Night fishing. Night fishing is great. It's quiet, calm, gives you qa chance to look up at the stars and if you are bored then 'just bring your Ipod and shutcher mouth you big complainer!' As my uncle Johnny would always say. Night fishing was always my favorite thing to do with my uncle Johnny. It was something I'd loved to do since I was a kid. And ever since I was a kid I'd liked my uncle Johnny. If I had to describe him, I would probably call him the uncley-ist uncle you could have. He would say uncle things, make uncle jokes, and do every uncle-like thing he could think to do.
"You got a girlfriend yet Mac?"
"That's a really personal question."
"So no then?"
"You've got to build up to a question like that! You can't just asks me that out of the blue! There's got to be some sort of lead in."
"So no then."
"Girls aren't exactly falling in my lap, no"
"That's because you're a dork. If you want to get ladies you just need to stop being a dork. It's simple" Travis, his son, was a very knowledgeable scholar who was wise beyond his 6 years. I spent a lot of time with him. My mom was as much of a surrogate mother to him as my uncle was a surrogate father to me.
So far as I could tell uncle Johnny didn't turn off the uncle routine for his kid. He was raised by the uncly-ist dad imaginable. With wisdom coming in nuggets he'd heard on a television channel.
"You probably have a shot with some girl and you just don't know it! Girls you say hi to you don' think are paying you any mind. Truth is when you take another step they're looking at your butt same as your looking at theirs! You know what I always say If you have a shot you take it! Ain't that right Travis?"
"He doesn't have a shot" Travis would probably grow up to be an uncle too. He was an only child, but being an uncle was very obviously a lifestyle choice chosen by those who could conjure a fart at the pull of a finger.
"Sure he does Travis" My uncle defended me "He's a young man who's got his head on st-"
and then I fell out of the boat. Travis was in hysterics. Uncle Johnny followed the laughter as he helped me on the boat. He had a very infectious laugh. So I was laughing with them.
When Travis controlled himself enough to speak he informed me "If you ever get a girl friend I'm telling them about this! Then they won't want to be your girlfriend anymore!"
"Anyone can fall Travis" Uncle Johnny laughed. "even you!" he picked Travis up under the arms and feigned throwing him off the boat as Travis screamed 'noooooo'!
That was the last day I spent with Uncle Johnny. It was a very happy memory. Sure if I would have had a fight with him and he'd died it would have felt like I'd wasted my last moments, that I'd never said sorry, instead I got to live with the fact that I would never have another happy moment with him like that again. Two sides of the same coin.
This was my thought process through most of everything. What if questions that had answers like that. Little things that could be answered with a TV wisdom nugget like "that's just how life is". One of the big things I felt was something like the fact that I should have been locked up in my room crying, but I wasn't. I was a little less productive at work, a little less talkative with friends, they could tell there was something going on but it was quiet. I was wondering if I was some sort of sociopath.
I was mostly worried about Travis. He'd had is one day of crying. And was mostly where I was. Quiet and distant. He was living with my mom. We didn't know if that was going to be permanent but there weren't that many other options.
I didn't talk to Travis much. All of this was from my mom who would call me and tell me how he was doing. She was clever when she needed to be. Usually she would have told me to "Just spent time with the damn boy!". Of course eventually that's exactly what she said and I couldn't disagree that it might be good for both of us.
I took the walk to my moms house and found him in my old room. He was receiving gifts hand over foot. Toys from his favorite show Super-Mecha-Fighters. Apparently he'd been breaking them in whatever creative way he could. I got to see one of those times. He was viciously removing bits of a robot with his hands. My mom was looking at me like I should know exactly what to do in this situation. I mean, what the hell are you supposed to do in this situation?!
If you have a shot you take it.
"Hey Travis."
"Hi."
"What are you doing there?"
"Breaking Gypsy Danger."
"Oh." I can't leave it at that. Come on Mac. "Well how do you think Gypsy Danger feels about that?"
"He's a toy. He can't even feel anything if he wasn't a toy. He's just a big robot"
You're a god damn moron Mac, you dug your self in a hole and now you have to keep going. "Well I'm sure whoever drives him feels something. Which one of these guys drives him?" He had a host of human characters on the floor
"Yancy and Raleigh. They're brothers. It has to have two pilots because of the power of friendship. They're really good friends so it pilots really easy." This kid did not have many friends. Apparently he was a little to sarcastic for the rest of the first graders.
"Well" I did not have anything planned after this word. I could just let my mouth run and hope something comes out of it. No. that was a bad idea. So I paused and thought about what to say. He seemed used to that. I'm sure he was no stranger to adults who'd come to him with no idea what to say to this kid.
Eventually I came up with something "Well if it's going to blow up, it'd be a shame it was you blowing it up and not..." I picked one of the monsters that he'd gotten "...This guy!"
"How would Knife head blow up Gypsy Danger? Knife head is only a level three and Gypsy can kill Level fours"
I was not terribly familiar with the apparently expansive lore of Super-Mecha-Fighters but I had a feeling there was some wiggle room "Let's start at the beginning."
Raleigh and Yancy woke up at the sound of their alarm. It told them that it was time for another battle with a vicious Kaiju; a monster from deep in the ocean! Raleigh was up out his bed in an instant but Yancy was suborn and sleepy.
"Hey come on! We're being deployed!" Raleigh slapped his brothers face to wake him "The Kaiju is a Category 3! biggest one yet! Code name: Knifehead!"
"What time is it?" Yancy yawned
"Two."
"A.M.?"
"Yup"
A knock on their door a man yelled "Come on Becketts; Time for the drop."
"And then what does Yancy say?" I asked Travis. Thankfully all of the boxes were laying around with all sorts of tidbits of information on the characters
"Don't get cocky. Like Han Solo."
"That's pretty good!" Probably better than anything I could come up with but I didn't want to give this kid any undo ammunition. Even in his somehwhat depressed state I'm sue he would use it. And that might have cheered him up. You're a moron Mac. "Then what happens?"
"Then they get in their robot piloting suits. They have to put on all of this armor and stuff and their helmets so they can drive the robots." The toys has bits of armor you could take on and off. As he put the bits of armor on the toys he would make all of the sound effects he would think would go with the pieces of armor. "Then they need to get in the robot." Even more noises. I was making them too.
"Engage drop mister Choi"
"Engaging drop Sir!"
"Who are these two guys?" I asked. He'd just picked them up and they'd apparently started talking.
"That's Stacker Pentecost." Travis said, showing me the intense looking dark skinned man wearing a military uniform "He's the general of everything. And that's Tendo Choi" This one was a disheveled character with an unbuttoned collar, messy hair and a half smile. "He's the computer guy."
"Cool!" there was one question that didn't seem to be answered by any of the boxes "What's the drop?"
"Well..."
"Securing the compod getting ready to drop." Tendo said in his practiced tone. The door to Gypsy Danger's head was locked and secured.
"Gypsie Danger ready for the big drop!" Raleigh said over the comms. "Here we go!"
The head of Gypsy Danger was dropped into the large whirring robot body. It twisted on as all of the mechanisms lines up and connected. The lights turned on, the repair platforms moved out of it's way, and the heart of the robot roared
The massive doors to the base were slowly opened as Gypsy Danger was wheeled onto a platform that would drop the hulking ton of metal machinery in the ocean to fight a monster.
"And then they connect to each other using the power of friendship so they can pilot the robot."
"How does that work?" I asked
"I dunno."
"We can figure it out later. Anyway"
"Gentlemen; your orders are to hold the Miracle Mile off Anchorage. Copy?" Stacker Pentecost said with his usual stern demeanor.
"Sir, there's still a civilian vessel in the gulf!" Yancy informed the Marshal.
"Gentlemen, you are protecting a city of ten million people you will not risk those lives for a boat that holds ten. Am I clear?" Marshal Pentecost ordered
"Yes sir" Yancy said with a mote of disappointment
"Man that's cold" Raleigh added "You know what I'm thinkin'?"
"They save the boat anyway." Travis said
"Uh-huh."
"Come on bro! Put some muscle to it!" Raleigh yelled as they moved the massive pulleys their legs were connected to, moving the hulking robot in position to save a civilian boat.
"Worry about your self kiddo!" Yancy quipped
"They're still gonna lose" Travis said "It's gonna get blown up."
"Well they don't think that. They're in a giant robot!" That was something I saw on the box
There are things you can't fight, if you see a hurricane you get out of the way. But when you're in a Jeager. You can fight the hurricane, you can win. I think I understood why he liked this show.
Out of the ocean the great Kaiju came. the small fishing boat thought it was an Island at first. Until they noticed it was getting closer. It breached the water. It's nostrils glowed as the seawater sprayed out if it, water dripped off of it's gray skin. It' pointed it's long angular, sharp nose toward the sky and roared. It's eyes glowed with anticipation as it looked at the the tiny, smashable boat. But of course there was something standing in it's way
Gypsy Danger Towered over the boat and picked it up with it's large hands. Yancy focused on holding the boat while Raleigh put the robot in a fighting stance. Yancy sent sent the boat away from the monster toward the shore. Knifehead slashed as Gypsy with it's razor-like claws. Gypsy retaliated with two punches into the monsters face and a blow with both hands to the top of it's skull.
"Smashing them together doesn't really break them." Travis informed me. He was right. They were both made out of the same plastic, even as hard as we could, smashing them together wasn't exactly making much destruction happen.
"You're right. I have an idea." It was a stupid idiot idea that was dangerous, but what the hell. I'd dug myself this far.
We went out to my mom's shed. She was a very handy handywoman with a slew of tools that could do damn well any job she needed.
"You want to really start breaking some toys Travis?" I asked
that kids eyes lit up like I'd never seen them before. "are we gonna use these to break the toys?!"
"Yep! But first put on goggles and gloves." Also adult supervision. Maybe I'm not the right adult to properly supervise if I'm the one suggesting this but this kid just lost his dad. Give me a kid more worthy!
"Let's start off small: I said, and grabbed a pair of pliers
Knifehead bit into the arm of Gypsy Danger with it's massive, powerful teeth! Crushing the plating. But Gypsy pushed back
"Come on! Get him! Shoot him!" Raleigh yelled
"I'm on it!" Yancy replied. And then sent his Plasma Cannon into the chest of the beast hitting it twice and sending it bleeding back into the ocean.
We used a hammer for the plasma cannon
"Discharge reading sir! Plasma cannon seven miles off the coastal line!" Back at base Tendo informed the Marshal of what they'd done
"Gypsy what the hell is going on?" Martial Pentecost demanded
"Jobs done sir!" Raleigh said with pride "Lit it up twice! Bagged our fifth kill!"
"You disobeyed a direct order!" Stacker Pentecost yelled into the microphone, enraged by the brothers insubordination.
"Respectfully sir" Yancy moved in to defend his and his brothers actions "We intercepted a Kaiju and saved everyone on that boat!"
"Get back to your post now!" Stacker shouted
"Yes sir!" Raleigh said with a laugh
"But we're going to blow up Gypsy Danger!" Travis informed me
"Oh yeah I forgot"
"Kaiju signature rising!" Tendo yelled moving in between his holographic screens "That thing's still alive sir!"
Stacker Pentecost moved into his microphone "Gypsy! We're still getting a signature! That Kaiju is still alive! Grab the boat and get out of there! Do you copy?"
Gypsy Danger and it's crew scanned the ocean, looking for the beast. They couldn't see it.
"Grab the boat and get out of there now!" Stacker continued through the comms
Just then the Kaiju came out from the sea and slashed at Gypsy. It gnashed it's teeth trying to reach the face of the robot.
"Take her Raleigh" Yancy yelled
"I got this" Raleigh replied
Gypsy readied it's Plasma cannon to kill the Kaiju once and for all, but the Kaiju had other plans. Knifehead shoved the pointed nose that was it's namesake into the arm of Gypsy danger, pulling it clean off.
"Auntie doesn't let me near the knives in the house." Travis said
"That's why we won't tell her."
"Yeah. I don't want to get in trouble"
You said it kid.
Raleigh screamed as the damage done to the robot was sent into his body trough electrical charges.
"Left arms gone cold sir" Tendo informed the Marshal.
The monster roared as the arm hid the ocean floor. Now there was nothing stopping the monster from attacking the robot's face. It's claws ripped and teared into the face of the robot
"It went through the hull!" Raleigh screamed
"Raleigh listen to me!" Yancy yelled "You ne-" and then Yancy was yanked out of the robot by the monsters giant hand
"And it takes two people to drive. So the monster won." Travis said
"Really? Raleigh is still alive."
"Yeah but he can't pilot it because it takes two people to pilot!"
"Why not?"
"Because that's how it is. He just lost. Sometimes bad things happen and everyone dies and you lose that's how real life is. The show says everyone always wins but they don't. And Raleigh isn't strong enough to fight a monster on his own."
And there we were. I'd probed a child for his inner thoughts and found them. I kew exactly how he felt. The difference was that this was a six-year-old. It felt like this shouldn't be the way he thought. If you live your life thinking that the world was going to kick you in the teeth; it will. That was another nugget from my uncle. So I just did what I thought he would do.
"What about what it says on the box? When you're in a Jeager you can fight the hurricane, you can win!"
"Sometimes you can't win"
"And sometimes it looks like you can't win. everyone thinks that you can't win"
"No!" Raleigh screamed as his brother was taken away by the Kaiju The surge of emotion and pain flowed through him
"But sometimes if you fight hard enough you can."
Raleigh moved his controller from his left arm to his right .The Monster Threw the Jeager against the rock. Roaring and tearing into it It shoved it's knife like head into the chest of the Jeager. Forcing Raleigh to let out a scream of pain. He grimaced and took his one remaining arm, and charged the plasma cannon as the monster tore into the robot with it's teeth.
"So his friendship with his brother made him strong?" Travis asked
"Yeah. It did." That was not what I was saying exactly but why not. Really it was probably better than what I was saying.
"But the plasma cannon didn't work before." Trevor reminded me
"That's true. But this one did. You still have your goggles?"
Raleigh screamed as he let loose a barrage of plasma cannon fire right into the monsters chest so close and so hot that the systems at HQ were fried
"Is it okay to be using the blowtorch?" Travis asked
"With your Aunt? No."
"You're a grownup do you say it's okay?"
"I say it is not okay to tell your Aunt. She would kill me."
"Okay."
"Second discharge fired all the comms sir I'm not getting any signals!" Tendo frantically to get the signal back as Stacker Pentecost walked away from the screen.
"No signature sir!" Tendo said as he was finally able to get something to come off of the computers "What do we do now sir?"
Martial Pentecost did not answer.
Gypsy walked to the sore beaten and creaking. Only to trip when she finally reached land. Raleigh crawled out of the broken robot husk just as bloody and beaten. His armor was burnt and teared. His shoulder was scratched, helmet cracked and spirit broken. He gripped is bleeding side and said his brothers name before collapsing into the snow. Thankfully an old man and his grandson were searching the beach with a metal detector. They were able to get help.
"And then what happened?" Travis asked
"After that it was hard for Raleigh for a while. He didn't really know what to do or how to feel. He just sort of woke up every day and then went to sleep" I guess I was projecting too "But it did get better after a long time."
"That's what people keep saying. Is it hard for you too?" Travis asked me
"Yeah. I loved your dad. He was pretty great."
"I bet it hurts for you because you knew him more than I did"
"He was your dad. Sure I knew him before you were born but he was still your dad. You don't need to worry about me."
"You're already worried about me. Who's gonna worry about you?"
"Yeah. Okay. We'll worry about each other how's that sound."
"Okay. Maybe I should save the rest of my toys so we can blow them up later. We could use the rest of the stuff in here!"
"I like the sound of that." there was a good amount of visceral pleasure to be had from destroying toys with power tools. And if it helped a kid who lost his dad, who am I to say no?