Author's note: Rated for language, subject matter later on, and just in case anything else comes up in this series that I have to cover myself for. This is a comedy, so turn your brains off, sit back, and relax. And yes, I stole the idea of the different earths vibrating at different speeds from pre-Crisis DC continuity. ------ Nene found herself in a dark warehouse tied to a chair, surrounded by the members of the Destrade Technical High Anime Society, which just happened to be made up of the members of Yamaguchi's gang of thugs. After seeing Nene take down Ishikawa with one hand, though, none of the other gang members were willing to get to close to her even with her hands tied behind her back. "Guys, urgh," she grunted, pulling at the ropes holding her down, "What are you going to do to me?" "Isn't it obvious?" Mick, Nakao's hand puppet, asked. Nene suddenly became very scared. "You're not gonna... violate me, are you?" she asked. "What?" "Eew!" "Dude, you're a guy with a mustache! I'd sooner do my step dad." "I'd sooner do your step dad too." "Huh? Dude, you'd better be kidding." "Enough!" Yamaguchi yelled. He then turned to Nene. "The reason you're here... Nick, is that, just as Ishikawa told you, we're going to enter you into the cosplay event tomorrow. You see, I heard Honey Boy..." "Who?" Nene asked. "Heh, like you don't know. Anyways I heard Honey Boy and those Cromartie punks rehearsing with you, so you could pass yourself off as one of the characters from Bubblegum Crisis. Well, I let those losers do all the work, and now we're gonna reap the rewards. He he... You're gonna be our entry, not theirs! And just as soon as Ishikawa is finished making your costume..." "Hey boss." Ishikawa called, coming into the room with a box covered in a sheet, "I've got the costume ready." "Look, guys, there's been some sort of a mix-up." Nene tried to explain. "Honest, you've totally misunderstood..." "Shut up!" Yamaguchi ordered. "Alright, Ishikawa, show Nick here his costume." "Right. Ta da!" he cried, as he pulled back the cloth from the box to reveal... A lab coat and a pair of glasses. "Ishikawa, what the hell is that supposed to be?" Yamaguchi asked angrily. "Well, all you told me was that Nick here was supposed to be one of the characters from Bubblegum Crisis, and that the character is supposed to be kawaii. You never mentioned which character, though. Then, I took a closer look at Nick here, with his long hair and his mustache, and it dawned on me; he's supposed to be Dr. Stingray!" "Doc... Dr. Stingray?" "Yeah, so here's his lab coat and glasses. Personally, though, I don't know why someone would want to do a cosplay of Dr. Stingray. I mean, he only had like a minute and a half of screen time. And while we're on the subject, I never really thought of Sylia Stingray's dad as being kawaii, but I guess..." Ishikawa was cut off as Yamaguchi violently threw him to the ground and started pummeling him about the face and head. "Geez, what's the boss so upset over?" one of the gang members asked. "Dumb ass!" another Destrade thug answered him, "Look. He goofed up on the costume." "Oh yeah, he forgot to put Dr. Stingray's name tag on his lab coat. What a stupid jerk." Nene, watching everything from the chair she was tied to, rolled her eyes as she wondered who she could've possibly pissed off in a previous life bad enough for her to have to work off this much karma. ------ Sylia paced back and forth, occasionally taking puffs from the cigarette she held in her right hand. It had been hours since Priss left, and literally days since Nene disappeared. Linna watched her leader, obviously in turmoil and equally obviously trying not to show it, and went over to her. "Sylia?" Sylia looked over at Linna, and forced a smile. Linna shook her head. "You don't have to always put up a front, Sylia. It's not a weakness to be worried for Priss and Nene." Sylia took a final drag from her cigarette before dropping it to the ground and crushing it underneath her shoe. She took a deep breath, and sighed. "I know Linna, and thank you. But I just wish I didn't feel so helpless." "I know, I know. But you sent Priss out there. If anyone can take care of herself, and save Nene, it's her. They'll be back you'll see." she said, smiling at Sylia at the end. Sylia eyed her suspiciously. "What? Why are you smiling?" "You really do care, don't you? I mean, we're not just hired help to you, are we?" Sylia looked away. Linna walked closer. "Sylia, don't hide this. This is a side I've never seen. You actually care enough about us to worry about our safety, about our well being." Sylia looked at her almost hurt, "Do I really seem that cold to you?" "You mean you don't know? Sylia you've put up so many barriers around your heart and the rest of the world, I doubt you've ever let anyone in." Sylia closed her eyes, debating whether or not she could trust Linna enough to tell her a very deep, dark secret. "Actually, that's not true." she began cautiously. "There is... one, I've let into my heart." Linna was surprised by that response. She looked over to see Sylia actually struggling internally with whether or not to confide in her. "Sylia, you don't have to..." "I know, but I was going to have to tell everyone else sooner or later. It's just hard for me to say it out loud." Linna thought about that for a second. "Would it help if you whispered it to me?" Sylia smiled a bit at that. It was so high school, and yet... She went over to Linna and whispered into her ear the secret she'd held for so long, of a love that meant everything to her, of an all consuming passion that had taken over her life. Linna's eyes became big as saucers. "You're kidding!" she gasped. Sylia looked hurt once again. "I shouldn't have told, I..." "No, don't be like that, Sylia. I'm sorry. It's just that, well, the two of you? I never would've seen that one coming." She then went over to the normally calm, cool leader of the Knight Sabers and gave her a sisterly hug. Sylia was taken aback at first, but then found herself hugging back. "No wonder you're so worried." Linna whispered. "They'll come back, you'll see. They'll both come back. Trust Priss, she knows what she's doing." ------ "What am I doing?" Priss asked. She looked around at the group of young hooligans in front of her. They looked like escapees from Cell Block C, not students at a high school. From the bald headed kid with the huge frame to the shirtless muscleman with a mustache who never talked, there was no reason whatsoever that she should believe a word any of them were saying. So why was she believing them? "Let me get this straight; in this universe, me and the Knight Sabers are part of an anime show?" "Yeah, exactly." Hokuto answered. "And in order to help Nene, you guys drew a fake mustache on her to pass her off as a guy... and it worked?" "Yeah," Shinjiro answered, "Freddy here drew it. The dude's a friggin' Michelangelo." "And now, some other school has kidnapped her, right?" "Yeah, Destrade Technical High." Takashi explained, "But we're not sure why." Maeda, now calmed down a bit, broke in, "We were just about to go out to save her, when you popped in." "I see... okay, what's the plan?" "Well," Takashi began, "We..." "Hey, you're really Priss Asagiri?" Yutaka interrupted. "What? Yeah, why?" "Okay, something me and every other fan wants to know; you know how you and Sylvie became close before you..." "Yes!" Priss broke in, reliving the painful memory, "How can I ever forget?" she asked, her voice betraying her emotions. "Well, just how close were you two?" "I... what?" "Yeah, you know. I mean, come on. The babe was a sexaroid, right? And you two did seem to have a lot of chemistry." All the other Destrade students slowly began to back away from Yutaka and out of Priss' way. Before she could introduce the big oaf to a whole new realm of pain, however, he was knocked out by a rock with a note tied to it being thrown through the Maeda's living room window. "Look gang, a clue." Shinjiro said. Untying the note, he tossed it away as he began to examine the rock. "Looks to be a projectile of some kind." Priss looked on stunned. Granted, she was no rocket scientist, but compared to these idiots she felt like Albert Einstein. "Hey Watson," she said sarcastically, "Why don't you see what the note says?" "My God, that's brilliant!" Hokuto's lackey said, picking up the note. "So what does it say?" Akira asked. "Nothing, you have to read it." "Here, give me that!" Priss said, snatching it away from him. "Let's see, 'Dear Cromartie Scum, we have Nick, and we're entering him tomorrow as our entry in the Inter-School Cosplay Event. Don't try to stop us, you'll never find him in time.'" "Shoot!" Mechazawa growled, "What do we do now?" "We have to find Nene at that cosplay event tomorrow!" Takashi said. "Yeah, but we have no entry." Akira broke in. "Oh yes you do." Priss said. "Me." ---The Next Day--- The group from Destrade strode up to the entrance booth of the large auditorium housing the Annual Inter-School Cosplay Event, two thugs on either side of Nene holding her arms so she couldn't escape. The woman at the booth looked up at the gang, and became immediately nervous. "Are.. are you here for the cosplay event?" "That's right. We're from Destrade Technical High School." Yamaguchi answered. "I see, and where's your entry?" "Right here." One of the two ruffians holding Nene answered as they dragged the poor girl forward. The woman at the booth looked at her puzzled. "Who are you supposed to be?" Nene was about to answer when Yamaguchi interrupted her. "It's Dr. Stingray from Bubblegum Crisis. Can't you read the name tag?" he asked, pointing to the small tag written in red crayon on the lab coat Nene was wearing. "Lady, listen, I'm not supposed to be here, I..." "Shut up! You'll have to excuse Nick here; he just pulled an all-nighter for an entrance exam. Now can we have our tickets lady?" "Yes, of course. Here you go." She said, handing the tickets to the group. Nene, who couldn't see anything out of the thick glasses she was being forced to wear, had to have her ticket placed in her hand by Mick. They then dragged her into the auditorium and entered her officially into the competition. Five minutes later, another group came up to the booth. "Hello, are you here for the cosplay event." "That's right." Takashi answered. "We're from Cromartie High, and this is our entry." He said, motioning over to Priss in her hardsuit.
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