DISCLAIMER: All trademarked items in this fanfiction is owned by their respected copyright holders. The ones which are owned by me are merely the plot and the author's thoughts. This fanfiction is made solely for entertainment purposes and not intended for any material gain.
A Day at The Zoo
An Idolmaster fanfic
"All these animals makes me miss Waniko and the others…" Hibiki sighed as she sat down on a bench. She is currently in a zoo around Tokyo, shooting a nature program for kids. The young idol liked the job; she is an animal lover through and through, and working with animals both exotic and mundane excites her.
Hibiki is in a break now, though. The segment about the flying foxes and other nocturnal animals are to be filmed after dark, and the director had dismissed the crew for the time being. With nothing better to do and commuting to her apartment or 765's office unfeasible, the young idol spent her break hours lounging around in the zoo.
After half an hour of lounging around, Hibiki's eye suddenly caught a peculiar sight. A man with straw-colored hair was leaning on the crocodile enclosure, forlornly gazing at the exhibit and the lone crocodile inside. Her interest piqued, the idol quickly approached the man.
"What's making you seem so sad, sir?" Hibiki asked the foreigner in English. She was quite good in English, since many of her childhood hours were spent reading English field guides and nature magazines.
The foreigner was silent for a second, before replying to Hibiki's question with a thickly-accented English of his own. "Well, just look a' 'er. She looks malnourished, the enclosure is too small, and don't think it's heated properly. A lil' miracle she survived this long really, plank said that she's been 'round since ninety-nine or so."
"Wait… 'her'? How do you know?" Hibiki quickly replied with a question of her own. Her eyes glinted with curiosity.
"Easy, girl. She's a Saltie, and Saltie blokes get bigger than the girls. This girl is prolly about five years old or so," the foreigner explained enthusiastically. "Back where I came from, they grow into big whoppas. We even have some real whoppas at the park, four to five meters…"
"You… you actually kept a croc… no, crocodiles?" Hibiki replied with fascination. "Like, as a pet?"
"Well, some of them were caught in the city waterways, and we're just keeping them in the park for a while as we wait for a suitable release place to be found for them," The foreigner said. "You seem knowledgeable about them crocs, girl."
"Well, yeah! My family have one. His name's Waniko," Hibiki said while grinning. "We keep him in a pen back home in Yonaguni, far south… Sometimes we even let him in the house when the winter get a bit too cold. He's a really swell guy, best friends with my hamster Hamuzou even! Butata the boar is deathly afraid of him though."
"Rare to see a girl with such a passion for wildlife! Name's Steven Irvine, herpetologist, conservationist, and erstwhile croc wrestler," the foreigner said, offering Hibiki a handshake. "What's yours?"
"Hibiki. Hibiki Ganaha," Hibiki replied as she shook the proffered hand. "I work as an Idol for 765 Pro here in Tokyo."
"An Idol?" the foreigner chuckled. "Same as those I see in local TVs?"
"Yeah. I sing and dance mostly, but hosting jobs do come around occasionally," Hibiki said. "Like now, I'm waiting for the crew to arrive. We're shooting a nature program for kids, and we have to shoot the segment about some nocturnal animals after dark."
Just as their small talks ended, a piercing shriek can be heard nearby prompting the two animal lovers to zero in on the source of the sound. A small children no older than six or seven has somehow managed to tumble down into the enclosure, landing a good few feet from the now-curious crocodile. The poor child has sustained some injury from the rough tumble, and is now bleeding.
"Crikey!" the foreigner shouted, almost as a reflex. "Oi! Someone get that cage open!"
Hibiki quickly rushed to a security guard, informing him of the situation. The guard then phoned the warden in charge, but the reply is taking time. Unsatisfied, Hibiki rushed back to the scene, where now a small crowd is gathering. Steven is in the middle of the crowd, trying to get a better look.
"Irvine-san! How's the boy?" Hibiki shouted as she made way through the thickening crowd. Wardens can be seen flocking on the back entrance to the cage, but did seemingly nothing.
"Shocked from the fall I guess. Haven't moved an inch," the foreigner said. "She's curious now… worse still, the smell of blood may whet 'er appetite…"
"We've got to help him," Hibiki resolutely said. "When Waniko is curious, he tend to poke around and nibble. He meant no harm, but his nibble still hurts."
"Hmm… can you get the kid to safety? I think I can subdue this girl," Steven said as he took off his khaki shirt. "So long if I can keep 'er snout and eyes shut, she won't be too much of a hassle."
"Sure thing!" Hibiki said as she climbed into the steep sloping wall of the enclosure. "On three?"
"Three!" Steven commanded, as both crocodile keepers slid down the same slope.
The noise evidently piqued the crocodile's interests, as it now trotted lazily towards the three people. Hibiki quickly attended to the fearful child, who by now had emptied his bladder on himself. Steven, meanwhile, was waving his shirt and shouting as he tried to present himself as a bigger threat to the crocodile.
The taunt was working well. The crocodile changed its target towards the noisy human who has trespassed its territory. It quickly lunged at Steven, jaws snapping.
"Whoa! Ain't she a nippa!" the man shouted as the man dodged the rows of teeth. The faux matador continues to draw attention for a few more seconds, while Hibiki carried the little boy and sprinted towards the iron-bar door that served as the enclosure's back door.
"What the hell are taking you so long?" Hibiki irately shouted in Okinawan as she laid the kid beside the door.
"Sorry, dear costumer! Matsura-san who's in charge of this cage is sick and the key is somewhere in his office!" A warden hastily explained. "We're trying to find the master key as fast as possible! Hang in there!"
"Aah mou!" Hibiki grunted. "Any one of you got some duct tape?"
"I have it…" one of the warden carrying a tool box said. "But what for?"
"We might have to subdue her for a while. Fired-up crocodiles take a while to cool down," Hibiki said while gesturing for the duct tape. "You stay tight here, kid. We're showing the croc who's boss 'round here."
By now, Steven had managed to dodge a few more snaps with his luck, but the crocodile was turning out to be surprisingly intelligent. When Steven tried to circle it, the angry crocodile managed to swing its whip-like tail and tripped Steven. The thirty-ish man fell, but managed a safety roll.
"Sneaky sneaky," Steven marveled. The crocodile, however, had closed in and took another bite attempt. Steven was dumbfounded for a second, by now realizing that his feet would be an easy target for the croc…
"Oh no you don't!" came Hibiki's shout of her own, as she crashed on the topside of the crocodile's head and forced the snapping jaws shut prematurely. It barely missed Steven's leg.
"Good job!" Steven cheered, quickly taking the golden chance to drape his shirt over the beast's eyes as Hibiki sat seiza-style on the topside of its muzzle. He quickly followed up by immobilizing the rest of the two-and-a-half meter long crocodile by sitting on its stout neck.
"Got some duct tape here, do we need it?" the young idol said while brandishing the roll of duct tape she just acquired.
"That works… keeps 'er from snapping for a while…" Steven replied as he received the duct tape roll. "Put your weight on your hands as your move, keep 'er from opening 'er mouth."
"Okay…" Hibiki said as she slowly moved sideways while keeping the jaws pressed tight with both of her hands.
"Good… now help me tape 'er mouth… seven rounds should suffice," the man said, preparing the tape. "Excellent. That should keep 'er calm for a while."
The crowd, seeing that the ordeal is resolved and disaster is averted, roared in cheerful applause. Somewhere along the way, the film crew who was supposed to film Hibiki and the nocturnal animals showed up and had filmed most of the action. They're also cheering, but their cameras are also rolling. The director of the program raised a thumbs-up to Hibiki, for while he lost some time, he also gained an exclusive footage.
"Tha' was a hell of a job," the man said, offering a fist bump.
"Oh please, I have a pro at my back," Hibiki replied, bumping her fist to the man as she waved to the livid crowd.
"Well, i think it's our cue to get out of here," Steven said as he glanced to the warden crew, who had finally managed to open the back door to the enclosure and evacuated the boy. "Come over to Australia sometimes, Indy will absolutely adore you. I'll show you 'round the Murray."
"Deal! I'll take you on a tour around Yonaguni in exchange!" Hibiki said in return.
… A few days later…
"… This is Naoko Kanbara for GTTV News."
"I honestly didn't expect you to surface in the news this quick, Hibiki-kun," president Takagi quipped as the taped news broadcast concludes.
"Yeah! You even made to the front page quicker than all of us!" Haruka added, showing a tabloid with a large photo of Hibiki and Steven's grinning face on the front page, with an equally big headline Croc Hunter and Idol Combo Saved Boy!.
"Ehehe, it was all just a coincidence, Shachou, Haruka-chan," Hibiki modestly replied. "I didn't even realized that Steven Irvine was the Croc Hunter until after I came home!"
"The whole event may be a coincidence… but who would ever thought that you'd keep a crocodile at home," Chihaya remarked, a tinge of excitement evident in her voice.
"Well, I told all of you about it once," Hibiki replied.
"But it's a good thing that Hibiki-chan made it into national news," Kotori commented. "Our agency's popularity has increased noticeably, and there are even a few requests for our idols to host or provide narration for children-aimed wildlife documentaries."
"Ah ha ha ha! That's not what I have in mind when I launched this agency," the president guffawed.
"Afternoon, everyone," the producer greeted as he entered the office, three foreigners in tow. "Oh, Hibiki is here, what a coincidence."
"Afternoon too, Producer-kun," Takagi replied. "And who might these gentlemen be?"
"You…" Hibiki said. "You're Irvine-san!"
"In the flesh. How're ya doin'?" Steven said amicably, offering a hand shake.
"Good!" Hibiki said, accepting the handshake offer.
"You Croc Hunter? Oh my god! I always loved show!" Chihaya, in a totally out-of character moment, joyfully shrieked in broken English. "Please please please I can have your autograph?"
"Chihaya, you…" Hibiki stepped a half-step away from the rabid fangirl Chihaya.
"These people wants to discuss a long-term contract, Takagi-shachou," the Producer said as the background chatter goes on. "They want Hibiki-chan to co-host with Irvine-san in the Asian and Australian leg of the Croc Hunter Journals show."
"Oh is that so? I'm all ears for a good business deal!" Takagi replied enthusiastically. "Let's talk business somewhere a little bit quieter, shall we?"
F I N
A/N:
Beware thy plot bunnies. They turn into Flat What-worthy things like these. Also, do not wrestle crocodiles… not at home, not at work, never. Unless you're especially trained for that (like that awesome guy I made shout-out of and dedicated the work to) or your life depend on it. Oh, and one more thing... should i disclaim a shout-out?
Steve Irwin
1962 – 2006
His love of nature endures.