Anna drowsily looked down at the application sheet in her hand.
Next, she looked at the person in the seat before her, before gazing 
back at the sheet. She did this twice more, at regular two-second 
intervals, before setting the sheet down and raising a skeptical
eyebrow. 

	Normally, she was content to let Dee Dee handle the newcomers,
but for some reason, she was completely unavailable today. Most likely,
she had banged her head on the desk again and would probably be out of
it for hours. That, and given Cecil's penchant for scaring the bejeezus
out of anyone with A.E.I.O.U. scare tales, not to mention the obvious
perversions of Brett. Anna had then decided to take it upon herself to
personally interview this month's batch of potential newbies.

	More accurately, newbie (noun, singular), as there was only one
other person in the room besides herself staring at the world through a
thick pair of corrective lenses.

	"Okay..." She looked at the sheet again. "...Bobby..."

	The diminutive, bespectacled teen raised a hand. "Uh, no, just
Bob. Bob Baker. It's my birth-name, y'know..."

	"Whatever. Lemme get this straight," she sighed, wondering what
she had done in a previous life to warrant so much bad karma to be
thrown in her general direction.

	First, there was a chibified Katie running loose around town.
Then cam a Youmafied otaku which was doing just as well. Toss in an
unconfirmed sighting of the elusive SD Kamen. And now...

	"...You want to join Otaku Force because no other Anime club
for ten miles will take you."

	The young man in the seat nodded, sheepishly scratching his
head as he did so. "Uh...yeah. The guys said that the kind of Anime I
liked were too wimpy and geeky for their tastes. I always thought that
all Otaku were more open-minded than most people in the world. Weird,
isn't it?"

	Anna began wondering if she should change her group's name from
'Otaku Force' to 'Weirdoes R Us', as she looked down on the sheet, down
under the entry "Anime Genre Interest'.

	The only answer there was the word 'Bishoujo', in disturbingly
accurate Kanji, written for what seemed to be a million times. To top
it off, there were various small and rather cutely-done caricatures of
anime girls peppered along the borders, never mind the bishoujo-themed
pencil case he was carrying along. It was the kind of obsession with a
particular Anime genre that made even diehard otakus take pause.

	That and there was something about the way he kept blushing and
staring at Anna that made her feel wary; the last time she saw a look
like that on someone was when Brett showed Dee Dee his complete and
uncensored Kizuna collection.

	Oh well... "So, Bob...your main interest in Anime, Manga, and
video games are pretty much limited to anything containing Anime
Bishoujo."

	"Yeah."

	"...And you like getting pictures, accessories, or fanart of
your favorite bishoujo characters."

	"Yeah."

	"...And I bet you also like seeing your favorite characters in
leather and chains."

	"Ye...I  mean, NO!" Bob had a look of shocked indignity on his
face. "Of course I don't like that stuff! I'm not a Hentai!"

	At least we don't have another Brett on our hands, Anna mused.
She was about to relax when the air suddenly turned a deep and sickly
saccharine, with Bob having a dreamy look in his eyes as he looked to
the heavens, hands clasped together, an idiotic grin plastered on his
face.

	"I could never think of my darling Naru-chan in that way... Or
Shinobu... Or Motoko... Or..."

	Outside, Anna kept a cool mien. Inwardly, she was starting to
twitch like mad with the burning desire to be very, VERY far away from
this particular individual. It was one thing to see Dee Dee swoon over
the various Bishounen characters in Anime; that look of infatuation
was okay on a girl. But it wasn't exactly the same for a short guy
wearing coke-bottle prescription lenses. It was a sight rancid enough
to make one want to scream.

	Instead, Anna said, thoughtfully: "I... see..."

	Bob snapped out of his reverie, and took a long look at his
interrogator, whom he fixed with a smile. "Oh, by the way...you kind of
look and act like Kei from Dirty Pair Flash. Wow, isn't that wild? You
even have the same hairstyle..."

	Bob then went on to prattle nonstop about the vital statistics
and personality of the aforementioned character, regardless of whether
Anna was listening to it or not. For her part, Anna's eyes gazed to the
ceiling. There were otaku, and then there were OTAKU. Bob Baker seemed
to fall right in with the latter category. No wonder the other clubs
wouldn't take him. By now it was crystal clear to her that someone up
in the higher offices of the cosmos was out to get her, and in a very
big way.

	She was considering rejecting him a moment, when an idea struck
from out of the blue. An idea so stupid, it was brilliant. Or at the
very least sufficient to get her out of the same room with a certified
nutcase with a reality comprehension problem. "Hey, hey, hold it, Bob.
There IS one thing you could do for us, as a test, of course, before we
accept you in."

	"You'll take me in...?" The Bishoujo Otaku was near tears.
"Anything! Tell me what I gotta do!"

	Anna grinned like a fox.
	"How good are you at finding cute girls in real life?"

	A long, thoughtful pause cut the air a moment before Bob was
finally able to give his honest answer.

	"Huuuuh?"

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PROJECT CHIBIFICATION
Created by Lady Brick

Part Five - Prefabrication/Minor Plot Twist

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	Eugene paced the living room thunderously, back and forth as
fast as his large legs could carry him, as his parents stood, shock-
still beside each other in front of the couch. Another second, and
Eugene paused, turning to them both.

	"Okay, it's like this, mom, dad. I, your son, am now blessed
with powers and abilties far beyond normal man. Sure, you laughed at me
before, but now...Now, I'm a SUPERYOUMAGENERAL!" Hard lightning crashed
outside on cue. "So you don't have to worry about school! I'm a genius,
I got psychic powers, and you can't MAKE ME GO BACK TO SCHOOL!!! SO
THERE! NYAH!"

	A long, stunned silence.

	Outside, an owl hooted loudly as it flew into a tree.

	Eugene blinked. "Okay, okay, so I gotta do something about my
looks, sue me! The point is, I'm no longer just any ordinary teen. I'm
a SUPERYOUMAGENERAL!" Lightning crashed again, as the various lamp-
shaped minions Eugene had created earlier replayed the sound effects
tape they had purchased recently. "And you can't make me do anything I
don't WANT to do!"

	The pair remained coldly silent.

	"Allright, I'll prove it to you, Mom. Dad. You'll love me for
this. Ask me to get you anything. A new Mercedes? A swimming pool? Ask
for anything at all, and I'll make it appear!" Eugene stopped a moment,
remembering how ineffective he was against the bishounen Brett. "Or if
not, I'll just take over a country or two and force them to give up the
stuff you want."

	More silence. His parents still stood there, unmoved.

	"OKAY, OKAY, I'LL WORK ON FIXING THE HOUSE! JUST GIVE ME A SEC,
WILLYA? I'M RUNNING LOW ON THE SAUCE HERE!!!"

	The silence was still cutting.

	"Mom? Dad?" Eugene waved one scaly hand in front of their eyes,
but no reactions at all were forthcoming. Trusting his instincts, he
lightly tapped his father and mother on the forehead each with an index
finger.

	Sure enough, both parents fell like logs.

	Eugene, Ex-Otaku Force potential newbie, Ex-student, Ex-loser,
now a genius Superyoumageneral extraordinaire, blinked.
	"This...is gonna take some work..."

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	Katie fidgeted in the miniature lawn chair that she managed to
find in Thomas' room. She was lucky so far; apparently, Frank was a
regular visitor to the place, as there were quite a few conveniently-
sized foldout chairs and a table just made for people her size. It
helped, seeing that she was currently guilty over Frank's sudden re-
chibification.

	"I'm really sorry about that."

	"It happens." Frank, also known semi-publicly as the elusive SD
Kamen, sighed. There were still charred bits of soot on his face, which
he was now in the process of peeling off. "I usually turn back to chibi
form when I get shocked like that. Lasts about an hour or so before I
get back to my normal self. That's what 'partially controlled' chibi-
fication means."

	Katie blinked, wondering if it was worth risking the taser on
herself, but then thought better of it; after all, Dee Dee had already
tried various electric shock tests on her and there was no change, save
for Katie's hair styled in ways that would make a Super Saiyan jealous.
	"Does that happen often? I mean, do you always have to get
zapped in order to change into SD Kamen?"

	Frank had finally managed to remove the last bit of black peel.
"Not really. Just a mild shock from a joy buzzer's enough. It's getting
turned back to normal that takes time. Not perfect, but it's a start."
A thoughtful pause. "Before you think about it, I hope you're not going
back to Otaku Force to try that out."

	"Uh-uh-UH!" Katie shook her head cutely, rolling her head from
side to side as her reply. "After all that Dee Dee and Anna put me
through, no way am I ever going back there! Nuh-uh! Never!"

	"Very well!" Frank had somehow changed back into his SD Kamen
costume during the course of their conversation and was now posing
dramatically with rose in hand, despite the fact that the rose was much
larger than his shoulder and he was lugging it more like a heavy rifle
than a flower. "Then I, SD Kamen, shall dedicate myself to protecting
you, the SD girls of the world!"

	"WAH! Sugoiiii!!!" Katie chirped, eyes turning into large,
throbbing hearts as she fell in half-swoon, before stopping herself to
ask one more question of the masked micro-hero. "Oh yeah, almost forgot
to ask...Why does Thomas keep calling you SD 'Karmen'?"

	Frank dropped the rose on his foot, face twitching violently,
something that was horrendously cute-looking in his present deformed
condition. Katie was about to laugh out loud when she saw the dark aura
that started to emanate from his forehead. She was even more threatened
when Frank's SD body stretched comically and bent forward, sticking his
face in in front of hers, eyes turning into narrow angular slits as he
stared Katie down, the lawn chair she was in creaking madly against the
force.

	"DO...NOT...MENTION...THAT...NAME!!!"

	It was at that opportune moment that a sudden crackle of
electricity and a strange POP was heard. The next thing Frank knew was
that he was back to his normal unchibified self, bent WAY over his
limit, and that he could no longer defy gravity's first law.

	"WHHOOOOOOOAAAAAA!!!!"

	A pair of small lawn chairs and various household paraphernalia
behind Katie were all that broke Frank's fall with a loud CRUNCH. Which
was not saying much, seeing that the softest thing Frank managed to
land on was an old cuckoo clock.

	Katie gulped deeply, and that was that.
	
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	Bob had been there a dozen times, but there was no sign of the
girl he was supposed to find. It shouldn't have been TOO hard; after
all, there weren't that many 3-foot tall, exceedingly cute, anime-like
girls wandering around in the western hemisphere.

	Be that as it was, he still went around, looking for clues that
could lead him towards the chibified Katie. Anna told him that she was
last seen in this area before escaping through a manhole. The manhole
was an easy check, but Bob certainly wasn't going to take a peek in it
anytime soon.

	A part of his mind wondered if this weren't just some test, a
kind of analysis on his worthiness to join the club. Or maybe better,
it was a test by Anna herself, to see if Bob was man enough for the job
they wanted. He grinned, remembering that there was a situation just
like that in the Dating Sim game he played last week.

	...Unfortunately, the game had set answers. Real life, as much
as Bob hated it, had a far less user-friendly interface, and in this
situation, he couldn't go past a save point and try again in case he
flubbed the first time.

	So he was back to square one. Where in the world would a 3-foot
tall SD character go to when on the run and hiding? Point A: someplace
wherein you can easily blend in. Point B: preferrably they're people
who can identify with your problem. 

	Bob slammed his fist down as the obvious answer hit him.
	"To find other short people! Of course!"

	Chuckling madly with glasses flashing, he started checking the
local newspaper stands for carnival schedules or midget homes, anything
that could be linked to small, not quite normal fugitives. As he did
so, Bob had one sudden, sneaking suspicion that Otaku Force was hiding
something important from him, a secret that he realized almost
immediately.

	"Gee, I never asked Anna for her phone number..."

	Meanwhile, a moment before entering the Otaku Force main
computer room, Anna sneezed.

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	Cecil looked back at his boss in disbelief. Even in the dark
light of the group's (non-hentai) computer room, the look of surprise
on his face was evident. He'd already prepared the troops, rallied
A.E.I.O.U. to leave no stone unturned until Katie and the scaly Eugene
were back in Otaku Force custody, and aching for the chance to try
again. But now...

	"You did WHAT, Anna....?"

	"Sent a newbie to catch a newbie," Anna sighed, unrolling a
sheet in her hands. It was in order to catch a glimpse of a Weiss
Kreuz poster, one of an underwear-clad Aya, that she had just recently
purchased. The dim backlight of the monitors didn't bother her in the
least. "She won't trust anyone from A.E.I.O.U. or Otaku Force after all
that's happened. But if a fellow newbie approaches her, she'll be more
trusting and might even come back to us of her own will."

	Cecil was unconvinced. "And just HOW will THAT work?"

	"It's called subtlety, Ceece." Anna sighed, kicking back in one
of the chairs. "Giant Mecha and Huge guns don't always win the battle.
You should know that. Besides, he has one thing that none of us in
Otaku Force possess."

	"And what's that?"

	Anna grinned. "Beginner's luck."

	Cecil was about to tell Anna a thing or two about his disbelief
in luck when a panicked Dee Dee burst into the computer room, half out
of breath and wearing the clothes she had on yesterday, as well as a
huge red welt on her forehead.

	"GUYS!!!" She screamed. "I just found out something about that
Superyoumageneral..." Lightning and thundering sound effects shattered
the inside of the room, even though it was perfectly sunny outside.

	This was quickly followed by a pair of stick-legged lamps and
vases apologizing as they carried their soudn effects equipment through
the wrong set.

	It took awhile for Dee dee to regain her serious poise.
	"...Something that you guys should know! There's something
REALLY dangerous about that Eugene guy that's real urgent! You gotta
know about it now!"

	Anna raised an eyebrow and looked to Cecil, who did the same,
shrugging his shoulders.
	"Okay Dee Dee. So...? What is it...?"

	"Well, you see, the problem is..."
	Dee Dee giggled madly as she slapped her forehead.
	"...I FORGO~~~OOOT!!!" 

	Anna stared at the ceiling and imagined Aya counting to ten.
Cecil shut down the computer and quietly turned to leave, while Dee Dee
crossed her arms, tapping her chin as she racked her brains for that
all-important word.

	"A, A, A, I know it starts with an A. I just can't remember
what... Was it Apricot? No, it was Japanese. Asuka? Atama? Akatsuki?
Oooooh, I can't remember right now... Asagiri? Atta-atta-atta? Hmmm..."

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	Bob was nursing his chocolate milkshake over the soda bar. It
took him practically the entire day to scour the town, and there were
absolutely no results to show for it. There were no carnivals or
circuses in town, and there was only one midget hostel, which he had
already checked to the consternation of a dozen 3- and 4-foot tall
people wielding rolling pins and baseball bats.

	Absentmindedly, he rubbed the bump on the back of his forehead,
one that was vaguely in the shape of a telephone. They may be midgets
but when it came to guys accidentally walking into the women's toilet,
they reacted pretty much the same as normal girls did.

	Only they could aim much lower.

	"Oh! Hi there, my name's Bob! Say, have you seen a 3-foot tall,
hyper, gosh-darned cute girl around anywhere?" Bob drawled to himself
in sarcasm. "Yeah right, sure. Go look on the net, you weirdo."

	The possibility that it was all just a wild goose chase had
entered his mind multiple times. Why not file a missing persons report?
Why ask me? Bob simply remembered how convincing Anna was.

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	"She needs help and she's confused. Although she's really 16,
Katie's got the dimensions and attitudes of a 4-year old, with the
ability to 'kawaii' people into submission, though she dosen't quite
know it yet." Anna had her back turned, so Bob could not see what look
she had on her face. "Since you're a bishoujo fan, I'd guess you're
more likely to have a higher resistance to her Kawaii factor than
anyone else."

	Anna turned back to him, a wry grin on her face. "That and the
fact that she dosen't trust us just because we're members of Otaku
Force."

	Bob blinked, somewhat understanding. "And I'm not."

	That was when Anna played her trump card, dragging a chair near
him, in order to look Bob straight in the eyes as she spoke. "I'm not
asking you to drag her here. I just want you to talk to her, calm her
down, make her trust you and explain to her that we really just want
to help, that's all. Can you do that?"

	That was when she went for the kill--a smile that reminded Bob
of the rewarding smile he saw on a bishoujo's face after a successful
date in one of his games. He nodded, entranced by Anna's performance.

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	"That Anna could probably sell tusks to Walruses," Bob smirked.
Of all people, Bob Baker, Bishoujo Dating Game master and Ko-Gal fan,
was easily suckered into a run around the town by a girl he just met
six hours ago at an Anime clubhouse. So much for your extensive Dating
Sim experience, Bobby-boy.

	The chocolate grew colder. Almost no one in the diner noticed
the platoon of small vases with skick limbs that was filching various-
sized bottles of Worcestershire sauce around the tables. Bob sighed.
And what next? You don't think this Katie kid is going to just be
sitting here in this diner?

	Yeah, right. If that happens, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

	Bob spat a jetfull of chocolate shake on the countertop as he
saw Katie right there in the corner seat.

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	"Amuro? No, that's one of Cecil's fave characters... Ayanami?
Akagi? Darnit, why can't I remember? It's on the tip of my tongue.
Aoshi? Yay! Aoshi-Sama! Nope, not that either... Adachi? Akuma? ......"

	Dee Dee had been at it for about an hour, by which time she
hadn't noticed Anna walking out of the room.

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	Well, at least it isn't instant ramen again, Frank smirked.
Katie had been quite hungry, and suddenly threw a tantrum about wanting
burgers, fries, and strawberry ice cream, not hesitating to use her
kawaii factor on her new friend.. If he had been in his SD Kamen mode,
such an outburst wouldn't have worked. But since he was now back to his
normal self, Frank gave in. After all, he was quite hungry himself
after the events of the day.

	"Wai! Wai!" Katie chirped over her burger, frantically pointing
to the TV set. "Cardcaptors is showing! I haven't even seen that one
yet! Wai!"

	Frank smiled over his chili tacos, then sighed, trying to avoid
the occasional stare from the waitresses or customers at the diner. One
of the reasons he chose to eat here, "Emery's Diner", as the place was
labeled, was because it was not a regular hangout for Anime fans, not
like "Lenny's" closer to the town's center. That, and the fact that he
didn't want anyone he knew to see him with an SD girl who was beginning
to go into overcute mode.

	It was then he noticed Katie looking at him with those huge,
watery eyes and a spoon in her mouth. Frank swallowed deeply, worried
about another temper tantrum from her, when she spoke.

	"Frank?"

	He gulped.
	"Yeah?"

	"Why does Thomas have so many Tasers in his house, anyway?"

	Frank relaxed slightly. "Well... You see, Thomas is kind of an
otaku, too. Just not an Anime otaku. He's pretty fond of self-defense
stuff, like Tasers, Karate, sport shooting... He dosen't have a license
for a gun, so he keeps a dozen tasers handy. Just in case, he tells
me."

	Katie blinked, then threw another question his way.
	"Why does Thomas have so much miniature stuff in his house?"

	A nod. "Before I got partially cured, I needed someplace to hang
out wherein people, 'specially my prents, wouldn't find me. Thomas
helped me out with that one." Frank mused. Of course, there were also a
lot of times Thomas had a few gags at his super-deformed expense,
but...

	"Why does Thomas call you SD Karmen...OOPS!" Katie, wide-eyed,
clapped both hands over her mouth even before she saw the twitching of
Frank's forehead. For a second, she wondered if Frank wasn't about to
do that stretching bit with his neck once again, but instead, he just
sat back and groaned. 

	"It's a long story."

	Katie would have left it at that, when she remembered Anna's
words of wisdom about her Kawaii effect. that and she noticed that
Frank was a bit more reciprocal when in his normal form.

	"Frank," Katie murmured as she stood on her seat, looking him in
the eyes. "I trust you, and you know everything about me. But I dunno
anything about you, how you became SD Kamen, or even why you wanna help
me! Can you at least trust me enough to say why you hate the name
'Karmen'? Pretty please, Frankie!!!"

	It was a good thing that Frank was now in his serious, 'normal'
mode, because the way that Katie hunched up over the table and started
looking at him would have prompted a huge sweatdrop to roil down his
skull. As it was, all he could do was a quick double-take.

	"Fine, fine. Just don't call me Frankie, okay?" Frank muttered,
trying to avoid stares all around, prompting Katie to sit back down.
"Karmen was the name of my old girlfriend, and she bugged me to try out
a Tuxedo Kamen costume for Halloween's one night."

	"That dosen't sound so bad..."

	"Well, nobody told me that the party had vodka in their punch."
Frank downed his root beer a moment before continuing. "I caught Karmen
making eyes at a guy with a better Tuxedo Kamen costume on than I did,
And before you knew it, I was in costume, in the bathtub, and WHOOSH, I
get turned into a 3-foot tall Shoujo Anime hero."

	Katie sweatdropped at the thought of SD Kamen drowning in a tub
before remembering how her own experiment had backfired on her. At
least Frank had been drunk in order to do something that stupid.

	"Thomas helped me out of that mess and gave me a place to stay
until I got cured." He began to poke at his taco, no longer hungry.
"But ever since then, he's never let me forget just how stupid I was."

	Katie's mouth formed a large O as the spoon dropped to the table.
	"That's kinda mean..."

	"He means well." Frank pushed the dish away, leaning over to get
a closer look at Katie. "You know, I sometimes wonder what would've
happened if I just didn't go to that party..."

	Katie blinked, and gave a smile worthy of a Miaka Yuuki. "Well,
if you hadn't become SD Kamen, I'd probably still be in those mean old
A.E.I.O.U. test labs, and I wouldn't know what to do. I'm glad you were
there to help me, Frank!"

	It was Frank's turn to blush slightly, and for the first time, he
wanted to know what Katie was like, BEFORE her little 'accident'.
Karmen, as he remembered, was never that thoughtful of his feelings.
She left the party with some handsome but perverted guy named Brett,
and he hadn't seen her since. There was a pregnant pause, broken only
by nature's hold on the human body. "Uh...Scuse me, Katie. I gotta go a
moment. Wait here for me."

	Frank promptly headed to the toilet, even as Bob snuck over to
the seat Katie was in, pausing occasionally to catch glimpses of the TV
set.

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	Katie was looking at Sakura on TV, but her mind was strangely
elsewhere. Frank's case wasn't permanent. He could at least change back
to his normal self. But it wasn't the same. He got drunk and was
jealous, which was why he got turned into SD Kamen. it was a reasonable
excuse to do something so stupid. All Katie wanted was a chance to meet
anime-styled Bishounen. Comparing their reasons, hers seemed rather
selfish.

	She was just about to ponder about where she was going to stay
when a figure appeared from behind her.

	"Uh, 'scuse me..."

	She looked up to see a short, but not chibified, teenager with
thick glasses look down on her. If he had been an anime character, his
lenses would have had huge spirals all over them.

	"Are you Katie?"

	Despite being chibified, her brain having run through 5 straight
VHS tapes of Fushigi Yuugi (At SLP speed at tha), and dozens of weird
and pointless experiments, Ktie's mind was sharp enough to make the
connection, where she promptly grabbed the spoon on her table for use
as a weapon.

	Actually, if Katie had been thinking normally and not like a
chibi character, she might have wisely picked up the fork or the steak
knife right next to her spoon, instead...

	Bob waved his hands frantically. "Now, wait, don't panic! I'm not
with Otaku Force!!!"

	"I got a taser in here!!!" she bluffed, pointing with the spoon.

	"W-w-w-wait! I just wanna talk! Honest!" bob blinked. "Waitasec,
isn't that a dessert spoon?"

	"I'm NOT going back to A.E.I.O.U.! No way!"

	"Honest, I'm not here to drag you back." Bob looked around
uneasily as he dragged a chair close. That friend of hers might be back
soon, he thought as Katie still pointed the spoon at him threatningly.
"My name's Bob Baker. I'm really not with Otaku Force, at least not
yet. And I don't know who the vowels are about?"

	Katie blinked, a large neon-green question mark suddenly
floating above her head.
	"Vowels?"

	"What you said. A.E.I.O.U."

	The question mark snapped into a straight red exclamation.
	"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"

	"No, honest!" Bob nervously looked over his shoulder to the trio
of large bikers that were eyeing him suspiciously from the opposite
table. "Anna says she was a good friend of yours, and that she wants to
help you out with your problem..."

	"Oh yeah?" The spoon stabbed an inch in front of Bob's worried
nose. To one side, he could hear the bikers chuckling. "And why should
YOU care?"

	The bishoujo otaku grinned sheepishly, scratching his head.
	"Well, I get to join Otaku Force if I get you to come back..."

	Katie scoffed, sticking the spoon into her ice cream.
	"Well, I'm NOT."

	"Huuuuuh...?" Bob twitched in such a way, Katie wondered if he
wasn't chibified. "But why not? They're your friends, aren't they?"

	Katie puffed up her face, glowing beet red as she did.
	"NO THEY'RE NOT! What makes you think they're my friends?"

	"Well, uh..." Bob scratched his cheek. "...You guys watch Anime,
right? And Anna told me how she helped you out when you were a newbie."

	"Yeah..." Katie mused. It was Anna, after all, who introduced her
to the world of serious Anime, Bishounen, and Fushigi Yuugi. Still...
"But friends don't do weird experiments on each other, friends don't
keep friends locked up in cells, and friends like to LISTEN to their
friends' feelings!"

	Wow, Katie thought. Did I really say that?

	Bob was blubbering. Weird experiments? Anna hadn't told him about
THAT part, nor the part about locking people up in cells. "But you all
watch Anime, don't you...?"

	"That's not the point!" Katie was on a roll. "We watch Anime, but
that's just about all we had in common! They didn't care about me at
all. Real friends..." She suddenly thought of Thomas and Frank. "Real
friends take care of each other, without any reasons given. Otaku Force
and the A.E.I.O.U. aren't my friends, Bob. They don't really care about
my problem, thye just want to do more experiments on me."

	Bob took a moment to digest this, then he wore a serious face as
he looked down on the chibified girl. "You know, that speech you made
sounded just like Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi right now."

	Katie triple-sweatdropped. "Eheheh..."

	"But I guess you're right about the stuff about friends." Bob
stood up. It made perfect sense; why should he go through all the
trouble of being accepted in a group that would not, nor would ever be,
his friends? "Don't worry, A.E.I.O.U. and Otaku Force won't find you."

	Katie went wide-eyed. "Bob..."

	"I suppose you're right about otaku groups and friends being two
different things. I guess I gotta learn the diff between the two."

	The bespectacled otaku turned to leave, when a voice from Katie
made him stop in his tracks.

	"One more thing...I could use some more friends right now..."
	Katie twiddled her fingers a bit.
	"...Maybe I can call you BB?"

	Bob blinked an instant, then smiled back warmly.
	"Sure."

	He went on to leave, passing Frank on his way out. The latter
blinked, then turned to see Katie, still all right, sitting at the
table. Curiosity piqued, he looked to his companion.
	"Who was that?"

	"Oh, nothing..." Katie smiled. "Just some lost guy."

^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;

	As Bob walked out the diner, he began to wonder about another
missed chance at joining an anime group. This time, the failure seemed
to matter little to him. He may not have been able to join Otaku Force,
but if otaku were all like that, who cares? Strangely, Bob felt more
pleased with himself than the time he won that Tokimeki Memorial 2
Dating game with Hikari.

	"Oh yeah..." Bob smirked. He still had 11 other girls in the
game to finish with, and it promised to be a long weekend.

^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;

	It was already eleven in the evening, and still no word from
Bob. Anna sighed, face between her hands, as she sat on the steps of
the Otaku Force clubhouse. It didn't seem likely that he would ever
show his face in the immediate area ever again. Anna turned suddenly as
the door behind her opened and closed, to reveal Cecil locking the
front door.

	Otaku Force's resident Mecha master smirked at her.
	"You were saying about 'Beginner's Luck', Anna?"

	"It happens," Anna muttered. "Oh well, it was worth a shot."

	Cecil patted her shoulder. "Yup, it happens. Don't worry, it
ain't the first time you were wrong about a newbie." A deep yawn came
from his throat. "Well, I'm turning in. There's only so much Gaogaigar
even a Mecha Otaku can watch in one day. Brett's going to be in for
quite awhile; said he found a new Lemon Fanfic site on the 'Net that he
needs to go through. He'll lock up afterwards."

	"Yeah. Whatever." Anna grunted a nod. "I think I'm getting too
soft lately..."

	Cecil turned to go. He had taken but a few steps when he paused
to turn, looking back at Anna as she sat there dejected. He shook his
head. Anna, going soft and sentimental? Now THERE was a concept.
	"Uhh... I can give you a lift home, if you want..."

	Anna looked up. "He was actually nice, you know."

	"Who?"

	Anna stood, brushing dust off her pants as she did so. "That
Baker guy. Sure, he goes way overboard when it comes to Anime-styled
cute girls, but now that I think of it, he's really just another nice
guy..."

	Cecil was perplexed.
	"I'm not sure I follow."

	A grin and shake of her head. "Oh, I was just thinking that Bob
is probably one of those guys nice enough NOT to tell us where Katie is
if and when he met her."

	Cecil closed his eyes and sighed. That, he understood.
	"Okay. So there went that idea. You want A.E.I.O.U. to look him
over or something?"

	Anna stretched out, straightening the kinks in her system as
she approached Cecil. "Naaah. I doubt he'll ever try meeting her again
from now on. That's all it was, a wasted chance."

	She took the next few paces ahead of a frozen Cecil before
turning and giving him her best foxlike grin.
	"So, Ceece. You driving me home or what?"

^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;

	Deep within the bowels of the Otaku Force (non-hentai) computer
room, a lone figure battles with her own uncertainty to find the secret
threat that faced all those whom she knew in Otaku Force.

	"Agatari...? No... Amaterasu? Ashita? Akabeko? DOOOHHHHH!!! 
Asahina? Ayasaki? Abashiri? ......"

^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;^^x;;;

Notes:
There seems to be a global conspiracy against me writing fics, impro
or otherwise...^^x;;;

First off, apologies for the lateness of this part. My room recently
got flooded in by a storm (I live in Southeast Asia), and my computer,
sadly, was one of it's first victims. By the time I got it working
again, it was already the 6th, and I hadn't been able to read through
Zack's Part 4 yet. This one was pretty much done in a rush, but I
hope it matches your expectations.

Second, I'd like to thank Illyria for being understanding enough to let
me finish my story. She's a wonderful maintainer, and I'm happy she's
taking care of Impros for the moment.

Now, some other notes:
Comedy is SO hard to do... I tried my best to make this story funny,
but ended up making it a bit more serious at the end. Of course, it's
partly because I felt a need to put a more human spin on Anna, and 
Frank's characters.

I haven't watched 'Akira', so I'm not quite sure what "Akira Syndrome"
was supposed to mean, so kind of skirted around the issue this chapter.
However, I did put a subtle hint as to why Frank's condition was only
temporary. It has a lot to do with alcohol. (grin)

As for my character Bob, like Zack's Thomas in the previous chapter,
I'm really not sure if he should or shouldn't be a recurring character.
Maybe a minor one, but after this part, I just don't see him playing
any notable role in the storyline. Oh well. ^^x;;;

Oh, by the way. The names Naru, Shinobu, and Motoko which Bob rattled
off earlier are names from that new Anime comedy series in Japan, "Love
Hina", which is full of (surprise) Bishoujo characters.

Wavehawk
cybertrooper@edsamail.com.ph
wavehawk.geo@yahoo.com