Dolby smiled and bobbed her head, listening to her tunes as she looked carefully around her room one last time to make absolutely sure she wasn't forgetting anything important. Not only did she have three big suitcases packed with personal items, but she was using herself as suitcase number four, having shoved all the nostalgia into her body she could comfortably carry. Perusing her depleted rack of cassette tapes one more time, she opted to grab one last blank tape and cram it into her mouth to join the rest.
"Dolby, it is time to depart." Odyssey droned from behind her. He carried only a single small case of items - his arcade machines were being shipped to Kuwahawi Island separately.
"Yeah, I think I'm set." Dolby nodded, smiling at her friend and turning her music down. "I still can't believe you're coming to Kuwahawi. I really thought I'd be the only Nostalgia Elemental to follow the Kobbers."
"Las Vegas is my home, and I will miss it. And when this is over, I will enjoy being back home." Odyssey's pupils flicked back and forth, looking at the ransacked state of Dolby's room as she had taken tons of her personal belongings and packed them up. "But I believe your desire to see more of the world is not without merit, and the opportunity to introduce these natives to arcade gaming is one I do not wish to miss. It shall be a worthwhile endeavor."
"Man, this place is gonna feel empty with you two gone."
Dolby and Odyssey turned to see Zenith, Sinclair, and Noir standing in the hallway, crowded around the entrance to Dolby's room. It had been Sinclair who had spoken, and he lowered his camera-like head. "We'll miss you."
"Come back safe, all right?" Zenith said, stepping in close. "I'll keep these two in line in the meantime."
"And when you get back," Noir piped up, "we can throw ourselves a little shindig!"
Zenith chuckles. "Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, have fun. We'll make sure to keep you in mind with music and games while you're gone."
Dolby grinned and hugged Zenith. "Thanks! Don't worry - we might get scuffed up a bit-"
"Might?" Sinclair laughed. "It's the kobbers! And you even said you want to fight in that Brawl they do every summer!"
"Hah, yeah! So we WILL get scuffed up. And probably worse. But we'll come back in one piece, just you wait and see!"
Odyssey began to move to the hall. "I shall miss you all as well. When you next see me, I shall have made arcade history."
Dolby followed Odyssey, and Sinclair came after them - it was he who would drive them to the airport. And as the waving Zenith and Noir vanished in the rear-view mirror and Odyssey and Sinclair made small talk, Dolby held up her smartphone and stared at her wallpaper, depicting her and her two best friends. Soon, she would finally see them again.
---
As Ariel reviewed her notes, Widow Maker listened attentively, hanging on every word.
"Well, I believe a lot of the same sort of fauna found around Hawaii is also found in the Kuwahawi Archipelago. Most of the large land animals are either introduced species or they're reptilian, since most of the islands are a bit small to be supporting large mammals."
"Do go on." Widow Maker nodded.
"Well, I think there are large snakes, for example... and I believe there are coconut crabs and a large species of crocodile..."
"Ooooooh."
"And... wait a minute. Widow Maker, you do realize most of the large animals in this archipelago are protected species, right? You, you can't EAT them!"
Widow Maker deflated. "But... but they wouldn't miss, like, one or two or five?"
"Oh, come on! You know better than that!" Ariel scolded. "Besides... if you want to catch big game, the ocean is your best bet, not inland. There should be some large fish in the area that aren't protected by law."
"Heyyy! So I've got to go fishing this time around, eh? Gotcha. Thanks for the tip, Ariel!"
Ariel sighed. "Anytime."
---
"Go on, give it a try, dear!"
Celestia watched eagerly as Penny slowly, hesitantly slid out of her hospital bed, resting her weight on her legs. She reached down and ran her hands along her right leg. "Wow... It almost feels like a real leg."
"Naturally!" Celestia smiled. "Dr. Bulgrave and I have made a lot of progress when it comes to synthetic limbs! Once you learn to get used to walking with it, I'm sure almost everyone you meet will be unable to see the difference, even if you wear shorts!"
"And I usually wear jeans anyway, haha!" Penny grinned, flexing and bending her new leg. Celestia beamed at her, proud of a job well done.
"So, where's Rinoa?" Penny asked.
"Rinoa?" Helios poked his blond head into the doorway. "She left a few days ago. She'd recovered completely!"
"Oh hey, good to know! Thanks, doc!"
"No problem. Just doing my job." Helios smiled, sharing a happy look with his wife. Then the moment was ruined by a squawk from a few rooms down.
"Hey, hey, woah, get that syringe away from me! I only came here for a checkup, dang it!"
"Oh dear, what's Karin trying to do to Tron?" Celestia asked, tilting her head worriedly.
"Nothing, if I have anything to say about it. Bye, Penny, thanks for being a good patient." Helios hurried off down the hall. "MS. JENSON!"
---
While Celestia and Tron were at the hospital, their creations were back in their lab. Moving to Kuwahawi had necessitated a new laboratory, but Celestia retained her trademark of keeping the lab hidden - it was located in the basement of her new bakery, which was not yet open for business.
Skeiron stared at Nightmare. The two scientist ladies had moved some of their creations into storage, left them in Vegas to help the new management of the Vegas bakery and Tridenland, or had them working on the new water park. These two, however, along with a few others, remained on active duty.
"SO, HOW ABOUT THAT WEATHER?" Skeiron offered.
Nightmare sat there passively.
"NOT MUCH FOR CONVERSATION, ARE YOU?"
"If you want to make small talk, Private Skeiron, you'd best have finished all your duties already!" The small brown drone named Sarge descended to Skeiron's eye level, hovering a foot from his face while glaring at him sternly. "Captain Celestia and Captain Tron didn't build you two to be slackers!"
"WE ARE ON SECURITY DETAIL." Skeiron said evenly back at the drone. "DO NOT INTERFERE. THIS UNIT IS MANY TIMES OLDER THAN YOU. YOU ARE OUTRANKED."
Sarge grumbled, looking over at Nightmare, who gave its' blade a slow rotation. Intimidated by the giant spinning blade, Sarge rose back up out of Nightmare's range. "R-right, well, keep up the good work then, gentlemen!"
"CERTAINLY."
Skeiron wondered if Celestia could install eye-rolling functionality in him. And maybe a voicebox for Nightmare so he had someone more scintillating to talk to than Sarge.
---
Sumireko Usami grabbed a stack of papers and held them upright, lifting them up and tapping them on the table a few times. There wasn't anything of value on the papers, but it made her look important. "Let this preliminary Nerd Club meeting commence!"
Nerd Club was looking smaller than it had in some time. With Viola having decided to leave the group due to preferring to stay in Las Vegas with Tenshi, and Dolby already on her way to Kuwahawi, that left just four nerds to hold this special planning meeting of high importance. Rachel sat casually, one hand propping up her head as she looked at Sumireko. Rifa sat quietly and paid close attention, eager to learn. Gloria was watching closely, too, but she was snacking from a plate of spider cookies that Yamame had left for the club.
Rachel shifted her gaze to the summoner as she grabbed another cookie. "Those cookies are for all of us, you know. Slow down." Gloria blushed a bit and put the cookie back. Sumireko cleared her throat to make everyone pay attention to her again.
"As you all know, we will be departing for Kuwahawi Island in less than a month! And we've already talked a lot about what to bring and what to do, but I think we've made a crucial oversight."
Gloria looked quizzical. "And what's that?"
Sumireko began pointing at the whiteboard behind her. "So far, our intelligence-gathering has uncovered the following facts:
1: Kuwahawi Island has numerous beaches.
2: The terminology used by ZF Corporation this time is not "hotel" but "resort". Studies of the promotional pamphlets and the official website confirm that the new facility will indeed be very much like what you would expect from a resort.
3: The bar, where we'll be spending a lot of time, has a built-in pool.
4: Celestia is building a new water park on Kuwahawi's main island. It will be the third theme park in the Tridenland series, but the first to abandon that name in favor of a new one."
"Um, so what does all this mean?" Rifa asked.
"Don't you see the underlying connection? We kept talking about bringing weapons, tools, books, entertainment... We're going to a tropical island! We need to talk about pool toys and swimsuits! And Viola told me the other day that we should DEFINITELY bring lots of suntan lotion."
The other nerds stared a moment, then Rachel facepalmed. "God damn, you're right. We were so busy making nerd noises we forgot that sometimes we're going to have to go outside or get wet."
"Suntan lotion! Yes! I'll bring some! I, um, I burn very easily. Even here in Las Vegas, I have to be careful..." Rifa said meekly.
"I don't plan on taking any swims." Gloria flatly stated.
"Oh? None at all? Surely Yamame will be disappointed." Rachel teased.
"W-well... maybe..."
"If it's a 'maybe' then we need to be ready for the possibility! Today, Nerd Club... GOES SWIMSUIT SHOPPING!"
---
"I could totally take the kobbers on in a fight." said the pink-haired girl.
"No you couldn't, you dope!" the blue-haired boy shot back.
"Well not with that attitude, man! You just gotta BELIEVE!"
"I believe I could, at least. You not so much, brosis."
"HAH! No way!"
"Yes way!"
As the two bickered, their Pokemon, Grubbin and Wimpod, exchanged glances. Wimpod looked nervous. This was gonna suck, wasn't it? Grubbin, however, didn't seem to have any hecks to give.
---
Beheeyem looked down at the phone he held in one hand and the list of numbers in the other hand. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before. When Letty got taken away, I felt so helpless... like I had to rely on the Kobbers again, and all I could do until then was wait. Well, the Kobbers aren't going to do all the work. I can help, too. I've got connections."
As he talked, Beheeyem dialed a number on the list. He held up the phone and waited for his contact to pick up. To his relief, she did.
"Ms. Pekoyama! It's Beheeyem from Fite Club. I have a proposition for you..."
---
Hunched over the glowing screen of his computer, Officer Browny stared at the information he had just uncovered.
"Unexplained sightings of monsters off the coast of Kuwahawi..."
Browny's big red eye scanned the blurry video footage a whale watcher had caught of the "monster" they'd spotted.
"...That's no monster. That thing is mechanical!"
---
Everything a tourist could ever need in their vacation adventures on a tropical island. Cameras, batteries, maps, guides, snacks, travel entertainment like light novels and playing cards, drinks, newspapers, novelties, and of course souvenirs.
Mary's beloved ancient security system wasn't here. Jinako had instead invested in higher-tech, modern-looking hardware to keep track of the place, complete with a new cash register instead of Mary's eighties-era model. The store itself was an interesting blend of modern technology with a "seaside" flair - a number of nautical and tropical decorations accented the walls. Some of the items Mary sold hundreds of every week at her store weren't to be found here, most obviously Las Vegas souvenirs but also some of the more urban desires of man. Notably, Jinako's store didn't carry cigarettes - she didn't believe a new convenience store could compete with local offerings that tourists would probably find delightfully exotic, and didn't want to deal with the legalities involved with selling tobacco. The beer was trouble enough.
Of course, changes or no changes, this was still definitely a Grab-N-Go. Jinako shared Mary's tendency to stock the place to the rafters, utilizing every inch of shelf space to display as many products as possible in a small shop. And behind the counter were a number of reminders of Jinako's history in Las Vegas, most notably a VEW poster from 2015 featuring Silence, Blade, and Mary celebrating after Silence's title win. Jinako looked at the poster with a bit of sadness. Already she felt the loss of her home city, but she knew she had to push aside her homesickness and make this new store a success. Not just for her, but for her best friend Mary. She was counting on her.
Jinako looked out at the shelves, at all the fresh new stock just waiting to be sold to tourists, natives, and Kobbers alike.
A new year. A new start. A new adventure.
---
"How are the tests coming along?"
"It seems to be responding well. Smog has successfully revived Koolasuchus' body, and the two have formed a symbiotic relationship."
"Strength level?"
"Still rather weak. It will be some time before it's 100%."
"Very well. We can afford to wait. It's not like I don't have plenty of other experiments to run. See about doing something with Chitin."
"Certainly."
A polite nod. A quiet departure. A hand removing a monocle, breathing on it, and polishing it.
The slightest of smiles.
"Nature... nature is man's to conquer and tame. I shall craft my own ecosystem, one worthy of this glorious industrial age. And then, all the world shall know and love my name, and hail me as the spearhead of a new era in human progress. Even that doddering masked fool and his dim bulb maid.
Yes... this shall be the legacy of the name... von Buxton."
No comments:
Post a Comment