Archived from groups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon (More info?)
Phoenix
To call this event a party would be a definitive misnomer. Yes,
people were gathered, drinks were being served, and lively discussion
was taking place. However, any onlooker who thought this was a party
would swiftly see the error in his logic; they were in a funeral
parlor, and an open coffin rested in one corner of the room.
"I don't understand why we have to go through this whole
'wake' thing," one tall, sturdily-built woman with graying blonde
hair noted. She poured herself another glass of wine and continued,
"I mean, she's dead. Cremate her and get it over with."
"Claire, come on!" a much thinner, dark haired woman noted in a
nasally, high-pitched voice. "Have a little respect for the dead!
Helen was probably one of the best employers we could've asked
for!" She gasped in surprise, then asked, "Do you treat everyone
who's important to you like that?"
"Have you seen her last boyfriend?" a dour-faced man asked, his
voice ringing with a British accent.
The nasal-voiced woman turned to the dour-faced Brit and pointed
out, "You are her last boyfriend."
"Exactly," the dour-faced man replied.
Claire huffed, then noted, "Well at least now this company can get
back on its feet." As her two drinking mates began to take on a
surprised look, she continued, "Helen was a lot of things, but a good
businesswoman she wasn't. And I don't even want to think about how
she fared as a mother."
"Claire, does backstabbing come naturally to you, or do you
practice?"
Claire wheeled around in shock to find the familiar visage of her
former boss's youngest daughter. "Alexandria, I..."
"I'm just curious," Alexandria Masters asked, a small glass of
wine in one hand, leaning on the bar, her face leaning towards more
stern questioning than simple curiosity.
"Um, well, you know me with alcohol," Claire stammered,
attempting to recover from her own inept actions. "A little bubbly on
the brain and...um...excuse me." She quickly backed off, still under
Alex's vaguely menacing gaze.
As Claire got out of earshot, Alex and the two executives chuckled
warmly, light laughter breaking out after a minute. "Mom was right,
she is easy to spook out," Alex replied.
"You should've seen the Halloween party three years ago," the
dour Brit noted, a smile beginning to grow on his face. "Claire had
such a scare that night when your mother arranged for a Seviper to be
part of the party."
"And yet she never had a problem with acne again," the
nasal-sounding woman was quick to note.
The laughter continued for a few more seconds before Alex took a
breath and noted, "Yeah. Seriously though, Bobbie, Niles, I'm glad
you came. Mom would've appreciated it."
"After she gave us these real jobs after she started up the
company?" Bobbie asked in disbelief. "Please, this is the least we
can do."
"Speaking of, Alexandria, who will be taking her position once
everything is said and done?" Niles asked. "Helen never quite
revealed who she hoped to succeed her, but I always assumed it would be
you or your sister."
"I don't know," Alex noted as she took a light sip. "I mean,
look at me. I'm not even eighteen yet; who's going to take a kid
for a CEO seriously? This isn't some inane Japanese cartoon, after
all."
"Certainly ain't a sitcom either," Bobbie was quick to note.
"What about your sister, though? I mean, she's got to be taking
this pretty hard."
Alex glanced over to her elder sister Cassandra, who was solemnly
standing near her mother's coffin, and said, "She's taking this
kinda hard, yeah. Speaking of, I'd better check on her. Don't go
too overboard with the drinks, okay?"
"Oh, don't worry, we'll be fine," Bobbie assured Alex as she
walked to find her sister. With a glance towards Niles, she noted,
"That girl's really taking this all so well. If it were me, I'd
be bawling my eyes out."
"Well, some people are more reasonable about things than
others," Niles was quick to note.
Meanwhile, Alex gently laid a hand upon her sister's shoulder and
said, "Hey. You doing okay?"
"Yeah, I guess," Cass replied, uncertainty in her voice. "That
was a good eulogy you gave for Mom, by the way."
"I hope I did her justice," Alex answered. "But you seem to be
adjusting to this a lot better than I'd thought you would. Care to
explain?"
"Well, maybe you're maturity is kinda rubbing off on me," Cass
suggested. "And it might have something to do with not feeling as
much alone as I thought I was."
"Finally remembered you've got a sister to share in the grief,
huh?" Alex asked.
"Like I need to be reminded about that," Cass dryly replied.
"One of the big things about all of this was that I felt, well,
alone. I mean, I never knew my dad, and now Mom's gone. Aside from
you, I felt like I'd lost all the family I ever had." She turned to
her sister, and said, "But I'm glad I'm wrong for once." With
Alex's quizzical look, she explained, "My dad's parents are still
alive, Alex."
"That's great!" Alex nearly exclaimed. "Are you going to
meet them? Call them? What?"
"I don't know," Cass admitted, her voice beginning to shift.
"I didn't even know about them until a couple days ago. They stayed
out of my life, for reasons I can't begin to understand or fathom. I
want to keep some connection to my family, but if they just don't
care..."
"You don't know that for sure, do you?" Alex asked.
"No, but them not contacting me at all through all of this
doesn't exactly inspire hope and joy, now does it?" Cass countered.
"What do you think I should do?"
"Contact them," Alex replied. "Give it every effort. Hell, if
Bob Stack weren't dead, I'd say go on 'Unsolved Mysteries' with
it. But if you have a chance of contacting them, then do it. Besides,
time heals all wounds; and if they're as old as my grandmother,
they've had a lot of time to think about things."
Cass pursed her lips in thought, and asked, "And you still don't
want to run the company?"
"Many things I am," Alex replied in a slight Yoda voice.
"Harry Osborn, I am not."
Both girls chuckled slightly. After a few short seconds, Cass
changed the subject, and asked, "So, why the wine? You know better
than me what alcohol does to you."
"I figure I'm safe with a small amount," Alex replied.
"That's why I have a small glass."
"Still, you'd better limit yourself," Cass advised. "You
remember what happened the last time someone on your side of the family
tree drank too much alcohol."
"I remember," Alex replied. "That's why Grandma borrowed
some tranquilizers from her elder sister. Just in case."
"Just in case," Cass reminded her. As Alex went off to get rid
of her drink, Cass turned back to her deceased mother and noted, "She
never changes, huh Mom?"
-
Elsewhere, just outside Lilycove Harbor, a deep blue twin-rotor
helicopter roared over the water, a Duskull and crossbones subtly
marked upon the blades of its rotors. A small tower rose out of the
sea, its roof opening up to allow the small helicopter entrance. The
aircraft silently slipped into its berth as the roof closed in above
it, the tower descending into the ocean depths.
Within the small hangar, an array of lights flashed on, fully
illuminating the chopper within and its important occupant. Several
Aqua Grunts rushed about, presenting themselves for inspection as their
direct supervisor, a short and somewhat stocky individual called
Sharkey, nervously watched his important guest exit the craft.
"Admin Leif, sir, welcome to the Lilycove Base," Sharkey said
with righteous deference.
"You can dispense with the pleasantries, Admin Sharkey," Leif
Henrik noted as he exited his chopper, his long coat billowing behind
him like a cape. "I need a report immediately; what happened here?"
"It's somewhat of a mystery to us, sir," Sharkey replied as
the hatches opened, allowing him and his superior to walk into the
Lilycove base proper. "Two hours ago, our firewall was breached. We
initially thought it was an attack by Team Magma, but no data
concerning our base locations, our general defenses, or anything
directly relating to our long-term plans has been taken. In fact, only
one set of files was copied; one given the highest security, by your
own orders; files from the Masters research facility near the Hoenn
Safari Zone."
"I hope to Goddish they just copied the breeding files," Leif
noted as they entered the Computer Center.
Surrounding them, and beneath them, were hundreds of immense,
water-cooled computer banks; trillions upon trillions of gigabytes of
processing power surrounded them as they descended to a long row of
displays, numerous people around them, their pale, pasty skin a perfect
compliment to the darkened room. Sharkey and Leif walked to one in
particular, flanked by a Feraligatr holding a cask of Berry Juice.
"Admin Leif, sir, this is Stefan. He's the one who discovered the
leak."
"I have Aegir to thank for that more than anything, sir," the
bespectacled lab tech noted. "He pointed it out to me; I just figured
out what file it was and alerted Admin Sharkey, as per regulations."
The Feraligatr hiccupped as he took a bow, being careful not to
spill his drink.
"Well Stefan, did you look at the file?" Leif asked.
"Just enough to figure out what it was," Stefan replied. "No
real title, just some initials."
"EHGR?" Leif asked, as if anticipating the answer.
"Yes, that's it," Stefan replied. "No idea what it stands
for, and I don't think it's my job to know."
"It isn't," Leif replied. "But you did a good job
nonetheless. You'll be up on the next list of transfers to my base at
the Forsaken Ship." He looked at the Feraligatr again, and added,
"And I'll make sure to get Aegir as much Berry Juice as he wants,
and a supply of Mystic Water."
"Feeh-raahl," Aegir noted again, a hiccup punctuating the end of
his note of thanks.
"In the meantime, I want security tightened on the entire computer
network, and I need a transport readied to the surface," Leif
replied. "There's someone in Lilycove who needs to know what has
happened here."
"Who?" Starkey asked.
"The daughter of who we have to thank for that file," Leif
replied as he turned away, heading back towards the elevator. "And
one whose life may very well be in jeopardy."
-
"I'm glad you could make it," Elizabeth Masters said, her
voice tinged with both joy and urgency.
"Well, from everything you said, it sounded urgent," the woman
with her noted. She was of the same height and physical build, only
with deep brown eyes and hair with only a few wisps of blonde remaining
among a sea of light gray. "Besides, a girl needs to visit her little
sister every now and again, doesn't she?"
Beth grinned, then replied, "Serena, you stopped being a girl when
you turned twenty."
"Never quite goes out of you, even if you go gray," Serena
deRolias, Beth's elder sibling, noted with a light chuckle. "So,
how are the kids holding up?"
"I think they'll be okay," Beth replied. "Alex has grown
into a fairly mature girl, after everything she's been through, and
Cass is starting to recover. They aren't the problem." She sighed,
then noted, "I saw Helen before she passed on; she told me to tell
Alex everything."
"Can you blame her?" Serena asked. "She was attacked, Beth, by
four bounty hunters and the guy who tried to kill her when she was a
baby. She's entitled to know the full truth now, more than ever
before."
"Yes, she is," Beth replied. "That's why I wanted you here.
You went into genetics, and you and her father were keeping track of
the family line. Plus, you're one of the few physicians on the planet
that we can really trust in the event that something happens to her. I
figured both of us should give her the complete story; how Canmore knew
about her and everything like that."
"Fair enough," Serena replied. "Where is she now?"
As if on cue, the front door to the Masters home opened, revealing
Alex, clearly inebriated and nearly being dragged in by her elder
sister. "The good newsh ish, the pillsh kept me from feeling up the
guysh," Alex explained. "The bad newsh ish, I'm gonna have a
whopper of a headache in the morning. Hi Auntie Serena; thanksh for the
warning."
"Dear lord, how much did she drink?" Serena asked as she wrapped
Alex's free arm around her shoulder.
"One small glass, barely three fluid ounces," Cass answered.
"And here I wondered why you always cautioned her about alcohol."
"And me saying, 'the last person with Extaxian genes who got
drunk on this planet was pregnant two days later' wasn't clear
enough?" Serena asked. "C'mon, help me get her upstairs. I've
got tranquilizers; between them and the alcohol, she should be okay."
"I'm never touching thish shtuff again," Alex vowed.
"Ever."
-
"So what happened?" Carol asked in disbelief.
"Alex had a little too much wine," Beth explained. "Members of
this family really can't handle alcohol."
"Part of the whole alien thing, huh?" Carol casually noted.
"Yeah, kind of an occupational..." Beth noted as she took a sip
of her drink. She paused, almost comically, as she realized just what
had been said. "She told you?"
"Yeah, she kinda told all of us," Carol admitted. "Ben, her
hubby? She told him after that first attack from the bounty hunters. I
think Tsu knows, but I don't think she believes her or anything. And
she told me not long after she killed that Canmore guy."
Beth sighed. "I tried to tell her before she left; keep it to
yourself." Rubbing her right temple, she noted, "Of course, I
didn't see her having the gusto to enter that tournament, or the
possibility of Canmore sending bounty hunters after her."
"And I did save her butt a couple times," Carol noted.
"That too," Beth replied. "And I'm grateful for that. Just
keep that to yourself, okay?"
"Who am I gonna tell?" Carol asked. "'Sides, I've seen
weirder things than aliens in my day, trust me."
Before Beth could inquire further, Alex half-shambled into the room
and sat down with them, rubbing her own forehead. "Remind me to write
a complaint to Chateau Belloq once this headache goes away," was her
only statement on the matter.
"You going to be okay?" Beth asked.
"Yeah, just don't have me operating heavy machinery," Alex
replied. "Is Aunt Serena still here?"
"Yes, just waiting for us," Beth replied. "There's something
she and I both need to talk with you about, but it's probably wiser
to wait until..."
"No," Alex replied. "Just make sure there's plenty of
Tylenol waiting for me."
Beth seemed to consider that for a minute, before she said,
"Alright. I'll go get her." She rose to her feet, and left the
kitchen.
"So, what do you think this is?" Carol asked. "Revelations?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Alex replied.
TBC!
[NS: This is a big one; more to come tomorrow.]
Phoenix
To call this event a party would be a definitive misnomer. Yes,
people were gathered, drinks were being served, and lively discussion
was taking place. However, any onlooker who thought this was a party
would swiftly see the error in his logic; they were in a funeral
parlor, and an open coffin rested in one corner of the room.
"I don't understand why we have to go through this whole
'wake' thing," one tall, sturdily-built woman with graying blonde
hair noted. She poured herself another glass of wine and continued,
"I mean, she's dead. Cremate her and get it over with."
"Claire, come on!" a much thinner, dark haired woman noted in a
nasally, high-pitched voice. "Have a little respect for the dead!
Helen was probably one of the best employers we could've asked
for!" She gasped in surprise, then asked, "Do you treat everyone
who's important to you like that?"
"Have you seen her last boyfriend?" a dour-faced man asked, his
voice ringing with a British accent.
The nasal-voiced woman turned to the dour-faced Brit and pointed
out, "You are her last boyfriend."
"Exactly," the dour-faced man replied.
Claire huffed, then noted, "Well at least now this company can get
back on its feet." As her two drinking mates began to take on a
surprised look, she continued, "Helen was a lot of things, but a good
businesswoman she wasn't. And I don't even want to think about how
she fared as a mother."
"Claire, does backstabbing come naturally to you, or do you
practice?"
Claire wheeled around in shock to find the familiar visage of her
former boss's youngest daughter. "Alexandria, I..."
"I'm just curious," Alexandria Masters asked, a small glass of
wine in one hand, leaning on the bar, her face leaning towards more
stern questioning than simple curiosity.
"Um, well, you know me with alcohol," Claire stammered,
attempting to recover from her own inept actions. "A little bubbly on
the brain and...um...excuse me." She quickly backed off, still under
Alex's vaguely menacing gaze.
As Claire got out of earshot, Alex and the two executives chuckled
warmly, light laughter breaking out after a minute. "Mom was right,
she is easy to spook out," Alex replied.
"You should've seen the Halloween party three years ago," the
dour Brit noted, a smile beginning to grow on his face. "Claire had
such a scare that night when your mother arranged for a Seviper to be
part of the party."
"And yet she never had a problem with acne again," the
nasal-sounding woman was quick to note.
The laughter continued for a few more seconds before Alex took a
breath and noted, "Yeah. Seriously though, Bobbie, Niles, I'm glad
you came. Mom would've appreciated it."
"After she gave us these real jobs after she started up the
company?" Bobbie asked in disbelief. "Please, this is the least we
can do."
"Speaking of, Alexandria, who will be taking her position once
everything is said and done?" Niles asked. "Helen never quite
revealed who she hoped to succeed her, but I always assumed it would be
you or your sister."
"I don't know," Alex noted as she took a light sip. "I mean,
look at me. I'm not even eighteen yet; who's going to take a kid
for a CEO seriously? This isn't some inane Japanese cartoon, after
all."
"Certainly ain't a sitcom either," Bobbie was quick to note.
"What about your sister, though? I mean, she's got to be taking
this pretty hard."
Alex glanced over to her elder sister Cassandra, who was solemnly
standing near her mother's coffin, and said, "She's taking this
kinda hard, yeah. Speaking of, I'd better check on her. Don't go
too overboard with the drinks, okay?"
"Oh, don't worry, we'll be fine," Bobbie assured Alex as she
walked to find her sister. With a glance towards Niles, she noted,
"That girl's really taking this all so well. If it were me, I'd
be bawling my eyes out."
"Well, some people are more reasonable about things than
others," Niles was quick to note.
Meanwhile, Alex gently laid a hand upon her sister's shoulder and
said, "Hey. You doing okay?"
"Yeah, I guess," Cass replied, uncertainty in her voice. "That
was a good eulogy you gave for Mom, by the way."
"I hope I did her justice," Alex answered. "But you seem to be
adjusting to this a lot better than I'd thought you would. Care to
explain?"
"Well, maybe you're maturity is kinda rubbing off on me," Cass
suggested. "And it might have something to do with not feeling as
much alone as I thought I was."
"Finally remembered you've got a sister to share in the grief,
huh?" Alex asked.
"Like I need to be reminded about that," Cass dryly replied.
"One of the big things about all of this was that I felt, well,
alone. I mean, I never knew my dad, and now Mom's gone. Aside from
you, I felt like I'd lost all the family I ever had." She turned to
her sister, and said, "But I'm glad I'm wrong for once." With
Alex's quizzical look, she explained, "My dad's parents are still
alive, Alex."
"That's great!" Alex nearly exclaimed. "Are you going to
meet them? Call them? What?"
"I don't know," Cass admitted, her voice beginning to shift.
"I didn't even know about them until a couple days ago. They stayed
out of my life, for reasons I can't begin to understand or fathom. I
want to keep some connection to my family, but if they just don't
care..."
"You don't know that for sure, do you?" Alex asked.
"No, but them not contacting me at all through all of this
doesn't exactly inspire hope and joy, now does it?" Cass countered.
"What do you think I should do?"
"Contact them," Alex replied. "Give it every effort. Hell, if
Bob Stack weren't dead, I'd say go on 'Unsolved Mysteries' with
it. But if you have a chance of contacting them, then do it. Besides,
time heals all wounds; and if they're as old as my grandmother,
they've had a lot of time to think about things."
Cass pursed her lips in thought, and asked, "And you still don't
want to run the company?"
"Many things I am," Alex replied in a slight Yoda voice.
"Harry Osborn, I am not."
Both girls chuckled slightly. After a few short seconds, Cass
changed the subject, and asked, "So, why the wine? You know better
than me what alcohol does to you."
"I figure I'm safe with a small amount," Alex replied.
"That's why I have a small glass."
"Still, you'd better limit yourself," Cass advised. "You
remember what happened the last time someone on your side of the family
tree drank too much alcohol."
"I remember," Alex replied. "That's why Grandma borrowed
some tranquilizers from her elder sister. Just in case."
"Just in case," Cass reminded her. As Alex went off to get rid
of her drink, Cass turned back to her deceased mother and noted, "She
never changes, huh Mom?"
-
Elsewhere, just outside Lilycove Harbor, a deep blue twin-rotor
helicopter roared over the water, a Duskull and crossbones subtly
marked upon the blades of its rotors. A small tower rose out of the
sea, its roof opening up to allow the small helicopter entrance. The
aircraft silently slipped into its berth as the roof closed in above
it, the tower descending into the ocean depths.
Within the small hangar, an array of lights flashed on, fully
illuminating the chopper within and its important occupant. Several
Aqua Grunts rushed about, presenting themselves for inspection as their
direct supervisor, a short and somewhat stocky individual called
Sharkey, nervously watched his important guest exit the craft.
"Admin Leif, sir, welcome to the Lilycove Base," Sharkey said
with righteous deference.
"You can dispense with the pleasantries, Admin Sharkey," Leif
Henrik noted as he exited his chopper, his long coat billowing behind
him like a cape. "I need a report immediately; what happened here?"
"It's somewhat of a mystery to us, sir," Sharkey replied as
the hatches opened, allowing him and his superior to walk into the
Lilycove base proper. "Two hours ago, our firewall was breached. We
initially thought it was an attack by Team Magma, but no data
concerning our base locations, our general defenses, or anything
directly relating to our long-term plans has been taken. In fact, only
one set of files was copied; one given the highest security, by your
own orders; files from the Masters research facility near the Hoenn
Safari Zone."
"I hope to Goddish they just copied the breeding files," Leif
noted as they entered the Computer Center.
Surrounding them, and beneath them, were hundreds of immense,
water-cooled computer banks; trillions upon trillions of gigabytes of
processing power surrounded them as they descended to a long row of
displays, numerous people around them, their pale, pasty skin a perfect
compliment to the darkened room. Sharkey and Leif walked to one in
particular, flanked by a Feraligatr holding a cask of Berry Juice.
"Admin Leif, sir, this is Stefan. He's the one who discovered the
leak."
"I have Aegir to thank for that more than anything, sir," the
bespectacled lab tech noted. "He pointed it out to me; I just figured
out what file it was and alerted Admin Sharkey, as per regulations."
The Feraligatr hiccupped as he took a bow, being careful not to
spill his drink.
"Well Stefan, did you look at the file?" Leif asked.
"Just enough to figure out what it was," Stefan replied. "No
real title, just some initials."
"EHGR?" Leif asked, as if anticipating the answer.
"Yes, that's it," Stefan replied. "No idea what it stands
for, and I don't think it's my job to know."
"It isn't," Leif replied. "But you did a good job
nonetheless. You'll be up on the next list of transfers to my base at
the Forsaken Ship." He looked at the Feraligatr again, and added,
"And I'll make sure to get Aegir as much Berry Juice as he wants,
and a supply of Mystic Water."
"Feeh-raahl," Aegir noted again, a hiccup punctuating the end of
his note of thanks.
"In the meantime, I want security tightened on the entire computer
network, and I need a transport readied to the surface," Leif
replied. "There's someone in Lilycove who needs to know what has
happened here."
"Who?" Starkey asked.
"The daughter of who we have to thank for that file," Leif
replied as he turned away, heading back towards the elevator. "And
one whose life may very well be in jeopardy."
-
"I'm glad you could make it," Elizabeth Masters said, her
voice tinged with both joy and urgency.
"Well, from everything you said, it sounded urgent," the woman
with her noted. She was of the same height and physical build, only
with deep brown eyes and hair with only a few wisps of blonde remaining
among a sea of light gray. "Besides, a girl needs to visit her little
sister every now and again, doesn't she?"
Beth grinned, then replied, "Serena, you stopped being a girl when
you turned twenty."
"Never quite goes out of you, even if you go gray," Serena
deRolias, Beth's elder sibling, noted with a light chuckle. "So,
how are the kids holding up?"
"I think they'll be okay," Beth replied. "Alex has grown
into a fairly mature girl, after everything she's been through, and
Cass is starting to recover. They aren't the problem." She sighed,
then noted, "I saw Helen before she passed on; she told me to tell
Alex everything."
"Can you blame her?" Serena asked. "She was attacked, Beth, by
four bounty hunters and the guy who tried to kill her when she was a
baby. She's entitled to know the full truth now, more than ever
before."
"Yes, she is," Beth replied. "That's why I wanted you here.
You went into genetics, and you and her father were keeping track of
the family line. Plus, you're one of the few physicians on the planet
that we can really trust in the event that something happens to her. I
figured both of us should give her the complete story; how Canmore knew
about her and everything like that."
"Fair enough," Serena replied. "Where is she now?"
As if on cue, the front door to the Masters home opened, revealing
Alex, clearly inebriated and nearly being dragged in by her elder
sister. "The good newsh ish, the pillsh kept me from feeling up the
guysh," Alex explained. "The bad newsh ish, I'm gonna have a
whopper of a headache in the morning. Hi Auntie Serena; thanksh for the
warning."
"Dear lord, how much did she drink?" Serena asked as she wrapped
Alex's free arm around her shoulder.
"One small glass, barely three fluid ounces," Cass answered.
"And here I wondered why you always cautioned her about alcohol."
"And me saying, 'the last person with Extaxian genes who got
drunk on this planet was pregnant two days later' wasn't clear
enough?" Serena asked. "C'mon, help me get her upstairs. I've
got tranquilizers; between them and the alcohol, she should be okay."
"I'm never touching thish shtuff again," Alex vowed.
"Ever."
-
"So what happened?" Carol asked in disbelief.
"Alex had a little too much wine," Beth explained. "Members of
this family really can't handle alcohol."
"Part of the whole alien thing, huh?" Carol casually noted.
"Yeah, kind of an occupational..." Beth noted as she took a sip
of her drink. She paused, almost comically, as she realized just what
had been said. "She told you?"
"Yeah, she kinda told all of us," Carol admitted. "Ben, her
hubby? She told him after that first attack from the bounty hunters. I
think Tsu knows, but I don't think she believes her or anything. And
she told me not long after she killed that Canmore guy."
Beth sighed. "I tried to tell her before she left; keep it to
yourself." Rubbing her right temple, she noted, "Of course, I
didn't see her having the gusto to enter that tournament, or the
possibility of Canmore sending bounty hunters after her."
"And I did save her butt a couple times," Carol noted.
"That too," Beth replied. "And I'm grateful for that. Just
keep that to yourself, okay?"
"Who am I gonna tell?" Carol asked. "'Sides, I've seen
weirder things than aliens in my day, trust me."
Before Beth could inquire further, Alex half-shambled into the room
and sat down with them, rubbing her own forehead. "Remind me to write
a complaint to Chateau Belloq once this headache goes away," was her
only statement on the matter.
"You going to be okay?" Beth asked.
"Yeah, just don't have me operating heavy machinery," Alex
replied. "Is Aunt Serena still here?"
"Yes, just waiting for us," Beth replied. "There's something
she and I both need to talk with you about, but it's probably wiser
to wait until..."
"No," Alex replied. "Just make sure there's plenty of
Tylenol waiting for me."
Beth seemed to consider that for a minute, before she said,
"Alright. I'll go get her." She rose to her feet, and left the
kitchen.
"So, what do you think this is?" Carol asked. "Revelations?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Alex replied.
TBC!
[NS: This is a big one; more to come tomorrow.]
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram