Skip Navigation
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 15, 2023 22:04:58 GMT
Circe breathed a sigh of relief when Zack said he never ended up in the hospital for training. Then the mention of Luna caught both Mandrake and Lothar's attention while Circe looked at everyone confused before she asked "Luna? Who is Luna?"
"That's right you weren't even born yet when Lothar and I met Luna in Whitewater. Luna is a kind hearted Lekismon who heals those in need. We met her when Lothar was injured from a previous adventure and Kshin hadn't even evolved to rookie yet. Kshin had tried to sneak off to his former gang's hideout to look for a sentimental item that belonged to his mother which was a locket. When caught up to Kshin he was dealing with separation anxiety during this time and had come across Luna and her companion Dust. Dust volunteered to go with Kshin while he retrieved his mother's locket. Luna went back to the hotel with me to heal Lothar." Mandrake explained to the confused spiderling.
"I'm not certain that she hates him even though he can be a handful. No, Luna comes off as too kind hearted for that. However her bolting Zack to the bed is something I can believe given how stubborn your father can be." Mandrake said with a chuckle before he then said "Now that you mention it. I may have a less intense variation of that superhero disease seeing as when a spell from a FlameWizardmon had turned me into a human I had offered my self as a sacrifice to protect Lothar and Kshin not to mention a human named Hans and his Renamon partner. Lothar was temporarily blinded by an attack while Kshin was injured and unconscious and he hadn't been a rookie very long."
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 16, 2023 12:47:42 GMT
"I think in that specific case it's called being a parent but they're not especially far removed from one another. It's almost fascinating, from a zoological perspective, to watch my father's whole face and demeanor change the second he sees injustice in the world that he has any meaningful ability to correct. He's like a pointer dog who suddenly remembers where the pheasant went and his entire face and body language locks onto it. He can go from standing totally still in the middle of a conversation to a dead out sprint in ten seconds flat and two seconds after that he's vaulting a traffic railing to drive both of his feet into the shoulder blades of a thug." Marigold said, speaking half in bewilderment and half in admiration of her father. His utter lack of hesitation was at once terrifying and admirable from her perspective.
"Japan has a stalker problem and an assault problem. Not unique to it by any means but certainly more pronounced. Subway gropers, Bosozoku gangs acting a fool, even just teenage Yankii delinquents running around in face masks swinging baseball bats at each other over some adolescent spat or another. I don't relish having to break up teenage turf wars but I will be honest with myself and admit that my whole masked hero schtick is thrillingly effective on two gaggles of fourteen year olds who need to be told to go home and stop breaking things." Zack said with a shrug. He would obviously be way less violent with a Yankii thug than a Yakuza legbreaker but his masked persona was undoubtedly more effective on younger folks who spread rumors and urban legends more quickly than a bunch of hardened criminals running drugs and brothels in seedy parts of town.
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 16, 2023 20:57:13 GMT
"Yes, Marigold, Zack is indeed fascinating to watch seeing as you could be talking to him one minute before he spots an injustice and dashes off to attend to it. I wouldn't be surprised if that was what happened with that incident involving the DemiDevimon that harrassed Kshin and led to him eventually kicking over a port-a-potty. Let me guess, you were talking to Marigold before seeing Kshin getting bullied before dashing into action. Am I right?" Mandrake said with an amused grin as he sipped his coffee finishing it.
As Zack mentioned the crime situation it reminded Mandrake of his first trip to the Human World where he was held up at knife point in broad daylight. The disguised magician shook his head while softly chuckling at the memory. While the soft chuckle escaped Circe's attention as she had her face scrunched as if trying to figure out something. Then Mandrake nearly choked at hearing about the subway gropers which caught Lothar's attention. "Funny you should mention the crime element, Zack, especially the subway gropers. Let's just say such an awkward thing is the reason I rarely if ever take the subway." Mandrake said looking as awkward as he felt.
"When did this happen, Mandrake?" Lothar asked looking puzzled.
"Before our children were born and before we were reunited."
"I see."
Meanwhile Circe finally gathered her thoughts as she said "W-Why would kids go around swinging bats at each other?" Yes this was hard for a digimon who was as young as her to comprehend even though she had been through the cruelty of abandonment and abuse. Yet such cruelty towards those that were not related never made sense to her.
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 17, 2023 16:45:12 GMT
"Yankiis are a kind of Japanese street gang, Circe..." Zack rubbed his chin, trying to find a good way to describe them swirling about in his head. A way that made it make sense to someone as innocent as Circe often seemed to be. "Sometimes young adults at that age have something to be upset about, or lots of things to be upset about. Bullying, family issues, struggling in school. They find groups of kids who are struggling like them and it makes them feel supported and like they have people that understand them. Breaking the rules makes them feel like they have some control over the world around them. Because if the world is hurting them it make them feel better to know that they can hurt it back." Zack said, leaning back, tapping his fingertips along his opposite upper arm, lost in thought for a long moment and considering his own words. "It's why I don't actually FIGHT Yankiis. Most of the time the only thing they're doing is breaking things and fighting each other. It would only add another adult authority figure cracking down on them. Instead I try to talk to them, make them understand that hurting each other is only further reinforcing the cycles that are making them unhappy." He said, considering it both like a hero and like a teacher. Neither his job nor his intention were to punish people, only to protect them.
"Oh boy Mandrake are you NOT wrong. He was dead center in the middle of a sentence about ice cream before he stopped, spun on his feet and just took off at a run all in a single motion. He's like a machine." Marigold said, half in exasperation, half in admiration of her father.
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 17, 2023 20:32:35 GMT
Circe patiently listened before looking at Mandrake before he said "While such violent behavior doesn't always seem to make sense humans, like many digimon, are social creatures by nature and are often driven to form bonds with those with similar struggles. I can understand the need to have some control in ones' life but even in my youth I never thought of hurting others to achieve such control." Mandrake's tone sounded like the disguised magician was feeling some sympathy for the Yankii street gangs and then said "Zack, it seems you are seeing things from the eyes of the teacher you are studying to be or maybe that is your inner superhero talking. Talking to them shows that not all adult authority is out to get them and might encourage at least some of them to find perhaps other adults they can talk to."
Lothar and Circe both snorted with laughter at Marigold's words before Mandrake, who was wearing a smirk of his own, stated "A machine with surprisingly complex programming it seems, Marigold. It seems like we all attract trouble and don't have to even try to look for it." Mandrake thought back to not only some of his previous escapades but some of the enemies he seemed to make along the way with digimon like Ravemon, FlameWizardmon, Piximon, or Arukenimon which made him say "If I didn't know better I would say Lothar and I have unwittingly met a Rogue's Gallery of dangerous digimon without trying. None of them whom we are eager to bump into again anytime soon."
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 18, 2023 14:08:32 GMT
"Yea, I'm starting to gather a collection of digimon that want me dead too. On top of that I don't think super strong, evil digimon throwing their weight around appreciate getting quipped at and distracted by a human they couldn't find a way to squash RIGHT before my kid flies in and delivers two feet right to the jaw." Zack said, chuckling at that. If anything a lot of the digimon he had stopped had only become MORE intent on killing him because killing a normal human blundering out into their line of fire should have been a quick and easy fix.
"He is VERY good at somehow making them look at him instead of at me. Which is a problem for them when I come flying off the top rope and remind them that there is someone in this fight who can plant them face first in the dirt. All of them ridicule his superhero quipping and acrobat-ting around and yet it keep working and I think THAT gets their goat more than anything." Marigold said with a twinkle in her eyes as she remembered all the times that a dangerous digimon criminal had been caught off guard because they were paying attention to the human running his mouth and not the digimon insect who was speeding toward them from just out of their field of view. "I'd say I'm worried about turning into his sidekick but hey, if they want to keep paying attention to him instead of trying to fight me. Who the hell am I to tell them they're wrong?"
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 18, 2023 21:44:39 GMT
"They sure don't." Lothar said with a hearty chuckle before he said "Just as they don't appreciate being made to look like fools by a cheeky human before being brought down by the digimon accompanying him, you can also bet they don't like being made to look the fool by a clever magician casting illusions, hypnotizing a foe, or turning invisible before I rattle their teeth with my fist."
"Providing a distraction, however small, is definitely an effective combat strategy. Though you are all right it does get a powerful foes goat more than anything." Mandrake said and when Marigold mention being worried about turning into a sidekick and he said "If what I've observed from you and Zack is true it seems both of you have appeared to alternate acting as the sidekick depending on the situation. Lothar and I have done that ourselves." Mandrake took a deep breath before he continued "Especially those times I have been kidnapped seeing as I have been kidnapped more often than Lothar." Mandrake now looked visibly uncomfortable and picking up on that Circe snuggled into him. Then Mandrake sighed before he said "The only time so far Lothar has been kidnapped was by a Piximon and his Astamon minion. Piximon used his dark magic to hypnotize Lothar turning him into a mindless servant. Apparently he was looking to replenish his gang of warrior digimon and had Astamon kidnap Lothar. When I came to rescue him he learned I had the ability to digivolve into a warrior as well when I digivolved to Mistymon to fight the little pixie. However my experience with a close range weapon wasn't that much yet and he captured me after rendering me unconscious. Somehow we managed to get out of that mess in one piece but I was worried. Guess it was fortunate Lothar had the mental fortitude to break the spell put on him when Piximon moved to put the same spell on me."
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 19, 2023 14:19:32 GMT
"Kidnapped?" Zack whistled, his hands crossed over his chest and his head rolling back for a moment before he focused his attention back onto the couple. "That's one that you've got over on me so far. Though for how much longer we can't be sure. All I can say is that anyone who kidnaps a member of this little trio of ours must be INCREDIBLY stupid, especially if the person they kidnap DOESN'T happen to be Marigold. Because that is the kind of behavior that gets a Jewelbeemon flying at you somewhere past a hundred miles and hour with an intent to kill written on her face." He said, giggling a little bit. Marigold wasn't quite as attached to him at the hip as she used to be but that didn't mean she wouldn't do something drastic if anything happened to her father. If anything her growing maturity meant that she was much more likely to be thinking straight when she planned out how to fight any foe that put her family in danger.
"It is very hard for me to imagine you being kidnapped, especially for very long. You'd get off on a tangent about Kamen Rider or something and they'd pitch you out the back of the van into the middle of the street before you got three blocks down the road." Marigold said and Zack had to shrug at that, because she totally wasn't wrong. It didn't take a man with a NORMAL amount of love for something to base his death defying persona off of it.
"If they want somebody who doesn't have a henshin hero obsession they should have kidnapped somebody else. It's not like I don't advertise it." Zack said, patting his hand on the top of that helmet with a smile. It would be hard for anyone who saw him in action to claim that his love of Kamen Rider and related series was a surprise to them especially if they'd ever had a single conversation with the man that lasted more than 8 seconds.
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 19, 2023 21:20:33 GMT
"Well such a thing is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. In our case the only ones that have a remote chance of success would have to be digimon of champion level or higher. Then again I never said it was necessarily wise to choose you or I as kidnap victims, Zack, given you have Marigold and Violet who would hardly appreciate it. As for myself whoever has kidnapped me soon had an enraged formally gentle giant heading their way." Mandrake said seeming to be gradually calming down. He knew he was safe with not just his family but with certain friends of his family no matter how odd Zack and his kids could be at times.
"I may be hard to anger but messing with my loved ones is definitely more than enough to provoke me. As for anyone dumb enough to kidnap Zack I'd be worried about them given that Marigold's temper has been shown to be not as controlled as mine but she sure has gotten better over time." Lothar said relieved that Mandrake seemed to be doing better because he remember that night and how it caused Mandrake to have trouble sleeping that night.
Then when Marigold mentioned if Zack was kidnapped by humans that it wouldn't last for long before he was pitched out of a van three blocks later Circe giggled which made Mandrake smile as it made him feel better as he looked down at the young one who smiled at him in return.
"Speaking of tempers I still worry about LJ in that regard as he doesn't yet have your control, Lothar."
"I know but I have a feeling he will be fine in that regard given things worked out for me, Mandrake. What might also help is his love of martial arts which encourages discipline so he should be okay."
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 20, 2023 14:39:32 GMT
"Yea I get where you're coming from on that score, Mandrake. No offense Lothar but if you were bearing down on me I think I'd plain forget why any choice I ever made was a good idea. You are a...VERY large man even without people knowing the part about you being a very large LION man. Here in the human world there's a saying about criminals being a superstitious and cowardly lot and I think one look at you and we'd be hearing about urban legends surrounding a vengeful lion spirit for the rest of time. The streets of Tokyo already have an effect of sponging up urban legends." Zack said, looking over his shoulder out toward the street. All the stories of ghosts and yokai haunting those ultramodern streets that he had picked up even in just his short time of being here.
"It does make one wonder how many of Tokyo's persistent urban legends were started by Digimon getting caught momentarily in the act of doing something inhuman and unexplained." Violet said, standing to make sense of information given to them in the most logical way possible as usual. Zack leaned back, rubbing his cheek and chin as he thought about it.
"Split mouthed killers and sobbing spirits at the end of a line of bathroom stalls. None of it is purely inexplicable for what Digimon might get up to. But it's chilling to remember that most of those spirits have rather large body counts. Makes one wonder what unkind Digimon got up to in this city long before there was ever an AEGIS to keep them in line." Marigold said, letting the question stand silently in the air at the table before chuckling slightly and turning her attention to Circe. "Can't imagine you're too big a fan of spooky stories, are you Circe?" Marigold said apologetically.
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 20, 2023 21:43:48 GMT
"I think if there were urban legends of a vengeful lion spirit we would be aware of it. Glad the criminal element tend to be a cowardly and superstitious bunch because that means they can be rather creatively dealt with." Mandrake said before he continued "And by creative I mean, for example, I can handle the human criminal element just by staying out of immediate sight and summoning illusions to either frighten or disrupt them."
"I'm actually glad I picked this as my disguise. Sure a form that is a six foot eight living mountain of muscle is still eye catching but in the right way. All I usually have to do at most around some humans is make the faintest angry look and that tends to make other humans flee like they are actually being chased by a yokai." Lothar said while looking as if in deep thought. He then said "Speaking of yokai it makes me wonder how many of those stories over the generations might of been digimon interacting with humans."
"Y-Yeah I am not all that fond of spooky stories but at least I know they tend to be not real. Aggressive d-digimon however are real and tend to be just like or worse than the monsters from those stories." Circe said definitely grateful that most horror stories weren't real but wondered how many troublesome digimon wondered Shibuya that AEGIS didn't know about.
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 21, 2023 13:08:47 GMT
"Eh, being a six foot eight walking mountain of handsome muscle such as it is would be doing you a lot of favors if you weren't already taken, my friend." Zack leaned back, grinning with a playful wink at the end of his speech, chuckling at the Digimon not understanding just what kind of "good choices" he'd made in the creation of his holosuit.
"AEGIS most likely knows about as much as any other organization that means to police border crossings and immigration. Not nearly as much as they think and only as much as is very clumsily presented to them. Most Digimon that come in through the Digital World, even when it's not strictly in the legal sense probably keep their heads down and their noses out of trouble specifically because of the threat of AEGIS, which AEGIS would suggest is part of the point." Violet said, sounding not overly impressed with the digital lawmen as it was. Something she most likely picked up from her father. Getting in the habit of going after criminals and troublemakers in a mask and spandex wasn't the kind of thing someone picked up if that were eternally fond and trusting of law enforcement in the traditional sense.
"We don't hate AEGIS, really we don't we just...don't see eye to eye as to what the important things are." Marigold said, Zack nodding along with a thoughtful look on his face.
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 21, 2023 20:29:16 GMT
Seeing Zack's playful wink Lothar chuckled before he said "I did get my fair share of people looking at me I'll tell you that much and, judging by some of the appraising stares, it didn't take a telepath to know what they were thinking. Both Mandrake and I get those stares for obvious reasons."
Then the discussion went to AEGIS and, while Mandrake and his family had no issues with them, Violet brought up some good points. Mandrake then said "At least most digimon that visit or live in this world seem to mean no harm meaning such an organization only has to worry about the troublesome minority of digimon." Mandrake took in what Marigold said before he said "Sounds like you folks and the folks of AEGIS have had some disagreements but I am sure there are those in AEGIS itself that might see things similar to you or even maybe somewhere in between."
Circe looked back and forth between Zack and Mandrake before looking at Mandrake before she said "D-Dad, have you met anyone from AEGIS?"
"Not that I recall, Circe. Zack does that organization have anything that makes them identifiable like some type of badge or even uniform? As for digimon I doubt digimon in AEGIS wear the uniform unless they feel like it so I assume they have some other form of identification but I'm no expert in human government organizations." Mandrake said. It is true he met lots of folks and for all he knew he might of met a member of AEGIS without knowing it.
|
|
|
|
Post by supesman on Feb 22, 2023 13:00:54 GMT
"They all wear some pretty uptight jackboots from time to time..." Zack said, mumbling it mostly to himself with a roll of his eyes before shaking off the instinct and answering seriously. "No, not really. I'm given to understand that their recruitment is rather informal and they take who they can get, more or less. I've only had really strong run ins with a few though most specifically a pair of twin digimon, Flamedramon offshoots that I very specifically do NOT see eye to eye with no matter how many times we end up on the same side of a fight. Like Marigold said, we disagree on what the important things are. I categorically disagree with any use of power that is meant to police and punish rather than save and uplift. The very idea of a group like AEGIS is...disagreeable to that notion." Zack said, drumming his fingers softly on the table in front of him as he glared at a spot on the table, something playing in his mind before his head lifted back up.
"I'm sure you can imagine the arguments going on forever, I know for a fact that just as a matter of course that Violet has some recorded and they go on for twenty, thirty minutes or more of those guys disagreeing about every philosophical point under the sun and this is when they're very obviously on the same side!" Marigold said, throwing up her front legs in a small amount of frustration. It was always going to be a...conversational evening whenever Zack had a run in with an AEGIS agent.
|
|
|
|
Post by ricochet6-Mandrake on Feb 22, 2023 19:59:40 GMT
"D-Do you fight with all of them or are there any members you actually connect with?" Circe said sounding genuinely curious when she heard about the Flamedramon variants he didn't see eye to eye with.
"I understand how a group like AEGIS can be one a person like yourself doesn't connect with, Zack. Let's face it you are not the type to follow orders nor are you for policing others. Neither are your children. Though I am sure there are at least a few members of every group who are easier going than others especially since you don't seem to connect with those twins you mentioned." Mandrake said. Sure, as weird as it was to admit it to himself, he was more like Zack than such an organization like AEGIS. That didn't mean all groups didn't have their oddballs that didn't seem to logically fit in with them at first glance.
"Guess it's a good thing neither of us have been around when you and those Flamedramon variants you mentioned were fighting. If it seems to drive Marigold crazy I don't think anyone playing referee in such a situation will enjoy it all that much." Lothar said after remaining quiet for a few moments taking Marigold's words in.
|
|
|
