[OW!] "Natural Forces" or "Board, Board, Board..."
Gramarye
*The Amichanian faction was subject to a series of unflattering comparisons
to garden pests. Just one more reason why you should become a
Neutralian--we don't want your garden, just your gold and priceless works of
art. Pocky would be nice, too.
*More meat for the grinder...welcome, Amara!
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And now...
"Natural Forces[1]" or "Board, Board, Board..."
In an observatory atop a high mountain in the Setsuna Madres, a nameless
scientist adjusted his telescope, hoping to get a better view of a tiny
cluster of twinkling stars far away in space. He jotted a few notes on a
clipboard, estimating their magnitudes. Suddenly, a lone spaceship in orbit
drifted into his vision.
"Sugoi!" he exclaimed, and quickly changed the focus on the great lens. Was
it a trading vessel? A warship of the Named Otaku? His fingers delicately
adjusted the controls.
Without warning, the floor started to quake under his feet. Chips of
plaster and fragments of concrete began to rain down as the observatory
shook violently. The astronomer panicked, and leapt away from the
telescope--only to be trapped under a shelf that collapsed on his leg,
pinning him to the floor.
With a vast roar, the mountain erupted, spewing forth fiery, molten lava,
that ran down the craggy slope faster than a horse could run. Choking
clouds of scalding ash and smoke shrounded the former peak like a dense fog.
In other words, the mountain went kersplooey.
Somewhere far away from the site of the disaster, a dark figure
laughed--evily, of course.
<"'Dante's Peak' or 'Volcano'...which movie sucked more?" scene switch>
Meanwhile, two other figures, complete with the obligatory Concealing
Shadows(tm), were hunched over a table in the war room of the new Neutralian
airship that the late astronomer had seen.
"This could be a tricky move," one said.
"Indeed," the other replied.
"One mustn't be too hasty or rush into things, you know."
"I couldn't agree more."
"These things take great care."
"Yes, they do."
"I have to be absolutely certain."
"Quit stalling. We have to finish what we started."
"Well, are you ready?"
"As ever was."
"Fine, then." There was a slight pause. "C......3."
"Damn it, Jewelle! You sunk my battleship!"
"Ha ha!" the victorious Jewelle crowed. "I beat you! NO ONE CAN DEFEAT THE
ULTIMATE BATTLESHIP CHAMPION!"
"And I was so sure..." Clarice pouted as she returned the pegs to their
little tray at the bottom of the box.
<Milton Bradley, Chadwick, and Waters scene switch[2]>
"I'm bored," Jewelle said, tacking a new bishounen pin-up to the wall of her
spacious quarters.
"That's the fifth time you've said that," Clarice snapped.
"Hey, don't get your knickers in a twist. There's else nothing to do.
We've already gone through chess, checkers, Chinese checkers, Connect Four,
Pictionary, Scattergories, Mousetrap, Twister, Concentration, and the Game
of Life."
"Don't forget Monopoly."
"I still don't think you're allowed to embezzle money in that game,
Clarice."
"Hey, I was the banker, wasn't I? And I didn't say anything about your
hotel on the Electric Company."
"That wasn't a hotel, that was a power station!"
"Whatever. How 'bout Trivial Pursuit?"
"NO."
"You're just afraid I'll kick your butt like I did the last four times we
played."
"I think you just memorized all the answers."
"Excuse me?"
This senseless bickering would have continued ad nauseam, except for the
fact that a red light and buzzer strategically placed in the cockpit began
to flash and buzz. The two girls ran to their battle stations.
"I'm reading a high output of seismic activity in the Setsuna Madres,"
Clarice said, studying a strip of computer paper with jagged spikes on it.
"It could be an earthquake, but I'm not picking up any distress
communications on the radio."
"Was that region inhabited?"
"I don't think so. But there seems to be no explanation for it. Could El
Presidente Nightman be behind this?"
"Let's go check it out. Whatever it is, it can't be good." Jewelle fired
the rockets to put the as-yet-unnamed spaceship out of orbit. Clarice
entered the coordinates of the epicenter of the seismic reading into the
computer, and with a blast of power the ship entered the atmosphere of
Otakuworld.
TBC...
[1] Makoto's Stars Image Song rocks!
[2] This time, whoever can get *this* reference gets a special crate of
all-purpose plutonium.
--
Gramarye
I never said I wasn't evil...
Why will the summer day delay?
*When* will Time flow away?
-- T. S. Eliot
"When James Watt invented [the] steam engine, thousands of ten-year-old
boys who had been hauling coal carts were put out of work. However, this
left them free to do other things, such as live to be eleven."
--P. J. O'Rourke, "Eat the Rich"
Moonie Code(1.12.05) SM:5+[7+] F:sMe+Pl+:vTo:aRySz
X:***:a2r+[Cl][R]S[SS]s+++|ClRd+:m2s O:d?s--o++a-h-:x?
P:a++[+]:s++:w?:f?:eBrBk:hBrD+[+]:x:r|-
Dark Master Jewelle
- People start hunting for golden pins. Are we talking about golden
safety pins?
- Other stuff that doesn't really stand out in my mind.
And now...
"Case study in Surrealism" or "Uninspired, Overworked, and Unwell."
Somewhere in Auditorium #9, the newly emerged C-ko whose primary purpose
was to replace the now defunct J-ko who was wandering somewhere buying
shoes and to accompany the very lonely V-ko who was curling herself up
in a corner and muttering incoherently.
V-ko was a very withdrawn person, as far as C-ko knew. However, she did
not expect V-ko to remain speechless for the entire duration since
J-ko's disappearance. It was as if V-ko could not function properly
without the presence of a loud, annoying, bitingly sarcastic and overly
tactless lady which C-ko personally hated.
After all, C-ko was only human. She wondered what would've happened to
Jewelle if she had not come to assist V-ko.
<Meanwhile, outside the brain...>
Clarice wrote:
> "Let's go check it out. Whatever it is, it can't be good." Jewelle
> fired
> the rockets to put the as-yet-unnamed spaceship out of orbit. Clarice
> entered the coordinates of the epicenter of the seismic reading into
> the
> computer, and with a blast of power the ship entered the atmosphere of
> Otakuworld.
The Unnamed Airship tilted once more towards Otakuworld, specifically,
over the Setsuna Madres. However, unlike the last time, the present tilt
was much more controlled and didn't freewheel down to the ground. The
Unnamed Airship dove very gracefully until it reached a certain height,
in which it stopped and hovered above the place of disaster.
Disasters aren't pretty. This was no exception either. The ground had
cracked and lava was seeping out of the said cracks. Right in the middle
of the destruction were pieces and remains of an observatory. There was
no life among the destruction though.
The destruction was so breathtaking, in the sense that it was so
shocking that nobody had remembered to type it up. And so the
destruction went undescribed.
"That's very interesting." Jewelle noted.
"It would seem that a volcano erupted." Clarice said.
"I meant that there are remains of an observatory. That means someone
was inhibiting the region." Jewelle said.
"Ah. Anyway, there seems to be no reason for any seismic activity to
occur here."
"Does that mean that someone or something was behind this?"
"Probably. It's best that we check it out. El Presidente Nightman just
might know about this." Clarice suggested.
"Oh, YES! Something to do at last!" Jewelle shouted in joy as she set
The Unnamed Airship at ridiculously high speeds.
A few seconds later, it came to a ridiculously screeching halt that
would've broken the sound barrier.
"Um....where are we going?" Jewelle asked nervously.
<Anarchy report! Scene switch>
"We've really been out of touch now, haven't we Clarice?" Jewelle asked.
"Yep. I mean, we've been out in space for less than a month and Anarchy
has taken over Otakuworld. Amazing, innit?" Clarice sifted through the
boxes of strange belongings that no one particularly cared for.
And so the Unnamed Airship glided through the atmosphere, being
naturally sleek.
<Final Fantasy IX scene switch!>
J-ko was damn bored. Boredom was never a good thing.
Just for the record, J-ko was in a shuttle. With El Presidente Nightman
and the Night Senshi. And she had left the Night Senshi to look at her
shoes, try them on and take any or all of them, since J-ko was still
wondering about the point of buying dozens of shoes.
What she needed was actually socks and she had bought a few dozen of
those too. All white.
Yes, if J-ko wasn't bored, she was a boring person too.
As she tried to look bored, she recollected the events that had
happened. Otakuworld was in anarchy and El Presidente Nightman seemed to
have his own agenda, after the peculiar meeting with a whole bunch of
people at the shopping mall.
It seemed that she had to work fast too in order to work out her plan.
She unclicked her Sheaffer ballpoint pen, and scribbled something down
in a rather tiny notepad. Then, she put both items away in her pinafore
pocket. As she leaned back against the wall of the shuttle, she felt a
presence. Rather, the presence of someone very annoying.
And we all know who that is. No, not Chibiusa.
J-ko closed her eyes and concentrated hard. She was Jewelle's Bodily
Knicknack after all, and if she did not have control over her actual
manifestation, then there were some problems.
A full minute later, J-ko opened her eyes and decided to check on the
Night Senshi and her footwear. She was done for now. Her enemy wouldn't
be able to say anything for a while.
<Meanwhile, in the Unnamed Airship...>
Jewelle coughed violently. It didn't seem to stop for quite some time
and Clarice had to help Jewelle out of her seat to rest. Before any of
that happened though...
....Jewelle had lost her voice.
"......!" Jewelle ......!ed.
"You've lost your voice!" Clarice exclaimed.
TBC?