#marcus moncrief

[v-albion]

Risetober day 10: Red Fox

Risetober successfully making me struggle to draw these characters I’ve never drawn before

Masterpost

Prev | Day 9: Cat

Next | Day 11: Jumpscare

[risequotes]

Daily Rise Quotes: DAY 588

Moncrief: Everyone starts with 50 space points. First to 53 wins!

Leo: You couldn't have started at zero?

Moncrief: Blue, minus another space point for asking questions about space points.

(Season 2, Episode 6A - Sidekick Ahoy!)

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something that I have kind of been wondering about is what Splinter was like back when he was Lou Jitsu as other than Big Mama, who dated Splinter, most of the character who we see knew Lou Jitsu or at least worked in a similar field to him seem to still have a rivalry with Lou Jitsu or hold a grudge against him

Marcus: What is this, a Lou Jitsu movie?

Splinter: Kristoff Van Bradford. You're the actor who wishes he was as tough and as handsome as Lou Jitsu!

Kristoff: Lou Jitsu is a has-been who never was.

Komodo Dragon students: Strike fast! Strike hard! Lou Jitsu is a scene-stealing hack!

Despite the fact that Big Mama kept Splinter in the Battle Nexus for possibly years & then Splinter got mutated meaning that from the human's perspective Lou Jitsu hasn't really been seen in decades both Kristoff Van Bradford & Marcus Moncrief seem to either talk negatively/ are dismissive about him or hold some sort of grudge against despite the fact that Lou Jitsu hasn't been seen in years.

Something I kind of wonder about is if the grudge these characters seem to hold against Lou Jitsu might either possibly be due to a grudge against Lou Jitsu's success since similarly to Lou Jitsu Kristoff & Marcus are both actors & possibly worked in similar fields as Lou Jitsu or it might possibly be that they still hold a grudge due to Lou Jitsu leaving an impression that has lasted years later.

[pointy-tiny-turtles]

Raph was a bit tied up last post. Here he is!

[jadethest0ne]

When the Moon meets the Morning, Chapter 6 - Not all Black and White

Summary:  Raphael is going on missions with Captain Jupiter as he always does when he meets an orange-wearing turtle yokai who feels oddly familiar.

Word Count: 3376

Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences; some minor harrowing moments, but mostly fluff, emotional overload, emotional manipulation, self-deprecation

Notes: This is my longest chapter yet! This one has some minor emotional manipulation at the beginning of this chapter along with some harrowing moments later on. On the plus side, we get some cameos from previous TMNT incarnations that I’m happy about bringing to the table. Big thanks to @undercoverwizardninjaturtle and @fraymotiif for helping me workshop this. And a big thanks to @5weekdays who helped me with the Captain Jupiter dialogue in this chapter!

Read on AO3 For the RotTMNT Fantasy AU

———-

The trio gets up early the next morning, reaching the outskirts of Bedu in relative silence. The whole time Mikey keeps looking over to Raph as if he wants to say something. Raph knows by now to just wait until Mikey speaks – if the young boxshell has something to say, he's bound to say it eventually. Finally he opens his mouth. “How... did you do that...?” he asks.

Well, that wasn't exactly what Raph was expecting. “Do what?” he asks genuinely confused.

“I mean, how did you...” Mikey twirls his hands around each other as if trying to find the right words, “...make everything stop..? The noise? The... the feelings?” He looks to Raph in almost desperate wonder.

“Oh, that...” Raph runs his mask tails through his fingers as he thinks. “I'm... actually not so sure... I've always been good with protective wards and shields n' stuff. I guess... I just figured out a new way to use them...?” He ends his sentence in a rising questioning tone.

Mikey looks at him almost expectantly. As if there's more to what Raph has to say.

There is more. “And, uh,” Raph begins. “You're gonna probably think this is a little weird, but, um, I think I did it in a dream once...?”

Mikey's eyes widen, before softening. A warm smile spreads across his face. “That doesn't sound weird to me at all.”

“Oh really?” Raph stops tugging at his mask tails. “Um... I could maybe equip some of your gear, or even sheets of magic activation paper with some protective wards like that. Maybe they could help you out in your travels, even if I'm not around.”

Mikey's smile widens further and he bounces in his saddle. “Really!? You could do that?!”

“Of course! I'd have to grab some of the extra paper and ink from my room when we get back, but I could definitely do that for ya!”

“Well, it's good timing then, because we're just about there!” Red Fox chimes in.

The town of Bedu looked pretty much the same as when they had left. After all, it had barely been a couple weeks. The main difference now was that a thin layer of frost was covering the ground, signalling that winter was close at hand, even below the tall mountain peaks.

“I have to go sign in with the Mountain Guide Guild to notify them that I've returned, and I need Mikey to come with me,” Red Fox says. “Raph, could you drop our gear off at the base?”

“Sure! I'll take Infinity and Buddy to the stables, too,” Raph says.

“Alrighty then!” Mikey bounces off of Infinity's back and hands her reins over to Raph, then bounces over to Red Fox.

“When you're done, come meet us by the healing house. I want to check if our gecko friend has recovered. After that we can all get some brunch – my treat!”

“Red Fox, you are the best!” Mikey cheers.

Raph smiles as he watches the two of them head farther into town. It's good to see Mikey's usual energy returned. But then he frowns a bit, realizing that he'd probably have to say goodbye to the guy soon with their trek now over. His mind is stuck in that sad thought as he heads back to Captain Jupiter's base, sets up Buddy and Infinity in the stables with some food and treats, and unpacks their gear. He mulls over all the things he's learned about Mikey and how close the two of them had grown in such a short time. He's gonna miss him a whole lot.

Raph’s thoughts are interrupted by a booming voice.

"Great gorgons, my boy, where have you been all this time!?"

Raph's head snaps up to see Captain Jupiter in the door frame with his hands on his hips. Raph can't tell if it's his normal heroic pose or if he's angry for some reason. But either way Raph is cautious in his response. "I, uh, was on a mountain guiding mission with Red Fox."

"Well I needed you here! There's been a great monster attacking the town while you've been gone and we've had trouble tracking it down and stopping it! I could've used your natural instincts!”

“I'm sorry.” Raph shrinks a bit, now feeling really bad that he had been away. It had been selfish of him to leave like that when he was needed here. And at a time when the Captain wanted to use his skills for once! It was rare that Raph’s “instincts” were looked at positively.

“Where is Red Fox?" Captain Jupiter asks looking in various directions as if expecting his sidekick to appear at the mention of her name.

"She went to the healing house to check on one of the fire victims.” Raph tugs at his mask tails, his eyes darting around not sure where to look.

"Good to know she's back here, too. I'm going to patrol the edge of the town. You head to the healing hut to tell Red Fox of the situation. And if you see any large scaly monsters, you take it down!"

At the command, Raph immediately comes to attention and salutes. "Yessir, Captain Jupiter!"

“Remember what I always say? 'Act like a monster, become a monster.' Nobody likes a monster. That’s why we do what we do. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of justice, do you?” He gives Raph a pointed look.

Raph tells himself that the Captain is always saying these things to pump him up and get him ready for a challenge or to hunt a bounty. But he hates that it feels like these words are meant specifically for him, as a warning to what Raph could do and has done. Either way, Raph knows that he’s always going to fight for good in the end. So Raph nods with determination, and in affirmation of the Captain’s words.

“Good,” Captain Jupiter says with a toothy grin. “So if you see any beasts rampaging around, make sure your justice is swift!”

Raph sucks in a breath, but stands up straight, hardens his features, and repeats, “Yessir.”

“Good lad.” The Captain nods with a pleased grin, and rushes off.

---

Raph quickly makes his way down to the village square and over to the healing house, bursting through the door with a lot more speed and panic than intended when he gets there. Everyone inside gives him an inquisitive look and Raph tries to calm himself down and casually walks towards where he sees Red Fox and Mikey standing by a bed. In the bed is the gecko from before, now wide awake and bright eyed. Without the soot or bandages covering him, Raph can see that he’s a dull yellow color with dark speckles covering his features. He looks very relaxed next to the other two.

Mikey lights up at seeing the large snapping turtle enter the room. "Raph! You're just in time to meet my new friend!" Mikey gestures at the bed.

The gecko looks up with an easy smile. "Hey there," he says in a raspy voice. "The name's Mondo! You must be Raph?"

Raph smiles and gives a small wave at the yokai. "Yup that's me. You doing okay?"

Mondo nods and Red Fox explains, "He's mostly recovered from the fire, he just has a sore throat that may last for another week or so. The smoke did a number on his lungs. Right now we're just trying to figure out where his family is."

Mikey makes a small pained sound causing Raph to look at him. The younger turtle is rubbing his head as if it hurts.

"Hey, are you okay?" Raph asks, concern tingeing his tone.

Mikey lets out a small grunt and says, "There's a lot of negative emotions in the area."

"Like what?"

"Unease... Fear..." Mikey flinches as if something struck him. "Oof, a lot of fear actually, but this seems like..."

Raph doesn't get to hear what that seems like, because there's a sudden shriek from outside. Oh, right - the reason why Raph came here. He grabs the attention of the red panda yokai. "Red Fox, the Captain told me that there's been a monster attacking the town."

"That must be it. Let's go!"

The two rush outside and sure enough a large creature is running through the streets causing many people to flee from it. It looks to be a giant alligator of some sort with hard scales and giant jaws snapping every which way. Raph summons his red limb projections and charges the beast while Red Fox leaps in the air. She lands on the beast's head and transforms her tail so it is long enough to wrap around its snout, locking its snapping jaws shut. Raph rams his whole body into the alligator in an attempt to knock it down. But even with his magic enhanced limbs the monster stands its ground and pushes back.

There is a struggle; Raph puts more magic power into the red limbs and lets out a yell, growing a second pair of red glowing arms in addition to the two surrounding his actual arms. He tries to grapple the sides of the beast with the extra pair of magical limbs. However, the alligator seems to recognize the losing battle, so instead it rocks back a bit then sweeps out its large muscular tail. The lack of resistance from the gator combined with the tail flicking at Raph’s legs causes the snapper to lose balance and he falls over, landing on his snout.

As Raph lifts himself up with a pained grunt, he sees the gator whip its head around, causing Red Fox to be flung into the wall of the healing house. His eyes widen in worry and he shouts her name. But his attention is then caught by the form of Mikey stepping outside the door with a look of horror on his face as he comes upon the scene. Behind Mikey he can see Mondo. For a second Raph wonders what he is doing out of bed, but he has much bigger things to worry about at the moment.

The large monster seems to have noticed the two smaller yokai as well, and it charges in their direction. Mondo looks like he's trying to say something, but the only thing that comes out of his mouth is a squeak. Mikey just stares up at the monster charging at them with a strange expression on his face. Raph doesn't have the time to ponder whatever feelings the empath is picking up from the scene around him and launches himself at the beast. He grabs hold of the monster's tail and digs his heels into the ground bracing himself. The gator is stopped mere feet from the two younger reptile yokai and turns around angrily to look at Raph. It launches itself at him with giant jaws opened lined with sharp, jagged teeth.

Red Fox is down, Mikey and Mondo and other civilians are around, and it's up to Raph to stop him. The Captain said to take the monster down. Raph pushes down the fear fluttering in his chest, and the twisted feeling he gets at the Captain’s implication of what he must do. He ignores the similarities between an alligator snapping turtle and an actual alligator, and allows the Captain's words to echo in his mind. “Act like a monster, become a monster.” Well, this is one monster that Raph is not going to let hurt his friends. He summons from deep down as much of his power as he can muster. His sclera turns black and his iris and pupil form into that of a blood moon. He gathers as much of his energy as he can around his fist. If he can just get one good powerful punch in as the monster leaps at him, he can end this.

Raph lets out a yell as he's about to launch his attack, right as the alligator snarls and his leaping attack arcs downward, towards the turtle. Suddenly something wraps around the alligator’s jaws, causing them to snap shut and the alligator to unceremoniously fall to the ground in an ungraceful heap. The gator looks so shocked that it seems like for a moment its anger is dispelled. Raph, too, is so surprised that magic swirling around his arm dissipates.

"Wait!" A voice calls out to them. Raph and the gator follow the voice to see Mikey standing there holding onto a rope. The rope is attached to the gator’s mouth ending in what seems to be some sort of grappling hook, glowing with magical energy. Mikey walks over to the gator with raised hands and says calmly, "I'm not going to hurt you. Just hold on a sec."

The complete lack of fear or malice coming from Mikey must confuse the alligator since it makes no moves to attack him. "You're just scared, right? And sad...? Like you miss someone?" The gator looks at the turtle with mournful eyes. Mikey slowly moves his hands towards the gator. Raph is about to stop him when Mikey holds up at hand in his direction, making Raph clamp his mouth shut before he can say anything. Mikey gently pets the large reptile's snout before loosening the rope around its jaws and says, "I think maybe they miss you, too."

Mikey gestures at Mondo who is leaning against the healing house, tightly gripping the front of his shirt, staring at the scene with wide eyes. As soon as the gecko and the gator lock eyes, Mondo tearfully runs over to the large alligator and calls out, "Leatherhead!"

Mikey steps out of the way and positions himself next to Raph. Mondo throws himself onto the apparently named Leatherhead’s face resting his small head in between the larger yokai's eyes. Leatherhead closes his eyes and puts a gentle clawed hand over the gecko's back and pats him soothingly, letting out a rumbling trill.

Raph looks past the touching scene to see Red Fox pushing herself up and walking over to them. Raph rushes to her side. "Red Fox! Are you okay?"

Red Fox smirks and rubs her neck saying, "It'll take more than one raging beast flinging me into a wall to keep me down." She looks at the scene before them. "Though I guess he's not so much a raging beast anymore..."

Mikey giggles and explains, "I thought his aura and Mondo's seemed kind of similar, and you did say that Mondo was looking for his family. I thought maybe the big guy was looking for his family, too"

Mondo breaks his hug with Leatherhead, and speaks with him in hushed tones, likely due to the fact that his voice can't seem to go above a whisper at the moment. Even though Leatherhead seems to only respond in guttural growls and trills, Mondo doesn't seem to have any trouble communicating with him.

The two of them walk over to Raph, Red Fox, and Mikey. Mondo bows his head and rasps out, “I'm sorry for Leatherhead here. The big guy was just worried about me and didn't know where I was. Please don't be mad at him.” By the end of his short speech, Mondo's voice was losing power and the last part came out in a worried squeak.

A sense of injustice rings in Raph’s head. It is based on the constant lectures about right and wrong that the Captain taught him. And the fact that the Captain gave him a direct order to stop the monster that had been terrorizing the town. Raph looked in the eyes of said monster, and saw himself reflected back in its blank yellow eyes. Leatherhead is calm now and Mondo is just a kid. But Leatherhead attacked the town, apparently numerous times; scared a lot of people. Worried about his family or not, that was still a criminal act, and he acted like a monster. Captain Jupiter's words ring in his mind yet again. Despite the torment twisting in his gut, Captain Jupiter's justice should win out. Right?

Raph spoke sternly. "You could have caused a lot of people harm! And you broke the law! You need to learn--"

He stops when Mikey pats his arm and says, "I think they learned enough, Raph. This was just a misunderstanding and that's no one's fault. Yeah, and he might've done some not very good things, but Leatherhead here is not a bad guy! He was just looking for his family!" Mikey smiles happily at the two of them.

"But.. they..." Raph's resolve fades fast under the stare of Mikey's innocent eyes.

Red Fox steps next to Raph and puts a hand over his clenched fist. Raph looks over to her, and she looks wistfully at the pair. Something behind her eyes seems to tell Raph that maybe she's grappling with similar thoughts. Finally, she lets out a sigh and says, "Well, I did want to make sure you at least got to your family after all this, and it looks like that worked out. I think it might be best if you leave town quickly, though.”

Mondo grins and says, "No problem. We don't do too well with the cold. We were going to leave Bedu weeks back, but got separated in the fire. Sorry again for causing trouble.”

Leatherhead grumbles something and bows his head apologetically.

Mondo then hops up onto Leatherhead's back and the two quickly make their leave with Mikey waving happily after them.

Red Fox lets out a tired sigh and says, “I should check around to see if any real damage was done and to calm the townsfolk. You look like you could use a rest, Raph, why don't you hang back here?”

Raph nods. She is right, he is a bit tired, suddenly.

As Red Fox walks off, Raph backs up to the healing house, and slides down its wall to rest. He's looking down at his hands unsure of what to make of the situation. Should he have told Red Fox that the Captain wanted to stop the monster, maybe permanently? But it wasn't a monster, as it turned out. Yeah, it was just a misunderstanding... And looking around the square it seemed like he hadn't even damaged anything or hurt anyone. He was just scary... not evil. But what does that say for others with sharp teeth and claws... Claws that had, at one time... He scrunches his eyes shut, refusing to think about a pink scar on his friend’s face. He shakes his head to clear the images from his mind. As he opens his eyes, something orange enters his vision.

Raph looks up to see Mikey staring at him, almost looking as if he had been in as deep a thought as Raph had. "You did the right thing, you know, letting them go..." Mikey says, finally.

"I guess," says Raph. "Just one thing I don't get though... How did you know he wasn't a bad guy?"

"He seemed more scared than mean. Besides..." Mikey gives him a bright grin, one that looks like it trusts anything, especially what he says next: "Not everything is black and white like that."

Raph ponders this for a moment. For all of the things that Raph has learned about Mikey. All the confusing questions he still had. It's the meaning behind that statement, that Raph was sure he'd be confused about for a long time. It didn't ring true at all to what he'd been taught, and yet, the way Mikey had said it, it was as if it was the truest thing in the world.

Mikey sits next to Raph and pats him on the arm. “I guess today is another cool story that I'll get to tell – one with you and Red Fox again. You guys really are heroic!”

A smile tugs at the side of Raph's mouth and he rubs Mikey's head, “If anyone was the hero today, it was you, little man!”

Mikey laughs sheepishly. “Haha, aww, really?” he asks, but glows with the praise.

“Yeah, really.” Raph gives him a final head pat. “Better make sure to include that in your story.”

<–previous   ///   next–>

[meanpajamas]

Jupiter Jim Ahoy spoilers

Me at the beginning: Oh cool a Comic convention episode :D  lol can’t wait for the nerdy cameos :)

Jupiter Jim: Say, How would you reptilians like to see the harpoon ray I dispatched those shark people with? I have it at my headquarters!

Raph: Uh, like come to your house?

Me immediately:

[byrdybyrd02]

Deadass can’t believe Marcus Moncrief kins Jupiter Jim

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something that I was kind of thinking about was Jupiter Jim's sidekick Red Fox & if Red Fox is possibly a reference to Tails from the Sonic franchise

Red Fox: You thanked me! That's all I ever wanted

In the episode 'Sidekick Ahoy' towards the end of the episode Red Fox flies off with Marcus Moncrief by spinning their tail which seems as though it might be a reference to how Tail's uses their tails to fly.

Considering that Ben Schwartz who voices Leo in Rise has also voiced Sonic in the Sonic movies, it would be kind of a possibly kind of cool coincidence if Red Fox was a slight Sonic reference considering Red Fox is Jupiter Jim's sidekick & Jupiter Jim is one of Leo's favourite space franchises in Rise.