#aeshmedai

He really thought that beating N would be the end of it. Zekrom was the one that chose N, after all; wouldn’t it follow that beating him would mean the end of Team Plasma’s goals? 

But no. Although, it made sense thinking about it now; N’s intentions were good underneath it all, so there had to be someone else pulling the strings (so to speak). And frankly...Ghetsis made the most sense. He always gave Hilbert a sort of vibe; not a good vibe or a bad one. He just always had a sense that Ghetsis was someone to watch out for.

At least he was right on the money there; even in this setting, he was downright intimidating. 

Hilbert realized; if he wanted to truly beat Team Plasma, if he wanted to survive...he would have to beat Ghetsis in a battle. And he’s only heard rumors about how strong he is. Hilbert would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit intimidated by all that.

♛– When was the last time the little boy had stepped into the forest? Far too long ago, he felt, and he would be lying if he said that didn’t make him feel uneasy - he missed climbing up trees, stalking in the bushes, hunting for berries, and all the sorts of things he couldn’t do in the wide, open spaces of the castle.

In turn, he found himself replacing his tactics; instead of bushes, he’d hide behind curtains and cushions. In place of trees, he’d climb the very same curtains, alongside the couches, blankets and such. Deep inside, he wanted to be optimistic about his new home, hoping that one day he’d get to revisit his old one. 

He did remember his father’s words of it being a frightening, dreadful place, but honestly he didn’t find it so bad. Must be the fact that he lacked information about the very reason he had wound up there in the first place, but it was possible he’d rather keep the truth from him until it was foreseeable for such a young head.

‘‘Ready or not, here I come, Junior!’‘, mused the Zorua in the language only Natural and the rest of Pokémon would understand. He sniffed around, following the tracks of his friend before being pounced from behind and pinned to the floor.

‘‘Heheheh! Pinned ya’!’‘, he giggled, before getting off the vulpine, who in turn thrashed his tail about.

‘‘Oi! You might be getting better at pouncing, but you’re not getting away with this!’‘

‘‘Oh, yeah?~’‘, he announced in a smug manner, getting up on his fours before wiggling his body, anticipating a jump. ‘‘Grrrr- grah!’‘ And with that little growl, he pounced his friend again, commencing some noisy playfighting. 

They harmlessly brawled around on their fours, running from one room to the other as they chased one another, though at one point they stopped on their tracks, coming up to see the very man who had brought N out of the forest. He had his back turned to them, his mighty presence known by his standing height.

‘‘Oof! I’m outta here, kid! See ya’ later!’‘, and with that, the Zorua scurried away, letting out a squeak of fear.

The green head tilted in confusion, wondering why not only Zorua, but also most of his friends were so terrified of the man he had the obligation to call ‘father’. As confused as he was about the reasons he had brought him out of the forest, he knew he could be a little intimidating, but outside of that... 

N stared at the King’s figure, not perceiving any harsh movement in him. Still on his fours, the child crawled in his direction with a stalking disposition, head low as he made sure his step was silent, and...

‘‘Grrr- grawh!’‘ He growled in his soft voice, jumping right at the sleeve of the almost endless robes; who said he couldn’t do this kind of things with his father? He snickered in a playful manner as he started to climb up the clothes like he would do a tree, his tiny feet and hands perching onto the material and finding amusement in Ghetsis’ height, finally arriving to the top, perching to the battlement-like ornaments on his shoulders admist giggles and snickers.

mE HOLY SHIT I REMEMBER PEN DO U REMEMBER RYUU

so i found a retro wave meme generator a couple of days ago and the all hallows’ discord went ham on that shit.

i was not disappointed.

@yellraiser

"i have to admit, i am a bit biased, since i've always wanted to see one of your concerts live," tobias comments. "but if i'm to be honest with you, here wasn't the place i wanted to see it. like, you're a real performer, there's no doubt about that, but did you even read the prompt? theme performances are supposed to create a valentine, and you just kinda…stood there and sang while your pokémon fired off a ton of flashy moves. i would've given you a higher score if you'd chosen freestyle instead of theme, because i can sort of see how the lyrics of the song could be used to represent a grudge? but even then, when you do a performance onstage with your pokémon in a contest or a showcase, you need more team involvement. you need to engage with your pokémon on a deeper level than i saw you do here. so, for your score, i'm giving you 5/10 in aesthetic mastery, 0/10 on adherence to theme, and 6/10 on originality for the way you used telepathy. this brings your total to 11/30."

"thaswaytooharsh!" ursula cries. "sweetieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…thas…way too harsh!"

"wait. did you just call me sweetie?"

"IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?" ursula screams, followed by another enormous hiccup.

"you know what, fine, whatever," tobias says. "call me what you want. i'm not gonna argue."

"okay, sweetie," ursula simpers. "anyway, sweetie…it was nice…and creepy…and i loved how it was scary bunot too scary! aesthetics gets…" a pause. "8/10. you didnreally fit the theme, though, s…s…sorry, i'm giving you a 0. but…" HIC. "i thought it was super original. so, another 8/10. that means my score is…"

"16/30," zoey says. "as for how i'd score your appeal, i do have to agree with tobias there. i've never been fond of the showcase way of putting the human performers before the pokémon ones, and while i'm trying to be nicer about it, i guess? i still felt like you were way too much in center stage. i want to say, though, you're really great at creating a vibe. so for that, your aesthetic mastery gets you 6/10. now, you really didn't answer the prompt at all, so for adherence to theme, you're also getting a 0 from me, i'm afraid. and for originality…i admit, i kinda cheated and looked up some of your previous performances before the show, and i think this one had something special to it. but since valentine's day is kind of the opposite of what you do, i would have encouraged you to try something new. 5/10. that means your score from me is 11/30. like tobias said, you're a real performer. i can tell you have the ability to command a crowd. it's just…not the sort of performance that people usually do for those types of events. if you want any advice for how to improve in coordinating, please feel free to ask."

"fine," ursula tries to let out a huff, but hiccups in the middle of it--sending her jolting out of her seat. "zo…go right…afucking…head. jus'…mark it down 'cause you dunlike me."

"tobias marked it down, too. he did it before you said anything about it, and i was agreeing with him. you might as well accuse him of shafting you through this too…not that you should," she says quickly, not wanting ursula to get any ideas--

"that's 'cause i looooooooove tobias," she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward her, letting her head loll onto his shoulder. he sits there staring ahead sulkily, like a cat being held who wants to be put back down.  

"ursula, you've really had too much to drink," zoey says. "i strongly urge you to stop judging."

"IT'S INTERMISSION AFTER THIS! I'LL BE FINE!"

"well, we can't argue with that," tobias says with a shrug.

"i don't know," zoey says. "i think we should put off the rest of the contest until tomorrow, when she's sober. better yet, the day after tomorrow, when she's not hung over."

"look, i'm sure she'll be fine if we extend the intermission. give it twenty-five minutes instead of fifteen?" tobias suggests. but he doesn't want her to be fine. he wants her to come back still drunk, still inhibited--just to embarrass her all the more.  

"that sounds like a plan," zoey says, and goes around the table to beckon ursula backstage. "come on. let's get you some water."

as ursula hobbles offstage with zoey supporting her, tobias goes to bonuses.

"you get a +5 for using psychic," he says. "and……that's just about it. whew, that was fast. this means your total is……"

TOTAL: 43 POINTS

high up in the harmonias' private box, ezra turns to ghetsis, his handsome features forming a look of concern.

"shall we stop the contest, my son?" he asks.

"no," ghetsis says. "let her stumble."