#HardyGal rambles

[hardygalwrites]

Originally posted to FFN on the 31st of October, 2016

Simply archiving a writing challenge I did back in 2016 up to 2017 and featuring my favourite writing pieces from each week of the challenge here on Tumblr :]

← Week 11 (BB) – Week 13 (SS) →

Cartoon: Transformers Prime / Robots in Disguise 2015

Characters: Smokescreen, Knock Out, and Bumblebee, with appearances from numerous other characters (even ones not featured in the cartoons)

Synopsis: An Autobot Elite Guard rookie, a Decepticon medic turned Autobot, and an Autobot scout turned warrior turned street cop - three very different bots with a wide range of stories to tell. And we are going to spend the next year exploring said stories through daily-written drabbles, be they angsty, humorous, gut-punching, or just plain odd! Who doesn’t love a challenge? (2016 to 2017)

—

Scars

Starscream seized Bumblebee by the throat, cutting off the young cop's taunts. "Perhaps," he snarled. "Megatron had the right idea when he silenced you all those decades ago."

Bumblebee did not respond. He hardly moved.

"What's this?" Starscream said mockingly. "No clever taunt? No snide words?"

Bumblebee refused to speak. He was certain he would lose all composure if he did.

"You once said that anything I did to you would be nothing compared to what Megatron had already done." Starscream tightened his grip. "Tell me, Bumblebee, do you feel the same way now that you have something to lose?"

[elite-guard-hardygal]

So… do I have any followers who were interested in my writing? Cause I’ve made a whole different Tumblr for posting anything I write/make

@hardygalwrites

I did a whole completed whumptober challenge there! I wrote a oneshot for each of my topmost favourite characters!

(Those being Smokescreen from Transformers Prime, Makoto Naegi from Danganronpa, Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia, Yu Narukami from Persona 4, Jonathan Joestar from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and c!Tubbo from the Dream SMP)

I made gifs and everything and I won’t lie, I’m proud

I also wrote a few original pieces :3

[the-lupine-sojourner]

Through These Lupine Eyes of Mine, 2k3 Style [S01 E01] [Season 1] [Eventual OCXOC]

Summary: Join Asami, Lupa, and the other Hamatos through season 1 of the '03 series. Asami will learn more about her forgotten past, face her father's old enemy, make new friends and enemies, and get into all kinds of crazy situations with her unusual family. Capril and later Asami/OC as main couples. For my awesome friend, @elite-guard-hardygal​, who hasn't seen the 2003 TMNT...yet. ;) Go check my galfriend out!

I’m also tagging @tmnt-incorrect​ cus they’re super awesome! Hope you don’t mind! And @cclkestis​ cus I happened to ramble to them about these OCs and I asked if they wanted to be tagged and they said yes. :) 

Finally, a huge thank you to @fluidfoxwritting123​ for supporting this series! :D 

I know I keep the OCs’ background a mystery beyond the teaser at the beginning, but that's on purpose. All shall be revealed later! Just hang tight! In the meantime, please enjoy!

Speaking of the origin teaser, I did tweak it a bit then went back and tweaked stuff so it should flow even better and it's not in the past tense (if I did it right). Anyway, I'm revamping this story, then I will continue on into new episode insertions!

Last thing I’m going to say is, if you like my writing, please consider buying me a ko-fi, or if you want, you can continuously support me writing this or other stories by joining my Patreon!

I hope you guys like this story!

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

(Couldn’t find a better ‘title gif’ lol)

The little girl sniffled, tears in her eyes. She was only five years old. And she was alone.

How could she have known that her foster father was a scientist that had such cute animals in his workplace?

Then those scary alarms had gone off, frightening the poor girl so badly that she bolted right out of the building, assuming she was in trouble for sneaking away from her foster father to play with those puppies.

Doesn't matter now...she couldn't go back. Her new father would never want her now. She was a thief, noticing the puppy in her arms only after stopping when she stumbled into the sewers. She didn't know what to do, and was nearly on the verge of panic. She had nowhere to go now. She was alone. And she was scared.

And that was before she heard the van careening down the road. 

That van, searching the streets for her no doubt, was the reason she was cowering further into the sewers, clinging to the puppy that she'd accidentally stolen. She hadn't gone as far as she had hoped from her daddy's work...

She then flinches as a jar containing the cutest little turtles fell, but she barely caught it. Then...another canister, this one containing some kind of weird glowing ooze, fell on top of the jar as the young startled girl screams and dives off the platform, landing in the water. In her blind dash, however, she had dropped the turtles, the canister, and the puppy.

When she came up, the turtles, as well as the puppy, were now sitting in a puddle of the ooze and broken glass from the canister and jar the turtles had been in.

She starts climbing back up to get the pets back, only to jump as a rat crawled over her feet. She watches, intrigued and weirded out, as the rat attempted to get the turtles into a can, seeming to eye the puppy warily.

She decides to help the rat, scooping up the puppy and wiping the ooze off of it before wiping her hands off on her shirt and carefully picking the turtles up so the rat could get the ooze of itself, placing them in the can before picking the can up in her free arm. Not sure what else to do, the girl follows the little rat to what looked like a burrow of sorts.

She had then simply curled up on the floor in front of it, sobbing herself to sleep at the drastic turn of events she wouldn't remember, as fate would have it.

Her young scared mind, coupled with a painful mutation overnight, lost much of her memory.

All the girl knew for certain was that her name was Asami, and that she had once been human, even if she couldn't remember much else of her time before the mutation.

She found herself content, however. She had a new family, growing up with them and training in the art of a Kunoichi, the female ninja. Though curious some time to time, she was largely happy to leave things as they were.

She didn't need to know all the gritty details of her past. She was perfectly content with her new family.

=#=#= (15 years later) =#=#=

(1st person Asami's PoV)

Training has gone from fun to boring since my father, Master Splinter, made me start simply watching him train the others. They were getting close to my level, and I hadn't sparred with Sensei in a few days.

I want so badly to test my skill again, but Sensei said there were other lessons for me to learn. I know he's teaching me to teach my siblings, but I felt I already knew what Sensei did like the back of my hand. After all, it's not like Sensei's methods for my siblings were that different than what he did for me, right?

"Remember, to be a true ninja, you must become one with the shadows. Darkness gives the ninjas power, while light reveals the ninja's presence." Sensei explains, holding a lit candle out for my siblings to try and extinguish, by the looks of it. "Now...can you extinguish this flame, without revealing yourselves?" Father asks, flipping the candle from it's position on the tip of his walking stick, to in his hand without letting it go out.

Called it. I smirk, leaning against the wall, out of the way. I was already done with my own training for the day.

Donatello tries the assigned task first by simply leaping over the candle. Or that's what I assume he was trying to do. Regardless, Sensei simply leaned out of the way, leaving poor Don to slide a few feet, colliding with the wall. Ouch...

"Too noisy, Donatello." Sensei admonishes, gazing at his second youngest son with fondness.

I chuckle.

Next was Mikey and Lupa, rushing him at the same time. Again, I smirk. Always acting together, those two. They tried the same thing Donnie had tried, but this time, Sensei stood, and tripped his youngest son and daughter with his legs as they ran past. They collide with Don, letting out a round of grunts and complaints.

Sensei returned the candle to its position right in front of him. "Too clumsy, Michelangelo. Mind your footwork, Lupa."

Raphael is next, simply rushing his master and father, jumping over him, landing with a few small hops.

Sensei stands instantly, looking around cautiously, trying to pinpoint his son's location. Raph tries again, but this time Sensei was ready for him. He stuck out his foot, and within seconds, Raph was tangled in the growing pile of masks, weapons, and limbs in front of the far wall.

"Poor choice, Raphael." Sensei calls sternly. I look up and see Leonardo, already in position above our father.

I smile. He's good.

Leo drops down, katana out and slicing before he hit the ground. He flips, catching the half of the candle he had sliced off on the flat of his blade, blowing it out quickly.

Sensei flicks the light on with his stick to erase the sudden darkness, and Leo can't contain the smirk on his face.

"Well done, Leonardo." Father praises.

"Teacher's pet." Raph growls. Leo still held the half of the candle, which he then threw at Raph, who caught it without looking at it.

"Ninja drop-out." Leo counters. Raph growls and squeezes the candle into a waxy mess in his hand.

I roll my eyes. These two were at it again...

This was a regular occurrence with them, and it was stupid.

"Oooohh!" The younger three of my siblings chuckle as they gather right behind the almost battling pair.

Sensei was quick to put an end to it, however. He thrust his stick between Leo and Raph, earning their attention.

"My sons." he sighs, clutching his forehead in exasperation. "My children, if you are to become true ninjas, you must work harder." That clued us in that this was another lecture, so we assumed kneeling positions in front of our father, me and Lupa at either end of the line. "Your path in life will not be an easy one. The outside world will not be a friendly place for you."

I happen to notice Lupa and Mikey looking at a fly buzzing around them, so I subtly catch Lupa's attention, sending her a glare and shaking my head slightly. Lupa stills, refocusing on Sensei immediately. Mikey, however, kept looking at that insect. "You six are different in ways that the surface world would never understand." Sensei continued, unheeding as of yet the distant student near the end of the line.

Thankfully, Mikey at least tried to pay attention, having been nudged by Lupa. But the fly flew into his line of sight again, causing him to get distracted. Again. "To survive, you must master these skills I teach you. Ninjitsu powers of stealth and secrecy. You must become Kage, shadow warriors. And you must never be discovered by the outside world. " He concludes, as Mikey finally caught the fly, clapping it between his hands.

That did it.

Sensei looks sternly at his youngest son, who quails visibly at being caught under Sensei's direct gaze. Before Sensei could even open his mouth to reprimand his wayward student, however, the ground shakes so violently, chunks of ceiling and wall come loose. We all look around in confusion.

"What is that noise?" Sensei asks above the rumbling of the stones around us.

"W-whoa! Earthquake!" Mikey cries, and Lupa agrees.

"Which sucks, since we're underground!"

Donnie, however, looks thoughtful. "An earthquake in New York, though?" He asks no one in particular. "Possible, but not likely."

"Details, details, Don. Look out!" I exclaim, grabbing his shell and pulling him out of the way of a collapsing piece of either wall or ceiling.

"Sorry, Ami." He mumbles sheepishly, as these tiny, armless, cyclops T-rex-looking robots come crashing through the wall. We all gasp and draw our weapons en masse.

"What are those things?" Leo asks.

"New york city cockroaches?" Mikey quips.

"Heard they've been a problem lately." Lupa adds wryly.

"Focus, you two." I growl, ready to attack.

"Whatever they are, they picked the wrong party to crash!" Raph growls, running forward and slicing the first few ones to come within range.

With that, the fight commenced. I slash, slice, and bash the bots left and right, and that's when I notice the direction that they're trying to head...

Toward Master Splinter, as if that was the only thing they saw.

The shell? Confused, I decide to just keep destroying these things as fast as I could. I then run over to Master Splinter, who is still battling these metal menaces, destroying any I came across.

Leo turns, seeing me and Sensei back to back, combating the frankly overwhelming number of robots. The rest of the group finally catches on, and come to our aid, but even that wasn't enough. They fail to notice a couple of bots chewing out the support beams.

In fact, we all did until it was too late. Before anyone could stop them, the ceiling collapsed, nearly killing me, burying me beneath the rubble.

One chunk hit my head, and I was out like a light.

=#=#=#=#=

I wake slowly, head pounding fit to burst and unable to move. Then, the harsh sound of stone grinding stone reaches my ears, and I am pulled quickly out into the small compartment formed by the rubble surrounding us.

"Are you alright Asami?" Sensei asks, hands still supporting me. I cough the dust out of my lungs before responding.

"Yeah. How about you?" He only has time to nod in response before his shell-cell starts ringing. He pulls it out. I offer to answer it, but Sensei holds up a paw, stopping me.

Shrugging, I lean back against the chunks of concrete behind me. Sensei, not being the most technologically advanced person on the planet, presses a few buttons, asking himself which button you have to press to answer the phone.

I can hear Leo trying to tell Master Sensei that he had already answered it on the other line, but Dad apparently can't hear him.

I just sit here, highly amused and suddenly not willing to ruin this moment. This was just getting good.

"Hello?" Sensei called into the Shell-Cell, either not hearing or ignoring Leo's response of 'Master Splinter? Are you and Asami alright?'

"Yep. Though Sensei seems to have forgotten how to work his Shell-Cell." I call loudly.

"Oh. Uh, could you-ugh. Never mind." Leo's voice comes back as he realizes that Sensei wasn't going to ask for help, or take any that was offered.

He sighs as Dad keeps trying to 'answer' his phone. Finally, Leo ran out of patience with our hilariously technologically-challenged father.

"Master Splinter, you don't have to push any buttons. You already answered it." Somehow, this time Sensei got the message.

"Ah. Leonardo, whatever those mechanical menaces are, they have managed to eat through the support structure of our home. We must leave right away."

I hear shuffling and assume that everyone was gathering around, trying to listen in, so I start looking around, trying to find a way out. The sooner we could regroup, the better.

"Meet us at the old drainage junction on South Point." Master Splinter continues.

"If we take the south conduit, it'll intersect with the old drainage tunnel." Donnie muses, to Leo if I had to guess.

"We'll meet you guys over there, Sensei." Leo replies, relieved now we had a plan, and hangs up.

"Hey, Sensei, I found a way out!" I call from the far end of the hole in the ruble. I had found a small tunnel-like break in the concrete blocks.

We crawled through quickly and stood, dusting ourselves off.

The way to the South Junction was relatively clear. We did have to take a few detours, but we soon found ourselves at the proper junction...

With the boys nowhere in sight. Figures.

We both sigh at the same time.

"I'll go find them." I said, and took off after Sensei's nod of agreement.

I run out into the south junction tunnel, where my siblings should have been. But instead of five mutants walking along toward me, I am greeted with a collapsed tunnel and a sense of foreboding.

Please tell me they didn't go up top! Please, please, please, let them have found another way around somehow, but not up-top!

I think as I sniff around on the other side of the rubble, and find a scent that leads...directly over to the ladder.

Why oh why do they never listen to Dad and I warning them about the surface?

I shake my head and sigh, even as I haul myself up onto the ladder and start climbing.

I find myself on a street, with my brothers standing across the way.

"Imagine their surprise when they open that truck!" Mikey was saying as I sprint over.

"Wait...who's surprise when they open what truck?" I ask, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

Everyone flinches, startled to see me, which was never a good sign.

"Uh.." Leo stutters. "W-when did you get here, sis?"

"Just now. Now answer my question." I retort.

"Oh, Raph hid inside the truck that these thugs were using, right before they took off." Lupa chuckles.

"Oh, okay..." I reply automatically. Then, it hit me. "He did what?!"

"Doesn't matter now." Leo snaps. "This is exactly what Master Splinter was talking about. We've got to get him out of there." Leo orders as we move toward the roof.

"Last one to the roof hatched from a rotten egg!" Don cries as he vaults up.

"Hey!" Me and Lupa call back indignantly.

"Sorry, sisses!" Don replies as I joined him. We all run over to the edge of the roof in time to see a van (the one I had seen pulling away as I came up the ladder), roaring down the street.

"We can cut them off at Third and First!" Leo notes.

I run a quick check, estimating times and leaps already in my head, and come to the following conclusion:

"If we run like crazy!" Me and Don reply together. It would take some serious huffing and puffing, but we should be able to make it.

"Is there any other way to run?" Mikey and Lupa chirp, again in synch.

Leo just stares at them. "You guys have got to stop that!" He cried, even as he turned shell and started running after the truck. Lu and Mikey make this run more of a competition somehow, and gain a little ground on us. Me, Leo, and Don flip extravagantly over a roof, landing in front of the two cocky young mutants.

After a few more roof jumps, and giggles at Lupa and Mikey's attempts at catching back up, we find the pair flat on their butts, Lupa with a bra over her head, and Mikey with a sheet draped over him.

"Springtime fresh!" They cry, sniffing the clothing.

"Come on!" I cry as I run. The pair caught up to us quickly and we continue running, and running, and running.

After what seems like hours of running around, we stop as the truck finally pulls into a parking lot of some abandoned warehouse. We stand on the rooftop surrounding a sort of courtyard, panting. We watch as only one of the four or so thugs was left to guard the truck, the others going inside, joking with each other about the money they'd stolen and their victim.

Now that we weren't outnumbered, we descend to the ground quietly, choosing hiding places carefully.

Lupa kicks a can to get the guard's attention while Mikey runs and grabs a piece of paper.

He then taps the overweight thug on the shoulder. "Hey!" He murmurs, earning the man's complete attention. "This is a no-parking zone." Mikey continues wryly, "Here's your ticket," He holds up that small piece of paper. "and here's your fine!" Mikey finishes, and high-kicks the man's head into the van. We come out oh hiding as Leo congratulates the pair.

"It's a ninja thing." Mikey replies with a grinning Lupa leaning on his shoulder.

I smile at the pair. Like two peas in a pod, you rarely found one without the other. It's adorable.

"Now, let's get Raph out of there." Leo orders, and we all turn to face the truck. I stand nearby, arms crossed, sighing at the stupid turtle trapped inside the van. I then look down, expecting to find a traditional pad-lock keeping the doors closed, but am disappointed with a larger, more high-tech lock.

"Man..." Mikey groans, "Whatever happened to good old-fashioned padlocks?!"

"Yeah..." Lupa mutteres sourly, glaring at the lock like she wants to melt it.

"They went out of fashion." I joke as Don drew two screwdrivers out of his bag and twirls them around, mimicking Raph with his sai effectively.

"Besides, where's the fun in that?" Don asks rhetorically. "This baby's all mine!" Don chuckles smugly, stepping over to the lock, and kneeling down.

I turn toward the doorway the thugs had gone through to keep a lookout as Don works on the lock, grimacing at Raph's muffled cries and grunts as he tried to bust his way out.

Honestly, it was a miracle that no one noticed him...

"What's that Raphael?" Mikey taunts. "I can't hear you." He adds in a sing-song voice.

"I can't either, bro. You gotta use your outside voice!" Lupa giggles into her hand. Raph growled extra loud and gave the door an extra hard hit in impatience.

Mikey takes a step back. "Okay. We heard that."

"Not what I meant by 'outside voice', Raph, but it works! Wonder what made ya think to smash the door again?" Lupa adds, again leaning on her brother's shoulder.

"Dunno. But I think he thought it would work!" Mikey replies happily, and the pair fall about giggling.

"I'm trying to work here." Don grumbles, effectively crushing the humorous atmosphere.

"Oh, come on, Don. You've worked in worse conditions before." I chuckle. Then, all is quiet in the courtyard as Don finally finishes pick-locking the doors.

The lock clicks a few times before opening slowly.

"Hey, Raph!" Mikey cries, Lupa right beside him, their arms out wide as if to receive a hug from the angry red turtle. "Glad to have you back, bro!"

Raph responds with a grunt as he tackles his two annoying siblings, wrestling them to the ground.

Well, Raph was mainly wrestling Mikey, with a worried Lupa attempting to rescue her helpless brother. So far, it wasn't working.

"What a hot-head." Leo sighs, then flinches as the sounds of pain increase.

I sigh and roll my eyes before returning to watching for the thugs.

Hey, waittaminute...where's that fat thug Mikey knocked out? He should still be laying right...uh-oh!

I think to myself, gazing around and seeing the three or more thugs from the van coming out from the warehouse, the fat one last, still rubbing his head ruefully. I back up, and bump into Leo, who then gazes over my shoulder.

"Uh, Raph?" Don called, Mikey and Lupa continuing to cry out as Raph kept up his assault.

"We don't have time for this!" Leo exclaims, drawing his katana as I draw my tomahawks. We back up as the thugs advance. Raph is now holding Mikey against the pillar and is drawing his fist back threateningly. Lupa's grabbing the fist as Raph turns, glaring at Leo.

"And why not?" He asks hotly.

"Because we're not alone." Mikey replies, noticing the thugs. Lupa whirls and draws her double-scythe quickly, getting into a defensive stance before I could blink.

"Look at the freaks!" One thug taunts.

"What's with the dweeby costumes?" Asks another.

"This ain't Halloween." Another notes, laughing.

I narrow my eyes. Isn't it obvious we're not wearing costumes?

"You're going down, freaks!" The apparent leader calls, twirling a staff like this wasn't his first time using it. "Nobody messes with the Purple Dragons, especially wearing stupid animal costumes!" The leader continues.

"Deja-vu, Don." I quip, nodding at the man with the staff. Don just glares at me.

I now notice several other thugs, joining the first four.

I gulp.

This could be bad...this could be very bad. We charge anyway and beat the thugs into a pile with relative ease. Guess Sensei's training really does work!

We then smirk, standing over the thugs and brandishing our weapons.

"Let's get outta here!" The leader cries and all the thugs beat a hasty retreat.

"Gimme some green and brown!" Mikey exclaims happily, holding his hands up to both Lupa and Raph, who high-three-d and four-ed him.

"Well, that was easier than expected." Don notes.

"Yeah..." I agreed. "Crap. We just jinxed it, didn't we?" I add sourly.

"I dunno, sis. I kinda hope there are more of those guys. I was just getting started." Raph growls, twirling his weapons with an almost maniacal grin on his face.

"Uh, well, looks like you got your wish, Raphie-boy!" Mikey replies, pointing to the rooftop.

Then, the hairs on the back of my neck tingled as I look up to find shadowy figures standing where we had been standing not too long ago.

"Eep!" I squeak as the ninjas leap down, much like we had done, and assumed stances we had been reviewing this very evening.

I gulp. "Are those guys...ninjas?" Leo and I ask in synch, as we're quickly and thoroughly surrounded by a wall of black clothing.

"Jynx." I mutter to myself, and resume the stance I had just dropped, gripping my tomahawks in readiness.

"Well, they're certainly ninja-esque!" Mikey retorts wryly.

"Be ready...for anything." Leo orders, leaning back to make sure we heard him.

"I am so gonna enjoy this." Raph growls gleefully.

"Of course you would." I reply, unable to help a quip despite the serious situation.

"Hey! I am, too!" Lupa whines.

I roll my eyes.

Don then vaults over several ninjas, landed in a crouch, and spun their legs out from under them before the ninjas knew what had hit them. He stood as I batted away at my own group. They were down for the count in less than a minute.

Two got past me and charged Don, but they weren't a problem for him. However, the ninjas we had just beaten got up, and resumed fighting. Three or more landed in a semi-circle around Raph, and he was left to dodge their attacks.

"Hey, sweet Dragon Kick. He-he, nice Double Phoenix Punch." Raph said, dodging the very moves he was naming. "Hey, know this one?" He asked, before spin kicking the poor ninjas away.

"Raph, we're here to fight them, not comment on their moves!" I call. "Focus!"

"Sorry, sis. Got carried away." Raph replies, shrugging.

Not far away, Leo was engaging a katana-wielding ninja, knocking him aside and flipping away from the remaining ones. He lands with a slight grimace on the first rooftop ring around the courtyard. I flip up, as well, landing on one of the multiple ninjas that advanced on Leo.

One landed out of my reach, and ran along the wall, slicing at Leo as he passed by. I charge as Leo knocks him back a few feet.

I was by Leo's side in an instant, but was knocked down by a powerful kick almost as soon as I get there. I land harshly in the middle of a small gathering, and flip up instantly, managing to knock a few ninjas out as I land. I was soon overwhelmed, and kicked back into the van, along with Donnie and Mikey.

I rub my rib cage where I had gotten kicked, but stand, ready to continue.

"Don..are we beating them, or are they beating us?" Mikey asks fearfully, and I saw more ninjas appear around us, advancing menacingly. Then they reach into their clothes, drawing out shurikens and throwing them with deadly accuracy.

I gasp, and reached for the van's door handle, wrenching it open and diving inside, even as Don does the same. He also grabs Mikey and hauls him inside, closing the door just before we were impaled. It was stuffy in here, but thankfully we are clear to open the door a few seconds later.

I leap out, and everyone got out with me. Raph, Lupa and Leo join us as the ninjas gather around us, ready to attack.

"Ask me again when we're winning, Mikey." Don replies in as fearful a tone as Mikey had used.

"Yeah...That's what I thought." Mikey mutters, spying the shurikens that had almost had our heads.

"Don...hot-wire this thing!" I murmur to my genius brother, realizing there was no winning this fight if more and more ninjas kept showing up. "We need a ride out of here!"

"How many'a dese goons do we gotta beat before dey got da hint?" Raph asks rhetorically.

"Really." Mikey whined. "They just keep coming."

"Time to switch to plan B." Leo grumbles. He turns to look at the van. "Donatello?"

"Almost there, Leo." Don replies quickly, tapping two wires together, and the van starts up. "This bus now leaving for...anywhere-but-here!" He said as he sits up and closes the driver-side door.

Raph and Lupa still look ready to fight, so Leo and I sheathed our weapons. I grab my sister's mask tails, and Leo grabs Raph's shoulder.

"Come on!" Leo ordered over the sound of the truck before I could utter one syllable. "We're leaving!" Don pressed the gas pedal to the floor, and we leap into the back and close the doors swiftly as the van careens away from the ninjas.

It's a bumpy ride, to put it gently. We're tossed around like rag dolls while trying to stay on the back seats. It wasn't working.

"Nice driving, Don!" Mikey grumbles sarcastically. "For a turtle with no license!"

"Hey, you want pretty? Or you want effective?" Don retorts wryly.

"Would both be too much to ask?" I snap, gripping the edge of my seat as the van continues to bounce. I roll my eyes. I suppose beggars can't be choosers... "Nevermind." I huff, crossing my arms before having to grab hold of something to steady myself. It was no good. I got tossed up and ended up on my butt on the floor of the van.

"I gotta tell yah...this has been one mundo-bizzaro day." Mikey notes as he's bounced about.

"Night, really." Lupa points out wryly.

"Whatever, Lu-Lu." Mikey replies, sticking his tongue playfully at his sister. "Anyway, first there were all those metal things underground, and—what's with all those ninjas?" He asks sullenly, leaning back to try and stabilize himself. "Ninjas in New York City, besides us? It's just not right!"

"There's nothing that prohibits them." I muse, frowning in thought. "What I wanna know is why they attacked us without any apparent reason."

"Talk about not right." Raph growls, picking up one of the many duffel bags. He unzips it to find that it was stuffed with cash. I blink. That was a ton of money. Whoa...that poor victim... "Check this out." He calls, dumping the cash unceremoniously onto the floor.

Mikey and Lupa immediately grab a wad in each hand, gleeful expressions almost maniacal. "Show me the money, baby! Wha—whoo!" They cry joyfully.

I sigh. Immature as always...

I grab the money from the young mutants' hands, stuffing the wads back into the bag with the rest of the stash.

"Hey, Don. Cop alert! Stop real quick so we can give the money back." I call to the front, grabbing the bags as the van slowed to a halt.

"Alright, but we gotta make this quick!" Don replies, looking over the seat at me. "We don't know if those ninjas are following us." He gulps, face slightly drained of color. "Oh, and Sensei's still expecting us."

I blanch a little. Oh, shoot!

"Noted." I reply, and Leo grabbed another couple of bags. Leo rolls his window down.

"Take care of this money, will yah guys?" We call, chucking all the bags out onto the windshield of the cop car.

"Thanks!" I add as Leo rolls the window back up, and Donnie heads toward the rough location of the South Junction. We end up having to go around a building and smashing through a gate in an alley to get back into the sewers, but I felt relief fill me as...

Wait...why are there holes in the ground? What happened? What did I miss? Oh, no... There's bits of those weird metal things all over the ground!

Yikes! I leap out and sprint over to Sensei, hugging him fiercely. I am quickly followed by the rest of my siblings and we basically dog-pile our poor dad.

We let go, smiling, relieved to be back with Sensei in the sewers.

"I am glad to see you, too, my children." Sensei chuckles once he recovered a little from the family hug.

"Sensei, so much has happened." Leo tells him excitedly.

"That's an understatement." Lupa and I reply, giggling. It was quite the adventure.

"Yes, yes. There will be time to tell me all about it later, Leonardo." Sensei replies fondly, smiling at all of us. He knew Leo was usually the one that loved recounting our adventures the most. He always told it so well, it made me sort of jealous, really. "But first, I wish to take you all home." Sensei continues, walking toward one of the holes in the ground. I cock a brow. What did Sensei mean? It took a second for it to sink in. Oh. Sensei...wait...Sensei already found a new home?! How?! What happened while we were gone?!

"Home?" Mikey repeats, confused.

"We got no home. Those robots trashed our pad, remember Sensei?" Raph adds, kicking a metal head away sourly. Sensei just smiles and continues walking.

"Do not worry. I think I have found a solution to our current housing problem." Knew it. "Follow me, children." He calls, leaping down. I frown, but do am I am told.

I end up on my butt on some wild, impromptu slide of a dried tunnel, careening toward the bottom. Leo and Don came tumbling on my heels.

"Not funny Raph!" I hear Mikey scream as he came sliding after Don and Leo. I smile, stumbling as I landed on the floor of a larger sewer tunnel, like the one we used to live in. I then have to leap toward Sensei as the rest of the mutants came crashing into the floor, landing in a pile of limbs, shells, and fur. They one by one extracted themselves, groaning and maddasing mistreated muscles.

I shake my head, smiling. Some things never change.

"Wicked slide!" Mikey chirps, ever the optimist.

"Let's do that again!" Lupa adds.

"No!" Everyone grumbles. Mikey eagerly runs to catch up to Sensei.

"No offense, Sensei, but this place doesn't seem so great." He muses.

"Mikey!" I snap. He cringes, but Sensei walks on, without a sign of being affected by his son's disrespect. "At least Sensei found something! Geez!"

"I mean, I guess it's okay..." He amended. Lupa had caught up by now and she looks about as thrilled about this place as Mikey.

"It's just that...this is exactly like our old house." Lupa explains tentatively, watching Sensei and I's reaction. I roll my eyes, but find Sensei's lack of response a little weird.

"Look with your heart, and not your eyes, you two." Sensei instructs, still smiling.

I frown. Was this our home? Didn't seem like it. It seems like Sensei was waiting until we got to a certain point.

Lupa and Mikey just looked at each other, confusion in their eyes. "Um...okay." They scratch their heads.

"And walk this way." Sensei adds patiently. Mikey then bent over and performed an actually fairly good impression of the way Sensei walks.

I shake my head, chuckling as Don whacks Mikey upside the head with his staff.

"You goofball." Lu-Lu chuckles fondly.

"But you love me anyway." Mikey chirps, leaning on his sister's shoulder.

It was no surprise that she thrust him off almost immediately. "Don't push it."

"Come on, you two." I call, chuckling again.

Soon, we come upon an abandoned...cave-like structure that actually looked a bit like some kinda home or station. It was a circular shape (or is it a pentagon? It's hard to tell) with a second floor that ran around the first with a balcony-like hallway that was easy to flip or climb up onto.

This whole area, sadly, is in pretty bad shape, but it's nothing we can't fix up and make an even better home out of than our last one!

Everyone who doubted Sensei, even internally, was forced to eat their words as they look around the vast space.

"I could really tune this space up." Donnie breaths, looking around in awe and wonder.

I smile, leaning on his shoulder. "You mean we will tune this space up. As a family."

"Yeah!" Lupa cries, squealing excitedly. She starts giggling and running around, looking at every little thing, probably mentally picturing how awesome she wanted this place to look.

Mikey was busy calling various spaces as his own, foolishly assuming those claims would actually stick when all was said and done.

"You see my sons, and daughters, change is good." Splinter calls, a clear sign to gather around him.

"Yeah. If those metal things hadn't busted our old pad, we'd still be living in a dead-end tunnel." I point out, crossing my arms casually.

"Wow, sis. That's actually insightful." Lupa replies, laughing as she leans against my shoulder. "I hadn't thought about it like that."

I scoff playfully. "Naturally." I shove her off and move toward Master Splinter.

Leo rolls his eyes but turns to Master Splinter. "We couldn't agree more, Master Splinter."

Said rat smirks. "Good. So, let's see you children clean up for a change." He orders with fake grumpiness. We groan. "This chamber is filthy! And do not leave Asami to do everything!"

"Not like we do that...anymore, Sensei!" Lupa grumbles as she kicked a piece of cement away moodily.

"Well...besides with the dishes." I snark, moving a pipe aside.

"Those don't count!" Lupa replies, now in a better mood, picking up a larger piece of cement and tossing it toward the way we had come in. I grab another piece and throw it in the same direction.

"Yeah, they do." This back-and-forth ("Yeah, they do!" "No, they don't!") lasted until we had cleaned up a ten-foot radius of the entrance.

Which was only, like, two minutes, tops. We then dropped it and continued cleaning.

Change is good, I muse. We would still be ignorant of the good we could be doing on the surface world if we had never taken that chance, if we had never leaped out of our comfort zone and gone above our known and familiar world. As usual, Sensei was correct.

This will be a great change to make. As a family.

[hardygalwrites]

Originally posted to FFN on the 5th of September, 2016

Simply archiving a writing challenge I did back in 2016 up to 2017 and featuring my favourite writing pieces from each week of the challenge here on Tumblr :]

← Week 3 (SS) – Week 5 (KO) →

Cartoon: Transformers Prime / Robots in Disguise 2015

Characters: Smokescreen, Knock Out, and Bumblebee, with appearances from numerous other characters (even ones not featured in the cartoons)

Synopsis: An Autobot Elite Guard rookie, a Decepticon medic turned Autobot, and an Autobot scout turned warrior turned street cop - three very different bots with a wide range of stories to tell. And we are going to spend the next year exploring said stories through daily-written drabbles, be they angsty, humorous, gut-punching, or just plain odd! Who doesn’t love a challenge? (2016 to 2017)

—

Important

Alpha Trion knew that his bodyguard was unhappy in Iacon, and after some time, he decided to ask why.

At first, the young bot was silent, glaring at the ground. But finally he cracked.

He started ranting about how badly he'd wanted to become a warrior and fight for the Autobot cause. About how unimportant he felt to the war effort, being stuck in an old library. When he said this, the young bot's frustration died quickly. Clearly embarrassed, he excused himself.

The old bot left behind sighed. "You are more important than you may think, young one," he murmured.

Still a Youngling

Being born into a world at war, many young bots had been forced to grow up faster than they should've. Smokescreen was no exception. Still, he had yet to lose his youthful exuberance. Plus he had an energetic presence that drove Ratchet up the slagging wall.

And Ratchet wouldn't have had it any other way.

Yes, he was still hard on Smokescreen - the youngling needed some sense to accompany that energy of his. Because if he were to end up dying, or worse, as the result of some rash action... That youthful spirit would be lost forever. And Ratchet would never forgive himself.

Overlooked

"Captain!" one of the Decepticon soldiers called. "We've another Autobot here! He's out, but alive."

"Who is he?" the Decepticon captain demanded, glaring at Alpha Trion.

The old Autobot glanced at the unconscious mech. "…My bodyguard."

"What do you want us to do with him, captain?" the soldier asked.

The captain jerked his firearm impassively. "Toss him with the rest of the prisoners. We have who we need." He smirked at Alpha Trion. "He's not important."

Alpha Trion watched as his young bodyguard was dragged from the Hall of Records. "Never assume what is and is not important."

"Whatever you say, old bot."

[hardygalwrites]

Originally posted to FFN a little after the 8th of May, 2017

Simply archiving a writing challenge I did back in 2016 up to 2017 and featuring my favourite writing pieces from each week of the challenge here on Tumblr :]

← Week 38 (SS) – Week 40 (SS)→

Cartoon: Transformers Prime / Robots in Disguise 2015

Characters: Smokescreen, Knock Out, and Bumblebee, with appearances from numerous other characters (even ones not featured in the cartoons)

Synopsis: An Autobot Elite Guard rookie, a Decepticon medic turned Autobot, and an Autobot scout turned warrior turned street cop - three very different bots with a wide range of stories to tell. And we are going to spend the next year exploring said stories through daily-written drabbles, be they angsty, humorous, gut-punching, or just plain odd! Who doesn’t love a challenge? (2016 to 2017)

—

Heroic Scene

Prowl pored over the datapad. Smokescreen was sitting on the desk, vigorously drawing something. The sparkling finished with a victory whoop and held the picture out to Prowl.

Optics tiring from staring at the datapad, Prowl chose to look at the drawing.

"D'you like it?" Smokescreen asked excitedly. "See, that's you leading everybody else - look, I managed to draw almost everyone! - and those're the Decepticons - I couldn't remember all those pictures you showed, so I made a lotta these guys up - and look! That's me on your team!"

Prowl surveyed the heroic scene. He actually found himself needing to hold back a smile.

Phobia

"What are you afraid of, Autobot?"

"Good question," Smokescreen replied. "No idea. Not many things scare me. Like heights, those are no problem." He smirked up at the mech. "Guess I'm just fearless."

The mech pressed a claw against Smokescreen's forehead. "I do not speak of typical phobias, though you do have a few, despite what you claim. No, what is it you fear? What eats at your spark, keeping you awake even at your most exhausted?"

Receiving no answer, the mech smiled. "Hm. Pity."

"What?"

"In your incompetency, you failed a simple, yet important task. ...How can your comrades accept you now?"

Innocence

"A ground crawler." Alpha Trion smiled. "Quite fascinating creatures."

"Yeah." Smokescreen knelt down to get a better look at the idling ground crawler. "I used to play around with these little guys back when... Anyway, I liked watching their defense mechanisms. Here, watch this."

Smokescreen tossed a piece of debris in the small slug's direction. Alarmed, the slug encased itself in a small forcefield, and Smokescreen laughed excitedly. Approaching the crawler, he watched closely as its shield died, and it burrowed into the ground.

"Heh, so slaggin' cool...!"

Alpha Trion's smile softened as his young bodyguard stood up, grinning widely.

Hey, Buddy

A cyber-cat looked at him with disinterested optics. Smokescreen chuckled, surprised.

"Hey, buddy." Smokescreen slowly got down on one knee. "How'd you get past the perimeter guard? Heh, those guys must be losing their touch." The young guard looked out over Iacon. "Anything interesting happening out there?"

The cyber-cat lay down and stretched.

"Holding out on me, huh?" Smokescreen sat back with a sigh. "I know something's happening. Everyone's gettin' all tense."

The cyber-cat let out a vent, paws flicking idly at a piece of debris.

"Well, whatever's going on, you can bet I'll be there to help deal with it."

Young and Overconfident

"It is disappointing how many of my troops seem unable to end one single Autobot," Megatron growled.

Smokescreen smirked. "Come to see how many more of your troops I can beat?"

Megatron chuckled. "Your confidence is amusing. It is refreshing to see an Autobot who has not yet lost its spark."

"I'm a bounce-back-quickly-from-a-slump kinda guy."

"Or you have yet to experience the true stakes of war. ...Yes, I can still see it in you - a brash, overconfident youngling who has hardly been through enough to realize that war is more of a hell than the very Pits of Kaon."

[hardygalwrites]

Originally posted to FFN a little after the 30th of January, 2017

Simply archiving a writing challenge I did back in 2016 up to 2017 and featuring my favourite writing pieces from each week of the challenge here on Tumblr :]

← Week 24 (BB) – TBA →

Cartoon: Transformers Prime / Robots in Disguise 2015

Characters: Smokescreen, Knock Out, and Bumblebee, with appearances from numerous other characters (even ones not featured in the cartoons)

Synopsis: An Autobot Elite Guard rookie, a Decepticon medic turned Autobot, and an Autobot scout turned warrior turned street cop - three very different bots with a wide range of stories to tell. And we are going to spend the next year exploring said stories through daily-written drabbles, be they angsty, humorous, gut-punching, or just plain odd! Who doesn’t love a challenge? (2016 to 2017)

—

Getting Problematic

Prowl glared at the three full grown bots in the lineup. "Honestly, an act of insubordination has been a long time coming for you three." Turning his glare down on the adolescent sparkling standing in the lineup, Prowl continued, "But I am baffled as to how you could've possibly been pulled into this."

Smokescreen scowled at the ground, muttering something under his breath.

"Smokescreen, if you have something to say-"

"Since when d'you care about whatever I'm doin'?" Smokescreen demanded hotly.

"I care when whatever you're doing is reckless and insubordinate," Prowl replied cooly.

The sparkling groaned, stomping his pede. "You suck, Prowl."

Wrapped Up

He was hanging upside down, wrapped in some kind of sticky webbing. His processor was pounding. He felt strangely exhausted.

"Ugh, where'm I...?"

A face moved into his fuzzy field of vision - a pointed, feminine face that appeared to be smiling. "Welcome to my parlour."

Smokescreen squinted. "What...?"

The femme laughed. "Poor dear. It seems that waking up earlier than expected has actually made you slower to the uptake."

"There was somethin' I needed to do... Somethin'..." He groaned, processor aching in protest.

The femme tapped his forehead. "Now, don't hurt yourself. Once I get thirsty enough, that will be my job."

Red and Gold

There was a loud shriek, followed by what sounded like a gunshot, and the night sky was lit up with a brief flash of light.

"Woah!" Smokescreen hit the brakes. "What was that?"

Bumblebee stopped alongside him and transformed, looking excited. *Fireworks! Look!*

The scout pointed towards the human city, and Smokescreen transformed to get a better look.

Several bright streaks had been launched from the city, accompanied by the loud shrieking sound as they rose into the sky. BANG! Smokescreen's optics went wide as the streaks burst into sparkling explosions of red and gold.

"Woah."

*I know, it's impressive right?*

[hardygalwrites]

Whumpmas in July ‘22, Day 31

Who is someone who has made your time on whumpblr special?

(click here for the complete @whumpmasinjuly itinerary)

(image source)

Oh boy, I can’t very well choose just one person. I may have only recently slid back into the whumpblr community, but I still remember many creators from the time before my break with fondness. And a handful of them have ended up following me here as well! which I truly appreciate :3

@straight-to-the-pain - I remember when they were simply an anonymous asker on my very first whumpblr (@shsl-whump), giving me such lovely feedback on my Team SA37 series! It was really cool to see them make their own whumpblr and become a staple in the community. I will forever appreciate their continued enjoyment of the Team SA37 series, even after I disappeared :]

@thatsgonnaleaveamark - Another long time follower from back in my active whumpblr days! They’re really cool and chill and yes, my word, their enjoyment of the Team SA37 series was and is SO encouraging and appreciated :D

@whumper-in-training - Duuuude, I remember when she first showed up, and I really liked her enthusiasm and earnestness and team dynamic focused writing! Then it turned out that I was one of her inspirations, which I have to say, is incredibly flattering! She still reads my stuff, she still remains remarkably earnest, and I think she’s neat :D

Then there’s @whumpers-inc, who is so fun to interact with and makes great prompts. @justwhumpythings​, who was one of the first whumpblrs I ever encountered back in 2018 or so and who has been following me since I still had the @shsl-whump whumpblr.

There are honestly a lot more, and I feel bad for being unable to recall them off the top of my head, but yeah! All the above people are absolutely prime, super neat, and not to mention very encouraging. They definitely made my time in the community, for however much I am or am not an active part of it, special ^-^

[hardygalwrites]

Whumpmas in July ‘22, Day 1: (re)Introduce Yourself

Day 1 of @whumpmasinjuly (click here for the complete itinerary)

Helloooooo everybody, lovely to meet you! You may technically consider this as a reintroduction post (for reasons I will soon disclose), but this is also technically a pure introduction post, seeing as I never bothered creating an introduction for myself under this URL :]

You may call me HardyGal or simply Hardy. I used to be an active member of the whump community under the URL @shsl-whump from 2018 to 2020. I then suffered something of an early life crisis and transferred all of my content to a completely new URL, @agentangst, in 2021. By the end of 2021, however, decided to withdraw from the whump community for the sake of my mental health and focus. Both tumblrs are now deleted, and I transferred most of my whump content here, to my main writeblr, at the start of 2022.

With all of that history out of the way, even after pulling back from the whump community for a bit, I still love writing whump. Heck, I was able to be a completionist for Whumptober 2021 last year! So maybe think of this as me tentatively dipping my toes back into this lovely community built around making our beloved characters suffer :3

I love all kinds of whump, but I have a particular affinity for character focused whump. That is, whump that serves to really get at the core of a character or at certain aspects of a character - a tortured man reflecting on how he probably deserves his suffering, a survivor of many terrible things mourning the loss of being able to just live life normally, a broken down leader still struggling through every hardship because that is his duty... just for a few off the top examples.

On a related note, I am big for hurt/comfort. Like, oh hell yeah, I’ll beat the absolute hell out of my favourite characters... But building them back up again, guiding them through a recovery, is just as vital to the whump experience as the actual whump, at least for me.

As far as specific whump tropes go, my top five favourites would have to be:

Captivity/Kidnapping

Whump of those in positions of responsibility (leaders, nobles, older sibling types), particularly those new to that position

Torture (and gosh if that doesn’t make me sound like a psycho lol)

Whump of the "strong cinnamon roll” - the one who is overtly emotional, prone to tears or displays of fear, and yet still remains steadfast and stubborn despite that fear

Team whump

You can expect... well, very inconsistent updates and posts, but when I do update/post! you can usually expect some form of whump from me. Even though this writeblr is not specifically a whumpblr, that’s usually what I tend to write. Even if I’m not writing whump, I am at least writing angst lol

Most of my protagonists are dudes, and my settings vary from espionage/spy type stuff, to fantasy stuff, to urban fantasy stuff... Anything that happens to catch my fancy as far as writing goes :)

Other random stuff about me uhhhhh, I wish to be a voice actress someday! My favourite colour is blue! I was born in one country and raised in another! I have been using the name HardyGal since I was middle school age! I play D&D and Call of Cthulhu!

My Team SA37 series was conceived on my old whumpblr and there are a crap ton of pieces from that series that I have not yet re-published and I hope to get back to the series some time! I am working on way too many projects and have way too many ideas!

*gasp*

Anyway, let’s maybe consider this the end of my introduction. I’m sure I’ll have the chance to elaborate more on myself as this month goes on, assuming I can keep up ^-^’

(bear image source)

(’whump’ image source)

(quill image source)

(question mark image source)

[hardygalwrites]

Whumpmas in July ‘22, Day 2

“What’s your first memory of whumperflies?”

(click here for the complete @whumpmasinjuly​ itinerary)

The trail led to a run-down house. Carefully the two sleuths edged up to it and peered over a window sill into a dingy room.

Through the dim light Frank and Sam saw Joe sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind him. San Marten and two other men were taunting the captive with threats.

“You’d be wise to answer my questions,” San Marten was saying. “Or I’ll let Belkin and Moreno go to work on you. They have ways of making people talk!” He turned to one of the men. “Right, Belkin?”

“You’d better believe it,” said Belkin. He pulled out a switchblade knife and tested the edge with his finger. [...]

Joe tugged frantically at the ropes and San Marten clouted him across the face.

As Joe moaned, the door splintered open. Frank and Sam Radley barreled in. San Marten and his men spun around, mouths agape.

Frank floored Belkin with a swinging right and fell on top of him.

The Hardy Boys #51: The Masked Monkey

(image source)

Imagine this: I am... perhaps eleven years old? Perhaps younger? I am sitting on the old IKEA couch in the corner of my tiny church, reading the only Hardy Boys book in my church’s infinitesimal selection of books. I then get to this part at the end of Chapter 16.

My stomach clenches and I realise I’m needing to bite my lip to keep from smiling. This part of the book becomes my favourite, much to my preteen embarrassment - after all, what kinda person just enjoys reading about characters being in trouble and getting hurt?

Do keep in mind that even as a child, the main storylines I played out with my toys involved them being trapped in a bad orphanage a la Annie (1982), being “street rats” a la Aladdin, or being secret agents under constant danger. So in hindsight, this obviously comes as no surprise lol

ANYWAY, I’m preeeeetty sure that this is the earliest instance of whumperflies I can recall (as well as being the first Hardy Boys book I read, after which I went looking for more). It was either this or all of the Tintin comics I read in my uncle’s house :]

[elite-guard-hardygal]

My Topmost Fav Characters as Shown Through Random Gifs I Happened to Have + The First Quotes That Came to Mind

They all just sound like massive dorks because of that last one, but I wouldn't expect anything less...

...i just really really really like these bois okay...?

“Whoo! Too hot for ya, ‘cons?!” ~ Smokescreen (Transformers Prime)

“If you pronounced ‘Thursday’ like ‘Thaursday’... that’d be kinda funny...” ~ Makoto Naegi (Danganronpa)

“The frozen pastry in my hand... is me!” ~ Izuku Midoriya (My Hero Academia)

“I’d like to be hot too.” ~ The Protagonist/Yu Narukami (Persona 4)

This wasn’t meant to be a tagging thing, but nonetheless, I’m curious what @the-lupine-sojourner​, @squid-space-lady​, and @myrddin-does-art​ would turn out. (If you don’t happen to have any gifs/clips to turn into gifs on you, just choose the first non-fanart one that comes up in the Tumblr gif search I guess ^-^’)

[elite-guard-hardygal]

Please, consider: Akiren's angst (P5 protag) This guy surely has PSTD (the arrest night, the interrogation room, heck, even the jail time with Solitary confinement too) also, the bullying at Shujin, the mistreats of Sojiro at the beggining, the threathings, the weight of being the leader of the PT and more. Heck, Joker is way to healthy for all the shit he went through. I refuse to believe that he doesn't have anxiety or depression.

I agree with this

Morgana has said it, and I agree with him as well, that the protagonist has been through a lot...

Heck, on top of everything you just listed, I even think that even all that time he spent pretending to be dead got rather old after awhile - it’s not like he couldn’t go out of course, he did that all the time, but I was oddly surprised at the RELIEF and excitement I felt being allowed to go back to school after Shido was dealt with. It had been so long since I had seen the inside of Shujin and it was a routine that I didn’t realize I missed. Now, I could be projecting, but I’d imagine even the protagonist kinda missed being able to go to school like a normal ass kid, as opposed to lurking around Tokyo in a hoodie and hoping nobody would recognize him.

ALL of this crap that Akira/Ren went though made the victory against Yaldaboth feel very... earned. Which thus meant that when Sae asked that he turn himself in, I actually started to cry.

The UNFAIRNESS of it really hit me hard - this kid, who’s been wrongfully arrested, wrongfully shunned by his peers, faced all the pressures of being the leader, arrested AGAIN, tortured, and forced to live the life of a dead man, FINALLY overcame all the ruin that had been hanging over him, on Christmas Eve no less...! He’s planning to celebrate both Christmas and this final victory with his friends the next day, but what does he receive instead?

A request to turn himself in, to be arrested a third time, and face solitary confinement with little hope of freedom.

I UNDERSTOOD Sae’s request. It was for the sake of everyone else in the Phantom Thieves group. It was for their safety. But it still struck me as so, so, so unfair. And when she granted Akira/Ren’s request to wait until Christmas morning before he turned himself in, I just started crying even more because his friends have NO IDEA the sacrifice he is about to make. They’re going to come in expecting to celebrate a victory and Christmas and find that their leader has been arrested again.

I can’t say this enough, but the unfairness of it all CRUSHED me.

Really, I do have to give them props for doing this. It works well with all the themes in the game I think, not to mention it shows the absolute selflessness of the protagonist. And it gives an opportunity for the rest of the Phantom Thieves to help their leader for once, and gives an opportunity for the adults in his life to step up and do what adults ought to do - look after and protect a kid who isn’t even in his graduating year of high school.

All that said, the writers still did gloss over the fact that yes, the protagonist has been through more than anyone (especially a high-schooler) should go through, and there is little sign of the consequences all this stuff should have inflicted on his psyche.

The November incident probably frustrates me the most because Sae and Makoto BOTH mention that he shouldn’t be all right (emotionally) after all that...! And yet it’s never really mentioned again. Like, okay, I can buy that Akira/Ren will have pushed down/suppressed all his feelings about being friggin tortured at least until after the pressing issue with Shido had been dealt with - his quiet, reckless ass would probably do something like that. But that doesn’t excuse him being in perfect physical condition the day after being rescued, and that doesn’t excuse the fact that besides those few comments by Makoto and Sae, the emotional impact this must have had on him is never mentioned again.

A similar thing happens after he’s released from prison at the end of the game, and someone mentions he looks like he’s lost some weight - that alone, combined with the fact that he was just released from solitary confinement, carries some implications, but again, it’s never mentioned again.

Akira/Ren didn’t just help his friends with external troubles, but internal troubles as well. It thus would have been super interesting if his friends not only helped him with his external troubles (him stuck in prison), but also the INTERNAL troubles he must undoubtedly have. It would have really brought the whole idea that it’s his friends helping him this time to its zenith.

I do love this game overall, don’t think I’m complaining about this whole game. It’s just little story moments like this - where we could have further explored the character of the protagonist (who DOES HAVE a distinct personality even if we don’t hear him speak much), or at least acknowledged the very real emotional consequences being tortured or locked in solitary confinement would have inflicted on a teenager, and yet don’t get either of those - that kinda frustrate me.

Do I think that Akira/Ren is coolheaded and good at remaining calm and stoic? Yes. Do I think that the happy ending he finally gets and the closure with which the game ends is pretty much earned? Also yes. Do I ALSO think he’s been messed up by everything that’s happened to him and that we should have had at least a little time for him to at least acknowledge it and for his friends to at least show their support or something? OH. YES.

Okay, now I’m getting a call from the insurance company of the guy who hit my car in the parking lot and have to deal with that. Hope you enjoyed this hour’s worth of ranting 😅

[elite-guard-hardygal]

Note to self and pretty much only self: the possibility of expanding the ‘topmost favourite characters ever of all time’ list to include a certain fourth character increases with each passing day and we really have no reason to be holding it off

[elite-guard-hardygal]

Me for the past several months: “I just have to finish this AMV before October comes around.”

October: *comes around*

Me: “f**k”

[elite-guard-hardygal]

Just Started Playing Persona 5

So I just bought Persona 5 after it was recommended to me by some co-workers, and I LOVE IT! Good gosh, I LOVE IT! And seeing as I just pulled off the first heart-heist, here are some of my random thoughts thus far...

- In Medias Res is the way to go!

- Pulling off the heist THE DAY BEFORE THE DEADLINE is probably the stupidest and most badass thing I could have done

- The protagonist is my son ok I don’t care what you have to say

- Ryuji Sakamoto is shaped like a friend!!

- I know I can get him back, but I will probably be forever salty about the fact I was made to ‘execute’ Arsene when the ‘execution’ element was introduced

- Welp I guess am beholden to the commands of a cat

- Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will give me more anxiety in this game than deciding what to do with my free time (no not even naming the protagonist)

[elite-guard-hardygal]

MODERN ANIME DUBS ARE JUST AS VALID AS SUBS

I get why people aren’t the biggest fan of dubbed anime. There is no doubt in my mind that in the past, dubbed anime sucked.

HOWEVER.

Now’a days, much more effort is being put into dubbed animes! Emotion, delivery, translation, lip syncing, the actual voice acting...!

Are there still bad dubs? Heh, no doubt.

Are all dubs bad? I wouldn’t say so. There are plenty of dubs that are legitimately good and worth a watch.

Or at the very least, worth not tearing into people because they happen to enjoy it.

Sorry, I’ve been feeling a bit sad about this lately ^-^’

I enjoy anime, subbed or otherwise, and I can say with confidence (and not a bit of fear) that I truly enjoy modern dubbed anime and find the effort put into them by companies like Funimation to be truly admirable and showing.

In the end, if you prefer subbed to dubbed, that’s absolutely fine and understandable! You have your reasons, and they are more than likely valid! I would say try to acknowledge that dubbed animes have come a long way, but that might be a bit much to ask some people... So instead, just don’t expect the enjoyment of other people to match your standards. And please, for the love of everything, don’t be unkind over something like this.

[elite-guard-hardygal]

OKAY YOU LIL BUTT, HOW BOUT THIS!? Izuku Midoriya OR Smokescreen!?

Well.

I guess that’s a fair question considering what I did. And by fair, I mean really difficult and yet so easy and thus so “uuuuuuugggghhhh no I feel terrible for doing this.”

Which again, considering what I did to you, is fair ^-^’

Dammit, I love them both of course! Two of my top three most favourite characters ever of all time? I can’t, in all good consciousness, choose just one of them to love more…! With Smokescreen’s upbeat and headstrong personality constantly being undermined by an insecure want to please, and Izuku’s overwhelming emotions just being an unashamed part of who he is, I relate to both of them…!

I really can’t love one more than the other. However, I CAN choose between them - or rather, due to the question, I HAVE to choose between them. And in the end, the choice is sadly easy >.

Feeling horribly guilty, I have to say answer is easily Izuku Midoriya…

I am so sad how easily I came to this conclusion! Especially since Smokescreen was the first character I EVER loved more than any other character in media! But… in the end, Izuku has the advantage of being a series protagonist, while Smokescreen was a supporting character introduced rather late into a series.

Smokescreen had maybe ONE arc in Transformers Prime before being kind of… forgotten. He is, sadly, a VERY underutilized character. Izuku, on the other hand, has a WHOLE SERIES focused largely on him - we get to see him overcome a challenge in one arc, only to face NEW challenges in a following arc, and overcome that too, allowing us to watch him grow with every story progression and/or learn something new about him in the process!

Now, if Smokescreen had had more than ONE story focused on him and/or his growth as a character, then this choice would probably be a lot harder. As it is though, I’m choosing Izuku - NOT because I love him more, I love both him and Smokey equally…! But rather because, as a character, he is utilized a lot better and a lot more.

Huh… Thinking through WHY this choice was so easy actually made me feel less guilty about my decision. Kind of. It has nothing to do with who I love more, who I prefer, or who I think is a better character, but rather with who I think is a better UTILIZED character. And yeah, sadly for Smokescreen, that character is easily Izuku.

im so sorry smokey i still love you i blame transformers prime being cancelled on your stunted character focus