bog Frog WATER ✪✪ (Level 2) [Aqua/Effect] ATK/ 1400 DEF/ 800 (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand or your the field to the GY; take 1 "Wetlands" from your Deck, and either activate it or add it to your hand. While this card is banished, Aqua monsters you control gain 300 ATK and DEF. Support To: Referenced Field Spell (Wetlands):

"You? Huh...didn't take you for a...well, color me surprised yet again, Sorcerer Supreme. You've brought in another candidate for the Entertainment Dueling Club." Souji seemed impressed, and honestly Sai had no idea why. He brought all of two people, one that may not stay, and one that may not even join. But hey, if Souji was going to praise him, then whatever. "Also...I didn't get a chance to address this...but..." Souji stood up quickly. "You said I 'dress up as Divine Wind'. I'll have you know, that my outfit is NOT Divine Wind." He took out a small notepad from his back pocket, flipping it open and holding it up towards Sai. "IF you were versed in the lore of the Masked HERO Duel Monsters, you'd recognize that the outfit of the Kamen Rider is based on a monster that hasn't even been released: Masked HERO Gust! Hmph..." "Oh, you mean that little monster is green like Divine Wind, wears the same clothes as Divine Wind, and upgrades into Divine Wind, plus isn't actually even real. I apologize, I'll be sure to get it right next time," It wasn't like Sai didn't understand the indignity Souji was feeling, but he also thought the Kamen Rider loving otaku was being really pedantic right now. Then he did something horrible, the absolute worst thing he could do... He started giving bad advice. "Rainbow Dragon, just don't run it." He then began to list off reasons of why she shouldn't run it, which basically boiled down to the point of "It's not optimal, wah wah," Well, she could just take out Rainbow Dragon, but there was a better way. As Souji began to talk to Melissa, Sai whipped out his notebook, taking a pencil and drawing a small chart, one divided into two. On one side was Akari's name, and on the other's was Melissa's. He began jotting ideas for their costumes. Akari was a bit hard... what would go well with Crystal Beasts...? A knight covered in gems? No, no, that was more for Gem Knights... As for Melissa... she played Darklords, which were fallen angels, and she wanted to be an angel... that might work, but it would be odd if the duelist was a pure angel while the others were fallen... A lot of ideas were building in his head, and he had to let them out, lest he burst. He hated it when he got like this, but he still wanted his creativity to come out. And then Melissa left to go to the bathroom. That was good, he could talk to Akari without interrupting her. "So, Akari you mentioned you used Rainbow Dragon? Now, you hear everything Souji said? Totally disregard it. He's a competitive player disguised as an entertainment duelist. However, I do believe you shouldn't use it in every duel. You should find some other wincons, and slowly build up to Rainbow Dragon. Keep it in your back pocket, keep alluding that your deck has greater power, things like that. And then when you think the time is right, unleash the dragon and completely dazzle the crowd!" He then turned to Kyouko, who seemed to either completely lost in thought about her persona or just daydreaming. "So... u-umm...," He didn't want to anger her, so he had to word this carefully. "Hey, Kyouko... you... got any i-ideas for your persona...?" “Sorry about that. Um, any questions? Anything I didn’t address?” Ah, looks like Melissa was back. Good, good, then Sai could ask her a question... although he did his best to reel himself in. He knew she wasn't comfortable, and he knew from experience getting in her face and overwhelming her was the worst thing someone could do. "I have a question," Sai said as he raised his hand, keeping his voice soft. "But first, wh-why don't you sit down at the table with us?" The first step was to make sure she didn't feel like an outsider, standing in the corner. Whether she did or not, he would open his notebook to an empty page, spinning his pencil as he thought to himself. "Now, you mentioned you had an idea of being an angel, Lailah, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Now, do you know how you'd like it to look? More traditionally angelic, or like, more like the Darklords you play, or maybe something inbetween?" He then stopped spinning his pencil as a thought came to him. "Actually, it might be possible to jury rig a system... like... your costume having angel wings, and the less lifepoints you have, the darker the feathers become, going from white to black or something...," He said as he wrote down the idea. "That'd take a bit, but I can pull it off...," This was his favorite part. He loved making the costumes. "B-but yeah, just if you have some ideas, just let me know, and if you join the club, I'll have some designs sketched out by next meeting," he turned to Akari and Kyouko. "Um... s-same goes for you two to...,"

As the Houndoom had managed to beat down the Drifblim, he was still on guard as the balloon had sprung back up. It was then that the balloon gijinka sped forward as lighting up as it did. Seeing this, Nine figured it was going in for the kill, and thus took a step backwards as he fired off a dark pulse to hit against the oncoming explosion. While he managed to knock the Drifblim away before the attack finished, he still grit his teeth as part of the explosion caught him. Feeling a bit ragged, but still ready to go, Nine went to go approach the remaining unattended ghosts when a sight for sore eyes caught his. Seeing the serene and beautiful figure of the legend appear before them all out of their cocoon Nine couldn't help but whistle at the girl. "Well, I'll be," seeing Shaymin in the flesh, Nine paused for a moment as she began to speak, only to see that the ghosts for whatever reason were intent on killing her. Knowing that now these wannabe godslayers weren't going to stop in their assault, Nine continued forward towards the Shedinjas and Cofagrigus. "Hey now didn't you hear. The lady wants us to fight off her turf, and you wouldn't be so cruel to upset her right?" The Cofagrigus's body slowly turned toward him. "You're...annoying." The voice had sounded as if coming from within the man's coffin like shell. Nine continued making his way forward with a smile on his face saying, "I've been called worse. So is that a no?" "You have one chance to leave. Take it now." Cofagrigus replied. Without breaking his stride, Nine will gesture to the Drifblim and say, "the offer's the same for you." Without anymore warning, in yet another attempt to blindside them Nine fired another dark pulse at the Chandelure. As he did though, the world around him seemed to start moving in slow motion. Not as if he was slower or anything, but rather space itself was fighting against him and his attack to make them slower. As it did, the Cofagrigus's shell opened up revealing a pair of shadowy hands that grabbed at the ground before the man launched himself forward at great speeds, intercepting the pulse. As he did so, Nine felt a sharp pain ring through his head as he felt the technique he just used leave him. Laughing and echoing from inside his own shell, the Cofagrigus gloated, "I tried to warn you." Grimacing at this new development, Nine simply muttered, "how troublesome." However, he had gotten the Cofagrigus out of the way of his other targets, and thus attempted to bolt for the Shedinjas. Unfortunately, quite like before he felt himself not moving at quite the speeds he was used to and was instead intercepted by a much faster shadow ball. Looking to his opponent, Nine muttered again, "so that's how it is." Beginning to walk slowly towards his opponent, Nine goaded him saying, "well come on big boy, show me what else you got." As he taunted him, the Cofagrigus opened his shell up releasing an icy mist and as it enveloped Nine he felt all the empowering of his aura that he had done leave him. This was then followed by the man launching himself at Nine, to which the Houndoom could only grin about. "Well, good thing I picked up a thing or two from your friend." As the man slammed into him, Nine grappled onto the coffin man, igniting his palms as he did so and blasting him with fire as directly into his body as possible. The Cofagrigus did not seem pleased by this, letting out an echoing shout as he was hit only to have a shadowy arm grasp at Nine. "It doesn't matter. I won't let you protect the girl." At that moment, both the Cofagrigus and Nine let out a sharp cry of pain. The coffin's grip had weakened on him, though Nine himself had started to feel a sharp throbbing pain resonate throughout his whole body, feeling as if someone had just stabbed him in the chest with a large nail. Gasping at this pain, his eyes going wide, Nine simply said, "well, good thing I'm not the only one then." Igniting his hand again, Nine sent a flamethrower upwards and away from the grass and flowers as he uppercutted the ghost in front of him. With his already weakened grip losing all strength, the Cofagrigus simply toppled over onto the ground. Nine's brief moment of victory was cut short, however, as yet another sharp pain rang throughout his body and the Houndoom couldn't keep himself standing much longer. Falling to the ground on his hands and knees, gasping for air, he gave a pained smile towards Shaymin. "Sorry...m'lady, about the heat." Then, looking to the Chandelure he said, "want to take a shot now? It's free." As Randy and Heatran started to talk to one another, Marie couldn't help but feel like the advice that Randy was getting wasn't exactly universally applicable. Feeling like he might take the wrong lessons away from this encounter, the girl felt like she would need to talk about it later with him, but for now turned her attention back to the legend. Seeing him standing there, looking down at the town, Marie felt her question for him pop into her head yet again. Looking at him, she said, "so um, Heatran. Do you like, ever get lonely up here?" "Lonely?" He turned to look at the girl. "I don't get lonely!" Briefly taken aback by his sudden loud tone Marie backed up a bit, and looked confused as she figured what he was saying didn't really make sense. "But...all you do is sit here by yourself, right?" "I said I don't get lonely!" He shouted back. Now thinking he was just being a rude child, Marie folded her arms and pouted as she looked away from him. "Well fine! See if I care!" "Well good, I don't want you to care!" "Well good, I don't want to care! Hmph!" "Then don't! What are you doing still here anyway?" "I don't know! What are you still doing?" "I can't leave, idiot!" "Well," Marie's voice faltered for a bit as he said this. Feeling a bit sad for the volcanic legend, Marie couldn't help try to think of a solution for Heatran's problem. "Well fine! Then if you can't leave, then I'll just get strong enough to beat you any time so you can leave whenever! Mr. Not Loney!" Of course, she was still annoyed with him. "I doubt you could beat me without your friends around...not that you beat me this time." "I could beat all the bullies in Trailsau no sweat! And I'll get Big Sister Moltres to make me way stronger than you! Then I'll beat you no sweat! I'll be so strong I'll cool the volcano myself!" "Ahahaha, Moltres? That pipsqueak? Good joke, little girl." "Hey, she's a super awesome bird! And once I tell her that I need to get strong, I'm sure she'll help me get better than you ever will be! So look forward to it! Or don't!" "Next time I won't be so easy on you." "Well next time, you'll wish you had that option! So there!" As she finished her shouting match with Heatran she turned to Keanu and Randy saying, "come on, we have a volcano to get off of."

With the group beginning to move out, Leon saw the two riders move to the side. Despite how roughed out they had come from time to time, Leon felt a bit more comfortable with them their, knowing that they would help keep whatever pincer attack these bandits had in mind at bay. Aiding them in trying to draw attention away from them as well, Leon moved through the center, also providing cover for Yue as a result. Edda, meanwhile, grumbled a bit at Raynor's comment, but with her grip tightly on her sword she began to move forward. The enemy, meanwhile, began to move forward as well. With a lance in hand, the first of the lancers charged the wyvern rider, stabbing at her. The thick hide of Cormag proved too much for the lance to do, well, anything as it bounced off his hide with a "tink" noise. The lancer looked at his weapon saying, "ah man that's not co- ow!" Being interrupted as the steel axe of Rona was struck against the man stomach and caused him to bleed quite a lot from the attack. Staggered but not downed, the man stood ready to run to someone different to fight, as his partner came up with a sword in hand. Striking at the wyvern rider, who had been focused on the lancer, he slashed once, nicking Cormag, and then again forming a small cut on Rona herself. Meanwhile, on the north side, Raynor had charged forward only to be met with similar resistance. However, the lancer that had charged at him was not able to fully close the distance, and so his axe wielding companion did the work instead. Providing a strong slash across both Raynor and Gojira, he too was met with a swift counter as the lance pierced the man's non axe swinging arm. With that out of the way, the rest of the bandits started to converge save for the ones in the back. As they hung back, one sword wielding one looked to his boss saying, "hey boss. Why aren't we moving up with the rest?" "Because...uh...a good boss leads from the back. Yeah. So, being the good boss that I am, I'm just going to wait here. And lead you all to victory and see how easy these guys will be to slaughter." The fighter looked a bit shifty eyed and nervous as he looked through his cart to see how the fight was going. "Oh. I see." The mercenary seemed content, only to then look back to the boss. "Hey Boss. Um, we've got an issue." "Another one!?" "Well...two more." The boss looked more stunned. "There's uh, people who aren't us also coming towards us. From the south there's a guy with red hair who looks like he'd fuck me wife, but I can't tell if he'd do it because he's angry or just because he could. One of those kinds Boss." Confused, the boss still gestured for him to go on, with the mercenary saying, "well, from the north there's a guy...girl? There's a person on a hippocampus coming towards us." "A what?!" "A hippocampus, you know, the horses with wings and- oh, my bad. Pegasus. My mistake boss." Groaning, the boss lamented that this was perhaps the worst day to deviate from his usual strategy. He was simply affirmed that all the legends were true in that traps never worked for bandits. Meanwhile, drawing out her blade, Edda was not feeling keen to just sit back and let the others do the work for her. Charging forward herself, the girl slashed at the mercenary who had seemed completely taken off guard by her sudden charge. Granted, he didn't seem to be all that bothered by it, as she had far less weight in her swing then the other Jouran Falcons.

Hey, you still kept that one around. Shore

I want a refund.

It wasn’t long before Lesnar’s mental spotlight started shining on other people in the crowd. His headphones were off for a little while in order to hear what seemed to be the headmaster announce the objective, but after that he felt no need to listen any further. However, he just happened to hear the tall girl say her piece, prompting him to immediately drown the rest of it out to avoid getting any more irritated than he was already. At that point he was back in his soundless bliss. “...do our VERY BEST!!!” Lesnar winced. Considering he was wearing noise-cancelling headphones, he still managed to hear that voice. Immediately, nearly causing whiplash, he turned his head in its direction to see that it came from this… bat girl? It was then that he realized how fortunate he was to have had his headphones on in the first place, as a voice like that - assuming her bat-like qualities made it supersonic - would’ve sent him into a ringing fit. Still, he pondered on her further. She looked cute, which conflicted him. To be attracted to a bat… preposterous. Despite all he was exposed to from cultural media before coming to Japan, he had to draw the line at a fucking BAT GIRL. Regardless, his inner conflict was interrupted by a sudden forceful impact on his back. “Gakh!” he interjected as his headphones fell off his ears to hang around his neck, causing the mingling chatter of the crowd to ring through him. "Hey, you got something you wanna say don't ya?” the perpetrator spoke right into his ears as he felt her arm resting on his shoulders, “Why not let it out? There's no point in trying to be a hero without a little VIGOR ya know? If either of you think you can take anything from me you're welcome to try! But if you think I'm gonna let you get away with seriously injuring anyone else either you've got another thing coming. If you can't manage to get badges without breaking people that's pretty weak I'd say." Lesnar sulked, not caring for the attention this girl was giving him. "Ain't that right?" she nudged him, presumably with a wink. Lesnar finally turned to look at her, realizing how little she was wearing… and how sweaty she was. The sight left him stunned for a second before he realized she was waiting for an answer. “U-uh… yeah, sure...” he said shyly, his eyes looking to the side as his hand rubbed against the back of his neck, which made him realize how warm it still was from her arm, “...hey, uh, you realize how hot you are right?” His words slipped out with genuine concern for this girl's health, but he shortly realized what he just said, “...wait, uh, no, that’s not what I mean, I-I… I meant… literally, your body… I-I mean, your skin… uh, o-oh jeez…” his stumbling words and humiliated gestures were accompanied by a cracking voice, which did not help the fact that everyone was probably now looking at him because of this girl.