LordCowCow

atta girl

There are that many characters???? Anyway rooting for tsunderes and also hinagiku

“I don’t know, what do you want me to say? Shiki, the ghost tried to kill me, or at least drag me to some otherworldly dimension that two custodians had already disappeared into. It sucks that she died young, but she didn’t have to make that my problem. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for things like that when there are all these other stories about benevolent passings-on.” "We see." Shiki replied. There was no indication in her tone if she was upset, surprised, or any other such emotion. Nor could they read her expression. All that was certain was that she acknowledged the answer. "We thought you might say something like that but we wished to be certain. It is as we expected." "Ugh...well, it was, uh, really loud." "Loud. Interesting. Not what many would take away from a ghost encounter. You are indeed an unusual one." Shiki sat there still, facing the gravestone, and when she spoke next it seemed to be towards the grave. "One may be cold. And one may be fearful. Yet they were the ones to help you pass regardless. Do you see? Help may come from unexpected places if only you keep your mind open. I hope you take this to your next life. Goodbye then." She stood up and turned towards them. "This was your first time working together. We are glad that you have completed the task. We hope that you will continue to work together in the future. The entities have become more active and it may no longer be acceptable to go after them alone." She began walking back towards the van without any indication that she wanted them to follow. However she continued to speak to them after some time, her voice not changing volume even if they hadn't followed, "We are curious as to how you feel about your new partner...Also did you have any of the food we left in the fridge?"

Something unnerving about it, but somehow still was fun to listen to, 7.5/10

Beginning made me uncomfortable, and then I was reminded of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme 8/10 points off for some really obnoxious parts

"It would also give us a chance to possibly figure out our Dragon Sign things and our Rune stuff. The sooner we figure that out properly, the easier our next fight may end up going." "What do you mean? We get runes, we use runes, that's how it works isn't it?" She didn't actually know for sure but surely it couldn't be too complicated. After all she was casting magic up a storm earlier and she didn't think she actually had to do much to do it...right? There were multiple spires, towers, and otherwise large things off in the distance. Any one of them might be a good place to check out. Sabrina came to realize that she truly had no idea which way to go. The only idea she could come up with was to go in the direction of the biggest, tallest, looking object and head there. "I'm not one of those Accursed myself, but if I was, I'd want my lair to be as far away from everything else as possible. To stop some plucky band of prophecized heroes from breaking in, or to have plenty of prep time if I see them coming. ...though now that I've said that, they really would see us coming from a mile away, huh?" "Alas, if only I could summon the wings of the dragon for all of us, and simply fly over the tower, then it wouldn't matter if they could see us or not..." She paused. "Could I...maybe I could...Wind Jump everyone at once..." The thought was interrupted by the strange noise that came from the east. There she saw a massive elephant creature towering over them in the distance. She stared for a while at the creature, saw how easily it scooped another creature up and ate it, saw the unusual stone on its back which seemed incredibly mysterious, and felt a twinge of excitement. It looked like some kind of optional boss! One that would give them some special weapon or armor or something! There was a part of her that wanted to go towards it and see if they could bring it down or, if perhaps it was smarter than it looked, talk to it and get some kind of strange series of sidequests from it. She still wasn't sure if this world was more like a game or an anime yet but the temptation to treat it as either was strong. If any of them were to look at her they could see her eye glimmering with wonder as she brought her hand up and grasped the wrist. "O-oh no, the draconic power in my arm, it's calling out for battle, I do no know if I can hold it back!" While her words sounded serious her tone was more like an excited child wanting to go on an amusement park ride.

Café de Deux Contre Un Fiona was tapping her foot as Melissa and Fen had an awkward-off, waiting for them to come to some sort of conclusion. Once they did, she looked to brighten. "Well, I would absolutely HATE to make my juniors pay for me, but, if you insist, we can make this a bit more exciting. Come on now, there's a place not too far from here." As she walked she explained some things. "Most smaller places are actually in the lower level of the city, but they have some up here too. Guess the people up here want to stay up here as much as they can. There's really good stuff down there but I won't drag you that far, especially since you clearly want to get started soon as you can." The place they entered was small, small enough they could see the entire place just from the entrance. The floor tiles were surrounded in a soft blue light and a similar light highlighted the counter to their right and ran across the ceiling as well. Soft electronic music played from what looked to be a jukebox near the door. On the right were several circular tables which were surrounded by a trio of cushioned, semi-circle, seats that looked like each could fit two or three people, with gaps between to step inside. There was only three other patrons, one who looked to be laying across one of these seats, and two that were eating across from each using one hand as the other was occupied holding their partner's hand. At the counter was what appeared to be a large mass of vines with a couple of glowing eyes around where a head would be and a couple of, much less surprising in appearance, waitresses gossiped off to the side. As Fiona entered she noticed the sleeping person and shook her head before moving on to the farthest table. "Alright well if you want to order now or before the game it's up to you, but just make sure you don't spill anything onto my cards okay?"

Fun lyrics, the actual like...sound, not the best, 7.5/10 though

Team JAA/AJA/AAJ Kenta's Machop, and Kenta himself, seemed startled at the sudden ranged attack. Up to that point it had been mostly a back and forth of physical attacks, with Machop being at the advantage, and it seemed that Kenta hadn't considered that would stop. "It's fine, just keep hitting em with all you got, Low Kick again!" Machop grunted and came in towards Leopold to deliver a kick once more. "So persistent, how admirable!" Anneliese called out. Leopold seemed less impressed by the move than Anneliese had been and, as the Machop came in, jumped back to avoid the kick entirely. Anneliese clapped her hands together in delight. "Wonderful! You're so fast Leopold, Thunder Shock again!" The Shinx, seemingly grinning from Anneliese's words, let loose a small electric shock towards the Machop. Who took it on directly. Anneliese noticed sparks coming off the Machop, and the Pokemon dropped down to a knee, and she gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry, I believe that is Paralysis, yes? I didn't mean to do that." "Nah its fine, it just makes Machop stronger. Go on show em, Low Kick!" Kenta didn't change up tactics at all. Choosing instead to continue with his bull rush strategy. Indeed, somehow it felt like the Machop had powered up from the status move, and Leopold felt that the next attack would be too much to take. Thankfully Anneliese didn't completely stop giving commands after her bout of guilt and called for a Tackle attack. Leopold, moving even faster than the Machop now, tucked its shoulder down and rammed into the Machop. He knocked it over completely and, after a few moments, it was clear the Pokemon had fainted. "Ah, man, guess gotta get a bit stronger huh, good work buddy." He then returned the Pokemon and looked over at Anneliese. "You got a tough little guy there don't ya? Nice work!" "Why thank you!" Annelise said, then noticed that Anima had left. "Oh, I didn't see how her match went, what a shame..." "I won, of course." Chad said, frowning at Kenta. "Can't believe both of you lost, what the heck happened here?" "Wait Fuyumi lost? Me losing is one thing but, whoa, these guys might be pretty good." Chad shook his head. "Or lucky. Well, whatever, come on we should get going, Fuyumi what are you doing?" The girl had been silent after her loss, looking down at the Pokeball where her Abra was now. Finally she moved over towards Jacklyn. "Was it a code word? Prior strategy?" Unbeknownst to Jacklyn the girl had thought her mess up with calling out attacks had been some clever ruse to trick the opponent into thinking they'd be going for a different attack. And, despite her expressionless face, her stare indicated she would insist on an answer before they left.

The trip to the park was uneventful, save for the temptation to go pick up the dog and see what it would do, and they arrived pretty quickly. The park, on the surface, wasn't anything particularly special. A fine enough place but not one that Thessa would come to very often. It did have that strange bust though. Even Thessa had no idea who Goodale was which made him a point of curiosity. But she had already tried finding that out to no avail before so it instead just served as a twinge of annoyance as the world reminds her there were things before her. Even if it were a more interesting place it wasn't somewhere Thessa liked to go. The power nullification made her feel itchy. When she first encountered one, long ago, she had a moment of panic wondering what it would mean for her. Nowadays she's less frightened but she still doesn't actually know what it did to her. Did it actually take away her power? Did it just make it harder for her to activate it? She had never felt it was worth it to test it. For all she knew it simply meant she would have to give away more time to get stronger but there wasn't a reason for her to try. So instead it just made her somewhat uncomfortable. She was looking forward to leaving this place behind. At least the hustle and bustle was new. Lachesis showed up but it seemed she was more focused on Sibyl, which made sense, so Thessa didn't really pay her much heed. She wanted to take Caesar's goons apparently which was also not something she felt she had to pay much attention to. She hadn't had any particular plan with them. That said when the director showed up she did feel glad if only for one reason. "Oh hey nice to see you, bet if it was Roy coming to see us he'd have something mean to say." Victor gave her a look but didn't question what she meant. Instead he told herself and Override that each of them had somebody who wanted to talk to them. She cringed as he brought up Ophiuchus. Whatever they wanted with him would be really bothersome she was sure. For her it sounded like she was supposed to go to Stanley. The leader of the Peacekeepers wanted to talk with her. Did he want her help with something? If so that was pretty redundant given she intended to take care of all this business anyway. Or maybe she was under arrest for some reason. That might be pretty funny, actually. "Ah man, I was gonna just go pay Caesar a visit but I guess it doesn't make that much a difference if I wait a bit." "Caesar's probably got hideaways all over the city, it's not as simple as just marching up to the casino and burning it to the ground. That might be part of the plan, though. We'll see." "Hmph, what a boring guy. Well he'll run out of them eventually. Guess in that case it really doesn't matter if I take some time to talk to good ol Stan." She went on her way without a second glance at the others. Sure enough she found the man at the gazebo. It wasn't a particularly large one, maybe 9 feet across, but it was still perfectly easy to spot. Stanley himself was in the middle of it with his back to Thessa. Directing people to various tasks. Always so very busy, Thessa thought, as she tried to get a read out of his body language. This, of course, wasn't easy as the body wasn't actually his body but instead a mechanical one he used to move around. As she got closer he turned towards the girl and smiled. Or rather the face on the television screen which served as his head smiled. She always thought it would look nicer were the face to be an smiley instead of the actual human face floating on the screen but she kept that to herself this time. "There she is," he said. "The woman of the hour. Or a woman of the hour, anyway." To his associates, he said, "Leave us," and they did. Once they're gone, he says, "How are you? Just to assuage your fears before you answer, you're not in trouble, don't worry. The things I ask, I just honestly want to know." It was pretty funny. For a couple reasons. One being that 'you're not in trouble, don't worry' was often something said to people who were in trouble, or suspected of being in trouble. But also because, "it's okay, I wasn't afraid even if I was in trouble!" Thessa said, giving Stanley an okay sign with her hand. "Things are pretty exciting right now, but honestly I'm a bit annoyed that Caesar couldn't think of anything better." Stanley laughed. "Fair enough," he said. "He's a bit of a wild one, isn't he? But even we weren't expecting him to reject the social morays of Scarlet City and declare war over grievances so slight. It's good to hear that you're well." He chuckled again. "I just had two things to ask you- to ask you besides, that, I mean. The first is, quite simply, do you feel like, or have you ever felt like, destroying the world?" Most people would think that a question someone would answer immediately, but Thessa had to give it some thought first. She felt like she had been asked something similar, or the topic at least, before. "I guess not really. If there wasn't a world then there wouldn't really be anything to do. What'd be the point?" "The reason I ask, of course, is that we -- that is, we Peacekeepers -- believe that you could, and, well, perhaps Cassiopeia's prophecy has got everyone on edge. Everyone has been running around to all the powerful capes in Scarlet City, interviewing them, sizing them up just in case. We would have gotten to you sooner, but we couldn't find you for about a week after the prophecy." His smile continued. It seemed like it was just plastered on his face. He also shrugged as he continued. "Follow-up question, then, not really my second question, so apologies if you were counting: What about a smaller, yet still necessary portion of Scarlet City? Like a government building or, say, for example, The Shimmer?" Part of her was happy they knew what she could do. But of course this was in part dulled by the mention of several others having been asked first. Granted perhaps she would have been first asked if she hadn't been on her little trip. It was especially funny to think that they were looking for her the whole time, perhaps wondering if she was preparing to blow everything up, while she was on a pleasant walk. Thessa put a finger to her chin as she considered that option. Once more it wasn't as though she hadn't thought about it. Most particularly The Shimmer. But of course while it would be a change, and the unknown is incredibly exciting, if it ended with the world being destroyed it wasn't worth it. Still, she had to be honest here. Or rather she didn't have to be but she would anyway. "Huh, I dunno really. Depends on why I would be doing that. Like, I just kinda broke up a church a bit ago. So....maybe?" "Sure, sure." Stanley said. "Scarlet City's construction crews work very hard to replace buildings destroyed in the all-too-many scuffles. Perhaps it can all be replaced. That makes sense. That lines up with what we've seen." There was something more there, Thessa felt, than what the words alone conveyed. She wasn't worried, per-say, but there was a slight paranoid part of her brain that wanted her to take note of the response. "Alright, second question for real this time: I understand you've had to interact with The Fates for work, but I heard through the grapevine that you've had interactions with them outside that. At Easton Mall, correct? Obviously, that area's covered by a truce, so it's not like you were doing anything wrong there -- nor were they -- but it's the sort of thing that makes me wonder. Care to comment on any of that?" That one was even funnier. Given that it was, at least on her part if not theirs, a coincidence. "Nothin much to say. We had burgers, they were pretty good." It probably wasn't what he was looking for but it was the truth, from her perspective. Was there something more to their talks? Maybe, maybe not, but the burgers were the main takeaway in Thessa's mind. "Yeah? How're the burgers up there? Obviously, it's hard for me to..." He gestured to his TV head, then the rest of his robotic body. "Real greasy. But like, the good kinda grease where it makes you think 'oh man maybe I shouldn't but it's so good' not the 'oh I want to wash my hands like ten times' kind....I guess that doesn't make much sense to you does it?" Stanley gave one final laugh. "It doesn't, but I get the picture, don't worry," he said. "Anyway, thanks for your time, I know we're all busy with all of this. I'll let you rejoin the G3 team now." "Okie dokie, see ya around Stan man." She then left. A glance over her shoulder made her notice Stanley beckoning an assistant, rather hurriedly, over. Was that just about the business going on? Or did perhaps something she say make him concerned. She thought over the conversation. Obviously there was some level of trust lacking. Which, of course there was. She never hid that her allegiances were to herself mainly. Surely, though, they would realize that trying to stop her was pointless. Perhaps it seemed cruel but that was how it worked. She was above them all, in the end, so they had to go along with her decisions. Not the other way around. All they had to do was let her go about her business, and try and not make things too boring, and she would never have reason to go against them. Honestly she thought that was perfectly reasonable. "Always so tense, and to what end?"

Some of it was pleasant but honestly it...not a fan overall, it almost felt too "lolrandom" idk I guess I just didn't get the appeal, 4/10

The polls are over! (An hour late, shhh) and the results are in In 4th place, a still respecful showing, Sandshrew! In 3rd place, honestly an unexpected favorite, Hisuian Lilligant! In 2nd place, one of my absolute favorites am very happy it made this far, Maractus! and in 1st place we have one of the most well known Unovan Pokemon, Zorua! Artist: un tapoi

Perhaps it was exhaustion, she had used many spells after all, or fear, be it the one that came from the creature earlier or otherwise, that caused Estelle to hesitate. Whatever it was likely wasn't helped that she now found herself alone. She couldn't see the others through the fog anymore. It could be all of this that combined to make her not notice the zombie until it was almost upon her. Ziun's words broke through to her but too late for when she finally noticed the creature it was when it was upon her. The undead creature, stronger than one would expect a corpse, dragged her down to the ground and began to attempt to bite into her unguarded flesh. Chris found that the first of the two undead to approach was the zombie. It hadn't been stunned by the toss, it seemed that was an impossible state for these creatures, so it only took some time to reorient itself before it lurched towards Chris. Only to be reward with a sword slicing into its shoulder. Still the creature, letting out a low groan, raised its other arm to bring a heavy hand down towards Chris's head. The skeleton, sans skull, was an unusual case. While it could function without the head, and had no true eyes to begin with, it still seemed to be limited in some way due to its loss. Even still the creature eventually seemed to take notice of Chris again and went to try once more. Ziun and Lana didn't have any more sightings yet they both felt something wrong. As though enemies lurked just out of sight all around them.

What a legend, 9/10 And this is how I find out, rip Unironically hard to rate this song, not just cause "lol meme" but it is something I liked for a long time before I even knew what the internet was, 8.5/10

Match ends 9/4 6 PM CST

Match ends 9/4 6 PM CST

Sometimes felt kinda, squeaky? But, 8/10

Match ends 9/1 6 PM CST

Match ends 9/1 6 PM CST

Graveyards at night were never pleasant places for most people. Even if one could logically separate the land from what lays beneath it there would always be a lingering feeling of unease. Especially so for those who knew that spirits and entities really did exist. However Shiki, as had been proven time and time again, was not most people. The duo would make their way through the graveyard without any direction for where they might find Shiki. Having to avoid trampling over graves, or tripping over gravestones, as they looked for the mysterious girl. Eventually they would see a light and could follow it to its source. The light itself was from a lamp, an old fashioned one with a flame instead of electricity lighting up the area, and Shiki was sitting next to it, cross-legged, in front of a gravestone. She had been looking, or at least facing as the paper in front of her eyes obscured them from view, at the grave when they walked up as though having a conversation with it. She didn't move as they got closer and, if they would like, they could take a look at the gravestone before she said anything. The name on the stone was Monika Georgiou and the dates below indicated that she had been 15 years old when she died. There was nothing else written on the gravestone. Finally Shiki acknowledged them with a slight incline of her head. She didn't get up, nor turn towards them, but she spoke then. "Welcome back." And then, "what was she like?"

Is pretty good just didn't really feel much about it really, 7.5/10

Queens, 8/10 Its a fine tune, idk feels like it was missing something, 7/10

Match ends 8/29 6 PM CST

Match ends 8/29 6 PM CST