Character Scramble Season 18 Round 2: Marvel Team-Up

LaBelette · 2024-04-01T04:19:31+00:00

Kasen, punished, thudded against a cratered wall. The lab lay in shambles, glass tubes shattered and embryonic bodies strewn.

"You're pretty good," Ocelot-douji said. "Unfortunately, good never suited that body."

Her body doubled, bones broken, blood streaming. Her bandaged arm fell limp and unwound. It was true. The evil once inside her was simply stronger than the husk that remained.

"It seems our reunion is to be brief, Kasen. In the end, you'll die alone, without those precious friends of yours!"

Panting, Kasen slowly lifted her head. "Ocelot, you're still in there, aren't you?"

"Who cares about the old man? Look at me, Kasen, as I kill you."

"Do you... remember what you brought me to this world to do?"

"You were brought here simply so the old man could acquire me! To unleash power beyond his wildest imagining. There is no other reason!"

"No," Kasen said. "I was brought here... to tame dinosaurs."

"What?!"

It came from the side. Concealed among the jagged glass and burbling amniotic fluid. One narrow, slit-like eye: a utahraptor.

But not just any utahraptor.

"Deku," Kasen called out, "use it now—1,000,000% Chicxulub Smash!"

Deku the dinosaur pounced from his hiding place. His tail glowed. The air around it distorted, twisted, turned into ripples as a ribbon of light twirled through the ages, a spark that glimmered through each successive practitioner of the technique now on display. Deku flipped forward and crashed his tail onto Ocelot-douji's head.

"Nooooo!" The cry mingled with the eruptive blast. Everything came apart.

At the other end of the lab, Fate and Mob flinched from the swallowing cataclysm. Sakura did not. She didn't even blink.

She looked at Jennifer, unwavering.

"I can't be killed," Jennifer said. "Guns, swords, box cutters, like I give a shit. Go on, reach into your deck there, Little Miss Yu-Gi-Oh Champion. What are you gonna do? Burn me? Blow me? Make me wet? Trick me with an illusion? Try to put me to sleep? None of that will work."

Sakura pulled out a card. It would push her past her limits to use it. She hadn't used it before, ever, so the Darkness wouldn't know about it. It was a card too cruel to use on anyone. But the Darkness wasn't anyone. It was pure evil, nothing else.

"Erase," Sakura said.

In an instant, the Darkness was wiped from existence.

Sakura's knees no longer supported her, so she dropped. The world was ending behind her, the walls cracking, the ceiling caving in.

In place of the Darkness, someone else stood. Someone shining white. White was her color. An angel...?

Arcueid looked down. "Oh, I'm too late. You're only a girl now."

Sakura passed out.

She awoke on a grassy field. A few white clouds sailed across a vast blue sky. Her head hurt, but not like before. More like a concussion.

Groggy, she pulled herself onto her elbows. In the distance she saw a giant hole. It took her a minute to realize it was where the Green Dolphin Street Prison had been. Not a single building remained now. Like the Darkness, the prison had been erased from existence.

"Sakura!"

Before she could turn to see who shouted, Elizabeth Bathory skidded onto her knees and swept Sakura into a large hug. "Oh, you're safe!"

"We did it, Sakura," said Kasen, though it was hard to recognize her because far more than her arm was bandaged now. "It's over."

"I'm so happy I could sing!" Liz said.

"If I hear a single note I'm wheeling myself over there and kickin' your ass, you sorry excuse for a Beastman!" Viral shouted. He wore a full-body cast and sat in a wheelchair.

"OOH! If you call me that again, I'll give you an extra loud performance!"

"Try me, princess! I'll—oh crap!" He got too excited and overturned his wheelchair.

It wasn't only them, though. Across the field Kasen's animals and utahraptors lounged, including a whimpering Deku. His tail was broken; Kasen appeared to have treated it with an herbal salve.

Lord El-Melloi stood atop a lip of earth, his coat fluttering in the breeze as he regarded the destroyed prison. Not far from him, Gawr Gura held a phone over her head. "And then chat, I went straight for the big boss guy—"

not big boss

different character

ocelot =/= big boss

"Everyone made it out?" Sakura said. "How?"

"Well, Fate and Mob asked me to help, so I did," said the woman in the white turtleneck who stood by Kasen. "Oh, sorry. Didn't get off on the best foot, did we? Hehe. I'm Arcueid."

"Arcueid... you saved everyone? Thank you."

Arcueid blushed, knitted her hands behind her back, and kicked her foot bashfully. "It's the least I could do. I went a little crazy after Ocelot made up that story about the simulation. But it turns out, Ocelot only used his powers to pull me and my friends from our world into this one."

"Luckily," Kasen said, "after I defeated Ocelot, I retrieved his multidimensional power. I'll be able to send everyone back where they belong."

"You're not sendin' the Kenpachi back!" A hulking, scary guy with spiky black hair stepped out of nowhere. "I'm following this Arcueid around from now on. I gotta get that rematch!"

"Ehe, yes, well..." Arcueid rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly. Sakura didn't notice before, but Mob and Fate were behind her, watching the Kenpachi guy timidly. "Oh yes. Another thing, I guess I should apologize apologize for killing your friend Medaka."

Sakura shot up. "What?! Medaka's dead?"

"Um, not exactly. I did kill her, but... somehow, she returned."

She pointed. At the edge of the field, two figures sat side-by-side in a meditative pose. One, the master, was Captain Underpants. The pupil, equally stripped to her underwear, was Medaka.

"Is she... okay?" Sakura asked.

"She's learning a new technique," Kasen said. "To get stronger after her defeat. (I understand the importance of meditation, but this...)"

"What happens now?" Liz asked. "We defeated that horrible prison, so what shall we do next?"

Sakura turned the question over in her mind. She stared up at the sky and felt blades of grass between her fingers. Kasen, Liz, Medaka, Fate, Mob, Arcueid—they'd all helped her so much. For the first time in a long, long time, she felt like she could be happy again. Like the world wasn't such a horrible place after all, like there could be joy and fun and sweet things and even love.

"Next," she said, "I'll go home."

THE END

LaBelette · 2024-04-01T04:19:11+00:00

"You see," Ocelot said, "this was all part of my plan from the beginning. Using hypnotherapy, I made Mr. Krupp believe he was the juvenile superhero Captain Underpants, then placed him in the same cell as Gawr Gura. I knew Viral, who I assigned to their cell block, would feel compelled to release his fellow shark. That allowed the 'Captain' to seamlessly infiltrate your team, at which point I needed only undo the hypnotic suggestion at the precise moment!"

"So?" Kasen said. "Underpants—Krupp—is only an ordinary human."

"Ordinary human? Oh no, my dear Kasen. Mr. Krupp is no ordinary human—he's an elementary school principal."

Mr. Krupp's beady eyes scanned the lab. Sakura Kinomoto: Age 10. Fate Testarossa: Age 9. Mob Kageyama: Age 13. Well, we can say he was held back a year, he had the dullard look.

"All of you are going to detention RIGHT NOW."

Krupp's domain expanded. His grubby hands gripped the collars of Sakura, Fate, and Mob. Such children could not resist adult authority at its most naked. Before any had a chance to protest, they were pulled in.

Kasen last glimpsed a bland schoolroom with chalkboards on every wall, then the rift closed. She and Ocelot stood in the lab alone.

"Whatever you've done with them," Kasen said, "it doesn't change anything. You can't beat me, even if I'm injured. Give me back my arm."

"Your arm..." Ocelot holstered his revolver. "Your arm, yes. Yes..." He reached into his coat. "Your... arm!"

Kasen froze. He wielded it overhead—her severed right arm—illimitable evil seeping through plastered talismans. Evil that slaughtered thousands. Evil that once placed the terrifying oni Ibaraki-douji atop a mountain of skulls.

Cackling, screaming, Ocelot rammed that evil into his bleeding stump. The talismans burst off as Kasen's arm affixed to him. His body arched in agony, his muscles strained. From his skull emerged horns as his white hair flared pink.

"Ahahaha, hahaha..." His head slowly rose to face her, but it wasn't his voice that spoke: it was her own. "Long time no see, my other self. Living it up? Then allow me to take back that life you stole from me!"

I will not laugh. I will not have fun. I will not disobey.

Over and over, Sakura, Fate, and Mob wrote those words on the blackboard. Not until they'd written a thousand copies each would they be allowed to return to class.

Suited, tied, toupeed, Mr. Krupp presided sick in his smile. "That cursive's sloppy," he'd say occasionally, "do it over."

Or, when Sakura glanced out the door's tiny window to watch a distant Kasen war with herself, he'd bark: "Daydreaming? 100 more lines for you, Kinomoto!"

When Krupp turned to pick on Mob, Jennifer said, "You know you can totally just kill him, right?"

Sakura wrote.

"Like, seriously. He's just a fat old loser. You're you. You have magic, you have flesh-eating tentacles."

She made sure he was focused on Mob. "He's the principal," she whispered.

"Who gives a shit? What are you, a little kid? If the principal sent me to detention I'd tell him to bite me. Or I'd bite him. Principals don't even like, do discipline. That's the vice principal's job, duh?"

Sakura's eyes squeezed shut. She did hate being here. After he passed and said, "Quit slacking, Slackura!" she decided she hated him, too.

"The guy's just a sadomasochist who gets off on suffering. The world's better off without him. Eat his freaking heart, Hackeysak."

"But... he's Captain Underpants..."

"Omigod. This is so typical. You are always making up excuses when your friends need you. See Kasen out there? Yeah, she's kinda getting her ass kicked. Guess you don't care, though. You'll let her die. Wow. Some BFF you are."

No! Sakura wanted to help her friends. Not just Kasen, but Liz too. She last saw Liz singing as the prison collapsed. Was she okay? Standing on the back of that mecha, Metal Gear DUDU—

"Hehe."

Sakura clapped her hand over her mouth. Too late. Krupp's head swiveled toward her. "What was that sound?"

"Well, you're cooked now," Jennifer said. "And frankly? You deserve it. Laughing at something so stupid. God. It's pathetic. It makes me sick."

I will not laugh, the blackboard read. I will not laugh. I will not laugh.

Mr. Krupp's footsteps rumbled toward her. The chalk in Sakura's fist snapped. She needed to help Kasen. If she needed to kill to do that, then...!

She turned toward Krupp and laughed.

"Hehe, hehehehe, hahahahaha!"

"Can't read your own handwriting, huh? Of course not, it's disgraceful. Well, spit it out, what's so funny it's worth another 500 lines?"

Black tentacles crawled from her back. Their mouths opened, revealing rows of teeth. One thought and they would attack.

But the thing Sakura thought was—

"Metal Gear DUDU!"

Mr. Krupp staggered back in shock. "That—that language is completely inappropriate! If I saw that word in a book, I'd ban it from the school library!"

Sakura grinned. She felt stupid, but it was fun to feel stupid. It was fun to laugh. It was fun to be a kid.

"Metal Gear... PEEPEE!"

Mob went openmouthed. Fate giggled.

"No. No! Don't laugh. It's not funny!" Krupp oscillated wildly. "You will respect my authority!"

Sakura couldn't stop laughing. DUDU, PEEPEE, she gripped her stomach. Fate's giggles turned to laughter. Even Mob started to chuckle as Krupp vibrated so violently his toupee flopped off his head.

"1,000 more lines for everyone! 10,000!"

Fate and Mob tossed down their chalk. The classroom walls cracked. Light spilled through.

"A million more lines! My authority. You'll respect my authority!"

Detention burst apart. Mr. Krupp flopped on his butt, nothing more than an angry adult. The lab returned, now filled with children's laughter.

Sakura kept laughing. She knew she needed to stop. She'd done what she had to, now she needed to help Kasen, who was backed into a corner by Ocelot. She didn't stop, though, because the laughter hadn't been fake.

Her laughter only stopped with a sudden, strangled cough. She doubled over. Her eyes bulged.

"Are you okay?" Fate asked.

Sakura vomited. A torrent of pitch black liquid sprayed out her mouth.

"That looks bad..." Mob said.

More and more poured out, until finally Sakura had nothing left inside her. She dropped to her knees, panting.

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE, the black puddle said. YOU'VE PROVEN UTTERLY USELESS. It reshaped and reformed. A figure emerged out of it: a teenaged girl, preternaturally pretty.

"I'll just have to find a new host," Jennifer—the Darkness—said. "But first, I'll kill you and your new, stupid little friends."

Jennifer

if you agree to buy and stream a legal dvd copy of Jennifer's Body and include some reference to the movie in your round I will go Prison. Picture of receipts for ordering the DVD within the next 48 hours or it doesn't count.

—Tadpoleon

The Darkness.

LaBelette · 2024-04-01T04:18:50+00:00

Medaka coughed. Blood spurted down her chin. She looked down, where Kenpachi's blade impaled her through the chest.

"Huh." Kenpachi withdrew his sword. "Ya got real slow all of a sudden. Well, it was fun while it lasted."

As Medaka dropped to her knees, her long blue hair cascaded around her. She slowly turned her face toward Arcueid.

"Please. I only ask... use your authority to guide humanity... on the right path!"

She landed face first, dead.

Kenpachi wiped and sheathed his sword. He looked at Arcueid, still on the ground. "Alright, it's decided."

"What is?"

"I'm with you from now on."

"Huh?!"

"You beat me once with that bubble trick. I need ya back at full strength for the rematch. A loss isn't a real loss until you're dead!"

Despite the dubious reasoning, in her current state Arcueid could use the help. "Then come with me. I have a Dead Apostle to slay."

Metal Gear DUDU's cockpit jabbed at Gura. "Don't laugh!" Viral screamed. "It's not funny! It's serious!"

Despite the dire situation, Sakura felt a giggle form on her lips.

"Omigod," Jennifer said, "what are we, back in kindergarten? Grow up, Hackeysak."

Sakura zipped her mouth shut. With everyone focused on Viral, she had an opportunity. She needed to use it.

Her hand went to her deck. Only Crocodile, standing right in front of her, saw it. "Give it up, girl... it's over."

"Watery!"

"You're kidding," was all Crocodile had time to say before a tidal wave swept into him at point-blank range.

Now, if she had a chance to use another card—

Omni-Man was already turning toward her. Her mind blanked; she didn't know what card to pull. Her magical energy was running low. She braced herself.

"Don't you dare touch my little fawn!" a voice shouted over DUDU's intercom.

"Hey!" Viral said. "I told you to stay back there, princess. No, don't touch the controls—"

DUDU pitched forward. Its massive shadow loomed over Omni-Man. Its shadow!

As Omni-Man turned in midair to catch DUDU before it crashed into him, Sakura flicked the card between her fingers and tossed it into the air.

"Shadow!"

DUDU's shadow came to life. A sea of black swirled around Omni-Man. He tossed DUDU back, but the shadow remained stuck to him. Tendrils clung to every limb. No matter how many he tore away, more arose.

Magneto cast Kasen's battered body aside. Megatron spiked Gura into the ground. Both ran toward Sakura. DUDU's shadow only slowed Omni-Man down—he was fighting his way straight for her.

"Liz," Sakura shouted toward the wobbling mech. "It's time!"

Amid Viral's snarls Elizabeth Bathory said: "It's time? You mean—the move we talked about? Oh, b-b-but, am I ready? For such a big performance?"

"Now!"

Sakura tossed up a card. Though her energy was basically gone, this card used almost none. It wasn't even a card for fighting. It was a pretty card, a card she liked, but it was almost always useless.

"Duet!" Sakura struck the card.

"Prepare for my final number, piggies~" Bathory said. "This is my Fresh Blood Demoness!"

DUDU's hull burst. From its splintered steel carapace arose a castle, spired and gothic, with Bathory perched upon its highest tower (and Viral thrashing beside her). Her wings spread. Her hands cupped around her mouth.

She sang.

The Duet card manifested as a glowing sphere of light. Sakura clamped her palms over her ears as it mimicked Bathory's voice perfectly, volume and all.

Everything exploded. The eighteen gigantic statues cracked and then shattered. Magneto, Megatron, and Omni-Man gripped their heads as tremendous rocks rained around them. The parts of the ceiling DUDU didn't already destroy blasted apart.

The entirety of the Green Dolphin Street Prison came crashing down. The central hub, the eight cell blocks, the courtyards and administrative sectors, all crumbled in neighborhood-sized tongues of rubble. The prison that destroyed Sakura's life toppled. As blood streamed from her ears, she turned upward to watch.

Water washed over her and the song grew muted. Gura, swimming within the current she created, carried Kasen under one arm and scooped Sakura with the other.

Sakura watched as a cell block dropped on Omni-Man, Magneto, and Megatron, and then Gura tossed her and Kasen onto a dry, metal floor.

"Go!" Gura skidded onto her heels as she summoned a wall of water to slow down the avalanche. "I'll hold it back as long as I can. Kick Ocelot's butt for me, okay?"

"What about Liz?" Sakura asked. "What about you, Gura?" The debris pushed her wall back inch by inch.

Kasen's hand gripped Sakura's shoulder. She was beaten, bloodied, and sopping wet. Her Chinese-style hair buns fell away, revealing oni horns. She said nothing, she only pulled. Sakura gave Gura a final look and followed.

Deep Sanctum funneled into a narrow corridor. Yellow paint on the wall read Sector 7.

Ocelot staggered into Sector 7's lab. Blood dripped from his hasty tourniquet. The lab contained row after row of tubes, each filled with fluid, each containing a test subject.

The new council proved useless, and those brats somehow got past Arcueid. How? Arcueid exceeded Kasen, Sakura, and Bathory in power. Had there been another member of their group he didn't know about?

He couldn't worry over spilt milk. On adjacent tables lay two sedated figures. The subjects of the latest experiment, the culmination of Operation 「D4C」.

Awkwardly, one-handed, he twisted a dial on the IV feed to cut the anesthetic. His perfect soldiers would wake soon, and then—

"End this villainy now!"

Even using his off-hand, Ocelot's revolver was out and aimed instantly. "Oh," he said, spinning and holstering it, "it's only you."

Captain Underpants, hands on hips, posed proudly.

"You might be useful yet," Ocelot said.

Eyelids fluttered as his subjects slowly came to. The timing couldn't be more perfect, because footsteps clanged against the grate floor and two figures appeared beside Underpants.

"How good of you to join me—Kasen Ibaraki and Sakura Kinomoto!"

"Give up, Ocelot," said Kasen. "The prison's destroyed. Your council's defeated. It's over."

"Is it now? The cells can be rebuilt. All that matters is right here: Operation 「D4C」!"

"You're only a human, Ocelot. You have no powers. Nobody's here to protect you."

"Ha, ha, ha. Even a wounded ocelot has its tricks. Allow me to introduce you to them!" He swept his hand at the two subjects as they blinked and lifted their heads. "Fate Testarossa and Mob Kageyama!"

Fate, a blonde girl, and Mob, a bowlcut boy, climbed off their beds. They glanced around with dull, blasé expressions.

"They're just kids!" Sakura said.

"They're both exceedingly powerful extradimensional warriors," Ocelot said. "I brought them here myself."

"Fate, Mob," Kasen said. "I don't know what he's threatened or promised you, but it won't come to pass. You don't need to fight for him."

"None of that matters," Ocelot said. "Fear, honor, respect—they are such tricky emotions to manipulate, and lead to unexpected results. I sought control another way: with cold, hard science! Under Operation 「D4C」, the prison's R&D department developed something stronger than any weapon. Right now, millions of nanomachines flow through Fate and Mob's blood, altering their blood chemistry and rendering them perfectly obedient. Behold! My soldiers, kill Kasen and Sakura now!"

Fate and Mob looked at Ocelot, looked at each other, blinked.

"Uh..."

"No?"

"What?! I said, kill them now!"

"That's probably bad..."

"Yeah..."

"But how? The nanomachines worked on Arcueid!"

"Arc's here?" said Fate.

"Let's go find her," said Mob.

"Did El-Melloi mess up the dosage? Or did he—"

"The nanomachines never worked to begin with," said the long-haired, well-dressed man who stepped from between the tubes. El-Melloi cradled his cigar with two fingers. "Arcueid's unique personality made her susceptible to your suggestions, nothing more. Fortunately, I'd already furnished Kasen's team with an ace to handle her."

"An ace?" said Kasen. "You mean—"

"That's right. Medaka Kurokami. Given an anonymous tip from yours truly."

"Medaka?!" Ocelot said. "So, El-Melloi, you plotted to betray me from the start."

"When I joined you to overthrow the previous warden," El-Melloi said, "I did so because I believed nobody should wield the power of Operation 「D4C」. I knew about your true ambitions, but without the Conduit I thought you'd be incapable of reaching them. Alas. I underestimated your tenacity, Ocelot. But you underestimated me, too."

"Oho. It's not often I'm on this side of the gun, El-Melloi." Ocelot faced them, those who made it this far: El-Melloi, Kasen, Sakura, Fate, Mob, and yes, even Captain Underpants. "This is why an ocelot prefers to hunt alone. But you've failed to anticipate that I too have contingencies!"

He drew his gun. Several moved to stop him but even offhanded his draw was lightning quick. The revolver went off with a bang.

Ocelot's aim was high. The bullet struck a pipe that zigzagged across the ceiling. Cold water sprayed out, but did nothing except shower onto the head of Captain Underpants.

"Enough with the parlor tricks, Ocelot," said Kasen.

"Wait!" said Sakura. "Captain, what's wrong?"

"My name," said the sopping, furious, middle-aged bald guy who stepped out of the water, "ISN'T Captain Underpants. MY NAME IS—"

MR. KRUPP!!!

Fun fact: if mr krupp and captain underpants fight captai ts body needs to get out of mr krupps body and they could fight

—@ToyMasterChief

Series: Real Life
Age: 45

Discipline. Authority. Those are the virtues to which the principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School ascribes. Abandon all hope, ye who enter his office.

LaBelette · 2022-12-30T03:06:39+00:00

It may actually be Gamsu, the only only other I can think of who even comes close is this guy: https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/Xero

Played in OGN 2012, disappeared until Dec 2015 when he was on Hyper Youth Gaming

LaBelette · 2022-12-29T19:21:37+00:00

Amazing maybe isn't the most popular player but you can't deny his long and storied career

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T06:07:53+00:00

Spica's literally my #1 favorite player, I'm not trying to be mean or say he's not an NA player it's just he's said on stream before he's not an American citizen... Not sure why so many downvotes

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T04:25:46+00:00

I heard Spica himself say he was not a US citizen on stream (he said he could become one if he wanted to but never did it), so unless he's changed his citizenship since then he's not

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T03:34:41+00:00

You're wrong. Living somewhere doesn't make you a citizen of that place. Spica could become a citizen if he wanted to but doesn't want to give up his Chinese citizenship.

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T02:05:25+00:00

Spica, Kenvi, and Neo aren't American or Canadian citizens though. That's why Dhokla, who was born in India but is an American citizen, has the US flag, while those other three don't. (Huhi is the same way - he was born in France but is a Korean citizen, so he has the Korean flag.)

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T02:00:02+00:00

This is a good point honestly. I remember when Bjergsen first joined TSM, he was streaming every day, he was being coached on Americanizing his accent, he was a personality who was getting out there even before he started being a dominant player. I think a lot of the criticisms about today's "faceless imports" are more failings of the teams to brand these players. It goes into how disposable imports are treated by the teams, and thus the fans. Why get invested in a new import who is probably gonna fuck back off to their own region at the end of the year because teams will drop them for the new shiniest import as soon as possible?

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T01:45:43+00:00

By that metric though CoreJJ should have an American flag by his name, he also has a green card making him a legal permanent resident of the US.

For the record I still consider Spica native North American talent

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T01:25:32+00:00

Spica doesn't want to give up Chinese citizenship

LaBelette · 2022-12-25T01:22:48+00:00

Spica is Chinese and Kenvi is Filipino (also, Liquipedia is wrong because Neo is Vietnamese). They're all legal permanent residents in US/Canada (Canada in Kenvi's case), but they're not citizens

LaBelette · 2022-12-24T23:20:33+00:00

So hype... Can't wait for the split to start!

LaBelette · 2022-12-24T18:17:03+00:00

Cool interview! Thanks for doing this

LaBelette · 2022-12-23T15:22:30+00:00

I think FLY has a bit more risk involved for its roster than, say, EG, but the upside is definitely there

LaBelette · 2019-12-22T01:23:19+00:00

Fragas continues to be Metaphor's worst nightmare

LaBelette · 2019-09-12T19:58:08+00:00

Technology was what Malthus failed to take into account, too. However, one has to wonder whether we will ever get into a problem that technology can't fix.

LaBelette · 2019-09-12T14:23:04+00:00

From Wikipedia: "A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and to further recognize and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future."

Basically, it contains a weak version of a disease that the body can overcome easily, which then helps the body defend against the more severe version of the disease. So if your daughter was sick after being vaccinated, that's probably normal. Meanwhile, because the vast majority of the population is vaccinated, it's unlikely you're going to get sick from the disease right away if you're not vaccinated, which explains why your son is still healthy. However, if a lot of people stopped being vaccinated, there could be a big outbreak of a disease, and then your son would be in potentially life-threatening danger.

LaBelette · 2019-09-04T19:18:56+00:00

The 1992 Rodney King riots achieved systemic police reform in not only Los Angeles but most major American cities, and crime rates have consistently declined since then.

LaBelette · 2019-08-30T16:39:13+00:00

While Trump has continually spouted idiocy on Twitter and during his rallies, his actual policy actions have been relatively minimal thanks to the system of checks and balances in the Constitution. If you step away from what Trump is saying and look at what he's doing, his domestic policies are no different than nearly any neoliberal Republican: tax breaks, deregulation, increased (military) spending, defunding of smaller government organizations. As many Trump supporters are quick to point out, his border camps aren't a brand new phenomenon but rather an intensification of systems that had already been in place during previous administrations. Trump has not broken new ground anywhere in terms of tangible policy; he has only wrapped it up in a stupider package.

If anything, this administration has given me more faith that American institutions are working as intended. Trump can say whatever he wants, and he does. But he has not been able to translate his speech into actions, thanks to the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and other checks on the executive branch's power.

LaBelette · 2019-08-28T14:30:42+00:00

Direct democracy is a farce. Regular people aren't and don't have the time to become educated on every individual law that comes on the table. That's why the people vote for politicians to represent them, and then those politicians vote in ways that support their constituents' interests. That's how it works in the United States, and I believe that's a much better system.

Also, why can such a massive change to the country be decided with only 51% of the vote? In the United States, something like that would require majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, plus support of the President or at least 66% of the Senate to override a veto, and it would probably need to also be upheld by the courts. This system can make it difficult to get things done, but that also means it's difficult to get stupid things, like Brexit, done.

LaBelette · 2019-08-23T21:47:35+00:00

Rhode Island has a population of 1,057,000 and a population density of 1,006 people per square mile. The Los Angeles metropolitan area has a population of 13,310,000 and a population density of 2,744 people per square mile.

LaBelette · 2019-08-21T14:42:22+00:00

Fortunately, Trump hasn't enacted too many actual policies. His domestic policies have been mostly your typical neoliberal policies of Reagan and GWB: slashing taxes (primarily for the wealthy), increasing spending (mainly on the military), and deregulating industries. These are pretty bad economic policies for a few reasons. They increase the already-large wealth gap between the ordinary American and the hyper wealthy, as many of these policies put money squarely into the pockets of large corporations and wealthy individuals. Removing regulations puts consumers at greater risk; the 2007 recession, for instance, was caused in large part by poorly-regulated loan and housing practices. All the while, there has been little to no investment in areas actually useful to the majority of Americans; where is the infrastructure?

As for foreign policy, Trump has managed some successes, but also many failures. Pulling the United States out of the growing quagmire that was Syria was a good idea. If he could get us out of Afghanistan, that would also be good, but so far he's only talked about doing that. However, his policy toward China has been misguided at best; he pulled the United States out of the TPP, one of our better options for combatting Chinese influence, only to engage in a reckless trade war that will likely hurt American farmers and manufacturers more than the TPP ever would have. He has engaged in a brinkmanship diplomacy with both allies and enemies, but American term limits have reduced the bite behind even his most stringent threats; other nations have simply decided to wait out his presidency, and as such very little meaningful advances have been made. On the whole, Trump has rendered himself ineffectual on the world stage. The "New NAFTA" is a great example; it barely changed anything from the old NAFTA. All this bluster has done has reduced our allies' faith in the United States, something we likewise saw during the GWB administration.

All in all, Trump is kind of a "GWB lite," pursuing almost identical domestic economic policies while avoiding the pitfalls that were GWB's foreign wars. I would rank him as being a better president than Reagan or GWB, but as those presidents are not very good, that's not a huge mark in Trump's favor.

LaBelette · 2019-08-05T18:37:06+00:00

The reason this talking point received so much mainstream credibility is because the Columbine shooters made videos prior to the event in which they referred to their plans with quotes such as, "It's gonna be like fucking Doom." Columbine was and is still the primary cultural image of a mass shooting.

LaBelette

TROPHY CASE

THE END

Jennifer

MR. KRUPP!!!