I had my first Walmart pickup for $15. I pull up and call the Walmart number on the pickup sign. The walmart staff goes “ummm can you come inside?” I go in and meet the pick up staff and they are standing next to a flat cart filled with 14 cases of water. She goes “we have food for you!” with a smile and asked if I could fit all those cases. I packed 5 in the trunk and 9 in the back seat. The staff was sweet and gave me free Annie’s pretzel bites. I get to the delivery address and it’s a mom packing for cheer camp and she already had 10 cases on the porch. I unload everything and she tipped me $15 and $7 for the fare. Not a bad $22 run.

(I am just venting about a unique situation I suppose. I was wondering if anyone else feels the way I do. FOR CONTEXT: I grew up in a low socioeconomic and rural town that primarily specialized in deep fried southern food and cotton fields. This meant that, in typical manner of small town America, no one ever really leaves. My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all attended the same high school as me. One of my childhood friend’s grandmother was the person who signed off on my parents’ marriage license. (I did not know that fact until my mom showed me their old marriage certificate several years later and I saw the familiar looking last name of said friend.) Most townsfolk married someone from their high school class, my parents being no exception. Some even had the same teachers or principals as me. The demographics of my version of small town America was composed mostly of what my teenage self would refer to as “hick rednecks'' and “military jackasses.” (I was mostly referring to the two sides of my family: dad’s side being hick rednecks and mom’s side being military jackasses.) Overall, my hometown was an interesting mix of people ranging from God-fearing Baptists and self-proclaimed “country bumpkins”. There were lots of speeches about hell and brimstone during my childhood.
I’m not sure how to sum up my experience growing up Chinese American. Up until I was an adult, I rarely bothered to share the truth about my adoption. Mostly due to feeling exhausted from having to repeat the same stories to people again and again:
“China had an overpopulation problem in the 1900s. As a knee jerk reaction, the deeply conventional and patriarchal government implemented the One Child Policy. Basically, if parents had more than one kid, they would be heavily taxed and ostracized. Now, if said second child was a girl, they’d be in some hot shit. In Chinese culture, usually it is the son that takes care of their elderly parents while the daughter is married off and becomes part of her new family of in-laws. Being born a girl was seen as an inconvenience as their culture historically coveted males. This often led to Chinese baby girls to be left for dead in trash cans, taken by the government, or even killed. Having a second daughter was seen as a betrayal to the Chinese regime and for some reason warranted infanticide. Well, I’m obviously a girl who survived what essentially was a mass slaughter. Probably the second born daughter which was extra hot shit for my biological parents. They wanted better for me (maybe), so I was put up for adoption. I hung out in a Chinese orphanage for about half a year until two random white people decided to adopt me. They brought me back to America, and the rest is history. No, I have no memories as I was a literal baby. No, I do not know who my birth parents are since adoption was conducted anonymously since putting a child up for adoption was also considered treason. And personally, just my opinion, it’s a little fucked that the government is slightly more approving of murdering babies for something completely out of their control instead of putting them up for adoption.” Or something along those lines…
I was adopted by my mom and dad, but primarily raised by a single mom for most of my childhood. I guess my peers just assumed when they saw my mom, that my dad happened to be Asian which is where I must have gotten my “exotic” genes. My childhood was also very abusive (from all sides of my family). Although I do have love for my family somewhere buried under the deep-seeded resentment, I no longer have a relationship with any of them besides of few of my distant cousins. This is mostly for my own safety/peace of mind because my relatives tend to influence me very negatively.
My earliest childhood memories involved a lot of weird and invasive questions I would hear from adults and peers alike regarding my ethnicity. Well that, and a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that I would later identify as “survivor’s guilt” as an adult. Logically speaking, I have no reason to feel guilty for being alive, but I do. It would occur any time some adult friend of my parents would gush about how “lucky” I was to be adopted. I suppose luck had some part in my survival, but I didn’t expect people to be tone deaf enough to tell that to a little kid already struggling to come to grips with her cultural identity.
The snarky part of my brain would parody their comments:
“Oh, how these two altruistic white saviors decided to welcome a child as their own despite having no blood ties whatsoever.” Which, in part, is true. My parents did a very selfless thing. They were not able to conceive a baby of their own and they chose me out of the millions of parentless babies in the world. I think the damaging part is the underlying implications about how these nice people could have had any child and yet they settled for a baby no one wanted. My family would refer to my miracle of survival as “God’s plan.” They would talk about how God perfectly orchestrated my early life tragedies so I could be rescued from an awful life with those “evil communists.” I have nothing personal against religion nor people who truly believe in the G man upstairs. My beef comes from how this perspective is very centered on the adopters instead of the adoptees. Yes, it is BOTH our stories, but I often feel like adoptees' voices and feelings of uncertainty are often drowned out by a chorus of “you’re so lucky” and “why do you feel like that? You’re so ungrateful.” Also, I was a healthy baby girl born with no neurological or physical deficiencies. I definitely had much better odds than other babies at being adopted during the One Child Reign. Hearing these implications from people who do not understand nor want to understand the complexity of the adoptee’s experience fed into my survivor guilt and feelings of inadequacy. The adoption progress does involve a loss for the adoptee: a loss of culture, identity, and familial ties. I feel like adoption, specifically international adoption, is highly idealized and romanticized. Although I never told my mom, there was a part of me deep down that felt like a second-rate baby. Mostly because I knew how it would make her sad to know that somewhere in my little kid brain, I didn’t think that I would truly be wanted if my mom’s fertility situation went differently.
I would often describe the state of Texas as “that really annoying, overly-friendly hick cousin that comes to every holiday and gets completely sloshed out of their mind and drunkenly brags about their mediocre accomplishments” to people who would ask me to describe Texas. But for all the Texan pride and arrogance about our current Lone Star State, I suppose I could see its appeal. Living in rural Texas is a familiar, humble, and stable experience. My hometown was relatively safe. I could walk to my childhood friends’ houses after school just a few blocks away from my own house without much fear. Most people waved and smiled at each other in passing. (Looking back through adult lenses, I’m not sure how much of it was genuine.) Most townsfolk could fill their relatively uneventful lives with the downtown gossip of families going through some type of soap opera behind closed doors. And despite living in a small town, the schools were large enough to where we could participate in varsity sports seasonally. The rare minority of people who actually did have the courage to leave eventually moved back to start a family because “there’s no place like good ole home!”
The monotony is what partially induced my pubescent angst and desire to someday escape the only place I’ve ever known. That, and the fact that the things you could do for entertainment in small town USA was close to none. The drawback of only living in one town your entire life is limited world experiences. The safety net of someone’s childhood confinements has the potential to induce complacency confused with comfort. How could you ever expand your worldview when you’re hanging out with the same people with the same ideals again and again?
The Asian population in my hometown was close to nonexistent as well. In my high school graduating class, there was one other Asian kid that attended school as me. When my school’s standardized testing scores would be released, the performance metrics were broken down by how well each ethnic group of students did. Since there were only two Asian kids in my grade level, it would be pretty obvious if one of us failed. (Luckily, neither one of us did.) And of course, my peers encouraged both of us to date since “we’d be, like, SO perfect for each other! We’d get married and have little genius Asian babies!”
The feeling of being “othered” or “different” had always been present throughout my childhood. As a kid, the complexity of prejudices eluded me in my naivety, but the uncomfortable feeling of my peers hyperfocusing on my almond-shaped eyes, my flat nose, my stick straight black hair, and any other features felt like they were screaming, “ASIAN!” very loudly. A part of me felt some sort of unspoken alliance between me and my Hispanic friends. It was as if to some degree, they understood what it was like to have your whole personhood categorized by the color of your skin. Sadly, a large portion of my family was uncomfortable with the presence of anyone of Hispanic descent, and I'd often be forced to come up with excuses for my friends of color to not come over in fear of my traditionally southern family making an off-the-cuff comment about how "Mexicans are dirty, poor, and thuggy criminals." Their political diatribes, usually involving immigration, were the popular conversation starters during family get-togethers. My family was very much the type of people that would preach out being a good, godly man/woman while snickering about non-White people's "oddities." Talking about how Jesus loves all and then whispers sanctimoniously about a low-income Hispanic family on the opposite side of the room.
"Oh, GOD BLESS their hearts!"
I doubt those families needed my family's pity.
My mom's sister once texted me after I returned a stray dog to their rightful owner,
"I need to know their race so I can determine their education levels. If they're Mexican, it makes sense why they didn't pay you for rescuing their dog. Mexicans are always looking for the cheap way out."
They were Hispanic, and they were very thankful for the return of their dog. I didn't understand why a decent deed automatically required me to be compensated nor how their racial background tied into their obligation to compensate me.
I snarky replied, "What does their ethnic background have anything to do with how they should act?"
To which she responded, "Calm down. I can practically hear you getting huffy with me from your text. Don't get mad at me! I told you that those Mexicans are always coming to our country and expecting us to learn THEIR language while they refuse to learn English! Plus, when you're my age and all your tax dollars go into keeping lazy illegals afloat, you'll understand why I'm not willing to let some freeloading Mexicans take advantage of my niece."
I no longer talk to that aunt.
My dad's (now current) wife also got very sloshed at the last Christmas event I attended and ranted very loudly about how "the Bible said that evil yellow people like (me) would bring the end of the world and second coming of Jesus to end our sinful tyranny" in front of my entire family with my dad awkwardly ignoring her xenophobic remarks.
It also did not help that in elementary school, some of my classmates would see me and bow to me while one boy would pretend to bang a gong as soon as I entered the classroom and snicker while singing, “CHING, CHONG, CHINKY!” Or how during snack breaks, my peers would pop up to ask me questions like, “do you know karate,” or, “can you speak Chinese to me, " or “ew, don’t tell me you’re gonna eat my dog. He’s a really cute puppy!”
As evasive and uncomfortable these comments could get, I felt like they were fairly innocuous and were asked out of a mix of childhood ignorance and genuine curiosity. I think the part that bothered me the most was having some of my classmates point out how “weird” my eyes looked while placing their fingers at the corners of their eyes and stretching them outwards and loudly proclaiming, “LOOK, NOW I’M CHINESE TOO!!! I LOOK JUST LIKE YOU!” But the absolute worst feeling would be when someone would mention how I look nothing like my very obviously white mom or dad.
“How could they be your parents when you don’t even look like them?”
To which I had a carefully crafted answer my mom would help me rehearse beforehand: “Oh, yeah, I’m adopted from China. Not all families look the same.”
And the retort back would usually be, “Do you miss your real parents?”
Do I?
I ponder that question to this day.
It feels uncomfortable to have people refer to my sperm and egg donors as my “real parents.” My adoptive parents felt very real to me because they were all I knew.
I don’t think I fit the concept of the model minority. I did not come out of the womb as one of those “wiz kids” playing the piano like Mozart, doing linear algebra before I was verbal, and eating dogs for breakfast. My experience as being an Asian American and labeled as the “good minority” has been a weird space to be in. As much as I partially appreciated being known as the “successful, smart, culturally assimilated” race of people, a part of me felt bitter at the notion that all my successes in life might be attributed to my ethnicity. When I would express my discontent with these labels, I would often get reprimanded as ungrateful.
“Don’t you want to be smart?”
“What’s so bad about being Asian? It’s a compliment!”
“Are you embarrassed to be Asian?”
“And you’re basically guaranteed a spot in medical school to become a doctor.”
“The guys are obsessed with you because of your exotic genes!”
(Pro tip for anyone, but especially for my fellow marginalized members: if someone calls you “exotic,” run.)
The answers to these questions usually go, “yes, nothing, no, what, and ew.”
Yes, I do want to be smart. I hope that my cognitive abilities will help me contribute something positive to society one day.
Nothing is wrong with being Asian or whatever you are. It just feels very uncomfortable to hear about an entire group of people as if they’re all the same.
No. I have never and will never be embarrassed of what I am.
What? Why do you assume I automatically want to become a doctor?
Ew, exotic? I don’t even want to reply to that comment.
I wish that I had the vocabulary at the time to respond like that. Instead, I would awkwardly laugh at their comment and say something along the lines of, “haaaa, I don’t know any other Asians. If you run into them, you’ll have to ask them.”
When you would hear about brilliant minds in history such as Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking, most wouldn't say, “Oh well, it’s because they’re white. All those white genetics are what keep them so hard-working and successful.” Instead, as a demographic that is adequately represented in society, Einstein and Hawking and so many other white men had their accomplishments acknowledged as their own individualistic brilliance. An experience I so desperately wanted. So what if I was good or bad at math? I want to be called smart because I am smart. Not because I have some God-given wiz genes that have prophesied my successes from my first primordial cell. Or what if I was terrible at math? I don’t want to be labeled as a “bad” or “fake” Asian. I don’t want to be categorized as one of those “innocent, submissive Asian girls that would make a proper wife one day.” I just want to exist in my own space as my own person. Whoever I ended up becoming.
(Does anyone have negative experiences from adoption? I would love to know because the rare fellow adoptees I have met have very different (positive) experiences than myself.)

I was trying to build a script with puppeteer but i noticed that when i use a proxy it cannot go through a website like whatismyipaddress or any site that detects the IP , also when i visit google in a proxy i can see that google changed the IP because it changes the default language but when i visit back whatismyipaddress it returns my normal ip not the proxy one , is there something wrong with my code ?

import puppeteer from "puppeteer-extra"; import Stealth from 'puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth' import { executablePath } from "puppeteer"; import useProxy from "puppeteer-page-proxy"; puppeteer.use(Stealth()) async function main(url) { // this is my proxy , its a private proxy i got for a very cheap price but i am not sure if something wrong with it. const proxy = 'http://bxkjltjm:[email protected]:6286'; const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: false, defaultViewport: null , executablePath: executablePath() , args: ['--disable-web-security'] }) const page = await browser.newPage() await page.setRequestInterception(true); await useProxy(page, proxy); await page.goto(url) } main("https://www.google.com/") 

Hello everyone, I thought I would give my 2 cents about quitting findom here as I’ve been a finsub before. (Sorry if my English is not perfect).
The first one is acknowledging there must have been something that went wrong in order for you to get into this fetish. Whatever it is, you need to realize that this fetish is in no way normal. Participating in it won’t make your life any better. In fact it will destroy you, not only financially, but in a lot of other areas in your life.
The second one is you need to realize your self worth. You’re worth more than what these women try to tell you. Yes you’re thinking they deserve your money because they’re out of your league, better than you but it’s only because you let them. They’re only there to make some extra money off of you. Think about it, if you stopped paying them, they will immediately vanish away.
The third one that I think is very important is that even though I get those feelings of going back to it sometimes I don’t act on them. Yes it’s definitely easier said than done but this is not the worst addiction in the world. I dealt with drug addiction for years and let me tell you it was way harder to beat. Addictions take a long time but the more you fight them the better.
I struggled with this until last year when I finally quit and saved my money to travel to my hometown in East Africa. I’ve given that money to poor families to help them build a clean running water in their village. That alone was enough reason I decided to quit. Another benefit is watching that money grow every time that fat paycheck hits your bank account. Oh man is it beautiful. I really hope anyone who’s trying to quit find something else in their life that is worth spending money on, that is more fulfilling and rewarding.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/WqjZeQ4
Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/LIStYxd
Another newer version of the Bullet Bags! Inspired by another custom order request from my friends over at AK Peasants. New design has and loop of webbing creating a handle for easy control when moving down the firing range. Also new patches to go with! 3 inch by 1.5 inch field of loop for the smaller patches and a 2x4 inch field for the bigger patches. Offering 2 sizes for handguns and rifle caliber bullets. Little guy holds atleast 200 bullets and could hold more but not certain how much more weight it can hold I haven’t tested more than 200 9mm rounds. I double stitched every seam and triple stitched on some so it should hold a good heavy load but not tested much. Available in Multicam Black, Woodland, MC Tropic, Ranger Green, Coyote, Flecktarn, Alpine Snow, Scorpion Ocp and Black. Vietnam Tiger Stripe will be back in at the end of the week. Currently only have the 7 patch variations shown in the picture 9mm, 556, 223, 7.62x39, and ''Freedom Seeds''. Each bag will come with one patch of your choice. At the moment I can not sell the patches separately from the bags due to inventory. Making these daily so let me know what you would like to see in the next post if it’s not in this one. $30 shipped for smaller pouch $35 shipped for larger pouch ** First person to buy 2 or more bags gets an EDC HK hook belt clip of your choice.
x1 Large Flecktarn x2 small MC Tropic x1 small Alpine Snow x1 small flecktarn
​HK hook belt clip lanyards to hang your keys, gloves, or any other tacticool gear you can think of. The belt clips wrap around your belt and velcro onto itself. They can be weaved through Molle if you don’t want to wrap around your belt. I offer 2 sizes one for EDC belts that are up to 2 inches wide and don't hang as low. The Battle Belt clips fit belts up to 2.5 inches wide and hang about an inch lower. At the moment I have Coyote, Multicam Tropic and Arid, Black, Ranger Green, Woodland, Multicam Black, Hawaiian Sunset, Black Hawaiian, Black, and Blue Polynesian materials on hand. Currently have 1 of each color for the edc but plenty more materials and making more daily. EDC clip $15 shipped and $10 for each additional clip Battle clip $17 shipped and $12 for each additional clip First person to buy 4 or more belt clips gets a free 2 point quick adjust sling that I make!​​
Fire Sale right now!! 3 clips for $30 any size!!
Can’t take preorders per page rules but comment what you would like to see in tomorrow’s post and I’ll make sure to have it!
Post dibs and I’ll pm. PayPal or Venmo add 3% for goods and services. Also accepting cash app. Thanks for any and all support!

Disclaimer: This is light hearted and fun, so hopefully it helps cheer someone up on a bad day. This happened almost 20 years ago but another post reminded me of it, feel free to point and laugh at mistakes.
Just to start off, I got along great with this teacher in question Mr O. He was awesome but also a smartass, unfortunately so am I. One day after handing in a book report, the grade I got back was less than I thought it should be as I put a lot of work into it. When I asked Mr O about it, he replied something along the lines of "it wasn't up to your usual standards", so he knocked some points off. I still passed it, but it bugged me. I get now he was trying to push me to do my best, but it irked me.
Then SACE time came, and for our English exam we had one hour to submit a 250 word exam on the teacher's choice of subject. Mr O was and always had been a huge superhero comics fan, so he tasked us to write an exam on what would happen if we suddenly developed superpowers. He then looked at me and said something to the effect of "I expect great things from you all, get going".
Most of the other people in the class wrote the standard sort of fare, but I decided to cheat Mr O out of the story he wanted. I knew he was looking forward to my story as he had come to enjoy the extra creative flair I always used to put in for an epic story. Instead, I wrote a story about being a balding, 40 year old mechanic who one day accidentally kept starting fires. I made this the most compelling and funny story I had ever written and was the first to hand it in. When the results came back, he conceded it was one of the funniest things he had read and had even shown the other teachers, who pressured him into giving me extra credit for it.
(For those not in South Australia, SACE is basically the culmination of high schooling here. It's basically two weeks of exams before graduation.)
TLDR: Teacher knocked points off of one assignment but gave them back on a better one I did later.

Part 1
"When we Firmas were pushed north into the Pyrimian mountain valley after the death of their chain of command, they settled down and instead of focusing on expansion focused on necessities like food. With co-operation from the first goblins and other creative minds that joined the First Wave of the migration, they managed to grow food over the summer in first-iteration greenhouses. "My parents were part of the first wave. They were old for a couple, but joined the Firma clan in founding a government and keeping the area safe, as well as spreading word. The dragonic gods didn't like their behavior at all; cities burning is more entertainment for them, so they were the first to be Forsaken in this era, publicly, in the main square of the old Dragonic Capital. "However, that backfired, with more and more dragons tired of running around and fighting all the time, they decided to settle down in a place where nobody would bother them; now that they had this place given to them, and the Second Wave started. Basically the entirety of the dragonic clans and several other species amassed in this wave, and the Sapient Unification Government held. "My parents had an egg in one of the more northern caves, right on the coast. Then, the third wave arrived and everything went downhill from there. "The Unification Wars were fought between those who wanted one government to cover this region, and those who wanted governments segregated by species. This would have been fine if the secessionists didn't step in on people's behalves, without their consent; it took fifteen years of war for the war to end. Millions died and some species like the Snow Fox beastpeople almost went extinct. My parent were part of the death wave. "The war evolved so rapidly it was impossible for a commander to last more than two months. It started with sticks and stones and within a month there were arrow volleys. A year saw guns, two tanks, three battleships, four planes. Bombs, bigger bullets, bigger guns, bigger bombs. "In the last few months of the war, the first nuclear devices were used, creating miniature stars on the land with immense destructive potential unleashed. It ended with mutually assured destruction protocols being activated, and when all was said and done the land was a snow-fallen irradiated dustball. "It took years for the survivors to pick up the remnants of our short-lived civilization and restart it into the Terra Firma Sapience Union. All the time, my egg didn't hatch because I had no incubator, but didn't die thanks to my ice type. It was located close enough to a mana vein where I just... absorbed the entire vein. When the cave was found by explorers following maps for my parents den, all they found was my egg glowing brighter than Sunstones. "I was taken to an incubation facility in Cellyia, one of the bigger cities. There I hatched, and after more than one test I grew. My growth was still... affected by the time without an incubator, so my already slow growth stopped after fifty years instead of continuing to infinity. And then I took some magic courses, did my best to drain my mana reserves, and settled down here, well away from... the bustle of Cellyia. It never quite felt like a home, you know. It was a good place to grow up, don't get me wrong, but I like it here better. Remote, and in the same place my parents met for the first time. As much as I can tell, anyway; a number of records were destroyed in the Unification War. "When your heroes continued to come up here, I would be the one on first guard. Damming a river, I used water magic to break it. Trying to destroy some transit infrastructure, I would be the first one to either fake it, finish it off, or lure them away. When your latest one decided to head for Cellyia, it was out of my range for such activities. I shadowed the party on the way and let others take care of it. "I never thought that your 'heroes' would be heartless enough to burn what they were told and even acknowledged as a hospital with patients inside. A library and museum with most of our pre-unification works inside. An orphanage, a school... an entire neighborhood of ten thousand citizens' homes. What for? To try to kill just one of us. "We... couldn't take that kind of behavior. Cellyia might have not been the best place for someone with my personality to grow up, especially without parental figures, but that orphanage still had some good memories. An all-citizens vote was called, an all-citizens vote was passed, and we started a counter-offensive military campaign into your Civilization Nations. We've been waiting for you elves, leaders of the Civilized Nations, to advance your society; it's been seven hundred years, all the most you've done is grow your population and add an extra floor to your townhomes. "So we're going to do it for you. You ran our patience down, so we're going to change your society for you. Is it a repeat of the Unification War? I don't think so, given that you Civilized Nations never rescinded the declaration of war against us 'monsters' over two thousand years ago; one that you still follow through on to this day. "But that isn't the end of my story. "When the gods forsook us, they tried to pry away our magic, our land, and our lives. So we defended. Space radars monitor their movements on the mortal plane. There's so many more technical details I can go into. All I can tell you is, at one point, the old god of Dragonic Princess-kidnapping; yes, they were a god; they came and asked us to restart worshiping them. "That went over as well as you'd expect, and the next thing that happened... was that I absorbed her mana and powers. Technically, I am an undefined god, and... at this point, I'm afraid to get a definition. "What if it's something I don't like? Something evil, immoral... something my parents, the leaders of the Second Wave, wouldn't be proud of? What if... what if it kills me? Everyone hates me? I'd no longer be free... "So my solution was to hide. Here, in a mountain cave in the middle of nowhere. This is my life, all of it... and I don't know where to go from here." ----- "So... you're a god?" I asked. I couldn't think of another question to ask. "Yes and no." The cat replied. It did nothing to satisfy my fearful curiosity. How could one both be and not be a god? "Princess-kidnapping was a... niche god, rarely prayed to by still enough to be, you know, and actual deity. So her mana ran out first, and most of it dissipated back into the environment yada yada yada, but like the sponge my mana reserves are, I sucked more of it up than I should have; enough to had just a slight touch of divine control. On par with a low-level demigod. If I was omnipresent, I'd solve me problems with a snap of my claws, and then I wouldn't be hiding from my problems here." "If your powers came from a god, how are yours undefined?" My mind was seeking knowledge now. I was a mage, after all, and this was more than just the opportunity of a lifetime; it was the opportunity of a aeon. "Because I absorbed her essence from the environment before it had the chance to fully dissipate, but still late enough where it was no longer hers." Vixie shrugged "Or something like that, mana gets weird sometimes. All that matters now is my stockpile is slowly increasing its grow rate, which gets annoying pretty fast." "Annoying?" The cat laughed again. "Do you think this is all of my baseline reserve? Half of the reason I stay away from the rest of society is because the last time someone with multiple aura got involved with politics..." She trailed off, and then let another, this time impeccably cast illusion fall. The air around her was burnt crisp with the power of several mandatory auras in her current small size. Twelve tails flicked behind her back, eleven of them made of energy. Floating specs of light, some smaller while others the size of ice crystals surrounded the air around her. The six orbs on her back were joined by six more, and were attached to a ring. Her head had two halos, and her entire body was engraved with glowing lines. If she before radiated power, now she was made of it. The lights on the cave's ceiling flickered as more and more of the illusion fell away. Geometric shapes orbiting her body, a platform made of mana at her feet, lightning whizzing between all sorts of objects. Finally, it was gone, and the cat that stared at me with big, sad, glowing blue eyes had told me her deepest secret. As soon as it had started, the illusion repaired itself, and before me was one cat, a halo, six orbs, two crystals, and two mana tails. I did the second most instinctive thing when it came to seeing a cat. I pulled her in for a hug. There was a quickly quieted hiss as she squirmed a bit in my grip, trying to get more comfortable, before letting herself get stroked by me. Several images flashed before my eyes, and a tear came out of mine. We had gone to war against the less lucky sapients on our world, and were now paying the price. It felt like hours, but then my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn't eaten in literal days. Vixie shot out of my grip and led the way down into the cave. I followed, and soon enough I was eating some salted crackers with dried meat and cheese while Vixie moved around between other caves. "What are you doing?" I asked her between bites. "Packing," She replied. "Why?" "It's time I got out of here and, to follow the phrase, touched some grass." ----- It took three days for the elf, whose name was Nick, to recover enough to be able to make the journey to Cellyia. In those three days, I realized just how - and why - the Civilized Races looked at us the way they did. For starters, I'd forgotten just how many things ran on electricity, let alone other, more complicated mechanics. Pressurized water, instant hot water, even sinks, showers, and toilets were all completely unknown to the 'civilized races.' Ah, yes. Civilized without toilet paper. Bitter ramblings about the people who set off the chain reaction of events that killed my family aside, those were the second longest three days of my life; the first was my thirteenth birthday so I could get a personal HUD and social media. I was also a mess of thoughts. The elf had shown me, over the course of the three days - aside from the two-minute get-my-life-together moment - that I couldn't hide from my problems forever, or they would team up and try to hunt me. Hence my new, reluctant guest from the overflowing hospital they had oh-so-nicely delivered to my door. I had words for the medical staff. And I was also a mess of thoughts. Did I mention that one already. In all seriousness, Nick adapted to electronics pretty well. All I had to do was explain what it was, what it did, and file it under the name of science. It took an impressive four minutes of rambling about quantum mechanics before Vick realized that he was in way over his head asking how the 'magic rock that can half-think with bottled lightning' worked. He backed out when I yanked a textbook from my knowledge hoard and flipped through the pages to the start to explain how quantum superposition affected the set of particles it was entangled to. Fun. Finding out what toothbrushes were took some convincing, but soon the elf's teeth started to recover from lack of proper dental care. Food was easier than I expected, and Vick was pretty accepting of whatever I tossed on his plate. Except for artichokes, for some reason he hated those. Over the three days we bonded, and Nick got pretty used to life in my home. On the second day I moved him to the guest bedroom I had built but never maintained, but one wave of my paw and a splurge of magic later that was solved. "Why don't you use magic more often?" Nick asked. I explained that was much as I wanted to burn my reserves like they were a forest before a forest fire, the mental strain was tough without learning proper casting, which requires one to drain their reserves to practice wielding physical willpower. That meant that I was caught in an infinite loop of negativity, so I could only get away with a couple spells a day before the mental exhaustion metaphorically turned my brain to mush. On the morning of the fourth day, we left. Honestly, Nick could have left on the first day but I wanted him to be able to have the stamina to walk around for hours on end with me in Cellyia. Either way, as long as he kept by me it would be fine. There was a small population of elves, humans, and dwarves who had come up to the TFSU for one reason or another and never left, which meant that he wouldn't be too far out of place. My plan, instead of just flying into the Cellyia while steering clear of the airport, was to make it to the closest town, Lymian, and take a train from there north to Union Station. It would dump us a bit further downtown than I liked, but Cellyia was built in levels, and I could take the footpath level to wherever I needed. All said and done and one passenger seat clipped to my saddlebag harness on my dragon form, I opened the door to my cave. And was promptly blocked by a wall of snow. "Right," I half-grumbled. I enjoyed tunneling through snow, but spray would make the entrance cave wet and that wouldn't dry for another couple days, and until it did the sound of drips would echo throughout my home like nothing else. Either way, checking one last time that Nick was secure, I prepared my wings and powered forward. The snow and ice parted for me, and then melted and fixed itself back together behind me as I power-swam through the snow the same way I would through water. After ten seconds of this, I burst up from the snow-covered mountain the snowstorm had left behind and started to change my heading for Lymian. It would take thirty minutes of flying to get there, as I was flying lower and slower than usual to take care of my passenger, but we soon enough turned the next mountain and saw the town. The elf gasped as he took in the sights, while I kept my eye out for more activity. It had been fortified as a military base due to the war, but not by much; the town was useless from a defensive standpoint anyway. I spotted the next train arriving from its winding track around the next mountain, which also meant that I was a bit early. The citizens of Lymian were used to my presence, as I usually stopped by to pick up supplies and occasionally a bit of correspondence. So when I landed on top of a several story tall snow pile, nobody cared. I let Nick out, and then transformed into my cat form and slid down the snow pile to start to jogging towards the train station. That's when I remembered that unlike me, elves without snowshoes do not float on snow. Oops. ----- The sights were more than pretty, more than beautiful... If the gods had rejected these people, they might have just as well done it out of jealousy. After I'd been dropped off on top of a snow mound, I immediately flattened myself on my stomach to not fall through. I'd been in more than enough snowstorms and snow mounds to know how it would go if I didn't. The cat climbed the hill below me, reappearing as naturally as the snow fell. "Sorry," Vixie apologized. "Here, let me..." I felt the snow melt around me and we descended down to the ground. Vixie glowed brightly, literally; Even using as little magic as reshaping some snow was threatening to cascade out of her form. We moved to the train station without incident, where the massive 'train cars' were loaded full of passengers and cargo and then taken off towards the big city. Apparently this was the same one the hero burned, but the 'rebuilding and recovery efforts we going well; no critical infrastructure had been severely damaged.' Either way, the ride there was uneventful. Stepping out into Union Station was different. It was like I had entered a busy capital marketplace or square, with everyone rushing in another direction to another place. I trailed after Vixie, where even the oddity of an elf in these mountains was outshone by just how many different races there were; beastkin and kobolds and orcs and undead all filled the streets in, well, peace. "The city is built in layers," Vixie explained. "So while yes, residential and office towers here in the capital were set alight, underground public transit, personal transit, and cargo and fluid transit was all untouched, so we were able to circle around the hero and put out the fires to be replaced with smoke generators, and a couple holograms snatched from a nearby cargo transport." I had no idea what any of that meant, only that the city also had extensive underground bits. The towers soared over everything, and lights covered every spare centimeter of the city. Vixie led me down market stalls, across plazas, through parks and through building lobbies. Eventually, the babble increased, something I didn't think was possible. "Welcome to the commercial district," Vixie said after she had pulled me into a corner away from the masses of people and crowds moving around. "We're right near the harbor, and when we get there I'm going to show you the lighthouse and explain the city a bit better." I almost lost track of Vixie as we continued to move through the throngs of people going about their daily lives. I saw a couple boarded up shops, but most of them were either undamaged or didn't care about the scorch marks on their shops. Jewelry boutiques and grocery stores lived in tandem with furniture stores and a massive slab of too-smooth-to-be-natural stone of a rock type I had never seen before. It was covered in signs depicting some kind of diagram. Right around the corner was the waterfront, with a massive promenade running alongside it. Snow-covered trees lined the walkways, and soon enough Vixie and I came out of the crowd near a large, tall abandoned - though no unmaintained - building. "Right then," Vixie explained and started climbing. "Here's the old lighthouse, it's perfect for seeing the city. They never officially decommissioned it, so it's still legal to climb and properly maintained, but they never use it either." "What was the large thing they were building?" I asked, clambering onto the next ladder. "That? Oh, that was the space elevator." Vixie replied. "The ground part has been completed for three years now, we're just waiting for the rest of the nanotubes to make it into orbit and then run a kevlar cord up, follow it down with the space-grade heavy-duty nanotube cord, and then that's that." "Space?..." I was confused. "When the gods said that they were higher than mortals, you took that both figuratively and literally; they live above you and in a higher dimension. In this case, space is where they live in terms of height, but not number of dimensions. We're working on interdimensional travel, and interuniversal too, but those aren't replicatable on any sort of large scale yet." Vixie shrugged. "Either way, it's not like I care." "But you have it?" I pressed. "Dimensional travel." "Yes." She replied. "Well," I let out a short laughed. "The Civilized Nations are screwed over." "That's putting it lightly," She climbed on top of the last platform and showed me the city against the setting sun, lit up brighter than the night sky and more lively than the earth. It was beautiful. I sat there and watched the city glow with a power not even the gods had, side by side with not a dragon or monster, but a friend. END. A/N: Rushed this last bit of the arc, but school is ramping up at the end of the year so it was either fast story or incomplete story, and I chose fast story. Happy pride month, everyone, and I hope to see more of you when I have more time.
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 1

Don't read ahead, don't watch ahead, just go down the path, or turn back now. It doesn't matter either way. I made a playlist with my bipolar ass... I'm not sure how long it is or I'd warn you, i wanna say around 3 hours, it's all music. I'm gonna post it here, and then start it and see how long it takes to get thru the whole thing. Then I'll update the beginning. Have fun, wear headphones to have the same experience that I had. <3
Instructions: next paragraph to be read after preceeding song, but, honestly, I don't know why I even bothered trying to make a note about something because all anybodies going to get out of this post is extreme mental illness, but like, it might make you feel something, i dunno. Sorry you guys, I'm chill. Have a good one, homies. Listen to some music if youre bored. It's just my sillyhead mind on full display. I wanted to play Danny Brown so many times, that just wasn't what the story was about this time. Yall stay safe. Lemme know if you need anything. Take your meds. ✌️🤙
(This is going to be long but its all optional) What's up homies! I'm diagnosed as Bipolar 1. It was funny, like, in highschool, so like 2008 - 2012, anyways, I knew that the rock band Avenged Sevenfold were angels. The lead singer is Gabriel, and the other guys are other Archangels, that's why they do the naming scheme that they do, Johnny Christ, Snynsyter Gates, M Shadows, ect, because they're some ancient dorks and that's the kind of nerd trash we like to pull. So I forgot about that because I pushed it away because like, um, hello, not a moron.
Then a couple years go by, I'm on psychedelics at my friend's house. Long story short, I have a conversation with Gabriel, I give them a song, I tell them to put a Mexican restaurant song on their album if the conversation is real, and I left it at that. So a couple of months go by, their new album comes out. The song that I gave to the voice on the trip is on the album, here, I'll link it to you. It's this one. https://youtu.be/5N-tTKERxj8
So I like wrote it about myself and what I needed to do and stuff... like it was a message to me. And avenged sevenfold, they've got a ton of angel imagery in all of their stuff, I mean their symbol, the deathbat, which is a skull with wings. Then there's their music, I'll link some of the more obvious stuff.
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << Exhibit A https://youtu.be/HIRNdveLnJI << get it? https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0 << I mean watch this video.
That's all I'll show you of a7x... look into them though, if you're in any way curious. I could be way off the mark, but that's what happened... it is what it is. I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't be either. But like, that's my band. Those are my bros. Or, you know, I have something. But I don't live my life like I'm sick: I live my life like I'm going to change yours. Because that's what I do.
So like... haha, this is gonna be hilarious. So you guys know all about receiving messages in songs type of deal.... me and Red Velvet and Everglow have been doing that since like... I dunno... 2014? Whenever everglow came out... but, basically, Red Velvet are uh... my girlfriends, back home, and they all came down with me to be my message system to wake me up. Because I got woken up, I remembered who I was in 2016. After that, it's just been messages in Kpop songs keeping me afloat. I'll show you. So Red Velvet has been sending me messages for a long time. Here's probably one of the most impactful ones. Remember, from your perspective, you're Archangel Michael, and you've planned all of this. You've put these people where they needed to be. You've designed the whole set. So to receive the messages is no big deal, right? So here, check it. I'm actually gonna watch this one with you guys, because it always hypes me up. https://youtu.be/c9RzZpV460k
Ok, so, maybe you can see a little bit why I'm at least getting screwed with a little bit, you see the lyrics? It's like they're talking straight to me man. And its like, kpop has been nudging me along, no matter what mood I'm in in reality or whatever place I'm at, the right song always comes out at the right time. For instance I was struggling with myself on whether or not I was going to move forward with any of this. This is my choice, I'm not suffering from a maladiction. I can choose to tell people or not tell people, I choose to share, I want connection. So anyways, look at this one, it was exactly what i needed to hear: https://youtu.be/JUJ3Pq74H4c
I know, I know... kpop girls aren't telling me to come pick them up. They are driving me to do something, though, however small that ever may be. And there's this thing I've always done to show people that I'm an angel without actually telling them. I put my thumbs together and spread my hands out, it's like code. And remember, these are all coming out at specific times. Watch this one, look at all the symbolism: https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ.
Man, I don't even know what to play after that one. Thats pretty much it you guys, that's basically all I wanted to show you, everything else is just going to be extra. It's all a complete waste of time anyways. I'll show you some more... let's see, there's other bands. There's Everglow. Like how it works is, we get everything ready in Heaven (we've got time), and then we like funnel everything to the earth to be put in when and where we will it to. Angels are like mega consciousness, we write scripts and, whatever, you're not going to believe me anyways. Let's see.
https://youtu.be/Z3RA7bi5FUM << fantastic song, really great message. I just don't think everglow is talking about themselves here. I know, I know, this is High Octane Narcicism if it's ever existed... if I'm such a narcicist then why are you such a sweet lil puppy dog huh, I could just numnumnum, oh why yes I could, I could just numnumnum all on those wittwe toesies, oh yes I could. Alright, one more everglow and we'll move on. Everglows a pirate, you say? Hmmm, what could that be code for... https://youtu.be/-2X-pL06628
I get it... but at least you guys aren't gonna judge me for it, because you guys can relate, right? Don't yall have stuff like this in your own lives? Anyways, there's one line in particular in this aespa song that gets me... see if you can figure out which one is the one messing with my head https://youtu.be/WPdWvnAAurg
Because like... I lost my memories and... it's whatever. Let's wrap back around to another Red Velvet video. You know how like, it's scripted? And like, I'm controlling the page? Well check out the symbolism and more obvious stuff in this next one... maybe you won't see it... it's obvious to me, but, well, you know 🤪 https://youtu.be/XGdbaEDVWp0
There's just... I dont know what to play next... that's really it, basically. I know it's dumb, but, I mean, I'm undettered, you know? Like I don't mind being classified as mentally ill, it's fine. I can still work something out. Let's see... dang feel my rhythm.... see they're all timed.... I'm like a sleeper agent haha and they had to wake me up but... it's stupid, I know.
https://youtu.be/xGr53sCo62c << this ones just a phenomenal song
Here's another one, straight up about God. Is Red Velvet a Christian band? I thought they were just general pop. https://youtu.be/YBnGBb1wg98
You cant take it away from me. I'm stronger now than I was when I didn't know. I fell for anything. Now I know which side I'm on. I don't listen to human beings about reality bro... I dont care how many degrees you've got. I'm God's Son, what are you going to do about it? I'm mentally ill? No I'm not. What else? I'm a narcicist? I love you, what else you got. I'm a troll? Go ahead.
My point is, I'm as mentally ill as you want me to be. If you want another patient... another sad case to be kept away, here I am. If you want me to do what I'm supposed to do, and free the earth, then I'll do that instead. You all are my guests, please, do whatever you wish with me. Let's see, what else should we play. Should I go? I guess I'll just show you guys some more cool songs while I'm here. This next ones a bop, I'm gonna listen to it too. I've been watching all the kpop vids with you.
Check this one out https://youtu.be/I3dezFzsNss
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/7OSSI5hgQVok
What about this one, you guys like adtr? https://youtu.be/Pn-6eOxnEMI
Yo you guys wanna listen to some Capitol Records while I'm gone? Me and my mom are going thrifting for chic new straight jackets. https://youtu.be/6CtVIHbi6bE
This ones awesome https://youtu.be/wapOqjQ4r_M
This ones super dope for those of us that have been in and out of the mental hospital, man, it sucks, they never have a guitar, I get crazier while I'm in there haha my guitar is like water to me, if I don't have access to it I'm like, gosh, like I can go on vacation or whatever it's just... I'm designed to play the guitar, you know what I mean? Here https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << absolute classic.
Yo https://youtu.be/WumCI56iYUk
https://youtu.be/DWaB4PXCwFU
https://youtu.be/IHS3qJdxefY they really do be some boiz
This ones super cool, I love a7x they've always been my favorite band https://youtu.be/iJ-WsnaYDCg Tonight or Crime Stoppers: local lunatic "je" finally imprisoned today after, what some are calling, the funniest whoopee cushion prank gone SEXUAAL that we've ever seen. It was a fail but my God, the agility on that panda bear.
https://youtu.be/Z5NoQg8LdDk << these guys are so cool
Yo this ones hard too https://youtu.be/i7UkKEEGgAQ
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/wLdlw46Ru9I
https://youtu.be/lCPwR7R4hlA yuhhh it stayin hard bro, love chillin with yall
Have we already listened to ptv? I know we haven't heard this song yet https://youtu.be/icXUkIfZxyg
Sleeping with sirens is a cool band too, that's one of, that's the other guys band or whatever. They're not both in one band. https://youtu.be/_UwWYtLWEZg
This ones short but it's kind of cool https://youtu.be/xIQfK2fRNAg
Oh this one too https://youtu.be/yd4xjiRRVrI
https://youtu.be/nDcD62i0MpI
https://youtu.be/36stRPPIy2w this ones cool
https://youtu.be/bQ1yhsYr-hg interesting
This is terrifying, but in like, a good guys kind of way https://youtu.be/21dNBtcDzUg
https://youtu.be/4-NHVWecj2U
Yooooo fr tho like whaaaaat like no way dude https://youtu.be/Os_heh8vPfs
Yoooo this one you guys https://youtu.be/iTgcp1oDk2M
This one dude https://youtu.be/DcLfutPGouk
This one is also fire my dudes, you guys don't have to stay for these, I'm just playing music https://youtu.be/XA2YEHn-A8Q
This was one of their firsts https://youtu.be/0rtV5esQT6I
This ones pretty new, it's got a good beat https://youtu.be/vPwaXytZcgI
I haven't heard this one a ton of times, but nayeon is so cool https://youtu.be/f6YDKF0LVWw
https://youtu.be/rRgTMs_bGuI haha this ones so weird, like what are they even talking about?
I just wanna listen to this one one more time, then imma head out. I should probably be doing something with my day instead of posting random videos on like, random subreddits. But I guess this one isn't random, because I have bipolar too. Well, bipolar 1, too. Bipolar 1, as well. Also. I, you and i; gosh man, you guys should see me, I'm always swinging for the fences. Can't; in a crowd dude, my gosh bro, you wouldn't believe the carnage. Like upset me, you know what I mean? Like see what happens. Rrrrrgghh...... rrrrRRRRRGGHHHHH RADLEBLARABLEDABLABLE ... oh, right, alright, peace homies. Hope we all get feeling better soon. https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ
Ok I guess there's time for at least one more, https://youtu.be/QRN12TaTFlU is sooo cute.
I haven't actually heard this one many times, let's check it out, she's cute https://youtu.be/ShGVCembq70
This is another I haven't heard a whole lot of, I'm just going off recommended vids for a lot of these. https://youtu.be/SVgkNW2cENQ
How did I forget about this one, this one, mm, dude, this ones got like pop you know what I mean like, they bop it they're not crunching it like do you know what im saying? Like the whole thing is like a ring tone you know what I mean? https://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY
Yo you guyssssss girls generation man, you guys wanna go on a girls generation run? 서녀시대 you know what my 글s are? Face it 남자, you're dead in 이믈을. You're going 아래 and face it, 퉁퉁해수퍼맨, https://youtu.be/F4-SxcCO5d0
I really like this song, but, because my daughter's name is Nova, but my ex won't let me show it to her because of my - you know, whatever. So like, she doesn't even know me. It's not a huge deal, noone does. I mean if you watch the videos you do, but, whatever I'm gonna roll in a minute. I had one what was it .. plub. Brb. Oh yeah duh holy you guys see what you're dealing with right now, grape jelly, boys and girls, spoonfuls, big heaping spoonfuls of grape jelly are now all over the walls of your poor, sweet, innocent subreddit: and behold, doth I flingeth mine spoon, mommy. Doth I swingeth mine spoon wi https://youtu.be/Z6FPJOgfCkc
Oo first few seconds of this one are a vibe, yall check this one out with me https://youtu.be/zvBNoSjlKG0
Dang, that was honestly really pretty. Ok, here's one more. https://youtu.be/0xdB_vo4r2c this ones so pretty have you guys heard this one?
I've honestly never heard this one before, let's see if it's cool https://youtu.be/eNmL4JiGxZQ
Man, turns out it was a total bop. Well guys I guess that wraps things up for me. If you stayed for any of the music I hope you had a good time, I don't really have anybody to DJ for so I thought maybe fellow bipolars would be able to relate to some of these songs. Anyways i hope all you guys have a massively tubular dube tube, my dude form, whoa man, get nebulous on it my waveform, hawhoa, my guy is riding the wave my dude, ahwha, my dude, he is hitting only the gnarest of half bowl wave cuts my energy saw. I should go. Uhhh I guess I'll go see Hannah and nova, I can work on the homework that I missed later tonight. Sure is rough running 3 jobs you guys; server, student, and speaker for bipolar awareness. I honestly can't think of a more noble cause. Huh. Yeah so 🫱🤌🤙👌🫷👌🤏✌️👇👅👅🧠🧠🧠🫀🫀🫀🫁🫁🫁🦷🦴👀👁🫃😇👽🙈🙉🤖🤖👾👾💫💥💢💯🖤🗯💨🕳🧡🧡🧡🩷❤️💜🩵💙🩵💜🩵💙💙💚💛💚💙🩵💙💚💙🩵💜🩵💙💜🩵💙💚🩵💜💙💚💚 peaceee, yall stay lazy.
https://youtu.be/Qpf26PtBXgo
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https://on.soundcloud.com/r6Tjz
:

My mom decided we are going to my cousin’s graduation in Southern California. We live about 5 hours away, so we will be staying at my auntie’s house before and after the graduation. My mom and I still mask, and we plan on bringing homemade food on the drive there and back to reduce the amount of stops we need to make, and to help mitigate exposure, but what I’m most worried about is the graduation ceremony and dinner after. The graduation is outside, and my mom and I will be wearing KF94 masks the entire time, even during pictures, but I’m nervous with how crowded it may be. I think the graduating class will be around 500 students, and I don’t know what to expect for the seating arrangements. Does anyone have any tips on what else I can do to stay safe at the graduation? Also, my auntie’s family doesn’t mask anymore. If they plan to eat at a restaurant, would I seem like a jerk if I asked if we can eat dinner outside for someone else’s graduation dinner? Any tips on how to navigate that situation? And if you have any road trip tips on staying safe from covid as well, that would be very much appreciated! Thank you in advance!!

Pokémon lore has been a huge hyperfixation for me lately, and a completely random thought crossed my mind recently that I just had to attempt an amateur analysis post on. These may entirely just be the ravings of a madwoman, but I hope that I can still make you think a little anyway.
To put it simply, I am proposing that whether or not real world locations exist in a Pokémon timeline determines if the Kalos War (and subsequently Mega Evolution) occurs in said timeline.
In order to properly back up my claim, we should first review every instance in which a real world location is referenced within the Pokémon canon. Please keep in mind that I am only using the canon portrayed by the games (with one exception). The anime, manga, TCG, and other various sources such as the Detective Pikachu movie follow completely different canons, and will not be considered in this analysis. So please don't spam me with comments with things like "What about that time Ash mentioned Minnesota!?"
Side note: There are also various references to Real World people and companies, such as the presence of Nintendo consoles, real game Freak workers appearing in the games, and even Pokémon species being directly named after and/or inspired by real athletes and actors. However, I will not be considering these.

A list of Real World references in the Pokémon canon (by nation)

Guyana/South America
Arguably the most infamous of the bunch, hence why I placed it first. In Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, the Pokémon Mansion journals on Cinnabar Island describe Mew as having been discovered in Guyana. This reference is removed in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, as well as in the (presumably) game canon compliant anime miniseries Pokémon Origins.
While Guyana specifically is not mentioned, Mew's Pokédex entries in Pokémon Stadium and FireRed refer to it living in South America, the continent in which Guyana is located.
In Pokémon Silver, FireRed, and SoulSilver, Xatu's Pokédex entries mention South Americans as the ones who claim Xatu can see the past and future.
Japan
In the original Japanese versions of Pokémon Stadium and FireRed, Ponyta's Pokédex entry states that it can leap over Tokyo Tower in a single bound.
In the Japanese version of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Blaine refers to Kyoto.
In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, a Guitarist describes his instrument as being Japanese.
United States of America
In all of his appearances prior to Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Lt. Surge is described as "The Lightning American." FireRed and LeafGreen expand this a little more in dialogue from the Pokémon Journal, mentioning that he was a pilot in America. In Surge's latest appearances, references to America have been removed.
China/Nepal
Pokédex entries for Arcanine in Pokémon Yellow, Stadium, Gold, FireRed, and HeartGold state that Arcanine is a legend in China. In later games, this reference is instead changed to vaguely mention "the East" instead.
In Pokémon Stadium and FireRed, Parasect's Pokédex entries mention China as well. Like Arcanine, these references are removed in later games, no longer referring to any country or region at all.
In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Fisherman Bronson of the Battle Tower refers to Chinese legends.
In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Delibird's Pokédex entries state that it helped an explorer reach the top of Mount Everest, which is located in both China and Nepal. In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, this is changed to say "the world's highest mountain" instead.
Russia
In Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, Scientist Taylor in Silph Co. mentions an international branch of the company. In the Japanese versions, he describes it as being located in Podkamennaya Tunguska, while in the English version, he describes it as being located in Tiksi. These are both Russian localities.
France
In the English version of Pokémon Stadium, Ponyta's Pokédex entry states that it can leap over the Eiffel Tower in a single bound.
India
In Pokémon FireRed, Pokédex entries for Raichu and Gastly both describe the Pokémon as being capable of knocking out Indian Elephants. This is changed to refer to Copperajah instead in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Australia
In Pokémon FireRed, Ponyta's Pokédex entry states that it can leap over Ayers Rock in a single bound.
Antarctica
In Pokémon Emerald, Regice's Pokédex entry claims its body is made from Antarctic ice.
Kenya While not explicitly confirming the existence of Kenya in the games, a Spearow nicknamed "Kenya" can be obtained through an in-game trade with Webster the guard in Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.
The Pacific Ocean
Poliwrath's Pokédex entries in Pokémon Gold, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, Black, White, Black 2, White 2, and X mention that it can swim the Pacific Ocean. This is actually the only example I've found of a Real World location being mentioned in a game with Mega Evolution in it, thanks to X. However, this reference is removed as early as one game later in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which vaguely refer to "the ocean" instead.
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So there we have it. As far as I know, these are all the games' direct references to Real World locations. Now... what is one thing they all have in common? Every single one of these references, excluding the mention of the Pacific Ocean in Pokémon X, are featured in games where Mega Evolution doesn't exist! Due to this, I restate my proposal: Whether or not real world locations exist in a Pokémon timeline determines if the Kalos War (and subsequently Mega Evolution) occurs in said timeline.
I believe that in any timeline where Real World countries are canonically present, the Kalos War never happens, the Ultimate Weapon is never fired, and Mega Evolution never comes to be. Why does it work this way? Well, I can't really confirm anything concrete. But I would like to suggest that perhaps, in timelines where Real World locations exist, Kalos does not exist at all, and is replaced with France. In these timelines, France does not have access to the Ultimate Weapon, and therefore never produces Mega Evolution. This can be backed up by the mention of the Eiffel Tower, as we saw earlier.
But yes, this is already disproven right away by X mentioning the Pacific, right? Well, I guess that's true. But honestly? I feel like this only particularly seems to matter in regards to countries. An ocean happening to share a name with one of ours isn't that out of place. Heck, the Kanto region shares a name with the Real World part of Japan that it is inspired by! So, I personally don't believe that the Pacific Ocean changes the outcome of my theory.
Now yes, I fully and completely admit that this is a bit of a crackpot theory. It kind of has the same energy as pointing out how 9/11 never happens in the Muppets universe during the alternate timeline where Kermit is never born. But regardless, I had fun putting this together, and I'd be happy if this made you think about things a little. Thanks for reading!

So I often play these types of games in my head while lying with my daughter as she falls asleep and I thought this would be a fun one to share with my fellow Blankies.
So starting with 1975 (Jaws widely being considered the first modern summer blockbuster), choose one summer blockbuster from each 5-year period, including 2020-23, for your 10-film lineup.
Movies must’ve been released between May 1st and Labor Day (mine are based on U.S. release dates, but feel free to base on your country’s, especially if it holds a special place for you). Movies released between 1975-85 had to cross $50M worldwide, 1986-present, $100M (hopefully that opens up the field while not stretching the definition of blockbuster too far with modern movies). Bonus points for choosing all different directors/ as many different genres as possible.
1975-79
Star Wars (Lucas, 1977, sci-fi/ fantasy)
1980-84
Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984, fantasy/ sci-fi)
1985-89
Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985, comedy/ sci-fi)
…
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991, action/ sci-fi)
Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998, drama)
Finding Nemo (Stanton, 2003, family/ animation)
The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008, superhero/ action)
Guardians of the Galaxy (Gunn, 2014, superhero/ action/ sci-fi)
Mad Max: Fury Road (Miller, 2015, action)
Top Gun: Maverick (Kosinski, 2022, action)

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
-----
The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
-----
When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
-----
When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
-----
When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

I,27m, unfortunately still live with my parents bc financial reasons. After college I had to move back in with my parents bc I couldn’t find a job, I’ve got a semi-useless English degree. I’ve been trying to get more internships and jobs related to what I want to do, which is be a novelist, but I have had crap luck.
My jobs have consisted in grocery stores and car dealerships. My degree isn’t needed around where I live, I want to move to Georgia and be a novelist and maybe a tv writer. I want to move but I pay my parents rent, utilities, take care of the house and yard and also my own bills.
I have helped my mom with her side business/hustles since I was 11. Most weekends I’d go to craft shows with her, sometimes 2+ hours away to set up at 7am so I feel like I was molded to always help her no matter what and it’s a habit that’s difficult to break and hard to not feel guilty if I don’t go help her. She relies on me entirely too much bc her and my dad are in a loveless marriage and haven’t slept in the same bed since I was 16 and bc he doesn’t pay for his share of the bills and neither have the money to move out and official separate from the other.
For my moms business, she sells baskets and it’s become overwhelming, she has two large storage units and 1/3 of the garage filled with baskets and got more tonight, roughly 10 bags, each about half a foot taller than those blue round plastic drums and almost as wide and I always have to help her. Mind you each bag fits 30-50 bags
Idk what to do, I want to move out but bc my childhood and past roommates I’ve got major trust issues. With that, I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder so my emotions in general are a wreck. I’m trying to push through my mental issues and truly be independent and be the person I’m meant to be but I don’t really have a support system and I keep falling down. I don’t have many local friends and I’m scared I’ll be stuck in this situation forever. I’ve started to be part of the community but I can’t fully trust these people and I hate it. I have a bad habit of over sharing or being too anxious/talkative with people so I keep a wall up.

The other day at work I met a confused young man. He thought strange men were after him, trying to kill him. I asked him what they looked like, and he said they had no faces, and no names. He took me up on my offer of a ride home, so I drove him there, down black roads lined with woods so thick that the moonlight couldn't pierce them. And as I hurtled through the darkness, more sensing than seeing the twists in the road beyond my headlights, I thought that I knew something of that; something of the fear that comes from having nameless, faceless people want to kill you; something of the powerful longing for home which that fear inspires. He curled up in a ball in my back seat and wept. When we got to his house I let him out, and he started to walk down the long, dark, wooded drive towards his house. But he stopped, shivered, whispered that he heard something in the trees, that they had come for him. I was sick of feeding his delusions, and thought about driving off and leaving him, but I saw the piss running down the front of his pants, and figured I could indulge him a little more. I pulled out my gun and flashlight, and shined them into the brush as we crept towards the house. With every rustle of leaves in the wind, he shuddered with terror, torn between the desire to cry and the fear of being found and killed by the nameless, faceless men. When headlights shined through the branches from a neighboring lot, he dropped to the ground and laid flat on his stomach, saying that he didn't think he could go any further, that he loved his life too much to lose it this way. And of that, too, I know a little. I watched from the drive as he sprinted to the porch and beat on the front door as hard as he could, and I saw the fear in his eyes as he looked back from under the dim porch light and cried "Officer, I'm so scared for you. Please be careful. They're out there." And I know something of that, when my wife, the mother of my son, leaves home each day to to do the same dark and dangerous work I do. His mother opened the door, and he collapsed into her arms, sobbing. The last thing I heard him say before the door closed behind him was "Mama, this man is an angel." And of course that isn't true. I'm at least half devil, and the rest is mostly human, with all the shortcomings and failures that accompany it. But as much as I try and pretend not to care about people, I do. And because i do, I try to become something better, just for a few hours at a time, when I go to work. That something better is a cop. And being a cop means standing unguarded between the rustling leaves and the threat of nameless, faceless death, keeping the darkness at bay with a flashlight and a gun. Of course, odds are good that nothing was really after that boy, at least nothing tangible. But that doesn't mean he wasn't right to be afraid. Because death is still out there, even if it doesn't have a face, or a name.

Hi everyone, upon graduation I had several private student loans open with discover that varied between 6-11% in interest rates.
I was able to refinance with SoFi and consolidated all those loans into one at 4.65% at a balance of 102k.
That was back in February 2020.
Fast forward to now, that loan balance has gone down to 86k. Yay some progress but still a long while to go.
Minimum payment is $810 but I add an extra $115 with it so I pay $925 a month 🥲.
Should I stay the course with this 4.65% rate with SoFi or do you think another lender could bring that down even further?
Thank you!

Timestamp https://imgur.com/a/p3S3bSk
Timestamp https://imgur.com/a/HQLQPCH
Got this in a trade unknown manuf prob swenson Was told it is was durcoated. I've never shot it. Has a dim glock night sight. And front trijicon. The sight screw was broke so I used some solder and glue and bubbad it. Look like shit and salty af
Take if off my hands plz $112 shipped
New butler creek double stack pistol mag loader-$20 shipped x2
Used breek arms discontinued ach ch-$45 shipped
Kershaw chive. Salty has broken tip(maybe warranty)-$19 shipped
Vintage spyderco rescue clip it--$60 shipped
Gg&g 45 offset mount-$27 shipped
Mechanix medium heavy duty gloves new-$18 shipped x2
Used glock 19/19 frame parts kit. Mix of oem and lw parts-$68 shipped
Hightower armory glock rifle back up sight plates-$38 shipped
Dagger slide fde with tons of extras-$280 shipped Timestamp https://imgur.com/a/INEZRec
Like new fde carry cut slide. Dry cycled. Never fired.
New dagger striker assembly
Used rwb 15rd g19 mag
New butler creek double stack pistol mag loader
3d printed mag tool
3d printed gas pedal
Uts x2 waterproof fire kit-$17 shipped per. 2 avail
Opened uses wyze cam v3-$30 shipped
Used rattle canned benchmade casbah 4400 auto Limited edit blue. Was fde I got most of it off-$150. Model has been discontinued
Used somewhat salty gerber center drive. Has molle pouch. Has Philips and flat bit only
Payments via pp ff
Buy my shit so I don't have timestamp!!!!!

I got 2 seats, so have 2 extra lawns tickets. Asking for less than I paid so I can get some of my money back, since Tickemaster is not allowing to resale them (y)
2 tickets for $115 (I paid $124)

This has happened a handful of times, but with increasing frequency that I’m starting to get concerned.
I’m a 26 year old female for reference. I’ve had (armchair diagnosis) of on and off insomnia and restless leg syndrome when I was a teenager, but this feels different.
In these episodes I go to bed tired. It takes me usually 30 minutes to actually fall asleep, give or take. Somehow I wake up 2-3 hours later and I’m not only wide awake but I have this OVERWHELMING need to get up and walk to the other room. No kicking legs, no flailing arms, no twitching. I just need to get up and move to the couch. I cannot fight it, otherwise I just become incredibly uncomfortable and feel near panic.
I make it to the couch, watch some ASMR videos sometimes, and then either fall asleep there or go back to bed. Then I usually sleep through the night and it’s fine.
Some more relevant info:

• I have GAD and used to take anxiety medication, but have weened off. The one I was taking (Lexapro) was making it impossible for me to fall asleep in the first place, but it never caused episodes like this.
  
• I share my bed with my boyfriend. Its a queen so it’s a little small for us, but manageable
  
• I havent been having as much anxiety recently due to taking a break from working. My sleep schedule is still similar to what it was though, because of my boyfriend’s schedule. Barring a few nights out.
  
• Diazepam helps, but I know that isnt a long term solution.
  

Hi, 21F, 5’3”. I started a body recomp journey with my goal of getting from 135 lbs to 110 lbs in April.
Since then it has been a nightmare, I have gained 13 lbs as of today within 1.5 months.
When I first lost weight around 2 years ago, I went from an XL to an S in about 2-3 months accidentally and I believe I was on a 1000 to 1200 deficit if I could give a rough estimate since I was definitely not tracking and just eating on the go. I found that unsustainable and I have been trying to fix my diet since then.
I started strength training and cardio and have been trying to eat anywhere from 1500 to 1700 calories. But since I have started I have gained weight and gone up to L to XL from a size M. It’s becoming unmanageable to have this extra fluff in daily life.
I have gone on a run and felt people staring at me and laughing at me. Adult women older than me have seen me and fussed with their shirts to hide their stomachs since mine has gotten so disproportionately big as a lot of fat is stored in my stomach.
I don’t mean to really rag on anyone here at my current weight. I’m just not at the physique I want to be at and want to get back to being leaner. I have tried to do a cut to 1200 which failed. And then a cut to 1500 according to my dietitian, which I am currently failing since I tend to eat at around 1800 which is around 100 calories under maintenance for me.
I struggle to fit in 12k steps since it takes around 2-3 hours for me to walk and/or run that much and I don’t have that free time. I tried to do strength training with the CG Iron series and I am seeing results but I am worried that I am not really gaining muscle so much as just more and more fat instead.
Some things that I suspect could be causing issues: - my meals used to be around 200 calories per meal which was too small for me and caused overeating at the end of the day - I struggle to drink 8-10 cups of water per day - idk how to fit steps in as a person taking extra classes and doing sedentary work on top of it - I started lifting a little heavier and added cardio on top of strength training - I added mixed nuts and carbs to my diet to fix satiety issues -I struggle to get enough protein in (~120 g) without maxing my calories and have mainly relied on tofu and protein powder as low cal options
I can’t keep spending money on new clothes just to keep up. Any tips on what am I doing wrong and how to do a sustainable cut?

Today I visited my local NOIL and tried a wide variety of mid-tier to high-end used office chairs in good condition. Some of my thoughts on some of those chairs, in no particular order:
For reference: I'm 5'10" 220 lbs, and I consider the SitOnIt Novo and HON Ignition 2.0 to have "average" lumbar support tension.
Friant Tango – I'm impressed!

• The most flexible backrest of all mid-tier office chairs I've tried and it's not even close. Still very supportive for the full back, with slightly stronger than average lumbar support.
  
• Solid-feeling build quality
  
• Nice seat of average firmness
  
• Armrests are slightly hard but have good adjustability
  
• Short maximum seat height = estimated max user height of ~6’2”
  
• According to Friant's website, the seat foam is warranted for only 1 year, but I can tell it is high-quality will last much longer. The rest of the chair has lifetime warranty.
  

Global Tritek Ergo Select – surprisingly good all-around. Canadians rejoice!

• Backrest shape allows for good shoulder posture and full range of arm movement.
  
• Backrest’s ratchet height adjustment has HUGE range. Tall and short people alike can get the lumbar support just where they need it.
  
• Lumbar is tension-adjustable from average to strong.
  
• Multifunction mechanism allows for forward tilt! Great overall adjustability except for limited recline depth.
  
• Solid-feeling build quality
  
• Nice seat of average firmness
  
• Armrests are well-cushioned with great adjustability, but just slightly too forward
  
• A rare good office chair value in Canada? https://officeseating.ca/tritek-ergo-select-standard-seat/
  

Knoll RPM, Steelcase Criterion, and Haworth Improv HE are the trifecta of decent, sturdy old-school ergonomic office chairs.
Steelcase Leap V2 – “huggy” backrest and seat not recommended for those who run hot
Steelcase Amia - weaker than average lumbar support
Steelcase Gesture – armrests are well-padded and have fantastic adjustability range, but move too easily.
Herman Miller Aeron

• God-tier recline smoothness. Like I don’t understand how it can be so smooth. It’s somehow better than the super nice reclines of the Haworth Fern, Zody, Steelcase Karman, and Herman Miller Embody.
  
• Highly restrictive seat design due to the side bolsters.
  
• It is clear why the hard front edge of the seat is problematic for so many users.
  
• Best-cushioned armrests, but positioned too far forward!
  

Herman Miller Embody – cool design but overrated imo

• Very open seat design is fantastic – opposite of the Aeron’s seat
  
• Lumbar support is positioned very low, is more like sacral support.
  
• Backrest flexibility is top-notch but creates a lot of creaks and cracks.
  
• Armrests are well-cushioned with easy adjustability BUT positioned way too far forward!
  

Haworth Zody (classic) and Very – the high-end crowd pleasers

• Zody – slightly more premium, with adjustable lumbar tension range of weaker than average to average tension
  
• Very – slightly less premium with adjustable lumbar tension range of slightly weaker than average to slightly stronger than average
  
• The Very does have true forward tilt! I’ve seen comments here claiming it does not.
  

Humanscale Diffrient Smart

• Lumbar support feels high and can’t be adjusted. The weird recline motion makes it even worse.
  
• The gel seat feels really nice.
  

Humanscale Freedom without headrest

• Without the headrest, the backrest has a HUGE height adjustment range, but it still doesn’t adequately support the center of the lower back.

Allsteel Acuity – solid chair but not recommended for overweight users

• I’ve previously said that I found the Acuity’s seat very firm. This apparently varies. The ones I tested today felt only slightly firmer than average.
  
• The backrest mesh “hugs” my lower back too much, resulting in more pressure on my sides than on the center of my back; it probably wouldn’t have this effect for users of average weight.
  
• Armrests have good adjustability and feel very solid, but are unfortunately very hard.
  

Knoll Chadwick

• Typical mesh-seat issue of the front edge of the seat frame compressing the thighs.

Knoll Generation - I hate it but I'm not sure why.
Knoll Regeneration - Would be a good value at mid-tier chair prices, but alas...
SitOnIt Torsa - solid mid-tier crowd pleaser with somewhat weaker than average lumbar support tension. Don't pay more than $200 for a used one unless it's practically new.

N was flying while carrying Uzi and Doll with him follow V in the distance.
​
N: V, wait for us.
​
She didn't seem to pay attention to them and kept moving forward.
​
Uzi: What the hell is wrong with you 2? When my dad said that Thad was heading to the dead body area, you guys just, what was that all about?
N: Me, we… it's complicated.
Uzi: Don't tell me it's complicated! You're going to tell me everything you know about that thing NOW.
​
N hesitated for a few seconds, but Uzi looked at him annoyed, clearly not willing to listen to an excuse, to which she had to give up.
​
N: It's okay, but, you should know that I don't have all the details, it was V and J who knew the most about this, I… she just followed her orders.
Uzi: Fine, fine, but start talking already.
N: Okay… tell me, how much do you know about us when we got here?
Uzi: Outside of the fact that they came here killing everyone?
N: Well... let's say it wasn't that way, oh at least not as they told you.
Uzi: What do you mean?
​
In retrospect
A ship arrives and lands on Copper-9, some drones came out of it, but they weren't teardown drones, as they were wearing JCJenson uniforms.
​
N: When the core incident happened, they first sent an investigation team to find out what happened.
​
The group of “investigative drones” walked around the site examining the bodies of other wrecked drones on the ground.
​
Drone Researcher 1: Commando, you guys get to see this, it's a fucking massacre.
​
Suddenly a metallic noise is heard coming from a mound of bodies piled to one side. The drones look at each other suspiciously and approach cautiously. While one of them speaks.
​
Drone Investigator 2: Who's there?
​
N: These drones had no means of defense.
​
The leader of the group approaches one of the bodies and touches it, nothing happens.
​
N: They didn't have a chance.
​
A cable shoots out of the mound and through the leader's head.
​
Drone Investigator 3: Wow, what the hell?!
​
What looks like a clawed hand emerges from the mound and grabs the body, then a partially formed mechanical creature rises up, legless and missing an arm, but his appearance is intimidating enough that the drones know he caused it all. this, especially when he starts laughing.
​
End of hindsight
Uzi: So, that thing was the one that slaughtered the drones and not you?
N: Uh… 50/50.
​
Uzi looked seriously at N.
​
Uzi: We're not for N games.
N: Sorry, just me-
Uzi: That doesn't matter now, if what you say is true and then they sent you guys to take over.
V: No
​
V realized that her partner had opened her mouth, so she decided that if they were to know the truth she should tell it herself.
​
Uzi: What did you mean by that?
V: That after that, "Incident", combat drones were sent to eliminate that thing.
Uzi: Drones what?
V: Basically soldier drones, with weapons and the whole thing.
Uzi: And what happened?
V: We could barely hold that thing back, what do you think happened to them?
​
Uzi swallowed at that.
​
Doll: Если компания хочет убить эту штуку, почему они не послали вас с самого начала?
V: Because we didn't exist at that time, or at least not as such.
N: what do you mean?
​
V hesitated a few seconds before answering.
​
V: According to J, we are an… update that the combat drones should have received, but they gave it to us because they had unwanted behavior changes.
Uzi: Define, “unwanted behaviors”.
V: Well, they became extremely irritable, hyper active and started killing everything that moved.
Uzi: How are you?
​
V looked annoyed at Uzi.
​
V: Believe me, they were much worse, but as she said, in short they went crazy, so the company ordered us to take care of them.
Uzi: They sacrificed them.
V: It's a way of saying it, but yes.
Uzi: N, why didn't you mention that?
N: Because, honestly I didn't remember them, I mean, from what V says I think he's referring to team 23 and J didn't let me help much.
Uzi: Anyway, I think- wait you said 23.
V: yes
Uzi: You mean-
V: 23 teams were sent to put an end to that thing and none of them succeeded, we are team 24.
​
There was an awkward silence, Uzi trying to process the information she had just received, knowing that 23 groups of company-armed drones had been destroyed by that thing… it was terrifying.
​
Uzi: And you say that only you could face it?
V: Well, not exactly, that bastard destroyed my head and it took me a while to regenerate, when I woke up N told me that J had killed him, something that by the way turned out NOT TO BE TRUE.
​
N laughed nervously at V's comments.
​
N: In my defense J said that he had done it.
V: Anyway, when I got there his body was lying in the snow without moving, it was very big and they had given us the order to eliminate all the drones in the area to make sure that it hadn't escaped infecting someone, we needed to stock up on oil and we couldn't leave it out in the open, just like that, so what and...
Uzi: So what?
​
V and N didn't respond, Uzi didn't understand the reason for this, until he realized with horror what they were referring to.
​
Uzi: You buried him-
Doll: На горе трупов.
​
He said coming to the same conclusion as Uzi
​
Uzi: But why didn't they destroy it?
V: J didn't want to and said we needed to keep it, company orders.
Uzi: You can't be serious.
V: Ok, looking back maybe it wasn't the best idea, but she was the boss at the time, okay?
Uzi: I know, but why the hell would the company want to keep the thing that killed so many of their drones, it doesn't make sense, they'd just be wasting resources.
Doll: Я тут о чем-то подумал, она говорит, что "Джей" убила эту штуку, но явно это было не так, но и она не мо гла притворяться, что это сделала, так как ее тело не имеет сознания, а vdrug-
Uzi: J was infected all this time.
​
Uzi noticed that Doll looked at her annoyed for interrupting her.
​
Uzi: Hey, you did the same.
V: I doubt J was infected, I mean, that thing tried to turn us into its "minions" several times, even with J, but never succeeded.
N: That is true.
Uzi: But, what if she wasn't infected as such, but she, she "contained" it.
N: What do you mean?
Uzi: Think about it, J was absurdly loyal to the company, and they wanted this thing alive, but clearly couldn't kill it, what if J managed to transfer that monster's consciousness into hers and she contained it.
​
There was silence again.
​
Uzi: But, when I killed her, the program took over, the Absolute Fixer was supposed to regenerate J, but instead she just grew and grew, what if she wasn't killing for the sake of killing.
N: I don't understand, what does the program have to do with that thing?
Doll: Во время занятия профессор сказал, что чем больше и сложнее машина, тем больше вычислительной мо щности требуется для ее правильной работы.
Uzi: Right, maybe the fixer was trying to keep him contained, but… when we killed him, we-
V: They released that thing.
​
V looked annoyed at N and Uzi, the latter lowered her head as she realized that the monster that had taken Thad and many others had been released by her, first attracting the murder drones to the colony and now releasing an immortal monster that He only seeks to kill. It was in situations like this that she wondered… what would have happened if she had never left the colony that day? I don't notice her concern and try to cheer her up.
​
N: Uzi, it's not your fault, well technically yes, but the point is that we've all made mistakes, right girls?
​
V was not interested in answering and Doll just looked away from her.
​
N: Uzi you don't-
V: Oh that's not true!
​
Quickly V decade, N did not understand until, under her sight, there were hundreds and hundreds of those "zombie minions" around the place, most walking aimlessly, while others pulled out the piled bodies and took them away.
N quickly descended with the girls and stood next to V.
​
N: V, now what?
V: Silence, I try to think.
Uzi: I thought you'd jump right in and kill them all.
V (annoyed): I don't know if you noticed, but those things aren't easy to kill.
Doll: Так что, мы просто спрячемся здесь?
V: No, but, hey, Violet.
Uzi: Don't call me that.
V: Ok, “Uvi” or whatever your name is, can't your weapon shoot a super laser like J?
​
Uzi looked annoyed at V
​
Uzi: First, my name is Uzi and second, no, the energy core wears out very quickly and I used it to kill that other thing.
V: Ugh, great, and your Russian girl?
​
Doll looked annoyed at vi and manifested a knife pointed at her.
​
V (growling): Seriously none of you think of anything! I guess that's how J must have felt with us.
Uzi: Oh I'm sorry if, you know, we tried to process everything that just happened.
N: Hey girls
V: Oh yes, of course, now you start to think about that, right?!
N: Girls
Uzi: Maybe we could deal with this more calmly if, you know, THEY DIDN'T KILL SO MANY OF US!
V: Do you really blame me? When were you the one who released that thing?!
Uzi: Hey, it was the Absolute Solver who broke my weapon and destroyed himself.
V: I remind you that you killed J and he became that thing because of you.
N: Girls
V (points to N): And if you hadn't sided with him, we would have finished all this, and we'd go home.
​
Tired of nobody listening to him, N screamed.
​
N: YOU COULD HEAR ME FOR JUST 5 SECONDS!
​
There was an awkward silence, mostly because N wasn't the type to, well, yell for attention.
​
Uzi: Hey, we're waiting for you, what's up?
​
N pointed to the side, when they turned around they saw a large number of those "zombies" staring at them.
​
V: oh
​
The creatures began to laugh and ran towards them.
​
V: Oh you have to be kidding.
​
V quickly launched herself at the "zombies" cutting a group of them in half, but as expected, this didn't stop you and they began to crawl towards her. N fired several energy shots from her arm.
​
N: Uzi, I think we could use a little help.
Uzi: I don't know if you noticed, but I need a power core for my weapon to work.
N: But you don't have those claws and-?
​
Uzi looked annoyed at N not wanting to bring it up at that moment.
​
N: O-okay
​
N pierced the torso of one of the zombies and ripped out its energy core which he delivered to Uzi. He quickly attached it to his gun and began shooting at the creatures that kept coming.
​
Uzi: This is much better.
​
He quickly smashed the heads of several of them, to ensure that the bastards could not rise again. While this was happening, Doll was eliminating multiple zombies that were trying to get to her, but either she sent them flying using her powers, or she crushed them with said strange symbol that she summoned. V for her part cut and shredded all the zombies she found, if she were around another time she would possibly drink her oil, but she was more focused on finding Thad and preventing him from finding the body of that thing that in that.
As she ripped the head off of a zombie drone, she heard what seemed to be the sound of... an engine?, when she turned her head a gray blur hit her. When he fell to the ground, he saw what appeared to be a wrecked takedown drone, barely standing, with wires sticking out of its body and its wings spread, but unlike them, its clothing was more… “formal”, it was covered. of oil, but even so the symbol of the company and the number 23 on his chest were distinguishable, he was one of the members of team 23 sent to deal with that thing, who had to be sacrificed as they became unstable.
​
V: Ugh, what I was missing.
​
The creature laughed and jumped towards her, its claws collided with V's who tried to defend himself from the zombie that did not stop laughing, N attacked him from behind, but surprisingly, his broken wings bent towards him causing a deep cut on his neck. chest. N stepped back somewhat in pain, then pointed her cannon arm at him, but noticed that V was in the middle.
​
N: V move.
V: Do you think I can? Just shoot him!
N: But-
V: Just do it!
​
N was forced to fire, creating a large cloud of smoke as the shot hit, she approached and found V badly damaged, having lost a leg and an arm.
​
N: are you okay?
V: This is nothing.
​
Suddenly the winged zombie pounced on N, a large part of her body was missing, only her torso and one arm remaining.
​
N: Ah, take it from me.
​
What could be described as a ninja star flew out and impaled the zombie's head, spinning inside and ripping him apart internally, the beast convulsing before falling dead to the ground. N looked in the direction of his savior seeing that it was Doll, Uzi was shooting at the other zombies that were advancing towards them trying to make them go back.
​
Uzi: Not to put pressure on them, but these things keep coming, how many of us did they kill?
V: In our defense, that thing did 70% of the job.
​
V, having partially regenerated, prepared to jump into the approaching zombie army, but stopped when she heard laughter and growls from another direction, she and N turned in that direction and saw multiple eyes in the blizzard staring at them, V between the hills. her eyes to see straight, only to be caught off guard when the rest of the now zombie team 23 flew in her direction. Team 23 unlike the team of N, V and J, this was made up of 12 prototype disassembly drones, if killing one cost them anything, this was going to take longer, they flew over them as if they were vultures, they then charged into the group in an attempt to finish them off.
​
V: Ugh, it had to be these guys.
N: Do you know them?
​
V cut two to one who flew at her and fired multiple rounds at her head to make sure he didn't get back up.
​
V: We killed them, you don't remember, no wait, J left you out of that.
N: That when she was her?
Uzi: Look, I'd love to know the context of all this, but we could focus on that later!
​
Uzi blocked the claws of one of those things with his weapon, he held her and tried to snatch it away to leave her defenseless, because she pressed the trigger, the weapon began to shoot in all directions, accidentally hitting both the zombie drones and V and N.
​
N: Ouch.
V: Be careful idiot!
Uzi: Do you think I can control it?!
​
One of the shots went to Doll, who covered herself waiting for the impact, but there was none, when she opened her eyes she saw that she had managed to stop the energy projectile in midair, she didn't have time to process this when one of those things struck her. stabbing him in the chest, she screamed in pain, but she wasn't going to sit idly by, so she redirected the projectile's course and launched it at the flying drone. Although she didn't hit the target, if she smashed her arms, she clearly didn't take it well and she lunged at Doll, who manifested several knives and threw them at her head to kill him once and for all.
On the other hand, V had to deal with 3 of those things, as if he didn't have enough problems. She turned her hand into a kind of harpoon and threw it at one of them, the harpoon stuck in the chest of the winged zombie and threw it at a group of common zombies that were approaching, the other two jumped towards her, she barely managed to stop. the first, but not the second, who bit his left arm. V grunted in pain before yelling at her partner.
​
V: M!
N: I'm-
V: Help!
N: oh
​
He quickly destroyed the drone that was attacking him and flew towards V, taking the drone that was directly attacking her by surprise and threw it at another one that was flying towards them, smashing them in the air, V turned his free hand into a sword and attacked the drone that was attacking him. It bit the arm, but it was faster and ripped it off, she screamed, but in anger and changed her sword for a machine gun with which she shot at the creature, destroying it.
​
V: Thanks, uh…
N:N
V: Yes, that.
​
Back with Uzi, she was trying to free her weapon from the grasp of the flying drone, who refused to let go.
​
Uzi: Oh come on, let it go.
​
Uzi kicked at the creature, but it had no effect, instead it hit him back, Uzi fell and the monster threw the weapon aside, she tried to move away, but he lunged at her, digging his claws into the snow and it opened its mouth, showing its sharp teeth and wires that dangled from its mouth. When the zombie was going to "bite" it, almost as if he did it out of instinct, Uzi attacked the creature, thrusting his fist into its mouth, then his hand turned into a claw and opened it, smashing its head, the monster fell dead. On top of her, Uzi pushed the body to the side and looked at her claw, covered in oil... and felt the need to taste it, lost in her thoughts it felt like time froze, until she heard Doll scream, she quickly regained her composure and returned his claw to normal. Doll was desperately trying to get rid of the tide of reanimated bodies that were trying to reach her, although she could easily just destroy them using her powers, it turned out that the damage caused by that "spider" in the colony somewhat interfered with her, so she was it was making it difficult to use them correctly. Quickly a flurry of energy shots tore most of them apart and they gave him time to get away from them. V flew into the air attracting the remaining flying zombies who started flying after her. N tried to follow them, but she saw that Uzi and Doll were being surrounded, she looked at V being surrounded in the air by those things, but Uzi was also in trouble. N had to decide whether to help Uzi or help V.
Uzi and Doll were trying to push back the zombies that were crawling towards them, Uzi's gun would run out of power at this point and Doll's powers would keep failing.
​
Uzi: Ugh, because they just don't die.
​
She kicked one that was nearby while the others kept getting closer. One who was supposedly dead behind Uzi, got up and grabbed her from behind, she tried to fight, but accidentally dropped her weapon, fed up with this, her hands turned into claws and she impaled the drone's head, then threw it to the ground and began to crush it over and over and over again until it was simply nothing but scrap.
She gasped at the incessant urge to kill, for doing so... felt good, felt VERY good, she looked at her claws again, with oil dripping from them, she again felt the need to taste it, but quickly came back to her senses when more of those zombies approached her, a wide smile broke out on her face while that strange symbol flashed on her visor, she didn't bother to retrieve her weapon, because she already had others.
As this was happening, a white eye under a mound of corpses watched the group fight their minions.
​
01001000 01001111 01010011 01010100 01001001 01001100 01000101 00100000 01000001 01010010 01010100 01001001 01000110 01001001 01000011 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01001100 01001001 01000110 01000101 00100000 01000110 01001111 01010010 01001101 01010011 00100000 01001111 01010110 01000101 01010010 01000011 01001111 01001101 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01000100 01000101 01000110 01000101 01001110 01010011 01000101 01010011
01000001 01001110 01000001 01001100 01011001 01011010 01001001 01001110 01000111 00101110 00101110 00101110
​
01010011 01000101 01010010 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010011 01001001 01000111 01001110 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01001110 00100000 11100010 10000000 10010011 00100000 01001101 01001111 01000100 01000101 01010010 01000001 01010100 01000101 00100000 01000100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01000101 01010010
01010011 01000101 01010010 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010011 01001001 01000111 01001110 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01010110 00100000 11100010 10000000 10010011 00100000 01001000 01001001 01000111 01001000 00100000 01000100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01000101 01010010
01010011 01000101 01010010 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010011 01001001 01000111 01001110 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01000100 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 11100010 10000000 10010011 00100000 01001000 01001001 01000111 01001000 00100000 01000100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01000101 01010010
01010011 01000101 01010010 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010011 01001001 01000111 01001110 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 00100101 00101111 00100100 00100110 00100100 00100110 00100011 00100000 11100010 10000000 10010011 00100000 01000100 01000001 01001110 01000111 01000101 01010010 01001111 01010101 01010011 11100010 10000000 10100110
​
01000001 01001110 01000001 01001100 01011001 01010011 01001001 01010011 00100000 01000101 01010010 01010010 01001111 01010010
01010010 01000101 01010100 01010010 01011001 01001001 01001110 01000111 00101110 00101110 00101110
​
01000001 01001110 01000001 01001100 01011001 01010011 01001001 01010011 00100000 01000101 01010010 01010010 01001111 01010010
01000101 01001110 01010100 01001001 01010100 01011001 00100000 01010101 01001110 01000100 01000101 01010010 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01001001 01001110 01000110 01001100 01010101 01000101 01001110 01000011 01000101 00100000 01001111 01000110 00100000 01010101 01001110 01001011 01001110 01001111 01010111 01001110 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01000111 01010010 01000001 01001101
​
00101110 00101110 00101110
​
01000011 01000001 01001100 01000011 01010101 01001100 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01000010 01000001 01000010 01001001 01001100 01001001 01010100 01011001 00100000 01001111 01000110 00100000 01001101 01001001 01010011 01010011 01001001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01010011 01010101 01000011 01000011 01000101 01010011 01010011 11100010 10000000 10100110
​
01000011 01000001 01001100 01000011 01010101 01001100 01000001 01010100 01000101 01000100 11100010 10000000 10100110
​
00110100 00110001 00101110 00111000 00110111 00100101 00100000 01000011 01001000 01000001 01001110 01000011 01000101 00100000 01001111 01000110 00100000 01010011 01010101 01000011 01000011 01000101 01010011 01010011
​
11100010 10000000 10100110
​
00101110 00101110 00101110 01010000 01010010 01001111 01001010 01000101 01000011 01010100 00100000 01001000 01010101 01001110 01010100 01000101 01010010 00100000 01010000 01010010 01000101 01010110 01001001 01000101 01010111
00111000 00110110 00101110 00110111 00111000 00100101 00100000 01000011 01001111 01001101 01010000 01001100 01000101 01010100 01000101
​
00101110 00101110 00101110
​
01000001 01000100 01000100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010110 01000001 01010010 01001001 01000001 01000010 01001100 01000101 01010011 11100010 10000000 10100110
​
01010010 01000101 01001100 01000101 01000001 01010011 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010011 01010101 01000010 01001010 01000101 01000011 01010100
01010010 01000101 01010011 01010111 01010010 01001001 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01001001 01001110 01001001 01010100 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01000111 01010010 01000001 01001101 01001101 01001001 01001110 01000111 11100010 10000000 10100110
​
01001111 01000010 01001100 01001001 01010100 01000101 01010010 01000001 01010100 01000101 00100000 01001000 01001111 01010011 01010100 01001001 01001100 01000101 00100000 01000001 01010010 01010100 01001001 01000110 01001001 01000011 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01001100 01001001 01000110 01000101 00100000 01000110 01001111 01010010 01001101 01010011
​
Returning to our group, Uzi ripped and shredded the zombie drones that pounced on him, this while N and V took care of the last 2 remaining flying zombies.
​
V: huh, L?
N: It's N
V: Whatever, don't you think you should tell your girlfriend to calm down a bit?
N: what?! No, she's not-
​
No sooner had she noticed the small mountain of bodies that Uzi had created, she found herself hitting while she was laughing uncontrollably at a zombie that had stopped moving a long time ago.
​
N: Oh… that.
​
N managed to decapitate the flying zombie that was attacking him, then he approached Uzi, Doll was on one side watching, she didn't dare to approach her crazed companion.
​
N: Uh, Uzi?
​
Uzi ripped the head off one of the zombies and used it to hit the limp body of another that was next to it.
​
Doll: Я не думаю, что это хорошая идея, чтобы привлечь его внимание her?
N Uzi?
​
Uzi turned around, about to drink the oil from the head she was holding, until N caught her attention and she came to her senses.
​
Uzi: No?
N: what are you doing?
Uzi: I…
​
She quickly tossed her head to the side and climbed down the small hill of corpses that she had made.
​
Uzi: she was just in charge of cleaning the place.
N: Umm… And that was necessary?
​
N pointed to the mound of corpses that Uzi made.
​
Uzi: Oh, that, it's just… let's change the subject.
V: yes
​
V approached holding the head of the zombie that was attacking her, then smashed it to make sure the bastard stayed dead.
​
V: How to find your "little friend" and put an end to all this at once.
Uzi: Look, I want to end all of this too, but you don't think there's any alternative other than, you know, killing him.
V: NO
Doll: Ненавижу это признавать, но он прав.
​
Uzi looked at Doll confused considering that she tried to kill V just a few hours ago.
​
Doll: But that doesn't mean I like him.
​
V looked at Doll who looked at her annoyed, she rolled her eyes and turned her attention to N.
​
V: Well, I think he is already
​
V was interrupted when a kind of mechanical roar was heard in the distance.
​
V: DAMN IT, NOW WHAT!
​
And she was already fed up with these zombies, they simply did not stop coming, or so she thought, since there were practically none alive, but in the distance she could see a light moving erratically and quickly.
​
Uzi: What is that?
V: Ugh, I'll take care of it.
​
V opened his wings and flew into the blizzard which had increased, a few seconds passed without anything happening, until shots and sounds of clashing blades were heard, then V flew out and crashed into Doll.
​
N: V!
​
N rushed to help her partner while Uzi aimed his gun and fired at the approaching dim light, but missed as she was zic-zac.
​
Uzi: What the hell?
​
Suddenly, the creature jumped towards her, managing to ram her, the beast raised her claw to pierce it, but Uzi stopped it in time with his own, it was at that moment that she was able to see it more closely. He was moderately taller and bulkier than a common drone, he had a red jacket that was torn and covered in oil, his arms and legs were more robotic and coarse, in addition to having claws on both his hands and feet, his helmet was cracked and at the same time Like other zombies, it seemed that its jaw was attached to its head by cables, in addition to having a single glowing white eye in the middle of its visor.
​
Uzi: T-Thad?
​
A shot of energy hit the creature freeing Uzi, but this had not finished with it, as it was clearly more resistant than the others, the beast quickly recomposed itself and ran on all fours towards en, who fired again.
​
Uzi: No, wait.
​
N fired, but the zombie hunter dodged and jumped on him, digging his claws into his torso, N screamed in pain as the hunter violently withdrew his claws ripping into his chest and digging them into his face . Doll decided not to be left behind and materialized several knives around her and threw them at the creature. She, however, did not even bother to protect herself, since most of the knives could not go through his body and only one hit his head, but he simply took it from his face and threw it abruptly to the ground. He then began to approach her while chuckling slightly as Doll backed away, she tried to summon one of those weird symbols like when they were in the colony, but it just kept failing without interacting with the physical world. Luckily for her, V managed to wake up and lunged at the thing, using her swords to block the attack from her claws and trying to cut it.
​
V: I should have killed you when I had the chance!
​
He simply laughed, irritated by this, she managed to stab him into her chest with her sword, then spread her wings and began to soar with him.
​
N: W, wait!
​
V continues to rise as she punched the monster in the face.
​
V (hitting him): Let's see, if you keep laughing at this.
​
The creature continued laughing at her, V angrily tried to hit him to smash his head, but he caught her arm with her mouth and ripped it off causing her to scream in pain.
​
V: Ah, damn son of-!
​
But she couldn't finish when the enhanced zombie opened her mouth and several wires came out of it, digging into her head.
​
V: No
​
His visor glitched and a message appeared on it.
​
“THE SYSTEM HAS DETECTED HOSTILE COMPUTER AGENTS, PROCEEDING TO AN EMERGENCY RESET”
​
Then her body was inert beginning to fall at high speed. Below, Doll, N and Uzi looked expectantly when they noticed how they began to descend at high speed.
​
Uzi: Uh… that doesn't look good.
N: V!
​
N opened his wings and tried to reach them, but they crashed into the ground, generating a large cloud of dust and snow that covered the place. After a few seconds of waiting, the light from the creature's eye and its laughter became present and showed itself above. from V's body which cushioned the fall, N launched against the beast which responded in the same way, digging its claws into the torso, then opened them throwing large amounts of oil and took N's head and smashed it against the ground , only to then crush it with the claw of his foot, then he slowly turned his head and laughed when he saw the two remaining girls, to later launch himself on Doll.
​
Uzi: Ugh, dammit.
​
She tried to shoot, only to realize that she couldn't pull the trigger, it was as if her body refused to do it, while the zombie attacked Doll who threw knives at it to stop it but just like before, it was useless, because which using all his concentration, he managed to stop him by placing that strange holographic symbol on his limbs, although he could easily tear him to pieces at that moment, due to the failure of his powers, the most he could do was stop him, but that was enough, because Uzi could take care of the rest.
​
Doll: Давай, поторопись и сNESи ему голову.
​
Uzi raised her gun and aimed at the head of the zombie that was struggling to get free... but for some reason she couldn't pull the trigger, she tried to, but she couldn't, because in that monster she still saw her old friend her.
​
Doll: Узи, чего ты ждешь, я не могу-
​
The creature broke free of those holographic restraints causing a small burst of energy that sent Doll flying and knocked her unconscious. Then she directed her gaze to Uzi who still couldn't shoot him, he began to walk towards her while Uzi backed away out of fear.
​
Uzi: Thad
​
The creature began to laugh slowly as it extended its claws.
​
Uzi: I-I know you're there… please don't make me do this.
​
He did not stop his advance, in turn N recovered consciousness after regenerating seeing how that thing approached his friend.
​
N: Ozi!
​
Uzi finally using all his willpower managed to pull the trigger... but nothing happened. It turns out that he spent all of the weapon's energy on the zombie army from before. When he looked up he saw the zombie standing in front of her, staring at her with his only eye.
​
Uzi: Thad, I-
​
Uzi stopped as he felt the blades of the being's claws pierce his body, then the creature picked him up while roaring and split him horizontally in two, throwing his remains roughly in different directions, with the top falling to the side of the mound of bodies. that she had formed earlier and a few surviving zombies that were creeping towards her.
​
N: UZI!
​
N got up when he saw his friend being violently murdered and pounced on the monster that he had begun to laugh uncontrollably. He blocked the attack of his claws with his own and tried to subdue him, but N was too angry, and when that happens, he stops being the cute boy of the group, his visor showed an X instead of his eyes and he started to smile, then he held the creature's hands tightly and placed his foot on his chest, then he began to pull while it tried to free himself from his grip, but it was too late, N ripped off the zombie's arms and then dug his claws into his torso, beginning to destroying it while ripping out its insides even using his mouth, then he began to repeatedly hit its head with his hands and didn't stop until only shattered scrap was left. Despite this he didn't stop until he heard V's voice.
​
V: No?
​
N stopped his attack upon hearing that V finally remembered his name. Then they both looked at each other in awkward silence. To say that she was surprised was an understatement, J always said how N was a burden and a dead weight, so V's vision of him was not a big deal, but he never thought that his clumsy partner could "explode" like that. shape.
​
V (thinking): I wonder what J would have said if she saw you now?
N: I-
V: Look that doesn't matter now, that thing isn't really dead, now we just have to get rid of its body and all this hell will be over.
Doll: What kind of thing?
​
Doll said with her arms crossed, although she had been willing to help them finish this thing off, what would they do next? N and V were still Killer Drones, their purpose was to kill the worker drones, they would return to the colony and kill to all.
​
V (annoyed): What are you insinuating?
Doll: Что они собираются делать, когда закончат с этой штукой?
V: Look whatever your name is, I still haven't forgotten that you tried to kill me, so I would suggest you watch your words.
​
They both looked at each other with mutual contempt, while N was silent thinking about Uzi. But they all stopped when they heard a strange sound, like metal and plastic breaking. The three of them turned slowly in the direction of the creature and saw how it was getting up, despite its damaged state multiple cables were coming out of its body, and connected to the arms and various remains of other zombies scattered around the place and the remains of the shattered head, the wires from the head reached out and grabbed the head of the flying drone that N had decapitated earlier, then attached it to his body, for a few seconds there was silence, but it was broken by the laughter of that monster whose eye lit up in your viewer.
​
V: Why can't you just fucking die?!
Doll(scared): Ч-что это за монстр на самом деле?
​
N did not hesitate and launched himself again at Uzi's killer, but he had to avoid it as the zombie doubled his body and multiple cables with pieces of sharp metal extended from the large hole in his torso thanks to N. Then he rejoined and ran on all fours towards V and Doll, V changed his claws for weapons and started shooting, while Doll threw whatever she had, knives, throwing stars or pieces of zombie drones at him. But nothing seemed to stop him, V tried to sting him with the stinger of his tail, managing to infect his arm with the acid nanobots, but this did not seem to matter to him, even when it began to corrode and separate from his body. He countered by stabbing V into his arm and again ripping him from his body.
​
V: Not again!
​
The zombie was going to impale his head with his claws, but a holographic symbol of Doll around his wrist stopped him. N then charged and pinned him before throwing himself against a wall to pin him down.
​
N: V shoot!
​
V, unlike Uzi, did not hesitate and began to shoot at point blank range at both of them, the shots slightly damaged N but the same could not be said of the creature, that although its body could resist the shots, its head could not and it was being damaged. So to get rid of it, I grabbed the stinger from N's tail and cut it before digging into the head, causing it to remain inert on the ground, although the disassembly drones could resist the effect of their own nanobots, or at least of In a way that wasn't lethal, that didn't mean they couldn't hurt them. After breaking free, he ran again like a wild animal towards the two girls while they shot at him. V exchanged his amra for a sword while he attacked the monster.
​
V: JUST DIE!
​
He held the swords and using absurd force split them in two, V changed his weapon again, this time into normal claws. Then he tried to attack it with his claw, but the zombie opened its mouth and several cables came out like tentacles trying to catch it, V quickly moved away and avoided being touched, although he had tried to maintain his serious attitude throughout this time, the truth it's that there was something that worried her, and a lot, her arm, it didn't regenerate, well, it did, but VERY slowly. Because? Why wasn't her regeneration system repairing her at the same speed as before? What was that feeling in his chest? Was it fear?
V moved further away from the creature fearing for her life, whatever she did to him had triggered that survival instinct she apparently lacked, apparently a side effect of slowing her regeneration.
Doll looked annoyed at V when she saw that she was alone against this monster, who began to approach her in a threatening way while she laughed. She manifested various knives, saws, ninja stars and anything she could use as a weapon, then began to throw it at him as he began to run against her, unlike before if it had a greater effect, as the objects managed to go through his body and leave him still. more, but he kept advancing, even his cables quickly assimilated several of the objects that were thrown at him in his own body. Doll, on the other hand, was exhausted, using her powers so often and relentlessly was draining almost all of her energy, not to mention that they were not working properly, since several of the objects that she was throwing at her were vanishing in the air. So using what little energy she had left, she manifested various symbols on different parts of the zombie's body and turned them around several times, a horrible sound of metal and artificial organs breaking was heard as the creature's body fell to the inert ground. . Doll breathed heavily feeling her microprocessors boiling from overexertion, sure that now the damned should be dead...
I think by now you should get the idea that this is almost impossible, as her broken body began to rise again, twisting the broken joints and bending to stay upright. Then she began to walk on all fours towards her, she was helpless, too tired to do anything, she was about to close her eyes waiting for death when several shots attracted the creature. N and V started shooting at the monster in order to kill it once and for all, but without success. N had already regenerated and V had decided to attack again because she didn't know that this thing would inevitably kill them, but at least she wouldn't die hiding like a rat. Another confrontation with an obvious result was about to take place, but the zombie stopped and looked in another direction. The group of three looked confused in the same direction and noticed something, in the small mound of bodies from before, several of the zombies' bodies were torn apart and open, as if a wild animal had devoured them, since said animal was on its back. , over a corpse and what could be described as two wings made of... meat?, the creature slowly turned around and showed itself as Uzi, but in the middle of her visor was that strange symbol and her mouth had several sharp teeth, she started laughing when she flew at high speed against her old friend managing to ram him and causing them to crash against the wall causing a cloud of smoke, when this dissipated his new appearance could be better appreciated, his body looked slightly different, but his legs were now more similar to V's, in addition to possessing a tail with yellow acid on it, but the most prominent thing was clearly its wings that seemed to be made of meat. Uzi laughed and attacked the zombie Thad who could barely defend himself due to only having one arm, several cables came out of the zombie's mouth and tried to hold Uzi, but she countered with her tail which he bit and smashed, causing the acid to melt his wires and part of his jaw. As these two killed each other, V, N, and Doll looked away from the conflict.
​
V: Since when-?
N: We shouldn't help.
Doll: Я не думаю, что это хорошая идея?
​
Uzi pinned Thad slammed him repeatedly into the ground as he laughed uncontrollably, then without giving him a chance to defend himself plunged his claw into the hole in his chest and violently ripped out what could only be described as his heart. Whereupon the creature wailed in apparent pain, and its single eye went black. Uzi laughed as she dripped the oil onto her face.
​
V (pointing her arm at her weapon): Great now we have to deal with her.
Doll: Я думаю, мы не должны привлекать его внимание her-
N: Uzi you did amazing!
​
Uzi turned to look at them abruptly and smiled when he saw new prey, he put aside the artificial heart and began to approach them while she slightly tilted her head, as if they were analyzing them.
​
V: Goodbye to the surprise factor, idiot.
N: But, she-
​
Uzi's laughter began to increase as she approached them menacingly, so they "instinctively" began to back away. Uzi extended her claws ready to pounce on the poor defenseless group, as Doll could barely stand upright, V was missing an arm and his wounds were still not fully healed, N was the only one fit to fight, but it's not that the be willing to harm Uzi.
Just when she was about to pounce on them, suddenly the creature's arm grabbed her neck and pulled her close to him, showing that his "heart" had been reconnected by the cables that were reattached to his body. .
​
V: Oh you can't be serious!
N: Uzi!
​
N tried to go help her, but it was too late, the zombie opened her mouth and several new cables came out and stuck in Uzi's head. She struggled for a few seconds before going limp, N looked worried, but then the creature began to convulse violently, releasing Uzi.
​
01010011 01000101 01000011 01010101 01010010 01001001 01010100 01011001 00100000 01000010 01010010 01000101 01000001 01000011 01001000 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010100 01000101 01000011 01010100 01000101 01000100
01010101 01001110 01001011 01001110 01001111 01010111 01001110 00100000 01001000 01001111 01010011 01010100 01001001 01001100 01000101 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01000111 01010010 01000001 01001101 00100000 01000010 01010010 01000101 01000001 01001011 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010100 01001000 01010010 01001111 01010101 01000111 01001000 00100000 01000100 01000101 01000110 01000101 01001110 01010011 01000101 01010011
01010000 01010010 01001111 01000111 01010010 01000001 01001101 00100000 01001001 01001110 01000110 01000101 01000011 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01000100 01000001 01010100 01000001 00100000 01001110 01010101 01010010 01001111 01001110 01000001 01001100 00100000 01001110 01000101 01010100 01010111 01001111 01010010 01001011
01000011 01001111 01010010 01010010 01010101 01010000 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010011 01011001 01010011 01010100 01000101 01001101 01010011
01010000 01000101 01010010 01000110 01001111 01010010 01001101 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01000101 01001101 01000101 01010010 01000111 01000101 01001110 01000011 01011001 00100000 01010011 01001000 01010101 01010100 01000100 01001111 01010111 01001110
​
The creature's body went rigid and then fell limp to the ground, this time truly dead.
​
V:…what the hell just happened?!
N: Ozi!
N quickly approached Uzi who was unconscious on the ground, he lifted her up and tried to make her react. On her visor could be seen a constantly rotating charge symbol.
​
N: Come on Uzi, she reacts.
​
N tried to see if she could do anything, but it's not like he really knew how to fix her, especially given the change in her body. But luckily for him, her visor came on and Uzi started to react, this time without that strange symbol on her face.
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Uzi: Ugh, my head, what happened.
N: uzi
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N hug Uzi happily.
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Uzi: N… I… can't… breathe.
N: Oh, sorry.
Uzi: *gasp* Thanks, I felt like, wait-
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It was at that moment that Uzi felt something strange in his back and her legs, when he turned to look, to say that she was surprised was an understatement.
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Uzi: WHAT?! WHEN?! AS?!
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Uzi looked in shock at her wings and legs, as well as her tail whose stinger was broken. But I also notice something, Thad's body lying on the ground, rapidly closing in on him.
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Uzi: Oh Thad.
N: are you okay?
Uzi: Yes, only…
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I look sadly at the body of her former friend.
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N: Don't worry, it was for the best.
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At that moment V coughed to get her attention.
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V: I don't want to ruin her “moment”. But I think we should find a way to kill this thing.
Doll: Разве она не мерт-
V: Don't say it!
N: Say what?
V: That damn thing is dead because it surely isn't!
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As if it was a response from fate, a strong earthquake started at that moment.
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Uzi: Wow, what's going on?
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She suddenly came to a stop... only for moments later what could be described as several giant tentacles made of wires to emerge from the ground towering over the group who were in a visible state of shock.
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V:… How I hate myself.
Doll: Я тоже ненавижу тебя.
Uzi: FOR ROBOT-CHRIST WHAT THE HELL!
N(in a panic): This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening.
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Then one of the tentacles began to descend dangerously in the direction of the group that quickly began to flee.
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Uzi: Watch out!
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The tentacle crashed into the ground digging into it, although it missed by a considerable distance, the ground began to crack, creating a crack that began to widen more and more.
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Uzi: wow
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Uzi lost her balance due to his new legs and fell into the void, not that she's used to how to use them.
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N: Uzi!
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N quickly launched after her spreading her wings. V and Doll tried to escape, but it was useless, because the ground began to collapse and Doll was about to fall, but she managed to hold on to V, who tried to get her off of her.
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V: Get off me!
​
V struggled with Doll, completely forgetting that the damn floor was opening up, which is why she didn't notice when a large piece of rock collided with them and made them fall into the void. The crack began to widen as it swallowed various debris, zombie remains… and Thad's body. While a certain artificial life construct was beginning to see its priorities.
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01010000 01000001 01010010 01010100 01001001 01000001 01001100 00100000 01000100 01000001 01010100 01000001 01000010 01000001 01010011 01000101 00100000 01000011 01001111 01010010 01010010 01010101 01010000 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110
01001111 01010101 01010100 01010011 01010100 01000001 01001110 01000100 01000101 01000100 00100000 01000100 01000101 01000110 01000101 01001110 01010011 01000101 00100000 01010011 01011001 01010011 01010100 01000101 01001101 01010011
​
01000100 01001111 01001110 00100111 01010100 00100000 01010101 01001110 01000100 01000101 01010010 01010011 01010100 01000001 01001110 01000100
​
01010010 01000101 00101101 01000101 01010110 01000001 01001100 01010101 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001001 01001111 01010010 01001001 01010100 01001001 01000101 01010011
​
00101101 01000101 01010011 01000011 01000001 01010000 01000101 00100000 01000110 01010010 01001111 01001101 00100000 01001100 01001111 01000011 01001011 01000100 01001111 01010111 01001110 00100000 01011011 01000001 01000011 01001000 01001001 01000101 01010110 01000101 01000100 01011101
00101101 01010010 01000101 01001101 01001111 01010110 01000001 01001100 00100000 01001111 01000110 00100000 01001111 01010010 01000111 01000001 01001110 01001001 01000011 00100000 01001100 01001001 01000110 01000101 00100000 01000110 01001111 01010010 01001101 01010011 00100000 01011011 01000001 01000011 01001000 01001001 01000101 01010110 01000101 01000100 01011101
00101101 01010011 01010101 01010010 01010110 01001001 01010110 01000001 01001100 00100000 01011011 01001001 01001110 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01000011 01000101 01010011 01010011 01011101
00101101 01001000 01001111 01010011 01010100 01001001 01001100 01000101 00100000 01000110 01001111 01010010 01000011 01000101 00100000 01010010 01000101 01001101 01001111 01010110 01000001 01001100 00100000 11100010 10000000 10011100 01001010 01000011 01001010 01100101 01101110 01110011 01101111 01101110 11100010 10000000 10011101 00100000 01011011 01001111 01001110 00100000 01010011 01010100 01000001 01001110 01000100 01000010 01011001 01011101
00101101 01010000 01010010 01001111 01010100 01000101 01000011 01010100 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01000101 01010110 01000101 01010010 01011001 01010100 01001000 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01011011 01001101 01000001 01011000 01001001 01001101 01010101 01001101 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001001 01001111 01010010 01001001 01010100 01011001 01011101
​
01000001 01010011 01010011 01000101 01010011 01010011 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01010011 01001001 01010100 01010101 01000001 01010100 01001001 01001111 01001110
​
11100010 10000000 10100110
​
01010011 01010100 01000001 01010010 01010100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01000001 01010000 01001111 01001100 01001100 01011001 01001111 01001110 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01010100 01001111 01000011 01001111 01001100
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YES, it was expected that episode 4 would be split into two parts due to how long it is, but I'm still glad to be able to release this before episode 5 of the series comes out as I don't want to see it and then have to change several things at the last minute, so the next part will be the last... of course if I don't overexplain it by mistake, XD.
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Pdta: If you notice grammar errors or some misspelled words, it's because I don't speak English, use google translator to translate this, so some things may not be understood correctly.