Hi. I haven't been very diligent with my writing lately, as seeing that I have been doing an arse-load of writing. You see, in Washington state it is mandatory to take this huge standardized test called the WASL and it brings with it many controversies aaannnddd… yeah. Been busy. By the way, there is a secret kind of hidden thing in this… but… it's sort of obvious so… yeah.


"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ryoma screamed. Karupin was the only living thing that held a special place in Ryoma's heart, and now he was gone.

"Don't panic just yet," said Momo, "he couldn't have gone TOO far. Does he even know where you live?" The regulars gathered to have a discussion of what to do. Excluded from this group was Inui, who was still writing things down.

This isn't good… I must resort to Plan B and abort this experiment before it gets out of hand…

Inui felt a group of eyes coming down on him as he wrote in his notebook. He looked up to see many disgruntled faces glaring at him. His face remained serious.

"I already had a counter-measure planned out in case something like this happened… so don't worry. All we have to do is capture Tezuka and make him drink the antidote. If he resists, as he probably will, we might have to resort to injecting the serum instead…"

"Do you already have this formula made?" asked Oishi.

"No, but I do have all the materials ready to be assembled in my lab at home… in order to be more efficient, I would need an assistant to, well, assist me." Inui turned to address all of the regulars. "We need to divide up the tasks at hand here. I'll need one person to come with me to make the potion and I'll pair off the rest of you to go split up and find Tezuka. He should be easy to locate, considering he told us of where he was going. First things first – I'll pair you off. Momo, you go with Ryoma. Eiji, you go with Oishi. Fuji, you go with—," Inui paused. Some of the players looked confused as to why Inui had stopped talking. They started to look around and then finally realized that Fuji had vanished, as well.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! FUJI IS MISSING NOW, TOO!" Squealed Eiji. "Is it possible that Tezuka could have come back for him?"

"Could be…" said Inui scratching his head. "Well now this complicates things… hm. Takashi, you form a group with Eiji and Oishi. Kaido, you come with me."

"A-alright… I guess… fshhh…" mumbled Kaido. He didn't really care about returning Tezuka to his former condition. Now that Tezuka is off to kidnap Karupin, things have been jeopardized.

"Alright, everyone! Let's go! And keep an eye out for Fuji!"

The regulars split up into their assigned groups and headed for their destinations.

Fuji had been sprinting for the past five minutes. He had a theory about Tezuka's condition, and it would be best to prove it without anyone else around or before Tezuka was returned to his normal state. Being a creepy evil stalker-person, Fuji knew exactly where Ryoma's house was… he even knew a SHORTCUT. He ran across sidewalks, nearly careening into half of the people occupying them. He hung a right at a corner and then went ambling down an alley. Before long, he was standing in front of the Echizen residence. He was now wondering by what means Tezuka was planning to get into the house, take Karupin, and then get back out without being seen. Fuji put his hands on his knees for a moment, pondering this, and catching his breath.

"Maybe Tezuka hasn't arrived yet," he mumbled between gasps. Suddenly, he heard a snap. A snap kind of like when you are sneaking around and you step on a twig because you're a bumbling idiot. Fuji surveyed the area around him. There was no one in sight. He darted around to the side of the house that had the window for Ryoma's room.

…SNAP.

Fuji's body froze. He looked around nervously with the hairs on his arm sticking straight up. After a few minutes of silence, Fuji moved over to a nearby tree and leaned against it. He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

"Gah… where ARE you?"

That was the last phrase Fuji uttered before he heard a yell and then something heavy hit him. Then, all went black.

"KAIDO, QUIT TOUCHING THAT!" Inui shouted to his assistant, who was curiously poking and inspecting all of the wonderful gadgets and gizmos in Inui's room.

"Sorry, senpai," he muttered, still looking around.

"I'm not mad or anything," Inui started, shifting his glasses a little, "it's just some of the things in my room are… how should I put it… dangerous? Fatal? Deadly? Take your pick." Kaido nodded and sat down in a swivel chair near Inui's desk. Everything was cluttered with papers and beakers… past experiments… it was quite the spectacle. Inui was shuffling through some things in a cardboard box with a picture of a skull and cross bones on it. Kaido was beguiled by the fact that his companion could locate anything at all. Inui paused for a moment and looked over at Kaido.

"Ah!" Inui pointed to a small blue bottle on his desk. "Could you grab that for me?" Kaido did as he was asked. His hand approached the mysterious jar, and then hesitated a little. What if this bottle killed him? What if it contained deadly acids that might explode when the heat from his hand made it warmer? A drop of sweat rolled down Kaido's cheek as his hand hovered over the mystery bottle. Inui started to notice that Kaido was being awfully quiet and he looked over to see what he was doing. He gave a small laugh when he realized the predicament going through Kaido's mind.

"It's ok. It's just sugar water," said a smirking Inui.

Kaido jerked his head over and gritted his teeth.

"I-I know that! I'm getting it already!" Kaido managed to stammer as he grabbed the bottle as quickly as he could. He tossed it over to Inui who had assembled some beakers, test tubes and an assortment of powders. Inui held up the bottle to his eyes and then poured some into a beaker. He then set the beaker onto a Bunsen burner and set the heat to medium.

"This sugar water may seen harmless at first, but if you know what to add to it…" Inui added on teaspoon of a saffron colored powder into the beaker. Immediately, a giant plume of blue smoke rose and filled the room with a kind of POOF sound. The two scientists coughed. Inui stumbled over to his window and opened it quickly to release the smoke from the chamber.

"…CHAIN REACTION," Kaido coughed.

"We're ready," said Inui sealing a lid on the beaker and turning off the Bunsen burner. "I hope the others have managed to find Tezuka by now…"

"And Karupin!"

"Echizen! Slow down! Are you insane!"

"THE ONLY INSANE ONE IS THE PERSON WHO THREATENS TO HARM MY PRECIOUS KARUPIN!"

Momo and Ryoma were running full speed towards the general direction of Ryoma's house.

"Does Tezuka even know where you live? Or know what a cat is? I think you're JUMPing to conclusions."

Ryoma turned to his companion who was running closely behind him. "I want to know exactly HOW he knew the name of my cat!" Since Ryoma was turned around to face Momo while he ran, he wasn't watching what was ahead of him. As soon as he had reached a corner, he collided with the second group of regulars: Oishi, Taka, and Eiji.

"Since we're all in one squadron now, we might as well travel together," Oishi pointed out.

"Might as well…" said a Ryoma with ringing ears.

When Fuji came to, Tezuka was right above him and staring deeply into his eyes. He smiled as soon as Fuji managed to blink.

"HEEEY! You're alright! That's great because I was really worried. You came in real handy when I needed out of that tree! You're real comfy, you know that?"

Fuji was still trying to grasp his situation. More blinking commenced. Karupin popped up from over Tezuka's shoulder. Tezuka was attempting to poke Fuji in the eyes to get some sort of response from him. Fuji batted away Tezuka's hands with slight agitation. "What are you DOING here?" Fuji asked, rubbing his head.

Tezuka looked a little confused for a moment. "I was getting Karupin." He thought it seemed pretty obvious. Karupin yawned.

"Why did you take Karupin?" Fuji was starting to feel like he was playing 20 questions with an 8-year-old.

"Well, it's my birthday soon and I've always wanted a cat."

"Are you sure that you have always wanted a cat?"

"Since I was very little, yes."

It was all starting to make sense to Fuji now. Inui's juice doesn't make people more empowered, it just unleashes their inner-child. Tezuka's inner-child just happens to be some crazy spaz obsessed with cats and it had been locked away for a long time now. Fuji was trying to think of what to ask him next. "Is there anything else you wanted for your birthday? Karupin here already has an owner." Tezuka looked a little disappointed and then turned a little rouge in the cheeks.

"…Yes."

"Can you tell me what it is?"

Tezuka shook his head. "Don't wanna."

Fuji realized that in order to communicate with someone of a younger age, he had to think and speak like one. "Oh PLEEEEEASE? You can tell me! I can keep a secret."

"I want a kiss from my secret crush," said Tezuka, beaming.

Fuji's eyes shot open. This! This is a one-time opportunity! If he can get Tezuka to confess to him about who his love is… AUGH HE NEEDED TO KNOW NOW! Fuji was almost unable to control himself.

"OH COOL, TEZUKA. CAN YOU TELL ME WHO IT IS BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE—" Tezuka put his hand over Fuji's mouth to quiet him. "MFFRFGLPMHK!" was the muffled cry that came from Fuji. Fuji turned around to see that the other Seigaku members had spotted them. Blast! With all of the other regulars there, there was no WAY Tezuka would say anything. Fuji had to think quickly before the others got any closer.

"Tell me later?"

Tezuka just smiled.

"Please?"

"I'll meet you at the donut shop in an hour."

"Oh ok… wait… you like donuts?"

"I EAT THEM EVERYDAY!"

Fuji was stymied. He stared at Tezuka dumbly. As the regulars neared, Tezuka did this cool ninja move where you run away very quickly, almost appearing to vanish. By the time the regulars caught up to Fuji, he was nowhere to be seen. They were all trying to catch their breath.

"What happened here? What's wrong, Fuji?" asked Oishi. Fuji grinned and his eyes returned to their normal, shut state.

"Nothing… the man hunt continues."

Nearby, Momo was shouting, "HEY, ECHIZEN! I FOUND KARUPIN!" Ryoma's ears perked up.

"GIVEHIMTOMEARRRRRRRRRRRHGHGHG!" The two were reunited. Ryoma took Karupin in his clutches into his house, so he wouldn't have to help look for Tezuka with the others.

"So, should we split off into groups again?" Asked Taka.

"If you guys don't mind, I prefer to do footwork independently… it's just more efficient," Fuji stated smoothly.

"Alright."

Moments later, a shrill scream was heard and Ryoma came flying out of his house.

"TEZUKA DREW MOUSTACHES ON ALL OF MY STAR WARS ACTION FIGURES WITH A SHARPIE PEN!" He screeched, holding up a newly moustached Han Solo as Exhibit A.

"You have Star Wars action figures!" asked Momo trying hard not to laugh. Trying wasn't good enough for Momo. He burst out laughing extremely loudly, which frightened anyone in near them in a five mile radius.

"Urge to kill Tezuka… RISING…" muttered Ryoma.


Sorry that this took me forever to update. Blarhg. I'm out of school now so I should have more free time to write. Did anyone notice the hidden thingamjig I put in? Muahahahas.