Disclaimer: FLCL is property of Gainax studios. All original character/places/ideas/etc are mine
Author's Note: This change in scenery is either win big or lose horribly. Please keep reviewing! I try to churn out a chapter a day for your viewing pleasure!
" N-Naota?" Eri asked startled, stepping back tentatively as Naota grabbed at his head, his face twisting into one of excruciating pain. Besides his pained expression on his face, his entire body seemed to go limp, falling to his knees before a multitude of spikes burst from his head, like massive porcupine quills.
Naota's eyes rolled into the back of his head, momentarily beginning to fall to his side before the quills exploded outward, growing substantially within seconds until Naota was rocketed up far above Eri's head, the massive spikes shooting up around her like a cage.
Eri stood motionless, as she could faintly see a large red eye open at the top of Naota's head. Split seconds after that a small but much fatter horn ripped out of Naota's head, Naota sitting upon the top of the creature that had emerged.
Naota groaned, picking himself up momentarily, then looking down at Eri, who stood in something between fear and stark shock, gazing up at the massive creature that had emerged from Naota's head so suddenly.
As if there was some unspoken command, the creature threw itself into motion, its one massive eye opening, a long laser burst slicing like a sword through the nearest apartment building in one lightning quick stroke. The robotic monstrosity, which looked much like some sort of enormous spider and was nearly as tall as the apartment building it had jus cut cleanly in half, began to move downtown, blasting and slicing absolutely everything with it's monstrous glowing eye…
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Haruko sped through the now deserted streets of Mabase, most people likely hiding themselves in their basements or in bomb shelters at the first signs of destruction. The alien took a moment to wonder exactly what had set off Naota's N-O Channel. Haruko had noticed long before that most reactions happened when Naota unveiled truthful feelings or experienced some sort of extreme emotions. The only person Haruko had left Naota with was that Eri girl.
" What would he have to tell her-" Haruko stopped herself mid-sentence, already guessing at the answer. Setting her face in a determined look, something obviously rare and never seen by anyone on the planet Earth, Haruko sped the Vespa up a set of stairs, hitting the sidewalk and flipping high into the air.
In mid flight, Haruko dropped off the back of the yellow Vespa, unslinging her Bass and setting her feet on it, hitting a rail seconds later and gliding down it as if the bass were a skateboard. Haruko shot from pole to gutter to rail to rooftop, finally flinging herself high into the air as she neared the creature, its back to her. Naota clung to the robot's main body as its spindly legs moved rapidly, moving lightning fast for its remarkable size.
With one fluid wrist motion, Haruko pulled her bass out from under her, opening her arms wide. Moments later Haruko grabbed hold of one of the massive leg parts, swinging herself up and on top of the leg, leaping from one to the next, hopping closer and closer to Naota, her Rickenbacker bass grasped tightly in her right hand.
Just when Haruko neared Naota's position on the central section of the robotic spider, a sudden whirring sound floated through the air, drowning out even the destruction of the buildings. Haruko stopped, standing atop the moving leg, seeming to easily keep her balance despite the constant jerking of the limbs. Haruko's eyes spotted it the source of the noise, a huge green-yellow ball of energy being hurled at thousands of miles per hour toward the rampaging monster.
Haruko, in a desperate leap, reached out and grabbed the semi-huddled form of Naota, taking him in her arms and speeding right over the edge of the creature, the limp Naota under one arm and her bass in the other, speeding towards the ground at a rate faster than most humans would prefer to hit (as being turned into human jelly doesn't really appeal to many people). Haruko yet again went to position the duo on her bass only to have them thrown even farther as the green yellow ball of energy smashed into the side of the robotic creature, blowing off several legs and sending it sprawling.
The terrific explosion threw the unlikely duo hurdling with great force. Naota, who had been in a state of semi-conscious (he's been out of practice with massive monsters coming out of his head), blinked then looked around, feeling disoriented. That was when Naota noticed that he was being hurled roughly towards a rather unpleasant looking, spiked fence. Naota began to utter some sort of prayer to God that it was a dream before a purple van pulled up suddenly with a screech, it's sliding passenger door open. Naota and Haruko flew into the van and smashed against the other side, distorting their faces against the glass window.
" Ow…" the teen and alien echoed in unison, sliding off the window as whoever was driving the van floored it, spinning around a corner and taking off down the street.
It could only have been some sort of divine intervention or pure dumb luck as the van sped away just in time to avoid the oncoming barrage of massive energy blasts, ripping huge smoldering craters of ripped pavement and broken pipes, the only thing left from Naota head. A small ball of reddish flame then began to develop, but one final massive energy blast made it dissolve in the much larger energy blast.
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" Commander Amarao!" second in command Kitsurubami called to Amarao, who was pacing back and fourth, chin up, and trying to contemplate exactly how to deal with this situation. The IIB here on Earth wasn't equipped to battle space pirates, especially since the Earth was under Medical Mechanica's "Don't Damage" list.
" What's happening now?" Amarao asked, striding over quickly to Kitsurubami's side, looking up at the massive screen that displayed all varieties of data in an endless stream to the IIB headquarters.
" It's the pirates, they're entering Earth's atmosphere!" Kitsurubami's voice echoed her worry, there were no flat landing places in their general vicinity, not to fit the massive spaceship that the pirates piloted. Amarao grimaced, realizing they were going to have to make one then.
" Right, keep everyone else here, Kitsurubami, come with me." Amarao ordered, walking calmly out from the command center toward the parking lot and hopping in the jeep. The IIB commander was sure he could clear this up rather easily, wave his badge around, drop the Medical Mechanica name a couple of times, and the pirates would likely leave.
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" Haruko….what the HELL WAS THAT STUFF!?" Naota began pulling his hair out, finally recovering from the shock of nearly being impaled horribly, ending his very short life.
" Space to planet barrage. I'd say a P class frigate, so it's probably space pirates. Anything military would have blown us straight to hell and black and they could have been a couple hundred miles off." Haruko said matter-of-factly but so entirely calm that Naota was even more annoyed then before.
"SPACE PIRATES!? Wait…how do you know all this stuff anyways? And why are you so damn calm!? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY CAT?" Naota was losing it, Haruko would have recommended he take a valium but she was too busy pulling Miyu-Miyu from a small backpack, that really was a transportable wormhole that she ordered from the home shopping network.
" Right….No, improve aim…yea, he's here…I told you not to bring that up again!…you're really ruining our chances of getting it…" Haruko began to speak to the backside of Miyu Miyu as if it were some sort of transmitter. Sighing in exasperation, Naota turned to the driver of the van, entirely forgetting about their rescuer.
" Eri?!" Naota expressed his surprise as he looked around the car seat at Ninamori Eri who drove at breakneck speeds, a deep scowl on her face.
" Oh, Naota, are you guys Ok? I got worried about you two and grabbed my mom's van, right in the nick of time it seems." Eri spoke to Naota as if he were a second, glancing over at him quickly when he crept into the front passenger seat, Haruko chatted lazily with Miyu Miyu as if nothing were wrong.
" Yeah, thanks to you Eri…" Naota tried to express his sincerity at having his life saved, but Eri seemed to concerned with driving at the quickest pace possible along the thin streets of Mabase. Naota sighed, looking back at the languid Haruko, wondering what he had blundered into now.
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" Faster Kitsurubami!" Amarao ordered, his eyebrows twitching like they had a life of their own and going over a checklist of everything he needed. Super sleek sunglasses, check, signed medical insurance and donor card, check, really shiny IIB badge, check.
" Yes sir." Kitsurubami answered, but rolled her eyes, unless Amarao were deaf or blind he wouldn't miss the massive traffic jam that they were stuck in. The line of cars seemed to go on for miles.
"Oh come on, GO ALREADY! Oh, that's real funny buddy, how about I just blast your car into oblivion with this anti-tank rifle?" Kiturubami yelled, waving her fist as the man in front of her, who fueled her anger even more by making several hand gestures that even Howard Stern might gasp at.
Kitsurubami hit the gas, slamming the jeep into the back of the car and destroying the back end of it. Slowly, the hummer climbed up and on top of the car, then driving finally off of it. No one messes with a stressed Kitsurubami.
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" There…land there." a deep and guttural sounding voice ordered, one slimy, green hand, which had all five fingers of a human hand but was webbed slightly in-between.
" Yes Cap'n" an obedient voice, just as guttural, echoed the captain's commands, a slimy finger tapping a large red button, huge energy balls leveling the hillside around Mabase. Other slimy hands reached out, pressing intricately made buttons, and a helmsman, turning hard on the control to land the massive spaceship.
Anywhere on the ship, however, one could hear the stamping of many feet as pirate after pirate exited the armory, preparing for the oncoming invasion. Earth wouldn't fall to Medical Mechanica, it would fall to the most feared pirates in the universe, the Yank-a-Tentacle Pirates…