Free Fall

Like a spring, Suletta bounced back to standing ramrod straight. She attempted to smile, but it looked strained, like she was trying to hold something in. Like... oh. She looked just like Gladion. Lillie didn't think about it - She looked back at Suletta for just a moment and smiled a small, soft smile.

Then Lillie’s mother, without saying a word, started to walk away, in the same direction they had been walking before running into the stranger. Like clockwork dolls, Lillie fell in right behind her, keeping in perfect step, simply waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Even compared to the strange girl she's just seen, Suletta Mercury, Lillie feels like she sticks out like a sore thumb at these fundraising events. But nothing can prepare her for when Suletta, against her will, is put on center stage, screaming for a mother that never comes.

Some part of her knows then they have more in common than she thought. And that maybe, even someone like her can offer a sympathetic ear... even if it'll risk the wrath of her own mother, and losing what little she still has left.

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The Terror

Samuel Hayden, or Samuel Hayden’s mind, housed in the sleek, angular, stark white science fiction contraption he called a body, walked down the hallway, expecting you to obediently follow.

As he walked, you thought about how much that body must have cost. Billions. Trillions. Every dollar of every drop of blood spilled to form the UAC piggybank, all to keep him alive. You’d seen your fellow soldiers without legs. Without arms. Without hope. Civilians. Families. People who weren’t considered either. All ruined because they couldn’t afford a pair of crutches.

Wordlessly, you raised the double-barreled shotgun and fired it directly at the back of Hayden’s head. The bullets had no effect at all, like they’d vanished, yet another thing teleported away by the UAC for someone else to deal with.

“Save your ammunition,” Hayden said.

A long time ago, when you'd been a soldier, it hadn't mattered that the top brass would pay anything to save the life of the man you'd beat into a pulp. A long time ago, when you'd been a soldier, it hadn't mattered that they had plasma rifles and you only had your fists.

You aren't a soldier anymore. But this is the same.

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Love Me, Love My Growlithe

What do you get for the boy who has everything? Seven year old Blue's the best there ever was - the best trainer in Pallet Town, the grandson of the world's topmost Pokemon Professor, respected and beloved by everyone he meets.

Except Red. Stupid, dumb, mute Red, who can't talk. Everyone loves Red, but Blue hates him - especially since Red doesn't give him the respect he's owed. But once he finally gets a Pokemon of his own, Red won't have a choice but to take him seriously.

Right?