#Now that I think about it I want Gyro here to be entirely based on his 2017 version cause that’s my favorite. I’ll be

[fi3stazo]

so that villain au? 👀

(5/7/23 edit: this version isn’t up to date anymore!)

(Rereading this after I typed everything out, apologies that it’s so long 💀)

I’m just gonna try my best cause explaining things aren’t exactly my forte </3

(AU under the keep reading because this is really long </3)

I’ve been calling this AU like the uh. Dolor universe. Like I call the Panchito from that world Dolor!Panchito. Anyways also in both worlds, Panchito and José are already in an established relationship So first off, like yours, Panchito and José go on an adventure with the McDuck family and in the end José is swallowed up by magic from some sorcerer. Of course Panchito doesn’t react well to this and he’s uh. Sad. He quietly distances himself from the McDuck after that

Donald feels bad and then he gets the brilliant idea to show one of the gazillion artifacts that Scrooge has to Panchito, which is basically opens dimensional portals. It is also very fragile. Donald has Panchito come over to the manor to look at it, and basically says that they could maybe try finding a José that lost his Panchito and bring him over so that maybe they could be together or something(?)

As they’re flipping through dimensions(?) they look at numerous Josés. Then they spot one who acts, talks, looks, everything, exactly like their old José. This José is the one from our dimension. Panchito was fairly reluctant until now. He gets kind of excited and states that he’d like to bring that one over. Donald goes no no that one has a Panchito

(Dolor!)Panchito gets a bit upset and grabs the artifact from Donald and insists on at least meeting him. Donald grabs it back and says they’re not bringing that one over. They fight over the artifact until it slips from Donald’s hands and it shatters on the floor, rendering it useless. Something in Panchito snaps, and he leaves. Panchito basically cuts himself off from the McDuck family and Donald unintentionally planted a seed from this interaction.

This next part I’m not really sure what happens, either Panchito gets pointers from someone or he does it on his own, but he tries to open his own portal to our world. He has to do suspicious side jobs to achieve it and whatnot. Anyways back to what I consider canon (In comes Paperinik! Duck Avenger???? Whatever name of his that you prefer. I prefer Paperinik cause it vaguely sounds like “paper n’ ink” but anyways)

Paperinik, AKA Donald(if you didn’t know, Paperinik’s this superhero alter-ego of Donald’s in some comics. It slaps way harder than it should tbh, anyways) notices the activity and puts an end to it. And then Panchito tries a different way and Paperinik stops him again. And uhh this basically goes on for a few years. Also Panchito gets his own new place to stay, and avoids his family in Mexico(my hc one, at least). And uhh he gets an outfit change

Don’t know if I want this to happen either but maybe Panchito pieces it together that Donald is Paperinik down the line. Maybe Paperinik says something that was kind of personal and makes Panchito go how would you know that. Or mf follows Paperinik home one day or something, I don’t know but if he does find out then it’d make for some pretty cool dialogue. Idk I feel like I shouldn’t because I think it would make him too op or something

Back to canon, after a while Paperinik mentions something about his gadgets being made by Gyro. (I’m not sure if I wanna go with the og Gyro or the 2017 one but I think I’ll just use a mixture of both.) Panchito jumps to the conclusion that perhaps he can get this Gyro guy to make him a dimensional portal. So Panchito tracks him down, and basically. Holds him hostage and forces him to work on a dimensional portal. He crushes/destroys Lil’ Bulb on his way in and even shoots Gyro’s foot at some point because he tried getting help 💀

But uhh eventually the portal device is finished and Panchito leaves Gyro and runs off with the device to use it on his own. He observes our world for a little bit before he actually crosses over.

There, while our José was asleep, Dolor!Panchito just. Takes him to his place in his dimension. Yeah anyways Dolor!Panchito dons his old clothing again to look more like our Panchito, and gives José some dumb excuse as to why he woke up in a new place. Though hesitant, José trusts him because Panchito hasn’t ever intentionally betrayed his trust before. Dolor!Panchito essentially plays along with our world’s consistencies in hopes that José won’t realize he’s in a different dimension. He doesn’t need to cover up his personality given that since José’s here now, he feels more happier and some of his old spirit comes back with it if that makes sense Eventually José pieces clues together from Dolor!Panchito’s abode that, oh god, he’s not in his own world. (The final nails in the coffin was Dolor!Panchito failing to get rid of some written plans and not hiding the dimensional device well enough. Probably. Other telltale sign I think: Dolor!Panchito gets angry at the mention of Donald.) José reasonably gets upset and demands Dolor!Panchito to bring him back to his world. Though agitated, Dolor!Panchito obliges. Hesitantly. And Dolor!Panchito just goes back into his normal attire seeing that he can’t change José’s mind anymore.

They both travel to our dimension, and José reunites happily with Panchito and Donald. Both have been freaking out because he’s been gone for a few days, at least. Dolor!Panchito gets angry watching, especially at Panchito. Something about Panchito being the reason why José didn’t want to stay, that it was his fault. Dolor!Panchito starts a physical fight with Panchito. Panchito was upset that he kidnapped his partner anyways so he goes with the fight

The two actually get out of José and Donald’s sight at some point because it was a lot of running around and the fight just kept moving but anyways there comes a point where Panchito shoots Dolor!Panchito’s foot (ah, irony,) albeit accidentally. Dolor!Panchito gets a burst of anger from that and he manages to knock out Panchito. Then, he gets the idea to swap clothes with him. You probably get where this is going. Donald and José catch up and Dolor!Panchito pretends to be their Panchito and basically goes ohhhhh my god guys he shot my leg, we should put him back in his dimension before he wakes up

Dolor!Panchito pretends to fumble with the dimensional device he used and just so happens to press the right buttons to open a portal to his home dimension. The three toss Panchito though and keep the device on their side and close the portal. Eventually Panchito gathers his bearings and wakes up somewhere he’s unfamiliar with.

An (recovering) Dolor!Gyro and Dolor!Paperinik find him and assume he’s their Panchito. (Dolor!Lil’ Bulb is there and okay btw, Dolor!Gyro was able to fix him.) After a small tussle and some explaining from Panchito, the two believe him and agree to help return him to his dimension. Since the dimensional device didn’t come with Panchito, Dolor!Gyro has to make a new one and that prolly takes less time than the last considering he would already have the plans done and he’d just need to make it. The three make it to our dimension.

They get to Donald, José, and Dolor!Panchito. (Cue Donald and Dolor!Paperinik/Donald desperately trying to pretend to be different people lol) Donald and José don’t believe them when they say that the Panchito they’re with is the wrong one. (Panchito hasn’t changed out of Dolor!Panchito’s attire or anything so that probably made it worse.) Dolor!Panchito of course plays along. Dolor!Gyro tells them to ask Dolor!Panchito about an event only Panchito would know, within the same period of time Dolor!José has been presumed dead. José asks the question and Dolor!Panchito answers incorrectly, and Panchito corrects him. Yeah so cat’s out of the bag

Don’t know how it gets to this point but maybe José, Donald, or Panchito ask why this is happening and such. If Dolor!Panchito knows Dolor!Paperinik’s identity, then Dolor!Paperinik is the one who recounts what happened to Dolor!José. If he doesn’t, then perhaps Dolor!Panchito begrudgingly recounts it instead. Donald says he thinks they might be able to help with that.

See, José got swallowed by magic in both dimensions, but one he got out and the other he didn’t. In our world, the family defeats the sorcerer and basically forces him to try and bring back José, which he succeeds in. In theirs, the sorcerer got away.

(By the way, is the sorcerer based off of a pre-existing character perchance??? Or is he an Oc??)

Donald says that the family and the sorcerer are on decent-ish terms, given that they’re on a truce. That they can try and convince the sorcerer to cross dimensions with them to try and bring Dolor!José back.

So, yeah. That’s what they try to do and it works. Dolor!Panchito is reunited with Dolor!José, a happy ending I think-? I’m not sure what happens next but I want to solidify everything in the story to this point first before I continue to add on.

This story will probably change a bit, so this isn’t the final version, obviously. There’s things like the designs especially that I’m kind of on the fence about right now. I’m okay with Dolor!Panchito’s design but I might change a few things later. Also about that. I originally intended for this universe to be almost exactly like ours, which means everyone’s designs will likely be the same. Just kind of bothers me that Dolor!Panchito is the only one that changes. But I think I’ll stay with the majority of the designs being basically the same as the originals. The reason why Dolor!Panchito fixates on our world specifically so much is because it’s exactly the same as his(almost, except him) and I don’t want to stray from that logic

Anyways, all done! Thanks for asking!

[phoenixesse]

The Gyjo brainrot ‘essay’ perhaps no one needed but I’m writing anyway

Just to get this out of the way, a lot of my ideas for this are obviously subjective, so they were entirely thought of based on how I interpreted these scenes.

So as I’m sure many people know, JoJo part 6 is now animated! It slaps, it’s great, I can’t wait for the rest of it. But now that it’s out, it kickstarted my love of Jojo again, and I had previously read up to Golden Wind and like 10 chapters of Stone Ocean before I lost interest. Needless to say, I picked it back up and read the entirety part 6 in 2 weeks lmao

Here’s a quick summary of me starting Steel Ball Run: I speedread through Stone Ocean with the previous knowledge of how it ended because it was 2am and I had school the next day, I got to the end and cried my eyes out and had to sit there for 30 minutes because that shit HURT, and I started SBR the next day (against my better judgement concerning my emotions) because was trying to leave behind the pain of SO by reading the ‘best Jojo part’.

So let me start by saying: GYRO AND JOHNNY ARE SO PAINFULLY IN LOVE. I’m sure you could’ve gathered that from the post but I had to state it.

OKAY okay I’m finally going to get to what I wanted to talk about. So you see this picture below? Yeah, I read these panels last night. I have not been the same since. This scene, (obviously among the many) is one of the biggest reasons why Gyjo seems so painfully canon, or pining at the very least.

So lets break this down to the bare essentials. Gyro and Johnny, at a loss because of their surroundings, don’t know how to attack an enemy because they both use the ‘perfect’ golden ratio/rectangle that allows their attacks to spin infinitely to create a better use and damage output. We know this already, obviously.

Surface level: here’s where things get interesting. Gyro looks to Johnny’s eyes and Johnny looks to Gyro’s hand for a reference point. That’s awesome! Ship potential in itself right there! It’s really nice how they look to each other for when they have problems! But here’s where the introspection comes in. 

Gyro looks at Johnny’s eyes for what reason exactly? I know a lot of scenes are cut (because it’s manga) but automatically looking to his eyes as a point? Either Gyro has stared at Johnny’s eyes lots (in detail too. I can’t imagine it’s easy to analyze someone while riding a horse for most of the day) or he noticed the golden rectangle in his eyes because of their qualities. What are these qualities exactly? These are Gyro’s exact words about what the golden rectangle means in SBR chapter 43:

GYRO CANONICALLY SAID THAT JOHNNY’S EYES ARE ‘BEAUTIFUL’ AND ‘PERFECT’ BASED ON THE FACT THAT THEY MEASURE UP TO THE GOLDEN RECTANGLE. He could never mistake it either! 

And another thing following Johnny and Gyro’s previous interaction, why would Gyro just... not tell Johnny how he’s doing it? For two characters who are incredibly close and know they’re in a life or death situation, you’d think Gyro would’ve told him? Or even given him some vague hint like when he was telling Johnny how to use the golden ratio spin in the first place? 

That brings me to Johnny. This one has a little less evidence, but to start, I think Johnny was looking at Gyro too. This one I think is less physical attraction in the moment and more trust and faith. By looking at the previous panels up to that scene, Johnny is looking at Gyro the whole way, and Gyro at Johnny. So Johnny must’ve taken note Gyro’s hand, even if he didn’t register that it was the golden rectangle. 

They’re always looking for each other, I love it. Also, the heart in Johnny’s left eye? 10/10 addition. Araki didn’t have to draw it like that, and it definitely looks like a heart, but he left it in. 

In conclusion, they are canon, and this scene proves it. Thank you for reading if you stuck around this long lmao :D

[r6sedust]

Review of Beaks in the Shell

!!THIS REVIEW IS NOT SPOILER FREE, I REPEAT, IT'S NOT SPOILER FREE!!

Whoa, first episode of the final batch just dropped tonight. I've been anticipating this day the moment the title dropped and was so excited for it.

Overall, was it as hype as I thought? Yes...

sort of

Ok let's breakdown the episode:

Did this episode benefit Huey's arc?

To be honest, not really, but he was still good in this episode.

I like how he wasn't "super"easily persuaded into keeping Fenton and Gandra's secret. It had to take some good convincing to get Huey to trust them, and with the help of Fenton as well.

And don't be fouled by that, he was still easily persuaded. But, prior episodes such as "Astro BOYD" show that if science is involved it doesn't take much to persuade Huey, so I won't really complain about that.

Fenton apologizing to Huey for making him keep secrets was sweet too, he put a lot of pressure on him knowing that Huey not the type of person to be doing stuff like that. (Seriously Fenton, why would you put all of that on a kid? More on that later)

Next part: Gandra's Arc

To be honest, I thought it was rushed.

BUT, I did some more thinking and came to conclusion that it wasn't really rushed.

Throwback to Dangerous Chemistry, Gandra told Fenton about how she was judged by others for her dangerous methods. How no one wanted to listen to her. Why she turned to Beaks for funding.

BiTS gave the "why"

Why did no one want to listen to her? Because people didn't understand her

Why does she turn to villains for funding? Because they don't care about the destruction she's caused and saw it as a way to cause more destruction.

Gandra was already shown as a person who doesn't want to hurt people. People who don't deserve it at least. (key word being want)

And her fear of being judged was probably the best part for her in the episode in my opinion. Her whole arc is based around her being judged for what she does, and the fact that she wanted to keep the Gizmocloud to herself and Fenton cause of her fear was a good aspect. Props to that.

Moving on, almost everyone predicted the whole "Gandra is using FOWL for resources" motive, making my theory WAY off.

Well, not really.

Swanstantine did sory of kick off that Gandra wasn't really there for the intent of evil, but didn't say why she was there then.

Some people might say "we should've seen more of Gandra on the fence of doing evil", and to be honest, nah.

We've already got that. My analysis of Swanstantine in my "Gandra's redemption arc already started" (not linking cause that'll hide it from tags) basically goes in depth on that.

Now her turn around wasn't as strong as Lena's or Penny's, but it was still handled well.

But her punishment for her turn around, that'll later in the review

Now: Fenton and Gandra's relationship

Let me give some info real quick before diving in.

The entire time, I predicted that Fenton knew she was an agent the whole time and didn't care. And guess what...

I was right!!

It honestly feels so good to be right about something oh boy! Y'all don't understand how STRONGLY I was holding onto that theory.

Anyway back to the review:

Honestly, there was relationship was great. It makes sense that they got together after the end of Dangerous Chemistry.

Was there angst? No, and I kind of expected that since he knew the whole time. He was probably the first to know now that I think.

(Biased Fendra shipper warning!!)

Fenton supporting Gandra by just taking her hand and stuff was just, oh my god that was great.

The kissing looked alright actually. Weird, but alright. I was wondering how it would look since they have two different beaks.

I liked how Fenton was understanding with Gandra and her struggles and wasn't so quick to judge like everyone else. Granted, no one knew the truth about Gandra, but those parts were still good anyway.

It felt natural how supportive they were of each other.

When Fenton said he loved her, that threw me off a bit. I went "Woah, OK now! I wasn't expecting an I love you" but to be fair, we don't know how long they've been together so it might've been the right time.

The only parts I didn't like about their relationship in the episode was the kissing (meh)

Also side note, did Gandra ever apologize for working for Beaks? Was her giving Fenton the formula her way of apologizing? Who knows man.

(Rant real quick: I will not be OK with anyone saying Fendra is rushed. I'm sorry, but if Donsy can get away with becoming canon after an episode of meeting each other, then so can Fendra)

...Beaks

Getting this out of the way, weakest part of the episode.

Ok sure, having Beaks come to terms with him being an unoriginal dickhead was good, but him being an antagonist wasn't.

I didn't care for Beaks at all during the episode, I wasn't interested in what he'd do to them at all, I was thinking "Are those glitches going to be a huge problem for them?"

Which they weren't

And that is the only part of the episode that disappointed me.

The glitches being the "antagonist" of the episode is WAY more interesting than Beaks and I wholeheartedly mean it.

Well fine, here's what I think would've been a good antagonist part for the episode... including Beaks.

"The glitches get worse as the episode progresses, and Beaks gets there and starts messing with things, which make the glitches even more worse. His actions almost crash the cloud until Fenton calls everyone to help."

That would've been cool and actually kind of scary.

We unfortunately didn't get that however. But oh well, I won't let it ruin my day.

The ending

The ending actually bumped this episode from "pretty good" to "great".

The "turn around character", such as Lena and Penny, always get a punishment for wanting to, well, turn around.

Gandra's was actually scary.

She was restrained and dragged to "The Lost Library" that she doesn't know about and Bradford is being incredibly secretive and sinister about it.

Speaking of Bradford,

YES! I LOVE WHEN THEY SHOW HIM AS AN ACTUALLY SCARY VILLAIN!! THEY NEED TO DO THAT MORE!!

Overall, best part of the episode and my favorite part, can't want to see what the Lost Library is.

The Leftovers

1. Back to Fenton putting pressure on Huey, I appreciate him regretting it and not liking how he made him keep the secret. Also, did it occur to anyone else that Fenton did a worse job at keeping the secrets than Huey? Cause I did.

2. Officer Cabrera and Gyro were good this episode too, not much to say about them really, they were fine.

3. Kind of wished Gyro pointed out how Gandra was the girl who shocked her that night. That was brushed over.

4. The action was good this episode, despite it being shown off to defeat a guy crying about how he's not unique.

5. I find it funny how Beaks lost popularity as the series went on, that's hilarious. You deserve it you bastard.

6. Gandra's small backstory scared me cause in the world of shows "backstory = death", but I think what happened to her is a substitution for death.

Summary on Opinion

Overall, I liked this episode. The only problems were the antagonist portion, but it was quickly made up for with the ending.

Also, I'm not the review type so I notice that I say stuff like "that's fine" and "oh well". I'm not the most critical of people, I point out stuff in a show that sticks out a lot to me, whether it be good or bad. So critiscm is appreciated!

[ramblingguy54]

Escape From The Impossibin!: An Exercise Of Trust & Hope.

So, I was predicting for this episode to have Della & Louie bonding time together, which there were cool moments with them to be sure. However, what I really liked about today’s story was how it focused on the aftermath of FOWL’s reveal to still be very much alive to Scrooge’s horror and Beakly’s greatly underlying concern. A couple of days ago before Impossibin premiered today, I chatted with some others on Discord about what this episode’s story would explore for its overall message, which the more I thought about, the more I leaned on the idea it would be centered around the notion of trust. Let’s Get Dangerous had a consistent theme of deceitful liars being revealed who weren’t whom they appeared to be, as seen with Taurus Bulba vs Drake Mallard & Bradford’s true nature being known to Scrooge at that hour special’s ending. 

Escape From The Impossibin is all about confronting the growing tension that’s become a threat to a content family lineage of adventurers, who now have to defend everything they stand for in their legacy, once again. That’s something I’ve always appreciated about DuckTales is even when it doesn’t entirely match my predictions, it finds other new ways to surprise me for what it can do. Della & Louie didn’t necessarily get the bonding time I had hoped for, which did admittedly disappoint me, but they did a serve a purpose in their own right that I’ll get to later. Anyways, the spotlight is on the older mentor figures, Scrooge McDuck and Bentina Beakly, who are all too familiar in dealing with FOWL’s antagonism before in Season 1′s episode, The Confidential Case Files Of Agent 22, that especially applies to Beakly’s past in fighting them as an agent of SHUSH for very much longer compared to Scrooge. With how much is at stake you’d very much expect there to be old feelings being drudged up, regarding Scrooge’s trust and respect for Bradford, as well as Beakly’s strict over protective nature with Webby to keep her safe from losing that optimism that makes her stand out as a beacon of hope to inspire others, which they do. FOWL isn’t like Magica or Lunaris who want to make themselves known flat out to the world with their egos. They’re very cunning and cold blooded with going about executing their plans for control of the Earth. Particularly, Bradford is the serious threat most of all because he’s the brains of this outfit giving precision in each order to those under his command. Combine Bradford’s knowledge with the muscle of Steelbeak, Rockerduck’s underhanded scheming, Gandra Dee’s scientific intellect, Black Heron’s lust for more power, and Phantom Blot’s ability to absorb all kinds of magic that gives the McDucks’ a severe scenario they’ve never faced. FOWL is the right combination to put an end to Scrooge’s adventuring because Bradford has kept a close eye on him for so many years. Bradford has seen plenty of Scrooge at his total best and worst most of all. He’s studied upon every detail of Scrooge’s life, for who knows how many years, and is finally putting all of it to use against him, where we get to see the extent of just how well Bradford can read every one of his moves. Lunaris’ intellect was simply a figurative puddle compared to what Bradford managed to accomplish with his high IQ.

The scary thing is Scrooge knows this reality himself, too. 

That’s one of my favorite elements of Impossibin’s purpose. We get to see Scrooge seriously doubt his abilities. In episodes, like The Most Dangerous Game Night and The 87 Cents Solution, Scrooge has always prided himself in being a very sharp individual who could see every angle and any detail that others couldn’t. Bradford, on the other hand, rivals Scrooge’s thinking that puts an eerie perspective on things for the old man. Scrooge always thought to be one step ahead of the game, but then realizes that someone who’s been by his side for so very long played him like a fiddle all those years. Who’s to say Scrooge isn’t probably thinking back on stuff such as Bradford shutting down his rescue operation for Della, controlling his money usage, letting Louie hang around Bradford in The Richest Duck In The World, finalizing Gyro’s inventions, etc? Scrooge realizes he’s had a dangerous character around the family manor all those years, which makes him doubt his ability to trust himself in protecting everything that he holds importantly in life. Scrooge isn’t just thinking he’s been fooled, he’s doubting every aspect of what made him competent to begin with. Doesn’t help among this moment of self reflection Bradford is there to further rub in that harsh reality of how much he knows about Scrooge.

This moment gave me chills because it completely put a spin upon the story’s concept. I figured that FOWL would hack Scrooge’s security system, with help from Gandra Dee’s abilities, and I’m glad it went this route, since it shows how dangerous things are this time. They’re not even safe within the confines of their own manor anymore, considering Bradford knows every nook and cranny of it. Scrooge thought only he knew the security system’s password, given its based on the amount of all money in his money bin, but Bradford covered that crucial detail, too. Bradford isn’t leaving any loose ends toward Scrooge in how he’ll go about using any little thing against him for future reference. That’s what makes the stakes higher here than compared to Lunaris’ invasion. This is a much more personal story between a clash of ideals with Adventuring vs Control. Lunaris lacked that emotional connection here Bradford is making Scrooge have to face that adds another layer of tension to this situation. Bradford wants Scrooge to know, “I have control over you. There is nothing you know that I’ve already figured out about yourself.”, and going about hacking the robotic version of himself is the best way to send home that message to him. It can also be interpreted as symbolism for Scrooge fighting his own insecurities when Bradford takes control of the robot to start attacking.

I need you, the two most cunning individuals I know, to spot any weaknesses.

Now, Della & Louie did serve a big purpose, despite the Plot A point focusing greatly on Scrooge’s existential dilemma, for they were there to remind Scrooge of just how much of an impact his life style has had on them. Della & Louie’s teamwork together throughout the episode is a perfect way to give Scrooge a reality check reminder for how skilled they are as adventurous fighters against unknown dangers. After all, Scrooge passed on his skills to Della, who’d later pass down her intellectual skills to him, too. Again, tying into the whole theme of legacy and what not about how much family can bring out the best in each other. If it wasn’t for what Scrooge had taught them, then he wouldn’t have been saved by Louie’s defining act of being a badass, by willingly diving into the pile of money, which got hit by a gravity changing rosa rune from the robot and ended up crushing it. I wanted to see more mature Louie, so him lifting Scrooge up about how much pride he has in the family lineage was a great nod to it. That in turn, allowed Scrooge to remember why he and their family are strong together. You know, after recent events that have happened in my life, seeing legacy be explored in DuckTales Season 3 means a lot to me now more than ever.

As for Beakly’s B Plot, in terms of how it ties into a neat bow with Scrooge’s story, shows how intense she’s getting at the notion of eventually facing FOWL again. Honestly, I’m not surprised if she’s getting flashbacks of whatever painful or traumatic events happened to her in those Agent 22 days. I mean, for God’s sake, she tells Webby to straight up incapacitate Huey, who was already so scared. Something Webby refuses to agree with as the best course of training methods to better prepare against the greater threat. Beakly’s characterization has always fascinated me with how well she guards her vulnerability, kind of like Goldie in a way, but the difference here is outta great concern for others rather than herself. My mind can’t stop thinking about this scene, as there could most likely be underlying context for why Beakly is getting so worked up over this training. It seems Beakly is carrying a tremendous weight on her shoulders, probably some heavy angst, that it looks like she wants to say, but can’t because of bigger story reasons we’ll find out later in Season 3′s final batch of episodes. Special mention to Donald Duck putting his foot down on Beakly’s very intense training session. Donald knows the trials and errors of what it means to be a parent. He was once very overly protective of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, but learned to let them experience the world for what it is and not hold them back, so I liked how it ties into Beakly’s dilemma of trying to protect Webby from FOWL’s heartless nature.

Beakly’s plot may have not gotten much focus, but it did a very good job setting up more angst to come between her and Webby’s relationship. Things are gonna get very complicated between them when more things come to light. I’m keeping an eye on Huey’s line specifically. When he said, “The one thing we know for sure is that we trust each other, right?”, Beakly did want to bring herself to apologize of course, but I also think she was close to wanting to confess something else to Webby, too. I’m expecting this moment to be called back to when stuff hits the fan with Beakly’s past and whatever Webby’s origins are.

Escape From the Impossibin may have unsettling stuff lurking around the corner with how FOWL managed to distract them with the security system, so they could steal away every missing mystery the family has found so far, but there’s a glimmer of light in all of that darkness. A light that is a reminder of what makes the McDuck family an unstoppable force of trust, hope, and most importantly love. Frank said that things were gonna start going into overdrive with FOWL’s battle against McDuck and he wasn’t kidding around. I’m so overjoyed were getting more episodes in November after this episode finished because that would’ve been a painful wait. Season 3 is gonna start giving things it built up a big pay off and I’m totally here for that!

[animatedminds]

Let’s Get Dangerous Review!

It’s dangerous. In a good way. <cue dramatic music> Okay, obviously there’s more thoughts than just that. I’ve been waiting for it for weeks, and it arrived just as awesome as I hoped. For the first time, let’s give my full movie style review to the double length Ducktales special: “Let’s Get Dangerous.”

The spoilers are open and widely discussed, so maybe don’t look past the following image if you haven’t seen the episode yet.

To note, I’m not entirely convinced that this was actually meant to be a pilot. It definitely does introduce a new status quo for the Darkwing trio of characters (minus Honker for now, here’s hoping they haven’t forgotten him), but it’s also a very remote story that still tries to take place within the context of Ducktales’ universe, so it really depends on what they choose to do.

But let’s just get down to it.

First off, as I mentioned in my earlier post… Taurus Bulba. He was maybe the biggest and most eye-catching aspect of the first part of the episode, as one of the few elements we hadn’t already seen yet, and his reputation as a really, really bad guy has quite preceded him. As I may have gushed somewhat about, he’s one of the best parts of the special.

James Monroe Inglehart, for those living away from the Disney scene for a decade, is an actor and voice actor most famous for being the original Genie on Broadway’s Aladdin. A grand, bombastic presence, he generally plays characters who - much like the genie himself - a big, jolly, kind but maybe a little mischievous souls that take the attention of a room and brighten up the characters’ day - like Lance, in Tangled the Series. The most interesting thing about Bulba is that Inglehart brings that exact same energy to the role, and so Bulba keep that jollity and lofty personality in a package that becomes increasingly less nice as the story goes on. As someone who keenly remembers Taurus Bulba as cruel monster willing to hurt kids and capable of crushing Darkwing like nobody’s business, the contrast was immediately fun to watch - and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In this story, Bulba is recast from a crime lord intending to use a super weapon go on an endless plundering spree to a FOWL scientist with a respectable reputation who intends to use a super weapon to take over the world, and the transition goes off fairly well. The end result is a pretty standard mix of superhero fight and Bond plot, as Bulba ends up holed up in his lab with his squadron of elite supervillain minions - all plundered a particular fictional universe - with the heroes having to break in / escape from his captivity and stop him before he destroys everything. It’s very Silver Age, with Bulba in the role of maniacal villain, and he’s contrasted very well with Bradford - who is as always an antagonist who prides himself on pragmatism. This contrast leads to some great moments: Bradford’s increasing frustration with the cavalier attitude of both the heroes and the villains gives him the best stint of characterization he’s had since the beginning of the season - he basically spends the whole episode arguing with everyone about how badly thought out their actions are, while also badly hiding his own secrets.

The Fearsome Five (of which Quackerjack is voices by his original actor) are great to see, though used minimally. If you’re expecting to see classic show dynamics between the villains and Darkwing, that’s not really what they’re used for. Mostly, they’re minions with personality, and they’re more there to establish both to the audience and to Drake the character himself that he is ready to take on really big threats even with his lack of superpowers.

But enough about the villains, on to the heroes!

A couple episodes ago, with the Halloween episode, I criticized that story for not balancing its A and B plot all that well. This episode does not have that problem. The story is actually maybe about three fifths Darkwing’s story, and the rest of it is Scrooge and the nephews as they figure out what Bulba is up to independently of Darkwing and try to stop him themselves. It’s somewhat similar to Timephoon, where they’re there constantly and are doing their own bid to solve the story but the focus isn’t primarily on them. Instead, we have some of the best “HDL actually matter to the story” bits of the show, where they escape Bulba’s prison on their own and lead Bradford out, all the while slowly figuring out that something is shady about the guy. Meanwhile, Scrooge gets stuck in the original Ducktales universe’s most memed scene, which was a fun gag (but not the best gag - that would be the one and only Bonkers D. Bobcat as the Harvey Bullock-style cop in the Darkwing show).

Which I suppose can lead to a digression about the mad science bit here. The alternate universes here are… interesting. I always pay special attention to how things like time travel or other dimensions or alternate universes work in a series, and this one reminds me the most - I think - of DC’s Dark Multiverse: a collection of universes that are both explicitly fictional but made real because people created them. Ultimately, it’s less as if the OG Darkwing universe exists independently of the Ducktales universe and more that the in-universe Darkwing show as a world based off of it that the characters can reach into. I wish the episode had delved into that more, and now you’ve got people trying to use it to look for more establishment of OG Darkwing elements (though I was fine with it being separate, perceiving anything else as rather needlessly inexplicable), but ultimately that is not specifically what the episode is about, and is kept rather separate.

So what is the episode about? Like you didn’t already know…

As always, Gosalyn Waddlemeyer is a little girl whose grandfather was done away with by Taurus Bulba, and who falls into Darkwing’s lap over the course of his adventure with him. Here, her grandfather is (possibly) still alive, just lost in the ether a la Gravity Falls’ Grunkle Ford. And like the mighty glazed McGuffin, Darkwing’s goal in the episode is less strictly defeating Bulba as it is helping her get her grandfather and her home back. Gosalyn here is self-sufficient and action oriented (it may be my inner Brooklyn 99 fan talking, but I loved Stephanie Beatriz as her, and kind of wish she had gotten a wider range of lines), taking on her own crusade against Bulba until she realizes she can go to Darkwing for help, and is constantly trying to pull him into the fight - even while he is reluctant, and no matter what the danger - so that they can win and she can get justice. But in the end, she has to accept that they might not be able to.

As a longtime Batman fan, I immediately recognized a plethora of Robin references with Gosalyn. She’s a kid who’s family was taken from her by a villain, given a surrogate home by the hero - like Dick Grayson. She’s a street tough who originally met the hero committing a crime, and who is both skeptical of his heroism and heavily critical of his flaws - like Jason Todd. And she’s a young genius with a lot of scientific knowledge, tech skills and common sense - just like Tim Drake. There’s even elements of Carrie Kelley or Terry McGinnis there, in her determined if not gung-ho approach to heroism despite her circumstances and the hermit-like behavior of the hero.

And in the end, this is a fairly apt comparison, because Gosalyn essentially ends the story more as a Robin figure than previously, now as Darkwing’s more of a ward and official sidekick alongside Launchpad. The story does not, to note, involve her being adopted by Drake or becoming Gosalyn Mallard. Indeed, they don’t really end up having that sort of relationship. They’re distant and don’t really know how to relate to one another, and not about to broach the subject of family except in distant terms. There’s ultimately far less emphasis than before on Gosalyn and Drake being similar and hitting it off on a personal level, or even really Drake keying into Gosalyn’s potential and spirit as a person vs an element in his adventure. Throughout the story he regards her as a victim to be saved, then ultimately as an ally with potential to be respected, and in the end he gives her an offer to take up the mantle along side him while they search for her family… which ultimately creates something very different.

For people expecting something a little more akin to the implications the show made with Gyro and BOYD, Gosalyn here. The implication that they could be a family is brought up by Launchpad, but neither Drake nor Gosalyn are really there at the end of the story - I want to say they’re not there yet, but the way the story goes gives off the impression that the dynamic duo dichotomy is the relationship for the two the writing is most comfortable giving them.

Again, I’m a longtime Batman fan, so I understand and appreciate the nod. It gives them a really cool status quo that’s distinct from what came before it. Still, the strong father/daughter relationship between the two was very much the heart and soul of the original show, an endearing quality that created the character traits we love about both characters, and ultimately one of the primary characteristics that set the Darkwing family apart even from most comic book superhero stars - so even if they made something great out of it, it’s a shame to see Ducktales ultimately keep that relationship at arms’ length.

But that’s less a criticism and more just something I wish they had chosen to do differently - and it makes sense for the 2017 team’s take on Darkwing, which has always been more focused on “irrepressible hero who doesn’t give up” - a pluckie rookie growing into his competence - than “former fool whose great potential is unleashed through the people around him.” The latter is there, sometimes, but it’s not prominent. Original Darkwing was a man made better by his daughter, while the modern Darkwing doesn’t quite need that to find the hero within.

The only (and I mean only) criticism I have is the way the characters kind of jump around in how they respond to things. Drake wanting more crime, and then freaking out when super crime shows up and it’s way more than he thought he can handle is fine, and is one of the better character bits in the special. It being unclear whether Drake is against fighting supervillains because he thinks they’re too powerful vs because he doesn’t want to risk Gosalyn’s safety is another thing, though - it seems the show intended to imply the latter but forgot to include the line somewhere, so it’s not inferred until later and Drake suddenly benching Gos towards the end lacks set-up.

For her part, Gosalyn is suddenly and quickly afraid to fight for a brief moment so Launchpad can inspire her to face impossible odds, even though it was hardly the first time she had done so in the special. The ending I think wanted the characters to be somewhere that the rest of the special hadn’t gotten them to yet. But it’s all good - it ends well, so all’s well. Best gag of the episode, btw? Fenton, who is awful at keeping his secret identity secret, has hooked up Darkwing with his own hi-tech hero lair. Darkwing, despite supposedly being a detective (or at least an actor playing a detective), ends up as one of the two or three people remaining on Earth who hasn’t figured out that Fenton is Gizmoduck. Darkwing considers himself good friends with Fenton, despite hating Gizmoduck. It’s actually very funny.

It’s as of now unclear what is coming up for Darkwing. We know the St. Canard characters are going to factor in more as the FOWL plot progresses, and this episode kicks that plot into high gear - the characters now know about FOWL and their intentions, and are preparing themselves for a far more dangerous fight than usual. In short, with the midseason comes the renewed focus on the primary plot of the season, as per the usual. Like I said before, while I’m not as on board as most with the idea that this was a pilot, St. Canard was definitely established here - with series regular Zan Owlson as it’s new mayor, and a general aesthetic and set of protagonists. It wouldn’t be remiss for a future episode this season to take place there (though we know Negaduck isn’t happening this season).

The new few episodes, however, are focused more on the quest for Finch’s treasures and FOWL, so that’s going to have to wait for a while. We’ve been promised, as I recall, an episode that brings all the kids together (unless that’s part of the finale), which is nice - I may have mentioned before that the best episodes of the series have been the ones that put the kids (who are the characters with the most focus throughout its run) together and let all their personalities run through an adventure together - and with the cast growing somewhat constantly, it’s nice to know that no one is being forgotten.

Either way, I give the episode a great deal of recommendation - I only had a couple things that bothered me, and a few wishes for different choices, and ultimately I’m planning on watching it a ton of times just like I did the first Darkwing episode. From a classic Darkwing fan, and in the words of Bat-Mite, it’s a different intepretation to be sure, but not at all one without merit.

So thanks to Frank Angones, Matt Youngberg and the Ducktales crew! I hope my virtual thumbs up reaches them somehow, but either way, it was a good day to be dangerous.

[dear-alex-chill]

Ducktales Story from Discord #1

Louie: what's the one thing mark Beaks doesn't have?

Webby: a brain?

Gyro: originality.

Scrooge: as much money as me

Fenton: Morals

Huey: an honest plan

Dewey: these sweet dance moves!!

Louie: all correct, but no.

Louie: he’s single

Scrooge and everyone: ooooooohhh

Mark beaks walks in: what’s so funny?

Everyone: nothing-

Louie and Gyro: your depressing life.

Webby: you tell him!

Scrooge: I’m too old for this-

Mark: Hey!! I- I HAVE MORE FOLLOWERS ON QUACK CHAT THAN YOU!!

Louie: oh please, when you’re the nephew of the richest duck in the world—*hold up phone*

Everyone wants to be your friend

Gyro: then how come you can’t get somebody to love?

Mark: speak for yourself robot dude

Fenton: well actually-

Gyro: Uh- yeah-

Mark: oh. Oh wait! Ohhhh!!! This is so going on my feed!

Louie: ha look at that.

Webby: never would’ve guessed

Louie: really?

Webby: no it was so obvious

Gyro: Why are you posting about something you don’t have?

Mark: it's just the way the world works nerd

Louie: got ‘em

Fenton: blathering blatherskite *summons arm

shoots phone*

Gyro: Yes, get him.

Mark: Hey!! Not cool Chico! Thankfully I have my backup phone..

Mark: y-yeah well I don’t see any of these kids having love lives!

Webby: actually *holds lena’s hand*

Louie: oooooOooooh what’re ya gonna do now Mark?

Mark: I am so not accepting your friend requests now!

Fenton: bold of you to assume any of us want to be your friends to begin with

Louie: you’ve been blocked

Gyro: ->- and plus, we actually have more with our lives other than looking at a screen all day.

Dewey: Yeah. Who wants to be friends with this jerk?

Huey: a masochist

Dewey: what now?

Louie: you mean like duckaplier?

Huey: yeah..

Mark: At least I have a social life. Unlike some Chicken I know..

Gyro: Excuse me?

Scrooge: alright Goldie stole the fountain of youth let’s go kids, before this..”thing” keeps talking

Mark: whatever old man. I got a business to run anyway

Louie: actually you’ve just been canceled

Mark: WHAT?!!??!

Louie: yeah, apparently you’re..just too “Mark beaks like”

Mark: *storming out of the room*

We'll see about that

Louie: hmm the moment he tries to tries to become trending I’ll cancel him again

Gyro: snickers

Dewey and Huey: Louie!

Gyro: No, please keep going green nephew.

Louie: whatttt? Im just doing what need to be done

Webby: looks like gyro has a favorite nephew

Louie: and now he’s been canceled again.

Gyro: I do not! All of you are equally annoying!

Fenton: what about me?

Huey: your his boyfriend-

Louie: and? He’s probably annoying to some extent

Gyro: You’re the most annoying! *mumbles* In the best way-

Mark: Awww #ship it!

Fenton: awwww

Gyro: WHA- Where did you come from!?

Louie: here comes the bride- all dressed in...uh tech

Gyro: ->- green nephew, I order you to stop

Louie: yeah alrighty

Webby: I swear I have no idea what’s going on anymore this conversation is just madness

Louie: uhh he’s trending somehow- and it looks like it’s just a bunch of picture of you and Fenton. He’s calling it #fenro

Gyro: What? Give me that! points to Louie’s phone

Louie: *hands it over*

Gyro: Oh this is ridiculous.

Fenton leans over to see the screen

Louie: yeah it’s gone viral everywhere

Gyro: *Shows Fenton* there

Fenton: grabs phone and stares

Gyro: well can we stop..whatever this is?

Gyro: And hey! I was holding that!

Louie: I’d cancel it, but then I might be canceled myself-

Fenton: scrolling though the tags they made fan art

Louie: I saw some links to fan fiction too

Gyro: WHAT.

Fenton: they made us kids

Mark beaks: Ha! I win

Louie: they do based on these pictures from mark’s new phone

Louie: they’re calling you the bottom

Gyro: I AM NOT!

Fenton: well how do they know that-

Louie: well whatever the truth is, they are now saying that they want a kiss pic from Mark, who probably won’t get that and then they’ll riot

Louie: we could also just give them a cuter couple

Louie: like Webby and Lena

Webby: wait What?

Louie: or Scrooge and Goldie

Huey: penumbra and mom

Dewey: Donald and daisy

Fenton: let’s just calm down, maybe we should just see if it goes away on its own

Lena: oh come on, we are the cutest couple to exist

Louie: doubt that’s ever gonna happen

Fenton: ummm *blasts all the phones in the room* solution!

Lena: well that’s one way to solve the problem ?

Louie: *pulls out another one* yeah you’re still trending

Fenton: *sighs*

Lena: okay never mind

Louie: our motto at Louie incorporated is always have a backup phone, and after that another backup

Mark: hey that was my motto first

Louie: are you sure about that?

Louie: cause now it’s mine and trending

Louie: a lie is simply a truth that has not been repeated enough times yet

Lena: he’s not wrong you know

Louie: ayyyy

Webby: LENA!

Louie: just listen to your girlfriend Webby, she’s clearly got the right idea

Huey: LOUIE!

Dewey: *posts this on Dewey Dew- night*

Mark: your just a kid! You can't possibly *looks down at phone to see Louie trending* Oh YOU-

Louie: wait, how long have you been filming for?

Dewey: the entire time

Louie: *looks over at mark* I told you it was mine

Mark: Whatever. I'll just start a new trend

Louie: too late I canceled you

Mark: *takes a selfie* Canceled Selfie!

Gyro: *sighs* will you ever shut up Beaks?

Mark beaks: i Don’t know Gryo when will you stop making evil inventions?

Gyro: Not until I crush you.

Mark: woah woah. Assassination is not a good look on you

Fenton: who said it was on him.

Webby: I don’t think it’s a good look on anyone

Louie: oh Webby, when you’re older you’ll understand

Mark: 'specially with your little project in tokyolk

Webby: and you do?

Gyro: *punches him*

Louie: uhhhhh yes?

Gyro: Now, what was that you said?

Fenton: oh my god *starts fanboying in spanish*

Mark: who PUNCHES a guy?!?!

Gyro: Me.

Louie: you’re not a guy, nor a man. Just sad little baby

Mark: *disgusted* Augh!

Huey : uhhh Dewey did you get that?

Louie: who relies on his it list mama

Dewey: yeah

Huey: should we be worried?

Dewey: nah

Gyro: No, not at all.

Louie: get out of here beaks

Mark: Fine! But I'll be back!

Scrooge walks in the room

Gyro: uhh, no you won’t

Louie: no you won’t

Scrooge: what in the blazes happened in here?!

Mark: Your children are maniacs!

Louie: Mark was bullying us

Gyro: It was simply business Mr. McDuck.

Scrooge: oh was he now?

louie pulls out puppy eyes

Scrooge: in that case, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!

Mark leaves mumbling: stupid grouchy old man

Louie: hah! Woo

Gyro: I can now finally get away from it.

Louie: you’re welcome?

Fenton: thanks. *pats on head*

Louie: HEY!

Huey: well with that settled-

Fenton: we should probably get back to whatever it is we were doing

Louie: which is?

Gyro: I actually do not know

Scrooge: Adventure!!

Louie: oh no not again

Gyro: Ah, yes. That.

Louie: *tries to walk away*

Scrooge: Now where are you going lad?

Louie: I- Uh..I’m dying?

Lena: pffft nice

Gyro: What-

Gyro: What am I even doing here, I’m leaving this chaos

Louie: y-yeah came down with the common cold of uh WAIT FOR ME!

*runs after gyro*

Gyro: No, I won’t. *continues to walk away*

Fenton: Wait what about me?

Louie: I promise to not speak or even breathe!

Gyro: hmmmm. No

Gyro: well if you don’t hurry up Cabrera then I’m leaving you

Louie: Fenton can I come? *puppy eyes*

Fenton: yes-

Gyro: *sighs* fine.

Webby: it feels like we’ve been talking for 53 years!

Lena: I know right

Huey: I know what you mean, I feel like I’m being controlled by a teen and typing out unoriginal dialogue in a phone

Credit to the Discord Chat (for making this a proper story), specifically:

@shadybelievercat

Queen_of_bread

Neighborhood Nerd

[tobiasdrake]

Dragon’s Eye on DuckTales S01E15: Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System

John Henry was a mighty man born with a hammer right in his hand. If you haven’t heard some version of the legend of John Henry, let me give you the rough synopsis.

It was the 1940′s and John Henry was a steel driver for railroad construction; his job was to help build tunnels to lay track through. Steel drivers would hammer a steel drill bit into the rock, creating holes to lay dynamite into.

This was all well and good until the railway company introduced the steam drill. John Henry stepped up to challenge the machine and prove that the might of a human laborer could perform the backbreaking task better than any machine. Taking a hammer in each hand, John Henry challenged the steam drill to a race and ultimately managed to drill farther than the steam drill could in the allotted time. He proved the might of the indomitable human spirit, but tragically worked himself to death in the process.

John Henry may have beaten the steam drill, but the steam drill won in the long run. Automation allows employers to lay off huge swathes of their workforce, cutting payroll costs while boosting productivity nonetheless. This should be a good thing. Being able to achieve more from fewer people’s labor sounds pretty great. Who doesn’t dream of a utopia where everyone can have all their needs fulfilled and no one has to do a day’s labor?

But under capitalism, that’s a problem. John Henry wasn’t fighting for his pride; he was fighting for his and his colleagues’ jobs. In the U.S., unemployment is an existential threat, especially for black men like John Henry. This is the paradox of progress; automation of work is a net good for society, but the loss of jobs is crippling. Families, homes, even entire towns have been destroyed by job loss.

We live in a system where A) technological process (among other things) is working overtime to eliminate as many jobs as it can and B) being unemployed is a death sentence. There will come a point where there are not enough jobs to go around and never will be again. Arguably, we have already passed that point. Something needs to change, and it’s not going to be A.

By now you’re probably thinking, “I came here for a DuckTales analysis; why are you talking about the economic ramifications of John Henry?” Well, let’s get into it, shall we?

Introducing the B.U.D.D.Y. System!

Everything that happens in this episode in some way relates to the titular B.U.D.D.Y. The Beaks Unmanned Driver Drone Yay! is a new product being rolled out by Waddle based on some schematics that CEO Mark Beaks found online.

This is a great use of Waddle. If you’ll recall from “The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks”, Waddle doesn’t engineer things. They’re a fraudulent company that sells hype instead of products. Overmarketing designs cribbed from Google search results is delightfully in-character for the company.

It almost works, too. Even Scrooge is so enraptured that he considers replacing his drivers with B.U.D.D.Y. And you can see why; it’s a pretty clever third-party solution to the question of the self-driving car. Rather than being a proprietary internal system that manufacturers install in their own vehicles, B.U.D.D.Y. is an external device that can operate any car through its manual controls.

If B.U.D.D.Y. actually worked, Mark Beaks would win the auto industry’s race to a self-driving car. Who’s going to pay extra for self-driving tech when B.U.D.D.Y. is compatible with any vehicle? Even if it isn’t programmed for manual transmissions (a very important question that nobody asks), that still leaves a significant number of cars old and new that your B.U.D.D.Y. can operate for you.

There’s, uh. There’s just one very little itsy-bitsy teensy-tiny little problem....

No, Seriously, Fire Gyro

Remember in “The Great Dime Chase” when the Board of Directors wanted Gyro Gearloose fired? For legitimately valid reasons? By all accounts, Gyro is an unproductive cash sink. It’s a running joke that all of his inventions turn evil, which implies that for all the corporate funding he’s poured into his designs, he has never once produced a marketable product.

His designs have, however, caused massive damage to company property and exposed the company to legal liability the one time they actually sold something he made. Gyro is brilliant enough to create incredible marvels of science but too arrogant to do so carefully, with the company having to foot the bill when his technologically impressive but ill-conceived designs turn disastrous.

I pointed out during “The Great Dime Chase” that Scrooge didn’t actually solve anything with his defense of Gyro. They weren’t just trying to fire Gyro because they’re mean and hate him. They needed to cut costs and Gyro’s continued employment is bad for the company’s coffers for multiple reasons. At the time, I called out Scrooge’s defense of Gyro as a potential spree killer waiting for a motive for being the literal worst possible defense you could ever make of an employee. Gyro remains employed purely because Scrooge is shielding him out of nepotism.

Well, apparently the Board was as unimpressed by Scrooge’s argument as I was. This episode begins with Gyro’s employment still under fire. Gyro’s latest design is the monophonic rail: a mass-transit system that converts sound into kinetic energy.

As is typical of Gyro, this is a brilliant design that is actually terrible and would never be used. Gyro has once again gotten so lost in the science of whether he could do it that he hasn’t stopped to consider the logistics of it. As he’s demonstrating his prototype, Gyro demands quiet; one vocal outburst by the intern Fenton is enough to send the prototype spiraling out of control.

For a mass-transit system, this is a serious design flaw. Do you understand how much noise pollution a city like Duckburg produces? If the monophonic rail depends on controlling the ambient noise level in all parts of the city and/or country that the train passes through, then this design was doomed from the start.

This is honestly tame for Gyro; the monophonic rail, at least, doesn’t appear to have an artificial intelligence so it can’t deliberately try to kill someone. It can only accidentally kill someone because controlling the noise level of a city is a fool’s endeavor. This is why the Directors rightly want him gone.

Gyro is an arrogant, self-important, horribly expensive problem for McDuck Industries. But he’s also a problem for Waddle, because guess whose schematics Mark Beaks cribbed off of! Yeah, Beaks basically swiped a finished test sheet off the teacher’s desk and wrote his own name on it, but then it happened to be the class dimwit’s test so now Beaks has to stay after class for remedial lessons anyway. And that’s great. That’s karma.

B.U.D.D.Y. is a Gyro Gearloose design with a coat of paint slapped over it. That means he’s a ticking time bomb counting down to disastrous failure that exposes Waddle to potential legal liability. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer company.

We’re Go for Launchpad: Launchpad McQuack is a Driving Duck

So now we come to the episode’s main protagonist. The Triplets Plus One are who the show’s about, but it’s nice every now and then to give a spotlight episode to a supporting cast member. Today, it’s Launchpad’s turn, and it’s funny because Dewey hangs out in most of the scenes but doesn’t really do much. Dewey’s just there, like a guest pass letting Launchpad into the Main Character arena for just this one day.

Launchpad’s story is that he just earned his driver’s license! Just now! Even though he was Scrooge’s chauffeur when we met him, before the reignition of Scrooge’s adventurous spark gave Launchpad an opportunity to pilot the Sunchaser too. This is another startling indictment of Scrooge’s hiring practices.

Launchpad is proud of gaining his license, but before he can get his pat on the shoulder from Scrooge that he craves, the B.U.D.D.Y. is announced. When Scrooge announces that he’s considering buying these for McDuck Industries, Launchpad can feel the implied threat to his job. So he steps up to challenge the B.U.D.D.Y. to a race and prove that no machine can outperform a real duck driver.

That’s right! It’s the legend of John Henry! The working man trying to prove himself against the cold, unfeeling hand of technological progress for the sake of preserving his much-needed employment. Unfortunately (though, arguably, fortunately) for Launchpad, he is no John Henry. Once the dust settles, Launchpad still has his life but has decisively lost the contest. The working man is simply no match for the efficiency of steel and circuitry.

Fortunately for Launchpad, Scrooge reveals at the end of the episode that his job was never in jeopardy. Which actually makes sense. Remember that driver’s license he just got today? Like Gyro, it’s clear that whatever Scrooge’s reason for employing Launchpad is, it has no relationship to the quality of his work.

But the episode doesn’t end there. B.U.D.D.Y.’s Gearloose design inevitably goes haywire, endangering the lives of Mark Beaks himself, Scrooge, Gyro, and Dewey. If Launchpad can’t beat B.U.D.D.Y., then who can?

Reinventing Gizmoduck

While not designing anything of marketable value, Gyro’s been secretly sinking corporate funds into building an Iron Man suit. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the Board finds out about that!

Of course, Gizmoduck’s pilot is the one and only Fenton Crackshell! Cabrera! A slight adjustment on Fenton’s surname for the purpose of indicating that this rendition of the character is Hispanic, since just giving him tan plumage might be a bit too subtle.

Fenton is introduced as an intern working under Gyro and suffering heaps of verbal abuse. He was the person who leaked Gyro’s design to the internet. He meant well enough; he was trying to crowdsource a solution for Gyro’s consistently terrible design. But ho-o-oly shit was his firing warranted.

Fenton is a chip off Gyro’s block. Brilliant enough to have incredible ideas, stupid enough to not know better than to follow through on them. Waddle swiping the Lil’ Bulb schematics to make B.U.D.D.Y. is the literal exact reason that companies fiercely guard their proprietary information. What Fenton did, through well-meaning, was a corporate screw-up on the magnitude the likes of which mean he shouldn’t even put McDuck Industries on his resume.

Literally, it would be better for Fenton to pretend he’s never worked at McDuck Industries at all than to try and explain his actions to a prospective employer. At least, it would be if he hadn’t gotten his job back at the end. You get a lot of leeway when you save the boss’s life.

Gizmoduck is the writers’ answer to the dilemma of John Henry. You see, cold steel and circuitry is more efficient than human workers, but it’s prone to potentially disastrous malfunction. Machines are not capable of thinking critically; they do precisely what they’re instructed to do. Nothing more, nothing less. And they’re vulnerable to malfunction.

B.U.D.D.Y. may well be a better driver than Launchpad. But do you know what’s even more efficient than a machine? A machine operated and/or supervised by a person. Gizmoduck has a variety of automated systems. The suit is even capable of responding autonomously to threats. But every system in the suit is subject to a human pilot’s oversight.

The only way Gizmoduck can turn evil is if it’s piloted by an evil person. Which does happen later in the series (twice, even) because Gyro can’t even have this one victory.

This doesn’t exactly solve the critical dilemma of John Henry’s story; when replacing human laborers with overseers for automated systems, companies can still get away with having much fewer overseers than they had laborers. It really just kicks the can down the road. But the effort was there to update the legend for modern times nonetheless.

In Conclusion

There was a lot that happened in “Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System”; so much so that the writers weren’t able to resolve everything. That the Directors are still breathing down Scrooge’s neck about Gyro was brought up, but quickly forgotten once B.U.D.D.Y. was introduced and never mentioned again.

Gizmoduck is introduced to the reboot canon in this episode, but he has to share screen time with a Launchpad-focused episode about John Henry. The writers had limited space to introduce and develop him, and the result is a crash course in the basics of Fenton’s personality followed by some frantic Gizmoduck action sequences.

We don’t get to spend a lot of time with Fenton, but he makes great use of the screen time he has. Fenton steals every scene that he’s in.

This is a complicated episode but it all comes together well. Beaks and Gyro bounce off each other well, Fenton is a treat, and Launchpad’s a big likable lug that you want to give a great big hug to. All in all, “Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System” provides a charming experience, even if every single one of these characters (EVERY LAST ONE) should be fired.

[popculturebuffet]

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Master of the Mississippi! or “How Much Satisfaction Can There Be?”

Hello everybody. I’m back to the life of scrooge mcduck.. it’s been an eternity hasn’t it and that’s for a simple reason: I had other reviews to do, especially comissions, I kept pushing this back further and further as while I love this series i put my paid work ahead of any other projects, until Kev, i.e. the guy paying for most comissions out and out asked that this be done before I got to the rest of The Ride of the Three Caballeros. It’s also why I finally put a loose schedule in place, to keep projects from slipping so the MANY retrosectives and what not I have going can move along at a steady pace and I can slot in comissions easier, 5 bucks an issue or episode if your curious. So now things are a bit tider, i’ll try to have an installment of scrooge’s storied past up a week from now on, so keep an eye out for that, minus christmas week as I have something else planned Duck Comics wise. So with all that out of the way and any exposition able to be baked into the plot proper, we can FINALLY get back to the life and times of scrooge mcduck

PREVIOUSLY ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE MCDUCK:

A Young Scrooge got his inspiration, his start and also scared the crap out of some asshole scooby do style. Also his sister Hortense was adorable. SO there’s that. But eventually with some inspriation from what he didn’t realize was a ghost, Scrooge decided to head to america to find his Uncle Pothole. So that’s where we left off, with Scrooge heading to

Since then as the scrapbook page explains, Scrooge has worked his way up the Missippi to Louieville, Kentucky... which is where Rosa lives, and it is not a concidence it’s set here as a result. But much like how the Marvel staff being in new york in the 60′s lead to that universe having it’s unique and vibrant New York setting that’s lasted to this day, sometimes a creator using where they live as the basis can lead to really great and intresting stuff and here he had a valid reason as Louieville was one of the main hubs on the Mississippi river and thus a massive boomtown. 

Not the kind of boom town I meant but I can never say no to boomtown. But yeah it’s not only a bustling hub usually anyway, but things are extra amped up given it’s Derby time. I mean the Kentucky Derby’s no steel ball run but what could be? So naturally the crowds are booming and scroogie is impressed. I mean he’s a 13 year old boy from a poor community in Scotland. This is huge to him. But he has no time to dawdle and asks the closest random gentleman where he could find his Uncle Angus, who was mentioned last time and is the one needed for this. The guy is genuinely helpful and points him to his uncle... but as I only noticed on this read through also uses a knife to swipe his bag by cutting the handle off. It’s part of why I admire this series so much: rosa snuck so many small background gags into the margins you can always find something new reading it or always get something fresh out of it.  We also meet Gyro’s grandpa Ratchet. 

I mean there’s no might about it. David Byrne is rich and he’s the delightful weirdo we all deserve and the autistic icon I needed. 

I have no context for this, I just figured searching David Byrne in Tumblr’s Gif Search would find something delightfully batshit in that way only hec an do and I was right. 

So as the tweenager enters the gambling establishment, we find Uncle Pothole, whose playing poker with local asshole and tophat enthusiast Porker Hogg...whose name keeps tripping me up as I write this as he’s not the only pig named porker I know of but is far less memorable than this one

He and Pothole are playing cards, and while Porker can go on for days he can’t go on for eight weeks.. or even two days really and prepares to finish it. He puts up his boat the Dilly Dollar, which Angus takes offence to since Porker sank his. Angus offers up the location of the Dreenan White, a legendary, and real legend at that, riverboat that sank. Since Angus was a Cabin Boy on the boat, he knows where it is. So the final hand is dealt and Angus wins with five aces, mostly because Porker’s ace ejector jammed. When Scrooge questions if this is dishonest, Angus explains their under riverboat captain rules which basically means you can cheat your ass off and it’s not only expected it’s an insult NOT to. So Angus takes Scrooge with him, seeing the boy as a good luck charm and finding out to his shock Scrooge is his nephew, but gladly takes his newly found relation under his wing as he relates to his coming to america to find his fortune, having done the same. 

Angus is the first of Scrooge’s many mentors and easily the best part of this chapter. He’s lively, intresting but a contrast to scrooge, someone whose not AFRAID to work but wouldn’t mind an easy victory or giving up the adventure game, as he ends up doing. He’s a lively, clever guy and very charming. I”ll get back to the mentor part of it in a bit, but needless to say in a chapter that i’ll admit, and get more into the why as we go, is not one of life and time’s better chapters, he’s a highlight.  So the two get to the Dilly Dollar while Hogg decides to follow to find where the Dreeynan Whyte is. As for why he hasn’t drudged it up Angus simply can’t as the Mighty Missisippi’ s too muddy for that, making another mark twain quoted joke about it. But Scrooge mentions the clarity pills from Ratchet, meaning he has a way to do so, and Angus is now elated and decides to head there to get his fortune, specifically near Monkey’s Elbow kentucky, which while relocated slightly to fit the story, is a very real town and an objectively great name for a town, much like Forty Fort, which is also a very real town name. Hogg overhears and after being literally booted out of the boat, as we’ll see literal asskicking is a McDuck family staple, goes to recruit some hired goons. 

Yes hired goons, as every good villian needs some hired goons. And these specific goons.. are a bit.. familiar. And you’ll find out who they are under the cut!

Yup it’s the Secret Origin of the Beagle Boys. And if your wondering “Wait are they immortal too?” well. their not these are their grandpas. Also Hogg’s whole complaint about “wearing them if there yellow” just.. bugs me. They .. they aren’t cowards.. Grandpappy’s just being smart and knows his sons are excessively dumb, as is family tradition. They have no issue with committing crimes, they just don’t want to be arrested by the first Navy boat that finds them. That’s just.. common logic. This is one of Life and Time’s weaker atrributes: Due to being built around barks stories, that means most of his foes here are the random greedy asshats of the week Scrooge faced who had some loophole to his fortune or the grandparents of said assholes. With the exception of hte Beagles, who show up a few times, Glomgold and Soapy Slick who wihle a minor vilian is at the center of one of the best chapters of the story, most of these guys are just forgettable hooligans. Not terrible, and the stories around them are good enough to make it enjoyable but nothing really distinct from what Scrooge normally faced outside of his origin story. Really Barks was simply stronger at STORIES than he was at creating villians: As Magica, The Beagle Boys, Gladstone, Rockerduck and Glomgold all show he wasn’t untalented at it, it’s just more often than not he fell back on some random asshole.

Instead of using a dedicated Rogue’s Gallery of intresting baddies, most writers of most comics just used villians of the week and maybe ONE OR TWO designated hitters. Batman’s Rogue’s gallery wasn’t big enough to form their own country at this point is what i’m saying, it just meant Rosa had to build more vilians of teh week. It dosen’t drag the story down entirely, as the story is about SCROOGE and his growth: sometimes the villians are just a secondary ingrident in a good story. But it’s still something very noticable and one of the weaker parts of the story, it’s just like I said, with the story being more on Scrooge and where a lot of his personality came from, it’s something I really didn’t notice before and really dosen’t bother me now I have. The villians are weak btu the hero is so intresting and grows so much it just dosen’t matter. Their there to provide Scrooge with opportunites to evolve, and the really good ones are saved for the best moments of that and for when a villian IS needed to change scooge as a person. So it all evens out. 

So naturally the next day when the McDucks head to get the pills, Hogg’s beat them to it, and when Ratchet refused to cut cards for his stock had them beat Ratchet while they were at it. Though oddly Angus assumes he’s just passed out while Scrooge is the one to recognize someone knocked him out. You’d think a well experienced guy like Angus would know that eh whatever. Point is Hogg is ahead and Angus dosen’t have a crew... though Scrooge and Ratchet naturally volunteer since both have skin in the game: Scrooge wanted a job with Pothole anyway and Ratchet is out a job and out his pills. Angus gladly takes them on.. but accidently sets the Dominos in place for one of Comics!Scrooge’s worst behaviors down the line. 

Yeahhh.... Pothole is partially responsible for Scrooge criminally underpaying his staff and family. That gag.. is easily one of , if not my least faviorite part about Rosa’s work. It’s a holdover from Carl Barks work naturally, and one that makes some sense: Rosa set his work shortly after barks, so some time in the 1950s, having barks works take place around when they were written. There isn’t a strict timeline of what happened which year outside of life and times, but Rosa’s works are delieberate period pieces. That’s not a bad thing and if he’s going to base most of his stuff around stuff Barks did, then it’s a good call to make.  The issue is the execution: While with Barks it was in part because there was less income inequality, it was also clearly a bit of satire, as Donald was the every man and companies could be unfair, cheap douchebags then as they are now. IT feels more like a joke on Scrooge. Donald still puts up with a lot of stuff, but he’s more liable to complain. In the Rosa stories.. it feels more like he just makes Donald the butt monkey and it dosen’t play well as.. Donald dosen’t want to be there. He has every RIGHT not to want to be there as he’s not being paid a decent wage, not being compensated in any other ways, and could be searching for a boss who actually pays him a living wage. Donald is more the victim in Rosa’s stories but he simply doesn’t realize this, or the fact it’s even worse since Donald is you know RAISING THREE CHILDREN AND SCROOGE KNOWS THIS BUT DOES NOT PITCH IN ONE EXTRA CENT.  So already without even adding the decades on, it hasn’t aged well.. but add in the modern day business where it’s a STRUGGLE to get states to raise minimum wages, the job market was hit horribly even BEFORE Corona came and made things worse, and companies horribly abuse their employees to ludcirous extremes such as time crunch in the video game industry, black friday in retail and of course the house of nightmares that is the amazon warehouse, and I say that being a frequent use of amazon.. just because I rely on a company dosen’t mean I have to LIKE doing so in any way shape or form. 

What i’m saying is Scrooge’s actions were already bad, making this joke fall flat, but it comes off as downright unfunny after all of that. Even given the times Scrooge was raised in it’s just not a funny gag that “oh ha ha a 70+ year old man ever learned right from wrong when it came to paying his family or workers”. It just paints scrooge in the worst light possible as man who never grew, in at least one aspect, from being a goddamn tweenager and is easily one of the weaker moments of an otherwise epic and well crafted saga, and as i’ve said of Rosa’s exemplary work as a whole. 

Anyways the race is on and with the DIlly Dollar gaining on Hogg’s Cotton reiver witch, Hogg has them ram into the boat and flip it over. And no i’m not descrbing a sex act. In a show of competence while Blackheart Beagle’s actions send them close to the falls too he just uses the dilly dollar as a ramp. We also get a really cool flipped over panel as our heroes are waterlogged. A snag boat shows up, I assume it removes snags and dangerous objects and complains about rescuing them. .even though CLEARLY they had some kind of accident. It’s.. never a good look to complain about having to save someone’s life or livelyhood unless that someone is Tucker Carlson. Then it’s ABSOLUTLEY okay to grumble a bit about having to do the right thing. 

So after a quick gag we’re introduced to a chekovs gun as a massive tree sprouts out of the river and spooks Scroogey.. and Angus who explains it’s a “sawyer”, something that happens when a dead tree falls in a river.. sinks in.. and then can rise right back up suddenly, violently and boat destroyingly. 

So our heroes head on and find the location and Angus dumbly assumes that Hogg, who had a clear start is just lost.. and not you know lurking in the bushes watiting to strike. And strike he does as he once again rams hard and long into the Dilly Dollar, leaving it on a sandy shore. Schwing. Our heroes are landlocked but Hogg, just to earn himself a dare to be stupid award, gives the Beagles their deed, and tells them theirs diving equipment. You can take a wild guess what happenes next. 

Angus understandably laughs at his misfortune because it’s funny.. and Hogg responds by dropping him down a well. Before Scrooge can raise a benefit concert to send his love down a well, Angus asks Scrooge to join him instead.. and soon we find out why as the Beagles only find a wrecked town. Turns out thats where Monkey’s Elbow WAS, and they build the new town near it.. with the farm Angus ended up at being where the wreck is now. 

Our heroes explore the wreck which honestly, looks really damn impressive, a muddy destroyed riverboat hauntingly beautifully lit by candle light, which Scrooge is holding naturally. I may of had my criticisms for Rosa this chapter, and I will again, but it’s moments like this that reinforce that the man is still one of the best comic book artists i’ve ever seen and knows how to beautifully meld his art with storytelling. 

Speaking of which our heroes find the safe with the money. Angus is ritch but Scrooge.. dosen’t get how he can be happy. Scroogie questions “How much satisfaction can there be in having your life’s fortune handed to you? “ It’s easily the best moment of the chapter.. while it’s only two panels before we get to Angus moving things right along... it really speaks to Scrooge’s character. Even as still a naive boy from Glasgow... his whole life has been hard work, effort working your way up. To just.. LUCK into fortune like this baffles him. To be satisfied with that and not seem to have any amibation to use it to go further, to make more of yourself. To be more. While he hasn’t quite got his love for adventure yet, we’ll get there next time, even now there’s a hunger inside him, a desire to not just get rich, that’s all fine and good.. btu to have EARNED IT. To truly feel like he made his way. 

And it perfeclty makes sense with his background: Scrooge was raised with nothing, and found out at the start of the story his family had lost everything, a once glorious clan reduced to a poor starving family on the edge of Glasgow. To him it can’t just be about getting Money.. he wants to bring his clan back. To make his family happy and proud. To make sure his father’s faith as the last of their line wasn’t misplaced. He has a lot of expectation on him and that’s bred his character. Angus.. just sorta left at a young age and has been incommuincado. He dosen’t really care about family or legacy.. not that I don’t think he would’ve sent some money back to buy the castle, I just think he was never that concerned with his family’s legacy like Scrooge despite coming from a similar cloth. He wanted the money, but Scrooge cares about the money.. and his family. It’s what anchors him. What keeps him from his worst impulses and keeps him grounded.. for now anyways but that’s a ways off. Point is it really speaks to Scrooge’s character. 

But soon the beagles find our heroes, and a fight breaks out.. and naturally even without years of experince yet, Scrooge is still a McDuck and while previously his fighting was based on ingunity.. this time the little runt’s just out for blood and suprises the beagles with a clump of mud and then beating the shit out of them. When one of them tries to respond by wacking him with a piece of wood... he instead breaks a collumn and with the dreenan unable to handle the mud without it... the place starts to collapse. However our heroes don’t make it out unschathed as the Beagles capture them and the gold... for some reason. Seriously Scrooge dosen’t fight back or anything nor does angus they just.. let hte beagles overpower them. WHen Scrooge fully fought the grown ass men just a few mintues ago. What the actual hell. 

But we do get another Badass Scrooge Moment, as once hteir on the ship, Scrooge mentions another treasure.. which baffles Angus despite you know.. the boy clearly playing at something. Yeah whlie I do like Angus.. he can be grating in parts and here he just comes off REALLY stupid. But after being tortured by running on a boat, with the beagles mistaking Angus’ genuine confusion for being a bastard man, which naturally their impressed by, Scrooge fessses up.. and you can see exactly’s coming.. the sawyer raises the boat into the air and harpoons it. The beagles try to play off the port authority but scrooge unmaks those “infamous beagle boys”.. and thus names one of his greatest threats. Blackheart vows revenge while our heroes go for a sasparillia..though Scrooge keeps the money.. as he says the memory of that adventure is worth more than anything. As for the Gold, the goverment took it back, but did give them a reward, and Angus only dosen’t give Scrooge a share because he’d have to refloat it, but offers him a job and the dollar in two years at a bargin price. Alls well that ends well. A truly poetic way to end the chapter and prepare scrogoe for the next... TO BE CONTINUED...

FINAL TH...

Yeah.. as you probably know this is NOT the end of the chapter. Instead we go on for a bit more. And a few more pages would’ve been fine, to help bridge the gap.. we see scrooge get the Dollar at a bargin price as his uncle promised, though the deal turns out to be a bit of a lemon as the riverboat industry has dried up. But then.. we get a couple page adventure with the beagle boys, where the beagles try to steal the goverment gold scrooge is transporting, Ratchet helps him escape, and we DO get the utterly badass image of scrooge driving the boat onto land and it exploding and causing a massive flood> While that is awesome.. the pacing just takes a huge hit and it’s easily why this chapter is one of my least faviorite. It probably would’ve been better if they just had a passage of time montage of events at the start of the next chapter and ended on that bit before.. but instead it just goes on a bit and really tries my patience every time as instead of moving on to a bold new adventure.. we just get some filler to help pad things out so Rosa can get it to the right page length. I don’t blame him, sometimes shit happens, but it dosen’t make it any more fun to read.  So the Dollar is scrapped and Scrooge is back at the bottom with barely a cent to his name. But he’s resolute: since the river boating days were winding down anyway he’s going west to become a cowboy, and heads off on the Wabash Cannonball as a fireman, i.e. the guy who stokes the engines, to make his way there. So we end our story for now and again.. this would’ve been much better condensed but whatever. We’re finally done. 

Final Thougts

As you could probably tell but I saved for here, and I outright even said this is one of my least faviorite chapters and one of the weakest if not the weakest. Part of it is the structure issue I mentioned, but the other part is it just.. isn’t as intresting at least to me personally. The rest of life and times have pretty unique stories that while not removed from genres Scrooge stories have covered, use the story of his rise to make them really pop as we slowly see how the iconic Scrooge we know became the legend and what shaped him that way. Here while we get bits of that, it’s mostly just a standard uncle scrooge story but with him as a kid. It’s not a BAD one, it dosen’t drag the whole of life and times down and it’s servicable but it just feels a bit more standard for Rosa’s work. Still enjoyable, but nothing really spectacular like the next two chapters. On it’s own or as one of the side stories it would’ve been fine but as part of this huge sprawling masterpiece, it’s just a bit underwhelming and just makes me eager to get to the next part every time rather than really suck me in as much as the others. Again the pacing dosen’t help with that and only makes it drag further. It just dosen’t have the weight the other ones do character wise and as such just makes me want to get to part 3 already, which naturally that story within a story dosen’t help with. Overall while not a bad comic, I don’t think any part of life and times is truly bad, it’s still not a GREAT comic like what’s to come or what came just before. 

NEXT TIME ON LIFE AND TIMES: Scrooge heads out to the wild wild west.. though instead of a giant mechanical spider he fights some cattle rustlers and meets Teddy Roosevelt HELL. YES. 

Until then, happy holidays and later days!

[sleep-deprived-sj]

DuckTales: Last Christmas! (Fan-script)

So, I had a theory about what would happen if Young Della and Donald didn’t stop Dewey from telling them about the Spear of Selene... I kind of just imagine it being something like Dewey tells them about the Spear, Dewey gets back, and no one remembers him except for Huey, Dewey, Louie and Donald. No one recognizes Huey or Louie either. In the first episode Donald had to call a babysitter, but if Dewey actually warned Della, she would’ve been there to take care of the triplets, meaning they never would’ve gone on those adventures with Scrooge. At least Louie wouldn’t have met Doofus Drake.

Anyway, here’s my Fan-script!

PS: This picks up from him warning Della.

Dewey: Okay, but I gotta warn you about what’s going to happen in the future!

Della: W-what do you mean? What’s gonna happen.

Dewey shows Della a picture of the Spear of Selene.

Della: Woah! Is that a rocket ship?!

Dewey: Yeah, and someday you’re gonna get in that rocket ship, get caught in a comet storm and crash on the moon.

Della: Wait what!?

Donald: Wait, do you realize what you’ve done!?  You totally just doomed us!

Della: Well, I guess I should avoid that thing...

Della and Donald are about to tell Scrooge about the Wendigo Present Scrooge comes back and sees Dewey with young Della.

Scrooge: Della?

Della: Scrooge!? But- 

Donald: It’s the McDuck family. What do you expect?

Della: Eh. *Shrugs*

Scrooge takes Dewey back to the present, but as soon as they get back, something feels... different.

Uncle Donald: Well boys, we should go home.

Huey: Home?

Dewey: What do you mean go home? We are home.

Louie: What the heck?

Uncle Donald: *Chuckles*  Come on boys, Della’s probably worried sick.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie all look at each other. - “Della?”

The boys get to the house boat and a familiar face greets them.

Della: Boys!

H,D&L: Mom?

Della: Yeah? That’s me! Remember you w-

Donald: -aaaaanted to say merry Christmas!

Della: Wait, but...?

Huey, Dewey, and Louie get to their room and Della tells them a story.

Louie: Mom, we’ve heard this story when we were babies.

Della: What? But, I haven’t-   I guess it is kind of weird that you’re already almost full grown, but I don’t remember you...

Huey: Mom, are you okay?

Della: What!? Am I okay?! Of course I’m okay! *Nervous chuckling*

Dewey: *Gasp*  What have I done...?

Huey: I might have an idea as to what’s happening.  Mom, you said you don’t remember us, right? 

Della: Yeah.

Huey: This can only mean one thing...  Someone has caused a time paradox.

Dewey: *Gulp*

Huey: The first suspect is... is...  Oh who’s that scientist?

Dewey: Gyro?

Huey: Gyro! Wait, how’d you know that?

Dewey: Lucky guess?

The boys head to the Money Bin and down to the lab.

Gyro: AH! INTRUDERS! MANNY GET THEM!

Manny: *Stomps hoof* (”They’re literally children.”)

Fenton: Dr. Gearloose, I’ve done some final touches on the Time Tub.

Gyro: Good. Does it work?

Fenton: Um...

 Fenton looks over to the Time Tub, Bubba sitting in it.

Fenton: Yeah... *Nervous chuckle*

Huey: Excuse me, Mr. Gearloose-

Gyro: Doctor Gearloose!

Huey: Sorry, Dr. Gearloose...   About that Time Tub... We think that there’s some time paradox going on here  because- Hold on, is that  a Cave Duck!? 

Gyro: INTEEEERRRN! 

Fenton: Uh-oh.

Della: Dewey?  Do you remember anything about a Wendigo?

Dewey: Um... Yeah.

Della: Wait, WHAT!?   So, is this really some time paradox?

Dewey: I guess, I mean.. I do remember warning someone about something...  But I don’t know who or what it was.

Della: Hm.

Gyro: Let me just say, no.   I don’t know anything about any time paradox.  Now, go back to your weird little house boat with your weird uncle.

Huey: Hmph.  Louie, do you have any i- Louie!

Looks up from his phone.  Hm? Oh yeah, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

*Huey groans*

H,D&L head to the next suspect, Webby M. Vanderquack.

[Footsteps]

Huey: *Groans* Dewey: Huh? Louie: *Shivers*

???: Who are you!?

H: H-Huey! D: Dewey? L: L-L-Louie...?

???: What are you doing here?

H: We just want to know why no one remembers us... D: Wait... I know that voice... Webby?

Webby: How did you know my name!?

Dewey: AH!

Webby pounces on Dewey.

Dewey: I’m not gonna kill you, I swear!

Webby: Oh. Well, how did you know my name?

Dewey: That story is very complicated and full of paradoxes.

Webby: *Gasp* Someone caused a time paradox and now no one can remember anything!?

Dewey: Uh-huh...

Webby: Wasn’t me.  Maybe it was Le-  L... Len...  What..? Why can’t I remember her name!?

Webby’s eyes start to tear up.

Louie: Hey, are you good?

Webby: No! I forgot my best friend’s name! I...  Who... *sniff* Why can’t I remember...?

Dewey: Uh-oh.

Webby: Well, maybe it was-  Maybe it was V-vi-...  Vi...

Dewey: Violet?

Webby: Is that it?

Dewey: Yeah, Violet and Lena Sabrewing.

Webby: How did you know that?

Dewey: Again, the answer to that is complicated and full of paradoxes.

Webby stops crying and joins the boys (and Della) on their adventure to find out what happened.

Huey: Suspect #3: Bentina Beakley?

Webby: My granny? She’d never do that.  Besides, if you even tried to interrogate her she’d probably kill you.

Huey: Oh. Okay.

Webby: How about ask Scrooge himself?

Huey: It’s really our only option.

Louie: Yeah.

Huey: Dewey? What about you?

Dewey: *Silence*

Huey: Okay then. Let’s just go.

-

Scrooge: Hm? What’s this? Scrooge picks up a picture of him and the nephews. The office door slams open, startling Scrooge. 

Scrooge: BAH!

Huey: Sorry Mr. McDuck, but we were wondering... Do you know of any time paradoxes?

Scrooge: HA! You think I, Scrooge McDuck, would’ve caused a Time Paradox?   Well yes, that is quite possible.   But not this time!   In fact, I know exactly who did this!

Huey/Louie/Della/Webby: You do?

Dewey: You dew..ey?

Scrooge: I do!  And the culprit is in this very room right now!

Everyone looks at each other suspiciously.

Scrooge: I’ll put it in the form of a riddle, how about that?  “He dresses in blue, yes it’s true!  Making name-based puns is something he loves to do!  His name starts with a d-e-w, and he’s standing right next to you.”  *Scrooge points to Huey*

Huey: Wait... *Huey looks at Dewey*

...Dewey? Was it really you?

Dewey: Donald and Della too!   Oh hey, that rhymed...

Huey: Well, is there a way to fix this?

Dewey: Because I kind of want things back to normal.   Yeah it’s nice having mom back, but...

Louie: But no one remembers us. Not even Webby.

Scrooge: Yes there is. Next Christmas, wait for the 3 ghosts to come and take you to the past. Then, all will be undone.

Dewey: But that’s an entire year!

Scrooge: Oh well...

1 Year Later, Christmas eve:

Huey, Dewey and Louie told everyone goodbye and traveled back in time to Last Christmas.

Donald: Welcome back.

Dewey: What-

And then, they sang Christmas Carols and never thought of that day again!

[ahmedmootaz]

Hello! I saw you request of requests, soooo. Can I request a story and it can be however long you want it to be. The sort of prompt is what you think would or want to happen in the upcoming episode “The Phantom and The Sorceress”. It’s fine even if you don’t answer this ask, thanks for all your content and theories!

Dear Anonymous,

What, did you think that just because I replied one day before the episode aired that I wouldn’t do it?...Well, I was debating it, but this was a fun one. I really hope you like it, because I spent quite a bit of effort on it.

Beware of possible spoilers, however. I mean, it is all prediction, but you never know when you’re right. So, here’s the link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26551864

And here is the magical Read More button, for those who need it (Note that Tumblr doesn’t copy italics, for some reason):

It was a dark, cold night in the Forest Of...whatever. Lena couldn't care less about what its name was. It was damp, awful, cold, and filled with monsters. No wonder Magica would hide here; it was basically her dream home. Maybe it was a mirror, too. She trudged with her friends, Violet and Webby, who'd oh-so-kindly volunteered to help her on this mad quest of hers. She was going mad, that's what, and they were both ready to go mad with her. She really was lucky when it came to friends.

They kept trudging in silence, not wanting to reflect on the series of what must've been unfortunate events to lead them to searching for Magica DeSpell in the dark, cold night in the middle of a swamp. An ugly swamp, too...though, now that she thought about it, there weren't really 'pretty' swamps, so it wasn't like Magica chose a bad one; they were all bad.

Despite telling herself several times how she was over this, how she had no issues whatsoever about what they were doing right now and that it was for the greater good, she found herself contemplating any other choice. Just what, exactly, led them to this point?!

...Well, they all knew. It was a rhetorical question. An angry rhetorical question. Leave it to the McDucks to be attacked by a literal video-game monster that crawled out of the screen and treating it like another boring day. Which...yeah, it kinda was for them, but she'd gotten used to the calmer household she moved in. It wasn't like that was the biggest thing that happened today, either, it was more like...the appetizer, even though that wasn't really a correct statement, since it was like eating a whole roast duck only to be told it was an appetizer.

Still, it wasn't the tentacle-monster which they took down that led to this situation. It was the fact that Gladstone...Gladner? Something along those lines, showed up. Apparently, he was the boys' uncle, which made him someone she didn't know. Not that it mattered anyway, he came in, crying about how his luck left him forever before weeping on her arm, which was conveniently next to him. Her sleeve was never going to return to regular levels of salt after this.

It took a while before Scrooge managed to calm him down. It seemed like his luck...which was a thing she didn't know about, had left him. Normally, she was told, they would've chalked it up to some paranormal mystery and had to excuse themselves and send her home, but it went further then that...Almost everyone in Duckburg was losing their abilities.

They didn't really believe it at first, but when Scrooge's monetary abilities started going blank, the alarms blared loudly enough in everyone's minds. It wasn't just him, too; Gyro was losing his intelligence, so was Huey, Mrs.Beakly lost a good portion of her Agent skills, and Dewey lost the ability to Dewey, whatever the heck he meant by that.

It only left her and the rest of Team Magic to fend for themselves and figure out what was draining their powers. There was one teeny-tiny problem, however:

How would they do that? Webby was an amazing fighter, but their enemy, a certain Phantom Blot that Violet heard about, didn't leave a trace, much less a body to fight, and despite Violet's best efforts, nothing came out of her investigations to find where he hid, which left Lena to do the job. One issue, however: She couldn't.

She was a brilliant sorceress, or so she bragged, but there was still much she needed to learn before casting detection spells. And they, she theorized, didn't have that time. Violet was an amazing step-sister and a scarily fast learner, but even she came up empty-handed when it came to learning anything about that power. That left one magic user in Duckburg she knew. Ugh.

She shivered at the memory, snapping out of her mind due to some whimpering from Gladstone. He said he needed to find his luck or else he was a goner. She thought he was exaggerating at first, but then a boat nearly fell on him. 4 Kilometres away from sea. He promised he'd do them anything if she let him accompany them on this treacherous journey while the rest of the gang tried investigating using their own ways, and the agreed. How bad could he be, anyways?

-"U-Um...Lena? I don't know how to tell you this...but I...I hate swamps. I don't think I know how to walk in them. It was always my luck helping me out. I'm cold, scared, and humiliated."...well, not too bad, but he just wouldn't shut up! And while he seemed to amuse Webby and Violet, he was just getting on her nerves.

-"Well, nobody here likes swamp, either! And you've been listing the things your luck did for you for two hours now, is there anything you can do on your own, Mr.Gladstone?", she shot back, irked.

He used to argue and bicker with her, but as his luck kept worsening throughout the day (How on earth does one get mauled by a bear, an alligator, and then receive a speeding ticket because the alligator's death-roll was too fast??), he mostly stuck to paranoia to help himself. She couldn't help but feel bad for him, despite how much he annoyed her.

-"W-Well...I used to breathe well on my own...I could also walk...I think...", he mumbled, his voice a broken mess compared to his arrogant and proud tone, or so she was told by Webby. "A-And...I think I might need to learn how to go to the bathroom in the swamp.", he added, his exhaustion overpowering his embarrassment.

-"Pffft, don't worry about it, Gladstone! The entire swamp is your bathroom! You're basically the King of the swamp!", and there it was, the perky, energetic voice that was trying to keep Gladstone away from depression this entire trip.

-"Oh, quit with the lies! I am nothing without my luck!", he cried, seeming on the verge of tears for the...seventeenth time today? Lena couldn't remember. "B-But...It wasn't my choice! My luck was always there for me! Like...Like a-a stick! Something to lean on my entire life and now it is gone!", he lamented, slouching as his footsteps got a bit slower. For the sake of all them, Lena hoped he regained any of his luck soon.

-"Well, it is true; any being born with a condition, abnormal or not, that aids him throughout his life without any major work done from the part of the being will eventually get used to this condition, which could explain why you're taking this particular misadventure hard, Mr.Gladstone.", Violet bumped in their chat, checking the notepad on which they brainstormed the possible locations of Magica. "Still, I'd advise you to remain positive, as I sense we may be able to fix these conditions.", she added, giving him a small, encouraging smile which he didn't notice.

-"Yeah, probs.", the teenage witch agreed after she felt a nudge from the Vanderquack. Anything to cheer up her friend's friends' uncle. "Hey Vi, are we close or not?", she asked, trying to ignore the eye-roll from her shorter friend.

-"Well, I don't have a particularly detailed map, though I imagine that Magica would mark her camp with a particular sign; an X on the ground, perhaps, or perhaps we must deduce it from the surrounding environment-"

-"Or she might've carved her face on the bottom of an ancient tree!", the cheerful duck happily announced as they entered a clearing with a small dirt road that led to the mouth of Magica DeSpell. A wooden carving of her, anyway.

It was just as Webby said, large, reeking of pride and arrogance, and yet...oddly well done. The details were really nice and actually looked like Magica. If she had to give her 'aunt' something, it had to be that she apparently didn't suck at something in her life. Really though, wood carving, of all things? Was she a carpenter before becoming an evil, awful witch? Is she talented? She didn't have her magic...maybe she had someone else with her.

-"Alright, so, is everyone prepared to meet my homicidal aunt?", the tallest duckling asked with fake happiness, receiving a nod form everyone but Gladstone, who emitted  something of a sniff. Webby readied the axe she brought with her, patting the kitten at the top while Violet tightened her garlic necklace, while Gladstone...he stood there, steadying his back a bit. "Mr.Gladstone?"

-"Ah, forget about it, whatever she does to me, it can't be worse than having an anvil hit me from ten-meters.", he steadied his tone, managing to make it more bitter than desperate. Well, at least he wasn't going to cry when they see her.

She looked back at the tree's base, blocking out the various memories that gave her the urge to blast the door, and knocked. Harshly. Hey, she was going to give herself something. She felt both Webby and Violet's hands on her shoulders, and she anticipated the door opening. Now or never...they were going to convince her, and somehow, she didn't think it was going to be too easy.

Her mind raced, imagining all the awful things she could be plotting right now. She heard garlic was harmful to magic users, something she didn't know too much about, but was apparently true, as she figured out when her magical powers suddenly dimmed as she touched some garlic. Still, Magica could hit them form a distance...and what about that axe? Was going physical the ideal plan? Was-

 CRASH!

The quartet of ducks yelled, jumping back before they realized the door didn't even open. It was something from the inside. Someone, to be exact. A couple of curses came through the door as a metallic sound came through as well.

-"Bloody Hell! Who comes in this hour of the night, in this swamp, to this tree?! I don't even pay bills!", the angry yelling of her not-really-aunt came through. Yep, that was about the attitude she expected. "If you're the Magical Supplies Shop, I'm sorry, but if you couldn't tell, I lost my powers after following a wonderful plan of mine. I cannot pay you in whatever things you want. Now go away before I shoot you!", she answered with a sickeningly sweet tone. Even her voice brought Lena awful memories and forced her to frown.

-"You can do this, Lena. You faced her down before. She can't do anything to you.", Violet squeezed her shoulder, giving her a determined smile. Lena shot one back, before taking a step closer to the door.

-"Hey, this is Lena...Your...", she sighed, bringing a hand to her temple. "Niece?", she finished, awaiting a sick laughter or an undignified scowl at her for attempting to break free from being a shadow. Sorry-not-sorry, Magica. For moment, there was silence. Then there was laughter. Hysterical laughter. So much laughter Lena felt scared.

-"Ooooh, good one, person-who-is-trying-to-fool-me! I don't have a niece! My brother is dead and my sister cannot keep a worm alive! Now scram before my patience runs out!", she thundered from behind the door, leaving the ducklings and Gladstone in shock.

-"She has a brother?", Lena repeated with incredulity, looking at her two friends and Gladstone.

-"I don't know! How should I know? I thought she didn't have family!", Violet answered with equal confusion, shrugging.

-"I mean, technically she doesn't have a brother anymore.", Gladstone chimed in, his voice devoid of any enthusiasm. "Who's this woman anyway? And why does she sound like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed?", he asked, raising his voice a tad too much.

-"The wrong side of the bed?!", came the war-cry from behind the door, only leaving a moment before a couple of locks unlocked and it swung outwards, revealing Magica DeSpell . With a shotgun. Oh, well this was just lovely, wasn't it? "Alright, that does it, I will put more holes than you than there is in...swiss...cheese...", her speech slurred, looking at the three ducklings in front of her house.

The silence remained for a moment, with no one doing anything. Webby brandished her weapon, Violet made a threatening expression, and Lena ignited a spark in her hand. And Gladstone stood there, trying to take all this in. That moment gave Lena enough time to admire Magica's hut; a three-room lodging, more aptly. It was basically a sink, a gas-cooker, and some drawers, a wardrobe, and a bookshelf, all locally-made, apparently. There was also a toilet and a bath in the background. It was a pretty sorry place to live in, but it seemed functional enough.

-"Hi, Aunt Magica.", Lena greeted, gritting her teeth and delivering the widest, fakest smile she could possibly give. "I almost forgot how you looked! We haven't seen each other in such a long time. What a shame.", she continued, trying her best to remain calm and to look the elder sorceress in the eyes. Said sorceress was now surveying the ducks surrounding her, measuring her chances and keeping her hands on the shotgun's trigger.

-"Get out. Now!", the cape-wearing duck yelled, looking dangerously close to a rage-fit. "All three of you. Now!"

-"Three? Hello? I may have lost my luck, but I am certainly not invisible, lady!", Gladstone announced with an undignified tone. He got a glare that shut him up. "Yeah, sure, okay, talk with the people who really matter. Why wouldn't you?", he grumbled bitterly.

-"Listen, as much as we'd love to, we can't really do that.", the younger sorceress laid her hand on her waist, looking both bored and uncaring. At least, she hoped she did. The last thing she needed was for the awful, horrible duck in front of her to sense any weakness, something she assumed she excelled at.

-"Besides, we're already outside! Your evil mind trick won't work on us!", Webby boasted, swinging her axe a bit for intimidation purposes. They didn't seem to work all too well, but at the very least, they made Magica's shotgun point at her just a tiny bit. Was that a victory?...Probably not.

-"Fine then, get away from me! From this place! The last thing I need is to spend my night with a bunch of *McDucks*.", the gun-wielder practically screamed, her veins starting to bulge from the anger. Her voice was laced with venom dripping off of every word. It was honestly both terrifying and admirable how much hate she poured into every word.

-"I told you we can't.", Lena repeated calmly, trying to avoid a fight she saw she was coming.

And then, just as she hoped things would calm down, a loud, roaring BANG! filled the swamp. Every single member of her group jumped, looking frightened as they searched around for wounded. There were none, only four ducks staring at each other. She'd tricked them. And she didn't even have her magic. Lena frowned and turned her face back to her shadow's origin. Her...uh...creator? She was her shadow, did shadows have creators? Maybe a caster was a better term? As much as she hated it, 'Aunt Magica' rolled off the tongue far better than 'Caster Magica'.

-"Are you searching for fight? Because I'm not certain your chances would be very high with the four of us.", Violet spoke for her step-sister. Her new room-mate at this point, but Lena still appreciated the gesture with all of her heart. It appeared Magica actually fired a shot, even if it was only a warning shot. Everyone tried to make good on that statement, looking as threatening as they could. Even Gladstone lifted his fists, adding a grand total of 4% to how threatening they were.

-"Maybe you are! Why can't you get away from me? What do you want? I don't have any more plans for the moment, I didn't do anything illegal for the last month, and you're taking my books from my cold, dead, hands!", the former-Sorceress Of The Shadows barked back defiantly, still pointing at them with her gun. "I don't care if you kill me! I'll take at least two of you down before I-"

-"Could you shut up?!", Lena cried out, her eye twitching and doing everything she could to not attack Magica. "We're here because...because...", she couldn't say it. She couldn't bring herself to ask her for help.

-"...You want to buy something?", her 'aunt' guessed, gun still pointing at her head, but apparently curious.

-"No."

-"You want to brag?"

-"...No.", okay, maybe they did, but they couldn't do that. Not now, anyway.

-"Are we here to rent the room?", Gladstone chimed in, scratching his head. Lena was certain Violet explained to him on the way here...but he apparently forgot.

-"I NEED YOUR HELP!", there, she spat it. She couldn't believe she said it, covering her face afterwards. She felt Violet's hand pat her and heard Webby saying something along the lines of 'There, there'.

-"...I'm sorry? Is this...Listen, it's the middle of September, the swamp is humid as all Hell and I'm trying to set up a fan, if you're just here to brag,", she said before adding 'as you McDucks do.' under her breath, "Then you can come sometime else, these garments aren't exactly fun to wear when the humidity is 85% today so-"

-"No, we need the help. But you'd better watch your back, you witch, because if you try to betray us, I'll shove this axe right down your head!", Webby warned threateningly, patting the kitten once more. Magica actually remained silent and judged what she said, and Lena decided it was time to uncover her face again.

-"And why would you need my help?", the witch repeated, lowering her weapon. Lena could just feel smugness radiating off of her, and she hated it with every molecule of her being.

-"There's a thief in town. He's stealing everyone's abilities. Everything about them. He's stealing it. He calls himself the Phantom Blot.", Violet answered, looking rather impatient with Magica, who smiled with a hum.

-"And why should that concern me?", she smugly inquired and...well, she wasn't wrong. Lena hated that she wasn't wrong.

-"The Phantom Blot hates magic and its users. He wants to eradicate the both of them and you, if I remember correctly, are a witch, yes?", the hummingbird explained, gaining a bit more of a reaction this time: A chuckle. They really couldn't find anyone else, huh?

-"Listen, Purple, if you can remember so well, then you might as well remember that Lena over there stole all of my power. I'm in no danger of this Phantom Blot.", she shot back, a taunting smile on her beak and crossing her arms.

-"Alright, listen up you freak, maybe you don't realize this, but he doesn't know that you don't have your powers. All he knows is that you were the single biggest magical spell to hit this town less than a year ago. I'd say you're still on his hit list.", not taking any more of this back-and-forth, the younger sorceress quipped, closing her hands together and trying a smirk of her own to counter the furious frown and growl her 'aunt' gave her.

-"And you're still on our hit list, you monster! So don't try to even think about doing anything funny!", Webby added, giving her best-friends a reassuring smile, though a somewhat threatening one.

-"I don't think I care about that too much."...she didn't? Oh. Well. There goes the entire base of their plans. "My family isn't here, neither is my home, I don't have my powers, I struggle to eat half-decent food, and I can't even make any new plans after that piece of-", she stopped herself, "Sorry, after Glomgold took everything I had monetarily. In other words, life isn't looking too great for me.", she finished indifferently, though a bit sad and bitter. Huh. That's...really odd. Bitter yes, but sad? Lena wouldn't have ever expected that from her.

-"Tough luck, lady. There's a great pharmacy that sells anti-depressants on the next corner. You know. If you're like me and lost all the joy your life ever had.", the former-luckiest duck in the world suggested darkly, pointing a thumb somewhere. "Look, I don't know you, you don't know me, but please just do me a favour, alright? I need your help. Magic or whatever I just...I just need my luck bad. I need my life back. Can you please help us for the good of your heart?", he got down on his knees and begged, not showing too much emotion, but just enough to almost make you forget his bitterness a moment ago. Almost.

-"...Yeah, listen, the 'good of my heart' doesn't really exist, and even if it did, then I won't be giving it to you of all people.", well...Lena couldn't say she wouldn't say something similar to some duck she barely even knew. Unlike Magica, however, she'd actually accept. Probably. "But it seems Scrooge's thinking isn't there quite yet for all of you.", she stated, almost with disappointment, as she brought two fingers to her temple. "My life at this point is in danger...but that's not really what's motivating me here. What do I have to gain?", ah, straight to the point, are we?

-"What, keeping your life isn't enough for you?", her former-shadow snarked back, utilizing the opportunity to show no respect whatsoever. Ah, that felt good. It didn't feel good to see her nemesis laugh at her, however, as if she knew something she didn't.

-"Now, I may be misunderstanding this, but you don't have much time, yes? Phantom Bolt or whatever is already striking. Both of our lives are endangered, and if it means taking you out...well, I don't need to say much, eh?", oh, how Lena hated the smugness in her voice. They'd accounted for this, but she just wanted to punch her in her stupid beak so much!

-"Fine, does this make you any more inclined?", the younger witch pulled out a purple gem, dangling it from her finger and immediately making Magica's pupils widen.

-"My Sumerian Amulet!", she yelled, throwing herself on Lena, though not with so much force the latter wasn't able to repel her. Indeed, all the younger duckling had to do was raise a hand as her 'aunt' tried grabbing the amulet that was dangling so close to her.

-"There, feeling a bit more excited now?", the intelligent, sharp voice of Violet observed. "We know how much this means to you. Maybe you could even regain your magic with it, yes? This is as much as we're going to offer, so if you don't want it..."

-"...Fine!", came the near-instant response. Magica was biting her lower beak, looking majorly conflicted. "Alright, you have some of ol' Scroogie in you. You want my help? Fine. Fine, no really. How about we seal the deal, then? I help you with whatever it is you want to beat the Phantom Blot, you give me back my Sumerian Amulet, and we all try to kill each other sometime later, affaire conclue?", she extended a fingerless-ly gloved hand, looking all-too-gleeful about all of this. Lena knew the amulet was powerful, but the way Magica accepted their offer...it gave her second thoughts about giving her the amulet.

-"It means 'deal?', Mr.Gladstone.", she heard her step-sister tell the triplets' uncle. Apparently, he wasn't too fond of Magica's new terminology...but then again, neither was Lena. "Though I must wonder how you know of French, Magica.", the short hummingbird muttered as she extended a hand alongside the other three ducks.

-"I have some Savoyard cousins. You're not the only ones with a family here.", came the dry answer.

It took a moment of hesitation, with everyone almost certain that the other side will pull out at the last second. Then, suddenly, Webby's hand went forward and shook, or rather, grabbed Magica's. Violet soon followed, and Gladstone did as they did. That only left Lena, who stared at Magica. If she shakes this hand...she'll take orders from her again. She'll give her the amulet that will make her able to hurt her again. She didn't want to do this...but she had to. Not only for herself, but for her friends. For everyone who depended on her, she took a breath and forced her hand to shake with Magica's. It was...huh. Wow. Her fingers were tiny compared to Lena. How did she never notice?

-"Lovely. Now, you're trying to go after this Phantom Whatever, yes?", the cape-drapped witch asked, looking a bit more enthusiastic. She received a nod from everyone, Gladstone included. "Very well, I can make you an elixir to poison him, though it's going to take some-"

-"Woah woah woah, we're trying to defend ourselves here! Not everyone is a murderer like you!", Lena objected, waving her arms frantically just as her 'aunt' was going to enter her hut. She earned a disapproving stare. She hated them.

-"He's going to kill you, Lena. You're being naïve if you think showing kindness is going to change someone who's bent on murdering you.", the sorceress mocked, resting her hand on her hip. "Besides, why come here in the first place if you're all such big fans of Gandhi?"

-"We want you to teach Lena spell.", Webby replied, her axe still unsheathed, though it only gained an unimpressed look as her enemy got used to it. "We can defeat the Phantom Blot without resorting to your methods, and you'll see that yourself!", she proudly continued, lifting the axe a little higher.

-"A spell?", Magica repeated, mystified. "You...You want me to teach you a spell?! To be back where I belong? To rejoin my magical destiny-", oh, come on. Couldn't she stay clam for five minutes? Why was she acting like a hyperactive child all of sudden? That wasn't how she was supposed to act!

-"Yes, yes, all of that. Now if you could just-"

-"Ooooh, it feels good to be back!", deciding that two could play at the interruptions game, she ignored her 'niece' as she wrapped her cloak around her, covering her beak and moving her fingers for dramatic effect.

-"You are exhausting to be around, you know that?", Lena quipped, glaring at the far-too-gleeful duck in front of her.

-"I try. Now, what spell do you exactly want?"

-"We were thinking about trying a spell to locate the Phantom Blot.", Violet explained, and Lena couldn't help but notice Magica tilted her head just a teeny tiny bit. "We want to know where he is, and if possible, bring him to us.", she clarified, her dignified tone not wavering.

-"You seem worried, witch. Are you worried because you're trying to play us and now you can't?", Webby interrogated with her 'detective accent', looking suspicious to Magica's current indescribable expression.

-"No, it's not that, it's just...Locating people and things is more of a Teleporter thing...", she answered, almost begrudgingly.

-"Welp, we came to the wrong person. I told you! We needed a teleporter, we have a witch. And we made a deal. This is just fan-tastic.", ever the positive one, Lena ranted as she started walking around, waving her arms, exasperated.

-"Of course it would be you to not know magic-branches, Lena.", her 'aunt' scolded, noticing Webby's sudden axe-swing and trying to ignore the obvious threat. "Teleporting is magic. Just a branch of it. I'm more talented in the spells branch and the alchemy branch, alongside shadow-manipulation, of course. Teleporting...well, I can help you. I tried learning it, after all.", she boasted, mumbling the last part to herself more than to the ducklings surrounding her.

-"Branches, huh...And how can we know you're not just messing with us? You could be saying absolute mallarcky!", the seater-wearing duck accused, earning an undignified huff from the older sorceress.

-"I said I tried learning it, and not without some success.", she claimed, hoping to satisfy Lena's questions and just get closer to getting the darn amulet. She didn't. "Listen, my brother was a pretty good Teleporter. I'll tell you what he told me, alright?", she explained further, noticeably uncomfortable with what she was saying.

-"How come I never heard of him if he's so go-"

-"Because you've never spent more than two months in Europe, you brat! Don't you dare talk about the King Of Napoli like that!", she screamed, looking more threatening by the second. A full-blown beatdown was about to ensue if it wasn't for Gladstone, of all people.

-"Hey...I remember that name...He stole my car when I was on a trip in Europe! And my newly-won crown which I won in Barbaria!", he recounted, looking far-too-happy for what he was saying.

-"Bavaria.", Violet corrected.

-"Whatever, he just teleported in my car and stole it after throwing me out! And he had someone else with him, too!", the former-luck king continued, still looking inexplicably happy. "I never thanked him for his service! Some old lady saw the accident and thought I needed help, so she gave me one of her luxury jets to console me! Told me nobody was safe from the King Of Napopi.", he finished, a smile on his face. "That was before the whole...unlucky thing...", and now he was going to be depressed again.

-"See? Now just listen to what I tell you and you should be fine!", the elder duck ordered, apparently unable to sense the internal moment of struggle Lena had before she obeyed, taking a step forward.

-"Yes...Magica.", she muttered under her breath, standing in front of her arch nemesis' cold stare. Her friends were there to protect her. There was nothing to fear. Nothing to fear at all. This was just a forced training session. She was going to get through this.

-"I'd appreciate it if you call me Miss Magica.", and yet it didn't seem like her momentary teacher was willing to make this easy for the both of them. Holding her sly smile, she straightened her back and looked at her forced-apprentice for a second. "Let your magic run through you. Teleportation is a complex art, and all its branches need a constant flow of magic through one's self. Location is no different, let the magic run through your body.", she stated, trying to throw her cloak in a dramatic way.

-"Okay so...like this?", the tallest duckling asked, holding her right arm in front of her and sensing the tingling sensation of magic as it coursed through her. She came to control it after a multitude of attempts, so this wasn't much of a trial. "Oh, and since I might as well milk you for whatever you're worth, can I change this colour? I hate this purple.", she wondered, noting that she didn't get any reply before forcing her vocal cords to add "Miss Magica?"

-"Hmm, well, I don't know, the colour of one's magic is determined by both their will and their chosen Branch of Magic, I had to go through lots of training to change my magic's colour, and since this is my magic,", she pointed at the flame-like purple shape that surrounded her 'niece', "It's going to take a lot of time for you to change it back. But it's no special technique. Some can immediately change it, others cannot. It comes eventually.", she continued indifferently, paying attention to the magic that was radiating off of Lena.

-"Don't talk to Lena like that!", the Vanderquack reaffirmed her stance on Magica as she exchanged glares with the now-dysfunctional sorceress.

-"Webs, it's fine. I can deal with her.", her best-friend answered, turning her attention back to her teacher. Oh, how she hated that she had to refer to her as that! Nevertheless, she was surprised she actually got an answer. She expected some insults and nothing else, but it seemed that once they had a deal...she worked with it. It was...unnerving.

-"When it comes to searching for something, you must see it with your blind eye. You must both wish for it, see it in your mind, and release enough magical surges to clear the way for you. Only then will you sense where what you search for lies. For example, I have a red neckerchief in my house with a raven on it in my home. Try sensing where it is.", the DeSpell explained emotionlessly, guiding Lena a bit closer to her home.

She closed her eyes, as she was told, and tried seeing the neckerchief. Red...raven...yep, pretty plain alright. And yet...she tried releasing energy as she was told, but the only thing that was getting released was a bunch of aimless magical balls that deflated on the ground. She couldn't sense anything. She had the image in her brain, but she couldn't really...get 'it', if that made any sense.

-"Not good. As expected, you cannot properly use my magic. Perhaps you need to be more emotionally motivated to feel the 'click'?", of course it would be like Magica to benefit off this situation. Of course. Well, at least she was partially right. Lena grunted as a response, not wanting to give her trainer any more satisfaction than necessary. "Then we must up the risks a bit.", the elder sorceress claimed moving a bit to where her friends stood.

-"Listen here, Magica! Lena's trying her best, and we have no need for you! If you ever- Hey! My...bow...", in an instant, there was a 'splash'. The eldest of the ducklings turned around to see Webby without her iconic bow staring into the stagnant water of the swamp, shocked and furious at the same time. "That was a gift from my grandma!", she yelled back.

-"Oh, quit it, you want to help your oh-so-precious friends, yes? Then let me teach!", the witch shot coldly, evading an axe swing with relative ease, watching as the energetic duckling gritted her beak; they had no one to trust but her. "Now, Lena, this swamp is filled with alligators and all sorts of nasty creatures. If we don't find Debby's bow in five minutes, it might as well be gone forever. If you can find where I threw it, I'll go get it myself. Sounds good?", too good. Especially that last part. In fact, only that last part, since Lena had little faith that she could succeed.

When everyone around her went silent, the young witch turned her head to Webby. She looked distraught. Closing her eyes once more, she faced the swamp and tried sensing for the bow. Pink, small, and plain. It was a rather noticeable part of Webby. Something that clearly meant a lot for her. If she could find it...Then she'd have helped her friends. She saw it...she willed it...and she started releasing magical sparks. For a moment, just like last time, they merely deflated.

Then, all of a sudden...she felt 'it'. A guiding feeling...like an arm on her shoulders. It made her open her eyes, but she could still see the bow. She saw it. She felt it. It was pulsing...the pulsing pushed her to where it came from:...Away from the water? It was behind her. But the only thing behind her was...she turned around to look at Magica, who had a detestably smug expression on her face as she showed Lena her fingerless-ly gloved left hand. The glove had a small bulge near the wrist.

-"Seems as if I was correct.", was all she said. Lena didn't growl or frown this time. She had no reason to. It slightly angered her to agree with her 'aunt', but as far as correctness went, there wasn't much to critique here. "I learnt this little trick as a little girl. It can help you in a tough spot.", she added as she removed it from under her glove, throwing it into her student's hand. "There, I made good on my promise, right?"

...She did?...Well, yes, she did teach her. Lena thought that she didn't mention some things, such as the formula or how much energy one should dedicate, but in the end, those details were all discovered by her apprentice with no need for more external help. She, should she follow the instructions correctly, was now technically able to find the Phantom Blot.

Then why did she feel something wrong? She felt as if something wasn't quite...right, to put it simply. She expected a bigger fight with Magica. Harsher treatment. Little to no emotions, but it was just...meh. Nothing too big. She stared again the the elder witch. She was smiling. It was a smug smile alright, but it was a smile. It wasn't something she expected to see of Magica. Perhaps as a result of her disdain for her 'aunt' she, too, came to see her as incapable of being a person.

-"I guess so...", she murmured, knowing exactly where her former-teacher at this point was going. She prepared her amulet, not wishing to give it away. "Her name is Webby, by the way.", she added, not getting a response

-"I told you my brother was a good teacher.", her fifteen-minute trainer mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else, and Lena felt awkward. She stared back at her friends.

-"I...uh. Sorry about him. Dying. I guess.", she whispered but it caught the attention of Magica, and she looked positively shocked. "Don't look so shocked. Respect the dead and all that.", that came out wrong. So wrong. If she meant to disrespect him, she couldn't have done worse.

-"Heh...listen, sometimes faking death is a bit easier with magic on your side. If you're willing to share a bit more than the amulet, then maybe I can tell you about him.", she smiled again, though this was one of her more typical smiles, if still an actual smile. Huh. Curious

But just as the newly trained sorceress was about to say something, a 'zap' echoed in the swamp. There was light for a moment, and Magica had to jump to avoid the bolt that zapped a part of her hair and neck. Everyone turned in a split second to see a black-clothed figure with green eyes and a metallic glove on his right hand.

-"And I was just about to pick this four-leaved clover, too...", was the only sentence uttered for a solid minute. And by Gladstone of all people.

The Phantom Blot looked menacing. Pure, undiluted, unadulterated intimidation radiated off of his clothed figure. From afar, you wouldn't be blamed if you thought he was a medieval executioner. The metallic glove on his hand looked more electronic than medieval on closer inspection, but that didn't matter too much. His eyes, fully green by some method, conveyed little emotions, but there's something Lena sensed from him: Hatred.

-"Finally...", his clunky, distorted and terrifying voice announced, his footsteps calculated and his eyes focused. "It seems my searching has led me to the most vile of beings, at last.", he added, closing his fist.

-"The most vile of beings? Listen, I heard some nasty things about ducks, but come on man-", Gladstone tried countering, only to receive a bolt that knocked him over, making him grunt.

-"Not you, you imbecile! These WITCHES!", he cried, hatred drenching his words as he advanced. He most certainly had an accent...But Lena couldn't just pin-point it...though she thought she heard it sometime in the past...

-"These what now?", Magica repeated, apparently offended.

-"WITCHES!", he repeated, not slowing his advance as the group of ducks slowly backed off. "You come in with your magic, destroy cities with your undeserved power, and you...you're never satisfied! You always want more! You never leave something to the people who work for their power!", he ranted shooting a couple of bolts that forced the group the yell and retreat further to Magica's hut.

-"Oh. Witches. I think I still hate you, but a little less than when I thought you said-"

-"It would just be like you to show up now, huh?!", back to interrupting Magica, it was Lena who couldn't keep it in her head anymore. "I spend an hour with Magica to learn how to find you and you just show up like that?! Couldn't you have came in a little early?! Do you have any idea what kind of deal we made?!", she complained, ranting at him, and forcing him to do a double take on her words.

-"Not only are you a witch, but you are a sore loser. I could make my nonna's pasta with that much salt!", he mocked, doing a small laugh that almost sounded dead...like, the whole laughing part was there, but there was no spirit behind it. Just a sick, twisted glee.

-"Hey, hold it there for a minute, you're italian?", Magica asked, flabbergasted. Ah. Right. Sometimes Magica lost control of her British accent in front of Lena. Now she remembered. But really? This was the thing she asked about? Why would that matt-

-"Indeed, and my heart shall always remain there! It is why I find great pleasure and cleaning Napoli of your filth!", he growled, firing another shot which she barely avoided but backing her into the tree where her hut was located.

-"Oooh, you're digging your own grave here, you Blot! I am a proud Neapolitan, and the mere name is much more than wherever you're from!", she challenged, pointing an accusing finger as the other ducks stared at each other. They didn't know what exactly was unfolding in front of them, but it couldn't have been anything good.

-"Don't you dare insult Genova, you wretch!", he shot back, almost losing his nerves for a second before calming down. "No. I am much better than losing my nerves to a fiend like you! Prepare for justice!", he suddenly declared, and the speed of it made Magica unable to dodge the bolt he fired, punching her into Gladstone, who tried hiding behind her, and throwing the both of them into the trunk of her tree. She fell down with a hard 'crack', leaving Gladstone in a duck-shaped impression.

-"Wh-Why me...?!", he lamented before falling. The sorceress tried getting up but she limped.

-"Magica!", Lena yelled. Why did she yell? Why could she possibly yell?...Because if she dies, he's going after them. Definitely. She ran, trying to raise a shield to protect her from another, more frightening zap that would've hit her. Heck, even then, it shattered Lena's shield. Crud, this guy really isn't messing around anymore. But then a pink figure shined behind the Phantom. Yes! Webby was doing it!

-"How's this for justice!", she cried from behind him as she jumped, but he was good. Too good. He managed to spin his entire figure, raise his mechanical weapon and take a fighting pose at once, stopping his assailant's hit. Oh. This guy wasn't going to be any fun, was he?

-"You...Hah! It wasn't enough!", he bragged, pulling the battle-axe from his glove as his previous wielder suffered from the vibrations of hitting a metal. One powerful grab and swing from his glove sent Webby back to her friends, face in the dirt, and with no weapon.

-"What kind of justice are you hoping to achieve?!", cried Violet, hoping to buy them some time. It didn't work, and he only accelerated his assault, firing multiple electrical charges or whatever these were, forcing the ducks to separate.

-"Justice is not my primary concern, hummingbird. I am a criminal, after all, but if I can do my job and rid the world of this evil, then I shall take the initiative!", he calmly replied, not paying any attention to the fact that most of them were getting zapped or were running in terror. "But enough playing around, I do not wish to fail now!", he stopped, preparing what seemed to be a worse, more powerful form of his weapon.

-"Lena, do you think we can take him on?", Violet asked, trying to get them regroup.

-"Nope."

-"Webby, do you have any more weapons?", she turned to the Vanderquack, trying to assume to role of the leader.

-"Don't really think they're going to affect him.", she answered pulling out a few knives that looked like toothpicks comapred to her axe.

-"Mr.Gladstone-"

-"Don't have my luck; can't do anything.", came the reply.

-"...Magica?", she asked her voice a bit desperate.

-"My shotgun has one more round in it.", she declared, pointing it at their attacker, who finished upgrading himself and was about to shoot once again. "We're going to die, aren't we?"

-"Probably.", Lena answered her, watching the black-wearing man as he began shooting at them again.

Well. Nothing else to do but to face the music, as they say. Whoever 'they' is. And whatever that meant. And whatever that had to do with their situation. Oh, give her a break. She didn't have time to think about this fight of theirs. Magic versus one very wronged, apparently, and angry man and his technology. The fight of the century.

The Phantom versus The Sorceress. Time to see how long they can stay alive.

[ymiwritesstuff]

Return

Oki once again I suddenly got an idea that I wanted to post asap so apologies if this feels idk rushed? But anyways I hope you enjoy!

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run

Gyro Zeppeli x Fem!Reader

Summary: Ever since Gyro sailed all the way to America in order to take part in the Steel Ball Run race, you had been eagerly waiting for his return.

Notes: Angst, SPOILERS FOR PART 7

Gyro’s emerald green eyes lit up and his lips curl into a wide grin that shows his golden teeth when his gaze falls on the envelope in his hands. With an excited chuckle his drops everything he was just about to do and sits down on his sleeping bag. Johnny glances at his friend a smile of his own apparent on his features as he has a pretty good guess about the contents of that envelope.

“Another one?” The blond asks, laying on his sleeping bag with his head leaning against his hand. The scene before him was nothing new as Gyro had received letters like this one many times in the past and judging by the Italian’s expression, he had been waiting a long time for this one. 

“Yep.” He says as he opens the envelope, carefully enough so he doesn’t tear apart the letter itself, but swiftly so he can begin reading the contents of it. He had been waiting for so long to receive a response to his previous letter and the excitement bubbling inside is so intense it feels like it’s about to burst out. He can’t help it though. This letter had been delivered to him all the way from his home country and once he got the envelope open, Gyro wasted no time in reading it:

Ciao, Handsome!

How’s the race been treating you?

Upon reading the first lines of text Gyro’s smile only grows when he notices the familiar cursive handwriting of his lover he had seen so many times throughout Steel Ball Run. He missed you so much and wished he could see you in person but for now had to rely on this distant form of communication. He didn’t complain, though as frankly any contact with you was enough.

Good, I hope, you know how worried I get. I can’t help it! I love you after all.. When I read your last letter and you wrote about all that crazy shit you’ve been through I.. I couldn’t help but to feel a bit worried. I know what you’re going to say, “I promised to come back after I win this race, cara. And I won’t break that promise”.

He lets out a quiet chuckle upon reading your words. You knew him so well. The letters you sent him made him feel that familiar warmth he felt whenever he had been in your presence before his admittedly painful departure. He remembers you shedding painful tears as you watched his ship slowly move closer to the horizon. As much as he hated seeing you sad, he knew he had to do something in order to save the innocent boy’s life. However he didn’t leave before promising to return home as soon as he grasped victory.

I laughed just now, you know. And it only made me miss your laugh. I miss you so much, Gyro. I think of you every day and I can’t wait for you to come back. Honestly, a part of me wants to hop on a ship and sail to America just so I can see you again. But based on the things you’ve told me.. Perhaps it would be better for me to just stay here and try to wait for you patiently. I just want you to be safe. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.

Gyro frowns his brows as his eyes scan the text before him, his fingers lightly brushing over it. He had told you about the bizarre events he experienced during the race quite openly, but a part of him wonders if it was alright to bring you so much worry with the dangerous tales. On the other hand, he had promised to always be honest with you and thought it best not to sugarcoat any of the events that occurred. Gyro was sure you respected his honesty, but it still, he couldn’t help but to question it.

But I believe in you. I know you will return with the prize money in your hands and the joy of victory by your side. I will cheer you on, even from the other side of the world. You will prevail, I am certain of it. I just can’t allow myself to forget that so easily. I know it’s dangerous and I know anything could happen, but I have faith in you, Gyro. I love you so much and I can’t wait to hold you in my arms again. Please, take care of yourself and stay safe. I’ll be waiting for you, Gyro.

Love,

(Name).

Gyro smiles to himself, your letter being able to awaken so many emotions inside of him. At this point they didn’t feel like mere letters anymore. Whenever he read them, he could hear your voice and feel your emotions, which was why he had saved every single letter he had received from you. They were like pieces of a puzzle that would combine into something bigger when all of this was over. They were memories that both of you shared and cherished. With each passing day he would think about you. Your stunning smile, your beautiful (E/C) orbs that put the stars to shame and those soft (H/C) locks he had so often ran his fingers through. He missed having you next to him, but knew that this grueling time away from you would all be worth it, because when he finally returned he’d get to pull you into an embrace he had been yearning for so long.

With a sigh, Gyro folds the letter and immediately begins to write a response on a piece of paper. There was always some delay with the delivery due to the great distance between you two so Gyro made sure to always begin writing as soon as possible. Johnny looks at his friend and smiles to himself. Gyro was often stressed and tense due to everything that had been going on, but would show signs of relief and happiness whenever he wrote his letters or read one of yours. It always managed to put a smile on the blond jockey’s face. Gyro was madly in love with you, and that love would carry him through whatever the race dared to throw at him.

~

When your hands touch the fresh paper of the envelope, you immediately sit down and begin to open it. It had been a good month of sending letters back and forth just like usual and Gyro was sure that it would all be over soon. Things had gotten quite a bit hectic and to quote the Italian’s own words; “It’s a shitstorm over here, but we’ll get through it.” Reading his letters in which he told you about all that was going on was like reading a story, a very dangerous, bizarre story. But it helped you to feel connected to him in a way, as if you were there with him, experiencing those events.

Upon opening the envelope and unfolding the letter your brows frown at the unusually short length of the content. It was odd considering just how long his previous letters have been and a deep part of you starts feeling something akin to concern. But that feeling quickly fades away when you start reading:

Ciao, beautiful!

Listen, I’m gonna need to keep this one a bit short simply because it won’t be long before you can actually hear my words instead of having to read them. Yep, you read right, cara. Everything is going to be over soon. The President has gotten a bit out of control with the corpse but me and Johnny are gonna take him down! Soon it will all be over and I can finally come home to you and hold you tight.

You smile at the text, relieved to hear that everything was well. Gyro had mentioned the President’s plans and initially it did hit you with a wave of concern and worry but with his letters came a reassuring wave of relief as according to his words, things had been turning for the better.

I know how much you worry, but I assure you, I will kick Valentine’s ass AND win the race so I can happily return home. Return to you. I miss you so much, you don’t even know, but the fact that this won’t last for long keeps me going. You keep me going, (Name). I can’t wait to hold you, kiss you, hug you.. I can’t wait to see you, cara.

Your reading gets interrupted when a single tear you didn’t even notice drops on the paper. The words stick onto you like glue and caused a storm of strong emotions to erupt within you. Dammit, Gyro! How dare he make you cry?! You giggle to yourself and quickly wipe your tears and continue reading:

And perhaps.. We can discuss the future. Because I want it to be with you, (Name). A future with you sounds like heaven and I really hope you feel the same way. Well, we will have time to discuss this when I return. But, feel free to consider it! If you ask me, a little Zeppeli running around would make me the happiest man in the world! But yeah, we’ll have time for that. Take care, my love and until we see each other again, 

ti amo.

Gyro

The amount of tears rolling down your cheeks only increases after you finish reading his letter. Those tender, loving words he used were so rare, but they managed to cling to you and you wished nothing more than to feel the man himself next to you. The thought of having a family together with Gyro filled you with so much joy and warmth it felt like torture not having him here to make that dream a reality. Not yet, at least.

Soon, your long wait would be rewarded. Because once this would all be over, you could finally live with the man you loved so dearly. His voice, his eyes oh, how you missed them all and you could hardly wait any longer. Patience was key here. He would return, just as he promised and you’d never have to be without him ever again. 

And he did return. But not in the way you were hoping. And when your (E/C) eyes that were filled with joyous tears, meant to express your happiness in finally seeing Gyro after so long land on that wooden box that Johnny was dragging behind him with a dark, sorrow-filled look dulling his blue eyes, those tears froze for a split second, only to be filled with devastation.

He promised. And he didn’t break his promise. But he broke you. Because upon his return, he didn’t hold you, kiss you, hug you, instead, you were met with a lifeless corpse that once belonged to the man you loved. Your entire world crumbled, it felt as if your soul had been dragged out of your body with him. This couldn’t be happening. But the sight before you didn’t lie. And no matter how much you cried, wailed, sobbed or screamed, deep down you knew, Gyro never returned. 

And the last memory you had of him, was a letter that painfully reminded you of a dream that never became a reality.

[boydgearloose]

DuckTales Season 3 Theory: Gyro Gearloose’s Past

After the season 2 finale, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things. I honestly have a million theories to post right now but I’m going to start off with one that’s been on my mind for quite some time. It’s about Gyro (big surprise, huh?) and his role in season 3.

It’s going to be hard to collect all of my evidence because there is A LOT but here’s the basis: Gyro was raised by FOWL and spent a long portion of his life with them. Later, he ran away and was hired by Scrooge McDuck.

First of all, I’m going to state the obvious: Gyro’s overall personality and role in the show. We don’t know a lot about Gyro but one of the most notable things about him is how different he is from his other counterparts. He’s a lot more irritable and grumpy than past versions of the character and does a lot of sketchy things despite being a good guy, such as creating a clone army and whatever “Gyrobotapocolypse” is. He also has a problem with his inventions turning evil that has been an ongoing thing and is one of the most prominent aspects of his character.

This could be because Gyro was raised by villains at a very young age and later defected but is still unlearning things from his upbringing. His tech turns evil because he learned how to invent to do so for evil but now he’s trying to change that and put his talent toward something more positive. This is also why we see him using cards to help him socialize and why he has sudden outbursts in which he says something “evil” (like the “I’LL SHOW THEM, I’LL SHOW THEM ALL” bit in The Great Dime Chase). 

There’s a lot of other evidence to back this up as well. One I remember right off the bat is a part in The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee. When Gyro hears Gandra talking to someone about having plans for Gizmoduck, he says “You imbeciles, it’s a trap! They’re trapping you!” Keep in mind that he couldn’t hear Mark Beaks on the other end so he likely had no idea who she was talking to yet said “they’re” instead of “she.” 

I think he recognized that Gandra was a FOWL agent. Now, I doubt they would have met during his time at FOWL, perhaps maybe in passing but not enough for him to recognize her upon first sight. However, I definitely think Gyro knows exactly who she worked for. Maybe he isn’t saying it because he doesn’t want people to know how he knows? Or it might just not have been brought up again because he figured Fenton found out.

Everything else about this theory comes from asks Frank has answered or news about season 3 that we already know. For example, we know that there will be an episode where Gizmoduck travels to Japan and somehow ends up learning about Gyro’s origins. My theory for that episode is that it will be where this is revealed. Fenton travels to Japan to find out about some technology FOWL is using and finds out that it’s something Gyro made during his time there. I believe the “significant period” Gyro spent abroad in Japan was his time with FOWL at one of their bases, for it sounds like it was a large portion of his life judging by how Frank answered the ask.

There’s also the ask Frank answered last year where someone asked if Gyro is afraid of anything to which he replied “YES. BIG SPOILERS.” I believe Gyro is scared of being perceived as evil or somehow becoming evil again due to growing up as a villain. He’s trying very hard to change and genuinely wants to. The thought that anyone might still group him with FOWL or call him a villain is very upsetting and he’s scared that he will never be seen as anything else no matter how hard he tries to better himself.

Frank also has stated on many occasions that Gyro relates to his inventions because like them, he isn’t evil but is “wildly misunderstood.” This makes me feel like he does so because he was also “evil” at a point in his life and knows you can change and grow from that. Frank also said we would only learn a little bit about Gyro’s family, which makes me think that they weren’t a very big part of his life. I believe something happened to them and he ended up with FOWL. Maybe FOWL even did something to them? Who knows!

The only thing that could debunk this is the fact that Gyro doesn’t seem to know the board of investors but I don’t think it entirely does. If he was never a higher-up, maybe he didn’t meet them. Honestly, this could explain why the board really does not like Gyro. Maybe they recognize him from FOWL and are trying to shoot down his inventions so he’ll get the idea in his head that nobody else will ever appreciate him and go back? Frank did explicitly say once that Scrooge was the only person who would ever dream of hiring Gyro. There are so many ways this could play out.

I’m sure I’ll think of more evidence along the road but I was too excited not to share this theory because I’ve been obsessed with it ever since I watched the finale. I’ll probably make a lot of other theories in-between now and the start of season 3 because I have a lot to say.

[b0sscrew]

Pokemon au!

Another Ducktales AU! Shocker!

Welcome to the inevitable crossover! There are three versions of this (trainers, human trainers, and reverse gejinka) but we'll just focus on the human trainers first because I'm not comfortable with showing my Ducktales drawings yet! This is just for fun and not definitive. I'm going to be doing this like a real adventure! We'll be following the triplets as they travel the region of... Americaw... Sure, we'll go with that for now.

I want this to be a story in many parts. I also want all their adventures from the cannon to be here as well, except it's just the kids facing them most times. Like let's say all the battles are monsters and baddies they've actually fought in cannon. That would be fun!

Oh, let's bring characters into the mix. Let's say that Webby is the boys' rival and best friend. Violet is also their rival but on a slightly lesser scale(mostly to Huey). Boyd also becomes a rival of sort later on(mostly for Louie). So that only leaves Dewey, and to be honest, I'm not sure. I think Webby would be his biggest rival but he doesn't have a secondary rival. I might just make my own rival for him too be honest, but I wish I knew who to put that's around his age. (Also, I realize Boyd is Huey's best friend but Violet is literally his rival in an episode.) I already have an idea for Lena so I can't add her to the rival crew anyways.

Let's talk about the Duck family.

So I decided it would make the most sense if Della and Donald shared custody of the boys. Donald is still Uncle Donald, don't worry. But since Della is always busy with the league they decided it would be easier to just have them both raise the boys. Donald is basically a stay at home dad while Della is constantly working as one of the core members of the elite four. Della is a flying type expert and Scrooge's favorite relative.

Feathery is an amazing boy! He's constantly working with the elite four as the Regions main professor. He's so excited about all pokemon, but his favorite are water types, because they make him giggle like a little kid. He's Huey's favorite uncle and the only adult he can truly relate to. Feathery is still the biggest sweetheart but now everyone takes him seriously and hang on his every word, even if he doesn't realize it.

Gladstone is one of the sole reasons the champion is still the champion. Because of his luck no one has gotten past him and his grass types. If he didn't have his luck people wouldn't have this issue, but he's cursed with it so he literally can't lose. Of course every Pokemon he has ever caught has been a shiny because they seem to gravitate towards him. The only time he can't find one is when he wants to give one to his family. I guess that's just his luck.

Scrooge McDuck, the richest duck in the world. Despite being part of the elite four, he doesn't really have to do anything. Since he's challenged after Gladstone his battles are few and far between. So he began running his company's full time. Although he does have to leave his work to protect the region at least once every two week. He is the most loved of the elite four and also the most hated, with all his enemies. Good thing he's the best of the league.

Region time!

So, Americaw is based off the world of Ducktales and all the places they've been to by the time of the season three hiatus. I also decided you can find any pokemon in this region (even if characters share pokemon sO MaNY TIMES!), and some come earlier than we're used to. Most of the region is mostly forests with ruins but later on is more of the places we know and love, victory road and the league is even one of my favorite places in the entire series.

Gym leaders, baby.

Gym leaders are characters that are associated with the McDuck clan, mostly working for them in some way. I also tried to put a twist on everything and some of the gyms are ones you wouldn't expect for that character. Let's go over them real quick, shall we?

Owlson, the Normal type gym leader. I thought she was perfect for this because she does technically work for Scrooge now. There's nothing too special about her except that she really wants things to go right and she doesn't have room for silly things. I thought she would be fun as a first gym so the kids could get a taste of the adventure ahead of them. She uses a Hoothoot (to harken to her being an owl) named Natasha, and she has a Porygon (to harken to her being a buisness woman) named Charity.

Ludwig Von Drake, the Poison gym leader! As goofy as the man is he is very competitive. He works with Gyro and Fenton on many projects but has his own lab away from them. I think he works the best for poison because than he could be more of a chemist than the other two scientists. He's also the gym leader we see the least of. He's always in a rush to finish his project just to get on the next one thats probably even more dangerous. He uses a Grimmer (chemicals) named Paul, and a Toxel (science in general) named Corey. He also has a Rotom, named Walker, that just helps around the lab.

Fenton, the Steel gym leader. Since fenton is a superhero I thought he could take his typing from Gizmoduck. He's the main one out of the three scientists that makes weapons and items for the police force. The military forces also thank him very frequently. But since he has so many idea's there's no way for him to do them all. He usually overworks himself because of this and it's obvious to anyone who so much as looks at him. Even so he is the most optimistic of the gym leaders and goes nowhere without a smile. He uses a Pawniard (Gizmoduck) named Hero, an Aron (Robots) named named Titanium, and a Scizor (Gizmoduck strength) named Bromine.

Gyro, the electric gym leader. I thought Gyro fit best with electric because of presumably obvious reasons. Gyro is the wildcard of the three scientists and will do anything for science. He can't count how many times he's almost accidentally killed himself with an experiment. He might seem like he's the only one that slows down out of the three scientists, but you're dead wrong. He probably works the hardest and has the most unhealthy habits out of all of them. He's the best scientist in the region and refuses to give the spot up for anything. He's currently trying to find a way to turn his blood into coffee. He's as brutally honest as ever, and still full of himself, but will admit defeat. He uses a Magneton (robots) named Maggie, a Rotom (Lil' Bulb) named Tom, and a Vicavolt (robots) named Vic.

Duckworth, the ghost gym leader. He might be a ghost but that just makes him better at his job. He's extremely neat and gets annoyed if a picture is tilted. He doesn't hesitate to greet challengers with a smile and even give them tips during battle. When he looses he still acts like a gentleman. He loves his work and refuses to leave life without "good reason". He uses a Gengar (his demon form) named Káge, a Banette (being able to poses things) named Mary, a Polteageist (because he's fancy) named Green, and a Mismagius (just because he's a ghost) named Lady.

Lena, the psychic gym leader. I told you she had a job. But I also know this typing might not seem like it fits. But trust me, it does. Her magic is what I imagine when a pokemon is Psychic type, so I thought it was perfect. She's rough around the edges when you first meet her but she grows on you once you get to know her. She's loyal to her friend's and already knows the kids once they get to her gym. I believe she is the only one that doesn't work for Scrooge in the cannon. She's basically the same she was in the show. She uses a Hypno (dreams) named Dreamcatcher, a Hatterene (being trapped by magica) named Princess, an Espeon (her necklace) named Garnet, and a Lunatone (the eclipse) named Lunar.

Launchpad, the dragon gym leader. Plot twist! Let me explain before you start yelling at me. I wanted Della to be the flying type specialist, so I had to do something else for Launchpad. It took me forever to figure out what to give him, I even considered the option of repeating flying, before I finally remembered dragon. It hit me that it was perfect! The dragon type embodies everything he loves. Flying? Boom, dragons fly! Superheros? There's a dragon that looks like it was made for a superhero. Airplanes? There's plenty of those. Acting like a child? How about one that looks like a child's imaginary friend! The list goes on! The dragon type was perfect because it's so loose. Anyways, back on track. He uses an Altaria (clouds) named Fluff, a Salamance (superheros) named Comic, a Noivern (DW) named DW, a Flapple (childish) named Flapper, a Drakloak (Sunchaser/Cloudslayer) named Sunchaser, and a Duraludon (vehicals) named Crash.

Ms. Beakly, the dark gym leader. She's a freaking spy, of course she's dark type. She's the hardest gym to beat, even for final gyms. She's tactical and knows (almost) every trick in the book. She'll point out what you're doing wrong and still beat you if you do everything right. She doesn't go easy on anyone so you better be prepared. Despite all of this she is one of the kindest people you will ever meet. When you loose to her she has a plate of cookies for you to take with you when you leave, and if you beat her she gives you an item that'll help you the most with the league, plus cookies for your travels. She loves Webby so much, enough to teach her almost all of her tricks. She's a good woman. She uses a Tyranitar (strength) named Tyrone, a Pangoro (capabilities) named Gordy, a Grimmsnarl (I just thought it fit) named Grimm, a Malamar (that expression) named Mal, and a Honchkrow (spy) named Krow.

I love this idea and can't wait to expand apon it. I alread have so many ideas that it's hard to not spoil any plans I have. I just hope I don't overdue it. I want it to kinda be like a little more serious version of the pokemon anime. Not too serious, but I want it to be like what you'd find in ducktales (just maybe a tiny bit less kid friendly).

Well I hope you enjoy my idea and have fun with it. Well anyways, have a great day!

Also, here's a picture of the HDLW designs.

[archosaur-automaton]

Astro-Second Helpings, Episode 1: The Magnificent Six

As we promised so long ago, we will be reviewing Transformers as we acquire them and build our unstoppable army of Plastic Friends. Hence, I am pleased to announce the inaugural post for Astro-Second Helpings, the archosaur-automaton blog segment dedicated to reviewing Transformers toys as we buy them!  For Chanukkah 5780, or as it’s known elsewhere “December 22-30, 2019″ we’ll be reviewing our first ever Transformers acquisition: Six-Gun! (Technically Transmetal Optimal Optimus was our first acquisition as a young babby but that is a story for a different time). 

We acquired Six-Gun while doing errands at the local Target a few weeks ago and felt an irresistible urge to Buy Plastic, and a stroll through the toy aisle left our mouth watering. Overwhelmed with options, we chose the best-looking boy they had: this red-white-and-black little chap who needs a permit for *himself* before he’s allowed in the gun show! As our Transformers neophyte brain understands it, Six-Gun’s first (and only) cartoon appearance was in the G1 cartoon episode “Thief in the Night” and cannot be said to be a major character. Regardless of the canon involved, we’ve got cannons involved to review. We’ll be using a five-star rating system in six different categories, with an overall rating at the end. The categories are:  - Coloration - Overall Design - Quality of Manufacture - Loadout - Transformations - Transformability (how easy it is to transform) Our first stop is Coloration. Here’s a photo of Sixgun sitting on our desk. 

One of the things that most appealed to us just off the shelf was his color. That tasteful contrast of white and red,  with black accents: there’s something positively [chefkiss] about it all. However, as this Six-Gun is from the “Siege” subline, he has “cosmetic battle damage”, seen on his feet here. 

Since this battle damage is really only on his feet, it doesn’t really make sense to me to have it at all, so we definitely have to dock points for that. Coloration: 4.5/5 stars. Excellent overall but the ‘battle damage’ just doesn’t work.  Next up is Overall Body Design. As we can see here, Six-Gun’s head doesn’t have humanoid eyes or mouth.

As a Robo-Lover, this is a BIG plus. A human-looking face can be nice but sometimes you just want a head that screams “yup, that’s a Robot.” His shoulders are nice and big and sharp, a little like absurd WoW pauldrons, which is also a plus. His chest is beefy and has a built-in missile launcher and looks generally solid.  In the legs department, his calves are gorgeous but the overly skinny thighs leading to his bony hips are a little bit of a turn-off. It’s a bit of a Popeye the Sailor look, which only works if you’re actually Popeye.  There’s not much to complain about but I think there were ways in which they could have made him ‘pop’.  Overall Body Design: 4/5 Stars Quality of Manufacture is a little tricky on this boy. As I understand it, he is a “parts-former”, which means that he transforms via the detachment and reattachment of his various parts. This often, apparently, leads to things being too tight in some areas, too loose in others, in ways that a non-partsformer toy might not.  His legs come off pretty easily, which is sort of expected I guess but meh. Also, his feets are a little squirrely. 

The hinges on these are very loose and the feet in general just feel like an afterthought.  I don’t have much experience to judge, but for a partsformer I think he’s more or less okay.  Quality of Manufacture: 3.5 / 5 Now, we get into the good stuff. WEAPONS. And oh boy, this guy is literally ENTIRELY weapons. Like, did you not get the memo from the name??  Now, Six-Gun isn’t just an Autobot in and of himself: his constituent parts can be disassembled as part of the C.O.M.B.A.T system to provide armaments for other Transformers! The weapons he is composed of include: Two “MTX-M2 Anti-Gravity Cannons” (his legs)

One “MTX-S2A Missile Launcher” (his lower torso/hip section)

One “MTX-50 Dual-Flank Boost Launcher (the upper part of his torso)

Two “MTX-LR Ion Pulse Blasters” (his arms + black guns)

Two “W-5 Gyro Blasters” (the little red guns)

Here’s a shot of the tech spec / booklet explaining these parts and their apparent strength, accuracy, and range. 

Clearly, the MTX-S2A has the best of all three categories, so why would he ever use anything else? Well, as a loved one once said: “These are the two great lessons of the Transformers fandom: tech specs are bullshit, and Hasbro makes mistakes.” At any rate, this is an impressive loadout of weapons, not just for Six-Gun in his base form but for use in other toys. I especially like the Anti-Gravity Cannons; if you didn’t know any better, you’d never suspect they were someone’s legs! Loadout: 5/5 Stars (or alternately, six out of six guns) Next section is Transformability. This is about how easy it is to take the boy out of the package and turn him into his vehicle mode(s).  As a Partsformer, Sixgun is remarkably easy to transform. You just pop off his arms, flip down his red rocket launcher tubes, flip up the missile launchers on “dual pack boost launcher”, cover his face with his cockpit, pop the little white vehicle part into the other hole on the lower torso section, put the arms onto the sides, finagle his legs, and voila. A boy. You’ll see what that looks like in the next section. For now, I can safely say that I could transform this fellow in my sleep.  Transformability: 5/5  So now we get to Transformations. In his original incarnation, Six-Gun did not have an alt-mode, but for Siege he got one. And here it is.

As you can see, his arms have become some sort of twin hover/propulsion blades and his legs seem to be some sort of thruster jets. Slung underneath are the missile launchers and his Gyro Blasters are primed and at the ready. So he’s some sort of VTOL, right? WRONG. According to official Hasbro materials, The 5.5-inch Deluxe WFC-S22 Class AUTOBOT SIX-GUN WEAPONIZER figure stands at 5.5 inches in robot mode and converts into a CYBERTRONIAN tank. A tank. A tank. A TANK??? This futurespace hovering gunship looking thing is supposed to be a TANK??? Hwaet.  Meshugos aside, while there’s clearly something interesting happening here there isn’t enough for it to feel compelling. I like the cockpit and the ‘wings’ of the vehicle mode, along wit the missile launchers in the position they are, but the legs and the blocky underside just make it a sort of ‘meh’ design. I’m not sure how it could have been made better, given that he’s supposed to turn into guns for other boys, but...it just feels like an after-thought.  Transformations: 3/5  Wow, our first Astro-Second Helpings article! Or since it’s the inaugural article, would that make it the Astro-First Helpings? And then the next one would be the first Astro-Second Helpings article? You know, you probably could kill Blaine the Mono with a dumb puzzle like this.  To wrap up, Transformers Siege: War for Cybertron’s Six-Gun is a pretty looking boy who turns into a lot of shooty things for other Plastic Friends to use. He’s decently built, a little prone to things being a bit loose but overall okay. His vehicle mode, however, is lackluster both in execution and failing to resemble much of anything. Nonetheless, we were enormously happy to have him and he’ll always have a special place in our heart as the first Transformer we bought with our own money. (One day, we’ll get our actual first Transformer, Transmetal Optimal Optimus back, and avenge the five year old who had it stolen/broken by a malevolent stepsibling. One day). Mathematically, our overall rating for Six-Gun should be closer to 3.5/5 than 4, but we’re going to bump him up for sentimental reasons and because in his base form he does look pretty good.  Overall Rating: 4/5

[shineonyoucrazyyandere]

(If it hasn't already been asked) How about a scenario with Yandere!Johnny and his S/O using/based on some lyrics from Tusk?

Hopefully you don’t mind it a bit modern au-ish thing for it, cause you know phones. I’m gonna go with some kind of roommate thing.

Also with this piece, I lost some of it from my page refreshing…so to save some of my sanity I just cut it off where I had it, I really just didn’t want to up and delete this. I worked on it for a few hours straight. 

  Johnny’s index finger gently rubs circles on the table he was sitting at. All while watching you scrub some dishes out you had provided for a person you had over for lunch. He could tell you had a good time with them from the small smile that still graced your lips. It was subtle but he learned quickly it was something you didn’t realize you did. Which made you even cuter in his eyes.

  The blond wondered if the person who you invited over bothered to notice that. Maybe, or maybe not…but it made such a difference to him.

 “Y/n?” He finally managed to mumble out.

“Yes?” You asked not looking away from the dishes you were working on washing the suds off of.

“How was it?”

Your eyes looked over to him for a moment before returning them to the sink “Oh, hanging out with them? It was great” You answered. ““They were really funny…even if some of the jokes were a little corny”

Shaking your head “but seriously they kept the conversation going really well, I just hope I didn’t bore them half to death”

You went onto explain about the few things this person and you had in common. Though every word was a disinterested muddle of words, he didn’t really care. All this caused was jealousy burning in his chest. The way you described their eyes, and how they’d react to whatever you said, it made him upset. The way you were talking about them, it seemed like it would lead to another date.

 He had to stand up and calm himself down, he darted over to you and came behind your back. The blond’s head coming down onto your neck. He felt you jump at his sudden presence behind you.

“Whoa, a little close there Johnny” You chuckled awkwardly.

“Sorry, I just wanted to see how much more you had to go” He responded dully “So I can help you if you need it”

“Well I guess you can help rinse and dry what I have left” you shrug while gesturing him to stand next to you.

He wasn’t sure how much he could take of him, even if it was just you talking about them.

Why don’t you ask him if he’s going to stay?

  The blond watched you leave out the door for a few hours the following few days. It was usually a little after when you got back home. Though there was one evening you didn’t get back until midnight.

“Where were you?” He asked “You kind of came home late”

You yawn tiredly while throwing your purse aside on the coffee table in the living room. “Oh I was watching a movie with f/n, I fell asleep halfway through..and I lost track of time” You chuckled sleepily.

A honk outside made you jump slightly as you comment you probably forgot something in their car. The entire time Johnny watched coldly keeping his blue eyes on the person he could see in the driver’s seat. The longer you took the more he wanted to come bring you back in himself.

 He decided against it for now, and watched in disgruntled silence as he heard you ask them something. However they ended up declining with their hand visibly indicating it. Eventually you gave a wave to them before finally walking back into the front door.

  “You know you haven’t been at home much” Johnny commented softly while shutting the door behind you both.

 “Don’t you have Gyro to hang around with?” You asked “You’re pretty good friends with him”

“I do but it’s not the same as being around you” The blond retorted

You stared at him a bit wide eyed for a moment trying to process the meaning of what he meant by that. A tired sigh escaped your lips as you excused it as some sleep deprivation. In reality though you just didn’t want to deal with this tonight.

 Walking up to him you simply cupped the Joestar’s cheek gently while firmly staring at him. “Goodnight, Johnny”

He felt exhilaration as your soft hands eventually left his cheeks. He yearned for you to do it more often. This was just one of the things he was wanting, but it seemed you didn’t see what he saw in the same way.

Why don’t you ask him if he’s going away?

Eventually Johnny took to following you to wherever your presume friend lived. Every little detail that came out of his or your mouth. Even when he was with Gyro he couldn’t help but think about you and them. He wondered if you seeing them so often would ever pass.

  ““Hey, Johnny….Johnny…are you listening?”

He shook his head to see the green eyed blond in front of him looking with some impatience.

“Sorry…” Johnny sighed

“What’s gotten into you huh? You’ve been staring at nothing for the past fifteen minutes”

The blue eyed male looked at him with slight disinterest. “Maybe we can do this some other time”

 Gyro huffed with annoyance as his short blond haired friend walked off.

  Something was up with that blond but no one could get anything out of him. At least none of his peers could it seemed. But they all could just see it in his eyes there had been an underlying problem.

Johnny slowly became more clingy to you, trying to hold your hand while the both of you sat on the couch. He also started insisting going places he didn’t usually go with you. It seriously squicked you out at how affectionate he was being lately. Especially on the nights you came back late, he’d be waiting right there in the living room for you.

   There were times you tried to sneak in another way to try to avoid him but he’d still catch you.

Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?

“You don’t need to sneak in our own home” He mumbled while holding you tightly.

 “I just didn’t want to wake you up just in case you were trying to sleep” you respond with uncertainty.

His arms continue to snake across your waist, further freaking you out than the extremely close proximity you were in with each other.

 “I know that’s not the truth….you’re trying to avoid me” he softly cut in

“I already have to deal with you not being here when I get home…now you do this…” His lips softly drag across your neck to under your chin.

  Heart pumping rapidly you use one of your hands to force back the short haired blond’s face. “J-Johnny cut that out”

   His eyes gaze straight into yours without a single care in the world. Your legs suddenly feel like jelly as you collapse into his chest. With a little bit of enthralled enthusiasm he catches you without fail.

   ““I know you’ve been dating awhile…you and him…” he whispered in your ear

“I never did like it when I saw him hold you so close, I just wanted to tear him away from you so bad”

 After a brief pause of hugging you he continues on  ““But I can take care of it no problem, I know him just about as well as you do y/n”

“W-wait what do you think you’re trying to pull?” You asked hesitantly 

  “I won’t be able to love you with him smothering you so much, you should be softly humming my name…I’d honestly love to hear it, unlike when you do so with theirs”

   Shaking your head violently you insisted he couldn’t just barge in and do whatever he saw fit. 

   ““I kind of figured you wouldn’t understand…” he admitted in response

“I’m still going to do it though….but you can stay here out of the way, and after all is set and done…”

“I can keep you so close…that I’ll never let you go”

[libermachinae]

Spark Light

Sequel to “Logic Circuit”

This fic is also available on AO3!

Summary:  Prowl is as comforting as Earth’s new black hole and Bumblebee has turned avoiding grief into a sound career option. After the end of the world, though, certain allowances can be made.

⭐ 🐝 ⭐ 🐝 ⭐ 🐝 ⭐

Bumblebee was dancing when Prowl found him. Music eked out the speakers of a transport shuttle, biolights blended and churned together, and several hundred mechs celebrated their continued existence in the universe by pushing their worn-out frames to just the point of breaking. It was a final farewell to the Cybertronian empire, a blending of Eukarian, Devisen, Velocitronian, Camian, Cybertronian sound and life in a way that many had suspected would never come to pass. Under constellations that even those whose species had lived under would have to reacquaint themselves with, dented, scratched, mangled, torn, forgotten bodies danced until overshot joints gave out, weakened armor buckled, frayed wires snapped, and in so doing they made their grief physical and gave it life.

It was the wrong place to seek out new friends. Bumblebee, every eager, ever lively, persevered for as long as he could, until a familiar voice pushed his designation into the space between songs and his optics threatened to flicker out entirely.

“Well, buddy,” he said, putting on his characteristic grin, “it’s been a while.”

Prowl had led him away from the party, up a slope and into the woods surrounding the refugee city. The low hum of thousands of voices carried through the trees, and between the gaps it was still possible to see the lines stretching outside of the Cybertronian aid stations, where volunteers had been working for hours to find solutions for every problem brought forth, from missing limbs to missing friends. Bumblebee had been with them for a couple hours before his human supervisor realized that he’d been one of the mechs directly involved in the battle. He was issued a firm command to take the rest of the night to recuperate, even though he pointed out that the war had prepared him for campaigns much longer and more grueling than this one had been.

Walking away while people still needed help had been one of the most frustrating parts of this long, terrible day, but at least from up here he could see the lines and knew they were moving. Even just a few hours out, progress was being made.

“It has,” Prowl said, glancing back to Bumblebee after letting himself observe the proceedings below. “Is your new body handling well?”

“It’s Wheeljack’s work, what do you think?” He proudly tapped his knuckles against the Autobrand on his chassis. “Getting back into the fight, it was like no time had passed at all. For I could tell, I’d just onlined from a really long recharge cycle.”

“But that wasn’t the case.” Though it wasn’t phrased like a question, the inquiry was there, and both knew Bumblebee was too good at picking up cues to miss it.

“No,” he said, dropping his hand, “I was aware for most of the last few years. Believe me, there were times I would have done anything to drop into defrag for a few hours, but I guess when you’re only kind of alive-ish your processor doesn’t work exactly the same way. I was pretty limited in what I could do.”

An unspoken answer to an unasked question. He’d worked with Prowl for long enough to be sensitive to the subtleties of such a trade of information, though he would always prefer to be forthright.

“How did you find me?” he asked. Even if he didn’t like the game, he knew how to play it, and that sometimes a risky move like a diversion was necessary to get ahead.

“Windblade noticed you while doing a sweep of the area,” Prowl said, accepting Bumblebee’s lead. “She was concerned but felt it would be out of line for her to interfere.”

“And she knew you wouldn’t be bothered by that ‘procedural nonsense.’” Bumblebee regretted the words as his vocalizer was synthesizing them. No matter how he smiled or the cute way his helm tilted to one side, there was no way to turn them into the casual quip he’d intended. Time had not yet healed that old wound, and all he’d done was exposed the damaged protomesh under the plating.

It wasn’t like he was seeking treatment for it, either. Left untended for so long, the frayed circuits and warped edges had become as familiar to him as any other part of his psyche, the way the war had shaped him to the point that he could not remove its influence and still remain Bumblebee of Iacon. He was his failures, and the last thing he wanted was for those who had pointed them out to think he resented them for doing so. Criticism meant people were paying attention. It was a reminder that his leadership had not existed in a vacuum, that there were reasons more than just personal shame to keep trying to be better. His one relief was in knowing that he’d revealed this vulnerability to the mech he knew wouldn’t try to take any of it back. He’d known Prowl to feel regret on only a handful of occasions, and never once bore witness to him expressing it openly.

“We each found the manner in which events played out on Cybertron to be disagreeable, for our own reasons,” Prowl said now, the burn of his optic as steady as his voice. “It might be inappropriate after all that we have done, and all that we allowed to happen, but I do still consider you my best friend. I wanted to check on you myself.”

The declaration surprised Bumblebee. Not being called Prowl’s best friend, which he’d known for some time and been unable to reciprocate for reasons they were both familiar with, but hearing that the sentiment remained even with the intervening years and numerous mistakes stretching out the space between them.

“And what’s the prognosis?” he asked, doing them both the favor of putting off that conversation for another day.

Prowl stared at Bumblebee; his lip twitched.

“Oh, come on, really?” Bumblebee said, waving a hand. “I’m fine—well, I will be. If almost surviving the war taught me anything, it’s that there’s always a way to bounce back. And anyway, right now, I can’t really say that I’m feeling any worse than everybody else. There are some mechs down there who lost way more than I did.”

He stopped himself before he could go too far down that road, realizing that he was starting to quantify lives in the same way that had gotten Prowl is so much trouble towards the end. Their dynamic only worked so long as he was the subjective one, the one who processed individuals instead of numbers, who couldn’t say how many Autobots were stationed at a given base but could tell you half the staff’s favorite energon supplements.

“Here,” he said, brushing away the carpet of needles and pinecones before settling himself onto the dirt. “We worked so hard to save these stars, why not take some time to enjoy them?” Whatever grit got into their joints and seams now would be a negligible addition to the filth caked to their plating. Dust and mud had combined with congealed energon to leave ugly streaks across most Cybertronians’ frames, paint dulled or rubbed off entirely in patterns that probably could have retold the story of the battle if observed carefully enough. Everyone was walking around with a narrative of what they’d been doing when the world nearly ended, and although Bumblebee would be glad to rinse himself of it once the washrack stations were operational, the sense of solidarity provided him with another reminder of why they’d put their bodies through such torment in the first place.

Prowl sat, leaving space enough between them that a third mech could have joined them comfortably. Gaze angled up,  to the galaxy that somehow felt just as far away now as his home world, Bumblebee allowed himself to sink back into the feeling he had enveloped himself in at the party: spark spinning in its chamber, fuel pump beating against his lines, gyros calibrating, optics sensing, vents whispering. His body was alive, working, its systems operating in tandem to keep each other functioning. For the first time in years, he could not only see the world, but touch it, grasp it, and the burden of that responsibility was one he accepted with gratitude.

Responsibility under the scrutiny of others was much easier to manage than one taken on with no supervision. Managing Starscream had been a challenge not just for the logistical work involved, but because Bumblebee had never had anyone to assure him that it was the right thing to do, especially given his own track record in leadership. At the same time, there were elements of his self-appointed position that his processor longed to dwell on a little longer, memory files initiating playback without his consent and being halted just as quickly.

Late nights spent pouring over datapads, exhaustive lists of information on—stop.

Unshared cubes of celebratory engex after Starscream’s—stop.

Arguments with Starscream of completely forgettable—stop.

Starscream flying low over the rooftops of New—stop.

Starscream sentencing a mech to—stop.

Starscream standing at the podi—stop.

Starsc—stop.

Stop.

Stop.

Queue for deletion.

Bumblebee’s sparked jumped and he immediately unqueued the file, holding it at the forefront of his processor to watch the playback: Starscream spinning on a heelstrut and pushing off his balcony with his thrusters, transforming midair and blasting off across the city. It was Starscream’s usual routine and Bumblebee likely had identical copies for every morning he’d spent in that self-indulgence of a penthouse, but he played it through several more times before returning it to his archives, processor finally sated.

Memories were all that remained of Starscream now, and that made them precious: impossible, irresponsible to discard.

His spark was spinning too fast. Silence wasn’t working; he needed to think about anything else.

“Are you okay?” he ventured.

Physical evidence of the battle was ubiquitous to the point that Bumblebee had stopped noticing its presence, but he hardly had to search for it once he started paying attention again. Like everyone else, Prowl’s finish was dusty and dull, paint rubbed off and armor dented in varying patterns across his frame. He was also littered in surface-level scratches, each of them glinting with jagged bits of shrapnel, and his shoulder betrayed the efficiency of some Maximal’s claws. It was all surface-level damage, which meant he wouldn’t be seen until the next round of medical exams took place, but it was still an interruption of the body and its normal functioning. The shadow occupying one side of his face was as loud and present as it would remain unmentioned, too like the new spaces between the stars.

And yet, his remaining optic burned like all the stars still clinging to life, refusing to be extinguished by this or any other darkness.

“I realized some things, about myself and my work, that I’d never had an opportunity to give voice to before today,” Prowl said. He let his singular gaze drift back to the masses of Cybertronians making their way through what could, for now, be considered their home. “For the first time since our return to Cybertron, maybe even since the start of the war, I feel like what I need to do and what everyone else needs from me actually align.” His lips quirked. It wasn’t a smile, but Bumblebee was under the impression that it was all Prowl was capable of now. “How I feel about such a revelation doesn’t matter; I’m going to do what’s necessary regardless. But I have to say, it’s pleasant.”

“It’s the first time in your life the choice doesn’t have to be a hard one,” Bumblebee said, “that’s probably why it feels good. It’s a relief.”

Prowl had his specialties, each of debatable merit and value, but this was Bumblebee’s: listening, filling in the gaps, forming the words that the speakers themselves couldn’t say but needed to be heard. People talked to Bumblebee because they knew he listened, and not in the way Prowl did, cataloguing information and storing it for later use, usually to the detriment of the subject. Bumblebee listened to understand. Though he struggled at times with sympathy, he still often found himself caring about those who opened up to him, causing him to wonder at times the motivations for even some of the most despicable acts performed in the war, regardless of faction origins. He’d stagnated some during his disastrous attempts at leadership, both for the Autobots and Cybertron as a whole, but the talent had remained, and in the years since he’d had nothing but time to practice and hone it.

Conveniently, it also made it easy for him to set aside his own, far less optimistic self-realizations.

“I’m happy for you,” he said, and though it was sincere, it was also inadequate. On all the planets Cybertron’s war had brought him to, not one had a word that would be able to encompass everything he was feeling in that moment, on that day.

“Thank you, Bumblebee.”

They grew silent and settled, trading glances between the cold stars above their heads and the living ones milling around the valley’s basin. It struck Bumblebee that his earlier search for company had been misguided in the same way his attempts at leading had been. He had a reputation for getting along with everyone, but experience by now had taught him that it only applied in one-on-one scenarios. On the dancefloor, surrounded by mechs eager to grab a drink and dance with the first bot to reach out to them, the energy had been right, but there’d been nowhere for it to go. Passed from dancer to dancer, he hadn’t worried about anyone looking too closely at him, accidentally peeling away the palatable upper layers and revealing that which he himself wasn’t ready to look at too closely. He was hurting, that much was obvious, but so was everyone else, and he’d thought that if he’d reached out to enough hurting mechs then maybe it would meet that need he had to connect and understand the internal structure of others.

He didn’t know how the night would have ended if Prowl hadn’t found him. Most likely, it wouldn’t have; he would have stayed on until the last dancers wandered off with the rising of the sun, and then returned to the aid stations to demand they let him help. As things stood now, he doubted he was going to be able to recharge with all the thoughts spinning through his processor, but better to spend these unintended waking hours with someone who he knew, to whom this day and its repercussions would mean the same as they did to Bumblebee.

“Without knowing what you do now,” Prowl said, “would you have tried to stop Optimus from annexing the Earth?”

The question was unexpected, the curiosity backing it a facet of Prowl that Bumblebee was not familiar with. He turned to look at his companion but received no responding glance.

“You mean, if we hadn’t known it would be our last salvation?”

“Yes. Obviously, it turned out to be in the benefit of our species in the end, but on principle, would you have stood against Optimus Prime?”

Bumblebee leaned back, letting his optics slide over the dance of the cosmos.

“It’s not like I could never disagree with Optimus, we argued plenty of times,” he said. “Pretty much every opportunity he took to leave the Autobots, I pointed out what a terrible idea it was, and I was right!”

“So, you’re saying the annexation was a similarly poor maneuver.”

Bumblebee wilted. He’d started to think that this conversation might avoid turning into an interrogation.

“No,” he said.

“It was a good decision?”

Bumblebee ran a hand down his faceplate, ignoring the bits of dirt that came with it.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t even here for most of it. Can you—Primus, can you not ask me that question?”

“What should I ask you, then?”

“What?”

Prowl finally twisted to look at him, not just his face, but his whole chassis turning to face Bumblebee, who was inadvertently reminded of how much smaller he was than most of the other Autobots.

“You clearly have something on your mind, Bumblebee,” he said. “What’s the question you want me to be asking?”

It took Bumblebee’s processor a moment to understand what was happening. Like he had done for so many other mechs, Prowl was now trying to reach across that void, to help light that space where the self grew thin and words couldn’t reach, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own and asking for help to finish. It was a ridiculous request, and unselfish in a way that Prowl alone could achieve.

“What I told you earlier,” he said, words coming in such a rush they nearly scrambled, “ask me why.” He had no doubt Prowl would know what he was talking about. It was the only thing he’d managed to say that night of any substance, and Prowl’s constantly running battle computer would have picked it out and categorized it as such.

Prowl’s optic flashed.

“Why were you limited?” he asked. “Why didn’t you stop Starscream?”

There it was. The question that had been following Bumblebee for years, the one he could never close despite his spark’s aching need for resolution. His fans clicked on as his struggling processor started to heat his core, digging and calculating for the answer that had always eluded him.

“He’s tricky,” Bumblebee said, tracking the distances between stars with his optics, “and not just in the way he lies constantly, although that doesn’t make talking to him any easier, for sure. It’s more like his processor is constantly at war with itself. He’s scared of everything, but also entirely overconfident in his ability to defend himself. He doesn’t believe in anything, but still sees himself as destined for some greater purpose. Every time you think you’ve started to figure him out, there’s a contradiction, or he just sabotages himself to keep from being too predictable, and you can never be sure which way it’s going to go.” He meant it literally. Prowl’s battle plans had frequently been sidetracked by Starscream doing something unexpected, though there was no need to open those old wounds by pointing it out explicitly. “His processor works in layers, and they go so deep I don’t think even he knows what the core really looks like.”

It felt good to say it all out loud, to know that at least one other person might now understand the psychological labyrinth he’d been working through over the past few years, even if it brought Bumblebee no closer to understanding how Starscream functioned.

Had functioned. He realized belatedly that he’d said his whole piece as though Starscream were somewhere down in the valley, barking orders at the rest of the refugees.

“It’s a decent analysis, but it doesn’t answer the question,” Prowl said. “Anyone could tell you that Starscream is a difficult mech to work with. Why is it that your approach failed to yield results?”

Bumblebee frowned.

“I already said what I wanted to.”

“And I’m sure that was very individually gratifying for you, Bee, but you told me the question to ask and now I expect you to answer it.” Prowl’s expression was stern, and Bumblebee realized he was no longer talking to his old friend Prowl, whom he had accompanied on his first trip to a nightclub and had gotten flustered when a certain rookie grounder so much as entered the room. This was Commander Prowl, leader of the soldiers posted on Ark-19, greatest tactician of the Autobot army, and ruthless pragmatist.

He had half a mind to leave right then. He always knew it was possible for conversations with Prowl to take a turn like this, and normally he would find some way to laugh it off and change the subject, but he’d done that so many times that day he knew his defensive optimism was already spent. His tactile sensors were prickling from the extra energy being processed to match his frustration, and he could feel a familiar scowl starting to settle on his faceplate, one he’d hoped would go away once the main threat had been disposed of. It was only by the weight of loss that he stayed down, the knowledge that his spark wasn’t ready to handle another goodbye, especially one done out of anger. The crease remained between his optic ridges, but he did not move away from his spot on the ground.

“I wasn’t good enough,” he ground out.

“Even if that were true, I would expect you to be more specific.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say!” he spat. His anger was being fuel by a tangible, uncomfortable heat emanating from his overclocked processor, and he had to vent out a few cycles of hot air before he could trust himself to say more than static. “At first, I figured it was all just a game to him, so I tried to use logic. Find the moves that help him win and give Cybertron a better future, seemed simple. Except, he always found something wrong with it. Either this person didn’t trust him, or that idea had too many contingencies. I could never solve all the problems to make him confident in anything I had to say.

“So, I changed tactics. If he was going to push against concrete solutions, then I could just work him through theoretical frameworks, explain why certain things were wrong and let him make the logical steps to make the right choices. I know it sounds ridiculous, but he wanted to stay in power, and even he realized he would have to be a decent ruler in order to make that happen. It seemed like a good plan, and sometimes it even seemed to work. But then something minor would happen, one of the delegates would spook him or a disaster outside anyone’s control would cause some civil unrest, and he would go straight back to his old habits. I could never figure out what he needed from me.”

“You didn’t know what someone needed to hear? That’s hard to believe.”

“Well, like I said, he was a challenging mech to understand.”

“You made the galaxy’s foremost war criminal switch sides after a few minutes alone together, yet your years spent with Starscream offered no insights at all into his inner workings?”

Prowl was right: Bumblebee was making excuses again. He leaned forward and touched his face, remembering the unfeeling sensation of the battlemask, how it had acted as a buffer between him and Megatron right up until that last critical minute. Being around Starscream had always left him feeling exposed. Even if the other mech didn’t dig in the way Bumblebee had, he always knew how to push back, peeling away the layers of Bumblebee’s arguments and finding the hidden agendas Bumblebee hadn’t even realized he’d been hiding. Though he never felt the need to question his own intentions, the incronguity between method and motivation had given him pause on numerous occasions.

“I tried to be a political advisor, and then some sort of morality coach, and I was always doomed to fail on both accounts because Starscream already had mechs who could function in either capacity. What he needed, and what I failed to provide for him, was a friend.”

It had been no mere accident, either. Trapped in infraspace, kept apart from his friends and forced to watch as they scattered themselves across the galaxy without him, he’d been in just as desperate need for connection as Starscream. Aware of that desperation, though, and the effect Starscream had already proven to have over mechs much less easily swayed than Bumblebee himself, he had recognized the inherent danger in opening himself up to Starscream in any way that mattered. Even if infraspace had been his eternity and he’d never had to face the Autobots again, even more reason not to let himself be shaped into someone he could no longer recognize. So, with political rhetoric and claims for the common good and one-sided efforts to learn how Starscream’s processor operated, he had held intimacy at bay.

And still despite that, he had come to care for the other mech. He knew he was not alone in that: numerous others who’d been swept up in Starscream’s political dealings had ended up with some stake in their leader’s wellbeing, to variable degrees, but he knew there to be more to the connection than the keeping of Cybertron’s population. That had been the start, and remained the basis for some time, but the moment Starscream stepped into his cell, Bumblebee knew he could not leave the fallen titan to his fate. Had Shockwave never returned, he would have stayed for the entirety of the life sentence, acting as companion to the one person in the universe who needed one even more than him.

A part of his processor kept carefully encrypted finally released, and he wondered if Starscream would have opened the Talisman if he’d known there was someone who would miss him.

His vocalizer was working before his processor had decided how to communicate the thought.

“But something must have gotten through to him. I don’t know if it was actually anything I did, but he sacrificed himself to bring down Unicron. He died a hero.”

“Hm.” Prowl was staring at him, analyzing and cataloguing, calculating future outcomes. Bumblebee could almost see the process at work behind his optic, and he wondered if he’d picked the wrong mech to share all this with.

“I’m sure you mean that sincerely,” he said, “but I do feel it my obligation to remind you that this is the same Starscream who proposed to have Metroplex space bridge to Earth while more than half the population was still trapped on Cybertron.”

“I know, Prowl.”

“I’m just saying.”

“I know, I know.” Bumblebee drew his fingers through the dry upper layer of the soil, relishing the feeling after spending too long dwelling on the time in his life when he’d had no body to do it with. “Somehow, despite that, he ended up a true hero. I just wanted one other person to know.”

That felt like the closest he’d come to saying something true all night. Sure, he’d meant everything he’d said to Prowl, and in a certain context and for practical purposes it was true. All of it, though, was part of the system of layers of his and Starscream’s own making, and no matter what degree his honesty took, he always felt that there was something buried deeper, a further truth, like crystals buried in the roots of ore deposits. The desire to not be alone with his knowledge, though, that was pure. Even if Prowl didn’t share his view, took Bumblebee’s faith as a judgement on his character and nothing more: better that than to live alone with his belief for the rest of his life.

A streak of light flashed across the sky, its beauty reabsorbed before it could even be appreciated, and with a wrench of his spark Bumblebee realized that this was his final farewell to Starscream. The other departed would get funerals, boisterous reminiscences shared over pints of engex, teary quiet moments of remembrance, but there was no one with whom he could share this grief, no one who would understand what they’d been through, the intense bond that had been somehow formed from a conjunxing of desperation, loneliness, and a shared hope for Cybertron’s future. In the coming days he would lack the time to give adequate thought to the questions he still had, and as the present stretched gradually away from the past, memories would become unreliable, recollections of certain events contested until all that remained was a winged silhouette and a feeling of ever more unachievable ambition. Starscream’s eulogy had been written in words only ever spoken aloud, his legacy unforgettable and yet perpetually unclaimed.

“Establishing Starscream’s role in our history is going to be an essential if divisive task in the years to come,” Prowl said, once more reeling Bumblebee back in. “You will likely not find companions to agree with you in equal measure to those who oppose your viewpoint, but I would advise against rising to their challenges. Your skills would be better served elsewhere.” He made to stand, brushing off dust as he righted himself. “From what I’ve heard, an old colleague of mine has taken an interest in the new protoforms developing within Trypticon. She’s hoping to assist in their education and development, give them an opportunity to live lives free of the choices we were forced to make. It’s something to consider.”

“What, becoming a teacher?” The suggestion so surprised Bumblebee that he didn’t think to stand as well.

“Yes. You’re one of the few mechs I would trust with such a responsibility, Bumblebee.”

Prowl’s sincerity gave weight to the air, and for one brief moment, it was like the last several years hadn’t happened, and they were once more brothers in arms, fighting the oppression of the Decepticons and defending innocent life wherever it needed them. Bumblebee could never miss the war, but the links he had formed with his fellow Autobots were such that could only be sustained through a cocktail of mutual need for survival and crushing belief that the cause they fought for was the right one. Despite every well-meaning promise between veteran comrades to keep in touch after the fighting was over, there were some connections that could never be revived back to what they were when life and death were commodities in a galaxy-spanning trade.

The spinning of Bumblebee’s spark slowed, its chamber aching.

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

“Good.” Prowl crossed his arms in front of his chassis, his weight shifting in the direction of the tree line. The moment was over; there would not be another.

“I’m going underground in the morning,” he said, voice still steady. “I’ve picked up some fragile cargo that will need to be stored in a more secure location.”

“Oh. Are you coming back?”

“Most likely, once I feel security is up to my specifications.”

“Well, I’ll be here,” Bumblebee assured, easing back again. “And hey, if the Lost Light’s back by then, maybe we can grab Hound and Ratchet and go out for a drink. You know, almost like pulling the old Iacon crew back together.”

“We’ll see if the timing actually works out so well,” Prowl allowed. It wasn’t a flat rejection, though he did turn to leave. “I suspect you’ll be busy soon enough.”

“We’ll see,” Bumblebee echoed. He liked the thought of being busy, of having a role to play in this fledgling society, but he wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be yet. For a couple hours, he’d thought that maybe morale boosting could be his duty to the survivors, but this conversation had him thinking differently. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be known as the passive listener anymore, even if the alternative terrified him, memories of looking down on his Autobots plaguing his processor.

It would be different this time, he told himself. He would make it so. And if he was really serious about making changes from his earlier tactics, he knew one obvious place to start.

“I’m sorry for what happened to you on Cybertron,” he said. The words came naturally, like they’d been sitting in his processor for some time, waiting for him to discover them. “I was so wrapped up in everything else going on that I didn’t notice, but I should have, and I’m really sorry.”

Prowl paused, back to Bumblebee, the whir of normal systems working louder than anything else in the night.

“Prowl?”

“I heard you, Bee. I… I heard you. Have a pleasant night.”

It was simple, a clean cut. Prowl’s form disappeared into the darkness and Bumblebee couldn’t say for sure if he would ever see it again. He suspected he would; though Prowl liked to disappear from time to time, he never trusted the rest of them to be completely left to their own devices and would inevitably slip back into the command structure to keep things operational. Though everything was different now, it was comforting to think that some of their bad habits might stay just the same.

He looked up to the night sky, wondering if it would always feel incomplete, and tried to guess if his emotions were those that one was supposed to feel in such a moment.

“Finally. I was starting to think you might’ve already found my replacement.”

Bumblebee whirled around.

The glow was the first thing he noticed, light bleeding off Starscream’s immaculate frame while illuminating nothing around him, neither the branches his armor rippled around as he moved, nor Bumblebee’s own plating as he turned himself fully, optics wide and flickering rapidly. He was smirking, of course, lit red optics piercing through the night like beacons calling a ship home.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” he chided as he strode forward, grace betraying none of his years spent in military service. “You didn’t really think I was just going to leave you to manage my legacy on your own, did you?”

He was smiling, not smirking, Bumblebee realized, smiling and radiant and gorgeous, and in that moment, he knew he’d been lying to himself every time he said he was afraid of becoming Starscream’s friend. He’d befriended questionable characters before, offered a listening ear to those who had nothing to offer but hateful rhetoric and come away from it stronger in his convictions and his loyalty to the Autobot cause. The wariness that had plagued him in infraspace, that had him turning his newly-built back on Starscream the first moment he could, was forged from the knowledge that his feelings for Starscream had the potential to run much deeper than any of the thousands of friendships he’d formed in his several million years online.

When Starscream came striding through the trees that night, frame glowing like he’d taken the light of Primus with him when he’d slipped out the doors of death, Bumblebee realized, without needing to say it out loud, that to offer his spark to Starscream would mean never getting it back. Starscream could reject him, belittle him, take off into the cosmos and never return to Bumblebee’s side in whatever years they had left, and still Bumblebee would feel the slow-burning jagged wonderful ache, this new desire to be known in a way that had never been of interest to him before. Though he believed (hoped) Starscream was desperate enough for company that he would not betray Bumblebee for this unfortunate truth, the thought of another mech having that much power over him was terrifying, and he was grateful that it seemed they would now have plenty years ahead to let those feelings develop before a time came for critical decisions to be made.

Worries for the future, then. On that day, with the sky twice as dark as it had once been and the shadows of their past lives draped overhead, mechs of all backgrounds were dancing together, celebrating those stars they had managed to save in time with their mourning for those they did not. Bumblebee and Starscream met in the middle, both talking too fast to understand what the other was saying, their shared lights more than enough to illuminate their new world.