Hey there, everyone! I just had a huge rush of idea's for today's chapter! So many, in fact, I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit them all in this chapter! Anyway, let's get things started, shall we?
---Kouji Tamino
-----
Love Hina Next: Second Phase
Chapter 36: Big Brother…
A day had passed since Meiruuna's attack. After licking their wounds, the girls were ready to try and save their 'poor excuse for a man' guy friend and current supporter, Shinichi. Naoko was almost fully recovered and was out of bed again. "Any news about Shin-sama?" She asked, walking into the game room in her pink pajamas. The others were sitting, thinking. She frowned as they all shook their heads.
"It's as if he, Meiruuna, and Kai have completely disappeared without a trace…" Ami muttered. "We haven't been able to spot any sign of them… Sorry, Naoko. We're just as worried as you are…"
Junko growled. "And on top of that, Meiruuna's got this whole crazy genocide plan of hers!!" She sighed, calming down. "I don't know how she plans to do it, but it can't be good…"
Megumi pouted. "Well, that just sucks… I don't want to die!"
"None of us do, Megumi…" Sakura said, annoyed by this whole ordeal. "But it looks like every human on this plant besides psychics is gonna kick the bucket soon… Grr, why can't she just get it over with, already?! The suspense is killing me!!" Suddenly, there was a huge crash outside. Sakura dived down to the floor, covering her head. "Oh my god, I didn't mean it!! I want to live!!! Please don't do this so soon!!"
Junko rolled her eyes. "Settle down, you spaz… Sounds like someone had an accident. We should go make sure their okay…"
-----
Once outside, Ami's eyes widened at the smoky remains of a very familiar looking van. "Oh no, it can't be…" Ami's suspicions were halted, however, when she got a good look at the driver. While he wore the familiar outfit, right down to the square shaped glasses with the funky design on the arms, he wasn't Seta or Keitaro. His hair was short and spiky, black, and he had a peculiar smile on his face. His eyes seemed to be permanently closed, as he never seemed to open them.
The man smiled, waving. "Um, hey there, ladies! Would you happen to know if Shinji Suichi still lives here?" He grinned. "Or has the place become a brothel?"
"Pervert!!" They screamed, tossing random objects at his head.
He chuckled as they missed their intended target. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!! I was only kidding!! You see, I'm Shinji's oldest son, Shin…"
Junko smacked her forehead. "Does he give all of his children similar names? How concited can one guy get?!"
Shin tilted his head. "Huh?" He raised a finger in realization. "Oh, you must mean my little brother, Shinichi! Yep, that's us… Shinji Suichi, Shin Suichi, and Shinichi Suichi… God, our family name sucks… It isn't even supposed to be a family name!"
"Um… Shin-san? My name is Ami, and I was wondering… Would you happen to know a Noriyasu Seta or a Keitaro Urashima?"
Shin's face brightened up. "Oh of course! I was Urashima-sempai's assistant back in the day! I just recently found a set of golden weapons and items! I handed them over to the museum, but they were stolen on the way there, unfortunately…" He opened one eye slyly. "I slipped my mother a set of earrings that I found with them, though…"
Junko walked up to Shin and socked him in the face. "Dumb ass! We almost got killed because of those items!"
"Junko!!" Sakura screamed. "He's Shinichi's brother and another one of my cousins! We should be kind to him!"
Shin tilted his head in confusion. "You're my cousin? Odd, I wasn't aware of any cousins…"
Sakura sighed. "Figures…"
Megumi cleared her throat. "I hate to break this up, but there is something you should know, Shin…"
Shin looked over to Megumi and smiled brightly. "Oh, is that you, Megumi? Wow, I haven't seen you in years!" He looked her up and down, grinning. "You certainly have grown since I last saw you…" He groaned as he was bonked on the head. "Ow…"
Megumi glared at him. "This is serious…"
-----
Shin nodded, both eyes open in an intense stare. "I see… Well, this is certainly a very huge problem…"
"Shin-sama never told us that he had an older brother…" Naoko said softly.
Shin raised an eyebrow. "Shin-sama? Oh, you must mean Shinichi… Well, I don't blame him… I left the family on some pretty nasty terms… My father wanted me to take over the company when he died, but wouldn't have any of it… I ran from home at the age of 16... I ran into Keitaro and he took me under his wing… Taught me to drive and everything!"
"We can see that…" Ami muttered, sweat dropping. "So, if that's the case, what brings you here now if you didn't know about Shinichi?"
Shin readjusted his glasses. "I came here today to try and make amends. But it looks like he's not here, as usual… And now my little brother's been kidnapped and humanity is doomed." He sighed sadly. "Damn, could this day get any worse?"
"Um, guys?" Megumi asked.
Ami sighed. "Yes, Megumi?"
She pointed outside towards the sky. "Has there always been a floating fortress above the city?!"
"What?!" Everyone screamed, rushing outside. Sure enough, there was a black gothic style castle in the sky. How Meiruuna came into possession of such a fortress, they did not know.
"But… how in the hell is that possible?!" Junko screamed. "How could we have missed it?!"
Tenshi gasped. "The clouds! It must have been really high up and we couldn't see it!!"
"So, then…" Shin began, looking to the girls. "What now?"
"We plan…" Ami said plainly.
-----
In the bath, the girls began to formulate a plan of attack. "So, how should we do this? An all out attack or stealth?"
"Stealth, definitely…" Junko replied. "As much as I want to storm the place and kick the shit out of Meiruuna, we have to be careful… We have no idea what she has planned, and who knows? She might even be reading our minds right now…" A vein appeared in her forehead as she realized that Shin was in the bath with them as well.
The slightly perverted man smiled. "So, what's the game plan, girls?"
"Get out!!" the girls all screamed, tossing him out of the bathroom.
Sakura nodded. "I agree with Junko… We have to be as silent as possible…"
"So, stealth, huh?" Shin asked, back in the bath. "Sounds like fun! We can be like ninjas and--"
"We said, get out, you perv!!" Once again, Shin was tossed out of the bathroom.
-----
And so, their mission to save Shinichi, and possibly humanity, began. Ami created an invisible bubble and floated them all up to the fortress. Naoko, back in her regular clothes, shivered at the sight of all the gargoyle statues on the building. Junko brought her younger sister closer to her in a hug. "Don't worry, kiddo… It's just stone… It can't hurt you!" She growled as Shin hugged her.
Shin grinned, holding Junko and Naoko close to him. "Yeah! If we all stick together, we'll all be just fine!" He screamed as Junko pounded him. "Okay, I'll stop…" He muttered, in pain.
-----
Once inside the fortress, the group decided to split up into groups. "It's too bad Kairi isn't here…" Ami said. "Would have made groups easier…"
"No, I'm here…" Kairi said, appearing. Her eyes were open, however, and she had yellow irises. She also seemed sadder than usual. "I may be in a bad mood, but I would never let Shinichi-kun down… I owe him for the other day."
Ami nodded. "Good. In that case it will be Junko and Naoko, me and Tenshi, Megumi and Sakura, and Shin with Kairi…"
Shin frowned. "What, I don't get to travel with one of the living gals?"
Kairi glared at him in disgust. "It's a wonder that someone like Shinichi can be related to you…"
Shin sweat dropped. "Good grief… No one can take a joke these days, can they?"
-----
And so, the small groups of two traveled down the hallway. Only a few minutes after they had separated from the others, Junko and Naoko had run into Kai. He grinned. "So, you've come for Shinichi, I'm guessing… Well, too bad. I'm not letting anyone get to the mistress…"
Junko cracked her knuckles. "Stand back, sis… I'll handle this one!"
"No!" Naoko screamed. "Don't hurt him!" She walked up to Kai and frowned. "Kai-kun… Why do you do such bad things?"
Kai shrugged. "Cuz it's fun…"
Naoko sighed. "Well, is it fun when I do this?" She kicked Kai in the knee, making him yelp.
"Hey, that hurt!!" Kai screamed. "What did you do that for?!"
"Was it fun?" Naoko asked.
Kai shook his head. "Well no, actually…"
"How about this?" She grabbed his ear and yanked on it hard.
"Ahh!! Ahh!! Stop it!! That really hurts!!" Kai whined, his eyes becoming watery.
"Is this fun?" She pulled on his nose and twisted it.
"Waahhh!! Mistress! Mommy!! Help me!!" Kai cried, tears running down his face.
Junko sweat dropped. 'What the hell is this? She tells me not to hurt him, but she's torturing the poor boy!'
-----
Meanwhile, in the middle of the fortress, Meiruuna and Shinichi were back in their clothes. Shinichi was no longer chained up. "Well, besides the being chained up part, that was pretty… fun…" Shinichi said nervously. "I feel really weird now, though…"
Meiruuna smirked. "Relax, you get used to it the first few times…" She pounced on him and licked him on the nose teasingly. "So, wanna go the whole way? I could show you a thing or two before I annihilate you and the rest of your kind…"
Shinichi frowned up at her sadly. "Ms. Meiruuna, why are you doing this?"
Meiruuna licked her lips. "I dunno, because it's fun… Plus, this will probably be the last time I ever get to do something like this and--"
Shinichi blushed. "No!! I mean, why kill us all? There are good people, you know…"
Meiruuna sighed, standing up. "I know that… But the problem, I can't control who lives and who dies… I'm really gonna miss a few humans… Especially you, Shinichi… You've been so nice about all of this… Doing everything I wanted without barely any objection…" She chuckled a bit. "Now I can see why Sakura wants you as her slave… You'd make the perfect candidate…" She frowned. "But you see, I'm only doing this for the good of the planet… It's slowly dying due to the heavy damage done to it by humans…"
Shinichi smiled at her, standing up. "You know, Ms. Meiruuna… You're not that bad of a person… Why not stop all of this nonsense and--"
"Nonsense?!" Meiruuna snapped, getting up in Shinichi's face. "You think this is all nonsense?! How dare you!" She turned away, walking over to a device. "Maybe I was wrong about you…" She turned back to him, patting the machine. "You see this? This machine will send special electric pulses all across the globe, basically frying the brains of all humans using 10 percent or less of their brains…"
"Won't that leave a lot of dead bodies all over earth?" Shinichi asked.
"Yes, but the machine also increases how fast the dead bodies rot, the worms will eat them, and create nutritious soil to help re-heal the earth!"
Shinichi gulped. "Wow, you really had all of this planned out, didn't you?"
-----
Meanwhile, Naoko was counseling a crying Kai. "There there, Kai…" She said softly, patting him on the back. "Now do you see that what you were doing is wrong?"
"Y-yes…" Kai stuttered, sniffling. "But… I'm supposed to guard Mistress Meiruuna and follow her every order!"
"Says who?" Naoko asked. She smiled at him. "Sometimes, you have to do what you think is right…"
Kai nodded. "Thank you, Naoko…" He stood up. "I know what I have to do, now…"
Junko blinked rapidly in surprise. "Wow, Naoko… I didn't think it would work, but you did it!"
Naoko nodded. She frowned a bit. "But I don't want to do that ever again…"
Junko looked over to Kai. "So, you gonna join us?"
Kai shrugged. "Eh, why the hell not?"
-----
Meiruuna looked at the clock on the machine. "Just a few more minutes and this fortress drops, frying all the normies…"
"Wait, wait, wait…" Shinichi muttered, waving his hands. "You went through all the trouble of getting this nice fortress, just to drop it to the ground and have it explode?"
Meiruuna shrugged. "Eh, it was just some random castle I stole from some rich dude…"
"Stop right there, Meiruuna!" Shin screamed, bursting into the room. "Your plans of genocide end here!!"
"Shin?! My big brother?!" Shinichi screamed in surprise. "What are you doing here?!"
Meiruuna crossed her arms. "So, the whole group is here? Or is it just you?"
Kairi floated in, followed by Ami, Tenshi, Sakura, and Megumi. "No…" Ami replied. "The whole gang's here!" She looked around, the shrugged. "Well, most of us… Junko and Naoko should be here shortly…"
Meiruuna shrugged. "No matter… It doesn't matter how many of you there are… I'll kick your asses just like I did the last time!" She formed a small ball of energy, aiming it at Shin. "But first, let's see if those rumors are true…" She shot the ball towards Shin.
"Look out!!" Shinichi screamed.
"Hyah!!" Shin yelled out, holding out his hands and nullifying the ball of energy.
"What?!" everyone except Shin and Meiruuna gasped.
"So it's true…" the dark psychic said, with a hint of amusement. "You are the legendary 'Psychic Jammer'… A man capable of jamming any psychic power… But I thought that you'd be older…"
Shin laughed. "That would be my father… It runs in the family, you see."
Meiruuna gave a wide smile. "If that's the case…" she held out her hands, sending several red ropes of energy towards Shinichi. They wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck. His pupils dilated completely as he gasped for breath.
Shin's eyes widened. "Shinichi!! What the hell are you doing to him?! Let him go!!"
Meiruuna rolled her eyes. "Relax, I'm not hurting him… I was just testing out another rumor I heard… about how if a psychic can take control of a dormant psychic jammer, she can tap into his locked away powers and gain control of them, making him a 'Psychic Jammer Canceller'…"
The mind controlled Shinichi grinned evilly, raising his fists. "How's about it, brother? Want to go a round or two?"
Shin sighed, putting his own fists up in a defensive manner. "No matter… I could beat him when we were little, I can beat him now… No offense, Shinichi, but you are a complete wimp…"
Meiruuna laughed. "Oh, I think you'll find that he's gotten much better…"
"Yes, dear brother…" Shinichi began, punching the air quickly a few times. "Much better…"
Meanwhile, the clock was counting down, with 15 minutes left until the drop…
End of Chapter 36
-----
Hey, lookie! This is the first time in a while I've gotten more than one chapter up per week! It's also the first time in a while I've managed to get a chapter up in one night! Anyway, seeya next time! (When ever that is…)
---Kouji Tamino
