Shift Comments Thread

[Andromeda]

I might not be caught up still, but I'm no worse on being behind than last week. It might be easier to write more since I've got action chapters coming. But Chapter 113 is now up. The terrible cliffhanger that I left you with is now over and resolved in a way that shouldn't be too surprising.

This chapter takes some cues from American TV and movies more than Japanese manga, though I wouldn't be surprised if a manga did what I did. It is something that ends up working out a lot better when it is seen and not read, but it still manages to come across fairly well I think.

There were two things that I wanted to do. I had to explain what was happening and keep things sort of in the dark. Though being in the dark does not really last too long. It is also more of a case of showing how skilled Simonides is as a tactician. And the way things are going in the chapter I set Yuki and his friends in a pretty bad corner. They are going to have to do a lot to get themselves out the situation. But this time I'm going also going to make sure that Yuki gets to do some cool stuff. His last fight I didn't feel had much of a punch to it.

I'm still surprising myself that I can keep coming up with different powers for the MPs users. I still have a lot to MP users to toss at the group. So it is going to be a continual struggle to stay fresh with them.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 114 comes quite late. Work got in my way amongst other things. I probably could have had it done last week if I had figured out my problem. But I didn't resolve it. So I kept holding off trying to settle it. Funny though how it just comes together when you need to just sit down and write it out. Wish that worked more often lately. But Chapter 114 is up now.

This chapter is a focus on Yumi mostly. I had it planned out that way that I wanted to focus on her some more. All of the characters have been pretty limited in their screen time for action, but Yumi has been the most since she only recently got the proper reveal. So you're getting a lot of Yumi scenes right now. The results of that have been that I've been doing a lot of development for her character and powers behind the scene. Stuff that I won't be introducing until later arcs. But I've got her almost completely nailed down for the story. There's still some details that will remain vague and needing development, but she's in a lot better position than before.

The other problem that happened with this chapter and has been on my mind for a while is that I've painted myself into a bit of a corner with Saki. In this arc she's just too overpowered. Her speed ends up breaking everything that I plan. And her personality is such that she ruins everything that I want to do, because I know what she'd in such a situation. So I've been trying to find ways of preventing her from totally ruining the scenes that I want to happen. In the end, I may just end up make jokes about how she's ruining the story and the things that happen to her to prevent her from cutting things short.

But Yumi will have some more fun stuff to do in the next chapter. I'm going to making sure she gets to do some more cool stuff with her powers. Plus the things that she's got going on will end up making things interesting for her later down the road.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Oi! Late doesn't even begin to start to describe this. It's been 8 months since I've posted on this. I've been on a hiatus from just about anything related to the internet that required my presence. Most of that doing was because in the beginning of the year I was working overtime and that cut into everything. After that it became difficult to return and I got redirected towards something else, then more overtime happened recently. I've worked about 5 months of overtime in the last 8-10 months, approximately (which equals between 50-70 hours on the average per week).

Anyway, I should be back now that the craziness has died down again. The funny thing is that I finished this chapter back in May I think, but was unable to post it because I did not have the focus back. And I actually had half of it written before I went on hiatus and I ended up getting stuck writing some of Yumi's scenes. So after getting stuck I just lost track of things. It took a lot of effort to get back into it. But Chapter 115 is up now at least.

However, the up side is that I was not actually wasting all of the spare time. While I can't really post the content, since it all spoiler-ific for the story, but I completed full backgrounds and profiles for nearly 80 characters that either show up in the story or will show up at some point. That in and of itself was a ton of work as you can imagine. But now I have detailed histories of enemies, side characters and even parents of the all of the main characters. I know how all of their parents met and how they are connected to others, if so. I could probably cut down the content and post it, but that's 80 characters. It is a lot of extra info that will eventually come out in the story.

Back to Yumi though, I got to start providing some explanation and development to the way she was acting in past times. It ends up still being mysterious, but it is finally a little piece of an answer. Because before the way she acted was totally within bounds of how Shounen characters act, but there was more going on. This chapter gets to explore that a little more.

The fights with the MP users have made it so that I have think more about the powers and how to deal with them. Because of how Yumi's powers have previously presented themselves, it is easily countered by the more experienced MP users. So I got to explore a little more into how the powers work. It gave me a chance to give Yumi a really cool moment.

This is the conclusion of Yumi's fight, but there are still more fights.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

I'm back on a roll, huh? Chapter 116 is available now as well, fancy that. ^^; I've sort of been stock piling them until I was ready. So Chapter 116 returns focus back to Seiji, who along with Yumi and Yuki were divided from the main group. Deemed a threat along with the other two, Seiji has to face one of the worst opponents he can. As I've already shown with his encounters with Chiharu, Seiji is very easily angered and too slow to deal with an agile and intelligent opponent. Though there is another side to him, that's very Shounen, but I won't reveal that. It should be pretty easily seen, but I don't make a huge deal about it in the course of his fights.

This time the MP user is an environmental type, which I have not really shown too much. In some degree the Blood Assassin and Plant Assassin were both environmental types, but not to the degree of Miltiades. Miltiades as you will see has no weapons that he makes use of, something that has not really been shown by the enemy, though Yuki currently fights in a similar manner (I guess fists still count though). The environment is all a weapon for Miltiades, which is bad all around for Seiji.

During the course of this chapter I do spend some time to continue focus on developing and featuring the secondary attributes that Seiji has thanks to Yuki. Even in this chapter I do not call it out, but I do make a bigger show of it.

The other complicated aspect of this chapter was Miltiades powers. There are several laws at work in his field and I again do not specifically have them described or stated by him. I leave the details up to explaining it. It ends up giving him a more mysterious and mystic quality, even though everything that he is doing can be explained by his field. But one thing that I do purposely avoid is having them explaining their powers, though the whole language barrier does help to make such discussions impossible anyway.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Another chapter is ready! Chapter 117 is out there now as well. This one concludes the fight between Seiji and Miltiades. This chapter was interesting because I ended up changing my mind back and forth between two decisions. I wrote 116 and 117 in the same week and as quickly as possible. So they were closely tied together.

The original idea of the chapter was that Seiji was going to defeat Miltiades through a combination of making use of the environment and blind rage. As Seiji points out, he is not built the same anymore. He has a lot of strength now, which allows him to do some pretty crazy stuff like punching down trees and denting metal poles. The original design was going to have him get so angry with not being able to lay a hand on Miltiades that he was just going to start chopping everything down until he met Miltiades, which was going to be a rather humorous scene and totally Seiji thinking.

The final product did not end up with Seiji winning, though I did end up using the elements still. Seiji still does punch a tree down and use it as a bat. But as I wrote it, it ended up almost making more sense to have him lose. In part, I thought it would be interesting to have one character that should never lose actually lose. Which actually ended up building into his character more anyway, since he actually used to lose quite a lot, but he's so strong now it just seems impossible that he ever did.

I ended up deciding that I would decide him winning or losing would be figured out when I got to the end. It came out that he lost and I am actually quite happy with the way it turned out. Because of that I actually have a lot more ideas planned for him in the arc. The most immediate was the fact as I finished writing this chapter I had already figured out what the next chapter was going to be. But I think it is also good to have loses and not always win.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

This is the last in the series of uploads for Shift. Chapter 118 is a different pace then you probably were expecting. It was different than I was planning as well. The simple plan was to just go straight into Yuki's fight. However, when I got to the end of 117 I came to the realization that it was the perfect time for a flashback. There was still a lot of holes in Seiji's past so it was a good setup for filling in one of those holes.

Even this chapter ended up changing from the original plan. I did not plan for such a long lead in, but it actually ends up being so very important to Seiji's character that I could not let it be cut. So I carried it out. It helps to explain a few things in his family anyway, so it serves two purposes.

Seiji's younger self ended up looking a lot like Yuki, but I'd like to think that most children are pretty happy when they are that age and just want to follow their parents around. But the situation is quite a bit different from Yuki. Seiji's parents are both still alive, but not around him. Plus Seiji was filled more with anger and emotions that Yuki ever was, even at his worst. Yuki was certainly emotional, but it was more about not knowing how to manage all of the lose that he felt. Seiji was picked on and then his Grandfather does not even acknowledge the truth.

So all he had was his anger with everyone. He was pretty much angry with the world and it was all that fueled him. He still works off rage even now, though it is better channeled and he's more focused. The meeting at the end with Yuki was what I was really trying to build up to since the start of the chapter since the last chapter ending with a flashback as well.

This chapter really helped to flesh out the original uncorrupted Seiji and how he moved through the steps to become like who he was. There are still a couple of steps missing, but that will be coming soon enough.

Enjoy!

[Kaiden]

Haha its back, finally!!!

I haven't read the new stuff and I might have to read some old chapters again just to kinda figure out whats going on again, but atleast it didn't just end!

Good to see you are able to work on the story again.

[Andromeda]

Yeah, sorry about that. It certainly was not intentional to stop writing. It just sort of happened. But I'm glad that there are those that were still looking forward to the new chapters. It is always hard to know if it is still being followed or not.

[Andromeda]

Chapter 119 is now up! I waited until Sunday to get it posted even though it was finished since in the past I had usually posted on Sunday. So I'll try to continue to maintain that course for as long as I can until it naturally ends up breaking again. The next chapter is already in process as well. I've been reading a lot of Shounen lately, so I think it may be getting me spurred to write more for it. Makes me wish I could pick up the Bleach RP again.

Anyway, on to the chapter. This one finally concludes the longer than planned flashback for Seiji. The fun thing about this flashback has been how it is helped to expand on a few things that were already talked about and briefly covered in past flashbacks. I had always planned on eventually going into more details about Yuki and Seiji's connection. It was intentionally left open and vague at the start since I did not need a heavy flashback, just enough to get the point across.

Now that Seiji is a more established character and there is still a lot of confusion to his history, which has only been hinted at. This was a really good time to jump into his past. As much as I joke and openly acknowledge within the chapter about the flashback having a rather pointless and meandering nature all of it is actually necessary. I could see the first half of the flashback being cut and dropped in at a later time, but it really set a strong tone for the whole flashback that I could not really see it being cut. Everything I did afterwards would have not been nearly as strong without it. Which is why the flashback ended up being longer than planned. I could not see removing something that really strengthen the overall setting.

Then I expand a flashback that was only lightly covered from the first time Seiji was introduced in his sub-arc. It was a very rough flashback that had almost no details to it. It was the wrong time to go into a deep flashback then. So it got saved until now. Which neatly tied back with the other brief flashback from a couple chapters ago.

In the end, Seiji gained something important from it. Hopefully, he'll remember it. ^^;

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 120 is available now and I've even hit page 5 now! This chapter ended up taking longer than past ones to figure out because of slow rather repetitive nature of it. I was fortunately able to lessen it, but it still was a little. I end up at least pointing it out by the end to make a joke out of it. Fortunately, everything ended up feeding into the next so it all is actually relevant for the progress of the chapter.

But it is good to get back to Yuki. He's been out of picture for quite a few chapters and considering my hiatus, even longer than that. This chapter unfortunately does not get to do much to showcase Yuki. But it does setup the next one to have some really good stuff. I'll finally be able to show off some less seen aspects of Yuki. So I'm really happy about that. Plus, Yuki's going to have a really cool battle scene as well. Really looking forward to that.

As I have been trying to do with the others, I've been providing some focus on the opponents as well. I'll be building them up more in coming chapters, but with this being their first introduction I try to add in what I can without being too heavy handed about it. I did get into a little more with Antipas, but I also had the room to do it. Additionally, he's going to be the only that will actually get to talk to their opponent, the whole language barrier being a problem.

I don't remember if I commented it on, but as it has been made pretty clear already, I'm making the fact that there are different languages important. There is not the convenient everyone speaks English effect here. Which is a point I make because it is so often ignored. It is all naturally translated for the reader, but the Atlanteans are speaking in Atlantean Greek, which is pretty much a branch of Ancient Greek evolved under a closed system and has much more in common with Ancient Greek than modern Greek does. And of course, everyone from Japan speaks Japanese. Since Ayumi and Yuki exists, along with other MP users, the language barrier can be broken through logical means. Plus Yori and Fumiko have the translators that Yuki made them, though it doesn't allow for two-way conversation.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 121 is now up. This finally concludes the three way fight that I started months ago. One piece of the fight still remains, but that is going to be pretty quick since Saki is there. About all I have is some character development that I need to address on a couple of characters before that happens. But overall, that little skirmish is coming to a close. I'll be introducing some new stuff as well to complicate matters even more than they already are. So you can look forward to that as well.

I hope I managed to finally give Yuki a pretty cool looking fight. It is pretty clear that once he has his powers on it is going to be difficult to stop him for normal people, even powered normal people. So it does mean that I get to show off Yuki in a really cool scene where he is just doing crazy stuff and dominating in a totally awesome manner.

I finally got to show of Yuki's brainy side for once. The intelligent side of Yuki does not really get displayed much since he is either fighting on emotions or was still getting used to his powers. The first time that you really got to see him doing creative things with his powers was where he was helping Haruo in the fight against the street punks. So having more chances to actually showcase it is very nice. I really wanted to have Yuki think his way out of situations more, since he is still technically an underdog when it comes to a powers fight. Sure he is powerful, but he doesn't have the same experience and training for control. So I wanted to back that up by him thinking through the fights and figuring out ways to use his powers to defeat his opponents smartly. Considering that goes completely against the stereotype of the main hero for a Shounen, that was specifically why I wanted to do. I've got Seiji to hold on to that mantle anyway.

This arc was going to be the big place where Yuki got to really make use of his intelligence. Since he will be going up against progressively stronger and more veteran opponents. He'll need to be smart. Plus, his powers actually work against the normal that is for shounen hero to power up and become stronger. Strong emotions and anger usually are the motivating factors or friendship, but all emotions will end up doing is actually weakening concentration. So he would actually become weaker and loss control of his powers, hense why the thing with Japan happened. So the only way he'll become stronger is being more creative and intelligent and improving his own concentration.

Additionally, this chapter has made be consider if I should write an omake that explains in more detail how the powers work. Because there is still a lot of things that I leave up to details without implicitly explaining to the reader. The story has reached a point where I can actually mostly explain the powers without ruining the surprise of something new. There are actually still quite a few surprises that I have in store for the powers that I plan to reveal in this arc, but the basics I can explain though. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 122 is available now! I was a little worried about the length of the chapter being too short since what I was going to be doing would be short. However, it ended up being longer than I planned and I had to remove some things that I was planning on putting in. But I'll just insert them into later chapters, that is fine.

This chapter fully concludes the skirmish between Yuki and the South Gate soldiers. I did manage to insert a jab at myself as well as a little fourth wall stuff that I had been planning to do to acknowledge what I ended up doing. So the chapter when smoothly.

I had to do a lot work to keep making Simonides someone that is interesting and likable. Since this is the first real arc with an enemy that I can spend time with. I want him to be someone that the reader will actually like and not see as being entirely evil. The big effort is to show that they are just trying to do what is right as well. Plus Simonides isn't a cold unfeeling commander, but someone that really cares about his men, trusts them and is very calculating. He may seem like he does things that put them in danger, but he knows some risks are required. He does have back up plans though. So he'll make for a good primary enemy for the first half of the arc.

Even though everything is concluded with the fight, I still leave plenty open. And I even leave a pretty big cliffhanger as well. This is going to be the start of the turning point for a number of things. The tone of the arc will probably change a little more and I'll be working making more reveals in time. There's still a lot of things left to do, but this will be a very important point in the story in the long run.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 123 is posted now! The conclusion of the battle has shifted the focus once again back to Simonides. There is a lot of things going on both sides so I am going to be jumping between them to show each side. While not equal right now, there was some more time I wanted to put into his side of things. As I said before I'm continually working to make sure they are shown in not a purely evil light, nothing is so cut and dry.

I've been doing a lot of work to really make Simonides into a charismatic leader, one that cares about the welfare of his soldiers and that his soldiers respect equally. Throwing them to the wolves almost knowing that they would likely lose did not seem that caring, so I wanted to make sure that was clear here. While he does not needlessly throw his men away, he knows that he need to learn more. He is constantly calculating and planning, a little amusing that Demosthenes still manages to unnerve him.

The chapter probably will feel a little bit like it is retreading old ground, but it does help to remind of things that have been gone for more than 20 chapters. It is not a true recap or flashback since it is all new writing, but I do cover things already known. It does help to show more of Simonides thinking though, so it serves a purpose.

While still not completely state directly, I've more or less confirmed what has been implied. As I believe I've said earlier, this is the start of a new branch in the story. There are going to be a lot of things happening very quickly. I've already started to introduce small little elements and even more will be coming. Big revelations will be coming in the months along with some real back stories for Ayumi finally! Yup, the truth of Ayumi's past will finally be revealed. You can look forward to that in time.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

There is now Chapter 124 up for reading. I ended up writing nearly half of it last Sunday before I finished it later in the week. Aside from feeling a good rhythm about things it was something that I was looking forward to addressing. This is a bit of a strange chapter, the plot moves forward, though probably slower than ones would wish, the worst part is probably that readers will hate that the cliffhanger from the last chapter is not really addressed yet. Don't worry, I'll be getting to it. I had originally planned on doing some more with it in this chapter, but in the end the transition from Yori into Yumi was too perfect to ignore. So I will be getting back to him in the next chapter.

The chapter is a little strange as I had already stated. The bits with at the beginning being further nods to him without being directly stated until the end. However, the event itself is actually more important than the vagueness of the character it is involved with. It is start to make more sense in later chapters, but this is another step for him. A rather important one, though still small. The biggest step for him is still later.

The fate of Ayumi is finally actually revealed and probably not a great surprise. But as always, her actual personality is very prickly and difficult to get along with the rest of the group. I don't know how many actually did notice the absence of Ayumi from even being mentioned during the fighting. All very deliberate, but she's back and putting things on course. Though group dynamics seem to be moving even further against Ayumi and more bonding together.

Yumi is actually the focus of the chapter though and I wanted to start addressing some of my own concerns. The lose of her brother is pretty normal, that's going to shake you. The fight I fear might be thought of Yumi acting differently than how she had been in the past. But considering that she's never been in a real fight with her life on the line, I think her actions are pretty normal. Plus the changes that she made are in some way an act that she puts on trying to actually push herself to be different and not weak anymore. This is addressed a couple of times already here and in the past chapters, so hopefully it is just an unfounded fear of mine.

However, there are some important developments with Yumi. The powers that Yumi gained from Yuki continue to expand and become even more mysterious. I've got a long plan in mind for her and this is just the introduction. More of it will be slowly revealed through the course of the arc. I could not help but think of a scene from Bleach while I was writing the conversation she was having in her mind.

The new cliffhanger is the start of where the new branch really starts in earnest. The capture of Yori was the trigger, but here is the actual point. When I get back to Yori I'm going to be sprinkling in a few new tidbits of information. So look forward to that.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 125 is now up, though it is a little later than recent. I had a few things going on that delayed me. This chapter is another one that is split between points of view. I returned back to Yori dilemma and covered some of the parts with Yumi. I was actually planning on returning back to her at the end, but found that where I ended to be a better spot and what I wanted too long to fit.

The first half is all about finishing up what I started before on the cliffhanger from last chapter. Yumi is dead set on going alone and show some of that trademark selfless recklessness so often seen in Shounen. Considering it is her brother captured, it is not really surprising, but it is amusing to know that she is taking on the role that is commonly reserved for the hero. It plays all of the classic points of the heroic act to go off on a rescue.

The rest of the chapter focuses on the previous matter that was cliffhanged from before. And it probably is pretty mean of me to only step a little further beyond the cliffhanger too. Though I was playing catch up. I wanted to cover some points with Yori before everything started and the setup with Abeiron was good for his development as well. As mean as it is there is a lot of good stuff coming out. But rest assured that there will be forward progress now that I'm caught up.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Well Chapter 126 is now up, due to possible bad habits, I played games all week. So I didn't actually get to the chapter until Saturday. But it still managed to work out for me. But my game playing is back on schedule for now. So writing shouldn't be a problem anymore.

See I made forward progress! It was not a lot again, but that's Shounen for you. Dragging things out to make you wait. ^^; Anyway, there will probably be a little more development with Yori before I hold off on his progress. Since I'm working with three groups now I have to manage the time between the three of them.

Now that they are divided up though, I can start working on some of the things I had planned for them. There is going to be a returned focus on Yuki's group after things with Yumi are setup. But for now Yumi's group is going to have the bulk of the attention.

I've made Simonides the bad guy again in this chapter. He is pretty scary looking and with the introduction of a new character. There is going to be some new things to be had. So you can look forward to all of the new action and drama to come.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 127 is up now, unfortunately it was much later than planned. I had a bad case of video games and got distracted. Fortunately, I still have it in me to get through the entire thing in a day. This week should be better though since I'm hopefully going to have a normal sleep schedule again and not get my writing off.

So much for forward progress, huh? I feel rather awful what I've done. I keep cliffhanging Yori's plight and then skipping the addressing of it until at least another chapter. The original plan for the chapter was to have it split between the two, but covering the details of how the groups were determined ran longer than I expected. I realized that once I hit page four and saw where the end would be. I ended up giving up on Yori for the next chapter.

Don't worry though I will be covering Yori again in the next chapter. I cliffhanged this chapter on linking Yumi and Yori. So I can't really avoid it, not to mention what I planned for him in this chapter will have to be in the next. Though I will be switching up the order of things.

All things side though, in spite of the flashback, it really helped out a lot for the group dynamics. It is the first time that they all looked like they agreed with everyone and were as one. It is progress for them and very important. Plus I got to throw in the wonderfully cliche all hands in moment.

This chapter got me thinking more about things that I have kept hidden from the reader and only left as assumptions and implied things. So I thought it might be good to make this point a little clearer to everyone. This only is going to cover the physical characteristics of the group, but I felt it might be good to rate where everyone stands. A 1 equals normal human characteristics and a 10 is the highest in the group. This is only a measurement of the individual within the group and not against others.

Yuki
Strength - 1
Speed - 1
Agility - 1
Reflexes - 1
Resistance to Injury - 1
Mental Capacity - 5

Saki
Strength - 6
Speed - 10
Agility - 5
Reflexes - 4
Resistance to Injury - 7
Mental Capacity - 1

Seiji
Strength - 10
Speed - 3
Agility - 3
Reflexes - 5
Resistance to Injury - 10
Mental Capacity - 2

Yumi
Strength - 3
Speed - 4
Agility - 5
Reflexes - 10
Resistance to Injury - 5
Mental Capacity - 10

Yori
Strength - 5
Speed - 3
Agility - 4
Reflexes - 7
Resistance to Injury - 5
Mental Capacity - 8

Fumiko
Strength - 4
Speed - 3
Agility - 3
Reflexes - 3
Resistance to Injury - 4
Mental Capacity - 7

Chiharu
Strength - 6
Speed - 7
Agility - 10
Reflexes - 7
Resistance to Injury - 6
Mental Capacity - 8

Haruo
Strength - 8
Speed - 3
Agility - 3
Reflexes - 3
Resistance to Injury - 10
Mental Capacity - 6

Ayumi
Strength - 1
Speed - 1
Agility - 2
Reflexes - 2
Resistance to Injury - 1
Mental Capacity - 9

Strength is the physical attribute, pretty straightforward, and naturally Seiji is king there. It might be surprising, but Saki is not actually stronger than Seiji, she is very strong. But most of her strength is applied through her speed and not muscles. Speed is their ability to run, which naturally Saki is the best at. Agility is the ability for the body to move and react to change, which Chiharu is the master being the ninja. Reflexes is the mental ability to react to change and adaptability, which Yumi is interesting enough the strongest in. This was seen in her fight, even though a lot of it is instinctual, she has very high reflexes. Resistance to Injury is a complicated way of saying how easy they are to injure. Seeing as it is a staple of Shounen to be able to take a beaten that should blood you to a pulp and the hero will often could mostly unharmed this is an important trait since it is one that everyone has gain. This should be no doubt that Seiji is the owner of this considering his fight, but everyone has pretty high degrees of this, which was the most important trait I wanted to address. All of the characters are more resilient than normal because of this one thing, with of course Yuki and Ayumi as the exceptions, they are normal humans after all. Mental Capacity is the vague one that I added to address the characters that were less physical and Yumi is actually tops for this not who you might expect, which has a very good reason, but not too be fully explained for a while. Yuki's rating will eventually end up changing though.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

I'm a little late on this one as well, but a lot of things ended up lining up to get in front of me. Between my laptop crashing randomly and the rebuilding of my desktop having unexpected problems. The weekend was a little shot for me. But never fear I still made it and wrote it all nearly in record time too! So Chapter 128 is now up.

This chapter played out mostly as planned, but I did not get to address on thing that I wanted. As a result I've move it on to another chapter. It is not a huge deal, but once I started the campfire scene it really did not make sense to have it done there. So having it push back will be fine, plus I was thinking that it was a little too soon to be hitting on it anyway. Either way, it'll be a good moment of character growth when it does happen.

I did back pedal a little, but not really too bad. I just connected what happened with the cliffhanger and Yori to make it all seamless. It has been rather interesting weaving the Yori and Yumi scene together. There is so little going on with Yori, but it feels like his moments are always really heavy and jump out more, but I guess that is partly due to what is going on with him.

Yumi and Fumiko had a good little chat, not really much of a heart to heart. I'll get to that sort of stuff later, but I'm building up their interactions. Fumiko's been a little absent so with the splitting of teams it is help to bring forward characters that had been a little more secondary. Fumiko being one of them. Chiharu and Haruo are the worst offenders, but they are both very anti-social and silent types, makes them difficult to deal with in a scene.

I'm not entirely certain when I'll be getting back to Yuki and the others. However, when I do you can expect my Ayumi back story. I've been waiting on the splitting of the teams for Ayumi to come out of her shells. She's been a pretty difficult to deal with mood since this all started. Now that she's with Yuki things will start changing and you'll finally get the much awaiting back story for Ayumi. It won't be everything. I'm planning on pacing it out in pieces at the right moments. But you'll get a little bit.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 129 is a little late, but it is now up. Christmas sort of got in the way in addition to awkward sleep. It was actually finished earlier, but I didn't get the time to post it. But this chapter is a full focus on Yori with no divided attention to other characters.

This is an interesting chapter since it is continues to explore the insecurities of Yori. But also because the reality of the situation with lies being thrown in with the memories. What I wanted to achieve ended up being a little more time consuming and complicated than I wrote, which is a little disappointing. However, most of the intention is still delivered.

The next chapter is going to be the more challenging one. Yori does not understand the significance, but I wrote it such that the reader would. So it makes it a bigger cliffhanger for the reader as I'm letting you in on the mystery. I'm not certain if it will all be fully explained in the next chapter, but most of it should be within the reader's grasp by the end of the next chapter. However, if everything goes as planned Yori will learn something hugely important to the entire arc. So we're reaching a critical point in the story for the second arc.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

I'm back on schedule now! I'm in fact ahead of schedule. I finished this chapter two days ago, it was awesome. I hit a good rhythm for things. So Chapter 130 is now up. I was actually very excited for this chapter because it starts to delve into the mysteries of Atlantis as well as push to the truth the matter. However, I'm terribly cruel for cliffhanging things where I did. I'm sorry that I'm such a cruel writer and I've only made things worse knowing that I won't be answering the cliffhanger for a while. Sorry!

Picking up where things left off, I'm assuming the readers figured out what was going on at the end of the last chapter, but did not know why. Which is why I said it was a bigger cliffhanger for the reader than for the characters. Yori was just confused, but the reader should understand the significance of the ending.

The chapter here as I said finally got to get into parts of the mystery. I've been continuing to hint at a rebellion, which I still haven't clarified. That is mentioned here again and becomes clear that something big happened involving Athene. Additionally, I got to show Ayumi as a child and that is always fun. The nice thing about the introduction here is that it will be the perfect setup for later. I already planned on going into further details during Ayumi's past and one of the first things I planned to hit was her time with the South Gate. So some of the pieces should start to be falling into place.

Unfortunately, I am very mean ending on probably the biggest cliffhanger you yet to actual come across for this series. It probably doesn't not seem hugely significant, but one the truth it is revealed it'll be realized why this moment was so important. Sorry for being such a tease, but I'll be returning back to Team Yumi in the next chapter. I may tie off a couple of things before doing so, but Team Yumi is going to be the focus again.

Enjoy!

Oh, look forward to a special surprise later tonight! ^^

[Andromeda]

Well I have Chapter 131 up now, but it is not quite what was planned. I had said that I was going to be returning to Team Yumi in the next chapter after finishing up a few things, but those few things ends up taking the entire chapter. So yeah...no Team Yumi this week, she'll be next week. Since I've finished everything with Simonides and his men, I can easily return back to Yumi next week. It does throw a few things off for next week, but I'll adjust.

Anyway, this chapter is almost completely from the point of Athene. I do really hate using never and always, as it seems to be such an easy thing to toss out. Such and such never happens, you know. The whole case of the enemy getting surprised by a supposedly weak foe only to see that was not the case. I try to moderate it quite a bit, but sometimes it is just need to really send things home that something big just happened. And it was pretty big for Athene and Yori.

While I've continued to just tease and poke Yori, he's never had a chance to show off his powers. I do believe I've said that he does have powers, I just haven't shown them yet. It is a bit of a running gag with me that I interrupt before he can have his awakening. So this chapter is really the big reveal for him, even though it had already been taking place in the past chapters. This one just sends it all home to show everything that Yori has been doing, albeit sub-consciously, but it is all him.

The fake Yori I had to make clear was not the real one and just a phantom or program sent to keep Athene busy. This is because the fake acts quite a bit differently than Yori's personality, even if he were to be confident in his position, the way he spoke to Athene would not be the same if it was him. I was concerned about that sort of change and people might assume it was Yori, but be confused by the personality shift. So I wanted to make it clear it as not the real one. It is a separate identity created to do exactly what it did, distract and misdirect.

I wanted all of this in the chapter, but I didn't realize the length needed for it. Still it was a fun chapter since it really got to go into the layered complexity and mental games that was happening. It is a little more cerebral, but I think it is pretty cool when you start thinking about everything that happened.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

The chapter that was supposed be is up now, Chapter 132, sort of. It ends up covering only 70% of what I wanted to cover sadly. Which means that I need to carry over more of what I want into the next chapter. I'm already trying to figure out how I'm going to correct things for the next one. It is not that awful, but it is a little bothersome always underestimating things. But oh well, the chapter was still good.

One thing that I wanted to make sure I could get back to was a little comedy. It is nothing to strong or hopefully heavy handed. But I did need a little break from the all of the seriousness. So the opening scene with Fumiko, Seiji and Chiharu really worked for that and I managed to carry that into the follow up after the title slam.

The starting of Chiharu and Yumi's time began. There was supposed to be a lot more done, but I get a feeling that the entire next chapter might just be Yumi and Chiharu. The cliffhanger I left on was probably fairly awkward, but it is important. The real meat of the conversation will be in the next chapter, though I do still manage to hint on some very interesting things with Chiharu here. Something that I've been meaning to do. This was a good chapter to really get some development on her. She's been too quiet and I'm finally going to be exploring her. I've been wanting to for a while, she just doesn't make it easy for her personality type.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 133 is now up! With it finished I'm still going to be delving further into the Chiharu and Yumi part. They got some good time to talk, in what was probably one of the more talky and oddly heavy moments. The chapter itself ends up being more of an assault on Shounen tropes at times than anything else. So it is interesting, but only if you realize everything going on.

The little bit with stopping Yumi did go quickly. Something that wasn't really shown at the end of the chapter previously, was that Yumi had already stopped the moment Chiharu mentioned Yuki. Yumi is a little single minded like that. So it ends up in an odd bit of a comedy for a few moments, which with Chiharu makes it a lot funnier, I think.

The chapter ends with Chiharu and Yumi having an oddly philosophical debate in relation to Yuki. Something that I had not really thoroughly covered before, but did at least have Yuki re-enforce a few things. Everyone is a friend to him, even Yori who openly despises him and Haruo and Chiharu who are aloof and barely have much interaction with him. Everyone follows him though for their own specific reasons, some of which were outlined before the arc started and some remain unclear even now. So Chiharu and Yumi finally addressing some of it was long over due. It does end up leading into some very important things for the next chapter. If it wasn't already obvious, there is going to be a flashback for Yumi. You'll get to see how Yuki and Yumi first met.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 134 is now up, so for the delay. It was done earlier, but I was doing stuff today, so I didn't get a chance until now. It ended up longer than I expected, but if I didn't have the fun little fourth wall moment it would have been shorter. Still it was enjoyable and very much like how Shift is. So I'm not disappointed by it and it fits.

The chapter completely forewent the need for the heavy carry over that I had from the last chapter. It bothered me a little having it. So I wanted to make I didn't do that again. It was in part a joke and it being long I sort hope it was noticed as one, but I probably doubt people saw it as one. But either way, I try not to do too many of those. This one didn't need one and in fact if I put it in the chapter would have been even longer.

The flashback actually turned out a lot better than I was planning. I had an idea of how I was going to go about doing it, but I didn't know until I started writing. Once I started in it changed and evolved and became what it is now. I think the way Yuki steps up and acts silly, but does so to help out Yumi is very much like him. It is also wonderfully subtle in meaning. I read this sort of things so often in manga, so it is always good when I can actually include and make it work.

It was also nice to use this as a break to get back to characters we have not seen in forever. Hiroshi is the same as always and has some really great moments. It ended up serving as a good moment to show how Yuki and Hiroshi first met, so it ended up being a stealth development for them.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 135 is up now. Believe it or not, I actually wrote it last week because I knew that I was going to be playing FFXIII-2 all week and didn't know if I would have time to write. As it turned out I still had all of the weekend, but I still played XIII-2. Anyway, 135 is available, though it ends up doing something that I had not planned on, as is usual these days.

Seiji and Fumiko are taking their sweet time huh? Well, Chiharu and Yumi get their alone time to talk things out more. As I've said I planned on doing something development with the two girls for a while. The funny thing is that the actual thing that I planned to work on still has only been slightly addressed. I ended up doing other, but no less important things with them.

In fact, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the chapter for Chiharu. Chiharu is always a difficult one to deal with because she's got a thick wall between her and everything else inside her. As with what Saki did, you have to force Chiharu to face herself rather than talking to her as you would any normal person. She's just too repressed on things. She makes a good companion for all of the repression that Yuki has going on. Though as I bring up in this chapter, Yuki's way of dealing and repressing ends up being completely different from how Chiharu decided to repress things. This is greatly to deal with environment.

I ended up being rather subtle with the things involving her, but it is sort of in line with the way Chiharu is anyway. She's not direct with her feelings or past. She's direct when speaking on something that doesn't concern her, but the moment it comes on her she starts going through deflections. Her actions often hide or redirect the real matter at hand. So I hope its not to subtle for the reader.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

I'm running a little late on posting, got distracted, but it is up now Chapter 136. This chapter has the group back together and continues to address things from more of a character focused side rather than plot pushing. But don't worry, that is coming to an end soon. The next chapter will be the end of the full on character focus and I'll be returning back to the action and plot. Not all at once, I've got to set things up first.

Anyway, I am getting a little worried that all of the focus on character development is getting too heavy. It is funny that it has been like ten chapters since the last time I wrote anything action related. It ends up making things a little weird, being a shounen series and all. But I did always promise myself that characters were going to be important.

Yumi ended up doing some slightly out of character things. But I'm finally getting to center of the things with Yumi. It will all end up making sense in the next chapter. Internally, the readers from all of the things I've done with Yumi should already know this stuff. But it'll actually be coming out. It will continue to help Chiharu's growth and lean to something critical that I have not really openly stated, but that has been driving Chiharu. So it'll be good.

The disappointing thing is that I haven't had the chance to really work Fumiko and Chiharu together. They were originally supposed to be the two that stuck together, but it is all because of Fumiko. And I haven't had the chance to really work in it. Fumiko keeps trying with hidden motivations, but Chiharu is a difficult one to deal with. I'll get them together eventually in this arc. I've got some sure fire plans for them. Not even Chiharu's stubbornness can stop me!

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 137 up now and back on normal posting schedule rather than the late night one. This chapter finally conclusion all of the talking that I had going on for what is probably too long. I'm not writing Shoujo here, hehe! ^^; Anyway, the chapter probably will feel like it does not have a lot of meaning, it does put into words things that have not. So it is good for that. It does also build the ties in teh group, something sorely needed.

Anyway, this chapter is actually the kick starter for the development that I'll be doing for Chiharu in the future. It is a lot of foundation work that I laid down. But all of the strange things that Chiharu has been doing and the vagueness of her questions will start to make sense. So while seemingly pointless it does end up serving an ultimate goal, just not immediately visible.

Since I have finished the conversation, I felt that it was important to jump back into the action. It has been a while since I've wrote some action for this. They are still a bit of a distance away from the camp site, but it still leaves them with a big image of what they are up against. Because of the next round of fights are coming up. I'm going to be introducing some new MPs for them to fight. There are still some unannounced MPs in the South Gate. And even this won't reveal them all. But I'm planning on doing some fun stuff and getting some of that old horror feel back from the first sub-arc. So look forward to a lot of exciting new developments. I've got a lot of things planned for everyone in these fights and expect them to go on for a little bit. I foresee this going for easily 10 or 15 chapters before they actually meet Yori again. Yori will actually be getting a little more face time again, but not for a little bit. Athene and him have some unfinished business to resolve.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 138 is now available, though a little later than planned. A little anime watching to distract me. Anyway, this chapter starts moving things in the new mood that I was talking about. It is probably still too much talk, but three key threads have been created as a result. So there is going to be plenty for me to be playing with in the immediate future for the chapters.

I'm a little thankful for Fumiko as she does a good job keeping the reader clued into things that I end up making intentionally vague. I don't try to use her to destroy all of the mystery, but she is a good piece to show people's motivations, which are not always clear. Chiharu is the primary example of unclear motives, fortunately she'll be getting more of that cleared up in the stuff I have planned here.

I introduce a new MP user this time around. I have been holding back on the more unique character types because I'm not really a big fan of the often unrealistic things that happen even within such created universes in manga. So I've made sure to limit the amount of really out of place personality types or just flamboyant types. However, I do also acknowledge that such types are important to the Shounen genre. I'm just using them with moderation and in places that make a little more sense. In a military environment is a little difficult to do that, but the MP make for a good exception. Everything that I've constructed around them makes them primary examples, though most of the weird characters are restricted to the Omega Division, which I planned to unveil most of the whacked out types. But there are always one or two bad apples around and Vangelis will be that type. I already set a very clear mood and personality with his introduction and I'll be working with that.

I also have Athene making her move and putting Yori in danger again. So even with the lack of action the tension is back on the rise. I plan to keep tightening the suspense and tension here. Considering that Yuki and Ayumi are both unavailable to them. This fight actually carries a lot more risks. I plan to make full measure of that fact, though I wonder how many of the readers have realized that.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 139 is now available for everyone. This chapter continues to increase the mounting tension. I also provided a dangerous cliffhanger. So things should be getting pretty exciting now.

I ended up spending time with everyone splitting the chapter over three parts. The only ones that got left out were Yumi, Seiji and Fumiko, but they will be back in the next chapter due to what happened with Chiharu. I have some fun with Chiharu with the new situation.

I really enjoyed the exchange between Simonides and Vangelis. I got in some good lines and Simonides ended on such a great note. I love him so much even if he is playing the villain. He makes for a really great likable villain, at least I think so. Vangelis gets to be the first real villain in the arc in terms of just being unquestionably evil. It will give me some fun things. Though since I've pretty much set his stuff up, he probably won't have much of a present in the coming chapters.

Athene is turning into an interesting character. She still have a lot left to go, but she is well connected with the characters. I have a few future plans for her. So you can look forward her to being used more even after things are resolved with Yori.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Well I finally got around to putting up Chapter 140. Yeah, sorry about that I've been playing Tales of Graces f all week pretty much and trying to finish up Neptunia before it. So I didn't up getting distracted and Graces is way too much fun to put down. Though I did manage to put my PS3 down long enough to write Chapter 140 on Sunday. Yeah...I've been holding on to the chapter for a week almost now. It is surprisingly easy to put off the 30 minutes I need for this.

Anyway, the chapter ended up a little rougher than I wanted in places, probably because of my distractions. But it still turned out well for what I wanted. I managed to keep putting weight on the nature of MP users in Atlantis. In spite of everything going on, I am definitely starting to paint a pretty clear picture with them. I'm liking what it turning out for them, because they are supposed to be the bad guys, but also sympathetic as well. And they are probably more sympathetic than most of military.

Vangelis will have another a little bit in the upcoming chapter. But Yumi's group is going to be taking center stage. So aside from Vangelis' group, you'll get to meet some new and familiar faces as they clash. I've dragged things out long enough. So expect all of the action really start picking back up. A lot of crazy stuff is planned for this round of fighting. So look forward to some fun stuff.

Enjoy!