XPost: alt.comics.lnh

VOICEOVER GUY: Last time!

[Jun turns and looks up as two women walk in. Both are older, one strong and tall, the other stout and soft. They look down with soft, knowing smiles, and Jun blinks in surprise.]

JUN: ...Mom? Mama?

VOICEOVER GUY: This time!

JUN: [flailing arms] Oh my *god* all this bonkers stuff is happening and this guy came thru the TV and said all the Netheroes are gonna die! And I got this cool thing [holds up bracer] but I couldn't transform and he got hurt and I gotta help him!

MOM: It's okay, dear, we've given you a li'l of our time! [gives a big thumbs- up]

MAMA: [rolls her eyes, grinning] Let me see that... ahhhh, I see. There's no Runestone.

JUN: No what now?

[Jun's Mama steps over to ShiShadow's mid-fall body and points to his arm; he wears a similar golden bracer, with a flat, hexagonal piece of iron pyrite on it; etched on the pyrite in black is a symbol, like the Nethero symbol but with a big X-in-a-circle over it.]

MAMA: The Runestones are crystalline lattices etched with symbolic links to the flow of the meta-narrative.

JUN: [blinks] ...ah?

MOM: Think of it as like... [thinks for a moment] Like a compass, pointed towards your world, that can always help you get back home!

MAMA: [throwing her hands up in the air] Let me guess, ShiShadow thought one would just *appear* or something.

MOM: Here you go, dear.

[She hands Jun a similar hexagonal stone, with a fancy, serifed backwards number
one, with curly swirly lines in the middle.]

MOM: This is the Runestone of Runiverse Negative One, the world we live in.

MAMA: Place it in your Joined Arm Catalyzer, and say, "Crisis Modify!"

[Jun fiddles it around, turning it one way, then the other, finally slipping it into the bracer, and raises the whole thing in the air!]

JUN: CRISIS...

[Jun swings the bracer'd arm around in a big circle, ending up pointing at the ceiling!]

JUN: MODIFY!

[Ribbons of red, green, and white flutter in out of nowhere, wrapping around Jun
in a secure embrace! They explode, revealing a suit of armor patterned after a three-piece suit, with an armored knee-length skirt and a helmet with a smiling faceplace, all in plaid! A plaid umbrella falls into the outstretched hand, and Jun spins around, putting the point on the ground and resting both hands on the handle!]

JUN: MasterPlaid! Guardian of the world of imagination!

マスタプラド
[MASTERPLAID]
[they/them]

[Jun's Mom and Jun's Mama both applaud wildly!]

MASTERPLAID: Aaaaaaa it worked! Thank you!

[Jun runs into their arms and they share an enormous hug]

MASTERPLAID: [pulling back] But, like. Mom... Mama... how do you *know* all this? Are you, like, super-gods or ultra-spirits or some kind of angels watching
over the world?

MOM: [enigmatic smile] We'll tell you when you're older, dear.

MASTERPLAID: [rolls eyes, sticks out tongue] Sheesh!

MAMA: And I'm afraid we can't help you from here.

MASTERPLAID: Why not!?

MOM: Remember the first day of school? You were so sad to get on the bus, but you trusted us. And by the end of the day you'd made so many friends.

MASTERPLAID: [kinda pouty] I *guess*...

MAMA: Now...

[She walks over to the still-midair ShiShadow and puts her hand on his Runestone. Golden light spreads out from her hand over his body, and in a flash he disappears.]

MASTERPLAID: Oh gosh. Where'd he go?

MAMA: Back home - he'll be alright. We can't send you there, tho, but if you like, you can head out and find him.

MASTERPLAID: [confused and intrigued] Head out?

MOM: [points at the staticy screen] Thru there.

MASTERPLAID: oooh. Where does that go?

MOM: [shrugs!] No idea!

MASTERPLAID: [wide-eyed, quietly] ...aaaaaa...

MAMA: Remember, if you get in over your head, you can always come home.

MASTERPLAID: ...right! [sudden confidence] A Nethero would go out and find him and make things better!

[Jun walks up to the screen, peers into it, sticks one finger in; with a quiet fuzzing noise, it disappears, then reappears after Jun pulls back. Jun turns around and waves to his parents.]

MASTERPLAID: Bye! See you after the adventures!

[Both of them wave, and Jun steps thru the screen and disappears]

MOM: [sighs and takes Jun's Mama's arm] Remember when we did this story?

MAMA: [chuckles and puts her hand over Jun's Mom's] Yeah. It was scary and stressful and full of nonsense... but I wouldn't change a thing.

MOM: Me either. After all... there's no better place than an adventure to fall in love.

[They look into each other's eyes and smile, then walk out of the room hand-in- hand. The door closes and the light blinks back to normal. Lieutenant M whirls, looking around, head quickly twisting this way and that.]

LIEUTENANT M: ...curses! Queen Lunacross had better not blame me for this...

[She steps thru the screen, and the static fades away as a dramatic musical sting plays.]

====

Showrunner's Note: MasterPlaid is based on Masterplan Lad, created by Jeanne Morningstar. (Who Jun is also kind of named after?)

Drew "they're good parents I think" Nilium

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