This is a fanfic exchange taking place within AnimeGirl144's "It Calls For You" as part of the Saturday Morning Invasion Discord Server's Fanfic exchange. I hope I've done it justice.
Enigma
Everyone knew the rumors…
The quiet kid with his strange abilities and his even stranger family…
The ones about the boy from The Underworld…
It was why when he walked down the halls of each school, there would be constant whispers about him. From when they first met him at winter camp as kids, to being preteens in junior high, it never really stopped.
That never really mattered to him all that much though.
Of course not.
Rumors were simply just rumors and he had more important things to do than listen to children prattle on and on about what they may or may not have seen him do at winter camp when they were kids. That wasn't important.
And yet, despite all the rumors…
All the whispers…
All the people doing their best to stay away…
There was one that always seemed to come back.
She confused him…
He didn't understand.
She was an enigma.
~Enigma~
They were nine years old when they had first met.
Junior had recently enrolled into the school and his reputation had already been ruined by the events of that winter vacation.
None of the other children liked to talk about it directly.
None of the other children ever really looked at him or if they did they were quick to turn away so as to not fall under what they believed to be a piercing gaze under his spectacles but was actually one of visible confusion.
It was that sort of otherness and being treated as a pariah that left him sitting alone on a swing set, minding his own business as no one would dare come that way. Billy had been sick that day and Mandy didn't tend to interact with him in that sort of way as they had a mutual understanding to stay out of each other's way. Granted, she would regularly violate that agreement when she needed him for something like she did with most people but it was nice for him to believe that for the most part it was kept in tact.
He chuckled to himself at the thought.
"Hiya!" The sound of a young girl pierced the veil of his own musings and forced him back into reality.
He blinked for a moment and looked up to see none other than a girl his age with auburn hair placed firmly behind a headband, black beady eyes that seemed just as cheerful as the smile on her face and a shockingly bright green dress that clashed so easily against his much darker clothes.
It was like they were from two different worlds as he stared at her for a few moments while she simply leaned back and forth on the balls of her feet, without a care in the world.
"C-can I help you?" He asked confusedly.
The girl simply laughed at that. "No. That's okay. I couldn't help but notice that you were sitting here all by your lonesome over here! So I thought I'd come over to keep you company!"
Junior blinked in confusion yet again.
"What?"
"Yeah! No one should be all alone so I thought you could use a friend!" She smiled again.
Nergal pursed his lips together. Didn't she know who he was or what the other kids thought of him?
Before he could have a chance to ask, the girl had plopped herself down on the swing next to him and reached a hand out to him.
"I'm Suzy by the way."
Cautiously, the young boy reached his hand out. She immediately lead the way and shook it with great vigor.
"Uh… Junior… Um… Nergal… Nergal Junior."
"Nice to meet you, Junior Nergal Nergal Junior!" She wore a cheeky grin at that to which the boy gave her an exasperated look.
"It's Nergal Junior." He deadpanned.
Suzy laughed and poked him in his chest. "Just kidding, Nergal."
He shook his head. "Just Junior is fine."
"M'kay." She nodded.
And so she talked and talked and talked and Junior would listen. She seemed to go a mile a minute and Junior followed along. He enjoyed it, he liked listening to her, it made him feel like someone cared about him outside of Billy or Mandy cared about him at that school. It was nice.
And when the bell rang and they parted ways, he expected to never really hear from her again.
He was wrong.
~Enigma~
When they were ten, she invited him over to her house.
Over the course of that year, she would occasionally come into and out of his life. Every meeting always consisted of her talking to him, but to his shock and surprise questions about his own life came into the mix like how he was doing or what he thought about their latest social studies quiz. And he would answer, but it was always such an odd contrast to Mandy who just didn't care or Billy who meant well but was just kinda in his own world.
Even though Suzy seemed to have a lot of friends and seemed to mainly spend her time with her fellow Buttercup Scouts, she always seemed to be able to make the time to pop into his life in some way. He thought of it like a rash that he couldn't quite get rid of and yet, a lot more pleasant than that. He didn't like rashes, but he did like Suzy.
But there she appeared one morning near the end of the school year practically beaming with excitement with what appeared to be a colorful piece of paper waving about in her hands.
Junior raised an eyebrow at her. "What is this…?"
"It's a party invitation, silly!" She grinned. "You're invited to my birthday party during the summer."
"In a month?" The boy asked.
"Well yeah! We'd send out the invitations later but that's what you get with summer birthdays, y'know?"
"Not really." He shrugged.
She laughed.
"Come on, it'll be fun. You can hang out with me and maybe even make some more friends too."
Junior frowned.
"The other kids? Is that such a good idea."
"What? Are you scared of the other kids?" Suzy asked him a rather sing-song tone to her voice accompanied by a pair of raised, laughing eyebrows.
Nergal frowned. "What?! No! Of course I don't!"
"Good!" The girl beamed again. "Because now's the perfect time to make more friends!"
Nergal frowned once again but nodded.
He wouldn't make it to the birthday party, having been roped into a grim adventure with Billy and Mandy that day, but he really had tried.
~Enigma~
When they were eleven, it was the first time she had seen him use his powers.
Sharp teeth ground together as the underworldly glow shining from behind his glasses began to fade and the tentacles that sprouted from his back began to receded back into his body with a sort of gross sort of slurping sound behind them.
All the while the strange piece of machinery that had been torn apart by his fury clattered to the ground in front of them.
Suzy couldn't help but stare in wide eyed shock at it all. Junior had just swooped in and just as suddenly as he appeared, he had lashed out with his tentacles, tearing apart each of the machines as if they were paper. It happened in the blink of an eye, tentacles lashed out, robots were torn to shreds and then that was simply it. It was over before it had even started.
With a final huff, he was upright again and reached a hand down to her.
"Y-you're…" Suzy gaped at him.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. He knew someday that this would come and he knew the reaction that he would give him. It was the same one that everybody gave him when they saw him use his creepy underworldly abilities.
"Yeah, I know, I'm a frea-"
"So cool!" Suzy had stars in his eyes now, giving him a look that no one had really given him before. Excitement, admiration, genuine awe at what he had done.
Junior just blinked. Not once, but twice, absolutely flabbergasted by what she had just done. "Wha-what?!"
"Yeah! I mean I was in so much trouble with those robots, I didn't know what I was gonna do and then here you are, swooping in, chewing that thing up like it was nothing!"
Nergal just blinked as she kept going on and on detailing the events of the short battle he had with one of Mojo's robots, going on and on as if he were some sort of superhero. The only one that had ever really referred to his powers with such reverie was Billy and well… he wasn't exactly sure that he understood them. Yet here was Suzy going on and on about how cool he was for his abilities where others would simply call him freaky or weird, she just thought it was cool.
SNAP SNAP SNAP
Nergal blinked out of his thoughts and looked over at the girl who had just snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Hey, are you listening?!" She asked.
"Wah- uh- yeah? I- no. What?"
She laughed and gave him a playful punch on the arm. "I said, 'Can you show me some more of your moves some time?' I've been learning to fight too but I think that your powers could really help me do even better!"
"Well… I don't really know when I have the time to…"
"Oh come on, please!" She insisted. "We barely hang out and this is the perfect excuse! You get to train, I get to train and everyone will be happy!"
Nergal sighed. "Something tells me you wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Nope! And you still owe me for my birthday anyway." She grinned.
Nergal sighed. "Alright, sure."
~Enigma~
And over the course of the year, the two began to train together every now and again. It wasn't all the time, but the two began to make a point of meeting up every couple of weeks to either work out or fight it out. Nergal usually held back but Suzy herself wasn't much of a pushover either. Tentacles would flare, punches and kicks would be thrown and the various assortment of weaponry would be cast as well.
He wasn't really sure where the girl had gotten the KND weaponry, he never really asked but knew that Suzy had a lot of friends. It was quite the surprise for him when she pulled a T.H.U.M.P.E.R. on him during their second training session.
In the end of it all the two would usually end up lying on the ground in exhaustion, panting at the overexertion.
Today was no different. A fight had gone on too long, Suzy was getting better at dodging his shots, forcing him to actually try a little harder and in today's little bag of tricks, she pulled out a B.O.T.T.L.E.C.A.P. on him. It wasn't long till they were back on the floor again. Panting and heaving in the silence of the gym, the two didn't say a word.
But it was eventually Suzy who spoke up. "Why do you act so cold all the time?"
For a moment, Junior didn't answer simply continuing to heave.
But he did give her an answer. "I don't know…"
"Oh yes you do." She immediately whipped her head in his direction so that he could see her out of the corner of his glasses.
Nergal did her best to avoid her gaze but didn't turn over. She didn't look away from him for a second. He tried to find the answer.
He couldn't find one and now it was her turn to sigh. "I mean, I've known you since we were kids and you've always stayed away from most people. You hang out with your cousin sometimes, I've seen you around Alice before but the other kids seem to want to steer clear of you too. It's not because of winter camp is it?"
"No… Not really." Nergal shook his head. "I mean, that was so long ago I honestly sometimes forget that it even happened."
"So…"
"So…"
"So what then?"
Nergal was the one to sigh this time. "I'm not exactly human."
"So? Neither are the Powerpuff Girls… Well, technically anyway."
"My powers are dark and scary."
"I've never been scared of them."
"Other people have."
"Have you tried to open up to them? I know there are people like your cousin and Alice that like you. You could try that with other people too."
"Sure, but not everyone is as warm and accepting about it." Nergal groaned.
Suzy sighed. "I know…"
She sat up now and looked over at him. "Look… I know it hasn't been easy for you. Not many people have given you a chance and I really can only imagine what that's like but… but you shouldn't have to be alone all the time."
Nergal quickly mirrored her position. "I dunno, I happen to like being alone."
"Do you now?" She asked.
"Sure, I make great company with myself." He chuckled.
Suzy frowned. "You could always make great company with someone else."
"Well, we're talking now aren't we?"
"Junior…" She facepalmed.
He simply chuckled while she simply pursed her lips together.
"Look, I'm not saying that you need to be best friends with everyone, I just think that maybe you should try and get out a little more, see some people, maybe go out on an adventure with some friends or something."
"I go on adventures all the time." He insisted.
Suzy chuckled. "Yeah, but maybe go on ones that don't involve Mandy."
Nergal snickered too. "Okay, fair."
"And hey who knows?" She sat down next to him and lightly punched him in the arm. "Maybe I could join you on an adventure."
He laughed. "Okay, Suzy."
The two of them laughed it out and continued their conversation until it was time to go home.
Nergal and Suzy didn't know of the adventure to come in the form of the infestation that would change the planet forever.
~Enigma~
The hospital room was quiet and sterile as it always had been. Alice sat comfortably up in her bed, with Courage resting comfortably at the foot of it and her two friends at her side. It was one of many visits that Junior and Suzy had made to visit Alice while she had been recovering from her great ordeal. Alice was close to being released and the two couldn't wait.
Conversation had gone as it always did, the two would be sure to give Alice interesting anecdotes from their day and comments on how the restoration of the world was going. Alice didn't have a lot to do being cooped up in the hospital so most of her own stories would be about visitors or things she had seen on TV.
However at some point the conversation had dwindled down and the group had fell into a comfortable silence. Just happy to be around each other.
But it was Junior who broke that silence with a question that had been on his mind for quite a while now.
"So… What now?" Junior asked.
The two girls looked over to him and he shrugged.
"I mean, the war's over and the world doesn't really need Team Superstar anymore… Do we just go back to school? Do we be full time heroes like Ben or the Powerpuff Girls? What exactly is the plan here?"
Suzy smiled. "Well… I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm going back to my normal for a little bit. Just gonna relax, maybe try a couple of new hobbies, meet some new people and maybe get to know a few old ones a little better." She couldn't help the slight tinge that crossed her cheeks as thoughts of a sock headed boy from Peach Creek came to mind at that last note.
Alice nodded too. "Yeah, I think I'll do the same. Stay on my own for a little while… Maybe go back to normal, maybe try something else. I'm not sure yet…"
She paused and then looked over at him. "But what about you, Junior? You didn't want to keep the team together did you?"
"Of course not!" He said, a little to snappy to which both girls were slightly taken aback. He paused, a little lighter now. "I mean, of course not… I don't… I'm just…"
He sighed. He didn't want to admit it but he really was saddened at the idea that Team Superstar was coming to an end… A couple of months ago, he would have felt relieved to finally have been alone again, but now… after traveling together for so long he really couldn't imagine not seeing them everyday. He… He…
"I guess I'm just gonna miss you guys." He admitted.
Both Alice and Suzy smiled at each other and then at him. "Hey, it's not goodbye forever, just a 'see you later.'" Alice smiled.
"Yeah, we'll always be Team Superstar. No matter what!" Suzy announced as she threw a fist up in the air in excitement.
At that, Junior relaxed a little, and let out a small smile of his own. "Y-yeah… Right… Okay."
At that, Alice opened up her arms and pulled Junior and Suzy into a hug as she sat along the hospital bed. But the two took the embrace as the smiles never really left their faces.
Whatever the future may hold, whether they be together or far apart, they would always be by each other's sides.
~Enigma~
And it was sometime after the war that it really dawned on him.
He would always appreciate Suzy, who really did try to bring out the best in him and get him to interact not just with her but with the world around him more.
He would appreciate Alice for the time that she spent with him and how she had never viewed him as strange either.
He would appreciate all the people that he met over the course of the war, for they continued to view him as a friend and someone they could always count on if they ever needed him.
And when he thought about it, he realized that he could count on them too.
He smiled to himself, maybe the enigma wasn't Suzy or Alice or even any of the people that he had met along the way. Maybe it was friendship itself. Billy was his cousin and kinda required to be his friend because of that relationship and Mandy was… Well, Mandy. Everyone else for the most part were just people who were scared of him.
But now… Now he had grasp on it all and really understood what it meant to have others by his side that meant the world to him, even Billy.
And maybe with that understanding, he could go and find more people he belonged with, even without Team Superstar. Even without Suzy.
He couldn't wait to see what life had in store for him next.
So… This is like 3 months late lol.
And the first time that I'm writing a more serious fic for the fanfic exchanges and what better place to start than It Calls For You. Ironically enough, this was the idea that I had before Slow News Day and what I initially wanted to do, but then Harangue was just too funny and I left this in the recesses of my mind to pick up on a later exchange. Clearly by the lateness of this fic, it wasn't quite ready to be released yet haha. But better late than never.
When reading It Calls For You, I really liked all three members of Team Superstar. Honestly, it was such an interesting group what with Nergal Junior from Billy and Mandy, Suzy from Johnny Bravo and Alice who has become one of my favorite OCs in the community.
I think it was how well these characters were written that lead me to want to do a fic about Junior who I have said in the past that I don't really get why people want him in the game so bad so it was interesting to kinda dive into the shoes of a character that I admittedly like but am not nearly as connected to as other people are. But something about the idea of this story within the world of "It Calls For You" drove me to it and well… I really hope I did it justice.
So enjoy this and please give the original fic a try if you haven't read it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
RR