By animeninjaNIPPON
The next day, we went straight to work. Ponchi was still recuperating from his operation, so he stayed in the "editing room". No one dared to make any references to him or his predicament, but I was sure everyone was thinking about it.
Life at Viz sucked for Ponchi and a guy named Mr. Satan (whom everyone called "Hercule"), but I was enjoying it. Everyone else seemed happy at Viz, too (especially Yugi and his friends). At Viz, the execs didn't call me names or make me wear itchy blue underwear. I was allowed to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. Sure Ponchi's surgery was a little extreme, but 4kids would have done far worse...
I didn't have time to continue my thought, for I was brusquely interrupted by the ringing of a telephone. Anna picked up the receiver in the manner of an inn hostess. I wasn't really interested in the conversation she was having, so I left the room and went to find the guys.
Later that day, Anna informed us that Upper Deck was interested in using our likenesses on trading cards.
"We have a meeting with them scheduled for tomorrow," she said.
"Do I get to be in the trading card game?" Manta asked.
"How should I know?" Anna answered. "I wasn't given specific details."
"I heard that everyone at Viz has their own TCG," Yoh said.
"Not Naruto," I replied. "And not that man who turns into a woman... or woman who turns into a man... I dunno." It suddenly struck me that only a select few of our groups had TCGs. I wondered why.
I didn't have much trouble sleeping, since I wasn't sure whether or not I should be worried about that meeting with Upper Deck. Soon I would realize that I did have a reason to be afraid.
We arrived at Upper Deck around 11:30 am. A few suits were walking around, asking for our identification. A big, burly exec came up to me. "Name?" he asked.
"HoroHoro," I replied.
"HoroHoro," he mused. "HoroHoro... Oh! I see! You must be Trey Racer!"
The words "Trey Racer" echoed in my mind like a nightmare from the past. I suddenly realized that Upper Deck was going to publicize our images with our American names.
I fell to my knees, arms outstretched to the Great Spirit, eyes closed tightly, head bent earthbound, and yelled, "NOOOOOO!"
End of part nine
