Tropical Amazons: The Holiday From Hell
Tropical Amazons
The Holiday from Hell
Started By: Perfume
It was very late by the time the group made it to the hotel where their reservations were waiting for them.
The contest had chosen a very nice hotel as part of their prize. This was easily four star accommodations. Perfume was very impressed.
"*Reservation for Scarf Tendou, please.*" Perfume asked in her strangely accented English. The clerk found the keys and sent them on to their room.
The room was a large nicely appointed business room with two large beds. Obviously, some one was going to have to share.
Silk stood protectively over one of the beds, laying the bag she'd gotten from Alex at the foot of it. "I claim this for myself and Perfume. You boys can duke it out over the other."
Perfume stood beside Silk, there was no way she wanted to share with one of those boys today. "Happi can take care of himself, he always does. There's a couch and a recliner. Happi's small enough to sleep on the recliner. One of you boys can sleep on the couch and the other two can share the bed. "
Perfume smiled uneasily when she realized that she was taking charge of the situation. This was something new to her. There was a small problem with the plan, she was going to have to sleep with Silk-Chan. This night was going to get difficult.
Happi really didn't like being ordered around by an amazon. He had to admit, Perfume had a good plan in mind. Who was he to argue if it was going to work out just right. without a word he hopped up on the recliner, pulled a blanket over his head and went right to sleep.
Keisuke and Scarf looked at each other and nodded. Then they looked at the last single bed. They looked at each other. They looked at the bed. Each other. Bed. "Mine!" Keisuke screamed trying to make a run for it but Scarf tripped him and then leaped over his falling body to land on the bed. "No," Scarf said. "Mine." Keisuke just grumbled and pulled a spare futon out of the closet. "Nevermind, I'll use this. Good night everyone."
Alex chuckled at Scarf and Keisuke's antics, then got up to leave for his own suite upstairs. "Night, you guys. Maybe if I get some time, I'll see you around." Alex then left the room, and burst out into laughter as he went up the elevator.
Once everyone was in bed and the light's were out, it was the beginning of Perfume's problem. As Silk slept peacefully next to her, Perfume could not catch a wink. She was going insane sleeping right there next to her.
--This is more difficult than I thought-- She thought ruefully to herself. --This is going to be a rough vacation.--
Somehow she did finally get to sleep. Her sleeping body did what her awakened body would not do. She wrapped one arm around Silk as she slept.
Silk woke silently, mind suddenly brought alert. --what? where?-- she felt restrained, and the ceiling was unfamiliar. That was a bad sign. Violence was forestalled only because Perfume murmured something in her sleep, and Silk recognized the voice and remembered where she was and what had happened. --Oops... that was close-- she thought. --Oh well.-- she rolled over and went back to sleep.
Perfume had no idea how close she came to a rude awakening. She merely turned over in her sleep and murmured two names. "Konatsu-Chan..mmm .. Silk- Chan." Luckily she spoke to softly for it to be heard.
**********
The Next Morning
Keisuke was the first, as usual, to wake up. He got up, stretched out, then went out to the balcony. The sun was just rising and the cool breeze felt good on his skin. "Hawaii." he whispered, inhaling a bit of the tropical air. "Gotta love it." Looking over the side, he saw the most beautiful and crystal clear swimming pool in the world. "Oh man." he exhaled in excitement. He left the sliding door opened and walked back into the room against the far wall. Taking a deep breath, he sprinted out the door and leaped of the balcony and into the pool. "WAAAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!!"
"AHHHHH!" Was all Happi-Chan could shout as Keisuke's huge splash nailed her right on. Happi Chan was drenched with her hair completely messed up. The water even drenched the sack on Happi's back.
"Only you would dive in from the balcony!"
Keisuke emerged from the water sputtering. "That was awesome!!" He looked up at the now soaked Happi-Chan. "BWAHAHA!! C'mon, woman. Enjoy yourself! This is HAWAII!!!
Happosai was angry but smiled in spite of herself. She dropped the soggy bag of unmentionables and grinned at Keisuke. "Woman?! How dare you call me that!" She jumped into the pool and dunked Keisuke under. "You can never beat me in anything goes water sports!"
Keisuke came back up and spit a mouthful of water into Happi-Chan's face. "How's that for water sports?"
Happi-Chan laughed as she launched a series of splashing attacks on Keisuke. Hawaii just had a great effect on her. For once there was no ulterior motives or dirty tricks. She was just having a great time playing with Keisuke.
Scarf climbed out of bed and did his morning warm-up routine. After he was done his eyes wandering around the room finally landing on Silk and Perfume. He just stood there and stared for a moment or two.
Perfume, moved closer to Silk in her sleep, once again ending up with her arm around Silk. She wasn't trying to do it on purpose, but her sleeping mind just kept doing it.
Silk woke up from Scarf's eyes on her, then noticed the Perfume was still wrapped around her. "Morning Perfume. You can let go now."
Perfume's eyelids fluttered awake, her last dreaming thought was of Konatsu-Chan. Part of the dream was still with her and she thought she awoke holding on to her dream Lover.
Her eyes bugged out when she realized it was not Konatsu in her arms, but Silk, and Scarf was watching them, snickering. She quickly let go of Silk and backed away across the bed. "I'm So sorry Silk-Chan, I didn't mean to grab you like that!" She was so flustered and embarrassed as she back away that she didn't realize when the bed ended. She fell right off the side and onto the floor."OW!"
Silk watched Perfume fall on the floor with a confused look on her face, "Relax Perfume. It's not like I'm going to whallop you or anything. I almost did when you first did it, but I realized it was just you, not... something else." Silk got out of bed in a far less spectacular fashion then Perfume, and started digging into her bag. She found the swimsuit that she'd worn in the swimsuit contest and grinned. Alex may be annoying at times, but he did know how to pack. She went into the bathroom to change.
Scarf walked to the side of the bed and offered Perfume a hand up. "Pleasant night?" he asked, his eyes unreadable.
Perfume was still blushing terribly, this was as embarrassed as she had ever been. She still could not believe she had grabbed onto Silk like that in her sleep.
She accepted Scarf's hand and pulled herself up off of the floor. She still couldn't meet Scarf's eyes. "I suppose it was Scarf-Chan, I'm sorry." She turned away took one of her suitcases and went to the other bathroom. Her head was still down.
Silk walked out of the bathroom dress in her swimming suit and a big smile. She was in the process of slathering on sun screen. She grabbed a towel from the bag and went to the balcony. The tossed the huge beach towel onto a deck side chair, "Incoming!" she called, then dove into the clear deep blue water, resurfacing not far from the others. "Life is good."
Keisuke and Happi's water-fight came to a halt as Silk entered the pool. They floated around a bit as Silk approached them. She gave them a look as to say "What are you guys doing?" Keisuke looked at Happi and grinned evilly. They both proceeded to splash her.
Silk dove under the surface to escape the splashing, heading towards Happi-Chan with a plan. She came up underneath the other woman and flung her up and out of the water, right towards Keisuke. "Gotcha!"
Happi Chan screamed as she was tossed into Keisuke. She was smiling al the way. This was the most fun she had in a while. Of course throwing her was easy she weighed maybe ninety pounds soaking wet. (Pardon the pun)
She resurfaced from the pool to take her revenge upon Silk when she noticed the motorcade of cars pulling into the hotel parking lot. There were four sedans, 4 police motorcycles, and one Limo with an American flag flying on one fender and the presidential seal on the other.
"Oh my.. That looks important."
Alex was downstairs in a meeting in one of the ballrooms, when he saw the motorcade pulling up. He saw the lead limo, and blink-blinked. "The President is here?"
Perfume had gotten her swimsuit on and had her towel wrapped about her shapely form. She didn't want to dive out of the Balcony so she took the elevator down stairs.
She was walking toward the pool entrance when she saw the motorcade, she didn't know what it was about but it looked important. She turned to continue on her way when she ran into a large American dressed in a black suit.
"*Excuse me*" She managed to sputter out as she bounced off of him, the man was built like a brick.
The secret service agent stared at Perfume for a moment, once he realized that she was no threat to the president , he opened the pool entrance door for her.
She sat down on the edge of the pool. "What's that all about? " she inquired as she pointed her thumb to the limo.
"Beats me, Perfume. But if the President of the United States is here, who knows what's going on?" was the reply Perfume heard as Alex walked out into the pool area, still in his Armani suit. "I called for a lunch break."
The president and his gauntlet of secret service agents went into the hotel. They were followed by crowds of press. The group over heard one of the reporters talking about some summit that was being held in Hawaii.
Happi was still floating in the pool digesting all of this information. She was having too much fun to worry about some politician. She snuck over to the edge of the pool, reached out, grabbed Alex's ankle and pulled him into the pool.
Scarf finally came down, on the elevator, after a changing into his swimming suit, he gracefully dived into pool and began swimming laps. After finishing them he jumped out of the pool and laid down to get some sun.
Silk laughed as Alex's oh so perfect suit got drenched because he wasn't paying attention. She wondered what kind of hissy fit he would throw this time. She looked at Keisuke, "One back rub says he claims his shield kept the water out."
Keisuke jumped at the chance to give Silk a back rub. "You're on, dearie." he said with a smile. He laughed at Happi-Chan's antics. She seemed to be having the time of her life.
In fact Keisuke was correct. Ever since Happi had merged with Lin Ran's Soul she had been able to enjoy simple happiness. Something that Happi had not been able to do for a long time.
She was laughing when she heard Silk's comment. "I think Silk is right." Happi was grinning from ear to ear.
Alex came up in his cursed form, sputtering and with fur and feathers soaking wet. He looked at the laughing humans, and got an evil grin of his own as he climbed out. "So, a bunch of wise guys, eh?" Keisuke, Happi and Silk all got hit with jets of water right in their laughing faces, causing them to sputter and gag in surprise. "Welcome to Chaos." He leapt up, onto the balcony to his room and went in to change clothes and forms.
"That boy," Silk said as she blinked the chlorine out of her eyes, "cannot take a joke. At least not when he's the butt." She pulled herself out of the pool to sit on the edge. "There goes my backrub, too. SPOIL SPORT!" she yelled at the absent Alex.
The response she got was a balloon full of whipped cream to the head from upstairs. "I can take a joke well. It's just more fun to dish them out." Alex came back down, and cannon-balled into the pool, splashing everyone again. He resurfaced human with a catlike, smug grin on his face.
Silk touched a hand to her creamed head. "Great, now I'm some sort of cream puff confection? simply delicious, I'm sure!" Silk's tone took sarcasm to a whole new level. "Anyone want a bite?" she growled as she tried to figure out what to do with her hair.
"Well.." Was all Happi was able to reply before Silk Whapped him with a wok.
Silk's hand stayed in place from its throwing position for a moment. Her hammerspace woks were specially designed to make as good a projectile as a bludgeon. "Baka." she sighed, "I'm going to go take a shower." she got up and wrapped her towel around her waist, heading back to the room the conventional way.
As Silk headed back to the room, a few unknown assassins had just finished planting a bomb on the ceiling, it seems that the group's room was right below the presidential suite.
All Silk noticed was the assassins (Disguised as the cleaning crew) leave the hotel room.
She stopped the trio. "What were you doing? I thought Cleaning wasn't until the afternoon."
"Uh well we changed the schedule, Girlie!" Was the gruff response she received.
Silk let them go, but fixed each of their aura's in her mind. her hackles were raised and she went to check for any difference in the room, ignoring her hair for the moment. The room hadn't been cleaned was the first thing she noticed. The beds were made, but not to four star hotel standards, and the bathroom sink was full of some sort of white powder. Silk sniffed at it. "Plaster?" she recognized the smell from all the patching she'd had to do on her shop. She started scanning the walls for a fresh patch. She found none. Then she looked up.
And sure enough she saw the explosive device planted in the ceiling. The timer was counting down from 45.
Silk did the most sensible thing she could think of; Ripped the device off the ceiling and ran out into the hallway, screaming at the top of lungs and projecting with her mind. "--There's a bomb in my room and I don't know how to shut it off!!!!!!--" She saw a secret service agent coming down the hall and she ran up to him. "Help me!" she held up the explosives, which had run down to 22 seconds. The agent immediately ripped out a red and blue wire, and the timer stopped. They sighed in relief. The timer started again. They both yelped and started pulling wires at random. the timer stopped again. Twin prayers to two very different gods went out from the same hallway as other agents and hotel staff ran up to help.
The secret service agents were suddenly all over the place. Checking every person and every room. The cleaning crew was already gone.
The lead secret service agent shook Silk's hand. He didn't even comment about the whipped cream in her hair. "You've done a great service to America, young lady." He smiled and finally let go of her hand. "I'm sure that the President will want to talk to you later."
Alex heard the commotion upstairs, and saw three men running away from the hotel. He got a brief whiff of C4 on them, and grinned. He flew out of the pool, saying "Excuse me for a moment." A few shouts and gunshots were heard, soon followed by the sound of bending metal. Alex soon went into the hotel, with three unconscious men wrapped in a piece of steel piping. He walked up to where Silk and the agents were, and dropped his bundle in front of the head agent. "Do these belong to you?" He looked at the bomb, and said to Silk, "Are we having fun yet?"
Silk gave him a slightly wild eyed look. "Do I look like I'm having fun?" she snapped, then turned to the secret service agent, "These are the men I saw leaving of my room before I found the bomb. You will probably want to detain them. As for meeting your president, I would be honored, but I'd like to go get cleaned up first, if I may?"
"Certainly." the agent smiled, a rare sight, "Perhaps you can join as for lunch today at 12:30?"
"That I can." Silk bowed, "Thank you very much." with that she turned and fled back to the privacy of the room and shower.
Perfume had ran up the stairs following Alex. The way he left she knew something was wrong, and was concerned about Silk. If there was trouble it always seemed to be attracted to members of their group.
She bumped right into the lead secret service agent just as Silk went back into the room. "What Happened up here?"
The agent just looked at her and the others that had followed Perfume up the stairs. "A bomb was found and de-fused. Nothing to worry about. Please clear the area." The agents hauled away the three 'room cleaners' while others talked into their radio headsets, completely ignoring the Nerima crew.
Perfume was a little surprised by all of that. It figures that someone would try to bomb their room, why not someone tried to hijack the plane they were on.
She went back into the hotel room. She didn't bother Silk and went t the other bathroom. Perhaps they all needed to get away from the Hotel for a while.
Meanwhile, Keisuke was just stepping out of the locker room shower wrapped in one of the long beach towels. His was hitting the right side of his head trying to get water out the opposite ear. "Dammit. I hate it when this happens." After getting dressed, he went over to the elevator and pressed the button for the floor they were staying on. The elevator started to move. 15...16...17...CLUNK "What the hell?" he exclaimed as the elevator stopped abruptly in between floors. He grabbed the handle to the emergency hatch but it snapped right off. "Great." he muttered. Just when things couldn't get any worse, the power went off.
Silk was just finishing toweling off when the lights in the bathroom went off. This was the interior bathroom, so there were no windows, and the room was now as black as the abyss she liked sending Monsters into. "Damn it." she growled, then began her mantra, "I will not kill anyone today. Nor will I maim them. I will not kill anyone today..."
She managed to get dressed by feel, slipping into a light blue sundress and sandals before opening the door into the main room. Seeing no one in the sunlit main room, she took a mental recouinter on her companions. Perfume was in the bathroom, Scarf and Happi had remained by the pool, Alex was back in his conference... but Keisuke was slightly down and to the left, and thoroughly pissed. Silk tried to remember the hotel layout. Elevator? She called to Perfume that she was going to go figure out what was going on and grabbed a flashlight before venturing down the interior hall way to the elevator. --Keisuke, you in there?-- she sent a thought to her companion.
Alex was down in one of the meeting rooms with his vice presidents, then the power went out. "Man, can't I get ANY work done around here?!?!" Alex concentrated, and tapped into his enhanced senses and walked out of the room. "Today is shot gentlemen. We'll try this again tomorrow." He did a quick check on his friends, and said to Silk, --I'm going to the basement. They should have a fuse box down there. Hopefully that's all the problem is.-- Alex went to the stairwell leading down, and started on his way.
Keisuke heard Silk mindspeak to him but was too mad to mindspeak back. "Yes, I'm here Silk." he said wearily, his back to the elevator door. He had beat the crap out of the interior, to no avail. He was trapped in. Whoever made sure of that had made sure not even the strongest man would get out. He didn't have his sword, so it made it even hard but even if he did have it, he thought, he would still be impossible to get out. "You're gonna have to find a way to get me out of here. Don't do anything drastic, this thing is rigged." he told his friend on the other side.
Silk pressed the button to open the doors, not expecting it to work, and she wasn't disappointed. Unlike Keisuke, she didn't have a problem with being unarmed, though. She held out her hand a sword appeared in it. A magic rune sword, but it worked as a pry bar too. She popped the elevator doors open and looked down. Keisuke's elevator was about six feet down, and had an emergency hatch on top that could be opened from the outside. --Alright, Kei-Chan. Coming in from above.-- she lowered herself over the edge and dropped perhaps a foot to the car roof. She looked at the emergency hatch directions, pulled two levers, undid a fastener and soon was kneeling, looking down into the elevator car. "Nothing drastic at all." she tried to smile, but it wouldn't come easily, she was wound as tight as a harp string and knew it. She held out an arm to Keisuke, bracing herself with the other hand so she'd have enough leverage to lift him "Have I earned my backrub yet?" she asked plaintively.
Keisuke gave her a quick kiss. "Maybe more." he said, beaming. As Silk lifted him out, a creaking noise could be heard. It was getting louder and louder within seconds. Like something was going to snap. Something like an elevator cable. "OUT!! NOW!!" Keisuke screamed at Silk. There was no way they could both make it out in time. Keisuke grabbed Silk and aggressively threw her out into the hallway. Silk watched on helplessly as the elevator plummeted 18 stories down to the bottom of the hotel.
Perfume had burst from the room in a black Chinese fighting outfit with her sword at her side. She had been alerted by Silk's mental call, and had just gotten her clothes on when she heard the crash of the elevator.
She rushed to Silk's side just in time to join her in watching the elevator fall. "My god, no one was on that were they?"
Alex heard Silk and Keisuke's mental screams, and winced. "Just great. So much for business this trip." Alex blew the doors to the elevator shaft open with a punch and focused all of the telekinetic energy he could muster, slowing the elevator's descent to a normal stop in the basement. Alex then sat down, more than a little dizzy from the effort required to stop a ton of metal at terminal velocity. "You owe me, Keisuke. BIG time."
"Keisuke!" Silk ripped two strips from the bottom of her dress, wrapped them around her hands, grabbed the elevator cable and slid downwards, applying just enough pressure to not be going at a terminal velocity when she reached the bottom. the cable was slack, and she had to kick off the wall a few times to keep from skinning half her body into hamburger. She did slam into the doors at the 8th story, popping them open with a little ping. She dropped the last three stories and twisted her ankle in the process, but wouldn't notice until much later. "Keisuke!" He wasn't there.
Scarf was by the basement elevator door (Alex had told him to get there) and pried it open to allow Silk an easy way out of the elevator shaft.
Keisuke dangled from the 19 story as he hung on to the elevator cord that had just snapped. Looking down, he saw Silk dive in after him. "SILK!!" he called after her but it was too late, she thought he had fallen down the elevator shaft. He swung himself into the 19th floor and sprinted downstairs to the room. He grabbed his sword and took off. As he made his way downstairs he was intercepted by several men in black wearing ski masks and wielding machine guns. He sprinted in their direction. They fired madly...
...and fell to the ground, their patella tendons severed.
Keisuke continued to run, wiping the fresh blood from his sword. He made his way past the tenth floor to find another man in black firing at him. He made a leap of faith and jump kicked the man in the head. He finally made it to the basement where Scarf and Silk were. While Scarf held the doors open, he pulled Silk out. "You okay?" he asked her, embarrassed that she went after him thinking he fell.
By now Silk had reasoned out the cause of Keisuke's absence and was waiting for him or someone to open the doors so she could get out. She'd just finished repairing a few torn tendons in her ankle when Keisuke reached in to pull her out. "Oh, just wonderful." She snapped, the sarcasm reaching new heights, even for her. "I hop down elevator shafts all the time for my health!" her hands bloody and her clothes were half shredded. "Just bloody wonderful."
Keisuke grinned at Silk. "Well, glad to know you care about me enough to jump down a frigging elevator shaft." He smiled at her. He held her hand to offer her some of his ki like he did on the plane. "Enjoy." he said, putting up an aura.
"AAYYE!" Silk snatched her hand back from him, unwrapping the cloth. It resembled hamburger in more then one aspect. She held them out and made a face, then she stared at them with the slightly distant look she always got when she was manipulating ki. Her hands healed up almost instantly. She tried a fist to check them, then clocked Keisuke in the jaw. "That hurt!" clearly she wasn't talking only about her hands. "Glad to know I jumped down an elevator shaft for no reason. I'll be sure to tell the story to my children as an example of caring overtaking good sense!"
"Ow!" Keisuke yelled, falling backwards after Silk nailed him. "Look, woman! Nobody asked you to jump down the damn shaft!" he replied, rubbing his rapidly swelling jaw. He shook it off, glad to see that she was better. He tried to smile but it hurt so instead his face kept the look of someone who had just eaten bad sushi. "Way to go." he said to her.
Silk sighed, leaned over and gently placed her hand on his jaw. He tried to jerk away, but she still got him. the pain disappeared instantly and the swelling may as well have never been. "Sorry." she said softly, looking down.
Perfume was stunned momentarily by both Silk jumping down the elevator shaft and Keisuke dropping in from above. It took her just a moment to recover before she ran off after Keisuke towards the stairs.
She saw him take out the first set of Gunmen and continue on. Perfume wasn't so Lucky, she caught the second group.
"Damnit! Don't these losers ever give up!" She rushed the group while pulling her sword to the ready. She had dropped half of them before she was forced to retreat. She wasn't as gentle as Keisuke, she left three dead and one disemboweled on the floor.
She wasn't concerned about that at the moment. The other four gunmen had gotten a bead on her as she ran down the hallway looking for cover.
As the bullets wizzed by her, she caught one right in the backside. The force of the impact spun her and she landed behind a cleaning cart. "Damnit! " She swore softly to herself. "I'm the only amazon I know who can manage to get shot in the ass!"
She raised her bloody sword ready to make her last stand against the gun men, when she saw secret service agents pour in from the right and exchange gunfire with the bad guys.
Perfume did her best to stay low until the government agents finished with the bad guys.
------
From the Pool Happi-Chan heard the crash of the elevator and the gunshots above. She wasted no time in jumping up all the balconies to their room on the 18th floor.
She opened the door just in time to see the gun fight going on between the mad guys and the secret service. She noticed the wounded Perfume taking cover behind the cleaning cart.
There was no way she was going to allow Silk's friend to get killed like that.
Happi quickly rolled a dozen Happo-Fire-Bursts at the Gun men. "That should take care of that!"
WHUMP!
Some of the men were scattered about, and knocked out. But there was another group, coming up behind Happi and Perfume....
Alex was still in the basement with Scarf, when he heard the sounds of gunfire above him. He shook his head to clear the dizziness, and powered up to battle mode. He did a quick scan, and found a group of unfamiliar minds directly above him, an injured Perfume and Happi-Chan a short distance away, and the Secret Service agents. "Well, Scarf, let's go and party." Alex slashed with a hand, ripping open a hole in the ceiling above him behind the terrorists that were about to open fire on the unsuspecting duo. They heard the click of weapon being cocked back as they turned, and the words, "Cat Fist Fury!" right before they saw a series of slashes appear in mid-air and across the terrorists, before they fell apart into piles of neatly sliced flesh from a Neko-Ken attack. They saw a glowing image of an VERY pissed-looking griffin in front of them, its tail flicking back and forth and it was hissing and snarling at the remaining terrorists, before it pounced again.
Keisuke stood with Silk as all hell broke loose throughout the hotel. "Well..." he said uneasily. "This hotel is certainly going to have a new look when we leave."
Silk looked up at Keisuke through her bangs. "I am sorry I hit you. I'm a bit tense. I'll explain later. Right now, I'm going Hong Kong. I thought I was done with this." her face was almost blank of expression as she held out both her hands. A sword appeared in each. She handed the shorter sword to Keisuke. The folded steel was black as pitch with black matte runes etched along the edge. "It has healing abilities, and almost total magic resistance. Not that you'll need the protection from magic, but it's a nice blade." Silk smiled, but it was a hollow smile, like someone else was looking out from Silk's body. Someone who'd been in fights like this before, and was tired of them. "Shall we?"
Keisuke smiled forgivingly. "That's alright." He looked around the corner to see if anyone was there. "Let's go!" he yelled, rushing to clear the way as they made their way back upstairs.
Silk followed Keisuke up the stairs, heading towards the sounds of guns firing. they came to a blind corner and saw flashes. Keisuke paused a moment, Silk dove and rolled, then sprang upward, sword flashing in front of her several times. The sound of Bullets ricocheting off steel was heard several times as Silk advanced towards the gunmen. After perhaps ten seconds and half a dozen ricochets the firing stopped. Silk walked over and picked up the assassin's weapons, disappointed in the lack of ammo remaining. She gathered up enough to give her a full clip in one gun. "Come on Kei-Chan, there's more where these came from." she said as she checked the submachine gun's action. She took one of the fallen men's belts and tucked the modern weapon into it. "Sorry if I'm acting strangely, it's automatic."
"I understand." said Keisuke, firing a round of bullets at some attackers who were about to fire on Silk. They dropped just as Silk turned around to see what he was firing at. "Back rub, eh?" he said grinning. "C'mon, let's go." he said, the two of them running back up.
"I will trade you a back rub for a massage of your choice, as soon as this is over." Silk quipped back. even when being shot at, they were still bantering. it was almost like old times.
---
Happi used Alex and a flare arrow as a distraction. She quickly sprinted across the hall and grabbed the wounded Amazon. Then in an act of supreme will brought both of them into Nullspace. She brought Perfume back into the room and out of the line of fire.
Happi ALMOST laughed when she saw where Perfume had been wounded at.
Alex slowed down for a moment after he had shredded a man aiming an M-60 at Happi and Perfume, and allowed his aura to power down. He spoke to Scarf, Silk and Keisuke with telepathy. --Perfume has been shot, but it's not serious and I can get the bullet out with out much trouble. Happi is good as far as I can tell. How's everyone doing on your end?-- Then he told Happi, "You guys stay out of sight for now, and see what you can do about stopping the bleeding." Alex gave Happi-Chan his shirt to use as a bandage before heading out to find any remaining terrorists.
Perfume wasn't too happy about this situation at all. It was bad enough to get shot where she got shot at. Now she had to deal with the indignity of the old freak fooling around back there. To add insult to injury she probably owed the old freak her life. For the first time she was beginning to wish that Kodachi had won the swimsuit contest.
She grabbed the shirt from Happi-Chan and held it to her sensitive wound. Applying pressure to try and stop the bleeding. "Damn my luck!"
-----
Silk and Keisuke fought their way out of the basement, still wondering what the heck was going on. After several minutes of fighting and covering each others backs, they found themselves in the lobby with a pile of dead bodies around them. A hoard of secret service agents ran by them towards the doors. "What's going on?" Silk called to them. "Who are these people?"
The secret service agents ignored them, since they weren't shooting at them. Silk realized that she'd asked in Chinese. She was about to restate the question in English when she heard Alex's report. --We're ok. Perfume's hurt?!? Hang on we're coming!-- Silk was pissed now. It was one thing to shoot at her, she was used to it. It was quite another to shoot at her friends. she ran for the stairs and took them a landing at a time, using the famous Neriman leaping ability. --Where is Perfume?-- she asked as she was clearing the 17th story.
Keisuke stayed behind Silk as she jumped up the stairs, watching her back for any unknown 'suprises.' Finally making it to the 18th floor, Silk and Keisuke found Perfume and Happosai. Keisuke gave Perfume an awkward look until he finally realized what had happened. He tried to control himself , but he just burst out laughing.
Silk held up a fist. "You want another one?" she asked him as she went to heal Perfume's wound, ignoring the awkward placement with the aplomb taught to medical students everywhere. "It'll be fine." she reassured her friend as she healed it up by pure force of will.
Happi couldn't resist the joke. " I guess Perfume got a hole in one."
The gunfire outside finally stopped. The lead secret service agent looked into the room. He cleared his throat when he noticed Silk's position behind Perfume.
"Thank you very much.. you people caught the terrorists before we even realized that they were in the building." He grinned a bit. "I guess it's a good thing that we had the President in a different hotel."
He nodded to each one in turn. "I would like to extend an invitation to meet the President of the United States. I'm sure he has much to say to you heroes."
"12:30 for lunch?" Silk asked as she stepped towards Happi, waiting for a chance to smite him for his comment. "I was supposed to meet him after I found the bomb earlier. Do you suppose we could push that back a bit? I think we'd all like a chance to relax for a bit while you fellows clean this place up." Her voice was weary as she laid the gun and belt she'd procured on the floor. "I've got a nice warm beach and back rub waiting."
The lead agent seemed half stunned, half impressed with the girl's audacity, and nodded. "We'll schedule a meeting for tonight then. Dinner?" he asked, addressing the whole group. There was a small circle of blank nods. The agent smiled. "We'll come pick you up about seven o'clock." with that he turned and walked back down the hall, directing his underlings to collect the evidence and question witnesses.
"Are we done yet?" Silk asked plaintively of the ceiling.
As a response a small piece of the ceiling that had been knocked loose in the fight fell and broke on her head. Not causing any pain, but just enough to be irritating.
Happi quickly handed Silk a cold Gatorade before she could get too angry about the plaster on her head.
"I say we get cleaned up and go to the beach. It's bound to be safer there."
"Playing in rush hour traffic is safer then this trip has been." Silk sighed, dusting the plaster off her head. She reached over and wokked Happi on principle, then turned to head back to their room. "Let's see how many outfits I can ruin in a week." she muttered as she looked down at her blood-splattered, ripped, sliced, bullet nicked and otherwise abused new sundress. "Pretty soon I'm going to be down to Bathing suit and robe." she said mournfully.
Happi would not complain if that was all Silk had to wear. She wasn't about to tell the pissed off amazon healer that little tidbit. Hopefully, the beach would be alot less stressful than the hotel.
As soon as Silk wasn't looking, Happi-Chan cast a small calming spell on the healer, hoping she didn't notice Happi's intrusion.
"And that'd be bad how?" Keisuke said grinning, saying what Happi otherwise did not have the guts (or the stupidity) to say. "Don't worry," Keisuke said putting a friendly arm around Silk. "Just think how much more inviting the beach will be after this." he said, waving his hand for emphasis. "Not to mention the hard earned back rub you'll be receiving in a bit." he said softly with a smile.
"I suppose from your point of view is wouldn't be bad, would it?" Silk shook her head ruefully. She was calm now. Her anger rarely lasted very long even at its worst. She leaned into Keisuke's arm. "I could definitely go for that back rub."
"And I could use that massage. To the beach!" Keisuke pointed off in the direction of the beach. He and Silk headed down. This time, they took the stairs.
****
Scarf on the other hand had decided to go into town to see what else there was to do. He was walking down the main strip when he passed by an antique store with a bo up in the window. He looked at the amount of detail put into each of the ends, one displaying a curled tiger, the other with a Dragon's head. It looked very interesting.
Alex, after checking up on Perfume, went to find the board members that were in the hotel, telling them that the meeting would be postponed until the President left town. He then went to his room, and grabbing a pair of jean shorts, cap, sneakers and a football jersey, went out to enjoy the sights. "Well, this definitely hasn't been a boring trip, that's for sure," he said to himself as he made his way out of the hotel.
Perfume had alot on her mind. This trip had been one disaster after another. So much for getting away from it all. She never thought that the TV shows that showed America so violent were true. Now she was beginning to believe them.
Now the old freak had also saved her life. She didn't know how to repay him for that, but she certainly would not ask him how he wanted to be repaid.
Perfume put on her bathing suit ad a sundress over it. She touched the healed area where she had been shot at. There was no pain and no scar, Silk's magic did good work.
"I'm never going to hear the end of me getting shot in the ass."
She grabbed her smaller bag and headed out of the door. She would meet the others at the beach, but she wanted some time to walk and think.
Happi changed back to his normal form and hitched a ride in Perfume's small bag. He was at Hawaii, there was no way he was gonna miss out on a trip to the beach.
--------
Silk and Keisuke grabbed their stuff and headed for the beach, figuring the others would follow in their own time. they found a spot not occupied by other sunbathers or little kids and set up, laying out the beach blanket and towels they'd brought. Once they were done with the rudimentary setup, Silk tossed Keisuke a bottle of sunscreen and flopped down on her stomach on the blanket.
"You got back?"
"With pleasure." Keisuke squeezed some suntan lotion onto his hand and rubbed into Silk's shoulders. He started from the top and massaged her shoulders soothingly. Slowly, he moved down to her back and began to sing an island tune. He was getting into the song, just singing and not really paying attention to where his hands were massaging...but Silk was.
Silk enjoying the backrub. one of the best she'd had in a long time. "Keisuke." Silk's voice was soft, sleepy. "Not that I mind that much, but I said back. Watch your hands."
Keisuke stopped singing and looked where he was massaging. "Huh..oh m..my." he stuttered, his hands directly on her rear. He quickly pulled away, his face a bright crimson hue. "S...sorry Silk. It won't happen again." he said with a nervous chuckle.
"Hmmm." Silk replied, rapidly losing the battle to sleep.
--She doesn't seem to mind that much.-- Keisuke thought as she went to sleep. --Wait a second...-- "Hey!" Keisuke exclaimed. "What about my massage?" Silk just stirred, fast asleep. Keisuke shrugged and watched her. She looked like an angel asleep like that and...*yawn*...he was getting sleepy just watching her sleep. He lay down next to her, put a beach hat over his face, and fell asleep next to her.
Perfume sat down on a small hill overlooking the beach. She was looking down and watching her two friends below. They seemed happy and having alot of fun. She wished that she could join them in fun.
Perfume was having a personal conflict. She had promised herself before that she would focus on Konatsu and not act on her feelings for Silk. It was becoming harder and harder not to tell her. She was very afraid of ruining their friendship if she told her.
The problem was widening as she watched Keisuke and Silk flirt. She wanted so much to tell Silk how she felt, but simply couldn't. Maybe the opportunity would present itself.
She walked down the hill and dropped her bag off with the two sleeping sunbathers. That's when she noticed the surfboard rental place.
She smiled playfully. "Now that Looks like fun!" She rented her surfboard and swam out to 'Hang Ten'. She never noticed her small bag wiggling.
Happosai squirmed out of Perfume's day bag. It was always fun getting free rides. Maybe that's where Genma got his laziness from. Happi quickly made sure that Silk and Keisuke were fast asleep, and that Perfume was already in the water.
He reach over and quickly untied Silk's top. He left it on but it would probably get someone in trouble later. He headed down the beach in search of gorgeous woman and loose swimsuits.
He hadn't gotten too far when he felt something cold and spongy grab his leg. He looked back and noticed the giant octopus that had grabbed him. It was the same one that Swallowed the lifetime love pill!
"HHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!! I don't wanna marry an octopus!!!"
Silk heard the cry for help and woke up, rolling over and running into Keisuke. She immediately noticed that she was missing something. She yelped loudly, then grabbed her top and went to work tying it back on. Whilst in the middle of redoing the complex knot she saw what had awoken her. Happosai being molested by an octopus. She lost it, falling over into the sand, she started laughing for hard she could barely breath. She was trying to keep her top on and covering everything, but it was a losing battle. She finally gave up on the bikini and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her shoulders, which were still shaking in mirth.
Happosai was not amused. He thought he had ditched the amorous octopus some time ago. I guess it's true.. love knows no bounds.
"Someone help me! Or at least hit me with some cold water!!!"
Keisuke opened one eye when he felt Silk's warm body press into his. "What...the...WHOAH!" he scrambled up when he realized what had happened. Silk was in hysterics already, laughing at...what was she laughing at? Keisuke looked out toward the ocean where Happosai was being attacked by...an octopus? "What the hell is that octopus doing to Happi?" he asked Silk in bewilderment, although her current state might prevent her from giving an immediate response.
Silk was still laughing her butt off, but managed to speak through her giggles. "That Octopus swallowed the life long love pill... it's in love with Happi. Can't you see it's glad to see him?" Silk lost her grip on her towel for a moment before snatching it up again. "So glad to see him."
Perfume was just catching a wave back when she noticed the giant octopus attacking Happi. He saved her life once today, she figured it was time to return the favor.
She rode the crest of the wave all the way to shore. She leapt with the board and managed to land on the octopus's head. Of course splashing Happi in the process.
"What's going on?"
Happi transformed with a bit of relief. It didn't last long as she realized that the octopus still hadn't let go of her. It also grabbed Perfume. She wasn't near a gently with perfume as she was with Happi.
"Oh no! his crazy thing doesn't care if I'm male or female!!"
"Uh, Silk? Are you gonna put your bikini top back on anytime soon?" Keisuke ogled as she dropped her towel again. He looked back out at the ocean where the now female Happi-Chan was continuing it's struggle with the octopus. "This day just keeps getting better and better." he said with a grin plastered on his face.
Alex heard Happi's shout from where he was about to take a walk down the beach, and cursed his newfound enhanced senses, before heading that way. He arrived just in time to see Silk drop her towel. He raised his arms in a referee stance, indicating a scored field goal, and said, "It's good! Now would someone tell me what's going on?"
Silk sweatdropped as she snatched up her bikini top and starting tying it back on, actually succeeding this time. "Prude." she teased. "I guess it wasn't you that untied it, then?"
Alex replied, "Um, no. As nice as the view may be, I don't like getting wokked." was his reply.
Perfume was none too happy about being grabbed by the giant octopus. One of these days she would learn to think before she acted. For the moment though getting out of this thing's grip was more important.
Her arms were pinned but her legs were free. Concentrating a bit she swung in close to the octopus's head and unleashed a flurry of Amigurikan kicks upon her, hoping that the thing would let her go.
Let her go it did. The octopus threw her across the beach. She landed painfully on Keisuke almost bowling over Silk and Alex.
"OUCH!"
Keisuke clutched his chest as Perfume's landing knocked the wind out of him. His face turned blue for a second and then he inhaled a huge amount of air, finally gaining control of his lungs. Then he pounced on Perfume.
Perfume was just recovering from her reunion with Keisuke when she felt him pounce upon her. The tickling started not too long after that. One of Perfume's main weaknesses she was extremely ticklish.
She was laughing and trying to stop Keisuke at the same time. "No..haha.. it was the...haha.. octopus..not my fault."
As she tried to roll out of the way she ended up rolling into Silk who had just gotten her top reattached. She ended up in the tickling pile also.
Perfume was trying hard to defend herself from Keisuke and attack Silk at the same time.
Of course Silk wasn't going to just let that go. She counter-pounced, sending Perfume and Keisuke backwards onto the blanket again. She pinned Keisuke under Perfume and tickled them both mercilessly. "Got ya!" she grinned.
"Ah!! Stop!!" Keisuke wriggled under not one, but two amazons. Keisuke tried his best to try and tickle Silk back but he was too occupied trying to escape the merciless torture he was enduring. His sides hurt he was laughing so hard right now. "Please....stop!" he gasped, tears running down his cheeks. Damn being ticklish.
Silk saw the tears running down Keisuke's face and stopped, pulling Perfume off him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..." some of the blood ran out of her face. "Are you okay?" She'd never seen someone laugh that hard before, and didn't realize you could cry from laughing.
Keisuke gasped for air as Silk got off of him. He was still laughing but slowing down. Finally he stopped and wiped his arm across his face and fell backwards, using Perfume as a pillow. "I'm really ticklish." he said softly, almost embarrassingly.
Silk just stared at him, ignoring Happosai's continued screams for help. "But... I- You were... crying?" She reached out and gently wiped the tears away. "I... Why?" she looked hopelessly confused, like a little girl.
"Hey! I wasn't crying!" Keisuke defended himself, trying to wipe away whatever evidence of tears on his face. "I'm just really ticklish. That's all." he said, poking her in her sides.
Silk sat back on her heels and glowered at him, irritated at him for not explaining this strange phenomenon and at herself for not grasping it instantly "There were tears running down your cheeks. That's called crying where I come from. I don't understand why you were crying when you were laughing." She paused, "At least, I've never seen anyone cry when they were laughing. I'm sorry."
"I WASN'T CRYING!!" Keisuke still continued to deny. "That was just...sweat. Yeah, that's all it was." he muttered. "Hey! What about Happi?!" he pointed at Happi, hoping to change Silk's focus.
Silk's eyes widened when he yelled at her. She looked away, not sure what she'd said wrong. She could tell she had about reached the end of her emotional rope... she felt like crying herself. "Sorry." she muttered again, gathering up her towel and sunscreen. "I'll stop bothering you." she got up and started walking back towards the hotel.
Keisuke sighed. "Silk..." he got up and ran after her stopping alongside her. "Look, sorry I yelled at you." he looked around to see it was clear. "I'm just really embarrassed about this ticklish thing." he lowered and whispered into her ear. "Don't you think it's kind of...girlish?"
Silk looked at him blankly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, "You were crying because you're really ticklish." she said it slowly, not sure if she understood. "and that's girlish." she was more certain of that. "And you don't like being girlish. I'm sorry." She bowed her head, pent up emotion from the past two days finally getting the better of her control.
Happi was in a dilemma. She desperately wanted to get free from the octopus's grip. She didn't want to hurt her. It was not the creatures fault that someone threw the love pill into the water.
Thinking fast Happi concentrated and faded out into Nullspace. A few moments later she reappeared next to Silk and Keisuke.
"Thanks for the assist, guys!"
Keisuke looked up to see Happi-Chan walking beside them. A worried look appeared on his face, scared that Happi-Chan heard him confess his tickling weakness. "Uh, no problem Happi!" Keisuke grinned, forgetting that they actually hadn't helped him in the least.
Happi-Chan was a little irritated at that point. She stomped right on Keisuke's foot. "That was sarcasm you dimwit!"
As she walked away from him she cast a 'Moving Itch' spell on him. So that everytime he scratched the itch it moved to a different part of the body.
"That should keep you busy!"
"Ow. Don't mind me." he Keisuke said to Silk as he scratched his head. It was itchy. Then his butt was. Then his arm. Then his legs. "Hey! What the...?" he kept scratching all over his body. "Stop! AUGH!!" he screamed and jumped into the pool.
Happi-Chan sat down and began filing her nails with an Emory board. She smiled slightly. "The Water only makes it worse Keisuke."
Silk watched blankly as Happi-Chan gave Keisuke the itch spell. She could feel her walls crashing down in her mind. Everything flooded in. Happi's irritation and triumph. Keisuke' embarrassment about the weakness and his anger at the itch. Perfume's frustrated lust without a target. Alex's ego. The Octopus' unreturned affection. The hotel manager's anger over the terrorist's damages. The hunger of the man who rented Perfume a surfboard. The remembered hatred and fanaticism of the terrorists and the hijackers. Her own pain at being shot. It all came over her in waves. Crashing down and slamming her around, just like the waves Perfume had ridden minutes before. She started sobbing, trying desperately to regain her mental control. Never realizing that all of her friends knew exactly what she was going through. because the same was happening to them.
Happi-Chan fell to her knees, she had never experienced emotions on that level before. She also knew right where this was coming from. She lost her concentration on the itch spell, and focused all of her considerable power into resisting the feelings she was getting.
After a few moments she finally regained control, but could see that Silk had not. She ran to Silk hoping to be of some help. She grabbed Silk in a gentle hug. "Silk-Chan, find your center." She whispered soothingly. "Focus and control, you can beat this, dear."
Silk heard the voice and noticed when one set of emotions suddenly faded out. She was able to lock down everything, not projecting anymore, but she was still receiving, and sobbing desperately. Searching for her center. The place where she was herself, not a broken rock cast into uncaring seas. "Happi." She gasped between sobs. "Make them stop. Make them stop thinking those things. Please. I can't keep them out and it hurts."
Happi hugged his student trying to help her regain control. She looked toward the others. "Blank your minds, meditate and be calm, you have to to help Silk-Chan out."
"C'mon Silk-Chan." She whispered once more " We'll beat this together!" She gathered up a little sand in her other hand. If it became too much she was ready to cast a sleep spell on Silk if she needed it.
Keisuke breathed a sigh of relief as the mysterious itching vanished as soon at it was gone. "Now just what exactly was that all about?" he asked nobody in particular. Climbing out of the pool, he walked over to see Happi holding Silk, who was sobbing almost uncontrollably. "Um..what's wrong?" he asked.
Alex, who had been thinking about a pizza, saw and felt Silk's mental breakdown. He quickly blanked his mind. He then went over to Silk, and kneeled down. "What's wrong?" Seeing that she was still crying, Alex asked Happosai, "She's pretty stressed out from this 'vacation'. Do you think we should we put her to bed and let her get some rest?"
Perfume was taken back by the emotions she felt from Silk. She never knew that Silk dealt with this sort of input on a daily basis. She ran over to Silk kicking up sand in the process.
Quickly, she heeded Happi's command and blanked her mind. She tried to think of only happy thoughts as she held Silk from the other side. "Silk-Chan it'll be alright." She had no idea what was really going on within her best friend.
One by one the closet and strongest sources of emotion blanked out or were replaced with simple concern. Like a summer squall, the storm was over soon after it began. Silk found her center, re-erected her barriers. This was far beyond second nature, she'd done the same thing since she was three. She felt the emotions take on their old distance and detachment. Her tears slowed to mere trickles from the corners of her eyes, and she slowly opened her eyes. Happi and Perfume on either side, Keisuke and Alex looking on in concern. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She tried again, looking much like a landed fish. The others felt a flood of relief and gratitude wash over them, balm after the last assault. "I'm sorry." Silk finally managed to whisper.
Perfume softly stroked her friend's hair. "It's alright Silk-Chan, there's nothing for you to be sorry about." She just hoped that Silk was really okay now.
Alex walked over, and picked Silk up in his arms as he stroked her hair. "Perfume's right. Nothing to be sorry about, Silk. Just relax, and get some rest. After all, we still have a dinner date with the President." Alex then headed for a different hotel, with Silk resting in his arms. "If any of you guys want it, I'll get you rooms in the hotel we're going to. The one we're in is pretty trashed." Alex then took air express to a hotel down the street, and ordered a penthouse suite. He put Silk gently in the bed, and sat down next to her.
Silk sighed, one hand on her temples. She still wasn't at 100 percent shielding, so outside thoughts were still leaking through. A little rest would hopefully solve most of that. She looked at Alex, who had, as usual, played big white knight with cash to burn. this time she was willing to let him get away with it. "Thank you. I think I'll take a nap now." She rolled over and went to sleep.
Keisuke walked up the stairs to the hotel room and fell into the sofa, his clothes soaking wet. He sat there for a good hour trying to figure out what went wrong with Silk down there. Did seeing him cry really have that much of an effect on her? "I hate being as ticklish as I am." he muttered, and passed out on the couch.
Happi-Chan was still kneeling on the beach where Silk had been moments before. --It figures, Perfume and I help her regain control, and then ALEX comes to the rescue!-- She thought bitterly to herself.
She just hoped that Silk would be alright. All she really needed was a rest. Happi ran off to do what always cheered him up. He went on a panty raid.
Perfume sat down on the beach, slightly miffed. As quickly as everyone arrived they were gone. She had finally worked up the nerve to tell Silk. After her little breakdown today, Perfume was sure that she would put if off for a while.
She returned her surfboard and hopped into the beach shower, She changed back into her sundress, and left the beach. Perhaps a little walk in town was just the thing she needed.
Somewhere in the Palama district of Hawaii, an old man named Adriano Emperado wondered why anyone cared what he was thinking in a Ranma1/2 RPG story. In fact, most people wouldn't have cared in the least and would have started questioning the sanity of the author who had written him in. But as it was, the Founder of Kajukenbo (martial art of two of the authors) happened to see Scarf admiring the staff in the window. "Like what you see, boy?" he asked with an evil chuckle. "If you think you're good, you should come spar with my students. I think you'll learn some things they don't teach in China." he spoke in accented Japanese, wondering why he'd spoken to a Chinese boy in Japanese, but letting it go as author's license. he handed the young man a card with the address of his Gwoon on it. "Come by if you have time. We're always ready to spar." he said before disappearing again.
Perfume was just coming around the corner, lost in thought when she noticed Scarf-Chan by the window of the weapons shop. She ran up to him smiling. "I was wondering where you went, the beach party kind of bombed."
"Bombed?" Scarf asked, till staring at the card in his hand. It said something in English, but the Chinese characters for 'combined fist style' were printed on either side of a logo. --Strange old man-- he thought to himself. "What happened?"
"Well," Perfume began. "Happi was attacked by a giant octopus, then Silk lost control of some of her power. Happi and I got her calmed down but then Alex came in playing hero and ran off with her." Scarf could tell that Perfume was irritated with the last part. "I hope she's alright."
"Lost control?" Scarf sounded worried. "What happened? Where did Alex take her?"
"She regained it Scarf-Chan and fell promptly asleep." Perfume paused for a moment. "He took her to a hotel near here, you want me to take you there?"
Meanwhile, at the hotel...
Alex had finished moving Silk's stuff to the room she was in now. Remembering her comment about how she had ruined so many outfits, Alex decided to see if he could get them replaced. He leaned over and gave Silk a quick peck on the cheek, then got down to business. After some quick examination of the clothing in question, he wrote a brief note and headed out to get the replacement clothing.
'Stepped out for a moment, Will be back ASAP.'
Love,
Alex
For once, Alex lucked out. There was a women's clothing store down the street from the hotel. He quickly found the items he was looking for, paid for them, and headed back to the hotel. On his way back, he saw Perfume and Scarf, and he motioned for them to follow. He led them up to the room, and left them in the living room of the suite. He quickly dropped off the bags with Silk's replacement clothing in the bedroom where she was still asleep, then left the room and sat down in the easy chair, across from Scarf and Perfume.
Perfume sat quietly in the chair. She was hoping that Silk would be alright.
Scarf sat worriedly on the edge of the couch. He didn't know what had happened with Silk, and neither did Perfume. Alex wasn't saying what he wanted to hear, either. "Just tell me what happened and why. PLEASE!" he gave Alex a look that said that if the taller man didn't talk he'd regret it.
Then the phone rang.
Scarf grabbed the receiver and half snapped, "Hello?"
"Package for one Silk?" the clerk seemed confused at the lack of last name, "At the front desk. would you like me to send it up?"
Alex saw Scarf's look, and shrugged. "Well, I think Silk's mental barriers broke down from being under too much stress, and she's getting some rest right now. She'll be ok after some sleep. Please, let her get some sleep." The look Alex gave Scarf back promised SEVERE pain if he disturbed Silk's slumber.
BY all means Perfume was going to let Silk sleep. Anything to help her friend. She was also very relieved to find out that she was going to be alright.
"Alex-Chan, are you sure she'll be alright?"
The desk man asked again, more insistently. "Would you like me to send the package up?"
Umm Alex.." Perfume pointed to the phone." Who knows that Silk is here aside from us?"
Alex blinked. "No one, I believe. But still, I don't know who she may have told she was in the area. But if it's something unpleasant, we're better equipped to handle it." Alex took the phone, and said, "Have it sent up." He then hung up the phone. Alex brought his shield up, just in case. "I have a BAD feeling about this..."
Several minutes later there was a knock at the door. Alex called to come in and a short brown-haired youth came in carrying a small white box. The top of the box was clear and when one looked inside, they would see three white rose corsages side by side, and a fancy envelope addressed to 'Ms. Silk and Company', with the presidential seal on the corner. "Package for Silk?" the young man asked, trying to figure out why the people in the room were staring at him like a lobster under glass.
Perfume face-faulted, she had completely forgotten about the meeting with the American President. If anyone would know where Silk's party was at, he would.
-- With the chilly relations between China and the U.S.-- Perfume thought to herself. --I wonder how he's going to react to finding out three of the fighters who fought the terrorists were Chinese.--
Alex stood down from his alert status, and relaxed. "Well, something finally went right around here for a change." He put the package down on the table, tipped the bellboy and closed the door. "Well, it seems dinner is at 6:30."
*****
Outside Silk's window. Happosai had just returned from a fresh panty raid. He needed someplace quiet to store his silky treasures, and he knew that Silk would be asleep for quite some time.
Soundlessly he entered the roof and stashed his hoard under the bed. "Just the perfect place for my treasures."
***
"6:30?" Perfume asked quietly. "This appears to be a fancy occasion I guess I should start getting ready. " She picked up her bag and started for the bathroom. "Oh and Alex, I'm sorry I've been so grumpy this afternoon, I was worried about Silk-Chan."
Scarf growled to himself from his seat on the couch. "No one ever did explain what set her off. I mean, Silk's dealt with this sort of thing before, hasn't she? she never lost it then."
Just then Happosai stepped out of Silk's room. He glanced to each character in turn. "I think It was the amount of stress she was under, that can get to anyone after a while. "
Three heads whipped around when Happi exited Silk's room, but Scarf was the first to speak, "How did- That's Silk's room... Happosai?!" His voice threatened violence as he rose to his feet. He was still pissed that he'd been unable to do anything to help the object of his affections. And now the known pervert was walking out of her room...
"hey don't get the wrong idea." Happosai smiled evilly at Scarf. "Her window was on the north side of the hotel, the side I was coming in from, it was easier sneaking in that window than any other. I've only been in the hotel room a few minutes."
Perfume turned back toward Happosai. "Nothing better have happened you old freak. Or I will introduce you to new definitions of Pain." Perfume threatened the old goat. "By the way, the president sent you a present Happosai, it's on the table."
"Present" was a word that always got Happi's attention. He ran over and hopped up on the table. He noticed three white rose corsages. "Why is one of these for me?"
Alex replied with a snicker, "Because the agent probably told the President that there were three females in the group. So unless you want to have to explain the magic of the Springs to the President, and the Secret service, you'll be going to dinner as a woman."
Perfume snickered softly behind Happi. the thought of Happi attending a formal meeting with the president as a woman was down right hilarious.
Scarf, thinking about dinner tonight, turned to Alex and asked "What type of clothes will we have to wear? Formal? I didn't bring anything that formal."
Alex waved it off. "Well, I think if we get moving soon, we can find you something to fit the occasion. The question is, when will Silk be waking up so we can start getting ready?"
Perfume walked away from the group toward the bathroom. She diverted into Silk's bedroom to check upon her best friend. She walked in and noticed Silk-Chan sleeping peacefully. She placed a hand on her friend's forehead.
"I hope you will be alright Silk-Chan." The pink haired girl whispered.
--So do I.-- a familiar voice rang softly in Perfume's mind. Silk opened her eyes and looked up at her friend, "How long have I been out this time?" she asked softly.
"Your awake." Perfume smiled brightly knowing that her best friend was alright now. "You've been out a few hours Silk-Chan, We've all been worried about you. "
Perfume didn't notice the silky piece of lace that fell from under the bed onto her foot.
Silk sat up and twisted her torso back and forth a few times, stretching. "Only a few hours? That's a lot better then last time this happened." Silk tilted her head at Perfume, "Sorry to worry you, this doesn't happen very often, fortunately. I just got overloaded and my control broke. I think that I might have gone projective this time... did you guys feel... overwhelmed? Like a bunch of emotions that weren't your own were pounding on the inside of your minds?"
Scarf heard Silk's voice from the room and all thoughts of dinner were wiped from his mind. He rushed into the room. When he saw she was sitting up, he sighed in relief. "You're okay."
"Glad to see you're feeling better, Silk." Alex got up from where Scarf had run him over, and glared briefly at him. Then he noticed the lacy object near Perfume's foot. Alex pointed down and asked, "Perfume...look on your foot."
Silk shook her head ruefully, "Please, you act like I was on my deathbed or something. I endured things far worse then today. You all know that." she looked down at Perfume's slipper. "As for that, if you can't figure that one out for yourselves, you're in a worse mental state then I am."
Alex merely shrugged, not being the slightest bit perturbed. "Well Silk, we've got a dinner date with the President at 6:30 tonight. Feeling up to it?"
"Ewww" Perfume kicked the underwear back under the bed with a look of disgust. "Can't that freak stop doing that sick stuff for one friggin weekend?"
"Obviously not." Silk answered Perfume's question first before looking at Alex and Scarf. "If those bags on the dresser are of clothes, then I'll do it. If not, I'm staying in bed for fear of losing the last of my wardrobe." her eyes showed that she was joking, not serious. She seemed to be mostly recovered from the stress of earlier.
Alex smiled, glad to see that Silk was feeling more like herself. "Well, shall we start getting ready for the party tonight?"
Perfume smiled at Silk, and then at Alex. "That sounds like a plan. I've always wanted to meet the American President."
Happi glanced over and noticed the three dresses Alex had procured for the dinner. Yes, THREE. The smaller red one was obviously intended for his female side.
"Oh my goodness this will be interesting."
Alex grinned as he said, "I hope you like the selections. Versachi fall line, tailor made." Each dress was obviously intended to flatter each girl's best feature's. Alex then said to Scarf and Keisuke, "Come on, we've still got to get you fitted." Alex dragged the two out of the room, via the 18 story window.
Perfume sweatdropped when she looked at her dress. The low bust-line and form fitting skirt made it obviously clear what the tailor thought her "best features" were.
Silk's dress was a bit more modest, with cloth in all the normal places, but parts of it were flimsiest gauze and the rest of it formfitting jewel-toned silk. The trim on the wrists and waist and hem had tiny bells that jingled quietly whenever they moved. It came with an elaborate hair piece and ribbon wrap sandals. Silk laughed, "We don't all have the same features, I guess." she said as she went into the bathroom to change quickly.
Happi took a closer look at her dress. It had a low bust line and a non existent back. There wasn't too much length in the skirt department either.
"Where's the rest of it?"
Silk laughed again as she emerged from the bathroom where she'd put on the main parts of her outfit (everything but the shoes and hair stuff). "Poor Happi. Dressed in what he likes to see other girls wear. POOR HAPPI."
Meanwhile, Alex had Scarf trying on several suits, to see what would suit him best, while Keisuke was trying suits himself. When Keisuke asked Alex how did the tailors know how to make the girl's dresses without them ever showing up to be fitted, Alex replied, "I told the tailors how to make the dresses. It's a gift." Alex went to check up on Scarf, to see how he was doing.
When Alex entered, he saw Scarf looking down at the latest suit he was trying on. He looked up at Alex with a "you've got to be kidding me" look on his