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23raccoons · 5 months ago

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let me bleed (you're losing me) Ao3

Fandom: Naruto (Anime & Manga) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Yamanaka Ino Characters: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru, Hatake Kakashi, Yamanaka Ino, Sai (Naruto), Karin (Naruto), Uchiha Madara Additional Tags: Dubious Consent, Blood and Violence, Unhealthy Relationships, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Dark Uchiha Sasuke, Dark Nara Shikamaru, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Rough Sex, Oral Sex, Vaginal Sex, Self-Harm, Akatsuki (Naruto), War, Konoha 11 (Naruto), Everyone is Problematic ok?, Heavy Angst, Domestic Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fourth Shinobi War (Naruto), Memory Loss, PTSD, Manipulation, Bullying, Suicidal Thoughts, Degradation, Dacryphilia

Chapter 11 (chapter list)

Kakashi is not lying when he tells his genin he hates them. They are, by all means, quite literally the worst. He’d much rather be out in the field, surrounded by advancing enemies.

Because what in the actual fuck is he supposed to do with an orphaned jinchuriki who only had instant ramen and milk a week past its expiration date in his house, or the last remaining Uchiha with a death wish of a vendetta for his older brother, who—the last time Kakashi checked—is wildly out of Sasuke’s fighting abilities, and a civilian girl. Who Kakashi first thinks is cannon fodder until he looks over her paperwork and she’s not only her class’s Top Kunoichi, but nearly every teacher’s favorite student, judging by all the little compliments on her personality or skill with course work or how cute she is in the margins.

They are a wetworks dream team just waiting to happen. A theoretical teeny-tiny little psycho psyop squad.

Two emotionally unstable powerhouses and a social, approachable brainiac. No sense of teamwork. They can barely complete d-ranked missions, and Sakura is often left smoothing over rough patches with clients for Naruto’s and Sasuke’s fuck-ups. No appreciation for her efforts or acknowledgment for their mistakes.

Naruto hates Sasuke. Sasuke hates Naruto. Naruto has a crush on Sakura. Sakura has a crush on Sasuke. A pre-teen team love triangle, if you will.

Kakashi would say Sasuke doesn’t even like Sakura, if not for the way he hovers around her, like she has a gravitational pull, keeping Sasuke in a circuit, in orbit around her. He’s downright mean to her, really. Borderline bullying as he snatches supplies or tools from her, snapping snarky comments at her like she’s entirely incapable of doing absolutely anything.

and

she

just

fucking

lets

him

it.

It's almost violent in how concerning it is. How nervous it makes him. On edge. How Sakura thanks him for helping her, like he’s some benevolent god bestowing a blessing on a poor peasant. Not a single complaint out of her about it. She doesn’t complain about anything, actually. Nothing but the utmost politeness out of her.

Not the way Sasuke acts like she’s the most incompetent human to ever exist, but won’t stray more than six meters from her. He complains that she’s the worst fighter he’s ever seen, but blocks any stray shuriken headed her way. Defends her in skirmishes and training instead of letting her participate in combat herself.

Not the way Naruto won’t quit being a little pervert towards the first girl to ever be nice to him. Kakashi can very genuinely not tell if it’s intentional or accidental, a by-product of his upbringing. He finds himself constantly having to mind that Naruto’s not trying to go to the bathroom with Sakura or that Naruto’s not watching while she changes clothes. Reminding him that no, he cannot peek into the women’s side of the bathhouse. No, he cannot crawl into Sakura’s bedroll even if she said it was ok. Purposeful like the many pornographic sexy jutsus he’s created. Or just ignorance, because he said he was cold and Sakura was the one who offered to let him in her sleeping bag to cuddle.

Not the way she cries when Kakashi pulls her to the side to tell her not to let either of the boys try to do that again because now she’s in trouble, and she's bad and Kakashi is disappointed with her. Apologizing for her mistakes, even if she didn’t know any better.

He hates them.

There’s also sort of a sweet spot, so to speak, of how close both boys can creep up into Sakura’s personal space without being so close to each other that they’re fighting about that. Like they’re two negative ends of a magnet, and Sakura’s the positive one they’re trying to hook into. Every day she gets better at redirecting their behaviors, learning how to move between them in a way as to not upset the other, leading to a fight she has to break up.

Kakashi’s a fan of letting them punch and kick and wrestle until one of them has won. Let them wear themselves out a bit at least. Sakura, however, doesn’t share the same ideology, and often Kakashi does have to intervene in the boys' disagreements because Sakura trying to pull them apart herself lands her in a situation to get hurt.

And every thing he teaches the boys, they use against each other. New (proper) kunai skills. Taijutsu moves. Ninja wire tricks. He thinks this is the worst of it, that maybe with the gentle guidance of Sakura the boys will get better, fight less. Work together.

And work together they do. When they are in Wave, he decides it would be a great time to teach them to tree walk. Demonstrating it for them and leaving (supervising from a short distance) them to figure it out on their own. A little team bonding.

Quite possibly the biggest mistake he’s made since his venture into sensei-hood.

Sasuke and Naruto both are terrible, awful at it. Running full speed up the trunk, sending wooden shrapnel everywhere, both will be covered in splinters by tomorrow. He’s so busy watching them, however, he doesn’t notice Sakura placing one foot on the tree, lifting it off, and replacing it several times. Switching her stance to test the other foot. Walking straight up to the lowest branch, plopping herself down with a laugh—the thing that finally catches his attention.

Glancing up at her, feet kicking back and forth as they dangle. Looking so, so pleased with herself. Satisfied that for once, she has done something ninja-related better than Naruto or Sasuke.

This is the moment the boys discover they do in fact get along, if Sakura has done something to offend Naruto’s rather indelicate sensibilities. And together they are so mean to her when she offers to help, to show them how to do it. Sakura’s eyes water as she tried to defend herself, insisting that she wasn’t trying to be insulting but rather a good teammate.

Each word out of her mouth seems to make the situation worse—voices and volumes rise—as the boys try to outdo one another with rapidly growing jabs that are spiraling out of control and now even Naruto’s hurling insults—real ones—at Sakura, who's just standing there.

Letting them.

“Oi,” he tries, but these kids don’t listen. They don’t follow orders. They don’t obey, not like his Anbu team does. “Hey! That’s enough guys.”

Naruto’s a street rat, through and through. One who has had more than plenty of nasty things said to him. So Kakashi is not entirely surprised when he’s not fast enough to stop the ‘bitch of a whore’ that comes flying out of the boy, trying to best Sasuke’s last comment. Kakashi would be surprised if Naruto even knows what that means, parroting the adults who make snide comments as he slinks by.

But Sakura. Little goody-two shoes Sakura knows exactly what those words mean. He can see it cross her face, like a slap, that Naruto of all people would call her something as demeaning as that.

Kakashi is quick enough to stop Saukra before her palm has the chance to make contact with Naruto’s cheek, finally at her breaking point. He is not quick enough to stop the left hook Sasuke gives Naruto for his choice language, like he hadn’t just told Sakura that she was ‘pretty stupid for being so fucking smart.’

“That’s enough!” He has to shout it to get them to listen, still holding onto Sakura’s wrist, wedging himself in the middle of the three to prevent this from escalating further. Creating yet another problem, as now he is an authority figure, one who is not happy and yelling. Causing Sakura, the people-pleaser that she is, to burst into tears. Trying to apologize to Kakashi, like this is all her fault, through her sobs.

If Kakashi didn’t know what to do before, he sure as shit doesn’t know what to do now. Anbu don’t cry, they don’t beg for forgiveness. They don’t beg for anything. So he lets her tug herself from his grip, slipping through his fingers. To run off, not far, but out of sight, so she can have her little emotional outburst in peace.

Like a cherry on top of a melted sundae, oozing everywhere, running and dripping all over the counter, both boys now seem to think it’s Kakashi’s fault Sakura is so upset, and they’re shouting at him now. Like the two of them hadn't been criticizing her like bratty bullies on the playground just moments before.

Kakashi grabs each boy by an ear, tugging them closer together so he can loom menacingly over them. Using his best scary captain voice, “If either of you ever have the nerve to pull a stunt like that again, I’ll yank that headband off your head myself. No more being a ninja for you. Do you understand?”

Both of them mumble a response, so Kakashi gives them a little shake. “What was that?”

“Yes, Kakashi.” They reply in unison, the insubordinate little shits.

Later that evening, Kakashi catches Naruto pulling Sakura off to the side, “I asked Sasuke what those words meant. I’m sorry for saying them to you.”

“It’s ok, Naruto,” she says, giving him a sad little smile and a pat on his shoulder. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

Kakashi pushes down that uncomfortable feeling again, the one he gets when Sasuke’s little remarks to Saukra turn too mean-spirited, too on the mark for Kakashi’s own feeling of Sakura’s ninja abilities.

He hates them.

Dispite the rough patches, the mission builds some comradery, not nearly enough to install any faith that they will pass the upcoming chunin exams, which Kakashi’s Anbu team has been working on for months now. Prepping, planning, protecting. Making sure all the little genin will be as safe as the exams allow.

He’s been curating the team for years now, since he was a teen. Since he was running Anbu missions so hard and so frequently, the mask was useless, pointless. The recognizable destruction of his chidori a certified calling card, if you will.

A new Anbu division made, captained by Kakashi himself, a small team of well-known, recognizable, feared ninja. A ‘top secret’ plainclothes black ops team. Ment to run the missions necessary for the good of Konoha. The worst of the worst. Exactly why they had chosen him to teach this specific group of genin, as it is highly likely Naruto and Sasuke will end up on Kakashi’s team anyway. Stern and straight-laced. Unrestrained and unruly. Feral—in the case of Anko—and insane.

Preparations for the village for the arriving teams has been going on almost non-stop since he returned from the Wave mission, which has left Kakashi grumpy and tired. He looks like shit. He feels like shit.

The chunin exams are shit.

He should’ve pulled them the moment he's sitting in the sensei's lounge reading, and Kurenai frowned, crossed her arms, and whispered to Asuma as they watched the video feed of Kakashi’s genin walking in. “Oh no, they’re going to eat her up.”

Kurenai’s one to talk, as the rumor is the Hyuuga heiress is about as soft as a pillow feather. A stuttering, nervous thing. Her teammates, however, are not picking fights with every other team they come across though, so there’s that. (She’s also not the most colorful thing in the camouflage filled room either.)

Kakashi is convinced that his awful little genins aren’t even going to get past the first round, Ibiki’s paper test. Sakura’s such a little rule-following-nerd of a bookworm she’ll never even think to cheat, Sasuke will cheat but not help Naruto, and Naruto won’t get a single question right, cheating or not. Kakashi took it, and even he took just over twenty minutes to finish, as he doesn’t know the last time he’s even read up on something as obscure as advanced chakra theory or the precise calculations of the trajectory of a dozen kunai. And the tenth question—less about who gets it right and more about who it weeds out—to find who is willing to throw the mission, to be the one to take the sacrifice for the good of the team.

They fucking pass. He hates them.

Kakashi’s team gathers in his empty little sham of an apartment, along with Asuma. (Kakashi keeps Gai away from the inner workings of the team, and Asuma remains on the standard Anbu roster, not on Kakashi’s team.)

Ibiki comes in smiling, which is never a good sign. Ever. If Ibiki is smiling, grinning ear-to-ear as much as his scarred lips will let him, it means someone has bested one of his little mind games. Oddly enough, Asuma looks nearly as sick as Kakashi feels in the moment.

Ibiki runs through top performers from the other villages, noting several teams of concern—most notably the Sand Trio, the Kazekage’s children. Gaara of the Sand, the one-tailed jinchuriki, already a known asset to Suna.

Then it’s what Kakashi’s the most nervous about, the stack of Konoha candidates. The usual repeat offenders, trying yet again to rank up. Kakashi almost feels like throwing up as the pile dwindles. The nine rookies and Team Gai. Most pass to expectations, docked for clan jutsus or more obvious cheating tactics.

Four files left. One of Asuma’s kids and all three of Kakashi’s. He will give Ibiki that his sense of showmanship truly top-notch—anxiety-inducing stuff.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” Ibiki calls out, waving the folder around. Two out of three is only mildly less stressful. “Docked for use of the sharingan, docked for three incorrect answers.”

“Uzumaki Naruto. The bottom score passed with negative points on the paper questions. Docked twice for talking to his neighbor. Did not answer a single written question.” Unsurprising, really. Naruto’s name is only a small relief, as it means Sakura has made the top two, and in Ibiki’s eyes, one of the most insulting places she could be.

Ibiki holds each of the files up. Haruno Sakura and Nara Shikamaru. Asuma lights a cigarette beside him, Kakashi doesn’t even have it in him to nag about the deposit, like the cost of this place actually comes out of Kakashi’s own pocket. He debates asking for one himself.

“Nara Shikamaru.” Asuma lets out the breath he was holding, sending smoke spiraling. Kakashi does motion for one now, because that only means Sakura’s performance Is what has Ibiki so excitable. And if she’s out performing the genius little Nara brat, that’s not a good sign. Asuma hands him the lit one from his mouth, but Kakashi’s going to smoke it anyway, hiding behind his book so he can pull his mask down to puff on it. “Only answered seven questions—all correctly, docked once for cheating. Off of one…Haruno Sakura.”

Ibiki times the name with a puff, causing a few coughs from Kakashi that the other man lets die before he continues. “Haruno answered all questions correctly. Docked zero times. No accounts of cheating. Haruno herself, however, was cheated off of at minimum seventeen times. More than any of my chunin plants combined. Causing an uncalculated spread of answers that has skewed the number of passing participants greatly.”

Uh-oh.

Ibiki’s smile gets even bigger as he waits until Kakashi peeks over the cover of his book, and Kakashi doesn’t know how this could get worse. “Haruno finished the test in just under nineteen minutes. A new record.”

…

what

the

fuck.

He hates them.

Then a mission comes up, while the genin are off galavanting through the Forest of Death. Kakashi’s more than uncomfortable with it, tingling with apprehension that something's wrong. He goes, and everything runs so smoothly, so perfectly, he’s racing home to find what tragedy awaits him there. Worse than he could imagine, no one is dead, but Sasuke now has a nice brand new curse mark gifted by Ororchimaru himself.

Sakura also has undergone a haircut, chopped shorter than Sasuke’s even. Arms wrapped in bandages, she’s dirty and covered in scrapes and scratches, hovering over Sasuke, who’s allowing it, despite his attitude about it.

He hardly has time to think about it. So many teams have passed, much more than they planned. They call for a qualifying round, both to thin the numbers for the third stage and create more time to investigate the security breach. To help with whatever curse seal Orochimaru has placed on Sasuke.

Kakashi flips through the candidate files, pairing them off as he sees fit. Being sure to pair Sakura against someone who will beat her, but not in a physical way, as Inoichi’s daughter is well versed in the clans techniques.

Sasuke and Naruto are onto the third round, and Sakura’s been eliminated, no chance of her having to go up against someone like Gaara. A month of training Sasuke, teaching him Kakashi’s very one-handed jutsu. Naruto spending the time training with Jiraiya.

And if the first two rounds weren’t shit enough, they’ve gone straight to hell in a handbasket with the third. He barely has time to acknowledge the fact that Sakura (and the Nara brat, who Sakura could tell was faking sleeping?—a thought for later) has broken out of a high-level genjutsu nearly as easily as he has. He sends Pakkun off with the two and Naruto to try and reign Sasuke back in.

Sound ninjas. Sand ninjas. Orochimaru and the one-tailed jinchuriki. The death of the third Hokage. Itachi and the Akatsuki. The Fifth Hokage. And then somehow, even with over two decades of being a ninja, all the shit he’s seen, all the fucked up missions, all the dead teammates—the one event that ends up fucking his head up the most doesn’t end in death, no one even ends up hurt.

He hates them.

But the image burned into his mind of Sasuke and Naruto arguing, fighting on top of the hospital roof of all places, Sakura screaming for them to stop. Of the boys using real, dangerous jutsus against each other. And Sakura, Sakura who would rather throw herself between the boys to take the damage than let them hurt each other.

He hates them. He hates them. He hates them.

Kakashi’s almost not fast enough to stop it from happening.

Chapter 12

#sakura haruno #kakashi hatake #sasuke uchiha #shikamaru nara #shikasaku #sasusaku #sasuke x sakura #sakura x shikamaru #dark shikamaru #dark sasuke #naruto fanfiction #fanfic #let me bleed (you're losing me)

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minniethemoocherda · 1 year ago

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Iridescent: Chapter 13

Summary: When Jazz is promoted to Head of Special Operations, the last thing he expected was to have to work with a face from his past.

A/N: Fair warning that the violence is going to be a bit more graphic from this point onwards sorry! Xxxxxxx

Ao3

Jazz opened up the spec op private comms

"Hound after you've dropped off Mirage, I need you to track Skywarp!" Jazz ordered, having to shout over the sound of Prowl chewing out the twins nearby.

After receiving an affirmative, Jazz marched back over the two remaining commanders, passing by the twins who looks appropriately guilty for once.

"We should retreat! Before more of our people are injured." Optimus suggested, firing out from behind where they had managed to build a makeshift barrier out of the rusted remains of whatever structure had once been built here.

"Why?" Jazz asked, casually throwing a shuriken over the barrier, that judging by the following scream, confirmed that it had found its target, as he ducked down besides his friend. "So that they can eventually break the doors down or simply drop a big ass bomb and kill us all inside instead of out here?"

"I agree with Jazz." Prowl declared.

Even after everything that had happened today, Prowl openly agreeing with him, still managed to surprise Jazz.

"We have to hold them out here. If the other seekers invade the Ark then we will loose the Autobot headquarters and most likely the war." Prowl finished.

Optimus paused, probably consulting with the Matrix, however that worked, as he considered their plan. After a moment he nodded.

"Very well, here is where we shall stand our ground." Optimus said, his voice that of a Prime instead of the awkward data clerk Jazz used to know.

Of course as soon as that plan was decided, Blaster chose that moment to interrupt the three of them with an incoming comm. Except it wasn't the communication expect on the other end of the line.

"This is MacCadam's base calling the Ark, can you hear me?" Elita-One's voice echoed in their ears.

"Ariel." Optimus breathed. Jazz hadn't heard their leader sound so relieved since becoming a Prime. It was shortlived however as worry quickly returned. "Has Bumblebee-"

"Yes he reached us safe and well." Elita was quick to reassure them and despite the distance, Jazz could hear the smile in her voice. "I sent him back with the information I am about to tell you. Our communications had been sabotaged. We are able to contact Teletran-1 but within the last hour we've found our Head of Communications grey in her room with a blaster wound through her mouth."

"Do you think the guilt got to her?" Jazz wondered aloud. It would certainly explain things. Perhaps too cleanly.

"It would appear so. When we lost communication Chromia became adamant that you're base must also have been sabotaged so she straight left for the Ark. I sent Silverstreak to keep an eye on her. Not long after they left, we were attacked by Soundwave."

"If Soundwave's there and Starscream's here then where is Megatron?" Optimus asked.

Jazz caught Prowl's optics. By the way they flashed, he knew that they bad both come to the same conclusion.

"He is planning an attack on our two weapons specialists who are currently out of range, outnumbered and unaware that they're headed straight for a trap." Prowl stated.

Shit

"Our long range individual comms are still dismantled." Elita-One reminded them. "We can only contact Teletra-"

"AHHHHHHH!"

She was interrupted by Blaster's screams before the call cut off entirely. Which could only mean one thing. That Skywarp had infiltrated their communication room.

Jazz didn't need to say out loud what they all already knew. That Ironhide, Chromia and the rest of their team's lives now relied on them kicking Skywarp's ass and fixing whatever mess she had made to their long range comms.

Which was going to be a problem considering the fact that the communications room had access to the camera outside the hanger doors so that they could see anyone heading inside.

Thankfully, Jazz was a spy for a reason.

"I know a secret way inside." Jazz told them. "But as amazing as I am, it would be a lot easier to take her down if I had some help."

"Prowl, accompany Jazz." Optimus ordered. "I will ensure that we hold the Seekers back."

Prowl didn't look particularly pleased at the idea of teaming up. Prowl wouldn't have been Jazz first choice either but with his best agent injured and the other occupied, he didn't have much of a choice left. Regardless Prowl wasn't going to argue with their Prime, so after a few pointed words to the twins reminding them to actually follow orders, he turned to Jazz.

"Lead the way."

Prowl kept his blaster poised as he reluctantly followed Jazz around the outwards of the Ark, keeping watch for any Seekers who might have noticed them under Optimus cover fire.

Prowl was reluctant to leave the front where he believed that his tactical skills would be most valuable. He could have said these concerns aloud. Optimus had always welcomed his troupes to voice their objections which was something that Prowl's previous authority figures during his time as an enforcer had never approved of. But ultimately, Optimus was their Prime who's decision had failed to steer them wrong yet, so Prowl trusted his judgement.

He soon realised that Jazz was leading them towards the end of the Ark's old thrusters. The ship was once capable of interstellar flight but had not been used for such purposes since the golden age of Nova Prime. Now the thrusters were rusted and sealed up due to their misuse.

At least that was what Prowl had been told. However Jazz was currently entering through the centre of the left thrusters' exit port where he was able to unscrew a loose panel, that lead into a gap between the main energon line and the wall.

"This is where Hound secretly feeds his rations to the local turbo-foxes and where I'm pretty sure Bumblebee has been sneaking out at night." Jazz explained before he crawled inside. Prowl made a mental note to inform Red Alert of the security breach when this whole ordeal was over, before following him inside.

It was a tight fit for Jazz and an even tighter one for Prowl. Even with his doorwings pressed flat against his back, it still hurt to drag their edges against the steal walls and without even enough room to turn his head, Prowl was left with no choice but to stare directly at the curves of Jazz's ass as they scraped along the gap. Thankfully, it wasn't long before Jazz shoved open a grate opened into a storage closet.

Although, Prowl almost immediately missed the gap, as here he was pressed chassis to chassis, with his only option to look directly into Jazz's face.

Thankfully the spy, made no comment on their positions when he spoke.

"I ain't getting a response from Hound but Bluestreak said that the last thing he told her was that he heading towards Communications."

Prowl let out a vent that he hadn't realised he'd been holding when he learnt that Bluestreak was alright. He knew that the young sniper was more than capable of protecting herself but as the older sibling he couldn't help worrying whenever she was out of the realm of his protection.

Prowl watched as Jazz slowly opened the storage door to the corridor, sliding his blade between the small slit as he glanced around.

After a moment he gave a thumbs up of an all clear and strolled out of the cupboard. Prowl wasted no time in doing the same. Once outside, they took up the same unspoken positions that they head before, with Jazz leading the way, blade in hand, whilst Prowl protected the rear, blaster ready. Although now that he knew what Jazz's rear looked like, he found it hard to concentrate on protecting it.

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any resistance along the corridors since most able bodied mechs were outside battling against the seekers.

Unfortunately they couldn't hear any signs of a scuffle or regain access to their long range comms which was not a good sign.

Once they made it to Communications, cautiously, Prowl poked his head around the door.

Skywarp was wrecking havoc on Teletran-1, ripping out wires and smashing screens like a rabid animal. At the very least it didn't appear like she knew exactly what damage she was doing but that didn't necessarily mean that it would be any easier to fix.

At her feet lay Hound, Blaster and Red Alert. A short range blaster shot had taken out half of Hound's torso. Miraculously, it hadn't appeared to have hit any vital organs, but by Prowl's calculations, that would matter little as he would soon to bleed out his remaining reserves of energon. Blaster had a large dent on the side of his helm but otherwise appeared unharmed. Red Alert was the only one conscious, however they were powerless to help as Skywarp had hogtied them up in a tangle of cords. Prowl knew that the stress of witnessing Skywarp wreck all of their carefully crafted systems was causing more pain than any injury could have ever done.

"You gotta plan commander?" Jazz whispered.

Before Prowl's battle computer had any time to respond, he heard the sound of footsteps behind them.

Out of the corner of his optic, Prowl caught Jazz wield his knife in the same moment that he raised his blaster.

Thankfully, it wasn't sneak a Deception attack. Instead it was Mirage, leaning heavily against the wall, as he dragged himself long the corridor.

"I... I am unable to reach Hound on internal comms. His... his last message was that he was head to-towards Communications." Mirage stammered, trying to be quiet but Prowl winced as their gasping breathes echoed across the silent corridor. Miraculously, Skywarp must not have heard it over the sound of her own destruction.

"Do not engage except for long range weapons." Prowl ordered, calculating that their chances of success would drastically decrease if Mirage were to witness Hound in his current state. And he hadn't even taken into account yet that whilst the cut across the spy's chest plate had been welded shut, Prowl knew that anything even remotely strenuous easily rip it open again.

Before Mirage could protest Jazz interrupted.

"Your invisibility ain't going to do shit if you start leaking very visible energon everywhere so do as he says." Jazz told him.

Prowl was unbothered as Mirage glared in his direction before biting his tongue and remaining at the end of the corridor. It made sense that the spy would be more likely to listen to a friend then a commander and Prowl did not care who the orders came from as long as Mirage followed them.

"Hey," Jazz hissed to get his attention. "If that big brain if yours hadn't come up with a plan yet, then I've got one." Prowl was not put at ease by the edge of Jazz's grin. "Knight."

It took a moment for Prowl to comprehend what it even was that Jazz was suggesting. It took a further moment for him to run it through his battle computer. After another he nodded.

Prowl lay flat against the corridor floor as Jazz peaked around the edge of the doorway, the side of his visor titled just so that it reflected the light off one of the remaining monitors, catching Skywarp's eye.

In an instant she had materialised in front of their Head of Special Operations. Jazz feigned surprise as Prowl crawled past the now tussling pair into the communications room.

Prowl ignored the flash of guilt as he climbed over Hound's body even though logically he knew that only Ratchet had the power to help him now. Besides, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. And Prowl's current goal was saving two of their commanders plus their squads.

Prowl crouched down besides Red Alert, removing the plug gagged into their mouth and untying them as quickly as he could. This close, he could feel the heat radiating from their sensory horns that threatened an impending systems crash.

"Focus on what you can control." Prowl ordered once he had freed them of their restraints. "Can you recommend the wire to establish long range comms?"

Red Alert's eyes were wide and Prowl wasn't entirely convinced that they weren't going to crash. But if anyone was used to handling stress under pressure it was the Ark's security director.

With a jerked nod, Red Alert forced themselves towards Teletran-1.

With the first step of their plan in action, Prowl turned his focus back onto the fight behind him, to find that Skywarp had a writhing Jazz pinned under her armour. Wrestled that closely intertwined, Mirage would be unable to take a clear shot even if his condition hadn't drastically hampered his ability to aim.

Getting to his feet, Prowl grabbed Skywarp from behind, the teleporter too startled to make a jump to avoid being thrown from her victim. She produced a blaster, from where, Prowl did not have the time to figure out. But before she could fire it, he caught her wrist, yanking it upwards so the shot fired into the ceiling instead of his helm. He then turned so his back faced her front, snapping her wrist in the process and shot her with his own blaster. She dodged at the last second so he missed her spark but it still managed to blast a hole in her shoulder. Skywarp keeled over, using the remains of her hand to plug the gaping wound in her shoulder.

Whilst she was down, Prowl turned his attention to Jazz who was staring up at him, that infuriating smile for once wiped clean from his face.

Prowl allowed himself a small sense of satisfaction. He spent so much time behind the scenes of battles that their troupes had forgotten the fighting skills that had earned him the position in the first place.

As he helped Jazz to his feet, Prowl caught a glimpse of Mirage where he was hidden behind the corner of the corridor. Prowl would have to see Ratchet to get his optics checked as he thought that he saw a flash of respect in the spy’s eyes.

"You know I was just pretending to be loosing as a distraction right?" Jazz said as he fought to catch his breath, a cheeky smile now back on his face.

Prowl did have time to dignify that with a response as in an instant Prowl found himself upside down, pedes brushing the Ark ceiling. Skywarp cackled, spitting energon at his face, then disappeared. He did not have time to calculate a plan before the floor suddenly came crashing towards him. A fall from this height might not kill him but it would certainly do processor damage that would negatively impact the outcome of the war.

Suddenly, someone crashed into him, rolling them both in mid-air. The next thing Prowl registered, he was looking up at Jazz, illuminated by the ceiling lights and cradling his helm from where it was currently lying in the spy's lap.

"Smooth moves Commander." Jazz said, his smile saying that words could not. That now they were even.

The moment when ruined when Skywarp, screeching like a rabbit cyberwolf tried to pounce on them.

Thankfully, Mirage was able to shoot her in her already injured shoulder, blasting her arm off in a mess of tangled wires.

"Sorry." Jazz grinned.

Before Prowl could ask about what, Jazz dropped him, leaving Prowl sprawled on the floor.

Prowl pushed himself back to his feet so that he could properly yell at him. He cut himself off at the sight of Jazz biting down on Skywarp's uninjured shoulder. Prowl could only watch in disbelief as Skywarp teleported randomly along the length of the corridor, thrashing around and crashing into walls. But Jazz must have a vampiric set of denta as nothing she did could shake him off.

From this angle, Jazz couldn't reach her spark, so Prowl watched as he stabbed his blade into Skywarp's waist instead.

She reappeared, screaming on the Communications floor.

Prowl wasted no time, grabbing a broken metal pole. Again, unable to reach her spark with Jazz still sprawled on her back, he instead skewered it through her leg. Then stamping on the end, he bent the mental until he had hooked Skywarp's leg into the floor.

Prowl kept his blaster trained on her helm as Jazz finally clambered off her.

"Girl, when was the last time you had a shower?" Jazz asked, wiping his mouth with a grimace.

Prowl knew that Skywarp's injuries would not trap her forever. He had yet to find a prison that could. But for now, her teleportation abilities weren't going to be an advantage in battle when she was in too much pain to fight.

Prowl kept guard over Skywarp as Red Alert, who was muttering expletives under their breathe, re-connected the mess of shredded wires. Mirage had managed to hobble to the room by this point. He dropped to Hound's side, grabbing at the debris surrounding them to try to fill in the injury whilst Jazz hailed Ratchet.

On the one working monitor, Prowl watched as on the screen a single shot severed through both of Starscream's thrusters. He couldn't stop the swell of pride at the knowledge that Bluestreak was the only one talented enough to make that shot.

However, Prowl was going to have to update his folder on Skywarp's abilities to teleport within her line of sight as in the next second, she appeared on the monitor screen, a chunk of her leg missing from where it was still nailed into the communications floor. Prowl watched as outside the Ark, she helping her Trine commander to escape as the seekers called for a retreat.

"I've fixed Teletran-1!" Red Alert cried.

It was unfortunate that the Skywarp had escaped. But their primary goal had been to contact Ironhide by re-establishing long range comms so overall Prowl considered the mission a success.

Prowl marched over to the console, wasting no time in connecting the long range call.

"Ironhide, this is Teletran-1. Do you copy?"

"Huh what?" Ironhide answered, sounding startled by the long range comm. Prowl ignored the incorrectly worded response and continued.

"We believe that you are heading into a trap. Megatron is-"

"Yeah yeah we know." Ironhide interrupted, the usually gruff soldier still sounding frazzled. "Bumblebee must've figured out what he was planning because he found where Megatron was waiting and provoked him into revealing his location and... oh Primus. We... when we saw what was happening we tried to stop him. We tried to fight back but.. but..."

"What happened?" Prowl demanded.

Ironhide took a shuddering breath.

"It's Megatron. He kidnapped Bumblebee."

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saizov · 1 year ago

Note

♡

Just art under the cut! Nothing graphic ✨

Class/es. Ninja (starting) -> Kinshi Knight (but he prefers throwing knives and shuriken to the bow) -> Wyvern Rider/Lord

Trinkets!

Valter!Asugi has a penchant for side capes ( but Saizo fusses at him for how easy it would be to get tangled up and blindsided when wearing the capes ) — typically in shades of olive green or navy blue.

Valter!Asugi should NOT be allowed in a twenty foot radius of anything laced with dark magical possession/corruption qualities— he’ll end up shook in the head, and he gets that little tragedy from Pa No. 2 (Valter).

Was trained as a ninja until about fourteen/fifteen — after which, he decided he wanted to pursue flying. However, he had to start in Hoshido and then progress after peace was made between the countries.

Valter!Asugi is still chill and go-with-the-flow, but now if you really (and I mean REALLY) do something to upend his chill, it’s game on. Holy hell it’s game on, and he knows like forty-two different ways to painfully kill a man.

Valter!Asugi is not sadistic or pain-enjoying (because this is still Asugi) but he’s a little more willing to use it as a method with the Moonstone’s genes somewhere in there now.

Valter!Asugi has thought about growing his hair out to match his pa’s, but he doesn’t want the effort of having to maintain it. Also doesn’t think it’s strategic if he puts it up and someone grabs it — moot point for ninja work in his earlier years.

Valter!Asugi used to sneak into Nohr to find different baby wyverns —either parentless or abandoned— and raise and foster them near the Hoshido-Nohr border, and hope they would start naturally migrating into Hoshido. They never did, so he started researching the safest way to move their dens.

Valter!Asugi has tried so many times to sneak across the Nohrian border to see the wyverns, but the farthest he’s ever gotten might have been a thirty stealth sneak into the country before he realized how bad of an idea it really was.

Valter!Asugi’s main hobbies are: dragon-rearing (when given the chance—he’s done all his research), hunting, unorthodox (cheeky) infiltration or acquisition of info, and weapon/armor collection.

His favorite things to collect are spearheads from historical lances and pauldrons from generals or commanders with unique designs (he steals these from auctions or black market deals).

He had one baby dragon from Nohr that he smuggled to the border as a kid, named it Creampuff, and then he flew off. He’s decided that if he ever opened a bakery for his confection-making hobby, Creampuff would be the one treat that comes up, stays for half a year, intrigues all the customers, and then goes away and never comes back.

After his ninja training, he wanted to pursue flying! However, because of Hoshido’s non-existent wyvern population, he learned to fly with the Kinshi and, post-war, finally pursued his wyvern-flying career. He’s currently trying to see if he can incorporate his wyvern into stealth missions … but it’s not going so well. (Yes, he has been fussed at.)

#//still on mobile but! Here we are

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istherewifiinhell · 2 years ago

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reading an issue that has a deliberate fake out in it: OH. I understand Everything now

[Mirage 17, Eric Talbot (who also credits Eastman on story and scripting, which Eastman mostly refutes in idw's ultimate collection), Letters: Steve Lavigne]

[ID: Two panels, Mikey, in simple Japanese style dress. He reaches out and says "I have need of your hat." Then a shot of him wearing a straw hat, which shadows his face, to conceal the nature of his being. END ID]

Last Ronin 2, Art: Esau & Isaac Escorza. Normally, a fully colour comic of the modern style

[ID: Small art of Mikey, kneeling, tending to a garden, he wears a straw hat. The art is in graphic black and white, with half tones like the duoshade paper, and jittery line paneling. END ID]

So. Square that mystery away. why are the flashbacks of mikey alone in japan different from the other flashback style? Well aside to just communicate tone and atmosphere (which they do). This stuff. Eastman's annotations also mention possible influence from the unmade 'final turtles story', (the idw ult collection pub. 2012) which very first conceptions seem to be very old, and is now the last ronin, 2020.

anyway. more art from the mirage issue

[ID from alt: Mikey jumping out a window, his clothes now tattered, a young woman, Tai, clinging to his back. off panel speech "Guards!!!" END]

Three panels, over 2 images. Mikey grimly, speaking to Tai "But I cannot... I must keep searching for my brothers." He turn away with a dark expression "Together, we must return to our home. I'm sorry...". Tai hugging Mikey, his face comically shocked, his hands hovering up. There is a lightened halo affect in the panel around them.

Now only scroll further if you wish to have the gimmick explained to you.

They really had me, with this one. Cause time travel IS A THING. The turtles can do. AND this was published after the turtles 1st cross over with Usagi Yojimbo, and (i didnt include any but) many dinosaur like animals are shown in the art. Like in that comic, tho clearly the inhabitants are human people, not anthro animals. And even, this plot in some ways resembled the third live action turtles movie. The Real Answer?

ID: Full page panel, rich with details. Mikey, in his room. Seated at his desk, a stack of writing, and the mess of work around him. In a sheepish gesture, pen to his mouth, and other hand on his head, he speaks to his cat, "Well, that's the story so far, what do you think Klunk-- Too corny?". He's wearing a batman logo tshirt, and his room has many other popular media franchises in it. There is also a poster for Eastman and Talbots comic "Melting Pot", and even, a ninja turtle toy on his shelf. He has is knee pads and belt on the bed, mask and nunchaku on a hook, and shuriken thrown into the wall. END

dudes in the 80s fucking loved to write themselves a Ronin inspired story. art intimates life inmates art. or something. i think its hysterical they did this.

#some shit #turbles...#idw obviously wasting no time on having those sweet sweet turtle publishing rights with the collected book.#i find it funny eastman said he didnt really work on this issue. but if he wasnt credited at all. pattern suggests it then would not have #been included in the collected book. not haha funny but funny.#i am further curious about the lettering situation cause i will say. it DOES look different! i wonder if lavigne matches with the artists?#and not that im really ranking but i think this is the best klunk out of everyone whose drawn him.#wifi blogs mirage

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shaotie · 21 days ago

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**WARNING** this fanfic is rated mature for graphic depictions of violence. See tags in the chapters list link or tags on ao3 for more info.

Where Loyalties Lie

Chapter 1: Impressive Incompetence

One second, X was fighting in the ring of the Battle Nexus to a sold-out crowd, and the next he jumped up high with the intent of landing a swift slash against his opponent - but instead of cutting through flesh, his blade sank into a hard concrete surface.

“Wha?” he stood up, yanked his blade out of the ground, and held it up at the same height as the one in his right hand while gazing around in the darkness and quiet of the night, with it finally sinking in that his boss, Baron Draxum, abruptly opened a portal beneath him before his first Battle Nexus attack of the night, and they were both standing above ground in New York city at the shipping docks.

Draxum looked his slave up and down with disapproval over the outfit he was wearing; but instead of looking up at his tall yokai goat owner in return, X gazed around at the top of the many tall piles of shipping containers surrounding them (that looked similar to the aisles in a human grocery store X snuck into one time for no other reason than to satisfy his own curiosity).

“Big Mama’s not gonna like it when she finds out you hauled me out of a fight,” X commented calmly. He sensed a presence - four, actually - and continued scanning around for any sign of whoever it was that was watching them from the shadows.

“Big Mama’s temper tantrums are of no concern to me, but the four meddlers who keep blocking my access to the supplies I require are,” Draxum dryly replied. X spun the katana in his left hand around full circle and asked: “What are we dealing with?” “Three kappa and a human,” Draxum replied. “Keep them busy.” “You got it boss!”

With that, X rushed ahead to disappear ninja-style between two piles of containers, and the next thing Raphael Hamato knew, a shuriken lodged itself into the metal of the shipping container beside his red masked green turtle head.

“Woah! This guy means business!” the big snapper called out to his family team. “You keep him busy and we’ll stop that creepy guy from stealing any more crates!” his human friend, April, called back. Raph nodded his head and ordered: “Mikey, you’re with me, Don, go with Pril.” “On it,” they both replied in unison.

The four of them split up with the intent of taking down both bad guys at once, but when another shuriken unexpectedly whizzed past Donnie’s face, less than an inch away from slicing the tip of his nose off, followed by one that lodged itself in April’s metal bat, they both stopped dead in their tracks.

“I don’t think this guy likes that idea much,” April told her brother/team leader, Raphael.

“Ok team new plan, we take out this new whoever he is together and then go for the big ugly one!” “Right,” they all agreed in unison, and the four of them converged on top of a pile of shipping containers, searching for their new adversary.

“There!” Mikey pointed to the top of a pile of containers straight across from them when a dark, shadowy figure swiftly ran past. “Let’s go team!” Raphael ordered, and the chase was on.

None of them knew it, but X was skillfully leading them to a trap - a large, square, open area between piles of containers that was kind of like one of the smaller fighting rings he routinely trained in, before being contracted out to Big Mama for bigger, badder fights in her Battle Nexus. As soon as they reached the edge of the last pile surrounding the open area, X decided it was time to reveal himself.

“There he is!” This time it was April who pointed down to the ground when a cloaked figure slowly walked out into the center, under the light of a street lamp.

From their vantage point, they could see the someone was wearing a dark gray hooded cape, with the hood up over his head, and some black fabric underneath covering the entire torso - that was either an attachment to the cloak or simply a black shirt.

He clearly was also carrying some sort of backpack under the cloak - that or he had a serious hunched back.

In each hand he held a katana and his arms and right leg were wrapped in black ninja wrappings. But when he stepped into the light with his left foot, the intelligent softshell was the first one to notice he had a prosthetic tech leg, something like his tech shell, only dark blue instead of black. The core of his body was hidden beneath the shadows of his cape, but when he raised his head to look up at them, the light above him shone on a mask that looked like a white fox face smiling at them with a big, toothy cheshire grin, only with sharp, triangular teeth instead of rectangular flat ones. And there was one curved, gold stripe outlined in red crossing vertically through each eyehole.

From his vantage point, X couldn’t get a clear view of the faces of his three opponents because the light of the street lamp he was standing under didn’t reach where they were above him. Which was disappointing to him because it wasn’t every day he had a chance to fight against his own ‘kind’, and he hadn’t actually seen any yokai kappa up close before.

X tipped his head sideways when the one in the artificial shell threw down a childish quip about his appearance (something to do with his ugly mask concealing an even uglier face) but instead of quipping back one of the many puns in his head, he merely looked at him silently. He had learned the hard way that things like playful banter during a fight served no useful purpose and could actually prove quite deadly if it distracts one’s focus - and he had a prosthetic leg to prove it. But clearly these four hadn’t learned this valuable lesson yet.

‘These guys are amateurs, this'll be a walk in the park,’ X thought to himself while the three kappa joked together regarding his masked face, 'hunchback', and overall appearance, and X figured with the way they carried on they must be siblings.

X didn't give any reply whatsoever, which prompted the big one to grumble: “Whatever happened to hero villain banter?”

'They act like they're in a tv show or something!' X thought to himself. The biggest kappa was the first to jump to the ground level where their opponent was, and X responded by immediately moving into his low, wide fighting stance and began circling him.

Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly, considering how inexperienced they clearly were) instead of joining the fight, the smallest of the three turtles actually sat down on top of the container he was still on, with his legs dangling out over the edge and his weapons in his lap, watching the 'dance' below with a big grin and cheers for his brother. The other turtle sat crossed-legged beside him and actually took his eyes off the threat in front of them to look at his phone! The only one left in any sort of defensible position was the human girl, who remained standing but foolishly let her guard down by resting her metal baseball bat on her shoulder, and casually tipping her hip to one side.

Somebody had to teach these amateurs a lesson, and X was more than happy to oblige.

To help even the playing fields a little, X sheathed the katana in his dominant right hand to fight with his left. He kept his eyes on the big, spiky kappa with two shiny sais - who seemed to be the more serious one of the bunch.

The trained ninja didn't take his eyes off his target even when the smaller turtle put a hand up to cup around the side of his mouth and cheered his teammate on with a cheerful: “Go get ‘em big guy!”

'What do they think this is, one of those human sports games!?’ X thought to himself, getting more and more amusement out of their childish behaviour by the second.

When the big snapper motioned with his fingers for X to approach with a determined: “Come onnn,” X rolled his shoulders and ran at him. The snapper punched where he expected his opponent to be, but only got thin air as the enemy swiftly dodged and unexpectedly jumped on his shoulders, to push off there and land right in the middle of the three unsuspecting ‘spectators’. He laughed to himself at the humorous look of shock on their faces when he jumped right over the box turtle (who he could have easily slashed along the way) and landed behind his back with the human to his left and the other turtle also on his left, but somewhat behind him.

While the unprepared kappas scrambled to their feet with the little one yelling the absurd statement: "No fair!" X abruptly slashed a sword down at the girl and was actually a little impressed with her speed, strength, and accuracy when she raised her bat to block what would have otherwise been a critical hit.

From the ground below, he could hear the panicked shouts of the biggest of the four, who hurried to jump back up to their position, but humorously couldn't, so the other kappa actually turned his back on the enemy to reach down and help; mumbling something about wearing the wrong shell for this and the big one needing to do more sit-ups.

Next, the box turtle swung his nunchucks at his masked opponent, but he clearly didn't have proper control over his own nunchaku, to the point X was effortlessly able to grab his wrist and bend his hand down to make it involuntarily open, forcing him to drop his weapon.

X smiled under his mask at the shocked look on the turtle's face and the amused, almost whiny way he exclaimed: "How'd you do that!?" while looking him straight in the eyes; instead of doing the logical thing of either pulling out a concealed weapon to protect his vulnerable side, kicking his weapon away from the enemy and retreating a safe distance to pick it up, or attacking with his other nunchuck.

X looked him straight in the eyes, but instead of replying, he toyed with his opponent by getting his toes under the orange chucks at his feet to kick them up into his hand, and held them out to the kappa. He snickered at the way this 'friendly' move made him and the girl foolishly smile and hold off on their attacks.

But when the little one reached out his hand with a polite: "Thank you;" instead of giving it back, X threw it high in the air, playfully shrugged his shoulders, and jumped up, flipped upside-down mid air, and kicked the weapon far, far away before landing in a low, wide stance with his sword out, ready for round two, while having so much fun from this fight he hoped he had an opportunity to fight them again some day.

(After all, Draxum's 'keep them busy' order was not a direct command to kill)

"Heeeey!" the little box turtle whined, at the same time the girl raised her bat and cried out: "Oh that is not ok!" She swung the bat at him from the right at the same time the big one's head and torso finally popped up over the shipping container on his left, so he simply jumped straight up in the air with his knees bent and his feet tucked up tightly by his short tail, so the bat would swing through the air below him.

As expected, the girl made contact with the approaching snapping turtle, slamming her bat right on his big green nose.

‘That’s gonna leave a mark,’ X thought, and on the descent he kicked out to the side, hitting the turtle with an artificial shell square in the center of his back, (because he was still facing the wrong way, trying to help the big one who almost lost his grip when the bat smashed him in the face) The kick sent that kappa down to the ground below with a loud oof, then X disappeared by jumping down on the other side, to disappear ninja-style into the darkness.

“Sorry Raph are you ok?” X heard the girl call out, at the same time the shorter turtle looked over the edge to yell: “You ok, Dee!?”

“Yeah, Raph’s fine Pril, where’d he go?” he heard the big one, apparently named ‘Raph’ reply, while the other one in the fake shell muttered something about his tech needing to be recalibrated after that fall, or some such thing X didn't quite catch.

Then Mikey pointed down to their right and told his team: “He jumped down there somewhere, and he took my chuck! Aww man, Pops's gonna kill me if I can't find it!”

X snickered to himself when he stealthily jumped on and over a pile of shipping containers in plain sight to Mikey's right; but was totally missed because he and April were staring down into the dark aisle between two stacks of containers, instead of watching their backs or in any way being aware of their surroundings.

‘They’re nothing but a bunch of kids,’ X thought to himself as he landed on the other side, back in the ‘fighting ring’ where the turtle holding some kind of techy-looking ninja bō was standing up, in the shadows. But even he wasn’t aware X had landed in the shadows on the other side of the open space. This was a golden opportunity X knew he would regret passing up, so he got the kappa's attention with a playful: “Boo!” “Whaaa!”

This time X couldn’t help but throw his head back and laugh out loud at the very comical way the techy turtle jumped three feet in the air.

X's mid-fight laugh momentarily took his focus off the threat, and it would have been his undoing, if his inexperienced opponent hadn’t foolishly announced his next attack by yelling some absurd word out loud before throwing his tech bō.

Because it was powered by two rockets that appeared out of nowhere, the bō spun through the air at X with such speed that if the turtle throwing it hadn’t given him fair warning by literally announcing his attack beforehand, X wouldn’t have had time to dodge out of the way. As it was, he only managed to twist his body to the side just in time, but the bō caught the end of his cape when it flowed behind him, thankfully ripping the bottom half off with the shear force of the attack instead of pulling it and him along with it - which would have vulnerably knocked him back into the hard metal container behind him.

X was unconcerned about his cloak that he had to replace many times after Nexus fights. This was just getting to be too much for him, and he couldn’t help himself from humorously calling out: “Did you just yell fibonacci!?” before jumping so swiftly and suddenly at his now unarmed opponent that he caught the turtle completely off guard.

X knocked the kappa 'yokai' down by landing on top of him, and stood over him with one foot on either side of his body, the blade of his sword held horizontally straight across his throat, and his grinning cheshire masked face leaning in uncomfortably close to the scared turtle staring up at him.

But now that he got a good look at his opponent, it was X’s turn to be surprised. He abruptly pulled his head back and lowered his sword, but didn’t take his eyes off that familiar face.

Even though he hadn't seen this face in years and it belonged to an older turtle now, X would recognize it anywhere.

That momentary lapse was enough for his opponents to get the upper-hand and X discovered the turtle beneath his body wasn’t unarmed when two long, metal clawed arms shot out of the artificial shell, reaching for him.

He slashed them in half with his sword, but his head was spinning from the realization of who, exactly, he was fighting, so much so that his stunned mind didn’t even register when the biggest of the four clearly announce his attack by calling out: “HOOOT SOOOUP!”

X was so frazzled he didn’t even realize the other turtle was attacking until a big fist was waaay too close to his face for him to be able to dodge in time. The big kappa hit the side of the face with such force it knocked him off the turtle under his body and drove him all the way to the other side of the ‘fighting ring’, where he slammed into the metal container so hard his back left a dent behind. But being the skilled ninja that he was X hadn’t released his grip on his weapon; and after groaning a little, he slowly stood up, still gripping his sword, but wavering slightly from the dizziness of a fresh concussion.

'Hot Soup?' X thought in confusion, knowing that catchphrase very well.

Once he finally managed to right himself, he stood up straight and looked at the three turtles and human, who were all standing on the ground together across from him, weapons in hand and determined-looking angry faces staring at him. But for some reason he couldn’t quite understand (and chalked up to inexperience), they hadn’t bothered to attack him when he was down and vulnerable

X silently stared back at them in an awkward standoff, wondering if they really had learned how to fight from watching old Lou Jitsu movies; or perhaps, had learned a thing or two from the ex ninja tv star himself.

He raised his right hand to lay it over his steadily swelling cheek, noticing for the first time the bottom right section of his handmade mask had been cracked clean off. Whether the damage to his mask was from the sais or the big guy’s fist, he didn’t know, but when a glowing magenta portal opened up beside him, signaling that his owner was done and it was time to leave, X hesitated long enough to get a good look at the three angry kappa faces staring straight at him.

They still weren’t attacking him for some reason, even though they clearly had the advantage, considering he was still wavering a little in his stance from the concussion.

‘I’ve never been hit like that before,’ X thought to himself, sizing up his opponents with more curiosity and wonder than anything else. But when the big one decided they had waited long enough and ordered his team to attack, he wasted no further time in his gawking and stuck his foot out to the side to take one big step through the portal, which snapped shut behind him, leaving the four opponents bewildered, wondering what happened, what that glowing circle that appeared mid air was, and where he went.

* * *

X came out the exit portal in his owner's giant-sized storage room and looked up at his boss, who regarded him with a mixture of anger and disgust.

After a brief moment of looking his slave up and down, X’s owner, Baron Draxum, gestured to him with his left hand; and when he began one of his many lectures his voice oozed just as much disgust and disappointment as his facial expression showed.

“I leave you alone with them for ten minutes and you come back looking like this, I expected better from you. And what is with that outfit you’re wearing? The hood obscures your vision and the flowing material on the cloak can easily get snagged, as it clearly has been. It only serves to slow you down and gives you a weak point for your enemies to exploit. And judging by your cracked mask, swollen face, and the clean look on your blade, I can only assume they got in more hits than you. I taught you better than this.” He looked his ninja creation up and down again and finally asked the more important question X thought he should have led with: “Do you have any potentially life-threatening injuries?”

The ninja slave of the ‘great Baron Draxum’ sheathed his left sword on the belt over his right hip, (opposite the other katana that was sheathed on his left hip) took his broken fox mask off, and held it face-down in his left hand, so he could spit a tooth into it that was knocked loose from the power of that kappa’s punch.

Draxum glanced down at it for a split second, noting that his marvel of creation must have received the worst punch to the face of his life if whatever hit him was strong enough to knock out a tooth - something which was supposed to be practically impossible considering his creation's ingenious design.

Draxum's dutiful servant (slave), simply called X, looked up at him with his unmasked, green turtle face. There was a curved red stripe going down over each eye in the same pattern as the stripes on the mask he had been wearing, except that the one over his right eye was distorted on the bottom from the swelling.

X gave his owner a cheeky grin that stretched over the left side of his face more than the right (for obvious reasons) and casually began his reply by saying: “Big Mama says my outfit is great because the betting yokai love the whole ‘mysterious ninja’ look, and isn’t it good when I learn how to fight with a handicap because it makes me a better warrior overall, or something like that?”

He raised his left leg that had a prosthetic attached halfway up the thigh - where his real leg had been chomped off during a particularly rough fight in his early Battle Nexus career - and wiggled the prosthetic toes in the air as a reminder that he was right. Then his tone changed to a little more playful when he cheekily added: “Can’t remember who taught me that. Some sort of goat scientist hyper-fixated on turning the whole human race into yokai-like mutants.” He rested his right hand on his hip and said: “Seriously, get a hobby. Isn’t there a ‘crazy mad scientist’ support group you can join or something?”

Instead of addressing anything his slave said, Draxum sternly repeated: “Injuries?” only a little louder than before.

“Just a concussion, nothing I can’t walk off,” the mutant red-eared slider dismissively replied. “And a swollen face and a knocked out tooth, which should have been practically impossible, as was the concussion, despite the fact this is your third one to date,” Draxum sternly countered. “What can I say, that big guy hits like a wild ravager in heat! I never took a blow like that before” X replied in a dismissive way that sounded a little impressed. “Tell me, how is it a group of clear amateurs managed to do all of this to you while you didn’t make contact with them once?”

X wiped the grin off his face and angrily countered with: “Hey I got plenty of hits in, just not with my sword, and those amateurs must’ve been too much for the ‘great Baron Draxum’ to deal with or else you wouldn’t ‘ve portalled me in to help!”

X flinched and pulled back with the aggressive stare Draxum gave him in return, but instead of striking his already injured slave, the goat warrior angrily replied: “That does not answer my question!”

X’s tense posture melted away and he replied a little uncertainly: “I . . . got distracted,” before raising his right hand to gently lay it over his throbbing cheek.

Draxum straightened up, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and simply asked: “By?”

For some reason the usual chatty turtle clammed up, and he slowly replied with the vague: “I, ah . . . saw someone I recognized.”

“That in no way answers my question,” Draxum told him in a calm manner that carried the hint of a threat of punishment if X wasn’t forthright with his answer to this and subsequent questions. So he sighed and replied: “It was the kappa in the purple mask with the artificial shell. I saw him in my dreams when I was a kid. He was a kid then, too, but I know that face, it was him, and I…” he hung his head to break eye contact with his owner and quickly finished with: “I didn’t know the turtle in my dreams was real, that’s what distracted me. It won’t happen again, boss.”

X imperceptibly braced for a harsh punishment, but when one didn’t come he looked up at his much taller owner in surprise; first from the fact he wasn’t immediately punished for his incompetence and then from his boss’s unexpected comment: “It appears as though the mutagenic telepathic experiment had a limited degree of success.”

“Thewhatnow?” X blurted out; and Draxum explained in such a calm way that his reply could be mistaken for nothing more than discussing the plot of one of those boring thick books he routinely read:

“During early incubation when you were still in your eggs, I injected a mutagen I created into the brain of Experiment Alpha 002-1 and 002-2 - or you - with the hopes it would result in a telepathic connection between the two of you, thus eliminating the need for verbal communication and resulting in swifter unity during any battles. If it was a success I could include it as an addition in future mutant experiments and if not,” he leaned ahead with a grin on his face and added: “Well let’s say I had two other mutant turtle experiments leftover as a backup.”

X gritted his teeth nervously and replied with: “Eeee, I wish I could say that was another one of your lame dry jokes but something tells me you’re serious.” “My ‘lame dry jokes’ are no worse than your incessant puns,” Draxum quipped back. But instead of firing back with one of his puns, X realized something and asked: “Wait a minute, are you saying those kappa really are your other mutant experiments, the ones Lou Jitsu stole when he escaped?”

“Precisely,” Draxum replied.

The realization dawned on X that the one he knew as 'Donnie' didn't have a prosthetic shell but was wearing a hard covering over his vulnerable soft shell.

Draxum walked away to examine his new acquisition from the above ground human world while saying: “I assume the mutant who knocked your tooth out was the big snapping turtle, Experiment Alpha 001. He was designed with strength to rival even the most powerful yokai. And despite their clear incompetence and lack of proper training and experience, they proved to be as impressive as I had designed them.”

“So you’re telling me I was fighting against my brothers?” X asked with a hint of excitement.

“If by brothers you mean the turtles who share dna from the same genetic donor then yes,” Draxum calmly replied. He examined what looked like a simple stack of white 8X11 human paper, before putting it back and turning his whole body to look at the turtle he created; who was still holding his tooth in his mask and had a range of conflicting emotions that clearly flashed across his eyes.

“Come with me, I will reset the tooth before it’s too late. Make sure to avoid any blows to your face for the next four days to ensure it sets properly. But if it comes out again and is undamaged, I can reset it as many times as is necessary, within two hours of when it was knocked out.”

That simple comment got X out of his reeling mind and back in the moment, and he replied with: “Yeah, and then I’ll go see Big Mama. She probably already has some sort of insane twelve v one match scheduled to make up for the money she lost from the fight you took me out of.” “Undoubtedly,” Draxum calmly agreed; and they walked together to the wealthy yokai's med bay where he had the equipment he needed to properly reset the tooth that was knocked out of his ingeniously designed turtle creation’s mouth.

🔹🔹🔹

ch 1 || ch 2 >>

🐢 chapters list

🐢 Where Loyalties Lie masterpost

🐢 masterpost for my rottmnt ao3 fanfics and art

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #shaotie #shattered_ontheinside #rise leo #au #leo angst #villain draxum #separated leo au #rottmnt fanfiction #where loyalties lie

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azuramarigold · 3 months ago

Text

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58057063/chapters/149536045

TW: Violence (blood and gore) and Cussing

Dividers by: @cafekitsune and @saradika-graphics

Curse Energy gif made by: Seter MD via Ko-Fi

Please Note: Original work on A03 has proper font usage to distinguish dialogue.

Ko-Fi Commissions

Summary:

While traveling on the side of the road, Nanami and Yuji end up being hunted by a hired hand - her target: the Vessel of Sukuna. Sukuna ends up giving Yuji a small lesson on being a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

Chapter 9: A Child of Potential Calamity

Leaving the small village behind, Nanami lead Yuji by the hand down the road at a steady trot.

Nanami shouldn't have been surprised that Yuji didn't know the full story of Sukuna. After all, why would he? The kid was five, was living in a secluded village in the countryside with his grandfather, and had no idea about Jujutsu Sorcery at all.

Any young kids that knew about Jujutsu Sorcery were born into families of Sorcerers – like Gojo, or the Zen'in, or Kamo. Nanami himself was in the dark about everything until Gojo-Senpai and Geto-Senpai happened to be at his school investigating the Cursed Energy and met him.

Gojo-Senpai immediately took a liking to Nanami as he had said, and Nanami remembered it word for word: “Holy shit! You have so much Cursed Energy! And you killed that Curse! Come to school with us, Emo Boy!”

Kinda wished they weren't around that day... would've made things a little easier.

Yuji was still a little kid, and of course he wants to think the Curse within him was good in some way. Nanami couldn’t blame him for that.

The boy had been silent since their conversation, which worried Nanami greatly. Nanami couldn’t tell if Sukuna was talking to Yuji in his head or if the boy was just alone with his own thoughts.

What does Sukuna say to Yuji…?

Nanami suddenly faltered his steps, causing Yuji to take a few steps ahead only to stop because of hold Nanami’s hand. The small tug caused the boy to make a small “oof!” sound and turn around in confusion.

“Nanamin?” Yuji called out. “What’s wrong?”

Nanami could feel it - the high amount of Cursed Energy as though it were palpable in the air. Was it a Cursed Spirit? No… it felt like a person… Nanami slid on his glasses from his pocket to get a good look around, trying to find residuals of a Cursed Technique being used. A small flash in a distance. Without thinking, he pushed Yuji to the ground just as a Cursed Energy infused shuriken struck Nanami’s side. If he hadn’t pushed Yuji down, it would have struck the boy in the head.

Another one was thrown, and Nanami could clearly see that Yuji was the target. He threw himself over the boy and felt another painful stab in his back.

“Really…?” a feminine voice drawled. “You’re really throwing your life on the line for a Vessel?” Her voice was cold as Nanami felt a foot pressed on his shoulder and forced him to roll onto his back, the shuriken going deeper into the flesh of his back and causing him to scream in pain. “Jujutsu Tech sends a Sorcerer to protect this brat of a Vessel? And only one too… they didn't even send the white-haired one?”

Through his blurred, pain vision, he could see that his attacker was indeed a woman, her brunette hair tied up in a bun and she was thick, black framed glasses with the lenses a pure crimson red that was so deep you couldn’t see her eyes. Her attire was a dark navy, short sleeved top with no design, with black fishnet stockings and a pair of white shorts over them with red high-top sneakers. She didn’t look associated with either Jujutsu School.

“Who the hell are you…!?” Nanami demanded through gritted teeth.

“A hired hand,” the woman replied simply. She then pulled out a kunai knife, the blade engrossed with Cursed Energy. “I wasn’t hired to kill a kid Sorcerer, but if you keep getting in my way for killing the Vessel… I’ll just kill you too.”

“He’s a five-year-old…” Nanami lowly said, his eyes narrowed.

“That can lose control at any moment and bring calamity,” the woman shot back. “The boy is identical to that monster before he became a Curse.”

Nanami was in a bad situation, he didn’t have his Cursed Tool on hand, but the ratio lines were sprouting up like crazy on his attacker. Like before, even just using a regular physical attack was enough to startle or bring great harm to his opponent.

The woman thought he was disoriented and couldn’t move due to the pain in his side and back from the shuriken, however, with his free leg he was able hit a critical point in the woman’s shin to cause her eyes to widen in a mixture of shock and pain as she crumbled backwards.

“HOW THE HELL!?” she bellowed.

Nanami managed to get himself up and ushered Yuji to do the same.

“Take these and hide in the woods, I’ll find ya in a few!” Nanami hissed his order to Yuji, gesturing toward the wooded area.

“But…”

“Yuji,” Nanami strained.

The boy immediately ran into the woods, his tiger-print raincoat disappearing into the thrush.

“Alright, so you're aren't with some cult,” Nanami gathered. “Or the group that hired the cult that's after Yuji.”

The woman scoffed. “Why would anyone want a monstrous thing?” she sneered. “Look, let's make this easy… hand him over and I'll make his death very painless and easy, or, I make it very drawn out for the both of you.”

Nanami pulled the shuriken from his side and managed to pull the one from his back as well. “Humor me, who the hell hired you?” he demanded with a wince, feeling blood drip from the wounds of his leg and back.

“Maybe they're a lot closer than you think,” the woman shrugged it off ominously. “Regardless, I'm getting paid to kill a Curse, so that's what I'm doing! And if you're in the way, you get to die too!” She lunged forward with her kunai, the Cursed Energy formed around it.

Nanami managed to grab his Cursed Tool off his back that was strapped above where he was struck with the shuriken, and the ratio line appeared on the kunai instantly. He immediately struck the critical weak point of it, which threw off his opponent and the knife was thrown from her hand.

“So, you have a Cursed Technique, huh?” she asked completely baffled. “No one would strike in that particular spot to disarm a knife like that!”

Normally when disarming someone with a knife, one would go toward the base or even the wrist/arm of the attacker. However, the ratio line of Nanami’s Cursed Technique had him go right toward the top quarter of it, him putting just enough power into it to throw the woman off balance and cause the kunai to leave her grip. It told him that it wasn’t a properly balanced weapon, so it wasn't personally crafted for her fighting style.

“Doesn't matter,” Nanami told her flatly as he pointed his wrapped machete at her. “Now explain why you were sent to kill a five-year-old?”

A coy smile played on her lips. “You're not the only one here with a Cursed Technique, you know…” she almost laughed.

Nanami raised a brow in confusion when it hit him. The kunai had came back and struck him in his left Achilles tendon, causing him to immediately buckle down onto his knees with a yelp of pain.

“My Cursed Energy stays within small weapons, almost like little puppets for a short while…” the woman explained slowly. “As we speak, the shuriken you pulled out of yourself is following that Vessel. You should've just kept them in ya.”

“Despite being five, the kid is a fighter,” Nanami bitterly laughed, feeling the blood pulsate from his wound. “He won't go down from a cheap parlor trick like yours.”

The woman bristled. “The fuck did you say!?” she screamed as she pulled out another kunai from her side. She pressed the tip of it to Nanami’s neck to the point where blood was drawn, it trickling down slowly.

Nanami gave an almost cheeky smile. “I said… He won't go down by some cheap. Parlor. Trick.” He said each word slowly and condescendingly.

That was when the kunai was thrust into his throat, blood spitting from his mouth.

Yuji’s legs kept stumbling as he ran in the brush, he ended up dropping the camping gear.

He didn't dare go back for it, thinking Nanami would scold him for risking his life for doing so. Items can be replaced – lives cannot. Yuji in the last couple of days had seen so many lives lost in such a short span, he could go the rest of his life without seeing another dead body.

There was a high pitch whistling in the air, as though a small object was piercing the wind. Yuji tried to strain to hear what it was as it didn't sound like a bird.

DUCK, BRAT!

Yuji did what Sukuna told him and immediately ducked down, feeling something just breeze the top of his hair. A few strands of his pink hair fluttered down.

Seems that bitch has a Cursed Technique… she can tell her weapons to hunt you down. If that Sorcerer kills her, they'll stop.

Nanamin won't kill her…

In self-defense, Jujutsu Sorcerers will kill to survive, and to protect whatever/whoever they have in their possession for a mission. They can and will kill. It will be justified – especially if she is trying to kill him. It's survival. It is no different than an animal killing another to get away for safety.

In a way, Yuji could sense that Sukuna was telling him this to comfort him due to the prior conversation. Nanami had explained that Sukuna had killed many people and thus was evil. If Nanami killed someone, he could become evil too. Made sense in the brain of a child.

The whistling sound came back, this time from another direction. Yuji could feel some sort of pressure in the air, and he couldn't understand what it was. It felt dense and uncomfortable, yet at the same time it felt familiar.

What you're sensing is Cursed Energy… now DUCK!

Again, Yuji ducked just as the second shuriken struck into a tree that was near him.

Good, Brat… you sensed it coming near. Need to work on that.

Yuji was huffing from the his sudden exhilaration. Another sound of whistling came back, the first shuriken returning from the first dodge.

I'm not giving you a warning this time, Brat. Feel where the Cursed Energy is coming from.

Yuji felt nervous, trying desperately to figure out where the pressure was coming from exactly. The energy was condensed all in one area, so he knew the Cursed Energy was there. Then… there was a slight ping… it was different somehow, and he couldn’t explain it.

As the shuriken drew nearer, Yuji felt the presence and moved slightly to his left. The shuriken grazed his right arm, cutting through his tiger-print raincoat, a red line of scarlet bleeding through. The shuriken struck a tree in front of him.

Huh… not bad actually. Here I thought I was going to have to switch because you were gonna get struck in the head or some dumb shit.

That’s not nice, Kuna…

The air was still, the only sound was the wind rustling the trees. A bird cawed in the distance and the sound of wings flapping.

The uneasiness of the Cursed Energy pressure felt like it was crushing Yuji's chest. He began to breathe heavily as he gripped his raincoat. His red rain boots began to absently walk, breaking small twigs beneath him.

There is something off…

I don't like this at all…

“Lost in the woods, Little Boy?” a voice asked, feminine and dripping with venom.

Yuji froze. It was a different voice than the one from before. He turned his head to see another woman with blood red hair tied into a bun, her midriff exposed while wearing a dark purple halter top. Like the other woman, she was wearing fishnet stockings while wearing black shorts over them.

“No… I’m not lost,” Yuji lied, his voice wavering.

The woman clicked her tongue. “Not polite to lie, Vessel,” she chastised. “How about be good and just let me kill you where you stand? My partner already killed that dumb blonde of a sorcerer, so-”

“What…?” Yuji felt his whole body turn cold. His hands were balled up to his sides and he felt his jaw nearly crack under pressure from clenching so hard.

Uh… Brat… Your Cursed Energy is drastically going up. That’s not from me. You don’t have enough training to regu-

“What happened to Nanamin?” demanded Yuji. He barely recognized his own voice.

“Huh…?” the woman replied in astonishment. “My partner killed him… stabbed him right in the thr-”

She didn’t finish her sentence as Yuji had rushed forward with blinding speed and struck the woman in her stomach. However, it wasn’t truly Yuji.

At the last possible second, Sukuna managed to forcibly switch with him. Yuji was in such an erratic state that it was easy to take control. Sukuna felt his borrowed hand, now with long, claw-like nails, impale through the woman with ease. Blood coated his hand as the woman coughed and squeaked with a mixture of pain and shock.

“I wasn’t going to let the Brat have this on his conscious,” Sukuna explained to the dying woman. “I don’t know who you are or who you work for. It no longer matters as you’re dying… or rather - dead.” With a flick of the wrist, the woman’s head was split in half, the top sliding off with an eerie slime-like sound, it plopping to the ground before her body followed. “I guess I should check on that Sorcerer…”

Sukuna made his way out of the forest, retracing the steps that Yuji had ran. It took less than a minute to find where Nanami had collapsed on the ground. The young sorcerer was desperately clinging to his throat as blood was seeping through his fingers.

The possessed child made his way toward the sorcerer, the rainboots crunching the leaves and twigs beneath his weight. Sukuna stopped in front of Nanami and crouched low, two pairs of crimson eyes staring.

“And here I thought you were a bit stronger than that, Sorcerer,” Sukuna jeered lightly. “You’re lucky this Brat likes you so much or I’d let you die here.”

Nanami’s response was a strained gargle.

“Where did that other bitch go…?” Sukuna wondered aloud. He then shrugged. “I’ll deal with her in a moment…” He raised a hand and pried Nanami’s hand from his throat, the life’s blood pouring like a crimson waterfall. Sukuna placed his free hand over the wound and with his Reverse Curse Technique, the wound was healed.

Nanami desperately gasped for breath, his eyes fluttering. “Ho-Holy shit…!” he panted. “I… I thought I was about to die…”

“Not even a ‘Thank you’ to the King that saved your pathetic life…” Sukuna grumbled lowly. “My kindness is rare, Sorcerer.”

“Why are you in control of Yuji’s body!?” Nanami then demanded harshly, ignoring Sukuna’s words.

“Because the Brat was about to kill the other Bitch if I hadn’t intervened,” Sukuna explained drily. “I wasn’t going to let him kill without a true reason. To take a life is a serious commitment. If his own life was in danger at that moment, I would’ve let him do the deed in self-defense.”

Nanami slowly got up, his hands to his throat. His school uniform was stained, that dark navy now a deep indigo from his blood. He bent down and picked up his machete that was still wrapped in its white cloth decorated with black spots.

“You still hold back on your Cursed Energy, don’t you?” Sukuna asked curiously.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nanami replied instantly as he holstered his weapon on his back.

“I can sense you have a shit-ton of Cursed Energy, Sorcerer,” Sukuna pointed out, himself standing up straight. “Some Cursed Techniques benefit from that… and they become more powerful when a Binding Vow restraint is bestowed on it.”

Nanami scoffed, “I’m already aware of the Binding Vow on my-”

“Not the full extent,” the King of Curses interrupted with a scowl.

There was then a primal scream, one filled with heartache and despair. The child-turned-curse smiled devilishly.

“Seems the other one found her dead bitch…!” Sukuna cackled evilly.

“Switch back with Yuji, now,” Nanami ordered. “I can’t stand to see you using his body like this…”

The King of Curses gave a shrug. “At this time, Sorcerer, I cannot,” he revealed. “There is too much Cursed Energy built up in him right now, and I need to let more of it out or he’ll burn up. I was only able to switch with him at that moment because in a way he willed it himself. The Brat is the one who truly initiates it unless there is an uncontrollable amount of my own Cursed Energy.”

Nanami blinked in realization. “Like when the bastards forced fed him two of your Fingers at once…” he murmured. “It was too much for him to resist at once… that was why you incarnated in his body.”

“Maybe they do teach you something at that school!” Sukuna sneered with a mischievous grin. He then tilted his head to the side. “You may want to duck, Sorcerer…”

Nanami took the advice and sucked as three Cursed Energy infused shuriken flew right over his head. They were a lot more violent and looked more out of control than before - not as precise or calculated.

Unhinged.

“YOU BASTARD!” the assassin Cursed User from before screamed from the edge of the woods. “YOU BASTARD OF A DEMON SPAWN! YOU KILLED HER!”

“Bitch had it coming!” Sukuna retorted, stuffing his hands into the tiger raincoat pockets. He grimaced, realizing he looked ridiculous in what he was wearing. “Huh… those bastards really saw the last moments of their lives being killed by a five-year-old brat in a tiger raincoat, hmm…? That’s embarrassing…”

The woman willed her shuriken to come forth, only for them to strike Sukuna in multiple spots against his back, each impale making a sickening sound. The King of Curses only rolled his four eyes in irritation.

“How could you DO THAT!?” the woman screamed, sounding clearly angry and hurt. “This is why it would’ve been easier to kill him as the kid!” Her eyes darted to Nanami, surprised to see that he was still alive. “You call yourself a Jujutsu Sorcerer?!” she spat with venom. “Knowing that child is him!? You would let that kid live just so that monster can walk around!?”

Nanami stiffened, his hands gripping the hem of his uniform.

“Yuji is a child… he is separate from-” Nanami tried to explain.

“ENOUGH OF YOUR BULLSHIT!” the woman roared, her waving her hand forward. The shuriken that was imbedded in Sukuna’s back went deeper into him, causing him to grimace slightly, before they went all the way through, a spray of scarlet decorating the grass.

“That was… absolutely useless…” Sukuna growled.

“Sukuna… don’t-!” Nanami tried to say, but he was too late.

All Sukuna did was simply raise a hand. The woman’s head was blown from her body as if an enormous amount of pressure was suddenly put into it. Her body was suddenly a mass of cubes before becoming a ruby mist flying along the breeze, the mist of blood landing on the bushes on the edge of the woods.

Sukuna sighed with boredom as he removed the tiger raincoat and groaned at the holes in the hoodie he was wearing. The skin bubbled beneath the holes and the wounds were healed, even the small cut on the right arm was healed. He gently dropped the raincoat, it ripped, and now dirty with more mud and blood it would look odd for the Brat to wear it.

“You shouldn't have done that…!” Nanami scolded angrily. “I could’ve figured out who hired her!”

“She wasn’t going to tell you shit, Sorcerer,” Sukuna informed darkly. “These shuriken she struck me with were tipped with poison… dumb bitch must’ve not done her studies to remember that I am resistant to poison. She would’ve ingested the poison to kill herself before telling you anything.” Sukuna then looked at his left hand, noticing it was trembling, a sign that the other was regaining control. “I’ve burned enough Cursed Energy for the Brat to be able to handle his body again…”

“I’m sorry, what…?” Nanami questioned. All he saw was the marks on the boy’s face disappear as Yuji groaned with tiredness, his brown eyes blinking open, only one pair of eyes thankfully.

“Na… Na… Min…?” Yuji asked out loud, his vision focusing back. He saw that Nanami was indeed alive and well, not dead like the one woman in the woods told him. The young man’s clothes were dirtier than before, but he gave Yuji a small smile of reassurance.

“You okay there, Yuji?” Nanami asked gently.

“NANAMIN!” Yuji cried loudly, tears burst from his eyes. The small boy immediately jumped to Nanami and wrapped his arms around the sorcerer’s waist, burying his face into his stomach. Sobs heaved from Yuji, his breaths coming in gasps as he tried to control himself, but he couldn’t. “I…! I th-thought y-y-y-you we-were d-d-dead…!” he wailed.

Nanami lowered himself so he could wrap his arms around Yuji, shifting the boy’s face to his shoulder. He gently rubbed Yuji’s back, comforting him like he had down to younger cousins from when they visited from out of the country.

“I’m okay… don’t worry,” Nanami assured softly.

“B-But…!” Yuji tried to say, but he choked on his own sob.

“Hey, let’s find our camping gear and my bag and walk a little bit, yeah?” Nanami asked gently. “We can find a different spot to camp out for the night…”

“O-Okay…” the small boy quivered as he pulled away. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie and then his nose.

The two walked back into the woods, Yuji pointing where he had dropped the bag and camping gear. With little effort, Nanami picked the two things up and gently took Yuji’s hand and began walking again.

“Nanamin…?” Yuji called out softly.

“Yes, Yuji?” Nanami replied.

“Am I really a bother because of Kuna…?”

Nanami stopped walking and took a deep breath. “I’m… not going to lie Yuji…” he admitted. “At first, I really didn’t want to do this mission because of what it was. Sukuna is considered one of the evilest Curses to have ever existed, and to show up in a Vessel who happens to be a child is… terrible.”

Yuji tilted his head to the side.

“But you’re a very strong little boy,” Nanami continued. “And I know you’ll keep on getting stronger. There are very few, if any, that take on a Cursed Object and can resist the soul of it overtaking their own.”

Yuji gave a small hum. “So, I’m special because I’m strong?” he asked curiously.

“One of the reasons,” Nanami told him.

“What’s the other?” Yuji then asked another question.

Nanami gave a soft hum, trying to think. “Well… that we don’t know,” he finally said. “That’s why you’re coming back to Tokyo with me, so we can figure that out.”

Yuji gave a large smile. “Then… does that mean I can be a sorcerer too?”

“We’ll… see.”

Notes:

- I'm not gonna lie, coming up with clever Cursed Techniques is HARD - Since canonically Sukuna always talks in Yuji's head, I figured he still would here. Sukuna would talk to Little Yuji about the history of Jujutsu, Jujutsu Sorcerers, the Heian era, and of course give him light training about his Cursed Energy. - Nanami is seemingly aware that he restricts his Cursed Energy, but he doesn't know how/why he does it. This is him slowly developing it to becoming his Overtime. - Are these assassins the same as Toji Fushiguro? No. These are punks, super small time. Toji was the GOAT.

Special thanks to my Ko-fi supporters!

Basic Tier

Aostrele

Draconic Hermit

JadEDU

Jaune Arc

Zippy

Middle Tier

@genderfluidsgetguns AKA IdoInFactLikeDogs

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teddiesbestestpal · 3 months ago

Text

Thought I’d make a trailer mock-up of a potential persona mascot DILFS spin-off game idea + parts of a sequel plot.

[INTRO] [Scene opens with a panoramic view of the serene Naganaki Shrine located in Tatsumi Port island nestled in a lush forest. Soft, whimsical music plays in the background. A mighty figure, DAIKIMARU, a muscular dire wolf beastman, is seen working on his graphic novel.]

Daikimaru:

Looking at Koromaru, smiling

“Don’t worry, son. Daddy’s here to protect you.”

Narrator (V.O.): “Welcome to the world of DILFventures: where love, laughter, and epic battles collide! Meet Daikimaru, a proud father and a talented graphic novelist, poet, and new fool/ wild card ( his arcana is still Death) living a peaceful life with his son, Koromaru. But things are about to change and his adventure begins when his life is turnt upside down…

[SCENE 1: The Velvet Room]

* [Cut to a dream sequence. Daikimaru wakes up in the enigmatic Velvet Room surrounded with ethereal colors, with IGOR smiling mysteriously at him.]* DAIKIMARU: Igor? What is this place?

IGOR: Ah, welcome! I require your assistance in a contract. Are you prepared to take on the mantle of a hero, Daikimaru?

[Daikimaru looks determined]

* DAIKIMARU: I’m ready!

Igor: “Welcome, Daikimaru. You have been chosen to embrace a new destiny. Will you become the world’s new Fool and Wild Card?”

* [Daikimaru hesitates, then nods with determination.]*

Daikimaru: “I’ll do it! I’ll protect my son and everyone from the shadows!”

[SCENE 2: Shadow Attack]

* [Fast forward to a night where the tranquility of Naganaki Shrine is shattered by a monstrous SHADOW. Daikimaru awakens.]*

Daikimaru: “Koromaru, stay back!”

DAIKIMARU: (while fighting)

I won’t let you harm my son!

[Scene cuts: Naganaki Shrine under attack by a shadow, fast-paced action sequences showcasing Daikimaru awakening to his Persona, Anubis of the death arcana as Anubis defeats the shadows with his trusty dual khopesh)

Narrator (V.O.): “A new hero has awakened!”

As Daikimaru knowing that Koromaru can take care of himself leaves Koromaru alone at the shrine wielding his Fuma shuriken weapon with purpose with a promise to return stronger than ever!

[SCENE 3: Gathering the DILFs]

* [Daikimaru sets out on his quest, facing various challenges. Cut to INABA, where he meets GRIZZLIE, the jolly bear beastman.]* [Grizzlie is seen juggling for children at the circus, laughing cheerfully]

* GRIZZLIE: Step right up! Enjoy the show from the wonderful world of JUNES!

Daikimaru: “Grizzlie! We need your strength!”

Grizzlie: “I’ve always got your back, buddy! Let’s do this BEARSONA!”

“Thought I'd take a break from the circus for some real action. Join me, will ya?”

* [Cut to a circus scene where GRIZZLIE is performing. His persona, TAKE-MINAKATA of the sun arcana pulling out bombs from his stomach/chest joins in the fun.]*

* NARRATOR (V.O.):

* But beneath that cheerful exterior lies a father who fights for his son, Teddie.

* [Cut to Grizzlie in battle, showcasing his Persona, Take-Minakata, and Grizzlie himself using dual katars against shadows]

Narrator (V.O.): “Next, they journey to Tokyo to find FEY, the elegant & graceful sabertooth tiger beastman as he harbors his own regrets as well as being an expert in the world of jewels.

* [In a glamorous office, Fey is seen negotiating deals with a dapper slick & suave demeanor.]*

Fey: “Joining you seems quite... exhilarating. Count me in!"

In a high-rise office, Fey is seen negotiating a deal & running his jewel company he’s the CEO of Daikimaru approaches him as shadow creatures loom in the background.

Fey: With a smirk, brandishing his riding crop “Looks like we’ve got some uninvited guests. Let’s send them packing.” Fey’s persona King Midas of the emperor arcana appears besides Fey, King Midas making good use of his signature weapon a fancy stain glass themed greatsword to defeat and eliminate shadows.

FEY:

I’ve neglected my son… but I will make this right!

[Fey battles shadows with his Persona, King Midas, Fey himself using a riding crop with grace and precision]

[SCENE 4: The Sauna Scene]

* [The trio enters a sauna for a much-needed break, relaxing and sharing stories.]*

Daikimaru: “Sometimes, being a father is more challenging than fighting shadows.”

Grizzlie: “Tell me about it! Between the circus and Teddie, I barely have time to breathe!”

Daikimaru: Blushing “You know, I never thought fatherhood would be this… complicated.”

Grizzlie: “Right? They say it gets easier, but I don’t buy it!”

Fey:

“ My son Morgana doesn’t even want to talk to me…”

DAIKIMARU: We’ve all made mistakes, Fey. What matters is that you want to change.

GRIZZLIE: Yeah! It’s never too late to show love. Just be there for them.

FEY: (tears up) Thank you both. I hope Morgana can forgive me one day…

* [They laugh and bond, deepening their relationships as they share vulnerabilities.] *

Fey: “You know, guys, supporting each other makes us stronger. Together, we can take on anything.”

[SCENE 5: Battle Outfits and Shadows]

* [Fast-paced montage of epic battles ensues, with their clothes getting torn. They quickly improvise using UNDERWEAR as armor, comically showcasing battle underwear stores globally.]*

Narrator (V.O.):

“Sometimes, even the strongest DILFs have to adapt!”

[SCENE 6: Climax - Yggdrasil Showdown]

* [The climax features an intense battle against Yggdrasil, the Tree of Evil, with an epic backdrop.]*

Daikimaru: “For our sons and the world, we fight!”

* [With a combined effort, they finally defeat Yggdrasil, a moment of triumph.]*

[SCENE 7: Celebration and Romance]

* [Cut to a month later: a vibrant wedding scene where Daikimaru, Grizzlie, and Fey marry, surrounded by their sons.]*

Koromaru: “Look at them! They’re so happy!”

Teddie:

“ I’d say~ my dad looks beary handsome in his suit!”

Morgana: “ .. I’m just glad that they changed my dad for the better.”

* [After the ceremony, cut to an intimate scene with Daikimaru, Grizzlie, and Fey in bed. They share a romantic moment, leading to a cheeky yet tasteful 18+ scenario.]*

Daikimaru:

“ Mmmphhh~ you two feel so good~”

Fey:

“ Talk about big~”

Grizzlie: “ your rod is as big as the trampoline I had back at the circus!”

Daikimaru:

“ Oh fuck… I’m about to.!!!”

Bonus sleep wear additional costume reactions

Daikimaru (embarrassed in Fundoshi):

“Is it too late to change?”

Grizzlie (in light pink boxers with heart pattern on it)

“I didn’t sign up for this much exposure!”

Fey (in dark cobalt blue speedo):

“ Hoe could this help me defeat shadows?! They still feel comfy on me though~”

Alt voice lines

DAIKIMARU: (blushing, in Fundoshi) This is… a little revealing, isn’t it?

GRIZZLIE: (in pink heart-patterned boxers) A little bit! But, it’s all in good fun!

FEY: (blushing in a speedo) Let’s just embrace the moment!

Narrator (V.O.):

“Amidst the battles, love blossoms – forging unbreakable bonds!”

* Extra voice lines hint at their growing romance and humorous fanservice moments as they blush and tease each other.]*

The screen fades into the logo “DILFventures” with cheerful music playing, overlaying key moments from their journey.]*

“Join Daikimaru and friends on their epic DILFventure – a tale of love, laughter, and the fight against shadows!”

NARRATOR (V.O.):

But even as they celebrate, shadows loom in the alternate universe… Can Daikimaru succeed where other times he have failed?

[Post-Credit Scene: The Dark Reset] As the screen fades back in, an ominous air fills the atmosphere. Daikimaru stands solemnly as he resets time, determined to save his friends images of Grizzlie’s and Fey’s mangled deceased corpses deaths caused by Yggdrasil’s and other shadow bosses and shadows fill the screen

Daikimaru: With a fierce glint in his eyes “This time… I won’t let them die again.”

Daikimaru states as time resets as he’s back leaving leaving naganaki shrine wielding his fuma Shuriken with purpose

As the reset fails as Yggdrasil is destroyed but Fey and Grizzlie are dead Daikimaru sighs himself being alone again

[Final shot: Daikimaru resolute as he prepares to reset the timeline]

DAIKIMARU: This time, I won’t lose my family!

( Additional cutscene snippets of the potential sequel) Meeting Grizzlie in Inaba and Fey in Tokyo in the new timeline

* Cut to Daikimaru heading to Inaba to Meet Grizzlie again as he sees Grizzlie performing in front of the JUNES circus as he sees Daikimaru.

* Grizzlie: “ Hey.. have I seen you before? You look bearyyyy familiar…”

* Daikimaru: ( trying to play it cool) “ not that I know of…”

* After Grizzlie awakens to his persona Take-Minakata. He and Daikimaru head to Tokyo to meet Fey in this new timeline at his CEO of jewels office as Fey sighs making a deal with them as a shadow looms over them.

* Fey: “ Are you sure I haven’t seen you two before..? Especially you dire wolf man.. I’m feeling intense Deja vu here…”

* Daikimaru: ( lying to keep the timeline on track) “ No I Believe this is the first time I have seen you in person though I have seen certain ads of yours and snippets of your social media profile”

* Fey: ( trying to save face and his ego being boosted) “ Ah yes.. well my ads are some of the highest ranked in the country, and excuse me if you see any off color remarks on my company’s social media page… seriously I need to fire the social media manager….. what the?!” Fey remarks as a shadow comes bursting into his office, Daikimaru summoning Anubis and Grizzlie summoning Take-Minakata. After Fey awakens to King Midas and joins his team and as Fey and Grizzlie head to use the bathroom. Daikimaru closes his eyes and braces himself.

* Daikimaru: “ No matter what happens in this timeline I will keep Fey and Grizzlie alive and help them survive no matter what! Or my suffering in all these loops would have been in vain…” Daikimaru says to himself as he meets up with the others in the male bathroom to discuss their next course of action as the parts of an potential sequel scenes stop.

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