Deep 13 ------- "Frank, you knob, this is the LAST time I'm going to tell you - BE STILL!" Dr. F. was busy tightening a loose screw in Frank's neck, scowling over the lack of good help these days. Frank, who had originally gotten dismembered in an accident involving a plushie, Vanilla Ice, and George W. Bush, had since fallen apart five more times. As the good doctor finished tightening the screw, he patted Frank on the back and smirked. "There we go, m'boy, good as... well... as you'll be getting." He smiled and went off towards the nearest fridge, grabbing from it a bucket of ice. A single bottled of wine sat in the center. Frank gave Forrester a strange look. "Uh, Steve? What's with the bug juice?" The newly reassembled Frank toddled over to where the mad scientist was pouring some wine into a pair of glasses. "Ahh, Frank, I've done it. I finally found the fic that will BREAK the spirits of those boobies. Victory is ours!" Forrester handed a glass to Frank and let out an evil laugh. A laugh that echoed through all of Deep 13. And then a glass shattered. "...Poopy." SOL --- Mike paced back and forth as Tom and Crow sat in a pair of chairs. After a moment, the human turned towards his robotic companions. "Okay, boys, we've got a crisis. Dr. F. has never sent us anything THIS bad before... and we're only partway through with chapter ONE. We've got to find a way to get through this alive!" Tom piped up, "Well, we could always try finding some oxygen tanks for you, Mike. I mean, me and Crow aren't affected by the lack of air out here, but you'd be pretty screwed..." Mike shot Tom a dirty glanced, and the robot continued, "...uh, not that we'd ever LEAVE you in the theater ALONE. If we go down, we go down TOGETHER!" Crow picked up, "Yeah! I mean, we've been through worse, right? We've sat through the worst movies and fiction ever! Cyndi can't take us down! If she did, Dr. Forrester would take over the world and force everyone to read her fics!" Mike stood in front of his bots, arms behind his back. "Right, then it's settled. We'll stick this out to the very end. And if we go down, WE GO DOWN RIFFING!" A rather small 'woot' came from the bots, and Mike slumped a bit. "Aw, c'mon, guys! That was supposed to be a lot more dramatic!" He pouted and turned to shuffle back into the theater. As he left, Crow looked at Tom and murmured, "I feel like a Braveheart extra..." [Door Sequence Mk II] >"Heh, cool. It looks like a Dragon Ball, just too many stars and >it's-" Tom: Speaking in TONGUES! >I stopped talking when I saw Crow: ...the men in white suits coming to take me away. >my reflection during a flash of lightning. Tom: EEEE! A GRANDMA-FACE! >For a split second there, I could have sworn that my reflection was Mike: ...giving her the FINGER, hopefully. >giving off the image of myself drawn anime style rather then a >flesh-and-blood woman. Tom: *sizzles* Mike: I know, I know. Hold yourself together, Tommy. It gets worse. A LOT worse... >In that second I saw myself with oversized Crow: Knockers? Tom: Fanservice is NOT your friend in this case! >blue eyes, I could see my eyebrows through my bangs, and my hair >looked more like hastily drawn lines rather then hair. Thinking it was >my imagination, I looked down at the necklace, but got another jolt >when Mike: ...I realized my dad was being a dickweed. So I grabbed an axe and lobbed his buttcheeks off. lightning flashed. No, the lightning wasn't outside, it had come from the charm on the necklace! Crow: *Dryly* Really? Never woulda guessed... Mike: Again - Cyndi, Mistress of the Obvious. >The bolt jumped from my necklace to one of the mirrors on my closet, >and the reflective surface was rippling as if water was cascading down >the surface of the glass. Tom: Uh-oh, it's the quickening! Crow: Dammit, if she makes herself a highlander... >Thinking my roof was leaking, I looked down to see where the puddle >was Mike: Coming from ME! Tom: GAH! Crow: Stupid author avatars! Quit peeing on yourselves! >starting and realized there was no water on my floor. Crow: Then I blushed and excused myself for losing all control of my bodily functions! "Dammit…what is going on here?" I asked myself, reaching my hand out to touch the mirror. My hand passed right through, and I could see it on the other side. "This is weird!" My voice took a shrill note when I saw that my hand was drawn like an anime cartoon rather then my real hand while on the other side of the mirror. For a second, I wiggled my fingers, then pulled my hand back and looked at it. Normal again, except for the fact that the surface of my mirror was rippling like water that had been disturbed. Should I see what's on the other side? Should I go through? Do I dare? I grabbed my backpack and stuffed a few of my folders full of fanfics in, so I'd have something to read if I got bored, and a bottle of water. Then I grabbed my bottle of Dexedrine, just in case, and stuffed it into my fanny pack. Then I looked back at the rippling mirror. "I dare." After all, I wasn't leaving the house if I was going into my closet, right? I'm always a curious person. Sometimes that gets me into trouble, or lets me find something incredible. This time, I think I got both. Holding my breath, I held my arms out in front of me, walked forward and pushed through the mirror. Everything around me was rippling lines, half-drawn cartoon images, wavy wisps of light and utter silence. I looked back and could see my room, like I was looking through a sliding glass door. Instead of seeing a closet framing the view to my room, however, I just saw blackness and the freaky shapes that floated around it. My body was tingling all over, and when I looked down at myself, I realized I was totally anime, not 'real' the way things should look. And yet I still had skin that I could pinch and feel pain through. It still felt warm and alive, but it just appeared different. Scared and excited at the same time, I turned around and started walking towards the only light source. Seconds later, I had to fight my way through a waterfall and found myself near a small forest clearing. There were beautiful trees all around, the sun was going down. Something glinted in the fading daylight, and I whipped my head that way to see what it was, my hair flowing in a much more exaggerated manner then it would have if I had been in the real world. My eyes fell upon a small dark-haired boy sitting under a tree with a huge open book in his lap. He was wearing a cute little kimono and a matching hat. OK, that was fine. Then I noticed that the little glint on his hat was a small orange orb that was probably twice the size of the charm on my necklace. It was a Dragon Ball. That meant I was looking right at Gohan. Not believing this, I stepped forward and crushed a twig with my foot. Gohan startled and looked up, cocking his head. In a voice exactly as he sounded on the television show, he asked, "Who are you?" I've never fainted once in my life. That is, until just then. Just like Chichi, I does, I fell over backwards as blackness engulfed me. I groaned and opened my eyes, half-expecting to find myself back in my room next to my bed where I'd hit my head. Instead, my eyes came to rest on a woman's face. She had blue eyes like sapphires, her hair was sable black and her lips were like two rose petals. Instantly, I recognized her as ChiChi. "Hey, you're awake." She said gently, "Are you OK?" "Is this a dream?" I asked stupidly. "No." ChiChi answered, blinking down at me. She felt my forehead with a hand that felt cool like real flesh and blood. "Do you feel alright? You don't have a fever, but still, do you feel sick?" Sitting up, I rubbed my forehead and answered, "I'm not sure what I feel right now. I'm really confused." "Do you remember who you are?" "Oh? Yes. My name's Cyndi. I don’t have amnesia or anything like that. I'm just kinda confused as to how I got here." I glanced around to see if I could spot Gohan, but I couldn't find him anywhere. My momentary search was interrupted when ChiChi handed me a glass of water. "Here, drink this and get some rest. Maybe you'll feel better in the morning." "Thanks." I said back, taking a sip of the real-tasting water. ChiChi just smiled politely, then turned off the light and left the room. I heard her scolding Gohan, but she was doing it quietly to avoid disturbing me. "So you were out hanging around with HIM again?" "Aw c'mon mom…he's not that bad. I just went and told him about-" The rest of what he said was lost because he started to whisper, but I didn't need to hear the rest. I already knew who the 'him' they were talking about was, anyway, and I fell asleep there while thinking about it. Loud snoring woke me up about an hour later, and I jolted into a sitting position to see Ox King asleep in the bed next to mine. OK, my dad snore pretty loud, but Ox King's snoring made my dad's snoring sound like a scooter engine compared to a Harley Davidson engine. Putting the pillow over my head didn't help, and I didn't want to be rude and wake him up. I was beginning to wonder why I had woken up so easily, because in the real world, I could sleep through an explosion and not even twitch. A shadow passed the window, and I glanced up to see nothing but stars. Oh, the sky! It was so beautiful that I had to go outside and look. Plus, it let me escape the noise of Ox King's titanic snoring. My backpack was still on my back, and how I'd slept with it on, I have NO CLUE. But I knew that it was probably the reason why I woke up so easily. Up above me, a broad sea of stars stretched on for as far as I could see. Each one twinkled like a little diamond on a black velvet pillow. "Wow…" "You must be the person I was told about." I froze at the sound of the voice. That deep, raspy, whispering sounding voice. The voice was punctuated by a rustle of cloth as a shape as tall as my dad(6'5"), if not taller, stepped out of the shadows and stopped right in front of me. I wanted to speak and I couldn't, I just slowly tilted my head back to drink this guy in with my eyes. Brown shoes, baggy purple pants, blue sash, purple sleeveless top, powerful green and pink arms crossed across his chest, wide shoulderpads with a white cape attached, triangular jaw, pursed lips, pointed green ears, piercing dark eyes, protruding brow ridges and a purple and white turban. I had always loved seeing Piccolo on my television set, just because of the way he looks. Up close and personal, he's still sexy and good looking, but he's also VERY INTIMIDATING! His eyes looked right through me as if he could bore a hole right into my skull with his gaze. "P-P-Piccolo…" Was all that I managed to say as I stupidly reached my hand out towards his crossed arms to see if he was real or not. Faster then I could blink, Piccolo's arms uncrossed and his hand grabbed onto my wrist with a grasp so tight that I winced in slight pain. The grip was so tight that I could feel the pulse in my wrist as well as the blood trying to force it's way through my fingertips. "Next time you want to do that, I won't let you keep that hand." He said coldly, his eyes turning to look curiously at my necklace, then to the writing on the front of my shirt. In a smooth movement, he had turned me around and used his free hand to sweep my hair aside so he could see the back of my shirt. I felt his fingernail brush over the images briefly before he released my wrist with a little pushing motion that sent me stumbling forward a few steps. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" He demanded. "No…" I gulped, reminding myself that I wasn't watching this on TV, that I couldn't just jump on him like I often dreamed of doing, and I had to really keep my eyes from wandering over his body as I often like to do when looking at pics or watching him fight on the show. "I've had this shirt for a long time, Piccolo…" "What? How do you know my name?" Piccolo walked towards me, and I stood trembling where I was. "Don't play games with me. How do you know my name?" "A lot of people do in the place I come from." I blurted, trying to avoid looking as scared as I was. "You guys are stars. All of you…" I stuttered a few more times, then carefully explained everything, even the strange hooded man with the silver box that had the necklace I was wearing. At that point, Piccolo reached out and carefully grasped the charm of the necklace between two fingers, bringing it closer to his face so he could get a better look. The chain was pulled taut around my neck, but not painfully, and I could feel the warmth of his hand since it was still only a few inches from my face. "Humph. I guess you're the one Kami mentioned after all." He muttered. "Nani?" I blinked, using the word I'd heard on the non-dubbed versions of DBZ that I sometimes watched on Sunday nights. Piccolo sighed in annoyance. "Kami owns a necklace exactly like this one. It was kind of a mutation from putting too much power into creating one of the Dragon Balls. It lets people pass through dimensions. He didn't want someone evil finding the twin necklace to his, so he ran into another dimension to hide it on someone." I gulped, "So why did he pick me to hang onto it?" "Because." Piccolo snorted, "You're a weakling that can't hurt anybody. Must have something to do with that pure heart rubbish. Pah." He let go of the necklace and let it thump against my chest as he straightened with his arms crossed in that sexy don't-screw-with-me stance. "That also puts you under my protection. More of my time getting wasted over a baby-sitting job." A sneer made his pointed nose wrinkle slightly. "I'm…not that much…trouble." I blinked, turning around to go back into the house. Before I could take three steps, an arm looped around my waist and the ground was fast retreating as I was lifted into the air. "Hey!" I shouted, "What are you doing!?" I tried to turn my head, but I got a facefull of my own hair and had to turn back. "Just shut up." Piccolo snarled quietly, the wind stealing half his voice before it could reach my ears. Not wanting to risk getting him in any worse a mood, I did what he said. Instead of griping or wiggling to get away, I just let the realization of my situation hit me. I was flying with Piccolo. I was flying with the sexiest DBZ character there is. It wasn't as comfortable or as dreamy as I'd wanted it to be, but some is better then none, in some cases. Piccolo's arm was so long that it wrapped all the way around my tiny waist, his hand gripping my hip-bone like it was a handle.