Hi,
I'm no military, only civilian (prepared one) and I started to get gear for hiking (animal tracking for studies purpose), CQB training and shooting range. Because of the nature of the hiking, I started to gather multicam gear along with my civilian grey/black gear. I don't want to look like a military because I'm not, but that camouflage is very effective and that is a plus for days of observation in the mountain. Also, the military gear is way more practical than the cheap hunting jacket out there.
My goal is to having two rigs: One for hiking/observation/survival (multicam), the other one for civilian (black/grey). Having said that, I'm still questioning myself about the multicam "effect" and color matching between pieces of gear.

• Can people be afraid about the looking (especially the hiking rig)? (got multiple radios, chest rig, backpack, I really do look like I'm prepared for anything.)
• Should I embrace the fact that I'm being prepared and just ignore people's opinion?
• What colors could be useful for cross-over gear parts? I'm thinking to get a plate carrier. If I go for the MC one, I can use my Chest Rig things on it. If I go for something else, I could use it on my civilian rig more easily but it would look weird with MC addons.

Thank for helping,
Tactically

Hello, I am a university student studying in Japan currently and am doing job hunting here. I have received an offer from Rakuten mobile (as a software engineer) as well as several other offers from other smaller IT companies as well. I am highly debating whether to join Rakuten Mobile purely due to the many benefits that they offer (eg: high salary [in comparison to other companies I have offers from; 5mill yen annually], 3 free meals a day). I have done research on this company in both English and Japanese, and I have seen mixed (mostly negative) reviews. I know that it is pretty common for a company to have mixed reviews as everyone has different experiences but the negative reviews I have seen about this company are a little too concerning to just chalk it up to that. If you have any relevant experiences, may I ask how bad/good the company actually is in terms of work hours, ethic and the overall atmosphere in the IT sector? I greatly appreciate any advice/comments that anyone has regarding this matter.

Hello, I am a university student studying in Japan currently and am doing job hunting here. I have received an offer from Rakuten mobile (as a software engineer) as well as several other offers from other smaller IT companies as well. I am highly debating whether to join Rakuten Mobile purely due to the many benefits that they offer (eg: high salary [in comparison to other companies I have offers from; 5mill yen annually], 3 free meals a day). I have done research on this company in both English and Japanese, and I have seen mixed (mostly negative) reviews. I know that it is pretty common for a company to have mixed reviews as everyone has different experiences but the negative reviews I have seen about this company are a little too concerning to just chalk it up to that. If you have any relevant experiences, may I ask how bad/good the company actually is in terms of work hours, ethic and the overall atmosphere in the IT sector? I greatly appreciate any advice/comments that anyone has regarding this matter.

Fighting/Normal: OHKO (One Punch Man but instead of one effortless punch it’s a touch of death combo he has to )
Species: Mugen
Planet: Sonof
Appearance

• Humanoid blank white body
• Thick Smooth/Blocky appearance (like made of pillows)
• Headband and Gi are common wares

Powers and Abilities

• Enhanced Strength
• Unlimited Stamina
• Extremely High Pain Tolerance
• Semi-Mechanical Nature does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe
  • Unaging
• Slight combat prowess
• Slightly stuns the opponent on contact with physical force (specifically after a physical hit. Applies to non living beings as well)
• Once an attack lands, it’ll receive enough energy to continue physically attacking it in a never-ending combo. Dealing blows significantly faster, gaining strength with each hit and eventually able to deal noticeable damage to almost any target with each hit.

Weaknesses/Drawback

• Slow movement
• Limited Fighting Capabilities
• Attacks are usually short
  • Can extend reach but takes notable time so it needs to make an effort to land combo
• Combo can be interrupted, loses momentum and needs to land another hit when it does.

Species/Planet Fact: The Mugen started as semi-organic creations by a long dead civilization who sought to try experiments designing different types of warriors. Eventually the planet will be inhabited by foreign researchers. These researchers have been working on enhancing them with various effects to increase their capabilities, and give them more movement and combat options. But during testing it was discovered that watching the Mugen fight with or without enhancements is incredibly entertaining resulting and a strong source of combat study. This discovery redirected their experiments being used for sports instead of warfare even preventing what would’ve been an interplanetary war by turning it into a competitive sport, exploding the planet in popularity. During this explosion there was the discovery of a single fight between two Mugen that have went on for centuries before the first immigration and has been fiercely protected from interruptions since its discovery.
Fighting/Grass: Doungwun Nemetrix predator of the Chunwin (See Kung book in Grass Types)
Appearance

• Green Body
• Mantis like Body
• 2 Pairs of claws with sharp fanged ends, each with a long membrane hanging off of them.
• Multiple pair of locust-like wings under where abdomen should be.
• Reptilian head
• Pupilless Eyes

Hunting Method

• Flight
• High reflexes
• Claws able to capture and break of Chunwin limbs, and attach to body of prey.
• Membranes absorb attack from Chunwin
• Long retractible tongue able to launch with precision and strength, able to pierce the body and grasp onto vital organs.

Planet/Species Fact: Despite the Doungwun seemingly biologically engineered to beat Cunwin on one to one combat, countering their various techniques. They rather take less ‘honorable’ tactics whenever possible. In populated areas they’d quickly overwhelm their prey with high numbers and quickly attack before the Chunwin gets a chance to swing. If there are aren’t any others nearby it’ll try to ambush its prey from hard to reach angles in the air. Only when it’s alone and has caught the attention of its prey, will it attach itself and engage its prey in close range combat. Most Chunwin societies simply use traps, or other tools to protect themselves from these predators. But a predator that chooses to engage in a one on one duel is more respected and results in a more respected death (for either one). So some Chunwin warriors leave themselves open to solo Doungwun attacks as some form of test.
Fighting/Fire: Racaln the Nemetrix predator of the Clabestro (See Firing Squad in Fire types)
Appearance

• Large translucent viscous puddle with various organs inside, including left overs from prey
  • A lot of mouths and eyes
  • Able to reconfigure organs inside body
• Able to raise body in multiple large bumps of various sizes, which usually containing organs

Hunting Method

• Raises body with jaw to consume prey on its body
• Full sensory of targets on its liquid body
• Viscous body can regenerate (and even split into multiple organisms)
• Prey stable on body is inflicted with Hallucinogenic and Auditory illusions, to make them unable to see and hear others allowing the Racaln to strike admit this confusion
  • Also able to block telepathic and electronic communication
• Able to use the natural weapons of digested prey (ie the guns of the Clabestro)

Planet/Species Fact: Racaln only prey on the Clabestro when they’re split up and small. They don’t do any harm when they’re merged on one bigger body. But since most Clabestro combat (which happens very often) has them in their small split up forms. This makes it common for Racalns to be collected from the wild or bred in captivity to be utilized as excellent traps, and denying area. This practice would also be used as a mark to safeguard places from violence, to prevent Clabestro from splitting to engage in combat. This practice has spread to official gatherings like courts and diplomatic meetings.
Fighting/Water: Ultimate Slush (See Original in Water Types)
Appearance

• Dark Green Body
• Loses gourd
• Various sharp attachments that have the appearance of the sharp bottlenecks of broken bottle
• Core with an unbalanced changing color in head

Powers/Ability

• Retain expert flexibility
• More aggressive fighting style (while retaining it’s drunken boxer like moves)
• Fire Projection
• Can’t feel pain
• Core hypnotizes targets on sight, intoxicating them
• Able to use sharp accessories

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

• More Violent personality
• Can’t spill out body to trip opponents
• Loses Elasticity

Fighting/Elctric: Ultimate Fightning Rod (See Web Work in Electric Types)
Appearance

• Long thin build made of lightning
• Normally invisible

Powers/Ability

• Invisibility
• Intangibility
• Invincibility
• Whenever an Influx of energy (Any kind) in an area appears:
  • Able to instantly teleport to any place where the energy is dispersed
  • Doing so attacking the target with massive strength directly proportional to energy
  • Once energy subsides or moves outside of energy influx, body becomes invisible/intangible again
• When visible, can absorb all kinds of energy
• Able to unleash a large burst of both sound and light with absorbed energy

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

• Unable to extend body parts
• Can only deal damage in large bursts of energy
• Is no longer invincible when exposed a large energy influx in a prolonged duration

Fighting/Flying: Ultimate Fight and Flight (See original in Flying Types)
Appearance

• Black/Brown coloring scheme
• Face is more crow like
• Tails are longer
• Hawk-like eyes and wings
• Larger body

Powers/Ability

• Stronger
• Faster
• Enhanced Senses
  • Slight Danger Senses
• Hypnotic Stare
  • Invokes Intimidation into targets provoking them into either fighting or running
  • When staring at foes, they’re able to read gains seconds precognition into multiple visions whether they fight or fly and combinations of timelines when they do both. Visions show what they would do, but is able to be altered with the newfound knowledge in real time.
  • Precognition can predict unknown interferences like hidden dangers
  • Heightened intelligence and brain processing speed to plan out effective strategy to hunt or combat their attempts

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

• Unable to split self into two forms
• Using hypnotic stare on multiple targets can overwhelm self
• Predicted precognitive visions can be avoided if target resists hypnosis making them prep for things that won’t happen

Fighting/Ice: Giengar Nemetrix predator of the Ashe (See Burrzerker in Ice Types)
Appearance

• Skeletally thin limbs
• Very lanky frame (usually hunched over)
• Large Wooly body
• Long clawed fingers
• Sharp Teeth

Hunting Method

• Immunity to cold
• Silent movement
• Inflicts hallucinations on target nearby especially Ashe
  • Inflicts shadowy hallucination of a competitive animal (usually the same as the affected prey) causing the target to continuously attack hallucination.
  • Target eventually tires out attacking hallucination, losing adrenaline and succumbing to hypothermia or exhaustion.

Planet/Species Fact: Giengar are omnivores. In cold seasons they eat large predators with their primarily skill of inducing hallucinations that tire out its target before having its body frozen over for it to consume with its teeth designed to crush frozen objects. They gain this power by consuming mushrooms from warmer, jungle biomes that contain spores which has a similar effect to targets that breathe them in (though less concentrated and ends with less fatalities). Giengars are immune to these spores so during the warmer seasons they migrate to the jungle to consume high amounts of these mushrooms to expel their spores in large concentrations during hunting season. Normal Ashe that occupy these jungles stay away from the dangerous arctic biomes the Giengars hunt in, so to them the Giengar are seen as harmless. Since even if the Giengars try to use the spores against them, the conditions aren’t lethal and the lack of the Ashe’s adrenaline won’t inhibit their ability to recognize their condition and react accordingly instead of wasting their energy fighting.
Fighting/Ground: Ultimate Mudripper (See Original in Ground Types)
Appearance

• Diamond Skin
• Loses eyes
• Elongated Snout
• Six pairs of short legs
• Clawed Hands
• Glass Hairs
• Loses Tail

Powers/Ability

• Enhanced Smelling Senses
• Heatproof
• Durable and ough Diamond Skin
• Sharp Claws
• High Speed Burrowing
• Thermo-adaptation
• Able to resurface lava and create lava motes/small volcanos on ground from underneath
• Drooling Lava Saliva
• Able to walk on surfaces
• Vacuum Adaptation

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

• Loss of Eyesight
• Can’t Jump
• Unable to grab object with claws as well as base form hands
• Can’t Swim

Fighting/Rock: Ovivine Nemetrix predator of the Sabter (See Mountain Goat in Fighting Types)
Appearance

• Sheep-based body
• Green Wool
• Flowers growing on body

Hunting Method

• Wool is able to absorb strong impacts
• Vine-like tendrils on side of body able to connect to cliffsides
• Able to camouflage selves into a grass pile
• Grows a disconnected field perpendicular to the cliffside making it look its prey is on the ground
  • Field camouflaged to be unable to be seen from below
• Able to communicate with Sabter to trick it on standing on the field, of the cliff before falling to their deaths.

Planet/Species Fact: While Ovivine can talk and mimic sentient emotions its only purpose is to gain the trust of prey as a mere predatory mechanism, their brains aren’t capable of deeper introspective thought or sentience when alone. Sabter are worn of the Ovivine though largely they are seen as myth with how very few sightings they are and how little the Ovivine are actually active due to their slow metabolism. Ovivines cover their prey on the floor and slowly consume it whilst morphing its body to appear as a mere lump of ground covered in grass, which is another factor into how little they’re seen. Occasionally they encounter some Sabter who are very much aware of them, and their tricks so in those cases they simply push them off the cliff side. Though this method relies on the element of surprise since their physical strength is much weaker than the average Sayter.
Fighting/Bug: Ultimate Float Stinger (See Original in Bug Types)
Appearance

• Slightly bigger body
• Longer wasp like structure
• New Vertical striped black and white body

Powers/Ability

• Able to summon a near indestructible hive shaped structure
  • This pocket dimension draws in 2 individuals (which can include the creator) into an arena pocket dimension.
  • Telepathic communication with all individuals in pocket dimensions
  • Individuals in the pocket dimension must follow certain reality altering conditions to set a “fair fight”
    • This usually includes removal of “powers” but can also vary to have no removal or even the addition of powers
    • Fight doesn’t have to be direct combat and more of a much as a sport
    • Individual size are usually scaled to be relatively similar
  • Individuals leaves once one or both is considered ‘defeated’ or by the creator’s permission

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

• Rules set in arena must be made to be fair for both individuals
• No longer able to project honey to prevent powers
• Slightly slower and weaker outside of hives
• Reality altering rules only affect targets inside a hive

Fighting/Psychic: Muscle Memory (Alien Taskmaster)
Species: Reffox
Planet: Arbeitar
Appearance

• Tall Humanoid muscular appearance
• Body looks skinless and made of muscles
• Egg-shapd head and single eye

Powers and Abilities

• Enhanced Atleticism
• High combat p rowess
• Able to slowly build up strength and speed
• Photographic reflexes
• When looking at any moving target, able to quickly learn, memorize, and mimic that targets moves allowing them to be able to come up with a counter for it.
  • Also applies to their use of tools

Weaknesses

• Can only memorize and mimic movements not powers
• Can only enhance strength and speed in short bursts
• May be at risks for learning ineffective techniques

Planet/Species Fact: Due to the fact that all Reffox are all physically the same and that any unique skill that are developed is quickly assimilated by one another. Reffox populations share a yearning for a sense of identity. So many Reffox head off to other cultures/planets to use their learned skills to be able to make an identity of themselves, whether it be an athlete a performer, a warrior, a hero, or in some cases a criminal or ruler. This feeling is felt through all Reffox and when two of them meet, they silently agree to not show their skills to each other to keep their identity. Though if they do want to share they return to Arbeitar to tell their stories or inspire new skills for the next generation who would tell their story.
Fighting/Poison: Biolence (Fist of the North Star Powered by drugs, and can weaponize their own explosions )
Species: Gomane Planet: Omawoshindyu
Appearance

• Rough Green Skin
• Orc Like Head
• Muscular Build
• Costume comes with a mouth-covering mask
• Large Hands

Powers and Abilities

• Enhanced Strength
• Strength and size are gradually enhances from absorbing normally hazardous or even just unhealthy substances
• Body is slowly producing its own internal toxins
• Noxious Stench
• Poisons eventually build up into large cysts on skin that eventually bursts into powerful noxious and slightly toxic gas expulsion when ‘popped’, able to do damage from force
  • Able to control cyst development early
  • Cysts become more powerful with more hazardous substances given
  • Able to transfer poisonous cyst development onto others from force of contact, usually other species skin is not built to handle the expulsion causing damage when they pop

Weaknesses

• When exposed to hazard substances, the Cysts become faster developed and harder to control possibly hindering the body
• Loses strength build after cyst has popped
• Mind can be altered to be more violent depending on hazardous substances consumed, commonly manifests in an addiction or violent temperament (usually removed when expelled)

Planet/Species Fact: Eons ago a large vapor of toxic alien pollutants was mysterious dropped on Omawoshindyu mutating all inhabitants and killing off massive amounts of life, however life stiff have adapted and eventually evolved resulting in the modern Gomanes. By the time their own society has formed, the pollutants have been absorbed into the earth or dissipated from the atmosphere allowing fertile greener life to grow. Ironically most of Gomane society promotes healthy activity like proper diet in exercise, for it allows them to control their cyst development more effectively even when there sped up, which they use in hunting and combat sports. However crime activity is still noticeable involving addiction, violence, and gang activity. Mostly originating in highly polluted/deserted wastelands. As various poisons are being produced and mines
Fighting/Ghost: Body-structor (Havik from MK1 with hints of Water Law from One Piece)
Species: Rankensain
Planet: Taxodoom
Appearance

• Tone “Action Figure like structure”
• Smoothed out Joints
• Skeletal head
• Sharp Claws
• Retractable Spikes on limbs
• Leathery skin
• Large tail

Powers and Abilities

• Enhanced Strength and Stamina
• Combat Prowess
• Immortality
• Quick Cellular Regeneration
• Able to detach own limbs/body parts and effectively control them when attached.
• Able to grow a detached body part on the detached body
• Able to detach others limbs/body parts of target on contact
  • Able to attach body parts detached this way to self
  • Body parts detached this way can still be controlled and are controlled by the head/brain they are attached to (all head/brain are in control of themselves). If their original head/brain is detached they can still be controlled by that head/brain unless it’s on attached to another of the same body part in which case they can’t move.
    • With the exception of Rankensains who can control their own body parts even while their heads are on a different body.
  • Different body parts can be reattached to other bodies detached this way, even in places the body parts don’t go
  • Specifically in the Omnitrix after retransformation original rankensain body parts will dematerialize and all new attached body parts from detached bodies will fall off.

Weaknesses:

• Slightly slow
• Detachment requires strong force of contact
• Targets dispatched bodies can reattach their own parts, and can’t take them off again when put back into place (Can only be detached again by a Rankensain)
• Body parts attached to wrong part of body can be dispatched by anything even by accident
• Targets can disconnect different a body part that wasn’t originally there’s
• After regrowing a body part that was already attached, the original detached body part will lose its structure and melt
• Will die if all body parts are destroyed too fast
• Only their own body parts can detach other limbs

Planet/Species Fact: Body parts are the Rankensains main currency. While most body parts are gathered from hunted animals on their world. Rankenstains have developed interplanetary transportation to gather valuable alien body parts. Often by nefarious methods like warfare, grave robbing, or even homicide, making them a disdained and feared species across multiple planets. There are labs made to create clones of existing limbs to replace active hunting to remove the need for travel, but with how often exploration is used and how slow the cloning process is, Rankensains still commonly hunt aliens for their limbs as part of a darker slightly underground culture. To get around their negative reputation, Rankensains would remove their own brains and implant them into other bodies to disguise themselves.
Fighting/Dragon: Medisnake (Combat Snake with Street Fighter Chi abilities)
Species: Ansatryu
Planet: Chakrenin
Appearance:

• Long Reptilian Body built similarly to a Skink
• Dragonoid Scales
• Small Limbs
• Bipedal

Powers/Abilities:

• Enhanced Combat Prowess
• Slithering
• Easily able to enter a meditative state for enhanced self-control, psychological/emotional balance, mental clarity, and even healing
  • Able to access pressure points that puts allies in a similar state
• Natural chi-like energy and mastery
  • Energy skills normally manifest as enhanced athletic skills and energy projection at a basic level
  • Energy can be personalized into a different element or even power

Weaknesses

• Personalization initially requires a level of training that the Omnitrix transformation doesn’t initially give.

Planet/Species Fact: Initially Ansartyu were seen as pets of another more human-like species called the Shotogun and as intelligent as their owners. However, eventually the Shotogun would discover their ability to tap into their own personal well of the same chi-like energy and start practicing it for various means. However back then only a handful of masters would be able use it, and only at a very basic level. Until one Shotogun prince discovered that his treasured Ansatryu was able to tap into and unlock further levels of mastery. With this knowledge the prince learned from his Ansatryu and developed a closer bond with it, even teaching his pet higher levels of intelligence as he was taught further mastery of chi. Later he would teach others how to learn from their Ansatryu and his own Ansatryu will give intelligence to others of his species, leading to the point where Ansatryu are now partners living in the same world as the Shotogun in relative harmony.
Fighting/Steel: Weapon Blaster (Tank Knight with hand guns that shoots bladed weapons) Species: Arthmo
Planet: Palawar
Appearance

• Tall metal body
• Tank treads for legs
• Knight-Like Helmet
• Short cannons for arms

Powers and Abilities

• Enhanced Durability
• Enhanced Eyesight
• Full rotating body
• Canon arms launch out metal objects commonly melee weapons like swords, spears, axes etc at high speeds
  • Weapons are animated and “preprogrammed to move in ways/fly in a direct path and can be “preprogrammed’
  • Can be locked onto a focused target and rotate/swing in a specific way whilst following the target
• Other different types of weapon shooting
  • Machine Gun type: able to launch out multiple imprecise smaller metal weapons that can’t be animated
  • Sniper: Able to launch a singular fast powerful far reaching weapon
  • Giant: Able to launch one giant weapon a short distance that stays out longer.

Weaknesse

• Drawbacks of each weapon shooting
• Slow Tank like movement
• Can only create simple metal objects
• Weapon projectiles can be moved offcourse
• Weapon projectiles can only stay out a minute before dissipation
• Weapons take time and varying degrees of focus to charge before launch which increases with duration of animation
  • Shooting out a large powerful weapon increases load time, and can’t shoot more weapons while the giant weapon is out

Species/Planet Fact: Arthmo is an artificial species created from a combination of alchemy and engineering by a master at both, commissioned by a great king. They were meant to be used as weapons of warfare and even companions. However an enemy army raided the kingdom, and killed both the lord and creator after the first Arthmo woke up. So the lab was well hidden so the Arthmo followed the instructions of its creator and created more of it, and slaying the enemy army. Now they defend the remaining members of their kingdom to allow it to rebuild. However, rumor has it that a surviving enemy found the original Arthmo lab.
Fighting/Dark: Spotshot
Species: Dalmate
Planet: Cerberence
Appearance

• Dalmatian white and black spotted pattern body
• Monkey like proportions and arms
• Dog like head
• Paws for feet
• Long tail with a forked end

Powers/Abilities:

• Enhanced Athleticism
• Enchanted Acrobatics
• Wall Crawling
• Able to use forked tail and string-like mucus in between split as a slingshot
• Shoots able to launch “spots” from tail
• Dark skin works good for camouflage
• Combat Prowess
  • Spots inflict a strong force on impact
  • Leaves a spot mark on the target, and can potentially blind a living target
  • Projectile spots are able to fly out of marks
  • Able to make spots launch off objects on impact before making mark
  • Hitting mark with multiple projectile creates a bigger mark, and a bigger projectile by extension
  • Able to absorb Dalmate spots on own body

Weaknesses/Drawbacks

• Spots dissipate after minutes
• Unable to projects spots marked on body

Species/Planet Fact: The spotted biological materials that generate the Dalmate’s projectile “spots”, is a shared trait amongst a handful of different Cereberence animal species and even some plant life. Those species has a spot of a different color that was meant harm all other species/subspecie for predation or predator avoidance. Other species that don’t have this projectile ability do have spotted patterns on them to warn predators, or even create similar marks on objects to protect territory by intimidation.To weaponize their own “spots” Dalmate tribes would farm different animals and use them in different methods that changes their spot markings to battle other tribes with their own spot slinging skills to prevent it from being simply absorbed into its targets body.
Fighting/Fairy: Best-O Change-O (Magical Girl/Boy Recruiting Bunny)
Species: Usegin
Planet: Lunakessho
Appearance

• Anthropomorphic Bunny
• Biological Crystal accessories on head
• Natural mask-like fur pattern on head and pupils eyes (males only)
  • Crown like horns on females
• Standard outfit of a Tuxedo-like suit, or School-Girl dress based on gender

Powers/Abilities

• Natural magic potential
• Enhanced leaping
• Enhanced Athleticism
• Costume transmutation
• Able to enhance a small hand held object
  • Transmutes the object into a specialized weapon and usually able to project a specialized material/force/or element (depends on a combination of both the individual and object)
• Able to enhance another object allowing an Ally to gain a similar weapon and the same powers of an Usegin except the ability to enchant other objects.

Weaknesses

• Only able to utilize one weapon at a time
  • Applies to allies, they can only utilize their chosen object
• Takes a while to enchant another object for an ally after the first
• After an allies enchanted objects breaks they lose their gained abilities
  • Ally abilities also go away when the Omnitrix Transformation ends

Planet/Species Fact: Lunakessho is a magical planet where all the inhabitants would practice magic, protected by an order of Usegin knights. However dark forces used by villains and monsters would arise practicing this dark magic and almost threatened to corrupt the universe. The Usegin order managed to fight them off but with a threat on that kind of scale and some remaining presence of their enemies they decided to seal of the planet into another realm. However, now there is an occult group mages summoned the order on various points of different moons using a ritual that was meant to be used in case they’re needed. While the Usegin heroes did manage to get involved in their traditional hero work. They’ve learned too late that this ritual will eventually corrupt them once all the full rituals is complete, and they’re powerless to stop them. So they now go to various planets and recruit and train other magical warriors to stop them when the time comes.

TL;DR I have several questions on FLG RNG in mGBA:

1. What does RAM address 0x040000A0 show?
2. If the above is not the location of the timer corresponding to the game's initial seed generation, how would I view the actual location of 0x04000104 in mGBA's memory viewer?
3. Why does Real96's script show negative advancements under certain conditions (e.g., loading to a state before initial seed generation)?
4. Can these glitched advancements be corrected without restarting the game?

Post
I've been trying to enter the FLG RNG manip scene. Something I've been in interested in is figuring out how to manipulate the initial seed. I use mGBA and Real96's FLG script, since I've learned that it's much more precise than my old tools of VBA-RR and the pokemonstatsdisplay Lua script (shoutout to u/xPorki btw).
After an entire day of trial-and-error and digging around old forums, GitHubs, and Reddit posts, I learned that FLG does not create initial seeds the same way it creates what the script calls the "Current Seed." The latter is really just the PID. Before setting the initial seed, the script assumes a starting current seed of 0 and modifies it according to the usual algorithm cited here. Of course, the current seeds generated here don't matter. Once the initial seed is set, the algorithm restarts, passing that seed as the first value and iterating it to produce the PIDs. Moreover, there appears to be no relationship between the current seeds before the initial seed and the initial seed. (I literally wrote the current seed at every frame before the initial seed was generated to check—if a relationship exists, it's not as simple as taking some combination of the last few frames' seeds).
I've learned that FLG stores the initial seed in RAM address 0x0202000. To generate it, the game apparently uses an incredibly fast timer (according to this post and Blisy's page, much faster than 60 fps because it runs on processor clock cycles, not frame rates). This timer supposedly exists in address 0x04000104. I tried to investigate this location and ran into some problems...
First, mGBA's memory viewer only shows locations that are multiples of 10. Thankfully, this limitation includes addresses like 0x0202000 and 0x3005000 (where the current seed is stored in USA versions of FLG, at least according to Real96's script), but 04000104 remains elusive. I presumed the memory viewer binned addresses, such that any fluctuations at 04000104 would be captured by 04000100 or 04000110. At least, the viewer implies that's how it works: if I try to inspect 04000104, the viewer takes me to 04000100. But this address doesn't change. You know what does change, though? 040000A0 fluctuates wildly as the intro cutscene plays, at least as fast as 60 fps.
That said, 040000A0 exhibits some unexpected quirks. First, that address remains strangely quiet during certain portions of FLGs intro cutscene. For example, I've noticed that it'll read 0000 0000 0000 0000 during moments when the screen is pitch black. Other times, the address will be oddly regular, with readings like FEFE FEFE FEFE FEFE or even FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF. Given the former observation, I suspect 040000A0 has some relationship with the game's graphics. It also stays at all zeroes during the "Previously on your quest" scenes. Second, the address continues fluctuating after these scenes end and you can move around. I thought the timer influencing the initial seed was unique to that seed; shouldn't it stop once the initial seed is set? Lastly, I was not able to find any relationship between the initial seed and 040000A0's readings. For example, I once got an initial seed of 1FF9 and kept careful track of 040000A0's readings up until that point. 1FF9 did not pop up anywhere. In fact, none of the RAM addresses in the viewer window (which ranged from 04000000 to 040002A0 for me) seemed to match. It's possible that, since the timer supposedly runs far beyond 60 fps, the initial seed simply showed up at a pace that did not correspond to a specific frame. Searching the memory for the initial seed also brought up no locations besides the expected 02020000.
Eventually (and somewhat anticlimatically), I learned that you can just modify the initial seed directly using the memory viewer. Simply go to the initial seed's location, type the one you want, and you're done! Real96's script correctly displays the new seed. There is one catch though: its advances counter appears to suffer from some kind of integer overflow. For example, advance 41000 can suddenly become negative 4294926295. As you might expect, this glitch makes calibration much more difficult, as I'd have to track what frame I was on before the overflow occurred and do some extra arithmetic to determine what negative advance corresponds to the positive target (the counter appears to still iterate at the correct rate).
I tried seeing if advances, like initial seeds and PIDs, have a distinct location in memory. The script appears to calculate advances using the LCRNGDistance function, which passes in two seeds as "states." Based on some comparisons of these states, the function operates with RAM addresses listed in the JUMP_DATA hash table, meaning I'm out of luck unless I'm willing to do some serious math or programming. (I suppose that, in retrospect, the current advance obviously couldn't be stored in a single location because so many things can influence it.)
Interestingly, directly changing the memory is not the only thing that causes the script to experience overflow (or whatever that error would be—I didn't study CS lol). Back when I first started hunting for specific seeds (i.e., yesterday), I realized that if I make a savestate during the intro cutscene and load back to it after the initial seed has been set, the script will also show negative advances. My guess is the glitch has to do with the getRngInfo function, which resets the advance counter whenever the initial seed is equal to the current seed (which occurs upon resetting/booting up the game since both seeds are 0 at frame 0) or the temporary initial seed (which the script initializes as 0) is not equal to the actual initial seed (which happens the moment the initial seed is set). Because the counter was reset between the two states I loaded, it might have expected a different value than the one it received. Or maybe going from a post-initial seed state to a pre one in mGBA alters the memory such that it affects the JUMP_DATA and messes with LCRNGDistance's value.
Overall, I hope this lengthy post meticulously explained my thought processes, so a kind soul can see where my head is and try to provide some insightful advice on the questions I posted above.

Hello! My parents just relocated to Bellingham and I'd like to catch a Seahawks game this fall. Single game tickets go on sale today when the schedule is released. Is it best to hop on them now or what til it's closer to game week and use a site like seatgeek? I'd be looking for lower level.
Last year I jumped on Bills/Chargers tix as soon as they went on sale but by the time the game came around at the end of December the Chargers were terrible and ticket prices were at least half of what I had paid in May :facepalm haha.
I'm guessing the Seahawks will be in the hunt all year so just looking for some guidance from frequent ticket buyers if there are any trends? The fans in Seattle are much more committed than the Chargers obviously so maybe that's not a good comparison.

Since the introduction of dragons breath star shells have essentially been relocated to the dust bin of hunt history. With limited utility that can easily be done with a flair gun (which are basically silent by comparison) the only sight use starshells have left is in the lemate cabine marksman as a "remote fire starter" out side this extremely niche use case they are out done by dragons breath and flair guns at every corner. So let's give them an overhaul and revive their utility. Perhaps a longer burn time, or maybe a new utility purpose? Like maybe assassin is very vulnerable to the light and fire of a star shell. Maybe make them much brighter? I'm just spit balling ideas but as they stand they are basically just a novelty or useless it's time for a rework. What are your ideas?

Part 14.3

Heracles VS Lernaean Hydra

Author Note: I was thinking about it and I really wish that GT9 used more draconic symbolism throughout the story when (or if) I revisit Team Crowley VS Rosencreutz I'll have symbolism of Aleister (TheBeast666), Aiwass (Codename: DRAGON) and Coronzon (The Dragon of the Abyss) all have symbology of them being Dragons preying on a God/Hero like CRC and the reversed conflict of Chaos VS Order you see in mythology, I also wanted to achieve something similar with Kakine Teitoku as he can represent the Fallen Angel and the Seraphim but for now I'll try adding draconian symbolism into Gunha VS CRC.
True Expert Christian Rosencreutz, with his golden rosy cross sword, clashed relentlessly against the indomitable force of the Strongest Gemstone, Sogiita Gunha. With each clash of their powers, the air crackled and compressed, and the pavement trembled beneath.
CRC, observed Sogiita with a mixture of intrigue and disdain. "You fight like the legendary Heracles," he remarked, his voice carrying over the din of battle. "But know this, I am the Lernaean Hydra, and no matter how many heads you sever, I shall always rise again!" Rosencreutz roared to slice the #7’s midsection.
Sogiita, his entire body wreathed in unknowable energy, met CRC's blade unyielding. "Bring it on, old man!" he retorted, his voice brimming with confidence. "I'll knock you down as many times as it takes! I won't stop till you come to your senses and remember your roots, like the roses you love so much, Rosencreutz!!"
Their clash intensified, that old man’s higher dimensional sword colliding with the raw power of that boy’s fists and kicks as they pushed each other to their limits with each sword swing, punch, kick and flash.
Sogiita unleashed a barrage of punches, each strike carrying the force of a meteor, while that silver young man countered: he wielded his sword in his right hand and released impacts followed by white light that was enough to previously take down all of The Bridge Builders Cabal.
As the battle raged on, the very fabric of reality seemed to warp and shift around them, bearing witness to the titanic struggle between two unparalleled forces.
The founder of Rosicrucianism who intimidated reality itself to obey his will and that Gemstone with an unstable personal reality that could change on a whim.
The atmosphere crackled with electrifying distortion.
Sogiita's fists tore through the air with the ferocity of meteors, their velocity enhanced by his ability to adapt and accelerate, surpassing even CRC's speed. As each blow was released, the friction with the surrounding air molecules ignited a scorching heat, intensifying the impact.
The rapid movement of molecules generated an escalating thermal energy, causing the air to seethe with increasing temperature. It was akin to a tempest of incandescent projectiles hurtling towards CRC, their speed surpassing the limits of human perception.
It was like a storm of brilliant fiery arrows was fired at Rosencreutz.
These blazing arrows of force were reminiscent of the elusive strikes employed by the Rose & Cross Leader, ignoring distance with deceptive agility.
With each thunderous punch, that bandana boy sought to overpower his adversary through sheer kinetic force, his unwavering resolve palpable in every motion.
But that wasn't enough for this superhuman.
CRC, wielding his cross sword with precision and skill, deflected each and every one Sogiita's flaming arrows with calculated strikes of his own. Each impact unleashed a burst of blinding white light, sending shockwaves rippling through the chaotic city.
"You think brute strength alone will defeat me?" the silver man taunted, his voice cutting through the chaos of battle. "You may be strong, but strength without strategy is nothing but raw power wasted."
Sogiita grinned, his confidence unshaken. "Strategies for cowards who can't handle a real fight," he retorted, his voice ringing with defiance. "I'll K.O. you with my fists and guts alone!!!!"
Rosencreutz's eyes narrowed as he parried another of Sogiita's punches. "Your arrogance will be your downfall," he warned, his tone tinged with certainty. "I may not match your overall speed, but I have something you lack: intellect and precision.”
Christian Rosencreutz then plunged his cross sword into the ground.
"This is what harmed Kamijou Touma," he declared, grinning and unleashing a torrent of lethal invisible attacks from his outstretched palms.
However, the #7 countered with a relentless barrage of flaming arrows from the thermal aftershock of his punches.
Each strike akin to a particle accelerator in its intensity and speed. That Gemstone was the particles being fired on the right and that True Expert was the particles fired on the left.
As the attacks clashed, the battlefield became a spectacle of raw power and precision.
“Roar!” CRC held his open palm to his mouth and blew gently on the tip of the middle finger.
That was all it took for a blaze easily outdoing a flamethrower to rush out. And this was not just any fire. It fed on the power of a ley line and stole vitality from space itself. This overwhelming mass of light and heat was wielded for no other purpose than to take lives. Anyone who tried to survive it using simple composite armor or special fibers would dry up and burn away in less than a second.
But that wouldn't kill another superhuman would it?
Of course not.
“Aaaaarghhhh!!!!” screamed the #7.
Some assaults bypassed the fray entirely, slipping through the chaos like elusive particles in a collider.
A smokescreen.
Those brilliant fireworks from hell weren't meant to take Sogiita’s life. They were meant to disrupt the Gemstone's senses and sight so he couldn't counter all of that old man’s deadly attacks.
Invisible strikes found their mark on that Gemstone, and the searing arrows of the arrows scorched Rosencreutz.
CRC was wounded but he rejected to make any whimpers. Instead with a sudden burst of velocity, the young silver man picked up his cross sword from the ground and launched a flurry of strikes, cutting at the #7’s body with pinpoint accuracy.
His arms, his head, his face, his stomach, his legs, his midsection, his back.
Each blow landed with devastating force, causing Sogiita to stagger back under the onslaught.
If that bandana boy hadn't had his defenses and general stats raised by the #5 he’d be cut to pieces.
The #7 fell on his back.
"There's a fire," Sogiita declared, his voice ringing out amidst the chaos of battle.
With each attempt to break his spirit, Sogiita's resolve only grew stronger, fueling the flames of his determination. "Every time someone tries to make me give up, it's like wind feeding my flames, making them burn even brighter just like my punches," he explained, his words carrying the weight of his unwavering determination.
He refused to stay down.
With a roar of defiance, Sogiita surged forward once more, his movements blurring with speed as he disappeared from view. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind Christian Rosencreutz, catching the magician off guard.
"Hey, old man," Sogiita taunted, his voice filled with confidence as he seized Rosencreutz from behind.
Christian Rosencreutz's eyes widened in surprise as he realized he had been outmaneuvered.
As Sogiita Gunha faced off against Christian Rosencreutz in their airborne duel, he felt the flames of determination burning within him, driving him forward with unstoppable force.
Before he could react, the boy lifted him effortlessly and slammed him onto the pavement below with a resounding thud.
"I'm not just a kick-boxer!!" Sogiita sang.
As the impact reverberated through the air, the young silver man let out a pained cry. The force of the collision compressed the surrounding air, heating it up until it crackled with energy. Christian Rosencreutz's head struck the ground with a velocity equivalent to mach 20, igniting his body in flames upon impact.
This move is called a suplex.
Struggling to regain his bearings, Rosencreutz muttered in a daze, "The House of the Holy Spirit...the seven walls..."
"You said it yourself, didn't you?" the gutsy boy retorted, cocky. "My power and my guts can break through your impenetrable walls. And I can spread those same guts to the world around me."
With a grimace, Christian Rosencreutz acknowledged the truth of the boy's words. "Your uncontrolled AIM field grants you the ability to imbue non-organic objects with the properties of your virus," he observed, his voice tinged with begrudging admiration. "Allowing them to bypass even the defenses of the seven-walled tomb.”
"A virus? Don't be so gutless, CRC," the #7 retorted, his voice filled with defiance. "This battleground ruled by wills is a two-way road between you and me."
Christian Rosencreutz raised an eyebrow at the boy's words. "Hey Gemstone, you could've killed me if I weren't a superhuman with an idealized body that accomplished The Great Work and crossed the Ungrund, what then short-stack?" he questioned while fitting an insult against his height.
Even without the seven-walled tomb or sheets of diamonds Rosencreutz was cartoonishly durable.
"Sorry, old man," Sogiita retorted, a hint of irritation lacing his words at the jab about his height. "I may have let my enthusiasm get the better of me, but rest assured, I understand the magnitude of this battle. Just like the Hydra, no matter how many heads you regrow, I'll persevere until I've completed my labors.”
"Mhm, so you do know your mythology," CRC remarked, a hint of amusement in his voice. "The Lernaean Hydra, or simply Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, known as an entrance to the Underworld. In the canonical myth, the monster is slain by Heracles as part of his Twelve Labors."
"Yeah, I know," Sogiita replied confidently. "I studied the tales of great gutsy heroes in school.”
"So, short-stack," Christian Rosencreutz began, his voice carrying a hint of scholarly interest. “Have you ever considered the parallels between our battle and ancient Near Eastern religions?”
Sogiita listened intently. "Are you saying you see yourself as a god of war or a hunter?" he inquired.
CRC chuckled softly. "In a sense, indeed. We are both assuming roles in this grand theater, are we not? I, the Hydra, and you, Heracles."
He continued, "Consider the Second Labor of Heracles. Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, sent Heracles to slay the Hydra, which Hera had raised specifically to defeat him. Heracles approached the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra dwelled. To protect himself from the poisonous fumes, he covered his mouth and nose with a cloth and shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, causing it to emerge and terrorize the surrounding villages."
CRC paused, drawing a comparison. “In our own clash, the flaming arrows that Heracles hurled at the Hydra find their echo in your lightning-fast fists, generating shockwaves that ignite the air with their speed and force. It's as though each strike of yours is akin to shooting a flaming arrow, much like Heracles did.”
“Huh? Are you suggesting we're caught in a time loop? That some enigmatic group, like the Bridge Builders Cabal, manipulated events to resurrect you, pitting us against each other in a timeless struggle? I've never met them, and I'm certainly no child of Zeus. Are you implying that our battle will be distorted into a Greek legend by a meddling time traveler?!” frantically asked the boy.
“No, no, you simpleton. This world contains synchronicities. In Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology, the war and hunting god Ninurta was celebrated for his deeds. The Angim credited him with slaying eleven monsters during an expedition to the mountains, including a seven-headed serpent, possibly identical to the Mushmahhu, and Bashmu, whose constellation was later associated with the Hydra by the Greeks. In Babylonian contexts, the Hydra's constellation is also linked to Marduk's dragon, the Mushhushshu.”
“Uhhh….” That shounen boy was dumbfounded.
"Hhm, I suppose calling it a time loop isn't technically wrong," Christian Rosencreutz began, his tone measured. "I'll break it down from history class and reconstruct it through the lens of the occult. Historic recurrence, young Gemstone, is the phenomenon of events echoing throughout time. Whether it's the rise and fall of empires or the repetitive cycles within a single society, it's all part of this grand plan that was decided when Adam ate the forbidden fruit."
The #7 with his guard up but curious listened: "So, history just keeps repeating itself? Just a series of coincidences?"
Christian Rosencreutz shook his head sagely. "There is no such thing as coincidences. Take, for instance, the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, pondered upon by thinkers like Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Nietzsche. While it's said that 'history repeats itself,' it's not quite that simple. Rather, these recurrences stem from identifiable circumstances and chains of causality."
He continued, his voice carrying the weight of centuries of philosophical debate. "Consider the phenomenon of multiple independent discoveries in science or the reproducible findings in natural and social sciences. These recurrences, whether in the form of rigorous experimentation or comparative research, are vital to our understanding of the world."
Christian Rosencreutz paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. "G.W. Trompf, in his seminal work, The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought, illustrates the recurring patterns of political thought and behavior since ancient times. Through these patterns, history offers us invaluable lessons, often leading to a sense of resonance or déjà vu."
Their words reverberated like a challenge to destiny itself, a testament to their unyielding determination in the face of adversity.
That Gemstone didn't surrender his characteristic fervor. "History echoing through time, huh? It's like the universe itself is stuck on repeat, and we're just caught in the cycle. But you know what? If history's gonna keep looping, then let's break the pattern! Let's smash through those chains of causality and forge our own path. Who cares about déjà vu? We'll create something entirely new, something that'll shake the very foundations of this world and we’ll do it with guts!!!" He defied that silver monster.
But Rosencreutz wasn't finished. He pulled out his Crystal World Map.
The supposedly old man listened intently to that boy's impassioned response, his expression inscrutable behind his clairvoyant card. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke.
“Gemstone, you speak of breaking free from the chains of repetition, of forging a new destiny against the backdrop of eternal return. It is a noble aspiration, indeed. However, consider this: eternal return is not merely a philosophical concept or a whimsical notion of fate. It is the very fabric of existence, woven into the nature of time itself.” He pressed his finger on the Miniature Garden and a 3D holographic projection flew out—
“In ancient times, the Stoics grappled with the idea, seeing in it both a sense of cosmic order and a challenge to individual agency. Augustine and others recoiled from its implications, fearing it as a negation of free will and salvation. And yet, Nietzsche, in his brilliance, dared to confront the concept anew, exploring its depths in the crucible of human consciousness.”
Didn't Aleister Crowley say that he had to shatter every single phase in order to eliminate the concept of fate?
“I will shatter every last phase and put an end to all mysticism. It can be helped and we need not restrain our tears and bite our lip when faced with tragedy. I will bring back the pure world in which everyone can feel anger like normal and question it all like normal!!”
And didn't Coronzon appear to break down all the phases including the Pure World?
Partial destruction would be meaningless. If anything remains and an eternal distortion is born from that, then it will all happen again. I will eliminate the ten spheres, the twenty-two pathways, and the hidden eleventh symbol. Collisions between phases? Sparks and spray? You cannot save anyone if you only treat those symptoms. All of the fundamental clogs must be removed. All so we can pass the baton to whoever comes next.”
“Sparks and Sprays…” Rosencreutz muttered.
“Eh?” The #7 didn't quite hear him.
"Beside time stands fate, cruelty's steadfast herald. In the silent chambers of the soul, whispers the most profound wisdom. Humanity, in its folly, neglected to exalt life's splendor, its radiance, its grandeur. Truly, it is a rare gift to comprehend the forces that shape our existence.” That magician spoke in despair.
“From the moment man ate the fruit of knowledge, he guaranteed your species’ failure... Entrusting his future to the whims of fate, man clutches to a flickering hope. Yet, within the Miniature Garden lies the key to all revelation. Beyond the well-trodden path lies the ultimate terminus. It matters not who you are; Death is the sole certainty awaiting all.” he finished with scorn.
Shokuhou Misaki was currently linked to Sogiita Gunha so she was overhearing the entire conversation.
“Are you okay, Leader?” asked Kamijou back at the hospital.
“Yeah…” she responded.
*“Really?” Mikoto breathed a white sigh. “It wasn’t the shock of seeing their school destroyed. Nor was it the fear of having those rioters attack. …They’re afraid of their own power. And after learning how exactly to use that power to survive, they’re not sure they can just switch it off and return to their normal lives. So their gears have ground to a halt.”
Tokiwadai Middle School was a prestigious esper development school.*
The young ladies registered there were Level 3 at the lowest and Level 5 at the highest.
Almost all of the students had a power that surpassed that of a blade or handgun if used properly, but something had become twisted.
Yes.
“A lot of them weren’t really sure why they were training their powers.”
Shokuhou breathed a white breath, wrapped her own arms around herself, and rubbed her thighs together.
Why are you studying?
How many people could give a proper answer to that question? Because my parents told me to, because my teachers taught me to, because that’s how the world works. Those would be most people’s answers. Even the students with a clear vision of their future would only have something vague like “for the entrance exams” or “for my future”.
Only a small handful would have specific puzzle pieces in mind, such as “I need to learn how to use this equation so I can build a rocket”.
The young ladies of Tokiwadai Middle School were the same.
What if the very gears that humans have…their actions, reactions, inactions were all the result of some transcendental entity hovering above.
Like God or The Devil watching over humanity’s reality sphere and ordering around his system like everyone was a pre-programmed NPC that had specific events occur to them to get them to develop in the way that they did and determined their genetic bloodline that composed their psyche?
Is there truly a free will?
It was said that in order for you to break out of the system of society that the working class was stuck in you had to climb to the top where the corrupt elites resided.
Imagine Breaker negated sparks, Aleister Crowley could see through the veil thanks to Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass, Great Demon Coronzon could always see the cogs.
Christian Rosencreutz could view the entire world through his Miniature Garden.
The rest of humanity was at the mercy of their own destinies.
A Guardian Angel wouldn't arrive to save a parent’s child from fate every single time.
"Okay, nice poetry, can we get back to fighting already?" asked the #7 impatiently.
"Seems I got carried away," the old man conceded with a nod. "The synchronicities of this world, akin to the astral configurations in astrology, serve as an example of synchronicity, according to Jung. It describes circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection, much like the parallel relationship between celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Synchronicity experiences entail subjective encounters where coincidences between events in one's mind and the external world may lack a clear causal link but still harbor an unknown connection.”
"Ah," Sogiita chimed in, recalling his philosophy class discussions. "We talked about synchronicity back then. Jung thought it was a good thing for the mind, but said it could get dicey in psychosis. He cooked up this theory as a kind of mental link between those meaningful coincidences, calling it a noncausal principle. This term came about in the late 1920s, and then he teamed up with physicist Wolfgang Pauli to dive deeper. Their work, The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche, dropped in 1952. They were big on this idea that these connections, even the ones that don't seem to have a cause, could still teach us a lot about how our minds and the world work."
“Mhm, you know more than you lead on, Gemstone.” pondered CRC.
“Oh this? My teachers say I'm not good at remembering speeches hahaha…” The #7 looked slightly nervous. “You know, analytical psychologists really push for folks to get what these experiences mean to boost their awareness instead of just feeding into superstitions. But funny thing is, when clients spill about their synchronicity experiences, they often feel like no one's really hearing them out, or getting where they're coming from. And hey, having a bunch of these meaningful coincidences flying around can sometimes ring the schizo bell. Delusions aren't healthy.”
Where was this conversation going?
"Delusion! Hah! That's a good one coming from you," CRC fired back.
"The real delusion is thinking humanity isn't worth a darn," Sogiita shot back, pulling out some info from Johansen and Osman. "Some scientists think coincidences are just random flukes, but counselors and psychoanalysts reckon there's more to it, like some deep-down stuff needing to come out. Unconscious material to be expressed."
Rosencreutz interjected, his expression reflecting a mix of confusion and concern. "Aleister Crowley's actions have left a lasting scar on this world and this city," he began, his voice weighted with solemnity. “The vacuum-like dichotomy between magic and science created by the use of that colossal psychotronic weapon, has damaged this world's memory almost irreparably.”
Psychotronic weapon?
The Archetype Controller?
He paused, his gaze piercing as he continued, "Jung's exploration of synchronicity as evidence of the paranormal paved the way for further inquiry, notably by Koestler and the subsequent embrace of these ideas by the New Age movement.”
Sogiita shrugged, "Some folks say synchronicity is impossible to test or prove, so it gets labeled as pseudoscience. Jung even acknowledged that these synchronicity events are basically just coincidences, statistically speaking. But hey, who's to say what's really going on without some solid scientific studies, right?"
"Dubious as his experiments may have been," CRC interrupted, "Jung believed in a connection between synchronicity and the paranormal, drawing parallels to the uncertainty principle and works by parapsychologist Joseph B. Rhine.” CRC posed a thought-provoking question, "How are we to recognize acausal combinations of events, since it is obviously impossible to examine all chance happenings for their causality? The answer lies in the fact that acausal events are most readily expected where a causal connection appears inconceivable upon closer reflection. It's impossible, with our current resources, to explain ESP or meaningful coincidences as mere phenomena of energy. This challenges the very notion of cause and effect, as these events occur simultaneously rather than in a linear cause-and-effect manner. Hence, I have coined the term 'synchronicity' to describe this phenomenon, placing it on equal footing with causality as a principle of explanation."
Getting closer to that Gemstone, CRC emphasized, "Esper abilities cannot be fully understood with science alone. They defy traditional cause-and-effect explanations, instead representing a convergence of factors that create a quantum phenomenon affecting both the micro and macro. Why were there the naturally gifted and the naturally ungifted?”
Why did some students get praised for their abilities while others needed to work harder?
Others among them would have worked every hour of their free time and not progressed anywhere in this city’s leveling curriculum.
Why did this city present such an unfair and unpredictable status quo of potential?
Why did hard work barely matter in a city of empirical evidence to record any possible progress?
Sogiita Gunha wasn't a normal Level 5 but he wasn't always this powerful. He went through the curriculum same as everyone but if the outside conditions for his Gemstone ability to manifest didn't form in the exact way that it did, in such an acausal form then would he even be here to challenge Christian Rosencreutz right now?
Everything just happened to fall right into place.
All those puzzle pieces that would lead to this moment here and now.
Was it all just talent? God picking a fool as his champion?
The #7 leaned back, absorbing CRC's words with a thoughtful expression. "So, what you're saying is, there's this whole other layer to reality that we can't quite wrap our heads around," he summarized, nodding slowly. "I mean, it's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands—slippery and elusive."
He chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Historic recurrence, synchronicities, all these things—they're like pieces of a puzzle scattered across this substantial reality. And sometimes, they just... click into place, right? It's like the universe has its own plan, and we're just along for the ride."
That bandana wearing boy's gaze drifted, lost in thought. "You know, CRC, it's funny," he remarked, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Here we are, with all our powers and potential, but at the end of the day, we're still grappling with the same questions as everyone else. Talent, destiny, divine intervention—maybe they're all just different sides of the same coin."
He shrugged, the weight of the philosophical musings settling over the broken city. "Who knows? Maybe God does have a sense of humor, after all.” that boy chuckled.
There was a deep silence between them.
Rosencreutz’ response was swift and resolute, his tone filled with certainty. "All this ‘universe has a plan’ banter is just a distraction from the inevitable," he declared, his eyes narrowing. "We can debate the nature of us being all-powerful yet struggling with mortal issues until the sun burns out, but it won't change the fact that our fate was sealed upon the knowledge Adam learned."
“To think so many trivialities have developed while this old man wasn’t watching. Heh heh. Then I should assume the thread of fate has again begun to weave its strange connections between myself and some unknown human.”
He rose forward, his movements purposeful. "It's time to put an end to this dance of platitudes," CRC continued, his voice cold and unwavering. "We'll settle this the only way that somewhat matters—through objective action in this grand play."
“Silence, preserved doll. Illusionists are meant to remain silent. That is all we magicians are: wielders of substanceless illusions. Opening your mouth serves only to break the illusion.”
With a flicker of resolve in his eyes, he locked gazes with the #7. "I am Hydra, Gemstone," he said, his voice carrying a hint of challenge. "Our battle ends now.” CRC opened both his palms and began shooting at their surroundings, the buildings, the pavement, the apartments, the rubble.
It probably wasn't random as it seemed to create a pattern.
“Huh are you getting senile old man?” asked the young Gemstone.
“What fun. I never imagined someone would bother diligently polishing their skills this far while knowing it is all essentially an illusion. Didn’t you ever feel silly going to the effort?”
Rosencreutz dropped to all fours, his rosy cross sword gripped tightly in his right hand.
He moved—
“Arrgh!” Sogiita yelled amidst the relentless and precise and precise strikes from that golden cross. “Old man?” he asked.
That magician didn't say anything.
That silver man’s movements became more beastly.
Faster.
Stronger.
Fiercer.
Something new was beginning to manifest.
With each strike of his higher dimensional blade that old man’s blows seemed infused with an otherworldly energy.
The wounds inflicted by his weapon burned with a venomous intensity, sending searing pain coursing through Sogiita's body.
That boy grimaced as the poison from that silver man’s strikes surged through his being, each wound feeling like it was ablaze with venomous fire.
"Damn... That burns…like a killer hornet’s sting," he muttered through clenched teeth, his voice strained with effort. Gritting, he fought to maintain his focus, despite the agony threatening to overwhelm him.
Was this another application of The Four Stages? Citrinitas? No, there was nothing yellow here, it was more like a dirty purple.
But it wasn't just the physical damage that posed a threat.
As the Rosy Cross leader leaped on all fours his movements took on an almost erratic quality, he was bouncing from one building to another with an animalistic agility.
With each jump, a shockwave rippled through the air, carrying with it a palpable sense of dread.
Something was spreading.
The air around them seemed to thicken with a toxic miasma. The #7 struggled to breathe, the noxious fumes clouding his senses.
Like a chaotic monster’s venomous poison breath.
The once-clear air now felt thick and suffocating.
Gasping for breath, the bandana boy struggled to maintain his focus amidst the swirling chaos.
His vision blurred, his movements sluggish as he fought against the oppressive atmosphere.
Blinded that heroic boy could only fire a flame arrow without his sight.
His fists striking out with all the strength he could muster. Igniting in that poisonous compressed air.
It seemed to be flammable like a dragon’s breath.
???
At the hospital, Shokuhou's voice carried a mix of surprise and relief. “He caused real damage.” she exclaimed.
Kamijou turned his attention to her, intrigued. “What happened?”
“It's hard to see clearly, but it looks like the #7 managed to blast off CRC's left arm,” she explained. “Though, I'd say it was more of a lucky shot. I can read he acted on pure instinct.”
Kamijou nodded, a hint of melancholy in his tone. “Yeah... the psychic link and all.”
Had the #7 Level 5 given up on the old man?
Back on the battlefield, Sogiita cursed under his breath. “Dammit... Sorry, old man,” he muttered. “I was aiming to hit your whole body to maximize the surface area, maybe break a few bones as a casualty. We can probably get your arm reattached at the hospital. Heaven Canceller has enough guts to even fix me.”
It was clear—he hadn't given up.
It was an accidental strike of his arm.
“As each ghastly head was severed from its serpentine form, dreadfully, two more writhed forth from the abyss.” a cryptic voice amidst the chaos spoke.
Wasn't it said that the Hydra’s lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid.
Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld.
The abyss.
The Ungrund.
There is no limit to the depth of the Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even Nero, who had ropes made several stades long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its depth. This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away.
The keeper of the gate to the Underworld that lay in the waters of Lerna was the Hydra.
The serpentine Lake Monster.
“Rosencreutz……?” The #7 muttered.
That magician chuckled ominously. "No, young Heracles, Hydra." he intoned, his voice echoing with a bizarre resonance. “The Lernaean Hydra's curse is upon you now.” as he said that he cut off a bit of his arm that was cuterarised with his golden blade and it began bleeding.
Anna Sprengel’s blood was said to create unknown miracles when spilled.
Christian Rosencreutz’ blood was so virulent that even its scent was deadly.
As Sogiita Gunha glanced at his severed arm lying on the ground, a creeping sense of horror enveloped him. "All of fate is a curse and that curse," he murmured, his words barely audible over the din of battle, "extends even to my severed limb.”
Christian Rosencreutz’ left arm grew back.
No.
Two new arms grew in its place.
The fate of chaoskampf? The hero battling the dragon?
The arm was fully functioning with no defects.
Although one of the arms appeared somewhat scaly and lanky like a serpent.
It had human anatomy but something was abnormal here.
He almost looked like a spider as he emerged from the poisonous fog as he remained on all fours.
“So short-stack. Are you ready to complete your final labor: Crossing the abyss!!!” He challenged that boy with his cross sword facing him.
"Boss, what's up? You look kinda stuck," Kamijou asked, his tone concerned.
Two students were sitting together in the waiting room at a hospital.
"—abyss, Hydra, curse, synchronicities, Historic recurrence." she replied, her words carrying a weight of unease.
"Huh? What? Can you give me the lowdown?" Kamijou prodded, his urgency evident.
"Can't quite wrap my head around it. But what I can tell you is that after CRC started talking about these esoteric concepts, he leveled up his power ability, managed to seriously hurt the #7 despite me cranking up all his stats for the win condition," the honey-blonde girl explained, frustration creeping into her voice.
"Can you beam all that stuff into my head, like a memory download? You're a psychological esper, right? My right hand won't mess with it, and we've done the telepathy thing before," Kamijou suggested.
"Memory download's not quite it, but I can send you a recording," she clarified.
"Got it," Kamijou muttered as he absorbed the info.
"You got any ideas to help the #7’s situation ability, Kamijou-san? We're kinda desperate here," she asked.
"I wish Index was still here, dammit.” he lamented, “But you know about magic, right?" he queried.
"Yeah, people converting their delusions into reality right?," she admitted.
"Well, magic's not just about delusions; it can be tied up to the whole world. Not sure if it's relevant, but based on Idol Theory, Rosencreutz might be pulling in 'energy’ from the Greek 'phase’ of Heracles for an edge," Kamijou theorized.
"Like a chessboard flip?" Shokuhou Misaki inquired, her brow furrowed with concern.
"No, more like... imagine you're playing checkers with a buddy, and you're totally crushing it because you're a checkers pro. Then suddenly, your buddy switches it up and challenges you to an arm wrestling match, and you lose because, well, arm wrestling isn't your forte," Kamijou Touma explained, trying to paint a vivid picture.
"So, by taking on the role of the Hydra from Greek myth, he's essentially forcing the #7 into the role of Heracles? But didn't Heracles defeat the Hydra?" Shokuhou sought clarification.
"Yeah, but..." Kamijou recalled the tale from the movies he'd seen. "Lichas gave Heracles a shirt soaked in the Hydra's poisonous blood from his arrows, which ends up killing him by tearing his flesh down to the bone," he elaborated.
"It was actually Nessus seeking vengeance and tricking Deianira into giving it to Heracles as a gift, delivered by Lichas without disclosing the tunic's lethal bloodstained secret from the Lernaean Hydra, but you're right," Shokuhou corrected gently. "So, Rosencreutz is harnessing the power of that legend to slowly poison the #7?"
"Not literal. I mean the poison is real but his slashes do significant harm now so it's more like shifting the paradigm in his favor…shifting his position.” The spiky-haired boy wasn't in the mood to explain Phases, “Earlier, he mentioned Sogiita spreading his 'virus' throughout the world. A virus isn't a poison in the traditional sense, but the Rosicrucians originally sought to create a universal cure for all illnesses. Now, CRC is spreading a literal poison, positioning himself as the ultimate predator and his opponents as prey rather than his savior role, the paradigm has been shifted." Kamijou concluded, his voice tinged with gravity.
“So he’s changed the environment to get the win condition? The #7’s durability doesn't matter in the face of the world being forced to go about a certain way because of Rosencreutz stage play?” The girl asked.
“Yeah…if things keep going this way…Sogiita will….goddamnit….” The spiky haired boy swore. “I can't let someone else die after all that's happened but I feel like if I go out there I really will kill him…” he muttered that last bit while clenching his right fist that began shaking uncontrollably.
The girl’s eyes seemed confused.
“What did you say?” The honey blonde middle schooler asked.
“Nothing, just mumbling to myself.” he spat out.
That boy and girl could never come to the right conclusion on their own without the aid of former Magic God Othinus by their side.
“Did you think I had challenged you with no hope of succeeding, you cesspool? The magic born on earth is bound by the directions based on the earth’s magnetic field and by the density and composition of the air which is determined by air pressure which is in turn influenced by gravity. That is inevitable when you are focused on the cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west or on the basic elements of fire, water, wind, and earth. But what you will find upon leaving the atmosphere is an unknown. Coronzon, are you sure there will be no malfunction in the magic giving you control of Avatar Lola? And before, my power was bound by the puny speck named earth which failed to become a black hole or even a sun, but once we enter outer space, just how far do you think that power will be released? I do not mind at all that I will lose the support of Academy City.”
Well the boy was half right.
“Let us test it out, you cuspidor. On one side, we have you using the planet and bound to an avatar. On the other, we have me exposed and freed from the planet. Now, who will be the star of this show?”
Christian Rosencreutz did not shoot at his surroundings for no reason.
The battlefield transformed into Rosencreutz's canvas, resembling the legendary battleground of Lerna where Heracles once clashed with the Hydra.
Yes.
He didn't unleash his powers randomly; every action was deliberate.
In the magical side of Idol Theory, mimicking an object, event, or person allowed one to tap into a fraction of its power.
And that even applied to locations that essentially worked as stage plays.
Idol Theory was so absolute that even the basic cross held a portion of the son of God’s power.
As Above, So Below.
As Below, So Above.
Macro to micro.
Micro to macro.
And the macrocosm and the microcosm are always linked.

On the Left is the regular diecut, on the right is the error

Just spent the last several hours writing this for myself in preparation for teaching Sunday School this upcoming Sunday. Thought I'd share it here too for anyone interested. (I didn't cite my outside sources, besides scriptures, because I was just writing these notes for myself. But it pulls from various places of research that I can point you to if interested, especially from Scripture Central.)

Mosiah 11-17: Abinadi

Abinadi has a tremendous impact on the rest of the Book of Mormon and the religious history of the Nephites and Lamanites. He converted Alma the Elder, whose personal ministry and the ministries of his descendants (Alma the Younger, Helaman, Shiblon, Corianton, Helaman II, Nephi II, Lehi, Nephi III, Timothy, Jonas, Nephi IV, Amos the Elder, Amos the Younger, Ammaron) convert 1000s to the gospel, and lead the Church all the way to the visitation of Christ to the Americas and afterwards until Mormon.
In the order it is presented (shortly after Mosiah 1-6), we see a direct parallel between:

• King Benjamin (reign ended in 130 BC) of Zarahemla as a righteous king who labored with his own hands (and not off the work of his people) and taught them in the ways of righteousness; and
• King Noah (died sometime between 145-122 BC) of Shilom as a wicked king who exploited labor and wealth from his people and taught them wickedness.

Mormon, when abridging the Record of Zeniff, frames the story of King Noah of Shilom and Abinadi specifically as a parallel to Pharaoh of Egypt (another wicked king) and Moses.

Mosiah 11:1-19

Pharaoh & Moses	Noah & Abinadi
Pharaoh, as a new king, moves away from the traditions of his father (Ex. 1:8)	King Noah does not walk in the ways of his father (Mosiah 11:1-2)
Pharaoh subjects the Jews (Ex. 1:13-14)	King Noah subjects his people (Mosiah 11:1-15)
Pharaoh installs wise men and sorcerers (Ex. 7:11)	King Noah installs wicked priests (Mosiah 11:5)

Note that the emphasis of "one fifth part" in v. 3 is repeated five times: an instance of "thematic repetition", a Hebraism that is meant to emphasize a specific theme. In this case, it emphasizes the heaviness of the burden placed on the people that this 20% net worth tax represented.
According to the Law of Moses, there was only supposed to be one high priest (Leviticus 21:10). However, v. 11 says that Noah had consecrated "high priests"; he was abusing and corrupting the Law of Moses for his benefit and the benefit of his friends.

Mosiah 11:20-25

Abinadi, "a man among them" (someone who lived among them), then comes forth to prophesy and preach against the people. He has clearly, with direction from the Lord, prepared a specific statement that is supposed to preached. This preparation is evident in its chiasmic form:

• A. Behold, thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me, saying, Go forth, and say unto this people, thus saith the Lord—Wo be unto this people,
  • B. for I have seen their abominations, and their wickedness, and their whoredoms;
    • C. and except they repent I will visit them in mine anger.
      • D. And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God,
        • E. behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies;
        • E. and none shall deliver them,
      • D. except it be the Lord the Almighty God.
    • C. Yea, and it shall come to pass that when they shall cry unto me I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I will suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies. And except they repent in sackcloth and ashes, and cry mightily to the Lord their God,
  • B. I will not hear their prayers, neither will I deliver them out of their afflictions;
• A. and thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me.

The beginning and end of his message are also filled with prophetic speech forms common throughout the Old Testament and recognized by those familiar with Hebrew culture or descending from Hebrew culture (like the people of Shilom):

• "Thus saith the Lord" (Messenger Form)
• "Thus hath he commanded me, saying" (Revelation Form)
• "Go forth, and say unto this people, thus saith the Lord" (Messenger Form)
• "Wo be unto this people" (Woe Oracle)

After this initial message is delivered, we then see more parallels (purposely framed by the abridger, Mormon) between Moses and Abinadi:

Pharaoh & Moses	Noah & Abinadi
Moses initially flees for his life since Pharaoh seeks to slay him (Ex. 2:15)	Abinadi initially escapes when the people and King Noah seek to slay him (Ex. Mosiah 11:26,28)
Pharaoh rejects the Lord's authority, saying, "Who is the Lord..." (Ex. 5:2)	King Noah rejects the Lord's authority, saying, "Who is the Lord..."
Pharaoh hardens his heart (Ex. 7:13, JST)	King Noah hardens his heart (Mosiah 11:29)
Moses is commanded by the Lord to return from exile and preach to Pharaoh (Ex. 7:1-2)	Abinadi is commanded to return from exile and preach to the people (Mosiah 12:1)

Mosiah 12:1-17

After two years, Abinadi returns to the city by commandment of the Lord to preach unto the people. There is a possibility that he returned to preach specifically at the celebration of Pentecost. The Pentecost was, prior to the New Testament, a Jewish yearly celebration of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the chidlren of Israel. Such a gathering would have given Abinadi an audience for his preaching, and its themes align with the themes of Abinadi's message (as we will see).
We start by illustrating more parallels between Moses and Abinadi:

Pharaoh & Moses	Noah & Abinadi
Upon returning to Pharoah, Moses prophesies of and delivers a series of plagues (including famine, pestilence, hail, fire, insects) unless Pharaoh repents (Ex. 7-10)	Upon returning to Shilom, Abinadi prophesies of a series of plagues (including famine, pestilence, hail, fire, insects) unless the people repent (Mosiah 12:1-8)
Because of the afflictions, Pharoah will eventually acknowledge the Lord (Ex. 7:5,17)	Because of the afflictions, King Noah will eventually acknowledge the Lord (Mosiah 12:3)
Moses challenges the wise men and sorcerers of Pharaoh (Ex. 7:8-12)	Abinadi challenges the wicked priests of King Noah (Mosiah 12:25-29)

Again, this language is filled with strong prophetic speech forms, this time a Hebraism known as the "simile curse": * "the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace" (v. 3) * "thou shalt be as a stalk, even as a dry stalk of the field, which is run over by the beasts and trodden under foot" (v. 11) * "thou shalt be as the blossoms of a thistle, which, when it is fully ripe, if the wind bloweth, it is driven forth upon the face of the land" (v. 12)
When the people bind Abinadi and take him before the king, they tell King Noah about all of the curses–including a prophesy of their future bondage–Abinadi has placed upon King Noah and the people if they do not repent. In justifying their iniquities and dismissing Abinadi's charges, they say, "And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain. And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou has prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper" (Mosiah 12:15).
They are citing (and misapplying) as justification the promise that Lehi received from the Lord: "Inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever" (2 Nephi 1:9). Remember, the people of Limhi (this people living in Shilom) left Zarahemla and returned to the land of the first inheritance, where Nephi landed–they see themselves as the inheritors of Lehi's promise.
The Lord's promise is that if the people together are righteous, then they as a people together shall prosper. However, these people speaking to Noah apply it individually to Noah, essentially saying, "If you personally have prospered, according to this promise of the Lord, then you personally must be righteous. Thus, according to the previous promises of the Lord, there is no way we can be led into bondage and Abinadi must be lying." Not only is this a misapplication of logic (A implying B does not necessarily mean that B implies A), it is a misunderstanding of the blessing: the Lord's promise was not about individuals (since sometimes righteous individuals are poor), but about societies that will be collectively righteous.
(Note that I'm not saying the Lord doesn't also prosper righteous individuals; this happens sometimes too. I'm saying that Lehi's promise was to his descendants as a people, to the Nephites and/or Lamanites as a society, not to Lehi or Nephi specifically.)
In contrast, extreme wealth inequality and the prospering of only a few individuals in a society–like that seen under King Noah–is actually a sign of wickedness (as preached by many Old Testament, Book of Mormon, and New Testament prophets).

Mosiah 12:18 - 13:26

Just as Moses challenged the power, knowledge, and authority of the wise men and sorcerers of Pharaoh, Abinadi directly challenges the power, knowledge, and authority of the wicked priests of King Noah.
The ordeal is started when, after being imprisoned for his prophecies against the people, the priests of King Noah tell the king to bring Abinadi before him so that they may question him. Their questioning starts by quoting Isaiah 52:7-10 to Abinadi, and asking him what those words mean:
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth;
Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion;
Break forth into joy; sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem;
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God?"
Why these words? The people of Zeniff (the generation before the people of King Noah) left the land of Zarahemla to return back up to the land of Nephi – Shilom was in the mountains and hills, as compared to where they had lived before. In essence, these wicked priests were saying, "Why are you preaching that we are a wicked people when the scriptures call our feet beautiful? We are preaching good tidings unto the people – we teach them the law of Moses. Why all of this doom-and-gloom that you preach? You are clearly in the wrong for calling us to repentance."
Abinadi then begins his challenge: "Are you priests, and pretend to teach this people, and to understand the spirit of prophesying, and yet desire to know of me what these things mean?" (12:25). This then becomes the theme of his challenge to them: the priests do not understand the scriptures, especially the Law of Moses, and Abinadi is going to explain the scriptures and the law of Moses to them.
He asks them, "What teach ye this people?" (12:27).
They answer, "The Law of Moses" (12:28). Again, Moses and the law given to him are a theme of this interaction between Abinadi and the priests of King Noah. In total, the name "Moses" is used 16 times from Mosiah 12:28-16:15, 15 of which are by Abinadi and 1 of which is by the abridger, Mormon.
Abinadi replies, "If ye teach the law of Moses, why do ye not keep it?" (12:29) and then proceeds to list their sins, especially pride, wealth-seeking, sexual immorality, and leading the people astray.
Abinadi then challenges them again: "And what know ye concerning the law of Moses? Doth salvation come by the law of Moses? What say ye?" (12:31).
The priests respond that salvation does come by the law of Moses.
Abinadi then says, "I know if ye keep the commandments of God ye shall be saved; yea, if ye keep the commandments which the Lord delivered unto Moses in the mount of Sinai, saying..." (12:33) and then quotes two of the Ten Commandments. If Abinadi came at the time of Pentecost, then this is the exact occasion these people are celebrating: the time when the Lord delivered unto Moses the commandments at Sinai. Thus, Abinadi would be referencing the festival, in essence, saying, "Don't you remember the whole point of this party you are throwing right now? You are forgetting why we have this festival in the first place."
The king then, being angry with Abinadi, tells his priests to slay Abinadi, but Abinadi withstands them, saying, "Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver; neither have I told you that which ye requested that I should tell [referring to the requested interpretation of Isaiah 52:7-10]; therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time" (13:3).
Then, Mormon records that "the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on [Abinadi], for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with exceeding luster, even as Moses' did while in the mount of Sinai, while speaking with the Lord" (13:5). (Again, this is a powerful and divine reference to the events being celebrated at the Pentecost festival. Now, it isn't just Abinadi or Mormon drawing the parallels to Moses: God Himself, by resting that light upon Abinadi, is writing the parallel.)
And with power and authority, he then reads to them "the remainder of the [ten] commandments of God". The Ten Commandments "are not written in [the priests'] hearts", because instead of studying and teaching the scriptures as they ought to have been, they "have studied and taught iniquity the most part of [their] lives" (13:11).
Once more, we see more parallels between Moses and Abinadi:

Pharaoh & Moses	Noah & Abinadi
Moses' face shines when he came down from Sinai with the two tables of testimony from the Lord for the people of Israel (Ex. 34:29-30)	Abinadi's face shines as he delivers his message to King Noah and his priests (Mosiah 13:5)
The people of Israel are afraid to approach Moses because his face shines (Ex. 34:30)	The priests of King Noah are afraid to lay their hands on him because of his words and because his face shines (Mosiah 13:5)
Moses delivers the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20, 34)	Abinadi delivers the Ten Commandments (Mosiah 12:35-36, 13:12-24)
Moses speaks to a stiff-necked people (Ex. 32:9)	Abinadi speaks to a stiff-necked people (Mosiah 13:29)

Abinadi finishes delivering the Ten Commandments by saying, "Have ye taught this people that they should observe to do all these things for to keep these commandments? I say unto you, Nay" (13:25-26).

Mosiah 13:27-35

Abinadi then starts to lay the seeds that connect the law of Moses (and perhaps the Pentecost festival) and the passages from Isaiah he was asked about earlier. After reciting to them the Law of Moses, he reminds the priests of their earlier statement that salvation comes by the law of Moses:
"And now ye have said that salvation cometh by the law of Moses [part of which he just read to them]; I say unto you that it is expedient that ye should keep the law of Moses as yet; but I say unto you that the time shall come when it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses.
And moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses" (13:27-28)
In addition to the Ten Commandments, the Law of Moses required a series of strict ordinances, rituals, and observances that had to be kept strictly. One of these was the atonement sacrifice: a person would present a sacrificial animal, one without blemish, to be killed; the animal symbolically took the sins of the person and was killed on their behalf, reconciling the individual back to Jehovah. The person made an atonement sacrifice.
Therefore, Abinadi is saying that this strict law means nothing, unless God Himself offers an atoning sacrifice, something that is so great it will cover the sins of all his people, not just one person and not just for one sin but for all sins.
In Abinadi's words, the law of Moses and all its ordinances "were types of things to come" (13:31): they were a symbol pointing forward to the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
He then says that the children of Israel and the Jews in Jerusalem did also not understand the law "and this because of the hardness of their hearts" (13:32), implying that the priests of King Noah also do not understand the Law of Moses.
"For behold, did not Moses prophecy unto them concerning the coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people? Yea, and even all the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began–have they not spoken more or less concerning these things?
Have they not said that God himself should come down amng the children of men, and take upon him the form of man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth?
Yea, and have they not said also that he should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, and that he, himself, should be oppressed and afflicted?" (13:33-35).

Mosiah 14 - 15:31

Now Abinadi starts to turn back more directly to answer the previous question posed by the priests concerning the meaning of Isaiah 52:7-10. Of course, what is a great technique for understanding a passage? You look at its context. So, what does Abinadi do to explain the meaning of Isaiah 52? He recites to them the content of Isaiah 53, a Messianic prophecy:
"Yea, even doth not Isaiah say: Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no evil, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Mosiah 14)
He then, in beautiful language, explains Isaiah 53 by:

• expounding on the relationship between the Father and the Son (15:1-5);
• explaining that the Son will be, as Isaiah said, oppressed and afflicted (15:5) and led "as a sheep before the shearer is dumb so he opened not his mouth" (15:6) and slain (15:7) so that death and iniquity may be defeated.

He then, echoing the words of Isaiah in Chapter 53, asks, "Who shall declare his generation?" and answers his own question and, simultaneously, the priests' question concerning Isaiah 52:
"All the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord... all those who have hearkened unto their words, and beleived that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins... the prophets, every one that has opened his mouth to prophesy, that has not fallen into transgression, I mean all the holy prophets ever since the world began...
These are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!
And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!
And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!
And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever!
And behold, I say unto you, this is not all. For O how beautiful upon the mountains are **the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people" (Mosiah 15:11-18).
In other words, Abinadi is refuting their interpretation of Isaiah 52: these verses aren't about them; they are about Christ and all those who preach and follow Christ.
He then expounds on what "the salvation of our God" (Isaiah 52:10) actually is: that Christ "has broken the bands of death" (Mosiah 15:23) and "all those that have believed in [the words of the prophets], or all those that have kept the commandments of God, shall come forth in the first resurrection" (Mosiah 15:22).
But, salvation does not come to those "that rebel against him and die in their sins", those "that have wilfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part int the first resurrection" (15:26); in other words, the exact type of people that King Noah and his priests are: people who know the law and who should know better. This is why Abinadi then challenges them and says, "Therefore ought ye not to tremble?" because they know, as he does, that they are wilfully rebelling against God.
Then, to tie it all back together, he connects his words to Isaiah 52:8-10:
"...the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
Yea, Lord, thy watchmen shall lift up their voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Mosiah 15:28-31)

Mosiah 16:1-15

After quoting to them again the words of Isaiah 52, he repeats the last idea of Isaiah's words to them:
"The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just." (16:2)
He then expounds upon the state of the wicked after death, teaches the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the necessity of the Redemption and Resurrection of Christ; that is, he concludes his challenge and sermon to the priests by teaching them the Plan of Salvation.
A defining feature of this sermon is that Abinadi speaks "of things to come as though they had already come" (16:6); that is, he speaks in the present or past tense about future events (e.g., the redemption, the resurrection, etc.). This is another powerful Hebraic prophetic speech form, known as the "prophetic perfect tense"; it is used by many Old Testament prophets when they speak of future events. Why? Because having received revelation concerning those events, their faith and knowledge of such events is as plain as if it already has happened to them. To them, Jesus might as well have already come, that is how real His Atonement is to them. That aspect of the future is just as matter of fact as the present or past.
Finally, Abinadi ties it all back together to the big theme: the priests do not understand, teach, or live according to the Law of Moses, and unless they repent, they will not be saved by the redemption of Christ.
"And now, ought ye not to tremble and repent of your sins, and remember that only in and through Christ ye can be saved?
Therefore, if ye teach the law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of those things which are to come–
Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen." (16:13-15)

Mosiah 17:1-20

Abinadi's sermon has a lasting impact on one of the high priests, Alma, who believes Abinadi's words and pleads with the king to not be angry with Abinadi and let him depart in peace. (Again, the impact of Abinadi's sermon cannot be understated: Alma becomes the righteous leader of the Church, authorized with the priesthood to perform ordinances and set apart other leaders in the Church. His descendants are consistently those that lead the Nephites in the ways of the Lord until and after the coming of Christ.)
King Noah casts out Alma, who flees so that he will not be slain. It is because of Alma that we have this record of Abinadi at all, as he is the one who "did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken" (17:4).
King Noah then casts Abinadi into prison (seeing as how he had finished his message) for three days. (Notably, the length of the Pentecost Festival is also three days.)
After counseling with his priests, King Noah has Abinadi brought before them to stand trial. The priests have found a way, under the Law of Moses, to condemn Abinadi to death: they accuse him of blasphemy, which, under the Law of Moses, is punishable by death (Leviticus 24:11-16).
"Abinadi, we have found an accusation against thee, and thou art worthy of death. For thou hast said that God himself should come down among the children of men; and now, for this cause thou shalt be put to death unless thou wilt recall all the words which thou hast spoken evil concerning me and my people." (17:7-8)
Notice that the condition of Abinadi's acquittal is not that he repeal the words he said about God; the priests don't actually care about that trumped up charge. They instead care about the curses he has placed on them and prophesied of them, that they will be scourged, and plagued, and burned, etc. The ancient people took curses very seriously, and if Abinadi had the power to place a curse, only he could repeal it.
He refutes them once more: "I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you, concerning this people, for they are true; and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands. Yea, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you. And if ye slay me ye will shed innocent blood, and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day" (17:9-10).
This strikes fear into the heart of King Noah. He knows that the charges of blasphemy are false, and that if he goes through with this, it will be murder, "for he feared that the judgments of God would come upon him" (17:11).
However, the priests then quickly come up with another charge: "He has reviled the king" (17:12). This is the charge they will put him to death for, for speaking ill of the king. And King Noah acquiesces, is stirred up in anger against Abinadi and orders him to be killed.
The priests then take Abinadi, bind him, scourge him with faggots (bundles of wood to be burned), and scorch him with fire. Notice here, once more, the references to the story of Moses: because Abinadi preached to them using the Law of Moses, and shone like Moses, and spoke of Moses to testify of their iniquities, (and all possibly during the Pentecost celebration) they place him in a burning bush.
As the flames scorch him, Abinadi solidifies the curse and prophesies that, just as he is killed, so will the king die too: "And in that day ye shall be hunted, and ye shall be taken by the hand of your enemies, and then ye shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire" (17:18). This prophesy later comes true, as King Noah is hunted and burned "unto death by fire" (Mosiah 19:20). This represents the final comparison between Moses' story and Abinadi's story:

Pharaoh & Moses	Noah & Abinadi
Just as Pharaoh had the sons of the Hebrews cast into the river to drown (Ex. 1:22), he and his army drowned in the depths of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:27-8).	Just as King Noah burned Abinadi alive (Mosiah 17:14-20), he was killed through death by fire (Mosiah 19:20).

Abinadi then exclaims, "O God, receive my soul," and dies, "because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death" (Mosiah 17:20).

Abinadi: A Type and Shadow himself of Christ

Abinadi preached that the Law of Moses was a type and shadow of Christ. It's not hard to see that Abinadi's own death was also a type and shadow of Christ:

Abinadi's death	Christ's death
Abinadi testified to the wicked high priests of Shilom of their iniquities.	Christ testified to the wicked priests of the Jews of their iniqiuities.
Abinadi is placed on trial and accused of blasphemy for preaching that God would come down among the children of men.	Christ is placed on trial and accused of blapshemy for preaching that He is God, and He came down among the children of men.
Abinadi is almost released by King Noah, out of fear of the consequences.	Christ is almost released by Pilate, out of fear of the consequences.
The priests convinced King Noah to kill him anyways.	The people (and priests in particular) convinced Pilate to deliver Christ to be killed.
Abinadi is scourged and beaten prior to his death.	Christ is scourged and beaten prior to his death.
Abinadi seals the truth of his words by his death.	Christ seals the truth of his words by his death (Hebrews 9:16-17).

First of all, yes, her kit is decent. but being "decent" isn't good enough anymore when you have "broken".
Hoyo isn't afraid of making her bad, because they know we will pull for her anyways. In fact, I think Hoyo will try to make her kit bad just for them to sell the solution later (probably a support with a mix of HMC and RM's kit). That is just bad character design principle, and I don't want that to happen.
Take a look at Acheron. Her kit is so broken you can basically bruteforce any content currently in the game with her. And her team comp isn't as restricted as firefly's. Granted, at E0 her team comp is somewhat restricted, but not to the point that only one team comp exist. Even then, her E2 enables a lot more team combination. Meanwhile firefly, even at E6, still only has one strong team comp.
Then there's Boothill. While he's not broken, he's still a pretty decent damage dealer. From what I see, he's able to deal damage around 500k-700k on weakness break with enhanced basic attack. Even without break, his kit seems to be pretty decent, able to hit 60/200 crit easily thanks to his trace while maintaining around 400% break effect without Harmony MC or Ruan Mei. While Boothill is break oriented, this is pretty much what I would expect of a hybrid character, unlike firefly's kit.

Problem with Firefly's kit

To me, it seems like the devs wanted her kit to be a hybrid, but doesn't know what to do. This is supported by two reasons:
First, she needs a lot of ATK, yet all of that ATK is useless on break builds. Break damage does not scale on ATK (See the wiki or Guoba's post), so I don't know why they have this trace on her. She also needs a lot of break effect, making her build priority being break effect > ATK > speed, and not allowing her to build crit.
Second, her enhanced skill has a huge damage multiplier, yet again is mostly useless on break builds. Her enhanced skill deals 400%/200% damage on primary/secondary targets hit, up to 580%/290% with 360% break effect. Now usually, destruction characters (or blast type attacks) only deals damage at around 300%/150%. 400% is on a level of hunt character's ultimate damage. While her damage multiplier is huge, it is useless if you can't build crit on her, resulting in only 30k-40k damage on her enhanced skill.
And for those of you who thinks that we should build her as either break build or crit build, I need to tell you something:
It does not have to be mutually exclusive, and boothill is the proof of that.

What could be improved on her kit

(Do note that this is just a bullet point on what could be improved, and while some of them can work together, some are mutually exclusive. Do also note that the numbers are pretty much arbitrary and you can put any number you think is good yourself. Do tell me if you have other ideas or what improvements should work together)
There are several improvements that I think is possible on her:

• Instead of ATK -> BE, change the trace to BE -> ATK

"For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2400.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%." -> "For every 10% break effect, increase SAM's ATK by 6%, up to 250% break effect" or something like that.
This change allows her to forgo ATK entirely. With ATK not a problem anymore, she can freely build crits for her kit.

• Change her effect RES trace to crit rate or ATK traces

I'm personally not a big fan of non-damage related traces on damage dealers. I think should change it to crit rate traces, or if it's too powerful, ATK traces could also work. This also adds value to her E4 a bit, if you're looking to get that.

• Decrease her BE requirement for DEF ignore trace

"If SAM is in Complete Combustion with a Break Effect that is 250.0%/360.0% or higher, additionally ignores 30.0%/40.0% of the target's DEF when attacking." -> "During Ult, If BE is higher than 150%/250%, gain 30%/40% DEF ignore."
This allows her to further build her stats for a hybrid build.

• Add increase crit on her kit

We could add boothill's trace effect into her kit. Probably something like "During ult, increase her crit by 20%/100% crit rate/crit damage."

• Increase her toughness damage

If they really want her to synergize with super break, might as well increase her base toughness damage on her enhanced skill. I believe right now she has 90/45 base toughness damage on her enhanced skill with primary/secondary target, and granted, that is pretty big already.
But for comparison, boothill has 60 base toughness damage on enhanced basic attack, with 150 total toughness damage on max stack trickshot. Gallagher, which is a sustain, has 30 AoE base toughness damage on ult, and 90 on enhanced basic attack.
Most elites have 300 toughness or above, and most bosses have 360 toughness or above. Therefore I think it's still fair for her to have 120/60 base toughness damage. That way, with all buffs considered, she's going to deal around 240 toughness damage on primary target. This will prevent her from losing turns on her ult to reducing enemy toughness.
Or at the very least, increase the weakness break efficiency on her ult to 100%.

• Make her enchanced skill deal break damage outside of break

This is pretty counterintuitive for weakness break mechanic, so I'm going to put it in a "I don't want this, but it's possible" category.
Since her skill damage multiplier is already high enough, they can do something like "A percentage of this skill's damage is considered as break DMG.", though I don't know how to calculate this as break DMG. Perhaps instead of level multiplier in regular break DMG, it is replaced by the skill's damage.

• Rework her BiS relic's DEF ignore

Not really related to her, but I think 18% DEF ignore on break damage isn't good enough. We already have quantum set that gives 10% DEF ignore just by existing, and 20% for quantum weak enemies. Prisoner set also has an easy requirement, 18% when there's 3 DoT on enemy. I think it's should be either 10%/18% DEF ignore on all attack, or 15%/24% DEF ignore on break damage.

What I think is good for her kit

Currently I have two separate ideas on what changes is the best for her kit. One is for Hybrid build, and one for break build. Here's the changes:

• Changes for hybrid build

1. Rework trace "For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2400.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%." -> "For every 10% break effect, increase SAM's ATK by 6%, up to 250% break effect"
2. Rework trace "If SAM is in Complete Combustion with a Break Effect that is 250.0%/360.0% or higher, additionally ignores 30.0%/40.0% of the target's DEF when attacking." -> "During Complete Combustion, if SAM's Break Effect is 250.0% or higher, additionally ignores 40.0% of the target's DEF when attacking. Furthermore, If SAM's Break Effect is 360.0% or higher, Increases SAM's weakness break efficiency by 100%."
3. Effect RES trace -> Crit rate trace
4. Rework Ultimate "Upon entering the Complete Combustion state, ..., increases SAM's Weakness Break efficiency by 50%" -> "Upon entering the Complete Combustion state, ..., increase SAM's crit rate and crit damage by 20%/100%."
5. Change Enhanced skill "Deals Fire DMG equal to 0.5 × Break Effect + 400% of SAM's ATK to the target enemy. At the same time, deals Fire DMG equal to 0.25 × Break Effect + 200% of SAM's ATK to adjacent enemies. A maximum of 360% Break Effect is calculated." -> "Deals Fire DMG equal to 0.4 × Break Effect + 400% of SAM's ATK to the target enemy. At the same time, deals Fire DMG equal to 0.2 × Break Effect + 200% of SAM's ATK to adjacent enemies. A maximum of 250% Break Effect is calculated."

I think this is the best changes for her, since players will have an easier time building her kit. With this, you could also run break firefly with decent damage on her skill. Though this number is probably still too overpowered, so you can balance it a bit more for a better hybrid kit.
One of the problem is that this kit is pretty similar to boothill's, and I really don't want her to be just a destruction boothill. So I made a second changes for her break build.

• Changes for break build

1. Increase enhanced skill's toughness damage to 120/60
2. Effect RES trace -> ATK trace
3. Change trace "For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2400.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%." -> "For every 100.0 of SAM's ATK that exceeds 2000.0, increases SAM's Break Effect by 6.0%, up to a maximum increase of 60.0%."
4. Change trace "While in Complete Combustion, attacking enemies without Fire Weakness can also reduce Toughness by an amount equal to 55.0% of the original ability's Toughness Reduction." -> "While in Complete Combustion, attacking enemies without Fire Weakness or weakness protected enemies can also reduce Toughness by an amount equal to 75.0% of the original ability's Toughness Reduction."
5. (optional) Change BiS Relic effect "If the wearer's Break Effect is 150.0%/250.0% or higher, ignores 15.0%/24.0% of the enemy target's DEF when dealing Break DMG to them."
6. (optional) Change E6 "While in Complete Combustion, increases SAM's Fire RES PEN by 12.0%. When using the Enhanced Basic ATK or Enhanced Skill, increases the Weakness Break efficiency by 50.0%." -> "While in Complete Combustion, increases SAM's Fire RES PEN by 24.0%. When using the Enhanced Basic ATK or Enhanced Skill, increases the Weakness Break efficiency by 100.0%."

If they wanted firefly to be a break character, then I think this is the best changes for her. Though compared to my changes for hybrid build, I think this is still too underpowered, so again, adjust the numbers as you see fit.
Though, this kit still doesn't remove her reliance of super break, since regular break damage doesn't scale off character's toughness damage. At the very least, if she's going to rely on super break that much, her high toughness damage is going to give her a lot of damage.
So, what do you think? Do you think her current kit is good? what changes would you like to see in her kit?
Repost: Goddammit I got a typo on the title

I know the consensus is that decaf tea is not nearly as good. I have heart problems that limit the caffeine intake I can have(a chocolate bar is fine, a coffee is not) so I have been hunting.
I have never done gong fu style but I have a set coming this Friday with an electric kettle and some tea pets. I’m all in!
I have some decaf green tea bags now and I like them fine, but I just ordered decaf Jasmine Green Tea, Premium Green Tea as well as a rooibos from Arbor Teas. (For reference https://www.arborteas.com/organic-decaf-premium-green-tea.html )
The description sounds promising, I’ve been reading about the CO2 method for decafinating tea, and I’m excited to try! I’ll gladly report back, but as I am new to teas and don’t have a great reference due to not being able to drink full caf, I’m curious if any seasoned vets have tried this blend and can vouch for it in comparison to a similar style full caffeinated green? Mahalo

Resolution! To that lil' cliffhanger I left off on last time. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy! : )
Move?
Don’t move?
Run?
Scream?
Gareth didn’t know what to do. He suddenly realized that that the forest around him had gone very quiet. In fact the only sounds were the burbling river and the crack-hiss of the open fire.
Oh Lumin, quiet…
Understanding bloomed. Quiet was bad because the life that’s evolved in this environment can easily recognize a threat and go into hiding. The information shot through his mind at a million miles an hour, not that it was much use anymore.
The creature seemed poised to strike but sat as still as he was. What was it doing? It had him dead to rights. The ambush was perfect. There was nothing he could do. He certainly wasn’t faster than it. He had no means of fighting it off. Even his biosuit would do little against such sharp teeth. At most it would buy him a few more seconds of agony.
Pen.
His companion came to mind in a flash. Perhaps he should scream. Fleeting was the hope of her saving his life, again. More than that he thought of her own safety. If shouting wouldn’t save his own life, he could at least warn her of the danger. He might give her the advantage of not being ambushed.
Its eyes moved, then its ears. The glowing spheres shot upward, locking onto something behind Gareth. Its ears twitched, aligning to more perfectly take in sound from wherever its eyes were peering.
A voice, as beautiful a voice as he ever did hear, came from behind him. Pen’s voice. She was closer to the fire than to him but still only about fifteen or twenty feet away.
“Look it in the eye. Don’t shake or yell. Just look it in the eye and back away slowly. Don’t turn. Don’t run. Move slowly and deliberately.”
How am I supposed to see where I’m going? What if I fall? Does it even recognize my eyes as eyes? What…
Gareth silenced the questions and did as he was instructed. He magnetized his gaze onto it praying for kind dawns. Slowly he tore his body from its frozen state and began to move. It was awkward. His legs weren’t built for such movement but he managed.
The creature’s eyes shot back to him. White hot fear ripped through him. The urge to freeze again was as intense as anything he’d ever felt but he forced it down, overwriting instinct with logic. Any field has its experts. In situations that deal with said field, you listen to the expert. Specialization. Pen was the expert in this field. Do what she says.
It twitched forward, teeth bared.
“AY!” Pen roared so loud it almost hurt.
The creature jumped back. Its attention shot back to Pen. Gareth kept backing up. Ten feet to where she’d originally been but she’d moved forward. She was right behind him now. A graceful, reassuring hand came to rest on where a shoulder might have been had he had one. He brought a hand of his own up to hers, an attempt to reinforce his increasingly shaking legs.
The thing still sat poised and ready. Watching them. Its glowing eyes darted between them.
“Uhm what now.” Gareth whispered.
“Behind. Me.”
Without breaking her locked gaze on the wolf, she used her hand to push him gently but firmly around her right side. She took another step to position herself directly between them.
“Back. Slowly. Same as before.”
Gareth acquiesced and matched her pace as they both began slowly moving back towards the fire. He noticed he could feel her heartbeat through her wrist. It drummed a rapid but rhythmic tempo against his hand.
A few steps went without movement from the beast but suddenly it started forward. Immediately Pen jolted a bluff forward as she let out another hard and quick yell.
“AY!!”
It twitched back. Its head went down with its front paws and hind legs cocked ready to respond to an attack that never came.
Pen then continued to back the two of them up slowly. Step by step until she came to a stop just within the light of the fire.
“Wait.”
Its reflexive poise had relaxed but it still eyed them, though it made no attempt to close the distance. Its glossy eyes still glowed with reflected firelight.
“What-”
“Just keep watching it.”
The wolf started to move, not forward but to the side. It lead with its head which, again, came low to the ground but its gaze never left them. Its ears twitched around for any hint of sound as it started to circle to its left.
Gareth followed Pen’s lead as she clearly turned her entire body to match its movement. It started to turn and circle back the way it had come. Again, Pen followed it. Gareth spared a second to glance at her face. He was of two minds on what he saw. Partly surprised and partly not at the cold steely stare she was levying on the creature. She almost imparted a tangible weight with just her gaze and the wolf seemingly sensed it. The two hadn’t broken their locked eyes for some time now but as the wolf reached a position back nearer to the berry bush it stopped suddenly. An ear twitched, then twitched again. It still held its gaze, but its head came up. It stuck its nose in the air and sniffed.
Without warning it bounded away into the dark of the forest. The only mark of its position the fast fading crunch of its paws on the dead twigs of the forest floor. In only moments not even that sound could be heard. Pen didn’t move. As such, neither did Gareth. She kept her gaze of the place where its form had melted into tree truck and shadow.
A moment passed.
Then another.
Gareth only waited for her.
Finally, he noticed the small life around them start to pipe up. A squirrel chittered at the base of a tree off to their right. An owl hooted from high branches up to their left. The buzz of insects joined the croaking of frogs by the river.
Pen’s shoulders relaxed. She let out a sigh.
“You good?”
Penelope I have been blown up, thrown out the back of my ship, plummeted to the surface of an unknown planet and now attacked by a wild animal four times my size. All in the span of 48 hours. I'm cursed. There's no other explanation.
“I'm… alive?”
She smacked him on the back a little harder than he could handle. He tumbled forward a step as she spoke.
“That’s victory.”
His nerves finally started to calm.
“Was that a bear?”
She laughed as she sat down.
“Ha! No, not quite. That was a wolf. Basically, the other forest predator to watch out for. Smaller but they hunt in packs.”
“I’m sorry, smaller?”
That thing was five or six times his size. In some respects it was even bigger than Pen, though their differing constructions made comparison difficult.
“Yea. Bears are hefty fuckers.”
“About how much more than that thing, the wolf?”
“Depends on the bear but I dunno, twice? Maybe a bit less maybe a bit more?”
“And your people survived by having to fight something like that?”
“Mm? Oh no. You don’t fight a bear. You leave, expeditiously. I suppose there are a few stories here and there but the lucky few belie an unlucky many.”
“Wait did you say those wolf things hunt in packs? If that’s the case, why was it…?”
“A loner perhaps? They’re social creatures like humans but there are various reasons for finding just one. Ostracized from the pack for whatever reason. Lost. Might have been an old one who decided not to burden their kids, packs tend to be families. Either way, likely not lasting long.”
“Why is that?”
“Lone wolves die. Simple as that. Their strength is in pack strategy. Without it he isn’t going to find much success hunting. He’ll starve. Almost makes you feel bad for the poor guy. It’s not a guarantee though. If he finds another pack and they accept him. Not that I know the situation, keep in mind I’m speculating.”
“If he was starving why’d he wait so long. I couldn’t have stopped him if he tried to bite me.”
“You may have known that, but he didn’t.”
“I didn’t think it was that unclear.”
“For you or me sure but its an animal. You froze staring right at him. To him that’s a display of confidence. You didn’t run, you didn’t turn away. Which would have told him you we’re prey. It’s a gamble on his part. If he attacked and was wrong, it’s the end of the line. So, he wasn’t going to strike unless he was certain we weren’t a threat… or so much of a threat that he felt it was kill us or be killed.”
“So, we kept up the façade and in turn he wasn’t going to risk taking damage that could be fatal. And he ran because he heard or smelled an easier meal somewhere else?”
“Nah he heard me, but the lady were spot on about the old part.”
Gareth whipped around lamenting the strain this constant stress was putting on his body. A gruff looking human strode out from behind a tree. He blended into the surroundings terrifyingly well but now made no attempt to hide himself.
Gareth turned back to Pen who seemed completely nonplussed.
The man chuckled.
“Suppose he weren’t the only one who heard me?”
“He definitely heard you before I did but I know what boots on wet clay sounds like.”
The man looked Pen over.
“Mmmm,” He offered with a respectful nod, “Well you’s definitely the ones they’re lookin’ for.”
“They?” Gareth asked standing.
“Yuh. That Captain Deag. Dog lookin, friendly? Said they were missing a little one and a big human woman. And if you ain’t a scrawny little fella and she ain’t an imposing som’bitch then I’m blind.”
Pen smirked.
“How far are we?”
“Bout twenty minutes that way.” He stuck a fat thumb behind him.
“Is everyone okay?” Gareth asked.
“I think so. Wasn’t no talk of casualties. I’ll say you gave us a helluva’ scare soaring right over the town. Landed just past us.”
“Thank goodness… and apologies if we-”
The man held up a hand.
“Was plenty of that already.”
“Alright…” Gareth turned a bit sheepish.
An awkward silence stirred for a few second before the man broke it.
“Well? You want to go see your friends or would ya rather sleep in the dirt another night?”
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Chapter 20: The Storm's Fury
Gribble huddled in the depths of the cave, his heart pounding wildly as the fierce thunderstorm raged outside. The heavy rain and ear-splitting thunder created a scary symphony, unlike anything Gribble had ever heard before. Each booming thunderclap made the cave walls shake, and small rocks fell from the ceiling. Gribble's eyes darted around the small space, looking for any sign of safety, but the storm's anger seemed to fill every nook and cranny. Fear gripped his heart as he worried that the whole hillside might cave in, trapping him alive in the cave. The damp air was thick with the smell of wet dirt and the sharp tang of fear, and Gribble's skin tingled with goosebumps as the temperature dropped. He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to stay warm and calm his frazzled nerves, but the storm's power only seemed to grow stronger with each passing moment.
The shadowy figure stood tall at the mouth of the cave, its form unmoving despite the heavy rain that pounded the outside. Gribble squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what the creature was through the curtain of darkness and the never-ending rain, but the details stayed hidden. The figure's posture was steady and scary, its broad shoulders and muscular build hinting at a tough enemy. Gribble's heart raced as he watched the figure, his mind imagining all sorts of terrifying possibilities. The creature's stillness was creepy, as if it was waiting for just the right moment to attack. A wave of dread washed over Gribble, and he instinctively pressed himself further into the cave's shadows, desperate to avoid being seen. The figure's presence was a stark reminder of the dangers that lurked beyond the cave's walls, and Gribble's survival instincts kicked into high gear as he thought about his next move.
A blinding flash of lightning tore through the night sky, filling the cave with an eerie, otherworldly light. For a split second, the creature's identity was revealed, and Gribble's eyes widened in horror as he took in the sight before him. Standing at the cave's entrance was a dark blue Thundercat, its muscular body rippling with power beneath its sleek, electric blue fur. The Thundercat's eyes gleamed with a predatory intensity, reflecting the lightning's flash like two pools of melted gold. Gribble's gaze was drawn to the creature's long, razor-sharp sabertooth fangs, which glinted menacingly in the momentary light. The sight of the Thundercat sent a wave of primal fear rushing through Gribble's veins, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. The stories he had heard of these legendary beasts paled in comparison to the reality that stood before him, and Gribble knew that he was facing a creature of unimaginable strength and ferocity.
Gribble's panic reached a fever pitch, his breath coming in short, labored gasps as he stared at the Thundercat. The tales of these feared creatures flooded his mind – whispers of the electric sparks that danced through their fur, of their immense strength that was said to rival even the most fearsome Owlbear. Gribble's heart pounded against his ribcage, and he could feel the cold sweat beading on his forehead despite the chill in the air. He knew that he was facing a daunting adversary, one that could easily overpower him in a head-on confrontation. The odds of survival seemed to dwindle with each passing second, and Gribble's mind raced as he desperately tried to come up with a plan. The Thundercat's presence loomed over him like a suffocating shadow, and Gribble could feel the weight of its gaze boring into him, even from across the cave. He understood that he must act quickly and decisively if he hoped to escape this encounter with his life.
Reacting on instinct, Gribble called upon his innate power to conjure bean-sized fireballs. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a barrage of the tiny, flaming projectiles hurtling towards the cave entrance, where they burst into brilliant flashes of light upon impact. The fiery assault illuminated the cave, casting dancing shadows on the walls and bathing the Thundercat in an orange glow. The heat from the flames was intense, and Gribble could feel the scorching air brushing against his skin. The fireballs sizzled and crackled as they hit the stone, sending sparks flying in all directions. For a moment, the cave was filled with a dazzling display of light and sound, a stark contrast to the dark, scary storm that raged outside. Gribble's heart pounded with a mixture of fear and excitement as he watched the fireballs explode, hoping that the sudden attack would be enough to distract the Thundercat and give him a chance to escape.
Gribble's mind raced as he sent the fireballs towards the Thundercat, desperately hoping that the sudden attack would give him the distraction he needed to make his escape. He focused his thoughts, tapping into his teleportation powers and trying to picture a safe place outside the cave. However, the tiredness and the fear that gripped his heart made it hard to concentrate. Gribble's brow furrowed as he tried to gather the needed energy, but his body felt heavy and sluggish, as if he was moving through water. The image of the safe haven he sought flickered in his mind's eye, tantalizingly close but just out of reach. Gribble gritted his teeth, pushing himself to the limits of his mental and physical strength as he struggled to keep his focus. The cave seemed to spin around him, and he could feel the cold tendrils of despair creeping into his heart as he realized that his teleportation powers might fail him in this critical moment.
Gribble's heart sank as he watched the Thundercat emerge unharmed from the fiery assault. The creature's electric blue fur crackled with energy, the sparks dancing across its body like tiny bolts of lightning. The Thundercat's eyes blazed with an otherworldly intensity, and it let out a deafening roar that shook the very foundations of the cave. The sound was unlike anything Gribble had ever heard before – a primal, guttural cry that seemed to echo through his very bones. The cave walls trembled, and small rocks and debris rained down from the ceiling, adding to the chaos of the moment. Gribble realized with a sinking feeling that the Thundercat was not only unharmed but enraged by his attack. The creature's muscles rippled beneath its fur as it prepared to charge, and Gribble knew that a battle was now unavoidable. He steeled himself, summoning every ounce of courage and determination he possessed, knowing that he must fight with all his might if he hoped to survive this encounter.
The Thundercat sprang into action, its powerful legs propelling it towards Gribble with a speed that defied belief. The creature moved with a fluid grace, its body a blur of electric blue as it closed the distance between them in mere seconds. Gribble barely had time to react before the Thundercat was upon him, its razor-sharp claws slashing through the air with deadly precision. He threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the initial attack, but the Thundercat's agility was unmatched. The creature pivoted mid-leap, its tail lashing out like a whip and its claws finding purchase on the cave wall as it redirected its momentum. Gribble's heart raced as he realized the true extent of the Thundercat's physical prowess – its reflexes were lightning-fast, and its strength was beyond anything he had ever encountered. The creature's eyes locked onto Gribble, and he could see the predatory gleam within them, the raw hunger for the hunt. Gribble knew that he must keep moving, keep dodging, if he hoped to stay alive long enough to find a way to counter the Thundercat's relentless assault.
Despite the fatigue that weighed heavily upon him, Gribble mustered the last reserves of his energy and called upon his earth vine powers. He focused his mind, reaching out to the cave floor and seeking the dormant life that lay beneath the stone. With a surge of effort, Gribble summoned a single, thick green tendril from the ground, watching as it burst forth and snaked its way towards the Thundercat. The vine wrapped itself around one of the creature's muscular legs, momentarily halting its advance and giving Gribble a fleeting moment of hope. However, the Thundercat's strength was too great, and it easily ripped through the vine with a snarl of annoyance. The severed tendril fell to the cave floor, writhing like a dying snake before going still. Gribble's heart sank as he realized that his earth vine powers, once a reliable ally in battle, were no match for the Thundercat's raw power. The creature's gaze turned back to Gribble, its eyes narrowing with a mixture of anger and predatory anticipation, and he knew that he must find another way to defend himself before it was too late.
Gribble's mind raced as he desperately searched for a way to gain the upper hand against the relentless Thundercat. In a last-ditch effort, he summoned another volley of bean-sized fireballs, pouring every ounce of his remaining energy into the attack. The tiny flames erupted from his fingertips in rapid succession, streaking through the air like miniature comets and striking the Thundercat's fur with sizzling precision. The creature hissed in pain as the fireballs singed its coat, but its anger only seemed to grow with each passing second. Gribble's exhaustion began to take its toll, his movements becoming sluggish and uncoordinated as he struggled to maintain the barrage. His vision blurred, and his limbs felt heavy, as if he was moving through molasses. The Thundercat pressed its advantage, its claws and fangs flashing in the dim light of the cave as it lunged towards Gribble with renewed ferocity. He knew that he could not keep up this pace for much longer, and a sense of despair began to creep into his heart as he realized that his efforts might not be enough to save him from the Thundercat's wrath.
The Thundercat seized the opportunity presented by Gribble's faltering defense, delivering a devastating blow that sent the young adventurer flying across the cave. Gribble felt the air rush from his lungs as he slammed into the unyielding rock wall, his body crumpling to the ground in a heap of pain and exhaustion. Stars danced before his eyes, and he gasped for breath, each inhalation sending shockwaves of agony through his battered frame. Gribble's mind reeled as he tried to assess the extent of his injuries, but the pain was too great, too all-consuming. He could taste the coppery tang of blood in his mouth, and he knew that he was badly hurt. The Thundercat's shadow fell over him, and Gribble looked up to see the creature looming above, its eyes glinting with a mixture of triumph and bloodlust. He tried to move, to crawl away, but his body refused to cooperate, and he collapsed back to the ground, his strength utterly spent. Gribble's heart pounded with the realization that he might not survive this encounter, and a cold sense of dread settled in the pit of his stomach.
Gribble lay broken and helpless on the cave floor, his vision swimming as he teetered on the brink of unconsciousness. The Thundercat stood over him, its electric blue fur crackling with energy as it prepared to deliver the final, fatal blow. Gribble's mind raced, desperately searching for a way out, for some last-minute miracle that could save him from this dire fate. He tried to summon his powers, to call upon the earth or conjure another fireball, but his body was too weak, too battered to respond. The Thundercat's eyes bore into him, and Gribble could see the raw, primal hunger that burned within them – the desire to end his life and claim victory. His heart hammered in his chest, and he could feel the cold tendrils of fear wrapping around his soul as he stared death in the face.
Would he find a way to overcome the Thundercat, or would his journey come to a tragic end in the depths of the cave? The fate of the young goblin hung in the balance, and only time would tell if he had the strength and cunning to emerge victorious.

Some added information: This hypothetical arc 4 takes place around 7 years after flames of hope, contact between pantala and pyhria has been cut off somehow, and the seawings sent out to contact pantala have instead found polreca, filled with new dragons, and a war
New continent: Polreca
Polreca is a third continent in the wings of fire world, the largest out of the three, with five tribes to inhabit it
Geography:
At the center of Polreca, we have the active volcano Flaming Peak, and the palace of the Cavewings, nearby in the surrounding area charred by the volcano's eruptions, we have the Flamewing palace, and on a mountain rivaling the size of jade mountain, (or agate mountain before the landslide in legends darkstalker) we see the Thunderwing palace, placed by the northern shore of Polreca is the coastal redwoods forest you see the Sizzlewing palace, and dotted around we have some of the few cave openings with direct paths to the areas where Protowings make their homes.
New tribes:
Thunderwings
Thunderwings are dragons with instead of four legs and two wings they have two legs and two wings, They also breathe lightning, they live in the tallest mountains in Polrecah, they are very intelligent dragons, smarter than the nightwings ever will be, this would lead to some beef between the two tribes, they often fly into storms for fun, with them having scales that have direct nerve connections with a lightning pouch in their throat, they can gain electricity from being struck by lightning, but they also have another organ that allows them to breathe electricity without being struck by lightning first, it is common for the queen and her challenger before a battle for the throne to go into a large lightning storm to charge up, this is also where the challenge takes place. However, thunderwings must be careful, because if they aren’t, they may be inflicted with “storm sickness” an affliction that is caused by overcharging in a lightning storm, leading to less energy, weak lightning breath, and fatigue, storm sickness can last anywhere from 2-3 days, to 3-10 years, and can even be permanent
They are named after different storms, cloud formations, etc.
Queen: Queen Thunderclap
Princess: Cumulonimbus
Prince: Typhoon
Characters of note: Stratus (a pale thunderwing with a keen mind for innovation, and if he gets angry enough, you don’t want to be in his way)
Flamewings
Flamewings, are the most Phyrria and Pantala esc dragons on Polreca, they are similar to skywings with flamescales, except that’s their entire population, though instead of breathing fire, they breath ice oddly enough, this works by gathering all of their cold into a sac in their throat, and allowing it to be expelled along with their liquid nitrogen like saliva, creating ice cold enough to induce frostbite in even icewings, however this equates to normal frost breath effects on other Flamewings due to their scales being super heated, they live near Flaming Peak, the active volcano at the center of Polreca, they are capable of living here due to their scales being able to withstand the heat of the lava.
Their names often follow along the lines of wildfire, ash, charcoal, etc.
Queen: Queen Ash
Princess: Wildfire
Characters of note: Princess wildfire (A somewhat shy dragon, with a burning desire to be a strong and reliable leader for her people, and during the first few books she butts heads with Echo often)
Protowings
Protowings are ancient dragons, from long before the scorching, living fossils so to speak, they have no fire breath, no venom, no gills, no camouflage, no silk, no frost breath, and their wings don't allow for self powered flight, but do allow for short glides, their scales/skin is thin and almost salamander like, they are an assorted amount of colors from black to white to red to blue and everything in between, they require water to lay their shelless eggs in, oh yeah they have eggs similar to amphibians, their lifespan is up to 500 years old and they are considered adults at 200, they live in small communities, of about 15 adult individuals maybe more that aren't adults, living in deep caves underground, where even seawings have trouble seeing, this darkness has never bothered the protowings, they are not that big, the oldest being about the size of clay in book 1, and they feed off of moss that grows in the caves and small bugs that also make the caves their home, their claws are dull, and their fangs small and useless, leading to then making rudimentary tools out of assorted rocks, with obsidian being commonly used, they have perfected hoard mentality, when one is threatened they release a call that can echo through the caves easily, this alerts the rest of their community, allowing them to swarm the threat and bring it down, they also commonly have severe photo phobia, fear of the light, meaning that if you want to see them you need to catch one while its hunting or foraging nearby, they are masters of their caves, easily being able to navigate thanks in no small part to their echolocation and gecko-like feet.
How they are named differs from community to community, in one, they might be named after cave formations like the Cavewings, in others they may be named similar to the cats from the warriors series(which Sutherland also worked on) with a prefix and a suffix.
Queen: they have no queen as they have no main kingdom
Characters of note: beetle’s leg, bug’s jaw
Cavewings
Cavewings are underground living dragons with no wings and stone like scales with different colored scales dotting their hide like gems, they live in the caves all across Polreca, not as deep as the protowings, but pretty deep, they have night vision, echolocation (like the protowings), and they are the greediest of all dragons, they also have scales that are near impenetrable, to the point that even things like flamesilk and rainwing venom have a hard time getting through, they are also effective burrowers and capable of launching themselves high into the air with no ceiling obstructing them high enough to snatch flying Flameings out of the air when the try to cross the border, making them near impossible to attack which is bad because the Flamewings and Cavewings are at war, they also do not eat like other dragons, they use lava they find by their main palace in Flaming Peak to cook their prey alive, dunking it in the lava and holding it there until it is thoroughly charred, and eat it like that, but certain groups use Flamewings to cook their meals, this has been announced to the flamewings that it was made illegal by the queen but this practice is unfortunately getting used more and more, with “rumors” stating that the queen has only said that she made it illegal but has in fact encouraged it, even going as far to say that she has three Flamewings at all times to cook her meals, hence why they are at war with the Flamewings.
They are often named after cave formations and minerals
Queen: Queen Stalagmite
Princess(s): Echo, Stalactite, and Cavern
Prince(s): Ravine, Drip, and Bat
Characters of note: Prince Ravine (a large cavewing who has no real friends outside of the other protagonists, his attacks have been described as “feeling like being hit by a mountain”)
Princess Echo (A smart cavewing with what her mother and sisters call “a weird obsession with the flamewings” Saying “They are nothing but tools for us to use” Echo is of course disgusted by the fact her family thinks like that)
Sizzlewings
Sizzlewings are effectively snakes with wings, and masters of venom, poison, etc, they have the unique ability to synthesize venom of things they eat, able to eat say, a dragonbite viper and create a venom that mixes their Rainwing esc venom with it, you see, by “default” their venom is similar to a rainwing, but their venom is slow acting, meaning if it gets on any other dragon, (aside from Flamewings and Cavewings) they will be slowly burnt and horribly scarred, but when they hatch they have venom that is no worse than a bee sting, but when they turn 14 their venom glands are fully developed and their venom would make a rainwing blush, they have full immunity their own venom and how they fight is that they wrap their enemy in their body, and bite them, shooting venom directly into their body and watching them squirm and perish, slowly, and painfully, this actually leads into their most common profession: Assassins and mercenaries, the sizzlewings are widely known to be a tribe who will side with whoever pays the most, at one time often splitting to become defense squadrons for different tribes and fighting each other, but ever since their “great tusked one” arrived they have lived by three rules: #1, always listen to the tusked ones descendents, the royal family, #2 never splinter off into their own factions, #3 most importantly of all, no killing other Sizzlewings outside of succession battles,
This “Great tusked one” came at a time when the tribe was splintered into three factions, called Toxin, Poison, and fang, The “tusked one” as he is known by in the royal family was an old male Sizzlewing, he was huge and had massive tusks, instead of fangs, his descendents, also have these tusks, but they still have fangs, the tusked one has long since died, nobody knows for certain where he came from, or even how old he was, but that he was strong, yet kind, he was the one who forced the three factions to sit together and decide on the three rules, and he helped them merge together. However, Queen toxin has had a queen coral situation, where there were no princess’ until slither, where the only times eggs would survive, would be when the assassin was caught with a band over their face, until toxin herself slept by her egg, nearly starving herself, and now she allows her daughter to play, but under supervision.
They are often named along the lines of toxin, venom, stinger, etc. baby Sizzlewings are called “acidlings” until they turn 15
Queen: Queen toxin
Princess: Slither
Prince(s): Stinger, Viper, Venom, and about 12 or so more
Characters of note: Princess Slither (a small sizzlewing with a cold demeanor and will not hesitate to leave you behind if you can’t keep up, she uses her nonthreatening appearance to her advantage, luring her targets into a false sense of confidence, only to suddenly be writhing on the ground, begging for death,)
protagonists* for this hypothetical arc 4:
Bone (one of my OC’s, a sandwing Pronouns: He/Him)
Bloodcrest (an OC of a friend of mine, a nightwing, pronouns:She/Her, was hatched under two full moons, with the crescent third moon being a blood moon)
Princess Wildfire
Princess Echo
Stratus
Beetle’s leg, his friends call him Beetle, or they would if he had any, as he says so himself. (a large protowing with piercing eyes that can unsettle even the bravest warriors, he has gray scales with black speckles dotting his face, he also has golden wings that he has been told by the other protagonists [friends?] make him look very beautiful, and a total goofball, has a scar on his eye from fighting the protowing that killed his mother)
Other protagonists:
Prince Ravine (has a crush on wildfire)
Princess Slither
Antagonists for this hypothetical arc 4:
Queen Stalagmite
Princess Stalactite
Bug’s jaw (beetle’s leg’s father and leader of his community, a gray protowing with red spots around his eyes and green stripes down his back)
Hybrids: The dragons native to Polreca cannot hybridize with each other, however the Cavewings and Flamewings can. The Polreca tribes can hybridize with other dragons from the other continents, although most of them are flamewing hybrids.
Flamewing-cavewing: I call them magmawings, they look like cavewings with a sort of heatblast from ben 10 look (god that reboot looks awful.)
Sizzlewing-rainwing: long protruding fangs and serrated teeth, sizzlewing like body with color changing abilities.
Flamewing-skywing: very similar to a skywing with firescales, but they breathe steam due to their heritage.
Flamewing-mudwing: leads to a big wings big enough to swallow a human whole, also breathes boiling steam.
*characters that have a book told from their POV.

As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
It had not been a restful night, all things considered.
First there had been that hideous roar which had shaken the whole jungle into frightened silence, the cries of the nocturnal creatures obliterated by what Zildiz had first mistaken for a violent monsoon wind. For the second time in this miserable day she had looked up and beheld a creature which had no place in the natural world. A winged manta moving so swiftly that it had already passed out of sight before she could even begin to process what she had just seen.
The last thing she needed right now was another challenge to her already tenuous understanding of the world as it was. The grey behemoth from earlier had already left her mind groping for some rational explanation, one that continued to elude her despite Zildiz’s best attempts to form useful analogies.
Sleep soon proved impossible. Her agile mind was too busy wrestling with questions. Was the grey behemoth an act of nature or the result of the Vitalus’ direct intervention, a sort of living earthquake or forest fire that he could summon at will? Had the Vitalus created it solely to eradicate an entire biome? If so, then why? The Amits had always been a central part of the cycles of change, altering the atmosphere through their mound respiratory systems and building the wind walls to help regulare the climate. Why had they drawn the All-In-One’s displeasure? Alternatively, if It had not created the grey behemoth, then what had?
Zildiz left her lair and went for a walk to clear her head. It was well and truly night now, black as the pit and with only the stars to guide her steps. Zildiz’s compound eyes were useless in these conditions. Thankfully her other pair were designed specifically for this, their yellow irises widening to double their usual diameter. Gallivants sometimes hunted at night, though it was a bit trickier than in the day. Her simple eyes could only see within a narrow frontal cone and left her blind in the directions in which she was not directly facing.
Her olfactory organs caught the scent of some speckled tree frogs and she hovered up into the lower boughs of the trees, impaling them on her mantid blades and skinning them carefully to avoid the poisonous coatings which they secreted. Her digestive system could weed out all but the deadliest of toxins, but tonight she wanted to relax and conserve her strength.
That is, until she picked up the trail of another animal close by. She found its tracks in the soil, catching the bright sheen where its feet had compacted the mud. Judging by the depth and spacing of the prints, Zildiz concluded that it was heavy and slow-moving. Also, it had no toes—its foot was made up of a single large hoof that left zigzagging patterns of grooves.
Confusing. Then again, she wasn’t all that familiar with the species of this biome. Well, whatever it was she looked forward to finding out what it tasted like. Zildiz was ravenous. Come to think of it, she had heard what sounded like a large animal crashing through the forest shortly after the flying monsters had appeared, no doubt fleeing from them in fear. Sharpening her blades against each other, Zildiz eagerly set off in pursuit.
Such a meal would sustain her for days. Enough to get her back home again without having to constantly stop and hunt for victuals. This animal did not move quickly even when it was clearly in a hurry. It was the sort of prey-form she could run down even in her injured state. A broken branch and a stone overturned from its resting place guided her in for the kill.
She was close now, barely thirteen wingspans away if she had to guess from the richness of its scent. Too close to risk using her wings—the noise of their fluttering would give her away. Still, it would be better to attack it from above, if only to save her the trouble of a long chase through unfamiliar territory. She sheathed her blades in their housings of flesh and stole up a nearby trunk, her light body making barely a rustle as she transferred her weight between the branches. The going was tortuously slow. She didn’t know how the Leapers could put up with this painstaking approach to killing. It just seemed so very inefficient compared to her way of doing things.
Zildiz took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the deepening night. It did not take long to spot the prey-form. An albino! Its exoskeleton was as white as the snow she’d glimpsed on the peaks of far-off mountains beyond the salt plains. Zildiz wondered how it could have survived long enough to grow so large. The complete lack of camouflage, the plodding pace and the lack of any noticeable armaments made it perfect Leaper food. Perhaps it had some sort of hidden defense mechanism? Like spewing noxious musk out of a gland next to its anus, or having poisonous skin like the frogs (perhaps that would explain its bright and noticeable colors)? What if it was tracking her movements even now, just waiting for her to play right into its hands? Oh, but that would be a clever survival strategy. Zildiz hesitated, beginning to suspect a trap.
But the longer she observed the prey-form, the quicker she came to the conclusion that it was not some cunning adversary, but rather a slow-witted member of its species.
It had tried to hide by wedging itself between the roots of a fatwax tree, covering itself with a single broad palm leaf in a pathetic attempt at camouflage. Something in its total defenselessness and the way it was tucked up into a ball with its arms and legs drawn in reminded Zildiz of her own children. She even felt a morsel of guilt at having to kill it before she squashed the unexpected emotion within herself.
Guilt? For ensuring her survival and that of her brood? She was getting soft in her age. Zildiz made the final preparations, adjusting her footing for the pounce that would end it all. A blade stuck between head and thorax would do it, followed by a twisting wrench of her wrist to sever the nerve cord and render the prey-form totally paralyzed, but still alive as she fed upon it. Zildiz preferred them that way—all the flavors really came to the fore when the meat was still fresh and twitching in the mouth.
She was just about to make her move when an odd breeze made the follicles on her neck stand on end. Danger! Zildiz froze in place and scanned the jungle floor, careful not to move single muscle for fear of giving away her position. Four figures detached themselves from the shifting shadows, each standing nine feet tall on their long, hairy and backwards-jointed legs and making not a whisper as they converged onto her tree.
Leapers! Fighting against the mounting horror she felt, Zildiz steeled herself for the fight of her life.
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

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My wife and I own a home with a small pool in the backyard. We have four large palm trees growing around the perimeter of the backyard, one of which is very close to the pool. One year we noticed a lot more debris from the palm tree was ending up on the pool apron. After investigating, I found a mother squirrel was building a nest there.
Determined to get rid of this interloper who was causing me so much extra labor (daily sweeping), I grabbed my extension ladder and the long metal pole I used for sweeping the pool. I positioned the ladder and ascended it, looking for the nest. I found the nest, which was a large ball of sticks and cottony looking material and started poking it tentatively. At this point my feet were about ten feet off the ground.
I grew up hunting and fishing. I’m no stranger to squirrels. To me they were usually just a nuisance as I pursued larger game. I’ve had squirrels come withing an arm’s length as I sat camouflaged in a tree stand with my hunting bow.
So here I am, way up in the air, poking furiously at this squirrel nest with no response. Suddenly I hear a loud barking noise. It actually sounded like a very large, pissed off dog. But no, it was the mother squirrel and she was furiously attempting to grasp the end of the pole with her front legs.
The Mama squirrel was making noises I had never heard a squirrel make. Darting back and forth and growling (yes, growling), she suddenly jumped onto the ladder and charged me directly. I was so shocked and disoriented that I dropped the pole and started descending the ladder quickly. The squirrel followed up her attack, chasing me down the ladder. I actually fell backwards off the ladder, ending up on my back on the ground. The fall knocked the breath out of me, and I lay there stunned.
So I relinquished the palm tree to the mother squirrel and gladly swept the pool deck. I know determination and ferocity when I see it.