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His perch was perfect. Oh how his father would be so pleased with his son conducting surveillance on behalf of the citizenry! Shortly after Johnny saw the news report on the evil beings destroying the city, he took to the trees. The young (and decidedly brain-challenged) lad was cooped up in a tree downtown with his trusty binoculars, on the lookout for the baddie bads. He had a notepad, a bottle of water and some sandwich cookies to keep him vigilant and ready. He also had a whistle, golden and cheesy, tied around his neck in case he needed to get the police involved. He was ready!

Munching on one of his cookies, he leaned over a branch and watched as people walked by with bags of purchased goods, groceries, or with little children on their arm. Nothing unusual, even for his place downtown! The police came by one time and when Johnny explained that he was trying to do a public service with a great deal of high-speed yammering and flailing, the police officer opted to leave the kid alone since he had the best of intentions and wasn't bothering anyone.

"Hmmm... there hasta be some criminal activity here someplaaaaace." he whined to himself, sighing and turning to another direction to look. "There's jewelry places and hip-type shopping places and leather goods places... and no crime? This place is like, totally asking for it!"

He suddenly knew how police felt, waiting around for something to happen.

Munch, munch, munch...

Binoculars visually paced the area, finding nothing but shoppers and yuppies and those... what are they called? Hipsters? Yeah, lots of them were around too, but no baddie bads. Siiiiiiiigh. In a yawn and a stretch, Johnny's binoculars looked up to see... GASP! A woman in distress! Now this was the business! He had to save this damsel! They were called damsels, right? Yes, he thought so. Without further adieu, Johnny attempted to dismount from his perch in one graceful maneuver, but it was not meant to be. Instead, his foot caught on a branch and he swung wildly upside down, flailing to get a grip onto the tree trunk and right himself. There was a poor lady that needed saving!

"Hnngggg... c'mon, c'mon! ...lady... needs meeeeee...!" Clawing at the trunk, he finally got a good grip and released his foot, falling a good six inches onto the pavement with an audible oof. Sputtering, he dusted himself off and the pillow he'd been sitting on in the tree came with him. Most excellent! He ran beneath the young lady in Very High Heels and tried to pinpoint the trajectory. Lining up with her, he placed the rather tiny pillow beneath where she was. Hmm. Somehow, this didn't seem like it would work very well.

Hmm.

Instead, he called up to see if he could scare the perpetrator away. "HEEEEY! DON'T WORRY, LADY! I'LL SAVE YOOOUUUUU~!" Head darting to the side, he found a fire escape! The young lad trotted up to the metal ladder and begun to try and climb. Very slowly.

Hnnggggg

Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggg

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGUH

Johnny struggled his way up the ladder, slithering up and over the lip of the roof to lay prone for a bit. He needed to catch his breath, but ladies needed saving! Upon closer inspection, there was a dainty young lady decked out in pink and orange and black, with lovely platform shoes and heeeey. Is that. That's a kimono. Johnny officially had a new mission, not just now, but in life: save hot Asian babes. In hot Asian babe kimonos. Who was he kidding? That's clearly what ninjas did - save hot Asian babes from freaky deaky space pirate oppressors, of which there was one! Right here!

Ninjas were like knights in Johnny's spazzed out brain. Somehow, it all made sense to him. In some form. He cried out as much Japanese as he knew (which consisted of sushi roll names, attacks from video games and other random phrases from anime) and charged forward, attempting to attach to the evil space pirate and bring him down, thus saving the Hot Asian Babe. It was his life's dream at that moment, and dammit, he would not fail.

Never mind the fact that Serandite wasn't Asian. That didn't matter to Johnny. She was a blushing, mystical beauty who was being subjugated by a filthy space pirate person thingy and he was there with his dashingly awesome ninja skillz! "HADOOOOOKEN!" he shrieked, attempting to punch the senshi (since he couldn't really produce energy blasts from his fist, much to his dismay.)

Did... did he do it? Did he succeed? Truth be told, Johnathan kept his eyes closed during the punch, having no idea what it would feel like, whether it would hurt and whether he would miss. He was surprised, genuinely a little scared when his fist connected with something and soon enough, that something was gone. Blinking his eyes open and slowing the momentum he had built up during his charge, Johnny looked curiously over the side of the building. He didn't mean to shove the guy over the side, he just wanted to stop him from picking on the poor, defenseless Asian girl! He stumbled a bit. Did he kill the guy? Was he okay? Was he going to call the police saying, 'Hey, I got punched off of a building by some twerp?' Johnny didn't want an assault on his record... but he had to protect the pretty girl!

The boy turned his head to watch the young lady, who was directing him to follow her. Was she still in trouble? Did she need another bodyguard? Well, who was he to deny that! A smile plastered on his face, Johnathan followed Serandite, Negaverse general and extremely powerful figure, anywhere she directed. He had no idea he just assaulted one of the good guys and following Serandite was like throwing yourself willingly into the pits of Hell itself. Good thing Johnny wasn't one for the news, or deductive logic. Or thinking. There was a small crowd gathering and some shouting could be heard, but the boy blissfully ignored all of it in favor of following the lady he thought he was protecting.

"Um, hey lady? Are you okay? Did that guy hit you or anything?" he asked, worriedly looking her over for cuts or bruises. He took her hand. She didn't look injured but... how on earth could she move in those ridiculous shoes? She must be magical!

Once the teleportation went into effect, Johnny went stumbling across the roof to regain his balance. The last thing he'd expected from Pretty Kimono Lady was that she was magical! But really, it all made some kind of sense in his mind. The terrorists were magical and if she was being picked on by a terrorist, she had to be one of the good guys. It made complete and utter sense. Plus she was magical. How cool was that!? Leaning over, he sought to catch his breath and steady himself before answering her question.

Why did you save me?

"Well...um... you were being hit by a guy! Picked on! That guy was being super mean to you and trying to mess up your nice costume!" he explained, twiddling his fingers together in an obvious display of nervousness. Johnny looked down at the ground, blushing now that his theoretical heroics were being called into question. "And and I heard about the terrorists on the TV and he looked like one. And he was picking on somebody that was smaller than him! Jerkface."

The last part of his explanation was muttered, but hopefully Serandite got the idea. The girl's somewhat somewhat erratic movements suggested the white-clad terrorist had been after her for quite some time. What an a**! Johnny had heard that the terrorists have caused millions of dollars in property damage this year alone. How could they sleep at night, picky on lovely Kimono Ladies? "....buncha assholes."

Johnathan couldn't quite grasp what Serandite (a.k.a. Kimono Lady) was really talking about. All he could see after a while was that the world around him was changing in ways he could not describe. Things were changing, graying, and something about the lady he helped save had frightened him. The young lad backed up a bit when things started getting downright bizarre, but somehow, Serandite's explanation of him being 'just her type' threw him off. There were other people like Kimono Lady being attacked by the terrorists? Did they need his help?

Wide-eyed and innocent couldn't even begin to touch what the essence of Johnny's soul would have been. He probably would have grown up to be a defender of the innocent had he not taken a wrong turn that night. He would never know what it meant, but he nodded in the affirmative to Serandite. The boy couldn't possibly fathom what was in store for him, which no doubt made things easier for the Negaverse officers involved.

The boy twiddled his thumbs together in nervousness. "Um, Lady? What's ah... going on? Are you okay?"

Johnny's active imagination was certainly worked into a steady froth at times when seriousness called. It was a defense mechanism to allow him to deal with the real life atrocities that were happening all over the city. It's why he did what he did to save Kimono Lady - he wanted to make a difference and desperately. He had no skill to speak of when it came to saving anyone, let alone himself, and when he agreed to help the not-Asian young woman, the last thing he envisioned happening was 1) anything having to do with magic, especially teleporting and 2) a giant purple gargoyle popping out of nowhere and making things Get Dead.

Getting Dead was usually a sign of Bad Things to Come, and so while he trusted Kimono Lady implicitly with most anything (she was, after all, kind of a damsel in his eyes), Gargoyle did not exude anything short of sheer terror. Johnny thanked his stars that he'd gone to the bathroom before trying to play the part of the hero. While Tanzanite circled him like a hawk (a very big, mean purple hawk), the boy stood shock still. Never before had his life really flashed before his eyes like this. The very air around him breathed a kind of tension one could only read about in books or see in movies. It was the kind of primal fear that only animals or people in extreme distress ever experience. And he about s**t himself.

It took a while before he could speak, and his brain was already trying to find parallels between Giant Woman of Unspeakable Doom and something more familiar, like a video game. Somehow making that connection blunted how much Johnny truly was in danger. "Uh. Yes I um..." he sputtered, hands twiddling nervous digits together in a maddening dance. "Well Miss Kimono Lady said..." What did she say? He couldn't remember. All he could do was to keep his blue eyes locked on the woman that looked nearly eight or nine feet tall, had wings and one messed up looking arm. Maybe she was Godzilla. He had no idea.

"...um... you guys needed... help?" came the last squeak of a reply. Somehow Tanzanite's presence made him shut the ******** up for once in his life, and his mouth couldn't even produce the babble that would normally be bubbling beneath the surface. He kept his trap shut.

Bold blue eyes stared in utter captivation at the twig in Serandite's hands. Perhaps it didn't sink in yet, the danger he was in or what these people were talking about. Serandite had said that if he wanted to fight for everyone and everything in this world that he loved, he would vow to assist them in a more permanent setting. Johnny's eyes locked onto Serandite's and he bit at his lip, feeling more than seeing Tanzanite circling somewhere behind him. She made the boy's hairs stand on end.

Kimono Lady was nice enough, but Purplezilla certainly gave him the creeps. Did he have to work for her? Couldn't he work with Kimono Lady instead? She was way less creepy. She didn't make things Get Dead with just the touch of her foot or her hand. Part of the boy wanted to run into her arms and cry out of sheer terror because of the thing behind them. Serandite didn't seem bothered at all, which made him loosen up just a fraction. She was asking for him to join them, and Johnny had to swallow a lump forming in his throat. He wanted to help, he really did! Maybe he could finally show his father that he could really make a difference and stop the terrorists and save the day!

Yeah!

"I'll help, yep." came a quiet breath. The bluenette looked over his shoulder to spy Tanzanite stalking back there and leaned to her human counterpart to whisper. "I just don't wanna be a purple Godzilla. Can you make me not like that, please?" It didn't hurt to ask.