NOTE: Some of Emi's aliens are modeled after Gwen's alien designs.
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Chapter 8: Small Problems
2 Days Later
"Ok, let's go over the plan one more time," Rekka commanded.
The three girls stood in an alleyway at the dead of night, having snuck out of their respective homes. Across the street from them was a small jewelry store with the front door torn off. A black van was parked in front of the store.
"Over the past week while we were on our camping trip there had been a case of jewelry break ins around the area. So, we're gonna use this as an opportunity to try out this superhero thing and Emi's forms," Rekka explained.
"A-Are we sure this is a safe idea? What if we get caught or in trouble for sneaking out?" Mai asked, scared of the consequences.
"It'll be fine, Mai. Emi will take out these criminals, we'll call the police, and we'll be back home before anyone realizes we're gone. Right Emi?" Rekka looked over to their resident superhero, who was currently fidgeting with the watch.
"Huh? Oh, yeah it'll be fine. Though, we should do this quietly so as to not draw any attention. So, I'll go with Ghostfreak," Emi said. She turned the dial until Ghostfreak's silhouette appeared, smiling as she slammed it down, enveloping the alleyway in a flash of green light.
Mai and Rekka covered their eyes, until the light died down. When they looked back at her, both sweatdropped at their best friend.
"Emi...that's Wildmutt," Rekka said, flatly.
Wildmutt pouted at the mistransformation, covering her face with her paws in embarrassment. Mai acted quickly to quell her friend's embarrassment.
"W-Wait, this could work, Emi!" Mai said. Her friends looked at her confused, well Mai assumed Wildmutt was giving her a confused look.
"Wildmutt senses can guide her in the dark, and those thieves can't see in the dark. Emi still has a good chance of taking them down stealthily," Mai's explanation brightened Emi's mood. Rekka looked skeptical though.
"What's to stop them from just turning on the lights and seeing her?" Rekka asked. The flower girl looked across the street and noticed a power box on the side of the building.
"Seems they haven't done anything to it yet, so Rekka and I will disable the power box while Emi handles the bad guys," Mai said. Agreeing with Mai's plan, Wildmutt headed straight for the Jewelry store.
"Have you found anything valuable yet?" Rick asked, moving his flashlight to look around the first floor.
"Nope, most of the junk in here would only go for a good couple of yen, but nothing higher," Jackson answered.
"Check with the boys upstairs, see if they've found anything," Rick instructed. Nodding his head, Jackson headed to the 2nd level of the store.
Rick got off his knees and headed towards the backroom on the first floor. He gripped the door handle and turned it.
GROWL
He let go of the handle, and turned around. Using his flashlight to peer around the empty dark store, he looked for anything suspicious. "Did someone's dog wander in here or something?" Rick asked himself.
CRASH!
Rick snapped to his left at the sound of glass shattering, he walked over to the broken desk case. "What the hell? Who's there!?" Rick shouted, pulling out a crowbar. So focused in one direction he never noticed the large orange dog behind him.
Wildmutt slammed her paw down on Rick, slamming him into the ground.
"Gah!" Rick hollered in pain. He quickly swung his crowbar to hit whatever was behind him. Wildmutt bit off half the crowbar and spat it out. Rick turned around in a haste to see what had taken out his crowbar, he froze in fear at the sight of the giant dog.
"AAAAHHHH-" Wildmutt quickly slammed him on the ground to shut him up, knocking the criminal unconscious.
Wildmutt winced at the sight of the ruined Jewelry store, it was really difficult to move around a small area with her large body. She turned towards the stairs at the sounds of multiple feet coming down to the first floor.
"Rick!? What happ-What the hell is that!?" Jackson and three other men flinched at the sight of Wildmutt.
"I don't know what that thing is, but it's dead!" One of the men pulled out a gun to shoot Wildmutt.
Using her enhanced animal abilities, Wildmutt dodged the first couple of shots. She then slammed her paw into one of the display cases, sending it flying at the robbers. The men scrambled in fear to dodge the large case.
The guy who shot at her tried reaching for his gun, but before he could Wildmutt had already reached him. The man cried out in terror, before Wildmutt slapped him hard into a wall, knocking the man out.
"Stand still you freak!" Another robber charged her, swinging down his crowbar. Much to his shock Wildmutt dodged the attack, and kicked him across the store with her back legs. He hit the wall hard and lost consciousness.
Jackson and the only other guy left, backed away from the approaching beast. "N-Nice doggy...no need to get violent," Jackson warned, nervously. Jackson reached his hand back to the wall and noticed the fire alarm was there. Thinking of using it as a distraction, he pulled down on the lever.
Only for nothing to happen at all. "What!? Why didn't it turn on!?" Jackson cried out. He felt a tap on his shoulder which was coming from his partner, looking back towards Wildmutt, he screamed as the beast lunged at the both of them.
"I'm telling you! There was a huge orange dog beast that attacked us!" Jackson screamed, as the police officer pushed him and his colleagues into the police cars.
"Yeah yeah, save it for the judge," The officer replied.
A female news reporter stood outside of the crime scene, as the arrest took place. "As you can see the local criminals known as the "Jewel Heists" have been apprehended after a string of Jewel heists that have plagued this area for the past week. From reports from detectives there seemed to have been some sort of fight, evident from all the damage inside," She explained into the camera.
Shizuka Sendou listened to the news broadcast as she vacuumed the living room floor. "Hm, maybe I should look into buying some jewelry from time to time," She giggled at the thought of wearing accessories.
The Sendou Matriarch turned her attention to the clock. "Hm, Emi never usually sleeps this long. Aichi even woke up before her," Shizuka turned off the vacuum cleaner and made her way upstairs. Reaching her daughter's bedroom, she knocked on the door. After not hearing a response, she opened the door to find her daughter sprawled halfway off the bed.
Giggling at the sight, she walked over to Emi. The woman's eyes gazed down at the bulky watch on Emi's wrist. Thinking back to when Emi arrived back from camp, explaining that she got the watch from a thrift shop. "She shouldn't sleep with that on, it'll be uncomfortable."
Shizuka gently lifted her daughter back onto the bed, then lifted up her right arm. "Now how do I take this off?" She asked. Shizuka tried to push the watch off Emi's wrist. The constant movement caused her daughter to stir.
"Huh? Wh-Mom!?" Emi wretched her hand back from her mother, scared that she'd accidentally activate the watch. Shizuka blinked confusingly at her daughter, before gaining a stern look.
"Emi, you know you shouldn't be wearing something like that to bed. What if you broke it?" The mother spoke.
"S-Sorry, mom. I'll remember that next time," Emi lied. There was no way to take this watch off.
"Good, now get dressed. I'll need your help today to do chores," Shizuka turned to leave the room. Emi blinked in surprise at that, she wanted to spend the weekend at Card Capital.
"Mom, I was hoping to spend the day at Card Capital with my friends today," Emi brought up.
"I know sweetie, but I got a lot of stuff to do today and it'll all go faster with help. The faster we get this done the sooner you'll be able to play with your friends," Shizuka smiled at her daughter and left the room.
Emi collapsed on her bed and sighed at the thought of spending all day doing chores. Sure when she was younger she would be ecstatic to help out, but like all teenagers there's that rebelliousness that all adolescents gain.
"Where's Aichi?" Emi asked, as she descended down the steps.
"He's at Card Capital," Her mother answered. Emi got a little miffed at that information.
"How come Aichi got to go?" Emi tried to hide her envy.
"Because your brother doesn't know how to help around the house. So, I let him head off this morning and I told you, if we get this done quicker you can go too," Her mother patted her on the head. Emi nodded her head and followed her mother into the kitchen.
"Emi, I need you to handle cleaning the kitchen, the dining room, and cleaning all of the windows in the living room. After that you can go to your friends," Shizuka instructed.
Emi nodded her head to signify "yes". Smiling at her daughter's compliance, Shizuka left to handle her side of the chores. Once her mother was out of shot, Emi lifted up the watch and started scrolling through it.
"Is this irresponsible? Yes. Should I just do my chores normally? Yes. But, I haven't seen everyone in a week, so XLR8 is gonna be a big help," Emi slams down the core of the watch, enveloping the kitchen in green light.
When the light died down Emi noticed something was off. Everything around her had grown larger...or she had grown smaller. Turning to look at her reflection off the metal stove door, Emi screamed in shock.
"This isn't XLR8!?" Emi had turned into a different form than what she had intended to. Her body is small and grey with large oval shaped eyes; Small pupils to go with the eyes. She's wearing a light pink jumpsuit with dark pink sleeves, and the watch's symbol is on her back.
"I look like some sort of bipedal amphibian. Wait, that's not what's important! How am I supposed to do my chores if I'm stuck like this for 10 minutes!?" Emi panicked. Who knew when her mother would come back to check on her, and what would happen if she's seen like this. Emi panicked when she heard footsteps approaching and hit under the table.
"Emi? Emi! Where did that girl go? She wouldn't have snuck out, would she? She is reaching that rebellious age," Shizuka contemplated as she looked around for her daughter. Leaving the kitchen calling Emi's name.
Emi watched her mother from underneath the table, she needed to do something to avoid getting in trouble. Emi looked around and saw the vacuum cleaner, and the mop that was in the kitchen. Suddenly an idea came into her head.
"This should work out perfectly," Emi grinned as she finished hot wiring the vacuum cleaner. Using the huge amount of intellect that this form possessed, Emi changed the wiring of the vacuum cleaner to respond to the living room remote. Then she attached the towel strips of the mop to the bottom of the vacuum cleaner. Each strip had water glossed all over it.
"Now, let's get this thing rolling," Emi stepped on the directional button of the remote to command the vacuum cleaner. The cleaner worked exactly as she intended, the cleaner quickly swooped around the kitchen, cleaning it's floor with the mop strips. She did find it difficult to move past corners with the limited directional options. Eventually she got the vacuum cleaner into the dining room.
"This is great! Soon I'll be able to turn back and head to Card Capital! What could stop me now….I shouldn't have said that," Emi realized the error of her words as her mother walked back into the kitchen.
Shizuka Sendou heard the vacuum cleaner and assumed her daughter had come back to do her chores. "Emi?" She saw that the cleaner was moving without anyone grabbing a hold of it. She walked into the living room, and screamed at the sight of the transformed Emi.
"MOUSE!"
"Mouse?"
"EEEEKKKK!" Shizuka Sendou grabbed a broom and started swinging it blindly at Emi. The heroine panicked and tried to run from her mother, but her little legs were too slow. The broom nailed her dead on, sending her flying through the house. As she was soaring through the air the watch started to beep red.
Emi landed inside of the trash can just as the watch timed out. Since Shizuka had her eyes closed, she missed the red flash of light that came from Emi. The mother opened her eyes and searched for the "mouse".
"Uggghhh…"
"Huh?" Shizuka saw her daughter sitting in the trash bin, giving her a blank stare. The Sendou Matriarch glared at her daughter and folded her arms.
"Emi Sendou! Where have you been this whole time?" Shizuka demanded. Emi didn't answer immediately and tried to get out of the trash bin, groaning when she just ended up falling on her face with the bin stuck to her backside.
"Just doing what you've asked, mom."
Chapter End