more pokémon stuff? can be related to dos, or something else!

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A/N: I was considering doing a “Viridescent: Or, Tetsuki Catches A Pikachu” ficlet–and went so far as to create her, unsurprisingly, all Electric-type team but then I realized that… I have no idea what that story would be. I think I just wanted to make a Pokemon team for her.

I wanted the title to be a little misleading–IS SHE PART OF TEAM ROCKET?–but the answer to that is, no, she just honestly catches a Pikachu for herself and ends up with an Alolan Raichu. And writing a ficlet for the sake of a click-baity title seemed not so much in the spirit of the ask box.

I had briefly thought of Tetsuki being the human touchstone for one of the Electric-type Legendaries–either Raikou or Tapu Koko–and most of her new life is acting as guardian for them because otherwise this world is too… peaceful for her. And that’d be a thing because her team only has five Pokemon and people would ask, where’s your sixth? (Her team would be the following: Zebstrika, Alolan Raichu, Alolan Golem, Galvantula, and Lanturn)

But then altogether it seemed like a little much for what would end up being a milk run life for Tetsuki. Not that she doesn’t deserve a vacation given what I usually put her through…

Other than that my current Pokemon series then would be the DoS fusion and Year With The Moon which is about a different SIOC.

Although I’m not sure what to do beyond that than just bringing them up though…

Hm, I guess here’s some random ficlets from Year With The Moon?

~

Ember exhales, face tilted upward, enjoying the way her breath puffs out in a cloud. For a brief moment she entertains the idea of being a Pokemon, ready to unleash her power at a moment’s notice, before chuckling at her own thought.

Curious, Sandshrew climbs up her shoulder and chitters, nuzzling against her cheek.

She smiles, smooths a hand across her Pokemon’s back, and continues walking, head still tilted upwards. Ahead of her Clefairy skips from footprint to footprint, dancing in the trail of Ember’s brother and friends.

The sky is clear, the moon is full, the stars are bright, and tonight is a wonderful night for traveling with the people and Pokemon she loves.

Yes, this is a good night.

///

She and Misty share a tent, sleeping bags curled together for warmth, whispers exchanged in the close space between them.

It’s nice.

Ember never had many… any… girl friends in Pallet Town, more than satisfied with what she had with Ash and Gary. Daisy was more role model than peer, years ahead of them to do more than act as guide, and so there wasn’t much for her there.

Misty, it seems, had a similar yet opposite problem–too many sisters but all of them older and beyond her.

Ember curls closer, lays a gentling hand on her excited, nocturnal Pokemon, and falls asleep with a smile on her face.

///

Gary is the first awake, a decade of discipline hard to break, but the care and feeding of Pokemon is so much satisfying when they’re your own.

Brock and Misty follow soon after, gym leader lifestyle no easier to forget, while the twins trail after. They lean against each other, practically propping each other up, eyes reluctant to open even as the others tease and berate them.

Breakfast today is berries and leftover onigiri–if they keep up a good pace, they’ll be in the next town by lunchtime and can have a real meal there.

Ember recalls her sleeping Pokemon to their Pokeballs, grumbling half-heartedly at their luck, before stretching, preparing for their journey ahead.

She is happy.

~

Ask Box Advent Calendar is on!

I’m a trans woman and I _Can’t_ be out. It’s not safe. So about the only concession I can make is to grow my hair long. And I caught a glimpse of my shadow out of the corner of my eye today, with long hair just curling up at the ends and … I dunno, my heart just about broke from Want. Would you mind accepting a prompt for a world where Shadows Show the Future? Or something like that?

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A/N1: Hey sister, I’m sorry it took so long for me to respond and I’m even more sorry that you are unable to be yourself. But I’m glad that you have reached out, that you have that small comfort to revel in your identity, and I hope that someday soon you will be able to do so completely.

Be strong, be safe, and know that we are here for you. I would love to fill this prompt for you; thank you for bringing it to me.

~

1) Shadows Also Dream: Or, Eerin Nara* is Not a Jedi

There is no Light side, there is no Dark side, there is only the Force.

Eerin breathes, lets the waves of natural chakra wash over him, meditates and centers himself. The sun is only beginning it’s climb into the sky, cold air damp with dew.

This is nothing compared to his Mum’s morning stretches.

Around him he can feel the other students do the same, can feel them harmonize their chakra to each other, to their teacher’s…

… all except for one.

He opens his eyes and meets someone else’s–Ben Organa, Master Luke’s nephew, though that’s not really how he’s supposed to be considered.

Just another student like everyone else.

The sun is still rising, casting long shadows across the ground. His family would consider it strategically ideal.

Ben’s eyes widen in surprise, before he turns away, red creeping along his cheeks. Embarrassment more than anger, but not without the latter.

Eerin closes his eyes–quick so as to avoid Master Luke’s attention, but long enough for what really matters.

A figure in armor, helmet, and cloak. A lightsaber held high over fallen bodies.

There is no Light side, there is no Dark side, there is only the Force. But even then: Eerin doesn’t need to be a user of Light to save lives.

~

2) Counterclockwise (Sundials Don’t Rust): Or, Leanne Peridot Apparently Has More Than One Sister

There are three things about the future Regina knows to be true:

Galileo will never betray her.

Her visions are never wrong.

She will one day kill her father.

That last one has less to do with her abilities and more to do with her determination.

Of course, whose to say how any of that will come to pass.

Perhaps Galileo will never betray her because he will die long before he ever could–their line of work far from safe, and him in the thick of things.

Perhaps her visions are never wrong, but her interpretation of them–lacking context–may very well be.

And perhaps instead of killing her father, he will end up killing her instead. Or perhaps he’ll drink himself to death, or he’ll have a heart attack, or he’ll slip on a wet sidewalk and crack his head open.

She’ll never have that problem, at least. Her eyes are always on the ground, always steps ahead of everyone else just by looking at their shadow.

Until, one day, her father’s shadow changes.

Ah, so she really will kill him one day.

Unless he has another daughter who will beat her to the punch.

~

3) Walking Around (Eyes Wide Open): Or, Sakako Uchiha Does Not See Dead People

In a family of shadow manipulators, it’s easy enough to ignore.

At first.

For the Nara, silhouettes are less about physics and more about discipline and creativity. Despite her name, the Nara genes run strong, and there is no harm in that.

By itself.

But she is still the Uchiha heiress, and whether or not curse of her bloodline is fact or superstition, it still flows through her veins.

The Sharingan. Once it sees something, it can never forget.

But maybe, if she doesn’t understand–if she chooses not to–then it doesn’t matter. Just strange shapes upon the ground instead of messages from beyond.

Mum doesn’t often speak about her younger years–it is in the past, she says, to be learned from but not drag us down–but Sakako understands enough:

Knowledge is both power and responsibility.

Once she takes that step, she can never go back.

~

A/N2: Three different fills! Just trying to get a feel for this ability, because it seems very cool but I don’t know if I fully understand it as a mechanism yet. I might come back to it in the future! 😀

So “Eerin Nara” is the Stars Also Dream equivalent of Kinokawa Nara. Going with the idea that the closest thing SAD!Yoshino had to family was her Jedi Master Bant Eerin, not the Kinokawas who, while very nice, didn’t really understand her.

I have some ideas for what kanji the name Eerin would use, but I’m not sure which is the best. Not that his kanji is important in a writing sense, given I write in English, but I like having that little tidbit of ~flavoring~. Kanji possibilities under the cut for anyone else interested.

Ask Box Advent Calendar is on!

Ee
慧 (wisdom, enlightenment, insight)
影 (shadow, reflection, image, light, trace)
映 (reflect, harmonize, to project, to cast [a shadow])
栄 (glory, prosperity, to shine/glow)

Rin
倫 (ethics, morals)
臨 (to peek through, to examine, to face)
理 (reason, truth, justice)

Ask Box Advent Calendar 2017 Announcement

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I’m just going to transition from ask box event to ask box event, I suppose.

If anyone remembers last year’s event this will be much the same–a free for all Schrödinger’s prompt sort of thing in which I will respond to all asks by filling them as best I can or at the very least explain why I can’t?

Any prompt, any question (personal or headcanon), or even just a single word. You can even “resubmit” some prompts which I’ve let go by the wayside (the list of which I’ll put under the cut, most of it is unsurprisingly DoS stuff) or do one in the format of a different ask box event.

I dunno, ‘tis the season and all that. So head over to that ask box!

Dreaming of S(omething)
– anonymous: SOLAR PUNK?

Down Every Road, 4/?
— anonymous: (Walking Around) Down Every Road aka Shikako and Sasuke planning/dealing with pregnancy. [#: parents-to-be]

Flip To The Last Page, 6/?
@donapoetrypassion: Shikako wanting to meddle with Team 7, Shikamaru wanting things to be the same. She’s an extension of him (right?) so why doesn’t she just follow the path alongside him

Stars Also Dream, 11/?
— book14reader: the other padawans, saving force sensitive children (people preventing massacres)
— Celeste @ ao3: jedi or sith oath?
— donapoetrypassion: Alderaan destruction reaction

Walking Around ‘verse
— anon(s?): Sakako versus ghouls (and her badass ghoul hunter name or thoughts of Shikabane-hime => Reaper?)

Best Thing That’s Ever Been Mine. Rockstar or Royalty au

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I had to look through my entire Sabaku no Gaara tag because I foolishly didn’t tag either AUs with a specific tag, mostly because I was probably hoping I’d make a title to attach to them and just never bothered…

Anyway…

Definitely Royalty!AU. I’m getting a vaguely Princess Bride vibe? But, like… also Titanic vibe. In the sense that it’s an older Gaara telling the story of his first love to, probably, the NGSS and the plot twist is that hey, what up, there’s no sad ending. Everyone lives, everything worked out, hooray, Gaara’s first love aka Shikako is in fact their adoptive mom so it’s all good.

Like a less bullshit/skeezy version of How I Met Your Mother, basically. But because Gaara is very solemn and surprisingly poetic it’d sound like an epic in the literal sense and not just a creepy guy complaining about his failed relationships.

I guess this would be a good title for the more action-filled version of Royalty!AU where, along with the sweeping fairy tale romance tabloid drama, there is also a sub-plot of the Akatsuki being an anti-monarchy terrorist group and feeling of betrayal when Shikako is believed to be involved in an assassination attempt against Temari.

But that’d basically be cheating on my part, so let’s see…

I guess this could just straight up be a bad ending!version of the Royalty!AU? Not ~dead~ bad ending, but a “it just couldn’t work out” bad ending… but that’s dissatisfying.

Hm… I don’t know, anon…

This actually feels more like a TemarixShikamaru B-sides of Royalty!AU than the A-sides that is Shikaara. And, like, in this AU Temari can’t abdicate her role so it is a “bad ending” for them…

OH! So it’d be more like the ClarissexJoe subplot from Princess Diaries 2–in that they never allowed themselves to be together because of ~duty and propriety~ until after her heir was established.

Which means it would still be a story to the NGSS (one of whom is taking up the throne) decades after the initial meeting and falling in love, but it’s not entirely cliche “this is how it happened” because their story isn’t done yet! 😀

Like. Everyone’s eyes were on the fairy tale romance of the century that was Shikaara, unbeknownst to nearly everyone else there was this drama of firstborns resisting love because of their duties. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Smile At The Stars — Yoshino, Shikaku and their grandchildren

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A/N1: … like a Yoshino&Shikaku!POV of Our Share of the World?

I mean, I guess I could try to come up with a plotty brainstorm of Yoshino&Shikaku with their grandchildren, but this just seems like a collection of five scenes of Y&S with their grandchildren.

Sorry this took so long, but since this isn’t really a fake fic title prompt, I just tried to fill it like a regular prompt. Enjoy!

~

Shikaku is the last to find out about his first grandchild, heading home after work to find his wife and daughter surrounded by piles of storage scrolls.

“This is archaic, Mum,” Shikako says, unsealing a scroll, glancing over the contents, then resealing them again. “Toddler clothes.”

“Oh, set those aside, dear, he’ll need them soon enough,” Yoshino instructs, going through her own set of scrolls–linens, hideous, but an heirloom of the clan head’s line–and putting them away.

“How are you supposed to find anything like this? I can make you a new set of sealing scrolls–or a custom Hammerspace!”

“These work just fine still, Shikako, it’d be a waste to get rid of them–ah! I think this is it.” From Yoshino’s scroll appears a crib, sturdy and steady and capable of withstanding a D-rank jutsu, the same one that carried all three of their children.

That seems like just yesterday, surely it’s not already time to pass it down?

“What’s going on here?”

He can’t possibly be that old already.

His wife and daughter both turn to him before glancing at each other, Yoshino’s expression clearly urging Shikako to explain.

“Well… Dad… um…”

His sons enter the hallway, Kinokawa making silly faces at the baby in Shikamaru’s arms. The red-haired baby in Shikamaru’s arms who reaches out towards Shikako upon spotting her.

He passes the baby over to his sister almost reluctantly and Kinokawa follows, adoringly.

“This is Kareru Uzumaki, he’s my son.” Shikako says, steeling herself unnecessarily; both of Shikaku’s sons take after him.

///

Shikako’s pregnancy is a frustrating, frightening time for all within her vicinity–nothing inspires crankiness and bizarre seals like consecutive nights of sleeplessness. Yoshino remembers being much the same during her own time with the twins, so she is patient.

Still, there comes a point when a mother is done indulging…

… which just so happens to be the same point as when said mother finds her pregnant daughter on the roof of the house in the middle of the night armed with buckets of paint and a brush.

It takes promises of hot cocoa and secrecy to coax her down, safely bundled in a blanket on the sofa, but Yoshino feels much better now that she’s on the ground.

“I’m so tired,” Shikako says, voice cracking with desperation, and so Yoshino tops up her mug.

“You can rest here, sweetheart, you’re safe.” She remembers the paranoia of her daughter’s earlier teen years, perhaps her hormones have kicked it into overdrive.

But Shikako just shakes her head. “I can’t, I can’t,” she repeats, “She needs me, she needs my chakra, I can’t go to sleep. She needs me.”

Yoshino feels a chill go down her spine.

“How does everyone else do this? I’m so tired.”

Pregnancy is supposed to be difficult, yes, but not like that. Not so consciously, actively, impossibly involved.

No more indulging, no more patience.

It takes more than hot cocoa to get Shikako to go to the hospital, but Yoshino knows best.

///

They do not often see their grandchildren from Sand, almost never altogether–that one trip to Wind Country aside, of course–and so it’s a pleasure to have the house full again.

Shikaku enjoys having extra sets of hand to feed the deer–especially ones that still find novelty in the chore, awed at the shy creatures and their forested homes–and Yoshino enjoys having victims to run through her morning stretches.

It’s unfortunate for them, of course, as they are not as flexible as their Konoha siblings and cousin, but they complain far less. Or perhaps are far quieter about it.

Shinki, at least, seems to take it as an opportunity to improve himself–never mind that his almost literal iron spine makes it more difficult–but Araya and Yodo spend more time trying to push each other over while Yoshino looks away.

Not that she isn’t aware of their little competition, but why not let them have their fun?

Shikaku is the one who rescues them and gives them a tour of the village, no better guide than the retired former Jounin Commander after all, before bringing them back to the Nara Clan compound where both their parents await them.

Which is still an odd thought–if anyone had told them that the Kazekage would one day be father to three of their grandchildren, well, the future is an interesting place, indeed.

~

A/N2: … so, um, it’s been a while everyone. Sorry about how long it took. Holidays then being ill and then three days of overtime which caused me to relapse… I’m not fully satisfied with this–much fonder of the original Shikadai’s POV, but hopefully it’s still nice.

Also, since December is approaching and I’ve got a few more prompts in the ask box, instead of sticking with the Ask Box Fake Fic Titles I might as well segue into the Ask Box Advent Calendar so send in those prompts! 😀

NoShadows!anon, here, and I love your brainstorm, truly. My thoughts are: If the Akimichi are the tree, who’s the light? The Yamanaka? (Light, “tree”, Shadow; Naruto, Sasuke, Shikako?) Also, the quote put me in mind of a story where Harry learned from Lockheart that “The Boy Who Lived” was an illusion he was always casting, and he had to learn to control it, or someone else would.

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Thanks! Sorry I wasn’t able to do more with it, anon. It was a lovely idea but there are just so many different takes on it that no single story would take hold

That being said, for the ANY alliance version, that breakdown does seem right. The Yamanaka are all abrout dragging the truth out of people, and while beautiful it’s dangerous to look at light directly.

For Team Seven, I’m not entirely sure which is which for tree and light between Naruto and Sasuke.

(I think I vaguely remember that HP fic, too, but I’ve read so many I have no idea which one that might be… :P)

“No Shadows (Without something to cast them)” … I swear I had a pithier title when I thought the concept up (it’s spiraling from the musing on eeveelutions, but you don’t need to keep it to that universe). The idea that … you know, shadows don’t exist unless something else does? I swear I had a, like, three-word title for it right up until I started typing it out.

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No worries, anon, I get you. Like, yes, shadows require light, but JUST light alone won’t lead to a shadow. There needs to be an object for the light to be blocked by…

Unfortunately… I’m not sure what else you’re looking for with this prompt? Obviously it’s a Nara focused story, but not necessarily in the Arm in Arm ‘verse?

… this title very much reminds me of “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” – Abraham Lincoln.

Or, rather, the DoS Switch variant of it “Family is like a tree and life is like a shadow.”

So along with your title suggestion, that would mean no family, no shadows?

Which would be a story about… how a lone Nara dies, but the pack survives kind of vibe? Or maybe extended further out–the Nara clan alone would die without the Akimichi and Yamanaka as allies? Or EVEN further out in which the Nara are in every department of Konoha’s administration contributing to the village as a whole because the strength of the village means the strength of the clan?

… I think that’s too far out.

Maybe a nice “behind the scenes” Nara members, supporting the main family as best they can (even when they cause irritation headaches that Kofuku-oba would have sworn she stopped having after Shikaku settled down).

But would anything ever be as sweet and heartening as Silver Queen’s own Sunshine Sidestory Chapter 21?

Eh, the clan is big enough, I can do other members and their tales. Tails? Heeeeeey deer herders. Or how the Nara clan changed over time?

Like, I don’t know if this is fanon or my own headcanon, but I claim that the ANY alliance was originally the Akimichi as landowners/nobles and the Nara and Yamanaka as their servants which then became allies then friends. So that journey of clan politics?

I’m floundering, anon, sorry.

Edge Of The Stars, for Shikako and Shikadai

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So in a world where Shikadai doesn’t have five cousins–specifically via his aunt Shikako, that is –he would be the closest thing to a child she ever has. Literally. Siblings are biologically the closest to each other–especially twins, even if they’re not identical–so genetically Shikadai is the closest thing a childless Shikako would have to a descendant.

Which means he might be the closest thing to an heir for her legacy if she doesn’t take on apprentices like Tsunade does. Or maybe a literal heir for all her earthly possessions if she ever does permanently die. (Which, I mean, given her track record, the probability is less than average)

Or maybe it’s something like Shikadai tries to solve the mystery of his missing aunt and thereby becomes her heir (whether he actually finds her or not)?

It’s a lovely title, anon, I’m just not sure what direction to go with this. The only thing I am sure of, though, is that this is NOT within the Stars Also Dream ‘verse, mostly because Shikako herself isn’t so involved in that ‘verse and of Yoshino’s children I’m pretty sure Kinokawa (… or Bant? Eerin? Would SAD!Yoshino still name her youngest child after the Kinokawas if her “real” family was her Jedi Master?) would be the most involved in ~the ways of the Force~.

And, see, this is where the problem of human desire for continuity/patterns arises because this just feels to me like a “Shikako has disappeared (into her Gelel stone) and Shikadai is trying to find her” very early on in the Foundation of Yesterday mythos.

Like. Where yesterday’s post would be about Shikako (and Gaara’s) story millennia in the future, Edge of the Stars would be the immediate aftermath of the jinchuuriki and Shikako going dormant for Kaguya’s possible future revival.

Eh… while I do like it as a story premise, that seems a little lazy to just ride FoY’s coattails.

Maybe it’s a different sci-fi Star series crossover/fusion?

Shikako discovers a Stargate in the depths/remains of the Gelel shrine (on a research mission from Suna) and is flung to the far-reaches of the galaxy where Goa’uld are still strong. She resigns herself to joining the efforts against them only because she figures, so long as she fights them there, they won’t trace back her path and find her home planet and all her loved ones.

Except it’s been years–decades, almost–since she’s disappeared. Most everyone thinks she’s dead. As far as Shikadai is concerned, she may as well be, he’s never actually met her. But both of his parents (and all of his uncles) are certain that she’s still alive somehow.

Does his generation of Team Ten get assigned a basic joint mission with some Sand ninja in a patrol of the Ikioi-En when a sudden lightning storm/earthquake heralds the arrival of Shikako? Or the arrival of an alien army that overwhelms the genin teams, only for a lone figure to strike it down and send it back through the portal in retreat?

… the problem is that I don’t actually know that much about the Stargate franchise.

I know much more about Star Trek, but that’s less conducive to the same “Shikako goes missing/deliberately leaves,” only because the Federation has a Thing about first contact and they wouldn’t just abscond with a person.

And even if it’s not the Federation that she encounters, the other various organizations (depending on which series you’re going with could be Romulan, Klingon, Borg, etc.) aren’t exactly subtle either? They would be BIG NEWS on a planetary scale even if Shikako’s the only one who understands what’s going on.

I think the Stargate one has a more compelling plot.

I mean, even if we don’t want to go with the Ikioi-En setting, we could do an Uzushio version instead? Eh, that’s just trappings, though. What do you think, anon?