#// or also just steal it. this is a crime friendly zone

[yatgb]

Annnnd the results are in! The answer that was false is.....

Answer #9! Nobody transforms into a giant kraken to cause chaos in Splatoon.

There is a special ability called Kraken that you can use in multiplayer online, but it has no bearing on the story/lore so it is the false one. Everyone who doubted that bears existed im so sorry to say that you are wrong

Also yes i admit to the crime of Lying A Little To Sound Funny so some of these are technical lies and tripped up even veterans of the series. Sorrey <3 i know the sea urchin doesnt actually mug you and i know beef jerky doesnt exist it was an attempt to sound funny T_T

Explanations for all the other statements are under the cut! All links take you to a relevant Inkipedia page for further research if you so wish, but ill try to explain each as concisely as i can.

Ultimately this was an excuse to infodump and i did NOT expect it to blow up the way it did >XP i did enjoy reading the tags of non-fans and which ones they thought was the outlier, so thank you everyone who participated!! If this convinced you to check the series out, ill consider my job here done. Even if you dont check out the series, thanks for looking at this silly poll <3

Without further ado, let me explain the batshit stuff i mentioned and also lied about a little

"the city gets its power from a massive electrified catfish"

The Great Zapfish is, as stated, a massive catfish with electrified whiskers. It sits at the center of city and generates power for everyone. Every game, the Zapfish is stolen and there's worries of a power crisis until it's rescued. Look at the guy! Its just a little man

"Squid ppl are inherently violent and their favorite passtime is bloodsports"

Okay i lied by accident on this one because i was remembering in-universe propaganda. Oops

So, Inklings (evolutionary form of squids) arent inherently violent, but they do take great pride in their victory over the Octarians during The Great Turf War 100 years ago. In memory of that victory, they started Ink Battles to let off steam and fight against each other in a friendly competition.

Turf Wars are the default Ink Battle, where the goal is to cover as much ground in your team's color as possible and is modeled after how The Great Turf War functioned. There are four other modes (Clam Blitz, Splat Zones, Tower Control, and Rainmaker) used in more competitive ranked battles. Inklings can respawn after dying, so they tend to aim for taking out their opponents as if it were an actual war being fought. Imagine if football players killed each other on the field thats basically what this is

"A bear steals a rocket ship to nuke the entire planet"

rip to everyone who didnt believe bears existed in splatoon. In fact there is One (1) bear that exists and he wanted to destroy the world bc he got too lonely </3

Mr. Grizz is the only survivor of a conservation effort gone wrong. He didn't cope well with being the only mammal left on earth after being cryofrozen for 12,000 years, and after a lot of experimentation discovered a way to create a substance called "Fuzzy Ooze" that could turn the evolved sealife into mammals. He repurposed a rocket ship left behind by a society of humans, loaded it with Fuzzy Ooze, and planned to crash it into Earth to coat the planet in it and "restore balance" (aka: bring mammals back to life). He was defeated, and is now harmlessly orbiting the Earth in space.

"a borderline illegal business involving mass slaughtering (sentient) fish"

Salmonids are an evolved amphibious species of salmon, which hatch their young from Golden Eggs. Mr. Grizz needed Golden Eggs as part of producing Fuzzy Ooze, and he needed lots of them for as much ooze as possible.

He founded Grizzco Industries to hire Inklings and Octolings to collect the eggs for him in a gamemode called Salmon Run, which is essentially COD Zombies but with salmon coming to attack. In this gamemode, your goal is to meet a quota of collected Golden Eggs which you get from killing Boss Salmonids, who have a variety of ways to attack you.

Grizzco Industries is very shady and was made to mimic your typical Toxic Workplace. Abysmal and dangerous working conditions, forcing employees to use illegally modified weapons, paying employees with prize capsules and currencies only useable in Grizzco shops instead of actual money... the list goes on. Mr. Grizz doesn't tell his employees why he needs the Golden Eggs, and never actually meets them face-to-face at all; every order is given through a pre-recorded radio.

Essentially, Mr. Grizz is taking advantage of the Inklings and Octolings having no idea what the Salmonids are actually like and spreads propaganda about them being mindless monsters who want to invade their city, all so they'll go out and get their Golden Eggs for him.

"theres a sea urchin who will mug you in a back alley"

Yes this is one i exaggerated for funsies and ppl got confused. Sorrey </3

Spyke is a sea urchin who hangs out in a back alley in Inkopolis, offering you services to do with your battle gear; specifically the abilities they can give you.

These services are ambiguous and maybe illegal (he asks if youre a cop when you first meet him and never really explains what he's doing, just that he can give you what you want) and he gets pushy if he notices that you have Super Sea Snails, which act as a food source/delicacy for him and a currency that you can use in place of cash for certain things he can do.

No he never actually mugs you but look at this guy

He'd absolutely shank a guy for a tasty snail. Also hes british

"fish ppl can batter and fry themselves like food as a fashion statement"

We see these in two NPCS; Crusty Sean and Fred Crumbs.

Crusty Sean is a shoe shop owner turned food truck owner turned explorer whos entire personality is being a fried shrimp. Fred Crumbs is a japanese horse mackrel that's been filleted and fried and takes over Crusty Sean's shoe shop. Dont ask how they survive this just smile and nod and accept the fried fish selling you shoes. How is he even wearing the shoes i dont knwo

"a testing facility murders its participants and uses the bodies to end the world"

rip to the people who thought this one wasnt real. This place is fucking crazy. This is literally the plot of Splatoon 2's 80s themed DLC, Octo Expansion.

The Kamabo Corporation, known as Kamabo Co., is a company created by Commander Tartar, a 12,000 year old AI gone rogue and set on wiping out all evolved sealife and creating a new, "superior" species. They're stationed in the Deepsea Metro, an underwater society of deep sea cretures.

The test involves kidnapping someone, erasing their memories, and convincing them that they can reach "The Promised Land" by passing the trial of gathering 4 "thangs". In reality, these 4 items combine to create a blender, which Tartar coerces them inside of and promptly kills them, blending them into a slurry and adding that slurry to the test subjects that came before them. All of these slurries of dead bodies combine to create Sanitized Ink, a substance that can essentially turn someone into a zombie or even kill them. This test was run with over 10,000 applicants, as the character you play as in the DLC is applicant 10,008.

When it's found out, Tartar attempts to load the Sanitized Ink into a laser cannon to be shot at the most populated city, Inkopolis, but is intercepted and defeated. The statue that Tartar used as its base of operations is still sunk into the water, but wrecked and useless.

"World War 2 is stopped bc 2 girls sang a really good song"

Another one that was sort of exaggerated for funnies

In the first two Splatoon games, DJ Octavio acts as the main antagonist, who steals The Great Zapfish from Inkopolis. Agent 3 and Agent 4 respectively defeat him and rescue the Zapfish, empowered by Callie and Marie singing the Calamari Inkantation, which also serves to distract DJ Octavio and convince members of the Octarian Army to defect.

No its not explicity stated that a war would break out but like. The inklings are gonna want their main sorce of power back yknow. And octarians are enemies of the state. Also if you havent PLEASE listen to calamari inkantation itll blow ur tits clean off

"Someone does a magical girl transformation into a strip of beef jerky"

I am so sorry for tripping everyone up by adding the word beef. Thats my bad

Anyway, this is referencing when Cap'n Cuttlefish was dehydrated by Mr. Grizz in an attempt to kill him. He's left stuck in his squid form, flattened and looking cooked, and references often being tired and thirsty. Look at this guy. Unauthorized fucking thing blow it up now

(Also a normal inkling squid form for reference. Dude is dried the fuck up)

Anyway if you got this far, thank u for absorbing the information :] once again sorry for failing to be funnie </3 if this poll or these explanations made you want to check out the series, i recommend watching a longplay on youtube. Unless you have a wii u you cant play Splatoon 1, and Splatoon 2 and 3 are both $60 (and the Octo Expansion in Splat2 is an extra $20) and i know nobody wants to spend that money lmfao. But theres a wealth of information on youtube and Inkipedia and even here on tumblr!

Happy splatting and stay squiddy <3

getting inspired by all these polls so

Dont vote if you know the answer!!!! I wanna see what non splooners think :3 also maybe reblog to get this out there???

[scentedchildnacho]

The security bait and switches I guess.......i think he is a pedophile and he can act out because to his politic the jacobin just read that to him gen x represents the idea that people accomplish the greater science by getting to act out whatever his psychicomachia fantasy conjures instead of public welfare

To them repression and sublimation has no relevance it's just social theory and the greater cause is accomplished by acting out whatever their fantasy life is

By pedophile I mean someone who believes we are all Gods children and should be kept like children to use however but the project did do questionable things to the families till I was like uhm really a library day for their community when there are like big houses around not everybody can just walk up to....

I will like the families much better when they stay to their community districts and just pick up a few books here or there and without the whole caravan because the library really is too small of a space for their community

More dr king there are like vacant homes everywhere that could easily be re zoned for their community so

The library has high voltage areas on it and those types of cognitive studies to children have already been precedented

Its just to cause the children stress till they collapse of third world disease already easily known and treated here and the families choose ecological not environmental settlements

Compared to Washington Park in Milwaukee Wisconsin which is also just a project the library area here is like pre pornogrAphy war 70s treaties

So I kind of agree with mean punk heroin homeless the families have settlements to leave them alone and they kept following them here

The library is a mean scary punk place and I'm for letting the researcher study street punkness it's im sorry but you all kept going at crime and you bothered them when you have really anything else

I think the inside security called the cops not the outside the pale one....

Anyway they called the cops because at first he acted sympathetic but now that I'm trapped here he wants to switch and get the cops to slander me and kill me like an heiress so I suspect a sheriff knows to not be afraid of the hygiene terrorists and started putting pressure on jobs to serve time if they won't reform into a better business strategy so they tried to claim I did something to get away with stealing personal information into registers

They just want to fill up jails with poverty and get away with it....and that's just disgusting

So I ask the cop to disarm himself because his behaviour is really inappropriate to a poverty call and normal people call a psychiatric service about poverty not a combative

The police tells me he will be nice to me but I say again why not just disarm yourself it's incorrect protocol to poverty truth is I can't harm anyone

Then he wants to know about a PetSmart cart I have outside so I just tell him it's just civilly disobedient and show him the sign on the cart that reads children could fall out of the cart

To me the upper management of the store could have replaced the recalled items with child friendly ideas but they persisted in endangering children and try to point his angry mob of dissatisfied jobs at me instead of turning on his masterly ness to them

I told him I just took it because I don't have any other way of transporting my things and I could get stress fractures on the ground from the blanket allowance and a child could fall out of the cart so to me that's what civil disobedience is a mean stripper that won't pay me and so doesn't pay her kind of wanted children either could hurt all of us and so I learn from civil rights activists how to manage situations to stop letting bitch rule with its selfish time

Its not really my obligation to care that as a grocer he could have delivered fresh farm packages to the jail he didn't have to make them take busses

And he was like the homeless coalition could give you a cart and I was like you can go ahead and try to put things in carts that aren't for the families but those are the families and I can take this because the children can't use it

If you ask me the border conflict got really bad and carts or buggies or behind the bike are for the children and children don't like falling out of

That's me sometimes about the stripper issues trying to get by I sometimes inconvenience their activity because they start appearing very selfish it's the upper management that sat and filmed all they do there so again it's not my problem that retail stores around couldnt forgive something there

I told him I am from la Crosse Wisconsin but he confessed somebody said I was some fresno chick that did things she did to justify detaining me here

That's why I don't get mad about a couple years of homelessness I was a job and apparently it was bad for something in some way but after seven years and many assaults and tank based warfare that's way over the top and I realize my job life was impoverished enough to say sorry about something and I never deserved any of that

I just said I reserve the right to be at least a few inches from the ground so I'm not completely shocked

Now I'm just like their just terrorists I don't see any valid politic to telling me to reform through detainment like situations

Well those people can take those carts because they tell the families they will top dog for their kids but nobody told me to top dog so I don't

Anyway the security isn't like personal towards me he just does that goes around jack assing at people it's the college guys he gets near and raps the table to wake them up it's the random punks he just kind of goes at everyone....

Anyway he tried to hit me today with some type of slander so he had to be in close contact with the gold bike nigger so that sort of karma is correct if people hit you they end up getting hit with whatever hits ya

Routine checks now cops know that I'm still here so hopefully something starts reversing so

So I have been homeless ever since like 2013 and it's been like this basketball game I played versus tomah in middle school where this larger more professionally developed and organized team just went at us in really mean demoralizing ways just really made us feel worthless and loser just no team spirit no tap out just everything the ref claimed I did was wrong though this big girl kept running her body into me molestively

So I think Jacobin is right their a more organized larger entity and whatever fuck fantasy they feel like they can do and I can't tell no bitch she can't rape

If they feel that their like the secret poor pretty girls really getting back at the whites then they want their fantasy

Well to those terrorists they are natives and history tells them they can be nazish at religion and

And their teacher pedophile that told them they can isn't wrong or anything

[paleciity]

11 Mun Questions.

𝟎𝟏. 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐒 / 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 : Crown

𝟎𝟐. 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 : 3 / 3

𝟎𝟑. 𝐙𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐂 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍 : pisces

𝟎𝟒. 𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 : 5′5

𝟎𝟓. 𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒 :  writing, drawing, d&d, and guitar technically!

𝟎𝟔. 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐑 :  most darks but blues, greens, and reds especially

𝟎𝟕. 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 :   oh gosh uhhh the Legend of Ga’hoole series holds a very special place in my heart because childhood but shoutout to Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes for being genuinely funny as hell

𝟎𝟖. 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃 :   good soup! a go-to meal of mine is some chicken broth with miso, bok choy, chopped veg, and udon noodles :]

𝟎𝟗. 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐌 / 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 : The Legend Of Vox Machina !

𝟏𝟎. 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 : EXCELLENT QUESTION. I have no idea. Listen man the kid just showed up in my mind one day and refused to leave until I made him a blog, and now we’re here! Unless we’re counting some of my fellow mutuals though, in which case god are some of yall are incredible writers holy shit. 100% when it come to writing style? you people are my inspiration, without a doubt. So much of my motivation just comes from wanting to self improve for the sake feeling on the same level as you guys dkjfhgdfkj (seriously though there’s a few people I follow here I could gush about for a whole other paragraph I SWEAR-) In terms of headcanons and whatnot though, I honestly just pick up little ideas from all sorts of places! It’s pretty random when a thought will pop into my head, though a bulk of heavy character building is just done by me analyzing tiny game details and letting that snowball into something much larger (ex. there a photo of a child who looks like mono in the hospital level? Alright! Let’s make a chunk of his backstory surround him visiting the hospital frequently in the past due to his father-)

𝟏𝟏. 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐔𝐑𝐋 : Couldn’t think of a good name that was centered around Mono, so I decided to branch out to the game location! (which came in handy when I threw RK on here as a bonus muse)

tagged by: was held at gunpoint to steal it tagging: uhhhhh if you’re wearing blue or grey, do it <3

[demonboyhalo]

I may have made character stuff...

-So Ranboo's just this dude, owns a casino somehow, and he's generally regarded as pretty nice, it's the place you go if you want to gamble and not have to deal with asshole owners. If you can avoid Tommy, he's not the friendliest. And yeah, the owner wears a mask around all the time, but sometimes people are just like that. -In other circles, though, he's generally regarded as someone you don't want to mess with, he's intuitive as hell and has a lot of resources. And his stare is oddly menacing if you think about it for too long. Everyone he's ever been in a business meeting with will vow on their life that the man doesn't blink. -The casino has regulars, and some of them are normal, just fairly friendly and they like the place. Others, however, are more... quiet. They stick out. There's the guy with long pink braided hair and a pig tattoo, who everyone swears they've never heard talk. They're also pretty sure he carries a gun under that jacket of his, someone saw the handle once when he was pushing past them. (Techno's fairly close with Ranboo and the others, he just doesn't know how to deal with customers.) -Another one, often seen with him, is the man in green, usually a trench coat but someone's girlfriend's cousin's father's dogsitter's brother's pretty sure they saw him in cosplay once. He has a matching green earring with the man with pink hair (actual gold and emeralds, high quality too.), and is rarely seen without him. He's occasionally affable with the customers, but mostly he seems a bit too tired of them. Whenever he's around, there seem to be more crows than usual gathering around the building, some even pecking on the windows. -There's a third, he doesn't come around as much, but he's simple, a yellow turtleneck and a scarf of blue wool. When asked, he'll tell you his girlfriend made it. (No one knows anything about the girlfriend, and they're pretty sure he's making her up. He is. He found the scarf on someone's dead body. He panicked the first time someone asked.) He seems a little zoned out sometimes, but then he'll give you a too-sharp smile or you'll see a glint of steel at his hip and you remember to fear him. -All of the regulars know Tommy, and if you asked them they'd say they hated him, but they'd be lying for saying they weren't at least a little fond of the guy. Sure, he was a bit insufferable sometimes, but he had some sort of magical ability to worm his way into your mind until you were sighing of tired affection instead of tired anger. -No one really knows Tubbo, most only know of his existence from the golden band Ranboo wears, and the ones that do don't really see much substance to him. Sure he's nice, but lots of people are nice. They've clearly never seen the stacks of C4 in his stock room, or seen the flamethrower he made once when he was bored. (Ranboo made sure all his clothes were flame-retardant after its creation, because his husband was great at what he did, but his aim wasn't always precise.) -Schlatt was the local police commissioner, and taught Tubbo everything he knew. Maybe he wasn't the most straight-laced policeman, but who was? Look, he usually didn't let people die, that's probably how he got his job, right? Well, that and the copious bribes and threats. No one ever said he was a good person. He was currently after some mysterious group that kept stealing shit and blowing things up (and probably doing other things, but he hadn't figured them out yet), because honestly they were bad for business and it would look good to have taken down a whole crime ring. Maybe he'd even get a commendation. Maybe he should ask Tubbo what he thought, maybe he'd have some advice, he was kind of stuck at the moment.

Feel free to add stuff on my brain just decided to hyperfixate

YO THIS IS DOPE??? (honestly this deserves a post of its own so i won't add on anything) you've fleshed out such an interesting concept Anon, i love your take on this AU!!!

[frida-kahl-of-the-rocky-horror]

Incorrect!! Israel initially reported 1400 however this number has since been updated. For one, 200ish were members of Hamas. I’m not blaming Israel for this because it was chaotic times, but now that more accurate numbers — provided by the Israeli social security agency — have since come out.

When talking about Israeli civilians, which I mentioned in my last comment, “The final death toll from the attack is now thought to be 695 Israeli civilians, including 36 children, as well as 373 security forces and 71 foreigners, giving a total of 1,139”.

Just as I don’t include the Hamas members in the number of killed Palestinians, I don’t include Israeli militants in the number of Israeli deaths because casualties faced by people in the military are always going to occur and isn’t a war crime but CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ARE WAR CRIMES.

Additionally, some of the 695 civilians killed on 10/7 include those killed in friendly fire.

So the first subsection of your first sentence is false. Now to address your other ignorant claims.

“gaza has 20,000 casualties, including all military ones” incorrect, the 20,000+ number just accounts for civilians

“with safe zones” Israel has bombed UN safe zones, refugee camps, and other internationally recognized safe zones. Israel initially told the people of Gaza to go to the southern part of the strip, which they have since bombed. There are no safe zones Israel is not willing to bomb. No hospital, church, mosque, orphanage, or refugee centre is safe.

“evacuation calls” oh really 😒 Saïd evacuation calls are slits of paper with QR codes on them written in poorly translated Arabic. 50% of Gaza’s population are children, so literally is an issue, additionally a substantial portion of Gaza’s population don’t have a phone, SO HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO SCAN THE FUCKING QR CODE. Many Palestinians are also weary about scanning the QR code in the first place because it requires you to have an Israel owned app. And given Israel’s track record of killing journalists (remember, more journalists have been killed in this war than in WW2), journalists families, and citizens who have brought awareness to Israel’s war crimes. This is something Netanyahu had even said they were doing. Now, even if a person in Gaza has a phone, is able to read, and uses the pamphlet, they then have approximately 24-48 hours to leave their homes and communities, lack up everything they own, and walk for dozens of kilometres. What are they supposed to do if they have small children or elderly relatives or family in hospice? Just abandon them? Do you, YOU, think you could pack up your entire life and walk for kilometres in a single day?? And even with this, A LOT OF THE TIME ISRAEL DOESNT EVEN WARN PEOPLE BEFORE THEY BOMB. You’re a piece of shit if you honestly believe this is a valid argument.

“free water” most of the quote free water you speak of comes from reservoirs diverted from Gaza to surrounding settlements. This is ground water of Gaza, below where Palestinians live. This isn’t some kind hearted gift. And even then, recently Israel has been stopping said water from coming to Gaza. Now, I am aware that only 15% of Palestinian ground water is controlled by Israel, but 74% of Gaza’s ground water is controlled by Israel. That 15% applies to Gaza and West Bank.

“fuel and gas” most Palestinians in Gaza don’t even own cars

“humanitarian aid” most of said humanitarian aid either a) comes from countries other than Israel which gets stopped by the border, confiscated, and then some of it is brought to Gaza. By that logic, everything someone purchases online is from the USPS rather than say Amazon or EBay. Your country doesn’t get to steal resources that other countries are giving to a country you border and then give some of it back to the country it was originally intended for. You aren’t being humanitarian icon, you’re being a thief who returns some of what they stole

“and Israel is giving all that” incorrect, see above

“in a war It didn't start” damn, if you really think this conflict started on 10/7 than my previous comment about you being a dense twat rings true. This conflict has been going on since 1948, when Israel took over 55% of Palestinian and then forcibly removed hundreds of thousand of Palestinians. Most Palestinians aren’t even from Gaza, THEY WERE FORCED THEIR BY ISRAEL. Also, according to many of my leftist ISRAELI friends, reports have come out that Netanyahu ignored the early signs that some sort of event would happen. Now, why would he do that? Remember how a few months ago Netanyahu attempted to essentially abolish the Israeli judiciary system, turning the country from a democracy to a dictatorship, and there were massive protests against him? Remember how Leftists in Israel began to find solidarity with Palestinians? Well, it would make sense for Netanyahu to ignore the signs of an attack so people would “rally behind the flag” and so the previous conflicts internally would be ignored because “wahhhh Israel is under attack”. I’m not saying this is 100% what happened, but it would make sense with some of the documents from his inner circle that have been released, and it’s also what similar far far right wing governments have done in the past. (Also, if you claim the modern Israeli government isn’t far right wing, you’re delulu and apparently I pay more attention to your country’s politics than you).

“against a registered terrorist organization”… in the United States and Israel. It’s not a terrorist organization in Ireland for example, or Mexico, or Japan. Also, no offence to Israel or the US, but both countries labeled Nelson Mandela and Fred Hampton as terrorists so their opinions ARE WORTHLESS

“places war equipment in kindergarten and children in bomb factories” Source? Most non partisan sources have criticized Israel for either A) making up claims with no evidence or B) plant evidence. Remember how the whole calendar fiasco was initially reported by Israeli government officials as the smoke and gun WHEN IT WAS LITERALLY THE DAYS OF THE WEEK??? Or the Israeli woman who made a TikTok in a hospital pretending to be a Palestinian nurse saying hamas was there, despite the fact she was a) speaking with a thick Hebrew accent b) was not recognized by any of the hospital staff c) used bomb sound effects from YouTube with sound analysts quickly found and d) was later found to be a woman from Tel Aviv who has never been to Gaza? You claim these outlandish things but YOUR COUNTRY HAS NO EVIDENCE FOR THEM. YOUR COUNTRY IS LYING TO YOU.

“I am with you, just please, repeat after me [stupidest shit I’ve ever read]” Your comparison is so moronic. For one, if you add up the civilian casualties of the USA, UK, USSR, France, Poland, Mexico, and every other country the European Axis powers attacked, THEY ARE FAR MORE THAN THE CIVILIAN CASUALTIES OF THE EUROPEAN AXIS POWERS. You literally made the point against yourself. You’re so dense 🤣

Also, much like Nazi Germany, Israel isn’t just attacking one country but many. They just bombed the capital of Lebanon, they’ve killed dozens of Yemeni people with the US’s help, and many Syrians as well JUST SINCE 10/7.

Your logic is so stupid that when you actually look into it, look at the numbers, look at the historical comparison, you accidentally show that Israel is more like Nazi Germany than Palestine is.

German civilian casualties WW2: 1,500,000 to 3,000,000

The civilian casualties OF JUST POLALD: 5,620,000 to 5,820,000. Now think about all the other allied countries

Also, to address the last part of your idiotic argument, there’s a difference in power balance between places like Gaza and Ukraine and Israel and Russia. Russia is a global regional hegemon, Israel has the backing of a global hegemon. Gaza and Ukraine are weak countries with high populations of children, who have historically been the victims of colonialism. Russia and Israel and nuclear powers. Ukraine had a very weak military before the conflict and Gaza’s military was essentially non existent. Ukraine and Gaza are not on the same playing field.

People call what Israel is doing genocide and colonialism because that’s what it is. If you don’t believe me, I urge you to read everything I’ve written in the links of my pinned comment.

You are a moron and should stick to video games and tv shows not geopolitics, because you fall for propaganda so easily.

[tickle-bugs]

Justice League Headcanons

So...yeah. Blame @fickle-tiction and @fanficsandfluff but I can’t get JL out of my head. I know next to nothing in terms of canon and I only enjoy a handful of DC movies, so this is the beginning of what I am calling the BEU (Bug Extended Universe). 

Essentially, in the words of Nick Fury, ‘I recognize your canon, but seeing as it’s a stupid-ass canon, I have elected to ignore it :)’. A mish-mash of everything I’ve learned about DC through osmosis and my own personal vibe checks :)

This is absurdly long so everything is under the cut:

Clark Kent

- Superman? NO, Superdork. 

- He’s extremely clumsy. If he wasn’t as fast as a speeding bullet he’d get his ass handed to him ten times over. He has two left feet. 

- He has a sweet tooth like no one’s business. Lois once found him perched on the kitchen counter at 3 am eating the donuts she brought home from work. 

- Super playful and affectionate! King of bear hugs! Country boy I love youuuuuuu

- Curses like a sailor. Do you really think Clark ‘Smallville, Kansas’ Kent is wholesome? He stubbed his toe once and yelled FUCK so loud that the windows vibrated. Everyone who isn’t in the league thinks he’s a boyscout but the league knows the truth. 

- Forgets about his powers a lot. He has been known to run through walls/take doors off their hinges when he’s excited. 

- Goblin. He loves messing with Bruce and roping Barry into his schemes. 

- Clark being ticklish is actually smth that can be so personal? His laugh is so loud and he always goes ‘sorry’ and tries to be quieter but it does NOT work. He has flight instincts more than fight instincts so he often starts unconsciously floating away when he’s tickled it’s so cute. He giggles a lot and he’s not particularly embarrassed by it.

- Do NOT get me started on ler Clark I could write a dissertation. He is SO playful and teasy but also sweet? He definitely is the type to laugh along with his lee. He definitely allows any sort of retaliation/fighting back like,,, if you manage to crawl away it’s because he let you, and if he wants too, he can be very mean and immovable.

- Bruce and Barry are his favorite targets. He doesn’t go after Diana because, frankly, he doesn’t have a death wish. He loves to cause problems on purpose by squeezing Arthur’s side and then blaming it on Barry. (Hal Jordan isn’t in the DCEU Justice League but I wish he was...they’d be partners in crime <3)

Bruce Wayne

- Okay let’s clarify some things: he’s not actually an asshole. He can be abrasive and snarky but he’s more towards the sarcastic gruff side vs straight-up mean.

- A lot of people think he’s genuinely an asshole/disconnected rich guy because he has a terrible habit of zoning out/interrupting people? Bruce actually just has intense ADHD that he refuses to get diagnosed, no matter how much Alfred pushes him. He doesn’t care what people think about him and he’s mostly learned how to manage it, so he leaves it alone.

- That being said, his friendship with Barry has me :’) Yes, he thinks Barry’s a pest (affectionate), but they share a few science-related hyperfixations (robotics, chemical engineering, etc). They can frequently be found holed up in the Batcave with a week’s worth of food and caffeine, and they’re just....tinkering. Watching them at work is amazing because as much as they annoy each other, they respect each other :)

- He’s 100% a cat person. He doesn’t have a problem with dogs, he just prefers cats. He feeds the strays that hang out around the Manor all the time...

-...which Alfred begs him not to do, because Bruce is severely allergic. He thinks he can power through the allergies until one of the stray cats does the face-headbump thing and he’s incapacitated emotionally and physically for the rest of the day. 

- He severely restrains his emotions but like...catch him on a good day or in a good mood and he’ll smile and laugh, especially in friendly company. He just generally believes in maintaining a poker face so no one can read him. 

- Not to be disrespectful but...thighs. I am Looking. 

- Bruce has a wonderful laugh. He’s not much of a giggler tbh but he has this open, clear, slightly scratchy kinda laugh (his voice is permanently hoarse from the Batman Voice). It’s so lovely. He has a habit of covering his mouth bc he’s embarrassed of his smile but if he finds something very funny he’ll laugh openly. 

- Thee Batman is ticklish and he...doesn’t hate it? Like of course he protests ten ways from Sunday but he more minds the ‘guys stop you’re ruining my dark and brooding facade’ bit. He hates being teased though and he will throw hands. 

- Circling back to the emotions thing, he’s very good at controlling his reactions, which means he has thoroughly convinced everyone he’s not ticklish. Except Clark, stupidly perceptive Clark, because he can hear Bruce’s heartbeat and see the way he clenches his jaw to avoid smiling. 

Diana Prince

- WIFEY!!!!! 

- Diana is hilarious okay? She’s just...so fucking funny. Her jokes never miss. You wouldn’t think she’s the quippy type, but she is, and she’s damn good at it. In a distant alternate universe, Peter Parker senses a rival. 

- Loves fresh fruit, but especially strawberries? She makes frequent trips to the local farmer’s market. 

- She also has a raging sweet tooth. She and Clark work together to steal sweets and buy snacks. 

- Will not back down from a challenge, ever. It’s kinda a problem.

- She has such a sweet laugh :’) It’s so bouncy and melodic and she scrunches her nose. She WILL snort and it’s the cutest thing ever. Yes she’s ticklish, but no one gets more than five seconds of laughter out of her before she turns the tables. 

- World’s meanest ler. Not only is she frequently on the prowl, she is near-ruthless, especially if she’s been baited. Once she sets her sights on someone, she won’t rest until she’s heard their laugh. 

- Diana is very mischievous and loves hearing her friends laugh. It’s impossible to be in her vicinity for more than five minutes without at LEAST a few pokes. She is not above just,,, random tickles either. 

- Nails. That is all. 

Arthur Curry

- Why are his tiddies always out? Someone please explain.

- The most targeted for pranks ever. Diana especially. Something about him just attracts goblinism. 

- He’s coming for Clark’s bear hugger crown. He picks people up so often that they’re just used to it now. 

- Playfighting and roughhousing is his love language. He absolutely loves wrestling with anyone who’ll humor him. He and Diana frequently tussle because they’re both good sports about it (Bruce is a little bit of a sore loser. Just a smidge). 

- Thinks he can get away with anything, which is decidedly not true. He just nopes his way out of the room and everyone’s like D:< get back here and atone for your sins!!! But Arthur’s already in the Pacific Ocean. 

- I like to think he’s ticklish, just not super ticklish y’know? He probably has a couple hidden spots that make him lose it though. Like he’ll definitely laugh and fall over, but he can and will fight back. Oh boy, will he fight back. 

- Batman: No fear.

Diana and Arthur sneaking up behind him:

Batman: One fear. 

- Y’know that picture of Jason Momoa sneaking up behind Henry Cavill on the red carpet? That is extremely relevant. Arthur loves to sneak up behind people and just...take them down. 

- Thinks Barry is annoying (affectionate) and the two of them are constantly chasing each other around. Barry is fast but Arthur’s strong (and wayy less ticklish than Barry)

- Physical affection!! He always has his arms around someone’s shoulders or something. He’s just a touchy kind of guy :)

Barry Allen

- Speedy boy! ADHD king! Sometimes his thoughts are also at superspeed, which means he talks way too fast and no one can understand him? But Bruce speaks fluent Barry and he translates often (though not without a labored sigh beforehand). 

- Physically affectionate but casual about it? He likes to play with people’s hands while he’s talking, bump shoulders with whoever he’s next to, etc. He doesn’t really realize he does it either. It’s not uncommon for him to be talking to Clark or Diana and they just...unconsciously give him their hand before he reaches for it.

- Okay so y’know how Bruce feeds the strays? Who do you think lets them in the first place? Barry has tried to adopt every stray he comes across, and when Alfred inevitably says no, Barry runs them to the shelter himself :’)

- Gifting is his love language!!! If he sees anything that remotely reminds him of his friends, he brings it to them. 

- He likes to hang out with Victor because he’s quiet, but doesn’t mind when Barry rambles, which he tends to do quite often. Barry will catch himself rambling and trail off, but Victor will encourage him to keep going, because he’s listening. 

- Thee Pillsbury Doughboy. Just these high-pitched, bouncy, frantic giggles that only get worse and eventually morph into cackles. He hiccups a lot too :’)

- Okay so he’s not a flailer but he’s super squirmy. Barry will cling onto his ler’s arms just to hold onto something. He kicks his legs too (he does this when he’s not being tickled either, if he laughs and he’s sitting somewhere he kicks). He also just constantly tries to crawl away. If he isn’t pinned down he will drag himself to safety. He also has a habit of curling up :’)

- Absolutely invented the speed-tickle. He actually doesn’t often use his powers (unless he’s chasing down Clark, because Clark isn’t above breaking the sound barrier to escape). He’s just got incredible hand-eye coordination and precision. His hands will be absolutely everywhere and he is so teasy about it. 

- Tries not to start fights he can’t finish, but he always gets roped into Clark’s mischief and gets targeted with revenge tickles. 

- He has tickled Clark once. It was incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular. Literally his crowning achievement. Did Clark absolutely destroy him afterwards? Yes, but it was so worth it. 

Victor Stone

- Quiet and stoic, but he’s always preferred listening and interjecting with a joke or two. 

- Closest with Barry and Diana, but he’s making an effort to bond with everyone.

- Unfortunately not ticklish :( I like to think soft touches on his face will make him smile and lean away, but it’s not going to get a laugh from him.

- Doesn’t often get involved in tickly shenanigans, but when he does, he surprises everyone with how much fun he has. A different, warmer side of him comes out when he’s among his friends.

- He’s a hugger! Definitely awkward about it, but he loves hugs and just...holding his friends. 

- He collects hoodies. He can’t really feel them when he’s wearing them, but he likes them and the idea of it. Barry seems to slip him a new hoodie every week. Victor has no idea where he gets them from but he’s not complaining. 

- He is an enabler. He will look at Bruce like :| “no, I don’t know where Barry and Clark are, nor do I no what they’re planning” But they’re literally right behind Bruce, about to squeeze his sides. 

- That being said, he won’t do that with Diana. If she asks where they are, he’ll subtly nod his head in their direction. Even in jest, he will never lie to her. Which makes him Thee person to avoid when Diana’s on her mischievous streaks.

[crimefightingspiderguy]

left hand free

Part II to the series, i want you to want me.

Summary: (Y/N) is checking in on Peter in Germany. 

Warnings: I guess swearing? Maybe spoilers for Captain America: Civil War, but like who hasn’t seen that bad boy lol?

Pairings: Peter Parker x best friend!reader

Word count: 1,632

A/N: I’ve decided that I’m going to attempt to get this series done before I start my summer semester, so on the 15th of May, if I can’t then updates will be slow during that time, at least for a month until I finish school. Updates will ideally be 1-2 times a week since that’s about how many days I have off from work. Thanks for the support on the last part!

You anxiously pace back and forth on your kitchen floor. Lost in your thoughts, only brought to reality by the familiar ding of your phone. You let go of the breath you didn’t know you were holding. You pick up your phone and look at the text from Peter, 

P: “Just landed in Germany”

Y: “Well now that the hard part is over, have a great trip! 🙄🥴”

P: “All will be fine lol. Make sure to send me a picture of us “hanging” so I can check-in with May.”

“Hey, dad!” You called to him, hoping he could hear you from his room.

“What’s up?” He popped his head out from behind the door frame. 

“I have a strange favor to ask. Can you take a picture of me working on my Spanish project? Since Peter and I couldn’t work on it together, they want us to take pictures of each of us doing our halves so they know we didn’t just have one person do all the work.” 

“What happened with Peter coming over this weekend?” 

“Oh, it turns out he had a college recruitment thing. He didn’t think he’d qualify when he applied, so he thought he’d be able to make it. He’s gonna do his half in his hotel.” 

“Oh, alright.” Your dad takes your phone from you and snaps a picture of you leaning over the poster board, pretending to write the title for the project. He hands you back your phone. “That’s an odd request from a teacher.” 

“Well, that’s what they tell us, but we all really know that they’re just lacking in volunteers for the yearbook so they want to get some extra pictures of kids working on projects if they can.” You chuckled nervously, and took the phone back, immediately sending it to Peter. He went back to his room, telling you goodnight and to not stay up too late. “love you!” you shout as he shuts his bedroom door. 

“Back at ya kid!”

You phone bings and brings your attention back to Peter.

P: “Oh look how cute you look when you pretend to do homework 🥺”

Y: “Shut up. I hope Captain America knocks you on your ass with his shield.” 

P: “Well that’s not very nice. Maybe I should ask one of the Avengers if they’re in the market for a new best friend.”

Y: “Go ahead and do that for me because if you die then at least I’ll have someone to comfort me. Does Thor happen to be on your team? If so, I’ll gladly mourn my loss in his big strong arms 😢”

P: “As a matter of fact, he is not. Guess you’re s.o.l. Nighty night.” 

Y: “Night, try not to get yourself killed dumbass.” 

You continued working on the Spanish project throughout the night. After all, you were planning on having two people doing this, and now you have to make up for that. Well, that’s what you told yourself, you knew that you wouldn’t be able to sleep well all weekend with the thought that Peter might be in danger. But, if he really has been Spider-Man this whole time, then he’s been in danger for some time. But this seems like a different kind of danger. You’ve always know Spider-Man to be the friendly neighborhood crime fighter, but now that he’s working with the Avengers, you worried what that kind of exposure to a bigger enemy might mean for him. Maybe this is why Peter never told you, he didn’t want you to hold him back or worry constantly about him. You’d understand him not telling May because of that, but you thought that your friendship was something beyond just caring about each other. You thought it was the two of you encouraging each other and helping them to be the best version of themselves, so why didn’t he trust you with something that was so important to him? Maybe he thought you’d rat him out? But if he gave you the chance he would know that you would never go behind his back like that. Maybe this was your chance to prove that to him. Well, whatever his reasoning, you hoped he would be more honest from here on out. 

The next day you hadn’t heard anything from Peter all day. You assumed he was probably just busy, plus being in a different time zone probably didn’t help, but you still had a gnawing feeling. That was until you got a text of a picture of Peter with some locals, and you realized he was probably sightseeing until it was time to “suit up”. You smiled at the picture and saved it. He looked so genuinely happy, and you didn’t get to see that often in pictures. You realized that this was something that he was excited about. His nerves and tension you sensed when he asked you to cover for him were gone, and he was fully enjoying himself and his chance to fight with Iron Man. You sighed contently and shut off your phone, figuring it’s probably best to not have it taunting you throughout the day. 

When you finally turned your phone back on, about right before you got into bed for the night, you had a video from Peter waiting for you. It was him running around a town square and showing you all the different food carts. You chuckled, not really sure why he felt the need to share all the food carts with you of everything, but you didn’t mind. Accompanying the video is a text that says,

P: “Mr. Stark says we’re gathering at the airport in the morning because that’s where Captain America is heading, trying to escape.”

Y: “Loving the video and picture, looks like fun! Hope everything goes well tomorrow, kick some ass Pete ❤️ (oh and don’t die please)” 

P: “Oh now you want me to come back. Now that you know Thor’s not here to dry your tears?” 

Y: “I’ve always wanted you to come back, I’m just saying if you don’t… I might not be so torn up if Thor was sent to break the news to me 😉”

P: “I’ll put that in my will really quick “P.S. Send Thor to break the news to (Y/N)”.” 

Y: “I appreciate your support on this bud! Oh by the way, here’s a picture of the project finished for May, tomorrow I’m baking Mantecados so when you get back you can be my taste tester and then everything should be ready to present on Monday!” 

You’d gotten up and snapped a picture of the finished poster board. Then propped your camera on your desk so it looked about Peter's height, and set a timer. You hopped in front of the board and held your arms out in a way that someone would show off a car on a game show, and out on a big grin. You sent both to Peter so he had some options for what to send to May as proof. He responded to you after he saved them and forwarded them to May.

P: “Thank you! May is really appreciating the fun shots of you acting like poster board making is your calling. Also, I’m really looking forward to knowing absolutely nothing about our project when we present lol.” 

Y: “Hey, that’s on you lol. Read the points I have on the board on your plane ride back.” 

You set your phone down and closed your eyes, a smile on your face that you couldn’t shake. You were able to sleep peacefully knowing that for now, Peter was okay. You could worry about him tomorrow, but for now, he’s okay. 

You decided to sleep in as much as you could, since today all you had to do was go out and get some baking ingredients, then bake. You woke up around noon, which is definitely longer than you thought you’d stay in, but you weren’t mad. You were facing your alarm clock on your bedside table then turned on your back to stretch. You looked up at your ceiling and fell out of bed. 

“What the actual fuck!” You yell as you fall, scared to death.

You heard the most familiar laugh echo through your room as Peter fell from your ceiling to your bed. You stood up, grabbed your pillow and smacked him across the head. 

“Hey! It’s not my fault you’re easy to scare!” 

“No, but it is your fault that you’re a total ass.” You laugh at him, but then pause as he takes off his mask and reveals his black eye. You quickly take his face into your hands and gently rub your thumb over it.

“Who did this? I’ll kick their ass.” You said, completely forgetting that he was just fighting the oldest living Avenger.

“I’ll let Mr. Stark know to warn Cap that you’re coming for his head.” 

“Right, sorry. I did just wake up, I totally forgot you were off fighting big bad guys. So what was it like? Are you an Avenger now?” 

“It was interesting and kind of cool to be doing more than just stopping random thugs from stealing old ladies’ purses, ya know? And no, well… I’m basically an Avenger, but I think I have to wait for another assignment or something for me to prove I’m ready.” 

“Well, hopefully, they’re not needing you too much.”

“Why not? I could really do this! I could be an Avenger!”

“What about school?”

“Well I could obviously do both, I would just have to only do Avenger things when I can, but I’ll manage, I’ve been managing for a while now.” 

“Well, as long as your happy, and not dead, I’ll support you.” You chuckled, hoping that Peter would continue to trust you with his Spider-Man secrets. 

Current Taglist: @popluckbih

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Thank you, xx.

[ddaengyoonmin]

Chapter 9

Pairing: Jungkook x reader, Taehyung x reader, Jimin x reader, Namjoon x Reader, Jin x Reader  eventual Ot7 x reader in later chapters

Genre: fluff, angst, smut in previous and later chapters

Theme: Based kinda on sword art online a lot of similar ideas and themes kinda combining the idea of them trapped in the game, but the world is closer to ALFheim online

Warnings: Sad Jungkook and Jimin (Thats a warning because no one wants to ever see these bbys hurting and the author is v sorry.) , A small brawl between members

Word Count: 2.4k

 Jungkook stood in the doorway of the small cave room.  “Found you…” He muttered.

-----------------

You felt like you wanted to throw up.  How did he even find you here? Not that it was your biggest concern at the moment…

Jimin had a terrified expression on his face as he stood up to try and explain,  “Jungkook I-” he started but stopped when Taehyung also entered the room.  Even though Jungkook was in most every way the victim of this situation, Taehyung had always scared Jimin more, and for good reason.

Jungkook just shook his head, a heartbreakingly hurt expression on his face, and stumbled out of the cave room slowly.  

Taehyung took a moment to scan the room, inspecting the situation in front of him.  You were scurrying to re-dress yourself when it clicked in his mind what was happening here.  Taehyung was filled with rage.  In a flash he ran over to the cat hybrid and had him pinned against the wall.  “What the fuck did you do?” he growled.

“Nothing she didn’t want me to” Jimin said with a confident smirk, trying to hide his fear and at the same time assure Taehyung that it was all with permission.

Taehyung still wasn’t pleased with this answer.  He cocked an arm back and punched Jimin in the face.  

Jimin’s health bar took a small hit at this action.  

“Tae don’t” you shouted at him.

Taehyung simply scoffed and shot a glare your way before storming out of the room.

Jimin tried to go over to you for some comfort after being hurt, but you stood and took a few steps back from him.

“I really fucked up Jimin.” you started to sob and shake your head, putting your hands out to tell him not to come any closer to you.

He hung his head and remained silent.

���I have to go” you spoke quickly and rushed out of the room to go find Jungkook.

When you left the small room to enter the bigger room in the cave, you saw that Jungkook and Taehyung were face to face with Namjoon and Jin by the fire.  Aggressive stances and looks being exchanged by each duo.

“You’re not taking her back!” Jin shouted putting up his fists

“That's debatable” Taehyung hissed out, now mirroring Jin’s actions.

“Wait” Namjoon spoke with his face full of confusion. “Holy shit! Jungkook!” he exclaimed

“Oh my god... Namjoon is that you?” Jungkook gasped now looking the fire fairy over “Dude, what the hell” he yelled.

At that moment you had gotten close enough for your presence to be noticed

“Do you guys know each other?” You asked, though it seemed to have an obvious answer as they had used each other's real names.

Jungkook didn’t look at you or acknowledge that you’d spoke.  But Namjoon returned your gaze at them and answered.

“Yeah, we work together actually”

What an odd coincidence you thought.  They probably felt the same.  The tension in the room toward each other had gone down significantly at their revelations.

“So do we still have a problem here?” Taehyung questioned. “You guys know each other so we are good here right? Y/N comes with us” he moved towards you grabbing your arm and pulling you close to him.

Namjoon hesitated.  “I-I’m not sure…” he mumbled. He smacked a hand to his head “I should’ve realized that it was someone I’d know...dammit.  Your game strategies so far have been so skilled, only another game maker would’ve been smart enough to know to snatch up a water fairy at the beginning like that knowing what kind of stats and abilities she had.”

Wait...what? You stared at Jungkook in shock, he still avoided your gaze.  “Game...maker?”

Taehyung nodded since Jungkook obviously wasn’t about to acknowledge your existence any time soon.  “Jungkookie here is a game designer, he played a big part in the creation of this very game we all stand in now” he extended his arm waving it across the room, “And apparently you too... Namjoon was it?” he turned his face to the fire fairy.

Namjoon nodded “Yeah we were in charge of creating the types of spells, skill points and at times the types of quests and rewards for the mission that would be put into the menu screen.  We also got to beta test the game about 2 months ago, so we’ve had a lot of experience already.  There were about 20 of us that got to do that.  They are all probably here too.  But, Jungkook and I are the ones that got furthest in the game” He laughed “Most were better at creating rather than playing”

Jungkook stared down to the ground.  This wasn’t exactly how he’d wanted you to find this out.  He hadn’t wanted to tell you at all, thinking you might blame him for helping create this horror.  He felt guilty about it every day since you’d all been trapped here. Yet, at the same time, what did it matter now anyways.  

He had traveled at top speed going off tips from other players who had overheard a party talk about needing a water fairy so they could try and raid the dragon cave in Niflheim.  When he saw the cave with light from a fire shining from its mouth, he’d hoped he’d find you there.  

When he arrived he’d snuck in using his skills in illusion and sneaking to remain undetected.  He expected to find you tied up, or worse.  Now out of anger part of him felt the worse he expected may have been better than the worse he’d found.  He walked in just in time to see you cumming on Jimin’s fingers.  The man that this whole time Jungkook had thought was torturing you, holding you captive.   He had expected to see you cry out in relief at seeing him when he arrived to rescue you.  But you didn’t need rescuing, you were having a great time.  

He was so hurt, and embarrassed that he had assumed he meant anything to you.  He obviously didn’t, if he did you wouldn’t have been in such an erotic position with another man.  A position that he had pictured himself in with you many times.  He was angry at you, and angry at himself for being so fooled.  When you had kissed him at the inn, he felt like it meant something, and that you felt the same.  

His feelings for you weren’t gone even now, but he didn’t know how he’d ever be able to face you again without seeing that scene play in his head that he’d just walked in on.  The pain in his stomach was unbearable.  And on top of all that now you were probably going to hate him for being one of the game makers.  Not that he wasn’t assuming you might already hate him, because how could anyone who cares about someone do something as cold as what you’d just done.

“Jungkook did you hear Namjoon?” Taehyung was staring right at him.  

Jungkook had been so lost in thought he’d zoned out from the conversation that was still going on between the other three men around the fire.  

“Uh...no actually I’m sorry” he shook his head.

“I said we were such good teammates in the beta version of the game, so it seems like the best solution here is to just join our parties right? Then we both get the water fairy and two great minds” He grinned as he repeated suggested a second time.

“I don’t excuse you for stealing her in the first place, we weren’t just using her like you guys were.  Her name isn’t water fairy, its y/n and she’s our friend” Taehyung said narrowing his eyes at the two men “but this does sound like a smart plan don’t you think Jungkook?” he turned to him.

Jungkook simply nodded.  They were right, it wasn’t a bad idea, Namjoon and him had dominated in the beta test of the game, making it many floors higher than anyone else had with just the two of them.  Yet still he was not too pleased with the idea of having to stay in the same party as Jimin.  He was hoping that if he took you back, if he was able to force you away from Jimin that maybe you’d find yourself having regrets and if you ever did in the first place maybe you’d develop some feelings for him again, maybe he could win you back.   

Little did he know you were already filled with regrets, you had been instantly even before seeing Jungkook standing there in witness to your crimes against him.  You felt like the world's biggest idiot.  How could you do something this horrible to the man you loved. Loved?

Jimin had said that he knew you loved Jungkook, and when he said that you hadn’t thought of it as love. But back in that small room when you had snapped out of the haze of your lustful mess you had created you had realized that yes, it was love, you loved Jungkook and you had just made a horrible mistake.  From here out you were going to do everything you could to make it up to him.  If he’d ever even want to talk to you again.  

“The water fairy agrees I suppose, if I’m allowed a say” you joked hoping to break some of the remaining tension that still was lingering in the room.

Jungkook nodded again and sent a request to Namjoon to merge the parties.

As he did Jimin had wandered out into the room to stand near his brothers.

“That one needs to watch himself” Taehyung growled pointing at Jimin.  “If you still want him alive he’s really gotta learn to keep his hands to himself”

You gasped softly at how aggressive that comment was.  Jimin shyly went and cowered behind Jin.  

Namjoon looked shocked as well “Let’s keep the talk of friendly fire out of this party for everyone's sake huh? We’re all on the same side now, so I’m going to suggest we put whatever grudges we are holding in the past” He said sternly “But, yeah he’ll be good” He added and turned to Jimin with an authoritative look.  Jimin nodded quickly.  

Things seemed to calm down and everyone sat down around the fire.  Taehyung and Jin actually seemed to be hitting it off, sitting down together, each staring at the other’s screen as they compared stats and items that they had found.  They even traded a couple items they had seen that they admired.  Namjoon and Jungkook discussed strategy and things related to what they had done in the beta version of the game.  

“Did you notice how much they hiked up the price on the Inn? That was bullshit” Namjoon scoffed.  

Jimin sat silently as far away from you as he could.  Occasionally he would try and meet your gaze trying to flash an apologetic look your way.  You would only glare and quickly turn your attention away, looking at Jungkook and trying to listen in to him and Namjoon, as if to show Jimin who you really had your heart leaning towards. It wasn’t completely Jimin’s fault in the moment you had wanted it just as much. You couldn’t help but be reminded of your weakness and failure to control yourself every time you looked at him.

He was hurt as well.  He didn’t mean to make you betray the one you loved.  He just couldn’t help himself, he was so infatuated with you, and you were there, so close and comforting him.  When he’d first joined your party back in the woods that second day, he’d started out just flirting with you for fun and for the sake of trying to charm you into leaving your party.  It didn’t take long for him to realize Jungkook was who you had your eyes on.  

You always looked at Jungkook with such a sweet expression that he could only have dreamed would be turned toward him one day.  He wasn’t exactly sure when his fake feelings for you had turned real, but when they did it was more than he’d ever felt for anyone before in his life.  He loved you so much, and he’d had you, underneath him, moaning his name so gracefully and beautifully, it was pure bliss. But, now he feared you’d never speak to him again, he was only the man that had caused you to be disloyal to Jungkook.   

Once the conversations had started to die down and everyone was falling into their sleep, you decided to approach Jungkook.  He was still awake sitting with his knees pulled into his chest poking the fire with a stick.  A frown planted on his face as he was lost in a deep thought.

You moved to sit close to him, hoping he wouldn’t get up and move away.  To your relief he didn’t.  

“Hey” you breathed out softly.

He didn’t respond, still staring into the fire.

“Jungkook I’m sorry…” You started. “I promise that meant nothing to me.  We had just gone through something terrifying and I was weak and...I’m sorry I shouldn’t be trying to make excuses. I fucked up.  I really fucked up and I know it.  I knew it instantly before I even saw you there” you started to feel your eyes fill with tears.

“Okay.” He said without emotion.

“Jungkook…” you were saddened by his lack of words.  You wanted him to scream at you, to tell you how stupid you were.  You’d even be okay with him saying how much he hated you.  Anything but this quietness.  He was hurt, he was more hurt than he was angry and it was killing you inside to know that you were the one who had made him feel this way.

“I wish I could take it back” you whispered.

“Yeah, me too” he softly replied, you could see him start to tear up himself.  He covered his face with an arm.  “Please just let me be y/n.  I can’t right now okay.  We’ll talk more tomorrow”

You hoped he was telling the truth.  Because tomorrow you were going to tell him you loved him.  You’d tell him tomorrow and the next day, and every day until he finally was able to forgive you, if that was possible.  You had to try.

[psychosistr]

Friendly Four Verse- Meetings Part 3: Liquidator

Summary: Investigating some disappearances along the coast lead the Terrific Trio to a life-or-death battle against the forces of the sea. Thankfully for Megavolt, Quackerjack, and Bushroot, the sea seems to be on their side.

Notes: The final chapter of this installment and, as promised, it’s gonna be another long one. Hope everyone enjoys it!

-First Chapter-

The Liquidator was the last to join their little rag-tag group of heroes, but he left the biggest impact. Saving the whole city tended to do that…

There had been reports of ships going missing on their way to St.Canard for weeks now, as well as a string of missing people from the bay and the beach itself. Sadly, one or two missing ships and an occasional missing person’s report were common place in a city so rampant with crime- but the current wave was reaching unprecedented levels.

Determined to get to the bottom of the strange spiriting away at sea, the trio of heroes (duo plus one, Bushroot still tried to insist) arrived at the beach to do some investigating. Unfortunately, Megavolt’s glaring weakness was making things more than a little difficult.

“Oh for the love of-! Would you get away from the water already?!” Bushroot shouted before stretching his long arm several feet over to where Megavolt was standing dangerously close to the incoming tide. He grabbed the electric-powered hero and physically dragged him back to the much drier sand. “Are you actually TRYING to short out?!”

“Sorry..” Megavolt at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed as he rubbed at the back of his short-haired head before pointing at the spot he’d just occupied. “But I think I found something!”

“We’ve been over this, Sparky.” Bushroot sounded an awful lot like a parent lecturing a child that had ignored them several times already. “It’s too dangerous for you to get wet. If you see something, just get me or Quackerjack to take a look at-” He stopped suddenly and looked around with a scowl. “Wait..where’s Quackerjack?” He spotted the brightly colored clown in question further out in the water with a pink snorkeling set on as he looked beneath the waves. “You two are seriously going to be the death of me..” Bushroot grumbled before stretching both his torso and arms far enough to physically reach the snorkeling jester and drag him back to dry land. “Having fun?” He asked in a voice dripping with dry sarcasm.

Quackerjack answered the sarcasm with a bright smile and a nod. “Yeee-p.” He replied jovially, even popping the P at the end of the word for added effect. “Lots of neat fish out there!” The way he grinned made it hard to tell if he was seriously that childish or if he was just playing it up to further agitate the other duck.

Bushroot let Quackerjack go and rubbed at his temples with his leafy fingers, taking a moment to close his eyes and collect himself. “How the heck you two got anything done before I came along is a mystery…” He exhaled a long-suffering sigh before opening his eyes and looking at his companions (he refused to say partners or friends yet) again. “So, have you guys actually FOUND anything?”

“Well, the fish are busy stockpiling weapons for their rebel army.” The words that left Quackerjack’s mouth were said with the same amount of seriousness he said almost everything with…which was hardly any and sometimes made it hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

“What, did they tell you that?” Bushroot asked with a roll of his eyes.

“No, don’t be silly, Bushy.” Quackerjack said with a chuckle. “Fish can’t talk!” He reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a tin of fish bait. “I bribed ‘em with some treats and they showed me their weapons’ cache. The rest was just pantomiming, but I got the gist of it- something about an evil queen about to wage war on the city or something.”

Bushroot opted to ignore Quackerjack’s explanation and instead turned to Megavolt as if to pretend Quackerjack hadn’t said anything at all. “Did YOU find anything, Sparky?”

“Don’t call me Sparky.” Came the automatic reply before Megavolt pointed back to where he’d been standing earlier. “And yeah, I found this weird chunk of yellow stuff in the water over there.”

“Yellow stuff? Great, maybe it’s poisonous…” Bushroot, feeling once again like the responsible parent trying to look after two overly active kids, walked over to the spot in question and looked around for the “yellow stuff” that Megavolt had described. He found it quick enough, and was actually surprised when he reached into the water to pick it up. “Huh?” His hand pulled out an odd cube of something yellow and rubbery. It was shiny like plastic, but squishier like silicon or rubber- almost reminding him of lemon gelatin. What was REALLY surprising, though, was that it had a strand of seaweed passing through the middle of it, like it had formed around the seaweed and inadvertently severed it from its source. “What the heck is this stuff?”

“Uh, Bushy, I think we’ve got BIGGER things to worry about!” Quackerjack’s urgent tone of voice caught Bushroot’s attention, making him turn to see the jester pointing out to sea. “A LOT BIGGER!”

He was about to ask what the other meant, but then he saw what the other duck was pointing at and his eyes widened in alarm before his head hung low and he face-palmed into his waiting leaves. “You have GOT to be kidding me.” Before he could once again dwell on and lament his life choices, he was being dragged away at a brisk pace by Quackerjack and Megavolt’s now-too-familiar grip on his sleeves.

Finally getting his feet under him to run with the other two, Bushroot glanced back briefly to see the source of danger they were currently fleeing from:

A giant tsunami-sized wave of water.

Thanks to Bushroot wrapping his arms around the other two and Quackerjack pulling out his bat (they didn’t see where from- seriously, where did he keep that thing??), they managed to get away from the beach by jumping up into the air, flying away using the bat’s rockets, then using Bushroot’s unraveling feet and Megavolt’s magnetic abilities to latch onto one of the taller buildings further in-land and quickly scale their way to the top before the wave hit.

The building was tall enough to avoid the harsher force of the wave, but the wind and pressure generated was still strong enough to send someone flying. To avoid being separated, Bushroot wound his arms tighter around his friends and unraveled his legs in order to weave them around the metallic railing along the top of the building.

“What the heck?!” Quackerjack shouted over the roar of the wind and water around them while clinging to Bushroot. “Since when is Audobon Bay a tsunami-zone?!”

“It’s not!” Megavolt shouted back to him. “Something must have triggered it! Something like-”

“An army of whales?!” Bushroot asked in an alarmed tone of voice.

“Yeah! Something like that would do it!” Megavolt nodded in agreement.

“Something like that DID do it!” Bushroot inclined his head back out towards the ocean when the first wave began to recede. “Look!”

Megavolt and Quackerjack looked back out towards the ocean as Bushroot instructed and saw, to their surprise, a literal army of whales (sperm whales, to be precise) lining the horizon- all of them decorated with military-like badges and uniform sashes made of common sea-fare such as seashells, kelp, and coral. Seated atop what could be described as the lead-whale due to its extra adornments, was what appeared to be a throne made out of coral.

When the wind and air-pressure died down, Bushroot let the others go and re-formed his feet so they could all walk to the edge of the building and get a better look at the creatures that caused the sudden tsunami.

To help get a better view, Quackerjack reached into his toy pouch and pulled out a glittery pink kaleidoscope. Peeking through it, he twisted and adjusted the view until he could see far enough and gave an impressed whistle. “So THAT’S the evil queen the fish were talking about..gotta say, she definitely fits the bill..”

He handed the unassuming toy to Megavolt so he too could get a look at the coral throne and the person occupying it. When he looked through, he was momentarily impressed to find that, while it still had the shifting rainbow edge of a typical kaleidoscope’s view, the toy also doubled as a powerful telescope that gave a perfect view of its target.

Megavolt saw what could only be described as a female fish mutant sitting on the whale’s back. She was short in stature, but the chipped trident she carried and the various scars and torn fins on her body, along with her dark scales and ripped black body-suit, gave the accurate impression that she was a lot stronger than she looked. “An evil fish queen..that’s definitely a new one for the villain-list..” He said mostly to himself while handing the kaleidoscope off to Bushroot.

Bushroot looked over their enemy-of-the-day as well. “Wow, that’s something you don’t see every day.”

Quackerjack took back the kaleidoscope once Bushroot was done with it. “What, a fish mutant leading an army of whales?”

“No,” Bushroot didn’t even bother looking at him when he handed the toy over to the jester. “You being right about something.”

The duck-duo spared each other a smirk while side-eyeing one another, the healthy dose of sarcastic humor helping to alleviate stress in life-threatening situations for them.

Before Megavolt could tell them to stop joking around, the sound of a loud, bellowing horn brought their attention back to the ocean and the looming threat of the whale army ready to drown the city.

“People of the surface, I am Neptunia- Queen of the Seas!” The fish-mutant had a large conch shell set up in front of her, serving as a megaphone to broadcast her surprisingly regal voice out to the entire city. “For too long the creatures of the deep have suffered under your wasteful ways- polluting our waters with your trash and chemicals, stealing our citizens and resources for food and decoration- but no more!” She held her trident aloft in the air, the army of whales bellowing in response. “Now WE will be the ones on top while YOU suffer below us!!” She then leaned closer to the shell and blew into it, the same bellowing horn sound ringing through the air once again.

At her command, the whales turned around so their tail-ends were facing the city, raised them high into the air, then slammed them down into the water in unison. The resulting impact sent another tsunami-like wave rushing towards the city, driving the heroes into action.

Megavolt looked down at the streets where the people who survived the first wave’s assault were still stranded or injured in the water. “Quackerjack, help me get the civilians to safety! Bushroot, see if you can block off the water somehow!”

“On it!” The other two heroes shouted at the same time before all three of them jumped off the side of the building together.

Bushroot used his long-reaching limbs to grab onto and swing across a series of street lamps and building ledges. As he moved through the air, he reached into one of the pockets on his coat and pulled out a handful of seeds, tossing them down to the ground as he went. “A few philodendrons..some Chinese evergreens…English ivy…and some cork and oak trees for good measure..” With a wave of his hand, the plants began to grow and sprout up at an impressively fast-rate. The trees took root deep in the ground below while the ivy and more hydroponically inclined plants wove around them to help form a make-shift barricade. “Good thing there’s plenty of fresh water already.” Bushroot said as he finished planting the natural barrier.

Meanwhile, Megavolt used his magnetized boots to skate along the sides of buildings and any powerlines that weren’t already destroyed. “Get on top of the cars!” He called over the panicked screams of the people around him as he ran.

The citizens scrambled to do as they were instructed and got on top of any vehicles they could find. Once the majority of them were in position, Megavolt concentrated his electricity and magnetism based powers into his hands and aimed them at the vehicles. The resulting blasts of yellow and blue caused the cars to thrum to live and drive forward on their own. Megavolt controlled their direction with his magnetism and made the cars drive in a straight line towards a free-way ramp.

As the cars got up onto the ramp, Quackerjack was waiting on standby to grab the people off the top and take them to safety. To this end, he’d set up a large area of what appeared to be silly-putty by the base of the tallest flat-topped buildings in the area and had secured himself, as well as a small army of moving teddy-bears, to the roof with a brightly colored rainbow of bungee-chords.

“Alright, boys!” Quackerjack called out to his small, fluffy army. “Remember- the floor is lava, so let’s hurry before this situation gets any hotter!” And with that he leapt from the top of the building to grab the first group of people that arrived on top of the cars, flanked closely by his teddy bear army.

Quackerjack began a pattern with his fuzzy friends of leaping down, grabbing people off the top of the cars alongside his bears, taking them up to the roof, letting go while the silly-putty bounced the cars away to make room for the next group, and repeating the process again once the next vehicle got close enough and leaping over to clip their bungee-chords to the top of the next building when the top of one got too full. The unusual system worked surprisingly well, the plant barricade that Bushroot set up helping to deter the water long enough for Megavolt to guide the vehicles over to Quackerjack so he could get them up high enough to avoid the rising water levels.

It wasn’t until the last vehicles was being unloaded that a problem began to present itself.

Said problem was more waves being sent towards the city. Apparently the fish queen had taken notice of their meddling and changed up her strategy. The whales were now staggering their attacks, resulting in waves that were less intense in size, but much more numerous.

The repeated barrage wore away at Bushroot’s plant-wall and began to create gaps that he rushed to fix, but were growing more numerous by the second. “Could you two hurry it up a little?!”

“We’re going as fast as we can!” Megavolt shouted back to him while guiding the last car towards Quackerjack.

Right on time, Quackerjack and his bears jumped down to grab the final group of people just as a particularly powerful torrent ripped a sizable hole in the natural barrier that had kept it at bay. The resulting surge of water that flooded in through the opening began to quickly submerge the surrounding area.

Quackerjack had been in the middle of grabbing a woman off the top of the car when the waves of water suddenly hit. “Hold on- this ride’s gonna get a little wet an’ wild!” He said to the woman while holding onto her tightly.

The water got to them before the bungee cord could get them back up to the roof. The stretchy cord kept them from being swept away, though, and Quackerjack tried to pull both of them back towards the building. The current proved too strong, however, and the hero and his charge ended up getting buffeted by the waves and slowly dragged under.

“Quackerjack!” Megavolt raced along any available metal surfaces and wires to get to his comrade, Bushroot not far behind. “Hold on, we’re-!”

His exclamation changed into a surprised gasp when a torrent of water suddenly rushed beneath Quackerjack and the woman in his arms. It submerged them briefly before crashing back towards the building, going against the current and racing up the side of it in an odd, rolling motion. It splashed over the edge of the building and deposited the pair along the edge safely where they coughed up any water that had gotten into their lungs before the water receded back down into the rest of the flood below.

The other two heroes were momentarily stunned by the odd wave that had washed Quackerjack back to safety, but they soon recovered and joined him up on the roof with the other civilians.

“You still breathing, clown?” Bushroot asked with an air of indifference that most would consider rude, but the other two were well-aware by now that it was just his way of hiding his concern.

“Yeah..” Quackerjack spit out some sea water that had gotten in his mouth and shook his head to get the water out of his cowl. “Don’t think I swallowed too many fish..” He got to his feet with Bushroot’s help (Megavolt tried to offer him a hand up first, but Bushroot beat him to it with a stern look to remind him that shocking both himself and Quackerjack wouldn’t do anybody any good). “Hey, you guys might think I’m crazy-”

“Bit late for that.” Bushroot said without missing a beat.

Quackerjack rolled his eyes briefly but continued. “-but I’m pretty sure I saw a face in that water just now.”

“A face?” Megavolt repeated with a confused expression. “You sure it wasn’t just the lack of oxygen messing with your vision?”

“Maybe..” Quackerjack shrugged, looking down at the water with a thoughtful expression. “But I’m PRETTY sure it was real…”

Bushroot clapped his leafy hands together, the rustling sound getting the other heroes’ attention. “We can discuss Quackerjack’s growing need for therapy later. Right now, we need to focus on stopping those whales before the little mermaid out there decides to turn the next state over into beach-front property. Any ideas?”

Megavolt looked back out at the sea and their current enemy while weighing their options. “If I can get close enough, then one good zap should knock her out. The only problem is GETTING to her without shorting out.” He looked back to Quackerjack with a quirked brow. “This might be a shot in the dark, but do you have any giant pool noodles or surf boards or something?”

Quackerjack tilted his head back and forth as he thought the question over. “Hmmmmmmmm…no, I don’t think so..” He suddenly snapped his fingers. “But I think I’ve got something else that’ll do the trick!” The jester reached into his toy pouch and pulled out-

“A rubber ducky?” Bushroot asked with a deadpan stare at the grinning clown.

Quackerjack squeaked the small yellow rubber duck in front of Bushroot’s face as if to confirm his assessment. “An all-purpose rubber ducky, thank you very much!” He gave the duck a firmer squeeze and it began to rapidly inflate into a rubber raft with a proportionately big head on the front. “All aboard the S.S.Bath-Time!” Quackerjack said with a grin.

Megavolt just chuckled at the toy maker’s usual enthusiasm while Bushroot shook his head with a barely restrained smile. “Quackerjack, you’re a genius!”

“Tell me something I DON’T know, sparky.” Quackerjack replied with a wink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon the trio of heroes were riding over the turbulent waves with ease thanks to Quackerjack’s surprisingly sturdy rubber raft. He’d given a brief explanation about counter-balancing weights and a solar powered turbine, but it had been too hard to hear him over the loud whale songs and crashing waves (though Megavolt made a mental note to try asking him about that engine later- they’d have to compare notes sometime).

They’d almost reached the whale the queen was on when something reached up from within the water’s depths and smacked them away. “!!!!” They all shouted in surprise and clung to the raft, looking up to see a pair of giant tentacles flailing about above the water now.

“Oh, great..” Quackerjack said once the raft had reasonably settled again. “A twenty-foot tall calamari buffet and we don’t have ANY dipping sauce.”

Bushroot shook the water out of his petals and glared at the squid that decided to show the rest of its body that had been hidden below the waves. “I think I’d be fine with some sashimi right about now…”

The giant squid glared down at them and tried striking their boat again. Its actions gained the queen’s attention and she looked over to them from her throne with a mildly irritated expression. “You look like the rude peasants that stopped my waves.” She jumped from the back of her whale onto the backs of a few others until she reached the squid and landed on its head. “So, what brings you all the way out here, if I may ask? Come to surrender?”

“Other way around, villain!” Megavolt said while pointing a charged finger in her direction. “We’re gonna give you one chance to call off your army before we send you back down where you came from!”

Neptunia let out a loud laugh, leaning against the side of the squid’s head. “Ha! These locals ARE amusing, wouldn’t you agree, Sebastian?” Her laughter was gone in an instant, turning instead to an icy glare as she pointed her trident down at them. “Now then, darlings, I will give YOU one chance to get your little dingy out of here before my men decide they want duck and rat kebobs with a side salad.”

“Wow, I’ve been upgraded from a weed to a salad- what an honor.” Bushroot said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as he stood up and prepared to fight.

“I know, right!” Quackerjack chuckled while standing up as well. “Before you know it, you’ll be treated as a full-fledged main course, Bushy!”

“If you guys don’t stop with the food jokes, you’re gonna make me hungry.” Megavolt complained as he stood alongside his comrades with a crack of his knuckles. “We can make one more seafood or fried fish joke, but then that’s it for the food quips, okay?” He adjusted his safety glasses and held out one hand. “Now, let’s take down this deep-sea deviant!”

“Just try not to earn your sea legs today, alright?” Bushroot said while grabbing Megavolt’s hand. At a nod from Megavolt, Bushroot swung him back before launching him off towards Neptunia.

Megavolt landed next to the fish-mutant on top of the giant squid and tried to hit her with an electrically charged fist. The fearsome fish, however, was much more agile than one would assume, and jumped over his attack to counter with a smack using the blunt end of her trident.

While their third member did battle with the sea-queen, Bushroot and Quackerjack took the boat around and began attacking the whales. Bushroot handled the steering at the boat’s rudder while Quackerjack lobbed his exploding red dodgeballs at the tail fins of any whales they passed. Just like during his fight with Bushroot, the balls burst when they hit their targets and covered them in a squishy but sticky red putty that caught on anything they came in contact with- including each other.

As Bushroot saw the whales struggle to get free from each other, he couldn’t help but shake his head slightly in sympathy. “That won’t work unless you can rip your own body parts off- trust me, I know.”

“Good thing we’re not fighting lizard people again!” Quackerjack chuckled while pulling new exploding dodgeballs out of his toy pouch, activating and then throwing them in a steady pattern.

Meanwhile, Megavolt was having more than a little trouble beating the surprisingly strong fish woman. In addition to having the home-field advantage of the squid constantly catching her every time he managed to knock her off-balance, she was also incredibly strong for her size and could easily lift him whenever she got a good hold on him. Add to that the fact that there wasn’t anything metallic for him to grab onto, and one could see why exactly Megavolt was struggling with the fish queen.

He felt like he’d finally caught a lucky break, however, when he managed to grab her arm. “Time for some extra-crispy fried fish!” He channeled what he thought was an appropriate amount of electricity into his hand and experienced a brief moment of elation when his amphibious attacker suddenly went limp…an extremely brief moment, it turns out, as she soon turned the tables on him by grabbing his arm in return. “Huh?!”

She looked up at him with a smirk. “Sorry, darling, but I’ve received better shocks from electric eels.” She used her grip on his arm to suddenly lift him up and toss him towards the water a few miles away. “Why don’t you go ask them for some lessons?!”

“MEGAVOLT!” He heard Quackerjack and Bushroot calling his name in alarm, and even caught a glimpse of them racing towards him on their boat in the distance.

They were too far away, though, he realized with a growing sense of panic. There was nothing for him to grab onto, no way they could reach him in time- just him and the vast ocean that would soon be his watery grave. As he began to lose his forward momentum from the throw and saw the water drawing closer, Megavolt closed his eyes and braced himself for impact with-

-with something squishy?

Opening his eyes hesitantly to make sure this wasn’t some sort of cruel near-death fantasy, Megavolt was shocked to see that he’d reached the surface of the water, as he expected, but it wasn’t water anymore. What he found himself laying on instead was a strange, rubbery yellow substance that looked a lot like the cube they’d found by the beach earlier.

In addition to the strangeness of finding himself suddenly (albeit gratefully) lying on a surprisingly buoyant substance of unknown origin instead of shorting out in the ocean like he’d dreaded, there was an additional anomaly within his yellow make-shift life-raft that Megavolt noticed right away:

Hands.

A pair of hands moving about within the rubbery substance had supported him when he’d landed, taking great lengths to make sure he didn’t hit his head or get whip-lash, and had since then begun to move to the edge of the unknown mass. Once they were on the edge, Megavolt saw something shift in the water by the hands and his little rubber island began to move slowly towards the direction that he’d last seen Quackerjack and Bushroot in.

“Megavolt!” He heard Quackerjack shout his name as the boat he and Bushroot were on got closer. “You alright, Sparky?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied, never taking his eyes off of the water by the hands. There was something odd about the way it moved, rolling about as if it were its own current. In fact, if he looked close enough, he could almost see a faint outline where the water looked a little different, almost like a person’s silhouette. “Hello..?” He asked, reaching out to touch the strange body of water. Unfortunately, making contact with the water was a terrible idea as it resulted in a spark of electricity that made him stumble back and nearly fall off of the yellow island and into the water below. “Ow!”

“Megavolt!” Over the sound of Bushroot calling out his name, Megavolt could swear he heard someone else’s voice yelp at the same time his own had and that there was a sudden and abrupt splash coming from the area he’d touched. “Idiot!” Bushroot’s long limbs stretched out and caught Megavolt before he could fall into the ocean. “What were you thinking?!”

“There’s someone in the water.” Megavolt said once Quackerjack had gotten the rubber ducky boat close enough for him to climb in. He looked back over to the spot he’d last seen the mysterious hands and was disappointed to find they, and the oddly moving current of water, were no longer in sight. “Hey! Anyone out there?!” He tried looking around for the silhouette he’d spotted earlier, but it’s hard to recognize a body of water WITHIN a body of water.

“You saw something, too?” Quackerjack questioned eagerly while searching for anything different in the water.

“Yeah- a pair of hands.” Megavolt explained while the two of them looked around. “And I KNOW I felt something in the water when I touched it.”

“You sure you didn’t just fry your nerves?” Bushroot asked with a disinterested expression.

“Well I’m pretty sure my fried nerves didn’t have anything to do with THAT.” Megavolt shot him a mildly irritated look and pointed at the strange yellow substance before returning his attention back to the water. “Hey! If anyone’s there, thanks for saving me! We could really use your help, though!”

There was a moment of silence, just long enough for Megavolt to doubt himself and what he’d seen, but then they heard him.

“Y-You…want m-my h-he-h-help…?” A deep but timid, gurgling voice asked them from somewhere within the water below them.

Much to their combined surprise, they saw a face appear within the water. It was simple and hardly noticeable had it not been staring dead at them, consisting of nothing more than two round eyes that were barely darker than the deep water around them and a slight line for a mouth.

Their reactions were….intense, to say the least.

“Woah!” Quackerjack gave an excited shout and leaned over the edge of the boat to get a better look at the face, nearly falling out in the process. “I knew it! You saved me too, right?! Are you MADE of water?! That’s awesome!”

Megavolt clung to the boat to keep from falling out while curiously examining the face looking up at them, attempting to see if he could spot any sort of body or silhouette in the water’s depths again, but finding none. “How big are you? Are you the size of the entire ocean, or are you just a concentrated mass mixed in? Do you suffer from any sort of diffusion effects?”

Bushroot just stared at the face in the water for a moment, a look of surprise on his own more solidly defined face. “Quackerjack was right. Twice in one day, too. We’re probably all about to die..” Giving a shake of his head and a sigh, Bushroot soon recovered from his initial shock and looked back to the water. Being much calmer than his companions, he noticed a few signs of discomfort on their new liquid-cohort’s face- the way his eyes shifted, the way he’d open his mouth to say something but close it again, the fact that the water around his face seemed to dip downward in an attempt to physically back away from their barrage of questions. Feeling an odd pang of sympathy for the watery creature and knowing how both Quackerjack and Megavolt could be oblivious to social cues, Bushroot firmly grabbed the two heroes that were half-way leaning out of the boat and firmly yanked them in by the backs of their shirts. “Geez, haven’t you guys heard of a little thing called manners? You’re supposed to wait until the third date to ask a mutant about their powers.” He shot them both a stern glare before looking down at the concave-face by the boat. “Sorry, I know they can be a bit much.”

“O-Oh, it-it’s f-fi-f-i-i-fi-” He seemed to struggle with his speech for a moment before rising back up to be level with the water’s surface. “It’s okay, I-I don’t m-mi-m-mind.”

The speech impediment was becoming glaringly obvious now that they’d had more conversation with him, but the three heroes (two plus a tag-along, Bushroot would have insisted) chose not to call attention to it.

Megavolt was about to say something else to the fascinating water creature, when the sound of loud splashing from earlier began to resume. “Huh?!” Looking back to where they’d left Neptunia and her army, he could barely make out her and her squid freeing the whales from the putty by summoning electric eels to fry the substance to a crisp and peeling it off. “Looks like break time’s over, guys.” He looked back down at the unnamed figure in the sea with a small smile that was partially pleading, but mostly understanding. “We’ll understand if you don’t wanna help- but, if you do, we’d appreciate anything at all.”

And with a quick wave to their new friend, the three took off back towards the tyrannical queen and her army of sea creatures while the hidden figure in the ocean stared after them.

“So, what’s the plan this time, Sparky?” Quackerjack asked while steering the boat so that it would counteract the swelling waves and not send any of them flying off.

“Don’t call me Sparky.” His reply came automatically. “And..same as before, I guess.” Megavolt admitted with a frown. “I’ll try to take down the diva of the deep while you two find a way to stop those waves from reaching the city.”

Bushroot looked at Megavolt with one brow cocked skeptically. “Hate to break it to you, Sparky-”

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt cut in briefly.

“-but you didn’t do too well against her last time.” Bushroot continued, ignoring Megavolt’s interruption as if he’d never said anything at all. “You got any OTHER plans?”

“Not really..” Megavolt rubbed at his neck while avoiding eye contact with the plant duck. “But..there’s not really much else I can do out here: My powers can’t do anything against those waves, but I can’t just sit by and do nothing.” He looked back up to the pair of ducks in the boat with him, giving them a slightly embarrassed but genuine smile. “The lives of the citizens come first, no matter what- that’s why I have to trust the hard stuff to the heroes that can actually save the day this time.”

The other two ended up smiling at him, although Bushroot tried to play his off by rolling his eyes. “Sappy as usual, huh, Sparky?” Before the usual retort could come, Bushroot reached over and flicked his leafy fingers against Megavolt’s forehead. “We’ll do what we can, but don’t go getting yourself dunked again, okay? Unless getting saved twice in one day by a living puddle is something you want us to tease you for.”

“And you know I’ll have fifty water related puns ready by the end of the day!” Quackerjack grinned teasingly at the electrically themed rodent. “But, hey, if we win it’ll just be water under the bridge!” He laughed at his own joke, falling over momentarily when Bushroot shoved him in retaliation for it.

“See what we have to look forward to?” Bushroot sighed while shaking his head. He looked at Megavolt, holding his hand out to the other man expectantly. “If I have to go through more lame jokes like that, you’ll BOTH be sleeping with the fishes, got it? So no losing.” The thinly veiled words of encouragement and the light squeeze to Megavolt’s gloved hand conveyed everything that the botanist refused to say.

Megavolt smiled softly and returned the squeeze to Bushroot’s own leafy extremities. “Same goes for you two- I don’t feel like finding a mime and a ball of sea-weeds floating in the ocean later.”

Bushroot smirked and flung Megavolt back towards Neptunia just like before, both of them ignoring Quackerjack’s enraged shouts regarding the insult of being compared to a mime even in death.

When he landed on the back of her whale, Neptunia gave the superhero a deadly glare. “Shouldn’t you be six feet under by now?”

Megavolt returned the glare with a challenging grin while charging his hands in preparation for another fight. “Haven’t you heard? Heroism is unsinkable- unlike you and your low-tide dreams of conquest!”

The fish queen grabbed her trident and spun it around, the bored look in her eyes clearly giving away how she felt about a second-round against the city’s protector. “We shall see how water-tight your ideals are when I’m through with you, nave.”

With that, the re-match was underway.

Megavolt had learned his lesson about the small sea-femme’s strength and stuck with distance attacks this time, favoring long-range shots of electricity over his earlier grappling. Neptunia, on the other hand, was trying to close the gap between them with flying leaps and swift thrusts with her trident that the rodent barely dodged.

After knocking her away with a particularly powerful plasma-pulse, Megavolt spared a glance to the whales around them to check on his comrades’ progress.

He wasn’t disappointed.

Quackerjack and Bushroot had resumed their earlier task of trying to stop the whales, but with an update to their tactics: This time Bushroot was the one working to incapacitate the whales while Quackerjack focused his efforts on stopping- or at least slowing down- the waves. The mutated botanist tossed seeds into the water near the whales and commanded them to grow, sprouting up into gigantic kelp forests that wrapped around and tangled the aquatic mammals’ tails to restrict their movements. Meanwhile, his more colorful companion had utilized a slingshot to shoot what, at a distance, looked like tiny capsules into the water along the path of the waves. When the capsules made contact with the water, however, they suddenly expanded at an incredibly fast pace- transforming into giant, brightly colored sponges shaped like dinosaurs, flowers, animals, and many other fun childishly cute things that absorbed the swelling waves before they could get too far.

“Yes!” Megavolt gave a quick cheer of excitement when he saw how well his friends were doing. Oh, he was so glad he wasn’t doing this hero thing by himself anymore! Honestly, there was no way he could’ve handled this one on his-

A loud, bellowing horn suddenly sounded off a few feet away from the sparky superhero, causing him to wince in pain and fall to his knees while covering his sensitive ears. When he recovered from the pain and looked towards the source of the debilitating sound, he saw Neptunia blowing into the seashell horn/megaphone from earlier.

Focusing his energy into his hand, Megavolt sent out a quick blast to break the horn, but the attempt only seemed to further amuse the tidal tyrant. “Too little too late, darling.” She told him with a smirk. “I’m afraid it’s time for the REAL attack to begin!”

Right on cue, the waves began to ripple and churn around them. Within seconds, a battalion of blue whales and a few colossal squids rose up from the water’s depths. Raising her trident as a signal to the newly revealed soldiers, the sea creatures heeded their queen’s call and raised their tails and tentacles in preparation.

Megavolt’s eyes widened in alarm and he turned to his friends, trying to warn them of the impending rush of doom about to head their way. “Guys, get out of there!!” The warning, unfortunately, came too late. Before his eyes a great surge of water was started in unison by the various sea creatures in attendance- a much larger, and far more powerful one that rivaled the tsunami that first struck the town- and Bushroot and Quackerjack were eclipsed and swallowed by the massive wave when it rolled over them. “Quackerjack! Bushroot!” Megavolt rushed to the edge of the whale he was currently standing on, desperately looking for any sign of the two other heroes within the chaotic current. When he found none, he fell to his knees, a look of shock and despair painted across his face. “No…” His voice shook around the simple word, his mind not wanting to believe the situation at hand.

“Aw, poor little washed-up hero. So much for heroism being ‘unsinkable’.” He heard the villainess’s voice drawing closer behind him, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to even bother facing her. “Don’t worry, darling- you will be joining them soon enough.” Megavolt could see the shadow of the fearsome fish’s trident, poised to strike.

“…….” Preparing to finally get back up so he could fight to avenge his friends and do what he could to save the city (even if he wasn’t sure what he COULD do yet), both Megavolt and Neptunia were startled to see a large, rubbery, bright yellow bubble suddenly breach the water’s surface- a bubble containing a water-logged but still breathing Quackerjack with Bushroot holding him protectively as the waves rocked their colorful container. “?!!”

“What?!” Neptunia stared at the bubble in an amusing mixture of anger and shock. “What in the seven seas is that?!”

Megavolt’s face lit up with an excited, confident grin at the realization of exactly what, or rather who, was responsible for the bubble that saved his partners’ lives. “That, you sinister sea creature, is heroism at its best!”

In perfect timing to demonstrate his point, an unnatural swell of water suddenly rose up in the path of the tsunami-sized tidal wave and rushed forward to meet it. Rather than meeting the other wave as water, though, the countering water-wall began to turn into the same bright yellow rubber that had already saved each of the heroes once that day.

The bouncy material proved to be water tight, not allowing any of the liquid through, and even repelling it back out to sea. What’s more, whenever some of the water began to push over the edge of the rubber-wall, it would quickly be converted into the rubber’s mass to help reinforce its structure. Whenever one of those changes occurred, interestingly enough, Megavolt could see a person-sized silhouette moving within the rubber, the figure rushing wherever it was needed to help reinforce the wall and protect the city.

Once the tsunami sputtered to a halt and the waves had calmed down, the rubber wall began to shift once more. This time, it changed shape into what looked like a giant cannon and opened fire on the various sea creatures under Neptunia’s command. The cannon would fire large balls of the rubbery material, but in a looser state. When the balls made contact with the various whales and squids, they would rapidly harden, immobilizing them in rubber shells.

“What?! What’s going on?!!” Neptunia sputtered while looking at the state of her army. “My army! This-This cannot be happening!” Once every squid and whale- minus the one that the pair were currently standing on- was encased in rubber, the cannon dissolved and another unnatural swell of water formed a wave that flowed smoothly & rapidly across the ocean’s surface, scooping up Neptunia’s entire battalion and washing them far out to sea. “NO!” She bellowed in rage, raising her trident threateningly. “The ocean is my domain! The tides bend to my will! I am the queen of the sea!!”

“The sea d-disagrees!” A familiar voice (well, mildly familiar to Megavolt, at least) challenged the underwater usurper while two large waves formed on either side of the whale. The waves soon shifted into a pair of giant hands that grabbed both Neptunia and her whale while forming a protective bubble around Megavolt similar to the one Quackerjack and Bushroot were still in. “Heroes everywhere agree, though- messing with St. Canard is dangerous for villains of all shapes, sizes, and species!” Once Megavolt’s bubble was safely floating on the water below, the large hands lifted the whale and the tyrannical terror of the deep high into the air. “So stay away, or you’ll get double your karma back- guaranteed!”

And with that threatening sales pitch delivered, the hands performed a more literal pitch and, after encasing the whale and the angrily screaming sea-queen in a rubber cube (reminding Megavolt of those gelatin molds people did with fruits or vegetables inside), proceeded to chuck the rubbery prison far off into the horizon in the same direction as the other creatures from before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime later, the small group of heroes were gathered on the beach. Their helpful new friend had helped out once again by moving all of the water out of the city and back out towards the bay- he’d even managed to remove any trash and debris from it and left it all in a few dumpsters around the coast.

When he spotted the face in the shallow water along the coast (much smaller now given the lower volume of liquid it was shown in), Megavolt walked over to it excitedly with a grin. “That was amazing! Seriously, we can’t thank you enough for what you did. If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be six feet under by now.”

Quackerjack looked down at the face and nodded in agreement. “He’s right- without you, we’d be all washed up!” He laughed at his own joke, earning an elbow to his side from Megavolt and a smack to the back of the head from Bushroot. Once his giggles had died down, he gave the living water below them a more sincere, less joking smile. “You were great, though, really.” He playfully nudged Bushroot with his elbow. “You’re seriously giving Bushy here a run for his money as ‘most amazing mutant in Saint Canard’!”

Bushroot shook his head at the comment. “Funny, I didn’t realize it was a contest.” He looked back down at the water, a half-smile tugging at the corner of his beak. “But…I guess I could give up the crown for someone like you, since you saved our lives and everything.”

If it was possible for water to blush, they would swear that was what was happening: Two little spots above the face’s mouth had turned slightly darker and there was a bit of steam coming off of them. “W-W-Wow..tha-that’s-that’s …the k-k-kind-ki-n-nicest thing anyone’s s-sai-s-said to me in a l-long-l-long t-ti-i-ti-” He paused to take a breath before continuing. “Th-That’s..the nicest thing a-anyone’s said to me in-in…in a while. Thank you.” It seemed to take some focusing to get everything out so concisely, but he looked relieved to have accomplished it.

Megavolt smiled down at the watery face in understanding. He may not have had a problem with stuttering, but he’d dealt with his fair share of difficulties due to his own “quirks”. Little things like remembering a previous conversation or an address were easy things for most people, but, for him, they were daily challenges he faced with varying degrees of difficulty. He imagined that getting through a sentence like that was a similar struggle for their new friend.

“You deserve that- and a lot more, too.” Megavolt stepped a bit closer, silently acknowledging Bushroot’s leafy hand on his shoulder with a gentle pat as it attempted to dissuade him from getting too close and risk shorting out. He bent over slightly and held a hand down towards the water with a bright smile on his face, hoping that it would be more inviting and less overwhelming than when he first tried to talk to the living liquid. “We would love to have you on our team. If you want to, that is. Like I said before, it’s fine if you don’t want to, but we could really use your help.”

The creature in the water stared at his hand in surprise. “You…Y-You really…want m-m-m-me-e…?”

Quackerjack planted one elbow on Megavolt’s back and leaned on him casually while pretending to look around the coastline. “Oh, do you know any other selfless, heroic, life-saving, super cool living bodies of water around here?” He asked sarcastically before grinning down at the face in the water. “Of course we want you! You’ve got cool powers AND you’re already good at saving lives? We’d be crazy not to ask!”

“Sanity is still questionable, at best.” Bushroot shoved the harlequin off of the rodent’s back with a roll of his eyes, causing him to fall into the shallow water and muddy sand below (though he was quickly helped up by a watery hand that rose up out of the surf). After smirking down at the other duck’s sand-covered face, the plant-duck redirected his attention back to the other mutant. “Either way, there’s no way you could be any worse at it than me.”

Megavolt looked over his shoulder with a frown and a mildly chastising look as he softly spoke the same words to his self-deprecating friend that he always said in these situations. “You’re a hundred times better than you think you are.” He smiled fondly when the usual darker green color settled over Bushroot’s cheeks and he turned his head away in hopes that his long petal-hair would obscure the sight from the others (it never did, but it was endearing to watch him try). Laughing quietly to himself for a moment at the adorable way the grumpy plant-hybrid crossed his arms, Megavolt returned his attention to the water once again, his hand still outstretched as an offering to their potential new member. “So, what do you say? Want to join the greatest superhero team in Saint Canard?”

There was a long moment of silence from the floating face. Then, without warning, it faded away without a single word. Megavolt’s smile slipped, his mind already going over what he must have said wrong to drive away such a wonderful hero. Maybe he’d come on too strong with the team up offer? Quackerjack had gone for it immediately, but Bushroot had taken a while. Maybe he should have-

A hand stretched out of the water towards Megavolt’s own. Just before making contact with it, the water’s consistency changed to rubber so that it could grasp the shocking-superhero without shorting him out. The hand was soon followed by an entire body of water- a person’s body, that is, not the entire ocean. As it rose up from the shallows the water began to take a more defined form, shifting into that of a dog- the water on his body even changed to create the image of a pair of dark blue pants with a lighter blue top and a dark blue tie. When he opened his eyes and smiled shyly at the stunned superheroes, the trio instantly recognized the blue dots from the previously more simple face.

The water-dog shook Megavolt’s hand with his own rubberized one, taking a deep breath before giving them a proper introduction. “Has your city been ruled over by a tyrannical duck with a height complex for far too long? Are a motley crew of thugs, criminals, and/or supervillains causing trouble for superheroes and everyday citizens alike? Then call on the reliable services of THE LIQUIDATOR for all your crime-fighting needs! One round with this hydro-powered hero and the bad guys will be alllllll washed up- guaranteed or your money back!” He finished his introductory sales-pitch with a wink. His confidence quickly deflated, however, when the other three people on the beach just stared at him silently with the same wide-eyed expression. “Um…w-was that to-t-too much..?”

All at once the trio returned to their senses and properly welcomed their new member with open arms- literal ones in Quackerjack’s case.

The colorful clown-hero whooped loudly and wrapped his arms around Liquidator’s shoulders. “You’ve already got a cool name AND lines prepped?! Oh, you are a keeper, buddy!” (They were all too excited to notice the way the dog’s ears twitched slightly at the term of endearment.)

The excitement in Megavolt’s eyes shone brightly enough to be seen through his safety glasses as he looked at Liquidator’s rubberized hand in his own. “Okay, I’ve gotta know- how are you doing this?! Did you just alter the chemical composition of the water to-”

He was interrupted by a leafy slap to the back of his head. “Remember, Sparky- third date.”

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt said with a pout before looking around at the small group of allies he’d found himself with a slowly growing smile. “I guess we’ll need a new name, huh?”

“Yeah, we’re not the ‘Terrific Trio’ anymore.” Quackerjack raised one hand, keeping the other around their newest member’s shoulders. “Ooh! Ooh! How about the ‘Fearsome Four’! It sounds cool and I know you’re a sucker for alliteration, Sparky!”

Liquidator frowned slightly as he looked at the clown beside him. “D-Doesn’t sound very fr-frien-f-friendly..”

“Friendly…” Megavolt said the word aloud, tapping his chin in thought. “Friendly…” Then, as if to act as a visual representation of his epiphany since there were no lightbulbs to turn on above his head, a shimmering bolt of electricity raced upwards from his boots and curled around his torso all the way up to his head before dancing off the tips of his hair and whiskers. “That’s it!” He beamed at his newly formed team and held a hand out in front of him. “From now on, we’re the ‘Friendly Four’!”

Quackerjack chuckled at the other hero’s enthusiasm and placed his hand on top of the gloved one of his friend. “Sounds good to me, Sparky!”

Liquidator smiled and placed his hand on top of Quackerjack’s. “That…That d-does sound a lot n-nic-cer.”

Bushroot sighed in annoyance, his hands currently shoved deep in his pockets. “I don’t know why you guys insist on including me in your head-count. I keep telling you: I’m not a hero.” Just as Megavolt and Quackerjack were about to argue the subject with him for what felt like the millionth time, they saw one leafy hand leave the confines of its coat pocket before joining the pile. “But…you guys would look pretty stupid if you ran around calling yourselves the ‘Friendly Four’ and there were only three of you…so I guess I’ll stick around until you find someone better to take my place.”

Quackerjack laughed and smiled at the other two members of their group. “You hear that, guys? We get to keep Bushy forever!”

“Hey, I didn’t say that!” The ex-botanist snapped at the toymaker with a harsh glare that was easily tempered by the visible blush on his green cheeks.

As the two launched into a teasing argument over Bushroot’s place on the team, Quackerjack using Liquidator as a living barrier between himself and the irate plant-duck when the greener mutant tried to catch his non-powered ally, Megavolt looked at the other members of his team with an affectionate smile. For at least two decades he’d been fighting for this city all by himself. Now, though, now he had a team.

Things were likely going to get rougher before they got better for the rag-tag group of heroes, but, one thing was for sure:

This team had a bond between them that would not be broken- not even by Negaduck and the other forces of evil plaguing their city. The Friendly Four were going to save the day, no matter what!

<-Previous Chapter Next Story->

End Notes: Well, that concludes the first story for my Friendly Four universe. I hope everyone enjoyed it ^//////^ I have a lot of ideas for this universe and, for the first couple of stories, they’ll be set up like this with each character or pair of characters getting their own chapter that matches with the theme/title of the story.

Also, just as a funny side note, I didn’t originally intend for it to happen, but it ended up being that each of the heroes ended up defeating the same character their villainous counterparts took out from the Justice Ducks. I always intended for Liquidator to be the one to confront Neptunia, but Quackerjack and Bushroot taking out Shamutt and Morgana just kind of happened by accident and I ran with it.

Gizmoduck was left out on purpose, but don’t worry- he’ll get his appearance in the next installment, and it’ll leave quite an impact on the heroes *cue evil chuckling with lightning flashing in the background*

[fancoloredglasses]

It’s crime-fighting time!

(Thanks to Jim Bridge)

A while ago, I asked my mother to send me my comic collection that has been gathering dust (and who knows what else) in her basement for the past 20+ years. While there were a few unremembered gems, such as The Dark Knight Returns and GIJoe vs. the Transformers (Hey, Marvel owned the license to print both, so why not?), there were also a few...nuggets, such as...

(Thanks to DC Database...I do use them as a resource a lot, don’t I?)

...which reminded me of the short-lived TV series.

C.O.P.S. (short for Central Organization of Police Specialists) was a short-lived animated series in a long line of cartoons that were basically half-hour ads for toy lines. While early series (including GIJoe, Transformers, He-Man and She-Ra, Thundercats, and MASK) were successful and fondly remembered, later series (including Spiral Zone and Bionic Six) were lost in the shuffle. (except Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that was due to their cult following before they got to TV). C.O.P.S. fell into the latter category.

It didn’t help that it originally aired a year before...

(Thanks to Flyboys817)

The show takes place in the near future (far enough that the neat toys the C.O.P.S. and crooks use are theoretically viable) in Empire City. (anyone who knows the nicknames of major cities can guess what “Empire City” is based on)

New York Empire City is being overrun by a ruthless criminal gang run by the notorious Big Boss. In desperation, the mayor has called in the FBI, who sends one of their top agents Baldwin P. (B.P.) Vess. Vess decides that the NYPD Empire City’s police force isn’t enough to deal with Big Boss, so he recruits police officers from all over the US as part of a special task force (C.O.P.S.). Apparently the mayor thought C.O.P.S. was enough, as you never see another officer that isn’t attached to the unit. All the members get code names that reflect their specialty. (think the police version of GIJoe)

During this recruitment, Vess is mortally wounded pursuing members of Big Boss’s gang. Though he survives, he has sustained severe internal injuries that will take years to heal. (if they ever do) Vess says the kid-friendly version of “Fuck that!” and agrees to have his guts replaced by a cybernetic torso. (which has him on his feet within hours.  Gotta love modern experimental medicine!) Vess’s initials now mean something different: Bulletproof (can you believe it took me over 25 years to realize his name is a pun for “Bulletproof Vest”?)

Each episode has a “case file” (just a random string of numbers, not unlike Star Trek’s stardates) with Bulletproof explaining the situation. The heists range from clever (usually devised by Nightshade or Dr. Badvibes, such as replacing Bulletproof with a robotic duplicate to undermine C.O.P.S.) to the moronic (always devised by Berzerko: for example, he bought masks from a party supply store, then put the masks on to rob said store of all its balloons and helium, then used those to try to steal a bridge as a birthday present for his Uncle Big Boss). The gang members involved rotate, as do the members of C.O.P.S. working each case, although Bulletproof is usually involved on some level, if just long enough to say his catch phrase...

(Thanks to NearVSMello)

...and in the end the crooks are arrested.  Although New York Empire City must have the worst DAs in the country, since the crooks are home in time for the next episode.

While doing research for these videos, I saw a lot of complaints about the fact that the animation studio obviously didn’t put much into production, and watching the first episode, I have to agree. The voices don’t sync up very well to the mouth movements, sound quality wasn’t the best and I never got a feel that the police vehicles of the future were capable of moving very fast.

If anyone has a need to have me review any episodes, let me know.

[livironheart]

all of them

◎: What is your muse’s most prized mundane possession? Why do they value it so much?

She treasures a lot of things, but at the moment it’s probably her engagement ring. It means a lot to her.

★: What is your muse’s idea of perfect happiness?

Warm summer nights, brimmed hats, fishing, friendly neighbors, cookouts, coming home to a loving partner and snuggling every night, going on occasional exploration adventures and mapping the stars

☩: Your muse is doing some intense spring cleaning. What is easy for them to throw out, and what is difficult for them to part with?

Liv probably doesn’t want to throw out anything because everything she has, she needs (or thinks she will need in the future, even if she won’t). Some old clothes might be the first to go.

♠: What’s the worst thing your muse has done to someone they loved?

Betrayed Rook while she was with Finn in Kalimdor

♢: In what situation would your muse feel most out of their comfort zone?

Anything overly intimate that she hasn’t experienced before will make her extremely uncomfortable. Also, rich social gatherings like balls and dances (even if she tries to love them, she’s not used to them yet).

♣: What’s your muse’s biggest cause of stress or anxiety?

Afraid that something will happen to Finn when she’s not around to help, or that she’ll never be able to master the spells she’s working on.

✚: What is the most frightening potential handicap or disfigurement your muse can conceive? What makes it so frightening?

Loss of magic is a big one, but not exactly a handicap in a normal world. She would probably hate being blind. She has such an appreciation for the beauty of the world and not being able to see it would be really depressing.

✔: What did your muse want to be when they were a child? Did they go on to do this and if so, was it everything that they hoped it would be? Or has this desire changed since, and why?

Olivier wanted to be an archmage. She’s kind of dropped from that ambition because she thinks it’s unrealistic, but sometimes she thinks about chasing it again. Right now, she just wants to secure a safe life for her and Finn for years and years into the future.

❖: What is the attitude and appearance that your muse presents in public? How does this differ from the attitude they have in private, when they are alone?

This has changed a little bit recently, but she used to be very angry/confrontational/arrogant in public and very honest and quiet when in private/alone. Now, she’s less angry and confrontational, but tries to be more of a leader. It takes a lot of energy, and she’s very quiet and often reveals her insecurities to others when they’re alone.

✿: Which one act in your muse’s past are they most ashamed of? Which one act in their past are they most proud of?

She’s ashamed of Northshire when she hesitated before going back into the abbey (when Finn died), and when she had suspicions that Kaldius was Krath’ul but didn’t act on them in time. She’s also ashamed of betraying Rook, and of getting bitten.

She’s proud of killing the troll leader singlehandedly in the Siege of Southhold, but almost no one knows it happened; she’s proud of being knighted, of advancing as far in magic as she has, and of what she did in the study between Un’goro 1 and Un’goro 2. It had its consequences, maybe more in the future, but it was still necessary.

➜: What sort of things does your muse keep in their pockets on any given day?

She has a coinpurse attached to her waist and usually has a small notepad and a pen on her. When she carries her bag around, there’s a lot more because it has an enlargement spell. Her bag usually contains a few tomes, a phoenix egg, a bottle of cider, snacks, and a first aid kit.

￭: If one of your muse’s friends was asked to describe them in a handful of words for a profile on a dating site, what would they say?

“Sensitive and empathetic, but with little patience. Show you mean well or she won’t stick around long.”

‽: Who or what, if anything, would your muse die for or otherwise go to extremes for?

Finnigan Wyman

▼: What would you find in your muse’s refrigerator right now?

A little bit of everything (whatever’s in the study)

♛: If your muse had to die, how would they like to go? And if they could come back as a person or animal, what would it be?

Liv wants to go down in a really cool and epic way and sacrifice herself for the sake of some great battle and go down in history. She wants to go out with a bang. She would love to come back as a wild gryphon.

❸: Name three things your muse considers themselves to be very good at, and three things they consider themselves to be very bad at.

Good at swordfighting, stealth, magic.

Bad at cooking, talking, and being patient.

❦: If your muse was having a nightmare, what would be the worst one that they could suffer?

Something that reminds her of a past memory that incorporates her fears, like the room in Feralas. It leaves her waking up wondering if anything is real anymore.

♫: What is one thing that your muse thinks they are talented at, but actually aren’t?

Being smart/not rushing into situations.

♞: Who was your muse’s idol when they were growing up? Who did they first fantasize about being like?

Jaina and Khadgar!

✱: What is your favourite ‘happily ever after’ for your muse? And what’s your most unconventional ‘ever after’ headcanon for them (happily or otherwise)?

Happily ever after would have to be what I described earlier with settling down in a small fishing village or farm town with her significant other and going on occasional adventures.

An unconventional one would probably be her going dark and becoming a villain for the order or others.

✦: What is your muse’s fondest childhood memory?

Painting her room.

♯: What would be the perfect gift for your muse?

Liv wants a gun. Her muse thinks maybe that’s not a great idea and maybe she would enjoy a personalized cookbook with lots of little notes and pictures that remind her of the things/people she loves. Or a really, really awesome set of new armor.

❤: What is your muse’s perfect romantic date?

A fancy dinner somewhere, then a night camping in the mountains or at the beach under the stars.

☮: When and where was your muse happiest?

The place in the mountains when Finn proposed to her (even if it was initially intended to be a joke).

☥: If events in your muse’s life had gone very differently to how they did, what would they have done with their life? What sort of occupation might they have chosen for themselves and would they, in your opinion, be happier than they are now?

Olivier was very close to going full rogue and being in a life of crime. She could be leading a syndicate and killing/stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. She probably wouldn’t be as happy.

☢: If your muse knew that they were going to die in 24 hours, name three things they would do in the time they had left.

Kiss Finn, hug Finn, spend the next 24 hours searching for a way to change the future.

☠: What is the one thing for which your muse would most like to be remembered after their death?

Probably how she cared so much about everyone and everything, almost too much. She couldn’t often find it within herself to be apathetic, and threw herself wholeheartedly into everything to help the people she cared about, or to fight the ones she didn’t.

✎: Growing up, did your muse have a teacher or mentor figure? What was their relationship like?

Liv has has several teachers/mentors, all of them with odd relationships. She hasn’t yet managed to develop an extremely close bond with any of them because they’ve all left within months.

✄: How does your muse perceive themselves, both internally and externally? How does this differ from how other people may see them?

Liv perceives herself as a regular girl with a lot of emotions and a fierce passion to protect who she loves. She sees herself as a defender and a dreamer. Others might describe her similarly or in a more negative light depending on her relationship with them.

✈: Was your muse popular as a child? Did they have many friends, and are they still in touch/still aware of what they are doing with their lives now?

Olivier didn’t have any friends as a kid. She has some ex-coworkers that she’s sort of friends with now, but doesn’t really know what they’re up to.

♐: What is your muse particularly unskilled at?

Cooking and patience. The two happen to be related, yet somehow she’s great at fishing. She is slowly learning, one recipe at a time. She also sucks at mechanics and learning how tools and machines work. Absolutely awful.

☯: Who, if anyone, does your muse consider to be their best friend?

Finnigan Wyman

[sweetlysilent]

Secrets Pt. 2

Requested By: @timmers18

I used some prompts from this prompt list linked here

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Description: Queens had been an active crime space for the past few months, Spider-Man was constantly fighting against a newbie of a villain that wouldn’t stop causing chaos, they both despised each other, or so they thought.

Warnings: Some swearing, also, if you get uncomfortable with alley scenes then skip the first half of the story, I know it can be triggering to some people :((

Word Count: 2,039

A/N: Hey guys, so it’s actually been a while since I’ve really written anything, so I hope this doesn’t suck that bad haha. Anyways, thanks for loving Secrets so much and wanting a part two, I love it a lot also. :))) Enjoy :)))

Tags: @thebrilliantbean @my-love-treasure @twenty-two-airplanes @rosaetum @maddy13245 @shayx5 [ if your user is crossed out tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you bc it’s annoying af sorry xx ]

Friendly PSA: Please do not steal my writing without my permission, or flat out steal it at all. It’s super disrespectful and 100% plagiarism. So, if you’re someone who does steal other peoples’ work, think about what you’re doing before you hit that copy button. Thank you!

Queens Latest News: Breaking News, an anonymous source has gotten word that the villain of Queens is a lot more dangerous than they let on. Recent sources have said that this villain is out for revenge, for blood. Nobody knows why this sick person is out to get everyone, but one thing is for sure, stay observant to your surroundings, keep a weapon of some sort to protect yourself at all costs, you never know when they could attack.

You finished scrolling down the article, rolling your eyes, this writer was out of their mind, they made you seem like a monster, which in a way you were, but all for good reason.

Nobody knew you were the villain of Queens, nobody also knew why you were the villain in general, it wasn’t something that was simple to talk about, exactly why you never did.

Even Ned and Peter didn’t know the story, that’s how deep and personal this situation was, it was traumatic, it was scarring, life changing, and it sure as hell changed you.

It happened about a year ago, you had just turned seventeen, your mother finally allowing you to walk alone by yourself, needless to say she was overprotective and paranoid, but for good reason.

You were walking home from dinner, you had gone to this cute little Thai restaurant a few blocks down, something you had done quite frequently, except this time it was different.

It all happened so fast, one minute you were walking down the street, the next thing you knew your body was being slammed against a brick wall, your head aching from the impact, your body shaking in fear.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing out so late?” The drunk man grinned, his breath reeking of alcohol as you flinched away.

“Lets have some fun shall we?” He smiled menacingly, as you screamed out for help, only to receive a hit to the face, making you cry out in pain.

It was this moment you knew what was going to happen, you couldn’t believe that nobody was coming to help you, that Spider-Man wasn’t going to save you.

You did your best to scream for help again, kicking and screaming all you could, your voice growing tired and sore.

“Shut up you little bitch!” The man would shout, hitting you again as you fell to the ground, shaking and crying.

You were going to die, this was it, this is how your life would end, and nobody would know.

The man had grabbed your arms, yanking you back up, slamming you back into the bricks, and then you weren’t sure what happened, but the man had flown back, hitting the brick wall in front of you.

“What the hell!” He shouted, as you stared at him in shock, but mainly confusion.

Did you just do that?

And then out of nowhere you felt it, this swarm of energy, power, overtake your body, and before you knew it, he was dead, your power growing stronger.

That was the night, the night that changed your life, you made it your goal to kill people that didn’t belong to live, that made it their goal in life to harm others for no good reason.

But mainly you were angry, full of hate and sadness, that nobody came to save you, that nobody cared, that Spider-Man himself, the hero of Queens didn’t come to save you at the time you needed him most.

So, that is why you became the villain, however, in your mind you weren’t a villain, you were a survivor, someone that decided to dedicate their life to protecting others from situations like that.

But that’s not how people saw it, they just saw you as a killer, someone that enjoyed causing pain and chaos, which in a way was true, since you were hurt, you were scarred, and when Spider-Man decided to show up after the incident to fight you, you snapped.

“Y/N, are you alright? You’ve been zoned out for the past fifteen minutes.” Ned waved his hand in front of your face, making you snap out of your thoughts.

You gave a sheepish smile to him and Peter, who both had concerned looks on their faces, making your eyebrows furrow in confusion, until you glanced down at your hand, seeing the food smashed in your hand.

“Oh, shit.” You muttered, cleaning up your hand, then throwing out your tray.

“You’ve been acting off since yesterday, are you sure everything is alright?” Peter questioned, searching your eyes to make sure you weren’t lying.

“I’m fine, just haven’t gotten much sleep is all.” You’d shrug, avoiding eye contact, which made Peter look at you suspiciously.

What were you hiding?

“Alright well, if you need anything let us know okay?” Peter smiled slightly, as you nodded in response.

If only they knew the real reason why you got no sleep.

The lunch bell soon rang, you were on your way to your locker, when a hand grabbed your arm, swinging you around.

You were met with those famous brown eyes, ones you loved.

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were really alright, last night I couldn’t help but notice you had a few bruises.” Peter looked at you concerned, making your eyes widen.

“Oh uhm, it’s no big deal, its just a few scratches.” You’d reply, shrugging as you continued to search through your locker.

“Y/N, seriously, what’s going on?” Peter sighed, pushing your locker door open so he could see you.

This made you annoyed, you let out a huff, turning to face him.

“Are you really one to talk Parker? I’m not the only one acting weird here, don’t think I didn’t notice how you stopped wearing glasses, or that you have become more confident, or that you too had bruises last night.” You fired at him, making him shift nervously, avoiding eye contact with you.

“That’s what I thought.” You’d mutter, slamming your locker shut, before walking away, leaving Peter stunned, his thoughts racing.

That night it was strange, you felt powerful, you were killing people left and right, yet you didn’t know why exactly, you hadn’t done that in a while, but tonight, tonight just felt right, you were filled with rage.

“Sorry to interrupt but you need to move your hands away from him before we have a problem.” You heard the all to familiar voice speak, as you glanced over at the masked hero.

You looked at the man, before looking at Spider-Man himself, your eyes darkening by the second.

“I want you to see, what I felt.” You growled out, and before you knew it, the man was dead, and Spider-Man had to watch in horror.

“You’re sick.” He choked out, but you on the other hand felt great, now he knew how you felt that night.

“Not a nice feeling is it.” You shot at him, making his eyes on his mask grow small in confusion.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but you’re going to stop, now.” Spider-Man shouted, webbing you and flying you up to a rooftop.

You groaned, standing up and facing the hero, who was sending you daggers through their mask.

“Do you think I like doing what I do? That I want to spend my time every night out here killing people?” You shouted, your voice slightly cracking, surprising Spider-Man.

“Then why do you do it!” He shouted, his hands waving in the air.

“Because! Because if anyone could have saved me, it would have been you, but you didn’t, the famous hero didn’t even come to save me when I needed him most.” You shouted, anger flowing through your veins, tears forming behind your own mask.

Spider-Man stared at you in shock, he never knew this, hell, he didn’t even know who you really were.

“I-I’m s-sorry..” He whispered, which only made you laugh bitterly, sending chills down his spine.

“You left me to die, so I did what I had to, to survive.” You growled, pacing back and forth.

“And then I made it my job to protect people, to keep them safe from horrible people like that.” You covered your face with your hands, a sob escaping your lips.

“Everyone has a breaking point, and that night, I hit mine.” You choked out, sitting on the ground as Spider-Man stood there watching you intently.

And then it was all slowly starting to sink it, so much of this villain reminded him of you and then it all started to make sense to him.

You had been acting so off lately, and then seeing the bruises on your face that you tried to cover up, or the way you’d disappear randomly and then show back up just like he would, always coming up with some random excuse, it was all making sense, it was all coming together, the villain of Queens.

It was you.

[velvetroom--imagines]

First off, it's nice to see another imagine blog. I really enjoy your writing so far and wanted to tell you good luck with your blog ^^!! Can I ask for a imagine of the protags from P3, 4, and 5 in a love square with the same crush? Thought that would look pretty funny since they all would be trying to social link them.

I took way too long with this because so many ideas for this imagine came up.I was halfway through writing an actual oneshot when I realized I may never finish it. I probably wrote way too far than intended. I seriously love this idea too much ;-; Please send more asks about P3/P4/P5 mashing in together. I could’ve gone on and on about this, but I’m afraid it would be too long and this would’ve been overdue. 

Minato/Yu/Akira in love with the Same Person HC

Mentions of Spoilers of all 3 Games

Goodness, just what kind ofmess did you get into?

Being the center of these boys isgoing to be a hassle. It’s just a recipe for either disaster or a veryfulfilling relationship.

For a quick backstory, you werefirst involved in the world of Personas during P3. For the sake of this story,Minato just falls into a coma. Through the previous games,you knew that Shadows existed but didn’t have the right circumstances to fightwith them.  

Initially, you were in Tokyo forschooling and by then, you had become fairly acquainted with Akira Kurusu. Itwas no secret to you that he was the Phantom Thief ever since you foundyourself in the Metaverse. You never did tell him how you managed to survive inthere for a long time. Months passed, and it was still left unexplained.

You were having a quick snack with Akira in the morning, waiting for him to finish brewing coffee. He had been itching to ask you for a date at the Seaside Park for ages, and he finally had enough charm to do it. Looking at you straight in the eyes, he took in a breath. “Hey, S/O, what do you think about going to the Seaside Park with—”

Suddenly, some kid with a silver bowl haircut comes into Leblanc. ”How may I help you–”

“S/O, is that you?”

just who interrupted my proposal?

That was exactly how this little started, quietly and dangerously. 

After you introduced Yu and Akira to each other, the atmosphere was already tense. 

Yu wasn’t upset, but found this situation to be a challenge to your heart. Akira, on the other hand, was hoping he had enough Charm to keep himself composed. “Oh, so you’re the one who’s been looking after S/O?” Yu asked with a small smile. Mirroring his expression, Akira nodded. “I’m so glad that they have such a nice friend.”

Obviously, Akira wasn’t going to let this Inaba Guy stop him from asking you out. After regaining confidence, he looks at you. “S/O, I was wondering if you would like to come to Seaside Park with me.” 

“… Of course, I’d come! Can we bring Yu with us?”

Ah, look at that little smirk on Yu’s face.

“I haven’t seen him in a long time, Akira.” The Phantom Thief couldn’t deny you with that small pout on your lips. “Fine.”

Yu was very lucky indeed. How could we not forget how confident he was after the King’s Game Incident? He had a small crush on you during his stay in Inaba. However, your paths were forced to split up at the end of the year. While you two even exchange numbers, it would never compare to being able to see you in person.

On the way to the Central Street in Shibuya, there was a large crowd. Akira and Yu would try and get you to hold hands with them, but it would often end in silent arguments between the boys. Whenever you would look back, they would always be smiling at each other. You couldn’t help but notice Akira’s lip twitch out of irritation.

Somehow, they were too busy glaring at each other to notice you got lost in the crowd. 

“Well, I’ve got the Knowledge to impress her.” 

“Akira, is that so? At least I have maximum Charm to win this little game of ours. What do you think, S/O? …S/O?”     

This was one of the only moments when Yu and Akira would chill out. They suddenly start looking all over the street to find you. Deep down their calm faces, they were freaking out. What if you got kidnapped or hurt?

Little did they know that someone else had you in their grasp.

Sitting down on the pavement, the two boys looked at each other in desperation. They knew that they were in big trouble if they couldn’t find you. Akira glanced at Yu, seemingly apologetic. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.” 

The silver haired man looked equally as apologetic. “It was partly my fault. I’m sorry.” He sighed, hanging his head low. “Man, if that guy found out I let this happen, we’ll never get out alive.” Akira looked at him in confusion. “Who’s that guy?”   

“… We meet again.”

Shivers ran up the two protagonists’ spines as the chilly voice processed through their ears. Yu couldn’t help but pale, recognizing the voice. 

You stood beside a shorter blue haired man, clinging onto his arm for dear life. You smiled at the two boys. “This is Minato, my friend from Iwatodai. Don’t you remember him, Yu?”

God, have mercy on Akira. 

Minato looked at you with a gentle gaze before nodding. “I believe we have met before. Who is this?” 

After introducing everyone to each other, Akira couldn’t help but feel a click. Something just felt odd about these people, sensing some familiar energy within them. 

Introduction’s over, now with the General HCs.

Akira would be the most cautious and fidgety. Not only are they older, but they’ve known S/O way before he did. Towards Yu, he would be less tense. He sees Yu has a playful guy, sly but somewhat harmless. Minato was a different case, similarly to an overprotective brother. He wouldn’t show it, but he is a bit scared of him. Akira wouldn’t dare play an cheeky tricks on the eldest.

Yu wouldn’t be tense around these two. He takes this situation very lightly, and doesn’t really give a fuck. He’s in for the fun, and isn’t up for breaking hearts. He treats Akira as a little sibling, and treats Minato as a boss. Rather than disliking the two, he actually becomes fond of them. He loves teasing both of them, though.

Minato was somewhat aloof to this whole situation. He’s already used to Yu’s weirdness. He’s much more interested in Akira’s reasons of liking S/O, but it doesn’t matter. He’s sticking around to make sure Y/N doesn’t get hurt because of these two. 

This love square would consist of a lot of rivalries. Unknowingly, they would start up ‘friendly’ arguments about their stats. Akira does the best in intelligence, Yu is good at charming others while Minato wins when it comes to Guts.  

Divided, it becomes a war zone. Each of the three would never go far to using violence, but they will try to annoy each other in subtle ways.  

Yu is fond of sabotaging dates with his presence, often making situations awkward. Whenever you are on dates with another Protagonist, he would pop up out of nowhere. “Me? I’m just shopping for clothes. Yes, it’s perfectly normal for people to buy clothes at a beach, thank you very much.”

Akira looks innocent on the outside, but that small smile is just a front. Luckily for him, the S/O comes to Leblanc on a regular basis. If any of the other guys came with her, he wouldn’t hesitate on adding an extra spoonful of salt or pepper into their coffee. Like Yu, he may also sabotage dates with his presence. Sometimes, he would team up with Yu to bother Minato. “Is that a bit too sweet? Oops, I thought the curry would taste better with sugar.”

Minato wasn’t as immature as the other two. Rather than focusing on sabotage, he likes to make them jealous. Since he knew you the longest, he tends to be much more touchy with you. He starts off with the small things, like holding your hand or wrapping an arm around your shoulder. Then it gets more sweeter, especially when he pulls you closer when walking in crowds, or wiping that whip cream from the side of your lip. He’s got some guts. Another way he annoys the other two, is when he purposely makes up situations to shoo them away. “Is that your friend over there? You should go and check up on them, Akira.” “That’s not my-” “Hush, I know you must go. It’s okay.”

When they realize they are Persona Users with the Wild Card ability, everything gets intense. Not many people have his ability, and it rose tensions. They still try to compare each other in this sense.

“I steal the hearts of the selfish and force the unjust to admit their crimes.”

“Oh really? I hunted down a serial killer and saved my town from turning into shadows.” 

“Heh. I faced death without complaints. I saved the world from ending.”

“…”

In secrecy, these three would try to test their abilities. Yu would drag the two into the T.V world, Minato would make them stay up into the Dark Hour and Akira would take them to the farthest edges of Mementos. 

At some point, they would want to challenge each other, one on one. Minato would have the greatest advantage since he was trained as a Shadow Operative and had the longest experience out of the three. Normally, Yu and Akira would have to battle it out first before taking Minato on. 

They are usually neck-to-neck at the end of the battles, and often stop out of exhaustion. While they are rivals to your heart, they respect each other in terms of battle.

Being love rivals is hard, but it makes a fulfilling friendship. Whenever you are together with the Protagonists, expect them to act as your bodyguards. Yu would follow from the back, and the other two would walk with you by your side. The only people who could ever compete for you are those three, no one else.

United, they are very protective of you. Usually, it’s up to Minato to deal with anyone who bothers you. When it comes to people who are actually messing with you, Akira won’t hesitate in bringing these two to the Metaverse to deal with the problem. Yu, on the other hand, would also shield you if Minato wasn’t available.

When they’re not in the mood to bicker, they’re really sweet altogether. A favorite memory was when they went to Seaside Park together. You were always holding one of their hands, smiling at them. What mattered the most at that time was to make this a good experience for you. 

It gets pretty tiring to constantly fight for your attention, but at the end of the day, they know you’d have to pick someone, whether it’s one of them or not. They will support your relationship with little complaint, and will protect you nonetheless. 

That’s unless someone proposes a reverse harem. Now that’s another story. Actually, I wouldn’t mind writing something about this.

[furederiko]

The third and final 'Lucky Seven' date of the month (07.27.17, right?)! And the final Random-News-Digest for July! Today's R-N-D is also Part 2 (of 2) of the San Diego Comic Con International 2017 related coverage. This time around, they are all things Marvel-ous. Excelsior...!!!

NOTE: Since the whole page will be entirely Marvel related, it will be written chronologically to their SDCC schedule. Each title will also be assigned in its own category, not grouped into 'Marvel Studios' and 'Marvel TV' like I've always done. Oh, and the images used above are obviously courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter and Marvel Studios Visual Development Team (that one's Ryan Meinerding's art to be precise). All credits goes to their respective owners! Long story short, I suffered a blackout TWO times when I was writing this. Forcing me to start over and over again all day. That's why I haven't had time to actually proofread it (as well as the 1st Part). I'll try to do that as soon as possible, but please pardon for any tipo or grammatical error if you happen to stumble into any. Thanks in advance!

Marvel's Inhumans

Marvel TV and ABC Studios led Marvel's SDCC 2017 big panel on July 20th, by headlining "LEGION", their collaboration with FX Network. A bit odd if you ask me, considering that's a FOX product... but never mind that. Marvel TV Head Jeph Loeb then continued the presentation on 06:15 PM PST, by bringing the cast of the upcoming "Inhumans" series to same venue, Ballroom 20.

Loeb reentered while wearing that hideous Medusa's wig, a clear but hopefully unintentional attempt to spite those fans who have been criticizing it. To be honest, that was NOT a cool thing to do, especially for someone who would received an award by the SDCC commitee the day after. He welcomed showrunner the almighty Scott Buck, drector Roel Reine, and actors Anson Mount, Iwan Rheon, Serinda Swan, Eme Ikwuakor, Isabelle Cornish, Ken Leung, Ellen Woglom, Sonya Balmores, and Mike Moh, who were all holding a stuffed Lockjaw doll in their hand. The panel then showed several exclusive footage from the first couple of episodes. Some bits of those would later be released online via Marvel Entertainment's channel as a new trailer. Now about that new trailer...

Seriously?!! For the love of Lockjaw, it was indeed better with the VFX, but worse with all the ridiculous corniness and campiness that made me feel... embarassed as I seen it. And here I thought The CW's Arrowverse were already somewhat corny. And THAT song choice? Others might... like it, but it was totally NOT my cup of tea. Clearly, it was an attempt to emulate the style of James Gunn and the retro tune aspect of "Guardians of the Galaxy". But... one that failed miserably in my dictionary. It was grating so much on my nerves all through the trailer, that I had to put it on MUTE the second time I played it again (with the intention to get some screengrab, but decided to lose that thought and rinse it out of my head right away). Not only Scott Buck is faulty as a showrunner, I do think he has poor taste in style and music.

Fans got what they wanted, as in to see the VFX effects on Medusa's hair in action. Unfortunately, I have a weird STROOONG feeling that those effects, as well as the others' abilities, will be most of the VFX we'll see in the show. Why? Remember "Iron Fist"? That series had waaay too many chit-chat and dialogues, that all the cool scenes were already spoiled in its trailers. I'm concerned the same thing is happening with this show too. Since we're speaking about VFX, I wonder if this is the final product? For some reason, this felt cheap and fake. I'd be VERY surprised if Mark Kolpac and his team are the one behind this, considering the ones he developed for Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." looked way sophisticated and believable. I'd gladly take Robbie Reyes' Ghost Rider transformation scene or Daisy Johnson's quaking anytime, over what this series had shown me so far.

Apparently, this extended trailer would be played alongside Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" screenings on IMAX theatres. Personally? I'm not sure if that's even a wise decision, considering this didn't even scream IMAX-worthy. Then again, IMAX is paying for this show, so of course, the studio has to deliver one, right? But if you ask me to pay to see it? I'll totally pass. Once again, no disregard, but... just not my cup of tea. Marvel's "Inhumans" will debut on September 1st, 2017 on IMAX Theatre for two weeks. The same footage will then premiere with additional scenes on September 29th, 2017 on ABC.

Marvel's Runaways

This one didn't actually arrived on SDCC 2017, but the news hit the market the same day the "Inhumans" panel took place. Coincidence much? I doubt. "Runaways", the show that was once reported to be released in 2018, will be arriving MUCH sooner than expected. Hulu unveiled the Fall Premiere dates for their exclusive shows, and guess what? "Runaway" is among them, set to be released in November! Of course, it's a good news, even if I won't be able to see it. From the looks of it, this series will be even more faithful to the source material than say, "Inhumans", notable because the comic writer himself is involved directly in it. So assuming the worse happens, that "Inhumans" turns out to be a bad show, Marvel TV already has something to counter the possible negative impact by delivering this in just two months after. Who knows, this might be the show that Marvel TV and Marvel fans in general has been waiting for. I think it's safe to say we can expect that (once leaked) trailer to officially arrive very soon. All (?) 10 episodes of "Runaways" Season 1 will premiere on November 21st, 2017.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

Let's take a quick detour to the game zone now. This time, for Marvel's popular crossover fighting game with CAPCOM. Yes, the highly anticipated but sadly much criticized franchise had its own dedicated panel on July 21st, 11:15 AM PST at Room 6BCF. CAPCOM used the opportunity to announce four more playable character to the core launch roster. Friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man as representative from Marvel, while Frank West of "Dead Rising", Nemesis of "Resident Evil", and Mike Haggar of "Final Fight" entered the arena from the CAPCOM side. A gameplay video featuring these characters was later debuted through the game's official channel.

It's actually a bit ironic that only ONE Marvel character was revealed in this event. Not to mention, one that is partially a SONY property. I would've expected Marvel to ask CAPCOM to at least, deliver more Marvel characters, particularly new ones that hasn't been part of the franchise like Gamora or Black Panther. Instead, all four of these characters are known to be 'veterans' in the franchise, having been featured in at least one iteration in the past. So yeah, not really a wise decision if you ask me. But who am I to argue, right? "Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite" will be released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 19th, 2017.

Marvel's The Defenders

Netflix held their 2nd grand Hall H presentation on July 21st, 05:15 PM PST, and of course, it's for one of their most popular series: the Marvel Netflix-verse. Before the panel got to its big event, Loeb became the star of show as he was awarded with "Inkpot Award" for his excellence in comics and television. I'm not too keen on the guy anymore, but it was a good moving moment, and I'm happy for him.

It didn't take long for the spotlight to be taken away from him though, because actor Jon Bernthal showed up, stealing all attention as the panel's first surprise. He also delivered the first exclusive footage from his upcoming series, Marvel's "The Punisher" (is it... this one?). From what I've read online, the team behind this show had successfully and also faithfully continued Frank Castle's arc from Marvel's "Daredevil" Season 2. I got the feeling, that they have managed to create an amazing balance to Castle's dual emotional struggle. One of his loneliness and grieve over losing his beloved family, and one that is anger and vengeance and he mercilessly track down those who are responsible for it. Sure, the big boss of said violent operation was already executed in "Daredevil", but he DID bring an army to do the crime. That means more people for Castle to hunt!

I still think it's a fatal mistake that he's not included as a fifth member of "The Defenders". He could have added an entirely new dark and gritty color to the team, especially because everyone knows he's waaaay more welcomed than one of its core members. I can't help but wonder though, was Bernthal's presence in the panel, served as a subtle confirmation that he would be in it after all? Not to mention, that recent Netflix Korea featurette (that felt special because it's personally narrated by the great Stan Lee) also included his character. I think he'll be a great addition to the team-up mini-series, and I'd be pretty disappointed if he doesn't even show up... at least for a minor supporting role. Oh well, fans of Castle can still wait for "The Punisher" when it arrives in November.

Cast for "The Defenders" then reclaimed their stage, alongside showrunner Marco Ramirez. All four lead actors, Charlie Cox of "Daredevil", Krysten Ritter of Marvel's "Jessica Jones", Mike Colter of Marvel's "Luke Cage", and Finn Jones of Marvel's "Iron Fist" were obviously present. Deborah Ann Woll from "Daredevil", and Jessica Henwick from "Iron Fist" represented the supporting cast. And Elodie Yung of "Daredevil" was there with Sigourney Weaver as the mini-series antagonists. They teased some bits of the plot, but more importantly debuted a new official second trailer for attendees to see. This one felt more clearer, as Weaver's Alexandra dished out her goal and intention to New York. It showed more ass-kicking action, and more importantly, the characters bouncing off one another in their personal quirks. That's actually the highlight of this trailer, IMHO. By the way, the trailer's already available on Netflix's official channel, in case you've missed it somehow.

But this is Marvel, and even if it's a TV divison, it's not their habit to not show exclusive footage for attendees. So they did, but rather than showing a clip or two, they actually screened the entirety of the first episode for the audience! This wasn't a new thing for Marvel TV, but THAT's what I call exclusive. Several sites have since published their early review for the mini-series after SDCC 2017 ended. These journalist have been allowed access to the first half, or first 4 episodes in advance. In general, they praised the chemistry between the heroes, one that rivaled even the Avengers. But they also unanimously pointed out that Marvel TV hasn't really learned from their mistake: it took TOO LONG to see them finally teaming up. Apparently, it will take a while to catch up with what they are doing after their respective series, which is a bit odd, since the benefit of Netflix is anyone can always re-watched those previous series anytime they want. Oh, and that Jones' Danny Rand is the weakest link and lamest part of the series.

Aaaah, yes, speaking of Rand, the panel delivered a news that I found to be... quite unbelieveable. "Iron Fist" is getting a Season 2. Yay... I guess? I'm quite shocked to see that Netflix actually has faith for this show, even if it's among the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score for a TV show. And particularly, when other Netflix-exclusive shows with higher scores were getting cancelled one after another. It's pretty much the most hated entry of the Marvel Netflix-verse, and it... actually shows.

On the bright side (or... is it? Hmmmm), since the Unparalleled-Talent Scott Buck is busy ruini... I mean, messing aroun... er, WORKING with "The Inhumans", Raven Metzner of the recently cancelled (oh... no...) "Sleepy Hollow" has been assigned to take over as the new showrunner. That means we can at least expect some drastic improvement to the series. Perhaps, we'll be seeing the actual DRAGON (not bulbs) form of Shou-Lao? Lest we forget, "Sleepy Hollow" is an actual SUPERNATURAL show! Simone Missick's Misty Knight has even been hinted to be part of it, and hopefully form "Daughters of the Dragon" with Henwick's Colleen Wing. That fact alone is enough to make me rethink my decision to not give it a HUGE PASS prematurely.

On the down side? There goes my wish for a "Heroes for Hire" team-up. Even if it MIGHT end up happening in the future, perhaps as a direct continuation of both 2nd Seasons of "Luke Cage" and "Iron Fist", the soonest it would arrive is in 2019. I'm not even sure I'm still onboard with this Netflixverse when the time comes. Oh well, let's just worry and rant about that later. For now, we can anticipate to see Danny, along with the other Defenders very soon. All 8 episodes of "The Defenders" arrives on August 18th, 2017.

Avengers: Black Panther Quest

I actually didn't planned to venture into the Marvel Animation category, but since it has an interesting news, I've decided to include a quick one. Yes, the animation division took the Room 6A's stage on July 22nd, 12:30 PM PST, to talk about their future works. One of it, was of course the upcoming Marvel's "Spider-Man" series (premiered the next day, on July 23rd), that's clearly heavily inspired by "Spider-Man: Homecoming". What I didn't expect though, is that they've already announced a renewal the "Avengers Assemble" series! The current 4th Season entitled "Avengers: Secret Wars" had only started airing last month!

And yes, if the new announced subtitle wasn't clear enough for your, the 5th Season will be focused on T'Challa. Does this mean, he will be the leader of the New Avengers in the series? Or this new season will take place entirely in Wakanda, you know, as a synergy to the live action movie that will be premiered in the same year? I can't really tell. I even wonder why they aren't focusing with the Avengers, to coincide with "Avengers: Infinity War". Curious indeed...

LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes 2

One more side mission before we move on to the movies (which is arguably the best categories of all Marvel's participation in SDCC 2017, of course). It's... video game time again! The gang from TT Games this time, as they took over a July 22nd stage at Room 6A, on 01:45 PM PST. In their pannel, they delivered a brand new trailer that featured... Kang the Conqueror. Does this mean, the time-travelling super villain is the culprit behind the game's reality and timeline mash-up? Very likely. Can he top the menace of Galactus from the first game, though? We'll see. "LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes 2" will be released on November 14th, 2017.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Pheww, now we've arrived on the main menu, as Marvel Studios completed the July 22nd Marvel ride with their grand Hall H presentation starting on 05:30 PM PST. It started 15 minutes late though, due to previous panel running off schedule.

Sequel to 2015's beloved "Ant-Man" got the privilege to kickstart Marvel Studios' panel this year! And yes, that's the official title now. It's no longer "Ant-Man & the Wasp" like was shown in the Disney D23 Expo. Turns out that's merely a placeholder title. Unfortunately, the cast couldn't make it to SDCC 2017, because they are busy in Atlanta filming the movie. Actress Evangeline Lilly had already confirmed this via twitter when SDCC began. But that doesn't mean, it didn't bring anything to the panel. Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige himself delivered a humorous video by Paul Rudd and Michael Peña, to make up for their absence.

Rudd is a natural-born comedic (not to mention, charmingly adorable) actor, and Peña also has been hiding a bonafide comedic talent all these time (not to mention, equally adorable LOL). So obviously, this exclusive video that has them narrating Marvel Studios' movies since the first "Iron Man" was an easy crowd-pleasing hoot. You've really got to hand it to these guys, because reading the description (via ComingSoon live blog) alone was already making me giggling like crazy. All those meta jokes! Seriously, if there's any exclusive footage from this panel I ever want Marvel to release online, it's definitely THIS one.

But best of all, just like any Marvel Studios' movie, even this footage brought a twist of its own. Because it was later revealed that the duo was NOT dishing out this Marvel Cinematic Universe 'recap' to the SDCC audience (of course they are, but you know the drill). Nope, apparently they were 'educating' a third person in front of them, which was... Michelle Pfeiffer!!! ...Who was officially unveiled to be playing Janet van Dyne. SAY WHAAAT??!!! Dang, this was definitely the coolest casting reveal that the studio ever pulled off. Nope, make that 'yet another cool reveal', because remember when Chadwick Boseman was announced as T'Challa? Or Josh Brolin as Thanos? Last year's Brie Larson? Yessss... Marvel Studios is indeed the king of showmanship. No wonder their Hall H panel is always highly anticipated. In case you're not Marvel educated, Janet is the wife of Michael Douglas' Hank Pym, and the mother of Lilly's Hope van Dyne/Pym. Similar to Pym, she was the original Wasp before the suit was naturally passed down to Hope. She was absent in the first movie, because she was lost in the Quantum Realm, and the subplot between Hank and Hope in that movie was the side-effect to that incident. In the comics, her Wasp was the actual founder of the Avengers! Getting Pfeiffer to portray her is a dream come true for fans, and also the actors. Marvel Studios had truly done it again!

That's not all. There's another surprise from this movie. Feige confirmed that both Hannah John-Kamen and Walton Goggins are in the movie, and they are playing comic book character. The former is a famous Marvel antagonist called the Ghost (who as far as I know of, is never unmasked in the comics), while the latter plays Sonny Burch, a CEO of Cross Corporation with connection to... Obadiah Stane. Ouucch!! He already screams antagonist for me. But wait, there's another one, and it's the famous... Laurence Fishburne! Guess who he's playing? Dr. William Foster, a.k.a the superhero Black Goliath. I know that Foster's name has come up in the rumor circuit prior to SDCC, but who would've imagined Marvel Studios would be getting Fishburne to play him. After "Doctor Strange", and then "Black Panther" with their stellar casting, now this movie joined the parade with its truly giant cast!

According to Feige, MCU's Foster will be Michael Douglas' Hank Pym associate. Easy money says that he's the one responsible for Rudd's Scott Lang's Giant-Man ability in "Captain America: Civil War". Perhaps, that stunt displeased Foster, and caused a rift between him and Pym? Goodness, the potential for drama is exciting! And speaking of Pym, could we be seeing him donning the shrinking suit into action? Recent behind the scene reports seem to be hinting that direction. Imagine how great it would be, if he's using Darren Cross' Yellowjacket costume. That would be a neat faithful nod to the source material! Beside, the movie can even debut their own size-shifting Avengers team, assuming Foster gets to suit up as Goliath as well.

The first official concept art poster courtesy of Andy Park, was later released on the Marvel booth. And it was amazing! Lang is clearly Giant-Man, adding further connection to Foster's inclusion in the movie, while Lilly's Hope van Dyne shows her moxie as the fierce superheroine Wasp. Gotta love that new hairdo too! I personally loved the first movie, and I'm totally crossing my fingers that this sequel will more amazing. "Ant-Man and the Wasp" arrives on July 6th, 2018.

Captain Marvel

"Captain Marvel" was up next, and boy... this one sure unleashed its own might. Still flying solo without the accompaniment of any cast members (since only one has been cast), Feige unveiled a few concept arts from the movie, starting with one of Brie Larson's costume. It was faithful to the modern comics' version, but has some tactical elements that resemble those of Captain America's suit. That fan-artist rendition that hit the internet long ago? That was almost accurate.

He then confirmed the report that Samuel L. Jackson will be reprising his role as Nick Fury in the movie... but with both eyes open. Wait, how? Does he get an eye implant or something? Courtesy of Tony Stark, perhaps? Nope. Because the movie will be set in... the 1990s. This reveal undoubtedly sent tidal wave of surprise throughout the audience, as well as the internet. But it got even better, when Feige unveiled that Larson's Carol Danvers will be dealing with... the Skrulls. This namedropping was purely unexpected, because many (including yours truly) thought that the shape-shifting alien-race belongs to FOX, having been heavily associated with their Fantastic Four franchise. And Feige was not lying, because a concept art of the antagonistic species was then shown to the attendees. It IS indeed the Skrulls! Feige later hinted that the movie will address why this alien race hasn't been seen until now.

Fans of the comics would easily understand the connection to Skrulls and Captain Marvel. Danvers received her powers from Mar-Vell, who is a Kree alien. And the Kree and Skrulls have been fighting wars against each other for centuries. Interestingly, this whole reveal has raised numerous questions among the fanbase. Like: Why the Skrulls? Does this mean, the origin story secretly serves like a pseudo-"Secret Invasion" movie? Does this mean, among the characters we've seen until now, some of them might NOT be the real ones, and purely Skrull disguises? Or does this serve as a hint, that the 2019 Avengers movie will in fact be... "Avengers: Secret Invasion"? More importantly, if Carol Danvers has been active since the 90s, WITH her cosmic powers and all... why hasn't she been around? What has she been doing in almost 30 years? Why didn't Fury call her when Loki rained down Chitauri in 2009 (Fun Fact: "The Avengers" was set a year after "Iron Man")? And also... why is she NOT part of "Infinity War"? Or... she is? Hmmmm...

So many questions, and still 1,5 years for answers. If you ask me, then my personal speculation is... Danvers is basically NOT on Earth. Perhaps, in the aftermath of her solo movie, she was given a mission deep in space? Perhaps she joins the Kree and help fight the Skrulls... in their home planet? Or perhaps... captured? Or... have fun and funky galactic adventures? The temporal differences between Earth and other planet, will provide a valid science that she's aging slower. Perhaps, one hour there, is one year on Earth? Through this scenario, she'll work as the second Captain America figure, being 'lost in time'. Even better, she could have lost her powers all these years, which has happened before in the comics, and Fury helps her to regain her power in "Avengers 4". What I'm trying to say is, this fascinating choice of setting just opens up worlds of possibilities. "Captain Marvel" is set to start production early next year in California, and will arrive on March 8th, 2019. And just be honest, we are all intrigued about it, right? *grins*

There's a quick break following this part of the panel, because SDCC director of programming Eddie Ibrahim arrived on stage to deliver a surprise. Yes, just like Jeph Loeb, Kevin Feige was awarded an "Inkpot Award" for achievements in movies. No offense to the other guy, but this one is far more appropriate IMHO. Not only Feige has delivered the first fully-working Cinematic Universe in Hollywood, producing beloved critically-acclaimed movies every year, his move has inspired other studios to... create their own Cinematic Universe. That's a massive accomplishment, if you ask me, and he clearly deserves it. So bravo, Feige, hope you'll keep on working in the MCU for more many years to come.

Thor: Ragnarok

After the dust had settled, and cheering crowd had subsided, Feige and moderator Chris Hardwick continued the presentation by summoning... the Asgardians to the stage. Director Taika Waititi arrived with lead actor Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Tessa Thompson, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, and surprise addition in Rachel House. By the way, this was likely just a small set of core cast members, because there might be more actors having brief supporting roles in the movie. Considering Waititi is famous for his eccentric style of comedy, this part of the panel... was another round of hoot. Hemsworth said that he's bored after playing the same character five times, and wanted to... push himself. Either that's the truth or a joke, is rather unclear. Waititi then replied that he decided to tackle this movie, to help 'a friend in need', which was a fun jab towards Hemsworth. Blanchett added, that she also got the part because she lives in the same continent to Waititi. LOL. Then came Urban, who's a fellow New Zealander to Waititi, with another Australian neighbour joke.

Ruffalo revealed that his green giant persona Hulk prefers to stays that way, and not return into puny Bruce Banner in this movie. Hiddleston said that ever since the ending of "Thor: The Dark World", his Loki has been masquerading as the All Father Odin. That proved to ignite problem, particularly with Blanchett's Hela. Goldblum confirmed that his character The Grandmaster, is the brother of Benicio del Toro's The Collector. They are the oldest being of the universe. His tournament on Planet Sakaar? It is called... "Contest of Champions". Hulk is his champion, and Thor will be called "Lord of Thunder" in the ring. House, also a New Zealander (she voiced Gramma Tala in Disney's "Moana", in case her name sounds familiar) is a frequent collaborator of Waititi. In this movie, she played the assistant of The Grandmaster, named Topaz. Apparently, her character has some hidden beef with the other assistant, who is Thompson's Valkyrie. Thompson also teased the enigmatic nature of her character.

The cast kept bouncing off one another. So suffice to say, it sounded like a fun and warm set of people, that you totally want to hang out with. Just look at the photos of them on stage, and one can easily tell that seeing Hemsworth bromancing with Ruffalo and Waititi was indeed a delight. And the chemistry between these cast members easily infected the movie itself, as proven by several exclusive footages from the movie, exclusively shown for the attendees. The first showed Thor's first meeting with The Grandmaster. He then was tossed into a holding cell, where he encountered Korg, a rock-shaped character with a gentle voice, who was played by Waititi himself. The last footage, showed Thor's first encounter with Hulk in the arena. That last one then transitioned into a new trailer, that has since been made available online via Marvel Entertainment.

That trailer was pure amazing, it brought Hall H to their feet. It confirmed the appearance of both Fenris Wolf and Surtur, as both of them will be dealt by Ruffalo's Hulk. If in "Spider-Man: Homecoming", Michael Keaton had his Adrian Toomes so grounded that he felt like that ordinary neighbour you occasionally ran into every now and then, Cate Blanchett gets to hamm it up with so much sass and slurr for Hela, to the point of turning her into genuine scary and intimidating. The bromancing rivalry between Thor and Hulk, would easily be the gem of the movie. But what I truly love about this trailer, is the vibrant vivid colors that made your eyes glare in awe. Yes, not unlike that psychedelic new official poster. Thor might have had a rough time with his first two solo movies, but this time around, he (and Team Thor) seems to be having lots of fun and a blast. Even Variety has included this panel as one of their best highlight of this year's SDCC.

One last thing, Collider caught up with Waititi after the panel, and asked some bits about the movie. It was there that Waititi revealed, that "Thor: Ragnarok" might be... the SHORTEST MCU movie to date. He stated that "The cut right now, I reckon it’s about 100 minutes. It’s not gonna be a very, very long film. I think that stories are better when you leave them wanting more, and this film moves at a clip, it’s got stuff happening all the time. I think people are still gonna feel exhausted by the end, they’ve been on this big journey and stuff, so I don’t think we need the film to be three hours.". But rest assured, because he said that there would be plenty of "Great scenes. Funny, funny moments" that will go as 'Deleted Scenes' in the home video version. For now, look forward to the movie itself in theatres, November 3rd, 2017.

Black Panther

As the Asgardians exited stage right, a horde of Wakandan claimed their land!

Ryan Coogler brought his A-list stars to the stage. Lead actor Chadwick Boseman lead the pack of Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, and two veteran actors in Andy Serkis, and Forest Whitaker. Coogler opened up about his first experience with the character Black Panther, admitting that he's usually on the other side of the panel, sitting as audience (he did, he was present during WB's panel). Similar to the "Thor: Ragnarok" side, each actor shared their experience in the movie, as well as tidbits of their character. Jordan in particular, revealed that his Erik Killmonger returned to Wakanda, to reclaim her role as a Prince. And why is that? Because the movie will be set directly after the fallout of "Captain America: Civil War". So in a way, similar in timeline to "Spider-Man: Homecoming". With King T'Chaka gone, turmoils began to grow from the inside, as Boseman's T'Challa isn't deemed ready to be a king. Perhaps, a consequence of to his avenging stint in "Civil War"?

Coogler then delivered a completely exclusive footage, that was only shown for the SDCC 2017 attendees. The first one featured a James Bond-esque operation, where T'Challa, escorted by Nyong'o's Nakia and Gurira's Okoye, attempted to take down Serkis' Ulyssess Klaue who has been smuggling Vibranium from Wakanda. Clearly, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" was the solid proof to that. As well as Klaue's prosthetic hand, of course. Martin Freeman's Everett Ross was involved in this scene, as he hillariously screamed himself into hiding. Another footage showed T'Challa, suited up as the Black Panther, in an epic car chase. Wright's Shuri was also seen designing and perhaps weaponizing the Panther suit. Killmonger, was also seen donning his own black/gold color battle suit.

The entire footage had the audience floored, as they immediately jumped to their feet to praise and cheer as soon as it ended. Not just them, the cast hasn't had the chance to see it either. So the stage equally erupted in joy and thrills, as each cast members began embracing one another, celebrating the massive work they've just witnessed. The reaction was magical if you ask me, but also completely real that it actually moved me the first time I saw it. The expression of joy and achievement was genuine! Suffice to say, it was special, and the movie IS going to be special. Not unlike that grand looking poster that was handed out for each attendees.

Obviously, I couldn't commented more since that footage was exclusive for SDCC audience. Yet it's more than clear, that Coogler, his actors, and Marvel Studios weren't playing around. Having long standing ovation was a true sign of greatness, and I hope this movie is as worthy as T'Challa to be the king. Let's cross our fingers, with the hopes that that truly will be the case. "Black Panther" arrives in February 16th, 2018.

Avengers: Infinity War

After a brief teasing by Feige, director Joe Russo appeared on stage to wrap up the panel. He delivered the official trailer for "Infinity War", that had previously been screened to the D23 Expo audience. Remember, the attendees of SDCC 2017 Hall H might not be the same 6500-7000 people. I believe only a very a small portion of those audience showed up in both events, and they are mostly journalists. The reaction on Hall H, was pretty much the same, as everyone got carried away emotionally. It was a perfect way to end the successful panel.

On the other hand, the reaction online was... somewhat opposite. Some fans immediately began complaining because unlike another studio (like... WB?), Marvel Studios did not release this trailer online. A leaked trailer has even surfaced for a few span of time on social media! Yes, this IS the internet we're talking about, so I'm not even surprised. But honestly? I think this was still NOT a good attitude. A bit unfair, even. When you think about the effort and hardship the SDCC attendees had to endure, spending all those long hours lining up, just to be a part of a giant panel like Marvel Studios'? It would make sense that they are given an exclusive first look for the trailer, right? And that's precisely what Marvel Studios was doing. HAS been doing for years, to be precise.

Unlike other studio that instantly released the footage online, Feige and his team were treating their guests as VIP customers. Thus allowing them to experience exclusive footages first hand, meeting the cast, and receiving official posters. Logically speaking, that was actually something to be applauded for. Beside, as I said last week... I'm not sure my heart is literally ready to see "Infinity War" trailer just yet. I did check out that poor-quality leak, but immediately stopped halfway because I couldn't handle it. This movie might signal an end of an era, and it might also be the final time we'll be seeing some of our favorite characters in the big screen. So yeah, to be completely honest... I'm VERY anxious about it instead. I would rather see that comedic Rudd x Peña video over such suspense!

Regardless, there was one thing that I actually felt disappointed about. In a way, I was half-expecting some if not all of cast to show up, just like what happened in Disney D23 Expo (that was just 1/3 of them all, apparently). Perhaps, the then-absent actors like Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and more would take turn and showed up this time. Especially when we realize the fact that "Infinity War" will be released a few months BEFORE the next SDCC next year. Such a wasted of opportunity, right? Alas, that's not the case, so my wish of seeing another massive photoshoot of the cast like last year was too good to be true. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make do with the Asgardians meet Wakandans family photo above. Can't help but wonder though, is Marvel Studios going to held an exclusive private event prior to the movie's release? Next year's the studio's official 10-Year Anniversary celebration, so it would be cool to see all the cast reunited in one huge gala. That might be a bit of tall order, eh? LOL.

Anyways, we did get a few bits and teases about the movie after the panel. That's because the directors and cast members had a quick interview session with the journalists, as has always been the case. Boseman said, that Black Panther will be an important factor in the movie. According to Joe, the movie's final act will be so massive, that he considered it to be a staggering level of scale. He also revealed the necessity of the Black Order, as they serve as some sort of mini-bosses prior to Thanos. At the same time, he's also hoping Thanos would be the new Darth Vader for the modern era.

Oh and yeah, the movie might be among the longest MCU movie to date. "The current cut is over 2 ½, yes. Most of it is a movie you can show. Still a lot of work left to be done... It's certainly going to be a film that lives in the two and a half, two and a half plus range", he said. Make perfect sense really, since it will be dealing with soooo many characters. Even that special SDCC interconnected posters (courtesy of Ryan Meinerding) felt jammed-packed with characters (I didn't see Ant-Man though, I wonder why). We can even expect "Avengers 4" to be the same, since it will also be packed with LOTS of characters. Wow, I need to take a deep breath just hearing that! "Avengers: Infinity War" will be released on May 4th, 2018. I hope when the time comes, my heart would be ready... *sigh*

[gender-fear]

Hey, this a thorough description and all, but honestly, we're forgetting a few things that are kinda important. First of all, pokemon is Japanese. They just.. don't deal with guns that much, or at least that's the impression i've gotten. So any violence has to be hand to hand or with some sort of generally melee weapon (i mean i guess you could use other ranged weapons but team rocket would look silly with bows... maybe. They might actually look really cool but that's besides the point) and while team rocket does cannonically have access to like, illegal explosives and crap, they just don't use high accuracy deadly force. And tbh, Giovanni doesn't come across as a gunslinger, his pokemon can do a lot more damage than a gun. I mean he's got a Rhydon, probably a Rhyperior at this point. Most pokemon of that caliber can topple buildings, a gun can do what? Create a hole in the wall that can be repaired with spackle?? Same reason superheroes typically don't carry guns. If you're creating influence by commanding massive powerful creatures and a syndicate, a gun sounds cheesey. He's a classy dude. No gun.

There IS however an actual episode where someone straight up pulls a gun on Ash (the safari zone episode which explains where ash caught his 30 Tauros) but the episode was banned from the English dub, which i'm sure lead to an entire removal of guns from the show in general, so that's reason number one that we don't see direct violence like that so that it's palate-able ;) -pun for ya- to a global market, cultural differences in Japan being the second.

The other thing, we can look at a few different examples, but really should be kinda stunningly obvious, which is that all pokemon, save for maybe newborns, are stronger than people in general. Maybe not necessarily devastatingly so like red gyrados on its rampage, or tentacruel (in another US banned episode) but just generally able to easily defend themselves outside of being trapped and caged. We can see that in the first few episodes. Ash and team rocket are effortlessly physically overpowered by a few pokemon which would generally be considered weak: Pidgey, Spearrow, Caterpie, and Ash's low level, albeit considerably overpowered, Pikachu. We also have examples of villains using pokemon to intimidate and even attack people (pokemon Colosseum) so we understand that people fear pokemon, and very reasonably so if you've ever really read many dex entries.

The last thing is that the world of pokemon is actually very often referred to as very peaceful. People get along. People are nice to strangers. I mean Ash makes tons of friends, but also in the games, you can straight up walk into people's houses and they're really unbothered, and in fact, frequently give you shit or let you nap in their bed. Honestly unreasonably friendly. The fact that 10 year olds regularly wander about the world tells us that it's super safe. In fact, the games display a VASTLY disproportionate amount of violence since you play as the protagonist charged with beating the baddies. Ash would never encounter as much crime if he hadn't attracted team rocket's attention. People are consistently shocked that team rocket is so cruel for stealing pokemon. People are just good natured.

So.. everybody on the thread is kinda right?

one of my favorite things about the pokemon universe is how the humans are esp. the bad guys 

like mob boss giovonni can pull out a glock and waste my 10 y/o ass but he doesn’t he just accepts that i knocked out his cat and hands me money

[aardwolfpack]

Childhood O.C.s

Some characters I made up before age twelve, in no particular order...

Silverhawk: A Lego Castle minifigure who had many adventures.  He inherited half a kingdom and strong-armed his brother into giving him the other half.  He conquered other kingdoms and eventually the entire world.  His teammates were a mad scientist and an alien, and he later gained a second alien for a bodyguard and a pirate queen for a wife.  When I became more concerned with things making sense I decided the Lego Castle and Pirates settings were parts of an expansive technology-free zone in twenty third century Asia.  Silverhawk shifted from supervillain to benevolent ruler and his squad became the defenders of the Earth.  Later still he was a conventional politician in the United Alliance of Worlds.  He always wore the helmet, though.

Old Man Lead: A tough old rascal with lead instead of skin.  When he wasn't busy saving the world from mutants or aliens he was telling boring stories about the good old days.  His sidekick was a giant talking cat who peed acid.

Dimitri: A rad Dimetrodon with sunglasses.  He solved other prehistoric animals' problems.

Silhouette: A failed artist turned superhero.  He lived in the world of Marvel Comics.  Despite the name, he was not a silhouette.  He was host to a symbiont known only as "the Little Guy," who was a humanoid upper torso sticking out of his belly.  The Little Guy could attach to other superhero hosts, temporarily granting Silhouette their powers.  It sounds like I ripped off that one X-Files episode, but I created this character a year or two before it aired.  I actually ripped off Total Recall.

Scum a.k.a. Alien Crusader: A a mass of organs without skin or bones living in an oblong spheroidal tank with robotic arms and legs.  Despite the name, he was not an alien.  He led a team of hideous mutants who fought crime.  The bad guys were also hideous mutants, but they were mask-wearing conformists.  Later Scum had a space ship and lived on Mars in a community of mutants who looked like him, and the whole thing shifted to space opera.  Later it snapped back to superheroes, and Scum had a cloned Archaeopteryx for a sidekick.

Dr. Headsworth a.k.a. Dr. Conner: An alien who looked like a human head sliding around on a gastropod-style muscular foot.  Sometimes his "head" rested on a humanoid robotic body, but usually he could be found at the controls of a giant vehicle.  He was the Solar System's most skilled creator of androids, but he could never get the faces quite right.  They were, however, convincing enough to impersonate planetary leaders and start the biggest war in the history of the United Alliance of Worlds.

Joanna a.k.a. Mercury: The teenage future daughter of two present-day superheroes.  She went back in time to help the team prevent the bad future.  You might not know this but only gases and liquids can travel through time.  Mercury's superpower was being liquid.  She was born normal but liquefied at puberty.  In hindsight that's actually really awful.  She could mimic people and things and turn her arms into blades (Original idea!  Do not steal!).  Her standard form was a palette swap of her best friend.  That's also creepy in hindsight.  Sadly Mercury was my only memorable female O.C. who wasn't a generic stock character or a direct ripoff of a copyrighted character.

Skindroid: A killer android disguised with the skin of a slain human.  Only one metal finger gave him away.  I made this up before I saw The Terminator (though I'd possibly heard about it).

Rhubarb & Gooseberry: Two aliens who ended up in Mediæval Europe, which ended up being future Asia.  Their true names were unpronounceable.  Rhubarb was a skittish being who followed Silverhawk around after he saved his life.  I feel like there were important things about his character that I forgot.  Gooseberry was an ambitious knight who turned out to be a disguised alien from the same planet.  After Silverhawk bested him in battle he agreed to be his bodyguard.  Much later I decided Rhubarb and Gooseberry belonged to two related races of interstellar warriors.  Rhubarb went A.W.O.L. because he hated violence.  Gooseberry was a bounty hunter who tracked him down but had a change of heart.

Larry Octopus: A reclusive inventor who lived under the sea.  He just wanted to be left alone, but stuff kept happening that prompted him to summon his giant underwater vehicles and robots (which could be easily identified because they were marked "L.O.").  Despite the name, he was not an octopus.

Mega 2: In this universe there were three Mega Men (though Mega 3 faded out of the picture).  They were transformed from machines into humans, but confusingly still had robotic traits.  Dr. Light actually built Mega 2 around a gnat-sized robot he found one day.  The Mega Brothers lived in a base at the crossroads of dimensions and also had a mobile fortress (originally a treaded vehicle, but later a mechanical bull).  They fought Dr. Wily's robots and other evildoers (some from video games, some we made up).  Each time Mega 2 hit his head he shifted to an evil form with knight's armor and ground-shaking fists.  He reverted to normal when someone said his name backwards three times.  When Mega 1 disappeared Mega 2 got an upgrade.  He went mad with power and had to be taken down.  The Mega Brothers were later remade, and searched for the answers to their existence.  A planned storyline cast the original Mega 2 as the villain.

Dr. Giff Monquake: Pronounced "JIF mon-QUAY-kee."  He changed his name to that because he hated his birth name, Christopher Hurlbutz.  He was an eccentric scientist with no moral compass.  He was equally happy using his inventions for evil as for good.  He was only unhappy if they didn't work.  For a while Dr. Monquake wore "the Magic Fleece," a powerful alien artifact that looked like a white sheet with two holes cut in it.  It disappeared when I couldn't think of anything more to do with it.  So did his giant frog friend.

Larry & Grinder: A two-headed dragon.  Larry had a crest on his head and was friendly.  Grinder had a horn on his head and was ferocious, but he was a nice dragon deep down.  This pair had no fixed canon, but showed up in various action figure and Lego games.

Big Metal Ton: A robot henchman who sang while he worked.