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letterboxd · 3 years

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Blurring the Line.

As a new Space Jam film beams down to Earth, Kambole Campbell argues that a commitment to silliness and a sincere love for the medium is what it takes to make a great live-action/animation hybrid.

The live-action and animation hybrid movie is something of a dicey prospect. It’s tricky to create believable interaction between what’s real and what’s drawn, puppeteered or rendered—and blending the live and the animated has so far resulted in wild swings in quality. It is a highly specific and technically demanding niche, one with only a select few major hits, though plenty of cult oddities. So what makes a good live-action/animation hybrid?

To borrow words from Hayao Miyazaki, “live action is becoming part of that whole soup called animation”. Characters distinct from the humans they interact with, but rendered as though they were real creatures (or ghosts), are everywhere lately; in Paddington, in Scooby Doo, in David Lowery’s (wonderful) update of Pete’s Dragon.

The original ‘Pete’s Dragon’ (1977) alongside the 2016 remake.

Lowery’s dragon is realized with highly realistic lighting and visual-effects work. By comparison, the cartoon-like characters in the 1977 Pete’s Dragon—along with other films listed in Louise’s handy compendium of Disney’s live-action animation—are far more exaggerated. That said, there’s still the occasional holdout for the classical version of these crossovers: this year’s Tom and Jerry replicating the look of 2D through 3D/CGI animation, specifically harkens back to the shorts of the 1940s and ’50s.

One type of live-action/animation hybrid focuses on seamless immersion, the other is interested in exploring the seams themselves. Elf (2003) uses the aberration of stop-motion animals to represent the eponymous character as a fish out of water. Ninjababy, a Letterboxd favorite from this year’s SXSW Festival, employs an animated doodle as a representation of the protagonist’s state of mind while she processes her unplanned pregnancy.

Meanwhile, every Muppets film ever literally tears at the seams until we’re in stitches, but, for the sake of simplicity, puppets are not invited to this particular party. What we are concerned with here is the overlap between hand-drawn animation and live-action scenes (with honorable mentions of equally valid stop-motion work), and the ways in which these hybrids have moved from whimsical confections to nod-and-wink blockbusters across a century of cinema.

Betty Boop and Koko the clown in a 1938 instalment of the Fleischer brothers’ ‘Out of the Inkwell’ series.

Early crossovers often involve animators playing with their characters, in scenarios such as the inventive Out of the Inkwell series of shorts from Rotoscope inventor Max Fleischer and his director brother Dave. Things get even more interactive mid-century, when Gene Kelly holds hands with Jerry Mouse in Anchors Aweigh.

The 1960s and ’70s deliver ever more delightful family fare involving human actors entering cartoon worlds, notably in the Robert Stevenson-directed Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Chuck Jones’ puntastic The Phantom Tollbooth.

Jerry and Gene dance off their worries in ‘Anchors Aweigh’ (1945).

Mary Poppins is one of the highest-rated live-action/animation hybrids on Letterboxd for good reason. Its sense of control in how it engages with its animated creations makes it—still!—an incredibly engaging watch. It is simply far less evil than the singin’, dancin’ glorification of slavery in Disney’s Song of the South (1946), and far more engaging than Victory Through Air Power (1943), a war-propaganda film about the benefits of long-range bombing in the fight against Hitler. The studio’s The Reluctant Dragon (1941) also serves a propagandistic function, as a behind-the-scenes studio tour made when the studio’s animators were striking.

By comparison, Mary Poppins’ excursions into the painted world—replicated in Rob Marshall’s belated, underrated 2018 sequel, Mary Poppins Returns—are full of magical whimsicality. “Films have added the gimmick of making animation and live characters interact countless times, but paradoxically none as pristine-looking as this creation,” writes Edgar in this review. “This is a visual landmark, a watershed… the effect of making everything float magically, to the detail of when a drawing should appear in front or the back of [Dick] Van Dyke is a creation beyond my comprehension.” (For Van Dyke, who played dual roles as Bert and Mr Dawes Senior, the experience sparked a lifelong love of animation and visual effects.)

Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and penguins, in ‘Mary Poppins’ (1964).

Generally speaking, and the Mary Poppins sequel aside, more contemporary efforts seek to subvert this feeling of harmony and control, instead embracing the chaos of two worlds colliding, the cartoons there to shock rather than sing. Henry Selick’s frequently nightmarish James and the Giant Peach (1996) leans into this crossover as something uncanny and macabre by combining live action with stop motion, as its young protagonist eats his way into another world, meeting mechanical sharks and man-eating rhinos. Sally Jane Black describes it as “riding the Burton-esque wave of mid-’90s mall goth trends and blending with the differently demonic Dahl story”.

Science-classroom staple Osmosis Jones (2001) finds that within the human body, the internal organs serve as cities full of drawn white-blood-cell cops. The late Stephen Hillenburg’s The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) turns its real-life humans into living cartoons themselves, particularly in a bonkers sequence featuring David Hasselhoff basically turning into a speedboat.

David Hasselhoff picks up speed in ‘The Spongebob Squarepants Movie’ (2004).

The absurdity behind the collision of the drawn and the real is never better embodied than in another of our highest-rated live/animated hybrids. Released in 1988, Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit shows off a deep understanding—narratively and aesthetically—of the material that it’s parodying, seeking out the impeccable craftsmanship of legends such as director of animation Richard Williams (1993’s The Thief and the Cobbler), and his close collaborator Roy Naisbitt. The forced perspectives of Naisbitt’s mind-bending layouts provide much of the rocket fuel driving the film’s madcap cartoon opening.

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Roger Rabbit utilizes the Disney stable of characters as well as the Looney Tunes cast to harken back to America’s golden age of animation. It continues a familiar scenario where the ’toons themselves are autonomous actors (as also seen in Friz Freleng’s 1940 short You Ought to Be in Pictures, in which Daffy Duck convinces Porky Pig to try his acting luck in the big studios).

Daffy Duck plots his rise up the acting ranks in ‘You Ought to Be in Pictures’ (1940).

Through this conceit, Zemeckis is able to celebrate the craft of animation, while pastiching both Chinatown, the noir genre, and the mercenary nature of the film industry (“the best part is… they work for peanuts!” a studio exec says of the cast of Fantasia). As Eddie Valiant, Bob Hoskins’ skepticism and disdain towards “toons” is a giant parody of Disney’s more traditional approach to matching humans and drawings.

Adult audiences are catered for with plenty of euphemistic humor and in-jokes about the history of the medium. It’s both hilarious (“they… dropped a piano on him,” one character solemnly notes of his son) and just the beginning of Hollywood toying with feature-length stories in which people co-exist with cartoons, rather than dipping in and out of fantasy sequences. It’s not just about how the cartoons appear on the screen, but how the human world reacts to them, and Zemeckis gets a lot of mileage out of applying ’toon lunacy to our world.

Bob Hoskins in ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ (1988).

The groundbreaking optical effects and compositing are excellent (and Hoskins’ amazing performance should also be credited for holding all of it together), but what makes Roger Rabbit such a hit is that sense of controlled chaos and a clever tonal weaving of violence and noirish seediness (“I’m not bad… I’m just drawn that way”) through the cartoony feel. And it is simply very, very funny.

It could be said that, with Roger Rabbit, Zemeckis unlocked the formula for how to modernize the live-action and animation hybrid, by leaning into a winking parody of what came before. It worked so perfectly well that it helped kickstart the ‘Disney renaissance' era of animation. Roger Rabbit has influenced every well-known live-action/animation hybrid produced since, proving that there is success and fun to be had by completely upending Mary Poppins-esque quirks. Even Disney’s delightful 2007 rom-com Enchanted makes comedy out of the idea of cartoons crossing that boundary.

When a cartoon character meets real-world obstacles.

Even when done well, though, hybrids are not an automatic hit. Sitting at a 2.8-star average, Joe Dante’s stealthily great Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) is considered by the righteous to be the superior live-action/animated Looney Tunes hybrid, harkening back to the world of Chuck Jones and Frank Tashlin. SilentDawn states that the film deserves the nostalgic reverence reserved for Space Jam: “From gag to gag, set piece to set piece, Back in Action is utterly bonkers in its logic-free plotting and the constant manipulation of busy frames.”

With its Tinseltown parody, Back in Action pulls from the same bag of tricks as Roger Rabbit; here, the Looney Tunes characters are famous, self-entitled actors. Dante cranks the meta comedy up to eleven, opening the film with Matthew Lillard being accosted by Shaggy for his performance in the aforementioned Scooby Doo movie (and early on throwing in backhanded jokes about the practice of films like itself as one character yells, “I was brought in to leverage your synergy!”).

Daffy Duck with more non-stop banter in ‘Looney Tunes: Back in Action’ (2003).

Back in Action is even more technically complex than Roger Rabbit, seamlessly bringing Looney Tunes physics and visual language into the real world. Don’t forget that Dante had been here before, when he had Anthony banish Ethel into a cartoon-populated television show in his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Another key to this seamlessness is star Brendan Fraser, at the height of his powers here as “Brendan Fraser’s stunt double”.

Like Hoskins before him, Fraser brings a wholehearted commitment to playing the fed-up straight man amidst cartoon zaniness. Fraser also brought that dedication to Henry Selick's Monkeybone (2001), a Roger Rabbit-inspired sex comedy that deploys a combo of stop-motion animation and live acting in a premise amusingly close to that of 1992’s Cool World (but more on that cult anomaly shortly). A commercial flop, Back in Action was the last cinematic outing for the Looney Tunes for some time.

Nowadays, when we think of live-action animation, it’s hard not to jump straight to an image of Michael Jordan’s arm stretching to do a half-court dunk to save the Looney Tunes from slavery. There’s not a lot that can be fully rationalized about the 1996 box-office smash, Space Jam. It is a bewildering cartoon advert for Michael Jordan’s baseball career, dreamed up off the back of his basketball retirement, while also mashing together different American icons. Never forget that the soundtrack—one that, according to Benjamin, “makes you have to throw ass”—includes a song with B-Real, Coolio, Method Man and LL Cool J.

Michael Jordan and teammates in ‘Space Jam’ (1996).

Space Jam is a film inherently born to sell something, predicated on the existing success of a Nike commercial rather than any obvious passion for experimentation. But its pure strangeness, a growing nostalgia for the nineties, and meticulous compositing work from visual-effects supervisor Ed Jones and the film’s animation team (a number of whom also worked on both Roger Rabbit and Back in Action), have all kept it in the cultural memory.

The films is backwards, writes Jesse, in that it wants to distance itself from the very cartoons it leverages: “This really almost feels like a follow-up to Looney Tunes: Back in Action, rather than a predecessor, because it feels like someone watched the later movie, decided these Looney Tunes characters were a problem, and asked someone to make sure they were as secondary as possible.” That attempt to place all the agency in Jordan’s hands was a point of contention for Chuck Jones, the legendary Warner Bros cartoonist. He hated the film, stating that Bugs would never ask for help and would have dealt with the aliens in seven minutes.

Space Jam has its moments, however. Guy proclaims “there is nothing that Deadpool as a character will ever have to offer that isn’t done infinitely better by a good Bugs Bunny bit”. For some, its problems are a bit more straightforward, for others it’s a matter of safety in sport. But the overriding sentiments surrounding the film point to a sort of morbid fascination with the brazenness of its concept.

Holli Would (voiced by Kim Basinger) and Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) blur the lines in ‘Cool World’ (1992).

Existing in the same demented… space… as Space Jam, Paramount Pictures bought the idea for Cool World from Ralph Bakshi as it sought to have its own Roger Rabbit. While Brad Pitt described it as “Roger Rabbit on acid” ahead of release, Cool World itself looks like a nightmare version of Toontown. The film was universally panned at the time, caught awkwardly between being far too adult for children but too lacking in any real substance for adults (there’s something of a connective thread between Jessica Rabbit, Lola Bunny and Holli Would).

Ralph Bakshi’s risqué and calamitously horny formal experiment builds on the animator’s fascination with the relationship between the medium and the human body. Of course, he would go from the immensely detailed rotoscoping of Fire and Ice (1983) to clashing hand-drawn characters with real ones, something he had already touched upon in the seventies with Heavy Traffic and Coonskin, whose animated characters were drawn into real locations. But no one besides Bakshi quite knew what to do with the perverse concept of Brad Pitt as a noir detective trying to stop Gabriel Byrne’s cartoonist from having sex with a character that he drew—an animated Kim Basinger.

Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) attempts to cross over to Hollie Would in ‘Cool World’ (1992).

Cool World’s awkwardness can be attributed to stilted interactions between Byrne, Pitt and the animated world, as well as studio meddling. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr (who was on the film due to his father running Paramount) demanded that the film be reworked into something PG-rated, against Bakshi’s wishes (he envisioned an R-rated horror), and the script was rewritten in secret. It went badly, so much so that Bakshi eventually punched Mancuso Jr in the face.

While Cool World averages two stars on Letterboxd, there are some enthusiastic holdouts. There are the people impressed by the insanity of it all, those who just love them a horny toon, and then there is Andrew, a five-star Cool World fan: “On the surface, it’s a Lovecraftian horror with Betty Boop as the villain, featuring a more impressive cityscape than Blade Runner and Dick Tracy combined, and multidimensional effects that make In the Mouth of Madness look like trash. The true star, however, proves to be the condensed surplus of unrelated gags clogging the arteries of the screen—in every corner is some of the silliest cel animation that will likely ever be created.”

There are even those who enjoy its “clear response to Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, with David writing that “the film presents a similar concept through the lens of the darkly comic, perverted world of the underground cartoonists”, though also noting that without Bakshi’s original script, the film is “a series of half steps and never really commits like it could”. Cool World feels both completely deranged and strangely low-energy, caught between different ideas as to how best to mix the two mediums. But it did give us a David Bowie jam.

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ is in cinemas and on HBO Max now.

Craft is of course important, but generally speaking, maybe nowadays a commitment to silliness and a sincere love for the medium’s history is the thing that makes successful live-action/animation hybrids click. It’s an idea that doesn’t lend itself to being too cool, or even entirely palatable. The trick is to be as fully dotty as Mary Poppins, or steer into the gaucheness of the concept, à la Roger Rabbit and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

It’s quite a tightrope to walk between good meta-comedy and a parade of references to intellectual property. The winningest strategy is to weave the characters into the tapestry of the plot and let the gags grow from there, rather than hoping their very inclusion is its own reward. Wait, you said what is coming out this week?

Related content

Rootfish Jones’s list of cartoons people are horny for

The 100 Sequences that Shaped Animation: the companion list to the Vulture story

Jose Moreno’s list of every animated film made from 1888 to the present

Follow Kambole on Letterboxd

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #237: Meltdowns and Mayhem

November, 1983

Pandemonium at Project Pegasus!

Oo, that might have been a better title! It’s just fun to say! Meltdowns and Mayhem is good too. And mayhem and pandemonium really does describe the cover.

Its one of those big mishmash fight covers. Just a big confusing scrum. And Wasp yelling at She-Hulk for some reason. Yeah, I dunno.

Hey, Spider-Man is still pretty front and center so this is still the Spider-Man Guest Stars, starring the Avengers book.

Oh, and the cool new logo is still here so I guess its the new thing. Rad.

Last time on Avengers: Spider-Man decided he was going to join the Avengers because money. He stowed away when the Avengers were called to an emergency situation at Project Pegasus, which turned out to be lava men. Captain Marvel’s presence accidentally released Nova villain Blackout who freed Moonstone. On her say so, he also freed Rhino and Electro. Captain Marvel also managed to resolve the lava men situation since they for some reason worship her as the prophesied savior the Lady-of-Light.

Avengers lead interesting lives.

This time on Avengers:

Captain Marvel tells the lava men to go home.

And they do.

Spider-Man grouses that he gets no respect from lava men. I’m not sure why he was expecting any?

Cap(tain America) has been briefing Plain Michael O’Brien - the once (and future? when he stops sulking?) Guardsman - on the situation re: the lava men invasion being a big misunderstanding.

Project Pegasus accidentally sent a magma tap right into the lava men village. Common mistake, could have happened to anyone. But O’Brien promises the magma tap will be moved.

Elsewhere in the facility, Moonstone’s quirky quartet watch Cap, O’Brien, and the lava men make peace. With different reactions.

Rhino doesn’t think its a big deal because he wants to pound ‘em. Electro is more hesitant because the Avengers outnumber them as is AND have Spider-Man and Spider-Man pretty consistently kicks his and Rhino’s asses.

Rhino still doesn’t care.

But if Electro doesn’t want to do the superhero fight then he can guard the rear and keep an eye on Blackout who Rhino doesn’t trust anymore than he would Spider-Man.

Because since Blackout is so new a villain (only previous appearance an issue of Nova), Rhino hasn’t heard of him. AND ISN’T IT CONVENIENT THAT A VILLAIN HE’S NEVER HEARD OF RELEASED HIM FROM HIS CELL SAME DAY THE AVENGERS SHOWED UP?

Pretty suspicious.

Blackout is hyperbolic and has a persecution complex even by the standards of supervillains.

Blackout: “How dare you accuse me of such a thing!! You’re just like all the rest! You’re against me... All of you!”

He uses his vague powers to encase Rhino in “solid black-light” and then waxes melodramatic.

I mean look at this shit.

Electro’s reaction to this in-fighting is more on the lines of scoffing at all this nonsense comic book science compared to his super cool normal electricity powers.

Electro: “Solid light? Black-star power? Moonstone, what’s he talking about? Anyone who’s had even a grade-school science education knows that he’s spouting gibberish! Black-light is just ultraviolet...”

Moonstone: “... And what he controls is much more. Yes, I know... But I don’t think that he fully knows.”

Wow. Co-villains be snarkin’.

Also, while Blackout continues monologuing about how anyone that stands against him will be merged with the light spectrum (???), Rhino just breaks out of the solid black-light, grabs Blackout, and goes to bounce Blackout against the wall until he blacks out.

But Moonstone and Electro separate the idiots and reminds them that they should be more mad at the Project Pegasus scientists who imprisoned them.

AND MOONSTONE HAS A PLAN, of course.

Back two levels down where the lava men plot is still wrapping up.

The lava men have gathered around the magma pit with the lead lava men chanting for the powers of earth to carry them home if they could kthx.

Spectating Spider-Man: This is screwy! He just keeps chanting and waving his arms over the trashed opening to the old magma pit, like he was some second-rate Dr. Strange! What’s he think he’s going to accomplish?

And then the earth blasts magma up from the pit and whisks the the lava men away home to Spider-Man’s great incredulity.

I mean, sure, the Avengers’ lives are weird but is this really weirder than your own life, Spidey?

Just a few years before this comic, Amazing Spider-Man #2 had to be retconned so you wouldn’t have dealt with aliens in only your second issue. Your life is weird!

Anyway, since the lava men are gone, Wasp decides its time to rip Spider-Man a new one for stowing away and interfering with Avengers’ business.

Spider-Man: “I’m sorry, Wasp. I...”

Wasp: “Sorry?! Is that all you can say for yourself? Well, I should hope you’re sorry! You might have sacrificed our entire mission!”

Spider-Man: I really blew it this time! “I only meant to help, Wasp. I just wanted to show you that I’d make a good Avengers... But I guess you’d never consider me for membership now, huh?”

Wasp: “I didn’t say that! If you promise not to ever do anything this rash again, we’ll see what we can do about making you an Avengers-in-training!”

(Good to see Wasp got over her inexplicable ‘ew spiders are gross’ phase from the 60s)

Much excitement until Spider-Man remembers that he didn’t want to be an in-training and protests what would he even need training for?

Captain America: “Well, for one thing, to learn how to follow orders!”

Hah!

Its like a criticism sandwich. ‘You almost fucked everything up!’ ‘But we still want you to join us.’ ‘But you need to learn teamwork dammit!’

I’ll give Spidey credit, after I was a bit rude last time, that he has learned to take criticism between the time in Amazing #1 and now. He didn’t immediately jump out a window rather than face embarrassment at fucking up. Part of that is probably that he’s underground in a government facility and there’s no good place to run away but still, some of it has to be growth.

Scarlet Witch backs Cap up that all the Avengers had to learn how to work together as a unit.

Wasp and Cap also mention that if he becomes an Avenger, he can keep his private life private but no secret superpowers. The Avengers need to know what each other can do in a pinch.

This is news to Starfox who begins musing about his own SECRET SUPERPOWER (which I’m pretty sure I’ve spilled the beans on repeatedly already). Since there hasn’t been a situation where his SECRET POWER would have been useful, he just hasn’t mentioned it but not wonders whether he should just tell the other Avengers or maybe lean into the omission and keep not mentioning it forever.

I feel option 2 isn’t a great idea but, hey, you do you spaceman.

Anyway, Spider-Man agrees that telling them about his cool powers is a fair trade for becoming an Avenger. And seriously, he’s prone to explain his powers at the drop of a hat anyway so this is no kind of huge task.

Wasp decides that they should return to the mansion so they can get this wrapped up and O’Brien shows the Avengers the cool and not at all dangerous vortex beam transport tube.

The vortex beam propels the passengers up and is apparently susceptible to irony. Because as soon as Spider-Man asks what would happen if the power went out, the beam fails and the Avengers start plummeting twenty stories.

Thankfully, Captain Marvel, Wasp, and Starfox can fly and Spider-Man catches the rest in a web net after catching himself against the wall of the tube.

Maybe stick to elevators and stairs, Project Pegasus.

But O’Brien protests that there are hundreds of failsafes and automatic safety systems that would have had to fail for them to plummet even if the vortex beam lost power.

This was SABOTAGE.

On Wasp’s order, She-Hulk punches them an egress into the side of the tube.

O’Brien gets over to a security monitor and discovers the breakout. The guy on the other end of the monitor informs him that the four escaped prisoners are on their way to the nuclear research dome.

Wouldn’t you know it! The Avengers just left and now they have to head back.

They find that the doors to the dome have been melted and Starfox and She-Hulk have to KRA-THOOM them open to pieces.

Spider-Man: Geez, next to those two, I feel like a 98-pound weakling!

Unfortunately, its one impediment after another. Past the doors into the dome, there’s a big black wall that’s not supposed to be there.

Spider-Man tries climbing it but slides right down, to his bafflement.

Spider-Man: “I can climb a wall of teflon if I have to! What’s this thing made of?”

She-Hulk tries punching it and finds that it breaks just fine but when she BAMs a hole in it, Electro zaps her with electricity through it. And the hole seals up when Spider-Man tries to web Electro.

Moonstone starts broadcasting through a monitor so she can gloat that her boys and her have taken over the nuclear research dome which means they’re in control of the whole project and the Avengers (plus Spider-Man) can’t do a thing to stop them.

And as a pretty vehement gtfo, Electro juices up with a backpack connected to the dome’s nuclear generator and electrifies the black wall.

So now the Avengers can’t even try to punch through.

Wasp: “Dangerous or not, we still have to get through and stop this madness! That wall has to come down... and you’re the one best equipped to handle that -- Wanda!”

And her probability borking powers are, as ever, a good do anything button.

Its not very probable for Blackout’s barrier to break down but it does! And its not probable for the electricity on the barrier to discharge into Electro but wouldn’t you know it, Wanda waved her hands a certain way and its happening!

Supervillains hate her. Her one weird trick for doing heroics.

But with the barrier down, Rhino charges the Avengers (plus Spider-Man), bowling over Starfox who was probably momentarily baffled to see a man dressed as a rhino charging him.

Captain Marvel dodges Rhino in her light form only to be immediately captured in a bubble by Blackout.

Alas, she had such a good showing this issue. I guess Stern decided that some other people needed time to look cool.

Spider-Man jumps on Rhino while he bowls through the Avengers and Starfox punches Blackout in the head for capturing Monica.

Blackout: “You think you can intimidate me just because you can fly?! Well, you’re wrong! Wrong! Blackout can also defy gravity!”

Starfox: “A challenge! Marvelous!”

Blackout sure is something. Like I said, even for a supervillain, he sure is something.

But its funny how Blackout and Starfox are on completely different wavelengths.

Electro recovers from getting Wanda’d and goes to fry Spider-Man but Cap(tain America) throws his mighty shield and severs the cord giving him extra juice.

Spider-Man, webbing the cord so its not a hazard: “Thanks for the quick save, Cappy!”

Captain America: “Don’t mention it, son! That’s just teamwork in action!”

It’s a teachable moment. Cap-style.

Electro tries to fry Cap for interfering but Cap’s mighty shield blocks... the... electricity. Okay, its metal though. Where is the charge going??

Scarlet Witch comes to ruin Electro’s day twice-over and waves her do-anything hands at him.

He scoffs that nothing happened and then immediately passes out.

Cap: “Wanda? What the blazes did you do to him?”

Scarlet Witch: “Basically, I tried to make all the carbon dioxide in the room cluster around his head, so he’d pass out from temporary lack of oxygen. Looks like it worked!”

Cap: “Uh... yes!”

Cap’s thinking ‘damn Wanda, you’re scary.’

The thing about do-anything powers like Wanda’s is that she really should be able to shut down most opponents like this but she probably won’t do this very often because it would be boring.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man blindfolds Rhino with webbing and lets him ram through a wall.

Rhino: “A few inches of steel don’t mean anything to me!”

She-Hulk: “Is that so? Well, how about a few knuckles of She-Hulk? Does that mean anything? Hmmph! I guess it does!”

I mean, you didn’t have to phrase it that way but good job, She-Hulk! You punched him in his rhino face.

And it was more good teamwork from Spidey. He set ‘em up, She-Hulk knocked ‘im down.

Also meanwhile, Captain Marvel is fed up with not being able to escape Blackout’s globe. And, hey, nice touch, from the outside we can see that the globe is wholly opaque so yes, it would be impenetrable to the visible light spectrum.

And no matter what energy she tries, she can’t get out. But she does a force-blast and that does bust the globe.

Whiiiiich distracts Starfox as he chases Blackout around the room and Blackout takes advantage of the distraction to blast Starfox.

Captain Marvel: “You devil! I’ll get you for that!”

Blackout: “Get me? Yes, you all try -- don’t you? You’re all out to get me!”

In this situation? Yes they are! Ya goof.

In the control room, Moonstone knows that Rhino, Electro, and Blackout don’t stand a chance to beat the Avengers but all she needs is for them to be a distraction while she uses the controls.

Wasp flies in but too late. Moonstone blasts not Wasp but the control panel.

Her plan all along was to destroy Project Pegasus for daring to study her powers like she was some kind of lab rat. And with the controls destroyed, she’s confidant that the Avengers won’t be able to stop what she started.

She blinds Wasp by doing a taiyoken with her chest and then flees out the evacuation exit, gloating that Project Pegasus is about to get very unpleasant.

What a goof.

Blackout also takes the opportunity to escape, sealing the exit behind him with one of his black light constructs.

Captain Marvel starts to blast through but Wasp tells her that there’s no time to chase supervillains right now, the reactor is going critical.

Spider-Man: “Critical? Is someone being critical again?”

Wasp: “This is no joking matter, Spider-Man! Moonstone’s left the reactor in an awful state!”

Spidey seriouses up immediately and goes to take a look, commenting that he has a little scientific training.

Oh, hey, another great reason to have Spider-Man join the team. He can be the new science guy and Starfox can get back to being the flirt. Everyone would be happier then.

And then Spidey even more seriouses up.

Spider-Man: “Moonie pulled all of the damping rods out of the power core! If we can’t get them back in place, we’ll have a meltdown that’ll leave the entire project uninhabitable for the new hundred-thousand years!”

Geez, Moonstone! You don’t half-ass revenge!

Moonstone broke the controls so they can’t just plunk the damping rods back into place. Wanda’s do-anything powers could do it, if she wanted to melt before she could do it.

Apparently her powers are reliant on direct line-of-sight (even though that doesn’t gel with when she fought the Wizard recently) but the radiation levels are so high in the reactor that she doubts even She-Hulk would survive it.

But Captain Marvel could.

Radiation wouldn’t affect her energy forms and she can get into the reactor through the circuity in the control room.

Spider-Man gets on a microphone and tries to walk Captain Monica through what she needs to do.

She needs to cut through all five supports on the damping rod assembly. If the assembly doesn’t fall as a unit, NUCLEAR DISASTER.

Captain Marvel zips about as a laser, I guess, cutting through the supports. One isn’t cut through all the way through, giving Spider-Man a startle, but Monica zips about lightspeed and finishes cutting through, allowing the assembly to fall into place with a WHUNK.

Spider-Man: “The reactor’s shutting down. Uh.. Can someone help me get my heart restarted?”

Ha, I like Cap(tain America)’s ‘whew’ gesture.

Y’know, the selling point of this arc seems to be ‘HEY LOOK SPIDER-MAN IS HERE’ but its been more of a Captain Marvel focused story. She resolves the lava man situation and she has a ‘this looks like a job for Aquaman’ moment with the reactor too.

Still, Spidey pulled his weight. He c-c-c-combo’d Rhino with She-Hulk. His spider-sense came in handy. And he got to be a science guy since Starfox was knocked out.

I tend to be iffy on Spider-Man as an Avenger overall but heck, lets have him on the team!

Later, after Spider-Man’s heart gets restarted and everyone has returned to the Mansion, Cap and Wasp call the Government (specifically their liaison Mr. Sikorski who doesn’t want to be here and hates dealing with superheroes. Its frankly amazing that Gyrich’s understudy is a worse Avengers liaison than him) to request clearance for Spider-Man to become a new trainee Avenger.

And over slightly to the left, presumably off-camera from the call Wasp and Cap are having, Spider-Man ponders whether this is actually something he wants.

He still doesn’t like the idea of being treated as a rookie. He’s been superheroing since he was in high school and darnit, he’s dropped out of grad school by this point! And he doesn’t know whether he’s a good fit for a team at all.

But on the other hand, he’s got a thousand good reasons (a week) to join. I’m sorry, I typed reasons, I meant dollars.

But what Spider-Man does and does not want becomes a bit moot as Mr. Sikorski shoots the idea down flat.

Mr. Sikorski: “Spider-Man?! Are you out of your minds? We have a file on him that’s a yard long -- and it still doesn’t tell us a blasted thing about him! The man’s a major security risk! No! I absolutely forbid it!”

God. He even wags his finger at Cap and Wasp.

The nerve.

The unmitigated gall.

Spider-Man takes this with all due sour grapes.

Spider-Man: “They’ll okay, Starfox -- a guy from outer space -- but my own government won’t approve me?”

Yeah, that’s a good point!

Cap offers to go over Mr. Sikorski’s head by going right to the president (which in FAIRNESS is kinda how Starfox got on the team) but Spider-Man tells Cap not to bother.

I’d guess a combination of bruised pride and ‘oh thank god now I don’t have to make a decision, I just get to be indignant about it.’

Spider-Man: “Naw, don’t put yourself out, Cap! Me joining the Avengers was a dumb idea anyway! But I’ll tell you one thing... my Congressman is definitely gonna hear about this!”

Sad Starfox with an icepack on his head: “Congressman? What on Earth is a Congressman?”

Hah.

Also, the tiny next issue box promises UNLIMITED VISION which is definitely not ominous at alllll.

So! Not a bad two-parter by any means! It is a shame that Spider-Man can’t join the Avengers, because of the government and probably writers and editorial, he has a fun dynamic with the team.

But in these times where Marvel tried to keep things consistent in the shared universe, a big guy with his own book like Spider-Man would be difficult. I mean, they’ve only recently written out Thor and Iron Man for having troubles in their own books and Spider-Man is constantly having trouble in his book.

Your time will come eventually, Spidey.

Follow @essential-avengers because maybe one day I’ll get to the point where Spider-Man is a reserve member. Also like and reblog because I like to feel liked.

#avengers #Moonstone #Rhino #Electro #Blackout #Spider Man #Captain Marvel #Monica Rambeau #Scarlet Witch #the Wasp #She Hulk #Captain America #Starfox #Essential Avengers #essential marvel liveblogging #so monica became the chosen one of lava people and stopped a nuclear meltdown in one day #that's a productive day #Spider Man wasn't MVP but he did a good job #Starfox doesn't know how democracy works

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fanwright · 3 years

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Gladiator: 200th Chapter Celebration

Tagging: @kigozula @seyaryminamoto

---

Seyary, this is a great milestone for you. Just want to let you know that I’m happy for you and impressed by the work that you have done over the long years of writing this story. You’ve inspired others to get into Sokkla as well as to have fun with the ship. Its been a great pleasure!

When I first picked up this story, I was still in college and rediscovering ATLA. Gladiator, as well as your other stories (which I recommend that others read as well) really cemented my liking for this ship. Years later, I’m still here, though all the ups and downs.

Now, despite me liking Gladiator a whole lot, I’ve admittedly fallen behind on catching up with it, chapter by chapter. That said, I do want to read it at my own pace and as I read more I still find myself loving the story, as there is much to enjoy.

So, to that end, I’ll be commenting on the parts of the story I have been caught up with, Chapters 1 to 100. I hope that’s okay.

---

1.) Favorite Character: Sokka

Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t like Azula. Of course not. And choosing one over the other is such a hard call to make that I would rather have them both occupy the same spot. But I decided Sokka in this case for a number of reasons. Others have commented on Azula in their own posts, so I thought giving my reasons for Sokka seemed only fair.

We’ve seen Sokka change a lot over the course of the story and I seeing him morph into the character he is now is such a stark contrast to the one we saw at the very beginning. He hated the Fire Nation and was unwilling to cooperate with Azula. And yet, after trial and error and harsh circumstance, we have seen become a great warrior in his own right and the closest companion Azula has ever had, being her secret lover. It has been such a treat seeing him change and adapt and grow in this story. And as someone who really does like him as much as Azula, it was (and still is) a thill to see him get an all-star treatment in a story.

And yet there are lingering complexities within him in this story, as far as I have gotten in it. There is still that awareness within him of who he serves and what he is doing, along with a nagging feeling of inadequacy that has hounded him at every turn. Bit by bit, either by his own efforts or with a little help, he is clawing his way forward internally to find some reconciliation. And I find that very compelling.

And also its fun to see him thrash gladiators.

2.) Least Favorite Most Dreaded Character: Ozai

Well, that’s not true really. I don’t dislike any of the reoccurring characters actually.

The best way to describe this particular choice is “Most Dreaded Character”. I chose Ozai for this one because I dread the moment in when he finds out Azula and Sokka’s little affair. Now, again, I’m only on Chapter 100, so things could have changed by now. Yet, I believe still that if Ozai finds about about all this... a lot is going to change for Azula, Sokka, and even the Fire Nation. He will be a consequential character in the chapters to come and dread to see the his wrath and what that will mean for everyone else. It will not be pretty.

3.) Favorite “Antagonist”: Toph

When I first picked up this story and saw Toph introduced as an adversary, I was hyped. Like, you have no idea how hyped and pumped up I was for them to brawl. And I was not disappointed.

See, for me, Toph represented more than just a metaphorical torn in both Sokka’s and Azula’s side for a good chunk of this story. She is at times a very compelling mini-villain, as if she is straight out of a Disney movie. She loves what she does and enjoys it, and knows just how powerful she is. And flaunts it in spectacular display. She has such a simple yet understandable motivation and was a very real threat to Sokka’s own life in the very first fight they were in. And despite both Sokka and Toph eventually learning to respect and even befriend each other, there was always the nagging thought that they would eventually fight again, and each one knew they wanted to win that rematch. Toph provided Sokka and Azula a reoccurring adversary to strive toward beating. Even as other gladiators came and went, they always knew Toph would be their biggest obstacle. So much build up was focused on training for that eventuality. And all of it was compelling enough to paint Toph as this great rival to them. Her being a part-time ally in some cases and even being a friend didn’t really change that until after they had fought a second time.

Its because of this that I now believe firmly that Toph should be used as an antagonist more, if a story needs one. She is just so fun and so good as villain that hope others come to use her as one in AUs.

As I read more, I’m sure this might change in time. But, even with all the fights Sokka has had, I firmly maintain that Toph was his greatest adversary on many levels.

4.) Favorite OC: Rui Shi

Honestly, I think this guy is a sprit animal to someone out there. He’s just a guard trying to do his job right and the person he protects consistently makes that job harder for him in the most ridiculous ways. “Oh great, my princess is in an affair with her Gladiator and that won’t stop fucking like rabbits. Joy.”

Honestly, this man needs a vacation. A long one. And Seyary hasn’t given it to him, because she likes to make his life hard. Rude.

For the longest time, I actually thought Rui Shi was much older than he actually is in the story. So until a picture of him was finally made, I pictured him as a 40 year old veteran with a graying mustache and beard. Even with how he actually looks, I wouldn’t be surprised if his job made him grow gray hair from all the stress.

Good OC, one of a few I like.

5.) Favorite Suitor: Zhao

Should probably be no surprise. Where I am at right now, he’s essentially the suitor to beat as well as having the ultimate Gladiator for Sokka and Azula to defeat. Azula even admired him at some point. Though that has changed, I feel that Zhao has his eyes set on courting Azula further. Its a move that Ozai would likely not object to, provided Zhao pulls off something grand to earn that honor. And although every suitor has made Sokka angry, I feel Zhao would anger him on a deeper level as his interest in Azula grows.

I look forward to seeing him more.

6.) Favorite Gladiator(s): Jet and Suki (For Chapters 1-100)

Jet being a brainwashed Gladiator highlighted a dark aspect to the games. He was also a brutal berserker when in the ring and one of Sokka’s most bitter adversaries. Suki to me was an interesting contrast to Sokka his situation with Azula. She was to me a kind of noble gladiator, an Amazon in the ring put gentle when out of it. Putting the canon characters in as Gladiators was always a treat for me and actually lends itself to some world-building.

7.) Favorite Gladiator-Canon Pairing: Sokka/Azula

This should not be a surprise :P

I could go on and on about it, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep things short. This should not be surprise because the driving force and the very soul of this entire story is about a warrior-princess falling in love with a tribal gladiator. Their differences and how they reconcile them, their fears and pain, their passion and drive, all propel this story forward. Things have changed in this story because of them and they themselves have changed because fate brought them together.

If that isn’t enough to make them my favorite, then I’m sorry I don’t know what else to say to convince you XD

8.) Favorite Arc(s): Rough Rhinos Arcs

Two arcs hit me hard on an emotional level - The end of the introductory arc and the Rough Rhino’s arc. They literally crawl out of quagmire, find a dragon in the process, and have one of the most touching and sincere heart-to-hearts in the story thus far. It was one of my favorite arcs to read and the emotional stakes were high. As I read more and continue, this might change, but for now I maintain this is one of my favorite arcs.

9.) Favorite Places/Locations: To Be Determine

This is the down side of having to catch up. There are a lot of locations in the story and in the ATLA universe that I like, and its always a hard choice for me to decide. I am a big fan of settings for a story and when I find a setting I like I usually latch onto it in all its locations. So for now, I will not decide on a solid choice.

... however, in any AU it might show up in, Bs Sing Se is my first choice by biased default. I just love that city and I always appreciate when a story fleshes it out in little ways. Gladiator being set for a fraction of its time in the city was great for me as I got to read more about the city I like so much.

10.) I wish to see Sokkla in...: More tender, couple-like moments

Surprising, I know. But I what I mean is this - moments where they refrain from arguing, don’t bicker, and just enjoy being around each other, doing small things together. And its hard for them, they have to train they, have to keep their relationship a secret, they can only be a true couple for fleeting moments because of how dangerous and vulnerable it will leave them. And it claws at my heart every time. So I cherish the moments they have when they can be themselves around one another, fleeting as they sometimes are.

11.) I believe Sokka and Azula’s relationship will be revealed when/like/because of...:

... when they get careless. When they feel that they are safe in their secrecy, complacaent in their routines for keeping their relationship hidden, that’s when it will be revealed. Its a kind of Hubris of sorts.

And when its revealed, it will lead to something bad and irreversible for the both of them. You can only hide something like this for so long. Even historical royal affairs were never as secret as theirs. And they have taken painful precautions to keep it all under wraps.

So when it finally does, it will change everything. And that’s going to be quite the wild ride.

12.) I believe at the end of Part 3...:

... that a sacrifice will be made. A death or a relinquishment of something. Sokka and Azula will be together, but something will have to be given up, and it will test them for the final time.

I can’t say what it will be, but I’m going to enjoy finding out.

#Sokkla #Sokka #Azula #Gladiator Chapter Celebration

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frontproofmedia · 3 years

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Lara vs. Warrington 2 + Undercard Press Conference Quotes

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Published: September 04, 2021

Eddie Hearn: “Thank you for being here in Leeds today, what a turnout, it feels so good. I forgot what this felt like, the big stage, the media, the fans, the atmosphere and anticipation for a massive night on Saturday in Leeds. “20,000 people at Headingley Stadium, the home of Leeds Rhinos transformed for an epic night of boxing, live and exclusively on DAZN all around the world. “This is one of the best cards we have ever put on and on Saturday night you are going to have a night and experience you will never forget. Inside the stadium, inside the ropes, the fans in the arena will get one of the best nights of live boxing they have ever witnessed and on screen we will bring you the best talent line-up in boxing. “This Saturday Laura Woods leading the presentation with Tony Bellew, over to Darren Barker and Chris Lloyd, then we mix it up with Mike Costello the legend and Andy Lee. What a team we have here and what a night we have.” Josh Warrington: “It’s good to be back, it’s nice of everyone to turn up and nice to see there’s going to be a big crowd on Saturday night – it feels normal. This is what I got used to, I got used to this big stage ever since I won the World Title. I’ve been looking forward to this for such a long time, we were talking about conquering the world together, winning the Ring Magazine belt, Las Vegas, New York and ride off into the sunset. “What happened on February 13 happened, it was a hard lesson to take but this is where the next stage goes on, the next chapter begins. I’ve been about the game a long time and I can’t wait to redeem myself. “I take him [Lara] very seriously, I think the first time he said that he saw fear in my eyes, there’s not fear in there I was just looking straight through him. I didn’t think that he could bring what he delivered and that’s my mistake, that’s me being too cocksure of myself. I won’t make that same mistake again; I have the fear factor about this one. He said some random comments about me slagging his dad off, I slag my own dad off, but there’s no personal animosity between me and Mauricio – it’s just business. “When Anthony Joshua got his redemption against Andy Ruiz Jr, it was done and forgotten about and that’s going to be the same Saturday night. I’m sure he’s come over with a bit of an entourage, he looks smart today, had a haircut, but once he’s been done, he’ll have given me a massive lesson in my career but that will be it, we’ll move on. “I’m a proud man and it would have made my toes curl to see and watch somebody else fight Mauricio Lara. I want to get my redemption, I feel that Lara is a great fighter, a strong fighter, but I feel like I’ve been at a higher level for such a long time and beaten fighters that are such a higher level than what he is. “I turned a few book deals down last year and I think after February 13 publishers weren’t bothered about writing a book about Josh Warrington anymore. After Saturday night we’ll put it right, add a few zeros onto that book deal. Going back to normality, going back to a stadium, having people in the crowd – they’re my second wind, my adrenaline, my twelfth man, that little advantage. They’re part of Josh Warrington’s attributes, it’s going to be special to walk out, I’ll give them redemption.” Mauricio Lara: “I hope everyone is well, we have to think now that February 13 February is in the past. I’m now completely and 100% focused on putting on a good show on Saturday. I’m prepared not 100%, but 1000%. Perhaps people didn’t know me previously, but they do now in certain areas, there’s going to be a repeat of what happened – there are no surprises in life. “It really hurt me that a great champion like him [Josh] didn’t give me the credit for my performance but that’s in the past now. I can’t wait for Saturday to come along now and I’m going to show him, in his words, that we’re definitely not on the same level – I’ll have my hand raised on Saturday night. “I’ve prepared for a knockout, but I’ve also prepared for the twelve rounds, I can assure you it won’t go the distance.” Katie Taylor: “This is the first fight in a long time where I’ve actually fought in front of a live crowd, the fact that’s here in Leeds, some of my best memories as a kid are visiting this city, going to Leeds United games at Elland Road. This city has a special place in my heard and I never thought I’d have a chance to fight here. I’m just so excited about it. “This is a huge fight for both of us, I don’t overlook anybody, I can’t afford to get complacent and when you do it’s when you start to actually lose fights. I have prepared for this fight just like I’ve prepared for any fight. I’m expecting a tough challenge on Saturday, and I’m prepared for that. “I feel great, I know I can’t do this forever, but I still feel very fresh right now and I still have plenty more years in the ring. This training camp has gone great, I feel sharp and strong, I can’t wait to produce one of my best performances on Saturday night.” Jennifer Han: “My team and I have travelled a long way, all the way from El Paso, Texas, to be here to show the world what we have. I’ve worked my entire life for this kind of opportunity and I’m excited to be here – it’s my time. “It’s already been life changing, we’ve worked hard, and I’ve overcome many obstacles to get to this point. I’ve never fought on this kind of a stage, so this is going to be amazing. “I do have a lot of respect for Katie, I’ve studied her and it’s time to shine on Saturday.” Conor Benn: “It’s either going to be a proper serious fight or someone’s getting laid out, and it isn’t going to be me. That’s for sure. I work so hard, confidence is a luxury for the hard working, and people mistake by confidence for arrogance. But those people aren’t up with me running at 3 in the morning. I’m crushing it in the gym, and when I work as hard as I do, I have the right to be confident because I leave no stone unturned. “Look at the shape of me. That’s a testament to the five years hard work, that’s a testament to my team working overtime, my strength and conditioning coach, my physio, my nutritionist, Tony, my agent, it all plays a massive part. Teamwork makes the dream work they say, that’s where we’re at. All I have to do is focus on beating the geezer up in the other corner, my team allows me to do just that – I’ve done it now 18 times. “I’m very confident, Granados is a massive test, he’s been in with the top boys, the top dogs. He thinks he’s experienced and that he’s tested at a high level. What did Formella say, what did Vargas say. If they don’t want to believe the hype, I’ll make them believe the hype, it’s as simple as that. I work so hard to be denied and that’s where that ends. It’s been five years of hard work, I love this life, I’m a fighter. “You’ve seen the change, the transformation, it hasn’t come overnight, and it hasn’t come easy. I’ve put the work in every single time, I give 100%, I’m leaving it all in there Saturday night. “I don’t believe the hype whatsoever, not in the slightest, otherwise I still wouldn’t be getting up and doing my runs – I’d think I was all that and a bag of chips. I don’t rely on my power, I’ve been watching Granados’ fights, against Broner and Easter, he gave them one hell of a fight. One of the best Granados and I believe I’m going to get the best Granados. Create the hype and don’t believe it. “I’ve had so many people come up to me and say it’s going to be some reception you know; it’s going to be incredible. I’m thinking they’re going to top my O2 debut you know, I just have a feeling about it. I’ve had such a warm welcome here, big shoutout to the Leeds supporters, thank you. We’ve got a job to do Saturday but after that, I might join you lot in the pub and have a beer.” Adrian Granados: “First and foremost, I want to give thanks to God. Thanks to Eddie for reaching out for me, giving me this opportunity, everyone at Matchroom and DAZN. It was unfortunate, both of us were chomping at the bit for this fight, very exciting build-up and then a day before the weigh-in Conor tested positive for COVID. “This is the age we live in now, although I was very frustrating and upset, everything happens for a reason, and I believe it worked out. Now we’re fighting in Leeds in front of 20,00 people, I’m excited, I’ve already dreamt about fighting here, overseas, I come from Chicago. It’s a dream come true, everyone has been very welcoming and accepting. Now it’s fight time and I’m ready to get this fight going Saturday. “It’s boxing talk, I understand the confidence he’s portrayed and that’s why I’ve answered back and let him know I’m obviously not here to lay done either. I think it makes for an exciting fight, I think our styles are going to match well, l think we’ve got a classic in the making. May the best man win, may God protect us both and we both come out safely.” Jovanni Straffon: “It’s great to be back here in England. What I would say about the fight is it’s not a fight between Mexico and the UK, it’s me and my opponent in the ring. What I will say is that I have the hunger when I go into these fights, I look at this as if this belt was vacant and I have to go in and win it – I have to show that hunger to do that. “Any fighter that’s in front of me is a block in the road for and I have to take them away. They’re also a thief because they’re taking money from my family. I come to fight, and I hope he also comes to fight. “First and foremost, I’m not overlooking Maxi in this instance, he shouldn’t either. It’s dangerous when fighters do that, I want to show I have the hunger, if he wants to win this fight, he’ll have to kill me. On Saturday you’ll be shouting Viva Mexico.” Maxi Hughes: “I’m grateful for the opportunity, I’ve worked hard and been in the pro game eleven years. I believe I am just getting started, whoever’s the oldest world champion, I’m going to try and break that record. “A lot of people are now referring to me as the Cinderella Man, that couldn’t be truer, this morning my missus said to me this house needs cleaning before you leave this house. I’ve been cleaning the house, but when I go to the ball on Saturday night in Headingley I’ll be coming home with two glass slippers on. “It’s the experience, I’m older and wiser, you can’t buy or steal experience, you’ve got to go out and earn it. Doing this as long as I have and being around some top domestic opposition, it’s all led me to where I am. Everything happens for a reason, every fight I’ve took and not got the decision has led me to this, now’s the time to capitalise on it and reap the rewards of the resilience, hard work and dedication I’ve shown. “I want to put my name up there in the top ten across the world, hopefully across all the sanctioning bodies. While I’m in this red-hot form, get the win on Saturday and you better put me in the ring with Canelo in this form before it runs out. “Josh has been a great World Champion, not only did he win the World Title, but he defended it successfully in great fashion. You only need to look at what he’s doing in the gym, copy what Josh does because he’s laid out how you become and stay a world champion. We get on well aside from boxing, it’s been brilliant bouncing off each other in the gym. It’s been brilliant to share training camp with him.” Ebanie Bridges: “I’m actually really excited about this fight, watching her [Mailys] fight with Ellie, I think she has a great style, and our styles are going to gel really well together. I think with that it’s going to make it an exciting fight, she’s tough and I love tough opponents. I’m looking forward something exciting there, another good performance by myself. I’m only getting better, feeling stronger than ever, I’m looking forward to showing you all what I’ve got come Saturday night. “Training with Brian Cohen in America and having those eight weeks in Philadelphia, I’m really focused on footwork and balance – plating my feet. We all know I’m strong but if you can’t get into position, it’s not effective. Now I feel like I’m really nailing that, we saw that with Bec, about the positioning and planting the feet to throw those shots to get my full power into it. “My cut for this fight was easy, I just fought four weeks ago. I’m hungry as ever, I love to fight, I’m hungry to punch on.” Mailys Gangloff: “It’s a good fight because it will be at my perfect weight class, I think I’ll bring something that couldn’t bring the last time I was here. I’m very excited, I hope it will be a very good show.” Hopey Price: “It’s good to keep busy, I’m glad I got out two weeks ago and it’s good to be back home, in front of my hometown and fans. It’s another step up, another step forward in my career, there’s a lot of good fighters on this show, a lot of fighters from Leeds, but I’m coming to steal the show on Saturday night. “Another good performance this weekend and I’m looking to step up again and it won’t be long before the domestic titles come my way.” Zahid Hussain: “I’m definitely looking forward to it, in front of 20,000 people. I’d like to thank Matchroom, my manager Steve Wood and my coach for spending time training me.” “I’m just going to do what I do best. Experience is going to play a major part on Saturday night.” Jack Bateson: “I’m buzzing to be back here in Leeds with a crowd, now Covid’s on its way out. Thanks for the opportunity, Eddie and yeah, I’m looking to shine, it won’t be last time I’ll be on one of these big cards. I’m looking forward to it. “I’ve known Josh since we were young kids, growing up, I want to be where he is now. He paved the way for us and I’m sure that one day if I keep working hard, I can be where he is and doing it for the city.” Felix Garcia: “First and foremost, thanks for the opportunity to be here. I’m extremely happy to be here and I’ve prepared extremely hard for this night. Hopefully you’ll see the best of me on Saturday.” Brandon Stansfield: “This is a massive opportunity for me, a big stage now coming from Bradford Hotel on my last fight jumping to this fight, it’s a massive opportunity for me and I cannot wait. “I did quite well with tickets, a lot really. I’m one of the first ones on, I’ll get changed and watch Josh Warrington do his thing again.” Mali Wright: “I’m looking forward to it man, I can’t believe it, fighting in my hometown of Leeds. I went to university in Headingly, I used to live there, 2-minute walk from the stadium. It’s surreal even seeing my name here, so I can’t wait and I’m looking forward to it.”

(Featured Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

#HF #Mauricio Lara #Josh Warrington #Ebanie Bridges #Matchroom Boxing #DAZN

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bunnylyfe · 3 years

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@fangirlingpuggle: I took u up on that prompt

Under readmore for length, my children

Pt 1/?

The avatar’s bison.. looks bad.

Zuko hesitantly sheaths his dao and waits for a reaction, but it doesn’t low at him, or even move in response to his sudden appearance. His studies of air nomad culture in the long three years before his visit to the South Pole had taught him the air bison's skin secreted dirt repellent oils, like koala-sheep and fire llamas. It certainly seemed as though the legends had proven true in the months of tracking the avatar before Zhao had paid those lawless pirates to blow up the Wani. Now though, the ordinarily fluffy looking fur is caked in dried mud, among other things, given that the room the bison is housed in does not appear to have been cleaned in some time. It’s also singed in places, in others patches have been burned off entirely.

There are familiar scars, over some of those patches. They appear to have been treated to prevent infection, at least. Maybe even better than- well.

Tentatively, Zuko takes a step closer, Blue Spirit mask laced on tightly. The enormous beast blinks open one bloodshot eye in response. It’s hard to be afraid of something so pathetic, even if its eye is the size of a coconut.

It may be a mercy to kill the bison, after all.

“Hello, you.” He mutters in its general direction. It doesn’t respond in any meaningful way, but the eye stays open. It’s alert enough to be marginally curious, at least. “Recognize me?”

No change. Well it's been months, he supposes. The air bisons may have taught the air nomads bending, but they’re not exactly dragons.

“Maybe that’s for the best. I’m sure you wouldn’t exactly be happy to see me, if you remembered who I was.” The eye blinks again slowly, though he can’t tell if that’s a voluntary response or simply from exhaustion.

Still, he’s going to have to gain the bison’s trust if he wants to break it out alive.

Agni, Uncle was going to be furious at him for jeopardizing their safety.

Zuko sinks into a crouch as gently and quietly as he can. The bison does not react. Just as cautiously, he reaches out a hand. He’s two men’s lengths away from the beast at least, and it’s muzzled besides, but he wants it to get used to his scent. Or recognize him, so he can just kill it in self defense instead of trying to think up a way to hide the thing in the lower ring. He can’t tell if he’s imagining the flair of those enormous nostrils. How can such a big animal be so quiet? But he’s definitely not imagining the other eyelid lifting.

He can’t read the expression on the bison’s face, of course. Now that he has its full attention, he doesn’t know what to do.

“I know I’m not who you hoped would show up to rescue you. I didn’t even know I was going to rescue you. I’m the worst possible person who could find you this way. And. I can’t promise I’ll return you to the Avatar. Even if Father- well. I just can’t. But I can get you to Uncle. Even if we can’t hide you in the lower ring, I bet he’ll know what to do. He might spout a thousand proverbs at us both, but he’ll help you.”

The bison blows some air out of its nose. Zuko has a feeling it sounds louder than it should, because of the muzzle. It’s eyes stay fixed on him, unblinking. He wiggles his fingers a little, and the bison huffs again. Definitely louder than the last time, on purpose.

“I promise. If we’d captured you, this never would have happened.”

Out of words, he sits in the stinking cell with the muzzled and bedraggled bison, wiggling his fingers and watching for a reaction. It feels like he waits ages, but he doesn’t get another huff of air, or any other sign. He’s been listening for guards the entire time, but no noises echo from the hall outside.

Reluctantly, he slowly moves both hands to the ties of his mask, and undoes the sailors knots he learned from watching- not stalking- the crew of the Wani.

The bison does recognize Zuko’s scar, at least. It can’t low at all, he realizes now. Because it’s muzzled. He feels stupid, as he watches the beast shift and struggle against its chains. Honestly though, he’s a little relieved it still has some fighting spirit left.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to be rescued by me either.”

It takes a full segment of Agni’s sky dance before it calms once more. He stays so still for the duration his legs begin to cramp, but he’s endured worse in court. He can deal with a little pain for the sake of a scared animal.

Once the bison has stopped thrashing and has settled into watching Zuko warily once more, he speaks again.

“I promise I’m not here to hurt you, Appa.”

That gets a huff of air, but he can’t tell what it means. Zuko knows he’s running out of time, though. He scoots a little closer to see if the bison reacts. It blinks, but doesn’t resume its escape attempts.

Before he knows it, he’s scooted within touching distance. Once again, he holds out his hand for the bison- for Appa- to smell. When the bison huffs this time, he can feel the warm, damp exhale envelop his hand. It’s kind of… gross, to be honest. But in a good way, in the same way that peeling at the base of a rhino lizard’s horn is gross. It’s even grosser (in a good way) when the bison finally presses its damp, blistered, muzzled snout into his hand.

“Okay,” he says, and pats at Appa’s snout awkwardly. “Okay. Now comes the hard part.”

Which is, of course, when the Avatar and his little gang of miscreants busts into the cell at full force.

#atla #au #zuko #appa

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i-write-sometimes-blog · 4 years

Text

Earth Girl (Rey x Reader)

Request: Can I request a Rey x reader fic where reader is from our world? Thanks for such great writing and responsiveness!! By anon

Words: 1, 659

A/N: I totally forgot I finished this yesterday and I didn't post it. Anyways, I wrote this at 4 a.m. hope is not that bad.

The stars were shimmering that night, the deep night sky above you always made your heart beat faster. Leaning on the railing of the rooftop of the tall building you contemplated the city on the most quiet hours, you did it often when you felt your life was bored, and it kept turning more and more bored because you were in the rooftop every single night, gazing at the stars and wondering if there could be something else out there, something better than just your regular life. You chucked at yourself for your childish thoughts.

“Now go back to reality” you whispered, it was weird to hear your voice after long hours of silence. The cold was hitting your skin, it was a very cold night, so you fixed the scarf around your neck preparing to go back to your apartment. You turned and found a mask in front of you that covered your mouth before you could scream, with a quick move they placed something on the side of your body, a weave of electric pain ran over your body making you felt to the ground. The last thing you saw before fainting was a kind of vehicle floating in the sky.

You didn’t know for how many time you were unconscious but you were sure it was a really long time. Your body ached for what you think it was an electric shock as you got on your feet, touching behind your ear your realized there was something, like a round piece of metal in your skin that made you shiver. Then you noticed the strange place you were into. It was a small metal room, the only way in and out was a kind of door in one of the walls that had a circular window. Panic rushed through your mind as you remembered how you ended up here, you’ve been kidnapped. You didn’t knew who or why they had take you, you didn’t have much money or an important work, but most important it seemed impossible to you how they came in the middle of the night, to one of the tallest rooftops of the city but they came… in a spaceship?

“I’m dreaming” you said “Yeah, that’s it. Just a very weird dream, I’ll wake up soon in my comfy bed.” you told yourself trying to calm you down. But as the time passed you were still there, maybe it was not a dream and if it was it seemed oddly real, it felt extremely real.

“Is anyone there?” you yelled looking through the small window that leaded to what looked like a simple hall. “Let me out!” you yelled and kept yelling for a time until a man walked your direction.

“Shut up!” he yelled at you.

“Let me go!” you begged.

“No way, sweetheart.”

“What did you put in my neck?” you asked him as you tried to show him.

“Universal translator” he said “You don’t speak galactic basic, do you?” He said, galactic what? he kept speaking “Or binary. If you didn’t have that you and me weren’t having this conversation”

The door opened in front of you, the man took your arms and placed in what looked like some sort of handcuffs and you didn’t fight much, you thought you were still dreaming or at least hoping. He leaded you for the strange hall made of steel with more doors just like the one you came from, you heard some people screaming for help and also some noises you had never heard before, you walked in silence until you arrived to a tent where more people awaited with their hands held as yours. Outside the tent you could heard some people cheering and a man’s voice saying something by a microphone but you weren’t sure of what he said until the same man that brought you there guided you to a stage where a big fat man was announcing the next sale.

“My friends, you know I always do my best to bring you the most rare, unique and exotic creatures of the galaxy” he said and the crowd bursted in joy “But today I pushed my limits, I sent my boys to a forbidden place, a very special place just for you”

You could saw the big man having a good time and also you could see part of the crowd, there were women and men dressing in very exuberant clothing, some had feathers in some big hats and dresses of vibrant colors but then you saw a light between the people, a girl that had some kind of white hood covering most of her face, she was different compared with all this persons.

“Walk to his side” the man said and confused you followed his orders.

“Here she is” the big man said. The crowd exchanged glances and murmured things until a woman in a red dress spoke.

“A human?” she mocked. By this time you were debating yourself if this was a dream or not, and it terrefied you how much this didn’t look like a dream nor a nightmare, but you were still figuring out.

“Not any human” said the man.

“Then where does she come from? I didn’t come here just for a human” said the woman in red, while you stood in the middle of the stage, looking how the girl with the white hood turned around and started to leave the place, she had caught your attention since you saw her for the first time but you couldn’t tell what.

“Earth” The fat man smiled and as he said with a dramatic tone, causing a collective gasp from the audience. The girl stopped and turned around to met your gaze, you felt yourself beginning to blush with just her eyes focused on you.

“Let the offers begin, how much would you paid for a Earth girl?” said the fat man and the people started to yelled things you didn’t understand. You realized they were selling you and it scared you to death. The girl seemed to know your fears somehow, you could feel her in your mind and you begged for her help.

She closed her eyes for a long moment and when she opened them again the ground trembled, then again, the crowd frozen as they felt the move. And then it trembled again but you finally got to see what was causing it, it was a huge beast that looked very close to what you knew as a rhino except this one was bigger and its horn was so much bigger than the ones you’ve saw.

“Boss” yelled a bad looking man “The mudhorn escaped"

"I see that, idiot!" He growled "get that shit in a cell or I'll feed you to the rest of them"

The scared crowd started to run as fast as their luxurious clothes allowed them as the beast came closer, your head was beyond confused but as an instinct you jumped out of the small stage landing gladfully on your feet, dream or not you would save your life from that.

Suddenly a hand wrapped around one of your arms and scared you almost hit that beautiful girl you saw before, she was even prettier now close to you, her soft features and brown eyes made your heart skipped a beat.

"I'm here to help" she said as she took of the cuffs from your hands "I need you to run with me, okay?" She told you not getting an answer from you, you were amazed by her. "Can you understand me?" She asked.

"I really wish you're not a dream" was the only thing that left your mouth.

"I'm not. Now move" she said before she held your hand and ran, you almost fell to the ground impressed by her strength. You rushed with her outside the tent, looking around you the place you were was really close to a desert, everything seemed kinda orange, it was fun.

Then you saw the ship. A big thing in the middle of the desert that looked like some si-fi spaceship or a house, you weren't sure what it was but sure it was big. The girl took you inside and closed the door.

"Poe, we need to go!" She shouted as she walked you through the strange place. Two men emerged from a circular hall and glanced at you.

"Who's she?" Said one of them.

"Just turn the engines on, Poe" the girl said. "There's a mudhorn out, we have to hurry"

"I'm not taking a stranger into the Resistance, Rey. Why did you bring her?" Rey, so that was her name. She and Poe kept talking as if you weren't there with them, the other man noticed it and gazed.

"Are you okay?" He asked, you nodded. "Where are you from?" You doubted the response, you were going to say your city but then you remembered that they had call you Earth girl so maybe that was the right answer.

"Earth" you murmured.

"Earth?!" Said both men. Suddenly the ground started to tremble just like before, the rhino was coming closer. Without any other questions the men ran and moments later the whole shit started to rumble.

"Are we really gonna fly" you asked Rey as she guided you to a round table not yet letting go of your hand.

“You don’t have ships in Earth?” she said.

“Well, we have planes and helicopters” you told her and her face lighted with curiosity.

“Planes” she giggled “You have to tell me what’s that later, Earth girl” she said finally letting go of your hand as she turned to go to what you assumed was a cockpit.

“I have a name” you said making her turn her head to look at you. “I’m Y/N” she smiled.

“Rey. Welcome to the Millenium Falcon” she winked “Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger, Y/N”

#rey of jakku #rey x reader #rey star wars #rey x y/n #i-write-sometimes-blog #rey of nowhere #rey x you #star wars imagine #star wars #rey #rey imagine #rey is a lesbian #lol i like that tag #earth reader #poe dameron #finn #sw #sw imagine

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aurora-the-kunoichi · 4 years

Text

For The Love of Shell

It’s time for the battle nexus championship!

Read it in its entirety here

Chapter 39

After a few inquiries, Leonardo managed to locate Usagi who was talking to a man who resembled a rhinoceros. The man was big and burly, muscled yet lean and Leo noticed quickly it looked like the male’s horns had been cut off. He could only imagine that was the Gen, Asuna had been talking about. Before Leo could approach Usagi looked up to see the blue banded turtle making his way over.

“Leonardo son!” Usagi yelled hurriedly making his way over to his turtle friend. Their hands shot out clasping each other’s forearms in a firm steady handshake. “My friend I’m glad to see you. I hope all is well with you and your family.”

Leonardo smiled back at his rabbit friend watching as the rhino man made his way up behind Usagi his deep onyx eyes fixed on him.

Usagi heard his heavy friend come up behind him huffing through his nostrils. Turning slightly Usagi ushered to the man wearing a white kimono with red paw prints on each breast. “Leonardo son this is my friend Murakami Gennosuke, he will also be joining us in the tournament.”

Leo waited for a curt or rude comment from the intimating Rhino but the thin line of his lips parted revealing a bright smile. His hand shot forth gasping Leo’s in a firm handshake. “Please.” Gen started. “Any friend of Usagi is a friend of mine and my friends call me Gen. Usagi has told me much about you and brothers and everything you’ve done for the Daimyo over the past year. It is an honor to meet you Leonardo. I will say I am a little worried to face you in the arena, I don’t want to put you off when I beat you in combat. By the way would you like to make a small wager on the tournament? It’s a good deal.”

Leo studied Gen and gauged his facial expressions finding them genuine and light hearted. The rhino was cocky but actually friendly. “I appreciate the offer Gennosuke….err sorry Gen, but I’m not a gambler but I look forward to facing you in the arena. We’ll see who beats who and please, Leo will do.”

A large belly laugh came from Gen who patted the back of his carapace shaking his hand once again. “I like you turtle, you have spirit.”

“Leonardo son please tell me how things are with you and your family? How are your brothers and how is Aurora? Where is she? I thought she’d be traveling with you.”

Leonardo took his time telling his friend what had transpired in the past year in their lives including Asuna’s inappropriate advance that had just happened 20 minutes earlier. He watched as Usagi’s happy demeanor soured as Leo explained the scene, his fists clenching in anger.

“I am sorry my friend, what she did was horrendous, I am ashamed for her. I will talk with her and urge Asuna apologize.”

“There is no need Usagi son, her actions do not project onto you and it is not your place to make her apologize. I just wish to keep her away from my family for now. I have no idea how much damage she’s done and I have not have seen Aurora in a year so I am unsure how to approach her now. I just want her to know I wasn’t a will participant.”

“Women are nothing but trouble my friend!” Gen laughed wrapping his arms around both Usagi and Leo’s shoulder pointing them towards the arena in the distance. “Delightfully soft and delicious trouble! Now my friends no more talk of such distractions, let us get something to drink before we battle!”

Being stubborn, Gen wouldn’t take no for an answer and drug the two to a nearby tavern filling their glasses with cool amber liquid that burned. They spent an hour sharing stories and a few laughs but Leonardo and Usagi refused any further mead wanting a clear head for the tournament.

Usagi and Gen followed Leo back to their room to gather his brothers. It was time to register for the tournament and get ready for the qualifying round. Opening the door to their shared suite they found his brothers sitting on their beds going through their purchases. Mikey and Raph were examining each other’s new blades when the door swung open. Donnie’s head shot up seeing his brother walk in with Usagi and a massive Rhino.

All three of his brothers made their way over to the door greeting Usagi and meeting Gen. Raph and Gen hit it off rather quickly flexing as they clasped hands and soon began talking about their work out regiments. As the two brutes chattered on Donnie could see something was up with Leo; he wasn’t making eye contact with any of them as he ushered them out of their room and towards the arena. His eyes were searching the crowds frantically for someone.

“Leo, who are you looking for? Master Splinter said he’d meet us at the arena?”

“She’s here.” He said softly his eyes never leaving the swarm of contestants.

“WHAT?!” all three of his brothers yelped closing in on their leader grabbing his arms to stop him.

“You saw her?! When? Did she say anything to you?” Raph’s hands pulled him to face him, his large hands hooking around his carapace almost bringing him into a hug.

“Yeah I did, but the reunion wasn’t a happy one due to the compromising position Asuna had me in.”

“What are you talking about Bro?” Mikey chimed in.

“Asuna found me in the market and was going to bring me to Usagi since she knew where he was but on our way there she started acting funny. She pushed me back against a building and kissed me and of course just as she did Aurora came around the corner and saw it. There’s no doubt in my mind Asuna saw Aurora coming and did what she did to make Aurora jealous or angry. She was successful in her pursuit. There was a mixture of surprise, hurt then anger. Either way by the time I pushed her from me, Aurora was gone. But at least we know she’s here to compete. I need to find her and tell her I wasn’t willingly kissing that manipulative rabbit.” He could feel the anger rising within him again, “I can’t even imagine what’s running through her mind right now.”

“I am sorry my friends.” Usagi sighed. “She has talked about you quite a bit over the last year. But I didn’t think she would be capable of such a callous act let alone the assault to you Leonardo son.”

Raphael growled low in his throat as they started walking again. “You need to keep that bitch on a leash or I’ll do it for you. She’s messing with my family.”

Usagi didn’t respond moving alongside the four turtles and Gen to registration.

Leo could feel the tension from his brothers pulsate around him; it was almost to the point of excitement. They could possible see her or maybe fight against her in the tournament. That itself was a sobering thought. That was not the first way they wanted to see her after a year, but it was at least better then how he first saw her with Asuna pressed into him……. Lost in thought Leo almost ran into the line to register but Donatello’s hand came out to stop his momentum.

True to his word Master Splinter met them at the arena, watching proudly as his four sons registered for the tournament. After completing their enrollment Leonardo told his father of his quick and unpleasant interaction with Asuna and Aurora. He could tell by the darkened expression his sensei was also upset at Asuna’s behavior.

“We will deal with his turn of events after, now is the time to prepare my sons. Concentrate on your goals and your strategies. See your opponent and anticipate his or her next move but most of all have fun. Enjoy this glorious one of a kind experience. You honor your father by continuing this tradition.”

A large gong was rung indicating the beginning of the tournament and all contestants poured into the large arena waiting patiently for the Daimyo to make his appearance. The four turtles began searching the mass of contestants looking for that one face they longed to see. Leo’s gaze drifted and unfortunately found Asuna, who was several feet from them, trying her best to gain his attention but Leo ignored the troublesome female.

There were so many different species and aliens, large and small from the vast universe that had come to attend this battle of skill. It was a bit mind blowing seeing what was out there past the stars. So many colors and shapes it boggled the mind.

“Dudes! Do you see the big triceratops man over there?” Mikey squealed in enthusiasm pointing to the behemoth that oozed danger several few to their left. Just like most of the contestants he stood on two feet carrying an oversized ax that rested on his broad shoulder. He was adorned in some sort of uniform no doubt part of some kind of military. They hoped they didn’t need to defeat that monster, well maybe Raph wanted to test his skills on the warrior.

“There she is!” Donnie called pointing to the opposite side of the arena they were standing. Their eyes moved through the bodies and finally saw her. She was in black pants with a band around her upper right thigh with an assortment of Kunai. Her top was covered in dark plum, long sleeves pushed up to her elbows and a neckline that plunged down her sternum ending just at her breasts.

Her hair length seemed to be the same length but what drew their attention was the purple streak of color in her hair running down the left side of her face. Eyes moving to her side they saw both of her mystical katanas hung securely at her hip by a leather strap, their four colors still interweaved into the hilts of the ancient blades. She looked healthy but foreboding with an ominous scowl displayed on her full lips. She was ready and waiting to prove herself to the Daimyo and the rest of the warriors.

Another gong rung bringing their attention to the top of the arena, where the Daimyo, Ue-Sama, and surprisingly Master Splinter had appeared looking down at the eager crowd of contestants. Somehow sensei had gotten a front row seat to the tournament; it was good to be friends with the Daimyo.

The war staff clutched in his hand the Daimyo raised both hands high in the air gaining a thunderous cheer from the crowd. Leo noticed Ue-Sama’s gaze trained in on someone in the crowd. Following his sight line down to the arena, Leo found the Daimyo’s son practically drooling as he looked down upon Aurora who was currently unaware of the lustful stare. The leader hands clenched at the flaring anger, digging the tips of his nails into the palms of his hands.

As the crowd quieted down it gave the Daimyo the chance to speak. “Great warriors from near and far, we welcome you to this year’s Battle Nexus Championship! We welcome the new and the returning contestants; you honor us with your presence and your skill that you put to the test today. Each of you will battle each other until there is only one left. The lone winner will become this year’s Battle Nexus Champion. This is a non lethal combat so before the final stoke can be delivered the loosing combatant will disappear from the arena and be brought to the medical wing of the palace to be checked over by our healers. Now the first fight will be a qualifying round and you will be paired by random. If you pass this round you will move to the first round of the tournament. If you fail, you are done until the next championship. All victors please wait in your partition patiently until all matches are finished. You will be presented to the rest of the victors before the next round commences. Now everyone let the tournament begin!”

As the final gong bellowed indicating the start of the tournament Leo looked back to where Aurora was standing and locked eyes with her violet iris’ making him suck in a mouth full of air in surprise. She was staring at him and he could see the hurt and anger behind her eyes and it tore at him but the walls of the tournament rose ripping her from him once again.

Aurora could see them from across the arena, all four of them standing there watching the Daimyo hype up the contestants before this whole thing started. Besides witnessing that painful scene of Leo and that damn rabbit pressed together earlier today this was the first time seeing the four brothers in a year. They looked good, healthy and from what she could tell, happy. It took every drop of willpower she had not to run over to them and wrap her arms around each and every one of them….well maybe not everyone.

Leonardo had obviously come back to the nexus for little bunny foo foo. Maybe that was the real reason he ended it between them, to come back here for Asuna? To be with someone like him? From what she could see earlier today they seemed rather content to be in one and others arms. But to be fair she didn’t stay long to analyze the situation, the moment she saw her lips on Leo’s she saw red and left before she could do anything stupid. Leo wasn’t hers anymore and no longer could get mad when that little bitch touched him. Now wasn’t the time to think about such things, the tournament was about to start and she needed to focus. She just hoped that she would end up in a match with Asuna so she could blow off some steam. One final glance and she would be done with it. Returning her sites back to the four brothers Leo’s gaze met hers. Those deep blue pools almost looked sad as they held her gaze. She swallowed the sob that rose in her throat; she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Why was there so much longing after all this time, she didn’t want to hurt anymore? As his lips parted and hands rose the walls shot up engulfing them in the white light of the war staff, it was time.

It felt like a dry liquid as she was rushed up into a small partition of the arena ready to test her skill against the best in the universe. She didn’t expect to win but it would be fun to see how far she could get. There was a lot of intimidating competition from what she could see, even weird looking aliens.

As her competition rose from the liquid a wicked smile spread across her face, karma was sweet this day.

Asuna was ready to win this fight as she rose into the competition, her sword already pulled from its sheath ready to strike but her confidence fell like a lead balloon as she saw her opponent. Aurora stood triumphant a few feet away, her one hand already gripping the hilt of one of her twin katana. If looks could kill she would no doubt be dust on the ground with only her sword as evidence she was there. She had to think fast, needed to mess with the superior opponents mind, throw her off her game. Leo’s brilliant blue eyes flashed across her vision and the taste of his lips flooded her mind. She would use the heartbreak of loosing Leonardo to her advantage and get inside her head. All was no lost….yet.

“Little bunny foo foo….. I am so glad to see you.” Aurora cooed almost seductively slowly pulling one of her katana from its black sheath. The sing of her metal as it slipped free of its confines echoed in the chamber. “I was hoping we’d meet in here. I have so much anger to unleash and to dole it out to one of the very sources of it would be so appropriate and gratifying.”

Asuna stepped tentatively forward as she began to circle Aurora, her eyes never leaving the human. Think, make her angry. “You mean about me finally getting Leonardo and his delicious lips. You know his tongue is so soft and nimble, it tastes like peppermint.” If the woman was affected by her taunting she wasn’t showing it. She needed to hit harder, deeper. Time for the big guns. “Do you know who planted the seed to the inevitable end to your doomed romance with Leonardo?” Oh that peaked her interest. “I did, I told him you would grow tired of being in the shadows and want a normal life with a normal human man. That you would yearn for marriage and children of your own and he could never give you those things.”

Her vision suddenly became very clear zeroed in on the female rabbit with the very smug look on her face. “It was you?” Aurora hissed between clenched teeth pulling the other katana free from its confines. She could feel every muscle in her body coil ready to strike, the heat of her power beginning to stir within her, the power she had rarely used in almost a year. She was the spark that grew into the flame that burnt her life to the ground taking everything that she loved from her?

Asuna swallowed the sudden rising lump in her throat as Aurora’s eyes swirled with a purple light of her rising powers. She had forgotten about those. She had definitely awoken the beast within but in for a penny in for a pound. No turning back now. “Now he and I can be together, I can make him feel normal because he’s with his own kind. I can give him what he needs. Leo doesn’t need to hide below the surface in your dimension anymore. He and his brothers can walk in the sunlight and buy wares like normal people here. ”

Red, all she could see was red. Asuna was the cause of her pain, the loneliness she endured for a year, banned from returning to the lair from seeing the turtles, kept Leonardo from her. All because little bunny foo foo had a lady boner for Leo. So she could take her place and hop right into his awaiting lap? “Breath” she whispered to herself. She was trying to get under her skin; the rabbit was just trying to throw her off her game, so she could gain the upper hand. Well not today bitch!

Spinning her extremely sharp weapons in her hands Aurora was tired of this game and screamed lunging forward bringing her weapons down on the overly confident rabbit knocking her to the ground.

Somehow Asuna managed to block her attack as she stumbled back the once smug look on her face was replaced by sheer panic. With all the finesse of her training Aurora kicked off the wall and spun kicking Asuna in the gut as she got to her feet making her tumble to the floor once again.

“Get up!” Aurora growled advancing on the rabbit both katana gripped in her fingers, her knuckles white from the force. “You were the catalyst that took everything from me! I had finally found my family, someplace to belong and you played on Leo’s insecurities and took them from me! Just so you could get a chance with him! You hate me so much then prove it! Fight me! GET UP!”

Asuna grappled to her feet once again readying her blade hearing the agony in the Aurora’s voice. She had struck a nerve with the woman but she didn’t falter or show any signs of losing control. She was just angry, very very angry and looked extremely terrifying. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea? But Asuna wasn’t ready to give up this fight, she wanted to compete, and she wanted Leonardo. “He’s mine now! You lost him, now move on!” The white female rabbit attacked with vengeance defending herself, but her skill level was nowhere near Aurora’s. Before she knew it, she was struggling to keep up with her, stumbling as Aurora moved with precision each blow she brought down hitting its mark. Asuna could see just how sharp those blades were and was suddenly very thankful this was a non lethal competition.

The hilt of Aurora’s blade connected with Asuna’s abdomen adding to the growing aches across her body. She arched back at the force of the hit and leaned back just as the long blade came up across her right side catching the tail of her harness slicing a section free.

Somehow Asuna managed to keep the scream that threatened to burst free at bay and brought her katana up meeting another swing of Aurora’s weapon. The woman moved quickly dropping down swinging her leg out bringing Asuna to the ground.

Asuna rolled backwards away from the seething female and got to her feet defending herself once again.

A few short moments later Aurora stopped, the anger and venom had drained from her face, all that remained was emptiness and grief. She sheathed one of her weapons and adjusted her top resting the dull side of her remaining katana on her shoulder, “I-I can’t keep holding on to this. You’re not worth my energy anymore. This is taking away from my peace and I don’t want you to hold that much power over me.”

Aurora shifted on her feet and flipped over the rabbit and brought her katana down and before the blade came in contact with her skull Asuna vanished in a defiant scream in a swish of blue light.

Landing where Asuna once stood, Aurora dropped to one knee, trembling from the adrenaline coursing through her. How could Leo have let her influence him, he had let her get into his head doubting what she felt for him, that she needed nothing else but him. She would have died for any of them, hell she still would, a sobering thought that made her heart beat faster than it already was.

The walls started to lower signaling the qualifying round was over, she had made it and was onto the first round. Standing back up she looked around the arena and found each of the turtles still inside the arena but now in different places far from each other. She noticed Donnie was only a few feet from her his eyes trained in on her, his leg muscles tense ready to close the distance between them but he remained in his place when the Daimyo began to speak.

“Congratulations to those who made it passed the qualifying round, you have now made it to the first round of the tournament. Good luck to you all!”

Donnie reached out as the walls came back up, “Auro…” and he was gone again, and the liquid feeling returned bringing her back to herself, away from her feelings. Deep breaths let her regain her composure just in time for her to reappear in a new partition staring up at a giant squid thing with nine tentacles and purple slimy flesh. Its four eyes narrowed in on her rumbling an unmistakable bout of laughter and shot four of its nine long appendages towards her ready to ensnarl her limbs.

“Fuck.”

Raphael roared launching himself towards the female alien that had just nearly handed him his shell on a silver platter. She was quick and nimble moving faster than his eyes could follow. Somehow, he was managing to sidestep each of the thrusts of her unique circle blades. He could hear her displacing the air as she moved around him and he decided to try the trick Aurora taught them back at the cabin in the woods. Gripping his sai in each hand he closed his eyes and listened letting everything else fall away. To his left he heard her moving just enough to evade her blow. She was getting louder easier to pin point. Behind him she was coming and fast, whirling around he brought his sai out and heard her gasp. He opened his eyes just in time to see her floating in the air millimeters from the business end of his sia. She mumbled something in her native tongue and smiled before disintegrating into blue dust. He had won; with a deep bellow he lifted his hands into the air in triumph.

Having won his match Leo re-sheathed his katana and waited patiently for the wall to retract hopefully revealing his equally successful brothers and Aurora. After about 20 minutes on waiting the wall disappeared and he searched the dwindling mass for his brothers. Quickly he found them all with victorious smiles on their faces, his heart swelled with pride. Then his eyes landed on Aurora and nearly burst out laughing from the sight, she was slicked up with some sort of slim covering her from head to toe. The look of utter annoyance painted her face as she returned her katana to their sheaths and tried to wipe off as much of the substance from her arms as she could.

“You have passed the first round warriors!” The Daimyo voice broke over the arena pulling their gazes back to the large ruler. Leo could see his father sitting on the edge of the ridge looking down on them, his eyes filled with pride. A small commotion next to their sensei made them look to the Daimyo and Ue-Sama who was pointing down to the slippery Aurora below. The Daimyo chuckled and nodded waving the war staff above his head.

Turning to Aurora they watched her yelp in surprise as she was lifted off the ground and suspended in a red light. After a few moments she reappeared and seemed to be bone dry, no trace of the slippery substance anywhere. Her gaze went to the old man high above and waved a quick thank you before checking to see if her blades were clean as well. Finding all her gear was clean and dry she readied herself but didn’t give the turtles another glance.

The wall rose again engulfing each contestant in the liquid sensation. As Donnie was lifted into his partition a familiar low laugh made him turn on his heal. There stood Raphael ,his sai out ready with a shit eating grin on his lips.

“Welcome to the thunder dome Donnie boy.” The large red banded turtle rumbled again lunging forward towards his brainiac brother.

“Bring it Raphie!”

The electric staff swung out catching the hurdling red missile in his gut stopping his momentum instantly. Raph grunted as the wind was knocked from him and toppled forward from the force of the blow. When did Don learn to hit like that?

Donnie flipped backward when Raph’s arms swung out trying to tackle him as he fell forwards.

Raph got to his knees looking at his tall brother, “Looks like someone has been working out. That blow had some power behind it Don but in the end, it won’t help you!” Flexing his colossal calf muscles the red turtle lunged forward again grappling for Donatello but came up empty yet again.

Donnie was slimmer more agile then his older brother, not to mention he had a quick mind. Being a genius was always a benefit when it came to ninjutsu. While his hothead brother relied on his brute strength for his strategy Donnie relied on his big brain. Always thinking about how he could outsmart his enemy using what he had available to him to meet his goal. Raph would no doubt try to bum rush him stabbing wildly with his sai but Donnie knew how to win against Raphael. It wasn’t the nicest approach, but it would definitely work. The rage that constantly bubbled from within the large turtle was his ultimate downfall, a few well-placed verbal jabs and the colossal turtle would be swinging blindly with fury. He wouldn’t be thinking about sneaky Donnie and his bag of tricks when he was seeing red. Narrowing his eyes, Donnie bounced lightly with his knees as Raph began circling him, his sai swinging in and out of his palms as if it were a nervous twitch.

“Here goes nothing.” Donnie smirked readying his sharp tongue.

Aurora put away her katana and knelt with her palms out preparing for her next battle. Taking a deep breath she centered herself. This alien she had just beaten was a bit perplexing and terrifying. It was about half her size, small, fluffy and adorable. That was until it screamed for glory and sprung for her throat with its once tiny smiling mouth, it opened wide nearly engulfing half its face with jagged blue teeth dripping with yellow saliva. Several chains shot forth from its claws wrapping around her limps pulling her towards the large snapping mouth. If Aurora wasn’t in compete shock by the horrifying transformation from cute to terrifying she would have screamed at the top of her lungs. To say it was fast was an understatement but luckily for her wasn’t that strong. Thankfully Aurora already had her katana in hand and was able to bring the metal down on each chain that held her arm and break them with ease. As reflexes took over she ducked, dodging the mouth full of teeth and rolled forward away from the furry creature. Getting to her feet Aurora dodged another flying attack catching the back of its body with a handful of fur. Hoisting it into the air she flung the small thing high into the sky and it howled with anger sending its chain rushed towards her again. This time she was prepared and dove away just as the chain bit into the hard floor of the arena.

Aurora’s hand shot forth and grabbed the chain and began swinging it around in a circle above her head like a cowboys lasso. The furry being screamed as it was flung around getting angrier and angrier the faster Aurora went. Finally finished Aurora pulled down hurtling the thing to the ground and swung her blade just before it hit making the alien disappear. Jesus that was weird.

Just then the walls began to lower and as the last of the contestants were revealed a loud bellowing yell came from the palace.

“DONNIE!” There was no mistaking it was Raphael.

Looking over to the genius he was leaning against his bo staff with a sly smirk on his face and Raphael nowhere in sight. He had beaten Raph in the nexus championship and by the sounds of the hotheads scream he was not happy about it. Good for Donnie though, he deserves to be seen not as a genius but an excellent fighter.

Making sure not to catch his eye she stood from her kneeling position and faced the castle waiting for the next match. The contestants were dwindling and Donnie, Mikey and Leo remained of the turtles. There was no way she wasn’t going to be matched with at least one of them before this thing was over with. She just hoped it wasn’t Leonardo. She didn’t think she could handle that, at least not after what she saw in the street a few hours ago.

The Daimyo stood along with Ue-Sama who looked down at her from above with a large smile on his face. She knew that look; she had seen it the last time they were here. It was the look she couldn’t reciprocate with the Daimyo’s son but she gave him a warm smile back nodding in acknowledgment. After this was done she would head back home, the more time she spent with the man the more uneasy she became. There was something not right about him, like he was scheming something behind his father’s back. It made her skin crawl and she hoped she was wrong.

Again the Daimyo raised his war staff and the walls began to rise engulfing the remaining warriors in its power. Aurora closed her eyes taking quick solace in the feeling of being weightless even if it was for only a few seconds. As she rose into the next battle she let out a small sigh before opening her eyes. Pulling her katana from her sheathes she heard a shaky breath just a few feet from her. Without a second thought she opened her eyes and her blood turned cold as her body froze in place.

“Leo.”

@bluesakurablossom @alonia143 @imthegreenfairy88 @ravn-87 @blossom-skies

#tmnt #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt raphael #tmnt fandom #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt fic #TMNT TMNT fanfiction #Fortheloveofshell #chapter 39 #the battle nexus #aurora

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chemicalmagecraft · 3 years

Text

A Black Wind Howls Chapter 4: Winter Solstice Part One

Previously on Avatar...

"You can run but you can't hide, airbenders!" the leader of the firebenders shouted.

"I'm sorry," Dorji said quietly, seemingly to thin air. "This is all my fault."

Dorji grunted lazily and touched the thumb of her open hand to her chest and then her chin."

I also managed to find a scroll on healing with waterbending. It's not anything you can use in a fight but, well... Let's just say I speak from experience when I say that healers are the kind of thing that are always great to have around. I'll try to find practical waterbending scrolls to get to you."

"And finally, I added in a few scrolls on Earth Kingdom Sign Language," Tsering said. "While it's not my place to tell you why, Dorji sometimes prefers talking in it so it'd be for the best if at least one of you learned enough of it to hold a conversation."

"I... Sometimes I have... problems processing sounds. It's not too bad anymore, I hope anyway, but please be patient if I need you to repeat things," Dorji muttered. "I would also prefer if you faced me while speaking to me, for similar reasons. I can read lips, in case I'm having trouble with hearing."

Dorji turned to Sokka. "Perhaps you would like to learn chi blocking? You seemed pleased with the concept of disrupting firebending. And it can do more than just disable bending for a few seconds."

oOoOo

"Bending is connection to an element," Dorji said, her hands on Appa's reins. She was sitting backwards, though, so she could talk to the others more comfortably, and only occasionally looked behind her at where Appa was going. She held her hand out to a passing cloud, causing a miniature funnel cloud to form from it. "When you move air, when you lift water, you become one with it. To a truly masterful bender, their element is an extension of their very body."

"What does this have to do with us wearing blindfolds?" Aang asked from Appa's saddle. He and Katara were both sitting down on opposite sides of the saddle, wearing blindfolds. Sokka was sitting in the back, studying Dorji's chi blocking scroll.

"The reason the Air Nomads used to shave their heads was to give them more connection to air, was it not, Aang?" Dorji asked. When he nodded, she continued, "By shaving their heads, the Air Nomads made themselves more sensitive to the air currents around them, if only a bit. My grandmother trained me in a more... advanced version of this. Thanks to her I learned to feel the very air around me in a wide range, as another sense. Think of the blindfold like... a weight, I suppose. By restricting one of the senses you use the most, you will unconsciously draw on other senses. And once you begin to feel the elements more, your control over them will only increase."

"That makes about as much sense as bending always does," Sokka snarked. He looked at the diagram on his scroll, then carefully pressed his thumb into a spot on his other arm. "Tingly," he muttered.

"Is this really going to work?" Aang asked.

"I learned your little trick, didn't I?" Dorji stated. With the same deadpan expression as always, Dorji showed off the spinning stone trick that Aang entertained the people of Kyoshi with. "At least try to learn mine, please. Though I suppose the blindfolds work better when you're being forced to move around or something else that you would otherwise rely on sight for, which isn't something you can safely do on a flying bison..."

"You didn't do it right, though," Aang noted.

Dorji winced. Despite the blindfolds, Katara and Sokka glared at Aang.

"Sorry, sorry," Aang raised his hands apologetically. "I meant that it doesn't have the same affect if you don't have the expression right." He frowned. "How did I know that, actually?"

"I can have that affect on people," Dorji said. "Or perhaps you're beginning to learn. Regardless, let me try that again."

As if the mental exertion required to even think about purposefully adopting such a whimsical expression was too much for Dorji's brain to handle, her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she went limp. The only thing that prevented her from sliding and falling off of Appa was the fact that she somehow managed to drop the reins in such a way that her foot got caught in them and she ended up dangling off the side of Appa's head.

"DORJI!" Sokka screamed in horror.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad, Sokka," Aang said, oblivious to what just happened due to his blindfold. Katara just scowled at him.

oOoOo

Dorji groaned as she woke up. "I hate the spirit world..." She rubbed her eyes and looked around. She was sitting in Appa's saddle, and it appeared that they had landed in a forest that had been burnt down. Work of the Fire Nation, she judged from the komodo rhino tracks. She tossed herself off of Appa's saddle, slowly falling to the ground.

"Ah!" But when she touched down, she cried out in pain despite how lightly she landed. She dropped to the ground and clutched her knee.

Dorji's awake!" Katara shouted. She and the others rushed over to her. "Are you okay?" Katara asked.

"I probably just twisted it when I fell..." she muttered, pulling some bandages out of one of the pouches on her belt and taking off her shoe.

"Here, let me," Katara offered. She took the bandage and started wrapping up Dorji's foot for her.

Dorji blushed and fidgeted.

"Sorry, am I putting it on too tight?" Katara asked.

Dorji's blush deepened. She pressed her fingers together nervously. "Mmh. N-no, sorry. I'm just a l-little... ticklish, I guess..."

Katara finished bandaging her foot. "There, is that better?"

Dorji gingerly tested the range of her ankle's motion, then nodded. "Thank you." She pulled the two halves of her staff from her belt, then used them to push off the ground. She balanced on her good leg, then put her staff together and started leaning on it. "It doesn't feel too bad. Hopefully it'll be better in a few days if I keep my weight off of it."

"So what happened back there?" Sokka asked.

She sighed. "I'm... afraid I lost track of the days when I was in that prison. Is the winter solstice approaching?"

Katara nodded. "It's in a few days, but what does that have to do with you passing out?"

Aang gasped. "Did you... pass over to the spirit world?"

She nodded. "That... happens to me sometimes, at times when the two worlds draw closer."

"How is that even possible?" Sokka asked.

"Airbenders, for whatever reason, have souls more easily separated from their bodies. So those among us who are more receptive to the spirit world can actually cross over without meaning to, especially when near areas with strong spiritual ties." She nodded at Aang. "You were warned about this, right?"

Aang nodded back. "Yeah, when we were really young the monks took us aside before one of our holy days and warned us about how we could cross over on accident if the circumstances were right." He thought of something. "Actually, I think they might have asked us to be extra cautious because of me. Sorry, did I accidentally make you cross over? I am supposed to be the bridge between worlds..."

Dorji rubbed her chin. "No... You might have exacerbated it slightly, but I knew that might happen when I decided to travel with the Avatar. The real reason, I think, is that there's something near here that is very connected to the spirit world." She closed her eyes for a few seconds, as if concentrating on something else. "It looks like... a statue to a bear spirit. Maybe the guardian of this forest?"

The other three looked over at a bear statue, which was on the other side of Appa from where Dorji was standing. "Amazing," Katara said. "How'd you do that?"

"As much as I don't act like it, I'm very spiritually receptive. I was born that way," Dorji explained. "Grandmother told me a theory she had, once, that because most of the airbenders died, when my father and myself were born we were given a high degree of spiritual power by the universe in an attempt to restore balance."

Sokka raised his eyebrow.

"I... probably didn't explain that very well, did I?" She leaned against Appa. "In all honesty, I don't get it. But... I don't have any other explanation for it. Because of my strong spiritual receptivity, my ability to sense the air around me also allows me to sense... other things. Spiritual presence among them."

"That makes sense, I guess," Aang said.

Sokka frowned. "I still don't get this whole spirit world thing, but that's good to know, I guess."

"That bison... could you be the Avatar?" an old man asked as he walked through the ruined forest to the group. He smiled when he saw Aang's tattoos. "Please help my village, Avatar."

"Um, I'll try my best, whatever you need," Aang said. "Just take us there."

"I don't suppose you know anything about medicine?" Dorji asked.

"How bad is it?" the man asked, seeing how Dorji was leaning on a staff and not using her bad leg.

"Just a sprain, hopefully," Dorji told him. "Would like for someone who actually paid attention in their first aid lessons to take a look, though."

Everyone stared at her. "Flopsie wanted cuddles," she explained with a shrug.

"As in the King of Omashu's pet Flopsie?" Katara asked.

"He likes it when you scratch him behind the ears," Dorji smiled slightly. "Now, perhaps we should get on Appa? That way he can examine my ankle on the way to his village."

oOoOo

"Its name is Hei Bai," the village chief said after the old man brought them to his house. "It started attacking the village every night recently, I'm sure you saw the houses it destroyed, and it has been spiriting people away, too. The winter solstice, when the boundaries between this world and the spirit world begin to weaken, is drawing near, and we would prefer not to find out what sort of havoc Hei Bai could wreak on that day of all days."

Dorji, who was given the comfiest chair in the house and a footrest to prop up her injured leg, cleared her throat. "A spirit's powers don't grow on the solstice, thankfully. It only takes less effort to cross between the worlds, and powers that involve a connection to the spirit world are easier to use. It might even be that this spirit can only cross over the way it does thanks to the solstice approaching, and the amount of power it'll 'gain' on the day of is negligible at best. Or, I suppose, worst."

The chief nodded in thanks. "That is reassuring to hear, thank you. Regardless, I think that we would all rest much easier if there wasn't a monstrous spirit that wants to attack us. Avatar Aang, please help us and pacify the spirit besieging our village."

Aang bit his lip. "I'll... I'll try."

"Thank you, Avatar."

Katara put her hand on Aang's shoulder. "Let's talk," she said gently, then brought him over to the part of the room where Sokka and Dorji were still sitting. "Are you okay? You seem a little nervous."

"I'm not too sure, but... I have to try." Aang looked at Dorji. "Actually, what else do you know about spirits?"

She shook her head. "Not much. My father apparently used to explore the spirit world frequently, but I have a few... issues with it, so I didn't pay much attention to what he told me about it, except for a few things."

"I'm beginning to notice a pattern with you," Sokka noted.

Dorji blushed a little. "I swear I'm normally more competent than that, but in my defense I don't like the spirit world."

Sokka stroked his chin, like he was stroking an imaginary goatee or beard. "And what about your first aid lessons, young lady?" he asked in a weird, authoritative, father figurely voice.

"You can't stare into Flopsie's soulful eyes and tell him no," Dorji defended. "But Flopsie's soulful eyes are irrelevant to our current situation. What I do know is that most spirits will not attack humans without first being provoked... though sometimes the provocation is something that one would not expect a normal person to react so strongly to."

"That's extremely helpful," Sokka snarked.

Katara elbowed him.

"I apologize that I can't offer much more advice," Dorji said. "It's probably something recent, though. If the spirit looks like a bear you might want to start with the forest."

"That... thank you," Aang said. He smiled and hugged her. "I'm feeling much better about this than I did earlier."

She nodded. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Now, you may want to start preparing yourself."

"The girl is right," the village leader said. "The sun is starting to set. Hei Bai will be here soon."

Aang nodded and retrieved his staff. "I'm ready." He walked out the door, a serious look on his face.

"Yyyeah, we're all gonna die..." Sokka said.

Katara hit him. "Don't say that!"

Dorji nodded. "I have the utmost faith in him. And not just because I, as the disabled girl with the sprained ankle, would be the most screwed should Hei Bai attack us, even with my father's staff." She tapped the staff, which was currently leaning on her chair

"In any case, it won't do us any good to worry about it," Katara said. She coated her hands in water from a pitcher that she was given. "And speaking of your ankle, I read that one scroll on healing your grandmother gave us. I'm not sure how successful I'll be, but I still wanna try it."

"It can't hurt," Dorji agreed.

Katara placed her hands on Dorji's foot, which she had left bare other than the bandage after the old man took a look at it. Dorji's cheeks and ears turned pink as Katara closed her eyes and started rubbing her foot. "Does it feel any better?" Katara asked.

"I-it does, b-but only because of the c-cool water, I think," Dorji answered. She smiled slightly, and her blush turned very red. "A-and, a-a really p-p-pretty girl g-giving me a f-foot rub also m-makes me feel a l-lot better."

Katara started laughing so hard that she dropped her water. "Sorry," she said as she retrieved more water, "but that sounds like the sort of thing Sokka would say to some girl." Dorji's face was burning now, though Katara hadn't noticed because she was concentrating on trying to heal Dorji.

Sokka raised his eyebrow at Dorji. "Yeah," he said with a smug grin, "that does sound like the sort of thing I'd say. With someone other than Katara, obviously." Dorji shrank down in her seat and timidly tried to hide her face. Sokka, with an even more smug expression, pointed to the left with two fingers and then made a fist with his thumb pointing up, the signs for 'h' and 'a.' Dorji looked like she very much wanted to use her grandmother's invisibility technique.

"Dorji, are you sure you're okay? You're starting to shake a bit," Katara asked.

"Y-yeah," Dorji squeaked. "M'fine."

"I have no idea what you three are doing, but Hei Bai just showed up in case you want to watch your friend," the village chief said.

"Katara, help Dorji stand," Sokka ordered as he got up.

"Th-that's not really..." Dorji started to say, then trailed off when Katara grabbed her hand. Katara smiled at Dorji as she helped her up. Dorji leaned on her, still blushing heavily, and summoned her staff to her free hand with airbending. "Th-thanks..."

"That is not a bear," Sokka said about the monstrous spirit Aang was trying to talk to.

"I hope Aang knows what he's doing," Katara said.

Dorji stared at the spirit as it smashed down a house with a roar... or perhaps a scream. "He's crying," she muttered.

"What was that, Dorji?" Katara asked her.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Aang looks fine to me," Sokka said.

Dorji shook her head. "Not Aang, Hei Bai."

"That monster is not crying," the village leader said. "It's creepy."

"I think he looks kinda cute, rampaging aside," Dorji shrugged. "He's fluffy and I wanna pet him."

The chief raised his eyebrow at her, then looked at the four-armed monster attacking the village. He stepped away from Dorji.

Aang shouted at Hei Bai to gain his attention, causing Hei Bai to turn around long enough to hit him, sending him flying, before turning back to smashing a building. "That's it, I'm helping him," Sokka said, then ran for the door.

"Sokka, wait!" Katara shouted.

"You can't fight it!" the village chief shouted as Sokka ran out the door.

"I'm going out there too," Dorji said. She defenestrated herself, and once she was clear of the window she unfurled her staff. The revealed glider wings were as black as the rest of the staff. An air current had already formed when she opened her staff, catching Dorji and causing her to shoot off in the direction of the rampaging spirit. She was just a little too late to stop the spirit from grabbing Sokka, who'd thrown his boomerang at him to get him to stop, and running back to the trees.

"Sokka!" Aang shouted, and unfurled his own glider. He joined Dorji in chasing the spirit through the trees, until they reached the part of the forest that had been burned away. Dorji grabbed hold of one of Hei Bai's arms, using her glider to try to slow him down. Aang got close enough to reach out to Sokka, but as soon as Sokka grabbed Aang's hand the spirit shimmered and disappeared, taking Sokka with it. Aang and Dorji remained, but they both fell despite their gliders and were knocked unconscious.

oOoOo

"Ow, my head," Aang said as he woke up. He rubbed his head as he sat up and looked around. While it was still nighttime, it looked like a few hours had passed after they'd been knocked unconscious. "Sokka?" he shouted. "Are you there?" He sighed. "I failed, didn't I?"

He heard a sob. Aang turned around to see Dorji, cowering by the foot of the bear statue. She was curled up in a ball, trembling and covering her head with her arms.

Aang knelt down in front of her. "Are you okay, Dorji?" He asked. She didn't respond at all. "Hey, is your ank-" He gently touched her shoulder.

She shrieked and jerked back. She looked at him, startled and with eyes red and puffy from crying. "A-Aang, y-you're up." She gave a shaky sigh of relief. "Y-you wouldn't w-wake up, a-and I was s-scared..." She sniffled.

"I'm sorry, I guess." Aang looked around. "Do you know where Sokka and the spirit went?" he asked, not looking directly at Dorji.

"U-um... c-could you p-please look at m-me?" Dorji asked.

"Hm?" Aang looked at her. "What's wrong?"

Dorji hugged her knees nervously. "I-I..." She bit her lip. "I... c-can't hear y-you..."

Aang tilted his head, confused. "You... can't?"

"I... I can't hear in the s-spirit world..."

"That... sounds arbitrary," Aang said, then looked around again. "But we're not in the spirit world, are we?"

Dorji's grip on her knees tightened. "It's... more complicated than that. A-and we are. T-this is a sort of... borderland, that only appears at times like the solstice. It's... a thin layer that forms over the material world. I-it's what makes it so easy to cross over to the spirit world. We can see the material world, b-but only those attuned to the spirit world will be able to see us."

"So... how does that translate to you not being able to hear? Or is that too personal of a question to ask, sorry?"

"Well... it is a personal question... but I suppose I should tell the truth..."

"Oh, don't feel the need to tell me if you don't feel like it," Aang said, shaking his head.

Dorji frowned at him. "...It's hard to read your lips if you do that."

"Sorry!"

"It's... fine..." Dorji took a deep breath. "The reason I can't hear in the spirit world... is because I was born deaf."

"You were what?" Aang asked.

"P-please let me explain," Dorji said. "I hear through my ability to sense air, and when a bender crosses over to the spirit world in spirit alone, which is what we did, we lose all bending ability..."

"Including air sense," Aang finished. "Though how does air sense translate to hearing, if you don't mind me asking?"

Dorji nodded slightly. "It's a valid question. The sound you hear is basically just... vibrations in air, so I was taught to read those vibrations." She sighed. "It's... not perfect, though. I have trouble detecting tone of voice sometimes, and if I'm too distracted..." She bit her lip. "I... That's how I got found out..."

Aang put his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

She took a deep breath. "I... was practicing. Alone. In a clearing. I shouldn't have, but I wanted to surprise Father by learning a technique he had showed me. I let myself become distracted, and while I was practicing it seemed that a Fire Nation soldier snuck behind me." She sobbed. "I-i escaped, b-but the soldier called reinforcements and they chased me. I... I led them right to my father."

"That's not your fault," Aang assured her. She didn't react because her eyes were closed, so Aang squeezed her shoulder. "Hey, that wasn't your fault," he said when she looked at him.

She shook her head. "Father is so much stronger and faster than me. Some call him the most powerful bender in the Earth Kingdom, if not the world. Had he not had to protect me, Father could have slipped away invisibly, or killed them all. But I was there, so he had to slow himself do-"

Aang hugged her. She sobbed and buried her face in Aang's chest. Aang let her cry, neither of them trying to speak, and rubbed her back in an attempt to soothe her. Her sobs abated eventually. Aang gently pushed her off of him and squeezed her shoulders lightly. "I think... Maybe, we did make mistakes. I ran away from the Air Temple, and more recently I said some horrible and uncalled for things to you. And you might have been surprised by some Fire Nation people. But... we're both kids. Sometimes we'll make mistakes. We should apologize for them, and try not to make the same mistake again, but beating ourselves up over it won't change anything. Tsering didn't blame either of us, and while I don't know your father I do know that if he's anything like Tsering he wouldn't blame you for what happened." Aang got up and held a hand out to Dorji, smiling. "So let's not blame ourselves either, okay?"

Dorji sniffed. It felt as if a weight lifted off her chest as she processed Aang's words. "I think... I think I needed to see that." She took Aang's hand and let him pull her up, leaning on him due to her bad ankle. "Thank you."

"And for what it's worth, I'm still really sorry for the 'you're not a real airbender' thing..."

Dorji nodded, but still frowned a little. "Let's just... not talk about that again, please. Now, what are we going to do."

"If you want, you can try to go back to our world. I'll try to look for Sokka until morning, if that's how it works here."

"There is morning here." Dorji bit her lip, then squeezed Aang's hand a little. "I think... I think I'll stay with you. For now. I don't know how how much help I'll be, but I want to try. And it might be better for both of us to have someone else."

Aang nodded. "Thanks." Then he squeezed Dorji's hand. "How about we hold hands, and when I need to talk to you I can squeeze your hand or something to get your attention?"

"That sounds good, thank you."

He smiled at her. "Great. Now, let's try to find Sokka."

The walked around the ruined forest in silence, looking for anything out of place. Eventually, Aang heard something. He quickly turned to face Dorji and squeezed her hand. "I think I hear... wings flapping?" he said when she looked at him. He wasn't quite sure that was what it was, but it was his best guess.

"I'll take your word for it." She looked up, then her eyes widened and she pointed at a figure approaching from above. It was a red, serpentine creature that flew towards them on great red wings. "Could that be it?" she asked, surprisingly calm. She glanced back at him for his response.

"Is that a dragon!?" Aang asked. The dragon landed in front of them.

"It looks like Avatar Roku's dragon. Could it be here for you?" Dorji speculated.

The dragon nodded, then leaned forward. Aang flinched back, but calmed when the dragon touched his whiskers to his head.

"Oh. Thank you," he told the dragon. He turned back to Dorji. "He wants to show me something. Is it okay if I leave with him?"

Dorji nodded, then bit her lip. "Go, but I think... if you're going I want to leave the spirit world."

Aang squeezed her hand. "That's fine. There's nothing wrong with leaving somewhere that makes you uncomfortable."

"Thanks," she nodded, then closed her eyes. She breathed in, then out. Her body glowed and turned transparent, then she shot back off to where they'd entered the spirit world. The sleeping form of Dorji's body in the material world stirred when her spirit body entered her. Dorji got up, leaning on her staff again, then nodded to Aang and the dragon. As Aang got on the dragon, Dorji twirled her staff. The motion generated more wind than should've been possible, allowing Dorji to shoot herself up into the air, then unfurl her staff. The wind shot her back to the village.

oOoOo

Dorji landed in the center of the town.

"Dorji, you're back!" Katara shouted, then ran over to hug her.

Dorji squeaked.

"Oh, I was so worried about you!" Katara exclaimed, letting her go. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"A-ah..." Dorji fidgeted a little. "Sokka... is probably in the spirit world. I know Aang is in the spirit world, we entered there on accident. He was contacted by a... representative, of sorts, of Avatar Roku, so hopefully he'll know how to best resolve the situation when he returns."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "A representative of..."

"Avatar Roku, the Avatar before Aang. I've heard that the Avatar before the current one acts as a spiritual advisor for the current one, so he's in good hands. All that's left for us to do is wait."

"That's good to hear," the village chief, who had walked over to them, said. "Is there anything we can do while we wait for the Avatar to come back?"

Dorji slumped into Katara's chest. "Food, please," she muttered, still keeping eye contact with the village chief. "Going to the spirit world can be draining. I need food, Aang will need food, and when he gets the others back they'll need food. And I have an idea that might help, but I'll need to regain some energy before I try it." And then she closed her eyes and started snoring.

Katara picked her up. "I'll take her somewhere more comfortable. Can you get some food for her?"

The chief nodded. "I'll get right on that."

oOoOo

The sun was beginning to set, though it was hard to tell under the cover of the clouds that blanketed the sky, but Aang was still nowhere to be found. Katara was waiting for him outside the village chief's house, but she was starting to look worried. "Where are you, Aang?"

"He's approaching," a soft voice said from behind her.

Katara jumped, then turned to see Dorji standing behind her. She wasn't leaning on her staff anymore, as her ankle had healed up a bit. "Oh, Dorji, you scared me."

Dorji bowed her head slightly. "Right, sorry."

"It's okay. What did you want to tell me?"

"I... sensed... Aang's spirit moving towards his body. Very fast, too. He should be back in our world by now." She tilted her head slightly, as if "listening" to something, then pointed at the sky behind Katara.

Katara turned around and looked at something in the distance where Dorji was pointing. "Aang!" she shouted.

The small figure flying in the distance grew to reveal that it was Aang, and Aang landed in front of Katara and Dorji. "Sorry, am I late?" he asked.

"I think you'd know if you were late," Dorji said flatly.

"You're back, Aang!" Katara hugged him. "Do you think you know what to do about the spirit now."

Aang gave her a determined expression. "I'm not entirely sure, but I'll try my best."

Hei Bai seemed to fade into existence right behind him.

"As soon as Hei Bai appears I'm going to..." Aang felt something breathing down his neck. "It's behind me, isn't it?"

Dorji and Katara nodded.

Aang turned around and stared at Hei Bai, determined. "You're angry because the Fire Nation destroyed your forest, aren't you?" he said.

The spirit growled at him.

Aang pulled out an acorn. "I was so angry when I saw it, too. But my friends showed me that, even if it looks bad now, there's still hope for it to regrow in the future."

Hei Bai's expression softened.

"Actually," Dorji butted in, "I heard that forest fires can cause the soil to become even more nutritious, because the nutrients from dead trees get turned into ash and then mixed with the soil, or something. Obviously it's still better for the forest not to get set on fire, but with some rain to let the ash absorb into the soil..." As if on cue, a raindrop fell on the spirit's nose. More started falling, a light drizzle at first but slowly getting heavier. "The forest might regrow healthier than ever."

Hei Bai seemed to be processing that, his expression softening further as the rain soaked it. He shimmered and morphed into a panda, then picked the acorn Aang had offered him up with his mouth. Dorji stepped forward, holding her hand up in front if his face.

Interestingly enough, Dorji didn't seem to be getting wet at all despite the pouring rain coming down all around her.

The bear spirit pressed his forehead into Dorji's hand, accepting her invitation. Dorji hugged him, then started scratching him behind his ears. He made happy bear noises in response. Aang slowly placed his hand on Hei Bai's neck, then started rubbing it when he didn't object to it.

"That's nice and all, I suppose," Katara said as her friends cuddled with the spirit that had attacked them and took her brother away yesterday, "but could you please give back the villagers you spirited away? And my brother?"

Aang stopped petting Hei Bai, but Dorji, whose face was buried in his neck, didn't seem to notice what Katara had said. "Sorry," he said.

Hei Bai made a noise that sounded like it might also have been an apology, then slipped through Dorji's grasp, heading to the forest. As he walked, ethereal bamboo started to sprout from the ground. Aang and Katara walked after him.

"Huh?" Dorji said when Hei Bai passed through her arms, then noticed Aang and Katara following Hei Bai. She trotted after them, walking in between the two.

"How'd you know it'd rain just then?" Katara asked her. As with before, Dorji didn't seem to hear her.

Aang grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Dorji turned to him. "Sorry, did you say something? I have trouble hearing things when it's raining."

"I didn't, but..." Aang pointed at Katara.

"Sorry, I should've gotten your attention first," Katara apologized when Dorji looked at her. "I asked how you knew it'd rain, it seemed like you already knew it was about to rain when you said what you said."

"Those rain clouds have been gathering since I woke up," Dorji pointed out.

Aang frowned. "I know you probably meant that you just guessed it might rain soon, but to be honest it kinda sounded like you were implying you caused the rain."

Dorji didn't seem to notice what Aang said, and instead ran forward as Hei Bai started to disappear into a thicket of bamboo of his own making. As people started to emerge from the thicket, she ran through some bending form that both Aang and Katara thought looked a little familiar, but couldn't quite place. As she did, the effect that caused the rain to avoid her expanded, a swirling field of air that looked something like a lazy, hemispherical funnel cloud protecting the people who were coming back from the spirit world from the elements.

"Wow, how are you doing that?" Aang asked her.

"Airbending," she muttered. "Perhaps we should check on them?"

Some of the villagers, led by their chief, ran into the air shield, small gaps forming in it whenever they were about to touch it. It seemed like Dorji had somehow talked with them about it beforehand, as they didn't pay it much mind aside from a small amount of wonder at the barrier made from of wind and clouds. They came with towels and hot meals (though unfortunately they were a little wet...) for the people who just came back from the spirit world.

"Sokka!" Katara exclaimed when she saw her brother stumbling from the bamboo. She ran up to him and hugged him. "I was so worried about you! How are you doing?"

Sokka danced weirdly. "Thanks, but... I really have to pee!" He wiggled out of the hug and ran out of the cloud barrier. He went so fast that Dorji didn't have the time to fully open a hole in it.

"There are no bathrooms in the spirit world," Dorji noted dully.

oOoOo

Sokka left the bathroom, sighing in relief.

"I'm glad you're okay," Dorji said. She was leaning on the wall near the door, holding a bowl of curry. She offered the curry to Sokka. "Courtesy of the village chief." Sokka reached to grab it, but then Dorji pulled it back. "Actually, did you not wash your hands?"

Sokka growled at her, then went back into the bathroom. A few seconds and sounds of water later, Sokka came back out, still growling, and snatched the bowl from Dorji.

"Seriously, though, are you okay?" Dorji asked him as he downed the soup. "While there were... circumstances that made my first time in the spirit world more terrifying than if could've been, chief among them being the fact that I was five, the spirit world is a confusing place to just randomly be dropped against your will in regardless of circumstances."

Sokka shrugged. "It was pretty freaky, but to be honest that's just been my life since we met Aang."

"Still, if you do need to talk about it I'll be there for you," Dorji said. "And... thanks, for not being weird about it when you noticed..."

Sokka nodded. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Though I do feel like I should remind you that, as Katara's older brother, I will have to tease you about having a crush on her."

"I was worried about that..." she muttered. "Now, I think Aang's about to do something rash, so let's go catch up with him."

Sokka gulped some of his curry. "Yeah, let's go."

oOoOo

"What was Aang just about to do?" Sokka asked Katara. Aang and Katara were standing in front of Appa, who looked like he was being readied to fly.

"I was-" Aang started to say, but was cut off by Katara.

"He was about to leave without us," she said. "Something about Avatar Roku."

"I have to go to an island in the Fire Nation by tomorrow," Aang explained. "I didn't want..."

Dorji jumped onto Appa. "Nope," she said, reclining in the back of his saddle. The rain started avoiding Appa, though without quite as much of the vision-obscuring cloud barrier around him.

"Yeah, we're not letting you go without us," Sokka said, then started trying to climb Appa. "We're going to the Fire Nation together."

Aang sighed. "Thanks, guys."

#fanfiction #avatar the last airbender fanfiction #Avatar The Last Airbender #A Black Wind Howls #ABWH CH4

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 4 years

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The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 27: AMJ #3.1

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*pinches bridge of nose* Oh my God this is so bad

I was hoping last issue was a fluke but no. This issue also demands we dissect the recap page.

Let me just spell out for you all some fundamental dos and don’ts of a recap page.

DO please recap the events that happened in prior issues, or relevant context from any other issues.

DON’T introduce new information.

Last issue was guilty of that. And now so is this issue, arguably moreso.

This recap provides us with the working title for the Mysterio biopic. That’s right, the very first time we learn the name of the movie is on this recap page not in the actual story!

Want to hear another oh so slightly important DON’T to bear in mind?

DON’T contradict the story you are recapping!

The recap claims funding dried up when the footage of Beck abusing a crewmember leaked. That wasn’t the situation in issue #2. MJ speculated that that might be part of the reason. But the bigger reason was that Beck had sold the investors one one type of film and delivered another.

Let’s also consider this line from the recap.

…video of Cage acting more like, well, Mysterio…

So the recap (and by extension Williams, the editors and presumably MJ herself) acknowledge that Mysterio being abusive is standard practice for him. Good to know they are aware he’s a horrible dangerous person but are just ignoring that then.

The recap also confirms for us that MJ is definitely the only person who knows ‘McKnight’ is really Beck. So absolutely everyone on the crew are unwittingly putting themselves at risk, and MJ is just letting that happen. If they knew they might not want to work with him for one reason or another, but MJ and Beck are knowingly withholding that choice from them. It doesn’t matter that they are only getting this shot because of Beck’s charity, at least some of them would think twice if they were aware of the potential scandal they were working on.

The recap also contradicts last issue’s recap in regards to the staff of the movie. Last time it was staffed by ‘outsiders’ but now it’s ‘newcomers, rejects and outsiders’. Which is it? I’m not claiming this is irreconcilable or that big of a deal storywise but it’s another example of the incompetent craftsmanship on this title. Not to mention this recap again omits the fact that active villains are working on the film.

The recap also implies Mary Jane is ‘invested’ in the film. Let me get this out of the way now to save myself time later. Mary Jane wouldn’t be invested in this movie, at least not the way the story is depicting her as.

To a large extent this touches upon earlier instalments where I explained why MJ wouldn’t sympathise with Beck, why she wouldn’t regard him as a kindred spirit and why she wouldn’t value her career above the greater good.

Having said all that I don’t feel it’s necessary to dedicate a whole instalment to why MJ wouldn’t be invested in the movie. The idea that MJ would endanger herself and others for the sake of an artistic project she believed in or was interested in is fucking ridiculous.

The idea she’d be chummy with Mysterio is fucking ridiculous given their shared history and what she knows about him. But, just as a little reminder, here is Daredevil v2 #8, where MJ basically says Beck deserves no pity.

As we open up the story proper, Mallorie rescues a veteran actor (Sonny Diperna) cast as the Vulture. Specifically she rescues him from the Scorpion who trashes the set.

This scene has an admittedly funny meta-gag about Michael Keaton having played both Adrian Toomes in the MCU and Birdman in the eponymous movie.

Mallorie is also pretty cool here. Initially I was going to complain about how unlikely it is for there to be two capable and resourceful civilians in this story (MJ and Mallorie). However, in thinking about it, MJ didn’t become resourceful in the first place due to rare life circumstances. Therefore it’s perfectly reasonable that Mallorie be similarly resourceful in a crisis. Plus her job on set opens up the idea that she knows how to muddle through a crisis.

On the next two pages Vulture menaces the set and we are more formally introduced to his Savage Six. They consist of Vulture, Scorpion, Stegron, Tarantula (I don’t know which one), Rhino and King Cobra.

Whilst Williams characterization of Beck is generally great (albeit too sympathetic) the same can’t be said of Vulture. Making art or artistic vision a theme for this series (and Mysterio specifically) is perfectly invited by the premise of the story. However, it’s very ill fitting for a character like Vulture. Vulture is absolutely not defined by that theme whatsoever. He’s an inventor. He’s a grumpy, bitter old man. He’s someone who’s got a chip on his shoulder, out to prove that he isn’t passed his prime.

With that said, what the Hell is up with this dwelling upon ‘art’ in these two pages?

Fleeing the chaos, Diperna mistakes the villains as part of the film; a fact Mallorie goes along with. As Kangaroo (who’s basically the muscle on set) gets defeated, MJ and Beck try to escape. MJ insists they get the staff to safety which Beck agrees with, deciding to act as a diversion. MJ is concerned for his life, but Beck assures her it’ll be fine. Just then he’s dragged away by Scorpion.

MJ seeks out Noah from last issue and drives his truck towards the Rhino.

The art isn’t exactly clear on what she does next, but the end result is that she’s gathered up all the cast and crew into the truck. Meanwhile, Beck begins to engage the six by conjuring his trademark green smoke.

Mallorie and Diperna make it to the truck, with MJ lowering the ramp to allow them access. She is visibly concerned for Beck as they move out of sight of one another. The cast and crew for their part are star struck by Diperna. Diperna explains that he came out of retirement to play the Vulture as it was something different from the roles he was usually typecasted as. He elaborates that the movie has Hollywood on edge and that the elites do not want the film to succeed. He joined the cast to help them out a bit.

Elsewhere, Mysterio duels the Savage Six. He uses his illusions to trick them into believing they are in the desert. As they begin miles of marching, Vulture speculates McKnight is a double agent for A.I.M. When the illusion ends they find themselves at a national park, prompting Vulture to swear vengeance.

Much later MJ laughs at Beck’s trick complimenting his cleverness. However, the event has prompted several cast and crew to leave and delayed shooting even more. Thankfully Beck’s found a safe new location to film at.

Sorry for that lengthy description. I just felt it was more efficient to get through that whole sequence and then break it down fully.

First of all, see all my prior comments about how bullshit it is for MJ to compliment, laugh at, be concerned for, or be sympathetic towards Beck. I also find Williams choice to frame him in a heroic, self-sacrificing light to be questionable. He is after all none of those things. Just the last issue the story called out the movie as a vanity project.

Additionally, this whole situation is exemplary of many of the points I made in parts 19-23. Here we have a major crisis with super villains on the rampage. Civilians and property are in jeopardy.

And Mary Jane’s abilities to help are limited. They are in fact incredibly reliant upon Mysterio covering her. Noticeably, he is the one actually fighting the Savage Six. MJ’s abilities to help are limited to shepherding and transporting people to safety. But she’s only able to do that with Mallorie’s help and the presence of a huge truck that was there purely by chance.

What If Beck wasn’t present, or worse, on the Six’s side? What if Mallorie hadn’t saved Diperna? What if there hadn’t been a truck? How would MJ have succeeded realistically? I’m not saying it’s impossible but her chances of survival were slim at best and would’ve been reliant upon finding other resources to exploit to her advantage.

Furthermore, the Knagaroo was injured in the fray. Maybe not seriously, but he was nevertheless injured and MJ was powerless to prevent that. He was lucky to have survived at all, now imagine if he was a normal security guard who had no experience fighting super powered type? How likely would he have been to live?

Now of course, the Six’s attack wasn’t exactly Mysterio’s fault. We could argue if Beck hadn’t endeavoured to make the film or omitted to include the Vulture the situation might’ve been avoided. However, this isn’t the first production in the Marvel universe to include ‘real’ super villains. Had the real Cage McKnight (or any director) made any movie featuring the Vulture at this time, it would’ve happened. In fact without MJ or Beck’s presence the cast and crew’s likely wouldn’t have fared as well.

Nevertheless, as far as MJ knows a similar situation could have occurred (or could still unfold) with beck and/or his criminal crew. Last issue she already saw Beck start a panic in the streets by throwing a tantrum. She doesn’t know all the crew so well as to guarantee they wouldn’t do anything nefarious. And in such a situation, her abilities to help would be extremely limited and situational, just like they were here. In fact if Beck has just explained to her how he single handily dealt with six super villains (who’re all stronger than him by the way) shouldn’t that spell out to MJ just how dangerous he is? That he could very easily ‘deal’ with her too if he wanted to and her chances of victory would be extremely slim?

Then we have the revelation that cast and crewmembers have left the project. The implication is that these crewmembers left because of the Six’s attack. Either they were hurt or more likely they were concerned about the risk. However, none of them were aware that they were already taking a big health/career risk by working under Mysterio himself; whilst he was stealing someone’s identity no less. MJ’s complicity in this deception is removing the agency of the cast and crew for no justifiable reason.

More problematically we don’t know if any of the crew who left were the active villains spoken of in issue #1. If they were then MJ has just allowed them to walk away without facing justice! And realistically given how they are fugitives and the film was a unique opportunity they are very probably going to go back to crime! But Mary Jane is laughing!

Now in the interests of fairness I should point out Beck did put himself at some risk for MJ and the others. This is one of the important factors that has led Peter to giving criminals a chance at redemption in the past. We looked at several of these back in part 10. However, noticeably most of those people weren’t as bad as Beck. They also hadn’t hurt Peter or his loved ones as personally the way Beck has from MJ’s point of view. There were also other extenuating factors going on that led to Peter giving them a shot. Often this entailed Peter knowing there was something or someone capable of reliably keeping the reforming criminals in check. Whether that was his own super human abilities or an official body monitoring them, the point is MJ hasn’t got anything like that in this situation.

Beck might’ve shown a glimmer of promise, but MJ is fully aware how villains like Venom and Sandman have displayed moments of self-sacrifice too. They’ve continued to do bad things in spite of that, or gone back on any promise they once showed. That doesn’t mean that Beck definitely would, but it’s a humongous gamble to take with no insurance.

And let’s remember what Beck was willing to sacrifice himself for? His cast and crew? No. His art. Look back at the page introducing the Six. Beck accuses them of being ‘Enemies of Art’.

Yes, the most generous interpretation is that Beck genuinely cares. But it’s also more than possible his care fro his cast and crew extends merely to their contributions to his vanity project.

On the next page we discover Beck’s new, safe location is something of a shithole.

Beck’s hired a new crew, but with everything that’s happened cuts will need to be made. MJ suggests they cut the romance scene with her character. Beck points out that it’s less screen time for MJ. MJ counters it doesn’t take away from the hero’s development and that it was always self-indulgent anyway. She follows up that they are making a biopic, not a fantasy film. Beck seems miffed at this point.

There is a fair bit to unpack here.

MJ is being self-sacrificing here, which is true to her character. She’s allowing her career opportunities to suffer in order for the project over all to succeed. This further hurts the argument that MJ is sticking around for the sake of her career.

But the context is confusing.

In ASM v5 #29 dialogue from the script was ripped straight from Webspinners #1-3.

This dialogue involved Beck talking to an old flame (Betsy Schneider), arguably the only woman he was ever in love with. She was noticeably not a super heroine, yet in the movie she was. I didn’t bother to bring that up before because, this being a vanity project, it’s not unbelievable that Beck would misrepresent his life inaccurately. ‘Look at me I got a sexy super hero for a girlfriend! Aren’t I cool!’.

MJ wouldn’t necessarily know the truth of Beck’s lover so I didn’t bring it up before. Here though, Williams is implying that she has sussed out that Beck was making that aspect up. At which point MJ should further realise the movie is an exercise in self-indulgence. She even says so in this scene.

More confusingly, in issue #1 Beck heavily implied to MJ that he was making this movie (and wanted her in it) largely because he felt he let Betsy down. That being the case, wouldn’t cutting out the romance undermine the point of the movie? Or at least undermine it from MJ’s POV? Honestly, that’s not that big of a deal though. Beck’s motivations for making the film have already been contradicted since issue #1 anyway; it’s already a goddam mess.

Furthermore, the scene specifically says romance ‘scene’, as int eh singular. Call me crazy but whenever there is a romance between a protagonist and a love interest in a film their romance isn’t confined to just the ONE scene. It’s usually a few scenes at least. In this case, MJ’s character exists in the story fundamentally to be Beck’s lover. She’s been given much more than that due to MJ’s suggestions in issue #1. But that was still the primary role she existed for. This means MJ’s role in the movie goes against the entire reason Beck included her. So why would he agree to that? Why would MJ suggest it if her investment hinges upon sympathy for Beck? She has basically taken Beck’s original intention for her character and gone from improving upon it to basically substituting all of his original intent for something else entirely.

She even calls its inclusion unrealistic. That could be a display of her trademark confidence (MJ is fully aware she is attractive) and/or a dig at Beck. Either way she’s tempting fate there. She already saw him throw a tantrum last issue and now she’s altered arguably the most important role in the movie to him and thrown shade at him over it. Real clever.

Additionally she refers to Beck’s role as the hero. This further contradicts issue #1’s assertions that the film was portraying Beck as a villain. It’s also rich for MJ to claim the romance should be cut as the film is a biopic. By that logic Beck shouldn’t be framed heroically, empathetically and the film should apologise for his acts of evil.

There is also a meta-argument to be made about Williams’ intentions with this page. It’s possible she’s critiquing the superfluous nature of so many romance stories in Hollywood films, arguably super hero films in particular. I don’t really have any praise or problems with that if it is the intent. Just thought I’d point it out.

As for the new crewmember…we’ll get to them later.

Over on the next page ‘McKnight’ tells Mallorie to give MJ a producer’s credit. Beck explains that the new location is an abandoned zoo, hence why it’s a shithole. He proceeds to introduce the new members of the crew.

The only thing of note is Beck giving MJ a producer credit. This raised an eyebrow from me because it epitomizes so much of MJ’s role in the story thus far.

MJ’s most famous profession is an an actress. In the majority of adaptations that’s her job. It was part of how she was introduced to us in ASM #43. It’s one of the things that thematically connects her to Spider-Man. It’s also through her renewed interest in acting that we got this story.

In fact MJ gave a heartfelt monologue specifically about acting in ASM v5 #25 and it was this monologue that led to her job on the biopic.

And yet in this story Mary Jane has spent very little time acting. The story itself has ruminated very little about her role as an actress or depicted her acting at all. Mysterio has been acting far more than Mary Jane has.

MJ’s main role thus far in the story has been as Beck’s right hand, as his producer.

Isn’t that rather problematic? That wasn’t the story as advertised in Spencer’s ASm run, nor even in the initial build up to AMJ’s release. It also goes against the themes that have traditionally defined Mary Jane, especially within the context of her actually working on a movie.

I have a tinfoil hat idea as to why this might be the case though. Here is an excerpt from an interview Williams gave prior to issue #1’s release:

It's set in Hollywood and it's a film production, and my work background is actually in film production. I lived in LA for a little while. So drawing upon the full arsenal of my Hollywood hot mess stories of what goes on on film sets, that has been an absolute delight. Because then I can also demonstrate how MJ is able to think on her feet and be like, okay, well let's not do the bad thing. Instead, let's be smart about it. Very cathartic, again. So cathartic.

-From Bleeding Cool

I’m not going to presume working in ‘film production’ means Williams was a producer per se. I’ve also been unable to find any evidence that she was a credited producer nor that she worked as an actress.

But it seems to me Williams in drawing upon her personal experiences is skewing MJ more towards the jobs she personally did. In other words Williams is writing MJ as closer to a producer than an actress. It comes across very much like Spencer/the editors handed her a certain premise and she then terra formed it into what she wanted to do, rather than what the direction he set up implied.

That is all total speculation on my part. I have no hard proof at all to corroborate that.

But if that is what’s going on, then I find it kinda shitty. It’s not exactly what the role asked of her as a writer and more poignantly it’s not what MJ’s history invites either. It’s not that MJ couldn’t be a decent producer it’s just that that isn’t where the thematic resonance for her character lies. At least, not within the context of making a movie.

Let’s leave it there for now and continue next time.

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bluekat12345 · 4 years

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Dark Siblings AU-Characters 2

I do not own Tangled or its Characters, that belongs to Disney. The Original Dark Siblings AU idea comes from glowamber, check them out, their great. This is the second part of how I see the Tangled Characters would be in this AU

Quirin: Obviously, he would be The Chief Adviser to King Edmund. He would also serve as a tutor to Prince Eugene and Princess Cassandra, teaching them about politics and proper court etiquette. He would also be the number one person King Edmund would confide about his frustrations involving his family, his job as king, as well as his anger and paranoia towards the Moonstone, which hasn’t cause any trouble at this point, but will in the future. Quirin would try to offer as much support as he can, and would try to keep his king as calm as he can, but there is only so much Quirin can do, since although he understand the difficulty of raising kids, he would know that there are some things the king is going through that he can’t help with, no matter how much he wants to. He would serve as a secondary father-figure towards Eugene and Cassandra, trying to be there when Edmund can’t be, because of this Eugene will sometimes listen to him more than he would listen to Edmund. He and Varian would’ve lived within the castle of the Dark Kingdom and he would of course love his son dearly, but would have difficulty with him as well, mainly with his son’s alchemy as well as Eugene and Lance dragging Varian into trouble. Quirin would also try to subtle warn his king about Gothel’s true nature, while acting respectful towards her when she’s around, but he would not like her at all.

Adira: After thinking for a bit, I think being The Captain of the Dark Kingdom’s Guard was best for her. She would also be the one to train Lance on being a guard, especially as one that would personally protect the prince and princess of the Dark Kingdom. She would also be the closest thing to a positive mother figure to Eugene and Cassandra, although Cass would be frustrated by that, stating that she doesn’t need Adira to babysit. Eugene would act annoyed at times, but would deeply appreciate Adira and would be grateful to have her around so he won’t have to deal with Gothel, he would even confide in her. She and Gothel would hate each other, with Gothel accusing her trying to manipulate the kids while Adira would know that Gothel is not good and knows that she the real person trying to control the kids, especially Eugene. She would be more blunt and direct to the king about Gothel not being good, but her words often fall on deaf ears.

Hector: He would be the one who taught Eugene and Cass how to fight. He would be formal with the prince and princess, but he wouldn’t really interact with them, he would either be with Quirin and Adira or with his bearcats and rhino. He would be a strict and aggressive teacher towards Eugene ad Cassandra, so some of their training sessions would leave bruises on them, despite Quirin and Adira telling him not to be so harsh. Though he would be a very effective teacher, a lot of Eugene’s and Cassandra’s fighting skills come from him. Eugene thinks he’s crazy and is a bit scared of him because he knows Hector is a deadly man. Cassandra would spar with him a lot, trying, but failing, to beat him every time, amusing Hector, though he would admire her determination. He thinks Eugene is lazy and will get himself killed, but admits the prince is resourceful.

Lance: He would be training to be Eugene’s and Cassandra’s guard, but I imagine he would drag Eugene into trouble more often than getting him out of it. He would be an orphan and he and Eugene would befriend each other as children when the Royal Family, except for Gothel, would visit the Orphanage Lance would be living in at the time. Lance would’ve been the one who guided Eugene around the town when the Prince first started to sneak out of the Castle and encouraged him to adopt the Flynn Rider persona, and he around this time, he adopts the persona Lance Strongbow. Once he reaches the proper age, and with a recomandation from Eugene, he begins ton train to be a royal guard under Adira. He would, of course, have a crush on her.

Varian: The Unofficial Royal Alchemist, a title Eugene gave him, though no one would really take it seriously, but Varian would hold it with pride and aspire to become the First Official Royal Alchemist of the Dark Kingdom. He would be close friends with Eugene and Lance, being a little brother figure to them. He would follow them on their adventures, even if it lands them into trouble, though there are moments where he tries, though mostly fails, to be the voice of reason among the group and encourage them to not get into trouble with their families or mentors. He would still be an alchemist, with Eugene and Lance assisting him in his work at times, though like in the show, he goes through some trial and error, but with Eugene and Lance, it probably wouldn’t be as bad as it was in the first episode. He would have a crush on Cassandra and would often try to befriend her and impress her. Cassandra thinks he’s strange but is appreciate that he wants to spend time with her and would see him as a kind and smart kid.

Eugene’s Mother: The first wife of King Edmund and Eugene’s mother. She was very popular when she was alive. Beautiful, kind, regal. She either have been from a minor noble family, or even a peasant, but the one thing that’s certain, is that her and Edmund loved each other greatly. She, of course, loved Eugene with all her heart. But when Eugene was a toddler, she died of a mysterious illness, so Eugene has rather vague memories of her, but he would remember her voice, as she would sing to him.

#Disney's Tangled #Tangled the Series #Dark Siblings AU #glowamber #Quirin #Adira #Hector #Lance #Varian #Eugene's Mother #Character Profile #Tangled AU

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telltalebatman · 4 years

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oc facts: frankie

once again no one tagged me, i just need a warm-up after not writing anything sorcione-related for nearly a year. might as well talk abt frankie.

(frankie when she first met mac gargan / frankie currently telling the story to spider-man)

PLACE IN SOCIETY

✖ FINANCIAL – wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty

this one is actually a tiny bit complicated. frankie used to be filthy rich - but that changed after she cut her wealthy family off. she doesn’t actually have any actual financial issues, and is still able to afford living in a comfortable new york apartment - but she most definitely couldn’t afford a ferrari, for example.

✖ MEDICAL – fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged

frankie is definitely fit and agile, having practiced martial arts, gymnastics, yoga and running from early childhood. she also used to spar with mac... but those sessions usually just ended in bed. assuming he even agreed to them, as he wasn’t a big fan of physically fighting his Tiny Wife.

✖ CLASS OR CASTE – upper / lower / middle / working / unsure

whether she likes it or not, she is a member of new york social elite. her family’s name - moretti - carries a lot of weight; her father - bartolomeo - used to be a consigliere and confidant of cicero, one of the maggia dons. and frankie herself almost became a part of don fortunato’s family, having nearly married his son; they are still on good terms, and don fortunato still calls her by her first name.

✖ EDUCATION – qualified / unqualified / studying

frankie never went to college, as her mother emotionally manipulated her into working at her bakery instead. agreeing to it is one of her biggest regrets, as she feels she had missed out on a lot.

(she still reads a lot though, and has a genuine interest in psychology and sociology.)

FAMILY

✖ MARITAL STATUS – married, happily / married, unhappily / engaged / partnered / divorced / widow or widower / separated / single / it’s complicated

frankie is - happily and lovingly - married to mac gargan, one of spider-man’s biggest enemies. their marriage isn’t perfect though, as she hadn’t seen her husband in months.

✖ CHILDREN – has children / no children / wants children / adopted children

she has no children and she very much wants it to stay that way, as she has negative interest in motherhood.

✖ FAMILY – close with sibling / not close with siblings / has no siblings / siblings are deceased / it’s complicated

she has an older brother - takeshi - and she hates him. she hates him and their parents to the point of turning to maggia for help in getting away from them.

her brother had always had a weird obsession with her, obsession that eventually unfortunately turned sexual. their parents knew about it - and pretended like everything is fine.

she’s not on speaking terms with her family anymore.

✖ AFFILIATION – orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by both parents / it’s complicated

she was raised by both parents, and it sucked. her father was mostly absent, and her mother was emotionally abusive; eventually frankie cut them off - and in response they promptly disowned her.

TRAITS & TENDENCIES

✖ disorganized / organised / in between

to put things simply: frankie has her shit together. she always knows what time it is, where her keys are and how much money she has in her bank account. she likes to get up late, yes; but most the time she gets up when her alarm starts to go off.

✖ close-minded / open-minded / in between

she has to be open minded - she lives in new york. the avengers are there, spider-man is there, rhino is there, the maggia is there... she simply has to be open to new experiences and discoveries, because otherwise - she’d go crazy.

✖ cautious / reckless / in between

most of the time, frankie strategically plans her every move; but then again - there also are times where she decides fuck it and goes with the flow.

✖ patient / impatient / in between

oh she IS patient. doesn’t mean she doesn’t get annoyed at people who are late though.

✖ outspoken / reserved / in between

it all depends on her relationship with people around her, really. around angelo - her best friend - she’s outspoken and chatty; but around his father - don fortunato, the don - she’s reserved and cautious, meticulously cherry picking her every word.

✖ leader / follower / in between

frankie was forced to be obedient her entire life; now she just craves giving orders. her end goal is to become maggia’s first ever donna.

✖ sympathetic / unsympathetic / in between

frankie actually has a lot of sympathy for others, mostly due to what she went through. the thing is - she absolutely can’t express it without coming off as awkward at best or patronizing at worst.

✖ optimistic / pessimistic / in between

that entirely depends on the scenario - but most the time she can’t even be bothered to think about actual outcomes. she’d rather stick to planning instead.

✖ hardworking / lazy / in between

frankie is, without a shadow of the doubt, the most hardworking person amongst her social circle of maggia kids. but the thing is - she truly, madly, deeply hates it. given a chance, she’ll sit around and do

nothing

all day - but there’s no rest for the wicked. first she worked on her grades, then she nearly worked herself to death in her mother’s bakery, then she had to try to make ends meet after moving in with mac, and then - she had to work on getting him back.

she simply has no chance to ever not be hardworking.

✖ cultured / uncultured / in between

partially thanks to her father, partially thanks to the necessity of getting along with don fortunaty, and partially thanks to her own gothic interests frankie is actually very well-versed in literature, history, theater, opera, art, and food.

✖ loyal / disloyal / in between

despite what “she cut her family off as soon as she got the chance” might sound like - frankie is actually very loyal. but the thing is - her loyalty does not come easily. you have to work for it.

✖ faithful / unfaithful / in between

frankie is as faithful as it gets. once she’s in a relationship - she’s not gonna cheat on her partner, literally no matter what.

SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

✖ SEXUALITY – heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual / omnisexual / demisexual

even though she doesn’t have tons of experience - she is bi, with a slight preference for guys. her best friend’s tall, muscular bodyguard was her first crush, when she was around 12.

✖ SEX – sex repulsed / sex neutral /sex favorable

all in all, she’s generally sex positive - even if she finds talking about sex a little bit awkward, especially with people who are not her current partner. she also gets very flustered very fast when her partner begins to talk dirty - there is something about merely hearing about all the things the other person wants to do with her that gets her all worked up.

but yeah. she likes sex. it makes her feel good, plain and simple - and she likes the sense of connection between her and her partner, as well as feeling comfortably vulnerable.

also she simply likes it when other people make her feel good.

✖ ROMANCE – romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable

romantic love is something she enjoys - but at the same time she did spend many years without it, and it didn’t really do her any harm. but, if there is someone who has feelings for her, and she finds herself returning them - she’s not gonna be scared.

✖ SEXUALLY – sexually adventurous / sex experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious / uninterested

she enjoys having sex, and trying out new things, and she does have her fair share of fantasies. they are not particularly wild or kinky - but they are there.naturally there’s also a fair share of things she’d never try with anyone.

ABILITIES

✖ COMBAT SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

while she’s no superhero - she’s actually rather good at hand-to-hand combat, thanks to having spent years training. she often sparred with mac, and he taught her quite a few things - but she could never best him in actual combat. but, assuming she fought a regular security guy, or even a cop - she could stand her ground.

✖ LITERACY SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

she reads a lot and is actually very good at critical analysis and interpretation.

✖ ARTISTIC SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

frankie is actually a great poet and a self-taught painter. her poetry is evocative and raw and her paintings are realistic, yet hauntingly unreal; if she had a chance - she could be america’s next top artist.

except - she was never given said chance, and never approached any of her talents as anything more than a casual pasttime.

✖ TECHNICAL SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

this one is interesting. years of working at her mother’s bakery made her excellent at handling various kinds of dough, shaping intricate designs and working quickly with her fingers - but that does not, at all, translate into being good with electronics.

she is, and i cannot stress this enough, a femme fatale of the engineering sphere. she is absolutely awful when it comes to screwdrivers and wrenches and bolts and all that stuff. she’s kinda decent with computers and smartphones - but only on the software level. if you asked her to install more RAM in your desktop pc - chances are you wouldn’t have a pc anymore.

and it’s not like she’s an expert hacker anyway - her proficiency is around as high as mine. she can pirate software, and use vpns, and knows the difference between ipv4 and ipv6...... but writing her own pieces of code? absolutely the fuck not.

#4.txt #frankie

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mobius-prime · 4 years

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112. Sonic the Hedgehog #66

A Friend in Deed

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Ken Penders

Rings! Rings everywhere! Apparently, in his isolation, Nate Morgan has just been forging tons of rings and keeping them in his little secret vault in the castle here. Sonic innocently reaches out to grab one, and Eddy immediately stomps in front of him and growls aggressively.

In response, Eddy grunts some caveman speak about "Nate friend, Nate stay," and when Nate agrees, Sonic angrily challenges the old scientist on how he was once a hero, and how he could be one again but refuses by hiding out here. Nate insists that being a hero never works, but their conversation is interrupted by the rock around the ring vault melting into a familiar form.

Eddy tries to carry Nate away as the cave starts to collapse, but Nate can't bring himself to let Sonic and Tails be trapped there to face Naugus alone. For a second he's worried about the lack of movement under the pile of rock, but suddenly it explodes to reveal… well, a strange sight indeed, but at this point in the comic, perhaps not an unexpected one.

This comic really loves giving its main characters various unique powered-up forms. This time we have Ultra-Sonic and Hyper-Tails, the former of whom seems to have gained similar elemental powers to Naugus, and the latter of whom has an army of, uh, small birds to attack his foe. Really seems like Tails got a little shafted in the superpowers department here, but no matter!

I'm actually not at all a fan of how this fight plays out, as for whatever reason, instead of writing dialogue and letting the action in the panels speak for itself, Karl has instead chosen to describe everything, and I mean everything, in those yellow aside-textboxes, as if he's suddenly writing a present-tense novel with some pictures added. This has occasionally been used for a page or two in the past to decent effect, as it can give the impression of a film where the motion of the camera and the sounds one would otherwise hear are replaced with these descriptions to give a sense of what we're seeing and feeling, but this one goes on and on without any real dialogue. Naugus begins to use his powers to open a portal to the Zone of Silence, allowing him to gain more energy from the zone to fight Ultra-Sonic and Hyper-Tails, whilst Nate looks on in increasing horror, with Eddy still trying to insist he shouldn't interfere because "Nate friend, Nate stay." Despite their best efforts, Ultra-Sonic and Hyper-Tails run out of energy before they can defeat Naugus, who then regales them with a random tale of how he met a giant - and I mean giant - panda called Feist within the zone. I don't even know why this was included as it's not expanded upon at all in this issue, but whatever, it becomes important later.

As Sonic and Tails collapse, Naugus turns his attention onto Nate, who flips a golden part of his eyepiece down over his left eye. Turns out, the eyepiece contained a single golden ring in reserve this whole time, and Nate makes a single wish, "true of heart," for Naugus to disappear and the Zone of Silence portal to close, which apparently just… works without any downsides. Man, why didn't you do that before your home got busted up by a crazy wizard? Sonic and Tails begin to wake up, but just then the cave begins to collapse in earnest, forcing them to look for a route out. Eddy holds the roof up while Sonic quickly tunnels a way to the surface, and Tails and Nate follow him out…

And then the cave collapses.

We may not have known Eddy for more than a couple issues, but ouch, bro. Nate is left sitting in the snow next to Sonic and Tails, having lost his closest friend after all these years. Poor guy has lost enough, it's time to let him have some good things…

And Then There Was One (Or the Until Now Untold Origin of Ixis Naugus!)

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Frank Gagliardo

Didja ever wonder where Ixis Naugus came from? Well wonder no longer, as this bizarre-ass story is here to clear things up for ya! For starters, Ixis isn't actually his first name, but a title. You see, once upon a time there were three Ixis wizards - Agunus the Rhino, Nusgau the Bat, and Suguna the Lobster. You see what they did there? Huh, huh? All of their names are just anagrams of Naugus! How clever! Many decades ago, the three of them were conducting some sort of ritual to find out what had caused the previous Day of Fury on the planet to occur, which wiped out all historical records and most of the world's population. However, they were unable to complete the ritual, and decided that the only way to find out and gain more power was to use each of their unique abilities to reach the sun and learn the secrets of fire.

However, as you might expect, these three sorcerers were quite treacherous, and each planned to betray the other to get to the sun first and take all the power for themselves. Despite this sounding like some sort of bizarre creation myth, they were very serious in their plans to somehow fall directly into the sun for its mystical fire powers, even though you'd think they could learn how fire works by, I dunno, striking a match or something. They began to race to reach the sun, each trying to sabotage the other, but eventually they all flew into the air neck and neck, fighting each other until the last moment, all still trying to reach the sun first.

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Acorn, a young Prince Maximillian excitedly points out a shooting star that seems to be falling from the sky. The next morning, the royal family is astonished to answer a knock at their door only to see, you guessed it, Ixis Naugus, having become the fused form of the three sorcerers, offering his services as a wizard to the kingdom. And thus, he became a member of the royal court despite his obviously evil demeanor, leading to all the stuff we've been seeing with him lately. Fun times!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 66 #writer: karl bollers #pencils: steven butler #colors: ken penders #colors: frank gagliardo

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wild-blue-sonder · 4 years

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Tips for Breath of the Wild Newbies

Or anyone who may be as obsessed with the game as me.

I’ve officially done five playthroughs of Breath of the Wild since I got the game and Switch last year. Even though I’m on my sixth now, I’m still somehow discovering things while playing it! That goes to show how expansive and utterly amazing it is. If I had to choose just one game to play for the rest of my life, it’d be Breath of the Wild without hesitation. It has officially dethroned Twilight Princess as my favorite Zelda title which I never thought would happen. Anyway, if you’re a new player like I was just last year, or a veteran looking to critique some hints and tips, I hope this post doesn’t disappoint!

1: Thoroughly explore the Great Plateau This area is the beginning of your journey, and methodically running all over it will equip you for the rest of your adventure. There are some weapons lying around other than weak Traveler’s and Boko gear, such as a Soldier’s Bow at the top of the Temple of Time (which you literally can’t miss after the first major cutscene), a Throwing Spear in the Bokoblin camp behind the Temple, and a Soldier’s Broadsword under the waterfall of the snowy area. Raiding all the Bokoblin camps will reward you with a few ambers and opals you can sell for rupees early on. Keep the Iron Sledgehammer you get in the Owa Daim shrine and use it to defeat the Stone Talus near Hopper Pond instead of expending precious, expensive Bomb Arrows. Make it a habit to use Magnesis near any body of water, especially bogs. Comb the Forest of Spirits for all its insect and food resources. Lastly, there are eighteen Korok seeds to be found around the Plateau which gives you a good start to upgrading your inventory.

2: Gather Korok seeds early and efficiently Most new players probably want to know how they can carry more gear since it breaks. Hestu provides the solution to that issue and you can’t miss him if you follow the main questline. There are 900 Korok seeds in the whole game but you only need 441 to max out your gear slots. My favorite areas for getting a lot of seeds early on are the Dueling Peaks and Hateno regions (combined to form Necluda), the Lake region, and north-northwestern Faron. You can easily glide to many seed locations from the Lake tower and the top of Dueling Peaks. Zelda Dungeon is the best resource for finding seeds.

3: Embrace the durability system Something I hear from many players is their hatred for weapons breaking, but that system is in place for a reason! There’s tons of gear scattered all over Hyrule and breaking it gives you the opportunity to try out everything. I’m sure you will come to favor certain items as you progress. I hate finding a chest with a good weapon or shield in it that I can’t carry because my inventory is full, so I have to throw something on the ground ‘cause I’m too impatient to come back and get the better thing later. I’d rather break weapons by fighting enemies and gathering resources instead of letting them poof. You will also get the most mileage out of your gear by using it appropriately. Instead of running into monster camps and breaking all your swords and spears on tough enemies, take some of them out with bow headshots. Instead of trying to melee certain enemies, use shield parries to deflect their projectiles and kill them. And don’t use your claymores to smash ore. One last aspect of the durability system is to learn where certain weapons spawn, providing you with an endless supply. For instance, there will always be Iron Sledgehammers leaning against Link’s house in Hateno and a Silver Longsword behind the Ne’ez Yohma shrine in Zora’s Domain.

4: Save Guardian gear for Guardians Guardian gear is most effective against the various types of Guardians loitering around Hyrule. After passing some Minor or Moderate Tests of Strength, hang onto those weapons for Guardian Scouts you’ll encounter in certain shrines, Decayed Guardians posted around certain areas, and Guardian Stalkers which yield the highest amount of ancient materials. You can use Guardian gear against regular monsters, but it’s not as efficient. Shock Arrows are also effective against Guardians if you need something in a pinch.

5: Ignore Yiga Footsoldiers If you see random people on the side of the main roads in Hyrule either whimpering or standing around like creeps, they turn out to be Yiga assassins 99% of the time. I personally find them annoying so I just ignore them. They won’t pursue you unlike the archers and blademasters that poof in to disrupt your questing later on.

6: Use Dragonbone Moblin Clubs to defeat Taluses Dragonbone Moblin Clubs are highly effective and extremely common two-handed weapons that work well for dispatching Taluses in the early stages of the game. The easiest way to get these clubs is to run around at night and wait for Stalmoblins to pop out of the ground; they are commonly found in the Gerudo mountains. It should be noted that these clubs aren’t as effective against Igneo Taluses due to catching on fire. But Frost and Stone Taluses of the plain, rare, and luminous ore varieties will fall quickly beneath the might of the Dragonbone Moblin Club, especially if you hold a charge attack after climbing onto them. It should also be noted that Boulder Breaker is actually the best weapon in the game for farming ore from Taluses, so you can just use that after you get it. I still hang onto Spiked and Dragonbone Moblin Clubs for smashing regular ore if my sledgehammers break.

7: Do not fear Hinoxes, Moldugas, and Lynels These are the three most intimidating monsters in the game, but engaging them is entirely optional. You can hear Hinoxes snoring from a mile away so they’re easy to stroll past or ignore altogether. After a certain heart count they’ll almost always have boosted weapons around their necks, usually Royal gear, and there are three methods for gathering them. You can sneak onto their hand and wait for them to drop you onto their belly, then nab the weapons and carefully jump off. You can engage them, shoot them in the eye once, and grab the weapons while they’re sitting on the ground before running away. Or you can just kill them which is easy if you have Urbosa’s Fury and hold a charge attack with any two-handed weapon. This method will even kill red and blue Hinoxes in one go with a strong Royal Claymore! Moldugas only spawn in specific areas of the Gerudo Desert and you can see their sand ripples from far away, so you can give them a wide berth if you want. But they’re worth engaging for the good weapons in their treasure chests. Again, the best method for defeating them is to use a strong two-handed weapon (Royal Claymores are my personal favorite for their abundance and high durability), hold a charge attack, and make sure Urbosa’s Fury is active. Lynels are obnoxious to fight due to how much they dick around. The key to defeating them is to master perfect dodging because their attack patterns are extremely predictable. Use a combination of high durability and high damage one-handed weapons, such as Royal Broadswords and Lizal Tri-Boomerangs, paired with strong shields. Always try to swoop in on Lynels with the Paraglider from a high point because if they spot you from afar they’ll shoot you with elemental arrows. Speaking of which, Lynels are immune to elemental arrows and weapons so don’t waste them. Just go toe to hoof and have good reaction time.

8: Learn the best locations for farming resources After five playthroughs I’m still working on this one, but here are some tips I can share. Razorshrooms and Zapshrooms are commonly found all over Akkala. Rhino beetles are best gathered in Faron. Equip the Sheikah set, start in Lurelin Village, and run along the beach checking palm trees along the way. Hearty Lizards are also commonly found in Faron. For gathering Rushrooms with minimal climbing, stay in Necluda. Naydra Snowfield yields more Chillshrooms than you’ll know what to do with. To get Gourmet Meat either to sell to Trott or make expensive kebabs, hunt Tabantha Moose and Great Horned Rhinoceros in Hebra; wolves and coyotes tend to yield Prime Meat. Avoid bears because they’re jerks. If you’re in need of the three varieties of Safflina, you can’t do better than farming the Ruins and Great Fairy Fountain of Gerudo. Lastly, if you want a lot of ore for upgrading clothes or selling to get rich, turn on your Sheikah Sensor in Eldin. Of course I wouldn’t leave out the dragons. Farming parts from them can be frustrating because of the elements that hurt you, but you need horn shards for upgrading the Champion’s Tunic. It is easiest to fly at them head-on and use either a Golden or Phrenic Bow, or the Ancient Bow since it shoots straight, then stay in the updraft so you can see where the part lands. In my experience, the best spot for Farosh is on Floria Bridge in Faron. Hylia Bridge and the Gerudo Summit are good second and third areas. The best spot for Dinraal is Tabantha Great Bridge; the second best is near the Eldin Great Skeleton. Climb one of the rock spikes along the edge of the map or up the mountain to catch an updraft and shoot him. My favorite spot to farm Naydra is in Lanayru Promenade. Climb up either of the dilapidated sides and wait for her to come down. You might also catch her while gliding southeast from Vah Ruta.

9: Explore one region at a time I started doing this during my most recent playthrough. Previously I would go around activating each tower as soon as possible to fill in the map, but exploring each area as I reveal it has led to some fun discoveries, like a big stash of gear just north of the Gerudo tower, and certain side quests I’d never done before such as A Parent’s Love. Methodical searching is also the best way to find Korok seeds if you don’t want to use a guide. There are so many secrets in Hyrule that you’ll definitely miss stuff when you have the whole map laid out before you, so consider exploring one region at a time!

10: Try the Expansion Pass content Master Mode is probably the best offering from both DLCs. It does ramp up the difficulty to a certain degree and is worth a full playthrough even though the base game stays the same. There are no red enemies, you start facing off against the blue versions of each monster type. In addition to black and silver, you will fight golden enemies which are quite tough. Monsters also regenerate health which can be frustrating. However, there are way more and better weapons to be found! Floating alongside most bridges and waterfalls will be Bokoblins and Lizalfos guarding treasure chests. Master Mode also gives you much more rare ore. The Champion’s Ballad is enjoyable and has three main parts. First, you run around with the One Hit Obliterator and if the name of that weapon doesn’t sell you, then don’t buy the content. Second, the shrines you must beat to complete each champion song are difficult, good for anyone who complained about a lack of a challenge. Third, the final dungeon is like a fifth Divine Beast and the boss fight is kind of easy compared to everything you had to do to get to that point. But the Master Cycle is worth it. Think “steampunk unicorn dirt bike” and if you have no desire to drive Link around Hyrule on such a vehicle, then you are playing the wrong video game. I can’t talk about the Master Trials since I have yet to complete it, but I loved going on a treasure hunt for all of the EX armors, the Royal Guard uniform being the best. They can’t be upgraded, though, which is a bit disappointing.

Was this post helpful to you? Am I completely wrong about something? Do you have anything to add? Feel free to reblog with your own hints and tips! And let’s all hope that Breath of the Wild 2 measures up to the awesomeness of the first game!

#the legend of zelda #legend of zelda #loz #breath of the wild #botw #link #zelda #gaming #nintendo #switch #video games

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sharperthewriter · 5 years

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14th Annual Kim Possible Fannies Awards - Final Round of Voting

Hello and good evening to everyone in the Kimmunity.

Now that the first round of voting has come to a close, I am happy to tell you that we have approached the final round of voting. This is going to decide the winner of each of the 29 categories

Now, before the voting can commence, I need to go over a few house rules with y'all on this very important round of voting.

Rule #1) You can pick any category you desire, but you only get one choice per category. No more than that. Authors may vote on their own stories up to 5 categories.

Rule #2) You cannot split your votes.

Rule #3) You can submit your vote in either one of two approved methods

A) You can submit the form by PM to the Kimmunity Fannies fanfiction account (if you have an FFnet account) The link is here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2622561/KP-Fannie-Committee

B) You can submit the form by an email to the Kimmunity Fannies Yahoo email account. The email address is [email protected].

You cannot, however, do both. It will screw up the system.

Rule #4) You have to submit your vote by June 14th at 11:59 PM (Central US TIME). No votes will be accepted after this date.

Rule 5) You have to put your normal screen name (be it Tumblr, Twitter, DA, FFnet, the active KP forums, or Instagram) under your vote so that it'll tell me who has voted.

Rule #6) And this is the most important rule of all -- You CANNOT share your vote on any social media site (be it Tumblr, Twitter, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Facetime, Kik...etc.). The Final Vote Round of the KP Fannies has been private in the past and we, as members of the Council, want to retain it as such as part of our tradition in this fandom.

Rule #7) In the event that a tie emerges in a category, it will go into a runoff to determine a winner. And if still tied, the Sharper Eye test will come into play. (i.e. the story with the most faves and follows will win out in the end.)

With all the house rules in play, may the best author win.

EDIT 1: Had to put in the actual email address to submit votes. :P

Below is the nominees list:

1) Best KP Style Name

Rebecca Starlet (Nacos and a Movie) - StW

Geneous - (Dynamic Reversal) - Emperor of Dreams

Otto Bahn & Lynn Accuarate (What's the Alma Mater) - MrDrP

BattleSkarr & S'ordcClash (All Things Probable) - Slyrr

2) Best Original Character

Anna Stoppable - This Is Our Year: Sightseeing - F86Sabre53

Otto Bahn & Lynn Accurate (What's the Alma Mater) - MrDrP

Rebecca Starlet - (Nacos and a Movie) - STW

Emmie & Jennie Gold - Possibles Pure Love Road -kmtdiccion

Cappuchino - RJ & Martin - Emersonian

Rhino - I'm Scared Too - Magic Flying Spud

3) Best Minor Character

Monique - That's So Monique - NeoTyson

Tara - The Mad Scientists Assistant - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Bonnie, Monique, Camille, Tara, & Junior - Nacos and a Movie - STW

Bates - A Servants Loyalty- Daccu65

Connie & Lonnie Rockwaller - Fun with Con and Lon - Icarus the Foxkidd

Monique - Center Will Not Hold ... Or Will It - SimplyShelbs16

4) Best Villain

Bonnie, Camille & Junior - Nacos and a Movie - STW

Monkey Fist - (RJ & Martin) Emersonian

Dementor - Sophmore Slump - SimplyShelbs16

KP, Drakken and Shego - I'm Scared Too - Magic Flying Spud

Gemini - This Is Our Year: Postgraduation - F86Sabre53

DNAmy - Sheryl - GerbilHunter

5) Best Songfic

The 12 Days of a Possible Family Christmas - STW

KP Never Lets It Go to Her Heart - Ozzy-Zike Fan 10.57

6) Best AU Story

STD 2018 Feels - Jimmy1201

S Plus D Equals K - Neo the Saiyan Angel

The New Fearless Ferrett - Neotyson

KP: Gifted - LJ58

Two Tickets For Murder - eoraptor

A Journey Through Time - DisneyChannelLover

7) Best Crossover-Fusion

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion (fusion)

Sky Blue, Ocean Blue - purplegirl761 (Steven Universe)

Turbo a KPPR Story - brycewade1013 (Power Rangers)

A CO N*** Mole Rat in the Schnee Mansion - daccu65 (RWBY)

KP: A Tale of Promethus - LJ58 (KP/Frankenstein Fusion)

The Grim Adventures of Kim and Ron - shadowwriter329 (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy)

8) Best Alt-Other Canon Pairing

Bonnie & Junior - Nacos and a Movie - STW

Ron & Tara - Today My Life Begins - kmtdiccion

Bonnie & Shego - MrDrP - Picture This

Bonnie & Tim - MasterDuelistMichael - The Tweeb and the Queen B

Bonnie & Ron - Honey Pot - Mr Aanonymous

Ron & Shego - Your Loss is My Gain - Kixen

9) Best Kigo

Canadian Wedding - Von Uriken

I Forget - obscurebeing

Through the Timestream -RedWolfBlack

KP: A Blonde Moment - eoraptor

Acid Rain - VoltageStone

Morning Conversations - FeudorLaurent

10) Best Drakgo

Assorted Ficlets - purplegirl761

Expiration, Pudding and Plums - Imyoshi

S Plus D Equals K - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Unlike the Others - nobody3456

Evil Family - MaRci3o9

11) Best Kim/Ron

Last Dance- Whitem

Nacos and a Movie - STW

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion

Lesson One - Eoraptor

Eternal - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Could It Be - Shasta627

12) Best Comedy

Nacos and a Movie - STW

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion

Midsummer Nightmare - SimplyShelbs16

The Mad Scientists Assistant - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Ron at the Symphony - Mahler Avatar

Picture This - MrDrP

13) Best Romance

Last Dance- Whitem

Nacos and a Movie - STW

Turkey Day - Neo the Saiyan Angel

This is Our Year: Sightseeing - F86Sabre53

Could It Be - Shasta 627

When the Ball Drops - GerbilHunter

14) Best Friendship

It Came with the Lanyards - SimplyShelbs16

Check the Name - Magic Flying Spud

Assorted Ficlets - purplegirl761

The Mad Scientists Assistant - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Just Like Old Times - nobody3456

The Tweeb and the Queen B - MasterDuelistMichael

15) Best Action-Adventure

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion

Lesson One - eoraptor

I'm Scared too - Magic Flying Spud

MMP Twist: Exchange - Czech8

The New Fearless Ferrett - Neotyson

This is Our Year: College - F86Sabre53

16) Best Drama

Awkweird- SimplyShelbs16

Dead Man Switch - Sentinel103

KP: Gifted - LJ58

The Line - Icarus the Foxkidd

Standards - eoraptor

Eternal - Neo the Saiyan Angel

17) Most Unlikely-Unique

Coffee Shop Nights - Magic Flying Spud

Two Diverged Into One - DisneyChannelLover

Too Close for Comfort - James SunderlandsPillow

S D Equals K - Neo the saiyan Angel.

Groundhog Daze - Mahler Avatar

KP: Gifted - LJ58

18) Best One-Shot

Lesson One - eoraptor

Check the Name - Magic Flying Spud

Turkey Day - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Ron at the Symphony - Mahler Avatar

Could It Be - Shasta627

Christmas Surprises - F86Sabre53

19) Best Novel-Sized Story

Nacos and a Movie - STW

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion

STD 2018 Feels - Jimmy1201

RJ & Martin - Emersonian

KP: Gifted - LJ58

I'm Scared Too - Magic Flying Spud

20) Best Short Story

Awkweird - SimplyShelbs16

The Initiative and Other Interruptions - Jimmy1201

Motherhood - Taurusdoodles99

The Adventures of Anna Stoppable: Trip to Japan- F86Sabre53

The Tweeb and the Queen B - MasterDuelistMichael

Reunion: Memories & Resolution - Nathaniel E. Kenway

21) Best Series

Center Will Not Hold Series - SimplyShelbs16

Blonde Moment Series - Eoraptor

S Plus D Equakls K Series - Neo the Saiyan Angel

Where the Wind Blows Series - LJ58

This Is Our Year Series - F86Sabre53

I Let Her Lie Series - Nathaniel E. Kenway

22) Best M-Rated Story

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion

STD 2018 Feels - Jimmy1201

My Kind of Hero - DismalOrc29177

An Average Day - Neo the Saiyan Angel

My RonRon Time - NeoTyson

KP: Impossible Journey- LJ58

23) Best New Author

SimplyShelbs16

DisneyChannelLover

nobody3456

reapergrimm

F86Sabre53

IcarustheFoxkidd

24) Best Single Line

Nacos and a Movie - (Chapter 26: The Fight: Round 2)

"Shego's battlesuit, meet Kim Possible! Kim Possible, meet Shego's Battlesuit!"

Drakken presented Team Possible with a nasty surprise (Shego's Battlesuit made exactly from the specs of Kim's Battlesuit) and said suit was presented dramatically (i.e. a thunderstorm).

Sky Blue Ocean Blue (purplegirl761) Single lines:

"Don't say that!" Drakken hollers. "You think there isn't a part of me that wants that more than I care to admit? You think there isn't a part of me that would still love to do exactly that? Well, there is! And every time I listen to that part of me, horrible things happen to me and the rest of the world! Ruin! Chaos! Tragedy! Mutant termites! Despair! Fast food restaurants warped beyond recognition! Screaming people! Brainwashed people! People tortured – forced to sit on ice cubes until their rears freeze!"

-from the latest chapter of Sky Blue, Ocean Blue

Last Dance - Whitem: "The two were now standing in the middle of the room, enveloped in silence, and Kim noticed that Ron was floating away from her.

"Please Ron… don't go!" A frail hand reached out to the man she had loved for her entire life. "I… I want to go with you."

Ron's slowly fading form smiled as he answered. "I'm sorry Kim, but you can't. It's not your time. You still have a few more good years left. I waited for you during my lifetime, and I can wait for you in eternity. I love you KP."

Lesson One - Eoraptor Best line: "KP, Ninja school? Sounds cool, but so totally not for me. I spent my first day tangled in, or out of, my own clothes; couldn't eat a meal for like a week, and almost wrecked the joint with a magical sumo stomp. And on top of all that? No fast food!"

"But then I realized — I'll never defeat you. You're smarter than me — than most people — and boy do you know how to win a fight. You see Kimberly Ann," Drakken lectured. "What started all of this was one little thought: If I can't take over the world, maybe she can." - I'm Scared Too

(Magic Flying Spud)

arandomshipper - KP The Princess Bride -

From behind her she heard the sound of many swords being drawn. She sighed. "You reeeeeaaaally don't wanna do this, boys."

"We have our orders."

"If you were ordered to jump off a cliff, would you do that, too? This isn't any different, when it comes down to it, except this way will be more painful."

Butterfly's Wings by Vyrkerion again

-- build up to line: [I could paraphrase a more succinct explanation, but eh it's just a nomination] His skin was pale, and somewhat translucent revealing embedded circuitry and mechanical bits hidden below the surface. Even still then the faintest hints of where freckles used to be dotted across his cheeks. His eyes were a soft brown punctuated with a brilliant glowing red emitting from the depths of his pupils. Most of his head was burnt and scarred, the remnants of the machines fusing with his body, but patches of dusty blonde hair could still be seen sticking out from his scalp.

Kim choked, "Oh… Oh god… no. NO." And with that, Kosch the Killer released his grip on Kim Possible's throat and sent the girl plummeting.As she fell, she could see Kosch mutter something and in her last moments of conscious barely lip-read the words:

-- the actual line I'm nominating:

Die. Kay. Pee.

Die KP.

25) CPNeb Kimmunity Award

SimplyShelby16, Magic Flying Spud, Jerridian, Tennente, Legionniare24601, and Neo the Saiyan Angel.

26) Kimmunity Achievement Award

Whitem, MrDrP, Neo the Saiyan Angel, Jimmy1201, Mahler Avatar, Molloy

27) Best Reviewer

Invader Johnny, MrDrP, Mindless Violence Fan, Jimmy1201, Neotyson, Uberscribber.

28) Best Story of 2018

Nacos and a Movie- STW

Possibles Pure Love Road - kmtdiccion

I'm Scared Too - Magic Flying Spud

KP: Gifted - LJ58

This is Our Year: Sightseeing - F86Sabre53

Step Up - Icarus the Foxkidd

Another Kind of Drama- Novashiro

Honey Pot - Mr. Aanonymous

29) Best Writer of 2018

STW, Kmtdiccion, Eoraptor, SimplyShelbs16, MagicFlyingSpud, Neo the Saiyan Angel, IcarustheFoxkidd, Jimmy1201.

#kim possible #fannies awards #voting #14KPFA

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masterserris · 5 years

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FUNERAL FOR A MAGICIAN Pt. 10 Shivering Soldier

Read now the last will and testament... of MYSTERIO!

Characters: Neo Mysterio (Quentin Beck), Doc Ock (Otto Octavius), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Alexandria Beck (Alex), Maria Beck, Sandman (Flint Marko), Chameleon, Electro, Rhino

THE WARNINGS APPLY TO THIS CHAPTER.

Warnings: Explicit gore and death, violence, mentions of past abuse, mental illness, physical illness, alcoholism, child abuse, sexual abuse, rape mention, cancer mention

^These warnings are here for the story as a whole. If you get invested by reading a less graphic chapter, then be prepared for the warnings above in other parts!!

Flashback one week. Beck has been found dead. The recording leaked for the world to see. The Avengers issued their official pardon. The funeral date was set, his body under heavy guard in Avengers tower.

One thing was left. Read the will.

Doc Ock had sent the Avengers a copy, so that they knew what to do to entomb him properly. He was surprised that the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would even receive his messages. Spider-Man must have talked and swayed them into listening for once. Regardless, the Avengers were only the secondary concern, for at this moment... He was on a flight for the Midwest.

He was lucky that his tench coat covered his harness well enough, and that the TSA agents were easily fooled by his genius. Disrupting the metal detectors was child’s play for him, as well as having a fake passport under another name.

Soon enough, he found himself in the suburbs, standing at the door to one Alexandria Beck, the sister that Quentin rarely but enthusiastically talked so fondly of. Apparently, they had endured much together. Otto could empathize with Beck, for they both had abusive fathers.

The only difference was, Otto was completely alone. His own mother was too protective and drove away what he believed his only chance at honest love. Perhaps later he could try again, but alas the life of a super villain was no place for lasting partnerships, or so he thought to himself. He should stay focused on his goals. He stood by the door, lingering on pushing that doorbell. What was holding him back?

Beck’s mother died long ago, leaving him and his sister with what soon became a raging alcoholic. Quentin said that he understood the pain his father was enduring. Every last bit of his being filled with utter anguish. He could not help himself. He no longer was their father. Every bit of money his father got his hands on he spent on their mountains of debt and booze. With little to live on for food, clothes, and general supplies, it made their father fly into a rage if they ever asked for anything more. No birthdays were ever celebrated. No friends made. Just rags and misery. Alex had gotten a job way too young of an age, faking how old she was to get paid under the table in cash. Quentin was still in elementary school, there was nothing he could do.

Otto pressed the doorbell at last and waited, envelope in hand.

It had even gotten so bad that Alex was forced to sell their mother’s necklace. Her dad wasn’t happy about it, even though he was the reason it happened. He had slapped her for it, leaving a bruise she couldn’t tell her teachers about. She dropped out of high school, trying to take on a full time job. This only made her father more angry, taking it out on Quentin when she wasn’t around. Quentin always wore long sleeve sweaters to hide his bruises from where his dad had gripped his forearms out of fury.

Quiet footsteps approached and Doc tried to compose himself the best he could. Normally, he had a rather stony face. He always looked ticked off or lost in thought, but these past few days... Haven’t been easy. The frown had become something far more miserable.

Finally, they couldn’t take it anymore. Alex had enough money saved up in cash to get them both out of their tiny apartment. It wasn’t hard picking up everything and leaving when they had very little to begin with. A busted up old camera, some clothes, some necessities, a photograph. They went to a shelter, for the time being. Quentin held the cash in his over sized hoodie and sweaters. He had gotten good with sewing up their clothes, since they couldn’t afford new ones. He added hidden pockets to everything if he got the chance to do so. Finally, they had gotten away from their awful home life, but... things hardly got better. They almost wished for the screaming matches and bruises once they found out the kind of hell they had gotten themselves into.

After a moment of the lock clicking and the door slowly opening, Otto beheld Alex, who had clearly been crying for far too long. She was stunned at first, but welcomed him in with a quiet murmur. He accepted her invitation with a quiet “Thank you,” and sat at the dining room table.

A New York minor homeless shelter was not the nicest of places at the time, even if it was separated from the adults. All of the people there had their own stories. Their own mistakes or misfortunes. Their own horror stories. Some were victims of their own choices, some like Alex and Quentin, were victims of others. No one wanted to be there. But not all tried to leave. There was little either Beck could do when Alex was cornered for sexual favors, under threats of violence or at the chance for some food and money. She caved. Anything to keep her brother out of their greedy hands. The people they had befriended at their time in the shelter did nothing to stop it. They kept their heads down. The authorities? Who cared about them. No one cared about them but each other. Quentin was furious with how his sister had been manhandled. Abused, forced into sex even. She was too. If she could scream and fight she would. She could tear apart anyone who crossed her, but that wasn’t the point. She felt trapped. The real victory was survival.

Alexandria offered Otto some coffee, to which he gratefully accepted. It had been a long journey, and truthfully, he hadn’t slept in days. Alex nodded. She hasn’t slept well either.

Quentin had to hide himself when ever the abusers came around. Grungy boys with nothing good to their name. Some of them weren’t even poor, but rather made friends with some of the youth who were, treating them to things they could never afford. Buying friendship. And with friendship comes the favors. With access to the most vulnerable people in society, these scumbags took advantage of them. They could corner and harass any woman they pleased at the shelter when the workers weren’t looking, and no one would bat an eye. That all had to stop. He was sick of hiding. To prevent him from sexual abuse, he had to bind. He had been doing it for years. He hated the way he looked. He could not afford hormones or surgery; to the world he was a weak, feminine man, who had to keep cutting his hair back. The over sized clothes helped to hide his frame, but no one too him seriously or saw him as a threat. That was about to change.

Otto: “I... am not sure where to start. You of course know why I am here.”

Alex nodded silently as she handed him the coffee and sat down across from Otto with her own. Luckily, this was one of her few days off. She had wanted to give her brother the good news that her cancer was in remission and that her operation to remove the tumor was scheduled soon. Alas, he would never see the day now...

Quentin was now done with high school. He had partially planned on dropping out so that he could work like Alex, but she denied him. She wanted him to have a future. He couldn’t say no to her. He was an adult, 18 and ready to soon go to college. His scores were astonishing in engineering and chemistry, if he did well enough, he could have his masters finished at MIT at a breakneck pace. This was his chance. He had also gotten a part time job at a local rundown theater company. Quentin had also found Alex an apartment that she could move into, one that was within her price range and was far away from their past. But first thing was first. A down payment. That night, Quentin was ready. He had fashioned a false officer uniform from a stolen badge and a costume he had taken from work. In the back alley, a few blocks away from the shelter, he cornered his sister’s abusers and beat them within an inch of their lives with a baton and steel toed boots. It was dark. There were no cameras nor witnesses. His face was covered by his hat and a latex mask. He burned the bloodstained clothes afterwards. His sister was left blissfully alone until they left the shelter a short time later. He had relieved their abusers of all of their cash and valuables, pawning them shortly afterwards, all so that she could get that apartment and he could get swift, sweet justice that no one else could provide. That night, Mysterio was born in a dirty alleyway, taking revenge on the scum of the Earth who had dared harm his only family. Super heroes had failed them at every turn. No one had ever bothered to rescue them from their nightmare. He had to take matters into his own hands. No one could be trusted.

Otto sighed and placed the envelope upon the table. She looked at it, recognizing her brother’s handwriting.

Otto: “He wanted me to give this to you, in the event... he...”

Otto trailed off, not needing to complete his sentence at all. They all knew what it was.

Beck progressed quickly through school. He had some debt to pay back to the state, but overall his scholarship took care of the brunt of his tuition and housing. He managed to get top surgery, even, at a cost to his clothing and food for a good while. His sister had gotten married. Beck was happy for her and attended the wedding. Quentin hardly met his new brother-in-law, but trusted his sister’s judgement. He soon turned out to be almost as abusive as their father. Demanding money from her for his toxic habits. She divorced him immediately after she gave birth to their daughter and moved out of state. Quentin was devastated, but gave her his best wishes, only wanting her to find some peace. He vowed revenge on the man who broke her heart so callously, but he was gone. Quentin would just have to move on with his life. At least he had gotten his masters in engineering, with a minor in chemistry. The world was his oyster. This absolutely wasn’t the case.

She pulled the envelope over to her side of the table and gently picked it up. She paused at the handwriting, but flipped it over and quietly pulled at the seal.

No one wanted to hire him. A college education was great in getting work, but it wasn’t enough. This job needed 5+ years of experience, while this other job was supposedly entry level, but required an outside referral from sources that were not entry level. Internships were available, but most were unpaid, full time, soul crushers who only sank you further backwards in life. He was stuck. With debts to pay and the theater finally going under, he was more than desperate. He wasn’t proud of it, but as Mysterio, he could get those large stacks of cash just by claiming he was a hero and faking a few crime fighting scenes. It was pitifully easy to hide behind the mask and fool the world again and again. Until it couldn’t be fooled any longer. Beck knew this day would come, that someone would finally poke through his mists and discover the truth. He had only hoped that it was a non-super human and only after he had gotten enough money to walk away from his crimes. Unfortunately, he got Spider-Man.

She opened the letter, and quietly read it to herself. It wasn’t terribly long, but it said what it needed to.

In Rykers, Quentin easily could escape. He was a master of illusion with a degree in engineering, this was not the issue. He simply just did not know when, nor if he had the will to continue onward. His future that his sister so desperately fought for was shattered. Oh, what she must have thought of him now. The people running Rykers did not have the prisoners’ best interests in mind. They were secretly run by Hydra, and often used prisoners as test subjects. Beck was one of these, being the subject for a super soldier serum prototype. Unfortunately, their test was a success, the only thing being that the results took a few weeks to manifest. By that time, the Sinister Six had located their newest member, after Vulture retired to finish his chemotherapy in peace. Doc Ock had taken a keen interest in the story of Quentin Beck. Here was a genius being squandered by ill-fate and imprisonment. Mysterio then after became Neo Mysterio. He had the tools and resources to build a superior suit, making him able to tackle even the mightiest of foes, and defeat Spider-Man, the one who caused his facade to be ruined. Daredevil was also a cause of pain for Beck, but perhaps that’s a tale for another day. His future may have been over, but his sister’s wasn’t. She was trying to re-earn her education and raise her daughter after years of hell. She was always working, but Quentin would send her money and occasionally visit when he could. He loved seeing his niece, and Maria took a quick liking to her uncle. Otto understood Quentin better than anyone. He was a true friend.

“To my dearest sister,

Forgive me. If you are reading this, then it is obvious what has happened. This was always the plan. After that night, in the alley, after I was caught by Spider-Man, I knew that my life was over. You gave up everything for me. Your schooling, your food, your money, your innocence, your own childhood. I could never repay the love you have given me. I have squandered my chances. I leave everything to you, which unfortunately isn’t much in material sense. After going down this path, all I can offer is ill-gotten monetary amounts, to which you already know about. The last of my actual belongings are already in your house. The box in the basement that I had you promise to keep, but never open. It’s yours. You know how much you and Maria meant to me. Words cannot do my feelings justice. Whatever end I met, I would take it a thousand times over if it meant keeping you from harm. I’m not quite sure what to say anymore. All I wish is for your happiness. The combination to the box are as follows XX-XX-XX.

As for my dear friend Otto, and the rest of the Sinister Six, with whom I have been staying for the past few short years. Thank you. I may not have gotten to know you all as well as I should have, but in the time we have spent together, it has been the closest I’ve had to family and friends outside of my sister and her daughter. All I ask is that you let my sister and her family be at peace once I’m gone. Anything I have left within the base is yours to divide which ever way you desire.

Otto. You have gotten to know me. You have gotten me to open up about my past unlike any other in my entire life. I trust you with delivering this letter as my will to my sister in person. You have met before, so I have no worries over it. Keep my book. It’s always been for you.

As for anyone else reading this, I have nothing to offer. The life of a villain leaves little once we are gone, as I have found out. Bury me in my armor. Let my body rot within it, no matter the damage that has befallen me. Bury me deep and let no one disturb me. I just want to rest, after all of these fitful years.

Let me sleep.

-Quentin Beck”

She set the letter down and went to the basement. Otto waited patiently for her to return. In her arms was a moderately sized metal box. Gently, she set it on the table and removed the lid after undoing the lock. Inside was the photograph from their old home; a family photo, one of the very few that had their mother still alive in it. Along with it were two cameras. One was Quentin’s original, the other was one that he had gotten from Alex as a gift.* The box was filled with little things that were not worth much to anyone else but her and Quentin. Regardless, she could not help but sob silently at the sight of her brother’s love. The necklace that had been taken from her so long ago now hung around her neck thanks to him. After all of these years he had found it for her.

Otto did not have much to say. This was a family affair and he was only the messenger. Regardless, Alex considered Otto an honorary member of the family. No matter if he was a villain, he had been there for her brother unlike any other. She did not approve of Quentin’s choices in becoming a villain, nor Otto’s but she could not blame them either.

Shortly after, Otto bid her farewell. They would meet again later at the funeral in New York, along with Maria Beck. Some stories end only in tears, but the future had so much more in store for the Beck family.

*This is in reference to the events of Family Reunion, a short story that takes place months to a year before this one linked here.

(The beginning of said story is not exactly cannon. All that needs to be known truly is that Quenin unexpectedly shows up to Alex’s house, with Spider-Man lingering in the shadows.)

#doc ock #alexandria beck #maria beck #mysterio #neo mysterio fic #neo mysterio #sfw #marvel #au #msocs #spider-man #peter parker #quentin beck

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