Miniatureduckwizard - Newcomer

There are two types of Overwatch players.

(Not sure if I can qualify for another prompt after the last wonderful prompt fill but here goes:

The Academy was perfectly fine with Shikamaru’s imaginary friend Shikako, until she managed to ____.

Oh dona, there are so many things that can fill in that blank. SO MANY THINGS. And, I’ll be honest, a lot of what comes to my mind range from funny to alarming. But the on that I think is the most encompassing—without being too boring—is simply “get caught.” Because that opens up so many opportunities for what else she could have been doing before she got caught in such a way that also builds a dynamic between those who are in on it (ie, the Rookie Nine, maybe even the full Konoha Twelve since Team Gai IS only just one year older) and those who aren’t (presumably the teachers of the Academy) However, in order to narrow this fic down into something writable, I should figure what Shikako is doing before she gets caught… and, maybe this is just me, but I kinda like the idea of… now maybe this is too specific… but basically, Shikamaru’s imaginary friend Shikako, aka his literal sentient eldritch horror twin sister that lives in his shadow, just straight up eating Danzo. Just. How do you get rid of something? Eat it. Because, like… okay. My brain goes something like this:

“Hm,” says Shikamaru as they hide in the treetops from Iruka-sensei.

Normally, Shikamaru is content with being out of the classroom that, outside from telling them the plan needed to ditch and stay hidden, he stays pretty quiet either cloud watching or napping.

Chouji, in his spot next to Shikamaru and equally satisfied with just being outside, is the only one to hear him. “What is it?” He asks.

That gets Kiba and Naruto to perk up, starting to get bored after their flawless escape with minimal conflict.

“Shikako says she’s hungry.”

Good friend that he is, Chouji offers some of his chips. A tendril of Shikamaru’s shadow shakily takes one, wobbling even under that weight, but Shikako is also a good friend so she eats it.

Well. She tries, anyway. Shikamaru’s shadow curls around it, mimicking a chewing motion, but it remains unchanged.

After a moment, Shikamaru reports, “Shikako says thank you, but she might need to eat something else specifically?”

Naruto, ever curious asks, “What does a shadow even eat?”

Shikamaru shrugs. “She says she’ll know it when we find it.”

Kiba, and an Akamaru squirming with eagerness, declares, “Akamaru and I are the best and finding stuff. We’ll get it in no time.”

—

Iruka-sensei finds them before they find the ambiguous “it.”

To be fair, they were searching through the refrigerator in the teacher’s lounge, and their self assigned mission had carried them through to lunch time. So really it was their own fault.

Didn’t stop Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru from yelling and howling up a storm as Iruka-sensei grabbed the two boys by the collars of their shirts. Mizuki-sensei at least just gestured his two charges forward, trusting that Shikamaru and Chouji would cooperate since they had been caught fair and square. And plus, it was lunch time.

Distracted as they were, none of the boys noticed Shikamaru’s shadow stretch itself to connect to Mizuki-sensei’s.

Without that context, none of them made the connection when, not even a minute later, Mizuki-sensei stumbled, nearly falling, before catching himself in an uncertain stance.

“You okay?” Iruka-sensei asked, caregiving nature winning over his desire to continue lecturing the boys.

Mizuki-sensei waved him off with a strained laugh, “Ha, I just felt a little tired—midday slump, probably.”

Kiba and Naruto, sensing weakness, re-aim their efforts from complaining to making fun of Mizuki-sensei’s age. It draws his ire, never mind that he tries to seem cooler than Iruka-sensei, but he musters a woozy, half-hearted defense at best.

Shikamaru glances at his shadow, darker and deeper than it was before.

Shikako isn’t as hungry anymore.

—

A/N: And then something something Ino and Sakura spot the boys questing for Shikako’s food and they also believe in/like Shikako anyway so they try to help out, Shino gets pulled in because they end up on Aburame territory and he’s holding his smiling baby sister and his untouchable vibes are way lowered, at some point they’re like… maybe Hinata can use her cool eyes to FIND what Shikako needs (and she’s stalking Naruto anyway so we might as well actively include her) and then Sasuke kind of feels left out ALTHOUGH… I may have a separate thing for how Sasuke gets pulled in. Anyway the kids try to figure out what she’s doing—she doesn’t eat chakra, she eats life energy, but only out of people that she wants to kill anyway and the amount she eats from them is maybe based on how much she wants to kill them? (she really does almost eat Kabuto to death the first time they encounter him lol)—and they’re like… well… we also don’t like the people Shikako doesn’t like anyway? Here’s where plot maybe comes in and maybe where Sasuke gets pulled in but basically if this is pre-Uchiha Massacre then there could be a day when Itachi goes to pick up the little Uchiha members from the Academy and Shikako is just like ??? DO I want to kill and eat him??? because he hasn’t done anything (YET) so it’s just like… the rest of the kids investigating into Sasuke to investigate into Itachi which then somehow Scooby Doo style gets them to Danzo and MAYBE he’s being a creeper and visiting the Academy to recruit future ROOT agents or MAYBE the Academy building is near the Hokage’s Tower (I think???) or Shisui and Itachi are BOTH picking up the various Uchiha Academy students and Danzo tries to use the opportunity to intimidate/threaten them both “subtly” and Shikako’s just like !!!!! FEAST MODE!!!! And fully just eldritch style swallows him whole in front of some Academy teachers :) And it’s not like Shikamaru can get in trouble because he’s BEEN telling the truth about his imaginary friend Shikako the whole time. And as far as they know it LOOKS like a Nara clan technique so they’re like… well… uh… maybe we should tell the Jounin Commander about this. And Shikaku’s just like… uh… Kasuga… what the fuck… And Kasuga turns to Sembei-obaasan and also asks what the fuck… And Sembei-obaasan has to search deep deep into the Nara oral tradition for what the fuck is going on And Shikako is just in Shikamaru’s shadow, totally pleased with herself. I’m not hungry anymore :)

Danny, new Ancient of Space (but not quite yet) may be in a little bit of trouble. He saved a dimension from collapse and sort of. Just. Shoved it into a broom closet?

So he was out training, like Clockwork told him to do. He was just observing and trying to "understand the fleeting nature of realities", looking over the dimensions scattered in the Space Between Spaces.

When he got a little attached to one.

It was a dimension with heroes and villains, and because one of the heroes that was based on speed kept making changes to the timeline, it was about to shatter. The fragments of it would be tossed to similar Dimensions, and the surrounding closest ones were already reaching out to grab bits and pieces of it. The one Dimension he really, really liked checking in on would be gone.

Danny...kind of just picked it up.

Removed it from the dimensions trying to absorb it, isolated it from the same flow of time and space that connected it to the others.

Snuck it into his lair.

Annnnnd shoved it into a broom closet before the Observants or Clockwork could realize what he did.

He just needs to keep it hidden and then all the people he likes will be fine!

Meanwhile, the Flash Family find themselves unable to use the Speedforce, and no matter how much research they do, they cannot figure out why.

イヴに見えて欲しい

I’m sorry friends, but “just google it” is no longer viable advice. What are we even telling people to do anymore, go try to google useful info and the first three pages are just ads for products that might be the exact opposite of what the person is trying to find but The Algorithm thinks the words are related enough? And if it’s not ads it’s just sponsored websites filled with listicles, just pages and pages of “TOP FIFTEEN [thing you googled] IMAGINED AS DISNEY PRINCESSES” like… what are we even doing anymore, google? I can no longer use you as shorthand for people doing real and actual helpful research on their own.

beautiful fish boys!💕

but i forgot about someone….. oh yeah

Wild Link has many things for exchange tho, just choose wisely

Danny has gotten a high paying job! And he gets to work with a celebrity!

Danny gets a job as the Wayne's PA, and while working with Bruce, he notices something.

The dude's a ditz, for sure, but also.

Also...

He isn't.

Danny realizes it's an act, and that actual ditzyness from the professionals around him drive his new boss up a wall.

But Bruce can't actually point it out, or he reveals that he isn't as ditzy as they say.

Danny decides to have fun; with his powers, he can play an even bigger himbo than Bruce Wayne. (Intangibility will be sure to outplay the Prince of Gotham's clumsiness).

Every time he does his job well, he makes sure to do it in an oblivious fashion that seems like it's going to fail, but then works beautifully.

It's a lot of work, but...the subtle eye twitch of internalized rage? The forced exhale of a quiet, agonized scream of frustration? The sometimes subconscious clenching of the man's fist?

Fucking worth it.

Basically, Danny realizes he can antagonize the richest man in America and still not get fired; the fic.

food for the soul 🍲

Prompt 156

Bruce is very much not happy. He’s stuck in an absolutely tiny body, with hands that can barely grip onto anything. Not to mention he’s somewhere completely unfamiliar with way too much sun and his body, what, maybe a year? He can barely even stand. 

Ugh. Next time he’s definitely not jumping between his teammates and an unknown energy beam-thing. 

Now if he could not wobble and trip over what was his outfit but now seems to be a way too big cloak or cape, that would be great. Actually it might be his gear just well, only his cape. First thing is first, finding out where- or even when- the heck he is. 

Danny is honestly blaming Clockwork for everything when he spots a baby that could pass as his baby brother. And he knows he doesn’t have any more clones, seeing as he cleaned out Vlad’s lab himself. So. There’s apparently a tiny very liminal-feeling baby crawling around in what is practically a war zone thanks to the GIW. 

So he could be forgiven for picking the tiny child up as he runs, because if the GIW does another attack or bombing… Yeah, he’d rather the literal infant be in one of the safe zones protected by altered ecto shields, even if there was no clue as to where they came from. 

Elle, floating several feet above the floor, holding Kon up off the ground like he's long cat, swaying him slightly in front of her like she's doing one of those cat temperment assessments:

"Baby! Tiny baby clone boy!"

The Justice League, entirely unaware of who this strange child that just popped into existence and scooped Kon up like it was nothing and even phasing him through the table they were sitting at to do so, just trying to get through one of Batman's quarterly risk assessment meetings and knowing this is going to make it ten times longer:

"??!??? What the fuck??!?"

Kon who met this half dead clone girl last night when she showed up at the foot of his bed like a sleep paralysis demon wanting to talk about their super similar fucked up backstory, just straight vibing:

"I'm baby."