My Top 5 Moments of 2014

Well, it's almost the New Year's here in Indonesia, so I thought I'd post something real quick.

2014 was a roller coaster. From constant games, to the Bali trip, to the IGCSEs, to moving to a new school, 2014 was far more eventful compared to 2013.

So, I would like to share with you guys my top five moments in 2014.

5. Shipping in Real Life?!

...YES, I keep on forgetting to tell you guys about this, but why not do it now?

So, my class had this little Secret Santa thing going on in the early days of December. Guys give to girls and girls give to guys. Then on the last day, we reveal who we were giving to.

Turns out the person giving to me was a classmate of KirinMax's back when he was in old school, SMN, which happens to be my current school.

Cue the shipping from my cousins and KirinMax.

*sigh* Guys, come on...there's nothing wrong for a girl to enjoy the company of a guy as friends right?

Not to mention that my cousins LOVE teasing me whenever I talk about ANY guy...

I'm in for a whole trainwreck of a ride next year huh?

4. Meeting KirinMax in real life, basically the making of the Brave Frontier group

Trust me when I say that KirinMax is a pretty awesome guy. Apparently he got my ID from my math tutor, whom we shall refer to as his IGN 'Chery', and he made a group for Brave Frontier players to talk about the game and to get random help from groupmates. That's our first official meeting where we actually COMMUNICATE.

Then, it moved on to private chats about...Vocaloid, mostly. We're pretty huge Vocaloid, anime, and video game geeks, and we happen to be in the same grade too, so yeah.

More people started to join the group nearing the A-Maths IGCSE exam, two in particular being constant contributors to the discussions in the group. They are Chery's friends, Tails and CWHLGL.

Then came the camp, where I met KirinMax, Tails, and CWHLGL of them in real life. Definitely one of the funnest camps I've ever been to. Sorry guys, but the Bali trip doesn't even COMPARE to this short yet enjoyable camp.

A lot more of Chery's students joined the group soon after, and now the group is always full of conversations...in fact, this group helped me go through life in my old school, where I was constantly ignored.

So...thanks guys.

3. Hitting 5000 pageviews here

MY GOD. I was so shocked when I saw 5000 views on this blog. I mean, Brave Frontier and video game blogs IN GENERAL don't get too much attention, but...wow.

Seriously, THANK YOU SO MUCH for checking out my blog!

2. Getting ALL the GGC Spheres as of now, AND beating Creator Maxwell in a span of around two weeks.

YES PEOPLE. This actually happened, and is the reason why I stopped updating for a very long time.

I was maxing up my Maxwell because I really wanted to optimize her damage output potential with maxed out stats and an SBB 10 Endless.

That quickly changed in favor of quick Brave Bursts with my Lucca lead, however. She's still a good support unit though!

As for the GGC spheres, I have to say Dandelga was the easiest (no gems used), Leomurg was pretty annoying, Drevas was a huge marathon boss, Batootha was pretty easy because LUCCA, and Lexida was pretty easy because LODIN.

1. Being able to make friends with people my age

This has been an ongoing issue for me. Not only are my old classmates pretty stuck-up, they really dislike allowing people into their small, exclusive group of friends. At least, that's how I see it.

Which is the reason why I was shocked that I hit it off so well with KirinMax in the first place.

It made me realize that there are people in the world that are unlike my classmates. There are people that are accepting, and there are people who share my interests.

In my new school, I hit it off pretty well with most of my classmates, along with the underclassmen.

Of course, I still keep in contact with my friends in my old school: Wolves, Shiwi, Xemphis, Jervan, and Sean being just a few of them. And with the rest of the group too, of course.

So, if any of you guys are reading this...thank you so much. Really.

So....HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Now...if only the people would stop firing these fireworks...people have died recently in the AirAsia QZ8501...

Let's spare a few moments to pray for them...for their peace in death...for their families, friends, and everyone affected...and so that a tragedy like this doesn't happen again...

...

Holy crap...wow.

2500+ pageviews! Thank you guys so much! I honestly never thought this would happen, not in a million years! I mean, gaming blogs usually don't get as much exposure compared to other blogs such as beauty blogs, right?

Also, with this post, I would like to congratulate fellow blogger Momiji, who happens to be my cousin, from the blog mocchimono! She was contacted by IASO to review one of their new products, some sort of...lip crayon? I don't know. Point is, she was contacted by a makeup company to review one of their products. WOW.

Congrats, girl, so proud of you!

...now to wait for energy for Metal Parades to get my Guardian Wyvern to Duelmex before the Light Arena starts.

Shadow: A Persona 4 Oneshot

A/N: This story was done for an English descriptive writing in class. There were three topics, and the topic I chose was ‘describe a person that is trustworthy/sinister’. Even though we were only asked to pick one of the characteristics, if possible, we could talk about a person who seems trustworthy, but is actually sinister. Our teacher also told us that we could describe a character from a story…and this just seems to scream Shadow Yosuke and Yosuke, so this is it.

This story is told in Yu Narukami's POV.

As usual, I own nothing. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 belongs to the AWESOME Atlus.

Summary: Yu ponders about Shadows, and it brought him back to his thoughts regarding his partner's Shadow.

Characters: Yu Narukami/Souji Seta, Yosuke Hanamura

Rating: K+. I had to tone down the language and edit some of the speech timings and length to fit it in the 'barely over three pages' limit our teacher set...and is 'hellhole' a curse word? I was using it to describe a horribly unpleasant place, so I don't think it warrants for a T rating...

            What do you think would the personification of the deepest, darkest corners of your heart look like? Would it look like a demon, or would it look like something else entirely? Would it look like…would it look like your own self?

            It truly shocked me when I saw another figure stepping out from one of the dark corners of this strange world’s rendition of the liquor store of Saki Konishi’s family. It was just earlier that Saki-senpai’s death –no, murder- was announced, and as it was, Yosuke was devastated by the death of his crush and dragged me back into this world, which Yosuke, Chie, and I suspected had something to do with the murder of Saki-senpai.

            Yosuke had run into this world’s rendition of her family’s liquor store and heard some…confessions of Saki-senpai, saying that she hated Yosuke and thought he was annoying. Yosuke denied it all, and then here we are, looking at the figure stepping out of the corner.

            At first sight, this person seemed to look a lot like the fawn-haired, hazel-eyed teen beside me. He was wearing exactly the same clothing as Yosuke: the standard school uniform consisting of a long-sleeved, button-up shirt with a popped collar and a white shirt under it, long, black pants, and red headphones with a black band hanging around his neck, his own personal touch. The only difference was that the other Yosuke was not wearing the thick, orange-framed glasses a creature, specifically, a Shadow calling himself Teddie, gave him before we entered this…hellhole.

            Maybe, just maybe…I can trust this person. Not all Shadows are the same, as Teddie is living proof of it. Maybe, this Shadow isn’t out to kill us, just like the Shadows did to Mayumi Amano and Saki-senpai, from what I assume…if he really was a Shadow.

            Even so, the other Yosuke gave out an aura unlike Yosuke’s. While Yosuke had a kind, trusting, and joyful aura, the other Yosuke had a sinister, dark, and distrusting aura. It even showed in their mannerisms. I had always been a master of observing people, and I noticed that Yosuke usually had a smile that seems accepting of everything, and makes you feel like you could actually…trust him. The other Yosuke, however, had a dark, sinister smirk plastered on his face, and it could give everyone chills just looking at it, like he has some ulterior motive behind everything…

            Perhaps, what was most chilling about the other Yosuke was his yellow eyes…the eyes that seemed to gleam in this dark, eerie room…and the dark, visible aura, spreading around the room…it’s quite sickening, actually.

            “The only reason why you wanted to enter this world is so that you felt bored living in the town! You wanted to feel excited, wanted to feel known, so you took the first opportunity to try and prove yourself, and that opportunity happened to be the murder of Saki-senpai!” the other Yosuke cackled, his voice distorted.

            Yosuke’s eyes went wide as he denied everything that the other had said. The other only continued with his speech, his eyes growing madder with each word, the dark energies surrounding him seeming to spread and grow in size.

            “You put on a show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky ‘cause you’re so terrified of being alone. The more the merrier, right? You can’t handle the solitude of being alone!” The other Yosuke continued. That seemed to be the last straw for Yosuke. He then shouted in a loud, defiant voice, “Shut up! That’s not me. That’s not me AT ALL!”

            …Wait. Yosuke was…faking it? He only puts on his jovial persona so he will not be alone? He’s…scared of being alone?

            As I was pondering this, the other Yosuke had transformed into another creature…one that was a Shadow. It had two halves, namely, the human half and the frog-like half. The human half was all black, save for what seemed like two yellow stars for its eyes. Its hands were yellow, and it had a billowing, red scarf around his neck. Its bottom half, the frog-like half, had a camouflage pattern around its body, save for the hands and face. Its hands were black in color with yellow ‘nails’ on it, and its face was black, with two red slits for eyes, and a yellow, savage, grinning mouth, full of teeth.

            “I am the Shadow, the true self. I’ll get rid of everything that bores me…starting with YOU!!!” The Shadow screamed out as it charged at us.

            My suspicions were confirmed. It seemed like the other Yosuke was really a Shadow…and it seems like I am forced to fight it, if I were to protect the real Yosuke, the one with the kind, trustworthy attitude. And so, I called out my own Persona, the one I had used to protect Chie and Yosuke the other day…Izanagi.

            The battle between Izanagi and Shadow Yosuke raged on as I tried to get Yosuke to accept his Shadow…since apparently, a person’s Shadow is the personification of someone’s deepest, darkest corners of his heart, according to Teddie. As Izanagi landed the finishing blow on Shadow Yosuke, the real Yosuke seemed to have a resolution as he approached his fallen Shadow, who had reverted back to its human form.

            “I’ve always known that Saki-senpai hated me. But, I never had the courage to accept it. And it’s true…I did feel bored in this town.” He sighed. “Sometimes, even I feel like I put my foot in my mouth a lot. But that’s just who I am, huh? I guess I just have to accept it.” Shadow Yosuke looked up at Yosuke as he kneeled down beside him, lifting the Shadow’s face to look straight at Yosuke.

            “I am you…and you are me.” Yosuke had said that time, smiling at his Shadow. Shadow Yosuke looked slightly shocked, before he gave a small smile as he closed his eyes in acknowledgement. This time, the smile was neither malicious nor sinister; in fact, the smile now was a calm and accepting one. Bright, white lights surround Shadow Yosuke as he began to transform.

            When the lights have faded, a Persona stood in Shadow Yosuke’s place. It had a black head with two ‘ears’ above its head, with one red slit in each ‘ear’. It had two yellow stars for its eyes. It wore white overalls with a camouflage pattern on the edges of the pants and sleeves. The overalls had a yellow, v-shaped collar, and was red on the top of the overalls. Its hands were much like a human’s, though it was covered with white gloves, having a camouflage pattern under it. It also wore a red, billowing scarf around its neck.

            The Persona turned into a blue card, bearing a picture of a flame, surrounded by a pair of eyes above it, a pair of hands below it, cupping the flame, and the symbol for ‘infinity’ above the eyes. There was also the Roman numeral for the number ‘1’ on the bottom of the card.

            I then remembered my own card, bearing the picture of a laughing jester about to fall from a cliff, a dog trailing closely behind him, colored grey, and bearing the number ‘0’ on the bottom of the card. If my card was ‘0’ and Yosuke’s card was ‘1’…then are we dealing with Tarot cards right now? If that is the case, then my Persona must be a ‘Fool’, while Yosuke’s Persona must be a ‘Magician’.

            Frankly, I can see the symbolism between the cards, my own self, Yosuke, and Shadow Yosuke. I came to Inaba for a new experience, much like the Fool in Tarot divination. Yosuke comes off as a self-confident person, much like the Magician in Tarot divination. Shadow Yosuke, however, may have power, but he is also cruel and misuses his power. It is the meaning of a reversed Magician card in Tarot divination.

            “So this is Jiraiya…my own Persona…my power.” Yosuke had his hand over his heart. He then proposed that we could use our strength to save people before they got killed in this world…which I whole-heartedly agreed to.

            He kept that promise, for he was a trustworthy person. We gained more members…people that we have saved in this world of Shadows in time. We became known as the Investigation Team…

            And to think this all started because I saved my best friend, my partner, from his own darkness.

A/N: Frankly, I think this is one of my better works, even though it is not very true to the story...

Random Dissidia Oneshot

Well, that was a pretty depressing post... How about a story to lighten up the mood?

This was inspired by a picture from Zerochan, in an Academy AU. Bartz is asleep on his desk, Zidane looks like he's yelling, Squall is slapping Bartz's back with a ruler, and Sephiroth was carrying a rolled-up poster and was emitting the dark aura of doom. Picture can be found here: http://www.zerochan.net/1485425
On to the story!

Warnings: This is probably rated K+. OOC (Out Of Character).

 Golbez picked up his things and left the class in silence. Most of the students proceeded to talk with each other, read or do other things. 'Thank Cosmos this next lesson is the last lesson of the day... Rather unfortunately, Sephiroth is our teacher.' Zidane thought. He had no qualms about having Sephiroth as the final teacher of the day, it's just that Cloud would make a big fuss out of it and those two would actually take out their swords and have a duel in the middle of the class. Well, Cloud hates Sephiroth, so this behavior is pretty normal in their class. And to think that students and teachers alike are not allowed to bring their weapons to school...so said swords consists of rolled-up pieces of newspaper or, on rare occasions, posters. During the first few days of school, Garland, homeroom teacher of the class, got called by the principal for bringing his HUGE broadsword into class. Squall got in trouble for bringing his gunblade. Zidane got into trouble for accidentally summoning his Mage Mashers. Firion got into trouble by bringing his bow. Kuja got called by the principal for attempting to cast Ultima on Zidane, who was annoying him to no end (brothers...). Long story short, practically EVERYONE got into trouble just because of casting some magic or summoning a weapon. Well, in their defense, manikins were still roaming around, so they bring weapons for protection. The rule doesn't apply once you are out of the school building, which is why Lightning and Squall always spar right in front of the school building, with a huge space, perfect for sparring matches.
This particular day, Bartz was feeling extremely sleepy and decided to get a little bit of shut eye. Golbez had left the class with 5 minutes of free time, so the students were slightly relieved to have a little bit of down time before Sephiroth came by.
'Let me sleep for just 5 friggin' minutes...' Bartz thought. He was out like a light soon after.
In front of Bartz, Zidane was talking to Tidus about the Blitzball club's next match. The coach is Jecht, who also happens to be Tidus's father.
"I'm just hoping we can win." Tidus muttered.
"With a coach like Jecht? I would be surprised if we actually lost!" Zidane exclaimed.
"True." Tidus sighed.
Meanwhile, behind Bartz, Squall was trying to calm Cloud down.
"I just hate Sephiroth with every fiber of my being." Cloud growled.
"Whatever, Strife. You have NO idea how bad Ultimecia can be." Squall gave Cloud a pointed look.
"As bad as Ultimecia can be, I KNOW Sephiroth is worse." Cloud replied heatedly.
Squall groaned. This wasn't the first time they had this argument.
"Let's just drop it, alright?"
"Whatever, Leonhart."
5 minutes have passed, and Sephiroth still hasn't entered the class, which caused the class to stay silent in shock for a while. Said silence was broken by the sound of someone snoring.
"Uh, guys? Do you hear snoring?" Zidane asked nervously.
Everyone looked at Zidane and nodded. Zidane and Squall gulped nervously, took a chance and turned to look at Bartz.
Bartz Kaluser, master mime, was sleeping soundly, just before the class of Mr. Sephiroth, the strictest and scariest teacher at school.
CUE BACKGROUND MUSIC!!! (aka One-Winged Angel)
Estrans interius
Ira vehementi
Estrans interius
Ira vehementi
Sephiroth!
Sephiroth!
The latin chanting was enough to send shivers down everyone's spines. Then, as if on cue, Sephiroth was standing in the doorway of the class. He looked at Bartz, then emitted the dark aura of total doom.
Zidane and Squall, noticing this, tried everything in their power to wake up the sleeping mime. The other students were scared out of their minds, except for Cloud, who was glaring cyanide-drenched Buster Swords at Sephiroth. If looks could kill, said glare would be enough to send Sephiroth to the place where Feral Chaos lives (I'm assuming Edge of Madness) a million times over.
Zidane was whisper-yelling. "Bartz! Wake up, dang it!"
Squall, however, resorted to slapping Bartz's back with a plastic ruler, while whispering loudly, "Wake up, Klauser!"
Bartz, however, seemed unaffected. Heck, he even started drooling on his notebook which he used as a pillow!
Sephiroth summoned a rolled-up poster from Jenova-knows-where and proceeded towards Bartz. And, if Hetalia is anything to go by, poster swords are effective weapons for defeating weird aliens. Or, in this case, waking up sleeping mimes in an extremely painful way.
"Something tells me Bartz is screwed." Cloud couldn't help but snicker at his statement earlier.
"Shut it, Strife. Or I'll decide to use Blasting Zone on you until you are dead." Squall growled, malice evident in his voice before smacking Bartz again, albeit with more power.
Well, Squall, as the author, I suggest you smack harder next time, because Sephiroth just lifted Bartz out of his seat. Bartz didn't even stir from the sudden movement.
"YOU MEAN HE DIDN'T FEEL THE RULER ON HIS BACK?!" Squall growled, annoyed.
Well, no.
"WHAT!"
"Squall! Quit breaking the fourth wall!" Zidane hissed.
Sephiroth glanced at Bartz and smirked.
"Excuse me while I handle this...STUDENT...who dares sleep during school hours." Sephiroth teleported out of the classroom and returned moments later. Lessons then proceeded as normal. Well, as normal as things can get with Cloud and Sephiroth in the exact same room.
When Cloud and Sephiroth started dueling again, Zidane, Squall, Tidus and Firion shared a look. A single thought passed through all of their minds.
'Flag pole. After school. ASAP.'
~After class
The first thing Bartz noticed when he woke up was the ground, just 5 meters from where he was situated.
'Wait...the ground?'
Bartz dared himself to look up. He nearly fainted.
He was hung up by his leg from the top of the flagpole. He had the perfect view of the ground. The weather was pretty windy, which freaked Bartz out a LOT.
He couldn't take it anymore. He was terrified.
"WAAAAAHHH! SQUALL! ZIDANE! TIDUS! FIRION! ANYONE! GET ME DOWN! I'M SCARED OF HEIGHTS!"
The four students heard Bartz's screams from in front of the school. The genome was the one who yelled back.
"JUST HANG IN THERE, BARTZ!"
Squall then told Zidane to try and climb the flagpole. Tidus only stood speechless as he looked at Bartz. Firion only shook his head as Bartz screamed his head off.
Apparently, Sephiroth waxed the flagpole, since Zidane had difficulty trying to climb it, slipping every few steps.
Tidus then looked at his watch. "See you guys tomorrow at the arcade. I got Blitzball practice." Tidus then ran towards the beach, trying his best to ignore Bartz's terrified shrieks. Firion headed to the archery center. "Archery practice. I'll see you tomorrow." He left without further discussion. In reality, Firion just couldn't take any more of Bartz's shrieks of terror.
"Hey, Zidane, try throwing those knives of yours at the rope." Squall whispered into Zidane's ear. Zidane only nodded as he summoned his Mage Mashers. He threw one towards the rope, severing it...
Causing the mime to plummet face-first into the ground.
"I'm okay..." came Bartz's muffled reply, then came a moan of pain from the mime.

EXTENDED ENDING:
"So...Bartz, I've been meaning to ask you something..." Zidane started as the three friends were walking back home.
"What? My head hurts..." Bartz groaned.
"Why are you scared of heights, man?"
"ONE. WORD." Bartz growled, anger suddenly lacing every word he uttered. "EXDEATH."
"Alright! Yeesh!" Zidane held his hands up in defeat.
"And...Exdeath is a tree, right?" Squall asked.
"An evil, warlock tree, to be exact." Bartz sighed.
"At least your nemesis isn't a time witch." Squall growled, recalling Ultimecia.
"Or your brother who left you in some unknown planet when you were young." Zidane hung his head, while the other two friends were struck speechless.
"Kuja did that to you?" Squall asked.
"I thought we were talking about why Bartz is scared of heights!" Zidane shot back.
"True. But the rest is self-explanatory. Trees grow high so Bartz is scared of heights." Squall replied in his bored tone.
"Guys... Don't remind me of the reasons why I'm scared of heights..." Bartz groaned.
The three decided to let the subject drop and focused on more important things; mainly, how they are going to finish the project Exdeath set to be due next month, when they have a truckload of homework from Sephiroth and the self-proclaimed Emperor Mateus. Every. Single. Day. Memorizing the many types of Materia and the history of the Palamecian Empire was not a simple task, you know!
Zidane, Bartz and Squall, along with Tidus, Firion, Cloud and Luneth simultaneously groaned as they, somehow, thought of all the tasks they had to complete for the remaining term at, somehow, the exact same time. How exactly? I have absolutely no idea. It's one of the mysteries of the universe.
"This is going to be one long term..." Said students groaned while doing something to release some of their stress.
Tidus started taking his practice more seriously. Firion decided that archery was NOT going to cut it and decided to beat the snot out of some Emperor Mateus manikins instead. Squall decided to thunk his head on the trunk of a tree multiple times, muttering about the evils of the world. Zidane and Bartz decided to spar with each other. Cloud decided to crush some Sephiroth manikins, just for the heck of it. Luneth decided to punch his pillow to release stress (when questioned, he claims that his method works).
Just another normal day for Zidane...

A/N: Okay, I have been playing too much Dissidia lately. And yes, I'm a HUGE fan of Zidane, as well as 589 in general. What can I say? I love the genome's personality and his gameplay style. Ever since I was introduced to fighting games, I'm more of an aerial and speed person, which is why I main Ness in SSBB. His air game is great, and his attacks come out quick as well, with okay KO power. Zidane has a lot of BRV to HP links. It's easy to spam Meo Twister on a high-level manikin in Confessions of the Creator and see where it goes from there. And personality wise, remember this line? Basically this quote of his became one of my mottoes.
"Do I need a reason to help someone?" -Zidane

I'm thinking of the owner of Final Fantasy. Starts with an S, ends with an X. That's right! It's Squeenix! Or Square Enix, whichever you prefer. I own nothing but the plot (because if I owned Final Fantasy, then Final Fantasy 9 would be remade on the PSP or something)!
This is also my very first fan fiction, so comments would be appreciated!

What the heck am I doing?! It's exam week! I have to study! Well, exams last until next Monday, so... UGH.