[Editor's Notes: Have we kept you waiting long enough? ^_^ We're going to
try to cut the delay down to maybe two weeks next time. The Disclaimer is
still in effect.]
=======================================================
[Bridgewater, NJ - 98.10.07]
Jon clicked off the local news.
This was bad. Very, very bad.
"Oh shit.... shit shit shit... Why do things like this always happen to
me?" Jon asked the heavens plaintively.
"You mean you always breach dimensional barriers and pull forth fiction
characters into your world?" Death asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"And I still want to know what you did to Constantine. All things
considered, he was a friend of mine. Kinda..." she amended.
Jon looked over his shoulder at the tall, attractive woman. "Death, do you
think you could do me two favors?" Turning to face her fully, he continued.
"First, do you think you could make me immortal? Not Hob Gadling, or
Orpheus immortal, but Highlander immortal? Only die if someone takes my
head?" Jon asked, cocking his head to one side.
Death crossed her arms in front of her, rubbing her chin and tapping her
foot, lost in deep thought. "Hrm.... Well.... Ummmmm...." Jon looked on
hopefully.
"NO."
An audible crash was heard as Jon's spirits fell.
"Favor number two?"
Jon sighed. "Okay, and this is even more important then the first favor.
This is really big, and really difficult, and only you can do it." Jon got
this begging look in his eyes.
"What is it?" the anthropomorphic personification asked in a dried, bored
tone.
"STOP BUGGING ME ABOUT CONSTANTINE!!!!!! I don't need to be reminded that I
just succeeded where the ENTIRE Archangel Council, AND the First of the
Fallen have failed. I don't want to think what... what..." Jon trailed off
as he considered something he hadn't thought about. "Wow... You know, now
that I think about it... I could probably pull in a few favors from
them..."
"Tempt not the fates, lest ye find them paying attention to you." Death
said in a sage tone.
"Oh, bugger off... You won't let me have any fun..." Jon pouted for a
minute, then "At any rate, we now have an upcoming horde of zombies to deal
with, as well as the Tyrant. Hrm...."
Without further thought, Jon whipped out some sheets of paper, and grabbed
both the Final Fantasy VII strategy guide and the Resident Evil strategy
guide. "Okay... First things first... Need to do plan B..." and with that,
Jon set out to tracing at a furious pace.
As he was hunched over, Death was unable to see what he was tracing. "What
about Plan A?" she asked, moving her head a little to the side, and failing
utterly to sneak a peek at what Jon was tracing.
Not even bothering to look up, Jon said "That comes later. Want to get Plan
B out of the way, then take care of Plan A. Should probably hatch a Plan R
somewhere around that time as well, but I'll give Plans C through Q a miss.
I already know they aren't any good. By the way, where did all the others
go?"
"Well, the brunette with the bob haircut and the purple-twinged raven one
are downstairs, watching some movies, while the two red haired guys are in
the kitchen. One seems to be marveling at it all, while the other is
gnawing at the table leg." Death said, trying to get a look at what he was
copying from the book.
Absently, Jon corrected her. "One of the redheads is female. Don't ever let
her hear you call her a boy."
"Really? Which one?"
"You know that half crazed Samurai? The one that is probably gnawing at my
table?"
"_THAT_'S a girl?" Death said in astonishment.
"No. That's a guy. The other one is Lina Inverse, ultra kawaii sorceress
supreme. Almost... There... Finished...Now, to get a sword and those three
orbs." As he switched books, Death caught a glimpse of a large pile of
ammunition, two guns, and what looked like a cannon with suspenders.
"Excuse me... What are those?" Death chimed.
"Oh, these? The Custom Magnum, the Custom Shotgun, and the Helicopter
Gatling Gun. Would have taken the Rocket Launcher and Submachine Gun as
well, but they're too limited on ammo. As it is, I've only got 160 rounds
for the magnum, and 210 for the shotgun. But at least I have the Gatling to
fall back on. And it's got infinite ammo!!! Yay me!" Jon said as he did a
little dance.
Somewhere, a gunshot rang out, and disco died once more.
"Now, all I need is the sword, and...." Jon once more set to furious
tracing.
=======================================================
Pencil Trace Productions presents....
P E N C I L S
Written by and Starring:
The Eternal Lost Lurker JD Farber
Rob Barba Libby Thomas Zen
Ukyou Kuonji Flashman Jorge Pratt
and Blade
=======================================================
CHAPTER THREE
[Southeast Texas - 98.10.07]
Lurker winced in pain as he pressed the ice pack to his jaw again.
Fortunately, there was virtually no swelling; still, he fully expected the
lower half of his face to be purple and black soon--and that was the least
of his worries. His left arm was bound in a makeshift sling, with thick
bandages wrapped around his left shoulder and upper arm. The rest of his
body was bruised and battered; he was going to be sore as hell come
morning. Still, though, given the ordeal he'd just been through, it was
amazing he was even conscious. Even with no Saiyajin powers, his new body
still had incredible stamina. *Heh...I'm built like a goddamn rock,* he
thought wryly.
Rei walked in, carrying a large glass of soda on ice. "here," she said,
setting it down on the desk in front of him.
"Thanks," Lurker said.
"raakaa..." Rei began. "about that anime..."
Lurker sighed. Rei had mentioned this earlier, on the way home. "Rei...I'm
not so sure it's a good idea for you to see it."
"why?"
Lurker shook his head slightly. "Can we discuss it in the morning? I want
to check my mail and watch the news before I go to sleep. It's been a rough
day."
Rei nodded. "understood." She wandered off into the bathroom.
Firing up his e-mail client, Lurker paused. *I'm out of my league on this
one...I need to get advice from someone who would know better. But who, and
how...? If I explain the problem to anyone I know, they'll think I've gone
nuts...* After a moment's thought, he had the who...Andrew Huang. The how
came a moment later...pose it as a theoretical.
--------------------------------------------
From: The Eternal Lost Lurker
To: Andrew Huang
Subject: Need an opinion...
Okay, I've got a situation to contemplate here, and since you're more
the expert on this than I am, I figured I'd run this by you...
What do you think, theoretically, Ayanami Rei's reaction would be if
she were shown all 26 episodes of Evangelion?
--------------------------------------------
Nodding to himself, Lurker sent it. The evening queue then began
downloading...and one message from Flashman quickly caught his attention,
in which pencil-related experiences were put forth as a weird dream. "This
is getting out of hand," he murmured. Replying to the message, and clearing
out the rest of his in-box, Lurker shut down the computer and turned on the
news.
//Tonight, authorities across the nation are concerned about increasing
occurrences of unexplainable phenomenon leading to panic, riots, injuries,
and an already sizeable death toll. Good evening and welcome to KFDM news
at ten, I'm Larry Beaulieu.
//Tonight we're going to take a look at national headlines first, starting
with the crisis in New York City, where the mayor's office in conjunction
with the state government has declared an official state of emergency.//
Lurker watched as the normally unshakable anchor, a long-time newscaster
who had covered everything from school shootings to the Byrd dragging death
with a professionalism rivaling the network anchors, tried to maintain calm
and detachment as he relayed the unbelievable news of mechanical creatures
terrorizing citizens in New York. The station quickly switched to the CBS
network footage. Lurker stared at the screen, slack-jawed. *Reaverbots!?*
//It is expected that martial law will be declared in New York City by
sunrise. In New Jersey tonight, police continue to be baffled by a sudden
rash of murders...//
'I know for a fact there isn't a serial killer loose in New Jersey,' Jon's
message had said, back before the chaos invaded Lurker's own life.
//And now turning our attention to local news, which is no less bizarre:
Port Arthur police are searching for clues to piece together an unusual
robbery attempt and riot at Central Mall. So far, police are hesitant to
release any details, except that highly suspicious persons were involved in
both the robbery attempt and in stopping it, and that rumors of...// Here,
the anchor paused, as if reluctant to continue. *Not surprising,* Lurker
thought darkly to himself. *I was THERE and I can barely believe it...*
Six hours ago...
Lurker and Rei both stared at the small device as it continued to loudly
demand attention. "why is this beeping?" Rei asked.
Lurker frowned. "I don't know," he admitted. "I've never heard of a scouter
doing anything when it's not in use, unless..." He blinked. "Hand it here,
would you?"
Rei nodded, and handed Lurker the scouter. He hooked it over his ear, and
began tapping the controls. An unfamiliar readout flickered on the display.
Two sets of numbers were flashing, along with a compass-like icon which
hadn't been there before. Lurker frowned. "It's picking up something..."
Lurker turned his chair slowly, tapping the scouter until the compass and
one of the numbers steadied. The second set of numbers was still flashing.
Lurker's eyes widened. "Power level five thousand..." he whispered.
"what does that mean?" Rei asked.
Lurker frowned. "That depends...that's more than enough power to destroy
the moon."
"that...is not good," Rei noted.
Lurker nodded. "Whatever...or whoever...the scouter is picking up, probably
got here the same way you did." He frowned. "I have a bad feeling about
this." Examining the scouter display again, he continued, "The reading is
coming from the southwest...several hundred kilometers. Nearly out of
scouter range, if I'm reading this right..." He hmmed thoughtfully. "That'd
put it someplace in Mexico."
"mexico?" Rei asked.
"The country bordering America on the south," Lurker said.
"i thought there was nothing there but wasteland," Rei stated.
Lurker shook his head. "Not quite...wait," he corrected himself. "I guess
it would be, where you came from. Courtesy of Second Impact." Taking a
moment to figure out how to deactivate the scouter, he focused his
attention on the albino. "There's a lot of differences between the world
you're from and this one."
"there was no second impact?" Rei asked.
Lurker shook his head. "Nope. Hopefully, there won't be either."
"what else is different?" Rei asked.
"Well..." Lurker said, thinking. "There's that, plus there's no evidence of
anything like the Angels here...different year, too...it's 1998..."
"that would explain many things," Rei said.
Lurker nodded, and stood. As he rose, he arched his back, stretched his
arms over his head...
...and made a noise vaguely reminiscent of an angry, hungry, and maimed
grizzly bear. At top volume.
Rei took a step back, blinking several times. Lurker noticed this, and
frowned. "What?"
"that...noise you just made," Rei said.
Lurker blinked, then began rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"Oh...sorry about that. Force of habit." At Rei's somewhat disbelieving
stare, he elaborated, "I have this habit of...being loud," he admitted,
blushing.
"i...see," Rei said.
With the somber and serious mood from earlier effectively shattered,
Lurker's mind returned to normal operating mode...which meant that certain
functions of the body were beginning to assert themselves. In this case,
these were not the functions that told one to quickly find a toilet,
outhouse, chamber pot, or tree. They were the functions that alerted one to
the close proximity of Very Attractive Opposite Sex Member.
Lurker coughed. "Hmm...I, uhh...I think the first thing we need to do is
find you some serviceable clothing," he said.
"what do you mean?" Rei asked.
"Well...ummm..." *Jeez.* "Plugsuits aren't exactly...commonplace in this
world...if you're gonna be here a while, we need to find you something--"
*Decent?* "--suitable to wear."
Rei seemed to accept this explanation, and nodded. "very well."
"Well then!" Lurker said, laughing in a slightly unbalanced manner. "I
believe a trip to the mall is in order!"
=======================================================
[Honolulu, Hawaii - 98.10.03]
At first, Libby was honestly a bit miffed at Rob, to say the least. He'd
always talked about his loyalty to his fianc�e, and to see him with another
girl at the moment was not boding well for him. Especially since the girl
looked to be about Ai's age--((let's see...that's statutory))--and the
skin-tight suit she was wearing left nothing to the imagination--((any
tighter, and I could count individual pubic hairs)). Plus, this was not the
sort of example one wanted to set for the rather impressionable Ai; bad
enough, he always said, that American media was having a bad influence on
his "innocent little sister"...and now here he was about to go half on a
baby with the purple-haired slut who--
((Hold the legal briefs, Libby. Purple hair. NO ONE has purple hair.))
Libby's attorney instinct kicked in, and she saw Rob for a second as she
would inspect anyone on the stand. His eyes were registering shock. Not the
embarrassed sort of shock of a person getting caught with his hand in the
cookie jar, but Rob's usual "how did I get myself in this one?" sort of
shock. Magnified a million times.
She looked at Ai, whose face was growing more and more disillusioned by the
moment. "Ai, go sit down on the couch for a minute. I'm going to talk with
Rob. I'm sure he's got a reasonable explanation for this." The girl didn't
answer, simply turned and walked out. Once she was gone, Libby's manner
grew dark. "Okay, pal, you have two seconds to explain this."
Rob, for his part, was a bit out there. "I...um...er...well...ah,
shimatta...."
The entry for the Freakshow Hair-dye Contest was a little more verbose.
"Hi! I'm Lime!"
"'Lime'? Are nicknames like that the latest thing on the Strip?" Libby
asked acidly. "Okay, Ms. Lime, what are you doing so far off Kuhio, with
him?"
In a good-natured voice, she responded, "Oh...he owns me."
Libby responded with extreme low-tone anger. "Robert, in all the time I've
known you, I never thought you would EVER do something like this. I can
understand sexual frustration. I can understand you missing your fianc�e.
But to be in your house with a teen-age streetwalker is BEYOND low,
especially for a defacto parent." She raised her hand to slap him. "You
BASTARD!" She swung the hand forward...
...only to have it immediately caught by Lime, whose eyes changed from
kindness to anger in an instant. A golden aura of power erupted around the
girl. "I really wouldn't do that, if I were you," she snarled, beginning to
squeeze Libby's hand. As Libby whimpered in pain from the pressure being
placed on her hand, Lime continued, "If you hurt him, he wouldn't like
that. And if he doesn't like it, I DON'T LIKE IT."
"Oh my God," Libby whispered through her increasing pain. "What are you?"
Fortunately for Libby, Rob chose that moment to become lucid again. "Okay,
Lime, that's enough. It was a misunderstanding. Let go of her." Lime let go
of Libby's hand, but continued to watch her, ready for another sign of
attack, darkened eyes indicating a counterattack would be tenfold worse.
"Are you okay, Libby?"
"Nothing's broken, I think." she said, rubbing the stinging hand. "What is
she?"
"Her name IS Lime. She's a Sabre Marionette. And, like she says, I own her.
It sounds weird, but I can explain. Go get Ai and meet me in the studio.
You're not going to believe this."
A few minutes later, the whole thing had been explained, and it was still
impossible to believe. As Ai and Libby looked at the paper, still pulsing
neon-green, the blonde asked, "This is wierd. I've heard of wish
fulfillment, but this is ridiculous."
"He wished for me?" Lime cried, looking at Rob with a cute-as-a-button
smile. "Wow!"
"I did NOT," Rob replied, his tones a little harsher than intended. "I
think Libby's a-thinkin' of the basic urge everyone has to play God, ne?"
"You said, it not me," she replied, smoothly. "I just never figured you as
the meglomaniac type."
"I'm not. I didn't think this was going to happen. Normally, this DOESN'T
happen. But today is not a normal event."
"Yes, it's her birthday," Ai said, pointing at Lime. After everything had
been explained, the Japanese teen still did not understand what was going
on, but she was able to accept the Marionette. A few more minutes, and Ai
might just have gained herself a new best friend.
"I guess I didn't think of that," Rob admitted, then continued. "Well, the
long and short of it is that no matter what, I'm stuck with a new ward, and
I'm going to have to come up with the paperwork to clarify it."
"You mean you'll have to forge the paperwork. Rob, may I remind you that's
generally illegal in most states?"
"So's slavery. The fact that Lime's not human is not something we can tell
everyone. However, the fact is, I am her, um, 'owner'. That's slavery.
However, if I suddenly had to have Ai's twin sister come live with me as
well," he thought, as his mind went analytical, "that would cover it."
"Twins. Oh, yeah--they really look alike," the blonde deadpanned, sarcasm
set to extra crispy. "Rob, have you lost your mind? Lime looks Caucasian,
if anything. Couldn't she pass as your sister or something?"
"None of my relatives even look close to this, while it's known that Ai's
not entirely Japanese. If we say that they're fraternal twins, Ai could
resemble her Japanese father, while Lime takes after the Vietnamese
mother," Rob said.
"Ai's half Vietnamese?" Libby asked, puzzled. Ai didn't have the greatest
relationship with her parents--thus why she was living in another country
with someone not even related to her--but Libby vaguely recalled that Ai's
mother's name was Masumi, or Mayumi, or something like that.
"No, I'm lying through my teeth," Rob admitted, "but fortunately, most
people won't dig that far, nor will they care. But I have another teenage
appearing girl under my roof, and I have to have some sort of explanation
for her existence." Glancing at the clock, he commented, "But enough of
that for the moment--we'll think of something later. For now, I'm hungry.
Hard Rock?"
"Hard Rock," both Ai and Libby commented in agreement. Ai then looked at
Lime and asked, "Oniichan, what do we do about Lime-chan?" The look in Ai's
face said that wherever the Japanese girl was going, so was the automaton.
"We'll have to take her with us," Rob said, seeing his ward's silent plea.
"Raid your closet and see what you have that can fit her. We can go to
Pearlridge tomorrow and get her a wardrobe of her own." Turning away from
her, he added, "Let us know when you're ready. Libby and I are going to
brainstorm on what to do about Lime's legal status."
"In short," Libby drolled, "you're going to set a bad example for your ward
by breaking some serious laws and military regulations."
Rob grinned at her. "And that's why I have you here, counselor--to make
sure that I break them correctly." Then his face grew serious as he said,
"Libby, you know me...if there were any other way...." Her response was a
nod of agreement; she knew him well enough to know that he would only go
this far if there were no other options available. In short, it was crunch
time, and that nugget of truth didn't make anything easier.
******
The blonde opened the refrigerator. "Wow...Sasami must not have done the
shopping this week. There's nothing in here but a pizza box, a bottle of
water, and some eggs." She stared at the fridge for a second more, then
realized it was much larger than what she was used to--just another change
that had been done to the Masaki household.
She'd already seen a few things that were different, sort of weird: there
was a picture of her with an unknown guy, in front of a gray-colored
warship. There was a picture of her wearing a bathing suit, standing by a
surfboard--she didn't remember ever learning to surf. There was a picture
of an older woman, resembling her to some degree, and the writing at the
bottom said, "To my dearest Liza." There were a few letters addressed to an
Elizabeth Thomas. It appeared that someone else lived in this place, some
person named Elizabeth Thomas. All of which spelled one thing:
This changing-the-house trick of Washuu's was really thorough.
=======================================================
[New Jersey]
"Okay... Now that I have Plan B, now is time to work on Plan A. Death,
would you be so kind as to get me the redheaded sorceress from the kitchen
before she eats everything in the fridge?" Without even waiting for an
answer, Jon walked out of the computer room and into his bedroom. As he
began rifling through his closet, he shouted out "Thank you, Milady!"
As he was rifling, Jon noticed something out of the corner of his eye, a
bit of fanart from a series that he had recently read, and a couple of
phrases popped into his head. Shrugging to himself, he thought <Can't hurt
to try it...> And out came the magic pencil and a bit of paper.
******
As Lina Inverse began to climb the stairs, a few funny things happened.
First, there was a red flash from the room that she was headed towards.
Always one to be prepared for danger, Lina dropped into a fighting stance,
readying a fireball... just in case.
After five minutes, when nothing happened, Lina started inching a bit
closer to the door, only to stop and hurl a fireball when she was
confronted with a soul rending scream of pain.
Running past the now flaming portal into the mess that was Jon's bedroom,
Lina saw two things. First thing she noticed was a fading ruby light,
vaguely man-shaped. Then, she saw Jon, curled up into a ball with tears
running down the side of his face. Every now and then, he broke into
convulsive shaking.
Now, in Lina's mind, Jon wasn't such a bad guy. More than likely, this was
all some sort of wierd dream brought on by a midnight eating binge. Even if
that wasn't the case, then Jon was just some poor guy that was given
summoning magic without being told how to use it. Either way, she didn't
think he should be balled up like that, crying his eyes out.
Wait a sec.
He was... laughing?
"Oi! What's going on here?"
Jon didn't move, save to raise his head to look at her.
"OI! Did you just scream in soul rending pain?" Lina asked, getting a
little annoyed.
Jon just nodded his head before standing, though he still bent over
clutching his stomach.
"Well, if you were just hit with soul rending pain, why are you laughing so
hard?"
"Why am I laughing so hard?" Jon said as he straightened up, no longer
laughing at all. In fact, he wasn't even smiling. "Miss Inverse," Jon said
as he strode towards her, bringing his full six foot frame to bear. "You
wish to know why I am laughing so hard?"
Not even fazed, Lina just nodded.
"Sore.... Sore...." Jon managed to get out, then he leaned forward and
whispered into her ear. "Sore wa, himitsu desu..."
Then Jon was on the floor rolling with uncontrollable laughter.
"that... is... a.... secret..." Lina whispered to herself, before storming
out of the room, turning only to "FREEZE ARROW!!" Jon.
If she had stayed, she would have seen Jon recover almost instantly from
the attack, and start laughing harder.
=======================================================
[Texas]
After a brief trip to the bank to make a cash withdrawal (Lurker having
realized that his driver's license would no longer work as photo ID for
writing a check), the pair arrived at Central Mall. Penney's was first on
the list, as it would allow Lurker to do some shopping of his own while Rei
purchased certain articles of clothing her companion didn't feel
comfortable going near. "Besides," Lurker reasoned, "I'm gonna have to get
some stuff too...none of my old clothes are going to fit me the way I am
now."
Rei had quickly discovered one of Lurker's quirks...he was a shopaholic.
The albino allowed herself to be dragged around the store, while Lurker
went from rack to rack, pointing out things here and there that he thought
would look good on Rei. Rei tried on most of the things, not really
concerned one way or the other, so long as it was acceptable clothing. She
drew the line on some things, though...particularly anything in the color
red Lurker picked out, as well as a t-shirt with a chihuahua on it.
Next had come what Lurker had called the "smart clothes" stores, where
Lurker talked Rei into picking out a couple of very professional-looking
suits and skirts, and where Lurker himself had bought two suits, one in
royal blue and one in powder lavender.
Sportswear, shoes, accessories...from one end of the mall to the other they
had gone, sometimes buying, other times just browsing and trying on. Rei
was beginning to feel a bit winded, when Lurker finally signalled a halt.
"Let's go get something to drink, shall we?" he asked. Rei nodded almost
gratefully. They were within view of one of the mall exits now, and the sun
had already begun setting.
As they neared the food court, Lurker stopped suddenly. "Something isn't
right," he said.
"what is it?" Rei asked.
Lurker set down his bags and packages on a bench, and peered around the
corner into the food court area. He quickly stepped back. "Kusottare..." He
motioned for Rei to drop what she was carrying and move in for a look.
A throng of people were slowly edging towards the two nearest exits of the
food court. A lot of murmuring and whispering was going on, and someone in
the middle of the crowd was screaming. Over the din, a loud, gravelly voice
boomed.
"Alright, alright...everyone settle down..." There was a brief pause. "I
SAID CAN IT!!" Immediate silence ensued. "That's better. Now...we're going
to go around to each and every one of you. We want your money, your
jewelry, your valuables--"
"Someone's robbing those people!" Lurker hissed.
"--your weapons, any important devices you have, and most especially, any
refractors you've got on you."
Lurker blinked. "Weapons? REFRACTORS!?" Motioning for Rei to stay put,
Lurker edged over to the cellular phone service kiosk serving as an island
between the traffic flow paths into and out of the food court, and crossing
his fingers, jumped up, catching onto the top of the booth and pulling
himself up. He crouched atop the kiosk, peering into the terrified crowd.
He blinked several times.
At the center of the crowd, standing atop some pushed-together tables,
stood a tall, imposing man with glowing red eyes and spiky grey hair. He
wore a green uniform of some sort, with large shoulderpads which vaguely
resembled round, stylized skulls. An arrogant smirk graced his lantern jaw
as he continued to intimidate the terrified shoppers. Nearby, a young, cute
girl with shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes was snapping orders
to...
...a bunch of Lego men!?
While that one registered, Lurker also noticed a hulking, yellow figure
standing behind the first two, not really doing anything but
looking...well, *big*.
"Come on! Hurry it up! We don't have all day!" the grey-haired man shouted
at the cowering masses.
"Master Teisel! The local security is arriving!" one of the Lego men said
in a high-pitched voice.
"Well, go stop them! What are you waiting for?" the imposing figure atop
the tables said.
"ROOOOOGEEEEEEEER!" several of the Lego men cheered, before pushing their
way past the crowd.
Lurker numbly slid down from the booth and turned to face Rei. "It's...it's
the Bonnes," he said.
Rei blinked. "bonnes?" she asked.
"A pirate gang...from a video game," Lurker said. "One of my favorite
games, in fact..."
"so...they were probably brought here like i was," Rei concluded.
Lurker nodded. "Looks that way..." He gulped. "The mall security won't be
able to handle this. They're only trained to catch shoplifters..." He
frowned. "I don't see any tanks or mecha...the Bonnes can't be very heavily
armed."
"then perhaps the mall security will be able to handle them," Rei said.
Lurker shook his head. "Not likely...not with all those Servbots running
interference. They may not be able to stand up to a Buster gun, but I'm
pretty sure they're bulletproof." He frowned. "We're going to have to help
out."
"why do you say we must help?" Rei asked.
Lurker shrugged. "You don't have to help if you don't want to, but face
it...we're probably the only two people in this mall who know what's going
on, and those people are likely to get hurt if they manage to piss the
Bonnes off...if they're not given a chance to escape first."
Rei nodded. "very well. i will help. what is your plan?"
"The Bonnes can be reasoned with...I think," Lurker said. "But we gotta
knock 'em off guard first." He frowned. "We're going to need weapons."
"HEY!" a high-pitched voice said from off to their right. "I heard that! No
way you're gonna try to stop the Bonnes!"
Lurker slowly turned to see a Servbot glaring defiantly up at him, hands on
its hips. "Kuso...!" he swore under his breath. Glaring right back at the
miniature robot, he raised an eyebrow. "You think you can stop me?" he
asked, risking a menacing advance towards the little flunkie.
The Servbot's speech synthesizer emitted a *gulp*. "Umm...well..uhhh...that
is..." The tiny robot closed its eyes and ran off, waving its arms. "HELP!
MASTER TEISEL! MISS TRON! HEEELLLLP!"
"FUCK!" Lurker spat, grabbing Rei by the arm and running back around the
corner. "That was NOT a good thing." Peeking around the corner, where the
robotic snitch was pointing in their direction, he said, "Come on...we've
got to move. We need to find weapons...before the Bonnes find *us*."
Rei nodded, and fell in behind Lurker as he ran back towards the north end
of the mall. Behind them, they began to hear high-pitched cries commanding
them to stop. Lurker glanced about frantically, desperate for an idea.
He skidded to a halt in front of Kay-Bee Toys. "In here!" he hissed to Rei,
diving into the store just before the approaching Servbots could spot him.
Rei did likewise, ducking behind an N64 display situated in the center of
the store entrance.
"Hey, what do you think you're--" the girl behind the counter said. Lurker
made frantic shushing noises, and pointed outside. The cashier blinked at
the sight of several animate Lego men milling about in front of the store.
"Whew...they didn't notice us," Lurker said. Turning towards the interior
of the store, he continued, "Now...weapons. Something strong enough to do
the trick."
"Weapons?" the cashier asked, blinking.
"how do you intend to find weapons in a toy store?" Rei asked.
Lurker grinned, reaching into his pocket. "You forget," he said, pulling
out the pencil and a folded sheet of paper.
"...oh," Rei said, nodding.
"Now...let's see what we have here..." Lurker mused, strolling down the
aisles. "Barbie...I don't think so. Beast Wars...hmmm...nah, that wouldn't
work...definitely not that...no...no...hmmm... maybe...ugh, no way...aha!
Jackpot!" he cried. Rei trailed in behind him curiously as he pulled an
item off the shelf and laid the paper flat on its surface.
"Uhhh...hey? They're coming back?" the cashier said nervously.
"We'll be done here shortly," Lurker said, tracing an object off of a Star
Wars toy. In a flash of green fire, a high-tech looking rifle clattered to
the floor. He snatched it up, and handed it to Rei. "Stay behind that
display," he said, "if you see any Servbots, take them out. If you see the
Bonnes, don't shoot...just warn them to back off. We don't want to hurt
them." Rei nodded, and headed for the front of the store.
"Where'd...what's going on?" the cashier asked.
"please be quiet," Rei said. "you will alert them to our presence."
Numbly, the cashier nodded. Meanwhile, Lurker pulled another item off the
Star Wars display, and began tracing. Another flash of green fire, and a
thin metal cylinder appeared in midair. He quickly caught it before it
could fall to the floor. "Yosh'," he said, grinning. "Sure hope this
works..."
The sound of blaster fire from the front of the store, followed by a
high-pitched cry of alarm, told him that the odds were in his favor.
"raakaa," Rei called out, "the bonnes are headed this way."
"Right," Lurker said. "I'm ready."
******
"What the hell's going on around here?" Teisel bellowed as the Bonnes
slowly stalked down the length of the mall. Fifteen of the Servbots were
keeping the crowd at the food court from attempting escape, while five
others were playing tag with the security. The remaining twenty had been
dispersed to search for the two people #2 had described.
When several of the Servbots began screaming and running back towards the
mall center, Teisel decided it was time to investigate. Soon, they came
upon three mangled Servbot corpses lying upon the ground, smoke and oil
pouring from them.
"What the--?" Tron said. "Alright, who's blowing up my kids!? Show
yourself!"
"If you insist," a male voice intoned arrogantly from the entrance to a toy
store. A pair of teenagers, neither apparently much older than Tron,
emerged from the storefront. The male had a look of forced calm, as he
focused an arrogant gaze upon them with sharp blue eyes. Lavender-grey hair
framed his high-browed face. Beside him, an albino girl in a skintight
outfit trained a rifle on the pirate trio. Her expression was unreadable.
"Clear out of this mall," the boy said, "and you won't get hurt."
Teisel gaped at them in astonishment, then began laughing. "Foolish boy! Do
you know who you're talking to? We're--"
"Teisel, Tron, and Bon Bonne," the boy said, a flash of a smirk crossing
his face. "And you're out of your league here. Assuming you know where
'here' is...and I don't think you do."
That seemed to throw Teisel off for a moment. Tron blinked. "How'd you--"
Teisel clapped a hand over Tron's mouth. "Of COURSE we know where we are!
We're the Bonnes, aren't we? We're always on top of things!"
"Riiiight," the seemingly unarmed teen smirked, arms crossed. "Just like
you were on top of things when MegaMan scrapped every ship and robot you
owned."
"That--hey--WAIT A MINUTE!" Teisel bellowed. "Enough of this! Get 'em!"
"I don't think so," the boy said, shifting into a loose, easy battle
stance. Although his posture spoke of someone with no real combat training,
his attitude spoke of someone who was damn well going to improvise...
...and the glowing blue energy blade which sprang to life with a crackling
hum in his right hand reinforced that image.
Teisel and Tron jerked to a halt. Bon continued to charge. "BAHUU!" he
babbled as he rushed forward.
"Wait a minute, Bon..." Teisel said, a bit too late.
The youth's blade crackled and hummed as it whooshed through the air in an
upwards arc. Sparks flew as it slashed through the armor of Bon's right
shoulder. Sliding backwards a half-step, the lavender-haired teen deftly
passed the hilt of the lightsaber into his left hand, then brought it
across, scoring a deep gash in Bon's chest armor, and shearing off his left
arm at the elbow. He finished the stroke with the blade angled across and
guarding his own torso, from left shoulder to right hip, and shifted to his
left as Bon crashed past him. The hulking robotic baby's bulk carried him
beyond his target, and to the ground, where he skidded for several feet.
"Ba--oooouuuuuu--!?"
*Whew...good thing that's one of the moves I've been practicing...* Lurker
thought to himself.
"i thought you said you did not want to injure them," the albino commented.
The youth with the lightsaber shrugged. "That one's a robot...he'll be
alright. The other two, though..." he trailed off, glaring maliciously at
Teisel and Tron.
Teisel's jaw hung open. "You...you busted Bon!" he cried out in disbelief.
"Who...what ARE you!?"
*Time to find out if I can bullshit the Bonnes,* thought Lurker. Drawing
himself up, and switching off the lightsaber, he mustered the most arrogant
voice he could manage. "I am Archival model MegaMan Lurker."
"M--M--MEGAMAN!?" Teisel roared. "NOT ANOTHER ONE!!"
Tron frowned. "Why is it I don't believe you...?"
Suddenly, the albino cried out in alarm. "raakaa...behind you...!"
Lurker spun, and his eyes widened. *Oh SHIT...this is gonna *hurt*...*
"BA---HUUUUUUU----!!"
=======================================================
[Honolulu]
Dinner at the Hard Rock went fairly well. Expensive, but well. They all
ordered the usual, except for Lime, who was experimenting. After
discovering that she could eat (or "manually intake energy sources", as it
was so quaintly put), she went through, in short order, two appetizers, a
couple of cheeseburgers, a salad, two strawberry milkshakes and a fudge
brownie sundae. A few of the other customers stared at the girl in shame as
she ate, knowing what it would do to her figure. A few looked at her,
wanting to ask her out. The waitress was counting her massively growing
tip. And Libby sat there, wondering if she could get away with charging
this to the company expense account.
"This is great!" Lime bubbled as she killed off her sundae. She was
currently wearing Rob's "Hard Rock Caf� -Bangkok" T-shirt, a pair of Ai's
jean shorts and a spare pair of zori sandals that Ai had. It was agreed
upon that Libby and Ai would take Lime out shopping the next day, but in
the interim, she had to wear something other than that biosuit.
"I'm glad you like it," Libby drolled as she mentally tallied the cost, and
realized there was no way she was going to be able to get away with
charging it to the company. Fortunately, she'd just made a payment on her
Visa card. Unfortunately, this dinner was probably going to negate the
payment's reduction of her balance.
"So," Rob commented, as he sipped on his Guinness (much to the chagrin of
Libby, who hated the stuff), "the next question is how she got here and
what we intend to do with her. The 'what to do' is more important, so we'll
start on that. Libby, how much will it take to come up with the legal
paperwork assigning me guardianship of one Raimu Mizuyo? Fraternal twin
sister of Ai, with Ai being the older."
"Raimu?" Libby inquired.
Pausing for a second off a bite of her strawberry sundae, Ai diverted her
attention long enough to comment, "It means 'Lime' in Japanese."
"Oh." Libby then looked hard at Rob. "You realize if we get caught, I lose
my license, you lose your rank, and we both get to turn big rocks into
little ones at the local pen. Have you really thought about what will
happen to Ai?"
Rob paused. He hadn't thought of that. "No, I have to admit I didn't. But
this is not a normal situation, and I'm afraid that there's no other
alternatives that I can think of."
"Can't you pass her off as Kim?" Libby asked. Her response was simple
stares from Rob and Ai. Lime also stared, if only because she was doing it
in the "Follow the Leader" fashion. "Okay, okay," she verbally retreated,
"bad idea."
"Well, this whole thing is a bad idea, Libby," he pointed out, "but it's
the only solution. I know I'm asking a lot. I know that I'm jeopardizing my
career and yours, and possibly leaving Ai in a bad situation, but it is the
only way."
"Well," Libby replied in an arch tone, "I guess the only thing we can do is
to make sure we don't get caught. You know, you'd better be glad you're my
best friend. I wouldn't do this for just anyone."
"Libby, I wouldn't normally be doing this at all," he replied. "But for
what it's worth...thanks."
"You're welcome." As the bill arrived, she handed it to him. "You can start
by paying for this. After all, you're the legal guardian of the Mizuyo
sisters, not me." As he reached for it in defeat, she pulled it back,
sticking her tongue out at him. "Just kidding. However, you can pay for the
movie tonight."
"Movie?"
"Yes, movie," she said, sliding back into her lawyer tone. "You know--those
moving pictures they show on the walls in places they call movie theatres.
YOU might be tied up with someone, Rob, but the rest of us are single-type
women, and we do like to be shown a good time. Since YOU'RE the resident
male, it is YOUR job to show us, as the duly designated member of the
opposite sex, a good time within reason, that reason being that we are
aware that you are not completely single and this is technically not a
date, per se. Additionally, this is confirmed by the fact that you have two
minors with us who are your wards, and since there is no ethical or legal
binding relationship between us save for acquaintance--"
"Libby," Rob groaned, "you've clearly been working too much."
"All the more reason I want to go see a movie. C'mon. They're showing 'Rush
Hour' tonight, and I don't want to miss it." The four got up, and moved
towards the cashier. Rob took pity on Libby and offered to pay for half,
which Libby refused--on the grounds that Lime's wardrobe expenses for
tomorrow were going to be bad enough for him. No more to say, they all
piled into Libby's Sentra, and raced off, destination: Pearlridge Mall.
=======================================================
[Texas]
Lurker bellowed in agony as he was thrown across the mall. He collapsed in
a heap against one of the brick planters lining the center strip. His
lightsaber clattered to the floor several feet away.
"Baou baou baaaaoooou," Bon babbled. He turned slowly to face Rei, who
began backing up against the wall. She trained her blaster on the hulking
robot, and fired.
The blaster bolt erupted against Bon's armor in a shower of sparks...but
did no appreciable damage.
"BEEEEEEEE!" Bon cried out. A barrage of missiles sprayed from unseen
launchers on his back, homing in on Rei's position. The albino quickly
ducked to the side, rolling out of the way as the missiles impacted against
the wall, cratering it. Springing to her feet, Rei sprinted away, in the
direction Lurker had fallen.
"AFTER THEM!" Teisel shouted.
Rei twisted and fired a few warning shots ahead of the pirates. Chunks of
scorched tiling sprayed into the air as the bolts struck the floor. Sliding
along the floor, she collected the dropped lightsaber, barely dodging
another missile barrage from Bon as she scampered to her fallen comrade.
Lurker sat up slowly, groaning and shaking his head. "Oh man...I am *not*
doing that again," he moaned.
"are you injured?" Rei asked.
Lurker pushed himself to his knees, and winced. "Left arm...no good," he
said through gritted teeth. Rei took a look at the indicated appendage. A
dark stain was spreading through the shoulder of Lurker's jacket, and his
arm was hanging at an odd angle.
"it looks bad," she said.
He nodded, grunting as he rose to his feet. Rei stood ready to support him,
but he waved her off. "Did you see my lightsaber anywhere?" he asked.
Rei nodded, and held out the cylinder. Lurker took it in his good hand, and
looked up. "Hell," he said. "We have to move. Now." The Bonnes were slowly
advancing, and they looked decidedly pissed.
"i couldn't damage the robot," Rei said.
Lurker nodded. "His armor is pretty tough..." He grimaced. "I can't take
him down like this. Not without some kind of...armor..." he trailed off.
"Rei, cover me," he said. "I'm going to make a run for it."
Rei nodded. "understood."
"Be careful," Lurker said. Checking his footing, he dashed around the
planter, and took off for the center of the mall. Rei began running a
zig-zag pattern in his wake, turning to fire at the Bonnes every few
seconds, slowing them down.
"They're getting away!" Teisel bellowed.
Tron stopped suddenly by the planter Lurker had crashed into, frowning. She
crouched down, and wiped at a thick smear of liquid on the floor. "This
is...blood?" she wondered. Standing up, she called out, "Teisel! That
Lurker guy...he's human!"
"Human?" Teisel echoed. "Are you sure?"
"I'm pretty sure robots like MegaMan don't bleed," Tron replied.
"Hmmm..." Teisel said, rubbing his chin. "And he survived getting hit
head-on by Bon? Not bad," he mused.
"We have them on the run now!" Tron said. "That Lurker guy can't fight if
he's hurt..."
"Maybe so," Teisel said, "but something isn't right here. How did he know
who we are? And about MegaMan? And what happened to us? We need answers."
"Right...we can probably force them to surrender," Tron said.
"Baou!" Bon babbled in agreement.
"Okay, but...where'd they go?" Teisel wondered. "We've got to find them."
******
"the bonnes aren't following us," Rei said.
"Good...that gives me some time," Lurker said, reaching into his pocket for
the pencil and paper. He slowly walked into Sam Goody, and nodded to the
guy behind the counter, forgetting for the moment that he wouldn't be able
to recognize him.
Or would he? The clerk blinked. "I know it's close to Halloween and all,
but...damn."
Lurker chuckled weakly. "Yeah, that's about how I feel right now."
The cashier noticed the broken arm. "Hey, man, you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah...I'll be okay...I just need to borrow something for a sec," Lurker
grunted, walking over to the narrow shelf housing the store's anime
selection. "Rei, watch for the Bonnes...let me know if you see them
coming."
"understood."
"What are you doing?" the clerk asked. "Looks like you have more important
things to worry about than anime right now..."
"I am...believe me, I am..." Lurker said, picking one of the dubbed
Dragonball Z tapes off the shelf. Laying it on the counter and placing the
paper on top of it, he traced Vegeta's armor, and stepped back. In a
moment, a perfect copy of the Saiyajin armor appeared on the floor.
Shrugging off his jacket as best he could, Lurker bent down and picked up
the armor. "Here," he grunted, "get my arm...I can't move it."
Numbly, the cashier nodded and helped Lurker raise his left arm. "Here,
man," he said, pulling a folded red bandana out of his pocket. "Let me
bandage that shoulder for you...you're bleeding bad." Lurker nodded
gratefully. Once his arm had been bandaged, working together, they managed
to get the armor on him. It quickly reshaped itself to snugly fit his
torso. "Thanks," Lurker rasped. He looked at the items strewn about.
"Damn," he said. "Rei...I need a little help over here."
Rei walked over. Lurker indicated the jacket, pencil, and lightsaber, then
blinked. "Guess you don't have pockets, huh?"
Rei picked up the jacket and put it on, ignoring the blood stains. She then
picked up the pencil and tucked it back into the jacket pocket.
Lurker blinked, then shrugged. "That'll work," he said, picking up the
lightsaber. "Now," he said, setting his jaw firmly, "I've got a score to
settle with that toddling hunk of tin." Rei and Lurker walked out of the
store slowly, looking around suspiciously.
The clerk blinked. "Man...I've *got* to tell that Morrison guy about all
this."
=======================================================
[New Jersey]
Jon walked down the stairs, a changed man.
Literally, he had changed out of the high-water jeans and Ghost in the
Shell t-shirt, into real jeans and a greyblack soft cotton buttondown, half
open to expose Jon's manly black t-shirt. Not much of a change, but one
nonetheless... Also, he seemed to be wearing some jewelry now. A ring on
the middle finger of each hand, the left one with a skull on it, the right
with a man's face looking out passivly. Twin bracers adorned his forearms,
managing to look comfortable despite having rolled up shirt sleeves tucked
into them. A large oval stone set in each caught the light in such a way
that they appeared to glow with a cold, soft purple light. A similar stone
was on Jon's belt buckle, and a fourth was peeking out from a amulet around
his neck.
As he walked into the living room and looked out at the assembled...well,
he was used to thinking about them as animates, so that might as well do.
With a deep breath and a clap of the hands, Jon began. "Now, I'm sure that
you all have a lot of questions, and that you've all probably experienced
some strange stuff over the last two hours. And trust me, I have plenty of
questions too. And, we'll address those questions. But first..." Jon
reached into his back pocket, withdrawing the Desert Eagle. "First...." Jon
said as he raised the gun, pulling back on the slide and aiming it at
Nabiki.
Nabiki and Sailor Mars paled as they watched this man that they barely knew
raise a gun to one of them. They knew that they couldn't act fast enough to
prevent him from slaughtering all of them.
Lina looked at Jon strangely, noticing something about him, but not being
able to place it. And not understanding why everyone seemed to be afraid of
that little piece of metal. Jon was still about ten yards away from them,
and that thing wasn't even sharp.
Kenshin continued to nibble on some table legs.
"First," Jon said as he pulled the trigger. Flaming leaded death spewed
forth from the barrel of the customized magnum, headed at incredibly high
velocities straight at Nabiki. As it passed over her shoulder and punched
so perfect a hole in the window that the glass didn't even shatter, she
found the inside of her eyes very interesting to look at, and decided to
watch them for a while, rather than the gore that was now painting the
glass portal.
Gore from the exploded head of a zombie.
"First, we get rid of this zombie problem." Jon said as he posed for the
nonexistant camera, calmly blowing the smoke from the barrel of the gun.
"What do you all.... OW!! Kenshi... OUCH!! Stop tha OW! WOULD YOU QUIT
HITTING ME WITH YOUR SWORD!" Jon was looking mighty bruised from the
onslaught when Kenshin shrugged, sheathed his sword, and sat down at Jon's
feet.
Meanwhile, Lina had taken it upon herself to become very intimate with the
ceiling, seeing how long she could hold herself up there, flat against it,
without moving. So far, so good. <That metal thing... it just spat out a
little bit of fire, and that thing's head exploded? Must be some kind of
artifact.> At this point, Lina the Scared became Lina the
Magic-Item-Coveting. Dropping from the ceiling, she sauntered over to Jon,
in her best 'Look at how cute and sexy I am... you know you want to do
whatever I ask you to' walk. She wasn't expecting it to work, but it never
hurts to try.
<Odd,> Lina thought. <Wonder why his jaw is on the floor? Or that slight
bit of drool that is running down his chin?> Lina continued walking slowly,
pondering what could possible elicit such a reaction. At first, she thought
that maybe Naga was there, bouncing around, but Lina hadn't heard her
laugh. Maybe one of the other girls was doing something, but a quick check
showed that one was unconsious, and the other, the one dressed up in that
strange uniform, seemed to be saying some sort of prayer. So it must have
been her. <But that would mean that the walk was working....>
"STOP!!!!" Sailor Mars yelled, just as Lina got close enough to try the
'Cute Girl Eye Sparkle' maneuver that was known to be the downfall of every
man.
Mars looked right at Jon, and noticed that everyone was looking at her. So
be it. "He's EVIL! He reeks of it! Stay away from him, he's a youma!"
Jon's shoulders drooped as his head fell slightly and he burst out
laughing. "Mars-san? Please to take a look outside and tell me what you
see?" Jon said, gesturing with his free hand.
Mars turned to look out the window, and gasped in horror as she saw hordes
of undead shambling about right outside the house.
"Could they possibly be throwing your sensing off? Maybe?" Jon asked,
neatly sidestepping the pool of sarcasm. Mars nodded weakly. "Okay, so
first we get rid of them, then, in two hours, my mom comes home and finds
me with three girls and one not-so-sane guy, and then I wake up from this
really wierd dream, wait two days, get on my flight to Atlanta, and hang
out with Zen and everyone at AWA." Jon looked thoughtful as he felt a
slight tug at his left arm. Ignoring it, Jon tried to slip deeper into
thought, but was constantly pulled back by the incessant tugging on his
arm.
"Kenshin?"
The red haired samurai looked up and smiled benignly.
"Please stop eating my gun."
Again, the samurai smiled.
"And my hand?"
Pouting, the samurai curled up at Jon's feet, let out a great "MY NAME IS
BOB!!!! BOB THE UNKNOWN, RIDING FORTH FROM THE FLATLANDS OF RUSSIA,
SWINGING MY SWORD MIGHTILY IN MY QUEST TO BECOME BOB THE KNOWN!!!!" before
laying he head on Jon's shoe and falling asleep.
"Ummmm.... Are we glad he's on our side, or not?" Sailor Mars asked
rhetorically.
=======================================================
[Texas]
The Bonnes were not happy.
The terrified crowd they had been holding up in the mall's food court had
apparently figured out that the Servbots themselves weren't much of a
threat, and had escaped. A few of the small robots were now loitering near
the mall exit. Some of them had apparently chased the crowd into the
parking lot.
On top of that, mall security had also begun ignoring the Servbots, and it
had taken a bit of persuasion from Bon to convince them to back off. Still,
Tron had been sure she'd overheard them radio for help.
And if that wasn't enough...their mysterious friends, 'Lurker' and his
albino companion, had vanished. And right now, it looked like they were the
*only* lead the Bonnes had on finding out what the hell was going on around
here.
"Baobaobaoooo...." Bon began burbling excitedly, pointing off towards Sears
with his remaining hand.
"What is it...? HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Tron bellowed.
"Huh? What--YOU!" Teisel shouted. "Stay where you are, or you're gonna be
sorry!"
The albino crouched on the edge of one of the planters, covering the three
of them with her blaster rifle. Her expression was as unnervingly
unreadable as before.
"BEEEEEE!" Bon cried, flexing his back to release a spray of missiles...
"KYAAAAA!" a voice shouted from behind him, accompanied by the telltale hum
of a lightsaber. Teisel and Tron spun around to see Lurker coming up out of
a roll several feet from Bon, lightsaber held behind his head at the ready.
His face was twisted in pain; he'd obviously landed on his bad shoulder.
"There he is! GET HIM!" Teisel roared.
Bon suddenly let out a surprised exclamation, followed by a shrill cry of
pain, which was drowned out by several loud explosions from his back. He
fell over on his face. Shrapnel erupted in a broad spray from his back,
complemented by billows of smoke. Six blackened holes, apparently punched
from the inside, marred his armored hide.
Tron's eyes widened. "He...he blew up Bon's launchers!" She turned to face
Lurker, fists clenched in anger. "You...you BULLY!"
"Are...are you ready to give up now?" Lurker asked. The strain in his voice
was evident.
The whine of jets cut off any reply Tron might have made, as Bon rose from
the floor and flew head-first into Lurker. The armored boy tried to move,
but he wasn't fast enough. He roared in pain as Bon slammed full-force into
him. He crashed through the glass doors of Hobby Lobby, landing just inside
the entrance.
"Good work, Bon! You got him!" Teisel cheered.
"Bahuu," Bon said, ambling slowly towards the fallen warrior.
Lurker struggled to push himself off the ground, but it was no good. The
lightsaber rolled out of his hand as he put his weight into an effort to at
least sit up. His body simply refused to do what he asked of it...he was
dead in the water. And about to be rammed by an armored boat.
******
"stop," Rei commanded. Blaster fire scorched the tile in front of the
massive robo-baby.
"Bahuu?" Bon asked, turning around.
The albino was less than five meters away, and stalking towards the Bonnes.
She trained her rifle on Tron. "if you continue your attack, she will die."
Tron gulped and turned to run...but was dissuaded by the eruption of the
floor behind her. She shrieked as she realized that Rei had just fired
right between her legs.
"if you try to escape, i will kill you. if either of the others move, i
will kill you," Rei said calmly.
"Baou...?" Bon gibbered.
"Everyone stay put..." Teisel said, a hint of fear creeping into his voice.
"I think she's serious."
"I-I think y-you're right, Teisel..." Tron said, eyes wide and staring at
the blaster rifle in Rei's hands.
"I...I'd say that's...checkmate," rasped a voice from just outside the
tableau. The Bonnes turned as much as they dared to see Lurker dragging
himself out of Hobby Lobby. He was leaving a thin trail of blood in his
wake, and looked like he might pass out at any moment. He was lying on his
back, apparently having been unable to flip himself over.
"we must take you to a hospital immediately," Rei said, glancing at Lurker
while keeping her blaster trained on Tron. "you are seriously injured."
"I..." Tron began, nervously. "Um...we've got a medkit..."
"how are we to trust you?" Rei asked.
"Trust them..." Lurker said. "They...might be thieves, but...they're
honorable...thieves..." His face was beginning to lose color.
"Look...let's make a deal," Teisel said. "You guys know a lot about us, and
seem to know what's going on around here. How about we agree to help you if
you give us some answers?"
"Deal," Lurker rasped.
"NUMBER 28!!" Tron bellowed.
A Servbot scurried around the corner, skidding to a halt in front of Tron.
"Yes, Miss Tron?" it asked.
Tron reached down and twisted the disk atop its yellow head. The Servbot
seemed to go blank, and Tron slid the top of its head off. Reaching inside,
she pulled out a white box with a red cross on it, and put the lid back on
the Servbot, which promptly reactivated. Walking over to Lurker, she
frowned. "That armor has to come off before I can do anything...it's in the
way."
Lurker dropped the cylinder he'd been holding. "Here...be careful..."
Tron nodded, and after a moment's experimentation, used the tip of the
lightsaber blade to slice off the shoulderguard of the mangled armor.
Working carefully, she opened it up along the side also, hoping she wasn't
cutting her patient in the process. "I'm not used to working on people,"
she muttered.
After a moment, the armor was loosened, and Tron, with the help of Rei,
pried it open and slid it out from under Lurker. "This looks bad," Tron
commented, wincing as she unwrapped the makeshift bandage. "He's lost a lot
of blood."
"what can you do for him?" Rei asked.
Frowning, Tron pulled a small device out, and placed it on Lurker's
forehead. It beeped for a moment, then spat out a few readings. "I...I
think he's going into shock," Tron said. "Gotta keep him warm..."
Rei silently removed the stained jacket and spread it out over Lurker,
taking care not to cover his shoulder with it. Tron reached into the medkit
and removed another device. "This may hurt," she said. "It's a tissue
stimulator...it'll stop that arm from bleeding and make it heal a lot
faster. It's going to take a while, though."
Lurker nodded. "Go ahead."
Tron pressed the end of the device just below the wound and activated it.
Immediately, it began spitting out arcs of electricity, which seemed to be
traveling away from the injury, towards the jacket covering Lurker, who
grimaced and hissed in pain.
"you are hurting him," Rei said.
Tron blinked. "It's...it's not working right," she said. "Something's
wrong..."
Lurker reached up shakily with his good hand, and felt around inside the
jacket's pocket, where the sparks from the stimulator seemed to be
converging. He pulled out the pencil. Arcs of electricity quickly leapt
from him to the mysterious writing utensil.
Tron blinked. "What's that?"
"I think...this is causing your malfunction," Lurker said.
Suddenly, the electricity began redirecting itself from the pencil,
striking Lurker's wound directly. He cried out in pain as sparks and the
smell of scorched blood rose from the injury.
"turn off your machine," Rei commanded. Tron nodded dumbly, and pulled the
stimulator away.
The light show continued for several seconds, as electricity flowed out of
the pencil and into Lurker's injury. After a long, intense moment, it
stopped. "Hey, look!" Tron exclaimed. "It's stopped bleeding."
"the wound has sealed itself," Rei commented.
Lurker stared at the pencil. "Well...wonder what else this thing's gonna
do," he remarked, before surrendering consciousness.
=======================================================
[Honolulu]
Mihoshi finally managed to make herself a bowl of ramen, though it took her
about an hour to find everything� and another thirty minutes to get
everything in order. She sat in front of the television, watching the
clearly American programming (thank her lucky stars that her translator
earstuds created a sonic field which translated languages and her own
speech), and wondering why everyone thought it was so dumb. Kiyone (who
Mihoshi was sure would appear any minute to tell her that this was all a
joke) and Tenchi (who would then try to cheer her up with that nice smile
of his and his always kind words) always said that it was bad, to which
Ayeka replied that the blonde had no braincells left to rot.
Which was simply not true, Mihoshi thought. Ayeka and all the others
(except for Tenchi, Sasami, and Kiyone) were always so mean to her. And
sometimes it seemed that Kiyone was also just as mean, but Mihoshi knew her
best friend well enough to know that it was just an image. Still, it hurt
her feelings whenever Ryoko or Ayeka made fun of her, and sometimes--just
sometimes, mind you--she wished she could live another life, one where
people would treat her better. And if she could have that dream life, she
would bring Tenchi, Kiyone, and Sasami with her, and leave the rest behind.
She might not be the smartest person on Earth...like that one guy, Alfred
Ein-somethingorother, but she did have some smarts and she certainly had
feelings, only which a few of her friends apparently valued.
She also had distinct tastes, which they also seemed never to understand.
Which was why, even if this was all a trick, she would actually get to
watch her favorite program, for a change. She'd been watching this
particular news show for a few weeks, and found it to be very intelligent
and intriguing. Today's episode was on the current status of the American
Modern dance industry, and how cutthroat it had become in searching for
new, talented prospects.
The TV announcer spoke through the Trinitron's speakers: //Next, on Jerry
Springer: That Slutty Exotic Dancer Stole My Boyfriend!//
Before she could get a chance to dive into her ramen, the phone rang.
Always trying to be a polite person, she decided to answer the phone. "Um,
hello?"
//Hi Libby, it's Keiko. I just wanted to see if you were free tonight. I'm
double-dating with Todd and Gene, and we need a fourth.//
Mihoshi was confused. Washuu had designed this place to look like the
house of someone named Elizabeth Thomas, and yet the person on the phone
was asking for a "Libby". This made no sense at all. Unless.... "I don't
think this is funny, Ryoko."
//Um, Libby...are you okay?//
"I'm tired of you picking on me all the time, Ryoko. I might not be the
galaxy's smartest person, but I have feelings, too! I'm never mean to you,
and you know that last time, I was only doing my job!"
//I, um, guess you're...you must not be feeling well, Libbs. Either that,
or you've got that Rob guy over again, right?// the voice on the other end
commented. //I'm telling you, you should dump him. He's a SAILOR, fer
chrissakes, Libby! He leaves port, and he'll cheat on you!//
THAT got Mihoshi mad. She had no idea of what Ryoko was playing at, but it
was clear that she was trying to implicate Tenchi in this. Imagine!
Calling Tenchi a cheat! Tenchi would never do that--he was too nice and
kind, and would never even think of such a thing! "Ryoko, you stop picking
on Tenchi right this instant, understand? I put up with a lot of things,
but being mean to him is not at all nice, and I thought better of you, even
if you are a space pirate!"
//Um, I guess I'll call you later, Libby,// Keiko commented, sounding
completely puzzled. //See ya.// She hung up the phone immediately.
On her end, Mihoshi set down the phone in the cradle and walked back to her
dinner. ((The nerve of Ryoko!))she snorted. ((She seems to be nice at
times, then other times, she'll pick on me.)) But picking on Tenchi was
too much, even for Ryoko. Which made no sense. There had to be an
explanation for all of this, and she hoped that her dearest Kiyone would
come out of hiding and explain everything soon. She was already feeling
lonesome without her best friend, and just thinking about not having Kiyone
around made her sad.
After a few minutes, she got tired of watching her program--somewhere in
the middle of all of it, the show got replaced with American-style
wrestling, and she preferred sumo, anyway. Since there was nothing more
that she really wanted to do as far as the terebi was concerned, she
decided to look around the house again.
A minute or two later, she was in the office and rec room, looking around.
Other than a desk that looked like it had a computer on it and some really
big books, there was nothing more there. There was a giant stuffed
Scooby-Doo in the far corner of the room, and on the other side, there was
a brown and black cat, sleeping in the windowsill. Mihoshi thought that it
looked so cute, she decided not to bother it. There was a bookshelf also
in the room, but it contained a lot of what appeared to be law books and
such--nothing, however, on the latest updates to the Galaxy Code of Law.
After a few minutes, she looked back at the desk. Sitting on it was a
bunch of papers--and someone even drew a picture of her, how nice! It must
have been Tenchi or Sasami--and what looked to be a sketchbook with some
art already drawn in it. The picture of her she thought was especially
neat, with the almost glowing effect that the paper had. However, she put
that to the side, thinking later that she had to thank whoever for the
picture. She decided that she wanted to draw something--okay, well, trace
something, as she was never that good of an artist.
She took a second to look in the book, landing upon a picture signed by
someone named "Sakura Edwards", though the picture looked a lot like
something she saw in one of her manga. The picture was of a woman, with
redhair in a long braid, wearing Chinese clothing and carrying a really
neat looking sword. Her eyes were about the same color as Sasami's, though
this woman's were a little deeper. The art was really detailed, as it
showed a platinum wedding band on the woman's finger and what seemed to be
a magical aura around her.
((This,)) Mihoshi decided, ((is a really neat picture. I like this
picture. I'll use this one.)) Taking a sheet of paper and that
neat-looking red pencil that was laying on top of the desk, Mihoshi began
to trace.
And trace she did. She never knew that she could ever draw this well,
since most of her drawings, in Ryoko's words, came out as "stick figures,
representative of your one-dimensional mind." She found that she was doing
almost as good as the original artist had, and maybe that she should try
drawing something later. Maybe she would, in the morning. It was getting
pretty late, and she was awfully tired. As she completed the picture, she
decided to go to bed. She still wanted to watch a little more terebi
before she went to bed, though, so she set the pencil down, went into the
bedroom, took a blanket, pillow, and a teddybear, then wandered over to the
couch. However, before even turning on the television, the blonde was soon
asleep, lost in the arms of Morpheus.
As the blonde began to dream, a sparkle of light flared from the tracing
paper, and the sound of a thousand pencils scratching on a page filled the
air. Once again in Libby's home office, a tracing flared with dark red
fire along the pencilmarks. The whole tracing changed from the dark gray
of pencil graphite to a strobing, throbbing cherry red. There was a blast
of light from the paper, and a spark leapt from woodpulp to the Anson V
nylon of the carpet. The spark grew to life size before gaining a homonid
shape, with hands and feet, right down to fingers and toes.
A second later, a young woman, her sword lying on the ground, slowly rose
to her feet and looked around at her new, unfamiliar surroundings.
((Hmm...this isn't Cephiro,)) she thought. ((If anything, this looks like a
Terran home, probably Western.)) Picking up her sword to defend herself in
case she was wrong, Saotome Hikaru quietly called out, "Anyone there?
Fuu-chan? Ryoga? Ranma, my love? Hello...." Taking the time to put away
her sword--Ranma firmly had drilled into her that martial arts were better
than sword when it came to confined spaces, like homes--she banished her
sword back into gemspace--((I shouldn't be able to do that on Earth! My
Pillar powers don't work here!))--and willed into being her fire aura. If
she was going to be attacked, the attacker had best know that a Saotome was
not a person to mess with. Especially when the Saotome in question was
Saotome Hikaru, Pillar of Cephiro and wife of the world's best martial
artist.
=======================================================
[New Jersey]
*Okay, I think I have their attention. At least, I should hope so.
Blasting a zombie in the head ought to do it, don't you think? Why yes...
yes I do. Mom's gonna bitch when she sees that I put a bullet through the
window. Let her bitch... At least that would mean that she's still alive.
But am I still her son? I mean, I did make that deal with... well, I am
still me, right? I guess.... Doesn't matter right now... First things
first.... First we get rid of the Tyrant, then we can philosophize over
what we are. So are we all in agreement?*
...
*I'll take silence to mean that you all agree. Or maybe you aren't there,
and I AM just talking to myself. But it would be wrong... Heh heh heh....*
=======================================================
[Texas]
Lurker had awakened about ten minutes later, giving Tron and Rei time to
set and bandage his arm. He propped himself up against the wall, and for
several minutes he told the Bonnes everything he knew about how they had
probably gotten here, where they were, and why he knew so much about them.
"So, that's it," Teisel said, rubbing his chin. "Any ideas on how we can
get back?"
Lurker shook his head. "We're still trying to figure this whole thing out
ourselves, really. Like why the pencil changed me...or how it healed me."
He frowned. "That must have been some shock therapy...my whole body is
still tingling."
"Well then!" Teisel said. "I guess we'd better find a way to fix up Bon,
and then start checking this place out! Looks like we could be here a
while."
"You could stick with us," Lurker suggested.
Teisel shook his head. "Thanks, but...that's just not the Bonne way."
Lurker leveled a stern glare upon the pirate. "I want your word," he said.
"No robbing people, no blowing things up. If I hear so much as one report
that sounds like you were involved, I'm coming after you. And next time,
big boy here isn't going to get the better of me."
"Well..." Teisel said, rubbing his chin. "From what you say, there's no
ruins here, no refractors, and no Diggers...doesn't sound like there's
anything for pirates to do anyway." He nodded. "Alright, you have our
word."
******
After that, the pirates had cleared out of the mall, driving away in a
'borrowed' tractor trailer (Lurker had seen them steal it, but decided to
let them get away with it just this once). Lurker and Rei had left the mall
after retreiving their dropped packages, narrowly missing the arrival of
the police as they drove off. On the way home, Rei had asked Lurker about
the anime Evangelion a few times, but had gotten no straight answers.
Now, much later, Lurker clicked off the news and yawned. He had told Rei to
use the other bedroom, his grandmother's room, for tonight. Having already
changed for bed, he lowered himself onto his futon, and quickly drifted off
into a fitful sleep.
Ten minutes later, the door slowly opened. In the dim moonlight, a female
silhouette stole quietly into the room, the pale luminescence picking out
the faint cyan highlights in her hair as she crept towards the shelves
lining the wall. Carefully, the silent figure pulled several videocassettes
off the top shelf, and quietly left the room.
Lurker's own quiet snores and uneasy rest prevented him from hearing the
television in the living room being turned on.
=======================================================
[Honolulu]
Rob opened the door, and he and his two charges piled into the apartment.
They'd just gotten home from a night of movies and arcade-playing. As
usual, Ai and Rob went back and forth in victories on SF Zero 3...make that
ALPHA 3, instead. Between Rob's playing of Ken and Ai's mastery of Sakura,
the pair went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back
and forth.... Faced with the proposition of watching Rob and Ai go on for
hours, Libby took the opportunity to take Lime shopping (there were a few
stores in the mall still open, and as Ai had commented that this was Lime's
"birthday," well, never let it be said that Libby forgot anyone's
birthday....) for a couple of things.
An hour or so later, as the mall began to shut down for the night, Libby
pulled the pair out, also to help with the bags. "Mind you, Rob," Libby
commented, "These are just delicates and such. You've still got to get her
regular apparel." Rob agreed, and the three women decided on tomorrow
afternoon as the appropriate time.
Now, fifteen minutes after having left Pearlridge, the three of them were
relatively tired, and though the other two would probably sit up all night
talking about "girls' stuff" (or more likely, Ai would talk, and Lime would
listen), Rob would retreat to the office and work on his fanfics for a few
hours more. At the moment, since they'd discovered Lime's need for
"extended rest periods", i.e. sleep, they'd set up the guest futon in Ai's
room, and tomorrow they'd see about rearranging the house to accommodate
the newest member of the family. While Ai claimed she didn't mind, Rob
understood human nature a little more than that--not to mention the
Japanese need to have privacy. It would probably better in the long run
that Lime have her own room.
Rob stopped. He realized, in a flash, that he'd just accepted the girl as
a permanent thing in his life. How did he even know that she'd be there
tomorrow? What if this was all a dream? What if he were to wake up
tomorrow, and this had all never happened? ((I guess I'm just hoping that
it IS real,)) he decided after a while. ((Sure, there's complications
aplenty, and not to mention the added drain on our finances, but to see
that smile on Ai's face made it all worth it.)) When Ai had to move from
Japan, she'd left behind quite literally the only friend she'd ever had.
((To have Lime here's had a world of difference on her that I can't
provide. Maybe if this is real, maybe it's a chance for all of us to
improve our lives.))
Sitting down at his computer and popping open Word, he allowed his fingers
to dance across the ergonomic keyboard, conjuring words and phrases like
the budding wordwright that he wished to be. As he worked on his latest
TOS novel, chronicling the events of Hong Kong in 1902, there was a ring of
the phone next to him. Figuring that it was Libby, he picked up and said,
"What's up, Lib?"
The answer he got instantly gnawed at his soul: Libby whispered one
word--"Help"--and then went silent.
Rob bolted from his chair, and walked to the door--there was no need to
worry the girls. Yet. Knocking on the door, he commented, "Girls, I'm
going to the store for a few minutes--just noticed were out of milk, and
we're going to need it in the morning. Anything you want? I can see this
is going to be an allnighter, ne?" As he took down Ai's request for a few
sodas, he then left, running to his car. He hoped that Libby was not in
serious trouble, because as he hopped in and practically roared down Ala
Kaloa drive, heading for the Nimitz-H1 onramp, he realized that he'd
forgotten to call 911...and that could be a fatal mistake.
=======================================================
Disco was not harmed during the production of this fanfiction.
No individual pubic hairs were counted during the production of this
fanfiction.
No small, annoying robots resembling Lego men were harmed during the
production of this fanfiction.
We here at Pencil Trace don't know if Jon cleared it with the author of
that series he's borrowing from, and frankly, we don't care. Jon's
completely nuts, so we don't take responsibility for him. ^_^
[Jon: I AM NOT A DEMON! Lurk: <sweatdrop>]
Any similarities between Kenshin and Bob the Unknown are purely
coincidental.
=======================================================
PENCIL TRACE PRODUCTIONS
lurkerdrome@yahoo.com sabreb@erols.com
databank@mindspring.com ashita@rocketmail.com
mihoshi@eudoramail.com mxjk67c@prodigy.com
ukyoukwnji@aol.com terbril@hotmail.com
kumonryuu@hotmail.com