"Yeah, me," Romathom said, half-resigned; "what, you were expecting Lord Recluse?"
Sparky shrugged; "Not exactly, but I mean...everyone's been -wondering- what happened to you!"
All eyes turned to CapeMike, who was already trying to calculate the best escape route...; "Weeeeeeelll........ah...I needed SOMEONE to use-er...convince to help me test the system out...."
"...and he somehow -got- me to, wouldn't ya' know." Romy finished; "guess the only reason I got here in one piece was my going Super' at the last moment...kinda burned me out, and I've been stuck here since while I -thought- he was trying to find a way to get me back to Paragon City!"
"Geez, Romy, stick me on a crucifix, why don't you....oh wait...you actually tried that already." CapeMike sweatdropped.
"Yeah, and I woulda gotten away with it too, if not for Zeus!"
At the mention of his name, Zeus, Mallard's(rather large) Rottweilier companion trotted into the room, causing Sparky to jump into Spark-1's arms!
The former stuttered for a moment, then said, "Niiiiiiiice doggy, sweet doggy........please don't eat me."
Mallard snickered; "Eh, don't worry 'bout it; he won't eat anyone except NO's...I think."
Spark-1 blinked; "'NO's'?" He suddenly remembered a comment earlier about Aplus tossing someone out an airlock....
"Ah you know, Nameless Otaku!" The duck continued; "You know how when the aliens attack or war breaks out and such in anime, how all those nameless extras standing or milling around are killed to make a dramatic point?" Spark-1 nodded, not liking the sound of where this was going as Mallard thought for a moment, then went on; "Same thing here...NO's are -always getting killed off in some manner here...half the fun's in trying to predict how it's gonna happen and what kind of collateral damage is gonna be involved!"
Sparky finally fell out of Spark-1's arms as the latter incredulously replied, "Still, deaths are -deaths-!" He turned to CM, who seemed all too happy that the subject had abruptly been changed; "And you haven't tried to -stop- it?"
Mallard laughed, "Tried? Who do you think owns the OtakuWorld records for most NO's killed in a single post, story-arc, AND career?!"
"Trifecta, baby." CM nodded sagely.
"Well," Spark-1 said, resigned to the absurdity of it all; "that -would- explain that incident last month in Faultline...."
"Hey, that building was slated for demolition anyway!"(1)
"...and the Talos statue incident."
"Eh, it needed a good sand-blasting."
"...-and- when Sister Psyche nearly tossed you through the hospital wall?"
"...let us never speak of that episode again."
"...AND when-"
"BOOT TO THE HEAD- yooowwwww!" CM's retaliation was abruptly rejected as Spark-1 instinctively activated his Personal Force Field, causing the former's foot to ricochet off at an odd angle, causing the Scrapper to fall flat on his backside.
Spark-1 started in surprise, then muttered almost to himself; "Whoa...THAT never happened before."
"Not surprising, really." Mallard said; "We've learned that for some reason, artistic liscense likely, people's latent powers or abilities get much more potent here...explains why CM didn't try to take over Paragon-Earth as soon as he arrived."
"Huh...answers a few more questions, I guess."
Their discussion was interrupted suddenly as the sounds of a ruckus behind them revealed that CM and Romathom had gotten into a brawl over CM landing on Romy's tail; the stress of the situations had obviously boiled over....
Mallard groaned aloud; "Not AGAIN!" The fight quickly progressed into the classic anime-styled 'dust cloud' fight, with various limbs jutting out of various parts of the cloud at rather various moments.
"Again??"
"Yeah; 3rd time this week, actually...thankfully it's never serious...." A spasm, and onlookers saw Romy trying to bash CapeMike with a large mallet...another spasm, and CM had Romy in a figure-four leglock....
"Utterly insane, I tell you...."
"Get used to it, man...happens every day!"
Within a minute, the fight had degraded into the 2 having to call each other childish names....
"Poophead!"
"Stinkyface!"
This would have gone on for a few more minutes had an announcement over the main comm system not indicated that orbital re-entry was complete and that MakoPlex would be in sight in moments.
Spark-1 went over to a viewing portal as the blast shields withdrew and gazed out...; "So um...where's this citybase?"
CapeMike was at the portal in a blur and laughed; "When I say 'citybase', I mean 'CITYbase'."
Spark-1 actually managed a sweatdrop; "You mean...that ENTIRE metropolis...that place has got to be the size of New York City!"
"Heh," CM chuckled; "Damn, I'm good, aren't I? We better get to the bridge so we can get the best view of docking, c'mon!"
================
To be continued....
yeah, it's still a bit rushed, but a freakin' headache won't let go of me....
Also, I've allowed Spark-1's creator to make periodic replies here as a different side of the story, so to speak...you'll see what I mean!
(1) The ensuing 3 'incidents' referenced here are ideas I've been tossing in my head for 'shorts', featuring CapeMike and company that may yet be written someday....
