AkibaRed was onto something!?(The Jack Subplot like thing) (Open)

Jack.... didn't know when he started having these thoughts... But it may have started back when he met Treah... Or was it as far back as when he met Hyde?... Or perhaps it was all the way back at the beginning when he met Miss.Divine... Whatever the reason he knew for a fact that something was very very wrong. The feeling had mounted for several weeks and was approaching a month now. Now it's loud roar was nearly impossible to ignore. He sighed as he remembered the final straw that broke the camel's back... It had been earlier that day and he had Just finished up a trip to Oki's tea shop for more Zyugreen Tea when the thought crossed his mind... That he and the others involved in this competition were actively fighting those who created them to avoid destruction. Kinda like how the AkibaRanger's fought against the creators of their show to avoid cancellation. He admired Nobuo for being able to spot the subtle hints that they were in a T.V. show... Then... that got Jack thinking about his own life....

How... people would seem to float in and out of his life at random... how he would meet dozens of random people on the streets everyday... how he experienced thousands of things in his life... but couldn't accurately remember anything from more then a bout six months ago... And how he noticed time and events flowed...strangely. This also got him to think, perhaps his life was not what he at first thought it was. Unlike Nobuo however, he did not have any concrete evidence to support this, a tickertape was not just gunna scroll across the screen for him to catch and prove his point. That and the fact that the magical disturbances surrounding him had little to do with Super Sentai at all... But they had everything to do with Persona...

Persona... Persona Persona Persona... It all boiled down to persona. It was with that thought that Jack came to a startling realization. One that explained all the... anomalies, he was experiencing... But he needed to test this theory... And the only way to do so... would be to not think about it.

So this bring us to where Jack is now. Alone. Sitting on a park bench in a park in San Malarus. He has not told anyone where he is... for all intents and purposes... Jack should be left alone... however.....

Hm, this place again. Sometimes, Sharaku wondered how he ended up here so often. Well, not that it was that terribly far from where he lived, but still. Then again, it was a little annoying in Penecia, when you happened to run into random tourists or such. Even though there were less of them nowadays, with all that was happening. It was actually surprising that so many people were still hanging around. Well, a good deal of them were probably those that had Personas...but aside from that..well, who knew why people stayed. Maybe they didn't have enough money to move away. Because it was getting rather bad with two islands going off the charts so soon after one another.

At any rate, he found himself wandering around, as per usual, contemplating over mostly useless matters. Well, at least the people he knew wouldn't actively look for him in San Malarus. That could be a plus. Even though his intent wasn't really to avoid. But there were a few individuals he would rather not see right now. He wasn't in the mood for exchanges that never ended anywhere.

He would only end up stopping when he noticed a familiar figure sitting alone in a park nearby. Eh? Normally, he wouldn't care, but this was a bit strange. He'd expect to see the guy bouncing around and doing his heroisms...most likely. ''Aren't you off helping people today?'', he'd speak up towards Jack, though still from some distance, as he chose not to move over yet. He was just sort of curious as to why would someone like him..mope about? Was that it?

"I knew it..." Jack sighed and felt a little part of him die inside. This proved it to him without a shadow of a doubt. His world was not his own, nor was it Sharaku's. The thought both excited and frightened him. However... more testing needed to be done for him to be sure of the true nature of the world. "Even heroes need breaks Sharaku heh.... That and, I've had a lot on my mind for the past few days and need to sort a few things out. In fact, you happening across me helped a lot in and of itself. Tell me, why are you in San Malarus today? Normaly you hang out around Pencia... Though in the end that doesn't matter as much..."

Jack would look down at his shoes and the ground below them. With a sigh he would turn to look at Sharaku,"Humor me for a moment Sharaku... Would you in your own words... describe what I'm wearing... And I mean... Go in depth... The color the designs the accessories everything... I need to test something." If Sharaku answered the way Jack expected him to then... it would confirm one part of his theory. Nobuo... Your Teachings will be my guiding sword in uncovering these mysteries... wait... "my"?

Hm? How did his appearance help? It wasn't as if he was the type to encourage Jack's heroic notions. Not really. Sharaku didn't think he would be of much help, unless Jack wanted to hear things about how dangerous it was and such. Ah well. ''How does me being here help?'', he would ask, not sure as to how Jack meant it. ''As a matter of fact, I do come here often. Penecia always happens to have some annoying turists that would bug you. It's usually easier to move around in other parts of Azores. Beisdes, might as well, before they go to hell too. I'm just walking around, no specific reason for being here.'', he would elaborate with a slight shrug, as he walked closer to the other.

He would blink a few times and raise an eyebrow at Jack at the following questioning. Uh, what did that matter? ''Are we talking about your red spandex styled get ups? Well, I don't have anything against the color red and all. It is everyone's personal choice as to what they wear. I simply think that it is not very useful in fighting what we are facing. Red color only attracts attention of your opposition, and some people would laugh at a heroic get up like that. Clothes won't save you in dangerous situations, not the level we have around here. Though, if you really like it that much it's your call. I'd just say you should be careful of how it can affect others, that's all.'', he would state after a moment of thought, observing Jack. ''Is that enough?''

Damn.... Shar just thinks this is about his super heroing... It went so far beyond that... But if Jack told him that... It might invalidate the test... Have to play it cool..."I see... That seems to be reason enough to be here... But why here at this exact moment...only mere seconds after I arrive... It's go convenient... to to to to convenient. It's almost like... you and I were placed here on purpose..." Jack thought for a second, choosing his next words carefully"And I didn't quite mean my ranger outfit... I meant... what I'm wearing right now. From you... looking a me, what am I wearing right now? I know it seems like an odd request but I am going somewhere with this so bear with me..."

Jack would stand up and spin slowly to give Sharaku a full 360 view of him. Durring this time Jack was careful not to think about his attire in the slightest as to not give it away. He needed to know exactly how Sharaku saw him in that moment..."There.... and... you can probably guess that normally I'd be livid about your comments about my suit... But right now I could care less... I am very serious about this Sharaku. I'm asking as your friend, please help me out here."

''Purpose, hm? Just hope you won't regret being happy about the so called convenience.'' Sharaku would answer, somewhat amused. He didn't find this to be extremely convenient, but to each their own. Besides, Jack's questioning made little sense to him. He never understood what was the big deal behind what someone is wearing. For all he cared, people could wear bags over their heads if that was what they liked, as long as they accepted any possible consequences that might come out of it.

''The answer is simple. You're wearing clothes. Unless I'm blind. And I don't see how it matters.'', he would state matter of factly, watching on as Jack proceeded to spin around. At which, he would simply shrug. ''Serious or not, my opinion is basically the same. You're free to wear whatever kind of clothes you want in the end. What are you trying to make me say anyway? Everyone's opinion on a get up is different, so whatever I'd say is moot. As long as you don't go running around naked for no reason, I don't see a point.'' And to be honest, Jack was being weird with this.

H-How?... this is... "You can't.... can you?" Though it was not an answer he was expecting... it still confirmed what he suspected. That there was something fundamentally wrong with how the world worked. How had he not noticed it before? How the world seemed to change based on perceptions. Slowly Jack sat back down with a shocked and frankly frightened look in his eyes. He felt his world crumble around him, as the final nail was hammered into the coffin."Sharaku... you can't describe my cloths... Because I haven't described them...For all intents and purposes I could be wearing a pink tutu and you would never know. God what is happening!?"

Jack would turn his gaze to Sharaku with a pleading look in his eyes. "Sharaku... I want you to try describing my cloths again.... But be specific this time." Jack looked down and made sure to mentally note the fact that he was wearing brown cargo pants, a red jacket, and a dark red undershirt... lets see if this works....

What? He can't what? Sharaku was honestly confused at first. What was Jack on about? Did the guy hit his head or something? Because this made less and less sense with time. When Jack proceeded to actually give an explanation to his sudden partial mental breakdown, he would just stare at the younger man for a while, before snorting. ''I'll tell you what is happening. You're overreacting.'', he would say with a low laugh. ''For all intents and purposes, I'm not describing your clothes, because I chose not to. How can you assume someone can't do something, just from the fact that they do not? If you told me to kick the bench, and I did not comply, it wouldn't mean I cannot, would it now?'', he would shake his head at the ridiculousness. ''I told you my opinion about wearing clothes. It was never my intention to name what you are wearing from the beginning.'' He wasn't lying, however. He did say he didn't truly care, as long as Jack wasn't going around naked with no reason. Which meant, whatever he was wearing, was his own thing. Why would he go describe it? Well, fine, maybe that was what the younger man wanted, but fact was, that he always did things his way, not the one that was expected of him. So, too bad.

''And how about no. I said I have no reason to. You look normal enough. Maybe if you were actually wearing that pink tutu you mentioned, I would have said something. But as it is, I'm not following your point.'', he would state nonchalantly. Okay, maybe it was not the best time to play around, but Jack was being nonsensical himself, so whatever. ''How about you just explain what this is really about? Because I am not getting your point so far. If it was true that one couldn't describe something without the person in question telling them first, then I wouldn't be able to tell that you have black hair. Or actually, I wouldn't see you at all. And that would, to be honest, be stupid. In my opinion, at least.'', he would shrug.

GYAAAAAA! He's just not helping! It's not working...Jack sighed as he realized that Sharaku wasn't going to be able to confirm or deny his theories. He would need to go else where for that... damn damn damn.... Sigh... Jack supposed it wasn't Sharaku's fault. He's just to logical and straight forward. If only Jack had some evidence or something that would convince him. But seeing as how NOT hacving that is what put Jack in this spot to begin with... that didn't seem like an option... He would just have to come clean wouldn't he?

"Fine... I'll just come out with it... As you probably guessed this has nothing to do with my cloths. I've just been noticing strange things as of late... Things that I can't seem to explain. Such as time jumping around willy nilly, one moment I just finished hanging out with a friend in mid February... then I'm shoveling snow with a different friend well before the new year had even started. When I noticed this, I couldn't help but notice people... diapering. Key example... About a month before the corruption, I met a student at Zela, Mari I think... it's getting hard to remember her. She was the disciplinary head of the Student Council. But after I met her... I never saw her again. Now I know that could just be that she moved again or I just didn't run into her... But it's more then that... For some reason... I just know that she's gone. wiped from the face of the earth. Has... Has that ever happened to you? Someone just... disappeared? And the most disturbing thing I've noticed... Is that I don't truly remember anything beyond about 6 months ago... I mean I remember my child hood and growing up, but it's more like I'm remembering things I was told happened, not things that I experienced. All this put together leads me to think that... Sharaku... I don't think we're real..."

''................''

The what now? To be honest, Sharaku wasn't sure whether to take this at face value, or not. Though, more so than not, it just sounded like Jack was having some mental problems or such. It definitely wasn't normal, yes, but Jack seemed to be overreacting still. What proof did he have for some of those things to begin with?

''You don't think so. But what is the actual proof for that?'', he would inquire with a raised eyebrow. ''I've met people that I did not see since, but that says nothing. Azores is not the smallest region in the world. And just having a feeling is not enough to prove anything. With what is happening these days, I would not be surprised that plenty of people are choosing to move away, not wanting to die.'' You can't really rely only on your feelings and assumptions for something as severe as this. Jack didn't say anything that would really prove someone did indeed just dissappear into the air. ''As for your jumbled memories...What do you really know? Maybe you started having some mental problems, or just trauma. That wouldn't be surprising with what has happened so far. If it was really true that it was an indication we are not real...wouldn't most people feel that way? But I do not. What does that mean then?'', he would ask. He was interested in Jack elaborating, because all that really didn't prove anything specific. One person having problems did not mean everyone was unreal.

"But there's more to it then that Sharaku, I've seen and heard some weird things man!" Jack rubbed his face and stood. He was determined to prove his point or look like a fool trying... Little did he know he already looked like a fool. Well at least that meant he had nowhere to fall to. Unless you counted complete fool, but then again he was probably already there anyway. "I just... Get the feeling there's someone controlling me ya know? And he controls the people I talk to as well! But not important people like you ... Just like... Random people in the street. Watch this." Jack would look to the sky and shout out loud enough for whatever god was listening"Make the next person to walk by say "I smell purple, would you like a sniff?""

As if summoned by a greater deity, a rather large rock would fall from the heavens and smack into Jack's forehead knocking him to the ground. Spray painted on the side of the rock in bold red letters was the word "No". Slowly Jack got back to his feet and held the rock out to Sharaku "See! And he's a smart ass to!"

''Hm. I've seen and went through enough weird in my life, but I don't think I share your sentiment.'' Jack was still sort of giving the impression that he had either hit his head recently, or...after hearing the next stuff, perhaps joined some strange cult. He would continue staring at Jack blankly. ''Like who? If someone were controlling you, wouldn't it mean you wouldn't be blabbering about it to everyone? I don't know about you, but if I was that someone, I would shut your mouth first and foremost, so you couldn't talk about it.'' The only thing that he could see controlling Jack right now, is some sort of ghost that lost its mind or something...because he was acting like it. ''And I'd like to know what classifies people as either random or important in your mind. Because it is a little rude to say that a random person in the street is not important enough. Besides, what's it mean? Being important makes one uncontrolable? I'm kind of not following your train of thought.'', he would frown a bit, resisting the urge to cover his ears at Jack's shouting. Did he really have to be this loud?

''........''

Pff. Fine. ''Or maybe the Gods up there find you so funny, that they are mocking you on purpose, more than anything else. I still think you're looking into this too much. Though, maybe you should go talk with a psychologist about it. I've never had anything like this happen before. Maybe you're a special subspecies of human then. Would that make you happy?'', he would roll his eyes jokingly. He wasn't going to buy this with such half assed arguments. Besides, who knew were that rock came from? Maybe Jack just had a lot of coincidence going for him. He doubted it was much more than that.

Jack would rub his slightly bleeding head for a moment and toss the rock aside."I don't get what makes people important or not... I think it's a NPC vs PC like thing... Like important people have a controller to or something... I don't know... I'm winging it at this point..." Jack would sigh and kick the rock slightly before turning back to Sharaku"And I'm not crazy! Well... I may be crazy but I'm sure about this! I think whoever's pullen the strings decided to let me go for a bit just to mess with me! Ether he hates me or watched to much Akiba Ranger and wanted to see what would happen if he let me go..." Jack sighed and collapsed back onto the bench.

"And it's not that I WANT to be different... It's just that if I'm right... Then What dose that make me?" Jack asked running a hand over his face and sighing. "I mean... If I'm just a puppet for some grand cosmic being, who is probably very handsome by the way.... There ya see! I didn't mean to say that!... Ether way, what dose that mean for what I've been doing? Am I really a hero just because someone else wanted me to be?... Just an action-figure to be played with?... It's all very disconcerting." Jack didn't flinch as a second rock fell from the heavens and cocked him on the head. This second one was much smaller, more a pebble then anything else... "Ow..."

''Or maybe you're the one that watches too many fantasy shows..'', Sharaku would mutter under his breath. Sure, he knew that supernatural on its own was possible, but he seriously wouldn't believe someone was just controlling people. What would be the reason behind that? Even if there was someone that actually threw the rock, it might only be proving that even supernatural beings were amused. Enough to play along with Jack's ridiculousness. But comparing life to a show or game was rather lame. Didn't Jack have enough already with his superhero acts? Besides, if he really was as much of a hero as he usually claimed to be, then he, hypothetically speaking, wouldn't let himself be controlled.

He would listen to the second part, remaining silent for a while after, thinking. Right. He would smirk at Jack. ''Is that it then? You say you don't want to be different, right? So why does it bother you then? If you want to remain the same, then you should be content with what is happening with you, no?'' Such contradictions. ''You know, the more I think about it, the more it looks like you're just losing your confidence. I thought you always said you were a hero, did you not? Why wouldn't you be able to fight off some influence, assuming it even exists? We are fighting deities and gods here and there, and you are suddenly being a downer about one you don't even know whether it exists. Is that it? Are you just doutbing yourself?'', he would inquire, looking at the younger man intently.

"My confidence huh?..." Jack looked at the rock that he had kicked a short distance away for a moment... Was that all this was about?... Was that the short and long of it?... Was he just losing that driving force that made him a hero?... It made sense, but Jack had long sense come to terms with that, with the inner voice that told him he wasn't good enough. In fact it had been his last conversation with Sharaku that lead him out of that darkness, however, the fact that Sharaku could still see that hesitance and fear in Jack... meant that he still had a long way to go on that front. Jack would sigh and pat the bench next to him"Take a seat Shar... yer making me nervous just standing there heh..." Whether or not Sharaku sat down, Jack would chuckle lightly to himself and cast his gaze onto the rock that had fell from above.

"I'm not going to say your wrong... But I'm not saying you're right ether... It seems every time I talk to you It's about me not quite feeling one hundred percent. For some reason you always seem to both remind me that have worth, and force me to realize how insignificant I am... Some basis for a friendship eh? Ehehe... But there is more going on here then that. I know that something beyond the angels, Thesis, and even the creator God that we're all trying to keep asleep is working here... something GRANd... huh... why'd I put extra emphasis on on that word...."

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