Harley P.O.V.
I want to ask you guys something: have you wore an article of clothing that was so offensive and bad that it led to someone unintentionally shooting you accidentally without realizing it until it was too late? Sounds crazy, I know. Well, that's exactly what happened to my Japanese American girlfriend when I tried to introduce her to Bucky O'Hare and his crew aboard the Righteous Indignation in the Aniverse when she decided it would be a good idea for her to wear a Kermit the Frog hoodie aboard the ship.
Her name is Jessie Jun Feng. She has been my friend for a long time. We met each other in elementary school at the start of the second grade. From the moment I laid eyes on her in class, I knew she was beautiful. We immediately hit it off. Jessie became a very nice and sweet friend of mine. Through her, I learned about Japanese and Asian pop culture icons like Godzilla, Usagi Yojimbo, the Japanese version of Spider-Man: Supaidaman, as well as reading manga (which are pretty difficult for me to read due to the fact that its the only piece of literature that requires you to read in reverse from end to beginning instead of reading from beginning to end like most books.) and aspects of Japanese culture like anime, eating sushi (her mother's sushi is hands down the best Asian food I have ever eaten in my life), learning haikus, watching J-horror movie masterpieces like Tetsuo: the Iron Man, Ringu (otherwise known as The Ring in North America) Ju-On Grudge and OldBoy and making origami.
I tried learning how to speak and write in Japanese from Jessie Feng and her family, but it soon proved to be almost impossible for me to speak or write in Japanese because of how fast the speech tends to be and because of the insane way the Japanese letter characters were written. It wasn't until later when I learned of a easier way for me to write in Japanese by translating the characters into English words via a process known as Hepburn.
My Japanese American friend is a fan of various American and Japanese TV shows. Among these shows she's a big fan of are The Muppets. She is a huge fan of the Muppets, one of Jessie's favorite characters from the Muppets is an amphibian character known as Kermit the Frog. Kermit the Frog needs no introduction whatsoever. He is one of Jim Henson's most popular Muppet character. He has sung a couple of songs about being the color green and the rainbow connection. To say that the character of Kermit the Frog is beloved by people is an understatement. Millions of fans from all around the world have loved Kermit and the rest of the Muppets over the years. Kermit is an cultural icon that is beloved my millions of people. That is, unless you come from the Aniverse where amphibians like frogs and toads are seen as the enemies rather than beloved icons. In the Aniverse, the toads are a facsist military organization that is hellbent on taking over the universe.
So an amphibious character like Kermit the frog would be a huge no-no in the Aniverse, a lesson my friend Jessie Jun Feng learned the hard way when she made the terrible decision to bring and wear her Kermit the Frog hoodie sweatshirt while being introduced to Bucky O'Hare and his crew aboard the Righteous Indignation, which led to her unintentionally being nearly shot and killed by Deadeye and beaten up by Bruiser. This is the story of how Kermit the Frog nearly lead to my friend's demise.
It all started when Jessie was at my house visiting me. We were watching The Muppets Take Manhattan on TV. We like to hang out at each other's houses a lot. I like hanging out with my Japanese American girlfriend. She is about a year or two younger than me. Jessie Jun Feng has short shoulder length black hair that is a bit of a comb over hairstyle with bangs. Her complexion is white like mine. She is very pretty. She has been my friend ever since we were little. There was just something about her that made me connect with her somehow.
Jessie was wearing a green Kermit the frog hoodie sweatshirt with matching green leggings. Underneath it she wore a black t-shirt. Her mother had gotten her that sweatshirt for her twelfth birthday when she went shopping at a local fashion store. She took one look at the Kermit hoodie and decided that she wanted to buy it immediately. So, her mother bought her the Kermit the frog hoodie.
Jessie automatically liked it. She started wearing it often. She was wearing it on this particular day, which was the day in which I was planning on introducing her to my friends aboard the righteous indignation. I was hoping that she wouldn't wear the Kermit the frog hoodie when she meets Bucky O'Hare and his friends. The last thing I needed was for deadeye or bruiser to accidentally harm or unintentionally kill her because they had misinterpreted her Kermit the frog hoodie for a real toad.
We continued to watch the Muppet movie. After about fifteen minutes, I decided to tell my friend Jessie about my friends in the Aniverse. I doubted that she would believe me if I told her that I worked as an engineer aboard the Righteous Indignation. She likely wouldn't believe me. But, I figured that I might as well tell her about my job as the engineer aboard a spaceship that is located in a parallel dimension that exists in outer space since she is my friend and all.
"Hey Jessie. I want to tell you about my job that I recently got lately." I told Jessie. "Though I doubt you'd believe me if I told you about what exactly my job is."
"You've got yourself a job? Where at? What's your occupation?" Jessie asked me. I hesitated to answer her question about what my job was. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her about my job as an engineer aboard a spaceship that was located in an another dimension that was run by a bunch of anthropomorphic animals that fight intergalactic amphibians on a daily basis. I figured that since she was my friend that I might as well tell her about my job in the Aniverse instead of keeping it from her.
"I work as an engineer on a spaceship called the Righteous Indignation." I told Jessie. She wasn't sure how to react to my statement. She said nothing for a couple of minutes. Then, she responded back to my statement with, "What do you mean you work as an engineer aboard a spaceship in outer space? Did NASA hire you as their spaceship engineer?" I wasn't sure how to answer her question, since technically I did work as an engineer aboard a spaceship that was in outer space, but I didn't work for NASA.
"Not exactly. I don't work for NASA. I actually work as an engineer aboard a spaceship NASA only dreams they had that exists in an whole other universe." I explained to my girlfriend.
"What do you mean by another universe?" Jessie asked me. It was then that I had decided to show my friend Jessie to my animal friends aboard the ship the Righteous Indignation.
"I want to show you something in my bedroom that is special. Something that will blow your mind. Something that you won't be able to comprehend in a thousand years." I told Jessie. "Follow me to my room." Jessie and I got ourselves off of the couch and we went upstairs to my bedroom to show my friend the photon accelerator that allowed me to go to and from the Aniverse whenever I want. Jessie saw the photon accelerator that was located in the corner of the room that's near my closet door.
"What's that machine over there?" Jessie asked while pointing to the photon accelerator.
"That my friend is what I'd like to call a photon accelerator. Its a device that collects energy from around us and is supposed to convert the energy and accelerate it. I originally conceived of it as a science experiment." I explained to Jessie.
"You built a photon accelerator in your own bedroom?" Jessie asked me. "Where did you get the money to get the material to build that?"
"I got the money to get the materials needed to build my photon accelerator by a combination of money laundering, working odd jobs and embezzling funds. I know its illegal, but you gotta have money to pay for the photon accelerator somehow." I explained to Jessie.
"You do realize that there are many alternative ways to get the money to pay for the materials you needed for your photon accelerator thingy besides embezzling funds or money laundering. You're lucky you didn't get into trouble doing that." Jessie said to me.
"Yeah. Anyway, shortly after everyone disappeared, I decided to turn on the photon accelerator to see if it worked or not. Once I turned it on, me and my sister Emily found ourselves in another dimension where we met a green furred male space rabbit named captain Bucky O'Hare and his crew aboard the ship called the Righteous Indignation, where shortly after I took down a climate converter that was going to terraform the planet Genus, they hired me as their engineer since their previous engineer, Bruce the Betelgeusian berserker baboon got zapped into another dimension." I explained to my girlfriend. She took a moment to soak it all in.
"Wow!" Jessie said incredulously.
"I know that's a lot of information for you to take in. Long story short, my photon accelerator opened up another dimension where a group of space warrior animals fight in an intergalactic war against the toad empire." I said. I then went over to my drawer and opened it and took out my memory stone I used to communicate with Jenny. I held it in my hands. Jessie looked at it in amazement.
"What's that thing?" Jessie asked me, pointing to the pink colored stone that I held in my hands.
"That my friend is what you would call a memory stone. It allows me to communicate with my friends from the Aniverse, specifically my friend Jenny, a female cat lady from a planet called Aldebaran. Kind of think of it as an interdimensional two way walkie talkie." I explained to Jessie before talking into the stone to get into contact with Jenny. I called out Jenny's name into the stone. A few second s later, jenny's white feline face appeared in the stone.
"Hi Jenny!" I said. "How's it been. Listen, I was wondering if you guys aren't too busy fighting the toads if I could introduce Bucky and you to my Japanese American girlfriend aboard the Righteous Indignation. Her name is Jessie Jun Feng." There was a few minutes of silence before Jenny responded back with, "Let me talk to Bucky about that one and I'll get back to you."
Jenny's face faded from the stone. I turned to look at Jessie's expression. She was understandably shocked and astonished by my conversation with Jenny from within the memory stone.
"Who was that cat lady you were talking to just now?" Jessie asked me.
"You'll find out in a few minutes." I told Jessie. Just then Jenny's face appeared in the memory stone.
"I talked to Bucky about you wanting to introduce your new friend to us aboard the Righteous Indignation. He said he would like to meet your new friend." Jenny said.
"Excellent! I'll meet you guys there in a few minutes!" I said to Jenny. I was glad that she allowed me to introduce my Japanese American girlfriend to her and Bucky aboard the righteous indignation. I couldn't wait to show Jessie around the ship and have her meet Deadeye. Bruiser and Blinky! I turned to look at my girlfriend. I took one look at the green Kermit the frog hoodie she was still wearing and I immediately became concerned and worried.
"You may want to take off that hoodie before we go into the ship." I told Jessie.
"Why do i have to take off my hoodie for?" Jessie asked me, wanting to know why she would want to take off her Kermit the frog hoodie. I tried telling her about the evil and fascist toad empire a few weeks ago. She didn't really believe me. She found my accusations about the toad empire to be ludicrous. Who could blame her? But, she has yet to see just how evil the toad empire really is. I know how evil the toads are in the Aniverse. She doesn't. I'm worried that if she went to introduce herself to Bucky O'Hare, Jenny, Deadeye, Bruiser and Blinky aboard the Righteous Indignation wearing her Kermit the frog hoodie, things might go south. Deadeye and Bruiser might harm her or worse. I'm more worried about how Bruiser's going to react upon seeing my girlfriend wearing her Kermit hoodie. Bruiser might go berserk and try to beat the living crap out of her inadvertently, mistaking her hoodie to be that of an actual toad, which is the last thing that i need to happen to her. How would i be able to tell her mother and father about who beat her up? I can't exactly tell them that a primate the size of king Kong had unintentionally beaten her up because she wore a hoodie that featured a Muppet character that's unacceptable in that particular world.
"Because I'm afraid that they may not like your Kermit the Frog hoodie." I told Jessie, not really telling her the whole truth about the real reason why she shouldn't wear her Kermit hoodie. If only she knew about the evilness of the toad empire.
"What's wrong with me wearing a Kermit the frog hoodie while you introduce me to your space friends?" Jessie asked.
"Let's just say that my space friends are very anti amphibian." I told Jessie. I watched as she reluctantly took off her Kermit the frog hoodie leaving behind her black t-shirt that she wore underneath it. I then turned on the photon accelerator and opened up the door that led into the engineering room of the Righteous Indignation. Me and Jessie went through the door into the Righteous Indignation. I could hardly wait to introduce my girlfriend to Bucky O'Hare, Jenny, Deadeye, Bruiser and Blinky. Jessie took a moment to look around at her surroundings. She looked at all of the engines that the ship ran on. She was impressed by all of the machinery in the engineering bay. She saw a ladder that stood in front of us that led to the gunner pod and the pilots cabin of the righteous indignation. Me and Jessie were about to go toward the ladder, when suddenly, I saw Bucky starting to climb down the ladder to come greet us at the engineering bay. He stepped off the ladder to greet the both of us properly.
"Hi Harley. Who's that girl over there standing next to you?" Bucky asked me, referring to my friend Jessie who was standing next to me. I looked over to Jessie to see what her reaction toward seeing a 4 foot tall male green anthropomorphic hare would be like. She was shocked, to say the least. I'm sure see wasn't expecting to see a four foot tall green male hare wearing a red S.P.A.C.E. Outfit with yellow boots, red cape and jodphurs with yellow epaulettes on his shoulders and gloves.
"Jessie, i'd like you to meet my friend, Bucky O'Hare. Bucky, this is my Japanese american girlfriend Jessie Jun Feng." I said to Bucky, introducing my friend to Bucky.
"Kon'nichiwa, Bakki. Watashinonamaeha Jeshi Junfondesu. Hajimemashite! ("Hi Bucky. My name is Jessie Jun Feng. Nice to meet you!") Jessie said to Bucky in Japanese. Bucky had a confused look on his face, like he couldn't understand what language my friend Jessie was saying to him.
"Huh?" Bucky said. "What did she say to me? I couldn't understand a word she had said to me." I chuckled at Bucky's statement. It was clear that he had never heard anyone speak in Japanese before.
"She was speaking in Japanese, her native language. She said: hi, Bucky. My name is Jessie Jun Feng. Nice to meet you." i explained to Bucky.
"You understood what she said?" Bucky asked me. "How could you've understood what she said in that weird language of hers?"
"When you've been around a person like my friend Jessie for many years like i have, you'll begin to understand what they're saying in their native language. Trust me, when i first met her when i was a little kid, when she started speaking in Japanese, i couldn't understand a word she was saying. Fortunately, she also spoke in English as well. Slowly she started teaching me what each word meant in Japanese. The more i learned about what she was saying in Japanese, the more i began to understand what she was saying in English. Eventually, i began to understand what she was saying in Japanese through a translator. That's how I'm able to understand what she says in Japanese." I explained to Bucky.
"Wow! Sounds like speaking in Japanese is quite hard for people to do or understand." Bucky said.
"You think trying to learn how to speak in Japanese is hard to understand? Try reading in Japanese. That's a hell of a lot harder to learn than learning how to speak in Japanese." Jessie told the green rabbit.
"Do you always speak in this Japanese language?" Bucky asked Jessie.
"I'm fluent in both Japanese and English, though I am a bit fluent in Cantonese, though i don't speak in that language very much. Just know that i am very fluent in both Japanese and English and if you have any questions about my Japanese culture, feel free to ask me." Jessie said to Bucky.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Bucky said. Why don't we introduce you to the other members of my crew."
Me and Bucky then introduced Jessie to the other members of his crew aboard the ship. She was introduced to Jenny, who took an immediate liking to Jessie, Deadeye, who was immediately smitten with her. I had her shake all four of his hands. Then we introduced her to Bruiser, who wanted to hug her affectionately. He made sure to be super careful when he hugged her body so as not to accidentally hurt her with his immense strength. The last crew member of the righteous indignation that Jessie met was the android first class Blinky, who Jessie compared to the robot from the Disney and Pixar movie WALL-E and C-3PO from Star Wars.
"It's nice to meet you all!" Jessie said to Bucky, Jenny, Deadeye, Bruiser and Blinky.
"it's a pleasure for us to meet you too." Bucky said to Jessie. "How long have you two known each other for?"
"Jessie and I have been friends since kindergarten." I said to Bucky.
"That's interesting." Bucky said.
"You know, I never imagined that your friends would be a bunch of walking talking animals that fly a spaceship." Jessie told me.
"I know. I'd never imagine myself meeting a bunch of anthropomorphic animals from another dimension who are on an ongoing battle against the toad empire. I also never imagined myself becoming their engineer aboard this ship." i said.
"Hey, do you guys want to see me year my new hoodie i got? It's pretty cool!" Jessie asked Bucky and his friends.
"Sure. I would love for you to show us your hoodie. We'll be at our usual positions if you and Harley need us for anything." Bucky said to Jessie. I automatically knew which hoodie my friend Jessie was referring to: her green Kermit the frog hoodie. She doesn't know it yet, but she would soon find out how wearing toad iconography such as a Kermit the frog hoodie while in the Aniverse was a very bad idea.
Jessie then went inside the door that led inside my bedroom to locate her Kermit the frog hoodie, which was on my bed. I ran after her to try and stop her from wearing her hoodie.
"I don't think you should show that hoodie to Bucky and his crew aboard the Righteous Indignation, Jessie." I warned my friend.
"Why not?" asked Jessie, wanting to know why i didn't want her to wear that particular hoodie aboard the righteous indignation to show to Bucky O'Hare and his friends. I wasn't sure if i wanted to tell her the reason why she couldn't show her Kermit the frog hoodie to Bucky, Jenny, Deadeye, Bruiser and Blinky aboard the Righteous Indignation was because of their whole hatred towards the whole Toad Empire and everything it stood for. I doubted that she would've believed me if i told her how evil the toad empire was in the Aniverse.
"Because just take my word for it, you shouldn't show them that hoodie. They might act hostile towards it." I told Jessie, not really wanting to tell her the real reason as to why she couldn't wear her Kermit the frog hoodie to Bucky and his crew aboard the Righteous Indignation.
"What's so bad about Kermit the frog?" Jessie asked. "Do they not like The Muppets?"
"Let's just say that they don't like anything that has to do with either toads or frogs." i explained to Jessie.
"Well, I don't see what's so wrong about me showing off my Kermit hoodie to Bucky and his friends aboard his ship. I really don't see how they couldn't like Kermit the frog or the Muppets." Jessie said as she started to put her Kermit hoodie over her shirt.
"Please, I'm begging you. Please don't show your Kermit the frog hoodie to either Bucky, Jenny, Deadeye, Bruiser or Blinky when you're aboard the ship. I have a feeling that they might attack you and mistaken you for a toad if you do try to show them your Kermit the frog hoodie." i told Jessie.
"who are you to tell me what i can and cannot wear aboard your spaceship?! I can wear whatever i want aboard the righteous indignation! So what if Bucky or anyone in his crew doesn't like me wearing my Kermit the frog hoodie! I am allowed to wear whatever i want to wear! I refuse to take off my hoodie because you're afraid that your friends won't like me showing them my Kermit the frog hoodie. You are not to decide what i can and cannot wear aboard the ship, is that clear?" Jessie explosively yelled at me in anger.
I was beyond flabbergasted and stunned by the way she yelled at me just now. She never yelled at me like that before. She rarely got angry with me or anybody else. Jessie is usually for the most part a very nice and friendly person to be around with. She almost never got angry or upset with anybody she was around with. Sometimes, there would be times when Jessie was upset or disappointed with someone when things didn't exactly go her way. Usually, she'd get over it pretty quickly. In the time that i've been friends with her, i almost never saw her get angry at someone or something ever. You could my imagine my surprise and reaction toward her explosively yelling and getting angry at me. I've seen enough Japanese media to know that you should never mess with a Japanese girl who is angry with someone.
"it's clear, Jessie." i reluctantly said to my Japanese-American friend. I didn't want to argue with her further about whether or not she could show Bucky and his friends her Kermit the frog hoodie aboard the Righteous Indignation.
I did my best to try and prevent her from brining her Kermit the frog hoodie along with her when she met Bucky O'Hare, Jenny, Deadeye, Bruiser and Blinky aboard the Righteous Indignation. She would soon learn the hard way on why i told her to not to wear her Kermit the frog hoodie aboard the Righteous Indignation in front of Bucky Deadeye or Bruiser. I watched her as she walked through the door that led to the engineering bay of the righteous indignation and closed the door behind her. I meanwhile just sat there on my bed with my sister Emily. I feared for what was about to happen to Jessie next. I seriously hope that neither Deadeye or Bruiser saw Jessie wearing her Kermit the frog hoodie and not mistaken the hoodie for a real toad and attack her. I prayed that it would go smoothly between Jessie, deadeye and bruiser when she showed them her Kermit the frog hoodie.
My fears about what would happen to my friend Jessie when she showed the crew of the Righteous Indignation her Kermit the frog hoodie were soon realized when a few minutes later i saw Jessie burst through the door running away from a berserk Betelgeusian baboon and a trigger happy four armed gun toting duck very fast. I'll never forget the look of fear that was on my friend Jessie's face as she run through the door from the engineering bay of the righteous indignation to my bedroom. It was a look of pure terror that I've never seen Jessie feel before. I could see Bruiser the Betelgeusian Berserker Baboon along with Deadeye chasing after her, with Deadeye firing his guns at her while they were chasing after her. They all bolted out of my room. I could hear Bruiser's signature battle cry as they ran downstairs chasing after her. I knew i had to find some way to stop both bruiser and deadeye from attacking my girlfriend. One you got to know about a Betelgeusian berserker baboon is that once they go berserk, its usually pretty hard to try and calm them down from their rampage. Usually, you would have to find a banana nearby to distract them from their rampage in order to get them to stop being berserk. Its like trying to distract the Incredible Hulk with a cute teddy bear to get him to revert back to Bruce Banner.
I ran out of my room and down the stairs to try and find where bruiser, Jessie and deadeye were at. They could be anywhere inside the house. I soon heard the sound of my friend Jessie screaming in terror along with bruiser's battle cry. I wanted to know where it came from. It was coming from the outside deck. I saw both bruiser and deadeye beating the living shit out of Jessie. They were punching and kicking her while she was screaming loudly from the pain that they were inflicting onto her body. I knew that i had to get bruiser to stop beating up my friend Jessie long enough for me to take the Kermit the frog hoodie off of her safely.
Luckily all i have to do to calm a Betelgeusian berserker baboon like Bruiser down was to give him a banana and that'll calm him down enough to where he won't be angry anymore. I went into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator to find the bananas. I located the bananas in the crisper section on the bottom of the refrigerator. I grabbed a banana from the bunch and closed the refrigerator door behind me with a banana in my hands to give to Bruiser to get him to stop beating Jessie long enough for me to be able to take off the Kermit hoodie from her body.
I quickly ran over to bruiser and deadeye, who were still beating up on Jessie relentlessly. I decided to give the banana to bruiser to get him to calm down and have him stop beating up my girlfriend. I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey Bruiser! You want a banana! I've got a banana for you!" i told bruiser, who turned his head to find me standing there behind him holding a banana in my hand. His eyes lit up upon seeing the banana in my hand and he immediately got excited like a little kid. I then threw it out into the living room as fast as i could; i watched Bruiser chase after it into the living room. I then quickly ran over to Jessie who was on the floor, crying her eyes out. I decided to quickly take off the green Kermit the frog hoodie from her body before she got beaten up by Bruiser anymore. I took off the hoodie from her body. It was then that i had gotten to see the full extent of what Bruiser had inflicted onto her body.
There were bruises and cuts all over her body, on her arms and legs. Her eyes were black and swollen, specifically her eyelids. Her nose was pouring blood that ran down her mouth and chin. Tears were streaming out of her eyes. Her right arm was broken. She looked horrible. I had never seen her get beaten up by anybody to that extent before. She looked like she was a couple of punches away from death. She looked like as if she had gone through twelve rounds of a competitive boxing match. I couldn't believe how badly bruiser had beaten her over a misunderstanding involving a Kermit the frog hoodie that i had told her specifically not to wear because i knew how angry Bruiser gets when he sees toads or any toad iconography, but she didn't listen to me and she got accidentally beaten up by Bruiser, who had mistaken her Kermit the frog hoodie for her being a toad in disguise because of the way the hoodie was designed to resemble an actual toad with the eyes on top of the hoodie being a dead giveaway. I cradled her body in my arms as she continued to cry because of the intense pain that she had felt throughout her body. I heard Bruiser walk back into the dining room where he stood beside me. Bruiser picked up the Kermit the frog hoodie up from the floor and held it up in his hands, looking at it and Jessie before realized that the toad that he thought he was beating up wasn't a toad at all but a hoodie that had looked like it was a toad. That the person that he beating up wasn't a toad but a teenage human Japanese-American girl who had dressed up like a toad as a part of her clothing. I turned my head toward the baboon, who was obviously shocked and upset at the fact that he had mistaken my friend Jessie for a toad because of the Kermit the frog hoodie that she wore in the hopes of showing it off to Bucky O'Hare and his crew aboard the Righteous Indignation.
"WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO HER?!" I explosively yelled at Bruiser before turning my head back to Jessie's badly injured body as i cried over her broken and battered body.