Very, VERY sorry for lateness. >_<!! Here's the
chapter:

=====
Kenishi worried.

He worried about Strike Team Theta.  The black box
assignment was dangerous, especially since the
locations in some of the boxes were out of date, and
things were bound to get rougher the closer they got
to Otakuland West.  Hopefully their skills would be
enough to carry them through.

He worried about his wife.  Arashi, no matter how much
she tried to hide it, was getting more and more
worn-down as the days passed, and the climate wasn't
helping her any.  What they really needed was a break,
but there wasn't much hope of one anytime in the near
future.

But most of all, he worried about hiro and his plans. 
His old friend had never been particularly open with
anything, but now he had turned being mysterious into
an art;  even Kenishi and Arashi, who had known him
for years, were unsure of his true motives.  It was
unlikely that hiro would betray or harm them, but with
him you never could tell.

Kenishi sighed and trudged on through the Canadian
landscape.  Sometimes, he thought, the world could be
too...

FAQing Hostile

SubCultural Mutant Otaku Versus the Mundanes

Chapter 29
by Sharyna Tran

(FAQing Hostile spawned by Twoflower)



"Blind mice hath seen the glory of the running of the
fjords..."

"Agent Hancock?"

"He is camping out the cottage where the apes of rap
are shored..."

"Um, Agent Hancock?"

"He hath lost the hateful fighting of-"  Agent Hancock
broke off as Agent Doe slapped him upside the head. 
"Yes?" he asked.

"We've got a message from headquarters.  The Director
is going to rendezvous with us soon and take one of us
with him to go check on the whole Sword of Hares
thing."

"But who's going to be at headquarters, then?"  Agent
Boy asked..

"Who else?  His secretary."

"Oh, you mean that guy..." Boy trailed off, trying to
remember.  "I should know this...I went to school with
him...umm...what was his name again?"

"Bob, wasn't it?" Hancock offered.

"No, no, it wasn't Bob...at least I don't think so..."

"Then what was it then?"

"I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't
Bob...Do you remember, Doe?  You two were friends,
right?"

"Yes, but I don't remember him ever telling me his
name."

"Hmm..."

***

Vixen sat in the control room, frowning.  Sherman's
map was getting more and more vague the further west
they traveled, and she wasn't sure just how much
longer they could rely on it.  Too, their supply
situation was getting worse, and she wasn't sure how
far they could get on what they had left.  The area on
their route was surprisingly empty, the nearest tribe
being-she squinted at the map, trying to make out the
letters...Rocwell?  Runwell?-in the former New Mexico.
 Which meant that they would have to take a detour, if
they didn't want to starve to death.  Vixen slammed
her fist on a handy wall panel.  "Dammit!" she
shouted.

"Pika pika?"

"Oh, hi Phreakachu.  Something wrong?" she asked.  The
little pokémon seemed a bit...off, as if there was
something bothering him.

"Pi, pika.  Kachu, pika pi pikachu.  Pika pi?"

"Oh.  So you saw."  Vixen wasn't quite sure what to
make of that, other than she didn't like it.

"Ka pi.  Pikachu, pi ka?"

Vixen flushed angrily, then swore at herself for doing
so.  "No, it is not anything serious!  He was stoned
and thought I was Rachael, okay?  Speaking of which, I
need to have a word with you about giving those drugs
to Dave." 

"Chu, pika.  Pika pikapi kachu!"

"Well, then get him to stop!"

"Pikachu, pika!"

"Look, I don't care what you have to do.  If he's not
stoned, he's moping like a character from some sort of
sappy shoujo animé, and we don't have time for that. 
Yes, I'm impressed with his drug-induced fighting
skills, but we need food more, and with his little
binges I don't know how much longer we can last!"

"Pi, chu pi ka."

***

Dave touched his black eye for what seemed to be the
fiftieth time that day, and maybe was.  He still
couldn't remember how he had gotten it.  The last
thing he remembered before waking up was...was
Rachael's bloodberry candle.  The tears welled up in
his eyes again, and he gulped down the sob that was
trying to force its way through his throat.  He
reached around blindly for another joint.  Only two
left?  Ah well, time enough to hit Phreakachu for some
more.  He was just about to light it when...

"Pika!  Pikachu, pikapi!"

"Wha?  I can't understand you yet, Phreakachu, hold on
while I light this..."

"PI-KA-CHU!" Phreakachu said, shocking the joint out
of his hands.  "Ka, pi, kachu pi."  He ran off to
fetch B1ff.

"Huh?"

***

"D00d, wh4t's g01ng 0n?" B1ff asked as Phreakachu
dragged him into the room.

"Pika, pikachu, kachu!"

"0h."  B1ff turned to Dave.  "H3 s4ys h3 w4nts y0u t0
l4y 0ff th4t stuff."

"But...I need it..." Dave protested.

"Pika!  Pikapi kachu!"

"H3 s4ys y0u'r3 us1ng up 4ll 0f h1s st4sh."

"But...but..."

"Ka, pikachu pi ka, ka chu pi!  Kachu pika!"

"S1s w4nts y0u t0 st0p 1t, t00.  S0m3th1ng 4b0ut n0t
h4v1ng 3n0ugh suppl13s t0 w4st3 0n y0ur b1ng3s.  S0rry
d00d, l00ks l1k3 w3'll h4v3 t0 t4k3 th0s3."  

Phreakachu leapt up to Dave and grabbed his last two
joints.  "Pika pi, pikachu pi."

"H3 s4ys h3'll g1v3 y0u s0m3 m0r3 wh3n h3 r3st0cks, 1f
S1s'll l3t h1m."  B1ff turned to Phreakachu.  "Y0u
kn0w sh3 pr0b4bly w0n't, r1ght?"  

Phreakachu shrugged.  "Pika."  They left, leaving Dave
to sit on his bed open-mouthed.  They had just TAKEN
the joints from him!  He hadn't even been able to get
a word in edgewise.  Dave got up and paced angrily
around the small room.  Didn't they realize that he
NEEDED the drugs?  He tripped over the corner of his
bed and fell to the floor.

"Dave, are you all right?" Sherman asked.

"Yes, I'm just..."  Dave stopped, not knowing what to
say, then sighed.  "I'm just depressed."  It seemed
like such a weak word for what he was feeling.  "And
now I don't have anything to take my mind off of it."

"I have heard that focusing on work of some sort will
help you forget your emotions."

"Really?" Dave asked, a faint tinge of hope entering
into his voice.  "But what could I work on?"

Sherman paused for a bit.  "Perhaps the FAQ?"

Dave snorted.  "The FAQ is a means of torturing
newbies.  It's already done its job, what more could I
do with it?"  He remembered his role as Reporter, but
what could he add now, here in the middle of nowhere? 
He'd probably just end up with another page full of
"Rachael" from top to bottom.

"I am unsure, but it seems like the writers of the FAQ
went to a lot of trouble for that torture.  Perhaps
there is something else hidden within."

Dave raised his head.  "Do you really think so,
Sherman?"

"Perhaps."

Dave sat down and thought about it for a while.  If
Sherman was right...he reached for the FAQ.
=====
Everyone has an "Impro part that refused to come
out"...this was mine.  Agh...apologies for shortness
and lack of plot development; I offer a three-word
excuse:  School is mean.  And now I will be collapsing
in a boneless heap.  Thank you for reading FAQing
Hostile.  *waves a little flag*  FH Forever!

=====
Live well, eat chicken, and bye!

Sharyna

sharyna_t@yahoo.com

Proud Member of Glomp Fest 2000, no da!
Supreme List-dictator, blehblehbleh@egroups.com

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