Puppet Master 2139

Ch. 2: They're back!

Originally, when he was cleaning up the hotel, Ash felt a presence calling out to him. He ignored it and continued cleaning. But now he pays attention to it and follows it into the luggage storage.

He looks into the place, and found several large old-fashioned trunks; some of which are bound in metal bands. He took the first one and brought it to Frankie, who gave him such a curious look.

Ash asks, "Frankie, have you brought some sort of acid we could use?" Frankie nodded, "Yeah, Ash. But do you really need to look inside this?" Ash said, "There's no name on it and according to its age, it's been this way for about a hundred years. Who knows? Maybe it holds contraband." Frankie jokes, "Maybe it holds Mary Anne Mobley's head in a jar filled with formaldehyde."

Anyway, Frankie used several drops of some neurotic acid, which she brought for her experiments, to eat away the metal bands to open the trunk.

Ash opened the trunk, revealing several less-than-a-foot-high stringless puppets. (A/N: It's them!)

Benny came by, saying, "Hey, I've brought some root beer. Would you like some, Ash?" But what caught his surprise was the contents in the trunk Ash and Frankie just opened! "Bloody hell, dolls!"

Frankie corrected him, "No, they're puppets."

Evie was interested and got to seeing the puppets. She pulls out an apish, small-headed muscle-bound puppet with long arms that dangle past his knees, huge human-sized hands and wears a brown sweater (Pinhead). "This one is kind of cute."

Ash went into more searching and pulled out a few small booklets and a rolled up poster. He unrolled the poster and read its title, "Andre Toulon; Puppet Master". Ash sighs, "A puppet show? Where are their strings?"

Joey came out of the kitchen with an apron on, "Didn't anybody before you ever wash dishes, Ash? I'm having a tough time deciding what to cook." Then he saw the puppets, felt a disturbance in his head, and fainted. Benny said, "That dude should wake up soon, I'm starving."

Benny opened one of the booklets to reveal a passport. "Oh my god! The owner of this trunk was a Nazi!" He proved it by showing the Swastika cross within it!

Millie came by and pulled out something that appeared to be an ancient Egyptian Ouija board with a golden pyramid Planchette. Benny was frightened, "Maybe it belonged to some evil Nazi dude."

Ash decided to look into another booklet, which contains designs and blueprints of each of the puppets, then he got to some writing that appeared to be in the form of a diary, "'With the death of Kraus, the murder of my beloved Ilsa has been avenged. I must escape Nazi Germany before they get their hands on my power to give life to the inanimate. Weiss will forge me a passport."

Millie was surprised, "Toulon wasn't a Nazi; the Nazis were after him."

Ash dug into the trunk to find a black-clad skull-faced knife wielder (Blade), a jester (Jester), a six-armed cowboy (Six-Shooter), and a black-haired woman in a pink dress (Leech Woman), a drill-headed soldier (Tunneler), and an automaton wearing a brown uniform (Torch). As well as a small case with vials, each filled with a special yellow-green fluid, and a syringe.

Ash said, "This must be the secret Toulon wrote about." Frankie logically asked, "How could liquid animate these guys?" Benny joked, "Maybe they need a little gas?"

Ash also found several other diaries, each one containing the journals of Puppet Masters after Andre Toulon. In one he read out loud, "'the magic that gives my new friends, the puppets of Andre Toulon, life, was stolen from a tribe of ancient Egyptian sorcerers who pledge their allegiance to the demon lord, Sutec.'" In another, "'the fool Andre Toulon only wanted to entertain children, my plans are bigger.'" And in the last one, "Any wise and strong soul willing enough to protect the magic and the puppets is crowned the new Puppet Master.'"

Benny, Joey, Evie, Frankie, and Millie looked at Ash, who responded with, "What?" Together his friends answered in unison, "You're the new Puppet Master."

Ash sighed, "Fine… let's just hope these little dudes are friendly as the diaries said, otherwise, we'd be dead later."

Ash read the instructions of where to inject the formula into the puppets with the syringe. After he was done, they waited.

Nothing.

Benny said, "The first dude was an idiot. How could there be any magic left in the world?" Evie said, "They should at least do something, anything."

Pinhead did, his hands groped Evelyn's chest! "Whoa!"

Benny jumped back, "I take it back!"

Ash quickly looked in the journals, to understand each puppet and fast!

Pinhead lets go of Evelyn's developed chest, and stands up! She said to the little muscle man, "Strong hands there, little guy." Ash said to his friends, "His name is Pinhead. He's a bit of a peeping tom, even a pervert at times."

The others slowly got up. Six-Shooter chuckled, as he pointed all six of his guns at Benny! "Whoa, easy there, Tex!" Ash corrected him, "Six-Shooter."

Jester, who originally looked miserable, spun his revolving head that consists of three separately spinning pieces and smiled at the young people. Frankie was surprised, "How does this jester do that?" Ash just said, "They're alive now, they can now show us the expressions they're feeling."

The puppets nodded.

Millie asked, "But can they talk?" Ash said, "Only one of them can, someone named Decapitron. Pinhead grunts, Jester makes sounds according to whatever the expression on his face says, Six-Shooter chuckles, Miss Leech is awfully quiet at times but never speaks, Blade makes rasping pants or gestures with his sharp instruments, Tunneler grunts, and Torch groan in computerized noises."

Joey, while meeting Miss Leech, asked, "So where is this Decapitron?" The puppets showed the children where his case is.

In a small room, they set up the Frankenstein like slab with the silver-faced puppet.

Benny found some of Rick Myers' old experimental toys for fun. Pinhead and Tunneler pulled out an old stereo and grabbed two of the toy blasters built for them. The rocking music on the tape on the stereo played loud and awesomely, while Pinhead and Tunneler went running around trying to laser tag each other! Benny wanted to join, "Hey, can I join?" They nodded and then Benny placed on a human-capable laser tag toy and went playing with the two puppets.

In the kitchen, Joey and Blade seemed to be trying to get along. As Joey was trying to make some steak for Benny, Blade cuts up the meat with his small knife. Joey said, "Whoa, watch where you stick those things of yours."

Ash went into animated more of Toulon's puppets, Mephisto (a spellcaster-like puppet in a sparkly robe holding a crystal ball) and Decapitron. Mephisto pointed at his crystal to Ash, who looked straight into it.

Then Decapitron's head morphed into Andre Toulon's head and spoke, "You are young and inexperienced." Ash sighed, "I know, but it called to me, Mr. Toulon." Andre Toulon's spirit said, "Yes, that is why you have been chosen. You are acceptable as the new Puppet Master. But be aware, that anyone who is into finding the secret to give life to the inanimate, is also going to go after you."

"Me?" Ash asked, "Why me?"

But Decapitron's head changed back, and then into Ash's head and said in his voice, "The owner of the hotel was the last descendant of the last Puppet Master, the magic has chosen you. You have more magic within you than you have ever imagined. Many evil forces will come, and you will never be alone. You will have us, and more if you accept your new role."

Ash stared into space, "I'm a dead man."

Little did Ash realize, that in another world… a dark world of evil… his very words awakened someone who was supposed to be dead… the demon lord Sutec, got resurrected from his very grave.

Sutec said, "So, a new childlike master has arrived to protect Toulon's secret; the secret that was stolen from me." Bael (a demonic figure (that commands toys in "Demonic Toys") said to him, "Yes, and the boy's self-doubt will be his downfall." Three mummies in cloaks rose from the floor and bowed to Sutec, who said, "My watchers have been resurrected, now our mission is going to be fulfilled."

Back on Earth, Ash miserably ate his food.

The puppets didn't like the look on his face, but they couldn't just stand there watch their new master be miserable.

Millie noticed the worried look on Jester's face, "Come on, Ash. Cheer up." Ash said, "I had a little word with Toulon. It turns out the owner before me knew I was worthy of the responsibility, but I don't think I can do it."

Benny smirked, "Why not give me that responsibility? Think of the fortune we'd get with these guys; they'd be even bigger than 'Pokémon' ever was." Frankie said, "I'm positive that I can make more of the elixir." Benny grins some more, "Yes, even Frankie agrees." Frankie said, "But if Ash is the new puppet master, it's his role to decide how the puppets should be; living with him as one extended family or be treated as slaves or science experiments."

Leech Woman opened her small mouth at Benny, Ash sadly said, "Don't." Leech Woman closed her mouth.

Benny asked, "What was she going to do?"

Ash said, "Blade is a silent killer, Pinhead's stronger than he looks, Six-Shooter's guns can work, Tunneler's drill can dig through bones and flesh, Miss Leech can produce fully grown leeches from her mouth, Torch can kill with his flamethrower, Mephisto can cast a few magical spells, and Decapitron's head can become any weapon he chooses."

Benny's eyes went wide, "Okay."

Ash wondered whether if it was the scary information he got about the puppets that surprised Benny, but he looked in his point of view and saw Evie played Patty-Cake with Pinhead.

"Are you an orphan?" said a female voice from somewhere near Ash.

"No, I'm not, I just got––" Then he stopped at mid-sentence and looked in the direction of Leech Woman, then slowly finished on, "drafted to this place."

Millie looked at Leech Woman, "Did you just talk?" Leech Woman nodded, "Yes."

Pinhead said, "We just began to learn to, because of you, Master." Jester nodded, "It may be a twist, but so is my head! Ha, ha, ha!"

Ash sighed, "Oh my god."

(Next chapter; Ash goes to school, and guess who tags along for the ride. Send your guesses in reviews.)

To Ranma Hibiki: The "Dragon Ears" nickname was for Joey because of his 3-pointed alien ears. Hey, who wouldn't want to be forced to work as the owner of a hotel at such a young age?