(*Meanwhile, in the custody of the roaches ...*)

Roach Leader:  Ho hum ... (*yawns, glances at watch*)

Chatty: Well, this's going nowhere fla-- hey, what's with RL-sama?

(*twitch twitch ... a few blood vessels in the forehead expand to near-exploding proportions*)

Roach Leader: Methinks she is annoyed.

Chatty:  Oh joy.  An angry RL is a force to be reckoned with ...

Roach Leader:  Aye, verily ... (*double take*)  Hey, why are we talkin' Olde English?!

Chatty: (*shrug*) Authorial whimsy?

Roach Leader:  Hmph.  I hate having to babysit you twits. (*surly pout*)

(*twitch*) I'M ... RL ... Alice ... *THE* RL-Alice ... *THE* Arisu-chan..! (*twitch twitch*)

Roach Leader:  Uh ... is this leading up to what I think it's leading to..?

Chatty:  If the cliché stands true, yup.

Roach Leader:  Oh.  Niceseeingyoucatchyoulaterbye!! (*scampers out, grabbing a semi-automatic on the way*)

THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF ALICE IN MOCKERY!!  IIIIIEEEEEYYYYAAAAAHHH!!!

(*BOOOM!!*)

(*And with a big, Akira-like flash of pure, unadulterated Author Power, the building collapses in on itself.  Among other things ...*)

.......

.... okay, I'm better now ... uh, insert-kun?

Chatty: (*from under piles of rubble*) Mmph mph mrphfm!!

Oh, right, the building imploded.  Heh.  Okidokes, hear you go..! (*yank*)

(*hack hack cough cough*)

There, now that wasn't so ... huh?

What?  What happened now?!   What happened now?!

Hehe ... I think the blast of Author Power inadvertantly turned you into a furry dragon.

Ohmigod, I'm a flying cat.

No, that's furry dragon, like ... uh ... this [shows picture].

You had a picture ready. ¬¬.

Well, no, I was on a Nall kick.  Really, I think you're more the tabby kitty type ...

Look, just be honest and admit you planned this.

(*mock shock*) What, me, plan an embarrassing outburst so as to have an excuse to turn you into an oh so kute furry creature that looks like a cat with wings?

Yeee-eeessssss ....

Well, no, it wasn't.  Just whipped up the idea tonight.  So you are, now, a furry tabbycat dragon wereman with a Spring of Drowned Chicken curse!!!

So I turn into my "normal" form at the full moon, and cold water turns me into a chicken?

No, it turns you into a Red Chocobo.  A fierce Tactics-style one, might I add.

Uh ...

In-joke.  Just nod your head and smile.

(*furiously nods head and grins like an idiot*)

That's a good little insert! (*pats Chatty on the head*)

Err, yeah ... can I ask a question?

At your own risk and peril of death, yes.

Right.  Can I get rid of this animated icon?  It's getting annoying, and I look stupid ...

Sure, no problem.  It's a pain for me too, and -- hey, Battle of Saratoga!!   Woo-hoo!!

Chatty: (*shedding the animated icon*) Huh?

The Battle of Saratoga was the most influential battle of the millenium!!  Yah!!

Chatty: ...... and I was based off of you? (*blink blink*)

Are based off of me, thanks.  What happened to your spunk, anyway?

Chatty:  Don't feel very spunky anymore.

(*gasp*) Ara!!  That's bad!!  You are spunk!  Mostly wimpy spunk, but spunk nevertheless..!

Chatty:  Lately I've been apathetic.

Alright, that's it, I'm getting you a shrink!!  Professor Twooooooooosteeeeeeeein!!  I got a depressed flying cat over heeeeeeeeere!!

Chatty:  Me and my big mouth ... -.-;

(*Twitch*)  About to go... (*Twitch*)  Insane... too much realistic writing... not enough EGC... (*Twitch*)  Three two hour exams tomorrow... must study... must sleep... (*Twitch*)

Lyric:  Calm down bubby... c'mon, look. EGC...

Ahhhhh... (*Contentment radiates*)  And look, new reg-ish people. Welcome to our strange little group, new people.  Thanks for keeping it warm for us, while i was away (*Grin*)  Usually i am the one to shame people into posting...

Lyric:  Ummm... lets get to posting, Shoshanna, HARD RULE!

That's _it_!  Who's leading us this time?

Voodoo:  Isn't me.

Lyric:  Isn't me.

Bub:  Arrrrrrghhh.

Clone:  I was following... wait... i'm in front, i guess that means i am leading.

Voodoo:  Did anybody remember that he can't see?

Clone:  I can see just fine, i have radar vision all around me!

But its _radar_, you can't read street signs!

Clone:  Oh, wait, you are right...

(*All Sigh*)

We're lost, aren't we?  Dammit, somebody call the tank...

( MEANWHILE, AT THE BAR... )

Sepheroth:  No, really... i think i know you...

"Rufus":  Nope, not at all... i am (*Koff*) Perfectly normal...

Sepheroth:  Whatever you say...

Yuffie:  C'monguyslooktheClonewasn'tlieingiswearthere'sanewinvasionofroachesontheway!

Aerith:  Who gave Yuffie the Pixie Stix?

Tifa:  I didn't.

Rufus:  But she asked so _kutely_!

Aerith:  (*Sigh*)

Tifa:  (*Shakes Head*)

Sepheroth:  So there's actually roaches out there?

Yuffie:  Duhlikei'dlietoyou!

Rufus:  Does she remind you of Blur, from the transformers movie, or is it just me?

Aerith and Tifa:  Can we roll out, and try to defend our bar, just mahaps?

( ELSEWHERE, IN EG CITY )

Roach:  Greetings, may i kindly purchase some implements of distruction...

Ermentrude:  Oh my god!  A roach!  Bhaub, i thought you said you vacuumed!

Bhaub:  I say _did_!  It must have gotteth in some other way...

Ermentrude:  Well, i don't want _roaches_ in my store!

Roach:  That's a blatantly humanicentric point of view!

(*The two Diablo character's smoothly pivot to face the roach...*)

Roach:  I shouldn't have said anything, should i've?

Ermentrude:  It wasn't the smoothest of moves, no...  Arrow shock _wave_!

Bhaub:  Verily!  And forsooth, i was to doeth my special attach anon!

Ermentrude:  When you get right down to it, that isn't so much _mine_ either...

( SOMEWHERE, IN A PLACE THAT ISN'T EG CITY )

(*A small brown haired girl walks into a battered and broken down warehouse.  She is dressed in moderately expensive clothing and dragging a doll behind her*)

(*A large, inert heap dominates the warehouse, towering over any other boxes.  It is larger than the Tank, almost four times its size, and it seems to suggest a vaguely humanoid form, though with four legs, instead of two*)

(*The girl skips over to the huge, shourded form and for reasons known only to her, kicks one of the motionless "legs"*)

(*The shrouded form rears up,revealing a humanoid-four legged mecha, a single red "eye" lighting in its wedge-shaped head*)

>> Activation Stimulus Located...
>> Command Protocal Initiated...
>> Operating System:  Skiboo v. 5.3.2 Active...
>>     Substucture [Green ]
>>     Generator [Green ]
>>     Weapon Systems [ Green ]
>>     Sigularity Drive [ Green ]
>> Command Data Incomplete...
>> Initate data recovery algorithm:
>> ................................................................................ Done
>> Beginning Primary Function [ Locate Pilot, retrieve ]...
>> Query pilot candidate...

Robot: CHILD, WOULD YOU MIND AIDING ME IN MY SEARCH?

Little Girl:  Who are you?

Robot:  I AM Skiboo v. 5.3.2.  I AM CALLED SKIBOO.

Little Girl:  Ok, Skiboo, my name's Nicodemus.

Robot:  THAT IS IN NO WAY A GIRL'S NAME...

Nikky:  Shut up, lets go find what you need to find.

Robot:  CLIMB ABOARD, WE ARE GOING TO SHIFT TO ANOTHER DIMENSION.

Nikky:  Fun!

(*The little girl clambers aboard the strangely named mecha...*)

>> Singularity Drive [ Active ]
>> Spawning Hyper-Space Portal...
>> Spawning Quasi-Space Portal...
>> Sub-space bridged...

Ok, yes, i am no crack, i just think i haven't been sleeping well recently (*Grin*).  But ah well, i think i need a few new cameos, the Goon Squad is getting a little... sparse, yes?  And cliffhangers are just _fun_ to write...  Wish me luck on my exams, i'll _definately_ need it...

If you don't have a font by the name of "impact" then the Skiboo command lines are gonna look really silly to you.  I think its a windows default kinda font, so if you don't have it, shame on you...

And why did i name the kid Nicodemus?  Sometimes i'm just sadistic with my naming, i mean look at Ermentrude!