Matarra: *sulking*
Misael: It's your own fault, you know.
Matarra: Shut up...
Dumon: You're acting like a child.
Matarra: Technically I still am one.
Dumon: You know what I mean, and it's not the end of the world.
Matarra: It is for the next six weeks.
Dumon: *sighs* Just put some ice on it and take it easy. And Misael? Would you mind explaining to the readers what she's so upset about?
Misael: With pleasure. The authoress was kicking a punching bag in karate and the leg she was standing on buckled. Her patella was dislocated. The EMTs popped it back in, but now she has to stay on crutches for six weeks and then she has to take it easy, meaning no karate, sports, or running, for six more weeks. So she's going to be updating and pouting a lot.
Matarra: *glares sullenly at Misael* You meanie.
Misael: What can I say? Seeing you upset can brighten my day. Also you can't hurt me while you're on crutches.
Matarra: *brains him with a crutch*
Vector: Oh, Misa-chan just got beaten by a cripple~ Oh! And Matarra doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal~ Ta-ta!
Alit drummed his clawed fingers on his chair, or throne more like.
"Alit? You okay?" Gilag asked.
"Huh?" Alit yelped, "Oh. Um, yeah. Peachy, let's get this show on the road!" Alit said with false cheer. They were sitting around a giant meeting table in Sargasso, waiting for Dumon to return with the diplomats, military and world leaders, and a select group of scientists, among whom included Ares Juliosu.
Gilag squeezed Alit's hand. "Try not to look at him, buddy. It'll be easier."
"Yeah, I know. And I sure as hell won't talk to him," Alit said with finality. Their attention was suddenly shifted when a portal opened and Dumon stepped out and a crowd of people followed him.
Merag stood up and called in a commanding voice, "Everyone to a seat! It does not matter where you sit, just get settled so we can get this meeting started!"
Everyone hurried to a seat, a few casting fearful glances at Nasch, obviously remembering the discussion with him when he was pissed off. After five minutes, everyone had gotten to a seat and the barians had to opportunity to survey everyone who had attended. Alit caught a glimpse of his father who was looking around excitedly, obviously entranced by Sargasso, and pointedly looked away, fighting back tears. Merag and Nasch both stiffened when they saw a diplomat with slicked-back magenta hair. They glanced at each other, having a silent conversation. Finally, they nodded in unison and looked away from the diplomat.
Gilag had his head rested on one hand and was drumming the table with the other hand as he glanced across the humans gathered. His eyes fell on a woman in a wheelchair with cocoa skin, sea-green hair, and chocolate brown eyes and he had to fight to keep his cry of shock in, beyond grateful that his hood shadowed his face and thus hid his expression from everyone else.
"Alright, is everyone settled?" Nasch called, standing up. Everyone froze and looked at him before nodding. "Good, then let's get this meeting started. Who wants to speak first?"
"I have a question," the woman in the wheelchair raised her hand.
"Speak-" Nasch looked at her name tag, "Mrs. Ines Kivigira."
"Thank you, King Nasch. I was wondering, why did you make everyone attending sign a form stating that we allowed Vector to be at the meeting?"
"It's one of our laws," Merag explained.
"What exactly does the law say verbatim?" Ares asked.
"Well, it's a subsection, but it says Vector is not allowed to go on diplomatic missions except when everyone on both parties agree. Like that's ever going to happen," Dumon recited.
"Why?" Ines asked.
"He killed a diplomat with a pencil once and we had to add that subsection to prevent that from happening again," Nasch answered.
The magenta-haired diplomat choked on air. "WHAT?! You didn't tell us that!"
"And you didn't you ask about that!" Nasch snapped with some viciousness, "Get your facts before you sign anything, Vincent!" he growled, not looking at the man's name tag.
The diplomat, Vincent, leaned back away from Nasch and shut up. Nasch sighed, "Let's continue the meeting. Who has something to discuss?"
"I do," General Angus declared, "I want to discuss the recent battle with the maldorians."
"I second that," Merag commented, "That needs to be addressed first."
"Alright, I'll go over what happened on my end. A private reported seeing a group of maldorians heading towards a library and I dispatched a squadron to deal with it. Soon more and more reports came in. After the fifth report, I left myself to lead a small team to hunt and destroy maldorians-"
"You're allowed to call it kicking their asses, just so you know," Alit chirped.
Angus grinned, "Thanks. So I was kicking their asses and shooting maldorians full of buckshot, and after a while they just stopped coming. What about you guys?"
"We were getting ice cream-" Merag started.
"You were what?!" Vincent cried in an incredulous and slightly condescending tone.
"Getting. Ice. Cream. Get that through your thick skull!" Nasch snapped, "Continue Merag."
Merag sighed. "Anyway, we had stopped to talk, which included Alit getting on a sugar high, managing to run to Australia, and a lecture from Dumon on some of the poisonous animals of Australia-"
"Let's not forget your death threat to me via phone!" Alit added.
"I just said I would hang you up on a flagpole and might put a Taipan down your shirt if you didn't get back to Heartland in the next five minutes," Merag corrected. Based on the reaction of the other people, they very clearly thought it was a threat, "Back on topic, then Vector noticed some maldorian dogs behind us. Then Gilag saw some maldorians on the roof. We took care of them, then Nasch called Yuma to get more information. He split us into groups, Alit and Gilag, Dumon and Misael, Nasch and Merag, and Vector with his insanity."
"And then you all preceded to kick ass," Angus surmised.
"Bingo!" Alit cheered.
"What I want to know is why they're suddenly getting serious now," Misael growled.
"It could be because they found out we were getting involved," Dumon suggested.
"Indeed," Angus agreed, "They had to up the attack date. If I was preparing to attack a weaker and less prepared foe and another player got involved, one who could pose a serious threat, waiting any longer would give them both more time to prepare, making the chances for me winning even worse. The maldorians also are thinking along the same line, obviously."
"That's all well and good, but what are we to do now?!" Vincent cried.
"We plan and fight, dipwad!" Nasch snapped, "Don't ask stupid questions!"
"Speaking of plans, what about discussing biological weapons against maldorians?" Ines asked. Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"I like that idea," Merag said, 'smiling', "Tell us more."
"Well, I see two options that we could use for biological weapons. We could engineer a virus, obviously we would have to be certain that it could not mutate and affect humans or barians, capture a hundred or so maldorians, infect them, then let them loose. It would devastate them no matter how many maldorians they bring in," Ines suggested. Gilag looked both shocked and impressed at her.
"And the second?" Nasch asked.
"Well, the second is easier. It's like how chocolate is poisonous to dogs but to humans it's a sweet treat? Well, there might be something like that with maldorians as well."
Ares' eyes lit up at this, "That... is absolutely brilliant!"
Ines blushed slightly and looked down. "Thank you, but at the moment it is simply conjecture."
"No, he's right, that's genius," Gilag spoke up. Ines smiled again.
"What? You act as though that stupid idea could work! We're all adults, we can stop humoring Doctor Quack. Why is she even here anyway?" Vincent scoffed.
Nasch and Gilag gave him death glares. "Put up or shut up!" Gilag snapped.
Nasch nodded to show he approved of Gilag's sentiment. "It is entirely possible to bioengineer a virus that can affect only one species, you idiot. Both barians and humans have that technology. Also, there are many substances that are poisonous to one species but not another. So shut your mouth before I throw you off the edge of Sargasso!"
Vincent scooted away from the two pissed off barians and sank down in his seat. Nasch let out a frustrated sigh and stood up. "I didn't think I needed to address this, but because of this dumbass I feel I need to. There will be no direct insulting without the other party having insulted you in this meeting. Then you are allowed to rebuke them as long as you don't go overboard. It's basically the rule if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. And some might want to remember that one because if one of my emperors take offense to something someone who has been pushing it since the beginning and decides to rebuke said person, I will not stop them." Everyone in the room knew who Nasch was talking to and the threat evident in his words. Vincent was completely silent and didn't meet the purple barian's glare. "Very well, can we continue this meeting?"
"Of course, Nasch, and thank you, you too... Gilag, correct?" Ines smiled softly. Gilag said nothing but inclined his head towards her.
"Back on topic, tell us more about your idea Dr. Kivigira and Dr. Juliosu, please add anything you believe could help execute it," Dumon proposed.
... (^0^) ...
Nasch relaxed on the couch in the BARian. The other emperors were seated on comfortable chairs in a circle. Finally Nasch clapped his hands to gain the others' complete attention. He sighed, then announced, "I believe you may be wondering about my hostility to the diplomat Vincent," everyone else except for Merag nodded, "Well, it is because his last name is Zenyan, and he is my adoptive father."
The other emperors' eyes widened. "Well, shit, you're screwed," Vector laughed.
Nasch threw a pen at his head. "Focus! This is serious! First we have Alit's father come to Heartland, then Merag and I's father! And I am willing to bet that our adoptive mother has come here as well to be with her husband."
"Is now a bad time to tell you that my mom is here as well?" Gilag asked sheepishly.
The others looked at him. "What?!" five emperors said in unison, with Dumon being the only one to stay silent, his expression saying that he already had known.
"Dr. Ines Kivigira, she's my mom," Gilag muttered.
"I figured that," Dumon commented, "She matched your description of your mother and you defended her rather fiercely."
"Well, at least we have one parent who's decent that is in Heartland," Merag commented.
"Merag, there's only one parent who's half-way decent and that's Gilag's mom," Misael scoffed.
"My parents are all right," Dumon said defensively.
"They basically neglected you, not all of us count that as decent," Nasch said.
"So do you want to check in on her, Gilag? I mean, obviously not telling her who you really are," Alit inquired.
"I- I want to but..." Gilag looked at Nasch.
Nasch nodded, "I said you could visit her yesterday, remember? The offer still stands. Just remember, no getting too attached until after the war."
"Yes my king!" Gilag replied, grinning. "Come on Ponta! Let's go!"
"I'm ready to meet your mother, pon!" the tanuki chirped and leapt on Gilag's shoulder. "See you all later!"
"Be back by ten," Merag called as Gilag and Ponta teleported away.
... (^0^) ...
Ines sighed as she wheeled over to the mini-fridge in her house she had bought in Heartland with the money Jorge had got from whatever job he had been contracted to do. It scared her what he would've had to have done to get her this much money. A million different situations had flashed before her mind, each one more unbelievable than the last. She couldn't help but worry, he could have gotten himself into incredible danger! And she had no idea where he was and was powerless to help him. Hell, she might not even see him again.
Aside from her constant fretting about her son, this wheelchair was impossible to deal with! She had been sick so long the muscles in her leg were too weak to support her body weight. So now she had to go to physical therapy every day at nine in the morning and stay in this stupid wheelchair! It was humiliating to have to asked for supplies that were located any higher than a tabletop!
Suddenly the doorbell rang. Ines sighed and called, "It's open! Come on in!" The second the door cracked open, a brown furry streak darted towards her. In an instant, Ines found herself looking into a pair of adorable black eyes.
She cautiously petted the small raccoon-dog thing on her lap. "Hey there, little fellow. Aren't you friendly? Do want something to eat?" she laughed when the furry animal nodded and put its paws on its stomach.
"Don't let him fool you, he's plenty full," Ines looked up in shock at the voice and froze as she took in the large figure and green mohawk of her only son.
"JORGE?!" she wheeled over to him and looked him up and down, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I heard you were in town and I asked my boss and he said I was allowed to visit. Oh, and that little furball is Ponta," he explained.
"Well, he's certainly adorable," she said, smiling while ruffling Ponta's fur while the tanuki purred in pleasure. "Sit down and we'll talk some more, okay?"
"Yeah," Gilag walked over to an oak table and sat down. Ines wheeled up across from him and Ponta jumped from her lap onto the table.
"Let's start with the blaring question, when you said you took a certain job to get me money for the operation, what was the job exactly?" Ines asked.
"Um, well, I can't tell you, but trust me! It's completely legal!" Gilag assured her.
"No mafia? No assassination jobs? No robberies?" Ines asked dubiously.
"No, well, no assassination jobs where I kill members of my own species," Gilag said.
"What do you have to kill then?" Ines inquired.
"Maldorians, mostly," Gilag answered.
"Oh," Ines said, surprised, "So you're fighting maldorians? Jorge, that's dangerous!"
"Yeah, I kinda got that, but trust me! I'm fine! I'm good at what I do! Besides, fighting maldorians isn't ALL I do, but I'm really not allowed to tell you that other stuff," Gilag said.
"Well, okay," Ines sighed, "I just hope I never go into surgery to save a person who's dying and find that person is you. I'm one of the best doctors along with Dr. Trey Arclight. I'm going to provide medical care to soldiers and civilians who have been hurt by maldorians. I'm also going to help Dr. Juliosu with engineering a virus to use against the maldorians and finding a substance that is poisonous to them as well. We decided it today in a meeting in Sargasso, that's a place that's in between dimensions. Oh! I assume you know about the barian emperors?"
"Um, yeah, a bit," Gilag replied. Ponta snickered.
"Well, I got to meet them, sort of anyway. There was this diplomat named Vincent Zenyan with the worst attitude ever. King Nasch got sick of him really quick and made it painfully apparent that he hated his guts. I eventually brought up the idea of using biological weapons that couldn't harm humans or barians but were deadly and devastating to maldorians. Vincent tried to shoot it down and said some nasty things to me, like calling me Doctor Quack! Then King Nasch and Emperor Gilag got sharp with him. Emperor Gilag told him to put up or shut up and King Nasch pointed out why my idea was a good one and threatened to throw him off the edge of Sargasso if he didn't shut up," Ines explained.
"Wow, it must have been cool going to Sargasso," Gilag said. Ponta had both of his paws over his mouth and was holding back a fit of laughter.
"It was amazing, Jorge! I get to go to another meeting that will be held a month from now. I can't wait! And it will be better once I get out of this wheelchair!" Ines cried in frustration in the last sentence.
"How long do you have to stay in that thing, anyway?" Gilag asked.
"The estimate is for three more weeks then I might be strong enough to walk with crutches which I have to stay on for three more weeks. Then I may be able to walk on my own if I don't push myself too hard," Ines sighed.
"Ouch," Gilag winced.
"I'll be fine, it's just horrible having to sit in this chair all day long!" Ines sighed, "So, are you hungry? I have some microwavable meals in the fridge," Ponta immediately fixed her with puppy-eyes, making her laugh, "And I think Ponta definitely wants something to eat!"
Gilag grinned and got up, "You stay right there. I'll get two meals. Ponta can share with me. He doesn't need much, he's chubby enough as it is." As Gilag got two TV dinners, Ponta pouted and glared at the mohawked barian, putting his hands on his stomach.
Ines laughed at the tanuki's antics as Gilag put one of the dinners into the microwave. "I think you offended him."
"He'll get over it, or he'll get revenge, one of the two," Gilag muttered, making his mother laugh again.
About seven minutes later, they both had two steaming hot dinners in front of them. Ponta grabbed Gilag's fork right as the large barian was about to grab it and picked up a huge gob of mashed potatoes on the fork, then pulled it back and shot it at Gilag. As Gilag wiped the mashed potatoes from his forehead, Ines laughed some more.
"I think he went with taking revenge," Ines smiled as she handed Ponta a chunk of turkey, which the tanuki happily took, chirping, "Pon!" right before he devoured the morsel.
"Yeah, he did," Gilag muttered.
Ines smiled fondly at Gilag and the barian found himself wishing the war would end soon so he could get close to his mother like this again. This visit only gave him more motivation to fight harder to take the maldorians down. Those suckers were going down! He would make sure of it.