NASA
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wallacepolsom
@theartofmadeline
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he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
JVL
Claire Keane
will byers stan first human second
cherry valley forever
Cosimo Galluzzi
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Sweet Seals For You, Always
$LAYYYTER
todays bird
noise dept.
Kiana Khansmith
occasionally subtle
seen from Paraguay
seen from Kenya
seen from Brazil
seen from Brunei
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
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seen from United States
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seen from Italy
seen from Brazil
seen from Argentina
seen from South Korea
seen from Slovakia
seen from Russia
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seen from Italy
@suganetxt-blog
⎡ trainerhilly ⎦
Sugane wasn’t sure if being saved by a merman had just been a fever dream. But, after that day, he just couldn’t stop thinking about it, no matter how hard he tried. And so, he appeared on the beach on which he’d met Hilbert one day, holding a whole fish. And, he simply tossed it into the water.
Wait a minute. That was stupid! I just wasted a whole fish!
trainerhilly.
The temperature dropped. Hilbert’s breath, which was coming in fat, ragged gasps, fogged in the air. He was having trouble breathing. But why? he wondered. Where did all the air go? And why couldn’t he get to it?
The merman backed away from Sugane. His tail dipped into the water. Then, his waist. His chest. His gills. And suddenly, he could breathe again. His face–the same face that had turned blue from breathlessness–returned to its normal color.
Hilbert sighed. Then, he looked up at Sugane. The boy’s question rang strangely in his ears. He understood it, sort of. It was missing a syllable or two. It was broken. But it was still a word he knew, and so he replied, “Your ears ain’t busted, are they? I said, you must be a fighter! I mean… what else could ya be?”
After shimmying out of the water, Hilbert tugged on Sugane’s sleeve. Then, he dashed back into the bay, staring at the odd human all the while.
He wanted him to come closer.
Confusion ran rampant in Sugane’s head. Nothing made sense; mermaids weren’t supposed to exist; Sugane was supposed to have died. As the chaos consumed him, he failed to notice the blueness of Hilbert’s face.
That is, until the merman backed up, back into the water, and Sugane, eyes wide, snapped out of it. At least, somewhat. Maybe Hilbert was going to leave?
But no. Hilbert came up out of the water, and spoke again. Sugane caught a thing or two, but the words were jumbled, and he couldn’t piece them together. He wondered if he was hallucinating. “I-I’m sorry,” he got out, “I don’t...understand...what you’re saying.” But then, if Sugane didn’t understand, then Hilbert shouldn’t understand him, either.
Sugane’s face went pale as Hilbert tugged on his sleeve. The sword fighter stared at the ocean, lapping at the shore, and then turned his gaze to Hilbert again.
“N-No, I can’t...”
⎡ trainerhilly ⎦
Hilbert swam valiantly against the current, towards the shore. It took him awhile. It took him too long. When he finally reached the bank, he laid Sugane on the sand and waited for him to move. Or not move. Whichever came first, really.
The human coughed. Water spilled down his lips, staining the sand a dull gray. Hilbert dragged himself up out of the water, onto the beach, and next to Sugane. He stared down at him. And when he sat up, he moved back, and stared at him at eye-level.
So, it hadn’t taken him too long. Hilbert had made it to shore just in time. That was good. In fact, that was great. There was just one problem… now that Sugane was awake, he could see Hilbert, whose tail was clearly visible and not hidden at all.
Hilbert grimaced. His mom was going to kill him for this. (Or, at the very least, not let him set foot on land for a good long while.)
After a gulp, Hilbert shakily reached out and touched Sugane’s face. It was pale and dripping, but not white. Hilbert smiled. He could hear Sugane’s heart beating. He could see the life in the boy’s eyes. Hilbert’s smile widened.
“Well, sheesh… you’re a fighter, if I’ve ever seen one.”
Sugane wiped at his chin with a pale, shaky wrist, and flicked the water lingering there off onto the sand. One thing was for certain: he felt terrible. And that was the only thing. In fact, everything else was so incredibly uncertain that Sugane could only manage to sit and stare.
Hilbert’s fingers brushed his cheek. Alarm bells went off in Sugane’s head.
What is he doing? Is he going to kill me? Am I already dead? What’s going on?
The merboy was smiling, and speaking. Sugane looked slightly terrified. Not a single word that came out of Hilbert’s mouth made sense; in fact, Sugane didn’t even recognize the language.
Even more eloquently than before, the sword fighter stammered, “U-Uhm. Uh. What...?” in response.
“She moved!”
⎡ trainerhilly ⎦
The Lady Sea was quite strong–in fact, she was the strongest thing Hilbert knew. While he drifted below the current, he scoured her for any sign of life. For the longest time, there was none; no fish had gotten itself trapped in her Lady’s talons, nor had any human been cinched by her watery mouth.
It did not last. The Lady, o’cold and ruthless, snatched up a fellow. His head fell beneath the waterline. His lungs starved for air. But what could he do about it? Nothing. In fact… he might as well be dead.
But Hilbert had been waiting for this moment. Like a bullet shot out of a gun, he darted through the water, up to where the poor lad was. The current clawed at his tail, his arms, and his throat. He fought against it, refusing to give in.
The merman threw out his hands. The boy whose lungs screamed slammed into them, and then it was a battle of will; Who was stronger, Hilbert or her Lady Sea?
Hilbert squeezed his eyes shut. His tail pumped furiously, its fin grappling against the current, trying to gain leverage against it. Eventually, it found it–a gap in the current–and the merman shot up, up, up towards the surface…
Sugane dreamed he’d been saved by a merman. He’d dreamed of seeing a face in the dark water of the sea, of not being able to breathe and yet still feeling relief as arms circled around him and pulled him from the violent current. Even when his vision became blurred and blotched with spots of black, he felt inexplicably safe.
At least, it seemed he’d been dreaming. Because mermaids and mermen were simply fairy tales, of course. But, after waking up on the beach, and coughing up what seemed like endless water until his voice grew dry and hoarse, he could find no other explanation as to how he was still alive.
And, when Sugane’s eyes caught on a boy who just so happened to have a fish tail, he supposed that maybe it hadn’t been just a dream.
Instead, Sugane had to be dead, right?
Maybe this was just some postmortem daydream and soon it’d all fade to black and all of his existence would be gone, gone, gone, sucked down into the drain of the ocean.
Sugane rubbed his eyes.
“Uh...”
⎡ trainerhilly ⎦
Sugane had had a sinking feeling in his gut for the whole time they’d been at the beach. Something was off about the ocean; it seemed restless, and Sugane did not like it. However, due to the persistence of none other than Hajime, he’d gone into the water anyway.
And now, he was paying for it.
The water was pulling him in, pulling him under. Sugane kicked and scrambled at the sand beneath him, but the water had its claws in him, and it was taking him whether he liked it or not.
And then, suddenly, a wave hit, pushing the sword fighter’s head under the water, and Sugane was drowning.
Drowning, drowning, drowning. Panic, panic, panic. All sound was muted. Sugane’s thoughts were, too. His brain drew a blank as to what to do when he opened his eyes, and all he saw was black, black, black.
⎡ I might as well be dead! ⎦
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Red’s eyes widened and he gasped, completely taken aback. He had thought he was alone. Frantically, he scoured his brain, which worked like a submarine’s sonar system, for any trace of another person’s presence. But there was none. In fact, his head was eerily silent.
Flames licked at his neck. Red shuddered, finally realizing how serious his injury must be. He knew he would recoup, though. He always did, even when he got crushed by an avalanche or hit with one of Metwo’s brain-frying attacks.
Red looked up. He saw two things: one friend and one enemy. A snarl grew in his throat, and he very nearly lept out of the bed to strangle Sugane. But his pain kept him anchored. It kept him glaring, and growling, and furious.
However, there was more to it than that.
He was also afraid.
And he was also helpless.
Without his powers, who even was he?
I’ll kill you!
KANGASKHAN REACHED out and petted Red’s hair, before saying over her shoulder to Sugane, “It’s okay, honey-bun. I won’t bother him much. I just wanna make sure he’s okay, y’know?”
She looked back to Red, and, seeing the look on his face, leaned over him a little. “What’s the matter? Is Sugane scarin’ you or something? He’s real worried about you, y’know, but I can make him leave if ya’ like.”
Sugane was considering leaving on his own already. But he wouldn’t leave Kangaskhan all alone; he didn’t trust Red enough, even if he knew Kangaskhan could handle herself. So, instead, he shrunk down in his seat, making himself as small as possible, and hugged his sheathed Honedge tightly to his chest.
Why’s he looking at me like that...?
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
When Red awoke, he was struck with fire. His whole body burned, but especially his neck. At first, he didn’t realize why–had he hurt himself somehow?–but then he remembered: Sugane.
Hatred broiled in his gut, bubbling and frothing with the scorching heat of a thousand suns. He knew he shouldn’t’ve approached him. He knew he shouldn’t’ve tried to ask for help, or try to apologize.
The psychic’s eyes blinked open. The world was a smudge for a while, before it sharpened and became clear. His surroundings mirrored that of a hospital room. That would make sense, Red figured, considering how his neck had been sliced into like some kind of A-class pastry.
He tried to sit up, but failed miserably. Wincing in pain, and struck again by fire, he laid his dizzy head down and stared at the ceiling.
His past promise came to mind.
If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.
SUGANE STARTLED as Red stirred in the hospital bed. Kangaskhan did, too; she stood from her seat on the floor, and wandered over to the bedside.
“How’re you feeling, there, little one?” she asked Red, tilting her head to the side.
Quietly, from his chair in the corner of the room, Sugane piped up.
“H-Hey, Kanga...maybe you should let him sleep...”
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
I’m honestly fucking terrified of you at all times, and I wish I could leave, but I hope you don’t die, because that’d suck.
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Red was not in a hurry. In fact, his pace was so leisurely that for a good minute and a half, he simply tapped his shoe and listened to the wind blow. For a minute and a half, he let Sugane’s question hang in the air. And only after he had his fill of the silence did he open his mouth to speak.
But he was cut off by a man with a knife and a sneer. The man, seething with rage and recognition, staggered up to Red, dragged the blade across his throat, and then bolted away.
The R on his shirt was as gaudy and red as the blood pouring from the psychic’s neck.
His Honedge clattered to the ground. His eyes widened. And his shaking hands rose to touch the sliced flesh of his throat.
“O-Oh…”
AFTER WHAT felt like ages of staring at Red, waiting for him to speak, Sugane looked back down at his sneakers. But, not long after, the Honedge in his hands began to shake in tremors, and he looked at it, concerned.
Its singular eye was fixed in Red’s direction. Its ribbon hand had tightened around Sugane’s arm, almost to the point of it hurting. The ace trainer followed Honedge’s gaze, and what he found startled him into action.
“Hey, watch—” he began, but he was too late. The Rocket had come, and gone, leaving nothing but blood and panic in his wake. “—out.”
Even if he hadn’t been panicked out of his mind, Sugane would not have known what to do. His way of handling things was generally ‘punch it and run away’, and this was not something that that strategy worked on.
But because he knew that Kangaskhan was better at handling...things like this, he pulled her Pokeball from his belt, and tossed it. The Pokemon was dazed as she appeared, but she smiled widely nonetheless at the sight of Sugane. But it turned into a frown when she saw the state that both he, Honedge, and Red were in.
“Oh, deary,” she said, before leaning down and pressing a paw to Red’s neck to press on the wound. “You don’t look so good, little one.” With her other arm, she scooped him up. “I think it’d be best to get you somewhere safe.” And off she went, carrying Red toward the nearest Pokemon Center without asking permission.
Sugane, after getting his feet unfrozen from the concrete, fumblingly followed after, picking up the dropped Honedge on the way...
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Have you heard the news? Red asked. They say Team Rocket’s back in action. The champion spoke the words slowly, almost languidly, into Sugane’s mind. But even a fool could tell there was fear in them, and even a dunce could see he was scared. After all, the last time they had risen into power…
Red ran his finger down Honedge’s cracked blade. So, how are you doing? The champion stared intently at Sugane. Still creeping around in the middle of the night? Bitterness sprinkled his words. But then, his face fell with sympathy, and all bitterness was forgotten.
I gotta tell you something.
“W-WHO HASN’T heard about that?” Sugane asked, not expecting an answer. He pretended not to notice the fear in Red’s words, whilst trying to hide his own.
Sugane’s fingers tightened more around Honedge every time Red spoke, but the sword could only offer so much support, and it wasn’t enough to keep the ace trainer’s body from shaking visibly. He hated how scared he was; he was supposed to be one of the toughest in the bunch; he wasn’t supposed to show weakness.
“I’m...just f-fine.” As if. Sugane bit his lip as the bitterness in Red’s words stung him. The ace trainer pretended not to notice. He was only doing his job, after all...and he was doing something good, whether or not Red thought so. There was nothing he could do to convince him, and so he kept his mouth shut.
Sugane lifted his head, if only just slightly, to look at Red. “What is it?”
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Red had heard the whispers, and he was well aware of Team Rocket’s supposed comeback. But, as the champion of the Kanto region, he had responsibilities to uphold. Leaving the League wasn’t an option. Traipsing around the region wasn’t an option. And, most devastatingly, taking down the Rockets wasn’t an option.
At least… not on his own, it wasn’t.
While he walked, Red toted his Honedge over his shoulder. Its blade was riddled with cracks and fractures, but it still shone like the finest of silver in the light of the sun. Master, said the sword, its voice a mere echo of what it had once been, someone is watching us.
Red side-eyed the Honedge. “Don’t call me that,” he muttered. “You and I are equals. Always have been, always will be.” The psychic looked away from the sword. His eyes locked on a darkened figure, standing in the shadow of a wall.
Instantly, he recognized them.
Long time no see.
SUGANE SHUDDERED at the sudden voice in his head. He tensed up and curled his fingers a little tighter around Honedge’s hilt for support. The sword’s ribbon hand came up to wrap around his wrist, offering him as much comfort as it could give. And it did help, steadying his shaking hand.
“Y-Yeah,” Sugane stammered, strands of blond hair falling into his face as he hung his head and looked to the ground, away from Red. “Been a while...”
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
SUGANE’S CHEST tightened, and he set a hand protectively on Honedge’s hilt at the sight of Red coming down the sidewalk.
Oh no. Him again.
Immediately, Sugane stepped back into the shadow of a building, pressing up against the brick and making himself as small as possible, which wasn’t very, considering his height.
Please don’t see me...please don’t see me...
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Ice water washed over Red’s head, chilling him to the core. “Steal?” he repeated warily. “You must be joking.” But how could he be? Sugane’s voice was being ripped apart by emotion; it was cracking, dipping, and stuttering. But what if he was just faking it? After all, Red knew first hand how deceptive Rockets could be. So why would Sugane be any different, if he really was a Rocket?
Red drew his pilfered sword. Then, he raised it between him and Sugane, pointed it at the boy’s throat, and forced them apart.
Thunderpaw, whose hair was standing on end in alert, looked from Red, to Sugane, and then back again. Fam, she said slowly, I think–
But Red didn’t hear the rest of her sentence. His head was being flooded with feeling, and words, and pleas.
Give it back… Honedge is the only safety I have left…!
The psychic gasped, and dropped the sword, and knew the truth.
Red picked up the sword. Then, he pressed it into Sugane’s hands. Because, now that he knew Honedge was not just a weapon to Sugane, and now that he knew he wasn’t a part of the malevolent Team Rocket, he wanted to say sorry. Sorry for hurting him, sorry for taking his precious Pokemon, and sorry for not following his mother’s motto:
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
THIS WAS it. Sugane felt sure that, as soon as Honedge was raised to his throat, he would meet his end, here and now. He could sense Honedge’s distress, knew that if it ended up being the weapon that brought upon his demise, it would never be the same. But what could he do? It was out of his hands now.
Sugane stepped back, released Red’s collar, and squeezed his eyes shut, tears spilling over nonetheless.
Stop... Stop... Stop... Spare Honedge, please...
Suddenly, the clang of metal against pavement filled the air. Sugane’s hands hung limply at his sides.
But then, a familiar thing was being pressed into his palms, and his eyes shot open.
The first thing he saw was Honedge, blurry around the edges due to the tears lingering in Sugane’s eyes. His fingers curled tightly around it and then, very suddenly, he was hugging the sword Pokemon, as much as he dared whilst avoiding cutting himself.
After a minute or two, his crocodile tears ceased to spill. He unwrapped his arms from around Honedge, and then he curled his fingers around its hilt, before putting his guard up again, much better than before.
Sugane looked up at Red. His teeth gritted with fear. Every bone in his body was screaming: Run! Run! Run!, and who was he to argue with that?
Hajime would understand why he left his post. He would be forgiven.
Suddenly, the ace trainer turned on his heel, and he took off running, as fast as his legs could take him, away from Red.
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Red stepped on Sugane’s chest, ground his boot into the boy’s shirt, and said, “A few days ago, I saved your life. Now, I’ll spare it.” He knelt down, so as to see eye to eye with Sugane. “Don’t let it go to waste.”
Thunderpaw bared her teeth and spit in Sugane’s face. Rocket trash, she hissed. I thought you and your lot were gone for good. But I guess pests are pretty damn hard t’kill, huh?
Red held out his arm, which Thunderpaw then jumped on. The trainer picked up Sugane’s Honedge, ran his finger down the flat of the blade, and then stuck it in his belt loop. “Only Rockets prowl the streets at this hour,” he murmured. And then, silently, he added: Only Rockets wear black. Only Rockets use Pokemon as weapons. Only Rockets, only Rockets, only Rockets…
“If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.”
FEAR. THERE was so much fear. Sugane knew that he needed to push through it, but there were some walls that were impenetrable, and this was one of them. He had only been doing his job: protecting the area from people who might cause harm.
But he’d failed. He’d been defeated.
And now, he was going to lose his Honedge, his best friend, due to his stupidity, due to letting his guard down.
No. He wasn’t letting that happen.
With all the strength he could muster, Sugane launched himself off of the ground and at Red, all the while yelling as loudly as he could, “Give it back! That’s my best friend you’re trying to steal!”
He wasn’t thinking. The world was a blur, his heart pounded in his ears. At some point, he’d grabbed Red’s collar, and then he was yelling in his face.
“I was just doing my job! I was trying to protect people! Kill me if you want to, I don’t care. J-Just give it back, give it back, or I’ll...I’ll...”
...When had he started crying?
“I-I’ll have to...take it back...myself!”
Honedge is the only safety I have left... I can’t let you take it!
⎡ telepatiya ⎦
Darkness spilled down the street, casting Red and his Raichu in an eerie light. What am I here for? the trainer repeated. A grin cracked the ice on his face, toying at his lips and making the eerie shadows look even eerier. Well…
Thunderpaw leaped off Red’s shoulder, dug her claws into Sugane’s shirt, and let loose a bolt of electricity. It was not intended to kill–rather, its purpose was to shock and stun.
In an instant, Red had disarmed Sugane. And, after throwing the Honedge to the ground, he asked, I think I’m the one who should be asking that question, don’t you?
THERE WAS no time to react, not even a split second before Thunderpaw was upon Sugane. There was a moment, then, when the world turned black, and the ace trainer saw nothing but stars. And then he was seeing more than stars. He was seeing a twisted grin, and empty eyes, and he couldn’t breathe, and then the familiar smell of iron filled his nose, and blood was spilling down his face, and—
He snapped out of it. He couldn’t do that. Not now, not here. His hand balled into a fist around where Honedge was supposed to be, and when his fingers found nothing, a familiar feeling of helplessness set in. Honedge was his lifeline, and without it, he knew he was too weak to defend himself. Especially now that he found he could hardly move. At least, for the moment.
Choking on his own voice, Sugane spoke, his hands shaking visibly as he tried to maintain his composure. “I guess I was...right...not to trust you...huh?”
