"...And thus once again the day is saved! Thanks to the boom brigade!"

The ending credits rolled and a bright red tomato haired boy tried his best to sing the lyrics to his favorite cartoon's ending theme song quietly. To be quiet wasn't something he was the best at being but he knew there were times and places to try.

If he got to loud it might awaken his father from his usual half drunk naps. If that happened he might have to endure his wrath and unlike on TV the boom brigade wouldn't be coming to the rescue. Masaru Diamon didn't know much about all the realities of the world nor did he try to but that didn't mean he didn't know one of the sad and lame things about it was that it was nothing like TV. It was hard to believe it but at one point he actually had a pretty good relationship with his father back when his mother was around.

He was to small to remember what happened but something happened at his father's workplace happened that got both his parents upset. He could remember the first sign of something wrong happening when he was awoken from his afternoon nap by his mother yelling on the phone.

Flashback begins

"Calm down honey! You'll get fired for screaming like this even if you are in the parking lot!"his mother said.

His parents were Nathen and Chrissy daimon. Childhood sweethearts that married when at their schools 20yr reunion. Chrissy was a sarcastic pixie haired blond and Nathen was a red haired all star jock until a leg injury ruined his promising career in football. Now he worked for fairly well paying but very boring law firm. Along with his leg his figure was starting to go and it was starting to affect his confidence in a lot of ways.

 His wife joked while pregnant that he shouldn't worry since now they were both going to lose their looks when her pregnancy was over. She only really gained a little weight but she tried to reassure him that he didn't have to worry over his looks since neither of them were getting any younger and he shouldn't let that bother him. What she didn't know was just how much his confidence affected his ego. An ego that started to go from small complaints about himself to big accusations about her. What she wore, if he thought she wasn't wearing enough, wearing to much make-up, to little make up, etc.

There was a brief silence that followed before she responded again but this time in a slightly less loud tone but still audible for him since he was kneeling on the stairs now.

"I was bringing you lunch because I wanted to see you. What makes you think I was there to flirt with any of those wrinkly old men at your job?" she asked.

This time the silence was less brief before she talked again.

"Okay and? Just because one them made some perverted ass flirty remark at me doesn't mean I was thinking about flirting back." she said in an irritated tone.

Her face scrunched up like she was holding off an angry laugh with whatever he said next.

"More money then you? Is that promotion you got tricked out of what this is really about? Just because some other guys got your promotion doesn't mean I'm going to leave you for them. From what I recall you even telling me about the position the promotion was only a dollar higher then what your paid now. What is that to cheat over?...What?! You know that's not even what I meant! Don't put words in my mouth!" She was stomping her foot now.

His father's voice could be heard in a muffled scream over the receiver now even as she held the phone away at arms length from her face. It was somewhere in his muffled rant that she turned her head to the side and noticed Masaru looking at her from the steps. His little face half sleepy and confused about all the noise. His baby blue eyes stared at her questioningly for an answer to what all the weird stuff he just heard was about.

"Listen honey I'm hanging up now. No I'm not trying to avoid the issue, all your yelling woke up Masaru and now I have to put him back to bed. We can continue this when you get home."she said with a sigh.

She now turned to Masaru and picked him up. At least for his sake she was able to conjure a slight smile on her face when she spoke.

"Sorry all that noise woke you up honey. Mama was just telling papa he was overreacting to something today. I know you aren't going to want to go back to sleep now until you work off that energy you got moving from the bed to stairs like that." she said.

Seeing her smile made him feel happy again but now like mama guessed, he didn't feel like going to sleep again right away after being woken up.

"Do you want to play in the backyard swings and teeter totter for a bit till your sleepy again?" she asked.

She pointed to said playground equipment through the screen door outside. She knew he didn't really understand everything she was saying but he knew when she pointed to yard it meant playtime. He looked up at her and smiled a half toothless smile at her before jumping up and down.

"Swing and fly! Swing and fly! Swing and fly!" he chanted excitedly now that he was more awake.

"That's right Masaru, your going to go flying on the swings till your sleepy again or until your father comes home. Whichever comes first."she said with a grin.

There were few kids who could play for as long on the playground till it was late in the day like Masaru could. It was as if he had the energy of 10 sugar high kids combined. Because of this he didn't even notice when his dad finally came home hours later nor did he notice that behind him that his parents were fighting again. The screen door was soundproof so he didn't hear them yelling at each other.

They weren't within view of the screen door but if it was open the entire neighborhood would of likely noticed their argument. The only thing to draw his attention back to the house was a frog he was trying to catch that was hopping its way up to the door.

He felt proud of himself for catching such a fast frog and wanted to show his mama it. He used the backyard's rake like his mama showed him to slide the door open then walked inside.

"Mama! Mama?" he shouted.

He didn't need to look far for mama because he eventually found her slumped against the kitchen table. As far as he could tell she must of hurt herself cooking or something because she was holding her head and red stuff was on her arm and some on her face.

"Mama? Mama okay?" he questioned.

She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. She hadn't noticed him at first but the second she did she hugged him and laughed. He dropped the frog in surprise from her reaction. Even to his little mind something seemed off about her laugh. It was like one of those fake forced laughs people make at bad jokes so they don't hurt a person's feelings.

"Yes Masaru, mama is completely fine. She just had a little argument with daddy and is a bit sad but they say laughing can help pain go away." She said while rubbing her face clean with a towel.

"I think its time both of us have a nap okay?"She said with a slightly less forced smile now.

For the next few months Masaru's mother could be found either in the kitchen every other week in a similar state to that day or over at his grandma's. She always still came around to visit until eventually the months became years and he never saw or heard from her again.

One day he finally decided to ask his dad where his mother was and got an unexpected reply.

"Isn't it obvious? She abandoned the family because of you. She got sick of how childish you are and nothing like a man in the making should be." He said coldly.

"What?! I thought she loved me! How can we get her back?" Masaru asked in almost teary panic.

"We don't do anything, it's you who has to start doing tasks around the house like a man. If you can do that maybe I can write back to your mom on how much of a better son and man you are. First thing I want you to do is go buy me some beers. I just finished my last case and need more to watch the big game coming up soon. Handle that well enough and I'll at least think about writing. Here is twenty bucks and I expect exact change back." father said.

Masaru's math skill were never that great but he did as he was told and went to try and get the beers only to in run into a new problem.

"What do you mean I have to be 21 to buy it?! I'm not the one who's going to drink the gross smelling stuff anyway. Its for my dad and I even have money!" Masaru exclaimed.

"Sorry junior but that's the law. Either become 21 in the next 5 seconds or get your dad to come get it if its really for him. " said the cashier. Minors trying to buy alcohol with fake ID's and giving a fake age wasn't uncommon there.

Masaru didn't want to disappoint his dad but couldn't think what else to do. Purely on impulse he decided that when the man behind the counter wasn't looking he'd snatch the beers and make a run for it. He could always send them money later or something.

10 minutes later

"Sir, is this your child?" asked an officer holding Masaru's arm.

Apparently the cashier was faster then he first thought and paying later for drinks you want wasn't how buying food works.

"Sadly yes." Replied Masaru's dad.

"Since this is a first time offence and he is just a minor the store owner won't press charges. Your son is however banned from going into his store without an adult though." the officer explained.

"I understand and don't worry it won't happen again" his father promised.

The second the officer closed the door his father glared at him and silently pointed for him to go to his room. His father came in a moments later with a belt and beat him for a solid 15 minutes. All the while he screamed at him for being a failure to the name Daimon and that he better shape up or his father would be the next one to disappear from his life.

The next day he sent him to a different store and this time stole the beers without getting caught by being a little more cautious. That and wearing his backpack helped out to.

End of flashback

Since that day he still got beatings from his father for doing tasks either wrong or not good enough. Whether these things were around the how tasks or items for his "tests of manhood" as his father called them it didn't matter, Masaru did them all out of the hopes of seeing his mother again.

With the final cut scenes of the his show over, Masaru knew he needed to go to bed so he had the energy to meet with his new tutor. Conveniently enough whoever it was also was going to be the his school's new coach's assistant. His mind was all over the place with ideas of what they'd be like and if telling them about his problems was a good idea. He wasn't completely sure the real problem at this point was his father or himself since it was his own fault his mom was gone.

"I wonder if they'll show me a better way to improve at my manhood tests."One part of him thought.

A thought that felt slightly more dangerous came to his mind as well. Since Jataro's reveal to them about the lies a parent could hide it popped into his mind on the way home. He didn't want to even consider it to long or he didn't know how to feel if it turned out to be part of a terrible question he thought before when he was younger. Something he buried deep down into the back of his head the second the question passed by because it was just stupid. His father was an all star with manly trophy's as proof.

 All stars deserved respect, they were constantly confident, and people loved them like heroes. They brought people together so there was just no way it could be possible. Still the though even now was scratching slightly in his the far off buried place of his head.

"Could I really be the reason mama's gone? If its not me and dad lied then that would only mean..."

He started shaking his head and laughed slightly before his mind fully completed the thought. No, his parents both loved him and each other. If something silly like that was true his mom would of told him or taken him with her. She gave him hugs, toys, taught him how to tie his shoes, and all the fun stuff moms are suppose to. No way would she just leave unless it was something he did. He really did have some thoughts that were dumb even to himself.

With that in mind he decided to go try and sleep by counting rockets in his head until he fell asleep.

upupupupupupupupupupupupupupupupupuppupupuppppupupupup

Alright that's chapter 5 squared away. Just 2 more to go and that will be a all of the chapters I've completed for the story so far out the way. This story still has a ways to go though so it of course won't be over with just those chapters. The last kid up next is arguably the most tragic of the warriors that we all know and love. Kotoko's coming up soon and after that things will start to get set in motion.