The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Chapter 5—Page 40

March 7, 2017 Alex Woolfson 113 Comments

Look out behind you, Kyle!

So! Laampros seems to have gotten the upper hand and is pushing Kyle back towards some nasty looking (and sharp!) debris. What’s his end game here? And will our firebending hero survive it?

Tune in this Saturday to find out! Hope to see you there! 😀

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113 Comments

Don’t listen to him Kyle

Congratulations on the virgin! I uploaded the page at just the right moment, but wasn’t logged into Disqus.

Congrats, Donna!

The page is up early!
Uh oh Kyle Look out!

Laampros is certainly trying to convince Kyle that he’s bad and rotten and can’t win. I wonder what Laampros is hiding? I wonder if Kyle can figure it out? I wonder if Laampros is lonely and wants a companion to rule the Earth? Maybe Laampros does fear Sircea? After all, Laampros is a sneaky backstabbing and duplicitous character. He “created” Kyle? I find that statement more than a little odd.

I’m thinking more along the lines of Laampros really doesn’t want Kyle thinking that there’s any other path he can take. And as far as “creating” Kyle, then how come Kyle grew up in a dimension you couldn’t directly access until just now, hmm, Laampy?

I can think of several ways for Laampros to reach across dimensions without actually being there. None of them are vulgar. They all require advanced degrees in Quantum Physics…

I do agree that Laampros doesn’t want Kyle to think he has any choice but die or capitulate. It’s telling now that he isn’t killing him directly but forcing him back into the hazards.

Laampros is a lying manipulative sack of . The root of fire is potential, and Laampros is throwing every lie and fear he can at Kyle to keep him from realising it. That means Laampy-boy is scared.

yes, Laampros is all that,

That’s a question that depends largely on who Kyle’s actual mother is.

Oh yeah?? Well, it can also make things PLEASANTLY WARM, so THERE, jerk!!!

It can provide light in times of darkness 🙂

It can toast marshmallows!

Give Kyle a yule log and he can put on his own Christmas special.

Plenty of magical spells involve the ritual burning of incense or herbs or powders, both in fantasy and the actual practice of witchcraft. If we’re ticking off the non-devastate-y uses of fire, let’s add that to the list. ^_^

Oooh, and that also made me think of scented candles. Which I know is not your point, but it is also another positive use of fire.

A rock and a hard (warm) place, might not be the best of places to be. Laampros is really a hard person to get along with.

We are NOT going to his house for Thanksgiving this year.

But warm. You have to give him that.

Technically Laampros is right about fire destroying things, but that can also be a power for good! You have to get rid of something before new growth can occur, so destroying evil to make way for good is certainly in his power. Hopefully that’s what Kyle is thinking too

“Causing pain (to Laampros) and suffering (to Laampros) is what you were made for.”

See…it’s all about the context…

good one

My memory of theology is that demons cannot ‘create’ at all. That’s why I’ve had a problem with Kyle being Laampros’ ‘son’ in anything other than an indirect or metaphorical sense. I just don’t see the biological thing being a power that Laampros actually possesses. So what’s his game here?

This fantasy world needs not conform to real world theology. And even if it does, there are plenty of real world theologies to choose from.

Also, that’s Tolkien only. Mythological demons had rape babies all the time

I’ve never heard of demons NOT being able to have kids before. Half-demons are literally everywhere in fantasy settings.

Kyle! Remember how you put out that fire back in chapter one.

Yes, that!

probably not- it was 3, 4, 5 years ago ?

It was posted in August 2012, but in the story it was about a week ago.

I disagree, fire can bring warmth and light to the table too.

Light creates skin cancer and blindness, tho

Without light, blindness is meaningless.

Obviously too much of anything is bad for you. Too much light can blind you, too much sunlight gives you skin cancer, too much food makes you fat, too much solitude makes you insane, too much company makes you paranoid, too much water can kill you…you get the idea. The only thing that you can’t get too much of and it being bad for you is air…that’s the only thing I can think of that you can’t have too much of. And holding your breath doesn’t count since you are restricting how much you have doing that.

2 much air will explode you – like putting 2 much air in a balloon. 2 much oxygen is explosive. an air bubble in your iv that travels into your veins can give you a stroke.
2 much air/wind can blow u off a cliff- knock u down- blow u away- etc.

Inj these parts we have a proverb: “Fire is a good servant but a strict master.”

I’ve heard a similar one: “A temper is like fire: a good servant but a poor master.”

KYLE! D: anyone else, now would be a great time to jump up and shout “SURPRISE!!”

So Laampy. You created a weapon of mass-destruction and now you’re trying to destroy the weapon itself? No wonder the military hasn’t shown up yet.

It may be what he was made for, but it’s not what he’s made of himself. Somebody needs to remind him of how many lives he’s saved with his ability to push fire around.

Ah but that’s not true: Kyle can absorb fire, as he demonstrated several times. This is a positive power. Lamproos is not only manipulating here, he’s simply lying.

I don’t understand what is happening to kyle in the second and third image. He … Fly ??? Or is he attracted by the hell gate ??

He’s being pushed back by the force of his father’s fire to some pointy debris in the background.

Damn he is really trying to transpierce him?

Considering his dad is all all powerful demon who is hellbent on taking over the Earth and never once sent his son a birthday present, I wouldn’t put it past him.

If we assume the last panel is him describing the other YP, Laampy left someone out….

(I’m not sure if he thinks of Amanda or Spooks as a “healer”. Technically, both quality. I’m guessing he means Commander, tho)

Paul

That sounds like some things I was told when I was young and impressionable. I actually believed it for a while.

Joke’s on him. Red also has Cathartic Reunion and Phoenix Heart

Dang Dad chill, you’re being a negative right now. You’re at 11 and I need you to bring that down to 2. Xthx

Destruction doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Controlled destruction can be a very good thing. Hell, humanity pretty much built all of itself off of learning to control fire.

Kyle is fireproof but not spike proof O.0

So point for my theory that Kyle may not have a mother…

he has 2 daddies- a prince of hell and a prince of heaven-
his heavenly father will show up soon and bitch slap lampy 4 hurting their baby and his friends

Well, he’s sure taking his time about it. Loss of Dad-points right there.

“Dad, you never let me be ME!”

So, is Kyle ACTUALLY Laampros’ son, or is he just a clone of Laampros created to have a human form but reveal his true demon form when his daddy/creator enters the world? This kind of lends credence to my theory that Kyle is NOT half human, but fully demonic. Maybe Laampros ‘created’ Kyle with another demon’s help, or just somehow cloned himself and put his clone in a human form, only now becoming his true demon self. I’d love to see Kyle grow huge and have to hide his junk with giant shadows of pillars of flame…I don’t think Spooky would say no to THAT massive endowment. XD

umm… I’m not worry about it. Good guys always win

So was Kyle conceived by like, a ritual someone did and Laampros just impregnated a human follower?
And what about his current physical alterations? Assuming the good guys survive the battle (and I fully hope they all do), are those horns and whatnot going to go away? I kind of hope they don’t, at least not quickly.

But fire also warms, illuminates, and promotes regrowth (in the cases of natural forest fires)

He and Raven would get along nicely

yeah i think the same

Time for his son to prove how much he’s truly grown and demonstrate the ability to indeed use his power to heal, perhaps even remake it into something else entirely due to his heroic willpower and burning need to break with what his father wanted him to be.

On an emotional level, I’d love that, both as a plot twist and a statement of self for Kyle.

On a superhero-logic level (not to be confused with actual science), it doesn’t make any sense for Kyle to have random new powers that aren’t demonic; as far as we know, though the jury’s still out, his non-sueprpowered half is human.

It wouldn’t be a random new power though it’d be learning to use an existing power in a new way which happens quite often (albeit not as often now as it once did) in super-hero comics. Demonic powers don’t have to always be about destruction either, Kyle’s father was offering immortality and renewed powers as part of his bargain that led to this moment after all and neither are destructive in and of themselves (immortality itself is pretty life-affirming and defending).

The moment of truth. Do or die! We believe in you Kyle!
(And hopefully someone else awake does, too, who can speak up for him. Anni, maybe? It would be a timely and appropriate closure and cause for their storyline. The man of no-scruples who was changed by the boy with a heart of gold could speak to Kyle’s goodness better than anyone. I’m calling it!)

Where’s the army when you need it ?!

It also helps nurture us (cooking!), provide us with warmth and comfort, gives us light in the darkness, can guide us, and provide protection in some instances, too. Got a feeling these sentiments are going to pop up (at least I hope!)

Kyle is in a bad situation. He’s powerful but not as powerful as Laampros. The others are not in much of a position to help. He might have to fake compliance with Dad and attack at the most opportune time. *bites lip and cross my fingers.

Kyle would be a very handy person to have whilst camping! Lighting torches and campfires, roasting marshmellows… the list is endless!

Signal flares when one gets lost alone is a good reason to take him ANYWHERE.

Don’t forget putting _out_ fires as well. You never need to worry about whether your campfire is really out when you break camp if Kyle is there to drain the fire out of it.

Fire does so much more than what Laampros is suggesting.

There’s a reason it’s one of the four classical elements; we need it to survive. Avatar (the Last Airbender cartoon, not the James Cameron movie) said it best: “Fire is life, not just destruction.”

The sun is itself a gigantic fireball whose heat keeps Earth alive. Lampwick is so far off-base here it’s funny. I can’t tell if he’s really that ignorant or if he’s just feeding Kyle the half-truths he doesn’t want to hear to demoralize him. I strongly suspect the latter.

Lampwick. I like that.

is it just me? or I feel very bad about Annihilator -.- I have a feeling he is so going to die. and even if he live, I doubt Kyle will be with him ever again. with a good reason of course. still, I feel sad about him a little.
has for Kyle, hurry up and kick your father ass already!!! so we all can have tea. geez, your father is such a bother! XD loving Kyle so much and this comic.

I still don’t know how much of the Duncan we saw in the early acts was the ‘real’ Annihilator and how much was an act to get Kyle to trust him for the spell’s sake. Seems to me that that should be resolved once Laamproast is finally sent packing.

But yes, Taylor Swift is definitely going through Kyle’s head re: Duncan right now. And rightly so.

well yeas of course that most of it was an act, but in the end of the day even after they capture him he did show a lot of cure for him. and he had no reason too if he really just “act” that he love him, since he already know he won’t forgive him. sooo…..has much he put on an act at first, I think that some parts was real! he did enjoy be with him and love him for real at some point.
I believe him ^_^ since he had no reason to lie after everything was done.
but again I doubt Kyle will come to him 0-0 just some things can’t be undone you know. I get it, I really do. but I still feel sad for him.

Glad you’re enjoying the comic, maya! Welcome to The Young Protectors! 🙂

thank you ^_^ I really enjoy this comic so much!!

That wasn’t my spellcheck, that was deliberate. :p I have no respect for this guy at all.

(Laampoon, not Alex. Alex is awesome)

My spellcheck had just changed “for” to “Igor” and “Exterminator” to “extermi,stir” …
I guess that I’m heavy thumbed and/or my spellchecker is possessed. Maybe it’s Sircea and her “non-scratch” metal bra and panties bedeviling us with tiny curses of misspellings and fake words.

Laampros is a blowhard and an egotist.

I feel this is an appropriate time to mention that here in Australia there are several plant species that require fire to help their seeds germinate, so fire can be a force for renewal and life, not just purely destruction. So take that Laampros, you big meanie.

If we’re citing examples of how fire can be a creative and/or nurturing force, I’ll throw in that in the east asian concept of the five elements, they can be used in either a creative or destructive cycle.
In other words, depending on how you apply the forces involved, each of the elements can be used to generate the next element in the sequence (in a presumably endless cycle) or destroy the next element (ditto).

Clearly Laampros is focusing on the destructive aspect – and I’ll be interested in whether this is because his innate nature makes him blind to the creative possibilities or whether he’s being deliberately deceptive.
But it occurs to me that a key point of understanding for Red Hot would be that he has the choice to be either creative or destructive. This would mean he is not just the equal but opposite of his father (and therefore doomed to a stalemate), but is far more powerful than Laampros because he has more options to choose from.

Fire creates earth and destroys metal. You would think that fire destroys wood, but actually it is metal that destroys wood. And fire offends water, which just means that water destroys fire.

For anyone following the weather — I wasn’t in that snowstorm that dumped snow in the northeast. This is the snowfall I saw in my yard this morning when I stuck my head outside the door. Yes, that is my driveway, and yes that is the street beyond.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1480999231933419&set=a.684739291559421.1073741826.100000700707668&type=3&theater

Have you always lived in an actual Thomas Kinkade painting?

No. To tell the truth, I grew up in the city but 3 years of commuting back and forth to work in rush hour and I bought acreage ten miles south of work and built my house. My commute was 10 easy miles with no traffic. As a benefit, me and the deer and the squirrels enjoy leaving each other to live quiet peaceful existences.

Can’t decide if I love or hate being caught up with the comic more; the suspense is killing me but it’s nice to let each page sink in.
Just a few hours left!!

At this point I suspect they will show up the proverbial day late and dollar short. In other words, they’ll arrive just after the YP have successfully dealt with Laampros – I hope.

Time to bring out the camping goodies.
I only have green tea tonight.

I brought Pop Tarts. Frosted ones. Yeah, I know, it’s sort of like mainlining sugar and fat – but hey, Pop Tarts! (Blueberry and Strawberry). Help yourselves, there’s lots.

ooh, Pop Tarts — raspberry is my downfall

yummy

Have two. 🙂

thanks

Do you have any of the s’mores ones?

Just plain chocolate frosted ones, sorry. I didn’t know there were S’mores-flavored pop tarts.

Next time.

Oh, yes. They are amazing.

I’ve got caramel brownies to share!

I’ll take one because I want to keep my high school figure…

{wink, wink}

Here you go, Dave!

Brownies . . . (makes puppy dog eyes at Sticky).

Here you go, Pietro! Help yourself! *passes you the plate*

For your camping entertainment: hellsnake fanfic

Shane And The Hellsnakes – 16th Bite
(A Young Protectors occult sitcom fanfic. Inspired by the stories of AMW comics.)

Most recent mini arc: (rest of urls at end)
13th //disq.us/p/1gadp8p || 14th //disq.us/p/1ghjpwc || 15th //disq.us/p/1gojw5i

PAGE 1 – Visit To Antiquities Department
(1.1) Establishing shot: exterior day scene. Louie is undulating up the short flight of steps of a building that has ‘Department of Antiquities’ written over the front door.
(1.2) Interior shot. Louie is looking in through a door into a small, crowded office. Inside is a woman sitting at a desk and sorting through paperwork: Professor Mary Metsama.
Louie: “Mary?”
Metsama: “Ah, Louie. Hello. Please, come in.”
(1.3) Medium shot of Metsama’s office. Metsama is pushing across the desk a cardboard tray with what looks like broken bits of pottery. Louie is sitting on a chair and leaning forward to look at the tray.
Metsama: “These are the ones that I’d like you to fix.”
Louie: “And these are all the original pieces of the vase?”
(1.4) Medium shot of Metsama’s office.
Metsama (wry expression): “Yes. Broken during a moving accident two months ago. Fortunately not so old and valuable that I can’t afford to get it fixed by unorthodox methods. Try doing that with a cuneiform tablet and see the accusations about tampering and deliberate misrepresentations of the original text fly.”
Louie: “Well, be fair, they’re right. It would take more effort, by I could re-create it in a different form.”
Metsama: “There are photographs of the originals. It’s not as though they couldn’t check.

PAGE 2 – Repairs
(2.1) Medium shot of Metsama’s office. Louie sits on the chair and uses his tail to agitate the tray, but not touch the broken pieces directly.
SFX: shake shake
(2.2) Same position as before. Louie continues to agitate the tray. Some of the pieces of broken pottery are falling together – like a film of something crumbing apart run in reverse.
SFX: shake shake
(2.3) Louie continues to agitate the tray. More pieces of broken pottery are forming together.
SFX: shake shake
(2.4) Medium shot of Metsama’s office. Louie finishes. Professor Metsama has picked up the fully reformed vase and peers at it.
Metsama: “As good as new. Not even cracks. So much for the Second Law of Thermodynamics.”
Louie (grinning): “The Second Law of Thermodynamics can go kiss my scaly green backside.”

1st //disq.us/p/19v8eu2 || 2nd //disq.us/p/1a2o442 || 3rd //disq.us/p/1alqq0b
4th //disq.us/p/1bj02c1 || 5th //disq.us/p/1cbqswr || 6th //disq.us/p/1clrnat
7th //disq.us/p/1doiwuu || 8th //disq.us/p/1egj1wy || 9th //disq.us/p/1emw5b5
10th //disq.us/p/1epytxa || 11th //disq.us/p/1f1wo70 || 12th //disq.us/p/1fnz03n
13th //disq.us/p/1gadp8p || 14th //disq.us/p/1ghjpwc || 15th //disq.us/p/1gojw5i

Help me with this. I know the following:
The First Law is “You can’t win.”
The Second Law is “You can only break even.”
The Third law is “Things will get worse before they get better.”

I think you used the wrong Law.

I think you may be right. I was going off memory. Lemme check my references

To restore something to its original condition after breaking, then you must reduce the entropy to a negative value. Thermo says that is doesn’t happen for equilibrium processes. However, it can happen when the entropy is laid off somewhere else in the process. For instance, making an artificial diamond or weaving wool into a sweater. Something is created with greater order and lowered entropy because work is done in exchange.

In this case I’m playing with the idea that Louie is cheerfully flouting the Laws of Thermodynamics. Not just working around them on a technicality, but actually breaking them. This is running off at a tangent of an old pop culture notion (I think I picked up from Marvel comics) that demons are parasitic entities and have to prey on others. It follows that their opposites (including angels) are not, which may be one explanation for the attributes of some gods being able to create ex nihilo.

Anyway, granted I’ve only got a layman’s knowledge of Three Laws of Thermodynamics (and I have never had a good grasp of the Third Law) but…

For long-term plot reasons he’s not breaking the First Law, the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy. Quite. He is causing waste heat to be converted back into work, but isn’t actually creating new energy from nothing. In fact it is closer to breaking the Second Law, since he is reversing local disorder without needing to balance it elsewhere.

Which does of course raise the question of how a hellsnake is stopping being demonic and parasitic. To which the answer is, that’s a good question and is a plot point that I plan to work on.

I can live with that.
I consider it as laying off entropy in an alternate universe of the multiverse or drawing power from dark matter.

The three Laws have been paraphrased as:
You can’t win (no free lunch)

You can’t break even (nothing is perfectly efficient)

You can’t get out of the game. (only universe we got)

Yes. And after consulting my battered old Asimov’s New Guide To Science plus some wiki summaries, I’m thinking that this is breaking the spirit of the First Law if not necessarily the letter of it, plus the letter and spirit of the Second Law.

New page is up:
http://webcomics.yaoi911.com/typ/ch5-page-41/

Does anyone know if Kyle has a mother? Or did Laampros LITERALLY create him in his own image? Like, mold a demon into human form and send it to earth to be raised by humans so he could use it later when someone made a deal with him and let him come to earth?