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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 23, 2010 23:02:09 GMT -5
Time Squad paused to look at each other.
After a moment to think, Larry finally said, "Very well... perhaps we should go check on Ms. Chanel... while Otto and Officer Tuddrussel investigate the train." He said Tuddrussel's name in a tone that suggested he couldn't believe he was suggesting it.
"YEAH!" Tuddrussel pumped his fist in victory. "I drive!"
"Only because I don't want you causing some sort of international incident with Ms. Chanel," Larry snorted. "Now be careful driving... for once..."
That said, they went on their way. Larry and Miyako back to where Coco had last been, and Otto and Tuddrussel ordered a rental from the auto place and began following alongside the tracks in it.
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Post by mugenginga on May 23, 2010 23:08:22 GMT -5
Miyako opened her mouth to object when Larry mentioned he would go with her, but closed it. No, it would be rude to suggest they leave her alone now. Beyond that, it might seem suspicious. She opened it and gave a cute smile, the result of which would hopefully be to avert any growing suspcions. It seemed to work.
"Go and return safely!" Miyako said. The actual word translated directly to that, but it was a common term used in Japan when someone left the house. She looked at Larry and walked by his side as they returned to the shop.
No one seemed to be there now. A single box had overturned, and what looked to be a lace hat of sorts could be seen sticking out of it. Miyako's eyes widened and she took a step to quickly pick it up and make sure it was all right. Then she remembered the reason she had wanted to go off on her own in the first place. All this took two seconds. She quickly turned her head to Larry.
"Larry-san, I think that tipped over box may have put something very delicate in danger! Perhaps you should right it?"
She just needed him distracted. He'd shown interest in fashion before. It was mean to manipulate him like this, and she would have to apologize later, but right now she needed a clear way to go off on her own. If Larry took the bait, she'd run into an alley. If not... well, she'd have to come up with something else. The transformation was quick enough, if she could duck down another path in the alley she could go. She hoped Larry would not worry too much about her vanishing...
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 23, 2010 23:23:36 GMT -5
And Larry took the bait. "Oh, my! Not the headwear!" Panicking, Larry rushed to save the clothing and didn't notice Miyako sneak away.
Meanwhile, Otto and Tuddrussel began driving outward. The eventually found the cars, sans engine, with a very haggard looking engineer and conductor outside.
"The engine!" the conductor cried as soon as they saw people coming. "She has been stolen! Taken down the switch track by a strange petite man!"
Tuddrussel didn't understand half of what he was saying, but he understood all he needed to. In a blink of an eye, he turned in the direction the switch track went and put the petal to the metal.
"Ah, there," Larry said, having put everything back in order. "Now, back to business, eh, Miyako? ...Miyako?"
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Post by mugenginga on May 23, 2010 23:33:57 GMT -5
Miyako had slipped down two seperate paths after entering the alley. She put her hands on her knees and caught her breath for a moment before looking to make sure no one was following her. She frowned to herself as she pulled out her compact.
"Forgive me, desu wa~"
She lifted her hands into the air and a blue ring appeared on her left hand. A single blue hair piece appeared in her hair as she let out a single phrase, "Rolling Bubbles!" and swiped her hand through the compact. A few seconds of white and blue light and round shapes later, the member of Powerpuff Girls Z known most commonly as Bubbles stood where Miyako had been moments later. She made sure to look around. Still no one.
A beam of blue light shot from her shoes as she flew into the air. As soon as she was above the buildings she shot towards where she'd seen the train station. She was making a point of going really fast, hoping that anyone that saw her would just see a blue stream of light. Once she got to wear the train was, she could ask a local animal if she needed further information. It would prevent the need to know English, after all. Although it was more than possible Larry would see her and/or the other group would pick up her energy on their sensors. She was moving far faster than anything of this era should be able to.
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 23, 2010 23:46:39 GMT -5
Tuddrussel had his mind set on catching up to that stolen tank engine, while Otto had his mind set of making sure Tuddrussel didn't kill them.
"Oh dear..." Larry looked madly around for the lost girl. If she got stuck in this era, the consequences to the time stream could be severe in the long run.
While all this was happening, a small creature in a purple cloak and white mask was shoveling coal into the fire pit of a certain engine. "PK Fire!" he said, blasting the coal with enough fire to keep the engine going.
Just as he shut the door, he stumbled forward as the engine lurched to a halt. Tuddrussel had struck a back wheel with his phaser set to a special stun setting that momentarily froze the wheel to its axle. Satisfied with stopping the train engine, Tuddrussel brought the car to a screeching halt, leaving deep skid marks in the process.
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Post by mugenginga on May 23, 2010 23:56:55 GMT -5
Bubbles had been following the tracks by sight for a while, looking up every once in a while to check ahead of herself. It was due to that latter action she was able to see the stopped train. There didn't appear to be anything directly wrong with it, but it wasn't moving. Several people were outside of the train, and many were bickering. Bubbles banked to the left, coming down about a mile back from where the train was. She looked behind her to confirm no one had noticed before heading into the nearby forest.
"Excuse me? Is anyone here?"
At first there was no response. However, after about a minute a squirrel came out of a tree and looked down at Bubbles with a confused expression. Well, it was confused to Bubbles. Anyone else would just see a squirrel. Bubbles waved towards the squirrel and ran up to it.
"Hello, have you seen anything suspicious near that train stuck further ahead?"
The squirrel wiggled its nose.
"Oh my, desu~! You say someone stole a piece?"
The squirrel nodded and squeaked.
"And the train has stopped moving as a result? The people speak of the engine being gone?"
The squirrel twitched its nose.
"And there were people in a car just a few minutes earlier? Was one tall with hair on his chin and the other a child?"
The squirrel rubbed its nose with its fingers.
"And they took the alternate route path? Thank you very much!" Bubbles bowed, "Please have a good day, Squirrel-san!"
Bubbles looked up and took off into the air again. The squirrel watched as the strange blond came out of the tops of the trees. Once in mid-air Bubbles, looked around until she saw the second track. She made sure that those she could see at the stopped train were occupied and took off towards the second track, which she would follow to catch up with Otto and Tuddrussel. She was going as fast as before, once again hoping her path would only seem to be an odd blue streak. At worse, a UFO.
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 24, 2010 0:20:54 GMT -5
Otto and Tuddrussel hoped out of the car and looked up to the door of the stopped engine. The creature inside slammed the door open and leaned against the frame, staring down at the two in frustration. "Is that... a Shy Guy?" Okay, Otto was really confused now. "They don't exist in our world." "Hey, I've seen that guy before..." Tuddrussel scratched his beard trying to remember. "Yeah, he was on the wanted poster back at Void City Plaza... Puhsai Guy." The creature hoped to the ground, landing on one knee before getting up. "It's pronounced, PSI Guy, jarhead," he jeered. "Time out!" Otto stuck out his hands in this very gesture. "How does a Shy Guy from modern times appear in our dimension back in the early 20th century " PSI Guy chuckled, folding his arms and shaking his head. "You really don't know your fifth dimensional travel too well, do you, four-eyes?" teased the psychic Mario enemy race member. "Dimensional tears don't follow conventional timelines of individual worlds. But how would you know? This stuff's beyond your typical time travel mechanics." "Less talking, more freezing." Tuddrussel whipped out his phaser once more and fired a few stun rounds at the Shy Guy. But PSI Guy threw up a power shield last minute. "HOLY--!" the time cop yelped as all his shots came whizzing back at him. He managed to dodge most of them but was struck down the last one. Otto knew this was no threat to sneeze at. He quickly radioed Larry on his watch, calling, "Larry, we have an emergency situation! We need backup!" " I'm sorry, Otto, but I'm in a bit of a predicament myself. I... I... I LOST THE GIRL!" Laarry wailed from the other end. "You what?!" "You are clearly out of your league," PSI Guy mocked as he advanced on Otto. "I might as well make this quick. Once you're out of the way, I can easily get this train engine back with me to Void City and sell it on the black market for heaploads." |
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Post by mugenginga on May 24, 2010 1:44:48 GMT -5
It wasn't that hard to pick out a single engine and a car from Bubbles' vantage point. She was coming in for a landing when Tuddrussel fired his phaser. She came to a sudden stop in mid-air, and it was almost like she hit a wall. The reflected shots hit various areas of the scenery, and one hit something apparently of the right kind of substance to reflect. Bubbles barely had time to summon her wand and get in in the right position. The beam hit the bubble wand and bounced off... and managing to hit a bird, which froze in its tracks and headed for the ground.
"Bird-san!" Bubbles raised her wand into the air and waved it, "Balloon Catcher!"
A bubble about half her own size came out of the wand as she waved it. It fired towards the bird and with a gentle touch, the falling bird was covered in the shimmering bubble. Bubbles flew over to it and guided the bubble down. When it was near the ground, it popped with a noticable sound and the bird landed in her arms. Her wand was still manifested, tucked in her elbow as she cradled the bird.
"Bird-san, are you alright?"
By this point, the group would have had to be blind to miss her.
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 24, 2010 10:15:01 GMT -5
Truth be told, Otto did sense a disturbance in the force behind him (Tuddrussel was a bit out of it at the moment), but he didn't pay it any attention until he saw PSI Guy's derailed (lol, train humor) attention go the newcomer's way.
Despite wearing a mask (a bizarre dynamic mask, but a mask nonetheless), he still had a clear look of surprise and interest on his face. "Well, well... the Powerpuff Girls Z's Bubbles, I presume?" said PSI Guy. "I've paid your dimension a few quiet visits before, but I hardly expected to formally meet one of you... especially in this of all worlds..."
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Post by mugenginga on May 24, 2010 16:00:43 GMT -5
Bubbles didn't seem to be paying any attention to the group. In fact, it seemed as if she hadn't even heard PSI Guy. She was rather focused on the bird. After a few moments, the bird blinked and lifted its head. Bubbles smile was practically made of puppies in a basket.
"I am so very happy you are alright, bird-san! Please be careful, and tell your friends it might not be safe here for a while!"
The bird chirped at her. She lifted up her hands and spread them, and the bird flew into the air. Bubbles turned towards the group finally, and she seemed a bit miffed... and it wasn't just at PSI Guy. It was the entire group.
"I understand the need to fight, but it is dangerous to not pay attention to surroundings! Bird-san could have been very severely hurt!"
...it really was like she hadn't heard PSI Guy.
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 25, 2010 15:02:12 GMT -5
The mercenary stared at her dryly; she seemed to have been paying him no attention at all, and having his actions ignored above most all else irritated him the most. "Of course, Bubbles," he said, feigning politeness. "Perhaps we can settle down, talk down all our problems over milk and cookies, and--PK BEAM β!" Without warning, he fired a psychic attack at the Powerpuff Z.
"Hey!" That shout came from the recently disregarded history genius PSI Guy had his attention on until Bubbles's arrival. "That was a cheap shot!"
He merely replied cheekily, "Being a mercenary means not having to follow anyone's rules."
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Post by mugenginga on May 29, 2010 18:52:40 GMT -5
Bubbles wasn't an idiot, by any means. She knew when she was being talked down to, but tended to be to polite to say anything about it. She had turned towards PSI Guy when he began to talk and seemed to be listening intently to what he had to say. For how much she didn't trust him, based on the descriptions she had been given by the squirrel, she hadn't expected the attack.
The beam of light hit her with enough force to lift her off the ground as she went back more than a few feet. She came back down and skidded on the ground with enough force to drag divets in the ground with her feet. She managed to not fall over, but the ground was a clear mark of the hit. She jumped up once she got some control again, light blue beams of light coming from her shoes due to the force she lifted off with.
"I did not mean to insult you, Stranger-san!" She spoke loudly from her regained height so PSI Guy could hear her, "Would it perhaps be possible for you to return the engine to the train? The train needs it to go, and it is not nice to hold it up!"
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on May 30, 2010 22:01:08 GMT -5
"Do you have any idea how much a tank engine from this era of this world is worth on the black market?" demanded PSI Guy. "It'll be a cold day in Hell before I pass up an opportunity like this... and it's PSI Guy, pigtails."
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Post by mugenginga on Jun 2, 2010 16:51:00 GMT -5
"Oh dear, but that could upset history PSI Guy-san! I really can not allow you to take this engine, desu~!" She looked towards Otto, "Time Squad-tachi-san, will you allow me to handle the situation? I would like to avoid being rude."
Bubbles gave a slight mid-air bow towards Otto and Tuddrussel as she asked the question. She wasn't ignoring PSI Guy per se, but she was deferring to the fact that this was technically the Time Squad's jurisdiction as she understood it. And considering the negative impression she had already formed, it probably wouldn't make PSI Guy very happy. While she was addressing Otto and Tuddrussel, she was still paying attention to PSI Guy. She would try to dodge if he attacked again.
(OOC: Time Squad-tachi-san is technically an comical misuse of terms in a redundant sense. But it seems to fit her Japanese manner of speaking. It roughly means "Time Squad group" in a polite sense. It would probably translate best simply as a comically polite way of saying "Time Squad".)
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Post by DM: Dersite Merchant on Jun 3, 2010 14:54:56 GMT -5
Otto didn't know how this "Bubbles" person (who did look strangely like the Bubbles he knew to come from Townsville, though PSI Guy's words earlier suggested she was a different Bubbles from a different world) knew their group's name. But given the circumstances, he could brush that question aside for later. Right now, they had a train engine to save... from one of the strangest mercenaries he'd ever met in his duties as an unofficial time cop. "Rude schmude; we'll take all the help we can get."
Tuddrussel might have said otherwise. Of course, he was still kind of out of it.
Larry, meanwhile, was still downtown running around and calling out Miyako's name. This earned the poor diplomatic android a few odd stares here and there, but he paid them no mind.
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"