Second chapter is here! Woo-hoo!

Compassion and Craziness – Part 1

Deets is a patient girl. She always aims to give others the warmth and love that was ripped away from her when she was just 5. She always does her damn best to keep a smile on her face – even when placed in a crappy scenario. But she is only mortal. And all mortals have their limits.

Loogie is what you call schizophrenic. He's delusional, yet dutiful. When pushed and lead properly he is unstoppable. But having schizophrenia is like having a significant part of your own will taken away, leaving you more susceptible to outside influence. Loogie has experienced many urges and dilemmas while in his schizophrenic fits, but his most recent one has been the most challenging yet…

Deets was in one of her "moods" again, and Loogie, being the blithe spirit he is, tried to cheer her up. He offered chocolates, ice cream, pancakes, monkey dolls, zoo trips, and squirrel dolls, but Deets was not lightening up. Loogie even offered to take her to the beach and buy new togs for her, but she insisted on some quiet time alone in her room.

Now, though he's mostly crazy, Loogie is 16 – the second eldest of the Dojo Team, behind Burn. And so he's like this older brother to the three younger kids. But while Burn favours a hands-off approach, Loogie likes interacting with his surrogate siblings, though sometimes he gets too personal and too tense. This was one of those times.

"Deets, why can't you be normal?" he sighed sadly. Deets had taken this the wrong way.

"And what do you mean by that?" she muttered slowly.

"I mean you're really clean and prissy at once – I didn't mean prissy-prissy, you know just… and then again you change abruptly to being strong, steely and aloof, and whatnot, please just don't–"

"Don't what?! You're one to talk Mr Fishface!"

"Hey, I was just trying to easily ask you why you couldn't, um you know, have a more identifiable personality," Loogie said sheepishly.

"Well, you treat her as if she's entirely 1-D, pal," Dr Pinch spoke up. Pinch was Loogie's animatronic muppet, designed by Ol' Skool to help keep Loogie (mostly) reality-grounded.

"You know, your pet has more brains than you do," Deets bluntly pointed out, "And why do you always treat life like a book? We are not role-players with pre-programmed codes in us, as far as God knows."

Now Loogie took the first half of Deets' statement the wrong way.

"Och, sorry if I use the only part of my intellect – oh whatever the heck it is – life to try and put myself on the same pedestal as you guys!"

Deets and Loogie glared daggers at each other, neither willing to back down.

"And that doesn't make any sense as usual! Why can't you be more sophisticated and complex?!" the 15 year old girl snapped.

"Maybe because I would get OCD like a certain hick girl!" the 16 year old retorted.

"You know, brainless Scot, I don't want you within 3 feet of my personal space for the next 72 hours!"

"Cool it, hot peppers!" Dr Pinch cried out, growing ever worried for the two arguing children.

"Shut up!" both kids retorted at the muppet, before Loogie retracted Pinch into his mechanical arm.

"Fine by me, rage-neck!" Loogie yelled at the girl, before powering up and skating out and away from Dojo Headquarters.

"UGH! That moron makes me want to – AGH!" Deets growled, stamping off to the Dojo gym to practice.

Unbeknownst to the quarrelling teens, the others were watching, hidden in the hallways. They convened in the inventor's room.

"I think we should notify my father," the youngest child said.

"Not yet, Ed," Fizz replied, "One of the marks of maturity is to resolve problems without first resorting to your superiors – in other words, subsidiarity."

"Right, Fizz you pacify Deets. Ed you help out Loogie," Burn said as he turned to walk out of Fizz's room.

"You're not going to help?" Fizz asked sternly.

"You did say 'resolve problems without resorting to superiors' didn't you?" Burn stated, walking out of Fizz's room without even looking back. Fizz just momentarily clenched her fists before turning back to Ed.

"You heard our leader, power up!" she ordered.

The roar of a hoverboard and the shrill of a hoverscooter could be heard in Central Progress. Part of Fizz's plan required some chow mein, two pepperoni pizzas, and a movie mag. The other part required her to help Ed locate Loogie.

"Ed, Loogie is nearing the Harbour Bridge."

"Thanks Fizz. I'll see you back at HQ!"

And with that, Ed zoomed off.

"Torch, is there an energy spike nearby? I'd like to turbo my way to Loogie, have some fun and chill with him," Ed asked his AI co-pilot.

"Sure thing, compadre. You can speed roll the dice at 2 clicks north-east from here," the glowing ball answered.

"So, I'm going to take Loogie for a spin and some tricks, and then what do you think I should say?" Ed asked.

"I don't know dude. I'm a meta-building program, not a conscience," Torch replied, "Though I guess you could humour him and encourage him."

"It's a start," Ed shrugged.

Deets pounded the punching bag. With a wham, she knocked it off its ropes and it thudded on the floor. She didn't place it back however, and continued to lay waste to it. Kicking, then punching, then just simply headbutting. And wailing.

"What is wrong with me?!" she moaned. It wasn't her fault she had OCD, or that she preferred to hide away her negative feelings behind a vague, lonely wall. She questioned herself a lot – about what she did wrong, if she understood her friends enough, how well she could cope with responsibility, how well she could focus – and she hated that part of herself. She had confidence, but she felt it was just as devoured by her own imperfections.

And she and Loogie were like brother and sister. Why had they exploded at each other? They were good athletes, fighters, they were both caring at the forefront, and they came from traumatizing backgrounds – why couldn't they relate to each other some more? Perhaps Loogie was just too insensitive, she thought.

"He's optimistic, sure, but he's over-the-top. I've had it up to here with his blunt happiness. Even Ed knows when to get serious, and he's 3 years younger than Loogie."

Deets picked up the punching bag and hurled it against the opposite wall.

"DAMN!"

Just then, Fizz nervously peeked her head around the doorway.

"Hey Deets…," Fizz started, beginning to have second thoughts about trying to calm her down, "I bought lunch. It's our fav – 'za with a thick crust, with cheese and pepperoni. And there's also seafood chow mein, your favorite – though you have a lot of favorites since you aren't a fickle eater and all that jazz…"

Okay – now Fizz was just rambling.

"Rodriguez, get to the point. I know you're trying to cheer me up."

"Well not exactly yet. I want to do so over lunch. So you coming?"

"Eh, why not, partner?"

Remember, in my headcanon Fizz's last name is Rodriguez. To me, she's half Mexican.

And it's a tribute to my Mexican friend as well, who has that last name.

And yeah, in my headcanon, here are the Dojo's kids, in order from youngest to oldest:
Edward, Fizz, Deets, Loogie, and then Burn.

You'll also notice that their ages are fluctuating. That's because my AU has the main story arc span from their childhood to their adulthood.

That means, at the beginning...
Ed would be 10.
Fizz is 11.
Deets is 12.
Loogie is 13 years old.
And Burn would be 14.

So… yeah. Feel free to review as always!