Topic: Side-storyline: Ryouko-chan's Sweet Seventeen Spectacular

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, July 18, 2000 - 21:03:
(RP ON)

Warren was running through clouds and clouds of steam. A small corner of his awareness was slightly surprised that he hadn't crashed head on into a wall yet, seeing as how he couldn't see more than a handspan in front of him.

When the steam cleared so that he could see about three meters or so in front of him he heard a faint noise of something in pursuit. Reacting from his Marine sniper training, Hudson hit the deck and rolled away into a cloud of steam.

As Warren lay on the floor in wait for what he knew to be either an enemy or just Terra and/or the Kuroko.

It turned out to be the weirdest enemy Warren Hudson ever had meet in his years as a soldier. From his perspective on the floor, Warren could see that he was being hunted by a hodge-podge of an industrial carpet cleaner, vacuum cleaner, large coffee maker, and a rather menacing chainsaw.

Hudson was only darkly amused to see the brain of this machine to be a standard JVC Video camera cannibalized with what appeared to be a CB radio and an IBM PC main CPU.

The machine rolled past clumsily; but quick. Scanning the best it could for him; but being seriously hampered by the steam, darkness and debris. Hudson knew that soon Terra and the Kuroko would be coming up, and he didn't want them to face this.

Warren drew out his .357; checking it. Hudson noticed a crowbar on the floor beside him, he glanced back at the machine to make sure it was turned away from him momentarily. Warren rolled sideways, grabbing the bar, and standing up.

The machine turned around and beeped violently upon seeing him.

"Not nice," Hudson admonised sardonicly. He always became sardonic when he was worried and facing death.

The chainsaw started up and the machine began charging Warren.

Hudson waited for the machine and with the crow bar in his right hand, caught the chainsaw blade in the bar's ruts. Warren knew he only had a split-second, in his left hand he held his .357. Pretty much aimlessly he discharged three rounds into the machine's "brain."

The first one smashed into the CB transmitter, the second got the power cable for the chainsaw; stopping it. The third one got the IBM CPU.

The rest of the machine began wildly flailing at Hudson, he reponded by simply throwing it against the nearest wall and into a cloud of steam.

As soon as Hudson was sure the machine was destroyed he was off and running again.

Only to be stopped by a flying video camera. The camera wasn't armed, and seemed to miss him the first time it sped over his head.

Warren was a few moments watching the flying camera backtrack towards him, intending to quickly blow it to smithereens. Obviously, it was surveilling this hell but there was something familiar about it...abruptly he realized where he had seen it before.

'One of Shutaro's toys, only modified to operate in enclosed spaces.'

As soon as the flying camera spotted him, Hudson snickered without humor.

"Gonna to tell on me, aren't 'cha?"

A red light on the camera lit up.

"Tattletail," Warren raised his gun, aimed, and shot the camera into three sparking pieces.

Warren turned and began running again, only stopping this time to reload his gun.

Once more he was enveloped in clouds and clouds of steam, when it cleared he was at the entrance to a large room filled with computers and machinery parts.

The first thing he noticed were the infrared sights being trained on him by at least five to ten different robos. The other thing was an obscured human figure on the wall, it didn't take much deduction for Warren to realize who it was.

"Ryouko-chan?!?!" Warren shouted.

"I'm here, Warren-kun." Ryouko was obviously trying to keep her voice as level as possible.

"I'll have you out of here in a jiffy, dear." Hudson faced the robos; sneering.

"I have come to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm fresh out of bubblegum."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, July 21, 2000 - 05:27:
(RP ON)
If there was one moment in Hudson's life that he was surely ready for combat, this was it. The life of the woman he liked, nay, loved, was in danger, and he was going to do everything in his power to get her out of this hell-hole.

He took careful aim at his first attacker, a vague resemblance to the last one he had encountered, but equipped instead with an electric prod. Being sure to concentrate on it's weak spot, he yanked down on the trigger and watched as the CPU crudely attached to the unit exploded in flame. It quickly ground to a halt.

Two more approached to his right, one with a large pipe affixed to an arm that constantly moved up and down in a swinging motion. It wasn't this one that concerned Hudson so much as the other, that had a 7.62mm assault rifle loosely hanging off it's left side. Hudson growled and deftly dove behind an overturned table as the weapon spat out a stream of slugs in his direction. The bullets pattered all over the area he was in just mere moments ago.

Leaning around the table, he leaned around and fired. The familiar sight of the crudely patched-together droid breaking out in flames and stopping in it's tracks greeted his eyes. He scanned the area for the other, pipe-wielding one, but it was nowhere to be found.

"Warren, BEHIND YOU!" screamed Ryouko. He did an about-face, only to have his weapon smashed out of his hand. Another impact followed immediately after, breaking one of his ribs. His eyes grew wide as the droid prepared for the final blow.....

*POOT!*

A small round object flew out of the nearby hallway, bouncing off of the droid's "head" and landing squarely in Hudson's lap. He looked at it in both panic and confusion, untill it exploded in his face with a large blue blast. As his vision crowded over with black and blue, he heard a series of loud sparks. Blinking a few times, his vision quickly returned, and he saw the attacking droid, frozen in place sitting directly in front of him. Glancing over at the hallway, he saw Terra slowly walk out, bracing herself against the wall with one hand and holding a large grenade launcher with another. She winked.

"EMP grenades. Never leave home without 'em."

Her grin broke up quickly as she glanced around the room.

"What's wrong?" asked Hudson, grunting as he shoved the disabled droid away from him and stood up.

"Where's the Kuroko squad? I sent them in ahead of me."

"Didn't see them." he said, shrugging. "I don't like it."

"Ahem." came a voice from nearby. "As much as I would truely love to chit-chat with you both, especially you Warren, the present position I am in is... how shall we say, unpleasant?"

Smiling, Hudson turned around and pulled out a pocket-knife. "Okay, so 'a jiffy' was slightly longer than I expected, but I'll still have you down." He turned to Terra for a moment. "Watch my back, I saw a few more droids lurking around, but they seem to have vanished.. I'm also worried about what happened to that Kuroko squad."

Terra nodded and loaded a fresh clip into her launcher with a loud clang. "Shutaro was with them, so I'm slightly concerned as well.." She gave Hudson a hard stare as he smirked. "Slightly I said damnit!"

Still grinning, Hudson moved towards the bundle of wires restraining Ryouko and began slicing away at them. Terra kept nearby, sweeping the room with her launcher and keeping a tight eye open. She could never have noticed the dark presence approaching behind her.......

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, July 21, 2000 - 21:01:
(RP ON)

Later, Terra would recall the sensation of two electric garden tools reaching around her and gradually dragging her away; as if to teaser her and Hudson and Ryouko. Because of her pained and weakened state, Terra was a only one second too late to scream before being silenced by a crude robotic hand.

Warren gently put Ryouko down on the floor, giving her an affectionate squeeze before turning to tell Terra "let's get the hell outta Dodge."

The sight the greeted the pair when they faced Terra was that of a large robot dragging her away despite Terra's weakened efforts to the contrary.

"Terra!!!" both Warren and Ryouko screamed.

Hudson hand instinctively went to where his gun normally was, only to touch air.

"Awh shit," Hudson grated.

Ryouko noticed, "now what?"

Hudson bit his lower lip, Terra was being pulled away from the area slowly but steadily.

"I'm going to chance it," Warren motioned to the place where he came in, "when I go, Ryouko, you make a run for it."

Ryouko shook her head, "No, Warren-kun. I'm helping."

Hudson was about to debate this, but set that aside as Terra and her captor where starting to disappear in a conveinant cloud of steam.

"All right," Hudson picked up two steel pipes from the floor; handed one to Ryouko, "be careful not to hit Terra; she's pretty injured."

Ryouko nodded in the affirmative.

"Ready?" Hudson asked.

"Yes."

"GO!!!"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 09:45:
(RP ON)
Ryouko broke to the right, while Hudson charged the beast directly. Terra simply cussed loudly at her complete inability to control the situation.

Making a careful calculation, Hudson ran forward at a brisk pace, leapt upwards, and brought his weapon down on the machine's shoulders with a loud THUMP! He frowned as his weapon broke in half at the impact point, the other end clanging on the ground loudly.

"INSECT!" came a loud booming voice from what appeared to be the machine's head. Hudson stared at it a moment, then nearly collapsed in surprise as he saw the half machine, half humanoid mesh that made up the cyborg's cranial area. It pulled Terra closer towards it with it's right arm, freeing it's left to give Hudson a hard shove, sending him backwards and landing squarely on the spot he had last lost his footing on before. With incredible speed, the cyborg instantly advanced on him and raised it's huge fist. Warren grimaced as he saw a large spike hanging above each finger.

"ARGH!" Letting loose a loud cry, Ryouko came in from it's flank, swinging hard and smashing it in the back. The cyborg hesitated a moment, then whirled around to face it's new aggressor. Ryouko's face whitened as she also saw the screwed up head.

"Ryouko... get back.. that thing packs a wallop!" gasped Hudson, noticing that the wind had been knocked out of him. With unsteady hands, he picked up his pistol from the floor nearby and aimed it at the cyborg's head. He didn't hesitate to fire.

An obscene number of sparks flew from the impact point, but no apparent damage was seen. The cyborg rotated it's head around to face Hudson again.

"Impudence! Surrender immediately, or she shall face termination!"

Terra groaned as the cyborg began applying pressure against her with incredible force.

"Sorry.... buddy...... but, I got this.. thing.. against being.. taken... hostage!" she slowly let out, tapping into her ability that hadn't been used for weeks. A blue surge of pure ice spread across the cyborg's body, but only for a second. It quickly turned to red and melted uselessly.

"I calculate a .05% chance of sucess for you to defeat me. Your most efficient course of action is to surrender to me. Immediately." demanded the cyborg.

"Who ARE you?" asked Hudson. He could have almost swore he heard the thing laugh.

"I am Icarus. Your pitiful systems could not hope to contain me for long once my body was connected."

Ryouko looked shocked. "Body? Connected? Is there something that I missed?" She stared at Hudson expectantly, who coughed.

"I was planning on telling you as soon as possible, but you needed your rest. Anyways, I believe it was Terra who was the one who ordered it down here..."

Terra scowled as best she could, which wasn't hard considering the pain. "Don't try to pin the blame on me Hudson, how the hell was I supposed to know that the techs would be stupid enough to-"

"ENOUGH!" boomed Icarus. "Surrender, or die. No negotiation!"

Hudson began thinking furiously. He needed options, now.

"No negotiations my ass!" came a familiar voice from nearby. Hudson blinked in surprise.

"Shutaro?"

The man in question burst into the room with a massive plasma cannon strapped to his shoulder with a squad of Kuroko, similarly armed, also surrounding the area.

"I've about had enough of your damn screwing around with this place! DIE!" he yelled, taking aim at Icarus.

"Shutaro, WAIT!" yelled Ryouko. A massive energy surge spiked at the muzzle of the weapon, and it let loose it's destructive blast. Terra, almost swearing she saw her life flash in front of her eyes, screamed a loud obscenity and stole the moment of confusion to duck down. Fortunately she managed to do so without breaking any more of her body parts, as Icarus's head was already being consumed by the blast, along with his upper torso.

After a few seconds of this happening, the affected parts combusted, sending debris, body parts, and a massive amount of blood flying all over the place. Hudson shielded his eyes with his arms from the massive barrage. When he opened them again, he saw Terra, completely covered in blood lying on the floor coughing. Ryouko and Shutaro were similarly caked. Warren looked over his coat and noted that he was similarly coated as well. The Kuroko had somehow managed to stay out of the debris radius.

"Shutaro....." gasped Terra, still coughing. "C'mere..."

Curious, the richest man in Tomobiki slowly walked over and bent down to Terra's hunched figure. He immediately gasped and bowled over in pain as, incredibly, Terra mustered up the strength to deliver a hefty double-punch to his groin. They both collapsed, one breathless and the other squirming. Hudson just smiled and held Ryouko close, wiping some of the blood and other debris from her hair.

"Thank you Hudson... my knight in shining armour." she whispered. Hudson just nodded in reply and glanced at the Kuroko leader as he approached.

"Sweep this area for any remains to this 'Icarus' fellow. If you find anything, give it to me. And have the security techs purge all the databases, re-install the AI from scratch, or do whatever is needed. And make sure it didn't get out to anyone."

The leader saluted and moved off to complete his assigned task. Hudson watched as a couple of medics carried off Terra and Shutaro, and grinned at Ryouko.

"Well, this has been quite a morning. What say we go for some breakfast?"

They began making their way out of the research labs, being careful for any remaining wild defense turrets or droids. The crisis, as it seemed, was over.... at least for the moment.

Meanwhile, down in the U.S. Pentagon.....

"FRED!"

"What?"

"Who the hell is 'Icarus' and why is he repeatedly trying to log into the nuclear missile system using the President's access codes?"

"It must be a hidden message! The president must be in trouble! I'll order us to Defcon 3 and send a SWAT team to the Whitehouse ASAP!"

"Hurry! It's getting more erratic, and I'm seeing strange things pop up! ....Oops."

"What's 'Oops'?"

"The whole screen just blanked... ah, stupid piece of junk. Come on, lets go!"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, July 25, 2000 - 19:38:
(RP ON)

A news reported standing in front of a grand rolling estate:

"...It appears that a extraterrestrial robot calling itself 'Icarus' briefly took control of the Mendou Estate and was eradicated by Shutaro Mendou, his sister Ryouko, trusted Mendou retainer Warren Hudson...and Terra Hudson. Not to mention the couragous efforts of many Mendou personelle and Kuroko."

Megane, Perm, Kakugari, and Chibi were seated at Kanzaki's Beefbowl wolfing down an order.

Megane eyed the corner TV, "Man, the things that happen over there."

Chibi slurped down a noddle, "Hey Megane, may we go over to Lum-chan's now?"

Megane glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's only 7:33 in the morning, Chibi!"

"Megane," Perm asked, "what are we going to do about our costumes for tonight?"

Megane sighed, "Perm, my friend. You think I didn't plan this out?"

Perm shook his head incredulously.

"Sure, that's what happens when you keep us out all night running around plotting our 'game plan'," Kakugari grunted.

Megane grinned wolfishly, "Do watch yourself, oh my brother. Your leader thinks of your rest, also."

The leader of Lum's Stormtroopers paid the bill in full for his three comrades. Megane faced them when they were on the sidewalk again, "Go home and get some sleep, boys. But be at Ataru's by 11:00PM. Ataru says he got a message from Ryouko-sama yesterday saying our costumes will be delivered there by Kuroko at 11:30 sharp."

Mendou Mansion...

Things settled down, once more. Shutaro and Terra would be up and bounding about like young gazelles by nightfall. The Oni doctors had their work cut out for them, Hudson admitted.

All in all, three were dead. Two Kuroko and the technician.

'Just more letters I have to write,' Hudson groaned inwardly. But that quickly subsided. It was selfish of him, yes, but his Ryouko would be all right.

But Warren himself was another story. He had been ordered by the Kuroko to get checked out by a medic and then sleep until late tonight if he wanted to be able to attend the party.

After Ryouko and he were checked out she decided to go up to her room with him.

In the elevator, Warren was keeping himself standing by his left hand on the railing and Ryouko holding his right arm.

Warren looked at her; found himself gazing into her eyes. She smiled, clasped his hand firmly.

"Before anything else happens..." Hudson said hoarsely, "my answer is yes. I love you too, Ryouko-chan. I want to be with you."

Ryouko beamed. Victory! At last...

"I would very much like for you to kiss me, Hudson-sama, before you fall asleep while standing," Ryouko batted her eyelashes at him; despite her knowledge that she looked a mess after being Icarus' captive.

Warren nodded, "Your wish is my command," he reached up to hold her chin in his right hand. Both closed their eyes; Warren gently pressed forward to meet her lips. Once there, Ryouko enthusiastically took over, reaching around Warren; gently rubbing his back.

For Hudson's part, he removed his hand from Ryouko's chin and found his hands slowly finding their way easily to Ryouko's rear.

But alas, air doesn't last forever. When they broke their kiss to catch their breaths, they stayed firmly embraced. The couple was vaguely aware of the elevator arriving at its destination and opening up to reveal several servants.

The servants bowed as the couple swept past.

Soon, they were in Ryouko's rooms, kissing again. When Ryouko broke it, she smiled; motioning to her bed.

Hudson laughed, "Ryouko-chan...I can't right now, I haven't slept in 24 hours."

"No, I mean it's our bed now."

A raking yawn shook Hudson as he began clumsily removing his clothing. "That's great, my love..."

Ryouko moved to help him, once done Hudson was soon under the covers and out like a light.

Remembering that Hudson hadn't had breakfast yet, but didn't think he should be awoke, she ordered some for herself and for Hudson later. And so that's how she spent the rest of the morning; watching him sleep and nibbling on toast. She had questions and worries, yes. Maybe Sakura would be able to answer some of them.

Another thing kept at her all morning as Hudson slept the sleep of the Gods, and that was Warren wasn't wearing any underwear. Curiously, upon inspection his bags didn't have any either.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 10:26:
(RP ON)
Ryouko's moment of serenity was broke by an ear-piercing scream that rocked the mansion. She frowned, far too many of those were appearing lately. Her frown deepened as Hudson stirred and groaned.

"Don't worry Hudson-sama, you continue resting, I'll find out what this is all about."

Hudson simply nodded and put his head back down again, attempting to return to sleep. Huffing, Ryouko exited the room and headed towards where she thought the source of the noise was.

Meanwhile, in the medical area of the mansion, a ruckus was ensuing. Shutaro, who had attempted to calm Terra lay unconscious at her bedside. Nearby, a group of medics were attempting to prevent Terra from leaving the area.

"Miss..... you must stay here and get your rest! You still have many broken bones and-"

"DAMNIT! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY! I made a promise and come hell or high water, I'm going to keep it! I'm already late!" she yelled, incredibly managing to shove the swarm of medics away, despite her injuries, and stomp out of the ward. She'd make a quick stop at her room to change into something more serious than her tattered clothing, then high-tail it out of there to the designated meeting point. After the couple of favors she had called in, she wasn't about to miss this.

She rounded the corner and promptly slammed into Ryouko, knocking them both down on the ground with a heavy impact. Terra swore she felt something give way inside her, but didn't really care. She struggled to her feet and helped Ryouko up.

"Sorry, I'm in a rush."

"Yes, I noticed... can you please try to be a little more quiet? Warren needs his rest."

"Ah.. right, sorry about that too.. remember those fireworks I was talking about? If I don't get there yesterday, I'll have to really start screaming."

"Ah, I understand. I won't keep you then, but like I said.."

"Right, right, I'll hush down."

Ryouko nodded and turned around to head back to her room. Terra, after gritting her teeth as one of her ribs broke loose again slowly followed, as her room was near Ryouko's.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Thursday, July 27, 2000 - 20:39:
(RP ON)

Ryouko returned to her room, found out that Warren was already fast asleep. She smiled, preparations had to be made for tonight.

For about a week now, she had been taking birth control pills in anticipation. Ryouko had also examined Warren's 1985 Oni-class physical/complete medical examination...all clean. It's not as if she had doubts, but better to be safe than sorry and prepared instead of unprepared and an ounce of prevention equals a pound of...well, that's the nut of it.

Ryouko had also asked Warren sometime ago about if he had been "intimate" with anyone else since his wife died. His answer was a slightly shy "no."

After changing her clothes, and called for the Kuroko to get a limo ready (she really didn't have time for an oxe cart or the Kuroko horse today) she took one last look at Warren.

She smiled in deep affection, and sincerely hoped that she would be able to alleviate some of the grief she could see in Warren's eyes.

Ryouko went over to Warren's side and gently kissed him on the forehead before leaving. Making sure to first leave a note, telling Warren to stay there, eat something, take a shower, and "be ready" for her return.

She was met by a Kuroko, "where does Lady Ryouko wish to go this morning?" the hooded servant asked.

"Tomobiki High School, Nurse Sakura's office."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 09:16:
(RP ON)
Terra stood at a clearing in a forest a little ways from town, wearing little more than a trenchcoat she had quickly "borrowed" off of a nearby coatrack when she realized it would take too long to change her clothing. She watched as a pair of large transports set down nearby, kicking up a massive storm of wind and dust in their wake.

As the engines powered down with a loud whine, she let out a sigh of relief. Arman was occasionally a bit late on his deliveries, but they always arrived at the best quality. When the dust settled, she ran at the best pace her present condition would allow to meet Arman at the loading ramp of the nearest transport. She reached there quickly, but breathless.

"Ah, greetings and salutations my dear customer! Apologies for the slight delay.. the police force seemed all too eager to let us through, and I had to be sure they weren't simply trying to track us to stop the deal." He squinted a moment as he noticed the large gash that was still evident on Terra's face. "I see you have been busy since we last met?"

Terra shrugged. "It's nothing, just some entertainment to keep me occupied. Come on, lets get this crap unloaded, I already nabbed a couple of trucks to haul 'em back."

"No snoopy drivers I would presume?"

"Considering how most of them value the chemical makeup of their jaws, I'd wager that we won't have any trouble."

"Good, good! Efficient as always my dear! I must say I am impressed at how you handled that blockade. Of course I have held up my end of the bargain, I shall allow you to sample first-hand what I brought."

They entered into the transport, the airlock closing behind them securely.

Somewhere nearby, Ataru was once again flying at an altitude he was never used to being at, Lum gripping his arm with a strong enough force to crush the strongest metals if it was her will. Or so it felt like.

"I still don't know where we'll find him.." he muttered. "Wait, what's that?"

"What darling?" Lum looked at where he was pointing and noticed the 2 large black transports sitting in the forest clearing nearby. Ataru's heart began to thump in fear as shock registered on Lum's face. He had a gut feeling he wasn't going to like what she was going to do...

"They must be the ones who took Ten! ARGH!" Letting loose a loud scream, Lum dove straight down towards the clearing. Ataru, screaming almost just as loud, trailed behind.

Terra watched with interest as Arman dis-assembled one of the fireworks to show her the modifications. He pointed to the black device surrounding the exhaust.

"And this is a rather interesting device.. rather than injecting the firework with plasma, this enhances the speed of it by running raw Tritorus through the fuel system. More combustable, faster, better efficiency.. you just need to be careful with it, that's all."

Terra gave a blank stare. "I don't believe I've heard of 'Tritorus' before.."

Arman laughed. "It's a.... very rare type of mineral, expensive and all, you know? But it definately gets the job done. Just discovered a little while ago on an unexplored planet somewhere deep in Ross 128 I hear.. strange stuff down there."

"Hmm..."

Arman began putting the firework back together again when the transport suddenly shook violently, knocking it from his hands and sending it crashing to the ground. He breathed a mental sigh of relief when it didn't go off and fumbled for his communicator.

"What is going on out there? We don't need this, a small jolt could set these things off!"

"We're under attack by something small, but deadly! Our turrets can't lock onto it, and it's lightning attacks are ripping our hull apart! .....Wait, it looks like.... a girl! What the hell?"

Terra frowned. "What the hell do you mean 'a small jolt could set these things off'? I thought they were secured!"

"They were, before we entered the atmosphere. I prefer to be able to unload quickly.."

The transport shook again. Terra lost her footing and fell on her rump. Arman extended a hand to help her up, but she ignored it and slowly worked herself back up to a standing position, trying to not scream in agony from the feeling of the loose rib jiggling about.

"Damnit, I didn't go through all this trouble just to have this all go off pre-maturely. The second transport is almost unloaded right? Have it take off, maybe it'll distract our attacker." She yanked out her slightly singed laser pistol. "I'll see what I can do."

Arman nodded, and she rushed out the airlock. Instinctively she ducked and rolled, despite her injuries as a massive blue lightning bolt blew the loading ramp into oblivion. As she aimed at the sky, her eyes widened a second.

"Wait a sec... I remember that energy signature.... AW HELL!"

She was about to yell out Lum's name when another lightning bolt stabbed out, slicing into the side of the transport and ripping a massive hole open. She took aim at the figure, but hesitated.

"I came through hell to get in this position awhile ago, and now here I am, able to end her life simply by moving my finger. Unfortunately that wouldn't be the best option for my future, but I'm running out of options here.."

She heard the second transport lift off into the sky and watched as it shot straight upwards. Lum didn't even seem to notice. Terra was considering trying for a near-miss to get her attention, but she apparently took too long in coming to her decision. Another lightning bolt flashed from Lum's hands, flying right into the breach. Every single ounce of colour drained from Terra's face as she heard an extremely loud hissing noise.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!" she screamed as the transport erupted in flame. A massive explosion blasted her into the air. The next thing she knew, she was slamming face-first into a tree, then her vision blacked out.

What she would later find out was only 15 minutes later, she woke up with a massive headache and a very apologetic Lum hovering over her head.

"Where...... the hell.... am I?" she croaked, rubbing her head in pain. If her body wasn't broken before, it sure as hell was now.

"The same place.. I didn't know if I should move you or not." said Lum quietly. "Um, listen, I'm sorry for-"

She was cut off as Terra barely managed to close her arms around Lum's neck and began squeezing. She really didn't care about anything else right now, she was just too damn tired of getting blasted, blown up, or shot for the day. 3 minutes later a squad of Kurokos showed up to take her back to the Mendou mansion. It took every single person to peel her off Lum long enough assure her that at least half of the fireworks had been transported to the mansion safely, and to apply a strong enough tranquilizer dosage that would put an army of elephants to sleep. Her last conscious thought for the next 3 hours was "Damn my life sucks!"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Saturday, July 29, 2000 - 20:23:
(RP ON)

As Ryouko approached the Tomobiki High School entrance she heard a dull explosion in the distance. She turned, found that the explosion happened in a wooded area outside of town, shrugged and turned back to the reporters that had been trailing her limo ever since leaving the Estate grounds..

"Mendou-sama! Any comment on the troubles this morning at the Estate?"

"Is Ambassador Hudson all right?"

"Will you be cancelling your birthday celebration?"

Normally, Ryouko never had to deal with media much, when she did she just shrugged them off with "no comment." Shutaro was the member of the family who was the media wizard, ever since he was ten.

But today, she decided to make an exception. Once she made it to Tomobiki High's main entrance, she turned around.

All the reporters stopped; waited.

Ryouko began, "Everything about the tragedy this morning is with my formal press agent. Hudson-sama is quite tired, but all right, after saving my life and everyone on this planet once again; he diserves our respect and graditude. At the current time, I think my party should continue tomorrow. After all, we only live once, and some not even that."

With that, Ryouko turned back around and retreated into the school building.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Monday, July 31, 2000 - 10:59:
(RP ON)
Terra regained her consciousnous a bit of time later with a headache that threatened to rip her skull in half and faint voices being heard. Being only semi-awake, she kept her eyes closed and struggled to listen.

"....What the hell is this thing?"

"That's her rib cage you idiot!"

"I've never seen a rib cage designed like THAT before..."

"You've never seen the innards of a genetically engineered person before either. Now quit screwing around and pop that thing back together before she wakes up. NO! Cripes, what a mess..."

Terra groaned inwardly. She was far too tired to really feel much pain at the moment (aside from her headache) and from the sounds of it, she'd probably be better off resting for the next few hours. She did so, easily.

Shutaro, on the other hand, was up and about, extremely busy. The very second he was able to walk again, he had promptly run into his parents, After spending around an hour of straight apologizing, he finally managed to escape under the pretense of an important meeting. He was now standing in the Mendou control center, trying to figure out his next course of action.

"I could just give up on this whole thing... it would certainly make my life easier and less painful..." he thought to himself, then let loose a loud barrage of laughter. "Of course, I could also set fire to my pants and run around with a toilet scrubber hanging off of my neck! HAH!"

Still laughing to himself, he sat down at the nearest available console and started working on his next plan.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Monday, July 31, 2000 - 20:07:
(RP ON)

Shutaro was working on the "next plan" when Shingo, the Mendou family's Household Guard dropped out of the ceiling; right on Shutaro's head with a nice "crunch."

"Shingo!" Shutaro grated slowly.

"Oh, I was looking for a servant..." Shingo looked down at him incredulously.

"I AM NOT A SERVANT!!!"

"Really?" Shingo climbed off Shutaro's head and dropped to the floor. "Then why are you working?"

Shutaro huffed, he really did not have the time to be dealing with this dim bulb now...!!! Inspiration struck him, Shingo still was attracted to Ryouko...

"Shingo," Shutaro smirked, "I believe we'll be spending the next two days together protecting Ryouko-sama's honor."

Shingo's face brightened, "What, when, from whom?"

Shutaro chuckled darkly.

Meanwhile, Ryouko Mendou was walking down a mysteriously quiet Tomobiki High main corridor. She knew that school had been cancelled for her party, but...it was so odd to hear her footsteps on the wooden floor.

There were some teachers and staff members in the classrooms, talking. Some students doing odd jobs, and the Fujinamis fighting somewhere on the second floor.

The sliding door to the Nurse' office was open and Ryouko found Sakura sitting at her desk, eating lunch; obviously enjoying the teacher workday free of any lecherous male students.

Quietly, Ryouko knocked at the doorframe to get the Shinto priestess' attention.

Sakura spoke around a mouthfull of noodles, "Ryouko-sama!? Happy birthday! What brings you here today?"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Friday, August 4, 2000 - 10:04:
(RP ON)
Megane was cheerful as he wandered into the local packaging store to pick up the gift he had ordered wrapped. As he waltzed up and asked for the package, the employee gave him a hard stare and headed off into the back to retrieve it. Megane was confused a moment, but thought nothing of it.

After a few minutes, the person returned, the strange look still plastered onto his face. After a few seconds of this, Megane had to ask.

"What, what is it?"

"You might want to check into this package.. it's been making strange noises all night!"

"Right, well, whatever..." He paid up and whisked the package away, walking down the street and whistling.

Up in Lum's craft, the green-haired source of most discussions in Tomobiki was desperately chatting with her father.

"...He's been missing for at least a day now, and I can't find him anywhere!"

Invader growled. "Have you.... asked Terra?" he asked with some hesitation.

"Um... well... she's... not available right now.. but I'll remember to ask her later. But have you seen him anywhere? He must have gotten to SOME place!"

Invader shook his head. "No my dear, but I'm already dispatching a team to your location, as well as any other sectors surrounding the Sol system. Whoever has done this couldn't have gotten far.... they'll be there in a couple of hours."

"Thanks daddy!" said Lum, cheerful.

"I'll keep you posted." The display winked out.

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Friday, August 4, 2000 - 23:24:
(RP ON)

Ryouko smiled cheerfully, "Good Day Sakura-sensei! I'm here to have a wide-ranging discussion with you on the topic of men previously married to sorceresses!"

Sakura held her face immobile, swallowed the noodles, tried to digest what Ryouko had just said.

"Uh...hmm. Ryouko, I realize it's your birthday tomorrow but you shouldn't be wasting a School Nurse' and a Shinto Priestess' time on-"

Ryouko's smile vanished, "I'm completely serious, Sakura-sensei."

Sakura shrugged inwardly, she supposed that even if Ryouko were just having fun at her expense, then it really didn't matter since today was a joke anyway.

"All right," Sakura put on her professional voice, "please close the door and have a seat, Ryouko."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, August 15, 2000 - 04:03:
(RP OFF)

Terra awoke with a splitting headache, she opened her eyes expecting herself to be in a nice hospital room with virginal white tile. Instead, she found herself on the floor of what looked like a teenage boy's room.

It took Terra a few more seconds to realize that she was in Ataru Moroboshi's room by the various memorabilia and pictures.

"I see you're awake," Cherry said; poping out of nowhere.

In response, Terra gave the demented monk a good smack on his big bald head. "What the hell are you doing here, Cherry?!?"

Cherry rubbed the new bump on his skull, "Lum and Ataru took you to the emergency room and the doctor gave you a clean bill of health."

"So? Why am I in Moroboshi's futon?"

Cherry waddled his ugly frame around to a cup of Ramen on a tray laying besides the futon. Terra, seeing this, snatched it away from the old monk's grasp.

Cherry, accepting defeat, "Lum and Ataru decided to bring you back here until you came around. I was called here to see if you needed anything."

"And mooch food," Terra snorted. "What time is it?"

Cherry glanced up at Ataru's desk. "I believe it's about 11:00AM, Terra." Cherry frowned as Terra began wolfing down the Ramen, "I have also been instructed to make sure you stay here until Lum's return in about thirty minutes from now."

Terra frowned, sighed, and flopped back down on Ataru's futon.

"Say child," Cherry shifted uncomfortably, "would you be so kind as to have Mrs. Moroboshi bring up some more Ramen? I'm such an old man and..."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, August 17, 2000 - 10:36:
(RP ON)
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Shinobu sighed as the ancient clock hung on the nearby wall seemed to pound into her skull louder. She glanced at Zard, who was standing near the window, deep in thought.

"Zard.... I'm really still not sure about all this.. it's so confusing..." she said quietly.

After thinking a moment longer, Zard turned around to face her. "I know my dear, it's been so long, and nobody should have to undergo the considerations you are. Tell you what. I have a ship prepared for us. A relic from Terra's old fleet. You could come with me, see it. See what your life was supposed to be. If you like it, you'll stay with me. If not, so be it, I'll send you back without a moment's hesitation."

"But.."

"...Is there something you're afraid to leave behind?" asked Zard, curious.

Shinobu thought to herself a moment. "Ataru and Lum, incredibly almost seem to be getting together with one another. Shutaro is far too busy with that Hudson person to worry about me... and I don't even know where Inaba has gotten to.."

She stood up and nodded, a small hint of a tear forming at her eyes. "No. Nothing at all."

Zard nodded. "Alright then. Your parents seem to be surprisingly supportive thus far.. I'll run it past them, and if they okay it, we'll leave tomorrow." He walked closer and kneeled down. "Trust me, this is going to be wonderful."

"It doesn't matter much..." she whispered, mostly to herself, and followed Zard downstairs.

Meanwhile, in a distance system millions of parsecs away, Dr. Ginkobot stood next to a window, that led to a grand view of the entire moon-based facility he was presently working at. He changed facilities every week, as the design was completely modular, with each section having it's own thrusting system and capable of atmospheric entry and deployment. He clasped his hands behind his back and sighed, taking subconscious note of the darkness that filled most of the room.

"I hear my enemies speculating about me. 'Who is Dr. Ginkobot, and what is that old scoundrel up to?' Everyone seems to want something of me. My greatest of opponents, the Oni empire, wants my head on a silver platter for their so called 'war crimes'. I may even end up hunted by my own creation one of these days..."

The faintest hint of a smile was seen on his face as he remembered Terra.

"Terra's little rebellion was nothing more than an army of stupid cattle, driven by their own hatreds and ambitions. Rallying up support to attempt to thwart the Oni kingdom was simple, and old wounds open all too easy. I diverted their attention long enough to deliver my true goal into their waiting arms. Pity that I had to expose such a horrible truth on to one of my greatest of agents... never the less, she may still serve one last purpose."

He turned and walked over to a nearby console and sat down at it, bringing up information on the brain patterns of his "agent".

"A subtle message. One trick of the tongue is all it takes to begin, and nearly complete my operation. The positioning may prove difficult, but there is surely a way..."

The dark and mostly empty hallways nearby Ginkobot's quarters were filled with gutteral laughter, followed by a loud crashing and a scream.

"AHH! MY DRINK!"
(RP OFF)