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Leo's Parade Diaries:
Raccoons on Parade
Ringo Jamestown III (Corps Coon) is probably the more famous of all of us, but I am also a percussion raccoon that played in the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. My name is Robert Barton, and you know me as the Cadet of Chivalry. The main difference is he wows the world with a snare drum. While I am classically trained on all percussion instruments, and was judged by my abilities to beat a snare drum, I played tenor drums, or quads, once I actually became a Cadet.
I joined the Cadets after I jokingly made a bet with my uncle, and lost the bet. It was because we were attending the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps's 50th Anniversary Tattoo, which also featured groups such as the Hellcats of West Point, the American Originals, and the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums, among others. The bet we made was whether or not the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps, or the Commandant's Own, would perform, and they did; they ended the first half. The whole bet was a joke anyways, because I was already planning to join. Both my mom and dad died tragically when I was young, and so I lived with my aunt, Doreen, and my uncle, Greg. Uncle Greg was a Marine, although I don't know if he served at the same time as the legendary Boomcat, who is often hailed as the greatest Marine of all time. (And what's not to love about him? He's as true to the red, white, and blue as one can get.)
I now play with the G-52 Drum and Bugle Corps, or GDABC, in addition to being a Money Mogul and this is a result of when Bendraqi's old robots attacked the 2017 DCI Championships, and gave one member from every corps participating superpowers. It abruptly led to the Cat of Steel declaring that under these emergency circumstances, all of us would become G-52s on our 18th birthday. (The first to do so was Trooper Tiger, who played for, appropriately, the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps.) I don't enjoy being a Money Mogul, because I don't even have the slightest interest in pinball. Yet, until CNG got to us again, I was earning one dollar per point playing a pinball machine. Out of fairness, however, I do own a pinball machine of my own, and I had Cripto help me install it and test it.
I don't really have much to say because I'm not one for talking, but it is my patriotic duty to report this. Because the GDABC was teaching at various clinics to high schools whose drumlines had their humans turn into animals forever because of CNG, it also enhanced our superpowers. Until that point, I was only able to manipulate cash like Cripto, although he now lost that ability. It was what was getting him in trouble, though, and so it terrified me to the point of no return. At the clinic in question, where one drumline saw its members turn from humans to raccoons, about 15 other raccoons that were raccoons to start with all became just as musical and powerful as Ringo.
We discovered this because there were not only CNG smugglers on the loose (and I am under oath not to repeat any details about it according to Super C's commands), but there were bank robbers at work, and another guy was holding an old lady up at gunpoint (because he thought she was somebody else; when she pulled out her driver's license to prove he had the wrong woman, he still decided to hold her at gunpoint). All of us raccoons began playing a cadence (though without cymbals), and the powerful effects of our drumming spread its hypnotic effects to all the criminals. Next thing they knew, they were marching to the beat, and right into the custody of the police. As far as I know, they are all in prison, and will never be released until the day they die. (The prisons in Wildcat City traditionally cremate the ashes of their dead prisoners and then bury them in urns in a special cemetery.)
Including me and Ringo, there are seven raccoons playing a snare drum each, five playing quads, and five playing bass drums, with each bass drum being a different size, and a different pitch. All of us play Yamaha drums, and all of us pad (march barefoot) unless we're in a country whose culture says it is wrong. When cymbals are necessary, we employ three more raccoons.
All of us are spread out between the GDABC and the GMB (G-52 Marching Band), but we now also perform together as the "Masked Drumline," referencing the jokes about how raccoons look like they were masks. Our drums are decorated with designs patterned after the U.S. flag, or Old Glory if you prefer. Do note Ringo is still the only one officially with the nickname "The Musical Exorcist," but all 20 of us are virtually just that.
Our first major parade as payroll musicians came when we paraded about in Dark Wolf's castle, and it was a case where the Marching Wonder and his shapeshifting friend from the Toppet Kingdom, Blue (who here was an anthro wolf instead of his regular human being self), were parading along. The tiger proudly marched with his magical mace, and Blue's magical Flute of Time only made it that much more enjoyable. Note that M.W.'s tigers who march under his command were also in the parade, because he leads three bands, though his pipe and drum band was not involved. Instead, his military-style band and his showoffs (his name for the modern marching band that plays football halftime show-style music, and uses the same modern percussion we raccoons use) were in the parade. But the focus was on us raccoons.
We paraded around the castle and into the large band room Dark Wolf has that can magically grow and shrink as needed. That way, the wolf or another leader could conduct and command a large number of performers. We stood like soldiers at attention as the wolf made some congratulatory remarks to us, as well as express his concerns about the CNG crisis, even though it gave us all superpowers. "We don't know the reasons why it does this, but all I can encourage you to do is go with the flow," he said, because at the time, T2 had not introduced his CNG reasoner device yet. "CNG is such a weird thing. It wants to kill all the humans, but it has double standards it is enforcing. Personally, I think it's setting itself up for its ultimate doom. This crisis can't last forever." We shook our heads as if to agree and say, "No, it won't."
"In any case, feel a sense of patriotism as you roll your drums, and let us all play the national anthem," Dark Wolf concluded as he raised his hands, and all the drummers began a long roll. The tigers then joined in, and we played our national anthem. Upon its conclusion, Super C entered the band room (he was waiting for the song to finish, and he was giving the military salute himself). He spoke to us raccoons about CNG and answered our questions. Then he officially made the other raccoons allies, since the other 18 raccoons hadn't been made allies yet.
Since then, we've been drumming up a storm (though not literally), and we have also discovered we can grant wishes when we play our drums, almost in a similar method to how Cripto can warp reality just by snapping his fingers, waving his hands or making any appropriate gestures. This was another CNG effect; we mentioned it to Super C after all of us had dreams telling us that this was so.
"CNG does that to everybody," he said. "When it gives or updates your superpowers, it always tells you in a dream. I want you all to promise you will exercise this ability with extreme caution. Will you do that for me?"
"Yes, sir!" we said with a salute, and then we played a short cadence to verify it.
"Good. However, let me see this happen. One of you make a simple wish."
One raccoon tested it by saying, "I wish I had a bottle of Dasani water." He then tapped a few quarter notes on his snare drum, and about two seconds after the last note, a bottle of Dasani water appeared in front of him. Then Ringo tried the same thing, although he wished for water for everybody present (meaning Super C and all the raccoons), and the same thing happened. All the water appeared at our feet because we still had our instruments on us, but Super C's bottle appeared in his left hand.
"This is actually really scary," I said. "It's as if we can control the world."
"This is why I had you promise to exercise this ability with the utmost extreme of caution," Super C replied. "This is also why I had you test it with a simple wish, and the bottled water really was the best way to do that. But I have faith in you, just as I do with all my recruits, and I know you'll do just fine. Meanwhile, enjoy your water."
"Thanks, Super C." We put our instruments down and picked up our bottled water, and raised them as if we were giving a toast to somebody and say, "Cheers!" Then we took back our instruments and drummed up some portals so that we could get through and go back to our homes the fast way, taking our water with us. That way, we could put away our instruments easier.
That night, we enjoyed our water while watching the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
THE END
-----------------------------------------
Leo's Parade Diaries:
Raccoons on Parade
Ringo Jamestown III (Corps Coon) is probably the more famous of all of us, but I am also a percussion raccoon that played in the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. My name is Robert Barton, and you know me as the Cadet of Chivalry. The main difference is he wows the world with a snare drum. While I am classically trained on all percussion instruments, and was judged by my abilities to beat a snare drum, I played tenor drums, or quads, once I actually became a Cadet.
I joined the Cadets after I jokingly made a bet with my uncle, and lost the bet. It was because we were attending the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps's 50th Anniversary Tattoo, which also featured groups such as the Hellcats of West Point, the American Originals, and the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums, among others. The bet we made was whether or not the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps, or the Commandant's Own, would perform, and they did; they ended the first half. The whole bet was a joke anyways, because I was already planning to join. Both my mom and dad died tragically when I was young, and so I lived with my aunt, Doreen, and my uncle, Greg. Uncle Greg was a Marine, although I don't know if he served at the same time as the legendary Boomcat, who is often hailed as the greatest Marine of all time. (And what's not to love about him? He's as true to the red, white, and blue as one can get.)
I now play with the G-52 Drum and Bugle Corps, or GDABC, in addition to being a Money Mogul and this is a result of when Bendraqi's old robots attacked the 2017 DCI Championships, and gave one member from every corps participating superpowers. It abruptly led to the Cat of Steel declaring that under these emergency circumstances, all of us would become G-52s on our 18th birthday. (The first to do so was Trooper Tiger, who played for, appropriately, the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps.) I don't enjoy being a Money Mogul, because I don't even have the slightest interest in pinball. Yet, until CNG got to us again, I was earning one dollar per point playing a pinball machine. Out of fairness, however, I do own a pinball machine of my own, and I had Cripto help me install it and test it.
I don't really have much to say because I'm not one for talking, but it is my patriotic duty to report this. Because the GDABC was teaching at various clinics to high schools whose drumlines had their humans turn into animals forever because of CNG, it also enhanced our superpowers. Until that point, I was only able to manipulate cash like Cripto, although he now lost that ability. It was what was getting him in trouble, though, and so it terrified me to the point of no return. At the clinic in question, where one drumline saw its members turn from humans to raccoons, about 15 other raccoons that were raccoons to start with all became just as musical and powerful as Ringo.
We discovered this because there were not only CNG smugglers on the loose (and I am under oath not to repeat any details about it according to Super C's commands), but there were bank robbers at work, and another guy was holding an old lady up at gunpoint (because he thought she was somebody else; when she pulled out her driver's license to prove he had the wrong woman, he still decided to hold her at gunpoint). All of us raccoons began playing a cadence (though without cymbals), and the powerful effects of our drumming spread its hypnotic effects to all the criminals. Next thing they knew, they were marching to the beat, and right into the custody of the police. As far as I know, they are all in prison, and will never be released until the day they die. (The prisons in Wildcat City traditionally cremate the ashes of their dead prisoners and then bury them in urns in a special cemetery.)
Including me and Ringo, there are seven raccoons playing a snare drum each, five playing quads, and five playing bass drums, with each bass drum being a different size, and a different pitch. All of us play Yamaha drums, and all of us pad (march barefoot) unless we're in a country whose culture says it is wrong. When cymbals are necessary, we employ three more raccoons.
All of us are spread out between the GDABC and the GMB (G-52 Marching Band), but we now also perform together as the "Masked Drumline," referencing the jokes about how raccoons look like they were masks. Our drums are decorated with designs patterned after the U.S. flag, or Old Glory if you prefer. Do note Ringo is still the only one officially with the nickname "The Musical Exorcist," but all 20 of us are virtually just that.
Our first major parade as payroll musicians came when we paraded about in Dark Wolf's castle, and it was a case where the Marching Wonder and his shapeshifting friend from the Toppet Kingdom, Blue (who here was an anthro wolf instead of his regular human being self), were parading along. The tiger proudly marched with his magical mace, and Blue's magical Flute of Time only made it that much more enjoyable. Note that M.W.'s tigers who march under his command were also in the parade, because he leads three bands, though his pipe and drum band was not involved. Instead, his military-style band and his showoffs (his name for the modern marching band that plays football halftime show-style music, and uses the same modern percussion we raccoons use) were in the parade. But the focus was on us raccoons.
We paraded around the castle and into the large band room Dark Wolf has that can magically grow and shrink as needed. That way, the wolf or another leader could conduct and command a large number of performers. We stood like soldiers at attention as the wolf made some congratulatory remarks to us, as well as express his concerns about the CNG crisis, even though it gave us all superpowers. "We don't know the reasons why it does this, but all I can encourage you to do is go with the flow," he said, because at the time, T2 had not introduced his CNG reasoner device yet. "CNG is such a weird thing. It wants to kill all the humans, but it has double standards it is enforcing. Personally, I think it's setting itself up for its ultimate doom. This crisis can't last forever." We shook our heads as if to agree and say, "No, it won't."
"In any case, feel a sense of patriotism as you roll your drums, and let us all play the national anthem," Dark Wolf concluded as he raised his hands, and all the drummers began a long roll. The tigers then joined in, and we played our national anthem. Upon its conclusion, Super C entered the band room (he was waiting for the song to finish, and he was giving the military salute himself). He spoke to us raccoons about CNG and answered our questions. Then he officially made the other raccoons allies, since the other 18 raccoons hadn't been made allies yet.
Since then, we've been drumming up a storm (though not literally), and we have also discovered we can grant wishes when we play our drums, almost in a similar method to how Cripto can warp reality just by snapping his fingers, waving his hands or making any appropriate gestures. This was another CNG effect; we mentioned it to Super C after all of us had dreams telling us that this was so.
"CNG does that to everybody," he said. "When it gives or updates your superpowers, it always tells you in a dream. I want you all to promise you will exercise this ability with extreme caution. Will you do that for me?"
"Yes, sir!" we said with a salute, and then we played a short cadence to verify it.
"Good. However, let me see this happen. One of you make a simple wish."
One raccoon tested it by saying, "I wish I had a bottle of Dasani water." He then tapped a few quarter notes on his snare drum, and about two seconds after the last note, a bottle of Dasani water appeared in front of him. Then Ringo tried the same thing, although he wished for water for everybody present (meaning Super C and all the raccoons), and the same thing happened. All the water appeared at our feet because we still had our instruments on us, but Super C's bottle appeared in his left hand.
"This is actually really scary," I said. "It's as if we can control the world."
"This is why I had you promise to exercise this ability with the utmost extreme of caution," Super C replied. "This is also why I had you test it with a simple wish, and the bottled water really was the best way to do that. But I have faith in you, just as I do with all my recruits, and I know you'll do just fine. Meanwhile, enjoy your water."
"Thanks, Super C." We put our instruments down and picked up our bottled water, and raised them as if we were giving a toast to somebody and say, "Cheers!" Then we took back our instruments and drummed up some portals so that we could get through and go back to our homes the fast way, taking our water with us. That way, we could put away our instruments easier.
That night, we enjoyed our water while watching the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
THE END
Leo's Parade Diaries: Raccoons on Parade
The Cadet of Chivalry gives his testimony, which now includes the fact he and 19 other raccoons join Corps Coon in the ability to magically hypnotize and control people and elements with their percussion.
Cadet of Chivalry, G-52s, etc. © me and me alone
Dark Wolf © me as owner and 16weeks as creator
Blue © BlueMario1016
Cadet of Chivalry, G-52s, etc. © me and me alone
Dark Wolf © me as owner and 16weeks as creator
Blue © BlueMario1016
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 92 x 120px
Listed in Folders
Blue: A new ally to join Corps Coon. A friend we know of, very fondly. How's he been, bandmaster?
Pink: Your friends always get around, when we are not around so to say.
Pink: Your friends always get around, when we are not around so to say.
Marching Wonder: He's done quite well, I"m happy to say.
Rainier: Hey don't look at me! I swear I'm not as good as you and Corps Coon are! Just because I can lead a band to perform Day-O doesn't mean I'm that great.
Chuong: Have you ever thought about putting your musical skills to the test for Team Canada? Every time your country gets a gold medal, be prepared for Levi to ask you to lead a band and perform your national anthem.
Rainier: Oh... That went over my head. Why didn't I think of that?
Chuong: You have all this space and time in Tokyo. And it would be nice if companies that produce water bottles also produce water cooler tanks as well; especially VOSS. Oh and machines that clean your reusable drinking bottles before filling them with ice-cold branded water. I know Leiel the Nordic Lion drinks VOSS water a lot since it's a popular brand in Norway even though most people outside of Norway see it as a slightly upscale brand.
Chuong: Have you ever thought about putting your musical skills to the test for Team Canada? Every time your country gets a gold medal, be prepared for Levi to ask you to lead a band and perform your national anthem.
Rainier: Oh... That went over my head. Why didn't I think of that?
Chuong: You have all this space and time in Tokyo. And it would be nice if companies that produce water bottles also produce water cooler tanks as well; especially VOSS. Oh and machines that clean your reusable drinking bottles before filling them with ice-cold branded water. I know Leiel the Nordic Lion drinks VOSS water a lot since it's a popular brand in Norway even though most people outside of Norway see it as a slightly upscale brand.
Levi: The main reason I thought of you doing that, Rainier, was that it would help purify your mind of ideas such as the Day-O scandal. I'd rather see you conducting O Canada.
Leiel: VOSS is one of my favorites.
Leo: I quite like it myself.
Corps Coon: If you can lead a band to play Day-O, you can lead your troops in playing the national anthem.
Leiel: VOSS is one of my favorites.
Leo: I quite like it myself.
Corps Coon: If you can lead a band to play Day-O, you can lead your troops in playing the national anthem.
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