NOTICE! I do not own anything in this fanfiction, save for two characters, still to come.
"Mr. Kusakabe!"
"Yes, yes, I know," Tatsuo answered, "You need a refill on the coffee. Coming right up, Madame Foster!"
It was a busy day at the Kusakabe Inn, and the family had their hands full, even after Mei offered to help. It was breakfast time, and everyone was waiting on Yasuko, Tatsuo, and Satsuki. Mei was in the kitchen, preparing some of the simpler foods and drinks.
Now, for the Kusakabes, it was normal to serve strange guests, like the turtle-like Koopas. The daughters had, after all, encountered a strange creature once...
While Tatsuo was making the coffee, Yasuko walked up to a table surrounded by 3 dinosaurs, known as Yoshis. There was another Yoshi somewhere in the room. "Alright," said Yasuko, naming the foods she placed on the table, "4 dried mangoes, two eggplants, and--" Here, Yasuko smiled as she handed a bowl to the smallest, youngest Yoshi at the table, "--a big bowl of Neon Gummi Worms."
"Wow!" The small reptile cheered, shoving one handful of the candy into its mouth, then another, and then starting to pluck the worms out of the bowl one by one with its long, chameleon-like tongue.
"Enjoy!" Yasuko chuckled as she walked away from the table.
Meanwhile, the older daughter, Satsuki, walked up to a table holding a plate of sliced apple. There was someone sitting at the table, of course, but his face wasn't visible due to the newspaper in front of his face. The hands that held the paper, however, were visible. They were very large and furry. There was also what looked like a fluffy, pink top hat on his head.
"Gomen nasai (I'm very sorry), Chopper-kun," Satsuki apologized to the character, "It's been a crazy day today!"
The character, Chopper, folded the top of the paper down to reveal a strong but furry face with a small, blue nose. Now, Chopper was a reindeer, or caribou, but not an ordinary one. He had eaten a Devil Fruit known as the Hito Hito no Mi, which made him half human. He had three standard transformations. This was his Heavy Point form, which was very muscular.
Despite this form's gruff outward appearance, however, he was kind in every form. "Daijobu (it's OK), Satsuki," Chopper answered. He then put down the paper and went into another form, his Brain Point form. Now this was seen as an inexplicably cute form by many, as it was very juvenile in appearance, in contrast to the mature Heavy Point. Chopper even SOUNDED young in this form! It was his standard form.
Chopper smiled when he saw his order. He loved sweet foods. But before he could take a bite out of one of the slices, he noticed a small, pink Yoshi standing nearby, staring eagerly.
Poor Chopper wasn't too brave, and got a bit uneasy. "H-Hello," he stammered, "...Is there something you want?"
The Yoshi didn't answer, just kept staring. Chopper tried to ignore it and proceed eating, but to no avail. "G-go away," Chopper said. It didn't. "Are you alone?" It didn't answer. "What's wrong? Don't you have any friends--"
But before Chopper could finish, the little dino opened its mouth and lashed out its tongue, grabbing the apple slice that Chopper was holding and frightening the reindeer!
Satsuki watched as the Yoshi scampered away. "They're so cute at that age," she giggled.
"I-I don't know," Chopper stammered, "They kinda scare me." Then he remembered something. "Oh, by the way," he said, "how's Hogarth?"
"Much better," Satsuki sighed, "He's had a few rough spots earlier this year, but I think he's finally starting to turn a corner."
Just then, the door opened, and in the doorway were two police officers, escorting Hogarth. One officer was a yellow-skinned human. He was chubby and had light blue hair. This was Chief Wiggum. The other officer was a robot, obviously built for police work. It was called URL; Uniform Resource Locator.
"Mrs. Kusakabe," said URL, catching the family's attention and causing them to stop what they were doing.
Yasuko dropped the plates she was carrying. "Hogarth!" she exclaimed.
"Uh-oh," Chopper murmured, "Wrong turn."
"Okay, thanks for the lift, guys," Hogarth said, pushing away Wiggum's hand.
"Not so fast!" Wiggum said, grabbing Hogarth's shoulder again.
"We caught your son operating a vehicle in a restricted area," URL explained.
"Moving violation 9-0-4," Wiggum stated, "section 15, paragraph... Uh..."
"6?" Hogarth answered. He had broken this law several times now.
"Thanks," Wiggum said, forgetting for a second that he was on duty.
"No problem," Hogarth muttered.
Yasuko passed a hand over her eyes. "Hogarth..."
"Of course you know, ma'am," said URL, "this constitutes a violation of his probation."
Neither Satsuki nor Tatsuo could find any way to help Hogarth.
"I know," answered Yasuko, "I'm sorry, but, um--"
"Um, excuse me, officers," Chopper said, getting up from his chair and walking over, "My name is Tony Tony Chopper. I'm a doctor. Have you heard of me? ...I thought not." He pulled off his blue backpack and started searching for something. "I have a card in here somewhere--"
"You the family pet?" asked URL.
"No no, he's a friend of Hogarth," Satsuki explained.
"Uh-huh," Wiggum murmured, "Well, son, we're gonna hafta ask you to stand down. This doesn't concern you."
"Um, arigato (thank you), Chopper-kun," said Satsuki, "We'll take it from here."
"Uh... OK..." Chopper said. Then he whispered, "Don't let me do that again, if it's going to turn out like this." He turned away and walked slowly back to his seat, sad that he couldn't help his friend.
"Due to repeated violations of statute 15-C," URL continued to explain, "we've impounded his Rocketboard. Any more slip-ups will result in a one-way ticket to Juvey Hall."
"Kiddie hoosegow," Wiggum said, letting go of Hogarth.
"The slammo," URL said.
"Uh, thanks, officers," Tatsuo said, taking Hogarth aside, "It won't happen again."
"We've seen his type all the time," URL said.
"Wrong choicers," Wiggum said.
"Dead-enders," URL said.
"Losers," Wiggum said.
Hogarth glared at the Police Chief. That "losers" bit was NOT neccessary!
URL knew this, too. He elbowed Wiggum in the stomach.
"Ow! What!?" Wiggum asked.
"I'll tell you outside," URL muttered. He then tipped his helmet to the Kusakabes, then the two cops walked out the door, closing it behind them.
Hogarth avoided everyone's staring. The parents noticed him trying to ignore and looked behind them at the staring customers, who then tried to pretend they saw nothing.
Tatsuo turned to his foster son and sighed, "Hogarth, why do you do those kinds of things? Do you want to go to Juvenile Hall?"
Instead of answering, Hogarth turned around and picked up a used tray to wash it.
"Hogarth?" the father said. Hogarth didn't answer. "Hogarth, look at us."
Yasuko walked over to her son. "Hogarth," she said, "you've gotta understand. We know how you feel about your old family. We miss them, too. But it's hard enough for us to keep this inn alive without you going--"
Hogarth turned to Yasuko. "Mom, it's no big deal!" Hogarth protested, "There was no one around! Those cops just won't get off my-- ...Forget it."
"Mr. Kusakabe! My coffee!"
"I'll be right there, Madame Foster!" Tatsuo answered. He turned to Hogarth. "Son, don't get us wrong. We just don't want to see you lose your future." He, Yasuko, and Satsuki then walked away to do what they were supposed to.
Hogarth carried the tray into the kitchen (where Mei was), muttering, "What future?"
Mei saw Hogarth walking in with that depressed expression. "Aniki (Big brother)?" she asked, "Are you OK?"
"...Yeah," he answered, "I'm fine." But Mei could tell he was not OK. For a long time, she was worried about her brother.
Later that evening, Hogarth was on the roof, throwing pebbles at the ground below. He heard a conversation from the window next to him. Chopper had visited the family to play with Mei. The 4-year-old just loved riding on Chopper's back in Walk Point (his more reindeer-like form). Now Chopper had stopped playing with Mei (who was sitting nearby), and was sitting at a table across from Satsuki, chatting with her.
"So how do you manage to do it, Satsuki?" Chopper asked, "Running a business while helping your parents raise someone like Hogarth?"
"That's the problem," Satsuki sighed, "My parents are not doing well with him, and neither are me and Mei. Ever since his family went, he's never recovered. And you know how smart he is. After all, he invented the Rocketboard! At the age of 6, no less! But he's failing in school, he's always in trouble, and when we try to talk to him, he's like a stranger to us." The girl sighed. "I don't know what to do, Chopper. We've tried everything--"
But Hogarth never got to hear the rest of that conversation, because suddenly, a small plane (Hogarth guessed this was a private jet) came spiraling towards the beach nearby. SPLASH! It landed, and Hogarth ran to the plane.
"Hey, mister!?" he shouted through a window in the side of the plane, "Mister, you're OK in there, right!?"
BANG! Hogarth jumped back in surprise, because a red, sweaty hand slammed onto the window. The door opened, and a short old man with short grey hair and a lower lip that looked like it was curled inward fell out, coughing like crazy. A strange chest had fallen out with him...
The old man grabbed Hogarth by the collar and looked him in the eye. "He's comin'" the man wheezed, "Can't you hear him? Laughin' like Satan himself!?" He then let go of Hogarth's collar and crawled over to the chest.
"Uh, hit your head pretty hard there, didn'cha?" Hogarth asked. He could tell the man was a little nuts.
Instead of answering, the old man told Hogarth, "He's after my chest. That frickin' alien and his buncha cutthroats!" He hefted the chest over his shoulder. "But they'll hafta pry it from ol' George Liquor's cold, dead fingers before I--!" But he didn't finish, just fell over, dropping the chest, and started coughing again.
Poor Hogarth couldn't believe what was happening. "Holy-- Here, gimme your arm!" said the boy, picking the old man, George Liquor, up over his shoulders.
"Boy," George sighed as Hogarth walked him over to the inn, "If only there were more kids like you nowadays..."
Hogarth didn't answer, he just muttered, "Mom's gonna love this. How much worse can this get--"
KER-POW!
Hogarth looked up. "Oh, yeah," Hogarth sighed, "The old 'How-can-this-get-any-worse' rain gag. Really flippin' funny."
Meanwhile, inside the inn, Satsuki pulled down the drapes. "Thanks for listening, Chopper-kun," she sighed, "It helps."
Chopper walked over to Satsuki and patted her leg, since he was currently too short to pat her shoulder. "Daijobu," he reassured his friend, "It'll be OK." He then walked toward the door. Mei bid her friend good-bye and told him she looked forward to playing with him again.
Yasuko and Tatsuo were listening to Chopper and Satsuki's conversation from a nearby doorway. The mom sighed and told her husband, "I keep dreaming one day I'll open the door, and there Hogarth will be just the way he was before that day; a smiling, happy little boy holding a new pet and begging me to let him keep it." She smiled at the thought.
Chopper went into his Heavy Point to reach the doorknob, opened the door, and ... jumped back! Because he saw, standing in the doorway, Hogarth carrying a short, sick-looking old man over his shoulders, and carrying a chest in his other hand.
The Kusakabes were equally shocked. "Hogarth Hughes!" Yasuko exclaimed.
"Wait, Mom!" Hogarth said, putting George and the chest on the floor, "He's hurt! Bad!"
Chopper ran over to the old man's aid. George just opened his eyes and pointed at the box. "My chest!" he wheezed.
Hogarth pushed the chest into George's reach. George dialed something into the keypad that served as the lock. "He's coming," George wheezed, pulling a round object covered in cloth to Hogarth, "Can't let 'em find this."
"Who's coming?" Hogarth asked.
George pulled Hogarth over to whisper into his ear.
"The alien..." he whispered.
"Beware ... the alien..."
George choked, then let out his death rattle and fell to the floor. Chopper checked the old man's pulse, then sadly shook his head.
George Liquor was dead.
Just then, the sound of another plane came from outside. A bright light shone through the window. Hogarth rushed over and opened the drapes a crack. Outside, he saw a group of people. It was too dark to tell what they looked like, even with the lightning flashing, but he could see a large silhouette leading the group.
He had a feeling this was trouble.
"C'mon!" he shouted, "We gotta go!" His family followed him up the stairs, with Satsuki scooping Mei up in her arms.
Chopper had the urge to open the door a bit to see who was out there, but before he could reach the doorknob, BANG! A piece of the door exploded after the sound of a shotgun!
Chopper panicked and ran after the family in Walk Point. "I'm with Hogarth on this one!" Chopper shouted.
Right when they left, the door burst open and several strange characters flooded in! The leader walked up to George Liquor's dead body, seeing the empty chest nearby...
At the other side of the house, Chopper, now in Heavy Point, opened a window and looked outside and down. Thank God! There was the emergency cart!
The pirates, meanwhile, where turning the room upside down looking for whatever was in the chest! "Where is it!?" some demanded. "It's gotta be here somewhere!" shouted others. Finally, the leader pointed upstairs, and the pirates scrambled up.
Hogarth saw the pirates shadows coming up the stairs. Chopper was on the edge of the window with Satsuki, who was still holding a frightened Mei in her arms.
"Don't worry," Chopper explained, "I know enough physical science for this. On three. One--"
"THREE!" Hogarth shouted, pushing his family and friend out the window and into the cart. He then jumped down himself. The cart was big enough to carry 6 people, but someone needed to get the thing moving. Chopper jumped out of the front seat and scrambled to the reins, going into Walk Point and pulling the cart away from the inn.
The family looked behind them to see their beloved inn burning! Fire was escaping the windows and door! They turned away sadly, wondering how this could happen to them.
Hogarth tried to avoid the depression around him, and turned his attention to the thing George gave him. He unwrapped the cloth and, to his astonishment, he found a silver ball with strange markings on it.
Little did Hogarth know, that little sphere would play an important role in the events to come...
Now this chapter was LONG! Not at all like my last chapter, huh? Well, lemme know whatcha think! R&R!