WGYWKY
By The Unknowner
(A/N: Thanks again to my reviewers, and stay tuned - it may
have been a slow-ish startup, but the trademark frantic pacing
of FLCL picks up in this chapter. I haven't updated because I
was finishing my free pen-and-paper RPG system, Nomad 99. Check
it out at my website, http://unknowner.deviantart.com )
00000100: Enter: Night
"I am shocked, SHOCKED to find that there is gambling going on
in this establishment!"
"Your winnings, sir..."
"Ah, thank you."
Ninamori giggled and jotted the line down in her binder before
popping another buttery morsel of popcorn in her mouth. Film
would be her favorite class if she had a decent teacher. She
suppressed a smile as she glanced at Naota and back at the screen.
*Of course, it does have it's little incentives...* Remarkably, the
evening had gone off quite well. Naota had insisted he make dinner
for the both of them - his special Roast Beef Ramen. It was pretty
good, if a little overdone, and Haruko had actually managed to stay
out of their way...
"A kiiisss is... just a kiss... a-"
Most of the time.
"SHH!" Haruko's sudden serenade came to a screeching stop as she
was shushed by the two movie watchers.
"Aw, c'mon. It's one of my favorite old movies."
"Yeah, but it's not even at that scene."
"That's what the fast-forward button's for...."
"CUT IT OUT! Lemmelone...." Haruko shrugged and walked out. Naota
sighed, turning back to his notes so he didn't have to look at Eri,
who was grinning at him.
"Well, what do you have down so far?"
"I know that they say this is a great movie, and I guess it is...
but the romantic angle is almost impossible. The one person you
love needs your help, but to do so, you have to let them go with
someone else. No one could make that kind of choice..." Eri looked
down, her smile fading slightly.
"You'd be surpri-"
EeeeeeWHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......
Sudden silence. The civil defense siren was going off.... but...
"Aw, poo. I thought they'd be at least another day or two..." Haruko
pouted. Ninamori's eyes narrowed to slits.
"What was *that* about....?"
"Ehh.... let's just say I have a few... friends... that wanna meet
Ta-kun here."
"What? More weird aliens?"
"...Kinda..." Haruko grinned, scratching the back of her head. With a
loud "pop", all the lights shut off, a strange silence covering them.
"`Cept they have a tendency to overdo their entrances...." Naota dashed
to the window, staring up at the thick cloud cover, or more specifically
at the great, angular shape that now pierced it. It was like a series of
triangular skyscrapers, jutting out of the bottom of a massive inverted
half-globe with no rhyme or reason, with a huge geodesic dome atop it. A
ship. There was an alien ship landing in Mabase. And it was there for him.
Naota did the only thing reasonable at the moment...
He walked back into the living room and kicked the TV.
"Uh... what are you doing?" Eri looked at him worriedly.
"Waiting for the power to come back on."
"Naota, there's a UFO landing! Could you forget the assignment for five minutes?"
"A UFO landed just a few days ago. This is starting to get redundant." He
shrugged. "Let's face it. Around here, aliens don't exactly count as
extraordinary." Haruko gave him a death-stare, obviously deeply insulted.
"These are my friends, Ta-kun. They need your help."
"And why would I go help them....?"
"Because I told you to." All eyes swiveled to the door, where a long,
tall figure with short-cropped red hair and prosthetic eyebrows stood,
arms folded. A strong breeze carried a few leaves into the open door,
where they laid on the welcome mat by the feet of the man named Amaro.
"On governmental order, Nandaba Naota is to accompany myself and a small
BISI party to the privateer vessel Iron Maiden."
"...What...?" Naota just stared. After all this time... "And since when
are you allied with those stupid space pirates?"
"Space pirates? What did I miss here?" Eri buried her head in her hands,
suffering a severe migraine.
"Well, since you destroyed the Medical Mechanica plant, we've had to make
some... hard choices. It was between an alliance with Haruko's people, or
fighting a war against them single handed." Amaro smiled darkly. "Not much
of a choice, huh?"
"...I started a war...?" Suddenly, Naota felt very, very faint...
"It was coming anyway. They want Earth. Badly."
"But... why?" Naota blinked.
"That will be revealed soon enough. Come on, they'll have landed in just a
minute. I know you're coming, Haruko.... and bring Miss Ninamori as well..."
Eri gaped.
"What? Why me-"
"You know too much. If I let you go right now, you'd be a security risk."
He glanced over at Haruko, who just nodded, one eyebrow pricked.
"Yer way too on-the-ball, `Maro-chan. How long have you been planning this?"
"Three years. Roughly. Now quit procrastinating."
**************************************************************************
Momo was already on the hilltop, as Naota expected. So was Kanchi, and the
rest of the robots, adn a large media team, set up behind the police baricades.
What he didn't expect was to see Mamimi.
"So why are you here....?
"Kanchi and I were on a date. I guess this kinda takes precedence, though." She
frowned. "I still wish I had seen Frodo get to Mount Doom, though..."
"Wait - you're dating a-"
"Quiet." Amaro's face was unreadable, but his tone was dead serious. "They're
landing." Indeed they were. The bottommost portrusion of the ship, a spire that
closely resembled the Chrysler Building with a flatter top, slowly hovered about
a hundred yards above them a moment, then spat out a massively long cylinder into
the ground with a satisfying thud. From the side of the tube there appeared a door,
and from the door, there appeared a lone figure, tall and unfathomably thin, with
huge feet and forearms. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of silver lenses that
appeared to stay in place without frames of any sort, and above that his salmon-
colored mane dancd in the wind, making him appear like some kind of wild beast...
he smiled vaguely as he approached, slinging a massive black guitar that was
more like a battleaxe than a weapon from his back and dashed out a short speedmetal
riff. A moment of silence followed, which he took to bow.
"Os Rororos, at your service."
"Captain Amaro, Bureau of Interstellar Immigration." He flashed a series of impressive
looking badges, then quickly packed them back into his jacket. "I see you've decided
to abide by our deal."
"That has yet to be determined... Captain..." the alien turned to Haruko, his expression
turning sour. "I hope for his sake you've found him, Haruko."
"Of course..." Hauko's grin turned catlike, a purr more than a littel audible in her voice.
"Atomsk's heir i-" Naota stepped forward, his eyes locking with Os' mirrored glasses. He
spoke, cutting Haruko off mid-sentence.
"I'm the one you want."
"You?" Os paused, putting a hand to his chin, and slowly trotted around the youth. "You're
the one that the Pirate King chose to bond with?"
"Yep." A trickle of ice water ran into Naota's speech. He was getting impatient.
"Hm... well, you've at least got enough common sense to bring your Axe to a formal affair.
If you are the Heir... prove it." Naota hesitated a moment, then brought out the bass. The
Rickenbacker 4001 series felt good in his hands, the same way it always did. Heavy. Strong.
He closed his eyes and exhaled slightly.
*If you're really inside me, this would be a good time to show it...*
A lone power chord blazed from Naota's strings, followed by a series of low, oscillating
notes. Down-down-up-up-down, updownupdownupdowndown-up-up.... the familiar tune ran by his
ears, but sounded somehow... different. The strings seemed to bend more to his touch, and
there was some sort of strange undertone... what was...
"Stop." Os placed his hand on the guitar. "You're him. I can tell. Haruko?"
"Toldja."
"You also told us he'd be ready for battle. If Lord Atomsk had played a riff with that much
potential power, the entire town would be gone by now. The boy's barely unlocked his gift."
"His name's Naota." Eri stared at Os, eyes quietly defiant.
"Pardon?"
"And don't talk about him like he's not here. From what I've heard, he singlehandedly took
down a Medical Mechanica plant." *Whatever that is,* she added inwardly.
"Yes, with our lord's power coursing through his body. Untrained, he is of little use...
but..." Os smiled. "He knows of his gift... it will be a quick study." A silence. "You will
all stay here tonight. We have much to cover, and only a few weeks in which to do it."
"What?" Eri's face paled. "I.. I can't stay on a spaceship! I-"
"You're an N/O channel, aren't you?" Eri broke off. Os was staring at her.
"A What?"
"You've a precious gift. Not many can turn thought into reality."
"Y... you mean that... thing... that came out of my head?"
"Oh, yes... we will have to train you as well..." Eri collapsed onto her knees. Mamimi was
already inside the lift with Momo, chattering about something or another, and even Naota was
quietly walking along. One thing slowly crept into her mind.
*We should have gone to my place to watch the movie...*
What IS an N/O Channel?
What does Os mean by "training"?
How long can five people and four robots share a spaceship suite before they go MAD?
Do Klingons use Q-tips to clean out their forhead grooves?
TBC.
By The Unknowner
(A/N: Thanks again to my reviewers, and stay tuned - it may
have been a slow-ish startup, but the trademark frantic pacing
of FLCL picks up in this chapter. I haven't updated because I
was finishing my free pen-and-paper RPG system, Nomad 99. Check
it out at my website, http://unknowner.deviantart.com )
00000100: Enter: Night
"I am shocked, SHOCKED to find that there is gambling going on
in this establishment!"
"Your winnings, sir..."
"Ah, thank you."
Ninamori giggled and jotted the line down in her binder before
popping another buttery morsel of popcorn in her mouth. Film
would be her favorite class if she had a decent teacher. She
suppressed a smile as she glanced at Naota and back at the screen.
*Of course, it does have it's little incentives...* Remarkably, the
evening had gone off quite well. Naota had insisted he make dinner
for the both of them - his special Roast Beef Ramen. It was pretty
good, if a little overdone, and Haruko had actually managed to stay
out of their way...
"A kiiisss is... just a kiss... a-"
Most of the time.
"SHH!" Haruko's sudden serenade came to a screeching stop as she
was shushed by the two movie watchers.
"Aw, c'mon. It's one of my favorite old movies."
"Yeah, but it's not even at that scene."
"That's what the fast-forward button's for...."
"CUT IT OUT! Lemmelone...." Haruko shrugged and walked out. Naota
sighed, turning back to his notes so he didn't have to look at Eri,
who was grinning at him.
"Well, what do you have down so far?"
"I know that they say this is a great movie, and I guess it is...
but the romantic angle is almost impossible. The one person you
love needs your help, but to do so, you have to let them go with
someone else. No one could make that kind of choice..." Eri looked
down, her smile fading slightly.
"You'd be surpri-"
EeeeeeWHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......
Sudden silence. The civil defense siren was going off.... but...
"Aw, poo. I thought they'd be at least another day or two..." Haruko
pouted. Ninamori's eyes narrowed to slits.
"What was *that* about....?"
"Ehh.... let's just say I have a few... friends... that wanna meet
Ta-kun here."
"What? More weird aliens?"
"...Kinda..." Haruko grinned, scratching the back of her head. With a
loud "pop", all the lights shut off, a strange silence covering them.
"`Cept they have a tendency to overdo their entrances...." Naota dashed
to the window, staring up at the thick cloud cover, or more specifically
at the great, angular shape that now pierced it. It was like a series of
triangular skyscrapers, jutting out of the bottom of a massive inverted
half-globe with no rhyme or reason, with a huge geodesic dome atop it. A
ship. There was an alien ship landing in Mabase. And it was there for him.
Naota did the only thing reasonable at the moment...
He walked back into the living room and kicked the TV.
"Uh... what are you doing?" Eri looked at him worriedly.
"Waiting for the power to come back on."
"Naota, there's a UFO landing! Could you forget the assignment for five minutes?"
"A UFO landed just a few days ago. This is starting to get redundant." He
shrugged. "Let's face it. Around here, aliens don't exactly count as
extraordinary." Haruko gave him a death-stare, obviously deeply insulted.
"These are my friends, Ta-kun. They need your help."
"And why would I go help them....?"
"Because I told you to." All eyes swiveled to the door, where a long,
tall figure with short-cropped red hair and prosthetic eyebrows stood,
arms folded. A strong breeze carried a few leaves into the open door,
where they laid on the welcome mat by the feet of the man named Amaro.
"On governmental order, Nandaba Naota is to accompany myself and a small
BISI party to the privateer vessel Iron Maiden."
"...What...?" Naota just stared. After all this time... "And since when
are you allied with those stupid space pirates?"
"Space pirates? What did I miss here?" Eri buried her head in her hands,
suffering a severe migraine.
"Well, since you destroyed the Medical Mechanica plant, we've had to make
some... hard choices. It was between an alliance with Haruko's people, or
fighting a war against them single handed." Amaro smiled darkly. "Not much
of a choice, huh?"
"...I started a war...?" Suddenly, Naota felt very, very faint...
"It was coming anyway. They want Earth. Badly."
"But... why?" Naota blinked.
"That will be revealed soon enough. Come on, they'll have landed in just a
minute. I know you're coming, Haruko.... and bring Miss Ninamori as well..."
Eri gaped.
"What? Why me-"
"You know too much. If I let you go right now, you'd be a security risk."
He glanced over at Haruko, who just nodded, one eyebrow pricked.
"Yer way too on-the-ball, `Maro-chan. How long have you been planning this?"
"Three years. Roughly. Now quit procrastinating."
**************************************************************************
Momo was already on the hilltop, as Naota expected. So was Kanchi, and the
rest of the robots, adn a large media team, set up behind the police baricades.
What he didn't expect was to see Mamimi.
"So why are you here....?
"Kanchi and I were on a date. I guess this kinda takes precedence, though." She
frowned. "I still wish I had seen Frodo get to Mount Doom, though..."
"Wait - you're dating a-"
"Quiet." Amaro's face was unreadable, but his tone was dead serious. "They're
landing." Indeed they were. The bottommost portrusion of the ship, a spire that
closely resembled the Chrysler Building with a flatter top, slowly hovered about
a hundred yards above them a moment, then spat out a massively long cylinder into
the ground with a satisfying thud. From the side of the tube there appeared a door,
and from the door, there appeared a lone figure, tall and unfathomably thin, with
huge feet and forearms. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of silver lenses that
appeared to stay in place without frames of any sort, and above that his salmon-
colored mane dancd in the wind, making him appear like some kind of wild beast...
he smiled vaguely as he approached, slinging a massive black guitar that was
more like a battleaxe than a weapon from his back and dashed out a short speedmetal
riff. A moment of silence followed, which he took to bow.
"Os Rororos, at your service."
"Captain Amaro, Bureau of Interstellar Immigration." He flashed a series of impressive
looking badges, then quickly packed them back into his jacket. "I see you've decided
to abide by our deal."
"That has yet to be determined... Captain..." the alien turned to Haruko, his expression
turning sour. "I hope for his sake you've found him, Haruko."
"Of course..." Hauko's grin turned catlike, a purr more than a littel audible in her voice.
"Atomsk's heir i-" Naota stepped forward, his eyes locking with Os' mirrored glasses. He
spoke, cutting Haruko off mid-sentence.
"I'm the one you want."
"You?" Os paused, putting a hand to his chin, and slowly trotted around the youth. "You're
the one that the Pirate King chose to bond with?"
"Yep." A trickle of ice water ran into Naota's speech. He was getting impatient.
"Hm... well, you've at least got enough common sense to bring your Axe to a formal affair.
If you are the Heir... prove it." Naota hesitated a moment, then brought out the bass. The
Rickenbacker 4001 series felt good in his hands, the same way it always did. Heavy. Strong.
He closed his eyes and exhaled slightly.
*If you're really inside me, this would be a good time to show it...*
A lone power chord blazed from Naota's strings, followed by a series of low, oscillating
notes. Down-down-up-up-down, updownupdownupdowndown-up-up.... the familiar tune ran by his
ears, but sounded somehow... different. The strings seemed to bend more to his touch, and
there was some sort of strange undertone... what was...
"Stop." Os placed his hand on the guitar. "You're him. I can tell. Haruko?"
"Toldja."
"You also told us he'd be ready for battle. If Lord Atomsk had played a riff with that much
potential power, the entire town would be gone by now. The boy's barely unlocked his gift."
"His name's Naota." Eri stared at Os, eyes quietly defiant.
"Pardon?"
"And don't talk about him like he's not here. From what I've heard, he singlehandedly took
down a Medical Mechanica plant." *Whatever that is,* she added inwardly.
"Yes, with our lord's power coursing through his body. Untrained, he is of little use...
but..." Os smiled. "He knows of his gift... it will be a quick study." A silence. "You will
all stay here tonight. We have much to cover, and only a few weeks in which to do it."
"What?" Eri's face paled. "I.. I can't stay on a spaceship! I-"
"You're an N/O channel, aren't you?" Eri broke off. Os was staring at her.
"A What?"
"You've a precious gift. Not many can turn thought into reality."
"Y... you mean that... thing... that came out of my head?"
"Oh, yes... we will have to train you as well..." Eri collapsed onto her knees. Mamimi was
already inside the lift with Momo, chattering about something or another, and even Naota was
quietly walking along. One thing slowly crept into her mind.
*We should have gone to my place to watch the movie...*
What IS an N/O Channel?
What does Os mean by "training"?
How long can five people and four robots share a spaceship suite before they go MAD?
Do Klingons use Q-tips to clean out their forhead grooves?
TBC.