The Venger-Raiden Dividend

[Abishai100]

I love stories filled with colorful characters and fascinating 'adventures.' Such storytelling is a hallmark of American imagination, since America is such a stimulating land of confluence, drawing people from around the world to share daydreams, which perhaps explains the social demand for experience-descriptive Hollywood (USA) films such as Pleasantville and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

So here's a short-story I cooked up about to Americans whose lives intersect and lead them to a metaphysical (or psychological!) discovery about self-idealization.

Enjoy!


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The American celebrity Tom Cruise was bored with his luxurious lifestyle and wanted to learn about vigilantism and mysticism. He started reading Mandrake the Magician comic books and playing 'nether-realm' Mortal Kombat video games (with his son). Cruise wanted to understand the human subconscious processes that made fantasies/daydreams to representative of mental relaxation. He decided to take a sabbatical to the Himalayas. There, he met an old Eastern Philosophy sage who told him about the Mortal Kombat video-game warrior-avatar Raiden (Oriental god of lightning!). The sage suggested to Cruise that his child-like fascination with the 'pop-culture mysticism' presented in video games revealed a deep connection to the character of Raiden, a god who represented simple control over the raging energies and chaotic forces of the universe.

Meanwhile, an idealistic Internet-blogger and Ivy League graduate named Ajay Satan was posting messages on World Discussion Forum about the accessibility of pro-populism dialogue and pro-democracy values (e.g., religious pluralism, free-speech, etc.). Ajay was using the Internet alias/avatar 'Spider-Man' (Marvel Comics), a web-soaring 'vigilante' who tackled villainous ghouls (such as Hobgoblin) who symbolized pure terrorism and moral deformity. Ajay was excited about the plethora of vigilantism-daydream comic book adapted films such as The Amazing Spider-Man being made in Hollywood (USA). Ajay decided he wanted to investigate the full literary (and cultural) history of America's metaphysical fascination with unusual characters/avatars known as 'super-heroes.' Ajay was about to communicate with Cruise and the two would discover a strange omen regarding 'Halloween innocence.'

Cruise was back in Los Angeles, California (USA) and reading blogs by citizens on World Discussion Forum. He came across the idealistic posts by Ajay Satan (aka, 'Spider-Man') and responded to them using the Internet alias/avatar 'Batman' (DC Comics), a masked urban vigilante who tackles the criminally insane. 'Batman' (Cruise) told 'Spider-Man' (Ajay), "Your apparent interest in 'unusual vigilantism-oriented' American pop-culture art characters/avatars from comic books (such as Spider-Man) suggests you are interested in the psycho-sociology (and perhaps also the 'pseudo-mysticism') associated with 'passionate civics' in America!" Ajay responded in the affirmative, and Cruise told him about one of his favorite pop-culture American cartoon mysticism-superhuman characters/avatars Venger (from the Dungeons & Dragons realm-and-conquest kids' morning cartoon series), a powerful wizard who wielded authority over 'phantoms of darkness.'

Ajay really liked what Cruise was telling him, and when Cruise explained why he was studying the symbolism surrounding the Mortal Kombat video-game warrior-avatar Raiden (god of lightning), Ajay suggested that he and Cruise dress up as Venger and Raiden (respectively) for Halloween. Ajay told Cruise that the 'civics optimism' of the gesture (despite the fact the two had never met face-to-face) would provide a nice spiritual 'deed' in this modern world beset by general 'organic malaise.' Cruise loved the idea, and so he and Ajay dressed up as Raiden and Venger (respectively) on Halloween. The next day, they communicated with each other again on World Discussion Forum (using their usual identity-masking Internet aliases/avatars 'Batman' and 'Spider-Man') and related to each other the 'spiritual thrill' of pretending to be optimistic 'crusaders' disguised as Raiden and Venger! However, they both shocked each other when they discovered that on Halloween Eve (the night before), they both met a strange man (dressed in a red hood) who told them, "Be careful who you daydream about becoming (e.g., Venger/Raiden) in this land of masquerade!"

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TOM CRUISE and AJAY SATAN:

VENGER and RAIDEN:

 

[Damaged Eagle]

*****CHUCKLE*****

 

[Abishai100]

The Moscow Magic


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Venger and Raiden decided to travel to Moscow to see the culture of the nightlife and to spy on its criminal underworld. They had heard rumors that two precocious Americans (Tom Cruise and Ajay Satan) were costuming themselves as them and wandering around on Halloween fancying themselves to be 'crusading idealists.' Venger had a power to release a great illumination-energy from his palm, while Raiden could manipulate electric fields to create devastating bolts with a magical wave of his hands rolling around each other. Venger and Raiden wanted to put some fear into what they felt was a complacent Earth.

Moscow was struggling economically since the fall of the Soviet Union. The Russian mafia had established multiple operations and a lucrative syndicate devoted to an urban opium-traffic. One mafia-tied gang known as Red Triangle was run by a ruthless crimelord named Ivan the Terrible. Ivan would bring in goons from rival gangs and have their executions recorded on video-tape and have the tapes mailed to the rival gangs. Red Triangle became known as the Moscow 'scourge,' and Venger and Raiden wanted to dismantle it with powerful magic.

Ivan had kept in his employ a super-psychotic deformed serial killer named Dan who had just been sprung out of jail and armed by Red Triangle with a chainsaw. Dan's job was simply to kill cops, and in three months, he killed a dozen Russian policemen. The Moscow Police Force was undermanned and underfunded by the disorganized Russian government at the time which was still reeling from a devastating political fiasco involving a Chechnyan separatist movement, a movement which further crippled the Russian economy. Venger and Raiden wanted to put an end to Dan's reign of chainsaw-terror and reassure the people of Moscow that sanity could still be found in the modern city.

Venger and Raiden came up with a plan. They double-teamed Dan in an alley one night and energized his brain (with their magic) until he had a stroke and died. They then left a note on his dead body for the police to find: "Let it be known that Red Triangle is undermined by the civics-passion of politically-conscious 'citizens' such as the American 'do-gooders' Tom Cruise and Ajay Satan!" The Moscow Gazette reported that two unknown vigilantes executed 'Dan the Chainsaw-Man' and left an allusory hint that their 'deed' was inspired by the pro-democracy feats of Americans Tom Cruise and Ajay Satan. When Cruise read the news-story, he decided to respond in the press: "All Americans would comment that the urbanization-crippling Red Triangle gang represents post-USSR economic horror!" Ajay hoped no one in this 'fantasy-gluttony world' would believe he was actually Venger...

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[Abishai100]

Raiden's Solo-Flight


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Raiden travelled to the Himalayas and had an engaging debate with Shiva (Hindu/Eastern god of destruction).

RAIDEN: I am all-powerful because of my mastery over lightning.
SHIVA: I control the devastating force of the waters.
RAIDEN: Electric energy is more potent than hydration.
SHIVA: That's debatable. Any pedestrian will tell you water is necessary for life.
RAIDEN: True, but electricity makes friction...interesting.
SHIVA: Perhaps, but without water there's no moisture or refreshment.
RAIDEN: Without electricity, there's no Facebook.
SHIVA: Noah's Biblical flood revealed the metaphysical magic of water.
RAIDEN: Electricity is everywhere...even in your dryer when you feel the effect of hot air.
SHIVA: Water makes us forget about 'static.'
RAIDEN: Without electricity, there are no video games.
SHIVA: Consumerism (e.g., Starbucks) requires as much water as it does electricity.
RAIDEN: Death penalty by drowning preceded death by electrocution, proving electricity is 'modern.'
SHIVA: Which Marvel Comics supervillain do you prefer, Hydro-Man or Electro?
RAIDEN: Electro's use of electric-sparks makes him more...insidious.
SHIVA: Hydro-Man is just as imaginative.
RAIDEN: Well, then, let's agree that we both wield special authority over metaphysics.
SHIVA: Agreed, but remember...water is necessary for life (and Starbucks coffee!).

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