"Ah, now THIS is the life!" Martin said with a satisfied yawn, as he, Diana, and Java started their investigation in the outdoor mall that was The Groove. As per usual, the blond paranormalist was performing his own investigation towards all the pretty girls around them. "Nothing but women clad in short shorts and bikinis as far as the eye can see!"
His stepsister sighed. "Oh Martin, you're just impossible!"
"Let's eat here!" Java pointed out a solitary four-seated table. "Find more information for mission too."
"Good call, Jav!" He sat himself down. "Let's find out some more about these Seduc demons that M.O.M. rushed to describe. All I gotta do is fire up the Legendex..." He poked his head around.
"Looking for more girls, Martin?" Diana's eyes glared.
"Get real, sis! I'm trying to make sure no one spots the Legendex! Ya know, keeping it under wraps!" He pressed a few buttons on his watch, and waited.
"U-Watch activated. Legendex selected."
Bringing up the holographic-looking database, the three of them huddled a little closer to hide the Legendex from commoner's eyes.
"Let's see here... (Pg. 1) Succubi and Incubi are demons from an alternate dimension called the Netherworld. They are capable of manipulating human hearts easily using their mastery of charm, seduction, and their ability to bend specific kinds of matter to their will. To be more precise, they can create infinite amounts of detectable but non-counterfeit money to match their current affair. They begin their lives as wisps, until they assimilate their first human form. After that, they keep a humanoid shape, altering their shape every time they go after a new target. Their demonic form keeps the humanoid shape, but also gives them bat wings on their back, a devil's tail, yellow cat eyes, and even bat wings in place of their ears."
Her eyes narrowed. "Well this is just great... if these demons blend in with people, then how are we going to find our target?"
"No sweat, sis! We'll find this thing before dinner time, I bet!" Martin gloated, but then started to sound nervous as he felt the ground starting to rumble. "You guys feel that?"
"Java SEE that! MARTIN! DIANA!" The caveman pointed in front of him, as in the distance, a herd of red-eyed cattle started heading towards the direction of The Groove. "Stampede!"
"A stampede? In the middle of Beverly Hills?" Diana's thought processors were going AWOL on her as people were starting to flee from the herd of cows and bulls heading their way.
"Demon hunting will have to wait!" The blond grabbed Diana's hand, as the three of them jetted. "We have to get out of here!"
--
Heart and Soul Aerobics -- Beverly Hills -- 10:00 AM
"I think this is the place." Alex, dressed in aerobic gear, looked up at the sign, and then took a peak inside, seeing many people, but mostly men and women in their mid-late twenties and thirties, placing their workout bags to the side, and stretching a little bit. She shifted herself to head to the door, but a tanned, blond haired, blue eyed boy in a sweatshirt and shorts blocked her way.
"Alex! Glad you could make it!" The now revealed Laxus was cheery. He headed to the door and held it open for her. "Shall we head inside, milady?"
She giggled. "Oh Laxus, you little gentleman. But hey, you're looking pretty good." She smiled to herself, catching a flash of embarrassment on Laxus's face. "You look hot in boy clothes."
He laughed a little nervously in exchange. "Yeah, that's the usual concensus about me. Anyway, since I'm a regular here, I'll give ya a few heads-up about how things are run." He casually gripped her hand, and led her inside. "I think you'll enjoy this, Alex."
"We'll have to see, hehe!" The tanned girl got all giddy as she walked in.
(meanwhile, at the stampede-infested Groove)
"Wow! What a mess here!" Sam said to Clover, seeing the sudden destruction caused by the stampeding herd of cattle and bulls. Thankfully, the girls were on their jetpacks, looking down at the carnage. "I've heard of the Running of the Bulls, but this is just stupid."
"Yeah, like, tell me about it." Clover scoffed, and eyed a flock of bovine huddling into a store. Immediate rage kicked in. "Oh they are so NOT going to wreck one of my fave stores! That's where all the good leather purses are!"
"Then listen well, meddlers!" A dorky yell arose from nowhere, as the two spies looked down, seeing a man in his mid-thirties with meat-shop clothes, apron, and a stupid hat. "Listen well to the rants of Jack Jersey! For years, you people have slain and enslaved the innocent cow! Now I will lead my bovinic breatheren on an assault towards those who refuse to eat our enemies, the chickens!"
The two spies were just in dumbfounded shock. "Wow..." Sam was not impressed. "That's pretty stupid, buddy! And we fought an evil ice cream man once!"
"Yeah, so it's time to shut your pathetic butt down!" Clover threatened, revving her jetpack to turbo, and charging superfast at him.
"Clover, you might want to calm down a minute!" Sam called out futilely.
"Big mistake for undermining my authority!" The man known as Mr. Jersey cleared his throat just as he dodged a charge from the blond spy. He took a whistle out of his pocket, and blew very hard into it, the resulting sound was a low and loud bellow of a moo, causing all the cows in the area to look up at him. "ATTACK!"
"Oh Lord this is going to take us all day..." Sam pinched the bridge of her nose, when she suddenly sees a whole cavalcade of cattle stacking themselves up like stairs, quickly and to the point where one full-on charged her, knocking her back. "Okay, that's just wrong!"
"Like, who trains cows to do that?" Clover was all agitated, avoiding the jumping prowess of the super-charged cattle. "I mean, do you even have a life?"
"Silence!" Jack Jersey pulled his whistle out and blew into it again. "Attack that blond! She has insulted us all, my bovinic breathren!" Once more, the cows were starting to stack up, in an attempt to reach Clover.
"Not this time, weirdo!" She pulls out a gadget, which soon after becoming the Wind Tunnel Tornado Hairdryer, she set it on full power. "I'm gonna blow you away!" The force of the mighty windstorm coming out of the small gadget even managed to knock her back a good distance, but performed its job successfully, knocking the stacking steers back down onto each other.
"NO! NOOOOOOO--" was the last noise Jack Jersey uttered before getting flattened by a cow. The whistle coincidentally broke under the weight of the steer as well, knocking the cattle out of their hypnotic state, and leaving them to mindlessly trot around slowly.
"Alright! Mission accomplished!" Clover cheered, lowering herself back to terra firma. "No more cow attacks, and The Groove is safe for another day!" Her expression suddenly got a little sickly. "Though, I hope they do something about the smell. It is SO not a good feeling right now."
"Yeah, Clover... you might want to check if Jersey is still, well, alive." Sam pointed out. She was surprised to see the villain pushing the cow off his own corpus by himself. "You know you're going to be put away for this, right?"
"Yeah... I figured..." He started to bawl. "What was I thinking? I can't be a cow master! It's just not possible! I'M RUINED!"
Sam patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. Even though you're going to be put away, things might work out for you." She reached for her compact communicator. "I'll get Jerry and a WOOHP chopper to take you away."
"Man, I wish Alex was here to enjoy this..." Clover sighed, as she was tying the man down. "But she had to be on a date with her new boyfriend. AUGH! I'm so jealous!"
Recognizing this, she turned to Clover. "Don't worry. You'll find a guy who'll never leave you soon enough." As fast as she finished her sentence, a helicopter with the WOOHP insignia boarded down, forcefully moving most of the cattle away.
"And don't you worry ladies." Jerry said, popping out of the helicopter. "Go on and spend the rest of your day while we deal with Mr. Jersey. With these cows, believe me, you've earned it."
"WOW!" The blond spy cheered. "Thanks Jer! You're the best!"
--
On the rooftop of one of the buildings, Martin, Java, and Diana popped out of a door as they saw the helicopter fly away.
"Wow! You guys see that?" Java was excited.
"The Center has helicopters too... but I didn't know there was a secret organization that even WE didn't know of." Diana was in silent amazement. "I mean, those agents looked much better than us, and they had sweet gadgets! I mean, I'm no complainer, but I want a jetpack--"
"Enough with the self-infliction already, sis." Reaching for his watch, Martin continued. "If you wanna complain about our shortcomings like those kids in the Goth dorm do, then you better start looking for some eyeshadow and work on cutting yourself--" She flatlined and uppercutted him up and then down into the floor. "Ow..."
"Shut up, Martin."
Recollecting himself, he pulled up the Legendex again. "Where were we before we were brutally interrupted? Ah, here we go." The information was shown to the three of them. " (Pg. 2) Seduc demons will first enter the dreams of potential victims, and search through their memory banks until they find out that person's potential dream mate. This is done because Succubi and Incubi are capable of reading minds to an extent. Their bodies become shaped to take on the form, and if needed, the personality of that dream mate. Then they encounter their victim in their new form, and with charm, seduction, and falsetto innocence, they sweep their victim off their feet."
"Wow, that's basically you in a nutshell, bro." She razzed her stepbrother.
Ignoring her, he continued on. " (Pg. 3) Seduc demons are also capable of draining energy from people, regardless of whether it is from their victim, or from passersby. They steal energy from their victims to revitalize themselves, and even some have stolen energy from other people just to keep their victims filled with energy of which they can continually feed on. Most Seduc demons will leave their victim after draining them of most, but not all, of their energy, of which they search for a new victim. There have been some rare cases, however, that disproves this theory. Some Seduc demons will drain their victims of all energy, thus killing them flat out. And then there were some who stole the energy of the wicked and gave it to the weak and feeble. Even cases have reported that some succubi and incubi actually fell in love with their victim, and revoked their own immortality to be with them."
"I guess, that's... romantic... I think." Diana said.
Martin now shut down the Legendex. "If this demon here is an energy feeder, then we're gonna have to be careful and quick about this, guys!"
"You're right, Martin! We're gonna have to keep eyes out on any people who act under these facades."
"And tell Center about woop-place." Java added.
"I'll just get the name written down..." Martin pulled out a small piece of paper from a notepad, and wrote down 'WOOHP' on it. "And then I'll send this over to Billy for analysis."
As if on cue, all three of their stomachs started to rumble. "Java hungry. Me want big steak."
"Well, it's getting close to noon anyway, so let's go have a nice bite to eat. I heard Beverly Hills has a LOT of restaurants!" Martin and Java proceeded to head down to the streets, with Diana right behind them.
--
Downside Avenue -- Beverly Hills -- 7:30 PM
"Well, I don't remember seeing this part of Beverly..." Alex mused to herself, as she walked along the sidewalk. Looking around, she saw a massive apartment building, surrounded by large oaks and poplars. Impressed by the near-futuristic design of the complex, she was in total awe. "I can't believe Laxus lives in a place like this! It looks so nice!" In a soft blue dress, white shirt, and black shoes, she was dressed to kill. She was following the path to the building's entrance, under the glow of a streetlight, when she was suddenly pushed by a woman walking past her. "Hey!"
"Sorry about that." Was all the woman said before she walked off, almost seeming to disappear under the midst of another streetlight.
Naturally weirded out by the instance, she muttered, "Weird..." She quickly headed to the doors, looking at the buttons on her right, trying to find the number that belonged to Laxus. "I know this is his place, but he never said which apartment number he was..." She sighed with depression. "I'll never find him at this rate." All of a sudden, something caught her ear's attention. She walked out and looked up at the balconies. She caught a low, harmonious tune as a voice was singing in a low, slow key.
"Can you feel the sunshine?
Does it brighten up your day?
Don't you feel that sometimes, you just need to run away?"
"... Is that Laxus?" She looked up to the third floor, and sure enough saw him playing on a keyboard, singing to himself.
"Reach out for the sunshine.
Forget about the rain.
Just think about the good times, and they will come back again."
"Laxus!" She called out to him.
True to her assumption that he didn't realize her arrival, she caught him jumping from his seat. He peered over the balcony, blushing out of embarrassment. "Oh... Alex, you startled me. I apologize for making you wait. I'll be down in a few minutes."
"Okay, I'll wait!" The black-haired called out. Her eyes looked up to the starry night. For a reason, she was in immense awe, seeing a whole gathering of stars beaming down on her. "Wow! There's so many stars! Even back at the pad, we barely see stars."
"I'm surprised you're not a star yourself, Alex." He commented, dressed in pants and a navy shirt. "Your stunning self is more radiant than the stars themselves, ya know."
"But why are there so many stars here?" She was again astounded by the amount of stars in the night sky. "This is one of the most populated areas of Beverly Hills... why are there so many here?"
He shrugged cutely and then walked up to her. "Perhaps they only come out in the presence of a stunning beauty."
She almost squealed in her mind when he held her hand. "Oh c'mon Laxus, you're flattering me too much." She looked down at him, leaning his head on her shoulder, blushing a little as this would be what she would do for any other boy she would go out with who was taller than her. So it was natural of her to blush a little.
"So what movie shall we see tonight, Alex?" He inquired, trying to calm her a little.
"Well, I was thinking about checking out that Sci-Fi movie, Galaxius." She squealed a little. "I heard that this is gonna possibly be the greatest video game-to-cinema movie ever!"
"Ah yes, I played a little bit of those Galaxius games myself, but I was never that good at it." He sheepishly said, rubbing the back of his head. "But I didn't know you frequented games, Alex."
"Yeah, I do have a game system in my room. I don't play it because I get way too into it, and Clover calls me a nerd, but really, amidst sports, I have a soft spot for games." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Just stick with me, Laxus, and you'll find out a lot more."
He smiled a little wider, and nuzzled his head closer to her shoulder. "That sounds like a fine plan."
At the cinema, after a non-arduous lineup, Laxus offered to pay for the tickets, and was about to pay for some treats at the concession stand, but Alex insisted that it would be her turn to pay for the treats. Seeing the younger's face in surprise as the tanned girl got a large bag of popcorn for herself was probably worth it for all the movie-goers that night. There were some intense scenes that showed that did make Alex almost scream aloud, but showed by gripping Laxus's hand tightly. Even amidst those scenes, he smiled at the terror-induced affection, when he planted his other hand over her's. After the movie, as they were walking back to Laxus's apartment, the night sky above them seemed to glow.
"Wow! Look at that, Laxus!" She pointed out the stars. She was gonna talk more, but he put his finger to her lips, silencing her. She got the message, and didn't say another word about it. They walked towards his apartment door. "This has been a wonderful night, Laxus."
"It most certainly was, Alex." He looked up to her, unintentionally making the older blush in slight embarrassment. "We must certainly do this again sometime."
"Can I come with you every Saturday for our little exercise routines?" She asked.
"Of course you may, Alex!" He smiled. "Granted, I'd have to get you a membership myself, but I can handle that for you."
"Wow... you seem too perfect to be true." She went on in an almost dreamy trance.
But before she could go on, he went on his tiptoes, and kissed her. He even propped his hands on her shoulders to keep himself balanced enough to hold the kiss. Enjoying this sudden feeling, she wrapped her arms around his upper back, kissing back, both having stray faints of blush glazing their faces.
He broke their lock, as he gazed into her eyes, nervously giggling. "T-that was my first time... but, anyway, I hope to see you again, Alex."
"Sure," she giggled as well. "I'll call you tomorrow."
He saw her turn the corner and down the steps before he walked into his apartment. "And with a kiss, it seals it... Miss Alex, you are mine."
--
"Martin, will you ever stop with that?" The brunette exclaimed, as she caught her step-brother catching his eyes on the passing female denizens of the Beverly Hills night. "We do have girls back in Torrington."
"Yeah, but these girls just seem to shine more! I'd bet you'd pull your share of guys if you took a lesson from these girls, sis!" Martin razzed, as they took a scenic look around the nightlife of the city.
"Yeah right! These girls are all superficial!" Diana went on. "Like I'd need to be them in order to get attention from some boys."
A black-haired girl suddenly walked past them. "With ungorgeous looks like that, you'll be lucky if you can even GET a man!" The now-revealed Mandy laughed her annoying laugh.
"WHAT DID SHE CALL ME?" Diana was about to unleash her wrath on this random girl who insulted her, or yet, she would have, if Java wasn't holding her back. "Like you're so high and mighty, bitch!" She seemed to go to full rage, with the caveman seeming to lose his grip.
"Well! Like any guy would want to be with a rude girl such as yourself!" Mandy let off with another annoying cackle as she disappeared amongst the crowd.
"Java! Let me go! That girl needs to be taught some humility! LIKE A CRASH COURSE!" Even Martin was shocked at this sudden change in Diana's attitude. When she heard a distressed scream, however, she snapped out of it. "What was that?"
"That sound like scream." Java simplified.
"Java! Diana! We have to get going!" The blond led as the others charged through. "Let's hope it's not a demon attack! To think I could actually enjoy a vacation while on duty!"
The three agents had to move through a cavalcade of people and passersby, passing by many open stores, bars, and clubs. The slowest of the three kept up his pace as fast as he could, but as soon as something caught his attention, Java stopped in his tracks, and turned into a dark alley.
"What do you want with me, you disgusting twerp?" The panicky voice of Mandy echoed from the darkened alley.
"Your energy. It's wasted on you." A menacing voice echoed as well. "I saw a man in his mid-fourties, who was paralyzed from the waist down, trapped in a wheelchair. The energy that you exude, you worthless valley girl, could be better suited to help that man. At the least, you'll finally serve a purpose, and help someone."
"No... YOU'RE THAT BOY--" A final scream of panic came from the alley which Java was charging through.
"Sleep, forever." With that, a large dome of light surrounded a young-bodied being; dressed in a black shirt, navy shorts, black heeled shoes, and dark blue tights with patterns of bats dotting his legs, he smiled; with bat ears and a devil tail, his smile grew wider as the ball of energy that belonged to the persistently annoying Mandy, shot up fast into the air. "Well, this seems to be a fruitful night indeed--" A sudden tackle charged into the being's back, knocking him into a wall.
"What you do to that girl?" Java accused, catching the assailant in his gruff visage.
"Exchanging one life to give another a better chance at living." The being said, his yellow cat eyes glaring at him. "Please, let me just go home, since it's been a long night." He quickly dodged another punch from the caveman. "Will you please leave me alone?"
"Why do you hurt woman?" He pleaded as he continually unleashed punch after punch in the confined alleyway. "You monster."
"She was a mean girl who had it coming!" Bat wings soon sprouted out from behind his back. "I'd chat with you more, but unfortunately, I am expecting a call tomorrow." Before he could take flight, a quick punch slammed into his cheek, forming a bruise. "You jerk."
"Java!" The siblings' voices caught up from behind him.
"I recommend that you take her to a hospital. It won't do her any good to stay collapsed in an alley." His wings flapped heavily, taking him high into the air. "May we meet again on friendlier terms, mister." He disappeared into the sky, phasing out in the darkness of the night.
"Java! Are you alright?" Diana asked.
"Demon attack woman, and take energy." Java said, picking Mandy up in his arms. "Woman still have pulse, but it very low."
"That means it was an Incubus that attacked then." Activating his U-Watch, Martin sent a message over to the Center. "I just sent all the info to Billy. Until then, we have to make sure we keep a good eye on that Incubus, making sure that no one else will be victimized."
"Or hope that that demon hasn't infatuated a victim yet." Diana soon became worried.
"Okay guys, let's rest up for the night. Because we're going demon-hunting first thing."
--
(To be continued)
Author's Note: I'm always up for anyone telling me what you thought about this fic. Song lyrics are taken from Sonic R's "Can You Feel the Sunshine?" and is copyright Sega. Reviews are always appreciated.