Candy

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 22 When we arrived to Apophyll, Cain and I biked full speed to the Academy. We barged into Kiki’s office, where apparently Victoria had succeeded in calming the sick lady and now they were just waiting for us in silence. “Team Meteor is planning to make Pyrous mountain erupt,” Cain explained. “We have to get everyone to evacuate here as soon as possible.” Kiki looked shocked at the revelation, and called us to form a circle to discuss, what Florinia would call, a “premeditated course of action”. “If the situation is that grave,” Kiki sighed. “I have to keep things succinct.” “I think Cain and Vanilla should go up to Pyrous mountain to try to stop Team Meteor, but if not, at least to slow them down so we have time to move everyone to safety,” suggested Victoria. “I’ll stay with Kiki to coordinate the efforts here at the Academy.” I could tell that in making this proposition, Victoria was more concerned in keeping an eye on Kiki’s health than she was in stopping Team Meteor, but I didn’t say anything. “I agree, let us fight the good fight~,” Cain said with a melodic tone. “We’re going to set this right. They’ll not make us lose our light~” “If we can agree on this plan, let’s go,” I said. Cain and I encountered a Meteor grunt, but Cain’s nidoking was merciless and pushed him over the mountain. Luckily for the bloke, he didn’t fall all the way down but was stuck without an easy way out. We went into the mountain. I knew the way from having been here to challenge that hot mess redhead, but when we were just starting the trek, the ground shook and blocked the path between Cain and I. “Vanilla, are you alright?” e asked from the other side of the boulders. “Yes. Go on ahead. I’ll look for another path,” I assured im. Just then, Victoria came running into the interior of the mountain and spotted me. “I thought you were going to stay with Kiki,” I commented. “That was the plan, but Kiki insisted on handling the exodus by herself. She really can be headstrong at the most inopportune times.” “What did I tell you about treating her like a living vegetable?” I shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s go. I know an alternative way to get us to the summit.” We walked in the scorching heat, taking care not to step on the residual lava that I had drained on my prior visit. There were Meteor grunts everywhere now, too, protecting their PULSE and making us lose time. Some of them, however, had already been defeated by Cain, so I felt the number of battles wasn’t so bad also considering I was teamed with Victoria. During our trip, though, Victoria tried to make conversation by asking me about hot mess redhead, whose name she reminded me was Cal. She asked me what I had thought of him, to which I replied that he was a troubled youth with a rather punchable face, though his constant expression full of melancholy didn’t allow me to do as I thought. She giggled at what I said, though I didn’t mean it to be funny. “He can be mysterious, that’s for sure,” she said. “But he really is a good person.” “Hope you’re right," I shrugged as I wiped the rain off my face. I noticed the water on my hand was slightly tinted pink. “You know, maybe when all of this is over, I’ll tell him how-” “Look, we’ve made it to the top.” We ran some more and quickly found Taka, Solaris aka assassination target #1, Cal and Cain. From afar, it seemed like Cain was in a tough spot, returning his nidoking back to his pokeball. Fortunately, we arrived on time to assist im. “Vanilla and I will take on from here,” Victoria announced. “Vanilla?” Solaris looked at me, but I could tell his focus was on my hair. “Did you change your hair color to match your fallen comrade’s fur color?” The trenchcoat guy laughed with obvious exaggeration. “Will you shut up,” I said, mainly irritated because now that he mentioned it, Aster and Eclipse probably chose this cursed color on purpose. “I have no reason to make excuses to my enemies.” I saw both Victoria and Cain looking at Solaris and then back at me from the corner of my eye, perhaps bewildered at what Solaris was saying. “Excuses are unnecessary,” the man grinned. “The little rat will be moved by such a gesture… only that the little fellow is now rotting beneath the Earth.” Right then, I would have lunged myself toward Solaris and choked the last bit of air from his foul mouth, if only his garchomp was guarding him from any impromptu attack. Hence my only option was to glare at him - if I were a snake pokemon, I might’ve paralyzed his heart. “Well then, let’s get rid of the pesky newcomers, shall we? Taka, you deal with Victoria. I will humiliate Vanilla by defeating her with a single pokemon.” “Yes, father,” Taka said, and my eyes were instantly averted from Solaris’ disgusting face to Taka’s. “You’re that creep’s son?” Cain voiced my thoughts. “It seems,” he replied without even a nod of the head. “Well, prepare to be defeated father and son,” Victoria said, and our battles started. On my end, Solaris only instructed his already-there garchomp to step forward. The cold reptile eyes of the dragon sent chills down my spine. I could vividly recall right the moment when its glistening blades tore through Pikachu’s body as though it was cutting through cream cheese. “What are you waiting for, Vanilla? Will you forfeit the battle?” “That never,” I frowned. Internally I sneered at him for committing the same mistake that I did when he set up a trap for me back in the factory. If you don’t consider all possibilities, you will lose. The battle was over before Solaris knew it. My Cinderella fainted, but also his garchomp fell forward, unconscious. “What’s the meaning of this,” the man shouted, his confident smirk from earlier completely erased from his face. I would have wished to take a picture of his face then, for it was simply priceless. Solaris used a max revive on his garchomp, however, so the monster stood once more. “Are you planning to repeat the story, you coward?” I shouted. “No. That is quite enough,” Solaris said. “However, I still have to protect the PULSE.” “I will faint your dragon again, and kill you with my bare hands,” I said, taking a quick couple of steps forward, but was stopped on my tracks when a raspy but loud voice halted me. “That will not be necessary,” Kiki said. I watched as Kiki walked with a serene expression and passed me to approach Solaris and his garchomp. “As long as I live, no one will endanger my home and family,” she said, sending out her medicham. “Delirious Ms. Kiki. How exactly are you planning to stop us?” Solaris said, recovering his disparaging smile. “Kiki, please go back to the Academy,” Victoria begged. “You’re not in condition to be here.” However, Kiki wasn’t there to hear to her student’s pleas. “Medicham, use High Jump Kick onto the infernal machine,” she commanded and coughed. “Cal, stop her,” Solaris said just as medicham registered the order and was about to jump. My eyes shifted towards Cal, who sent out a magmortar to block medicham’s way. The medicham jumped high, but the magmortar intercepted it by holding one of its feet. “What are you doing?” Victoria and I asked at the same time. “I’m sorry,” Cal said with a low voice. “I know this isn’t what you expected of me. I guess I just have the tendency of not being what people want me to be.” “Stop playing the sheepish victim here and put medicham down,” I shouted at Cal, but he only took a glimpse of me before looking back down. “Now dispose of it,” Solaris ordered Cal. The redhead’s head jolted up to reveal fear in his eyes. “But,” Cal said, but Solaris insisted. “Don’t,” I spoke up when everyone else had apparently been shocked speechless. However, Cal had no reason to listen to me. His magmortar threw medicham into the pool of lava, and we heard it shriek in pain as it was consumed into the molten earth. Again, I wasn’t able to prevent an unnecessary death. I looked back at Kiki, who had already closed her eyes, perhaps to prevent anyone from seeing how upset she was to have lost her companion. “Anyone who opposes Team Meteor will be silenced,” Solaris said. “Execute!” For a split moment, I was confused as to what he meant, but in the end it also took just a split moment to do the execution. I saw Kiki’s body be torn in half, and the top piece slide over the other a little before both of them collapsed on the floor. I couldn’t move, but I saw Victoria run past me with agony that filled my ears. “Solaris, that was not the plan!” Cal reproached his boss. “She would’ve died in the flames regardless,” was Solaris’ excuse. “You have no right to complain, when you knew this was the inevitable result.” Cal’s face turned from shock to determination, and he ordered his magmortar to destroy the PULSE. One explosive fire type attack, and the PULSE melted into the lava. “You’re a true disappointment. Just like your brother briefed us,” Solaris shook his head. “Now that we have nothing to do here, it is time to retreat. Taka.” “Yes, father,” Taka said, after not uttering a word for quite a while. The two of them disappeared instantaneously. We were left with a purple-haired guy who was confused as to what to say, a corpse, a girl sobbing over the corpse and a redhead who probably would do us all a favor if he just walked away. However, that was not apparently how Cal saw things. “I’m sorry Victoria,” he said, approaching her. “I never meant for this to happen.” Victoria composed her breathing and wiped off her face, but the redness around her eyes was still present. “Then just what did you mean to happen, Cal?” she shouted but her voice cracked. “Did you mean to destroy all of Apophyll?” “I wasn’t-” “Did you want me dead too? How unfortunate!” “No! Victoria, I-” “Were you lying to us the whole time?” Victoria asked and pushed him. “Did you even care at all?” The girl pushed him once more, and then turned to see Kiki once again. “Just leave. You aren’t wanted here. Go away,” she said, not even looking at his face. “I’m sorry,” Cal repeated, but Victoria didn’t raise her head. He stood there for a couple of seconds in silence, but seeing that Victoria wasn’t going to listen to him anyway, he backed off and walked down the mountain. Once the redhead was out of the picture, Cain inquired after Victoria’s state of mind. “I’m fine, but Kiki is-” “She died protecting the place she loved. There is no higher honor for anyone than that.” “Oh Kiki, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Victoria said, and a new tear escaped her eye. VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS Again, credit goes to J-AwesomeOne for the idea to make Solaris mock Vanilla's hair color~ QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

Ya so far Nick hasn't come off as a worthy target of the lynch so wai bw?? He did le mafs so I'm inclined to let him live lol

when all else fails, there's still hope. go to the other side of the tunnel, where you see the light! and you'll find an ability capsule

prolly because Bonnie's older in this run and so her bro is already married xD actually take that back since only 4 years have passed smh at my reading comprehension and mafs levels

Idk man, I feel like soso's play hasn't ever been so complex like Newt's making it seem... Me thinks he just wants to lynch soso D1 xD

obv cell form would be idealissimo but I think there ain't a sprite for that so guess the 50% would do imo

Bro I already commented on this but I forgots to mention Bonnie was one of my fave if not my fave character in XY+Z. Me thinks you should make Bonnie have "zygarde" follow you around (like I did with the... um late Pikachu) but that's just moi thought. Obviously not for battle, that'd be br0k3n.

Wabou A-raichu for coverage? es super fast too

Sounds pretty cool~ Are you playing as both Decibel and Alice? Or just replacing some Reborn characters as you see fit?

I've always thought Aster = guy and Eclipse = girl. Which is how I've portrayed them here

Keep saying it or I'll forget fren And Aster and Eclipse were actually Jessy and James in disguise... jk xD

... why @splargle???

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 21 Just with one glance, I could tell that my shoes were not appropriate for the trek. Azurine Island, beautifully green from afar, was actually an island seemingly on the blink of sinking and hence was full swamps. The vegetation that grew there seemed to have some purification mechanism, for I could not fathom how anything could survive the toxicity of the lake’s brown waters. I hopped onto my bike and rode through the places that weren’t too deep. Sometimes, though, I had to climb trees and jump from one tree to another much like a monkey would do. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, however. Cain could be anywhere on this island, lost on his way. Going down one of the hills, I found a small lodge which I found suspicious. Why would there be a house like that in the middle of nowhere? I made my way to the lodge, and realized that it had a makeshift sign which hung from the door. “A&E Hair Salon,” I read from the neat writing, clearly written with a gray marker. Opening the door, I found a couple of girls in the middle of a room full of old notebooks, fallen sheets of papers and turned-off machinery… in other words, the place looked more like a storage room than a salon. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” the lady in a green dress said. “Do I know you?” I asked with on eyebrow raised. Both girls looked stiff for a moment but smiled at me. “Ah excuse me, you really look like my younger sister, you see,” the woman said. “You came here to get a lovely hairdo, am I correct?” “Actually, I’ve only come looking for a purple-haired guy with fishnets.” “We haven’t seen your friend,” the girl in the red shirt said. “But don’t say that, let us give you a lovely hair color on us.” “Yes, we’re two kind girls desperately looking for customers.” “No wonder you don’t have customers,” I said, looking around the room. “This place is in middle of nowhere and on top of it is a total mess.” “Let us show you our skills and you advertise for us, alright?” The two girls smiled but they looked as though they’d just eaten something sour. “Ugh, no. Bye,” I tried to exit, but the two grabbed me from behind and did not let go when I flung my arms. “It’s free, dummy. Now sit down. It won’t take long, I assure you.” I don’t even know how the girls managed to color my hair, since I kept struggling for freedom the whole way through. The girl in red shirt, especially, seemed to be a bodybuilder, because her grip on me was more like a solid block. All the time I meditated on giving both of them a kick in the stomach to free myself, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do to unfamiliar girls who insisted they were doing me a service. When they were done, I didn’t know whether to scream or to marvel at my reflection. Pink hair on a pink dress? How do they expect me to walk around like this? “You…” I said in a low voice. “H-huh? You didn’t like the color? I- We can fix it right away,” the girl in green dress stuttered, but I wasn’t going to buy it anymore. “I can tell your only purpose is to keep me from looking for Cain,” I asserted. “Will you cut the act and tell me where he is?” The two girls looked at each other, and sighed. “Well, if you’ve figured things out, we can’t do anything.” The two of them took off their dresses to show their Team Meteor uniform underneath. “Don’t tell me,” I said, looking at the grunts who were still wearing thick makeup. “Eclipse… and Aster?” I laughed at his face. “This wasn’t even my idea,” Aster defended himself. “Eclipse insisted that if we dressed as two girls, we’d avoid everybody's radar.” “You really did. Now I know I should be more careful with the pretty ladies.” Aster’s face turned bright red in a matter of seconds. As it was customary to do, Aster and Eclipse took out their pokeballs, just as I did. “Now you’ll have to deal with both of us alone, girlie. Prepare to lose.” I knew they were going to send out their lunatone and solrock, so I sent out Bambi and Wolfie. The two of them went down in two turns, after getting one Rock Slide and either a Horn Leech or Crunch. The two grunts then sent out passimian and lycanroc (day). I tried one-shotting the lycanroc, since I knew it had low defenses, but Bambi couldn’t quite finish him. The fake Wolfie tried to revenge kill Bambi with fire fang, so I had to switch both of my pokemon for Aladdin and Prince. Despite Eclipse healing her lycanroc, it went down to a single Muddy Water from Prince. I used Fake Out on the passimian that same turn to prevent it from moving. The next foe was lycanroc (night), which unfortunately didn’t even get to move since Aladdin quickly fainted it with a High Jump Kick. After this, the only two pokemon left were passimian and oranguru. In order to get good experience on Bambi, I sent it in. Aster ordered oranguru to use bulldoze, which was a good move since it lowered my speed. Despite that, a Muddy Water, a Horn Leech and an Earth Power were all I needed to get rid of both apes. “Can you for once let us win? This is getting ridiculous,” Aster pointed his lips. “Well, that’s our cue to leave. Good luck looking for your friend,” Eclipse laughed. “Yeah, we hid him very well, you’ll have a hard time finding him.” If looks could kill… Aster looked bewildered at Eclipse. “Can you for once shut up? This is getting ridiculous too! You just told her he’s in here,” she shook her head sideways and stormed out of the house. “I’m sorry Eclipse! I promise I’ll be careful,” Aster said and followed her. Something tells me that if they weren’t stupid enough to join Team Meteor, they would probably gain double their salary being a pair of comedians. “Anyhow, let’s see where Cain is,” I said to myself. I checked the walls for a hidden contraption, papers for clues, but nothing. By some luck, however, I slipped on a notebook and fell back onto the bookshelf, which rotated and pushed me to the other side of the wall. I walked down the stairs and the hallway, which eventually led me to where Cain was. He wasn’t alone, however. “Oh, hello,” Taka said. “Nice hair color.” “Shut up. If you’re going to fight me, do it right away.” “Seems you’re in a fouler mood than usual. I think that says a lot.” I threw my pokeball, sending out Bambi. “Send out your pokemon too, before Bambi makes a hole in your stomach with his horns.” “Scary,” he said, and sent out klefki. Since working against a steel/fairy type with a grass/normal type was inefficient, I switched Bambi with Anna. In the meanwhile, klefki set up two spikes, before it got one-shotted by Anna’s Heat Wave. Since Taka mentioned that he was sending out an exeggutor, I kept Anna in, but then I realized he’d meant an alolan exeggutor. Even with neutral damage, though Anna fainted it with two Heat Waves, though she also received major damage with Dragon Hammer. The next match was between gligar and Prince. Both attacked twice - gligar with acrobatics and Prince with Muddy Water. They were pretty tied in strength, but gligar went down first. Then, Taka sent out his last pokemon, the infamous chatot who once tried to rescue me in Malchous forest. Taka really underestimated my abilities if he thought I could not free myself from that cheap cage. Anyway, one Rock Slide from Wolfie was all I needed to end the battle. “Yay Vanilla, my prince~ You were so cool defeating the bad guys,” Cain said from the cell e was trapped in. “Now don’t even dream of destroying Apophyll with us protecting it!” I raised my eyebrow at Taka, waiting for him to explain himself. “As you know, Pyrous mountain is the largest active volcano in Apophyll,” he said. “We’re planning to take a PULSE, a camerupt up there. That will wipe out the whole place up.” “Why do you even want to do that?” “If you haven’t noticed, Team Meteor’s aim is to cause as much chaos as possible. Once we bury the place under a thick layer of lava, people won’t be able to live there for a good while.” “You’re crazy if you think you’ll succeed,” Cain shouted and then started singing. “We unite against you, together as one. You won’t succeed, because we sow the seed of freedom!” “It would be a shame, Vanilla, if you came up to the top of the mountain to stop us. To save all those people. Really, a shame,” he said, as he and the other grunts packed their things up and left. I opened Cain’s cell as I questioned what Taka could mean by telling me all that information. “Thank you for rescuing me, my prince, but now we must hurry and warn the people in Apophyll.” VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS Credit goes to J-AwesomeOne for the idea to force make Vanilla to color her hair. QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

Hmmm *meaningful look* I wonder what you could mean? Also because idiot me lives in 2005 and thought fighting types were immune to ghost lol

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 20 When I returned to Apophyll Academy, I encountered Kiki coughing like her lungs were drowning. “So you have beaten my student?” Kiki asked me once her fit of coughing had subsided. “Yes.” Kiki looked at me, perhaps to search for anything that could indicate I was lying, but then nodded in silence. “Fine. Come meet me outside. We shall have our battle.” Kiki started walking with a slower pace than I would have expected from a woman who probably didn’t reach her sixties yet. I checked Victoria, who had been listening to our short conversation, but was sitting and looking absentmindedly at the wall. Since she said nothing, I exited Kiki’s - I assume Academy director’s - office. I was ready to kick ass. “Vanilla,” the expected but late call from Victoria arrived when I was just about to exit into the sandy field. “Listen, while you were out, Kiki showed me around the Academy, telling me how to run things here.” “And why do I care?” I was confused. “Kiki is dying,” she sighed with visible despair. “She’s been sick for months, but she’s tried her hardest to hide it from everyone.” “That is unfortunate,” I said with perhaps surprising honesty. “I hope her last days aren’t difficult.” “Me too,” Victoria trailed off. “If that’s all, I’ll be going.” “Wait,” the girl stopped me once more. “What is it this time?” “What I was trying to get at is, I don’t feel good about fighting her like this,” she said, and quickly ran around me to block the exit. “Victoria, move out of my way,” I said, but Victoria shook her head sideways. “We’ll convince her to give us the machine some other way,” she said, with tears building up in her eyes. “But battling takes too much a toll on her. I can’t let you do it.” “Kiki’s wish isn’t to live her last days like a living vegetable,” I pointed out. “She will be mad with you if she finds out you’re doing this.” “I don’t care. I know what’s best for her.” “Listen, not only do I need the machine, I also need her badge. I’m not going to waste my time waiting for the reserve fighting-type leader to be up when Kiki passes away.” “Vanilla, please.” “No pleases. I’m in a sore mood, and you’re only making it worse. Now move out of the way before I make you regret it.” I grabbed her wrist and held it tightly. Victoria flung her arm back and forth, but I would not let go. “You think you can defeat me on a physical match?” she asked. “Perhaps you’re taller than me and have more muscle mass,” I said. “But I’m fast. I was trained to beat my opponent, whether that person is male or female, larger or smaller than me.” “Then go ahead. I’ll protect Kiki with my life!” As she wished, I let go of her wrist, and dodged two punches from Victoria. I moved away from her, she followed me and then used her momentum against her by tripping her. The girl was, of course, sturdy and pulled herself up. However, by then, I had gained higher ground by going up the stairs a bit, so the moment she stood up, I launched myself onto her, which instantly made her fall back down again. She, in turn, stuck her foot out on my way, and made me trip as well. “You’re too slow,” I said jumping back up. “Is it the muscle mass that weighs you down?” “Please stop,” a few students from the Academy ran in between us and some others held us back. One girl helped Victoria stand right up. “This is not a place to engage in physical fighting,” a young man warned us. “Only pokemon battles are allowed. Otherwise, take your fight somewhere outside.” “Alright, it seems we’ll have to battle with our pokemon,” Victoria said, and sent out a large panda bear. “As you wish,” I responded and sent out my newly trained Gretel, the Slurpuff (Drain Kiss, Cotton Guard, Belly Drum and Endeavor). Unfortunately, the cake-looking pokemon had no means of exploiting Belly Drum as of now, since Drain Kiss is a special move. The pangoro could not withstand a Drain Kiss, so Victoria used up a choc ice cream to heal him. Unfortunately for her, it was useless since a repeating attack took the large bear down. Then, she sent out her a-raichu, who tried to set up on me by using Nasty Plot, but went straight down with a single Earth Power from Prince. Then Victoria sent out her gallade. This pokemon is a pain in the neck. It has high defenses, so even though Gretel’s Drain Kiss is super effective, it took long to defeat him. I even had to raise Gretel’s defense by Cotton Guarding once. Alas, it was done, but the last two mons played a trick on me. Against mienfoo, I sent out Aladdin, whose Fake Out ejected and exchanged him for incineroar - a dark type. Even though dark-type attacks deal neutral damage to Aladdin, I still switched out because Aladdin’s defenses aren’t that great. As expected, Wolfie who also lacks defense, went down to two Darkest Lariats but not before she dealt a good amount of damage with Rock Slide. That allowed me to easily faint incineroar with Fake Out when I brought Aladdin back out. The rest was easy, since Psycho Cut finished the mienfoo that had postponed inevitable fainting. “No,” Victoria seemed disturbed when she returned her mienfoo back to his pokeball. “Vanilla, please.” I shrugged. “I won, and hence I’ve earned the right to do as I wish.” When I turned my back to her, Victoria snapped. “It’s for the kids, right?” she shouted. “They’re more important to you than Kiki’s wellbeing.” I stopped on my way and turned again. “You are mistaken,” I lowered my gaze. “I no longer do anything for anybody else. The kids can stay kidnapped for all I care. I do this for myself - collecting badges and battling Gym leaders is what I came for in the first place.” “How… how can you…” “How can I be this cold, you ask?” I laughed from my nose. “One must learn from mistakes, Victoria. If you don’t, you just keep wasting lives.” I left Victoria looking as though she wished she could choke me right then and there. However, she seemed to collect herself, because after a moment, she followed me to be the referee for the match between Kiki and me. “I was wondering what was taking you so long,” Kiki said. “We can start our battle now. Victoria, please.” I walked over to my designated spot, and Victoria spoke the rules of the battle with an obviously monotonous voice. I defeated Kiki, and was already walking toward her to receive the badge and the HM, when the woman oscillated back and forth a couple of times and collapsed on the spot. A chill went down my spine, thinking that the woman had died before giving me the damned badge, much like Corey had done. However, on quick inspection, she seemed to just be unconscious. A group of students and I carried Kiki to her room and lay her down there. On Victoria’s suggestion, everyone but she and I left the room. When she came by once more, she was at first confused but then incredibly furious. “There’s no longer a point to keeping up a facade of serenity,” she said to Victoria, but I also listened. “After a display like that… My glass reputation is already shattered.” “Don’t say that,” Victoria interjected. “Nobody could be as strong as you have been.” “For as strong as I’ve been, I’m still too weak,” Kiki’s voice cracked and she coughed again. “Please do calm down,” her apprentice begged, but Kiki snapped back. “How can I? Did you think I was only talking of the zen of mind when I taught you to defeat the inner chaos?” Kiki coughed again, and she took a couple of deep breaths. “No amount of meditation is going to change the fact that my body is killing itself.” After that, despite my inner despair at having to postpone my obtaining the badge and HM, Victoria pulled me to leave the room. Kiki sat near the corner of her room, looking down on a spot on the floor. “I’ve never seen Kiki get upset like that before,” she sighed when we were outside. “She must be going through so much.” “Each of us must carry their own weight.” Victoria looked at me, though I couldn’t tell what went on her mind. “I’ll wait for Kiki to calm down and get your badge and HM from her,” she said. “But could you please check on Cain for me? It’s been bothering me that e hasn’t arrived, even after this much time has passed.” “Maybe e decided to go off somewhere else and chase some men.” “Perhaps but unlikely. E seemed eager to rescue the kids,” she said. “You see, there’s one place between Reborn City and Apophyll, which is Azurine Island. I don’t know how he could’ve mistaken that swampy island for Apophyll beach, but well, anything is possible with Cain, right?” I shrugged. “I’ll be back for my badge,” I said and left to look for purple princess. VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS Yooo 3,000 views and counting! Thanks for the continued support frens~ QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

Haha! Well she likely just left the bloodied pieces together with the owner of the blood... that is, in Pikachu's grave

No, it's a fair question- the way I designed this dress is that it's something you receive as a baby. Then you go stretching it as you grow older. By magic of a fairy godmother, the dress can be stretched infinitely, and as such what happened here is that Vanilla tore off the blood stains, washed the dress, and mended the hem she tore by stretching it again.

Vanilla's turning into the over-protective neechan? Only time will tell... or at least when she's rejoined with Shelly

It was hard writing this, since I felt it was an important chapter (last episode, Vanilla wasn't the protagonist, and in this one she regains the role after the passing of Pikachu). I don't even know if I was able to portray her inner turmoil well haha And that last part... gotcha

From Everland to Reborn ~ Episode 19 I sped through the filthy waters of Azurine Lake on Amaria’s boat. On the way to Apophyll, I passed by an island, surprisingly full of vegetation regardless of the deteriorating waters. “If I remember correctly, Apophyll has a large beach, so I don’t think that’s it,” I said to myself and kept going south west. Eventually, I could see the beach, and allowed the boat to speed down as it docked on the sand. Apophyll academy was close to the beach, but also pretty much surrounded by hills and volcanoes of various sizes. Why anyone would make a school close to the looming danger, I could never understand, but asking questions was not why I had come there. I went into the school, and asking around a little, found Victoria together with a middle-aged lady in a room. “Hello Vanilla,” Victoria greeted me. “I thought I’d find you here before me, but I guess I finished my business in Reborn City earlier than expected.” “Hello,” I said. “Kiki, this is Vanilla. She’s the one I told you about earlier. Vanilla, this is Kiki, the director of Apophyll Academy and our sensei.” Kiki bowed her head, and I nodded in silence. “I hear you need the HM for Strength,” Kiki said with a raspy voice. “I was discussing with Victoria how to go about this, as the HM is usually reserved for the graduates of this academy.” “Cut the crap and just give me the HM. I have also come to challenge you to a Gym battle. Once you do both of that, I’ll be off my way,” I said. “Vanilla? I think you’re not feeling well today, are you?” Victoria asked with surprise both in her voice and face. Funny how she didn’t say I looked ‘pale’, for I would’ve argued that I look pale everyday. “I am perfectly fine,” I said. “I cannot give the HM to you until you demonstrate to me that you can wield it,” Kiki explained. “For, one must be able to control one’s inner strength before they attain worldly one.” I was getting exasperated. At any moment I was going to grab the woman by the collar and coerce her to give me the damn disk, but I knew that would be “counter-intuitive” as Florinia had put it. Instead, I took a deep breath and asked. “What do you want me to do?” “We could start by giving you a task,” Kiki said and coughed a few times. “... Excuse me. As I was saying, on the top of Pyrous mountain, you will find one of my newest yet finest students.” “Could you be talking about-” Victoria started, but Kiki placed a palm in front of her face. “He has gone there to meditate. If you can defeat him in battle, I will grant you the opportunity to battle and receive the badge from me.” I said nothing more and stormed out of the room. “Vanilla,” I heard Victoria calling me. She stopped me when I had just exited the academy. “Vanilla, I note you strange,” she said. “I also noticed that your pachirisu isn’t with you. May I ask what happened?” I turned to face her. “What do you mean strange? I’m my usual self.” “You may be cold but never outright disrespectful or agitated. Let me know what troubles you so I can help,” Victoria insisted. I felt embarrassed about being so easily read. How could I fool my enemies, if I can't even do my allies? “If you will shut up, I will tell you,” I sighed. “Pikachu is dead.” Victoria widened her eyes and opened her mouth, but I raised a finger and held it in front of her lips, almost but not touching. “Now, go back in. I’ll return in no time.” Pyrous mountain? It should be called more like Pyrous volcano. The inside of the mountain was barely breathable with all the steam and heat produced by the lava. I carefully walked around the lava, through some narrow passages that had evidently been crafted so people could pass, but not taking safety into consideration. I put my hair up into a ponytail and walked forward. Some parts, especially the stairs, had melted away, so I had to use my muscles to climb up the damp walls. Luckily, I managed to contain my balance whenever my hand or feet slipped. When I first arrived to the ashen beach, I had felt it warm close to being hot. Now, when I exited the mountain near the top, I felt cold because of how high my body temperature had risen and because of the sweat covering all of my skin. As I had been told by Kiki, her apprentice was on the top of the mountain, looking down to the direction of Apophyll Academy. I could not tell whether the lava or the guy’s hair were brighter red. “You, Apophyll student,” I called. “I’ve come to challenge you to a battle.” The redhead seemed lost as to who was calling him at first, but then turned around and saw me standing right behind him. “Was it Kiki who sent you here?” he asked. “Yes. She will only grant me a Gym battle if I defeat you first.” The guy sighed. “Fine. I will battle you,” he said. “If you will first help me meditate.” If I said I didn’t have an urge to push the man off the cliff at that moment, it would be a lie. Does he have a working pair of eyes? Does he not see that I’m not the type of person that would make a good meditating companion? The guy must’ve read my mind, because he elaborated on his statement. “What I mean is, if you will hear me out. I came here to learn to control my anger, but now I am realizing that if it is only about meditating about those things by myself, I didn’t even have to come all the way to Pyrous mountain to do it. I think talking to a stranger who has no reason to give me sweet talk would help me achieve that purpose.” “If you’ll not battle me until I hear your story, then start talking already,” I said. The guy looked at me for a while in silence, and seemed to want to say something but ultimately decided against it. Instead, he started talking about what was weighing his mind. “All my life until now has been spent with me trying to surpass my brother,” he said. “I dyed my hair red so we could look different. I chose to train fire type pokemon to counter his ice pokemon. I also became a Gym leader because he was one. Lame, I know.” “I don’t have brothers, so I can’t help you,” I shrugged. “Will we have our battle now?” The guy looked at me with disgust painted on his face, but carried on talking like nothing was amiss. “Now, I have to confess that this obsession made me do things I will never stop regretting. One of those things was how I treated my friend, Shelly.” The mention of shy girl’s name picked my attention. “From the looks of it, you know her too. Shy, isn’t she? Easily scared, isn’t she? I may be to blame, for hurting her.” For a moment, Shelly’s voice came to my mind. That was when we were back at the orphanage trying to rescue her friend, and I had asked why she seemed uncomfortable when I was around. “O-oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry it came off t-that way. Um, it’s nothing personal actually. It’s j-just that you remind me of someone else.” Didn’t she mention his eyes? That both our eyes were hollow as if light had faded all together from them? I grabbed the guy by the collar. “Is she your friend too? I won’t blame you if you want to throw me off the cliff now,” he said and closed his eyes. His countenance took me off guard, and I weakened my grip on him when he asked me the question. “She’s an acquaintance,” I explained. “Even then, the thought that she could’ve been a different person today…” The guy nodded without opening his eyes. I let him go. “As long as she remains friends with Heather, she’ll also be pursued,” I said, facing away from the red guy. “She will have to overcome her fears.” “Will you be the one to help her?” I widened my eyes, shocked at my own mind. Pikachu’s bleeding body flashed in front of my eyes. Wolfie’s dying smile flashed in front of my eyes. I laughed quietly. “No, I won’t. After all, the only one who can help her is herself,” I said, turning around. “Now, enough talk. Are you ready for battle or not?” “I see,” the guy said after the battle. “So my fire is extinguished after all.” “Whatever. I’ll be going to Kiki now,” I said, returning Aladdin to his pokeball. “Vanilla, right?” he asked. This is when I remembered we had not exchanged names. “How do you know my name?” The guy smiled but not in my direction. “You might not know it, but your name is becoming well-known. Aren’t you one of the group leading the fight against Team Meteor?” I shrugged. “I’m Cal. Before you go, I’d like to tell you something Kiki told me when I just arrived to the Academy.” “Be quick,” I said, lowering my body so Pikachu could climb up… I froze on the spot. Then I shook my head sideways and stood back up. “Fire is a beautiful dancer, but let it play as it wishes and it will turn a whole forest into coal.” I left, and Cal’s words sunk into the depths of my mind, never to be recalled. VANILLA RATES: REBORN CHARACTERS QUICK LINK TO NEXT EPISODE

Gundham is so cute when he remembers his mother~ adorablissimo~ Looking forward to Maga-Z packing a punchasso

Thanks for reading~ I'm writing Vanilla in Apophyll right as we speak, but oh if it isn't hard! Hard because 1. I've never lost someone that precious to me, 2. Vanilla's personality isn't very like mine and she's much more complex than any of my previous characters/OCs. Sometimes I don't even know what she's thinking lol Anyhow, sounds cool, the more story-driven playthrus the merrier! I think Wolfox was doing one (which he hasn't updated in a while boo), Q-Jei is doing one with Flannery and of course Jess is doing the same kind with Gundham Tanaka but in Rejuvenation Es all fun reads~ I'm both my own best comedian... and everyone's favorite candy comedian~ jk

Department store 9F I think