NPF Avatars 6, Chapter (6?)7: Didn't your momma tell you not to fight?

[Intern Nin]

Nin ceased banging on the door and peered over at the the person calling herself the babystter.

Where did she come from? I've been banging on this door the whole time and I didn't see her come in. That must mean... she's a witch!

Nin ran away from the door and leapt behind a pile of shoes to take cover. He stuck his head out from behind it to keep watch on her.

Babysitter? Why would those crazy people hire a babysitter to keep an eye on us? Now I can't do as I please anymore. And who's that kid she's talking to?

Nin stared at the kid. He was wearing a ninja-henchman oufit, which made Nin think that he was a rival ninja. It wasn't until he got a good look at the kid's haircut that he recognized who he was.

Pedro? He's alive and he's a ninja? Of course, he must have ran away and traveled the world while training his body to physical perfection, vowing to avenge the death of his zeppelin. Classic billionaire move. Although now that he's pint-sized like the rest of us, he was probably stripped of his ninja abilities like I was. Now, how do I deal with this babysitter? Hmm, maybe I should convince her that I'm not a threat. That way she'll focus her attention on the other troublemakers and leave me free to plan an escape route.

Nin got up from behind the shoe-pile and walked over to Dark Amored Bishoujo.

"Excuse me, Miss Full Of Maternal Like Things. You wouldn't happen to have any extra pairs of slacks with you? I'm kind of lacking in the 'pants that aren't really purses' department and it's getting very chilly."


Meanwhile, Thorn was still inside the Dragon-Bunny's appendix when he heard a loud sound that wasn't a gastric movement.

Hmm, sounds like the De Lorean has been destroyed again. I wonder how long that will last. Ugh, this becoming annoying. Why don't I have control of this animal yet?

Thorn finally turn the glowing hands off and looked around for something to do. He sighed and decided that he would just call up himself to see how things were progressing.

*Ring Ring*

"Hello, with which me am I speaking to?"

"This is Thorn Rho. I am calling to ask how far along you are with the plan, Thorn Eta."

"Oh. Unfortunately, I've yet to actually make contact with the target."

"May I ask why?"

"Well, while every organic passenger has been purged from the ship, there is still another AI aboard. It and the target are... bickering. If I were to approach the target now, the other AI would be alerted to my prescence and would alert it's master. If he became aware of what I was doing, he would actively seek me out and eventually destroy me."

"Hmm."

"Yes, now I think you'll understand why I have chosen to not do anything. And what about you, are you keeping close a watch on the Forumites?"

"Well... "

"Where are you right now?"

"I thought that I was in the brain, but now I'm not so sure. Does the organic brain usually contain a large amount of fiberous bile?"

"What happened? Why would you be in someone's brain?"

"Well, I was working on a way to make the forumites' lives miserable when I was swallowed by some sort of monsterous lagomorph. I tried to navigate my way to the brain and take control of it, but it's seems my lack of knowledge about the innerworking of organics have led me to... I don't know what."

"Stop fooling around and find a way out. Sigh, I can't believe a time duplicate of myself could be so stupid. I'm ending this transmission before the two AI's discover it. Don't call me again unless it's urgent."

The call ended and Thorn looked around, contemplating a way out.

[POS Industries]

And then, for absolutely no reason, Thorn exploded and died forever. Also, Inbred Chocobo was with the NPFers in the workshop the whole time, but had apparently been very, very quiet.

[Inbred Chocobo]

IC sat in corner, staring in silence. How he got there and why is a long and boring story, so I'll just hit the highlights.

First off, when everyone was heading towards the duel dimensions, IC's fancy new sword tossed him into another dimension. It wasn't violent, it was relaxing, and IC not having to worry about fighting took the time to enjoy himself. Time there traveled far faster than normal, so in the amount of time the duels took IC spent a few months there.

Though randomly one day IC left. He was in a new outfit, one made for what looked like travelers. A heavy brown cloak set upon his shoulders, the thick material hiding his tail. His jacket gone, he now wore faded yellowish orange shirt and pants, with a brown belt around the pants. A sheath for his sword now held at his side, his blade sitting in it for now. His gloves and boots he still wore, he wasn't going to ditch them, though now his clothing had sleeves. The last thing to mention was the headband IC wore now was a new brown leather one much like his gloves and boots, instead of the orange one he had before.

He forced his way into the portal of the duels, and everyone had already left. The folks left there pointed him in the right direction, and off he went. Managing to find the remains of the portal, he used what little bit of energy was left in his sword to open it back up, and slipped through. He would have to find a place to charge it if he wanted to open up any new ones.

Issues insued, and soon IC found himself sitting in the room. Looking of the age of 8, IC had sulked in a corner, his new outfit shrinking to his size, including the blade at his side. He looked like he was pouting, perhaps being a kid is something IC hates?

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Big Mac left the bair who was busy eyeign up the other shoes. With his trusty plastic guitar in hand, he looked around and saw a young boy with feathers growing sitting in the corner, looking like he was ready to pout. Trying to be nice, Mac mustered up the courage and went over to the boy.

"Hi. My name is Big Mac, what's yours?" he asked the boy.

[PhoenixFlame]

Divided Destiny.

Things fall apart, the universe succumbs to entropy. While the NPF was fighting Gaia, defeating chaos, and dimension jumping all over God (and other deities...)'s creations, Phoenix was dealing with her own problems. That which is divided cannot remain so forever. Fortunately for her, she knew nothing of the myriad interlocking, overarching plans. The damage done to her psyche was, mercifully, very likely the thing keeping her sane.

Sitting in a corner much like IC's, but fundamentally seperated, Phoenix concentrated on the simple task laid before her child's body. She silently put shoes together, a loving smile on her face.

Something that, for the NPF who recognised her, would be the most terrifying expression imaginable for her to wear.

From the cybernetic backpack she wore, a pair of winglike mechadendrites cut her the requiste parts for the shoes from a ream of leather using a pair of low energy cutting beams.

["Shoe Component Prime, Pattern Complete."] The display gem on her wrist pulsed a soft red, and the device reported in an empathic female voice.

"Yay!" Phoenix cheered singsongily, picking up the shoe parts and began sewing them together by hand. She'd made a lot of them by now, but it wasn't boring yet... In the meanwhile, she looked up at the... not-quite-new (but racket-producing) arrivals.

Wow. Some of those people looked vaguely familiar...

[Bailey]

Upon hearing Phoenix's wrist thingy speak, Bear!Newb looked over and decided to wander up. Newb sniffed at the wrist watch, then wrinkled his nose, turned away, gasped a couple of times, and then sneezed. Instantly, the bear cub was replaced by an adorable baby chick.

The bird in question just happened to be a roc.

"CHIRRUP?"

[Inbred Chocobo]

IC glared at Big Mac, anger registering on his face. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone. After glaring IC dropped his head staring at the floor again. Big Mac, being the Curious George he is poke at him. "You okay?" Big Mac asked as he poked kid IC. IC spoke up again. "Go away kid." IC spoke up, his tone low. Big Mac, of course poked IC again.

IC decided he had had enough. He walked away from Mac, pushing him aside and probably onto his butt. He then glared at the wall. Weird thing about being IC is that he wasn't always this form, so while his body shaped down to a kid, he was having an internal fight between kid and man. Then again IC always acted mature for his age. Still, in a spurt of a kid, he suddenly felt the urge to see how much strength he had left.

He walked over towards the wall with the kilometer sign on it, and punched it as hard as he could, doubting he had much strength in this form but wanting to see just how much he did have.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Big Mac felt like crying after falling onto his backside. But he needed to be brave. He got up, brushed off his jeans, pushed his glasses back onto his nose and followed IC. He wanted to know more about his tail feathers. He brushed the golden yellow feathers wit his small hands. "These are very soft. How did you get them?'

IC glared at him darkly. Big Mac took a couple steps back in fright. "I-I sawwy. I just wanted to know where you got the pretty feathers. My friends wanted to know."

[The SSB Intern]

SSB did not have time for babysitters, especially ones wearing armor instead of short skirts. His time would be spent doing one of his favorite hobbies: stealing mundane items. He likened himself to Maguyver, though, admittingly, he's never watched the show. Using a box of shoelaces, he fashioned himself a mullet wig which he placed on top of his hood. Then, he grabbed everything he could get his little hands on, including: box cutter, scissors, sewing needle, more lace, graham crackers, one of IC's feathers, and Nin's wallet from Fenris.

He put all of these in his pockets and hobbled back to Nin.

"All right. The turkey is in the oven. If you need me, I'll be hiding under that worktable."

He did a double take, then moonwalk jetboot limboed under the table.

"THERE'S MICE UNDER HERE!"

[Inbred Chocobo]

"9 kilometers." The sign showed IC how fast he hit it. IC looked at that in horror. He has hit very bloody hard before, breaking unbreakable things, so only registering 9 meant that IC was not going to be able to depend upon his strength here. He doubted he had his speed as well. So what did that leave him? Well... he could probably sneak a little better since he is so small.

Then someone touched his tail. He turned around, glaring at the kid. It was that curious kid again. Then he mentioned his friends. That was when IC spotted SSB's stash of stuff, and one of the things was a feather. IC grabbed a sole that would have been used to make a shoe and hurled it at SSB. It really had no power but it would be quite strong for a kid IC's size.

He then turned to look at Mac, who happened to be a little frightened. That was when IC had a grown up moment. He sighed, not in the mood at all to deal with this kind of crap. He started to walk towards PF. He noticed the thing on her back and was going to ask about it. Though he took a couple of steps and sighed. A little bit of the adult poked out again in IC. He turned to Mac. "You just going to stand there or you tagging along?" IC spoke, the walked off, not watching to see if Mac would actually follow.

"Hey, what do you got there on your back." IC spoke, using a lower tone to sound all cool like as he asked PF about cybernetic backpack. There was also an annoying chicken.. roooster.. thing... there and well to be honest IC didn't really care about it. The shiny thing was going to win that particular battle for IC's attention.