Calm Night

cekidas @ 2006-08-13T21:25:00

2006-08-14T01:58:58Z

You know, in retrospective, the fact I never played BN4, don't remember BN1, and actually liked the Liberation missions in BN5 explains the fact I'm still fond of the series... If BN4 is half as horrifying as I've heard, I should be glad for that lapse. :P

Rushed through a second playthrough and beat everything in BN6. I blame the ending's effectiveness on the music. Promise is excellent. Also, now that I've actually seen BN3's ending, I can call BN4-6 on the wtf-ness of Lan still being in elementary school. Dude, you graduated and were heading to 6th at the end of BN3. Did your teachers retroactively fail you and every single one of your friends...?

Also, now that I've got a second playthrough under my belt: I was way, way too hasty on my judgements of the Crosses. Tengu's Fan and Wind effects are more useful than I gave it credit for, especially once I found *-coded Lifesword. (TenguCross + Lifesword owns early game for free!) There's also the fact that, combined with Tomahawk, you've got two silver bullets, ready for use at any time, just in case you run into an enemy reliant on panel effects or paralysis. It's hard imagining playing Gregar and NOT being able to Beast Out or go Tengu and having complete freedom over panel types, or rendering EvilMech and Pulse-type enemies completely non-threatening. Plus, TomahawkCross gets charging RiskyHoney3, which made fighting BassBX much more tolerable.

DustCross actually has usage! Mostly just the Dust Chute, though - which can be useful, but by endgame I'm using ChipShuffle and not keeping Falzar Claw ready to cheap out anything I'm worried about killing. GroundCross is still absolutely worthless! It's got the Buster and nothing else, and AquaCross does that so much better anyway! :D

AquaCross isn't really worth the hype I was granting it. The Buster wins, period, and charging TrainArrows still kicks ass. Problem is, TrainArrow1 is the only one I found in a code actually worth something, and the other water chips... are kinda mediocre. Generally, I find being able to Full Synchro > TrainArrow charging, especially since things generally don't stay still at the range where you get all five arrows.

Also: *-coded Navi chips destroy random battles like woah. By the time you get Blues *, you can probably reg-chip it, and bam, that rips half the HP off of everything that isn't behind a broken panel. Even kills Shadows! And is actually useful in boss fights if you're packing a couple of WhiteCapsules, since it's basically a cheapshot. Or you could just do it without, tag KillerMan * on after it, and hit and paralyze them while they're locked in the stun animation! Heh. Flinch-piercing is fun.

THE CRISIS MUSIC AT THE END OF THE GAME IS ANNOYING. Argh. If you're not on the net, it does. not. stop! At least the change in the internet's appearance was interesting in BN3. The crisis music is one of the game's worst tunes, and they decided to make it play EVERYWHERE.

Bass BX. No Aura! In return, the irritating bastard is invincible over HALF of the frames he's moving. (Incidentially, the only times he isn't moving are during attacks.)

Also, it seems completely random whether or not he's invincible during a part of his movement. So unless you want to stand there and let him shoot you in return for chipping off part of his ~4000 HP, or only attack when he uses the wheels or Great Fire, you get to play the roulette. -.-

I eventually decided to just cheap him out with RiskyHoney3. Stack Attack+ effects, charge it with Tomahawk Cross, and release while he does the Gatling Buster! Watch and laugh as he takes 1300 per individual swarm of bees. The main problem with this is occasionally he'd catch me by surprise with Great Fire and OHKO me. You can imagine my reaction, especially since this necessitated fighting F-Beast V2.0 again. -.-

I miss BN1-3 Bass. Gatling Buster was actually entirely dodgeable (dodge BN6 Gatling Buster and you either know some trick I missed or you have godly reflexes), and the aura was irritating, but aura > completely random invincibility...

Also, the Protomen are fun. Megaman Rock Opera!

Chapter 238 Thoughts (Bleach)

2006-08-06T00:12:45Z

As an aside, before I get into writing (skip to the cut if you don't care):

I finally beat MMB3! The main game, anyway. So I've been poking around the Secret Area and starting to fill out my chip library. I know I'm not going to be able to get everything, since I don't have a cheat device or the other version of the game, but I should at least be able to fight Serenade, and that's all I really want to do before I hang it up.

My folder wasn't all that good; my main is a Disco Inferno-esque HeatSpread folder, and that doesn't cut it for Alpha, because of that pseudo-Aura effect. So, I just kinda randomly stuck a Z-Stepsword PA set in, added a few Fire Totems, and lucked out into a win. I can't say how glad I was when that bastard boss exploded. Just my luck that the final boss is all but invulnerable to my folder focus. -.-

Current folder is a split J/R code, with a split between the HeatSpread/GrassStage combo, a few HoleMeteors, and BigHeart/Meteors in the other code. Works fairly well, but I need Prism Js. Bah. Stupid chip traders... The fact carrying at least one LifeSword is all but necessary because of those damned Shadows doesn't help folder fluidity, either...

Now that I've rambled on about that long enough, it's time to talk about this week's Bleach chapter!

1) Huh, Orihime's gotten pretty good with healing quickly. Unless that bracelet also made her healing barriers invisible, I'm surprised she didn't wake Karin or Yuzu; the light it produces seems fairly bright.

2) Ichigo can sense reiatsu that isn't Sado's or at "zomg, energy aura! look at me!" levels now? Since *when*? :P ...Okay, there is the time he hunted down the Vaizards, but I remember Shinji saying something along the lines of "hey, good job! of course, we were all but broadcasting our reiatsu just so you could find us before the hollow ate you, but at least you did it! now join the vaizard army! UNCLE SHINJI WANTS YOU."

(The yaoi angle in that last bit was completely unintentional. Honest. >.>)

3) Is it strange that when I was rereading this chapter, I looked at Hitsugaya in his shot in the window frame and thought, "damn, why are his nails so freaking long?" Of course, I *know* it's strange that I then thought, "dude, Hitsugaya, if you get manicures now, you are so not being fanboyed any more." >.>

4) Regarding that panel with the four Shinigami standing in front of the TV:

a: Yumichika actually looks kind of cool when he's being serious.

b: That Renji shot is destined for one of those "thug life" icons. Hell, if Rukia wasn't standing there looking all vulnerable, you could just shrink that panel, add a caption, and bam, gangsta icon. :P

c: It's interesting how Matsumoto's one visible hand is clenched in a fist. Between that and her expression after the "Rukia..." "Ichigo..." panels (the only other panel she's in, period), she seems especially tense about this... Which is interesting in and of itself. She's usually serious but fairly calm in these types of situations, so her showing strain says something.

5) Am I the only one who finds Ichigo's expression in his "Rukia..." panel kind of amusing? I'm not sure whether he's surprsied she's all right or that he's going "wtf, people?" because everyone else is there.

6) Serious!Ukitake wins. I'm very fond of characters who are generally cheerful people but can do the badass thing when they need to.

7) Dude, Yamamoto, THINK. You need to follow your train of logic; argumentum ad absurdium.

1: Orihime vanished in the Dangai, en route to the real world. (known)
2: Orihime has last been seen in the presence of an Arrancar. (known)
3: Orihime healed Ichigo while he was resting in the real world. (known)
4: Orihime was apprehended before she could enter the real world. (assumed from 1 and 2)
5: Orihime thus healed Ichigo after meeting the Arrancar. (follows from 3 and 4)
6: Orihime could not have fought off the Arrancar. (assumed)
7: Therefore, if she healed Ichigo, then she was allowed to do so by the Arrancar. (follows from 1-6)
8: Orihime must be working with the Arrancar. (follows from 7)

However, this fails to take into account a motive. Why would the Arrancar allow her to heal a potential enemy - especially one that Aizen himself found "interesting", and thus potentially dangerous? The only real solutions assume that

a: Aizen and the Arrancar are too arrogant to assume her healing him could do any damage, or
b: Healing Ichigo is somehow to the Arrancar's benefit.

So either you assume your enemies are stupid, which is always a big no-no, or you assume that Ichigo is ALSO working with the Arrancar. Logically, if following your logic requires you to make a dangerous assumption or to arrive at an absurd conclusion, you need to revise it or assume you don't have all the facts - which you don't, and can't even claim to.

Did you think this through very well? No, of course you didn't, you're a minor character and very powerful good guy and canon says you're not too bright. Your purpose is to serve as an obstacle. Even when you're on the side of good. *headdesk*

Also, why would Orihime working with the Arrancar be treason...? She isn't part of Soul Society, nor is she somehow operating under its approval, like Ichigo is as a Shinigami. It's no more treason than it would be if Ishida or Ryuuken suddenly went, "arrancar, lol" and joined up with Aizen. o.O

8) Renji. You are awesome. Even if calling it treason is still stupid.

Also, Ichigo's "zuh?" expression in that panel is priceless.

9) The life of one is valuable if, in the process of saving it, you could both retain the loyalty of those who follow you and strike a blow against the heart of the enemy stronghold - something which would be a massive boost to your side's morale and do serious damage to the enemy's.

Make better excuses, Yama-ji. :P

10) "With appropriate force"? Dude, Ichigo kicked both your asses at seperate points, even if his victory over you was kind of narrow, Byakuya. He's gotten stronger since then. There's also the potential issue of two vice captains and another decently powerful Shinigami, and the fact the close confines mean that you can't fight multiple opponents as well.

And let's assume you win. You've now dragged your subordinates in against their will. Now you'll have to expend resources to monitor their behavior, and they're going to be a lot less willing to listen to your orders. And that's excluding the possibility you'll have to punish them. Any way you look at it, you've lost them the moment things go that far. Expressing a willingness to *take* it that far is incredibly stupid, even as a deterrent.

11) Forgotten about Urahara already, Yama-ji? All you're doing is delaying the inevitable, and you're damaging your reputation in the bargain. There's a point where your ability to control the people under your watch is ended; if they're sufficiently determined, they'll do it with or without your approval. Learn to recognize that, and either help them do it or cut your losses.

12) "Ichigo... I... I'm sorry..."

Let me put away my RAGE at stupid leadership and go, "aww." for a moment here. Though, I'm not sure whether this is a "I can't do anything, I'm sorry" or a "I can't do anything *right now*, I'm sorry"... Or a "I didn't protect her, I'm sorry". All seem equally likely, knowing Rukia...

13) ...Hmm. I have this feeling Ichigo's going to want to tell Tatsuki, seeing as how she's both his friend and Orihime's. But how he's going to do that without going, "evil ghost/death god hybrids kidnapped her. why? she's actually got super healing/shielding powers. it has something to do with time and space, don't ask me about it, I'm just a death god/evil ghost hybrid", I'm not sure...

14) Possible list of people helping with a hypothetical rescue of Orihime:

- Ichigo
- Rukia
- Renji
- Urahara/Yoruichi
- The Vaizards
- Ishida
- Matsumoto/Hitsugaya?

All in all, my reaction seems to be "PEOPLE IN CHARGE, YOU SUCK AT YOUR JOBS. except you, Ukitake. you're cool." ...which is oddly amusing. >.>

Need to get back to writing now.

Endings (and MMBN6)

2006-07-26T04:52:14Z

It's such a... strange feeling, watching the end of a series.

I just finished MegaMan Battle Network 6: Falzar. I've heard it was the last game, yeah, but hearing about it is one thing, watching "MegaMan Battle Network: END" scroll across the screen is another.

It's weird, because MMBN isn't even a series I'm all that invested in. It's fun, I like the setting, but I haven't played all the games, and I've never gotten really into the folder building or NetBattle aspects. Hell, I'm not even that good; most of the final bosses died because I just shoved a ton of non-elemental chips into my folder, stuck 3 Custom +1s in my Customizer, and spammed Falzar Claw with maxed Attack. (It can't miss unless you're an utter idiot with timing, kills the final boss in ten uses, and can be used five times a round if you get a good chip draw. Abusable much?)

It didn't stop me from going "damn. end of an era, right there." - and yes, I know that's a bit dramatic. Maybe it's just because I'm a Megaman fan at heart. (My first fandom ever! Mind, this was before X5 and after the Megaman Legends games. After that, things just kinda went downhill for the main games...)

Now, specific MMBN6 thoughts. (And yes, I'm aware this is a MegaMan game, and I should not expect plot brilliance.)

PLOT:

1) First off: If you've played through X4 ever, you get most of the Iris plot twist for free, which kind of ruined the potential impact of that. Still, points for creativity, though the CopyBots got a bit overused near the end.

2) The whole "Wily raised Barrel!" thing kinda threw me... I mean, geez, that's random. But it's been forever since I've played Team of Colonel, so. Maybe there's foreshadowing I didn't get. Or they just needed an excuse to make you fight against him, who knows.

3) You know, I'm saddened to learn that Chaud/Enzan doesn't give his "Hikari... You're important to me" line in the english version. THE FANGIRLS MUST GET THEIR YAOI FANGIRLING MATERIAL, DAMMIT. >.> Of course, maybe the source I saw the translation of that line from got it wrong... Always possible.

4) I honestly think the overall plot of the games would have been better served with more time in-between. MMBN6's ending has such a "parting ways" theme that it seems more like they're going off to college than middle school, really... And it would have been nice to see, for instance, Lan on the transition to carefree kid to scientist-in-the-making or something. The abrupt motion from "ending elementary school" to "twenty years later" kind of steals a lot of potential character development.

5) Does anyone find it funny that Colonel's "kindness" was turned into a machine-operating weapon of DESTRUCTION? The world is made of LOVE! AND PEACE! And lots, and lots, of GUNS!

6) Lan's kid has the name of "Raito" in the Japanese version. Don't "Raito" and "Hikari" both refer to "light"? Geez, that's... kinda redundant. Poor kid.

Game:

7) Despite my comments earlier, the Cybeast system is pretty well-balanced... So long as your attack doesn't get too high. Early on, you're better off just using a good Cross, like Aqua; TrainArrow is damn strong with that doubled power boost from charging, and that's practically instant.

But once you hit about 3-4 Attack, your Claw attack starts doing pretty high damage, and bosses become more a matter of knocking their HP low enough to Claw to death. If all else fails, hit 0 on the counter, use your buster to stall until their HP is around one-hundred, and then Beast Over and hope the AI is intelligent enough to take them out while the invincibility lasts.

8) Speaking of the Crosses... they're kinda disappointing.

Aqua is good, easily the best, what with the charge shot's high power, quick charge, and ability to hit two panels at once, along with that water chip charging ability. Unless you're fighting an electric virus, you're usually going to be using it, and even then, I used it unless I wasn't confident in my dodging skills...

Tengu is decent; you're really using it mostly if you abuse sword chips, because of the <-B fan, or you have to deal with broken panels. But Falzar can do that, and you can't use TenguCross in Gregar version - and you're usually going to use Falzar on bosses anyway. The charge shot is so-so; unless they don't move much, it's not all that reliable, since you can't charge and use the fan at the same time.

Tomahawk... Mmm. You can avoid most statuses, and wood chips aren't really all that great. The only one I can honestly remember using is Lance. The charge shot is decent, but takes way too long to pull off.

The other two... are just "meh". There's no real reason to use them. Mostly because Breaking sucks...

When the first Cross you ever get is pretty much the one you use for the entire game, you need to check your balancing, IMO...

9) BeastCross would be more useful if your Claw attacks weren't better than every single one of the BeastCross charges. They lose auto-targeting and either do less damage or do more damage but are too hard to hit with. -.-

10) Link Navis. Don't like the elemental gates system. Unique chips are alright. But why do their busters suck, and why are most of the charge shots utterly mediocre...?

11) Why, Capcom, WHY did you decide to limit PAs to one use per battle? That wrecks so many folder-building possibilities! I'm not that fond of the limiting number of chips by MB, either, but I don't hate that quite as much. :/

Chapter 236 Thoughts (Bleach)

2006-07-22T02:31:16Z

More random thoughts inspired by this chapter.

1) Damn, Shinji's pretty bitter about the Shinigami, isn't he?

In 190, when Hiyori mentions how both humans and Shinigami don't like the Vaizard, he's more melancholy about it. "Just wait a little longer, things'll change... dummy." Part of it is probably just that he's being comforting, but he's more sad than angry. In this chapter, he looks actively distasteful at the idea of helping a Shinigami. It doesn't look like he's joking when he says it disagrees with him, for all his tendacy to mess around.

It does fit, though; when he's trying to recruit to Ichigo, he keeps repeating a basic idea. "You don't belong with them any more." It seems like he really believes that...

2) Hmm. More and more, Shinji's emerging as the leader of the Vaizard - not one formally recognized as such, but the one everyone else defers to when they're not sure what to do.

He goes to recruit Ichigo. He talks to him when he arrives. He allows Ichigo both to fight his Hollow, and to go off and fight Grimmjow. He calls the shots while they're containing Ichigo during his talk with his Hollow. He's the one who steps in and helps Ichigo against Grimmjow. And no one's ever gone against his wishes when he starts giving orders.

Sure, Hiyori bosses him around, and criticizes him when he fails to immediately recruit Ichigo, but she's never stepped up and gone against his wishes. And it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to say he's probably the strongest of the Vaizard. Hiyori has a stronger Hollow, if the time it took her to fight it says anything, but it seems like he has more experience. If Vaizard have Shinigami life spans, he's probably pretty old.

3) On the title page, there's no line for the collar of Shinji's shirt. So it just kinda looks like his tie is hovering in front of him, for some reason. 'Tis strange (and oddly amusing).

Also, a collared shirt with no buttons whatsoever? Huh. Strange, never seen one of those...

4) Does anyone else find it kind of funny that Rukia is too busy gaping at Shinji vs. Grimmjow to finish pulling the sword out of Ichigo's hand? (Check page 5. She's even let go of the sword.) That's gotta hurt. Mind, Ichigo's gaping at the fight too, so he's not much better in a crisis. :P

5) Vaizard CAN use Cero! Ha. More evidence for that "Vaizard > Hollow" speculation in a previous post...

6) Apparently, Aizen isn't too eager to volunteer info about the Vaizard to his Espada, or he just doesn't know much himself. Grimmjow's reaction to both the mask and Cero is a bit too extreme for him to just be surprised that his opponent's a Vaizard. (Unless Grimmjow just doesn't pay attention to the briefings... Which wouldn't surprise me, either.)

I wonder what this says about the "Aizen/Gin/Tousen are Vaizard!" speculation...

7) On a tangent from six... You know, it would amuse me if Aizen, Gin, and Tousen became Arrancar and promptly went insane from their Hollows. I mean, Ichigo lucked out and got help from the Vaizard. Aizen's reiatsu is at about his level or higher, so his Hollow's going to be even crazier.

Of course, it's possible Aizen and Evil!Gin would just let the Hollow have control. Tousen, though, would go absolutely batshit with a Hollow in his head, unless he's stopped believing what he preaches...

8) On a tangent from seven... I kind of want Gin to be a good guy, or at least neutral. Mostly because he's kinda cool, and he does seem the free agent type. Tousen, though, can go and die. He's dull beyond the whole "zomg, hypocrite!" aspect.

9) Rupi lived.

Damn.

10) ...Huh. Orihime apparently hasn't been captured. Interesting...

Also, the new ending for the Bleach anime, Movin!!, is good. I like the tune, and the animation accompanying it is nice. (zomg, IchiRuki!)

Chapter 234 thoughts

2006-07-08T17:20:42Z

It's been a while since I've posted; a combination of lack of time and lack of interest and lack of ideas, I suppose. I'm not really the "I must write down everything!" type, mostly because I have an old habit of narrating things in my head anyway. This is just a way to keep those thoughts.

(Also, new icon! Whee. Don't know why it's taken me so long to get a Bleach one...)

1) Ulquiorra's sword has an interesting handguard. For some reason, it makes me think "arabian" or "egyptian". Possibly the resemblance to the eyes in Egyptian hieroglyphics...

2) Dude, Ulquiorra is such a little bitch. He's nowhere near cool enough to be a badass. "Come with me." "What? Why?" "I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK, WOMAN. SILENCE." Seriously. If you're confident in what you can do, you don't feel the need to flaunt your authority or abilities. *shakes head*

3) It looks like Inoue can now heal with only one of the two healing faeries. When she heals the first time, there's a small healing barrier. When she heals the second time, she calls Ayame specifically, and then the barrier widens dramatically. If she can, she can now heal two people at once, or heal one person at a much faster rate. If she can do that with the shield, too, that means she can use three seperate shields at once. That's certainly useful... Especially if she can use Tsubaki at the same time.

4) Yammi, meanwhile, is just a sad, sad little man. I honestly think he's even worse off than Ulquiorra is. "WHAT NOW, HAT MAN! WHAT NOW! I CAN HIT YOU WHEN YOUR BACK IS TURNED!" Obviously he suffered from a lack of attention in his childhood.

I mean, I have no problem with hitting someone in the back. But you shouldn't feel like you kick ass because you can hit someone while their attention is elsewhere. Especially if all you did was wind them. The POINT of a surprise attack is to take them by surprise and use that time to take them out of the fight. You don't hit someone once or twice, brag about how badass you are, and then let them recover in the process.

And yes, Rupi, you suffer from the exact same problem. Hitsugaya, you don't. This is why I like you. You explain why you are badass only once you're ready to end the fight.

5) I like the way Matsumoto is completely scornful of Rupi. Probably because she knows that attack didn't take out Hitsugaya. I also find it funny that she and Hitsugaya express the same basic sentiment. "You're an idiot with a big ego. Going to kick your ass in a moment. Kthxbye."

6) I wonder if Matsumoto needs to touch her sword to access her Shikai. Haineko's Shikai would be perfect for this sort of thing; it cuts like a sword, can move quickly, and can't be blocked. And she probably doesn't have to wield it physically; I find it more likely that it simply responds to her will.

7) It's interesting that Hitsugaya doesn't have the ice petals behind him any more. Check both 232 and 234 - no matter what angle he's shown from, there's no sign of them.

I originally thought they might be a product of the limiter he has in the real world, but then I realized he had them when he went into Bankai against Aizen, too. Assuming Il Forte was correct, that means Hitsugaya has finally perfected his Bankai. So he has been using that time wisely...

Assuming it isn't a major drain on him, this means Hitsugaya is perfected suited for a long fight in his Bankai form. He has maneuverabiluty, he can regenerate from minor injuries, and he can adjust the weather to work in his favor. Unless he's totally outclassed, his enemy has access to fire, or he's in a closed-in environment, Hitsugaya has a fighting chance against pretty much anyone, looks like.

8) Rupi has 50/50 odds on being dead or not. You see a form falling in the ice prison, and the last words we hear from it are "Oh shit", so it's not likely that it somehow escaped. I'm betting it's alive, but seriously injured. If Arrancar have a Bankai, we might see Rupi's in the next couple of chapters...

9) I'm not surprised that Hitsugaya seems to have won this fight. He's has a reputation as being powerful, and nothing we've seen in canon contradicts this. Losing to Aizen is hardly a condemnation, and he kicks Il Forte's ass as soon as he can fight at his full power.

(Don't compare him to Ikakku; only Captains and Vice-Captains have limiters in the real world. The fact Ikakku has Bankai doesn't change this, and there's no sign in the story that he might have one on.)

You might argue that Ichigo seems to be having a surprising amount of trouble with Grimjoww, considering that Rupi was #7 before Grimjoww's demotion. I'd put this down to different types of fights, and different types of fighters.

Ichigo's Shikai is about power, but his Bankai is about speed, and his power suffers for it in comparison. However powerful his mask might make him, he's still not good enough to take out Grimjoww in eleven seconds, and trying to do so was a stupid idea on his part. Grimjoww is fast enough to avoid being completed outclassed by Ichigo's Bankai, and Ichigo hasn't learned any really powerful abilities to use while in Bankai form. Getsuga Tenshou seems to be mostly a ranged attack with a slight power boost. So Ichigo was going to run out of time, and Grimjoww was going to be able to able to exploit that.

Ichigo might come very close to losing this fight; in fact, him losing is a serious possibility. He made a gamble, and he didn't have a plan to cover his back if it went wrong. Now he's open, he can't access his trump card, and his opponent is still standing. Unless he has a stroke of luck or someone intervenes, he's screwed.

(This why the mask is a finisher right now, not a main means of offence, you idiot. :P)

Rupi's advantages are range, the ability to strike from several angles, and defensive ability. Meanwhile, Hitsugaya's Bankai is about maneuverability and durability, and has several attacks that have high power levels. Rupi hit him, but didn't follow through, and then it considered him out of the fight and ignored him. He had time to recover, analyze Rupi's apparent abilities, and then strike back. He doesn't mess around; he freezes her limbs, both rendering her incapable of attacking or avoiding and freeing his allies, and then strikes her with an attack that's both powerful and hard to escape. In doing so, he very possibly ended the battle in a very quick, decisive manner - good strategy. Even if the battle isn't over, he's mostly uninjured, she's taken several hits, and he has three people to watch his back.

(Now would be a good time to ready Shikai, Matsumoto. Just in case you get grabbed again.)

Ichigo made a stupid decision. He's paying for it, bigtime. Hitsugaya made a stupid decision, but in such a way that he could recover and use the tools at hand to end the fight.

So give the kid a little credit, will you?

Also, argh, need to write more. Mostly I've been doing other things, and it just struck me how long it's been since I've sat down to do some serious writing. Writing bits and pieces in-between doing other things doesn't really count.

Net Neutrality and the News

2006-06-22T02:30:53Z

...

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

I can't possibly be the only person who saw this and went "oh, shit".

Come on, America. Don't crush the little bit of my faith in you not tinted by cynicism yet. :/

Gunbound!

2006-06-19T22:24:27Z

The story of my time with Gunbound is long and varied.

What is it? It's an online-only game, free to play, in the style of the Worms computer games - you're on a field, you have various weapons, and your job is to kill everyone else there with you. You can do this either by exhausting their HP or blowing up the land around them until they fall to their deaths. The exception is that you're in vehicles in Gunbound, and your specific vehicle decides your weapons and HP.

I've been playing this on and off for a long time, now. The first time was... about three years ago? I've currently restarted playing again, and this is my fourth account.

The main problems are that
a) it's a massive time sink - a 2v2 Score match can take ten minutes. 3v3 and 4v4 takes even longer.
b) it's free online, so the quality of the communiy varies... a LOT
c) the learning curve is a bitch to get over if you're new - there's no tutorial, no one-player mode, and wind is a HUGE part of the system. Landing shots consistantly takes a lot of practice, and b means that some players get on your case when you miss. It can be highly frustrating.

I usually play it for about a month or two, uninstall it, forget about it for a while, and then play it half a year to a year later. It's fun while the attraction lasts.

The Kalsidon is the peak of awesomeness, by the way.

Dreams: Follow-Up

2006-06-19T15:30:33Z

...And, ironically enough, the thing to knock me out of that two-day funk was another dream. This one was actually pleasant, and as yet another contrast, I remember absolutely nothing about it!

I'm not complaining, though.

Nightmares

2006-06-18T22:11:49Z

I don't dream often. I used to, but not as much these days. And when I do, it tends to throw things off for a while.

My vuja de dreams, as I think of them (what seem to be bits of things before they happen), don't really count; they're just fragments, bits and pieces, moments that disappear as quickly as they arrived. They're fairly commonplace, rare enough to be noted, common enough to be pushed aside in the bustle to do other things and in the disorientation of waking, or in the slipping away of sleep.

Like I said earlier, I used to dream often, very often. Almost exclusively nightmares of some kind or another. I wasn't a very healthy child; I was fine, physically, but I had allergies and colds all over the place. The nightmares didn't help, nor, I imagine, did the fact we often woke up early when we were young. (Our parents went to work early. We had to be dropped off at another place while it was still too early for us to go to school.)

So, eventually, I figured out that the nightmares didn't come when I was able to clear my mind before I went to sleep. How, I'm not sure. Of course, that wasn't an easy process at first, being all of four or five. I eventually stumbled across what's more-or-less the mantra technique of clearing your mind: think of one word or phrase, over and over, until you're able to block everything else out, then let go. My word was, appropriately enough, "nothing".

The nightmares stopped. So did the dreams. The space between sleeping and waking became blank. And I eventually learned to clear my mind wordlessly, and then to do it instantly, and then how to do it everywhere else.

(That's probably what I consider the source of my ability to keep calm, to keep still, and to wait; natural, habitual meditation. My mind is a very quiet place, most of the time.)

Of course, the problem is, most of my dreams - however rare they may be - are still nightmares. "What kind of nightmare?" is a hard question to answer; to another person, a nightmare probably isn't that scary. It's about you, and what's on your mind, whether or not you admit it.

I get that fun variant, the realistic nightmare. I don't re-enact horror movies, or end up naked and having to make a speech, or anything of the like - something frightening, but easily dismissed in hindsight. I get the variant that's real life, except wrong in all the ways that count - and while I'm asleep, it seems so normal that I can't tell. In those dreams, my life's been off center for so long I don't know anything else.

Which makes all the more fun when I wake up, part of me unsure if my mind decided to replay one of the "Bad Events in My Life" series for my viewing pleasure or if it was just a bad dream. It's made all the worse by the fact I can name details about how that world works, all the little things that changed and how I changed in that world to match.

And the dream sticks around, in a corner of my mind. It weighs me down. I feel off-center, mentally exhausted, and I'm stuck between the conflicting drives to do something and the aimlessness the complete lack of motivation inspires. Always Happy Happy Fun Time.

Sigh. At this point, it's just a waiting game; I'll feel better in a little while. The problem's getting there...

Random FFRPG thing

2006-06-08T01:59:08Z

(That'd be the Returners FFRPG at www.returnergames.com, BTW.)

You know, the Knight's always been my favorite job. I've always thought it had a lot of potential for fun playing; hit level 29 and you can cut ARM, MARM, and both types of damage in half, plus you've got what's basically a Limit Break. (They hit you down low, you procede to nuke. Just hope your party members are smart with the healing.) You had to put up with the fact your abilities were a bit situational until level 43 (MS is great, but it's risky at best, the Breaks get their asses kicked by I: Weak, and Thunder Slash is elemental, though that's not as big) but it was the price you paid for the fact only one of your abilities ever became obsolete - something precious few jobs can say.

And then they decided to give you all six Breaks, four of them two at a time (12-string!), and added on 125% damage to Agility Break and Spirit Break. You can half both armor types by level 8. You get Agility Break at Level 15. You can half both damage types at level 22. And then you get Spirit Break at level 29.

Agility Break at level 15. -4 Speed, halves Accuracy, halves Evade? That Agility Break. With damage - hell, a damage bonus. Lasts 6 rounds. Did I mention that since your Breaks are defended by Evade, this also increases the COS of five different abilities? And is easy to renew?

(Don't mind the drool.)

Spirit Break isn't quite as drool-worthy - until you consider the fact that it basically rapes Status Attack-reliant bosses AND makes your own statuses easier to hit with. (MACC%-50) becomes a lot less impressive after you half MACC, especially since it still has to hit MEv, and the statuses of your allies are hitting vs half MEv.

Potentially lethal, depending on who you're fighting with. Shame it can't do anything about Status Touch or Strike, but there you go.

Remind me to continue boosting Dias's AGI. New Knight kicks much ass, and I can't let the Breaks go to waste!

On the I-D front... You know, the bad thing about PBEMs is, you're not there to thump the other players when they're not holding up their ends. Especially since I have so many fun ideas with where Dias is going, but I can't do any of it at this point in the game.

Bah.

Well, that's convient! (Naruto)

2006-06-01T20:27:57Z

Chapter 309, by some quirk of the dice, worked to support part of the Naruto story I'm now writing. I now have another motivation on a part of the outline that was a bit sketchy!

I'm still around half-done in Chapter 3, but I think I'm going to be able to work through that fairly quickly now.

More Bleach (and some Naruto)

2006-05-30T21:02:25Z

(Damn, I'm posting a lot, lately.)

You know, I read Naruto before Bleach, and I have many, many more writing ideas with Naruto than Bleach. But Bleach occupies a lot more of my interest, while Naruto is just... kinda there, these days.

I suppose it's because I find the way the story's progressed to be kind of dull. I mean, ninjas! An interesting chakra/"magic" system! Giant demon fox!

And then the plot went all boring.

Sure, it's very in-character, especially for Naruto. That doesn't mean it's interesting, which is a lot more important sometimes.

Bleh. And to think, I used to consider the people who were talking about the series going downhill a bit whiny. :/

Anyway! Back to Bleach, because thinking about that makes me wonder why I'm still reading Naruto, and that isn't something I want to think too much about.

1) More on that pet theory of mine regarding Bankai and Vaizards! (See the last two posts.)

(Ichigo) "Bastard! When did you learn to use Bankai?"

(Hollow) "It's clear! The same day you did, Ichigo!!"

- Chapter 219, Page 8

Which I think is more supporting evidence, what with what Bankai requires to use!

(I need to compile this theory, clean it up, and link it on some Bleach community someday...)

2) Speaking of which, damn, I need something to actually call that crazy bastard. I've seen "Hichigo", which is kinda ugly, and "Shirosaki", which is better. (I'm assuming that's from "shiro", which is "white", and "saki", the last part of Ichigo's family name.) The manga uses "Ikasurok Ogihci", according to Ju-Ni's translation, in one of the "title" pages during the Ichigo vs Hollow fight, but that's also a damn ugly name. (Though the fact it's Ichigo's name backwards is kind of vaguely creepy.)

3) I wonder what the "tagline" for the Shikai of Benihime, Urahara's zanpakutou, is. (By tagline, I mean a quick summary or explanation, not too technical but getting the point across. Hoozukimaru's would be "turns into a giant spear-nunchaku hybrid", and Shinsou's would be "extends really quickly to stab things", for example.)

We know it can use projectile energy blasts, like Zangetsu, and that it has that blood-mist shield technique. It's doesn't seem to have any special properties in the blade itself, it has no special shape, and hasn't manifested any other tricks, so we're mostly stuck with speculation.

I have a feeling it's energy manipulation. The ties to the giant energy blast are obvious there, and the blood mist shield could use the blood as a kind of "anchor". It threads reiatsu through the blood and uses it to keep steady, forming a barrier of spiritual energy.

Though I'm not really sure what else this ability could encompass, since that's kind of broad. Deflection of kidou? Absorbing reiatsu? Sealing a target's use of spiritual energy?

...Damn, if that's what the Shikai can do, no wonder Urahara didn't want to use the Bankai against Chad. Not only would he be revealing a card he wants to keep close to his chest, it's probably something that would end the fight very quickly.

4) Speaking of taglines... Zangetsu's shikai tagline seems to be "really strong sword". During his visit to his inner world during the Zaraki fight, he talks about how Zangetsu warps the air around it with it's sheer energy, and that a normal Zanpakutou is "like a stick next to it". Between that and the energy blast, it seems to channel reiatsu through the sword and use that to amplify its destructive power; the energy blast just takes extra energy and discharges it.

Due to the focus on power, it has no handguard, and it's more like a giant cleaver than a sword; it's made for offense, not defense. (Hence the advice of Urahara and Zangetsu not to run or fear enemies, most likely; if you try to fight defensively with that sword, you're probably going to lose.)

I'm not sure what's with the bandage wrappings around the hilt, unless KT was just randomly like, "Swingy sword! WHEE!"

...Anyway.

So, as an extension of the Shikai, the Bankai takes that power and places it within the wielder, amplifying their speed. But it also burns reiatsu quickly; if you don't have enough, you're going to begin to slow down over time. (Hence why Byakuya seems to get faster after he shows his Bankai's true form, the dozens of glowing swords; Ichigo's been holding Bankai for too long.)

Hmm. Shorter post than usual.

Off to go play Cave Story! (Again. That game is so awesome.)

More on Vaizards / Yggdra Union

2006-05-24T02:16:55Z

First, on Bleach! A couple of extra thoughts about 4 from yesterday. (Ignore the messiness; I'm just following a train of thought here.)

First...

Watching Episode 39, where Ichigo goes to his inner world and faces his Hollow (though he doesn't know it at the time) reminded me of an important detail:

Ichigo's Hollow is originally dominated by Zangetsu, his Zanpakutou Avatar - they don't coexist, as I originally thought was possible.

After Ichigo leaves, the two talk briefly. Most notably, his Hollow says, "Was that good enough?" - he was following orders - and then asks "Can I go back now?" He then crumbles into dark wisps, and is "absorbed" by Zangetsu. So, at this stage of the game (roughly four to five days before Bankai and the fight vs. Byakuya), the Hollow isn't all that strong a presense in his power, all things considered.

In fact, it doesn't show any signifigant dominance in his mind until after Bankai - which is also the last time we ever see Zangetsu, and the point at which his Hollow becomes an active presence in his mind.

I'm beginning to think this theory is more and more likely!

Of course, again, there's a line that could contradict it - his Hollow does say, as he's vanishing back into Zangetsu, something along the lines of, "His strength will be part of mine someday". Which you could argue means the Hollow will always get the dominance in the mind of the "host" that Ichigo's did.

I still think it usually won't do it as quickly, though, what with Hirako's line.

Second! I started doing some speculation on the "strength" of the Hollow in the mind, depending on the state of the wielder's Zanpakutou - whether it's capable of Bankai or not, and *when* they Bankai and/or the Hollow.

Now, according to Shinji and a bit of speculation... There should be two types of inner Hollow growth. One is "normal". The Hollow grows stronger very quickly, but it only gains control of the inner world and of the wielder's reiatsu slowly.

There's also "fast" - which only occurs if you become a Vaizard, and *then* achieve Bankai. (The growth until achievement of Bankai is "slow".) It may be more appropriate to call this "immediate" - Ichigo's Hollow takes over Zangetsu almost immediately after! Presumably, though, they need to grow for a while first, and the exact time needed should depend on the wielder's reiatsu strength and the strength of the Zanpakutou avatar.

Ichigo got Shikai and became a Vaizard at the same time. The Hollow achieves dominance in his mind after Ichigo achieves Bankai. He was Shikai + Vaizard -> Bankai -> Mask, in other words.

This is obviously "fast" - this is the only example we have!

Now, let's assume Urahara is a Vaizard (see link from yesterday for the exact theory). Urahara probably reached Bankai before becoming a Captain, and it seems like he created the Hougyoku while he was a Captain. So, if he used it and became a Vaizard, it was *after* reaching Bankai. So he was Shikai -> Bankai -> Vaizard (and then -> Mask, presumably, unless the Hollow's still kicking around free inside his skull, which isn't a pleasant thought).

I have a feeling this would lead to the "slow" growth; the Hollow wasn't a seperate presence when you reached Bankai, meaning it wouldn't recieve the ability to dominate the Zanpakutou along with you. So it would slowly grow to control more and more of your reiatsu, as Shinji describes.

The other Vaizards... Hmm. Shikai -> Vaizard -> Mask (-> Bankai?), I'm thinking. They're powerful, but they don't seem like they'd be the type to reach Captain-level *before* becoming a Vaizard. Afterwards? Maybe (if it's possible).

I'm thinking that the growth wouldn't be an issue when you learned to control the mask - you now dominate the Hollow. If you can dominate your Hollow, you don't need to worry about it taking you over by definition. :P

Third:

I mentioned wondering, yesterday, whether you had to learn Bankai within a certain timeframe after becoming a Vaizard or risk losing the possibility of learning to, but Episode 39 showed that the Zanpakutou can force the Hollow to manifest while the Zanpakutou dominates. So it must work vice-versa as well.

So even if your Zanpakutou was "eaten", you just have to tell your Hollow to let it go, manifest it, and pass the test to earn Bankai. That works.

Four:

I'm beginning to wonder if Vaizards are stronger than Arrancar.

From what we've seen of Arrancar in canon, adding the Shinigami part to a Hollow - creating an Arrancar - does four things:

1) It gives them a sword (obvious >.>)

2) It extends their limits

3) It seals their powers into levels like a Shinigami's Zanpakutou - Shikai and Bankai

4) Allows them to use Shyunpo (or whatever Spanish name they call it :P)

They can also use Cero, as all Hollow can. But it doesn't really seem to give them additional power, as far as we know.

Meanwhile, Vaizards:

1) Get the limit extension

2) Can still use Kidou and Shyunpo (and may be able to use Cero)

3) Keep their Shikai and Bankai abilities

4) Get the mask, which boosts the wearer's abilities

The mask is what unbalances it, from what I see. It's additional straight-up power, on top of the stretching of the limits of the Shinigami. The Arrancar just get Shyunpo and the limit extension.

Maybe the Arrancar have higher limits overall or something - they have more overall potential?

Of course, Vaizards have to deal with the crazy Hollow in their head, while Arrancar get, if anything, *more* sane from the transformation. That may balance it somewhat, I guess... Sanity or Real Ultimate Power? Hmm. Hard decision. :P

Five:

...

I'm pretty sure there's something else I was supposed to include here. But I forgot it.

Damn.

Anyway! The other topic! Yggdra Union - the third game I've ever bothered to muddle through in Japanese, and the second I did even knowing it'd come out in English eventually! The fact the other one - Riviera: The Promised Land - was by the same company probably means I'm turning into a Sting fanboy.

...

Well, they're good games, so I can't really complain, I guess.

For those who have never heard about it... Yggdra Union is a turn-based strategy RPG. You have units on a grid, and you move all of them at once during your turn. All units are close combat - to attack an enemy, you have to be right next to them. Fighting doesn't occur on the field; when you attack enemies, you switch to a battle mode, which shows the group your unit represents fighting the enemy group.

There's three major twists to the system, though.

1: The Cards.

Before a map, you pick from an assortment of different cards, and you pick a card each turn. Each has a different Move, Power, and Ability. Move is what it sounds like - how much Move your units get. It's a total, not per-unit; a 12 Move card allows you to move one unit 12 spaces, or 2 units six each, or one of those 9 and the other 3, and so on and so forth. The Power affects how much damage you do (and possibly your durability), and grows after every battle. (One card I started with originally had 1000 Power. By Chapter 19, it's at 3000.)

The last, the ability, is a special move you can perform if you fill a bar at the top of the screen. The trick is, though, that filling the bar requires you to decrease your damage for a time, and if you can also use the bar to make your attacks stronger. So choosing to use a special move is something you have to think about, especially since only certain characters or classes can activate each card, or they can only be activated at certain times, or you have to be on a particular terrain type... So on and so forth.

This system actually works very well; it adds a bit more strategy. You have to balance Move, Power, and ability, and to make sure that you keep the good cards up there in Power. Some Cards, like Steal or Mind Change, can also get *too* powerful, preventing you from using their ability - not a good thing. (The fact Steal is one of the best cards *in the game* Move-wise, and that you get it from the start, doesn't help in this matter...)

2: Union formations.

When you start a battle, a screen will come up showing the formation of the "initiating" character - the one who's starting the battle - and the target. Any friendly units within the radius of that character's formation will join in the battle. So if you have a unit in your initiating character's formation and your opponent has none, both of your units will attack the enemy in seperate battles. If you have the same number of attacking characters, your first character fights their first character and your second character fights their second character and so on.

The formation shape depends on the gender of the character; Females have a +-shaped formation grid, 2 spaces up, down, left, and right, while males have an X-shaped grid, 2 spaces to up-left, up-right, down-left, and down-right.

It sounds complex (especially when you consider that each character in the formation of the initating character can later add a square of their own to the formation), but it's quite easy once you're in the battles themselves, and it makes battles much more strategic.

3: Character Stats and Items

Each character also has their own stats, weapon, and item.

Stats are Gen (Defense), Attack, Tech and Luck. Tech applies to Card abilities that attack enemies, and also affects the damage you do when you "jump in" at the beginning of the battle - which does varying amounts of damage to the enemy. Luck affects Critical Hits, which can wipe out the Leader of a group during the "jump in" attack. (This does a *lot*, since the Leader is tougher and stronger, and a Critical also hits the enemy with Panic, which lets you attack while they freak out.)

There's also a weapon triangle, ala Fire Emblem, which works very similarly. Swords beat Axes, Axes beat Spears, Spears beat Swords; together, these make up melee weapons. Melee beats Bows, Bows beat Magic, and Magic beats Melee. There's also Scythe, which beats Melee and is neutral to everything else. (For most of the game, the overwhelming majority of your units are Melee. Guess what weapon the recurring "damn, he's strong" boss of the game has, and you never really get to use?)

There's ALSO equippable items. They boost character stats for a set number of battles. Also... Character units have Morale, which is basically overall unit HP. When you're defeated, it lowers depending on how badly you lost. Equippable items can be used before battle to boost Morale, the exact number depending on the item and character.

The stats and items work well enough, but... The Triangle system is kinda borked, due to the imbalance of weapon availability. The main character is an axe user - and you never get another one, except as an NPC in a few battles. You get one sword user for 28 chapters. You get two Spear users before Chapter 10. You get one Magic user around Chapter 12. You get two bow users around Chapter 23 and Chapter 27 - and you finally get a second sword user in Chapter 28. You can use a Scythe for two chapters by equipping a certain item on a character - around Chapter 40-something.

Now, this is *really* irritating when you consider that you never get a bow user until you're well-past the point where all your enemies use Magic. (This is also before you get a Magic user yourself, by the way.) You never get another axe user, despite the fact there are a *lot* more lances than swords or axes. You get the bow users *after* you've already fought the scythe-user several times.

It's just... *argh*, sometimes. MORE AXES, DAMMIT.

It's a good game overall, though, and it's fun even though I have no idea what the heck is going on. :P I hope I get a decent ending, since there's supposed to be several different ones...

Writing and Other Things

2006-05-22T22:02:34Z

1) Sometimes, you can really tell how someone got their feet wet in writing - me, especially. Because I'm a roleplayer, and roleplayers write about *doing* things. Screw describing environments, that's the GM's job, dammit. I'm so used to that that it's a bit of an effort to remember that someone hasn't already told them what the damn place looks like. :P

So I find myself writing in steps when it comes to non-RP - I write down the characters doing things (with the bare minimum of description for me to imagine the place), I edit that, then I go back and describe things in more detail, then I edit the entire thing and then that section's done - until I go back through it again and change a couple of things up here and there.

2) And that is exactly why I usually never really let anyone see anything of any size - I know I'm going to want to go back and tinker with it. It's usually nothing really big; just a slightly different word, maybe a restructuring of a sentence or two, moving a couple of lines about...

(Though I do intend to start putting that Naruto AU story on here - assuming I ever get to that Chapter 5 benchmark I want. It's mid-chapter 3 right now, and I'm mostly occupied with getting things set in stone a bit more. It's around... twenty-five pages at this point?)

3) I found a couple of interesting Bleach-related theories lately - mainly, speculation on Ichigo wielding Sode no Shirayuki's sealed form while he had Rukia's powers, and on Urahara being a Vaizard.

(The links:
http://himawari1.livejournal.com/10654.html - Ichigo and Sode no Shirayuki
http://himawari1.livejournal.com/8350.html - Urahara and the Vaizard
http://himawari1.livejournal.com/16012.html - note the 1st comment)

Both of these make *way* too much sense, and they both also have awesome potential story-wise. I had random drabble inspiration from the first (see below, after the cut), and I definitely want to work them into any other future stories I write.

4) Last (and longest!):

I wonder if all Vaizard have their Zanpakutou avatars "eaten" by their Hollow. Vaizard don't seem to follow quite the same rules as Shinigami (see: carrying Zanpakutou in human form), but they have to follow the sealed-Shikai-Bankai progression; Ichigo earns Shikai while becoming a Vaizard, and he earns Bankai afterwards - but before his Hollow's mask begins to manifest *on* him, instead of *around* him (see: Renji and Zaraki, when it blocked the blows), though his Hollow had to be active in his inner world by then (see: the fact that his Hollow manifested in his inner world and that part of his spiritual pressure manifested in the shape of his mask when he fought Zaraki). His sword also *stays* in Shikai; it doesn't "regress" to it's sealed form, which must mean he'd still be capable of it if Zangetsu acted normally.

But the thing is, Bankai involves achieving "dominance" of your zanpakutou's avatar. It manifests as a seperate presence, and then you force it to acknowledge your power and you earn Bankai, the ability to release all of it's spiritual power. But if your zanpakutou no longer has an active avatar, because your Hollow dominates it and suppresses it, does that mean you can't achieve it?

Vaizard can't learn Bankai by dominating their Hollow, because that's how you control it's presence and earn the ability to wear the mask (without going nuts, anyway). So unless learning to wear your mask means you get Bankai in the bargain, that can't be it.

(Though Vaizard would be damn powerful if that was true. I mean, Hollow ability amplification *and* Bankai, automatically, combined with the ability to surpass your limits that comes with hybridizing? Why are you bothering with Arrancar again, exactly, Aizen?)

Do Vaizard have a "time limit", so to say, to unlock Bankai, meaning very few Vaizard can use both Bankai and the mask? Is it possible for the avatar to reappear within the person? Or is Ichigo just special, somehow, and no one else's Hollow can dominate their Zanpakutou avatar? (His spiritual pressure is very high; wouldn't his Hollow be stronger?)

I have a feeling that it's because Ichigo achieved Bankai.

Hollow are part of the original person, right? (According to Rukia, it's instinct. It's also tied into their spiritual power, obviously.) So maybe, when Ichigo dominated Zangetsu and achieved the control he needed to achieve Bankai, he gave his Hollow the ability to do the same - the ability to take over Zangetsu and become the holder of all of Ichigo's spiritual power.

To me, this theory has possibilities, because his Hollow achieved his power over and control of Zangetsu *very* quickly, all things considered. Ichigo was able to remove the mask almost effortlessly after first regaining his powers, and Zangetsu doesn't seem too concerned about his Hollow's comment about taking over Ichigo when Ichigo first meets him. There's, again, the appearance of the mask and the spiritual energy against Zaraki, but the Hollow doesn't take an active role until the fight against Byakuya - almost immediately after Ichigo achieves Bankai. There's no indication that his Hollow was ever capable of that before!

Ichigo reveals his Hollow is talking to him often now, ever since the fight with Byakuya the day after unlocking Bankai (Ch. 190, pp. 12-13). Shortly after that, when school starts up again, there's the first fight against the Arrancar; his Hollow has obviously taken over Zangetsu at this point, anywhere from a month or two after unlocking Bankai and a week or two longer from him becoming a Vaizard.

The timing seems too coincidential, to me.

Of course, the main thing against this theory is Hirako's words in Chapter 189, page 11 - he says, clearly, that the Hollow will devour him alive, given enough time, and that his Hollow "should be getting stronger at an unimaginable rate".

My reply?

Hirako says he'll "slowly be devoured by the Hollow inside" and lose his mind; essentially, that its influence on his mental state will be slow but gradual, if he doesn't learn how to control it.

And it is, to the point where he barely notices its presence, until Ichigo unlocks Bankai - and then it takes over his body when he's vulnerable and begins talking to him in a *day*. It's already having a major effect on his sanity. Hirako says it's growing quickly - but not that it should have that much influence. And it *wouldn't*, if it hadn't taken over Zangetsu. Which, according to my theory, he wouldn't have been able to do if Ichigo hadn't unlocked Bankai.

See my point?

There's no real way to be sure, I suppose, but it's interesting!

5: Zangetsu and Sode no Shirayuki Drabble.

"I hate the rain."

Zangetsu stares at the endless sky without a horizon, standing sideways and waiting for the storm.

"As do I."

He glances at his new companion, who sits on her haunches by his side, whiskery leopard face uplifted. She bats idly at an ear, fangs flashing in a yawn.

"It is wasteful," she says, with a grin that shows every last one of her teeth. "Why should it rain, when it could snow? Even ice has its appeals."

"It does not snow here," Zangetsu says, with quiet regret.

"It shall," Sode no Shirayuki says, and her moonlight-yellow eyes seem to glow in the half-light as she lays her head down, closing her eyes as she waits. "This I promise."

When the rain comes, Sode no Shirayuki raises her head, staring into the sky.

And as the snow falls, Zangetsu smiles.

Random writing...

2006-04-28T23:57:13Z

I really should post here more... Of course, the problem is that I'm working on a longer story, which kind of limits my writing time, and I don't want to post much of it until I've got at least five chapters done. (Call it insurance against my inability to actually *finish* something. Five chapters shows I'm at least *invested* in it somewhat.)

Bleach drabble. Don't know why, but I felt like a bit of Gin writing. He's weird. I probably make him weirder. Dunno why, but randomlysadistic!Gin doesn't really do it for me. He seems sanely insane, if that makes any sense. So, random character study/speculation.

SMILE

Ichimaru Gin has always been oddly drawn to the Hollow.

He knows it is not a normal reaction; the other Shingami see them as faceless monsters, mission objectives, or victims. His twisted sort of admiration seems entirely unprecedented.

The Hollow are beautiful, in the way of the flood or the sword; pure, mindless destruction, painstakingly crafted to destroy everything and anything in their path without a care for the consequences. Each and every one is unique, each and everyone has its own deadly tool of destruction, each its elaborately carved mask.

The mask. Gin has seen so many Shingami see their first Hollow, and part of him admires the sheer terror those masks inspire. There's something subtly sinister about the empty eyes, the elaborate lines, the white porcelain that hides human face behind a monster's.

Gin has carved his own Hollow's mask, one more human than any of those of all the Hollow he has ever killed. He still hides a shiver of delight every time he sees it work its magic on those he meets, the hidden animal terror beneath hastily-assumed indifference or the unsettled look of those who know something is wrong - but aren't sure what.

It's his tribute to each and every one of the spirits slain at Shinsou's edge - the spread of their subtle sort of terror.

(He has only met one man who has ever understood.)

It's amazing how much a smile can hide.

Random writing.

2006-04-04T02:26:24Z

I... have no idea what inspired this.

Actually, I *do*. I just don't know why I decided to write about it.

Eh, whatever. I'll post it anyway, if just to have something to fill the space.

(And yes, this is based on real life.)

---

He has memories of the future.

It's an interesting contradiction. It also sounds quite interesting, remarkably close to foresight. Prophecy! Psychic powers!

Actually, it's more like, "...dammit, again?"

If this is what being a prophet is like, it's actually kinda boring.

Because foresight comes with clauses. "You will see the future, but..." Hence, the popular, "You will see the future, but no one will believe you." In his case, "You will see the future, but in brief (and mostly useless) glimpses."

By brief, he means *brief*. A snapshot of a scene, perhaps a few seconds of something. A snatch of sound or song, occasionally. No smell (his nose is half-dead anyway, not like he'd *notice*), and he's never had them have anything to do with taste or touch.

When the 'memory' actually happens (as in, when he's *awake*), he's overcome with a heavy sort of deja vu as he mentally rewinds, playing back the snatch of scene and matching it to one of the 'prophetic' dreams. Fragments so disjointed, so far out of context as to be absolutely useless for the task of predicting the future.

You would assume that these snatches would at least be interesting. Possibly involving mortal peril or at least some minor injury. Something *interesting*, something he could at least be forewarned about.

You would be wrong.

Most of these 'memories' (re?)occur while he's sitting at his desk, working on something or another. They've happened elsewhere. Mostly when he was working on something else.

It doesn't happen often, either. Just often enough to be familiar, for him to remember most of the times it's happened. Just often enough for it to be something more than simple coincidence. Just little enough for him to be apply to apply some rhyme of reason, some *pattern* for these irritating occurances.

For that matter, if it was easier to *remember* the damned things the morning after the dreams with their snatches of future, he might be able to find some amusement in attempting to deciper what the hell he's going to be doing at the time.

"Memories of future's past," he murmurs, drawing some small sense of satisfaction from the minor poetry. It's really a form of intellectual plagarism - stolen second-hand from a story, which took it from a comic, and then shamelessly paraphrased - but it makes him feel clever.

That's about the most he's ever gotten out of those damned dreams, so he should be satisfied, he supposes.

On some level, it pisses him off. He doesn't like the idea of predestination or fate or things that 'must occur for the good of the timeline' or dramatic crap like that. That stuff doesn't happen in real life, dammit. And, well, when you're the person with weird (but absolutely useless) psychic future-diving powers, you've gotta admit that stuff might have some merit.

Having to consider that is irritating.

A lot of things about it are irritating.

He eventually shrugs, works a random project for a bit, and forgets about it for a while.

Not like there's much he can do about it, after all.

Hey.

2006-03-29T03:36:27Z

For people who have ended up here somehow or another...

I'm a dabbler in a lot of things, most of which involve writing somehow or another. I like to read and play video games, and I tend to do a lot of both. I'm not real big on movies or TV in general. I roleplay pretty often. (I'm fond of the Returner Games FFRPG system, and I roleplay Dias Black at I-DEMON. Don't judge me too harshly based on my early posts, I sucked back then. >.>) I also tend to write in bits and pieces. (I very rarely finish my writing, though, so I tend to be limited to one-shots and occasional glimpses of larger universes. Beware the label "WIP". :P)

This journal's going to be used to talk about Naruto and/or Bleach and other fandoms, talk about random video games, mention random political things, show weird links... Pretty much anything I feel like at the time. Mostly, though, I'm probably going to comment on random journals or lurk. I'm pretty good at both.