[Nods! He's in a normal outfit. He doesn't make fun of Zuko's outfit, either, which is upsetting to me because it's bad.
Anyway. A bubble floats by, and it pops, and. . . I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you. I'm sorry for how long this is. You can just read it if you want, or watch an anime I guess.
This memory starts with Mob for some reason having been kidnapped. He is tied up and in the middle of a fight between maybe 30-40 middle school delinquents and a group of extremely buff middle schoolers. They are vastly outnumbered, but are winning easily.
The whole fight, Mob remains tied up and quietly waits to be rescued, unconcerned with anything that’s happening. But then an extremely smug blonde kid shows up, and immediately starts villain monologuing and calling everyone trash.
(Same link as above, but 18:24 to end for when Hanazawa shows up)
Delinquent: Ahaha! That’s our shadow leader, Hanazawa Teruki-san! Teru-san, these guys think they’re tough, so please teach them a lesson!
Hanazawa punches the delinquent leader on his own side, first, before insisting on fighting the Body Improvement Club for damaging his pride. He is fast - impossibly so, almost like he teleported. This is a fight of normal-ish kids and the kid who showed up is doing shonen fighting. He handily defeats all of the Body Improvement Club - again, doing cheat-y shonen moves like teleportation and extremely powerful attacks.
Hanazawa: (villain monologuing now) Society always underestimates me. Fools who don’t try to look beneath the surface. . . that’s why you’re so easy to control. The star doesn’t get to bask in the spotlight because he’s the star. The star gets to be the star because he basks in the spotlight. If you have your own spotlight, bugs with low IQ always flock to you.
At this point, since this is Mob’s memory, you can see there’s some kind of yellow hued energy flowing around Hanazawa when he does these fighting moves, but no one else can see it, apparently When the dust clears, the only person left standing is Mob, still tied up.
Shigeo: You shouldn’t use them against other people.
Hanazawa: What are you talking about?
Shigeo: I’m talking about your psychic powers, that you’ve been hitting them with. You shouldn’t use them against others.
His own powers activate, more blue and purple in hue, and pull the ropes off his body This sight appears to completely stun Hanazawa.
Shigeo: . . . Let alone using them for fighting.
(Part #2 Here It’s pretty much just this whole episode unfortunately but I’ll give timestamps for the important parts.)
(0:00 to 0:45) Mob’s ghost friend, Dimple, points out for the audience that Mob didn’t know other ESPers existed before this, but it seems obvious Hanazawa also didn’t know.
Hanazawa: (no longer smug) I-impossible. Are you a natural? There’s another like me? . . . Well, whatever.
He powers up, the floor around him breaking into pieces, as he begins to glow yellow with powerful psychic energy.
Hanazawa: There are a bunch of questions I want you to answer, but before that, we need to establish something. The hierarchy here.
(2:24 to 2:39) Hanazawa attacks suddenly, rushing in a blast of energy at Mob. But Mob hardly seems to notice. He isn’t even really fending off Hanazawa, he’s just not reacting at all or feeling anything.
Shigeo: Why are you attacking me? I haven’t done anything. Let’s be friends --
He holds out his hand for a handshake, but Hanazawa reacts like he’s about to be attacked and teleports across the schoolyard away. Hanazawa just continues running and teleporting around, doing shonen battle bullshit while Mob barely reacts to any of it.
(3:22 to 4:01)
Finally, he gives up teleporting around, and starts instead charging attacks.
Dimple: Shigeo, you need to teach him a lesson here, show him who’s boss. Look, he’s planning to attack again.
Shigeo: No. You’re not supposed to use psychic powers against other people.
Dimple: You idiot! Look who you’re talking about! He’s putting his powers to use and living a fulfilling life! And then look at you! You live a dull lifestyle, one boring day after another! Do you think there’s anything appealing about you without your psychic powers?
While this conversation is happening, Hanazawa is actively blasting Mob with energy attacks, but they’re just bouncing off him while Mob explains his life philosophy to a ghost.
Shigeo: Anyway, I won’t use them in a fight. Also, I don’t want to live a life having to rely on psychic powers. I’m going to find some other potential in me. Not to mention, I started working out. I’m going to change.
(5:10 to 5:44) Suddenly, an attack by Hanazawa sends Mob flying.
Hanazawa: A life without using psychic powers? How stupid! There’s no reason to live your life stooping to the level of average people!
Using telekinesis, he lifts Mob into the air, twists him around, and slams him back down into some trees and into the school’s pool.
Hanazawa: Other potentials are absolutely useless! Working out? Studying? Leave that crap to the average people! Brain, brawn, and even the law are all powerless before my gift! I’m special, and the world revolves around me!
He continues slamming Mob around with his powers, knocking him back down onto the ground in the schoolyard. Finally, Dimple intervenes and asks Hanazawa to call it a draw and leave Mob alone. When he refuses, Dimple musters his power to try to stop Hanazawa.
Dimple: Shigeo’s a man who can become a god! He’s not a second rate loser like -
Hanazawa uses his power to tear Dimple apart, and laughs in Shigeo’s face. Shigeo doesn't actually like Dimple that much, and doesn't really care.
(7:32 to 10:15) But when Hanazawa starts talking about what a ‘pointless existence’ Dimple led, Mob starts to look a little pissed off.
Hanazawa: Though that goes for you too! Compared to me, you’re third rate, nothing but a small fry. Some idiots get the wrong idea if things aren’t spelled out for them. They think they can be someone if they actually try! . . . Hey, what’s that look for?
Shigeo: Hey. Why do you have to belittle others by calling them average or small fry? I just realized Dimple might’ve been an okay guy after all. Compared to you.
Hanazawa starts powering up again and yelling a lot and he has this really funny stance where he sticks his legs together like a dork.
Hanazawa: I’ll come at you with full power, no brakes!
Shigeo: That’s dangerous. If it wasn’t me, you could hurt someone. Stop that.
Hanazawa: (madder by the second) Are you trying to say you won’t get hurt? Quit underestimating my powers!
The entire ground underneath them shoots into the air, with Mob along with it, while Hanazawa keeps powering up and shonen fighting in Mob’s direction. He slams Mob into the ground, and then punches him through a brick wall into the school and back out through a glass window, and continues coming at him. Mob picks himself up off the ground, a little gingerly and a lot stressed out, but definitely not very hurt.
Hanazawa: What’s wrong? You’re just going to keep defending yourself?
Shigeo: I told you to stop that. . .
Hanazawa: Show me your powers! If you won’t, I’ll just have to try something else! I’ll administer an endurance test just to see how much you can take!
Screaming and pushing his powers as hard as they can go, he throws everything in the room at Mob and then forces him through another wall, to which Mob responds ‘ow.’ Now in the home ec classroom, he starts lifting knives from the drawers and shooting them telekinetically at Mob.
Shigeo: (actively being pelted with knives, mildly alarmed) Knives are dangerous! You shouldn’t point - will you stop? This is going to cause an accident!
He lifts a hand to defend himself and accidentally puts up a barrier that sends a knife ricocheting off him. It just misses Hanazawa, shaving off the top of his hair and leaving him bald.
(11:55 to 15:10) Hanazawa seems to really lose his mind here, turning his tie into a psychic sword and melting down.
Hanazawa: Fine, I’ll acknowledge you. What’s your name?
Hanazawa: No! Not as a friend! I acknowledged you as my enemy!
Hanazawa starts slashing his dumb energy sword at Mob, screaming at him and losing it progressively more and more, obviously running out of energy, while Mob just puts up psychic barriers and watches, bewildered, in the wreckage of this school.
Shigeo: P-please! Stop this!
Hanazawa: If you want this to stop, make me stop! Come on! Fight back, or you’ll get badly hurt! You’re dealing with me! I’m popular! I’m the main character of this world! Everything revolves around me! Hanazawa Teruki is the chosen one!
Shigeo: How. . . how can you be this confident in yourself?
Hanazawa: What a stupid question! It’s because I have psychic powers! It’s the power to control all! And you are my first enemy! Now attack me, and let’s have a test of strength.
Shigeo: No.
Hanazawa: Why? I’m telling you that it’s okay!
Shigeo: Because. . . I don’t want to injure you really badly.
Hanazawa starts laughing hysterically at this.
Hanazawa: What a funny joke! Don’t compare me to those average people! I’m on a completely different level than them as living creatures!
Shigeo: Being able to use psychic powers isn’t that -- I just think you’re going a bit overboard.
Hanazawa: You’re the only person who could make that argument. That’s why you’re an eyesore!
Shigeo: Oh! I just realized why you hold such animosity towards me. You don’t like me because we’re the same. You’re sort of like me, Hanazawa-kun. Not the fact that we both have psychic powers, but the fact that you have no confidence in yourself, just like me. If you take away your psychic powers, there will be nothing left. You’ll be empty. You’re scared of that realization.
No friends and no standing out. Just an average loser who won’t ever leave a mark. That’s me. And deep down, you’re the same as me. You don’t want to admit that you’re nothing without psychic powers.
Hanazawa: Quit dreaming! The two of us are totally different!
Shigeo: We’re the same. From my perspective, you’re totally average.
Hanazawa runs at Mob and begins to choke him - not with his powers, but with his hands. He’s really losing it, and begins choking him quite hard. For the first time, Mob actually looks like he’s in actual pain, while Hanazawa has a mental breakdown and screams at him, choking him hard enough to potentially kill him.
Hanazawa: What am I doing. . . how did this happen? This is all your fault! Everything was perfect! As long as I used my powers, everything went exactly how I wanted it to go! And yet you took my world. . . you. . . your existence. . . destroyed that! Use them! Use your psychic powers!
Mob is getting distressed, turning red and then blue, struggling to breathe. His emotion state starts rocketing up, but he’s clearly trying to resist. Finally, he raises a hand, appearing to be about to hit him - and hits Hanazawa with an extremely weak, perfectly ordinary, non-psychic punch. This seems to knock Hanazawa out of his fury, and he just looks devastated and miserable, while Mob continues to hit him with weak punches and struggle to breathe.
Hanazawa: What the hell was that? How long are you going to keep rejecting me? Hey, Kageyama, didn’t you say you’ve started working out? That means no matter how hard you try, that’s all you’ve got.
People can’t change that easily. Just give it up. Just use your powers. Otherwise I’m going to. . .
(Mob has a flashback here, to a moment when he was a child. Some bullies are picking on him and Ritsu, and shove Mob aside. He passes out and when he comes to, the entire area they were in has been destroyed. The bullies are lying on the ground, badly injured and bleeding or even dead, and Ritsu is also lying unconscious, bleeding heavily. This can be in here too, if you want it.)
Mob continues thinking of this, thinking to himself about how he promised to change, as his emotional state ticks up and he starts to lose consciousness. Finally, though, he goes unconscious.
(18:19 - 19:16) . . . But the memory isn’t over yet. Just like in the flashback, something happens to Mob when he loses consciousness, and it happens here. Mob can’t remember any of that, so you don’t see it. But you see him wake back up.
When he comes too, he’s standing in what was once the school -- it’s only dirt and rubble now. The entirety of the school building, the trees and any buildings and structures outside, the ground, the Body Improvement Club, the delinquents, and Teruki himself have all been blasted away by an explosion. Now, all of the debris and people are floating far above in the air, under Mob’s control.
Mob realizes what he’s done, again, and begins to cry uncontrollably. He falls to his hands and knees, hiding his head, overwhelmed by sadness and shame. The feeling is so powerful that his power swells uncontrollably. With that power, the rubble in the air floats back down, and brick by brick, his powers repair the school and bring all of the bodies back down safely.
[ so after zuko watches season one of mob psycho 100 ]
[ ok no, but zuko watches this all silently, and is silent for a long beat afterwards. things slot into place. he's heard some of this from mob -- the reasons why he wanted to change, to get stronger, but it's different to see it for himself --- so viscerally, from mob's perspective. ]
[ finally, he speaks: ]
So that's what you meant by destroying the school.
I think you need to look at it at a different way. Instead of being afraid of your powers, think about the good you can do with them. I used to think that fire was just destruction.... fueled by rage and hatred, but it's not that. It's like the sun.. but inside of you.
They get much more powerful when I feel strong emotions. [. . .] But what happened to Ritsu, and Hanazawa-kun was. . . that was something different. Even when I'm very angry, I can still hold back if I try. But those times where I can't remember anything. . .
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Hey. Checking things out?
no subject
Anyway. A bubble floats by, and it pops, and. . . I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you. I'm sorry for how long this is. You can just read it if you want, or watch an anime I guess.
(Part #1: From 17:24 to end)
This memory starts with Mob for some reason having been kidnapped. He is tied up and in the middle of a fight between maybe 30-40 middle school delinquents and a group of extremely buff middle schoolers. They are vastly outnumbered, but are winning easily.
The whole fight, Mob remains tied up and quietly waits to be rescued, unconcerned with anything that’s happening. But then an extremely smug blonde kid shows up, and immediately starts villain monologuing and calling everyone trash.
(Same link as above, but 18:24 to end for when Hanazawa shows up)
Hanazawa punches the delinquent leader on his own side, first, before insisting on fighting the Body Improvement Club for damaging his pride. He is fast - impossibly so, almost like he teleported. This is a fight of normal-ish kids and the kid who showed up is doing shonen fighting. He handily defeats all of the Body Improvement Club - again, doing cheat-y shonen moves like teleportation and extremely powerful attacks.
At this point, since this is Mob’s memory, you can see there’s some kind of yellow hued energy flowing around Hanazawa when he does these fighting moves, but no one else can see it, apparently When the dust clears, the only person left standing is Mob, still tied up.
His own powers activate, more blue and purple in hue, and pull the ropes off his body This sight appears to completely stun Hanazawa.
(Part #2 Here It’s pretty much just this whole episode unfortunately but I’ll give timestamps for the important parts.)
(0:00 to 0:45) Mob’s ghost friend, Dimple, points out for the audience that Mob didn’t know other ESPers existed before this, but it seems obvious Hanazawa also didn’t know.
He powers up, the floor around him breaking into pieces, as he begins to glow yellow with powerful psychic energy.
(2:24 to 2:39) Hanazawa attacks suddenly, rushing in a blast of energy at Mob. But Mob hardly seems to notice. He isn’t even really fending off Hanazawa, he’s just not reacting at all or feeling anything.
He holds out his hand for a handshake, but Hanazawa reacts like he’s about to be attacked and teleports across the schoolyard away. Hanazawa just continues running and teleporting around, doing shonen battle bullshit while Mob barely reacts to any of it.
(3:22 to 4:01)
Finally, he gives up teleporting around, and starts instead charging attacks.
While this conversation is happening, Hanazawa is actively blasting Mob with energy attacks, but they’re just bouncing off him while Mob explains his life philosophy to a ghost.
(5:10 to 5:44) Suddenly, an attack by Hanazawa sends Mob flying.
Using telekinesis, he lifts Mob into the air, twists him around, and slams him back down into some trees and into the school’s pool.
He continues slamming Mob around with his powers, knocking him back down onto the ground in the schoolyard. Finally, Dimple intervenes and asks Hanazawa to call it a draw and leave Mob alone. When he refuses, Dimple musters his power to try to stop Hanazawa.
Hanazawa uses his power to tear Dimple apart, and laughs in Shigeo’s face. Shigeo doesn't actually like Dimple that much, and doesn't really care.
(7:32 to 10:15) But when Hanazawa starts talking about what a ‘pointless existence’ Dimple led, Mob starts to look a little pissed off.
Hanazawa starts powering up again and yelling a lot and he has this really funny stance where he sticks his legs together like a dork.
The entire ground underneath them shoots into the air, with Mob along with it, while Hanazawa keeps powering up and shonen fighting in Mob’s direction. He slams Mob into the ground, and then punches him through a brick wall into the school and back out through a glass window, and continues coming at him. Mob picks himself up off the ground, a little gingerly and a lot stressed out, but definitely not very hurt.
Screaming and pushing his powers as hard as they can go, he throws everything in the room at Mob and then forces him through another wall, to which Mob responds ‘ow.’ Now in the home ec classroom, he starts lifting knives from the drawers and shooting them telekinetically at Mob.
He lifts a hand to defend himself and accidentally puts up a barrier that sends a knife ricocheting off him. It just misses Hanazawa, shaving off the top of his hair and leaving him bald.
(11:55 to 15:10) Hanazawa seems to really lose his mind here, turning his tie into a psychic sword and melting down.
Hanazawa starts slashing his dumb energy sword at Mob, screaming at him and losing it progressively more and more, obviously running out of energy, while Mob just puts up psychic barriers and watches, bewildered, in the wreckage of this school.
Hanazawa starts laughing hysterically at this.
Hanazawa runs at Mob and begins to choke him - not with his powers, but with his hands. He’s really losing it, and begins choking him quite hard. For the first time, Mob actually looks like he’s in actual pain, while Hanazawa has a mental breakdown and screams at him, choking him hard enough to potentially kill him.
Mob is getting distressed, turning red and then blue, struggling to breathe. His emotion state starts rocketing up, but he’s clearly trying to resist. Finally, he raises a hand, appearing to be about to hit him - and hits Hanazawa with an extremely weak, perfectly ordinary, non-psychic punch. This seems to knock Hanazawa out of his fury, and he just looks devastated and miserable, while Mob continues to hit him with weak punches and struggle to breathe.
(Mob has a flashback here, to a moment when he was a child. Some bullies are picking on him and Ritsu, and shove Mob aside. He passes out and when he comes to, the entire area they were in has been destroyed. The bullies are lying on the ground, badly injured and bleeding or even dead, and Ritsu is also lying unconscious, bleeding heavily. This can be in here too, if you want it.)
Mob continues thinking of this, thinking to himself about how he promised to change, as his emotional state ticks up and he starts to lose consciousness. Finally, though, he goes unconscious.
(18:19 - 19:16) . . . But the memory isn’t over yet. Just like in the flashback, something happens to Mob when he loses consciousness, and it happens here. Mob can’t remember any of that, so you don’t see it. But you see him wake back up.
When he comes too, he’s standing in what was once the school -- it’s only dirt and rubble now. The entirety of the school building, the trees and any buildings and structures outside, the ground, the Body Improvement Club, the delinquents, and Teruki himself have all been blasted away by an explosion. Now, all of the debris and people are floating far above in the air, under Mob’s control.
Mob realizes what he’s done, again, and begins to cry uncontrollably. He falls to his hands and knees, hiding his head, overwhelmed by sadness and shame. The feeling is so powerful that his power swells uncontrollably. With that power, the rubble in the air floats back down, and brick by brick, his powers repair the school and bring all of the bodies back down safely.
The memory, fuckin' finally, ends.]
no subject
[ ok no, but zuko watches this all silently, and is silent for a long beat afterwards. things slot into place. he's heard some of this from mob -- the reasons why he wanted to change, to get stronger, but it's different to see it for himself --- so viscerally, from mob's perspective. ]
[ finally, he speaks: ]
So that's what you meant by destroying the school.
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No one was hurt this time, I think. Thank goodness. But. . . I still can't stop this from happening.
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I think you need to look at it at a different way. Instead of being afraid of your powers, think about the good you can do with them. I used to think that fire was just destruction.... fueled by rage and hatred, but it's not that. It's like the sun.. but inside of you.
[ this makes no sense to a nonbender. ]
Isn't it your power that fixed the school?
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The good I can do with them. . . [He nods.] I put it back. But it's only because I was lucky that no one got hurt. I can't put a person back together.
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Right. But I think to learn to control them, you need to learn not to fear them. It's... got do with your emotions, right?
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They get much more powerful when I feel strong emotions. [. . .] But what happened to Ritsu, and Hanazawa-kun was. . . that was something different. Even when I'm very angry, I can still hold back if I try. But those times where I can't remember anything. . .