Chapter Twelve: Bodega Bay

"Captain, this is the Kid requesting permission to land. Do you copy?" Chug asked through his earpiece.

"Kid, this is the Captain, permission granted. Over. I'll see you inside." came the reply.

"Toodles." Chug replied back and eased his car to align with the driveway and landed with hardly a bounce. Well, hardly to him, the puppets . . .

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The five puppets in the backseat were bounced off the trunk they were sitting for a good three seconds when they landed. Blade was jostled awake from it, but only for a second before he fell back asleep. Jester went "Whee!" and landed five inches from his original spot next to Blade. Pinhead was holding onto a strap that was securing the trunk they were on so he didn't bounce as much, Tunneler was like Jester but he didn't enjoy it. Six Shooter was bounced off his perch under the back window and toppled onto Blade and Jester, giving Blade a painful wake up with a loud, "AH-OW!"

But Chug and Torch heard none of this.

Chug drove the car down the driveway but had to press down on the brakes less gradually than he normally would so they all heard a loud 'SCRE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-EE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-CH!' for about a minute, leaving behind a trail of smoke and the scent of burnt rubber.

The puppets in the back were thrusted left and right and left again and then held there by the gravity, all trying to hold on until they finally came to a stop and were thrusted back to their right. When they righted themselves they found that the back of the car was facing the hotel and they were looking down the driveway, a long black streak all the way down as far as they could see. The car had rotated to prevent from flipping over.

"Whoever's on my leg PLEASE get off!" Blade screamed, trying not to move his arms as they were right below Jester's chest and stomach.

"Six, get your foot out of my face and your second left hand off my butt!" shouted Jester who was the one on Blade's injured leg but he couldn't move because Tunneler was on his legs.

"Get off me!" came Tunneler's shout. He was buried under Six who had him pinned down with all three right arms to keep himself from falling off the trunk.

"Someone's gotta pull me up first! I'm gonna fall!" Six shouted back at them.

Pinhead held onto the strap the whole time so was the one to pull Six back onto the trunk and then Tunneler got up and Jester got off of Blade's leg. Blade was visibly shaking to keep himself from screaming in pain. If he had tear ducts they would have seen tears streaming down his face. And if he had teeth he would have been biting his bottom lip to keep himself from screaming and hands for gripping until his knuckles had turned white.

"From now on. . ." he gritted shakily. "WE'RE WEARING SEAT BELTS!" he screamed.

"After a ride like that I wouldn't mind going back in the trunk." Tunneler quietly mumbled to Pinhead who agreed.

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Kokiri watched his brother land the car in the 110 yard long driveway and heard the brakes instantly screech, leaving behind a trail of white smoke and the scent of burnt rubber filled the air. The silver 2015 Cadillac Sedan swerved left, right and left again before turning completely around and coming to a full force stop. He applauded such skill and walked up to greet his little brother.

.

Once Chug shut off the engine the barrier he had put up was also turned off and he was able to hear the other puppets in the back making a loud ruckus. He looked through his review mirror and saw that they were all tangled up in each other. And poor Blade was buried underneath all of them. He gasped and quickly exited to retrieve them to keep Blade from further injury.

He opened the back door and set each one down on the ground one by one but left Blade in the car, not wanting to get skewered by that knife or hook.

"What's up, Kid?" his brother called.

"There's one in here that's badly injured and doesn't like me very well." Chug smiled and introduced Blade who hissed loudly at them and waved his arms in their general direction.

"He's got a potty mouth." Kokiri chuckled and lifted the injured one who immediately stabbed, sliced, swiped, smited, slashed and even bit him but did nothing to caused harm or damage.

"Hey! Put him down!" shouted Jester.

Tunneler and Pinhead attacked Kokiri. Tunneler drilled into his leg and Pinhead grabbed at his ankles to twist them til they broke, but Tunneler ran right through the leg and continued under the car, Pinhead twisted but the feet remained in placed, doing absolutely nothing.

"Dr. Hess, there's no need to throw such a childish fit." Kokiri said, stopping the attackers in their tracks and causing shock to the other three.

"Now, allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Kokiri Yusaga and my brother is Chug Yamazaki and let me be the first to welcome you back to Bodega Bay Inn." he smiled.

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After the two brothers had brought everyone in and settled them on a couch in the main lobby (Blade and Six Shooter glaring deadly daggers and had their arms crossed), they sat down on a separate couch and talked, having tea.

"What happened to Blade?" Kokiri asked Chug.

"A casket fell on his foot twice, according to Torch anyway." Chug answered.

"The metal one?" Kokiri asked, shocking the puppets even more.

"Yeah, seems he has animal brains instead of human, which is why I can understand him and not the other five." said Chug.

"I can see why you called ahead about them. What about their trunk? Did you bring that along? And the casket?" Kokiri asked.

"Yeah, Torch pointed it out to me before we left." Chug answered.

"Good, it holds Decapitron. I wouldn't want to imagine the trouble they would cause just to tell us to retrieve him." Kokiri stated, sipping his tea.

"Well, to be honest, I can't understand a word they're saying." Chug said.

"Yeah, you said that. But on another note, does this hat belong to anyone?" Kokiri asked, pulling Jester's hat out of a pocket.

"My hat!" Jester exclaimed and ran over to claim it and put it on his head and spun his face into his signature mischievous grin. "Where'd you find it?"

"Down by the cliff side, along with some shredded black fabric." Kokiri handed Chug the shredded pieces, causing Blade and Jester to gasp.

Chug felt the material between his fingers. "This feels like . . . raincoat material. The kind that stop mid-calf. You know, a Bogie-C coat."

"I figured that as well. There was also a dead demon thing nearby and two King black scorpions and three tarantulas." Kokiri said and clicked at the TV to show the demon thing.

All the puppets gasped, recognizing the creature.

"Video footage didn't reveal much, the overgrowth concealed a lot of it. But there were a few glints of light reflecting off of something shiny. The chips from the scorpions and tarantulas recorded the sounds. Some kind of battle happened." Kokiri said

"How the hell do you know what those things are?" Blade demanded.

"Our cameras record everything short-stack." Kokiri answered calmly.

"Cameras? I see no cameras." Six called out, looking around.

"Of course you wouldn't. These cameras aren't earth made." said Chug.

"Huh?"

"With the technology you've seen at Chug's cabin do you really think Earthlings would have made such things?" Kokiri asked.

"Well who else could?" Six challenged, crossing his arms.

"How about aliens from outer space?" Kokiri challenged back, fully expecting the laughter that would follow.

He wasn't disappointed.

"Aliens? From outer space?!" Six gasped between breaths.

"Alright, proof you want, proof you will get." Kokiri smirked and stood up then clicked a button on his watch and disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

"Oh sure, leave me here with former murderers." Chug said sarcastically and gathered each one, placing them in his hat and pressing his own watch and also disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

0~0~0

The puppets stopped laughing as they were placed inside Chug's hat, finding it was bigger on the inside. Just like that trunk with all the clothes.

The machinery installed looked just like the ones one would find in a sci-fi film. Pillars and pillars with blue lighted rings encircling them were humming away, sending electrical pulses up and down. To their left were several computer screens all showing different things. One was showing cartoons, another was giving off some kind of readings that Blade kind of recognized, another had words running along the screen, and another one appeared to be live. The camera appeared to be walking down a long neutral colored hallway. There were people passing by, some giving a wave, and others just running past.

The camera made a turn and went down a dimly lit hallway and then Kokiri showing up on the screen.

"So, are they in your hat?" he asked.

"Yep, visuals show they're not doing anything but watching the screens." answered Chug, holding up a hand held monitor in front of the camera that was recording and the puppets saw themselves watching the multiple screens and immediately started looking around for a camera.

Chug pressed a button on the small monitor and it revealed a close up of Blade who flinched at the sudden change and started waving his hook in front of himself.

"That reaction never gets old." Kokiri chuckled.

Chug pressed a button again and Jester was next on the close up, he flinched as well from how close it was.

"Come on, we'll let them out on the main observation deck." Kokiri said and the two of them walked to an elevator and rode upwards.

"So how much did you find out about them?" Kokiri asked.

"Hand carved by a puppeteer named Andre Toulon, had their brains extracted as an ingredient for this elixir and brought back to life. What about you?" Chug asked.

"Andre Toulon was a veteran war doctor from the first world war and had a degree in chemistry as well. After the war he turned to wood carving and became an entertainer." said Kokiri.

"And his creations?" Chug asked.

"Out of all of Toulon's creations, Six Shooter holds my interest the most." Kokiri said.

"Why's that?" Chug asked.

"The first group had a Six Shooter who also had six arms and carried the soul of the Egyptian Sorcerer who taught Toulon the reanimation spell." Kokiri said.

"Really?" Chug asked.

The puppets looked at Six Shooter.

"The first group holds a lot of similarities to these ones. There was a Pinhead who was the first to be reanimated, there was one that had a drill on his head like Tunneler's but he was called Drill Sergeant. Another had three knives for fingers, guess what his name was." Kokiri said.

"Blade?" Chug guessed.

"Yep, the only ones from the second group that hold originality are Jester, Leech Woman and Torch." Kokiri said

"Leech Woman? Who's that?" Chug asked.

"She was formally known as Elsa Toulon, his wife, but he brought her back and gifted her with leeches so she could cast her own vengeance." Kokiri answered.

"How come she's not with them now?" Chug asked.

"She was burned alive by a farmer's wife, but that human got her due. Roasted alive she was, it was beautiful. She was very well done by the time the fire went out. Cooked to a blackened crisp. Ok, I'm hungry now." Kokiri said.

"(chuckles) But what made her human?"

"She and her husband made a deal with me to start up a family farm that could be inherited through generations, but she turned out to be infertile and they started embezzling the money for themselves. The contract itself was terminated once she found out that she couldn't have kids. And I only let it slide because they were already marked."

"When you said roasted alive, do you mean to tell me that Torch made the kill?"

"For an infant of two hours he was well created, dead hands or not. He could go into culinary for your major carnivore stable, cooked meat produces a much better gas fuel than raw meat."

"True. And the husband?"

"Ugh, he was worse. Zoo-phelia with his hogs before going to his wife."

"A-A-AGHHH! YECH! UGH! NASTY! BLECH!"

"So, I'm not sorry to see them go and their deaths gave us the land as collateral damage."

"(shivers) Please tell me the husband died slow and horrible and in total agony!"

"His brains were extracted in his sleep."

"Ch'ish! . . . Ok, what about the rest of the guys, what did you find out about them?"

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The puppets were appalled at how the brothers were describing the deaths of the farmers and how they appraised Torch, but once the reasons why for such behavior were given it didn't sound too bad.

But the amount of information they had about Toulon was astounding to say the least. The Retro Puppets was quite a shocker as well. They weren't even mentioned in Toulon's journal. So how did they know these things if they didn't even have the book?

"We're here everybody." Kokiri said and the cameras shut off.