So I'm just going to start this up, based on a few ideas Emily and I were throwing around.
Keep in mind that this story will be written within the context of The Fragile, some 7 odd years after that story ended. This is almost kind of necessary to my sequel to The Fragile in some respects (it establishes relationships with the new character, Laena). If you are one of the unfortunate individuals that hasn't read The Fragile, then just be aware that there's a new character now and that all The Loonatics are in their mid to upper 30's now. Yeah.
If you are planning on reading and finishing the The Fragile and you haven't done so, I strongly recommend not reading this right now. If you haven't read The Fragile but you never plan to read it anyway, then you should be good to go.
But this shouldn't be thought of as an all-out sequel, since it's quite different in nature than The Fragile. OK.
Chapter 1 - Boredom
Ace's keen eyes surveyed the scene around him. It was all just a little too quiet. The silence pierced the air like a dagger, leaving him unsettled but all the while raising his level of alertness.
Why wasn't anything happening?
The darkness obscured the scene, but Ace's powerful vision got the better of it - or so he would have thought. Perhaps these lurkers were particularly sneaky, because Ace simply wasn't sensing anything. Was there an error of some sort? Usually these perpetrators made themselves at least somewhat obvious to the scene. But there was really nothing going on. Too much nothing.
Ace wondered if he should just give up the ghost and head back. But there was something very disconcerting about all of it. Even so, perhaps he should go back and, at the very least, call for back up. Although Lexi might be at the mall, which would -
Ace's ears suddenly perked.
A strange, soft scraping sound came from the far corner of the alleyway. Ace, grabbing his Guardian Strike Sword, focused his eyes at the source of the noise. A vague, tall shadow stood in the corner. He knew there was something up.
"What's the matter, are you a chicken? Come out and fight like a man!" Ace called to the figure.
Slowly, the shadow emerged from his shadowry hiding place. As he gradually stepped into the moonlight, the figure revealed itself. It had a large pointy hat, a giant red nose, baggy clothes, and big floppy shoes.
It was a clown.
Ace's face contorted with terror.
"I... uh.. I... I'm not scared of you!" And with those words, an entire army of floppy-shoed menaces jumped down from the tall buildings above. They surrounded Ace in a semi circle, forcing him to back up against the wall. They glared at Ace with their cheerful face-paint.
As if a mysterious deity answered, the entire scene disappeared. The simulator room of the Loonatics' HQ Tower came into focus. At the head of the room stood a young, female roadrunner and a short, mischevous mallard.
"Don't worry, Ace, clowns will only eat you if you aggravate them first," the roadrunner spoke.
Ace glowered at her. "I shoulda known you were behind dis, Laena."
"Oh, well, I can't really take all the credit. It was originally Duck's idea here," she gestured towards the mallard, who waved smugly, "I probably wouldn't have known about you fear of clowns."
"Fear of clowns? I don't have a fear of them! I just-"
"Oh please, Ace," Duck interjected, "remember that time we went to the circus? You were practically wetting yourself the whole time!"
"I, uh, err," Ace stammered, "all of that aside! It's downright in bad taste to interrupt a training session. I do this for the benefit of the team, y'know."
"Oh please, Ace, we all know that you're already a master at this stuff," Laena replied boredly.
"Yeah, well... I can always become even more of a master!" Ace said confidently.
"That or you get a nice dose of ego boosting by completing these things," Laena shot back.
"Whoa there, sister! How can you talk about bein' egocentric when you hang around with Duck all the time?"
"Well, at least he doesn't try to hide it. Besides, he has reason to be proud of himself! He usually pulls through in the face of danger, and - let's face it - he's prety spiffy looking. And he doesn't get enough respect from any of you guys, so it's no wonder that he gives it to himself -"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it before," Ace interrupted, "But still, I hardly -"
"Hey, let the girl speak her mind! Freedom of speech applies to her too, y'know," Duck said.
"Thank you," Laena said, "anyway, Duck also is able to do really cool acrobatic stunts in spite of his height-"
"Nevermind," Duck said, cutting her off.
"Anway, Laena, I have half a mind to speak to your father about this," Ace said threateningly.
"Ooh, another one of Tech's lectures? I'm positvely quivering," Laena said, yawning.
"That's it, I'm going right now." Ace left the room quickly without another word.
"You see, this is why we can never have decent comuniminication around here," Duck said, turning to Laena.
"Eh, I'm so used to this it's not even funny," Laena said, sighing. "I'll see you later, Duck." And with that, Laena left the room and made towards the door of Tech's lab, expecting a 'talk' relatively soon.
-----
"Laena, what did I tell you about altering the simulations?" Tech interrogated.
"That it's bad," Laena said, shrugging.
"And you continue to do it, why?"
"Because it's funny!"
"Now listen, Laena, you've only been here for two years, but I've already gotten so many complaints about you. It's not that the rest of the team doesn't like you, they just want you to give it a rest for just a little while." Tech was almost pleading.
Laena brushed her black hair behind her shoulders. "Well, I can understand that. Maybe I'll lay off a little."
Tech glanced at her skeptically. "If..."
"If I can get that eyebrow piercing!"
Tech shook his head. "No, Laena, you're fourteen. I don't want you to have piercings yet. Besides, what's so appealing about an eyebrow piercing?"
Laena did not get to answer this question, due to a red blur appearing in the middle of the room.
"Hey guys hey guys hey guys you won't believe what I just landed it's absolutely amazing and I can't believe I was able to do it oh man I've been waiting all my life for something like this and man I'm so excited and I think you will be too when you hear-"
Tech shut up and clamped Rev's beak - an all too common practice.
"What is it, Rev?"
"I got seven tickets to the grand opening of Acmeworld you know that knew amusement park 40 rides 12 roller coasters endless fun!"
"Intriguing," Tech said, scratching his chin, "when's the opening?"
"Tomorrow and I was thinking we could all go please please please Tech oh please I promise none of us would regret it."
"I don't know," Tech said, now scratching his forehead, "I was putting a lot of time aside tomorrow for my research. And I'm sure the others had plans, too."
Laena suddenly shot up. "Tech, if we can all go, I promise I won't particpate in any pranks for a month." Laena walked and stood by Rev's side, now giving the coyote the same pleading look Rev was.
Tech pondered the notion for a bit. "Two months," he offered.
I really loved The Fragile, and I get the feeling that this theme park isn't quite as nice as it sounds. ;) But maybe I'm just reading too much into it.
In any case, I love the changes in Tech and Laena, and how much Duck, Rev and Ace have stayed the same over the time between your stories. It's very well written.
OOooh! Laena has a bit of an atitude! I didn't see it coming! XD
This was a cool chapter! Gee, Rev never grows up does he? ^_^
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Me: I SHALL HAVE THEE FERRET GOD OF DOOM SMITE YE DOWN IF YE FAIL TO DO SO!!!!!! I SHAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!! Ozzie: *standing on a tall pillar in a cape and robes with his stone glowing* MWAHAHAHA!!!!! Do as she says or I shall turn you all into bugs! AHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Ant:... Is that supposed to be a threat? Rev: *squeals like a girl and jumps into Ace's arms* They're BACK!!! D8
XD This chapter's funny. I like the dialogue you have there. And Ace is scared of clowns... *smirks* . Hang on a sec, Ace had no problem when he faced the Ring Master and Otto the Odd at "My world is my circus" and "The Hunter". Surely he must have disposed of the clown holograms easily?
This is awesome so far! It kinda bugs me how different Laena seems as compared to the end of "The Fragile" but I'll get used to it. I still love her, though *snugs Laena* But I absolutely adore how fatherly Tech can be, yet strict at the same time and how he cares deeply about Laena and how he doesn't quite understand how a teenager's mind works. XD
Cassidy: 0.o You got all of that from one chapter? Wait, don't answer that... *looks in fridge* REV! DID YOU GIVE DANIELLE CHEESE AGAIN? *groans* When I find that roadrunner..... *marches off*
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I believe in Jesus Christ as my Saviour
Lucky: Why can't you Toons just enter a room normaly?! Bonkers: Us Toons don't do normaly things! That's what makes us sooo adorable! X3 Lucky: Yeah, like a trainwreck. -__________-
Cassidy and Dusk: Freaky siamese twins seperated at birth.... ~ Andrea
Many thanks to HCoyote for the awesome avatar! I love it! <3
Danni- Official supporter of Tessidy, Sethidy, Cassless, Duri, Seck, Ricy, Dapphire, Calric, and Cassaghu 83 And Maley D. Because it's wrong. \8D/
Thanks everyone! =D To answer some questions/comments that were made, yes, Laena has greatly changed since the end of The Fragile. There is an explanation for it, but it probably won't be touched on too much in this story as it will the next.
I know Ace didn't appear to be scared of Otto and the Ringmaster and whatnot, but, eh, I sort of just disregarded it. The writers on the shows themselves have made a lot of plotholes and inconsistencies throughout the series (Rev's parents, anyone?) so I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of embellishment.
Okay I'm not afraid of clowns but that picture just scared the crap out of me...-___-;
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Me: I SHALL HAVE THEE FERRET GOD OF DOOM SMITE YE DOWN IF YE FAIL TO DO SO!!!!!! I SHAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!! Ozzie: *standing on a tall pillar in a cape and robes with his stone glowing* MWAHAHAHA!!!!! Do as she says or I shall turn you all into bugs! AHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Ant:... Is that supposed to be a threat? Rev: *squeals like a girl and jumps into Ace's arms* They're BACK!!! D8
Don’t worry… Never again will my terrible manners and bad eating habits destroy another life! I shall stop devouring food from hereon.
*puts the fly into a shoebox and burries it woefully*
…
It’s ok if you can’t get the chapter up for a while, love. 83 *has read your journal but cannot reply coz her home computer hates dA and wants it to die*
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Andrea: ....I think my kidney laughed. Sye: Your bladder told it to stop. 83
I'll miss reading your stuff. It was epic. I guess it's like what Tony of NCIS says, you can't re-make classics.
Or something like that. XD
__________________
I believe in Jesus Christ as my Saviour
Lucky: Why can't you Toons just enter a room normaly?! Bonkers: Us Toons don't do normaly things! That's what makes us sooo adorable! X3 Lucky: Yeah, like a trainwreck. -__________-
Cassidy and Dusk: Freaky siamese twins seperated at birth.... ~ Andrea
Many thanks to HCoyote for the awesome avatar! I love it! <3
Danni- Official supporter of Tessidy, Sethidy, Cassless, Duri, Seck, Ricy, Dapphire, Calric, and Cassaghu 83 And Maley D. Because it's wrong. \8D/
................Laena ROCKS! 
....Really Rye??
.
!!!......
.......... 
he will be remembered forever *salute*
........for now 
