Hello all you bust-A-groove fans. This is my first attempt at a fic like this
one. I'm not saying that the b-A-g
characters don't have personalities, but for the most part I get to make them
up! So, I hope I don't screw up your
favorite character too bad!!! Hehe, I'm
just kidding, I think I'll do a pretty good job!
"Oh no!" Shorty
screeched, shaking the whole hotel, and vibrating every object in sight. Gasping, she jumped out of bed, staring at
the pillow her lovely little Columbo had been lying on, his outline still
remaining like a painful reminder of how missing he was.
"Columbo knows
if he wants to go somewhere he has to wake me up first!" Shorty said as she began searching her hotel
room high and low, without finding her precious pet. In one ear-piercing, world-shaking, shriek she yelled,
"Who Stole Columbo From my Hotel Room!?"
Shorty sat on the
floor in a little heap, sobbing. Comet
was the first to reach her room.
Banging on the door, Comet yelled, asking if Shorty was all right. Shakily and unsteady, Shorty stood up and
opened the door for Comet.
Comet rolled in
and knelt to Shorty's level. "What's
the matter?" she asked, genuine care in her eyes.
"Columbo," she
answered, bottom lip quivering uncontrollably.
"He's gone!" She pointed to the
pillow with Columbo's outline, tears still falling out of her red eyes.
"Don't worry,
sweetie, we'll find Columbo," Comet reassured the little girl, patting her on
the shoulder. "Let's look for him after
breakfast, ok? I'll make you something
to eat." She pulled her magic wand from
somewhere behind her back.
"You…" Shorty
said, rage filling her soul. "I bet you
used your power and turned him into a squid!" Shorty stood up and pressed
herself up against the wall trying to get as far away from Comet as
possible. "You ate my Columbo!"
"You know that's
not true!" Comet yelled back at the hysterical girl. Shorty shielded herself with her bare, skinny arms, shaking with
anger and fear. "Fine, believe what you
will," Comet grinned. "At least I know
it's not true."
With that, she
walked out of Shorty's room, slamming the door behind her. Shorty wiped her eyes and sighed, realizing
she was probably wrong. Comet was a bit
strange, the kind of person who would keep a naked man tied to her bed all night,
but not really the kind that would steal Columbo and eat him.
Sighing again,
she went to her suitcase and picked out today's outfit, a long sleeved black
shirt with an 'S' printed on it, and loose black capries, and slid into the
bathroom. Taking a hot shower and then
getting dressed and then fixing her hair took her about 10 minutes. She emerged from the bathroom a whole new
person, ready to interrogate the entire bust-A-groove dance competitors. She must find who stole Columbo quick. Without her best friend, she lacked the
confidence she needed to dance!
She opened the
hotel door and peered out into the hallway.
She knew the sponsors of the competition had rented the whole 3rd
floor of the hotel, and a competitor and potential suspect lay behind each
door. The numbers on the doors spanned
from 109-120. Shorty had her work cut
out for her.
She exited room
116 and walked to room109 wondering who would answer the door when she
knocked. Lifting up a sleeved arm she
knocked on the door three times.
Heat answered
the door groggily. He looked and saw no
one until he moved his head downward and saw short little Shorty standing in
the doorway. "Shorty? What time is it?" he asked, opening the door
enough for Shorty to make her way in.
His room was dark, and he stood in his plaid boxers and wife beater,
rubbing his eyes. His flame colored
hair was going in every different direction on his head.
Shorty pounced
him, knocking him over. She slammed the
door with her foot and pulled a flash light out of one of her large
pockets. She shined the light directly
in his unsuspecting face, and yelled, "It's time for you to talk! What do you know about my Columbo?"
"You mean that
damn rat thing you carry on your head?" He asked squinting his eyes against the
bright light. "Can you get off of me?"
"Not until you
answer my question," Shorty whispered dryly, never taking the flashlight out of
his face. "Now talk! You set him on
fire, didn't you! You want to be a
racecar driver so bad you set my little Columbo on fire! I figured you out!"
"When did you
find Columbo was missing?" Heat grumbled, obviously very tired.
"When I woke
up," Shorty mumbled, it was hard to ask people questions about her missing
friend. "My daddy gave him to me as a
present and I want him back!"
Heat lifted
Shorty up easily and opened the door.
Holding on to her small body she began to hit him with her little fists
and struggled to get away, but it was no use, he was just too strong for her.
"If you give me
a picture of him, me and you can make wanted ads for him later ok?" Heat
slammed the door and returned to his bed, yawning. Shorty kicked the ground with her shoe and walked to the next
room.
What kind of
criminal offers to make wanted posters?
Shorty thought to herself. Ok,
now I can take two people of my list of suspects. Walking to room 110 she knocked three times.
Tsutomu opened
the door, surprised to have a visitor.
He was fully dressed in his usual dorky outfit, obviously practicing his
moves. He held his green maracas in his
hands and he was breathing hard.
Tsutomu was the last person Shorty felt like seeing this early in the
morning…but he did have the perfect motive.
"Listen
Tsutomu," Shorty said opening the door with her long sleeves, pushing past the
little boy and inviting herself in. "I
know me and you have never gotten along, but I'm willing to put that past
us. Just give me my Columbo back!"
"Why would I
have your lame Columbo?" Tsutomu asked in his I'm-So-Much-Better-Than-You
voice.
"Because I'm the
only other kid here and you desperately want to beat me. You know I can't dance without Columbo by my
side!"
"I don't have
your rat but now that you put it that way I wish I would have thought about
taking it before someone else could," he smacked himself in the head and
repeated every time he hit himself, "You should have thought of it."
"Ok," Shorty
stared at the weird display of human behavior. "I'm going to…leave now." She ran out of the room, slamming the door
quickly behind her. "That was too
weird! Oh well, he's pretty mad at
himself for not thinking of the crime that has been committed. I guess I can scratch his name from my
list."
She pulled her
sleeve down and ran her fingers through the little ponytails that covered her
head. Sighing, she knocked on room
111's door, praying she would find some clue of Columbo in this room.
She looked down,
trying to hide the tears that were threatening to fall from her large eyes, not
even noticing the door had been opened.
"Good morning
young lady," a British accent greeted her warmly. Looking up quickly she smiled and ran to Bi-O, arms opened. She grabbed on to his waist and he patted
her head happily. "What brings you to
me this fine morning?"
Shorty let go of
Bi-O's waist, she was glad to be in the company of someone she knew loved
her. His son Gas-O had hurt him once
before, and now he was in jail. To
Bi-O, Shorty was the loving child he never had. To Shorty, Bi-O was the father that was never around, once she
got used to the smell of rotting flesh.
"Columbo's
missing!" She wailed to Bi-O. "Now I'm
asking all the other dancers if they know anything about it. I've ruled out Comet, Heat, Tsutomu, and I
know you'd never do it! Do you know
anything about it?"
"Let's talk over
tea," Bi-O said moving to the little kitchenette, preparing the usual for him
and Shorty. She sat at the small table
and waited to be served. Once the tea
was finished warming up Bi-O dug through the small refrigerator the hotel
provided them with. Placing everything
on a tray he walked to Shorty and set a teacup in front of her. He opened a can of Coca-cola and poured it
into her cup. He placed a cherry in the
cup and poured steaming tea for himself.
He sat down, slurped his tea and let Shorty speak.
"Thank you,"
Shorty said drinking the soda slowly.
"I can't find Columbo and I'm politely asking the others if they know
anything about it, but no one does. I
don't think Comet, Heat, or Tsutomu took him.
I know you didn't either! Do you
know who would want to do something this horrible?"
Bi-O scratched
at the ax lodged in his head while Shorty finished the soda and ate the
cherry. "Do help yourself," Bi-O said
pointing to the cans soda and jar cherries, concentration still written on his
features. Shorty snatched up the jar of
cherries, pulled her huge, black sleeves back and opened the jar. As Bi-O sat thinking of possible wrongdoers,
Shorty threw cherries into her mouth, munching on the soft, sweet fruit.
"You say you've
already ruled out Tsutomu?" he asked placing his hand on the bone that was
called his leg and drank some more tea.
"Yesh," she
answered through a mouthful of cherries.
"He's the only
one I can think of. The boy can be a
jackass," he muttered bluntly.
"Yesh," she
nodded her head in agreement. Swallowing
the cherries she stood up from the table.
"I'm sorry to have to cut our tea break short, but I have to look for
Columbo some more."
Bi-O stood up
from the table and escorted Shorty to the door. "Please don't make it too long before you come and visit me
again. I want to see you some time
before the competition."
"I promise,"
Shorty said giving Bi-O a goodbye hug.
She ran out of the room and knocked on the door to room 112. "And behind door number 112 we have…" Shorty
said in her broadcaster's voice.
She door slowly
opened revealing the beautiful girl behind it.
"Kitty-N!!!" Shorty finished her broadcast.
"Come in,"
Kitty-N purred opening the door. She
wore a beautiful pink robe, with her green hair up in curlers. "Please hold on one moment."
She picked up
her pink cell phone and talked quietly to the person on the other side. Trying not to eavesdrop, Shorty focused her
attention to the TV that was on, playing none other than the show Kitty-N
starred it, Litterbox Warriors 5.
"Can I help you
with something?" she asked after she hung up the phone with the push of a white
button that meowed. Her voice was high
pitched, but somehow calm. She was tall
and beautiful standing in her pink robe, white slippers cat slippers covered
her feet.
"I know you like
being a cat…" Shorty started placing a hand on top of her heart. "But don't you think attacking Columbo is
going to far?"
"Attack
Columbo?" Kitty-N questioned, cocking her eyebrow. "I would never do such a thing!"
"You know your
cat instincts caught up with you and you had to catch something, so you
thought…'hmm why not that over grown mouse Columbo?'" Shorty pointed her finger at Kitty-N. "Show him to me now! He
might still be able to be saved!"
Kitty-N shook
her head slowly and removed her head covering, revealing her true
features. She looked like a normal
16-year-old in fuzzy slippers. "I like
to cosplay, but I don't take it that seriously!" She pointed to the bathroom. "See I don't actually use a litter box!" She
pointed to her table, "And I use forks and spoons when I eat! I would never harm your pet."
"Ok, I guess
I'll go now," Shorty said, disappointed.
She really wanted to find her best friend soon! She walked out of Kitty-N's room, whispered
an apology, and walked quickly to the next room on her list.
She knocked on
the door, heard a female groan from inside and the door opened enough for
Shorty to see Comet's face peering out.
"Shorty?" she whispered quickly.
"Oh sorry Comet,
I was just seeing if anyone knew anything about Columbo."
"Still haven't
found him?" Comet whispered.
"Yeah, and
look…I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions.
I didn't really think you would eat Columbo…"
"Apology
accepted," Comet lowered her voice. "I
really have to go," she peered behind her towards the bed and a muffled cry
could be heard from that area. "See
ya." Comet shut the door quickly behind
her, leaving Shorty standing there, alone.
From inside the door she could hear Comet yell, "Tell me why I'm so
pretty dammit!"
Shorty ran away
quickly, not needing to hear anymore.
She knocked on door number 114, hoping this one would lead her to her
beloved Columbo.
"Whazzup?" A
familiar voice called from behind the door.
"Strike?" Shorty
asked making sure she knew whom she was talking too.
"Huh?" Strike
answered in his slow, sweet, deep voice.
"Who's dat?"
"Ummm, it's me,
Shorty, can I talk to you?"
"Yeah," he
answered, unlocking the deadbolt on his door and opening it glancing in both
directions. Ever since he escaped from
jail for a crime he was innocent of anyway, he had become really paranoid. He was now the type who would look back to
make sure no body was following him.
Shorty made her
way into Strike's room and pounced him the same way she had done to Heat. She knew unless she took action, he would never
talk, that's just the way boys were.
She ran into Strike, but she was the one to be knocked over this
time. Strike was just to buff to knock
over.
"What did you do
to my shoulder?" she howled in pain, holding her right shoulder with her left
hand.
"Did I hurt ya?"
Strike asked bending over to Shorty.
Catching him by surprise Shorty tackled his legs, knocking him over,
shaking the whole 3rd floor of the hotel.
She jumped on
his chest and reached for her flashlight, the only means of torture she could
possibly think of putting her friends through.
She turned it on, and the light sputtered and went out. Smiling and throwing the flashlight over her
shoulder she muttered, "Let's just get to the point shall we?"
"What the fuck
are ya doin'?" Strike asked bewildered by the little girl's actions.
She pulled a
magnifying glass out of her huge pocket and inspected his fingertips while
proceeding to tell him about Columbo.
"You see I woke
up this morning, and my beloved Columbo was missing," she turned his fingers
over in her hand before dropping it and putting the magnifying glass back into
her pocket. "Unfortunately, my dear
Strike, you have the perfect motive."
"I do?!" he
asked.
"You see," she
explained, never moving off his broad chest the whole time. "You must acquire the Groove-tron in order
to clear your criminal record, for a crime you were innocent of. You know if you stole Columbo you would have
a better chance of getting the Groove-tron.
Am I right?"
"I guess ya
write 'bout the whole Groove-tron thing.
But I'm innocent of the crime they put me in jail for. I'm not a criminal, and you're jumping to
conclusions cuz of my record. I didn't
realize you were that way Shorty."
"I'm not!"
Shorty said jumping off of his chest.
"I just thought you were guilty of THIS crime."
"Well, I'm as
innocent as the damned day I was born," Strike confessed holding his right hand
over his heart. Shorty pulled the
magnifying glass out of her pocket and held it to her eye as she marched out of
his room, still looking for clues of foul play.
Turning around
she smiled with the magnifying glass on her eye and said, "If you hear
anything, let me know."
Strike closed
the door and locked it. He sighed and
went back to practicing his dance moves.
Shorty sat in the middle of the hall and held her breath, trying not to
cry. Despite how hard she was trying
there was still no sign of Columbo. And
worse, she had accused all of her friends of kidnapping him. She felt horrible inside and she wiped the
many tears that were falling from her face with her huge sleeves.
From inside room
115, disco music could be heard, and so could girls' screams. Hiro's at it now? It's still pretty early. Hiro should…that's it…HIRO!!!
Without
knocking, Shorty entered Hiro's room.
He had a mini disco ball hanging from the ceiling and many girls were
crowded in the small room. Hiro was in
the middle of them, dancing like there was no tomorrow.
Shorty somehow
made her way to the stereo and turned it off with one quick motion of her
hand. "Hiro-kun!" she screamed,
imitating his fans. "A word with you
for a moment."
In the crowd you
could hear whispers of jealously and envy as Shorty walked away with the man
they all wanted desperately. One of the
girls scratched past the crowd and sat where Hiro had been dancing. "I'm sitting where Hiro-kun was standing!"
she screeched excitedly. The whole mob
tore at each other to get to the spot where the lucky girl was.
"What's up?" he
asked Shorty when they were alone, pulling out a mirror and examining himself,
fluffing up his hair again.
"I remembered
you saying something about Columbo being a 'groovy little guy that would be the
coolest to take to a disco'. Did you
take Columbo? Please tell me you did!"
"Yeah, Columbo
would be pretty groovy to dance with, but what about my reputation? My perfect…beautiful…wonderful…reputation,"
quickly he pulled he mirror away from his face. "I wouldn't want to be seen with a mouse-thing. The girls…they want to see me…" He put the
mirror back in front of his face again.
"Oh ok," Shorty
whispered lightly walking to the door, disappointed once again. "I'll go now. See ya at practice sometime."
"Yeah." Was all
Hiro had a chance to say before the girls began diving for him piercing wails
coming from every direction.
Shorty walked of
Hiro's room and kicked the wall. Her
sneakered foot, bounced off easily, the shoe was rubbery enough. Realizing the next room was hers, she felt
her spirits begin to lift again. Only
four more rooms to check out!!! Yeah,
I'll have my little Columbo back in no time!
She ran to room
number 117 and knocked wondering whom she would see next. The door opened slowly, only to reveal a
tall skinny panda with a flower sprouting from his head. Shorty's jaw dropped. She tried to snap herself out of shock and
stuttered to the mysterious panda, "W-who are you?!"
"I am," he said
in a bizarre voice. "Pander." With his name he posed his hands strangely
and looked at Shorty.
"I'm going to go
now," Shorty said, running away from the door.
"See you," he
said pointing at her, "in the finals."
He winked and closed the door behind him.
Shorty's eye
began twitching and she rubbed it with her fist, wondering how long she had
been staying directly across from that guy, she had never seen him before, or
heard his name on the list of bust-A-groove finalists.
She shrugged and
knocked on the next door. Room
118. The door opened and one of the
Capoeira aliens stood before her.
"Greetings earthling," it said in a monotone alien voice. It reached its hand out and unsure of what
else to do Shorty reached out her hand also.
Before their hands could meet the other alien came running and punched
the first in the head.
"What did you do
that for?!" the first one yelled.
"How many times
have I told you to drop that typical alien act?"
"You never told
me not to!" The first one complained, crossing its arms across its chest.
"You know I
have!" the second responded swinging its fist at the first's stomach. It dodged and poked the other one's large
eyes with its long fingers.
"Owwwww! I hate you!"
By this time
Shorty almost forgot about her search for Columbo. She was completely intrigued with their odd behavior. Capoeira had never acted in such a way at
the competitions, or even at the practices.
She had never even hear one of them speak a word, always assuming they
didn't speak any language known to man-kind, and here they were, arguing and
fighting each other.
"Sorry about
that," the second apologized once it had the first on the ground. "My name is LaLa, and that's KiKi."
"Hi, I'm…"
Shorty could not finish her introduction because KiKi cut her off.
"You're
Shorty. We know about you. More then you know about yourself. As a matter of fact we gave Columbo an anal
probe last night."
"Really?! That's great!" Shorty said jumping up and
down.
"KiKi's a liar,"
LaLa explained. "You take being a
foreigner to this planet a little to seriously." She yelled kicking the silver
alien between the ribs.
"But did you see
her face light up when I said 'anal probe'?
She was like a child at Christmas," KiKi replied, voice raspy from the
kick.
"No, it wasn't
the anal probe that made me happy," Shorty explained to the crazy aliens. "It was the fact that you said you had
Columbo. Do you know where he is?"
"See? Now look
what you've done! You've raised her
hopes!!!" LaLa turned to face Shorty.
"No I'm sorry, we haven't seen you darling Columbo."
"Columbo's
close! I can feel it LaLa!" KiKi stood
up and took Shorty's hand excitedly, bouncing up and down. "I feel Columbo…very close." The alien tried
to catch its breath.
"Don't go making
up things and raising her hopes!" LaLa yelled swinging a fist at KiKi's large
head. KiKi dodged and tackled
LaLa.
"I'm not making
it up this time! You never believe
anything I say!" KiKi punched the other alien across the face and ran to
Shorty, once more taking her hands.
"Believe."
With Kiki's last
words, it shut the door and yelling between the aliens could be heard through
the closed doors. Shorty shook her head
in amazement, learning now why you should never judge a book by its cover.
Very close…Shorty
thought to herself and ran to the next door.
She raised her hand to knock on the door of room 119, but she could hear
music softly playing and smell cigars coming through.
She put her ear
closer to the door; she quickly recognized the music playing as "Moonlight Party". It was Kelly's room.
Inside the room, Kelly could be heard giggling softly. Shorty shuttered, and the smell of the
cigars nauseated her. Kelly was
probably in that room with a poor businessman strapped to a chair, and she's
stolen his outfit. I can just
imagine her coming to dance practice in dressed up as a businessman with a cane
and a mustache and everything.
Deciding not to
interrupt Kelly's little game, Shorty prayed for the safety of the man inside
the room. God, please let him come
out with his clothes still on his body.
Amen.
Shorty prepared
herself and knocked on the door. Room
120. The last room. If Columbo was not here then…Shorty stopped
her mind from thinking about what she would do if Columbo was not in this
room.
Robo-Z opened
the door, mechanical in all its movements.
"Hello, Shorty." It said in a
hollow, empty voice.
"Robo-Z, you're
small!" Shorty entered the room staring in wonder. "Well, still bigger then me! But, smaller than usual!"
"Correct. I have two settings, one being large and the
other being normal human size. I have
been created this way to distract dancers that are possible threats."
"Will you still
dance on the streets the way you did last time?" Shorty asked.
"That cannot be
revealed at the moment."
Shorty blushed
slightly and then snapped back, "Where did you bring Columbo?"
"Restate."
Robo-Z said bluntly.
"Don't play
stupid, no one else has seen Columbo!
You thief! You took Columbo and
I'm here to get him back."
"I have not been
programmed to do such things."
"Really? Are you sure?" Shorty asked on the verge of
tears.
"Affirmative."
Shorty place her
hand on Robo-Z's steely arm and sighed.
"I'll leave you alone then.
Goodbye."
Robo-Z's
mechanical movement's closed the door, closing the door to Shorty's last hopes
as well.
"I've talked to
everyone. No one has a motive. All my suspicions have been aimed towards
the wrong people. What am I going to
do?" Shorty collapsed, face buried in
her long sleeves. "WHAT AM I GOING TO
DO?!"
Her yell echoed
through the hall meeting her ears several times before fading, and
disappearing. The door to Kelly's room rattled opened and Kelly's head followed
by thick, gray cigar smoke came out of the room and she searched through the
halls for someone to yell at.
"Could you
please be quiet? Can't you see I'm
busy?" she yelled, but it came out as a sexy whisper instead. "Oh it's you Shorty." Kelly looked flustered in seeing Shorty. "I'm just going to leave you to yourself now
babe."
Shorty ran to
the door, and pushed past Kelly.
Inhaling a lungful of smoke Shorty began coughing, but she didn't
care. Kelly seemed incredibly
suspicious, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. "Kelly, where's Columbo?" Shorty demanded, trying to keep her voice
steady, despite what the smoke was doing to her throat.
The room was
completely dark except the lit cigar, coming from someone's mouth on the
bed. Shorty searched for a light, desperate
to talk to anyone who might know anything.
"Shorty, don't!"
Kelly pleaded, trying to stop Shorty from finding a light switch. But Kelly's pleads where ignored, and Shorty
turned the light on and gasped. Columbo
was sitting on a pillow on Kelly's bed, smoking a cigar that was almost twice
the size of him.
"Columbo! What are you doing here?" Shorty picked the little mouse up from the
bed and threw the cigar at Kelly. "What
were you doing with Columbo?"
Kelly threw her
long blonde her hair behind her shoulders and shrugged. Shorty inspected the room suspiciously and
found teddy bears and stuffed animals all around the room.
"Still going for
the whole baby act thing, huh Kelly?" Shorty asked glaring at the latex baby
suit hanging in the corner.
"Not all the
time," Kelly pouted crossing her arms and placing a pacifier in her mouth
despite the fact she was wearing a police uniform.
"Uh, that's not
very penal code Kelly," Shorty mumbled.
Kelly spit out the pacifier and grabbed her police club.
"Better?" She
asked in her sexy whispering voice.
"Yeah, I'm going
to go now…with Columbo…and…yeah, we're going now."
Shorty walked
out of the smoke infested room, holding on tightly to her precious pet. Kelly stood at the door and waved to
Columbo.
"Shorty," she
called, fingers playing in her wild blonde hair. "I'm sorry about stealing Columbo…" she sighed and added in a high pitched voice, "he's just so
fuzzy!"
"Right," Shorty
said cocking her eyebrow at the mysterious blonde. Kelly shut the door, leaving Shorty alone in the hall with
Columbo. "I'll never figure that woman
out and I don't think anyone ever will."
Columbo squeaked
and shrugged his shoulders. Shorty held
on to the fuzzy creature as she walked back to her hotel room, and told him
about all the crazy things she saw that morning looking for him…
Pretty crazy
huh? Oh well I hope you liked it. Cuz if you hated it then I was a big waste
of time for me to type it! I liked it! Please tell me how you feel though and write
a review. Until next time!
Amazonness Ryoga