A video from back in the good old days, when I was still training with the parkour guys:

Cool effects done using Toon-FX toon video.

I think I’ve mentioned once or twice that me and Jerry don’t talk much. About important stuff, I mean. If it wasn’t for Aurora, I’d probably have spent my whole life thinking that people just didn’t talk about how they felt, what they dreamed, or the past.

But I couldn’t let things go on like that anymore. Guys that I’d known my whole life, who were like brothers to Jerry, had just treated me like I was their enemy. They’d clearly had some kind of plan for me. Something involving JoyTech. And at the last minute, Jerry had put a stop to it.

But Jack had acted like it almost wasn’t up to Jerry to decide what happened to me.

WTF?

I needed to know what these guys had to do with JoyTech, so the next morning, I confronted the man who, for all intents and purposes, is basically my father.

At first, he tried to act like it had been just the usual drunken blustering, but I wasn’t going to be deterred so easily.

“They wanted to know about JoyTech, Jerry! Why would they ask me about that?”

“Aw, well, y’know, kid. I couldn’t just tell them nothing when you started all your sneaking around…”

“So they know I’ve been trying to bring down JoyTech?” I shook my head. “But so what? They’ve been watching my every move? What did I do to piss them off?” I couldn’t believe how many people seemed to have their eyes on me these days.

Jerry slumped down onto a kitchen chair. The cracked vinyl protested under his weight. “I guess it doesn’t matter much now,” he said after a long pause. “But I want you to know, Nemo, that I never thought…I mean, I thought in the end, I hoped, that you’d never be touched by any of this. When JoyTech came to Ring City, I wanted to get out. I wanted to leave, with you! But Jack wasn’t having any of it. He was happy! He saw it as the next chapter in his Book of Destiny.”

I nodded. I’d heard Jack talk about his “Book of Destiny” before. “So back in the 60s, when you guys were into all that radical activism stuff, you were going up against JoyTech.” I’d suspected this, but this was the first time Jerry had confirmed anything. He was nodding. “But what does it have to do with me?”

“Back then, the JoyTech Global Improvement Company wasn’t the feel-good, makes-life-great brand it is today. In the 60s, JoyTech was primarily invested in weapons testing and research. We felt strongly at the time that it was these big corporations that were behind all the wars, and the government was kowtowing to them.

“Me and the guys, we first met at these meeting where people were talking about what could be done. Their ideas were extreme, but at the time, I thought they were the only ones really stepping up.

”What can I say Nemo? We were young. We did some bad stuff. There was this JoyTech HQ in Des Moines…people got hurt. Two people died.

“It wasn’t long before some of us wound up in jail. Others on the run. Jack was one of those that went to prison, and when he got out, he was crazier than ever, and full of new ideas. We listened. We were desperate. By then it was the 80s, and radicalism was a joke. We felt starved for a chance to shake things up again…” Jerry’s shoulder’s drooped, and his head fell into his hands. The next words he spoke were muffled. “When me and…your mom started taking care of you, Jack saw his chance. An opportunity to raise a soldier, Nemo. To create the ultimate weapon against JoyTech.”

I had to snort my derision. “The ultimate weapon? Me, Jerry, seriously? I mean, you guys taught me parkour, but there’s absolutely nothing that makes me so special…”

Suddenly a thought struck me, a thought as absurd as it was obvious.
“Jerry,” I spoke carefully, keeping my voice level. “Jerry, who were my real parents?”

The craziest, worst incident went down last night. And since I’m lying here with a busted foot, I had plenty of time to toon it for you guys. Big thanks to Mrs. Brisby for all the pics!