fandoms 17-20
17.
Title: Evacuees
Fandom: Phantasy Star IV/Sonic the Hedgehog
Rating: K+
Word Count: 425
Summary: A shuttle full of baby Chao are evacuated to Algol. For security reasons, Demi is put in charge of their wellbeing and education.
(note: this follows on from an earlier fic I wrote, the console war exists in-canon and there has been time travel and parallel world shenanigans)
Mopping up baby Chao sick wasn't what Demi had planned to spend the afternoon doing today.
Not for the first time, Demi wished she could learn Techniques. There was probably a good technique for this situation. Wat to freeze-dry the puke so she could move it with Ryuka, or Foi so she could set fire to the entire room and start again from scratch. At least androids could turn off their olfactory capabilities. She had used Barrier on herself in case their vomit was acidic (she couldn't get one of them to sit still in the medical scanner) and liberally dosed them with Trimate in an attempt to stop them doing it again.
She hadn't meant for them to get into the Laerma nuts she kept in a locked box for feline visitors. She had shown the nuts to the creatures once and had emphasised that they were cat food. Perhaps she shouldn't have added that they made the cats grow larger and sprout beautiful wings. These creatures were growing to maturity and would also have fully functional wings when they were adults. Of course it would be a temptation for them. She had underestimated how insatiably curious her tiny students were. It was useful when it came to giving them well-rounded, immersive lessons about the Algol solar system, but not when keeping them out of trouble without having to lock them in cages, which she had been forbidden from doing.
This was supposed to have been Wren's job, but he had fobbed it off on her, saying that the hedgehog had shown up on short notice with a shuttle full of the damn things, saying that were war evacuees and that it was Algol's responsibility as allies to take them in. Wren was too busy fighting off the existential nightmare from three other solar systems that was trying to consume Algol's destiny, and he didn't trust their allies enough to let them talk to anyone except the two androids at their orbital satellite. So now the defence station was filled with small, blue, hovering, chittering life-forms with roughly the same intelligence and potential for mischief as monkeys.
"We're supposed to continue their basic education," Wren had told her, "Try and get in some lessons about Algol too. Get them interested in us. I don't want the next generation of those liars to forget we exist altogether."
"I don't think this is the dominant species on their planet," she had responded, but a siren had gone off and Wren was already out of the door.
Demi wasn't sure, but she thought these counted as 'cute'. She wondered if she could find some legal loophole to allow her to fob them off on Rika.
18.
Title: Everyone's Responsibility
Fandom: Dark Savior
Rating: T
Word Count: 434
Summary: Somehow, despite all obstacles, there are inspectors on Jailer's Island. What is the Warden going to do?
(note: Not actually sure who the POV is. I'm guessing Max? also probably pre-Parallel 4)
The inspectors came around yesterday. The Warden was furious but what can you do when a boat has unnaturally good luck with lightning storms. Not for lack of trying, but we still haven't made a machine to control the lightning and winds. We just have to trust the people from the port we bribe to leave the boat in poor condition, add a lightning rod to the mast and replace some of the crew with pirates. The pirates must have been too drunk this year. As, presumably, were the giant cyborg bears that Don assured me he let loose to rampage around our port. Apparently, one of them got into a fight with that bounty hunter who won't go away either, and it didn't go so well for the bear, the other one was fed by the old lady with the basket who always hangs around the harbour, so it went back to its den and fell asleep again. I expect that means we've got one bear with a bad stomach from whatever it is that the old fed it, one bounty hunter roaming around God-knows-where with a captured bear added to his repertoire. That on top of an inspector who's still alive.
I suppose I can't really blame Dunbar and Drizzit for not being able to help us with the inspector. Punish as an example to the others, yes, but not actually blame. The staff and bears all got punished as well, so the Warden says it's not cruelty to the prisoners, it's just treating them as he would any other sentient individual. He also says I'm not in trouble if I do happen to murder Drizzit, as Evilsizer also tries to murder Drizzit on a daily basis and clearly I was just trying to show solidarity by helping the prisoners with their daily burdens in life. It would obviously be favouritism to Drizzit to help him not get murdered as he already has free run of the island to help with his inspector intercepting duties, so he doesn't deserve another reward. I love serving under such a logical and fair man.
Our only option is to lure something even more dangerous to the island. The Warden has already found out that there is a Bilano monster on Rajeen that needs taking to a prison with a carbon freeze facility. It's going to be a very dangerous maneouvre but if we act now, we might be able to get an emergency transport ship up here before the inspector's boat returns to collect him.
I'm sure the Warden knows exactly what he's doing and our plan will go ahead with no hitches whatsoever.
19.
Title: Pao-Pao
Fandom: Phantasy Star/Space Harrier
Rating: T
Word Count: 453
Summary: Space Harrier tries to blend in and not get into trouble on Motavia, and not accidentally offend the entire native Motavian community or insult Alys.
He found himself humming along to the music and tapping his finger on the table in time to the beat as he watched the twirling dancers. He had heard that song before, somewhere outside the Algol solar system, possibly even back home. This bemused him. He briefly wondered if it was related to the fact that he was on Motavia at all. It was usually fiendishly difficult to get past the Algolian border authorities. He had assumed it was his reputation, along with the dragon sightings, that had done the trick. Dragons had been sighted before, the Hunters had told him, but not for thousands of years. Most kids thought they were myths, this particular Hunter just happened to know one of the students at Piata. He was also the only guy who had picked up that Harrier was foreign.
"Guys mostly look like you here," he had advised his new drinking buddy. They were both already quite plastered. Harrier hadn't been on a civilised planet for years, where he could get hold of any intoxicants that he hadn't made himself by setting fire to the right colour mushroom, "A gun that big'll get you funny looks but we just assume you're compensating for something. A word of advice, though... your name..."
"What about it?"
"Most guys here have another name that's gotta be four letters long or less. For us its outdated bureaucracy, for Motavians its religion. Palmans couldn't give a feeve, Motavians get antsy about it. And they're bigger than us and train with an axe from childhood."
"So you think I should just make something up?"
"Yeah, like... um... Hari, or Haar. I think Hari can be a girl's name, though..."
Space Harrier looked thoughtfully up at the girls' twirling, cavorting dance. Fans and loose-fitting clothes that came off, he understood, but he didn't see why they wore antennae like those annoying fat flightless birds he kept getting commissions to cull. He also got given jobs to rescue dogs. It was a rite of passage, apparently, until they could trust him with the dragons. Meanwhile, he assumed, the dragons were happily burning down a village somewhere.
"Ari? No, that sounds pretentious, it's too much like 'Alis'..."
"Who's pretentious?"
The drunk Hunter's face froze in terror. Space Harrier looked up into the murderous eyes of a woman in an armoured red greatcoat who twirled a pair of those nonsensical thrown weapons. She was also the most beautiful thing he had seen for ten solar systems. Everyone in the bar tried to stare whistfully at her while avoiding her gaze at the same time.
While he desperately tried to think of something intelligent to say, the dancers, forgotten, continued their performance anyway.
20.
Title: Wrong Boat
Fandom: Landstalker/Dark Savior
Rating: T
Word Count: 352
Summary: Kayla, Ink and Wally take the wrong boat and end up on Jailer's Island. Friday forces Nigel to go and rescue them.
(note: I'm worried I wrote the exact same idea last year but can't remember, and it'll probably turn out different, so...)
'Please get us off this hellhole of a rock,' the message had said, 'The treasure here will blow your mind. It's worth it, we swear.'
Nigel had no intention of risking his own butt to save Kayla, Ink and Wally, and he didn't believe for a moment there was really treasure on the island. Friday had made him go anyway. Since the fairy had come into his life, he hadn't been allowed to turn down any request for help, no matter how dubious or badly paid. He wondered if Friday really understood what a treasure hunter was.
Still, there was something about the island that was drawing him in, even though he knew it was a bad idea to even think about going. His survival instinct was screaming at him to stay away but his treasure sense told him that something was definitely hidden there. Maybe not treasure but some kind of mystery to be uncovered.
It didn't help that he was having dreams about it. Very lucid, vivid, confusing and terrifying dreams that left him wondering if he was already there and just hallucinating that he was sitting in a portside cafe in Rajeen, watching a team of bounty hunters get drunk and argue loudly with each other. From what he could make out - they had thick Rajeen accents - one of their team was missing and they were both worried about him and furious. He shrugged, wondering if they were after Kayla. She was technically already going to jail, though. She was just on the wrong boat to the wrong prison, and if she was to be believed, it hadn't been her fault.
"How can you be falling asleep after four strong coffees?" demanded Friday, flicking a small bolt of magic into his drink to make it splash up into his face and mildly electrocute him. One of the bounty hunters gave him a funny look. Friday said there weren't fairies here. It was hypocritical of a girl with cat ears dressed in a bright yellow ninja outfit to stare at them, though.
"Get a move on or we'll miss the boat," complained Friday.