Topic: Third storyline: No Sympathy for the Devil

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Tuesday, December 28, 1999 - 20:56:
(RP ON)

TIME: Wednesday, November 7, 1985. 7:09AM
LOCATION: Tomobiki, Japan. Sakaguchi's Video Rental

Megane walked into the video rental shop slowly. "Hi Sakaguchi-san."

The man behind the counter, obviously in his mid-30s, smiled; "Magane-san! I've got the Laserdisc you wanted..." he rummaged around under the counter and presented the hard plastic case to him with the words: Eraserhead (1976, David Lynch).

Megane smiled, "outstanding. Has Hudson-sama dropped by to pick up his movie yet?"

"Yes, he did so last night. I must say, you're going ot have fun tonight. Kubrick's Paths of Glory is Kirk Douglas's best performance."

Megane chuckled, "I wouldn't expect anything less from Kubrick-sama. I'll pick the disc up after school around six, Sakaguchi-san."

"All right, have a nice day Megane."

Megane looked down, "I'll try," and left, he began walking down the road towards school.

Tonight was the night Hudson and Megane watched movies together, happily reviewing and arguing. Sometimes even making fun of the movies, they did that alone since everyone else was busy. Even Shutaro and Ryouko had other things they needed to do on Wednesday night. And recently Megane had been having a lot of downtime on his hands. His parents were out of town for a few months on business and pleasure so he had the entire house to himself. Also the formation of Cygni's Stormtroopers and Ataru's acceptance of Lum gave Megane even more unwanted free time.

And so Megane frequently walked alone to school these days. More and more depressed with each passing day at how Lum wasn't even noticing he existed. Hell, she didn't even seem to WANT to see how he was doing after the drunken disaster at the Mendou Mansion last month.

Nearing Tomobiki High Megane felt himself getting misty-eyed, he willed himself to calmness, but what he saw at the gate made him even more depressed.

He saw Lum and Ataru sharing a milk carton before school, Shinobu and Ran trading stories about Inaba and Rei, Sakura laughing with Onsen-Mark about Tsubame's latest folly, and even Kotatsu-Neko was showing the Principal a picture of a lady cat spirit he'd been dating. And yes, Shutaro was mooning over a picture of Asuka, and Cygni's Stormtroopers were chatting enthusiastically about Cygni.

Megane felt like screaming, all at once he realized that he had been a complete jack-off for the past two years. What had he to show for it? Indifference from Lum? Superficial sympathy from Ataru? At 18 years of age Megane hadn't even been on a real date or had a girlfriend...close calls, yes, but nothing. He also all at once realized that he probably was the only virgin left in his class.

Megane sneered, he found a bench and opened up his satchel and took out his walkman, with rather bulky but powerful headphones. He put a tape in it, his personal mix of the Stones' "Paint it Black," and put the headphones on. He cranked up the volume to max.

As he walked into school with blaring music providing the backdrop he discovered that no one was in earshot. As Megane proceeded to Onsen-Mark's homeroom, he grimaced, "No sympathy for the Devil. Keep that in mind," he told himself, "you buy the ticket, take the ride."

(RP OFF)
Megane should have a terrible time at school today. Hope this is a good start.

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 01:15:
Great start, pretty deep, I'm gonna have to think out my post before I type it up >)

I've all of a sudden gotten busy.. working on a hardware review page and my Allegiance beta is supposed to come in today, so I may be in and out for a little while. I'll contribute something ASAP.


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By Parias on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 08:22:
(RP ON)
Cygni and Sergei walked up the street together, arm in arm. Sergei had found a lot of spare time on his hands after the events of the last couple of months had cleared up, and he eventually came to the rough decision to temporarily "take a leave of absence" as Hayes had put it while he was literally handing Sergei his resignation papers, so he could spend more time with Cygni. Hayes had taken the UNO in for extensive refit and upgrades, and was currently also taking time off near the ship, just glancing out into space and thinking. Meanwhile, Sergei and Cygni had finally settled to the fact that they couldn't do without each other. The wedding was scheduled for a couple of weeks.

As they walked past the school, Cygni glanced at the teenagers pouring in with distaste. "I never liked school much.." she muttered. "Too much like a damn prison."

"You dropped out of school?" Sergei asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cygni nodded. "At 14.. it took a hell of a lot of effort, but I managed to get away and begin educating myself my own way."

"How did you learn anything?"

"By not sitting in class zoning out and being bored. If I wanted to learn about bugs, I'd go hunt them down and take em under a microscope. If I wanted to learn about space travel, well, I've already got that thing down.. you getting my point?"

"Ah, so you believe the only method for education is to go out and do it youself?"

Cygni nodded. "Sitting in that damned prison all day doesn't teach you nothing."

She glanced over a few of the "extensions" that had been added to the school as a result of Terra's giving to Onsen-Mark. She still remembered the day. After learning that Onsen-Mark had gotten a large sum of money from Terra, and then had proceeded to put it in his personal account in the bank for his personal spending, Cygni had gone straight to him and threatened massive pain and injury should he use the money on something other than school. After three discharged bullets from her Desert Eagle into the air and some taunting and general threats, Onsen-Mark had been kind enough to agree, and quickly took the money back out and put it into the schools funding. The results were seen immediately, as each student began paying more attention, or so she heard, and Onsen-Mark was in a slightly cheery mood, as he was getting paid more.

The pair watched as the teenagers rushed into the building, then classes began. She sighed.

"I can't believe I actually ordered him to use that money for the school.. I'd prefer seeing it torn down.."

"It's what Terra wanted, isn't it?"

"You got a point there.."

They continued walking onwards. A small breeze began floating down the street, and Sergei extended his coat, pulling Cygni close and covering her small frame.

"You should consider wearing something a bit more.. warm. It's getting cold out these days."

Cygni laughed. "Hah! Over my dead body.... literally. You know why I wear as little as possible."

Sergei nodded, and they said nothing more as they continued walking down the street.

Inside of the school, Onsen-Mark cracked a wide grin. The whispering among the classroom picked up.

"He always does this when he has something horrible planned..."

"Yea, get ready, here it comes.."

Onsen-Mark cleared his throat. "Kids, I have a little surprise for you today..."

Ataru rolled his eyes.

"..we're going to go on a little field trip! I've been doing some arranging with Mr. Invader, and he's agreed to take us on a little tour of our solar system!"

The class couldn't believe their ears. Ataru tried to recover. There had to be some kind of catch.. he had to know.

"What's the catch??" he yelled out.

"I expect you all to be taking notes while we go along, and for god sakes try not to mess anything up! I'll be expecting a detailed report from each of you once we return."

Ataru sighed. It figured, there was always some kind of paperwork involved.

Lum spoked out. "Can I take darling along in my ship? We've already seen a lot of the galaxy together!"

Onsen-Mark raised an eyebrow. The girl had a point, Ataru and Lum had been directly involved in the destruction of an entire planet in a whole different solar system. On the other hand, they hadn't really learned anything other than how to blow things up. He shook his head.

"You can go together in your ship, but you're sticking with us."

Lum pouted. "But this system is boring! I want to take darling somewhere exciting!"

"Go some other time."

Shutaro spoke up. "When do we leave?"

"In a few hours. In the mean time, I want to you open your language books to page 234 and..."

Most of the class sighed and began zoning out from here on, with Lum being the only one interested, since she was learning about the culture of a foreign species. Foreign to her anyways.

(RP OFF)


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By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 16:14:
excerpt from Meganes post Lum obsessoin log ch 1

"My name is Megane! After getting over my traumatic loss I decided to live life to the fullest. I'm a rebel without a cause!"

Matcho sounding disco music blared in the background as Megane walked down the hallway. He walked into onsen marks room and sat down. onsen mark screamed "Your late Megane!"
Megane said "And your point is?"
Onsenmark "Get out in the hall and carry those water buckets!"
Megane "No! I dont like water buckets why dont I carry something or better yet just sit here!"

Onsen mark :Why youuuu!!!!!!!

Onsen Mark got out of his seat and headed toward Megane

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 21:23:
I'm thinking that eventually Sakaguchi will be revealed to be an extremely old film student at a local upper-level college who gets picked on by the younger punks in his class.

Either way, Sak knows about Megane's filmmaking skills and asks him to go with him to a Mt. Fuji ski resort to shot footage of the college's annual ski race and do a narration with him.

(RP ON)

Onsen glared evil and put his face in Megane's. "YOU'D BETTER CHANGE YOUR ADDITUDE MISTER!"

Megane laughed, "Onsen-Mark, will you go out on a date with me?" he fluttered his eyes femininely.

The entire class started to gaffaw.

SMACK! The teacher brought down his bamboo pole on Megane's head.

Normally, the student would just pipe down after that, but not today, Megane snatched the pole out of Onsen's hand and, with vengeance, threw it out an open window.

Onsen was simply agast at this change in developments. Before he could speak, Megane growled low but loud: "Screw you, pig."

Onsen-Mark threw a punch but Megane caught it and tripped Onsen to the floor.

Megane slowly walked to the door and, before leaving, looked at the shock on his classmates' faces, then down at Onsen; "learn how to punch asshole, or better yet, learn to be a REAL teacher who doesn't have to torment his students to get results."

Soon after that Megane was slapped with an eternity of detention, it would've been more if he had left school grounds, he didn't. Nurse Sakura found him sitting up in the clock tower nursing a Pepsi.

But it wouldn't be long before Megane was bailing himself out of jail for reckless driving...

That afternoon he angerly walked home, when a most unexpected thing happened, Lum approached him.

"Megane-san? Are you all right?"

Megane casually regarded her for a second, "No," then stormed off down the street leaving a bewildered Lum behind.

When he got home Megane needed something to do to clear his mind. He dropped his satchel and made his way into his room where he dropped to his knees and pulled two large metal briefcases out from under his bed.

He opened both, one held an old rifle, sniper scope, and ammunition. It was his great uncle's rifle from the war. The other held his AK-47 from the proxy war during the encounter with the memory of Tomobiki. It was technically a Mendou weapon but after the battle Megane had conveinantly forgotten to give it back to Shutaro.

He took the rifle out, screwed the scope on, and loaded it. He went into his family's small garage and fueled the motorcycle his mother maintained for daily errands.

Soon he was on the road with the rifle concealed in a gulfbag. He grinned, and got on the freeway to the countryside. By the time he got to his favorite stretch of roadway it was nearly 5:00PM, with several roadsigns all arranged up and down the road.

Megane had his walkman on, blaring Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime", he drew the rifle out of the gulfbag and aimed for the nearest sign, he waited a second, then fired ripping a good size hole in the middle of the sign advising him of the speed limit.

Megane laughed loudly. The next sign which read: Tomobiki - 22 kilometers, was completely ripped off its post from a well-placed shot.

This continued until the police nabbed him and dragged him back to Tomobiki.

(RP OFF)

I think it would rock if Megane calls Hudson asking him to give him a ride home, but tells him he'll provide the money to post bail.

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 22:06:
(RP ON)
Beavis and Butthead, chuckling as usual, watched from the other side of the highway as Megane sped past, blew up a couple of signs, then got nabbed by the cops a ways further.

"Huh huh, that was cool." Butthead said.

"Heh, yea, we need guns and stuff so we can be cool too. Too bad we don't have any money."

Butthead smacked Beavis on the face.

"Damnit Beavis don't you remember? We got chicks, and money for like saving that Hudson dude. We should like, uhh, go buy guns and stuff, and then we can be cool."

"Heh, yea!"

They walked off towards town, laughing.

Cygni and Sergei returned to their house. They had purchased a sizeable plot of land and had a place quickly built up over the last month. Money was not an issue, as the bank account Radicus had given to Cygni was still active. It took some convincing, but Cygni had managed to withdraw the entire account before it was closed.

She walked over to the kitchen, and noticed out the window a group of police vehicles going past, sirens blaring.

"Wonder what they're going after.." she murmured, picking up the phone and dialing the nearest pizza delivery place.

"Pizza again dear?" Sergei made a face.

Cygni nodded. "You know I hate cooking and cleaning. Hell, this place would be an utter mess if it weren't for these handy nano-droids."

"You put far too much use into those things.. some people would call you lazy."

"I just prefer living in style. Cleaning dishes and vacuuming isn't style."

She turned back to the window, placed the order, and hung up the phone. The police vehicles wailed on by again, and she spotted Megane in the back window of one of them.

"Hmm.. he's the last person I'd expect to see being hauled off to jail.. wonder what made him snap?"

Hudson was sitting down to an early dinner himself when a servant walked over. "Phone sir, it is for you. Megane again."

He nodded and picked it up.

"Hudson here, what can I do for you Megane?"

"They took me off to jail... listen, I need a ride home. I'll pay bail alright?"

Hudson furrowed his brow.

"Wait.. in jail.. what the hell is going on?"

"I can't talk about it right now. I just need a ride home, ok?"

"We need to talk about this."

"NO! I JUST NEED A-"

The line went dead. Hudson cussed. The police probably suspected the boy of being in charge of some kind of kind of gang... this was going to be difficult.

He picked up his coat, shrugged it on, and went to the door. He had to get to the bottom of this, before it blossomed into something worse.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 01:22:
Beavis and Butthead were both giggling like idiots when someone jumped out of the bushes at them! It was Kintaro! Kintaro pointed his ax at them and said "Normaly I'd ask you for your money or your lives but thistime is different. I'm starting a Yakuza gang and I need some muscle. I'll let you guys be part of my gang if you help me spring Megane from the slammer. I could use a good shot like his!"
Butthead said "Hhehehehe! This sounds like fun! Chicks will think were cool! Hhehehe!"

They all got in a pick up truck that Kintaro had stolen earlier and headed off for the jail.
Beavis looked at Kintaro who was driving. Kintaro had forged a liscense and had a fake beared on to make him look older. The beared was some hair he shaved off his bears head who was now bald.

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 01:43:
(RP ON)

Hudson was about to get into the driver's seat when a Kuroko stopped him, "Ryouko-sama doesn't want you to drive downtown, you're not...familiar with the roads."

"Oh? It's that bad at six o'clock?"

"Yes, Hudson-sama."

When they got down to the Tomobiki police station, Hudson told the driver to stay put. As he was walking in a policer officer stopped him, "hey I know you! You're Warren Hudson!"

Hudson groaned inwardly, the last thing he needed was a nosey policeman.

"Uh, yeah," Hudson said without much feeling. He abruptly walked past and up to the counter, he almost stopped half way. The receptionist obviously had bad vibes towards him.

The receptionist nodded, "what can I do for you, sir?"

"I'm here to post bail for a friend of mine."

The receptionist looked like he was about to laugh loudly, "sir, if I may say so, you don't look like you'd be bailing out a drunk, a general Tomobiki bum or a petty thug."

Warren wasn't amused, "listen pal, what I look like is none of your concern. I'm here to-"

The receptionist was cocky, "watch your tongue or you're gonna find that nice coat of yours mine."

'Okay,' Hudson thought, 'I'm gonna have this guy's balls on a plate when I'm through with Megane.'

"Do you know who I am, officer?" Warren asked shortly.

"Yeah, you're an old American businessman who wandered too from Shinjuku and is skating on thin ice," a fellow officer working the reception desk tapped his shoulder, but he ignored it and continued talking big to Hudson. "So if you don't want me ruin the Armani suit you better start showing some respect to a true Japanese lawman. You can't screw around here like you can in Kyoto, chump!"

'Is this guy for real?' Hudson almost laughed. He noticed the receptionist' fellow hurriedly whispering something in his ear. The man's mouth gaped open for a second.

"So..." he sneered, "you're that sicko Hudson. How does it feel to bang teenage girls? Especially Ryouko Mendou!" the receptionist bellowed. His fellow officer's eyes bugged out at this exchange and the man silently ran away down a hall, not alerting his cocky soon-to-be-excoworker

Before responding Hudson had a disturbing thought, 'this guy could be in charge.'

But he was saved when a police captain arrived and glared at the receptionist. "Huji!!!"

The man spun around in his seat as Hudson smiled wide, "aaah a er..."

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 02:03:
Suddenly a pick up truck smashed through the front door and Kintaro jumped out. He was wearing a Jason mask. Beavis and Butthead both had Sailor moon masks over theyre faces. Beavis and Butthead were carrying machine guns. Kintaro had his ax and he was also carrying several grenades strapped around his waste. Kintaro shouted "No one moves or I'll blow you all to peices!" Kintaro jumped up on the desk and grabbed the recptionest who was giving Hudson trouble by the tie. "I know youve got a guy in the slammer here who goes by the name of Megane! Were here to bust him out! Kintaro put the receptionest in a headlock and said "You can be my hostage! Now take us to Megane!" Beavis said "Woah dude! I wonder if were gonna be on cops? Hhehehe!"

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 03:32:
(RP ON)
Cygni was starting to get concerned. Additional police vehicles had passed by their house, heading towards the station, sirens wailing. She was about to call a few of her personal contacts to find out what was going on, when a news reporter appeared on her TV, with the police station in the background. She turned up the volume.

"..And it appears that three people, one small bearded man and two kids are commencing a holdup at the local police station. So far local forces have not attempted to move in, as these kids are heavily armed and extremely dangerous. Sergeant Wang is here to answer our questions... over to you Wang."

The camera shifted to a heavily bearded and tall man.

"What does the police plan to do Sergeant?"

"Well, we don't want to risk loosing officers in a sudden counter-attack, so we are currently preparing negotiations...."

Down at the station, Kintaro ran to the jail area and blew open the door to Megane's cell, while Beavis and Butthead waved their guns around at anything that moved.

Megane was a bit surprised to see Kintaro rescue him. When he was asked to join a gang, he shrugged. "What the hell, why not?"

Beavis turned to Butthead, pointed, and laughed.

"Heh heh, you look like a girl."

"Damnit Beavis this is like, uhh, our disguise and stuff, so like, people don't know who we are."

"Oh yea, heh heh. We're like, undercover operatives or something. Heh heh. This is cool."

"Huh huh, yea.. we're gonna kick ass."

An officer walked up from outside and opened the door, holding his hands up. "We want to negotiate.."

Beavis spun around and yanked on the trigged of the Mp5 he was carrying. Gunshots splattered all over the ceiling as the gun flung out of his hands from the recoil, spun around, and smacked him in the face, knocking him against the wall. Butthead's eyes bugged out.

"Woa, that was cool! Huh huh.."

Hudson had had enough. He pulled his gun out from his coat and aimed it at Butthead's face. "Are you finished yet?"

Butthead clumsily aimed his gun at Hudson's midsection. "Uhh, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to kick your ass. Huh huh."

Beavis laughed from the corner. "Yea, heh heh. Come out with your pants down!"

Hudson was about to pull the trigger, when the door suddenly burst down and three officers piled into the room, aiming their guns at Butthead's head. "Freeze!"

One of them delivered a kick to Butthead's stomach, sending him flying against the wall next to Beavis.

"Uhh, this sucks."

"It doesn't just suck Butthead, it's like, it really.. uhh, sucks! Heh heh."

Kintaro tossed a smoke grenade into the room and dragged Megane into the waiting truck. He then grabbed Beavis and Butthead and tossed them into the back, then backed up and drove away.

The police officers recovered after the smoke cleared. One of them went outside to ask if anybody had gotten a good look at the truck, while the other turned to Hudson and helped him up.

"Are you OK sir?"

Hudson merely nodded, straightened his jacket, and proceeded outside to the waiting car.

"Did you see where the vehicle went?"

The driver nodded.

"Follow them."

At Ataru's house, Lum yawned and leaned back on the small porch outside the window. She had been feeling strangely tired over the past few days. Doctors assured her it was just exhaustion from the events of the past few months, but to her it felt like she was slowly drifting away, and it was becoming harder and harder to stay away throughout the day.

Ataru was having mixed emotions. On one hand, the trip into space had been cancelled today due to "unforseen circumstances", much to the dismay of many of his clasmates. This made him happy, since it was one less report to turn in. On the other hand, he was also worried about Lum, who, for the first time, had fallen asleep in class. It had taken the small disturbance Megane caused to wake her up again. She seemed to be acting very odd..

He decided he would go pay a visit to Sakura over the next couple of days, as much as he despised the idea. He had to know what was going on. Cherry had mysteriously vanished a couple of days ago, and Ataru was having trouble deciding if that was good or bad.

He glanced out the window from his desk where he was doing homework, and saw Lum lying on the small porch outside, sleeping. He checked the time. It was 6 PM. They hadn't even had dinner yet. He sighed and brought a small blanket over, covering her body, then returned to work. He would definately have to go see Sakura about this.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 04:12:
Several police cars were after Kintaros truck. Kintaor told his bear "You drive I'm gonna blow these suckers away!" The bear grabbed the wheel and they drove into a shopping mall. Beavis, Butthead and Megane were trying to shoot back at the cars. Kintaro said "Get down I've got something special here!" Kintaro took out a duffel bag from the back seat inside was a Bazooka. Kintaro was to small to hold it properly and fired a missile up into the ceiling! The second floor came crashing down ounto the police cars. They ran over some Manikens and drove through the window.

Beavis shouted "Man! Were probably on TV chicks will dig us! We'll be on cereal boxes hehehehe!"
Kintaro took the wheel and drove over to his hideout.
His hideout was in another garge in a dumpster. Megane asked "So Kintaro just what are your plans?" Kintaro said "I've got big plans after robbing a bunch of people I've got enough money to book us some plane tickuts! Now that I have my gang together were going to Vegas! I heared about what happened with Lum Megane. Well dont worry about that! From now on you and me are gonna live like men! We'll drive around in big shiney convertables and carry powerful guns! Women will adore us and we can say as many four letter words as we like! Theres only one thing standing in our way. The police know your identity Megane! Your going to need a disguise!"

[Lum-chan]

By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 04:17:
Whoops forgot one thing
RP on

Kintaro took out a cell phone "Hello is this mr large? Yeah mr large! Were leaving tonight!"

Megane said "Whos that? Whys he called mr large?"
Kintaro said "He's called mr large because mr Big is to unorigenal! He's a fat midget who lives in Vegas he's hired us to do a job! He wants us to take out mr above average size. Were gonna get paid big bucks!"

Megane thought "Hmmm this kids got issues. Oh well to hell with it all at least I'm gonna live like a man."

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 07:37:
(RP ON)
Cygni and Sergei were eating pizza when a pickup truck drove past their place, with two boys firing out the back, followed by Hudson, and multiple police vehicles.

"What the hell is going on out there?"

Sergei shrugged. "Must be related to that holdup."

Cygni sighed. "Listen hon, I hate to bug out on you, but I've gotta find out what the hell is going on." She grabbed another slice of pizza, wolfed it down, and headed for the door. Sergei cut her off.

"You're going to freeze to death out there. At least put something on."

She shook her head. "Too damn cumbersome! And since when did I start letting other people worry about me?"

"Since you met me." Cygni tried to push past, but Sergei didn't budge an inch. She sighed in resignation.

She stepped out of the house five minutes later in a white sweat shirt and black track pants, with her belt on the outside, in case she needed to grab her gun. She took off into the air and went into the direction the vehicle had gone. She flew over a scene of destruction at the mall, and noticed tire marks heading towards a large run-down building, stopping at a large dumpster. Cygni cracked a smile.

"Come now my friend, that's the oldest trick in the book!"

She landed near the dumpster, pulled it open with a heave, and, after digging through a bit of trash, found a small panel underneath. She opened it up and hit the green button.

The dumpster flipped upwards, revealing a large dark cavern. She slowly moved inside, and whirled around in surprise when the dumpster closed behind her.

"Automatic door.. nothing to be scared about.." she whispered to herself. She walked onwards, and found the tunnel to lead to a complex series of sub-tunnels. Reacting on gut instinct, and making good use of her watch, she finally came to a large garage area, where a small group was chatting ahead. She crouched down and moved behind a large container, peering around the edge. She saw Kintaro, Beavis, Butthead, and, most surprisingly, Megane.

"What's he doing here? I figured he was a bit more.. stylish than to hang around with some underground gang..."

She began listening in.

"Uhhh, so like, we're going to Vegas and stuff?" said Butthead.

"Yea, we meet Mr. Large, and he pays us for getting this gang together. After that, we get some additional jobs, and more money." said Kintaro.

"Yea! And chicks! We're gonna score! Heh, this is cool!" yelled Beavis, getting excited.

"Huh huh, yea, we're gonna score..." replied Butthead.

"Vegas... I always was interested in that place.." said Megane, adjusting his glasses slightly.

"We leave in a couple of hours by plane, I've got the tickets set up." Kintaro shifted slightly and pulled out four red tickets.

("You'd better head out of here and go tell Hudson.. this doesn't sound good.")

"Right.."

She shifted slightly, getting ready to stand up, when suddenly the container came toppling down, making a clatter that would wake the deceased.

The group of four spun around, glaring right at her.

"Oh.. SHIT!"

("RUN!")

She rushed towards the door, but was stopped when it slammed in her face. She spun around and saw a scowling Megane holding his palm to a bright red button against the wall. Kintaro began moving towards her, while Beavis and Butthead stared, laughing.

"Heh heh cool, another hot chick!" Beavis began advancing towards her.

"Hey baby.. uhh, wanna like, check out my gun? Huh huh huh.." Butthead began advancing as well.

Megane picked up his Ak-47 that was lying on the ground and aimed it at her.

"You bitch. It's all your fault that my friends stopped respecting me. It's all your fault that I'm never noticed by Lum. It's all your fault that my life is a LIVING HELL!" He punctuated his last words by discharing a couple of rounds, which bounced off the door next to Cygni's head. She flinched.

"I don't feel like hurting him.." she thought to herself.

("Yea well, he seems intent on turning your head into a meat popsicle. Time to make a choice girl.")

She growled and reached for her Desert Eagle. Megane saw this, and yanked on the trigger of his gun, hard.

Cygni had never known what it felt like to have one's stomach explode. The bullets penetrated the sweatshirt and ripped into her midsection, tearing apart the flesh and burying the fine materials of the shirt inside of it. Then an intense pain, far beyond anything she had ever felt before, shot up into her head. She let out an earpiercing scream that would have been heard for miles if it didn't come from underground, then slowly sagged to the ground, clutching her stomach. She looked up at Megane, her vision beginning to fade into red. He saw him gasp in surprise, dropping his weapon to the ground and holding his hands up to his face. Everything was going in slow motion. She saw Kintaro, dragging on his arm, saying "Cmon! We gotta go, they'll be coming soon! And our plane leaves in 30 minutes!" Kintaro began dragging him towards a rear exit. Beavis and Butthead, followed, laughing. The last thing she heard before going unconsious was Beavis asking "Um, why did we have to shoot that hot chick? She's like, cool and stuff!" and Butthead replying "Uh, she was like, a bad girl."

"Oh yea, bad girl.. heh heh!"

She faded out.

Cygni awoke with a start four hours later with a groan, rubbing her head and feeling sick. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Aren't I... supposed to be dead?" she asked herself.

("Remember? You regenerate, unless 90% of your body is destroyed.")

"Shit.."

She checked over her belongings. Everything was still there. They had apparently left right away. She shrugged off the torn shirt and checked her stomach. Aside from a massive red bruise and some small amounts of bleeding, she appeared to be in one piece. She looked at her watch.

"Holy shit.. four hours.. they're long gone by now. I've got to go tell Hudson.."

She struggled to her feet and opened the door, then limped back to the surface.
(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 15:16:
On the plane Beavis and Butthead were both giggling and making noises behind the seat Megane and Kintaro were in. They were lloking at a sports illustrated swimsuit issue. Kintaro turned around and shouted "Shut up or I'll feed your magazines to my bear!" Beavis "Aww man but theres chiks in these magazines! We cant feed them to a bear! Unless theyre bad girls huhuhuhu!"
Butthead said "Yeah badgirls like Megane!"
Kintaro grumbled and sat down. Megane was dressed up like a girl so people wouldnt recognize him.

After a another few hours they arrived at the Vegas air port. They had just picked up theyre luggage when a waste can started to follow them. Kintaro had gotten his ax out of his luggage and swung it at the can. It fell over and a little guy wearing sunglasses and a trenchcoat jumped out. "Whoa! Put that thing away! I'm mr Larges right hand man they call me the One armed bandit!"
Kintaro said "But you have both arms!" The one armed bandit said "Who cares it sounds cool!"

He took them outside where a limo was waiting in the back seat was mr Large. Mr laarge looked suspicously like Kotatsu Neko. But he had dark glasses on like The one armed Bandit.

Kintaro said "So your mr Large? The crime lord mr Large? Hmmm somehow I expected something different."

Mr Large said "Hey you arent exactly good looking yourself. We'll discuss plans when we get to my hideout."

[Lum-chan]

By Jocko on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 18:55:
(RP ON)

Mendou Mansion....

"Ryouko-chan! I have to go now!" Hudson found Ryouko holding onto his arm as he was going through the door.

"Warren-kun, be careful," she nearly wailed, "who knows how much Megane has snapped."

"Cygni told me that he seemed very remorseful after shooting her...maybe I can reach him. But Kintaro and those two kids from that alternate Texas are gonna be a different story," Hudson snapped his fingers, "I know, call Jariten and see if he can go to Las Vegas with me!"

Ryouko nodded as Warren jumped into his BMW, and as he was driving away she heard the strains of the Rolling Stone's "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

(RP OFF)

Remember, we can't have Megane screwing up too badly. He can't go to jail and no one can really hate him. It would screw up what I have planned for him down the road.

BTW, Is it Mt. Fuji or Mt. Fiji I should have a ski resort on?

[Lum-chan]

By Parias on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 21:00:
Hmm, now there's a good question.. I really have no idea >)

(RP ON)
Cygni slowly made her way up the driveway and entered her house. A Kuroko had given her a ride home after she had stopped at Hudson's place. Sergei greeted her at the door.

"What the hell happened to you? Are you alright?"

Cygni coughed. "Just goes to show.. you hesitate, you die. If it weren't for my body's ability to regenerate, I'd be a corpse."

Sergei put an arm around Cygni and helped her inside. "What did you find out?"

"Megane is sure as hell pissed about something, and it seems to be related to me.. although after he unloaded a good half clip into my stomach, he seemed to change his opinion that killing someone was bad.... ah hell!"

"What?"

"You didn't leave me any pizza!?"

Sergei grinned. "I was getting a tad worried when you didn't report anything after a few hours.. I had nothing else to do."

Cygni spun around and weakly grabbed him by his neck. "Next time leave me something to eat!"

Sergei just grinned and kissed her. She calmly accepted and closed her eyes.

("You guys have one hell of a relationship..")

"We're made for each other.."

That night, Cygni had the same dream she had had occasionally for the past few months, ever since Terra had died. It involved the same scene playing over and over, Terra in her death throes, screaming, while various other images of her life played over. Some would call it a nightmare, she referred to it as "the nights hell decides to invade my mind."

Right when it felt as if it were about to end, she suddenly felt a strong presence in her mind, something far beyond "the voice". She struggled to reach out and make contact.

"Who.. or what are you?" she asked.

There was no response, but the scene in her head shifted to an image of Lum, being held in Ataru's arms while he walked down a dark hole. Suddenly Lum began drifting away, downwards. Ataru tried to catch her, but he was rooted in place.

She then saw Lum lying in a pool of water. The water then turned into blood, and the skin on Lum's body seemed to peel off, leaving a raw skeleton, which disintegrated.

"What.. what is this?" she asked. Still no response.

In the next scene, Cygni suddenly found herself cuffed and strapped to a cold hard table, unable to move. A man hovered above her, but his face was changing every couple of seconds, showing the face of each and every person she had despised in her life.

The figure pulled out a large dagger, and aimed it above her face. The multiple faces began laughing, then they brough the dagger down. The scene felt so real, Cygni was sure she was going to die.

After practically feeling the dagger plunge through her skull, she let out an ear piercing scream and leaned up in her bed, breathing hard. She brought her hand up to her forehead. Nothing, not even a small scratch.

Sergei, who had nearly fallen out of the bed from the scream, sat bolt upright and stared at her.

"Another dream?"

She nodded. "This one was... different somehow.. there was something else.. I've got to go."

She moved her legs out from the bed and onto the floor and began getting up, but Sergei grabbed her arm.

"At least get some sleep, this is one of the rare times that you do. It's 3 AM."

She shook her head. "I've got more important things to worry about than fatigue." She flashed a grin.

"And when the hell did I give you permission to start worrying about me? Go to sleep, I'll be fine."

Sergei sighed in acceptance and leaned back in bed, closing his eyes. She walked down the stairs and opened the door, and was instantly blasted by a wave of cold air. Closing the door and muttering through chattering teeth, she put on some jeans and a brown trenchcoat and headed outside, down the street, with no real destination in mind. She needed to clear her head before getting started.

Ataru was beginning to panic. Lum hadn't woken up since 5 AM, and it was now 3 in the morning, and she still hadn't stirred. He knew she was still breathing, but that was about it. Sakura would be asleep by now. He needed some real help.

He sighed and leaned back against the wall, trying to figure out who he would go to. He heard someone moving outside, and saw Cygni walking up the street. He ran to the window and began waving madly.

"Hey! Hey!"

Cygni stopped and looked up at him. "What the hell are you doing still awake? It's 3 AM!"

"It's Lum! There's something wrong!"

Cygni's eyes went wide. "Oh shit.."

She floated up to the window and looked over Lum. She was still breathing, and had a pulse. Any normal person would think she was just sleeping. But gut instinct told her there was something deeper...

She turned to Ataru. "What's she doing out here anyways?"

"She came out here and just went to sleep at 5 PM.. I didn't want to risk moving her... she hasn't even moved an inch since then. And she fell asleep in class for the first time ever!"

"Alright, well, get her inside, she'll freeze to death out here, even with this blanket."

Ataru nodded and took her inside, setting up a pillow and putting her on the floor.

"When did this start happening?" Cygni asked.

"A few days ago.. I don't know why. It was around the same time Cherry disappeared.."

She growled. "There's something really screwed up about all of this.. I just had the strangest dream..."

Ataru looked up. "What was it?"

"It's... no, never mind. Listen, I need you to take her to Sakura ASAP. I'm still learning a lot about this place, but I can say with confidence that she can help a lot more than I can. I've got some investigating to do."

Ataru nodded. "I'll take her early tomorrow morning."

"Good. Alright, I'm out. Be careful."

Ataru nodded, and Cygni hopped out the window, landed softly on the ground, and headed back out onto the road, deep in thought.

"Strange dreams.. Lum going to sleep and not waking up.. Cherry disappearing, Megane going all whacko.. man, something is definately going on!"

(RP OFF)

[Lum-chan]

By Bladeofkintaro (Bladeofkintaro) on Thursday, December 30, 1999 - 21:33:
Megane was sitting in another room at Mr Larges penthouse. He was feeling kinda guilty about blasting Cygni and hoped she didnt die.

In another room Kintaro was sitting down to some tea with Mr Large. Mr Large pulled a phot out of his bag and tossed it on the table. He paused to puff on his cigar and said "This is Mr Above average size." In the phot was a shadowy figure with indestinct features.Standing next to him were none other then Sigfreid and Roy! "This is the best photo we could get of him. He's put out a contract on my life because our operations have clashed farily often in the past. The reasone I chose you guys to get him out of the picture is because nobody would expect a little kid with an ax,two idiots and a guy with glasses to be working for me!"
Kintaro said "Whoer you calling a little kid?!?"
Mr Large said "woah I ment that as a compliment! But rgardless you guys will have this waiting for you after you get him out of the picture!"
Mr Large took out a big suitcase of money. "By the way have you scene my brother Kotatsu Neko? He lives in Japan."
Kintaro wondered "Whys a cat spirit a crimelord?"

Something funny was going on but as long as he got paid he wasnt going to ask.