Fantasy PHANTASMA: SCHOOL OF THE STRANGE

[MechaGhoul]

Achim, missed whatever it was. "TCH! Come o-" As he finished out his dialogue he felt a quick smack against his face. Pressed up against his face was a strangely familiar mannikin. Startled he stepped back as he slipped on a piece of rubbish, which was to be expected in the Sewer as he fell flat on his back.


SPLOOOSH! The sewer water jumped up as Achim fell, as he dropped the gun that he was holding in his had. He grumbled out, "D-waaait..." A thought dawned upon him. That manniken was strikingly familiar, incredibly so. He was sure he saw it before. The thing was still pressed against his face. "Work Project - B 20?" Was that the lost project from that art class he taught awhile back?


And then a Toku Hero suddenly emerged in a dramatic fashion. Achim was losing control of the dialogue! He was just going to break the Rat King through lyrical slaughter! But he didn't get to see how awesome the show was due to the doll stuck on its face.


----


Susie's face quickly grew melancholic as she shouted into the phone. "Wai-!" Click. Susie shook her head as a bit of tears started to foam up, as she slowly returned her phone back. This investigation on the lead did not turn out for the best. Just after she promised to be a pillar of support to the girl, she, she let her down. Susie would probably not be able to make this up to her.


Turning her attention to the Catgirls she began wiggling away from their grasp. <I h-have to go. Now.> The only thing the plant would care about now was lost little Anya. She would have to free her before Lily could. Though whether that would lead the plant to continue to spite her, or possibly rekindle the relationship, she did not know.


As such she tried to exit the room in a quick fashion, and return back to that van.

 

[CSA]

Lily bit her lower lip as she looked down at the box that had been tossed at her. It figured that they would know she was onto them by now, and they likely had already moved Anya accordingly. Doubtless this was a French taunt of some sort, but it was Lily's duty to do whatever she could to see Anya safely returned. And to kill these bastards.


Lily quietly began opening the box. After the heat of the moment had passed, much of her rage had dissipated, and what was left had been blended with melancholy and disappointment. It hurt to be betrayed once again by someone she had wanted so desperately to trust.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The box's flaps opened to reveal three things: an old Nokia phone, a photograph, and a small object wrapped in a paper towel.


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


"NO! MY KINGDOM..... CANNOT FALL!" the Rat King shouted as a boot of justice collided directly with his cheek. The momentum spent his body spinning into the air, flying dynamically behind the skeleton of justice before exploding.


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


The nice ladies left strings of saliva as the elf pulled away.


<Aww, what a shame. She was one I'd actually enjoy, too.> the one in pigtails spoke.


<Ah, I bet she had money, too. Still, I managed to take a consolation prize while she wasn't looking.> Fleur gave a grin, presenting a pair of black underwear dotted with pink skulls.

 

[CSA]

Lily swallowed as she looked nervously at the contents. She'd seen the movies. She had an idea of what might be wrapped up in that little paper towel, and dreaded opening it, but she knew that it needed to be done.


First, she unwrapped the paper towel to see what was inside.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

As the paper towel opened, it revealed a small, delicate white finger. Save for the crimson dotted at the end, it was a familiar pale shade of skin.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Alas, now was not the time for dealing with such lovely ladies. Susie, had to solve the mission as quickly as possible. She did not notice the garments missing, but what she did now, is that she had her birdies with the cleaning van. As such she continued to run through the streets to return to the area where she left the van. Right time for the game is over. Just need to get it done. These were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she trekked back. AFTERWARDS, I can have time with them.


----


Achim heard, something that went very, very wrong. No, no way something just exploded. It was clearly just the bad music blaring.

 

[CSA]

Lily's face grew pale when she saw the delicate, pale little finger wrapped inside the paper towel. With a trembling hand, Lily removed the photograph from the box and examined it.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The photograph was surprisingly high quality, and depicted Anya, sitting in a folding chair. She looked half conscious, staring directly at the camera- the viewer, with tired, tear-stained eyes. The side of her face was puffy with a large bruise, and her hands seemed to be restrained behind the seat.


Sitting across her lap was a bolt cutter.

 

[spandez]

I... FUCK did he actually explode?! I... oh god damn I didn't expect that this is bad this is bad this is the difference between assault and murder usually they just shout "VIVA EVIL" or some shit and collapse.


"Uh... A... ANOTHER VICTORY FOR UH... Justice... and stuff... I uh... guess he wasn't as powerful as Dr. Turbohitler's Naziborgs or Baron Rapeulus's Ultrabeasts?"


It was pretty clear the Hero had no idea what the hell was happening and just decided to karate chop the most evil-looking thing. He looked awfully lost down here.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"....Oh shit, King Rat's dead."


"Everybody PANIC. FREEDOM! HORRIBLE TERRIBLE FREEDOM!" the rats yelled, going into a frenzy. Dropping their spears, they packed each other in a large drainage pipe, escaping. The crowd disappeared down the line, as Richter approached, gnawing a rat man's arm.


"Good job, co-workers. Those guys were pretty annoying." he said through a mouthful of rat flesh.


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


As Susie approached the corner where the van was located, she noticed something- the van was on fire.


The birds flittered down, and cawed at her, trying to get her to notice that the van was on fire.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie just stared. "Who started the fire!? Why didn't you contact me?!" She glanced around the area, trying to determine whether or not the warehouses of which Lily learned were there. But, even if they were, they most likely had moved operations by now. Ferdie was humming a little diddy before he broke out into song. "Ooooh, we didn't start the fire! It was always burning since the world was turning!"


Susie glanced at the van, "SHIT!" She glared at Ferdie, "Not now, we gotta solve it quickly." Ferdie whined, "Buuuut the gaaaa-" "Think of the rubbing of success you can do when we solve this." Her pupils darted around the area, looking for anything fitting the description of the warehouses that Lily brought up earlier. But, clearly someone wanted to burn the evidence. If she found it, she could possibly find the people behind it. However, if the warehouses were near, she would surely find something of use.


----


Achim slowly stood back up from the sewer water. As he stood fully erect he reached for B20, as it was still on its face. "B20?" And then the rat-men quickly dispersed in fear of the situation. They didn't want the FREEDOM!? How could they not want the freedom! After all of his proclamations, he didn't manipulate the dialogue completely and fully!


And then Richter came and spoke, while gnawing on something. Achim couldn't see, what with B20 still there. Achim, gave an annoyed grumble.

 

[CSA]

After taking a close look, the photograph fell out of Lily's hand and back into the box. Lily picked up the container and sat down on the nearest sidewalk with it. She sat there for a few seconds, and stared off into space, remembering various things from a long time ago.


"I just wanted to toss that ball around," she muttered to herself, a sad sort of smile on her face, "it looked so fun."


After a few more seconds, she reached back into the box and took out the phone. She guessed she'd be called soon, but she supposed it could also be that sort of thing where you're supposed to call in with a pre-programmed number. With that in mind, she examined the thing.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The cellular phone contained no contacts or information. The phone's wallpaper, though somewhat low-res, was very clearly Anya's face.

 

[MechaGhoul]

The vehicle may have been burning. But there was always the possibility that there was something useful inside. Susie held out her hands as she methodically moved her fingers directing her little zombies as if they were on strings. "Two of you clear, the vehicle of EVERYTHING THAT SEEMS IMPORTANT." The van was the transport method, for the kidnapping. Most likely they left nothing of importance there, but in the off-chance that they did, Susie wanted it cleared as soon as possible.


She continued wiggling her fingers about as she glanced around at the area. "If any of you, if you know what started this fire, lead me to it." She twitched out her left ring finger and pointed at a pigeon at random, "Find the warehouses." She pulled out her phone as she opened up the pictures of the warehouses Lily sent earlier. Their locations would hold something of importance, if not cleared out. But the person who started the fire, to burn evidence surely had something to do with it. Unless of course it was an arson bug. Unfortunately, she had nothing fully concrete. Though, out of all of the options the firestarter was probably the most useful one.


Twitching her fingers she tilted her head as she spoke of the orders of prominence. "Clear van of the most important things and find whatever or whoever started the fire. Warehouses are lower than those two orders."


"Ya seem upset? Were they no good? The leads and the litter?" The Unholy Puppet said walking towards her and giving a slight poke to the jacket. "Eux? Non, ils étaient charmants. Something else. We need to move quickly. Chase whatever spec of a lead we got." Ferdie paused for a moment, "Noted. ...Things will get better. Always hope uh, and shit. Cheer up. Ya got me by your side. Besiiiides, we always got those ladies to, to help cheer up if things go completely down the shitter! Or murder. I like that one, let's do that! If this fails, that is. And depending on how sad you are, I maaaay do that one bit you always enjoy me doing. But I imagine uh you just want to solve this."


[dice]5454[/dice]

 

[Xenonia]

King Nums looked on in horror, covered in the greasy guts of a disgusting vagrant. His royal fur had been soiled! "ATTENDANTS! CLEAN ME!" It was then he remembered he had no attendants. He turned to these strange, less-vagrant-looking visitors and stood back on his hind legs. "YOU! I, KING NUMS, DEMAND YOU BRING ME WITH YOU!"

 

[MechaGhoul]

The bare, hardened and incredibly heavily gang tattooed (sans hands, face and neck) stared back at the doggie. "No previous owner? Stray?"


Achim grumbled out annoyed, "This is exactly what the Sage Barker warned us about. People didn't listen and they, even without learning anything about breeding, decided they could breed pets. I made sure Junkyard was spayed for just that reason, so I wouldn't increase the pet population further. Then those same owners ditching the puppies because they couldn't deal with them. Or large dogs because they didn't expect them to eat much."


After finishing his soliloquy he glanced at the poor result of irresponsible owners. "You don't just get to come with us. You need to." Of course this was one of those genetically modified pets designed to talk to humans. Slightly smarter than their normal canine kin.


"You need to be taken to a vetenerian for a check up. And can't leave ya at the pound, those places tend to be overcrowded. I don't want to make them have to use more of fairly spare resources to care for the animals there. Yeah you are coming along King Nums." Addressing the dog in the name it chose would help adapt it to the situation. But Achim would need to watch this dog. It had good tendency to assert itself as the pack alpha. As a responsible pet owner he would need to curb that for whoever would adopt the dog in the future.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The birds cawed, and immediately broke through the windows of the van, flying around; a crashing echoed from inside until the rear doors burst open. Two of the pigeons crashed to the ground, writhing in pain, covered in fire until they deanimated. The remaining three exited, dragging with them an old crowbar.


They chirped noisily, then flew off in search of other clues.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Donc, ça a contrarié le fille alors?" The unholy puppet Ferdie inquired. Susie glanced down at her puppet and spoke, "Techniquement, le deux d'entre eux. Je ne veux pas discuter de mes sentiments en ce moment." She said with a sigh. Then something truly terrible, the worst thing of this day, two of her little pigeons died!


Susie rushed off to her two zombified pigeons as she fell to her knees. "No! No! No! No!" The elf lamented as tears rolled down her face. "Maintenant, les enjeux sont vraiment sérieux. Repose en paix mes petits de dearies douces. Je ferai en sorte que vous ne étiez pas sacrifié en vain." Things were serious, the case took those truly close to her. Her zombified birds. As the birds emerged with a crowbar, she took it and looked at it. Probably didn't have any important marks or anything to track down. But it was worth a check.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

The crowbar had some words scratched into it, but was too faded to tell what they originally said.


 
The Nokia phone began to ring.

 

[MechaGhoul]

It'd be a memento of what occurred. The most important sacrifice that occurred. Her children would not die in vain. So, Susie decided to keep it. She pulled out her phone, and tried to dial up the cleaning company which owned the van that was oh so recently torched.

 

[CSA]

Lily let the phone ring a couple of times before answering. Susie may have been a liar and a pervert with messed up priorities, but she was right about one thing; it was important to keep a cool head in these sorts of situations. Susie certainly hadn't helped Lily in that regard, but her words carried some weight nonetheless.


Lily picked up the phone, and answered with what she hoped was a calm "Yeah?"

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"I hope you liked the cookie, mon cher. It's a ladyfinger. Get it?" a voice spoke from the other end, the French thick in his accent.

 

[CSA]

Lily's eye twitched, but she remained calm. He was either trying to throw her off, or had become cocky and overconfident. To be fair, he had good reason, but if it was the latter then maybe Lily could use that against him.


Or he was just a dick.


"Yeah, I got it, but a single cookie isn't so good. I want the whole box, and in pristine condition. Untouched, if you catch my meaning. Any idea how we could make this happen?"

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Well then." Achim stated, "We can't just continue to muck about in these sewers, as much fun as that may be. We do have jobs to do." Achim rolled his shoulders around after he noted the fact that, as adults they did have their jobs to do. "Mmmm, anyone know if there is a Soup Kitchen somewhere? After we do our jobs of course. Haven't been able to volunteer at one all too recently. Foreigners got Soup Kitchens don't they?"


----


"What was the number of that cleaning company..." Susie muttered aloud as she checked her phone for the photos of the van, pre-torched of course. But more than that, she looked to see from the photos if there was one of those, 'How am I Driving' stickers on the back. "Good chance you'll get something. I guess. Or we can go to the Velvet Tigress like we wanted to. Buuuut I imagine you'd want to solve this damn thing first." Ferdie remarked with a huff.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"It's a tad too late for that, mon cher. You can see plain as day we've already had a nibble."


"Lily? IS THAT L-" a second voice was cut off.


"Ah ah, chatton. The adults are talking. As I was saying, we were used to mother giving us nibbles before desert. And if you pull anything silly, like, say- call those policemen on us, we'll steal another and another. Her tail and ears are too exotic to lose, but a finger here, a tendon there won't hurt market value too much. She has very pretty eyes, by the way; I'm considering keeping one. A souvenir from America!"