Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXIII Episode X: Festival Confusion

Inside of a nearby office building…

“The money’s all there, sir,” Filthy Rich huffed as he slammed a bag on a desk in front of him, “After this, we’re through, ya hear me?”

“Of course you’d like things to be over that quickly, old friend…”

Rich slammed his hands down on the desk and yelled at the tattooed man sitting behind it. “Old f--listen here, Mr. Hishi. I ain’t workin’ with you no more after this. You can kiss all that blood money goodbye.”

“And I suppose you can kiss your daughter’s safety goodbye as well, hm?” he replied as he casually lit up a cigarette.

“Don’t play games with me, Hattori,” Rich continued, “We’re here on my turf. I run this city and everyone in it. You don’t wanna go to war with me.”

And yet Hattori, the boss of the group, would laugh it off. “Your threats are empty. I’ve already eliminated those that I’ve found a nuisance, and I’ll do it again if necessary. Your daughter would merely be another insect in the grand scheme of things…”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Rich hissed in return, “You’d die tryin’, old timer. Age don’t mean nothin’ unless ya got the skills’ta back it up.”

“You say that now, but don’t forget that we have the Apple Family wrapped around our fingers,” the man continued, “That’s your primary source of income, is it not? It’s currently under our control without them or you even realizing.”

Rich raised a brow, not quite believing what the man was saying at that moment. “Hmph. Even if that were true, there ain’t no way, I’m lettin’ you threaten my daughter. You can damn well try all ya want, but it ain’t gonna change, nothin’!” And without giving his business partner a chance to respond, Rich stormed out of the room, and subsequently left the building.

Hattori sighed as his eldest son, Tatsuya, emerged from the shadows.

“Want me to rough him up, pops? I think it’s time that old bastard learned his place among us.”

“Baka--don’t be foolish,” his father replied, “This is his city. Not ours. We have to play by differing rules compared to back home. For now, simply observe whatever you can--lest your horrid younger brother mess up his position yet again.”

Tatsu folded his arms and scoffed. “Tch. Trust me. I’ve been preparing for the day he makes a mistake just so I can take my rightful place as the boss. But you insist on giving Shinji another chance, so eh. Don’t blame me if something doesn’t go right, pops.”

---

Outside…

After talking to Flash Sentry, Sunset had just received a text that confirmed that their newest maths professor and the vice principal had finally hit it off.

“Yes. Perfect!” she cheered to herself, “Now I can relax knowing that they’re alright.”

But just then, she felt an odd sensation of something rather magical in the area. Something…abnormal that sent a strange aura up her spine.

“What the heck…? Where could this feeling be coming from?” she thought to herself while carefully shifting her eyes around the festival grounds.

And from the corner of her eye, she could see a white cat that swiftly pounced in, and out of existence.

“Could that have something to do with it? Just looks like a normal cat to me. Hmm…well, if there’s anyone who knows animals best, I need to ask her for her help as soon as I see her.” With that in mind, she set out to find Fluttershy…

Nearby…

“You think that’s what’ll get him to stop harassing me?” Rainbow Dash asked Adagio, “Are you sure that’s completely ethical?”

“Is it ethical for one person to constantly harass another?” Adagio asked in return, “No. I don’t think so. By working a bit of my magic, it’ll be better in the long run before he gets his face smashed in by either you or the police.”

“...Yeah, you’re right,” Dash agreed, and looked to her friend, “Any objections, Fluttershy?”

Surprisingly, the usually-calm girl was in a state of unrest, throwing her hands up right before grabbing her drink off of the table they were all sitting at. “Eh. Do whatever you want. My patience with Breeze is running so thin you could snap it in half like a strand of dry spaghetti. Since mom and dad never bothered to discipline him, it kinda falls to me as his older sister.” She put her drink down and put her hands together. “Buuuut…since I don’t exactly know the best way to go about doing that, I’m enlisting your help for that reason, Adagio.”

“Trust me,” Adagio replied as she placed a hand on her chest, “After engaging my little plan, he won’t even think about putting his hands on your friend.”

Dash shuddered in her seat. “Good. The last thing I want is to have to worry about walking home by myself. Or worse: Knocking one of his teeth out and being labeled a public threat for harming a civvie.”

“...I don’t think it’d go down that way, Rainbow,” Fluttershy tried to reason with her.

“Pfft. Yeah right--that’s how it is all the time in comics,” Dash went on, “Superheroes are often taunted or baited into attacking someone and then the public hates them for defending themselves because the person in question made it look like they--the civilian--were the victim.”

Adagio tried to comfort her, “Well this way, we can absolve you of any and all--”

But their conversation was interrupted by a wild Sunset Shimmer appearing.

“Fluttershy. Glad I found you--mind if I steal you for a bit? There’s this…cat that I think is…lost,” she danced around the real reason.

And like that, her expression changed to concern for a lost little animal. “Oh no…don’t worry. I can help. Show me where it is.” She then turned to Rainbow and Adagio, “You two can keep going. I’ve got something more important to deal with.”

“No prob,” Dash replied, “I’ll text you if I see a cat roaming around here.”

“Fine by me,” Adagio said.

“Great. This way, Fluttershy,” Sunset beckoned her, to which Fluttershy promptly followed…