#but they both look so much like Johnny I just think they’re Johnny clones

[llama-head]

Sometimes I think no one in the Garcias looks alike then I put all their headshots together and I’m like “oh no they do”

[overthinkingtaleblr]

do you have any thoughts overall about johnny cranky

I have so many thoughts about Johnny Cranky, the biggest one being that I wish we got to see him more to understand his deal.

My personal HC is that he was the Johnny Ghost clone thing that was created and awoken in the Gravity Falls videos, and he exists because the portal being messed with broke reality and fractured anyone nearby. Even though they look alike, Cranky has some of Ghost’s memories and not much else, he is a completely different person and tries to dress himself so people will stop recognizing Ghost from his face. I like giving him computer glitches to imply that he’s kind of not apart of the world, like he’s an entity all of his own. I also think he should be allowed to have a glitchy voice, like one that has static in the back of his throat and def. has something else off about it. Johnny Cranky isn’t supernatural, but he sure is heck isn’t fully human and i think he knows it.

There is also a chance that Cranky, if he is where I think he’s from, is like a weird mental fusion of Ghost and Casket, which would make him a bit more… Dangerous than I like to think he is. That would be someone who likes to kill for the heck of it with Ghost’s need to be in charge of something, which might explain why he founded DIE. However, I don’t toy with this idea often, so we’re leaving this as it is.

I don’t know what made him not only side with the paranormal, but choose to form a team to take down every other member minus Spooker… Maybe he wants to make an allyship with his family (the Soup family includes Chackalatta (idk how to spell his name) and Darth Calculus, so not killing Spooker is a good way to avoid getting those two on his butt, or maybe even swaying them to his side) alternatively, he sees through Ghost’s memories that he treats Spooker like crap even though Spooker has always been a sweetheart to Ghost.

(I guess another thing that’s happening could be that Cranky isn’t just from a different universe, but a piece of the Housekeeper that slipped through when reality legit crashed and remembers Spooker from when he slipped into the Housekeeper’s dimension to try to save Ghost and got stabbed for it. He just looks like Ghost because the Housekeeper can take the form of those he consumes and Ghost was in his dimension for awhile so who’s to say he didn’t leave anything. This would make him like a demon or proxy who’s acting out the will of what’s essentially the dark god of the series. I legit just came up with this so there’s not much else I can say about it.)

All in all my thoughts are that there’s a lot you can do with this man, and I’ve toyed with ideas that have him both in a sympathetic position and a antagonistic perspective. When he’s sympathetic, it can be so sad, no matter how you spin his backstory… but when he’s antagonistic… I mean… didn’t he recruit Jimmy Casket at some point?

With my interpretation that Cranky exists because two Ghosts from different universes were fractured and rebuilt to create an entirely new person, this also brings up the chance that he can possess the current Ghost, meaning he doesn’t have to replace him physically, he can just slip into his mind.

Idk, they’re varied thoughts but that’s kinda where I take him when I work with him.

[jmoriarty-221b]

So I saw somewhere a post that talked about how some fictional characters just have a divorce vibe going on, like, at no point in time were they ever married but they just give off that feeling that they got divorced

And now I can only think of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor having that vibe

And I spent close to an hour talking about this to my sibling and how it would be a good idea for a new DC show like, you can make so much money off of just the main Batfam alone and there are literally so many people in there that it’s just an amazing idea to have them all in a show together but kind of like a Good Luck Charlie kinda thing because there’s more than enough angst in the world

But in the case of not having enough of a budget for so many characters in one show I turned to the Superfam (Batfam is Huge like, I don’t even know half of the extended family version and that’s like at least ten characters so I could see why it wouldn’t be entirely feasible to have a show that included everyone while still being good with nice character development without having a billion dollars for the budget)

The Superfam, in my personal experience, is composed of Ma & Pa Kent (farm vibes plus I refuse to have either of them die in my AU), Clark Kent (main Superman), Lois Lane (Lana? was Smallville Lois i guess??? But idk enough about her so she’s not here), Jon Kent (Superboi II), Kara Danvers (Supergirl) & Conner Kent (Superboi I)

Now I’ve stopped watching CW shows like, forever ago??? But my brother kinda keeps up with them and basically the gist is that the ratings of every other show suck Except for the Superman & Lois show (because it’s 💫new💫) and I saw the cover of the poster like “Ah, the werewolf dude. . . mmmhhmmm that’s Lois yes, yes that’s Johnny boi, and um is that???? Nooooo, they wouldn’t do that to Conner right???? Please tell me they didn’t make Conner blonde” and I was informed that the blonde teen is Chris???? Like

Whoms’t do ye speak of

I’m not even joking but the only way I even know of Chris is from a random fanfic I read where Dick Grayson gets his own super from an alternate reality named Chris, that’s my only point of reference for this character

But let’s talk about how Conner Kent (OG Superboi) was excluded

Now I haven’t seen any episodes of this and I probably never will (no hate I’m just really unmotivated to start new shows at all) so idk if they might mention Conner or even allude to him in one scene or something

But this was my main motivator as to my new Superfam TV Show Idea

Have Lex Luthor not be a Superman villain, he’s mainly a successful businessman, a little shady but who isn’t, and he doesn’t want to Kill Superman, he just wants to be able to have some sort of viable protection against a Kryptonian in case of an invasion (see Man of Steel + CW’s Supergirl) or suddenly having a mind controlled Superman on their hands (see Justice League series or just look up what Red Krytonite does) so he makes it like his side thing to figure out ways to neutralize or hold back a Kryptonian, Clark totally thinks that Lex is obsessed with finding a way to kill Superman because they had a bad end to their friendship in high school so he’s always suspicious of Lex, Lex hasn’t really ever tried to kill him though because 1. It’s not that deep Clark ok? And 2. He’s a busy busy man with a very important job position and a company to run so does he look like he has time to harbor an obsession over someone who rejected him back in high school??? You’re more of a constant side quest Clark, so stop trying to put him on the JL watchlist ( btw ik about Lena Luthor, haven’t forgotten her but she doesn’t really play a part in this AU so let’s just have her and Kara off to the side doing their own thing ok? Ok)

Lex, Bruce & Oliver all knew each other when they were kids and went to the same school, this is just an extra detail I wanted to happen because Lex and Ollie definitely know Bruce is Batman and absolutely HATE having to deal with Brucie Wayne because “I know you’re just doing this to irritate me Bruce, you just want to see if you can make a vein throb in my forehead but I will valiantly ignore your dumbassery because I know you hate being Brucie just as much as we hate having to put up with Brucie so suck on that you petty bitch” because they bonded in ye olden days, childhood friends so to speak

Anyway so Cadmus tries to get Lex to make an investment in their company, seeing as Cadmus is shadier than Gotham when it rains Lex is basically like ‘no ❤️’ and doesn’t make a deal with them, Cadmus gets mad at not having Lexcorp financially backing them so Lex has an ‘accident’ and they steal his DNA, then they steal Superman’s DNA somehow and *boom* a Superboi is formed

Because I don’t know much about how the Core Four became friends in the first place (Robin Tim Drake, Impulse Bart Allen, Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark & Superboy Conner Kent) I’m just gonna go with what happens in the show Young Justice except it’s the Core Four becoming the Core Four when they liberated Conner (who at this point believes himself to be a clone of Superman and has only been given Superboy as a name) from Cadmus, same shit goes down meaning that Clark is just straight up NOT vibing with Conner, Conner just wants a mentor please, and the Bats kinda give Clark a passive aggressive treatment for not taking Superboy under his wing or at least agreeing to teach him how to control his powers, especially Tim because that’s his Bestie so yes

Anyway, YJ saves ppl and is on the news or whatever and Lex finds out about Superboy’s existence that way, so he researches this new super on his free time, finds out that he came from Cadmus and claims to be a clone of Superman, yet doesn’t have the whole power set Superman has??? Wait, didn’t Lex reject Cadmus’ proposal and the got into a mysterious accident??? Long story short Lex goes connecting the dots, hacks into Cadmus’ files, finds out he technically has a son with Superman and decides to take Superboy under his wing (I’ll go more in depth as to why Lex would want to do this in this AU later but the abridged version would be that he wants a kid but doesn’t have the time nor interest in finding a wife??? Also the radiation that made him bald as a kid also affected his reproductive system so while it’s not impossible for him to conceive kids he would have a very hard time actually getting to father a kid)

Him and Conner, who still goes by Superboy at this point in time, meet up and Conner finds out that here is a parent figure that is both available and actively wants to be a part of his life, so he agrees to get to know Lex and the series would focus on them becoming a family, with a special episode when Conner asks Lex for help in choosing a name for himself and it ends up with him agreeing to become Conner Luthor, it would be heartwarming and Mercy would make sure it happens within a day (Mercy is Lex’s bodyguard/PA but they’re also besties and she becomes the Responsible yet Chaotic Aunt as Lex and Conner’s father-son relationship progresses)

Obviously Clark becomes super suspicious of Lex getting close to his ‘clone’ and when Conner decides to go public as Lex’s son he’s like *GASP* and calls up Bruce because we need to get on this Bruce, Lex is a villain and blah blah blah but Bruce would be over Clark’s shit and hit him with that “actually, Lex was also an unwilling genetic donor to Superboy, who actually is not your clone either, and has agreed to take him in, I’ve been on this shit since they first met and the kid is doing just fine so if you keep poking your nose in their business then that’s your problem but you better be ready to pay child support bitch . . . have a good day ❤️”

The series would just focus on Conner getting to have a good parent figure in Lex and go more into their civilian lives rather than focusing on the superhero thing, Conner, Bart, Tim & Cassie have a sleepover at Lex’s house at one point, Lex totally Knows what’s up but it’s all good because these are his baby’s friends and they’re good people who are more than willing to prank Superman for rejecting his kid and giving his baby self worth issues (Mercy supports them)

Anyway, that’s basically the idea for a new Superhero Show

[damerondala]

Bad Batch + Their Favorite Music

y’all i love the bad batch and you know what else i love? music. so let’s do some headcanons about what I think the bad batch’s favorite music and artists are:) 

EDIT: i decided to add spotify links to the specific artists/albums/songs i mentioned in this post so it’s easier for you guys to maybe experience some new things to listen to! please let me know if any of the links aren’t working! 

enjoy, my fellow feral, crazy, clone bitches <3

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧

hunter:

i know we see our hot rambo cosplayer and immediately think he’d listen to metallica or some shit and while that is true, i also think hunter really enjoys some good 70s funk or even soul

like some parliament? yes pls

also hall & oats 

i will not take criticisms on this one he fucking loves those guys 

he’s definitely a springsteen man i mean just look at him 

also likes soundgarden! loves chris cornell’s voice it just makes him feel ALIVE but he can only take so much of it tbh 

absolutely ADORES linda ronstadt 

and aretha franklin 

he and wrecker definitely do not listen to aretha when they need their soul to be cleansed and maybe cry a little 

her voice just touches the inner reaches of their souls 

sometimes he and wrecker sit down in the cockpit with a good bottle of hooch and (you make me feel) like a natural woman is just bLASTING. everybody else knows to just let them get their emotions out and avoids the cockpit so they don’t have to listen to wrecker’s crying lol

crosshair:

cross really enjoys some toadies

kind of the guy who likes obscure bands but he doesn’t do it to be a hipster it’s just genuinely what he likes 

so in conclusion: crosshair is just cool lmao 

and royal blood!! he loves the fact that they’re a two piece it kind of reminds him of he and hunter aw softie who listens to hard rock 

can also get down with some helmet or filter too and L7 for sure!

LOVES black sabbath!!!!!!!! 

but also gets in moods where he only wants to listen to slower, singer/songwriter stuff

he and tech listen to some mac demarco from time to time. maybe some lord huron too 

tech:

TALKING HEADS TALKING HEADS TALKING HEADS 

not tech loving talking heads being the sole reason i made this entire post

like speaking in tongues is his favorite album of all time its so cute 

anyways 

L O V E S bowie!!!! he just exudes bowie energy to me 

i also see him enjoying some heavier stuff too? he honestly wouldn’t mind if hunter and crosshair put some soundgarden on the marauder’s speakers 

he likes gorillaz too!! sometimes when he and echo are ~scheming~ and coming up with battle plans they’ll throw on demon days and listen to it softly while they come up with stuff or tinker with a new holopad tech found 

also likes john mayer lol what a cutie 

i honestly cannot believe i forgot to mention this earlier but tech is a h u g e rush fan

he literally considers their lyrics as poetry as he fucking should

he and hunter are in agreement that they’re one of the greatest bands of all time aw big bro and little bro finding a band they both love 

wrecker:

my sweet man. the love of my life. wrecker ADORES dolly parton

he honestly likes country but he calls it *quality* country

so think dolly, johnny cash, willie nelson, john denver etc. etc.

also likes rap 

his favorites are megan thee stallion, ice cube, and biggie

is a dmx stan 

rip dmx im still sad about that one and so is wrecker

he is honestly all over the place

one time his playlist was on shuffle and get this it literally went from dolly to dmx to john denver to doja cat and ending with aretha franklin

everybody is honestly confused but it just works when you think about how wrecker’s personality is 

he is so sweet he will listen to anything at least once 

even if he doesn’t like his vod’s music he will endure without much protest because he knows it makes them happy 

echo:

echo loves some pearl jam!!!! he likes how their earlier stuff has some that grungy sound but also how their newer stuff can get kind of experimental? 

he listened to black on repeat the first time he had his heartbroken

he thinks it kind of reflects his life journey its adorable i wanna hug him 

i could also see him liking gorillaz!! kind of that same experimental stuff 

he and tech definitely bond over that one 

mitski mitski mitski!!!!! he loves her sm 

y’all gotta remember he was best friends with fives 

so, naturally, he loves abba 

he and hunter like to have listening sessions where they share their music for sure:)))) its one of the first ways he feels really included into clone force 99 

bonus:

they all love britney spears but none of them utter a word about it so none of them know that they all love her

its tragic tbh 

they would KILL IT with an entire dance routine to toxic if they only admitted how much they love the queen  

[khadaj-ballad]

More Johnny x V ideas cuz people like the last one and I need to rant about how much I love this ship (any gender!V)

Domestic fluff with Johnny having his own body and being a dutiful loving husband (still a little shit but affectionately) making coffee and toast (I don’t think Johnny can cook) for V when they wake up about to go to work as Rogue’s go to solo/ running the afterlife.

✨JOHNNY & V’S WEDDING 👁👄👁✨

Johnny calling V while they’ve got someone in a choke hold/about to zero someone asking what they want for dinner, v relaxing and answering while clearing out some some building for a gig.

Johnny tags along on a gig and V is lazer focused on doing the job and Johnny acts out cuz he wants V to pay attention to him.

Johnny acting out in general when he wants V to give him attention and affection to the point where he’ll start being a dick/obnoxious and V will pull him into their lap and cuddle him or play with his hair or hold his hand. V’s planning a gig with Rogue and Johnny’s sitting there trying to behave and he’s shaking his leg and V not losing focus with the plan pulls Johnny into them or rubs his leg to calm him down and if Johnny could Purr he would. (Cuz Johnny is a needy cat)

Needy!Johnny

V being self conscious about fancier/sexy outfits but wants to dress up for Johnny and Johnny being blown away by how beautiful/handsome V is all the time and reassuring them that he loves that in any and everything they wear and he loves the outfit they have on and also when their dead asleep snoring and drooling all over the pillow.

Johnny and V on a date. Cute fluffy wholesome content

Johnny and V having a kid (I think they’d adopt but could be theirs too) spoiling the kid and being a happy merc family. Johnny is a surprisingly great dad and V is so proud of their family. The kid want to be a doctor pop star fortune telling superhero when they grow up and V and Johnny are super supportive. They let the kid dress them selve and regardless of the kids gender that includes tutus, tiaras, Missmatched socks, combat boots, and a cute little kid version of the samurai jacket and some aviators. Uncle Kerry and Uncle Vik and Aunty Misty and Aunty Rogue bonding with the kid.

V and Johnny can sense eachothers emotions after getting a happy ending with them in separate bodies. Johnny and Kerry are jamming and Vs going merc work singing and happy and kinda drunk because of Johnny, Johnny’s watching tv cuddling Nibbles and feel searing pain in his shoulder cuz V just got shot . Johnny looking at V and thinking I love this person more than I can breathe and V feeling the same and them crying cuz the feeling is overwhelming but so nice to know you’re loved. (Sexy time is way more fun this way👀)

I just need more domestic fluff for V x Johnny

(And more domestic fluff with n$fw content👀

Like if Johnny and V feel eachothers emotions feedback loops should be super common. And with in canon while they’re sharing a body 👀)

Post Game where V finishes the Crystal Palace heist and decides to relax for a little while feeling their body get weaker and looking for treatment plans when Rogue shows up with intel about an unknown Arasaka lab being discovered and housing Johnny AND Jackie’s bodies. Rogue V and Panam break the bodies out and V gets Johnny and Jackie back. But is still searching for a way to save their life.

Alternatively for the idea above Jackie wakes up in a tank next to someone (in another tank) that looks like Johnny Silverhand and someone else that looks like V. Jackie breaks out of the tank somehow and goes to break V out and the V body is breathing but the eyes are dead and unresponsive like no ones home. Jackie freaks out and Johnny wakes up in the tank seeing V on the ground next to some guy he doesn’t know but seems familiar and Johnny starts thrashing in the tank trying to get out to save V from whoever. Jackie thinks V’s dead or something worse has happen and instead goes to get Johnny out of the tank. Johnny starts trying to beat Jackie up but 1) Johnny hasn’t had a body in over 50 years so he’s like a new born calf wobbling around and 2) the twunk body is no match for big hunky Jackie. So Johnny starts cussing and scratching yelling “what the fuck’d you do to V!” And Jackie’s like “you know V? They’re not responding idk what happen.” The last think Jackie remembers is giving V the chip and Johnny now more customed to his new body sees that the big guy who was kneeling over V is Jackie and they work together to break out with V’s body/clone and Johnny gets Jackie to drive them to the Afterlife after zeroing a bunch of mysterious and creepy scientist and the go to rogue and Johnny explains to rogue what happen. Jackie is confused as to how a Johnny Silverhand clone knows V and goes along with it. Meanwhile real Vs getting worse and is in the hospital dying and rogue and Vik call saying they have a solution. V gets a new body and is in a recover coma (goes into surgery before she can find out that Johnny and Jackie are alive) and Johnny and Jackie navigate being jealous of the other being best friends with V. Jackie thinking he’s been replace by a legend and Johnny thinking V will choose Jackie over him cuz Jackie is Vs original friend and nicer. Misty and Rogue get them to get their head out of there asses and tell them that V will love them both equally and Kerry’s like Jackie is Vs BEST friend Johnny is Vs BOYfriend. V wakes up in their new body to Jackie and Johnny bonding over different ways to protect their little goblin friend/lover and embarrassing stories.

Also anyone is free to take these ideas and run with them just credit me✌🏽

[brw]

when did this fandom collectively decided to hate on hank (mccoy) and reed richards? i feel like a lot of people who hate on reed do simply out of pack/follow mentality bc at this point the xfandom decided that he is a mutantphobe sentinel-maker and a bad husband to sue but new people just accept it as the ultimate truth.

RIGHT??? VERY GLAD YOU SAID IT.

like. idk where they're getting this idea that reed is mutantphobic! like yeah he supported the superhero registration act but talk to ANY fantastic four fan and they'll tell you that was out of character. his literal back story for his powers is him going "no <3" to the government and stealing back his rocket like??? why is he suddenly NOW sucking government cock it makes no sense for him??? and within ff stories he's almost always been supportive of mutants! the fantastic four were SUPER close to the x-men. jean looked up to sue and reed especially. jean and johnny almost dated. it's only in zdarsky's x-men/ff run (which again, ask ANY fantastic four fan and they'll tell you that was not flattering for the characters in the SLIGHTEST. like events like that are not the best way to get introduced to a character! you can't make hard opinions on a character you've read 4 issues of lmao please for the love of god actually talk to people) where they decided to make reed and the rest mutantphobic. and i HATE that that was the introduction most x-men fans had to reed and sue. usually they're a lot better lmao i can assure you all that.

AND HANK. like i... i get the hate he gets! and honestly i am SO pissed he is now the x-writer's genius of choice to make fuck ups. like i hoped with sinister in krakoa (which makes no sense bc he is a mutate but that's a WHOLE different rant) hank could catch a gotdamn break listen to some oingo boingo make some fun little machines go on a date with his avengers bf but nope! they made him a fascist! AGAIN!!!! LIKE JFC HASN'T HE SUFFERED ENOUGH???????? FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. like as much as x-fans like to dunk on the avengers (which imo is bullshit tbh like. events never make characters look flattering you can't read avx and decide that that is the most canon version of the characters that has ever been lmao) hank in my humble opinion was probably at his best there. smart, but not the go-too smart guy. he was shown to like fun and go on dates and go to parties but also still was very well-read and intelligent which especially recently x-writers haven't seemed to be able to balance. like ok. i admit i love hank's feline design its the one i use whenever i write him BUT. the personality change? vile. i mean it was realistic at first but its been drawn out wayy too much and i am just so tired. hank has always had a little bit of mad scientist in him but he was never a fucking fascist lmao. it doesn't make sense! anyway. yeah. hank is a good character and honestly deserved better treatment from fans. it's not his fault none of the recent writers like him 😔

now here i get to answer your question with my humble thoughts! i think both of them are hated on so much, reed especially, is because they're autistic coded. again, reed especially, who is mostly shown as low-empathy, which non-FF fans repeatedly like to make fun of and dehumanise him for. like tbh the AMOUNT of people who say "oh he's abusive because he doesn't love sue he loves science" like bro i. i'm begging you read a comic. or "he's abusive for not wanting franklin to go to krakoa" like bro the island is a cult. they have orgies. both apocalypse and sinister, both of which who believe in eugenics and "survival of the fittest" theory, one of which who has notably manipulated people into sleeping with each other to create the most powerful mutant possible to the point of creating a clone, are both given government seats. like can you NOT see what's wrong with that??? not to mention like. one of the first of franklin's powers to manifest was precognition. precogs aren't allowed on krakoa like its straight up not safe for franklin. like i agree he shouldn't have microchipped him w/o concent but again. talk to an ff fan please...

anyway yeah. a lot of it is refusing to actually read the material and deciding that after having read like 3 events/crossovers that you know everything about a character that's been around for 60 odd years. honestly like. have a lot of x-mutuals who i love to death so this isn't directed at them but tbh the x-comic fandom here is the most toxic out of all the comic fandoms here. like for the love of god stop acting like you know everything about a character n their opinions after reading one event. like if you can understand bad writing when it comes to your fave... maybe listen to people who are fans of that team or character when they tell you its ooc??? just a thought.

anyway reed richards and hank mccoy good they deserve SO much better then what they get. it's not cool to hate on autistic coded characters n you just make autistic people feel alienated and awkward. and listen to people who actually read the comics on the ppl ur insulting before you make any anti posts tbh like it is SO annoying

[crazyspookies]

Going to post-game au scenarios

Scenario 1:

Through circumstances V is empoyed to get back johnny’s cryo’d body and install a spare copy of his engram and deliver him to the version of Alt that got herself a body in the ttrpg (presumably).

V has 0 intentions of treating him like our johnny because he ISNT so there’s lots of weird tension and V is between bitter and sad because that’s His Face but Not Him and they’re ommiting as much info as possible because, frankly its none of his business whatever their story with a different version of johhny silverhand’s brain is (not that he knows there even was one in teh first place and they’re keeping their lips sealed about that hopfully forever). And johnny can tell something weird is up because  grumpy, efficient V being and kinda brusque is fine by him, a merc personality like any other, but sometimes v looks at him with a weird intensity with an angry kinda painful look like he killed their cat or some shit. Obviously things don’t go as planned but im not sure how yet.

Bittersweet stroy/character study about V’s complicated relationship to johnny, te effects of his absence, the fact that despite this one is no V’s it’s still him to a degree with the same voice and shitty sense of humour. About who this new johnny is without all the character development, and him having to go through the realization that he isn’t the original and the world and people he knew must be different now (and how much of that slipped through the cracks of their connection with V’s johnny). The strange thought that This Alt and johnny get to have a happy reunion and the contrast in V’s johnny and alt’s interactions and ending.

Scenario 2:

V finds a clone of johnny at an arasaka lab but it's a child and they feel weird n conflicted about leaving him there so v steals him away and they think it would be better to leave them with someone safe but feels kinda responsible and also knows arasaka might go after them to make sure there is no loose ends. So i have 2 paths:

A) Takes care of him for long enough to find a safe place for him and expose arasaka and he gets happily adopted by whoever. This is your classic merc travels with kid. Probably an action/comedy á la Terminator. Or a total drama like Road To Perdition.

B) They raise him. Either they travel back and forth or they join the aldecaldos permanently, but V is officially his guardian. It’s akward and strange for everyone involved and it’s all about bonding with your new unexpected kid, about v’s failings and successes as a parent of a kid they didn’t plan in making part of their life, about individuality (again, lol) and making a clear distinction between him and their johnny, nature vs nurture like how much johnny is just...himself and what changes when being brought up in a community or with a merc parent.

And when he grows up, the past comes a-knocking and theres a lot of drama about it.And then maybe you get your classic YA novel scene where the elder who’s raised you dies when their past catches up to them and bites them in the ass and they’re like “oh no ive been waiting to tell you about this shit im so sorry u found out like this im so sorry *RIP*” and so our young protagonist gets thrust into a traumatic coming of age adventure to learn who they are and what to do about it or something all while having flashbacks of their childhood both the good and the things that looking back where super sus but he didn’t quite understand why they felt sus cos he had no context for them

[asiryn]

here’s the second update post about my playthrough of ffviir! at this point in my life, with my worsening disability, i’m just gonna have to admit defeat and that i’m going to be making very slow progress from this point on. like....limit myself to playing a chapter a day (or even every other day) so that i don’t make myself Regret Everything.

spoilers below the cut. i finished ch 3, and i think i’m most of the way through ch 4? maybe?? i haven’t finished it, i stopped right before the second (official) mission, and tbh, i have no idea how much is left of the chapter. 

i’m going to try to go in chronological order through the chapters, but i can’t make any guarantees

- i absolutely love marle, she’s a great new addition to the cast 💖💖💖

- the remake is going way more in-depth on everything from the original, and is really adding in a lot of that connective tissue that wasn’t really there before. like, it wasn’t necessarily a glaring issue in the original game, but everything was clearly focused on the main plot, and moving the player along so they can get out of midgar faster; plus, with the limited scope of the 2d environment (the 3d in the environment itself was more like it added a bit of flavor (and frustration) to navigating), there wasn’t really much to explore. and with the limited hardware, the npcs only had a few small bits of dialogue, and the number of npcs in general was limited

- by contrast, this entire game is only covering the midgar sections of the game, so it can flesh everything out to its heart’s content. and at least so far, i’m all for it, and i’m a big fan of the way they’re doing it. it doesn’t feel like they’re just padding it out and wasting your time, but rather it’s giving the story and characters room to breathe, and breathing new life into characters that are pretty forgettable in the first game (i’ll talk more on that in a bit)

- the bulk of ch 3, therefore, is for the most part just cloud and tifa, hanging out. everything’s still being grounded in more realism, with talk of cloud needing to find work to get money and savings, so having him....actually being a mercenary, and getting hired for a bunch of side quests makes a whole lot of sense. plus, tifa’s along for the ride, so you also get to see her interacting with the other residents of the sector 7 slums. and we get a lot of nice conversations with cloud and tifa, and giving their relationship way more development

- i also love that tifa and cloud are making further dates plans to hang out, it’s cute

- also, i love the way the npcs are done in this game. again, they’re being used to enhance that message i talked about last time, and in general, they just....actually react to the things happening around them? their dialogue is always evolving more over time (and it has great synergy w/ cloud and tifa’s mission of getting cloud’s name out there, as the more side quests you achieve, the more they start talking about you and recognizing you, even thanking you). plus, all the npcs have different opinions, ranging from pro-shinra, to wondering if avalanche has a point, to conspiracy theorists, so it’s not all one-note 

- in the category of, technically there in the original, but far expanded on with the remake, was everything with johnny. tbh, i always forget about him in midgar, so i don’t remember what triggers him to show up in....costa del sol, i think? but that whole scene in the remake really helped to highlight tifa’s later concerns, on how she doesn’t agree with the means that avalanche is using to achieve their ends (which again, was somewhat there in the original, but not explored that much), with her refusing to let cloud kill him, even if it would have been the wisest tactical approach to silence him to protect avalanche

- an interesting change is that avalanche was originally planning to do the second mission of bombing reactor 5 without cloud

- also....what’s up with those thugs wanting barret? are they working for don corneo? bc that’s the only other faction that i could think of. if so, i like the fact that they’re starting to establish the groundwork for this sooner, bc it....came a bit out of nowhere in the original

- probably my favorite thing so far about the remake is just how much they’re expanding the characters of jessie, biggs, and wedge. tbh, i never gave two shits about them in the original, bc they were barely even in the game. and not just bc they died early, but bc even when they were there, all the interactions you could have with them were super limited. and when they did die, it wasn’t really dwelled on, and everyone quickly moved onto saving aerith from shinra, and from there the main thrust of the story took off and we barely looked back

- but now, jessie, biggs, and wedge, are fully realized characters, and it’s fantastic. jessie is my favorite of the three, both in terms of the character herself, and what they’re doing with her. her backstory is excellent, her va is great, and i love her peppiness, and i love her relationship with cloud (her playful flirting is great and really fun)

- i also loved the moment where biggs and wedge showed up to help her with her secret mission, just bc they knew her so well

- i’m.....pretty sure roche is a new character?? i don’t remember ever hearing mention of him in any of the rest of the compilation, but my knowledge of before crisis in particular is sketchy, so who knows. in any case, i’m curious to see if he’s going to become a recurring character

- i also loved that they’re showing cloud slowly bonding with biggs and wedge too, it’s sweet

- wedge with his cats is a Mood (and ppl were right, there really are a lot of cats in the game)

- i absolutely ADORED the way they did the flashback scene with cloud and tifa, it was spectacular. they even sounded noticeably younger, and they nailed the looks and mannerisms from the original scene. plus, i love that cloud remembered his promise to tifa on his own, and that he’s the one to bring it up to her later, instead of her guilt-tripping and continuously prodding him about it

- i knew that in before crisis, there was the original version of avalanche, that was essentially at war with the turks in an effort to take down shinra, but i guess i always assumed that it ended up either disbanded or defeated by the time barret’s avalanche was created. so it’s therefore fascinating to me that it’s still operating in the remake, and that barret’s group are a different branch that the og group disapproves of. makes me wonder how that’s going to play out, especially with everything set to go down soon

- what is the deal with these ‘ghosts’?? are they the black-robed seph clones? i think one of them spoke to cloud in seph’s voice during his nightmare, so....maybe? it’s the only thing that makes sense to me. but what are they doing??

- i find the way cloud was roped into the reactor 5 mission interesting, with him replacing an injured jessie

okay, i think i’m gonna end it here for now. on my next session, i’ll finish ch 4, and hopefully ch 5, and i’ll get to see aerith again soon!!!!💖💖💖

[stilwaterskeeter]

Rewriting Saints Row the Third

So I was messing around writing about my Boss earlier for @occorner and wound up kind of just rewriting entire pieces of SRTT rather than just making small alterations for the character.....So I went ahead and followed through on that accident and wrote out how I personally think a lot of the hollow writing and poor executions of certain parts of the game could have been better and improved. It ended up being a lot more than I was expecting so I’m putting it under a read more. I split it up into 2 parts: Story Changes and Character Changes. And then both of those are broken into smaller parts for each mission arc (the gangs/STAG/dlc) and each character individually.

Also this is just for fun, if you don’t like it then you don’t like it. There’s no point in reblogging this or replying just because you don’t like it yknow? Don’t waste both your time and mine just because you don’t agree with something I just did for the fun of it.

And if you guys like this uuuhhh shoot me a message/ask, I’d totally be down to chat about this stuff and maybe even make more posts like this for the other games in the future!!!

EDIT: Hi....somebody made me regret my decision to keep Kiki’s death canon...so I changed it...thankfully it didn’t have any huge affect on the core of the rewrite, and in fact only very little affect at all

Plot/Story Specific Changes:

Johnny Gat’s “Death”:

Johnny’s “death” wasn’t real obvs, it was like part of Gangstas in Space, like at the beginning that leads up to them going to space and stuff. But in reality Johnny was just kidnapped, cloned, and saved by the Saints after Act 1, but his kidnapping and everything gave the Boss the idea for Johnny’s “death” in the movie

You find Johnny about halfway through the Morningstar mission arc, but he would be seen in a few Syndicate cutscenes beforehand and a lot of implications that he wasn’t actually dead before that

Morningstar:

Loren actually gets like a better mission line following up to and including his death that isn’t just recycled activities disguised as missions

This also includes like a mini-boss fight with the DeWynter twins, that ultimately leads up to them joining the Saints as double agents

Loren gets a boss battle with The Boss, Shaundi, and Johnny fighting him while Pierce and Oleg keep other enemies out of the way and it ends with Johnny getting to personally deal the killing blow and give Loren a beat down like he gave Shogo in SR2 (although definitely not as intense or dark)

Deckers:

I think the biggest things I’d leave the same is the Deckers mission line, I actually don’t think those need to be changed hardly at all, outside of maybe having one or two more story missions without the compulsory activities

STAG:

I would downplay STAG a lot because they were just a weak Ultor carbon copy and took up way too much of SRTT than it should have

I wouldn’t change too much of the STAG missions but I would wait until later in the game to bring them in. Give STAG one or two missions before Murderbrawl XXXI and do the rest afterward

Miscellaneous:

This goes for like literally all 4 arcs, but replace a lot of the compulsory activities with actual unique missions. I think doing One iteration of each activity first is alright because it goes to be like something as a tutorial for them, but past Once, they shouldn’t be reoccuring

Add in one or two missions about The Saints trying to find where Killbane was hiding by interrogating Luchadores and stuff during the STAG arc and then Threeway happens and you find out Killbane is leaving while you’re fighting STAG

Also take out that last choice as a whole no question about it, The Boss lets Killbane get away and saves Shaundi, Viola, and Burt no matter what

While taking the decision out of Threeway, Johnny would go with Angel to try and stop and kill Killbane while The Boss goes to save Shaundi

Ultimately they don’t get there in time but Gat does get a few shots in, injuring Killbane pretty badly in the leg and probably having temporarily crippled him

DLC:

I think instead of the Trouble with the Clones DLC, instead you would get a DLC involving Killbane after he fled the city where you get to fight him and ultimately kill him yourself

It’d be called something like Winner Takes All or like Hell in a Cell which are two types of wrestling matches for those who don’t know. (Winner Takes All is exactly what it sounds like and Hell in a Cell is a cage match with no Escape Clause which is why I think either would fit for names)

Speaking of, make that DLC a double whammy and include Dex, as a business partner with Killbane that you get to fight as well

Angel is a required homie through most of these missions, he helps keep random enemies off your back so you can personally fight and kill Dex, and in turn, you get another mission similar to Murderbrawl XXXI where Angel gets to personally fight Killbane while you take out random enemies, however you also get to help Angel more directly by tossing him weapons to use against Killbane or to use something like a mounted gun to weaken Killbane when he’s cheating and getting the upperhand against Angel

Character Specific Changes:

Zimos:

His character as a whole is,,,,bad imo, so while I didn’t just totall omit him, he’s more or less just a character that The Boss works with to hurt the Syndicate, he’s not really a Saint, just like an accomplice. He would still become a homie at some point though

As a homie he has idle lines to ask how the twins are and The Boss will ask about the secret past and Zimos just says something like “Don’t ask, don’t tell, my man” or keeps the “That’s on a need to know basis, and you don’t need to know” line from the actual game

Angel:

Because I would take out the decision in Threeway and The Boss would let Killbane go, he holds a bit of a grudge and cannot be called as a homie until you have another quick cutscene and short mission where you talk and spar with Angel to help him get out some of his frustration at letting Killbane go

The Boss promises they’re still going to get Killbane because they’re not going to give up that easily

Maybe have The Boss tell Angel about Dex and relate to him while talking about how Dex was one of their best friends and then betrayed them, they never got their revenge but they haven’t given up just yet

Angel and Johnny friendship too!! You can’t tell me they wouldn’t be pals, they spar and talk shit about Killbane a lot

They also trade stories of past fights they’ve been in

Johnny also gives Angel a hardtime because he’s fuckin filthy and lives in such disarray

When Angel tries to snap back with the “so you hate discomfort” Gat shoots back with how the main Saints safehouse was ruins of an old hotel under an abandoned church in the really poor red light district and how before that it was an abandoned church also in one of the poorest areas of Stilwater. He’d definitely say something like “It’s not that I hate discomfort, it’s that I’ve lived that shit for way too long and got out, and I’m not planning on going back to that crap just because some bitch “shamed” me.” The banter becomes somewhat a weird and very Gat-esque peptalk

Viola & Kiki DeWynter:

They both join the Saints and work with them in secret against the Syndicate when Killbane takes over and Loren is killed

Viola and Kiki obviously both get more character development

Viola actually ends up being good friends with Shaundi

Kiki on the other hand ends up better friends with Johnny and they trade snarky remarks whenever everyone is planning out missions and when the Boss makes dumb decisions and shit

Johnny and Kiki end up bonding over small things like their concerns with their looks and just both being the more outspoken and witty counterparts in duos (Johnny’s other half being The Boss and Kiki’s being Viola)

Kiki and Johnny never fail to annoy the shit out of Shaundi because there’s just no end to the snark

Kiki also ends up liking Kinzie, meaning Kinzie gets TWO sisters, Viola AND Kiki, Kinzie couldn’t be happier

As homies, the twins have idle lines about how weird it is The Boss works for Zimos sometimes and ask to make sure The Boss never drags them along when they go to do jobs with Zimos, but they’ll never say why

Killbane threatens to kill Kiki after learning that the twins have double crossed him and are working with The Saints. He takes her as like a “hostage” and sends Viola to go tell The Saints to come “rescue” her while in reality it’s a trap and he’s using Kiki as the bait.

This adds depth to his character and makes him more than just some idiot meatsack who’s powerhungry. He’s a gangleader, he knows how to lead and how to manipulate and how to fucking plan things out further than “HUR DUR ME PUNCH THINGS AND MAKE THEM BLEED”

Viola, ever the realist, knows the likelihood that Killbane has Matt wired into her phone or The Saints’ crib or something so that he would know if she tried betraying him and told The Saints that it’s a trap. So she of course doesn’t tell them, she goes along with his plan all the while thinking of her own plan on how to get out of this problem.

Kiki on the other hand absolutely lets The Saints know it’s a trap as soon as she feasibly can, it’s not much but it does give them a slight upperhand for a minute in the ensuing fight

It’s like a miniboss battle with Killbane, towards the end when it’s obvious The Boss is gonna win, he picks Kiki up in preparation to snap her neck. But Viola shoots at his hand a few times and causes him to drop her sister, he then runs off and Johnny, Angel, and Shaundi chase after him but Viola and The Boss stick around to check on Viola

Kiki got struck by one of the stray bullets on her face, it definitely leaves a nasty scar and fucks up her left eye pretty badly in the long run

Kiki is for the most part out of commission as a homie after the whole kidnapping nonsense, but Viola is as ready as ever to fuckin’ go to town and kill some fuckers now

It’s her way of handling the guilt of almost losing her sister because they didn’t cover their tracks good enough and then by her own attempt to save Kiki, caused her sister to lose an eye

Johnny had taken Loren’s eyepatch kind of as a trophy after killing him, he very awkwardly gives it to Kiki after the mission claiming she probably needs it more than he does right now and seeing as it was Loren’s, she should probably have it regardless

Oleg:

Oleg actually has some of the most depth out of the new characters so I wouldn’t change much if anything?

He definitely would have a love/hate relationship with Johnny

They just don’t get along and butt heads but also they bond over their hatred of Loren/The Syndicate and having been used for the cloning experiments

Johnny also would think Oleg is like badass and cool as fuck and he’d make bets about what outrageous things he thinks Oleg can or cannot lift/destroy with his bare hands

Oleg would also have a lot of respect for Johnny for being such an seemingly average human but still having so much strength and being such a force to be reckoned with

Kinzie:

Kinzie is definitely the company’s favorite because she easily has the most content and depth of any of the other new characters and even more than pre-SRTT characters in SR4 so there’s little to no changes to be done

That being said, I really would want Kinzie and Johnny to also have a love/hate type relationship in SRTT that eventually drops the hate

Like Johnny does Not understand half the shit Kinzie says and she’s really pushy and he just hates it at first and Kinzie hates how he doesn’t listen a lot like the whole situation in SR4 where Kinzie’s always talking about how The Boss doesn’t listen to her and stuff? But with Gat,,,who is worse about it let’s be honest

But throughout the game they both start garnering more respect for the other

Like sometimes Gat’s headstrong guns-blazing outlook pays off a lot better than Kinzie was expecting and Gat’s also totally down to do whatever dangerous and reckless and heavy-lifting work she offers which is useful as hell for Kinzie

And sometimes Gat’s “wing it” planning bites him in the ass and Kinzie saves his ass because she planned how to finish the missions when he didn’t listen because he never listens and she wanted to be prepared for anything

Ultimately they have a very Older Brother-Younger Sister type relationship with Gat becoming really protective of Kinzie and totally laughing his ass off and siding with her when she and The Boss have disagreements/get into fights

Shaundi:

Give her back all that character development and exploration of her depression and survivor’s guilt!! why was that cut!! put it back!!

Additional cutscenes and stuff with Johnny and also The Boss sometimes talking about how Johnny going missing and being believed to be dead scared her and how it affected her

This also means we get to see some of Johnny’s soft side and his pisspoor attempts to comfort her

but also Johnny probably also gets on her case about it like Once because “Well I’m not dead so you can stop worryin’ about it, Shaundi” and it starts a whole little fight that The Boss eventually steps in and settles it

Also Shaundi & Viola friendship: I already mentioned it but just...think about it again ok...

It starts as a rivalry and then they start bonding when Kiki and Johnny are getting closer 

They both cannot stand Johnny and Kiki’s snark

And then both of their respective best friends are preoccupied hanging out which leaves them awkwardly hanging out at times

Turns out Viola was actually a fan of Shaundi’s show and at one point considered signing up herself just for the hell of it

Shaundi is completely shocked and they end up doing like impromptu joke-y rounds to get to know each other to pass the time

This includes idle lines when they’re both a homie where they’re laughing while Shaundi asks Viola random questions about herself and stuff and Viola answers

Also completely trash Shaundi’s weird jealousy/hate against Kinzie

Maybe have her as wary and holding a bit of a grudge because Kinzie’s an ex-fed at first, but ultimately they get past it pretty quickly 

Most of their conversations seen and stuff are them talking tech or talking about their relationships with other characters, there’s a few where Kinzie tries digging into Shaundi’s past and Shaundi tries to dig back though

Also definitely maybe talk/show her development between SR2 and SRTT more rather than just suddenly dropping such a dramatic collection of changes and “development” immediately and not really elaborating a lot yknow?

Pierce:

There’s not much I would change because I actually liked his character development a lot, it wasn’t as abrupt and dramatic feeling as Shaundi’s and he had a decent amount of depth so I don’t think there’s much to add aside from what you would expect from his dialogues with Johnny and Kiki

Johnny:

This is just here to be respectful, pretty much 99% of everything I have to say for Johnny has been said in all the other sections

[mxrcayong]

the avatar series: 01.05

masterlist.

previous | next 

It’s been four days since the awful attacks on the bending gyms. They’ve been closed since then, giving Doyoung nothing to focus on but his own healing. The government made a statement the day after, essentially saying the benders incited the incident – despite all the evidence and witness statements that said otherwise.

Tonight was the night they were all dreading. G-Dragon sent a message to everyone. Not only is he stopping the bending fights until it can be guaranteed safe, but they’ll be closing the theater down temporarily and leaving it empty with only the memorial for the bender who was brutally killed.

Once the clock struck 11:30, a sea of mourners wearing black filled the stadium. Usually, the abandoned theater would be full of people – everyone excited and thrilled for the entertainment. Cheers and conversations filled the room, bouncing off the walls. No one could ever feel alone in moments there; surrounded by family.

But that’s why G-Dragon insisted on having this here. Everyone here is family, and we must mourn family together. Tari may have not known the bender who passed away personally, but she recognized his face when she’d push her way through the crowds. It was so familiar; his brown eyes, his wide smile. She may not have known his name prior, but now she does, and she’ll never forget it – because after all, his blood was on her hands. It was because of her an innocent and bright life was taken away from the world.

The theater was silent. Anyone would be able to hear the simple cockroach who may be squirming his way to the other side of the theater or the smallest insect’s wings bat echo throughout the dome. Everyone came in wearing black and holding a candle to leave behind.

“I am so sorry for the reason we are here today,” G-Dragon apologized into the microphone as he stood beside a photo on an easel, surrounded by flowers. Behind him was the bender’s sister and his pregnant widow alongside his past pro-bending crew.

Tari saw the faces on the widow, on the sister – they both were puffy and red, looking like they haven’t slept in years. I’m the reason for that pain, she thought, holding the candle close to her chest for warmth. I’m the reason that child will never have his biological father, she thought, I’m the reason she no longer has a brother. They looked like ghosts, but Tari quickly turned pale as well. This wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t act up sooner.

She was uneasily biting her lip, lost in her guilt-ridden thoughts until she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. It was Doyoung, who would even be more sad about this. The bender was a colleague of his, working at the fire bending gym just a street down. She knew the bender trainers would often having training retreats, so Doyoung would have exchanged words with him. Not only that, but Doyoung was there with him when he died.

Tari ignored her guilt and turned to face Doyoung. Like the widow, like the sister with a lost brother – his eyes were bloodshot. She noticed he hasn’t been sleeping and as a result, she has been staying up with him; not wanting him to be alone with his thoughts. Johnny has been too. It’s been the three of them facing the light from the midnight moon. Johnny and Tari would take shifts sometimes, especially if Johnny would have to go in early. Tari was just so lucky her bosses took over this week. She wouldn’t know what would’ve happened if they didn’t.

“Today, we are here to mourn him and remember him. Not only as a fire bender, but as a husband, as a brother, as a friend.” G-Dragon spoke into the microphone, “I hope you all will be leaving your candle here. We have a plastic candle that’s flame will never die,” He lifted up a plastic candle with an artificial light, “for his flame, his fire, and his memory will never go our.”

“Unfortunately, we lost him to an unnecessary war.” G-Dragon continued. “The government sees us as a threat, as a danger, as inhumane, as not equal. And they’re right about one thing.” He glanced around the hundreds of faces crowded inside the building, “We are to be feared. Yes, we have extraordinary abilities, but our main power – our main ability is our community. They riot on everything! But here we all are, a family with everyone having different relations to each other. We lost him on our physical world, but may he live forever in our hearts, in our minds, and in the spirit world.”  G-Dragon continued. “We are a peaceful community, we love our city. But we cannot tolerate a city that doesn’t tolerate us. Let his legacy guide us through these difficult times and remind our government we are more than abilities, we are more than the powers we were blessed with. We are their community, and if they refuse to accept us, we are a community. Much more powerful, much more bigger, and much more loving than theirs.”

Everyone nodded in somber silence, cheering silently at G-Dragon inciting them. “But that’s not the reason we’re here today. Tomorrow, I will be taking my concerns to the media. For now, we must remember him for who he was.”  G-Dragon started telling the story of the man; telling the story of how he came from a Northern Fire Nation tribe, about how he worked at a local hospital, about how he volunteers at the homeless shelter, about how he was a star. That I couldn’t save. “Now, let’s hear from his sister and his widow.”  

Tari wanted to hold and squeeze Doyoung’s hand. She wanted to be reminded he was here. He was present during the fight, he was almost killed – but he is here. She wanted to do the same with Johnny. He risks his life every day trying to portray the truth to the world, but he’s here. He’s is here. That’s more than what the family in front of them could say. She could only imagine what they would’ve done for one more hug, one more greeting, one more word, one more ‘I love you’ or even an ‘I hate you’.

She could’ve given them that. If she only interfered sooner. If she didn’t get drunk and picked up Doyoung. If she only helped patrol the city. If she only did something. But those are only if’s. If’s that failed to become reality, if’s that failed to extend a man’s life.

Alas, the memorial was finished. Slowly and silently, everyone left the theater; leaving their candles where they stood. The photo of him was illuminated by the hundreds of calendars keeping his flame alive. His widow and his sister stood by the photo, refusing to leave just yet. G-Dragon had his arm wrapped around both of them, giving them some sort of comfort in the time they lost one of their biggest comforts.

Getting some fresh air, Tari gave each of her close friends who came a hug. She cried as she hugged Kilari, thankful the police arrested her before the protestors got too far. She was grateful Sonan was a non-bender who only knows the fighting techniques, so she wouldn’t be targeted. She was grateful Johnny was able to come home despite his dangerous days investigating corruption. She was grateful Doyoung was injured rather than arrested like the other benders who are still in jail or killed. She was grateful that she had them. 

At least for now.

She needs to think, she needs to know what she can do as Avatar. She cannot continue putting her selfish desires to keep them in her life prevent her from following her role in society, to prevent her from inflicting pain on so many other families. Yes, she may lose her friends due to being the Avatar - but she may lose them if she didn’t do anything. Hell, she almost lost Kilara and Doyoung in one day. She rather save the world and lose them than lose them to something she could’ve prevented. It was like her family and she know what choice was inflicted upon her then.  

As the group started to head home – all of them planning on sleeping in Doyoung and Tari’s apartment, which they covered with mattresses on the floor, Tari lagged behind.

To Sukiara: I’ll start training more seriously again. My life is their’s. Not mine. 

Sukiara: Glad to hear you admit it. Will you be moving back in? 

She needs to give them up, but she doesn’t have to make that choice until she’s physically and mentally ready.

Tari didn’t tell anyone that her bosses texted her, laying her off from her shift. Tari didn’t tell anyone that her bosses wanted her to not come to work for her own safety. In any other circumstance, she’d be devastated.  But for now, she was just exhausted.

It’s been two days since she started training again and her days were much longer than they ever were at the café.  She’d leave her home at four in the morning, go to the back of the port where no one could see them, and climb onto the White Lotus’s designated ‘Avatar’ flying bison. After an hour of flying, she’d arrive on Bak Mei island where she grew up. She’d be greeted by her animal guide (a wolf named Ani) - who is the main reason she’d come prior, eat breakfast, meditate for an hour, train for five hours, eat lunch, meditate, train, meditate, dinner, recap the day, and meditate. She’d be flying back home by eleven and then take the tram and get home by twelve.

If she had to work at the café on top of this work next week, she would’ve passed out. Or needed to be cloned. And since technology for that seems too far away, she’s glad she got fired.

It wasn’t like she was the only one who got fired. Thousands of benders are getting fired because the bosses are worried for the safety of their establishment. Signs have been going up saying ‘we don’t have any bending employees’, as if it was some sort of patriotic flag. She knew G-Dragon had the best intentions, but his inciting speech he made on the news outlet didn’t really help. It was inspiring and calling for a community to come together, but the anti-bending movement twisted his words into some sort of ‘call for an army’.

The once liberated Sooman City became a military state. Police would be marching on the streets more than usual, watching out for any threatening acts from benders. Bending isn’t illegal yet, but any action that could be seen as violent gets you the first seat to jail.

“Hey, you’re here late.” Johnny commented once the exhausted Tari came in, still dressed in something Johnny had never seen her wear something similar in. She noticed Doyoung was finally asleep on the couch, obviously knocked out from his last few days of staying up. “What are you wearing?”

When Tari is in the White Lotus training facility, she wears traditional water bender clothes. Like all the Avatars before her, she wore something reminiscent of where she was from. She was taught that as a the Avaatar, she may be connected to all four, but she must remain close to her roots. So, she wore a sea blue halter-neck top with high-waisted grayish blue baggy pants and short hiking boots. She had blue arm-warmers that matched the color of her top with traditional water tribe patterns. These blue arm warmers actually came from her father; one of the few things she was allowed to keep from her biological family.

“Oh, just traditional bending day at the café.” Tari quickly quipped, avoiding eye contact as she rushed into her room - far too tired to try and come up with more excuses and far too tired to stay up. “Why are you still up?” She asked to make conversation, feeling guilty for shrugging him off.

Johnny shrugged, “Doyoung fell asleep and I noticed you weren’t here yet.”

“Oh, don’t wait up for me.” She smiled, popping her head out from her door but still looking away from Johnny at all costs. “I’m glad to see Doyoung finally sleeping. Anyway! Long hours at the café, hah,” She awkwardly chuckled, her mind running miles a minute as she tried to come up with good excuses to cover up her lies to the same person who can read her like a book. “Going to sleep, you should sleep too.”

There were two things Johnny didn’t comment on. The first thing? Tari would’ve normally asked him why she wasn’t at his own home. The second thing? He went to the café today and Hendery told him she’s been laid off.

But he wanted to ask her before he investigated anything. But, she also left him no choice. Johnny didn’t want to be in this situation, but he had to make sure she was safe. A sense of disappointment was feeling heavy as he made his way to the bathroom, ready to get some sleep – which would be a futile mission, before having to investigate the person he thought he could trust the most in the world.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only person who would have a sleepless night full of unstoppable reckless tossing and turning. Especially as the exact moment Tari fell into her pillows – now dressed in cozy pajamas and showered from the dirt and grime from the temple – she received a message from Sukiara.

Sukiara: Tenzin and Lin are calling for you to come to the air temple tomorrow. 11am. Don’t come to BakMei. Will pick you up from the port but we’ll take the boat instead. Can’t have a flying bison around without attracting attention. Meet at 9am sharp. You still need to meditate before we go.

request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here

[cleaduvalls]

i watched “spy kids” 4 times in 1 week and here are my thoughts

carmen your nightgown is like 200 years old, get a new one

you clearly know this story by heart, you’re saying parts of it. why are you questioning what “take him out” means

a double wig should be more obvious than that

we can see that that’s a glass elevator. people can see you changing, ingrid

nice hat

why did you kill the swan

is that paul rudd???????

how are jets ripping pages out of a book

heart shaped parachutes shouldn’t be working that well

why is there a guitar on your bed. how do you sleep

i think the kids would have seen the track in the floor at SOME point

why is there a jungle gym in their house. i know they’re spies but who has a jungle gym.... in their HOUSE

carmen you’re a frog

i think juni just legitimately try to kill carmen

why are both parents going to school. is that like, a Thing????

juni how do you do that

who puts a video screen in the front seat

hey look its floop. love that guy

they’re not picking on you for the bandages, it’s cuz you brought the toys OUTSIDE your backpack. always put them inside. trust me

did his mirror just.... zoom in?????

h*ck yeah beat him up greg

do all the other kids hate him too??????

dang that hurt

“chief” that’s so white

stupid kid. his dads a spy

that floop doll isn’t even close to accurate

hey look its floop again. love that dude

Big Willy Wonka Energy

oooh skipping numbers i see. love that

why do the subtitles have “mr. floop” as his name. its just floop, yall

“sometimes in order to think big you have to think small” pretty inspirational tbh

oh hes fidgeting!!!!!! love that

woah what are you doing this is rated pg ingrid

i wish my uncles would tell me im shrinking. they just make small talk abt school 😔

this gradenko lady looks like jan from the office

hey its floop again!!!!! love that dude

yes juni. its a fire drill in your own home

these dudes have a jungle gym AND a pool. what the h*ck

why did you pull off your mustache to prove you’re not related. if anything that makes you more related. greg does that too

why did he put the mustache back ON

where did those boats come from

carmen says manual weird. man-yull

right, cuz adrenaline causes warts

“don’t touch anything” *immediately touches everything*

basic boat ettiquette: don’t shit in the boat. those toilets can’t handle anything

is that globe..... punched in???????

floop!!!!!!! love that dude

feet on the desk????? i dunno seems pretty gay

since when did carmen get keys to that

i might be wrong but i dont think thats every country

what does pressure have to do with positioning a laser

this floor is the best mechanic in the whole movie. reminds me of a richie rich comic i had as a kids

why did they not run into the wall. i wanted to see that

is the slide there when floop films his show????

HEY ITS FLOOP!!!! love that dude

theres a bunch of normal food like.... sour worms. why did they pick the slime from charlie and the chocolate factory when johnny depp finds the oompa loompas

thats a sick coat. best one in the movie

that was a good snap. nice acoustics

God what a power move. something thanos would say

listen floop i love you but thats not how you say research

fELIX NO

and hes gone. cool

did she kick the camera?????

haha author unknown. cuz hes a spy

why did you take that one specifically????? plot convenience????

he can still be a spy, just not a good one. learn to read

is that supposed to be a question?????

FUN FACT if you listen closely when carmen says “like felix said” you can hear a weird cut in “said”, almost like its a new clip

theres no keyhole

i think juni can read. why are you spelling it

did you have the floop toys in your pocket????

OKAY THIS SCENE WHERE THEY PLAY IT BACKWARDS?????? THAT MESSED ME UP AS A KID 

what do those things do?????

i can feel the pain from the fan blades

how did that break the chain????

why would you annouce that. they can hear you. just because they’re thumbs doesn’t mean they’re deaf

that’s a thing, not a place

FLOOP!!!!! ON A BILLBOARD!!!! love that dude

how are you slipping. shes holding YOU

YOU DROPPED HIM GENIUS

how do people not notice the jetpack dudes

DOES NO ONE CARE THAT CLOTHES WERE STOLEN

that’s a cute coat

why is the lady cool with carmen just... doing that

HEY I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!!! AND THAT DUDE!!!!!

ofc you can’t think “straight enough” you’re gay

why is mexico sepia tone

when do you think juni had time to change and learn a new language

IF IT HURTS TO HIT HIM, S T O P

i wanna be on that merry-go-round

HOW DO YOU K N O W THAT HIS CODE NAME. WHY “MUST” IT BE HOMBRE

i love how junis just like “we already got a fake uncle”

LOOK AT HOW FLOOP IS SITTING!!!!!!!! THATS GAY!!!!!!! HE IS A HOMOSEXUAL!!!!!!!!

ALSO MORE FLOOP!!!! say it with me, LOVE THAT DUDE!!!!!!!!!!

minion looks like barry from friends

wait i lied this coat is better

we DO have uncles like that!!!!!

if your inventions are so good why is your font so BORING

hey wait carmen said that. hmmmmmmmm 🤔🤔🤔

glowsticks dont help you see like at all

the map looks like gallifreyan but its not. spy kids is older than the doctor who reboot

they go ZOOM

THATS NOT HOW YOU SAY MANUAL!!!!!!!

great job carmen YOU wrecked the plane

WHATS A REGULATOR

oh its just a breathing thing

haha pee joke. funney

where are the brains coming from???? that factory is Not Correct

if i were juni i would look back over all the floop’s fooglies tapes and see what the agents were saying backwards. once the mission was done, ofc

it took me like 5 minutes to figure out what sknaht meant the first time

SEE THIS MECHANIC IS GOOD BC NOW THERES NO PLEXIGLASS

WHY DOES NO ONE RUN INTO THE WALL

F L O O P  I S  G O D

love that dude

you discussed with the spy parents that juni watched the show. he just told you that you took his parents. you KNOW this is juni, why are you surprised that he watches it????? you already know!!!!!!

tbh i kinda want some of those colorful chains. they’d look cool somewhere

haha voice crack

no wonder your shows not doing well. those are awful times

why is there a sexy thumb nurse. why did floop make the thumb nurse sexy

use her first name?????? you’re clearly dating

!!!!!! THEY USED THE SAME TOOL MULTIPLE TIMES!!!!!! UNHEARD OF!!!!!!!

he cares so much about this show!!!!!! its so sweet!!!! love that dude

YEP THIS COAT IS BETTER, LOOKS A M A Z I N G IN A RUNNING SCENE

haha you killed carmen

ok this scene with the acid crayon is like my absolute favorite. something about using a crayon to escape and then floop (love that dude) opening the door a second later and then doing a double take. FAVE

wheres belize

ok so apparently its a country by mexico

no you CANT tell her you need to ESCAPE

we finally got a clean outside shot of the castle.... that place is wack

haha minion can’t sit in the hand chair correctly because hes STRAIGHT what a loser

hey juni HOW DO YOU DO THAT

minion you know what the robot costumes look like AND what juni looks like. dont be stupid

what..... what do you want carmen for, exactly, minion??????

floop is supportive of others’ art!!!!!!!!!!! love that dude

HE SAID “WHERE’S MOM AND DAD” LIKE THEY’RE HIS OWN PARENTS THAT’S SO C U T E

ALSO ANOTHER SCENE WITH THE GREAT RUNNING COAT

he says doppelganger beautifully

“its too late” that timing was BEAUTIFUL

you COULD take 500 brains out if you just TRIED HARDER. still love that dude

his control panel has buttons that spell “floop”

WHY CAN MINION TALK NORMAL

if its reversible why do you have it in later movies

carmen fights fake juni and juni fights fake carmen because they didnt have the fancy clone (?) technology

THREE TIMES!!!!!! THEY USED THE SAME TOOL T H R E E  T I M E S THIS HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!

nice censorship

HOW DID MACHETE SMASH ONLY THE CLEAR WINDOWS AND A L L THE CLEAR WINDOWS THERE ARE NO MORE CLEAR WINDOWS!!!!!! ANYWHERE!!!!!

wow nice 3 buttons thats totally how you hack

oh look they have all died

oh. guess not :((

machete you better rip off your mustache

HES GOING TO JUNIS LEVEL TO TALK TO HIM!!!!!!! HE RUFFLED HIS HAIR!!!!!!!!! HES GONNA MAKE A GREAT DAD!!!!!!!

wow no shit ingrid

did he leave his wart bandaid on the kitchen counter?????

ALAN CUMMING!!!! ON A CEREAL BOX!!!!

ok CLEARLY other people watch floop’s show, he’s rated number 2. kids at the school are gonna recognize juni and carmen. they better get popular

is that george clooney

well that’s not how it works in spy kids 2. or 3. or 4. or the tv show

[traincat]

Is there a significant portion of 616 spidey fans out there that like sl*tt? Because from twitter to reddit fans are super vocal in how much they dislike his work yet he managed to stay on the title forever. I’m just wondering what happened there considering the fact that comics so heavily rely on consumer feedback

Urgh (at Slott, not at you). The answer is: I don’t know. I know I don’t like his writing and I don’t like his attitude as a professional on social media. I know the people I know who are huge Spider-Man fans don’t like him. I know most Mary Jane fans don’t like him, as he’s been pretty uniformly terrible in his presentation of her, and that’s leaving aside comments he’s made, like the recent Fantastic Four script that described Alicia wishing Ben would come home as “not a Mary Jane crying at home for Spider-Man scene” or something along those lines. 

Look, I don’t think Slott started off the worst Spider-Man writer ever -- I don’t hate some of his earlier work, although, aside from some Spideytorch moments and Spider-Man/Human Torch 3&5, I don’t think he’s ever singularly put forward one of my favorite Spider-Man comics. (The other ones I really like, he’s had co-writers on.) And I liked the main story of his parting issue in Amazing Spider-Man #801, so he can write a good Spider-Man story. It’s just that, for some reason, when Superior Spider-Man happened, he decided to stop trying to. His flip-flopping on Superior Spider-Man is especially egregious -- if we’re supposed to root for Ock in any capacity, well, it’s already a thumbs down on the whole body stealing thing, but having him ogle and attempt to rape Mary Jane before realizing he can just use Peter’s most intimate memories of her as masturbatory material and then tossing MJ aside as “insubstantial” is a bad way to do that, not to mention the violent assault against Felicia, and his sexual relationship with Anna Maria Marconi -- who thought she was sleeping with Peter Parker. I’m not sure how you build a redemption arc out of that, but I know it’s not by putting Otto in another clone body and having him go back to stalking Anna Maria. (Marvel enabling this kind of material by continuing to publish Superior books is not helping, granted.) Post-Superior: there’s some stuff I enjoy. I didn’t hate Clone Conspiracy, although I think that its aftermath hugely misunderstands the Spider-Man clone narrative. And I’ll be honest: all of Parker Industries reads like huge authorial jerk off material. It’s Superior Spider-Man on a meta level: ooh look at how much better and cooler I’ve made Spider-Man by making him a CEO instead of a lowly photographer.

I do know some fans who liked Superior Spider-Man. They’re not, granted, people I would want to be stuck in an elevator with, given one of them told me it was “so cool” when Otto punched Felicia, but I know they’re out there. I assume there are people who like Slott’s other Spider-Man works. I don’t think he helps himself by being generally inflammatory on twitter and then refusing to back off and instead doubling down on his misguided points, like recently when he tweeted that Spider-Man couldn’t be Jewish because he’s “universal.” (He also said he couldn’t be Catholic, but buddy, we knew that when in canon he can’t recognize a communion wafer.) I generally like his Johnny writing, if I had to compliment him on anything, but when it comes to Spider-Man: personally, it’s a big no. As for how he lasted on the series so long: it’s a bit of a mystery to me. Part of it is that Big Two comics are definitely a boys club, and I assume he’s friends with the people who kept him on the book so long. Also, in the beginning, he was churning out Spider-Man fast, which counts for something. Although if we look at the delays on both Fantastic Four and Iron Man (which iirc he’s not on currently anymore?), that’s, uh, clearly not the current case.

[laniepoos-blog]

Some Predictions for Killjoys Season 5

*spoilers for season 4*

Anyone following me might remember I said OH and me were gonna play a little drinking game when season 4 came on, a shot for each time a previous guest character came back, and a beer for every time D’avin took his shirt off. Well, none of my predictions came true. The only returning guest character was Manos, and D’av only puts a shirt ON. Who saw that coming? Reader, I remain tragically sober. So this time around I’m gonna er on the side of ‘the writers are crazy geniuses and the thing you least expect will happen’, Mkay? What follows is my analysis of the season 5 teaser that aired immediately after the finale, screenshot by screenshot.

First off, this little gem.

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

On the one hand, it’ll please all the the Johnny/Dutch fans out there, of which there are many, but on the other hand, the show-runners did state explicitly that they will never ever sleep together. So what about that darling waking up scene at the end of ‘Sporemageddon’, then? Either they sleep in the same bed and kiss occasionally, but don’t have sex, or that woman is not Dutch. Yep, I’m putting actual money on the probability that the woman who has been sleeping with Johnny (though probably not, take heart dear green-queens) and running the Royale is in fact, da-da-dum, Aneela. Think about it. She has all of Dutch’s memories. She knows there’s attraction there, but she doesn’t know what to do with it. Having lost her memory, she reverts to the most prominent personality in that brain-jumble... Yala. Which leads me on to the next pic:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

That, pretty people, is not Dutch. THAT is Aneela. Watch her for long enough and it’s easy to tell the difference. The mannerisms, the expressions, makeup and hair, general behaviour. Then how do we explain her attraction to D’avin in the street outside the Royale? Easy. He’s the father of her child. She chose him. She is fascinated by him, and we can see that in ‘The Lion the Witch and the Warlord’, and the way she gets all touch-feely preparing to go into the green. She may not be attracted to him in that way, but she knows him.

Further evidence:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

See, I think Dutch emerged somewhere else. She’s already proved she can go into the green and come out pretty much anywhere in the galaxy. What if Aneela came out with the boys, Lady in tow, and Dutch came out far far away? And who’s prisoner is she? Must be someone organised. That looks a lot like a uniform, and both of those scenes are in an environment we haven’t explored yet. Narratively, it also makes sense to separate the boys from their True North. We got to see them interact with Aneela briefly in season 4, but I’m sure the writers won’t squander the opportunity to explore that dynamic.

Next:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

D’avin is D’avin-ing. Nothing new there. But that looks a lot like Fancy behind him. Could it be that they’ve teamed up? The Designated Ass-hole who said he’d never work in a team? Is in a team? Along side the Legolas to his Gimli (vice/versa)? Whaaat? We didn’t get to see what happened to Amnesiac!Fancy at the end of season 4, so could this be a delicious treat for the fans? And who are they aiming at? That looks like the Royale interior, so possibly Yala | Aneela, when they discover who she really is.

Then this one:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

Zeph in pain. But why? Is that the Royale memory wipe scene? Or a totally different scenario?

And this one:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

Kendry going full Ripley. This clearly takes place in Red19 where she is hiding Jaq. I can just imagine her protecting her offspring and saying “Get away from him, you bitch!” Rocking the new hair y’all. I can totally see the writers taking her to new heights in the new season. We haven’t even seen what she’s fully capable of yet.

And this is probably the most worrying scene of all:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

Don’t know who she is, but she’s on the Armada, so Hullen? Also, it might just be me, but she looks a bit pregnant. Two reasons why this is concerning. The Hullen keep calling Jaq the ‘Firstborn’, so that means there are/will be others, right? Also, she could be Brynn, Aneela’s maid, and I distinctly remember Gander saying, “it’s a shame, we had such plans for you.” When you IVF someone, you don’t just make one embryo, you spread your bets. Fans of Orphan black will remember the arc with Helena and the cryo-canister. The brains behind it? Killjoy’s own Karen Troubetzkoy and Andrew De Angelis are both Clone Club alumni. Now, I’m not saying they had anything to do with it, but knowing writers, there will be a canister of embryos somewhere, if not at least one more kid. That is the last thing anyone expects. So the producers are probably like, let’s just mess with everyone’s heads, let’s mess with D’avin some more. How can we further traumatise him?

Which brings me to my last and favourite scene:

Credit: @PromosTVNetwork https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6u2p0p

My first instinct was to say “Eh? A new enemy? Allies?” But then I remembered a behind the scenes pic posted on twitter a couple months ago showing Team Awesome Force in army fatigues in the desert with another unidentified woman, and a soldier standing guard with a really nice futuristic weapon. (I will post a link here when I’ve found it!) The figure at the front has a really nice insignia/medal and clearly has a female silhouette - an officer? So I think that’s the army. The army of the United Republic. They’ve noticed what’s been going on, probably due to the Quad’s Yttrium supply drying up. The Lady has everyone working in a Green factory on Westerley, remember, they’re not mining any more. Also, we know they’ve probably had a plan to tackle the Hullen problem for a while. That’s what all the experiments D’avin was part of were about, and that’s why IMUR were investigating Red17 when they sent the Aegir to the area. So if they’re gonna win this war, they’re gonna have to buckle up and submit to a real godsdamn runaway queen.

So, in conclusion, we can’t be sure what any of these images mean, because the show is just so damn turbulent. But we can predict that season 5 will give us new and more challenging environments, problems and team dynamics.

Can’t wait!

[ladylynse]

Snapshots: Phantom never changed, even though everything--everyone--else did. Even Dani. Especially Dani. Danny didn’t realize what that meant until later. AU  [FF | AO3]

Based off this post featuring @ghostgabber’s AU where Danny’s human half ages but his ghost half doesn’t; for @faiasakura and Phanniemay 2018 Day 24. Eventual character death. (This was getting long, so I’m going to split it into two parts.)

It was a moment of time frozen forever, but Danny didn’t realize that at first.

The changes were gradual; though his parents joked about it, he really didn’t shoot up overnight, and it took time for him to fill out his scrawny frame. He couldn’t hear the changes in his voice, and it’s not like he tried to grow out his hair or grow a beard. (The less he looked like Vlad, the better.) His face eventually lost the boyishness of youth, and he was unmistakably a young man.

But Phantom never changed.

It was embarrassing at first, especially with Sam and Tucker and Jazz teasing him about it relentlessly. Geez, Danny, you could give the little match girl a run for her money. He’d thought his ghost form would change with him. You’re shorter than me and you know it; you’re my little brother. He’d seen the other ghosts change their forms over the years; why did his stay the same? Oh, man, you look so puny!

Look young though he did, his powers grew. He honed his skills, and any ghost who knew his reputation didn’t cross him. Some of them seemed to pop up and attack for old time’s sake—Skulker and the Box Ghost being the most frequent—but he became friends with most of them. Johnny 13 would let him help fix his motorcycle (Danny still wasn’t sure whether it had ever actually broken if it was just a peace offering, but he wasn’t complaining), and Ember actually invited him to one of the concerts she held in the Ghost Zone.

Danny’s grades had never been good enough for him to get into the space program, and despite his parents expressing their support for him to pursue whatever he wanted, he chose to stay in Amity Park after high school instead of applying to college. He’d wanted to assure himself that the town wouldn’t be overrun in his absence. Sam and Tucker had been reluctant to leave him on his own, but Tucker had been offered a great scholarship to MIT, and Sam wouldn’t have been happy staying under her parents’ roof any longer. Even Valerie left, though judging by her visits home, she monitored the news from her hometown closely.

So instead of seeking higher education, Danny officially took up the family business. With Jazz off at university, he could no longer depend on her to monitor their parents’ inventions. And by working more closely with them, he got a better idea of their views. They still had no love for Phantom, but they were eventually willing to (begrudgingly) admit that Phantom did a good job protecting the town.

It was a start.

It made him think he’d be able to tell them, eventually.

When it became clear that Phantom wasn’t physically changing to match Fenton, Danny used that to his advantage. They didn’t resemble each other as much as they once had, and the fact that they didn’t was seemingly further proof that there was no connection between them whatsoever. Not that anyone had really been looking. Not that he’d known of, at least. But if anyone had, now it could be laughed off as a strange coincidence, not used as potential evidence of what should be an impossibility.

If the Guys in White were still sniffing around, they hadn’t shown their faces in years. Danny rather hoped that their department’s funding had been cut and the program was now defunct, but he wasn’t going to get sloppy because of that assumption. He couldn’t afford to. It was better if next to no one knew his secret. It was still safer. For him. For his friends. For Dani.

The first time he realized the changes—or lack thereof—weren’t simply physical was during one of Dani’s visits, actually. He’d been twenty at the time and over at Sam’s to escape some of the Christmas-y-ness of his own house and to visit with her and Tucker while they were home for the holidays. Dani had dropped by with Youngblood to remind him where everyone was gathering for the Christmas Truce.

Sam and Tucker had thought she’d come alone.

No one had corrected them, and that had been the beginning.

“Maybe you just need to get out of this town,” Dani said as they flew over Amity Park. “Travel the world. Actually see something. Maybe that’ll jumpstart whatever’s not developing.”

Danny huffed. As Phantom, he still looked like he was fourteen. Dani, on the other hand, looked twice his age and barely resembled the scrappy twelve year old she’d once been, no matter what form she took.

It wasn’t fair.

She was a clone.

He shouldn’t have to be stuck looking like snot-nosed kid when he was in his thirties.

“I’m serious,” she said. “Tell your parents you want to see about expanding their company. Use Vlad as an excuse if you have to. I can hang around here for a while if that’ll make you feel better, but I doubt any of the ghosts are going to break your truce.”

She had a point. It had taken years of negotiations—begun, of course, during the Christmas Truce, when he could hold a decent conversation without trading shots—but he’d worked out a system, more or less. If the ghosts didn’t harm anyone when they came, he’d allow them to visit without interfering.

The Box Ghost still made a mess of things, but he was no more terrifying than usual. Johnny 13 and Kitty became regular visitors, along with Wulf and Dora and occasionally Youngblood and Klemper. Poindexter had even dropped by on occasion. Ember was limited to one concert in the Real World per tour, but Technus was free to scavenge for recycled or abandoned electronics as long as he did all his compilations in the Ghost Zone. (Danny was pretty sure he was still planning world domination, but a strategic comment regarding his skills had him competing with Skulker in a rivalry that kept both ghosts fairly busy.)

“I don’t think the fact that I haven’t travelled the world is the reason for this.”

Dani shrugged. “Suit yourself. But don’t rule it out till you try it, cuz. Travelling’s about the experience, not the destination. You’re not going to find out what a place is really like from a TV screen.”

Danny pulled up short, and Dani flew back to join him. “You think I’m wasting my life by staying here, don’t you? Dani, I’m protecting people.”

She crossed her arms. “You were protecting people,” she corrected, “and then you fixed it so that they don’t need you anymore. By staying here and claiming you’re protecting this town? You’re just trying to protect yourself.”

“Dani—”

“You have a family. And you can’t tell me you think they wouldn’t accept you after everything. So obviously that’s not why you’re not telling them. But maybe you think you’re trying to protect them now, instead in of yourself. Protecting them from the truth. You’re forgetting how much lies hurt, and you’re shortchanging them for thinking they can’t handle this.”

“That’s crazy!”

“Yeah, but it’s true. You’re not telling them because you don’t want to admit you’ve been lying to them.”

“I’m not—”

“You didn’t even try to pursue your dreams once you thought it was safe to do so. And, yeah, fine, so maybe it would’ve been hard to’ve become an astronaut, but there are other jobs out there relating to space that you definitely could’ve done. You’re smart, Danny. Intuitive, which is worth much more than book smarts. But even when your parents were willing to let you go, you stayed. If I’m dead wrong, then why are you still here?”

“I like what I do, Dani.” Normally, he’d give her points for the pun, but not now. “And Amity Park still needs Phantom, whatever you think. Pretty much every time I let my guard down, someone comes through and tries to destroy the world.”

“That hasn’t happened since your truce.”

“And you think I’m going to tempt fate with my luck?”

Dani shot him an exasperated look. “C’mon, cuz, you can concede my point. I mean…. I get if you don’t want to tell them about me. You’re my family. I don’t need anyone else.” Lies, judging by her face, and that made them more painful for it. “But you still need them. They’re your family. And this isn’t a good reason to push them away or just put up with them trying to kill you whenever you’re in ghost mode. They wouldn’t if they knew the truth. And I get it’s been easier to keep your secret from them because Phantom hasn’t changed, but…. Think about what you’re taking away from them by keeping this up.”

She wasn’t really wrong. He did think his parents would accept him if he finally told them, and he really didn’t want to admit that he’d been living a lie for years. If he told them about Dani, they’d probably accept her, too. But he just….

This was easier, in a way. Predictable. And he didn’t have to deal with Vlad hovering over him, demanding to know why he’d done what he had when the truth endangered his secret, too.

He hadn’t talked to Vlad in years except when he couldn’t help it, but he might have to. Dani was right about something else, too: whatever this was, it couldn’t be normal. Not when she was his clone and she wasn’t affected by…whatever this was. To Danny’s eye, Plasmius had never changed, but it’s not like Vlad had ever pulled out pictures from his days as a young halfa. So what if something was wrong? And if there was something wrong, who was affected? Him or Dani?

“Look, cuz, fun as this has been, I need to head out of state again. Valerie wants me to back her up while she checks something out. I’ll call you later. Just…please, think about what I said.”

She took off without waiting for a response.

Vlad raised his eyebrows. “You’re only asking me this now, little badger?”

Danny bristled. He still hated that nickname. And even though he was taller than Vlad in his human form, the other halfa hadn’t changed his ways. “Just tell me.”

Vlad shuffled the papers on his desk, playing for time and just trying to make Danny squirm. It didn’t improve his mood. But while Dani hadn’t brought it up again, Danny had been thinking about what she’d said that day—and, more to the point, what had been bothering him since he’d first realized that her ghost form was changing while his stubbornly stayed the same. That was why he was here, now, crashing at Vlad’s unannounced and demanding answers.

He hadn’t wanted to give Vlad warning, since the old fruit loop might use the time to prepare convenient answers that seemed to be the truth but were really just what Danny wanted to hear.

“Danielle is a clone, my dear boy, but she is not a perfect one. For obvious reasons.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Just spit it out.” Vlad never got straight to the point when he could go on and on. While he had more or less given up on the whole idea of getting Danny to turn on Jack and be the son Vlad had never had or of creating a reasonable facsimile, he still enjoyed the attention. And antagonizing Danny at every turn.

“How’s your biology?”

“Aside from what I need to know? Terrible.”

Vlad sighed. “Then suffice to say, little badger, that by her very nature, Danielle’s body will age faster than yours.”

Danny just stared at him.

“One of her imperfections is her instability. You may have stabilized her once, Daniel, but she is not exactly conservative in her actions, and such wear and tear is hardly the best thing for her fragile body. I must admit I cut quite a few corners accelerating her age to twelve years when I first started; it’s surprising that she does not appear older than her current age now.”

Danny opened his mouth, closed it, licked his lips, and tried again. “So, what, one of these days, she’ll destabilize again? Why didn’t you tell me this years ago? How can we stop it?”

“It’s not a process that can be stopped. There are simply too many mutations within her genome, and cytolysis seems to have been introduced with the accelerated aging—”

“And you haven’t figured out how to fix it?” Danny growled, knowing his eyes were burning green but hating that Vlad had kept this knowledge to himself, that he was content with letting Dani die so easily. “We have to save her!”

“There isn’t anything we can do.”

“But there has—”

“Daniel. Her aging isn’t normal. Surely you’ve realized that, considering that your own ghost form hasn’t changed.”

“That just makes me the abnormal one,” Danny bit out. “Other ghosts have changed and grown. It’s not just the shapeshifters.”

“The other ghosts are ghosts. Have you really not figured this out? It’s been years, Daniel. I had thought you at least a little cleverer than this.”

Danny was about to retort when Vlad’s words clicked. He’d made a distinction between ghosts and halfas and already made it fairly clear that Dani’s apparently normal growth was the furthest thing from it. Which meant…. “You’re not aging, either? In ghost mode, I mean?”

Vlad leaned back in his chair and changed into Plasmius. “Do I still look so old to your young eyes?”

Plasmius didn’t resemble Masters as much as Phantom resembled Danny’s human half, but— “No. You look…. Geez, you almost look younger than me.”

“I am. I was in my mid-twenties when your insufferable father caused the proto-portal to explode in my face. But this form has its advantages, little badger. It becomes more and more difficult to give up.”

“Uh huh.”

Vlad gave him a level look, a slight curve of his lip the only indication that he disapproved of Danny’s flat tone. “You’ll understand someday. Youth isn’t something to be scorned.”

“You can’t talk. Plasmius doesn’t look like a teenager. People don’t look at you in ghost mode and not respect you. I swear, the kids these days—”

Vlad cut him off with an amused chuckle. “And you call me old. But let an old man teach you a lesson you should have already learned: accept what you cannot change.”

“What, not be the change you want to see?”

“You were always good at changing things, Daniel, but you never quite got the hang of accepting them.”

“I handled the half ghost thing well enough,” Danny muttered. He wasn’t sure what Vlad was trying to do by giving him this so-called advice, but he was more concerned about everything else the other man had said. If he wasn’t lying about Dani…. “Did you really not figure out a way to stabilize your clones? I mean, you could’ve adapted your own mid-morph sample if you were messing with DNA anyway.”

Vlad frowned, though Danny didn’t know if that was because he was incorrect or just grossly oversimplifying things. “Is that really your biggest concern right now?”

“Yes!”

“Then you haven’t learned anything at all. Run along, little badger. Try to prove me wrong. But don’t be surprised when you fail.”

“So you still haven’t told her, huh?”

Danny phased his hand through the wall of his old bedroom to the empty space where he kept a vial of Dani’s ectoplasm. He’d had to beg it off Vlad, not wanting to tell Dani what he was doing until he found a way to fix this, so he was careful with it; he wouldn’t have the opportunity to get more. Fortunately, his parents weren’t home right now, which meant he had free reign of the lab—and it meant he could have Jazz on speakerphone. “There’s gotta be a way around it. C’mon, haven’t you come across anything?” As of last week, Tucker hadn’t had anything, either, and according to Sam’s text yesterday, her best attempt at a lead had fizzled.

“You’re the one working with Mom and Dad, not me. I haven’t been covered in ectoplasmic goo in years.” Danny opened his mouth, but Jazz continued before he had a chance to say anything. “I know, I know. I’m keeping an ear to the ground, but I don’t think I’m going to be much help. You should ask Mom.”

“That would require more explaining than I’m prepared to do,” Danny pointed out as he headed downstairs. Jazz was just trying to make the point again that he should tell them his secret, especially now that he’d finally—finally—gotten them to agree to work with Phantom more overtly than ever before. He knew they didn’t trust him much, but they were getting older, and they weren’t as quick or—at least in his mom’s case—as accurate a shot as they’d once been. He’d told them, as both Danny and as Phantom, to turn on Phantom if he ever went bad, but that was as much for their comfort as for his.

He didn’t want to be let loose on the world if, for some reason, he was being controlled or anything like that. Valerie knew that, too. She didn’t need to live in Amity Park or Elmerton to keep up on the news, and Phantom going rogue? She’d pay attention to that.

But he hadn’t told her his secret, either, even after she’d accepted Dani. Because that wasn’t the same. On that point, it did come down to cowardice. Like Dani had said, he didn’t want to admit to the years of lies. And, brief though the period had been, he had dated Valerie. She might take that as a betrayal of trust. Willing to work with her enemies though she might be, she could definitely hold a grudge.

Of course, mad at him as she might initially be, she would get over it. Eventually. And then he’d have someone else to help him solve this problem with Dani before it was too late. He was beyond pretending that he didn’t need help.

“And you tried talking to Vlad again?”

“He’s no help and you know it,” Danny said as he flicked on the lights in the lab. “He gave up on her a long time ago. As far as he’s concerned, he’s humouring me. Waiting for me to realize I can’t do anything. As if I’m going to abandon her.”

A sigh. “Danny, I know how much this means to you, but you need to talk to someone who knows more than we do. Sam and Tucker have their own lives now. They can’t drop everything to help you as easily anymore.”

“And neither can you,” Danny finished. “I know. I’m not asking you to do that. I’m just—” From Jazz’s end, someone leaned on a car horn. Danny winced. That was the downside of calling Jazz in the middle of the day; if she was somewhere she could talk to him, then she was in transit, fighting her way through what seemed to be constant traffic. She walked as much as she could, claiming it kept her fit, but Danny suspected the truth was one too many close calls with drivers little better than their father. “Someone got cut off?” he guessed.

“Patience is hard to come by in the big city,” was all Jazz said. “Sometimes it feels like you’re risking life and limb even venturing out onto the sidewalk.”

“But your patients thank you for it,” Danny said, grinning as he imagined Jazz’s eye roll. “And I’m grateful that you still put up with these phone calls from me. You’re a life saver, Jazz. Really.” He glanced at his watch. “You’ve got, what, ten minutes till you want to be there for your next appointment?”

“Yeah. It would be tight if I didn’t give myself a few extra minutes. But you didn’t call to talk about me. Was it really just to see if I’ve miraculously discovered something to help Dani?”

She knew it wasn’t; her tone made that perfectly clear.

She could still read him like a book.

“Dani was wrong. About me just needing to travel, I mean. Since Vlad confirmed that he’s the same as me…. The joke about me being half dead might not be as much of a joke as I thought. Phantom’s never going to change, Jazz. I could be ninety, and if I go ghost, then bam! Wimpy teenager. Again.”

Jazz snorted. “Phantom can’t exactly be described as wimpy, and I don’t think perpetually looking like a teenager is what you’re really worried about. You aren’t losing yourself whenever you change, little brother. Just because you look like your past self, it doesn’t mean you’re becoming him. You’ve grown a lot over the past couple of decades, even if you can’t see that growth on the outside. That face in the mirror is still yours, and you’re still you. Phantom might be almost unrecognizable alongside Fenton, but that dissociation isn’t—”

Jazz’s words ended in a shriek, difficult to distinguish over screaming tires and blaring horns. After a loud crackle, the line went dead.

Danny’s shouts went unheard.

A warm hand dropped onto his shoulder. “She’s gone, sweetie,” Maddie said quietly as she moved around to join him at her kitchen table. “We have to accept that.” He’d come over for a visit, found them both out, and sat there to drink some tea which had long since gone cold. He hadn’t heard them come back. He had also apparently missed the kettle boiling, as she held her own steaming mug as if she were going to attempt the same thing he had. He wondered if she’d be any more successful.

Nothing seemed to be successful lately, including getting some sleep, considering there hadn’t been any ghost attacks.

It had been three weeks.

Three weeks of numbness. Three weeks of anger. Three weeks of tears. Three weeks of being an emotional mess, swinging between feel nothing (dead inside) and feeling too much.

Three weeks of that unfinished conversation repeating itself whenever he closed his eyes, always ending the same way.

Maddie pushed the warm mug toward him and pulled his untouched one away. He stared at it dully for a moment before slowly curling his fingers around it in acceptance. The patterns of steam in the air were mesmerizing. “This is incredibly hard for all of us, honey,” his mother said. “You should consider talking to someone like Jack and I do. Jazz would have wanted that.”

You don’t know what she wanted. He couldn’t bring himself to voice those words, though; there was no reason for such venom. Had a ghost taken Jazz from them, no one in their family would have hesitated. They would have been able to spring into action and take down the ghost, stopping it from doing this to anyone else even if they weren’t in time to save Jazz.

But it hadn’t been a ghost.

It had been an ordinary human. Driving. Drowsy, maybe, or drunk or texting. Danny didn’t know for sure. All he did know was that the man had run onto the sidewalk and hadn’t been able to stop fast enough. He’d hit Jazz and a few other pedestrians. He’d died from his injuries after a few days in the hospital; the others had, as far as Danny knew, recovered.

Jazz hadn’t even made it to the hospital.

“This isn’t right,” Danny whispered. “Jazz has too much left to do.”

Maddie found his hand and squeezed it. “I know it hurts, sweetie. Your heart is aching with her absence. But she’s gone, and you have to accept that. We can’t change it.”

Her words made him remember the conversation he’d had with Vlad years ago. “You were always good at changing things, Daniel, but you never quite got the hang of accepting them.”

But did he have to accept this? Jazz’s death had been abrupt, senseless, and had come well before it should have. She was the definition of someone with unfinished business in this realm. Didn’t that mean there was a chance that she was out there somewhere? Lost in the Ghost Zone, trying to recollect her memories of her past self or trying to muster up the energy to move through the Ghost Zone, find their portal, and break through?

Danny let out a slow breath. “She might not be gone gone.” He tore his eyes away from the mug and looked at Maddie. “She might be out there. In the Ghost Zone. Mom, I might be able to find her.”

Maddie’s smile was small. Sympathetic. Saddened. “Jazz wouldn’t have wanted to come back as a ghost, sweetie.”

“That’s not necessarily a choice! And if she’s out there—”

“Even if something is out there that resembles her, Danny, it wouldn’t be her. You know that.”

“You’re wrong,” he insisted. “You know as well as I do that some of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone are people and animals who had once lived in our realm. They aren’t all just sentient ectoplasmic forms or whatever your latest term for it is. And the ones who aren’t, the ones who were once alive— There’s more of the people they once were in them than you think. Death doesn’t change everything. Jazz would still be Jazz, not just a ghost that looks like her.”

Maddie sighed. “I know it’s a comforting notion, Danny, but you can’t delude yourself with such falsehood.”

“It’s not—”

“Ghosts aren’t alive!” Maddie snapped. Danny blinked, not expecting her anger, and she took a few breaths before saying, “It’s dangerous to hope like that, Danny. You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment, and you know better.”

Danny swallowed. “I know more than you do. I know more than you think.”

Jazz had always wanted him to tell them.

“Danny—”

“Do you remember that accident I had in the lab when I was a kid? The one that sparked the portal? When you wanted me to go to the hospital but I insisted I was fine and Dad was so excited about the portal working that you didn’t push the point?”

Maddie’s lips thinned but she nodded.

“More happened then than I ever told you. I…. I don’t know how it works, exactly. Jazz always understood it better than I did. But my DNA…. Something changed. I think it was infused with ectoplasm.”

There was a frown on her face now, but at least she wasn’t interrupting him. He was surprised she’d let him get this far.

“The thing is….” Danny could still see the steam rising from the mug. He looked down at it and channelled some of his ice powers into his hands. The mug cooled, and the liquid within froze solid as ice painted the outside. He didn’t look up, even though Maddie’s gasp meant she’d seen it as he’d intended. “Everything changed then, Mom. I was just fourteen. I’d been in an accident that probably should have killed me—it was worse than I ever admitted—and…. I came out of it alive and with ghost powers. Which sounds crazy, like something that should be in a cartoon or comic books or something, but it’s not. It happened.” He glanced up and met wide violet eyes. “I can turn into a ghost.”

Silence.

“I’m Danny Phantom, Mom.”

Heartbeats passed.

Maddie let out a slow breath.

Danny waited.

Finally, a quiet, heart-wrenching, “Jazz knew?”

Not what he’d expected, but Danny treated the question as the lifesaver it was. “Not at first,” he admitted, “but she figured it out, and then she helped me. Sam and Tucker knew from the start. And Vlad….” He hesitated. “Vlad knows, too. Since that reunion you dragged us to. He, um, hadn’t entirely given up ghost hunting like you and Dad thought.” That was the safest way to put that. Let Vlad explain it for himself. “But my point is, Mom, I can go into the Ghost Zone and look for Jazz. I’ve been in there before. A lot. And I’ve got friends in there who can help me. We can find her.”

Maddie took a shuddering breath. “Please don’t.”

“I—what?”

The tears that had been gathering in Maddie’s eyes began slow tracks down her cheeks, disturbed as she’d tried to blink them away. “I…. I don’t want to think that she’s a ghost.”

A lump that had nothing to do with grief and everything to do with an old terror filled Danny’s throat. He managed to choke out, “B-but…ghosts aren’t evil, mindless beings. That’s my point. I’m still your son, even though I’m a ghost, too.”

Maddie closed her eyes. “I know. And I….” This time, she was the one having trouble finding the right words. “I still love you, Danny, and so will your father. I don’t have to understand this to know that. But that’s different than what happened to Jazz.”

Relief flooded him, and he found himself smiling as he argued his point. “No, it’s not.” He almost felt like laughing. Jazz was right; he should have done this years ago. He’d have to tell her the good news. “I can go find her, and—”

“Jazz is gone, Danny,” Maddie repeated. “You can’t find her. There isn’t anything here—or in the Ghost Zone—for you to find.”

“But—”

“No. Please, just let your sister rest in peace. For all our sakes.”

Maddie stood and went down to the lab, presumably to find Jack. Danny just stared after her, dumbstruck. He’d thought…. He’d thought she’d be happy, knowing her daughter might not be lost forever.

He headed into the Ghost Zone the next morning anyway, determined to find Jazz.

Part II or see more fics

[hamilton-one-shots]

1, 9, 17, 31, 43, 62, 74, 110, 111, 113, 118, 124, 141, 142, 143, 157 Jamilams were john js secretly adopted by the laurens family and they knew his parents who had died when he was very young, he is also magical and stuff but he doesnt like to show it off and he had known for a while but he had to have special permission to tell anyone so he hadn't told thomas and alex but they find out and get upset about it.

(1: “Give me a chance.” 9: “I can’t believe you!” 17: “Are you upset with me?” 31: “I fucked up.” 43: “You’re special to me.” 62: “I want to protect you.” 74: “Of course I remembered!” 110: “You did what?!” 111: “You have… Superpowers?” 113: “Where did all these puppies come from?” 118: “Are you mad at me?” 124: “Take that back!” 141: “Did you hear that?” 142: “It’s just your imagination.” 143: “Just how stupid do you think I am?” 157: “I read your diary.”)

“Please, Henry. He has nobody else. We’re the only chance he has. Nobody else will know about his powers. Imagine how confused or scared he’ll be..” Eleanor looked down at the baby in her arms, watching as he reached up for her.

“I’m too busy to deal with a kid right now. He’ll be too much trouble.”

“I’ll take care of him. You don’t have to do anything, I promise. I’ll take care of him..”

Henry sighed. His wife was too stubborn. “Fine. As long as I don’t have to deal with him, fine.”

Eleanor smiled and went out into the hall, calling the social workers back in and making the adoption final.

As promised, it was her who raised John since he was a kid, having no trouble, even when his powers began to manifest.

A four year old John looked over at the teddy bears for sale and smiled, concentrating and making one float towards him. He giggled as it reached him and hugged it, trying to hide it from his mom as she came back to the cart.

“Johnny? What are you hiding there?”

He giggled and turned it invisible.

“Johnny, show mommy what you have or no ice cream after this.”

John pouted and showed her the teddy bear. “Sowwy…”

She took the bear and kissed his forehead. “You’re not in trouble. Your powers are special, but that doesn’t mean you can use them to get what you want, okay?”

“Okay..”

Eleanor sighed and gave him back the teddy bear. “Just this once, okay? I’ll buy it for you.”

John gasped and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, mama!”

She smiled. John really was a good kid when he wanted to be. But with those powers of his, he could be difficult.

“Come on, Johnny. You have to go to school. You can learn fun things and make friends.”

All twenty of five year old John’s clones crossed their arms, the real one hiding somewhere among them. “No school! I want to stay with mommy and my future sister.”

Eleanor sighed and rubbed her belly. These last few months hadn’t been easy and now, with John starting kindergarten, they would only get that much more difficult. “Please, baby? You’ll learn a lot of things and it’ll make you a better brother.”

“… Really?..”

She smiled. “Yeah. Everyone wants a smart big brother.”

The clones all joined back into one, who went forward and hugged his mom’s legs. “I’ll go to school..”

“Good boy.”

John never meant harm with his powers. He always used them for fun or to get himself out of trouble, but never to hurt another human being. He didn’t understand why nobody else had the same powers as him, but he accepted it as truth and promised his mom that he’d never show them off to strangers. He kept that promise for years and planned on continuing to keep that promise. He planned on keeping every promise he made to his mom when she passed.

“Mama?..” John called timidly as he walked into his mother’s hospital room. He was only eight, his three year old sister waiting with his father. He told him that his mother needed to see him, that maybe he could use his powers for something useful.

“I’m here, baby.. Thank you for coming to see me.” She smiled weakly.

John frowned and went up to her bed, his eyes tearing up. He’d never seen his mother so hurt…

“Don’t cry, Jacky.” She opened her arms and helped him up onto her bed.

“You’re hurt.. I’m going to help.” His hands glowed white as he got ready to heal her, but she took his hands, shaking her head.

“No, John. It’s my time. I’m going to go now.”

“But you can’t… Who’s going to take care of the babies?” That’s how she got so badly hurt, after all. Giving birth to John’s youngest siblings, triplets.

“You are. I’ve taught you everything you needed to know. They’re going to be good babies, just like you were. Everything’s going to be okay now, understand?”

“No..” John began crying, holding onto his mom as tears streamed down his face. “Please, mama… Let me heal you…”

“It’s too late for me, baby. It has been since you got here.. It’s not your fault, okay?”

John nodded, though he wished that she would at least let him try.

“I’m going to go now, okay?.. I’ll see you on the other side.” She kissed the top of his head. “I love you.”

“I love you too..” John choked out, sobbing as her heart slowed to a stop.

Doctors and nurses came into the room, one of them getting John away and taking him out to his dad.

Henry frowned and grabbed John’s shoulder harshly, pulling him close to talk to him where none of the staff could hear. “Those stupid powers and you couldn’t even save your mother? I knew it was a waste adopting you.”

“W-What?..”

“You don’t really think a freak like you came from normal people like us, did you?”

“But… I… Momma?..”

“Not your mom. Your parents were experimented on like the freaks that they were. Like the freak that you are.”

John whimpered as his grip on his shoulder tightened.

“You aren’t going to act like that anymore. You will act normal, unless you want to see your parents sooner.”

What choice did he have? John learned to suppress his powers around people, around everyone, even around his siblings. He didn’t use magic near them, he raised them on his own with hard work. His father didn’t do much for them, they reminded to much of his wife, as he harshly reminded John whenever he asked for help. It was exhausting and stressful and John couldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for his hideaway.

An unfortunate consequence of his mother’s death was having to leave South Carolina and move to a new, bigger house in New York. It sucked, it always sucked being the new guy, but John did find one upside to it. His closet had a small door hidden away in the corner. It led to the area above the garage, but that’s not what he used it for. He made a space all his own, leaving the real world outside and the magic world inside. He escaped every time he needed a break, time stopping in the real world as he spent hours in his room. It kept him sane.

But he still wished he could tell. He wished he could tell the friends that he made when he moved to New York. He wished he could tell the friends he left back in South Carolina. He wished he could tell his siblings.

And, god, he wished he could tell his loves.

Alexander and Thomas. Maybe it was strange that he had two boyfriends, but it was perfect for him. Perfect for them. They had all met freshman year and were dating for three years since. John was in love with both of them and they were both in love with him as well as each other They were happy together. John just wished he could let them into his magical life.

Of course, three years with them felt magical enough. They even loved his siblings. Naturally, they started the day of their third anniversary, when Henry Sr was coincidentally away for a week, by playing a game of hide and seek with his siblings.

It… It started out normal. The problem was that children were far too curious and far too creative.

John was hiding under his bed when it happened. He was silent, but something still managed to find him, licking his face. “What the..?” He used his phone flashlight and saw the beagle that was in his face. “Where did you some from?..”

But it wasn’t just him. He heard other voices in the house reacting to the same thing.

“Woah, where did all these puppies come from?!”

“There’s so many of them!”

“They’re so cute!”

John moved out from his hiding space, the puppy at his feet, and watched as at least ten puppies attracted his siblings and boyfriends. And the kicker? James was in his closet and Henry Jr was nowhere to be found. “James. Come here.”

James shyly stepped towards him. “I read your diary and opened your little door.”

“Diary?..”

James nodded and gave him his spellbook. “I couldn’t understand your secret code. Are you upset with me?”

John shook his head and flipped through the pages, James unconvinced because of the look on his older brother’s face.

“Are you mad at me, then?”

“No, it’s fine. How much did you read?”

James took the book and showed him which spells he read. Magic realm available to normals and summoning puppies. The two first two things that caught the attention of a couple of ten year old boys.

“And Henry is in that door?..”

“Yeah.”

John went in and brought him out. Of course, there was another batch of puppies around him. “Alright guys, fun’s over. Say goodbye to the puppies. You know dad wouldn’t like this.”

They all pouted, but knew John was right, Alexander and Thomas just looking at him dumbfounded.

“What are you going to do with all of them, hon?” Thomas asked.

“Just trust me. Nothing bad.” He pushed everyone out of his room and made sure three times that all of the puppies were in his room before making them disappear. Once they were gone, he opened his door again and let his siblings back in, erasing their memory of what had happened before bringing his boyfriends in.

“Jack, we need an explanation.”

John tried his best to ignore them and cast the spell. It hurt, but it was necessary.

The rest of the day went smoothly, but the guilt ate at John the entire time.

The next day, they hung out again, staying at Thomas’s house since his parents were gone. Neither of them looked happy when John arrived.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just how stupid do you think we are?” Alexander snapped.

John frowned and took a step back, shocked. “What?”

“You heard me! You have to think we’re idiots to think your little hypnosis trick worked on us. We’re not kids!”

John furrowed his eyebrows, his expression shifting from confusion to shock seconds later. “You remember?..”

“Of course we remember.” Thomas frowned. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“You’re not supposed to..” John looked down at his hands, then back up at them.

“Why not? What’s going on, babe?”

John shook his head. This couldn’t be happening. His hands glowed white and he wiped their memories again. Or, at least, he attempted to. Both of them seemed to be disoriented, but their memories were definitely intact.

“Why do your hands glow like that?!” Thomas asked. “It happened yesterday, too. We forgot it for a bit, but we both remembered it this morning.”

“It’s just your imagination.”

“Bullshit.” Alexander grabbed John’s wrist and showed him his glowing hands. “This is our imaginations?”

John took a deep breath. Okay. This was no time to panic. This was just time… for the truth. “Okay… The truth is… I’m magic.”

Thomas furrowed his eyebrows. “You have… Superpowers?..”

“No, not super. Magic. Those puppies that appeared yesterday? Magic. That memory lapse you guys had? Magic.”

“Oh,” Alexander began sarcastically, “did you hear that, Thomas? All that craziness can be explained with magic. We’re dating freaking Harry Potter.”

“Alex-”

“I can’t believe you! Of all the lies you could’ve chosen, magic is where you go to?!”

John frowned. “It’s not a lie. I know magic, real magic. I can show you, just give me a chance..”

Alexander opened his mouth to yell, stopping as he felt Thomas’s hand weighing down on his shoulder. He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

John smiled weakly and his hands glowed for a second, a rabbit manifesting in the white glow. “Tacky, I know. Bunny trick..”

Thomas hesitantly stepped forward and pet the rabbit, shocked to feel its warmth, almost as if he hadn’t been expecting it to be alive. “Wow…”

Alexander joined him, petting the rabbit between the ears. “I fucked up… I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that…”

“No, it’s my fault. You guys are special to me… I wanted to protect you..”

“From what?” Thomas asked, leading John to sit with him and Alexander on the couch.

“Magic is tempting, especially for those who grow up without it. I didn’t want to see you guys corrupted by the power it could bring or ruin our relationship by not doing anything for you guys.” John sat with his Alexander on his left, hand on his leg, and Thomas on his right, arm around his shoulders.

“I promise we won’t ask for a thing, sugar. You’re still our Johnny, the exact same as before.” Thomas pressed a sweet kiss to John’s forehead.

Alexander nodded. “So… Can I ask what you did to us yesterday?..”

John smiled a bit. Nobody ever liked this detail. “I, uh… I tried to erase your memories…”

“You did what?!” Alexander gasped, clutching his head.  

“Just the part with the puppies! I didn’t erase anything important.”

“Easy, kitten. You know Johnny wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Alexander glared lightly at Thomas. “You know I hate that nickname…”

Thomas shrugged. “I don’t know why. You’re feisty like a little kitten. And you’re adorable like one, too.”

“Take that back!” Alexander pouted, proving his point.

“Just sit down, kitten. Come on. Johnny needs both of his boys right now, don’t you?”

John nodded and held his arms open for Alexander. “Come here.”

Alexander tutted, but sat down, leaning against John.

“You guys have to swear that you’ll never tell anyone about this. I’m not even supposed to tell you. But, for some reason, I can’t erase your minds.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Me neither. It was just weird to learn about.”

“Good. I love you guys so much.” He kissed both of their cheeks as they returned the sentiment. As they laid there, John had a thought. Maybe he couldn’t erase their memories simply because he didn’t want to. Deep down, he didn’t want them to forget. He needed to tell someone and they were perfect. Or, maybe, someone was keeping him from erasing their memories. Someone who loved him and who knew that he needed to tell someone else, like them. Whatever the reason was, John didn’t care. He was happy. His boys were happy, even knowing what he was. That was all that mattered.

[junker-town]

‘Little Giants’ deserved a sequel. So we made one

Warner Brothers production / Illustration by Tyson Whiting

What would a sequel to the 1994 “Little Giants” movie have looked like? SB Nation’s Sam Eggleston thinks he knows.

Let’s rewind our VHS tapes to October 1995, when Little Giants first hit the big screen. It wasn’t particularly well-reviewed, nor was it a blockbuster hit. What it was, and what it became, was a cult classic.

In today’s entertainment climate, that would have nearly guaranteed a sequel would be born from the $19.3M it made at the box office ($32.5M in today’s dollars).

But what would the sequel be?

At the end of the first film, the Little Giants win their head-to-head single game and become the lone pee-wee team in Urbania, Ohio, with players from both teams comprising the roster and former rival coaches Kevin and Danny O’Shea splitting duties at the helm of the program. The town’s water tower is changed to reflect the contributions of both O’Shea brothers.

We fade to black and the credits begin to roll.

In the sequel, dubbed Little Giants Go For 2, we open up with the Giants having just defeated another opponent from a nearby town. The team, in a show of sportsmanship, is shaking hands with the other team at the 50-yard line, the scoreboard lit up in the background to show a 20-point win.

“Why do you have to be such a Neanderthal all the time?”

Kevin and Danny are cheering with the kids in the locker room afterward, well-placed endorsement items like Gatorade and Doritos here and there.

”We’re going to the state playoffs and our first game is a week from today,” Kevin says. “There are three games ahead of us before the state championship game, and we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re going to have to lay some wood and crack some heads if we’re going to get through Port Clinton in the first round.”

”And we’re going to have to have fun, too,” Danny pipes in. Kevin rolls his eyes. Right then, the commissioner of the pee-wee league comes into the locker room, holding the regional trophy the team just won. The kids cheer and rush the poor man, who is taken to the ground when Marcus trips and tumbles into him. The trophy flies into the air and gasps abound until Hot Hands Hanon leaps up and snags it.

”Spike thinks that was a great catch,” says the former villain as he takes the trophy. He claps Hanon on the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.

”Ugh,” Becky O’Shea says from behind Spike. “Why do you have to be such a Neanderthal all the time?”

Spike scrunches up his face, clearly trying to avoid an outburst.

”Spike … is … not … A NEANDERTHAL!” he screams out. “Besides, Spike would rather be that than a stupid girl!”

”This stupid girl has kicked your butt before and can do it again!”

Junior Floyd steps between them.

”Stop it!” he says. “We just won a game because the two of you are the best football players in Ohio. We’re better when we’re a team and not trying to fight each other.”

Becky glares at Spike for a moment and then puts her hand out for a shake.

”Fine,” she says. “I’m sorry for calling you a Neanderthal.”

Spike stares at her hand for a moment and then turns and walks away without a word.

Warner Brothers production / Illustration by Tyson Whiting

We return to Urbania where we see Danny working at the service station. He is talking to the town’s mayor as he pumps gas. The discussion is about the upcoming game against Port Clinton, a game the mayor has heard the Little Giants will probably win hands down.

As the mayor pulls away, another car comes into the station lot, the bell ringing as it pulls up to the pumps. It’s Danny’s love interest, Patty. She is all smiles as she gets out of the car, a lunchbox in her hand.

”You forgot this,” she said as Danny approaches.

”Did I?” he teases. “Maybe I just left it so I’d get to see you a little extra today.”

The two are about to share a kiss when a full-size Hummer H1 comes roaring into the station, surprising them. The Hummer is a gaudy green and gold with a hood ornament in the shape of a wedge of cheese.

Danny steps up to the tinted driver’s window, which rolls down slowly. Inside is a man wearing Tommy Hilfiger with a pair of Oakley sunglasses.

”You O’Shea?” the man asks, chewing a wad of gum. Next to him in the passenger’s seat is basically a miniature clone of him.

”I am,” Danny responds, looking more than a bit confused. “And you are?”

”Freddy Hayes,” he says, cracking a jerk-type smile. “Coach Freddy Hayes.”

Danny looks at the boy in the passenger’s seat. He, too, is wearing Oakleys and chewing gum.

”That’s great,” Danny says, polite as always. “Any relation to Woody?”

”Yeah,” the guy says. “Well, probably. Like distant cousins on my dad’s side. Maybe.”

Danny glances back at Patty, who just shrugs. The question clearly irritates Hayes, who reaches out and pokes Danny in the chest with his index finger.

”I know you’re the coach of those stupid Little Giants,” he says, scoffing. “Well, I coach the Packers over at Port Clinton. And you know what? I’m going to make sure you and your brother get the beating you deserve.

”Boo-yah!”

Without giving Danny a chance to respond, Hayes slams on the gas and tears out into the street, forcing a car to swerve to avoid hitting him. Tires squeal as the big Hummer tears away.

”What the hell was that?” Danny wonders aloud.

There is commotion inside O’Shea Chevrolet.

”Freddy Hayes?!?” Kevin O’Shea yells from inside the dealership. The scene jumps inside as Danny nods his head.

”Yeah. Do you know him?”

”Know him?” Kevin repeats, pacing around his office. “You could say that. The year I won the Heisman, I pretty much punched the ticket with four touchdowns in the Alamo Bowl. On the last play of the game, we were down by four, and Coach called a wheel route off the play-action. As I turn up field, our quarterback Beau Rondeau hit me with a beaut of a pass. I secure the ball, start sprinting down the sideline and here comes the defense’s best player, Freddy Hayes.

”Well, Freight Train Freddy makes the mistake of going for my knees. As soon as I saw his shoulder drop, I jumped and hurdled right over him.” Kevin mimes the move energetically.

Danny’s eyes grow wide.

”I remember that,” he says. “He flew right off the field and slammed into those poor cheerleaders. And you scored, untouched.”

”And they replayed it on SportsCenter over and over,” Kevin says, a smile on his face. “Dan Patrick must have played that clip 10 times in a row.”

The O’Shea brothers look at each other and in perfect sync quote Patrick.

”The WHIFFFFFFF!”

Danny sits down in the chair across from Kevin’s desk. “So what the heck does he want with you now?”

Kevin stands up, rotating the wedding ring on his finger as he looks out the window into the car lot.

”I think it’s obvious,” he says. “Don’t you?”

Danny remains silent.

”He wants revenge, Danny. He wants to embarrass us like we embarrassed him.”

”Wait — ‘we’ didn’t embarrass anyone. You did!”

Kevin chuckles as he walks up to his little brother. He pats him on the shoulder.

”There’s no ‘you’ in team, Danny. He wants all the Little Giants to suffer.”

The Little Giants are all sitting in an old garage, pizza and soda and other goodies scattered around. Junior Floyd is sitting on a beat-up couch with Becky “Icebox” O’Shea. They are holding hands. Nearby, there are a few of the old Cowboys players chatting with Rudy Zolteck and the rest of the Little Giants are scattered around.

Spike is lifting weights while little Jake Berman watches in amazement. “His arms are the size of my head!” Berman announces before wiping his nose.

”That’s because Spike never misses his weight training,” Spike says. “That’s because Spike knows the value of a good diet and a strong workout.”

Zolteck turns to look at Spike. He’s holding a bag of Reese’s Pieces.

”Do you like seafood?” He asks Spike.

”Yeah, it’s a great source of protein,” Spike says.

”Here’s some see food for you!” Zolteck says, opening his mouth to reveal the chewed up and colorful oranges and yellows mixed with peanut butter brown in his mouth.

”Ugh!” Spike says, dropping the weights to the ground with a thud. “Why do they even let you in here?”

Zolteck shrugs his shoulders and throws more candy into his mouth. At the same time, the door to the garage opens and Kevin and Danny enter.

”All right, take a seat and shut your mouths,” Kevin says as he walks up to a television and VCR. He pops a tape in and the static on the screen turns to a football game.

”Whoa,” says Junior. “Those guys are big.”

”Really, really big,” says Tad Simpson.

”Bigger than Spike,” Johnny Vennaro says.

Spike growls as he stares at the television under a furrowed brow.

The scene on the film shows play after play of a team wearing green and gold crushing their opponents. Offensive lines look like wet paper bags and defenders tear through them, sacking the quarterback and picking up tackles for losses. Interceptions abound. On offense, they cruise through their opponents like they are running past tackling dummies.

”Who are they?” Vennaro asks, his eyes wide with fear.

”That, kids, is the team from Port Clinton,” Kevin says. “The Packers.”

Three Little Giants players are walking down the driveway, away from the garage.

”Where are you going?” Danny calls out after them.

”To update my life insurance!” Zolteck answers over his shoulder.

”Yeah, I need to call my grammy,” Tad says.

”I’m just getting the heck out of here!” Berman cries out, speeding up his walk.

Danny steps out of the garage and jogs after them. He catches them before they are out of the driveway.

”C’mon, guys,” he says. “They’re just pee-wee football players. Just like you.”

”Like us?’ Zolteck says in disbelief. “They’re all bigger than anyone on our team! I think some of them had beards! And tattoos!”

“They’re all bigger than anyone on our team! I think some of them had beards! And tattoos!”

Danny corrals the boys and turns them back towards the garage. The boys look reluctant, but they fall into step and allow themselves to be escorted back inside where the other players are waiting.

Kevin is at a chalkboard with Nubie standing next to him, his playbook in hand.

”We ready?” Kevin asks, looking slightly annoyed.

Danny nods as the three absconding players find places to sit next to their teammates.

Kevin begins drawing on the chalkboard, glancing down at Nubie’s playbook.

”The best way to defeat size,” he says as the Xs and Os develop on the slate, “is with speed.”

Warner Brothers production / Illustration by Tyson Whiting

It’s game day, and we get a view of a beautiful football field surrounded on both sides by bleachers. Fans are packed into them, each side waving signs and wearing the colors of their team.

As the Little Giants come onto the field and tear through a paper sign, one side of the stadium erupts in cheers.

”Nice turnout,” says Danny to Kevin as they come out behind their team.

”People can’t resist a good football game, Danny,” Kevin says. “Let’s give them a game to remember.”

On the other side of the field, a golf cart pulling a trailer drives up in front of the entrance of the home team. On the trailer is a brick wall with “Packers” spray painted on it in green and gold. All the Little Giants are standing there, eyes locked on the strange display across the field.

Suddenly, the wall shakes. And then again. And again. And again. And then it topples and crumbles to the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust into the air. Fans on the Little Giants’ side of the field gasp as figures begin to emerge from the dust.

A trio of Packers players, including the younger Hayes, steps into view. They are holding sledgehammers. Without a word, Hayes lifts his hammer and points it straight at the Little Giants. He holds it there for a few moments before letting it drop onto the green grass turf.

”Packers! Packers! Packers! Packers!” the crowd on that side of the field begins to chant. The players come marching over the rubble of the fallen bricks, three abreast, and flow onto the field.

Fans in the Little Giants’ stands look at one another nervously and remain silent.

Danny and Kevin glance back at the stunned crowd, then to their players, and then call them to the sidelines.

”Blood and guts. If they hit us hard enough, they’ll get to see both.”

”We can’t let their size intimidate us,” Danny says. “You’ve beaten teams with bigger players than you before. And with some of these plays that Nubie has designed, you’re going to have the element of surprise.”

”Yeah, I’d be surprised if we don’t die during the kickoff,” groans Tommy Moore.

Danny frowns and then gestures onto the field.

”Get out there and show them what you’re made of,” he says.

”Blood and guts,” Zolteck says. “If they hit us hard enough, they’ll get to see both.”

The Little Giants trudge onto the field, and things instantly start to go bad. The Packers take the opening kickoff all the way back for a touchdown, and then kick an onside and recover it.

Kevin looks across the field to where Freddy Hayes is standing with his arms crossed, his attention locked on the O’Shea brothers and not at all on the game. Kevin looks away just in time to see a deep pass from the younger Hayes, who is the Packers quarterback, to a receiver who easily leaps over Hot Hands to make the catch and jaunt into the end zone after shedding a tackle. The scoreboard reads 14-0 with just 30 seconds off the clock.

The Little Giants recover the ensuing onside kick and Junior jogs onto the field with Icebox and Spike already waiting in the huddle.

”Power-I 32 Fullback Lead,” he says. “On two.”

The team lines up with Icebox at fullback and Spike at tailback. As Junior calls “Down!” all the Giants linemen go into three-point stances.

”Set!” Junior barks, beginning his cadence. “Hit!”

The entire Packers defensive line fires forward, slamming into the Little Giants. Players fly backwards, slamming into the ground. The center, one of the former Cowboys, is thrown into Junior, who stumbles backwards into Icebox and the duo then crash into Spike, knocking them all to the ground.

Yellow flags fly all over the field and the referee turns towards the pressbox and signals an offsides on the Packers.

”That’s all you’re going to call?” Kevin yells out. “How about unnecessary roughness? That was nothing but a bunch of cheap shots!”

The referee ignores the O’Shea brothers as the Little Giants once again approach the line of scrimmage.

Zolteck puts his hand down in his three-point and looks across the line at the massive defensive tackle he is tasked with blocking.

”Can we just agree that football is a game about sportsmanship and caring for your fellow player?” he asks.

”Can we just agree that football is a game about sportsmanship and caring for your fellow player?”

”I’m going to knock you into next week, and then I’m going to sack your quarterback,” the Packers defender growls. “And then I’m going to steal all your candy.”

As the ball is snapped, Zolteck is run over. Junior turns to hand the ball to Spike, but Becky’s lead block is blown up and she is knocked aside. Spike and Junior are tackled at the same time by the Packer.

”Spike wants to know where you learned to block!” Spike screams at Becky as they all get off the ground.

”The same place you learned to use pronouns!” Icebox barks back.

The chaos continues and we get towards the end of the second quarter and the Giants are forced to punt and then go on defense. There, on the first play, Spike misses a tackle and inadvertently trips Becky in the process. The two get facemask-to-facemask and growl at each other as the horn sounds to end the first half.

As the Little Giants tramp into the locker room, the scoreboard behind them reads 24-3.

As Danny comes in, the scene is one of battered and bruised players. Zolteck is laying under a table, a bag of ice on his face. Spike is taping up bloody knuckles. Junior is helping Marcus fix a pair of broken shoulderpads.

”Things are looking tough out there,” Danny says. “Our backs are against the wall. But we’ve got two quarters left, and that’s a lot of football.”

”That’s a lot of football,” Berman repeats, but in a groan of despair.

Kevin is making his way towards the locker room when Coach Hayes steps out in front of him.

”There’s Mr. Heisman,” Hayes says, pointing. “Oh, man, this is so exciting! Can I get your autograph.”

”Hello, Freddy,” Kevin says, tensing up. “What do you want?”

Hayes takes off his Oakley sunglasses and walks right up to Kevin.

”What do I want?” Hayes says, chewing his gum harder and harder with each passing second. “Well, for starters, I want you to admit that you’re not worthy of the Heisman Trophy.”

”For starters …,” Kevin repeats, slowly.

”That’s right,” Hayes snarls. “Because when you’re done with that, I want you to dress in a clown costume and go out to midfield and do a funny dance.”

Kevin looks confused. He opens his mouth to say something, then changes his mind and closes it again. He can’t help himself but to open his mouth again, a question clearly at the tip of his tongue. He sighs and closes his mouth again.

”You know, because you’re a clown,” Hayes says, a sneer forming across his lips.

”Oddly enough, I did get what you were trying to say,” Kevin says. “Listen, I’ve got a team to coach, so I’m going to go do that.”

Hayes throws his head back and laughs.

”A team?” he says. “You don’t have a team. I heard all about it. Your stupid little brother beat you and you lost your team. If it weren’t for that loser, you wouldn’t even be coaching right now.”

Kevin nods his head, clearly agitated. He looks down the hall and through a crack in the door he can see his brother passionately trying to rally the troops.

”You know what? You’re right,” Kevin says. He steps up right into Hayes. “I wouldn’t be a coach if it weren’t for my loser little brother. I wouldn’t even have a job right now if it weren’t for him.

”And I’ll tell you something else. Not only did my little brother beat me, he’s going to beat you, too. Get ready for one big WHIFFFFFF, Hayes.

”And you know what? You should probably stop with the excessive gum chewing. You’re not Mike Ditka.”

“You don’t have a team. I heard all about it. Your stupid little brother beat you and you lost your team. If it weren’t for that loser, you wouldn’t even be coaching right now.”

Kevin pushes past Hayes, who is practically stammering. Without looking back, Kevin steps into the locker room and looks at Becky and Spike, who’ve been snapping at each other all day. Danny quiets down, sensing his brother has something to say to the team.

”Becky, you’re my niece and I love you,” Kevin says. “And Spike, you’re probably the best football player I’ve ever seen at your age. You two are amazing at this sport. You’re the leaders of this team. But right now, you’re tearing it apart because you just can’t get past one little moment in one football game.

”Football is a game. It’s not something that should control your life. It’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be played with friends. My brother taught me that. Unless the two of you can get past that one play and that one game, you’re never going to be able to lead this team to victory.”

Icebox looks angry at first. She glances over and sees Spike, his knuckles bloody from trying so hard. She looks down at her leg and the scrape across her shin. She takes a deep breath and then stands up, offering her hand to Spike.

”You wanna win a football game?” she asks.

Spike looks at her for several long and silent moments. He smiles and grabs her hand.

”Let’s do this.”

A smug Coach Hayes stands across the field from the O’Shea brothers as his team lines up for the kickoff to open the second half. With a 24-3 lead, he’s confident his team is on their way to a rout.

Kevin is glaring back at first, and then hears Danny clapping and cheering in support of the Little Giants as they trot onto the field for the return. Kevin looks at his brother, out at the kids, and then starts clapping too.

”Let’s play some football, Giants!” he yells out.

Hot Hands lines up to receive the kick with Spike and Icebox ahead of him. The Packers boot the ball deep, nearly into the end zone, and Hot Hands makes the catch at the 2-yard line and sprints forward. A group of Packers break through the initial line of blocks and are sprinting toward the kick returner when suddenly Becky and Spike converge in front of him, shoulder to shoulder, and lead block right into the Packers. Bodies tumble away as the duo opens up a lane and Hot Hands leans into his sprint, pulling away from any would-be tacklers and into the open field for a long score to cut into the lead, 24-10.

The entire stadium erupts in cheers and jeers. The Little Giants rally around their teammate, celebrating the 98-yard touchdown.

”We need to get that ball back,” says Junior to Marcus. “Can you onside it?”

”I can barely kick it straight,” Marcus says.

The Little Giants look worried, but then Nubie steps into the group. “Actually,” he says, “kicking straight is exactly what we need.”

Warner Brothers production / Illustration by Tyson Whiting

We cut to the two teams lining up for the kickoff, with Coach Hayes livid on the sidelines. He’s yelling at his Packers players, accusing them of being soft.

”You better start playing like men, or you’re going to run tomorrow at practice from sunup until sundown!”

The Packers players look upset and begin to glare at the Little Giants across from them.

”Get your hands up and be ready to dive on that football!” Hayes screams out again. His own son is at the front of the pack of players, his hands ready and his eye fixed securely on the ball as Marcus begins his approach for the kick.

The ball fires off the tee like a bullet, straight at the young Hayes. His first instinct, to come forward expecting an onside dribbling across the open field, is the wrong one as the line drive hits him in the shoulder and bounces back towards the rushing Little Giants. Players from both teams dive for it and end up in a dogpile. The refs start pulling players off here and there until we get to the bottom — and Spike has it.

As the Little Giants go to the huddle, Coach Hayes is screaming at his son on the field. The Packers are looking at him as he throws a clipboard.

”Is that how I taught you to play football?” he screams. “Is that how you’re going to represent me on this field?”

Kevin and Danny are frowning on the opposite sideline.

”C’mon, man, it’s just a game!” Danny yells across at the other coach.

”Shut up, loser!” Hayes screams back. There are murmurs from the crowd.

”You better start playing like men, or you’re going to run tomorrow at practice from sunup until sundown!”

The Little Giants break the huddle and come up to the line of scrimmage in a shotgun formation with Spike and Becky as split backs. Junior stomps his foot on the ground and Johnny goes into motion and heads toward the trio in the backfield.

”Hit!”

The snap hits Junior in the hands and he spins around as Spike and Becky converge on him just as Johnny reaches them. The four players then burst apart, heading in different directions, all holding their arms as though they have the ball.

A Packers player hits Junior and brings him to the ground and another grabs Johnny around the hips and tackles him. Neither have the ball.

As Icebox scoots around the end, ball wrapped in her arms, a Packers linebacker meets her, gets hit and misses the tackle. She cuts in front of a defensive back, spins off another tackle and then is brought down 20 yards later.

Hayes reaches down and takes Becky’s hand, pulling her to her feet.

”Nice run,” the Packer says.

”Thanks. Plan on a few more coming,” she says and then jogs back to the huddle.

On the next play, the Little Giants move the ball within five yards of the goal before coming out in a Power-I formation.

”SHIFT!” Junior calls out and suddenly everyone seems to be in motion. Linemen break away and start jogging toward the sideline to their left, joined by Spike and Johnny. Hot Hands splits out to the right. The only players left in their original positions are the center, the quarterback, and the fullback. The Packers look utterly confused.

”Swinging gate! Swinging gate!” Coach Hayes begins screaming from the end of the coaches’ box. “Shift with them!”

Packers players begin scrambling and nearly all of them bolt towards the largest concentration of players near the sideline.

In the confusion, the Little Giants get set and Junior calls out.

”Hit!”

On the snap, Hot Hands races into the end zone, drawing his corner with him. The center drives forward, pushing a defensive lineman backward while Becky sprints ahead of Junior and plows into the linebacker. Junior jukes another linebacker and walks in for the score.

”Are you kidding me?” the Packers coach is screaming. “Are. You. Kidding. Me?!?!”

With the extra point sailing through the uprights, the Little Giants now trail the Packers, 24-17.

”But I want you to know that however this game ends, I’m proud of you Little Giants. And I hope you’ve been having fun.”

The game rages on through the remainder of the third quarter and into the fourth when the Packers are facing fourth-and-3 with just over two minutes remaining.

On the snap, Hayes turns and hands the ball to a running back, who sprints towards the right side tackle. Suddenly Icebox breaks through the line, filling the hole and coming in for the tackle. The Packers runner plants his foot in the ground and reverses field, but as he does, he’s met by Spike blitzing from the opposite side and is crushed with a huge hit.

As the referee signals a first down for the Little Giants, Becky helps Spike off the ground.

”Nice hit,” she says.

”Thanks for pushing him back towards Spike,” he responds.

From the sidelines, Kevin calls a timeout and gathers up the players.

”We’ve got to get down the field and score, and we have less than two minutes to do it,” he says. “That’s a lot to ask against a team like this.

”But I want you to know that however this game ends, I’m proud of you Little Giants. And I hope you’ve been having fun. I know Danny and I have.”

The team is then greeted by Nubie as he steps into the huddle. He looks around at the players and then opens up his playbook.

”It’s time,” he says, “for the Siege of Stirling Castle.”

The Little Giants are lined up on the field in a spread formation. Junior is in the shotgun with Johnny by his side. To his left out wide stands Hot Hands, while Icebox and Spike are out to his right.

”Down!” Junior calls out, and the offensive line drops their hands to the ground in unison. “Set!”

Junior stomps his foot and Johnny goes into motion to his right, towards the sidelines.

”Hit!”

Junior takes the snap and steps back, then looks to his left as Hot Hands slants towards the middle of the field. Suddenly Hayes bursts through the line on a blitz and Junior scrambles to escape. He is looking downfield for an open receiver when he sees Becky break toward the sidelines on an out route, and he fires the ball just as he’s hit by Hayes.

The throw looks to be off target and heads out of bounds, but Becky leaps for it anyway. She snags the ball in the air and before she lands, she flings it back onto the field to Spike, who had delayed his route so he would be at full speed behind her when she caught the ball.

The Packers players, stunned, are completely unprepared as he sprints past them, breaking away from the defense and into the end zone for the score.

Cheers erupt throughout both sides of the stands and the Little Giants are all celebrating. Both Junior and Becky run up to Spike.

”That was amazing!” Junior screams. “I can’t believe that worked!”

”Just like Nubie drew it up!” Becky says.

The trio turn and look at the scoreboard, which reads 24-23.

”Should we kick it and tie it, or go for two?” Danny asks, looking at his brother. Kevin is looking across the field at Coach Hayes, who is screaming at his players. Packers heads are hanging, and the verbal berating isn’t helping matters.

Kevin takes a deep breath and then looks at his brother.

”I think we go for the win,” he says. “It’s risky, but it’s football.”

The Little Giants line up in the Power-I as the Packers stack the line. Junior looks over the top of the center at Hayes, who is creeping up, his eyes locked on the quarterback.

”Icebox, right?” Hayes asks.

Junior just looks at him and smiles.

”Down. Set.”

The atmosphere is tense. Fans on both sides are standing. There is a silence hanging over everything.

”Hit!”

The center snaps the ball back, through Junior’s legs and directly to Spike, who charges forward. Junior and Becky run a fake dive to the right, drawing Hayes and another linebacker with them. By the time they realize it’s Spike with the ball, it’s too late as he leaps up and into the fray, stretching the ball out over the line for the score.

”AND IT’S GOOOOOOD! Giants win! Giants win!” The announcer’s voice echoes in the stadium but is immediately overtaken by the roar from the crowd. The Little Giants are celebrating when the younger Hayes walks up to them.

”That was one heck of a football game,” he says, shaking the hands of Junior, Icebox, and Spike. “I can’t wait for the rematch next season.”

”We’ll be there,” Becky says. “You can count on it.”

”AND IT’S GOOOOOOD! Giants win! Giants win!”

At midfield, Kevin and Freddy Hayes meet. Kevin holds out his hand.

”Nice game, Freddy,” he says.

Hayes looks at the outstretched hand and then back at Kevin.

”It’s time to forget the past,” Kevin says, looking down the field at Hayes’ son, “and start to think about the future.

”You’ve got a special boy there, and he’s a solid football player. Give him the love of the game, just like you and I had when we played. There are far more great moments than bad ones.”

Hayes watches his son shake hands with the Little Giants. He takes a deep breath, reaches up and pulls off his Oakleys, and then looks Kevin right in the eyes.

”You got lucky when you hurdled me,” he says.

Kevin smiles.

”I did.”

Hayes looks down the field again as the Packers begin to gather together in the end zone. The Little Giants are gathering with Danny on the opposite end of the field.

”Great game, Coach,” Hayes says, taking Kevin’s hand and shaking it. “See you next year.”

As Kevin approaches his team, some of the players rush over and grab him, dragging him next to Danny as the rest of the team surrounds them both. Smiles all around.

”This one was for you two,” Becky says, hugging her dad and then her uncle. “Thank you for being our coaches.”

As she steps back, Junior lifts his helmet in the air, followed by the rest of the players.

”Little Giants on three!” he yells.

Kevin and Danny look at one another and then shake hands as the players scream out the count down.

”One! Two! Three!

”LITTLE GIANTS!”

We fade to black, and the credits begin to roll.