Hey there all!

I must be on a writing viagra or something...

Here's another series that I've been toying with for some time...

Tell me what you think, good bad or otherwise...Though flames will be filed
in the circular folder.

As usual, others who are more talented at art than I am own the copyright
and I bow down and am not generally worthy of their scraps...So don't
sue...Pretty please...With sugar on top...

C&C to either:
gargoyle@iwaynet.net
or
gargoyle4@hotmail.com

Enjoy!

***

Bubblegum Flash
By
Joshua Trujillo

Prologue

The wind bit. It�s nasty up here, but mom said it was what she used to do
when she was my age. I look out across the roof of the building next to me.
It was going to be one of the tallest buildings in NeoMegaTokyo. The first
real project that Genom had since the rise of the Knight Sabers and the
destruction of MegaTokyo. The dealings that the Knight Sabers had with Genom
not only buried the company, it took out most of MegaTokyo with it.

The wind...How could you get ANY pictures up here with the wind blowing like
this? Mom must�ve meant one of the smaller buildings. It was hard to breathe
up here too. High enough to almost bleed into the jet stream. Must be where
the wind was coming from. Must also be why not many buildings are higher
than this.

I made my way over to the edge and latched myself onto the railing. Whew. I
keep having to push my skirt back dow-

A flash of light from the opposite building made me forget about me fashion
woes. I pulled the camera up and looked through the lens. Still too far
away. I clicked the little buttons so that the ultramacro lens slid into
place. A smirk worked its way onto my lips. Mom never had one of these
babies, that was for sure. I wasn�t going to climb out onto that damned
ledge just for a picture...Let technology deliver them to me.

Through the high-resolution lens, a much different world came into focus...

***

The boomer swung its blade over its head and drove it forward into the
little gnat in front of it. The gnat was quick. It buzzed backward into a
series of flips, completely avoiding swings from the blade as well as the
small bursts from his forward gun.

How annoying.

Just-a-few-more----

The boomer exploded in a shower of dust and flames. The armored suit relaxed
slightly, then tensed and jumped off the ledge. The large fins in the
backpack extended and the suit and its occupant lilted gracefully to the
upper levels, where more fighting was occurring.

***

Mom didn�t say anything about wings...

Must be a new one. It had been a number of years and the Knight Sabers from
mom�s time must have either retired or given their mantles over or whatever.

I shifted the camera to the upper levels.

***

A large blue suit shifted its weight to the right. It was struggling to keep
its grip on a three-armed boomer that currently had two of its arms trapped.
The boomer roared once as the suit ripped an arm clean from the socket. The
boomer hit it�s rockets slightly and turned to face his assailant.

This seemed to make the blue power suit even angrier. It charged forward and
began to beat the boomer with his own arm. The boomer was not without some
type of weapons array, though most looked as though they had been ripped off
physically. The blue suit stopped for a fraction of a second and looked up.
The boomer took this opportunity to flee. It wasn�t a fool. The instinct
circuit would probably be one of the last things to get blown up or crushed
in a Genom boomer.

The blue suit tried to grab him, but missed as the boomer went over the
edge. The blue reached behind it and pulled forth what looked like a small
pointed dumbbell. One of the ends of the dumbbell extended into a lance
point almost twice again its original size. The blue gently tossed the lance
into the air and it hummed to life, taking off towards the boomer at
supersonic speed.

The metal missile quickly eviscerated the boomer in midair as it swished
silently back and forth, stinging like an angry hornet protecting its� nest.
After a few passes, the hapless boomer exploded, showering the ground with
little boomer bits. The bee returned to the hand of the blue, who then
replaced the de-extended dumbbell onto its back.

The smaller power suit flew up to greet it and both made their way up.

***

Okay there should be two more...They�re probably in trouble, from the
reaction of that blue one.

Mom never told me much about her experience during her stay in old
MegaTokyo. She told me that she�d met the Knight Sabers, the original ones,
and that she even knew who they were. Mom was given to tall stories. Winning
a Pulitzer for her column went to her head. Really. Vanette's Vision?
Original, huh?

There! On the upper beam!

I trained the camera toward the upper part, beyond the bulk of the fighting.
It was another suit!

What was it doing up there?

***

The black suit slid a large eyepiece into place. The barrel of its long
rifle placed lightly towards the fighting. There was a pause and it squeezed
the trigger.

A huge precise blast swept forward onto the platform. Presumably to a
boomer.

***

A sniper?

Mom said that they were all hand to hand fighters. I trained the camera to
follow the previous path of the beam. Well, it used to be a boomer. Not much
more than a smoking crater now.

On the platform, more fighting broke out. There was a red powersuit that
seemed to be trying to keep itself out of the main action while directing
the actions of the others...Others?!

There were two more power suits that had just taken out the boomers that
were bothering them. That brought the number up to six. I leaned in close
and snapped off as many pictures as I thought I could get away with.

Mom told me that they broke her camera without so much as an apology. I
gulped as the group seemed to turn to where I was standing. Time to get out
of here.

***

The red suit looked toward the flashes of light on the next roof. It quickly
motioned the winged suit and one of the others to investigate. The red then
waved the rest away.

In a puff of plasma and smoke, they disappear.

***

Down the stairs and open the door...

Okay!

I�m clear. Well, as clear as I can get for a time. Mom said that the best
way to blend in was in a crowd. So I took this opportunity to blend in to
the mall crowd of NeoMegaTokyo. I have to giggle. People look at me and I
stick my tongue out at them. They usually say something derogatory in
Japanese. I don�t care. I�ve got the scoop of a lifetime. Even mom will be
proud of me. Though I did sense a moment of jealousy when I won the
California Award for Journalism a full ten years before she did.

There are flashes of something out of the corner of my eye. It�s them. I
know it. Not too odd for power suits to be walking around these days. Cops
practically lived in them. There were even rumors that the Knight Sabers had
connections on the AD Police.

They�re getting closer. I have to duck them quick. Okay, into the video
store.

I make my way over to the anime section. I want to check out some of the
classics, but also it�s about right for my age. I�m only fifteen after all.

Oh, lookie! �Shin Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Movie S� is out! How cool! I
saw this-

�That�s a really nice camera,� A voice said from my left.

�Yeah, it would be a shame if anything happened to it,� Another voice said
from the right.

�Do you always go around threatening people?� I ask, trying to sound
innocent.

I looked right. It was a girl...Not much more my own age. Her wavy blonde
hair streamed down the American looking tan. She was wearing a short
sundress with sandals. Ugh, NOW I can hate her. For looking that good in
something like that...I just shake my head.

�Listen, we know you were up on the roof taking pictures,� The girl hissed
at me, �Don�t move quickly or stupidly. We can take you out at any time. All
we want are the pics, okay?�

There was no way in HELL I was going to give her those pics. But I couldn�t
let her know that.

�Okay,� I say in a low voice, �Follow me out to the fountain in the mall and
I�ll hand them over there.�

I take a look at the other girl now. A smaller girl, perhaps older, still
sinfully lean and fit. Those sundresses and sandals must be the in thing. Of
course, it would also be easy to squeeze into the compartment of a power
suit. She pushed the glasses back onto her slim nose and looked around. She
nodded to the other girl.

�Okay,� The blonde said, �But nothing funny.�

�I�ll keep my joking to a minimum.�

The brunette with the glasses giggled, which led to a dirty look from the
blonde, obviously the leader. They followed me out of the video store and
across to the fountain.

It was now or never!

I bolted. Running under the fountain and out the other side, the brunette
tried to outflank me, but she got bogged down by some people and couldn�t
catch up. The blonde, on the other hand, almost got a hand on me before I
could take off into the heart of the mall. Time to track down a cop.

***

Oh man, this isn�t funny!

The blonde and the brunette have both finally trapped me against the railing
on the top floor of the mall. The central cavern opens out behind me.

DAMN that�s a long way down!

What�s that?

�Okay,� The blonde began, �Enough of this shit! Give us the damn pics!�

�C�mon, you can�t run,� The brunette added.

A rope?!

�We don�t want to...Aw hell, you�re pissin� me off enough that I wouldn�t
mind breakin� something,� The blonde breathed.

It led? That�s it!

I turn back to the two, who stop at this.

�I don�t think I�ll give you these,� I say, bringing the camera up, �Not
now. Not ever.�

I flip the regular exposure lens into place and take two quick snaps of both
of them, grab the rope, jump, and pray REAL hard. I yelp as the rope burns
my hand, but I hang on. I open my eyes enough to watch the window washer fly
past me in confusion.

They finally realize what�s going on and hit the brake button.

SONVABI-!!!

The yank on the rope felt like it nearly ripped my arm off! The yank also
forced me to let go and I land with a back aching splash in the fountain. I
come up gulping air as the police help me out to arrest me, which was my
intent. I look up. Both stare at me for a minute, but quickly turn to go.

I may be arrested, but at least I was safe.

My name is Sharon. Sharon Vanette. And I want to be a great photojournalist,
just like my mother.

Let�s see what�s next!

***

Joshua "Gargoyle" Trujillo
"Stone Cold Protector of the Righteous"
"Owner of The Anime Bar and Grille - Smells like fresh writing"

Come on down to
The Anime Bar and Grille!
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/1509
Stories baked fresh daily!