Sailor Netto *Read at own risk* Read the warnings, please?

[YaminoMiko]

Oh dear.......Laika's Netto's classmate now?

Well....that was unexpected. >.<
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I wanna sleep, but I don't wanna sleep at the same time. @_@.
Repetition(RnREXE)

[Kitty-Chan]

*cackles* Oh man, the fun is just beginning! *once again gets images of Sailor Net Saviors* Ack, my imagination is against me! :D
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Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Neko]

A man looked down on the earth with cold red eyes as the people below passed merrily on in their everyday lives. “Well, well, well,” he hissed. “We’ve tracked the energy to this planet, we can finally get the revenge our people so do deserve.”

A pair of arms snaked around his waist and he felt a head rest against his back. “Maybe after you kill the princess you’ll pay more attention to me,” a pouty voice said.

Shade’s face remained stoic as he turned around and looked down at his lover. “I will always give you all the attention you need, my love,” he said softly.

Burner looked up at him and gave him a smile, “I know. But you haven’t been much fun lately you know. You’re so bent on having your revenge that you haven’t talked to me for days.”

Shade let a tiny glimmer of a smile show in his eyes to put his boyfriend at ease. “Do not worry, I promise that whatever may happen I will always be with you.”

“That’s what I want to hear,” Burner replied happily.

“I know,” Shade replied. “I know.”

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

“YES!” Netto cheered as he and Saito walked home from school.

“Hm?” Saito asked, peering over Netto’s shoulder to look at what Netto was so happy about. “Your report card?”

Netto nodded happily, “A’s and B’s, for once,” he said with a grin. “Mama can’t yell at me now.”

Saito chuckled, “Aww, that’s good. At least you won’t spend the first half of summer vacation grounded or anything.”

Netto raised his hands into the air in a cheer. “I know! We can go to the park and go downtown, nothing can ruin this summer,” he said with a grin as he jumped onto Saito’s back, forcing his twin to give him a piggy back ride.

Saito laughed out loud and obliged Netto’s wishes. “Glad to see you’re so happy,” he noted with amusement. “Especially after all that happened earlier.”

“This year? Bah, who cares,” Netto said dismissively. “It’s done and over with and nothing has happened for months. Now we have three months all to ourselves.”

“And summer homework,” Saito reminded him. “Then 7th grade.”

“Mood killer,” Netto muttered.

Saito chuckled, “Just keeping your head in reality, little brother. You tend to let one idea carry you away then you forget about everything else.”

Netto looked at Saito from his vantage point on his shoulder. “Really?” he asked.

Saito nodded, “Yes, really.”

A car pulled up and Enzan rolled down the window. “Either you two really wanted to walk home, or you missed the bus.”

“We missed it on purpose,” Netto said then stuck his tongue out at the boy for good measure. “So there.”

Saito rolled his eyes. “We were planning on stopping by an ice cream shop on the way home to celebrate the end of the school year.”

“And my good grades!” Netto cheered.

“You got good grades?” Enzan asked them dubiously.

“Shut up,” Netto growled. “I did once I didn’t have to run around after school killing bad guys anymore.”

Enzan shrugged, “I don’t care.”

Saito chuckled, “Don’t worry about it. Anyways, Enzan, do you want to join us?”

Enzan blinked, “Well… I…”

Netto nodded and jumped off Saito’s back, all previous animosity forgotten in the favor of the more sweet ideal of a large fudge sundae. “Yeah, come with us. I’m sure you got good grades to celebrate, you always do.”

Enzan frowned, “Well… I mean…”

Blues rolled down the window. “All right, he’ll come,” he answered for Enzan.

“Yay!” the twins cheered and pulled Enzan out of the car. “We’ll have him back by 7,” Saito promised.

Netto laughed, “We’ll make sure he gets you something too, Blues.”

“Don’t bother,” Blues said kindly and drove off.

Enzan ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay… then,” he said slowly.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Shade held a tiny black ball of energy in his hands. “Hm… I think searching for the princess would be tiring. She has not battled for awhile so her magical signature is weak.”

“Are you going to draw her out?” Burner asked him.

Shade nodded, “Of course. Bait a trap to catch the mouse.”

Burner grinned, “A formless demon. You’re in a wicked mood today.”

Shade shrugged and let the black mass fall from his hands. “I want to test her strength before I go down there myself. Let’s just say, I have high expectations.”

“I’m aware,” Burner said silkily in Shade’s ear.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Netto took a huge bite of the chocolate ice cream from his sundae and shivered. “Ah…”

“Brain freeze?” Saito asked with a laugh.

Netto nodded, “Ow.”

“You have a brain?” a cool voice said behind them.

Netto spun around to come face to face with Laika. “Har har,” he muttered. “Very funny.”

“Thanks, I thought it was,” Laika replied and sat down, licking his own vanilla ice cream cone.

Saito chuckled and Netto turned his glare onto his twin. “Sorry,” Saito murmured and shoved his spoon into his mouth before he made anything worse.

Enzan glared at Laika. “What are you doing here?” he hissed.

“Getting ice cream to celebrate the end of the school year, just like you,” Laika replied.

Enzan avoided Laika’s gaze as he ate his own sundae. Even after two months he still didn’t trust the alien, no matter how normal he could make himself look.

“Well, all you kids are in one spot,” Nova said breathlessly as she jumped into the middle of their table. “Thank god, that keeps me from having to find you all.”

Netto pulled his sundae out of reach of the cat and glared at her. “What do you want?” he snapped.

“I need Sailor Stardust,” she told him.

“Hell no!” Netto yelled. Everyone sitting at the surrounding tables turned to stare at the boy who was yelling at a cat.

“Sit down,” Saito muttered while pulling Netto back into his seat. “Ha ha… don’t worry Netto-kun, I was just kidding!” he said loudly as everyone returned to his or her frozen treat.

“Please keep it low,” Nova hissed at him. “I’m sorry kid but that’s the way things are. Something is about to attack this planet and you have to beat it. That’s the way things go.”

Netto glared at her and took another bite of his sundae. “I want to have a nice last day of school,” he told her evenly.

Nova shrugged, “Sweeite, there will be no ‘nice last day’ if there isn’t any place to hang out. Now get your butt in gear and go!”

Netto grumbled and slammed his hands on the table as he stood up and padded off to transform somewhere in private.

Enzan sighed, “All right, fine,” he said before Nova even had a chance to turn on him.

Nova turned around to talk to Laika but she soon discovered that he was already gone. “Well then, this will be interesting,” she murmured.

Saito picked her up. “Where is it?” he asked her.

Nova climbed up until she was perched on the elder Hikari’s shoulder. “It will land in the mid city forest in about two minutes,” she told him. “Better hurry up.”

Saito nodded and took off in the direction of the new battle, unknowing of what lay ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Doo doo doo....
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Midnight]

Hehe, I see Planty's influence throughout this entire thing. Not that that is a bad thing, mind you...

Anyway, the fic born of flagrant WTF returns to its roots in that concept after the last arc ended on a rather serious note. I dearly look forward to seeing how this will pan out, and I am quite amused by your choice of villains. Cheerio!
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Kitty-Chan]

& another saga begins.
_________________
Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Mugen.exe]

Interesting start to a new season. The scene in the Ice Cream shop was funny, and I liked Enzan's reaction to Netto's good grades! A fun chapter to read; Good job Neko!
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False Swipe is a great finishing move!
Witty robots, spunky orphans, and invincible pilots, this link's for you! A Gundam RP

[Neko]

Netto sighed as she ran through the streets towards where she felt the new creature’s energy. It was completely different from anything she had ever felt before and for some reason that disturbed her greatly. She hissed something under her breath and summoned her sword, determined to not be taken by surprise.

She arrived around the same time Laika did. They both acknowledged one another’s existence with a curt nod and walked over to the smoking hole in the ground. Enzan arrived a minute later and Saito was undoubtedly in the shadows with Nova somewhere.

“Well?” Netto asked as she peered down into the pit. “It looks like a metal bowling ball without the holes. Any clue what it is?”

Enzan shrugged as he too took a good look at it. “Your guess is as good as mine, Netto. I can’t tell if that’s it or if what’s inside is what we need to worry about.”

At the same time, both Enzan and Laika turned to Laika. “Well?” Netto asked, bracing her hands on her hips for confirmation.

“Well what?” Laika asked while leaning on his staff weapon. He knew exactly what, he just liked seeing the annoyed looks on Netto’s and Enzan’s faces.

“You know perfectly well what,” Netto hissed. “You’re the alien, what the hell is it?”

“I’m hurt,” Laika said silkily. “Just because I’m an alien doesn’t mean I come with all knowledge of the cosmos.”

“Well, damn,” Netto said simply. “So you have no clue either,” she confirmed.

“No more then you or him,” he replied, nodding at Enzan. “I see a giant metal ball in a crater. I’m sure that’s exactly what you see. Can we please move on now,” he asked politely even though under his light tone we was mercilessly mocking Netto and Enzan and they were all too aware of it.

“You, shut up,” Netto hissed. She turned back to the crater and peered in. “Well… what do we do. Poke it? Hope the bad guy comes out?”

“Are you honestly that naïve?” Laika asked incredulously.

“You were with him for a day and a half, you should know,” Enzan replied smarmily; earning himself a smack over the head from Netto.

“Watch it,” she growled. “I have the sword, remember?”

Laika laughed outright at that. “Ah yes, now I’m reminded why I stayed on this planet,” he said pleasantly as he skidded down into the hole.

“What the hell does that mean?” Netto snapped.

“Nothing,” Laika called out as he walked towards the metal sphere. All the vegetation around him twitched as if the leaves and flowers were getting ready to jump even though it wasn’t possible. Netto could tell that this meant Laika was on edge.

‘Good,’ she thought. ‘Means he’s not as much of a dumb jerk as I thought.’

“Don’t be so protective, boy. I’m not after you,” a sexless voice cooed from the sphere.

“The hell?” Netto asked. “It talks?!”

The metal reshaped it’s self into a generic humanoid shape. “Such an ill tempered princess,” it smirked.

“Call me that again and see how long you live,” Netto muttered.

Laika jumped out of the hole as soon as it spoke. He landed beside Netto and stood poised for battle, guessing what its target was. “Watch it,” he growled. “I know what it is now.”

“Oh now you’re useful?” Netto hissed back. “After it becomes an evil thing that is probably ready to destroy me?”

Laika ignored the comment and continued on his original train of thought. “It’s a formless demon. Not something easily defeated,” he said quickly and softly. “It can become whatever and whoever it wants in order to battle. Be careful.”

“I don’t need that from you,” Netto hissed and jumped down into the crater with her sword raised. “Hey you! Dunno what the hell you’re doing here but I want my summer vacation damnit!”

Laika pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Does she EVER think?”

“No,” Enzan replied. “Then again, do you?” he asked as he skidded down into the hole after Netto.

“Touché,” Laika muttered as he too, followed.

Netto charged at the demon with her sword raised. She brought it down right through the thing’s arm and it slid through its body as if through some kind of putty. The cut that Netto made reformed back into smooth gray matter as soon as Netto drew her sword away. “What?” she hissed.

“Perfect,” Nova muttered. “Of all the things that could appear today, it had to be a formless.”

“That is?” Saito asked while trying to see the battle to make sure Netto was okay.

“Bad news,” Nova replied. “Either Netto learns how to use elemental magic real fast or we’re in deep trouble.”

“Elemental what?” Saito asked.

“Exactly,” Nova sighed.

The formless turned its presumed head to look at Netto. “Well princess, I was sent here to test your strength. I can tell you right now that stabbing me repeatedly won’t do anything.”

Netto growled and raised her hand up high. “Fine then,” she hissed. “Shining stardust attack!” she yelled and the attack hit the demon and dissipated.

“Is that honestly all you’ve got?” it asked with a small laugh at the end of its sentence. “Well my dear, it seems you have a lot to learn. However, looks like you won’t get that chance,” it yelled and changed its shape into that of some kind of animal Netto had never seen before. All she knew was that it had really sharp teeth and big claws, and that was enough for her.

Before it could charge, Laika grabbed Netto around the waist and jumped out of the way. They landed on the edge of the crater where Enzan was also making his escape. “You have three seconds to let go of me,” Netto said dangerously as they landed. “One, two…” Laika quickly let go and sidestepped before she even started on ‘three.’

The animal jumped out of the hole and eyed Netto. Saito jumped as he saw the animal and scrambled behind a tree before he could be seen. “That’s what a formless is?”

“One possible way for it to look,” Nova answered from her perch on Saito’s head. “It’s all up to your twin right now.”

The formless jumped at Netto, knocking Laika out of the way. Netto tried again with her sword but it had the same effect that it did the first time. A throaty laugh could be heard and she had just enough time to jump out of the way before it took a swipe at her.

Laika calmly picked himself up off the ground and turned his cold eyes on the formless. He raised his hand and a flower came from under the ground and literally swallowed up the formless, sealing it in tightly for the time being.

“Being eaten by a flower… what a stupid way to die,” Netto muttered.

“It’s not dead, look,” Enzan replied while pointing at the small cracks between the flower’s petals. Small amounts of gray liquid was oozing out and both realized that they were on borrowed time.

“Stupid or not, it’s effective,” Laika said stiffly as he walked over to view his handiwork. “Besides, at least I don’t turn into a girl.”

Netto brought the tip of her sword to Laika’s throat. “This may not cut that thing but it sure as hell will cut you,” she growled dangerously.

Laika looked calmly back at Netto, but took a step back just to make sure. Netto smirked and lowered the sword. Nova took that moment to pounce onto Netto’s head. “Okay, you have to learn elemental magic and fast,” she said quickly.

“I have to what now?” Netto asked while looking up at the cat.

“It’s the next level. I have no idea how it will work with you but you seriously have to attack with something else because your current level of power is not strong enough.”

“No, really?” Netto asked sarcastically.

Nova flexed her claws into Netto’s scalp, drawing an uncomfortable hiss of pain from the girl. “Shut up and listen to me,” she snapped. “See the writing on the sword?” she asked.

Netto nodded as she peered at her weapon of choice. “Yeah, what of it?”

“Those are spells engraved into the sword that technically should let you use different elements through it. Before you ask, no I don’t know how. It’s something you’re just going to have to figure out on your own,” she said as Netto opened her mouth.

“You are a crappy mentor, you know that?” Netto asked.

Nova jumped off Netto’s head, tail high. “I could have just let the bad guys come and kill you rather then tell you how to protect yourself in the first place.”

Netto shook, “Damn cat,” she snapped angrily.

“It’s out,” Laika said calmly before jumping out of the way.

Netto whirled around on the humanoid shaped formless. “And you!” she yelled. “You’re ruining my summer vacation. I didn’t fail for once and I want my time off damnit!” She pointed the sword at the creature and glared at it. “I don’t care who the hell sent you and I don’t care what the hell you want. You will leave me alone, understand!?” she yelled the last word loudly and the sword glowed.

The formless began to change shape as it flew at Netto in an attack however Netto’s sword fired off a jet of light that engulfed the formless and froze it in mid morph, literally. When Netto blinked the spots from her eyes she saw that it was encased in a thick layer of ice. Netto grinned and looked at her sword. “Coooool,” she said.

“Bad pun,” Saito chuckled at her side.

“Shut up,” Netto retorted good naturedly and ran forward. She stabbed the ice with her sword and the spider web that formed at the point deepened when she wedged it in further. There was a rumble as the ice shattered into many small pieces, the formless with it.

“I hope that was an isolated incident,” Enzan sighed.

“You and me both,” Netto growled.

Laika walked forwards. “Well, at the very least you learned something valuable,” he pointed out.

“I love how you’re only optimistic when you know it annoys me,” Netto sighed and transformed back to his normal self.

“I’m just loveable like that,” Laika smirked and vanished.

“Jerk,” Netto muttered.

Enzan chuckled and returned to his normal self too. “Well, our ice-cream time was cut short. Should we go get some more?”

“Not enough pocket money,” Netto and Saito replied with a sigh.

“Me treat?” Enzan ventured.

“Yay!” Netto cheered and hugged Enzan. “Okay!” he said happily and walked out of the park.

“I’m going to regret that, aren’t I?” Enzan asked, dismayed.

Saito patted Enzan on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep him in check.”

“Thanks,” Enzan replied with a small grin.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

“Master…” the weakened formless hissed, “the girl is stronger then she looks. She learned an element spell right in front of me and used it perfectly.”

Shade stroked his chin, “Well, looks like the princess does meet my expectations.”

Burner’s arms snaked around Shade’s waist. He rested his head on Shade’s back and murmured, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m not going to be the frivolous bad guy who sends minion after minion only to let the child get stronger. No, tomorrow I go down and deal with her personally,” Shade growled.

“And tonight?” Burner asked playfully.

“I believe I have plenty to keep me occupied,” Shade said with a sly grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wheeeee~ back to mah wonderful crack story~
_________________
Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Kitty-Chan]

Heheheheheh. Busy tonight, indeed. Enjoyable as always, Neko; I like how Laika acts in this.
_________________
Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Midnight]

Ah yes, and such a wonderfully cracky story this is.

I enjoy how you have it that the antagonists acknowledge that they are far from the traditional idea of the "bad guy," and will not mindlessly send monster after monster to gradually allow the protagonists to grow, which seemed to be the flaw in many villains of many different animes and other shows, most notably the Power Rangers, it seems.

Laika's persona is conducive to others, and yet he still remains badass in this own way. That's quite the enjoyable combination.

Good work.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[kuro-kitsune]

I'm so happy I decided to drop in when I did. ^v^

there are a couple of typos (like with Laika's name being typed wheer (I think) Netto's was suppose to be). But still, the crack~~~ /o/ *is blown away*

;_; And I lost the drafts for the first three pages of the doujinshi I'm making for this...

~kuro-kitsune~

PS: OMG, Laika's personality here kills me~~

[Neko]

Saito prodded Netto awake the next morning with much resistance on Netto’s end. “Mph, go away,” Netto groaned and hid his head under the covers.

“Netto-kun, it’s almost noon,” Saito told him a bit crossly. “You need to get up.”

“It’s summer vacation,” Netto sighed as if it was an excuse Saito would buy. “Lemme sleep.”

Saito poked Netto through the bed covers again. “Get up,” he said again.

“I don’t wanna,” Netto whined and curled into a ball as if it would protect him from his twin.

“Well you should,” Saito told him matter-of-factly. “It’s late and you need to get up.”

“You should listen to your older brother,” a smirking voice said above them.

Saito looked up and Netto sat up in bed, pulling the sheets off of himself to look at the source of the voice. Laika hovered above them, looking down at the morning scene with slight interest.

“Go away,” Netto said irritably and pulled his covers back over his head and lay down.

Laika grinned, “Even if I have information on what attacked us yesterday?” he asked.

Netto blinked, but he didn’t budge while Saito answered for him. “What information?” he asked slowly, still not completely trusting of the alien.

“Well, I found out that the formless demon was hired by someone to try and assassinate you,” Laika noted as he touched down on the floor gently. “Who, we don’t know yet. But someone is out for your life, princess,” he said with a slightly mocking tone.

“Call me that again and you’ll regret it,” Netto growled from underneath his sheets.

Laika held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. “No harm, Netto,” he said and let himself land gently on the floor. “Seriously though, you should be taking this with a bit more concern.”

“If I was upset every time someone came after me with intentions either killing me or using the damn crystal for something it shouldn’t be used for then I would probably never sleep again,” Netto muttered and buried his head under his pillows. “And school does a good job of keeping me from sleeping regardless.”

“As do I,” Saito noted while pulling the covers off of Netto with a deft movement. “Get up.”

Netto kept his head under the pillows but it was only a matter of time before he would get out of bed. But he’d be dammed if he did it too fast.

Laika blinked but didn’t comment on the morning scene. He had a feeling that it was somewhat normal for the two to the acting the way they were. “I came by to warn you,” he said simply. “Search and I have felt a presence over this planet for a while now and the more it’s there the more I’m convinced that it doesn’t wish anyone any good.”

Netto sighed and pulled the pillow off his head and sat up. His hair was pushed to one side and he looked slightly crabby but he was awake and alert. Laika knew that he had Netto’s attention so he plunged on.

“Look, yesterday’s incident wasn’t a lone one and we know that now. Perhaps it’s time you at least warned those around you that something may be starting up again,” he pointed out.

Saito nodded, “He’s right,” he said softly. “We can’t just sit back and wait to be attacked.”

Netto sighed and flopped back onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling and was quiet for a few moments. “All right,” he said finally. “Saito, you call Colonel and Barrel, I’ll call Enzan.”

Laika let a tiny smile hover on his lips before he vanished. He knew full well that he had to get ready too.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

After they had called and warned their friends of the possible danger, Netto and Saito sat down to breakfast. Their mom placed pancakes on the table and Netto immediately drowned his in syrup and began to wolf them down.

Saito looked distastefully at Netto’s plate. “How can you even taste the pancake?” he asked.

Netto shrugged, “I can. Syrup makes it taste better though,” he said with a nod.

Saito put a dollop of jam on his own pancakes and began to eat. “There’s just so much,” he said with a raised eyebrow.

“So?” Netto asked and pointed his fork at Saito. “I don’t make fun of your eating habits,” he said sulkily.

“Actually…” Saito began but his retort was cut off by the bell ringing.

“Oh my,” Haruka said, looking a little flustered. “I wonder who it could be at this hour?” She walked across the floor while wiping her hands on her apron and opened the door. “Yes, how ma…” Netto and Saito turned as their mother’s voice abruptly stopped.

Saito stood up and Netto was already out of his chair when Haruka threw her arms around the man in the doorway. “Honey!” she said happily. “Oh, you’re back!”

“Papa!” Netto and Saito yelled at the same time, even though Netto got there first. Saito soon joined him and all three were hugging Yuuichirou while the man laughed long and hard.

“Can I come in?” he asked with laughter in his eyes.

“Of course,” Haruka smiled and pulled Netto and Saito back to let their dad pass into the house.

Yuuichirou walked into the house and shrugged off his coat. Then he turned around and kissed Haruka on the lips and pulled Netto and Saito into a two armed hug. “It only seems like I’ve been away for a long time when I get back,” he sighed. “You two have grown.”

Netto pretended to pout. “You haven’t been here for almost six months, that’s why.”

Saito nodded his agreement. “But, did you get everything done?” he asked.

Yuuichirou winked, “And then some. I’m home for three months, no matter what,” he said with a grin.

Netto and Saito looked at each other, then back to their dad. “All summer?” they asked together excitedly.

“All summer,” Yuuichirou confided. “I promise.”

“Yay!” the two boys cheered and hugged their dad again.

“Oh that’s wonderful,” Haruka said softly. Yuuichriou looked up at her and nodded quietly.

“Well then,” he said, standing up straight. “I smell the world’s best pancakes. Is it too much to expect that there are some left?”

“Always,” Netto and Saito said together.

Haruka laughed, “There are plenty,” she said. “Let’s eat.”

Netto and Saito happily followed their parents into the dining room when they were interrupted by the cell phone in Saito’s pocket. Haruka raised an eyebrow, “Since when did you get that?” she asked.

Saito blushed and pressed the call button then hung up, silently apologizing to Barrel. “It was a gift from a friend,” he said.

“It’s a nice gift,” she noted.

“It’s a way to stay in touch,” Saito continued quickly, forming a story. “We’re in a special after school and summer program that teaches us,” he nodded at Netto, “about different things on this world and in space.”

Netto took the hint and continued the story, “Yeah, and the leader of the program gave us the phone to stay in touch for when they were gonna do something new.”

“Oh, that’s exciting,” Haruka said, accepting the story. “So, what have you two learned?”

Netto and Saito blinked. Somehow ‘killing off evil aliens and saving the known universe’ didn’t seem like it would fly. “Well, we’ve learned about different plants from a friend who is in the program,” Netto said slowly.

“Oh, interesting,” Yuuichirou commented while putting a piece of pancake into his mouth. “What about space?”

“It’s a very interesting place,” Netto sighed and sat down at the table to finish off his pancakes.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Barrel blinked as the signal went deadpan. “Disconnected?” he asked.

“Perhaps it was a bad time?” Colonel suggested.

“Now is a bad time,” Barrel growled. “The higher ups want to know what’s going on, and so do I. I don’t think ‘we have a suspicion of a possible attack’ is going to cut it.”

“Give them time,” Colonel told his friend. “They’ll call back when they can.”

Barrel pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He took and drag and exhaled slowly. “Fine, but if they don’t call by the end of the day then we’re going over there. Something is going to happen soon, and those kids are going to be in the middle of it.”

“How can you tell?” Colonel asked dubiously.

“Call it my ‘soldier’s sense,’” Barrel growled as he flicked the ashes off the end of his cigarette.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wheee~ lookit ma, an update!
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Midnight]

Yay update.

Anyway, this was a brief and easy descent into the next chapter. It's nice to see Yuu home for an extended period of time, and the threat of them finding out about Netto's moonlighting makes it all the more interesting. This is geared toward quite a lot of potential. Good work.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Kitty-Chan]

Interesting; I find it amusing that Laika just pops into the twins' rooms.
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Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*