Sethera

Never played either game, though I've heard good things about both.

Mac rolled her eyes. "Oh please, we were supposed to come here right? So if I got here first I did it best. But I guess I'll just have to show you I'm better by beating up the bad guys we find down there." She grinned and flexed, then noticed somebody off in the distance, waving to him. "You're so slow!" She called out. "Whaaat?! I thought it was who could beat the most bad guys and get here!" Ari waved his arms in frustration. "That's not fair! I didn't know the rules!" He turned to see what the Helioptile--no, Helio...lisk now? Yeah, Heliolisk--was looking at, but he should've known by her tone of voice that it was Kazo. "Hey big bro Kazo!" he yelled. Eventually, the metal square they were on went down, and it was then that Ari realized it was some sort of moving platform thing. Looking around, he saw that it had stopped at a cube-shaped room with a circle of light in the middle. There was a pause as everyone took in the situation. And then Mac broke the silence. “Well, guess we might as well try it out.” And without further hesitation, she dashed towards the light. When she reached it she stood straight and a bright light flashed and when it faded she had gone. "Oh, no way are you getting a headstart on me again!" Ari yelled out, following soon after. He ended up in a similar room to the one he had just been in. So similar, he at first thought the circle thing hadn't made him disappear like it did Mac. "Eh...did it not work?" he mumbled, before realizing that the corners were more squared than before, and Mac was also here, along with a couple of others he recognized from the boat. "Oh...that's..." he trailed off. For some reason, he felt really weighed down. But not just that. He was also afraid. He wasn't sure why though. And then he noticed the gijinka sitting in the middle of the room. For a second, the Litleo thought he must be some legendary that he'd never seen before. That was the extent of the pressure he felt. Though from the way he started talking to those blue-haired girls, it seemed more like he was one of the bad guys. Which wasn't good. With that kind of power, he had to be a Godslayer. Ari started to tremble in fear. He had never called himself "just a child" before, but right now seemed like a good time to admit it. He was just a child. And the others with him were all children too. How could any of them stand against this guy? I wish Kazo were here... Then he heard a noise from behind, the same noise that the circle had made when he had gone through. Someone pushed their way past the four children. Ari let out a small gasp when he saw who it was. Jabari. The strongest Zebstrika of Pride Rock. But even though he was strong, he still wasn't a lion, so he wasn't equal to them. Uncle James especially liked to stress that fact. Ari used to think that too, but after his travels, and especially after meeting Kazo and Mac, he realized that that was wrong. Lions were strong, but that didn't mean that they were the best. And there could be weak lions too. Like him. He was still a weak lion, but one day he would get super duper strong. So, even though he felt a bit uncomfortable after remembering his uncle James's words, he still called out to him. "Hey, Jabari, it's been a long time, hasn't it? But...I'm glad you're here." Because unless these other two blue-haired girls had some sort of secret move up their sleeves, they weren't going to win against a Godslayer. The Godslayer seemed to recognize him. "The Zebstrika. What are you doing here? Weren’t you told to be elsewhere...Ah. I sense it. You wish to fight me." Wait, what? Then that meant...Jabari was also a Godslayer? But why? While Ari gazed up at him with shock and betrayal, the zebra grunted a reply. "Once I thought this the only way. The only way to raise my people up was to change the very fabric of the world." Raise his people up? The Litleo felt troubled. So...he had become a Godslayer to help his fellow zebra? To raise them up? Did he mean he wanted to make them equal to lions? There's so much I don't know. I thought I needed to become stronger, to protect others, but it looks like I still don't know anything at all. While he knew that there were tons of gijinka that weren't lions that were just as good, it still felt wrong to think that...what he had been taught was wrong. That his home was wrong about something. That they had been telling people the wrong thing for a long time. And he had just happily gone along with it. Which means...I was wrong too. And...is it still like that? Is my home still telling people the wrong thing? Ari couldn't imagine his mother, his wise, calm mother, knowingly telling people the wrong thing? Maybe she had been raised wrong too? So that meant it wasn't as bad...except it was still bad. Right? He had a headache. "Yet time and time again I was shown that there were those taking their destiny in their hands and changing it themselves. And now I know that I cannot stand by and let this happen anymore. Especially not when there are those like you who wouldn’t hesitate to crush children in your path." Yeah. That was what was important. Spending too much time worrying about things didn't do anybody any good. He thought he had learned that the night his father spoke to him. But even if he needed a reminder, he would keep it in mind now. So what if he had been wrong?! There was nothing he could do about that, but what he could do was make sure he wasn't wrong in the future. If, no, when he became king, he would just tell people the right things, not the wrong things. And maybe Kazo and his other big bros could live there too, and help him out sometimes. Because it'd be really lonely to rule alone. Oh, and maybe Mac too, he thought. The Godslayer shrugged. "I thought you understood. A warrior does not hesitate when someone comes to face him. But fine. I wanted to face you and the others in combat from the start. I had planned to do so after his plan was finished but I care not if I begin a little early.” He called towards the others then. “I have not forgotten you. This merely means I will have to strike you all down." And then the battle started. Jabari lunged forward but missed. It had been so fast that Ari had barely been able to keep up with it, but he had missed? And been knocked back? Mac shook her head and slapped her cheeks with both her hands. "What are we standing around for? We gotta help!" She then ran to the side and darted towards the Lucario with a Quick Attack. Only for the Lucario to move even faster behind her. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and tossed her into the bronze door. The lighter blue-haired girl let out a gasp and then opened her mouth to let loose a shot of mud Mud Shot at the enemy at the same time Jabari fired a Shock Wave towards him. Then the darker blue-haired girl breathed out a blast of cold air. Ari was still scared, and not sure how he felt about Jabari being a Godslayer--or former Godslayer, anyway. But he couldn't let that slow him down too much. The Litleo Worked himself Up into battle readiness, his spirits rising. I'll just make sure to rule the right way, so nobody from Pride Rock wants to become a Godslayer in the future, he thought. It was a bit shameful to think that one of the bad guys came from his own home, but he just had to make sure that wouldn't ever happen in the future. One day, Pride Rock will be the pride of Adarid. And it all starts here, with this fight! -- Brooke let her cloak of flames dissipate as she came to a stop beside Easter. "Hmm… Forty-one… That’s a lot," she said, then grinned. Uh-oh. No way, it couldn't be. "You know what’s more than forty-one though? Sixty. Looks like ya finally lost at somethin’ Easter." The Sylveon didn't let himself get too bothered by it though. He knew Brooke was strong. "Heh, guess so. Well, this isn't the first time I've lost, and not the first time to you either." He shrugged his shoulders. She always beat me out in protecting others...making sure everybody was safe. Before, I would just go wild, and not pay attention to those kinds of things. She had been acting a bit more reckless lately, but that might have been his influence. The Emboar glanced over at where Easter was gesturing. "Huh? No, Dora should still be back on the ship. Why would she…" she trailed off. "Dora? Dora! What are you doing here?" So it was Dora then. He had thought so, but Brooke's reaction confirmed it. The fire type rushed over to the now-Quagsire, who was, amusingly enough, almost taller than Brooke now...wait. That meant that Dora was probably taller than him now. Feeling a little annoyed despite himself--Sylveon is supposed to be one of the taller Eeveelutions too--Easter watched the two interact. "You need to get back to the boat." "Nuh uh! We're s'posed to go downstairs and I can't do that from the boat. Plus there's a lot of those weird ladies that way. They're not very nice." He was about to cut in with his theory that no, they were probably secretly space aliens, or if not that, robotic space aliens, but then he caught sight of Nine. "Well, seems like I'm the slow one of the bunch here." "Guess so," Easter replied. "But I imagine you cleaned up quite a few of those aliens on your way here." Soon after, it was decided that they would go down. Upon seeing what had to be a teleportal or teleporter, one brave soul stepped forward, and after that, the rest followed, Easter one of them. He glanced back at Brooke and Dora with some concern. Hopefully, those two would be all right. Though Dora was the one he was really worried about. The teleporter brought him to a field of flowers for some reason. Which was nice, but kind of odd too. For some reason, he was the only one around, even though he had just entered the teleportal with a bunch of other gijinka, making sure to be near Brooke and Dora. Which wasn't good, as that meant he couldn't try to protect them. "Wonder what Shaymin would think of this place," he heard a voice say. "Shaymin, as in the legendary?" Easter wondered. Shaymin appeared in many of the old annals of history, but he hadn't ever heard of anybody meeting them. Actually, he had thought that the legendary must have died a long time ago. The other who had spoken, who turned out to be Nine, waved at him, "fancy seeing you here Easter. Guess it's just the two of us, huh?" Looking forward, the Houndoom shrugged with a grin saying, "well, I'm sure there's not much that could stop us." "Heh, you're probably right." Even back then, when Easter had first met him, he had realized the other was a battler. That, plus his dark typing, and the fact he was from Trailsau, had made him an irresistible target to fight. It didn't hurt that he was cute and even fell for his honey trap, but that hadn't taken much effort on Easter's part. As he had figured out recently, the man had been quite the flirt when it came to women. But it sounds like he's changed, and so have I, Easter thought. While he still felt the same feelings of exultation from a good fight, it was tempered by the knowledge that fighting wasn't always the best way. Actually, it usually wasn't. So, maybe, the two of them could just bluff their way out of this. It was then the Sylveon noticed a beautiful, almost otherworldy-looking woman. He hadn't even seen her before she stood up, vanishing and reappearing a dozen feet from them. "I usually don’t let guests into my sanctuary." She said, her voice tired and distant. "Yet here you are. And here I am." She let out a sigh. "My name is Ankou. My leader has tasked me with stopping those who come here. I’m very sorry but I have to destroy you now." Well if that wasn't something. "I'm sorry but I have to destroy you?" If she were actually sorry, she wouldn't do it. Since she didn't look very intimidated by the two of them, Easter prepared to fight. And then paused. Because Nine was...trying to talk it out? Unfortunately, it didn't look like it would work, but it was true that was another method to use against the Godslayers. Not that he had ever met any before, except for Kah. And the space aliens, if they counted. And they hadn't been very talkative. Still, it was odd that the Houndoom seemed so...comfortable at the idea of facing Godslayers. And then his words...he must have met them before. The two faced off then, Nine following up with a Nasty Plot, but the attack was soon stopped by the Gardevoir's Taunt. With a cross between a grimace and smirk on his face, Nine simply said, "well, I know a strong and troublesome woman when I see one. And Ankou, you're nothing but trouble." "She really does seem like it, doesn't she," Easter agreed. So much for his idea of focusing on support from now on. It looks like I'll have to go into an all-out offensive here. Thankfully, I'm pretty familiar with that kind of tactic. He powered up a Psyshock, sending it flying toward the enemy. The Gardevoir evaded the attack easily with another use of Teleport, a calm, confident smile on her face. Easter gritted his teeth. "Oh, I can see Nine was right about you. You're definitely the annoying type." He sent out a Swift, causing her expression to morph into surprise when she was actually hit. "But no matter whether you're a god or a Godslayer, you'll still go down in the end." Perhaps he shouldn't have said that, as it seemed to switch her focus from Nine to him. "I wish you were right. It would be wonderful to rest. But alas I cannot do that with the world as it is. Which is why I won't stop until I've broken your pretty bodies." Well, if that didn't sound ominous. She fired off familiar purple orbs at him, which he barely managed to evade, and only by dint of experience in using the move himself. He could already tell this battle wouldn't be easy. A smile started to form on his face at the thought. "Yeah, this might be fun." After all, he could finally let loose. There was no Dora here to worry about now, though that thought caused the smile to slip from his face. I hope she's doing all right. -- Others began to arrive, filling up the lift, a lot of them wahine, and a lot of them pretty cute. That sweet-looking Sylveon especially. She looked so cute and innocent...definitely not the type to fight on a battlefield. She was probably in over her head here. "Gonna go see if that wahine needs help," he told Nani and began to approach the pretty pink-haired cutie. Just as he was getting near though, another wahine approached, though he wasn't sure what kind of gijinka she was. She was probably a fire type, judging from her clothing and the long ponytail behind her, and it looked like she knew the other. Score! he thought. He knew that coming here hadn't been in vain if he got to meet two cuties like this. And then they started talking about something that was definitely not very cute. "Ha! Forty-one! I'd like to see you beat that!" "Hmm… Forty-one… That’s a lot. You know what’s more than forty-one though? Sixty. Looks like ya finally lost at somethin’ Easter." Sure, they could've been talking about how many articles of clothing they had, or how much money they had spent while shopping, but somehow, Keanu didn't think that was it. The bloodthirsty vibe he got from both confirmed it. They were talking about how many robots they had killed...or disassembled, more like. Gulping, Keanu backed off. He hadn't been keeping count, but he was pretty sure he hadn't beaten nearly as many. Why is it all the wahine on this continent are absolutely lolo? he thought. After that, he stayed away. Even when one of the wahine, a Sharpedo, arrived in an impressive jet of water that would normally have had him over there to talk to her about. He specialized in surfing, but water techniques, in general, were pretty cool. Her striking good looks didn't hurt either. "Well...you lot sure are lucky you made it this far. I don't know any of your names, but you gotta be worth somethin' as fighter, right? Fufufu." She blew Keanu a kiss. "Just watch your backs and make sure not to get us all killed, 'kay?" Well look at that, he thought, tempted to approach her and introduce himself, especially after her display of water-type mastery. But he thought better of it when he realized that 1) she was a dark type, which his newfound psychic senses did not like, and 2) her teeth had been sharpened into fine points. I was right before. Absolutely lolo. Soon after, the lift took them down to a cube-shaped room with a teleporter. Keanu was content to sit back and enter last since he wasn't much of a fighter. But seeing Marie move toward it prompted him to step forward as well. Except when he arrived on the other side, Marie was nowhere nearby. Neither were Nani and Randy. But he did recognize one of the gijinka who stood alongside him. It was that Sharpedo from earlier. Feeling a little discomfited, but also still low-key admiring her, he noticed the other was a Rotom boy who looked a little younger than him. "They split us up huh?" The Sharpedo eyed her two teammates up and down, only to sigh. "Ya'll think you can keep up? I ain't got time to babysit, so I'm gonna need you to handle your business appropriately." She winked at both of them. "And don't go thinkin' my services are gonna be free either. You owe me after this one, got it!?" "Don't worry about that," Keanu grinned at her. "I haven't needed to be babysat in a long time. I'm Keanu by the way, what's your name?" He was still a little nervous around this person, but at least she wasn't an enemy. "And yours?" he turned to the Rotom. The Sharpedo walked further up then, drawing Keanu's attention to the room they were in. It was filled with tall wooden poles, and at the far end of the room was a Crobat and a Fletchling who looked to be arguing with each other. "Are the two of them Godslayers then?" Keanu wondered. Except then the Fletchling was soon knocked out, so...maybe not? Was the Fletchling the Godslayer? No, more likely it was the Crobat. He thought he had seen the Fletchling back on the ship, after all. "So you made it here after all. It’s a shame that commoners like you ended up having to face me. You’re basically out of time already. Soon we’ll have a world free from the grip of so-called Legendaries. And I am not about to let you ruin that." Keanu was about to react to that when the Sharpedo began to talk to her. It seemed like the two already knew each other, though, from the sounds of it, it wasn't a friendly relationship. And then the two started to talk about killing, which made the Raichu sweat a bit. Yeah. This was it, wasn't it? The real deal. Not like he hadn't faced that before already, but that didn't really make this any better. "I don't wanna have to kill you either..." the Sharpedo mumbled. "That girl there really seems to admire you...And she wouldn't do that if there was still some good in you, right?" She laughed. "I must be goin' soft...but then again...I won't be goin' easy just cause some bird brain digs ya, ya dig!? FUFUFUFU!" The Sharpedo ollied into the sky, taking the waterboard that had appeared below her feet and throwing it at the bat with a wicked smile. "Catch!" "I am doing good! But none of you seem to understand," Veronica replied, jumping up to avoid the board and landing on top of one of the wooden poles. The Sharpedo turned her head to the others. "Wanna join in, or you got cold feet?!" "Guess we gotta jump in too," Keanu commented to the Rotom, before literally jumping up, sending an Electro Ball at the Crobat in the process. "You like beef?!" he shouted. "What does that even mean?!" she shouted back, jumping to another pole to avoid the attack. "Don't try to confuse me with your mishmashed creole!" She sent out an X-shaped attack against him, which Keanu wasn't quite able to avoid. This wahine was even faster than he was. Which was frustrating. First that Lucario, and now this person. "And don't you try to confuse me with your big words!" What even was a creole anyway? "Humph, typical. I should've known a commoner such as you would also be unlearned," the wahine said, and something about her voice, or the Taunting way she had said it, caused Keanu to lose his focus just as he was about to send out a Thunder Wave against her to hopefully slow her down. This wasn't good. Especially not when she turned the full force of her attention on him. He would normally be flattered by that, especially with her looks, but she was also an enemy. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're too ignorant to run away," she said, diving down upon him from her perch on high. The attack bowled the Raichu over, and by the time he got back up from the ground, the Crobat had already returned to the pole, smirking smugly down at him. She turned her attention to the Rotom then. "I'll offer you the same thing I did for Taiga. If you want to leave, I won't stop you. As you've seen just now, I'm much stronger than I look. And I'm gracious enough to let you go if you don't want to fight." Keanu gritted his teeth. He didn't want to fight, but he didn't have much choice in the matter if he wanted to keep his ohana safe. Still, he turned to the Rotom as well, unsure how the boy would respond.

RIP Grandia II has some stiff competition... But it's such an amazing RPG so def voting for it.

I get that. They're super relaxing too. I don't usually get stressed out playing adventure games unless I'm going through a particularly difficult puzzle. Looking at you, BotW's shrines XP

Walking further along the road, Belle was looking forward to just being able to stop and rest. Which it didn't look like they'd be able to do anytime soon. Up until they were actually forced to stop. There was an older man wearing a coat despite the heat, and Belle couldn't help but wonder how he did it. She was roasting in her sleeveless top and shorts, but this guy looked perfectly fine. It was unfair. The man held up one of his hands and stepped forward as they approached, telling them to turn back. Apparently he was part of Team Phoenix, which sounded familiar, but only vaguely. Was that some sort of baseball team? Except she hadn't heard of them, but she didn't really follow baseball either. Either way, it didn't look like they'd be able to go through, which was...annoying. She really wanted to just get to the city and lie down. Now I know how Sabrina felt, she thought. Her cousin had complained multiple times about the gate guards surrounding Saffron, and how they'd just close down the gate for whatever reason. "They've even closed down the gates because they were thirsty. Thirsty." The woman's usual blank face began to twitch in frustration. "If they had any foresight at all, they would have brought fresh water with them to their shift. Instead, they bother travelers to get it for them. Such unprofessionalism is unworthy of their title." "There, there," Belle had replied expressionlessly, not caring at all about her cousin's problems and not bothering to hide that. It was hard to keep your thoughts secret from a psychic, after all. Unfortunately, this had also resulted in an extra hour of work before she got to go to her room and play more League of Legendaries. So it might have been smarter to just say nothing at all. Well, she didn't have fresh water on hand, so it looked like they would have to turn around and go back. Which she didn't want to do, but she didn't have a choice. Neither Jacklyn nor Ivan were at all rested up for a battle, and Belle? Not only had her Rattata actually fought today, but she didn't feel like taking on somebody with a Glalie. Ice types would easily take down her grass starter. Of course, she didn't feel like taking on somebody, period, but that was a given. "Alright gang, back to the heat!" Jacklyn shouted, then looked back at Ivan. "Oh yeah, I heard you also got a new catch! Way to go!" The boy seemed just as, if not more frustrated than Jacklyn, who had shouted out something vaguely threatening to the Team Phoenix man--though not nearly as threatening as his threat had been. "Damn bastard, who the hell does he think he is!?" He shouted, stomping on the ground a bit. "I should turn around and kick his ass! I can take him! Ugh, or at least I would without this heat!" He paused for a second, taking a deep breath, turning toward Jacklyn. "Huh? Oh, yeah, thanks..." He said, crossing his arms again, letting out a heavy sigh. "Well we can't just stand around. Let's get movin' I guess." "There, there," Belle said in her usual flat tone, though unlike with her cousin, this time she could understand his frustrations. "Where to now then? Back to Skrelp Harbor?" She also remembered seeing a path branching off toward the desert, though she wasn't so sure she wanted to go there, so she didn't mention it. Still, it seemed like that might end up being the only other way to go if they wanted to head somewhere new. Good thing I don't care about that, she thought. I just want to lie down and sleep. This heat really had a way of draining all of one's energy.

Ace Attorney is actually both an adventure game and a visual novel. It's also one of the only visual novels I actually like, interestingly enough considering my love for adventure games. Though I have enjoyed a couple hybrid-type games.

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht I considered a couple of other games too, but I enjoyed the above two the most out of those.

After some thinking, I've come to realize that while I really enjoy RPGs--from turn-based to real-time--as well as some platformers as well, my favorite genre is actually the adventure game genre. Basically an interactive game with heavy emphasis on exploration and solving puzzles to further the narrative. Ace Attorney and some other games have helped me to realize this.

"I'm...Yue..." Yue mumbled. "B-But that's not important right now! Your boat--Alexis is--!" her voice went back to audible levels as she started to panic. Susanoo seemed to at least get the gist of what Yue was saying. Or at least the part about the boat. Lurching to his feet, the drunk laughed and started shouting about not knowing to check the harbor. Which didn't make sense to the archer, but then again, he looked...really drunk. And sounded drunk too. "I’mma show ‘em bad men." He adjusted his belt, causing several axes to clank noisily. "Go! L-lead the way girlie!" "Y-Yes!" Yue nodded, running out the door. While she wasn't really good at navigating her way through cities, it had been recent enough that she vaguely remembered the way back to the harbor. And when she forgot, she just needed to ask people. Which was a little more difficult than it sounded, but they were usually quick to tell her where to go, if only to get rid of the glowering man behind her. Eventually, she caught sight of the harbor and the sea beyond, breathing a sigh of relief. Every time she had lost her way, it was just adding extra time till she was able to catch up with Alexis, who wasn't really a part of the Iron Falcons yet--or was she--but was still somebody important to Leon. And so, it wouldn't be good for her to get hurt or anything. Also, she thought, glancing nervously behind her. If I took too long, Susanoo might have just chopped me in half or something. "Here!" she breathed, crouching over somewhat to catch her breath. She didn't think she needed to point out the ship to the man, but she did anyway. "There's your boat!"

I reply to Berserker: "Landsurfing? Sorry, not really into that. I don't know of anywhere you could do that either to be honest." I reply to Caster and Blake: "Yeah you know...killing people isn't nice. Also, don't you get in trouble for doing that? Locked up and stuff. I'd rather not face prison time if I can help it." I glance at Berserker. "Let's follow her. But hmm...I also don't want to leave Archer and his Master without any help either..." I mull over things before making a snap decision. "Well maybe we'll be helping them by following Berserker and stuff! Prevent anybody from sneaking up on us."

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King Final Fantasy XII Grandia II

It was at times like these, surrounded by the wounded, that Catriona wished for a vulnerary. While not--spirits forbid it--a practitioner of the holy arts of Pontus, she knew more of healing than most soldiers, having spent a great deal of her initial time in the Garou as a medic. While she had taken up such duties with a stoic mindset, it had been made clear to her later on that with her abilities, she should have been put to use on the battlefield as soon as possible. That she had not was most likely attributed to her unusual status. The Garou was unique among the military in that it prized merit above one's birth. While the Kingsguard was mostly comprised of nobility, and other divisions would separate the commoners from the nobles, the Garou was one of the few places where a baseborn man could command a noble and not be hanged for it. Thus, it was viewed with a mixture of skepticism and admiration. But even the Garou had had issues with sending an untried crown princess to the frontlines. Thus, her experience in the medical field. And her own annoyances at being unprepared. She had used up her stock of vulneraries during the fight against the Awakened and had not been able to restock. This was not only a blunder as a commander but a shameful failure as a medic. Didn't she know that medical supplies were commonly used up before their expected time? Hadn't it been drilled in her head to keep a steady supply of cloth, ointments, and vulneraries? She had grown complacent after Ciela had joined the group, but with the troubadour out cold, it was apparent just how much they had relied on her, and how helpless they were without her. She had asked Abdul to help Citron, but the man had ignored her, distracted by Edrick's collapse. Which made sense, as the lancer was in far more need of aid than the wyvern rider, but still, Citron would be in pain until the swelling went down. Though likely, that root she was chewing on would help. Currently, the fruit merchant was glancing around with a lost expression. The girl had thanked her earlier, to which Catriona had given little more than a nod. It was common to get words of appreciation from those she helped, and while she did derive some feelings of satisfaction from it, in the end, it was nothing more than a job. Though, it had helped to engender herself more to the Garou in the beginning. Many of the soldiers had gotten friendlier with her after that--inviting her out to drink and such. Oddly enough, there were a couple of them who had become even more distant than before, blushing, refusing to meet her eye, and tripping over their words whenever they were forced to speak to her. They would still frequently approach her, most likely aware they needed to put forth a token effort for the sake of politeness, but Catriona was not one to make others suffer unduly, and so, for their sake, she had made excuses to end those conversations as soon as possible. Though for some reason, when she had mentioned these experiences to Anaïs as part of a conversation involving her lack of social forays, the girl had shot her a troubled look. "That..." she had muttered. Link and Rohns had also been nearby, though their reactions had been decidedly more amused until Anaïs had quieted the two of them with a glare. It was kind of her, but Catriona was well aware of her difficulties in befriending others. And to an outsider, such troubles might very well be seen as cause for hilarity. It was while taking a stroll through her mind down what could be referred to as "memory lane," that Catriona spotted an unusual occurrence--a human head sticking up from the ground. Indeed, what could be the cause of that? she wondered. Human heads don't just appear out of nowhere, and I do not recognize this head, though I suppose I should be glad of that. And then the head turned into a head and a neck; and then a head, a neck, and a torso; and then she realized that they were not just body parts, but a living person...and that said person was exiting out of the square-shaped hole in the ground where the statue once stood over, and from whence they had first entered this building themselves. In which case, she thought, I must needs be wary of this person who is also aware of the secret entrance and came here through it. Despite her suspicious method of arrival, the woman herself did not seem that suspicious. Dressed in a homespun gown with a short over-tunic and a respectable veil covering brown hair in a long braid, she seemed every inch a normal peasant woman, though a fair bit older than Cora or Acantha. She glanced around the room, eyes settling on Peaches with some surprise before moving on, and then freezing in place as she saw Alois. And then she charged forward, sandaled feet making slight clopping noises on the ground. Passing by Peaches, her smell would be familiar to the wyvern, much as Dresogon and Acantha's scents were. Catriona moved to stop the woman, taking out her sword with a sching, but it was too late. Alois was closer, and before the lord could do anything, the other had reached him and began to...hug him? Halting in her charge, sword still in hand, the princess looked at the scene with some confusion, ignoring the sounds of struggling from the side as Link held Edrick down. The man really didn't want to get treated for some reason. "Alois, you're back! Dresogon told me you wouldn't return, but I knew you would!" the woman's voice came out garbled and animalistic, but still understandable. She started to sob. "Oh Alois...my boy. My dear boy." Eventually, she released him and held him apart to look him over, tsking at what she saw. "But look at you! You're just filthy! All covered in dust, I bet you haven't even been washing right. Did you forget to pack extra smallclothes when you left?" "Gads, Goodwife Mene, you're acting as if he's been gone for years. It's only been a couple of tennights," Acantha complained, though she started to snicker soon afterward. "So his...pfft, smallclothes, are probably fine, hehe." Catriona took a few cautious steps forward. "Alois...do you know her?" This woman treated the fighter with more familiarity than even Cora or Acantha had, and Cora, at least, had seemed to be a good friend of his. -- Outside, the sight of Gunther and Sienna seemed to draw more and more interest from the passerby villagers. Most of them stayed well away, though their eyes lingered on the duo. While many appeared hostile at first, their expressions cleared up as they seemed to recognize the two, and the pair were left alone. OOC

It was tough fighting his way through all the Genesect, but Ari managed it somehow. He tried to be like Mac and not get himself caught up by a bunch at once, which meant that he mostly had to just keep moving. But he wasn't nearly as fast as the Helioptile so he got caught multiple times. But there was always a gijinka nearby to help, which was nice. Even the meaner-looking ones, like that mean woman he met when he first came on the boat, helped him out. So it was hard, and he was tired and injured, but he wasn't as hurt as he could be. So that was good. Eventually, he reached an area with a strange metal rectangle on the ground. He could see multiple gijinka, including Mac, already on it. Neither the Eevee or Fletchling from before were here though. Did that mean they were still fighting? Had they...died? Trying not to think too much about stuff like that, Ari walked up to where Mac stood. "You may have beaten me here but I bet I still did better than you overall!" -- Brooke was no-fun as usual during the fight. Then again, the enemies weren't being very fun either. It was like they didn't experience emotions or something. Which made sense, considering they were probably space aliens. "Pleasantries will have to wait. Good thing these guys are weaker than the one we fought in Mioter, huh?" "Yeah, I noticed that myself. Maybe they didn't spend as much time powering up in the mothership?" Easter responded. After the fight, though, Brooke flicked a glob of molten steel lingering from the battle off of her hat as she took in Easter's suggestion. "A competition? Don’t think that’s really fair, do you? Knowing you though you probably welcome the challenge, so sure, I’ll play." She grinned. "Do I get extra points for saving you from being blown up?" "You're right. The challenge only makes it even better," Easter mirrored her grin. "And I suppose I'll give you that. Starting with a disadvantage just adds to the challenge." Soon after, he started on the first target for his tally. It was difficult to fight these gijinka, but Easter did so anyway. Limited to just one move was nothing new for him, as this wasn't the first time he had fought steel types. Though he wasn't a fan of fighting them, they were still manageable. Especially if they went down as easily as these ones did. Punch this one in the jaw, kick that one in the chest, Psyshock the one coming up behind him, backflip off of that one to land on another one's head, let its ally take it out, rinse and repeat. Really, once you learned their general attack patterns, these guys were nothing. He was having so much fun, he almost forgot about getting past these guys to the end. By the time he remembered and made his way over there, there was a large crowd of gijinka standing on what looked like a square metal lift of sorts. He walked around for a bit until he eventually found Brooke, though whether she had already been there or got there a bit after he did, he wasn't sure. "Ha! Forty-one!" he told her proudly. "I'd like to see you beat that!" After talking with Brooke some, he soon spotted a Quagsire gijinka who looked really familiar. "Wait...is that who I think it is?" he muttered to himself before calling out hesitantly. "Dora...?" -- It didn't take long to mow through the gijinka in his way. Keanu wasn't looking to get into a ton of fights, not like that pretty Sylveon lady he had seen earlier. Except she had been doing some very not-so-pretty things to her enemies, so he stayed well away. Why are all the wahine here so terrifying? he wondered, then remembered that quite a few of them back home had been that way too. Okay, why are wahine in general so terrifying? Or at least the ones he came across, anyway. It just wasn't fair. He did eventually find Randy, but the Incineroar looked to be handling himself fine, so he didn't do much other than give an "alola" before moving on. He also thought he saw Marie, but he got attacked by a robot immediately afterward, and by the time he had defeated it, the possible Marie had disappeared from sight. The Alolan Raichu soon made it to a mostly robot-free area, where there were a few gijinka gathered around. Spotting Nani among them, he approached her. "Eyy, Nani," he called out. "Looks like you made it here too." Looking around, he whistled. "So...what do you suppose this place is? What're we all standing around here for anyway?" Normally, he'd have been able to vaguely figure it out from the buzzing thoughts around him, but he was feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Especially after fighting those robots, whose minds seemed to almost be like voids. Which had been kind of creepy but also kind of relieving from the normal whispers he couldn't turn off. Now, he had to get accustomed to being surrounded by actual gijinka gijinka once more.

Okay so coming in here knowing nothing about Revolutionary Girl Utena, I'm wondering if I should watch the anime so I have a bit of background here... Except you've been explaining things pretty well, so maybe not. I didn't know it was made by the creator of Sailor Moon, though. That's pretty interesting. I only watched a few episodes of that and the remake, but I found them to be decent enough, even if not the type of thing I usually watch. The bit about the monkey being an outlet for its owner's feelings is interesting, though. Also, the fact that nobody except for the main character views Anthy as anything but a possession. The fact the main character views her as a person, and the fact she actually does have a personality, sounds surprisingly progressive for its time. I had only heard of this anime as an older yuri anime with a prince-type girl, and so had never watched it since yuri isn't really my thing, but it sounds like there's a lot more to it than that. I might have to actually watch it now. But I'm also lazy and tend to err on the side of that laziness, so I might just stick to reading this blog for my Utena experience.

Ari enjoyed the rest of his time on the ship talking with his new brothers, Mac, and his mother. This was...a lot of fun! The most fun he'd had in a while, actually. Which made it all the worse when they actually reached the island. The sky was filled with scary purple gijinka with scary red eyes. The ship captain person took out a rod thing and blasted them all with lightning, but one got through, and its eyes...didn't look right. Thankfully, Ari wasn't close enough to get affected, though his mother still ended up running in front of him. Everything was a blur after that. He was about to get off the ship, but his mother had instructed him to stay behind. "I would have you stay on the ship and hide, but I know you would never do that," she shook her head. "Just please...stay safe, all right? I'd say you should stick by me, but..." she clenched her fists. "I'm going to be fighting in the front lines." "Don't worry about me, Mom! I got super strong over the past three years, so I'll show them not to mess with a real lion!" The Pyroar smiled. "All right, then you'll have to show me what you can do. Later." "Aww, but mom!" "No buts, you're staying behind. Got it?" She glared down at him. "Ugh, fine." "Good. Now I'm going ahead. You be patient and stay here, all right?" the queen didn't wait for a response before running ahead. "This sucks," Ari scowled. His scowl increased further when that Captain guy told them all to stay there and wait for the "adults" to handle everything. "Ugh, I can't wait to grow up more," he grumbled. "I'm already really growed up, but nobody seems to think so!" Mac was also upset. "Can't believe it. Even at the end of the world they still don't think we have what it takes. Well you know what I say? Screw that! I don't know about you but I've fought more than hard enough to earn some respect. And sure, maybe we're not as big as em, or as experienced, but what does that matter?" She stepped onto the edge of the ship and looked onto the battlefield. "Look at this. If we lose here that's it. Nothing more. World ends." She looked back at the others. "So what's the point staying behind? Even if we can only do a little we have to try, right?" "Yeah you're right...for once," Ari nodded. To the side, a young Eevee gijinka nodded as well, looking determined. "Yeah! My journey to becoming super strong and awesome has only just begun!" She pumped a fist. A Fletchling girl standing next to her looked nervous, but her eyes shone with spirit. "For Veronica," she mumbled. "I have to save her. Big sis would've never wanted this..." Things happened quickly after that. Mac took out a sun-shaped stone, glowing white and transforming. Not only had she grown taller, but her frills shrunk into tiny nubs on her head, while her tail grew longer as well. Ari was impressed. So that's what evolution looked like? Well, he'd seen it before a couple of times in Pride Rock, but only with the lions. One day...he'd grow big and strong like that too. But now Mac was ahead of him there! "No fair! You trying to get a headstart on me?" he harrumphed. "Just you wait, I'll evolve too and I'll be even stronger and cooler-looking!" He didn't want to admit that she looked cool, but she really did. "Wow, is that what you looked like when you evolved, Marie?" the Eevee asked a girl with blue hair nearby. The Fletchling just stared up at Mac with wide eyes. "Alright, who's with me? We're gonna go show these thugs why they can't mess with our world! Time to kick some butt!" With that, Mac jumped over the edge of the boat. Followed closely behind by a Wooper, who had a serious look on her young face, and both started to run as soon as they landed. "I am! And I'll prove I'm cooler than you too, even if you evolved!" Ari shouted, jumping off as well, followed by the Fletchling from earlier. "Come on Marie! Let's gooo Eevee time! And let's go Popplio--I mean, Brionne time!" the Eevee girl hopped in place, so excited she was she'd still say the same even if Marie had already gotten off the ship. Soon she jumped off the boat herself. Ari didn't pay any more attention to them, though. He was busy worrying about other stuff. Like moving forward and fighting. A Genesect had already started for him, but he struck it with his newly-learned Fire Fang before running forward, charging into another one and bouncing off of that one. He wasn't as confident as Mac was in his fighting skills, but he was slowly gaining confidence the more he fought. "They ain't so tough! Come on, let's keep going!" "Yeah, you're right again...for once!" Ari teased, before running forward into the next enemy. Things continued in that vein for a while until the Litleo found himself facing not only a Genesect on the ground but also one coming at him from the sky. Just barely managing to avoid a divebomb, he gulped when it flew back up into the sky and looked to be heading back for another round. "This isn't good..." he muttered to himself. "Maybe I was being too confident." It was at that point that he noticed a shadow stretching out toward the shadow cast by the flying Genesect like they did when the sun moved across the sky. Except it was moving a lot faster than that and soon afterward the Genesect found itself attacked by that same shadow. Which then shrunk back to normal size. It was then that Ari could see the owner of the shadow was a familiar Duskull girl. "Now look at what you did, making a girl of my talent fight like this, you should be ashamed of yourself." She said, yet she had a cheeky smile on her face. "Well, I'm more thankful than ashamed," the Litleo said, taking that moment to catch his breath. "Thanks, Kaitlyn! I guess you're not so bad after all!" He lunged at the other Genesect that had turned to face her with a Fire Fang. "Ha, I guess it can't be helped if you're giving the proper respect now." With that, the fight continued, and with the other's help, both Genesect were easily dispatched. As soon as the fight was over, Kaitlyn left him with a few parting words, bowing dramatically before disappearing into thin air. Shaking his head in some amusement, Ari continued moving forward, energy renewed. Even though the enemies were tougher than he thought, he couldn't forget that he wasn't the only one here. There were several gijinka out here, fighting for Adarid's sake. "Is this how it feels like to attack as a pride?" he wondered. "No...this might be even better!" Grinning, he used Return on one of the Genesect, dealing quite a bit of damage in the process. "I just hope that the others are doing fine too." -- Easter had had fun. Meeting new gijinka with Dora was an entirely new experience from meeting new gijinka alone. Normally, there would be a tension in the air, especially with males--they wanted something from him, he wanted something from them. Simple as that. It never usually led to what they wanted though, but to what he wanted. Which was to beat them up, especially if they were dark or dragon types. He had gained a bit of a reputation that way, something he could see reflected in the eyes of those he had met before. They were wary of what they saw as a beast in frilly pink clothing standing in front of them. But with Dora, he felt more relaxed, more like...dare he say it? A normal gijinka. Somebody who wasn't always thinking about the next fight, and how to instigate it. Now, when he said hello and smiled at others, he really meant it. It was odd, but not unpleasantly so. However, no matter how lovable the little Wooper was, eventually, Easter had to return her to Brooke and sit by himself for a bit. She hadn't wanted to leave him alone, but he had been insistent on it. Going down to a spot below-deck, he had just sat crouched in a corner behind a barrel, doing nothing but thinking. He might have given in and shed a couple of tears, but, shameful as it was, he knew he needed it too. At one point, he heard movement and saw Apanie looking at him, but she seemed to realize he wasn't in the mood for company and left. Not that she was the talkative sort, anyway. He was just about to doze off when his senses kicked into high alert. There was danger above deck. Immediately popping out from his corner--and almost giving the Rotom girl Jane a heart attack--he raced up the stairs leading to the deck, searching for Brooke, Dora, and Denku. At seeing all three, he let out a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a startled curse when Jane rushed past him. "Alright crew, get to your stations, its time to bust out our secret weapon." Captain called out. "Aye-aye Cap--" Easter cut himself off. Oh yeah, I'm not part of the crew anymore. Feeling a strange mixture of disappointment and nostalgia, he watched the Rotom head toward the arena where he had battled Apanie. However, it seemed to be multipurpose, as it split open to reveal a large rod, which the Rotom started to channel electricity into. After that, the rod released a massive charge of lightning toward various flying figures approaching the ship. It hit most of them, but not all of them. One had, in fact, landed several feet away from the fairy type and began to aim an attack from the weapon on its shoulder toward him. This is bad, the Sylveon thought. He had been taken off guard and hadn't had time to charge an attack. It's a good thing I've been working on my shield, he thought, clenching his fists. Before he needed to do anything, though, the creature, which he recognized as a Genesect, was struck suddenly by a flurry of attacks. Turning around, the fairy type saw a familiar assortment of Eeveelutions standing in a line. A mixture of emotions swelled up in his gut then. "You guys..." he murmured. We're not part of the S.S. Showdown anymore, but...the bond we all share is still there. We'll always be crewmates...is that it? He didn't have much more time to reminisce, though, as the Genesect began to glow bright white, soon after Self-Destructing. Diving toward the slower Eeveelutions and putting up his shield, Easter gritted his teeth. "You all right?" he asked. "Yeah. Thanks, Easter," they replied. One of them was John, who smiled at him. Easter managed a smile of his own. Good. This was progress. Rei, the Jolteon, shouted out, "Hey Cappin, much as I love being on this boat again I don't think it can take much more." "You're probably right there." Captain said, as more of those things got nearer and began to fire off their lasers at the hull of the ship. "Alright everyone!" He called out. "This is it. Brace yourself, gonna be a crash landing! As soon as we hit the dirt we'll be in the thick of it! Don't stop until you reach the goal and make sure to cover each other!" "Aye aye!" Easter replied. He moved through the crowd toward Brooke and Dora. Denku was with other gijinka at the moment, including some he hadn't seen earlier--a small Litleo, a Pyroar that looked like its mother, and a Helioptile. He didn't pay more mind to the group aside from waving at Denku so the other knew where they were. He could join them later if he wanted. The Sylveon also saw Vita, who looked a lot calmer now that she was on land. He stifled a chuckle at that. If she knew he was laughing at her expense like that, she would smack him into the ground. Easter sobered up as he scanned the battlefield ahead, where the legendaries had already started to fight. In his opinion, legendaries were more bark than bite, but it was somewhat thrilling to see ones he had only heard about before. Still, he didn't spend too much time on that, quickly turning back to Dora and asking her to remain on the boat before jumping off the deck, hitting the ground, and running forward. He attempted to stay near Brooke but ended up losing his focus when a Genesect landed in front of him. "I don't have time to deal with you!" the Sylveon shouted, releasing a Psyshock at the creature. He was at a bit of a disadvantage here, what with them being steel type and most of his moves being fairy type, but he would manage. Annoyed when the attack didn't automatically take down the enemy, he fired up another Psyshock but had to let it die to jump out of the way of a Techno Blast. From the color, it looked to be an ice-type move. "Gods," he cursed, "You're a real annoyance, you know that? But space aliens usually are." Running forward, he drove a roundhouse kick into the other's abdomen, following up with a punch to the face. The other looked surprised by his sudden attack but quickly reacted by glowing bright white. Cursing again, Easter jumped back and pulled up his Cosmic Shield, managing to avoid taking damage that way. "You look like you need help," a familiar Flareon stepped into view, the Manectric he mentioned before beside him. The electric type was currently using Fire Fang on one of the robotic gijinka and doing serious damage. He's strong...but I'm stronger, the Sylveon thought with a mixture of pride and annoyance. What does John see in him anyway--no. I'm not going to worry about that. "Maybe," he replied. "I'm not really suited for steel types." "Is that a pun?" John smiled. "Not this time," Easter smirked. "Well, stick around us. We can help." "Thanks, but no thanks," Easter shook his head. "You two should worry about yourselves." He fired off another Psyshock at a Genesect who had been sneaking upon them. While they finished it off, he gave a jaunty wave and ran forward, leaving them behind. "I'll see you both on the other side. Don't dawdle now," he grinned when he heard John bursting into laughter behind them. There was a hint of smugness mixed in. I can still make him laugh. Despite his disadvantage against steel types, Easter wasn't doing too bad on the field. Every so often he'd see people he recognized, though there were many more he didn't. Most of them looked to be holding their own, but sometimes he'd see one in need of help or outnumbered, and he'd come in to even the score a bit. One of them was that Krookodile he'd bumped into before. Blasting the Genesect holding him down with a Psyshock, he followed that up with a headbutt to the stomach. "You all right?" he asked, using Wish on the other when he noticed the ground type was covered in wounds. "Oh? Ahh, umm, yes," the other stuttered, a strange contrast to his intimidating appearance. "I'm good, I mean, I...thanks, miss." "No worries," Easter smiled at the other. "Just keep on moving forward," he left the other then, hearing shouts of "Whoa, I'm healed?" and "Was that an angel?!" Chuckling slightly, the Sylveon charged up another Psyshock at a Genesect who had gotten in his way, kicking them in the neck afterward. When they dropped to the ground, he ran past it, pausing only when he found himself surrounded on all sides. "One, two, three, four, five of you," he shook his head. "You really don't know when to quit, do you? Stupid alien freaks." This would be a perfect time for his Swift attack, but there was no way it'd have any effect on them. Gritting his teeth and preparing for a hard fight, he released a Psyshock at one of them, rolling out of the way of a Magnet Bomb...and straight into another one. Yet another one was screeching, while one was floating in the air, and the last one was aiming a blast from the weapon on its shoulder at him. Running straight into the one aiming the blast, he managed to avoid the attack by bowling the other over. However, he did not manage to avoid the multitude of attacks aimed right for him...though oddly enough, they also hit their ally, knocking out the gijinka in the process. "Guess you don't care about friendly fire, huh. You really are aliens, aren't you?" Easter commented, sending a Psyshock at a Genesect. "I might have to use that to my advantage." Running forward, he charged into another one quickly running behind it and using it as a shield from the others' attacks. However, when it began to glow white, he had to summon his shield again. And then, all the rest began to glow white as well, drawing the attention of several more space aliens. So, as the fairy type rolled back from the force of multiple Self-Destructs, he found himself faced with half a dozen additional Genesect. "This isn't good," the Sylveon muttered. He had already used up his shield for the next five minutes. It's unlikely I'll get through this next fight without serious injury, he thought. Before he could do much more than blink, an Emboar came charging through the middle of the pack, body wreathed in fire. That one attack was enough to knock most of the gijinka flat on their back, much of their armor blackened and melting at the edges. "Brooke!" Easter shouted in delight. "Boy, am I glad you're here." The rest of the fight went much more smoothly after that. Brooke had a natural advantage over the Genesect, and her attacks hit hard. While she mainly stuck to punching, sometimes she'd switch it up with headbutts or other physical moves. She fought like a brawler, a style Easter recognized. He was also a brawler, though one wouldn't know it to look at him, especially considering his move set. But his experience in the arena of Adarid had made him unafraid to go up close and physical with people. Though...I suppose it all started in Trailsau, he thought with some fondness. Not that he had stayed there after that initial experience, but it had taught him a very important lesson about no-holds-barred brawling. Fighting wasn't like any of the skills he had known previously, even dancing. No, it was a dirty, messy thing, and you risked your life further every time you held back unless you were sparring or in the arena. But this wasn't a spar. This was the real deal. Both he and Brooke had fought alongside each other enough times that they were able to avoid hitting the other in their attacks, something the Genesect did not seem to care about themselves, which Easter took great advantage of. When the fight had finished, the Sylveon casting Wish on both of them, he smiled at the Emboar. "Thanks for that, Brooke. You really came through for me." His smile turned into more of a grin as a thought occurred to him. "Hey, what say this? Why don't we have ourselves a little competition?" his grin broadened. "By the end of this, whoever kills the most Genesect...wins." Winking at Brooke, he leaped forward, aiming for an approaching Genesect and stomping down on its ribs. Throwing a Psyshock at it afterward, he smiled when it fell to the ground with a thud. "That's one down. Just several hundred more to go." -- Things had been going really slowly...and then bam! Everything seemed to happen at once. But that was how things usually went. The Raichu sighed, scratching his head as they were all told to get off the ship. What a drag. But he'd already made the decision to fight. He had to, for his ohana. Randy turned to him, Marie, and Nani. "Well...guess this is where the rubber meets the road, huh?" he chuckled. "I'm going to do my damnedest to get you three through this...just trust me. We're going to try and back each other up. After all, this little group is pretty much ohana now, am I wrong?" he turned his head, giving a huge smile now. "No...you're not, you big cheeseball, you," Keanu chuckled. That was one thing about Randy. He wasn't afraid to say cheesy or embarrassing things. Which was good, as it meant Keanu didn't have to say them himself. "Nani! Keanu! Heh...see if you can make sure Marie stays in one place. Don't need her acting more and more like me, am I wrong?" "One of you is already plenty. Give 'em hell," Nani said. "Yeah, go get 'em, tiger," Keanu chuckled before turning to the Brionne. "Marie, stay here. You too, Morgan," he said, noticing the familiar Eevee they had met in Northshore had approached the group to stand near the Brionne. She gave him a cheeky smile before putting on an innocent face. I don't trust that smile or that face, he thought. Nor do I trust that Marie will stay in one place either. He groaned, suddenly feeling much less confident in his ability to keep Marie in check. Why did Randy shift the responsibility onto him and Nani? Yeah, not like we'll be very successful at stopping Marie from whatever she wants to do. We were never able to stop her before, and I doubt that'll suddenly change now. By then, Randy had made his way to the edge of the boat, muttering to himself before throwing back his head and letting loose a roar. Shortly afterward, he leaped off the edge, landing in the midst of the battlefield. "Well, I did my job," Keanu shrugged, already giving up on actually succeeding in it. He turned to Nani. "What say we go and make sure Mr. Hobbes doesn't get himself in over his head?" With that, he jumped off the ship as well. "Fine by me. Muscleheads like him could use the support to clear a path for him," Nani followed shortly behind. "Don't get into too much trouble, Marie, you hear?" he shouted back before running forward. He would try to keep an eye on the Brionne later, but he also had faith that she could handle herself pretty well. She had shown him that much. With his speed, dodging his way past multiple Genesect to try to catch up with Randy was almost literally a breeze. Except instead of running away, he was actually trying to fight, so with clever use of the moves at his disposal, he was able to take down many at a time. Surf was especially useful when there were a bunch of enemies around him, but no allies. "Like right now," he said, crashing into one of the purple-armored enemies while riding the wave, though the wave itself had hit all seven of the Genesect surrounding him. Jumping backward out of reach, he released an Electro Ball at one of them...and then another...and then another. These guys are fast...but I'm faster. He proved that again when he got surrounded again and stopped them all in their tracks with a Thunder Wave. "Yeah, I'll buss you all up real easy," he boasted. Only to stop speaking entirely when several of the Genesect began to glow bright white. "Ka!" he swore, having to use Substitute to avoid the blast. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked up at hearing a familiar voice. "This sure is a first," Nani exclaimed, jumping down to where Keanu had been just before the blasts, before immediately darting forward into one of the enemies. Except for the part where her back bent further and further back before the girl had practically folded herself in half, sliding right under the enemy and springing up onto one behind it instead, delivering a knee full of sneaky spectral spookiness. "And here I thought something like this was only allowed in storybooks." "Nani! Thanks!" It was good to see her...and even better that she wasn't saying anything about his mess-up. "And I know what ya mean...this is almost like one of those campfire stories I've heard. Wild, huh?" he shot an Electro Ball at another Genesect. "But at least these things are somewhat manageable." He winced when he remembered what had happened not a minute ago. "Somewhat," the Mimikyu agreed. Using the Genesect in front of her as a springboard, Nani kicked off away from the thing, bounding over to a new target a bit closer to Keanu. "Though I'd like them a lot more without THESE!" To punctuate her statement, Nani slammed a ball of electricity - very much similar to Keanu's - into the cannon of her new target. "'Ey, good shot!" Keanu shouted. That was one thing Nani did--she fought smarter, not harder. Tossing another Electro Ball at the now cannon-less gijinka, he followed that up with a Psychic on another, lifting the robot-like person into the air and throwing them against another one like a bowling ball. "Guess my...training...paid off," he panted. He still wasn't quite used to that move, but he was getting better. But I'm able to be more experimental in my attacks because of Nani. She covered for him when he faltered, and vice versa. "It really does help to have a scrap sistah," he laughed. He wasn't used to fighting alone anyway. At least this way, their chances had gone up by a lot. Now...they just had to find Randy...and Marie. Because he was pretty sure the Brionne was out here now too.

Abdul dipped into a deep bow. “Your Highness, you flatter me with your praise! It is a great honor for this humble merchant to be of service to you and the crown of Galtea.” "My thanks for your gentle courtesy." Oddly enough, Catriona felt a little uncomfortable being greeted with such obeisance. Which was ridiculous, since as a princess, such was her natural right. But after fighting with the Garou, and then this group, she had grown adjusted to being treated like a commoner, save for the few who still treated her respectfully. Perhaps she should have been indignant at this realization, but instead, she felt numb. After all, kings died just as easily as commoners. All were equal before death. Abdul had moved on to talking with Penelope by then, who had taken over the conversation per her usual garrulity. Catriona didn't mind. She had other things to worry about. Such as the multiple injuries in the group, the problem of this village's secrets, and Licorice's absence. There was much to do. "Catriona, er, would you mind lending a hand with this?" Gunther's voice pierced through the thoughts swirling about her mind. Lifting her head, the lord saw the knight struggling with a wooden barrel. "Yes," the woman replied, ignoring her pounding temples as she approached where he and Tsetseg were. As she neared them, she overheard the knight say something quite curious. "Some Knight I am." "A knight? What's a knight?" For a second, Catriona felt tempted to turn back around and leave them to it. Explaining the concept of knighthood to the girl would be...complicated. Unless she meant the class, which was also a bit complicated. Still, it would be preferable to leaving her ignorant. I will keep this as succinct as I can. Lifting up the barrel with the help of the others--careful to keep it upright--she began to explain. "There are actually two different meanings to the term 'knight.' That of the title, and that of the class," she spoke. "In Galtea, it is traditional for noble children--typically sons not in the line of succession--to go into training as a page, then a squire, before they become a knight. Knighthood is a great honor." When her father had first told her he wanted her to get experience in the field, she had believed he had meant as a knight. She had been quite surprised when it had been decided for her to go into battle as a common soldier, but her father had been adamant about that. The woman paused to set the barrel down halfway to their destination and catch her breath. Picking it up again, she resumed speaking. "Classes, which are what all combatants identify themselves as, include the 'knight' class. They used to be called armored knights," her history tutor had gone over this in great detail. "But eventually that was shortened to just 'knight.' Gunther is of the knight class, but not of the knight title." She paused, remembering what he had said earlier. Normally, if somebody had said "some knight I am" it would mean they were boasting about themselves, but the man's tone of voice had belied such a thing. In which case, was he being sarcastic? "Still, he is a knight all the same," she settled for, hoping it would sound neutral enough to work either way. Catriona began to sweat more the closer they got to the fire until finally, they had gone so close they could almost feel the embers on their skin. "This is close enough." Setting the barrel down, the princess began to tip it onto its side with the others' help. The water came spilling out onto the floor then, slowly at first, and then picking up speed the further they tipped it. The flames dissipated into steam where it touched. Their skin reddened where the steam hit, and the lord knew that she and the others would probably have to get looked at by Ciela later for burns, though a vulnerary would work just as well. It would just take longer. Even after emptying the large barrel, there was barely any water on the floor, most of it having turned to steam, but the fire had finally gone out, prompting Catriona to give a satisfied nod. "It is done." That was one less issue for them to worry about. She turned to the other two. "Tell me if you need my aid with anything else." Walking away, she could only hope that she had handled that situation in the correct manner. Perhaps I should ask Penelope about this, she thought. Her sister was better at such things than her. Halfway back to the others, Shiro appeared in front of her on bended knee with a bow. He had been so quiet, she almost missed him. He and Link are alike that way, she thought, though there was an extra element of eeriness to the former soldier. Shiro, at least, did not seem like a dead man living. She frowned. No, that's not right. Link's in the peak of health. Why had she thought differently? Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the frog Protean. "I will be outside the village until you deem it time to move on," He told her. "If I run into Sienna or Licorice while there, I will do my best to redirect them towards you." "That is fine," Catriona nodded as the man stood up to leave. The frog still seemed unused to dealing with people. From what she had seen, he seemed more comfortable with the company of animals, if his behavior around Rohns were any indication, back when the wolf cub was leading them toward the fox village. As the leader, perhaps she should be looking into that and getting him to know the others better, but that smacked of unnecessary meddling too. Sighing, she glanced around the room. To the side, she could see Cora breaking out into laughter. Is aught amiss with her? the lord wondered, but before she could do or say anything, the woman regained control over herself. Perhaps it was just a side effect of the recent situation. She had seen such cases in the Garou after difficult battles, after all. The militia woman then straightened up and cleared her throat. "Um, right, thanks to you all for helping. I wish I had been a bit more helpful..." "You are welcome... It was our duty to help, and it aligned with our goals as well." They couldn't very well get information on the Great Dragon from animals, after all. Cora's eyes widened. "I should go check on the others!" She turned to the mayor. "Sir, where should I start?" It took the man a second to respond, deep in his plans as he was. "And then...pumpkin pasties maybe? No, pumpkin bread! And we can't forget the honey roasted chestnuts. Yes...and of course, we need to make sure that there's entertainment too. Perhaps I'll give a speech! Yes...oh!" he looked up. "Cora, yes. What was it you needed?" he thought for a bit. "Oh, you asked where to start checking on the villagers? Good, very good," he nodded, pleased. "I would start with the militia. And if they're fine, you can have them help you check on the others." He clapped a hand on her shoulder briefly. "Oh, and, ahem," he coughed, looking a little uncomfortable. "Thank you for your help." Coughing again, he said, "Now, go on then. There's much to do, and not enough hours left in the day for it. I should be leaving too. Acantha," he waved over at the woman. "Cora and I will be leaving to check on the other villagers. Could you stay with the group here?" "What?! You're leaving me to deal with these lamebrains?" When the mayor ignored her, she grumbled, "Fine, but the two of you owe me for this!" Before she could say much more, Edrick had slipped up alongside her. “Move over,” he said nonchalantly. “Hmm… not much muscle tearing. You’re very lucky, Peaches. You know that?” "W-What?! How dare you just move on in like this! Do you even know anything about treating a wyvern, or are you just guessing?!" Acantha quieted down, however, at seeing the confident way he approached her wounds. "Well...I suppose an extra hand doesn't hurt. Just don't mess up!" she grumbled, continuing to treat the wyvern on her side. “That’s a good girl, Peaches.” Edrick cooed. "We're probably gonna have to wash you off after this..." "I can handle that," the militia woman said, crossing her arms. "You, on the other hand, need to get seen, or you'll die from losing too much blood...like an idiot." She stared at his chest pointedly, where red liquid still burbled up from the gouges. His shirt was soaked through. "It's none of my business whether you guys decide to topple over, but the mayor tasked me with looking after you all," she grumped, omitting the fact that he had said nothing of the sort, only asking her to stay with them. As if summoned by her words, Link approached Edrick then, clamping a heavy hand down on his shoulder. “Sit down,” the soldier said. “You can let me bandage those up now, or it can wait until all that blood loss catches up to you and you pass out, but either way it’s gettin’ done. So sit down.” "That's what I told him," Acantha complained. "At least one of you has some sense around here." Catriona rubbed her head again. It was obvious that Acantha did not like them. Though why does she care so much about our injuries then? Still, that didn't matter. What did matter was getting everything sorted out. “Your Highness,” a voice called out. Turning, the lord saw Citron waving an arm as she slowly approached her. “Um, I don’t mean to impose or, anything like that,” she stumbled through her words. “But Mister… Er... Sir? Lincoln,” she paused. "He would be referred to as Mister, Master, or Goodman Lincoln. He usually goes by Link, however," the princess corrected. She paused, and then amended her earlier words. "You may use Sir if you prefer, but it would only be as a term of respect. He is not an official knight." It was oddly coincidental how she ended up discussing knighthood in not one, but two conversations within the span of a few minutes. But they quickly moved on from that to the real reason Citron had approached her. “Just finished assessing my wounds, and he said that my shoulder was… The bone wasn’t… Where it should be?” She gestured at the swollen shoulder. “And my arm, I… Can’t move it, but he said you might be able to put it back in place?” the girl cleared her throat, coughing a bit. “So, if… It’s not too much to ask, when you’re not busy, if it wouldn’t be overstepping my status or anything like that, I would appreciate it if you would be able to find the time to help me?” the Isaurian asked, rubbing at her limp arm. "Yes, I have the time now," Catriona replied, stepping closer to the girl. She heard Abdul saying something about helping out with the injured, but she ignored him to focus on Citron. "Pardon me," she murmured, before grabbing the other's arm gently and examining the shoulder. "Yes, he was right. It is not aligned properly." She thought for a second. "You should lie down for this." Guiding the wyvern rider over to one of the pews, the lord bade her lie down supine before glancing over her critically. "Before I begin, I must warn you that this isn't safe to do if you're not trained in it." She had never been known for her bedside manner. If I had a vulnerary, I would rub it on the shoulder to help reduce the swelling, she thought, shaking her head. "I see you're chewing on something...good. That will help distract you from this," the woman said at the same time as she grabbed the arm, positioning it so that, from the elbow onwards, it pointed toward the sky, ending with her fingers. It would hurt, but it would hurt much worse when the lord began to make the arm go flat again, but this time, in an outstretched position, perpendicular to the rest of her body, holding her upper arm at the same time and limiting how much it moved. After the arm was almost perfectly flat from the elbow outwards, the lord pushed against the shoulder. Citron would hear a quiet "clunk" then and felt something move in that area, but it wasn't until Catriona brought the girl's forearm back to rest on top of her stomach that she could really feel the difference. It still hurt, but the pain had lessened by a significant amount. "It is now back in place, but it is necessary to make a sling, so remain in position." The former medic took out an old, ragged shirt from her pack before tearing it into strips of cloth without hesitation. With practiced ease, she formed it into a sling that held Citron's arm in place. Satisfied with her work, the princess stepped back. "Keep it in the sling for a tennight," she said. "Depending on how you move it, it may need longer, but that is unlikely." Especially considering they had Ciela in the group as well, knocked out though she was. "Now, you may rise." Catriona remembered what Abdul had said then, and approached the man. "Citron is good for now, but there is inflammation around her shoulder," she said. "I don't have a vulnerary myself, or I would have seen to it already." By now, Dresogon and Cora had already left through the front door. While passing Alois, the mayor had snorted disdainfully. "How a boy like you got mixed up with them, I'll never know. Just dumb luck, I suppose. That's one thing you always had in spades." He shook his head, face purpling with anger if Alois responded, before moving on. Outside, they neared Sienna, who had already seen Shiro go by before. The mayor paused briefly in front of the fox, the earlier surliness subsiding from his expression. "Again, thank you so much for helping us out earlier. I will tell the villagers to keep a lookout for this...Licorice, was it?" he nodded. "Yes, do not worry. I'm sure we shall find her." Unfortunately, Shiro would not find Licorice while leaving the village, and neither would Sienna from her position outside the town hall. What they would see were various human beings walking around the village with lost expressions. Many of them would try to walk on all fours before suddenly standing upright with flushed faces. Many more would attempt to speak, but the words would come out as odd animalistic noises before they cleared their throats and began speaking more normally. The sight would be nostalgic for both of the Proteans, who had seen such things in their own home villages. OOC

App is accepted. Again, sorry for the delays.

Ayyy I'm glad to see that Sanaki won! She's so adorable! And I also like Mae (and Hilda to a lesser extent but I haven't played GD yet so I can't say for sure) so that's good.

Yue was relieved to see that the boat was actually in plain sight! Or at least there was a boat with the same name as it in plain sight, anyway, which probably meant that it was the boat they were looking for...right? That was good, but what wasn't so good was that Alexis was there with her. She had even taken her by the hand when they left the bar, which the archer had been briefly flustered by before calming down. What kind of person just grabbed another person like that?! Said girl was currently looking around at all the ships, looking impressed. Yue was also impressed, but there was also something scary about boats. She couldn't understand why anybody would willingly ride one. What if it sank or something when you were on it? Didn't they worry about that?! "Wait. No way." Alexis muttered as she saw what Yue had. "I think...the good captain may have been drunk off his rocker." Alexis said. "I don't think the bull mentioned a crew. Methinks they might be up to something. Why don't I go check it out?" She winked at Yue. "Be sure to cover me." "W-Wait. Maybe we should just get the others first--" but the other had already left. Wanting to scream in fear and frustration, Yue paused for a few minutes to just stare at the ground as she had a miniature panic attack. What should I do what should I do this isn't good this is very bad but what should I do?! Eventually, though, she had managed to calm down, though a few passersby had shot her concerned looks. "Ah, no, I think this one he'll really want to see. He's not far so I'll be sure to grab him quick." Yes, that was a good idea. A very good idea! But it was also a good idea to grab the others too. Why Alexis had just charged in like this, Yue really couldn't understand. Except it looked like somebody wanted to give her a tour of the boat now. Which wasn't a good idea at all. Not when she had to go back and get her friends as well as that scary man with red hair. "Well, aren't you a gentleman. I might have to take you up on that offer. After all I'm sure someone can grab that bull of a captain without me." What did that mean?! Why was she agreeing?! She needed to come back to the bar with Yue, right now! Did that mean Yue had to do it, and alone?! Oh no no no no no, that just wasn't possible. That man was way too scary for that. The only issue is, she didn't know where any of the others were, but she did know where Susanoo was. And the sooner Alexis got some backup, the better. So, with a heavy heart, the archer fled the docks, making sure to be quiet at first, and then just running at full-speed once she had gotten out of eyesight of the scary men around the boat. She ran through the crowd, doing her best to not actually run into any of them, with mixed success. Thankfully, most of them were gracious about it, though one of them had stopped her and started babbling about how wonderful it was to see a Yonan here, and how he had never seen so many before coming to Enta, and on and on and on. Yue had stopped listening partway through, interrupting his speech with a "Sorry, I gotta go!" before hightailing it out of there. Eventually, she made it back to the bar, where she hesitated in front of the door before walking in to see Susanoo still there. At that, she realized that there had been a large possibility that he might not have still been there, but he was...and looking even drunker than he had before if that was possible. "Uh...umm..." Yue approached him and started mumbling. "Umm...Sir Susanoo..." she knew that she needed to get his attention somehow, or he'd probably just ignore her. So, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes, she decided to shout--though what was a shout for her was just normal volume for anybody else. "I saw your boat at the harbor! There are some bad men there too!"

"A rabbit? Wait..." Jacklyn looked surprisingly surprised by what Belle said, going into deep thought. "So you're not training only rabbits then?" the blue-haired girl asked. Not that she was that interested in her companion's team plan, but it was a little annoying to know she had been wrong in her assumptions. When the girl didn't respond, looking lost in thought, Belle shrugged, turning back to the battle, which was just now finishing up. Watching Ivan fight again made her realize that...he was pretty good at this battling thing. And in the end, he even won where Jacklyn had lost. And Jacklyn was no slouch either. If Belle cared about such things, she would've been impressed. Instead, she felt a more general impatience, quietly sulking while Jacklyn pumped her fist into the air and shouted something congratulatory. How these people could stand the heat as they did, she wasn't sure. When the battle finished, the strange girl--she didn't care enough to remember her name--stuck her tongue out at Belle. "Next time someone asks you to battle you should do it, it'll be good for your Pokemon." "Uh-huh," the blue-haired girl replied dryly. "Whatever you say." No way in hell she'd fight in this heat. Jacklyn, on the other hand, seemed fired up. "Next time we meet I'll beat you for sure! And then I'll show you I'm gonna be the champion and that this region is great for adventuring in!" "I didn't know you cared that much about this route," Belle muttered. It wasn't like they were going to stick around here forever...unless the other girl was really planning that. In which case, Belle would probably just see if she and Ivan could gang up on her and force her to move on from this place. The less she had to stick around in this heat, the better. "Alright gang! I'm going to go catch me another pokemon!" Pointing to the air, the purple-haired girl then pointed to the city down the road. "After we rest up! My team is exhausted so I can't actually put them against something else right now. But that doesn't mean we should stop right in our tracks! Onward!" "Does that mean we're camping out tonight?" Belle groaned...but followed anyway. It was just easier to go with the flow with this group.

Ari felt his chest, which had been super wound up and tense, start to relax at hearing that...Kazo accepted him as a brother? In fact, he was glad about it? And his brothers accepted him too?! This was the best day. Ever. While he was thinking that, his mom was talking to the Pupitar she had called Denku. "You did far more than you needed to. You went above and beyond and saved our god. For that, no thanks I give will ever be enough," she did a short bow, which shocked Ari a bit. His mom never bowed. The Litleo's brief burst of happiness deflated at seeing Kazo looking overwhelmed. Shuffling his feet, the boy continued to blab, "Sorry, sorry, I know I should've said that sooner, I just..." he paused, and then finished in a much smaller voice, "...didn't want you to think differently of me or anything." After a bit, he turned to Mac with a glare, sticking out his tongue. "I wasn't worried about you though. And don't call me that! I know you're making fun of me somehow...and it sounds weird coming from you anyway!" He turned to Kazo. "Same to you...big brother Kazo!" he grinned. "Just call me Ari, or uhh...little bro!" he'd heard the others use that word, and it sounded...just like the kind of thing he wanted to be called too! As part of this "brotherhood" now. Hearing that Kah was dead though was...well, just like Kazo, Ari needed a minute too. He had already suspected that for a long time now but having it confirmed felt like somebody was punching his tummy. Or his chest. Either one. "So...she's gone," he drooped. "She really went bad. I know...she tried to kill Latias, but I guess I hoped she'd still come back to us." Thinking about her led him to think about Suiten as well, or Keldeo as he had turned out to be. That whole day had just been really, really bad. Keldeo would never have left if Kah hadn't acted the way she had, and she had also ended up leaving the group as well. But part of him realized that, along the way, he had also gotten used to those two being gone. "Well, even if she's gone, and Keldeo too, it's not so bad because I've got you two! Kazo and Mac! And now you two!" he turned to the brothers, before jerking upright. "Oh, and of course, you too, Mom!" His mom smiled. "Yes, I'll always be with you, my little Ariel," she scooped him up for a hug, which he let happen for a bit before he wriggled out of her grasp with an "okay, okay Mom. I already told you that I'm all growed up now." "Of course you are," she smiled indulgently down at him, ruffling his hair one last time before stepping back quickly so he couldn't retaliate, chuckling slightly. "You know, you guys sure did meet a lot of the same people," Sai commented. "Or at least people connected to the same people." "Oh yeah! It's as Zago always says!" Ari beamed. "It's a small world after all!" "I'm gonna call him Ariel," the Excadrill, Sai, commented. "But in exchange, he gets to call Denku Denden like back in the day," "Please no." "Too late! He has the right as the youngest of the brotherhood!" Kazo and Sai stated at the same time before laughing in sync. Denku sighed and rubbed his head, seemingly accepting his fate. "Yeah! I'm the youngest of the brotherhood!" the Litleo clenched his hands into fists happily, waving them from side to side like maracas. "In that case, uhh...it's nice to meet you, Sai...Denden!" he beamed as he shouted the last word. After a few seconds though, he turned to the Helioptile who was still there. "Oh, almost forgot about you Mac." He stuck out his tongue again. "You can be uhh...a bratty sister or something maybe," he snickered. "Are you sure it's just that and not something else?" his mother asked with a straight face. "What about a possible betrothed?" "Huh?" "One day, you'd marry her." She looked dead serious, though the corners of her mouth started to twitch. "What?! Yuck! I can't marry her, she's my...friend," Ari paused before finally admitting how he actually felt about Mac with reluctance. Now she'll never let me live that down! He wanted to groan. "Besides, marriage is yucky anyway. No, I'm gonna be a strong and silent single man just like Kazo!" he shouted, pumping his fist. "He never lets women get to him! Like with that pretty lady Melody, he remained so cool through that!" Sure, there was some stuttering, but Ari knew the truth now. The Gabite had been just trying to make the Miloticthink he had fallen for her beauty. She was really pretty, so it only makes sense that he'd have to pretend like that. At that, his mother finally began to laugh, though it still came out sounding rather dignified. But that was just how she was. "Hmm, fine, but don't forget what you said when you get older." "I'll never forget!" the Litleo nodded vigorously. "I'll be too busy being awesome and the best lion and the...youngest of the brotherhood!" he jumped in the air happily. He'd found out some not so good things today, but he also found out some really good things today. So they balanced each other out. More than did, because he was now officially Kazo's little brother! And he had two new brothers too! This really was the best day. -- As Easter walked, he felt his tendrils drooping, shoulders slumping. The last time he had felt this terrible was the day that Fawkes had left the group. And, just like then, it was his own actions that had caused it. His inability to see how Fawkes felt had led to the Zorua's departure, and his inability to handle being around the other members of the S.S. Showdown had led to...this. Realistically, he knew he couldn't expect John Silver to wait for him to sort out his issues. Still, there had been a sort of thought that, no matter what, the other would always be there for him. And he will. Just not in the same way. It hurt to think that those times that he shared with the other would forever be a thing of the past, that he couldn't make new, precious memories like that with him anymore. That instead, John would look at somebody else with that calm, confident smile and tell them that he loved-- The Sylveon shook his head. John couldn't be blamed for moving on. Rather, wasn't he the weird one, for still carrying a flame for him even after a year or so, after he had left in the first place? If he had really wanted the relationship to keep going, he should have stayed. He knew that, and yet... And yet, it still hurt. The fairy type marched through the crowd, uncaring if he was rude or not. He bumped into a Krookodile who let out a curse, "Watch where you're going--oh! Ahem," the gijinka looked taken aback, before coughing. "Ahh, sorry, miss, did you need my..." he trailed off at seeing that the pretty Sylveon had already left. That man was a dark type. Before, that meant something. It meant it was time to lay on the charm, bat the eyes a couple of times, maybe tilt his head to the side cutely, and then get the two of them alone for some "private time"...where he would then vent his hatred and frustrations by beating the other into the ground--or deck, in this case. But right now, he wasn't in the mood for that. Actually, he hadn't been in the mood for that for a while now. He had responsibilities now. He couldn't just play around and make a possible enemy who then might go after Dora. Almost as if his thoughts had summoned her, the Wooper appeared and bumped into his back. "Are you sad?" She asked. Then she pressed her face against Easter, still looking up, and continued, "did someone take away your candy?" Easter shook his head, letting out a weak chuckle. "No...no," he smiled wanly. "Nobody took it away...I gave it up on my own." For some reason, he found it hilarious to refer to his relationship this way. So hilarious he wanted to laugh. And then laugh some more. And more. Until there would be nothing left but laughter. But that would scare Dora. "I left it on the ground," his smile widened into a freakish grin, "and I expected it to still be there. But it wasn't. Isn't that...so funny?" his breath hitched. "Yeah...funny." The smile slipped off his face as he gazed sightlessly down at the deck. Dora stared up at Easter. "Is floor candy good? If you put it on the floor it probably has a buncha dirt and stuff. Even if you got it back I'm sure it'd taste all icky and not like you wanted." She nodded sagely. "Candy should be eaten right away or not at all." She then plopped her chin against Easter and continued to look up. "So now you just gotta find new candy. I can help!" The Sylveon blinked, staring down at her nonplussed before he realized that the edges of the Wooper were starting to look blurred. Is this...am I...crying? How long had it been since he had last shed tears--actual genuine tears? "I don't think..." his throat closed up, making it hard to breathe or talk. He took in a deep, ragged breath then, "I don't think I can find new candy. It won't taste the same." He squeezed his eyes shut and turned away as small droplets fell to the deck. "But you're right. No matter what...it would never have tasted the same." The Eeveelution took a deep breath. He couldn't afford to lose it around Dora. Chuckling, he crouched down slightly to pat her head. "Thanks, Dora," he smiled, though this one was far gentler than the almost-crazed one from before. "You're pretty smart, you know?" Dora gave a proud huff and nodded. "I AM smart! Also, also, also, you don't want to have the same old candy anyway. Like like like...What if you want something sour next?" "Sour, huh?" Easter thought about it for a second. "I usually prefer sweet things, but...you have a point. Maybe it's time for something different." As his emotions started to settle slightly, he felt himself come to a realization. I might have lost John...and my relationship with the others of the S.S. Showdown might never be the same as it once was...but I've made new ties. Met new people who I've come to care for. Like Dora. He leaned down and hugged the Wooper, taking care not to use too much strength. "What would I do without you?" he muttered. And Brooke and Denku as well. Though from what he had seen earlier, the Pupitar had found the brother he was looking for. The Sylveon was happy for him, but also a little sad at the thought of them parting ways after this. But, as today had reinforced for him, that was how life went. People would come and go, but their memories, at least, would remain. "All right, I feel better now." He wasn't being entirely truthful there. It would take time before he could entirely reconcile himself with his new position in John's heart...and the new person in his as well. Just the thought of that Manectric was upsetting, but at least he wasn't trying to pick a fight with him as he would have before. He had grown. His heart lightened at the thought. It wasn't just John who had grown. He had as well. And a large part of that was due to the little scamp currently bouncing on the deck next to him. "Do you want to go find the others now?" "Hm...no, let's go make new friends!" Easter stared at her in shock before laughing outright. "All right then, let's." Picking up the Wooper and settling her on his shoulders, he began to walk around the deck, following her lead as she directed him to random people and places. He wasn't okay...but he would be. He would have to be… For Dora and the others. -- Keanu was glad to see that Nani was giving his words some real thought. It wasn't that he didn't want to go home. On the one hand, it was home! Alola! He couldn't just forget about it, or the memories he made there, so easily. But on the other hand, was there anything left there to build? They could just rebuild it from the ground up, but who's to say they wouldn't find their steps dogged by the very ones who had destroyed their home? It would certainly be a lot easier to rebuild here, especially considering Keanu didn't even know how to get back to Alola. Maybe Solgaleo or Lunala would know, but he didn't. He was a surfer, not a sailor, so he had never learned all those sailor-y things like navigation and tying ropes. But if there were still people left at Alola, if the beasts were gone, if they even managed to find their way back...if all of these lined up, then yeah. Going back to Alola wouldn't be so bad. But again, he was no sailor, and he'd rather not stay too far away from shore if he could help it. "I'm with you on that. One boat trip was already one more than I would have liked to take. But it's something we'll have to do unless we all find a way to fly back home." Oh, flying. Hey, that could work then. Maybe they could ask the captain of this ship for help? "Where would you even want to live if we settled down here? Sure we've been to some places, but it seems like there's still plenty left to see around here before making a decision on that scale." "Not sure...but probably somewhere near the sea," the Raichu replied. "And I just thought of something...what if this ship is the one to take us back? That way, we wouldn't have to worry about sailing, and if it's too dangerous, then..." he frowned. "Well, then we'll head back. And make a home for ourselves here. Though again, not too sure where I'd want to stay. I think you're right on that--we'd need to take a tour of the region before we can really decide." He stretched his arms out before relaxing them against the back of his head. "That sounds pretty fun. Like some sort of vacation. Maybe they even have luaus here!" He sobered up slightly but a smile still remained on his face. "Well, whatever happens, I'm not too worried." Because he knew that he had three trusty friends at his side, to watch his back, and he theirs. Not that he'd ever tell them, of course. That'd be way too uncool.

6. Not bad at least. Surprised by a couple of the answers though.

1. I keep batting zero. And again the curse of "I almost chose that" strikes again!

I should've known...lmao I knew it was up there though. Was also wondering about "Is This a Zombie?" or "KonoSuba" but yeah.

I saw the thing ended before I could think of one, so yeah, I don't have one. Though I suppose *starts thinking of questions* maybe something like "Favorite anime series" or "favorite video game series" but I think those were probably already answered at some point. I just have a bad memory.