STD 2018-
Hirotaka had found the twins in the basement of the sex toy department store. Fortunately, they were in an engineering discussion that seemed mostly innocuous. Unfortunately, his presence made the Yakuza watching the discussion decide that it was some sort of industrial espionage and they took over the meeting. If the twins had not been there, he believed that he could have fought his way out of the building. At least long enough for nearby backup to arrive. If he had Wanda with him for backup, she would have happily knocked a few heads together while he got the twins out.
But, in the interest of keeping the boys safe, he identified himself as their Yamanouchi bodyguard and acted as if this meeting had been the plan from the start. About forty-five minutes later, the word came down that the three of them were to be considered "honored guests" and treated with respect. But, not allowed to leave.
Their 'hosts' decided to move them to a 'more comfortable' and secure location. Hirotaka gave someone his keys to the van so that they could move it for him. He reminded himself to have the van searched for trackers and spy devices by the second year students when they got back to the school. That they would not get back OK did not occur to him, because Hirotaka did not fail in his duties.
They arrived an hour later at a small factory in an area full of warehouses.
Getting out of an enormous limo, they were escorted through a working factory floor to a meeting room in the back. The two boys weren't impressed by what they saw.
"Making robots using silicon in molds?" questioned Tim,
"Whoa, their skeletons aren't powered, they're just big dolls..." scoffed Jim;
"and we'd get poor grades in Art class for the unrealistic proportions of some of these dolls..." Tim added.
Hirotaka noticed that the torsos coming out of the molds were definitely feminine and this gave him a suspicion of what the 'robots' or 'dolls' were going to be used for. This was not a place that Anne-sensei would want her boys visiting until they were in their mid-thirties, maybe forties, maybe never. His only consolation was that the rest of Team Cobra wasn't here. Wanda would be laughing at him, Yori would look disappointed in him as a person, Suzie would act like this was a normal lair.
However, he had to break out of his act of being the calm and collected gentleman and hustle the boys towards the meeting room when he spotted a specific torso; one whose features matched those of a slender, athletic, yet feminine teenage crime fighter. A teenage crime fighter's body that seemed familiar from somewhere... But it was for naught when he heard,
"Tim, does that body look like Sis?" mentioned Jim.
"Nah, the boobs are way too big," replied his brother.
An older man met them at the door and bowed in greeting.
"Ah, the Possible brothers. Welcome. Do you believe that you can do better?"
Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a gray translucent blob about the size of a tennis ball. Jim pulled out a little remote control and started pressing buttons on it.
The blob changed into a bright green octopus and pulled itself across the boy's hand, grasping fingers with tentacles. Then it transformed into a blue and green striped snake and coiled around his wrist. Dropping to the floor, it landed as a black ninja figure and performed a martial arts demonstration with a flurry of kicks. Changing into a bird, it flapped up and landed on Tim's hand, once again becoming just a blob.
"We are looking for someone who is interested in marketing a universal toy," said Jim.
"A toy that you never get tired of because it can become something new every day," added Tim.
"We tried marketing to American Toy companies," said Jim.
"But they said they needed kids to get tired of toys, so their parents would buy them new ones," added Tim.
"Is that as large as the toy can be made?" asked the gentleman.
"No Sir, that is just a convenient size," started Tim.
"for us to carry past customs," finished Jim, then added, "the manufacturing cost is proportional to the weight, but this is an improved version of the technology Dr. Drakken used to make artificial humanoid guards for his operations."
Jim continued, "Given that the weight tends to go up with the cube of the size, but the strength only increases with the square of the cross-sectional diameter, a large human is approaching the limit of this version of our technology. I suppose you could go larger if the shape was fixed..."
"And what would you want for this technology, that is for the design and licensing fees?"
"Well," Tim pulled a thick stack of papers out of a courier bag, the pre-teen looked like an icy-cold corporate lawyer at that moment, "We have some proposed contracts that we wrote up, including initial technology support at a very reasonable hourly rate."
"Purely as a starting point for discussion, you understand." Jim's smile was the kind of friendly smile that made you reach for your wallet to make sure that it was still there...
"Bouyatachi ('little dudes'), call me Dia Bosu. Come to the conference room and let's talk. Shikoku, please get snacks and soft drinks for our guests. Perhaps some tea for their associate from the Mountain?" The 'Big Boss' smiled widely and gestured them into the conference room.
STD 2018-
Vivian desperately tried to catch her breath. The only real violence she had ever experienced was the Robot Rumble where, at most, there was oil leaking from ripped off hydraulics. Now, the blood oozing from the sliced off hand laying in front of her had her on the border of panic. She was afraid that she might throw up.
She heard her earpiece click and beep as it connected to the internal phone system.
"God bless that idiot James!" 'He must have installed a bootleg connection to his computer terminal in his office', as her earpiece was now using that to connect to the phone system. "Computer... Call security," she commanded her earpiece.
"Security, this is Bob, how can I help you?"
"Bob! This is Dr. Vivian Porter. I need a biohazard lockdown on Top Secret Lab #3. Call the CDC, tell them we need them. This is not a drill!"
"Ma'am I need author..."
"Bob! Listen to me! I am looking at a contamination spill right in front of me! I am all the authorization that you need and you know it. Do it, Bob! Do it, NOW!"
"Yes, Ma'am." She heard him type on the keyboard, heard the lab doors latch shut and then her ears popped as the lab ventilation system went into negative pressure mode to prevent toxic gases or bacteriological threats from escaping the lab through cracks in the door seals. She hung up when she heard him talking on the phone to someone from the CDC.
"Dr. Porter," one of the security team walked over, "Is there a problem? Did you find out what was making the metallic noises?"
Right... Looking for the source of the metallic popping noises was why she came over here in the first place. That and because she felt pretty useless standing next to an unconscious James.
Vivian stood up from where she had been squatting, "It was just thermal expansion from the prototype, it must have just returned from someplace very, very cold." She held up a heavily padded mitten of some sort, "This was caught on the FTL prototype chassis. I pulled it off and... and that fell out." She pointed to a severed hand on the padded floor of the chamber.
"Damn! That's not a human hand, is it?" the security officer knelt down and held out his hand for a size comparison, "At least if there were any Chinese or Russian astronauts that were, say, nine-feet tall with greenish complexion on a moon mission, I think we'd know about it."
"Let's not get carried away, the SETI protocols are shaky and that's for detecting a radio signal. For detecting a real alien, or a piece of one, God only knows what we are supposed to do... Is tearing off an astronaut's hand an act of war? The hell of it is that the first person I'd go to for guidance is laying over there out of his mind with some kind of fever."
STD 2018-
Ron met Anne outside the changing area. She was wearing ankle boots, jeans and a simple blue polo shirt that he thought matched her eyes. If her mom was any indication, Raven would be an even more beautiful woman years from now. The sense of impending loss made his heart ache. The redhead walked over to him and slipped her arm through his.
"Got any naked pictures of you and Kimmy?" the surgeon asked with a rarely seen impish light in her eyes.
"What? No!"
"Want some?" laughing at the shocked look on her young victim's face. "Lead me to Dr. Tōgai's place, please and thank you. We can look at them there."
"Mrs. Dr. P, are you feeling OK?"
"Why, yes, Ronald, I am. This is the first real vacation for me in years, you are my only patient, Hirotaka is entertaining the twins, Raven calls me mom, this place is beautiful, all that is missing is James. I think I'll convince him to come out and join me after his project demo is done."
Feeling him stiffen, she continued, "Trust me, James won't give you any problems when he comes out. I am thrilled that you and Kimmy are going to try the relationship thing and I know that James will be OK with it, once I explain it to him."
"Maybe you won't have to..."
"Ronald, what are your intentions with my daughter?" she teased, "Surely you aren't going to run off with her?"
Ronald stopped with Anne still hanging onto his arm. Rubbing the back of his neck, "Not with her, no..."
Anne's heart cracked a little at the sorrow and regret in the young man's voice. She enveloped him in a fierce hug,
"Dear, I've read the mission logs, even Wade's private notes and I know that no one else could have done what you've done to make sure she always came home safe to me and her father."
"But that was before..."
The red-haired mom released the hug and held the young man by the arms.
"Listen to me Ronald Stoppable, I might be able to fix your problem. It might not be a quick fix, but give me a chance. But no matter what, you do not leave without having a long talk with me, do you understand? That is, you will not take a one-way trip to any place, a plane of existence or non-existence without talking to me, in person. Not Master Sensei, not your parents, not Kimmy. Me. Now, promise."
"Come on, Mrs. Dr. P, surely you don't think I'll do anything stupid?"
"Don't lie to me. If you thought that it would be better for Kimmy if you were out of the picture, you'd be gone in a heartbeat. But you'd be wrong. Now promise."
"Uh, shouldn't we be getting to Sensei Tōgai?"
"Ronald..." the name was a growl and the blond teen caught the blue eyes narrowing.
Ron frowned, "I'm sorry Mrs. Dr. P, but I... I can't promise that."
"Anne-sensei, Stoppable-san," Yori's bright voice broke the deadlock, "Uh, excuse me if I am interrupting, But Master Sensei requires the presence of Anne-Sensei. It has something to do with Jim and Tim, lawyers, and legal contracts of some sort."
"Which way Yori?" The surgeon gripped the hapless blond to pull him along.
"I'm sorry Anne-Sensei, but some of the people that are present must not see Stoppable-san. I must take just you to the meeting."
"Which building is it in? I can find the meeting, but I want you to take Ronald to Dr. Tōgai's office and keep him there. Do not let him out of your sight until I get there."
Yori blinked, but a Sensei was a Sensei, "See the building to the left of the temple? Go in there and tell anyone that you are here to answer Master Sensei's summons. They will take you to him."
As Anne walked away, Yori reached out and pinched the blond's forearm. Frowning, she said, "Stoppable-san, you are a little dehydrated from the hot baths. Perhaps a stop at the kitchens on our way there for some liquid is advisable."
"And some snackage!"
Rolling her eyes, "You are such an American..." the young woman smiled fondly.
STD 2018-
"Jean," Raven tried to express some pretty confused feelings, "I know that I want Ron by my side, even if we never do the hero business again. At the very least, now that Mom is here, I'm going to be doing counseling sessions for a while before she lets me go back to hero work. There is a lot I can learn here, maybe I could have found another way to deal with Drakken and Shego if I just knew more."
"You'd really give up hero work if Anne asked you to?"
"At least for a while. I'd try to obey her wishes, but if there was some disaster where I could make a real difference, I might go without discussing it with her, first. I think she'd support that."
"Do you want him by your side as a friend? Ronald is hoping for more, you know."
"As a friend, absolutely. I really feel that I want more, but even if you and Mom are right about the rebound thing, I owe him an honest chance to win my heart."
"Why?" her boyfriend's mom asked.
Looking a little lost, "I... I..." the goth wondered when all the love and affection stuff got so damned hard.
Hugging Raven tightly, Jean simply said, "That's OK, dear, you and Ronald have time to work out the answers. Let's go rinse off and get dressed before we become complete prunes..."
STD 2018-
Hirotaka was pondering the end of his young life. Not that he feared death, but that his current trip on this cycle of his life had so many wonders left to explore and challenges to face. Like Ayame, Phuong, and Natasha.
He wasn't certain how, but one way or another the twins, the 'Bouyatachi' as their Yakuza hosts called them, were going to be the death of him. Earlier, at the start of their very first meeting, there was a delay while Dia Bosu called his boss and arranged for some of their lawyers to join them. The twins were young, but years of negotiating with their sister had taught them not to show too many cards in their hand until the contract was signed.
While they were waiting for the lawyers to show up, the boys were showing some of the Yakuza soldiers the 'easy' stuff. Like how drinking straws plus fairly common household chemicals could be used to make a solid fuel rocket engine with a peak thrust of around one hundred pounds. The little engines worked and did not explode, as he had feared. The Yakuza kept distracting the senior Ninja student with details of policy matters between them and the Mountain. Hirotaka knew that one took their eyes off the 'Bouyatachi' at their peril. He soon found out that Yakuza had discovered the Achilles heel on his young charges. A girl's tears.
Hirotaka would later swear that he had been gone for no more than ten minutes for a quick meeting on some details of coordinating response teams during natural disasters. Walking back into the conference room, he saw Tim and Jim rapidly sketching diagrams on a whiteboard with two Yakuza soldiers furiously copying the information on legal pads. Sitting at the conference table was a pretty young woman sporting a tremendous black eye and a puffy split lip. She had a small cloth in her hand and was blotting her eyes. Walking over to Tim, he asked,
"Tim-san, what did I miss?"
"The girl's name is Kiri. She works at one of those maid cafes that you told us to stay out of. A customer came in and paid the extra money to have her serve him tea and snacks in a private room in the back of the cafe. The guy was not only a jerk but he hit her!" the young man nearly quivered in anger.
"That is terrible," the ninja admitted, "but isn't that a matter for the police or the shop manager?"
"The shops are run by a rival to Dia Bosu's group. They have the police paid off and if this group interferes directly, that could start a gang war."
"So, what are you and Jim designing? And how will it help?"
"We are designing a morphing syntho-maid. A syntho-maid can't be hurt by an abusive customer and the morphing ability allows the cafe to have servers that can be pretty much anything their customers want. Like anime or cartoon characters, replicas of famous people, whatever. Dia Bosu's bunch will start rival cafes and run the others out of business."
"What happens to the girls working in the current cafes?"
"We aren't providing real AI in these morphing syntho-maids. They will need puppeteers. The real girls already know how to be a maid, it will be easy to train them to be the puppeteers."
Jim paused and turned to talk, "We considered the worst-case scenarios. The morphing ability requires a low-pressure syntho-goop system which limits the strength to about that of a normal girl," grinning, he clarified, "that's a normal girl, not Kim."
Tim finished, "Requiring puppeteers means that there is no AI to go rogue and rampage through Tokyo. Trust us, nothing can go wrong..."
STD 2018-
Ron and Yori walked down the path to the infirmary's laboratory after detouring to the kitchens to grab a couple of Yakitori sticks and chilled water bottles.
"Why did you refuse Anne-Sensei's request to talk to her before you leave?" the young woman asked quietly, wondering if the blond was actually planning to leave soon.
"She'll talk me out of doing what I think is the right thing to do."
"Surely you are strong enough to do the right thing no matter what she says, yes? Your refusal to honor her request is upsetting her, denying her the peace and harmony she has found here."
"I'm not sure I can withstand her Puppy Dog Pout..." the blond held his head in defeat just thinking about it.
"Puppy Dog Pout?" Yori wondered out loud. Before Ron could explain, they neared the lab attached to the infirmary and heard a young woman cursing in rage.
"Uh, Ron-san? Remember in the hotel when you claimed that you could almost see Wanda's words swirling around you? Well, I told Sensei Tōgai, and he asked to see Wanda for an MRI scan. Be warned, I will throw you in her path to escape should she seek retribution."
The blond laughed, but looking at his companion, he wasn't sure she was kidding. Biting off the last bit of chicken, Ron threw the stick in the trash and stepped through the door of the control room, Yori, following her orders, had walked right behind him to keep him in sight.
Ron saw the MRI with someone in it as evidenced by the feet sticking out and the loud voice protesting. Sensei Tōgai was at the controls, typing on a keyboard. Kamiko was in the room and pressed the 'eject' button. The table rolled out showing a slender woman dressed in a long tee shirt.
As soon as the patient was freed by Kamiko removing the antenna grid over her face, Wanda sat up, shifting to full rant mode. Struck by the random thought that she looked more slender than when he had seen her in a sleep shirt in the US, he pondered, 'Is this because she had to remove all her weapons for the MRI? Does she really sleep with that many weapons concealed on her person?' Her angry voice faded into the background as her words once again seemed to take form and swirl around him, something about an egg of a tortoise that ate tofu?
Anne entered the radiology lab at a jog, she had heard Wanda cursing at someone, in Chinese, she thought. She arrived to find an angry Wanda gesturing at Dr. Tōgai who was in a strategic retreat. At the other door was Yori and Ron. Ron looked dazed and there was a slight, soft blue glow to his eyes. Wanda's eyes also had a slight blue shine, although hers was an angry blue.
Ron felt a strong hand turn his face and then a light was shown in each eye.
"Ronald, honey, talk to me," Anne's voice broke through his daze, "What do you see? How do you feel?"
Sensei Tōgai interrupted them, "Wang-kun is being unreasonable. Stoppable-kun, surely you wouldn't object to letting me do a joint MRI on you and her... Kissing would be optional..."
STD 2018-
"Mystical Cuddle Puddle"
"Not going to try to stuff everyone in your machine, Sensei Tōgai?" Wanda said sweetly.
"Not big enough and sometimes, Wanda-chan, a scientist must use his own senses to gather data even if they are poorly calibrated," the doctor replied ignoring the pointed comment. He was dressed in somewhat garish pajamas covered in brightly colored winged ponies.
Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable brought in another armload of pillows and quilts. Yori had proposed to recreate the conditions that had given Kim her dream of seeing Ron off at the airport. Master Sensei agreed that it would be interesting to try.
Jean Stoppable sat on the couch, amused. She and her husband Gene, along with Kamiko, would be the experiment monitors. Master Sensei sat relaxed in a lotus position off to the side, claiming that he would provide mystical energy to the young Hana should she require it. Incense sticks with a soothing aroma and a few candles were scattered around the room providing a dim light that should be sufficient should any dreamer need to get up in the middle of the night without stepping on anyone.
The two doctors, Raven, the two Ninja girls, and Ron spread out quilts and arranged pillows to create what Yori and Hana were calling a 'cuddle puddle'. Rufus was at the ready to provide his napping-self wherever it was needed. The amusing part was that Raven had subtly steered Ron into sleeping between herself and her mom and away from Yori and Wanda. Unlike the older physician, Anne didn't have a set of comical pajamas, she wore a low-cut silk nightshirt. Jean reminded herself to tease Anne about how her daughter didn't see her as a threat.
STD 2018-
Dreams
Anne found herself in a biology classroom complete with lab tables. Across from her was a young Dr. Tōgai. Reaching behind her head, she felt a ponytail. Was she back in college? Looking around, she saw other students in pairs at the lab tables, but she was somehow unable to focus on them.
"Listen up, people! Sensei Yamanaka had an unfortunate yakitori grilling accident and I'll be taking over for the rest of this..."
A short, dark-haired young girl wearing a dark blazer with white piping and a tartan plaid skirt falling below her knees appeared and started pushing the large man toward the door.
"Barkin-sama! There was no accident, just a minor fire and stab wound when my sister tried to help. I am fine! Go please!"
Once she was alone at the front of the classroom, she began her lecture,
"Today we will look at a case study. The patient has suffered a trauma to the brain, yet damage from the trauma has healed to the point where all functions that were impaired have either been rerouted to other parts of the brain or have been restored in newly generated brain tissue. While this is amazing, it is not the issue. We are concerned with a damaged area that was a result of weakened tissue caused by being experimented on by a mad scientist."
A projection screen lowered and displayed the pictures of two brains, side-by-side. The two images were labeled 'Brother' and 'Dark Sister'. The instructor continued, pulling out a laser pointer to highlight areas.
"The area marked in red is the area that is deteriorating. The male's brain shows more advanced decay than the female's, but if you look closely, you can see the damage in both. I believe that this was due to a 'brain swap' machine that the two were exposed to several years ago."
The young girl looked annoyed, "Of course, this machine didn't really swap their brains, that would be silly, it just swapped most of the electrochemical patterns of the two brains. I believe a side-effect of that has caused these independent, unused structures to appear."
The laser pointer pointed out areas shaded in blue on the images.
"I believe that Noishi's scans show that these areas are not in use. If you do tissue typing of those areas, you will find that those areas actually belong to the other person. I have a theory of how they were created, but the important thing is that slivers of that area in Dark Sister's brain can be placed in Brother's brain and that tissue will grow to fix the decay. And vice versa. Normally, I'd suggest using T-cells, but since you have cells of the correct tissue type already, why not use them?"
Two brains made out of meatloaf appeared on every lab table along with plates, silverware, napkins, and bottles of ketchup and mustard.
"For the rest of the class period, practice replacing the damaged area represented by the cluster of green pepper strips with the duplicate section in the other brain, represented by the bacon pieces."
Sternly looking at her students, she remarked, "No nibbling on the brains until I have reviewed your work."
...
Wanda walked to the shrine of the Lotus Blade. A voice had woken her from a really nice dream and the dream had faded away. All she could remember was that she was helping out Team Panther in a bar fight in Singapore. Annoyed, she followed the call across the main courtyard trying to let the gentle sounds of the wind chimes soothe and center her spirit.
Arriving, she looked around but saw no one. The Lotus Blade was leaning against a railing and started to slide down. With a cry of surprise, she grabbed it before it could hit the ground. As soon as she grasped the hilt, the courtyard disappeared and she was standing in an infinite plain of knee-high grass. A man leaning on a black iron staff stood before her. She didn't think he was all that remarkable, the most notable things about him was a beard that grew up high on the sides of his face. His eyes looked more comfortable laughing than anything else. And he had a tail.
'OK, the tail is a distinctive feature.' she thought.
"Wanda-chan, I see that you carry the Lotus Blade," the man grinned and twirled his staff, not in a threatening manner, but as someone who really can't keep still.
That was when her brain caught up to her. Bowing so low her hair touched the grass she said,
"Wukong-sama! Forgive me, but I had to grab it before it hit the dirt!"
The man laughed, a laugh of such humor and joy that Wanda found herself grinning.
"That blade was used by Toshimiru to carve the Mountain to make a place for the original Yamanouchi temple, a little dirt won't hurt it. Besides, you need to practice with it."
"Yah! I am not a chosen one! I am not worthy to carry it!"
The man's eyes turned sorrowful, "Wanda-chan, I can see a time when you must call it. A time when the Chosen One and even the Mountain itself have fallen."
"No! Never! I am a Ninja of Yamanouchi! Before Yamanouchi falls, I will have died defending it, no matter how terrible the evil. And I swear that my life will cost that evil dearly!" The tears of rage that appeared in the Ninja's eyes turned to anguish as she added, "Please, Master, do not make me outlive my Mountain."
The man stepped forward and embraced her as a general might embrace a mighty captain. "Remember young Ninja, that Yamanouchi is not a mountain of granite, but people," the Monkey King spoke gently, "You must be ready to create a new Mountain for a new Temple. For your people." Holding her by the arms, he stepped back to look at her.
"Perhaps we should practice so that you and the Sword will be better acquainted..." Grinning, he swung his staff at her head. She responded with a diving roll to the side, coming up with a thrust aimed at his ribs.
Laughing, with occasional shouts of glee the two drilled across the grassy plain...
...
"Kaemon-san, you have done well, I am proud of you," The man wearing what looked like Samurai armor, but was of an age before Samurai, poured them tea.
"Toshimiru-sama, I have done my best and hope to continue for many years still," Master Sensei passed a pastry to his host.
"I am truly sorry," placing his helmet to the side, he looking into the headmaster's eyes, "even mountains do not last forever. Prepare to scatter your people to the far corners of the map. This mountain's time might be reaching an end."
"Might?"
"Nothing is certain. Still, a danger approaches that our Ninja cannot fight."
...
Yori walked across the rickety looking rope bridge, tightly holding hands with the two children. The bridge was sturdy enough, she didn't just trust the children not to cartwheel over the edge. A tear rolled down her cheek, she had been away from this place for far too long.
But she was home now.
A gray-whiskered naked mole rat riding on the head of an enormous Eastern Indigo Snake greeted them at the main gates.
"Welcome Toshimiru Yori!" the mole rat squeaked, "Come in for tea and cheese!"
...
"Welcome home, master!" a cute female naked mole rat called to Rufus from outside the maid cafe while another coaxed, "Come in, we have tea and cheese waiting. Technically they couldn't be called naked because they both wore cute little maid outfits.
"You know master, for a small additional fee, we have a private area in the back where we can race through hot, steamy tunnels..."
"OK!" the little hero squeaked in excitement. The cold, hard, dry plastic tunnels his boy had set up for him weren't the same as the hot, humid tunnels carved through the earth that he had scampered through as a young naked molerat.
...
Little Kimmie fought back tears. Those boys had taken away her ball and when this blond boy came up to defend her, the biggest one had hit him in the nose making it bleed. Beyond furious, she was on her way to kick some bully butt when Mr. Smithson, the daycare manager had stepped in and stopped her, saying, "Now Kimmie, good little girls don't fight. Let's go find a baby doll for you to play with. Practice for when you have a baby of your own.
Kimmie now sat in the corner with her precious little bundle. Petting its chest, she cooed, "What a cute little baby! I'm gonna name you, Shiva." Little tentacles reached up and gripped her fingers. Putting her face close to it, she said, "Whose mommy's little Destroyer of Worlds? That's right! You are! You're mommy's little Destroyer of Worlds!"
The stars faded from little Ronnie's vision. His nose hurt and was dripping red. The boys that had taken their ball away were laughing as the girl he hoped would be his friend was led away by the daycare manager. A cold blue fury swept through his small frame and the next thing he remembered was many hands pulling him off of a much larger boy.
"Wow! This kid is tough," he heard a voice say, "let's introduce him to Big Joey."
The boy he had knocked to the ground got up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, you can be one of us..."
Anne woke because Ron was tightly clutching her nightshirt. She had seen this behavior in all her children, but not in the last ten years or so. He was having a nightmare. Believing that waking him could interrupt an important part of a dream, she rolled over enough so she could put her arm around him. Before long, he sighed and relaxed, the dream had passed. Sleepy brown eyes opened and looked at her,
"Mrs. Dr. P?" a soft sleepy murmur.
"Yes, dear?"
"I won't go anywhere without talking to you first, I promise."
"Thank you dear, now go back to sleep," the red-haired mom kissed his forehead.
She watched as the sleepy blond rolled over and put his arm over her daughter.
"Cuddle Puddle," she laughed to herself and drifted back to sleep.
STD 2018-
Hirotaka was convinced that twins were not human. Their initial design work was finished, the negotiations with the lawyers seemed to have come to a satisfactory conclusion to all parties. Waiting for Yakuza soldiers to come back with some required parts, the two boys were modifying part of the factory floor to build the first run of Morphing Syntho Maids. Surrounded by piles of life size doll limbs, torsos and heads, he felt like he was in some horror movie. The twins, other than the initial period of snickering, were totally focused on their work.
Tim and Jim had recruited the services of Heishi, a gnarled old Yakuza soldier who had semi-retired to be the factory's mechanic and machinist. He was from 'back in the day' when the Yakuza soldier types wore garish tattoos and cut off body parts to apologize for failure. He spoke reasonable English and told the boys tales 'from the bad old days'. The boys, fortunately for Hirotaka, took his tales with a grain of salt, but thought his tattoos were 'really cool'.
About midnight, the initial test production of syntho-goop was started and having nothing to do except wait for more parts to arrive and the first batch of syntho-goop to finish, the twins and their bodyguard took a shower and went to bed on mats in the corner of the meeting room.
CREDITS
All characters are the property of the Disney Company. This is a work of fan fiction.
Suzie Chin (Subira Chen) and her partner in Ninja-hood Wanda Wang are all from Sentinel103 and his "Once Again" stories.
Authors Note: Thanks to CajunBear73, Daccu65, and Sentinel103 for basically being beta readers, editors, and plot bunny wranglers. Posted September 27th, 2018