Galaxy Angel Episode 11: Strawberry Vanilla Root-Beer Float (Part One)
WHO: Vanilla H, Forte Stollen, Milfeulle Sakuraba
WHAT: Vanilla receives a mysterious communication from an old colleague, and her reaction is profoundly startling.
WHEN: Quite possibly sometime next week, depending upon when the conclusion occurs!
WHERE: The Angel Room on Transbaal Station, Deep Space, and the mysterious Planet Godliness
WATCH FOR: The brainstorming session to try and think up names for what will one day become the Rune Angel Brigade, and Nano-Nano Pudding bonding with NORMAD over shared adversity.
It'd been almost half a week since something had happened to shatter reality in Transbaal. After the attack of the robot kidnappers, everything can become nice and calm. Nano-Nano quickly got over being hated by a bunch of robotic jerks, Vanilla quickly forgot she'd been hit on by creepy people from countless millenia ago, and Normad had seen to a flight of missles launched torwards those who would DARE kidnap his dear, sweet Vanilla. Also, those other guys. Things had gone back to normal. Naturally, it would never last.
The day had begun normally enough. Vanilla had been sitting on the couch, silently staring off into space. This is, in itself, nothing unusual for her. Normad was content sitting on her lap and Nano-Nano was curled up on the couch next to her, tail twitching as she naps in a very cat-like manner. Nice, calm, serene, and doomed. Suddenly, in the room, a ringing noise can be heard. It's source is none other then Vanilla herself, or rather her headpiece. After a moment, she reaches up and touches the red gem at the center of the tiara, and a mouthpiece pops out of the bottom, while a pair of headphones zip up and into her ears. A voice speaks into her ears. "Yes." Just as suddenly, her phone zips back into her tiara. She drops Normad, who is quickly snatched up by the napping Nano-Nano, who begins to gnaw on him. Vanilla retreats to her room, and isn't seen for some time.
When she emerges from her room, you'd never even know it was her. She's dressed remarkably normal. She's wearing a long sleeved shirt, with white and black stripes, with a no sleeved grey overcoat over it. The outfit is completed with a pair of blue jeans. And, for some reason, she's wearing a pair of glasses. The only hint of her normal get-up that remains is her headpiece. "Woooo hooo! Free! Free at laaaaast! Ha ha haaa!" Nano mumbles, and sits up with Normad hanging from her mouth. "Mmmph?!"
Most people who know her are aware that Milfeulle Sakuraba's favorite activity in all the world (save for hanging around with her friends and saving the universe and whatnot, though that's in a completely different category) is cooking. However, not so many know that her second favorite activity in all the world is good, honest housework.
"o/~ I'm the happiest vacuum in the world," she sings,
"Cleaning up after boys and girls.
"Wooosh wooosh, all day long!
"While I sing this happy song.
"La la la! Ho ho ho ho! A-vacuuming I'll surely go.
"When there's dirt upon this floor,
"I'll suck it up so it's no more! Hmm~hmm~hmm..."
Naturally most vacuums in the Transbaal Empire are completely automatic, voice activated, and the size of a small toaster. Many of them are completely invisible, and work only at night, when their motion sensors detect no one who might trip over them. However, Milfeulle's vacuum is an antique, an upright vacuum with hoses, and so old that the AI's gone senile, and if left alone, thinks it's a riding mower and hallucinates that it's heading up the Congo river to mow Mr. Kurtz's lawn, muttering "the horror, the horror" to itself periodically while bumping into things.
When Milfeulle's pushing it around the floor, though, it's perfectly docile, and is content to sing along happily. So when Milfeulle looks up, and sees Vanilla exiting her room in civilian clothes, two voices fall utterly silent as they stare in surprise. "Vanilla-san!" Milfeulle says with a smile, pressing her hands together excitedly. "You look terrific! Are you going somewhere?"
"She looks like her wardrobe is all ready for a fateful trip up the Congo," says Mr. Vacuum. "... But is her MIND?"
Milfeulle, still smiling, switches the vacuum off. "Don't mind him. You look totally sharp!" Her eyes widen. "Do you have a DATE?"
That's why we love Milfie. She does all the housework while Forte does the manly thing and sit back to read a magazine. "Eh? Sharp?" The elder Angel looks up from her page of 'Gardeners Quarterly', and nearly pops her monocle at what she sees. "Oi, she's right, Vanilla. You're lookin' good today! Do you really have a DATE?"
"Hm hm hm hmmmm!' That laugh sounds almost evil, particularly coming from Vanilla. "Date? Maybe later, if I find someone lucky enough! But that's like, totally not what's up. See, I just got a phone call from an old friend! She told me something unexpected!" She steps torwards the couch, where she randomly pokes Nano on the face. "Apparently, Cardinal Caramel has determined that our religion was based around stuff that was like, not real and stuff! So, my old roommate Strawberry G called me and let me know, and we're totally gonna go out and have fun now and stuff! Booya! No more acting lame!" She twirls around in place before dashing torwards and then out the door.
And then, silence. For a few moments.
And suddenly, Nana-Nano and Normad find themselves growing closer. "Unacceptable." Normad comments.
"That isn't mama! That's a scary lady!" Nano-Nano adds. She picks him up, and both of them turn to face Milfie and Forte.
"You will fix this." the plushie says with a serious tone to his voice.
"Mama isn't mama anymore! Fix her!" She raises Normad over her head.
"I'll make it a billion degrees hotter a day, for 11 days, unless you make my dear Vanilla herself again!"
Nano-Nano nods in a determined manner. "After a few days, everyone will be sweating! Nano-Nano doesn't want to sweat all day!"
Normad clears his throat electronically. "Fortunately, I know everything in the universe there is to know about Vanilla. When she stayed in the church, she stayed with two girls, Strawberry G and Chocolate F. Unlike her, they decided to remain with the church. If she is going to go meet Strawberry, there's only one place she could be going. So hurry up! I already have the location of Planet Godliness uploaded to your Emblem Frames as part of emergency plan 'Make Vanilla Better Again.' I've planned for this for months, just in case...."
Milfeulle Sakuraba stares. Stares some more. Stares again. Slowly her mouth drops open. And suddenly, a single, solitary tear rolls out of her eye, and down one soft, pale cheek. "NORMAD-san," she whispers. "Nano-chan!" She clenches her hands together under her chin. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever seen! A little girl and her Papa-san coming together! Oh, I'm so happy. But come to think of it," she adds, cradling her chin in finger and thumb. "It did seem like Vanilla was acting a little strange. I can't quite put my finger on it..."
In Milfeulle's mind's eye, two Vanillas appear before her. One, the Vanilla she's familiar with. Taciturn, pious, vegetarian, full of non-sequiturs that don't suit any occasion. On the other, is Vanilla X, who just ran out the door to paint the town red with strawberries. Or something. "Ha ha ha! Finally I'm free of that stupid religion," says Vanilla X. "I'm going to party like it's 9999! Just watch out!"
Meanwhile, the original Vanilla turns to face her, expressionless. "9999 bottles of beer on the wall," she says quietly, "is a waste of innocent barley."
Milfeulle GASPS. Back in reality, her hands fly to her cheek. "Oh no! I knew it! Something's wrong with Vanilla!" she wails, running back and forth. "Oh, what to do, what do do! I know!" She turns to NORMAD and Nano-Nano. "I'm going to go out and follow her right now! She's got a big head start, but I'll just close my eyes and let my ship take me there. I bet it knows where to go! Call it a hunch!" She snaps off a salute to NORMAD and Nano-Nano. "Don't worry guys! I'll bring Vanilla back safe and sound, by going somewhere and doing something I haven't figured out yet. Wish me luck! Vanilla Happy Lovely Rescue Operation, STARTO!" And she rushes right out the door.
A moment passes.
Milfeulle rushes back in again. "Hee hee, the hangar's this way. That was the closet." And she rushes right back out again.
Only to rush back in a minute later. "Hold on a minute!" she wails, zooming by. "I forgot to pack snacks! I don't want to starve to death! I'm going to need lots of energy to rescue Vanilla-san!" Bumping, clanking and thunking sounds can be heard in the kitchen, before she rushes out again with a picnic lunch wrapped in a red and white checkerboard picnic blanket! "Okay, here I go!" There's a *wunk* as her bundle of lunch gets her caught in the doorframe, but eventually she wriggles through. "I'm okay! Alright, here I go for real now!" And she zooms off.
Only Milfeulle could react so calmly to Normad's threat to engulf the world into flame solely because Vanilla had been acting a little differently. Most people would find it at least a little disturbing. But then, in Transbaal, it'd probably all work out in the end anyway. "You won't be going alone, Milfeulle!" Normad shouts as the pink-haired wonder dashes off.
Nano-Nano, with Normad in tow, runs after her and, by the time she's in the cockpit of the Lucky Star, she has company. "Weee! Nano-Nano has always wanted to fly in one of these things! One day, Nano-Nano will be a super talented pilot to, nanonanoda!" And thus the grand adventure to save Vanilla's abnormal normalness begins!
Meanwhile, Vanilla has arrived on Planet Holiness to meet her old friend, the illustrious Strawberry G. "Yo, yo, yo, Vanny H!" Her friend is dressed much the same as Vanilla herself. "Before we go, Cardinal Caramel wanted to see us one last time. Ya know, for old time sake and junk. So let's go! Mwa ha ha ha haaa!" Yes, the evil laughter was entirely random and had no purpose whatsoever. At least Vanilla seems to think nothing of it as she enters the Church building that she grew up in.
Meanwhile, back in the Lucky Star, Normad appears to not of been bluffing. He really does have a beacon that can tell him where Vanilla is, or at the very least the Harvester.
Milfeulle Sakuraba clambers into the Lucky Star cockpit, and the ship begins its ignition sequence as NORMAD and Nano-Nano get themselves comfortable. Slowly, the HALO system lowers itself over her head, displays and indicators lighting up as systems come on-line. "I bet you'll make a great pilot, Nano-chan!" Milfeulle says agreeably, going through her pre-flight checks and querying the harbormaster for an expedited departure schedule. "My sister Apricot is training to be a pilot right now, too. Maybe someday you two will be in the same unit! Won't that be fun? You two could fly together!"
On the main display, a stern looking officer appears on the screen. "GA-001, you are not cleared for departure at this time. You do not appear in the daily patrol schedule and you are still needed for questioning regarding the attack the other day on our distinguished movie star guests, the Mooninites."
Milfeulle is of course still talking to Nano. "When you're in the service, you get to fly all over the galaxy and meet interesting people, and eat lots of tasty treats! I thought being a waitress at a pastry restaurant was fun, but it's not as fun as flying a spaceship and being able to make a difference with friends you care about. Friends like ... like Vanilla-san!" She frowns a little.
The harbormaster starts looking annoyed. "GA-001, I repeat: you are not cleared for departure! Cycle down your engines and disembark at once."
Milfeulle's lower lip trembles obliviously. "Friends who want you to put celery into your homemade ice cream. 'No, I can't put celery into my homemade ice cream!' I told her. And she said, 'I forgive you'." She sniffles, eyes growing moist. "She's such a true friend!"
The Harbormaster presses his face against the screen. "GA-001! Stand down, I'm warning you!"
Milfeulle's hands press together. "Or the time me and Vanilla went to go see the Mysterious Master of the Fourth Dimension, and he turned out just to be two Masters of the Second Dimension who'd gotten stuck together in the washing machine. And Vanilla said, 'I'm going home'. What a good time that was!" Milfeulle clenches her fists. "Don't worry, Nano-chan! We'll save Vanilla-san, no matter what!"
Meanwhile the Harbormaster's image is shaking up and down, like he's shaking his monitor. "GA-001! Do you hear me! You are not cleared for departure! Turn off your engines or you're going to cause an accident!"
At long last, Milfeulle blinks out of her reminiscences and looks up at the Harbormaster. "Eh? I'm cleared for departure? Start my engines or you'll get flatulent? OH NO! I'm so sorry, I don't want that to happen!" Her engines ignite as she opens the throttle! *WHOOM*
Outside. The void of space. Utter silence. Quiet. Peaceful.
At least until the Lucky Star *CRASHES* through the side of the closed hangar doors, dragging its docking clamps, which are attached to the Harbormaster's Station with the slack-jawed Harbormaster inside. "Oh my!" says Milfeulle in the cockpit, ship's status indicators uploading directly to her neo-cortex through the HALO system. "We're dragging a little. We must have picked up some space junk!" She wriggles the rear end of the ship a little. Out in deep space, the clamps and the Harbormaster's pod snap off with a silent *WHUNK*! Spinning end-over-end, it falls toward Transbaal's atmosphere.
"That's better!" says Milfeulle happily. "Full power! Don't worry, Vanilla-san! We're coming to save you!" With a flash of translight systems the Lucky Star streaks off into the galaxy! ... Before NORMAD's already-uploaded telemetry data compel it to change course in mid-flight, streaking around in the opposite direction. "Oh!" says Milfeulle with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Lucky Star! My bad!" She giggles at herself.
Don't worry, Milfeulle. The Lucky Star forgives you. It's a very nice Emblem Frame, it would never hurt a fly! That is unless the fly had lasers on it and was shooting those lasers then it might. But otherwise, all flies are safe from the Lucky Star. Or something. Hopefully the harbormaster will forgive you after he burns up in the atmosphere, though!
Meanwhile, on Planet Holiness, Vanilla enters the chamber of Cardinal Caramel. "Fu fu fu fu!" Strawberry G laughs super evilly as Vanilla enters the chamber.
A second voice speaks from within the chamber. "Gra ha ha! Finally, the last piece of my revenge is here! Now, we can begin! La la la la laaa!"
Vanilla stares intently inside the chamber but can't see who it is. "Like, you're totally ruining my vibe, loser! I'm outie. See you on the flipside!" However, her exit from the room seems to be blocked...blocked by a bunch of girls dressed in a manner similar to how Vanilla normally dressed.
And then there's the little group on the Lucky Star. "Oooh, Apricot is nice!" Nano-Nano seems to of already forgotten the gravity of the situation. "Nano-Nano likes her. We could form our own Angel Brigade! We could call ourselves That Other Angel Brigade! Or Apricot and Nano-Nano's Amazing Angels! Oooh, that one is nice!"
Normad seems lost in his own thoughts. "You better be okay, Vanilla. If you're not, then the universe itself shall pay for this crime. I'll see to it that every man, woman, and child is reduced to dust. And then I shall build a monument to you out of the entire UNIVERSE...."
The Transbaal Station Junior Harbormaster #86-B, Warrant Officer Spune, enters the atmosphere inside his Harbormaster's Pod at extreme velocity, flames leaping from the pod's exterior structure. However, he takes it like an officer. "GYAAAAAAH!" he screams, tearing his hair and running around in circles as his pod becomes a flaming meteor. "GYAAAAAAAAAAH!"
But the Transbaal Station is made of sterner stuff. Long before the pod reaches its structural limit, it plunges into the ocean with a *BOOM* and a high flume of water and steam. Before long, said pod, scorched and battered, floats ashore to an unnamed, unknown island in the middle of the ocean. Moments later, an access panel bursts from the side with a *spang*, and out comes a shaken but still intact Warrant Officer Spune. "I... I'm alive!" he declares, raising his hands to the sun and falling to his knees. "It's a miracle! I'm ALIIIIIIVE!"
But suddenly, from out of the island's rain-forest canopy, rusted and overgrown with tropical weeds, lumbers what appears to be a vending machine with long hydraulic tentacles capped with pincers at each end. In its midsection is a cracked and oxidized LCD monitor screen, but which is still capable of depicting a man with overgrown hair, a shaggy beard, and a murderous look in his eye, as if he'd been stranded on a desert island and gone INSANE WITH RAGE. "HONEY POPS!" the monster roars, waving its tentacles in the air. "HONEY PO~OPS!"
Warrant Officer Spune turns around and blinks. "... Eh?"
MEANWHILE!
The Lucky Star streaks through the galaxy, stars passing at breakneck speed, engines near the redline as Milfeulle taxes them to their limits! Indeed, it seems as if the Lucky Star itself knows the predicament that Vanilla may be in. Of course Milfeulle is busily letting her mind wander. "Oh! Oh!" She raises an arm. "Or you could call yourself the 'The Rico-chan and Nano-chan Mighty Love-Love Happy Pudding Angel Brigade of Super-Happiness'! Or the 'We Love Milfeulle Sakuraba Fanclub Angel Brigade'! Ha ha ha, yeah, I think that's the best one."
Then she frowns, and reaches down to pat NORMAD. "I know you're worried, NORMAD-san! I'm worried too. But I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding! It might even be a happy misunderstanding."
In her mind, she imagines the scene: Milfeulle dressed in a beautiful ball gown, with an apron of course, bursting in through the doors in a mysterious palace. Nano-Nano flanks her on one side, dressed similarly, with NORMAD on the other, with a tuxedo, tails, top hat and cane. "Nobody move!" Milfeulle declares, pointing a finger. "We're here to save Vanilla-san, for love and justice!"
And suddenly the lights come on. "SURPRISE!" everyone calls out. "Happy Birthday Milfeulle!" And someone wheels out an eight-foot ice-cream cake.
Back in reality, Milfeulle's head has lolled to one side, eyes dreamily half-lidded. "Oh, I couldn't possibly eat the WHOLE THING... ah ha ha ha ha..." Suddenly the proximity indicator starts beeping and Milfeulle jerks upright. "I'm awake! I wasn't napping! I was planning our mighty plan of action to save Vanilla!" She leans forward. "Ah! Re-entering relativistic space! Planet Holiness in visual range!" She leans back in her seat as the ship slows to half light-speed, Planet Holiness appearing out the window. Presumably. If NORMAD's data was correct. I mean, of course it is, why wouldn't it be? ... RIGHT?
"I think perhaps you don't understand, Milfeulle." Normad responds, his voice the very model of calmness. "If Vanilla were harmed, it would be very bad for the entire univ....hey!" He's interrupted as Nano, bored of listening to him, randomly starts punching him. "I can't even feel pain, and this hurts me."
Nano-Nano, after having her fill of Normad-punching, responds to Auntie Milfeulle's suggestions. "Apri-Nano's Amazing Duo of Angels and Saving Stuff! Or Super Fighting Angels: Nano-Nano and Apricot! Or maybe..."
This time it's Normad that interrupts her. "Ummm...we're about to..."
But Nano will have none of that! "It's a good idea, nanoda! We will make an amazing dynamic duo! The world shall tremble before us! We'll be the greatest!"
Normad speaks up. "I may have made a slight..."
And then, more Nano. "I'll even have my own Emblem thingy! I'll call it the Nano-Nano-Machine! It'll be great!"
Finally, Normad spits it out. "We're going to crash into the planet unless you do something!"
In the church, Vanilla finds herself surrounded by her old friends. A mysterious figure sits in the shadows, mocking her. Or rather, attempting to. "Gi gi gi giiii! The Cardinal won't be able to see you today, dear VANILLA." The voice, sounding feminine, practically spits out the name. "He'll be napping for the next several hours thanks to my special secret blend of herbs and spices. Gra ha ha ha ha ha! And now that dear Strawberry has brought you here, I can finish what I've st..."
Interruptions seem to be course of the day, because Vanilla isn't waiting for mysteryperson to finish what they've started. "Booooring! Whoever you are, you suck! You suck like a thing that sucks a lot. Like a black hole inside of a bigger black hole with an econmy sized vacuum in it....with a black hole inside of THAT. That is how much you suck! Screw you guys, I'm going home." She turns to leave, but naturally it won't be so easy. That line of nun-girls is still in her way, and they aren't moving. "C'mon, lamers, out of the way."
TO BE CONTINUED!!!
WHAT: Vanilla receives a mysterious communication from an old colleague, and her reaction is profoundly startling.
WHEN: Quite possibly sometime next week, depending upon when the conclusion occurs!
WHERE: The Angel Room on Transbaal Station, Deep Space, and the mysterious Planet Godliness
WATCH FOR: The brainstorming session to try and think up names for what will one day become the Rune Angel Brigade, and Nano-Nano Pudding bonding with NORMAD over shared adversity.
It'd been almost half a week since something had happened to shatter reality in Transbaal. After the attack of the robot kidnappers, everything can become nice and calm. Nano-Nano quickly got over being hated by a bunch of robotic jerks, Vanilla quickly forgot she'd been hit on by creepy people from countless millenia ago, and Normad had seen to a flight of missles launched torwards those who would DARE kidnap his dear, sweet Vanilla. Also, those other guys. Things had gone back to normal. Naturally, it would never last.
The day had begun normally enough. Vanilla had been sitting on the couch, silently staring off into space. This is, in itself, nothing unusual for her. Normad was content sitting on her lap and Nano-Nano was curled up on the couch next to her, tail twitching as she naps in a very cat-like manner. Nice, calm, serene, and doomed. Suddenly, in the room, a ringing noise can be heard. It's source is none other then Vanilla herself, or rather her headpiece. After a moment, she reaches up and touches the red gem at the center of the tiara, and a mouthpiece pops out of the bottom, while a pair of headphones zip up and into her ears. A voice speaks into her ears. "Yes." Just as suddenly, her phone zips back into her tiara. She drops Normad, who is quickly snatched up by the napping Nano-Nano, who begins to gnaw on him. Vanilla retreats to her room, and isn't seen for some time.
When she emerges from her room, you'd never even know it was her. She's dressed remarkably normal. She's wearing a long sleeved shirt, with white and black stripes, with a no sleeved grey overcoat over it. The outfit is completed with a pair of blue jeans. And, for some reason, she's wearing a pair of glasses. The only hint of her normal get-up that remains is her headpiece. "Woooo hooo! Free! Free at laaaaast! Ha ha haaa!" Nano mumbles, and sits up with Normad hanging from her mouth. "Mmmph?!"
Most people who know her are aware that Milfeulle Sakuraba's favorite activity in all the world (save for hanging around with her friends and saving the universe and whatnot, though that's in a completely different category) is cooking. However, not so many know that her second favorite activity in all the world is good, honest housework.
"o/~ I'm the happiest vacuum in the world," she sings,
"Cleaning up after boys and girls.
"Wooosh wooosh, all day long!
"While I sing this happy song.
"La la la! Ho ho ho ho! A-vacuuming I'll surely go.
"When there's dirt upon this floor,
"I'll suck it up so it's no more! Hmm~hmm~hmm..."
Naturally most vacuums in the Transbaal Empire are completely automatic, voice activated, and the size of a small toaster. Many of them are completely invisible, and work only at night, when their motion sensors detect no one who might trip over them. However, Milfeulle's vacuum is an antique, an upright vacuum with hoses, and so old that the AI's gone senile, and if left alone, thinks it's a riding mower and hallucinates that it's heading up the Congo river to mow Mr. Kurtz's lawn, muttering "the horror, the horror" to itself periodically while bumping into things.
When Milfeulle's pushing it around the floor, though, it's perfectly docile, and is content to sing along happily. So when Milfeulle looks up, and sees Vanilla exiting her room in civilian clothes, two voices fall utterly silent as they stare in surprise. "Vanilla-san!" Milfeulle says with a smile, pressing her hands together excitedly. "You look terrific! Are you going somewhere?"
"She looks like her wardrobe is all ready for a fateful trip up the Congo," says Mr. Vacuum. "... But is her MIND?"
Milfeulle, still smiling, switches the vacuum off. "Don't mind him. You look totally sharp!" Her eyes widen. "Do you have a DATE?"
That's why we love Milfie. She does all the housework while Forte does the manly thing and sit back to read a magazine. "Eh? Sharp?" The elder Angel looks up from her page of 'Gardeners Quarterly', and nearly pops her monocle at what she sees. "Oi, she's right, Vanilla. You're lookin' good today! Do you really have a DATE?"
"Hm hm hm hmmmm!' That laugh sounds almost evil, particularly coming from Vanilla. "Date? Maybe later, if I find someone lucky enough! But that's like, totally not what's up. See, I just got a phone call from an old friend! She told me something unexpected!" She steps torwards the couch, where she randomly pokes Nano on the face. "Apparently, Cardinal Caramel has determined that our religion was based around stuff that was like, not real and stuff! So, my old roommate Strawberry G called me and let me know, and we're totally gonna go out and have fun now and stuff! Booya! No more acting lame!" She twirls around in place before dashing torwards and then out the door.
And then, silence. For a few moments.
And suddenly, Nana-Nano and Normad find themselves growing closer. "Unacceptable." Normad comments.
"That isn't mama! That's a scary lady!" Nano-Nano adds. She picks him up, and both of them turn to face Milfie and Forte.
"You will fix this." the plushie says with a serious tone to his voice.
"Mama isn't mama anymore! Fix her!" She raises Normad over her head.
"I'll make it a billion degrees hotter a day, for 11 days, unless you make my dear Vanilla herself again!"
Nano-Nano nods in a determined manner. "After a few days, everyone will be sweating! Nano-Nano doesn't want to sweat all day!"
Normad clears his throat electronically. "Fortunately, I know everything in the universe there is to know about Vanilla. When she stayed in the church, she stayed with two girls, Strawberry G and Chocolate F. Unlike her, they decided to remain with the church. If she is going to go meet Strawberry, there's only one place she could be going. So hurry up! I already have the location of Planet Godliness uploaded to your Emblem Frames as part of emergency plan 'Make Vanilla Better Again.' I've planned for this for months, just in case...."
Milfeulle Sakuraba stares. Stares some more. Stares again. Slowly her mouth drops open. And suddenly, a single, solitary tear rolls out of her eye, and down one soft, pale cheek. "NORMAD-san," she whispers. "Nano-chan!" She clenches her hands together under her chin. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever seen! A little girl and her Papa-san coming together! Oh, I'm so happy. But come to think of it," she adds, cradling her chin in finger and thumb. "It did seem like Vanilla was acting a little strange. I can't quite put my finger on it..."
In Milfeulle's mind's eye, two Vanillas appear before her. One, the Vanilla she's familiar with. Taciturn, pious, vegetarian, full of non-sequiturs that don't suit any occasion. On the other, is Vanilla X, who just ran out the door to paint the town red with strawberries. Or something. "Ha ha ha! Finally I'm free of that stupid religion," says Vanilla X. "I'm going to party like it's 9999! Just watch out!"
Meanwhile, the original Vanilla turns to face her, expressionless. "9999 bottles of beer on the wall," she says quietly, "is a waste of innocent barley."
Milfeulle GASPS. Back in reality, her hands fly to her cheek. "Oh no! I knew it! Something's wrong with Vanilla!" she wails, running back and forth. "Oh, what to do, what do do! I know!" She turns to NORMAD and Nano-Nano. "I'm going to go out and follow her right now! She's got a big head start, but I'll just close my eyes and let my ship take me there. I bet it knows where to go! Call it a hunch!" She snaps off a salute to NORMAD and Nano-Nano. "Don't worry guys! I'll bring Vanilla back safe and sound, by going somewhere and doing something I haven't figured out yet. Wish me luck! Vanilla Happy Lovely Rescue Operation, STARTO!" And she rushes right out the door.
A moment passes.
Milfeulle rushes back in again. "Hee hee, the hangar's this way. That was the closet." And she rushes right back out again.
Only to rush back in a minute later. "Hold on a minute!" she wails, zooming by. "I forgot to pack snacks! I don't want to starve to death! I'm going to need lots of energy to rescue Vanilla-san!" Bumping, clanking and thunking sounds can be heard in the kitchen, before she rushes out again with a picnic lunch wrapped in a red and white checkerboard picnic blanket! "Okay, here I go!" There's a *wunk* as her bundle of lunch gets her caught in the doorframe, but eventually she wriggles through. "I'm okay! Alright, here I go for real now!" And she zooms off.
Only Milfeulle could react so calmly to Normad's threat to engulf the world into flame solely because Vanilla had been acting a little differently. Most people would find it at least a little disturbing. But then, in Transbaal, it'd probably all work out in the end anyway. "You won't be going alone, Milfeulle!" Normad shouts as the pink-haired wonder dashes off.
Nano-Nano, with Normad in tow, runs after her and, by the time she's in the cockpit of the Lucky Star, she has company. "Weee! Nano-Nano has always wanted to fly in one of these things! One day, Nano-Nano will be a super talented pilot to, nanonanoda!" And thus the grand adventure to save Vanilla's abnormal normalness begins!
Meanwhile, Vanilla has arrived on Planet Holiness to meet her old friend, the illustrious Strawberry G. "Yo, yo, yo, Vanny H!" Her friend is dressed much the same as Vanilla herself. "Before we go, Cardinal Caramel wanted to see us one last time. Ya know, for old time sake and junk. So let's go! Mwa ha ha ha haaa!" Yes, the evil laughter was entirely random and had no purpose whatsoever. At least Vanilla seems to think nothing of it as she enters the Church building that she grew up in.
Meanwhile, back in the Lucky Star, Normad appears to not of been bluffing. He really does have a beacon that can tell him where Vanilla is, or at the very least the Harvester.
Milfeulle Sakuraba clambers into the Lucky Star cockpit, and the ship begins its ignition sequence as NORMAD and Nano-Nano get themselves comfortable. Slowly, the HALO system lowers itself over her head, displays and indicators lighting up as systems come on-line. "I bet you'll make a great pilot, Nano-chan!" Milfeulle says agreeably, going through her pre-flight checks and querying the harbormaster for an expedited departure schedule. "My sister Apricot is training to be a pilot right now, too. Maybe someday you two will be in the same unit! Won't that be fun? You two could fly together!"
On the main display, a stern looking officer appears on the screen. "GA-001, you are not cleared for departure at this time. You do not appear in the daily patrol schedule and you are still needed for questioning regarding the attack the other day on our distinguished movie star guests, the Mooninites."
Milfeulle is of course still talking to Nano. "When you're in the service, you get to fly all over the galaxy and meet interesting people, and eat lots of tasty treats! I thought being a waitress at a pastry restaurant was fun, but it's not as fun as flying a spaceship and being able to make a difference with friends you care about. Friends like ... like Vanilla-san!" She frowns a little.
The harbormaster starts looking annoyed. "GA-001, I repeat: you are not cleared for departure! Cycle down your engines and disembark at once."
Milfeulle's lower lip trembles obliviously. "Friends who want you to put celery into your homemade ice cream. 'No, I can't put celery into my homemade ice cream!' I told her. And she said, 'I forgive you'." She sniffles, eyes growing moist. "She's such a true friend!"
The Harbormaster presses his face against the screen. "GA-001! Stand down, I'm warning you!"
Milfeulle's hands press together. "Or the time me and Vanilla went to go see the Mysterious Master of the Fourth Dimension, and he turned out just to be two Masters of the Second Dimension who'd gotten stuck together in the washing machine. And Vanilla said, 'I'm going home'. What a good time that was!" Milfeulle clenches her fists. "Don't worry, Nano-chan! We'll save Vanilla-san, no matter what!"
Meanwhile the Harbormaster's image is shaking up and down, like he's shaking his monitor. "GA-001! Do you hear me! You are not cleared for departure! Turn off your engines or you're going to cause an accident!"
At long last, Milfeulle blinks out of her reminiscences and looks up at the Harbormaster. "Eh? I'm cleared for departure? Start my engines or you'll get flatulent? OH NO! I'm so sorry, I don't want that to happen!" Her engines ignite as she opens the throttle! *WHOOM*
Outside. The void of space. Utter silence. Quiet. Peaceful.
At least until the Lucky Star *CRASHES* through the side of the closed hangar doors, dragging its docking clamps, which are attached to the Harbormaster's Station with the slack-jawed Harbormaster inside. "Oh my!" says Milfeulle in the cockpit, ship's status indicators uploading directly to her neo-cortex through the HALO system. "We're dragging a little. We must have picked up some space junk!" She wriggles the rear end of the ship a little. Out in deep space, the clamps and the Harbormaster's pod snap off with a silent *WHUNK*! Spinning end-over-end, it falls toward Transbaal's atmosphere.
"That's better!" says Milfeulle happily. "Full power! Don't worry, Vanilla-san! We're coming to save you!" With a flash of translight systems the Lucky Star streaks off into the galaxy! ... Before NORMAD's already-uploaded telemetry data compel it to change course in mid-flight, streaking around in the opposite direction. "Oh!" says Milfeulle with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Lucky Star! My bad!" She giggles at herself.
Don't worry, Milfeulle. The Lucky Star forgives you. It's a very nice Emblem Frame, it would never hurt a fly! That is unless the fly had lasers on it and was shooting those lasers then it might. But otherwise, all flies are safe from the Lucky Star. Or something. Hopefully the harbormaster will forgive you after he burns up in the atmosphere, though!
Meanwhile, on Planet Holiness, Vanilla enters the chamber of Cardinal Caramel. "Fu fu fu fu!" Strawberry G laughs super evilly as Vanilla enters the chamber.
A second voice speaks from within the chamber. "Gra ha ha! Finally, the last piece of my revenge is here! Now, we can begin! La la la la laaa!"
Vanilla stares intently inside the chamber but can't see who it is. "Like, you're totally ruining my vibe, loser! I'm outie. See you on the flipside!" However, her exit from the room seems to be blocked...blocked by a bunch of girls dressed in a manner similar to how Vanilla normally dressed.
And then there's the little group on the Lucky Star. "Oooh, Apricot is nice!" Nano-Nano seems to of already forgotten the gravity of the situation. "Nano-Nano likes her. We could form our own Angel Brigade! We could call ourselves That Other Angel Brigade! Or Apricot and Nano-Nano's Amazing Angels! Oooh, that one is nice!"
Normad seems lost in his own thoughts. "You better be okay, Vanilla. If you're not, then the universe itself shall pay for this crime. I'll see to it that every man, woman, and child is reduced to dust. And then I shall build a monument to you out of the entire UNIVERSE...."
The Transbaal Station Junior Harbormaster #86-B, Warrant Officer Spune, enters the atmosphere inside his Harbormaster's Pod at extreme velocity, flames leaping from the pod's exterior structure. However, he takes it like an officer. "GYAAAAAAH!" he screams, tearing his hair and running around in circles as his pod becomes a flaming meteor. "GYAAAAAAAAAAH!"
But the Transbaal Station is made of sterner stuff. Long before the pod reaches its structural limit, it plunges into the ocean with a *BOOM* and a high flume of water and steam. Before long, said pod, scorched and battered, floats ashore to an unnamed, unknown island in the middle of the ocean. Moments later, an access panel bursts from the side with a *spang*, and out comes a shaken but still intact Warrant Officer Spune. "I... I'm alive!" he declares, raising his hands to the sun and falling to his knees. "It's a miracle! I'm ALIIIIIIVE!"
But suddenly, from out of the island's rain-forest canopy, rusted and overgrown with tropical weeds, lumbers what appears to be a vending machine with long hydraulic tentacles capped with pincers at each end. In its midsection is a cracked and oxidized LCD monitor screen, but which is still capable of depicting a man with overgrown hair, a shaggy beard, and a murderous look in his eye, as if he'd been stranded on a desert island and gone INSANE WITH RAGE. "HONEY POPS!" the monster roars, waving its tentacles in the air. "HONEY PO~OPS!"
Warrant Officer Spune turns around and blinks. "... Eh?"
MEANWHILE!
The Lucky Star streaks through the galaxy, stars passing at breakneck speed, engines near the redline as Milfeulle taxes them to their limits! Indeed, it seems as if the Lucky Star itself knows the predicament that Vanilla may be in. Of course Milfeulle is busily letting her mind wander. "Oh! Oh!" She raises an arm. "Or you could call yourself the 'The Rico-chan and Nano-chan Mighty Love-Love Happy Pudding Angel Brigade of Super-Happiness'! Or the 'We Love Milfeulle Sakuraba Fanclub Angel Brigade'! Ha ha ha, yeah, I think that's the best one."
Then she frowns, and reaches down to pat NORMAD. "I know you're worried, NORMAD-san! I'm worried too. But I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding! It might even be a happy misunderstanding."
In her mind, she imagines the scene: Milfeulle dressed in a beautiful ball gown, with an apron of course, bursting in through the doors in a mysterious palace. Nano-Nano flanks her on one side, dressed similarly, with NORMAD on the other, with a tuxedo, tails, top hat and cane. "Nobody move!" Milfeulle declares, pointing a finger. "We're here to save Vanilla-san, for love and justice!"
And suddenly the lights come on. "SURPRISE!" everyone calls out. "Happy Birthday Milfeulle!" And someone wheels out an eight-foot ice-cream cake.
Back in reality, Milfeulle's head has lolled to one side, eyes dreamily half-lidded. "Oh, I couldn't possibly eat the WHOLE THING... ah ha ha ha ha..." Suddenly the proximity indicator starts beeping and Milfeulle jerks upright. "I'm awake! I wasn't napping! I was planning our mighty plan of action to save Vanilla!" She leans forward. "Ah! Re-entering relativistic space! Planet Holiness in visual range!" She leans back in her seat as the ship slows to half light-speed, Planet Holiness appearing out the window. Presumably. If NORMAD's data was correct. I mean, of course it is, why wouldn't it be? ... RIGHT?
"I think perhaps you don't understand, Milfeulle." Normad responds, his voice the very model of calmness. "If Vanilla were harmed, it would be very bad for the entire univ....hey!" He's interrupted as Nano, bored of listening to him, randomly starts punching him. "I can't even feel pain, and this hurts me."
Nano-Nano, after having her fill of Normad-punching, responds to Auntie Milfeulle's suggestions. "Apri-Nano's Amazing Duo of Angels and Saving Stuff! Or Super Fighting Angels: Nano-Nano and Apricot! Or maybe..."
This time it's Normad that interrupts her. "Ummm...we're about to..."
But Nano will have none of that! "It's a good idea, nanoda! We will make an amazing dynamic duo! The world shall tremble before us! We'll be the greatest!"
Normad speaks up. "I may have made a slight..."
And then, more Nano. "I'll even have my own Emblem thingy! I'll call it the Nano-Nano-Machine! It'll be great!"
Finally, Normad spits it out. "We're going to crash into the planet unless you do something!"
In the church, Vanilla finds herself surrounded by her old friends. A mysterious figure sits in the shadows, mocking her. Or rather, attempting to. "Gi gi gi giiii! The Cardinal won't be able to see you today, dear VANILLA." The voice, sounding feminine, practically spits out the name. "He'll be napping for the next several hours thanks to my special secret blend of herbs and spices. Gra ha ha ha ha ha! And now that dear Strawberry has brought you here, I can finish what I've st..."
Interruptions seem to be course of the day, because Vanilla isn't waiting for mysteryperson to finish what they've started. "Booooring! Whoever you are, you suck! You suck like a thing that sucks a lot. Like a black hole inside of a bigger black hole with an econmy sized vacuum in it....with a black hole inside of THAT. That is how much you suck! Screw you guys, I'm going home." She turns to leave, but naturally it won't be so easy. That line of nun-girls is still in her way, and they aren't moving. "C'mon, lamers, out of the way."
TO BE CONTINUED!!!