I Need an Enforcer Era Teen Show
Anyone else feel like the Enforcer Era would make a fun little teen show that starts off all happy and sort-of carefree where the only real threat at first seems to be the Duel gangs but slowly grows darker and we see Kalin/Kiryu just slowly grow paranoid and becomes this tragic character that the others can’t reach? Because. Like. That’s all I think about. Its giving me CW vibes, or those old 2010s teen shows that starts with a single goal and it just slowly gets out of hand (Teen Wolf my beloved one day I’ll write down my thoughts about how Stiles was done so wrong).
Because, Kalin is most obviously the main character during this arc, he has this dream that all the others have never dared to voice, the determination and tenacity to get Jack, Yusei, and Crow to see his vision, and the passion and charisma needed to be the leader to their gang. His past is nebulous, but I like to imagine that he was raised by an older relative (maybe a parent, maybe an aunt or uncle) who remembered a time before Zero Reverse that Kalin grew up hearing about this idealist version of the past. Kalin is a cheerful kid, hardworking and yearning for peace not only for himself but also his older relative who works themselves into the ground to provide for him. At some point, their relative dies before he meets the other three - maybe it was an accident, but I feel like it was by a dueling gang (a very Batman or Spiderman origin story where Kalin sees his relative get killed or injured enough they’re as good as dead) and that’s when the fire ignites in Kalin’s soul. Young, idealist Kalin becomes something of a vigilante after that, doesn’t really work much and becomes a ghost to anyone who used to know him. Kalin manages to take down some duel members on his own, but this is when it dawns on him that he can’t take down all of the Duel Gangs on his own. Very much a “I’m forming a team” moment.
Kalin doesn’t decide on Yusei, Jack and Crow all at once - he has to be a Dramatic Vigilante and figure out who fits his criteria. Ideally he needs at least 2 or 3 members to form his own Gang, they need to have a protective streak and would be open to fighting for the peace that he so seeks. He has some Batman scenes where he essentially beats up gang members and eventually gains a lead about the small sanctuary that Yusei, Jack and Crow have made for themselves.
Que us switching to the building that Jack, Crow, and Yusei have commandeered for themselves. They’ve all recently moved out from Martha’s (who vehemently tried to argue against this but the boys didn’t want to put extra strain on her since she keeps fostering more kids in need), and are out in Satellite by themselves. The three of them are fiercely protective of each other and know that they have to watch their backs - they’re lucky enough that they can get by with some stealing, offering Yusei’s skills, and trading. The first few weeks to a month were the hardest, but they managed to find an old office building that no one wanted to use, and thanks to Yusei’s skills they were able to jerryrig a way to get some electricity and limited running water (although that’s touch and go but Yusei’s hopeful that if he can just find a specific part in the junk yard he can get the old plumbing system to work better). So all in all, they’re doing okay for themselves, at first some dueling gangs tried to intimidate them for “protection money” but the three of them are good enough duelists that they’re more or less left alone. They do occasionally run interference when they see that a Duel gang is trying to target the vulnerable (they’ve long made it clear that Martha is off limits, and that incident scared the Gangs enough that they’re content to leave them all alone as long as the boys don’t interfere with what they’re doing).
So this is the status quo when Kalin kind of bursts his way into the boys’ little hideout and thrusts out his hand, introduces himself and tells them his goal to create a peaceful Satellite. Now, I don’t think that the boys agree right away but I like to think that Kalin basically Talk no Justus his way into the boys’ trust and gradually gets them into his gang.
There are hijinks and all the high and lows of figuring out how to be a team, the elation when Yusei figures out how to make those handy dandy handcuffs - the celebrations when they beat a gang for the first time. And everything is all daisy and roses and the audience thinks that they'll get a happy ending and then Kalin slowly descends into his paranoia (which. honestly is an added layer of tragedy since they don't know how to help him, they don't have the resources to begin to understand what Kalin is going through) and then the group splits. The boys can't help the boy who was their leader, who gave them hope and this is why they ultimately can't bear to be together for a long time.
And an end scene where Jack makes it to New Domino City and tries to find out what happened to Kalin, and he descends into a rabbit hole and finally figures out that Kalin was having a mental breakdown and they could have helped him, they could have saved him if only they had the resources that New Domino City did and Jack's resentment of the city he escaped to only increases but he smirks and preforms because Isn't this what he wanted? This had to be worth it, had to be worth betraying his little brother, had to be worth leaving this was his due.
annaxmalina
dededos
blakekathryn
stormborns
germansingergirl
izzy806
baratheonpilled
