Trapped in the Fandom Net
Moon: I'm back people! (fan fair plays) And yeah, I changed my penname. Aren't I awesome!
Neko: Well, here goes nothing I guess.
Moon: Uh-huh. With regards to the last chapter, the gravity-hammers Pudding and Tart got are a Halo reference and the sword replica that Zakuro is using is a Devil May Cry reference. Now let's suit up, board our ship, get our weapons ready and kick some ass!
Neko: Celestial Moonlight Blade does not own TMM or MMP.
Chapter 8: The plan, part 1
/With Moon and the others
Ichigo, Lettuce and Mint were practicing their aim with Mew in the lower decks of the airship, while Kish and Pai were getting sword-fighting lessons from Moon and Gemini. Kunex and Neko were sitting at the control panels, guiding the ship through the air.
"Ryou, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you." ZX said.
"Yeah?"
"Why on earth are the mew outfits so..." his eyes narrowed. "inappropriate?"
The blonde guy chuckled nervously. "Err, I dunno. It was just a bit of a tweak in the design."
ZX made a show of rolling his eyes. "You're a teen genius who can splice human DNA with that of an animal successfully, and the best thing you could come up with was skimpy outfits and cat toys?"
Ryou felt a bead of sweat slide down the back of his neck.
"You should have tried something else." Mika interjected. "Like making the genes enhance their physical abilities to superior levels. Think of what they could have done with guns and swords given the right training! When you hear spliced DNA, most people think flawless assassins, powerful warriors, something really really cool. But what did we get?"
"They're just kids." Keiichiro pointed out. "Would it be wise to have let them know how to use guns?"
"We're teens to!" Angelcake fired back. "You don't see US running around in miniskirts and using wimpy weapons!"
"Good point." The older man concluded. Ryou just looked flustered.
"Are we THERE YET?" yelled a very bored Tart, from where he was sitting on a chair watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. He and Pudding were the only ones not getting battle pointers. Who needs battle-pointers when you can just bash the crap out of anything that runs at you? In fact, Wizard had insisted that training them on board the ship would cause unnecessary damage to equipment and people.
"No, not yet." Musica replied patiently.
Ten minutes later
"Are we there YET?" Tart and Pudding chorused together.
"NO! AND STOP ASKING!" Mika groaned, slamming her hands over her ears.
"Hehehe, listen to you two, arguing as one." Moon said teasingly. "You're such a cute couple!"
Both kids blushed heavily, while everyone else got a good laugh out of their embarrassment.
"It's rather strange for one to find their soul mate at such a young age." Neko murmured wistfully. "Fate works in mysterious ways..."
"Yeah." Kunex added sarcastically. "Half the time she'll happily treat us all like crap. The other half she's the sweetest being in existence."
ZX looked out the window towards the other Gatekeeper ships. "Aha! There's the signal!"
Everyone broke off whatever they were doing and ran towards the nearest window. Ichigo marveled at how well she could see. Most of the other gatekeepers had landed and were putting up signal lights for others to use as landing marks.
"Everyone get into your gear!" Moon ordered. In a few smooth seconds, Ichigo and her friends had gotten their armor on, unsheathed their weapons and ran for the door.
*Outside*
Amber was pointing at different locations on a huge map of the World of Writer's Block, yelling instructions. "The first party will move to area A! Party 2 to Area B! Party 3 and 4, you're covering Area C!"
"She's certainetly good at giving orders." Pai mumbled acutely.
"Which party are we na no da?" Pudding asked.
Neko was the one who answered. "Me, Kunex and Musica will be taking Ichigo, Lettuce, and Mint down to Area ZC, Moon, Gemini, Mew and ZX will take Pudding, Tart and Zakuro to Area VA, and Musica and Mika will take Kish, Pai, Ryou and Keiichiro into Area XS. We'll meet up when again when Phase Two beings."
Moon nodded. "Pudding, Tart, Zakuro, over here."
Zakuro twirled her sword around in her hand and walked over. "What should we be expecting?"
"Demons, Vampires, Rabids and other hell-related creatures, probably. Why?"
"Vamps and WHAT?" Tart cried, eyes wide.
Pudding tipped her head. "Are you scared Taru-Taru?" She paused for a second before grinning. "Then don't worry, because Pudding will protect you na no da!" Saying that she latched onto the alien boy's arm.
"We're going to get a head start." Moon told Neko. "Remember, be careful and I'm counting on you to protect one another, okay?"
"Yes." Neko nodded. "I promise."
Moon smiled. "Great. Come on guys!" She, ZX, Gemini, Mew, Pudding, Tart and Zakuro turned and ran towards their destination.
*With the main Gatekeeper force*
The Soulless army was huge, stretching across the barren land like a black ocean. Rank upon rank of Soulless stood their ground, enormous swords and guns in hand. Black ships and flying beasts soared overhead. And in the middle of the forces, on a raised platform, stood Shinryu.
He looked more terrifying than Ichigo had imagined him, even when she had seen his eyes. He had the body of a lion, and a tail composed of a nine-headed snake. His feet were made out of pure steel, shinning evilly in the dim light of the Land of Writer's Block. There were streaks of blood on his pitch-black fur, and along the rims of his bat-like wings. His claws were, at Lettuce's estimation, about five feet long and styled like those of a bird's talons.
Shinryu looked up and smirked evilly at the approaching forces, and Ichigo gasped. His teeth were razor sharp, and looked more like oversized broadswords than teeth.
"There's so many." A nearby Gatekeeper whispered.
"May Silvera help us." Another mumbled. "We'll need all the strength we can get."
Ichigo turned to Moon. "How much longer until the fireworks are launched?"
Moon's eyes were fixed on her watch. "1 minute and counting." Everyone in the forces tensed and waited.
"30 seconds." ZX muttered. "20. 19. 18."
There was a slight groan as the tanks (which had been stuffed full of firecrackers and fireworks) rolled into the center of the group.
"14. 13. 12."
"Let's hope we're all really, really good actors." Pai muttered before squeezing his eyes shut.
"5. 4."
Moon threw the match into the open window. Everyone backed away from the tanks as quickly as possible.
"2. 1." BEEP BEEP.
The tanks exploded in the most colorful light show Ichigo had ever seen anywhere, even in the movies. The Gatekeepers scattered everywhere, running off in different directions. The baffled soulless army looked every which way as their adversaries scattered, running off in different directions.
Shinryu started howling orders, and soon enough the Soullesses broke off into groups and followed different groups of Gatekeepers, who were scattering into different areas.
If the situation hadn't been so serious, the mews would have laughed at the success. It worked! Ichigo thought, grinning to herself. My totally insane plan is actually working out!
*With Ichigo, Lettuce, and Mint, Area ZC*
"What...are those?" Ichigo asked, making a face.
The beings in question were the human-like creatures with sickly pale skin, high-pitched soprano voices, and skimpy clothing running around the clearing, screaming different names as they ran about among Soulless scouts. The names the cat mew could pick up were "Edward", "Jacob" and "Kish" for some reason.
"Maybe their vamps." Lettuce suggested.
"That can't be right though." Mint frowned. "Vamps don't run around in the daytime."
Musica groaned. "Oh great...I had been HOPING that all the Rabids would have been in Area VA. Why did they have to come here?"
"Err, Musica? What exactly IS a Rabid?" Ichigo asked.
"Rabid is a term used for non-gatekeepers who were lead to the Net by obsession." Kunex replied, wrinkling his nose. "And wouldn't you know it, they just HAVE to be rabid Twilight and Kish fangirls. Wonderful, freaking wonderful."
"What do they do?" Lettuce asked.
"They're possessive, mean-spirited girls who worship guys from other Earths and key the cars of people who don't like them or the series they star in." Neko replied with a sigh. "They're more dangerous than they look. Be careful, they might infect you."
Ichigo and Mint both shuddered.
"There's a specific method in which they fade back to their world." Kunex said in a practical tone. "You have to blast a hole in their chest."
"Why not in the brain?"
"Because Rabids usually don't have one." Came the blunt reply. "Now be careful and pay attention. One...two...three!"
With a yelp, Ichigo ran out of hiding and into the field, charging her gun. The Rabids looked over at them, and charged like crazy people. Lettuce pulled out her duel handguns and began firing.
Mint was almost pushed into a corner, but she brought her gun up at the last second and blew the Rabids full of holes. "WHOA!"
The Soulless were more organized then the Rabids, who just ran off in every direction, tripping over each other as they tried to get at their enemies. They tried to corner Kunex, but he reduced them to shadows with his keyblade.
Ichigo, Lettuce and Neko stood back-to-back, surrounded by Rabids. Neko growled and shifted into her cat form. She launched herself at a Rabid, taking her by surprise and breaking the line. Lettuce started going trigger-happy and started firing her guns in all directions.
Ichigo sweat-dropped a bit, chared and fired towards the group of Soulless, blasting them into oblivion.
The group paused, catching their breath. Musica smiled. "Great shot Ichigo."
Lettuce was looking at her twin guns. "I'm going to enjoy using these babies." She said, grinning like an idiot, and a very EVIL idiot. Ichigo gulped.
*With Moon, ZX, and Gemini, Area VA*
"Wow, those soulless are stupid." Gemini laughed as the group were sitting in the shadows, watching a huge group of soulless stand around, growling.
"I can't believe they fell for that." ZX chuckled.
"What now na no da?" Pudding asked. "There's a lot of them here na no da."
"We need a distraction." Moon stated. Everyone looked at Tart.
Tart snorted. "What do you want me to do? Dress in drag and do the Hula?"
Moon immediately brightened.
Three seconds later
"I need to learn to keep my freaking mouth shut." Tart groaned. He was wearing a hula skirt and flower-petal tiara. And with that he began to sing the My Little Pony theme song.
Sure enough, the Soulless started chasing him towards a nearby cave. As soon as they were all inside, Moon, Gemini, ZX, Pudding and Zakuro walked in, blocking the exit.
Tart grinned at the sudden looks of panic on the Soulless's expressions and pulled out his gravity hammer. "Taste my hammer!" He then proceeded to beat the living crap out of his attackers.
Pudding ran over to join him when an enormous demon soulless stood in her path, growling. Gulping, the little monkey girl spat at him. The creature lowered it's heard to snarl at her, which proved to be a mistake. Pudding brought her hammer down hard on the it's head, killing it. Before she could turn around, however, another Soulless snuck up on her and hit her over the head, hard.
"Pudding!" Tart yelled, before assaulting the hapless Soulless and beating the crud out of him with such force the the other soulless started to back off.
"Oh that you Taru-Taru!"
"Don't call me that!"
Gemini had a manic grin on his face as he hacked away at anything stupid enough to get in his way. "I don't know but I've been told, Soulless are my mighty foe!" He sang just when he hacked off the head of a nearby Vamp.
ZX sweatdroped before drop-kicking several unfortunate monsters into a nearby crevice. Moon and Zakuro were fighting side by side, stabbing and beheading the remaining Soulless in the cave.
Zakuro straightened up and pointed outwards. "There's more."
Moon scowled. "They don't know when to quit. Come on, let's blast them into outer space!"
*With Musica, Mika, Kish, Pai, Ryou and Keiichiro*
Kish swung his swords, killing another soulless. He, Mucisa, Mika, and the rest of his group were in the thick of a fight with yet another group of Soulless. Thankfully, the group was thinning out and they could see lone Soulless scrambling away from other locations.
"I think it's working!" Ryou yelled before blasting away a demon that had gotten way too close for comfort.
"Phase two is almost complete!" Mika said gleefully before dispatching her opponent.
"The plan's working!" Musica cowed. "We've got 'em on the run!"
*With Shinryu*
A wounded scout made his way back to his master. It grovelled for a moment before sitting up and barked it's report.
The Dark Beast growled low in his throat. "So they think they can stop me?" He gestured sharply with his nine-headed tail. Several cages were brought up from nearby doors, and set on the ground.
"Let's see how they fair against my generals."
End Chapter
Yay! At last, an update! PS, newmew4you said she may do fanart for the Mew's armor! Horray! Also, I am very proud of myself for sneaking in PuddingxTart fluff! Should I do fluff for any other pairing as well?
PSS: Just like with the flamers, the Rabids do not embody any particular author/authoress. They are yet another plot device in my growing story. They, like the Flamers, will have a part in it before this is over.
PLEASE REVIEW!