I played earlier today and it was fine. Now, when I start the game, it instantly crashes when Diablo 4 title shows up. I tried scan and repair...and it did not fix the issue. What's going on?

I’ve seen a few posts on this thread about the negative aspects of being a lodger versus a tenant. I thought I would share some of the benefits and open this thread up for discussion about additional pros/cons not listed here.
Full disclosure that I currently have a lodger renting my spare room in London, and it has only been a positive experience for both of us so far. The following are based on conversations we’ve had:

1. Flexibility: Although this does work both ways, being a lodger instead of a tenant is ideal if you don’t know how long you need to stay somewhere. I use a 30 day notice period for both of us, and my current lodger has plans to serve this notice soon but has the flexibility to choose this to line up perfectly with the move-in date of her next place with her partner. There’s also the benefit of not being locked into a 12+ month contract if your circumstances change
2. Lower costs for furnishings and household items: This is actually quite substantial and often overlooked. Lodgers don’t usually have to bring anything for the flat aside from their own bedding/towels. If you flatshare with another tenant, you could easily spend £300+ each on household appliances, cooking equipment and furnishings, even for a furnished flat
3. Living with someone who knows the local area: This is good for anyone but especially those new to the area. The live-in landlord can give you recommendations and may even show you local spots that you wouldn’t have found otherwise
4. Instant access to the person with the power to fix any issues that arise, rather than going through an estate agent
5. Less admin: The landlord deals with all of the bill accounts. After the initial right to rent checks etc, you transfer money once a month and that’s your house admin complete. No having to cancel/transfer bill accounts every time you move
6. Misc: There are quite a few small advantages that aren’t a given everywhere but would be fairly common, such as Netflix/prime/NowTV access, not spending money on cleaning products/kitchen roll/dishwasher tablets/coffee pods etc

I’m not discounting the difference in power dynamic and the lack of certainty around length of stay, these are definitely the main cons of being a lodger. Another con is not having your name on utility bills, which can make opening some accounts harder.
Overall, there are both pros and cons, but there are some situations where the pros outweigh the cons. And although being a lodger is particularly beneficial if you need a shorter term arrangement, you may even find that being a lodger is more stable than being a tenant. This is because the landlord is likely to have a fixed mortgage for 2-5 years and isn’t beholden to any 12-month rental contracts themselves, so if you find the right person (and the landlord feels the same way about you), you may be able to stay living there for longer than comparable tenancies and without yearly major increases in rent.

Not sure if I want to tell him I went through his phone. I feel immensely guilty… I had to know the truth. My husband is a really great liar and gaslighter so I dont believe much that he says especially because I have caught him lying before about irrelevant things and he denied it so well that i almost believed him even tho i had solid proof… So anyways i went through his phone a few minutes ago and found nothing, i know he can delete messages and stuff but here is the reason i snooped. Also wanted to add i dont usually see him as the type to cheat AT ALL.
Earlier, me and him were chatting in the car and then he gets a message and starts texting and completely ignores my words. So of course i ask who is he texting because i would like him to pay attention to what im saying. He ignores me and tries to continue out conversation. I ask again who was the important person…he tells me its his brother after some hesitation. I know hes lying because i saw green messages on his phone and his brother has an iphone. So i ask him why he texted him and he made a dumb excuse and i told him i saw the green messages. He said the message didnt go thru because the service was bad. After me convincing him that i am not stupid and know he wasnt texting his brother he finally told me it was my uncle that he was texting, he said it was just a hi how are you type of conversation. I didnt believe him bc why would he lie about that, he shows me only the name of who he was texting and it turned out to be my uncles name. Still, didnt believe him. So while he was asleep i went thru his messages and to my surprise it was my uncles number. And it was a hi how are u convo too like he said. He had a message written out that he hadnt sent yet but it was nothing important. He also asked him for money in the past and now I feel so guilty for looking thru his phone, although i saw him saying how f*cking annoying i was in another message to his brother…well i mean i guess i deserved that.
I needed to tell someone because i also think he might figure out in the morning that i looked thru his phone, and i will be in big trouble if that time comes. Idk if i should just tell him or not. I think i will let him figure it out on his own. He had unopened messages from me that i opened by accident thats why i feel like he will find out. I opened my uncles message too. So yeah i just snooped thru his phone for nothing. He gives me no reason to believe he would cheat i just dont know why i became like a toxic wife.

I'm not talking about any toxic masculinity or anything, I'm just talking about trying to hold it together for your family emotionally. Our dog just passed away tonight. My wife is a wreck (we have had our dog since we were dating, she was 15 years old), and my 3 year old daughter doesn't quite understand. I'm showing my emotion, but I also need to keep up a strong front, try to be there, but internally I'm a mess. How have any of you dealt with this? It's the first time dealing with a loss with our 3 year old, and I just don't know what to do.

Hello. This is a repost.
It is hard to describe the urges, my body feels like exploding and I feel extreme emotional pain constantly and I know I would feel the ultimate relief if I would hurt someone.
Before I describe the fantasies I have to say that I know that this is very immoral and I really don't want to act on it.
I can't describe it in detail cause I don't want to get suspended again but it is mostly about violently killing and raping innocents.
I think it is mostly about confronting people with things that they find disgusting is what gets me off.
My main problem aren't the fantasies itself, it helped me to feel good at first but after some time they became urges in real life, this is what really hurts, how my body and mind feels when I have those urges.
My Life was disgusting way before those urges but this made everything 100x worse.
Those urges began when I was 13 or so, I had the urge to hurt my dog, I remember my first sadistic urge, my dog was sleeping and I cuddled with him and then I had the urge to crush him, it felt extremely weird but I didn't mind. The first fantasies were when I realized how I got abused, I fantasized about murdering others constantly after that.
As I said I am pretty sure why I have those urges, I got abused massively in my childhood and my childhood generally was very bad.
In the Kindergarten I was very feared of social contact and didn't talk with anyone.
In the elementary school it got really bad, out of nowhere a "friend" forced me to show my penis, he said he would beat me up if I wouldn't show him so I did even though I didn't want to, another "friend" always touched my nipples and he didn't care that I said that it hurts. In this time I saw sexuality as something disgusting that only works if one person is hurt and I am pretty sure this is why I have rape fantasies cause my subconscious still thinks that even though I am against sexual violence. As far as I know is that they did it cause they were abused by pedophiles.
After Elementary school I thought everything has gotten better but it got worse when I visited my father, he had aggression problems so he had beaten me up multiple times and had to hide in a room and was extremely scared to go out. He also had a disease so he would puke a lot of blood, it was normal for me to see liters of human blood. He also showed me how to hang myself. The worst thing he did was when I visited my grandma and she was sleeping, everything was fine but then he grabbed a knife and threatened me and laughed at me when I was scared, the inner terror I felt. I also saw his corpse when he died and I cried cause I haven't seen a corpse and I was only 12.
After that I came in a new class and everything there was ok but then I got a crush on a girl and I told a "friend" and he said that he tells her if I didn't tell her myself so I did and she was scared and told everyone and then I got bullied, this has hurt really bad cause I trusted her and deeply loved her and constantly fantasized about being with her.
It was a really bad time but I could still feel love back then.
Then my grandma died and the last bit of love in me, I cried so much.
After that it was too much for me, I looked up videos of corpses and people dying to ease the pain and to normalize it for me and it worked but a bit too good, I began to watch gore excessively.
It became even worse when I realized how I got abused, then I fantasized about doing those things in real life and then the urges follow.
In that time I saw the old "friend" and hoped that he is better now but the first thing he does is sexually assault me, I asked him why he did this and he said because he had the urge to, this was very creepy for me cause he probably feels like myself except that he acts on it cause he can't endure the disgusting feeling of that urge.
I tried to break the contact with him and said I didn't like him cause he assaults me and this hurts me even more and he said he would better himself but then some weeks later his friend who forced me to show my penis in elementary school texted me that he would beat me up if I don't give them money, this made me feel an extreme amount of anger.
I told my other friends that he sexually assaulted me but they don't care.
I can't go out alone cause he has many strong people and I don't want to get beaten up my him, last helloween he searched for me to kill me.
I do the same thing I did when I got bullied in the past, not going out and just sitting in front of my pc after school, in the past it works but now I constantly feel the urge to hurt others.
It is kinda ironic how it hasn't changed a bit, in the past I distanced myself from others cause I was scared that they would hurt me and now I do the same thing but cause I am scared of myself.
I am also constantly scared that others will hurt me.
What is also bad is that I am really bad at impulse control, I was extremely angry in the past and destroyed every object in my room but this wasn't that bad cause it was only objects and not humans.
I think the best example of how I feel for this urges is how a person who is mentally addicted to a drug feels when they don't take it for long, they can stop it but will always have the urge to take it and they will also do that if they don't monitor themself but the difference is that while they would just get the drug issues if they don't watch themself I would rape or kill someone.
It is mental torture this pressure that I feel, it is probably one of the worst mental conditions.
I also can't feel love anymore.
I tried many psychologists but it just made it worse. The first and second one said that my problems are too big for them. The third one said that my urges scare him and that I don't have to wonder that no one likes me if I fantasize about others in that way which hurt me.
Cause I tried to kill myself I now have to go to a psychiatry everyday and there a therapist talks with me, but what I find weird is that everytime she asks if I can assure that I don't kill myself or others, for the first point I believe that it is my choice to die alone and for the second question I always feel like a monster.
And besides that I am really scared to talk about this with other people.
And also I am pretty sure this isn't ocd, I enjoy these fantasies sometimes and now they are also urges not only thoughts.
I tried anypsychotics but it just makes the urges worse.
And also in the psychiatry a 10 year old said weird things about murder and cause of that they thought that I told him this cause it matches my fantasies even though I would never tell a child those things, this is what I get I get suspected for weird things just because I am honest with my thoughts to my therapist, this also hurt me, after that I got more scared to talk about my thoughts.
I think another big problem is that I have always lived in my fantasy world instead of socializing but it was all ok until the fantasies became so dark.
My plan is to try therapy until I am 18 (I am 16 right now), then get an apartment, buy the things necessary for inert gas and end my life without pain, I am to scared to hang myself or whatever.
My life is just nothing that I would've called "fun" anymore, in the past I loved it to play with my friends or play games, now all I do is fantasize about killing others or masturbating while thinking about rape, this is just disgusting if I think about it.
I can never cuddle with a future girlfriend without having the urge to hurt her or be with friends without having the urge to hurt them, it just just mental torture for me.
Castration wouldn't work cause many urges are non sexual, the masturbation is just a bit of relief for it.

When I balanced the dataset, I could see which variables are statistically significant. However, when I choose to work on the original dataset (where Y binary value is in ratio of 65:35~ish), all of the variables suddenly has P values > 0.995, which means I can’t have a logistic regression?

Probably not something we'd like to hear. Regardless, I think we should face the reality that we will see CBDCs grow and get used more in the future. There's one main reason fir it, and that is because it is invented by the institutions that currently hold the control on the financial narkets, and they will be inclined to keep it like that.

Active CBDC development

Around the world a lot of nations and their central banks are actively researching or testing cbcds (see for example https://cbdctracker.org/). Amongst those the Eu, China, India, Russia, the UK. The list is long.

Crypto fuck ups pave the path

Because of numerous failures and big ponzi schemes crypto actually opens a pathway for central banks to make a case for regulated digital currencies. We all know the examples of mount gox, luna, ftx, and many more. A call fir regulations on crypto is stronger than ever.

Coexistence or not?

Depending on how central banks choose their policies we may or may not see Cryptocurrencies be "allowed" to coexist with CBDCs. They might shut cryoto out of their system, which may hurt crypto.
Personally I obviously am in favor of crypto, being the decentralized alternative, but I think we should not be naive on the power of those wanting to integrate CBDCs as the "alternative" to crypto.
Please let me know your thoughts below.

This is pretty much the only sub in the multiverse where I can get a second opinion on this. I'll keep it as short and simple as I can
When I was a kid, he'd come and go. He'd show up, we'd have an awesome night, then he'd disappear for a year or sometimes longer. He would always make excuses to avoid seeing me, the most common one was the claim that he couldnt afford to even though gas was maybe $2.50/gallon, it was a 20 minute drive, and he made $450 a DAY. It reached a point where I hadnt even heard from him in almost 3 years. Eventually I called him out on it, he blamed our mom, said he wanted things to change, and nothing changed
Then I got older and stopped caring. Went without him for all those years, what's 60 more, is my mentality. But out of the blue, he suddenly wants to see me, wants to hang out, misses me, started reaching out first. But I no longer care, I no longer want to even speak his name. He willingly and intentionally made me feel unloved and uncared for, for 19 years, and then he suddenly cares again? No thanks
Heres the kicker. Most of my family thinks I'm the antichrist for this. Always trying to make me feel like a bad person for wanting zero association with him, harassing me to make amends, etc
So here I am, asking for your guys opinions on it. I can clarify any points or answer any questions if needed, I just didnt want the post itself to be too long. Thanks for any opinions, whether or not you're on my side

I had a dog, her name was Pearl and we were inseparable, I will never get tired telling our story. I used to be a very lonely kid, not even my parents have me that much attention and I was pretty much obnoxious to everything due to how lonely I felt. One thing I’ve always loved: animals. They are wonderful, specially dogs. One day at my grandparents farm one of their dogs had puppies. I was overjoyed and went running to see the mama with her pups (obviously from a distance). Then I saw her: the most beautiful and amazing and perfect doggo. She was a beautiful cream-colored puppy with the prettiest black nose. I swear that the moment we saw each other it was then that I knew she and I were meant to be together. I was the happiest 6 year old when my grandpa said I could take her. It was something out of this world, I can’t explain how our bond was. From moment one she was extremely loyal to me and so I was immensely loving towards her. I spent days and nights playing with her and my grandma world became the brightest since then. Even at my lowest she was the only constant I had. I suffered through many things: bullying from family and classmates, constant rejection from others, being alone, not having any friends, being diagnosed with depression as a kid… She was always there for me. I would come home after school and she always greeted me like this. Looking at her smile always made me feel way better about my life. I bought her the best things and gave her the best opportunities I could bringing her to the best vets in our city. Not once I left her alone, every time I could I would bring her along with me and we traveled our country together. Beaches, forests, cities, and countryside: you name it we went together. I always felt as if she was a part of me. I couldn’t explain it but it was as if she and I were a single soul. We were the best friends ever. Then one Thursday as I was getting ready she seemed off so my mom and I went to the emergency pet hospital nearby. When we arrived the vets saw her and ran to attend her. She had entered a shock and there was bloody liquid bubbling out her nose. I was panicking and crying like I’ve never before. I’m not one to cry easily but at that moment I was very vulnerable. My mom had to hold me back to me not to run behind the vets. We spent there more than two hours. After this, I couldn’t go to school and I was so extremely tired from crying that I fell asleep the moment I got home. Pearl had been hospitalized, and was intubated with oxygen. We didn’t care we paid proximately $370 just for her to be ok, she was our Pearl. Then later at 11 o’clock they called us to tell us she had passed away. They had tried everything they could but her body gave up. At first I couldn’t process the shock it was to me. Even saying that days after I kept relieving the memory in flashes and am still emotionally traumatized by watching her die in front of me. I acted extremely cold towards everyone and everything. I just locked myself in my room and didn’t speak to anybody. I kept telling myself I was OK, but I know I was not. At night, when I finally could process what had happened I cried, Innoway I cannot explain. I felt like a part of me had been ripped off and I couldn’t breathe. My mom tried calming me down, but I just simply was having a mental breakdown. Now it’s been less than a year and I know I was just 16 years old and I should be getting over it, but I can’t. Pearl was my whole world, and I miss her with my whole heart every day. I have other tree dogs, but things are just not the same with them. I keep giving them love and playing with them and bringing them places like I would normally do with Pearl. However, I cannot get over that feeling that she’s just not here. I love my other doggos with all my heart and I wish I didn’t feel this way, but sometimes I cannot see myself loving them in a way that’s nearly as much as I loved Pearl. She was something like my pet soulmate, and nothing will ever change that. My family knows that for me talking about Pearl is an extremely touchy subject because I can’t even think about her when I’m already crying. I’ve been writing this and I’ve been crying nonstop. That’s a lot for me because I am a person that even when she’s depressed or extremely overwhelmed, doesn’t cry just keeps to herself. Right now this is something way bigger than me. How do you even deal with the situation? How do you get over a 10 year friendship that was so special? You just simply can’t. I believe I will always have her in my heart. Even after she died not much then a couple of days later I had a dream about her. I was in the backyard of our old house, and suddenly she came to me. After I saw her, I immediately started crying, part of me just knew that was her. Even if I was just dreaming, I knew that was her soul in that very moment. Even when I knew I was dreaming (sort of) I knew she couldn’t be there because she was gone and she had to go. I didn’t want to wake up. I wanted to hold her forever. Part of me even wished I was dead to be with her, but I kept telling her that she needed to go, because even if I love her she had to rest. Part of me regrets it every day because after she went away, she has not come back in any dream. However, I know that it was the right thing, she had to rest. I know I am selfish for not wanting her to go, yet I know it was her time. I just can’t see myself without her in my life, I promised myself I would keep on going every day for her because that’s what she would’ve wanted. I know I’m talking as if she was a person here but that’s just how important she was to me. I hope that as I keep on living, she wil accompany me with her soul, and that the day I die, she will meet me in heaven. She has been the purest soul. I know God will take care of her for me and I am sure she’s happy by his side while I’m gone. It sometimes feel as if no one understands the emotional and even physical pain I’m undergoing because of this. I swear the day I got her ashes, I felt as if I was stabbed 1 million times in the chest. I felt great pain every time I cried, holding her urn. And I may never get over this, but I know things will be better end that I have three more beautiful dogs that love me and that can be awesome fur friends. Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest. I hope that anyone in any type of similar situation to mine gets better to, us humans really don’t deserve their beautiful perfect souls. I am sure that they watch us from heaven and that neither they or us will forget about each other. Please don’t DM me. I am OK. This is just something I needed to get off my chest as I said and I can assure you I’m better now. Now I am 17 years old and she’s still 10, she will keep on her age, and I will go on growing mine with our beautiful memories we had.

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Shazam Fury of the Gods is not available to watch on Netflix. If you're interested in other Movies and shows, one can access the vast library of titles within Netflix under various subscription costs depending on the plan you choose: $9.99 per month for the basic plan, $15.99 monthly for the standard plan, and $19.99 a month for the premium plan.
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They're not on Hulu, either! But prices for this streaming service currently start at $6.99 per month, or $69.99 for the whole year. For the ad-fre eversion, it's $12.99 per month, $64.99 per month for Hulu + Live TV, or $70.99 for the ad-free Hulu + Live TV.
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Hello everyone, I launched a Facebook page for my business about a month ago and updated my location and put it on the map. Unfortunately, Facebook is not allowing anyone to check-in on my business as it doesn't even show up on their options. Any suggestions?
Thank you in advance.

I'm a traveling overnight nurse and am exhausted all the time and really do not look forward to dealing with the fact that I need a new car to get me around state to state.
This is my first car purchase from a dealership like this and the idea of not getting a good price has really hampered my ability to make the purchase. I was looking at a 2022 Accord sport SE and the sport Hybrid. I'm thinking I may as well save the gas money if I'm not buying for performance and want to get the Hybrid sometime this week and the car is in great condition with 4,500 miles. I just saw someone say they got one for 29,500, and if this one has 4,500 miles on it and I want a similar price point, what kind of out-the-door price should I be asking for? I Have zero experience here and you can assume very little knowledge of these kinds of negotiations.
And can someone tell me how the warranty would work on a used car? They use the word "warranty" in the description 5-6 times referring to different warranties that I had thought would somehow blend together. Following this I will post the info they gave me. Thanks for any help my friends!
Note: "balance of factory warranty, lifetime warranty, limited 12,000 warranty, powertrain warranty (how is this different than the others?), new vehicle limited warranty 48,000..."
Recent Arrival! Certified. BALANCE OF FACTORY WARRANTY, ***Unlimited Lifetime Warranty***, **Bluetooth®**, CLEAN CARFAX, ONE OWNER, FULLY DETAILED, FULLY DEALER INSPECTED, OIL CHANGE, LOCAL TRADE, NON SMOKERS CAR, $ OF RECONDITIONING, Honda CERTIFIED. Clean CARFAX. CARFAX One-Owner.
CALL TODAY TO CHECK AVAILABILITY AND ADDITIONAL OPTIONS. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THAT LAST. Building Relationships that LAST! 44/41 City/Highway MPG
HondaTrue Certified Details:
* 182 Point Inspection * Transferable Warranty * Limited Warranty: 12 Month/12,000 Mile (whichever comes first) after new car warranty expires or from certified purchase date * Powertrain Limited Warranty: 84 Month/100,000 Mile (whichever comes first) from original in-service date * Vehicles purchased within New Vehicle Limited Warranty period: extends New Vehicle Limited Warranty to 4 years*/48,000 miles*. Honda Care Motor Club Partner for 1 yea12,000 miles. Up to two complimentary oil changes within the first year of ownership. SiriusXM 90-Day Trial * Vehicle History * Warranty Deductible: $0 * Roadside Assistance

So to explain my cultural commuity believes just because im good at drawing Art they think im not mentally sick? what the heck. Even they go on the long mile of thinking that the reason why I "Isolate" myself is because I don't like them or that I am selfish. Like I can show them my official medical diagnoses of schizo-affective disorder Bipolar type 1. YET they still don't believe me. Im not trying to flex or boast but my "intelligence" is just the average knowledge of everyone elses. Like I just say obvious things that everyone knows in the western world but they think it's all "Smart" IT'S NOT.
Now my mum doesn't believe Im mentally sick either this is becoming a Joke. Honestly She thinks I'm also being lazy and not resposible. AGAIN WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON.....

The Premier League’s decision to refer our 2021/22 accounts to an independent investigation seems to have come out of left-field for everyone, not just Everton.
I’ve been digging as deep as I possibly can into this and if your instincts are telling you that we’ve done nothing wrong since the Premier League declared our accounts kosher then you’re almost certainly correct.
Even with the hit from Usmanov’s sanctions our losses have been reduced dramatically and the club have made overt efforts to get the right side of the compliance rules, including the all-cash deal for Richarlison the day before the accounting deadline for that year.
It’s hard to see what would have changed between then and now. Why now? What’s different?
Even other premier league clubs are posing this question. The Premier League’s sign off of those accounts was made known to every club, not just Everton and several clubs have publicly posed the question: what’s changed?
It’s obviously a worrying precedent to any club if the league says one thing then does a 180 further down the line.
One curious aspect of the timing is that the Premier League CEO is to appear before a parliamentary panel just next week for a grilling over the plans for independent oversight.
The Premier League has priors with such timings having made declarations about Manchester City a week prior to similar political discussions.
Regardless it would be a dubious legal move on the part of the league. To declare our accounting acceptable AND formally allow us to make transfers this past summeJanuary only to renege on that declaration and hit us with a fine or worse, it could be fiercely contested in court by Everton. After all, we might not have done any transfer business had we known a fine was coming.
It really feels like just another miserable example of how broken football is.

Here are some plot points that I've came up for my Mortal Kombat/PreCure concept.
​

• The merger of universes changing the PreCure aspects of the merged together universe into something more violent and just as bad as the former Mortal Kombat aspects of the merged together universe.

Okay, as the old saying goes, 'There must be balance, one must suffer in order for another to prosper' and that rule goes for merging together universes as different as the Mortal Kombat universe with the PreCure universe. Raiden was desperate enough to improve the Mortal Kombat universe that he merged it with the PreCure multiverse without thinking of the consequences. While the Mortal Kombat aspects were mellowed out a bit thanks to the incorporation of the PreCure aspects, the PreCure multiverse had their aspects made darker and more worse thanks to the Mortal Kombat aspects influencing them.
Take for example how the Cures or the villains would fight here against a human sized opponent in this fusion.
Rather than the kid friendly flashy melee moves common in modern PreCures, they use moves more closer to that of Mortal Kombat, ranging from face punches (yes, there is a rule for the animators in PreCure to avoid face punches, even for Futari Wa PreCure ), low blows , trying to pull limbs off their opponent and other uses of their power sets in nasty ways (using Kirakiraru to burn an opponent for example) that would be familiar to fans of Mortal Kombat. Not to mention that they can pull off Fatalities and Brutalities onto their opponents that involve their powersets and in some cases, their finishing moves (such as Mermaid Ripple) being used to bump up the squick and gore factor. It would be quite disturbing to witness PreCure characters such as the titular Pretty Cures doing that since unlike Mortal Kombat characters, they normally don't do Fatalities* and would be a big OOC is serious business moment for Raiden that the PreCure characters are acting like how the characters from the Mortal Kombat universe would behave in combat.
And it would be quite horrifying for someone like Cure Sky (who would look up to heroes such as the PreCures) witnessing someone like Hana Nono/ Cure Yell, who is known to be the most forgiving of the PreCures be turned into a Scorpion like individual who only seeks vengeance due to a combination of the Mortal Kombat aspects of this merged together universe influencing Cure Yell to greater acts of violence and the torments of Kronika onto Cure Yell* that involved Kronika (maliciously) interpreting a order with exact words from Cure Yell to not lay her hands on her family after one too many encounters and threats to involve kidnapping her family by a timestorm.
Not to mention that the aspects of the PreCure universe influencing the Mortal Kombat universe can be played up for creepiness as well in addition to mellowing out/moderating the Mortal Kombat aspects of this merged together universe . For example, Mileena having Cure Precious' design aspects such as her hairstyle (in fact, I envision Mileena as a deranged parody of Cure Precious/Yui Nagomi in terms of appearance here) and her uttering "Delicious smile..." (which is Yui's catchphrase by the way) after biting off the opponent's face and eating it would be terrifying to see for Delicious Party PreCure fans.
​

• The villains of PreCure finding the villains of Mortal Kombat useful tools for their plans:

Okay, we know a lot of villains in PreCure feed off negative emotions (such as Dys Dark) or just exist to cause mayhem. Consider what Shao Kahn's , Onaga's, Shinnok's, Quan Chi's or Shang Tsung's or any other villain in Mortal Kombat typically do with their plans (lots of bloodshed and misery) , it would be an all you can eat buffet for villains such as Dys Dark who would be drawn to the carnage here and would be empowered further by the misery there . The PreCure villains would see someone like Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn as an unsuspecting tool there, using them to further feed off negative emotions or just to cause further mayhem. And if Shao Kahn or Shang Tsung notice.....well, the PreCure villains can turn them into monsters unwillingly to further cause mayhem. Imagine a Zetsuborg made out of a person with dreams of conquest such as Shao Kahn. The destructive power of such as Zetsuborg would be tremendous.
​

• The Mortal Kombat Tournament being important for the PreCures and their villains*.

Okay, if you watch any other magical girl show (also including PreCure), you notice that the bad guys tend to send out monsters one at a time and they tend to focus on their main goals much to the detriment of not sending out resources to counter whatever is stopping their goals from being met. Here, the Mortal Kombat Tournament is important as the bad guys of PreCure find that it is more productive to fight in Mortal Kombat, win the 10 rounds there and kill the PreCures of the target realm (and other important warriors) and then invade rather than focusing on their main goals such as spreading despair or sapping motivation through sending out monsters that only provide the Cures with an inconvenience to put it kindly
Mortal Kombat is important for the PreCures as they can kill some of the villains' top generals when they have to defend their realms in the 10 rounds of Mortal Kombat , forcing their villains' plans to be delayed or stop an invasion attempt at their tracks once someone important working for the villains gets killed in the tournament and would give them the right to put an end to the villains by invading their realms once the rights to invasion and conquest is won through all the 10 rounds in a row. Moreover for the PreCures, Mortal Kombat would ensure that the villains do not hurt civilians.
​
​

• Mortal Kombat is seen as entertainment for some of the PreCure villains such as Nightmare.

Considering how crap it would be like living under the villains of PreCure (example, Ciriasu Company and Nightmare are literally companies that work their employees until midnight) and even with lots of controls here such as the masks that lower level Nightmare employees wear, there would be still be a need for good old fashioned bread and circuses. Mortal Kombat would be the perfect outlet for this as nothing beats the primeval thrill of seeing the champions on your side dole out fatalities onto the opposing side, especially the PreCure and would be their entertainment.
​
In fact, I can picture Nightmare sending out a failed employee to fight in Mortal Kombat. They must win the 10 rounds or die trying else they would receive the black mask.
​
*Of course there would be exceptions as some Fatalities would be still be played for black comedy/shock comedy even with the PreCures if it fits their character such as Cure Marine.
​
​
*Yes, I pitted Cure Yell/Hana Nono and Kronika as rivals in this crossover due to their themes complementing one another and allowing for a rivalry: Defiance against destiny (Hugtto's main theme) vs fate (What Kronika represents) . Oh, and the scary part about my take on a Scorpion like Cure Yell.....her powers ( such as Mirari Crystals which are created from Toge Power, aka literal tommorows as a power Mcguffin) are not corrupted by vengeance per se....she just uses them to wreak bloody revenge towards Kronika for a chance at a better tomorrow that will involve her reuniting with her family and Kronika either dead or repeatedly tortured forever to the point that Kronika would wish for death.
​
*It would also make Rosemary's Delicious Field a lot more important as it can be used to set up a Mortal Kombat fight or just a sparring/practice match.

My choices, circa Awakening:

• Moira (Moira)​​​) the blood mage you fight and talk to during the Broken Circle quest - in-game, you have the option to let her go, or either invite her to the party camp (though she doesn't appear) or convince her to join the mage army, but only if you're a Blood Mage, Assassin or Reaver.
• Seweryn (Seweryn) - in-game he expresses interest in joining the Grey Wardens, though I have doubts about his survival chances, considering his description in the toolset: "A conceited flash-in-the-pan overnight sensation... convinced that everyone knows of his fame... when he learns the player is a Grey Warden, he is just as eager to attach himself to the player's glory as a recruit".
• Jacen (Jacen) - a Dalish Elf only encountered in Awakening if you choose to side with the smugglers instead of the city guard (unless you use the Awakening Fixes and Tweaks mod). After letting him out of his cell, you can either let him go or recruit him, and he will aid in the defense of Vigil's Keep.
• Aller Bemot (Orzammar Proving) - youngest son of Lord Bemot, first opponent in the Proving in the Dwarf Noble origin. Skilled with a maul. Described in the toolset as a "respectful young warrior" and "the son of a champion, but he's not arrogant about it."
• Adalbo (Orzammar Proving) - Second opponent in the Proving in the Dwarf Commoner origin. Favoured by several onlookers and thought to be favoured by the Ancestors. Described in the toolset as an "honorable dwarf", though dwarven honour is not the same as honour as we would define it, and that honour might not extend to casteless dwarves.

Circa Inquisition:

• Jana (Jana) - in-game, she expresses interest in joining the Grey Wardens, and you can either encourage her or invite her to join the Inquisition.
• Hall (Hall) - a Dalish-raised archer searching for a purpose.
• Katari (Katari) - a Tal-Vashoth mercenary searching for a purpose.
• Pala (Pala) - she wouldn't be the first dwarf from Orzammar to join the Grey Wardens, or the first Silent Sister.

And one more who could see being recruited, not necessarily by the Ferelden Wardens, but by the Wardens in the Free Marches:

• Luka (Luka) - worked at Corphyeus' prison in the Vimmark Mountains. Canonically, the Wardens investigated Corphyeus's prison after the events of Legacy DLC, and I'd imagine they would admire someone with the ingenuity and drive to escape as she did.

Northeast park
Two hours since the invasion began
The invasion is a success. Thousands of savages have been purged and dozens captured. Not as frightening as the vision said, but the description holds true. These are the pale skin. Strangely, some of them have very dark skin and some even have skin as brown as a dwarf's. Strange indeed. Most men were taller than elves and Rosians but not as tall as an orc.
"Excellent.", Ylindar said as he observed the captives being sent through the rift, "They will be fine specimens for studying. We must find their weakness."
The 'humans', as they called themselves, resisted but fell in line eventually. The smaller ones cried and called out to their parents. It made the Rosians present sick. One of the women broke the line and ran to Ylindar. "Please! Stop this! Why are you doing this? Who are you?", she said through tears and shaking breaths.
Ylindar slapped her, causing her to fall to the ground. "Silence you wench! You are not worthy of being in my presence, let alone speak to me. Take her!". Soldiers hoisted her up and dragged her towards the others.
"You monsters!", yelled a man, "You will pay for this! You will all die her-". Before he could say more, Ylindar pierced his chest with his sword. Then he turned to the rest of the captives, "Any more of you savages willing to test me?"
"Stop!", yelled the Rosian captain present, "I demand you give us our share now."
Ylindar raised an eyebrow to that, "Your share?"
"Yes. We fought, pillaged, and brought captives. We did what you asked and now it is your turn to keep your end of the deal."
This made Ylindar chuckle, but he would humor the young Rosian, "Very well. We are an honorable empire after all. You may choose ten captives and split them amongst yourselves."
"Ten?"
"Yes. Take them now before I change my mind."
The captain faced the captains. In truth, he wanted to save the weak and innocent ones from suffering, but he couldn't save them all. He pointed to them one by one, picking out the children and elderly first as well as a woman with a child and a strong tall man who fought against the ferals and dwarves. Perhaps he could give them some insight.
"You over exceed Rosian. I said ten.", said Ylindar.
"This is ten people."
"She counts as two.", he said as he pointed to the pregnant woman.
"She is with child. That is unfair."
"And what will you do about it?"
The captain stuttered. He wanted to save her but it would mean dooming another life. What was he to do? He cursed Ylindar internally. Honorable? Horse shit.
"Leave me.", said the tall human, "Leave me behind and take her. Please." The captain was stunned, to say the least.
"Excellent", said Ylindar, "It appears you can bring them all. Enjoy your spoils.". With that, he left.
The woman thanked the tall man who then grabbed the captain by the arm and looked him in the eyes. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible.", he said.
The captain nodded, "You have my word, warrior.". The man was dragged to the elven slave lines and pushed through the rift.
Ylindar was sitting at his desk writing a letter to the troops on the other side, saying the invasion was a success and a foothold was established. Handing the letter to a messenger he got up and walked to observe his army. Ten thousand elves, all gathered in a barbaric land to bring civilization. He looked up in the sky and saw the wyverns flying through the air. As he looked at them he didn't feel proud, he felt confused. There were too few of them. He brought fifty wyverns, which is half of an army's corps. Now there were less than two dozen. How?
His question would be answered as several strange contraptions flew in the air at the wyverns. They didn't have wings but still flew in a straight line. The wyverns outnumbered them and Ylindar assumed this was a victory, but his hopes were crushed as the contraptions fired what looked like cannons and tore through the wyverns like a sword through parchment.
He stepped back in shock and watched as the cannon-wielding machines finished the wyverns and turned towards them.
"General!", called a soldier, "Enemy carriages approach! It appears to be their army!"
Ylindar grinned, "At last. Soldiers of the light! Prepare yourselves! The savages have finally sent their warriors! We will crush them and clear a path for our reinforcements! Formations!"
The infantry prepared their shields and spears, archers and mages took their positions, it was time to face this world's true force. The metal carriages halted and out of them came out dozens of soldiers. Then dozens more came from flying contraptions.
Raising his sword, Ylindar yelled out the order, "Attack!".
---
"Here they come!", yelled Paterson.
"Open fire!", ordered Jefferson. The rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers wreaked havoc upon the enemy. Bullets tore through shields, machine guns ripped people apart, and explosions turned any poor fool near it into minced meat. Their tight formations only added to their demise.
The attack helicopters arrived when they finished the dragon things and opened fire with their chain guns and anti-infantry rockets. The enemies fell by the thousands and some even started to retreat while most fell to their knees and begged for mercy.
When the firing stopped all that was left of the ten thousand enemy soldiers were scorched bodies riddled with holes. There was almost nothing left of their camp. The screaming soldiers were taken into custody. All but one guy with a cape.
"You-You dare!", yelled the blue-skinned man, "Do you have any idea who I am!? Who I represent!? You shall suffer for your barbarism!". He drew his sword and ran to the nearest soldier, who promptly raised his rifle and shot him in the chest twice.
"Round them all up.", ordered Jefferson, "Send word to HQ that it's over."
The enemy captives were loaded up into trucks and sent to Fort Curz for questioning. As they were being loaded up, one of the blue soldiers started smiling and chuckling. "What's so funny?", asked Paterson.
"This is only the beginning.", he replied. Paterson widened his eyes and ran to Jefferson.
"Sir!"
"What is it?"
"I just information on the attack. This was the first wave. More are coming."
Jefferson wasted no time in reacting and grabbed his radio, "All units, prepare for a second attack! Air squadrons, hold your positions until enough of them group up and shot down those dragons! Don't waste ammo!"
"Rodger that.", said a pilot. The guard and police force pulled back and created a semi-circle out of armored vehicles facing the portal. Hundreds of rifles and machine guns were pointed toward the shining rectangle.
---
Captain Zorgin led the second wave through the rift. The remaining forty thousand elves and ten thousand dwarves marched to the other side. But something wasn't right. When the messenger arrived he reported that the invasion was a success, but later dozens of soldiers came back saying that they should not go through. They came saying how the savages have great machines of death capable of destroying armies. Be that as it may, general Ylindar was out there and Zorgin swore he would bring him back.
"General Bardek!", he called, "You will lead the charge with your troops. After you get through, our cavalry and wyverns will enter and attack."
"Right.", said Bardek, "I can't let Dalmin have all the fun after all.". He rushed forward on his war hog, leading his troops. "Warriors of Nundolar! The enemy we face is formidable! But we will show them the might of dwarven steel!". The dwarven warrior roared and charged through the rift. As soon as they passed through they were met with a horrid sight.
Thousands dead and burned, the camp nor the general could be seen, only the line of carriages and hundreds of enemy soldiers. Bardek didn't stop to think. The adrenalin carried him forward. He charged with his troops, screaming and firing, hoping he could break the enemy's defenses. But hopes were not enough. The enemy opened fire and Bardek experienced true fear. His hog was shot and he fell to the ground. The enemy's boomsticks fired without stopping, their cannons killed dozens of soldiers with each blast, and they couldn't even get close. His pride, his dwarven pride, was broken. He could only lie down and pray he would survive.
Zorgin led his cavalry through. He looked for his general but found nothing but dead bodies and ash. He snapped back as he heard cannon fire and redirected his troops. "Over there! Their flank is less defended! We will break it, come on!". Leading the cavalry charge he kept observing the enemy. They had strange-looking black shields and only a single line between two carriages. They opened fire with their boomsticks and Zorgin's cavalry started taking casualties but still held on. Zorgin was closing in, but then the enemy soldiers fired some sort of metal boxes that spewed smoke. 'What trickery is this?', Zorgin thought, but when the smoke spread and got into their eyes, they understood its purpose. It made their eyes burn and they could hardly breathe. The horses were affected the same way as they stopped in their tracks. They couldn't see anything but they felt as if they were knocked out.
More and more soldiers exited the rift and with their sheer numbers, they were starting to get close. But as they did, the flying monsters of metal rained fire upon them and their numbers kept dropping. The wyverns were blown to pieces by either them or the cannons. It wasn't a battle, it was more of a one-sided slaughter. Only a few dozen were able to run back to the rift. Most were either wounded, screaming from the killer smoke or just lying down and surrendered. Surprisingly, the enemy took them captive instead of killing them. Zorgin tried to resist but to no avail.
"Where is general Ylindar?!", he yelled as he was dragged, "I demand you answer me immediately!"
One of the soldiers in light brown armor came up to him and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in another direction. After stopping he pushed him to his knees. "Here.", he spoke, "Is this him?"
Zorgin could barely see, his vision was foggy, but there was no mistaking it. The armor, the cape, the helmet, it was him. Zorgin shed tears of regret, regret that he failed in his duty.
"I'll take that as a yes.", said the soldier before lifting Zorgin back on his feet.
"You haven't won!", Zorgin yelled, "Our fleet has taken your shores by now! Soon enough, more ships will follow and you will perish!"
"I wouldn't worry about that.", said the soldier in a calm tone, leaving Zorgin puzzled.
---
Three hours earlier
South coast of California, Del Mar, near San Diego
Admiral Lothar Tanros has passed through the rift. Large enough for more than a dozen ships to pass through it advanced his progress. Each fleet was well-equipped for an invasion. It consisted of twenty troop carriers with held ten thousand troops in total, thirty attack ships with eight cannons, five wyvern carriers with five to six wyverns each, and forty-five supply ships with materials necessary to build and sustain the fleet and build a coastal fortification. All are led by the admiral's personal grand ship. A huge naval vessel with several sails and cannons on both sides. Truly a powerful presentation.
"Admiral!", shouted the first mate, "Land is within sight!"
"Excellent!", said Lothar, "Let the wyvern carriers pass through first. I want air superiority as soon as possible. Along with them, I want half of our troop carriers. We need to take the shore immediately."
"Yes, admiral!".
---
Lieutenant Mitch Floyd was just doing his routine patrols. It was his turn to take the patrol boat for a spin. All he had to do was go to Dana point and back, simple, he's done it dozens of times before. All the while the crew was gathered around a TV and watching the live recordings of the attack in North Carolina. What they felt was beyond words.
"Sir, how can you not watch this?", asked a crew member.
"It's cause I trust our boys to kill those freaks.", Mitch replied, "Don't you?"
"W-Well of course but, damn. This shit is insane. Gotta say I'm jealous, I kinda want to shoot some dragons."
"Careful watch you wish for, kid.". As Mitch sailed on he began to notice something strange in front. A large number of wooden ships heading towards Del mar. In the sky were large dragon-like reptiles. 'Just my luck.", Mitch thought.
"Battle stations!", ordered Mitchel, "Looks like your wish came true Fred!"
Fred looked out and saw three dragons flying toward them, "Holy shit! I didn't mean now!". He ran towards the .50 caliber machine gun and readied himself. The cyclone class patrol boat wasn't something to be messed with. As the dragons got closer, the 25mm machine gun raised itself, aimed, and let loose. The lizards couldn't even react before they got turned into Swiss cheese.
"Woohoo!", cheered Fred, "We got 'em!"
"Don't open the champagne just yet!", Mitch shouted, "We still have those ships to deal with. I count roughly a hundred, various sizes. Richerdson, get in contact with HQ! Tell them what's going on, we need air support. Alert the National guard as well."
"Yes, sir!", said Richerdson.
'God help us.', Mitch thought as he sailed into the fray.
---
"Admiral!", yelled the first mate, "Some of our wyverns have been killed."
"Where?", Lothar asked.
"They spotted a ship coming from the south and decided to deal with it, but now they're dead."
"A single ship?"
"That is what the captain said."
"Tell them to send what attack ships are near to destroy it. Nothing must disrupt this invasion."
"Yes, Admiral."
On the shore, the savages run. They run from the water and into their city. The wyverns already started swooping down and devouring them. Their soldiers in blue clothing fired at them with their boomsticks but did next to nothing. A few managed to shoot down the riders, but that didn't stop the wyverns themselves. Now that the shore was empty, the troops could move in. Dozens of landing boats rowed to the shore and dropped off hundreds of soldiers who rallied and attacked the savages, but their weapons halted the assault.
"Push through!", yelled a lieutenant, "They are few in numbers! We must clear a path!". At that moment, two wyverns descended unto their carriages and destroyed the soldiers in blue. With that, the cohort marched on and reached the wide road. However, in the distance, they saw more metal carriages, but these were bigger and in a different color, with large boomsticks on top. The wyverns flew at them, but they soon got shot down and the carriages halted. Out of them came dozens of enemy soldiers, all dressed in vastly different armor than their blue counterparts.
The cohort got into a shield formation and the mages prepared to block the enemy's weapons, but they couldn't. Their magic wasn't working. "Do not falter!", the lieutenant shouted, "We must-". His mouth stopped moving as soon as it got blown to pieces by the enemy. The shields and armor provided them with no protection. They were all cut down and the enemy advanced. More and more of their carriages arrived and they quickly retook the shore.
"Admiral, we have a problem on the shore.", said the first mate.
"I can see that!", yelled Lothar, "Tell the attack ships to form a firing line and destroy the enemy! We cannot let them... are you listening?". The first mate pointed out towards the approaching ships in the distance. Five of them, two large and the rest smaller, all made of metal, and above them over a dozen flying arrowheads, dropping what looked like eggs. Each 'egg' landed on a ship and blew it to pieces. Dozens of ships were destroyed just like that. Lothar didn't have the words to express himself. He kept looking toward the enemy ships as they aimed their cannons and fired from impossible distances. The crew panicked and begged for help, but Lothar couldn't say anything. In his final moments, he watched as a giant metal rod flew into the sky from one of the ships and blew him to pieces along with his crew and ship.
---
"Boom!", cheered Fred, "They got the big one!"
"Shut up!", shouted Mitch, "Let's do what we came here to do.". He guided his cyclone patrol boat along with another one towards the enemy 'landing crafts'. The two opened fire with their 25mm chainguns they tore through the boats and ripped the soldiers inside apart, scattering their remains across the water. Along the way, they picked up the handful of survivors and tied them up.
In the main battle, two destroyers, USS Dewey-2, and Cutter opened fire on the enemy fleet. They targeted the largest ones first, and when they were done they moved on to the armed ships. The enemy was in complete chaos. Destroying the lead ship with the cruiser missile was a good idea, now they were leaderless and easy to take out.
The jets destroyed the ships on the outer formations and later moved inwards. Eventually, there were only thirteen ships left. Four had cannons and nine looked like they just carried supplies. They surrendered and raised white flags, a smart move. The coast guard boarded and cleared all of them before arresting the crew and towing the ships back.
"This is quite a mess lieutenant.", Fred said.
"It is. You just had to wish for a dragon, huh?"
Now that the attacks were stopped, the hard part began. Counting the losses and making a plan for what to do next.
End of chapter 3
---
Sorry for the short chapter, in hindsight I should have just written one very long one. Won't happen again, pinky promise.
Thank you very much for watching. If you'd like to support me (for some freakin' reason) and get access to future chapters early feel free to upvote, follow, and support me on Patreon (DM me for the link please)

Northeast park
Two hours since the invasion began
The invasion is a success. Thousands of savages have been purged and dozens captured. Not as frightening as the vision said, but the description holds true. These are the pale skin. Strangely, some of them have very dark skin and some even have skin as brown as a dwarf's. Strange indeed. Most men were taller than elves and Rosians but not as tall as an orc.
"Excellent.", Ylindar said as he observed the captives being sent through the rift, "They will be fine specimens for studying. We must find their weakness."
The 'humans', as they called themselves, resisted but fell in line eventually. The smaller ones cried and called out to their parents. It made the Rosians present sick. One of the women broke the line and ran to Ylindar. "Please! Stop this! Why are you doing this? Who are you?", she said through tears and shaking breaths.
Ylindar slapped her, causing her to fall to the ground. "Silence you wench! You are not worthy of being in my presence, let alone speak to me. Take her!". Soldiers hoisted her up and dragged her towards the others.
"You monsters!", yelled a man, "You will pay for this! You will all die her-". Before he could say more, Ylindar pierced his chest with his sword. Then he turned to the rest of the captives, "Any more of you savages willing to test me?"
"Stop!", yelled the Rosian captain present, "I demand you give us our share now."
Ylindar raised an eyebrow to that, "Your share?"
"Yes. We fought, pillaged, and brought captives. We did what you asked and now it is your turn to keep your end of the deal."
This made Ylindar chuckle, but he would humor the young Rosian, "Very well. We are an honorable empire after all. You may choose ten captives and split them amongst yourselves."
"Ten?"
"Yes. Take them now before I change my mind."
The captain faced the captains. In truth, he wanted to save the weak and innocent ones from suffering, but he couldn't save them all. He pointed to them one by one, picking out the children and elderly first as well as a woman with a child and a strong tall man who fought against the ferals and dwarves. Perhaps he could give them some insight.
"You over exceed Rosian. I said ten.", said Ylindar.
"This is ten people."
"She counts as two.", he said as he pointed to the pregnant woman.
"She is with child. That is unfair."
"And what will you do about it?"
The captain stuttered. He wanted to save her but it would mean dooming another life. What was he to do? He cursed Ylindar internally. Honorable? Horse shit.
"Leave me.", said the tall human, "Leave me behind and take her. Please." The captain was stunned, to say the least.
"Excellent", said Ylindar, "It appears you can bring them all. Enjoy your spoils.". With that, he left.
The woman thanked the tall man who then grabbed the captain by the arm and looked him in the eyes. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible.", he said.
The captain nodded, "You have my word, warrior.". The man was dragged to the elven slave lines and pushed through the rift.
Ylindar was sitting at his desk writing a letter to the troops on the other side, saying the invasion was a success and a foothold was established. Handing the letter to a messenger he got up and walked to observe his army. Ten thousand elves, all gathered in a barbaric land to bring civilization. He looked up in the sky and saw the wyverns flying through the air. As he looked at them he didn't feel proud, he felt confused. There were too few of them. He brought fifty wyverns, which is half of an army's corps. Now there were less than two dozen. How?
His question would be answered as several strange contraptions flew in the air at the wyverns. They didn't have wings but still flew in a straight line. The wyverns outnumbered them and Ylindar assumed this was a victory, but his hopes were crushed as the contraptions fired what looked like cannons and tore through the wyverns like a sword through parchment.
He stepped back in shock and watched as the cannon-wielding machines finished the wyverns and turned towards them.
"General!", called a soldier, "Enemy carriages approach! It appears to be their army!"
Ylindar grinned, "At last. Soldiers of the light! Prepare yourselves! The savages have finally sent their warriors! We will crush them and clear a path for our reinforcements! Formations!"
The infantry prepared their shields and spears, archers and mages took their positions, it was time to face this world's true force. The metal carriages halted and out of them came out dozens of soldiers. Then dozens more came from flying contraptions.
Raising his sword, Ylindar yelled out the order, "Attack!".
---
"Here they come!", yelled Paterson.
"Open fire!", ordered Jefferson. The rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers wreaked havoc upon the enemy. Bullets tore through shields, machine guns ripped people apart, and explosions turned any poor fool near it into minced meat. Their tight formations only added to their demise.
The attack helicopters arrived when they finished the dragon things and opened fire with their chain guns and anti-infantry rockets. The enemies fell by the thousands and some even started to retreat while most fell to their knees and begged for mercy.
When the firing stopped all that was left of the ten thousand enemy soldiers were scorched bodies riddled with holes. There was almost nothing left of their camp. The screaming soldiers were taken into custody. All but one guy with a cape.
"You-You dare!", yelled the blue-skinned man, "Do you have any idea who I am!? Who I represent!? You shall suffer for your barbarism!". He drew his sword and ran to the nearest soldier, who promptly raised his rifle and shot him in the chest twice.
"Round them all up.", ordered Jefferson, "Send word to HQ that it's over."
The enemy captives were loaded up into trucks and sent to Fort Curz for questioning. As they were being loaded up, one of the blue soldiers started smiling and chuckling. "What's so funny?", asked Paterson.
"This is only the beginning.", he replied. Paterson widened his eyes and ran to Jefferson.
"Sir!"
"What is it?"
"I just information on the attack. This was the first wave. More are coming."
Jefferson wasted no time in reacting and grabbed his radio, "All units, prepare for a second attack! Air squadrons, hold your positions until enough of them group up and shot down those dragons! Don't waste ammo!"
"Rodger that.", said a pilot. The guard and police force pulled back and created a semi-circle out of armored vehicles facing the portal. Hundreds of rifles and machine guns were pointed toward the shining rectangle.
---
Captain Zorgin led the second wave through the rift. The remaining forty thousand elves and ten thousand dwarves marched to the other side. But something wasn't right. When the messenger arrived he reported that the invasion was a success, but later dozens of soldiers came back saying that they should not go through. They came saying how the savages have great machines of death capable of destroying armies. Be that as it may, general Ylindar was out there and Zorgin swore he would bring him back.
"General Bardek!", he called, "You will lead the charge with your troops. After you get through, our cavalry and wyverns will enter and attack."
"Right.", said Bardek, "I can't let Dalmin have all the fun after all.". He rushed forward on his war hog, leading his troops. "Warriors of Nundolar! The enemy we face is formidable! But we will show them the might of dwarven steel!". The dwarven warrior roared and charged through the rift. As soon as they passed through they were met with a horrid sight.
Thousands dead and burned, the camp nor the general could be seen, only the line of carriages and hundreds of enemy soldiers. Bardek didn't stop to think. The adrenalin carried him forward. He charged with his troops, screaming and firing, hoping he could break the enemy's defenses. But hopes were not enough. The enemy opened fire and Bardek experienced true fear. His hog was shot and he fell to the ground. The enemy's boomsticks fired without stopping, their cannons killed dozens of soldiers with each blast, and they couldn't even get close. His pride, his dwarven pride, was broken. He could only lie down and pray he would survive.
Zorgin led his cavalry through. He looked for his general but found nothing but dead bodies and ash. He snapped back as he heard cannon fire and redirected his troops. "Over there! Their flank is less defended! We will break it, come on!". Leading the cavalry charge he kept observing the enemy. They had strange-looking black shields and only a single line between two carriages. They opened fire with their boomsticks and Zorgin's cavalry started taking casualties but still held on. Zorgin was closing in, but then the enemy soldiers fired some sort of metal boxes that spewed smoke. 'What trickery is this?', Zorgin thought, but when the smoke spread and got into their eyes, they understood its purpose. It made their eyes burn and they could hardly breathe. The horses were affected the same way as they stopped in their tracks. They couldn't see anything but they felt as if they were knocked out.
More and more soldiers exited the rift and with their sheer numbers, they were starting to get close. But as they did, the flying monsters of metal rained fire upon them and their numbers kept dropping. The wyverns were blown to pieces by either them or the cannons. It wasn't a battle, it was more of a one-sided slaughter. Only a few dozen were able to run back to the rift. Most were either wounded, screaming from the killer smoke or just lying down and surrendered. Surprisingly, the enemy took them captive instead of killing them. Zorgin tried to resist but to no avail.
"Where is general Ylindar?!", he yelled as he was dragged, "I demand you answer me immediately!"
One of the soldiers in light brown armor came up to him and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in another direction. After stopping he pushed him to his knees. "Here.", he spoke, "Is this him?"
Zorgin could barely see, his vision was foggy, but there was no mistaking it. The armor, the cape, the helmet, it was him. Zorgin shed tears of regret, regret that he failed in his duty.
"I'll take that as a yes.", said the soldier before lifting Zorgin back on his feet.
"You haven't won!", Zorgin yelled, "Our fleet has taken your shores by now! Soon enough, more ships will follow and you will perish!"
"I wouldn't worry about that.", said the soldier in a calm tone, leaving Zorgin puzzled.
---
Three hours earlier
South coast of California, Del Mar, near San Diego
Admiral Lothar Tanros has passed through the rift. Large enough for more than a dozen ships to pass through it advanced his progress. Each fleet was well-equipped for an invasion. It consisted of twenty troop carriers with held ten thousand troops in total, thirty attack ships with eight cannons, five wyvern carriers with five to six wyverns each, and forty-five supply ships with materials necessary to build and sustain the fleet and build a coastal fortification. All are led by the admiral's personal grand ship. A huge naval vessel with several sails and cannons on both sides. Truly a powerful presentation.
"Admiral!", shouted the first mate, "Land is within sight!"
"Excellent!", said Lothar, "Let the wyvern carriers pass through first. I want air superiority as soon as possible. Along with them, I want half of our troop carriers. We need to take the shore immediately."
"Yes, admiral!".
---
Lieutenant Mitch Floyd was just doing his routine patrols. It was his turn to take the patrol boat for a spin. All he had to do was go to Dana point and back, simple, he's done it dozens of times before. All the while the crew was gathered around a TV and watching the live recordings of the attack in North Carolina. What they felt was beyond words.
"Sir, how can you not watch this?", asked a crew member.
"It's cause I trust our boys to kill those freaks.", Mitch replied, "Don't you?"
"W-Well of course but, damn. This shit is insane. Gotta say I'm jealous, I kinda want to shoot some dragons."
"Careful watch you wish for, kid.". As Mitch sailed on he began to notice something strange in front. A large number of wooden ships heading towards Del mar. In the sky were large dragon-like reptiles. 'Just my luck.", Mitch thought.
"Battle stations!", ordered Mitchel, "Looks like your wish came true Fred!"
Fred looked out and saw three dragons flying toward them, "Holy shit! I didn't mean now!". He ran towards the .50 caliber machine gun and readied himself. The cyclone class patrol boat wasn't something to be messed with. As the dragons got closer, the 25mm machine gun raised itself, aimed, and let loose. The lizards couldn't even react before they got turned into Swiss cheese.
"Woohoo!", cheered Fred, "We got 'em!"
"Don't open the champagne just yet!", Mitch shouted, "We still have those ships to deal with. I count roughly a hundred, various sizes. Richerdson, get in contact with HQ! Tell them what's going on, we need air support. Alert the National guard as well."
"Yes, sir!", said Richerdson.
'God help us.', Mitch thought as he sailed into the fray.
---
"Admiral!", yelled the first mate, "Some of our wyverns have been killed."
"Where?", Lothar asked.
"They spotted a ship coming from the south and decided to deal with it, but now they're dead."
"A single ship?"
"That is what the captain said."
"Tell them to send what attack ships are near to destroy it. Nothing must disrupt this invasion."
"Yes, Admiral."
On the shore, the savages run. They run from the water and into their city. The wyverns already started swooping down and devouring them. Their soldiers in blue clothing fired at them with their boomsticks but did next to nothing. A few managed to shoot down the riders, but that didn't stop the wyverns themselves. Now that the shore was empty, the troops could move in. Dozens of landing boats rowed to the shore and dropped off hundreds of soldiers who rallied and attacked the savages, but their weapons halted the assault.
"Push through!", yelled a lieutenant, "They are few in numbers! We must clear a path!". At that moment, two wyverns descended unto their carriages and destroyed the soldiers in blue. With that, the cohort marched on and reached the wide road. However, in the distance, they saw more metal carriages, but these were bigger and in a different color, with large boomsticks on top. The wyverns flew at them, but they soon got shot down and the carriages halted. Out of them came dozens of enemy soldiers, all dressed in vastly different armor than their blue counterparts.
The cohort got into a shield formation and the mages prepared to block the enemy's weapons, but they couldn't. Their magic wasn't working. "Do not falter!", the lieutenant shouted, "We must-". His mouth stopped moving as soon as it got blown to pieces by the enemy. The shields and armor provided them with no protection. They were all cut down and the enemy advanced. More and more of their carriages arrived and they quickly retook the shore.
"Admiral, we have a problem on the shore.", said the first mate.
"I can see that!", yelled Lothar, "Tell the attack ships to form a firing line and destroy the enemy! We cannot let them... are you listening?". The first mate pointed out towards the approaching ships in the distance. Five of them, two large and the rest smaller, all made of metal, and above them over a dozen flying arrowheads, dropping what looked like eggs. Each 'egg' landed on a ship and blew it to pieces. Dozens of ships were destroyed just like that. Lothar didn't have the words to express himself. He kept looking toward the enemy ships as they aimed their cannons and fired from impossible distances. The crew panicked and begged for help, but Lothar couldn't say anything. In his final moments, he watched as a giant metal rod flew into the sky from one of the ships and blew him to pieces along with his crew and ship.
---
"Boom!", cheered Fred, "They got the big one!"
"Shut up!", shouted Mitch, "Let's do what we came here to do.". He guided his cyclone patrol boat along with another one towards the enemy 'landing crafts'. The two opened fire with their 25mm chainguns they tore through the boats and ripped the soldiers inside apart, scattering their remains across the water. Along the way, they picked up the handful of survivors and tied them up.
In the main battle, two destroyers, USS Dewey-2, and Cutter opened fire on the enemy fleet. They targeted the largest ones first, and when they were done they moved on to the armed ships. The enemy was in complete chaos. Destroying the lead ship with the cruiser missile was a good idea, now they were leaderless and easy to take out.
The jets destroyed the ships on the outer formations and later moved inwards. Eventually, there were only thirteen ships left. Four had cannons and nine looked like they just carried supplies. They surrendered and raised white flags, a smart move. The coast guard boarded and cleared all of them before arresting the crew and towing the ships back.
"This is quite a mess lieutenant.", Fred said.
"It is. You just had to wish for a dragon, huh?"
Now that the attacks were stopped, the hard part began. Counting the losses and making a plan for what to do next.
End of chapter 3
---
Sorry for the short chapter, in hindsight I should have just written one very long one. Won't happen again, pinky promise.
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I (20nb) love my dad (44m) and he's been making a big effort to be more involved in my life overall, and one thing he likes is concerts. there's a small bavenue that does all ages metal concerts every once in a while that he really likes coming to me with. he gets genuinely very excited, the last time he brought a change of clothes and cleaned out his car on the off chance my friends needed a ride home or anything. he counted down the hours and everything.
I've invited 9 friends to an upcoming show, including my dad. is this like.. dorky of me? I've kinda went into this with a mentality of anyone who'd be judgemental of it isn't really worth a friendship anyways, but I'm really worried someone will like say something and hurt his feelings. as far as parents go, he's pretty chill which is why I'm not worried. he's fun, he doesn't snitch, and honestly just wants to socialize but doesn't get to much. I also just like hanging out with him as a person, especially in settings like a metal show where we're both in our element.
am I stressing too much? should I say something about it to my friends? I'm worried they'll think he'll like have an issue with us drinking or smoking but I know he doesn't care. should I just leave it alone? I'd appreciate any advice :)